Looks like I’m not bottling today. The yeast is having too much fun, and it would be a shame to spoil it. They’re creating enough carbon dioxide to cause bubbles every 30 seconds. Even though the foam’s gone flat, there’s still some visible surface activity.
The brew smells great! It looks like I did a good job of keeping contaminants out. I just need to follow the same precautions during bottling and all will go well.
I woke up this morning to a vivid phosphene display behind my eyes. It’s the same display I’ve seen since childhood, but I paid more attention to the flashes of transparent purple that moved across the regular brown field of attached hexagons and the localized white pulsing blobs. Then I remembered a Terence McKenna talk I heard, when he said, ” If we could bring it back, somehow, it would change the world.” So I decided to make a mental note of some of the highlights of the visual experience for later review, and perhaps some day I will even attempt to share my phosphenes with the world in a visual form. First things first: I have to learn to use art tools.
I’ve installed Alex King’s ingenious Twitter Tools to my blog. Now every time I add an entry, it will notify my followers and give them a URL to the latest post.
I know it’s been a couple of days since the last update, but things have been progressing more slowly. This is exactly as it should be! I’m just amazed that the process ran its course so quickly.
The airlock is bubbling about once a minute, so I moved the carboy to the kitchen counter to allow the sediments to settle for a day or so before bottling.
I will bottle on Saturday, and I’ll be able to get my first taste of the brew at that time.
If you’re following me over from Vox, welcome!
I just couldn’t deal with the constraints that were placed upon me. I felt boxed in without the ability to stretch my techie, geeky limbs. With Wordpress, I sink or swim on my own merits.
Now I have Gallery integration, Twitter integration, and access to many more themes than Vox. If I want to extend my theme, it’s just a matter of coding it up.
More foam settling and the airlock is bubbling once every 35 seconds or so.
First off, Happy Holidays to those who celebrate them.
I got a bit of a surprise today. The foam didn’t blow over and the bubbling slowed down to about once every 7 seconds. This means that the biggest surge of activity is past, and it should be smooth sailing until bottling. As you may be able to see from the pictures, the foam actually receded.
I was told that the liquid level seemed a little low. This will make for fewer bottles of richer beer. I can deal.
I can already smell the beer when I get into the same room as the carboy. It’s quite mouth-watering. There’s a good layer of foam that doesn’t seem like it’s getting out of control yet, but the wort is still young.
I’ve set up a camera on a tripod near the carboy so I can get consistent photos. I’m still experimenting with positioning and alignment, but expect some consistency in the photos to develop over the next couple of days.
I woke up to bubbles in the airlock today! The yeast is hard at work turning the sugary wort into alcohol. It’s currently generating enough carbon dioxide to bubble every 6 seconds.
I got together all the ingredients, and I’m about to start up my first brewing project. For starters, I’m making a German Hefeweisen. The kit came with:
6lb Bavarian Wheat
0.5oz Northern Brewer Hops
4oz Corn Sugar
I also bought some White Labs WLP300 yeast to complete the mix.
The combination should produce a cloudy blonde Hefeweisen with hints of banana and clove.
The pictures below show the supplies and the brew at various stages throughout the process. I will update as things change in the fermentation barrel.