Jay Gaulard Blog

The Good News and Bad News About My Coopers Stout

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

Well, the good news is that my bottle capper works great. I couldn’t resist and cracked a bottle open today. I heard the little, “sssst” that tells me the bottle was sealed. That’s good.

The bad news is that when I poured the bottle of beer into my glass, it had a “scent” to it. It kind of smelled like sulphur. Not much, but enough to make me give it a taste. The beer wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t like it was supposed to be. After I poured it, there was a head to it, but definitely not like the Lager from the previous batch. I poured the bottle down the drain. Now, mind you, I have only had this batch bottled for a week and a half.

UPDATE - I was just looking for someone else who experienced the sulphur smell in home brew so I could link to it and came across this forum. Apparently, they are saying, “It’s just the yeast…let it age out.” To think, I was going to come home today and dump 63 bottles of beer down the drain.

I’ll let the beer age out for a few more weeks and see what happens. I will be sure to update you.

I Brewed Real Beer!!! - Coopers Lager

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

Tonight, I cracked open my first real home brewed beer. It’s the Coopers Australian Lager. I know I have told you many times that I don’t like light beers, and I still don’t. I have to say though, this beer ain’t have bad.

I poured it into my favorite beer mug and took a sip. I was surprised to see that it tasted just a bit better than the day I bottled it (two weeks ago…to the second). I was also surprised to see that it actually tasted like real beer. Laura took a sip too. We both agree that it tastes like Corona. Stick a lime in this thing and sit by Rob’s pool on a hot August day. There you go.

Looks pretty good, right? Two big parts of my beer drinking experience are the bottle the beer comes out of and the glass I am pouring it into. This looks like the real deal.

Today, I read that I should bottle my next batch…Coopers Stout, between 4-7 days, and after the hydrometer has a consistent reading for two days in a row. Today is the fourth day and the hydrometer read “1.010″ both yesterday and today. This batch is brewing faster than the lager partly because of the type of beer and partly because of the warmer temperature I am keeping it at.

With the hydrometer readings the way they are, I bottled one beer today. I wanted to make sure my capper was working properly for the remainder of them. Everything worked fine. I am keeping it stored upside down, just to see if there are any leaks. If not, I think tomorrow is the day to bottle them.

Thank You For the Beer Bottles

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

I mentioned earlier that Paul gave me a bunch of beer bottles. That was very nice of him. Well, it’s been a long afternoon cleaning them out. I have a sore back.

In order to really clean them out, I first soaked them in bleach water in the sink. That made the house nice and smelly. Then, I rinsed them out and scrubbed the outside to remove the labels. After that, I put them all in the dishwasher. It took two dishwasher loads, but they are all done and smell great.

Since I now have about eighty bottles, I thought the best place to store them was on an unused shelf in the corner cabinet. That way, that are off the beaten path. I even took a picture for you…

Believe it or not, this is all of them. It doesn’t look like that many, but it is.

A Little Beer Overflow

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

I have been keeping this batch of beer at a steady 25C. That is warmer than the last batch. When you ferment beer at a higher temperature, there seems to be more activity down in the big jug.

I learned this today. Today, Paul was kind enough to bring over about seventy bottles he has been saving up. I am cleaning them out right now. While he was here, I was showing him the beer kit. As I was showing him, I noticed that the foam inside the jug was touching the inside of the lid. It reminded me of making good bread…it rises real nice. Well, I knew I was going to have to do something about this because it was only going to get worse in the next few days.

After Paul left, I took another look at the fermenting beer and was shocked to see bubbles coming right out of the water seal thingy.

I knew I needed to do something before liquid found its way to the floor. I took a stroll downstairs to look through my tube inventory and found some good stuff I had been saving for…well, nothing. I brought it back upstairs and stretched out the end by heating it up.

As you can see from the picture, this is going to be good beer.

After I hooked it up, I had to use my belt to hold it to the side of the tank. Then, I grabbed a five gallon bucket from the basement and stuck the other side of the tube into it. Now, as it drips, it won’t make a mess.

I love it when things ferment like this.

Coopers Stout in the Bucket

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Yes, it’s been a few days since I received my Coopers Stout in the mail. I have been very excited to get the ingredients together to start the brewing process. This time, I will be brewing a beer I actually want to drink, as opposed to the Lager I just bottled.

As you can see, this beer is much darker than the last. This is the regular Coopers Stout. I am hoping it is good.

This is all the ingredients getting mixed up together with the boiling water.

The brew is supposed to be between 21C and 27C. It always starts off good like this, but eventually gets cooler. Now, I am keeping it next to the pellet stove, wrapped in a towel for a toasty 26C. At this temperature, the fermentation should be complete in about five days.

This is just a photo to show you how dark this stuff is.

Coopers Stout Beer Kit Has Arrived

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

The UPS guy came today and dropped off my Coopers Stout beer kit this afternoon. Now, if you remember, I was forced to get the regular Stout, instead of the Irish Stout because the company was out of the Irish Stout. The guy said something about St. Patty’s Day coming up or something like that. I guess that means people are out there brewing Irish Stout without me. I feel kind of lonely.

Anyway, I figured the next best thing would be the regular Stout. Now, just for your information, I will compare regular Stout with Irish Stout. Regular Stout is like drinking from a garden hose and Irish Stout is like swimming naked in a hot spring in Iceland. Needless to say, Irish Stout is much better. In order for the regular stout to be good, I am going to have to mix it up with some other stuff. Since this is only my second batch of home brew, I will make this one the regular way. After this and then the Irish Stout, I am going to get a little crazy.

Here is what I got today. The yeast is under the cap on the can.

Also, I am going to need those bottle…FAST.

My Beer is Clear - Australian Lager

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

I picked up a bottle of my home brew this morning to notice that it was clear. I mean, it may have some color to it…I wouldn’t know, the bottle is brown. What I am saying is that the cloudiness has disappeared. Actually, I think it all settled to the bottom.

The bottles seem to be fully carbonated at this point because they all feel hard. I can squeeze them just with my fingertips. This Tuesday will be one full week since I bottled them. Next Tuesday will be the full two weeks I need to let them ferment before I am allowed to crack one open to try. I really can’t wait.

So far, I only have about ten glass bottles saved up. I need about thirty more before I can make my next batch of beer…the Stout. I have the capper and the caps, so all I need is the actual beer ingredients and the bottles.

Bottling My Home Brew

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

Well, the day finally came. I was supposed to wait between four and seven days for the fermentation to stop with my home brew. It’s day seven and it just about stopped. How do I know it stopped? Well, the bubbles became few and far between. Also, the hydrometer reading was between 1.008 and 1.010. That’s the ideal reading for home brew with the type of sugar I used. If I had used regular white sugar, I would’ve had to have a reading of less than 1.006. Why did it take the full seven days? Because the temperature wasn’t as warm as I would’ve liked. The warmer the temperature, the faster the fermentation.

This is a photo of the hydrometer at work. It’s hard to tell the reading, but it’s about 1.009. After I found out that the brew was ready to be bottled, I had to add the carbonation drops to each bottle. All carbonation drops are is sugar balls. You can use regular sugar or these types of drops. The company that made the brew kit likes to make things easy for you. I had thirty 740ml bottles, so each bottle took two carbonation drops.

This is the adhesive thermometer. This tells me that the temperature is OK to bottle. The only reason the temperature is this high is because I had the tub sitting in front of the pellet stove. It’s hard to keep it this warm in the Winter.

This is what you call a “little bottler.” It helps to bottle the beer. You don’t really need one of these, but I guess it does help not make too much of a mess. It sticks right in the tap. Also, it’s imperative that you have a tablecloth like this. It helps with the bottling.

Me starting to bottle…

…and me bottling.

This is a photo of all thirty bottles full of beer. I have to wait another seven days with the bottles at 21C-27C and then another seven days at room temperature. I can then drink them. They say that if I wait up to three months, the flavor will get better and the bubbles will get smaller. We’ll see.

Coopers Brewery Micro Brewery Kit - Oh Yeah!!!

Monday, January 28th, 2008

I am wicked excited. I just placed an order on Amazon for my soon-to-be home brewery kit. It’s the Coopers Brewery Micro Brewery Kit. My brother-in-law got me all wound up tonight when we were talking about his first batch of home brew. Do you know what kind of jealousy I have when I see a nice home brewed beer sitting on someone else’s table? For some reason, whenever I think of home brew, I always think of that nice sampler of 4oz. beers I had at Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach. I had the best non-filtered raspberry beer there.

Anyway, Steve had great luck with his first batch and is now going to dive into a batch of Stout. Now, that’s what I am talking about. That’s what stout’s about, no doubt. HAHAHAHHAHA.

The home brew kit I am getting makes six gallon batches. That should be good for a while to see if I like doing this kind of stuff. Then, as soon as summer rolls around and we open the new porch back up, we can rock out to Crosby, Stills & Nash and drink beer out of the bucket all day, every day.

Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ bout.