Rauchbier aka Smokey-Dokey 25th & 26th November 08

[BrewStew]

yeah... i'll have over 200 drinkable pints in the house in just a couple more weeks it's weird... i went from beer famine to beer gluttony in just a couple of weeks :lol:

swmbo's dead good when it comes to brewing

she's offered to buy the next lot of TC ingredients cos she's drowning herself in my TC so much i might even teach her how to do it herself :lol:

she drinks as much as me so i think she feels obliged... i'll let her keep feeling that :lol:

 

[A T]

she drinks as much as me

Except when you have one of your migranes :lol: :lol: :rofl:

 

[BrewStew]

:lol:

 

[BrewStew]

i just took a sneaky sample of this while pouring the mrs a cider..

OH MY GOD!!! YOU BEAUTY!!!! :party:

it's nearly clear, has almost the right carbonation... and tastes FANTASTIC! :party: :party: :party: :party: :party: :party: :party: :party: :party:
and after only a couple of days in the keg too!

[churchill voice] Oh Yesh! [/churchill voice]

 

[BrewStew]

oooh yay... i've finally come up with a name for this beer instead of calling it by it's style.. i'm gunna call it:

Smokey-Dokey

it suddenly came to be cos i have a habit of saying okey dokey alot and i said it while pouring the first full pint

 

[Vossy1]

Glad to hear it's turned out to be a good'un :

 

[Wez]

Nice one brew :thumb:

 

[Russ H-R]

Hi Brewstew,
Merry Christmas to you! I've just had a go at my first AG and used your excellent how to guide and the Rauchbier recipe. Just a quick question - at what reading on your hydrometer do you rack to the secondary?
Fingers crossed i've done everything right ! I can't wait to sample it! :pray:

Russ H-R

 

[BrewStew]

hi mate... sorry about the late reply, i've been very busy and away from the forum for xmas

if you use the attenuation calculator in the calcs section (top right of the forum page) you can work out your target finishing gravity which is when you'll be needing to rack it.

if you used safale s04, it's got about a 73% apparent attenuation

hope this helps and i hope you like the recipe! :thumb:

 

[NickW]

swmbo's dead good when it comes to brewing

.... what does "SWMBO" mean? - You guys say it a lot, and it somehow seems like it refers to your missus!

 

[BrewStew]

She Whom Must Be Obeyed :lol:

 

[NickW]

:rofl:

 

[Russ H-R]

Thanks for that calculator tip, I've been looking around the forum for a few day's and I'm amazed how much great info you guy's have got together.

I've just bought a corny keg and can't wait to play with it. Will i still need to prime the beer before it's stored in the keg or will the Co2 carbonate it on it's own? Also how long can you expect a beer to last in these kegs? ( assuming it's in there more than a day or two before it's all Gone )

Sorry for the twenty questions but i'm still learning.

Thanks again
Russ

 

[BrewStew]

no worries about the twenty questions mate :)

the longest any of my beers have been sat in a cornie for is usually a month :rofl: but i've read of other people managing six months plus. of course if your planning on keeping a beer in a cornie that long, make damned sure its well santitised, the pipes, tubes, outlets, the lot and make sure you purge the keg of any air by filling it with co2. there's another post elsewhere on this i'm sure :hmm:

with a cornie you can still prime it... or you can force carbonate it by leaving it under pressure for a week or two, be sure you've got no leaks though if you intend to leave the gas switched on permanently or you'll lose your bottle of gas overnight. i just top my kegs up daily as they absorb the co2 and turn the gas fully off when i'm not using it. a general guide i work to is 1PSI for every degree C that the keg is stored in gives it a pleasant sparkle and head. start there and then adjust to your tastes as you get to know your kit better

 

[BrewStew]

Russ, on a side subject, how did you find my how to? not many people so far have said they've done it with my recipe, so any feedback is appreciated and i'll edit in any comments to the tutorial if i've missed/cocked up anything :thumb:

 

[Russ H-R]

I thought your "how to" guide was excellent, I've personally only made extract brews before and was keen to make the next step to all grain. Although there is a wealth of information on this and other forums, some of it can be quite in depth and technical for beginners like myself, so the way you've broken each step down was great.

I can understand that it may be frustrating for some experienced brewers to spell everything out but we've all got to start somewhere!

So keep up the great work! I'm sure there will be many more questions that I'll be posting in the future for you and all the other old hands soon.

If anyone's thinking about another "how to", the conelius keg and all its mysteries would be very helpful

Russ

 

[BrewStew]

a cornie how to is on the agenda