Batch 164, Amber at the Edge

I was talking with Kerry and Tyler, the brewers at the Edge, about brewing and that I didn't think I had time to do a batch since Lisa and I are headed out on a long road trip. Tyler suggested brewing anyway and putting the beer in a 15 gallon barrel and aging it until we get back. Sounds like a plan. Since I only had a few days, I went with a simple recipe, one that would be fermented in less than a week and ready to go into a barrel. I went with the amber that I've made at home a few times.

20 gallon batch

24 lb 2-row
8 lb Munich
3 lb Crystal 60
2 lb White Wheat
9 oz Chocolate malt

Mash at 154F for 60 minutes


3 oz Galena, 60 minutes
2 oz Mt Hood, 10 minutes

Also added some clarifiying agent and yeast nutrient at 10 minutes, some stuff Tyler gave me.

San Diego Super yeast, probably a quart of a first generation that Kerry pulled off of a cream ale.

No idea on numbers since I didn't measure anything other than the above. I've got to brew on that system a few more times and get some process down. Got it all in a fermenter, and I'm sure it'll be beer.

It looks like I'm done sparging and am getting ready to boil in this shot.

Fly sparging takes forever.

12/28/2014 Was going to meet Kerry at the Edge to transfer the beer to the barrel, but she was sick and she said she'd do it on Monday. That'll be a full week, so I'm sure it will be done fermenting by then.

Batch 163, Imperial Panama

Same as batch 100, with some adjustments using the notes from last time. Nice smooth brew day, no problems at all. My new Monster Mill is amazing, great crush in no time.

This recipe is based on my Panama Red recipe, but bumped up a little in the 2-row to get the strong beer to double IPA strength.

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

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
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

Recipe Notes


This is a partigyle batch, so the above is the base recipe to make two parts. Here are individual notes for each part:


Strong: Imperial Panama

Single infusion mash, mash in with 10.5 gallons water. Adjust pH to 5.2. Run off all to boil kettle, should have 7 gallons.


Hops schedule above is for this part. Added 1/2 t Irish Moss at 15 minutes.


OG: 1.090, 1.088 actual
FG: 1.023
ABV: 9.0%
IBU: 115
SRM: 18


Small: I'm calling this "Panama Canal".

Single infusion mash, this is second runnings, so add 7 gallons to mash tun, run off to second boil kettle, should have 7 gallons in the kettle.


Hops for small batch is 1 oz Centennial at 60 minutes, 1 oz Cascade at 5 minutes, dry hop in secondary with 1 oz Cascade for 1 week. Added 1/2 t Irish Moss at 15 minutes.


OG: 1.045, 1.045 actual
FG: 1.011
ABV: 4.4%
IBU: 42
SRM: 8


Wyeast 1272 from batch 162. There were about 2 quarts of slurry, put about 1 1/2 cups in the small, the rest in the strong. Oxygenated each for 60 seconds. Really good activity later that evening.

12/11/2014 Racked the small to a keg and added the dry hops. The strong beer is too sweet. I took a cup of fresh yeast from the small and added a pound of white table sugar to attempt to dry it out.

12/28/2014 Finally racked the strong beer to a keg, it's down to 1.010.

Batch 162, Panama Red

New brewing rule: No brewing when the outside temperature is below 32F. Both outside faucets froze solid, so other than the initial fill of the kettles, I didn't have any water to clean with or to chill with. Rather than using my plate chiller, I just drained the boil kettle into 2 fermenter buckets and put them in the freezer to cool. They were good by the next morning.

10 gallon batch

22.25 lb 2 row
1.5 lb Crystal 60
1.5 lb wheat
0.25 lb chocolate malt

Mashed at 155F for 60 minutes. Adjusted pH to 5.2. Needed to do a small decoction to get the temp right, things were cold in the brew shed today.

2 oz Mt Hood, FWH
2 oz Centennial, 60 min
2 oz Cascade, 30 min
2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min
2 oz Cascade, 5 min

90 minute boil. Added 2 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min.

Wyeast 1272, American Ale II, pitched the next morning.

Some brew day pics:

Put the wort into 2 buckets in the chest freezer. This is also my chiller today.

It looks like 155F already, should have taken a picture a little earlier, it was above 160F.

I've never had the temp controller read this high before.

There I am, trying to figure out how to turn the camera around on my phone. Not a bad selfie.

Batch 161, Dunkelweiss

Steve P from my beer club had a bunch of extra grain (really? what's that?) that he wanted to get rid of since he was trying to make space for other stuff. He gave me bags of Munich, Vienna, and wheat, so I thought I'd do a Dunkelweiss with it. It's a style I've been meaning to do, but just haven't got around to it until now. I had all the grain and hops, what I didn't have was a German style weizen yeast. I had a nice pitch of London Ale III on hand, so I used that. I won't get any of the banana/clove esters out of it, but I think that's okay.

10 gallon batch

Munich 10L 8 lbs
Vienna 8 lbs
Wheat 8 lbs
Chocolate malt 1 lb

The chocolate malt was actually a mix of some chocolate wheat and regular chocolate malt.

Mashed at 142F for 2.5 hours, adjusted pH to 5.2. I didn't intend to mash that long, but things came up and I had to leave in the middle of brewing.

1 oz Magnum hops at 60 minutes

60 minute boil.

1 tsp Irish moss at 15 minutes..

London Ale III yeast, a quart from a starter.

OG 1.056, 1.060 actual
FG 1.015
ABV 5.3%
IBU 17
SRM 19

Batch 160, Amber

Pretty much a repeat of Batch 149. I was a little short on 2-row, so I used a little more Munich.

10 gallon batch

Grain:
12.5 lb 2-row
6.5 lb Munich
2 lb Crystal 60
1.25 lb wheat
4 3/8 oz chololate malt

Mashed at 154F for 60 minutes at 1.25 qt/lb, or 6.5 gallons 165F water. Missed the initial mash temp with 165F water and actually hit 140F in the mash tun. It's been cold, so my mash tun needed some extra heat. I did a small decoction step to get from 140F to 154F. pH was 5.3 without any acid additions, which I thought was odd. The water in the HLT is 6.5 pH, which is lower than usual. Vorlauf 10 minutes before running off to boil kettle, got just over 3 gallons in the BK. Batch sparge with 9.5 gallons, vorlauf another 10 minutes, ended up with about 12.5 gallons in the kettle.

Hops:
1.75 oz Galena, 60 minutes
2 oz Mt. Hood, 5 minutes

90 minute boil

Yeast
Wyeast 1272, made a starter with some yeast from Batch 157

OG: 1.053, planned and actual
FG: 1.014
IBU: 29.5
SRM: 13.9
ABV: 5.1%

Pretty good brew day, no problems other than I dumped the stir bar into the fermenter.

Batch 159, Wheat IPA

New recipe, I have a bunch of wheat on hand, so thought I'd try a wheat IPA. This is a pretty simple recipe.

10 gallons

14 lbs 2-row
14 lbs white wheat

60 minute mash at 152F.

2 oz El Dorado, 15% AA, 60 minutes
1 T Irish Moss, 15 minutes
6 oz Cascade, Bob's homegrown from last fall, 5 minutes

90 minute boil

Wyeast 1272, pitched on the yeast cake from Batch 157.

Nice easy brew day.

Batch 158, Gemutlich at the Edge

I finally got time to brew at the Edge on the pilot system. I went with Gemutlich because it's a recipe I've done a few times and it's not an over the top recipe, so if I've screwed up the recipe quantities adjusting for the bigger system, it should still be okay. Kerry, the head brewer at the Edge, was a huge help in getting this batch going and in the fermenter.

20 gallon batch

Batch Size	17.576 gal	Boil Size	20.076 gal
Boil Time	90.000 min	Efficiency	70%
OG	1.052	FG	1.010
ABV	5.4%	Bitterness	24.8 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	7.0 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	169

Fermentables

Total grain: 41.905 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	20.952 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Munich Malt - 10L	Grain	10.476 lb	Yes	No	77%	10.0 srm
White Wheat Malt	Grain	6.667 lb	Yes	No	86%	2.0 srm
Oats, Flaked	Grain	2.857 lb	Yes	No	80%	1.0 srm
Honey	Extract	7.619 oz	No	No	75%	1.0 srm
Molasses	Sugar	7.619 oz	No	No	78%	80.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Super Styrian	7.5%	3.810 oz	Boil	60.000 min	Pellet	21.6
Saaz (USA)	3.8%	5.714 oz	Boil	5.000 min	Pellet	3.2

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
WLP090 - San Diego Super Yeast	Ale	Liquid	1 qt	Primary

Mash

Name	Type	Amount	Temp	Target Temp	Time
Conversion Step, 68C	Infusion	12.798 gal	169.495 F	154.400 F	60.000 min
Final Batch Sparge	Infusion	12.526 gal	183.886 F	165.200 F	15.000 min

I see now that I did make a mistake, I meant to bump up the efficiency to 85%. This may come out more on the malty side instead of well balanced like it usually is.

The pilot system is pretty sweet. All stainless and quick connects everywhere. It does fly sparging, which I'd never done before. It's pretty easy.

Here's a picture of the system:

The boil kettle is filled really full, so foam drops are a big help.

Batch 157, Panama Red

Just another Panama Red.

10 Gallons

OG: 1.061, planned and actual
FG: 1.015
IBU: 64
SRM: 13
ABV: 5.9%

20.25 lb American 2-row
1.5 lb Crystal 60
1.5 lb Wheat
0.25 lb Chocolate malt

2 oz Mt Hood, FWH
2.5 oz Perle, 60 min
2 oz Cascade, 30 min
2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min
2 oz Cascade, 5 min

Wyeast 1272

Really smooth and easy brew day, except for my mill, which keeps wanting to take it easy and not grind anything. Probably just needs the gap adjusted again.

Batch 156, Leeser

A repeat of Batch 146, I think this is the final recipe for a decent Bohemian style lager. I wouldn't call this a pilsner, mostly because the water is off and I didn't use an RO source, but this beer continues to get rave reviews from the Coors Light crowd.

Copied from last time, same double decoction mash process as last time:

Style	Bohemian Pilsener	Date	Sat June 28, 2014
Boil Time	90.000 min	Efficiency	70
Boil Volume	12.588 gal	Preboil Gravity	1.052
Final Volume	10.088 gal	Starting Gravity	1.054
IBU	37.9	Final Gravity	1.014
ABV	5.3%	Estimated calories(per 12 oz)	179

 

Fermentables

Total grain: 23.000 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	Grain	20.000 lb	Yes	No	81%	2.0 srm
Cara-Pils/Dextrine	Grain	1.000 lb	Yes	No	72%	2.0 srm
Munich Malt - 10L	Grain	1.000 lb	Yes	No	77%	10.0 srm
Vienna Malt	Grain	1.000 lb	Yes	No	78%	4.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Magnum	13.5%	1.500 oz	First Wort	90.000 min	Leaf	31.9
Saaz (USA)	3.8%	6.000 oz	Boil	5.000 min	Leaf	6.0

Misc

Name	Type	Use	Amount	Time
Irish Moss	Fining	Boil	1.000 tsp	15.000 min

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
Wyeast 2124 - Bohemian Lager	Lager	Liquid	0.528 cup	Primary

Ferment 12 days at 50F
Raise to 65F, hold for 1 day
Rack to kegs Lager 40 days at 34F
Without moving lager kegs, rack to new kegs
Prime with 2.25 oz table sugar per keg
Ready to drink in 14 days 

I made a small change in the hops in that I didn't have quite enough Saaz on hand, so I did 4.25 oz Saaz and 1.75 oz Mt. Hood.

July 13, fermentation is about done, bumped the fermentation temp to 66F, will hold there until Tuesday, then rack to kegs.

Batch 155, Old Ale

This is an Old Ale we're brewing for a club barrel project. We'll let this age in a Port barrel until around mid-November. The barrel smells awesome, I think it will complement the Old Ale quite well.

I'm proposing this beer be called "Ol' Dale".

OG: 1.070, 1.068 actual
FE 1.019
IBU: 33
SRM: 18

10 gallon batch

26 lb 2-row
4 lb Munich
1.5 lb Special B
12 oz Crystal 120

Single infusion mash at 154F.

5 oz Willamette, 90 minutes
3 oz Willamette, 5 minutes

90 minute boil.

Wyeast London Ale III yeast.

Pretty simple, straightforward recipe, all went well, hit the numbers nicely.

Put one keg on tap for a day or two and had a couple of glasses, this is a pretty good beer. Took it off the tap since I might need to put all 10 gallons into the barrel.

Batch 154, not Gemutlich

I was going to make Gemutlich, had the oats, honey, molasses, but I only had about a pound and a half of wheat. I bumped up the 2-row to cover, but it won't be quite the same. I brewed this after work, it was hot in the beer shed.

10 gallon batch

OG: 1.047, 1.060 actual
FG: 1.013
IBU: 24
SRM: 4.6
ABV: 4.5

17.5 lb 2-row
1.5 lb wheat
1.5 lb flakes oats (Quaker)
4 oz honey
4 oz molasses

Mashed at 154F for 60 minutes, adjusted pH to 5.2.

90 minute boil

1 oz Super Styrian (14% AA, pellets) 60 minutes
3 oz Saaz, 5 minutes

Wyeast 1318, London Ale III


The OG is high for some reason. I'd have to hit 90% efficiency to get that with this grain bill.

Batch 153, Kitchen Sink Pale Ale

I have a bunch of left over bits of hops pellets that are getting a little old, so I thought I'd use them rather than throwing them away. So this recipe is made up on the spot, just using the leftovers.

10 gallons

OG: 1.056, 1.060 actual
FG: 1.014
IBU: who knows? Probably around 60 or so.
SRM: 13
ABV: 5.4%

I started with this grain bill that I've used before for an ESB:
19 lbs 2-row
1 lb Munich
1 lb Wheat
1.5 lb Biscuit
3 oz Crystal 120
8 oz Special B

Then the hops are weird:

2 oz Perle, FWH

A mix of Liberty, Magnum, Centennial, Mt. Hood, and Super Styrian. There were 2 oz of the Styrian, and around an ounce each of the rest, so the total was just over 6 oz. I split that into six 1 oz additions at 90, 75, 60, 45, 30 and 15 minutes, then

2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min

Wyeast London Ale III yeast

FWH hops

It's nice and toasty in the beer shed!

Batch 152, Panama Red

Yet another batch of delicious Panama Red! I'm behind in brewing, my stockpile of kegs is almost gone, so I went ahead and did the modification to my fermentation chest freezer to use bags instead of buckets. Now I can do 20 gallons at a time.

Anyway, a basic Panama Red recipe, 10 gallons worth:

OG: 1.061, planned and actual
FG: 1.015
IBU: 64
SRM: 13
ABV: 5.9%

20.25 lb American 2-row
1.5 lb Crystal 60
1.5 lb Wheat
0.25 lb Chocolate malt

2 oz Mt Hood, FWH
2.5 oz Perle, 60 min
2 oz Cascade, 30 min
2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min
2 oz Cascade, 5 min

Wyeast 1272

A few pics on brew day:

Filling the bag with 10 gallons of Panama Red. The bag on the left is just full of water, it was a test run. There is plenty of room this way.

I put my new stir plate to use on this batch by stepping up a month-old yeast cake of 1272. This is on low speed with a 1" stir bar, looks just about right.

Shot of the stir plate I build. It was pretty straightforward, a couple of parts from Radio Shack and a few parts from a dead computer. That's a 1 gallon food grade plastic bucket, it was the best thing I could find with a flat bottom.

Salsa #3, charred tomato table salsa

Now this one is absolutely awesome!

2 large ripe tomatoes, pan roasted until blistered, black, and soft

2 jalapeno chiles, charred until blistered and black

1 small white onion, thickly sliced and pan roasted until dark brown and soft. I didn't go all the way to caramelized.

I put all of the above into a cast iron skillet and cooked them all at once.

2 cloves garlic, pan roasted until brown and soft, then peeled. I just scooped a spoonful out of that jar of garlic I have in the fridge.

1/4 teaspoon mexican oregano. Eye-balled it, probably used more.

1/4 teaspoon cumin seed. Don't have any, so just added some cumin.

1/2 cup water. It seemed juicy enough, didn't add the water.

Salt to taste. Used some fancy pink himalayan salt, how mexican is that?

Toss everything into a food processor and chop until it's right.

This is excellent and worth doing again and again. Served this with chips during the Derby.

Salsa #2, Salsa el Topil

The first salsa was excellent, I've made it again since then and everyone that bothered to comment said it was really good. I still think serranos are my favorite pepper. This one wasn't very good, I'm sure it was because I used the wrong peppers.  Here's the recipe:

3 pasilla chile peppers -- the book says to use the Oaxacan kind, but I bought what they had a Winco, and I'm sure this is why this salsa didn't come out right.

1 tomatillo

1 tomato

3 cloves garlic

1/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup water

Roast the chiles about 3 minutes, then throw everything into a food processor, chopping until it's a coarse salsa. Makes about 1 1/2 cups -- except it made about 3 cups. The pasilla peppers at Winco were huge. This salsa was very green, not at all spicy, and pretty much forgettable.

Salsa!

Okay, so not beer related, other than it's great to wash it down with beer. I picked up a book of salsa recipes a few years ago, and my plan is to do a Julie and Julia thing and make them all.

Here's a link to the book: Salsa I'm going to post the recipes one at a time (no copyright on recipes, no worries there) but the book is definitely worth buying, lots of good advice and some great pictures.

First up -- Salsa Fresca

3 serrano chiles
1 large ripe tomato
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water

Chop together chiles with seeds and tomato using a knife or food processor. Really using a knife is easier and way less clean up. Chop in the onion and cilantro until a coarsely textured salsa is formed. Stir in oil, salt, and water.

I left out the water since I didn't think it was needed. It was delicious and easy to make. It went really well with tortilla chips and Bohemian Pilsner, IPA, and Pale Ale. Serrano is one of my favorite chiles.

Salsa Fresca

Batch 151, Oktoberfest

Not too late, but finally getting around to brewing an Oktoberfest. This is similar to last year's recipe, with some modifications from notes from that batch -- slightly lighter color, add some wheat for head retention, and use a bigger yeast pitch.

I used the Bohemian Lager again, same as last year, but bought 2 new packs and made a starter.

This was an after-work brewday, I got started around 5 pm and wrapped up around 10 pm. Pretty smooth brewday, nothing out of the ordinary, everything went well except for missing the mash-in temperature.


Vital statistics:

OG: 1.063, 1062 actual
FG: 1.015
SRM: 12
IBU: 23
ABV: 6.1%

10 gallon batch


Mash:

15 lbs Munich
10 lbs 2-row
1.5 lbs wheat
1.0 lbs crystal 60

Single infusion mash at 154F for 60 minutes. Used BrewTarget again, and was off on the infusion temp, actually hit 148F. I didn't bother to adjust since I tend to like Oktoberfest on the dry side anyway. As has become usual, and not always mentioned, I adjusted the pH to 5.3 using lactic acid.


Hops schedule:

I changed up the hops a little also. I thought the Magnum for finishing was a little odd last year, so I was going to go with a more traditional Hallertau, but didn't have enough, so I used some Mt Hood also.

90 minute boil

1 oz Magnum, 60 minutes
2 tsp Irish Moss, 15 minutes
2 oz Hallertau, 5 minutes
2 oz Mt Hood, 5 minutes


Fermentation schedule:

Wyeast 2124, Bohemian Lager yeast. Used two new smack packs, made a 1/2 gallon starter.


Pitch at 65F, then reduce temp to 50F.
Hold for 10 - 14 days, or until gravity is at 1.027.
I got 1.027 like this:
    62 (OG) - 15 (expected FG) = 47
    47 x 25% = 12
    15 (expected FG) + 12 = 27
Raise temp to 65F for diacetyl rest, hold for 1 - 2 days. Should drop gravity to close to FG.
Cold-crash to 35F, hold for 3 - 4 days.
Rack to kegs for lagering at 35F for 2 - 3 months.

I have a few bottles of last year's Oktoberfest in the fridge, so I poured one while brewing. Still pretty tasty!

Update, April 7, 2014 (12 days): gravity is at 1.027, so raised fermenter temp to 65F for diacetyl rest. Hold for 2 days.

Update, April 9, 2014: gravity is now at 1.016, cold-crashing to 35F for 3 or 4 days.

Brewday Pictures, March 15, 2014

I took a few pictures while brewing on Saturday.

I found a couple of unlabeled bottles in the back of the beer fridge, it turns out one was the Scotch Ale and the other was the Bourbon Barrel Stout. Score!

Grinding grain

The brewery

Really cloudy Sculpin clone, even after a 1 micron filter

First wort hops are Magnum

Scotch ale

Scotch ale

Racking an amber ale to kegs

The Scotch ale, compare this to the Sculpin

Boil

Listening to old hippy music while brewing

Bourbon barrel stout

Amber is kegged

Bucket fermenter before cleaning

A nice quart of 1272, American Ale II

Pre-boil gravity

Whirlpool with hops turds

Fermenters are cleaned, bag in one

Wort is bagged, oxygenated, yeast added

OG, looks like about 1.058

Hops turds again

Next day a the Edge

Batch 150, Hop Burst IPA

I ran across this recipe in Zymurgy a while back, and as it happened, I scored a bunch of free hops yesterday (Thanks Niko!) I had intended to brew an ESB, but with the sudden acquisition of a bunch of nice hops, this recipe came to mind. I have made a few changes to the recipe in Zymurgy -- the original had Simcoe and Sterling, and I didn't have any of those, but I did have some Meridian, so I used that instead, and compensated for the quantities by adding 2 oz of Citra and Meridian.

"Hops burst" is a process of using all late addition hops and no early/bittering additions. I did do a FWH since that was recommended in the recipe, but all of the rest of the hops are at 15 minutes, during whirlpool, and later some dry hops. It sure smelled good!

I'm also doing an experiment on this batch. I want to increase my fermentation capacity, but I really don't have room for another fridge or freezer. So I'm thinking to ferment in plastic bags. I should be able to ferment two 10 gallon batches in the same freezer since the bags will fit in the freezer better than the buckets, less wasted space. The experiment is I'm using Costco trash compactor bags. As far as I can tell, these should be food grade, but they've never been tested for compliance with the FDA rules since they aren't intended for food storage. I'm fermenting half of this batch in a bag, half in a regular bucket fermenter. I'll post some brewday pictures in another post.

YAIPA (Yet another IPA) - American IPA (14B)

Brewer
Date

Batch Size	10.061 gal	Boil Size	12.561 gal
Boil Time	90.000 min	Efficiency	70%
OG	1.059	FG	1.016
ABV	5.6%	Bitterness	43.8 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	8.8 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	194

Fermentables

Total grain: 25.250 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	20.000 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Munich Malt - 10L	Grain	2.000 lb	Yes	No	77%	10.0 srm
White Wheat Malt	Grain	1.250 lb	Yes	No	86%	2.0 srm
Biscuit Malt	Grain	1.000 lb	Yes	No	79%	23.0 srm
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	Grain	1.000 lb	Yes	No	74%	60.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Magnum	13.5%	0.500 oz	First Wort	90.000 min	Pellet	11.3
Amarillo	9.5%	1.500 oz	Boil	15.000 min	Pellet	10.1
Centennial	10.5%	3.000 oz	Boil	15.000 min	Pellet	22.3
Amarillo	9.5%	1.500 oz	Aroma	0.000 s	Pellet	0.0
Centennial	10.5%	1.500 oz	Aroma	0.000 s	Pellet	0.0
Citra	12.0%	2.000 oz	Aroma	0.000 s	Pellet	0.0
Meridian	6.7%	2.000 oz	Aroma	0.000 s	Pellet	0.0

Misc

Name	Type	Use	Amount	Time
pH 5.2 Stabilizer	Water Agent	Mash	2.029 tsp	0.000 s

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
Wyeast - London Ale III	Ale	Liquid	0.528 cup	Primary

Mash

Name	Type	Amount	Temp	Target Temp	Time
Conversion Step, 68C	Infusion	8.344 gal	164.983 F	154.400 F	60.000 min
Final Batch Sparge	Infusion	7.500 gal	181.376 F	165.200 F	15.000 min

Instructions

1. Add 20.000 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US, 2.000 lb Munich Malt - 10L, 1.000 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L, 1.250 lb White Wheat Malt, 1.000 lb Biscuit Malt to the mash tun.
2. Bring 8.344 gal water to 164.983 F, 7.500 gal water to 181.376 F for upcoming infusions.
3. Add 8.344 gal water at 164.983 F to mash to bring it to 154.400 F (152F actual). Hold for 60.000 min. Added 1.5 tsp lactic acid to bring pH to 5.4.
4. Add 7.500 gal water at 181.376 F to mash to bring it to 165.200 F. Hold for 15.000 min.
5. Do first wort hopping with 0.500 oz Magnum,.
6. Bring the wort to a boil and hold for 60.000 min.
7. Put 1.500 oz Amarillo into boil for 15.000 min.
8. Put 3.000 oz Centennial into boil for 15.000 min.
9. Stop boiling the wort.
10. Steep 1.500 oz Citra in wort for 0.000 s.
11. Steep 1.500 oz Meridian in wort for 0.000 s.
12. Steep 1.500 oz Centennial in wort for 0.000 s.
13. Steep 1.500 oz Amarillo in wort for 0.000 s.
14. You should have 11.061 gal wort post-boil. You anticipate losing 1.000 gal to trub and chiller loss. The final volume in the primary is 10.061 gal.
15. Cool wort and pitch Wyeast - London Ale III Ale yeast, to the primary.
16. Let ferment until FG is 1.016.
17. Transfer beer to secondary.

Dry hopping will be with 1 oz Amarillo, 1.5 oz Centennial, and 2 oz Citra.

March 24, 2014, racked to secondary. Harvested about 3 pints of the yeast, which always looks great. After 1272, I think this London Ale III is my next favorite ale yeast. The experiment with fermenting in a bag seems fine so far. No off-flavors that I could detect from the hydrometer sample. I'm actually a little disappointed in the flavor, not a lot of hop flavor and very little bitterness. Since there is a crapload of hops in this recipe, I expected more. I did add dry hops to the secondary:

1 oz Amarillo
1.5 oz Centennial
2 oz Citra

Batch 149, Idaho Red

Haven't brewed in quite a while, and kegs are getting empty. I cleaned 6 today while brewing. My backlog is getting low. Probably need to brew again next weekend and get some supply built up.  This is a new recipe, I started with the Panama Red grain bill, traded out some of the 2-row for Munich to add a little more maltiness, and worked the hops so this comes out a very balanced beer.
 

Idaho Red - American Amber Ale (10B)

Brewer	Dale
Date	3/1/14

Batch Size	10.000 gal	Boil Size	12.500 gal
Boil Time	90.000 min	Efficiency	75%
OG	1.053	FG	1.014
ABV	5.1%	Bitterness	29.5 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	13.9 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	175

Fermentables

Total grain: 22.523 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	14.000 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Munich Malt - 10L	Grain	5.000 lb	Yes	No	77%	10.0 srm
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	Grain	2.000 lb	Yes	No	74%	60.0 srm
Briess - Wheat Malt, White	Grain	1.250 lb	Yes	No	86%	2.6 srm
Chocolate Malt (US)	Grain	4.375 oz	Yes	No	60%	350.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Galena	12.0%	1.750 oz	Boil	60.000 min	Leaf	26.7
Mount Hood	5.5%	2.000 oz	Boil	5.000 min	Leaf	2.8

Misc

Name	Type	Use	Amount	Time
Irish Moss	Fining	Boil	1.000 tsp	15.000 min

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
Wyeast - American Ale II	Ale	Liquid	2.000 cups	Primary

Mash

Name	Type	Amount	Temp	Target Temp	Time
Conversion Step, 68C	Infusion	8.446 gal	168.613 F	154.400 F	60.000 min
Final Batch Sparge	Infusion	6.982 gal	184.353 F	165.200 F	15.000 min

Instructions

1. Add 14.000 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US, 4.375 oz Chocolate Malt (US), 2.000 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L, 1.250 lb Briess - Wheat Malt, White, 5.000 lb Munich Malt - 10L to the mash tun.
2. Bring 8.446 gal water to 168.613 F, 6.982 gal water to 184.353 F for upcoming infusions.
3. Add 8.446 gal water at 168.613 F to mash to bring it to 154.400 F. Hold for 60.000 min.
4. Add 6.982 gal water at 184.353 F to mash to bring it to 165.200 F. Hold for 15.000 min.
5. Bring the wort to a boil and hold for 90.000 min.
6. Put 1.750 oz Galena into boil for 60.000 min.
7. Put 1.000 tsp Irish Moss into boil for 15.000 min.
8. Put 2.000 oz Mount Hood into boil for 5.000 min.
9. Stop boiling the wort.
10. You should have 11.000 gal wort post-boil. You anticipate losing 4.000 qt to trub and chiller loss. The final volume in the primary is 10.000 gal.
11. Cool wort and pitch Wyeast - American Ale II Ale yeast, to the primary.
12. Let ferment until FG is 1.014.
13. Transfer beer to secondary.

Nitro tap teardown

My nitro tap had the same keg of stout on it since July. It was getting sticky, and since the keg blew last night, I thought it was time to take the tap apart and clean it. This isn't your ordinary tap, not even an ordinary nitro tap.

It looks like this:

That extra knob on the back is awesome, it lets me adjust the flow, and works really well for filling bottles and growlers when the aerator disk is removed.

Taken apart it looks like this:

There ae quite a few pieces and quite a few o-rings. It really wasn't that dirty on the inside, some build up here and there where you'd expect. It's pretty easy to clean. I lubed all the o-rings while I had it apart, and took this picture so I'd remember in the future how it goes back together.

After I got it all cleaned and reassembled, I put a keg of 'End of the World' on tap.

Batch 148, Sculpin IPA clone

The club did the annual group brew on New Years day, which is traditional. We did this recipe that I found on-line and posted in the club forum:

Supposedly this is the recipe for Sculpin that Ballast Point passed around at NHC a few years ago:

Grain             
%   Amount   Name   Origin   Potential   SRM
80   11.00 lbs   Pale Malt (2 Row) 1.8L   America   1.036   2
7.3   1.00 lbs   Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt   America   1.033   2
3.6   0.50 lbs   CaraVienne Malt   Belgium   1.034   24
9.1   1.25 lbs   Crystal Malt 10L   America   1.035   10
             
Hops             
Amount   Name   Form   Alpha   IBU   Boil Time
1.00 oz   Amarillo Gold   Pellet   9.4   45.6   Mash Hop
0.50 oz   Warrior   Pellet   16.3   35.9   60min
0.25 oz   Magnum   Pellet   14.4   15.9   60min
0.25 oz   Hallertau Northern Brewer   Pellet   7.1   7.8   60min
0.25 oz   Tomahawk   Pellet   16.4   18.1   60min
0.25 oz   Crystal   Pellet   3.6   2   60min
0.25 oz   Centennial   Pellet   9.9   5.6   30min
0.25 oz   Simcoe   Pellet   13.6   7.6   30min
1.00 oz   Amarillo Gold   Pellet   9.4   0   0min
1.00 oz   Simcoe   Pellet   13.6   0   0min
2.00 oz   Amarillo Gold   Pellet   9.4   0   Dry Hop
             
Extras             
1.00 units Whirlfloc Tablets 15min boil             
             
Yeast             
White Labs WLP001 California Ale


Joe hosted and Steve P gave me a hand. Good times!

I think everyone used a different yeast for this, I used 1272 from batch 147.