Combination Ale

I got to the point where I had enough wort from different beers left over to go ahead and make a combination ale.  This one has two sours, two brown ales, and a mishmash of different hops, as well as some dried orange peel and crushed coriander seeds.

Contributions:
Pacifica Sour
Hobgoblin ale clone
Jovaru Wit
Tangerine Wheat
Brown Sour IPA

Brew Day: 17 Dec 2019

Boil (20 min):

Hops: N/A

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 24 Dec: Transferred to secondary, racked on to 14 g Hallertau Blanc hop pellets.

Addendum, 29 Dec: Bottled on ~1 1/2 T table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.

Brown Sour IPA

One of the great things about being a home brewer is that I can not only make beers to have available when what I like isn't "in season", but I can create new beers, as well.  This is one of those beers.

Initial Brew Day: 14 Dec 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Special B
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb DME
4 oz table sugar

Racked the wort on to ~1 1/2 Goodbelly Straight Shots, and then placed on a warming plate.  I don't want an over-powering tartness, and this will likely be subtle enough to just give a bit of tartness and let other flavors come through.

Second Brew Day: 17 Dec 2019

Boil (20 min):

Hops:
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 20 min)
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 5 min)
4 g dried sweet orange peel (@ 5 min)
3 g crushed coriander seeds (@ 5 min)

Yeast: Omega Hot Head

After boiling the wort and pitching the yeast, I placed the beer on a warming plate.

Addendum, 24 Dec: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 29 Dec: Bottled on 2 T table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 7 Jan: Put a bottle in the fridge this morning to chill, thinking it would be fine.  The re-purposed soda bottle is clearly under pressure.  However, the beer came out flat, and tasted "off".  I'm going to remake this beer, using US-05 yeast.

Tangerine Wheat #2

The first time I attempted this brew, I wanted to be a "purist"; instead of using extract (I'd read that that's how Lost City made theirs), I wanted to use orange zest.  Which I did.  And it didn't work, at least not in the sense that I'd replicated the flavor.  Not long ago, we'd been to a restaurant that offered the beer, and after tasting it, I thought, "yeah, okay, they use extract."  So, I picked up some Brewer's Best tangerine extract, and decided to give it a run.

Based on some online reading, I'll add about an ounce of the extract to the beer at bottling; put the bottling sugar in the fermenter, add the extract, and then rack the beer onto them both just prior to bottling.

Note: 1 oz ~ 30 ml

Brew Day: 2 Dec 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian wheat DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: UK Fuggle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: Horindahl Kviek

After pitching the yeast, place the fermenter on a warming plate.

Addendum, 3 Dec: It's been about 11 hrs since I pitched the yeast, and the beer is fermenting enthusiastically.

Addendum, 10 Dec: Transferred the beer to secondary, taking it off of the warming plate.

Addendum, 24 Dec: Bottled today, on 3/4 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water, and 40 ml of tangerine flavoring.  Got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 7 Jan: I put two regular bottles and the re-purposed soda bottle in the fridge to chill last night, and noticed that the soda bottle did not seem to be under pressure.  I opened one of the regular bottles for my wife tonight, and noticed there was no distinctive escaping of air.  The beer was flat, and even though it had a strong aroma of tangerine, it tasted "off".  I'm going to empty and clean all of the bottles, and then re-do the beer, using US-05 yeast.

JOVARU Wit

I was preparing for a trip to my local home brew supply store not too long ago, and I ran across an Omega Labs yeast called OYL-033 Jovaru Lithuanian Farmhouse.  This sounded very interesting, in no small part due to the fact that a friend of mine spent a great deal of time in Lithuania.  When I got to the store, I asked about the yeast and they said that they'd order some for me.  A couple of days later, I got an email saying that yeast was in.  Fortunately, Omega Labs also has a recipe for a Jovaru Wit beer, and it sounded too good to pass up.

Brew Day: 7 Nov 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 20 min)
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 5 min)
2 g dried sweet orange peel (@ 5 min)
2 g crushed coriander seeds (@ 5 min)

Yeast: Jovaru Lithuanian Farmhouse

I followed all of my usual procedures for cooling the wort and pitching the yeast, and placed the fermenter on a warming plate, wrapped in a towel.

Addendum, 19 Nov: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 24 Nov: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.  Used just shy of 2 T sugar, rather than a full ounce (~ 2 1/2 T), as the beers have been a little over-carbonated of late.

Addendum, 10 Dec: Tried one of the bottles tonight.  After the initial pour, I got a note of citrus in the nose, and the beer poured with a big, pillowy head that dissipated quickly.  The beer is medium body, with a hint of citrus and pepper.  Very nice flavor, very drinkable beer, and definitely one I'll do again.

Using Chocolate Malt

I have some chocolate malt sitting around from when I tried to make a red ale, and I wanted to use it up.  I'm not a fan of stouts and porters, but I have had a brown ale or two that was pretty good.  This being the fall season, going into the winter, I thought it would be a good time to use the malt up, and so I went looking for a recipe.  I ended up finding a Hobgoblin dark ale clone (scroll down) recipe, and went about collecting the ingredients.

Brew Day: 2 Nov 2019

Partial Mash:
4 oz Caramel malt
4 oz Crystal rye malt
1.5 oz chocolate malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Fuggle hops (FWH)
7 g Fuggle hops (@ 10 min)

Yeast: WLP-005 (recipe calls for Wyeast 1187, but this chart let me see an equivalent from White Labs)

Addendum, 3 Nov: It's always interesting to try a new yeast, because you never quite know how it's going to go.  I've used US-05 where it's started active fermentation within 2 hrs of pitching the yeast.  I've also used White Labs yeasts before (WLP-300, -380, etc.), but British ale yeast is new to me.  I had followed the instructions on the packet, and when I went to pitch the yeast, it came out as a sludge.  I hadn't seen that before and was a little concerned, and when I checked on the fermenter last night about 10 hrs after pitching, there was no visible activity.  This morning, however, there is clearly active fermentation.

Addendum, 16 Nov: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 24 Nov: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.  Used just shy of 2 T sugar, rather than a full ounce (~ 2 1/2 T), as the beers have been a little over-carbonated of late.

Addendum, 16 Dec: I'd opened a bottle last week, and found it to be flat.  I opened a second bottle tonight, and it was similarly flat.  I then opened the re-purposed soda bottle, and it was only very mildly carbonated.  So, it seems that the issue wasn't the bottle caps, or the bottling process, as much as it was a result of this is the first time I've worked with this yeast, and I'd likely left it sitting too long. 

Overall, the flavor is pretty good, a bit of chocolate and toasted toffee.  The body is good, and with the exception of the dearth of carbonation, the beer is actually pretty drinkable and enjoyable, and I'm not a huge fan of brown ales.

Pacifica Sour

I picked up some Pacifica hops not long ago, due to the flavor profile, and I'm really looking forward to trying them out.  I'm going to use them in a sour, but I'm going to back off the bacteria I add, in that I'm going to go with just one GoodBelly Straight Shot instead of two.

For this one, I'd made a run to my local homebrew supply place, and had been leafing through the bin of Omega Labs yeasts...I'm looking to make another tangerine wheat soon, and wanted to get some more yeast.  I ran across the Tropical IPA yeast, and it sounded good, so I'm going to give it a go.  I'm sure that it's going to be hard to pick out the yeast contributions with everything going on...sour, Pacifica hops, and the yeast...but we'll see what comes of this one.

Brew Day: 22 Oct 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Boil #2 (20 min): 26 Oct 2019

Hops:
14 g Pacifica, FWH
1 oz Pacifica, 10 min whirlpool
14 g Pacifica, dry hop

Yeast: Omega Labs Tropical IPA

Addendum, 28 Oct: This is one of those Omega Labs yeasts that reportedly does better at higher temperatures, so I placed the fermenter on a warming plate after pitching the yeast.  I checked on it this morning, and the fermentation is best described as "enthusiastic".

Addendum, 5 Nov: Transferred to secondary today, not so much because I had to for the beer, but because I want to use the warming plate for another beer in the next day or two.  As I was finishing cleaning up after transferring the beer, I realized that it's almost time to dry hop the beer, which I hope to do tomorrow sometime, and then I'll try to bottle it on Saturday.

Addendum, 16 Nov: Dry hopped.

Addendum, 24 Nov: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.  Used just shy of 2 T sugar, rather than a full ounce (~ 2 1/2 T), as the beers have been a little over-carbonated of late.

Addendum, 9 Dec: Tried one of these beers tonight.  The bottle opened with a nice escape of gas, and as expected of a sour, the beer poured with good carbonation but no real head to speak of.  The beer itself was mildly sour, not overpoweringly so, with subtle hints of the hops peeking through.  I'm a fan of sour IPAs, and this one did not have the overpowering tartness in previous beers; this time it was much more subtle.  Tasty, easy drinking sour beer.

Yet Another Leftover IPA

Maybe I should call this one "Semper FIPA", as like the Marines, it has contributions from all over, and ultimately comes together to make a pretty darned good IPA.

Contributions
Both of the following wort contributions are pretty close to the same, with the Ginger Belgian having the ginger addition during the boil:
Ginger Belgian
Tangerine Wheat

I also used:
Fruit-forward IPA with Galaxy and Julius hops
Fruity sour IPA (small contribution)

Brew Day: 13 Sept 2019

Boil (20 min)

Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 15 Sept: I'm thinking that something is amiss with the concoction, as it hasn't started bubbling yet, as if the yeast hasn't kicked off.  I followed all of my usual processes and procedures, from cooling, to aerating, and pitching the yeast.  All I can think of is that maybe I got some old yeast.  Later in the week, I'll have to figure out if I want to try pitching more yeast or just ditching the beer all together.

Addendum, 19 Sept: I had to travel for work this week, and left on 15 Sept.  The yeast hadn't kicked off before I left, but it clearly had done something by the time I checked this morning.  There was no activity this morning, but there were clear indications of something happening while I was gone.  I may rack the beer into secondary here very shortly, just to get it off of the left-over hops material in the fermenter.

Addendum, 20 Sept: Transferred the beer to secondary today, in large part to get it off of the hop debris it's been sitting on.  The beer was yellow-straw in color, and very hazy.  I was pretty interested to see that while there had clearly been some fermentation action, there was not a great deal of material in the blow-off bottle.  It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

Addendum, 21 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles, and about 1/2 of a re-purposed soda bottle.

Fruity Sour IPA

Back in the early '80s, there was a "Bloom County" cartoon that included a poem that struck me, and I read it during English class as a high school senior.  The poem goes like this:

"I wouldn't mind if I did find a blue whale in my soup
Nor would I mind a porcupine inside a chicken coop
Yes, life is fine when things combine
Like ham in beef chow mien
But, Lord, this time I think I mind
They put acid in my rain"

Yeah, I know...it kind of started out whimsical and then went dark there at the end, but it reminds me of combining things that one might not ordinarily mix.  Also, something I learned in the Marine Corps, while on the rifle range, is "bold dope changes"...basically, if you're going to make a change, make it a big one!  So, I thought I'd do a sour IPA, with a different yeast, and add the mandarin juice I had left over from the tangerine wheat.

Brew Day: 10 Sept 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min) #1:
1 lb DME
4 oz table sugar

During this process, DO NOT HOP THE WORT!  Once the wort is cooled, place (2) GoodBelly Straight Shots into a sanitized fermenter, and rack the cooled wort on top of them.  Place any left over wort into a sanitized container and refrigerate.  Place the fermenter on a warming plate.

Boil (20 min) #2 (13 Sept):
Boil wort for 20 min to kill the bugs, and add hops at this point.  Once the boil is done, pitch the yeast and place the fermenter back on the warming plate.

Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)

Yeast: Omega HotHead

Once I'd cooled the wort and pitched the yeast, I placed the fermenter back on the warming plate.

Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today, using 14 g Huell Melon; racked beer onto hops and 12 oz of tangerine juice.

Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 6 bottles, 3 re-purposed soda bottles.

Fruit-forward IPA

I'm a fan of fruit-forward IPAs, and recently ran across the Omega Horindahl Kveik yeast.  Given the description, I thought I'd give it a shot, so I set the yeast out ahead of time to warm up to room temperature, shaking it repeatedly.  I also set the warming plate up ahead of time so that it would be up to temperature for when I placed the fermenter on it.

Brew Day: 3 Sept 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g Galaxy (FWH)
1 oz Julius (10 min whirlpool)
14 g Galaxy (dry hop)

Yeast: Omega Hornidal Kveik

Following the boil, I cooled the wort, pitched the yeast and placed the fermenter on a warming plate, wrapped in a towel.

Addendum, 4 Sept: Checked on the beer this morning, it appears that fermentation really took off overnight!

Addendum, 15 Sept: Placed in secondary; I'm traveling, and won't be able to do anything with the beer until later in the week.  As such, I racked it to secondary, and I'll dry hop it when I return.

Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today.

Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 8 bottles, 1 re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 14 Oct: Opened the soda bottle tonight.  Beer is a golden straw color, pours with a full head of medium bubbles that slowly dissipates.  Citrus in the nose.  Medium body, the beer has a big, sweet fruit-forward flavor with more than a bit of citrus. Big flavor, with little, if any, bitterness.

Tangerine Wheat

My wife found that she really likes the Lost City Tangerine Wheat, to the point where she'll get two cans to take home from the restaurant where we can get it.  She asked if I could make it, and I thought, why not try?  I looked around online and found a good bit of discussion about doing just that, and there were a lot of mixed input and opinion, and I thought, okay, I'll just dive in.

My plan is to use the Omega Voss Kveik yeast for the orange-citrus, and then I'll get about 1/2 oz of tangerine zest, soak it in vodka for 2 days, and then add that to a "dry hop" for two days before bottling.

Brew Day: 22 Aug 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz crushed Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME

Hops: 14 g German Perle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: Voss Kveik

After pitching the yeast, I placed the fermenter on a warm (I'd plugged it in earlier in the day) warming plate, and wrapped it in a towel.  I did this to keep the temperature high, and I'll let it stay there through the weekend.

Addendum, 2 Sept: Grated zest off of 4 mandarin oranges to get 1 oz of zest.  Placed the zest in a sanitized container with just enough Titos vodka to cover the zest.  Will let this sit for a couple of days, and will then add the vodka to the fermenter, and add the zest as a 'dry hop'.

Also, I juiced all 12 mandarin oranges, and saved off the juice (~ 12 oz) in a sanitized container.  I placed the juice in the freezer, to kill any bugs.  I don't have a specific beer that I'm going to add this to at the moment, but there may be a juicy IPA in my very near future!

Addendum, 5 Sept: Drained vodka run-off into a clean fermenter; added zest to a hop bag, placed that in the fermenter, as well.  Racked the beer on to the zest and vodka.

Addendum, 9 Sept: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 23 Sept: Tasting night!  Beer poured with a deep amber color and substantial head of medium bubbles, which dissipated in short order.  My wife said that she got a full dose of tangerine in the aroma, full on in the nose, as well as good tangerine flavor in the beer.  She really likes this one, so it's a keeper!

Ginger Belgian

My wife REALLY likes this one, and I have the ingredients on hand, so I thought I'd get one fermenting...

Brew Day: 22 Aug 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz crushed Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
6 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g German Perle (FWH)

*1 oz thinly sliced fresh ginger, in a hop bag, added to the last 10 min of the boil.

Yeast: BE-134

I followed all of usual processes.

Addendum, 5 Sept: Racked to secondary.

Addendum, 21 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles.

LeftOver IPA

Okay, time for another "left-over IPA", and this time, we have something of an interesting mix of hopped wort that contributes to this brew.  There's a wheat beer, two sours, and 3 IPAs.  Keep in mind, however, that this is all from wort after the fermenter has been filled and the yeast pitched for the contributing beer; this was the wort left over in the brew kettle, and there was still some hops that the wort was sitting on while it sat in the container, waiting for today's brew.

Prior brews that contributed to the wort for this brew:
Hefe #2 - wheat beer, some gentle hopping via German Perle, prior to yeast
Nordic IPA - Melon and Mosaic hops, prior to pitching the yeast
Nordic Sour IPA - same as above, but sour
Galaxy IPA - NE-style IPA using Galaxy hops (prior to pitching yeast and dry hop)
Julius IPA - NE-style IPA using Julius hops (ibid)
Watermelon Sour IPA - After the wort was soured and hopped, but before the yeast, dry hop and watermelon juice

Brew Day: 16 Jul 2019

Boil (20 min):
Everything's already in the kettle

Hops: See above

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 20 Jul: Transferred the beer to a clean fermenter, as it was sitting on a lot of left-over hop junk.  I'll let this sit for a bit more than a week, and then dry hop it.

Addendum, 28 Jul: Dry hopped on 14 g Huell Melon hops.

Addendum, 1 Aug: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles.

Watermelon Sour IPA

I enjoy a nice sour IPA with watermelon juice added to the beer.  What can I say?  Not long ago, I sanitized a storage container and saved off some fresh juice from some watermelon we had...the horses seem to enjoy it as much as we do.  I froze the juice to kill any bugs in it...

Brew Day: 12 Jul 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Add the wort to a sanitized fermenter, racking it on to 2 Good Belly Straight Shots, then place the fermenter on a warming plate for ~72 hrs.  Preserve any additional wort in sanitized containers to be added back during the second boil.

Boil #2 (20 min): 15 Jul

Hops:
14 g Huell Melon (FWH)
1 oz Mosaic (@ 20 min, 10 min rest)
14 g Huell Melon (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 28 Jul: Dry hopped, and added 12 oz watermelon juice (frozen, raised to room temp via water bath)

Addendum, 1 Aug: Bottled tonight, got 7 good bottles and two re-purposed soda bottles.

Julius IPA

I recently read about some hops out of Minnesota, from Mighty Axe, and really liked the flavor profile for the one called "Julius".  It turns out that I could get these from Northern Brewer, so I placed an order and it showed up yesterday afternoon.  So, during the high heat and humidity of central Virginia, brewing a fruit-forward NE-style IPA is a good way to spend an early afternoon.

Brew Day: 13 Jul 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g Julius hops (FWH)
1 oz Julius hops (10 min whirlpool @ flameout)
14 g Julius hops (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 14 Jul: These pellet hops create a great deal of "debris".  What I mean by that is that when I add the FWH addition, I just dump the hops into the kettle.  After transferring to the fermenter, flakes of the hops rose to the neck of the fermenter, and were pushed into the blow-off tube.  It looks like some pressure built up behind the debris, as it was pushed throughout the tube.

This is definitely something to keep in mind in the future.  The whirlpool addition is added in a hop bag, as is the dry hop.

Addendum, 24 Jul: Dry hopped today.

Addendum, 28 Jul: Bottled; got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.

Galaxy IPA

I decided to pick up some Australian Galaxy hops recently, thanks to the flavor profile, and it seemed like a good time to brew an IPA.

Brew Day: 6 Jul 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g Australian Galaxy hops (FWH)
1 oz Australian Galaxy hops (@ 20 min, 10 min rest)
14 g Australian Galaxy hops (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 15 Jul: Dry hopped today.

Addendum, 20 Jul: Got 6 good bottles and two re-purposed soda bottles.

Sour Kveik

I was looking at social media the other day and saw that a brewery near my old stomping grounds had done a collab brew with a local (to me now) brewery, making a sour kveik.  I thought...wow.  That sounds pretty awesome!  I really like sour IPAs, and I had a few good ones during a recent visit to Scott's Addition.  I also learned that I do not like sours with lactose added, but to each his or her own, right?

I was preparing to do an IPA and I had purchased some GoodBelly Straight Shots in order to brew a watermelon sour later in the summer.  I'm still going to do the watermelon sour (I have about 14 oz of watermelon juice sitting in the freezer right now), but I thought I'd do my Nordic IPA again, as a sour.  I've got all of the ingredients already set up and ready to go, all I need to do is add the three days on a hot plate for the Straight Shots to do their thing, and I'm good.

Brew Day: 11 June 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Boil #2 (20 min):
*14 June 2019

Hops:
14 g Azacca (10.4%) - @ 20 min
14 g Mosaic + 14 g Huell Melon - 10 min whirlpool/flameout
14 g Cashmere - dry hop

Yeast: Omega OYL061 Voss Kveik

Addendum, 16 Jun: Dry hopped today.

Addendum, 20 Jun: Bottled; got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 3 Jul: Put the soda bottle in the fridge to chill it, and much like the non-sour version of this beer, it was clearly over-carbonated.

Something New - Voss Kveik

I enjoy a juicy fruit-forward IPA, and the NE style suits me quite nicely.  While doing some research recently, I ran across a mention of a "Nordic" yeast, specifically "kviek".  As I read on, I got more and more interested in trying this yeast.  I did some more research and found some offerings from different providers, including Omega and White Labs.  When I got to my local homebrew supply store, they had Omega OYL061 Voss Kveik right there on the shelf.  I was looking for hefeweizen yeast, so I picked out the Omega, and White Labs WLP300.

The aroma profile for the Voss sounds very interesting; the write-up at the Omega site says that it ferments equally well across a wide temperature range, but anecdotes online (here, and here) suggest going with a higher temperature to keep off flavors such as sulfur down.  I have a warming plate for making sours, so that should work just fine.

It also seems that this yeast finishes up pretty quickly, so my plan is brew the wort and pitch the yeast, and then put the fermenter on a warming plate for just more than two days before dry hopping the beer.

Brew Day: 7 June 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g Azacca (10.4%) - @ 20 min
14 g Mosaic + 14 g Huell Melon - 10 min whirlpool/flameout
14 g Cashmere - dry hop

Yeast: Omega OYL061 Voss Kveik

Addendum, 10 June: Took the beer off of the warming plate and dry hopped with 14 g of Cashmere hops.

Addendum, 15 June: Bottled today; got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 30 June: Tried the re-purposed soda bottle tonight.  I could tell that it was wildly over-carbonated when I put it into the fridge; it was hard as a rock, and the bottle had expanded a bit.  This was borne out when I opened the bottle...I just sat it in the sink and let the foam come pouring out the top.  I did pour most of it into a glass and was able to drink some.  The flavor is heavy on the citrus, with just a little bit of sharpness.  With the exception of the carbonation issue, it's a very flavorful beer.  I'm hoping that the sour will be a bit less carbonated, as sours tend to be.

Addendum, 3 Jul: Opened a bottle last night, the beer is very much over-carbonated, but much easier to manage from the bottle.  I opened it over the sink in case there were any issues, and with the bottle I didn't have a steady stream of foam pouring out of the bottle.  The flavor isn't the issue; the next time I brew using this yeast, I need to treat it the same way as other yeasts, and I can even leave it on the warming plate past 2 or 3 days; either way, it needs more that just a few days.

Hefe #2

With summer coming, it make sense to have another hefeweizen available. For this one, I chose WLP-300 yeast, as I was looking for something that would impart a bit of banana and clove, and this was the recommendation.

Brew Day: 28 May 2019

Partial Mash:
5 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb wheat DME

Hops: 14 g German Perle hops (@ 20 min)

Yeast: WLP-300

I followed all of my usual procedures.

Addendum, 10 June: Bottled today; got 7 good bottles and two 22 oz flip-top bottles.

Tasting Notes, 25 June: Opened one of the chilled 22 oz flip-top bottles tonight to share with friends.  I can best describe this as a "proper" hefeweizen.  Everything about it...the pour, the head, the effervescence and aroma, all the way through to the body, flavor and even the mouth-feel were all just right for a proper hefeweizen!  Even my wife loved it, although ( a ) she REALLY loves the ginger Belgian, and ( b ) she wanted a slice of orange!

LeftOver IPA #2

On a rainy day, what better to do than brew beer?!  I figured today was a great day to kick of my leftover IPA #2.  This is where I use hopped wort left over from previous boils, and once I have about a gallon saved up, use it to create an IPA with a mish-mash of flavors.  I tend toward fruit-forward hops, and tend to use a hop schedule that produces NE-style IPAs, in an effort to keep the bitterness down and bring out the flavor of the hops.

I really like this approach, as while it isn't as targeted as a single-hop IPA, all of the heavy lifting is already done.  There's no partial mash, there's no waiting, there's no additions that need to be measured out.  Just empty the growlers and other containers with the hopped wort, and boil for 20 min.  Boom, you're done.  All of the grain is already processed, all of the DME and other fermentables have already been added, and it's even hopped, with the exception of dry hopping, of course.

This one has wort from the NoName IPA, Azacca Pale Ale, African Queen IPA, and even some from the Ginger Belgian.  It will be interesting to see how the Medusa and Citra from the first beer combine with the African Queen hops from the third. And I did get a good aroma of fresh ginger from the last beer as I poured the wort into the brew kettle. Of course, a lot will also depend on what I decide to dry hop it all with!

Brew Day: 5 May 2019

Boil (20 min):
1 gal of hopped wort

Hops: What's already in the wort

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 18 May: Dry hopped on 14 g African Queen hops.

Addendum, 26 May: Bottled. I got 8 good bottles and 1 repurposed Mountain Dew bottle out of it.

Tasting Notes, 25 June: I've really enjoyed this beer!  The body is spot-on for the time of year, and the hoppiness is not overpowering.  I can best describe the flavor as a bright citrus with no bitterness whatsoever.  Very enjoyable, to the point where it's almost comforting to drink. 

Hefeweizen

As summertime approaches, it's a good time to kick off a hefeweizen. And it's been a while since I've brewed this style of beer.

I stopped by my local home brew supply shop today, specifically looking to pick up some WYeast 3068, and got talking with the proprietor about a hefeweizen he'd just brewed.  He recommended an RVA yeast, and as it happened, he did have some of that yeast available!  Because I was specifically looking to pick up a liquid yeast, I had placed a small cooler with some ice cubes in the back of my truck, and this worked out well.

Brew Day: 22 Apr 2019

Partial Mash:
4 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian wheat DME

Hops: 7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: RVA Hefeweizen I (pitched half of the container)

Addendum, 2 May: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 18 May: Bottled; got 10 bottles.

Addendum, 4 June: We tried this one recently.  Terri likes it a lot, and gets recognizable banana out of it. I think it's a little lighter in body that it should be, but other than that, the flavor is very nice.  I get a bit of subtle clove, but not much in the way of sweetness that I'd say that I would recognize as banana.  But then, Terri and I have come out that way before; one of the early hefeweizens we tried at SweetWaters was similar, in that I got some clove and Terri got some very forward banana, and our beers were from the same keg.

Addendum, 5 Jul: Drinking another one tonight; body is more along the lines of what I prefer, and the first couple of sips are heavy on the clove.  I don't know if this is due to the fact that I was preparing dinner and had sampled some tomato and avocado with some heavy salt.  However, the beer is really pretty good, and very drinkable.

YAGB: Yet Another Ginger Belgian

My first ginger Belgian turned out so well that my wife demanded that I make another!

Brew Day: 18 Apr 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
8 oz table sugar

~1 oz thinly-sliced ginger added to the last 10 min of the boil (in a hop bag)

Hops: 14 g German Perle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: BE-134

Addendum, 2 May: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 30 May: Bottled; got 9 good bottles and one partial re-purposed soda bottle.

Tasting Notes, 25 June: These notes aren't the result of the first taste, but more so the result of repeated statements made by my wife about how much she LOVES this beer!  I really enjoy the beer as it's clearly a Belgian and the addition of the ginger really adds a nice flavor to it.  I can really get a nice ginger "burn" at the end of the taste.  My wife, on the other hand, likens this to the sah'ti that she likes, even though this beer has no juniper.  ;-)  However, the point is that she really, REALLY enjoys this beer, and that's really all that matters.

African Queen IPA

Not long ago, I ran across African Queen hop pellets, and based on reported aroma/flavor profile, thought that it would not only be a good IPA to try, but also a good addition to my next left-over IPA!

Brew Day: 2 Apr 2019

Partial Mash:
6 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g African Queen (@ 20 min)
21 g African Queen (flameout)
14 g African Queen (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 16 Apr: Dry hopped

Addendum, 20 Apr: Bottled; got 9 good bottles.

Azacca Pale Ale

My wife recently had an Azacca Pale Ale at Fine Creek Brewing, and she really enjoyed it.  I've used Azacca hops before, but in an IPA.  It was really good, but I don't want something as hoppy and bitter as an IPA this time around.  It turns out that NorthernBrewer has an Azacca Pale Ale kit, and I decided to use that, or at least the hop schedule, as the basis for my pale ale.

This will be the second hopped wort to be included in my next left-over IPA.

Brew Day: 1 Apr 2019

Partial Mash:
6 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
4 g Azacca hops @ 20 min
12 g Azacca hops @ flameout
12 g Azacca hops, dry hop

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 16 Apr: Dry hopped.

Addendum, 20 Apr: Bottled; got 9 good bottles and 1 re-purposed 8 oz soda bottle.

Addendum, 4 June: It turned out that by the time this one was ready, I think Terri had maybe lost a bit of enthusiasm for the flavor.  She describes it as "not one of my favorites".  That's okay, I enjoy it just fine.

No Name IPA

I picked up some T-58 yeast recently, and wanted to try it out on an IPA.  I've found with BE-134 that letting it set for a month really brings out the flavors, so I'm going to let this one set for a bit to see how it does.  I'm thinking that the hops I'm using will overwhelm any spiciness that reportedly would come from the yeast, but we'll see.

I decided to use a combination of experimental and 'regular' hops because the Huell Melon and U1/108 IPA  turned out much better than just the U1/108 by itself.

Brew Day: 24 Mar 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Medusa, 7 g N1/69 - FWH
12 g Medusa, 15 g N1/69, 10g Citra - flameout, 10 min rest
6 g Medusa, 7 g N1/69, 4 g Citra - dry hop

Yeast: T-58

After filling the fermenter and pitching the yeast, I placed the rest of what was left in the brew kettle (hopped wort) into a sanitized bomber.  This will become the first portion of another "left-over" IPA.

Addendum, 5 Apr: Dry hopped.  Very hazy beer at this point, likely to be even more so after the dry hop.

Addendum, 8 Apr: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 17 Apr: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles, and 1 re-purposed 8 oz soda bottle.

Addendum, 4 June: I ended up labeling this one "3IPA", and recently got down to my last full bottle; all I have left at this point is an 8 oz soda bottle.  This one turned out really well; it pours to a golden straw color with a pillowy head, and has excellent lacing throughout.  I remember looking over at the glass as I neared the end of my last one, and thinking that it looked like I'd had a Bell's Two-Hearted.  The flavor was fruit-forward with a bit of citrus sharpness at the end, and it didn't have much in the way of hoppy bitterness.  Overall, it was an excellent beer.

Leftover IPA

This year, I wanted to try something different.  I do small, 1 gal batches, and many times, I have a some hopped wort left at the bottom of the brew kettle after I'm done transferring most of it to a fermenter and pitching the yeast.  So what I'm doing is saving this hopped wort (depending upon the recipe, it may not be hopped...) in a sanitized growler, and once I have enough saved up, either add it to a beer (rather than doing a partial mash) or, if I save up a full gallon, then use that as the basis for a "leftover" beer.

At this point, I have about a full gallon of hopped wort left over from several brews (here, here, here, and here).  All of the previous brews have used some (if not all) experimental hops and were brewed to be NE-style IPAs.  I thought that this would be a great way to start, and the great thing is that I don't really need to add anything to this brew; all of the previous brews had been hopped via FWH, as well as having a steep at flameout.  The most I need to do with this brew is boil it again, pitch the yeast, and do a dry hop.

The great thing is that I get to be creative about the beers I brew, save the leftovers from the boil, and be creative all over again, all the while being able to drink some great beer that I made.  ;-)

Brew Day: 12 Feb 2019

Boil (20 min):
*Nothing added, just boiled for 20 min.

Hops: all of the hops used in the beer to this point are what was used in the original brew for each individual beer; so, a lot of experimental hops.  I will likely dry hop the beer once it's had some time to ferment, but at this point, there will be no new additions of hops.

Yeast: BE-134 (in keeping with the idea of brewing with what I had left over...)

Addendum, 24 Feb: Dry hopped on 14g of Citra hops

Addendum, 28 Feb: Bottled; got 9 good ones out of it.

XJA/436 IPA

I found another experimental hop at NorthernBrewer, this one called XJA/436.  As with the other experimental hops, I wanted to try this one in a NE-style IPA first, and then try it in combination with other similar hops.  This hop is said to impart berries...blueberries, gooseberries...so I wonder what it would be like with a little Brewer's Gold and Mosaic.  We'll have to see how this one turns out, and then maybe continue with the experimentation.

Brew Day: 12 Feb 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g XJA/436 hops (FWH)
1 oz (28 g) XJA/436 hops (10 min steep @ flameout)
14 g XJA/436 hops (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 24 Feb: Dry hopped.

Addendum, 28 Feb: Bottled, got 9 good ones out of it.

Ginger Belgian

My wife enjoyed the ginger saison, and she enjoys the hopped Belgians, so I thought I'd try a ginger Belgian.

Brew Day: 26 Jan 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
6 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g Styrian Goldings (@ 0 min)

Addition: 1 oz fresh, thin-sliced ginger, in a hop bag (@ 10 min)

Yeast: BE-134

Addendum, 5 Feb: Moved to secondary.

Addendum, 6 Mar: Bottled; got 9 good bottles out of it.

Addendum, 23 Mar: Tried one of these last night; Terri's reaction was that this is THE BEST one I've done so far!  I don't usually pick up banana in hefeweizens; that's something Terri gets, but we both got aroma of banana from this one (yes, I know...it's not a hefe), and I got a little bit of sweetness in the flavor, as well.  The sweetness was just a bit more than subtle, strong enough to overwhelm most of what would have come through from the ginger.  I did pick up a little of the ginger on the back, but Terri's reaction was the key!

Melon and U1/108

I wanted to try something a little different, and get it fermenting.  I had a bit of the U1/108 experimental hops left over, and decided to try it alongside Huell Melon hops, which I've used in the past and really like.  The Melon hops can reveal flavors of melon and strawberries, so we'll how that does alongside the experimental hops.

Brew Day: 25 Jan 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2 row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Huell Melon + 7 g U1/108 - FWH
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g U1/108 - flame-out, 10 min steep
7 g Huell Melon + 7 g U1/108 - dry hop

Yeast: US-05

After filling the fermenter and pitching the yeast, the hopped wort left in the brew kettle was poured into the growler that I'd used to store what was left over from a previous brew.  That one was all U1/108 hops, so we'll see what comes of the final product when I collect enough leftovers to do boil a beer.

Addendum, 5 Feb: Dry-hopped.

Addenum, 10 Feb: Bottled today on 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles out of it.

Something Else New

While researching new and experimental hops a while back, I ran across one called U1/108, which seemed quite interesting.  This dual-purpose hop from South Africa is described as imparting aromas of "lychee, mango, guava, citrus, lemongrass, stone fruit, coconut".  Okay, good enough for me! Being a huge fan of fruit-forward NE style IPAs, I had to try this one.

One note of caution, however.  I ordered three 1 oz bags of this hops from the supplier, and two of the bags had opened in transit, so the shipping envelope arrived with a lot of loose hop pellets and debris inside the bag.  To their credit, the supplier immediately comp'd me two new bags, but once those arrived, one of them was similarly opened.  What I mean is that the seal at the lower part of the bag had separated; the bag hadn't ruptured, but it appeared that it had separated along where the two sides of the bag were heat-sealed together.  This was an entirely new type of packaging, something that I hadn't seen before.  I opted to not get a second reshipment, and the supplier comp'd me a gift card that was multiples of the value of the hops.

Brew Day: 13 Jan 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g U1/108 (FWH)
1 oz U1/108  (flameout)
14 g U1/108  (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

After transferring the wort to a fermenter and pitching the yeast, I had about two cups of hopped wort left over, a good bit of hop sludge.  I put that into a sanitized growler, and I'll keep collecting this as I brew various beers, until I get enough together to boil and pitch yeast into.

Addendum, 22 Jan: Dry hopped tonight.

Addendum, 27 Jan: Bottled today on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles and one re-purposed 8.5 oz bottle out of it.

Fun IPA

I had about a quart of hopped wort left over from the N1/69 IPA that I brewed, and I didn't want it to go to waste.  I had put it into a sanitized bomber and it's been in the fridge, just waiting to be used. I have some Mosaic, Medusa, and Citra hops still available, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to use up some ingredients and make a "fun" IPA.  This is like making a left-over casserole for dinner, using up what you've got sitting around to make room for new stuff.

This may end up being a new "thing" for 2019...saving what's left in the brew kettle after the fermenter if full and the yeast has been pitched.  I do end up with different amounts left; if I'm brewing a NE-style IPA, I tend to add a little more water initially because some tends to boil off, as well as be absorbed by the hopping that occurs at flameout.

When I brew a sour, I usually have at least one (maybe two) Gatorade bottle of wort left over after I rack the wort on to the StraightShots.  I save that wort, and add it back to the brew kettle for the second boil; again, some boils off, some gets absorbed by the hops if I'm brewing an IPA, etc.  Even then, I may still have a small amount of wort left over.  What I will be doing in 2019 is collect these left-overs until I get to a point where I have enough left-overs to make an interesting brew.

Brew Day: 6 Jan 2019

Boil (20 min):
 4 c. previously hopped wort
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
*whatever N1/69 hops is in the previously-hopped wort
7 g German Huell Melon + 7 g Brewer's Gold      - FWH
14 g German Huell Melon + 14 g Brewer's Gold  - 10 min steep, flameout
7 g German Huell Melon + 7 g Brewer's Gold      - dry hop

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 20 Jan: Dry hopped beer this morning.

Addendum, 22 Jan: Bottled tonight, on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and one full re-purposed Mountain Dew bottle.