It’s been an interesting week at Mad Haven (aka the kitchen in my apartment). One beer turned out amazingly well. One is.. scary.
We weren’t able to stick to the schedule I mentioned a few weeks ago. Surprise surprise. But we did brew a lot. It just won’t all be ready this week.
The last batch of the blonde turned out so well. It’s a little belgiany due to no temperature control – it costs a lot to run an AC 24/7. But it’s delicious. I’m going to submit it into a homebrew competition at City O’ City on Tuesday. I’ve posted the recipe before, but here it is again, in extract form:
- 6 lbs Liquid Light Malt Extract
- 1 lb Flaked Wheat
- .5 lb Munich
- 1.5 lb Vienna
- .25 lb Crystal 15
- 1 oz Cascade (5.5%) @ 45 min
- 1 oz Czech Saaz (5.0%) @ 5 min
- White Labs WLP001 California Ale
As well as that turned out, the Scotch Ale took a different approach. It appears I didn’t sanitize the oak chips well enough, and some sort of bacteria or mold got into the batch. This isn’t for the faint of heart:
Various people have suggested various things about this batch. My plan is to fill 6 bottles and try them in a few weeks, and then let the rest of it age for a few months. Unless someone reading this is a microbiologist and can see something deadly in there.
Before I saw this interesting infection, Kell and I had tried some off the spigot. And it was absolutely delicious. So, we’ll see what happens.
Hooray Beer!
In other news, Beer Week is upon us. Let me know if you’re in Denver this week!
What did you sanitize your oak chips with? It could also be a number of other things not related to the oak chips. Stupid little critter like beer as much as us.
Oh meant to write that part. Soaked in stranahan’s whiskey for a few days. Next time, steam too.
Dry heat might work better than steam for sanitizing. Steam will fill the pores that are supposed to absorb whiskey.
Not a bad idea. I’ll look into that for the next batch.
Unscientific, anecdotal evidence:
This happened to a vet homebrewer I know (his wasn’t with oak chips). He tried adding hops at various points and doing other stuff to kill it. Nothing worked. He bottled what he could.
It turned out effing delicious. You would have thought it was a flawless brew.
Hope your luck is as good as his.
I am a microbiologist, don’t worry about getting sick from a homebrew, generally no pathogens can grow in beer as the pH is too low. Im not saying this beer will definitly taste bad, but I can say you will not get sick.
Yes! Thank you! Science!
Any chance you live in Denver? Love to talk beer science with ya over some infected beer!
Sorry I live in Bozeman MT, but I am free for beer science talk anytime. Just drop me an e-mail