Blackstrap Root Beer 2

For my second root beer, I decided to stay with the original Blackstrap Root Beer recipe, but lightened the sugars and molassas while taking up the spices a little. This batch is brewed for our Condo building's "get to know our neighbors better" picnic this Sunday.

One error in the first batch recipe was the root beer extract. I'm sure I used 3 ounces instead of 3 tablespoons. For this one, it's tablespoons. No wonder it was very rich tasting...but tasty none-the-less.

Blackstrap Root Beer 2
Brewed 7/17/08
3 gallons

3.00 cup Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar
1.25 cup Demerara Sugar
1.25 cup Light Brown Sugar
0.33 cup Organic Blackstrap Molassas
5.00 Tbs Malto Dextrin

1.5 Cinnamon Stick, 30min
.20 oz Licorice Root, 30min

1.5 Cinnamon Stick, 10min
.05 oz Licorice Root, 5min

3.0 Tbs Root Beer Extract

Spices boiled in 1 gallon water for 30 minutes. Turn off heat. Add sugars. Chill in cold water bath in sink. Stir in extract while still hot. Chill a little more. Add to keg. Top off with chilled distilled water. Force carbonate. That's it.

Raisin Toast Stout

As a yeast starter for an upcoming Fresh/New Old Ale, this will be one gallon of jet black stout. Since I haven't brewed any in a long time, I've been enjoying a lot of commercial stouts during this exceptionally long and cold Winter season. Two that I've become particularly fond of are North Coast Old #38 and Left Hand Milk Stout. They both have opened up my imagination, and here I want to play around with some ideas all at once.

The pronounced dry & toasted quality in Old #38 is great, so there's lots of biscuit malt. The intense roasted flavor in the Milk Stout is just that...intense! I've added enough roasted barley to create a good roasted edge. I also hope a generous portion of Special B will offer a deep, dark raisin-like taste, so there's a bunch of that too. A hand-full of flaked barley should help build some body. All of these grains were strung up in a cheese cloth teabag, and steeped in hot water slowly rising to 170°F, then rinsed and squeezed with the remaining hot water from a tea kettle. Half way through the boil, one pound of pale DME stirred in.

There's a bunch of left-over hops in the frig, so this is a good place for it. Centennial seems to really want to go in this one. Cascade on the finish might be nice. Bitterness may be a bit high at a level close to 40 IBU's. Both solid bittering and late additions should support the malt's intense flavors.

I've found that brewing 1 gallon starters, as test batches, is the perfect use of time and old ingredients. I'd like to know if any one else is doing this as a way to make larger yeast slurries for full batches. Please, feel free to share your experiences in the comments section.

Raisin Toast Stout

Fermentables
1.0 lb Briess Pale DME
.45 lb Biscuit Malt
.25 lb Special B
.25 lb Roast Barley
.20 lb Flaked Barley

Hops
.15 oz Centennial, 9.5%, pellet, 90min
.10 oz Centennial, 9.5%, pellet, 10min
.20 oz Cascade, 7.6%, whole, KO

Yeast
Wyeast 1099: Whitbread Ale

Bottling
After only one week in primary, and still looking only mildly active, it got bottled instead of transfered into a secondary. Also, I revisited 3 bottles a few hours later to pour in freshly pulled espresso (cooled). One with 10mL, one with 20mL, and the 3rd (¾ filled bottle) with about 30mL. The stout beer came out quite sweet, and the espresso came out fairly bitter, so it might be a good addition. Never added any coffee to beer before, so I'm looking forward to these.

Tasting Notes & Photo

Appearance: Pours black, some cloudiness makes it pitch black, with a full & deep tan head that hangs around, and later diminishes to a nice ring around the glass wall
Aroma: Rich and classic stout roast aromas, with a mild hop scent within (spiked version has mild coffee scent), overall a balancing of aromas and very inviting
Taste: Full flavored stout with good roast edge and light biscuit quality and light supporting sweetness, hop taste is also nicely sharp/accurate and balanced (spiked version has a wonderful dark espresso taste that is balanced at both 10 & 20 mL per 12oz.)
Mouthfeel: Moderately full bodied, and the carbonation came out great at a medium level
Aftertaste: Overall it has a clean finish, some toasty flavors with a roast and hop bitterness that lingers, but its not at all overwhelming
Drinkability: Very drinkable, and satisfying. Considering that it was a 1 gallon test batch, I am very pleased. In fact, it may be my best stout yet, and I now see that more roasted barley needs support with toasted and dark crystal malts. The spiked version is a definite candidate for my brothers wedding.

Click here to see a full list of one gallon batches.
And here to see the Mint Stout.

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

Official N.B.A.

24 hours have gone by and one gallon of yeast starter is fermenting very well right now. It's really a very small batch of beer. This time I'm experimenting with moderate-high usage of Northern Brewer hops. Since the recent brewing of a darn good APA and IPA, I wanted to try using different hops in higher IBU's. The yeast slurry from this batch will go into a 4 gallon batch..."Simcoe 100," a strong amber ale with very strong hops.

It's about half all-grain and extract. Since my coffee carafe "mini-masher" can only handle about a pound of malt, I had to perform two consecutive mashes. Each mash lasted about 45 minutes and took about 15 minutes to batch sparge three times. I made up the rest with amber DME. In the end the gravity turned out high by about 10 points! I thought it was more important to boil it down to the right final volume. So the bittering hops may be contributing more IBU's..

After primary fermentation, a taste sample will dictate how much dry hops to use. I definitely want to go big with the aroma on this one. My prediction is that this hop will result in a more "grassy" and "earthy" taste and aroma. We'll see.

Though its coming out more brown than amber, I'm still calling it the "Official N.B.A."

Official N.B.A.
Brewed 8/7/07
1.25 gallon

Malts (OG 1.062)
.65 lb. Munton's Amber DME
1.5 lb. 2-Row Malt
.20 lb. Crystal 60L
.13 lb. CaraFoam
.05 lb. Chocolate Malt

Hops (IBU 62)
.30 oz. Northern Brewer, 8.5%, whole, 90min
.20 oz. Northern Brewer, 8.5%, whole, 15min
.20 oz. Northern Brewer, 8.5%, whole, 5min
.20 oz. Northern Brewer, 8.5%, whole, KO
.20 oz. Northern Brewer, 8.5%, whole, Dry (more or less)

Yeast
Wyeast 1028: London Ale

Updates

1. Racked to secondary 8/14/07
2. Aroma at racking time was absolutely wonderful, and I almost wanted to just let it be. But I gotta go through with the plans. Since the hops already did great things, a little more can't hurt.
3. Bottled on 8/31/07. Two bottles got a bunch of Northern Brewer whole hops in the bottle, and to be drunk within 2 weeks. Looking forward to see how "cask conditioned" I can get my bottled beer.
4. Overall this beer came out pretty bold. Please read about my assessment of Northern Brewer Hops.

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.

Dandelion Wine

While taking a leisurely morning stroll through Winnemac park with David and my baby Cadence, we stopped to look at all the dandelion patches. David already told me about sensible foraging tips. And after locating what looked like pretty healthy and undisturbed patches, we started gnawing on some of their leaves. Dandelion is a source of potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus and iron. The leaves are a richer source of Vitamin A than carrots and contain some amounts of Vitamins B, C and D. So then we had the idea to make some dandelion wine.

The next morning we cycled back to forage. Looking at some recipes online informed us that we had to pick a good 2 quarts of flower petals. While Cadence ran around in the wind, we sat down and plucked away. It's a good thing we got there early that morning, because the ground crew were already out cutting the lawn. We collected our bounty just in time.

All the recipes for dandelion wine called for water and white sugar. Not so good for our tastes. Instead we decided to go with a mead recipe that was close to one I made before. Here's the recipe we came up with.

Dandelion Wine
1 gallon
Brewed 5/17/07

2.5 lbs. Raw Honey
75 oz. Organic White Grape Juice
64 oz. Dandelion Tea (2 qt flowers in 64 oz. water)
1 Large Lemon Rind & Juice
1 Minneola Rind & Juice
.5 tsp yeast nutrient
Irish Moss

Wyeast Dry Mead Yeast

I include this one as a "healing beer" because it has a lot of healthy fermentables in it. After it's fermented, hopefully it will be a refreshing and healthy beverage. Our goal is to drink it fresh/young in September as our final CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) organic food shares come in.

We are excited to support a local organic family farm out in Brodhead, WI. Its called Scotch Hill Farm. They grow over 100 varieties of vegetables and herbs in rotating crops throughout the year and make all-natural goat milk soaps. Tony drives into Chicago to deliver the produce every week at a number of locations (Oak Park, Logan Square & Ravenswood).

CSA organic food shares/recipes will add a lot more meaning to the beers and wine we make. Hopefully we will uncover a synergy of Slow Food meals matched with great tasting home made beers & wine.

Ancient Ale - A Very Old Ale

I think I'll call this very old ale...Ancient Ale. Today marks 6 months of aging, and the longest I've ever bulk aged a beer. Since its original conception, I've significantly changed my attitude along side its progress. Since it's still "healthy," I've pretty much determined that its best to let it age in bulk...indefinitely. Periodic sampling will dictate my course of action.

On March 5, I wrote about how a pellicle was forming on the top of the tertiary fermenter. At that time it was still pretty cool in our dining room. Since then the average ambient temperature has risen. As a result, fermentation has really picked up. So much that the intensity of rising bubbles has caused the thin slimy pellicle to completely fall apart and into solution. I was really curious how it would grow...oh well.

Also we described its youthful state from sampling a bottle filled during secondary racking. Click here to see the entry "Pellicle" for the description (in small print). In that post I wrote about making flavor additions like dried fruit, rinds, dry hops, and spices. At this point flavor samples will help to confirm whether those additions will add any real interest.

Now that the blend of Lambic yeast and bacteria have been working on the residual sugars (1.030 before Lambic Blend) for 108 days, I'm please to see that the gravity has dropped around 6 points to a current gravity of 1.024. At this time I describe the Ancient Ale as...

An aroma of fruits and soft flowers (lily) malt and some citrus. It comes as a surprise that the bold hop flavors and aromas prior to the Lambic blend have vanished, or are too subtle for me to sense. The hop presence is only detectable within the bittering qualities. There is a very fast succession of flavor. It starts with a dark fruit flavor. A slit second after that a brett/"horse-like" taste rushes over the tongue and fades rapidly. Then the fruityness comes back with spicey flavors. In the finish there are malt notes and a lingering mild sourness towards the back of the tongue. An alcoholic flavor with a very slight oxidized quality hangs around. There is definitely a more thin and sherry-like quality. (Since my brother is very good at pulling out all the most subtle flavors in most food and drinks, I'm waiting to add his critique to my own.)

Though I'm positive the characteristics will evolve, at this point my ideas for this beer are to add some dry hops, but I'll wait until the flavors get more intense.

The recipe was formulated primarily by using the book Designing Great Beers, and other online sources. I like how Ray Daniels talks about how some versions of Old Ale can be aggressively hopped, and some can have a definite presence of bacterial souring. From what I could tell from the tables, I came up with a recipe that should fall within the range. The thing is, I've never had an old ale before. I'm not really sure how aromatic they are, nor how hoppy or malty. I'm going with what I think an old ale could taste like. So far I'm please with what's happening to it. It's definitely unique, and all my intentions for it are unfolding quite well.

Ancient Ale (Very Old Ale)
Brewed on 11/5/06 - 6 gallon primary
SG after Primary: 1.030

Bottled: 3/11/08
FG at bottling: 1.019
ABW: 6.72%
ABV: 8.4%

Grains (OG 1.083)
10.00 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
4.00 lbs. German Vienna
2.00 lbs. Belgian Aromatic
1.50 lbs. Flaked Wheat
0.50 lb. Belgian Special B
0.13 lb. Roasted Barley

Hops (57 IBU)
3 oz. Kent Goldings 6.6%, whole, 75min.
1 oz. Kent Goldings 6.6%, whole, 10min.

Yeast
Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale (13 days in primary, 1 month secondary, 14 months in tertiary)
Wyeast Lambic Blend (added to tertiary on 1/17/07)

Blueberry Ale & Sour Corn Ale

The idea of making a sweet corn flavored ale stewed around in my mind for about a year, until the opportunity to try it, presented itself. After acquiring two 4000L conical flasks from a friend, I easily got into an experimental ale phase.

After visiting Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine in 2004, I came away tasting some very good blueberry ales. Since that trip I wanted to make a blueberry ale of my own.

I decided to brew both of these at the same time. The grains for both recipes were steeped/mashed together to form that part of the recipe. After that, each recipe becomes quite different with the choices for malt extract, hops and bitterness, and fruit.

Sour Corn Ale (Corn Cob Ale)
1.125 gallon

Grain & Extract (OG 1.048)
1 lb. Pale DME
.25 lbs. Vienna
2 oz. Crystal 10
2 oz. Carapils
1 oz. Crystal 120
1.5 lbs. Organic Corn, frozen (2nd Fermentor)

Hops & Spice (29 IBU)
.25 oz. Perle, 6.1%, whole, FWH
.125 oz. Hallertau, 5.8%, whole, 45min
.5 tsp. Ground Pepper, 10min
.125 oz. Hallertau, 5.8%, 5min

Yeast: Collected Thames Valley Ale

Outcome
It was quite a surprise how this ale turned out. The corn did not contribute any sweetness at all. In fact, it developed a very pleasant sour taste. My only presumption is that the corn could have had some sort of wild yeast/bacteria that reactivated and consumed residual sugars. The combination of medium spicy notes from the hops and ground pepper, and the overall rich golden malt sweetness, it was quite refreshing. Though there was plenty of carbonation, a head didn’t develop as intended, nor did it stick around. It pairs very well with a burger and fries.

1 year later...
This beer tasted AMAZING. It smoothed out so much and became "simply" complex. Almost too simple to describe. The sourness and any sweetness vanished. The carbonation was full and smooth. There was an oxidation in the aroma, but not really in the taste. Overall, it took on a quality much like an aged Belgian Tripel but in a unique sort of way. I'll definitely play around with whole corn again, both in fermentation and in secondary.

Blueberry Ale
1.125 gallon

Grain & Extract (OG 1.048)
1 lbs. Muntons Super Light DME
.25 lb. 2-Row
2 oz. Crystal 10L
2 oz. Carapils
1 oz. Crystal 120
1 lb. Organic Blueberries, frozen (2nd Fermenter)

Hops
.125 oz. Willamette, 4.2%, pellets, 60min
.125 oz. Willamette, 4.2%, pellets, 30min
.125 oz.Tettnanger, 4.1%, whole, 10min
.125 oz. Tettnanger, 4.1%, whole, KO

Yeast: Collected Thames Valley Ale

Outcome
It has a nice purple hue to its otherwise pale gold color. There is a faint blueberry scent. All of its flavors are bright and sort of sharp. The hop bitterness may have been a little high. The blueberry flavor is light but definitely present. There is a slight alcohol/metallic taste to it. Overall, its a drinkable beer. I think some wheat or flaked barley could give it a more smooth flavor and mouth-feel. Perhaps the hop flavor and aroma was a little aggressive, and shifting the hop schedule to bittering hops with less aroma would help the blueberry taste and aroma come through more.

1 year later...
An amazing beer. It's carbonation was full and very soft. Similar to the Corn Ale, the overall aroma and flavor was smoothed out but was also much more flavorful. Its sort-of hard to describe. It had a faint aroma of blueberries, and the flavor was super smooth. Absolutely great. I will be aging my current Blueberry 2 for at least 1 year!

Swamp Rat Super IPA

Last year I wanted to brew another IPA for a late summer thirst quencher. The Swamp Rat Super IPA was originally inspired by Dogfish Head's 60 minute IPA. But then it changed drastically into a super charged English/American style. I was trying some new hopping ideas like first wort hops (FWH), and in the end it came out very unexpected...almost strange and out of place.

I really don't get into naming my beers, but entered it into a competition and had to give it one. I was having a hard time with it so I asked my brother what he thought. Right away he suggested a phrase he used for a long time..."swamp rat super...." This meant that what he was describing totally rocked! It was perfect. In fact I think the name suits the beer quite well...not that it rocks, but that it's kind of like a swampy beer.

Swamp Rat Super IPA
6 gallons

Grains (1.066)
4 lbs. Pilsner
4 lbs. 2-Row
3 lbs. Vienna
1.5 lbs. Munich
1.5 lbs. Crystal 10
.5 lb. Flaked Rye

Hops (68 IBU)
2 oz. Cascade, 6%, whole, FWH
1 oz. Galena, 12%, pellets, 60min
1 oz. Goldings, 5%, whole, 30min
1 oz. Goldings, 5%, whole, 5min
1 oz. Goldings, 5%, whole, Dry

Yeast
Wyeast 1275 - Thames Valley Ale

3 judges at the Schooner Competition gave a very fair and accurate critique on this beer. I think the malt complexity and messy addition of hops contributed to its overall harsh bitterness and blunted edges. Here's what they had to say...

Aroma: Grainy, slight indistinct fruity nose, malt sweetness, faint hops.

Appearance: Copper gold color, cloudiness, persistent thin head.

Flavor: Malt sweetness, then hop bitterness, and harsh finish. Grainy maltiness with balance to the bitter side.
Flavor is rustic, not citrusy with fruitiness restrained.

Mouthfeel: Medium body, mild/medium carbonation, high alcohol presence, with no astringency.

Overall Impression: Good beer, almost no hops in aroma, bittering hops are harsh, no citrus notes, not one I'd drink more than one.

This beer was definitely more experimental. I would keep the grain bill simple choosing a pale or pilsner base. Skip Vienna. Bump up the Crystal to 40 or 60 Lovibond. Either bold rye presence (10%) or none at all. If using FWH, treat it as both the bittering and flavor hop additions, and then add KO and Dry hops. Maybe Goldings was not such a good choice for aggressive IPA hopping. Perhaps a 3C blend or Amarillo might be very nice. I will definitely try a better FWH schedule in the future.

Going All-Grain

My brother David went to a NOmeansno show back in Spring 2005. After the show, he made his way over to their merch table to see the goods. Among all the albums and t-shirts he found something just a bit unusual…a home made video about making home made beer. Looks like these legendary punk rockers were also big into brewing their own beer! And they were doing it all-grain!

So David bought the video as a bit of a surprise. Its a rad video. It clearly shows the punk rock way to make beer…which is pretty much the same way anyone else would make the stuff, but they’re punk rockers, and infuse the video with their own punk songs about brewing beer. It’s a must see. Oh, the only way you'd see it is to go to their show, or ask me to lend it to you. Thanks to Mr. John Hanson's video, I am now an all-grain brewer.

All-grain brewing totally rocks! The BIG difference is that with all-grain brewing you are in total control of the malt profile (aroma, taste & color) in the finished beer. My experience with malt extract has resulted in a similar “fruity” malt flavor and aroma no matter what style of beer I tried to make. On the contrary, all of the all-grain batches taste completely different, and much closer to what the style calls for. It’s a lot more fun, it requires a better understating of the large variety of malts, and the finished beer tastes loads better.

For our first batch, I decided to go with the recipe they had on the video. Its a light Scottish style, and very simple. This beer came out great!

Johnny's Rockin' Ale
Approx. 4.5%

7.5 lbs. Pale Malt (2-row)
0.5 lbs. Crystal Malt
2.0 oz. Chocolate Malt
2.0 oz. N. Brewer Hops (Pellets), 60min.
Irish Moss & Gypsum
Dry Yeast
Cost: Under $20 (about 30 cents per bottle)

Much like music or art, creative choices implemented within every step of the all-grain procedures provides the opportunity to express myself fully. In the beginning, I had to familiarize myself with it through practice. I was adjusting to the "science" and methodology of it all. After gaining experience with technicalities of many different beer styles, I now understand and appreciate the finer elements/variables. Using the AG method, I'm in total control over how the finished beer will taste. I'm sure bakers, coffee roasters, and other culinary artisans feel similarly. It is really a great feeling. And at this point I see how artistic expression is starting to blend with the practical/scientific element.

AG brewing is surely a more lengthy process, but it's much more fun and rewarding. I especially appreciate the assistance of my brother David and old HS friend Brian Mateja (they are always ready to help out). We're like a team that can easily work through difficulties and tighten productivity. Most of all, the finished beer is usually quite good. Most beers I make don't have outstanding negative traits, but I do have some areas to improve on...mainly malty, hop aroma, and alcoholic presence.

After a couple years of AG brewing, I've become a little more "scientific." It seems to be a natural inclination due to the required attention at every step in the process. After brewing experimental batches, I see how my beers can take on a sort of "artistic" expression. I plan to explore and write about these topics of "science" and "art" as it applies to our beers. I welcome everyone back to read those in the future..

Thanks for checking out my brewing journal. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. It's definitely fun writing about brewing in between brewing. I plan on keeping up with it often. I'm also looking forward to changing the scope by periodically adding posts about bread making and fermenting foods such as kimchi, krauts, pickling and kombucha.

Mild Brown Ale

A quick brown ale made out of some left over ingredients. Since there's a bunch of slow conditioning lagers taking their sweet old time, I wanted to get in a quick ale. This one was made with my mini-masher (coffee pump carafe). I was expecting to get about 27 gravity points out of it, but the extraction rate was strangely low at 1.019. Some light DME made up the difference (almost 50% of the fermentables).

Mild Brown Ale Recipe:

1 gallon primary and no secondary

Grains:
.43 lb German Vienna Malt
.43 lb Wheat Malt
1.6 oz Crystal 80L
2.5 tsp Chocolate Malt
1.25 tsp Roasted Barley
.4 lb Light DME (dried malt extract)

Hops:
.15 oz. Hallertau pellets, 4.0%, 60min.
2 pellets of Hallertau, 4.0%, 30min.

Yeast:
Muntons dry yeast packet

First Lager

Back in 2002, my good friend from HS enlisted in the army as an Intelligence Analyst. For about two years he was stationed outside a small town southeast of Munich called Bad Ibling. Naturally, drinking the finest German/Bavarian lagers was infused into nearly every social event. He enjoyed classic Munich Helles, Dunkels, Octoberfest, and local strong fest beers. I managed to visit him there, and pretty much marveled at his fortunate circumstances.

After I heard Brian returned home, we got back in touch. He was impressed by my new hobby of home brewing, and started helping out. So I asked him what style he would like to brew. Then he mentioned the beer he was so accustomed to drinking…the one and only Munich Helles (specifically...Augustiner Brau Lagerbier Hell). I said…I hadn’t brewed a lager before, but the pale lager style is what I wanted to brew in the very beginning (specifically a hoppy pilsner).

Since the brew date was scheduled for January 7th 2006, I thought…"the weather is cold enough, so why not?" So I quickly brainstormed how to regulate the primary and secondary fermentation temperatures. A space heater thermostat would keep a consistent primary temperature out in the porch. For maintaining lager temperatures, I thought about turning my ten gallon Rubbermaid mashtun into an icebox. I then fabricated a Styrofoam lid that fit perfectly around the neck of the secondary 5-gallon carboy. By weighing it down with books, it creates a tight insulated lid. Over the course of a week I slowly added more and more ice. It worked perfectly.

My first attempt at a good clean pale Munch lager was a complete success. It’s still one of Brian's and my favorites. Unfortunately a whole year would pass until I could brew another one. Since then I’ve become much more attracted to tasting/drinking lagers. I feel like lagers provide just as much room for experimentation as does the brewing of ales. This winter season I am getting in about 19 gallons of lager beer. (Munich Dunkel, Schwartzbier, Bohemian/Czech Pilsner, and four 1 gallon experimentals)

Overall, brewing lager beers has been a rewarding experience. I totally recommend it. It doesn’t take a whole lot to maintain cold temperatures during the winter season (well...in the northern zones). And the end result is well worth the time and energy. It definitely provides a nice break/alternative to normally brewing ales throughout the rest of the year.

Munich Helles – 1st Lager
Brewed January 7 & Bottled March 5th 2006
Lagered 1.5 months at 32-35*F
Utilized a diacetyl rest

Grains:
10 lb. 2-row malt
.5 lb. Cara-Pils
.25 lb. Flaked Wheat

Hops:
.75 oz. Hallertau 60min
.50 oz. Hallertau 40min
.50 oz. Hallertau 20min

Yeast:
2308 - Munich Lager

Results:
Having never brewed a lager before, I didn't know what to expect. Brian said it tasted just like his favorite session beer back in Germany. It was a very clean tasting pale gold lager with good malt character and low subtle bitterness. It finished just a bit sweet. It's great head retention and carbonation helped create a sense of dryness. It was very clear and thrist quenching. Overall, we were quite impressed. The only regret is only brewing 5 gallons of it. I didn't take accurate measurements so...
Approx. OG = 1.046
Approx. FG = 1.012
Approx. ABV = 4.4%
Approx. IBU = 19

Base Lager & Experimental Secondaries

Well, on 1/30/07, I finally brewed an all-grain batch by myself. Oh, I did get a little help at the beginning of the boil from an unexpected visitor. It is true that Bruce Lee is a relatively small man, but he also puts out an enormous amount of chi-energy and physical endurance. Hey hey Bruce, you know, you could be a really good homebrewer! Oh, and I did put my mom to work on the syphoning while she was visiting, playing with Cadence and dropping off some awesome homemade soup. But for the most part, a solo act.

I'm in lager mode right now, and getting in 4 batches this Winter season. For this 4.5 gallon/1-pot batch, I made up a "base" wort that's a nice deep golden color with medium/low bitterness. The wort is fermenting nicely at about 50*F on the Schwartzbier's Bavarian yeast cake.

Base lager recipe: (OG 1.050)
7.00 lb. American Two-row Pale
1.00 lb. German Munich
0.25 lb. Flaked Wheat
0.13 lb. Belgian Aromatic
0.25 lb. American Crystal 80L

There were a variety of hop pellets left over from past batches, so I utilized all of them in this recipe. Approx. 22 IBU came out of these hops...

Hops: (22 IBU)
.50 oz. Tettnanger (90 min.)
.25 oz. Challenger (90 min.)
.13 oz. Willamette (30 min.)
.25 oz. Hallertau (30 min.)

After the bulk primary is finished, it will be divided into 4 experimental secondaries.

1. Base "Copper" Lager
2. Dry Hopped Lager
3. Ginger Peach Lager
4. Citrus Lager

I love reusing my Mom's & Grandma's 4 liter wine jugs. They make perfect test batch fermenters. They're also great as starter vessels and for making mead.

It's been a long time since brewing (9/2006) a light colored beer. The past four have been 16 SRM and up. So finally I get to see clearly into the action of fermentation. Watching lager yeast do it's thing is pretty cool. I like the way it smells right now (very clean with a nice bitterness).

Progress: The secondaries sat on the cracked windowsill with a light barrier and a styro-cubicle built around them to hold in the cold outside temperature. I didn't worry about temperature fluctuations. They conditioned for two weeks, and the weather stayed quite cold. They were bottled on 3/11/07. So far so good. Each one is very unique.