Batch 316, now for something completely different

 Well, not completely different. I was going to 2-row, a little crystal, mostly centennial. I thought I had a lot of crystal, but it turned that what I though was crystal was actually Special B. So I did that. In what is basically a pale ale. The last few batches have been pretty hoppy, so I toned down the hops a little and aimed a little higher on the mash temp so it should come out a little sweeter.

10 gallon batch

20 lb 2-row

8 oz Special B

Mashed with 170F, got 160F in the mash tun, a little higher than I was aiming for, but whatever. Adjusted pH to 5.16. Batch sparge, collected 12.5 gallons in the boil kettle.

1 oz Centennial, FWH

1 oz Columbus, 60 min

1 oz Centennial, 15 min, plus 2 tsp Irish moss

2 oz Centennial, flameout

1 qt yeast from last batch, pitched the next day. I'm essentially doing no-chill as I don't have available water to run my plate chiller. What I'm doing instead is filling a 5 gallon bucket with water (which is actually fairly warm coming out of the pipe), connecting my plate chiller on the wort side, then dropping the plate chiller into the bucket of water. That gets the wort down to about 160F, which is below isomerization temperature for the hop oils, and the bucket water is about the same. Then transfer the wort to the fermenter in the chest freezer. By the next morning, the wort is at pitching temperature.

OG should be about 1.050, I didn't measure

FG should be 1.010

Update 21 Apr 2026: fermentation is done, dropped temp to 35F for cold crash. I'm going to be gone for a few days, so will keg when I get back.

Update 27 Apr 2026: racked to kegs, added gelatin. 

Update 5 May 2026: transfered to a clean keg (to leave the sludge behind) and put it on tap. This stuff is delicious!

Batch 315, just more of the same

 Yet another simple recipe. I just made it up on the spot, no software involved. These recipes I've been making are so simple and taste so good! One new thing in this brew, the 2-row pale ale grain is from Mexico. I've only used US or Canadian grain in the past. I was able to get a couple of bags from Santo Pablo (caution! the link goes to Facebook), a somewhat local Mexican brewery (it's an hour drive, but good beer, good food!) that buys Mexican grain from Puebla.

"Malta de Cebada" just means barley malt.

10 gallon batch

22 lb 2-row 

8 oz Crystal 60

Mashed with 165F, hit 150F in the mash tun. Adjusted pH to 5.4. Standard 10 minute recirculation each batch. One other small change is after running off the second batch into the boil kettle, I let the mash tun continue to drain into a gallon pitcher and I got almost another gallon to add to the boil. 

2 oz Cascade, FWH

2 oz Columbus, 60 minutes

2 oz Cascade plus 2 tsp Irish Moss, 15 minutes

2.5 oz Cascade, flameout.

That is all of my Cascade, so next time it'll be something else.

Same yeast as last batch.

Pretty easy brew day. I'm still trying to figure out a better way to chill the wort. I'm only able to get it down to 160F or so, then put it in the chest freezer to chill to pitching temperature, which takes overnight.

Update 4 April 2026: I got this kegged last Monday, added some gelatin for clarification. Set the CO2 to 30 lbs to carb. Transferred to clean kegs today and put it on tap. It's more bitter than I thought it would be, but it's good. Not quite carbonated enough, but definitely drinkable. FG was 1.010, so fairly dry, this should be much better in the next few days as the carbonation gets to the right place.

Batch 314, A Slightly different pale ale

 I thought I might do a Panama Red, which I haven't done in a long time, but I don't really have the right stuff. This should be somewhat similar, a little darker than what I've been doing lately.

10 gallon batch

19.5 lb 2-row, now I'm out

8 oz crystal 60

4 oz chocolate

Mashed at 152F, adjusted pH to 5.3, the usual batch sparge and recirc for 10-15 minuted each batch. Collected 12.5 gallons in the boil kettle.

1 oz Cascade, FWH

2 oz Centennial, 60 min

2 oz Cascade, 15 min (with 2 tsp Irish moss)

2 oz Cascade, flameout

60 minute boil.

Yeast is the same WP-01 I've been using in previous batches. (I just checked, it's actually WLP-01, California Ale.)

OG: 1.052 actual

Batch 313, Can you believe it?

 Yes, indeed! Yet another pale ale. This one is a actual SMASH beer (single malt and single hop). All Amarillo on this one.

10 gallon batch

20 lb 2-row

I thought about adding some crystal or chocolate for color, I even considered adding a little Special B just because I have some. But I stuck with just the 2-row this time. The grain is from Rahr.

Mashed at 150F, pH adjusted to 5.27. I was aiming for a slightly lower mash temp for a drier beer.

All Amarillo hops, 9.8% AA:

1 oz FWH

2 oz 60 minutes

1 oz 15 minutes + 2 tsp Irish Moss

2 oz flameout

Due to conditions here, I do a minimal chill, then transfer to the fermenter in my chest freezer and let it sit overnight to get down to pitching temperature.

Reused the yeast from 2 batches ago.