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Wick's Home Brew

Here is where I will post stuff about beer. Home brew, craft beer, or just beer info in general. Nothing fancy, just beer talk. So drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

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Posts tagged "national homebrew competition"

Home Brewing Lessons Learned #2

I don’t know if you follow me on Twitter (@wickdawg) or not and saw my tweet about two of my beers submitted to the National Homebrew Competition receiving 1st place. So as I prepare my beers for the final round submission I am going to document my lessons learned day by day as the deadline approaches.

Lesson Number 2 - Preparing for a Brew Session.

I wanted to show you that I do actually know how to use a hydrometer. At least I hope I do. So, yes AHA Big Brew day was a lot of fun. Didn’t realize it took so much longer to brew a 10 gallon batch than it does 5 gallons. More run off, heating more water, etc. Hey this is my lessons learned series and you are always learning while brewing.

Proof is in the pudding, uh, beer! So I really can’t tell ya the last time I’ve used my hydrometer, made notes on a brew day, etc. It was a successful brew day and I was successful in taking notes if I want to brew that beer again in the future.

So onto my next lesson learned. Living in a small town without a LHBS I cannot simply go to the store and pick up ingredients for my next adventure in home brewing. So luckily I have a couple reliable resources in Brewmasters Warehouse and Rebel Brewer and I can order in one day and get my supplies in the next day or two.

But there is much more for to plan out a brew day because of not having a local shop.

Do I have DME for my yeast starter?
Do I have enough time to make the proper starter? I’m glad I purchased that stir plate from Rebel Brewer.
Any equipment break recently?
Do I have backup dry yeast if my yeast starter doesn’t come out right?

These are just some of the things I have to go through every time I do an order to an online home brew shop. Maybe I should take advice from the wifey and make lists. She is a list taking machine. One day I’ll learn.

The two recipes that placed, I ordered my supplies from Brewmasters Warehouse and their Brew Builder software saved the day. I just logged in and added those two recipes to the cart, went through my check list and boom, supplies ordered and I’m ready to brew. It’s really easy to use, you should go check it out.

I’m glad I keep a vial of White Labs California Ale on hand, just in case. Going to whip up that starter tonight and get it going, just in case my stuff arrives tomorrow and I’ll get to brewing as soon as possible. I’ll keep you updated.

You can contact me a wick at wickshomebrew dot com if you have any questions or comments.

Lesson Number 1— TAKE GOOD NOTES! Especially if you enter your beers to competitions. I got really lazy and just wanted to brew and my notes on my beers that placed are lackluster at best. Why did I need to take notes? I still have the recipe.

Yes I still have the recipes, but do I know how much sparge water I used? What temperature the beers fermented at? No. All I know is that I fermented at ambient temps. But I have a newly acquired chest freezer that will serve as my fermentation chamber.

Take good notes. What was my final gravity? What was my efficiency? I have no clue. All I know, is that those beers were well received among my friends and that why I submitted them to NHC.

So with today being the AHA big brew day, I am going to start taking much better notes. At least I believe I’m going to. I need to take notes. We are brewing 10 gallons of the East India Pale Ale.

Be on the lookout for the next lesson learned.