Grizzly Growler

via Big Sky Brewing Co. makes list of Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies in U.S..

Tasting Notes

for International Homebrew Project ’11 – Sweet Stout.

For those of you who have dodgy memories, this was a collaborative brew-n-blog initiated by the fine gentleman over at Fuggled. This is a report on the final beer – tasting and wrap up thoughts.

A few notes on how my batch turned out:

I “overshot” the OG by 12 pts, mostly due to extra mash efficiency. I hit the pre-boil gravity via raw wort, so the 12 pts of Lactose put me over the top. I’ve had less than wonderful success retaining body and mouthfeel when diluting other beers, so Rick and I left this one as is. Also, it only fermented out to 1.033, so I didn’t need to dose it again with lactose in the secondary/keg.

Stats: OG 1.065, 40 BU, ABV 4.3%, kegged to 2.1 Volumes CO2

• Appearance – Inky black death. Creamy tan head, low in height, fades to persistent ring of bubbles. Great lacing, and the legs – holy cow. Picture black chocolate milk. Low levels of carbonation.
• Smell – Dense chocolate with hint of roast – almost coffee like in background. Faint levels of dark fruit and molasses. Quite pungent, lovely.
• Taste – Roast coffee and chocolate right on, sweet then roasty and bitter transition nicely to a lingering aftertaste. No real fruits or yeast esters. Finish is bitter roasty chocolate — but with a sweet taste. Odd sensation for a beer, but lovely.
• Mouthfeel – Quite full bodied, nice creaminess up front then moves to interesting bitter/sweet middle. Finish is drying – roasty and slightly bitter.
• Drinkability & Notes – Aye, she’s a winner. This one is MUCH better warmer – pour two pints and let the 2nd sit and warm up. Super lovely dense flavors with great aroma. Quite drinkable considering the high terminal gravity – it drinks like a much bigger beer than the 4.3% ABV would suggest.

Read the other reviews over at Fuggled.

Jester King Craft Brewery

via Jester King Homebrew Recipes Now Available.

Grizzly Growler

via Missoula’s Rhino joins First Friday festivities with Firkin Friday.

• Belgian Pale Ale with Wyeast 3522 – Belgian Ardennes. Interesting malt character with some fruitiness. Spiciness is clove heavy – reminds me a bit of a Hefe. Hrm. Carbing up now, shall see.
• 1923 Barclay Perkins XLK – corny, creamy mouth feel. Interesting, probably going to enter this as Cream Ale into comps. Not sure if yeast esters will get it nailed.
• Mild heading down to 30F after 1 week secondary, kegging in 3 days. So far a nice grainy & chocolate drinker.
• IHBP 2011 Sweet Stout – hit 1.033 in primary. 45% attenuation. Sucker reeeeeks of roast, coffee and chocolate. Tastes just as good. Silky smooth, interesting to see how just a bit of carbonation will affect this. Into secondary, kegging in 5-6 days.

I’m hoping to put each of these into Nationals, but we’ll see how they go.

Oh, working on a project… Installing Xcode now…

This is the International Homebrew Project brewday notes, the no pictures version. Rick of CandianBrewer fame came over for a big batch brewday. We did a bit more drinking and bullshitting than photo taking. Rick brought over a growler of his Lees Stout for some proper motivation. That is one tasty session stout…

All in all, a pretty decent brewday save for a couple stuck mashes. I’ve had this problem off and on over the last few batches and don’t quite have a handle on it. Thankfully I’ve learned that stirring and letting it settle for 5 min usually gets the grain bed reset. Recirculate a bit to ensure clarity and then off and running (ha!) again.

I was able to get all the proper ingredients at Northern Brewer. Simpson’s Medium Crystal, Crisp Amber and Brown malts. I had some Fawcett Roast Barley from a group buy earlier in the year. I didn’t get the Mild Malt, but did use Fawcett Optic to ensure we get that solid malty base.

The Invert No 3 was part of a big batch I made a while back. It took a half hour of soaking the container in hot tap water to get it loose enough to pour. Stuff is awesome – sticky-icky goodness of toffee and medium fruits.

The only missed number was the extra 10pts of gravity heading into the kettle. Somehow these 10 gallon batches actually boost my efficiency up from 75-80% to 95%. Cute! We decided to stay the course and avoid any course deviations to make sure the balance and mouthfeel weren’t compromised. The unfermentable lactose and Wyeast 1318 should keep the attenuation down – looking to finish around 1.025 or so for 5.16% ABV.

The mash-out was a bit different than the usual infusion… Promash was telling me it was going to need 10.9 gallons in my 10 gallon mash tun. So, decoction mash out it was. Not the first time for that – I tend to do this for the amber and dark lagers for extra flavor. So enough poetic waxing and onto the notes…

Recipe

2011-03-05  International Hombrew Project 2011
Brewing Date: Saturday March 05, 2011
Head Brewer:  Nicholas Henke
Asst Brewer:  Rick Preston
Recipe:       International Hombrew Project 2011

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):        11.50    Wort Size (Gal):  11.50
Total Grain (Lbs):       22.24
Anticipated OG:         1.0530    Plato:           13.091
Anticipated SRM:          41.7
Anticipated IBU:          40.0
Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 %
Wort Boil Time:            150    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 51.2    11.39 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              Great Britain  1.0380      3
 12.7     2.84 lbs. Milk Sugar                    Generic        1.0300      0
 10.8     2.41 lbs. Amber Malt                    Great Britain  1.0320     35
  8.6     1.91 lbs. Roasted Barley                Great Britain  1.0290    575
  5.9     1.32 lbs. Brown Malt                    Great Britain  1.0320     70
  5.9     1.32 lbs. Crystal 75L                   Great Britian  1.0340     75
  4.7     1.05 lbs. Invert No. 3                  Britain        1.0330     65

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
111.17 g.     Fuggle                            Pellet   3.67  27.5  150 min.
 48.04 g.     Goldings - E.K.                   Pellet   4.22  12.5  60 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 
  1.25 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1318 London Ale III

Mash Schedule
-------------
                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacchrification        5     90    151     151   Infuse   179       18.35   1.00
Mash Out              15     15    170     170   Decoc    192       11.25   1.00 (Decoc Thickness)

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2011-03-06
• Fawcett Optic as base malt
• Simpson’s Medium Crystal, Crisp Amber and Brown malts, Fawcett Roast Barley
• hops derated for 1yr old @ 5F in vacuum packaging
• Wyeast yeast nutrient

Details

• 1020 Mash in to 152F. HLT at usual Promash +5 of 184F. Needed 3pts of 60F tap to get down to 152F.
• 1022 hit pH 5.5 (sample chilled to room temp) after adding 1 tsp (~4.4 g) NaHCO3
• 1206 mash out decoc pulled – about 3.5 gal or 50%. Main at 149F.
• 1210 Mash out hit at 170F
• 1226 vorlauf started
• 1228 sparge adjusted to pH 5.3 (@ room temp)
  • we sparged around 11 gallons, kept eye on pH and spiked again in last half to keep pH under 6.0.
• 1238 Runnings started – 23.5B
• 1240 stuck hard. tried a few things to kick it loose. Resorted to a full out restir and 5 minute “time out”
• 1315 runnings again going well, ran fine until the end.
• 1344 sparge done, final runnings at 1.5B. Total in kettle was 14.03gal at 11B.
• 1402 Boiling on!
• 1635 Boil done, 15min whirlpool started
  • boil off was fine – slightly less than 1gal/hr due to partial lid on kettle.
• 1650 start chilling – hit 66F from 61F tap water.
• 1715 done – final gravity 1.066/16.3B

Fermentation Notes

• 2011-03-06 @1715: Pitched 200 mL of harvested thick slurry from Mild (post/link shortly).
  • pitched at 64F, hit with 120s O2
• 2011-03-06 @2232: fermenter bubbling away, yeast sludge forming at the top. 5hr lag, gotta love repitched yeast!
  • fermenting at 69F – 1318 seemed very sluggish below 67F in the Mild. Some small krausen, but nothing huge
• 2011-03-08 @ 1930 – slowing down, temp down to 68F
• 2011-03-10 @ 1730 – no more bubbles, still a thick goopy krausen
  • 11.4B – stirred up yeast
• 2011-03-11 @ 0800 – 11.3B, she’s done
• 2011-03-13 – into secondary for 3 days, 4 days dropped to 32F
• 2011-03-19 – kegged, 11.3B

Finished at 11.3B (1.0328) for 4.26% ABV and 48% ADF.

Tasting Notes

• 2011-04-11 Tasting Notes

I’m just sitting here drinking my morning coffee, minding my own business shuffling through the Let’s Brew looking for recipes. I’m in the market for some clean beers that really show off Invert No2 and No3 – for some experiments comparing various blackstrap molasses and the dilution method – when I come across this recipe. Quoting the last two comments:

Anonymous said… Ron, I burned my bjcp membership card after becoming hooked on this blog. 5 August 2009 22:36

and

Goethean said… Anonymous, I considered doing the same. I feel so stupid for believing all that bjcp crap for so long. Scott Zimmerle.

Seriously? Do folks still not understand the purpose of the BJCP? I didn’t think so. Bunch of goddamn mouthbreathing mental midgets… So listen up, you might learn something.

The first effing sentence on their site spells is out folks:

The purpose of the Beer Judge Certification Program is to promote beer literacy and the appreciation of real beer, and to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills.

Nothing in there about cataloging every known beer style since the Great Hop Kerfluffle of 1545 or anything so blatantly arrogant. We are talking about a beer JUDGING organization, specifically one for homebrewers. That last word is key in the whole damn thing. The entire structure is there to provide neophytes with a way to learn how to use ingredients, improve their processes and arrive at a target beer.

So why such narrow style definitions? Why such pedantic evaluation methods ? Because the entire body of peoples involved with this hobby are anything but standard.

Come on folks, we are talking a group of homebrewers. Roughly 85% of homebrewers are extract or kit based folks who, to varying degrees, are really just interested in a fun way to make decent beer. Think Racheal Ray & 30 minute meals. You spend a couple of hours one weekend day following instructions to the letter (at least to the best of your abilities), dump the sucker in a bucket, yeast in, lid on, airlock in, chuck it in the basement. 2 weeks later, you bottle; 2 more weeks you drink.

What does that mean for the end product? A beer that is made somewhat ignorant of the ingredients (and yes I know that you the magical homebrewer that you are, are different. no really) and that is being tasted by someone who is somewhat ignorant of how to taste or judge beers.

This is where the BJCP comes in. It gives the brewer a standardized target in the beer styles themselves and a standardized method of evaluating them. Does it encompass everything on the planet? No. Are the styles themselves or the commercial examples necessarily the best possible beers ? No. Are the styles necessarily an 100% accurate representation of the actual beers in those recipes ? No.

So what does it give us ? It allows for the training of brewers and beer judges. Period. The styles are defined narrowly so that brewers have to work hard and learn about brewing to hit them. It also gives the judges something to work with. Given a large body of judges, the average palette sophistication and exposure is quite low. The judges and brewers need the guidelines and commercial examples that best exemplify that style to provide common reference points. The entire process is about accuracy and taking most of the objective nature out of the process.

What does it mean to score well at a BJCP competition? It means you understand how to use ingredients and processes to hit a desired target. Or, in other words – how to make a beer on purpose. Once these skills are mastered, it is then that you can start pushing recipes. Think of it as a set of skills required to produce well-made beer. This is a largely objective and technical target. Given that ability, it is then up to the individual creativity of the brewer to push towards making excellent beer, something that is completely subjective.

This whole ‘burn my BJCP card’ crap because some professional replication recipes fall outside the styles that the BJCP uses to train brewers? Shut. up. You are missing the goddamn point.

via Hearing on bill to shift taproom hours set Thursday morning.

The interface is a bit rough, but it should be 100% functional. More to come soon…

This recipe was passed over to me to help show me exactly what crystal malt can do… that and brew a really cool Mild… big, even for the Brits. This one is still aging in the keg, but so far this is a really tasty mo’fo. I’ll be really curious to see how this ages – I just cracked one of the last 3 bottles of Squeaky’s v0.3 and after 6 months it has wonderful vinous fruits melding with dark malts. That one needs a follow-on brew too, but that is another show.

So, Ms. Hughes, shall we get on with it ?

Recipe

Sarah Huges Ruby Dark Mild

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):       11.58
Anticipated OG:         1.0592    Plato:            14.545
Anticipated SRM:          19.6
Anticipated IBU:          20.9
Brewhouse Efficiency:       83 %
Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 73.4     8.50 lbs. Pale malt - Maris Otter       Great Britain  1.0380      3
 26.6     3.08 lbs. Crystal 75L                   Great Britian  1.0340     75

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 56.00 g.     Fuggle                            Pellet   3.79  17.5  First WH
 18.00 g.     Fuggle                            Pellet   3.67   3.4  15 min.

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1332 Northwest Ale

Mash Schedule
-------------
                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Single Infusion        1     60    153     153   Infuse   179       12.16   1.05

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-11-13
• Crappy notes for this one, for shame.
  • For instance, recipe calls for Wyeast 1332, but I am pretty sure I used Neobrittania.
• Used Optic for Pale Malt
• Older hops – derated for 24mo @ 5F.
• Simpsons Dark Crystal
  • Now that I read NB page, they nailed the description. There is definitely a chocolate note to this beer that was unexpected.
  • Probably want to switch to Bairds or other English C75 next time.

Details

• 1503 Mash in to 153F, +2g gypsum to print up pH
• 1630 sparge start
• 1713 sparge done – 12.8B @7.1gal for 83.6% eff
• 1734 Boil start
• 1834 Boil done
• 1855 Chill start
• 1905 Chill done – hit 75F with warmer tap water
  • 1.060 @ 76F – 15.2B
• 1912 Cooling to 67F in fridge
• 2207 – pitched @ 68F, 120s O2

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 67F
• 2010-11-14 0822 – fermenting away
• 2010-11-20 1.022 / 10B
  • Into keg secondary @ room temp (66F)
• 2010-12-06 – moved to clean keg, into kegerator @ 38F
  • 9B, 1.020 @ 64F

Tasting Notes

• To Follow

I’ll be doing a brew here of that, perhaps a mini-big-brew with a few of the club guys. The brew date is currently set for March 5/6, and I’ll do the usual full write up on it.

shameless plug – if you are interested in more historical recipes, head on over to my list from Ron’s blog

So a couple of quickie page updates.

• The Let’s Brew listing is now full, thanks to a quickie Python script and feedparser.
• New page on making brewers invert sugars for British ales.

I’ve got a metric assbarn load of brewing notes and recipes to update. Soon, god I hope soon…

UPDATE Older brewing logs are starting to fill in below. They’ll show up with a published date of the day after the brewdate.

UPDATE 2 I just noticed the XML (RSS/Atom) feeds were only getting a summary. How rude… This is now fixed.

The feedback for the v0.1 version was that, for a BJCP Standard Bitter, the hops were too much. Well, duh. Sometimes I wonder if entering beers like this is worth it – they put judges into a spot where they don’t really know what to do with the beers. That said, I figured it’d be interesting to rebrew this one a bit smaller than last time. I wanted to drop the OG 5pts and 10 IBUs. This puts it around 1.038 and 40 IBU after the whirlpool. Kristen had also mentioned that switching yeasts to the Wyeast 1469 would be interesting – dry it out a bit and add some mineral character.

So – just to be clear, it is only the Competition reviews that had detractors – otherwise this is a fantastic beer!

This beer is rapidly becoming the house bitter – it is a good way to futz with hops and is a nice 3.5-4.0% beer to have on tap.

Recipe

Croch Vale Golden Ale
Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):        7.50
Anticipated OG:         1.0384    Plato:             9.601
Anticipated SRM:           2.2
Anticipated IBU:          35.1
Brewhouse Efficiency:       83 %
Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 100.0     7.50 lbs. Lager Malt(2-row)             Great Britian  1.0370      1

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 80.00 g.     Bullion                           Pellet   7.13  35.1  15 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0.50 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 
  1.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1469 PC West Yorkshire Ale 

Mash Schedule
-------------
                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacchrification        5     60    151     151   Infuse   172       10.10   1.35
Mash Out               5     10    169     169   Infuse   195        8.03   2.42

Notes
-----
Use Halcyon for Lager Malt, dropped down to 85g from 109g hops when switched to Tinseth, calc'd up from 30BU to 40BU.

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-11-13
• Used Halcyon for Lager Malt.
• Bullion derated for 9mo @ 5F.
• Added .3g/gal CaS04 (1.8g) and .5g/gal CaC03 (3.0g) for Ca levels and to push slightly to hops.
• Switched to Tinseth for BU calcs, original recipe was @ 50BU, dropped hops 24g to get to 40BU ish.

Details

• 1118 H20 heating
• 1137 Mash In
• 1147 @ 152F Mash
• 1150 151.F @ pH 5.55, added .5 mL Lactic 88%, pH 5.41 @ 151F
• 1249 Mash at 150.3F, mash out to 165F
  • sparge adjusted to pH 5.83
• 1310 started vorlauf
• 1319 Started run off, initial runnings 12.4B
• 1327 Sparge started
• 1356 Sparge done, runnings stopped at 1.4B.
  • 8B and 1.031 for 81.6% eff
• 1556 Chill started after 30min whirlpool
  • tap at 71F, wort at 79.7F
  • OG is 10B, 1.040
• 2207 pitched @ 66F, 90s O2

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 64F

Tasting Notes

• To Follow for real
• Intial notes – nice mineral character, dry, good balanced hop flavor.

jackwagon : noun : A useless piece of equipment, usually military, used to refer to a mule-drawn freight wagon which had been pieced together from dicarded or substandard parts, and subject to frequent breakdowns. Jackwagons typically were good for only one or two uses, then abandoned or discarded along roadsides and in ditches, and were often re-cannibalized to create new jackwagons.

This one is pretty simple. I wanted hops. I had some LME leftover from… well, lord knows what. And somehow I had a half pound of Victory Malt in my bins. I think Brewing Classic Styles had a plug for doing a slightly toastier Pale Ale or IPA using Victory. So… fuggit, let’s roll and get some hops in a keg. What? I can’t just chuck stuff together and call it beer ?

Recipe

Jackwagon Pale Ale v0.1

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):        8.50
Anticipated OG:         1.0499    Plato:            12.371
Anticipated SRM:           7.3
Anticipated IBU:          28.7
Brewhouse Efficiency:       83 %
Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 74.1     6.30 lbs. Northern Brewer Gold LME                     1.0360      4
 11.8     1.00 lbs. Muntons DME - Extra Light     England        1.0460      3
  5.9     0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L                   America        1.0340     40
  5.9     0.50 lbs. Victory Malt                  America        1.0340     25
  2.4     0.20 lbs. Coopers DME - Light           Australia      1.0460      3

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
113.00 g.     Cascade                           Whole    3.80  21.7  15 min.
 28.00 g.     Willamette                        Pellet   4.56   7.1  15 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 
  0.63 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
Fermentis us-05 Safale

Mash Schedule
-------------
HA! Extract brewing!

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-10-17
• Cascades where Minnesota homegrown from Andy Lehtola – degraded 24mo @ 5F
• Willamette from Hop Union – 12mo @ 5F
• Did 60min whirlpool after 15min hop addition ala Crouch Vale

Details

• 1427 heat on low, bringing 7.1 gal to temp from 80F tap
  • C40 and Victory in steeping bag
• 1530 grains out @ 170F, rinsed with 6qt of wort
  • flame out, added malt extracts
• 1540 Heating to boil
• 1555 Boil started
• 1655 Boil done, started 60min whirlpool
• 1755 chill started… slow due to high tap temps
  • hit 13B, 1052 OG
• 2035 Pitched yeast after 100s O2, wort @ 69F
  • rehydrated 11g dry in h20 and goferm

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 66-67F
• 2010-10-20 started to slow
• 2010-11-08 1708 – 1.014 @ 48.8F, 6.8B – kegged

Tasting Notes

• To Follow

I also simplified the grainbill to a single Pilsner malt and changed up the hops to stuff I had on hand – not a big deal, as the hop presence in this beer isn’t huge. The other big change was to change the mash schedule from a …now that I see it fairly odd “infuse to 131, decoc to 150, infuse to 156, decoc to 169″ to a more standard double deocotion Hockhurz of “infuse to 145, decoc to 160, decoc to 170″. I’m using Braukaiser’s decoction info as a base and started with a hold at 145F for 30min before pulling for the high rest at 160F for 60min.

Funny story. Guy brews pretty darn good Helles, but then — and this is the kicker — lets it go off in the keg so that it tastes like ass wrapped in fried ass. Yup, screwed this one up post-secondary. Kinda like getting a girls clothes off, into bed, getting her serviced…and then pissing her off.

Recipe

Munich Helles v0.2
Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.50    Wort Size (Gal):    6.50
Total Grain (Lbs):       10.29
Anticipated OG:         1.0504    Plato:            12.489
Anticipated SRM:           2.9
Anticipated IBU:          16.6
Brewhouse Efficiency:       85 %
Wort Boil Time:             90    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 89.5     9.21 lbs. Pilsener                      Germany        1.0380      2
 10.5     1.08 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt                      1.0330      2

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 15.17 g.     Hallertau Hersbrucker             Pellet   2.71   1.5  10 min.
 21.67 g.     Tradition                         Pellet   6.76  15.0  60 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.08 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 
  0.54 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 2124 Bohemian Lager

Mash Schedule
-------------
                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Low Mash               5     60    145     145   Infuse   162       18.02   1.75
High Mash             35     60    160     160   Decoc    212        4.83   1.50 (Decoc Thickness)
Mash Out              20     35    170     170   Decoc    212        4.15   1.50 (Decoc Thickness)

Step Time for Decoction Steps represent how far back in time the Decoction was pulled.
Infusion amounts for Decoction Steps represent the amount pulled for the Decoction.
Infusion ratios for Decoction Steps represent the Decoction Thickness.

Notes
-----
Went to decoc and Hochkurz 145/160 at 30/60min. Moved to 2124, used up hops on hand

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-10-02
• Used Global Malt Gernam Pilsner as base malt, did use up 474g of Durst Pilsen in there too.
• Dextrin malt was 190g Briess Carapils, the rest Wyermann Carafoam
• Godddamn this smelled nice in the decoc’ kettle – nice and super malty like you’d want.
• Hops degraded for 12mo @ 5F
• 1.2g CaCl2 and 1.2g CaC03 added to boil to help yeast – bump Ca to 50ppm.

Details:

• 0927 H20 running through filter
• 1038 Mash In. H20 in MT is 163.2F, hit 153F. +1qt room temp to 147.4F, +1pt room temp to 146F.
• 1044 Mash covered
• 1049 Mash at 146F and pH 5.54
• 1114 Pull decoction, mash at 146F
• 1116 Heating decoc to 160F
• 1123 Rest decoc at 160F
• 1139 Heating decoc to boil, decoc dropped to 153F
• 1150 Decoc at 205F
• 1152 decoc is boiling
• 1208 decoc boil done, add back to main. Main at 143.5F, Hit 152.2F
• 1209 decoc another 4qt at 152F
• 1218 decoc boiled, added back to main hit 160.4F
• 1248 pull decoc for mash out – 7qt
• 1257 mash out decoc boiling, gently
• 1312 add decoc back to main, mash out
• 1314 main at 167F
• 1320 start 10min vorlauf
• 1339 sparge started, first runnings @ 17.3B
  • added 1.5 mL Lactic 88% to sparge to drop pH < 6
• 1429 sparge done, heat on boil kettle
  • collected 8.4gallons at 9.3B for 93% eff – added .6 gal h20 to bring down gravity
• 1445 Boil starts
• 1640 Boil done – extra 30 min to boil off h20

• 1755 chill starts after 15min whirlpool

  • pH of wort 5.5 at 75F

• chilled to 48F in fridge – tap water not cold enough

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 49F
• 2010-10-03 0622 – pitched yeast at 49F wort temp, 120s O2
• 2010-10-20 started 1F per day ramp for diaceytl rest
• 2010-11-08 1437 @ 1.013, 49.3F 6.5B

Tasting Notes

• Aaaaassssss. Notes of yeast autolysis with a touch of diacetyl for aroma. Aaaaaaassss. Nasty brown sludge in keg when I dumped it.
• This was really nice going into the keg, so either I didn’t secondary for long enough or I had some sort of keg sanitation issue.
• I wouldn’t change anything in the recipe or initial process – just need to redo cleaner.

So, the wife wanted a porter… so we go back to the old but mostly good 7 Barrel Brewery Brewer’s Handbook by the late but great Greg Noonan. This is the first brewing book I ever owned, given to me by Kit Seaton way back in 1997. It has been the source of most of my brewing recipes until just the last year or 2 when I really started to get into all-grain brewing.

So a porter we brewed! To spoil the ending – it was a solid ‘meh’. It was a bit too heavy on the black malt and a little lacking in body. As England put it: “a bit lame”. That said – quite drinkable and unoffensive. The keg made a short stint in the Beer Wench and then was donated off in trade for a future brew here at the house. Details on that one later… Anyways, to the beery details:

Recipe

7 Barrel Brewery - Poor Richard's Brown Porter 

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):   6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):        9.29
Anticipated OG:         1.0451    Plato:           11.217
Anticipated SRM:          26.8
Anticipated IBU:          24.4
Brewhouse Efficiency:       80 %
Wort Boil Time:             90    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 76.4     7.10 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              Great Britain  1.0380      3
  6.5     0.60 lbs. Chocolate Malt                America        1.0290    350
  8.6     0.80 lbs. Crystal 80L                                  1.0330     80
  6.5     0.60 lbs. Flaked Barley                 America        1.0320      2
  2.0     0.19 lbs. Roasted Barley                Great Britain  1.0290    575

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 18.91 g.     Willamette                        Pellet   4.38  10.7  90 min.
 26.22 g.     Willamette                        Pellet   4.38  12.8  45 min.
  8.51 g.     Willamette                        Pellet   4.38   0.9  5 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablets               Fining    15 Min.

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1028 London Ale

Mash Schedule
-------------
                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacchrification        5     90    150     150   Infuse   170       13.00   1.40
Mash Out               5     10    168     168   Infuse   212        6.08   2.05

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.
All infusion amounts are in Quarts.
All infusion ratios are Quarts/Lbs.

Notes
-----
50-60F in secondary for 14-21 days.
Bottle condition for 30 days under 65F
Add 0.5 tsp gypsum

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-10-01
• Thomas Fawcett Optic for Pale Malt
• English Chocolate, 375-450L
• Simpson’s Dark Crystal, 75-85L.
• 15 min whirlpool after flame-out.
• Willamette’s from HopsDirect, 4.8%AA, derated for 12mo @ 5F in Barrier Packed and vacum.
• Salts added: 1.8g CaCO3 in mash, 1.8g CaCO3 and 1.2g CaSO4 in boil kettle

Details:

• 1309 HLT on, heading to 176F
  • started with 23.1cm at 67F
• 1413 Mash in to 151F
  • +1 qt @ 66F to 13qt total and 1.4 qt/lb
• 1417 150.3F, pH 5.09
  • added 1.8g CaCO3, no pH bump.
• Mash at 148F, decoc 1.5qt, boil 2min, mash brought to 150.8F
• 1505 Mash at 150.5F
• 1528 Mash at 150.2F
• 1538 Mash Out @ 159F
• 1545 Vorlauf started
• 1555 Runnings are clear, started run off to kettle
• 1606 Sparge started – 182F sparge water
  • initial runnings 15.6B
• 1609 heat on low for boil kettle
• 1630 stopped runnings early – 5.35gal @ 12.8B – well north of 80% eff.
  • added H20 to get to 9.4B @ 7.7 gal – 84% eff
• 1706 Boil started
• 1832 Boil done, started whirlpool
• 1852 Chill Start
• 1912 Chill done
  • pH 5.22 @ 74F; 12.1B @5.95 gal in kettle – 88% brewhouse eff.

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 68F
• 2010-10-01 2156: pitched at 70F after 90s O2.

Tasting Notes

• Meh. Not a great recipe.

I’ve been following Ron and Kris on Ron’s blog with their Let’s Brew Wednesday series. It is a interesting site to learn about beer grists and brewing techniques, from beers that were actually made and sold to people, most often 50 or more years ago. Not that that makes them any better, but at least they can’t be too horrible. I had been eyeing the 1962 Fullers Gyles – doing a big set of gyles one day would be fun. Sadly, I’m a single boil kettle guy for now and need to hold off until I can boil both worts at once. No sense screwing it up on purpose…

I figured the export London Pride was a good place to start – I can compare flavors/mouthfeel with the commercial example and the extra gravity can hide some mistakes in hopping. The Fullers website lists different hops than Kris has in the 1962 recipe, but I dug around a bit to get info on their modern hopping. There were a couple of forum posts that seemed to have a reasonable hop schedules, so we’ll give it a whirl. Why switch it up? I had some older Target and Challenger hops that need usin’. Yeah, even I get cheap sometimes.

Brew Day Fun: So I had Rick and his Dad over to do some brewing and beer tasting… all was going well, besides me getting fancy with mash water calcs and blowing the temps, until the wife got a nasty migraine and needed to get to Urgent Care. So, out the guests go and to the Dr. we went. All was well shortly and she has some new drugs. I got lucky brewing-wise and was able to finish the sparge and push the boil kettle to 180F before tossing a lid on it and turning off the flame before the road trip. 2hrs later we were home and I finished the boil – amazingly enough the wort had only dropped down to 160F.

Recipe

1962 London Pride (ELP) with modern hopping

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):        9.55
Anticipated OG:         1.0479    Plato:            11.878
Anticipated SRM:          12.8
Anticipated IBU:          23.7
Brewhouse Efficiency:       79 %
Wort Boil Time:             90    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 35.9     3.43 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              Great Britain  1.0380      3
 33.9     3.24 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              Great Britain  1.0380      3
 15.0     1.44 lbs. Crystal 75L                   Great Britian  1.0340     75
  4.3     0.41 lbs. Flaked Corn (Maize)           America        1.0400      1
  4.3     0.41 lbs. Pale Malt(6-row)              America        1.0350      2
  1.6     0.16 lbs. Corn Sugar                    Generic        1.0462      0
  2.4     0.23 lbs. Invert No. 1                  Britain        1.0360      5
  2.4     0.23 lbs. Invert No. 2                  Britain        1.0360     33

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 20.40 g.     Target                            Pellet   6.08  19.8  90 min.
 14.00 g.     Challenger                        Pellet   5.62   1.9  1 min.
  9.00 g.     Northdown                         Pellet   9.35   2.0  1 min.
  8.00 g.     Goldings - E.K.                   Pellet   4.75   0.0  Dry Hop

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 
  0.65 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter

Mash Schedule
-------------

                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First Rest             5     85    150     150   Infuse   169        8.33   0.94
Mash Out               5     30    170     170   Infuse   205        5.77   1.60

Notes
-----
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2009/07/lets-brew-wednesday-fullers-1962-elp-lp.html
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=76049
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/can-you-brew-recipe-fullers-london-pride-179859/

Challenger/Northdown are 30min hops, but I'm adding at 1 min and doing a 60min whirlpool. 
I calc'd them at 30min for utilization, then adjusted 90min down to get 36IBU.

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-08-29
• Used Fawcett Optic for Pale #1, Crisp Maris Otter for Pale #2
• I don’t have Invert No.1, so just doubled amount of Invert No. 2.
  • home made Invert No. 2.
• Crystal 75L 60/40 mix of English 70-80L and Simpsons 78-85L.
• Derated hops from 2yrs @ 5F in barrier/purged packaging.
• Blew the mash temps – I had futzed with the calcs after the last batch.
  • go back to promash +5F for initial infusion, promash +8F for 2nd
• 60min hop stand after adding 1min hops.
• 4.15g gypsum to boil kettle to stiffy up the water a bit.

Details:

• 1000 HLT on.
• 1050 Mash in
• 1101 missed low to 144F (was heading to 153F)
  • changed mash schedule to 30min @ 144F, 45min @ 156F.
  • pH 5.01 @ 144F
• 1125 1gal @ 207F -> 153F
  • leaving low to keep mash at decent thickness.
• 1140 Sparge water to pH 5.48 @ 177F
• 1227 Run off started
  • needed to underlet again to get flowing – might need to make standard practice?
  • initial runnings 16.6B
• 1242 Started sparge
• 1359 Boil flame on
  • collected 7.0 gal at around 11B, diluted to 7.65 gal @ 9.6B or 1.038.
  • was actually over 79% eff, more like 83%. bump if next batch also high, as I think sparge is much better with AutoSparge
• 1410 @ 180F, flame off, wife to doctor
• 1619 @ 162F, flame on again
• 1659 Boiling
• 1840 Boil done, start 60min whirlpool
  • finished at 12.3B, 1.0487
• 1932 chill started
  • tap @ 80.9F, chilling to 84F
• 1945 chill done, 1.62 qts/min
  • soooo much better
• 2021 cleanup done
• 2202 100s O2 at low flow, pitched 350mL yeast from Moose Drool v0.1
  • wort @ 68F when pitched, freezer cooling to 64F

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 64F
• 2010-08-30 @ 1733: 1.5″ krausen 1s airlock
• 2010-09-01 @ 2237: starting to drop krausen, no floc yet, still lots of yeast churning about
• 2010-09-02 @ 0816: 0.5″ krausen, airlock slowing but steady
• 2010-09-03 @ 1211: top starting to clear, airlock slower, starting to floc
• 2010-09-03 @ 1600: rouse yeast and bump to 66F
• 2010-09-05 @ 0905: 7s bubble, bump to 68F
• 2010-09-10 @ 0900: still slow bubbling, rouse yeast
• 2010-09-13 @ 1600: 1.015
• 2010-09-16: Added 9g EKG pellets as dry hop – no bag
• 2010-09-15: Dropped to 46F
• 2010-09-27: 1.014 for 70% ADF and 4.55% ABV
  • Kegged at 12PSI @ 42F for ~2.25 Vol

Tasting Notes

• To Follow

There isn’t a huge story here – I’m from Montana, Moose Drool is tasty, I’ve never brewed an American Brown before, I had grain to use up. Brewday, commence.

New for this brewday: I added a Blichmann AutoSparge to my mash tun to help regulate sparge flow. With 2 pumps it is a bit tough to get the flow rates to match, so I tossed some money at the problem. I have to say I’m impressed – it worked like a champ. It is a bit of a PITA to work around when doughing-in, so I just removed the float arm and hose. It kept the water level 2″ above the grains with no fuss. I’m a fan!

I tweaked my chilling setup a bit too – my chills were getting ridiculously long and wort flow rates were really low – under 1qt per minute. I went to a shorter garden hose on the output side and hacked up the QDs to remove the internal backflow/shutoff valves. This opened up the flow a bit, I was able to chill around 2qts a minute.

Recipe

Moose Drool Clone

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):       11.68
Anticipated OG:         1.0519    Plato:            12.845
Anticipated SRM:          19.2
Anticipated IBU:          26.0
Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 %
Wort Boil Time:             70    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 86.5    10.10 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              America        1.0360      2
 10.3     1.20 lbs. Crystal 75L                   Great Britian  1.0340     75
  3.0     0.35 lbs. Chocolate Malt                America        1.0290    350
  0.3     0.03 lbs. Black Malt                    Belgium        1.0300    600

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 47.00 g.     Goldings - E.K.                   Pellet   3.45  23.2  60 min.
 14.00 g.     Liberty                           Pellet   2.79   1.1  10 min.
 16.00 g.     Willamette                        Pellet   4.38   1.7  5 min.
 14.00 g.     Liberty                           Pellet   2.79   0.0  0 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 
  0.60 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter

Mash Schedule
-------------

                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacchrification        5     60    152     152   Infuse   170       12.47   1.07
Mash Out               5     10    168     168   Infuse   193        9.48   1.88

Notes
-----
Ferment 66F-67F, bump to 70F for 2 days.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/can-you-brew-recipe-big-sky-moose-drool-175358/
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=13046

From the Big Sky Brewing website: 
It's chocolate brown in color with a creamy texture. A malty beer with just enough hop presence to 
keep it from being too sweet. The aroma mostly comes from the malt with a hint of spice added 
by the hops. Moose Drool is brewed with pale, caramel, chocolate, and whole black malts; and 
Kent Goldings, Liberty, and Willamette Hops. It has an original gravity of 13 degrees Plato, and is 
4.2% alcohol by weight, 5.3% by volume. 

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-08-22
• Used older 10lb bag of Muntons Pale Ale malt for the Pale Malt
• Chocolate was 50g older Briess Organic and the rest new English Chocolate
• Derated hops for 5F and 10mo.
• Added 5.38g CaCO3 to boil kettle to bump the water near a London profile.
• Stuck the sparge twice! This is probably a result of so much water on top of the grains as I used the wrong kettle math for the measurement-to-volume calculations. At least I have a pump and I can re-vorlauf easily.
  • I’ll need to fix the spreadsheet to avoid this confusion again – probably with a bit more structured table for the usual calculations
• adjusted mash tun thermal mass down to 0.100 to deal with preheating better.

Detailed Notes:

• 1353 HLT on, heading to 179F
• 1419 preheat MT with 4gal of 120F tap water
• 1425 Mash in with 11.6qt at 179F. Pushed temps to 160F, added 2.25qt @ 71F, mash temp to 152.3F
• 1430 Mash at 152F, pH 5.23@ 115F
• 1445 Sparge water in, +2 mL Lactic 88% to pH 5.29 @ 165F.
• 1515 Mash @ 151.5F
• 1525 Mash out, hit 164F from 193F water
• 1542 vorlauf started – needed to drain some wort off to get below AutoSparge
• 1556 stuck…
  • underlet from HLT, redo vorlauf
• 1602 started run off
  • 1st runnings at 12.2B
• 1636 sparge started
  • heat on kettle
• 1650 sparge done, looooots of extra wort left in mash tun.
• 1702 flame up to start boil
  • added 1qt 70F water to deal with higher efficiency
  • after H20, 7.3gal at 11.4B for 1.045 and 79% efficiency
  • I need to account for the Mash Out in efficiency – it always bumps me up by 5%
• 1727 Boil On!
• 1837 started 15min whirlpool
• 1852 started chill
  • H20 at 80.5F, wort chilling to 83.5F
• 1906 chill done
  • collected 5.5gal at 1.531 OG.
  • smells nice and malty, some of the late hops coming through

Fermentation Notes

• No starter – used 3x smack packs. One from 2010-07-19 and 2 from 2010-07-06.
• Fermented at 66F (1F range, cools down when hits 67F)
• 2010-08-22 @ 2200: Wort at 68F, pitched after 90s O2
  • yeast was in fridge, it looked like it floc’d a bit while the wort was chilling.
• 2010-08-23 @ 0630: slow but steady airlock activity, just spotty bubble groups on top
• 2010-08-23 @ 0739: steady airlock, thin but complete krausen formed
• 2010-08-23 @ 2243: 1.5″ krausen
• 2010-08-24 @ 2000: starting to floc on top
• 2010-08-25 @ 0832: slower airlock, krausen falling, kick temp to 69F
• 2010-08-25 @ 2134: 5s bubbles, starting to clear on top, kick temp to 70F
• 2010-08-26 @ 1654: 5s airlock, clearing more
• 2010-08-28 @ 0127: 20s bubbles, quite clear (small chunks on top)
• 2010-08-29 @ 1719: racked to keg to harvest yeast, let some go with and pitched 100ml of washed
  • at 1.020 @ 73F – only 59% ADF, needs to keep going. Left in keg at room temp – 68-70F. bleeding CO2 off periodically.
• 2010-09-03 @ 1611: at 1.019 for 63 %ADF, 4.51% ABV.
  • finished a bit high. Fermentation seemed fine, I’m wondering if mash was a bit hinky. Doesn’t taste sweet or too big.
  • into kegerator @ 42F and 12 PSI for 2.4 vol CO2.

Tasting Notes

• To Follow

So bottling beer from a carbonated keg… usually not something one looks forward to. I’ve tried all the different methods – racking cane + cobra tap, hose on the tap itself, etc. All of them can be made to work but only after painstaking tweaking and the not infrequent shower of beer when you misjudge things. If you are really lucky, you can get 12 bottles filled and capped in 30min. You’ll then need to wipe down all the bottles to clean up the foam overflow. Good times!

Faced with bottling a whole keg (or what is left of it after a few pulls on the tap handle…) for my sisters, I wasn’t looking forward to a repeat performance. So, I tossed a bit more money at Northern Brewer yesterday for a Blichmann Beer Gun.

Dude. Let us just say that I was able to bottle a case of 12oz bottles with no spilling and no foam overs in under an hour. I froze the bottles per Ilya’s suggestion, to great effect. I had no foam in the bottles and now am able to purge the bottles with CO2. No leaks, easy to control, just made of awesome. Heck this was a wheat beer carbed to 14 PSI @ 42F – sometimes pouring a pint is a bit foamy.

I also picked up a Vinator to help sanitize bottles. I had been using a spray bottle filled with StarSan, but it took 6-8 sprays per bottle and it required both hands. With the Vinator, I’m able to sanitize the next bottle with a single pump while filling the current one. Ooooh, multitasking.

So.. right. I heart the Beer Gun. I’ll be filling a lot more bottles out of the kegerator after this. It’ll also making filling the odd growler much nicer too.

Oh, and muchas-gracias to the Missus. She helped cap all the bottles, making for an even shorter night.

Preserving these notes…I’m bottling all of this for my sisters in a couple of days. Those lucky girls are getting beer for their birthday presents!

• Appearance – Very orange-y, cloudy as all heck. Pours a thick dense 2 finger head that settles to solid thin coating. Great lacing.
• Smell – Light tropical fruits, slight yeastiness and hint of malt. Kinda like dry cheerios or corn pops on the end. After it warmed up a bit, nose opened up a bit, hint of earthy or low spice.
• Taste – Very light fruits, slight drying grain or classic beery pils flavor. A faint hop flavor and bitterness in the middle and extending to a lingering finish. Burps are slightly fruity, kinda nice.
• Mouthfeel – Creamy with dry and slight bitter finish. The carbonation and wheat playing together nicely.
• Drinkability & Notes – Crisp and refreshing, but not a lot of ‘wheat’ flavor. I’d like a bit more flavor out of it, but as a lawnmower beer this one is a keeper. The all-grain version has some work to do – no sense brewing this the long way if it doesn’t make it better. The aroma hops could use some love on this one – not getting a lot of those, could back off on the bittering hops 3-5 BU too.

I probably wont get time to side-by-side this one. I’ll have to save that for the all-grain version.

I have to admit, I know next to nothing about Crouch Vale, their Brewers Gold or Golden Ale in general. I’ve come to this beer via Canadian Brewer as a good session beer for the summer.

This beer captured my interest for a few reasons. It is a bloody simple recipe for a nice hoppy session beer, and I’m a bit short on hop forward beers at the moment. There is a ‘Version 2′ that can be made with some Invert No. 2 or Crystal 75L that’d make it more like a Bitter. I’ve just made my first batch of No. 2 for some Milds I’ll be making in a few weeks, and it was enough fun that I’d like to start using it. The flavors are pretty interesting and from the historical English beers that Ron and Kris have been putting up, it is key part of those beers. It seems like one of those small things that makes a huge difference in those beers, but for some reason a lot of brewers don’t do it. Ok, some reason my ass…. homebrewers are lazy and love shortcuts.

Another big part of the draw is that Rick is brewing the same beer. Rick is a pretty darned good brewer and this will be a good chance for me to benchmark my nascent brewing skills.

More info on this beer from Mashweasel on the Northern Brewer forums.

Now for all the brewy goodness…

Recipe

Crouch Vale Golden Ale

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):        8.30
Anticipated OG:         1.0384    Plato:             9.601
Anticipated SRM:           2.3
Anticipated IBU:          30.0
Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 %
Wort Boil Time:             90    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 100.0     8.30 lbs. Lager Malt(2-row)             Great Britian  1.0370      1

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
109.00 g.     Bullion                           Pellet   7.13  30.0  15 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0.50 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 
  1.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1028 London Ale

Mash Schedule
-------------
                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacchrification        5     60    151     151   Infuse   168       12.45   1.50

Notes
-----
Use Halcyon for Lager Malt

WLP022 if available, otherwise WLP013/WY 1028

Brew Day Notes

• 2010-07-13: 1L starter. Used 0.5tsp Wyeast nutrient per 1L of starter and 100g of DME.
  • 30s O2; no stir plate, some intermittent shaking, room temp of 72F
• 2010-07-17: Brew Day
• Used Halcyon for Lager Malt
• Bullion hops from Hops Direct
  • 7.9%, used 9mo @ 5F to get 7.13%
• Added 1.5g CaSO4 and 2.4g CaCO3 to boil kettle to give the water a bit of a stiffy

Detailed Notes:

• 1401 Mash in, used Promash +5F for 174F strike water
  • hit 153.5F and then added 2.5qt H20 @ 78F to drop a bit, but hit too low at 150F
• 1420 Mash @ 149.5F and pH 5.45
• 1504 Mash @ 149F
• 1520 10min vorlauf started with pumps – wort ran quite clear very quickly
  • sparge water of 7gal + 2mL 88% Lactic to pH 5.3
• 1535 Sparge starged
• 1620 Fire!
  • pre-boil of 8.6B (1.0336) @ 7.0gal = 77% eff. Added 2qt H20 to bump up for 90 min boil …missed that in sparge planning
• 1649 Boiling, boiling, boiling!
• 1828 Fire done, started 15min whirlpool
  • post-boil 10.9B (1.0429) @ 5.96gal
  • Need to get a handle on boil-off – this shot me 3 points higher
• 1845 Chilling started
• 1940 cleaned up, eating ice cream and smoking a cigar.

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 63-64F
• 2010-07-18 @ 07.16: pitched starter @ 66F wort temp. 75s O2
• 2010-07-18 @ 21.00: Krausen starting
• 2010-07-19 @ 07.15: Krausen and chugging the airlock
• 2010-07-19 @ 17.29: airlock clogged, replaced with blow off tube
• 2010-07-20 @ 20.21: starting to slow down, huge chunks of yeast on top
• 2010-07-23 @ 00.02: nearly done
• 2010-07-28 @ 22.06: done! kegged after purging 3x with CO2
  • 1.0114 for 72.7%ADF and 4.14% ABV
  • gravity test was tasty!

Tasting Notes

• To Follow

Ahh, Sturgis 2009. What a bastion of fond memories! Long story short, the Nemo Guest Ranch is right across the road from my buddy Bruce’s place. We’d ride all day, then head back at night to park the bikes and drink at the bar. Such a blissful week.

“Squeaky” is the nickname I gave to the guy that the bar had allowed to sing songs and play guitar to pay for his camp site. Dude sucked and had a high voice. The only tolerable way to survive the night was to chug New Belgium 1554, one of the 4 tap beers. This was my first drinking of 1554 and we were quite impressed that a rustic bar way up in the Black Hills would have beer that tasty.

So… this is my 3rd attempt at cloning this beer. There is a bit of good information on the internets that claim to have inside knowledge on cloning this beer.

From the web links, it seems the original version wasn’t very roasty but that this changed in 2009. Given that roastier version is what we drank, that is what I’m shooting for.

I started off with debittered black and a bit less chocolate malt in v1 to pretty good results – I was just missing a bit of body and some of the darker flavors. I bumped up the chocolate malt in v2 and the mash temps to 154F. The body was good, but it was more a chocolate flavor than I needed. v3 has us back to the original grist, but moving to regular black patent to get the roastiness that 1554 has.

Recipe

Squeaky's Revenge

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------
16-E  Belgian & French Ale, Belgian Specialty Ale

Min OG:  1.040   Max OG:  1.070
Min IBU:    20   Max IBU:    40
Min Clr:     3   Max Clr:     8  Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):       12.69
Anticipated OG:         1.0583    Plato:            14.339
Anticipated SRM:          24.7
Anticipated IBU:          26.6
Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 %
Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 59.1     7.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              Great Britain  1.0380      3
 26.8     3.40 lbs. Munich Malt                   Germany        1.0370      8
  8.4     1.07 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt                      1.0330      2
  3.2     0.40 lbs. Chocolate Malt                America        1.0290    350
  2.5     0.32 lbs. Black Patent Malt             Great Britain  1.0270    525

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 16.00 g.     Magnum                            Pellet  11.98  26.6  60 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 Unit(s)Whirfloc Tablet                Fining    15 Min.(boil) 
  1.00 Tsp    Grains of Paradise             Spice      5 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 2124 Bohemian Lager

Mash Schedule
-------------
Mash Name: 154F 

                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacchrification        5     60    154     154   Infuse   174       15.86   1.25

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-07-17
• Used Meussdoerffer Munich and Dingemans Pale Malt.
• I took ridiculously detailed notes on this one in hopes of finding missing time and ensuring I capture necessary data.
• 2010-07-13: Made 2.2L starter from 2 pks of yeast. ‘mrmalty’ calc said 42% viability, so I need to use more base yeast. Used 0.5tsp Wyeast nutrient per 1L of starter and 100g of DME.
  • 30s O2; starter on stir plate @ room temp of 72F
• Hops corrected from 12.5% to 11.98% for 9mo @ 5F of German Magnum. Hops are first use of Hops Direct order with Rick
• totally forgot to add the spices… oops

Detailed Notes:

• 0834 started
• 0848 5gal into HLT, started heating to 174F. pump is on and recirculating; pre-heat mash-tun with 4gal 119F tap water.
• 0908 HLT to 174F. Mashed in with 4.3gal, temp of H20 in tun is 169.9F, was a bit high temp, so added 2qt @78F, after 5min dropped to 151.F.
  • need to wait longer before doing temp adjustments!
  • ended with 1.55 qt/lb mash
• 0932 Mash pH 5.25, start prepping sparge. 6.7 gal + 2mL 88% Lactic to pH 5.27 @ 124F
• 0947 Mash @ 151.5F
• 1032 Mash @ 150.7F, start 10min mash vorlauf with pump
  • good dark color, 19.4B (1.0787)
• 1044 start run-off to kettle – dropping volume to 1″ above grain
• 1049 started sparge
• 1121 kettle flame on
• 1131 sparge done – used 4.2gal
  • pre-boil is 7.1gal @ 12.3B (1.0487). 73.6% efficiency
• 1154 Boil on! Hops in!
• 1233 Dissolved whirfloc and 0.5tsp Wyeast Nutrient in bit of wort
• 1239 whirfloc & nutrient added
• 1255 flame off, 15 min whirlpool started
• 1310 chill started, runnings are 79F
  • post-boil is 15B (1.0599)

Fermentation Notes

• Fermented at 63-64F
• 6gal into fermenter
• 2010-07-17 @19.14: pitched started after decanting as much as possible. 75s O2, wort temp 67F.
• 2010-07-18 @ 07.17: fluffly/foamy krausen and started airlock activity
• 2010-07-18 @ 11.30: junk in airlock, added blow-off tube
• 2010-07-18: chugging like mad
• 2010-07-20 @ 20.21: starting to slow
• 2010-07-23 @ 00.02: almost no blow off activity
• 2010-07-28 @ 22.06: 1.0154 – bumped to 68F to help push past 73.4% ADF
  • gravity test was good – big mouthfeel, lots of chocolate and hint of black/roast.
• 2010-08-04: Kicked down to 42F in primary to start cleaning up.
• 2010-08-14 @ 15.41: 1.0134 for 77% ADF and 6.16% ABV. Definitely fermented out a bit more, looking forward to seeing how this does carbonated. Bigger than last time…
  • Kegged. 11PSI for 2.3 Volumes CO2 @ 42F

Tasting Notes

• To Follow

Blah, blather, blather, blah. All-grain attempt at a clone. Brewed together with my extract clone. See that post for enlightening details

Recipe

Widmer Hefe Clone v0.1

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------
06-D  Light Hybrid Beer, American Wheat or Rye Beer

Min OG:  1.040   Max OG:  1.055
Min IBU:    15   Max IBU:    30
Min Clr:     3   Max Clr:     6  Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (Lbs):       11.31
Anticipated OG:         1.0484    Plato:            12.012
Anticipated SRM:           5.1
Anticipated IBU:          31.4
Brewhouse Efficiency:       70 %
Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 50.8     5.75 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              America        1.0360      2
 40.7     4.60 lbs. Wheat Malt                    America        1.0380      2
  5.6     0.64 lbs. Munich Malt(2-row)            America        1.0350      6
  2.8     0.32 lbs. Crystal 40L                   America        1.0340     40

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  6.55 g.     Warrior                           Pellet  15.00  14.2  60 min.
  6.55 g.     Magnum                            Pellet  14.00  13.3  60 min.
 15.27 g.     Cascade                           Pellet   5.75   2.1  1 min.
 15.27 g.     Willamette                        Pellet   5.00   1.8  1 min.

Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0.55 Tsp    Yeast Nutrient                 Other     15 Min.(boil) 

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1007 German Ale

Mash Schedule
-------------
Total Grain Lbs:   11.31
Total Water Qts:   11.06 - Before Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal:    2.77 - Before Additional Infusions

                     Step   Rest   Start   Stop  Heat     Infuse   Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time   Time   Temp    Temp  Type     Temp     Amount  Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacchrification        5     60    152     152   Infuse   172       14.14   1.25

Brew Day Notes

• Brewed 2010-07-06
• Extract brew in the morning, all-grain in the afternoon.
• Used Meusdoerffer Munich
• I couldn’t find Millennium or German Magnum hops, so I went with Nugget.
• Whole Cascade hops are from 2007 – still nice and green in the FoodSaver vaccuum bags.
• mashed into 156F water, added 1qt @ 78F, mash stabilized at 154F pH 5.36, ended at 153.3F
  • ended up with 1.5 qt/lbs for mash water – temp issues.
• sparged with pH 5.86 (3mL Lactic into 7gal) at 172F
• Last runnings were 2.8B
• pre-boil: 7.28gal @ 12B (1.0474)
  • efficiency 82%, recipe at 70%.
  • bumped up hop additions to match – went to 33 IBU to keep BU/OG = 0.6
• post-boil: 6.35gal @ 14.4B (1.0574) (only 2B high!)

Fermentation Notes

• 1.2L starter made night before. Just O2 and intermittent shake, no stir plate. I needed more time – should have done this 5 days before to give the poor flocc’ing yeast time to drop. Decanted ~0.5L, pitched rest.
• 6gal in to fermenter
• Fermented at 64F
• Needed a blow off tube – blew huge foam the first few days, then slow and steady for 2 weeks.
• 2010-07-13: 1.027. Huge tropical fruit nose and taste
  • Added 1 satchel of older US-05 to help move it along.
• 2010-07-24: Still a bit of krausen but airlock activity done.
• 2010-07-28: Done! Finished at 1.014 for 81% ADF for 6.2% ABV.
  • kegged after purging 3x with CO2
  • nice malt complexity with hops shining a bit in gravity sample, should be interesting after carbonating

Tasting Notes

• To Follow

for Eaties for my Wheates v0.1

I had a tough time with this one…particulars were failing me a bit. I’ll probably update in the near future.

• Appearance – Pours very fizzy small white head, base beer is quite cloudy and adding yeast from bottle makes it a bit more. Head disappears pretty quickly to small ring of bubbles around the edge. Color is dark honey.
• Smell – bananas and all-spice, a faint light citrus on the end.
• Taste – hint of graininess and sweet with a good carbonic bite, finishes with a bit of the light fruit/bananas and german yeasty flavors. Finish is on the dry side.
• Mouthfeel – A bit of a bite up front, then pretty creamy from the carbonation. The finish is dry, but I can’t tell if that is the carbonation or hops.
• Drinkability & Notes – Not bad for the first whack on the new system. Definitive German Wheat beer flavor. Head retention is a problem, likely from the lack of proper mash temps.

for Twisted Enkel Blonde (extract)

• Appearance – foamy white head, pours 2 fingers deep. nice lacing, after 5 min ends up as chunky foam on top of beer. Color is light golden, quite hazy.
• Smell – big yeasty phenols, light fruits in background.
• Taste – definitely get light fruit flavors – apple/pears. yeasty phenols back it up, almost spicy. Slight hop flavor and a very dry finish, the hops and dryness balance the initial fruits nicely.
• Mouthfeel – Big creamy carbonation and then a very dry finish. Leaves the roof of your mouth dry, and begs you to drink more of it.
• Drinkability & Notes – Friggin Yummy. I am bummed it was a VSS yeast, as I’d do this one again in a heartbeat. The balance is there, but this might be a touch dry. It is a fairly complex beer for being fairly low gravity. It is certainly fun to drink pint after pint on a nice summers night. I think this yeast would be a good choice for Belgian Trippel or Golden Strong.