It's been a while since I've used Brewer's Gold hops, and the first time I tried them, the IPA turned out REALLY well. The hop is said to impart berry and dark currant flavors and I really got a lot of berry from that first batch. This time around, I'm going to take the opportunity to see if I can get a good combination of malts to get more of a red color in the malt, something I'm testing out for future brews.
This is another brew day where we had a good bit of snow, enough that I was able to use snow right off of my deck for the ice bath for cooling the wort.
Brew Day: 17 Jan 2018
Partial Mash:
1 lb 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat
2 oz Caramunich
14 g chocolate malt
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 oz Brewer's Gold (FWH)
1 oz Brewer's Gold (@ flame out, 10 min whirlpool)
The hops are BrewCraft US Brewer's Gold, Alpha: 10.5%, Beta: 5.1%
Yeast: US-05
Followed all of my usual procedures.
Addendum, 26 Jan: Dry hopped, on 14 oz of Brewer's Gold hops.
Addendum, 29 Jan: Bottled tonight; got 6 regular bottles, 2 re-purposed soda bottles, and 1 partial fill on a soda bottle.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Medusa IPA
Medusa hops are one of my favorite hops for straight New England style IPAs, and I've still got some hops available, enough in fact to do a 2-stage dry hop IPA. I had a couple of ounces of different malts available, and thought that this would be a good opportunity to use 'em up.This is a couple of the things I really love about home brewing...not only can I try new things and discovery things I like that aren't commercially available, but I can also make and enjoy them whenever I like!
Brew Day: 6 Jan 2018
Partial Mash:
8.5 oz 2-row malt
7.5 oz Munich malt
2.5 oz Victory
2 oz flaked wheat
*Heat 3 qts water to 160 deg F, put in thermos container and add above grains in a bag. Let sit for 75 min. Heat 2.5 qt water in a stove-top kettle to about 170 deg F, and at the end of the 75 min, remove the bag of grain from the thermos container, draining it, and move it to the kettle. Let it sit for about 10 min, remove it, add the wort from the thermos, and begin heating the wort to boiling.
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
13 g Medusa hops (AA 3.0%, FWH)
1 oz Medusa Hops (AA 3.0%, 10 min @ flameout)
Yeast: Safale US-05
Given the recent temperatures around our parts, I opted to use snow off our deck instead of running out for a 10 lb bag of ice in order to cool the wort. Worked great.
Addendum, 18 Jan: Dry hop #1, racked the beer on to 14 g of Medusa hops
Addendum, 21 Jan: Dry hop #1, racked the beer on to 14 g of Medusa hops
Addendum, 26 Jan: Bottled; got 6 good 12 oz bottles, and two re-purposed soda bottles.
Monday, January 1, 2018
Sah'tea
It's been a while since I made a sah'tea, and I was feeling a bit like I wanted to make another one, and this is a good beer to make for the first beer of 2018. I also wanted to take something of a different approach to the juniper and tea additions, boiling them separately to produce a tea, and then adding that tea to the beer just prior to bottling. This is something I tried with the most recent ginger saison I made. My hope is that by not adding the juniper and tea during the boil, that a good bit of the flavors won't be reduced by the yeast during fermentation.
Brew Day: 1 Jan 2018
Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
6 oz rye
2 oz Carapils
4 oz Victory
2 oz CaraMunich
*I'm sure folks are going to have questions about the specific choices I made regarding the malts, but as with several other of the beers I've made, it was more about what I had on-hand. The same is true with the hops additions (below).
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
4 g Styrian Golding hops (5.7% AA, @ 20 min)
4 g German Perle hops (8.2 % AA, @ 20 min)
Yeast: K97
Addendum, 2 Jan: After what happened with my last beer, and given the fact that I had to put some of my brewing stuff back on the shelves, I checked on the beer. The yeast seems quite happy, and there were no spontaneous, explosive events this time. I'll let the fermentation run for about 10 days or so, then rack this into secondary for a bit.
Addendum, 11 Jan: Racked the beer to secondary.
Addendum, 18 Jan: Bottling - Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, with 14 g of crushed juniper berries and two black tea bags. Boil gently, let steep for a few min, then pass through a strainer to remove the chunks of crushed berries to get 1/2 c. of hot 'tea'. Dissolve 2 1/2 T (1 oz) of table sugar in the tea. This is the priming solution. Got six good regular bottles, one flip-top, and 1 1/2 soda bottles; I'll be trying the soda bottles (in particular the partial fill) in two weeks.
Addendum, 7 Feb: Tried one of the soda bottles last night; didn't get much of juniper at all, mostly came out as a dark wheat beer. So far what I'm finding in this process is that additives such as ginger and juniper berries are just as good, if not better, added to the boil, rather than during bottling. That is, at least using the procedures I've outlined in my attempts. It's still good beer, just not what I was looking for, specifically.
Brew Day: 1 Jan 2018
Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
6 oz rye
2 oz Carapils
4 oz Victory
2 oz CaraMunich
*I'm sure folks are going to have questions about the specific choices I made regarding the malts, but as with several other of the beers I've made, it was more about what I had on-hand. The same is true with the hops additions (below).
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
4 g Styrian Golding hops (5.7% AA, @ 20 min)
4 g German Perle hops (8.2 % AA, @ 20 min)
Yeast: K97
Addendum, 2 Jan: After what happened with my last beer, and given the fact that I had to put some of my brewing stuff back on the shelves, I checked on the beer. The yeast seems quite happy, and there were no spontaneous, explosive events this time. I'll let the fermentation run for about 10 days or so, then rack this into secondary for a bit.
Addendum, 11 Jan: Racked the beer to secondary.
Addendum, 18 Jan: Bottling - Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, with 14 g of crushed juniper berries and two black tea bags. Boil gently, let steep for a few min, then pass through a strainer to remove the chunks of crushed berries to get 1/2 c. of hot 'tea'. Dissolve 2 1/2 T (1 oz) of table sugar in the tea. This is the priming solution. Got six good regular bottles, one flip-top, and 1 1/2 soda bottles; I'll be trying the soda bottles (in particular the partial fill) in two weeks.
Addendum, 7 Feb: Tried one of the soda bottles last night; didn't get much of juniper at all, mostly came out as a dark wheat beer. So far what I'm finding in this process is that additives such as ginger and juniper berries are just as good, if not better, added to the boil, rather than during bottling. That is, at least using the procedures I've outlined in my attempts. It's still good beer, just not what I was looking for, specifically.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Red Sour Beer
My first shot at a red sour beer turned out pretty well, I really enjoy drinking it. I wanted to see if I could perhaps get a little more "mouth-feel" out of the beer, and maybe a bit of sweetness. In my military service, when we went to the range and were zero'ing our weapons, we were told to make "bold dope changes"; in that tradition, I've really ratcheted up the amount of Special B I'm using, using up what I have left.
Brew Day: 5 Dec 2017
Partial Mash:
4 oz Vienna
4 oz Victory
4 oz CaraMunich
8 oz Special B
2 oz CaraPils
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
After cooling the wort to about 90 deg F, transfer to a sanitized fermenter, racking it on to 2 Good
Belly Straight Shots. Place on a warming plate for at least 48 hrs.
Boil #2 (20 min): 8 Dec 2017
Hops: 7 g Centennial hops (@ 20 min)
Yeast: T-58
A couple of hours after pitching the yeast, I was down in the basement taking care of some things, and I detected a yeast odor coming from the bathroom where I keep the fermenters. That was odd, because I usually catch a bit of the air freshener my wife has in the bathroom, so I checked it out. It turned out that at some point the yeast reaction blew the blow-off tube out of the fermenter cap with enough force that there was beer all over the walls and curtain of the shower, including on the ceiling. My first reaction was to place the blow-off tube back into the cap, and as I began cleaning up, I could hear bubbles coming from the blow-off bottle. I'd lost what looks to about 20% of the beer, and I'll see this one through...I'd like to see how this one turns out. The bubbles are pretty consistent, and will likely peter out over time, of course, but for now the reaction seems to be going well.
Addendum, 17 Dec: Racked the beer to secondary today; just from the aroma, it appears I was able to rescue the beer before any major damage was done. I'm looking forward to bottling and trying this beer, and it's not going to be around for long. As such, I'm going to bottle into repurposed soda bottles.
Addendum, 24 Dec: I'll probably end up referring to this one as "Attrition Brown Sour". I bottled today, racking the beer on to 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water. I got 2 big flip top bottles and 3 repurposed soda bottles, but one of the flip top bottles slipped out of my hands and shattered on the floor. I put the one remaining flip top bottle on a shelf below the downstairs sink, to let it age with a couple of other bottles I have down there, and put the soda bottles in the storage bin I use for letting bottles rest. I'll give them about 3 weeks before I try them, but I'm going to let the flip top bottle age for a while beyond that.
Addendum, 7 Jan: Chilled one of the repurposed soda bottles this weekend, and tried the beer tonight. Very good. I'm considering going with something a bit "heavier", by letting the beer rest on oak chips soaked in red wine or bourbon, such as the Hex Dark Sour Ale. This is definitely going to take some research, particularly around preparing and soaking the oak chips, how long to rest the beer on the oak, etc. Like everything else on the Internet, there are a lot of opinions on the topic, some of them in direct contradiction to others. I am leaning toward the bourbon, though, for some hints of vanilla...we'll see, though.
Brew Day: 5 Dec 2017
Partial Mash:
4 oz Vienna
4 oz Victory
4 oz CaraMunich
8 oz Special B
2 oz CaraPils
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
After cooling the wort to about 90 deg F, transfer to a sanitized fermenter, racking it on to 2 Good
Belly Straight Shots. Place on a warming plate for at least 48 hrs.
Boil #2 (20 min): 8 Dec 2017
Hops: 7 g Centennial hops (@ 20 min)
Yeast: T-58
A couple of hours after pitching the yeast, I was down in the basement taking care of some things, and I detected a yeast odor coming from the bathroom where I keep the fermenters. That was odd, because I usually catch a bit of the air freshener my wife has in the bathroom, so I checked it out. It turned out that at some point the yeast reaction blew the blow-off tube out of the fermenter cap with enough force that there was beer all over the walls and curtain of the shower, including on the ceiling. My first reaction was to place the blow-off tube back into the cap, and as I began cleaning up, I could hear bubbles coming from the blow-off bottle. I'd lost what looks to about 20% of the beer, and I'll see this one through...I'd like to see how this one turns out. The bubbles are pretty consistent, and will likely peter out over time, of course, but for now the reaction seems to be going well.
Addendum, 17 Dec: Racked the beer to secondary today; just from the aroma, it appears I was able to rescue the beer before any major damage was done. I'm looking forward to bottling and trying this beer, and it's not going to be around for long. As such, I'm going to bottle into repurposed soda bottles.
Addendum, 24 Dec: I'll probably end up referring to this one as "Attrition Brown Sour". I bottled today, racking the beer on to 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water. I got 2 big flip top bottles and 3 repurposed soda bottles, but one of the flip top bottles slipped out of my hands and shattered on the floor. I put the one remaining flip top bottle on a shelf below the downstairs sink, to let it age with a couple of other bottles I have down there, and put the soda bottles in the storage bin I use for letting bottles rest. I'll give them about 3 weeks before I try them, but I'm going to let the flip top bottle age for a while beyond that.
Addendum, 7 Jan: Chilled one of the repurposed soda bottles this weekend, and tried the beer tonight. Very good. I'm considering going with something a bit "heavier", by letting the beer rest on oak chips soaked in red wine or bourbon, such as the Hex Dark Sour Ale. This is definitely going to take some research, particularly around preparing and soaking the oak chips, how long to rest the beer on the oak, etc. Like everything else on the Internet, there are a lot of opinions on the topic, some of them in direct contradiction to others. I am leaning toward the bourbon, though, for some hints of vanilla...we'll see, though.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
More Sour...
The last sour beer I made is still really good, and I wanted to try something other than Medusa hops. So, I settled on German Hull Melon hops, in hopes that the melon and strawberry notes will make it through or accent the tartness of the beer a bit.
Brew Day: 23 Oct 2017
Partial Mash:
1 lb Munich
4 oz Vienna
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
No hops or yeast at this time; once the wort is cooled to ~ 90 deg F, transfer to a sanitized fermenter and add two Good Belly Straight Shots. Wrap in a towel and place on a warming plate.
Boil #2 (20 min): 26 Oct 2017
Returned the soured wort to the kettle, definite 'apple juice' aroma while I was pouring it. Heated the wort to a boil for 20 min to kill the bugs, then cooled the wort and pitched the yeast.
Hops:
14 g German Hull Melon hops (FWH)
1 oz German Hull Melon hops (10 min rest @ flameout)
14 g German Hull Melon hops (dry hop)
Yeast: Safale US-05
Addendum, 5 Nov: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 13 Nov: Dry-hopped with 14 g of Melon hops.
Addendum, 17 Nov: Bottled with 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water. Got 6 good bottles, one 22 oz flip-top bottle, and one 16 oz re-purposed soda bottle out of it.
Brew Day: 23 Oct 2017
Partial Mash:
1 lb Munich
4 oz Vienna
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
No hops or yeast at this time; once the wort is cooled to ~ 90 deg F, transfer to a sanitized fermenter and add two Good Belly Straight Shots. Wrap in a towel and place on a warming plate.
Boil #2 (20 min): 26 Oct 2017
Returned the soured wort to the kettle, definite 'apple juice' aroma while I was pouring it. Heated the wort to a boil for 20 min to kill the bugs, then cooled the wort and pitched the yeast.
Hops:
1 oz German Hull Melon hops (10 min rest @ flameout)
14 g German Hull Melon hops (dry hop)
Yeast: Safale US-05
Addendum, 5 Nov: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 13 Nov: Dry-hopped with 14 g of Melon hops.
Addendum, 17 Nov: Bottled with 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water. Got 6 good bottles, one 22 oz flip-top bottle, and one 16 oz re-purposed soda bottle out of it.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Ginger Saison, re-deux
Yes, I know...I do make a good bit of "ginger saison" but this has to do with part of what I really like about homebrewing, and that's being able to try different things. This time around, I wanted to try something a little different, and try adding a "tea" of ginger to the clean fermenter just prior to bottling. In essence, the idea would be to boil some water with thinly sliced fresh ginger in it, add 1 oz of table sugar to the "tea" for priming, and then add this to the fermenter before the beer is racked onto it, to rest for about 15-20 min before bottling.
Brew Day: 24 Oct 2017
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
4.5 oz rye
4 oz Carared
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
7 g Centennial hops (@ 20 min)
Yeast: DanStar Belle Saison
Addendum, 5 Nov: Racked to secondary
Addendum, 15 Nov: Bottled tonight, with 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in boiling water. I added several slices of fresh ginger to the water prior to boiling, making a tea from the fresh ginger, and used that for the bottling. Got 10 bottles. I need to keep one of my previous ginger saisons and do a side-by-side comparison.
Brew Day: 24 Oct 2017
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
4.5 oz rye
4 oz Carared
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
7 g Centennial hops (@ 20 min)
Yeast: DanStar Belle Saison
Addendum, 5 Nov: Racked to secondary
Addendum, 15 Nov: Bottled tonight, with 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in boiling water. I added several slices of fresh ginger to the water prior to boiling, making a tea from the fresh ginger, and used that for the bottling. Got 10 bottles. I need to keep one of my previous ginger saisons and do a side-by-side comparison.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Eureka IPA
I purchased some Eureka hops not long ago, because it sounded like a really interesting variety, and
Eureka is a high AA (~ 18%) hop, so it makes for a pretty good bittering hop. However, I wanted to continue using the same process I'd used for IPAs before, which is to put in a good bit of hops at FWH, do a huge amount at the end of the boil, and use what was left as the dry hop.
Brew Day: 16 Oct 2017
Partial Mash:
1 lb Munich malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Eureka hops (@20 min)
1 oz Eureka hops (10 min rest, at flameout)
14 g Eureka hops (dry hop)
Yeast: Safbrew US-05 + 1/2 vial ClarityFirm
Addendum, 17 Oct: About 9 hrs after pitching the yeast, I checked on the fermenter; there is a good bit of activity and the beer has a nice white foamy head on it. There is significant bubbling action going on in the blow-off bottle, but there is not much in the way of krausen material in the blow-off tube.
Addendum, 26 Oct: Racked to secondary today, but did not dry hop. I only want to dry hop it for 3 days prior to bottling and over the next week, I won't have that time so I thought what I'd do is go ahead and rack to secondary to get it off the old yeast and let it age a bit, and then in a bit dry hop for the 3 days, then bottle.
Addendum, 13 Nov: Dry hopped tonight with 14 g of Eureka hops.
Addendum, 17 Nov: Bottled with 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c. boiling water. Got 8 good bottles and a 16 oz re-purposed soda bottle out of it.
Eureka is a high AA (~ 18%) hop, so it makes for a pretty good bittering hop. However, I wanted to continue using the same process I'd used for IPAs before, which is to put in a good bit of hops at FWH, do a huge amount at the end of the boil, and use what was left as the dry hop.
Brew Day: 16 Oct 2017
Partial Mash:
1 lb Munich malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Eureka hops (@20 min)
1 oz Eureka hops (10 min rest, at flameout)
14 g Eureka hops (dry hop)
Yeast: Safbrew US-05 + 1/2 vial ClarityFirm
Addendum, 17 Oct: About 9 hrs after pitching the yeast, I checked on the fermenter; there is a good bit of activity and the beer has a nice white foamy head on it. There is significant bubbling action going on in the blow-off bottle, but there is not much in the way of krausen material in the blow-off tube.
Addendum, 26 Oct: Racked to secondary today, but did not dry hop. I only want to dry hop it for 3 days prior to bottling and over the next week, I won't have that time so I thought what I'd do is go ahead and rack to secondary to get it off the old yeast and let it age a bit, and then in a bit dry hop for the 3 days, then bottle.
Addendum, 13 Nov: Dry hopped tonight with 14 g of Eureka hops.
Addendum, 17 Nov: Bottled with 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c. boiling water. Got 8 good bottles and a 16 oz re-purposed soda bottle out of it.
Friday, October 13, 2017
Mad Scientist Time
I had some thoughts on modifications to the brewing process, based on somethings I'd read and heard recently, and I thought I'd document them here for later review, and to just put them out there...
I was reading one of the local magazines that talks about brewing and breweries in VA, and read about a beer where the brewer "added blue agave nectar in secondary". I thought this was a fascinating idea...it would be a great way to add a bit of flavor, and yes, it would also be something of sugar source for the yeast. Now, I have added fruit in secondary (with the EverLong IPS Collaboration brew) and honestly, that turned out really nice. So, fruit or blue agave nectar, either way, right?
From that, another idea I had was that the next time I make my Ginger Saison, I'll add some fresh ginger to the water that I add the priming sugar to, before I boil it. I'll boil the ginger right along with the water and make a "tea", of sorts. I'll have to test this out but if I do this and add the priming sugar to the resulting brew, it'll be interesting to see how it affects the overall flavor of the beer. I do like Left Hand Brewing's Good JuJu (I think every home brewer strives to have their malt "copulate" with the hops, to one degree or another...) and tweaking my own recipes is always fun.
Oh, and I recently had an opportunity to visit the Crooked Run Sterling location. I was in Herndon for work, and I had done a search on my phone for local brew pubs, and most of locations near me (it was right after work and I didn't want to spend a lot of time in traffic) were closed that evening. My wife and I had been going to the Leesburg location since we (quite literally) stumbled across it, and after I began my own homebrewing journey, Jake shared with me a method for creating my own sour beers, which I've already used...a lot!
That evening, I had Blackberry Vibes with a couple of Senor Ramon tacos...it was a great way to end the day! Not only is the color of Vibes interesting, but the taste is even more so...a sour beer with blackberries and vanilla makes for a fascinating tapestry of flavors.
I was looking around our pantry recently and ran across a couple of cans of crushed pineapple in 100% juice...hhmm...that got me to thinking...
Infusing Beer
What else can you do if you're a mad beer scientist? What wild and crazy things can you come up with? Let's say that you want to infuse beer with different flavors but you don't have a randall...you can build one, or you can use other alternative methods.
Something I read about when I first got started in home brewing (but haven't tried) is to get some fairly neutral beer, like maybe a 6 pack. Set aside some hops, either different hops or different quantities, add them to the beer, and then seal the beers back up. Let them sit for a bit, then chill them, and it's a great way to have a tasting party!
Another alternative, particularly if you want to infuse your beer with something other than hops (works for hops, too, though...) is to use a french press.
I was reading one of the local magazines that talks about brewing and breweries in VA, and read about a beer where the brewer "added blue agave nectar in secondary". I thought this was a fascinating idea...it would be a great way to add a bit of flavor, and yes, it would also be something of sugar source for the yeast. Now, I have added fruit in secondary (with the EverLong IPS Collaboration brew) and honestly, that turned out really nice. So, fruit or blue agave nectar, either way, right?
From that, another idea I had was that the next time I make my Ginger Saison, I'll add some fresh ginger to the water that I add the priming sugar to, before I boil it. I'll boil the ginger right along with the water and make a "tea", of sorts. I'll have to test this out but if I do this and add the priming sugar to the resulting brew, it'll be interesting to see how it affects the overall flavor of the beer. I do like Left Hand Brewing's Good JuJu (I think every home brewer strives to have their malt "copulate" with the hops, to one degree or another...) and tweaking my own recipes is always fun.
Oh, and I recently had an opportunity to visit the Crooked Run Sterling location. I was in Herndon for work, and I had done a search on my phone for local brew pubs, and most of locations near me (it was right after work and I didn't want to spend a lot of time in traffic) were closed that evening. My wife and I had been going to the Leesburg location since we (quite literally) stumbled across it, and after I began my own homebrewing journey, Jake shared with me a method for creating my own sour beers, which I've already used...a lot!
That evening, I had Blackberry Vibes with a couple of Senor Ramon tacos...it was a great way to end the day! Not only is the color of Vibes interesting, but the taste is even more so...a sour beer with blackberries and vanilla makes for a fascinating tapestry of flavors.
I was looking around our pantry recently and ran across a couple of cans of crushed pineapple in 100% juice...hhmm...that got me to thinking...
Infusing Beer
What else can you do if you're a mad beer scientist? What wild and crazy things can you come up with? Let's say that you want to infuse beer with different flavors but you don't have a randall...you can build one, or you can use other alternative methods.
Something I read about when I first got started in home brewing (but haven't tried) is to get some fairly neutral beer, like maybe a 6 pack. Set aside some hops, either different hops or different quantities, add them to the beer, and then seal the beers back up. Let them sit for a bit, then chill them, and it's a great way to have a tasting party!
Another alternative, particularly if you want to infuse your beer with something other than hops (works for hops, too, though...) is to use a french press.
Friday, September 8, 2017
Ginger Saison
It's about time I did another ginger saison, because that's what my lovely bride enjoys.
Brew Day: 8 Sept 2017
Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich malt
4 oz rye
4 oz CaraRed
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
1 oz fresh ginger, thinly sliced (@ 10 min)
Yeast: DanStar Belle Saison
Addendum, 22 Sept: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 6 Oct: Bottled tonight with 3 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water; got 9 good bottles out of it. During the bottling, I caught little whiffs of the beer, and it smelled great...something I may try next time is to steep some fresh ginger in the boiling water so that I get a bit of the ginger added at the very end, rather than just using a straight simple sugar.
Brew Day: 8 Sept 2017
Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich malt
4 oz rye
4 oz CaraRed
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
1 oz fresh ginger, thinly sliced (@ 10 min)
Yeast: DanStar Belle Saison
Addendum, 22 Sept: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 6 Oct: Bottled tonight with 3 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water; got 9 good bottles out of it. During the bottling, I caught little whiffs of the beer, and it smelled great...something I may try next time is to steep some fresh ginger in the boiling water so that I get a bit of the ginger added at the very end, rather than just using a straight simple sugar.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Flemish Red Ale
I've had an opportunity to try a couple of beers lately that were referred to as Flemish or Flanders red ales, and I've really enjoyed them. They're usually sour, full-bodied, and with a heavy sweetness that's reminiscent of dried dark fruit. It turns out that Northern Brew has a 3 gal extract recipe for a Flemish Red Ale, and since I had some of the ingredients, I thought I'd give it a shot. All I need to do is a bit of math for the reduction in volume, and I have a pretty good souring process, so I'm all set.
Brew Day: 7 Sept 2017
Partial Mash:
8 oz Vienna malt
3 oz Caramunich
3 oz Special B
2 oz Carapils
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz sugar
At this point, no hops are added. Follow all of the normal processes (partial mashing, boil, cooling the wort). Once the wort is cooled, I added 2 Good Belly Straight Shots to the fermenter and then racked. Then, I moved the fermenter to a warming plate and wrapped it in a towel; I now need to let it sit for at least 48 hrs.
Boil #2 (20 min - 10 Sept):
20 min boil to kill the bugs. Cool the wort following the boil, using normal processes, pitch the yeast.
Hops: 7 g Styrian Goldings hops (@ 20 min)
Yeast: T-58
Cooled the wort and pitched the yeast via the usual method(s).
Addendum, 22 Sept: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 6 Oct: Bottled tonight, using 2.5 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water. The beer smelled really good during transfer; I got 8 good brown bottles out of it, plus one former Sprite bottle that I "repurposed".
Brew Day: 7 Sept 2017
Partial Mash:
8 oz Vienna malt
3 oz Caramunich
3 oz Special B
2 oz Carapils
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz sugar
At this point, no hops are added. Follow all of the normal processes (partial mashing, boil, cooling the wort). Once the wort is cooled, I added 2 Good Belly Straight Shots to the fermenter and then racked. Then, I moved the fermenter to a warming plate and wrapped it in a towel; I now need to let it sit for at least 48 hrs.
Boil #2 (20 min - 10 Sept):
20 min boil to kill the bugs. Cool the wort following the boil, using normal processes, pitch the yeast.
Hops: 7 g Styrian Goldings hops (@ 20 min)
Yeast: T-58
Cooled the wort and pitched the yeast via the usual method(s).
Addendum, 22 Sept: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 6 Oct: Bottled tonight, using 2.5 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water. The beer smelled really good during transfer; I got 8 good brown bottles out of it, plus one former Sprite bottle that I "repurposed".
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