AHHHHH

Need I say more?

Glorious

This morning I decided to rack the IPA. The final gravity hadn't changed since I dry hopped. I am really excited about this beer. The color is wonderful and very clear. The aroma and taste seem to be just what I was after. It's cooling now and tomorrow I'll carbonate. I don't think Darren would mind if I take a couple 2 liter bottles to his party on Friday.

Kelly asked if our friend Jason (from the other end of our building) could be inducted into the Good Rats. Jason doesn't drink. What's with that? My first thought was how could we have a GR that won't drink with us. Then the light went on... DD! Not to take away from GR Delany but having another DD would allow GR Delany to imbibe with us. I think this could work. Welcome aboard Good Rat Jason.

PS. Jason is engaged to a very nice school teacher, a profession that's near and dear to my heart.

Back to the IPA. This morning while I was cleaning, sanatizing, tasting etc. my lower back started hurting again. This means only one thing. A call to Kaiser and I got into their emergency clinic. Standing, sitting and pacing did no good but finally after seeing a PA, DR and a nurse I walked out of there with Percocet. I couldn't get home fast enough to get some pain relief from yes, kidney stones. Again! It took two hours for it to kick in but I feel so much better at the moment. All that to say, it doesn't matter when the IPA is ready to drink because until I'm off the meds no beer will cross these lips. Because if it did "nothing good could come of that". So I hope this thing passes quickly.

And to Good Rat Ron. You may be retired from work but you are not retired from being a Good Rat. Next time you're over this way we need to plan a day to do some rattin' around.

Secondary Fermintation

Well, the primary fermination finished and it was time to transfer the beer (yes, it's beer now not wort) to another carboy. Before I did though I checked the gravity and it's coming down very nicely. Better yet I tasted it. The hop flavor was very evident but there's more where that came from. After it was siphoned I added 3, yes count them, 3 ounces of hop pellets. A couple more weeks of conditioning and we'll see just what happened. If you don't like hops... stay away.

Hopworks IPA Clone

Just the right temperature to add the grain.


Adding the grain.


After 30 minutes of steeping the grain comes out.




Adding the dry malt extract.

After coming to a boil the hops are added. Some for 60, some 15 and some 5 minutes of boil.

After the hour long boil the wort is quickly cooled by running cold water through a copper coil.

Once it's cooled sufficiently the wort is transfered to a glass carboy and more water is added.

The yeast was pitched and the carboy was placed in a good place awaiting fermintation.

More hops will be added in a few days.

This will be a happy hoppy beer indeed!