Angry Ocelot Brewing

Ready to Rock

2021-03-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

New system is done! (or at least done enough to brew on). First brew day is set for 3/14. Ran a mock water brew on it this past weekend checked for any final leaks and all went really well.

Mash Tun on the way

2021-02-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

Finally got notification from SSBrewtech that my Mashtun is back in stock. Quickly ordered and it should be on its way here soon to complete the system

Design change

2021-02-24T07:25:00.000-08:00

So the inability to whirlpool through my chiller has been bugging me for a couple reasons.

I won't be able to drop temp quickly to get to whirlpool temp (170 degrees or so)
I won't be able to chill back into my boil kettle to drop cold break in my kettle
I wont be able to sanitize my chiller by circulating boiling wort through the chiller

The last one was probably my larger concern. Having come this far in this build I decided I didn't want to make these compromises. I have made some changes to be able to solve these problems. Essentially this involves a few more three way valves

Now I can run

From the boil kettle through the chiller back to the boil.
From the boil kettle bypass the chiller back to the boil.
From the boil kettle through the chiller to the fermenter

Here are the new drawings as well as a picture of the new valves in place.

2021-02-16T10:59:00.002-08:00

An update on my build.

Parts have started to arrive and I have been busy assembling. The one big piece I'm missing (because it is out of stock) is my mash tun from SSBrewTech. Im hoping it comes in this week. I was able to put most of the rest of this together.

I was able to run some leak tests which showed a few things that needed correcting. I also ran a few tests on the boil kettle. Looks like I should be able to expect a 3 degree rise per minute on a 12 gallon boil which seems pretty good. I did have to change the design a bit as I found out that my chiller restricts the flow too much to get an effective whirlpool. So I modified the design to have the whirlpool branch off before the chiller (instead of after). Im a little worried that that will mean any cold break material will end up in the fermenter but I think that will be a try it out and see if that is a problem I need to fix down the road

New System (Theory)

2021-02-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

Getting back into brewing the main thing I wanted to do is make good quality and more importantly repeatable beer. My process before was ok and I made good beer (even won a few metals) but it was never repeatable. I could brew the same recipe multiple times and it was never exactly the same and sometimes wildly different.

My issue with my old process was control. I was able to control some things and not others just too many variables on brew day to reliably make the same beer twice. So having a bit of extra cash laying around I wanted to solve that problem this time around. I decided on an all electric system based around SS BrewTech equipment. I went back and forth on numerous systems and manufactures but eventually settled on SS BrewTech mainly because I really liked their mash tun (insulated with a bottom drain).

So once I settled on the what manufacture I was going to get the system from I started on the design. Here I made a slight departure from the traditional three vessel approach. I decide on a two vessel no sparge design for a couple reasons mainly space and simplicity. I fully realize I will take a hit on my efficiency but efficiency is not my real goal here. As long as I get reasonable efficiency (around 70%) and more importantly it is repeatable I'm happy

So here is the general flow of the design

1. Cold water into the boil kettle, heat to strike temp

2. Transfer to mash tun and dough in

3. Recirculate during mash through RIMS to maintain and control temp

4. Transfer (full volume mash) back to boil kettle

5. After boil Whirlpool through chiller

6 Transfer chilled wort to fermenter

here are the illustrations of the steps

Long Time

2021-02-08T07:51:00.003-08:00

It has been quite a long time and honestly I was a little surprised this was still up. I took a break from brewing for a couple years but since I'm mainly stuck in my house these days decided to pick it back up. Im building a completely new electric system which I will detail here soon. I may have gotten a bit overexcited about this new build and got slightly overboard but I will try and get some pictures up here soon.... stay tuned

Pumpkin Porter Brew Day

2012-10-02T08:35:00.002-07:00

It has been a couple weeks since I posted. I apologize for the delay but I took a wonderful vacation with my family. Once I got back and settled, I started on the Pumpkin Porter that you all voted for and you can see the recipe here. There were a couple of modifications, most notably I used 58oz of pumpkin as it came in 29oz cans. I figured that this was close enough to the 60oz that I called for in the original recipe. Also I was able to get some great local and organic cascade hops that I wanted to use so I substituted them in. Here is how my bred day went.

Pumpkin Porter Brew Day

The first part of the process for me was to roast the pumpkin. I spread the two cans of pumpkin out on a backing sheet and placed it in a 400 degree oven. After 45 minutes of my house smelling deliciously of pumpkin I removed the pumpkin and took a look. To be honest I was looking for more of a roast on top. The sides and the bottom got a bit roasty but I would have liked some more. If I was not a little pressed for time I would have put it back in on broil to increase the roasty character but I really had to get this brew done.

After the pumpkin was done I brought 2.5 gallons of water to 150 and began to steep my grains. Thirty minutes later I had some nice dark and roasty wort that smelled fantastic. I cranked up the heat and added my 7lbs of light malt extract slowly while stirring. Next came the pumpkin. This was my first time using pumpkin an I have to say it took a bit of work to get it to incorporate well. It tended to stay all globed up. The best method I found was to mush the globs with the back of the spoon on the side of the pot to break them up.

Once the boil started I added 1oz Kent Golding pellet hops and continued the boil for another 45 minutes. At the 15 minute mark I added 1oz of the organic hole leaf Cascades and 1Tsp of pumpkin pie spice. After some further reading I should have added the spice later possibly at flame out to get the most out of the spices but I can always add more in the secondary if it needs it. The last hop addition was another 1oz of the leaf Cascades at the 5 minute mark.

The wort was chilled and transferred to the fermenter where the additional 2.5 gallons of water were waiting. After a quick stir I pulled a sample for a gravity reading and taste. The gravity reading came out a little higher than expected at 1.059 vs the expected value of 1.056. I was expecting this as ibrewmaster did not adjust the gravity to account for the additional sugars in the pumpkin. The wort tasted pretty darn good, obviously very sweet, but with a nice pumpkin and spice flavor. I have good hopes that this will turn out pretty well and my become my annual fall beer. I will update more on the as it progresses and let you know how it turns out.

Weekend Fresh Pressed Cider

2012-09-11T09:14:00.003-07:00

Sometime last week our brew club, the Indian Peak Alers, was approached by someone in our local community with an apple orchard on his property. He had attempted to make a cider last year with the apples but it did not turn out to his liking. After a brief conversation with a few club members the first, and hopefully annual ,"Indian Peak Alers Cider Festival" was born. The word went out to the club and on Sunday we had amassed around twenty people to help pick apples and press cider. It was a great day and and an absolutely beautiful setting. We ended up pressing around thirty gallons of fresh delicious cider. I believe that we will be aging this to enjoy at next years festival and there was also talk of getting a fresh rum barrel to age in next year. It was truly a fantastic time. I know that I speak for everyone in attendance in expressing our thanks to Bill and Sarah for allowing us to come to there home for this fantastic day. Here are some pictures of the event.

New Yeast Charts Page

2012-09-04T13:54:00.002-07:00

I have received a very good response from the yeast charts that I have put together. I have added a new page dedicated to these charts to make it a bit easier to find them all on one place. You will see a new link on the top left of this page where you can access all of the completed charts. I just uploaded the finished Wyeast Ale charts this morning. I will post the future just to let everyone know when there is something new. Also feel free to comment on that page if you would like charts for other yeasts that I do not have listed

White Labs Specialty and Belgians Yeast charts

2012-08-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

I received quite a response from my previous post providing a link to the Ale yeast charts I created. I was asked to create similar charts for the other categories of the White Labs yeast strains. I have just finished up charts for the "Specialty/Belgian" strains that I thought I would share. You may see an extra file which includes the notes on each strain. I thought this would be of great importance especially with the Belgian strains as specific ester production and flavors are an important factor in selecting yeast strains for Belgian styles. I will try and get charts up here for the Lager yeast strains soon and please leave a comment if you would like similar charts for the Wyeast strains.

White Labs Specialty/Belgian Yeast charts

Please let me know if there are any errors and I will get them corrected. I hope these are as useful to others as they are for me.

You can find the link to the Ale yeast Charts Here

White Labs Ale Yeast Charts

2012-08-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

As a follow on to my previous post on Yeast selection, I have created some charts that show the yeast strain attributes and how they compare to each other. The charts show White Labs Ale yeast strains mainly because that is what I use most. I find that these are a nice way to compare yeast strains quickly and find the one with the attributes that I am looking for. I Just wanted to share in the hope that these are useful for others. I will also be creating similar charts for the other White Labs yeast strains, lager and ect. Feel free to subscribe if you want to be notified when these are posted.

Here is an example of my attenuation chart.

You can download all of the charts here

Smoken Blond Ale Final Tasting

2012-08-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

My Smoken Dirty Blond Ale is finally carbonated and ready for the final verdict.    After about two and a half weeks bottle conditioning I pulled one under the pretense of a carbonation test, the real reason being I just couldn't wait anymore. The pour showed that it is mostly done carbonating, it should be fully carbonated in the next few days. The color is still around 8 SRM although the picture on the makes it look a bit darker than it is in real life.

The Nose
This has a very traditional English ale smell. I am not getting the vanilla aroma that I noted in the previous tasting. There is a slight hint of the smoked malt which is pleasing but very faint. Over all there is a very nice, lightly sweet, malt smell that mixes very nicely with the earthy hop aroma of the kent goldings.

The Taste
This is a very nicely balanced beer I am actually pretty amazed that it tastes almost nothing like it did two and a half weeks ago. The distinct vanilla and bourbon flavors that were there when bottling are now gone. These have been replaced with a nice balance of sweet malt and earthy hops. The flavors that were very distinct at bottling have now blended and flow nicely from one to another. If I had to compare it to something I would actually say it tastes like a lighter version of Newcastle.

The Verdict
If you ask anyone they would say that I am my own worst critic especially when it comes to my beers. Most beers I make to me are just "OK", while others say they really like them. That being said, I really like this beer.   This one turned out well and may be my best beer to date. It is light and easy to drink but still has a distinctive malt character that I find lacking from many lighter beers.   I will defiantly make this recipe again soon and I would encourage others to do so also. I give this an easy 4 out of 5 stars. The only bad thing is two cases will not last long at all.

You can find the recipe here
You can also find the previous tasting while bottling here

You Voted, I Brew

2012-08-23T08:28:00.001-07:00

The poles are closed and all the votes have been tabulated. The voting really came down to the wire. It was a dog fight between the Saison and the Pumpkin ale but in the last few days of voting the Pumpkin ale pulled ahead and took home the checkered flag.

It was really fun watching and trying to formulate recipes for what ever was in the lead at the time. I will defiantly let everyone vote on what I brew again in the future. I hope others enjoyed it as well. I spent an hour or so formulating my recipe yesterday. I wanted to do something a little different than your run of the mill Pumpkin ale, and with my somewhat unhealthy love affair with dark beers, my Pumpkin Porter recipe was born. Here is my first draft so there might be some minor changes down the road, stay tuned...

Pumpkin Porter

Grain Bill
7.0lb Light Liquid extract
0.5lb Crystal Malt -60L
0.75lb Chocolate Malt
0.15lb Black Patent Malt
0.5lb Smoked Malt
60 oz Canned Pumpkin

Hop Schedule
1.00 oz Cascade (45 min)
1.00 oz Glacier (10 min)
1.00 oz Liberty (5 min)

Yeast
White Labs WLP023 Burton Ale

Additions
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice (secondary)

Expected Stats
OG 1.056
FG 1.016
ABV 5.37%
IBU 26.53
SRM 32.9

The Plan
I plan to Roast the Pumpkin on a baking sheet in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees and add to the beginning of the boil. I will be creating a spice tea of sorts with the Pumpkin pie spice with a cup of boiling water and the spices. This will be allowed to cool and then added to the secondary for at least 2 weeks.

The Schedule
I have good amount of beer in the pipeline at the moment and I am not sure I can get approval from the wife for another for a couple of weeks. Right now the plan is to get this one going in the early part of September... As always I will keep you updated.

As this is my first Pumpkin Ale I am very open to comments and suggestions on my recipe so please comment on this post if you have any advise

Sabco Select Sankey 7.75 Fermenter Review

2012-08-21T10:44:00.001-07:00

My new house has far more space to spread out and really get down to brewing. After moving I decided that some of my gear could use an upgrade. Near the top of the equipment upgrade list was a new primary fermenter. I really wanted to get away from the classic Ale Pale. I know it works and there is nothing wrong with it, but it just always felt cheap to me. I wanted something more durable and preferably stainless. Around the same time I really started to become interested in pressure fermenting. The specifics of pressure fermenting is a topic for another post but if I ever wanted to give pressure fermenting a try I would need a fermenter that could hold pressure.

At first I really gravitated to conicals they are stainless and just so damn cool. In particular I was very interested in a 7 gallon conical from Stout Tanks and Kettles. If anyone is interested in a conical I would recommend giving them a look. Their lead times on some items can be long but prices are great and I only hear good things about quality. The main problem I had with most conicals, in the size and price range I was comfortable with, is that they were not rated to hold pressure.

While investigating other options I looked at Sabco, also Kegs.com, as they are both owned by the same parent company. They have been making full 15.5 gallon keg fermenters and serving vessels for some time and I was pleased to find that they had just started to make 7.75, pony keg, versions of each. I first looked at their 7.75 gallon fermenter it looks really nice but was a bit more than I really wanted to spend. I also had some concerns about the racking arm. I am at some point planning to pressure ferment and loosing the tri-clamp to rotate the racking arm at 15-20 psi seemed very likely to spray beer all over the place. I settled on the 7.75 gallon Select Sankey serving vessel. It is designed to hold up to 30psi and was able to cut out a fair amount of cost by contacting Sabco and ordering it without the valve assembly. I picked up a 4" tri-clamp gasket, clamp and cover from Brewers Hardware and a hose barb adapter at Lowes. I am not ready to pressure ferment yet so I have currently replaced the pressure safety release with the hose barb to connect my blow off tube. I managed to get all of this put together for slightly over $200 with shipping.

Reasons for my Decision
1. Very durable, it should last a lifetime
2. Rated to hold up to 30psi
3. Flexible. If at some point I get a conical I can order a valve assembly and use as a serving vessel
4. Stainless should dissipate more heat from fermentation than plastic or glass
5. Integrated easy carry handles
6. 4" tri-clamp port for fairly easy cleaning
7. Can be put directly on a burner with some water to sanitize

The Verdict

I have used this for three beers now and I can only say I love it. The only real downsides are that it adds a bit of weight as it is about 20lbs or so empty and it is not as easy to clean as a bucket. These issues are minimal though. The weight although noticeable is really not bad as it has two comfortable carrying handles. I have noticed that the contact thermometer on the side of the fermenter is reading 2-3 degrees warmer that my ambient temperature. Although not scientific I am assuming that the stainless walls of the fermenter are dissipating more heat from the active fermentation which is pretty good. I would not hesitate one moment to recommend this to anyone who wants to upgrade from a plastic bucket. I simply love my new fermentor.

Future
I plan to use this to pressure ferment in the future. I will be designing and building a custom 4" tri-clamp cap to achieve this. I am sure that I will have more posts on that progress in the future.

Update >>>
I have had a few requests for some more pictures on how I currently have this setup. As I stated before, this is a fairly simple setup and I will be designing a new cap when I am ready to start pressure fermenting. This new cap will include a pressure gauge, gas in valve and a dip tube. Here are a couple pictures of how it is now.

This is basically how I received it from Sabco. There is a 4" Tri-clamp port on top. the only change is in this picture is that I removed the pressure release valve that it came with, to the left of the Tri-clamp port, and replaced it with a hose barb connector for a blow off tube. This will be the configuration for non pressure fermenting.

This is a picture with the Tri-clamp sealed. The 4" cap clamp and gasket were purchased from Brewers Hardware. Let me know if anyone wants more pictures or further explanation

Cider (Apfelwein)

2012-08-16T11:31:00.002-07:00

After a recent discussion at my local home brew club meeting I was interested in trying my hand at making a cider. Researching on the Internet lead me to the now fairly famous recipe for Edwort's apfelwein which can be found here. Edworts Apfelwein

This thread on homebrewtalk.com is very long but full of great information on many peoples experiences and recipe variations. I have not read the thread in its entirety but I did read many pages and gathered enough information to give it a try. I did modify the original recipe slightly based on some of the information I read and this is what I came up with.

Aaron's Edwort Cider

2 gallons Treetop 100% apple juice (No preservatives or additives)
1 gallon Treetop Three apple 100% cider (No preservatives or additives)
5 Oz's Dextrose (priming sugar)
1 pkg Lalvin 71B-1122

Directions:
Add one gallon of Treetop apple juice to the fermenter
Add 1/2 gallon of the apple cider to the fermenter
Combined the dextrose and the remaining 1/2 gallon of cider, close the container and shake well
Add the remaining cider/dextrose mixture to the fermenter
Add dry yeast to fermenter
Top off the fermenter with remaining apple juice (washing any dry stuck to the funnel into fermenter)
Gently agitate the fermenter to blend all ingredients
Attach airlock
Ferment and bottle once clear (aprox 4 weeks)

Comments
This was by far the easiest and cheapest thing I have ever fermented. The entire process took less than ten minutes and the grand total cost was about fifteen dollars which works out to less than fifty cents per 12oz bottle. For the simplicity and cost, if this comes out decent I will definitely make it again whenever I have a spare fermenter laying around.

Deviations from the Original Edwort recipe

1. The Edwort recipe calls for only Treetop apple juice. I added 1/3 of the recipe apple cider. I was not originally planning on this but saw the cider while buying the juice and thought it may give an added dimension to the flavor.

2. Edwort's recipe calls for 2lbs of dextrose for a five gallon batch giving his apfelwein an ABV of somewhere around 8%. Scaling his recipe for three gallons I should have added a little bit over a pound of dextrose. I wanted my cider to be somewhere around 5% ABV and had a 5oz package of priming sugar on hand so that is the amount that I used.

3. While reading the apfelwein thread I discovered that using the Red Star Montrachet yeast in the original recipe can cause some very unpleasant smells during fermentation lasting several days. The Lavin yeast I used seemed to produce good results for others on the forum and no unpleasant odors.

Current Status
My cider has been in the fermenter for almost 4 weeks now and is almost fully clear now. I had no bad odors during fermentation using the Lavin yeast. I intend to bottle carbonate my cider as I personal prefer my ciders carbonated but this is just personal preference. I should be bottling within a week and I will get my first taste then. I am really hoping it is good because it is so simple to make.

Selecting the Right Yeast

2012-08-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Until a few months ago selecting yeast for my beers was based on style, but after that somewhat arbitrary. If I were making an Irish stout, for example, I would just pick up a Irish ale yeast and call it a day. Recently I started venturing outside the normal style guides and there was no “go to” yeast for my beer as it did not really fit any particular style. These adventures lead to a fair amount of research on different strains. I also had to understand the differences in the yeasts and how this would effect the beer in the end. After many hours on the internet I came to think of yeast drastically differently. I must admit that before I viewed different yeast strains as fairly irrelevant and all (within reason) would make the beer I wanted. Now I realize that yeasts can provide up to 500 individual flavors into your beer. There is perhaps no bigger decision to make in you beer than the selection of the right yeast. Here is some of what I learned that I hope will help others.

Attenuation:

This refers to the percentage of sugars that the yeast will consume and turn into alcohol before Flocculation. A typical range for beer yeast is between 60% and 80%. A yeast with a 60% attenuation will produce a sweeter beer with a lower ABV, as it will leave more sugar behind. Likewise a yeast with an 80% attenuation will produce a drier beer with a higher ABV.

Flocculation:

I have to admit I had really no idea what this was until I did my research. This represents how well the yeast will stick together and fall out of solution, clearing your beer. Most yeast will Flocculate given enough time but yeasts with higher Flocculation will clear better and faster. If you want a nice clear beer you will want a medium to high Flocculating yeast. It must be noted however that very high Flocculating yeast can stick together and fall out of suspension too soon causing incomplete fermentation. Beers that are intended to be cloudy will usually use a low Flocculation yeast while beers that are meant to be clear will generally use higher Flocculation yeasts.

Optimum Fermentation Temperature:
This is pretty strait forward. This is the temperature range where the yeast performs best. If you can temperature control your fermentation than this is not much of a factor. I do not at the moment so this is a factor for me. My basement, where I ferment, is 66°F year round so a yeast with a 68-72°F Optimum range might not be the best choice if I had an alternative. Granted 2°F most likely would make no real difference but I like to stay in the optimum range if I can. I also try and stay on the lower end of the optimum range. Beer can ferment at 5-10 degrees higher than ambient temperature. By staying on the lower end of the range, even if it is a few degrees warmer at the center of the fermenter, I am still with in the recommended temperatures. Again this is just my process that I follow most of the time. Feel free to do what you want here, this is just an illustration of how I use the temperature ranges in my selection process. This is by no means the only or necessary the best way it is just an example.

Alcohol Tolerance:

This is the limit in which the yeast will become stressed and eventually die due to the level of alcohol in your beer. This is pretty self-explanatory but you would not want to use a yeast with a low alcohol tolerance in a very high gravity beer unless you want a an incomplete fermentation.

Other Considerations:

Above we covered some of the main statistics you can gather from most yeast manufactures websites for particular strains. Most of the time they will also include some sort of text description as well here are some things to look for in the descriptions that may influence your choice.

Sulfur:

Some yeast strains can produce sulfur odors and tastes when stressed. Others will routinely produce sulfur smells even if nothing is wrong (Hef, and many wine yeasts). Sulfur smells will usually go away with time but it is good to know if a particular yeast strain is prone to sulfur production. That way if you smell sulfur you will know if it is normal or not.

Esters:

With a good bit of research, I have still not found a good description of what these actually are but they are usually the product of higher than recommended fermentation temperatures and yeast stress. These produce fruity, nutty, or vanilla flavors in your beer. Some styles this is good for example Belgians and Hef’s (notice these yeasts normally have a higher optimum fermentation temperature at least partially for this reason). In other styles this is not desirable such as some English and American styles. Whether Esters are desirable or not really depends on the style and what you want in your beer, this is just something to note when selecting your yeast.

Disclaimer:

The Information gathered here is accurate as I know it. I do not claim to be a microbiologist so there may be some misunderstandings included here. Please comment if I have made any errors and I will correct them and learn something new.

Smoken' Dirty Blond Bottling and Tasting

2012-08-09T08:22:00.002-07:00

The other night I got around to bottling my Dirty Blond, and grabbed a taste of my gravity sample. The recipe this beer can be found here. Here is my final haul from this batch.

I ended up a little light with approximately the volume of 45 12oz bottles. Not too bad once you figure in trub loss and and a few gravity samples. The Color came in right about where I wanted it, maybe just a touch darker than I had hoped. I would estimate it came in somewhere between 7-8 SRM. It turned out actually much clearer that I thought it would given the oats and the wheat in the recipe. At this point is is pretty close to crystal clear. After the bottle conditioning It may be be crystal clear by the time its ready to drink in three weeks or so.

Now for the long awaited tasting. I have to say that I was really looking forward to getting a hint of what this might taste like as at least from the recipe it is a pretty unique combination of flavors. The FG came out a bit higher than I anticipated at 1.018 vs the 1.016 that iBrewmaster calculated so I was expecting this to be a little on the thicker and sweeter side. It should be noted that I am tasting this beer warm and flat so the tastes may change a bit once bottle conditioned and chilled.

The Nose
I get some malt and hops in the nose no real signs of smokiness from the smoked malt. I am also getting so hints of vanilla. The hop smell has an earthy aroma which I was expecting from using all kent goldings

The Taste
It is an interesting taste very clean on the front end. I am tasting a bit of the smokiness on the back end with the hops. At the moment the hops are a bit too much to make this really balanced but this should lessen with some time in the bottle. I am also tasting a bit of bourbon which I was not expecting. Over all this pretty interesting and I like it. It is clean and pretty refreshing I think carbonated and cooled after about 3 more weeks it should be a really nice beer. I will hold off final judgement until then but at the moment I think I will add more smoked malt in the future. It tastes really good but I was wanting a bit more pronounced smokey character. I am excited for a full tasting in about 3 weeks

iBrewmaster Review (iPad)

2012-08-07T13:35:00.005-07:00

I have been using the iBrewmaster App on my iPad for a few months now and thought it might be time for a review. My main reason for looking for some brewing software is that I wanted a convenient place to store and develop new recipes. I also wanted something for my iPad because it is really portable and would not get in the way on a brew day. So after using this for about four actual brews and creating a dozen or so recipes here are my impressions.

Pros
Large database of ingredients (you can also add something in if it is not listed)
Easy to formulate recipes
Instant feedback on how a change to the grain bill or hop schedule will affect your beer
You can compare your beer to BJCP Style Guidelines
Pretty good recipe database if you do not want to make your own
The batch scheduler and calendar are pretty handy if you have multiple batches going at once
All of the auto-calculated values (OG, FG, ect) seem pretty accurate
Pretty Stable App
Just about everything configurable (if you can figure out how)

Cons
Price, This is a $15 app which is a bit pricey
Although I haven't tried it I don't see it being too useful on the iPhone's smaller screen
Configuring some values such as boil off rate and mash profiles are not intuitive
Example recipe database is not updated (or hasn't been since I loaded it)
Example recipe database is pretty heavy on certain beer styles (lots of APA's and IPA's)

Summery
Overall I am very happy with iBrewmaster. It is a whole lot better than the old notebook I was using. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating to navigate to the exact setting you want to change and I would like to see new recipes appear in their database from time to time, but my overall experience has been a good one. The price is a bit steep. If this were a $5 App I would tell everyone to run out and buy it right now but at $15 I would say the value is only good, not excellent. All that said, if I had to do it over I would spend the $15 again, its a pretty handy little App...

First Mead

2012-08-07T10:28:00.004-07:00

I have never had a mead before so after a bit of research I decided to try and make one. I wanted to make a traditional "show" mead. A show mead is purely honey water and yeast with no other flavoring. Having never tasted mead in my life I wanted to know what a true mead tasted like but my research showed that most people making mead are adding some other flavorings to it. This made me a bit weary about making a full five gallons of "show" mead as it may be an acquired taste. I at least wanted to make something that was drinkable so I decided to do a full five gallon batch and then split into two secondaries. One three gallon carboy would remain a "show" mead while the other would get oak cubes apples and a vanilla bean. Here is the recipe as I remember it...

First Mead

Ingredients
10 lbs local wild flower Honey
2.5 lbs local raspberry honey
1.5 lbs orange blossom honey

Yeast
Lavin 47-D (wine yeast)

Stats
OG 1.100
FG 0.998
ABV ~14%

Directions
heated 2 gallons of water to 120f. removed from heat and stir in all the honey slowly, make sure it is all dissolved in the water.

Add 2 gallons of refrigerated water to the fermenter, top off with must (honey water mixture), stir with sanitized spoon to fully incorporate

Temperature of the must should be at or near pitching temperature, Add 1/2 recommended amount of yeast nutrient and energizer (listed on each bottle not sure the exact amounts off the top of my head)

Pitch yeast, close and attach airlock

Fermentation
1 month primary at 68f
2 months secondary or until clear at 68f
6 months bottle age at 66f

Mead is more like wine to make as I found out. Making it is far easier than beer but you need to babysit the fermentation more, adding additional yeast nutrient and energizer as well as degassing . I added additional yeast nutrient and energizer at 24 hours and 3 days into fermentation, using 1/4 the recommended amount both times

Status and Results

Like I stated earlier I split this batch in the secondary. The portion with the apples oak and vanilla cleared much faster and I was able to bottle that at the 3 month mark and sneak a taste. It is pretty dry which I like and was expecting from the FG. It actually tasted allot like a sauvignon blanc but with a bit of a honey and olive aftertaste. I think it is pretty good and since it is not even close to mature yet it should get much better. The "show" mead is still in the carboy having been racked a few more times and is still a bit cloudy. I have moved this to the fridge in hopes of cold crashing it to try and clear it up. Right now it is about four month old and still waiting on it to clear so I can bottle. I will keep you updated and I am looking for a side by side taste test in a few months.

Smoking Dirty Blond Ale

2012-08-07T09:00:00.004-07:00

Smoking Dirty Blond Ale
My loving wife challenged me to come up with a beer that represented her for her birthday in November. She is mostly English and Scottish, and a smoken' dirty blond. Using this for inspiration I devised a "Smoking Dirty Blond Ale". Here is my first attempt bringing in the English and Scottish heritage along with some smoked malt in a blond. I don't think I have heard of anything really like it so it at least should be interesting

Grain Bill
6.00 lbs Pilsner Liquid Extract
0.5 lbs Smoked Malt
1.00 lb Crystal 20L
0.5 lb Flaked Oats
0.5 lb White Wheat

Hop Schedule
1.00 oz East Kent Goldings 60min
0.50 oz East Kent Goldings 15min
0.50 oz East Kent Goldings 5min

Yeast
White Labs Edinburgh Ale

Stats
OG 1.054
FG 1.015
ABV 5.11
IBU 23.12
SRM 6.7

Fermentation:
1 week Primary at 66f
2 weeks secondary at 66f
Bottle condition 3 weeks at 66f

Current status:
This is currently in the secondary should have been bottled Sunday according to the schedule but after lots of yard work I was exhausted. I will be bottling tonight hopefully. It is pretty clear although I am not expecting it to fully clear due to the wheat in it. It turned out a bit darker than I expected probably around 8 SRM but I will have a better idea when it is not in the carboy and I can get a better look at it. I will sneak a taste while bottling and I am pretty interested to see how it turned out as it is a pretty unique beer

2012-08-06T14:51:00.002-07:00

I decided to start a blog to share my adventures in brewing. I have been home brewing on and off for about 5 years. I am also finally about to make the leap to all grain. I will be sharing this adventure along with building my new brew rig (learning how to weld). I am also toying with the idea of a challenge for myself to brew all the styles of beer recognized by the BJCP which is over 80 different styles. It is pretty ambitious so I still need to decide if I am up for it. I hope I can fill this with content that at least a few people will enjoy. Until next time...