Weizenbock

Next up is my first attempt at repitching a yeast cake. I saved the Wyeast 3068 from my last Hefeweizen in a growler that I stored in the fridge until I needed it (about 3 weeks). I also corrected my partial mash mistake from the last brew and went with a “double partial mash”. Basically I mashed in 2 pots instead of just one, and I have to say it worked out fairly well, except my efficiancy was a little low but I'm getting used to that.

The recipe is pretty much all mine. I did some research and looked at some different recipes to get an understanding of the basic ingredients and then made up my own combination of malts. I decided to go light on the Crystal 120 to keep the dark fruit flavors in the background, I really wanted the caramel and banana to be the main attraction. I think I did a pretty good job of accomplishing this. I don't think I would change this recipe much, maybe add a little more caramel malt and a slightly lower fermentation temp, it got away from me a little.

The aroma has a nice balance of banana fruitiness and caramel/tofee sweetness, with a bready background. A touch of dark fruit but not to much. Clove esters combine with the alcohol to add some spiciness. Deep ruby/brown color. Decent head retention. Full bodied with just enough bitterness to keep everything in check.

Recipe:
Expected OG: 1.080
Actual OG: 1.075
Expected FG: 1.020
Actual FG: 1.021
IBU: 24
Boil: 60 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 5.5 gallons
Final Volume: 5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation: 71%
ABV: 7.1%

Extract/Sugar:
Wheat DME 3 lbs.
Briess Pilsen DME 2 lbs.

Partial Mash Grains:
Weyermann Light Munich 4 lbs.
Weyermann Dark Wheat Malt 2 lbs
Weyermann Cara Wheat 8 oz.
Weyermann Cara Munich III 4 oz
Briess Crystal 120 4 oz.
Weyermann Chocolate Wheat 2 oz.

Hops:
60 min: Warrior, 15.8% 0.5 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 3068 cake saved from Hefe

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Double Partial Mash (stove top method): In brew kettle, heat 11 quarts of water to 165˚, meanwhile pre-heat two 8qt pots in oven (set to warm) add grain bags and grains to preheated pots, then slowly add water and stir. Mash temp should be about 153˚. Move pots to preheated oven for 60 minutes.

After about 30 minutes, heat 8 quarts of water to about 175˚. When mash is done, pull out the grain bags and let it drain for a few minutes. Add first running to kettle. Pour 4 quarts of heated water to each pot and add grain bags, stir and let sit for 20 minutes to rinse out any remaining sugars. Should end up with around 14 – 16 quarts of wort.

Add 1 gallon or so of water and wort to brew kettle (for a total of around 5.5 gal.), add DME and stir, heat to a boil and add hops.

Chill wort to about 70˚ or less, transfer to carboy, aerate, take gravity, pitch decanted yeast starter.

Notes:
Brewed on 9/19/09 by myself

9/18/09 – made 2 cups of wort with about 1.8 oz. of DME and pitched it onto the decanted yeast cake.

9/19/2:00pm – OG came out low, again. Calculating about 55% efficiency, not good. Pitched starter at about 68˚. I bought a small fountain pump and used it to recirculate ice water through chiller. Worked great. Need to make a bigger chiller.

9/19/11:00pm – Fermentation is under way, about a ½ inch of kraeusen. 70˚

9/20 – Fermentation has been rocking all day. Lots of yeast through the blow-off. Temp got a little higher than I wanted, around 77˚

9/21 – Fermentation has started to settle down a bit, temp is holding around 72˚. Removed blow-off and replaced with foil.

9/25 – Temps have been dipping down into the upper 60s, hope they stay like this or go lower.

10/15 – Bottling day. Bottled 24 – twelve ounce bottles, 12 – 22oz. Bottles and one 750ml bottle. Used 6 oz. of corn sugar for about 3 volumes of CO2.

Collision Stout

Continuing with my catch up posts. For my next brew I wanted to brew something on the lighter side, that wouldn't be terribly difficult to brew. I decided to go with a dry stout, by light I meant low gravity. Expecting a quick brew night, I was met with adversity right from the beginning. Seems that I have a bit of a problem with spacial recognition, what I thought was a twelve quart pot was actually eight. So here I am at about 8:00 at night with twelve quarts worth of grain and water and not enough pot to mash it all. In the end I ended up with all my grains and mash water in the brew kettle but it's bigger around than my grain bag so it ended up looking more like steeping grains than mashing. In the end I made a pretty damn good stout so I can't complain much, yet another lesson learned.

The beer I ended up with had a solid black color with a deep ruby edge. Muted aroma of roasted barley, bitter sweet chocolate. Flavors are similar, roast and chocolate with an ample bitterness. Mouth feel is rich and creamy, smooth, I could drink a few of these. When I first started drinking this batch there was a weird mineral/metallic off flavor but that cleared out with a little more bottle conditioning and now I have an easy drinking dry stout.

Recipe:
Expected OG: 1.058
Actual OG: ??
Expected FG: 1.012
Actual FG: 1.010
IBU: 53
Boil: 60 minutes
Apparent Attenuation: ??
ABV: ??

Extract/Sugar:
Briess Pilsner DME 4.0 lbs.

Partial Mash Grains:
Maris Otter 2.0 lbs.
Flaked Barley 2.0 lbs.
Roasted Barley (extra crush) 1.0 lbs.

Hops:
60 min. - First Gold, 8.0% 2.0 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale 1 qt. Starter

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Partial Mash: In a 8 qt. stock pot, heat 7.5 quarts of water to 162˚, meanwhile preheat 12qt crock pot, add grain bag and grains to preheated pot, then slowly add water and stir. Mash temp should be about 150˚.

After about 30 minutes, heat 5 quarts of water to about 170˚. When mash is done, pull out the grain bag and let it drain for a few minutes. Dump wort into kettle, add bag and heated water back to crock, stir and let sit for 20 minutes to rinse out any remaining sugars. Should end up with around 10+ quarts of wort.

Add 3 gallons water and wort to brew kettle (for a total of around 5.5 gal.), add DME and stir, heat to a boil and add bittering hops. At about 15 min. add a 1 tsp of Irish Moss to help with clarity.

Chill wort to about 80˚ or less, transfer to carboy, aerate, take gravity, pitch decanted yeast starter.

Notes:
Brewed on 9/2/09 by myself.

8/31/09 – made starter with about a quart of water and 4oz of DME.

9/2 - Totally screwed up the mash. Not a 12qt pot. More like 8. Ended up mashing in the brew kettle. Not ideal. Stupid, I am.

9/3/12:45am – Pitched yeast at about 70. Forgot to take gravity reading. Maybe I shouldn't brew at night?

9/8/09 – Primary fermentation is over. I had the carboy in a water bath, pretty sure temps stayed around 70 or lower.

9/24 – Bottling Day. Eleven 22 oz. and twenty-four 12 oz. bottles used 2.8 oz. of corn sugar for about 2 volumes of CO2.

11/23 – Taste comparison with an O'Hara's Irish Stout. Mine was more bitter with more of a bittersweet chocolate versus the sweeter coffee flavor of the O'Hara.

Stout

Festivus Ale

I decided a while back that I wanted to make a big Christmas beer to hand out to friends and family during the holidays, I just wasn't sure what style I wanted to brew. At first I considered brewing up one of those ambiguous “winter warmers” that almost every craft brewer seems to put out this time of year, then I remembered that I don't even really like very many of them. Then I read about this french saison yeast the Wyeast had released as part of their “Private Collection” special release program. It's a french saison yeast, rumored to be from Brasserie Thiriez, that doesn't need ridiculously high fermentation temperatures like their regular saison yeast. Bingo, I quickly decided, after consulting Farmhouse Ales, that the beer I would brew would be a Bier de Noel, basically a dark, high gravity saison. The recipe was based off the info in the book.

Most of the bottles are still in my cellar waiting for me to design a label and get them ready for Christmas, but I did crack one open the other night to see what I had made. I have to say it turned out to be real good, maybe my best beer to date.

The aroma has a weird peppery flavor from the yeast mixed with a caramel/nutty malt note, hard to describe but I liked it. Alcohol is nicely integrated but very noticeable. Mouth feel is silky smooth with a little more body than you would expect from a beer this dry. It even has pretty good head retention. Should be even better after another month or so in the cellar. I might even save a few of the 12 ounce bottles for a competition.

Recipe:
Expected OG: 1.074
Actual OG: 1.077
Expected FG: 1.010
Actual FG: 1.004
IBU: 24-27
Boil: 60 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 5.5 – 6 gallons
Final Volume: 5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation: 94% (!!)
ABV: 9.6%

Extract/Sugar:
Briess Pilsner DME 4.5 lbs.
Cane Sugar 1.5 lbs.

Partial Mash Grains:
Weyermann Light Munich 3.5 lbs.
Weyermann Cara Munich III 12 oz.
Castle De-Bittered Black 2 oz.

Hops:
Brewers Gold 8.0%, 60 min 1.0 oz.
Vanguard 4.4%, 15 min. 0.25 oz.
Vanguard 4.4%, 0 min. 0.25 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 3711 French Saison 1.5 qt starter

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Partial Mash (stove top method): In a 8 qt. stock pot, heat 5.5 quarts of water to 165˚, meanwhile pre-heat another 8qt pot in oven (set to warm) add grain bag and grains to preheated pot, then slowly add water. Mash temp should be about 150˚. Move pot to preheated oven for 60 minutes.

After about 30 minutes, heat 6 quarts of water to about 170˚. When mash is done, pull out the grain bag and let it drain for a few minutes. Add bag to heated water stir and let sit for 20 minutes to rinse out any remaining sugars. Should end up with around 9+ quarts of wort.

Add 3.25 gallons water and wort to brew kettle (for a total of around 5.5 gal.), add DME and stir, heat to a boil, add hops at intervals above. At about 15 min. add a 1 tsp of Irish Moss to help with clarity, at about 5 min. left add sugar. After boil is finished let sit for about 20 min. to aid in hop flavor.

Chill wort to about 80˚ or so, transfer to carboy, aerate, take gravity, pitch decanted yeast starter.

Notes:
Brewed on 08/12/2009 by myself.

8/11 /12:30pm - 5oz DME + 1.5 qt water = starter

8/13/12:30am – OG is a little low, yet again, added 8oz of sugar boiled in 2 cups of water. Working backwards in Beer Calculus, I'm figuring that my mash efficiency is about 68%. I also need to use less sparge water since the grain is already saturated.

8/13/1:30am – pitched starter at about 75˚ with a temp corrected OG of 1.077. I put the BB in a tub of cold water and by 2:20am the temp was down to 70˚. I want the fermentation to start out low then I'll take it out and let it rise naturally.

8/13/11:30am – Fermentation has started, about a 1 ½ inches of Krauesen. Temp is around 70˚, replaced ice bottles. I think I'll let the temp ramp up a little from here.

8/18 – Temp has been holding around 72-74˚ the last few days. Moving into office (where temps can get up to 77˚ for some reason) for a while to make sure it finishes.

9/16/09 – Bottled eight 12oz., eighteen 22oz., and two 24oz. Bottles with roughly 16oz left over that went into a 24oz bottle. Total of about 4.3 gallons. Primed with 3.6oz. of corn sugar @ about 72˚ for about 2.3 volumes of CO2.

Hefeweizen Part II

So...I'm way behind on posts around here so I decided today I'm going to try to catch up a little (Peter willing). I didn't even take any pictures of this batch.

First up is my second batch of Hefeweizen. I told you back in July that I was going to brew it again with a better yeast and that is exactly what I did. Wyeast 3068 did exactly what I wanted and this batch turned out better than the first batch. The banana aroma is more pronounced with a more subdued clove note. Carbonation was better with just over 3 volumes of CO2. It lacks head retention which I think is due to it being all extract. There were some slight off flavors that are probably from a fermentation that got a little to hot or the extract. Next summer I'll brew this again, only as an all grain recipe and I bet it'll be even better. I'll definitely be using 3068 as my regular wheat yeast from now on.

Original Gravity: 1.053
Actual FG: 1.013
IBU: 12-15
Apparent Attenuation: 75%
ABV: 5.2%

6 pounds of Muttons Wheat DME
1 ounce of Vanguard (5.0%) for 45 minutes
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat from a 1 quart starter

Brewed on 08/06/2009 by myself.

Add 5 gallons of water and 6 pounds of extract, heat to a boil, add hops and boil for 45 minutes. With about 5 min. left add the chiller to sanitize it.
Chill wort to about 80˚ or less, transfer to carboy, add water to 5 gallons, pitch yeast.

Notes:
8/5 - Made a yeast starter using about a quart of wort (3 oz DME) in a growler.

8/6 – Forgot to take final gravity. Pitched entire 1qt starter at about 77˚ at 11:30am Using a blow off this time because this yeast is supposed to produce gobs of Kraeusen. Had full Kraeusen by 8:00pm and by 9:30 the blow off tube was full. Temp is around 75˚

8/7 – Blow off tube still full this morning, bucket is filling up with yeast. Temp is holding at 75˚

8/13 – Fermentation is pretty much done, temp has been holding at ambient 72 – 73˚

8/26 – Bottling Day. Used 6.5oz. of corn sugar in close to 5 gallons for about 3.3 volumes of CO2. 24-22oz, 4-12oz, 1-24oz. Saved yeast cake for weizenbock.

Robot Pale Ale - Baptism Batch

My second batch of Belgian Pale Ale was brewed for my son's baptism reception. This was my first partial-mash and my first time making a yeast starter. I also changed just about everything from the original recipe, bad idea. The beer turned out okay and everybody liked it or at least pretended to but I thought the first batch was a little better.

I tasted it side-by-side with my first batch. Here are my notes:

• The partial-mash came out a little low on my mash efficiency and I had to add some sugar to get the gravity up.
• The color is about the same as last time but a bit clearer – better cold break or more floc from the yeast?
• A lower final gravity that gave the beer the dryness I was looking for.
• I think the biscuit malt was a little too pronounced there is a grainy, biscuity flavor that is a little off. I'll definitely go back to the specialty grain amounts I used in the first batch.
• I'm not sure which yeast I like more, the first seems a little fruitier and the second I'm not sure about, not as fruity maybe a little peppery, masked by all the biscuit.

Recipe and Notes:

Expected Original Gravity: 1.053
Actual OG: 1.051
Expected Final Gravity: 1.014
Actual FG: 1.009
IBU: 20
Boil: 60 minutes
Boil Volume: 5 gallons
Final Volume: 5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation: 82%
ABV: 5.5%

Extract:
Briess Pilsner DME 2 lbs. 12.5 oz.
Corn Sugar 1.5 lbs.

Partial Mash Grains:
Briess Pilsner 3 lbs.
CaraMunich 8 oz.
Biscuit 8 oz.

Hops:
Vanguard (pellets) 4.4%, 60 min. 1.5 oz.
Halertau (pellets) 3.8%, 1 min. 1.0 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes (Achouffe) - slurry from a 1 qt. starter.

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO.

Notes:
Brewed on 06/17/2009 by myself.

Partial Mash (stove top method): In a 8 qt. stock pot, heat 5 quarts of water to 164˚, add grain bag. Mash temp should be about 153˚. Move pot to preheated cooler for 60 minutes (using heated towels).

After about 30 minutes, heat 2 gallons of water to about 170˚. When mash is done, pull out the grain bag and let it drain for a few minutes. Add bag to heated water for 10 minutes to rinse out any remaining sugars.

Add extract and 7 quarts of water. Heat to a boil.

Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops at the intervals listed above. At about 5 min. add the sugar and the chiller to sanitize it.

Chill wort to about 76˚, transfer to carboy, add water to 5 gallons, aerate, pitch yeast slurry.

6/16 – Made a yeast starter using about a quart of wort (3.5 oz DME) in a growler.

6/17 – My gravity was about 8 points low so I boiled up another ½ pound of sugar in 2 cups of water and added that so my total sugar addition was 1.5 lbs instead of the pound I had planned. I must have had a low efficiency on my partial mash

6/17 – Pitched yeast at about 73˚

6/18/10am – Fermentation is very active with about a 2 – 3 inch kraeusen, ferm temp = 72˚

6/19/11am – Fermentation still pretty active, looks like it's just past peak. Kraeusen is beginning to fall a bit.

6/24 – temp has been in the 72˚ – 73˚ range the past few days – man is it hot outside. Kraeusen is long gone, conditioning now.

7/12 – Bottled 48 12oz bottles, one 750ml bottle and a 330ml bottle. Used 3.8oz of corn sugar for about 2.2 volumes of CO2.

8/1 – Everybody seemed to like the beer, my mom had two! I think next time I want to keep the Biscuit at 4 – 6 oz, 8 seems like a bit much to me. Also might want to cut the sugar down to ½ a pound.

Nevermind...

It appears that the report (via Fat City) that Rick Martin had left Free State is inaccurate. Rick posted this comment on my previous post:

I have not left Free State, nor will I ever. I have a new place that continues the level of food that illustrates what I want in a beer pairing. Please come and see for yourself. And continue to see me at Free State as well. Thanks for your support! Your blog is great!

Rick Martin

So there you go.

I think I'll head down to Free State to celebrate.

The End of an Era

It was with fear and trepidation that I followed the recent articles on the new restaurant, The West Side Local. Not because I don't like the idea of a beer-centric restaurant that makes it's own kraut and pickles, I love the idea. Rather, I was fearful because my favorite chef, Rick Martin, was the Executive Chef and that must mean he has left Free State, the greatest brewery ever, and that made me sad. But none of the articles I read definitively stated he had left, so I held out hope that maybe he would be working at both places, maybe. Then I saw this,

"I just want to make comfort food -- food that makes people feel welcome," said Executive Chef Rick Martin, who left Free State Brewery after 17 years for the chance to run his own kitchen.

Damn!

Double Damn!

If you don't know Rick Martin, he is one of the better food & beer chefs in the country. He's talked or presented at some of the biggest beer events, including Savor, the Great American Beer Festival, and the Craft Brewers Conference, his recipes are featured in Lucy Saunders' book about beer and food, and he was recently awarded Mentor of the Year by the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association.

He will surely be missed by myself and many of us in Lawrence who look forward to his daily specials and especially the Annual Beer Banquet where he comes up with amazing dishes. My wife and I have been to about five banquets now and it was beer that originally attracted us, but it's the food that keeps us coming back year after year.

Hefeweizen

My fifth brew is a nice simple Hefeweizen. This is the simplest recipe I've done to date (no steeping grains, dry yeast) but, you wouldn't have been able to tell by the mess I made, spilled water, spilled wort, broken hydrometer, nothing was going my way. In the end, I still made beer and it tasted good.

The key to good Hefeweizen is a good German wheat yeast that kicks off plenty off banana and clove aromas. I really enjoy the one that Free State makes every summer. For this brew I decided to give a dry yeast a try and see if I could make a good Hefe with it.

Tasting Notes: Pours with a huge fluffy white head, I think I overdid the carbonation a bit. Color is a hazy golden straw color. Aroma is full of cloves with just a hint banana, not the balance I was looking for. Flavor is about the same, wheaty with a nice clove flavor, not a lot of malt or sweetness. Finish is rather dry with plenty of carbonation, very refreshing. Mouth feel is a little light. Good beer overall*, but not exactly what I was aiming for. I was really surprised that the FG came out so low.

*I had picked up some Sam Adams Hefeweizen to use as a comparison beer because I usually find Sam Adams' beer to be pretty true to style, they're never great but always solid and accurate. Well not this time, what I bought was just another boring American wheat. It made my Hefe taste great in comparison. It's frustrating that breweries can't label their wheat beer correctly – If you want to use German words, use German yeast, simple enough.

For the next batch I want to try to get more banana than clove and hopefully a little creamier body via less carbonation and yeast attenuation. I'm going to try using a liquid yeast instead of the dry. The dry was good, but not the profile I want.

Recipe & Notes:

Original Gravity: 1.055
Expected Final Gravity: 1.013
Actual FG: 1.010
IBU: 12-16
Boil: 45 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 5 gallons
Final Volume: 5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation: 81% (!!)
ABV: 5.9%

Extract:
Muttons Wheat DME 6.0 lbs.

Hops:
Vanguard 5.0%, 45 min. 1.0 oz.

Yeast:
Safbrew WB-06, 1 pack

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Notes:
Brewed on 05/21/2009 by myself.

Add 5 gallons of water and 3 pounds of extract, turn heat up. Add hops and boil for 45 minutes. At about 5 min. add the rest of the extract and the chiller to sanitize it.

Chill wort to about 80˚ or less, transfer to carboy, add water to 5 gallons, pitch yeast.

5/21/9:00pm – Pitched yeast at about 68˚. Managed to break my hydrometer and spill water and wort on multiple occasions.

5/22/10:30am – Kraeusen starting to form, just a thin film. Temp = 66˚.

5/23/7:30pm – Kraeusen starting to settle down, primary appears to be past. Temp = 68˚.

6/5/09 – Bottled ten 650ml bottles, ten 22oz bottles and seven 500 ml bottles which is about 4.6 gallons. Used 8.7oz of corn sugar which came out to about 4.3 volumes of CO2.

Boulevard Saison Brett

So, I'm finally getting around to reviewing a bottle of Boulevard's Saison Brett. This was a bottle from their 2008 batch (bottle 00212 to be exact), it's been hanging out in my cellar for about 8 months now and I decided it had aged long enough/I could wait no longer. The Saison Brett starts out as slightly beefed up version (8.5%) of Boulevards regular Saison but then it is dry-hopped with delicious Amarillo hops and is inoculated with some brettanomyces, a special kind of beer yeast that kicks off unusual flavors, at bottling time.

The appearance was pretty simple and understated. A bright, clear straw colored beer with a big tight, slightly yellow head that left plenty of lacing in its wake. The aroma was complex and hard to describe. Here's a sample of the smells I thought I smelled: floral perfume, pineapple, must, coriander, pepper, lemon zest, etc. Did I mention that it was very complex?

The drink pretty much followed the aroma, maybe a little less complex but very tasty. Earthy and musty with a light citric tartness. Mouth feel is light and crisp, but not watery. A touch of alcohol burn in the back followed by a crisp dry herbal finish. More, I must have more.

I have to say that this is one of the finer Saisons I've ever tasted, hell it's one of the finer beers period. It just recently cracked the Top 100 over at beeradvocate.com. I was really impressed that I was able to hold off so long before drinking the first bottle. I wanted to give the brett plenty of time to do it's thing, and it did. The question now is how long can I hold out on the other 2 bottles of the '08 batch?

Robot Pale Ale

As some of you may know, I'm a proud new Father of a baby boy and as a homebrewer I decided it would be apropriate to give out bottles of homebrew instead of the traditional cigar (or cigar shaped gum, if that's your thing). For the style I chose to go with something that would have a fairly wide appeal and be drinkable, instead of a big beer that would age well. I also wanted it to have an interesting flavor profile. I settled on Belgian Pale Ale, I figured the flavors from a Belgian yeast would make a nice tasty brew that most would enjoy.

The color is a nice hazy copper/amber color, about what I wanted, Aroma has a classic Belgian yeast aroma, slightly fruity with an underlying bready sweetness. The flavor is similar with a little caramel sweetness up front followed by some dried fruit flavors and a little hint of spice. A nice overall Belgian character. Not overly complex or deep. Body is about medium and could use a little more dryness and carbonation.

Overall: I think the beer came out pretty tasty and went over well with friends and family. On the next batch (Baptism Robot Ale) I'm going to try for a lower FG and a little more carbonation. It'll also be my first partial-mash brew.

Recipe & Notes:
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.016
IBU: 22-25
Boil: 60 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 4.5 gallons
Final Volume: 5.5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation = 73%
ABV = 6.0%

Extract:
Muttons Extra Light DME 6.0 lbs.
Corn Sugar 1.0 lbs.

Steeping Grains:
CaraMunich 12 oz.
Biscuit 4 oz.

Hops:
East Kent Golding 5.4%, 60 min. 1.5 oz.
East Kent Golding 5.4%, 1 min. 0.5 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 3864-PC Canadian/Belgian Ale (Unibroue), 1 smack pack

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Notes:
Brewed on 04/19/2009 by myself.

Steep grains for 30 min. at 150˚ in one gallon of water. While the grains are steeping heat 3.5 gallons of water up to about 170˚ in the boil kettle. When the steep is finished take the bag out and dunk it around in the boil water for about 5 minutes.

Add the steep water and 3 pounds of extract, turn heat up. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops (all pellets) at the intervals listed above. At 5 min. add the rest of the extract, the sugar, and the chiller to sanitize it.

Chill wort to about 80˚, transfer to carboy, add water to 5.5 gallons, aerate, pitch yeast.

4/19/2:00pm – Pitched yeast at about 74˚.

4/20/9:20am – Kraeusen is already near the neck of the bottle. Temp is around 66˚ or so.

4/21/12:50pm – Kraeusen has fallen a bit, but fermentation still looks active.

5/16 – bottled 48 - 12 oz. bottles and 1 330ml bottle.

The Grapefruit Express

For my third batch of home brew I decided it was past time for a hoppy brew. After looking at several different recipes I settled on an Amarillo IPA recipe that I found on the home brew forum at BeerAdvocate.com courtesy of Homebrew42. It is a single hop recipe that uses Amarillo hops for all the flavor and aroma additions. Amarillo is known for its distinct grapefruit aroma, hence the name. I added a pound of sugar to help lower the final gravity, my first two brews both ended a little higher than I wanted.

Pours a hazy dark golden color, almost copper with a fluffy white cap that leave plenty of lacing on the side of the glass. Aroma starts with a load of grapefruit with little else, maybe a little grassy. Just a hint of bready malt as it warms.

Flavor follows the aroma, a little sweetness up front followed by a big grapefruit blast from the hops. Solid bitterness with a grassy/chalky finish. Carbonation is just crisp enough to help wash away all the delicious hop resin.

Overall this is easily my best brew to date and it didn't take me very long to drink it all. As a result I've already brewed another batch, with a slightly different timing on the hop additions, but no major changes, to replace this one.

Recipe & Notes

Original Gravity: 1.075
Final Gravity: 1.017
IBU: 80-85
Boil: 75 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 4.5 gallons
Final Volume: about 5.5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation : 76%
Estimated ABV: 7.7%

Extract:
Muttons Extra Light DME 6.0 lbs.
Corn Sugar 1.0 lbs.

Steeping Grains:
Crystal 20˚ 8 oz.
CaraPils 8 oz.

Hops:
Nugget 13.7%, 75 min. 1.0 oz.
Amarillo 8.6%, 20 min. 1.0 oz.
Amarillo 8.6%, 10 min. 1.0 oz.
Amarillo 8.6%, Dry Hop 2.0 oz.

Yeast:
Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast 2 packets

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Notes:
Brewed on 03/26/2009 by myself.

Steep grains for 30 min. at 150˚ in one gallon of water. While the grains are steeping heat 3.5 gallons of water up to about 170˚ in the boil kettle. When the steep is finished take the bag out and dunk it around in the boil water for about 5 minutes.

Add the steep water and 3 pounds of extract, turn heat up. Boil for 75 minutes, adding the hops (all pellets) at the intervals listed above. At 5 min. add the rest of the extract, the sugar, and the chiller to sanitize it.

Chill wort to about 70˚, transfer to carboy, pitch both packets of yeast.

03/26/12:45 pm – pitched yeast at 72˚

03/27/11:45am – Fermentation has already started, about 2-3 inches of kraeusen. Ferm temp = 67˚

03/28/around 8:00 – Kraeusen blew out the top of the fermenter had to clean it up and put a new piece of foil on top. Still smells delicious.

4/16/10:20am – Added the 2oz of dry hops and moved carboy to the beer cave for cool conditioning.

4/23 – Bottled 24 12-oz and 12 22-oz bottles for a total of 4.31 gallons (552 oz.) used 2.5 oz. Of priming (corn) sugar at around 65˚, which should get me about 2 volumes of CO2. FG measured at 1.017.

Oktoberfest Style Ale

So I decided maybe it was time to finally put up another post. Sorry about the long lay-off, no excuses I've just been ignoring the blog.

I received a home brew recipe kit from my brother as a Christmas gift and back in February I decided to brew it. The kit was for an Oktoberfest style ale. Normally an Oktoberfest beer is a lager made with lots of Munich or Vienna malt, but since this was an extract kit, and those two malts can't be steeped, it came with pale malt extract, some Crystal malt, and instead of a lager yeast, some Danstar Nottingham ale yeast.

The aroma hop is Vanguard which is an American cousin of the German noble hop, Hallertau. So basically, an amber ale that's finished with German hops. I threw in an extra ½ ounce of Goldings that I had left over from my first batch to help account for the age of all the hops (they were all from the 2008 harvest).

Tasting notes: It pours a clear, bright copper color with a chunky, off-white head. The aroma comes across as a light caramel flavor with a bit of a herbal hop aroma fairly weak overall.

Flavor is more of the same, a little bread and caramel with an herbal dryness from the hops. Carbonation is a lot better in this batch compared to my first. Mouth feel is moderate and crisp. Just enough bitterness to balance everything out and make it very drinkable.

When I first started sampling this batch I thought I had some diacetyl problems that might have been caused by using only one pack of, possibly old, yeast. Over time the buttery flavors seem to have worked their way out. Lesson learned. In my next batch I use 2 packs of yeast and get better results.

Recipe & Brew Notes:
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.017
Pre-boil Gravity: 1.027 (estimated)
IBU: 24-25
Boil: 60 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 4 gallons
Final Volume: 5 gallons

Extract:
Muttons Pale LME 6.6 lbs.

Steeping Grains:
Crystal 60˚, 8 oz.
Crystal 20˚, 4 oz.

Hops:
Goldings 4.7%, 60 min. 0.5 oz.
Willamette 4.6%, 60 min. 1.0 oz.
Vanguard 4.4%, 5 min 1.0 oz.

Yeast:
Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast, 1 packet

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Notes:
Brewed on 02/05/2009 by myself.

Steeped grains for 30 min. at 150˚ in one gallon of water. While the grains were steeping I heated 3 gallons of water up to about 170˚ in the boil kettle. When the steep was finished I took the bag out and dunked it around in the boil water for about 5 minutes.

Added the steep water and one can of extract, turned heat up. Boiled for 60 minutes, added the hops (all pellets) at the intervals listed above. At flame out I added the other can of extract.

Cooled wort with immersion chiller to about 70˚, transferred to carboy, filled to 5 gallons and shook to mix. Took a hydrometer reading 1.054 + .0012 adjustment for 70˚ = 1.055 original gravity.

Let wort sit in carboy for about an hour, pitched packet of yeast straight in at 2:12pm, temp is about 66˚. Placed carboy in basement by the washer.

02/28/2009 – Bottling day. Filled 20 12 oz bottles and 13 22 oz bottles.

Free State's 20th Anniversary

To celebrate their anniversary my favorite brew pub has been serving up small batches of some of their more popular brews. The festivities started on the 18th and I believe they run through Monday the 23rd, check their website for more details. When Free State opened up in 1989 it was the first post-prohibition brewery in the good state of Kansas and I've been visiting it on an almost weekly basis ever since I moved here in 2000.

I was lucky enough to be able to stop in twice to enjoy the celebrating. On Thursday I stopped by in the afternoon and enjoyed three pints. The first was Ironman Imperial Stout which is my favorite stout, period. It is rich and creamy and has a beautiful balance of roast and chocolate flavors that makes it an absolute joy to sip. Next I had a light colored Bier de Garde that was finished with a champagne yeast, kinda fruity with a dry finish. My third and final was C³ IPA, a big double IPA that is hopped with a whole bunch of Columbus, Chinook, and Cascade hops, delicious.

Friday night I wandered back down because I knew they were going to have Eccentricity on tap, a blended, barrel aged beer. Unfortunatly, by the time I arrived the Eccentricity was gone so I had to “settle” for Owd Mac's Imperial Stout. I believe this was the 2005 vintage, same vintage I had last year. The big stout still has a lot of malty complexity, a mix of molasses, oak, vanilla, bourbon, and anise. I also had a nice dark rye called Black Eye Rye and another pint of C³. All in all, a great two days of craft beer. Congratulations Free State, on your twenty years of brewing. I hope the next twenty are just as awesome.

Uerige Doppelstick

Now that I finally have my home brew in bottles I thought maybe I should review another beer. Even though I have some local beers from Boulevard and Schlafly that I need to drink and review, I decided to go with Dopplesticke from Uerige Obergärige Hausbrauerei in Düsseldorf, Germany. This Düsseldorf Altbier ale is a special high gravity version, you could call it a Double or Imperial Alt, that they only brew for export to America. I've been wanting to try this beer for quite a while so I decided today was the day.


The bottle I picked up the other day has a bottled on date of “05.07” I assume that means May of 2007, making this beer s little over a year and a half old. Good thing it's a 8.5% ABV brew with a rich malty profile which should hold up well to a little age.

The first thing I notice upon “popping” the top is a rich malty aroma. The beer pours a rich brown color that has a filtered clarity to it. The head is a thick tan foam that settles into a thin film and leaves some moderate lacing on the sides of my glass. The aroma has definite sweetness to it that is molasses-like, but a little lighter, like fresh figs. Very complex, not sure if I can describe this properly. I also pick up a solid toasted bread aroma and a hint of a peppery spiciness from the hops. It is almost like an English Barleywine.

The flavor has the same complex maly sweetness to it, I also detect some toasted bread and toffee notes. The mouth feel is rich and full with a nice smoothness to it. The hops try to bring about a dry earthy finish. Only after sipping about half the beer do I start to notice the warming effects from the alcohol. I don't know if it's the age or craftsmanship, probably both, but the alcohol is very well hidden in this brew. Overall this is a deliciously complex brew and I'm sad I only bought one. I would absolutely recommend it, even if it's been sitting on the shelf for awhile.