Hop Lust » kegging

RyePA Kegging

brent — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:38:47 +0000

I just finished kegging the RyePA I brewed in November and I’ve got some mixed emotions. Everything was looking great, the fermenter system worked excellent this time around and racking to the kegs with co2 was really simple. I got just the right volume to fill two kegs, and the sample I took to test the gravity smelled great. Then I checked the gravity. It looks like my little mistake during mash-in cost me. The sample came in at around 1.017, giving the beer 6.9% ABV. That’s about 74% apparent attenuation for those that are keeping track. That’s not terrible, but it’s not what I really wanted with this beer. See, I like my IPA’s to be relatively dry, and the rye malt in the grist already adds a creamy viscosity to the brew. The combination is something that’s a little heavier on the tongue than I’d like, but it’s certainly not bad. The taste is spot-on, and I can only imagine that once the dry hops do their thing I won’t really care about this little mistake too much.

Cream Ale Kegging

brent — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:39:06 +0000

I just finished kegging the cream ale. It tastes fantastic, the hops may be a little too upfront for the style, but the citrus-y, earthy notes compliment the beer really well in my opinion. I couldn’t stop drinking the sample I pulled. It also attenuated really well, finishing at 1.006 (1.5 P). That puts the final ABV around 5.5. I’m really happy with the results of the batch, but I did have some problems with the new fermenter. I plan on detailing those once I’ve had a chance to really look at what happened.

Keg Cleaning

brent — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:20:53 +0000

I’m cleaning some kegs today, which led to this sad scene.

To envision this properly you should be playing Taps in your head right now. Mind you, the actual act of dumping this beer is an act of mercy and is not sad in the least. What is sad is the infection that left this beer, and many others like it, undrinkable.