BLOGS

I bottled my latest batch of brew last night while listening to President Obama's State of the Nation speech. Appropriate, I thought, because we'll all need a few stiff drinks to get us through the next few years. It may be only a temporary fix, but nothing solves the woes of the nation like a mug of stout with a good head.

I heard some pundits call Obama's speech more of a whine, but it was no wine I bottled.

The ale was the Valentine Stout I started brewing a week ago. I've actually changed the name three times now. First it was El Niño Noir, then Valentine Stout, now I'm thinking Valentine Chocolate Ale. I did use two types of chocolate as well as chocolate barley malt in the recipe. It seems a little lighter and less hoppy than I thought it would be. Very tasty though.

It had bubbled a nice dark tan foam for a week in my 5-gallon primary fermentation jug before going still a couple days ago. I measured specific gravity and found it about 1.01, definitely time to bottle. I neglected to measure the specific gravity at the beginning to determine potential alcohol, but the ingredients and amounts I used were such that I expect a brew of about 6 percent alcohol content.

I siphoned the brown brew off the settled yeast and hops into another carboy and then added 3/4 cup of corn sugar dissolved in a little hot water. Once in the bottle, the sugar will wake up the yeast and start a little more fermentation. The carbon dioxide given off by the fermentation process in the capped bottle is what creates that satisfying carbonation.

When the sugar water was well mixed in the ale, I upended the carboy onto the bottled water dispenser I use to fill my sterilized bottles. Five gallons makes about 27 25-ounce bottles, or about two cases and a few more 12-ouncers. The ale should be ready to drink in about two weeks.

It was a nice process to fill all those brown bottles and cap them while Pres. Obama told me how he was going to solve the problems of the nation and the world.

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crader     2 years ago

Bottling to Obama

I love it! Rick and Pres. Obama are both doing their part to alleviate suffering and bring peace and joy to the world. Rick's efforts are a bit simpler but we gotta start somewhere!

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