Bottling of the delicious Wooden Spoon Amber took place Wednesday night. Everything went according to plan, and the bottles are now resting comfortably in order to allow the yeast to do it’s job and munch on that priming sugar in an attempt to create carbonation in the bottles. This bottling attempt used Cooper’s Carbonation Drops, rather than having to mix up a slurry of sugar & water. My lovely wife opted for a pack to go along with the kit, versus the “usual” way of mixing up a sugar & water solution to add to the bottling bucket before transferring the beer into it. So now we wait.

*UPDATE MARCH 28th*

After three weeks in the bottle, I cracked my first one open. I must say, it’s got a great caramel taste and a nice Cascade hopped finish. Tastes similar to Firestone Brewing’s Pale 31, if you’ve ever tried that before. Definitely a winner, in spite all the little fuck-ups here and there. My Sierra Nevada clone is already in the bottle, and should be ready to drink in a week. I’ve also recently brewed up a clone of Moose Drool Brown Ale. That should be moving into the bottle in a couple weeks. I have a feeling this hobby will become a mainstay. There’s just something to be said for sitting on your patio and enjoying a nice cold beer….that I made myself.

Now that foam you see in the photo is actually from the sanitizer solution that was in the carboy prior to transfer. However, as I’ve learned: don’t fear the foam. There even seems to be a school of thought that the foam from Star-San might be some sort of food for the yeasties. Needless to say, the racking process went swimmingly. Took all of about 10 minutes, and although I was nervous about aerating it with a bunch of oxygen that might negatively affect the flavor, I couldn’t be happier with how well it went.

On another upbeat note, the broken section of the spoon that was referenced in Brew Time: pt. 1.5 (and led to the name of Broken Spoon Amber) didn’t make the move over to the secondary (click on the photo to see it up close and personal). Maybe I’ll make a necklace out of it, similar to Eric Estrada’s umbilical chord necklace… but I digress. None of the of sludge, or trub as it’s called in the classy home brew circles, on the bottom of the primary made it over either. So I’m hoping for a very clear final product.  Or, at least as clear as one could get without a fancy filtering system. Needless to say, with each passing day… or more correctly each passing sample I’ve pulled… the beer is tasting better and better. There is, however, one thing that is confusing me. This kit is an American Amber Ale by definition. However, it’s taste is very similar to Firestone’s California Pale Ale. A fine beer that I tried for the very first time during my little session of ” get a bunch of beer and see what this reminds me of”.

You see, the taste was bugging me. It was very good, but reminded me of something I’d tried before. S0, I went to Savemart and made myself a six-pack sampler of a few different beers, including Full Sale Amber, Red Tail, Anderson Valley’s Boont Amber, and a few others in order to figure out where I’ve tasted this beer before (because I was sure I had). One of them was this Firestone beer. It was something I have never had it before, and I was looking to round out a sixer. Now, I know that a Pale Ale is an offshoot of the Amber Ale tree, so I shouldn’t be that surprised, considering it’s my first attempt and there were a couple of things that weren’t exactly “text book” in my brewing process. I’m still trying to figure out what previously drank beer it was that this batch reminds me of, considering that until yesterday the Firestone CPA was one that I’ve never tasted, but for now I’m over that. It is what it is. Maybe one day, I’ll figure it out…who knows. However, I can’t stress enough that I do really love the taste of this batch. As I’ve said before, I’d drink it as it currently stands… carbonation be damned. So I can’t really complain about whether or not this beer ends up as a true amber ale or not. With that being said, bottling will commence on March 6th, and from that point there’s an estimated 2-plus weeks of bottle conditioning to further refine the taste and build up the carbonation. Then, it’s down the gullet.

Now, what do I do in the meantime, you ask? Simple. I’m starting a pipeline. I’ll be doing up my Sierra Nevada clone this weekend, and I’ll be using my new Bayou Classic SP-10 propane burner to brew this one up. It should cut down immensely on the time it takes to get things to boiling temp, slashing the total amount of time it takes to prepare this next batch. After this upcoming batch moves to the secondary stage, it’ll be on to a batch of a Moose Drool Brown Ale clone called Caribou Slobber, followed by Phat Tyre (you can probably guess what this is a clone of).

After all four of these batches are in the books, I’ll be trying my hand at a porter (possibly bourbon barrel) and a chocolate cherry stout. After all, I need a good collection of beers to offer on tap. Yes, I said on tap…. meaning, I’ve secured the appropriate mini-fridge to convert to a kegerator. It’s a Kenmore Elite 4.9 cu. ft. mini-fridge, bought off craigslist.com for $100. I’ll issuing a step-by-step post for anyone who is interested in making one of their own. Hopefully the info you glean from it will help.

That’s all for now, next up: the bottling process.

Yesterday, I took a peek at my batch and noticed that the krausen (foam created by fermentation) had dramatically subsided. That meant I could ditch the blow-off tube and put the airlock back on the carboy. Now prior to this, the fermentation had been so vigorous that it was pushing the bung up and weakening the air-tight seal on the fermenter. So I finally pushed it down nice and firmly, thus making it tough for the pressure to dislodge it. That was all fine and dandy, until it came time for me to remove it. It was so firmly planted, with very little room to grab with  my hands, that I had to improvise. So I grabbed a wooden spoon from the kitchen with a handle thin enough to get down into the hole and use as leverage to remove the bung.

As I began to pry the bung loose, the spoon was bending a little bit. Not enough to cause concern…or so I thought. Then, in the blink of an eye, I heard the dreaded *snap*. And there I was, holding the spoon in my hand, sans a one-inch piece of the handle. After shouting a handful of obscenities, the worry started to set in. Because the spoon wasn’t supposed to come into contact with the beer, I hadn’t bothered to sanitize it. Sure it was clean, having been in the dishwasher just a day prior, but this is wood. It’s porous, it has nooks and crannies, and bacteria loves to make a home in nooks and crannies.

So, I quickly made my way to the Home Brew Talk forum (a great resource and sounding board, btw) and asked about the chance of infection from this rookie move. A few of the long-standing members there consoled me and told me not to worry, just keep to my schedule. Chances are the beer will turn out just fine, as yeast is a formidable opponent for trace amounts of bacteria, and that as long as the spoon wasn’t filthy things should turn out ok. The caveat being that if it does end up as a bad batch, I’ll have a pretty good idea of why.

This eased my mind, to a point. Obviously, I’m still concerned as I don’t want something so petty to kill an entire batch….my first-ever batch. But I really have no other option but to let things play out and  just hope for the best. As an aside though, I decide that since I’d already had the batch “open”, I’d take an early hydrometer reading. The gravity is moving downwards nicely (1.015, down from 1.045) and the taste is becoming more refined. In a word: delicious. Especially for such a ‘green’ beer. So much so, that I’m now keeping all fingers and toes crossed in hopes that this batch turns out fine. Hell, even in it’s early stage, it’s actually something I’d have no problem drinking right now. So I’ve got that going for me.

I’ll be taking another reading towards the end of the weekend to use as my base in terms of seeing whether the fermentation has leveled off. If it has, then I may rack over to the secondary a couple days earlier than the full two weeks that I’d originally planned. That’ll give me a chance to get started on my Sierra Nevada clone, and get a stockpile in the pipeline. One thing I’ve learned though, next time use something sturdier than wood to remove a lodged bung.

• All the parts offered the Deluxe Kit
• 36 qt. stainless steel boiling kettle
• Bayou Classic SP10 propane burner
• immersion chiller
• a ton of 22 oz. bottles (probably make the jump to kegging by the summer)
• digital thermometer

So this past Saturday, my first batch went underway….an American Amber Ale. Needless to say, this first batch took me a total of about 6 hours from start to finish. Mainly because I was pretty anal about cleaning and sanitizing all the equipment. However, it was also due to the fact that I went straight for a full-boil (doing all 5 gallons of water at once) on our gas stove-top. Thankfully, from what I’ve read in the reviews on the new burner I bought, my future boil times will be dramatically reduced. All-in-all it went pretty well. I definitely learned a great deal of things that will instantly help me out on my next batch (a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone) starting in two weeks. That will be when this first back moves over to the secondary carboy, freeing up the primary for more brewing goodness.

I had a few minor bumps in the road, though. For instance, I misunderstood the hops calculations for doing a full boil. They say to use roughly 75% of the amount if you’re doing a full-boil, to which I understood as 75% to start, and the rest to be added later in the boiling window. So I’m sure it’ll be a bit more hoppy than normal, but I can live with that. I also forgot to take my original gravity reading prior to moving the product to the primary fermenter. However, I’ve got my fingers crossed that it was close to what the stated OG was, at 1.047. Seeing as how when I did take a gravity reading, about 20 hours later, it was just a touch over 1.040. Probably Greek to a lot of people reading this, but those of you out there who’ve brewed will understand.

Aside from that, there were really no other big concerns. So I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that a great batch materializes. Obviously, I did taste test the amount I pulled when I finally measured the gravity, and my to my surprise….it was damn good. Definitely sweet, but as the yeast continues to do it’s work, I expect that sweetness to subside. The rest of the flavors really reminded me of a Fat Tire Ale with a little more caramel flavor and less bite. Basically, something I’m really licking my chops to drink.

As for how the batch is doing here on day 4 of fermentation, it’s definitely bubbling away vigorously. About 3 per second. So the yeast seems to be working it’s ass off. Meanwhile, I’m desperately fighting the urge to take another reading….mainly because I get to sample the testing amount after the reading is done. However, for the sake of keeping oxygen (and any potentially harmful bacteria) out of the batch, I keep resisting my impulses.

In the end, this first batch has been a great time so far. Should be ready to drink on March 20, and you can definitely expect a full review…good or bad. I’m also planning on making regular updates each step of the way from start to finish. As well as detailing how my Sierra clone goes, based on putting to work everything I’ve learned from this first preparation. Also, in my plans to keep a steady supply of beer in the pipeline, I’ve already more or less decided on my next few batches beyond these two. One being a clone of Moose Drool Brown Ale, and the other being an Fat Tire clone (named Phat Tyre, oddly enough). Eventually a Chocolate Cherry Stout will be in order, but first I want to find a good “staple” for my beer inventory. One thing is for sure, you can count on getting quite a few updates about how this new hobby is coming along. Hopefully I’ll even learn a thing or two that might be useful to pass on.

Oh, and to my lovely wife….don’t worry, the back room won’t be continuing to be strewn with equipment much longer. Once this batch goes to secondary, I’m reorganizing.