Topics

16

General Homebrew Discussion / Ideas for wedding brews late July?

« on: June 22, 2012, 12:33:11 AM »

Ok, so I'm the best man for my buddy's wedding here in Colorado in late July. He's already got a few bases covered: Czech Pils, Doppelbock, Berliner, Coconut IPA, Tafelbier, Schwarz, and a couple others I can't remember.

So, I'm wondering what should I contribute? Something fast fermenting. I already have an apricot wheat on the way and an American kolsch. Also, a lemongrass farmhouse which will be bottled as gifts for the wedding party. Ideas, anyone? I'm thinking another sessionable fruit beer and something English...

17

Beer Recipes / Wheat stout, because...why not?

« on: June 18, 2012, 04:33:52 PM »

Hey all, this is a recipe of a wheat beer that started as a Dunkel and ended up somewhere between an porter and a stout. The short explanation is that I screwed up my grain bill badly, and through much advice and guidance by the AHA community, I was able to pull off a pretty tasty beer. More details in this post: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=12021.msg158227#msg158227

Anyway, here's the recipe:

5.5 lb Pale malt
5.0 lb German wheat malt
1.25 lb Munich I
14 oz Blackprinz

1.0 oz Mt. Hood
1.0 oz Citra

Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan
Whirlfloc & Yeast nutrient

Protein rest @ 122 for 30 min
Sacc rest @152 for 30 min
Mash out @168 for 10 min

fly sparge and 60 min boil

Mt. Hood @ 0:00 and Citra @ 45:00

The next time I try this, I'll use Safale US-04 English ale yeast and probably English or German hops. Turned out pretty decent. I keg conditioned with 3/4 cup priming sugar and an extra shot of CO2 after crashing. I hope you enjoy and please post if you try this or something similar!

18

Yeast and Fermentation / What's your preferred Belgian Pale yeast?

« on: June 07, 2012, 07:41:25 PM »

Quick survey:

What's your preferred Belgian Pale yeast? Why is it great?

19

Beer Recipes / Acidulated malt advice, anyone?

« on: June 05, 2012, 11:38:33 PM »

So next up is an Apricot American Wheat. I've heard good things about acidulated malt but have never used it. I have a bag of American pale on hand and want to keep this one on the cheap so I'm thinking something like this:

4.5 lb Pale malt
4.5 lb Wheat malt
1.5 lb Munich II
?    lb Acidulated malt

1.0 oz Columbus 60 min
1.0 oz Amarillo 60 min
0.5 oz Columbus 10 min
0.5 oz Amarillo 10 min

2.0 lb Apricot puree with stones in secondary
2.0 oz Amarillo dry hop in secondary

Thoughts on the acidulated malt? I really want to go nice and tart with this one to complement the fruity aroma and nice bitterness. Thanks for any and all advice!

20

Kegging and Bottling / To yeast, or not to yeast...

« on: May 17, 2012, 12:04:16 PM »

Hey all, quick question here. I'm going to be bottling a very special golden farmhouse in the next couple weeks. (I say special because it's a surprise for my buddy's wedding in July.)

It's going to be corked and caged in champagne bottles so my question is: should I pitch a tiny amount of clean yeast/sugar before bottling? I've done this before with mixed results. How do I get consistently carbonated beer with this method?

21

Beer Recipes / Help on a lemongrass farmhouse!

« on: May 09, 2012, 11:07:11 PM »

Ok, so up next is a lemongrass golden farmhouse. Not too far off from a Blonde but definitely using WLP 670 American Farmhouse yeast.

My question is this: How should I infuse with lemongrass? Should I dry hop with dried lemongrass? Or fresh lemongrass? OR I was also thinking a cold water infusion of lemongrass that I can add during fermentation, possibly to avoid heavy herb/tannin notes. Should I add during primary or secondary? How much? This is my first time using anything other than hops to flavor a beer. Here's the grain bill:

7.25 lb Pale Malt
4.00 lb Wheat Malt
1.00 lb Munich I
0.75 lb Caravienne 20
0.50 lb Light Candi Sugar

1 oz Tettnanger
1 oz Hallertauer
1 oz Saaz

How should I mash to get a good balance of medium body with a touch of sweetness and dry finish? Thanks for any and all help!

22

All Grain Brewing / Ok, so I gotta situation here...

« on: May 02, 2012, 06:44:45 PM »

Ok, I had my head in my ass today. So here's the rundown, I got my Dunkelweizen recipe together before going to the LBS. Although they do have a huge selection, they didn't have everything I need. Here's the original grain bill:

Dunkelweizen, 5.5 gal

5.5# Munich II (20 SRM)
3.5# Dark Wheat Malt (9 SRM)
2.0# Wheat Malt (2SRM)
0.5# Carafa I (337 SRM)

So according to BeerSmith, this looks pretty solid. Well, I couldn't track down any 9 SRM Dark Wheat Malt so turning to the next closest thing, I found Blackprinz which is a whopping 500 SRM! Stupidly,  replacing 30% of the grain bill with the BLACKEST of the black malts!!! (This is already crushed and mixed up)

What should I do about this? The only thing that comes to mind is increasing the % of all the other malts to effectively lower the ratio of Blackprinz to non. I have a fresh Hefeweizen yeast cake that I'm itching to use. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to ridicule a little. I realize this is a funny situation.

23

Yeast and Fermentation / Did I ruin my yeast?

« on: March 05, 2012, 06:05:50 PM »

Hey all, just a quick question. I accidentally left a vial of White Labs American Farmhouse Blend (WLP670) at room temp (actually around 60 degrees) for about 24 hours. I don't plan on brewing or even making a starter for a couple weeks. Did I ruin it or should I just stick it back in the fridge and hope for the best? Thanks!