Thursday, October 27, 2011

Mid-Week Update

The pumpkin ale turned out good. Not fuckin fantastic or anything. But it's better than some commercial pumpkin beer I've tried. And, It might be my imagination, but I think the spice is fading every time I drink one. Also, there is a lingering sweetness.
The Rye IPA is OK. It has that lightly burnt/roasted sweetness. I'm guessing it's just a fact of life when brewing strong IPAs.
In other news, I transferred and dry hopped the Simcoe Ale on Saturday. And did the same with the side batches of Amarillo Ale. I just poured each one (the 40oz bottle and the growler) into a gallon jug. (Combining them into one.) Then, dry hopped with Cascade pellets. I didn't bother measuring them out, put it was probably like a half or quarter ounce.
I'll be bottling both this weekend. That's it.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Brewing the English Strong Ale

I started this all grain brew day at 8:40 am. I pretty much had everything ready. I did have to wash a brewpot before heating my strike water. But, all the other cleaning and stuff I can do during the mash.
It's almost 11:00 now. I'm collecting the second runnings. Everything's going well. I did have to add some cool water to my mash. It was about 5 degrees high. I added something like 3/4 quart (3 cups) of tap water and that brought it down to 152 degrees...
I'm bringing my wort to boil now. I've collected more than I anticipated. Something like 1/3 gallon more than I need. I'll try to fix this by boiling for 15 or 20 minutes before I add my hops and start the one hour timer.
The seemingly never-ending propane tank is running out, I think. This will be a good opportunity to see how many brews I can get out of a tank.
Fast forward to the next day: the entire brew day took me about 6 hours and some change. I wasted some time here and there. Plus, I boiled for an extra 25 minutes... All things considered, I think I could do an all grain brew day in 5 hours, plus cleanup.
Overall, this brew was a success. I did end up boiling too long and got about 4 and a quarter gallons. So, my target gravity was off, too. I got an OG of 1.067. The target was 1.64 for 5 gallons. So if my iBrewmaster app (and hydrometer) is correct, my efficiency was about 62%.
In other news, I filtered the hops with a (sanitized) grain bag in a colander situated in the top of an ale pail. I just poured my chilled wort into the grain bag. Most of the trub fell to the bottom of the brewpot, so I stopped pouring at the really thick sludge (see pictures). Then, I racked into my 6.5 gallon carboy. This turned out to be a really good method. In fact, I plan to buy a funnel with a screen so I can pour my chilled wort directly into my carboy. I'll still probably use the whirlpool and siphon method on beers that have only an ounce or two. But this beer had 4 oz of hops, I knew I would have to try something else.
But, that's about it. I checked on my fermenter this morning, and it bubbling away. About 64 or 65 degrees.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Tasting Amarillo Ale

This beer is the shit. This was my first time brewing with Amarillo hops. I guess they would be described as floral and citrusy. Some grapefruit, but not as much as Cascade.
This might be my favorite beer I've brewed yet. The recipe is simple, and it makes for a short brew day. I will definitely brew this again.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Bottled Homebrew

Here's most of my bottled homebrew. I have plenty to drink. I even brought a few bottles to work to share with my co-workers.
Not pictured: beer in fermenters, beer in fridge, commercial brews, and a case of imperial stout I'm saving.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Bottling Pumpkin, Brewing Simcoe

I bottled the Pumpkin Ale last night. I'm very happy with the progress. It tasted good already. I only let it ferment for two weeks, but that means it will be drinkable by Halloween, and at it's peak around Thanksgiving. I ended up with about 4 and a quarter gallons and used 3.3 oz of brown sugar to prime.
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.005
ABV: 5.8%
I did this all in preparation for the Simcoe Ale I'm currently brewing. I saved the cake of 1056 from the Pumpkin Ale (picture). Some people warn pitching yeast cakes yield a "too clean" beer, but shouldn't be a problem for this style. I've only done this once before, the fermentation started in about an hour. So, we'll see what happens this time. This is the first time I've used my yeast three times. I'm using yeast nutrient on this beer, but not Irish moss.
Last night I had the water measured out, all my equipment clean, etc. This way, I can get a good idea of how long a brew day is supposed to be. Without all the extra shit (cleaning, measuring, finding my gear, etc).

Edit: the Simcoe Ale's OG was 1.067, and the airlock was bubbling when I checked it about 9 hours after pitching the yeast.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Tasting the Rye IPA and Amarillo Ale

It's only been a few days, but I've already tasted the Rye IPA and the Amarillo Ale.
Both beers need more time to carbonate. Besides that, the IPA could stand to spend a little more time in the bottle. It has a slight cider taste, probably due to the corn sugar in the recipe. That will go away soon. Also, it has a little bit of that roasted/burnt sweetness that my last few stronger extract batches had. It's not a bad taste, but it pisses me off because I can't seem to control it. I'll have to see if it goes away after I've done all grain for a while.
The Amarillo Ale was really good. It has a really nice hop flavor and aroma. Not a strong amount of bitterness. I just need to let the carbonation build, and it will be good to go.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Future Brews

Yesterday I placed a relatively big order with Northern Brewer:
-Big Honkin' Stout All Grain Kit
(ready in 2 months)
-Olde Luddite English Strong Ale All-Grain Kit
(ready in 6 weeks)
-Briess Pilsen DME 3 lbs.
-Simcoe Hop Pellets 1 oz.
(to make a Simcoe Pale Ale, I already have the other ingredients)
-Plain Gold Crown Caps - 144 count
-Briess Pilsen DME 1 lb.
(for yeast starters)
-5/16" ID Siphon Hose 12ft.
-3/8" Clear Hi-temp Tubing 5ft.
(for my mash tun)
So, this weekend I plan to either bottle or rack my pumpkin ale, and use the Wyeast 1056 in that carboy for a Simcoe Pale Ale:
6 lbs Briess Pilsen DME
.75 lbs Caramel 60L
All Simcoe Hops:
1 oz @ 60
1 oz @ 15
1 oz @ Flameout
1 oz Dry Hop
I've wanted to play around with Simcoe for a while. I really like their smell.
And for the other two brews... I guess I'll try to brew the English first, and then the stout. Because if I do it the other way around, they'll be done around the same time. And, I'll have too much work to do all at once.
So, I'll brew the English on either Oct. 23rd or 30th. And the Stout sometime between Oct. 30th and Nov. 13th.
Which would make serving times around the second week in December (for the English) and around New Year's (for the stout).
I still plan to brew a huge (strong) beer on New Year's Day. Something that I can age and keep for a long time.

Bottling Day

This past Sunday I finally got around to bottling my beers that were due. I bottled my Rye IPA, which smelled (and tasted) incredible already. It had a surprising sweetness. I think it finished at 1.014... I'll have to double check my notes. It should be good shit in 2 or 3 weeks.
I also bottled my Amarillo Pale Ale. It had a really strong hop flavor and aroma. It finished at 1.008... (I think). Anyway, both of these beers turned out to be 6.9% ABV. But, I'll have to double check that.
I also decided to bottle my Small Batch Starter, which was basically an experiment. I was able to get 5 bottles (almost 6) out of the 3/4 gallon batch. This beer finished at 1.001... It had a low gravity to begin with. In the 30's. This one may be interesting to try, but I'm glad it was only 5 bottles. That puts this one around 4%.
I still have the remaining "side batches" of Amarillo Ale (the 40oz and growler) I need to combine and dry hop.
I can only bring myself to do so much on the weekend. And I can't seem to do anything during the week.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Current Brews

Denny's Wry Smile Rye IPA
-dry hopped a little over two weeks in secondary. Ready to bottle.

15 Minute Amarillo Pale Ale
-main batch dry hopped with 1 oz Amarillo pellets two days ago. Two side batches (growler and 40 oz bottle) need to be dry hopped with Chinook.

Small Batch Pale Ale (Starter)
-Dry hopped with Chinook two days ago.

Pumpkin Ale
-Brewed two days ago. Primary fermentation is slowing down.

Tonight I might rack the two side batches together into a gallon jug and dry hop with 1/4 oz of Chinook (since that's all I have). And maybe clean my bottles and put them in the dishwasher to sanitize (for the Rye IPA). But it's always a different story after work.

Monday, October 3, 2011

All Grain Pumpkin Ale

Yesterday I brewed my first batch with my new mash tun. It worked pretty damn well. The mash tun held my mash temperature flawlessly. It might have dropped one degree, If that. One thing I learned is the strike water calculation on the iBrewMaster App is dead on balls accurate! I heated my strike water about 2 or 3 degrees hotter, trying to over compensate. So I ended up mashing at 155 instead of 152.
I figured my efficiency was around 63 or 64%. Which I don't think is terrible.
I added some extra cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice on top of the spice pack that came with the recipe kit. So, I ended up with about one and a half the amount of spice regularly used.
I was originally going to use some brown sugar to make up for the efficiency, but I forgot. I'll probably use brown sugar to prime the bottles.
Another thing I learned: it takes a long time to lauter.