Life!

Well I've been too busy to blog but I've been brewing and planning...

Last night I finished up a Brown Porter.  A fellow homebrewer supplied the Golding hops and thus it's been aptly named "Mike's Brown Porter".

Last weekend, with some guidance from the good folks at Beau's, I attempted my own version of a Pumpkinweiss.

A week before that I brewed up a basic Pale Ale using Challenger and EKG hops.  It's dry hopping as I type and should be ready for the bottle tonight.

As a matter of administration, I believe I will now post recipe's and tastings at the same time.  No sense posting a failed attempt (which I have had recently), but I will ensure to tell you about my mistakes.

...and with that, I'll leave you with a couple pictures.  I present my Wry Smile Clone ...

Tasting - "77 Ringwood Stout"

Brewday Post and Recipe
77 Ringwood Stout

Appearance
Dark Brown perhaps black, opaque.  When poured, toffee coloured head resembles whipped cream.  It lasts and lasts until the final drop.  Significant lacing throughout.

8/10

Aroma
Roast.  Coffee.  Little to no Chocolate.  Smells of malt with a faint hint of hops, Challenger hops work really well here.  Something else is there as well, perhaps a by-product of the yeast?

6/10

Taste
Roasty.  Slightly sweet.  I get a touch of "tang" and spice.  Not sure if again it's from the yeast?  The yeast was provided by a fellow brewer.  I stepped up from 2ml.  Later I was told the strain may not have been authentic Ringwood but rather a bottling strain.  I am not getting any butter/diacetyl but rather more spice.  Perhaps slightly phenolic.

6/10

Overall Impressions
I am drinking this too soon.  Needs more time to bottle condition and would make for an excellent winter warmer.  The slight tang is a little distracting, hopefully this will dissipate over time.  Over all, please with the grain bill and hop selection.  Perhaps a touch of hops near the end of the boil would make things more interesting.  Probably the best stout that I've made thus far.  The creamy head (giggle) is amazing!  Toast Barley Flakes do a fine job!

6.5/10

Tasting - "Amarillo Pale Ale, No Salts"

Brewday Post and Recipe
Amarillo Pale Ale - No Brewing Salts

Appearance
Picture speaks a thousand words.  Not sure if this amazing appearance is related to using no salts, or perhaps I was just extra patient with this brew.  I did give the brew more time in the primary and boy did it pay off.

9/10.

Aroma

Mild hoppiness.  Nothing over the top but quite inviting.

6/10

Taste
Nicely balanced.  True to style APA.

7/10

Overall Impressions
Pleased.  I don't feel the beer was drastically different due to the lack of brewing salts.  I'll brew again without water additions.

7/10

Infection?

Details to come...

After some debate on my local homebrew clubs mailing list,  many feel the brew is not infected.  I went a head and bottled 15L this morning.  Will start drinking soon.

Brewday - "Sunset Ale"

Notes
An Amber ale [Imperial Red Ale].  Named in tribute to the beautiful sunsets seen over our summer of camping.  I believe this batch marks my 4th attempt at the style.

Through trial and error, I've made a few recipe changes from previous attempts.  First, reduce the amount of Roast Barley.  A measly 40g for colour only.  I've reduced the total amount of crystal malt significantly.  Finaly, I've included a protein rest and lowered the sacc temp 2 degrees.  On the hop side, I've increased the total IBUs, added an addition at the 20 minute mark and will include some dry-hops as well. 

American Amber Ale (10B) [Specialty (23)] 
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Fermentis S-04

Yeast Starter: N/A
Additional Yeast : N/A
Batch Size (Post Boil): 26L
Original Gravity: 1.054 [1.060]
Final Gravity: 1.012 (est) [1.014]
IBU: 40 [57]
Boiling Time (Minutes): 70
Colour (SRM): 11 (est)
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 15 @ 66F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 12 @ 66F 
Conditioning [Bottle] (# of Days & Temp): 21 @ 66F

Ingredients

88.7% Pale Malt (Gambrinus)
07.1% CaraMunich I (Weyermann)
03.5% CaraAroma (Weyermann)
0.07% Roast Barley (Muntons)

28.6 IBU Columbus @ 60 min (1oz)
1/4oz Willamette @ 30 min
1/4 [1/2oz] Cascade @ 20 min

1/4 [1/2oz] Willamette @ 10 min
1/4 [1/2oz] Cascade + 1/4 [1/2oz] Willamette @ 1 min
1/4oz Willamette Dry-hop (12 days)
1/4oz Cascade Dry-hop (12 days)
1/4oz Columbus Dry-hop (12 days)
1/4oz Centennial Dry-hop (12 days)

Water (City tap water treated with Campden)

Calcium Chloride, Gypsum and Epsom Salt added, pH 5.50

Ca-86/Mg-14/Na-18/Cl-97/S04-138

Mash Instructions
Protein Rest, 30 minutes (125F), 1.0qt/lb
Alpha Infusion, 60 minutes (152F), 1.50qt/lb
Double batch sparge (170F), collected ~30L into the boil kettle

28/08/2012 - Mashing

Second time using Gambrinus Pale malt for a base, second time with an extraction efficiency over 90%, 93% to be exact.  I've made some last minute recipe (hop) changes to account for the new anticipated OG (1.062).

Wort was chilled to 75F, took about an hour due to warm, summertime ground water through my immersion chiller.  Will need to build a prechiller for future summer brews.  Brewday lasted 5.5hrs, longer than normal since I had problems chilling.  S-04 Yeast was re-hydrated and  pitched to an aggressively aerated wort.

I'd like to brew this again but this time factoring in my proper extraction efficiency and actually coming close to my gravity numbers.

Here's the brew I ended with.:
26L@ 1.060, 22L into the primary.
57 IBUs
I updated the hop schedule (posted above) accordingly.

29/08/2012 - Primary shows signs of fermentation.

03/09/2012 - Airlock quiet.

Tasting - "BSB2012", 100% Centennial IPA

Brewday Post and Recipe
BSB2012, 100% Centennial IPA

Appearance

Darker than my typical pale ales, likely due to the Maris Otter base malt.  Pours with a medium, one finger width of head.  Small amount remains after sitting for 10 minutes, lasing apparent.  Chill haze significant.   

Aroma

Hoppy.  Similar to my experience with Cascade, perhaps a touch more pungent.  Nice and inviting.

Taste

Nicely balanced American IPA.  I was concerned the IBU's may have been too high given the simplicity of the grain bill, not so.  The Centennials provide a nice sharpness up front but this gives way to a grapefruity hop flavour.  I would say the hops are quite one dimensional but this would be stating the obvious since I only used one hop!  The ale does have a very nice malt backbone.  The 5% carafoam does a nice job rounding our the body. 

Overall Impressions

Very pleased with the results.  The chill haze does take away from the appearance, the few I had at cellar temperature were very nice looking.  The aroma and flavour are really nice, too bad Centennial hops are so hard to come by, would be on my regular rotation for sure.  Body on this brew was stouty, likely on account of the carafoam.  Interestingly, my BMC drinking friends also enjoyed this IPA.  The Centennials offer a more mellow bittering when compared to Columbus for example.

After a few weekends of camping, I've burnt though the entire batch, hopefully there is a picture on the digital camera that I can upload for you...

Brewday - "Starry Night"

Notes

A Cascadian Dark Ale.  Some might call it a Black IPA or American Dark Ale, I feel the Cascadian folks of the Pacific Northwest who created the style should be paid some form of homage.  A style I love to drink (often) yet oddly enough have never tried to brew;  today should be the day.

I am shooting for the body a basic American IPA, more to the dry end of the spectrum, with solid hop bitterness, a touch or roast flavour and of course, dark brown to black colour.  The trick will be not/not turning this into a robust porter, another style I love, but alas, not a Cascadian Dark Ale.

My homebrew club provided a recipe from Homebrewtalk.com, I've more or less kept the same hop schedule but modified the grain bill to suit my tastes.

Specialty beer (23)  <I guess?>
Cascadian Dark/Black IPA/American Dark Ale
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Fermentis US-05

Yeast Starter: Nope
Additional Yeast : Hydrated
Batch Size (Post Boil): 26L
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.014 (est)
IBU: 63.7

Boiling Time (Minutes): 65
Colour (SRM): 25 (est)
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 15 @ 66F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 12 @ 66F 
Conditioning [Bottle] (# of Days & Temp): 21 @ 66F

Ingredients

90.0% Pale Malt (Gambrinus)
03.0% CaraAroma (Weyermann)
03.0% Wheat Malt (OiO)
03.0% Melanoidin (Weyermann)
00.8% Acid Malt (Weyermann)
(Added at Vorlauf)
200g Black Patent (Muntons)
200g Chocolate (Muntons)
100g Roast Barley (Muntons)

23 IBU Centennial @ 60 min (1oz)

1oz Centennial @ 30 min
1oz Centennial @ 20 min
1oz Cascade @ 15 min
1oz Cascade @ 0 min
1oz Willamette @ 0 min
1oz Willamette Dry-hop (12 days)
1oz Cascade Dry-hop (12 days)

Water (City tap water treated with Campden)

Acid Malt, Calcium Chloride, Gypsum and Epsom Salt added, pH 5.49

Ca-84/Mg-14/Na-18/Cl-94/S04-135

Mash Instructions
Single Infusion, 60 minutes (151F), 1.25qt/lb
Add Black Patent, Chocolate and Roast Barley @ 1st Vorlauf
Double batch sparge (170F), collected ~30L into the boil kettle

10/08/2012 - Brewed, over shot the mash temp, 152F.  Using Gambrinus malt for the first time, not sure what happened but I ended with some insane extraction efficiency.  Estimated 80% and ended with near 90%!  This means my OG was measured at 1.070 rather than the anticipated 1.062.  This has also had an impact on the IBUs.  My brew software recalculated the IBUs at 58.2, significantly lower.

The colour turned out near perfect.  Brown-black with a touch of mahogany.  At 1.070 the hydro sample was quite heavy.  I aerated the wort heavily trying to help the US-05 yeast.  I hope the FG finishes near 1.014.  Before pitching, I am thankful I took a final temperature reading, the wort was sitting at 80F, much too warm for this yeast.  I opted to let the wort sit in the primary until the next morning before pitching.

11/08/2012 - Pitched US-05.  Initially I though to hydrate the yeast before pitching, however; I was in a rush to get out the door and opted to sprinkle on top dry.

12/08/2012 - Primary showing signs of vigorous fermentation.  Air-lock very active.

26/08/2012 - Primary fermentation appears complete.  Will test and transfer to secondary soon...

27/08/2012 - Racked to secondary.  Will require some major conditioning time.  Sample was very "hot".

03/09/2012 - 1.5oz Cascade + 1/2oz Willamette Dry Hop added