#9 American Amber Ale

So first things first: Beer #6, the Imperial Oatmeal Stout is absolutely ridiculous good. It's going to be really tough to let it sit and age a few more months. The temptation to crack open a few more premature bottles is incredibly strong... I have to keep telling myself that the longer I wait, the more awesome it is going to get.

Last weekend I spontaneously decided to start a mead that I had been procrastinating on. Before I left florida, I purchased 2 gallons of fresh orange blossom honey. So now that I have the stuff to pull it off, I figured I better not procrastinate any more given the time it takes to age properly. I made it the simple, no heat way; sanitize the water by boiling it, then mixing the honey in after the water cools. Heat drives off the aromatics of the honey, and since honey has natural antibiotics, heating is not necessary. I have it happily fermenting away in my fermentation chamber. I only made 1/2 gal since it was my first batch. No sense in wasting lots of money worth of fresh honey on a failed experiment.

Tonight's (I'm starting to brew a lot in the middle of the night on weekends since I'm up anyway) brew is an American Amber Ale I'm making up for my fishing buddy Sean. He's going to tie me up a few flies for the upcoming pink salmon run, and I'm bartering with him by giving him his own custom, hand made beer.

I'm using quite an assortment of hops in this one. There are English, German, and American varieties in here, but I think it should work out pretty well.

Here's the info on it


Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.86 %
Bitterness: 44.2 IBU

Grains
29.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 70.30 %
6.00 oz Munich Malt (6.0 SRM) Grain 14.55 %
4.00 oz Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 9.70 %
2.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.85 %
0.25 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 0.61 %

Hops
0.13 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 9.1 IBU
0.07 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (30 min) Hops 9.3 IBU
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (30 min) Hops 13.4 IBU
0.11 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
0.11 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 3.8 IBU
0.25 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (1 min) Hops 0.9 IBU

California Ale Yeast

And as I'm brewing here, I'm enjoying a 22oz bottle of the first beer I brewed on this setup, my dry stout. It has been aging since early march, and is honestly blowing me away with how good it became. The taste is mild and refreshing, with a slight roasty finish. The mouthfeel is creamy and full, almost as if it were being served on a nitro tap. I'm sad that I realized AFTER I poured it that this was the last bottle. I may be brewing this again soon :)

Here is brew #1 Dry Stout with some tastefully placed fuggles leaf hops for added effect

#8 American Pale Ale

Hurray for brew day! Today's brew is going to be an American style pale ale. I decided it was time I went for something different than what I had been doing, and see how I did with a more transparent style. It's still going to have quite a bit of hop character, but with the lack of roasted malts, and excessive hopping, I'll be brewing something that shows off flaws a lot more apparently.

So the final verdict on version 1 of the Imperial Black Ale is that of success. I certainly think it has a long way to go, but I think it has a whole lot of potential, and those who have tried it love it. Once version 2 is ready to drink, I'll see where we're at. As far as the scotch ale, it was fantastic. I had a pint last night with my dinner, and was beyond pleased. Next time I plan on adding a bit more hops to balance out the sweetness, and eliminating the smoke malt (though it is tasty) to be more within style.

The addition of my chest freezer with external thermostat has been amazing. I keep it at a constant 65 degrees, though I can lower it for lagering. But it's nice to have a dedicated space in the apartment for fermentation. I've also started yeast banking. I don't want to turn this in to an unnecessarily long post, but I'm freezing vials of yeast that I collect from starters I make, and freezing them in vials with a freeze shield solution. I take them out, thaw them, and make starters a week or so before I plan to use them. It'll save me money :)

So back to the pale ale. I am quite excited about this beer. I love simcoe hops, so I'm using them throughout, except for a dash of amarillo at the end for some citrusy aroma. Simcoe has a very pine/evergreen type flavor and aroma, so it's nice to balance it out with something else for more dimension. I'm switching to 90min boils for my more pale beers to break down DMS (a substance that causes a vegetal type off flavor).

So on to the recipe.... (i'm just going to copy all the info from now on so it's easier to copy)


90 min boil
Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.32 %
Bitterness: 38.9 IBU
Est Color: 9.3 SRM

Grains
30.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 73.17 %
4.00 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 9.76 %
4.00 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 9.76 %
3.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.32 %

Hops
0.07 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 16.4 IBU
0.07 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 12.6 IBU
0.13 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.13 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (5 min) Hops 6.0 IBU

There's imperial black ale version 2 in the new fermentation chamber

#7 Imperial Black Ale version 2.0

So the last batch of Imperial Black Ale is aging nicely, and I'd say it was the first brew that actually came out okay. Overall, I've been pretty unhappy with the beers, but it's not so much the recipes, but off flavors that I'm trying to work out. I cracked open a bottle of the Shaky Graham's Scotch ale tonight and was very pleased with the lack of off flavors there too. I'm going to brew it again soon, but with more hops. It was a tad on the sweet side even for a scotch ale.

I'm also very happy about the newest addition to my brewing setup. I picked up a small chest freezer from craigslist, and am hooking it up to an external thermostat. I can control my fermentation temps now, and even do lagers if I please :) In another year or so if I can afford it, I'm going to pick up a few small soda kegs and turn my freezer into a homebrew tap system. So I'm all around quite happy it's here :)

So tonight, I'm brewing version 2.0 of the Imperial Black Ale. I wanted a bit less malt body, and a lot more complex hop character in it, so I revamped the recipe almost top to bottom. I now have 4 hops varieties in 9 hop additions, as opposed to 2 hop varieties in 3 additions last time. It's not going to be substantially more bitter, but will be much more complex and interesting, with a much more pronounced aroma.

Imperial Black Ale v2.0
Grains:
40.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US
10.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L
2.00 oz Carafa III
2.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L

Boil Hops
0.12 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min)
0.12 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (45 min)
0.12 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (30 min)
0.12 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (15 min)
0.06 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (10 min)
0.06 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (10 min)
0.12 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (1 min)

Dry Hops
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 day)
0.12 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days)

Est Original Gravity: 1.078 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.64 %

#6 Imperial Oatmeal Stout

So the Imperial Black Ale and Scotch Ale have both been bottled and tasted. Both are shaping up to be by far the best brews made on this new setup yet. I'm finally getting the kinks worked out and things are coming along. I really wasn't that happy with the first 3 brews, so I'm glad things are looking up. I picked up a new stainless steel pot yesterday, so that should help a ton too.

Today's brew:
Imperial Oatmeal Stout

Measured starting gravity: 1.080
Est. ABV: 7.9%

Grain:
34.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row)
6.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
4.00 oz Barley, Flaked (
4.00 oz Chocolate Malt
4.00 oz Oats, Flaked
2.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
1.00 oz Roasted Barley

Hops:
0.12 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min)
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (30 min)

Scottish Ale Yeast

Brews #4 and #5 Scotch Ale and Imperial Black Ale

So I've been slacking on keeping up on logging my brews. Last week my buddy Mike "Shakes" Graham and I brewed the first brew of "shaky graham's scotch ale," a recipe I came up with that I plan to use in the lineup of beers when my brewery opens its doors. Scotch ales are very sweet, malty, and lack any kind of real hop character, so they really throw a lot of people off at first. They're a bit different to make too, you mash the grains a few degrees higher than most, and ferment them a few degrees cooler than most ales.

Today I racked the scotch to a secondary fermenter after 2wks in there. I stuck it out in my storage closet outside, where it stays a pretty constant 40 degrees while the weather is still a bit chilly out. Should be perfect for it to sit and condition for a week or so before bottling.

Here he is pre-closet


So today's brew is an experiment of mine to have a new take on a style of beer I love. This beer I'm calling an IBA, or Imperial Black Ale, which of course is a spinoff of Imperial Pale Ale or IPA. It has the malt and hop makeup of an IPA, but I used a german black malt called Carafa to turn it black. Carafa is unlike the other roasted and chocolate malts in that it really doesn't give off near as much of a roasty flavor. So really, I just used it as a gimmick.

Unfortunately things didn't go so great with the brew, and i'm not confident in its turning out as good as it could. I had a stuck mash (the water wouldn't run out of the mash tun because the grains created a suction or plugged the runoff) and had to pour the grains back and forth several times to get it to go again. I also lost a lot of wort to boil off, and may have had beer come in contact with a non-sanitized surface when I was attempting to strain hop trub out after the cool down. I only yielded about a half gallon out of this brew as opposed to close to a full gallon. Guess time will tell. If it's not smelling so awesome after a week when I go to rack it in to a secondary and dry hop it, i'm going to start over.

Scotch Ale:
Grains:
45.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row)
4.00 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
4.00 oz Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM)
3.00 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)
1.25 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
Hops:
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min)

Scottish Ale Yeast

Est Original Gravity: 1.084 SG

Imperial Black Ale
Grains:
30.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row)
10.00 oz Munich Malt - 10L
6.00 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
2.00 oz Carafa III
2.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt

Hops:
0.25 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days)

Est Original Gravity: 1.067 SG

Scottish Ale Yeast

Primary for 1wk, rack to secondary and dry hop for 3 days.

Brew #3: Dark Wheat

So this last week got crazy and I didn't end up brewing until now (almost a full week late for me). I try to do this at least once a week to keep the new recipes coming. Last week we opened a bottle of the stout to see how it was conditioning in the bottles (bottle conditioning brings the yeast back to life just enough to carbonate it. then you age it as long as it needs for all the flavors to settle in) and it is coming along very, very nicely. Definitely needs a few more weeks, but I'm very pleased with the results so far. I also bottled the amber style ale (I don't know what else to call it really, it doesn't really fit in to any particular category) last saturday and gave it a pre-bottle tasting. It also showed a lot of potential, and I can't wait to try the fully conditioned finished product. Later along in today's brew I may crack open a bottle of the amber to see how it's going after a week in bottles.

So that brings me to today. I'm brewing up a dark wheat beer. It's not so much in the style of the german hefeweizen, but based on that style with a different yeast type. One of the definitive traits of the german weizen beers is the yeast profile with its banana-y/clovey aromas and tastes. I'll once again be using the Irish Ale yeast to see how that type of recipe translates to a completely different yeast. It's also a bit bigger (higher alcohol) and darker than a typical german dunkelweizen. I have actually designed this beer as a base beer for a few experiments I have coming up involving mixing in some fruits and teas in the recipe... but more on that later :)

Here's today's gem:

Dark Wheat
Original Gravity: 1.064 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.24 %

16.00 oz German Wheat Malt
12.00 oz Munich Malt - 10L
12.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US
7.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L

Hops:
0.25 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min)

Log notes:
Mash temp: 151 - Mashing at a medium temperature. Mashing higher would make for a sweeter, maltier beer, mashing lower creates a drier, more attenuated beer. I'm looking for something right in the middle.

Update:

Just cracked the "Amber style ale" from two weeks ago. It's one of my traditions to try the previous brew on each new brew day... One of the joys of brewing is that you are never quite 100% sure what you're going to get some of the time. This would be one of those times. I'd actually classify this as more of a brown ale. It came up a bit darker than I had anticipated, and it lacks that red tint I was shooting for. The taste is great. It's very clean, medium bodied, medium/low hop aroma and flavor with very little bitterness. Just what I was going for as far as the drinkability. Can't wait to try another in a few weeks!

Brew #2: Amber Style Ale and an overview of my humble system

So today we bottled up the stout I brewed a week ago. I remade the recipe to the best of my memory that won me a medal a few years ago. Tasted a little sample (pre carbonation/aging) and tasted delicious. Can't wait the few weeks until it's ready to pour!

So here's today's brew complete with pictures to give an idea of how I'm operating here. My system is far from elaborate, but in an apartment, I'm limited to what I can do.

Amber Style Ale
Starting Gravity- 1.0600

Recipe:
Grain Bill:
32.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (3.0 SRM)
5.00 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
3.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)
.50 oz Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM)

Hops:
0.25 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (30 min)
0.13 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (0 min)


The very humble setup:


The inside of my home made mash tun. The sealant I used around the fitting there looks a bit ripe after I brewed the stout


Mashing the grains. Added 170f degree water, this gets the temperature of the pile of grains there to about 155f.


So last week on my first try brewing with this setup, I found that this small of a batch of grains is hard to keep at 155f for a full hour. I solved this problem by turning my oven to 170f, and keeping the mash tun in there. I check the temp of the grains every 15mins.


The mash is done, and it's time to mash out. I drip the wort in to the pot and keep doing additions of 170f water to the mash tun. I use a collander to break up the flow of water to not disturb the grain bed.




And there she boils! 1hr boil total.


After the boil I put the pot into a sink of ice water. What's nice about a 1gal batch is this actually works very quickly, and there's no need for expensive copper chillers. I then funneled the wort (the unfermented beer) into the fermenter. I use a 1gal growler as a fermenter.


Ah yes, yeast... Can't forget the yeast. Here's a mason jar with some Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast pulled from a fermenter at Big Al Brewing. It's nice to not have to spend $8 on yeast for every batch :) So now it's time for this here to make its way into the beer and start the feeding frenzy. Alcohol is just yeast poop afterall.


And alas, the fermenter, the wort, and the yeast become one.... This is where beer starts happening. Time to throw it in a cool, dark place for a few days.