Batch 4 in the fermenter

Last Saturday (4/12) I brewed another extract kit - American Amber by Brewer's Best. I picked up another carboy but I'm using the Ale Pail for primary fermentation. It's been a good 5 days and I'm still getting airlock activity so that's a good thing. I'll put more detail in this post later.

I'm moving my secondary fermentation carboy into refrigeration for batch 3 (Maibock) for the next few weeks then I'll bottle.

Batch 3 updates

It's day 6 from when I pitched the yeast on 3/29 and I'm getting about 1 bubble on the airlock every 6 seconds yet. It's definitely still working away. This is the first time I've used the Wyeast Activator and this is the longest I've had fermentation going.

After reading the lagering notes for the Maibock (from a site other than Northern Brewer) I'm going to do the following.

1. Primary fermentation for 7-14 days at 56-57°F.
2. Rack to carboy and bring to 60-62°F for diaceytl action for 1 day.
3. Bring back down to 56-57°F for another 7 days.
4. Put in the refridgerator and bring down to 34°F for 14 days.
5. Bottle and condition for 2-3 weeks (have to find out if I keep it cold or let it condition warmer)

I'm also going to start a new batch this weekend because I want to have some craft beer before the end of May:).

Batch 3 Notes

Batch 3* Notes

Maibock (Northern Brewer extract kit)

Specialty Grains
1 lbs. Belgian Caramel Pils

Fermentables
3.15 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup (boil for 60 min.)
6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup (boil for 15 min.)

Boil Additions
2 oz. Spalt (60 min)
1 oz. Argentina Cascade (15 min)

Yeast
Wyeast #2124 Bohemian Lager Yeast. A pilsner yeast from the Weihenstephen. Ferments clean and malty, with rich residual maltiness in full gravity pilsners. Flocculation: medium. Apparent attenuation: 69-73%. Optimum temperature: 48-58.

Brewed: 3/29/2008 starting at 7:00 PM

Fermenatation vessel: 6.5 G Ale Pail

Pitched yeast at 64° F.

OG: 1.058

Airlock activity noticed approximately 20 hours after pitching. Temperature on the Ale Pail thermometer is 56-57° F attained in the unheated crawlspace in the basement.

* I've brewed 5 or 6 batches about 8 years ago before a co-worker got me re-interested in homebrewing again. I've restarted my brewing diary online at this site so this will be batch #3.