Today I brewed up a tripel for the first time. I have been really getting into tripels as a style and I am very much looking forward to finding out if this one will be any good. The grain costs a bit more (using Euro Pilsner malt instead of 2-row American) but the hops content is quite low, so the price of the batch is probably a wash. I have decided to name it Terrible Tripel to honor today's holiday.
The Recipe:
11 lb European Pilsner malt
1 lb wheat malt
2 lb granulated white sugar, added with about 20 minutes left in the boil
7 AAU (15g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
2 AAU (16g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 15
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 3787 - Trappist High Gravity (w/starter)
Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at about 152° using 15 quarts; fly sparged with ~170-180° water until I had about 25 quarts for the boil.
O.G.: 1.080
Est. IBU: 29.7
While I was brewing, I did some mental calculating and figured out that this is probably one of the most cost-effective beers I've made. With ingredients at about $32, I'm probably not much over $35 or $36 including water, gas, &c., so if I make 24 bottles I'll end up at $1.50 per bottle. A good tripel costs $3-6 or even $7 for a bomber, so even at an average of $5 I'm saving $3.50 per bottle. That means this batch alone will be saving me about $84 (and, brothers, I'd have no problem drinking 24 bottles of good tripel). Also, I'm estimating that this thing will finish in the 8.3%-8.5% ABV range, so theoretically it should last me awhile.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Rackin' Good Time!
Tonight I performed a number of brewing tasks which pretty much wore me out.
Now it is time for bed.
- Bottled Procrastination Oatmeal Porter. I got 26 full bottles and the final gravity was 1.010 (.001 higher than my racking reading, proving once again the imprecision of the hydrometer as a scientific instrument), giving it an ABV of about 7.1%. It is a little hot and estery at this time, so hopefully it mellows out in the bottle.
- Racked Blackacre IPA. Its racking gravity reading was 1.006, making it a tentative 6% ABV ... perfect for an IPA. Its color is light orange and its flavor is bitter, grapefruity and herby. It might be my best beer yet.
- Made a starter for this weekend's brewing session. I'm making a big tripel, so a starter will be indispensable.
Now it is time for bed.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Bar-None Brown
Today I brewed up a brown ale based roughly on a clone recipe for Dogfish Head India Brown Ale, one of my favorite beers ever. I had originally planned on calling it Bangalore Brown or Bombay Brown, but decided to rename it in honor of my wife/lovely brewing assistant Emily who just found out she passed the bar exam.
I've kind of had a bad day today, influenced by my scale breaking and my mash efficiency being quite poor. But, bellyaching aside, I think this beer might turn out OK.
The Recipe:
11 lb 2-row pale malt
12 oz victory malt
8 oz crystal 60°
8 oz chocolate malt
2 oz roasted barley
1 lb dark brown sugar, added with about 20 minutes left in the boil
13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
5 AAU (40g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 20
5 AAU (40g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 5
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1187 - Ringwood Ale (w/starter)
Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at about 151° using 16 quarts; fly sparged with ~170-190° water until I had about 25 quarts for the boil.
O.G.: 1.068
Est. IBU: 65.9
I learned that 13 pounds of grist and 16 quarts of water are about the maximum my 5-gallon Rubbermaid mash tun will hold. In the future, if I wish to make bigger beers, they will have to be fortified with sugar or DME or something if I don't want to do two mashes for one batch. Today I had a pretty bad 65% mash efficiency; this could be due to my sparge, which was rather faster than normal (about 30-35 minutes instead of the 45-60 territory I usually occupy) or due to a poor crush at the LHBS. Sadly, I really have no way of guaranteeing consistency of the mill.
Today also represented two firsts for me in my homebrew adventures: the use of sugar in a brew and the use of a yeast starter. With my poor efficiency and an OG of only 1.068, a starter may not have been necessary, but at least it was a learning experience. Last week I purchased a growler with matching stopper and an airlock, along with a 3-lb package of light dry malt extract. I boiled 6 oz of extract in 2 quarts of water, cooled it, dumped it into the growler, aerated the wort and pitched the yeast on Tuesday evening. I then let it ferment until Thursday (fermentation activity was subtle and no big kräusen was formed), when I put the batch in the fridge so the yeast could flocculate out of solution. Today, before brewing, I decanted about 95% of the liquid from the growler and then swirled the yeast cake into the remaining small amount of solution and let the whole works come up to room temperature for a couple hours. I then pitched it like I normally would straight from the package ... we'll see if it works.
I've kind of had a bad day today, influenced by my scale breaking and my mash efficiency being quite poor. But, bellyaching aside, I think this beer might turn out OK.
The Recipe:
11 lb 2-row pale malt
12 oz victory malt
8 oz crystal 60°
8 oz chocolate malt
2 oz roasted barley
1 lb dark brown sugar, added with about 20 minutes left in the boil
13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
5 AAU (40g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 20
5 AAU (40g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 5
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1187 - Ringwood Ale (w/starter)
Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at about 151° using 16 quarts; fly sparged with ~170-190° water until I had about 25 quarts for the boil.
O.G.: 1.068
Est. IBU: 65.9
I learned that 13 pounds of grist and 16 quarts of water are about the maximum my 5-gallon Rubbermaid mash tun will hold. In the future, if I wish to make bigger beers, they will have to be fortified with sugar or DME or something if I don't want to do two mashes for one batch. Today I had a pretty bad 65% mash efficiency; this could be due to my sparge, which was rather faster than normal (about 30-35 minutes instead of the 45-60 territory I usually occupy) or due to a poor crush at the LHBS. Sadly, I really have no way of guaranteeing consistency of the mill.
Today also represented two firsts for me in my homebrew adventures: the use of sugar in a brew and the use of a yeast starter. With my poor efficiency and an OG of only 1.068, a starter may not have been necessary, but at least it was a learning experience. Last week I purchased a growler with matching stopper and an airlock, along with a 3-lb package of light dry malt extract. I boiled 6 oz of extract in 2 quarts of water, cooled it, dumped it into the growler, aerated the wort and pitched the yeast on Tuesday evening. I then let it ferment until Thursday (fermentation activity was subtle and no big kräusen was formed), when I put the batch in the fridge so the yeast could flocculate out of solution. Today, before brewing, I decanted about 95% of the liquid from the growler and then swirled the yeast cake into the remaining small amount of solution and let the whole works come up to room temperature for a couple hours. I then pitched it like I normally would straight from the package ... we'll see if it works.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Yowza!
This morning I bottled Djibouti Smoked Porter. I got 24 bottles in total. It finished at a gravity of 1.008, unchanged from when I racked it two weeks ago; this makes it a nice solid 5% beer. The sample I tasted was really rather good, so I am optimistic in how it will be in a couple of weeks. I primed with 100g of corn sugar; hopefully it will carbonate as successfully as the Brevity Wit did. I don't want another Mulligan on my hands.
I also racked Procrastination Porter from the primary to the secondary. I took a gravity reading for giggles, and was astonished to find it had dropped to about 1.009. That's 86% attenuation already, bringing it to about 7.2% ABV. Yowza! I sincerely doubt that I'll get any more attenuation in the secondary, but dang, at 7.2% I hardly need to. The icing on the cake: it tastes pretty damn good, too! It's amazing how experience yields progressively better results.
I also racked Procrastination Porter from the primary to the secondary. I took a gravity reading for giggles, and was astonished to find it had dropped to about 1.009. That's 86% attenuation already, bringing it to about 7.2% ABV. Yowza! I sincerely doubt that I'll get any more attenuation in the secondary, but dang, at 7.2% I hardly need to. The icing on the cake: it tastes pretty damn good, too! It's amazing how experience yields progressively better results.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
A Fond Farewell
Yesterday I finished my last bottle of Blackacre Butte #2 and today I finished the last Foam Dome Stout. I only have one bottle of Seven-Eleven Porter left, so soon I (and my friends and family) will have consumed 4 batches of beer, about 17-18 gallons altogether. I feel my brewing pace is slowly picking up, so soon I should get a kegging system so that I don't have to spend so many dreary hours washing and filling bottles.
In other news, today I stopped at my LHBS after work and bought ingredients for Number Ten. I decided to go the way of the India Brown Ale clone, which I've decided to call Bangalore Brown. I plan on brewing that up on Saturday. Number ten! I can't believe it!
In other news, today I stopped at my LHBS after work and bought ingredients for Number Ten. I decided to go the way of the India Brown Ale clone, which I've decided to call Bangalore Brown. I plan on brewing that up on Saturday. Number ten! I can't believe it!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Yay Carbonation!
On Friday I broke out a bottle of Brevity Wit, which had been bottled the previous Saturday. I am pleased to announce that unlike Mulligan ESB, Brevity did indeed carbonate! I am excited by this because it means I again have drinkable homebrew on hand. I am also glad to say that it turned out pretty good; a nice, tasty, relatively light (4.7%) wit.
I am now contemplating what to make for the historic batch #10. I am torn between a tripel, a belgian strong pale ale and a Dogfish Head India Brown Ale semi-clone. All involve the use of sugar (either white or brown), and all have the possibility of being both very good or quite disappointing. In any case, it shall be interesting.
I am now contemplating what to make for the historic batch #10. I am torn between a tripel, a belgian strong pale ale and a Dogfish Head India Brown Ale semi-clone. All involve the use of sugar (either white or brown), and all have the possibility of being both very good or quite disappointing. In any case, it shall be interesting.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Blackacre IPA
Today I brewed an IPA designed to take advantage of my friend Eric's fresh hop harvest this year. I'm looking forward to seeing whether it works out.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
1 lb crystal 20°
13.2 AAU (34g @ 11.1% AA) Chinook @ 60
4 AAU (32g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 30
4 AAU (32g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 20
4 AAU (32g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 5
135-140g fresh hops of unknown variety went into the primary fermenter.
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II
Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at about 152° using 12 quarts; fly sparged with ~170-190° water until I had about 25 quarts for the boil.
O.G.: 1.052
Est. IBU: 85.3
Brewing was mostly uneventful. I ended up with about 2% less grist than the grain bill indicates, as it ended up on the floor next to the grain mill because of poor receptacle placement on my part. Speaking of milling, I think the mill was well-adjusted today, as I got 76% efficiency; not as good as last week, but still way above average for me. I am thinking I might try a batch sparge next week and see if that improves efficiency at all.
There was one tiny mishap and that was that I intended to put the fresh hops in the fermenter and pour the wort on top of them; however, I forgot about them and ended up putting them in after filling the fermenter but before pitching the yeast. I don't know if this will even matter, but it should be interesting to see what happens.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
1 lb crystal 20°
13.2 AAU (34g @ 11.1% AA) Chinook @ 60
4 AAU (32g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 30
4 AAU (32g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 20
4 AAU (32g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 5
135-140g fresh hops of unknown variety went into the primary fermenter.
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II
Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at about 152° using 12 quarts; fly sparged with ~170-190° water until I had about 25 quarts for the boil.
O.G.: 1.052
Est. IBU: 85.3
Brewing was mostly uneventful. I ended up with about 2% less grist than the grain bill indicates, as it ended up on the floor next to the grain mill because of poor receptacle placement on my part. Speaking of milling, I think the mill was well-adjusted today, as I got 76% efficiency; not as good as last week, but still way above average for me. I am thinking I might try a batch sparge next week and see if that improves efficiency at all.
There was one tiny mishap and that was that I intended to put the fresh hops in the fermenter and pour the wort on top of them; however, I forgot about them and ended up putting them in after filling the fermenter but before pitching the yeast. I don't know if this will even matter, but it should be interesting to see what happens.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Procrastination Oatmeal Porter
I brewed my oatmeal stout porter today while watching the Seahawks lose rather impressively to the Colts. It ended up being the strongest beer I've yet brewed, at least in terms of initial gravity. More on that later.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
1 lb flaked oats
8 oz chocolate malt
8 oz crystal 60°
4 oz roated barley
5.5 AAU (39g @ 4% AA) Fuggles @ 60
3.5 AAU (20g @ 4.9% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 60
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale
Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at about 147° using 14 quarts; sparged with ~170-180° water until I had about 25.5 quarts for the boil.
O.G.: 1.064
Est. IBU: 38
My pre-boil gravity was 1.052, which means I hit 79% efficiency, which, after the disappointing efficiency of Djibouti Smoked Porter, was quite heartening. Here's the deal: after milling my grain at my LHBS, the store guy looked at it and said "it's barely milled!" Well, it turns out, the nut holding the setting of the grain mill there is broken and the mill goes out of whack. He readjusted it and I milled again at the better setting and ... voilà! A huge increase in mash efficiency!
I also ended up mashing at 147° because I did not get my water hot enough for dough-in and thus could not reach my target of 151°. It will be interesting to see what kind of attenuation I get out of it; if my yeast aren't killed by all the sugars I expect to hit the 6.5-7% range. It will be a mega porter.
Speaking of porter, this recipe was originally designed as an oatmeal stout. It was based on some Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout clone recipes I found online. I tweaked it by upping the pale malt but not the specialty grains, mostly because of my historically weak mash efficiencies (I wanted to get at least 5% ABV ... looks like efficiency caught up with a vengeance). At the end of the boil, however, it was not that dark a beer, so I decided to rename it an oatmeal porter. Of course, I've been burned before by naming my beers before they are done (e.g. Mulligan ESB is really an APA), but hey, I'm just a lowly homebrewer with a measley 8 batches under his belt. I will do things wrong on occasion.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
1 lb flaked oats
8 oz chocolate malt
8 oz crystal 60°
4 oz roated barley
5.5 AAU (39g @ 4% AA) Fuggles @ 60
3.5 AAU (20g @ 4.9% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 60
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale
Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at about 147° using 14 quarts; sparged with ~170-180° water until I had about 25.5 quarts for the boil.
O.G.: 1.064
Est. IBU: 38
My pre-boil gravity was 1.052, which means I hit 79% efficiency, which, after the disappointing efficiency of Djibouti Smoked Porter, was quite heartening. Here's the deal: after milling my grain at my LHBS, the store guy looked at it and said "it's barely milled!" Well, it turns out, the nut holding the setting of the grain mill there is broken and the mill goes out of whack. He readjusted it and I milled again at the better setting and ... voilà! A huge increase in mash efficiency!
I also ended up mashing at 147° because I did not get my water hot enough for dough-in and thus could not reach my target of 151°. It will be interesting to see what kind of attenuation I get out of it; if my yeast aren't killed by all the sugars I expect to hit the 6.5-7% range. It will be a mega porter.
Speaking of porter, this recipe was originally designed as an oatmeal stout. It was based on some Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout clone recipes I found online. I tweaked it by upping the pale malt but not the specialty grains, mostly because of my historically weak mash efficiencies (I wanted to get at least 5% ABV ... looks like efficiency caught up with a vengeance). At the end of the boil, however, it was not that dark a beer, so I decided to rename it an oatmeal porter. Of course, I've been burned before by naming my beers before they are done (e.g. Mulligan ESB is really an APA), but hey, I'm just a lowly homebrewer with a measley 8 batches under his belt. I will do things wrong on occasion.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Finally
So, today I finally bottled Brevity Wit and racked Djibouti Smoked Porter to the secondary. I put it off last weekend so it really needed to be done; luckily, I think the extra time helped out.
Brevity Wit: I got 26 full bombers out of the batch. Final gravity was 1.004, which means I hit a preposterous 90% attenuation rate and a rough ABV of 4.7% ... not bad for a wit. Also, it doesn't taste half bad. I primed with 120g of corn sugar, about 20% more than usual, to see if I can get a nice creamy texture out of it. Or all the bottles will explode; one or the other.
Djibouti Smoked Porter: gravity read 1.008 when I racked it, so my attenuation at this point is about 83%; not bad at all. It tastes ... interesting. Emily says it would make great barbecue sauce. I look forward to bottling it next weekend and drinking it a few weeks hence.
Brevity Wit: I got 26 full bombers out of the batch. Final gravity was 1.004, which means I hit a preposterous 90% attenuation rate and a rough ABV of 4.7% ... not bad for a wit. Also, it doesn't taste half bad. I primed with 120g of corn sugar, about 20% more than usual, to see if I can get a nice creamy texture out of it. Or all the bottles will explode; one or the other.
Djibouti Smoked Porter: gravity read 1.008 when I racked it, so my attenuation at this point is about 83%; not bad at all. It tastes ... interesting. Emily says it would make great barbecue sauce. I look forward to bottling it next weekend and drinking it a few weeks hence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)