Another Brewday!

I'll try a little live blogging today since we decided to brew our 10th beer. My folks surprised me with a gift certificate to the brew supply store up the street for my birthday, so we decided to take advantage and make our last beer for awhile since the rafting season is going to keep us busy.

We also just finished bottling our Imperial Pale Ale, and the sample tastes spectacular.

3:03pm - Okay, this post is not quite live since we technically started it about 20min ago, but the pre-boil with specialty grains is underway. This used a variety of light malts including Munich, Carapils, Wheat and Honey. The house already smells like a brewery.

3:25pm - Wort is now in the brew kettle. Once we get it up to ~180F we'll had the first extract addition and an ounce of hops (Simcoe and Columbus).

3:38pm - While waiting for the wort temperature to rise, Ryan Rowland-Smith struck out Garrett Anderson with the bases loaded to secure the win for the Mariners. Nice win boys!

4:02pm - Malt and hops added. We'll boil until we reach the hot break (after bubbles subside), and then start our timed hop additions. Coming up are Cascade, Amarillo and more Simcoe and Columbus.

4:15pm - Boil reached. Waiting for the hot break.

4:20pm - Happy 4/20!

4:26pm - Timing starts now. Added Columbus hops to boil for 60min.

4:56pm - Added Amarillo hops. This and the hops afterwards will mostly contribute to the aroma.

5:05pm – Added last dry malt extract (DME) addition.

5:11pm - Added Simcoe hops to boil for 15min. Also added 1 teaspoon of Irish Moss for clarity.

5:16pm – Added Columbus hops for 10min boil.

5:21pm – Added Cascade hops to boil for 5 minutes.

5:25pm – Added a full ounce of Cascade hops for the last minute of boil.

5:26pm - That's the end of the timed boil. We'll whirlpool the wort and let it rest for 15 minutes before cooling it in the ice bath.

5:41pm - The wort has been transferred to the ice bath. Rather than timing it, we'll wait until it cools to 75-80F.

6:55pm - Looks like it's time to buy a wort chiller, 75 minutes is probably a bit too long for this part of the process. Anyway, got it moved into the fermenter and aerated. We used some leftover yeast from our ESB that we still had stored in the fridge (Pacman strain). Kat boiled up a small batch of extract yesterday to add to the yeast as a starter. It seemed pretty feisty when we activated it before tossing it in so we're not too worried about it. It's sitting at a comfortable 69F in the cabinet. See you in a week when we rack and dryhop. I'll also have rafting stories from our trip on the White Salmon.