It is that time of year...pumpkin season! I decided to try my hand at a pumpkin ale this year, but where to start. Fortunately for me this month's Zymurgy had a recipe that looked good that I decided to follow. Out of copyright respect for them, I won't publish the recipe right now as it is their current issue. However if they post it later I will put a link up.
What I will say is this recipe called for canned pumpkin, not fresh. Next year I plan to make it out of fresh pumpkin. There is also an addition of pumpkin spice, honey, and maple syrup. The brew day started well enough, but quickly hit a wall. I have heard of how pumpkin can stick a mash, man they weren't kidding! I had already put 1 lb of rice hulls in, so when I stuck I threw another lb in.
Let me try to describe what a stuck mash acts like, and feels like. First, since I use a HERMS system, my mash is always moving. What will happen is that the site gauge will start to go lower and lower. This is because a vacuum effect has started on the bottom of the kettle. Then when I put my paddle in the mash, it was like hitting a rock. I was really surprised at how much this solidified! It took me a few minutes to break it all up, and mix it completely again. Once done, I turned my pump back on and was good to go for a bit. The mash stuck about 3-4 times in the beginning during the protein rest phase and while getting up to 154, but once up to temp it really didn't stick again. I suspect it was two things, first I was mixed more and more of the rice hulls up into the mash, maybe they were not so evenly distributed on first mixes. Second I suspect the warmer temp mash just allows things to expand and the liquid to be more viscus.
After mash I went into mash-out, and hour sparge, then boil. The recipe did not call for much in hops, so the boil was pretty easy. I exceeded my SG a little, the recipe called for 1.070, and I hit 1.072. Color and taste were good of the wort, I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out!
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Batch #27 - Vanilla Cream Ale
After much positive feedback, my last cream ale (Batch #23) seemed to finally hit the mark I was aiming for. Last time I brewed 10 gallons. The first 5 gallons I took one vanilla bean, cut in half, scrapped out insides, chopped up case, then soaked in vodka for a couple of hours. I pitched that into the secondary for 2 weeks.
That batch only ended up having hints of vanilla, they were too subtle. So with the second 5 gallon batch I decided to use two vanilla beans. I had also noticed while tasting the previous 5 gallons at one week the vanilla was stronger than two weeks. This time I did the two beans, and did it for one week. The vanilla flavor was much, much closer to what I was going for. I'm on the fence as to if I hit the exact mark, or if I want to add a little more.
With all that said, everyone basically drank up what I had left so I needed to brew up some more! It is the same recipe as before, didn't change anything. Brew day went pretty smooth, however I took my eyes of the boil kettle for a moment and got a boil over. Other than hurting my pride, and more clean-up, that was the only drama.
What I can update you all on is that I had a lot of transfers to do this weekend too. First off, I took my Oktoberfest out of the carboy, and moved it into a keg. I didn't carbonate it, but I needed to free up the carboy, and I'm simply lagering right now so the keg seemed a good solution. I gave it a quick taste and I think it has some great potential. However my SG reading was a little high, so it isn't as dry as what I was hoping for. I've also now had my Barleywine and Imp Stout on bourbon oak for a month now, so I transferred those to secondaries taking them off the oak. They will now just sit until Mid-Nov. They both tasted great, I am real happy with them. Lastly I transferred the Imp IPA to secondary. It is still bubbling! Tastes pretty good, but it will taste much better once I get the last round of hops on it.
Well that is everything from this week's brew session. Happy brewing!
That batch only ended up having hints of vanilla, they were too subtle. So with the second 5 gallon batch I decided to use two vanilla beans. I had also noticed while tasting the previous 5 gallons at one week the vanilla was stronger than two weeks. This time I did the two beans, and did it for one week. The vanilla flavor was much, much closer to what I was going for. I'm on the fence as to if I hit the exact mark, or if I want to add a little more.
With all that said, everyone basically drank up what I had left so I needed to brew up some more! It is the same recipe as before, didn't change anything. Brew day went pretty smooth, however I took my eyes of the boil kettle for a moment and got a boil over. Other than hurting my pride, and more clean-up, that was the only drama.
What I can update you all on is that I had a lot of transfers to do this weekend too. First off, I took my Oktoberfest out of the carboy, and moved it into a keg. I didn't carbonate it, but I needed to free up the carboy, and I'm simply lagering right now so the keg seemed a good solution. I gave it a quick taste and I think it has some great potential. However my SG reading was a little high, so it isn't as dry as what I was hoping for. I've also now had my Barleywine and Imp Stout on bourbon oak for a month now, so I transferred those to secondaries taking them off the oak. They will now just sit until Mid-Nov. They both tasted great, I am real happy with them. Lastly I transferred the Imp IPA to secondary. It is still bubbling! Tastes pretty good, but it will taste much better once I get the last round of hops on it.
Well that is everything from this week's brew session. Happy brewing!
Monday, August 26, 2013
Batch #26 - Bourbon Oak Aged Ale - Photo Edition!
This recipe did not disappoint last time it was brewed. I really hit the oak/whiskey balance with the 4 weeks. That beer was awesome, so really it is just about making more! This time around I made a 10 gallon batch so I would not run out anytime soon.
If you are interested in the recipe, take a look at Batch #20. My only difference is that I brewed double the amounts for 10 gallons.
Since reposting a recipe isn't needed, this time I decided to take pictures along the way. Here's some eye candy.
It all starts with the grain!
The grain mill for crushing.
The grain after the crush.
Just starting the mash, stirring in the grains.
Measuring brewers salts for mash.
Lactic acid for pH adjustments.
pH reading. 5.4, perfect!
Configuration of hoses for mash.
Measuring out the hops for the boil.
Configuration for sparge.
Inside the boil kettle during sparge.
Watching the site glass to make sure I hit my volume needed for boil.
Start of the boil, you can see the heating element outline in the foam.
After the boil chilling down the wort.
A close-up of the wort chiller in action.
That is pretty much the whole brew day, well minus a lot of cleaning. However I figured those pictures would not be as exciting. Just picture every pot shown, carboy, and hose getting a very solid clean. What I did not take any pictures of, which will give me something to do next time, is how I make my yeast starter, fermentation, conditioning, kegging, maybe bottling (don't always bottle), then of course drinking!
Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I'll post more later.
Batch #25 - Unearthly Imperial IPA Clone
It was time, last brew the lager, now an Imperial IPA. I found this recipe in a Clone Brews book I have. In truth I have not had the original brew, but I got it on good authority if going after an Imperial IPA, this would be a good one to go after. I'll get some bottles of it before I drink mine so I can compare.
I am going to do a slight variation in the recipe though. The recipe calls for dry hopping, as do pretty much every single IPA ever brewed. However I am looking for a reason to use my Blichmann HopRocket, so I plan to use it as a Randalizer rather than dry hopping. Will see how well that works out. I picked up the fittings I would need on my last trip to my LHBS, and only need to get my hop leaves ordered (can't use pellets in this).
Here is the recipe:
Batch Size - 5 gallons
Grains18 lbs 4 oz - UK 2-Row Pale Malt
8 oz - Torrified Wheat
4 oz - Crystal Malt 10L
4 oz - Caramunich Malt
Additions
1 lbs - Cane Sugar
Hops
2.6 oz - Chinook (13%) (90 min)
1.43 oz - Cascade (5.5%) (15 min)
0.36 oz - Cascade (5.5%) (5 min)
0.36 oz - Centennial (10%) (5 min)
0.36 oz - Chinook (13%) (5 min)
1.43 oz - Fuggles (5.4%) (1 min)
0.5 oz - Cascade (5.5%) (dry hop)
0.5 oz - Centennial (10%) (dry hop)
0.5 oz - Chinook (13%) (dry hop)
Yeast
Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
Brewers Salts
2 g Chalk
2 g Calcium Chloride
2 g NaCl
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
1.25 q water/lb
60 min at 151 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees for 10 min
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
90 min boil
Full 90 min add first Chinook hops
Final 15 min - Add Cascade as outlined above, add whirfloc tablets
Final 5 min - Add Cascade, Chinook, and Centennial as outlined above
Final 1 min - Add Fuggles
Fermentation
Primary - 14 Days @ 64Secondary - 14 Days @ 72
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:IBU's -100 IBUsColor - 7.5 SRMCalories - 315 per 12 ozEstimated OG - 1.097Actual OG - 1.092Estimated FG - 1.010Estimated ABV - 10.9%
This one has been slow to ferment. I did a large starter given the hi OG, however it is still bubbling away. After two weeks in the fermentation chamber, where after one week I bumped up the temp to 70 degrees, it was not fully completed. I have now placed the carboy in my basement which is a little warmer in the lower 70's, and after a week there is still some bubbling activities. This weekend I will take another gravity reading. At the time of the move gravity was down to 1.015, so it showed a little more to go.
I have some more research to do on how much conditioning I should do. On one hand you should condition higher gravity beers for a long time to really smooth out. However with IPA's, you lose a lot of hop flavor the longer you let it sit. I suspect somewhere in between is a sweet spot, the trick is to find it!
I am going to do a slight variation in the recipe though. The recipe calls for dry hopping, as do pretty much every single IPA ever brewed. However I am looking for a reason to use my Blichmann HopRocket, so I plan to use it as a Randalizer rather than dry hopping. Will see how well that works out. I picked up the fittings I would need on my last trip to my LHBS, and only need to get my hop leaves ordered (can't use pellets in this).
Here is the recipe:
Batch Size - 5 gallons
Grains18 lbs 4 oz - UK 2-Row Pale Malt
8 oz - Torrified Wheat
4 oz - Crystal Malt 10L
4 oz - Caramunich Malt
Additions
1 lbs - Cane Sugar
Hops
2.6 oz - Chinook (13%) (90 min)
1.43 oz - Cascade (5.5%) (15 min)
0.36 oz - Cascade (5.5%) (5 min)
0.36 oz - Centennial (10%) (5 min)
0.36 oz - Chinook (13%) (5 min)
1.43 oz - Fuggles (5.4%) (1 min)
0.5 oz - Cascade (5.5%) (dry hop)
0.5 oz - Centennial (10%) (dry hop)
0.5 oz - Chinook (13%) (dry hop)
Yeast
Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
Brewers Salts
2 g Chalk
2 g Calcium Chloride
2 g NaCl
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
1.25 q water/lb
60 min at 151 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees for 10 min
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
90 min boil
Full 90 min add first Chinook hops
Final 15 min - Add Cascade as outlined above, add whirfloc tablets
Final 5 min - Add Cascade, Chinook, and Centennial as outlined above
Final 1 min - Add Fuggles
Fermentation
Primary - 14 Days @ 64Secondary - 14 Days @ 72
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:IBU's -100 IBUsColor - 7.5 SRMCalories - 315 per 12 ozEstimated OG - 1.097Actual OG - 1.092Estimated FG - 1.010Estimated ABV - 10.9%
This one has been slow to ferment. I did a large starter given the hi OG, however it is still bubbling away. After two weeks in the fermentation chamber, where after one week I bumped up the temp to 70 degrees, it was not fully completed. I have now placed the carboy in my basement which is a little warmer in the lower 70's, and after a week there is still some bubbling activities. This weekend I will take another gravity reading. At the time of the move gravity was down to 1.015, so it showed a little more to go.
I have some more research to do on how much conditioning I should do. On one hand you should condition higher gravity beers for a long time to really smooth out. However with IPA's, you lose a lot of hop flavor the longer you let it sit. I suspect somewhere in between is a sweet spot, the trick is to find it!
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Batch #24 - Oktoberfest
It is time I finally did a lager on this system! I can't think of a better style than getting an Oktoberfest started. Timing right now should be good as it will be ready towards the end of Sept. I got the recipe from a clone brew recipe book I have. It is a clone recipe of an Oktoberfest called Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen from Privatbrauerei Aying, Aying, Germany. I have not had this beer myself, but that is part of the fun! It is seasonal so it should be out in the fall when mine is ready. It will be fun to get some bottles of it and compare it to my brew.
Here is the recipe:
Batch Size - 5 gallons
Grains
7 lbs 12oz - German Pilsner
3 lbs - Munich Malt
8 oz - Dark Munich Malt
8 oz - Caramunich Malt
Hops
1.03 oz - Tettnang (6.5%) (90 min)
0.5 oz - Hallertauer Hersbrucker (2%) (15 min)
Yeast
Wyeast 2308 - Munich Lager - Target 440 billion
cells
Brewers Salts
2.3g Chalk
0.7g Baking Soda
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
Mash
1.25 q water/lb
90 min at 153 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees for 10 min
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
90 min at 153 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees for 10 min
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
90
min boil
Full 90 min add Tettnang hops
Final 15 min - Add Hallertauer Hersbrucker and Whirfloc tablet
Fermentation
Primary - 14 Days @ 50Final 15 min - Add Hallertauer Hersbrucker and Whirfloc tablet
Fermentation
Secondary - 7 Days @ 55
Secondary - 30 Days slowly decreasing temp to 34
Secondary - 3 Days @ 60 degrees
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:
IBU's -23.3
Color - 8.0 SRM
Calories - 182 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.056
Actual OG - 1.055
Estimated FG - 1.013
Estimated ABV - 5.7%
The fun and different thing I did on this one was rather than using my usual water profile and brewers salts, I added chalk and baking soda to get as close to a Munich water profile as possible. I am really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Unfortunately it will suck up one of my fridges for a while to lager, but it will be worth it!
The brew day went really well and smooth. The only thing I didn't hit on the mark is I lowered my boil just a little, and as a result I didn't evaporate at the same rate, so with that my finishing hops ended up being on a little longer. Outside of that things went great. Below is a photo from the refractometer of my OG.
Batch #23 - Cream Ale
The award winning Cream Ale had to be brewed again! This time I bumped it up to a 10 gallon batch. Other than increasing the ingredients, the recipe followed was Batch #14. I plan to play with this a little though this time. I of course split this up into two 5-gallon carboys to ferment. The tricky thing here with yeast starters is how to evenly split the yeast between the two carboys. I don't have a great technique right now other than eying it, but I will figure out a good solution soon. To try and compensate for any variations between the two carboys, I blended the batches when I transferred to secondary.
At this stage the Cream Ale is in its secondary fermenters. One fermenter I will keep the original recipe, the other I added something a little special which I can't wait to try. I got a nice vanilla bean, split it in two, scrapped it out the inside, and chopped up the skin. I then take all of that and drown it in a little bit of vodka to kill anything so I don't contaminate the beer. After letting it soak for a few hours in the vodka I then dump it all into the secondary. Since vodka is already pretty flavor neutral, it works out well, plus it is a very small amount. I will then taste this regularly until I feel I've achieved enough of the vanilla flavor I am looking for.
This vanilla cream ale has a special place in my heart going back to my days living in Nashville. This was right around the time I turned 21 which was great too. There was a brewery down there called Market Street on 2nd Ave. They had this great vanilla cream ale that I could not get enough of. This beer lives only as a memory in my mind because it is no longer made. The brewery/pub closed down a few years ago. Fortunately I think I had enough of it back then to lock that flavor in! Ideally the vanilla bean will do the trick, I would like to not use extract, but my gut is telling me to get the strong vanilla flavor they used to get, and because they did this on such a large scale, using extract was probably easier for Market Street. Will see though if I can achieve the flavor profile with the vanilla beans.
At this stage the Cream Ale is in its secondary fermenters. One fermenter I will keep the original recipe, the other I added something a little special which I can't wait to try. I got a nice vanilla bean, split it in two, scrapped it out the inside, and chopped up the skin. I then take all of that and drown it in a little bit of vodka to kill anything so I don't contaminate the beer. After letting it soak for a few hours in the vodka I then dump it all into the secondary. Since vodka is already pretty flavor neutral, it works out well, plus it is a very small amount. I will then taste this regularly until I feel I've achieved enough of the vanilla flavor I am looking for.
This vanilla cream ale has a special place in my heart going back to my days living in Nashville. This was right around the time I turned 21 which was great too. There was a brewery down there called Market Street on 2nd Ave. They had this great vanilla cream ale that I could not get enough of. This beer lives only as a memory in my mind because it is no longer made. The brewery/pub closed down a few years ago. Fortunately I think I had enough of it back then to lock that flavor in! Ideally the vanilla bean will do the trick, I would like to not use extract, but my gut is telling me to get the strong vanilla flavor they used to get, and because they did this on such a large scale, using extract was probably easier for Market Street. Will see though if I can achieve the flavor profile with the vanilla beans.
Batch #22 - Bourbon Barleywine
I could not get enough of this delicious beer last time around. It is so full of flavor, and of course it is oaked with a bourbon (Woodford Reserve) oak spiral (American oak medium char) which makes it all taste so very good! This time around I am going to only oak it for 4 weeks. In recent tastings of the Bourbon Ale (Batch #20), 4 weeks was perfect. No heavy oak or tannin flavors, but the bourbon and vanilla from the oak comes through. I'm hoping to really let this age for a while too so it can mature. I couldn't resist last time and drank it pretty soon, but could taste it evolving over time. This time I will be more patient, and it should prove an awesome Fall brew.
I followed the recipe and process exactly as before in Batch #18. Feel free to review that posting for the recipe. The only difference this time is I was able to hit a higher OG at 1.099. I believe I achieved the higher OG simply because I boiled it down a little further, as well as a more controlled sparge technique I've been doing lately. As I write this I brewed this 4 weeks ago and will be transferring it into secondary tomorrow so I can put on the oak. Then 4 weeks later I will keg and let time do its thing.
I followed the recipe and process exactly as before in Batch #18. Feel free to review that posting for the recipe. The only difference this time is I was able to hit a higher OG at 1.099. I believe I achieved the higher OG simply because I boiled it down a little further, as well as a more controlled sparge technique I've been doing lately. As I write this I brewed this 4 weeks ago and will be transferring it into secondary tomorrow so I can put on the oak. Then 4 weeks later I will keg and let time do its thing.
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