Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Dark One.2 Tasting

I brewed this oatmeal stout in mid-October after having done a pretty bad oatmeal stout earlier this year. This version turned out pretty well, and I think I learned my lesson about water treatment in dark beers.

Served on tap at about 45 degrees in a nonic pint glass.

Appearance:
Pours black with some reddish-brown highlights at the edges of the glass. Clarity is good, but you could hardly tell in such a dark beer. A dense, two-fingered, mocha-colored head stays for a couple of minutes and maintains a thin foam throughout. No lacing.

Aroma:
Pretty subdued aroma. Some chocolate and roasted coffee. Maybe some fruitiness, but not much else.

Flavor:
Good malt flavor. Clean and mellow. Mostly chocolate. No hop flavor, diacetyl, or yeast flavors. Sweetish balance.

Mouthfeel: Nice, medium body. Again, slightly over carbonated for my tastes. No noticeable carbonic bite, but the high carbonation stings my tongue and detracts from what should be a really creamy, velvety beer.

Overall: Decent beer. The carbonation is a definite issue for me. Cold steeping the roasted grains seems to give a really mellow character and subdue the roastiness. This could really use some more roast.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Pumpkin Porter Tasting

I brewed this Pumpkin Porter in early October for a post-Halloween Halloween party that me and Michelle were having at our apartment. It turned out pretty good and everyone seemed to like it.

Served on tap at about 45 degrees in a nonic pint glass.

Appearance: Pours jet black with some reddish-brown highlights at the edges of the glass. Clarity is good, but you could hardly tell in such a dark beer. The puffy, two-fingered, mocha-colored head stays for a minute or two and leaves a scant ring with no lacing.

Aroma: Faint spice (mostly nutmeg, maybe some cinnamon), some roast character, and a bit of malt. No hop aroma. No esters or yeast character.

Flavor: Spices and mellow roast character. Slightly leans towards sweetness (could be the Golden Promise coming through?), but not in an unpleasant way. No diacetyl, esters, or yeast character. None of the flavors are sharp or assertive. No astringency. Very smooth, clean flavors.

Mouthfeel: Nice, medium body. Slightly over carbonated for my tastes. There is a bit of a carbonic bite, which for me is out of place in this kind of beer. The carbonation is a little distracting.

Overall: A solid, enjoyable beer. If the carbonation was lower I could easily drink this all night. Next time I would play up the roast and spice character slightly, add a bit more hop presence for complexity, and dial back on the carbonation for a creamier mouthfeel. I think this beer is about 80% of the way there, it just needs some fine-tuning.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Resonance Cascade

It's hard to believe that I've never brewed a double IPA. I mean, it's not my favorite style of beer, but they're so ubiquitous in American craft beer culture that it seems like any home brewer worth their weight in salt has done one. I generally like DIPAs, but I find many of them to be too sweet and lack any real drinkability. I really enjoy Pliny, Dreadnaught, and Double Trouble when I can get them. With my kegerator finally finished (okay, almost finished), it seemed like a good time to crank out a palette-shredding, enamel-ripping, monster-of-a-DIPA.

I really like the combination of Amarillo, Cascade, and Simcoe in IPAs/DIPAs that I've tried. The citrus, piney, and dank aromatics work well together. I wanted to try something slightly off the beaten path and use about 2.5 lbs of Texas Orange Blossom honey to really dry the beer out and add some character. I think my finished recipe is probably what it would look like if Russian River's Pliny the Elder and Bells' Hopslam had a child. I'm going to add the honey 2 or 3 days into fermentation to try and preserve as much of the aromatics as I can.

Also, instead of loading up the boil with a bunch of bittering hops, I opted to use Hop Shot brand hop extract. I like the idea of avoiding a bunch of excess vegetal matter in the kettle and loosing a bunch of wort volume to absorption (though I still lost quite a bit). Words of warning: If you're going to taste the hop extract, tread lightly. I tried the tiniest sliver I could manage, and I still tasted nothing but bitterness for at least two hours. It was so intense that it almost burned. Talk about a Lupulin Threshold Shift!


Resonance Cascade


TGT OG 1.060 TGT FG 1.012 TGT ABV 8.3% TGT AA 83% TGT IBU 92 TGT SRM 7.1

Total Grain: 14.05 lbs
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
TGT Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
TGT Pre-boil Gravity: 1.045
TGT Post Boil Volume: 5.94 gal
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~17% hourly

65.0% - 10.75 lbs. US Pale Malt
10.0% - 1.65 lbs. Vienna Malt
06.0% - 0.99 lbs. Carapils
02.0% - 0.33 lbs. Crystal 20L Malt
02.0% - 0.33 lbs. Crystal 60L Malt

9.6 ml HopShot (Hop Extract, N/A) @ 60 min.
1.00 oz. Amarillo (Pellet, 8.2% AA) @ 05 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade (Pellet, 6.4% AA) @ 05 min.
1.00 oz. Amarillo (Pellet, 8.2% AA) @ 01 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade (Pellet, 6.4% AA) @ 01 min.
2.00 oz. Simcoe (Pellet, 12.2% AA) @ Flame Out

1.00 oz. Amarillo (Whole, 10.4% AA) @ Dry Hop 1
1.00 oz. Cascade (Whole, 8.9% AA) @ Dry Hop 1
1.00 oz. Simcoe (Whole, 14.1% AA) @ Dry Hop 1
1.00 oz. Amarillo (Whole, 10.4% AA) @ Dry Hop 2
1.00 oz. Cascade (Whole, 8.9% AA) @ Dry Hop 2
1.00 oz. Simcoe (Whole, 14.1% AA) @ Dry Hop 2

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

WLP001 – California Ale

15.0% - 2.48 lbs. Orange Blossom Honey @ 3 days

Carbon filtered Waco

Rest 60 min @ 150 F

Notes
30 October 2011 – Made 1.3 l starter with 1 vial of WLP001 (production date 20 September 2011, calculated viability 68%) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient and 2 drops of Foam Control on a stir plate.

01 November 2011 – Took starter off of stir plate and placed in refrigerator.

02 November 2011 - Brewed by myself. Doughed in with 5.25 gal (1.5 qt/lb) water at 160 degrees. Adjusted with 1 tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Rested at 150 for 60 minutes. Run off was a bit grainy and hazy so I recirculated almost the entire volume of first runnings. Batch sparged with 4.63 gal of water at 178 degrees for 20 minutes at 162 degrees.

Yielded 8.15 gal of 1.048 wort (calculated efficiency 74.9%).

Boiled for 90 minutes. Added 4 drops of Foam Control. Finished with 6.07 gal of 1.064 wort (Evaporation rate 17% or 1.35 gal/hr). Approximately 80 IBUs from the hop extract and 12 IBUs from pellets.

Chilled to 64 degrees. Racked ~4.5 gal into Better Bottle. Oxygenated for 45 seconds with O2. Added 8 more drops of Foam Control. Decanted and pitched starter. Shook for 20 seconds, topped with sanitized aluminum foil, and set in freezer with controller set to 66 degrees F.

5 November 2011 - Warmed 3 jars of honey in water bath on the stove top. Added ~2.5 lbs honey directly to fermentor and shook briefly. Replaced aluminum foil with airlock. Set temperature controller to 68 degrees.

7 November 2011 - Gravity 1.025. Great aroma. Set controller to 70 degrees to keep fermentation going. Still has about 13 points to go. Hopefully it'll be ready to keg in about a week and a half.

09 November 2011 - Moved near fireplace. Ambient temperature 74 degrees.

17 November 2011 - Gravity 1.005 (~90% AA)! Way lower than I anticipated. There's some ethanol burn both in the nose and on the palate. I thought the Carapils would compensate for the honey, but I guess I didn't use enough. Moved into freezer to cold condition before kegging and dry hopping.

20 November 2011 - Kegged ~4.5 gal. Placed near fireplace (74 degrees F ambient). Put about 10 psi in the headspace to seal the lid. Once it warms to room temperature I'll begin the first round of dry hopping.

21 November 2011 - Added first round of dry hops to sanitized nylon bag tied off with fishing line. Tried suspending line to the top of the keg lid, but that made the keg leak. Left bag in keg unsuspended. Flushed headspace with CO2, though probably should have done more. Inverted keg to promote contact with dry hops.

29 November 2011 - Removed first round of dry hops. Added second round of dry hops in sanitized pantyhose weighted with sanitized marbles. Aroma coming out of keg was insane. Dank, pungent, fresh hop. Looking forward to trying this one. Pressure set to 30 psi at 45 degrees F. Targeting 2.0 vol CO2.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

SBDC Brown Ale

I've been looking forward to brewing this beer for awhile. The inspiration for this beer was a cask-conditioned brown ale served by hand pump at one of the Goose Island brewpubs. It had an incredibly creamy mouth feel, nutty flavor, and a really nice fresh-cut tobacco aroma.

I'm hoping to capture some of that tobacco character by using a small amount of black cardamom at the end of the boil. Even at .25 g, I'm worried that it may be overpowering. Though, I'm looking forward to finding out.

SBDC Brown Ale

TGT OG 1.045 TGT FG 1.013 TGT ABV 4.3% TGT AA 71.0% TGT IBU 24.4 TGT SRM 13.5

Total Grain: 10.3 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.96 gal
TGT Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
TGT Pre-boil Gravity: 1.034
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~17% hourly

75.0% - 7.75 lbs. Maris Otter
10.0% - 1.03 lbs. Victory Malt
05.0% - 0.52 lbs. Carapils
04.0% - 0.41 lbs. Medium Crystal (50-60L)
03.0% - 0.31 lbs. Golden Naked Oats
03.0& - 0.31 lbs. Pale Chocolate Malt

0.7 oz. Northern Brewer (Pellet, 9.4% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
.25 oz Black Cardamom @ 5 min.

WY1469 – West Yorkshire Ale

Carbon filtered Waco

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
25 October 2011 – Made 1.0 l starter of WY1469 (production date 05 October 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient and 2 drops Foam-Control on a stir plate.

26 October 2011 – Moved starter to refrigerator.

27 October 2011 - Brewed by myself. Doughed in with 4 gal (1.5 qt/lb) water at 166 degrees. Adjusted with 1/4 tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Batch sparged with 5.25 gal of water at 180 degrees for 30 minutes at 168 degrees.

Yielded 7.8 gal of 1.041 wort (calculated efficiency 83.4%).

Boiled for 90 minutes. Added 6 drops of Foam Control and .2 gal water. Finished with 6.44 gal of 1.050 wort. Too lazy to adjust with distilled water, will leave at higher gravity.

Chilled to 64 degrees. Oxygenated for 30 seconds with O2. Added 4 more drops of Foam Control. Decanted and pitched starter. Shook for 20 seconds, topped with sanitized aluminum foil, and set in freezer with controller set to 65 degrees F.

29 October 2011 - Minor blow-off through airlock. Second time using this yeast and it is very active. next time use blow-off tube or more head space. It also might be time to toss my Foam Control and get a new one, this bottle doesn't seem to be doing its job anymore.

30 October 2011 - Raised temperature to 70 degrees F for diacetyl rest.

01 November 2011 - Gravity 1.016 (AA 67.1%). Still very cloudy with yeast, should finish up in a few days.

09 November 2011 - Moved to freezer to cold condition at 35 degrees for a few days before kegging.

17 November 2011 - Kegged ~4.75 gal. Final gravity 1.014 (71.1% AA, 4.8% ABV). Target carbonation 2.1 vol CO2, 45 degrees F @ 10 psi.

27 November 2011 - Raised pressure to 30 psi to speed carbonation up.

Pumpkin Porter

Though I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin beers, I tried a pumpkin porter while I was in Denver for GABF that really impressed me. I really like the pumpkin spices when set against the roasty back drop. Since Michelle and I are throwing a Halloween party, having a pumpkin beer on tap seemed necessary. I was aiming for a porter with some pumpkin character, rather than a pumpkin beer with a little splash of porter. I may have been a little bit too light on the spices, but I can always adjust that with a spice tea extract in the keg.

Pumpkin Porter

TGT OG 1.060 TGT FG 1.016 TGT ABV 5.9% TGT AA 72.3% TGT IBU 28 TGT SRM 32.5

Total Grain: 13.8 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.95 gal
Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
Pre-boil Gravity: 1.045
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Anticipated Evaporation: 15% hourly

62.0% - 8.51 lbs. Golden Promise
21.0% - 2.88 lbs. Munich Malt
08.0% - 1.10 lbs. Medium Crystal
04.0% - 0.55 lbs. Chocolate Malt
04.0% - 0.55 lbs. Pale Chocolate Malt
01.0% - 0.14 lbs Black Malt

1.4 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellet, 5.9% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
2.0 g Ground Cinnamon @ 5 min.
2.0 g Ground Nutmeg @ 5 min.
2.0 g Ground Allspice @ 5 min.

WLP005 – British Ale

Carbon filtered Waco

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
05 October 2011 – Made 1.1 l starter of WLP005 (Production Date 07 September 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient on a stir plate.

07 October 2011 – Brewed by myself. Doughed in base and crystal malts with 5.15 gal (1.5 qt/lb) at 164 degrees. Added ½ tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Added roasted grains and batch sparged with 5.35 gal at 175 degrees for 10 minutes at 168 degrees.

Yielded 8.75 gal of 1.045 wort (calculated efficiency 77.3%)

Removed .625 gal (10 cups) of wort to adjust volume. Boiled for 90 minutes. Added 6 drops of Foam Control. Yielded 6.07 gal 1.060 wort (evaporation rate 17% or 1.35 gal/hr)

Chilled to 66 degrees. Racked 5.0 gal to Better Bottle. Aerated for 30 with O2.

Pitched starter and covered with sanitized aluminum foil. Temperature controller set to 68 degrees.

10 October 2011 – Replaced foil with sanitized airlock.

11 October 2011 – Gravity 1.024 (58.8% AA)

15 October 2011 – Gravity 1.020 (65.5% AA). Moved to fireplace. Shook to rouse yeast.

19 October 2011 – Moved to freezer to cold condition at 40 degrees.

26 October 2011 – Kegged ~4.6 gal. Didn't take final gravity, may have dropped a few more points, but nothing significant. Controller set to 45 degrees. Regulator set to 30 psi. Need to carb quickly for Halloween party.

7 November 2011 - First tasting.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Dark One.2

TGT OG 1.066 TGT FG 1.020 TGT ABV 6.0% TGT AA 68.0% TGT IBU 26 TGT SRM 32.5

Total Grain: 15.41 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.96 gal
TGT Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
TGT Pre-boil Gravity: 1.049
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~17% hourly

60.0% - 9.21 lbs. Maris Otter
15.0% - 2.30 lbs. Naked Golden Oats
10.0% - 1.54 lbs. Light Munich Malt
05.0% - 0.77 lbs. Roasted Barley
05.0% - 0.77 lbs. Chocolate Malt
02.5% - 0.38 lbs. Crystal 60
02.5% - 0.38 lbs. Dark Crystal

1.6 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellet, 5.0% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

WY1469 – West Yorkshire Ale

Carbon filtered Waco
2 g Calcium Chloride (Boil)

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
15 October 2011 – Made 1.07 l starter of WY1469 (production date 05 October 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient and 2 drops Foam-Control on a stir plate.

16 October 2011 - Brewed by myself (and Michelle helped, too). Doughed in with 5.75 gal (1.5 qt/lb) at 166 degrees. Came in 1-2 degrees low. Adjusted temperature with .25 gal of boiling water. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Adjusted with ¾ tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Batch sparged with 3.75 gal at 175 degrees for 10 minutes at 165 degrees.

Yielded 7.75 gal of 1.048 wort (calculated efficiency 66.3%). Added .25 gal water and .5 lb DME. Low efficiency due to slightly acidic sparge?

Boiled for 90 minutes yielding 5.96 gal of 1.066 wort (evaporation rate 17% or 1.35 gal/hr). Added 6 drops Foam-Control and 2 grams Calcium Chloride.

Chilled to 66 degrees F in 20 minutes. Racked 5.0 gal to Better Bottle.

Pitched entire starter and oxygenated with O2 for 60 seconds. Temperature controller set to 66 degrees.

17 October 2011 - Blow off like crazy. Should have taken a picture. Lost about .25 gal. Added 4 drops Foam-Control. Replaced aluminum foil and cleaned up carboy.

19 October 2011 - Moved near fireplace for diacetyl rest. Ambient temperature 70 degrees F.

23 October 2011 - Gravity 1.020 (68.5% AA). Flavors are developing nicely. A little on the fruity side, hopefully during maturation that gets rounded out a little bit.

25 October 2011 - Moved to freezer with controller set to 40 degrees to cold condition prior to kegging.

26 October 2011 – Kegged ~4.6 gal. Didn't take final gravity, may have dropped a point or two, but nothing too significant. Temperature controller set to 40 degrees. Regulator set to 30 psi. Need to carbonate quickly before Halloween party.

Monday, September 26, 2011

American Farmhouse

TGT OG 1.060 TGT FG 1.005 TGT ABV 7.3% TGT AA 91.3% TGT IBU 29.5 TGT SRM 5.1

Total Grain: 13.54 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.98 gal
Pre-boil Volume: 7.5 gal
Pre-boil Gravity: 1.048
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~13% hourly

70.0% - 9.53 lbs. Castle Pilsner Malt
15.0% - 2.04 lbs. Rye Malt
12.5% - 1.70 lbs. Weyermann Pale Wheat Malt
02.5% - 0.34 lbs. Melanoidin Malt

3.5 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellet, 2.6% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

WLP565 – Belgian Saison I
WLP645 – Brettanomyces clausenii

Carbon filtered Waco, 50% distilled

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
25 September 2011 – Made 1.7 l starter of WLP565 (production date 28 July 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient on a stir plate.

26 September 2011 - Brewed by myself. Doughed in with 5.1 gal (1.5 qt/lb) at 164 degrees. Adjusted with .5 gal boiling water. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Adjusted with 1 tsp phosphoric acid for mash pH ~5.2. Batch sparged with 4.5 gal at 180 degrees for 10 minutes at 165 degrees (added sparge water a little slow, undershot target 170 degrees). Adjusted sparge water with 1 tsp phosphoric acid for water pH of 5.0 (overshot sparge water pH, next time use ½-¾ tsp)

Yielded 8.15 gal of 1.044 wort (mash efficiency 70.4%).

Removed .5 gal wort.

Boiled for 90 minutes yielding 5.85 gal 1.058 wort (evaporation rate 15%/hr or 1.2 gal/hr).

Chilled to 67 degrees F in 26 minutes. Racked 4.8 gal to Better Bottle (~1 gal lost to trub and hop sediment).

Aerated with pure O2 for 35 seconds then pitched entire starter of WLP565 and vial of WLP645. Temperature control ceiling set to 80 degrees F.

27 September 2011 - Highly active fermentation within eight hours. Krausen blowing through airlock. Removed airlock, replaced with sanitized aluminum foil, and added 7 drops of Fermcap-S.

20 November 2011 - Moved into freezer to cold condition before kegging.

29 November 2011 - Kegged ~4.75 gal. Final gravity 1.005 (91.1% AA, 7.0% ABV). Set regulator to 30 psi at 45 degrees F to carbonate quickly. Targeting about 2.5 vol CO2.