Ben Reichelt’s Weblog

I mentioned in my write-up of the last beer that I had also purchased a Java Stout kit and that I was going to try and brew it the same week as the Honey Porter. I didn’t end up brewing the Java Stout until early January

Waiting that long to brew a beer turned out to be a big mistake. Since I bought the kit in September and didn’t brew the beer till January, the yeast sat around in the fridge for nearly four months. Yeast is a time sensitive ingredient in beer, so by the time I got around to using the yeast, it was way older than it should have been. Not only that, but I didn’t realize that I was supposed to prepare the yeast for a couple days before brewing because of its age.

I put the yeast into the beer and waited a couple days for signs of activity in the beer, but I saw nothing. Usually after a day or two the beer will bubble, which indicates that the yeast is actively eating the sugar from the malts. So, I figured my yeast was simply too old to use, but I saw no reason why adding newer, active yeast would cause any issue, so I went and bought some more yeast and threw it in.

This time around I did notice some subtle activity, but not like I would have expected from previous batches. After a week or so, I moved the beer to the secondary fermenter and added the coffee. The directions said to brew a strong pot of coffee using the beans and dump that into the secondary fermenter. I did that and let it sit for 12 days.

When it was time to keg the beer, I tried some of the un-carbonated beer before adding it to the keg. It didn’t taste good. In fact, it tasted like coffee, and not much else. The final reading on the hydrometer was 1.020 which indicates that there is not much alcohol in the beer (the closer to 1.000 the more alcohol is present). I kegged the beer anyways, waiting to try it again after it was carbonated to see if that made it any better.

I tried to have a pint of this beer as I wrote this post, but I couldn’t do it, I’m having a root beer instead. It was too nasty, like cold, carbonated coffee. I’m not sure what to do with it either. Its unethical to dump beer down the drain, especially beer that you’ve spent several weeks making; I also don’t foresee any of my friends liking this enough to take down 5 gallons in any reasonable amount of time.

Here are the details:

• Beer: Java Stout from Midwest Supplies
• Brewed on 1/6/2008, initial reading: 1.050
• 1/8: added fresh batch of yeast
•  1/27: transferred from plastic to glass carboy, added 48 oz. of Peace Coffee
• 2/9: transferred to keg at 33psi, final reading 1.020

The day after I kegged this one, I brewed my next batch, the Hop Head Double IPA, I’m really excited about this one, I just transferred to the secondary fermenter today, and it smells delicious.