Brewing for Christmas

I know we should not be using the C word yet, however if I want to have some beer for the Christmas holidays then I need to get brewing. Got delivery this week of 11kg of grain and about 200g of hops to boost the inventory. The two beers for Christmas will be a pale ale or IPA and a strong amber ale.

Still finalising the last few details for the recipes but will post them both up soon. I know neither of these recipes will be very festive; there will be no spices, however they may have the strength that you would usually associate with a Christmas ale :-)

AG #16 - Yeast Starter

When I last posted I expected to be brewing the third version of my house stout the following week, however that was over a month ago and still no brew! August turned into a hectic month and so brewing got put on the back burner (excuse the pun). However with our recent spell of good weather I am hoping to get to brew this beer on Sunday. However the one problem is that my liquid yeast (Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale) has been sitting in my beer fridge now for nearly two months and I am not absolutely sure that this yeast is still viable. Due to the fact that I have no back up yeast available I decided to do a yeast starter today (pictured), by Sunday I should know if the yeast is fit for purpose.

If you need to make a starter this is what you do:

1. Put 200g of DME in a pot and add 2 liters of water (this will produce a 1040 starter)
2. Bring this to the boil while stirring
3. Boil for 15 minutes, it is also a good idea to add a few leafs/pellets of the hops you will be using for the main brew
4. After 15 minutes*, cover the pot and place in cold water to bring the temperature of the wort down to 25c
5. Put the cooled wort in a container (5 litre glass demi-john pictured above is perfect or you could use a erlinger flask)
6. Add your yeast and give it a good shake (you can also shake periodically over the next day or so to get some oxygen into the solution).
7. When it comes to brew day you can either dump the whole mixture into your fermenter or alternatively you can decant off the liquid and add only the yeast slurry to your fermenter

* always remember that this is essentially a mini brew and so sanitise as you would on a regular brew day.

The benefits of a yeast starter are that it can make sure that the yeast you have is viable (if your starter doesn't ferment, the yeast is probably dead) and secondly it increases the cell count of the yeast thus ensuring a healthy fermentation for your main batch.

Barring any last minute delays I should have a nice stout lined up for October, now to start thinking about what I want to drink this Christmas......

AG #16 Standard Stout the 3rd

Have been happily enjoying my two latest beers on Keg over the last couple of months, unfortunately last night the BBQ Pale Ale keg ran dry and my Red IPA does not have a whole lot left. Hoping to brew the following this week to boost stock levels. This is the third version of Standard Stout, the original of this was one of the best beers I have ever brewed and so with this recipe I am trying to replicate that original version.

Standard Stout the 3rd

13-B Sweet Stout
Author: O'Flainnegain/Mark

Size: 20.16 L
Efficiency: 73.0%
Attenuation: 72.1%
Calories: 141.2 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.042 (1.044 - 1.060)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.012 - 1.024)
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Color: 62.65 (59.1 - 78.8)
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Alcohol: 4.0% (4.0% - 6.0%)
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Bitterness: 20.1 (20.0 - 40.0)
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Ingredients:

2600 g Maris Otter
420 g Barley Flaked
420 g Carapils®/Carafoam®
320 g Roasted Barley
210 g Chocolate 1060 EBC
150 g Munich Malt
30 g Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 m
1 ea WYeast 1084 Irish Ale

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.