5/28/2012
New Terminology:
Smash: Mash done with one malt and one hop. Used to check out the the taste of new hop or new malt.
I heard when I went into Adventures in Homebrewing (AIH) and they has a taste available a new hop that came in
Where its at:
Bottled the IPA a week ago, Just bottled the Belgian. Making another Berkshire Brown, Slight more flake corn and adding corn sugar to the boil. I am over compensating for the lack of attenuation in the original version. I do believe that the attenuation problem happened because the mash was at 165 not 155 and I let the extract flow out of the tun (cooler) full out for the JennInBlack and the Berkshire Brown. I can see the gelitinization of the sugar extracted from the malt happening now that I didn't see before. I also think temperature control in primary fermentation was a problem with the attenuation of the JennInBlack and the Berkshire Brown. The outside temperature would vary 20 degrees within the day.
Lessons learned.
I love the flavor of the cascade hop. The Columbus hop is suppose to finish the taste but I think it dampened it to much. I tried some of the IPA a little young. It did not burst with the grapefruit bite I was hoping for but it is still a great beer. First beer that I have made that I can have some pride in it has the attenuation and a close taste profile. I think in the next variation, just let the cascade shine and not finish it with the Columbus hop. Probably should add champagne yeast the the IPA to get the carbonation required.
New additions.
I have gotten a heating strap that goes around the primary fermenter (PF) that should keep the temperature of the PF at 65 degrees. Hope that fixes the temperature issue or at least eliminate it as a potential problem.
Mt Rainer Hops. New addition at AIH.
It has a "pine"ier taste reminiscent of the evergreens around the Mt Rainier near Seattle.
I should do an IPA with this or perhaps a pale ale that accentuates the hop.
Want to try next.
Still want to do the slider (breakfast stout with a White Castle Coffee).
Need to do a breakfast stout
Want see what rye can do?
Why do I need a protien break.. Is that for wheat beer?
Another IPA
a Wiesbock
a classc porter
a lager
a caramelish amber ale.
a clone of moose drool.
Things to figure out:
Water: Filtered water is better, but is tap water ok?. I have tried three beers now with just Ypsilanti tap water. So far they seem ok. I tend to like robust beers so I wouldn't be able the taste the effect of a clearer water.
I think I need to do a smash of my favorite clear bear with Mt Rainer vs Cascade hops and one that is Ypsilanti vs filtered water. I need to first figure out a taste that I like and can drink over and over again and compare
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
First time through the whole process in one day
Quick over view from the last post
So now I have tasted the Berkshire Brown
I have bottled the Jenn in Black.
I have brewed the RÄCinstien IPA
I have moved the RÄCinstien to secondary
I have brewed the Cloverlick Creek Belgian.
Issues:
The Berkshire Brown and the JenninBlack suffer from the same thing, low attenuation. I'm not sure if its the quick dump from the mashing tun or the high temperature of the water but I have corrected that in the RÄCinstien and the Cloverlick Creek Belgian. I let the mashing tun drain for an hour instead of the six minutes the previous two went through. I now can appreciate the continuous sparging process. However I cannot tell if my process is improved because the IPA and the Belgian had sugar and honey in the recipe. All I know is that the airlock was going crazy during primary on both. I am secretly thrilled about the fermentation but also kind of want to retry Berkshire Brown Recipes
Cool Experience:
So obviously if you make beer you have to enjoy the QA experience. QA is short for Quality Assurance or testing the quality of the beer.
The process of QA is
1) Open a bottle of beer
2) Pour it into a glass
3) Taste the beer (Until the Glass is Empty) *wink* *wink*
4) Lather Rinse Repeat until you can QA no more. (Your taste buds give out or your head hits the pillow)
If you don't get the concept of "QA"... come on over. Help me bottle some beers and I will show you the true "QA" process.
So I've been wanting to make a Belgian/Abbey/Trappist Ale for a while. My first taste of a Trappist Ale was Chimay... not that pleasing because it had been sitting on the shelf before I was born. OK I can appreciate a new taste but I was shocked at how stale the hops were and how the additional spices clashed against the stale hops. If your first taste has a start of dead cardamom with a long finish of cobwebs... but hey Kudos's on the long finish. I should have known better. Once I realized that A) you should not have to use and hammer and chisel to open a beer and B) The cork should not turn to dust when you pull it out.. I should have put the beer down. However Alcohol abuse is Alcohol abuse and I am not going to abuse a bad beer by pouring it down the drain...then I was not worthy to make my own. In the case of Abbey beer however... I loved the history of it and I loved trying to figure out the taste.
I have always thought that making a good Belgian Beer was tough only because it was difficult to find a Belgian I liked. I'm guessing the toughness come in the double or triple ale.
However in reality it might be because we have so many people trying to recreate what they think is the ultimate Belgian ale trying spice and intentional flaws with the beer to get a distinct combination of flavours.
So I have the chance to make my first Belgian Beer. A friend of mine was coming in from Cincinnati and I know he wants to go through the beer making process. However the beer (Berkshire Brown) that we were going to do "QA" on had low attenuation so we went to to the Corner Brewery for some other beer to do some voluntary QA.
Mean while we transferred the RÄCinstien to secondary, Started the Belgian.
They we are with 2 Growlers of Beer IPA and RyePA (Less than a 12 pack in volume), making a Belgian or commonly called an Abbey Beer traditionally made by monks. I thought was apropos that play some Carmina Burana. To my surprise.. my guest like it and get the subtle Irony in brewing and Abbey Ale and listening Carmina Burana. Carmina Burana is a classical piece of music set the the words of poem written by Monks who would typically make this style of beer. The lyrics oddly enough are about drinking... and spring.... and dancing with a twist or two of lusting after maidens. To top it off, the friend helping me Brew and QA is a Minister who did our wedding. A latter day Monk so to speak who has good head of hair. It was joyous mystical experience for us while our wives were out touring the beauty that is Detroit.
Next in line..
Breakfast stout using White Castle Coffee. I'm going to call it the "slider". Those in Cincy would get that joke. If not I'm looking at doing a porter, heffewiesen, bock, alt or try #2 at the Berkshire Brown. Saw Recipes online for a Moose Drool Clone or Black Butte Porter. Love doing the research. Eventually I will have to do a pale ale.
Wants:
Belt that wraps around the primary fermenter to keep it warm.
A continuous sparging cooler system (I want to make it myself).
More bottles for more beer storage
Beer Thief to help with testing gravity
A Digital Refractometer.
Kegging System.
Cool Fact:
Spent Grains from the Mashing Tun and yeast cakes from the bottom of the primary fermenter, fantastic for composting.
Recipes:
Cloverlick Creek Farms Belgian
RÄCinstien IPA
So now I have tasted the Berkshire Brown
I have bottled the Jenn in Black.
I have brewed the RÄCinstien IPA
I have moved the RÄCinstien to secondary
I have brewed the Cloverlick Creek Belgian.
Issues:
The Berkshire Brown and the JenninBlack suffer from the same thing, low attenuation. I'm not sure if its the quick dump from the mashing tun or the high temperature of the water but I have corrected that in the RÄCinstien and the Cloverlick Creek Belgian. I let the mashing tun drain for an hour instead of the six minutes the previous two went through. I now can appreciate the continuous sparging process. However I cannot tell if my process is improved because the IPA and the Belgian had sugar and honey in the recipe. All I know is that the airlock was going crazy during primary on both. I am secretly thrilled about the fermentation but also kind of want to retry Berkshire Brown Recipes
So obviously if you make beer you have to enjoy the QA experience. QA is short for Quality Assurance or testing the quality of the beer.
The process of QA is
1) Open a bottle of beer
2) Pour it into a glass
3) Taste the beer (Until the Glass is Empty) *wink* *wink*
4) Lather Rinse Repeat until you can QA no more. (Your taste buds give out or your head hits the pillow)
If you don't get the concept of "QA"... come on over. Help me bottle some beers and I will show you the true "QA" process.
So I've been wanting to make a Belgian/Abbey/Trappist Ale for a while. My first taste of a Trappist Ale was Chimay... not that pleasing because it had been sitting on the shelf before I was born. OK I can appreciate a new taste but I was shocked at how stale the hops were and how the additional spices clashed against the stale hops. If your first taste has a start of dead cardamom with a long finish of cobwebs... but hey Kudos's on the long finish. I should have known better. Once I realized that A) you should not have to use and hammer and chisel to open a beer and B) The cork should not turn to dust when you pull it out.. I should have put the beer down. However Alcohol abuse is Alcohol abuse and I am not going to abuse a bad beer by pouring it down the drain...then I was not worthy to make my own. In the case of Abbey beer however... I loved the history of it and I loved trying to figure out the taste.
I have always thought that making a good Belgian Beer was tough only because it was difficult to find a Belgian I liked. I'm guessing the toughness come in the double or triple ale.
However in reality it might be because we have so many people trying to recreate what they think is the ultimate Belgian ale trying spice and intentional flaws with the beer to get a distinct combination of flavours.
So I have the chance to make my first Belgian Beer. A friend of mine was coming in from Cincinnati and I know he wants to go through the beer making process. However the beer (Berkshire Brown) that we were going to do "QA" on had low attenuation so we went to to the Corner Brewery for some other beer to do some voluntary QA.
Mean while we transferred the RÄCinstien to secondary, Started the Belgian.
They we are with 2 Growlers of Beer IPA and RyePA (Less than a 12 pack in volume), making a Belgian or commonly called an Abbey Beer traditionally made by monks. I thought was apropos that play some Carmina Burana. To my surprise.. my guest like it and get the subtle Irony in brewing and Abbey Ale and listening Carmina Burana. Carmina Burana is a classical piece of music set the the words of poem written by Monks who would typically make this style of beer. The lyrics oddly enough are about drinking... and spring.... and dancing with a twist or two of lusting after maidens. To top it off, the friend helping me Brew and QA is a Minister who did our wedding. A latter day Monk so to speak who has good head of hair. It was joyous mystical experience for us while our wives were out touring the beauty that is Detroit.
Next in line..
Breakfast stout using White Castle Coffee. I'm going to call it the "slider". Those in Cincy would get that joke. If not I'm looking at doing a porter, heffewiesen, bock, alt or try #2 at the Berkshire Brown. Saw Recipes online for a Moose Drool Clone or Black Butte Porter. Love doing the research. Eventually I will have to do a pale ale.
Belt that wraps around the primary fermenter to keep it warm.
A continuous sparging cooler system (I want to make it myself).
More bottles for more beer storage
Beer Thief to help with testing gravity
A Digital Refractometer.
Kegging System.
Spent Grains from the Mashing Tun and yeast cakes from the bottom of the primary fermenter, fantastic for composting.
Recipes:
Cloverlick Creek Farms Belgian
- 9 pounds U.S. 2-row
- 1.5 pounds Munich malt
- 0.5 pounds 60L (or darker) crystal malt
- 1-2 ounces of chocolate malt
- 1/2 pound of Cloverlick Creek Farms Fall honey
- 6 - 7 AAUs bittering hops, a mix of hallertauer and kent goldings (60 minute boil)
- 1 Wyeast Abbey Ale Yeast
RÄCinstien IPA
- 8# 2 row
- 3# amber
- .25# chocolate
- .25# cara 120
- 1 oz Bravo @ end of collection (FWH)
- 2# dextrose @ 15 min
- .5# brown sugar @ 15 min
- 1 oz Cascade @15
- 1 oz Cascade @10
- 1 oz Cascade @5
- 1 oz Cascade @0
- 1 oz Columbus dry hop for 10 days
- 1 oz Columbus dry hop for 7 days
Nottingham Dry Yeast @66 degrees for 3 weeks
My first IPA, Dry Yeast
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Midnight Stout
Starting Beer Three... The Midnight stout, I'm calling it Jen In Black after my niece's email address.
Berkshire Brown still primary fermenter.
One thing they don't tell you about the boil. It is pungent and will make your house smell like barley for a couple of days. However during the boil it is extremely so. I happen to like it but the wife does not. She does however like the way the house smells after the boil is over which is a good thing.
When I made the stout, my wife was in Lansing teaching a class. I took advantage of this to start beer three.
The recipe.
http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_157.htm
More expensive grain bill then Berkshire Brown. I can see why a stout is thick and "chewy", 50% more grain to extract from. I'm now finding out the taste that I like about the stout comes from the chocolate malt and the roasted barley. It's also what give it that dark color.
This time however I using a different yeast type. In the Bershire Brown we used what is referred to as a smack pack. The smack pack has a sealed package of nutrients suspended in a liquid yeast. The idea is that you smack the pack against something to burst the package of nutrients opens. This proofs your yeast and the whole package swells up to the entire capacity of the package as the live yeast multiplies as it consumes the nutrients. It's pretty cool process but it takes over 4 hours to swell up.
For the Jen In black we are using the white labs yeast. It is liquid yeast that comes in what looks like a fat test tube. It smells great.
There are four major components that flavor the beer. The yeast, the malt/barley, the hops and temperature. It's really cool that we have access to so many different strains of yeast for brewing. I consider my self to be a novice with yeast so the exploration is pretty cool when you think of how difficult is to keep yeast going. Yeast will change with it surrounding environments.
I'm thinking my next beer will be a belgian type. I had problems making the decisions. I like IPA's more than Belgians but the people who are going to help me taste the beer are more fans of Belgian style beers. It will be my first high gravity beer. However I think I will enjoy mkaing the IPA a little more since it would be my first experience with dry hopping. So many different beers to try which one do you do first?
I'm also having a blast coming up with the names for the beers. My wife is having a blast coming up with the lables. Her is one of the ideas that my wife had for a label for the first beer I made with the Mr Beer kit.
WeBiG is just a play on my initials WBG. That was going to be the name of the brewery. Say WeBiG fast and it kind of sounds like a frog... hence the graphic. I was going to name the first stout I made "Pond Scum" to go along with motif. I may still do that later
The one for Berskire Brown
We haven't done one for Jen in Black yet.
Berkshire Brown still primary fermenter.
One thing they don't tell you about the boil. It is pungent and will make your house smell like barley for a couple of days. However during the boil it is extremely so. I happen to like it but the wife does not. She does however like the way the house smells after the boil is over which is a good thing.
When I made the stout, my wife was in Lansing teaching a class. I took advantage of this to start beer three.
The recipe.
http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_157.htm
More expensive grain bill then Berkshire Brown. I can see why a stout is thick and "chewy", 50% more grain to extract from. I'm now finding out the taste that I like about the stout comes from the chocolate malt and the roasted barley. It's also what give it that dark color.
This time however I using a different yeast type. In the Bershire Brown we used what is referred to as a smack pack. The smack pack has a sealed package of nutrients suspended in a liquid yeast. The idea is that you smack the pack against something to burst the package of nutrients opens. This proofs your yeast and the whole package swells up to the entire capacity of the package as the live yeast multiplies as it consumes the nutrients. It's pretty cool process but it takes over 4 hours to swell up.
For the Jen In black we are using the white labs yeast. It is liquid yeast that comes in what looks like a fat test tube. It smells great.
There are four major components that flavor the beer. The yeast, the malt/barley, the hops and temperature. It's really cool that we have access to so many different strains of yeast for brewing. I consider my self to be a novice with yeast so the exploration is pretty cool when you think of how difficult is to keep yeast going. Yeast will change with it surrounding environments.
I'm thinking my next beer will be a belgian type. I had problems making the decisions. I like IPA's more than Belgians but the people who are going to help me taste the beer are more fans of Belgian style beers. It will be my first high gravity beer. However I think I will enjoy mkaing the IPA a little more since it would be my first experience with dry hopping. So many different beers to try which one do you do first?
I'm also having a blast coming up with the names for the beers. My wife is having a blast coming up with the lables. Her is one of the ideas that my wife had for a label for the first beer I made with the Mr Beer kit.
WeBiG is just a play on my initials WBG. That was going to be the name of the brewery. Say WeBiG fast and it kind of sounds like a frog... hence the graphic. I was going to name the first stout I made "Pond Scum" to go along with motif. I may still do that later
The one for Berskire Brown
Day 1
Starting to get into brewing my own beer.
Beers 1 and 2.
First time out. Used a Mr Beer kit that we got on sale from woot.com. The standard kit comes with a pale ale malt extract. The beer is getting ready to mature. Should be an ok tasting beer from the taste of the wort. I have a feeling the yeast in the kit was old since the wort was on the sweet side.
I had been thinking about brewing beer for a long time. Then I looked at the kits and read up. Three things held me back: cost of entry, access to quality materials and deailing with yeast. Cost of entry is pretty steep. Even though the standard kits are about $100 bucks, these only come with the bare essentials. I tend to like the specialty brews (porter, IPA's Belgian, stouts, bocks, etc) and their process takes additional equipment. I also envisioned having a couple of beers going at the same time, which means even more equipment.
My wife found a guy in Holt, MI getting out of the hobby. I picked up a lot of equipment pretty inexpensively from his Craigslist posting:
Today I'm calling my day 1 though technically it's my second beer. Today, however, is my first attempt at an all grain batch as opposed to creating a beer from malt extract. I found a recipe online for a clone of the Newcastle Nut Brown Ale. I'm pretty stoked.
Picked and milled Right in the store.
Finally on April 14th my niece, Jen, came over and we began to brew.
We put the grains in the cooler lauter/mashing tun. Poured in about 3.5 gallons of 165 degree Farenheit water. Let it sit for about an hour checking it every 15 minutes to stir and make sure the temperature stayed above 155. After the hour was up we drained it and closed the ball valve. Then we poured in and additional 3.5 gallons of water for the sparging (rinsing). We stirred it and and let it sit for 15 minutes, then drained it.
We took the pot of wort and boiled it 60 minutes as the recipe described.
Cooled it with chiller.
Pitched the yeast
Put the lid and airlock on.
This one we are going to call Berkshire Brown.
Beers 1 and 2.
First time out. Used a Mr Beer kit that we got on sale from woot.com. The standard kit comes with a pale ale malt extract. The beer is getting ready to mature. Should be an ok tasting beer from the taste of the wort. I have a feeling the yeast in the kit was old since the wort was on the sweet side.
I had been thinking about brewing beer for a long time. Then I looked at the kits and read up. Three things held me back: cost of entry, access to quality materials and deailing with yeast. Cost of entry is pretty steep. Even though the standard kits are about $100 bucks, these only come with the bare essentials. I tend to like the specialty brews (porter, IPA's Belgian, stouts, bocks, etc) and their process takes additional equipment. I also envisioned having a couple of beers going at the same time, which means even more equipment.
My wife found a guy in Holt, MI getting out of the hobby. I picked up a lot of equipment pretty inexpensively from his Craigslist posting:
- Buckets for primary fermentation
- Carboys for secondary fermentation
- Auto syphon
- Capper
- Pot
- Utensils
- Thermometers
- Hydrometers
- Flavorings
- Priming Sugars
- Copper Wort Chiller
- Cooler Lauter Tun (grain Extraction)
- and enough bottles to store them all in.
Today I'm calling my day 1 though technically it's my second beer. Today, however, is my first attempt at an all grain batch as opposed to creating a beer from malt extract. I found a recipe online for a clone of the Newcastle Nut Brown Ale. I'm pretty stoked.
I went to a place called Adventures in HomeBrewing.
And picked up these ingredients.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)