So my wife has a favorite commercial brew, Sweetwater Sch'weat. After a string of porters and other dark brews for the winter she threw down the challenge to try and clone this brew. After some googling back and forth and some tweaking on my own I ended up with a recipe I liked.
6.5 lbs - 2 row
2.75 lbs - Wheat
0.5 oz - Amarillo (60 minute)
1 oz - Amarillo (5 minute)
In a fit of absolute frustration I had to tweak to this on brew day when I discovered the 3 lbs of wheat I ordered had come up short. Not by much but I added back some 2 row to balance it out and keep the OG where I wanted.
After a successful brew day with no issues of note and two weeks between the primary and secondary I bottled using 1 cup of honey. This one was tough for me because it is actually not my favorite wheat (if going hefe I prefer Widmer, its okay call me an Oregon beer snob I can take it) so tasting it throughout the process I was never completely sure if I was happy with it. It kept tasting bitter to me, but not like fun hop bitter, more like citrus bitter. The client kept insisting she was happy but I was weary, I've never dumped a batch and didn't want to start now. Finally 10 days after bottling we threw two in the fridge and went for it.
I have to say after all that I am happy with it, she loves it, says it may even be better than the original (don't worry, I know she is biased and just stroking my ego) and even I am happy with it. It mellowed some in the bottles I think and is crisp and refreshing, perfect for these very nice spring days in Georgia.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
A Tampa Beer Adventure
It started out as a work trip for Beck Wagnon Photography (beckwagnonphotography.com) and the fact that she asked me too come with and help out was more than enough to get me there. It turned into a lot of great beer and some great people and a very nice and casual wedding.
The wedding wasn't scheduled to start until almost 6 pm and we didn't have to be there until 3ish. My wife, the wonderful woman that she is, suggested we hit Tampa a little early and hit up a brewpub for lunch and a brewery tour before the wedding. Needless to say I didn't argue or complain. We started off for lunch at Tampa Bay Brewing (tampabaybrewingcompany.com) where we had the sampler. Samplers sometimes leave me wanting but this was a full sampler of a 9+1 beers and that made me happy. I say it like that because originally they didn't pour the hefeweizen for us since they said it had just been tapped and was pouring very yeasty. They brought it out to us later after they has drained some off but I appreciated that they cared enough about the quality of the product not to just serve us just anything. The hefewiezen is usually my wife's favorite and this time was no exception. Thanks to a few clever questions we got to talk to one of the brewers who had come in that day about yeast and some of their brews. Not an all inclusive conversation by any means but he was knowledgeable and helpful and clearly knew his stuff. I am man enough to admit that as we left I confessed to my wife that I hated that little shit because he couldn't have been more than 25 and was living the dream that is at least a decade off for me. At least he was cool.
After our lunch, which was also quite tasty I might add, we headed over to Cigar City Brewing (www.cigarcitybrewing.com) for the tour and tasting. I have had a couple of their brews before, I enjoyed one of their espresso beers but their Jai Alai IPA is a little much for me. Not bad just not my cup of tea. I must say though that the tour was one of the best I had been on. For $5 you get the tour, a draft pour of one of their beers from the tasting room, and a clean fresh pint glass on your way out the door. Except for the sorority girls who tried to hit on the tour guide the whole experience was excellent. I had specific questions about how they did the coffee infused flavor through aging instead of cold pressing and despite not being a brewer the guide was knowledgeable about their practices and was more than happy to chat away. During the tour I sipped on their pilot batch of a stout which was mighty tasty (I LOVE breweries that do pilot batches) and the misses enjoyed the Florida Cracker Belgian Wit.
After the tour we stopped around the corner at Total Wine and More which carries a lot of specialty brews and specifically a lot of brews that I can't get locally. As I started this post I was finishing off the saison brew from Swamp Head brewing in Gainsville FL. I will say I am not sure it was worth $19 for a 750ml bottle but it was a decent brew. I will be enjoying the rest of my haul over the next few days and will be peppering the internets with more and more as I go.
The wedding wasn't scheduled to start until almost 6 pm and we didn't have to be there until 3ish. My wife, the wonderful woman that she is, suggested we hit Tampa a little early and hit up a brewpub for lunch and a brewery tour before the wedding. Needless to say I didn't argue or complain. We started off for lunch at Tampa Bay Brewing (tampabaybrewingcompany.com) where we had the sampler. Samplers sometimes leave me wanting but this was a full sampler of a 9+1 beers and that made me happy. I say it like that because originally they didn't pour the hefeweizen for us since they said it had just been tapped and was pouring very yeasty. They brought it out to us later after they has drained some off but I appreciated that they cared enough about the quality of the product not to just serve us just anything. The hefewiezen is usually my wife's favorite and this time was no exception. Thanks to a few clever questions we got to talk to one of the brewers who had come in that day about yeast and some of their brews. Not an all inclusive conversation by any means but he was knowledgeable and helpful and clearly knew his stuff. I am man enough to admit that as we left I confessed to my wife that I hated that little shit because he couldn't have been more than 25 and was living the dream that is at least a decade off for me. At least he was cool.
After our lunch, which was also quite tasty I might add, we headed over to Cigar City Brewing (www.cigarcitybrewing.com) for the tour and tasting. I have had a couple of their brews before, I enjoyed one of their espresso beers but their Jai Alai IPA is a little much for me. Not bad just not my cup of tea. I must say though that the tour was one of the best I had been on. For $5 you get the tour, a draft pour of one of their beers from the tasting room, and a clean fresh pint glass on your way out the door. Except for the sorority girls who tried to hit on the tour guide the whole experience was excellent. I had specific questions about how they did the coffee infused flavor through aging instead of cold pressing and despite not being a brewer the guide was knowledgeable about their practices and was more than happy to chat away. During the tour I sipped on their pilot batch of a stout which was mighty tasty (I LOVE breweries that do pilot batches) and the misses enjoyed the Florida Cracker Belgian Wit.
After the tour we stopped around the corner at Total Wine and More which carries a lot of specialty brews and specifically a lot of brews that I can't get locally. As I started this post I was finishing off the saison brew from Swamp Head brewing in Gainsville FL. I will say I am not sure it was worth $19 for a 750ml bottle but it was a decent brew. I will be enjoying the rest of my haul over the next few days and will be peppering the internets with more and more as I go.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
First All-Grain Recap
It has been just a couple of short months now since I finally took the leap from brewing with DME to all grains all the time. I had enlisted the help of my father in law to build a mash-tun out of a 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler and was aching to put it to use. Add to that a 50 lb bag of 2 row sitting in my pantry taunting me and it was clearly time to get to work. I have always been one to do things the hard way first, and this time was no exception. The difference was this time I wasn't fully prepared for how hard I was about to make it on myself. The challenge that was before me was that I had not procured a grain mill and set aside to crack 8 lbs of grain by hand and whatever means I could.
When I started it already didn't seem like the smartest idea but I convinced myself that it couldn't take more than a couple of hours. Oh I was so young and naive. I had what I thought were a couple of good ideas going in. I was first going to load up a ziploc bag with grains, wrap it in a dish towel to keep to dust from getting too crazy and then tried to roll it with a rolling pin. I might as well have been rolling over a bag full of water, it was pointless and comical. That only lasted about 5 minutes before realizing that was a horrible idea.
Next I moved on to pouring a thin layer of grains into a shallow cookie sheet and again tried to crush the grains with a rolling pin. That worked a little bit better, a very very little bit better. This way I could actually crush some of the grains but again the grains moved very freely about in the tray and only a small amount actually ended up getting cracked at all.
The next plan doubled as the most effective and also a complete mess. My smarter half suggested that I could place one cookie sheet inside of the larger one I was already using and crack the grains between the two sheets. I went after this method first using the rolling pin just applying even pressure until I heard cracking, then using a rubber mallet to hit the top cookie sheet and crack the grain between the two again. The mallet worked somewhat faster but had the downside of spilling more grain out the side than any of the other options by far.
After about 4 hours of work I had finally cracked enough grain to start mashing in, it is then I realized the next challenge ahead of me was prepping water to mash in. As an extract brewer I had never worried about this, warming up the water and dissolving the DME was just part of the process. But sitting there tired from hours of work I realized that this time I had to not only heat almost 8 gallons of water to a much more precise temperature (158F was my goal here) but that this was going to take a lot longer than planned. At this moment I was glad I started brewing just after 4 AM,
Finally grains were cracked, strike water heated I put my new mash tun to work for about 70 minutes (batch sparge). The water looked clearer than I recall out of similar all grain batches but at this point I was well passed to point of no return and off I went into the boil.
An hour later I ended up with about 4.25 gallons of wort ready to be cooled and yeastified. (I know its not a word but how awesome is it). Two weeks later, bottled (though with too much priming honey because I'm an idiot and didn't adjust for the smaller volume) and then into the beer aging/conditioning haven that is my coat closet. Another two weeks then its time to try my creation, the end result is a smile on my face.
During fermentation and conditioning I had applied some lessons learned and convinced the smart one in the family to let me buy a grinder (though I still crank it by hand and I like it that way) and had duplicated the initial batch. A northwestern hopped Florida wild flower honey ale (I'm still pissed that the prez copied me) and had sent batch number 2 into the primary which much more ease and must better results initially. So the smile, was all because I had made good beer, despite all of the issues I had managed good beer once again. It wasn't quite as strong as I hoped, and the color wasn't 100% right, and the carbonation was a disaster even though I have yet to lose a single bottle. But it was tasty, and after I let it calm down very drinkable. I learned a lot that first batch, and learned more my second. Every batch is an adventure kids, so don't worry, relax, and have a homebrew.
When I started it already didn't seem like the smartest idea but I convinced myself that it couldn't take more than a couple of hours. Oh I was so young and naive. I had what I thought were a couple of good ideas going in. I was first going to load up a ziploc bag with grains, wrap it in a dish towel to keep to dust from getting too crazy and then tried to roll it with a rolling pin. I might as well have been rolling over a bag full of water, it was pointless and comical. That only lasted about 5 minutes before realizing that was a horrible idea.
Next I moved on to pouring a thin layer of grains into a shallow cookie sheet and again tried to crush the grains with a rolling pin. That worked a little bit better, a very very little bit better. This way I could actually crush some of the grains but again the grains moved very freely about in the tray and only a small amount actually ended up getting cracked at all.
The next plan doubled as the most effective and also a complete mess. My smarter half suggested that I could place one cookie sheet inside of the larger one I was already using and crack the grains between the two sheets. I went after this method first using the rolling pin just applying even pressure until I heard cracking, then using a rubber mallet to hit the top cookie sheet and crack the grain between the two again. The mallet worked somewhat faster but had the downside of spilling more grain out the side than any of the other options by far.
After about 4 hours of work I had finally cracked enough grain to start mashing in, it is then I realized the next challenge ahead of me was prepping water to mash in. As an extract brewer I had never worried about this, warming up the water and dissolving the DME was just part of the process. But sitting there tired from hours of work I realized that this time I had to not only heat almost 8 gallons of water to a much more precise temperature (158F was my goal here) but that this was going to take a lot longer than planned. At this moment I was glad I started brewing just after 4 AM,
Finally grains were cracked, strike water heated I put my new mash tun to work for about 70 minutes (batch sparge). The water looked clearer than I recall out of similar all grain batches but at this point I was well passed to point of no return and off I went into the boil.
An hour later I ended up with about 4.25 gallons of wort ready to be cooled and yeastified. (I know its not a word but how awesome is it). Two weeks later, bottled (though with too much priming honey because I'm an idiot and didn't adjust for the smaller volume) and then into the beer aging/conditioning haven that is my coat closet. Another two weeks then its time to try my creation, the end result is a smile on my face.
During fermentation and conditioning I had applied some lessons learned and convinced the smart one in the family to let me buy a grinder (though I still crank it by hand and I like it that way) and had duplicated the initial batch. A northwestern hopped Florida wild flower honey ale (I'm still pissed that the prez copied me) and had sent batch number 2 into the primary which much more ease and must better results initially. So the smile, was all because I had made good beer, despite all of the issues I had managed good beer once again. It wasn't quite as strong as I hoped, and the color wasn't 100% right, and the carbonation was a disaster even though I have yet to lose a single bottle. But it was tasty, and after I let it calm down very drinkable. I learned a lot that first batch, and learned more my second. Every batch is an adventure kids, so don't worry, relax, and have a homebrew.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
A DC Beer Trip
Recently my wife planned a trip up to the DC area for the weekend to shoot some amazing photographs. Really, it was a pretty rad trip (beckwagnonphotography.com check it out then check out her photo blog and come back, I'll wait...okay you back, cool then here we go again).
My wife is amazing, she really is, the reasons are far too numerous for this or any post to contain but here is one epic example. Whenever we travel I start off trying to find places to stop and eat along the way that aren't beer related. She digs it and enjoys it but isn't quite as all consumed as I am. I never want to make her feel like the only reason we travel is so that I can visit beer hot spots, I think that would be a bummer for her. But it always ends up a couple days before she starts to ask where we are going and what the plans are. I always give her a few options and she asks, "Why aren't we going to any breweries?" I justify it, there is usually one or two on the list anyway but at this point she is not about to let me mess it up again, this time my instructions are simple, scope out the breweries I want to go to. I, of course, have already done this, I know every brewery or beer bar within 20 miles of our expected route and within 50 of our final destination, I know what their best brews are and what seasonal beers they are carrying.
Long story short, wait, too late. Anyway our recent DC trip followed the same pattern and I couldn't have been happier. First stop was Bull City Burger and Brewery (http://bullcityburgerandbrewery.com/BCB&B/Home.html) and it was absolutely stellar. The food was actually a big highlight, they go for a big time local push and it pays off. As for the beer, absolutely top notch, absolutely. I had the imperial stout (served in correct glassware) and the doppelbock lager. Both were delicious and right on point, not only what you expect out each style but they also maximize the flavor. The staff is knowledgeable and was easy to talk to even as they got busier with the lunch rush. My better half went for the golden ale and her personal favorite the "Litteln Horny." That brew was part of a three part barley wine beer series they had done and this was the first and smallest of the bunch but it packed just the right amount of flavor and made her happy, which is always the goal anyway.
Dinner plans actually changed when she found a Dogfish head brewpub in Arlington. After braving a little bit of DC traffic we were seated quickly and had just ordered which eagle eyes spotted a mythical creation. The long sought and never found Bitches Brew. This was the brew featured on the (sadly) short lived series Brewmasters on Discovery channel last year featuring Dogfish Head Brewery. Since then we have searched far and wide in our local area and even on a trip to Asheville for a bottle to no avail. She spotted it up on their chalkboard and asked if they still had it, they found us one of the remaining bottles and we shared it over dinner. Food was good, nothing out of this world but it didn't matter that beer was wonderful, it was deep and complex yet smooth. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again.
Day two was a day actually in DC, and it included a lot of walking from the capital down the national mall and then up to Georgetown. Since we were on foot most beer places in DC were a touch out of reach but that proved to be a hidden benefit. We ended up in this little bar called Thunder Burger in Georgetown and it was quite the little find with an excellent tap/bottle list. I have to confess that now a couple of weeks later I can't remember what I had for my first or second round, but I remember that I enjoyed both the food and the beer. Enough so that given the chance to go back that little spot would be a required detour.
Day two ended with somewhat mixed feelings at Capital city brewing. When you google DC breweries it is the first result, yet when I asked around no one mentioned it, why was that, it sort of puzzled me. Then we went there, and it was on par with a Rock Bottom or Gordon Biersch (my bias against them has been mentioned before) but that was just the same. The beer was okay, nothing I even really remember and I only had one. The food was very standard fare, nothing special and nothing I even remember either.
That is it, two days traveling, 3 great beer finds and 1 meh result. Damn I love to travel with this woman.
My wife is amazing, she really is, the reasons are far too numerous for this or any post to contain but here is one epic example. Whenever we travel I start off trying to find places to stop and eat along the way that aren't beer related. She digs it and enjoys it but isn't quite as all consumed as I am. I never want to make her feel like the only reason we travel is so that I can visit beer hot spots, I think that would be a bummer for her. But it always ends up a couple days before she starts to ask where we are going and what the plans are. I always give her a few options and she asks, "Why aren't we going to any breweries?" I justify it, there is usually one or two on the list anyway but at this point she is not about to let me mess it up again, this time my instructions are simple, scope out the breweries I want to go to. I, of course, have already done this, I know every brewery or beer bar within 20 miles of our expected route and within 50 of our final destination, I know what their best brews are and what seasonal beers they are carrying.
Long story short, wait, too late. Anyway our recent DC trip followed the same pattern and I couldn't have been happier. First stop was Bull City Burger and Brewery (http://bullcityburgerandbrewery.com/BCB&B/Home.html) and it was absolutely stellar. The food was actually a big highlight, they go for a big time local push and it pays off. As for the beer, absolutely top notch, absolutely. I had the imperial stout (served in correct glassware) and the doppelbock lager. Both were delicious and right on point, not only what you expect out each style but they also maximize the flavor. The staff is knowledgeable and was easy to talk to even as they got busier with the lunch rush. My better half went for the golden ale and her personal favorite the "Litteln Horny." That brew was part of a three part barley wine beer series they had done and this was the first and smallest of the bunch but it packed just the right amount of flavor and made her happy, which is always the goal anyway.
Dinner plans actually changed when she found a Dogfish head brewpub in Arlington. After braving a little bit of DC traffic we were seated quickly and had just ordered which eagle eyes spotted a mythical creation. The long sought and never found Bitches Brew. This was the brew featured on the (sadly) short lived series Brewmasters on Discovery channel last year featuring Dogfish Head Brewery. Since then we have searched far and wide in our local area and even on a trip to Asheville for a bottle to no avail. She spotted it up on their chalkboard and asked if they still had it, they found us one of the remaining bottles and we shared it over dinner. Food was good, nothing out of this world but it didn't matter that beer was wonderful, it was deep and complex yet smooth. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again.
Day two was a day actually in DC, and it included a lot of walking from the capital down the national mall and then up to Georgetown. Since we were on foot most beer places in DC were a touch out of reach but that proved to be a hidden benefit. We ended up in this little bar called Thunder Burger in Georgetown and it was quite the little find with an excellent tap/bottle list. I have to confess that now a couple of weeks later I can't remember what I had for my first or second round, but I remember that I enjoyed both the food and the beer. Enough so that given the chance to go back that little spot would be a required detour.
Day two ended with somewhat mixed feelings at Capital city brewing. When you google DC breweries it is the first result, yet when I asked around no one mentioned it, why was that, it sort of puzzled me. Then we went there, and it was on par with a Rock Bottom or Gordon Biersch (my bias against them has been mentioned before) but that was just the same. The beer was okay, nothing I even really remember and I only had one. The food was very standard fare, nothing special and nothing I even remember either.
That is it, two days traveling, 3 great beer finds and 1 meh result. Damn I love to travel with this woman.
So out of date it is sad
So this is tragically out of date. When I last posted I was brewing from kits and making small minor variations and taking a few small risks every now and then. I don't pretend to by much further along but I'm all-grain brewing and I can safely say enough good batches behind me that I feel comfortable pressing the limits a little bit.
I guess it is time to start catching up, enjoy the ride.
I guess it is time to start catching up, enjoy the ride.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Boston Stock Ale Update
We tried the first taste of the dry-hopped Boston Stock Ale yesterday and both of us were surprised by how mild the taste was. Not to say we didn’t like it, but for all the batches we have made this was by far the most mild and subtle in flavor.
It dawned on me that this batch was actually my problem batch so let me recap here.
After 24 hours in the primary there was no evidence of active fermentation at all and it was starting to concern me. After some troubleshooting I determined that the room I use for my fermentation was too cold for the yeast in this batch. I use a hall closet because its dark and usually nice and cool putting it right in the prime range for good fermentation. This batch, however, called for temperatures greater than 65 and my closet was just a tad on the cold side for that. With this knowledge I pulled the primary out of the closet and placed it in a dark but warmer part of the house to sit. Thinking I had a stalled fermentation I was hoping that in a day or so that it would pick back up and continue as normal.
Eight (8) hours after moving the primary I went to check on it and found a complete foam over. The fermentation had kicked off all right and had produced enough foam to escape through the airlock and even puddle up a bit on the lid of the primary. I quickly sanatized a new lid for the primary and a new airlock and replaced the lid and airlock on the primary.
I watched and tracked the fermentation for the next few days as it continued rather steadily before racking to the secondary. When I racked to the secondary I added the whole aromatic hops in a muslin bag to the carboy prior to racking. I completed the remainder of the 14 days in the secondary and bottled using ¾ cups of corn sugar.
This batch conditioned for a little longer than usual and when I first popped the topped noted it had good solid carbonation. Again the taste itself was very mild but it was quite drinkable and I could have easily had a few more. Given that we are moving in a couple of days now these might be the perfect brews to provide as moving fuel for our helpers, mild and drinkable.
It dawned on me that this batch was actually my problem batch so let me recap here.
After 24 hours in the primary there was no evidence of active fermentation at all and it was starting to concern me. After some troubleshooting I determined that the room I use for my fermentation was too cold for the yeast in this batch. I use a hall closet because its dark and usually nice and cool putting it right in the prime range for good fermentation. This batch, however, called for temperatures greater than 65 and my closet was just a tad on the cold side for that. With this knowledge I pulled the primary out of the closet and placed it in a dark but warmer part of the house to sit. Thinking I had a stalled fermentation I was hoping that in a day or so that it would pick back up and continue as normal.
Eight (8) hours after moving the primary I went to check on it and found a complete foam over. The fermentation had kicked off all right and had produced enough foam to escape through the airlock and even puddle up a bit on the lid of the primary. I quickly sanatized a new lid for the primary and a new airlock and replaced the lid and airlock on the primary.
I watched and tracked the fermentation for the next few days as it continued rather steadily before racking to the secondary. When I racked to the secondary I added the whole aromatic hops in a muslin bag to the carboy prior to racking. I completed the remainder of the 14 days in the secondary and bottled using ¾ cups of corn sugar.
This batch conditioned for a little longer than usual and when I first popped the topped noted it had good solid carbonation. Again the taste itself was very mild but it was quite drinkable and I could have easily had a few more. Given that we are moving in a couple of days now these might be the perfect brews to provide as moving fuel for our helpers, mild and drinkable.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Sweet Oatmeal Porter
It was a day off work, so what better to do than brew up a nice batch. I actually had to hold back on this one a bit to wait for my bottle supply to build up enough to bottle this batch when the time is ready. It turns out that between traveling and the holidays that I have been quite a bit behind on my consumption rate.
So today’s brew is a sweet oatmeal porter that consists of:
5 lbs Dark DME
1 cup English Black Patent Malt
2 cups Crystal 120L
2 cups Flaked oats
1.25 oz Brewers gold pellet hops (bittering, 60 minute) (6.4 alpha)
0.5 oz Cascade whole hops (aromatic, 2 minute) (5.8 alpha)
This batch followed the recurring theme, dissolved the DME into 2 gallons of water over about 20 minutes. Added the speciality malts for 20 minutes and heated to about 150 degrees F before adjusting the heat up to boiling. Once boiling was attained I pulled the malts out of the wort and added the bittering hops to the boil. I placed the malts in a strainer over the brew pot to allow any remaining liquid to drain down into the wort. After 35 minutes I added a whirfloc tablet for clarification and continued the boil for another 25 minutes. With 2 minutes left in the boil I added the aromatic hops.
As soon as the boil was finished I removed the brewpot from the heat and placed it into an ice bath. At the same time I removed the hops and placed the hop bags into the strainer over the brew pot. (I had already tossed the speciality malts out.) After about 20 minutes in the ice bath the temperature of the wort had cooled to around 100 degrees F. Since brew day was a colder day I tested the temp of the water being used to bring my total volume up. The combination of the 3 gallons of cold water with the 2 gallons of wort would give me a average temperature of roughly 65 degrees F. Not wanting my wort to cool too much I pulled the brewpot out of the ice bath and poured the brewpot into the primary which had already been filled up to about 2 gallons with water. I then topped the primary off at 5 gallons and pitched the yeast with a good vigorous stir to fully aerate the wort.
The initial SG of this brew was right on target at 1.051. After 16 hours fermentation hadn’t yet started but thankfully when I returned from a weekend away the airlock was bubbling nicely. I racked to the secondary on the 4th day. By the time I racked the SG had dropped to 1.014 which was already within the target range for final SG. Hopefully after another few days in the secondary this one will be ready to bottle and gear up for conditioning.
So today’s brew is a sweet oatmeal porter that consists of:
5 lbs Dark DME
1 cup English Black Patent Malt
2 cups Crystal 120L
2 cups Flaked oats
1.25 oz Brewers gold pellet hops (bittering, 60 minute) (6.4 alpha)
0.5 oz Cascade whole hops (aromatic, 2 minute) (5.8 alpha)
This batch followed the recurring theme, dissolved the DME into 2 gallons of water over about 20 minutes. Added the speciality malts for 20 minutes and heated to about 150 degrees F before adjusting the heat up to boiling. Once boiling was attained I pulled the malts out of the wort and added the bittering hops to the boil. I placed the malts in a strainer over the brew pot to allow any remaining liquid to drain down into the wort. After 35 minutes I added a whirfloc tablet for clarification and continued the boil for another 25 minutes. With 2 minutes left in the boil I added the aromatic hops.
As soon as the boil was finished I removed the brewpot from the heat and placed it into an ice bath. At the same time I removed the hops and placed the hop bags into the strainer over the brew pot. (I had already tossed the speciality malts out.) After about 20 minutes in the ice bath the temperature of the wort had cooled to around 100 degrees F. Since brew day was a colder day I tested the temp of the water being used to bring my total volume up. The combination of the 3 gallons of cold water with the 2 gallons of wort would give me a average temperature of roughly 65 degrees F. Not wanting my wort to cool too much I pulled the brewpot out of the ice bath and poured the brewpot into the primary which had already been filled up to about 2 gallons with water. I then topped the primary off at 5 gallons and pitched the yeast with a good vigorous stir to fully aerate the wort.
The initial SG of this brew was right on target at 1.051. After 16 hours fermentation hadn’t yet started but thankfully when I returned from a weekend away the airlock was bubbling nicely. I racked to the secondary on the 4th day. By the time I racked the SG had dropped to 1.014 which was already within the target range for final SG. Hopefully after another few days in the secondary this one will be ready to bottle and gear up for conditioning.
Asheville Beer Review
I have always heard the rumors that Asheville, NC is a beer Mecca. After a day or so there, I can attest that these rumors are all absolutely true. Upon entering the downtown area we found our way to two different speciality beer shops that both had a rather large selection of micro and high gravity beers. I left each shop with a box full of beer and will have to review them one at a time because to do any less would be a disservice to these magnificent brews. Along the way though we made a stop off at a local downtown brewery the Lexington Avenue Brewery, or Lab.
My choice at the Lab was the chocolate stout which poured thick and creamy with excellent head formation and retention. If you have ever seen a proper Guinness pour then you have seen the cascade down the side of the pint glass as the beer clears from a tan color to a deep black. The taste was full bodied, smooth and of course chocolately. My wife ordered the Oktoberfest brew which was also delicious. This brew was crisp and full of sharp wheat flavor but also managed to be very drinkable. This was probably the fastest my wife has ever downed a beer.
Day two of our trip was cut short by some thoroughly nasty weather but not before a stop off and a pint of Foothills stout. Now its confession time, I had no idea what I was ordering at the time, it was the only brew on the chalkboard that I didn’t recognize and therefore had to give it a shot. First off, I got a rich coffee flavor and aroma, the drink was smooth and robust but not aggressively so. I would find out, thanks to Google of course, that what I got was from a different North Carolina brewery and their Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout. This was the kind of brew that left me wanting more from that brewery so it succeeded in its goal and maybe Winston-Salem, NC needs to be added to the list of destinations.
With all that said a trip back to Asheville is on the agenda already, with so many fine breweries in the area there is just no way we can resist the opportunity to have finely crafted brews with such a relatively short drive.
My choice at the Lab was the chocolate stout which poured thick and creamy with excellent head formation and retention. If you have ever seen a proper Guinness pour then you have seen the cascade down the side of the pint glass as the beer clears from a tan color to a deep black. The taste was full bodied, smooth and of course chocolately. My wife ordered the Oktoberfest brew which was also delicious. This brew was crisp and full of sharp wheat flavor but also managed to be very drinkable. This was probably the fastest my wife has ever downed a beer.
Day two of our trip was cut short by some thoroughly nasty weather but not before a stop off and a pint of Foothills stout. Now its confession time, I had no idea what I was ordering at the time, it was the only brew on the chalkboard that I didn’t recognize and therefore had to give it a shot. First off, I got a rich coffee flavor and aroma, the drink was smooth and robust but not aggressively so. I would find out, thanks to Google of course, that what I got was from a different North Carolina brewery and their Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout. This was the kind of brew that left me wanting more from that brewery so it succeeded in its goal and maybe Winston-Salem, NC needs to be added to the list of destinations.
With all that said a trip back to Asheville is on the agenda already, with so many fine breweries in the area there is just no way we can resist the opportunity to have finely crafted brews with such a relatively short drive.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Boston Stock Ale
I realized the other day that I have both a porter and a stout taking up space in my conditioning cabinets, and an ale that is destined for some family members... But I have no lighter ales for myself. So despite Christmas season being upon us, today's brew is a Boston Stock Ale. To add a little punch, for the first time I plan on dry hopping this beer (adding the aromatic hops to the secondary during racking from the primary to the secondary). This should add some good hop aroma to go along with the already hearty flavor this beer should have.
Today was a brew day the same as most others, though admittedly the outside temperature is much cooler than usual on a brew day. It began with sanitation and then dissolving of DME into 2 gallons of water. Adding the speciality (Crystal 60L) malts and heating the brew to 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes. This heat time is longer than usual for a DME batch but since I am headed towards all grain brewing anyway its probably good practice. After 40 minutes heat was adjusted to achieve a boil. The approach to boil did seem to take longer this time thanks to the cool outside air and swift breeze stealing all of my good heat. When boiling was achieved added the bittering pellet hops in a nylon hop bag and placed the speciality malts into a strainger over the brew pot. I had to adjust heat up a few times more after this to maintain a good boil, again due to the cold weather, but I managed to keep a good low rolling boil going the entire time. I added the whirlfloc tablet to the brew at 35 minutes into the boil and the flavoring hops 10 minutes later.
When the full 60 minute boil was completed I capped the brew and left it outside to cool. My dog had chewed through the end up my wort chiller that attaches to the hose so it looks like some repair work is in order. Once the wort had chilled I added 2 gallons of water to the primary bucket and strained the wort into the primary. I brought the total volume up to 5 gallons and pitched the liquid yeast smack pack (Wyeast again) into the primary. I locked up the primary with my airlock and set about to waiting until I could rack and add my aromatic hops to the secondary. Immediately before pitching the yeast into the primary the γg of the wort was 1.054.
Recipe:
5 lbs Light DME
6 cups Crystal 60L
Hops:
1.25 oz Sterling bittering pellet hops (5.4 α) (60 mintues)
0.5 oz Fuggle whole flavoring hops (4.1 α) (15 minutes)
0.5 oz UK East Kent Golding whole hops (6.3 α) (added to secondary)
Today was a brew day the same as most others, though admittedly the outside temperature is much cooler than usual on a brew day. It began with sanitation and then dissolving of DME into 2 gallons of water. Adding the speciality (Crystal 60L) malts and heating the brew to 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes. This heat time is longer than usual for a DME batch but since I am headed towards all grain brewing anyway its probably good practice. After 40 minutes heat was adjusted to achieve a boil. The approach to boil did seem to take longer this time thanks to the cool outside air and swift breeze stealing all of my good heat. When boiling was achieved added the bittering pellet hops in a nylon hop bag and placed the speciality malts into a strainger over the brew pot. I had to adjust heat up a few times more after this to maintain a good boil, again due to the cold weather, but I managed to keep a good low rolling boil going the entire time. I added the whirlfloc tablet to the brew at 35 minutes into the boil and the flavoring hops 10 minutes later.
When the full 60 minute boil was completed I capped the brew and left it outside to cool. My dog had chewed through the end up my wort chiller that attaches to the hose so it looks like some repair work is in order. Once the wort had chilled I added 2 gallons of water to the primary bucket and strained the wort into the primary. I brought the total volume up to 5 gallons and pitched the liquid yeast smack pack (Wyeast again) into the primary. I locked up the primary with my airlock and set about to waiting until I could rack and add my aromatic hops to the secondary. Immediately before pitching the yeast into the primary the γg of the wort was 1.054.
Recipe:
5 lbs Light DME
6 cups Crystal 60L
Hops:
1.25 oz Sterling bittering pellet hops (5.4 α) (60 mintues)
0.5 oz Fuggle whole flavoring hops (4.1 α) (15 minutes)
0.5 oz UK East Kent Golding whole hops (6.3 α) (added to secondary)
English Brown Ale Update
The English Brown Ale brewed back the 21st of November as part 2 of the "full moon brewing" experiment turned out very similar to the initial full moon brew. This theory is gaining momentum. See previous post for full info into the full moon phenomenon but suffice it to say that this batch experienced what can only be described as flash fermentation. After taking almost 12 hours to get started this batch bubbles and off-gassed like few others have and was well on its way down by Wednesday the 24th of November when we racked to the secondary.
Bottling was completed on the 2nd of December for a total fermentation time of 11 days. This batch was bulk primed using ¾ cups of dextrose (corn sugar) into very slightly over 44 - 12 ounce bottles. The taste is right on target for this brew and unfortunately I spilled my hydrometer before I took my readings so I don’t actually know the final specific gravity of this batch. The good news is that due to the recent brewing bonanza I have been on this batch will have plenty of time to condition in the bottle.
Bottling was completed on the 2nd of December for a total fermentation time of 11 days. This batch was bulk primed using ¾ cups of dextrose (corn sugar) into very slightly over 44 - 12 ounce bottles. The taste is right on target for this brew and unfortunately I spilled my hydrometer before I took my readings so I don’t actually know the final specific gravity of this batch. The good news is that due to the recent brewing bonanza I have been on this batch will have plenty of time to condition in the bottle.
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