Something Aint Right

Three weeks ago I decided to make a yeast starter from one of Rogue's famous beers. They use a special strain of yeast known as Pacman yeast which is supposed to be very clean, and have a very high attenuation (80%-85%). Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to brew and had to put the starter aside. So I let it sit in the fridge for a few weeks, giving the yeast a nice rest. Today was the day to have at it and use the Pacman on the oatmeal stout I was to make. But when I opened the starter to take a whiff... phew! It smelled like sour milk. Definitely not something I want to put in my beer. So, I'll be putting off the stout once more and taking another go at building a starter from harvested yeast.

A Flavourful Note

Both the Scottish Light and the Centennial Blonde are now available on tap. The blonde came out great! This was my second attempt at the recipe, and last time I had added a dry hop addition for some aroma. I decided to go without them this time and am not disappointed. It's extremely smooth, slightly sweet, slight hop bitterness, and very, very drinkable.
The Scottish Light (see below for recipe) is just that... light! I missed my FG by only 4 points (was shooting for 1.011 and hit 1.015), but with a starting gravity of only 1.035, those four points make a huge difference. I lost 1% abv, from 3.5% to 2.5%. It's very thin, which you would expect from a light beer, but it does have good (albeit subtle) malty flavor. While it is enjoyable, it is not what I'm looking for in a beer. I want more body (which I may have lost in part due to poor mash temperature stabilization), and more pronounced flavor. So next up... Oatmeal Stout!

New Toy!

Whoo! I got me a gorgeous new toy. A Blichmann BoilerMaker. 20 gallons worth of brewing glory. And of course with said new toy comes a new batch of beer. My first 10 gallon batch! An American Wheat. One of the things I'm looking forward to in being able to brew up ten gallon batches is being able to take one brew and try two different yeasts with it. Since I will be splitting the batch into two 5 gallon carboys, I have some room to experiment. However, since I wasn't sure what I was making until the last minute I didn't really have time to make a yeast stater. So I just used the same yeast (a dry Safale US-05, similar to Wyeast's 1056) for both.
While there was no room to experiment with yeasts, I will be making one of these batches into a strawberry wheat! Which is new and exciting for me. I think strawberries will go very will with this brew. And I'm fermenting at high temps to extract some fruity esters from the yeast.

A Week Off

My mom and niece are coming in to town this weekend, so no new brew. Which fits perfectly into my new schedule: Three weekends on, one off. Also, I'm going to try to keep things interested by alternating dark and light beers each brew. Or hoppy and malty as the case may be. So I've got a blonde that's ready to go (light) and the Scottish light which will be ready in 2-3 weeks (dark). You can keep track of what's going on in the Barefoot Brewery with the lists off to the right. I have a lot of great sounding beers on my "to do" list, which is very exciting. It's only been 15 months of brewing and I've only repeated two beers. I love the excitement of looking at a recipe and thinking, "Mmm! I can't wait to make you! You're gonna taste so good."

Could Have Been Worse

Well, that wasn't exactly an ideal brew day, but at least I learned some things about my system from it. I hit 1.036 and 5.85 gallons going into the boil, which was 3 points high and 0.15 gallons short. Which isn't that bad. But with a 90 min boil I ended up with about 4 gallons at 1.046! That's 13 points above my targeted OG. So time to do some more work. Boil up a gallon and a half of water to dilute the wort. Cooled it down (but not enough) and mixed into the wort. I have the wort sitting in the fermenting fridge to bring the temp down to around 64 before pitching the yeast.
So brew day went a bit long, after not accounting for the 90 min boil (whoops). But no biggie. I'm really excited for this beer, it looks really nice.

Scottish Light

It's another brew day. And it looks like it's going to be a beauty! Mostly sunny and a high of 70. Nice.
Today I'm brewing up a Scottish Light ale (BJCP style 9A). I had originally scheduled today for my first porter, but decided I really didn't want to make something heavy that would limit you to one or two pints a sitting. Also, I wanted something that wouldn't have to age for long, something I can drink within 2-3 weeks of brewing. I have yet to make an all grain Scottish ale, so this seemed perfect. I had also just happened upon this month's BYO which has an entire section dedicated to Scottish beers.

When most people think of a Scottish ale they think of a Scotch ale. A beer that's typically heavy, malty, and high in alcohol. Well, that doesn't have to be the case. The Scottish Light, or 60/- (shilling) is defined as "cleanly malty with a dry finish" and is balanced more towards malt than hops in profile (which is common for all Scottish ales). You're looking for only 2.5%-3.2% ABV in this beer, which is very light and easy to drink. Should be perfect for the start of fall.

Robbie Burn's 60/-
(BYO September, 2008)

Target OG 1.033
Target FG 1.011
Target IBU 15.5
SRM 14.5

2.25 lb Munich Malt
1.75 lb Marris Otter
1.75 lb Vienna Malt
0.50 lb Crystal Malt 40L
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt

0.75 oz East Kent Goldings (90 min) (original recipe called for Fuggles, which I could not find)

1 pkg of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale - no starter

Scottish ales should be mashed med-high (154-158) to reduce the amount of fermentable sugars. My brewing software tells me my FG will be 1.009, so I will aim for a higher mash temp (157) and hopefully get it to 1.011.
The original recipe called for 0.25 lb more of the Munich, MO, and Vienna malts. But with my efficiency being what it is, I had to reduce those numbers to hit the target OG.

A Brew Start

Welcome to the Barefoot Brewery blog. First things first, I need a slogan. Something that's inviting and warm and makes you want a brew.
A little history: I've been homebrewing for 13 months and have 22 brews under the belt. I'm constantly looking to make something new and interesting and expand my pallet as often as possible. I'm a proud member of the Madison Homebrewers and Taster Guild, and a frequent visitor and contributor to Homebrew Talk.com.

My setup is simple. I have a 48 quart mash lauter-tun, two 6.5 gallon carboys, two 5 gallon carboys, a 32 quart kettle, a 14 quart kettle, immersion wort chiller, and fermenting fridge. I hope to soon be the proud owner of a Blichmann BoilerMaker Brew Pot (/drool).

I hope this blog will encourage other to brew and make them realize that there's really nothing to it!
Cheers!