Batch 68, Panama Red

Yet another batch of Panama Red, see earlier posts about this.

Actually, the OG came out a bit on the high side this time, 1.068. Usually I get about 1.056.

Jan 23, 2009: the first keg of this blew foam this evening. Second keg is on the gas now, so it should be ready in a few days. The flavor is a little odd on this batch. I think the Nugget hops I'm using for bittering might be too old. The ones I have are from the 2007 crop.

Feb 3, 2009: I had gas issues -- the CO2 in the basement kegerator ran out before this was carbed, so I pumped it up to 30 lbs and moved the keg out of the garage to the basement. Hopefully, that will be just about right for when I get a new CO2 tank.

Feb 15, 2009: Brewed another batch of this today, but I used Galena instead. I threw out the Nugget since I think they gave this batch an off-flavor. Drinkable, but off.

Feb 16, 2009: Finally got a new CO2 tank. Tapped this today since both kegs in the basement had gone dry. Carbonation seemed a little high, but nice. Head retention is excellent. Flavor is still a little off.

Batch 67, Prickly Pear Mead

Not a beer, but a mead. Mead is made with honey instead of grain. I was flipping through Papazian's 'Joy of Homebrewing' and ran across his recipe for this. The very next day, I noticed that there is a cactus patch down the street, and it's prickly pear cactus. I stopped and asked the home owner if I could pick some, and they said I could. I picked about a quarter of a paper grocery sack full, which turned out to be 8 pound of prickly pears.

This recipe made 4 gallons.

16 lbs honey
8 lbs prickly pear cactus fruit. Chop in a food processor until smooth.

Boil fruit with 2.5 gallons water for 2 hours. There are seeds in the fruit, they look odd.

Mix the honey with 1 gallon of water, bring to 170F.

Strain the fruit juice into the honey and water, top off to 4 gallons.

Cool to 70F, pitch wine yeast (beer yeast won't be able to handle the high alcohol content). I used Red Star Premier Cuvee from Wine Corkers (thanks, Nikki!)

Ferment in a corny keg for 1 year. Transfer every month or so for clarity. Samples so far have been excellent, not beer for sure. The flavor is hard to describe, maybe rhubarb wine?

Update: somewhere along the way, Feb 09 maybe, I realized the corny wasn't holding pressure, so I bottled.

Batch 66, Sunset

So I realized I was behind on brewing, and since I was brewing anyway (see batch 65), I thought I'd do a second batch on the same day. Boy, was that a long day! I'm too old to do that again.

10 gallon batch.

Grain:
17 lbs 2-row
1 lb rye
2.5 lbs wheat
2 oz chocolate malt

Hops:
2 oz Amarillo, 60 min
1 oz Amarillo, 5 min

Wyeast 1272

OG: 1.058

Batch 65, Porter

I did half of this with a vanilla bean, half without. Both are good.

10 gallon batch.

Grain:
16 lbs 2-row
1.25 lbs Crystal 60
1.5 lbs wheat
2.25 lbs chocolate malt

Hops:
1 oz Galena, 75 min
0.5 oz Cascade 30 min
0.5 oz Centennial, 30 min
2 oz Willamette, 5 min

Wyeast 1272

I was out of Tettnanger, so I substituted Willamette.

OG: 1.060

Batch 64, 90 minute IPA

This was supposed to be like Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA. I had a chance to visit their original brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in the summer of 2008, and picked up a 4 pack. This is nothing like the DFH version, but really good, so good, in fact, that it won out in a club competition for IPAs.

This is a hard recipe, mostly because it requires multiple hops additions. It turns out to be a really good IPA.

10 gallon batch.

Grain:

23 lbs 2-row
2 oz chocolate malt

Hops:

This is the hard part.
1/4 oz Chinook
1/4 oz Cascade
1/4 oz Centennial
Add all of the above at 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5, and 0 minutes. That is 11 additions of 3/4 oz hops.

Wyeast 1272

OG: 1.062
FG: 1.015
ABV: 6.2%
SRM: 10
IBU: 96

yeah, this is good.

Batch 63, Panama Red

Once again... same song, second verse, couldn't be better.

Batch 62, Sunset

At long last, a new recipe! This is supposed to be somewhat like Deschutes Twilight ale, and it tastes pretty close, although the recipes are probably not even close.

Grain:
17 lbs 2-row
2 lbs rye
1 lb wheat
2 oz Chocolate malt for some color

Hops:
2 oz Amarillo, 60 minutes
1 oz Amarillo, 5 minutes

Wyeast 1272

OG: 1.055
FG: 1.014
IBU: 39
SRM: 10
ABV: 5.3%

Batch 61, Panama Red

Okay, I'm not going to type this one out. It's exactly the same as the last time I made this, and it is still excellent.

Batch 60, Hefeweisen

The only German influenced part of this recipe is the yeast.

10 gallon batch.

Grain:

10 lbs 2-row
8 lbs wheat
4 oz Crystal 60, mostly for color

Hops:
1.5 oz Mt Hood, 60 min

Wyeast 3056, Bavarian Wheat

60 minute boil.

OG: 1.044
FG: 1.010
IBU: 14
SRM: 14
ABV: 4.8%

Jan 17, 2009: I finally finished off the last of this. It had sat so long in the fridge that it was more a KristallWeisse than a hefe, but it still had that good hefe flavor.

Batch 59, Gemutlich

Gemutlich again.

10 gallon batch.

Grain:

17 lbs 2 row
3 lbs wheat
1.5 lbs Quaker oats
0.5 lbs honey (add to BK at 30 minutes)

Hops:

2 oz Tettnanger, 90 minutes
1 oz Tettnanger, 30 minutes
2 oz Tettnanger, 5 minutes
1 oz Cascade, 5 minutes

Wyeast 1272 from batch 58

OG: 1.061
FG: 1.015
IBU: 28
SRM: 4
ABV: 6.1%

Batch 58, Amber Ale

Beats me why I brewed this, other than I like amber ales. But why a 5 gallon batch? My notes don't say...

Grain:
8.0 lbs 2-row
1.0 lbs Crystal 40
0.2 lbs Chocolate malt

Hops:
0.75 oz Galena, 60 min
0.5 oz Mt Hood, flame out

Wyeast 1272, new package (ah, that explains the 5 gallon batch)

OG: 1.050
FG: 1.013
IBU: 35
SRM: 13
ABV: 5.0%

Batch 57, Pale Ale

Yet another Pale Ale recipe (yapar).

10 gallon batch.

Grain:

19.5 lbs 2-row
1.0 lbs Crystal 40
0.75 lbs Carapils
1.0 lbs honey malt

Hops:
0.5 oz Galena, 60 min
0.5 oz Nugget, 60 min
2 oz Centennial, 15 min
2 oz Mt Hood, 15 min

Wyeast 1272

OG: 1054
FG: 1.008 (really?)
IBU: 46

Batch 56, Panama Red

House favorite, yet again

10 gallon batch.

Grain, mash at 153F for 60 min:
20.25 lbs 2-row
1.0 lbs Crystal 80
0.5 lbs Crystal 4
0.25 lbs Chocolate Malt

Hops, 90 min boil:
2 oz Mt Hood, FWH
1.5 oz Nugget, 60 min
2 oz Cascade, 10 min
2 oz Cascade, 5 min
2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min

Wyeast 1272

Batch 55, Porter

Porter again!

10 gallon batch.

Grain:
15 lbs 2-row
2.25 lbs Chocolate malt
1.5 lbs wheat
1.0 lbs honey malt
2.0 lbs Crystal 80

Hops, 90 minute boil:
1.0 oz Galena, 75 min
1.0 oz Cascade, 30 min
2.0 oz Tettnanger, 5 min

Wyeast 1272 from 54

OG: 1.056
FG 1.010
SRM: 28
ABV: 5.8%

Batch 54, Gemutlich

Gemutlich, German word meaning warm and congenial; pleasant or friendly.

10 gallon batch.

Grain:

17 lbs 2 row
3.2 lbs wheat
1.5 lbs Quaker oats
0.5 lbs honey (add to BK at 30 minutes)

Hops:

2 oz Tettnanger, 90 minutes
1 oz Tettnanger, 30 minutes
2 oz Tettnanger, 5 minutes
1 oz Cascade, 5 minutes

Wyeast 1272

OG: 1.052