Well I had an interesting night last night. I started a new American Red (Amber) batch. I made this one a little darker than the last, and maybe a little lighter on hops. I'll post the new recipe at the end of this post.
After the Imperial Stout blew it's head, I decided to try using one of my carboy's as a primary. We'll see how that works, so far it looks pretty good. already bubbling (thanks to the yeast starter, which I will talk about in a few), and due to it not having a plastic lid, no sign of exploding.
I did a yeast starter last night, and something interesting happened. It did what it was supposed to, but on the second day, the yeast separated from the wort in the flask. Which made it really simple to then pour off the "wort" and then dump the yeast slurry out and separate it into two parts. One of which I still have saved in the fridge. I'm really starting to get the hang of the whole yeast deal. I just wish I had something to measure how much yeast there was, like cell count, etc. I also saved that wort and threw it in the fridge to settle further, hopefully I'll get more yeast out of it and then I can do another starter, and then split it in half again for the next time Mr. Bergson and I brew. Was that confusing?
Using a wort chiller outside is very unsatisfactory. I couldn't get it to go below 80f. So I ice chilled a bucket filled with the rest of my filler water to about 60f, then dumped the 80f wort in, and checked again, and let the ice chill it down to about 70f. Then pitched half the yeast slurry, siphoned it into my carboy, and threw it in my office with a shirt over it.
No pictures this time around, I can't seem to find the digital camera. Here's the recipe for you:
New American Red -=6 Gallon=-
Grain:
1lb British Pale
2lb British Munich
1lb British Crystal 120L
Malt Extract:
7.25lb Light Munich LME
Hops:
2oz Willamette %5.5 60min
2oz Cascade %6.1 30min
1oz Cascade Aroma
London Ale Yeast Wyeast. (Starter)
Est %7.2 v/v
