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!

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

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 boil

Full 90 min add Tettnang hops
Final 15 min - Add Hallertauer Hersbrucker and Whirfloc tablet

Fermentation

Primary - 14 Days @ 50
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.

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.

Batch #21 - Firecracker Ale

Nothing like a good Firecracker Ale to ring in the 4th of July!  I brewed this batch last year as an extract brew before I had the all-grain setup up and going.  It was an interesting beer that is a good easy drink on a hot summer day.  The interesting part of this brew is the kicker added to it during the boil.

That's right, Red Hots!  It gives the beer a reddish hue and a little subtle zip.  This year I converted that recipe to all-grain.  Here is that recipe:

Batch Size - 5 gallons

Grains

10 lbs - Pale 2-Row

1 lbs 8 oz - Crystal 20L

12 oz - Torrified Wheat

4 oz -Flaked Barley

Color and Flavor
1 lbs - Red Hots Candy

Hops
1.2 oz - Centennial (60 min)
1.73 oz - Liberty (20 min)

Yeast

Wyeast 1056 - American Ale - Target 625 billion cells

The brew schedule was as follows:

Mash

1.25 q water/lb
75 min at 150 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees for 10 min
Sparge for approx 1 hour

Boil

60 min boil
Final 60 min - Add Centennial and Red Hots
Final 20 min - Add Liberty
Final 15 min - Add Whirfloc

Fermentation

Primary - 14 Days @ 64
Keg Condition - 14 Days

Here are the specs on this brew:

IBU's -47.6
Color - 5.9 SRM
Calories - 195 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.059
Actual OG - 1.056
Estimated FG - 1.012
Actual FG - 1.010
Estimated ABV - 6.2%
Actual ABV - 6.0%

We drank this over the 4th of July weekend and it was a hit!  We didn't drink the whole keg as the crown was not huge, but that is fine as it will give me some left that I can bottle and hang onto.

Batch #20 - Bourbon Ale

Ahhh, I do love the flavor of this beer.  It is inspired by the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.  I have brewed this in the past (Batch #7).  When I brewed #7 I took a 10-gallon batch and split it into two 5-gallon batches, then experimented with oaking the beer different lengths.  One batch I did for 30 days, the other for 60.  There was considerably more vanilla and whiskey flavor in the 30 day than the 60 day.  The 60 day the flavors were more subtle and there was more straight oak and tannin flavors.  With that knowledge in hand, I am doing this one for 30 days.

The recipe is based on an Irish Red Ale recipe, and this time had some small variances from the last.  Also this time I only brewed a 5-gallon batch.  Here is the recipe:

12 lbs  - US 2-Row
1.23 lbs - Crystal Malt 40L
1.23 lbs - Briess Carapils
14.8 Oz- White Wheat Malt

Mash was a 90 minute mash at 150 degrees with 21.27 quarts of water.  We mashed out at 170 degrees and Sparged for 60 minutes.

Hops
0.53 Oz- Goldings, East Kent - 90 minutes
0.54 Oz - Fuggles - 45 Min
0.27 Oz - Fuggles - 15 Min
1 each - Whirfloc Tablets 15 Min

Boil was for 90 minutes.

Yeast
Wyeast 0007 - Dry English Ale

Fermentation at 64 degrees for 2 weeks.  Then racked to secondary, moved to 70 degree environment and pitched the oak.

This time around I have been keeping American Oak Medium Charred spirals on Woodford Reserve for months, so I only needed to pitch one of the spirals.

I left the oak on for 30 days, then kegged.  So far I have had this in the keg for about a week and only took a brief sample and boy were the flavors great.  I am going to let that condition for a few more weeks then go ahead and start drinking it for real.

In general this brew I did not hit my numbers or my efficiency.  I'm not sure why, but not too worried based on what I've tasted so far.  Learning something new each day...