Topics

1

Beer Recipes / suggestions - summer ale?

« on: May 16, 2013, 08:46:06 AM »

I am going for something very sessionable yet full flavored and balanced beer. Trying to keep the ABV below 5%. I don't know what this beer would classify as so I am just calling it a Summer Ale. It almost fits the blonde ale category but it will be a bit darker. I would like the hops to be noticeable but more on the balanced side. I may switch out the Citra for something a bit more earthy. Any input?

70% two row
20% Weyermann munich I
5% light crystal
5% flaked wheat

Magnum 60 min
Amarillo 20 min
Citra? 5 min

S04 yeast

OG ~1.046
IBUs ~25
ABV ~4.6%

2

General Homebrew Discussion / blending beers

« on: May 08, 2013, 08:09:53 AM »

Hey Guys. I brewed a pretty bad 5 gallon batch of beer and it has just been sitting in the keg. I may have to dump it but am trying to avoid that. The issue with the beer it that it is overly hoppy/bitter. It is an American Wheat beer brewed entirely with columbus hops including dryhop. I thought it might mellow out with some conditioning time but not so much.

Could I brew another 5 gallon batch with the same grain bill and very little hops in attempt to blend with the bad batch? I honestly don't know if I will make the effort to do this but was curious about others experience and advice.

Current kegged batch
50% Vienna / 50% Wheat
1.043
33 IBUs
4.7% ABV

3

All Grain Brewing / % of Munich for light summer ale

« on: May 01, 2013, 10:47:49 AM »

Hey Guys. Any advice on how much munich to use in a light bodied "summer" type ale. I plan to use some crystal as well but was thinking about subbing about half of it with munich. Definitely don't want to overdo it but would like to add some complexity and light malt characteristics. I was thinking maybe 5% crystal, 5% munich.

My other thought would be to use Marris Otter as the base malt instead of basic two row to maybe achieve the same result.

4

Yeast and Fermentation / yeast recommendation

« on: April 15, 2013, 03:41:44 PM »

I exclusively use US05 in all of my beers. I prefer to brew mostly American styles with noticeable but usually not strong hop character. Most of my beers stick in the high 4-6% ABV range. My buddy brews a pale ale using ESB yeast and I am very impressed with how the yeast and the hops mix. I feel like I should experiment a bit with some more yeasts.

Honestly, I am looking for another very versatile yeast that has medium-high attenuation that I can use in a variety of beers from american wheats to porters. Any recommendations or feedback considering the beers that I prefer to brew? I do like dry yeast so I am considering starting with S-04 or nottingham.

5

Commercial Beer Reviews / Deschutes River Ale

« on: April 15, 2013, 03:26:20 PM »

Just got around to picking this up recently. I thought was a pretty good session beer at only 4% abv. I assume most may not want to pay for normal prices for 4% beer but I like it on occassion when I will be drinking for long periods.

The flavor profile reminds me very much of Mirror Pond. I get a very distinct flavor from these two beers that I don't get from their others. Maybe I haven't have enough of their beers recently... The malt profile seems delicate with a very clean taste. I would call it more hop forward due to the light body and lack of malt character. At 28 IBUs, Cascade hops seem to be the dominant force although Nugget and Liberty are also listed in the ingredients. Anyway, I am not much a review writer but I thought this is a pretty good session/summer type beer.

Does anyone know which yeast strain Deschutes uses for most of their beers? It is listed as English Ale so I assume WLP002/007?

6

All Grain Brewing / advice for adjusting to different system

« on: April 15, 2013, 11:21:43 AM »

Hey Guys

I am looking for any pointers on getting consistent results when switching systems. I am scaling up a 5 gallon batch to 10 gallons. My 5 gallons setup is a 10 gallon igloo cooler with false bottom and a 30 qt aluminum kettle. For this weekend's 10 gallon batch I will be using a 60 qt stainless steel mash tun/kettle. I batch sparge with both setups.

Unfortunately my efficiency has been all over the place lately due to using different LHBS and a recent move with different water (although I am not sure how different). The last batch at my previous house had 80% efficiency and my first batch at the new house got 63%. The process stayed the same however there were too many variables to know what the cause of the decrease was (different water, different LHBS-grain mill, etc). I am not sure how to estimate my efficiency for this 10 gallon batch so that I can get close to the beer that got 80%. Should I just use 63% and increase the amount of grain? I am afraid I will overshoot that efficiency. I guess I may just have to guess and see what happens?

Any other advice regarding brewing on different systems/sizes would be great.

7

Ingredients / sweet orange peel

« on: April 04, 2013, 02:25:08 PM »

On the package it say to add at 15 minutes remaining in the boil. Is there any reason that I shouldn't just throw this in at flame out?

Also the plan is to use 1/2 oz for 5.5 gallon batch. Is that a good amount?

8

Kegging and Bottling / ball lock conversion kits

« on: April 03, 2013, 12:59:27 PM »

Anyone know a good place to get these? I see them around $20 a kit which seems to be a lot considering I have 4 pin lock kegs I am hoping to convert.

9

Beer Recipes / Vienna/Wheat/Pale

« on: March 27, 2013, 03:11:17 PM »

Going for something between an american wheat and an APA. Thinking about using vienna to change it up a bit...

Rough recipe:
50% Vienna
50% Wheat
14 g Columbus 20 min
21 g Columbus 10 min
21 g Columbus 5 min
28 g orange zest 5 min
28 g Columbus 0 min or dry hop?

OG 1.053
IBU ~35
US05 yeast

Any thoughts?

10

All Grain Brewing / low OG / light bodied beer and hops?

« on: March 06, 2013, 10:32:56 AM »

I am considering doing what I would call an American Wheat Pale Ale. My question is if the OG is below 1.050 with light body and color, how careful should I be with the hops? I don't want a hop bomb but a nice hop presence that doesn't overpower the beer.

I was thinking about hopping up to about 30 IBUs since I would assume the hop character won't have much to hide behind. Also thinking about dry hopping with Columbus but don't want to overdo it. Maybe just us 1/2 oz?

11

Beer Recipes / double IPA recipe help

« on: March 04, 2013, 11:38:57 AM »

Hi All. I am trying to do one last batch in my current home before I have to suspend operations for some time. I thought I would do a double IPA to get rid of some hops and also have a strong beer that will age well. I prefer more balanced hoppy beers.

For the grains I was thinking:
45% two row
40% munich I
10% wheat
5% honey malt

OG 1.080
Mash at 150
US-05 yeast

My first question is what kind of efficiency should I expect? I recently started going to a different brew store and my efficiency has jumped up about 10 points because of their grain mills. I have been getting around 80%. Any idea of what I should drop it to as an estimate for a 1.080 beer?

Now for hops. I have a bunch of columbus and bravo that I want to use up and I was going to shoot for slightly above 80 IBUs and a bitterness ratio of 1.0. I also have some centennial, amarillo, and cascade that I will probably use for later additions and or dry hopping. I plan to FWH with columbus and do a standard 60 min addition with bravo with both of those additions coming to about 1/2 of the total IBUs. Any recommendations on the rest of the hop schedule?

18 g Columbus FWH
18 g Bravo 60 min

12

All Grain Brewing / help classify this beer

« on: February 12, 2013, 07:04:24 PM »

Please help me determine what category this should fit into. I am leaning toward American Amber though it was meant to be an APA. My issue is that I don't think I have tasted an amber this malty either. The flavor is very malty with a balanced hop bitterness although there are flavor/aroma addtions as well. I don't drink/brew many German style beers but it tastes like a malty german alt or something balanced by some hop bitterness and feremented with american ale yeast. Sorry I have been posting about this beer a lot....

100% munich I
16 g Zythos 60 min
7 g Zythos 20 min
23 g Zythos 10 min
23 g Zythos 5 min
23 g Zythos 0 min
21 g Zythos dry hop
US05

OG 1.060
FG 1.012
ABV 6.3%
IBUs 37.5
SRM 9.2

It's pretty tasty just not at all what I was going for...ha. It will help me to realize that I am drinking something other than an APA. I know it may not truly fit anywhere. Let me know if any additional info will help.

13

All Grain Brewing / 100% munich

« on: February 08, 2013, 03:38:13 PM »

Tasting my first 100% munich APA. I had no idea that it would turn out this malty. The malty aroma completely masks the hop aroma, dry hop additions and the hop bitterness is an afterthought. If I try this again, I will definitely need to push the IBU:OG way up to overcome the maltiness. Tastes like a slightly bitter german beer of some type...

I think my next one grain attempt will be 100% Vienna. I brewed this beer in attempt to showcase Zythos and get a feel for that hop blend but I can kiss that idea goodbye. The beer still needs quite a bit of bottle conditioning but I can't imagine it will completely change from what it is now. Oh well, you live and you learn. I can use this moving forward...

14

Ingredients / citrus juice

« on: February 01, 2013, 04:49:56 PM »

Hey All. Are there any concerns when adding juice from oranges, lemons, limes, etc near the end of the boil? I am not sure if the acidity would mess anything up during the fermentation or with the finished beer.

15

Beer Recipes / basic blonde ale

« on: February 01, 2013, 01:48:17 PM »

Hey Guys. I am looking for some basic direction on a simple blonde recipe. I am going for something crisp but with some sweetness. I am not sure yet but I will probably be adding zest, lemongrass, or something at the end of the boil to make it a bit more interesting. Any feedback?

85% two row
10% carapils
5% honey malt

14 g Centennial 60 min
14 g Centennial 10 min

OG 1.048
IBUs 22
US05 yeast