I started a batch of beer last week. An “american cream ale” out of a kit. I’ve got the makings for a whole bunch of different batches, as well as a year’s worth of home-grown hops in the freezer … but I decided to test out the new kitchen gently. Plus, I want some beer in the fridge that might be palatable to people who are not me.
All went smoothly, and today was the one week point at which I “racked” the beer out of the 6 gallon pail (“primary fermentation vessel”) and into the 5.5 gallon glass carboy for “secondary” fermentation. It tastes a little green, and is perhaps a bit hoppy (besides being warm and uncarbonated) … but that’s nothing to worry about at this point.
The matter of some concern was the 1.5 inch thick yeast cake, the “trub” at the bottom of the pail. That’s an unusual amount of dead yeast. Generally, I see perhaps half an inch. Out of the entire brewing process, there is only one part that is actually gross. There are annoying parts, all the dish washing, but the only really gross step is when you have a really thick cake of spent yeast. Washing it out looked like nothing so much as washing soft poop out of the bottom of a bucket. Of course it *smelled* like hoppy, malty, yeast. That’s all good … but the visual stays with me.
Anybody up for a beer?
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