*BOOM*
I’ve been a home-brewer for I suppose a year and a 1/2 now. (My friend John got me interested several years ago in AL) And I made another batch last night. Here’s the recipe:
- 1 can Cooper’s Stout extract
- 6 lbs DME
- 2 tsp premium vanilla extract
- 1 lbs uncooked oats
- small handful of 88% cocoa bitter chocolate
On a side note, some people look down pretty hard on those of us who use the canned extracts, but they taste great to me. And they’re easy to work with, you get a consistent flavor, etc. Maybe years from now I’ll laugh at my current naiveté while cooking over a $200 10-gallon stainless steel mash pot next to a $500 immersion chiller, but I currently suspect that will be more post-hoc expense rationalization and less about the actual flavor of the beer.
But anyway, 6 lbs of dried malt is a lot. My last batch was 4.5 lbs. Usually 3 is used, if making an all-malt batch and you want 6% ABV, or 1.5 if you’re making an 50% batch (malt+dextrose) The 4.5 batch bubbled over out of the fermenter and all over the floor, which I had forgotten. So my surprise was pure stupidity seeing the same this morning.
So I cleaned it all up, mopped, and marveled at the non-trivial breeze coming from the air-lock at the top of the bucket. (not to mention that amazingly delicious yeast-orgy smell) And then sat down to call around for a new clutch for my washing machine. (I didn’t even know they had clutches until last night…another story) I was on hold for what seemed like forever waiting for someone to check their stock, when *BOOM*. I run into the kitchen, and beer is everywhere. Walls, floors, papers, you name it. The air lock had gotten plugged, and the carbon dioxide buildup had blown the lid of the fermenter clear across the room. Fuck.
So I cleaned up again. 
Fortunately I was here and could re-sanitize the lid and get it back on before it was spoiled. And it’s still bubbling away like no tomorrow. I guess we’ll find out how it tastes in another 2 months or so…
