F5-01-01-05: Autumn Harvest

Label inspiration: I was searching for autumnal equinox pictures and came upon this one...

Well, it was going to be getting colder so I began brewing darker beers at this point. Just like the Crabber's Delight beer, I think the label was a lot better than the beer.

(based on Mr. Beer’s Otto’s Oktoberfest)

ABV- 4.6%   SRM- 12   IBU- 23

1 can of Octoberfest Vienna Lager HME

1 can of Golden Wheat UME

1 packet of Saflager S-23 Dry Lager Yeast

1 packet of Sterling Pellet Hops

1 Muslin Hop Sack

Brewed batch on August 29, 2010, one week after starting my Boot’s Brown Ale. Still thinking about the pure cane sugar method as opposed to carb tabs for my carbonation. Not sure yet. This is the second time in a row that I have royally screwed up the brewing process. What’s going on with me?!

I think I did well with the sanitization process; however, I’m a little lacking when it comes to the mixing process. The first problem I had was putting the pellet hops in the sanitized hops sack. I did this near the dish I use to sanitize all of my utensils. BIG MISTAKE! Some of the hops fell into the dish and soon I had green and hoppy sanitized water. I put the rest of the hops into the sack, tied it off, cut it and threw it into the pot with the extract. I think I used about ¾ of the pellets- I was only supposed to use ½. 

Next, just like with my Boot’s Brown Ale, I spilled a bit of the wort over the side of my fermenter as I was pouring the wort in. Graceful, I am not.

AND, as if that weren’t quite enough…I realized later that the yeast I used was something I had purchased separately with the Mr. Beer recipe- it was NOT part of the recipe. Saflager S-23 is supposed to be used for lagers, too but the beers are fermeted between 51-59 degrees (optimal). Apparently, I can get up to 75 degrees, but I’ll try to stay around 70 or 72 degrees. To top that off—it says that if I’m using the yeast for less than 5% ABV, I only need half of the package. I used it all.

SO…more hops, more yeast, higher temps than normal for the yeast…we’ll see what happens.

Bottled batch September 19, 2010  The same day I brewed the best smelling batch ever—Pumpkin Patch Lager. I used the Domino’s organic cane sugar again and also employed the bottling technique as described in the Boot’s Brown Ale section. I capped the bottles with aluminum foil before I put them in the oven (to sanitize them). 

October 12, 2010 Placed bottles in refrigerator.

November 19, 2010. I tried one beer and it didn’t taste good. It tasted like some of the beers I made earlier…maybe it is infected.

November 25, 2010. Nope. Not good at all. Tasted another one and threw it out.

December 10, 2010. Finally threw out all the beer. It was probably infected big time. Very disappointed.

OVERALL SCORE: 2 of 10