Batch #3 Post #2

Notes from today's bottling:

I finished bottling the third batch. Other than spilling more beer than I would have liked, it all went well. This time I cleaned the bottles by hand, but then used my dishwasher at home to sanitize them (it has a setting that is supposed to do that). If that works well it will be a whole lot easier than cleaning all the damn bottles by themselves.

I ended up with 12 twenty-two oz bottles and around 61 twelve oz bottles.

I went back to the Fox Valley Homebrew and Winery shop in Aurora earlier today and picked up another case of bottles because I didn't have quite enough. While I was there I also picked up a 21 inch stainless steel brewers spoon and some more caps. It's longer than my other one so I won't burn my hand and there will be less risk for contamination in future batches.

I've been thinking about my next batch and I might try to experiment a bit and try for a pale ale. I'm wanting something with a lot of hop aroma and flavor, but not quite as much bitterness as an IPA. Also a lighter color beer would be nice, as the three batches I've made so far have been relatively dark colored.

After the problem I ran into before of mixing up my different bottles between batch 1 and 2, I decided to buy a permanent marker and just write a number 3 on the cap of all of this batch. Problem solved.

Next time I am bottling I need to remember to use the hose which is a little thiner. The one I have was a bit too wide for the bottling wand, and it sort of leaked a lot.

Batch #3 Post #1

So I am in the middle of bottling, but letting some stuff settle out. I'll post more later on the actual bottling process, but I thought I'd take this time to give the recipe for my third batch:

Batch #3:
6 lbs. Dried Wheat Malt Extract (55% wheat/45% barley/9EBC)
1 lb. Orange Blossom Honey (Dutch Gold Brand)
1 lb. Crushed Wheat Grains (Briess White Wheat Malt, 6 Row, Lovibond 2)
1 oz Hallertauer Leaf Hops, Alpha: 8.6
1 oz Willamette Pellet Hops, Alpha: 4.6
1.5 oz crushed coriander
1.5 oz sweet orange peel

-Steap the crushed wheat in ~3.5 gallons of water at 152 degrees for 30 minutes (kept right around/under 150 degrees)
-Brought to boil
-Add 6 lbs. of Dried Wheat Malt Extract, dissolve
-Added 1 lb. of Orang Blossom Honey
-Brought back to boil, added 1 oz of Hallertauer hops for bittering, and boiled for 1/2 hour.
-Add 1/2 oz of Willamette hops and .5 oz of coriander and .5 oz of Sweet Orange Peel and boil for 15 minutes
-Add 1/2 oz of Willamette and .75 oz of coriander and .75 oz of S.O.P and boil for 10 minutes
-Add .25 oz of coriander and .25 oz. of S.O.P., and remove from heat.

Note: I didn't add the first amount of S.O.P. until probably 5 minutes or so after I said I would

O.G.: 1.055
F.G.: 1.016
(probably more like a FG of 1.012 cause I added the priming sugar before measuring.)

Moment of Pride

Last night I went over to John's house and brought a few of my beers with for my friends to try. After pouring him a glass of my first batch, Tim immediately said "that's like a Belgian White, kind of like a Blue Moon". That was pretty cool.

Homebrew Shop Review

Fox Valley Homebrew and Winery - Aurora, IL

I went to this shop about 2 weeks ago with my dad to pick up some ingredients for Batch #3. It was in a pretty cool looking location, in downtown Aurora right next to the river. It was the first real homebrew shop I've been to (I went to a place that sold homebrew supplies, but was a hobby shot), so I didn't know quite what to expect.

Anyway, we went on a Saturday. You walk in and it is sort of plain looking with a little display area with some various homebrew equipment. They have a room behind their office/desk area with all of their supplies. It was a little bit cramped in there, but they had a decent selection. They only had LME in name brand cans, none that you could buy by the weight, which was a little disappointing. A good selection of grains which they also will grind for you. Considering the hop shortage, they also had a pretty good selection of hops (I would say about 10 different kinds stored in a freezer).

Pricing varied a bit. Their hops and malt extract seemed a little expensive compared to what I've found online, but they had some decent prices on certain equipment (they had bottles for pretty cheap comparatively). I picked up a large wire and mesh strainer for more reasonable (and a larger one) than I've found most places online.

The guy there who helped us was really friendly. They also sell wine supplies, which was more his expertise. He knew the basics of beer making, but didn't know a whole lot more than I do. He was nice enough though to call up one of the guys who knows more about beer when I had questions. That was pretty impressive customer service. He also said usually they had someone there, but it just happened to be a time when they didn't. They also apparently have some classes and tastings for wine and beer making, which also seemed pretty cool. I might have to look more into that over the summer.

Overall Opinion: It was a pretty decent place. I'll definitely go back. It's hard really to give an opinion since it is the first dedicated-to-brewing shop I've been to. If you are as big of a stickler for costs like I am, you can find some decent buys there, but know comparative prices of what you want online. If you are just looking for one or two ingredients, it is probably cheaper than buying online with shipping costs figured in, but if you are looking for buying all your ingredients for a batch, the costs can add up.