Batch 298, Panama Red

 Finally! It seems like ages since I've been able to brew a decent Panama Red. We're packing up for a trip, leaving tomorrow for a few days, but I wanted to get this brew in so it could ferment while we're gone. It should be done when we get back.

It was a rough brew day, the temperature here peaked at about 104F (40C for you more normal minded peeps) , so the brew shed was HOT!. Two window fans, plus the ceiling fan, but still, very HOT!

Some work to do today, needed to get the last batch into kegs, that was 3 kegs to clean and fill (2 Bell's, 1 berry cider). Moved a  lot of kegs around, there were some emptied in the brew shed and the garage, and of course, the brewing.

10 gallon batch 

22.25 lb 2-row

1.5 lb Crystal 60

1.5 lb White wheat

4 oz Chocolate malt

Mashed at 154F, adjusted pH to 5.23 (almost fucked that up, I was measuring a teaspoon over the mash tun and the bottle slipped. The meter said 4.3 then as I stirred, it came up to 5.23, whew!) 12 gallons in the boil kettle.

90 minute boil

2 oz Mt Hood, FWH, these were pellets, I usually use leaf

2 oz Centennial, 60 min

2 oz Cascade, 30 min

2 oz Cascade, 5 min

2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min (pellets again, we'll see, I tend to not like pellets as much as whole cones)

Wyeast 1272 from last batch

The usual stats on this, hmm, where are they?

Batch 297, Bell's Two Hearted clone and Berry Cider

 I ordered some hops on line, and got way more than I ordered. I received 3 pounds of Centennial, so I thought to do this recipe since it's all Centennial. I've made this before, and it's always come out pretty good. As brew days go, this one kind of sucked: 

• my carbon water filter burst and turned the sparge water black, so had to dump that and start over
• my mill ( 3 roller monster mill) got jammed, so I had to take it apart and clean and adjust the gap
• I was cleaning stuff and not watching the boil kettle, so I had a boil over
• the Centennial are pellets, and that nifty thing I use to put the pellets in nylon stockings is in Baja, so made a new one
• the little tablet that I use to stream music to the beer shed was dead. Looks like it's going to be okay, though

Oh, and in the end, I missed the OG by 5 points.

10 gallon batch

27 lb 2-row

12 oz Crystal 60

Mash at 148F, adjusted pH to 5.2, collected 5 gallons, second sparge got 7 gallons for 12 gallons in the boil kettle.

2.5 oz Centennial, 60 min

2.5 oz Centennial, 30 min

5 oz Centennial, 5 min

60 minute boil. 

Wyeast 1272 from last batch, so very fresh yeast.

OG: 1.060, 1.056 actual

FG: 1.016

ABV: 6.1%

SRM: 6.5

IBU: 77

I also made a berry cider at the same time, 5 gallons, the usual recipe.

Batch 296, A Red Seal clone

 Red Seal is one of my favorite beers, so I'm attempting a clone. I found this clone recipe somewhere on the internet - actually, I found several and sort of combined them to come up with this recipe.

10 gallon batch - I'm back north, so I'm brewing on my 10 gallon system in the shed in my backyard.

23 lb 2-row

1 lb 6 oz Crystal 60

1.6 oz Roasted barly

7 oz wheat, because that's all I had

Mashed at 154F with 8 gallons, collected 4 gallons, sparged with an additional 8 gallons.

2.5 oz Centennial, 60 min

1.5 oz Centennial, 10 min

2.5 oz Cascade, 10 min

90 minute boil. After fermentation, my plan is to cold crash, transfer the beer to another fermenter, and dry hop with 1 oz Cascade for a day or so.

Wyeast 1272, American Ale II.

OG: 1.055, hit it dead on

FG: 1.014

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 41

SRM: 11.2

Calories/12 oz: 181

Batch 295, another Doug-based pale ale

 Moved my Baja brewery to another location, much larger, and it's all mine, not shared, so I feel a little better about setting things up more or less permanently.

5 gallon batch

12 lb 2-row

8 oz biscuit

Mashed at 150F. Got interrupted, ran off the first batch, then dumped the sparge water in the boil kettle. Oh well, I just scooped some of the wort out of the BK and ran it back through the mash tun for the second batch.

2.5 oz Doug, 60 min

5 oz Mt Hood, 5 min

It went pretty well, other than I'd left a lot of stuff at the house, so there were several trips back and forth.

Batch 294, another Belma Summer Ale

 I thought I'd do the same recipe again to help me figure out what I need to do to improve. I discovered a semi-serious issue last time, the gap was too wide on my grain mill. I don't have a feeler gauge handy, so I used a credit card and I thought that the grind might be too fine, but it worked out with no problems. Another issue I discovered this time is the SS braid that I have in the boil kettle is too tight, the wort won't go through it. Good to know.

5 gallon batch, pretty much the same as last time.

12 lb 2-row

5 oz white wheat (I'm out now)

5 oz crystal 60, just to cut down the sweetness and color a bit.

Mash water at 175F got me 150F in the mash tun, so that's okay. No stuck sparge, which I thought might happen. I measured the water carefully, so I did get 6.5 gallons in the boil kettle, and ended up with 5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

Same hops as last time:

2 oz Belma, 60 min

4 oz Belma, 5 min

Yeast from the last batch, about a pint of reasonably thick slurry.

Batch 293, Belma Summer Ale

 Still forgetting to update this blog. This batch is done and gone, it was decent. I went with a simple brew to help me figure out my system here. I got a new grain mill, it turns out the gap was too wide, so I missed my numbers, 1.040 OG instead of 1.052. Oh well, it was a good beer anyway. I also ended up about a gallon short, so just under 4 gallons in the keg, which was a little disappointing.

5 gallon batch

12 lb 2-row

8 oz white wheat

6 oz crystal 60

Mashed at 148F, about the same as last time. Mash water was at 170F so I'll go a little higher next time to hit that mid-150F range that I'm aiming for.

2 oz Belma, 60 min

4 oz Belma, 5 min

This turned out pretty good, and it's all gone now.

Batch 292, Guava IPA

 I guess I'm just getting lazy, I'm three brews behind on updating this blog. This is my first batch in Baja this season, I'm still trying to get a grip on my system here. I brought a lot (a LOT) of dry yeast down, so I figured I'm good to go. I should not have bothered with doing a guava IPA first, I really should have done something simple and easy just to get used to the system again and to get some fresh yeast going.

Anyway, I forgot to write down anything, this is pretty much like what I've done before:

10 lb 2-row

1 lb wheat

1.1 lb guava paste (added after primary fermentation is complete)

Missed my temp, got about 147F instead of the 155F I was aiming for.

2 oz Citra, 60 min

2 oz Citra, 5 min

Overall, it was barely drinkable. I used a lot of yeast, maybe 5 packets as it just didn't seem to want to take off. It was beer in the end, so there is that.