Tuesday, November 24, 2009

T'is the Holiday Saison

Brew #:23
Brew Date: 24 November, 2009

Recipe based on that developed for the mini-mash version of Brother Levonian saison ale.

Ingredients
6 lbs extra-light dry malt extract
2.0 lbs Vienna malt
1.0 lb flaked wheat
0.5 lb flaked oats
12.0 oz sugar
3.0 oz Saaz hops, 3.0% AA @ 60 min.
19 g. (0.67 oz) Glacier hops, 6.0% AA, @ 30 min.
1.0 oz Glacier hops, 6.0% AA, @ 20 min.
1/8 oz Glacier hops, 6.0% AA, @ 5 min.
1.0 oz Saaz hops, 3.0% AA, @ 0 min.
8.0 oz honey, @ 0 min.
0.5 oz fresh tangerine peel @ 0 min
0.25 tsp black pepper @ 0 min
0.25 tsp turmeric @ 0 min
0.5 oz Kent Goldings, 6.1% AA, dry hopping
2 vials of White Labs WLP565 Saison Ale Yeast

3.0-3.5 volumes CO2 in keg/ 5.4-6.6 oz corn sugar for bottling (for 5-5.5 gals).

Procedure
Placed grains in 1.3 gals of 151F water and held at between 151F and 164F for 70 mins.  Sparged into boiling kettle with 1.5 gals of 170F water, to make 6 gals in boil.
Added malt extract and sugar, and brought to boil.
Added 60-minute hops, and proceeded to add hops at times indicated above, however the 1 oz of Glacier hops added at 20 minutes was intended to be added at 5 minutes, thus the addition of the remaining 1/8 oz of Glacier hops at 5 minutes.  Added enough water to return volume to 6 gals.
At minute 0, turned off heat and added the honey, 1.0 oz Saaz hops, tumeric, pepper, and tangerine peel.
Cooled wort, and pitched yeast at 84F.

Gals in fermenter: 6
O.G.: not taken
F.G.:

Fermentation
11/24 Pitched yeast at 84F.  Set to ferment with FermWrap to keep temperature above ambient.
11/25 Temp. over 80F, detached FermWrap almost entirely.  Krausen evident.
11/26 Temp at about 76F.
11/30 76F
12/1  76F.  No evident fermentation.
12/3 Racked to secondary fermenter, with addition of 0.5 oz of 6.1%AA Kent Goldings hop pellets.
12/5 75F.  Active fermentation, airlock bubbling frequently.   Is this normal?  Effect of rousting the yeast?
12/13 Turned off FermWrap.
12/21 Kegged beer.

Gals. in Keg:  4.5

Thursday, November 19, 2009

American IPA

Brew #22
Brew Date: 15 Nov. 2009

Ingredients
  • 9 lbs ultralight liquid malt extract
  • 1.5 lbs Crystal 15°L malt
  • 1.5 oz Magnum hops (bittering)
  • 2 oz Cascade hops (flavoring)
  • 2 oz Cascade hops (aroma)
  • 0.5 oz Chinook hops, 12.1% AA (dry hopping)
  • 1 tablet Whirfloc clarifying agent
  • 2 vials of White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001)

Procedure 
- Steeped grains in grain bag at 170F - 171F for 30 minutes.
- Brought wort to boil and added malt extract
- Once back at boil added bittering hops
- At 45 minutes added Whirfloc
- At 53 minutes added flavour hops
- At 60 minutes added aroma hops, and turned off flame
- Cooled with wort chiller (NOTE: Stirring wort with wort chiller really reduces cooling time!)
- Pitched yeast at 85F

Gallons in fermenter: 6
OG: n/a
FG:

Fermentation:
11/16  65F  Evidence of foam, which had subsided.
11/18 64F
11/23 64F
11/24  Racked to secondary, dry-hopped with 0.5 oz Chinook (12.1% AA) whole-leaf hops
12/3 Kegged beer.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Porter

(Brew #21; Brewed January 19, 2009)

Based on MoreBeer! kit #170

Ingredients

8 lbs ultralight malt syrup

4 oz maltodextrin

1 lb Crystal 40°L malt

8 oz Black Patent malt

4 oz Chocolate malt

1 tablet Whirfloc clarifier

1 oz Glacier hops (bittering)

1 oz Cascade hops (aroma)

1 vial White Labs California Ale yeast (#WLP001)

Added grains in grain bag to 3 gals. cool water and allowed to steep until liquid reached 170°F. Removed grains and brought wort to boil.

Added malt extract and bittering hops. The kit instructions indicated adding the maltodextrin at this point but I forgot about it until minute 50 of the boil, so I added it then. I also added 2 gals water to make it a full-boil, and boiled for an additional 20 minutes.

Added bittering hops and boiled for an additional 1 minute, and removed pot from heat. Topped off with 1 gal distilled water.

Total boil time: 1 h. 16 min.

Pitched yeast at 84°F

Gals. in fermenter: 5