Just submitted my first brew for competition. It's an American IPA bjcp style 14b. Turns out they need judges, so I put my name in there too. Of course I'm not allowed to judge in any category I'm entered in, so I can't influence the outcome of my entry.
So, come feb 12th, If you hoist a beer, send a good thought towards California, and my little " safeword" IPA brew.
Regardless, I'm looking forward to meeting fellow brewers, and the chance to try some great home-brews.
There's roughly 150-175 entries in this competition!
(Edit: I just found out our local contest received 289 entries!! Holy hats, thats great!)
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Trying a new beer.
Okay.. I have decided to strike out on my own.. I pulled together influences from a couple recipes, and then mutated it until it felt right to me.
With winter temps, and rain, and cold coming in, I thought a nice, sweeter ever-so-lightly flavored beer might be just the ticket. Hey, I know.. Lets try Vanilla!
Below is the first trial batch (5.5 Gal) of my very first "Vanilla Nut Brown Ale"
9 Lbs Domestic 2-row
2 Lbs German Pils
0.5 Lbs Chocolate malt
0.5 Lbs Crystal 60
1Oz N. Brewer (Pellet) -60 minutes
.5 Oz Cascade (Pellet) -15 minutes
.25 Oz cascade (Pellet) dry-hop
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale)
Extras:
2 Oz Dextrin Powder (added 15 min to end of boil)
1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise) added 5 minutes to end of boil)
Mash all grains at 151 for 60 minutes, sparge to get 6.5 gallons pre-boil.
Boil for 60 minutes, add the Vanilla 5 minutes prior to flameout, let steep for 10 minutes before chilling.
OG: 1.056
FG (Estimated): 1.015
ABV: 5.4%
IBU (Est.) 34
SRM (Est) 19l
My hope is the dextrin will give the beer a touch more mouthfeel, and head retention, so the feel is almost "creamy" .. I think creamy will work with vanilla better than dry. Also the hops are moderately low, but I know firsthand that a "beer float" with a good mild, pale ale, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream is pretty awesome. (Don't knock it until you've tried it!)
Its going to be epic. One way, or the other :)
-Jason
With winter temps, and rain, and cold coming in, I thought a nice, sweeter ever-so-lightly flavored beer might be just the ticket. Hey, I know.. Lets try Vanilla!
Below is the first trial batch (5.5 Gal) of my very first "Vanilla Nut Brown Ale"
9 Lbs Domestic 2-row
2 Lbs German Pils
0.5 Lbs Chocolate malt
0.5 Lbs Crystal 60
1Oz N. Brewer (Pellet) -60 minutes
.5 Oz Cascade (Pellet) -15 minutes
.25 Oz cascade (Pellet) dry-hop
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale)
Extras:
2 Oz Dextrin Powder (added 15 min to end of boil)
1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise) added 5 minutes to end of boil)
Mash all grains at 151 for 60 minutes, sparge to get 6.5 gallons pre-boil.
Boil for 60 minutes, add the Vanilla 5 minutes prior to flameout, let steep for 10 minutes before chilling.
OG: 1.056
FG (Estimated): 1.015
ABV: 5.4%
IBU (Est.) 34
SRM (Est) 19l
My hope is the dextrin will give the beer a touch more mouthfeel, and head retention, so the feel is almost "creamy" .. I think creamy will work with vanilla better than dry. Also the hops are moderately low, but I know firsthand that a "beer float" with a good mild, pale ale, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream is pretty awesome. (Don't knock it until you've tried it!)
Its going to be epic. One way, or the other :)
-Jason
Monday, January 24, 2011
Thus begins a new project.
I need to brew larger batches.. Pure and simple.. 5 Gals at a shot isn't cutting it anymore..
So, I played with Google SketchUps, and found that someone had published a nice drawing of a 3-tier stand (for converted keggles)
Above is the drawing , and below that, is the logo Im thinking about having made for it.. I found theres a local waterjetting facility that can cut that out of plate aluminum (or whatever material I could want)
Im not so sure about the logo and name, but the drawing looks pretty right on what I want to build...
Now, to source the metal as cheap as possible :)
So, I played with Google SketchUps, and found that someone had published a nice drawing of a 3-tier stand (for converted keggles)
Im not so sure about the logo and name, but the drawing looks pretty right on what I want to build...
Now, to source the metal as cheap as possible :)
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Holy hats! We have yeast!
Theres literally 10X the sediment in this flask than we started with.. A huge thick head of krausen,
Im going to let it settle out, pour off the liquid, and add a new 500mls of "food" (I call it proto-wort)
See after that, if theres enough yeast to pitch into 5 Gals.. I'm curious to see how this yeast will taste.. Probably going to try it in a batch of Safeword IPA. See if we cant really nail that Sierra Nevada flavor.
Im going to let it settle out, pour off the liquid, and add a new 500mls of "food" (I call it proto-wort)
See after that, if theres enough yeast to pitch into 5 Gals.. I'm curious to see how this yeast will taste.. Probably going to try it in a batch of Safeword IPA. See if we cant really nail that Sierra Nevada flavor.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Starting to play with yeast
So, as a proof-in-concept, I boiled about 500ml water, with 2 oz light dry malt extract, and 1/4tsp yeast nutrient.
I poured this mix into a sterilized flask (along with a sterilized magnetic stirbar) and let it cool to ~75.
Finally, I poured in the sediment off the bottom of 2 freshly opened, and poured Sierra Nevada Pale ales, and slapped on an airlock.
I've been mixing up the sediment every few hours to keep as much of it in suspension as possible.
Its been 24 hours, and things are looking promising. The airlock is full of gas, I can see tiny bubbles rising inside the liquid, and it smells pretty much like yeast in the airlock.
Im very curious to see if I can get a reasonable batch of yeast to grow from this tiny sample. I don't know if I'll actually use it in one of my beers, for now, I'm just playing.
I poured this mix into a sterilized flask (along with a sterilized magnetic stirbar) and let it cool to ~75.
Finally, I poured in the sediment off the bottom of 2 freshly opened, and poured Sierra Nevada Pale ales, and slapped on an airlock.
I've been mixing up the sediment every few hours to keep as much of it in suspension as possible.
Its been 24 hours, and things are looking promising. The airlock is full of gas, I can see tiny bubbles rising inside the liquid, and it smells pretty much like yeast in the airlock.
Im very curious to see if I can get a reasonable batch of yeast to grow from this tiny sample. I don't know if I'll actually use it in one of my beers, for now, I'm just playing.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Substitutions!
So, we brewed yesterday (Its kicked off, and bubbling away happily as I type this) another batch of our "Safeword" IPA. Its a good brew, not too bitter, tons of floral hoppiness (.75oz Cascade at flameout, and another .75oz dry-hopped when racking to secondary)
But, this batch, we had to make some changes, as our HBS was out of a good many things currently.
The original grist bill for the first Safeword IPA:
10.25Lbs American 2-row pale
.75 Lbs Crystal 60
Hops:
0.2 Oz Magnum -60 minutes
0.75 Oz Perle -60 minutes
1 Oz cascade -15 minuts
.75 Oz cascade @ flameout
.75 Oz Cascade dry-hopped
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 Amer. Ale
Well, our Homebrew supply was a little light when we dropped by there yesterday
We had to substitute the American 2-row for British 2-row
As well as substitute the Wyeast 1056 for Safeale US-05 (a dry yeast)
I have not yet used either of those ingredients, so Im interested to see what happens. I understand British 2-row is maltier in flavor than its American counterpart, so with any luck this IPA may come out more like Dogfishead IPA (who also uses British 2-row, I believe) and less like Sierra Nevada.
Taking the idea of a dogfishead style a bit further, we also upped the crystal 60 to a full pound, and added a full ounce of cascade to the wort at flameout.
The safeale US-05 was easy enough to use, sprinkle it on the cooled wort, and slap on an airlock.. I pitched the yeast, and 30 minutes later shook the carboy a bit to disperse the yeast.
Less than 24 hours, and its up to a bubble a second, so it looks good from here!
But, this batch, we had to make some changes, as our HBS was out of a good many things currently.
The original grist bill for the first Safeword IPA:
10.25Lbs American 2-row pale
.75 Lbs Crystal 60
Hops:
0.2 Oz Magnum -60 minutes
0.75 Oz Perle -60 minutes
1 Oz cascade -15 minuts
.75 Oz cascade @ flameout
.75 Oz Cascade dry-hopped
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 Amer. Ale
Well, our Homebrew supply was a little light when we dropped by there yesterday
We had to substitute the American 2-row for British 2-row
As well as substitute the Wyeast 1056 for Safeale US-05 (a dry yeast)
I have not yet used either of those ingredients, so Im interested to see what happens. I understand British 2-row is maltier in flavor than its American counterpart, so with any luck this IPA may come out more like Dogfishead IPA (who also uses British 2-row, I believe) and less like Sierra Nevada.
Taking the idea of a dogfishead style a bit further, we also upped the crystal 60 to a full pound, and added a full ounce of cascade to the wort at flameout.
The safeale US-05 was easy enough to use, sprinkle it on the cooled wort, and slap on an airlock.. I pitched the yeast, and 30 minutes later shook the carboy a bit to disperse the yeast.
Less than 24 hours, and its up to a bubble a second, so it looks good from here!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
SMaSH brew hiccup...
Just transferred the smash brew to secondary, after 2 weeks in primary... It was still way cloudy... Tasted it and got nothing but yeasty bready cider flavors.. Guess this lager yeast (Wyeast 2278, Czech pils.) moves a LOT slower than I expected. Gravity is down from 1.054 to 1.022 so far, I expect it will come down more as time goes on.. I think I'm gonna chill this a bit, keep it around 50F for a few weeks... Let's see what happens..
This means I need to buy another glass carboy, and perhaps another corney keg..
I love shopping for new brew hardware. I think I'll see if I can get a 15 gal conical fermentor for a reasonable price while I'm at it!
Still no brew yet...
Have been feeling a bit under the weather last couple days.. Homebrew helps..
I plan on racking the SMaSH brew over to secondary tonight.. Going to place the carboy in a corner where its coldest in the house to let it lager a bit.. Hope to get a taste of it tonight, and see where the gravity is.. I may, or may not let it warm up a bit the last couple days in secondary, to give it a diacetyl rest.. It depends on how much I taste at racking time..
I plan on racking the SMaSH brew over to secondary tonight.. Going to place the carboy in a corner where its coldest in the house to let it lager a bit.. Hope to get a taste of it tonight, and see where the gravity is.. I may, or may not let it warm up a bit the last couple days in secondary, to give it a diacetyl rest.. It depends on how much I taste at racking time..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)