the christmas carboy of love

10Dec06

Well, I’m feeling better about the brew than I did last night, because the Irish Red (which I haven’t actually named yet, but I’m leaning towards “Irish Redbird”) seems to be merrily fermenting away. Will wonders never cease? Maybe I didn’t mess up as much as I thought I did.

To ‘fess up to these mistakes:

  1. I steeped the grains for an hour, checking and adjusting the temperature every few minutes. After which I noticed that I’d been looking at the CELSIUS temperatures rather than fahrenheit. So instead of a comfy 160 degrees, I’d been steeping the grain in 145-55 degree liquid the whole time. A bit like putting a tea bag in ice water, I guess… Brilliant, ju. Honestly, this mistake has caused me to agonize over my idiotic idiocy for most of the day today.
  2. Whatever. Moving along. The rest of the brew went fine, and my sister and I worked together to become a sort of BFG tag team to pour the wort into the carboy. All seemed to go well, but the wort looked a little, uh, bubbly in the carboy. Whatever – I poured in my water and realized that the permanent marker line for five gallons had disappeared. Oh, criminy. I didn’t even know how much water to pour in! AND THE DAMN THING WAS WAAAAAY BUBBLY.
  3. After making my best guess as to how much water to pour in, I shook up the yeast vial and opened it to pitch. Apparently I shook it a little too vigorously, because the dumb thing exploded with foam as soon as I twisted off the cap. I would guess at least 3/4 of the yeast (hey that rhymed!) got into the carboy, but a little bit certainly did not. Sigh. That, along with the inexplicable bubbles, meant that I did not feel good about this brew. I’d been careful about sanitizing, sure, but I clearly wasn’t careful about ANYTHING ELSE.

Anyway, whatever. It’s fermenting and I should quit whining, right?

To explain the post title: my apartment gets pretty cold. I was so nervous about the beer that I wrapped it up in our Christmas blanket and stuck it near a heating pipe to keep cozy warm. And it’s working! And for your enjoyment, the christmas carboy of love (TM):
carboy-of-love.jpg


Filed under: homebrewing   |  3 Comments

3 Responses to “the christmas carboy of love”  

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  1. 1 Leah on December 10, 2006 said:

    Oh, I have TOTALLY done that with the yeast vial. I have learned to open it super-slowly (like a shaken bottle of pop – little twist, close, little twist, close). Nothing like having yeast running down your unsanitized hand.

    And the temperature thing isn’t that big of a deal either. Just see how the beer is and change if for next time if you want it stronger.

    However, I can see how all these things together would make for an annoying night. :)

  2. 2 Kristi on December 15, 2006 said:

    Aw, it looks so cozy cute and warm. :)


  1. 1 John is funny « First Pitch Brewing Tales

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