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YeastFarts - for the love of beer

Swamphead Brewery Launch Party

Friday, 04 December 2009 21:01 Todd
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This past Tuesday Swamphead held its first launch part at Common Grounds in downtown Gainesville.  There were samples of five of their beers- "Wild Nights" a honey cream ale, "Cottonmouth" a Belgian wit, "Stump Knocker" APA, "Midnight Oil" coffee stout, and "Big Nose" IPA.  All of the beers were quite good, but I particularly enjoyed the APA.  It's my understanding that they'll be having a few more of the launch parties over the next few weeks.  If you're interested be sure to keep an eye on their website, www.swamphead.com , or follow them on Facebook for updates about these parties.

Last Updated on Friday, 04 December 2009 21:02
 

Swamphead Brewery

Tuesday, 17 November 2009 12:27 Todd
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My home town of Gainesville, FL now has its very own brewery, Swamphead Brewery.  It's my understanding that they've passed all of the legal hurdles and distribution issues and are now days away from being on tap in some local establishments.  Here are some action shots of brewmaster Craig and owner Luc working around the brewery.  These were taken by local homebrewer Art as he celebrated his birthday at the brewery.

Remember to support your local brewery!

 

PET care, or how not to scratch your Better Bottle

Friday, 02 October 2009 20:56 Todd
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My fermentation vessel of choice is the Better Bottle, a PET plastic carboy.  I have several 5 and 6 gallon versions of this product and I've been very pleased.  After losing a batch of beer today I noticed that the BB I'd fermented in had scratches around the top of the carboy from my carboy brush.  While I don't believe this was the sole cause of the bad beer I can't rule it out as a possibility.  It occurred to me that perhaps these plastic carboys need a special brush (seeing as my regular ol' carboy brush had done me a disservice), so I went to the BB website looking for a info on special cleaning equipment.  As it turns out they recommend against using stiff brushes and suggest that the best method of cleaning is simply to rinse/wash/sanitize with no mechanical scrubbing.  Here's a link to the washing/care instructions.  I'm afraid I may have ruined this carboy, oh well- live and learn.

 

Fermentation cooler - phase 1.5

Monday, 17 August 2009 12:22 Todd
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Since my first post on the subject of creating a low cost cooler to manage temperature during fermentation, found here, I've made some incremental improvements to the design that I built  The main issue is that the initial design for the lid had a tendency to get stuck in the cooler and without handles the act of lifting it up to change ice was a pain.  The solution was simple- a couple screen door handles, 4 2-inch 6/32 machine screws, wide fender washers, and wing nuts.  Now with the handle on diagonally opposing corner, lifting the lid off is much easier.  An additional benefit of the improved design is that the screw running through the lid help to secure the two layers of foam much better than the spray adhesive that I'd used initially.

These photos are:

  • one handle assembly (need two for each lid)
  • the shiny underside of the lid- you can see the fender washers and wingnuts holding things together
  • top of the lid with the handles in opposing corners

The second incremental improvement was the addition of an electronic thermometer with the wire attached probe.  With the probe inserted through a square of foam to act as a float and keep the probe wiring dry while giving constant access to the temp of the water in the cooler this allows for quick and easy temp readings.

Lastly, I've found another adaptation for using these coolers.  A single layer foam lid with cutout to accommodate a corny keg makes for a nicely portable keg cooler to take to parties.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 18 August 2009 14:30
 

A sad day in my brewing history

Friday, 02 October 2009 20:45 Todd
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Today I dumped a 5-gal batch of beer- my first batch I've ever dumped.  It was a hefeweizen I barely knew.  I'm not sure exactly what happened- the symptom was a plastic-y taste that I believe was due to an overabundance of phenols.  I've read about this flaw and I have a number of theories about why this happened: a PET carboy with some brush scratches perhaps leading to sanitation problems, insufficiently rinsed bleach, lower than desired fermentation temps, and possibly even over extraction from the grains...    sigh.

 

Schwarzbier - all grain

Sunday, 02 August 2009 13:10 Todd
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This recipe was my second attempt at a schwarzbier, this time from an all-grain recipe instead of partial mash.   This recipe was also the first one I designed using the recipe design tools at beertools.com.  It's also worth noting that for the grain bill I opted for organic grains where available- this raised the cost of the gain bill, but I'm pleased with the outcome.

Ingredients

  • 6 lbs Munich malt (Weyerman Organic)
  • 3 lbs German Pilsner malt (Weyerman)
  • 1 lb Caraffa II (Weyerman Organic)
  • .7 oz Sterling whole hop @ 60 min
  • .4 oz Sterling whole hop @ 15 min
  • .5 oz Vanguard whole hop @ 1 min
  • 1 tab whirfloc @ 20 min
  • White Labs WLP830 German Lager Yeast
  • 3/4 cup dextrose for priming

I used what is shaping up to be my standard mash schedule- a two step infusion ~30 min @ 132F and ~40 min @ 152F.  This can be accomplished by striking the grain with 3 gal 140F water.  Then adding 1 gal boiling water after 30 min to bring the mash temp to 150F or so.  The mash out and lauter w/ 5 gal ~170F water.

After the boil, I brought the temp down into the upper 50s F and pitched a 2 liter starter that I'd made 2 days before.  This led to a good, quick start even at the lower temps.  Using my lager box I kept the fermentation temp between 48F and 58F for 18 days.  Then I racked the beer to a secondary for an additional 3 weeks and a few days @ between ~40 and 50F.  After a total of 6 weeks I bottled.  After 3 weeks in the bottle @ room temp the carbonation was finally sufficient.

OG: 1.048      FG: 1.012     IBU: ~23

This beer is a nice deep dark amber to black.  It's a bit less opaque than my partial mash Schwarz.  The head is a dark offwhite bordering on brown.  The flavor and aroma are dominated by the roasty notes of the grain bill.  I'm very pleased with this beer and feel that it's a much better example of the Schwarzbier style that my earlier, partial mash attempt.

Last Updated on Sunday, 02 August 2009 13:12
 
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