Since this is a homebrewing resource blog, Mike and I decided to start writing up posts that define homebrewing terms that people new to the hobby may not know.  We even created a new category called Glossary to keep them in their own place on the blog.

The first term we want to define is Doughing in.

Doughing in is the process of introducing hot water to the grain in your mash tun.  Sometimes I will read recipes that state that I should “dough in” at a certain temperature.  This instruction means I should pour water into the mash tun to get the grains to the stated temperature.

If you have anything to add to this definition, please comment below.

This recipe comes to us from a good brewing friend of mine, Lauren.  He loves this beer from the Seattle area.  He originally posted his recipe for this on the Brewing KnowledgeBase website, and its become one of the most viewed recipes on the site.  Furthermore, at least a dozen folks over there have brewed the recipe.  I know this is a popular beer for folks that can get it.  So I thought I’d pay homage to Lauren and his brewing success with this one, and also publish his great recipe here to reach out to an even larger audience.
Brew it in good health and enjoy!

10 gallon batch
90 minute boil
1.060 OG
1.018 - 1.013 FG

18lbs Marris otter
2lbs munich
1lbs crystal 80
2oz centennial 60 min
1oz dried sweet orange peel 30 min
2oz cascade 2 min
2oz cascade dry hop
White Labs WLP005 (British Ale) or Wyeast 1098 (British Ale) yeast or Fermentis Safale 04

Mash at 155F for 60min.
Lauren recommends adding the dry hops in primary after 5-7 days of primary.
He also isn’t very particular about the type of orange being used for the peel.  He has also used the peel from 2 fresh oranges if you can’t find dried peel.
Lauren doesn’t use any finings in this brew (Irish moss) because the original has a slight haze to it.
Dryhopping is a MUST for this beer to get the profile right.
Lastly, this beer does well to sit for 30 days in the bottle or keg.

For his original write-up on the official recipe, click here.

A word from the man himself:
“If you ever get to Seattle try it, it’s fantastic.  My brother just sent me some, and this clone tastes exactly like the original, the original is just a bit sweeter, but I contribute that to the house yeast.  Use the WLP005, and it’s exactly like the original in flavor profile, and esters.”

BREW ON!

Time is a tough thing to get these days.  Homebrewing as a hobby has a significant amount of down time built into it: Primary fermentation, Secondary fermentation, bottle conditioning, hangovers…. But it also requires a good block of “investment” time to get a batch going.  Getting your wort made can take upwards of 5-6 hours depending on your techniques and methods.

On this page, John and I will hope to outline several key changes to equipment or process that you can use to shave time off your brew session and still make good beer.  Our hope is to make this page a growing list of suggestions with links to detailed follow-up posts for each technique listed.

We encourage readers to leave comments here about things they’ve done to shorten their process, and we’ll try and include the best one’s in the growing list.  We look forward to developing this content and your suggestions as we add to the list.

What list?  Here it is:

1. Extract Brewing
2. Setting Up the Night Before
3. Cold Steeping Grains
4. Overnight Mashing
5. Superior Chilling Practices
6. Brew In A Bag
7. Late Extract and Hop Bursting
8. Shortening the Ramping Time to Boiling
9. Electric Brewing Tools (inspired by JW)

In a previous post (Return to Extracts), I pondered the value of doing a little extract brewing when I don’t have the time available for my 6 hour all-grain sessions.

I was pondering some of my recipes and decided that I would convert on of my recent American Brown ale recipes to an extract version.  When last I brewed it as all grain, I really enjoyed it an thought I had hit a real nice balance between malt flavors, chocolate notes and residual sweetness.  Although it is an American Brown ale, I kept the hopping to a milder schedule to not overwhelm the flavor with citrus and piney flavors typical in some American hopping schedules.

I offer the converted recipe below:

American Brown #1 Extract

I finally got around to ordering two hop rhizomes tonight.

Magnum Hop Rhizome

Mt. Hood Hop Rhizome

I bought a Magnum rhizomes because I have had difficulty buying the variety at my local brew shop and I wanted to grow a good bittering hop.

Mt. Hood was bred to be a Hallertauer replacement, so I thought it would be interesting to compare it to the noble hop. Plus, I wanted to grow a good aroma hop.

Once I get them, I’ll snap some photos and get more information about planting them.

The Brew Dudes have a twitter account – http://twitter.com/BrewDudes - and we use it occasionally.

Now I know some people use it all the time, but we put all our free time and energy into this blog rather than microblogging somewhere else.

Without getting into too many shouldas, couldas, and/or wouldas, we do use Twitter to quickly ask questions about homebrewing.
Here was the question I posed last week:

How long does it take a lager to clear? Maibock is still fairly hazy after two weeks. Sorry, patience is lacking.

First response we received was from rvitek and he typed:

my Belgium Triple takes 7 weeks to clear! Well worth the wait.

Second response we got came from FieldpointeBrew and he typed:

Give your Maibock until May and all will be well. Fitting?

Absolutely. As a brewer, I have never had that much patience. I am just going to chill out on this one.

I haven’t even opened my fridge to look at it in days.

If you’re a regular reader you know that I recently added a second brew assistant to my brewhouse.  With two sons now at home it becomes more difficult to find time to brew.   I have been thinking of ways to get in brewing sessions that are short and quick to slake my thirst for brewing whenever I have time.

I have been pondering the occasional dabble in extract brewing again.  I don’t plan to abandon my all-grain brewing setup as I love the process and the control.  But extract brewing would be a quick way to bang out some easier beers, experiment with ingredients and just stay active in the hobby when a 6-7 hour brew session with all-grain won’t cut it.

So this post is a call to all our extract brewing readers. What styles of beers really lend themselves to extract brewing?  I was thinking of putting together a simple Amber recipe to get myself started in the 2010 brewing season. I figure maybe a good dry Irish Stout and maybe a couple good English Brown ales, milds or other session style brews.

What is on your extract agenda these days?

BREW ON!

So, we made a hard cider last fall.  You can read more about the making of the hard cider if you are keeping score at home.

We used my grandfather’s old press.  When I say old, it’s older than your age plus my age.  It’s oooooooooold.

Although I cleaned it as best I could, the old press left its taste in the cider…but I am getting ahead of myself.

It poured clear and sparkling into the glass.    In the photo, there is some condensation on the glass but looking at the bottom of the glass it looks crystal clear.

In the aroma, you could detect apple tartness and a bit of the sweetness of apple blossoms.

As for the taste, the champagne yeast dried the cider out.  It starts out clean with the CO2 bubbles all around.  Then there is a sharp tartness.  All the sweetness of the apples is long gone.  Then it ends with slightly moldy wood taste. 

Yeah.  That old press left it’s mark. 

What have we learned?

• Sweetened with a simple syrup, this cider is 10x better.   It’s a cheat but it makes it much more drinkable.
• Without the syrup, it’s not undrinkable…but it is nothing to write home about either.
• I am probably going to buy a book on cider making to learn more for the next attempt.
• Champagne yeast leaves cider dry. :)  Not that I didn’t know that from the start, but the end result really helped me understand.
• The old press might be good from a historical perspective but if it can’t make great cider anymore, then we may need to retire the whole thing.

I am going to hide a bottle or two to see if more aging will mellow it out further. 

Ever onward and Brew On. 

‘Tis the season to buy hop rhizomes or at least that is what I have read.  Usually around this time of year, I will get inundated with emails from home brewing stores making sure I know it’s time to order rhizomes.  Usually they are only available in February and March, right in time for the growing season.

I think I need to revisit this post about growing hops.

My plan is to buy from Northern Brewer and get a couple of rhizomes.  I want to get a bittering variety and an aroma variety so my plan is to grow Magnum and Mt. Hood.    I think those two will make for some good American style ale brewing in the Fall.

My brother has a pretty good set up for his garden and he is on board for some hop growing this summer.  I have been jealous of other homebrewing blogger around harvest time.  Here’s to a favorable growing season and a good yield to show off on our blog.

Reader update: Mike has added another little brew dude to his family. His wife gave birth to a baby boy last Friday night. Everyone is doing well and they should be coming home soon.

I thought I would update everybody just to let you know that he’s been brewing up more than just Oatmeal Stouts lately.

CHEERS!