Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Simple present, complex future
Logged a few more hours of brewing this weekend. On Saturday, I continued my "apprenticeship" experiences with Joe and Mike as they brewed up a new batch of Oatmeal Stout. In the process we christened Mike's new carboy - he plans to slowly construct a setup of his own over the coming months. Conveniently, they happened to have their previous batch of Stout on tap for us to enjoy while we cooked - it was excellent. They also had a Belgian Ale and a Barley Wine on tap. Joe has a three-tap (2 in-door, 1 hand) kegerator. Good times were most certainly had.
On Sunday, my CO3 (which stands for "cohort 2003" - the year we began the ed psych program) group bottled our ESB and cooked the Cream Ale. We tried something new this time by using filtered water instead of straight tap. We had been given the impression that having a certain amount of minerals in the water is by and large a good thing. However, there are certainly extreme differences in a town/city's water supply. Experienced brewers seem to go to great lengths to ensure the right pH balance and mineral quality of their wort water (e.g., burton-izing). In any event, Georges got it in his head that we should try a batch with filtered water just to see what happens. The virtue of brewing with scientists, I suppose.
Another note on our approach to brewing. We have thus far only attempted "extract+grain" brewing, meaning that we use a base of malted barley extract that we augment by steeping specialty grains for different amounts of time and temperatures depending on the specific recipes. We have not yet, nor do we plan to anytime soon, attempted a partial mash or an all-grain process. Just seems a bit too complicated and messy for us right now. However, as Joe and Mike have informed me, over time the attentive homebrewer will notice that all beers made with the same brand of extract (e.g., Muntons) share a common taste. So it's conceivable that in the future when I have my own setup I'll experiment with some all-grain brewing from time to time. I look with fondness towards that future.
Enough whimsy. I have a full glass of Poor Richard's I.P.A. to enjoy. Cheers.
On Sunday, my CO3 (which stands for "cohort 2003" - the year we began the ed psych program) group bottled our ESB and cooked the Cream Ale. We tried something new this time by using filtered water instead of straight tap. We had been given the impression that having a certain amount of minerals in the water is by and large a good thing. However, there are certainly extreme differences in a town/city's water supply. Experienced brewers seem to go to great lengths to ensure the right pH balance and mineral quality of their wort water (e.g., burton-izing). In any event, Georges got it in his head that we should try a batch with filtered water just to see what happens. The virtue of brewing with scientists, I suppose.
Another note on our approach to brewing. We have thus far only attempted "extract+grain" brewing, meaning that we use a base of malted barley extract that we augment by steeping specialty grains for different amounts of time and temperatures depending on the specific recipes. We have not yet, nor do we plan to anytime soon, attempted a partial mash or an all-grain process. Just seems a bit too complicated and messy for us right now. However, as Joe and Mike have informed me, over time the attentive homebrewer will notice that all beers made with the same brand of extract (e.g., Muntons) share a common taste. So it's conceivable that in the future when I have my own setup I'll experiment with some all-grain brewing from time to time. I look with fondness towards that future.
Enough whimsy. I have a full glass of Poor Richard's I.P.A. to enjoy. Cheers.
