Batch 011: Kit Oktoberfest Beer

Put the Weyermann melanoiden malt into the brew bag that was provided with the kit, then tossed that into the 5-gallon boiling pot. Filtered one and a half gallons of water and poured it over the Weyermann melanoiden malt, then brought the water to 155°F and kept it there for fifteen minutes, then removed it and brought the water to a boil, then poured in both the liquid and the dried malt extract, stirring vigorously. Boiled the wort for fifteen minutes, then pitched in the liberty hop pellets and continued to boil for another 45 minutes. Stirred occasionally to keep the wort evenly mixed, then removed the pot from the flame.

Yield:

• 16 x 22 oz. bottles (1 to dad);
• 1 x 750 mL swing-top bottle (for checking carbonation);
• 16 x 12 oz. bottles.

Total yield: just over 4 gallons.

Meanwhile, continued to filter tap water and pour it into the fermentation bucket to a level of 3 gallons. When the boil ended, pulled the pot from the heat and poured the wort into the bucket with the water, then topped off the bucket to the 5-gallon mark. Chilled the water using the immersion chiller (we now have an immersion chiller!) until it hit 85°F, when the electronic thermometer suddenly malfunctioned, shooting up to over 220°F over the course of about a minute. (So long, electronic thermometer/kitchen timer! It's been fun.) As the temperature had been dropping about 1°F/min, we kept chilling the wort for another ten minutes in the hope that this would bring it down to 75°F, then pitched the yeast, snapped the top onto the bucket, and fitted a vodka-filled fermentation lock.

First, though, we pulled out a ⅔-cup sample into the hydrometer tube and put it aside until we could get at a thermometer. The next day, it turns out that the original gravity is 1.042.