Category: Images (What’s Brewing)


Hyper Holidays!

Filed Under: Images (What's Brewing), Notes (What's Brewing) by ABREWCADABREW — Comments Off
30 December, 2011

I thought “holiday” meant “slow down, relax”, but I’ve been busier than a ferret gone berserk down a Geordie’s trousers this week! First, I hooked up a digital thermostat controller to my new chest freezer (the controller turns the chest freezer on-and-off depending on the temperature setting): Digital Thermostat Controller

On Sunday, I bottled 12L of AbrewcadaBroon, my Northern English Brown Ale. I spent Monday milling grains and getting ready for Tuesday, when I somehow managed to brew four batches of beer in a single day. The original plan was brew batches over the course of a week, but due to complications (i.e. dates with the in-laws), I decided to get it all over and done with in one go.

In retrospect, a very bad idea. I started at six in the morning, finished just after midnight, with nary a break – and a lot of scrambling – in between batches. If I may, here’s priceless advice: when planning your brew days, always account for unplanned mishaps and mayhem.

The good news is: I’ve now four 10L batches of beer (two Munich Helles and two Oktoberfests) lagering at a controlled 12.2°C degrees. They’ll stay like that until the end of January, bottling day is slated for the 29th; they’ll be ready to drink at the end of February. 楽しみしています！

Four Lagers and a Fermentation Chamber

Now all I have to do is make it through to 2012! Hyper holidays and Happy New Year!

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So Hot You’re Cool, So Cool You’re Hot

Filed Under: Images (What's Brewing), To-Do's & Ta-Da's by ABREWCADABREW — 2 Comments
22 December, 2011

It started out as innocent fun. After a few (and then a few more) beers last Wednesday night, I placed a bid for a brand new chest freezer at Yahoo! Auctions. The model I was bidding on, a 2011 Abitelax ACF-205R, regularly sells for ¥30,000-¥50,000, so I thought I’d try my luck on a deal that was ending in less than 24 hours.

By the time I decided to call it a night, the price had gone up to ¥18,500, but was still a steal. I left placing a maximum bid of ¥18,750 then went to bed. Here’s what I saw the next day:

Oops. Did I do that? Methinks I did. Thursday was a horror, worrying I might have to pay some astronomical price for something I never really intended to buy. ¥25,000 or less, then all right. Any more than that, however, and I was going to be a very unhappy idiot.

Fortunately, this Christmas story has a happy ending; the bidding finished at ¥22,500 (¥25,000 with shipping). The chest freezer arrived last Friday, and I spent yesterday moving things about the brewery to make her fit. And she does, beautifully.

Chest Freezer 205L

Plenty of room inside for multiple fermentors and more! In the picture below there are four 10L BetterBottle™ carboys with ample space for whatever other goodies will fit. More importantly, having the freezer means the lagers I’m brewing next week now have the perfect home!

Chest Freezer 205L (Inside)

For you homebrewers reading this, yes, I do have digital thermostat controllers, and I will be hooking them up this weekend (pictures and post in due course). You know what this means, don’t you? That’s right: total fermentation temperature control! The best brewed beers in the world will be mine! Mine! Miiiiiiiiine! *cue mad scientist laughter*

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Scottish Lee Heavy Carbonation Test: Success

Filed Under: EVENTS, Images (What's Brewing), Notes (What's Brewing) by ABREWCADABREW — 1 Comment
6 November, 2011

I’m often asked how beer gets carbonated; in my previous post, I mentioned something about getting it right. There are two ways to carbonate beer, naturally and forced, I use the natural method: adding a small amount of sugar to the beer in its final container (i.e. bottle). Because enough suspended yeast remains in the beer, the sugar ferments creating CO2, and since the bottle gets capped the CO2 has no choice but to be absorbed by the beer.

There are several ways to do this, I prefer measuring the sugar then boiling it with water; adding this priming solution to a bottling bucket; adding the beer to the bottling bucket and priming solution; then proceed with bottling. In that order. Standard stuff.

But when I bottled my Scottish Lee Heavy the other day, I wound up having to add the sugar solution to the bottling bucket with the beer already in it. Don’t ask why, I’m not going to say, except that I was worried the sugar might not have mixed properly with the beer.

Fortunately there’s a way to check carbonation. On bottling day I fill an empty 500ml PET soda bottle with beer, but then squeeze out as much excess air as I can, resulting in (image left). As the beer carbonates, the bottle pops back into shape. I can judge how carbonated the beer is by how much the bottle returns to its normal shape and hardness. As you can see (image right), my Scottish Lee Heavy is doing just fine. Whew!

Carbonation Test

Okay, no more worry, time to make breakfast and head out to the Nippon Craft Beer Festival!

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