Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Batch 243, Leeser

 This is the second half of a double batch day. I'm making a major change to this recipe, so we'll see how it comes out. Usually, I use a Bohemian Lager yeast for this, but I want to get it done faster and I want to be able to ferment it at the same time as the Panama Red (batch 242). This time I'm using Wyeast 1318, London Ale III, since it has a similar flavor profile, but it ferments at ale yeast temperatures and won't need a diacetyl rest. The rest of the recipe is as usual.


10 gallon batch


21.5 lb pilsner malt

1.5 lb white wheat


Mashed in with 8 gallons at 175F, a little high, hit 156F, added a gallon of cold water to hit 148F. Adjusted pH to 5.25. Mashed about an hour and a half because I was waiting on the Panama Red to get out of the way.


1 oz Saaz, FWH

1.5 oz Magnum, 60 minutes

3 oz Saaz, 5 min


90 minute boil. Like as last time, the Saaz comes in 2 oz packets, so I put the extra ounce at the start as a first wort hops.

 

1.5 qts Wyeast 1318 from batch 232, it's a couple of months old, so I made a starter to get it going well.


Update, June 2, 2021 -- I meant to add a note about this last year. I had a keg and a half of this left in the fridge before we went to Mexico. I'd canned 12 or so cans to take, and they didn't even make it to Mexico before they were gone. It's a quite good beer, very similar to using the lager yeast, in fact, it's close enough that no one will notice it's not technically a lager, it is in fact an ale. The half keg went sour while we were gone, the full keg came through the winter just fine and I'm drinking it now. Doing it as an ale is a big time saver, however, I've been brewing these just before heading south so they can lager over the winter and be ready when we get back. That worked out fine for one keg, it was on CO2 all winter. The CO2 for the half-keg went empty while I was gone, so maybe that's what caused it to sour. Or it could have been the other keg in the kegerator, I don't have check valves on the CO2, so maybe some funk from the other empty keg made its way into the Leeser keg and soured it.

I should mention also that I had about half a keg of Panama Red from batch 242 and about half a keg of IPA from batch 241 that wintered just fine. Those kegs also remained on CO2 over the winter, and are quite drinkable now. The hops aroma hasn't faded as much as I would have guessed. It's nice to have these available since I won't be able to brew for a few more days and it'll be a few weeks before a new beer is ready.



Batch 242, Panama Red

 The brewing season is winding down for me, we're heading south as usual for the winter sometime next month, so I'm brewing up a batch of Panama Red to take along, and also brewing a batch of Leeser to lager while we're gone. Double batch day!


10 gallon batch


22.5 lb 2-row (update, actually, it was about 17 lb of 2-row and the rest pilsner since I am now out of 2-row)

1.5 lb Crystal 60

1.5 lb white wheat

4 oz Chocolate malt


Heated 8 gallons of water to 170F, mashed in, hit 154F, adjusted pH to 5.23. Mashed for 45 minutes, then started recirculating for 15 minutes. Got 5 gallons from the first batch, added 7.5 gallons for the second batch, collected 12.5 gallons total in the boil kettle.


2 oz Mt Hood, FWH

2 oz Centennial, 60 minutes

2 oz Cascade, 30 minutes

2 tsp Irish moss, 15 minutes

2 oz Cascade, 5 minutes

2 oz Mt Hood, 5 minutes


I did a 70 minute boil on this batch rather than the usual 90 as I'm doing a double batch today.


Wyeast 1272, 2 quarts from batch 241, so really fresh yeast.


OG: 1.064 actual (target is 1.063, so right on)

FG: 1.016

ABV: 6.1%

SRM: 11.8

IBU: 56.6


In spite of being a double batch day, the brew day went really well. The only issue was my water hose broke where it connects to the faucet, so I had to stop and do a repair, but no big deal.

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Batch 241, an IPA of some sort

 I was thinking about brewing, not because I'm low on beer, but because I needed a brew day to just chill out. You know, pandemic and all. I was thinking about doing some sort of Arrogant Bastard clone, but that thing is like 7.5% alcohol, and that seemed like a bit much at the time. Really not, but whatever. So this one is the same hop bill, but a different grain bill, so it should come out closer to 5.8%.


10 gallon batch


23 lb 2-row

1.5 lb white wheat

8 oz Crystal 120


Heated 8 gallons of water to 170F, mashed in, hit 154F, outside temp today was about 75F when I mashed in. Adjusted pH to 5.25. Mashed for 45 minutes, started recirculating for 15 minutes, collected 4.5 gallons in the boil kettle, second sparge at 180F, 15 minute recirculation, collected another 8 gallons for 12.5 total to boil,

 

3 oz Chinook, 90 minutes

2 oz Chinook, 45 minutes

2 oz Chinook + 2 tsp Irish Moss, 15 minutes

2 oz Chinook, flame out

 

90 minute boil. Super simple, easy brew day, got lots of stuff cleaned up that just needed it.

 

Wyeast 1272, American Ale II, 2 quart jars, just got them out of the fridge and let them warm up over night. As usual, 60 seconds of O2 in the wort before pitching.

 

Pitched the BeerBouy also!

 

Stats:

OG: 1.058, got 1.064 actual, might need to adjust the efficiency on BrewTarget.

FG: 1.015

ABV: 5.8%, it's going to be a little higher, probably 6 or 6.2.

SRM: 7.2, that's the only purpose of the Crystal 120.

IBU: 114.6! Yeah! A real IPA, not that neipa shit.


Calibrating beerbouy:

Hydrometer    Angle

1.004                70.8

1.064                62.9

 

Seems off to me, but we'll see. 

 

9 Sep 2020: Pulled out the bouy and set the Inkbird to 33F for cold crashing.