8 lbs. US 2 row
1 lbs. US Boosted (? end of name unreadable)
8 oz. Crystal 60
4 oz. Bulk Patent
1 hour:
1 oz. Fuggle (AA 4.8%)
15 mins:
0.5 oz. Hallertau (AA 3.8%)
5 mins:
0.5 oz. Hallertau (AA 3.8%)
Initial SG 1.042 (? not sure this number on this scrap of paper is from this brew...
Final S.G. 1.014
-----
Beast of a full smoky flavour, but I like it.
Friday, December 4, 2009
An Irish Red?
Made an Irish Red in here somewhere, which I seem to have forgotten to blog. Not sure what-all went in it at this point, but it ended up with 2 oz. of Hallertau hops (AA 3.8%)
And when I went to tap the smoked porter from the previous batch I seem to have mixed the kegs up, because I'm fairly sure its the red we're drinking now. Which means the red didn't get much more than a couple of weeks aging in the keg, and the porter is getting extra.
And when I went to tap the smoked porter from the previous batch I seem to have mixed the kegs up, because I'm fairly sure its the red we're drinking now. Which means the red didn't get much more than a couple of weeks aging in the keg, and the porter is getting extra.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Smoked Porter
Full mash "kit" (Homebrewers Outpost doesn't do a full mash version of this kit, so they whipped me up a recipe to approximate it with a full mash. So it was basicly a kit by the time I got it, but it was custom-made.)
10 lbs. US 2 row
1.5 lbs. German Smoked
0.5 lbs. Chocolate
0.5 lbs. Crystal 60
1 hour:
1 oz. Centennial (AA 8.5%)
15 mins:
1 oz. Golding (AA 4.5%)
Initial SG 1.060
Final S.G. 1.010
1.060 - 1.010 = 0.050
* 105 = 5.25% abw
* 1.25 = 6.6% abv
10 lbs. US 2 row
1.5 lbs. German Smoked
0.5 lbs. Chocolate
0.5 lbs. Crystal 60
1 hour:
1 oz. Centennial (AA 8.5%)
15 mins:
1 oz. Golding (AA 4.5%)
Initial SG 1.060
Final S.G. 1.010
1.060 - 1.010 = 0.050
* 105 = 5.25% abw
* 1.25 = 6.6% abv
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
American IPA
A full-mash kit. Same process as the previous.
Mashed 16 July.
11.5 US 2-Row
8 oz. Carapils
8 oz. Crystal 40
1 hour:
1 oz. Yakima Magnum (AA 14.4%)
0.5 oz. Centennial (AA 9.7%)
15 mins:
0.5 oz. Cascade (AA 7.5%)
10 mins:
0.5 oz. Cascade (AA 7.5%)
5 mins:
0.5 oz. Centennial (AA 9.7%)
After fermentation slowed:
1 oz. Cascade (AA 7.5%)
Initial S.G 1.044
Ended up doing the cooling by just sealing it in the fermenter and leaving it overnight before pitching the yeast. I'm hoping that the temperature and the cleanliness of my gear means that no contamination crept in overnight...
Mashed 16 July.
11.5 US 2-Row
8 oz. Carapils
8 oz. Crystal 40
1 hour:
1 oz. Yakima Magnum (AA 14.4%)
0.5 oz. Centennial (AA 9.7%)
15 mins:
0.5 oz. Cascade (AA 7.5%)
10 mins:
0.5 oz. Cascade (AA 7.5%)
5 mins:
0.5 oz. Centennial (AA 9.7%)
After fermentation slowed:
1 oz. Cascade (AA 7.5%)
Initial S.G 1.044
Ended up doing the cooling by just sealing it in the fermenter and leaving it overnight before pitching the yeast. I'm hoping that the temperature and the cleanliness of my gear means that no contamination crept in overnight...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
XXStout - full mash
I've never done a full mash brew before, though I've been working up to it for a bit, so there was a lot of new here for me. The process is basically the same as for the grain mix in the partial mashes - let the grain sit between 150 - 158 F for an hour, then sparge it with 180 F water to get the wort. The difference is you don't add any malt extracts (or cold water, which gets relevant later) and instead of doing this with a pound or two of grain and a gallon or so of water, you're looking at 14 pounds of grain and 5-6 gallons of water. This is not going to fit in the pasta pot on the stovetop...
On the advice of the guy from the brew shop, I didn't buy their $50 6 gallon brew pot, I went to the hardware store and bought... a deep fryer kit for turkies; I give you, Turkinator II:
Basically its a 7.5 gallon pot and an outdoor gas burner that hooks onto the same tank as our BBQ - all for about $40. I also bought a $25 60 quart eskie from WallMart, and used a combination of the brew-shop guy's advice and this post to convert it to a mash tun with a stainless steel mesh hose (after much back-and-forthing to the hardware shop, and a certain amount of swearing...)
And boy can that Turkinator crank out the BTUs! It took 5 gallons of water from 110 F (43 C) to 190 F (88 C) in about 15 minutes, so I'll need to keep an eye on it when it comes to bringing things to the boil. Cooled the water back to 180 F, poured it in the mash tun with:
13.25 lbs. Pale Malt (2-row)
0.75 lbs. Roasted Barley
0.5 lbs. Black Patent Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal 60L
Left to sit at ~156 F for 1 hour. Sparged with ~5 gallons @ 180 F to 6.5 gallons of wort. Boiled for 1 hour with
1 oz. Yakima Magnum (14.4% AA)
added
0.5 oz. Willamette (4.6% AA)
for the last 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath for aaaaaaaaaaages. Hadn't thought this through, but up til now I've been cooling 3 gallons of wort down to 90 - 100 F and then adding cold water - now I'm cooling twice as much wort, and I have to get it all the way down to ~75 F to pitch the yeast. A cooling system may be necessary (or else I'll just dump it in the sterilised fermenter and leave it overnight before pitching the yeast...) Pitched
1 packet Irish Ale yeast
@ ~80 F (a little warm, but the yeast packet seemed to think it'd be all right, and the yeast was busting to go at this point.)
Initial S.G. 1.066
Final S.G. 1.014
1.066 - 1.014 = 0.052
* 105 = 5.5% abw
* 1.25 = 6.8% abv
-----
Took the keg with Laur and I to Volcano for 2 weeks. Carbonated it in the back of the car on the way there, which was a little haphazard so it left it lightly carbonated, which is good in a stout anyways. Set it in the creek to keep it cool. Very nice!
08/22/2009, 03:03:34 PM
It sploded!
Seriously, this thing was bubbling furiously all afternoon, and this evening it suddenly blew the top clean off the fermenter and halfway across the room! (And that lid is hard to get off; I always have trouble doing it by hand...) Now its bubbling so hard that I can't actually put the lid back on, but I figure with that vigorous a yeast culture going in there any invading bacteria is going to have a hard time getting a word in edgewise - I'll re-seal it when it calms down a bit.
On the advice of the guy from the brew shop, I didn't buy their $50 6 gallon brew pot, I went to the hardware store and bought... a deep fryer kit for turkies; I give you, Turkinator II:
Basically its a 7.5 gallon pot and an outdoor gas burner that hooks onto the same tank as our BBQ - all for about $40. I also bought a $25 60 quart eskie from WallMart, and used a combination of the brew-shop guy's advice and this post to convert it to a mash tun with a stainless steel mesh hose (after much back-and-forthing to the hardware shop, and a certain amount of swearing...)
And boy can that Turkinator crank out the BTUs! It took 5 gallons of water from 110 F (43 C) to 190 F (88 C) in about 15 minutes, so I'll need to keep an eye on it when it comes to bringing things to the boil. Cooled the water back to 180 F, poured it in the mash tun with:
13.25 lbs. Pale Malt (2-row)
0.75 lbs. Roasted Barley
0.5 lbs. Black Patent Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal 60L
Left to sit at ~156 F for 1 hour. Sparged with ~5 gallons @ 180 F to 6.5 gallons of wort. Boiled for 1 hour with
1 oz. Yakima Magnum (14.4% AA)
added
0.5 oz. Willamette (4.6% AA)
for the last 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath for aaaaaaaaaaages. Hadn't thought this through, but up til now I've been cooling 3 gallons of wort down to 90 - 100 F and then adding cold water - now I'm cooling twice as much wort, and I have to get it all the way down to ~75 F to pitch the yeast. A cooling system may be necessary (or else I'll just dump it in the sterilised fermenter and leave it overnight before pitching the yeast...) Pitched
1 packet Irish Ale yeast
@ ~80 F (a little warm, but the yeast packet seemed to think it'd be all right, and the yeast was busting to go at this point.)
Initial S.G. 1.066
Final S.G. 1.014
1.066 - 1.014 = 0.052
* 105 = 5.5% abw
* 1.25 = 6.8% abv
-----
Took the keg with Laur and I to Volcano for 2 weeks. Carbonated it in the back of the car on the way there, which was a little haphazard so it left it lightly carbonated, which is good in a stout anyways. Set it in the creek to keep it cool. Very nice!
08/22/2009, 03:03:34 PM
It sploded!
Seriously, this thing was bubbling furiously all afternoon, and this evening it suddenly blew the top clean off the fermenter and halfway across the room! (And that lid is hard to get off; I always have trouble doing it by hand...) Now its bubbling so hard that I can't actually put the lid back on, but I figure with that vigorous a yeast culture going in there any invading bacteria is going to have a hard time getting a word in edgewise - I'll re-seal it when it calms down a bit.
Alpine Amber
Somewhere in here I did another brew and forgot to blog it; the box of packaging has been sitting by the computer for ages. I think it would have been the weekend after the last, which would make it kegged about May 10. This was another run of the Homebrewers Outpost Alpine Amber, which I've done before, but this time as a partial mash kit. Process roughly the same as the last brew, and I completely failed to record SG readings, but the ingredients were:
4 lbs. Briess Golden Light Extract (liquid malt)
1 lb. Pilsen LightExtract (powdered malt)
1 oz. Tradition hops (bittering, 5.8% AA)
1 oz. Centennial hops (finishing, 8.0% AA)
1 vial liquid California Ale yeast
and the bag of mystery cracked grains
-----
Cracked this keg somewhere around the end of June, drank half of it, then left for Volcano for 2 weeks taking the Stout with us. Left this keg in the fridge but with the fridge turned off while I was gone. It was nice before I left, but even nicer by the time I got back - floral, without being sweet.
08/22/2009, 03:01:37 PM
4 lbs. Briess Golden Light Extract (liquid malt)
1 lb. Pilsen LightExtract (powdered malt)
1 oz. Tradition hops (bittering, 5.8% AA)
1 oz. Centennial hops (finishing, 8.0% AA)
1 vial liquid California Ale yeast
and the bag of mystery cracked grains
-----
Cracked this keg somewhere around the end of June, drank half of it, then left for Volcano for 2 weeks taking the Stout with us. Left this keg in the fridge but with the fridge turned off while I was gone. It was nice before I left, but even nicer by the time I got back - floral, without being sweet.
08/22/2009, 03:01:37 PM
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
American Brown
Working with a partial mash kit this time; still has some powdered and liquid malt, but also contains a bag of mixed grains to mash. It was suggested to me by the guys at the brew shop as a way of working my way into full mashes. As such, I'll describe the process a bit:
Break nutrient pack in Wyeast packet (American.)
5 quarts of water in the large brew pot, brought to 168 F.
Add grain in a muslin bag, stir.
After 5 minutes check the temperature is between 145 F and 158 F (~155 F.)
Put the pot in the oven set to 155 F (nice to have a digital temp control on the oven.)
Stir and check temp every 10 minutes for 60 (had to turn off the oven a couple of times to keep the intermittent hot spots from going over 158. Maybe set the temp to 150 next time.)
Heat 2 gallons of water to 180 F.
Bag of grains in a collander over brew pot. Sparge (rince) the grains slowly (cup by cup) with the hot water.
Discard (do not squeeze) the grains.
Now basically make beer as normal:
Add 1 lb. golden light briess dried malt extract.
Bring to vigorous boil.
Add 1 oz Sterling pellet hops (AA 6.0%)
Maintain uncovered for 1 hour total, during which:
After 45 minutes, stop timer, add 1/2 oz. Cascade pellet hops (AA 6.0%), turn off heat, add 4 lbs. Pilsen Extra liquid briess (stirring), return to boil, and restart timer.
After a further 10 minutes, add 1/2 oz. Cascade pellet hops (AA 6.0%).
Cool in ice bath, place in fermenter, top off to 5.25 gallons.
Pitch yeast between 70 F and 80 F (~70 F.)
Shake / rock vigorously for every other minute for 10 minutes.
Insert airlock.
Initial SG 1.056.
Final SG 1.012.
Kegged on May 3 2009.
1.056 - 1.012 = 0.044
* 105 = 4.62% abw
* 1.25 = 5.78% abv
-----
Cracked the keg on or about the 21st of June, after carbonating overnight @ ~ 15 PSI. Nice but somewhat innocuous; its not meant to be uber-hoppy, but it still seems like it could use a bit more oomph. Bit flat.
06/28/2009, 10:50:13 PM
Break nutrient pack in Wyeast packet (American.)
5 quarts of water in the large brew pot, brought to 168 F.
Add grain in a muslin bag, stir.
After 5 minutes check the temperature is between 145 F and 158 F (~155 F.)
Put the pot in the oven set to 155 F (nice to have a digital temp control on the oven.)
Stir and check temp every 10 minutes for 60 (had to turn off the oven a couple of times to keep the intermittent hot spots from going over 158. Maybe set the temp to 150 next time.)
Heat 2 gallons of water to 180 F.
Bag of grains in a collander over brew pot. Sparge (rince) the grains slowly (cup by cup) with the hot water.
Discard (do not squeeze) the grains.
Now basically make beer as normal:
Add 1 lb. golden light briess dried malt extract.
Bring to vigorous boil.
Add 1 oz Sterling pellet hops (AA 6.0%)
Maintain uncovered for 1 hour total, during which:
After 45 minutes, stop timer, add 1/2 oz. Cascade pellet hops (AA 6.0%), turn off heat, add 4 lbs. Pilsen Extra liquid briess (stirring), return to boil, and restart timer.
After a further 10 minutes, add 1/2 oz. Cascade pellet hops (AA 6.0%).
Cool in ice bath, place in fermenter, top off to 5.25 gallons.
Pitch yeast between 70 F and 80 F (~70 F.)
Shake / rock vigorously for every other minute for 10 minutes.
Insert airlock.
Initial SG 1.056.
Final SG 1.012.
Kegged on May 3 2009.
1.056 - 1.012 = 0.044
* 105 = 4.62% abw
* 1.25 = 5.78% abv
-----
Cracked the keg on or about the 21st of June, after carbonating overnight @ ~ 15 PSI. Nice but somewhat innocuous; its not meant to be uber-hoppy, but it still seems like it could use a bit more oomph. Bit flat.
06/28/2009, 10:50:13 PM
Friday, April 10, 2009
Beartooth Stout
Beartooth Stout kit.
specialty grains
7 lbs. Briess Dark Malt extract.
2.5 gallons water.
This one got to a boil as well - seems to happen at about 90 C (according to my thermometer, anyways) between the grains and the altitude, so it keeps catching me by surprise...
1.5 oz. Centennial (AA 8.0%) bittering
0.5 oz. Centennial (AA 8.0%) finishing
added yeast at 25 C
initial SG 1.058
Kegged on or about the 18th - forgot to get a final SG reading.
specialty grains
7 lbs. Briess Dark Malt extract.
2.5 gallons water.
This one got to a boil as well - seems to happen at about 90 C (according to my thermometer, anyways) between the grains and the altitude, so it keeps catching me by surprise...
1.5 oz. Centennial (AA 8.0%) bittering
0.5 oz. Centennial (AA 8.0%) finishing
added yeast at 25 C
initial SG 1.058
Kegged on or about the 18th - forgot to get a final SG reading.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Hard Cider
Wanted to make a hard cider, in preparation for trying to make some Apple Jack. Started with this recipe:
6 gallons 100% Cider (from Le Targét - Archer Farms)
White Labs Liquid Starter - English Cider Yeast
1 Lemon
0.5 gallons of water with 6 cups of white sugar diluted
with variations stolen from other recipes, or just because they seemed like a good idea at the time, ending up with:
4lbs. Granny Smith apples, cored and pureed (with enough water to get the puree going.)
1 gallon apple cider
2 cups white sugar
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 lb. honey (from the Daulton ranch)
juice of 1 lime
brought to a boil (to sterilize) and maintained for 3 minutes, then cooled to ~100 F in a water bath. Added to sterilized fermenter with ~3 1/4 gallons apple cider (for ~4 1/4 gallons total plus the apple mixture - basically its all that fit in the fermenter while leaving a bit of head space.) Added 1 packet of champagne yeast at ~74 F and stored in the cellar (which is fairly cool atm - ~48 F.) Initial S.G. 1.060.
-----
anti ob
Drier than a dry thing in a dry place with its dry shoes on. I actually kinda like it; everyone else I've tried it on has screwed up their face in a funny way and said "Ewergh!" It is fairly strong, so that bit worked at least.
11/09/2009, 07:29:33 AM
worldpeace and a speedboat
but what did it TASTE like?
11/08/2009, 06:52:44 PM
anti ob
1.060 - 1.000 = 0.060
* 105 = 6.3% abw
* 1.25 = 7.9% abv
VERY roughly doubling the alcohol by volume each time - which rather ludicrously assumes that my freezing scheme is perfectly efficient and throws away no alcohol - would put it at about 15% for the first cut, and 30% for the second. If there's a cheap tester at the brew shop, I may pick one up to test the actual product.
04/04/2009, 02:16:02 AM
still 1.060 after 6 days; added a second packet of yeast after 2.
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:12 pm | #
Guy at the brew shop says the cellar is way to cold for anything except lagers (which I was worried about, which is why I've been recording temperatures more with these batches) so I've brought it upstairs where it should sit at about 65 F. Odd that the last porter seems to have fermented ok at those temps.
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:26 pm | #
Racked at 1.000 SG on Feb 19.
anti ob | Homepage | 02.21.09 - 4:46 pm | #
So by the time I'd finished making the cider and aging it a bit, it wasn't cold enough here to freeze outdoors. Last weekend I ran it through the freezer in batches. I'd freeze a gallon of the stuff solid, let it melt til it was about half liquid, then upend it over a funnel with a tea towel in it. Any ice which poured out of the freezing vessel into the funnel I'd pull the liquid out of with a combination of a clean tea towel and one of those salad spinner centrifuge things. The first pass cut the volume roughly in half - down to about 2 3/4 gallons - and I pulled 3 liters of this out to keep and re-froze the remainder to roughly half it again.
anti ob | 04.04.09 - 5:05 am | #
6 gallons 100% Cider (from Le Targét - Archer Farms)
White Labs Liquid Starter - English Cider Yeast
1 Lemon
0.5 gallons of water with 6 cups of white sugar diluted
with variations stolen from other recipes, or just because they seemed like a good idea at the time, ending up with:
4lbs. Granny Smith apples, cored and pureed (with enough water to get the puree going.)
1 gallon apple cider
2 cups white sugar
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 lb. honey (from the Daulton ranch)
juice of 1 lime
brought to a boil (to sterilize) and maintained for 3 minutes, then cooled to ~100 F in a water bath. Added to sterilized fermenter with ~3 1/4 gallons apple cider (for ~4 1/4 gallons total plus the apple mixture - basically its all that fit in the fermenter while leaving a bit of head space.) Added 1 packet of champagne yeast at ~74 F and stored in the cellar (which is fairly cool atm - ~48 F.) Initial S.G. 1.060.
-----
anti ob
Drier than a dry thing in a dry place with its dry shoes on. I actually kinda like it; everyone else I've tried it on has screwed up their face in a funny way and said "Ewergh!" It is fairly strong, so that bit worked at least.
11/09/2009, 07:29:33 AM
worldpeace and a speedboat
but what did it TASTE like?
11/08/2009, 06:52:44 PM
anti ob
1.060 - 1.000 = 0.060
* 105 = 6.3% abw
* 1.25 = 7.9% abv
VERY roughly doubling the alcohol by volume each time - which rather ludicrously assumes that my freezing scheme is perfectly efficient and throws away no alcohol - would put it at about 15% for the first cut, and 30% for the second. If there's a cheap tester at the brew shop, I may pick one up to test the actual product.
04/04/2009, 02:16:02 AM
still 1.060 after 6 days; added a second packet of yeast after 2.
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:12 pm | #
Guy at the brew shop says the cellar is way to cold for anything except lagers (which I was worried about, which is why I've been recording temperatures more with these batches) so I've brought it upstairs where it should sit at about 65 F. Odd that the last porter seems to have fermented ok at those temps.
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:26 pm | #
Racked at 1.000 SG on Feb 19.
anti ob | Homepage | 02.21.09 - 4:46 pm | #
So by the time I'd finished making the cider and aging it a bit, it wasn't cold enough here to freeze outdoors. Last weekend I ran it through the freezer in batches. I'd freeze a gallon of the stuff solid, let it melt til it was about half liquid, then upend it over a funnel with a tea towel in it. Any ice which poured out of the freezing vessel into the funnel I'd pull the liquid out of with a combination of a clean tea towel and one of those salad spinner centrifuge things. The first pass cut the volume roughly in half - down to about 2 3/4 gallons - and I pulled 3 liters of this out to keep and re-froze the remainder to roughly half it again.
anti ob | 04.04.09 - 5:05 am | #
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Smoked Porter
Started with the Homebrewers Outpost Smoked Porter kit:
2.5 gallons water.
8 oz. German Smoked Malt
4 oz. Chocolate
in a mesh bag, heated to boil (just - didn't catch it in time. But at least we're at 7,000 ft where water boils 20 F lower...) Added:
7 lbs. Briess Dark Extract (malt)
stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
2 oz. Kent Goldings hop pellets (Alpha Acid 4.5%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 60 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath, added cold water to 5 gallons. Added 3 triple shots of fresh espresso with 2 oz. finely grated unsweetened baking chocolate disolved in it. Pitched:
11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment.
Starting S.G. 1.052. Pitch temp ~65 F. Ferment temp ~48 F.
-----
kegged at 1.020; aging in the cellar at ~48F
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:13 pm | #
In trying to sort out the hard cider, I've discovered that these temps are supposedly too low for anything but lagers. Still, the SG drop would seem to indicate that something coped; wonder if it will make the beer sweet or something, by causing the fermentation to stop early?
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:28 pm | #
1.052 - 1.020 = 0.032
* 105 = 3.36% abw
* 1.25 = 4.2% abv
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:39 pm | #
Gassed in the fridge for 2 days at ~14 psi. Nice and smoky - can taste the coffee and I think the chocolate as well, but not too overpowering. Carbonation is a bit low.
2.5 gallons water.
8 oz. German Smoked Malt
4 oz. Chocolate
in a mesh bag, heated to boil (just - didn't catch it in time. But at least we're at 7,000 ft where water boils 20 F lower...) Added:
7 lbs. Briess Dark Extract (malt)
stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
2 oz. Kent Goldings hop pellets (Alpha Acid 4.5%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 60 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath, added cold water to 5 gallons. Added 3 triple shots of fresh espresso with 2 oz. finely grated unsweetened baking chocolate disolved in it. Pitched:
11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment.
Starting S.G. 1.052. Pitch temp ~65 F. Ferment temp ~48 F.
-----
kegged at 1.020; aging in the cellar at ~48F
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:13 pm | #
In trying to sort out the hard cider, I've discovered that these temps are supposedly too low for anything but lagers. Still, the SG drop would seem to indicate that something coped; wonder if it will make the beer sweet or something, by causing the fermentation to stop early?
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:28 pm | #
1.052 - 1.020 = 0.032
* 105 = 3.36% abw
* 1.25 = 4.2% abv
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:39 pm | #
Gassed in the fridge for 2 days at ~14 psi. Nice and smoky - can taste the coffee and I think the chocolate as well, but not too overpowering. Carbonation is a bit low.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
German Alps Pilsner
Homebrewers Outpost German Alps Pilsner kit:
2.5 gallons water.
12 oz. Carapils.
in a mesh bag, heated to just before boiling. Added:
6 lbs. Briess Light Extract (malt)
stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
1 oz. German Northern Brewer hop pellets (Alpha Acid 7.0%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 55 minutes. Added:
2 oz. German Hallertau hop pellets (Alpha Acid 3.9%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath til the pot was warm to the touch, added cold water to 5 gallons @ ~75F. Pitched:
11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment on 1/10/08 at ~48F. Initial S.G. 1.060.
Initial yeast pitch didn't seem to take (is it possible for it to be too _low_ temperature?) so I re-pitched with the packet from a Smoky Porter kit (it looks the same.) This time I followed the instructions on the yeast packet for rehydrating the yeast first (4oz. ~90F water + yeast. Cover with sterile cloth for 15 mins. Add 1oz. wort every 5 minutes until its doubled in volume (to avoid temperature shock), then add to wort.)
-----
Went to check SG on 1/18 but it was still visibly bubbling, so I didn't bother. Given the slow start and the low temp in my cellar atm, this doesn't seem too surprising.
anti ob | Homepage | 01.18.09 - 3:12 pm | #
Kegged on Jan 23, SG 1.020
anti ob | Homepage | 01.23.09 - 1:29 pm | #
1.060 - 1.020 = 0.040
* 105 = 4.2% abw
* 1.25 = 5.25% abv
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:37 pm | #
After a month in the keg this was nice, but a month after that it was nicer...
2.5 gallons water.
12 oz. Carapils.
in a mesh bag, heated to just before boiling. Added:
6 lbs. Briess Light Extract (malt)
stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
1 oz. German Northern Brewer hop pellets (Alpha Acid 7.0%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 55 minutes. Added:
2 oz. German Hallertau hop pellets (Alpha Acid 3.9%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath til the pot was warm to the touch, added cold water to 5 gallons @ ~75F. Pitched:
11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment on 1/10/08 at ~48F. Initial S.G. 1.060.
Initial yeast pitch didn't seem to take (is it possible for it to be too _low_ temperature?) so I re-pitched with the packet from a Smoky Porter kit (it looks the same.) This time I followed the instructions on the yeast packet for rehydrating the yeast first (4oz. ~90F water + yeast. Cover with sterile cloth for 15 mins. Add 1oz. wort every 5 minutes until its doubled in volume (to avoid temperature shock), then add to wort.)
-----
Went to check SG on 1/18 but it was still visibly bubbling, so I didn't bother. Given the slow start and the low temp in my cellar atm, this doesn't seem too surprising.
anti ob | Homepage | 01.18.09 - 3:12 pm | #
Kegged on Jan 23, SG 1.020
anti ob | Homepage | 01.23.09 - 1:29 pm | #
1.060 - 1.020 = 0.040
* 105 = 4.2% abw
* 1.25 = 5.25% abv
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:37 pm | #
After a month in the keg this was nice, but a month after that it was nicer...
Coffee Porter
Started with the Homebrewers Outpost Robust Porter kit:
2.5 gallons water.
6 oz. Chocolate.
4 oz. Crystal 120.
in a mesh bag, heated to 170F and let to steep (occasionally turning the heat back on to push it back up to 170F) for 10 minutes. Added:
7 lbs. Briess Dark Extract (malt)
stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
1 oz. UK Challenger hop pellets (Alpha Acid 8.0%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 55 minutes. Added:
1 oz. ?? hop pellets (Alpha Acid ??%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath to ~100F, added cold water to 5 gallons. Added 4 double shots of fresh espresso (I have read various recipes involving people adding coffee at the end of the boil, but coffee tastes like shite if you let it boil - it boils off lots of the tasty volitiles - so I opted to make decent coffee and add it after cooling.) Pitched:
11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment.
Didn't save the S.G readings for this one. Carbonated it at a slightly higher pressure (I believe it was about 14 PSI) and keg aged for about 1 month.
This was a nice beer! Good body, nice head, you could taste the coffee but it was subtle.
2.5 gallons water.
6 oz. Chocolate.
4 oz. Crystal 120.
in a mesh bag, heated to 170F and let to steep (occasionally turning the heat back on to push it back up to 170F) for 10 minutes. Added:
7 lbs. Briess Dark Extract (malt)
stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
1 oz. UK Challenger hop pellets (Alpha Acid 8.0%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 55 minutes. Added:
1 oz. ?? hop pellets (Alpha Acid ??%)
in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath to ~100F, added cold water to 5 gallons. Added 4 double shots of fresh espresso (I have read various recipes involving people adding coffee at the end of the boil, but coffee tastes like shite if you let it boil - it boils off lots of the tasty volitiles - so I opted to make decent coffee and add it after cooling.) Pitched:
11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment.
Didn't save the S.G readings for this one. Carbonated it at a slightly higher pressure (I believe it was about 14 PSI) and keg aged for about 1 month.
This was a nice beer! Good body, nice head, you could taste the coffee but it was subtle.
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