Topics

16

Beer Recipes / Hop Liquor

« on: January 29, 2013, 08:54:19 AM »

Armed with the experience from my last insanely-hopped IIPA, and under command to reduce my hops inventory in the freezer per my lovely wife, I thought I'd take another stab at the ridiculous. My ingenious idea: malt liquor meets IIPA.

I basically took Charlie P's O/E 800 recipe and bumped up the gravity with some extra 2-row and a pound of sugar. Then I figured, if malt liquor comes in 40oz bottles, then it would only be fitting to use 40 oz of hops in a 5-gallon batch.

Someone please convince me that this is a horrible idea, otherwise I just may end up brewing this abomination.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: 40 oz (Hop Liquor)

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Classic American Pilsner
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3.5 gallons
Efficiency: 80% (brew house)
No Chill: 5 minute extended hop boil time

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.072
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 8.01%
IBU (rager): 296.98
SRM (morey): 3.27

FERMENTABLES:
5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (39.2%)
3.75 lb - American - Pale 6-Row (29.4%)
3 lb - Flaked Corn (23.5%)
1 lb - Cane Sugar - (late addition)  (7.8%)

HOPS:
2 oz - Centennial, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Mash (AA 10.2, IBU: 11.13)
4 oz - Simcoe, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Mash (AA 11.9, IBU: 25.96)
2 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, Use: First Wort (AA 5, IBU: 11.43)
2 oz - Motueka, Type: Pellet, Use: First Wort (AA 7.2, IBU: 16.45)
2 oz - Chinook for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 14.2, IBU: 96.93)
2 oz - Cascade for 30 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 22.76)
2 oz - Motueka for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7.2, IBU: 16.45)
2 oz - Simcoe for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 12.2, IBU: 21.9)
2 oz - Chinook for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 14.2, IBU: 20.75)
2 oz - Cascade for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 5.45)
2 oz - Centennial for 0 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 10.2, IBU: 11.13)
2 oz - Chinook for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 14.2, IBU: 15.49)
2 oz - Motueka for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7.2, IBU: 7.85)
2 oz - Simcoe for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 12.2, IBU: 13.31)
2 oz - Centennial for 5 days, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Dry Hop (AA 10.2)
2 oz - Chinook for 4 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 14.2)
2 oz - Motueka for 3 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 7.2)
2 oz - Simcoe for 2 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 12.2)
2 oz - Cascade for 1 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 5)

MASH STEPS:
1) Infusion, Temp: 147 F, Time: 90 min
2) Infusion, Temp: 156 F, Time: 30 min

YEAST:
Wyeast - Pilsen Lager 2007
Pitch Rate: 2.0 (M cells / ml / deg P)

NOTES:
Centennial "mash hop" addition is runoff into kettle through leaf hops

Centennial 0 minute boil is runoff into fermenter through leaf hops

Divide flameout hops in half. 2nd half goes in after 80-minute hot hopstand.

Add topoff water 1 gallon at a time to kettle after chilling to "sparge" hop trub.

Ferment low 50's. Raise to 68F after 2 weeks and begin dry hop additions. Each addition 2 days apart, bottle 3 days after last dry hop addition.

17

Ingredients / El Dorado Hops

« on: January 26, 2013, 09:09:06 PM »

I just got in my El Dorado hops from Missouri Malt Supply today. Grab them while you still can. They don't have an online shop, but they will do mail order and billed me through PayPal. Here's the link:

http://momalt.com/catalog

Looks like NikoBrew just got some in as well.

http://www.nikobrew.com/el-dorado-pellet-2oz/

18

Commercial Beer Reviews / Sam Adams Stony Brook Red

« on: January 20, 2013, 10:08:15 PM »

I finally got around to trying the Sam Adams Stony Brook Red tonight to drown my sorrows as my beloved Patriots just plain got outplayed by a better team.

At first I was a bit disappointed. There is no where near the level of tartness that I expect from a Flanders Red. It drinks a lot more like an Oud Bruin. But the more I drank the more it grew on me (maybe the 9% ABV had something to do with that too). While the tartness isn't as in-your-face as I would have liked, the beer is very well balanced. There is a nice malt presence and a firmer bitterness than you usually find in the style. Not bad - I'd try it again for the price.

19

All Grain Brewing / Base malt recommendation for Belgian brews

« on: January 04, 2013, 10:15:14 AM »

So my new grain mill is en route, and now I obviously need to buy a sack of grain to go with it

I plan on brewing a lot of Belgian styles this year, so I was thinking of getting a sack of Castle Pils. Anyone have any differing suggestions?

20

Other Fermentables / Dry-hopped cider tasting notes

« on: January 02, 2013, 09:32:47 PM »

I've finally gotten around to tasting the test batches of cider that I discussed in this thread. I dry-hopped one gallon with Nelson Sauvin and left another gallon unhopped. I thought I'd share my tasting notes as there was some interest in the dry-hopped cider.

First a quick summary. Both batches were 1 gallon of local, UV-pasteurized, pressed cider with no further fermentables added. OG was 1.048. Each gallon got pectic enzyme and 1/4 packet of T-58. FG was 1.000. They were then both racked to secondary. The dry-hopped batch got 1/2 ounce of Nelson Sauvin, and was then racked off the hops after 10 days. They spent about 2 months in secondary before bottling. I added 1 Coopers carbonation drop to each bottle, and kept one bottle still from each batch.

I'll post my notes from each bottle separately so this doesn't turn into one huge post.

21

Beer Recipes / What to brew next

« on: December 29, 2012, 03:01:50 AM »

Now that I've completed my hops stockpile for the year I need to start using them. I've come up with a bunch of recipes that in the end will use each of the hop varieties I picked up this year. As is the usual, when I'm working on too many recipes at once I have a hard time choosing which to brew first. Here are my options:

HopfenHell - Starting with a Helles Bock as the base beer, but hopbursted & dry-hopped with Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo and Citra

Dr. Dankenpine's Rye IPA - a dank & piny Rye IPA with Mosaic, Simcoe, Chinook, Apollo, Columbus & Summit

Düsseldorf "IPA" - Basically a big Alt using the German hops I have: Polaris, Smaragd and Herkules

Black Kiwi - A black IPA using my NZ hops - Rakau, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin

I'm leaning toward either the Alt or the Helles Bock since my basement is holding a nice steady 60F right now in the coolest corner. What would you brew?

22

Commercial Beer Reviews / Hanssens Lambic Experimental Cassis

« on: December 22, 2012, 09:32:00 PM »

I've had some good luck with Hanssens before (their Oud Gueze is phenominal), so when I saw their black currant lambic I had to give it a try. I just planted currants last year and I'm looking for something to do with the black ones in particular.

I haven't met a lambic I didn't like, but this one is pretty meh for me. The carbonation just isn't there, and the aroma is like being assaulted with a horse blanket. The berry flavor is overwhelmed by funk, and the acidity could stand to be kicked up a notch.  Still, you can tell that the pieces would fit together really well if the balance was a bit different. The tannins from the currants are a good fit to a sour like this. If you roll back the funk, up the acidity and get the carb level right, this would be one hell of a brew. I'm thinking that my black currants will be getting a sour-wort Berliner weisse racked over them this fall.

23

Other Fermentables / Maple Wine

« on: November 27, 2012, 11:56:32 AM »

I've been starting to get an itch to brew a Maple Wine lately. Anyone here have any experience with one? I'm thinking of handling it exactly like a sack mead: Mix in enough water to target OG of 1.150; mix the hell out of it to aerate, pitch 71B rehydrated with GoFerm, staggered nutrient additions & degassing, etc. Does this sound reasonable?

I'll hit up a couple of my local sugar shacks until I find the best Grade B syrup I can get my hands on and hope I can score a bulk discount.

24

Yeast and Fermentation / Long-term sour starter

« on: October 30, 2012, 08:56:30 PM »

After spending the summer doing some tasty research, I've picked a few commercial sour brews that I want to use to start my "house culture". I made a couple of liters of starter wort which is now sitting in my newly-designated "dregs bucket", and pitched some Girardin dregs a little while ago. I plan on slowly adding dregs from a few different beers over the next few months and will probably brew my first sour beer using this starter in the early spring.

Does anyone have any tips on how to manage a house culture like this? I'm planning on pitching about half when I use it and topping off with fresh wort. I'm kind of wondering what to do if I get a pellicle. I'll probably be pitching new dregs every few weeks - do I not want to mess with it if I get a pellicle? Can I still pitch from it if I have an active pellicle?

25

All Grain Brewing / Boiling down runnings

« on: October 19, 2012, 09:19:13 PM »

I'm starting to think about brewing a spiced beer for the holidays (something similar to Harpoon Winter Warmer). I've also been wanting to try out the technique of pulling off some of the first runnings, boiling it down to a syrup, then adding it back to the boil. I figure this would be a good style of beer to try it with. I had a few questions about how I should go about this.

I found an old clone recipe from BYO with the following grain bill:

9.33 lb 2-row
2 lb C-90
0.5 lb Carapils
OG=1.056 / 5 gallon recipe

I'm thinking I would want to cut the crystal malt down by quite a bit, since I would be getting a lot of the caramel flavor from the reduced syrup. Any idea by how much? Also, how much should I pull off to boil down to a syrup?

I typically do a full-volume mash with no sparge. Am I better off doing a batch sparge instead to get more concentrated first runnings?

26

All Grain Brewing / How fast do enzymes denature?

« on: October 19, 2012, 08:40:15 AM »

I just mashed in on a porter and overshot my mash temp by quite a bit. I was shooting for 156 and I was at 162 after stirring in my grain. I threw in several handfuls of ice and was able to get my temps down to 156, but I'd say about 10 minutes went by before I got the temp down. Was this long enough at the higher temps to have a significant effect on enzyme activity?

27

Other Fermentables / Sulfur aroma in cider

« on: October 15, 2012, 08:22:55 AM »

Two weeks ago I started my first batches of hard cider. They were one gallon each of pressed cider from a local orchard, plus pectic enzyme and about 1/4 packet of T-58. I didn't add any sugar or adjuncts, OG=1.048. Fermented at 66F. They dropped clear in 14 days, gravity = 1.000. I racked them both to secondary and added 1/2 oz of Nelson Sauvin as dry hops to one of the batches.

I was a bit worried how it would turn out as the unfermented cider tasted super sweet and (seemingly) without much acidity to balance it out. The gravity sample tastes fantastic, however. It is pretty tart and has a nice apple flavor to it. I'd carb and bottle it right now, except for one small issue. There is still quite a powerful sulfur aroma. Will this age out? Would I have been better off leaving this in primary on the yeast? Should I raise/lower the temp to clear this out? Thanks for any help.

28

Commercial Beer Reviews / Bacchus

« on: October 12, 2012, 08:47:18 PM »

I'm drinking this beer now and I'm pretty underwhelmed. I've had some great beers from Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck (Kasteel Rouge is excellent, and Gueuze Fond Tradition is right up there with Girardin IMO), but this one falls a bit flat for me. It is way undercarbonated for a sour, and I don't really pick up a lot of complexity from either Brett or malt. I generally prefer lambics and Flanders reds, but I've still had some good Oud Bruins that have some nice somplexity to fill in what they're lacking in tartness (Petrus Oud Bruin, for example).

29

Beer Recipes / Hoppy Belgian Ale

« on: October 10, 2012, 08:01:47 AM »

Wyeast has released the Unibroue strain (3864), so it's time to start planning some Belgian brews. I'm planning on doing a moderate gravity beer to propagate for an eventual BDS down the line. I figured this would be a good chance to try out the combo of Caliente hops with Special B & Dark Candi Syrup, so I'm shooting for sort of a hoppy Belgian Amber.

Does anyone have any tips for brewing hoppy Belgian ales (like a Belgian IPA, for example)? I'm thinking I should shoot for the low 60's for a fermentation temp to keep the yeast character subdued. I'm also planning on keeping most of the IBU's as FWH and late additions to keep the bitterness under control. The Unibroue yeast has such a dry finish that I don't think a really sharp bitterness would work too well.

Here's my first pass at a recipe. Comments/suggestions are always appreciated.

Title: Belgian Hoppy Amber

Brew Method: BIAB
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Boil Size: 3.5 gallons
Efficiency: 80%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.051
IBU (tinseth): 43.37
SRM (morey): 16.55

FERMENTABLES:
4 lb - Pale Ale (78.7%)
0.5 lb - Dark Munich (9.8%)
0.33 lb - Belgian Candi Syrup D-180 (late addition)  (6.5%)
0.25 lb - Special B (4.9%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - Motueka (AA 7.4), Type: Pellet, Use: First Wort
0.35 oz - Motueka (AA 7.4) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.25 oz - Motueka (AA 7.4) for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.2 oz - Caliente (AA 15.3) for 5 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Caliente (AA 15.3) for 0 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
1 oz - Caliente (AA 15.3) for 7 days, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Dry Hop
0.5 oz - Motueka (AA 7.4) for 7 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop

MASH STEPS:
1) Infusion, Temp: 160 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 18 qt, Sacc Rest

YEAST:
Wyeast - Canadian/Belgian Ale 3864

NOTES:
Rack to fermenter through Caliente hopback.

Ferment low 60's. Rack to secondary for dry-hopping.

30

Ingredients / Single Hopped beer tasting notes

« on: September 26, 2012, 04:56:20 PM »

I recently did a bunch of single-hopped Pale Ales to test out some hop varieties that I've been sitting on for a while. I thought I'd share my tasting notes, since a lot of these hops are either fairly new, or at least relatively uncommon in my travels. If anyone else has tasting notes from single-hopped beers of their own that may be useful, feel free to add them as well.

Here's my base recipe that I used for all of these batches. It's just a fairly basic extract low-gravity APA. The goal was to maximize hop flavor and aroma. Refer to the notes at bottom for details on how I handled the hop additions.

Tasting notes will be posted separately as replies when I taste each batch.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Extract Pale Ale (Base Recipe)

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 15 min
Batch Size: 0.8 gallons
Boil Size: 1 gallons
Efficiency: 70%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.046
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 4.17%
IBU (tinseth): 41.46
SRM (morey): 4.97

FERMENTABLES:
0.5 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Extra Light (53.3%)
0.375 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Munich (40%)
0.0625 lb - Maltodextrin (6.7%)

HOPS:
0.2 oz - Hop Shot (AA 12., Type: Pellet, Use: First Wort
0.25 oz - Hop Shot (AA 12. for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Hop Shot (AA 12. for 7 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 each - Whirlfloc, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
0.5 g - Gypsum, Time: 15 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash
2 drops - FermCap-S, Time: 15 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Wyeast - London ESB Ale 1968

NOTES:
Make starter & pitch measured amount of slurry. (15mL)

Begin bringing water to boil. Add extract, Fermcap and gypsum. Add "FWH" as temp hits 120-140F. At boil, add whirlfloc.

For Munich LME - 1/2 cup = 6oz.

For Maltodextrin - 6 TBSP = 1.5 oz

(Target 40-45 IBU's from FWH addition calculated as a 20-minute add. Flameout addition = 1/4 oz. Dry Hop w/ 1/2 oz for 10 days)