Pictures! and notes about process

k col
These are some of the pictures of the process. Despite the ale's title most of the work actually occurred in more reputable places besides a toilet, and as a matter of fact the secondary fermentation process is currently taking place inside of a closet.















The picture here is my father and brother constructing the propane burner used to boil the wort which consists of malt (and in our case actually a syrup made of malt to save time and lots of it), the hops (which we didn't include a lot of really) and eventually the yeast. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the actual boiling process, or the primary fermenting process so let me break it down for you. (I'm sure I'm missing a few steps, stop by your local brewery for more info on the brewing process, it's actually very interesting!)


You boil some water, malt and hops together to create a wort. After this has boiled for a while (and hopefully not exploded) you let it cool down. Once the wort has cooled to a reasonable temperature you add the yeast, but be careful if the water is too hot you'll kill the yeast and then you'll just have a really foul smelling liquid that's too hot to drink and too toxic to just dump down your drain or over your grass. Because we are making an ale our yeast ferments at the top of the beer which gives it a sweeter and more full bodied taste, which is what I like. For reference, yeast in lagers ferments at the bottom and tend to be lighter in color (except for bocks which are pretty dark and strong)

Once the yeast has settled sufficiently you pour it into its primary fermenting container, making sure it's air tight. It sits there for a day while the yeast works its magic. Because we are making an ale and this is my father's first brew in about 20 years (no kidding) we had a lot of foam at the top which can apparently affect the taste. The foam can be removed with a sterilized cup (by sterilized I mean there is a special powder you can buy from a beer store and dissolve and use) and the beer can continue its primary fermentation.




After about a day or so the process of fermentation slows down tremendously and it is necessary to transfer the beer to a secondary fermentation jar. In this case we used a giant water tank my dad saved from Hurricane Ike for water storage. Notice the amber coloration, this dark color is due to the amount of malt we used. The foam at the top serves as a barrier between oxygen and the beer.




Moving the beer to a secondary fermentation spot is mainly for hygienic reasons, as the first stage of fermentation produces a lot of side products that you don't want to end up in your beer.


Well that sums up the first part, I'll post another picture of the beer from a couple of weeks later (the process of fermentation takes about three weeks for ales, at least in our case) in the next post.