racked and ready

Amber Ale Mosaic
Originally uploaded by BierBrewer

The mini keg system I bought last week didn't arrive yet. So instead of kegging the lazy ass wheat ale, I decided to rack and dry hop my amber ale.

This is the first time I used hop leaves instead of just pellets. One thing I noticed while siphoning the beer into the carboy is that the hop leaves kept clogging my siphon. There were a lot of air bubbles in the hose, but that's not what really bothered me. Every time this thing got clogged, I had to pop the bottom off to unclog it. I am worried about contamination so I’m not sure I’ll be using the hop leaves anymore. We’ll see how the beer turns out. Check out the pics.

One of my favorites is the close up of the carboy with the hops floating on top. I dry hopped with 1 ounce of Hallertau. One other thing to note: add more water to the wort next time. I used 3 gallons and I think I'll add another half gallon. If you look at the pictures of the two carboys side by side, you can see a difference in measurement.