I've been through the desert on a beer with no name

...It felt good to be out of the snow. While we are still unsure about the name of this IPA, for now it's a poe-boy because we used our free hops from Red Hook for it! It's a great tour if you get the chance and you're in Portsmouth, I recommend it.

As you can see from the picture above, it was actually cold out for our brew day. This is man brewing conditions, not like those in Georgia where 55f is a cold brew night. We got to brew out the Carharts already!

This was an IPA with a lot of hops and about 55lbs of grain involved. There were some adjustments to the recipe that was indicated earlier. First off, it was German Tetinang, not Galana that we had to brew with so we went a little heavier on the Northern Brewer. In the end, we were able to get very near our intended IBU's.



Now when it came to how to distribute the hops over two 10 gallon batches of beer, Nick had a pretty crazy idea to help us brew and cool in a timely manner. First off, please note that we take and mix all of the batches when we put them into our fermentation buckets.

Now Nick's idea was simple - We have bittering hops and flavor hops. The flavor/aroma hops do not need to boil for the full 60 min, nor does the wort that gets those hops. So, we have one 10 gallon keggle for bittering that boils the full 60 min, and the second one boils with all the late hops additions. While we cool the flavor/aroma keggle, the bittering keggle is on the second leg of it's boil. By the time we are done with the flavor/aroma keggle, the bittering one is ready to cool.

I racked my brain for a way to make this not an acceptable method, but it seems pretty logical. I am interested to hear some feedback, if I get ambitious, I may make a diagram for this.

So, quick recap - The keggle on the left has all the bittering hops additions. The keggle on the right has all the aroma and flavor hops additions and only boils for 1/2 hr. In the end, they are all mixed together.

Overall it was a great brew day. We missed out on our volume and didn't take any mashing/sparging readings, but we were well over our mark on gravity (1.066, instead of 1.057) so I think in the end, we were right where we wanted to be. The beer was a nice straw color, so we will see how it settles out.

We also did a tasting of Ted's Mint Stout. I will be posting up a video later this week to get everyone through turkey day.

Cheers!

Back to brewing!

Finally, we are going to brew this weekend! Because Nick and I are so low on brew and because I was able to come across some free high alpha acid hops while on brew tour, we are making an American IPA. I picked up the grains last night and I am going to be rocking the starter tonight.

This is currently a namless IPA, but I am sure Nick and I will come up with something good.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 20.00 gal
Boil Size: 22.89 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 8.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 98.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------

50.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) 91.32 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 3.65 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 2.74 %
1.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine 2.28 %
5.00 oz Galena [13.00 %] (90 min) 59.8 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (45 min) 13.4 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (30 min) 11.2 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (20 min) 8.9 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (15 min) 4.7 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (1 min) 0.4 IBU

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [SYeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 54.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 17.11 gal of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 10.95 gal of water at 200.2 F 168.0 F

I am still up in the air about weather or not we're going to fly sparge or batch sparge. It will be a game time decision.

On another note, I would like to congratulate Joel (the picture was taken at a MNB brew night)from Monday Night Brewery was recently elected 4th ward dog catcher. With his political prowess, I am sure he will be moving up the ranks to city-wide dog catcher in no time!

Cheers

What beer pairs with humble pie?

As many of you know, I have been at war with the guys at Monday Night Brewery (or MNB as they are now officially called) and like all wars, it hasn't been pretty. I would like to begin by putting to rest the rumor that Bryan Adams is a member of Hezbollah. While his lyrics certainly raise the question of his commitment to the United States and it's war on terror, there is no physical evidence that links him to the leadership of Hezbollah.

I've come to this bit of a humble ending to my war with MNB due to the taste off we had. While MNB tried to butter us up with beer glasses and an awesome stout to go with the Swashchuckler IPA they sent us, I have to admit that without a doubt, (gulp) their beer was better.

Nick and I started off with the Swashchuckler and poured it into a pint glass. It poured a deep gold color with an off white head. IT started with two fingers of head and kept it's head for a good amount of time. I got a nice smell of pine and citrus on the nose, the pine sets in before the citrus, but it rounds out to a great aroma.

Once the head settled, it left a healthy amount of lacing in the glass. The taste was really dominated by the bittering hops bite. It finished clean and didn't linger, which was nice, but the hops were a dominant player in the mix.

Overall this was a great experience and if I were to make any recommendations, I would say to dial down the hops a little to let the malt profile stand out a little more.

With our Lagunitas clone there was a melon smell on the nose, a lighter color, more of a straw than a gold, and a white head. The problem came in the taste. There was a distinct metallic flavor that we picked up in the brew.

Bottling has been a loosing battle with me as of late, but I hope that this is not the case with all of the beers I sent out. In the end, the metallic flavor died down a little bit, but never enough to make the beer really appealing.

The Swashchuckler IPA took us hands down. I am now looking for recommendations on what beer pairs with crow for the main course and humble pie for desert. I am guessing that a nice Double IPA might wash down the crow and perhaps a barley wine for the humble pie?

Seriously though, they have a great start to a beer there, it could use a little fine tuning, but the malt profile was great (when I got into the beer a little more) and the nose it awesome. Congratulations from the Nick and I go out to the MNB crew. Cheers!

Celebration Ale - Rewind

So we went ahead and brewed this weekend to get ourselves back on track. This was again the Celebration Ale clone in exchange for wine bottles. The recipe is the same as in the previous post,
except that we decided to replace the Amarillo hops with Cascade out of the pound we picked up. So when you are looking at the recipe, its more like this;

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 13.00 gal
Boil Size: 15.98 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 14.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 88.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
32.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.05 %
2.60 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
2.60 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
0.90 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.31 %
0.90 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2.31 %
4.00 oz Target [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 40.0 IBU
4.00 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (30 min) Hops 32.6 IBU
2.00 oz Target [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 10.5 IBU
2.50 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
2.50 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 6 days) Hops

This was a single infusion mash that we split up into two coolers due to the size of the grain bill. Both mashes were struck aiming for 150f with the fist mash hitting 151 and the second being more like 149. We ran off and sparged the first mash, and then dumped the grains, scooped the stuff from the other cooler into the tun and sparged that.

*There is no question that this is not the way that we want to do things going forward. I have started to look for a great price on a 100qt cooler that we can make into a mash tun. Any leads are welcomed, trades will be accepted.

Our pre-boil gravity showed up at 16 brix or 1.064 (well above the expected 1.057) making us quite happy. There were a few boil overs due to the increased volume of over 14 gallons in a 15 gallon brew pot (it was actually more than that because we had two gallons that started out in another brew pot and was added once the first boil over happened). Oddly, the OG wound up at around 1.064 as well, making me wonder about the temp of the sample on the pre-boil gravity. I am going to have to watch that in the future. But alas, it was all good because we were at the proper OG on multiple instruments with a final yield of 13.5 gallons.

When it was all said and done, it was a 6hr brew day. Most of the extra time was used cooling the unusually large wort that we had and was well worth the effort because this is going to be a GREAT brew. I would hate to not have a full five gallons for myself.

Within 8hrs it was bubbling away:

Yea I know, it's a pretty boring video, what can I do? At least it's better than babbling about Bryan Adams.

Going forward, I would like to create a long-term plan for our brewing operation. As we look at the plan to buy a 100qt+ cooler, there will be the opportunity to evaluate the whole setup and I would like to move away from looking at the brewery as one single part at a time. Instead I would like to create and work towards a plan where pieces are worked on and put into place for an overall new brewery. That's the dream anyway.

Cheers!

Celebration Ale Weekend

Well the weekend is upon us and it's time to brew. We're currently looking for an extra set of hands because the doc says I can't lift anything greater than 20lbs. If you're in the area and want to come by to join us, shoot me an email so I can give you directions.

This weekend we're going to be brewing a clone of the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale for one of my brother-in-laws friends. We worked out a deal with him where we supply some Celebration Ale and he gives us enough wine bottles and caps for us to do the batch of wine we have been talking about. This is a big batch because once we got a gander at the recipe, we knew we were each going to want some too.

On a side note, thanks to a tip from a good friend, I was able to track down a pound of cascade hops for $28. It was locally grown by a guy whose family has roots in the old NY hops growing and has done it his whole life. I'm not going to lie, I was giddy as a school girl when he told me he had a pound of Cascade. That stuff has been impossible to track down.

Anyway, on to the beer:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Celebration Ale
Brewer: Travis & Nick
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 13.00 gal
Boil Size: 15.98 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 14.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 88.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
32.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.05 %
2.60 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
2.60 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
0.90 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.31 %
0.90 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2.31 %
4.00 oz Target [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 40.0 IBU
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 6 days) Hops -
4.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (30 min) Hops 32.6 IBU
2.00 oz Target [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 10.5 IBU
2.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 5.3 IBU


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 39.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 12.19 gal of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 7.80 gal of water at 200.2 F 168.0 F

Now here is where things get a little wacky. This recipe is on the assumption that we are not going to get the Cascade in time. If we are, replace all the Amarillo with the Cascade my father is going to bring us. If he doesn't make it, I think we will be fine with what we have.

Finally a little humor brought to you by comedian Rich Williams of MyBlueCollar.com. Enjoy!

Tasting the IPA

Well I wish I could say that the beer lived up to the name, but alas, nothing ever does.

The IPA is all hops and no malt flavor. It's kind of sad, even my wife commented on how light it was.

The good news is that I know what went wrong. Remember, this predates my understanding of adjusting recipes to my system (and brewing experience) efficiency. I have since received a wealth of information from some of the bloggers on this site and others (Groves Beer Log and Bad Ben) and from the forums on Beer Advocate. This has helped me to understand where I was going wrong and help me to figure out how to get "Back on Track!"

Kegged Joe Cool

I moved my Joe Cool IPA from the fermenter into the keg. It's a little earlier than I wanted too, but I was drinking Molsons Canadian for the last week and I JUST COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!

Anyway, this beer was surprisingly light in color and pretty smooth to drink. So far (and yes as always I am drinking my gravity test sample) it's not a knockout by any means, but it's good with a lot of hops flavor.

Something a little weird with this is that the reading I got on the hydrometer was 1.000, but since mine only reads in increments of .005 I figured that was a sign that is was under .005. It made me thing though, is it possible to get a reading of 1.000 from anything other than water? Could you have an aggressive enough yeast session to get down that low? My first thought is no. I would say that in a hypothetical case like that, you would not have any flavor in the beer because there would be no sugar left.

Either way, beer is beer and I am pleased with this one thus far.

Cheers.

Joe Cool IPA

This is an IPA that I made some changes too for my recipe. I am waiting on my Schlitz to lager for a month so I decided I would brew up an IPA for the Super Bowl. This should be a fine one:

5 Gallons

8lb. Durst Pilsner (3628 g)
2lb. Briess 2-row (907 g)
1lb. Durst Wheat (453 g)
0.5lb. corn sugar to boil (226 g)

1oz Spalt 60 Full boil (28 g)
1oz Hersbrucker 30 min left (28 g)
2oz Spalt 5 min left (56 g)

1 Orange (Tangelo) peel 10 mins left
1 TBS Cilantro 10 mins left (15ml)

OG- .045 (it was supposed to be up in the .058 range so I am a little disappointed, but what can you do? It's still beer)
FG- ~.003 (I need a better hydrometer, mine only works in increments of .005 so I am never sure about exacts. In this case it was actually closest to 1.000)

5.5% ABV

Wyeast Rogue Yeast- This was a recommendation from my brewer and he has yet to steer me wrong so I decided to go with it. I guess this is a limited release yeast so you are on your own for an alternative.

My version of this brew is named after the ultimate Super Bowl QB, Joe Montana!