Holiday Brewing
I decided to make up a batch of Extra Special Bitter for the holidays. It’s been quite a while since I have done any brewing, so I decided to go with an extract kit rather than doing an all grain batch. Right now I am outside with the snow, ice and rain bringing the kettle up to temperature for the boil. This will be the first time I try to use a plate chiller, so we’ll see how this goes.
UPDATE: Fermentation has started. I had a few issued with the plate chiller. In terms of cooling, it was very efficient, but if you use one, I have a few suggestions. Ideally, you’d probably want a pump. but they are hella expensive for a single use item. It can be done with gravity, but as I discovered a bit too late, one of these is a must, as the plate chiller ended up clogging with pellet hop residue. The worst part is I have one of those strainers for my kettle, but I forgot to put it on. Another option would be to just pre-filter the hot wort, being careful not to splash it and cause oxidation.
Related posts (automatically generated):
Don’t you have and ‘Extra Special’ Bitter already?
Kinda late to be starting on a holiday beer, unless you have a kegging system?
I have a kegging system. It’ll be ready to drink by Christmas.
D’oh! Thirdpower beat me to it. :-(
I was gonna say, “I thought you MARRIED the Extra Special Bitter”…
She’s not bitter in real life though :)
Actually, despite the name, the beer isn’t really that bitter either.
Besides, I wouldn’t complain about the name. As soon as this is done, he’s going to make me some hard cider. Yay!
I’ve wanted to try making hard cider. I should stop by Maltose Express one day after work and see if they have raw apple juice.