It's been a while since I've brewed a beer, and I wanted to get back into it with something interesting. Not long ago, I made a visit to my local homebrew supply store, and picked up some Omega liquid yeast along with other supplies. It's been over a year since the last time I used this particular yeast, but during that time, I'd also tried a Norwegian farmhouse ale from a local brewery and really enjoyed it. I thought a pale ale using some hops to impart a subtle, fruity essence would be a good way to start back into home brewing.
Brew Day: 25 Oct 2020
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
7 g US Fuggle (4.3%) @ 20 min
1 oz German Huell Melon (6.1%) @ 5 min
Yeast: Omega OYL061 Voss Kviek
After aerating the wort and pitching the yeast, I wrapped the fermenter in a towel and placed it on a warming plate. I'll check back in after 3 days, but I'm likely going to leave it for a bit longer this time around; the last time I brewed a beer with this yeast, the beer spent 3 days on the warming plate, and was bottled after 8 days. The first beer I tried from this batch was "wildly over-carbonated".
Addendum, 26 Oct: About 12 hrs after pitching the yeast, and the beer is bubbling away quite nicely! It's good to see this reaction (i.e., not a slow start, and not an explosive one!) for my first beer since the pandemic started.
Addendum, 8 Nov: Bottled tonight on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water. Got 7 good bottles and 2 repurposed soda bottles.
Addendum, 16 Nov: I've been checking the repurposed soda bottles regularly, and they remain soft, indicating no or very little carbonation. This is the same issue I started experiencing this past spring, and I don't know if this is an issue with the water, in that there is an issue with the yeast as it's fermenting or if it's an issue with the water used when priming the beer for bottling, or if it's an issue with the sugar.
I did have the well check in May as part of the regular maintenance cycle, and found that the water out of the well (raw) had a pH of 6.3, and both iron and hardness were '3'. After filtering, the pH was 6.6, and both the iron and hardness were 0.
My plan at this point is to prepare some bottling sugar using bottle water and 1 oz of corn syrup. I've got a 12 ml syringe, so I'll sanitize that and use it to add a small amount of the solution to the bottles, and then wait a bit to see what happens.
