Yesterday my friend Ben came over and we brewed up a brown ale based on a slightly charged-up version of my mild ale. He's thinking of going into brewing, so he wanted to see the process; luckily it was an uneventful (read: successful) brewday.
The Recipe:
8 lb 2-row pale malt
8 oz Cara-Munich
6 oz chocolate malt
6 AAU (37g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 60
1.1 AAU (7g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 15
1 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1968 - London ESB
Mashed at 148° for an hour using 11.25 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 160-170° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.043
Est. IBU: 27.8
I only hit 70% efficiency, so it was a little under my desired gravity, but I think it should work out OK in the end. I also intended to have a little bit more hops at 15, but those 7 grams represented the very last of my opened Willamettes.
Once more I pitched yeast from batch #35. This was the first time I'd saved a harvested yeast cake for use in more than one batch. Keeping those yeast for a few weeks doesn't seem to have been a problem: I only pitched 13 hours ago and fermentation is already visibly underway!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Cascade Brewers Cup
So, today I submitted a few brews to the annual Cascade Brewers Cup, each in a different BJCP category:
Noble Mild (11A)
Pyatiletka Stout (13F)
Thanksgiving Tripel (18C)
I don't think it's very likely that I'll get any medals. However, one neat thing is that they send you the judging sheets even if your brews don't take any prizes, so at least I will get some feedback from pro judges.
Wish me luck!
Noble Mild (11A)
Pyatiletka Stout (13F)
Thanksgiving Tripel (18C)
I don't think it's very likely that I'll get any medals. However, one neat thing is that they send you the judging sheets even if your brews don't take any prizes, so at least I will get some feedback from pro judges.
Wish me luck!
Sour Sorghum
Yesterday I kegged the Post-Gluten Prometheus, and unfortunately this beer does not appear to be much of a success. It's got a very bright, tart, citrusy flavor, and doesn't taste a heck of a lot like beer. I'll give it a few weeks to mature in the keg, however, and taste it again to see if a little time improves it any.
I was going to brew a brown ale last Sunday, but laziness overtook me. I plan on brewing it this Saturday instead, provided, again, I'm not too lazy.
I was going to brew a brown ale last Sunday, but laziness overtook me. I plan on brewing it this Saturday instead, provided, again, I'm not too lazy.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Blackacre Special Bitter
Today I brewed up my second attempt at an ESB. My first was the ill-fated Mulligan ESB, batch no. 5. This time I used a blend of crystal malts rather than just crystal 120°, plus I altered the recipe to use an earthier English-inspired hop variety and put a lot less emphasis on aroma hop additions. On top of that, there are the myriad small improvements in my system since way back in August '09.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
1 lb Cara-Munich
1 lb Crystal 60°
10 AAU (62g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 60
4 AAU (25g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 15
Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1968 - London ESB
Mashed at 154° for an hour using 13.5 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 160-185° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.053
Est. IBU: 47.7
Brewing was entirely uneventful, which was nice. Today I brewed in the afternoon, starting at about 2 PM, rather than my more typical 7 or 8 AM start time. All in all, I think I still prefer brewing in the morning.
For this brew, I repitched the yeast collected from batch #35 a week ago. The slurry was pretty thick, so after accounting for the globs of yeast stuck to the funnel, I probably got about 180mL of cake in there. I still have a bunch of yeast left, so I think I'm going to hold onto it for another week and do something else with 1968 next.
And in other news, yesterday I built a wooden caddy to carry 3 growlers at a time. Its main purpose is to prevent the growlers from slamming around and tipping over in my car when I take beer places; the caddy also allows me to transport beer in the trunk rather than the cabin of the car. All the wood and stuff was leftover from the kegerator project (I had some 1x6 pine boards I never ended up using), and although the woodwork looks like it was done by a spastic 9-year-old, it is pleasingly functional.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
1 lb Cara-Munich
1 lb Crystal 60°
10 AAU (62g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 60
4 AAU (25g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 15
Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1968 - London ESB
Mashed at 154° for an hour using 13.5 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 160-185° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.053
Est. IBU: 47.7
Brewing was entirely uneventful, which was nice. Today I brewed in the afternoon, starting at about 2 PM, rather than my more typical 7 or 8 AM start time. All in all, I think I still prefer brewing in the morning.
For this brew, I repitched the yeast collected from batch #35 a week ago. The slurry was pretty thick, so after accounting for the globs of yeast stuck to the funnel, I probably got about 180mL of cake in there. I still have a bunch of yeast left, so I think I'm going to hold onto it for another week and do something else with 1968 next.
And in other news, yesterday I built a wooden caddy to carry 3 growlers at a time. Its main purpose is to prevent the growlers from slamming around and tipping over in my car when I take beer places; the caddy also allows me to transport beer in the trunk rather than the cabin of the car. All the wood and stuff was leftover from the kegerator project (I had some 1x6 pine boards I never ended up using), and although the woodwork looks like it was done by a spastic 9-year-old, it is pleasingly functional.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Kegerator Overfloweth
On Sunday I kegged up the three January brews: Noble Mild, Hoppy Hefeweizen and Kölsch II, which means my kegerator now has six varieties of beer on tap. Yesterday I also finished off the last of batch #5, Mulligan ESB: a landmark, since it was my last bottled beer. Now, my oldest available beer was kegged in September; it's nice to keep things fresh.
I also harvested the cake of 1968 London ESB from the Noble Mild, and so my next beer really ought to be an ESB so that I can prove to myself I can make a successful one. This one will use less Crystal malt and will use something like Fuggles or Willamette instead of Cascade hops. Hope it all turns out!
I also harvested the cake of 1968 London ESB from the Noble Mild, and so my next beer really ought to be an ESB so that I can prove to myself I can make a successful one. This one will use less Crystal malt and will use something like Fuggles or Willamette instead of Cascade hops. Hope it all turns out!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Post-Gluten Prometheus
Yesterday I brewed up a gluten-free beer for the first time. A friend of mine is gluten intolerant and likes the occasional brewski, but the selection of gluten-free brews out there is mostly pretty awful. So, with her input and some of my own ideas, I came up with an interesting recipe which I hope turns out OK.
The Recipe:
6 lbs white sorghum extract
2 lbs toasted buckwheat groats
3 AAU (19g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 60
3 AAU (19g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 15
3 AAU (16g @ 5.4% AA) Cascade @ 15
3 AAU (16g @ 5.4% AA) Cascade @ 0 (flame-out)
Safbrew WB-06 - Wheat Beer
O.G.: 1.047
Est. IBU: 23.1
There were a number of firsts for me with this batch. Most obviously, this was my first extract-based batch. Malted sorghum, millet, quinoa or other such grains just aren't readily available, but I was able to find sorghum extract syrup online. This is an extract from the sorghum grains rather than from the stalks, so it should have a little grainy character to it.
The buckwheat groats were a bit of a disappointment, but I do think they contributed a little to the final product (if not as much as I'd hoped). I toasted them at around 250° for 2 hours, which turned them a little orange. I then took them for a spin in the Cuisinart to crush 'em a little, then steeped them for 45 minutes in ~160° water. The water looked to gain nothing in color or cloudiness, though it was slightly redolent of buckwheat. Next time I'm going to have to toast them more and probably crush them better.
Another first for me was the use of dry yeast. As it turns out, Wyeast's liquid yeasts are not gluten-free; I'm guessing they use some kind of barley extract based substrate. I bloomed the dry yeast for about an hour in about a cup of 80° water and pitched at about 71°. Unfortunately the new carboy I bought for this brew (to ensure no residual gluten) does not have a thermometer strip on it yet, so I won't be able to track the temperature on this brew. It should stick in the low-to-mid 70s, though, I should think.
I used the wheat beer yeast on this in order to see what kind of interesting flavors I can get. I used a hopping schedule loosely based on some Mac & Jack's African Amber clone recipes. In any case, this should be an interesting brew.
The Recipe:
6 lbs white sorghum extract
2 lbs toasted buckwheat groats
3 AAU (19g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 60
3 AAU (19g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 15
3 AAU (16g @ 5.4% AA) Cascade @ 15
3 AAU (16g @ 5.4% AA) Cascade @ 0 (flame-out)
Safbrew WB-06 - Wheat Beer
O.G.: 1.047
Est. IBU: 23.1
There were a number of firsts for me with this batch. Most obviously, this was my first extract-based batch. Malted sorghum, millet, quinoa or other such grains just aren't readily available, but I was able to find sorghum extract syrup online. This is an extract from the sorghum grains rather than from the stalks, so it should have a little grainy character to it.
The buckwheat groats were a bit of a disappointment, but I do think they contributed a little to the final product (if not as much as I'd hoped). I toasted them at around 250° for 2 hours, which turned them a little orange. I then took them for a spin in the Cuisinart to crush 'em a little, then steeped them for 45 minutes in ~160° water. The water looked to gain nothing in color or cloudiness, though it was slightly redolent of buckwheat. Next time I'm going to have to toast them more and probably crush them better.
Another first for me was the use of dry yeast. As it turns out, Wyeast's liquid yeasts are not gluten-free; I'm guessing they use some kind of barley extract based substrate. I bloomed the dry yeast for about an hour in about a cup of 80° water and pitched at about 71°. Unfortunately the new carboy I bought for this brew (to ensure no residual gluten) does not have a thermometer strip on it yet, so I won't be able to track the temperature on this brew. It should stick in the low-to-mid 70s, though, I should think.
I used the wheat beer yeast on this in order to see what kind of interesting flavors I can get. I used a hopping schedule loosely based on some Mac & Jack's African Amber clone recipes. In any case, this should be an interesting brew.
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