AG #15 BBQ Pale Ale

BBQ Pale Ale
10-A American Pale Ale
Author: Mark

Size: 20.16 L
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 72%

Original Gravity: 1.046 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 - 1.015)
Color: 17.74 (9.85 - 27.58)
Alcohol: 4.3% (4.5% - 6.0%)
Bitterness: 46.4 (30.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:
4000 g Maris Otter
200 g Crystal 30 (60 EBC)
200 g Carapils®/Carafoam®
18 g Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
23 g Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15 m
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 m
10 g Apollo (19.8%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m
16 g Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m
15 g Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m
1 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

Brewing update

Lots happening on the brewing front over the last couple of weeks, but unfortunately no time to blog about it and so here is a quick update:

- Have been drinking my House IPA II that I brewed back in April. It's nice but I am not overly happy with it. I changed around the hops and also a little bit of the grain bill. Will probably roll back on one of these changes in the next version and see what the result is like.

- I brewed Red Hopper II and fermented and kegged this, currently carbonating in the kegerator. This fermentation went very smoothly 1056 OG and finished right on the money at 1014 to give an ABV of 5.5%. Looking forward to sampling this in a couple of weeks.

- Brewed another beer last weekend that I am calling my BBQ Pale Ale, why, because it is a pale ale and I brewed it for a BBQ I am having at the end of the month! I will post the recipe for this in a couple of days. What I was going for here was simply a light sessionable pale ale to balance out the hefty flavor of the other beer I will have on tap at the BBQ, Red Hopper II. This beer is currently being fermented in my new 5 Gallon glass carboy, this is the first time I have fermented in glass. It's pretty cool as it lets me see the fermentation in action:

AG #14 Red Hopper II

Brew day tomorrow, however the weather is scorching and so this might give a high initial fermentation temp. This is as the name suggests version two of Red Hopper. This is a highly hopped red ale based on Randy Mosher's India Red Ale (unfortunate acronym!). I have changed very little from the initial recipe except for the yeast, using California Ale V this time around instead of 1272. Also for this brew I am reverting back to a three vessel set up, I have not been happy with my efficiency using a two vessel set up and hence the change.


Red Hopper II
14-B American IPA
Author: Randy Mosher/Mark
Date: 27/05/2012

Size: 20.16 L
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%

Original Gravity: 1.061 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 35.3 (11.82 - 29.55)
Alcohol: 6.04% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 82.0 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
3000 g Maris Otter
2400 g Munich Malt
340 g Crystal 60 EBC
220 g Crystal 100 EBC
50 g Black
50 g Cascade (5.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
60 g Cascade (6.3%) - added during boil, boiled 30 m
60 g Goldings (5.2%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
1 ea White Labs WLP051 California Ale V

AG #13 - House IPA II - Recipe

I really liked the my House IPA I that I brewed back in January. The one thing I identified for change was the fact that I thought the combination of the aromatic malt and Crystal 75 gave it a bit too much sweetness. With that in mind I have made a few alterations and hope to brew this version over the weekend.

House IPA II
14-B American IPA
Author: Mark

Size: 20.16 L
Efficiency: 63.0%
Attenuation: 71.4%
Calories: 194.29 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.058 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.017 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 24.74 (11.82 - 29.55)
Alcohol: 5.44% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 77.0 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
5500 g Maris Otter
500 g Crystal 30
250 g Carapils®/Carafoam®
10 g Ahtanum (6.0%) - added first wort, boiled 60 m
20 g Apollo (19.8%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
1.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m
10 g Apollo (19.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
10 g Simcoe (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
10 g Simcoe (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 2 m
13 g Apollo (19.8%) - added during boil, boiled 2 m
10 g Ahtanum (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m
1 ea WYeast 1272 American Ale II™

Notes
From House IPA I, deleted the Belgian aromatic and crystal 75, replaced with Crystal 30. Also replaced the Columbus additions with Apollo

New Kit in Action

Here are some pics of my new kit in action:

The new mash tun worked a treat. I overestimated the amount of temperature drop in transferring the strike water through the new pump set up, but once I added a little cool water I got a mash temp of 67c. The mash tun maintained this temperature for the full hour.

As I have previously mentioned I decided to go with a two vessel set up and so I mash-in with the full volume of water required and then simply drain this to the boiler once the mash has completed. Overall I was happy with the way this worked, in terms of moving the liquids around. However I was disappointed with the efficiency achieved, only 63%. I have a few ideas on how to improve this that I will try out on my next brew.

Cooling the wort after the boil. I was worried that my small immersion chiller would take for ever to bring the wort down to pitching temperature, however it was pretty good.

Aerating the wort. An aeration stone is submerged in the wort and then a pump diffuses air through this. Give this 20-30 minutes before you pitch your yeast and it makes a very welcoming environment for the yeast cells.

Fermenter safely tucked away, blow off tube attached.

Brew shed tidied up, brew day from start to finish was 5 hours 45 mins. Not too bad, however as I get more accustomed to my new set-up this will decrease.

AG #12 - Hippity Hop Pale Ale II - Recipe

This is a revised version of a recipe I previously made in extract form. This was also my first go at brewing on my new system and I'll do a separate post on that.

Hippity Hop Pale Ale II

10-A American Pale Ale

Author: Mark

Size: 22.75 L

Efficiency: 63.12%

Attenuation: 75.0%

Original Gravity: 1.040 (1.045 - 1.060)

Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.010 - 1.015)

Color: 21.99 (9.85 - 27.58)

Alcohol: 3.88% (4.5% - 6.0%)

Bitterness: 41.1 (30.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:

4200 g Maris Otter
205 g Crystal 30
145 g Crystal 55
250 g Carapils®/Carafoam®
19 g Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
16.0 g Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15 m
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 m
22 g Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m
27 g Ahtanum (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m
1 ea White Labs WLP008 East Coast Ale

Its nearly ready....

It has been a bit quiet on the brewing front recently and there is a good reason for it. Over the last few months I have been slowly pulling together all the pieces for my shiny new SS home brewery. I have pretty much gotten everything at this stage and have done some work converting the garden shed into a brew shed. Next steps are to put everything together and give it a test run. New additions to my brew equipment include:

• A 50 liter stainless steel mash tun.
• A 40 liter stainless steel kettle
• A solar pump
• Quick disconnects

The pics are to give a snapshot of current progress, hoping to give everything a test run this weekend (water in the system only) and then to have my first brew day on the new equipment over St Patricks weekend.

You may notice that there are only two brew vessels instead of the standard three. I do have a 33 liter bucket kettle that I can add to the system to act as a HLT, however with the new set up my plan is to try the no-sparge AG method. This, as the name suggests, means that you put all of the required brewing water in the mash tun and then drain to the kettle. The downside is a slight loss in efficiency, probably down to 70-73%, however I feel that the benefits outweigh this. If it does not work out I can always add the 33 liter HLT into the system.

AG #11 - House IPA I - Brew Day and First Pour

Homebrewing can be a funny hobby, you spend your time trying to be very careful about everything, ingredients, sanitation, process etc and then something like this happens. Here are the two entries in my brew log that cover the brew day and first taste of my House IPA I recipe that I brewed last month:

13/1/2012 - My first ever disaster of a brew day. All was going well until I went to drain the wort from the kettle into the fermenter. Hop filter must have become dislodged and the tap blocked. Next try was with the auto-syphon, however I never realised that the filter was missing and could not figure out why that didn't work (obviously it was also getting blocked by hops, ended up scooping the wort out with a measuring jug. Got only 15 litres into the fermenter, and this was full of hop debris. Would be amazed if this wasn't infected, if it isn't i will be very surprised if it is drinkable. Note to self, make sure hop filter is securely attached to the kettle tap!!!!

Lessons for next brew: 

- When using so many whole leaf hops I should probably use a hop bag

- Check that all connections/taps are connected properly 

16/2/2012 - Have been drinking this beer for about a week at this stage and I have to say it is lovely, I cannot believe that such a nice beer was made on such a disasterous brew day. Nice light amber colour with good head retention. Hops are very to the fore with great melon and sweet fruit aroma, a real thirst quencher and would be a breat beer to make for the summer.

As I said home brewing is a funny hobby. I have always been so particular about how I brew, maybe from now on I shouldn't be.

PS: Go Big Blue.....

AG #11 - House IPA I - Recipe

Brew day tomorrow. Here is my attempt to create a nice house recipe IPA. I am looking for an American style IPA, hoppy, but with a nice malt background:

House IPA I

14-B American IPA

Author: Mark

Date: 17/01/2012

Size: 20.16 L

Efficiency: 72.65%

Attenuation: 76.3%

Original Gravity: 1.051 (1.056 - 1.075)

Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.010 - 1.018)

Alcohol: 5.13% (5.5% - 7.5%)

Bitterness: 62.7 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:

4000 g Maris Otter

300 g Carapils®/Carafoam®

164 g Belgian Aromatic

250 g Crystal 75

92 g Crystal Malt 60°L

10 g Ahtanum (6.0%) - added first wort, boiled 60 m

20 g Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m

1.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m

10 g Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m

10 g Simcoe (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m

10 g Simcoe (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 2 m

13 g Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 2 m

10 g Ahtanum (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m

1 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

AG #10 - Standard Stout II - Review

I brewed this sessionable beer with the hope that it would be ready for Christmas Day and it was. It proved to be a perfect beer for what proved to be a long day. Very drinkable and smooth and without the big strength that most of my beer's come with.

The taste was nice, very malty with the dark malts very much to the fore, however I was a little bit disappointed with the contribution of the American C hops at the end, there was not much present. This is now the third stout that I have brewed and I have to say that although number two and three have been good, none of them have compared with number one, the original Standard Stout. With that in mind I think the next time I brew a stout I will try and replicate that original recipe and if I can, I will make that my annual stout recipe.