Kegging Your Homebrew

Once your beer has fermented for 2-3 weeks, you have a decision to make.  Bottle it or keg it?  I’ve done both, and I prefer kegging.  It’s a much easier and less time-consuming process.  I only bottle if I intend to give out most of them to friends or family.  Plus beer just tastes so much better from a keg!

The following steps will show you how to keg your beer and carbonate it using the slow-forced carbonation method.

What you need:  a 5-gallon Cornelius (“Corny”) keg, brew cleaner, sanitizer, siphon, keg lube

Sanitize Everything!

Step 1:  Fill up your keg with water.  Add brew cleaner to help dissolve any residue or buildup.

Step 2:  Dump out water and make sure there is nothing left on the inside.

Step 3:  Fill up your keg with water again.  Add sanitizer and put the lid on.  Let it sit for the recommended amount of time.

Step 4:  Flip it upside down and let it sit again for the recommended amount of time.

Step 5:  With your sanitizer and water still in the keg, hook up your gas and beer lines.  Turn your CO2 tank on to 25 PSI until the lid seals.

Step 6:  Open up the tap and pour yourself a big cup of sanitized water.  This allows the sanitizer to run through the beer line and clean it.

Step 7:  Turn the CO2 tank off, bleed your keg, unhook the lines, dump out the water.

You now have a squeaky-clean keg that is ready for beer!

Step 8:  Place your secondary fermentor on a table.  Be careful not to disturb the sediment on the bottom.

Step 9:  Siphon the beer into the keg.  Make sure your line is at the bottom of the keg so the beer doesn’t splash around inside.

Step 10:  Place the top back on the keg.  You might need some keg lube to help seal it properly.

Step 11:  Hook up your CO2 gas line to the keg.  Using a slow force carbonation chart, select the appropriate PSI for your type of homebrew based on the temperature of the kegerator and your desired carbonation level.  Blonde Ales should be on the middle-high range of carbonation, so according to the chart, I need my CO2 level to be at 16 PSI for my 42 degree kegerator.

Step 12:  Open up your CO2 and set it to the desired PSI.  You will hear the CO2 go into the keg and seal the lid.

Step 13:  Turn off the gas and bleed the CO2 from the tank.  Repeat steps 12 and 13 a few times.  After the last purge, turn the CO2 back on to your desired PSI and leave the CO2 in the keg.  This bleeding process will force all the air out of your keg and keep the beer fresh.

Over the next 5 days, the CO2 that is now in the keg will begin to absorb into the beer.  Check frequently to make sure that your PSI level remains at the desired level.  After 5 days your beer will be nice and bubbly and ready to drink.  Simply hook up the beer line, set the PSI to around 8, and pour your brew!

Part 2 - Secondary Fermentation

In Part 1, I explained how to brew beer with the simplest method – malt extract brewing.  Once that process is complete and your beer has sat in the primary fermentor for 5-7 days, it is time for the secondary fermentation process.

Secondary fermentation is not required for homebrewing.  However, it is recommended because it helps reactivate the yeast which allows further fermentation.  It also allows the beer to clarify a little longer before bottling or kegging, thus resulting in a better looking final product.

You will need a 5-gallon glass carboy, a hydrometer, a siphon, and a rubber stopper and airlock to cap the carboy.

Sanitize Everything!

Step 1:  Move the primary fermentor to a countertop or table.  Allow it to settle for 5 minutes.  Remove the lid.

Step 2:  Place the hydrometer in the beer and record the final gravity of the beer.  The final gravity of the Blonde Ale is 1.011. 

Step 3:  Calculate the alcohol content of your beer by subtracting the final gravity from the original gravity and multiplying by 131.  For my Texas Blonde Ale it would be (1.042-1.011) x 131.  The ABV (alcohol by volume) for my beer is 4.06%

Step 4:  Place the siphon into the primary fermentor and begin to siphon the beer into the glass carboy.

You might have to tilt the primary fermentor slightly to get the last bit of the beer siphoned out.

Step 5:  Place the rubber stopper in the carboy and put the air lock in place.  Carefully set the carboy in a semi-dark place where it can sit undisturbed.

The beer must sit in the carboy for about 5 days.  At that point you are ready to bottle or keg your beer.  In part 3, I will explain the kegging process.

Rocky Hill Roundup

This past Saturday (May 16) was the Rocky Hill Roundup out at Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville, TX.  I’ve ridden out there about a half a dozen times, and it’s definitely a tough course.  And just to make it even more challenging, we had a classic Texas-style rain storm two nights before the race.  Not only did that make it a slow and muddy course, but it also made it quite hot and humid.  Check out my filthy post-race bike…

 

I raced in Category 3 again, and there were 43 riders in my age group.  I finished 29th in 57 minutes, 16 seconds.  I started at a moderate pace in order to finish strong, but for some reason I never seemed to find my groove.  I was pretty disappointed with my performance, but I’m still new to racing, so I have to keep that in mind.  For now, the racing season is over.   We’ll just continue to train over the summer and get ready for next season.

Brewing the Easy Way – Part 1

There are a variety of ways to brew beer, each requiring a certain skill level. This weekend I decided to brew a Texas Blonde Ale using the simplest method, malt extract brewing. This method is the quickest and easiest because there are no grains to steep. The homebrew store provides you with a malt extract that you use instead, thus eliminating the steeping process.

If you are new to homebrewing, this is definitely the best way to start.

The equipment you need for the first part of the brewing process: a large metal pot, a 7-gallon plastic bucket with air-tight lid, a large spoon, a thermometer, a hydrometer, and a sanitizing powder.

Step 1: Sanitize everything meticulously using the dissolved sanitizing powder.

Step 2: Bring about 2 1/2 gallons of water to a boil. Once boiling remove from heat.

The malt extract is caramel colored and very sticky. Be careful not to get it all over the place!

Step 3: Carefully pour the malt extract into the pot of hot water. Because the extract contains a lot of sugar, you must stir it thoroughly to keep the sugar from burning. You now have made the wort.

Step 4: Reheat the wort to a rolling boil.

Step 5: Once the wort is at a rolling boil, add in the package of hops. Hops give the beer a little extra flavor and aroma. Let boil for 60 minutes.

Step 6: After 60 minutes, remove the wort from the stove and cool it off to 80 degrees F (this is where your thermometer comes in handy). Ideally you want to cool it off within 20 minutes. I like to put half the wort into another pot and put them both in an ice bath in the kitchen sink.

Step 7: Once the wort is around 80 degrees F, pour it into your 7-gallon plastic bucket (which serves as the primary fermenter). Carefully add enough water to make a total volume of 5 1/4 gallons (will roughly be 2 gallons of wort and 3 1/4 gallons of water).

Step 8: Place your hydrometer in the plastic bucket. Record the Original Gravity. The OG for my Blonde Ale is 1.042.  This number will help you determine the alcohol content of your beer.

Step 9: Stir in the liquid yeast.

Step 10: Place your rubber stopper and airlock into the hole on the lid. Store the bucket in a safe area that won’t be disturbed.

Within 24 hours the beer will begin to ferment. This is the process in which the yeast is metabolizing the sugar in the wort. You will be able to smell the gases being released. That’s the smell of beer being made…mmmmm! After 1 week, you will be ready for Part 2.

Part 2 will examine the secondary fermentation process.

Mailbox Birds

Since my blog “Special Delivery,” Laurie and I have only seen the mamma bird fly out of the mailbox a couple of times.  It’s actually quite scary.  If you look in the mailbox she’ll fly right out at eyeball level with her beak pointed straight at you.  She even tried to attack our handyman Martin.

Yesterday, however, Laurie got the courage to stick her head way into the mailbox.  And what did she see?

The nest is still in there.  You can see the cave way in the back.  Upon closer inspection, there are actually baby birds in there!

It’s kind of hard to see, and I didn’t want to be too invasive with the camera, but that little gray spot in the nest is the baby birds.  They look to be about the size of golf balls.

We’re still having our mail but in a box next to the door so as not to disturb the nest.  I would imagine they still have several weeks left before they are ready to venture out of there.

First Night Outside

Ever since we got the coop, the chickens have been staying outside during the day and loving it.  Now that the overnight lows are holding steady in the 70s, it is time for them to sleep out there.

Since they have been sleeping inside for the last 4 1/2 weeks, I wasn’t sure how they would react to being outside.  I went to check on them around 11:00 last night, and they were all huddled up together in the corner of the coop – not a good sign.  But I figured I’d let them tough it out and see how they were in the morning.

This morning they were happily running around the coop as if they’d had a great night of sleep.  No signs of being cold and uncomfortable.

And since they were so good, I even gave them a piece of corn on the cob…their favorite treat!

Now that the chickens are out of the house, we finally have our TV room back!

Summer Scout

While Austin has a beautiful Spring season, it only lasts about two weeks.  By early May our temperatures are already approaching the mid-90s.  It’s a rough adjustment period, but it’s also a good excuse to lounge by the pool or the lake.

For my dog Scout, however, summer time means shedding and overheating.  After sweeping up an extra dog’s worth of dog hair and dragging Scout on her afternoon walks while she looked for any signs of water, I decided it was time for some drastic measures.

Scout’s winter coat was great for our road trip to Colorado, but it was time for a change!

A lot of people say you shouldn’t shave a golden retriever, but I think Scout would disagree.  After the initial embarrassment of being nearly bald, she is loving her lighter, cooler look.  Plus there’s a LOT less hair to sweep up for me!

The Chicken Coop

We finally got it!  Yesterday my handyman Martin brought over the coop he’d been working on for the last week.  Aside from the basic design that we discussed, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  But WOW, he did a great job!

The whole contraption is 12 feet long by 4 feet wide by 3 feet high.  The whole run is enclosed with chicken wire, and there is a roof on part of the run.  It’s surprisingly light considering how strong and durable it is.  Martin and I could move it relatively easy by ourselves.

There is a door on the end facing the house so the chickens can come in and out easily.  Once they are a little bigger we plan to let them roam the yard during the day.  Then we’ll corral them back into the coop for the night.

There is also a lid on top that pops open so we have easy access to the run.  Martin put a kickstand on it so we can prop it up.

The actual coop and roosting boxes are at the end of the run away from the house.  It is a free-standing coop so it can easily be removed for cleaning, maintenance, etc.  There are 4 roosting boxes along with a nice roosting pole.

Martin also put a lid on the run and the coop so we have easy access to the roosting boxes.  It’ll make collecting the eggs quite easy.

The only thing left to do is put some straw in the roosting boxes.  Also, since the floor of the run is chicken wire, we may need to put down some straw in there if the chickens find the wire uncomfortable.  I can’t wait to take them out there tonight so they can check out their new digs!

Adzuki Bean Burgers

Even before I gave up meat I had a fascination with veggie burgers.  Most of the time I’d opt for one instead of a beef or turkey burger.  There’s just something about the texture that I really like.  Plus there are so many different varieties that you can’t really get tired of them.

Laurie and I have talked about making our own veggie burgers, and last night I decided to give it a try using whatever “stuff” we had in the fridge.

We had a big pot of Adzuki beans that we soaked and cooked a few days ago.  I also had some brown rice that I made a few nights ago, some carrots, onion, cheese, and egg yolks that Laurie had left over from her egg-white breakfast that morning.

I put all the aforementioned ingredients plus salt, pepper, and cumin into the food processor and blended it together until it was a semi-sticky paste that had the texture of ground beef. 

Then I patted them into the shape of patties and put them in the fridge for an hour to solidify a little bit.

I pan fried them with a little EVO, flipping them after 5 minutes or so.

I topped it off with a little salsa and lettuce, serve with rice and adzuki bean chips and Laurie’s homemade tabouli and VIOLA!  A very tasty, nutritious vegetarian meal!