#14 Strong Dark Belgian

Not so much a belgian, but a belgian inspired ale. I got a hold of the limited release of Unibroue's yeast strain, so I'm doing a beer that's somewhat inspired by their trois pistoles ale. I switched things up by going with american hop varieties, so we'll see how this whole experiment turns out in a few weeks.

I was assisted today by my long time friend Joshua Sowards. He's up from Florida for a few days wishing he could move back (he lived here for a few months last year than had to go back to FL). So we're ending his stay with a brewing lesson.

Original Gravity: 1.086 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.41 %
Bitterness: 19.6 IBU
Est Color: 24.8 SRM

Batch size: 3.5gal


Grain:
7.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 61.21 %
2.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 21.86 %
0.45 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 3.90 %
0.45 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 3.90 %
0.25 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.19 %
0.16 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1.39 %
0.64 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5.56 %

Hops:
7.50 gm Magnum [14.00 %] (90 min) Hops 15.5 IBU
4.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (15 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
3.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
0.08 tsp Anise, Star (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.08 tsp Anise, Star (Boil 5.0 min) Misc

Yeast: Wyeast Belgian Canadian

#13 Dortmunder Export Lager

4th of July brewin! What better time to throw a few lagers in the chamber than the beginning of salmon season? These next two months are going to be very busy with all the visiting friends, and visiting salmon :) So since lagers take 3-4x or longer to finish out, I figured this is perfect timing.

This recipe was given to me by Mike McDole, some of you other homebrewers may have heard of him. He won the Sam Adams Longshot competition last year with his Double IPA, and is one of the most awarded homebrewers in the world. He gave me this recipe because it's his favorite to brew up for weddings, and since I'm brewing for Amber and I's wedding, I figured it'd be worthwhile to give it a run to see if we think it'd be a good fit.

This recipe differs from his ever so slightly. His recipe calls for Santiam hops for 60min, and Hallertauer for the finishing hop. I went with Liberty, because it's an american Hallertauer (I prefer to stick with American hops, I'm just weird like that), and I supplemented at the 60min boil with a a bit of Magnum (another hallertauer derivitive) to save myself from buying a whole other 2oz of Liberty (they sell in 2oz packs).

Batch Size: 4.00 gal
Boil Time: 90min
Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.88 %
Bitterness: 21.1 IBU

Grain
64.00 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 48.00 %
21.33 oz Munich Malt (6.0 SRM) Grain 16.00 %
21.33 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 16.00 %
16.00 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 12.00 %
10.67 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %

Hops
0.50 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (60 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
0.15 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 9.8 IBU
1.50 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (1 min) Hops 1.3 IBU

Munich Lager (Wyeast Labs #2308) Yeast-Lager

#12 American Brown Ale

So my system is almost all replaced since my last couple brews. I built a new mash tun capable of doing moderate gravity beers through 6gal batches if I please. I'm sticking with 3gal batches for a while. 1gal just isn't enough to really get an idea of how a beer turned out, and still have some left over to enjoy. And by my next brew, I'll be brewing on a propane burner on the deck... just waiting on my buddy to lend me some tanks :)

I have an American Brown Ale starting its journey today. I'm going to be doing smaller beers for a while here just so I can really tweak my process and perfect parts I'm not happy with. I'm giving myself a 6% ABV limit until I kick out several consecutive (relatively) flawless batches. And I'm going to abstain from excessive hopping. Just trying to stay away from things that will cover up the flaws.

Batch Size: 3.00 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Est Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.61 %
Bitterness: 29.0 IBU
Est Color: 20.9 SRM

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.21 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.63 %
0.43 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.78 %
0.31 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.14 %
0.31 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.14 %
0.25 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3.31 %

7gm Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 20.1 IBU
7gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
5gm Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
7gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -

#11 Summer Ale

Brewing for the second day in a row. Main reason being that I just stepped up a few pieces of equipment to be able to brew 3 gallon batches. So now I'll actually have enough to drink when I'm done! Brewing 1 gal is great for experimentation, but once you have some recipes you want on hand to have for dinner, you never have enough. I also would like a few extra bottles to share with friends for feedback.

So today I'm brewing a summer ale for Amber. It's basically a blond ale, but it will have a bit more flavor and mouthfeel than a blond. After fermentation, I plan on bottling 2gal, then racking the remaining 1gal off to one of my small 1gal fermenter jugs with some fruit, most likely raspberries or cherries, to sit for another week. I want to see how this recipe works as a base for girly, fruity beers. Blonds are definitely not my favorite style... but brewing these smaller, lighter flavor beers will make me a better brewer. It's certainly more challenging to brew lighter, more transparent beers.

(I substituted extract for my pale malt. I still need to build a bigger mash tun to hold enough grains for 3gal batches.)

3gal batch
Est Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.38 %
Bitterness: 24.3 IBU
Est Color: 5.1 SRM

Amount Item Type % or IBU
24.00 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 33.33 %
30.00 oz Munich Malt (6.0 SRM) Grain 41.67 %
9.00 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %
9.00 oz Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %

Hops
0.13 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 12.1 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (30 min) Hops 12.2 IBU

White Labs 001 California Ale Yeast

10 American Pale Ale II

Well, my last batch of pale ale got infected and dumped out. I know exactly when where in how it happened, so I'm doing everything in my power to not make that stupid mistake again. So today, I re-do the pale ale... Though I did change the recipe enough that it could well be considered an entirely different beer.

My changes came entirely from the hop bill. I've been really wanting to try this somewhat new, and hardly used method of waiting until the last part of the boil to add all of the hops. The longer you boil the hops, the more bittering you get from them, but adding them towards the end of the boil gives you more aroma and flavor from them. This method will take more hops to get the bittering I need, but I think it will be worth it. So my first hop addition will be at 20mins, then adding in 5min increments from then on out. Should be interesting to see how a beer without hops for the entire first half of the boil turns out.

Est Original Gravity: 1.053 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.08 %


Amount Item Type % or IBU
30.00 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 75.95 %
4.00 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 10.13 %
3.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.59 %
2.50 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 6.33 %

Hops
0.07 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (20 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
0.07 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (15 min) Hops 6.3 IBU
0.07 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (15 min) Hops 8.2 IBU
0.07 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (10 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
0.07 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (10 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
0.07 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
0.07 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.13 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (1 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
0.13 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (1 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -

White Labs 001 California Ale Yeast

#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