American Cascade SMaSH
December 30, 2012
2.5 gal.
My first attempt at all grain brewing! Tally-ho!
4 lb. 2-Row Pale Malt (Rahr)
1 lb. Toasted 2-Row Pale Malt (Rahr)
1.5 oz. Cascade Hops
1 pkg. Munton’s Dry Ale Yeast
⅜ cup Corn Sugar (Priming)
12/29/12 - Toasted 1lb. of 2-row at 275 for 45 min.
12/30/12 - Removed yeast from fridge. Collected hops from freezer. Crushed grain at 0.025” spacing. Raised 2.5 gal of water to 165 deg. Preheated oven to ‘WARM’. Removed pot from heat. Placed bag in pot. Stirred crushed grains into water. Mashed grain in water at ~155 for 60 minutes in warmed oven. Raised 1.5 gal sparge water to 170 deg. Dunk sparged grain bag in sparge water. Squeezed a little. Added sparge water to boil kettle and got 4 gal of wort. Removed a few cups of water so boil pot wasn’t brimming. Boiled. Added ½ oz. Cascade at 60 min, 20 min, and 5 min to hop bag. OG is 1.048. Racked to glass fermenter. Collected 2.5 gal of wort.
1/5/13 - Racked beer to secondary. SG is 1.010. Super low. Tastes good, like a generic American ale.
1/12/13 - Bottled 2.5 gallons for 26 beers.FG was still 1.010. ABV is 5.1%. Used ⅜ cup of priming sugar for lower beer volume.
1/24/13 - Tried bottle. Very litre carbonation. Furnace was out while on vacation. Probably too cold. Brought beers up to computer room to carbonate. Significant sediment. Poor job racking or too fine of grind or both. Didn't use auto siphon to siphon. It was broken.
WindRiver’s Lake Pepin Porter
a.k.a. Burned Marshmallow Porter
December 15, 2012
5 gal.
6 lb. Dark LME
½ lb. Chocolate Malt
½ lb. Carapils Grain Blend
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Bittering)
1 oz. Fuggles Hops (Aroma)
1 pkg. Munton’s 6 gm. Dry Yeast
12/15/12 - Steeped specialty malts for 30 min. at 160. Added LME before raising temperature.. Boiled for 55 min. Added aroma hops. Boiled for 5 min. Cooled in ice bath for 30 min down to 80 degrees. Strained wort into bucket through metal strainer and colander. OG is 1.050. Hydrated yeast in 1 cup of tap water. Pitched at 72 degrees. Total brew time four hours. Julie bought new airlock so we can get carboy and fermenter running concurrently. Go team!
12/20/12 - Took a gravity reading. SG is 1.022. Rotated fermenter a few times to hopefully rouse yeast and get them to finish the job.
12/21/12 - Racked beer to carboy. SG is still 1.022. Auto siphon hose is a pain in the butt. End that goes in the carboy needs to not curl back up towards the top of the carboy.
12/30/12 - FG is now 1.019. ABV of 4.1%. Forgot the kit didn’t come with bottle caps. Only had 29 leftovers. Bottled rest of beer in three Grolsch bottles and ⅔ filled the Mad Fox growler. That might over-carbonate. Yielded 4.5 gallons.
1/6/13 - Tried bottle. It’s fully carbonated already. On the lookout for bottle bombs. Tastes like burned marshmallows.
Brewer’s Best Holiday Ale
a.k.a. Non-Denominational Holiday Ale
December 2, 2012
5 gal.
6.6 lb. Light LME
1 lb. Golden DME
1 lb. Corn Sugar
12 oz. Caramel 80L Malt
4 oz. Chocolate Malt
4 oz. Black Patent Malt
1 Spice Pack (Orange Peel, Cinnamon, others)
1 oz. Brewer’s Gold Hops (Bittering)
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Aroma)
1 pkg. Sachet Yeast
12/2/12 - Steeped specialty malts for 20 min. at 160. Left LME cans in hot water to ease pouring. Boiled and added LME, DME, corn sugar. Added bittering hops after returning to boil. Boiled for 40 min. Added spice pack and flavoring hops. Boiled for 15 min. Cooled in ice bath. Strained wort into bucket through metal strainer and colander. OG is 1.069. Hydrated yeast in 1 cup of tap water. Pitched.
12/9/12 - Transferred beer to carboy for secondary fermentation. Still getting bubbles out of airlock, one bubble per 20 seconds. SG is 1.018. Tastes pretty good, less sweet than I would have thought. Good hint of holiday spice in the nose before tasting and in the aftertaste. First time using Star San for sanitization. Creates a LOT of bubbles. Couldn’t get the cork to stay in the carboy, kept sliding up. Ended up drying cork and inside of carboy neck with kitchen towel. Don’t know if this will lead to infection but better than cork popping out I guess. Total time about 45 min.
12/15/12 - Checked gravity. Currently reading 1.016 FG. ABV = 7.0%.
12/16/12 - Boiled ¾ cup corn sugar w/2 cups water. Let cool and added to bottling bucket. Siphoned beer into bucket. Yielded 49 bottles w/Julie’s help. Designed “Drews Brews” labels. Applied to bottles with milk and brush. Very cheap, easy, and effective.
American Cascade SMaSH
