So, over the weekend I brewed up two batches -- the first time I've ever brewed two days in a row. My first batch is a Kölsch which attempts to improve upon my last, chiefly through different hopping, improved mash efficiency and improved fermentation temperature control.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
8 oz Munich malt
6 AAU (48g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 60
3 AAU (24g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 30
4 AAU (32g @ 3.5% AA) Czech Saaz @ 5
1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 2565 - Kölsch
Mashed at 150° for an hour using 13 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 170-190° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.052
Est. IBU: 36.2
I had upped the total grain bill by a pound since my last Kölsch had such poor efficiency and was so light (OG of 1.035!), but I ended up getting 80% mash efficiency so the gravity is a hair higher than what I wanted. Still, it's within operational parameters.
For the most part, I'm trying to keep my fermentation temperature below 60° on this one, although it did drift up to about 62-63° yesterday before I refreshed the ice in the cooling tub. I think I should end up with a pretty crisp brew this time, though!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Chores
Today I finally got around to kegging batches 31 and 32. Things were uneventful, and despite my reservations about having left them in the primary for 77 and 51 days, respectively, they both appear to have turned out OK. Mediterranean Baltic finished up at 1.014 for 7.6% ABV and Mulligan IPA finished at 1.007 for 5.1%, my lowest-ABV IPA but completely within parameters.
Early tastings indicate Mediterranean Baltic will be an incredibly smooth and nicely chocolatey brew when it is conditioned. It's a got a bit of a bitter bite at the end but I think it's pretty successful. Mulligan IPA is nicely citrusy with plenty of back-end bitterness, and it seems like my cara-pils experiment to add a little body has paid off.
So, for Christmas, Emily got me a refractometer which I tried out tonight in addition to taking hydrometer readings. The 1.014 porter shows 9 Brix, and the 1.007 IPA showed 5.5 Brix. This is because the index of refraction is affected by both sugars and alcohol in a different way than is the density; it turns out there are a bunch of cool formulae dealing with this, and I look forward to learning them all!
Early tastings indicate Mediterranean Baltic will be an incredibly smooth and nicely chocolatey brew when it is conditioned. It's a got a bit of a bitter bite at the end but I think it's pretty successful. Mulligan IPA is nicely citrusy with plenty of back-end bitterness, and it seems like my cara-pils experiment to add a little body has paid off.
So, for Christmas, Emily got me a refractometer which I tried out tonight in addition to taking hydrometer readings. The 1.014 porter shows 9 Brix, and the 1.007 IPA showed 5.5 Brix. This is because the index of refraction is affected by both sugars and alcohol in a different way than is the density; it turns out there are a bunch of cool formulae dealing with this, and I look forward to learning them all!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Holiday Lull
So, it would seem that I've demonstrated a tendency to fall back on brewing activity during the winter holiday period. I plan to get back on track, though, and have jump-started my brewing mojo by purchasing some more parts to move my home kegerator project towards completion:
Lastly, I desperately need to keg the two batches I've got sitting in fermenters still. Once that's done, I can feel good about embarking on another batch.
- 6-way CO2 distribution manifold
- 6 ball-lock corny keg gas inlets
- 6 ball-lock corny keg beer outlets
- 24 feet each of 1/4" beer line and CO2 line
- 1 beer tap and barb assembly
Lastly, I desperately need to keg the two batches I've got sitting in fermenters still. Once that's done, I can feel good about embarking on another batch.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Mulligan IPA
So, yesterday I brewed up an IPA designed to finish off the Nugget and East Kent Golding hops I have had open for quite a while. This also means that I used over 3 ounces of Nugget as bittering hops and so achieved a calculated 226 IBUs, which I'm sure nobody will ever actually taste.
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
12 oz Victory malt
8 oz Cara-Pils
42.25 AAU (91g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 20
5 AAU (28g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 20
6 AAU (34g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 10
6 AAU (34g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 5
13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 0 (flame-out)
Whirlfloc tablet @ 15
Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II
Mashed at 150° for an hour using 13 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 170-190° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.046
Est. IBU: 226.3
Brewing was mostly uneventful, except for the fact that I achieved a paltry 68% mash efficiency, the same as for the last batch. I'm thinking, once again, that it's got to be down to the crush. I guess the mill at my LHBS needs to be adjusted again.
Yesterday I also kegged batch 30, Thanksgiving Tripel, and it is now carbonating at a preposterous 30psi to be ready by Thursday. It actually tasted darn good; way better than Terrible Tripel. It finished off at 1.004, or about 9.2% ABV. Since I've decided to eschew secondary fermentation, except in the case of dry-hopping or adding fruit or whatnot, I had to buy another Cornelius keg in order to package #30. I'm now up to eight kegs, even though I can only chill 6 at a time; I guess my taps will have to begin rotating, eh?
The Recipe:
9 lb 2-row pale malt
12 oz Victory malt
8 oz Cara-Pils
42.25 AAU (91g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 20
5 AAU (28g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 20
6 AAU (34g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 10
6 AAU (34g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 5
13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 0 (flame-out)
Whirlfloc tablet @ 15
Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II
Mashed at 150° for an hour using 13 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 170-190° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.046
Est. IBU: 226.3
Brewing was mostly uneventful, except for the fact that I achieved a paltry 68% mash efficiency, the same as for the last batch. I'm thinking, once again, that it's got to be down to the crush. I guess the mill at my LHBS needs to be adjusted again.
Yesterday I also kegged batch 30, Thanksgiving Tripel, and it is now carbonating at a preposterous 30psi to be ready by Thursday. It actually tasted darn good; way better than Terrible Tripel. It finished off at 1.004, or about 9.2% ABV. Since I've decided to eschew secondary fermentation, except in the case of dry-hopping or adding fruit or whatnot, I had to buy another Cornelius keg in order to package #30. I'm now up to eight kegs, even though I can only chill 6 at a time; I guess my taps will have to begin rotating, eh?
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Mediterranean Baltic
On Sunday I brewed up a Baltic Porter (my first) in order to utilize the yeast cake I harvested from Proposition 29. Brewing was largely uneventful.
The Recipe:
13 lb 2-row pale malt
1.5 lb Carafa II malt
1 lb crystal 60°L
1 lb flaked oats
10 AAU (22g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
4 AAU (35g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 15
Wyeast 2112 - California Lager; pitched about 350mL of very thick slurry from batch 29's yeast cake
Mashed at 154° for an hour using 20 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 170° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.072
Est. IBU: 43.7
The only problem which occurred was during sparging. There was an interruption in draining so I introduced a little too much sparge water, which diluted the wort and caused me to get a lower efficiency (since I basically had to toss perfectly good wort because it wouldn't fit in my kettle). Thus, my efficiency dropped to 68%, quite low for some of my more recent batches. Still, 1.072 is a perfectly acceptable OG for a Baltic porter, so I think I'm in good shape.
I also kegged up Proposition 29 (FG 1.007; ABV 5.6%) and have it carbonating away in the kegerator right now. I decided to leave Thanksgiving Tripel in the primary, with an eye toward getting a new keg and kegging it sans secondary. Actually, I'm thinking of eschewing secondaries altogether when they are not necessary; only beers being dry-hopped or fruited or whatever really need to go into secondaries at all.
The Recipe:
13 lb 2-row pale malt
1.5 lb Carafa II malt
1 lb crystal 60°L
1 lb flaked oats
10 AAU (22g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
4 AAU (35g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 15
Wyeast 2112 - California Lager; pitched about 350mL of very thick slurry from batch 29's yeast cake
Mashed at 154° for an hour using 20 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 170° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.072
Est. IBU: 43.7
The only problem which occurred was during sparging. There was an interruption in draining so I introduced a little too much sparge water, which diluted the wort and caused me to get a lower efficiency (since I basically had to toss perfectly good wort because it wouldn't fit in my kettle). Thus, my efficiency dropped to 68%, quite low for some of my more recent batches. Still, 1.072 is a perfectly acceptable OG for a Baltic porter, so I think I'm in good shape.
I also kegged up Proposition 29 (FG 1.007; ABV 5.6%) and have it carbonating away in the kegerator right now. I decided to leave Thanksgiving Tripel in the primary, with an eye toward getting a new keg and kegging it sans secondary. Actually, I'm thinking of eschewing secondaries altogether when they are not necessary; only beers being dry-hopped or fruited or whatever really need to go into secondaries at all.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Brewing Plans
Last night I kegged up #28, Employment Singel. It has come out pretty biscuity and with almost no Belgian character, which has me a little worried because I used its yeast for Thanksgiving Tripel. I guess we'll just have to see, though.
So, I recently got a big order of hops in, so I have set out a big plan to make a bunch of IPAs in the coming weeks. I also want to use up hops I opened a long time ago (easily identifiable on my new hop inventory chart), so I'm going to start with a Mulligan IPA and then move on to a bunch of single-hop IPAs in the vein of Nugget or EKG IPA. I am suffering from a bit of a dearth of session-type beers right now, so it is just as well.
Next on the list, however, is a Baltic porter, since I have that cake of 2112 California Lager yeast to use. After that, though, it will be IPAs until the end of the year.
So, I recently got a big order of hops in, so I have set out a big plan to make a bunch of IPAs in the coming weeks. I also want to use up hops I opened a long time ago (easily identifiable on my new hop inventory chart), so I'm going to start with a Mulligan IPA and then move on to a bunch of single-hop IPAs in the vein of Nugget or EKG IPA. I am suffering from a bit of a dearth of session-type beers right now, so it is just as well.
Next on the list, however, is a Baltic porter, since I have that cake of 2112 California Lager yeast to use. After that, though, it will be IPAs until the end of the year.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Thanksgiving Tripel
Since I decided to save my yeast cake from batch 28, and since my last attempt at a tripel wasn't terribly successful, I decided to brew up another attempt at the lovely Belgian style again yesterday. The idea is to have it ready by Thanksgiving, hence the name.
The Recipe:
12 lb European Pilsner malt
2 lb granulated white sugar, added with about 20 minutes left in the boil
6 AAU (53g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 60
2 AAU (17g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 20
2 AAU (17g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 5
Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1214 - Belgian Abbey (yeast cake from batch #28); pitched ~200mL of slurry
Mashed at 150° for an hour using 15 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 170° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.074
Est. IBU: 27.5
Brewing was blissfully uneventful and everything went well. The only disappointment was in the 75% efficiency I got, which, while within the acceptable range, was still a little bit lower than I'd been getting recently. The grind on the grain looked pretty good, so maybe this malt just had lower potential than the estimate I was using for the calculation.
I also racked Proposition 29 to the secondary. I probably could have kegged it, but I don't have any free kegs right now. It got down to 1.007, so about 5.6% ABV, and it has this interesting bright, piney, somewhat citrusy character. It was a pretty clean brew, so I'm thinking that implementing temperature control is going to really pay off for me in my forthcoming brews. I harvested 29's yeast cake as well; I'm thinking of maybe doing a Baltic porter or something.
The Recipe:
12 lb European Pilsner malt
2 lb granulated white sugar, added with about 20 minutes left in the boil
6 AAU (53g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 60
2 AAU (17g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 20
2 AAU (17g @ 3.2% AA) Tettnanger @ 5
Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min
Wyeast 1214 - Belgian Abbey (yeast cake from batch #28); pitched ~200mL of slurry
Mashed at 150° for an hour using 15 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 170° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.
O.G.: 1.074
Est. IBU: 27.5
Brewing was blissfully uneventful and everything went well. The only disappointment was in the 75% efficiency I got, which, while within the acceptable range, was still a little bit lower than I'd been getting recently. The grind on the grain looked pretty good, so maybe this malt just had lower potential than the estimate I was using for the calculation.
I also racked Proposition 29 to the secondary. I probably could have kegged it, but I don't have any free kegs right now. It got down to 1.007, so about 5.6% ABV, and it has this interesting bright, piney, somewhat citrusy character. It was a pretty clean brew, so I'm thinking that implementing temperature control is going to really pay off for me in my forthcoming brews. I harvested 29's yeast cake as well; I'm thinking of maybe doing a Baltic porter or something.
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