Saturday, April 26, 2014

Evil Cousin Once-Removed

Brew #32

Today I went to the AHA rally at the Heretic Brewing Company in Fairfield, and was given 5 gallons of wort prepared by the brewers at Heretic.

One of the brewers shared that they use White Labs' WLP001 yeast for most of their brews, so that what I pitched into the wort upon getting it home.  And since I was told that the wort given away is similar to that they use for brewing their Evil Cousin -and since I am using the same strain of yeast- I am calling this beer "Evil Cousin, Once-Removed".

Ingredients
6 gals. of Heretic Brewery wort
2 vials White Labs WLP001

Procedure
Brought wort home
Pitched yeast

Fermentation notes
Gals. in fermenter: 6
4/26 Pitched yeast
4/28 Kraeusen blew out through ferm. lock
5/12 Racked to 2ndary fermenter
 5/26 kegged

Gals in keg: 5.5
OG: Not taken
FG: Not taken
ABV: Not calculated

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Martinez Mild Amber

Brew #: 31
Brew Date: 20 March 2014

Ingredients
7 lbs ultralight liquid malt extract
1 lb 60*L Crystal malt
4 oz Carafa II malt
1 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (bittering, @ 60 mins.)
1 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (flavoring, @ 10 mins.)
1 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (aroma, @ 1 min.)
1 tab. Whirfloc clarifier (@ 5 mins)
2 vials White Labs WLP001 California Common ale yeast
6 gals. distilled water
0.5 oz Northern Brewer hop pellets (dry-hopping addition)


Procedure
Put 2.5 gals distilled water into kettle.  Added grains in grain bag and let steep until water reached 170*F.
Removed grains, and raised heat to bring liquor to boil.
Once boiling, added malt extract.
Returned to boil and added hop pellets and clarifier at the minutes indicated from end of boil.
After 60 mins boil, removed from heat.  Cooled kettle with lid on in ice water bath.
Poured wort into fermentation bucker containing 2.5 gals of distilled water.  Added 1 gal. of distilled water to bring level up to 5.5 gals.


Gals. in kettle: 2.5
Gals. lost to boil: 0.5
Gals. in fermenter: 5.5


Fermentation notes
3/20 Pitched yeast at 76*F.
4/6 Transferred to secondary. Gallons in secondary: 5.  Tasting notes: Very low hop character, notable sweetness. (I wonder if the yeast crashed.)   Other: I noted that the lid to the bucket was not on securely.
4/8 Added a dry-hopping with 0.5 oz of N. Brewer hop pellets. (Let's see if we can give it a bit more of a nose and a tad more flavor).
4/10  Tasted again this afternoon. Watery, little hop character, no body, almost no flavor.  Threw it out.

O.G.: 1.036
F.G.: ----
ABV: ----