Brewing Wheat
Things are really hopping here at the brewery! Today we are brewing wheat, same thing we brewed yesterday and will be brewing tommorrow. Our cellar is looking a bit empty, and we really need to catch up!
On friday we will be brewing Warsh Pail Ale. It will be special version because I will be using a small amount of it for krausening the Dopplebock. The dopplebock is actually 30% Briess Pale malt so that is a more appropriate thing to do than you would think at first.
Here is the plan. We will collect and boil the first two barrels of unhopped Warsh Pail, which should be about 20 degree’s plato. We will then send it downstairs into special ‘krausening tank’ and inject some fresh lager yeast into it. It will sit in that tank for 24 hours until Saturday morning. I will then take a gravity reading on the wort, and decide how much wort I need to add to the dopplebock to achieve carbonation in the bottle. After I mix the krausen in… the bottling fun will begin! Its important to that we bottle everything that same day, since if we wait too long the yeast will ferment the sugars and we will have carbonated beer… but it will be in the tank and not in the bottles!
Chris has built a hand bottler that will fill four bottles at time. Chris has given it the name of ‘the Frankenbottler‘ since it is a bit crude looking. But its not looks that count here, its functionality. If we could do four bottles a minute, we will be done in no time!
If you wish to help, just show up around 10 am, and we will put you to work. Remember, there will be free food and of course free beer for anyone who gives us hand (or two). We already have some great commitments from the THIRSTY homebrew club of Iowa City, but we could still use more help and moral support. As a Plus, Teresa called the local TV stations and several of them sounded interested in making a story out of it.. so you could be on TV!!
The construction is going well. They are pouring the floors!
