Tag Archives: Golden Stag Summer Ale 2014-02 (Kit)

Wine Watcher and Thermowell + Golden Stag Testing

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Thermowell and bubbler
Thermowell and bubbler

I have also been rather busy and forgot completely to report on the wine watcher, although it is blogged about in my geeky section. It has been on good form recently (after a bit of a haitus), so good that I have stopped checking it on an hourly basis.  I managed to create a lovely thermowell for the container using plumbing pipe and by creating a new 15mm hole in the lid for the bubbler using my Dremmel.

The Wine Watcher Display
The Wine Watcher Display

We also tried the Golden Stag and although the plastic bottles seemed taught, there were no surprises and we both enjoyed it.  Quite a result for my wife to enjoy an ale, but I had made it with her in mind.

The Sadlers Sav (controlled by the Wine Watcher) should be starting to reduce the bubble frequency now , but my feet have not touched the ground recently so I have not actually been in the room to check on bubble frequency – I need to make a sensor for that too!

Bottling day plus IPA

General, ,

500D_2206I did a lot of bottling today.  The Golden Stag made 22 litres, then I moved one of the demijohns of Pinot Chardonnay in to six and a bit bottles for ease of drinking.  The remnants were disposed of appropriately.  I completely forgot to measure the gravity of the beer before adding the priming sugar.

500D_2207

To celebrate I thought I would try some of the IPA.  The head was excellent, creamy and long lasting, and the taste was fine.  I am sure it will get smoother over time, but it is already drinkable.

I now have nothing major going at all for the first time in ages.  I have over forty litres of IPA and golden stag to work my way through.  I suspect that if I open a 1 litre bottle that will get drunk so in reality it is about 40 drinking nights.  At my current rate of progress the beer will be gone by Christmas.  Wine goes much faster, so the next project is going to be a rosé kit, thought I have not yet bought one.

Golden Stag – decisions decisions

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500D_2200
It is certainly golden

DateSpecific GravityAlcohol Content (%)
13th February 20141,0360
18th February 20141,0202.1
22nd February 20141,0123.2
28th February 20141,0103.4

So, the gravity is now 1,010, but could be the 1,009 with uncertainty in the hydrometer.  1,009 is when you bottle it, but the fermentation has to have stopped (it hasn’t and is bubbling very slowly). So do I leave it or move it on?  Decisions decisions…

I decided to move it on to my secondary (tapped) vessel, but was shocked and dismayed to find that it was a little dirty and smelly after last time.  I am slightly amazed at this as I have been very very careful about cleaning everything after use.  I wonder if I got distracted by the incredible mess I made last time I used it.

It had to be properly sterilised, so it had 15 minutes sitting with the sterilising solution inside, followed by a quick scrub and swill with the cleaning agent, and this seemed to sort it out.  Annoying to have to do that rather than a quick swill.

Then it was just a case of syphoning it out, through the mesh bag provided by the kit.  I installed a high tech method of holding the pipe so that I did not have to stand there throughout.

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The hop filtering bag and the trub
The hop filtering bag and the trub

 

Golden Stag Hopping Along

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Hop Pellets

DateSpecific GravityAlcohol Content (%)
13th February 20141,0360
18th February 20141,0202.1
22nd February 20141,0123.2
28th February 20141,0103.4

I forgot to note when I added the hop pellets to the Golden Stag (18th February).  I left it six days (one day longer than the instructions) because I was worried about leaving it too long on the hops whilst waiting for the fermentation to fully stop (there are dire warnings in the instructions about exploding bottles).  I was surprised that the hops were pellets, but what do I know?

A friend, who is very experienced, tells me that these are hops for flavour, so I should not be too worried about bitterness if they are in the beer too long.  They have certainly worked their way in to the brew well enough as you can see from this picture.

2014-02-22 14.05.40Things have certainly not slowed down!  But at the current rate of gravity change, it will take a couple more days to get below the 1,008 stated in the instructions.

The beer is indeed a lovely golden colour as witnessed when measuring the gravity.

2014-02-22 14.08.00