Mmmm.... Beer

Ok, so the food obsession continues. Many of you have sampled my brews and I thought you might be interested in seeing what the process is for making a 5 gallon batch. I took the opportunity spring break has presented to try the latest recipe, a Belgian White - think Blue Moon. The whole process, from setup to clean up, took about 4.5 hours. One thing I cannot convey via the net is the aroma which is very pleasant, especially with the Belgian White because of all of the different hops and spices.

In 6 weeks, assuming I get to bottling on time, we can be sampling some. This will be just in time to celebrate the end of the semester - or maybe not...


The first step - soak the mash (assorted grains and malts) for an hour at 150 degrees.


Step two - sparge the mash by slowly pouring 2 gallons of water (heated to 170 degrees) a few cups at a time to rinse the remaining sugars off the grains. Appearently you can use the spent grains for making bread or granola bars. Sometime when I have more space, I will probaby try this.


Step three is to bring the mixture to almost boiling, turn the heat off and dissolve the malt extract (sugar).


After bringing the mixture (which is called wort - not the most appetizing name...) to a rolling boil, the first batch of hops are added. This is kept at a rolling boil for (in this recipe) 40 minutes.


Another round of hops, some of the seasonings (lemon and orange peel and corriander spice), and some Irish Moss, which helps beer clarity, is added and boiled for 15 minutes. The last batch of hops and spices are boiled for the remaining 5 minutes.


Here the wort is chilled using a wort chiller - cold water in, warm water out - to 70 degrees before the wort is poured into the fermenter and the yeast is pitched. Someday I will find a way to put the warm water to good use because this process is very water intensive.


The wort in the fermenter after the yeast has been pitched.


And finally, here the wort will rest in a closet with an airlock while the yeast do their magic (make beer!) for the next week or so. After that time, I transfer it to the secondary where more of the sediments will settle out.