I have been playing with a Sanguino development board this weekend. It is a pretty nice chip, a big brother of the popular arduino but with more I/O's and more memory etc. I plan on building an extensive project with it in the coming weeks and months. Here is a quick video of it in action with a test program I wrote.
Validation
Todd and I brewed a batch of IPA about three weeks ago which is ready to bottle shortly. Todd has just ordered the first of his brewing equipment, a syphon and some sanitizer which he will need to bottle the beer as soon as the stuff arrives. A week after we brewed the IPA in NJ Todd came up here and Todd, Jay, and I brewed another batch of American Amber Ale, which makes batch #AA005. This batch will be ready to transfer to a keg in another week. Both the IPA and the Amber Ale should be done by the same weekend (two weeks from now) and we will all get together to sample everything. I have also purchased a Counter-Pressure Bottle Filler. Which, simply put, is a device to fill a bottle of beer from a keg without oxidizing the beer with air while filling. Its basically the same process a brewery assembly line would use except this is a by hand process and only one beer at a time. It is however all stainless steel and a one handed operation. I will most likely bottle 1/4-1/2 of the keg to store and distribute so that I can see how well the filler works. I also purchased some things I need to make an automatic yeast stirrer as well as the ingredients for the next batch of beer! (*shhh its a secret). Now if only I can get the parts I need to finish building my 5 keg Kegerator! Check back here later or Black Heart
I have come up with a logo for Black Heart Brewery that some of you may have seen. This is the label I plan on making for the bottles. For now it will be made of black and white vinyl so I can reuse the bottles by washing them and sanitizing them. Unlike paper labels, these should stay intact on the bottles. Also, I hope that I can use them as regular stickers as well. A small white space has been added so that a batch number etc can be written on the side. Click on the image for the full sized version.
It has been about 7 days since we brewed the beer. Since then the air lock has begun to bubble and slowly died back down. Finally it was time to bottle the beer. The temperature on the fermentor shows the beer at a just above 70degF.
The first step to bottling the beer was to prepare some food for the yeast to eat. This will allow them to make the correct amount of C02 gas carbonating the beer but not making the bottles explode. For this we use priming sugar. 5oz was heated in 2 cups of boiling water to dissolve it.
After the sugar was ready the fermenter was opened. Here is the beer in the fermenter after being opened.
The hydrometer was dropped in to take a quick gravity reading before continuing.
The next step is adding the sugar/water mixture to the bottling bucket and siphoning the beer from the fermentation bucket into the bottling bucket while disturbing the beer as little as possible. Here you see the beer in the middle of being transferred.
After getting the beer into the bottling bucket ( the one with the spout ) all of the beer bottles needed to be washed and ready to fill. I used one liter and half liter bottles with flip top lids.
A bottling wand is used to get the beer from the bucket into the bottles. It is basically a plastic tube with a valve on the bottom. Push the wand into the bottle, the valve releases beer into the bottle. This ensures that the beer doesn't aerate while being transferred from the bucket into the bottles.
After about an hour of washing bottles and siphoning beer all of the beer is in the bottles. Some beer was waisted due to transfer from one container to another. Each transfer left some sediment that wasnít worth bottling. The net result was 16 liters of beer in 12 ñ 1L bottles and 8 -.5L bottles. Now that the beer is bottled the yeast will eat the sugar and create just enough C02 to carbonate the beer. This will take another 2 weeks in which time the beer will also have time to age. Here is a picture of the beer and its color and clarity at this current stage.
That's it for now. All there is left to do is wait another 2 weeks for the beer to be ready to drink. The beer might also improve with aging additional weeks but that testing will come later. Now I just need a better name than my current Brett's Basement Brew.
The first step to bottling the beer was to prepare some food for the yeast to eat. This will allow them to make the correct amount of C02 gas carbonating the beer but not making the bottles explode. For this we use priming sugar. 5oz was heated in 2 cups of boiling water to dissolve it.
After the sugar was ready the fermenter was opened. Here is the beer in the fermenter after being opened.
The hydrometer was dropped in to take a quick gravity reading before continuing.
The next step is adding the sugar/water mixture to the bottling bucket and siphoning the beer from the fermentation bucket into the bottling bucket while disturbing the beer as little as possible. Here you see the beer in the middle of being transferred.
After getting the beer into the bottling bucket ( the one with the spout ) all of the beer bottles needed to be washed and ready to fill. I used one liter and half liter bottles with flip top lids.
A bottling wand is used to get the beer from the bucket into the bottles. It is basically a plastic tube with a valve on the bottom. Push the wand into the bottle, the valve releases beer into the bottle. This ensures that the beer doesn't aerate while being transferred from the bucket into the bottles.
After about an hour of washing bottles and siphoning beer all of the beer is in the bottles. Some beer was waisted due to transfer from one container to another. Each transfer left some sediment that wasnít worth bottling. The net result was 16 liters of beer in 12 ñ 1L bottles and 8 -.5L bottles. Now that the beer is bottled the yeast will eat the sugar and create just enough C02 to carbonate the beer. This will take another 2 weeks in which time the beer will also have time to age. Here is a picture of the beer and its color and clarity at this current stage.
That's it for now. All there is left to do is wait another 2 weeks for the beer to be ready to drink. The beer might also improve with aging additional weeks but that testing will come later. Now I just need a better name than my current Brett's Basement Brew.
The first step to making beer is making the Wart ( wErt ) which the yeast then converts to alcohol. Todd finally arrived at around 3 and we started to brew beer!! Here are the ingredients we used.
Malted barley and a mesh bag to put it in, a can of light malt extract, powdered malt, Bittering hops, Finishing hops, 5 gallons of water, and a 5 gallon stainless steel pot to cook everything in.
This is the equipment I used for this step of making the beer.
A 7 gallon bucket with lid, one way air valve, plastic tubing, siphon and tubing, plastic spoon, hydrometer(measures alcohol level), thermometer, and sanitizing agent.
This is the English ale yeast thatís ready to pitch into the wart.
Here is the malted barley in the mesh bag soaking in the pot as it warms up to 170degF. In the background the liquid malt heats up in a pot of water to make it pour easier.
The sugars, flavoring and coloring are being released into the water as it heats up.
After the water reaches boiling and the barley is removed the liquid malt and powered malt is added to the water. When the water returns to a boil the bittering hops is added.
Todd stirs the wart while Chris and I go get Ice at the store that we will need soon.
Todd plays guitar and sings to the beer to make sure it brews well and grows up to be a nice strong ale.
After boiling the wart for 55 minutes and adding the finishing hops for 5 minutes the pot is immeditaly transferred to a sink full of ice water. Once the temperature reaches 70degF the wart is siphoned into the 7 gallon fermentation bucket. As all of that took place rather quickly this picture shows the beer at the end of this step.
We then add water to bring the total liquid volume up to 5 gallons. Now that the tempature is settled between 70-80degF its time to pitch the yeast.
After the yeast is pitched the hydrometer is dropped into the wart to measure the specific gravity. This will be used later to determine the alcohol content.
The lid is then snapped onto the bucket and the air lock is inserted in the lid and filled with water.
Now the beer will sit for about 7 days while the yeast eats all of the sugars in the wart and converts them into alcohol and C02. Stay tuned for more updates on the next phases.
Malted barley and a mesh bag to put it in, a can of light malt extract, powdered malt, Bittering hops, Finishing hops, 5 gallons of water, and a 5 gallon stainless steel pot to cook everything in.
This is the equipment I used for this step of making the beer.
A 7 gallon bucket with lid, one way air valve, plastic tubing, siphon and tubing, plastic spoon, hydrometer(measures alcohol level), thermometer, and sanitizing agent.
This is the English ale yeast thatís ready to pitch into the wart.
Here is the malted barley in the mesh bag soaking in the pot as it warms up to 170degF. In the background the liquid malt heats up in a pot of water to make it pour easier.
The sugars, flavoring and coloring are being released into the water as it heats up.
After the water reaches boiling and the barley is removed the liquid malt and powered malt is added to the water. When the water returns to a boil the bittering hops is added.
Todd stirs the wart while Chris and I go get Ice at the store that we will need soon.
Todd plays guitar and sings to the beer to make sure it brews well and grows up to be a nice strong ale.
After boiling the wart for 55 minutes and adding the finishing hops for 5 minutes the pot is immeditaly transferred to a sink full of ice water. Once the temperature reaches 70degF the wart is siphoned into the 7 gallon fermentation bucket. As all of that took place rather quickly this picture shows the beer at the end of this step.
We then add water to bring the total liquid volume up to 5 gallons. Now that the tempature is settled between 70-80degF its time to pitch the yeast.
After the yeast is pitched the hydrometer is dropped into the wart to measure the specific gravity. This will be used later to determine the alcohol content.
The lid is then snapped onto the bucket and the air lock is inserted in the lid and filled with water.
Now the beer will sit for about 7 days while the yeast eats all of the sugars in the wart and converts them into alcohol and C02. Stay tuned for more updates on the next phases.
Today I am going to finally begin my adventure into home brewing! I have all the equipment, supply's, and instructions I need. I will be brewing 5 gallons of Red Ale, which I hope to be similar to Killians Irish Red. Pictures will be taken throughout the process so check back for status updates. I will also be posting more about the process behind making beer as well as my future beer making plans.
