Saturday, February 28th, 2009: The pressure in the beer machine has dropped down to 15 PSI, and the bubbles have begun to slow quite a bit. I'm pretty sure this means that it has completed fermentation. The instructions said to pour a small sample at this point, and said that if it isn't sweet, then fermentation is complete. I did that, and the sample was, as expected, quite cloudy. This is due to the fact that the conditioning phase has yet to occur. I waited for the head to settle a little and then gave it a taste, and it was a little... sour. Sort of like strange, sour Budweiser. Not good. The booklet states that a sour taste can be imparted by bacteria growing in the beer, which produces an acid. This can happen when the brewing environment is not totally sterile... which may well have been caused by using the beer mix which had a slit in the bag. The lady on the customer service line said that it should still be ok, but I had wondered about this. Turns out my fears may be true. Oh, well... I put the beer machine in the fridge to let it go through the conditioning phase, which removes the haziness and allows the CO2 to absorb into the beer. This takes 4-5 days. I'll sample the beer again once this is complete, and if it still tastes sour, I'll know why.
As a side note, I had a bit of trouble getting the beer machine to even FIT in the fridge. It was too big to fit in my little beer fridge at all, so I planned on putting it on the top shelf of the main fridge. The only problem with this was that when I'd put the beer machine in the fridge before I started all this to see if it would fit, I hadn't attached the pressurization unit yet. With that on, the beer machine now requires 13 inches of clearance... and was now too tall. So, I had to make some less-than-optimal adjustments to the shelf positioning to make the machine fit.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Day 4: Fermentation Continues
Friday, February 27, 2009: The fermentation stage is continuing. The bubbles of CO2 rising out of the PCV are continuing at the same rate. The documentation says that the fermentation stage is supposed to take between 3-5 days, so it should be ready to move on to the next stage by tomorrow at the latest I would hope. The waiting really is the hardest part!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Day 3: Steady as She Goes
Thursday, February 26th, 2009. I checked the beer machine this morning and there's nothing much new to report. The bubbles are still steadily rising out from the PCV, so that means the fermentation is still going strong. The documentation said that phase normally takes 3-5 days, so I guess it could be any day now then. I'll know that fermentation is slowing when the bubbles of CO2 escaping begin to slow down. Seems like the layer of foam on top of the beer is a tiny bit thicker now... not quite half an inch though.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Day 2: It's Alive!
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009:
I checked on my beer machine about 9:45 this morning, and it's looking good so far. A thin, maybe quarter-inch layer of foam had appeared on top of the water, and the meter was showing a reading of 11 PSI so far.
Another peek after class, about 1pm. The meter's up to about 15 PSI now, which the instructions listed as the normal maximum operating pressure. This is when the PCV (Pressure Control Valve) is supposed to begin releasing excess CO2 produced by the fermentation. I poured a bit of water onto the cap, as it says to do in the book. I start watching for the bubbles rising up through the water out of the PCV, but nothing yet.
By 1:30pm the pressure is up to about 16 PSI, but there's now a slow, steady stream of bubbles rising up out of the PCV. Looking good. A quick peek half an hour later shows the pressure holding steady at 16 PSI, and the bubbles still popping out through the water. I'm excited! Only 6 to 9 more days until I'm going to be able to taste my first home brew!
I checked on my beer machine about 9:45 this morning, and it's looking good so far. A thin, maybe quarter-inch layer of foam had appeared on top of the water, and the meter was showing a reading of 11 PSI so far.
Another peek after class, about 1pm. The meter's up to about 15 PSI now, which the instructions listed as the normal maximum operating pressure. This is when the PCV (Pressure Control Valve) is supposed to begin releasing excess CO2 produced by the fermentation. I poured a bit of water onto the cap, as it says to do in the book. I start watching for the bubbles rising up through the water out of the PCV, but nothing yet.
By 1:30pm the pressure is up to about 16 PSI, but there's now a slow, steady stream of bubbles rising up out of the PCV. Looking good. A quick peek half an hour later shows the pressure holding steady at 16 PSI, and the bubbles still popping out through the water. I'm excited! Only 6 to 9 more days until I'm going to be able to taste my first home brew!
The Odyssey Begins...
After doing a bit of research into home brewing beer, I finally decided to order some equipment and give it a try. I ordered a brewing kit (a Beer Machine Model 2000) from http://www.beermachine.ca/, and it arrived a week or so ago. I didn't really have time to do anything with it at the time, as I was heading home for a few days over reading week. When I got back, I got started.
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009:
Having already completed the pressure test, I read over all the provided documentation again and proceeded to sterilize the beer machine. As I was rinsing it out afterwards though, the feed tube fell out of the spigot. Oops. I guess I was sterilizing a little too vigorously. So I had to take the whole thing apart again, re-insert the feed tube, and put the machine back together again. And then sterilize it... again. I tried to pressurize the machine slightly so that I could open the tap to sterilize the feed tube and tap itself, only to realize that when I reassembled the machine, it hadn't sealed properly. I was starting to get a little frustrated by now. Tried taking it apart and reassembilng it again but couldn't for the lift of me get the main seal to fit in properly. I left it alone and went to bed.
Monday, February 23rd, 2009:
Back to classes again. After I got home, I tried fitting in that pesky main seal again, but to no avail. About half the seal would go in properly, but the rest refused. Is home brewing supposed to be this frustrating? I went to go play some Starcraft. Maybe the seal will work next time.
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009:
Success! I finally got the seal to go in properly again. I sterilized the machine, and found that it was pressurizing just fine. Excellent. Now to start brewing! The machine came with an American Lager beer mix, and I had also ordered a special 3-pack Piggy Back Special (1 each of Czech pilsner, normal pilsner, and a porter), as well as a 3-pack of Irish stout. The 2-pack of Scotch Ale that I ordered is temporarily out of stock, so they're going to ship me that along with the bottling attachment for the beer machine as soon as they become available, estimated to be mid-March. Anyways, I decided to go for the American Lager first. That mix seemed to have split slightly in transit. When I called customer support they said that it should still be ok, but even so, if it's split, I'd rather make it up sooner than later. Besides, it'll give me a chance to figure out what I'm doing without risking screwing up on one of the (likely) tastier flavours, such as the stout!
Anyways, I followed the instructions, partially filling the sterilized beer machine with water, then opened the beer mix and poured in the contents (malt powder & hops). Some of the powder escaped from the slit in the bag as well as from a smaller, previously unseen slit and made a bit of a mess, but I hope that shouldn't affect things too much. After emptying the bag, I cleaned up the spilled powder, topped up the beer machine to the fill line with water, and put on the cap (the defoamer cup, pressure control unit, and the cap itself). I cleared out a spot in the bottom of the pantry/hall closet, and put the machine down there out of the way, sitting on a little waterproof tray I made. Now we wait.
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009:
Having already completed the pressure test, I read over all the provided documentation again and proceeded to sterilize the beer machine. As I was rinsing it out afterwards though, the feed tube fell out of the spigot. Oops. I guess I was sterilizing a little too vigorously. So I had to take the whole thing apart again, re-insert the feed tube, and put the machine back together again. And then sterilize it... again. I tried to pressurize the machine slightly so that I could open the tap to sterilize the feed tube and tap itself, only to realize that when I reassembled the machine, it hadn't sealed properly. I was starting to get a little frustrated by now. Tried taking it apart and reassembilng it again but couldn't for the lift of me get the main seal to fit in properly. I left it alone and went to bed.
Monday, February 23rd, 2009:
Back to classes again. After I got home, I tried fitting in that pesky main seal again, but to no avail. About half the seal would go in properly, but the rest refused. Is home brewing supposed to be this frustrating? I went to go play some Starcraft. Maybe the seal will work next time.
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009:
Success! I finally got the seal to go in properly again. I sterilized the machine, and found that it was pressurizing just fine. Excellent. Now to start brewing! The machine came with an American Lager beer mix, and I had also ordered a special 3-pack Piggy Back Special (1 each of Czech pilsner, normal pilsner, and a porter), as well as a 3-pack of Irish stout. The 2-pack of Scotch Ale that I ordered is temporarily out of stock, so they're going to ship me that along with the bottling attachment for the beer machine as soon as they become available, estimated to be mid-March. Anyways, I decided to go for the American Lager first. That mix seemed to have split slightly in transit. When I called customer support they said that it should still be ok, but even so, if it's split, I'd rather make it up sooner than later. Besides, it'll give me a chance to figure out what I'm doing without risking screwing up on one of the (likely) tastier flavours, such as the stout!
Anyways, I followed the instructions, partially filling the sterilized beer machine with water, then opened the beer mix and poured in the contents (malt powder & hops). Some of the powder escaped from the slit in the bag as well as from a smaller, previously unseen slit and made a bit of a mess, but I hope that shouldn't affect things too much. After emptying the bag, I cleaned up the spilled powder, topped up the beer machine to the fill line with water, and put on the cap (the defoamer cup, pressure control unit, and the cap itself). I cleared out a spot in the bottom of the pantry/hall closet, and put the machine down there out of the way, sitting on a little waterproof tray I made. Now we wait.
Welcome!
Welcome to The Beer Connoisseur! I hope to pass on a little about my favourite beverage through this blog. I hope the beer fans out there can appreciate my thoughts and opinions, and for those of you who for some crazy reason don't like beer or don't know much about it, maybe I can convince you to see the light (or the dark... mmm Guinness...). Enjoy!
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