Bottling Day

Well I actually bottled Saturday but am just now getting around to posting. Been pretty busy around here getting ready for the new baby to come. Less then 2 weeks left!!! WooHoo!!!

Not much to say. Bottled up the Toutle River Tart and the DuceDuce WCPA.

Here is a picture of the two squads. The Toutle River Tart is in the front in 12oz bottles and the DuceDuce WCPA in the back.


With the DuceDuce name I thought it only be appropriate that the beer go into 22oz bottles :)


Here we have the bottles with their labels on.


Very Important Tip About Labels!!

My first attempt at labels I bought some Avery 3"x4" and they worked great. That is until it was time to take them off. Lets just say a 24hr soak in warm water and oxi-free out back in the ice-chest and an additional 4hrs of elbow grease and Goo Gone they finally came off. Then I had to thoroughly clean the bottles.

New way of labeling: Simply print the labels on plain paper, cut out, and apply to the bottles with Elmers Glue Stick. They hold perfectly fine in storage and come right off under running water. Yes, Running water!! No more scrubbing, rubbing, finger nail scraping and cussing!

Batch #06 and Batch #07

YAY! Brew day!

Well everything finally arrived. I brewed up the two batches in the previous post. With the exception of the WCPA. I ended up turning it into a 5gal batch. we shal see how that comes out.

But!! We can not begin without some brewing essentials :)


Batch #06:

Toutle River Tart
1 Can Archer's Orchard Hard Cider
1 Packet Dry Cider Yeast
1 Can Red Tart Cherries in Water
1 1/2 Cups Granulated White Sugar
1 Cup Honey

Pureed the cherries and followed the Mr. Beer directions to the "t". Hoping this will come out as something the wife will like. First time brewing a hard cider. I can't wait to see what it comes out like. It definitely had a different smell to it. This one is resting ever so nicely in a cooler in the pantry. With the addition of the fruit, I wanted to make sure this one was contained in case of a blow-out. I'm still having flash backs of the 5gal blow-out.

Batch #07:

As mentioned this One I increased the size from the Mr. Beer size of 2.25gal on up to 5gal. This was only due to the kindness of JakPumpkin of the Mr Beer Fans Forum. Kudos to you sir.

"Duce Duce" West Coast Pale Ale w/Pale Export (5gal mod)
2 Can West Coast Pale Ale
2 Can Pale Export UME
2 Booster Packs
2 Packet Dry Brewing Yeast

As with the hard cider I followed the Mr. Beer steps. But since this one was an alteration I took an SG (specific gravity) reading. This one read 1.054 with the temperature correction. Not bad. Might end up around 5-6% A.B.V.

I decided to see what Qbrew would come up with and surprisingly the OG was very close.

Duce Duce WCPA (official name haha)

Recipe		Duce Duce WCPA		Style		American Pale Ale
Brewer		Desert Brewing		Batch		5.00 gal
Extract

Recipe Characteristics

Recipe Gravity		1.053 OG		Estimated FG		1.013 FG
Recipe Bitterness		0 IBU		Alcohol by Volume		5.1%
Recipe Color		4° SRM		Alcohol by Weight		4.0%

Ingredients

Quantity		Grain		Type		Use
2.42 lb		MrB. West Coast Pale Ale		Extract		Extract
2.42 lb		MrB. Pale Export UME		Extract		Extract
1.62 lb		MrB. Booster		Sugar		Other
Quantity		Hop		Type		Time
Quantity		Misc		Notes

Bitterness is wrong. It should show something around 12-14 IBU. Qbrew does't have the correct rates. But it did come up with an OG of 1.053 and I had 1.054. Pretty close. We shall see if I can get that FG lower then 1.013.