Bottling Day

Soaking in Sanitizing Solution

Bottles Cleaned & Prepped

Cleaned the bottles and bottling bucket in preparation to start the first bottling of Brinton Wheat Mist and the sweet stout of Maine's Moose Musk.  Started with the wheat beer first since it was the smaller batch ... I took the FG (final gravity) reading and discovered I made the 18-year old in Colorado happy by producing a 3.3% beer.  Meaning that my extraction of my wheat mash wasn't as good as I hoped, thus more mash will be added in the next batch.

Moving From Primary to Bottling Bucket

Bottling

First Bottles of Brinton's Wheat Mist

After priming and bottling the wheat beer I started the Moose Musk.

Moving the Moose Musk to the Bottling Bucket

All went well with the Moose Musk and the FG showed that it was 7.8% alcohol which was still lower than I desired but a good first start.  Two weeks sitting in the bottle before the first tasting can be done.

Moving Day Again

Today, I will be moving the second batch of Maine's Moose Musk (in development stage) to the secondary fermenter.  This process will free up my primary fermenter and allow me to use it for racking and priming the bottles for the two batches in secondary right now.

After the bottling on Monday, the beer will have to remain in the bottle for another two weeks to build up the carbonation level of the beer ... then it will finally be testing time.

Made Another Batch

I brewed up another 5 gallons of my sweet stout, Moose Musk, with a couple of minor changes to compared to the first batch.  Now with having the correct tools and learning how to cool the wort better this batch should exhibit some differences from the first batch.

Note:  On cooling the wort without wiping out all of your ice on hand.  Bacteria isn't a problem until below 150 degrees thus the primary cooling was done with cold water and dumping it once it got hot.  Once the temperature hit 150 range which was in about 10 minutes, I switched it to a ice bath and finished the cooling with using half of the ice required before.

Currently, I have two batches in the secondary fertmenters and one in the primary.  Next weekend I will be bottling for the first time both secondary batches and moving this weekend's batch into the secondary.  In two weeks the taste testing will begin.

Moving Day Again -- The Wheat Moves On

Yesterday I moved the Brinton's Wheat Mist to the secondary fermenter for it final aging.  During the move Jasmine, one of my daughters, said it smelt like beer ... guess we are on our way.

With two different batches in the secondary phases, it is time to start batch three with some slight variations.  I have plenty for test subjects who are ready to start testing which is still a couple of weeks away.  The bottles are ready for next week bottling, and I decided I am using corn sugar for now for priming the bottles.  Later I will be changing the priming ingredients to molasses for the Moose Musk and honey for the Brirton Wheat Mist.

Coming soon will be two more additions to the product line for testing ... Sweet Sharon South Dakota Mead which requires 10 to 11 months to complete fermentation, and a porter - yet to be named.

Brewed Another Batch of Brinton's Mist

Yesterday, after I got home from church I started mashing another batch of my wheat beer ... Brinton's Wheat Mist.  This time to get my techniques down I only made 2.5 gallons since after stopping at More Beer in Riverside I picked up a 3 gallon carboy along with my other supplies.  I also bought a new thermometer to replace the one that was causing me such issues in cooling down the wort.

After calculating the exact amount of ingredients that I needed in my grain bill by back calculating the points I desired I started my mashing.  It when fairly smoothly and I was easily able to cool the wort to the desired temperature before pitching the yeast ... it is amazing how much easier it is when the equipment is working and of good quality. 

This time I use the screen I purchased at More Beer for my mash which allowed me to easily pull the first running and fly sprage the mash using a slotted spoon.  This was much better than when it clogged so badly the first time I mashed grains.

Moving Day

Today I removed the fermented wort from the primary to the secondary fermenter.  Since the original OG was 1.080 and the FG going into the secondary was 1.022 I can except an alcohol content of around 7 - 8%.

Putting Beer from Primary to Secondary

It is time to head to the store in Riverside to get more grains and yeast to start another batch or two.

Logo Design

As with any new business the logo design is important to name recognition.  Last evening as I was watching TV I came up with this rough idea that I later put through paint shop to clean up.  The shape is in that of a salt box ... but if I ever start making money I will have it professionally done.