Jensen Haus Home Brewing

At the rate we keep getting snow (in frickin’ April!), I should be calling this batch “Snowblower de Saison”. Craig and I brewed up the Lawnmower de Saison kit from Midwest last night. I opted for the White Labs liquid option. (Belgian Wit Ale WLP400). This is, hands down, one of the most involved boils I’ve done. Two kinds of LME, a 1lb package of Candi Sugar, Three Hop additions, Grains of Paradise, Whole Coriander and Bitter Orange Peel. As a note to anyone else who wants to brew this beer. This batch will clog your strainer! With all the hops and the huge pieces of orange peel, I had to stop and start the straining process twice. In future batches, I plan to use a colander and a mesh strainer for this batch so I can filter out the large chunks first. Either that or siphon it from the boil pot in to the fermenter so I can keep all the gunk in the pot. This batch smelled fantastic and it started bubblin’ in the fermenter in about 12hrs. Its batches like this that make me want a kegging set up so I can taste this beer in 3 weeks instead of 5.

I know most of you who home brew have some sort method to label your bottles. I’ve been using plan old masking tap and a sharpie to mark whats in each bottle. I didn’t like the “prohibition” feel that this method gave but I wasn’t exactly thrilled about printing out labels and then soaking them off once the beer had been enjoyed. I decided that a good compromise would be a permanent generic “Jensen Haus” label and the masking tape labels to note what and from when was in the bottles. I found these labels online and they are billed as “permanent”, dishwasher safe and laser printable. I order up a package and found that they print very well in the laser printer and that they are incredibly sticky and that the laser printing does not rub off. Even with a wet finger. I applied these labels to a case of 1L swing-top brown bottles last night. I ran them through the dishwasher this afternoon so I could bottle my batch of Oatmeal Stout and they survived the dishwasher excellently. In fact, during the stout bottling, I overfilled a couple of bottles and the spilled stout wiped right off the labels. So after a successful trial run, I then applied these labels to all my bottles. (they don’t work on the Growlers.) I took some pics and you can check them out on Flickr. (they should be the in “beer/brewing” photostream in the upper right.)

The Oatmeal Stout not only smelled fantastic, it tasted fantastic as well. Can’t see through it and it has a nice roastedness to it as a good hearty stout should. I hope I can hold out two weeks for this batch to carbonate.

When I got home from work tonight, I noticed the Hard Cider had pretty much stopped bubbling and that the Krausen in Oatmeal Stout had fallen. So it was Rackin’ Tuesday at Jensen Haus. (after some damn juicy burgers for dinner)

The Oatmeal Stout was pretty mundane. No issues in the racking. I tasted a sample and it tasted as expected. Nice coffee bite and very smooth. Oh how I hope this turns out this time. This batch was the first time I’ve ever used a carboy as a primary fermenter. Looking over in the kitchen, I dread the cleaning this carboy will need.

Now for the interesting part of the night. I transferred the Cider from the Primary bucket to a carboy through the spigot and took a sample glass. (I really liked transfering via the spigot as opposed to the racking cane.) Other than the previously noted Sulfur aroma, it smelled just like Woodchuck Hard Cider. In the carboy, it looked like five gallons of apple juice. (Jessica said it looked like urine. She has an amazing knack for things like that). After I transferred the cider, I popped the lid of the fermenter and discovered one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in the Home Brewing process. In the absence of the usual hop and trub in the bottom of the fermenter, the bottom of the Cider fermenter was just yeast. It looked like a combination of honeycomb and a close up view of a Tempurpedic memory foam mattress. Check out this close up photo I took.

After a fine meal of Spaghetti, Craig and JB joined me in brewing a batch of Oatmeal Stout on Saturday. I’m hoping to redeem myself after my last stout was a major disaster. I made two major alterations to my modus operandi for this batch. First, to try and weed out a “house” flavor of bitterness that I noticed in both the Pumpkin Ale and the Copper Ale, I decided to use bottled Spring Water instead of tap water. Besides being neutral and avoiding Chlorine and Fluoride, it also helps avoid any issues with water volume. If you buy 5 gallons of water, its kinda hard to use to much or too little and end up with a wicked powerful batch or a watery batch. Secondly, I made it a point to strain out the hop particles from the boil before the wort went in to the fermenter. I think that’s the major cause of noticeable bitter finish to the Pumpkin Ale and the Copper Ale. I don’t think the Spring Water was a major necessity as the water here in Sioux Falls is pretty decent. However, I strive to control the variables I have direct control over so it makes sense.

This Oatmeal Stout kit from Midwest is really simple. There are no Aroma Hop additions so its a straight forward boil. The Specialty Grains in this kit smell fantastic when they steep. The picture attached to this post is of the Stout in the fermenter. (the fermenter in the background is the Cider Test Batch.) It started bubblin’ inside of 24 hours. I love it when a batch starts fermenting that fast. First of all, if the yeast I add take control right away, the possibility of contamination is minimized. Secondly, its reassuring because it means the yeast were healthy and went to town right away.

The Irish Red has been officially bottled. I tasted it and it seems to be quite good. The time in the Secondary must have been good because this batch is REALLY clear. I’m going to assume a fair amount of chill haze but that always clears after a bit of lagering. I’m hoping this batch is excellent because this is Jessica’s batch. She was responsible for almost the entire batch. If this Irish Red turns out, I think I’ll make the Copper Ale and the Irish Red my standard “house” batches.

After much contemplation about a desire to brew more than once batch at once, I stared longingly at my Bottling Bucket and cursed it for being a Bottling Bucket, not a Primary Fermenter. It then occured to me that the only thing keeping my Primary from becoming a Bottling Bucket (and vice versa) was an extra lid, airlock and spigot. But, could I use a bucket with a spigot in it as a Primary? After some research it seemed that I was not alone. I quick ordered up a lid, spigot and airlock and pulled out the cordless drill and the 1in boring bit. Now I have two bottling buckets that can be used as Primaries. Its actually highly useful. If I rack the beer from the spigot , it leaves the trub on the bottom of the bucket as the spigot is mounted about an inch from the bottom. Now that I had two primary fermenters, I, of course, needed another secondary fermenter. I picked up a 6.5 and a 5 gallon carboy for $40 from a former homebrewer here in town. He threw in 48 cap bottles for free so it was a pretty good deal. Now I have a dearth of brew equipment.

A good friend of mine is getting married this summer and when asked if he wanted any home brew for his wedding, he said he wasn’t a big beer fan but if I could produce Hard Cider he would “love me forever”.

I decided to take on this task and it appears, on the surface anyway, to be rather simple. Obviously, this time of year, in my climate, fresh Cider is next to impossible to find in the store. My choices were to either 1. use bottled Cider or 2. fresh press some myself. Given the asinine cost of pressing my own, that option was right out. I bought 5 gallons of Cider from the store. Took a little work to find some Cider that was Pasteurized but didn’t have any preservatives in it. I’m sure some really fresh stuff in the fall would be ideal but I’ll make due with this test batch. I ordered a tube of White Labs English Cider Yeast from Midwest Supplies. Craig and JB (college buddies and purveyors of Nice ‘n Sleazy Home Brewing) came over and we sanitized the fermenter and dumped in the 5 gallons of Cider and pitched in the tube of yeast. It was bubbling in less than 24 hours. (White Labs is right. This yeast produces are really foul sulfur smell. Its supposed to subside after two weeks.) If this turns out, this is a crazy easy way to use my Home Brewing gear that sits idle when I’m not brewing to make a tasty beverage. I’m going to treat it just like a fresh batch of Wort at this point. 5 days in the primary bucket and then two weeks in a Carboy. I’ve read a number of recipes that say Brown Sugar is the best option for priming Cider so I’m going to do that. I’ll post an update when its further along the path drinkability.

Jessica, the Brew Mistress of Jensen Haus, and I brewed up the Irish Red Ale Kit we’d ordered from Midwest. The Boil and subsequent pitching of yeast went just fine. However, there was a HUGE lag from pitching the yeast to the fermentation beginning. We pitched this batch at about midnight Friday night and it just started bubbling this morning. My assumption is that it started some time late last night. That puts it right at the far reaches of the three day window. Maybe I was spoiled by the sub-24hr start time on the Copper Ale but this one freaked me out. I opted for the liquid White Labs yeast for this one just like I did on the Copper Ale. I do have a packet of Munton’s on hand just in case though. If this batch wouldn’t have started fermenting by tonight, I was going to pitch that in to the fermenter just in case I had a batch of White Labs or the temp was too high. Unless something changes, I shouldn’t need to resort to such a drastic measure.

The funny part is that because Jessica was “in charge” of this batch, she’s been checking on the fermenter all the time. I think she’s worried that she did something wrong and that it wouldn’t ferment. For both our sakes, I hope all is well with this Irish Red. I’m almost out of Copper Ale so I need to get this batch rollin’. Next up is an Oatmeal Stout. Without the Holiday Spices this time around. (Just for you Craig and JB.)

Well I have survived BockFest in New Ulm, MN. What an awesome time. I’m amazed at how little stupidity there was at an event like this. Its clear this event attracts the non-stupid drinkers. Clearly, I need to talk to my Father-in-Law about some deer skins and antlers. Check out the Flickr Gallery here.

Officially opened a bottle of the Copper Ale tonight. I had strategically put a single bottle in the fridge before I left for work yesterday so I could let it chill all day. Other than the inevitable chill haze, this stuff is awesome. I’m struggling to find a good comparison in a commercial brew but it reminds me of Sam Adams Winter Ale but not as dark. The closest comparison I’ve thought of would be an Oktoberfest. As the single bottle was successful, I put the whole batch in the fridge to halt the priming.  It should have close to 36hrs to settle the yeast and chill haze out. This should be an excellent drinking this stuff while waiting in line for Bockfest on Saturday morning. Hopefully I can keep myself from drinking all of it before I got to visit my parents in March. That’s the best part of Home Brewing. When you have a successful batch and you can share it with other people and get to say, “I made this.” Check out my Flickr Gallery of the Copper Ale here.