News & Notes

• FERMENTING: I have two one-gallon beers fermenting in jugs right now. They're both sitting in the same swamp cooler. One is a Warrior-hopped Double IPA and the other is a Blackberry Irish Red Ale. 
• CONDITIONING: I recently set my Bourbon Barrel Porter, The Dredge, aside to carbonate. My Imperial Stouts, The Mudline and The Slurry, are still conditioning at room temperature. The Spoils- an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout- is still hanging around and hopefully aging nicely. My second hops experiment is aging, but it might be just taking up space. We'll see.
• ON DECK: I'm going to be making a 6.3% ABV porter and a saison from my very own (created) recipe. I'm looking forward to the saison. I ran the recipe by a brewmaster at Northern Brewer and he thought it was just fine. Hopefully all will go well.

Marryin' Berries (with beer) Irish Red Ale (F13-01-01-36)

 

Label inspiration: A nod to the "wonderful" former mayor of Washington, D.C.- Marion Barry.

Based on the Blackberry Red Ale recipe from Brooklyn Brew Shop 

I received Columbus hops instead of Cascade (as listed in the recipe- but I went ahead and brewed with it. I contacted the Brooklyn Brew Shop.

*One gallon all-grain*

Brewed on August 17, 2015. The brew day went fairly well. I had some issues with the mash temperature. I had to add some hot water to bring the temp up over 144 degrees (I did this at the 30 minute mark- I doubt it was going to make it at that temp).  I added a dash of cinnamon to the mash.

Temps were kept between 68-70 for a few weeks, not a lot of temperature problems with this one.

August 31, 2015. Bottled beer. As I was bottling this beer and priming with honey, I realized that I added both honey AND fizz drops to my Ivywild IPA. Ooops. I checked online and found out that I could release some of the CO2 gas by gently lifting the cap with a bottle opener (without bending the cap) and let it sit for a bit before I re-cap the bottles. 

September 5, 2015. I released a little CO2 from the bottles.

September 10, 2015. Even though the beer hasn't really matured enough, I decided to try one tonight (I threw them in the refrigerator yesterday). I REALLY didn't like this beer. There were chunks of yeast or mold or something floating in the bottles. I'd like to try this (and the Ivywild IPA) again to see if I can actually get a good beer.

September 21, 2015. I finally poured the last one out today. I have tried each and every one of them and could never get past the third or fourth sip. Maybe I'll try the recipe again, who knows...maybe without honey as the primer. OR as much honey...

OVERALL SCORE: 1 out of 10.

Ivywild IPA (F01-02-09-35)

Label inspiration: I was listening to Night Beds' new album Ivywild as I was brewing this beer so I searched for a cool pic on the internet that had something to do with Ivywild and I found this one...

Ivywild IPA (F01-02-09-35)

Based on the Warrior IPA recipe from Brooklyn Brew Shop

*one gallon, all-grain*

Ingredients were from Brooklyn Brew Shop and weren't "itemized". The hops were Kent Golding and Columbus. I will be adding honey for priming prior to bottling...

I added approx. 1/8 t gypsum to the boil as well as a sprinkle of Irish Moss. I DIDN’T add a touch of cinnamon to the mash, as is suggested by Charlie Papazian (I forgot).

OG: 1.059

7% ABV

Brewed beer on August 15, 2015. I did fine with the recipe except for the hop schedule- I added the second round of hops too early (45 minutes instead of 30 minutes). I wonder how that will affect the final product…we’ll see.

To help keep the pot submerged in the ice bath and not bobbing up and down and acting all crazy...

During the ice bath, I placed a 12 lb weight on top of the lid to the brew kettle so it would stay down (it was to buoyant and bobbing all over the place, not cooling down fast enough). 

I pitched at 66 degrees, a little low. I left the kettle in the ice bath too long, I suppose. It didn’t take long for the temps in the jug to hit 68 and then 70. It started bubbling before I went to bed.

August 16, 2015. Temp at 68 this morning (just like ambient temp). Blow off tube is working nicely (plenty of bubbles in the StarSan-filled loaf pan). It climbed up to 72 when I got home  around 7PM so I added another frozen water bottle to the swamp cooler.

Temps stayed in the 66-68 range for most of the week. I added a wet t-shirt to the swamp cooler (draped it over the fermenter) and it managed to keep the temps down.

Bottled beer on August 29, 2015. I used honey according to the instructions as my primer. I got almost 9 beers out of it. It seems lately that I’m only getting about 8 beers out of my one-gallon batches, which isn’t too bad except for the $15 price tag. These beers should at least be 10%ABV for that price!

August 31, 2015. Well, I just realized that I added honey as the primer, but I think I also used fermenting “fizz” drops so my beer will be super-carbonated. Niiiiiice. 

September 2, 2015. I decided to try and release some of the CO2 in the bottles today. I just used the bottle opener end of a wine opener and gently lifted the cap of each bottle up to relieve some of the pressure. I capped each one after letting the bottles sit for about 20 minutes (I think they were cracked open a bit still and releasing the CO2). I'll release more in a few days...I think there's A LOT of carbonation going on in those bottles! I don't want an explosion.

September 10, 2015. Put them in the refrigerator yesterday. They still need to settle down, but I decided to try one anyway. Carbonated like crazy! "Floaties" everywhere, beer tasted drinkable but that doesn't really mean anything. SO far, it's a bust.

September 20, 2015. Tried the last one today but I couldn't finish it. The lesson here is to use a priming calculator and double-check all recipes! I knew that cracking the caps open a little might cause oxidation or invite the nasties in...and I guess that's what happened...but I just had to try and save the batch. 

OVERALL SCORE: 3 out of 10. A few of them were decent and I think I actually drank 3/4 of one once.

Hops Experiment Take 2

Here is my second attempt at the Great Hops Experiment as popularized by James Spencer and Steve Wilkes of Basic Brewing. I am now using light DME and 3 other hop varieties: Jarrylo, Summit and Lemondrop. I also used spring water (I used distilled in the first session) and 1/8 t gypsum during the boil. I used CBW Golden Light DME (Lovibond 4, 8 Plato). The boil only lasted 15 minutes- just enough to sanitize the extract. See the first experiment for more information on the process.

Brewed July 30, 2015. 

Observations: Jarrylo is about ¾” higher (more volume) than Summit (in terms of the wort level in the one gallon jugs). I thought the Lemondrop’s bubbles before the boil looked more like my leftover soap from the washing the pot after the Summit boil. We'll see what happens.

Hops X4- Six Pack Jarrylo IPA (F01-02-06-32)

Hops X5- Six Pack Summit IPA (F01-02-07-33)

Hops X5- Six Pack Lemondrop IPA (F01-02-08-34)

Temps stayed between 68-70 until I bottled. I used small swamp coolers with wet t-shirts draped over the jugs to whisk away the heat as needed.

 August 10, 2015. Bottled X4, X5, and X6.

August 12, 2015. I figured I’d try one but of course it was too early (I stuck it in the fridge for a while). I have another one in the fridge I’ll have to get rid of, too. Way too early!

August 19, 2015. I tried a Jarrylo and thought it was nasty. Same taste I observed during the first experiment but not as pronounced. I wonder if the short boil is the problem (like things weren't sanitized/sterilized).

OBSERVATIONS:

I guess I just don't understand exactly why this set of experiments didn't work, either, but it might have something to do with the 15-minute boil.  I don't know. I'll go back to it someday but for right now I'll leave it alone. Six batches of beer and nothing drinkable.

The Dredge, a Bourbon Barrel Porter

The final beer in the Inflow Series. This is what they call "crust management"- when the dredged material dries, compacts/settles, and either makes room for more dredged material or is manipulated to form a wetland area. I used red letters in the title just for contrast...

Based on the Bourbon Barrel Porter One Gallon recipe from Northern Brewer

*One gallon extract w/specialty grains recipe*

 Porter Grains

            0.175 English Chocolate Malt

            0.0875 lbs English Dark Crystal

            0.0875 lbs English Black Malt

EXTRACT:
1 lb Dark DME

0.5 lb Wheat DME

HOPS:

3.5 g Chinook (12% AA) (45 min)

3.5 g Willamette (4.5% AA) (10 min)

EXTRAS:

0.5 oz oak cubes (secondary)

3 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey

YEAST:

Safale S-04 yeast

Brewed on July 24, 2015. Nice brew day. Things went well pretty much without a hitch.

Temps were fairly steady at 66-68 degrees, but they did hit 70 a few times. I had the fermenter in the swamp cooler and used frozen water bottles again to keep the temps down.

August 5, 2015. Placed oak cubes in a cup with 3 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

August 6, 2015. Racked beer to secondary (NOTE: I used a Mr. Beer fermentor). I Placed the oak cubes and bourbon in first and then siphoned the beer from the fermentor into the Mr. Beer keg.

August 13, 2015. Bottled The Dredge. Only got 8.5 bottles out of this batch. It didn’t taste too great, but I could smell the bourbon!

September 4, 2015. Put one in the freezer and tried it later that night. It was pretty good, but not really carbonated at all. I'm not sure if it'll carbonate or not.

OVERALL SCORE: PENDING

Boots' Best Brown Ale (F04-01-03-30)

 

My third attempt at a brown ale and probably my best so far. As with the first two, this ale is named for a squirrel with white feet (hence the name "Boots") that used to roam around the grounds of my original "brewhouse" on West Oak Avenue. Here, Boots is decked out in armor...it was time he stopped messing around and started getting serious!

Based on John Palmer’s "Elevenses" Partial Mash kit from Northern Brewer

GRAINS:
 2 lbs Maris Otter
0.75 lbs Briess Caramel 60
0.75 lbs Weyermann Oak-SMoked Wheat Malt
0.5 lbs English Brown Malt
0.33 lbs Flaked Oats (toasted in the oven at 300-350 for 10-15 min, until they smell like cookies)
0.25 lbs Chocolate Malt

OTHER FERMENTABLES:
3.15 lbs Northern Brewer Maris Otter Malt Syrup

HOPS & FLAVORINGS:
0.75 oz German Northern Brewer (60 min)

YEAST:
Safale US-04

I started out with distilled water because that’s what I had at home. I also wanted to see if I could tell the difference between distilled water and the spring water that I normally use. I’ve been reading how you should NOT use distilled water, but some brewers say it’s ok. I’ve been using Deer Park for a long time and I’m just not that satisfied with a lot of my beers. True, it could be the BREWER (hint- ME) but maybe the water isn’t right. I’m considering using my tap water and just treating/filtering it.

Anyway, I used distilled water for the mash and Deer Park for the sparge. We’ll see what happens.

The sparging was a mess, literally. There are some serious grains with this recipe- I sparged with 2 batches of grains in my mesh strainer! I have a lot of spent grain left over, that’s all I'll say. No, wait a minute- I’ll also say that sticky grain and drips and drops of wort were everywhere. It took forever to get to a boil and it’ll probably take forever for the wort to chill to 100. Maybe I should've used the BIAB (Brew in a Bag) method.

Other mistakes I made during the brewing process:

1) I used cold TAP water to help chill the mash at one point. Granted, it wasn't much but it was enough to freak me out a bit. I didn't need that chlorine taste.

2) It took waaaaay too long for the wort to get to 78 degrees in the ice bath. It was a long brew day (from 6PM to almost 1:00AM the next day).

I would say it was the worst brewing experience so far since I got my new brewing equipment last Christmas. The beer didn’t smell good, the process was way too long and things didn’t go as smoothly as I had planned

Target OG: 1.046

Actual OG: 1.042 (refractometer, adjusted for wort temp)

Brewed on July 20, 2015. 

Temps quickly rose to 72 but I was able to bring it down and keep it in between 66-68 for most of the fermentation period. The ambient temperature was around 68 but the humidity outside really worked against me. Temps in the 90s really made it tough for me to keep the swamp cooler water in the mid to upper 60s.

Bottled beer on August 3, 2015.

Threw one in the fridge on August 6, 2015.

Tried on August 9, 2015. Really good! Still not carbonated, of course, but the beer tastes like a brown ale and NO HOMEBREW TASTE! This should get even better with age.

September 1, 2015. Last beer of the batch tonight (besides a few that are promised to other people). Overall, it was a decent beer. Not a lot of head retention and definitely not a lot of body. In retrospect, I would've used something to give it a little more body (like maltodextrin?). 

OVERALL SCORE: 6.5 out of 10.

Hops Experiments X1-X3

I decided to try my hand at six-pack batches. I have been listening/watching the guys from Basic Brewing (James Spencer and Steve Wilkes) and they've done a lot of six-pack batches over the years. I decided to give it a try. My brew day was July 16, 2015.

My first three batches were 1 lb each of light DME with either one ounce of Mosaic, one ounce of El Dorado, or an ounce of Waimea hops. For some reason, I used distilled water with these batches and I'm not sure if it was that, but these beers (experiments or "X"s 1, 2 and 3) were major bombs. Not even one bottle was drinkable.

I don't think I'll do labels for my experiments again...

The Spoils, an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout (F11-05-01-26)

Label Inspiration: Continuing with the Inflow Series...No one really calls the dredged material "spoils" except one guy. The spoils aren't great, but this beer is...

Based on the one gallon Oatmeal Stout recipe from the Brooklyn Brew Shop
*ONE GALLON, ALL-GRAIN*

I didn’t take any gravity readings. ABV: 4.5%

Ingredients:

Grain mix (unknown)

Golding hops (2/3 at 30 min, 1/3 at 45 min)

Brooklyn Brew Shop yeast

1 cinnamon stick

1/8 C raisins

¼ C brown sugar

Boil time: 90 minutes

Brewed on July 2, 2015. I followed the directions for making Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout. I mashed in at 160 degrees and managed to hold the temps between the desired range- 144 to 152 degrees. The instructions called for stirring the mash every 10 minutes during the 60 minute rest. I had to put the pot on the stove once to bring it back up past 144 degrees, but it didn’t take that long.

Oatmeal raisin cookie stout mash rest

The boil was 90 minutes. I lost a little liquid by the end so I just topped the jug off with water to bring it to around 1 gallon. I placed the one gallon jug in a plastic storage container- I'm using it as a "swamp cooler." Based on my experience with The Slurry, I used a blow-off tube and a glass loaf pan filled with StarSan. Hopefully the wild fermentation will be done in a few days.

Oatmeal raisin stout

The temperature fluctuated a bit for the next week or so, slowly creeping up to 71 from a 66 reading I got the day after brewing.Whenever the temps crept up, I'd add a frozen water bottle to the water in the swamp cooler.

Bottled the Spoils July 15, 2015.

FG: 1.020 (hydrometer)

ABV: 4.5 (based on the recipe).

August 2, 2015. First taste of it. Slight head on it. About a ¼ inch. Smells spicy. Very nice. Raisin-y, light. Slight bite to it, which I hope will mellow out. No homebrew taste, really. Slight alcohol-y taste but not too bad. Maybe too much carbonation at this point. A little thin in terms of body. Good, though. Will not give up on this at all! So far, I’ll give it an 8.

August 10, 2015. I had another one while on vacation and it was really good. People thought it was a store-bought craft beer! I have 4 left but a few of them are already meant for other people. I'll have to make another batch this winter.

Overall score: PENDING

F1-05-01-25: Beachcomber cream ale

Label Inspiration: I saw the pic first and then knew I was going to brew a beer that would match the awesomeness of the picture. It happened.

Based on the Speckled Heifer partial mash kit from Northern Brewer

Est. OG: 1.042
Five gallon batch, partial mash
 

SPECIALTY GRAINS:

2 lbs. Rahr 2-row

0.5 lbs CaraPils

0.25 lbs flaked barley

0.25 lbs flaked maize

FERMENTABLES:

3.15 lbs Pilsen malt syrup

1 lb Briess Pilsen DME

HOPS:

0.75 oz Cluster  hops (AA 7.2%)- 60 minutes

0.25 oz Cluster hops (AA 7.2%)- 15 minutes

YEAST:

Safale US-05

ADDITIONS:

1 tsp Irish moss (15 minutes)

8 oz. Maltodextrin (10 minutes)

Actual OG: 1.048 (taken with both refractometer and hydrometer)

June 25, 2015. Brewed cream ale according to recipe from Northern Brewer.

 Notes on the brewing process:

My mash temeperature was a little high so I unfortunately grabbed a bit of tap water too cool it down before the resting period, which might affect the taste. Sometimes my tap water smells and tastes really chlorinated. I couldn’t tell at the time but that still may affect the taste of the beer.

Thanks to Charlie Papazian, I added cinammon to the mash, maybe a bit too much (more than a dash). It didn’t smell like cinnamon after the rest.

I used blankets and towels to try and keep the mash kettle warm to 152 degrees. When I took the blankets and towels off after the hour resting perod, I noticed that the mash was around 143-145. That might be an issue; however, I don’t know how long it was at that temperature.

Another issue that came about was the time when I was pouring water out of an old frozen bottle I was using to help cool the wort after the boiling time. A drop from the water bottle went into the kettle.

July 9, 2015. Bottled the cream ale. Temps went up for the past few days, normally around 70 or so. I added a frozen bottle each time the temp got to 70 or over. The beer smelled really yeasty in the fermenter but didn’t taste as yeasty when I drank it. FG was 1.010. A little high, I think.

Apparent attenuation: 79%

Calories: 157.3 per 12 oz

OG Plato: 11.91

FG Plato: 2.56

ABV: 4.99%

July 23, 2015. Threw one in the fridge and will drink tomorrow.

July 24, 2015. WOW! Tasted my first one after only one day in the fridge. I can’t smell or taste the homebrew in it at all. I CAN taste the corn, but it’s good. I think it was good to add the maltodextrin to add body to it, but it might get thicker as time wears on…we’ll see. It is a little dry but not bad at all. One of the best beers I have ever done!

It was so good that I decided to flash-freeze another one so I could have another one! I wrapped a wet paper towel around the bottle then threw it in the fridge.

July 26, 2015. I’ve had several beers at this point- probably 8 or so. I’ll be putting them in the fridge really soon so they can cold condition.

 August 1, 2015. The beers are really going fast! I think I will have to make another batch of this beer in a few weeks.

August 2, 2015. The BEST BEER I have ever made, by far!!!

Overall score: 8.5 out of 10...the best beer I've made to date! I will brew it again.

F11-06-01-24: The Slurry imperial stout

Label Inspiration: Continuing with the dredged material theme, here is a pic of two tugs keeping the scow against the Unloader. The Unloader isn't in the pic but you can see that it's already injecting the dredged material with water (lower left-hand corner) to create a "slurry" so it can be pumped out onto the island.

A homemade American Imperial Stout recipe, part of West Oak Brewery’s Inflow Series©

Originally an American Stout recipe but a late addition of DME created a more imperial-style stout. I created this recipe on my own, but I used several sources to do so. Since it was going to be a small batch (1 gallon), I looked at 2 recipes: Midwest Supplies MICRO BRU Pride of Dublin recipe kit and the Oatmeal Stout from Brooklyn Brew Shop. Several articles from Brew Your Own magazine helped as well, chief among them was “The Dark Secrets of Stout” by Ashton Lewis (Jan/Feb 2005 issue).

*One gallon (or less) batch, all-grain*

From BeerSmith:

Estimated OG: 1.103 SG

Estimated FG: 1.023 FG

Alcohol: 10.6%

IBU: 31.9

SRM: 42.7

Efficiency: 72%

Age for 30 days at least

2 lbs. Pale 2 Row Malt

1.1 oz Belgian Debittered Black Malt

1.1 oz English Extra Dark Crystal Malt

1.1 oz Pale Chocolate I (Fawcett)

1.1 oz Briess Organic Roasted Barley

0.5 oz Weyermann Carafa III Malt

1 lb. CBW Traditional Dark DME (30 min)

TOTAL GRAINS: 2.31 lbs

1.0 oz Fuggles 4.4% AA (75 minutes)

dash of Irish Moss

Brewed on June 18^th, 2015. The mashing process was a little confusing and difficult. I chose to go with the water levels found in the MICRO BRU recipe (1 gallon mash and 1 gallon sparge) instead of the Brooklyn Brew Shop one (2.5 quarts and 5 quarts). I forget what the BeerSmith water levels were, but maybe I should have used those. In the end , I had about 1-2 C of water left in the sparge pot and the 2 gallon pot I used was almost full.

 Which brings me to another point- I needed bigger pots! I’m just always afraid of scorching grains or extracts at the small batch level, you know? I should’ve checked the mash below when I am sparging by lifting it up.

I DID in fact use the BeerSmith boil time- 75 minutes. Maybe I boiled for too long. Anyway, the issue I had was that at the 30 minute mark, I still had what I thought was too much beer (not enough was biling off) so I added 1 lb CBW Traditional Dark DME at the 30 min mark. I thought that would thicken it a bit. THIS is when the beer ventured into “imperial” territory. I added Irish Mos at the 10 minute mark, but when I extend the boil, it ended up being at the 25 minute mark. Go figure.

I thought that maybe I should put the wort into a Mr. Beer keg, but I decided to use the one gallon jug I got from Northern Brewer. BIG MISTAKE!

I took a gravity reading with my refractometer:

OG 1.096 Crazy!

June 19, 2015. Temps 68-70. Starting to bubble a little this morning. In the afternoon, it picked up a little. I added Fermcap and went out for the night.

When I got home, the airlock had exploded and foam was all over the walls and ceiling. I put a blowoff tube in it instead of the airlock. I made sure to put the end of the blow off tube into a pot with StarSan in it.

June 20, 2015. Temps 70. Swamp cooler is full  of brown water from the explosion. One gallon jug is all direty. Threw another airock in because the foam has subsided. Airlock still bubbling. Temps 68-70 in the evening.

June 21, 2015. Temps 66-68 now. I guess it’s because of the smaller volume, but I’m liking that it cooled off a bit. We’ll see how it goes the next few days. Airlock barely bubbles now. The aggressive fermentation period is over!

July 5, 2015. Temps 68 in the AM. Racked to secondary. Used Mr. Beer fermenter. Looks like I’ll barely get a ½ gallon here. Stinks, especially since this was my first shot at designing a recipe.  I had some trouble with the auto-siphon. It’s hard to do that with a small siphon and small batch.

July 15, 2015. Bottled The Slurry. Temps were in the 68-70 range for the rest of the fermentation period.  The taste was ok but it was a little yeasty, especially the smell. Oh well.

ABV: 9.2%

FG: 1.026 (a little too high...I probably should've let it sit for a few more days)
Overall score: PENDING

F11-01-01-23: The Mudline imperial stout

Label Inspiration: So I work on a dredged material placement facility where we see and receive a lot of mud. Maybe it looks like a stout. Maybe the dredge creates a mudline that we have to watch...for fear that it might come too close. 

Based on the Rum Runner 1 gallon recipe kit from Northern Brewer, part of West Oak Brewery’s Inflow Series©

I used a Mr. Beer fermenter due to all the research on this recipe. Apparently, a lot of the one gallon jugs used by customers overflowed/exploded everywhere because of the wild fermentation. One guy used a Mr. Beer fermenter- which is about 2 gallons- so I decided to try it myself.

Ingredients:

Rum Runner steeping Grains (4 oz Belgian Special B and 2 oz English Roasted Barley)

2 lbs. Dark dry malt extract powder

14g Centennial hops

Safale S-04 brewer’s yeast (half package)

Fizz drops- for carbonation

Sprinkle of irish moss (added 5 minutes before end of boil)

Fermacap-S added to boil soon after malt extract and hop addition

Followed instructions for Rum Runner.

SG: 1.092 (9% beer when finished)

June 4, 2015. Brew day. Pitched the yeast at around 66 degrees (based on my infrared thermometer)

Actually had a mishap…poured wort in while Mr. Beer fermeter was open (spigot). Sucked. I lost a bit of it.

June 14,2015. Temps hit 72-74. I bottled today. Not sure what was wrong but I apparently only had about 77 ounces in the fermenter, enough for only 3.5 twenty-two ouncers. Yeah. I think I’ll probably brew that one again, maybe next month. I’m sure it’s screwed up but I’ll keep them. FG was 1.073, which doesn’t sound right at all. I think I screwed up something with the refractometer.

July 1, 2015. Placed the .5 bottle in the fridge today for testing tomorrow.

July 2, 2015. Nasty. Threw it away.

July 23. 2015. Threw one in the fridge. Not sure when I’ll try it.
September 10, 2015. Tried another one. It was VERY thick and alcohol-y. Too thick. I poured it out. I think I'll save the last one for whenever. I'm not thrilled.

Overall score: 4 out of 10.

F1-01-05-22: Gregan, Larkham & Latham Austrailian pale ale

Label Inspiration: It's from Australia, right? Well, I know a few good things from Down Under: three of the best rugby players ever: George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Chris Latham. I loved watching them play. This beer is dedicated to them.

Based on the Tasmanian Devil Australian Pale Ale recipe from Northern Brewer
Five gallon, extract w/specialty grains

Specialty Grain:

0.5 lbs Light Carastan

Extracts and Other Fermentables:

3.15 Maris Otter malt syrup (60 min edition)

6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup (5 min late addition)

Hops:

1 oz. Pride of Ringwood (60 min)

1 oz. Australian Galaxy (5 min)

1 oz Australian Galaxy (dry hop)

Yeast: White Labs WLP009 liquid yeast. Optimal temps…65-70 degrees

May 20, 2015. Created yeast starter with 2000ml flask, Stir Starter, 1 cup of DME, and the White Labs WLP009. The yeast was very chunky in the vial and I’m not sure it’ll take. I shook it vigorously and dumped what I could into the flask. We’ll see.  I’m leaving the flask on the Sir Starter for a day…I’ll check on it tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll brew.

One thing was strange…I’ve never used a liquid yeast before and it was weird to see a tan film on the vial, which I assume was leftover yeast. I couldn’t get it out so I left it. Also, there were several chunks that fel into the flask from the vial. I thought t would be mostly liquid.

May 21, 2015. Yeast starter looks creamy brown, which from what I understand means that the yeast is active in the lil wort. I’m going to pitch it all when it’s time.

I followed the instructions that came with the kit. OG was 1.062 but that was at 71 degrees.

I used StarSan this time to sanitize everything. I had to get used to the foam, though. I found it hard to believe that the foam wouldn’t hurt my beer.

May 22, 2015. I looked at the airlock in the morning and nothing was happening.  Temps were still at 68-70. I thought that my yeast was bad. Whebn I came home in the afternoon, the airlock was going crazy! Temps were still at 68-70 in my swamp cooler.

NOTE: I felt that a swamp cooler was the best for me. After doing plenty of research on the internet and realizing that I didn't have enough cash for another fridge and a temp controller, I used a swamp cooler. This can be a big tub where you put the fermenter in and you add some water to it. You can also drapea T-shirt or towel on top of the fermenter so it can wisk the heat away from the fermentor (to cool temps). This can help maintain fairly consistent temps. Also, you add frozen water bottles to adjust the temps within the swamp cooler.

Racked to secondary June 4, 2015, two weeks after brew day. I was apprehensive about keeping it in the primary for so long (especially since the yeast did such a great job in the beginning), but I wanted to allow for the yeast to get all it could. I realize that some of the off-flavors I may have experienced with the Mr. Beer kits might be due to the long periods of fermentation and dead yeast laying around, I still think 2 weeks is enough in this case.

Racking went fairly smoothly. There was a half-inch cake of hops and yeast at the bottom of the primary and hard yeast caked at the top of the primary…nasty. The beer itself smelled kinda sweet and reminded me of my old Mr. Beer recipes. Oops. I hope not. An Austrailian pale ale is a little malty so who knows. It didn’t smell bad, though. Im just nervous.

After a few minutes, the airlock was working. We’ll see! I tried to lay the tube down in the carboy to minimize the bubles, but we’ll see.

June 22, 2015 Bottled beer today. FG was 1.036. What? I thought it would’ve finished out at thispoint since the SG was low. I bottled too soon and I’m very upset. Sometimes I hate brewing.

The final (unprimed) product tasted very sweet and peachy. Come to find out, one of the reviewers on the NB site said it was really peachy s that’s a good sign. Maybe I can salvage this after all by just keeping them bottled for a longer peiord of time. Some articles and posts have stated that bottle conditioning is just another type of secondary fermentation. Maybe that’s true.

June 26, 2015. Tried one today. Beer was very sweet, a little bitter finish and cloudy as hell. Maybe a stuck fermentation. I shouldn’t have needed 3-4 weeks in secondary, but maybe so. Crap! I can taste and smell some serious peach flavor though…

July 1, 2015. The beer doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It’s drinkable, but it’s still sweet and bitter- like the two are duking it out but not coming together. The pronounced peach flavor is gone.

July 5, 2015. Tried another beer. It’s been sitting in the fridge for a few ays. Still EXTREMELY cloudy. Even though some of bitter and sweet flavors are duking it out, the peach flavor is subtle but back once again.  I’m wondering if I bottled too soon still, but as this ages I guess I’ll find out.

July 12, 2015. Cold conditioned the rest of the beer.

July 23, 2015. Tried a few tonight from the fridge. Tasted very bitter. Smelled like homebrew. Not horrible and definitely drinkable- just not smooth yet and not really any peach flavor.  I think it just needs more time.

August 2, 2015. Tastes ok, but it tastes like a homebrew. It’s cleared up, has nice head retention, bitterness is fine. I can taste he peach but also the homebrew tatse. Maybe a tad dry as well.

 Overall score: 5 out of 10

F1-04-01-21: MO Mentum extra pale ale

Label Inspiration: Dedicated to my best friend for her birthday. I combined several pics to create this one...I really loved the ribbon and how it flowed to give the silhouette motion. 

 My first beer with my new equipment. A new era. I am hoping that I can brew much better beer...I am at a loss and very frustrated. I want to continue, but it needs to be fun.

 Northern Brewer’s Extra Pale Ale Extract Kit w/Specialty Grains

“One of our most popular kits for well over a decade, this American-style pale ale is clean, dry, and very hoppy. American hops are the driving force of this beer, featuring the unmistakable citrus (some say grapefruit) aroma of Cascade up front as well as its smooth bittering at the finish. Pale caramel malt counterpoints the hopping with a sweet grain aroma and gives this appetizing ale its medium body and deep gold color.”

KIT INCLUDES:

6 Gold malt syrup (divided)

1 lb. Belgian Cara 8 grains

3 oz. (divided) Cascade hops

Sagale US-05 Ale Yeast

5 oz. Priming Sugar

  

I ADDED:

0.5 oz Warrior hops

1 ib. Golden Light DME (Lovibond 4 Color, 8 Plato)

1 t Irish Moss

0.25 oz Falconer’s Flight hops

0.5 oz Simcoe hops

Brewed on April 18, 2015. Used my new Brewer’s Best kit to do a recipe from Northern Brewer. Followed instructions for the most part but changed up the hop additions and added a few things (see above).

I added only 1.5 oz Cascade at the beginning of the 60 minute boil and added 0.5 oz Warrior with it because I wanted it to be a little more bitter. When adding the malt syrup with 15 min left, I also added the Irish Moss to help with clarity. Around 10 minutes, I also added the DME to give my ABV a bit of a boost. At flameout, I added only 0.5 oz Cascade and added 0.25 oz or so of Falconer’s Flight. My plan is to dry hop the 0.5 oz Cascade and 0.5 oz Simcoe or maybe make it a little stronger.

May 3, 2015. Racked to secondary. I looked at a YouTube video online just to see how to do it but I already sorta knew from watching a demonstration during our beer class. The guy used the hydrometer (sanitized) directly in the primary bucket so I did as well (FG: 1.010 at 66-68 degrees). I wasn’t sure if I should bottle right now, but I felt like it since most of my Mr. Beer recipes that sat in the fermeter too long (3 weeks) just tasted nasty/yeasty/musty.

I tasted the beer. Very hoppy but not bad. Cross your fingers!

Dry hopped May 10, 2015 with 1 oz Cascade and 0.5 oz Simcoe. Due to increasing temps outside, I had to put the AC on. I set up a swamp cooler but I’m still having trouble switching out the ice bottles in time. Temps were between 68-70 for days but the past 2 days they’ve been more like 70-72, which doesn’t bode well in terms of the finished product and fusels.

Bottled MO Mentum on May 17, 2015. The process was very laborious. I managed to get 40 beers out of it, which was a little less than I thought I’d get. I tasted the beer as I bottled it and I must say it was very drinkable and very bitter. It tasted a little bit like a MO. Maybe it’ll clear up and smooth out over the next few weeks.

Started cold conditioning on June 05, 2015.

June 6^th and 7^th. Tried a few each night to see how it was doing. Still to early to tell, but I like the tatse. No aroma whatsoever, though. If there IS an aroma, it smells like homebrew and not bought hoppy pale ale. Disappointed in the roma. Body is light to medium. Definitely needs more body. Not as skunky of an aftertaste like a MO but also not as good.

Color is golden with a reddish hue or bark blonde.  Still cloudy with a few chunks here and there.

I WAS psyched about this beer, but now I don’t know.

June 8, 2015. Tried one today. Tasted like  my old Mr. Beer beer but just more bitter. I am thoroughly disappointed.

June 9, 2015. Tried a few tonight. Each bottle tasted different. I’ve decided to have the last three in the fridge from the first case (well, the first 16) and I put 18 new beers in the fridge- I’l leave them there. For a while.

NOTE: I think it’s weird that each bottle is different- in boy, carbonation, taste, bitterness, hoppiness etc etc.  Just when I get a good one and I think things are great, I get a bad bottle. PERHAPS it’s because I used One Step to clean the bottles. Maybe the next beer will be better because I plan on using PBW and Star San.

July 25, 2015. I have 2 left and I think I’ll close the case tonight. The first one- the homebrew flavor wasn’t really there anymore but I still smelled it a little (no hop smell). It was bitter bt not terribly bitter. The second one was pretty decent, bitte but smooth, no homebrew taste.

Overall impression: I really need to keep the pale ales in the bullpen a lot longer. It’s been two months since I bottled this and NOW I finally like it. Next time, I’ll change the hops and add a bit more for the dry hop to make it smell better. 

Overall score: 5 out of 10.

December 2014: New Beginnings

After several years of trying to find some consistency in my brewing, I have decided to leave Mr. Beer behind and upgrade my equipment. I want to do extract w/specialty grains, partial mashes and eventually all-grain batches.

I received better equipment during the Christmas season in 2014. Here's to better brew (hopefully)....

F3-05-01-20: (everything but the) Kitchen Sink saison

Label inspiration: Since I was doing my first partial mash and "leaving" the whole Mr. Beer thing, I decided to add whatever the hell I wanted to the recipe. Everything but the kitchen sink...

From the Mr. Beer site:

Flavor: Balanced
ABV (alc/vol): 6.5%
SRM (Color): 5
IBU (Bitterness): 30

This farmhouse style Blonde Ale derives its unique character from its Belgian style yeast, which imparts an earthy, breadiness with a fruity herbal character and wet hay on the nose. A complex beer in the classic style of Belgian Farmhouse Ales that refreshes with a zesty finish.

REFILL INCLUDES: 1 Can Limited Edition Biere De Saison HME 1 Packet Belle Saison Yeast

I ADDED THE FOLLOWING:

2 lbs. of 2-row (base) malt (Briess Organic 2-row, 1.8 degree Lovibond)

4 oz. Franco-Belges Vienna Malt (2.3-4.2 Lovibond)

2/3 C agave nectar

0.5 oz Styrian hops

1 g crushed paradise seeds

1 t tangelo rind

1 oz. crystallized ginger

Brewed on March 21, 2015

 Kitchen Sink Saison…Tales of my first Partial Mash “Mr. Beer” Beer

Saison recipe instructions (partial mash)

1) Sanitize all beer-making equipment as instructed by Mr. Beer.

2) Heat 3 quarts of filtered/spring water to 166 degrees in the small Mr. Beer pot

3) Add 2 lbs of 2-row (base) malt

4) Add 4 oz. of the crushed Vienna malt

5) Mix well, cover.

6) Rest mash (let it sit), 152 degrees for an hour.

7) While the mash is resting, bring 2 quarts of water to 170 degrees in the red Mr. Beer pot.

8) After the hour is up, scoop grain into a colander that’s resting over the biggest pot and smash down with a spatula.

9) Slowly pour the pot with the mash in it into the colander…empty the pot. Smash the grains down again to drain.

10) Next, put the water from the second pot (2 quarts) into the colander and over the large pot (SPARGING)

11) Squish the grains to get the good stuff out!

12) Once it gets to boiling, set a timer for one hour.

13) While it’s boiling, sanitize the Mr. Beer keg.

14) Add 1 gallon of spring water (3.8 L) to the Mr. Beer Keg

15) 10 minutes before the end of the boil, add the Mr. Beer extract and 2/3 C of agave nectar

16) 55 minutes into the boil (5 min left), add .5 oz Styrian hops, 1g crushed paradise seeds, roughly 1 t of tangelo rind and about 1 oz of crystallized ginger

17) Chill the pot with an ice bath, stirring occasionally with a sanitized spoon- cold break! Used sanitized thermometer to check it.

18) When it gets to room temp, add it to the keg and top it off to get to 2 gallons. Try and keep the trub from going into the fermenter if at all possible (this includes the lemongrass, hops, grains of paradise, and ginger).

NOTES: I had a great time doing my first partial mash; however, I think when I was boiling the grains I got them too hot on the stove. I tried to get the temp down to 160 or even the desired 152 in a short period of time, but it took quite a while to get it down. I think it probably made the beer/wort a lot worse.  We’ll see.

Temps started in the mid-60s on brewing day, stayed there for a few days and eventually made it to 70-72 (my reading 5 days later- I forgot to check temps). High krausen after a day or so, still high krausen 5 days later.

Bottled on April 13, 2015. Some of the tops of the bottles came off when I was capping them..stinks. I used to like the black capper but I had to finish capping with and old red capper that I’ve had for years.

Put a beer in the fridge on April 25^th. Tried it April 27^th. Tastes like every other bad beer I’ve ever made. I am still letting it sit for a week and then I’ll put it in the fridge for about 3 weeks. 

NOTES: Not good at all. I still have a lot to learn...OBVIOUSLY.

Overall score: 2 out of 10

F3-04-02-19: Pandora Belgian spiced ale

Label Inspiration: We had a storm coming that the meteorologists labelled "Pandora". Like many of the newly named NORMAL/AVERAGE EVERY DAY storms, Pandora didn't hit us. I found this pic on the internet and really liked it.

Mr. Beer’s Belgian Spiced Ale Winter 2013 Seasonal recipe plus elements of a Spiced Christmas Ale recipe on the Mr. Beer website

1 can Belgian Spiced Ale HME (Seasonal)

1 packet T-58 Safbrew Ale yeast

1 mulled spices bag (1 T)

½ T pure almond extract

1 BrewMax LME Softpack- Robust

½ oz. Tettnanger pellet hops (4-5% alpha acid)

1 muslin hop sack

ABV: 7.5% (approximately) SRM: 18 (approximately) IBU: 56 (approximately)

OG: 1.070                        FG: 1.020 ABV:   6.56%

Brewed beer on January 19, 2015…the same day I bottled the pale ale Something Else.  To help with sanitation, I used dish soap, rinsed, then Craft Meister to clean the same LBK I used with Something Else…flowed by the One-Step to sanitize.

Bottled beer on February 22, 2015. I thought about batch priming today but after some research online I decided I wasn’t ready for it. I am, however, going to try to use Domino Dots when I bottle prime today. A lot of brewers (newbies and old-timers) use them when they bottle prime.

I filled up each of the emptied and washed (sanitized in a dishwasher a few weeks ago) bottles with warm One-Step mixed in water and emptied the solution out of each bottle as I primed it with a Domino Dot and filled I up. I was going to empty every bottle out but I thought it was best to keep the sanitizer in the bottle until just before I filled them. Two bottles had a lot of foam in them because there was an obstruction on the inside of the LBK by the spigot. I moved the LBK around a bit (gently) and the steady stream resumed.

I used 21 bottles today…the lip on ne bottle broke so I had to throw it away.

I tried the warm, cloudy brew and it really tasted strong- lke alcohol-y and hoppy strong, which might smooth out after a few weeks in the bottle and in the fridge.

Put beer in refrigerator on March 21, 2015.

Tasted first beer on March 26, 2015.  Didn’t taste weird or bad like my most recent beers have tasted. Not enough body…feels even lighter than a light beer. Bitter, but I like it. That was probably due to the extra hops. The carbonation, in my opinion, is perfect- about a ¼” head on it still after about 3 minutes or so (after pouring). Again- the “off” flavor really isn’t there (not yet). Slightly sweet. Still young.

Tried a few more on March 30, 2015. This beer is getting better…too bad I don’t have a lot left! Another bottle broke. I love the spice and bitterness together.

Tried 3 on April 4, 2015.  It’s bittersweet but that may not be a bad thing. I’m still looking for a beer to taste like a REAL beer, but this one is as close as I’ve gotten in a while.I HATE that homebrew taste!

Last beer finished on April 16, 2015.

Overall score: 5 out of 10