I really started my serious brewing last year in the midst of a 500 year hop shortage. As such, I felt like it was a little odd to try brewing an India Pale Ale, because hops were in short supply, and really expensive.
I ordered some some supercharged American hop varietals recently from Freshops, and it seemed like it was time to let loose with a hop bomb.
IPA-
Fermentables-
Marris Otter- 7 pounds
Two row Pale Malt- 2 pounds
Flaked Barley- 8 ounces
Crystal 40- 8 ounces
Victory Malt- 8 ounces
Hops-
Chinook- .5 ounces- 60 minutes
Simcoe- 1 ounce- 15 minutes
Simcoe- .75 ounces- 5 minutes
Simcoe- 1 ounce- Dry hopping in the secondary
Yeast-
Wyeast 1056- American Ale yeast- 1200 mL starter- pitched right off the stir plate
Mash-
153/167 mash out- hot water infusion
Gravity- Target/Actual/Final/ABV
1.058/1.057/1.015/5.51%
I had written this recipe up last week, but I completely changed it around after a conversation with Ted about using hops which blew my beady little brain as to how I use hops. The Chinook hops are a classic American IPA hop. The Simcoe hops instantly became my favorite variety when I popped open the bag. They smelled so fresh and fruity, almost with peach undertones. The grain bill is a larger sized version of what I made a few weeks ago for a pale ale. I added some Victory malt to give the beer a bit more malt flavor. I've been reading a lot of Randy Mosher lately, and he's an advocate of getting most of your color from the base malts for the Pale Ale family, so Marris Otter is the backbone of this one.
As far as brewing goes, I could not have asked for a better day to make beer. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I was able to finish cleanup right before the rain started. Great day, and hopefully a great beer.
Coming up are my favorites to brew: Belgian beers. I'm so excited to be getting back into the Dubbels, Saisons, and start using the crazy expressive Belgian yeasts.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Red Rye
I've been doing quite a bit of experimentation with my beers since going to all grain brewing, but I've been hoping to do some more work on some older recipes. Specifically, I had been thinking about having a sort of Haus Bier. Something that I've always got a few bottles of, that's good, that if people stop by, I know I can bust this out, and it'll be a crowd pleaser. My Rye Ale last year was definitely a candidate. It was really smooth, not too assertive, so it would work for beer nerds and BMC fans alike.
Red Rye-
Fermentables-
Two row pale malt- 5 lbs
Rye Malt- 3 lbs
Crystal Malt 60L- 8 ounces
Black Patent- 3 ounces
Rice hulls- 1 pound
Hops-
Willammette- 1 oz- 60 minutes
Noble hop mix- ?oz- a few minutes
Yeast-
Wyeast 1056 American Ale- pitched on to the yeast cake from the yet to be named Pale Ale from the week before
Mash-
98/125/151/157- hot water infusions- the 157 was supposed to be a mash out, but I just ran out of room in my cooler. 5 gallons is definitely undersized. I may need to upgrade this year.
Gravity- target/actual/final/ABV
1.052/1.049/1.012/4.86%
This is pretty much the same recipe as last year, plus a little Crystal malt and some Patent for color (this seems to be the year of Black Patent color additions). As far as the hops go, I feel like when I'm brewing something like a Rye, I want the malt to really be showcased, and the hops should be in the background. The Willammette addition should give it a complementary bitterness. The Noble hop melange is a mix of Mt Hood and Crystal that I had only very small amounts of, so I was looking to get rid of them. I was a little frustrated by the mash problems I had earlier, so they were really more of an afterthought.
Needless to say failing to hit my mash out temp turned the mash into a five gallon cooler full of cement. I vorlaufed, started the runoff, and I don't think I got to half a gallon before the mash just set completely. It was back to transferring the mash to a bucket, so it turned into a long and tremendously messy brew day. The rice hulls didn't do a damn bit of good as far as I could tell, and I think the 98 degree rest was far to thick to do any good. Anyway. While this beer is going to be a good one, the thought of brewing it every four to six weeks as a Haus Bier is just a little more work than I think I could take. I may try a different iteration later this year with flaked rye instead. I'll have to research what sort of differences that would make.
Pitching on to the yeast cake was explosive. So explosive, in fact, that in the week it took me to get around the writing this, it's already done with primary fermentation. I racked it yesterday.
Red Rye-
Fermentables-
Two row pale malt- 5 lbs
Rye Malt- 3 lbs
Crystal Malt 60L- 8 ounces
Black Patent- 3 ounces
Rice hulls- 1 pound
Hops-
Willammette- 1 oz- 60 minutes
Noble hop mix- ?oz- a few minutes
Yeast-
Wyeast 1056 American Ale- pitched on to the yeast cake from the yet to be named Pale Ale from the week before
Mash-
98/125/151/157- hot water infusions- the 157 was supposed to be a mash out, but I just ran out of room in my cooler. 5 gallons is definitely undersized. I may need to upgrade this year.
Gravity- target/actual/final/ABV
1.052/1.049/1.012/4.86%
This is pretty much the same recipe as last year, plus a little Crystal malt and some Patent for color (this seems to be the year of Black Patent color additions). As far as the hops go, I feel like when I'm brewing something like a Rye, I want the malt to really be showcased, and the hops should be in the background. The Willammette addition should give it a complementary bitterness. The Noble hop melange is a mix of Mt Hood and Crystal that I had only very small amounts of, so I was looking to get rid of them. I was a little frustrated by the mash problems I had earlier, so they were really more of an afterthought.
Needless to say failing to hit my mash out temp turned the mash into a five gallon cooler full of cement. I vorlaufed, started the runoff, and I don't think I got to half a gallon before the mash just set completely. It was back to transferring the mash to a bucket, so it turned into a long and tremendously messy brew day. The rice hulls didn't do a damn bit of good as far as I could tell, and I think the 98 degree rest was far to thick to do any good. Anyway. While this beer is going to be a good one, the thought of brewing it every four to six weeks as a Haus Bier is just a little more work than I think I could take. I may try a different iteration later this year with flaked rye instead. I'll have to research what sort of differences that would make.
Pitching on to the yeast cake was explosive. So explosive, in fact, that in the week it took me to get around the writing this, it's already done with primary fermentation. I racked it yesterday.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Last Minute No Recipe Pale Ale
I had planned on doing a retooled version of my Rye Pale Ale this weekend, but had a last minute change of plans. I got a call from Ted Saturday morning inviting me to be part of an event based around building arcade games from reclaimed materials. Being a part of a fun event like that was too good to pass up.
The invite itself presented a couple of problems. I would have four weeks to brew, ferment, condition and carbonate a beer. This would mean kegging it. The recipe I had planned on brewing was not the sort of beer that would be ready that quick. I was no where near any brewing software to come up with a recipe. So, I walked into Brew and Grow, grabbed a bunch of grain, and sort of made it up on the spot.
LMNR Pale Ale-
Fermentables-
Maris Otter- 7 pounds
Flaked Barley- 1 pound
Crystal Malt 60L- 8 ounces
Crystal Malt 90L- 2 ounces
Hops-
Fuggles- 1.25 ounces- 60 minutes
Wilammette- .5 ounces- 13 minutes
Willamette- .5 ounces- Knockout
Yeast-
Wyeast 1056 American Ale- I had a yeast cake from my 1 gallon barleywine. I made a 1000 ml starter to help roust the yeast, since this needed to take off right quick. I ended up pitching this as the just as the krauesen was on the way down, which, as I understand it, is the best time to pitch into your brew.
Mash
155/172- hot water infusions
Gravity target/actual
1.049/1.052
As I was first considering this recipe in the car, I was thinking something like a bitter might be good. But Ted had just brewed one, and I didn't want to serve the exact same thing as him at this event. So, a smallish Pale Ale would be in order.
This should be a really good beer. I've been reading Extreme Brewing, and Randy Mosher recommends getting as much color from your base malts as you can, hence hte Marris Otter, which I've never used before. The high mash temp is going to make it feel like a bigger beer than it really is, the flaked barley should make it look like a bigger beer than it is, and the quick cooling time (I went from knockout to under 100 degrees in about 10 minutes) should make the hoppiness really pop. The yeast I was using tends to work with what you give it, so I think I made a real nice clean flavored pale ale. I was a little high on the OG, which has to do with evaporation more than anything. That's something that I'd like to get a little better at predicting this year. All in all, close enough.
The brew day itself was miserable. It was rainy, cold, and starting to snow as I was finishing. I usually do most of my clean up as the beer is chilling, but today I was not in the damn mood to plunge my hands into cold waste water in a 39 degree drizzle. It makes me wish the Illinois Lottery would have pity on me and see fit to award me enough money to build a proper brew shack.
As far as having it ready on time is concerned, I saw the first bubbles in the blowoff bucket about 20 minutes after pitching the yeast. That is a definite good sign.
The invite itself presented a couple of problems. I would have four weeks to brew, ferment, condition and carbonate a beer. This would mean kegging it. The recipe I had planned on brewing was not the sort of beer that would be ready that quick. I was no where near any brewing software to come up with a recipe. So, I walked into Brew and Grow, grabbed a bunch of grain, and sort of made it up on the spot.
LMNR Pale Ale-
Fermentables-
Maris Otter- 7 pounds
Flaked Barley- 1 pound
Crystal Malt 60L- 8 ounces
Crystal Malt 90L- 2 ounces
Hops-
Fuggles- 1.25 ounces- 60 minutes
Wilammette- .5 ounces- 13 minutes
Willamette- .5 ounces- Knockout
Yeast-
Wyeast 1056 American Ale- I had a yeast cake from my 1 gallon barleywine. I made a 1000 ml starter to help roust the yeast, since this needed to take off right quick. I ended up pitching this as the just as the krauesen was on the way down, which, as I understand it, is the best time to pitch into your brew.
Mash
155/172- hot water infusions
Gravity target/actual
1.049/1.052
As I was first considering this recipe in the car, I was thinking something like a bitter might be good. But Ted had just brewed one, and I didn't want to serve the exact same thing as him at this event. So, a smallish Pale Ale would be in order.
This should be a really good beer. I've been reading Extreme Brewing, and Randy Mosher recommends getting as much color from your base malts as you can, hence hte Marris Otter, which I've never used before. The high mash temp is going to make it feel like a bigger beer than it really is, the flaked barley should make it look like a bigger beer than it is, and the quick cooling time (I went from knockout to under 100 degrees in about 10 minutes) should make the hoppiness really pop. The yeast I was using tends to work with what you give it, so I think I made a real nice clean flavored pale ale. I was a little high on the OG, which has to do with evaporation more than anything. That's something that I'd like to get a little better at predicting this year. All in all, close enough.
The brew day itself was miserable. It was rainy, cold, and starting to snow as I was finishing. I usually do most of my clean up as the beer is chilling, but today I was not in the damn mood to plunge my hands into cold waste water in a 39 degree drizzle. It makes me wish the Illinois Lottery would have pity on me and see fit to award me enough money to build a proper brew shack.
As far as having it ready on time is concerned, I saw the first bubbles in the blowoff bucket about 20 minutes after pitching the yeast. That is a definite good sign.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Confidential to Phil
Step 1- Pour yourself a brew
Step 2- Rinse bottle with hot water
Step 3- PBW and rinse a day or two before bottling
Step 4- Star san right before bottling
Step 5- Weep at the beautiful head on your brews
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
One Gallon Christmas Barleywine
Lager season is over, and it's time to start busting into some serious ale brewing. I'm excited about this, partly because the whole temperature control thing about lagers is a little stressful, and partly because I did some good stuff last year that I want to improve on, and some stuff I want to try out new. I'm going to try a few different incarnations of my rye beer that I did last year. I feel like that was a really good first effort, and could turn into a sort of always on tap haus beer type of thing. I'd like to redden the color a little, and see what sort of interesting things I can do with it, while still letting the rye drive the flavor.
But first on the docket was to do a barleywine. I used a White Labs ale yeast most of last year, and while it did some good beers, it also pooped out on the last few, which led to some tremendously over carbonated stouts, and some spectacular Brown Ale bottle bombs. I decided to use Wyeast 1056 American Ale to do a few right off the bat, and since I didn't have much carboy space, I decided to do a one gallon batch, and start repitching the yeast cake. I haven't done a barleywine before, partly due to the smallness of my MLT, so a one gallon was perfect. I would only need to mash a few pounds of grain, so I could make it as thin of a mash as I wanted. Here it is:
One Gallon Christmas Barleywine-
Fermentables-
2 Row Pale Malt (organic)- 3 lbs
Crystal 60- 4 ounces
Hops-
Cascade- .5 ounces- 90 minutes
Cascade- .5 ounces- Knockout
Yeast-
Wyeast 1056 American Ale- Pitched straight from the smack pack
Mash-
152- infusion
Gravity Target/Actual
1.086/1.068
The general idea behind this was to do a pretty big, super hoppy American style Barleywine, ferment it in a one gallon jug, decant it to two separate growlers after the primary fermentation, and then bottle in a few months. I'm thinking I'll bottle it in some Duvel bottles, as they are such a heavy gauge, and will easily hold the pressure if the carbonation gets too much in the coming months. I'll let it sit til Christmas, and then hand it out to family and friends.
The gravity came out low because I had not really done a one gallon batch in the stockpot I used, so it was a little difficult to know how long I could boil to get the evaporation that I was looking for. I collecting two gallons, and boiling for almost two hours, and ended up with a little over one gallon. I probably could have gone a little longer, since my last hop addition was going to be at knockout, and then I could have topped up the fermenter if I needed any volume. Brew and learn, I guess. It should still be real interesting as I boiled it pretty hot for so long. There was little in the way of character malts, so most of the color will come from the caramelized sugars. The Cascades should explode in aroma when these get poured. I was literally able to take it from knockout to pitching temps in 8 minutes, so the aroma addition will be real fresh.
Note to self: anytime you do a really big beer in a one gallon jug, add a blow off tube. The initial fermentation was positively volcanic. Awesome, but messy. It was pumping out some fantastic Cascade aromas too.
But first on the docket was to do a barleywine. I used a White Labs ale yeast most of last year, and while it did some good beers, it also pooped out on the last few, which led to some tremendously over carbonated stouts, and some spectacular Brown Ale bottle bombs. I decided to use Wyeast 1056 American Ale to do a few right off the bat, and since I didn't have much carboy space, I decided to do a one gallon batch, and start repitching the yeast cake. I haven't done a barleywine before, partly due to the smallness of my MLT, so a one gallon was perfect. I would only need to mash a few pounds of grain, so I could make it as thin of a mash as I wanted. Here it is:
One Gallon Christmas Barleywine-
Fermentables-
2 Row Pale Malt (organic)- 3 lbs
Crystal 60- 4 ounces
Hops-
Cascade- .5 ounces- 90 minutes
Cascade- .5 ounces- Knockout
Yeast-
Wyeast 1056 American Ale- Pitched straight from the smack pack
Mash-
152- infusion
Gravity Target/Actual
1.086/1.068
The general idea behind this was to do a pretty big, super hoppy American style Barleywine, ferment it in a one gallon jug, decant it to two separate growlers after the primary fermentation, and then bottle in a few months. I'm thinking I'll bottle it in some Duvel bottles, as they are such a heavy gauge, and will easily hold the pressure if the carbonation gets too much in the coming months. I'll let it sit til Christmas, and then hand it out to family and friends.
The gravity came out low because I had not really done a one gallon batch in the stockpot I used, so it was a little difficult to know how long I could boil to get the evaporation that I was looking for. I collecting two gallons, and boiling for almost two hours, and ended up with a little over one gallon. I probably could have gone a little longer, since my last hop addition was going to be at knockout, and then I could have topped up the fermenter if I needed any volume. Brew and learn, I guess. It should still be real interesting as I boiled it pretty hot for so long. There was little in the way of character malts, so most of the color will come from the caramelized sugars. The Cascades should explode in aroma when these get poured. I was literally able to take it from knockout to pitching temps in 8 minutes, so the aroma addition will be real fresh.
Note to self: anytime you do a really big beer in a one gallon jug, add a blow off tube. The initial fermentation was positively volcanic. Awesome, but messy. It was pumping out some fantastic Cascade aromas too.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Darkish American Lager No. 2
Every brewer hears about how if you do the same beer with two different yeast, you end up with two completely different beers. I had never done that before, but my last lager of the season gave me the perfect opportunity.
The first version of this was made a month ago with an American Pilsner yeast strain. I did my smoke beer two weeks ago with a Bavarian strain. The American strain is sort of geared toward accentuating hoppiness. The hallmark of a Bavarian Lager is the malts, so this was set up perfectly.
Darkish American Lager No. 2-
Fermentables-
German Pilsner Malt- 5 lbs
Vienna Malt- 3 lbs
Crystal 60- 2.5 oz
Cara Vienna- 4.375 oz
Cara Hell- 9.125 oz
Black Patent- 1/2 oz
Hops-
Nugget- 1 oz- 60 minutes
Vanguard- 1 oz- 8 minutes
Yeast-
Wyeast Bavarian Lager 2206- Yeast cake from the Rauchbier
Mash-
152 infusion/168 decoction mashout
Gravity target/actual-
1.048/1.054
I didn't have access to a computer for this beer, so I only sort of remembered what I had done the first time. The malts ended up being close, and the hops slightly closer, but there were some definite changes. The malts, especially the character malts were more geared toward using us what little was left of some stuff that's been sitting around for a while. The Nugget hops are pretty high in alpha acids, and with the slightly higher amounts, the bitterness of this beer are going to really pop. Much more bitter than I usually make.
The brewday went really well, after last time's gas issues. I ended up watching parts of several soccer matches while brewing this one. I was up high on my gravity, which I pin to better mash efficiency. I calculated my numbers based on 75%, but I was probably closer to 80%. Pitching to the yeast cake made it take right off, to the point that I'm going to rack it this weekend. I had a small sample fermenting in a test tube in the kitchen to keep an eye on gravity progress, and I'm thinking it should be ready to rack as soon as this weekend. It smelled very bready. Outside temperatures are starting to get warmer, and I'm anxious to get it to the lagering phase before the weather gets in to the 50's every day.
Up next ale season 2009 kicks off. I hadn't really been thinking much about ales recently, so I'm going to try to make some improvements to some of last years recipes, but there will be some completely new ones too. I'm going to start it off with a one gallon batch as a starter for an update/redo of my rye beer, which was one of my tastier efforts last spring.
The first version of this was made a month ago with an American Pilsner yeast strain. I did my smoke beer two weeks ago with a Bavarian strain. The American strain is sort of geared toward accentuating hoppiness. The hallmark of a Bavarian Lager is the malts, so this was set up perfectly.
Darkish American Lager No. 2-
Fermentables-
German Pilsner Malt- 5 lbs
Vienna Malt- 3 lbs
Crystal 60- 2.5 oz
Cara Vienna- 4.375 oz
Cara Hell- 9.125 oz
Black Patent- 1/2 oz
Hops-
Nugget- 1 oz- 60 minutes
Vanguard- 1 oz- 8 minutes
Yeast-
Wyeast Bavarian Lager 2206- Yeast cake from the Rauchbier
Mash-
152 infusion/168 decoction mashout
Gravity target/actual-
1.048/1.054
I didn't have access to a computer for this beer, so I only sort of remembered what I had done the first time. The malts ended up being close, and the hops slightly closer, but there were some definite changes. The malts, especially the character malts were more geared toward using us what little was left of some stuff that's been sitting around for a while. The Nugget hops are pretty high in alpha acids, and with the slightly higher amounts, the bitterness of this beer are going to really pop. Much more bitter than I usually make.
The brewday went really well, after last time's gas issues. I ended up watching parts of several soccer matches while brewing this one. I was up high on my gravity, which I pin to better mash efficiency. I calculated my numbers based on 75%, but I was probably closer to 80%. Pitching to the yeast cake made it take right off, to the point that I'm going to rack it this weekend. I had a small sample fermenting in a test tube in the kitchen to keep an eye on gravity progress, and I'm thinking it should be ready to rack as soon as this weekend. It smelled very bready. Outside temperatures are starting to get warmer, and I'm anxious to get it to the lagering phase before the weather gets in to the 50's every day.
Up next ale season 2009 kicks off. I hadn't really been thinking much about ales recently, so I'm going to try to make some improvements to some of last years recipes, but there will be some completely new ones too. I'm going to start it off with a one gallon batch as a starter for an update/redo of my rye beer, which was one of my tastier efforts last spring.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
No Gas Smoke Beer
My MO for this year is to start to develop some of the stuff that worked well last year, but I also want to build some stuff that I can work on for next year. My brewing buddy Ted did a smoke beer last year that was absolutely fantastic, and it was definitely the inspiration for this one, with it's smooth forward smoke flavor and beautiful red hue:
No Gas Rauchbier-
Fermentables-
German Pilsner- 3 lbs
Dark Munich- 3 lbs
Rauch Malt- 3 lbs
Cara Pils- 8 oz
Black Patent- 1 oz
Hops-
Mt Hood- 7/8 oz- 90ish minutes
Crystal- .5 oz- 10 minutes
Yeast-
Wyeast Bavarian Lager 2206- 1000 ml starter
OG Target/Actual-
1.050/1.068
I had been wanting to do a rauchbier, but I wanted an even amount of smoke in a medium sized beer. Something you drink several of because it's a strong taste but still refreshing. The hops are low alpha acid noble varietals. They should provide some nice bitterness, but I didn't want much since the star of this beer was supposed to be the malt. To that end, I picked a Bavarian Lager yeast, which is supposed to highlight malts. I'm planning on using the yeast cake in another version of the Darkish American Lager No. 2.
So it was a real cold brew day (somewhere in the 20's), and to keep the gas flowing I had to dunk my propane tank in hot water. And then about ten minutes into what was supposed to be a 90 minute boil, I realized I was about to completely run out. I dropped everything, ran to the gas station and got some more. My boil stopped for about 15 minutes as near as I can tell, since on my trip to get gas, I zeroed out my stopwatch. By the time I got the gas going again, my wort was about 160 degrees.
At that point, this beer was basically screwed in the sense that it was not going to end up with what I had wanted. I decided once it got boiling again to just boil another 60 minutes, and call it a beer. I had a lot more evaporation than I had anticipated, so I ended up with a much higher gravity and a lot less beer. Something like 4 gallons or so.
Oh well. As I always tell my dad when he's having issues with his beers: the worst case scenario is you made beer. I'm thinking once it's in the bottle, I'll lay it down for a while, as the higher gravity with the smoke is going to need some time to condition.
I also now have two propane tanks, so I'll never run out again. Now I just need it to stay cold long enough to do another lager before spring arrives.
No Gas Rauchbier-
Fermentables-
German Pilsner- 3 lbs
Dark Munich- 3 lbs
Rauch Malt- 3 lbs
Cara Pils- 8 oz
Black Patent- 1 oz
Hops-
Mt Hood- 7/8 oz- 90ish minutes
Crystal- .5 oz- 10 minutes
Yeast-
Wyeast Bavarian Lager 2206- 1000 ml starter
OG Target/Actual-
1.050/1.068
I had been wanting to do a rauchbier, but I wanted an even amount of smoke in a medium sized beer. Something you drink several of because it's a strong taste but still refreshing. The hops are low alpha acid noble varietals. They should provide some nice bitterness, but I didn't want much since the star of this beer was supposed to be the malt. To that end, I picked a Bavarian Lager yeast, which is supposed to highlight malts. I'm planning on using the yeast cake in another version of the Darkish American Lager No. 2.
So it was a real cold brew day (somewhere in the 20's), and to keep the gas flowing I had to dunk my propane tank in hot water. And then about ten minutes into what was supposed to be a 90 minute boil, I realized I was about to completely run out. I dropped everything, ran to the gas station and got some more. My boil stopped for about 15 minutes as near as I can tell, since on my trip to get gas, I zeroed out my stopwatch. By the time I got the gas going again, my wort was about 160 degrees.
At that point, this beer was basically screwed in the sense that it was not going to end up with what I had wanted. I decided once it got boiling again to just boil another 60 minutes, and call it a beer. I had a lot more evaporation than I had anticipated, so I ended up with a much higher gravity and a lot less beer. Something like 4 gallons or so.
Oh well. As I always tell my dad when he's having issues with his beers: the worst case scenario is you made beer. I'm thinking once it's in the bottle, I'll lay it down for a while, as the higher gravity with the smoke is going to need some time to condition.
I also now have two propane tanks, so I'll never run out again. Now I just need it to stay cold long enough to do another lager before spring arrives.
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