Second Brew! - American Amber

 After all the votes were tallied, and there were a few, American Amber was the top pick. And as of last night, it has been brewed!

Again, I made a mess - this time it was much smaller though, and I'm hoping next time even more so; maybe not even messy at all! First let's get a few short lessons learned out of the way: when using Dried Malt Extract (DME) have your bittering hops ready to go before you add the DME to your wort. This is based on the experience I had last night - another boilover. It occured immediately after I stirred in my DME (a crystal amber if you were wondering) and continued to make additional attempts - thwarted by my masterful heat control - until I added my hops. As soon as I dumped the hops in the "head," if you will, dispersed right away. Additionally, having a funnel this time cut the mess I made in half. And, get a funnel...a BIG one. I suspect that the monstrous size of it contributed to the fact that I spilled exactly 0 beer transferring from the brew pot to the carboy. Check this thing out!

One more thing to remember if your tap water is chlorinated - bottled water! I had to make a last minute trip to the local gas station to pick up the 5 gallons of water needed for my brew.

2 gallons...3 more to go. I just told the clerk I was thirsty.

Some other things I tried this time were using the B-brite sanitizer that was included in my original brewing kit; as opposed to bleach. This was awesome as it requires only 30 seconds of contact time with the equipment to thoroughly sanitize it, and then a quick rinse with cool water and it's ready to go! On the next batch I will be utilizing StarSan - a no rinse sanitizer requiring only 30 seconds as well - which I picked up this weekend (see below). Also, I used a large nylon filter bag, one big enough to sit around the lip of a brew/bottling bucket and line all the sides and bottom. I placed this inside the large funnel - which already has a built in filter - when transferring the wort to the fermenter to catch the hops and other sediment. And finally, I employed liquid yeast this time, specifically "designed" for the brewing of American Amber - in this case a California Common strain.

Liquid Yeast - remove from fridge AT LEAST 3 hours prior to pitching time.

Overall the process was much easier than the first time, and very enjoyable. I am very excited for this brew! It should be awesome. It's already fermenting quite actively - after vigorous agitation last night following the pitching of the yeast.
Here are a couple more shots - the first is of the main ingredients for the brew, the second is the initial wort with steeping grains in the sock, and the last is the wort in the sink for the cool down.

Clockwise from bottom left: DME, Liquid Malt Extract (LME), included (but not used) dry yeast, priming sugar, bittering hops (Brewer's Gold), Aromatic Hops (Willamette).

The bottling date is set to be the 3rd of May - two days after "Drinking Day" for the New Home, Brew.

I also acquired some additional equipment and gadgets at my new "almost-local" brew shop, Home Brew Party, in San Antonio. Let me say that HBP is AWESOME! They have everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, even fully constructed corny kegs ($195 if I remember correctly - not a bad deal).I picked up another carboy to serve as a primary fermenter - this one is a six gallon unit! A few other items I picked up included a bottle washer, the nylon strainer, two liquid yeast tubes (one for each forthcoming brew), and some StarSan.

Next on the list of activities: Brew some Oktoberfest! This endeavor will include both my first secondary fermentation and my first lagering - and a long lagering at that.

Your comments, criticism, and petitions for free beer are always welcome!
Stay Classy,
Jack