RedAleSP2008

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Jasper Murdock's Whistling Pig Red Ale, Spring, 2008

First time I made this beer, it didn't come out good. Lets hope I get better results this time.

Beer Statistics

Beer Name Red Ale
Beer Style Irish Red Ale
Bottle Label N/A
Brew Date April 18, 2008
Starting Gravity 1.056
Starting Temperature 67° Fahrenheit
Target Gravity 1.016
Final Gravity 1.020
ABV 4.7%
Packaging Keg

Plan

The plan includes three states of fermentation to reduce the amount of yeast sediment in the finished beer.
  • Brew day: April 18, 2008
  • Primary fermentation: 1 week
  • Secondary fermentation: 2 weeks
  • Tertiary fermentation: 1 week
  • Keg condition: 1 day
  • Estimated competition date: May 17, 2008

Recipe Notes

This is the Jasper Murdock's Whistling Pig Red Ale recepie from Beer Captured. Nothing major to note. Just follow the brewing directions.

April 18, 2008 (Brew Day)

Brew day went well. A good exeuse to take the day off. I had to squeeze the brewing into three hours. I just cleaned up the next day.

April 26, 2008

Racked to secondary fermenter (glass carboy). So far, so good. The beer tastes good. The hops are on the strong side, but it should mellow out in the secondary fermentation. The gravity is 1.022 at 62° Fahrenheit.

May 9, 2008

Racked to tertiary fermenter (glass carboy). The gravity is 1.020 at 62° Fahrenheit. I put the tertiary fermenter on ice so it will be cold when racked to the keg.

May 13, 2008

Racked to keg. The beer is at about 50° Fahrenheit from the ice bath. This should help carbonate the beer. I will continue to keep the keg in an ice bath until Saturday.

May 17, 2008

Keg tapped for Nadia's birthday. This brew came out great and everyone agreed. The beer tastes very fresh and smooth. It has a nice hop aroma without being overly bitter. A nice balanced beer. I will definitely brew this one again.

Observations

This beer didn't completely ferment. It should ferment to 1.016, and it stopped at 1.020. Next time, make sure the wort is aerated better then usual. Also, try to keep a more consistent fermentation temperature. The final gravity could be trouble of I was bottling, but since it is in a keg (and not bottle conditioned) everything should be OK.