BB2

Bender Brew Number 2, or BB2, is an EPA - Extra Pale Ale. This was another kit from NorthernBrewer and got great reviews. Originally ordered with Safale US-05 dry yeast, I upgraded to Wyeast 1450 - "Dennys Fav 50" thinking that would lead to more sugar to alcohol conversion and a more vigorous fermentation. On the second point, definitely a more vigorous fermentation and it happened with less lag than the first beer   with US-05. We still haven't bottled this yet, so I can't say what the final OG is and how hard the yeast partied. This is a Gold Malt Extract with Cascade Hops which should create a clean, dry, very hoppy brew. I'm really hoping that the grapefruit hoppiness of Cascade really comes through.

Bottled it on 3/30 after 4 weeks of fermentation (15 days primary, 13 days secondary) and tasted it of course. Very light body with small hop flavor it seems. We'll see what happens after two weeks of conditioning.

Equipment Upgrades

I have fallen hard for this brewing thing and bought one gadget and one "fermentation chamber." The gadget is a little stir plate for really aerating/agitating the yeast starter. The fermentation chamber is a 5.3 cubic foot chest freezer. With an external temp controller, I'm able to hold the fermenting beer at just the right temperature. During the winter this isn't much of a problem, but as the weather here in Atlanta warms up so does this apartment and I can't be worrying about my yeast and how unhappy they are at 72 degrees+. With this chamber, I can relax and that is the way beer brewing should be really. Will be trying the stir plate and yeast starter technique this weekend when I brew #3 an Wheat Beer. Recipe from Hop City.

Bender Brew 1 Tasting

Well, this first one turned out great. All friends liked it. ABV is unknown, but people are saying between 5 and 7 percent. Means the yeast really had a good party. At this point, I think there are just 8 bottles left so production and consumption are still out of equilibrium. I'm just bottling Bender Brew (BB2) this Saturday so it will be two weeks before that one is consumable.

Scare

Two days after racking to the secondary I took a look at the carboy and the beer was MUCH darker than it had been in the primary. I don't know why. However, I removed the airlock and took a big whiff and it smelled good so I think everything is okay. Any idea why the color would darken at this stage?

Racking to the Secondary

Overall, this went well but will go great next time with a few tips. Biggest tip is not to do this in the kitchen where the counter tops are 33 inches high. Bathroom would be better. Even better would be the kitchen, but with the secondary fermenter on a milk crate. When you go to use that auto-siphon, you need the primary and secondary to be pretty close.

I filled up the bottling bucket with 5 gals of water and star san, then siphoned it into the 5-gal. I needed about another gallon of water to bring it to the next though. Sanitizing in the bucket were the: bung, new lock, siphoning tube, auto-siphon.

Also, pouring sanitizer water from the 5gal can be messy going into the sink. Try pouring back into the bucket. Then you can use that water to fill up the primary when you need to clean it.

Note: I tried to fit the siphon tube onto the bottling bucket spigot and it would not fit. I might need a different size for that or stretch it somehow.

Well done video here on racking to a secondary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG6kdJQGBkM

Primary Fermentation

At 26 hours we were bubbling about 1 bubble/second. Day 2, still bubbling well. Temp of the fermenter was up around 72-74 due to the endothermic reaction. I could not keep it cool in the closet. Day 3 it started to slow down with bubbling every 7 seconds. A few hours later on day 3 it was 1 every 14 seconds. Day 4, 1 per minute. Day 6, 1 per 1:24.  Did not check again until day 10 and it was over 2 minutes, maybe 3 I stopped timing it at 2 minutes.

Brew Day Step by Step

Here are my notes "pre first brew day." These will help me remember all the steps and the order of execution. I do not want any mistakes.

1. Add 5 gallons of water to the brew pot, add to the stove, and turn to high. Put on the lid.
2. To a stockpot, add some water and warm over medium heat. This is what I will use for warming the LME and for sterilizing additional water I may need to bring my fermentation volume to exactly 5 gallons.
3. Add specialty grains to the grain bag. Shake for smaller bits to fall out of the bag. Tie a knot in the top. Soak them in the brew kettle water bobbing it up and down to fully soak the grains. Tie the bag to the handle of the kettle. Keep the lid on. Start a timer and add thermometer. Grains come out at 20 min or 170 whichever comes first.
4. Start sanitation. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and 1 oz of starsan. Add the beer thief pieces, funnel, yeast pack, auto siphon, siphon tubing, scissors, bung, blow off hose, thermometer, hydrometer container, and bucket lid.
5. Pull out grains, let them drain a minute, don't squeeze the sack, and discard the grains. Put the lid back on and let it come to a boil.
6. At boil, remove the pot from the stove and pour in the LME stirring constantly. Then pour in the DME all at once stirring constantly. When well disolved, return the pot to the stove and get it boiling again. WATCH AND STIR to prevent boilovers.
7. When it returns to boil, and first hop edition and start a 60 minute timer. Watch for boilover. You may have to turn down the heat to MED because it will boil very fast and bubble and splash. Then bring the heat back up after it calms down to something less than high. 8 was working for me.
8. I won't mention the additions of hops since the recipes are going to vary, but assume you are adding hops at the times indicated on your recipe for the rest of the boil.
9. Turn up the heat on the stockpot to boil that water (sterilize it) and then remove it from the heat to let it cool down to room temp. Save this to add to the carboy to reach full 5 gallons for fermentation later.
10. At 5 min, add wort chiller to sterilize it. Submerge it good.
11. Attach the adaptor to the sink faucet.
12. At 0, turn off the stove and move the pot to a cooler surface. Hook up the chiller to the faucet and turn on the cold water. You want this chilled to 65 degrees in less than 30 minutes if possible.
13. During the cooling, sanitize the carboy by racking the sanitizer out of the bucket and into the carboy. Mark the carboy with electrical tape so that you know what 5 gallons is. Add enough additional water to bring the volume of water to the rim of the carboy.
14. Keep all the other sanitized equipment in the bucket, put on the lid.
15. Add water and some starsan to the blowoff container.
16. When wort is chilled, dump sanitizer from carboy.
17. Rack from kettle to carboy. Do not fear the foam. Aeration at this stage is okay. Add the remaining boiled and cooled water from the stockpot to the carboy to get the volume to 5 gallons.
18. Add the bung and swish the contents for a few minutes to aerate. Remove bung, cut top of yeast packet with scissors, pour yeast into carboy. 
19. Add blow off hose. Insert blow off hose end into blow off container full of water and sanitizer.
20. Place carboy somewhere dark and cool. Check your recipe for the correct temperature. Ales are about 60-72. My closet is right at 72 unfortunately.
21. Leave it here until primary fermentation is complete or leave it here for the primary and secondary.