The first home-brew experiment is complete and I’m feeling confident as I plan out my next move. With a single batch of partial-grain beer under my belt I’m ready to tackle an all-grain brew.
You may recall that my first batch of home-brewed beer was an English Porter. The recipe I used was a partial-grain recipe, meaning that it used malt extract to create most of the wort and then used a small amount of malt to add more body and flavour.
After much apprehension and worry the batch was a success and I’m pleased with the result. The first bottle I tasted had been conditioning for a mere 10 days and was very malty and very bitter. I expected some of this to mellow as the beer carbonated and conditioned in the bottle. This turned out to be more or less true and the final result is a well-carbonated and very malty porter, although the malt character did not mellow as much as I would’ve expected. It is very drinkable, however – a little too much so in fact!
With one successful brew under my belt I’m feeling ready to tackle my first all-grain brew.
For my second batch I’ve decided to make one of my absolute favourite styles: an American Pale Ale. I purchased my ingredients and am using the California Pale Ale recipe from Centennial Homebrewing Supplies on Rupert Street in Vancouver. The final product should be something akin to a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the beer that many refer to as the grandfather of the Pacific Northwest style of APAs.
This batch is going to be a bit more difficult for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is a full-grain recipe so I need to get my water measurements just right and I’m going to have to be extra careful when sparging the grains not to add too much or too little water to the kettle. I’ve been getting tips from other home-brewers and one other thing I’m going to have to watch is the amount of water that evaporates since I have a target amount of wort that is expected to go into the primary.
Secondly, I’ll also be making a half batch since my current equipment doesn’t hold enough volume to accommodate a full 23L boil. I’m going to need to keep a close eye on my volumes as I go through the boil, and I’ll also be having a separate pot of boiling water going to top up as I go.
The most exciting thing for me is that I finally get to play around with hops for this batch. My porter used only Magnum hops and these were in the kettle for the full 60 minutes with no other hops used. My pale ale recipe uses Perle hops for bittering and Cascade for aroma. It will also get dry-hopped with more Cascade hops as well, hopefully producing plenty of delightful citrus tones.
I expect to begin my second brew in the next week or two once I can clear some space for my primary fermenter again. Brewing at home is certainly a journey but it’s one that, for me at least, is full of excitement and eager anticipation now that my first experiment is out of the way. Naturally I’ll keep you updated on my progress.
Cheers!
