Sunday, December 26, 2010

Batch 101, St. Brigid's Lake IPA

Another batch of St. Brigid's IPA. I bought a pound of Centennial this year, so I had the right combination: Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook, the best of the "C" hops!

I got a brand new Blichmann Brewmometer for Christmas (thanks Linda!). I got it installed on my mash tun this morning, so thought I'd brew this evening. My old thermometer is still stuck at 160F. The Brewmometer barely fit, it is quite a bit larger in diameter than my old one. I also had to make the hole in the kettle a little larger.


10 gallon batch.


Recipe St. Brigit's Lake Style American IPA (14B)
Brewer Dale Anson Batch 10.00 gal
All Grain

Recipe Characteristics

Recipe Gravity 1.056 OG Estimated FG 1.014 FG
Recipe Bitterness 95 IBU Alcohol by Volume 5.4%
Recipe Color 11° SRM Alcohol by Weight 4.2%

Ingredients

Quantity Grain Type Use
23.00 lb American two-row Grain Mashed
0.25 lb American chocolate malt Grain Mashed
Quantity Hop Type Time
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 90 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 90 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 90 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 80 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 80 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 80 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 70 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 70 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 70 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 60 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 60 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 60 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 50 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 50 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 50 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 40 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 40 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 40 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 30 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 30 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 30 minutes
0.50 oz Chinook Whole 20 minutes
0.50 oz Centennial Whole 20 minutes
0.50 oz Cascade Whole 20 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 10 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 10 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 10 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 5 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 5 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 5 minutes
0.25 oz Chinook Whole 0 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial Whole 0 minutes
0.25 oz Cascade Whole 0 minutes
Quantity Misc Notes
1.00 unit American Ale yeast Yeast Wyeast 1272, 1 qt slurry


Batch Notes
Actually measured 7 grams instead of 1/4 ounce, it works easier with my scale.

Half of the 20 minute hops are actually FWH, the other half are actually at 20 minutes.

Mash at 156F for 60 minutes, collected 14 gallons.  Temp didn't fluctuate more that 1 degree during the entire mash.  It's nice to have confidence in a thermometer.

OG: 1.062 actual
The OG is higher than I'd calculated, which puts this batch more in the middle of the range for the style.

Balance value: 3.357


Jan 7, 2011: Gravity is down to 1.018, so almost done, or close enough not to matter.  I'm going to let it sit on the yeast cake for another week while dry hopping anyway.  Added dry hops, 1 ounce each of Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade.  The hydrometer sample tasted great!  Recalculating numbers, the higher OG bumps the expected ABV to 1.057, assuming the gravity doesn't drop any more.

10/813

Monday, December 13, 2010

To Partigyle

Some notes on the process for making a partigyle.  I did a couple of things wrong and a few things right on Batch 100, so I thought I'd write down what should have happened for future reference.

Partigyle is a way of making 2 beers out of one batch, one strong, one weaker. This is a great way to get more beer out of a high gravity beer recipe. The basic idea is to add enough water to the mash to get out enough wort for half a batch, run that into one kettle, then add enough water to the mash to get out enough wort for a second half batch, and run that into a second kettle. You can either keep them as they are, so one strong beer and one not-so-strong beer, or blend as appropriate to get just what you want. This does require some extra equipment, you'll need 2 boil kettles and 2 fermenters.

First, create a recipe of some sort, then enter the recipe OG into the calculator below. This will tell you the OGs of the two beers. The most common use cases are making a strong beer out of 1/3 and a somewhat smaller beer out of the other 2/3, or go half and half. Pro brewers in England often do 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 to get three beers, and blend a little to get exactly what they want, so they'll get a 6% beer, a 5% beer, and a 4% beer out of a single mash.

Partigyle Calculator


Recipe OG:
1/3 - 2/3 method
First runnings (1/3):
Second runnings (2/3):
Half and half method
First runnings (1/2):
Second runnings (1/2):
3 thirds method
First runnings (1/3):
Second runnings (1/3):
Third runnings (1/3):
You might have to adjust the recipe to get the individual OGs that you want. I have only done the half and half method, where I end up with 5 gallons of strong beer and 5 gallons of not-so-strong beer. For example, my recipe for a 10 gallon batch of End of the World has an OG of 1.070, I'll get 5 gallons of 1.093 End of the World beer and 5 gallons of 1.047 brownish beer.

Use both the HLT and BK to heat water.  Heat just enough in the BK for mash in.  Use whatever is appropriate for the recipe, but usually 1.25 - 1.5 quarts per pound of grain.  This will leave your BK empty and ready to receive the first runnings. Pay attention, if you try to mash with all the water necessary for the first runnings, you might overfill the mash tun. You can use somewhat less water, run some off, then add enough to complete the necessary volume.

Calculate 0.125 GALLONS per pound for grain absorption.  Use hot water from the HLT to get enough for the first running.  Example:

28.25 lbs grain
1.5 qts/lb x 28.25 = ~42 qts = 10.5 gallons

28.25 x 0.125 g/lb = 3.5 gallons lost to grain absorption

10.5 - 3.5 = volume of first running = 7 gallons.

Heat 10.5 gallons of water in the BK to mash in temp.  Use all of this water to mash in - or not, pay attention to your MT volume.

That should be about right for a 5 gallon batch with a 90 minute boil.  If it is more than you need, make the mash a little thicker by adding less water for mash in, maybe use 1.25 qts/lb instead of 1.5 qts/lb.  If it's not enough, add water from the HLT at the end of the mash (and maybe after running off some of the wort) to get exactly what you need.

Heat water for small beer in HLT at the same time water is heating in BK for mash in.  Heat a couple of gallons extra in case you need it to top off the first runnings.  Make sure there is at least enough for sparge for the small beer since the HLT is going to be the boil kettle for the small beer.  Better is to heat a couple of gallons extra, just in case you need it.  You don't need to account for absorption on this sparge since the grain is already wet, so just add exactly the amount of water you want in the kettle for the small beer.

Drain any remaining water in the HLT to a bucket.  You might want it in case you come up short after collecting the wort for the small beer.  If you get more wort than you wanted, collect it all and boil it down to the right volume (need a 3rd burner).  Otherwise, the beer will be smaller than you planned. Or use it to make a cider or for a yeast starter.

One mistake I made was I used whole hops and don't have a SS screen on my HLT, so the valve clogged right away when trying to drain into the fermenter.  I used a scrubby on the end of my racking cane and siphoned.  Next time, I'll either add a screen to the HLT or put the hops in nylons. (Update, I have screens on all 3 of my keggles now.)

Note: here are the formulas used in the calculator above:
1/3 - 2/3 method:
    1st Run 1/3 = 1 + (3 / 2) * (og - 1)
    2nd Run 2/3 = 1 + (3 / 4) * (og - 1)
Half and half:
    1st Run 1/2 = 1 + (4 / 3) * (og - 1)
    2nd Run 1/2 = 1 + (2 / 3) * (og - 1)
3 thirds:
    1st run 1/3 = og * 1.5
    2nd run 1/3 = og
    3rd run 1/3 = og / 2

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Irish Stew

My wife saw this recipe on the Today show.  I made it this morning for football chow.  It's simmering on the stove now.  It smells awesome!  I made a couple of changes -- I used homebrew stout instead of Guinness, and I used Tullemore Dew (Irish Whiskey) instead of Jack.

Recipe: Guinness beef stew
Chef Nathan Lippy

Ingredients
2 lbs. beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes (use beef chuck or similar)
2 tbsps. garlic, chopped
1 cup carrots, rough chop
1 large yellow onion, rough chop
1/2 cup celery, rough chop
1/2 cup Jack Daniel
2 cups potatoes, rough chop
2 pint cans of Guinness
1 quart beef stock
4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1/2 cup leftover coffee (we want the bitterness)
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation
1. In a large stockpot, heat up a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Add the beef and brown for about 5-7 minutes.
2. Once the meat is beautifully browned, add the garlic and other vegetables except for the potatoes and caramelize until they have a bit of color (about 8-10 minutes). “Deglaze” by adding the Jack Daniel's to release the brown bits at the bottom of the pot. The liquid will boil, loosening the caramelization and adding flavor back to the stew. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add all the liquid, the whole sprigs of herbs (tie the herbs together with some string), potatoes, some salt and pepper and reduce the heat to a simmer (the soup should have small bubbles rise on the sides of the pot) for 1 hour or longer until the meat is super-tender.
4. Serve steamy hot with ciabatta or a simple French baguette.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Batch 100, Imperial Panama

Since this was my 100th batch, I thought I'd do something a little different.  This is a partigyle batch, with the strong beer being an imperial IPA and the small beer being a pale ale.  I did okay on the strong beer, but missed the gravity on the small beer, so it'll be a weak pale ale.  I was hosed right out of the gate -- I went to weigh out the Crystal 60 and found out that I didn't have any.  So I used a little Special B and some Munich instead.

I developed this recipe to hit 1.068, which translates into a 1.090 strong beer and a 1.045 small beer.  I used this table for the calculation:

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.2/moshertable.html


Recipe Imperial Panama Style Imperial IPA (14C)
Brewer Batch 10.00 gal
All Grain

Recipe Characteristics

Recipe Gravity 1.068 OG Estimated FG 1.017 FG
Recipe Bitterness 59 IBU Alcohol by Volume 6.5%
Recipe Color 13° SRM Alcohol by Weight 5.1%

Ingredients

Quantity Grain Type Use
0.25 lb American chocolate malt Grain Mashed
25.00 lb American two-row Grain Mashed
1.50 lb American wheat Grain Mashed
1.50 lb Crystal 60L Grain Mashed
10 oz Special B Grain Mashed
15 oz Munich 10 Grain Mashed
Quantity Hop Type Time
2.00 oz Mt. Hood Whole FWH
2.00 oz Centennial Whole 60 minutes
2.00 oz Cascade Whole 30 minutes
2.00 oz Cascade Whole 5 minutes
2.00 oz Mt. Hood Whole 5 minutes
Quantity Misc Notes
1.00 unit Irish Moss Fining 1 T at 15 min

Recipe Notes


This is intended to be a partigyle batch. With a total recipe gravity of 1.068, the first runnings should produce 5 gallons of 1.090 wort and second runnings should produce 5 gallons of 1.045 wort. Assuming FG = 1.020 for the strong part, yields 9.0% ABV and assuming FG = 1.011 for the small part yields 4.4% ABV.



Strong part:

OG: 1.090, 1.094 actual

FG: 1.023

ABV: 9.0%

IBU: 115

SRM: 18

This part is a little dark to conform to the 14C Imperial Ale category (max SRM is 15), but I don't care.  Since I didn't have any Crystal 60, it might be closer, color-wise.



Small part:

OG: 1.045, 1.038 actual

FG: 1.011

ABV: 4.4%

IBU: 42

SRM: 8

Hops for small part: 1 oz Centennial 10%AA @ 60 min, 1 oz Cascade 6%AA @ 5 min.  Irish moss at 15 min. The small part fits the 10A American Pale Ale category.



All of the hops are for the first runnings, which gives a calculated IBU of 115.

Batch Notes:

28.25 lbs total grain.

I split the sparge water and heated half in my HLT and the other half in my BK.  This helped get the water hot faster since I was using 2 burners.  I used the water in the BK for mash in, so it would be empty to collect the first runnings.

  I mis-read the units, so I calculated grain absorption at 0.125 qts/lb instead of 0.125 gal/lb.  I mashed in with 8 gallons, which is good, but I thought that would be enough for the first runnings.  Wrong!  I'd calculated 3.5 quarts for absorption, but really it was 3.5 gallons.  I needed an additional 3 gallons to get 7 gallons in the boil kettle.

What I should have done is mash with 8 gallons, added an additional 3 gallons for mash out, then run off 7 gallons.

The small beer sparge is easier, there is no absorption to calculate since the first runnings already took care of it.  An assumption is that the mash tun is fully drained from the first runnings, then add 7 gallons.  Another mistake here, I collected 7 gallons and discarded the remaining wort from the mash tun.  I should have kept it all and boiled it down until it was the right volume.  I'm sure this is why I ended up low on the OG -- I threw fermentables out on the ground.


Brewing outside in the dark and the rain. I strung up a light under the canopy so it worked out pretty well.

Hops are ready to go. 10 ounces in the IIPA, 2 ounces in the pale ale.



Dec 21, 2010: update on the small beer -- added 1.5 oz Cascade dry hop today.

Dec 28, 2010: I though primary fermentation would be done by now, but the strong beer was stuck at 1.042.  The small beer was done, FG is 1.010, so I racked the strong beer onto the yeast cake from the small beer.  That ought to get the strong beer finished in another week or so.  I went ahead and put the small beer on tap.  It siphoned off very clear.  It's very young, but it's also very small.  The hydrometer sample was pretty tasty.  Dry hopping was a good idea, otherwise, I think this would have been a very dull beer.

Jan 22, 2011, the small beer is gone, and it was tasty to the last! I put the Imperial Panama on the same tap.  I think it finished at about 1.020 (need to check notes) and kegged on Jan 6.

Jan 26, 2011, Imperial Panama. F'ing awesome! Must do this one again.

10/803