Chihuahua Cream Ale

This was the first ever beer created in the Dog's Butt Brewery.  It is a light ale with a very "hoppy" taste.  Best when enjoyed cold, and a perfect spring-time beverage.  This particular beer was made from a "recipe kit", which was purchased at a homebrew store.  Future efforts are crafted with more "fresh" ingredients.

Ingredients

Procedure

1. Boil 2 gallons of tap water with grain in it.
2. Remove grain right before water boils.
3. Add 6 Lb. malt extract.
4. After 10 minutes, add 1 oz. Saaz Hops
5. After 45 minutes, add 1/2 oz. Cluster Hops
6. After 55 minutes, add 1/2 oz. Cluster Hops
7. Remove from boil
8. Cool to below 80 degrees Fahrenheit, preferably closer to 70 degrees.
9. Move to fermenting device and fill with cool water to 5 gallons.
10. Observe gravity reading.
11. Pitch yeast and agitate for 2 minutes.
12. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature for 1-2 weeks.
13. When no bubbles are observed in the airlock, remove cover and observe a gravity reading.  Final gravity should be 1.007-1.010 at 60 degrees.
14. Boil 2 cups of water with 3/4 c. Corn Sugar.
15. Add corn sugar mixture to bottling bucket.
16. Siphon beer into bottling bucket with corn sugar.
17. Bottle.
18. Keep bottles at room temperature for 1 week then move to cooler place for at least 1 more week.
19. Enjoy your beer.

Results

I'm a little concerned about this beer.  Things were going so well, but several things have gone strangely to make me concerned. 

First, the positives.  This is the first batch where I used specialty grains in the boil.  This smelled great, and was very easy to do!!!

Second, I used a hop bag for the first time.  Before I was leaving my hops in the brew for the entire fermentation and not removing until bottling.  By removing them with the hop bag after the boil was complete, I am anticipating a cleaner brew as well as more accurate readings on my tests.  It just looks  lot cleaner!!!

Lastly, I used in immersion chiller to cool my wort after the boil.  This brought the cool time from 212 degrees to <80 degrees from roughly 6 hours to roughly 10 minutes.  Awesome!!!

Now the bad stuff...  I didn't realize it at the time, but the hops were actually supposed to be added in the the reverse order, with the cluster coming first and the Saaz as the flavor hops.  The result may be that the beer isn't as bitter, which wouldn't be all bad.  Secondly, and more concerning, is the fact that this was the first time I used the chiller.  To sanitize the chiller I put it in the boil for the last 15 minutes.  Little did I know that there is apparently some film on the outside of the copper that comes off in boiling water.  I should have pre-boiled the chiller.  Oh well, we'll see what happens.

I'm anticipating drinking this beer starting in June.  We'll see what happens.

July 13, 2001

I've been drinking this beer for a couple of weeks now.  It is pretty good.  Definitely the best batch I've brewed to date, despite the process flaws with the cooler.  It has a slightly sweet taste, and a good body.  The head retention isn't as good as I'd like, but that may be from the bad chemicals introduced at the boil time.  I'm going to definitely keep using specialty grains in my recipes.