Beer Pipeline Update

Yesterday, Joe and I racked the Black Chocolate Stout clone to the secondary fermenter. It finished at 8.5% ABV. It'll sit in the secondary for a week or two and then into a keg for carbonation. Nate's pale ale clone kit is still actively fermenting, so I'll have to wait until it finishes.

On a sad note, the keg of my first batch of Three Micks Irish Red Ale kicked yesterday. I knew the keg was low, so I decided to fill a few bottles to give away. It was a good beer and well received by all who tried it. I'm working on brewing a new variation in the next few weeks. I'll post some pics later, so please stop back. Cheers!

Update 02/02/2014: Stout is still in the secondary. I'll likely transfer it to keg in the next few days. Nate's Pale Ale went down the drain last night. I think it was contaminated, likely by something in the kit. Oh well, it happens. 

January 18th Brew Day

SBBC's first brew day of 2014 went very well. The Club actually brewed two beers on Saturday. We brewed an all grain clone of Black Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn Brewery. We also brewed a Racer 5 Pale Ale extract kit that Nate received for Christmas. We were able to brew the Pale Ale kit while the Stout was hanging out in the mash-tun. Joe D. made boneless wings with his own sweet and spicy hot sauce. 

Both beers finished in the correct range for their original gravity and were transferred to the fermenting vessels. We actually had a little over 6 gallons of the Stout, so we split one gallon into two growlers. All four vessels were bubbling away nicely by Sunday afternoon. 

We were able to get a fresh batch of yeast, direct from the fermenter, from Rob at New England Brewing.  That yeast was pitched into the Stout and it should work nicely. I'll post an update as both beers progress. I plan to brew another version of the Three Micks IRA very soon. 

Here's a few pics from brew day:

Fresh can of yeast from New England Brewing

Stout boiling

View of our new hardware on the brew pot

Thermometer

Chilling the wort

Joe D. chilling, while chilling the wort

Almost done

Done

A well deserved beer after cleaning up

4 happy air locks

Keezer Update

Quick update on our Keezer. All of the lines have been coiled and secured. Tabatha got me a pair of tap handles for Christmas. One from Northern Brewer and one from Sixpoint Brewery. Both very cool. We also found out that the compressor shelf inside the keezer will fit 5 growlers. I posted a few photos below. Cheers!

Nice, new tap handles for Christmas

Close up of my tap handles.
Northern Brewer on the left and Sixpoint Brewery on the right. 

Inside view. Tubing all coiled up.
Growlers on the compressor shelf. 

SBBC Brew Day Saturday, January 18th.

Please join us for the first brew day of 2014. 

Saturday, January 18th, 2014. 10 AM.

We will be brewing a Chocolate Stout. Cheers!