Sterling Pale Ale

Everyone was really impressed with the late hopped Sterling Pearl. It tasted so fresh and vibrant! With no additions longer than 20 minutes, it had a smooth and mild bittering with loads of hop flavor and aroma. I liked it so much that I'll make some minor alterations and give it another go. This kegged version will probably be consumed in record time, after all my fellow crew members have at it. An outdoor, Spring-time shindig with pot-luck, good friends, and fresh beer is just what we all need! Mmmmm...Good!

The biggest difference in this version will be the yeast and a small bittering hop addition. The vigorous late hopping in the Sterling Pearl was big and fresh, but it didn't have quite the bite that I'd like. I will also try out a sort-of continuous hopping by adding all the late hops in 5 minute intervals...see the schedule below.

American 1056 will ferment this pale ale, and hopefully I can keep the temperature below 70°F. I like how the Northwest Ale strain, fermented at around 62°F, gave the Sterling Pearl a refreshing lager-like taste.

Originally it was going to be a normal 6 gallon batch. Since its being brewed for a large group of beer thirsty co-workers and friends, there's no reason not to brew more. I've got the hops, so why not use them? This time I'll go for a volume record of 9 gallons. This should take my system very close to its maximum output. I think it will be well worth it, and ensure that absolutely everyone will get to have some.

I must send out a big thanks to Isaac for helping out the whole day, and to Kyle, Nathan & Fischer for assistance in the beginning. After adding the mash-out water, there was only about ½ - ¾ gallon of space left in the mash-tun. Should be able to take the system to 10-12 gallons, with the batch sparge method. I suppose fly sparging would result in much larger batches. I guess thats one good reason to fly.

Sterling Pale Ale

Grains
14.0 lbs. Organic 2-Row Pale Malt
1.15 lbs. Crystal 20L
0.75 lbs. Organic Crystal 60L
1.00 lbs. Flaked Barley
0.50 lbs. Belgian Biscuit
0.25 lbs. Belgian Aromatic

Hops
1.00 oz. Sterling, 5.3%, pellet, 60min
1.25 oz. Sterling, 5.3%, pellet, 25min
1.00 oz. Sterling, 5.3%, pellet, 20min
1.25 oz. Sterling, 5.3%, pellet, 15min
1.00 oz. Cluster, 7.9%, pellet, 10min
1.25 oz. Sterling, 5.3%, pellet, 5min
1.00 oz. Perle, 7.9%, pellet, KO
1.50 oz. Sterling, 5.3%, pellet, KO

Yeast
Wyeast 1056: American Ale (decanted from a 2 quart starter, then made into 1 cup krausen)

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 5/12/08
Racked: just primary
Bottled:

Water Adjustment:
Strike: 1.6 tsp Gypsum, 1.4 tsp CaCl, 1 tsp Epsom, 1.5 tsp Acid Blend
2nd Sparge: 1.6 tsp Gypsum, 1.4 tsp CaCl, 1 tsp Epsom

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.25qt/lb
Mash Ph: 5.4
Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 153°F/1hr
Mash Out Vol: 2.5 gal
Mash Out Temp/Time: 173°F/20min
1st Batch SG: 1.061

2nd Batch Sparge Vol/H2OTemp/MashTemp: 5 gal/175°F/169°F
2nd Batch SG: n/a

Pre-Boil Vol: 11 gal
Pre-Boil SG: 1.049
Boil Time: 90min
Post-Boil Vol: approx. 8.5 gal
Mash Efficiency: n/a

OG: n/a...approx. 1/057-1.064
IBU: approx. 45
Color/SRM: Golden/8
Ferment Temp: 65-70°F

FG:
ABW:
ABV:

Tasting Notes & Photo
coming in 4-6 weeks

Appearance:
Aroma:
Taste:
Mouthfeel:
Aftertaste:
Drinkability:

Worms Can't Get Enough

Thousand and thousands of hungry worms chow down on every last spent grain. Apparently, they can't get enough, so Mikey says. He's built up a hefty supply of red wigglers, and would love to sell you a pound if you like.

They are a thinner cousin of the basic sidewalkin-after-a-big-rainfall earthworm, but possess a much larger appetite. Vermicomosting is what he does. I'm happy to have someone willing to haul my weekly sac of spent grains far away, especially because it will be turned into something as great as the beer it originally made...black gold. Worm castings/compost is a nitrogen rich soil enhancer (at about 20-30%), and perfect in potting soils or for rejuvenating old garden earth.

It's Earth Day today. I figured this was an important subject to bring up. Brewing is hard physical and mental work. It takes hours of concentration, lifting, pouring, stirring, crushing, cleaning, etc. At the end of the day, lets face it, its difficult to imagine doing anything more besides downing a few brews during the whole process. But in fact, there is more work to be done to minimize the resulting environmental stress. There is a lot of waste when brewing beer like combustion-fuel/gas, water, spent grains & hops, yeast, CO2, sanitizing & sterilizing agents, bottle caps and old plastic hoses, plastic bags, and more. There are ways to reduce, and/or eliminate, most of these, but it takes thoughtfulness and action.

The Bearded Brewer in Minnesota has been writing about some of these issues, and has helped increase sustainable awareness in brewing. After reading about his efforts with water conservation, I decided to take action in some areas too. It's very important to take care of our small and fragile planet, and if I can't reduce and/or eliminate most of my brewing waste, then I'll have to find some other hobby that isn't so wasteful. The beer is tasting so darn good, so I'm pretty sure I will.

Take a look at other green ambitions
in a post earlier this year...

Sustainability 2008

Battle of the IPA's - North vs. South

A few weeks ago, Travis (CNYBrew.com) sent me a few bottles of his home brewed ales and lagers. At that time, I was very busy, and didn’t have any time to sit, drink, and give them the attention they deserved. Recently, I got an email from him asking if I had drunk the Lagunitas IPA clone. I didn’t. And that was a good thing, because he informed me that Jonathan over at (MNB - mondaynightbrewery.com) was sending me their Swashchuckler IPA. They both wanted me to be a judge to determine who made the better India Pale Ale. I’m not really all that much of a beer critic, but I was quite flattered to say the least.

So, I finally got to sat down with both beers with my good friend Erik. We were both eager to taste what the east coast home brewers had made. It was fun and tasty, and below are the tasting notes for each beer. I also would like to thank my wife Sarah for taking such great photos.

India Pale Ales are generally viewed as the most bitter and hoppy of ales. They are generally pale in color, assertively hopped, and have a malt backbone that supports its aggressive hop profile. There are definite differences among English and American styles. In this tasting, I feel like each beer sort-of represented each country.

Swashchuckler IPA by Monday Night Brewery

Appearance: Pours a deep golden color with amber hues and an even/light cloudiness. A ¾ inch white head fades quickly down to a ring of bubbles around the edge with slight lacing.

Aroma: Upfront there are sweet aromatics. Apricot, vanilla sweetness and fresh malts dominate. Then a mild hop after-presence comes through with some citrus notes and mostly reminiscent of English varietals.

Taste & Mouthfeel: Fairly balanced flavors favoring sweet/darker malts. Bitterness is present and soft verses sharp and cutting. Hop flavors come through much like in aroma and again suggest English in styling. Medium bodied with lower carbonation gives this ale a good mouthfeel.

Aftertaste: Pleasant malt finish without lasting bitterness on tongue. There does seem to be a lingering, yet clean, mineral taste perhaps from Georgian waters.

Overall Impression & Drinkability: An overall impression takes me to England. This version is darker and takes on a much sweeter flavor profile from what I guess is residual sugars from darker crystal malts. I also wonder if the yeast count was sufficient for this batch. Hopping levels are smooth and understated. The hop bitterness and bouquet is just short of assertive or clean & accurate enough for my taste. A pretty drinkable beer, and it's softer carbonation makes it feel more session-like.

Lagunitas IPA Clone by Travis

Appearance: Pours a nice pale golden color much like the real Lagunitas, with lots of carbonation creating a dense thick and frothy white head with strong staying power, and good lacing. There is a clarity to it, but has a more particulate cloudiness.

Aroma: Clean, strong citrus and subtle soft fruit hop scents, hint of sweetness.

Taste & Mouthfeel: Sharp citrus hop taste upfront lending to a nice simple malt secondary flavor. The bitterness is strong and dominates the overall experience. There is a clean and attenuated sweetness coupled with higher carbonation that makes this beer finish on the dry side. The mouthfeel is medium in body.

Aftertaste: Mostly bitter and quite assertive/almost harsh. I get a hint of sour quality coming from the citrus/lemon-like hop flavor, and combined with higher carbonation is reminiscent of a German Wiess (Hacker-Pschorr).

Drinkability & Overall Experience: Overall I think it is like a fusion of American pale ale and German Wiess. It is a bright and refreshing IPA, but fuller carbonation makes it a little difficult to put down, and may accentuate some of the sharp edges. An unrefined & edgy bitterness commands the palate, but does allow just a little malt to slide through.

Conclusion:

The Lagunitas IPA clone has a more unrefined “home-brewed” quality, it’s brighter and more bold in hopping, but is also a bit edgy. The Swashchuckler IPA is quite sweet, and has a mysterious finishing quality that tastes more balanced or “micro-brewed.” It was a little challenging to compare two beers that tasted so different, and I had to base my decision on the overall taste. Even though both could use definite adjustments in balance and refinement, and don’t come close to my Hop Blend IPA from 2007 (but that is a different story all together...ha ha ha!), I definitely favor the Lagunitas IPA clone by Travis.

Round 1 - ESB vs. American 2

This is the first round of a number of split brew sessions. London ESB is going head-to-head with American Ale 2 to win my preference as a good pale ale yeast strain. It will be a lot of fun finding out how they perform over a few rounds. Read about the break down of this experiment here.

For the first round, the beer style and hopping is a session-like English style bitter/amber. It may be a little light on the bittering hops, but should allow the yeast's fermentation characteristics to be more noticeable. The next rounds will either be higher OG's and/or higher IBU's. Below there is a list of grains for the main mash, then separate listings of hop schedules, followed by brewday stats. Check back in about 1-1.5 months for the final results, or there may be a special post highlighting the results of all these brews.

A couple challenges added almost 2 hours to the day. The lid was on tight during the first sparge. This caused a strange vacuum, that compacted the grains and stopped the flow. We added about a gallon of the second sparge water to mix the grains, vorlaufed, and we were on track again. Then, while adding the first hop addition to the 2nd batch...American 2 ale, Matt mistakenly added the 2nd addition at the beginning. So I made an adjustment, and added only half the original 1/2 ounce of Pheonix bittering hops. Other than that, it was a good brew day, and the OG's were just a couple points above target.

Grains
11. lb. Organic 2-row Pale
1.0 lb. Victory Malt
0.8 lb. Crystal 80L
0.6 lb. Crystal 120L
0.6 lb. CaraPils


London ESB

Hops (IBU 39)
.50 oz. Pheonix, 10%, pellet, 60min
.40 oz. Kent Goldings, 6.3%, whole, 25min
.40 oz. Kent Goldings, 6.3%, whole, 12min
.20 oz. Kent Goldings, 6.3%, whole, KO


American 2

Hops (IBU 40)
.25 oz. Pheonix, 10%, pellet, 60min
.35 oz. Glacier, 6%, pellet, 60min
.10 oz. Saaz, 2.3%, pellet, 60min
.35 oz. Glacier, 6%, pellet, 25min
.10 oz. Saaz, 2.3%, pellet, 25min
.40 oz. Glacier, 6%, pellet, 12min
.10 oz. Saaz, 2.3%, pellet, 12min
.25 oz. Glacier, 6%, pellet, KO


Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 3/20/08
Racked: just primary
Bottled: 3/30/08

Water Adjustment:
.5 tsp acid blend & 2.25 tsp gypsum in strike water
2.25 tsp gypsum in 2nd sparge water

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.3 qt/lb
Mash Ph: 5.5-5.6
Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 154°F/1hr
Mash Out Temp/Time: 172°F/10min

2nd Batch Sparge Vol/Temp: 4-4.5gal/172°F

Pre-Boil Vol: 5 gal each
Boil Time: 60min
Post-Boil Vol: 4 gallons each
Mash Efficiency: approx. 80%

Color/SRM: pale-amber/13
Ferment Temp: 68-72°F

ESB
OG: 1.052
IBU: 39
FG: 1.015
ABW: 3.9%
ABV: 4.86%

Amer. 2
OG: 1.052
IBU: 40
FG: 1.013
ABW: 4.1%
ABV: 5.1%

Navigate to
the other posts
in this series...

Intro
Round 2
Round 3
Finals

London ESB vs. American 2

Up next on the brewing radar is a slew of back-to-back split batches to find out how two yeast strains ferment similar batches of boiled wort. The results should be very interesting, hopefully leading to a solid understanding of their overall contribution and individuality.

Two 4 gallon batches will result from the runnings of one large mash. Each will have the same water profile, original gravity, and ferment side-by-side. Each will be hopped with different varietals, yet have a similar schedule and IBU level/ounces at each contribution. I don't mind changing the hops in a subtle way, because the yeast will still contribute a lot of character in these beers.

An important thing to remember when boiling split batches is to stagger them. As one batch is chilling, the final hop additions are added to the second batch. This prevents late additions in the second batch from becoming "muddy" or aromatically "lost." Since I normally brew with two pots, I tend to stagger them, or consolidate late additions into the larger pot. This has made a big difference in the aromatics of all my brews.

My experience with these Wyeasts is very limited. I've only used American 2 twice, a long time ago, with good results. I've never used London ESB. Already, in their starter jugs, each strain looks completely different. I've noticed most English strains have a "clumpy" nature and a "fluffy" look, with bubbles that form beneath the surface of the yeast cake, then carry a clump as they rise through the beer to the top. The American 2 strain seems much more fine and compact. Already, it looks like American 2 completes fermentation quicker, while the ESB remains slowly active.

Navigate to
the other posts
in this series...

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Finals

Fresh Old Ale

Enough is enough! Something has got to be done about that Ancient Old Ale hiding in the corner, behind a dark wooden chair collecting layers of dust in our tiny foyer. It's been sitting around for over 14 months! The Lambic blend of yeasts and bacteria have finally had their fill and are completely exhausted. I'm glad there is a nice thin & slimy pellicle protecting this precious brew, because time and again, I forget to refill an evaporated airlock.

Truth is, I really didn't know how to go about bottling a beer that's aged so long, especially under a more acidic & alcoholic environment. Until very recently, I've come to meet a new visitor to my blog who was dealing with a very similar old ale. I simply wanted to bottle this beer, but he suggested brewing a new batch of old ale to blend with the old batch of old ale. I thought, this is the more historical thing to do. Without hesitation, this beer fresh batch of old ale budged its way into my busy brewing schedule.

I must express my complete appreciation for Mikey's help today. I really couldn't have done it without you. I ran into technical difficulties with a borrowed carboy that seemed to be scratched on the inside, and decided not to use it. We had to keg and bottle the Copper Lager 2 in order to use it's carboy for this ale's primary fermenter. Then we bottled the Raisin Toast Stout for the yeast sediment resting at the bottom. Overall, the brewday went over very well, and wrapped up by 1:30pm. The mash temp started pretty high, so I got it down, and combined with a fairly thick mash, the efficiency suffered a little bit.

After this ferments and is ready for blending, I'll write about the bottling procedure and plans for extended aging of a blended portion. Take a look at the Ancient Ale for it's original post and recipe. The photo to the right shows the Ancient Ale's thin pellicle. If you like pellicles, click here for more photos.

Fresh Old Ale

Grains
7.00 lbs. Organic 2-Row Pale
2.00 lbs. Vienna Malt
1.00 lbs. British Crystal 60L
0.75 lbs. Crisp Amber Malt
o.75 lbs. Flaked Barley
0.46 lbs. Torrified Wheat
0.35 lbs. Special B

Hops
.60 oz. Pheonix, 10%, pellet, 90min
.60 oz. Progress, 6%, pellet, 90min
.40 oz. Pheonix, 10%, pellet, 10min
.40 oz. Progress, 6%, pellet, 5min

Yeast
Wyeast 1099: Whitbread Ale (slurry from 1gal starter)

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 2/28/08
Racked blend w/Ancient Ale: 3/11/08
Bottled straight: 3/11/08
Bottled blend w/Ancient Ale: 3/11/08

Water Adjustment: added to only strike water...
.375 tsp. CaCl, .625 tsp. Gypsum, .25 tsp. acid blend

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.20qt/lb
Mash Ph: 5.4
Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 160-158-156-153°F/1 hour
Mash Out Temp/Time: 166°F/15min
1st Batch SG: 1.066

2nd Batch Sparge Vol/Temp: 2.75 gal/180°F water & hit 170°F
2nd Batch SG: n/a

Pre-Boil Vol: 6 gal
Pre-Boil SG: 1.055
Boil Time: 2 hours
Post-Boil Vol: 4.55 gal
Mash Efficiency: 79.6%

OG: 1.070
IBU: 48
Color/SRM: Amber Brown/15-19
Ferment Temp: 67-70°F

FG: 1.022
ABW: 5.78%
ABV: 7.2%

Quinoa Lager

Quinoa is a wonderful little seed. It's flavor is very unique, being earthy, nutty and slightly sweet. I thought it would make an interesting addition in a pale lager. Its presence may act like other adjuncts and lighten this beer to a purely dangerous level of drinkability.

For this unique beer, the majority of the grist will consist of pale lager malts. Pilsner, Munich, and Carapils. Then at almost 20%, a blend of organic golden and red quinoa. Ancient Harvest Red Quinoa is by far the best I've ever had, and it is certified organic. Visit there site for cool photos and more info, especially on its interesting nutrition facts. The high protein content doesn't concern me, and its moderately high fat content might offer a silky effect much like oats do. Other than lightening the flavor of this lager, I'm hoping the grain taste will be and clean, nutty, with a mild grainy sweetness.

The quinoa is precooked in a rice cooker as the strike water is heaed. The barley mash will begin while the temperature of the quinoa is adjusted (with hot water/microwave) to match the mash temperature. Then it gets stirred into the main mash.

The hopping will be kept to a minimum. The overall style is somewhere between a Helles and a Vienna lager. Hop bitterness will come in at about 21. Because the malts are super light, I didn't want a lot of bitterness, nor any imposing late aromatic additions.

Quinoa Lager

Grains
5.50 lbs. German Pilsner
1.75 lbs. Golden & Red Quinoa
1.00 lbs. Munich Dark
0.37 lbs. CaraPils
0.25 lbs. Acid Malt

Hops
.75 oz. Vanguard, 4.8%, pellets, 60min
.40 oz. Vanguard, 4.8%, pellets, 40min
.30 oz. Vanguard, 4.8%, pellets, 20min

Yeast
Wyeast Bavarian Lager
Wort poured over a 2nd generation yeast cake

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 2/15/08
Racked: lowered temp in primary, and bottles/keg
Bottled: 3/13/08

Water Adjustment:
1 gram Gypsum/gallon, 2 gal Distilled (Mashout & 2nd sparge),
¼tsp. acid blend in mash & 2nd sparge

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.5qt/lb
Mash Ph: 5.7 (5.5 w/ acid blend)
Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 153°F/75min
Mash Out Temp/Time: 164°F/10min
1st Batch SG: 1.049

2nd Batch Sparge Vol/Temp: 3.5gal/170°F
2nd Batch SG: 1.020

Pre-Boil Vol: 7 gallons perfect
Pre-Boil SG: 1.037
Boil Time: 90min
Post-Boil Vol: 5.5 gallons
Mash Efficiency: 83.4% (input "rice" for quinoa)

OG: 1.050 1 point above target
IBU: approx. 21
Color/SRM: Straw-yellow/4-5
Ferment Temp: 46-48°F

FG: 1.014
ABW: 3.78%
ABV: 4.7%

Cost: $18.77, .35¢/12oz, $2.09/6-pack

Notes
1. Brewday wrapped up by 12noon.
2. Planned for .75 lb Carapils, but didn't find it until later. OG would have been higher if it was in the grain bill.
3. Lautering went smooth and vorlaufed slightly hazy.
4. Fermenting within 2 hours.
5. Fermentation doesn't seem to be as vigorous, with less foam, and much more particulate, but the temp is a couple degrees lower.
6. Just dropped the temp while in primary for a about a week.
7. No extended secondary lagering, but will drop temp after bottle/keg carbonation.

Tasting Notes & Photo
coming in 2 months

Appearance:
Aroma:
Taste:
Mouthfeel:
Aftertaste:
Drinkability:

Rauch Bock

Now for a beer style I've been longing one year to make. As you may already know, I love a deep smoke flavor in certain beers. Originally this was going to be a pale smoked lager with almost 50% rauchmalt. Then I massaged the recipe several times, and it became much bigger, and much darker. I had a good recipe going, and it was dipping into the bock category. While re-assuring myself with some recipes in Smoked Beers, I noticed it wasn't far from one listed in the book. So for this one, I've decided to simplify, and stay close to their recipe.

The all-grain mash will be a stepped infusion, with a protein rest to break up some proteins in the dark wheat. This rest, and the CaraFoam addition should provide the beer with a striking dense foam head. The saccharification rest will be held at 153°F. Unfortunately, we used the sacch-water (1.825 gal) at the beginning for the first protein rest infusion, and ended up with a thick dough-like ball. So we added hot liquor to finally end up with a thinner consistency at the high end of the protein rest range. In the end, we attained adequate temps for both rests. As you can see, in the picture we're raising our glasses (last bottle of 1 year Munich Dunkel) to celebrate the mash's end, and progression to a full wort boil. Thank you Matt for all your help.

With just one a ounce, 90min addition, the hop bitterness in the Smoked Scottish Ale 2 is just about perfect. It balanced the malts and higher FG, but it doesn't linger anywhere in the aftertaste. So for this smoky bock, I'll stick with a similar IBU level, and just give it a kiss of hop flavor in the finish. Vanguard is a US cross breed similar to Hallertau Mittlefruh.

Rauch Bock

Grains
6.50 lbs. German Pilsner Malt
3.75 lbs. German Dark Wheat 7.5L
3.00 lbs. German Rauchmalt
1.50 lbs. German CaraFoam
0.75 lbs. German CaraMunich 57L
0.31 lbs. German Roasted Wheat 413L

Hops
1.8 oz. Vanguard, 4.8%aa, pellet, 90min
.20 oz. Vanguard, 4.8%aa, pellet, 15min

Yeast
Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager: Yeast cake

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 1/27/08
Racked: 2/15/08
Bottled: 3/6/08

Water Adjustment: 1 tsp CaCl to mash waters

Protein Rest Temp/Time: 130°F/20min

H2O/Grain Ratio: approx. 1.27
Mash Ph: 5.6
Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 151°F/1hr
Mash Out Temp/Time: 160°F/10min
1st Batch SG: 1.074

2nd Batch Sparge Vol/Temp: 3.75gal/198°F
2nd Batch Temp/Time: 171°F/15min
2nd Batch SG: n/a

Pre-Boil Vol: 7.5 gallons
Pre-Boil SG: 1.066
Boil Time: 1.5 hours
Post-Boil Vol: 5.85
Mash Efficiency: approx. 77%

OG: approx. 1.077
IBU: 28
Color/SRM: Rich Brown & Orange/21-25
Ferment Temp: 150°F

FG: 1.021
ABW: 5.9%
ABV: 7.35%

Cost: $34, .64¢/12oz., $3.84/6-pack

Tasting Notes & Photo
check back 2-3 months from post date

Appearance:
Aroma:
Taste:
Mouthfeel:
Aftertaste:
Drinkability:

Pretzels & Sauerkraut

There are two foods that are virtually naked without a half liter of home brewed lager beer by their side. Perhaps it's the other way around. Home made pretzels and home made sauerkraut, just doesn't taste right, without a half liter of home brewed lager chasing them down.

A few nights ago I made my first soft pretzels. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com, and they came out pretty good, soft and chewy. It may be more challenging, but I'm planning to make a hard and shiny sourdough pretzel. The lagers will take a while, so there's time to work on it.

The next day I prepared my first sauerkraut. It's made with one red and one green head of cabbage sliced very thin, 4 tbs Kosher salt, ½ tsp caraways seeds, ¼ tsp whole peppercorns, and a few squeezes of grapefruit. Since there was too much, I added another ingredient to the additional 1 quart...halved juniper berries. I love a good kraut, so I hope this turns out to be very crunchy, tangy and tasty. It will ferment in the coolest corner of our home, so it should take about 4 weeks.

4 Herbal Beers

David and I brewed our second, third, forth and fifth herbal/medicinal beers today. From one mash, we boiled and prepared 4 separate 1-gallon batches. The first two were "stagger" boiled, pots were cleaned, then the second two beers were also stagger boiled. This made for a longer day, but we're hoping its all worth it. Each one smelled wonderful as they boiled down from 1.5 gallons to 1. Much like hops loose their fragrance in a long boil, some of these herbs lost it too. Our first herbal beer was a Dandelion Mead made in the Spring.


Originally I had a Heather Beer in mind, but heather tips were T.O.S. So we decided to go with Nettle instead. Also, I wasn't able to locate any roasted Chicory, so we went with Mugwort. This is fine, because we plan on brewing all sorts of herbal beers, and there will come a time to brew with Heather and Chicory later.

I guess I shouldn't have waited to the last moment (and during Chicago's first snow and freezing rain storm) to get the ingredients. Not to mention I went out early evening Saturday, on a busy shopping weekend.

Inspiration for these recipes came from the book Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers. It's an indispensable resource as I enter the realm of herbal/medicinal beers. I look forward to trying many of the recipes in the book. Along with the help of some herbal professional friends, I also look forward to increasing my knowledge about how to most effectively utilize herbal potential in my fermented beverages...similarly to the way we maximize utilization of hop resins in 1-2 hour boils.

So with some on-the-fly improvisation, we came up with four recipes...


1. Cardamom Ginger Beer
1.1 oz. ginger root
8 cardamom pods

2. Fennel Nettle Ale
.6 oz. nettle
1 tsp. fennel

3. Burdock Beer
½ oz. burdock root
¼ oz. mugwort
½ tsp. cracked coriander
16 oz. smoked wort

4. Fresh Sage Ale
1 oz. fresh sage
¼ oz. licorice root
8 oz. smoked wort


All-grain malt base recipe...

Grains (OG 1.048)
5.0 lbs. Organic Pale 2-row
1.0 lbs. Vienna Malt
.50 lbs. Crystal 60L
.25 lbs. Crystal 20L
.25 lbs. Biscuit Malt
.25 lbs. CaraPils

Yeast
Wyeast 1098 British Ale: 1 pint starter divided into four

Toast to Erik

Yesterday, my friend Erik had a final exam in French. Its a class he's been studying throughout the summer. Later that evening I decided to make a toast to congratulate his achievement. I thought it would only be proper to celebrate with some good champagne. So I opened a 12oz bottle of homemade bubbly.

It turned out to be a fun evening of chatting. Erik arrived in Chicago Monday evening, and Erik's Jeanie flew in that evening. It was nice to play a little catch-up, after our baby fell fast asleep. Here you can see Erik is deep in thought but totally relaxed and free, and Jeannie admiring it's lovely color.

This was an impulsive batch of fermented juice. After racking the Belgian Strong Ale, I simply could not let all that great performing yeast go to waste. So I looked around for something to ferment. In the pantry was a 64oz. bottle of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice, and in the refrigerator was about 32 ounces of TJ's Organic White Grape Juice.

After sterilizing a 4 liter flask fermenter, I just poured everything in and gave it a good swish. It started to ferment in good time, and fizzed for a few weeks. After about a month I transferred it to secondary for clearing.

What started out as a vibrant pinkish-red colored must, transformed into a medium yellow with a slight blush in the round of the glass. It seems like the yeast somehow absorbed all the pigment from the juice because it was pink sludge in the end. This was a total experiment. I am very pleased to find it was a total success. It tastes very tart and dry, and very much like a robust champagne. I gave it some priming sugar to build up bubbly in the bottle. In the end I got a couple 22oz and a number of 12oz bottles. It's exciting to know that I have some good homemade champagne to use in celebratory occasions like this one.

Felicitations Erik!

Merci de lire ce blog.

5 Label Designs

For a wedding gift to Lauren & Doug, David and I designed and framed a label/poster for the Matrimony Ale. We kept with the theme and font they used in the invitation. After playing around with an initial design, utilizing a fabric pinstripe from the invitation, David finally came up with something quite good. I like finding old frames from thrift stores to put art and beer labels into. So when I found this simple wooden frame, I knew it would be perfect. We even utilized the border from the picture that was in the frame for matting. Here is an image file and photo of Lauren holding the actual piece.

Recently, I design my own label for the Simcoe 100 Amber Ale. I did it in a Word document. And then Sarah helped me get it into a GIF form. It's a simple concept, and something to work off of. I like oval shapes for labels.

In order to write this post, I asked David if he kept the designs for a few ales made a couple years ago. He actually found one that goes way back to 2002. A beer that was supposedly called Old Amber Ale. I have a feeling this was what I referred to as "Fermented Water" in an past post . It's too bad such a great label was made for such a sissy beer. Maybe we can use this label design for the Ancient Ale/Old Ale, or for a Scottish Ale in the future.



For our first all-grain batch, and in honer of Nomeansno/John Wright, we brewed Johnny's Rockin' Ale. We simply made a dog-tag for this one. I love it's textured lettering, and simple looks.



For a x-mas gift in 2005, we brewed up a bold beer called Holiday Spiced Ale. I was in charge of building the malt profile that would be strong and sweet to balance the assertive spiciness we were going for. I also chose hops that lean towards spiciness. Since he was becoming well versed with various spices while making home-made chai teas, David was in charge of building up a spice blend. In the end the gravity made it into the 60's and 2 baseball sized tea-infusers were packed with freshly diced ginger and a long list of spices. To my surprise, my parents still have their bottle sitting in the frig...see photo. I'm very happy they didn't drink it, cause I think it will definitely mellow even more and be simply amazing in another year or two. Maybe I can coax them into giving me that bottle for X-mas this year. It was a great beer. The label design for this one was a ribbon collar with an oval paper label glued at the crossing point.

Thanks for taking a look at my beer labels. Can you tell, David is a professional graphic designer. I really appreciate all the effort he put into them. And I had a great time helping out with ideas. Don't they look fantastic?

Melding Belgian Beer & Mexican Food

There's absolutely no rules when it comes to pairing food with good home brewed beer. I'm not exactly sure why I served Mexican food with my summertime Belgian beer, but I think I was just craving them both. They actually paired pretty well.

The Belgian Pale Ale is smooth and simple. It has a malty sweetness and candy-like taste coming from the Indian Jaggery cane sugar. The bitterness level is low and the carbonation is soft. All this combined makes it a very drinkable beer. Everyone came back around for a second glass, and had their fill.

Thank you to my wife Sarah, David and my Mom for helping out with making the delicious dishes. Thank you also to those who brought other tasty foods. We had a nice spread of salsas and dips...a black bean & jack cheese dip, classic chunky salsa, Sarah's famous guacamole, roasted tomatilla salsa, and a spicy/creamy dip.

Thank you to everyone who came out last night. You all helped me to do something I'd never done before...to brew a batch for mass consumption. With a goal of downing 5 gallons, 17 of us did manage to drink a total of 2.45 gallons. I'm impressed.

It was so much fun. I will definitely do this again.

One last thank you to Sarah for taking some photos.

Blueberry 2

This past weekend I got the place to myself. It would have been totally awesome to be with my wife and baby at the Pitchfork Festival. But, I did have lots of brewing things to do. At least I got to see Sonic Youth have a rockin good time playing their Daydream Nation set on Friday night.

Saturday after work I had to bottle the Hop Blend IPA in order to make room for the Matrimony Ale on Sunday. I took advantage of a still and quiet house and bottled the Belgian Strong Dark Ale as well. Since that one was in 3 separate secondary jugs, I decided to use a piece of equipment little used for bottling. The bottling bucket...a bucket I only use for mixing grains, sterilizing hoses and bottles and stuff, and sometimes as a hot liquor sparge water tank. Bottling went well, and these beers taste pretty darn good.

Sunday was the day to rack the Matrimony Ale to secondary. So I decided to brew a beer to pour right over the yeast cake in the primary carboy. I knew I wanted to do a fruit beer. Blueberries like last year? Raspberries? Passion fruit? I did some research and shopping round. Since Trader Joe's was selling 2 lb boxes of big plump and ripe blueberries for a very reasonable price, I had to go with them.

Last year's experimental Blueberry Ale had a very light malt base with very little crystal and no wheat. This time, for some reason, my confidence is up and I brewed a large batch. I wanted to go with a solid wheat percentage with enough sweetening support from a few crystal malts. I also thought some citrusy hops would pair well, and since Amarillo also has a fruity character, I used it for the aroma addition.

Brewing went very well, and I got good stats. Check out the recipe and stats below. I got only two photos of the rinsed and dried blueberries laid out right before freezing on Wednesday.

Blueberry 2
4.25 gallons (w/ blueberries...could be more in the end!)

Grains
4.00 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
1.75 lb. Wheat Malt
1.00 lb. Flaked Wheat
1.00 lb. 6-Row Pale Malt
6.00 oz. Crystal 40L
2.30 oz. Crystal 60L
1.75 oz. Special B

Hops
.50 oz. Amarillo, 8.7%, whole, bittering
.25 oz. Cascade, 7.6%, whole, bittering
.30 oz. Amarillo, 8.7%, whole, 5min-aroma

Fruit
4.00 lbs. Fresh Blueberries, hand squeezed, in wort at 140*F
4.00 lbs. Fresh Blueberries, hand squeezed, in 2nd half of primary

Yeast
Wyeast American Ale, large yeast cake from previous batch

Brewday Stats

Salts added to boil: 1/2 tsp Gypsum, 1/8 tsp Calcium Chloride

Mash Temp: 155*F
Mash Time: 1 hour
Mash-out Temp: 162 (always comes out low?)

1st Batch Gravity: 1.060
2nd Batch Gravity: 1.025
Preboil Gravity: 1.043

Original Gravity w/o blueberries: 1.054 (1 point over target)
Approx. IBU: 29
Color/SRM: 15-20 (with fruit)

Brewhouse efficiency: Approx. 75%
Cost: $35.76, $4.74/6-pack, $0.79/12oz bottle

Progress

1. I went out to catch a movie right after brewing, and when I got home there were bubbles coming out of the blow-off hose. I then retired for the night at around 10PM. In the morning there was a steady, but fairly slow bubbling. And now as I post this entry, the bubbling seems to be slowing way down. Not sure what's happening here. Either there was enough yeast to chew through everything throughout the night, or it got stuck for some reason. I suppose a gravity check will answer this.
2. A gravity check on Tuesday evening did informed me that the wort finished fermenting, and was settling down. This marks the shortest fermentation of all my brewings. Done overnight! WOW that's fast. And it tastes ok.
3. I added the second round of blueberries on Tuesday night. 4 more pounds of plump blueberries squeezed into a thick pulp. This second addition started to ferment within an hour, and continued for about a day.
4. Periodically, as I walk past the boiler room, I give the carboy a light swirl because the blueberries have a strong propensity to float above the surface. Because the boiler room is halfway down the hallway, its easy to remember.
5. Racked to secondary on July 27th. The color is simply amazing. Looks more like wine than beer. The color of the base beer was probably around 9, but now with all the crushed blueberries its more like 15-20. So far so good. Looking forward to tasting it when its done.

6. I think the photos below totally rock. I love the colors and the way the blueberries look all funky. The whole blueberries that managed to slip through my fingers while hand crushing rested on top of the layer of pulp. Thank you my dear for taking these.
7. Bottled on July 31st. It's color is amazing. It tastes very good. Clean, light, with great blueberry taste and aroma. There was a sort of awkward lager/6-row malt flavor that has since vanished. There is a very nice soft acidity too. I wanted enough carbonation to hold a head for a little while (which should turn out reddish-purple) so the 4oz. of priming sugar should bring the CO2 volume to about 2.65.

Matrimony Ale

There's not a better reason to brew a beer than for a grand occasion such as my sister's wedding. I am so happy for Lauren and Doug. I'm looking forward to celebrating with them on their wedding day. I'm also happy to brew up a batch of summer time pale ale for the occasion.

They are planning a morning ceremony and an early formal reception. After the reception our parents are hosting an after-party at their house. I will be brewing American Pale Ale for the after-party festivities.

It's going to be very bright, and hoppy. It will have a sweetness but will also have an attenuated dryness. Hop bitterness will come from Centennial. Hop flavors will come from a blend of Centennial and Cascade. Hop aroma will come from Cascade. A tasting at racking time will determine if this beer will get dry hops.

So we got around to brewing this beer yesterday morning. A record start time a little after 8AM. The advantage is we're done by yearly afternoon. The drawback is our lunchtime...Jimmy John Subs arrived right when we were in the heat of the boil. Usually Sarah brings subs home before the boil, and we get to take shifts eating and watching the boil.

One strange occurrence was a bi-polar mash Ph. Lately I've been getting low mash Ph's. So this time I decided to go let the mash go without any Gypsum. The night before I diluted Chicago water by half with distilled. About 10 minutes into the mash the litmus test displayed a high Ph around 5.8-6.2. Then I added a half teaspoon of gypsum and the Ph read very acidic. A little later it read again around 5.8. Added a little more and it read very acidic. Then it read around 5.6-5.8. Added another half teaspoon, and it read very acidic. Then again it read around 5.6-5.8. Surprisingly, the mash didn't lose much heat, but I decided to just leave it alone. Especially because the iodine conversion test was positive. After diluting the water in half with distilled, I also added .5 tsp of gypsum per gallon, to give the water enough calcium and sulfates for a good hop presence.

Lastly, we decided to stagger the hop additions for both kettles. I really don't like adding finishing hops to both kettles at the same time, because while one kettle is cooling the other one is still ridiculously hot. So those late addition and knockout hops are really becoming flavor hops. So staggering 20 minutes helps.

Amidst all the commotion in the kitchen, I totally forgot to take gravity readings, so there's no stats for this beer. I can only approximate the ABV to be about 4.8%, and the IBU's to be around 53.

Matrimony Ale (an American pale ale)
6 gallons

Grains
9 lbs. American 2-Row
.75 lb. American Crystal 40L
.25 lb. British Crystal 60L
.25 lb. Belgian Biscuit Malt
.5 lb. CaraPils

Hops
1.13 oz. Centennial, 9.5%, pellets, 60min
.25 oz. Centennial, 9.5%, pellets, 20min
.5 oz. Cascade, 7.6%, whole, 20min
.75 oz. Cascade, 7.6%, whole, 5min
.75 oz. Cascade, 7.6%, whole, KO

Wyeast 1056 American Ale
Pitched about .3 quart slurry from the Hop Blend IPA

Fermentation got going in record time. It was fairly active within 3 hours, and started blowing off within 6 hours. I've got it in a cold water bath inside the 10 gallon mashtun. This morning the inside and outside liquid temperatures equalized right at about 68*F. I will slowly raise the temp towards the end of primary fermentation to get some final attenuation. The yeast was pitched at around 1:30PM, and these photos were taken just after 6:30PM. The fermented beverages in the boiler room are Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Hop Blend IPA, Ardennes Cranberry Wine, and this Matrimony Ale.

Hop Blend IPA

I'm not very good at making decisions. As some of you may know, when I'm caught up in indecision, it can take me quite a long time to make a choice. Well for this beer I decided to not make a choice. Instead of picking one or two flavor and aroma hops, I'm going with three. And gosh-darn-it, to save me from deciding which goes in first and last...they're gonna be blended together...equally!

The malt base, I think, may be on the sweeter side because of the medium Crystal malts. Since the conversion temperature will be on the low side, some dryness may come through to help out. I also threw in some Biscuit malt for balancing the Crystal. I don't have a favorite IPA (in terms of dryness, fruitiness, citrus or sharp piney hops...etc.), and enjoy any IPA that has a fairly bold presence. So as long as there is a good hop nose and flavor, with some malt character, I'll be very happy.

Not sure what to expect with this hop blend. I've never used any of these hops to any great proportion. In fact, I can't remember using any of them because most of my beers have been Scottish, English and German in origin. Its been such a long time brewing an "American" hopped style. Last year's competition entry..."Swamp Rat Super IPA," was all too strange. Not undrinkable, but not all that great. It was unanimous what the judges wanted to taste more of...those "citrus"/3C hops (Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade). So this IPA is designed to go with their recommendations. I also threw in some Amarillo for the heck of it, and cause I've never used'em before.

Chinook (12%AA, pellets) will serve as the bittering addition at 60 minutes. Then 4 more additions of the "hop blend" will go in at 15, 5, KO and Dry. The blend consists of one part each of Centennial (9.5%AA, pellets), Cascade (7.6%AA, leaf) and Amarillo (8.9%AA, leaf).

Brew day was

Hop Blend IPA...aka..."Hop Blood IPA"

Grains:
7 lbs. American 2-Row Pale
.5 lb. American Crystal 40L
.3 lb. British Crystal 60L
.25 lb. Belgian Biscuit
.25 lb. Wheat Malt
.03 lb. British Roasted Barley

Hops:
1 oz. Chinook 12%, pellet, 60min
.75 oz. Hop Blend, 15min
.75 oz. Hop Blend, 5min
.75 oz. Hop Blend, KO
.75 oz. Hop Blend, Dry

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056: American Ale (48 oz. DME starter)


Brew Day Stats:

Brew Day: 6/22/07
Water Adjustment: .75 gallon distilled, 1 tsp Gypsum

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.25qt/lb
Mash Ph: low
Sacch. Rest Time: 1 hour
Sacch. Rest Temp: 151*F
Mash Out Time: 10 min
Mash Out Temp: 160 (low)

2nd Batch Sparge: 2.5 gallons at 175*F

Pre-Boil Vol: 5.25 gallons
Pre-Boil SG: 1.045
Boil Time: 1.5 hrs
Post-Boil Vol: 4.5 gallons

OG: 1.052
IBU: 77
Color/SRM: 11
Mash Efficiency: Approx. 76.9%
FG: 1.013
ABW: 4.1%
ABV: 5.12%

Fermentation Temp: 74 on up to about 79*F
Cost: $20.10, $0.42/12oz. bottle, $2.51/6-pack

Notes:

1. Brewing alone is a bit more difficult, especially when operating in a messy kitchen.

2. Tried siphoning and it when very well. Until the end when I lost the siphon flow and there was about a gallon left. Also, whirlpooling (literally spinning the wort very fast to cause a cone of sediment at the bottom...see photo) only works to a certain point where hops and protein sediment gets sucked into the syphon anyways.

3. Ended up pouring the rest through the funnel screen. It was really muddy. I like squeezing out all the hoppy goodness, but there's now a thick sediment at the bottom of the fermenter. Note...by the look on her face, my baby didn't care much for the "hop mud" either. Its her..."Eiew...doggy poo poo" face.

4. It smelled hoppy in the house.

5. Made the DME yeast starter only 24 hours prior. Not enough time to allow complete fermentation, and settling of the yeast. So the wort sat around until the starter chilled to allow more settling. I did pour out a third of the liquid before pouring the rest into the fermenter. Fermentation started in about 5 hours!

6. Mash out temperature was low AGAIN! It's always been very difficult to hit a target of 168-172. Not sure why. I added what I thought was the right amount of boiling water. With batch sparging, its still good to add enough water to bring up the first batch runnings to about half the total pre-boil volume.

Progress:

1. On June 28, I racked to secondary over .75 ounces of the Hop Blend.
2. The gravity at racking time was about 1.012.
3. Though the fermentation temperature eventually rose quite high (80*F), I thought it might result in higher levels of fruity esters or even solvent-like tastes. Surprisingly, it tasted very clean with low esters and pleasantly on the dry side.
4. Overall, it tastes pretty darn good. Can't wait to see how the dry hops finish the scent and taste.

5. Bottled it on July 12th.

6. First sampling on July 21 at my Belgian Pale Ale summer party. This beer is really really good. At only 9 days in the bottle, it was very fresh and the smooth/soft lighter carbonation made it taste and feel just like a cask conditioned ale. A better discription will be coming soon.

Commercial vs. Home Brewed

There is a small handful of costs that go into brewing quality beer at home. In this post I will compare these costs to that of buying commercial beer. This turned into a longer post than I originally intended. Since I've "gotten into" some advocacy of the hobby, comparing the cost is a big selling point. There really is no comparison...but here goes...

After a number of attempts at a certain style, I've gotten some pretty darn good results. In my own opinion, I prefer some of my better beers over anything commercial. After I break into a fully conditioned batch of "liquid gold," I'm even more tickled to know that the pint I hold in my hand cost only 75 cents to make. Luckily its not a chore to make & bottle it...its really a very rewarding past-time.

In my comparison, the inclusion of equipment costs is sort-of difficult to figure in. On the commercial side, it's also difficult. Since it is a "fixed cost," I will go ahead and exclude it, and any other fixed costs. Also, the way I look at it, paying for cool new equipment is much like paying for a ride at an amusement park...its just FUN!

First up...Commercial Beer...What the heck are we paying for?

Production: barley & grains, hops, yeast, fossil fuel + tax