Drake Marsh Nanobrewery

New year, New brew area, old brew - Wieze Azz

2014-03-30T11:19:00.002-07:00

This year I've renovated some of the basement of my house, changing the apartment area into more of an entertainment area, including a bar, and using the kitchen as a brew kitchen. Things are still in the works, but I began this brew season with a simple, but staple beer in my lineup; the hefewiezen.

It's a light beer, focusing mainly on the yeast's characteristics. Not complex, but hard to do right. I stumbled on a solid and well received recipe a few years ago, and haven't deviated much from it since.

Weize Azz - Weizen/Weissbier

Recipe Specs

Batch Size (L): 18.9

Total Grain (kg): 4.000

Total Hops (oz): 0.75

Original Gravity (OG): 1.048 (°P): 11.9

Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1

Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.72 %

Colour (SRM): 3.4 (EBC): 6.7

Bitterness (IBU): 11.1 (Average)

Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 72

Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill

2.500 kg Wheat Malt (62.5%)

1.500 kg Pilsner (37.5%)

Hop Bill

0.50 oz Tettnanger Pellet (4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

0.25 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (6.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

Misc Bill

Single step Infusion at 151°F for 60 Minutes.

Fermented at 68°F with Wyeast 3068 - Weihenstephan Weizen

Photos will be uploaded later

Sugar Shack, Attempt 3

2012-05-04T09:07:00.005-07:00

After a stint out in Alberta for work, the Drake Marsh Brewery is opening it's doors again for more brew days this year!

There's been a few beers that are on the "to do" list that I want to get working on. One is restocking the local favorite Hefewiezen, another a strong imperial stout, and the final is to re-attempt to make a maple cream ale that I've tried twice now. The first was a mild ale, with a hint of maple. The second was an unmitigated disaster, with the yeast stealing all the sweetness of the syrup and leaving a very woody flavour in the beer.

Cream Ales are essentially a pale ale made with a blended yeast mix, consisting of some ale, and some lager yeast. I bought a tube of White Labs blended cream ale yeast to try for this experiment.

Once fermented at an ale temperature, cream ales are usually lagered for a period of time. Which basically means, for my limited setup at this time, that once fermented, the ale will be filtered into a keg, syrup will be added, and then stored in the beer fridge for a few weeks.

Hopefully, the aim is to brew either Sunday or Monday, given how things work out. I'll be pitching the starter yeast today, and utilizing the recipe I'm posting then.

Sugar Shack

Cream Ale

Recipe Specs

----------------

Batch Size (L): 18.9

Total Grain (kg): 4.750

Total Hops (oz): 0.75

Original Gravity (OG): 1.055 (°P): 13.6

Final Gravity (FG): 1.014 (°P): 3.6

Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.40 %

Colour (SRM): 3.6 (EBC): 7.1

Bitterness (IBU): 19.1 (Average)

Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 72

Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill

----------------

3.500 kg American 2-Row (73.68%)

0.500 kg Carafoam (10.53%)

0.500 kg Rice, Raw (10.53%)

0.250 kg Wheat Malt (5.26%)

Hop Bill

----------------

0.25 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (6.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

0.25 oz Magnum Pellet (10% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

0.25 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (6.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

Misc Bill

----------------

0.50 oz Whirlfloc Tablet @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

1.00 oz Maple Syrup @ 1 Minutes (Boil)

4.00 oz Maple Syrup @ 0 Minutes (Bottling)

Single step Infusion at 151°F for 60 Minutes.

Fermented at 68°F with WLP080 - Cream Ale Blend

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

"Son of Fermentation" Chiller Part 1.

2011-10-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is something I've been meaning to do for the entire summer.

The ambient temperature in the house tends to hover between 16 and 19 C year round, which, even for ales, is a tad bit too high normally. I makes excellent Hef beers, but beyond that, it can detract from the process. So, instead of worrying about making a fridge into a lower temp chamber, I wanted to make one from these plans:

home.roadrunner.com/~brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

The concept is easy to make, quick, and cheap. It''s lightweight, portable, and it also uses a ton less energy than a small fridge would. My purchase list consisted of two items; Styrofoam board and a bi-metal thermostat. The rest is coming from spare parts around the house, mainly, an old CPU 3" fan and a 120V adapter I have no idea what it was for. Total cost is 35 bucks.

This weekend's goal was to create the stryo frame. All that's needed is one single 4x8 sheet of 2" foam. Foamboard is a heck of a lot better to use, but I couldn't find any, and where I planned on encasing it in melamine at some point, it wasn't much an issue. However, if you plan on making a pure, foam only case, stryofoam isn;t the best, as the corners break a lot when cutting.

First thing to do was cut all the various pieces from the foam board. Handling 2" foam wasn't the easiest thing to cut from a 8 foot sheet either. The box cutter failed miserably, and I ended up using a small, fine toothed saw instead

Afterwards, it was mainly a day of simply assembling the various parts together. The first pieces were the back and interior walls, with the baffle attached in between. Each of the chambers is meant to hold a large jug of ice. The design keeps most of the cold air settled at the bottom of the chamber, with air being drawn in through one corner hole, pushed through the bottom, and back up to the other side, where the CPU fan will force it back into the chamber. This keeps the temp controlled.

For all the edges, I tried to glue them with acrylic caulking to help cement the edges together. Whether it worked or not is yet to be seen. I have a feeling that I may have to go back and purchase a small can of expanding foam, to both glue the uneven edges better together, and to seal the rougher edges so that cool air can't leak out.

It's probably hard to tell by this picture, but I inserted a bunch of 2" finishing nails into the edges to further support the attachments. The nails were better than the dowels I found, simply due to their smaller size and sharper punctures. It definitely made the joinings easier, while giving time to the caulking to set in place.

Just used some scrap wood as runners. Same deal, nails + caulking to seal it on. The runners let the top and the front pieces fit into place, while also blocking any gaps formed between the walls. The sole issue I see with doing this is now I need to go back and make the fan hole wider - or make a cut in the runner, since it needs a 3" hole and the runner is now blocking it.

Lastly, put a bunch of tool cases on the side of it to add some weight in order to ensure a better seal. Leave it as it is for a few days, then go back and add the electronics.

The wiring will be pretty simple. The thermostat will attach on the interior wall, between the 3" holes, wired to the fan and the 120v adapter. If the temp gets too high, the fan will turn on, and blow cold air into the main chamber.

For now, until I see how well it works, I won't bother encasing it to make it look nice. I'll be an ugly styro chamber for a bit, but if it works as well as some said, I have the melamine in the shop already waiting to be used.

Lil' Red Brew day

2011-10-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a bust trying to get it done, so I put aside this Sunday instead as a brew day.

Just placing the ingredients in the BrewMate program at home versus the one at work, I noticed a huge difference in malt needed. A lot of it has to do with the modifications and tweaks I did to the program during brewing over the past 6 months, so today's goal is to test a few things - mainly, efficiency, and accurate boiloff calculations.

The grain bill's starting out a wee bit smaller this time, given a 75-80% efficiency vs the default 70% given by the brewmate suite.

Given that it's been almost a month and a half since my last brew, I decided to make sure everything got an extra long scrubbing in my "wash station" (The guest bathroom.....best spray hose in the house!). Oxyclean was liberally used and everything got a good cleaning.

Now all set for the mashing.

Irish reds are defined in the BJCP As such:

All set to mash in!

Aroma: Low to moderate malt aroma, generally caramel-like but occasionally toasty or toffee-like in nature. May have a light buttery character (although this is not required). Hop aroma is low to none (usually not present). Quite clean.Appearance: Amber to deep reddish copper color (most examples have a deep reddish hue). Clear. Low off-white to tan colored head.Flavor: Moderate caramel malt flavor and sweetness, occasionally with a buttered toast or toffee-like quality. Finishes with a light taste of roasted grain, which lends a characteristic dryness to the finish. Generally no flavor hops, although some examples may have a light English hop flavor. Medium-low hop bitterness, although light use of roasted grains may increase the perception of bitterness to the medium range. Medium-dry to dry finish. Clean and smooth (lager versions can be very smooth). No esters.Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body, although examples containing low levels of diacetyl may have a slightly slick mouthfeel. Moderate carbonation. Smooth. Moderately attenuated (more so than Scottish ales). May have a slight alcohol warmth in stronger versions.

Given that the final version has a projected ABV of over 6%, there should be some of the warmth that was mentioned in the mouthfeel. A strong crystal will give the caramel flavor, but I'm shying away from the harsh dryness of roasted barley in favor of chocolate malt, which is becoming a new favorite of mine. It's a minimal amount, but it should lend the color needed to make it a red.

Because of the way the stove top boils the wort, I've been hesitant to believe it's only a 10% boil off in the hour that it boils. Lately, I've been calculating with a 15% boil off, but that has lead to way too much wort. My last Hef, I had a good 2-3L extra after filling the carboy. That meant diluted/lost sugars and flavor. I panicked, added about a pound of sugar, and it came out alright in the end, but I swore that it'd be the last time I overdid the recipes with water.

Measuring the wort as it runs out of the mash

I wanted to make sure that I got the right amount this time, so what I ended up doing was boiling a small pot of water on the side, so that there would be extra cooled water if needed to top off the carboy (if needed). As it stood, I started with 14L in the first mash, and 13.75 in the second strike water. In the end, I drew off 9.5L and 13.75L. Brewmate calculated 23L, I ended up with an extra 250mL due to my manifold being highly efficient.

The temperature is another issue I'm worried about. As you can see by the photo, the temp probe tells me that I'm near the higher end of the 150's 30minutes into my mash. Using the digital probe I have though, it tells me I'm sitting at 145F. The old turkey digital probe I had before would read probably 150-ish. Hence, I'm not overly worried, but I'd like to get a new probe soon to better measure. The direct heat I use to mash is a tricky beast as well. leaving it at 2 on the dial makes it lose a few degrees over the hour, on 3, it warms up to 155-160. It's a juggle, but stirring it every 10 minutes and monitoring the heat has been my best bet so far. Striking, again, hit a bit high on the probe at 172, but assuming it's biased, it hit the mark of 168 very well.

Finished it off by measuring the efficiency. OG was at 1.056 instead of the projected 1.062. Final brewhouse efficiency was 72%. Worse than I expected, but not horrible.

Time to pitch the yeast, and adjust the bewmate software for further brewing!

Lil' Red - Irish Red Ale

2011-09-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

Took the last month off from brewing. It's probably been a bit longer than that though, since I last made a post.

I'll update my summer brews this weekend. The APA, Hef, and Cherry Chocolate Stout are all still alive and kicking, kegged, and ready to drink now. There's actually an IPA/APA competition with the NB Craft brewing group upcoming in October. I'll probably be submitting my APA for that, most likely against a ton of hop bombed IPAs, so it may not do favorably.

Right now, I'm just going to post the recipe I hope to get done on Sunday. I've been wanting to re-try an Irish red since the earlier version kind of failed. I have the Irish yeast Wyeast 1084 as well to use instead of S04, so hopefully it'll lend some extra flavor it was missing before.

The aim is to wash the 1084 and split it into two jars for further use. One will continue to be used for reds, the other, will be for stouts. I figure, it's easier to mask any small flavor additions of a red into a stout, than vice versa.

Here's the recipe I'll be using this weekend.
Irish Red Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 19.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.200
Total Hops (oz): 1.40
Original Gravity (OG): 1.060 (°P): 14.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.89 %
Colour (SRM): 16.3 (EBC): 32.1
Bitterness (IBU): 25.3 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill

----------------

4.500 kg Maris Otter Malt (86.54%)

0.650 kg Crystal 60 (12.5%)

0.050 kg Chocolate (0.96%)

Hop Bill

----------------

0.40 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (9.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)

0.50 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (9.6% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 151°F for 60 Minutes.

Fermented at 68°F with Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale

The hop bill will be slightly modified. I know my Cascade is a lower AA%, so it'll change the amount. However, I'm not home at the moment, so it's hard to see what the value really is/ By sunday, I'll modify the recipe to meet it's needed standards.

Portable Cornelius Keg Charger specific parts.

2011-07-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Just a word of note, in case this can be googled, and I can save someone else from the frustration I'm having with this....

If you buy one of those portable corny keg chargers, make sure you have, or can attain, a 1/4" Quick Connect.....all the "normal" ones are 3/8ths, and in backwater atlantic provinces, it's the only thing locally available.

This one is no good:

This one is:

See how the "right" one is fatter? Apparently, you can screw on the hose barb to these, ot screw on thegas connect, if needed....

Honestly, the thing is pretty awesome in its design, I just wish I could use it without having to order from Ontario for a 7$ part + 15$ shipping.....

Current Beer Pictures

2011-07-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

With four carboys on the go, decided to take a week off from brewing, and instead focus on emptying a few kegs when the others are done.Actually, I went to keg the APA, and on moving it, it started bubbling again. It's been over 2 weeks now, but a few more days won't hurt, and I'll check the FG on it to make certain it's done. The first stout's in the same boat, won't bother doing one until I do the other. Actually tempted to not add any chocolate to this one - I forgot to add lactose during the boil. Probably will though, just won't be as creamy-like this go around. It'll be a good experiment to see what the lactose does to it, I guess.

Anyway, all I have for now, is a few pictures of the beer that's quickly dwindling on tap.

Hefeweizen. Real simple and nicely mild flavors. The banana esters really shone through on this one, and it's probably the next one I'll be brewing. It came out great (little over carbed here, I fixed that ASAP for the rest of the weekend). Lot of people really loved it this past weekend.

Black Wing Chocolate Stout. If you've ever had Young's Double Chocolate, this came out a lot like that. Already have requests for more, hopefully this newer batch comes out similar.

That's all for now! Should have a Wiezen starter made sometime this week to brew on the weekend.

Brew and Teach day

2011-07-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

I really feel like I'm a crack dealer.

"C'mon man, first brew is on me, then you'll understand why I do it every weekend."

.....poor Mike (friend of mine - he's the guy we threw the bachelor party for a few posts back).

Anyhow, made two batches again this weekend because Mike wants to learn how to brew. He wants a stout of his own, I want to make another "summer" beer. The yeast starter's off and running since last night (I screwed up the first one, made it work the second go round.) on Wyeast American Ale 1056. Plan on doing a Blonde beer.

Starting this week, I'm going to add in the Beer Judge Definitions of the Beer styles I'm making, just for future references on why I made it the way I did. It'll expand the posts a bit more, but it'll be a teaching tool to myself as well, to make sure I'm following guidelines a bit more stringently. Hopefully it'll make the blog a bit more....formal(?) as well.

Style: 6B

Category: Light Hybrid Beer

Subcategory: Blonde Ale

Aroma: Light to moderate sweet malty aroma. Low to moderate fruitiness is optional, but acceptable. May have a low to medium hop aroma, and can reflect almost any hop variety. No diacetyl.

Appearance: Light yellow to deep gold in color. Clear to brilliant. Low to medium white head with fair to good retention.

Flavor: Initial soft malty sweetness, but optionally some light character malt flavor (e.g., bread, toast, biscuit, wheat) can also be present. Caramel flavors typically absent. Low to medium esters optional, but are commonly found in many examples. Light to moderate hop flavor (any variety), but shouldn't be overly aggressive. Low to medium bitterness, but the balance is normally towards the malt. Finishes medium-dry to somewhat sweet. No diacetyl.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium-full body. Medium to high carbonation. Smooth without harsh bitterness or astringency.

Overall Impression: Easy-drinking, approachable, malt-oriented American craft beer.

History: Currently produced by many (American) microbreweries and brewpubs. Regional variations exist (many West Coast brewpub examples are more assertive, like pale ales) but in most areas this beer is designed as the entry-level craft beer.

Comments: In addition to the more common American Blond Ale, this category can also include modern English Summer Ales, American K�lsch-style beers, and less assertive American and English pale ales.

Ingredients: Generally all malt, but can include up to 25% wheat malt and some sugar adjuncts. Any hop variety can be used. Clean American, lightly fruity English, or Kolsch yeast. May also be made with lager yeast, or cold-conditioned. Some versions may have honey, spices and/or fruit added, although if any of these ingredients are stronger than a background flavor they should be entered in specialty, spiced or fruit beer categories instead. Extract versions should only use the lightest malt extracts and avoid kettle caramelization.

Examples: Redhook Blonde, Catamount Gold, Widmer Blonde Ale, Coast Range California Blonde Ale, Fuller's Summer Ale, Hollywood Blonde, Pete's Wicked Summer Brew, Deschutes Cascade Golden

It's meant to be an "entry" craft beer. Not quite Bud-like, but close enough not to turn off the lager drinkers. Figure it'll be good for the timid who come over.

The style calls for little caramel flavor, a very light color, and suggests wheat malt (but many submitted recipes don't seem to call for it). I like wheat in my beer though, the mouthfeel it gives is very nice. But I like the CaraPils as well, for the sweetness it gives. Both are nice additions to lighter beers for the head retention and mouthfeel, so I compromised and added some of each, leaning a bit on the CaraPils for a higher ABV. I ended up with this recipe:

Blonde Ale

Recipe Specs

Original Gravity (OG): 1.049

Final Gravity (FG): 1.012

Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.81 %

Colour (SRM): 3.7

Bitterness (IBU): 24.4 (Average)

Grain Bill
3.000 kg American 2-Row (70.59%)

0.750 kg Vienna (17.65%)

0.300 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (7.06%)

0.200 kg Wheat Malt (4.71%)

Hop Bill

1.05 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (3.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

0.50 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (3.6% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

0.75 oz Tettnanger Pellet (4% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0 oz/L)

Fermented at 68°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale

Blonde ale in Mash

Boil Time

Mike went with a stout. I made a Dry Stout Recipe based off of the Chocolate Stout I make. Used a single hop to try and show the flavor profile.

Dry Stout

Recipe Specs
Original Gravity (OG): 1.056

Final Gravity (FG): 1.014

Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.50 %

Colour (SRM): 37.6 (EBC): 74.1

Bitterness (IBU): 36.9 (Average)

Grain Bill

3.250 kg Maris Otter Malt (65%)

0.750 kg Flaked Barley (15%)

0.500 kg Caramunich III (10%)

0.250 kg Chocolate (5%)

0.250 kg Roasted Barley (5%)

Hop Bill

0.75 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (9.8% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes

0.50 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (9.8% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes

Mmmm stout

Was a good time had by all. Fireworks were shown up above my house by the town as well, so we went to see them after we finished brewing.

Brews are fermenting away now. Few more weeks and there'll be beer for all!

Pictures and Yeast Starter!

2011-07-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

First yeast starter, not sure how well it'll take. Used the following gears:

Used a washed Wyeast American Ale. Not quite sure yet what the plan is for this weekend, but I know I need a light summer ale. Details, details, I say! Yeast got started though.

Mmm yeasties

Boiled 1/2 cup DME to 1.1L of water (compensating for evaporation, want 1L)

The bottles huuuuge. Bought a couple of 1 gallon growlers from Barley Malt and Vine in Saint John. Little bit of an overkill, but I can use it for storing beer as well if I want.

Here's the "little" corner of the pantry currently being used for the carboys.

The Pale ale is closest, followed by Daves brown ale. The stout's in the bigger carboy to the left, and the red wine Michelle made is on the right on the caddy. Then, theres a few bottles, the minijet filter pump (which I may try on the pale ale...), the shelf I need to install for odds and ends, the mason jars that store the washed yeast.....the list goes on.

As you can see though, the pale ale still has a good layer of krausen on it and it's calmed down enough to put the airlock back on. The stout bubbled away for a day, and settled down afterwards, but still is fermenting nicely.

Next post will be Brew day this weekend!

New toys and yeast incoming! Update on fermenting beer.

2011-07-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

Placed an order over at http://homebrew-supplies.ca/, needed to restock on some basics and purchased a portable CO2 charger as well.

Total order:
Yeasts:
1x Wyeast Irish Ale (going to try again with this yeast and hope for the best)
1x White Labs Cream Ale (sounds pretty awesome for my Maple ale)
3x US04 (Darker ales)
3x US05 (Lighter ales)
1x WB06(Wheat)

Charger:

It seems like a pretty easy solution. Insert 16g Cartridge, push button, let in pressure, pour. Finding 16oz carts may be hard, not sure yet, but I'll give it a try. (not sure if they are refillable....) Got 5 spare cartridges as well...

Next on the list may be to transition from picnic taps to the short tap like in the bottom right picture. Not sure how the foam will act though....

Brew Day Update

The Irish Ale yeast, after 36 hours, still didn't produce any fermentation. Rather than risk it, I pitched a packet of US04 on top of it. When I got home 10 hours later, there was a good layer of krausen and the stout was happily fermenting and bubbling away.

The APA fermented fast and strong. Smells good, but I'll let it sit for a bit before disturbing it.

Tonight, I'll be making my first yeast started from the washed yeast of the last batch of Maple ale. Hope to make a lighter summer ale of some sorts for when some friends come down the end of august. May be doing a double brew as well, teaching my friend Mike the ways of being addicted to homebrewing. Updates will be coming soon!

Double Down! Black Wing Stout and Pale Ale

2011-07-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well, this week I'm going to attempt to make two batches at once. New territory for me. But, given it worked well when Dave was here a few weekends ago, I figure it's worth a shot.

The new maple ale got sent to the camp for a month. Tried drinking it on the long weekend, and it was way too woody. Hopefully a month will mellow and mix it. The chocolate stout got sampled and distributed at the last Craft Brew meeting. It got good reviews, so into the kegerator it went for a few bonfires over the weekend. Not sure how much is left, but not a ton. The ale I made needs transferring; One of the posts is broken, so it's lost it's carb and is sitting waiting for transfer. The Hefe came out spot on, and there may be a few litres left of that....

So really, I need to stock up really fast, or suffer a dry spell. Two batches is really the only option.

I'm working on a new chocolate stout, since it takes about 6-8 weeks to age properly. Now that I have chocolate malt and Irish ale yeast, I think the outcome will be different, in a good way hopefully. Less coffee (but still a bit, for bittering the cocoa/vanilla), more chocolate.

Here's the brew day recipe

Grain Bill
----------------
3.250 kg Maris Otter Malt (65.66%)
0.600 kg Caramunich III (12.12%)
0.600 kg Chocolate (12.12%)
0.250 kg Flaked Barley (5.05%)
0.250 kg Roasted Barley (5.05%)

Hop Bill
----------------
0.75 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (9.8% Alpha) @ 60 Minute
0.50 oz Fuggles Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes

The chocolate malt really smells amazing while it's in the mash. It really makes a contrast versus the older stout's flavor already. By boil time the wort smelt like a chocolate muffin baking...that's the only way I could explain it. I'm really excited for it.

The second, I'll be trying an American Pale Ale. Something simple, light, but with a good hop flavour. I had tried a lot of IPA's on the weekend, and while I didn't mind them, I still don't have the pallet for that much hops. An APA seems balanced, and lets me use cascade again, which I really do enjoy.

Grain Bill
----------------
3.500 kg American 2-Row (85.37%)
0.350 kg Crystal 40 (8.54%)
0.250 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (6.1%)

Hop Bill
----------------
1.35 oz Cascade Pellet (5.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes
0.50 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (6.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (5.9% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes

This'll be the highest IBU's I've tried yet, a modest 40.5 IBU, but still, most of my beers stay in the mid 20's, or low 30's. Cascade and the Hallertau are both good 'Noble' hops, which fit the bill for an APA. A lot of the recipes I reasearched today before designing the grain bill called for these two as well. Lots of citrus flavor from the Cascade, which I really like in the IPA's I had. Most, granted, had Amarillo instead, but I did an earlier ale with Cascade, and it was really nice and refreshing. Hopefully, this'll be the same.

No pictures today though sadly, phone died on the weekend, no charge :(, I'll post some of the carboys later this week, along with a glass of the stout.

Brew Day, Bachelor's party, Food and fun

2011-06-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had a party for Dave's soon to be brother in law Mike. I made sure to have a few kegs running, and got some ribs and wings, and started the brew day out.

Dave made a dry rub for the 4 racks of pork side ribs I had bought, and tapped into the chocolate espresso stout to make a homemade BBQ sauce with some magical combination of sugar, garlic, and onions and spices he tossed in when I wasn't looking. It came out excellent. I made a large batch of potato salad and a bunch of wings with my tried and tested hot wing sauce, and everyone seemed to get a good bite to eat.

It was late when we started, but Dave and I set out to make two batches of beer. I started making a second batch of Sugar Shack Maple ale, and he had some Brown ale he's been wanting to brew since he moved to St. Andrews.

After some discussion, I opted to drop the cream ale and make the maple more of a straight up ale, using crystal 60 to flavor it with caramel (which also made it too dark for a cream ale). I switched to a clean bittering magnum hop, driving the IBU's to 25, to offset the extra sweetness from the extra maple I planned on using. The tastings were positive, but the maple was too faint to notice in the first batch. So my recipe came out to this:

3.5 Kg 2-row

0.5 Kg Crystal 60

0.25 Kg Wheat

0.5oz Magnum 10.0% AA

Wyeast American Ale 1056

With the old cooler mash tun I kept after making the SS pot tun, we had enough pots to actually process 2 batches at once, which was pretty neat. I actually got to use my oversized mash paddle too. Its the perfect size for the cooler, not so much for the pots.

Here's the two pots coming to a boil. The volume difference between the older pot and the new one is considerable, you can't even see the approx 7 gallons in the new pot!

I also experience my first "drank too much before the brew day was done" experience. All my careful brewing may be for naught, as I didn't sterilize my carboy. Oops!

All in all though, it was a fun day, and we had some people that really took an interest in the brewing over. Once the beer was in primary with the yeast, we headed outside to the bonfire and finished a late night having a blast.

Labels!

2011-06-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

Player around over at Beer Labelizer today. Made a few labels for my current "repeat" beers.

I changed the name on them as well to something more fitting. Might change them again, who knows, but I like the current names for now.

By Friday, I'll have 5 kegs ready to be tasted. 2 (Maple Ale, Blonde Lager) have been in the fridge for a few weeks, the other 3 (Choc Stout, Hefeweizen, Ale) have been kegged throughout the week and been carbonating. Looks like it may be a busy weekend!

Hefewiezen

2011-06-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Blame a computer that wouldn't boot for no updates lately.

Got my liquid yeast last weekend. Real brewing begins now. :D

Started with a Hefeweizen. German wheat beer. I really love using wheat in my ales for the mouth feel. Given wiezens have 50%+ wheat in it, it should be great. The wyeast wiezen yeast gives it the specific characteristics that go with the beer style, specifically that of banana and cloves.

It also has a supposedly fast turnover, so I should have some results in 10 days or so. Should be kegging the pilsner-ale and the chocolate stout at the same time. Beers all around!

Lesson learned - Use a blowoff or risk blowing up

2011-05-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, I looked at the carboy actively chugging away, and the foam nearing the neck, but still half an inch away, and thought to myself "It'll probably be okay untill the morning"...

Woke up this morning, and the airlock had been overblown with krausen. Small cleanup, but still, nothing like being annoying.

And I should've seen it coming. Adding the maple syrup to the batch upped its OG to over 1.060, which, for my beers, set a new high. The red was 1.052, and it needed a blowoff tube for 3 days.

So new rule: Always run a blowoff untill you see the krausen receding instead of growing, just to be safe.

Drake Marsh Sap - Maple Cream Ale

2011-05-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well, last night made the wheat pilsner I made disappear fast. Time to start making a new batch. Sadly, the available grains I have are slowly diminishing, so I have to start getting creative with them. I probably have enough beyond today to make a modified (and hopefully better) chocolate cream stout, and a new batch of the wheat pils that went over so well. After that I'm praying grains come in or I'm flat out.

Todays brew however, is something I've been aiming to make after getting made for a bit. A maple cream ale. I saw Picaroon's version over the winter and it piqued my interest. I was sadly disappointed by their version, given it was a brown ale. Nutty and Maple just don't mix for me. So I figured I'd try a lighter beer with a more distinct maple taste involved.

2:30

Finally got the parts completed on my new pots. I'm pretty confident they'll work, had them sitting with water overnight without any dripping.

Started to mill the grains. Grain bill: 3.75 Kg 2-row/Pilsner mix (Ran out of 2-row....really hoping to see those grains come in soon!), 0.6 Kg rice, 0.35 Wheat, and 0.05Kg CaraMunich III (Mainly for color, a lighter munich would've been better, but again, grain order *sigh*).

Used the old brew pot as my strike water pot, with the new additions to my brew equipment ready to be used.

3:30

New Mash Kettle

Mashed in14.5L of water at 151F. Direct heat is proving to be a little tricky to learn. The mash is hovering between 147F and 151F, on the tops and outside, ~~but the middle and near the heat is sometimes nearing 160F~~ Correction, the copper manifold is nearing 160, the mash tends to hover at 153, the probe was tending to rest on the copper, throwing my reads off. Need to stir it often to distribute the heat. at 160 it becomes unfermentable. 150 is the best temp to keep it at, as it mixes fermentables and unfermentables into a balance for body and alchohol. Higher temps give a more bodied beer, but given that this is meant to be a light beer, a lower temp, and thus a thinner beer, should be the goal. However, if there's a definite area of higher temp, and one of lower, it may turn out to mix well anyway. Time will tell.

4:30

Started draining the first part of the wort. Took longer than I expected. Need to get a bigger barb. The ones on the pots are 1/4, could easily go for 1/2" and speed up the draining.

Strike water went a lot quicker. Changed the tubing I had used, using a smaller diameter hose. Definitely worked better. Lesson learned for next time.

Boil began, added 0.3oz pf both Saaz and Perle. Keeping the hops low, but still present. Aim is to have a cleaner tasting beer than the Pils-Wheat basic that was really good, but the hops did come out strong. Less hops gives the maple more of a chance to kick in hopefully. After 45 minutes, added another 0.25 oz of Saaz, and threw in a cup of Maple syrup in the last 5 minutes of boiling.

Just waiting for it to finish cooling now, and I'll toss it in the carboy and hopefully in 3-4 weeks have a nice maple-y beer!

Final note: OG of the sample was taken at 1.064 during transfer to the carboy

New mash paddle!

2011-04-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Worked down in the woodshop today. I wanted to try and make a mash paddle instead of using the small plastic spoon I have been using that came with my wife's wine making kit. Took a while to draw it out, and to make a template to work with, but I finished one today.

Here's the first cut from the template. I used maple for the paddle:

40" long, 6" wide paddle w/ a 1.5" handle

Not perfect straight lines, but pretty close. Hard maple is HARD to cut holes in. Some of my tools may be a bit dull, but they did the job admirably anyway.

I'll be carving into the handle some things later, maybe burn them into the handle as well. Some of the rounded edges are still dodgey, as I need to go buy a drum sander. But all in all I like the mostly finished product.

Pretty happy with the work I did on my day off.

Beer brew stand

2011-04-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

Saw this on youtube today.

Almost exactly identical to what I want to try and craft sometime this summer.

Pictures of last brew day

2011-04-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

Keep meaning to add these in a post, just a few pictures I took last brew day.

First one is of the new brew pots I bought from Home hardware. The two stainless steel pots hold 50L piece, and only ran me 70 bucks each. I used one as a hot liquor pot (hot water) last brew day, which made getting the water out so much easier than the aluminum fry pot I was using before.

The goal is to order some fittings for these over the next few weeks. Recently was told of a new supplier in Canada that has some pretty good rates (www.hopdawgs.ca).

The new pots will replace the current wort boiler and mash tun, and the boiler that I'm using now will become the hot liquor tank. Converting to a constant heat mash will probably be the trickiest part of the whole thing.

Next is the wort pre-boil. This is why I went from calling it a red ale to almost an amber ale. It still has that red color to it, but its very muddy.

Last pic I took on the weekend was of the chocolate stout. The head on it has a very mocha like color, which is different than the dry stouts white head. Most of this I attribute to the cocoa being present in the brew. But it definitely give you the impression that you're drinking something sweeter than a dry stout.

Hopefully next time I can get the pictures embedded that same time that I post and save me some time!

Irish red/Amber Ale - Alexstrasza

2011-04-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

Been a little bit since I updated the blog. For a while, I was frustrated at the aroma's coming from the carboys; It seemed like both the Pils and the Stout had soured. Once transferred from the primary carboy however, the smell dissipated. Seems the CO2 and other gases released in fermentation tend to be a bit misleading. Lesson learnt for the future.

I've been drinking the Chocolate Kisanth for a week and a half now. Initially, there was strong coffee flavors, but as it's sat the past week, the chocolate has taken over. I'll deinfately re-brew this batch (probably next week) with a few minor adjustments. First, I've read that boiling the cocoa actually releases tannins, and it makes the chocolate less sweet, and more bitter in its flavor. Second, I'll be adding Vanilla and more than likely lactose, to give it a sweeter, creamier flavor. Now that I have kegs on tap, I can afford to let this next batch sit longer and mature in its flavors as well.

Anyway, todays adventure was a middle ground of an Amber and Irish red. The name is familiar to a lot of gamers, I won't get into the nerd details of its origin. However, the brew is a variation of a firends "dirty red head". I made it a darker beer. A little more of the secondary grains all around made it darker, and more amber than pure red. The grain bill was about another pound total over the red above. The hops I used were a bit different as well, using Fuggles for bittering, and UK First gold in the flavor and aroma. Used some natural cane sugar as well, a blend of white sugar and molasses basically that I use for cooking a lot.

For the most part, it was a quick and easy day of brewing. Most of the time, I was cleaning around the house while the water heated and the wort was mashed and the wort boiled. The smell coming from the kitchen as this boils is really great. Hopefully it comes out just as good.

One other thing though, is that I need a bigger coil of copper wire to play with on the wort chiller. The 20 feet I have is great for cooling from 210F to about 150 or so, but after that, it slows painfully down in the chilling. I bought a quick connect for the tap since my last brew, hopefully it increases the flow versus the aquatic pump I had to use previously. Its currently at 190 as I write this, so hopefully it doesn't take as long this time as before.

Off to drink more of the stout as it cools, updates to follow in the next few days with pictures!

Soured?

2011-03-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

Week later, theres a distinct sour smell to the stout. Its getting frustrating, to repeat the same error twice now.

There's a definate sweet aroma though, even with the stinging sourness. I really like the beer's makeup, so if it fails this week I'll be right back at trying to make it again next weekend.

In the midst of making a simple pilsner beer. Will update with a new post afterwards.

Kisanth, Chocolate - Coffee Style Stout

2011-03-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Started brewing setup today around noon. Got to cleaning the kitchen a bit, and sorting through the pieces that I needed to get it all sorted out and did some last day tweaking to the recipe I was going to use. Moved from a dry stout to a slightly sweeter, coffee and chocolate infused sweet stout.Not sure if it can be called a sweet stout without the inclusion of lactose, but it will definitely not be as dry as the first round.

Bought a small bottle of star san the last time I was in Halifax. Makes a great spray on sanitizer. Spray, dry, and its good to go. Really helps to ensure that everything gets that last minute sanitization just in case. The last batch of beer went sour, and I really would hate for that to happen again. The smell alone is enough to drive people away from brewing ugh.

By 1 I was ready to get the grains milled and the water heated up. Michelle went about grinding all the grains, totalling 9.5 lbs for the batch.

The Strike water was set to 164 F, hoping for a 152 +/- 0.5 degree mash temp. Mash water volume was 13.5L of water. While the mash was steeping I got all the "extras" ready. A strong batch of coffee (Jamacain Blue Mountain, best coffee ever!), some molasses to sweeten the stout, and an ounce of dark cocoa, which came out to a 1/4 cup.

Wort came out, approx 10L of the 13.5L for 75% efficiency, pretty good level for my initial calculations. Sparge water added @ 176 F. Total batch size pre-boil 23L. Given 10-15% boiloff in the hour, I'll have just over enough to fill a keg.

Added another 8 minutes to the boil after adding the molasses and coffee @ the 45 minute mark. Forgot to factor in the extra 6 cups of water from the coffee, so in order to boil it down again, I left the boil going for a bit more before adding the finishing hops.

Got to try out the wort chiller. Worked pretty well after some rigging up that I hope to rectify by next batch. Using a fountain pump to push water through until I can find a proper fitting for the tap (thought I had one but it was too small by one sizing.). Digital thermometer went on the fritz and had to use one of the metal thermometers at the end, but everything seemed to come out fine. Michelle and Drew put the wort in the carboy and the yeast to set while I was out. Hopefully everything turns out well!

Click here to see the Photo Album

New equipment

2011-03-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I ended up buying some equipment from a friend that was clearing out his inventory before he moved. Most of the stuff was things I had plans on buying/creating in the next few months time, so in truth, it worked out well. 5 more carboys, 5 kegs, a mill (which was the next necessary purchase), a few other odds and ends, and enough grains to definitely create a wide variety of beers.

Oh, and a fridge with two beer taps, along with a tank and regulator. I had originally gotten a tank from Air liquide, but the brewers regulator I bought wouldn't fit with anything I tried to do with it. Take note: Be careful when you buy! Check and see if your regulator is left hand threaded (the oddball way) or right hand threaded. If you buy left hand, you're more likely stuck to getting parts and pieces from your local brewing store, including your CO2 tank.

But anyway, the fridge itself is pretty cool. It only holds two kegs, but it's very light, and easily portable, meaning that to take it somewhere for a party wouldn't be that hard. Theres three outlet valves from the CO2 canister as well, so a modification may be in store to add a cold plate inside the fridge to run taps for a third keg on the outside.

These pictures are from my friend, so the setup in the house will be a little different as well. I've hidden the fridge in the dining room at home, and hopefully come summer I can build a sort of bar/shelf area to surround it. All this snow outside has made it hard to use the workshop at all.

Having the fridge definitely making things easier! I currently have the Kisanth Stout I made and an amber ale given in one of the kegs currently residing in the fridge. Mind you, there isn't a lot left of the stout. So come time the Festa Lager is done, there should be room for it as well.

Keeping 2 on tap will allow me to brew a few longer sitting beers next. Hopefully in the next week or so, I'll be brewing a chocolate porter that needs 3 months at least to settle, and maybe a coffee stout to replace the current rapidly depleting keg on tap.

Festa Brew Blond Lager

2011-02-25T05:06:00.000-08:00

So I cheated a bit.... My grains haven't arrived, and I wanted to get another batch on the go in order to keep the taps flowing. I bought a Festa Brew blonde lager this week and started fermenting it last night.

http://www.magnotta.com/Festabrew/MGHome.aspx

Festa Brew Blonde Lager

23 L

A yellow coloured, crisp beer with a genuine lager yeast. This is a true all-malt lager brewed with no adjuncts. The yeast provided will ferment well at 9-15°C, but will provide good lager characteristics up to 24°C.

OG: 1.0476 – 1.0484, FG: 1.0080 – 1.0088, Yeast: Saflager S-23, IBUs: 11

In all honesty, the Festa Brews are really, really good. They're a good way to get into home brewing without the entire all-grain setup needed. Basically, get the carboy and equipment - the same setup as wine making- and invest in either kegs or bottles and you're done. They're a good way to ease into home brewing, a lesser immediate hit on your wallet.

You miss out on the brewing process itself though, and some of that "I made it myself" pride. But even still, it's a cheaper long-term beer drinking choice than buying from macrobrews in store.

Brewmate & Brewzor PRO Beta

2011-02-24T05:34:00.000-08:00

Found a few nice, easy and free programs to create recipes with.

Brewmate is a light program for the PC that lets you input ingredients and find out if you fall within neccesary parameters for a certain type of beer. It saves the recipes in BeerXML, a must as it has become a standard for recipe swaps between programs. Also allows easy export of recipes into text, so I can keep records here better.

Brwezor Pro is an android program that essentially does everything brewmate does but on my Driod phone. It's having some difficulty in calculating parameters still, but it's being updated a lot. Importing XML from brewmate does work to save recipes though, so using the PC, then transferring to the phone makes it portable.

I'll be using both of these for a while I'm pretty sure.

Drake Marsh Nanobrewery

New year, New brew area, old brew - Wieze Azz

Sugar Shack, Attempt 3

Sugar Shack Cream Ale

"Son of Fermentation" Chiller Part 1.

Lil' Red Brew day

Lil' Red - Irish Red Ale

Portable Cornelius Keg Charger specific parts.

Current Beer Pictures

Brew and Teach day

Pictures and Yeast Starter!

New toys and yeast incoming! Update on fermenting beer.

Double Down! Black Wing Stout and Pale Ale

Brew Day, Bachelor's party, Food and fun

Labels!

Hefewiezen

Lesson learned - Use a blowoff or risk blowing up

Drake Marsh Sap - Maple Cream Ale

New mash paddle!

Beer brew stand

Pictures of last brew day

Irish red/Amber Ale - Alexstrasza

Soured?

Kisanth, Chocolate - Coffee Style Stout

New equipment

Festa Brew Blond Lager

Brewmate & Brewzor PRO Beta

Sugar Shack

Cream Ale