Harvest Ale (Batch #45)

After waiting all summer for my hops to grow I was finally able to harvest a few dry ounces from my Columbus plant that smelled great. I didn't have much success with the 2nd year Centennial or the 1st year Cascade. And the squirrels ate my 1st year Chinook so they didn't even make it out of the ground.

So I put this recipe together first to try brewing with my homegrown hops and second to help clean out the cupboards of some of our various left over malts. I had a bad experience last year brewing with homegrown Cascade so I also wanted to minimize any negative impact they may impart. I decided to throw 2 oz. in a hop bag for a 5 minute boil and I kept them in the boil kettle during the chill.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 4 gal.
Color: 9 SRM
Target Bitterness: 46 IBU
Target OG: 1.048

Grist
7 lb. 2-row
1 lb. Crystal 20
8 oz. Crystal 40
3 oz. Maris Otter
3 oz. White Wheat Malt

1 oz. Centennial (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min)
2 oz. Homegrown Columbus (5 min)

Yeast
Mangrove Jack M44 US West Coast

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 9/10/16
Mash Temp: 150
Mash Time: 60 min.

Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4 gal
Measured OG: 11.8 Brix (1.048)
Measured FG: 1.010

Doughed in at 158 with 5 gallons of water. Ended up with 4 1/4 gallons post-mash without squeezing the BIAB bag. Was able to chill to only 90F post boil because summer sucks. Chilled the wort in my keezer until it got down to 70 and pitched. Fermentation temperature got up to 84!!! so I put it back in the keezer with the temperature probe directly in the wort. This didn't work so well because of the keezer overshot the target temperature (65F) by 5 degrees (60F). Fermentation had stopped but I thought it was because I put the yeast to sleep. Ended up taking a gravity reading which read 1.012 so I think it was basically done before the temperature shock happened. I let it sit for a couple of weeks to clean up fermentation byproducts.

9/25/16 - Kegged at 1.010 so it continued to attenuate a little over the last two weeks. Turbo carbed so it was ready in three days. This beer tastes really full bodied and creamy with a pillow-y white head that sticks around. There isn't much hop presence in aroma or flavor but there's just a little hint of 'ourdoors' smell that's kind of generically plant-y but not too off putting. In fact it complements the weather well as we head into the fall season.

German Wheat (Batch #44)

This is a beer I threw together to make use of some German Hefeweizen yeast that was about to expire. I took almost no notes but I figured I'd make note of the brew for the record. My buddy Mike and I had a joint brew day in his back yard. Mike brewed an American wheat and I brewed this German wheat.

Recipe Notes
Style: German Wheat

Batch Volume: 4.5 gal.
Color: n/a
Target Bitterness: n/a
Target OG: n/a

Grist
Forgot to record...

Brew Notes
Brew Date: Early summer some time
Mash Temp: 160
Mash Time: 60

Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.33 gal
Measured OG: 11.0 Brix (1.044)

The only abnormal part of this brew day was that my mash temp after dough in stayed at 160F so I decided to mash without wrapping the pot in a sleeping blanket like I usually do. Follwing the 1-hour mash the temp had dropped to 148F.

Since it was pretty hot out I was only able to chill to 88F following the boil. So I took the wort home and put in my chest freezer over night. The temp dropped to 56F by morning so I just decided to pitch then. As you might expect it took a while to get going but fermented down to 1.007. It ended up sitting in the fermenter for a couple of months until a keg opened up in the keezer. I force carbed at 30psi for 48 hours then dropped to 12 psi serving pressure. I love that trick; it carbed up great. It does taste pretty thin and very attenuated but there's definitely a hefe-yeast character there. Not a super great beer but it tastes OK when it's hot out.

Bee Cave Pale Ale (Batch #43)

Ed Wort

I've been meaning to brew this recipe for some time now. The Bee Cave Pale is a very popular pale ale recipe on HomeBrewTalk by brewer 'EdWort.' It's a simple, no-frills recipe for a super solid pale ale. I've had a history of throwing a lot of hops at my pale ales in my pursuit of hop nirvana. With this brew I'd like to find a stronger appreciation for well balanced pale ales.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: ?
Target Bitterness: ?
Target OG: ?

Grist
8 lb. 2-row
2 lb. Vienna
1/2 lb. Crystal 10L

1 oz. Cascade (FWH)
1/2 oz. Cascade (30 min.)
1/4 oz. Northern Brewer (15 min.)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)
1/4 oz. Cascade (5 min.)

Yeast
Nottingham Ale Dry Yeast

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 3/6/16
Mash Temp: 150
Mash Time: 60

Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.9 gal
Measured OG: 12.0 Brix (1.048)

Hand ground the malt today instead of using my stupid cordless drill that always runs out of battery 20% of the way through anyway. Not too bad. Will probably do this from now on unless we need to buy a corded drill for some household project.

Brought 5.5 gal. mash water to 163. Temp fell just below 150 after dough in. Collected 4.75 gal of 13 brix wort. Boil was straight forward. Added 1/2 gallon of cold water post-boil during the chill phase. Ended up with about 5 gallons of 12 brix wort which is right where I wanted it. Filled the Better Bottle fermenter a little too high probably. Had to dump about 20 oz. of wort or so down the drain. Hopefully not a super vigorous fermentation or things could get messy.

4/23/16 - Kegged today at 1.008 for an ABV of 5.3%. Tasted a little BMC-ish. Fairly dry but with a bit of a toasted, 'husky' flavor I think from the Vienna. The beer also has a slight hefeweissen aroma that dissipates quickly over time. Had a major blow-out during fermentation which usually happens when I brew wheat beers so maybe I'm correlating the dry grain smell or maybe it was the Nottingham yeast that I'm not too familiar with. I usually use US-05 for this type of recipe. I think it'll be a solid easy drinker once it's carbonated.

Trying out a new carbonation method this time. I disconnected the other kegs from CO2 then turned the pressure up to 30psi. I'll leave it there for 48 hours while the keg is in the keezer chilling. I won't be rocking the keg around to increase surface area absorption. After 48 hours I'll drop back to serving pressure (14psi) and see how this trick impacts carbonation time. I'd like to have this beer carbonated within 11 days so it'll be ready for a work party so hopefully this'll do the trick.

4/26/16 - After two days at 30psi and another at 14psi this beer is perfectly carbonated. I think this'll be my go-to carbonation method from now on. Zero to carbed in 72 hours is great, especially for a beer that had some extra time to mature in primary.

Brew Shop Stout

Time for my homebrew to take the black. I haven't made a stout all winter so now we're way past due. The hops, yeast, and 5 lb. of non-base malt was purchased from the newly opened Brew Shop in Arlington, VA. So I dub this recipe the 'Brew Shop Stout.'

Recipe Notes
Style: Stout

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: ?
Target Bitterness: ?
Target OG: ?

Grist
5 lb. 2-row
1 lb. Crystal 80
1 lb. Roast Barley
1 lb. Chocolate Malt
1 lb. Stout Malt
1 lb. Oats

0.9 oz. Perle (FWH)
0.5 oz. Nugget (FWH)
0.3 oz. Northern Brewer (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

Yeast
Safale S-04

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 2/27/16
Mash Temp: 158
Mash Time: 90

Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.5 gal
Measured OG: 13.2 Brix (1.053)
Measured FG: 1.017

Today I experimented with using my refractometer to measure wort gravity over the progression of the mash. At 4 brix after 30 minutes, 5 brix after 50 minutes, and 6 brix after 75 minutes. This had me pretty worried because were supposed to be around 12-13 for the recipe. Was using the pipette to draw wort off the top of the mash after stirring around.

After a fairly long 90 minute mash I pulled the grain bag and remeasured. Now we were up to 12 brix! Something about my mash readings just resulted in incredibly low measurements. Maybe somehow the wort on the bottom of the kettle was thicker than that at the top and I wasn't mixing properly?

At any rate I was relieved to hit pre-boil gravity. After an uneventful boil I collected 4 1/2 gallons of 13.2 brix wort, pitched the S-04 and aerated for a few minutes. I set the fermenter in front of my heater register to ensure fast fermentation and to encourage yeast to clean up diacetyl that was present in my last brew.

3/19/16 - Kegged today at 1.020 for 4.3% ABV. FG a little higher than I anticipated. Maybe because I used S-04 instead of the trusty US-05? Decided not to secondary this beer to let the yeast clean it up in primary. While racking it was a dark ruby color but crystal clear. Will likely not rack to secondary again. For dry hopping just hop in keg for a few days before chilling and carbonating.

EDIT: Actually the hydrometer is miscallibrated, reading 0.003 too high, so I think the real reading is 1.017 for an ABV of 4.7%.

Late-Hop Experiment

My intention with this brew was to use most of my home grown hops to make a nice hoppy pale ale. However, the Cascade I picked still smelled really off like they did last year. Kind of like a mixture of cabbage and pickles. The 1 oz. of Columbus that I picked smelled really awesome though so we'll still be using those. I think in the spring I'll dig up the Cascade plant and replace it with something else. I'm not sure what's wrong but I am sure I'm tired of figuring it out.

So absent a bunch of back yard hops this brew turned into a late-hop experiment. Beside a 1 oz. bittering charge of Columbus at FWH I'll be adding 6 oz. of hops post-boil in attempt to extract more flava' and keep it in the wort instead of boiling it off. Also we had a bunch of random small amounts of grain in storage so I'll be cleaning out the pantry.

Recipe Notes
Style: IPA

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: ?
Target Bitterness: ?
Target OG: ?

Grist
6 lb. 2-row
3 lb. 8 oz. Pilsner

13 oz. Munich

8 oz. Rye

8 oz. Wheat
4 oz. Crystal 20

3 oz. Crystal 40

2 oz. Crystal 10

2 oz. Special B

1 oz. Columbus (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)
2 oz. Columbus (Flame out)
1 oz. 7 C's (Flame out)
1 oz. Falconer's Flight (When temp drops to 180F)
1 oz. Home grown Columbus (When temp drops to 180F)

0.8 oz. Simcoe (When temp drops to 180F) 

0.3 oz. Chinook (When temp drops to 180F)

0.33 oz. Citra (Keg)

Yeast
Safale US-05

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 1/24/16
Mash Temp: 152
Mash Time: 60

Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.4 gal
Measured OG: 1.068

Couldn't find the new pH meter I got for Christmas to use for the mash. Sad... However, I used my new refractometer to evaluate the wort pre boil. Came in at 14.6 brix which is somewhere around a gravity of 1.060. At flame out I immediately added the flame-out hops and stirred for a bit to break up the pellets and submerge my hop bag of homegrown Columbus. Temperature dropped to 180 after 25 minutes. Added the rest of the hops and steeped for 30 minutes. Temps dropped to 158. Chilled wort to 68F and poured into fermenter without filtering any of the hop matter. Pitched dry yeast and aerated. Fermented cool in the basement. Activity seen after 24 hours.

1/31/16 - Racked to secondary after a week in primary. Gravity is all the way down to 1.011 for an ABV of around 7.5%. Tastes incredibly juicy like most very young IPA's. I did appreciate the robustness that the higher gravity provided. Ended up with ~3.5 gal. in secondary after racking off of the trub and hop matter.

2/7/16 - Kegged today. Threw in 1/3 oz. of Citra in a hop bag into the keg for future deliciousness. Final gravity 1.011. Added 1/4 oz. of Citra we had lying around into the keg. Tastes juicy. Not much aroma. Almost too bitter, but not quite.

2/9/16 - After a couple of days in the keezer the diacetyl content was too much for me to take. Removed from the keezer so it'll hit room temp again and hopefully the yeast will clean up the majority of it.

2/17/16 - After a week of diacetyl clean up I can't taste it any longer. However, I have a tough time tasting it when the beer is warm. Same with fusel alcohols. Transferred back to the keezer and crossing my fingers.

2/20/16 - Diacetyl still somewhat present but greatly reduced. Good enough for me. In the future will leave my beer in primary for at least two weeks before racking to secondary. Also will pay more attention to fermentation temps especially when reaching terminal gravity. Will try to ensure warm fermentation near the end to help yeast cleanup byproducts.

Small Oud Bruin

Three weeks ago I racked my first sour beer into a barrel to age for a few months. The yeast cake I racked from contained precious microbes from the bottom of a Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere that I didn't want to waste. I held on to the cake until I could figure out what to do with it. Then opportunity knocked.

My friend in brew, Mike, was planning to make a high gravity stout to celebrate the upcoming holiday season. He offered me the second runnings off his mash. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. Thanks buddy!

Recipe Notes
Style: n/a

Batch Volume: 4 gal.
Color: n/a
Target Bitterness: 22 IBU
Target OG: n/a

Grist
??? (Something stout-y)

Boil Additions
0.3 oz. Columbus (FWH) - For Columbus Day!
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

Yeast
Yeast/bug cake from Bam Biere clone (WLP 550 & Bam Biere Dregs)

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 10/12/15
Mash Temp: n/a
Mash Time: n/a

Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.0 gal
Measured OG: 1.036

The boil was super uneventful. I used a small FWH addition of Columbus to bitter it up because that's what I had in the freezer. Plus, it's Columbus day! How can you pass up that coincidence! Some Irish moss at 15 min. was the only other boil addition. Chilled down to 85F with the wort chiller then further to 71F in an ice bath. Then I spent a few minutes 'rousing the beast' to get the yeast cake to become a homogeneous solution again. Then, instead of pitching yeast, I pitched the wort on top of this recently roused yeast and bug farm.

Despite having not tasted the Bam Biere clone yet, I'm excited at the possibility of having a yeast cake with a history and a lineage. Bam Biere clone begat Sour Stout begat... whatever's next. Once this has spent enough time on the cake (I really have to name this thing) I'm thinking of racking onto a pound or two of sour cherries. Fingers crossed on this not tasting nasty.

10/31/15 - Halloween update. This beer took about 2-3 days before there was any visible fermentation activity. I'm blaming the WLP 550 since I think it's a slow starter. Gravity is down to 1.008. Brown in color, a little bit malty, and a little bit tart already. Has the aroma of a sour and a little of the bite but not much. Will wait and see how this develops before any fruit ageing occurs.

2/1/15 - Kegged my first sour today. Refreshingly tart for a dark ale. Light gravity and light sourness make it kind of a thirst quencher.

All Day IPA v2.0

My last four brews have been pretty experimental. I made three batches of the same pale ale with only a change to the malt as a bast malt experiment. Then I made a sour ale which will probably be a few more months in the barrel and has a distinct possibility of tasting terrible. Today is a different story. Today I brew for the ole taste buds.

I'm going back to the well of delicious hoppyness for this brew by whipping up another batch of the old 'All Day' recipe. I did want to make a couple of changes though because that's what I do. I upped the flaked oats to 20 percent of the grist because that's how I understand Founders brews it. I also added 1 lb. of Munich because I love a little of the darker German malt in my pale ales. Lastly I decided to try adding all my hops in the last 20 minutes since I've heard good things about late hopping. Lastly I'll be finishing it all off with a 30 minute hop stand of the 0 minute additions at 180F to favor aroma and flavor over bitterness.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 7 SRM
Target Bitterness: 45 IBU
Target OG: 1.050

Grist
5 lb. Pale Malt
2 lb. Flaked Oats
1 lb. Crystal 20
1 lb. Munich
8 oz. Rye Malt
8 oz. Wheat Malt

0.5 oz. Amarillo (20 min.)
0.5 oz. Simcoe (20 min.)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)
0.5 oz. Amarillo (10 min.)
0.5 oz. Simcoe (10 min.)
0.5 oz. Amarillo (5 min.)
0.5 oz. Simcoe (5 min.)
0.5 oz. Amarillo (0 min.)
0.5 oz. Simcoe (0 min.)
1 oz. Amarillo (Dry Hop 5 days)
1 oz. Simcoe (Dry Hop 5 days)

Safale US-05

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 9/27/15
Mash Temp: 150F
Mash Time: 60 min.

Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.8 gal
Measured OG: 1.046

Great day for an outdoor brew. The sky was threatening rain but it held off for the whole brew day. Raised water to 160F. Dropped to 150F after dough in. I'm getting a lot of variation on my temp drops after dough in. I have to dial that in a little better. After flame out I chilled down to 180F in two minutes then pitched the 0 minute addition and covered with a towel. Smelled fantastic. Chilled down to 85 then took a reading. OG was 1.050 but only collected 4.3 gallons of wort. That's pretty poor efficiency and I'm not sure why. Anyway, I wanted more volume so added 1/2 gallon of water to reach OG of 1.044 in 4.8 gallons. Chilled wort in keezer for a few hours to 68F. Pitched US-05 and aerated.

10/4/15 - Racked to secondary. Gravity is 1.008. Smells fantastic. Tastes a little thin. Also, forgot to temperature correct my OG. Corrected is 1.046, so we're sitting at 5.0% ABV right now.

10/6/15 - Dry hopped 2 oz. in a single hop bag and swished it around a bit.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.007
Attenuation: 85%
ABV: 5.1%
Calories: 149 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes (After force carbonating)

10/12/15 - Kegged after dry hopping for six days. Gravity is 1.007. Hop aroma and flavor is fantastic. The malt body is a little bit 'meh' though despite the six-malt grist. Maybe simpler is better.

Bam Biere Clone

Today I try my hand at a style I've been thinking about brewing for several months - a Belgian sour ale. Whenever we're in Ann Arbor I try to make a point of stopping at Jolly Pumpkin to taste as much sour ale as possible. I'm especially a fan of their Bam Biere, a light Belgian sour ale with a full body, thick white foam, and enough sourness to keep you thinking about that next sip.

On a recent trip to Michigan my wife brought back a bottle of Bam Biere with a healthy dose of live cultures living at the bottom. After waiting a few agonizing months I finally found some time to brew with the dregs. That also meant we finally got to drink it! It was a good day. So here's my first attempt at a Bam Biere-like sour.

Recipe Notes
Style: Belgian Sour

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 6 SRM
Target Bitterness: 23 IBU
Target OG: 1.039

Grist
4 lb. Pilsner
2 lb. Pale Malt
1 lb. White Wheat
9 oz. Flaked Barley
4 oz. Crystal 80

0.8 oz. Crystal (60 min.)
0.8 oz. Crystal (30 min.)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)
0.5 oz. Crystal (0 min.)

WLP 550 Belgian Ale Yeast
Bam Biere Dregs

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 9/6/15
Mash Temp: 153F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.5 gal
Measured OG: 1.048

Raised mash water to 156F. After dough in temp dropped to 153F and held steady there for the hour long mash. Pretty uneventful brew day; everything went great. Could only chill the wort to 80F because our ground water was pretty warm so I put the wort in my keezer overnight to chill. Temp was 60F in the morning. Pitched the vial of WLP 550 and the bottom inch or so of a Bam Biere we drank last night. Dregs were saved in the refrigerator.

After one day of fermentation my air lock blew off because, of course, I was brewing with wheat. EVERY brew I do with 1 lb or more of wheat has air lock problems. I could have fermented in my larger bucket but I didn't want to contaminate it with the Bam Biere bugs. I'm sure the beer will be fine but was very inconvenient nonetheless.

9/13/15 - Took a sample after one week and it smelled and tasted like nasty cheese. I wasn't too deterred though, assuming this was just one of several phases a sour ale transitions through on its way to being tasty. Gravity is 1.006.

One week before racking I re-swelled my oak barrel by filling with tap water and then slowly refilling as the water leaked out. After a few hours in the kitchen sink it was holding water pretty well. Topped it off and left it in the basement utility sink for a week to be sure it would hold. Performed like a champ.

9/25/15 - Before racking I drained and refilled the barrel with 180F water and left for 1 hour to kill a lot of the acetobacter that had collected in the unused barrel. The water I drained smelled and tasted a bit like vinegar and I didn't want much of that in the final beer. Drained the water and immediately racked the beer. In hind sight I probably should have let the barrel cool before racking but it'll probably be fine.

There was still some head space in the barrel so I decided to fill with water instead of letting oxygen hang out in the barrel and feed any acetobacter. Had to add over a gallon of water to fill the barrel, diluting to an effective OG of about 1.038. A little lower than I'd like but we'll do better next time. Sample smelled and tasted great. Just like Bam Biere. Excited to see how it ages.

Maris Otter & Columbus SMaSH

Third entry in my 'Getting Smashed' series is a Maris Otter and Columbus SMaSH. My buddy-in-brewing Mike Helle was kind enough to donate 8 lbs. of his Maris Otter stash for this science experiment. It smells and tastes great. I can see what all the hype around English malt is about.

The Vienna SMaSH I brewed last month acquired a diacetyl problem that I'm conflicted about trying to fix. (At least I think it's diacetyl.) I want to clearly identify that Vienna flavor but I kind of like the smoothness the diacetyl adds to the otherwise simple beer.

Having three of the same beer on tap is a little booooring though. I make take a pause for the flavor cause and do something else before finishing out the malt experiment. Julie returned from her Michigan trip with a bottle of Bam Biere from Jolly Pumpkin. I may have nefarious plans for this guy in the souring arena.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 4 SRM
Target Bitterness: 36 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
8 lb. Maris Otter

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (5 min.)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (30 min Hop Stand)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (Dry Hop 5 days)

Direct pitch of 2nd generation US-05 slurry

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 5/15/15
Mash Temp: 154F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.25 gal
Measured OG: 1.042
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76%

Beautiful day for a brew today. Temps under 80 all day! Brew went off without a hitch. Another hop stand for 30 minutes to get the most out of Columbus for flavoring. Chilled down to 80 with the immersion chiller then in a cold water bath until it hit 72F and I got impatient. Gravity reading on 4.5 gallons of wort was 1.050 so I diluted with 3/4 gallon of water to hit 1.042 OG. I forgot to make a yeast starter last night from the 2nd gen US-05 slurry I had sitting in the fridge. It's been less than a month since harvest though so I warmed it to room temp, dumped the beer off the top, mixed it with some fresh wort in the mason jar, and dumped her on in.

I'm becoming a big fan of yeast rinsing since I have had a few successes with it. It's pretty economical and the attenuation have been consistently high. I may be over pitching which could cause some long term viability problems but don't know of a good way to get even a ballpark cell count measurement.

5/16/15 - After 24 hours gravity is 1.031, temp is 74F. Cooler would be nicer but US-05 is forgiving.

5/17/15 - Gravity is 1.012 but temp has risen to 76F. Too late to cool now I think. Whatever damage can be done has been done.

5/18/15 - Gravity is 1.008 and temp has fallen back to 72F.

5/22/15 - Gravity is 1.006 and temp is back to a normal 65F. Will probably let this sit in the fermenter for two weeks total to avoid the diacetyl problem I had with the Vienna SMaSH.

5/25/15 - Racked to secondary and dry hopped. FG is 1.006. It smelled a little bit like vinegar when racking but I think that was just the wort that wasn't cleaned up on the outside of the fermenter. The sample does taste a little like plastic with a bit of a cider character though. I'm guessing that was from the high fermentation temperature. I hope it doesn't get in the way of what the Maris Otter provides.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.006
Attenuation: 86%
ABV: 4.7%
Calories: 136 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes (After force carbonating)

6/2/15 - Kegged after eight days of dry hopping. Longer than planned but I had a stout to evict from the keg which took some time. None of the off aromas or flavors were present which is awesome. There was a slightly stronger hop aroma and flavor than in previous SMaSHes likely because of the extra 3 days of dry hop contact time. I think it's the best tasting SMaSH so far but maybe because of the extra hoppiness.

Two Row & Columbus SMaSH

Mmm, yeasty.

The second entry in my 'Getting Smashed' series is a Two Row and Columbus SMaSH. I'm pretty familiar already with what two-row can/can't do for lightness, flavor, and malt presence, but I decided to brew this one just to have a 'control' beer against which we can judge the others. Not the most exciting recipe in the world but dammit, we're collecting data for science! Well, I do get to make a yeast starter from the left over US-05 from last batch. So that's cool.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 3 SRM
Target Bitterness: 38 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
8 lb. Two Row

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (5 min.)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (30 min Hop Stand)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (Dry Hop 5 days)

1L Yeast starter of 2nd generation US-05 slurry

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 4/26/15
Mash Temp: 151F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.25 gal
Measured OG: 1.042
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76%

Made a 1L yeast starter the night before. Started by measuring 100g Pilsnen DME into 800ml of water. Boiled for 10 minutes which is tough in an Erlenmeyer flask. Added 200ml of yeast slurry to reach the final 1L volume. Tried using stir plate but it's a weak piece of crap and the stir bar would stop moving after I left it for five minutes. Periodically agitated and aerated the starter.

After boil chilled to 170 for a 30 minute hop stand. Spent most of the hop stand at 165. Next time stop chilling at 175 to hit 170. Added hop stand hops immediately after flame out. They steeped during the two minute chill from boiling to 170. Chilled wort to 70F and poured through grain bag to collect hop material. Collected 4.5 gallons of 1.049 wort at 68F. Added 3/4 gal. of tap water to hit 5.25 gal. of 1.042 wort. Decanted beer from top of yeast starter and pitched yeast. Added gravity sample to flask, swished it around and pitch the remainder of the flask. Aerated by shaking 100 times.

Five hour brew day exactly with 30 minute hop stand.

Update 4/29/15 - Gravity reading is 1.007 already. Attributing to use of harvested yeast and yeast starter. Mashed two degrees lower but I've never really seen that have an effect before. Tastes smooth and buttery. I don't know exactly what diacetyl tastes like but maybe this is it. Probably let this go a week in primary instead of five days like the first SMaSH just to be sure this is cleaned up.

Update 5/2/15 - Racked to secondary. Gravity is 1.006. Decided to keep the yeast train going and with another yeast harvest. This time added a gallon of water to the fermenter before swirling around. Let the fermenter sit for ten minutes and poured 3/4 gal off the top into a one gallon jug. By adding more water I'm seeing much better stratification between beer, yeast, and trub. The image to the right is after letting the jug sit for 20 minutes. I'll wait 30 minutes total and decant into two pint size mason jars. This will be the 3rd generation of this US-05 yeast.

Update 5/5/15 - Dry hopped with 1 oz. of Columbus

Update 5/7/15 - Sample is very hoppy. A little bit of the 'dank' kind of hoppy I'm looking for. Gravity remains at 1.006.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.006
Attenuation: 86% (That seems high...)
ABV: 4.7%
Calories: 136 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes (After force carbonating)

Update 5/11/15 - Kegged today. Doing the trick where I set it at 30 psi for 48 hours. Drinks clean but has a very noticeable 'back of the throat' bitterness that tastes like I swallowed lupulin powder.

Vienna & Columbus SMaSH

It's all about malt

This brew marks the beginning of a malt experiment that I'm calling my 'Getting Smashed' series. I intend to make the same SMaSH beer seven times with seven different base malts to hopefully acquire a taste for what each base malt brings to the game. The seven malts I have lined up are...

• Pale (2-row)
• Pale Ale
• Pilsner
• Maris Otter
• Golden Promise
• Vienna
• Light Munich

Today I'll be starting with Vienna malt. I chose to use Columbus hops for this experiment for a couple of reasons. First because I'm not that familiar with them but am excited to learn about their 'dank' contribution. Second, they're a very efficient bittering hop at 15.6% alpha so it keeps the cost down and minimizes the amount of plant matter in a 60 minute boil.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 6.2 SRM
Target Bitterness: 38 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
8 lb. Vienna Malt

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (5 min.)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (30 min Hop Stand)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (Dry Hop 5 days)

Safale US-05

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 4/19/15
Mash Temp: 153F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.2 gal
Measured OG: 1.042
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

Brewed outside today because it was one of those rare spring-summer days in DC that are warm and sunny but not boiling lava hot. Everything went swimmingly. After the boil reduced wort temp to 170 for a 30 minute hop stand at sub-isomerization temps. Cooled and collected 4.5 gal. of 1.048 wort. Diluted to 5.2 gal. of 1.042 but the gravity's still slightly higher than I was aiming for. Efficiency for this batch is 5 points higher than normal. Julie brewed last weekend and experienced the same thing but had >80% efficiency. Something magic in the spring air?

Update 4/24/15 - Measured SG of 1.009. Fermented only five days and already moving to secondary. Despite this being a malt experiment I added 1.0 oz of Columbus in a hop bag for some sweet aromas. Washed the yeast and saved two pint jars of slurry.

Collected slurry

20 min. settling time. No visible yeast-trub separation.

Before refridgeration

After 1 day of refrigeration

Update 4/29/15 - Sample tastes a little like melon and butter. Can't decide whether to keg this now or let it go another couple of days on dry hops. EDIT: Kegged today in a partial experiment to see what kegging a beer this young is like. After cruising some brewing forums it doesn't seem too extreme, especially with the 5 day dry hopping in secondary. Pressurized to 30 psi in my first attempt at speed carbonating. Too many experiments at one time? Probably. But there's so much I want to try out. Will let sit for 48 hours then reduce to serving pressure and see how that speeds things up.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.008
Attenuation: 81%
ABV: 4.5%
Calories: 137 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes (After force carbonating)

Update 4/30/15 - Yesterday when force carbonating I set the pressure at 30 psi for that keg then disconnected it and set the rest of the manifold back to serving pressure. This was probably a bad idea because when I pulled a sample today it was not coming out 'vigorously' at all. When I hooked it back up at 30psi there was definite audible pressure equalizing. So now I'm keeping 30 psi on this keg for 48 hours and disconnecting the others. That's probably the right way to do it.

Update 5/16/15 - This brew acquired a bit of a diacetyl problem that went undetected while kegging. I'd never smelled or tasted diacetyl before but based on the descriptions I read this batch definitely has it. As an experiment in diacetyl reduction I pulled the keg out of the keezer and let it warm up to 70F. Then I top cropped my Maris Otter SMaSH during high krausen and pitched it into the keg. Stirred it around with my sanitized brew spoon. Excited to see if the krausening thing can help w/the diacetyl.

5/17/15 - Keg is at 78F. Sample has a lower diacetyl taste but may be harder to pick out when it's warm. I'll be leaving this for a few days to see what happens.

5/19/15 - Don't taste much diacetyl at all any more! Leaving for two more days just to be sure then chilling and carbing.

5/22/15 - After six days of krausen help and warm temperatures I can no longer detect what I believed to be diacetyl. Great news! Put it back in the keezer and started carbing. There's a bunch of crap at the bottom of the keg now. Will wait a few days for it to settle then hopefully just pour it off.

Hop Retirement Party

Brought to you today by 'Whirlpool'

For the last of my 'spring cleaning' series I'll be brewing a single-malt 'hop retirement party'. I'm looking forward to brewing a few experimental SMaSH ales next month and wanted to get in the mood by sticking to only two row for this brew. However, I'll be using the remaining six different kinds of hops from our freezer to spice it all up. All you hops is commin' out of retirement for one last party and today is that day.

I'll also be experimenting with a hop stand (a.k.a 'whirlpool') for this brew since I learned Stone uses something similar to make their 'Enjoy By x/x/x' series. There's no real consensus yet on what temperature to hop stand at or for how long. I believe most brewers that whirlpool hops just toss them in after flame-out during the whirlpool process and experience a decreasing steep temperature. I decided chill my wort to 170F and then hop stand for 20 minutes. I chose to cool the wort first to reduce isomerization of the hops during the hop stand. I've read this process is greatly reduced under 175F so that's why I chose the temp.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 3.3 SRM
Target Bitterness: 39 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
8 lb. Briess 2-Row

1.1 oz. Hallertau 2.6% (FWH)
0.6 oz. Liberty 4.5% (FWH)
0.2 oz. Tettnang 4.5% (FWH)

0.8 oz. Cluster 8.1% (20 min.)

0.75 oz. Chinook (Hop Stand)

0.75 oz. Northern Brewer (Hop Stand)

Reused Yeast Slurry (US-05 & WB-06)

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 2/22/15
Mash Temp: 147F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.0 gal
Measured OG: 1.040
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%

Excited to use my re-calibrated thermometer today. It seemed a little weird to mill 8 lbs of only 2-row but I resisted the urge to spice it up. Raised 5.5 gal. water to 156 and doughed in. Mashed at 147 for 60 minutes. This was quite a large temperature drop, more that I usually experience. I had expected to mash around 150 but whatever. Chucked in the hops on first wort and collected 5 gallons of runnings. Boiled with only the 20 minute addition. Stuck the thermometer in the boiling wort and it read '204F'. Stupid thermometer. Recalibrated to 212 since I now how to do that now.

After boil I ran the wort chiller for only 2 minutes dropping temp to 170. Added the Chinook and NB hops to steep for 20 min. Temps dropped to 157F after the steep time. After hitting 70F poured the wort through the BIAB bag on a collander and into the ferm bucket. Bag got clogged pretty quickly which made this a slow process. Decided to pour through a hand held fine collander for the last half. This was very easy to dump once it was clogged and the process went much faster. Collected 4.25 gal of 1.048 wort. Dilluted with 0.75 gal of water to reach about 5 gal. of 1.040 wort.

Yesterday I saved two pint jars of yeast/trub slurry when racking the previous brew to secondary. I removed these from the fridge before brewing. Decanted the liquid beer portion of each pint jar (top 1/3 or so) into the wort and aerated vigorously. The slurry was very dark so it may add some color to this brew. Being all 2-row it could probably use some color though.

Update 3/1/15 - Gravity sample after 1 week in primary is at 1.009. Beer is a cloudy light yellow 'straw' color. Tastes very dry. Not much hop aroma or flavor in this one. Maybe next time I'll use a larger volume of late hops.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.008
Attenuation: 80%
ABV: 4.2%
Calories: 130 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes

Update 3/6/15 - Finally completed keezer today adding CO2 distributor which lets me finally run lines for my third keg. Racked this beer into the third keg today. Gravity finished at 1.008. Smells and tastes kind of like my 'Spring Cleaning: Light' which is also in the keezer. Not much for variety but can't complain about having 15 gal. of cold fresh beer on tap :)

Update 4/24/15 - Beer is ridiculously cloudy. Maybe from deciding not to secondary? Figured this would be a good brew to try my hand at fining. Measured 1 tsp. of gelatin into 8 oz. of tap water and microwaved in 20 sec. increments, stirring with a thermometer, until it reached 150F. Added gelatin solution to keg and swirled it around a bit with my mash paddle. Decided to add 1 oz. Columbus dry hops just to make the aroma more interesting. Might not help the fining process but I luvz the hops.

Spring Cleaning: Dark

Modern Art: Malt-Oat-Barley

This brew is my dark complement to last week's 'Spring Cleaning: Light'. I accumulated all the Chocolate, Black Patent, and Black Barley in the house and threw in a pound of flaked oats for good measure (and smoothness.) Last year I had accidentally purchased the wrong hops for a brew so I had 1 oz. each of Fuggles and Styrian Golding with happens to be just perfect for bittering up a dark and dirty monster.

An explanation on the yeast. The wife is a 1 gal. brewer and only needs 1/2 package of dry yeast for a healthy fermentation. Thus we had a couple 1/2 packs of yeast hanging out in the fridge with nothing to do. I decided to put 'em to work for this brew. Typically I'd use an Irish Ale yeast or S-04 or something for this dark ale. Instead we're experimenting with half American ale yeast and half Bavarian wheat ale yeast. These house cleaning recipes are really igniting my child-like curiosity. Why can't I justify a whipping up a crazy recipe unless I "have" to. Me sees more wacky brews in the future.

Recipe Notes
Style: Black Half-Heffe?

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 48 SRM
Target Bitterness: 32 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
5 lb. 8 oz. 2-Row
1 lb. 1.2 oz. Chocolate Malt
1 lb. Flaked Oats
7.1 oz. Black Patent Malt
5.7 oz. Black Barley

1 oz. UK Fuggle 5.3% (FWH)
1 oz. Styrian Golding 3.2% (FWH)

1/2 Pkg. Safale US-05
1/2 Pkg. Safbrew WB-06

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 2/15/15
Mash Temp: 149F
Mash Time: 80 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.25 gal
Measured OG: 1.040
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73%

Brew day went very smooth. Raised water to 160 to dough in. Mashed at 153 (149 after correcting for uncalibrated thermometer.) Collected 5 gal. of wort even and boiled for a solid 60 min. Chilled to 70F and poured through brew bag and colander to filter out hop crap. Collected 4.5 gal from boil kettle at a gravity of 1.048, so had some room to top up. Added 0.75 gal. of cold tap water to hit 1.040 in the fermenter.

Update 2/21/15 - Racked to secondary to make room in the fermenter bucket. Gravity is 1.012. Tastes and smells veeery roasty. Almost getting an astringency out of the roast. Lots of chocolate and toasted flavors.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.011
Attenuation: 73%
ABV: 3.8%
Calories:132 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes

Update 2/25/15 - Kegged 10 days after brew date. Gravity is 1.011. Tastes pretty good. Wife says it tastes 'smooth.' I'll take it. Purged CO2, pressurized, and shook keg back and forth horizontally 100 times to try carbonating faster. Will try doing this once per day and compare to the previous brew to see if it speeds things up. All done under serving pressure of 12 psi.

Spring Cleaning: Light

Brew Shop!

Time to get back on the horse. It's been four months since I last homebrewed so we've got a lot of ground to make up. My first 'recipe' of the year will be a spring cleaning brew. We've accumulated over a dozen specialty malts in fractional quantities with some nearing a year old. So it's time to use up the old and make room for the brew (new... brew... get it?) This first spring cleaner will incorporate all the pale and crystal malts we've got in the inventory. In a couple of weeks I plan to do a spring cleaning 'dark' in which we use every malt that starts with 'chocolate', 'roasted', or 'black'.

Spring cleaning the hops out of the freezer means this brew is getting a generous helping of Willamette and the rest of the Centennial. I've had these hops in the freezer since I just started homebrewing when I decided then I would only brew Guinness and Two Hearted clones. Time to move on. 18 month old hops... get in there!

I also want to use up some of the dry yeast that's been in the fridge for a few months. We received some free packets of dry belgian saison yeast last year at the AHA conference so this one's getting the saison treatment. It will most likely be cold fermented in our chilly basement at around 60-65 farenheit. We'll see if that saison flavor can power through at the low ferm temps.

Oh, also this is the first recipe I made with our new app, 'Brew Shop.' Things went pretty well except I found out the malts in the app aren't alphabetizing correctly. TODO++;

Recipe Notes
Style: Um... what kind of bagel is an 'everything' bagel?

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 11.4 SRM
Target Bitterness: 43 IBU
Target OG: 1.043

Grist
6 lb. 8.5 oz. 2-Row
11.1 oz. Rye Malt
8.1 oz. Special Roast
7.2 oz. Crystal 120L
4.7 oz. White Wheat Malt
4.6 oz. Acid Malt

1.25 oz. Willamette 5% (FWH)
1 oz. Willamette 5% (20 min.)
1 oz. Willamette 5% (10 min.)
1.25 oz. Centennial (Whirlpool)

0.5 oz. Amarillo (Dry Hop 4 Days)
0.5 oz. Simcoe (Dry Hop 4 Days)

0.5 oz. Crystal (Dry Hop 4 Days)

Dry Belgian Saison Yeast

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 2/8/15
Mash Temp: 150F
Mash Time: 90 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.6 gal
Measured OG: 1.043 (1.043 @ 70°F)
Brewhouse Efficiency: Too lazy...

Brought 5.5 gallons of water up to 157F. Doughed in all at once dropping the temp to 150. Mashed for about 90 minutes stirring once. Temperature finished at 148. Collected 5 gal wort after squeezing the BIAB bag. Losing only 1/2 gal to grain absorption sounds pretty good. Brought the wort to a boil at 216F... maybe time to re-calibrate the thermometer. After boil, added whirlpool hops after dropping tempt to 190F to reduce AA isomerization and bitterness. Poured wort through BIAB bag to filter out hop matter. This took a while since there was a lot of hop crap in there. Measured gravity at 1.047 for 4.25 gal of wort. Added ~0.4 gal. of water to hit target gravity of 1.043 with final volume of ~4.6 gal. Pitched yeast, aerated, and let it do its thing.

Update 2/13/15 - Pulled a hydrometer sample just out of curiosity. Sitting at 1.008. Smells saison-y and a little sulfurous. Tastes pretty grainy (young?) and has a little bit of a sharp bite at the finish. Is that the saison yeast or the acid malt? IDK.

Update 2/15/15 - Racked to secondary to make room for a dark hefe in primary. Gravity is 1.006. The aroma is starting to come together. Smells great. Has a deep cloudy orange color. Pretty excited to put this one on tap. Maybe dry hopping for a few days beforehand. We'll see.

Update 2/18/15 - Dry hopped in a sanitized hop bag. Swirled the beer around a bit to coat the hop bag. Planning to keg after four days on the hops.

Update 2/20/15 - Pulled a gravity sample to measure and taste. Gravity remains at 1.006 (whew) and smells like the inside of a peach. Saison acidic bite on the back of the throat. Like if a citrus peach existed this would be the flavor. A couple more days on hops then into the keg with you.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.006
Attenuation: 86% (yikes!)
ABV: 4.9%
Calories:139 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes

Update 2/22/15 - Racked to the new keg I got for Christmas after four days on hops. New keg is nice, shiny, and leak free. Leaving to carb under serving pressure (12psi) at 40F. Not agitating keg in any way to determine how long it takes to carb if I just leave things alone. Smells and tastes like melon and citrus. Very juice like. I think this is just because it's fairly young and this *should* go away and taste more like beer with time if I remember correctly.

Hop Harvest Pale

Hops on Harvest Day

Brewed today with my good friend from college, Mark. It's been too long bro!! We decided to put together a recipe highlighting the homegrown Cascade hops I harvested last month. The hops are only from a 2nd year plant so I'm not expecting amazing things. After cracking open the vaccu-sealed mason jars we found the hops to have a very 'grassy' aroma and they seemed more moist than when I packed them in there after harvesting. Rubbing them between my hands still resulted in a sticky feeling and pungent aroma. Here's hoping they impart a uniquely delightful character in the beer rather than a uniquely grassy flavor. Regardless, I'm sure we'll learn a lot about homegrown hops by the end of this experiment.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 4 gal.
Color: 9 SRM
Target Bitterness: 50 IBU
Target OG: 1.051

Grist
6 lb. 2-Row
1 lb. Crystal 20L
8 oz. Crystal 40L

8 oz. Flaked Oats

0.3 oz. Cascade 6.6% (FWH)

0.6 oz. Centennial 9.0% (FWH)

2 oz. Homegrown Cascade ?% (10 min.)

1 oz. Homegrown Cascade (0 min.)

S-04 Yeast

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 10/12/14
Mash Temp: 152F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4 gal
Measured OG: 1.052 (1.050 @ 85°F)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72%

The temps in northern Virginia have cooled to the point where I actually want to brew outdoors again. So we fired up the old propane burner, put the NFL RedZone channel on the iPhone, and got down to it. Brought 5 gal. of water up to 156 and doughed in. Temp dropped to 152 and remained there for the duration of the mash. Ended up with 4 gallons after pulling the grain bag and 4.5 after squeezing the daylights out of it. Decided to do the early hop additions as 'first wort' because I like that there's no 60 minute addition to fuel the hot break into a possible boil over. Things just go more smoothly.

After the boil, we brought 4 gallons of hot wort inside and chilled down to 85 with the immersion coil. Strained the wort through the grain bag while pouring into the fermenter. Took a gravity sample and put the wort in my keezer before pitching yeast. Total brew day was only 4 hours. Gotta love cooking w/gas.

Pitched 11am the following morning at 58 degrees.

Update 11/4/14 - Dry hopped with remaining 1.4 oz. of homegrown Cascade. Divided between two sanitized hop bags and smushed them into the better bottle. Gravity sample reads 1.008.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.008
Attenuation: 85%
ABV: 5.8%
Calories:169 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes

Update 11/11/14 - Kegged at 10 psi after seven days of dry hopping.

Update 11/21/14 - So yeah the beer definitely just has a grassy/vegetal aroma and flavor. Not great. None of the Cascade citrus aroma is present. Maybe the hops were picked to young? Whatever the problem this was a major disappointment :(

Pumpkin v1.1

Orange you glad it's pumpkin season?

I was very unsatisfied with the result of the pumpkin ale brew last year. After much convincing from friends and fellow brewers I decided to try revisiting the the pumpkin ale recipe again this year. I feel like the recipe last year was just 'too much.' Too much pumpkin, too much spice, too much cider flavor from the brown sugar, etc. In the software industry we we call these problem 'bugs.' You don't want bugs in your software and definitely don't in your beer. When you release bug fixes you call that a 'point release.' I'll be calling this batch Pumpkin v1.1 in honor of bug squashing beer nerds everywhere.

This year I decided to kick it down a notch (does anyone ever say that?) and instead of making a pumpkin ale, try to make a decent autumn ale that happens to taste a little like pumpkin. I'll be using half the pumpkin in the mash, half the brown sugar in the boil, and half of the spice additions. If I brew one pumpkin ale per year then I think I'll finally nail down a recipe I like around the year 2030. I'm envious of my future 50 year old self finally enjoying a great pumpkin homebrew.

Recipe Notes
Style: Spice Beer

Batch Volume: 4 gal.
Color: 13 SRM
Target Bitterness: 22 IBU
Target OG: 1.047

Grist
5 lb. 2-Row
1 lb. Crystal 60L
1 lb. Victory
2 lb. Libby's Canned Pumpkin

4 oz. Light Brown Sugar (60 min.)

1.0 oz. Hallertauer 3.2% (60 min.)

1.0 oz. Hallertauer 3.2%(15 min.)

Spices (15 min.)
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ginger
1/4 tsp. All Spice

US-05 Yeast

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 8/31/14
Mash Temp: 148F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.25 gal
Measured OG: 1.046 (1.044 @ 85°F)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73%

I planned to mash this recipe a little higher, around 152°F or so but lost more temperature during dough in than usual. I think this is part of the learning process when moving from 5 gallon to 4 gallon brewing. I didn't roast the pumpkin in the oven this year. I just plopped it in with the rest of the mash.

It was a hot summer day so I only had patience to cool the wort to 85°F with the immersion chiller and let the keezer do the rest of the work. After leaving the wort in the keezer for 24 hours the temp dropped to 62°F. Pitched the yeast and aerated.

Update 9/9/14 - Racked to secondary. Gravity reading is 1.006, lower than I hoped but not unexpected given the lower mash temp and the sugar addition. Hydrometer sample is much more drinkable than the pumpkin brew from last year but is still a little too spicy. The spiciness didn't seem to diminish over time in the brew last year but I'm excited to see how this turns out.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.006
Attenuation: 87%
ABV: 5.25%
Calories:149
Carbonation: 2.3

Update 10/5/14 - Kegged today. Gravity remained 1.006. Spiciness was good warm but the malt backbone started to disappear as it cooled.

Black & Extra Mild

Today's brew completes the trifecta of session ales. First I brewed an extra hoppy Bitter American clone that was like a hop shot to the brain. Then I brewed an extra funky and spicy session Saison with a strong yeast personality but low alcohol presence. This time I will be highlighting some sweet and roasty malt by brewing an English Mild.

My first attempt at brewing an English Mild in early 2013 was less than stellar since I bottled either before fermentation was complete or with too much priming sugar. Either way it was very overcarbonated and made me feel not so 'Mild.' I was very excited having the opportunity to brew with Mad Fox's house yeast but this time I decided to go with the more familiar Nottingham ale yeast. I do intend to try brewing again (maybe several more times) with the yeast from Mad Fox but that will be a yarn for future tales.

I wanted to double the amount of chocolate malt in the recipe to give it more charred flavor than a typical mild but without the harsher bite a black malt can contribute. So the extra chocolate will put the 'black' in 'black and mild.'

Recipe Notes
Style: Mild

Batch Volume: 4 gal.
Color: 28 SRM
Target Bitterness: 24 IBU
Target OG: 1.035

Grist
3 lb. 2-Row
1 lb. Crystal 60L
11 oz. Crystal 40L
8 oz. Special Roast
8 oz. Chocolate Malt

0.5 oz. Fuggles 5.3% (60 min.)
0.5 oz. Fuggles 5.3% (30 min.)

Nottingham Ale Yeast

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 8/3/14
Mash Temp: 152F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.75 gal
Measured OG: 1.030
Brewhouse Efficiency: 71%

The big mistake I made with this brew regarded water calculation. I decided to do a 4 gallon brew instead of a 5 gallon to help speed up the process and to go through the keg a little faster. However I used the same amount of mash water that I usually do anticipating I would add less water after the mash.

So I started with 5.5 gallons of water and after the mash ended up with 5 gallons of wort, losing about 0.1 gallons per pound of grain. The hour long boil only reduced that by 1/4 gallon so I ended up with 4.75 gallons of wort for the yeast to munch on. This lowered my gravity from the calculated 1.035 to 1.030 turning this into an English EXTRA Mild. On this up side this might be my first brew the clocks in at under 100 calories per bottle.

So for an average 4 gallon brew I should be using slightly less than 5 gallons in the mash. For these session ale's I've been brewing a lot of lately it'll be maybe 4.75 gallons.

Update 8/13/2014 - Racked the now 1.009 SG Mild to secondary - my 'ole oak whiskey barrel. Put a 1/2 gallon of water in the whiskey barrel (which hasn't seen use for a few months) and it was leaking all over the place. I guess this enforces the importance of rehydraing your barrels. Brought 5 gallons of water up to 180F, dumped it into the barrel, and let it sit for 60 minutes. This should help sanitize the barrel and swell the wood to seal up any gaps. It worked like a charm. The water I dumped out of the barrel smelled great. Nice and woody with the sweet whiskey/bourbon aroma and a bit of roasty char. Hated to see it go down the drain. Racked the mild into the barrel and plugged with a rubber stopper. No airlock.

Update 8/18/2014 - Pulled a sample with Mrs. DrewsBrew's autosiphon. Nice and roasty with a little char character. Not much contribution from the whiskey yet. Will sample again in another week. Gravity is 1.008.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.008
ABV: 2.9%
Calories: 98
Carbonation: 2.3

Update 8/26/14 - Kegged today after 13 days in the whiskey barrel. Tastes oak-y and with a dry aftertaste but roasty and sweet initially. Definitely enough time for this petite mild. Tastes pretty good uncarbonated at room temperature. I'm actually afraid of losing some of the flavor once it's chilled and carbed.

Hoppy French Saison

Yeast-tastic

This French Saison will be my first attempt at pitching yeast saved from a previous brew. After racking the saison I made in January to secondary I saved two pints of yeast slurry in two mason jars in the back of the fridge for 4 1/2 months. I almost forgot about it until I came across this recipe by the Mad Fermentationist, Michael Tonsmeire. The wife and I had the opportunity to meet Michael at the AHA conference last weekend during his book signing. Since he's a DC local I can't wait to run into him soon at a BURP meeting.

I made a yeast starter to wake the yeast back up from its prolonged slumber. I boiled 100g of pilsen DME in 600mL of water for 5 minutes, cooled the wort down to 75F, then pitched the top of both of the mason jars until I had 1000mL in the flask. I put the flask on the stir bar thing-y over night.

Recipe Notes
Style: Saison

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 3 SRM
Target Bitterness: 38 IBU
Target OG: 1.044

Just pilsner and wheat malt

Grist
6 lb. 4 oz. Pilsner Malt
1 lb. 12 oz. Wheat Malt

0.6 oz. Nugget 13.9% (FWH)
1.5 oz. Saaz 3.5% (10 min.)
1.5 oz. Saaz (0 min.)

0.2 oz Black Pepper Corn (0 min.)

French Saison Yeast (Wyeast 3711)
- 1 L yeast starter

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 6/21/14
Mash Temp: 155F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.75 gal
Measured OG: 1.039 @ 80F (1.040 corrected)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 62%

Mashed for a little longer than usual just because I wasn't paying attention. Didn't stir the grain at all during the mash. I even forgot to after the mash. Retain 155F mash temp throughout the 75 min. mash with just a sleeping bag wrapped around the kettle.

During the mash I decided to add some pepper corn I had left over from the previous saison. It was completely unnoticeable last time. I decided to add a little more this time and to measure by weight. I don't think 0.2 oz. is too much. I'm reading about people using 0.5-4.0 oz. online. Don't mind it much if it isn't peppery but it would be horrible to use too much. I gave the pepper corn a few pulses in the coffee grinder to bust it up before adding it to the kettle.

Well it looks like I did something wrong because I missed the target gravity by 10% and my efficiency dropped to 62%. Maybe I should have stirred more throughout the mash and just before pulling the grain bag. I poured the cooled wort through a strainer to pull out most of the hop material. I thought maybe the hop junk was artificially raising my gravity on previous brews. I added a bunch of hop crap to the hydrometer tube and that didn't change the gravity reading at all.

With the wort chiller running full steam I could only get the wort down to 80F. Decided to pour the wort into the fermenter at that temp and put it in my new keezer which is set at 45F. After four hours the temp dropped to 72 so I pitched the yeast starter, aerated, and went to bed.

6/22/14 - By 10AM (9 hours later) the fermenter temperature has reached 82F and fermentation is vigorous. Debated putting the fermenter back into the keezer but decided to let it ride.

6/23/14 - Temperature is down to 80 and fermentation is slightly less vigorous.

6/24/14 - Temp is down to 79

6/25/14 - Temp is at 78. Gravity reading is all the way down to 1.004. No more visible signs of fermentation. Beer tastes great. Has a lot of warm farmhouse/belgian aroma and is very light. Will go down very easy. No real fusel alcohol aroma detected and feel no alcohol burn when drinking despite high ferm temps. A little buttery/oily taste persists after swallowing and lasts only a second or two. Obviously young but a sign of good things to come.

6/29/14 - Racked to secondary. Gravity reading is still 1.004. Smells very Belgian-y with a strong bubble gum aroma and flavor. Saved two pint jars of trub/yeast to reuse for a Gen #3 saison brew. Trub was much cleaner this time after filtering out all the hop matter while transferring to primary. Left the mason jar lids on loose this time to prevent pressure build up from continued fermentation. Labeled the jars with strain, generation, and harvest date.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.004
ABV: 4.6%
Calories: 125
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes

Bitter American Clone

Next up on my list of session brews is the Bitter American by 21st Amendment brewery. I love this ale for contributing a big malt character in a class of otherwise thinner 'hop water' ales. I'd love to nail down *my* perfect session ale and always have some variation of it on tap. Bitter American, it's your turn to shine. Show me what you're workin' with.

Recipe Notes
Style: American Pale
Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 8 SRM
Target Bitterness: 41 IBU
Target OG: 1.042

Grist
3 lb. Golden Promise
3 lb. 2-Row
1 lb. Munich
1 lb. Crystal 20L

0.5 oz. Warrior 15% (60 min.)
1.0 oz. Cascade 6.6% (15 min.)
1.0 oz. Centennial (Dry Hop)
1.0 oz. Simcoe (Dry Hop)

1 pkg. US-05

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 5/26/14
Mash Temp: 154 °F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.0 gal
Measured OG: 1.042
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72%

Today was a 'quad brew' day with the wife and two close friends. All together we made 17 gallons of beer! Used my propane tank that read 'empty' with the intention of finishing it off and swapping it out with the tank on my friend's grill. Well I'll be damned if the tank didn't last through the whole brew day! I can't recall how many brew days I've gotten out of this tank but it's far more than I expected. Had a little bit of a boil over because I wasn't paying attention but it was an otherwise flawless brew day. Nailed my target OG which always makes you feel good.

6/8/14 - Racked 4.3 gallons to secondary. Gravity reading was 1.008 for an ABV of 4.5%. Looks pretty dark for a pale ale just like Bitter American. Kind of tastes like generic beer and has only faint hop aroma. These should both change w/a 2 oz. dry hop addition.

6/17/14 - Dry hopped with simcoe and centennial in two sanitized hop bags weighed down with a couple of shot glasses each. Hopefully they can give this bland beer some character.

6/20/14 - Kegged today because impatience. Transferred the two hop bags from secondary into the keg to get the 'keg hopped' flavor. Put it in the kegerator at 45F under 10psi.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.008
ABV: 4.5%
Calories: 137
Carbonation: 2.1 volumes

6/21/14 - Let the keg chill for a day under pressure then shook it back and forth for five minutes in attempt to speed up carbonation and to increase beer contact/flow through the two hop bags. Excited to see if/how this changes the flavor and aroma.

Guinness Clone (Batch #3)

Brings a tear to my eye.

Oh dry Irish stout. No matter how hard I try I can't quit you. I'd like to always have a dry stout on tap at Casa Drews and this will be the first batch to meet the new keezer. I'm going back to basics with this recipe without any hops or yeast substitutions. I've used Willamette in the past instead of East Kent Goldings because they were available, cheaper, and fairly similar. I've also used a dry English ale yeast (S-04) for my previous two batches. This one's getting the real stuff - Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast. Sometimes you just gotta kick it old school.

Brew Recipe

Brew Date: 4/12/14
Style: Irish Stout
Batch Volume: 5.25 gal.
Type: All Grain
Color: 32 SRM
Target Bitterness: 38 IBU
Target OG: 1.040
Estimated FG: 1.010

Grist
5 lb. American Two-Row
2 lb. Flaked Barley
1 lb. Roast Barley

2 oz. East Kent Goldings 5.1% (60 min.)

1 pkg. Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast

Brew Notes

Mash Temp: 152 °F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.0 gal
Measured OG: 1.040
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

It was a beautiful day today so I took the brew outdoors. First outdoor brew of the year! The old propane tank had about a brew's worth of propane left so I let it ride. Turned out to be enough but need to exchange before the next brew day. Post mash I squeezed the grain bag to get every drop out and dumped it in the boil kettle. No sparging today - too messy and complicated. Just added water to get kettle volume up to 5.5 gal. 

Busted the smack pack in the Wyeast package a little late in the day (during the mash) so the package only swelled a little. While pitching the yeast I noticed there was a ton of nutrient still left in the inner package so I squeezed it all out into the fermenter. Why not? Looking forward to a great stout a few weeks from now. I just need to acquire a third keg so this guy has a home after he gets evicted from the fermenter.

Left about a quarter of a gallon in the boil kettle that couldn't fit in the fermenter. With better volume management the OG could have been a little higher.

Update 4/21/14 - Racked to secondary today. Gravity reading was 1.012 for an ABV of 3.7%. Tastes like a light bodied toffey flavored stout. Julie says it tastes 'smokey.' Whatever it is it'll definitely be an easy drinker.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.010
ABV: 3.9%
Calories: 131

Carbonation: 2.1 Volumes CO2

Update 5/11/14 - Kicked my first keg of beer a couple days ago so I finally had an opportunity to move the Irish stout from secondary into the keezer. I chilled at at 45 for a day then decided to do a little carbonating trick. I pulled the keg out of the keezer with 10psi attached to it and rolled it back and forth on the ground for 10 minutes. The idea is to create more surface area allowing the keg pressure to carbonate the beer more quickly.

I'm excited to see if this speeds things up a bit. I'm a little less excited if I discover this process creates a carbonic acid bite from rapid carbing. I'd like to call this process 'turbo carbing'. I've read about the process be never came across a name so I'm coining one now.

It tastes great so far. Not much different than previous brews so I may just stick with S-04 dry yeast in the future. However, the FG did end up exactly where I want it with the Irish ale yeast.