Hoppy Red Ale

As for the Sunday brew, I decided to go for a hoppy red ale. The hops are to be added late in the boil as to have a nice hoppy taste and aroma without the bitterness of an early addition. So, hopefully it's going to turn out malty and hoppy.

http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm (at bottom)

Hoppy Red Ale
3.5G, all grain; OG = 1.068 FG = 1.016; IBU = 35.5; SRM = 17; ABV = 6.7%
90 minute boil.

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
7 lbs	Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)	Grain	78.7 %
9.3 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	6.6 %
9.3 oz	Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)	Grain	6.6 %
4.7 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)	Grain	3.3 %
4.7 oz	Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)	Grain	3.3 %
2.3 oz	Chocolate Malt (Pale) (200.0 SRM)	Grain	1.6 %
0.60 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (10 min)	Hops	10.5 IBU
0.60 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (10 min)	Hops	8.9 IBU
0.30 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (20 min)	Hops	8.7 IBU
0.30 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (20 min)	Hops	7.4 IBU
0.60 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (0 min)	Hops	-
0.60 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (Dry Hop 7 days)	Hops	-
0.60 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (0 min)	Hops	-
0.60 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (Dry Hop 7 days)	Hops	-
1 Pkgs	American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)	Yeast-Ale

Single infusion mash at 154F (68C) using a ratio of 1.3 quarts water to 1 pound of grain. While you could go with a shorter boil, the 90 minute boil enhances the blood-red color. It also adds a touch more melanoidin and caramel notes. Cool the wort quickly after the last hop addition to retain as much hop aroma as possible. Optionally, dry hop with more Centennial or Amarillo if you’re a real hop monster. Carbonate to no more than 2 volumes and serve at 45 to 55 F (7.2 to 12.8 C).

Steps and How it Went Down

01. Filled the mash-tun with hot water to heat it up.
02. Boiled 13L of water to 79C(174F).
03. Drained the mash-tun of hot water.
04. Added grains and 10.68L of water, mixed it all up to get rid of any clumps of grains. (1.2L per pound of grain)
05. Made sure the temperature was at 68C(154F), closed and let sit for 60min.
06. Boiled 13L of water for sparge.
07. After 60 minutes, drained 2L of the wort out and poured it back gently on top(vorlauf).
08. Drained the mash-tun into boil kettle. Got 6L out of this.
09. Added sparge water. Let sit for 10min.
10. Vorlauf and drain mash-tun in kettle. Ended up with a bit more than 17L, not sure why..
11. Checked pre-boil gravity and got 1.047.
12. Brought to boil.
13. Added Amarillo and Centennial hops at 20min.
14. Added Amarillo and Centennial hops at 10min.15. Added Irish Moss and yeast nutrient at 10min.
16. Added Amarillo and Centennial hops at 0min.
17. Cooled down in sink of cold water to 15.6C(60F), took gravity and got 1.058(well under..), Brix was 15.
18. Pitched #1056 yeast. Closed and let sit for 3 weeks.

Additional Notes

-Ended up way down on my Final Gravity. Not too sure what the hell happened there. I'm thinking maybe I wasn't patient enough with the first running of the mash out and perhaps there was still some wort to be drained... So, by adding 11L to the sparge to get to 17L, I overshot and ended up with too much water in my wort... When I got over the 17L marker on my brew kettle, there was still some sparge worth coming out of the mash-tun, not a whole lot and not at a heavy pace but, maybe half a liter?

UPDATE
01/24/2011

Added 0.60oz of Centennial hops to the secondary for dry hopping on 01/12/2011. Turns out it's kind of a pain in the ass to put hops into a carboy...and to take em out later. Perhaps keep using pellets in the future? Then, bottled on the 24th.

Gruagach Scotch Ale 80/-

Being that this is the last weekend before heading home for the holidays, I figured I should get a couple brews done. Bought a second primary fermentation vessel(30L bucket), rubber stopper and airlock from the homebrew store.

The first beer, to be brewed on Saturday, is a Scotch Ale using homegrown Goldings B.C. hops, grown by a co-worker. The recipe was taken from the address below:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/walkersans-gruagach-80-a-43384/

Gruagach Scotch Ale 80/-
3.5G, all grain; OG = 1.061 FG = 1.017; IBU = 31.6; SRM = 21.4; ABV = 5.8%
90 minute boil.

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
5 lbs 14.2 oz	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	73.7 %
12.7 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)	Grain	10.0 %
7.6 oz	Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)	Grain	6.0 %
5.6 oz	Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)	Grain	4.4 %
5.1 oz	Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM)	Grain	4.0 %
2.5 oz	Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)	Grain	2.0 %
0.94 oz	Goldings, B.C. [5.00%] (60 min)	Hops	23.8 IBU
0.63 oz	Goldings, B.C. [5.00%] (15 min)	Hops	7.9 IBU
0.64 tsp	Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
0.64 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
1 Pkgs	Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728)	Yeast-Ale

Mash all grains at 156F for 1h and draw first runnings to kettle. Some amount of caramelization is desired in this beer. To achieve this, take 2 pints of the first mash runnings and simmer in a saucepan to reduce to a syrup, taking care not to burn it. Do this while the rest of the wort is boiling. Sparge with 175F water to collect full volume of wort. Boil wort for 90min. Add hops as per schedule and add wort reduction to kettle with 5min to go in boil. Chill to 58F and pitch yeast.

Steps and How it Went Down

01. Filled the mash-tun with hot water to heat it up.

02. Boiled 10L of water to 79C(174F).

03. Drained the mash-tun of hot water.

04. Added grains and 9.45L of water, mixed it all up to get rid of any clumps of grains. (1.2L per pound of grain)

05. Made sure the temperature was at 68C(154F), closed and let sit for 60min.

06. Boiled 13L of water for sparge.

07. After 60 minutes, drained 2L of the wort out and poured it back gently on top(vorlauf).

08. Drained the mash-tun into boil kettle and took 1L to a smaller pot to simmer for the whole time.

09. Added sparge water. Let sit for 10min.

10. Vorlauf and drain mash-tun in kettle.

11. Checked pre-boil gravity and got 1.048.

12. Brought to boil.

13. Added Goldings BC hops at 60min.

14. Added Goldings BC at 15min.

15. Added Irish Moss and yeast nutrient at 10min.

16. Added wort reduction in kettle at 5min.
17. Cooled down in sink of cold water to 18C(65F), took gravity and got 1.061(spot on where it needed to be), Brix was 16.5.

18. Pitched #1728 yeast. Closed and let sit for 3 weeks.


UPDATE 01/31/2011
After about 40 days in primary due to vacation and having to soak the oak chips in bourbon for at least a week(and a bit of laziness too, I confess!), I finally transfered the Scotch ale, added about an ounce of oak chip and what I'd estimate was about 4-5 shots of bourbon to secondary. Now, to wait another month or so to get the beer aging!

Jalapeño Cream Ale

For my 4th brew, I'm making a Jalapeño Cream Ale based on the following recipe.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/jalapeno-cream-ale-131294/

This is my first All-Grain brew. New bunch of challenges and a brand new chunk of steps added to the brew day. The first thing to mention is the new mash-tun for steeping grain. I built mine from the following tutorial except I used a 5 gallons cooler instead of the 10 since I couldn't find one, and I was looking into doing half batches in the future anyways.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

So, the recipe..

Jalapeño Cream Ale

3.04G, all grain; OG = 1.052 FG = 1.011; IBU = 42.6; SRM = 4; ABV = 4.8%
60 minute boil.

Ingredients

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
4.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	74.0 %
0.55 lb	Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM)	Grain	10.2 %
0.55 lb	Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)	Grain	10.2 %
0.30 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	5.5 %
0.55 oz	Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min)	Hops	29.2 IBU
0.55 oz	Mt. Hood [6.00%] (25 min)	Hops	14.3 IBU
0.55 oz	Mt. Hood [6.00%] (15 min)	Hops	10.2 IBU
0.50 tsp	Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc
3.00 items	Jalapeno Peppers (Secondary 7.0 days)	Misc
3.00 items	Jalapeno Peppers (Boil 15.0 min)	Misc
	Harvested #1056 from previous brew	Yeast-Ale

 Steps and How it Went Down

00. A day before brew day, slit, wash and roast jalapenos in oven for 20-30 min. Then slice them and soak them in vodka overnight.

01. Filled the mash-tun with hot water to heat it up.

02. Boiled 10L of water to 79C(174F).

03. Drained the mash-tun of hot water.

04. Added grains and 6.37L of water, mixed it all up to get rid of any clumps of grains. (1.2L per pound of grain)

05. Made sure the temperature was at 68C(154F), closed and let sit for 60min.

06. Boiled 13L of water for sparge.

07. After 60 minutes, drained 2L of the wort out and poured it back gently on top(vorlauf).

08. Drained the mash-tun into boil kettle.

09. Added sparge water. 11L was needed to get to 14.2L total pre-boil. Let sit for 10min.

10. Vorlauf and drain mash-tun in kettle.

11. Checked pre-boil gravity and got 1.030.

12. Bring to boil.

13. Added Northern Brewer hops at 60min.

14. Added Mt. Hood hops and jalapenos at 15min.

15. Added Mt. Hood hops at 10min.

16. Added Irish Moss and yeast nutrient at 10min.

17. Cooled down in sink of cold water to 18C(65F), took gravity and got 1.047(a bit lower than expected).

18. Pitched #1056 yeast. Closed and let sit for almost 2 weeks.

Additional Notes

When I mashed out the first running of the wort, the drain got stuck due to the weight of the grain squashing the stainless steel supply hose. When building the mash-tun, I had read about this being a possibility and that an option was to used stainless steel wire inside to help it keep shape but couldn't build it initially so I decided not to do it. Big mistake. When it got stuck, I went and pushed with the spoon to free it up. Worked but I probably got some grain powder into the wort, as I didn't vorlauf it again then and there. All and all, not a big issue but that just added a lot more time to the brew day..

UPDATE

12/09/2010

A day before transferring to secondary, repeated process with jalapeno peppers. Slit, roaster, sliced and soaked overnight in vodka. Raked the beer in secondary, added jalapenos. Tasted the beer, it had a nice little hotness to it.

12/16/2010

Tasted the beer, the spiciness was just perfect. Just enough that I think it will tone down a bit with carbonation and still retain enough hotness to be easy to drink and very enjoyable. Mixed in with 0.35 cup of dextrose and bottled.

Widmer's W-10 Pitch Black IPA Clone

For my third brew, I'm going to attempt a Cascadian Dark Ale based on a Clone recipe for Widmer's W-10 Pitch Black IPA, which I found on the site below.

http://www.byo.com/stories/article/indices/51-recipe-exchange/2113-widmer-brewing-co-w-10-pitch-black-ipa-clone

The recipe was for a 5-gallons/19L batch so I had to adjust ingredients to 23L and find alternate malts and hops for things that were not available to me at Dan's Homebrew shop. Here's how it's broken down after adjustment of quantities and ingredients.

Widmer Brewing Co.W-10 Pitch Black IPA Clone

23 L, extract with grains; OG = 1.064 FG = 1.014; IBU = 65; SRM = 30; ABV = 6.5%

Ingredients:

9.5 lbs. Pale malt extract
1.8 lbs. (0.81kg) Cara 8
14.4 oz. (0.4kg) Black Patent
12 oz. (0.34kg) Brown Malt
1.2 oz./36 g Zeus hops (75 mins)
1 tsp. Irish moss (30 mins)
1 tsp. yeast nutrient (15 mins)
0.3 oz./8.52 g Cascade hops (2 mins)
0.9 oz./25.2 g Zeus hops (2 mins)
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade hop pellets (dry hops)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)
0.9 cup (180 g) corn sugar (for priming)

Steps and How it Went Down

01. Started by cleaning and sanitizing all the equipment.
02. Smacked the Wyeast Packet to activate the yeast. The stuff mixes together and the yeast gets going.
03. Boiled 9.12L of distilled water to 150°F and turned off heat.
04. Warm up malt extract containers in "bath" of hot water.
05. Added the specialty grains to the water, covered up and let steep for 38 minutes(the recipe called for 30 minutes but I had a bit more so I decided to give it a bit longer).
06. Remove grains from wort with strainer.
07. Sparge grains in strainer with 2.16L hot water.
08. Add all to brew kettle, add previously warmed malt extract.
09. Bring to a boil, add 75 min boiling hops.
10. Rehydrate 1tsp irish moss at 40min in ½ cup of warm water.
11. Add irish moss at 30min.
12. Add 1tbs yeast nutrient at 15min.
13. Start cold water bath at 10min.
14. Add finishing hops at 2min.
15. Transfer brew kettle to cold water bath and bring wort to 75°F.
16. Transfer wort to primary fermenter, top to 23L with water.
17. Take a sample and check Original Gravity. Mine was at 1.061.
18. Open now inflated Wyeast packet and add in primary.
19. Close and wait.

Additional Notes

- Since my last 2 brews had a bit of a off taste to me, I decided to try brewing with distilled water this time around but have since read that it is not recommended when doing grain mashing because "some minerals are necessary for healthy fermentation". Oh well, no big deal...

- Once again, when pouring the malt extract into the brew kettle and putting it back on to boil, had a bit of a burn issue at the bottom with it burning... I think it might be due to the cheap kettle I'm using because I really stirred it around this time before putting it back on to boil...

- I really really need to make myself an immersion chiller. Cooling the wort down is way too slow using the sink plus ice method..

UPDATE
11/14/2010

Transferred the beer from the primary to secondary and added hop pellets. All went well. Took a sample to check the gravity and it was at 1.015. So, right on point. Had a taste and it had this really really nice chocolate taste to it. Not as hoppy as I would have liked but hopefully the dry hopping adds to the hop flavor. Week or two in the secondary and it should be ready to bottle(or keg, if I equip myself with all that stuff!). After the racking was done, I saved up the yeast cake in 2 small 500ml milk bottles for future brews.

12/03/2010

Tasted the beer. Came out really nice though not as hoppy as I would have liked.. Great carbonation, nice hoppy smell, great taste regardless of the lack of bitterness and hop taste/aroma. Will have to add more hops at 75min and at end. And/or, add an addition midway as well.. All and all, very tasty and the best beer I've made so far.

Storm Hurricane IPA, Brewing

Started brewing an IPA following this recipe, from beermaking.ca. This is my second beer. The first being a beer in a box mix for an Amber Ale. It came out okay, not a huge fan to be honest but it was a good experience. This one is a tad more complicated, with boiling and hops addition in the process.
(the bold notes below are things I did "wrong" that I wanted to keep as a reminder so next time I did them correctly..)

-Boiled water on my crappy stove top, which ended up taking pretty much 45 minutes before I got a nice rolling boil because of the fact that it's one of those encased glass top so the stock pot wasn't quite tight with the surface.
-Took the kettle off the iron.
-Poured in the malt but put it back on the stove before mixing it nicely. So, I basically ended up with a bit of the malt sugar burning at the bottom. While trying to scrape it off with the plastic spoon, that ended up melting a bit. Gotta be careful with this next time.
-Stirred on occasion, waiting for it to get to a boil.
-Followed packet instructions in re hydrating the yeast but I don't think the water was warm enough.
-When the malt and water was boiling, I added the first hops... only to realize a couple minutes later I forgot to take half a cup of the wort out to mix in with the yeast to get it started.
-So, did that while trying not to take in any of the hops.
-Added it to the jar that had to yeast being re hydrated. Which was probably a mistake because of how hot it was and shortly thereafter, I thought maybe I had killed the yeast. Added cold water to get it to instructed temperature. Covered and let it sit, waiting for it to start foaming.
-About 45 minutes into the boil, I went a started running a cold water bath to cool the kettle into.
-56 minutes after adding the original hops, added the finishing hops. Let that boil for 3 and a half minutes then took it off the stove top.
-Brought the kettle into the bath tub, put the lid on and put some ice on there.
-While taking the temperature, as I was removing the lid, some of the melted ice water fell into the kettle. Hopefully there is no contamination...
-Once the temperature was around the 40C mark, transferred the wort to the primary fermenter bucket, through a grill that I used as filter to try to keep as much of the hops out of the fermenter as possible.
-Added cool water to the 23ltr mark, which brought the temperature down to around 30C.
-Added the yeast starter, which hadn't foamed up quite as much as I was thinking/hoping it would but closed up and decided to see how well it would do.
-One thing I forgot to do is take the Original Gravity of the beer. So no way for me to know the actual alcohol content of the beer in the end. I'll just have to guess on what the OG should have been from the recipe..

Couple days later, the fermentation seems to be going well. The airlock has been bubbling steadily. It should all be done by tomorrow and I should be transferring to the secondary fermenter, the carboy.

UPDATE

So, didn't quite get around to posting a follow-up to this beer so I'm just going to do that briefly now. Transfer to carboy went well. Added pellets and waited 2 weeks before transferring back to bucket to bottle. Bottled it all up and and waited another 2 weeks before tasting it.

The beer wasn't a great success. Hoppy but had a similar aftertaste that I wasn't too found of. I don't think anything went wrong though. Contamination or otherwise, but I didn't get it tested by anyone with enough beer making knowledge to know whether I fucked up or not. My guess is that the taste is due to using malt extract and hops only. Next time, I will be using grains. Either go all grain if I get around to buying the equipment needed, or do an extract plus specialty grain brew.

Anyways, that said, the beer is still fairly good and drinkable.

Welcome, beer brewing, random stuff

Welcome to my blog,

in here, I will be putting notes on my beer brewing experiments. For now, those notes will mostly be for myself so I don't even know why I'm making a welcome post but, whatever. There is it. Someone might someday stumble on to this page so, hey, what's up? Hopefully, you read these notes and learn from my mistakes!

Pat