Beer'n It All

Mo beer plez!

2010-06-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I brewed last and since a friend was kind enough to buy me a burner for by 40th, I'm thinking no time like the present!

Agenda: Chimey clone. My last time doing this yielded results that was surprising tasty, but also with approx. 20 some odd pounds of ingredients; while only about 7lbs were actual grains!

I found this recipe which sounds pretty good, a Chimey Grand Res.

Clones after 1 week of being bottled

2008-07-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

An interesting thing seems to have happened during the Midas Touch "clone" making.
It seems that even while we stirred and stirred, the wort still separated enough as the keg drained that each batch has it's own very unique flavor.

While we each pitched a slightly different yeast, I highly doubt that the difference was from the yeast alone.

All things equal otherwise, the are night and day in terms of sweet & dry.

Midas Clone Brewed.

2008-05-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

We threw a bbq and brewed up some Midas Touch tonight.

We followed this instructions and brewed an 11 gal batch.
Step by step
~ Heated 10gal water to 170* and dropped in grain.
~ This immediately brought the temps to the desired 150-155* range for steeping and continued to steep for 2hrs.
~ We removed the grains and did a light sparge, but nothing too complex or long.

~ At boil we add 1oz Willamette hops, Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes.
~ Add 1oz of Willamette hops and the 2 tspn Saffron for last 15 minutes of the boil.
~ Add 7lbs honey at the end of the boil after you turn off the heat.
~ Let stand for 5 minutes to sanitize the honey.

~ At the end of boil, we timed it just right to have 9.5 gal of wort and then we added 1gal of 100% Concord grape juice to each fermenter prior to adding the hot wort.

~ Cooling the wort was done by simply letting it sit overnight in air-locked container ~ We pitched the yeast at 76* after we aerated the beer.
OG: 1.072
FG:

Our All-grain option:
6.0 lbs. two-row pale malt (per batch, we doubled it.)
1 tspn Saffron (per batch, we doubled it.)
3.5 lbs Clover Honey (per batch, we doubled it.)
1 gal 100% All Natural Concord Grape juice (per batch, we doubled it.)

#14 Midas Touch Clone...

2008-05-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

We(Travis and I) have embarked on creating our own Midas Touch beer because it's simply too expensive to be sucking down real bottles of it at $14 per 4pk!

So we've been rounding up the ingredients and which while few have been difficult to locate.

While the original "clone" recipe is this:

Dogfish Head Midas Touch
(5 gallons, extract with grains and adjuncts)
OG = 1.078 FG = 1.010 IBUs = 10 ABV = 9.0%

Ingredients
3.3 lbs. Briess light malt extract syrup
1.5 lbs. Briess light dry malt extract
3 lbs. honey (do not boil)
2 lbs. Alexander’s Muscat grape concentrate (do not boil)
0.5 teaspoon dry saffron (boil 15 minutes)
2.5 AAU Willamette hops (bittering hop) (0.50 oz. of 5.0% alpha acid)
2.5 AAU Willamette hops (flavor hop) (0.50 oz. of 5.0% alpha acid)
1 tsp. Irish moss
White Labs WLP500 (Trappist) or Wyeast 3787 (Trappist) yeast
O.75 cup of corn sugar (for priming)

We we unable to find Muscat and subbed in 100% Concord grape juice. We also change to all grain and will be brewing a full 11 gal batch which we'll be splitting into 2 seperate batches each using a different yeast. B1 will use 100% Trappist while B2 wil be using a Trappist/Belgian mix.

3 beers in 3 days!! Batches: 11, 12, 13.

2008-05-04T20:04:00.001-07:00

Well, really 2 in 3 days, but this one is actually mine while the 2nd was helping Travis brew his.

Batch #12
Brew 2 is a loose rendition of Chimay from a recipe that G-Spot found and asked me to produce for him.

The beer is a serious contender in terms of alcohol %, to the point that it's a little worrisome we'll get it all to convert. The recipe was generic to start with and gave no real brew times, hops times, etc.

Ingredients:
3.3 pounds, pale unhopped extract syrup
12 pounds, pale dry extract
1 pound, 6-row pale malt
1 pound, wheat malt
1 pound, Vienna malt
2 pounds, light brown sugar (** this was changed to 1lb brown sugar and 1 cup Molasses)
1/2 pound, corn sugar
10 grams, coriander
8 grams, orange peel (Bitter)
4 HBUs, Saaz hops (boil)
4 HBUs, Hallertauer hops (boil) (** changed to Mt Hood, 1/4 used at 5min rest used in primary)
4-1/2 HBUs, Fuggles hops (boil)
handful, hops (finish)
1 teaspoon, Irish moss
Chimay yeast cultures (** This was changed to a Trappist Yeast)

Since there were no real instructions, here is what I did:
Steeped grains in 6 gal water @ 155* for 60min.
Sparged lightly (used 2 gals of water)
Added sparge & all extracts to the boil. (120 min boil to reduce from 7.5gal to 5 gal.)
Fuggels @ 30 min
Saaz @ 20min
Coriander @ 20min
OrangePeel @ 10min

Cooled in primary overnight and pitched yeast at 80*.
OG: 1.096 @ 84* corrected = 1.12!! ABV: approx. 13-14%
FG: 1.04
ABV: 10.5%

Priming: 3/4 Cup Corn Sugar in 2 cups boiled water
Bottled: 48 Bottles

SideNotes:
Taste is very sweet while hiding the alcohol content, color a medium redish brown.

Beer #11 Finally! My IPA has been brewed.

2008-05-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Beer 11, IPA
Well broke the 1yr time frame since I last brewed a beer and boy what a difference a year makes.

This year hops prices are through the roof and in limited quantities to boot! So even though I wanted to make a stout, the hops are not abundant enough to make it happen any time soon. So I am going IPA for now.

It's pretty much the same recipe as found here IPA 06, but I am all grain now!!

Yup, I finally converted the keg to a brew kettle and was able to shove 11+ lbs of grain in it with ease!

Here is the basic recipe:
11.5 lbs US 2_row
.5 lbs Cara-pil
.5 lbs Munich
.5 lbs Victory
2 oz US Nugget
1 oz Mt Hood

Grains steeped at 155-165 for 1 hr.
Boil was 8gals reduced to 6 gal in 1.5 hrs.
1.25oz USN for 50min
.75oz USN for 25min.

OG: 1.044 with an est. 5.8%
FG: 1.0,
ABV: 5.8%

*SIDENOTES:
Primary: 1 week
Secondary: 1 week
Priming: 1 TBLS Dextrose in 1/4 cup boiled water (MiniKeg), Remaining batch , 2/3 Cup Dextrose
Bottled: 1 MiniKeg (5lt), 38 12oz bottles

About to get back in the game.

2008-04-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

It seems that the brew gods are having fun keeping me from brewing. After almost a full year off from brewing, I finally decided this is it, I'm gonna remake my IPA & my Douthat Stout.

So last Thursday I head down to the local brew supply shop only to find out that since I've been out of the game hop prices have gone through the roof because hop supplies have have their bottom drop out.

So our local shop has put a limits on amount of hops that you can buy via a total quantity (5oz) and amount per hops (2oz).
Well that leaves me to only purchasing 1 beer order and I'll have to wait a week to get my second one.

So I choose IPA and unlike my last IPA I'll be going full grain since I am borrowing a brew kettle. Or so I thought!
Link #2 comes in the form of a phone call from my friend asking me if I already picked up the pot from him. I call back to let him know this wasn't the case and he said he'd look again, but someone may have walked off with it.

So now I have a full grain order for what may turn into a partial mash!

We'll see and I'll post more later...

Harpoon's Winter Warmer Speared my desire to brew.

2007-12-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Well my goal to brew my "Barren Trail Christmas Ale" this year still hasn't happened, so I went in search for some seasonal beers the other night and what I found for both good and bad.
Enter Harpoon's Winter Warmer.

The Good: Even at the slightest crack of the cap this beer stood out, a very distinct ale scent with a hint of spice. Poor it into the glass and you get a nice deep nutty brown ale color with a very creamy foam head that is golden in color. And the taste was everything I want in a Christmas Ale, to a fault actually! No, it's not that I have been/makes me want to drink a lot, but more over it tastes way to similar to my very own.

That is the bad part, a) it makes me want to not brew my own this year and b) it makes me a little sad to have a beer out that is so close to mine as I worked pretty hard to formulate mine (at least on paper) to make it unique.

Harpoon Winter Warmer

BEER SPECIFICATIONS
Style: Spiced Ale
History:
brewed since 1988
Orig. Gravity: 14.5 P
Color:

Dark Copper 40 EBC
ABV:

5.5%
IBU’S:

22
PAIRING SUGGESTIONS
savory hors d’oerves, duck,
apple pie, pumpkin pie

Winter Warmer was Harpoon’s first seasonal beer. It was designed to be enjoyed during the holiday season.

When you bring a glass of this dark copper ale to your lips to take your first sip you will notice the aroma of cinnamon. There is no aromatic hop added that might overpower the distinct spice scent. The medium body of this beer is formed from caramel and pale malts. These create enough body to support the spices without making the beer excessively rich. Bittering hops are added to counter the sweetness of the malt and spice. The finish of the beer is a blend of cinnamon and nutmeg. The combination of these two spices results in a balanced, pumpkin-pie flavor.

The overall character is a smooth, medium bodied ale spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Returning to beer making

2007-07-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

After a few months off; 6 actually, I plan to return to beer making over the next few weeks.

My supplies are finally running low and I am actually itching to remake a few, like my Douthat Stout, Barren Trail Xmas Ale, and my Can. Hefe'.

#10, Witbier

2007-01-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

No. 10 has been born, now waiting to hear those wonderful bubbles of life!

It's been quite sometime since my last brew, but moving will do that to you.

Last night I finally brewed beer #10! No.10 comes after 6 months of not brewing a single beer. This is the longest time frame without brewing since I started to brew back in May '05.

I decided on a Witbier this time around. This has been my single largest obstacle actually, deciding on a brew. The recipe I used is pretty much exactly as found on BYO.com, with the exception that there was no schedule given for the spices, so I went ahead and made that up as I went along. I also added some black pepper to the spice schedule.

Recipe from BYO.com with mods made by me.
Pierre, South Dakota Witbier
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.053 -> My OG = 1.41 @ 72.5*
FG = 1.012
IBU = 18 SRM = 5 ABV = 5.2% --> Est. ABV = 5.1%
Ingredients
6.0 lbs. (2.7 kg) Briess Pilsen malt
3.0 lbs. (1.4 kg) Briess red wheat malt
1.0 lbs. (0.45 kg) flaked wheat
0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) flaked oats
0.33 lbs. (0.15 kg) flaked barley
5 AAU Styrian Goldings hops
(60 min)
(1.0 oz./28 g of 5% alpha acids) --> Used 1.25 oz @ 4%
0.33 oz. (9.4 g) bitter orange peel
0.25 oz. (7.1 g) coriander --> All spices freshly ground together
1 tspn Blackpepper
up to 1.0 oz. (29 mL) 88% lactic acid --> Not using
(to taste before bottling or kegging)
up to 1.5 tsp. vinegar (optional)
Wyeast 3463 (Forbidden Fruit) yeast --> N/A, Used WLP400 Belgian
(2 qt./~2 L yeast starter) --> No starter used.
1.0 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
I knew I was going to need a lot of patience or I was going to get this all grain batch all wrong! For those that have not added the grain bill up yet, it's about 11lbs; and that is huge for a stove top.

Our local brew store informed me that a good water to grain ratio during a mash is 1.4 qrts to 1lb of grain. So following this I broke up the grains into 2 parts. Part one was about 4lbs and that steeped in a 6qt crockpot, while I placed the remaining grain into my 16qt boil pot. The mash continued at 150-152 °F for about 65min. Because of all the wort after my grains were mashed and sparged, I had to increase the boil from 90 minutes to about 120 min to achieve a full 4 gal boil down (Adding 1 gal of water at end of boil to create a 5 gal batch.)
Hops were added at 60 min. and so was the first 1/2 of the spice combo of Coriander, Bitter Orange Peel, and black pepper. The second 1/2 was added at 20 min.

Total time for beer build was about 4hrs.
My OG was supposed to be 1.053 but mine came out to 1.041. I think this is from being forced to use a small hops bag for one of my grains. It was a little too tight and I believe that it where I lost my sugars.
Either way though a 5.% ABV should be achieved, as long as my yeast works well anyway. In the original recipe they ended up with a FG of 1.012 and I think that could've been 1.005 easy, so there is hope for it still.

Next time I will try steeping without grain bags and instead will just used a colander to strain my brew after the steep is over.

Extract option:
Replace all grains with 1.33 lbs. (0.60 kg) Briess dried malt extract, 4.0 lbs. (1.8 kg) Coopers Wheat liquid malt extract, 2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) wheat malt and 1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked wheat. Steep malt and flakes for 45 minutes in 1.1 gallons (4.3 L) at 150 °F (66 °C). Add water to “grain tea” to make 3 gallons (11 L), add dried malt extract and boil for 60 minutes. Add liquid malt extract at end of boil and let steep for 15 minutes before cooling. Review all-grain instructions for other info.

I need these!

2006-11-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

You simply have to love these T-shirts from www.prankplace.com.

Absolutely Horrid !

2006-10-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

Now the Terrorists Have Won

October 3, 2006 · I hate to be the bearer of news of this magnitude. But we journalists learn early to soldier on through the worst that humanity has to offer.

About 4 percent of America's hops have gone up in flames. Most of America's hops are grown in the Yakima Valley in Washington state, where a 40,000-foot warehouse storing hops burned down yesterday. According to the AP story, "By mid-afternoon flames engulfed most of the building, sending up plumes of smoke and a pungent aroma."

The cause of the fire is not known. Nor is the effect on beer and beer prices. The world mourns. Start hoarding now.

-- JJ Sutherland

#9 Apple Hefe'

2006-05-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Will #9 be just fine?
What, an Apple Hefe'?

I just finished up on my Apple Hefe'. This beer is inspired by Lisa's taste for an Apple Lambic. I didn't have time to try my first Lambic, so I decided to modify my recipe for my Cantaloupe Hefe' from last summer.

Using the basic grain list, I ended up changing the hops and yeast to create or bring out more of the apple flavor.

5 gal. batch
Ingredients:
2# Crystal 10
2# Wheat
.5# Wheat Flake
1# Unhopped Wheat DME

Steeping:
150-153* 65min.

3/8 oz Bramling Cross @ 60min
.5 oz Perle @ 5min

Burton Ale Yeast WLP-023

Total potted beer was 3.25 gal.
After boil was over, I used 1.75 gal of Murry's Pure Apple juice partically frozen to cool the wurt and provide the apple flavoring.
This apple juice is 100% All Natural Apple Juice, pasturized & UNfiltered!
Bought from Tom Leonard's Market.

OG: 1.046 @ 72* Corrected for 68* +.001
FG: 1.004 @ 75* Corrected for 68* +.002

#8, Easy there Hefe'

2006-05-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

Easy there hefe'!

I also made an Easy Hefe'.
Ingredients:
5 lbs Unhopped Wheat DME.
1 oz Hallertauer @ 60 min.
1 WLP 380 yeast.

OG = 1.05 @ 68*
FG = n/a

I finally bottled my #7, the American IPA.
I actually pulled a complete 2 cases(48 bottles) from that batch.
That was very exciting, and so is the taste! I think that I just became addicted to little green leaves.

#7, All American IPA

2006-04-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

American IPA #7

Today I brewed my first IPA, and actually I am not a huge IPA fan, but rather I have just had an urge to create a hoppy brew.

The recipe is pretty much all mine. I did search the net for a few brews, took note of some ingredients, then researched some more. I also researched the how & why for each ingredient to see what I wanted to use, and in what quantity.

Ingredient List:
6 lb 2-Row (US) It is an Amer. IPA!
.5 lb Cara-pil (body and head retension)
.5 lb Munich (toasty malt & sweetness)
.5 lb Victory (color and sweetness)
4 lb Pale LME
2 oz Chinook
1.25 oz for 50 min
.75 oz for 25 min
1 oz Mt. Hood
(For dry hopping in secondary)
Cali WLP-001 Yeast.

I steeped 1/2 the grains in a crockpot for 2.5-30hrs @ 150*
I steeped the last half in the boilpot for 1 hr.
I then combined the 2, brought it to a boil & added my LME.
15 min in I added my 1.25 oz of Chinook, 35 min later I added the other .75 oz of Chinook.

I cooled the wort using 10 lbs of ice and a strainer. This brought the temps down quickly to a 90*. Between the ice and the wort, I was already at 5 gals, so I removed a shelf in the fridge and placed the covered fermenter in there until it reached 75*.
My OG was 1.061. (corrected, at 75* it was 1.060)
I figured roughly it would be between there and 1.065.

I pitched the yeast at 75*, covered her up and now I wait for the magic to happen!

Edit: After 1 full week in the primary, I just reracked the beer with 1oz of Mt Hood in my carboy.
I looked to dry hop for about 2 weeks, or until most of the hops sinks to the bottom.

OG = 1.065
FG = 1.016
Edit:5/2/06
After dry hopping for 3 weeks, I rechecked the FG and the reading is 1.012
The dry hopping left a great aroma, and the beer as unbottled has a great hoppy flavor with some sweetness.
Primed using 3/4 cup or 4oz corn sugar.

Color= A nice homewade Iced-tea color. Pretty clear and slightly more brown tinted than amber.

Pumpkin Ale Bottle up.

2006-04-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Ale ( Bottled)

I just bottled the Pumpkin Ale lastnight. What I thought might be way too dark in fact turned out to be only slighty dark. The orange color is really rich and with a little of the Crystal malt to dark it, the overall beer is a deep amber color.

Initial flavor is strong pumpkin for sure, you can smell it by sticking your nose to the glass. The spice seems to be much more mild than I have thought is would be, almost too mild. This maybe becuase my sample was the last bit of beer left and it yielded the most amount of yeast. (Read, it was really cloudy)

I also used 2/3 cup of corn sugar primer, a first for me since I am pretty anti cs.

This batch yielded 44.5 beers.

#6 in the Mix, A Pumpkin Ale.

2006-02-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Ale., #6

On Feb 2nd, 2006 I made my 2nd ground up beer; Ground up meaning 100% my own recipe. To "test" myself I built/thought up the recipe and than searched for others online and in books to see how well my recipe compared. The idea was to see if I could really design one based on knowledge learned so far rather than bits and pieces that I have seen along the way. I guess there may be a "fine-line" between the two, but I was trying to make that distinction.

Ingredients:
6 lbs # 2-Row UK
1.5 lbs Crystal #60
1.5 oz Saaz .5oz @ 30min, 1oz @ 10min.
1oz Perle @ 5min
1 Tab IrishMoss
Belgian Ale Yeast WLP550

OG 1.03 @ 85* (Corrected to 1.35)
FG 1.0 @ 67* (measured at bottling)

** Side Notes: Too much sugar used to prime!
Taste, very pumpkin, earthy, mellow on spices at best.

For priming, I used 2/3 cup of corn sugar.

Notes: I crock-potted (6qt) 3/4 of the pumpkin for 24hrs before the boil, for approximately 24 hrs. I than removed the pumpkin and stored it for the boil later. Next I Steeped 1/2 my grains(3.75lbs)in the crockpot to @ 150 for 3 hrs. I removed those grains and tranferred that wert into the stove pot, added about 1.5 gals of water to have 3 full gals. and steeped the rest of the grain(3.75lbs) for 1hr.
My original intent was to use all the Saaz @ 60min and the Perle for 5min, but I changed my mind and used the Saaz @ 30min (.5oz) and @ 10min (1oz), following up with Perle @ 5min.

I am very excited, as I am with all the beers that I have brewed. This beer really has a rich dark orange-brown color, and the smell of pumpkin is really there.
Hopefully this beer should be ready by 10/07 & have Alcohol about 4-5%.

Just bottled the Christmas Ale

2005-11-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

I am really looking forward to this Christmas Ale!
I just bottled her today, so she is about 2 months old and the little sample that I had was pretty tasty. Not as fruity as I had hoped, but the spice is definitely there without being too over done.

FG was 1.10 @ 68*.
1.053-1.10*105 = 4.53%

I ended up with just under 1.5 cases. This is due to using 4 220z bottles, and the mixing of yeast & about 1/4 gal in the end and lastly starting with only about 4-4.5 gals.

#5, Douthat Stout Round 2, but with more...

2005-10-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

I plan on making a round 2 of the Douthat Stout, but this time using 3x the grain, 1/3 the LME and instead 3-4lbs of DME. This should make the % jump from the 7% to about 8-9%.

On the way home from Rowlett's, we saw a Raleigh Rush Hour outside Agee's in Carytown. So I stopped, it was a 53cm, so I asked to ride it & I was sold. Granted it was on SS mode, but the bike is solid and feels great even riding the rough stuff.
I bought it ASAP. Photos to come.

On a side note: I have never been too fond of Agee's since they screwed me a few years back, but the sales guy(s) in CT were nice & helpful. Plus Almost 10% MSPR for a '06 I felt is a fair price.

I'll post some more soon about this weekends Halloween events; but for now, it's time to go rest.

#4, Barren Trail Christmas Ale

2005-09-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Barren Trail Christmas Ale, Sept 2005

I am very excited to announce my Christmas Beer. This one is pretty much all me, based lightly (the core part of the recipe) on a few different Christmas beers that I was researching.

All I can say is wow! The kitchen was a wonderful smell of all things good lastnight as this one was brewing. I very well may be on the
way to dry hopping this one to add a little more "hoppy" armoma.
I made a few new choices during this beer that really helped my out alot.
1) I brought my water temps up very quickly by starting out with 4 cups in my pot and boiling 4 cups at a time via the microwave, then adding it to the steeping pot.
Within 10 minutes I had about a 1.5gals at 190*, then I added the remaining water to get it down to 150* before adding grain.
(This above short cut removed about 30min time.)
2)I found a great way for rapid cool down. I bought 10lbs of ice, I also used a 14" SS colander that I added to the just removed boil.
I filled the colander with ice, using about 9lbs in total. I then moved the colander filled with ice up & down in the wort until it came down to temp.
The above process had my boil down to 74-75* in under 7min.
This process of moving the colander up & down while filled with ice work triple fold.
A)It moved larger amounts of wort evening spreading the cooling temps of the ice.
B)It allowed me to control the temps, for if I saw the temps getting to low, I could simply lift out and remove all the ice quickly.
C)It allowed me to aerate the wort all very well.

My Original Gravity is 1.051-.0053 @ 4.2-4.5gals. (temp. correct already by adding 0.0001 for the 75* OG reading)
(Instead of just adding water to the wort until I hit 5gal, I used the hydrometer to get me to a desired OG by adding water to the wort.

EDIT: FG was 1.10 @ 68*.
1.053-1.10*105= 4.53%

Finally, only 7hrs after putting it all in primary, the yeast is alive and kicking!
I can't wait for this one folks,
~Jay

Here is what she it.
~3lbs DME Plain Dark
~5 lbs UK Barly Malt (steep for 60 min @ 155*)
~1 lbs Crystal #40
~1oz Cascado Hops pel.(50min)
~1oz Saaz Hops pel.(5min)
~1 Tab Whinflock
~1 Belgian Golden ale yeast (24hr starter)

Extra ingred added @ boil:
~3/4 cup Dark Brown sugar
~3 Med-Lgr Oranges (navel)
~3/4 cup finely chopped dried Cranberries
~1oz Fresh chopped Ginger root
~1 1/8 tsp Clove/Nutmeg (50/50mix)
~1 tsp Cinnamon
~1/4 tsp Frech ground black pepper
~1/4oz / 1tsp Orange Peel Zest
~3/4 Whole Fresh Vanilla Bean (split & chopped)

When placed in secondary, I'll place remaining 1/4 of Fresh Vanilla Bean.

Number 3, Cannolope Hefe-weizen.

2005-07-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is my first all my own recipe.

Cannolope Hefe-weizen

So I just laced the hefe with yeast.
I ran into a snag lastnight as I was not able to bring down the boil too fast.
I got it down to 120* before it just stopped dropping at any quick rate.
I believe I spent 1 hr trying to bring it from 120 to 110 before sticking the fermentor
in front of the fan to cool overnight. By this morning it was 80*, so I pitched the yeast.

Recipe:
2 lbs Belgian Pils
2 lbs Belgian Wheat Malt
1/3 lb German Vienna
.4 lbs Wheat flake
3.13 lbs Wheat LWE
.5oz Hallertau (1 min)
.2oz Galena (60 min)
Hw IV Ale yeast (#WLP380)
4lbs fresh cannolope added to fermentor

I steeped the grain for 1hr @ 155-162*
Brought to boil & added LWE
Boiled for 1hr with Hallerta
Added Galena for 1-2minutes.

After boil, I dumped into fermentor with fruit laying on the bottom.
Then I added 2 1/4 gal. to make it 5gal.

Orig. OG 1.047
My OG 1.038 @ 80*

The issue is that I usually cool the wort while in the stainless pot by filling the sink with cool water and stirring it.
This time I dumped it into the fermentor which would ended up not allowing for good heat transfer out.
After filling up to the 5 gal mark, I was @ 125*, and after 1.5 hrs of trying to cool it further I only achieved
110*. So I did what I explained above. I hope this didn't kill anything.
The beer is much darker then I thought it would be, I think it pulled some of it's rich color from the fruit.

~Jay

Score one for me.

2005-07-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

I love Freebies!

I just got a free keg and it is spotless!
It was only made as of 4/05. It's a Heineken keg, 50L is the size.

How I got it was that someone left it by a dumpster in the alley and
I wanted to stop and get it as I was bringing Lisa to work because the trash guys where
only 100' back, but Lisa was in a hurry to get to work, so I passed it up.
When I got home it was still there, the trash dudes left it, so I grabbed it.

Short story: Lastnight Lisa and I saw this same exact keg outside the Indian restaurant in
Carytown, by the yogurt shop. I was tempted to take as it was sitting on the curbside, but my judgment got the better of me. I bet some kids saw it and took it thinking they scored free beer, then threw it out figuring out they didn't.

OG / FG corrections; Hey, I'm learning still!

2005-05-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

A correction needs to be made to all my OG's & FG's, as the temps where all taken between 70 & 76*.

My OG's for the first two batches was 70-72*, while my FG for the Brown Ale was @ 69/70*.
With my stout, I took the FG at 72* but misplaced the reading, so I did it again at 75/76* after it was in the bottling bucket and it was reading 1.011.

I found this correction table online @ BYO.com
Correction Table

Temperature (F) Specific Gravity Correction
50 -.69
60 0
70 +1.105
80 +2.39
90 +4.01
100 +5.91

Old Rasputon Clone done my way.

2005-05-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

Modded Old Rasputon Clone

After sitting 2 weeks in the primary and 6 weeks in the secondary,the Stout is ready for bottling and that is just what I did, bottled it.

This was my second batch and it is really promising, that body and flavor is really there, along with a great aroma.

Modifications to the original recipe was a reduction in L.M.E. from 10bs to 7.5lbs and I added approximately 1/3 lb of Oatmeal to the steap.

For bottling I used approximately 7 oz of Dark Plain Dry malt extract instead of corn sugar in hopes for creating a darker, richer, & creamier head to the beer, while having a little less carbonation.

While bottling I made a few subtle changes to that last few beers.
I bottle 36 straight up, while 6 where bottled with 1/16 tsp of coco and 7 where bottled with 2 oz of french pressed coffee.

I did a pretest with the coffee version and wow, that will be some good stuff with just a little more aging and carbonation.

I can't wait to drink it up.

If all goes well, this will be the beer I make for the MORE Douthat mtb trip and I'll name it Douthat Stout.

Round 2, Old Rasputin Clone

2005-05-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Round 2, Old Rasputin Clone

I am so stoked about this one!
I love stouts and already tried one of these from the neighbors.
It was great! & only 4 weeks old, although it was still really early to drink.

Old Rasputin Stout clone (modded for slightly lower alc%)
ingredient list:
-----------------------------------
1lb Carastan Malt
.5lb Brown malt
.5lb choc. Malt
.5lb Crystal malt
.5lb Roasted Black Barly

7.5lbs light LME (toned down from 10, I wanted a little less alc taste/content)
7.5% instead of 10% as per recipe.
3.25oz cluster hops (7%) -> 60min
1oz northern brewers hops (9%) -> 2 min.
1oz centenial hops (8.8%) -> 2min

WLP001 Cali. Yeast

MASH @ 160* -> 30min
OG = 1.060 (Orig Recipe. OG = 1.090)
FG = 1.01 (Orig Recipe. FG = 1.022)
AC= 7.5% (Orig Recipe. AC= 8.5/9%)

I plan on letting this sit for 8-12 weeks in a secondary before bottling.

Total Cook time, 3.5 hours.
Actual Measured OG = 1.049/.050
Actual Measured FG = N/A

First Brew

2005-05-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

I made myself a and English Brown Ale from Brewers Best.
I know it's my first beer, but I felt compelled to mod the recipe so I added 2 cups of oatmeal to the steeping.

After 4 days, my first batch was ready for the secondary.
This is one of the areas that keeping everything sanitized is super important, I am hoping that I was anal enough!

I did get a chance to get a taste of the beer as I could not get the syphon to work without using it like a straw. I was careful not to touch the tube much by wrapping it in plastic wrap first, then I was careful to not let the tube touch the beer.
We'll see, some say it'll be ok, others just frown. :(

It should be about 7 days before I get to bottle her up, then I'll have let her sit another 7 days to carbinate before haivng my first brew ready for consumption. :D

Cheers!

Happy Birthday to Me...

2005-05-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Today I bought myself my first Beer kit; This after owning a Mr Beer Kit for about 7 years and never using it.

Have no fear, this one will be used well!