Beer Name: Maibock ( ~ Rogue Dead Guy clone (Zymurgy) with lager yeast)
Click pic for larger version.
Grains:
1 lb Crystal 20 L
Malt
Extract: 6 lbs Pale LME
~ 2 lbs Muntons Extra Light Plain DME
Hops:
1 oz Perle 9% AA 60 min
1 oz Saaz 3.6% AA 3 min
Misc.:
made .5 gallon yeast starter
5 gallons of Cub water
Yeast: White Labs German Bock Yeast WLP 833
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 01/05/04 1/19/04 03/10/04
Gravity: 1.064 1.026 1.025
% Alcohol: 8.5 3.5 3.3
% Sugar: 16 7 7
Temp of reading: 66 56 58
Notes:
01/05/03 Aerated with pump quite a bit. Hopefully it will be starting to ferment by the morning. Right now it is in room about that's 60 degrees. I'll move it to a 50-degree room in morning.
01/15/04 Took readings. Adjusted to 60, it was 1.027 so I moved to a room that is 54 degrees to begin diacetyl rest. It was 48 degrees. After a day or so I might move it to a warmer room.
01/19/04 Are all my gravities destined to be too high? This sucks. It was bubbling once per second for a day or so. I think I will stop using yeast nutrient. Maybe it's doing more harm than good. It doesn't make any sense why this did not drop lower, or why my Doppelbock didn't either. But at least they both taste all right.
03/10/04 Bottled 12 bottles with 4 prime tabs each. Very, very clear, dark golden color. Sweet, lager aroma. Tastes like a good Maibock with a slight hint of alcohol. Man, this should be great.
09/22/04 Still have few bottles in fridge, laagering this entire time. I've had one now and then and it is continually getting smoother and better.
Beer
Name: Pilsner Urquell clone (CloneBrews)
Click pic for larger version.
Grains: .5 lb Moravian Pils
2 oz Durst Munich
4 oz Durst Light Crystal 20 L
(actual
suggested grains: .5 lb German Light Crystal 2.5L and 2 oz German Munich)
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Muntons Extra Light DME
Hops: 3 oz Saaz 3.6% AA (60 min)
1 oz Saaz 3.5% AA (15 min)
(omitted 1 oz Saaz aroma)
1 oz Saaz dry hop
Misc.:
Cub Foods water - 5 gallons
Yeast: Wyeast 2278 Czech Pils Lager. 3 pint yeast starter made 2 days prior.
Brew Date: Gravity check Rack to
Secondary: Keg Date:
Date: 01/24/04 02/05/04 02/07/04 3/21/04
Gravity: 1.060 (s/b 1.056) 1.020 1.018 1.015
% Alcohol: 8 2.5 2.3 2
% Sugar: 15 5 4.5 4
Temp of reading: 58 48 62 60
Notes:
01/24/01 Aerated well with aquarium pump and shook carboy a couple times too. Color is murky muddy brownish green. Lots of hops floating around. Tried to make it as light in color as possible. We'll see what it looks like when it's poured into a glass.
02/05/04 Moved to 60 deg. room after taking readings. Will leave there for 2 days. Taste is ok. Full flavor with some edge. I believe the laagering process will smooth it out and it should be good.
03/21/04 Hmm. Dropped a few more points. That's good. Color is nice and light, possibly the lightest I've made. Not really able to get hop aroma off sample that sat for a while, just malt. Taste is very nice. It has mellowed some. My plan is to let it carbonate slowly at 10 psi for a week or so, allowing it to lager even more in the fridge. The alcohol content is kind of high at 6%, but this is going to be some good stuff.
Beer
Name: Alaskan Smoked Porter
(Zymurgy clone)
Click pic for larger version.
Grains: 2.0 lb Peated (Smoked) Malt (NB did not have Weyermann at the time)
1.0 lb Crystal malt (medium dark)
.5 lb Chocolate malt
.5 lb Black Patent
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Pale LME
Hops: .8 oz (recipe .75 oz) Chinook for 60 min. 10.5% AA
1 oz (recipe .75 oz) Kent Goldings 15 min 6.1% AA
.2 oz Chinook (not on recipe) 15 min
Misc.:
boiled for 15 min before adding Chinook hops so 75 min boil total (recipe:
75-90 min)
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American ale. made 2 pint starter 2 days prior.
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 02/07/04 02/12/04 02/26/04
Gravity: 1.064 1.027 1.026
% Alcohol: 8.2 3.8 3.5
% Sugar: 16 7 7
Temp of reading: 66 68 62
Notes:
02/07/04 Partial mashed 4 lbs grain at 152 for 1 hour. Seemed to work because I hit the target OG.
**First time using pure O2 aeration setup. Blasted at mixed amounts of low and high for almost 2 min. Wasn't used to not seeing as big of bubbles and splashing. No signs of fermentation after 6 hours, but this morning, 11 hours after pitching, I had 1/4 ? krausen. So? I think a shorter lag time, maybe 7 hours?
02/12/04 It was down to bubbling once every 50 seconds. I wanted to rack it today so I could give it 2 weeks until bottling. Why didn't it ferment lower? Bad yeast? Do I have to rouse the yeast all the time? That is something I don't do much any more. It makes no sense why a yeast starter and pure O2 can not help a batch fully ferment. Good news is the taste is great. Very smoky! Also sweet. Quite tasty. If it doesn't ferment more I wonder if I should use less priming sugar when bottling so it doesn't become over carbonated. How frustrating.
02/26/04 Bottled entire batch. Got 50 bottles worth. Everything went well. Good smoke aroma and taste. Sweet and smooth with just a touch of dry peated finish at end, almost a touch of oak chips. Should be tasty when carbonated.
03/28/04 This stuff is good. It has a fairly strong but not overpowering smoke aroma and taste. The base porter is tasty as well. I have not done a side by side with the real thing yet, but on its own it's good stuff.
04/26/04 Man oh man. It is now smoother and really tasty. Doing a side by side taste test (see above pic) it's very interesting. Of course I did not do the alder-smoked malt that they use. I used peated malt, so the smokiness does taste somewhat different. But the base porter is very similar, kind of creamy with a nice sweetness. If I could replicate their smoked malt, mine would be even closer. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
09/20/04 Had some of one the other week. It was better than ever. Still have maybe 4 bottles. I see NB now has a non-peated smoked malt. Next time I will try that.
Beer
Name: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone
(modified Zymurgy recipe)
Click on pic for larger version.
Grains: .5 Crystal 20 L
.5 Carapils 6 L
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Pale LME
1 lb Light DME
Hops: 1 oz Perle 9% AA 60 min
1 oz Perle 20 min
.5 oz Cascade 5.4% AA 15 min
.5 oz Cascade 5 min
1 oz Cascade dry hop
Misc.: Just used tap water this time.
? teaspoon yeast nutrient 15 min
Yeast: Wyeast American Ale 1056. Did not make starter. Used large smack pack.
Aerated for ~ 75 seconds with pure O2.
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 3/21/04 03/27/01 04/14/04
Gravity: 1.053 1.020 1.015
% Alcohol: 7 2.7 2
% Sugar: 12.5 5.5 4
Temp of reading: 64 60 66
Notes: 3/21/04. Everything went well I think. 8 hours and no sign of fermentation but that is expected with no starter. Hopefully by the morning it will be going. Wanted to try to make this simpler so I did not make a starter and just used my tap water. It will be interesting to see if it still turns out very good.
03/27/04 Was still bubbling once/5 seconds but I wanted to do barley wine today. Now that it is racked to secondary, it is still bubbling once/5 seconds so I think it is fermenting a little more. Taste was ok but I could tell it was not quite done yet.
04/14/04 It was bubbling a lot in the secondary so I'm glad to see that the gravity dropped some more. Interesting as I did not make a yeast starter for this and just used tap water. Maybe Cub water prevents my beer from fermenting as low? Anyway, smell and taste are good but it will need some carbonation and a week or so in the keg. The bitterness is different than SNCA (Chinook) or Two Heated (Centennial), maybe due to Perle hops as bittering. I bottled 10 bottles with 4 prime tabs each and kegged the rest.
09/05/06 I don't know how well this compares to the original, but it was the most drinkable and best tasting one of the few I've done.
Beer
Name:
Click pic for larger version.
Grains: 1 lb pale
1 lb 45L Crystal. Steeped/mashed at 150 deg. for ~ 1
hour.
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Amber LME
6 lbs Gold LME
1.5 lbs Light DME
Hops: 1 oz Nugget 12.1 %AA (90 min)
1 oz Cascade 5.4% AA (90 min)
1 oz Cascade 5.4% AA (dry hop)
1 oz Centennial 9.7% AA (dry hop)
Misc.: Aerated with pure O2 for 1 min 45 sec. Used 5 gallons of water from Cub.
Yeast: Harvested yeast from SNPA above. See this Yeast Wash page. Wyeast 1056.
Added 1 pack dry Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast into secondary with dry hops. Rehydrated for 15 min in 3 oz of 105 deg. water, per instructions.
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 03/27/04
04/11/04
06/25/04
Gravity: 1.100 1.030 1.028
% Alcohol: 13 4 3.6
% Sugar:
Temp of
reading: 64
Notes:
03/27/04 Well, so far so good. I wanted to get up to 1.100 and I hit it right on. After 1 hour of pitching the yeast slurry, I had a bubble in the blow-off bucket. Hours later, it had some bubbles forming on the surface. About 12 hours later it had 1" krausen. So I'd say that whatever I did at least I got an adequate amount of yeast in the batch. I have high hopes for this batch.
04/11/04 Sweet, edgy taste. Alcohol warmth. Bitter finish. Not quite done fermenting, tasted yeast? Maybe from dry yeast I just added. Alcohol nose too but that is to be expected as it is so young. 9% alc so far. Happy with gravity I guess. Would love it to ferment a little more with champagne yeast I just added. Good start.
06/19/04 Readings at 65: 1.028, 3.6, 7. So it fermented a touch more. 9.4% alc. Original BW is 9.6 so close enough. I believe I used Cub water for this so with that considered, the FG is pretty decent.
Taste is very, very nice. In fact, as it stands right now it seems to be dead on with the original -- deeply bitter with a firm malt backbone. Wonderful stuff already. Don't think it will ferment any more so I'll bottle it soon.
07/22/04 Cracked first 6 oz bottle after 3 weeks of carbonating and it was carbonated. Taste was great, if a bit smoother than when bottling. At bottling time it was deeply bitter and tasted just like BFBW. Should age nicely.
01/16/05 Did a side by side with the real thing. It's actually very close. Mine has a little more hop aroma but the real one is a little cleaner and crisper in taste. Both have similar bitterness, mouthfeel, and overall impression. I'm very pleased with this recipe and how mine turned out.
Beer
Name:
Click pic for larger version. This wit goes down great on a sunny summer day.
Grains: 4 oz flaked wheat (NB did not have flaked so I used Durst Wheat)
4 oz Belgian Aromatic (I used Dingemans 19L)
Malt Extract: 3 lbs Muntons Wheat DME
2.66 lbs Muntons Extra Light DME (I had used 1 cup for starter)
Hops: .75 oz Willamette 4.3% AA (60 min) (I maybe used a touch more)
.5 oz Willamette (15 min)
.25 oz Cascade (2 min) (I used rest of 2 oz of Willamette I had)
Misc.: .75 oz Belgian Bitter Orange Peel (15 min) (I used about .5 oz)
1 tsp crushed Coriander seeds (15 min)
.5 oz Belgian Bitter Orange Peel (2 min)
1 tsp crushed Coriander seeds (2 min)
Yeast: Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier. Made 2 pint starter 22 hours prior from Wyeast Activator smack pack (first time using that kind of pack)
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 05/01/04
Gravity: 1.053 1.013 1.012
% Alcohol: 7.1 1.9 1.6
% Sugar: 13.5 3.5 3
Temp of
reading: 66
Notes:
05/01/04 Used all tap water as I'm continuing to see if the Cub water was preventing my beer from fermenting as low as possible. That, combined with starter and 1 min of Pure O2 should get me to a good FG. I had vigorous activity and over 1" krausen the morning after brewing, about 15 hours after pitching. Don't know what actual lag time was. Listened to Jesus Lizard Liar, Blue, and Lash while brewing.
05/10/04 Jesus Lizard Down. Looks like the gravity dropped very well, and thus I will conclude that Cub water, while it tastes better, prohibits my beer from fully fermenting. Odd. Aroma=yeast. Taste=wit! So far, so good. Will be good with 2 weeks aging and then carbonation. Maybe I can find some real Celis White to compare it with. Color is pretty light and cloudy. Looks good.
05/23/04 Taste and aroma seem to have a more subtle citrus element than last year's wit. But overall, taste is good. Color is nice, light copper, and perhaps a little too clear for style. Should turn out fine.
06/14/04 Very good! A great summer drinking beer. Not sure if it's better than last year's but it might be. Great stuff. Will have to take a pic and get on this page soon.
Beer
Name:
Click pic for larger version.
Grains: none (NB Kolsch recipe does not contain any so I went by that)
Malt Extract: 9.3 lbs Gold LME
Hops: 1 oz Perle 9% AA (60 min)
1 oz Hallertau 5% AA (10 min)
Yeast: Wyeast 2565 Kolsch. Made 2 pint yeast starter 40 hours prior.
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 5/16/04
Gravity: 1.068 1.031 1.023
% Alcohol: 9 4 3
% Sugar: 17 8 6
Temp of reading: 62 60 68
Notes:
05/16/04 A friend of mine had bought NB's Maibock kit but never brewed it. He gave the ingredients to me. Since the hops were German I thought I'd brew a German style. I was not going to be able to use the lager yeast. I was also thinking of something for the summer, but because the extract was not wheat, I decided to use a Kolsch yeast. This beer will be higher in alcohol and darker than a normal Kolsch, but it was basically free. Aerated with pure O2 for ~ 1 min. It is in a 60 degree room right now.
05/29/04 Alcohol and malt aroma. Clean, sweet taste. Not quite done fermenting, I hope. Will keep at 65 for a while and see if it keeps bubbling.
06/05/04 Readings at 65 deg: 1.025, 3.5, 6.5. It formed a krausen in secondary and kept fermenting. Might be fermenting more still.
06/14/04 Decided to go ahead and keg. Bottled 16 bottles (10 for Pete) with prime tabs. I hope it was totally done fermenting. It had been 4 weeks since brew day. To protect against over carbonated bottles I used 3 prime tabs instead of 4. I'll have to see if they are adequately carbonated but I would think so. Taste was good. Basically a mostly clean malty taste. Not much hop aroma or flavor but that is to be expected for what I brewed. We'll see how it is in a couple weeks.
Beer Name: New Glarus Belgian Red clone (North American Clone Brews)
Click pic
for larger version. HERE
is a side-by-side picture.
Grains: 1 lb Pale
1 lb Crystal 50 L
1 lb Wheat (partial mash of grains at 150 deg for 60 min.
sparge 1 gallon of 170 deg. water)
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Wheat LME -should be 6.75. I was going to add some DME but forgot. :(
Hops: 1 oz Hallertau 5% AA (60 min) -recipe says 6 AAU aged hops, any variety
Misc.: 1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient 15 min
6 lbs fresh cherries in secondary.
Yeast: 3942 Belgian Wheat Wyeast. made .25 gallon starter 2 days prior.
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary: Thirdary:
Keg Date:
Date: 06/19/04
06/26/04
07/24/04
Gravity: 1.058 1.018 1.018 "
% Alcohol: 7.7 2.25 2.25 "
% Sugar: 15.5 5 5 "
Temp of
reading: 60*
Notes:
06/19/04 Readings taken at 76 deg but calibrated to 60.
Couple of blunders. Forgot to add some DME so OG is off from what recipe calls for (1.065). Also, did something new. Added LME with 15 min left of boil. This allowed me to finish with more volume than usual. The wort did not cool down as quickly in the ice bath and so temp was 78. I put carboy in 65 deg room for 30 min. Dropped to 76. Aerated with pure O2 1 min and pitched yeast.
Color is darker than I would have liked. Maybe I should have used Wheat DME. I guess if beer turns out, I can do it again another time.
06/26/04 Tastes like a wheat beer and is a good enough base. Pasteurized cherries in brew kettle at 160 for 25 min. Pushed them into 6 gallon secondary and racked beer onto it. Readings after adding fruit: 1.021, 3, 6. (74 degrees). This sample tasted pretty much like beer, so I don't think it was very well mixed. I would expect it to have been a little higher after adding it to the cherries. Cherries amounted to .5 gallons. Put in 65 degree room and left blow off tube on. (After a few hours it formed a 2" krausen).
07/24/04 Per instructions, racked to another vessel for clarification. Taste was slightly tart. Seems like all the sugar from the cherries was fermented. I hoped for some residual sweetness. Maybe I will kill the yeast, and add some cherry juice concentrate at kegging time, if such a thing exists. I would like it to be a touch sweeter. In fact, right now I would say it is bordering on too tart for most people, possibly including me. It's drinkable but not what I had hoped for. No real cherry aroma either. Would need a LOT more cherries, now I know. Otherwise it tastes like a decent wheat beer with a Belgian flavor. Faint alcohol note. No real way to estimate alcohol %.
07/29/04 I spontaneously decided to keg this before I leave for my trip. I added 1 can of apple/cherry juice concentrate to try to sweeten it a bit. I also added potassium sorbate to stop yeast from consuming new sugar. After it was in keg, the taste sample was actually pretty good. It was still somewhat tart, but had a sweet balance. Maybe there is hope for this batch after all. I did the blunder of forgetting to bleed the relief valve. I was distracted by showing Mike how to do it. Luckily Paul was there and reminded me. It was only 30-60 seconds after I pressurized it so I doubt much negative impact will have happened.
09/22/04 Getting a little smoother and better with extra time. I picked up the keg the other day and was surprised to see how heavy it was. There's more left than I expected.
10/17/04 Finally ran out today. Ended up being quite nice. It kept getting better. I think next time I would go for maybe some real cherry concentrate or something, and try to get a little more potent cherry flavor. It ended up being somewhat sweet, but maybe just a touch more sweetness would make it more like the real thing and a little nicer.
Beer
Name:
Click pic for larger version.
Grains:
1/8 lb Black Patent
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Pale LME
1 lb Light DME
1 lb Honey (15 min)
Hops: 2 oz Cascade 5.4% AA (60 min)
1 oz Saaz 3.0 % AA (2 min)
Misc.: orange zest from 4 oranges (15 min)
3 tsp ground cinnamon (15 min)
1 oz ginger root, grated (15 min)
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale - 2 pint starter made 28 hours prior
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 6/27/04
Gravity: 1.060 1.014 1.014
% Alcohol: 8 2 2
% Sugar: 15 4 4
Temp of
reading: 68
Notes:
06/27/04 Everything seemed to go well. Aerated with pure O2 for 90 sec.
07/05/04 Wow a good complete fermentation. 76.7% attenuation. Lighter in color than batch from 2002. Strong spice taste, dry finish. Not as sweet as other batch either. Will age nicely.
10/03/04 Bottled 6 bottles for aging and kegged the rest. Tasted nice. Starting to smooth out a little already but still plenty spicy.
Beer Name: Three Floyds Alpha King clone (based on July/Aug 2004 Zymurgy)
Click pic
for larger version.
Grains: 1 lb Simpsons Medium Crystal 60 L
.5 lb Digeman's Caramunich
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Pale LME
1.66 lbs Light Muntons DME
Hops:
.5 oz Warrior (?? AA% -recipe says s/b 17%) 30 min (ordered Warrior and Centennial from More Beer).
1 oz Centennial 8.4 AA % 5 min
.5 oz Warrior dry hop
.5 oz Centennial dry hop
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale. 2 pint starter made 31 hours prior.
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Bottle Date:
Date: 07/11/04
Gravity: 1.063 1.018 1.015
% Alcohol: 8.25 2.5 2
% Sugar: 15.5 5 4
Temp of
reading: 66
Notes:
07/11/04 Everything went well. This is 2nd trade beer with Mike and Paul, who are also doing IPA's. Had fermentation within 6 hours of pitching. Carboy is at 70 now and room is at 72. Might have to do ice bath trick to keep temp down.
07/19/04 Color is great, light caramel. Aroma was nice (and will get better) but taste was wonderful. Great hoppy, bitter, and malty taste all at once. Lingering bitterness in finish, I assume due to higher AA% bittering hops. Should turn out great.
08/30/04 It dropped a few more points. Glad I didn't force it into the bottle before my Europe trip. Taste is wonderful, as before. Good, deep bitterness with great malt presence. Beautiful color too. I still have high hopes for this one. It does not taste like any other IPA I have made, possibly due to the different hops.
09/19/04 Did side by side tasting with real TFAK. Wow. Closest to real beer a clone recipe has ever come. Man is this good stuff. So far this is probably one of the best balanced, most enjoyable beers I've made.
Beer
Name:
Click on pic for larger version.
Grains:
1.25 lbs Medium Cyrstal (50 L)
- mashed grains at 150-160 for 60 min. Rinsed with 170 deg. water.
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Light Muntons DME (recipe: 5.5 lbs)
Hops: 1 oz Cascade 5.4 % AA (90 min)
1 oz Kent Goldings 6.1% AA (90 min)
1 oz Cascade 5.4 % AA (30 min)
1 oz Cascade 5.4% AA (dry hop) (recipe: 4 AAU Cascade, 4 AAU Goldings)
Yeast: Wyeast 1098 British Ale yeast. 2 pint starter 36 hours prior
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 07/19/04
Gravity: 1.065 1.018 1.012
% Alcohol: 8.7 2.5 1.5
% Sugar: 16 5 3
Temp of
reading: 66
Notes:
07/19/04 Hot as hell in the kitchen. 86 deg in dining room, and kitchen was much hotter than that. 90 min boil too. This will be Fundraiser beer. Everything went well. Was fermenting with 1/2" krausen this morning. Carboy was 68. Put couple ice jugs in Rubbermaid tub fermenter is sitting in. Aerated with pure O2 for ~ 90 sec.
07/26/04 Lingering bitterness in finish, husky grain aroma. Definitely British IPA style. Not super great at this point but with time, carbonation, and slightly chilled I think it will go down well, especially in big gulps. It is possible that the temps got a little too warm during the mash and extracted some grainy flavors. Wonder how the 90 min boil affected it too.
09/06/04 Bottled 6 bottles with 4 prime tabs. Kegged rest for fundraiser. Taste has come along a bit. Less husky grain taste, more hop bitterness. Also, can still tell it is a British IPA. Should turn out all right.
Beer
Name: Bell's Two Hearted clone
BYO 09/04
Click pic for larger version.
Grains:
1.0 lb 2-row Pale
2.0 lbs Vienna
.5 lbs Crystal 10L
.33 lbs CaraPils 6L
Malt Extract: 4.5 lbs Muntons Light DME
Hops: 5.5 AAU Centennial 60 min
1 oz whole 5.7% AA
5.5 AAU Centennial 45 min 1 oz whole 5.7%
AA
5.5 AAU Centennial 30 min 1 oz whole
5.7% AA
5.5 AAU Centennial 15 min .5 oz
pellet 8.4% AA
.33 oz Centennial 0 min
omitted
.33 oz Centennial (dry hop)
.75 oz whole 5.7% AA
Misc.: used all non-filtered St. Paul tap water
Yeast: Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) made 2 pint starter 30 hours prior
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Bottle Date:
Date: 08/28/04 09/06/04 09/17/04
Gravity: 1.052 1.012 1.011
% Alcohol: 6.7 1.5 1.5
% Sugar: 13 3 3
Temp of
reading: 62
Notes:
08/28/04 Did partial mash at 152 deg for 45 min. That went well, but directions said not to sparge, so I didn't. I probably left some sugar in the grains. Target OG is 1.058. Oh well. Had fermentation within about 3 hours. Is fermenting at 72 degrees right now. Seems to be off to a good start. First time using whole leaf hops. Strained as much as I could out of the brew kettle at end of boil. Some still made it into fermenter.
09/06/04 Labor Day. Racked onto ~.8 oz whole leaf hops Centennial. Wow. Fermented pretty low. Consequently it is not as sweet as last batch. Good, fermentable wort. used St. Paul tap water, unfiltered. Taste was pretty good, more like all grain brew, less viscous or sweet.
09/17/04 Tasted pretty darn good going into the bottle. Tastes better now than it did earlier. Should turn out all right. Bottled it so I can take half of it on the campout in 3 weeks.
Beer
Name:
Click pic for larger version.
Grains:
.5 lb Digemans Carapils 6L
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Pale LME
1 lb Muntons Light DME
Hops: .7 oz Simcoe (AA% ? assumed 13%) 60 min
.7 oz Simcoe 20 min
.3 oz Simcoe 15 min
.3 oz Simcoe 5 min
1 oz Cascade 5.4 %AA Dry
Misc.: used St. Paul nonfilterted tap water. Used yeast dregs from Bell's Two Hearted clone brewed last weekend.
Yeast: Wyeast 1272 American Ale II
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 09/06/04 09/16/04 10/17/04
Gravity: 1.055 1.016 1.012
% Alcohol: 7.2 2 1.8
% Sugar: 14 4 3
Temp of
reading: 64
Notes:
09/16/04 Holy grapefruit and pine aroma and taste. Wow. Simcoe hops definitely have a unique flavor. Should be pretty interesting.
10/17/04 Hmm. Another batch that dropped substantially in the secondary. I could keg it because the Cherry Wheat finally disappeared. I've been giving away and drinking tons of the stuff. Today the hop bitterness is more of a peppery orange, citrus type of taste. Very nice. Quite light in color and rather clear. Bitter finish. Should be great for drinking full glasses.
Wine Name: Riesling Vintners Reserve
Click pic
for larger version.
Extract: 2 gallons juice + other misc preservatives, etc.
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary:
Bottle Date:
Date: 09/09/04 09/17/04 10/20/04
Gravity: 1.082 1.022 .998
% Alcohol: 10.8 3 -.3
% Sugar: 20 6 -.5
Temp of
reading: 74
Notes:
09/09/04 First wine! Man was that easy. I was done in one hour. I used water from my tap run through my faucet filtering system. I read that filtered water would be best, and I'm not worried about low attenuation like I sometimes am when using filtered water for beer. Everything went according to instructions and pitched yeast at a perfect 74 degrees (supposed to be 65-75). Have it in a 70 degree room. Hit target OG after stirring it up good enough. Aerated with pure O2 for 45 seconds. So far so good I guess.
09/14/04 1.040, 5.2, 10.5. After 5 days, not ready to transfer. Hopefully it will be soon (supposed to be down to 1.010-1.020 and then transfer to secondary where it will drop below 1.000).
09/17/04 Couldn't really wait any longer to rack it as I would not have had time for a few days. I think it should be ok. There was not that much trub to leave behind. Still bubbling away in secondary.
09/30/04 .998, -.3, -.5 68 deg. Starting to taste like wine. Kind of harsh, but it will mellow. Will check gravity in a few more days to see if it has finished fermenting. 11% alcohol now, just right.
10/20/04 Used synthetic corks and the floor corker. Worked fine. Got 29.5 bottles. Taste is decent but definitely young. I guess so far so good. Listened to the Red Sox complete their amazing comeback against the Yankees in game 7. HERE are some pics from the night.
05/28/05 The wine is coming along pretty well. It has a very slight sweet taste with a mild tart presence. It is much smoother than it was, but still, I am wondering if even more aging will benefit it. I am not drinking it very fast for a couple reasons. First, I can't see it starting to go bad any time soon, and secondly, I am thinking that the longer it ages, the better it will get. It's my first wine so I don't know for a fact that this will be the case but I hope so.
Beer
Name:
(recipe to brew 4 gallons, and add 1 gallon of coffee at bottling/kegging time)
Click pic for larger version.
Grains:
.5 lb chocolate
.5 roasted barley
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Dark LME
1 lb Plain Light DME
1 lb Plain Dark DME
( omitted 1 lb Ghiradelli Select Brown chocolate powder )
Hops: 1.5 oz Northern Brewer 10% AA 60 min (recipe calls for 7.5% AA)
.5 oz Northern Brewer 10% AA 15 min
Misc.: .5 lb espresso beans, fine ground, brewed to 1 gallon of coffee
(ended up using about .3 lb in about 3/4 gallon. Didn't want to use the full amount this first time).
Yeast: Wyeast 1056. made 2 pint starter from XL smack pack 24 hours before.
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 09/21/04 09/27/04 10/27/04 10/27/04
Gravity: 1.064 1.025 1.025 1.022
% Alcohol: 8.5 3.5 3.5 3
% Sugar: 16 7 7 6
Temp of reading: 65 68 60 60
Notes:
09/21/04 Used all St. Paul tap water, not filtered. Made 4.5 gallons. Took gravity of that. Will add .5-.75 gallons of coffee at bottling/kegging time. Not quite sure yet what I will do for that. Pitched at 9:30 pm. By 5:30 pm next day blow off tube was full, even with 4.5 gallons in fermenter. All is going well so far.
09/27/04 Harvested yeast for a possible future batch, but don't know what I would use it with. I wonder if the fact that it came from a stout would impart a roasted dark flavor into whatever beer it would be used in.
The sample had a thick mouthfeel. It was strong, a little hoppy. Had a slight sharp edge that will mellow.
Good enough start. Must be some remaining unfermentable sugars due to the grains.
10/27/04 Noticeable coffee aroma and, wow, solid coffee taste. Hmm. Maybe when it is cooled and carbonated the coffee taste will be toned down just a touch, which will be perfect. Used about 1/4 lb Dunn Brothers espresso blend to brew 3/4 gallon coffee. Added at kegging time and stirred well. After stirring, bottled 6 12oz bottles and 2 22oz'ers.
11/12/04 Had a full glass last night and took the picture. Very good stuff. I think I stumbled upon a very nice balance of coffee and stout. The coffee is definitely noticeable in the aroma and taste, but it is not overpowering. An entire glass goes down pretty easily. Also, there's a weird buzz as a result of even one glass. :)
Ciderr
Name:
Click on pic for larger version.
Fermentables: 5 gallons fresh pressed apple juice from Webber Orchard, Prior Lake
Misc.: zest 1 orange. 4 cinnamon sticks.
Yeast: Safale S-04 dried ale yeast.
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
*after sweetening*
Date: 10/31/04 11/08/04 07/13/05
Gravity: 1.052 1.005 1.014
% Alcohol: 7 .7 1.8
% Sugar: 13 1.5 3.5
Temp of reading: 68 68 70
Notes:
11/08/04 Slight yeasty smell. No orange or cinnamon flavor. Sour, tart, acidic. Not that pleasant yet not unexpected. Hopefully yeast element will fade. It is probably not done fermenting. I could have left it another week.
07/13/05 This baby has been aged. I added back the 1/2 gallon of cider I froze last fall, and did not ferment. I also added 2 cans of Old Orchard Apple Juice concentrate. I mixed it up well. The taste was very complex. In fact, I don't think with any other cider I have tasted as clearly the juxtaposition of tart apple flavor with the slight sweetness. The sample tasted very good. I wanted to keg it earlier in the year but did not get to it until now.
Beer
Name:
Click on pic for larger version.
Fermentables: 5 gallons fresh pressed apple juice from Webber Orchard, Prior Lake
Misc.: zest 3/4 lemon. 3 cinnamon sticks. juice of lemon in secondary.
Yeast: Red Star Premier Cuvee Dry Wine Yeast
Brew Date: Rack to Secondary: Keg Date:
Date: 10/31/04 11/08/04 12/09/04
Gravity: 1.050 1.002 1.002
% Alcohol: 6.5 .5 .5
% Sugar: 12.5 .5 .5
Temp of reading: 68 68 60
Notes:
11/08/04 Cleaner taste than #1. This was the wine yeast and I would say it was probably better to use this one. Well, that's part of the experimentation. Hint of sourness from lemon juice. I squeezed the lemon juice into a pan, poured some cider into it, and held at 150 degrees for 10 minutes or so before adding back.
12/09/04 Added 1/2 gallon of unfermented cider. Added 1 can of concentrate. Mixed very well in keg. Gravity was about 1.011 at that point. Taste was still fairly sour so I added the 2nd can of concentrate. Taste was a little better. But now days after it has been in the keg, it has a lemon presence and it is not as sweet as last year. But I like it. It just takes a little getting used to, like my Cherry Wheat. I think it turned out pretty well and we'll see in another few weeks what it is like.
Beer
Name: Steamin' Wife Lager
Click on pic for larger version.
Grains:
.5 lb Durst Crystal 48 L
Malt Extract: 6 lbs Pale LME
1.33 lbs Muntons Light DME
Hops: 1 oz Santiam 5.1% AA 60 min
1 oz Northern Brewer 10% AA 60 min
1 oz Santiam 5% AA 15 min
1 oz Cascade 5.7% 2 min
Yeast: White Labs San Francisco Lager. Pitchable tube. Made starter 2.5 days prior.
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 11/19/04 11/30/04 01/01/05
Gravity: 1.056 1.024 1.019
% Alcohol: 7.5 3.2 2.5
% Sugar: 14 6.5 5
Temp of reading: 68 58 60
Notes:
11/19/04 Aerated with pure O2. Was gone for 24 hours, but when I came back it was already in the blow off! Temperature is 64 so just right. So far so good. The Santiam hops were some I had gotten in a hop mail order. I thought I would switch up this recipe just a touch from past incarnations and see if I can tell a difference in the hops.
11/30/04 Another disappointingly high SG reading when racking to secondary. So, I took action and added two crushed Beano tablets. I want the gravity to drop at least 4 points, and maybe up to 8 or so. I had krausen in the blowoff tube after 24 hours so I had a vigorous and good fermentation. Just don't know what happened. The Santiam hops add a more pronounced citrus flavor. As of now I prefer the NB hops, but it is a long way from done, kegged, cooled, and carbonated.
12/28/04 Gravity reading: 1.019, 2.5, 5 at 56 deg. So it's dropped 5 points. Great. I'll just leave as is until I'm ready to keg it, which might even be this weekend. Taste was nice. Tasted basically the same as usual except for the different hop flavor provided by the Santiam hops. It's a little more pungent but I think will be fine.
01/01/05 At least it got below 1.020 this year. Taste is very nice. Pretty sweet and smooth but like I said, the Santiam hops give it a unique flavor. Should be good. Also, this year I remembered to burp the headspace on the darn keg!
Beer Name: Oktoberfest recipe based on http://www.byo.com/feature/1052.html
Click pic for larger version.
Grains: 1 lb Durst Dark Munich 15.5 L
.5 lb Durst Medium Crystal 48 L
Malt Extract: 7 lbs Bierkellar Premium German Malt Extract Unhopped Light (2 -3.5 lb cans)
.5 lb Muntons Light DME
Hops: 1 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker 3.3% AA 60 min
1 oz Mt. Hood 3.4% AA 60 min
.6 oz Tettnanger 2.3% AA 5 min
.4 oz Tettnanger 2.3 % AA 0 min
Yeast: White Labs Southern German Lager WLP 838. made 3 pint starter with 1.5 cups DME 3 days prior.
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 12/04/04 12/20/04 01/22/05
Gravity: 1.064 1.020 1.020
% Alcohol: 8.25 2.75 "
% Sugar: 16 5 "
Temp of
reading: 64 deg
Notes:
12/04/04 All went well. Aerated for 90 seconds. Did a partial mash sort of. Held at 150 for 30 min. Rinsed with 150 deg water. Seamed to get a few points from the mash. Also, pitched whole starter, so another 1.5 cups DME there. Hope the first lager of the year goes well. Oh, I tasted the Bierkeller extract and it did taste different than the usual stuff, with a little bit of a sweet malty twang that I could see would work well for this style. Here's hoping.
12/18/04 Just took a sample to see how it's doing. Been 2 weeks. Was happy to see down to 1.021 at 52 deg, so maybe even 1.020 at 60. Very nice taste. Somewhat strong and sweet, but with slight edge. Laagering will mellow that out nicely. Brought up to warmer temps for diacetyl rest.
12/20/04 Had at about 60 deg for a couple days but the gravity did not drop any. I guess that's fine. If it drops some during laagering, all the better. And if it does not it will still be all right. It's supposed to be a malty brew anyway.
05/28/05 Had the bottle pictured above last night. Still very tasty. Somehow I failed to take a picture when I had it on tap. It is aging well. Smooth and sweet and very enjoyable.
Beer
Name:
Click on pic for larger version.
Grains:
1 lbBriess Caramel 60L
Malt Extract: 7 lbs Muntons Extra Light DME
6 lbs Munich LME
3 lbs Cane Sugar
Hops: 1 oz Northern Brewer 10% AA (60 min)
.5 oz Hallertauer 3.3% AA (60 min)
1 oz Tettnang 2.3% AA (15 min)
.5 oz Hallertauer 3.3% AA (2 min)
Yeast: Entire yeast/trub mix from Oktoberfest above. White Labs Southern German Lager WLP 838 (alcohol tolerance listed as "medium" meaning 8-10%).
Bought 2 packets of Lavlin EC 1118 Champagne yeast to add when primary fermentation slows. (Also added one when racking to secondary, so 3 total).
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Bottle Date:
Date: 12/29/04 01/31/05 11/21/05
Gravity: 1.132 1.048 1.038
% Alcohol: 18 6.25 5.5
% Sugar: 31 12 10
Temp of
reading: 60
Notes:
12/29/04 Purchased ingredients and brewed with Mike. Well, we've created a monster. I woke up at 4:00 am and there was already blow off! That was 7 hours after pitching. Temp of carboy was 60. I moved to room that is 42. Hopefully cool temps will prevent us from losing too much beer. It will be extremely interesting to see how this experiment goes. If we can get down to 1.030 we will have a 14% alc beer, just like the original. What a way to end 2004.
01/17/05 Took readings yesterday. At 52 degrees it was 1.060, 8%, 15. That means it's 10% alcohol which, according to White Labs, maxes out this yeast strain. I wish I knew before we brewed it that the recommended Zurich lager yeast has an alcohol tolerance of 15%+. Oh well. Next time. I brought the beer up to warm up for a day and then I'll add the champagne yeast packets. The taste of the sample was actually better than we expected. It was weird to drink a beer that tasted like unfermented wort but was 10% alcohol. Still, so far so good.
01/31/05 Looks like we got 12 points out of the champagne yeast so far. We figured it was time to rack to secondary. We poured another pack of yeast that we had proofed in the bottom of the carboy and racked the beer onto it.
We also added 2 crushed Beano tablets because we think the yeast will need help getting those last 18 gravity points fermented. Taste was pretty good. We didn't notice the alcohol nearly as much as we'd expected, probably due to how much body the beer still had. I detected a slight warming in the throat after the beer had passed. Pretty good. We'll check it in another month.
04/07/05 Took a reading. 1.042, 5.5, 11. Taste was really nice, best yet. Strong, full malty taste, but clean. Tasted more like a finished beer now. Alcohol warming, but you don't really taste it.
08/06/05 Been four months since last sample. The beer has been around 70 deg this whole time and it only has gotten down to 1.040. Seems like that is about all the Beano can do. I'm considering adding more, but tablets or liquid? Not sure what to do just yet. I doubt adding more yeast would do any good. Taste was still good but would love to have it drop 10 more points.
08/11/05 Bought liquid Beano and added 8 drops ( 5 drops ~ 1 tablet). Swirled gently and we'll see what happens.
11/21/05 Doesn't look like the Beano did much. We added 1 packet of dry Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast, and just over 1/2 cup of corn sugar at bottling. Taste was still very nice. Smooth, sweet, silky, and slightly warming. We don't expect it to carbonate much at all, but the taste will still be good. Next time we use the right yeast!
10/18/06 Took above pic last night. Might take a better one later. The 2005 version is much better than this one. You can read the comments on it to see why. But this one is good in its own right. It is darker than the real one. The 2005 is is a little lighter and about the right color.
