Celtic Beer - sounds good!

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/ancient-celtic-beer/

HB#1 - English Pale Ale (Ordinary Bitter)

General Information
Style: English Pale Ale
SubStyle: Ordinary Bitter
Brew Date: 1/6/2007
Vendor: Northern Brewer - Kit#1001

Recipe:
Specialty Grains
* 0.5 lbs. Simpsons CaraMalt
Fermentables
* 3.3 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
* 1 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract
Boil Additions
* 1 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
* 1 oz. Kent Goldings (1 min)
Yeast
* Wyeast #1098 British Ale Yeast. From Whitbread. Ferments dry and crisp, slightly tart, fruity and well-balanced. Ferments well down to 65° F. Flocculation: high. Apparent attenuation: 68-72%. Optimum temperature: 64-75.

Estimation Report from the HBD Beer Recipinator

Brewer:	Craig Gomulka
Beer:	English Bitter		Style:	English Ordinary Bitter
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	14 HCU (~9 SRM)		Bitterness:	31 IBU
OG:	1.034		FG:	1.008
Alcohol:	3.3% v/v (2.6% w/w)
Grain:	8 oz. British Carastan (subsituted)
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.056	3 gallons
	3 lb. 2.4 oz. Amber malt extract 1 lb. Light dry malt extract
Hops:	1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 1 min.)

Brewing Day
Brew Type: Extract
Technique: Partial Boil
Boil Water: Home tap water
Topoff Water: Home tap water
Originial Gravity: 1.035 (did not take this reading, target reading from the kit)
Yeast Starter?: No
Boil Notes: Followed brewing instructions on kit. Steeped pre-cracked grains 15 mins per recipe in muslin grain bag, water temp 160-170F. Hops were added to the boil loose, no bag.
Wort Cooling: Ice bath, took 20 minutes
Aeration: Shake wort in carboy

Primary (Fermentation)
Fermentation Time: 11 days, about 1 bubble per minute in the fermentation lock
Fermentation Temp: 64F
SG Measurement - Reading@Date: NA
Fermentation Notes: Used large blowoff tube, some leakage around neck of carboy (see picture below), did not seem to affect the beer. Krausen first 2 days then fell.














Secondary
Secondary Used?: Yes
Racking Date: 1/17/07
Secondary Time: 13 days
Secondary Temp: 62F
SG Measurement - Reading@Date: NA
Secondary Notes: Made a mistake aerating the beer during the siphon by not submerging the siphon tube (splashing).

Bottling and Conditioning
Bottle Type: Cornelius Keg
Bottle Date: 1/30/2007
Conditioning Time: 3 weeks
Conditioning Temp: 60F
SG Measurement - Reading@Date: 1.005@1/30/2007
Conditioning Notes: Final gravity for this style should be about 1.008-1.013, and was estimated by the Recipinator to be 1.008. The low final gravity I have (1.005) is potentially due to adding too much water during the top off. While I did not fill all the way to the top, it was filled to about 4.8 gallons. I've read that it is wise to take SG readings while filling up to get to the recommended OG. Otherwise one can end up with beer that is too thin, lacks body and flavor. I tried my beer at this point, it has tastes decent, but is lacking on body. Just to have some fun with some arithmetic and algebra, we can calculate our yeast attenuation to be 86% [(OG-FG)/(OG-1)] x 100 = attenuation%], which would indicate an error in the brew process, as the yeast that was pitched attenuates 68-72%. So if we then use the same formula above, we can calculate what the probable actual original gravity was (using an attenuation of 72%) at 1.018 [OG = (FG-Att %)/(1-Att %)]. The OG would indicate that I was fairly low on the OG target of 1.035, by roughly 50%! The other potential factor is that perhaps I did achieve a higher attenuation than the label say I would, but I do not know enough about yeast to know how likely that is. So using the theoretical OG of 1.018 we can calculate ABV [(OG - FG) x 131 = % ABV] to be 1.7% ABV, talk about a session brew... If we use the recipe stated OG of 1.035, we get ~4%, which is closer where it should be. Even so, both are not terribly far off from what the Recipinator estimated above. So I'll just hope I achieved a better attenuation. Lesson learned though, take the OG reading while filling the primary.

At any rate, it's amazing that the beer tastes as good as it does so far, which is all that matters in the end. Below are some pics in the secondary and the sediment left behind in the carboy after kegging.


























Tasting Notes
To come

The Kegerator

All of the homebrewers I talked to thought I had it ass-backwards, building a kegerator before learning to homebrew. But to me it makes perfect sense, why go through the hassle of bottling when a much simpler and cleaner solution is available? With a lot of help from some generous friends who had already built theirs (thanks Shawn and Darin), I had a good head start on what to buy and how to put it together. I thought I'd share some of this info with whomever is interested.

Here's the parts list:
















Now you can buy a kegerator at Best Buy for around $900, and I've seen smaller versions that will hold a half barrel for $600, but 1) they are 1 tap systems, 2) they do not use high quality taps/components and stainless materials and 3) it's cheaper to build you own 4) you can build it the way you want it. From my numbers above you can see that the dual tap system approaches $600. I calculated that the cost of a single tap system with these high quality components would be about $354. Compare that to the cheapest single tap kegerator I could find at $600, and you're saving $246.

Some of the components on the list:

Y Adaptor - also know as the Wye, you can get these a lot of places, here's a link. The thing to keep in mind with these is that it is a machined piece of brass with 3 female 1/4 NPT ports. Make sure when you get yours that it comes with a 1/4 NPT male to 3/8 NPT male adapter with it so you can attach it directly to your regulator.


Shutoff Valves (for CO2) - Pretty self explanatory. These will screw into the Y adaptor above so you need to have the with one side 1/4 Male NPT and the other 1/4 (or what ever ID your gas line is) barbed. You can find them at the same page as the Y adaptor.

Drip Tray - to catch your party fouls. Go 6" or 7". Find it here.


Ventmatic Forward Seal Faucets - From what I understand, and experience show, these forward sealing faucets that prevent sticking are the only way to go. Going on two years now and they've never stuck. I got mine here.


Finally, the fridge is a very special refrigerator, it can not have the compressor on the floor of the mini-fridge such that it creates a step in the back. This will not give you enough room for your kegs. The one I bought was from Best Buy, the model is a Sanyo 4912. Just google Sanyo kegerator fridge and you will find a ton of sites telling you have to do it. Have fun!