tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48367003412866868202024-03-13T00:05:21.561-05:00Kyle's Home Brew BlogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-79758449703604915352016-09-06T10:17:00.002-05:002016-09-06T10:17:09.371-05:00Labor of Love 2016<div class="MsoNormal">
Deep Ellum’s Labor of Love homebrew competition/festival was
this past weekend, and New Main Brewing was well represented. I entered three beers, the saison with
pumpkin pie spice (entered as a normal saison, since the pumpkin pie spice
flavor is almost non-existant), the IPA, and the Belgian quadruple. David didn’t enter any beers, but he brought
several beers to pour at the festival. These
recently-named beers made an appearance, and all went pretty quickly: Victory
or Death Pale Ale, Gone Toobin’ IPA, Runaway Scrape Porter, Bourbon-Barrel-Aged
Bigger NTX Stout, and the unnamed Belgian Quad.
The quad was gone first, unsurprisingly, since I only had a 1L growler
of it. The BBA Bigger NTX was next gone. The rest were all gone by 8:00pm. It was a good night, lots of people stopped
by our tent, and everyone had great things to say about our beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, for the competition part. I was unfortunately unable to defend my gold
medal, but the saison did pick up a silver medal, which isn’t too shabby! Back-to-back medals for that beer, so I feel
pretty good about its success as a commercial beer next year. The other two beers didn’t medal, but the IPA
did score very well with the judges. It
got a 43 and a 40 (out of 50, anything over 40 is really good), with one of
them commenting with something like “I would drink this beer again and again,
no question.” I don’t have the
scoresheets in front of me for the exact quote, but that’s pretty high praise,
I think! The quad didn’t fare as well,
averaging 29.5. I think it really doesn’t
fit into the narrow range of the Belgian Dark Strong Ale category. I really like the beer, and so did everyone
who tried it on Sunday, so I’m probably not going to mess with it much.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On the Gone Toobin IPA, both David and I felt like it wasn’t
quite as aggressive with the bitterness as we wanted, so I brewed it again
yesterday morning and swapped out the Magnum hops I originally used for
bittering with some Columbus hops.
Everything else stayed the same, as the flavor and aroma and balance
were all spot on. We’ll see how it comes
out with the tweaks. David is also
brewing another batch of Victory or Death Pale Ale coming up soon. Hopefully we’ll have both beers ready for <a href="http://www.townofpantego.com/index.aspx?nid=313">Pantegofest</a> on
September 24<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As always, check out the <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/">brewery blog</a> to see the weekly
status updates on the progress of the brewery.
We have a couple of locations we’re looking at, and hope to have one
picked out here soon! Once that’s done,
things should start rolling pretty quickly.
Once we can get our equipment ordered, and renovations done to our
location, we can start working on getting all TTB and TABC licensing going.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-7367781008788358232016-08-04T10:38:00.000-05:002016-08-04T10:39:44.792-05:00Beer Updates<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks to everyone who came out to J.R. Bentley’s in
Arlington last Friday night, it was a huge success! The saison and porter were both big hits with
the crowd. We actually ran out of the
saison toward the end of the night, so I’ll have to brew up another batch
soon. The pale ale also got good
reviews, and we got some good feedback on the IPA. While people did really like it, I think we
can make it better by bumping up the bitterness just a bit, and adding to the
aroma by having a longer dry-hopping. I’ll
brew that again soon, with the slightly tweaked recipe. I’m going to do a 90 minute boil, with the
bittering hops boiled the entire time. That
should bump up the bitterness some. I’m
also going to split up the flavor and aroma additions and add some earlier in
the boil. The dry hops will get
increased to 10 days from 5. I also plan
to change the OG from 1.060 to 1.062.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m doing a one-off brew this weekend by brewing up an
Oktoberfest. It’s a few months late to
be brewing it (usually brewed in March), but that’s ok. I’m going to be out of town for a couple of
weeks, and letting a lager sit at a lower fermentation temperature while I’m
gone just seemed to make sense. When I
get home, I can push the temp up for a diacetyl rest before cold crashing and
transferring to a keg for lagering. Here’s
the recipe I’m going with:<o:p></o:p></div>
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7.5lbs German Pilsner<o:p></o:p></div>
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7.5lbs German Light Munich<o:p></o:p></div>
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1lb German Dark Munich<o:p></o:p></div>
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0.5lbs German CaraMunich II<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Hallertau @ 60<o:p></o:p></div>
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0.5oz Tradition @ 15<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Czech Saaz @ 5<o:p></o:p></div>
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WLP820 or WLP830, or Wyeast equivalent, depending on what
the store has. It’s going to need a pretty
big starter from two vials most likely.
Should be fun, only my second lager.<o:p></o:p></div>
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New Main will next be pouring at Pantegofest on Saturday,
September 24<sup>th</sup>. Come out and
see David and Amanda, and try some great beer!
We’re working on getting more events scheduled for the rest of the fall, as well as putting out our next fundraiser.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The winners for Martin House's Riverside Shootout were announced this week. Unfortunately, neither David no I won, but David's pineapple stout did make the top 10! I'll be turning in my entries for Labor of Love 4 today, and I have high hopes that more medals will be coming our way on September 4th. Stay tuned for more info on that.</div>
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And finally, today is IPA Day, so get out there and be
hoppy!<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-86462278326951736882016-07-27T11:19:00.002-05:002016-07-27T11:19:23.852-05:00Beer Tastings!<div class="MsoNormal">
Planning and number crunching and brewing for New Main
continues. Sometimes it seems like it’s
slow going, and other times things happen in a big flurry. David has been doing a great job of blogging
throughout the process, and you can read all about that <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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David and I have both been busy brewing up test batches to
work on dialing in recipes. We’re making
pretty good progress on that front, I think, as we’ve locked in the Saison,
IPA, Pale Ale and Porter. There might be
minor tweaks here and there based on feedback we might get at tastings, but we’re
pretty happy with how those taste right now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speaking of tastings, this Friday we’re going to be having a
tasting at JR Bentley’s in Arlington.
David is bringing the porter and pale ale, and I’ll have the saison and
IPA. The pale ale and IPA were both
kegged this week, so both are super fresh, and we’re excited to have people try
them. I’m also going to bring a small
amount of the Belgian quad to see how it’s progressing as it ages, and I might
bring a couple of bottles of the saison that had pumpkin pie spice added.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve also decided that I’m going to go ahead and enter Deep
Ellum’s Labor of Love again this year, but David is not. I’m going to enter the saison, quad, and IPA,
since you can enter 3 beers this year, compared to just 2 last year. The festival is September 4<sup>th</sup> this
year, the Sunday after Labor Day, as always.
Entry is $30 per person, which gets you unlimited tastings of
homebrew. There was lots of great beer
last year, and I expect this year to be no different.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This week we’re working on finalizing our beer names so we
can start working on getting trademarks for those. We’re not quite ready to share that yet, but
should be pretty soon. Once those are
all set and trademarked, expect to see New Main popping up on Untappd as a
commercial brewery, and not just a homebrewery.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I know David’s talked about this some in the past, but I
wanted to touch on it as well. Like most
brewers who start a brewery, we’re coming from the homebrew world, and we are
going to make sure we remember our roots.
So, we’re going to have lots of homebrew-centered events. A homebrew competition is one obvious event,
but we also want to host things like a homebrewer’s roundtable from time to
time, to let local homebrewers have a chance to chat with a local brewery, and
to get tips and tricks for us and each other, as well as share their beer and
get feedback.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lastly, thanks to all of you who bought t-shirts for our
first fundraiser! We’ll have more coming
soon, including glassware, more t-shirts, and more cool stuff! We will also have a small number of t-shirts available at our tasting on Friday for $25. Keep an eye on the New Main Facebook page for
more info, as well as upcoming tastings and other events.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-59644629380741786622016-06-17T12:27:00.002-05:002016-06-17T12:27:25.381-05:00New Main Brewing is Going PRO!<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a while since my last update, and quite a bit has
happened. For those of you who aren’t my
Facebook friends (I’m not sure how else you might have gotten here, but I
digress…), there has been some big news in the last month. We’re starting a production brewery! We’re teaming up with David and Amanda at <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">New Main Brewing</a> to go pro. We’re going to
use the New Main name and concept going forward. David is doing a great job of blogging about
the journey of opening a brewery over at the New Main blog, so I'm not going to get into the weeds on that end. Hopefully in a year or so, when we’re up and
running, it will be fun to go back and read through that!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll be the head brewer for this, and I’ve been working on recipe development and tweaking.
Between the two of us, we have several award-winning beers, and many
others that didn’t win, but were still highly rated. Too many, really, to start with, so we’re
having to pick a good core of 6 or so beers to start. I can tell you that most likely my gold-medal winning saison will be one, as will David's best-in-show-winning porter. We’ll be getting input from the community as
we do fundraising, as well. In fact,
tonight David will be at <a href="http://www.drjeckyllsbeerlab.net/" target="_blank">Dr. Jekyll’s Beer Lab</a> in Pantego pouring samples from
several of our beers. If you’re in that
area, you should head over and check it out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Recipe development and going from the homebrew scale (5-6 gallon batches) to a production brewery scale (15 barrels, or 465 gallons) can be a daunting challenge. I've been doing tons of research, and have created numerous spreadsheets filled with brewing equations to help. Good thing I'm an IT and Excel nerd, eh?</div>
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A few weeks ago, we did a joint brew day to do a test batch
of David’s witbier recipe. We split the
batch in two, and each fermented half at different temperatures, so see what
the differences did to the flavor of the beer.
David will have both of those tonight, so swing by and help us decide
which one to use! Taste beer for free
and give us your honest feedback. This
is your chance to have a say in what a brewery makes, don’t let it pass you by!<o:p></o:p></div>
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We're also working on coming up with a naming scheme for our beers. We'd like to have some kind of theme in the different names. If you have ideas, let us hear them!</div>
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This weekend is the deadline to turn in our entries to
Martin House’s Riverside Shootout that we both did back in April. David brewed his tropical stout, and I brewed
the Belgian rye IPA. Both turned out
pretty good, so we’re excited to see how they do in the competition. Next up will probably be <a href="http://www.lolhomebrew.com/" target="_blank">Deep Elum’s Labor of Love</a>. Since I’m not technically employed
by a brewery yet, since we’re still working on fundraising, I can still
enter. You can enter 3 beers this year,
instead of two. I brewed a slightly
tweaked batch of saison last weekend (added a touch of wheat malt for head
retention), so I’ll probably enter that.
I might enter the Belgian rye IPA if it doesn’t win at Martin House. I also have the wit and quad kegged, so those
are also possibilities. Once the saison
is done, I have an IPA recipe to try out, too, but that might not be ready to
turn in before I head off for my National Guard annual training in early
August. A good showing there will
hopefully help in our coming fundraising efforts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speaking of fundraising, you have 2 days left to buy a limited
edition (one time only) New Main Brewing t-shirt to show that you were an early
supporter of the brewery! Head over to
<a href="https://www.booster.com/new-main-brewing-company" target="_blank">our booster.com page</a> and buy one of each color!
On the <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/#!/Brewery-fundraiser/c/19329271/offset=0&sort=normal" target="_blank">New Main blog</a>, you can also visit the store on the right hand
side and buy things like personalized barstools at the brew pub and brewer for
a day parties once we open.</div>
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Check back in the coming weeks and months for more news on
upcoming events and tastings. Hope to
see you all soon!<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-79576957177718358012016-04-28T12:25:00.000-05:002016-04-28T12:39:04.563-05:00Martin House and PodcastsThis past Sunday was the 3<sup>rd</sup> annual Martin House
Riverside Shootout brew day. I loaded up
all my brewing equipment into the back of my dad’s SUV, and we headed down to
Ft. Worth to the brewery. This
competition is pretty unique in that you actually brew at the brewery on your
own equipment, using mostly their ingredients, and then take the beer home to
ferment. After packaging, you’ll bring 6
bottles back to the brewery in the second week of June to be judged. Pretty cool idea, and I was excited to try it
out.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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We got down to the brewery a little earlier than our 11am
start time, which gave us ample time to get everything set up. We got pretty lucky and managed to snag a
spot right next to <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">New Main Brewing</a>, which came in pretty handy later in the
day (more on that in a bit). After
getting everything unloaded and setup, I went and got my base 2-row grains from
inside the brewery. The only ingredients
you can use that aren’t provided are any base grains other than 2-row, and any
specialty grains you want to use. Hops
and yeast are provided by the brewery.
They do this so that the winning recipe is as close as possible to how
it was brewed by the homebrewer when they scale it up to brew on their system
for the Pro-Am beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dad and I lugged the brew kettle over to the hot water
spigot and got just under what I needed for mash water. Since the water was around 180F, we used ice
to cool it down to where I wanted it, which also helped get me up to the
correct volume. I added my specialty
grains to the 2-row and dumped everything into the water to start the
mash. Meanwhile, David had started a
little earlier than me, so he was getting ready to start his boil.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was a very windy day on Sunday, and David had some
problems getting his wort up to boiling.
It took him a good hour and a half to get it going, which allowed me to
catch up. Since I was using quite a bit
of pilsner malt, though, my boil was an hour and a half compared to just an
hour for him. Boiling went fine for both
of us, with the exception of having more boil-off than we normally do. That was probably due to having to keep
adjusting the flame to compensate for the variable winds.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Once David’s boil finished, we used my wort chiller as a
pre-chiller. I had a big tub that we
filled with ice, then used my chiller in that, and connected it to David’s
chiller which was in his boil kettle.
This got the cooling water very cold, which helped immensely in cooling
his wort. This is where being set up
next to each other really came in handy.
The timing was also perfect, as just as his wort was done cooling, my
boil ended. It was a simple matter to
transfer the (sanitized, from being in his boil) chiller from his kettle to
mine. Once mine was cooled, it went into
the carboy, and we all packed up and re-loaded our stuff into our respective
vehicles, then headed home. Oh, and in
there somewhere David grabbed the yeast for both of us. I pitched when I got home and got the carboy
into the chest freezer. It took off
pretty quickly; I had a good 2-inch krausen the next morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I'll get the recipe up on the Recipes page here soon.</div>
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Speaking of David, he’s part of a podcast called <a href="http://atypicaldfwpodcast.podbean.com/" target="_blank">AtypicalDFW</a>. They talk about beer mostly, but
all kinds of other random topics as well, and they asked me to come on this week and
talk about homebrewing. I’ve listened to
their shows in the past, and it sounded like a good time, so I agreed. I headed down to their Arlington studios (one
of the guys’ apartment) and took some beer with me. This was my first podcast to be a part of,
and I had a blast. You can check out the
episode <a href="http://atypicaldfwpodcast.podbean.com/e/ep-152-beer-nerds/" target="_blank">here </a>if you’re interested. (NSFW) It’s
just under an hour and a half long (it seemed like about half that recording
it, though).<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s all for now.
Future brewing planning is taking place as we speak…gotta get ready for
the fall competitions!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-18585087939007002912016-04-20T13:44:00.001-05:002016-04-22T08:37:03.192-05:00Lots of Good News!<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a last good month and a half! First, and the best of the news, is that our
daughter, Kathryn, was born last month.
Mom and baby are both doing great, and we’re learning how to be parents,
since this is our first! No beers named
after her, though…at least not yet! Next, I was promoted to Captain in the Texas
Army National Guard at drill this past weekend.
I got my state orders for CPT on August 20, but the Federal Recognition
process the DoD makes NG officers go through takes forever, so those orders
just published on the 29<sup>th</sup> of March.
It felt odd getting saluted and called “Sir” by LTs, but I’m sure I’ll
get used to it. And lastly, today my
<a href="http://www.homebrewtalk.com/brewing-events-guide.html" target="_blank">first article</a> over at HomebrewTalk.com was posted. I’m pretty excited about that, and hopefully
there will be more to come!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now that all of that is out of the way, on to
homebrewing. My test/pilot batch of
Blindicide (Rye Belgian IPA for those who forgot since last time) came out way
better than I ever could have expected.
I’d rank it right up there with Canon de 12 and Fiddler’s Green when it
comes to the best beers I’ve brewed. I’ll
be brewing it on Sunday at Martin House for their Riverside Shootout
competition. Hopefully their house
saison yeast is similar to the yeast I used, because that’s what really made it
shine, I think. The flavor profile from
the yeast paired perfectly with the hops I chose. Here’s the final recipe that I’ll be brewing:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mash @ 149F for 60 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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6.5lbs 2-row (Great Western, supplied by Martin House)<o:p></o:p></div>
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6.5lbs Belgian Pilsner<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">4.5lbs Rye Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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0.25lbs Carapils Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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Boil for 90 minutes (all hops supplied by Martin House)<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Cascade (8.5% AA) and 0.5oz Falconer’s Flight (10.5% AA)
@ 60<o:p></o:p></div>
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2oz Cascade @ 20<o:p></o:p></div>
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2oz Cascade and 0.5oz FF @ 10<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Cascade and 1oz FF @ 1<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Cascade and 1oz FF dry-hopped in Secondary (~10 days)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I plan on following the same fermentation schedule as I did
with the test batch, pending any input I can get from the Martin House guys on
their strain. Here’s what I did:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Primary: ~ 5 days at 70F, the rise up to 80F and hold for
another ~6 days<o:p></o:p></div>
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Secondary: ~10 days
at 72F<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m looking forward to taking my setup out to Fort Worth
overlooking the Trinity and brewing.
Sunday is supposed to be a fantastic day. Next up, in May sometime hopefully, I’ll brew
up a Wee Heavy recipe that I’ve been working on. That’s going to be for Labor of Love. After that we’ll play it by ear.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Short one today, I’ll hopefully have a good update after
this weekend’s brew session!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-73283087909429976632016-03-21T13:44:00.001-05:002016-03-21T13:44:35.993-05:00Bluebonnet Results<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bluebonnet Brew-Off awards were announced a couple of
weeks ago. I wasn’t able to make it for
the ceremony, but they had the results a few days later. Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything, but I
did get some good feedback on both of the beers that I entered. My saison did very well (37/50 and 41/50) in
the first round of judging, but didn’t place.
The only negatives in the comments were slightly low carbonation (to be
expected when bottling from a keg), and low head retention. When I entered it into Deep Ellum’s Labor of
Love last year, they also said it needed better head retention. I could easily get that by adding some
CaraPils malt or some wheat malt, but I like that it’s a SMaSH (Single Malt and
Single Hop) beer, so I’m keeping it just the way it is.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The quad didn’t fare as well, though, as the saison. It didn’t get out of the first round of
judging (23/50 and 26/50), but there were some good comments on it that I can
use. Both judges commented that it wasn’t
complex enough. That’s not too surprising,
since it only had 2 base malts (half pilsner and half pale ale) plus a pound of
Belgian candy syrup. Both judges said it
could benefit from some Special B. So, I’ve
tweaked the recipe a bit to add come complexity. They also both said to up the fermentation
temp to get more esters and a dryer finish.
Here’s the new recipe, which I’ll be brewing this weekend:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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GRAINS:<o:p></o:p></div>
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9lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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9lbs Belgian Pale Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1lb CaraMunich Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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1/2lb Biscuit Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1/4lb Aromatic Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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1/4lb Special B Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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1/4lb Chocolate Malt<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1lb D-45 Candi Syrup<o:p></o:p></div>
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1lb D-180 Candi Syrup<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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HOPS:<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz US Northern Brewer @ 60<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Hersbrucker @ 15<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Styrian Golding @ 5<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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YEAST:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wyeast 3787 (same strain as WLP530, which I used last time,
but it wasn’t available when I ordered everything), 4L starter is probably
necessary for a beer this big. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I’ll pitch it at around 70F and let it warm up to mid-80s
and hold it there for a week or so, then start bringing it back down to 65ish
and hold there until FG is reached. Then
I’ll keg and carbonate, then let it age at room temperature until it’s time to
serve at Operation Bravo in November.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other beer news, I met David from <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">New Main Brewing</a> out at
Shannon Brewing in Keller on Saturday, where his pro-am beer, an Irish Breakfast Stout
that he brewed with the guys at Shannon, was on tap for their St. Patrick’s Day
celebration. It was very good. Probably my favorite of the beers they had on
tap that day, followed closely by their dry-hopped Irish Red. We also got to chat with one of the brewers from Deep Ellum for a while, which was cool. It's always fun to talk to the guys who brew for a living!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And speaking of David, our English Dark Mild didn't get out of the first round, either, but we also got some good feedback on it. We both really liked the way it turned out, though, so if either of us brew it again, I don't know that we'd change much of anything. I'd probably use a different yeast strain, since I had so much trouble with WLP007 both times that I used it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As for what’s up next, after the second batch of the quad, I
have Martin House’s Riverside Shootout at the end of April. I bottled the test batch of the Rye Belgian
IPA yesterday, and it smelled awesome! I’m
pretty excited to try it in a week or so, once it’s had a chance to get
carbonated. The hops, yeast, and rye
flavors all seems to come together really well in the small gravity sample that
I tasted. Of course, it was hot and flat,
so we’ll just have to wait and see. If
it does indeed come out as well as I’m hoping, that’s the recipe that I’ll be
brewing for the Martin House competition.
I’ll brew it there at the brewery on my equipment, and then bring home
the wort along with a pitch of their house saison yeast strain blend. After fermenting and packaging at home, the
bottles are due back at the brewery by mid-June for judging.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking ahead to May and June, I need to start thinking
about what I want to enter into Labor of Love this year. My current thinking is that I’m not going to
enter the saison again, it already won gold.
I do want to enter the Killer Junior IPA again, though, and hope it
turns out better than last time. I can
wait until July to brew that one, though.
I’m thinking I may try a Scottish Wee Heavy in May and let it age until
September. That should be just about
perfect.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One last thing before I let you all get back to your
days. A couple of months ago I got an
email from HomeBrewTalk about possibly doing some articles for them. I thought that sounded pretty cool, so I
asked for more info. After some
discussion, I was able to pick from a list of possible topics, and got my topic
back a couple of days later. I’ve
written and submitted the article, so hopefully it’s published soon. Once it is, I’ll be sure to post on here!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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Everyone have a great week, and happy brewing!<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-27294119152242219102016-02-12T14:01:00.000-06:002016-02-12T14:01:29.449-06:00More Competitions<div class="MsoNormal">
For those who are friends with me on Facebook, you might
have seen my post about <a href="http://martinhousebrewing.com/Events/riverside-shootout-homebrew-competition/">Martin
House’s Riverside Shootout</a> coming up in April. Basically, they invite homebrewers out to
their brewery to brew for a competition (there’s a $45 per team fee, each team
can have up to 3 people). It’s a
staggered start to make sure they have enough power and pre-heated water for
everyone. They’ll provide as much 2-row
malt as you need, any other base grains, and all specialty grains, will have to
be provided by the homebrewer. They also
provide all the hops that you’ll need, and they have several varieties to
choose from. The homebrewers will take
home the wort they get from the brew day, plus Martin House will give each
brewer enough yeast to pitch. They have
two strains they’ll give out, their house strain, which is similar to WLP001,
and their custom saison blend. The hops
that can be used are Columbus, Chinook, Cascade, Sorachi Ace, Falconer’s
Flight, German Polaris, US Brewers Gold, Czech Saaz, French Strisselspalt, and
US Northern Brewer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They want people to push the envelope of creativity, and
brew something they haven’t thought of before.
I’m more of a traditional brewer, so that’s a little strange for
me. I’ll push the boundaries of a style
a bit, but I don’t get too crazy with fruits, spices, herbs, etc, in my beers,
so coming up with something unique, while staying true to how I like to brew,
will be a challenge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As anyone who has read more than a couple of entries on here
will already know, I’m a big fan of Belgian beers. So, that’s my starting point here, using
their saison yeast blend. I’ve had their
River House Saison a few times, and I’ve really enjoyed it, so I know I can
work with that yeast. I starting
thinking about what I can do that’s going to be different. Belgian IPAs are pretty common these days,
but how about a hybrid of a hybrid, and do a Belgain Rye IPA? The rye malt flavors should pair well with
the spices created by the yeast, and some floral and citrusy hops will add nice
aroma, flavor, and just enough bitterness.
That’s the plan anyway. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Instead of going in totally blind, I think I’m going to do a
test run of the recipe in a smaller, 1 gallon batch, first. If it turns out good, then I’ll scale it up
to 6 gallons for the competition brew.
If it turns out bad, well, I’m only out a gallon of beer, and I’ll think
of a backup plan. So, I started with a regular
6 gallon (5.75 gallons, actually, since I lose about .75 gallons to
fermentation losses with the ported Big Mouth Bubblers) batch, then scaled it
down to 1.25 gallons (I assume I’ll lose about .25 gallons to fermentation losses,
but I’m not too worried about it).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here’s the full 5.75 gallon recipe:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Grain Bill<o:p></o:p></div>
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5lbs 2-Row (Great Western)<o:p></o:p></div>
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5lbs Pilsner (Briess)<o:p></o:p></div>
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4lbs Rye Malt (Briess)<o:p></o:p></div>
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0.25lbs Carapils (Briess)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mash @ 152 for 60 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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90 minutes boil<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hop Schedule<o:p></o:p></div>
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2oz Cascade and 0.5oz Falconer’s Flight @ 60 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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2oz Cascade @ 20 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Cascade and 0.5oz Falconer’s Flight @ 10 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Falconer’s Flight and 2oz Cascade @ 1 minute<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2oz Cascade and 1oz Falconer’s Flight dry-hopped for last 10
days<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the test batch, I think I’ll use WLP568, which is White
Labs’ Belgian saison blend. Hopefully
that will get me close enough to what they use.
I’ll use the same fermentation schedule for both:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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5 days at 70°F, then let it rise up to 80°F over the next 6
days. Then bring down to around 72°F and dry hop for the last 10 days. Then I’ll cold crash before bottling, and let
them carb up for 3 weeks or so.
Hopefully, they turn out amazing, and I’ll use the big recipe for the
competition.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Oh, here’s what it scales down to:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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1.4lbs of 2-row and pilsner<o:p></o:p></div>
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1.1lbs of rye<o:p></o:p></div>
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0.8oz of carapils<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The hops are a bit trickier since IBU calculations include
boil volume, but here’s what I got to get the IBUs right around the same:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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.5oz Cascade/.15oz Falconer’s Flight @ 60<o:p></o:p></div>
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.5oz Cascade @ 20<o:p></o:p></div>
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.25oz Cascade/.15oz Falconer’s Flight @ 10<o:p></o:p></div>
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.25oz Falconer’s Flight .5oz Cascade @ 1<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.5oz Cascade/.25oz Falconer’s Flight dry-hopped<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hopefully that’s not too confusing. Eventually, I’m sure I’ll break out of my
homebrewing shell and play around with wacky ingredients, but I like what I
like. And remember, I did do a pumpkin
spice saison that turned out pretty damn good a couple of falls ago!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As for what’s up between now and Riverside Shootout, I’ll
probably still try to brew a batch of the Canon de 12 quad to get it
aging. There should be plenty of time
between finishing the pilot batch of the Belgian Rye IPA (tentatively named
Blindicide after a Belgian version of the bazooka) and the actual competition brew
day at Martin House. After that I’ll
have to start thinking about what I want to do for Deep Ellum’s Labor of Love
this year. I might have to try to repeat
my gold medal with the Fiddler’s Green Farmhouse Ale!<o:p></o:p></div>
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As for Bluebonnet Brew-Off, I won’t know the results until
March 12<sup>th</sup>. That’s a drill
weekend for me, so unfortunately I won’t be able to make the awards
ceremony. Hopefully David will be able
to make it and can text me if we win anything for Steel Main Dark Mild, or if
either of us wins for individual entries.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Happy Friday everyone, enjoy the beautiful weekend!<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-78319555040350362662016-02-09T09:50:00.004-06:002016-02-09T09:50:46.934-06:00Quick Update<div class="MsoNormal">
After serving my two week <s>sentence</s> training at Fort
Sill, I’m back and the Dark Mild was ready for sampling. David tried his a couple of weeks back and
also shared it with the guys at <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-tyree-2/atypical-dfw-podcast/e/division-brewing-atypical-dfw-podcast-42241392">Atypical
DFW Podcast</a> (definitely a NSFW podcast, you’ve been warned!). They all seemed to enjoy it quite a bit and
that’s a good sign, since we entered his into Bluebonnet. I kegged mine and got it on CO2 before I
left, so it was ready when I got home. I
poured a pint last night, and it was delicious.
The malt really shines through, with just enough bitterness from the
hops for a good balance. At 3% on the
dot, it’s also very sessionable. We’re
both hoping that it does very well at Bluebonnet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As for The Chestnut Troop Best Bitter, I racked it onto the yeast cake from
the mild and let it sit for the two weeks I was gone at around 73°F. I kegged it last night, and the diacetyl is
all gone, and it finished at 1.010. I’m
really glad that racking onto the yeast from the mild worked to get rid of the diacetyl,
but I’m guessing that in the process, I introduced too much oxygen to the beer,
as I have a strong green apple flavor.
That off flavor is generally caused by acetaldehyde, which can be caused
by oxidation or infection. I was very
careful with my sanitation, so I’m confident it’s not an infection, but
oxidation was a worry for sure. I’m
hoping that with a little time, it’ll clean itself up. Even with the acetaldehyde, it’s way better
than it was with the diacetyl, so I’ll take the tradeoff.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I moved the mild into the chest freezer and bumped it down
to 45°F and put the now-kegged bitter into the kegerator and hooked up the CO2
so it can get carbonated. Once I empty a
keg, I’ll move the mild over and it will be already carbonated, so it'll be ready to
drink immediately.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With 4 kegs now, I’m pretty set for the time being, so no
brew days are planned as of now. Once a
keg blows, I’ll plan a day to brew another batch of Canon de 12 so I can have
it aging and ready for Operation Bravo again this year in November. After that, I’m not sure what the future
holds for brewing. I need to do another
IPA soon, since it’s been a while since the last one. I’m not sure if I’ll do another batch of
Charge 8 or Killer Junior, or try something new. I’d also like to try again with a lager,
maybe a Maibock.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Above, I linked to a podcast that David from New Main
Brewing has started participating in. It’s
a pretty good listen for craft beer fans.
Check them out!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Short one today, that’s all for now.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-47952870851403056122016-01-18T10:28:00.002-06:002016-01-19T08:40:18.428-06:00Diacetyl, Plus Some Tips for New Homebrewers<div class="MsoNormal">
I haven’t had much experience with diacetyl in my beers. I’ve only brewed one lager, and that’s generally when you see diacetyl, because of the lower fermentation temperatures, and I allowed for a good diacetyl rest on the lager I did do, so I didn’t have any problems with it. That makes my latest conundrum all the more head-scratching. Both the bitter I kegged a while back and the dark mild I have in primary are loaded with diacetyl. In addition, I think both stalled out short of finishing fermentation. On the bitter, I was expecting a final gravity of around 1.009 and ended up with 1.013. That’s not terrible, really, though, so I let it go since it was stable. The dark mild, however, was at 1.019 after the yeast had been dropped out of suspension for a few days. I was also expecting around a 1.009. 10 points higher than anticipated is way up there. In addition, both have heavy diacetyl (think movie theater popcorn butter or butterscotch) off-flavors.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since the bitter is already kegged, it’s off the yeast, so there’s not a ton I can do to it as is. For the dark mild, I tried rousing the yeast and I bumped the temp up to 74F. The 1.019 sample was on Friday evening. Yesterday morning I took another sample, and it was down to 1.016, so that’s progress. David said his bottomed out at 1.015, so I’m in that ballpark. He also didn’t have any diacetyl, so I’m hoping that it’s cleaning up now, and will be good to go here soon. He has his kegged now, and so if it turns out tasting good after carbonation, we’ll go with his for Bluebonnet and I’ll just give mine time and see how it turns out. For the bitter, I’m either going to make a yeast starter from a neutral dry yeast like US-05 and pitch it in when it hits high krausen, or I might take a couple of pints of yeast from the dark mild when it’s done and pitch it. Either way, I’m hoping the yeast will clean up the diacetyl left over from the WLP007 fermentation. My preference is probably to use new, clean yeast.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve also heard that you can hook up your CO2 to your beer out post and let the CO2 bubble up through the beer in the keg while the valve on top is kept open, and this could help “blow-off” the diacetyl. I’m skeptical that will work, but I might give it a try. Otherwise, I’m not sure how I’ll have it ready to enter Bluebonnet, since my entries will have to be bottled before I leave on Sunday for Fort Sill.</div>
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Even if I can’t enter the bitter, or if we can’t enter my half of the dark mild, I’m still going to work on seeing if they can be fixed up enough where they’re good enough to drink. I’m confident that I can do that, at the very least. I used WLP007 that I bought less than a week apart from the same store, so maybe it’s a bad batch of yeast or something, who knows. I’ll probably avoid that strain from now on, though, since I’ve never had this problem before with other strains, even other English-style strains like WLP002.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other news, I’ve be seeing lots of new homebrewers on my Facebook feed lately (or maybe not-so-new homebrewers, I just never saw their homebrew posts before, who knows with Facebook). I think it’s awesome so many people are getting into homebrewing. It’s a great hobby. You get to enjoy the process of making something yourself, and you have tons of control over the final product of your labors. Then, when you’re done, you have great beer to drink! I thought I’d share some of the lessons I’ve learned over the past couple of years, going from total newbie who didn’t know what he was doing, to award-winning homebrewer (it may just be one award so far, but I’m still pretty pumped about it!).</div>
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</div>
<ol>
<li>Sanitation. It gets said over and over by pretty much every experienced home-brewer. Sanitation is the number one key to making good beer. I’ve been fortunate in that I have yet to experience first-hand the results of bad sanitation. I’ve had no infected beers. I have tasted some infected beers, though, and that’s not something that you want, unless you’re intentionally trying to sour beers, and that’s not something a new homebrewer should be doing, anyway. Everything…and I mean EVERYTHING…that the beer touches post-boil needs to be sanitized. A no-rinse sanitizer like StarSan or Iodophor is my recommendation. Both work very well.</li>
<li>Fermentation temperature control. If sanitation is the number one key to making good beer, then fermentation temperature control is the number one key to going from good beer to great beer. My first beer was fermented in the pantry in the middle of summer in Texas. Even with the A/C running, the temperature in there was mid-to-upper-70s. Ale yeasts like it in the mid-to-upper-60s to ferment cleanly. Some Belgian strains can get up into the 80s and be ok, but even then, you generally will start fermentation lower and ramp up once active fermentation is complete. Higher fermentation temperatures can create all kinds of off flavors. In my first beer, an Irish Red kit from Northern Brewer, I had some pretty bad fusel alcohols, which give a “hot” or “solvent” type flavor. While the beer was still enjoyable, I knew it could be better. In order to attempt to better control my fermentation temperatures, I started using what’s called a swamp cooler setup. I used a bathroom in our house upstairs that wasn’t used much, if at all, and could be completely dark. I had a Rubbermaid tub and filled it up with enough water that the water level was even with the beer level in the carboy I was fermenting in. I would then drape a wet t-shirt over the carboy, with the tail of the shirt in the water. This would help with evaporative cooling of the carboy. I also rotated out frozen water or Gatorade bottle to keep the water around 65F, or whatever my target temperature was. I’d swap the bottles out when I left for work in the morning, when I got home in the afternoon, and before I went to bed at night. This worked pretty well, and I saw an improvement in the quality of my beer very quickly. It was still far from perfect, though, as there would be some pretty major temperature swings, especially during the day in the middle of the hot Texas summers. I knew I wanted to be able to more finely control the temperatures. Eventually, I moved to the setup I have now. I got an old, but perfectly working, chest freezer from Craigslist and an STC-1000 temperature controller from Amazon. Using a couple of different blog posts (here and here), I got the temperature controller wired up. The heating side goes to a light bulb inside a paint can that sits on the compressor hump inside the freezer, and the cold side goes to the freezer itself, which sits out of the way in the garage. It works perfectly. I’m able to keep the temperature within less than a degree of the target temp, even in the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter. The quality of my beer made another huge jump. I was able to create a saison with a pretty complex fermentation schedule. It started at 65F, and stayed there for 3-4 days, until active fermentation completed, then I bumped it up to 75F and let it rise up to there over the course of a couple of days. I kept it there for another 10 days or so before bringing it up one more time to 78F and letting it finish there. That’s the beer I won a gold medal for, so you can see the benefits of having good fermentation temperature control. While I haven’t taken much advantage of the ability to do lagering, I can now do lagers, even in the summer, if I so choose. The length of this paragraph alone should show how much I think about fermentation temperature control! It probably should be overall number 1, but without proper sanitation, fermentation temperature won’t get you anywhere!</li>
<li>Yeast. If you're not pitching enough yeast, you could overwork the little guys, which can also cause some off-flavors. Generally, you can see increased levels of diacetyl from underpitching, and you can also see stuck fermentations (yes, this did occur to me with my problem describe above). There are a couple of ways to ensure proper pitching rates. For most 5 gallon batches, a single pack of dry yeast is going to be more than enough yeast. If you're using liquid yeast, even if it was produced that day and is 100% viable, you're going to be drastically underpitching. The best way to pitch liquid yeast is by doing a yeast starter. A yeast starter is basically a very small batch of unhopped wort. For every 10ml of starter volume, you'll need 1 gram of DME (dry malt extract). So, for a 1L starter, you'll need 100g of DME. I like to use the lightest DME I can find, so you're not adding any color to your wort. Boil your water and add in the DME. I usually boil in a seperate pot, then pour the water into my pyrex flask, then add the DME. Bring the DME/water mixture back to a boil and let it boil for at least 15 minutes. After you've cooled the starter wort down to 70F (with such a small volume, this is pretty quick in an ice bath in the sink), give it a good shaking to aerate the yeast (or, if you have the setup, you can actively oxygenate the yeast), then add your yeast. Cover the top with a sanitized piece of foil. If you have a stir plate, before covering, you'll need to drop in your stir bar as well, then put it on the stir plate. I use the lowest setting that I get a vortex going at. If you don't have a stir plate, no problem, you'll just need a bit bigger starter, and will want to shake your starter periodically. <a href="http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html" target="_blank">Mr. Malty's starter calculator</a> is a great resource for determining how big of a starter you're going to need based on your batch size, the starting gravity of the beer you're making, how old the yeast is, and whether you're using a stir plate or not. After 24-48 hours, your starter should be pretty much done. At this point, you can pitch the whole thing into your wort, or you can put it in your refrigerator to get the yeast to drop out of suspension. I generally will cold crash for a day or two prior to brew day, then take the starter out of the fridge at the beginning of my brew session and let it warm up to room temperature. When I'm ready to pitch, I'll decant off most of the liquid, leaving only the yeast cake plus enough liquid to swirl around in the flask and have a slurry to pitch. It all goes into the wort at that point, and you're only adding a negligible amount of extra wort in. You do also want to be sure you're not overpitching. Check the starter calculator to see how many yeast cells you need for adequate pitching.</li>
</ol>
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If you’re doing the three above things, and doing them well, you’ll make great beer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a 100% extract brewer doing only recipe kits you buy online, or if you have the ultimate 3-tier all grain system and you’re making your own recipes and crushing your own malts.</div>
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Happy brewing everyone!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-224865277338131432016-01-14T12:44:00.001-06:002016-01-14T12:44:17.434-06:00Bottles and Kegs, Oh My!<div class="MsoNormal">
I finally got my new <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/the-last-straw-bottle-filler" target="_blank">Last Straw bottle filler</a> working
perfectly yesterday, and I was able to bottle everything for Bluebonnet that I
have ready as of now. Got 6 bottle of
the saison (3 for entry under Saison, and 3 for entry under New Entrants) and 3
bottles of the quad, which is now just under 6 months old. I was also able to squeeze out 3 more bottles
and about half a growler out of the keg for personal consumption! I had one of the bottles last night, and man
is it good. I almost wish I hadn’t
entered it into Operation Bravo, so I’d have some left to age even longer. I got some good feedback from people who had
it there (including the judges who didn’t get to try the entry bottles), so it
was worth it. I can’t imagine how good
it will be in another 6 months. I’ll try
to save at least one bottle that long. I’m
going to have to brew another batch and not touch it for at least 9
months. I think I’ve said that before,
though, so we’ll see.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, back to the bottle filler. They advertise that it’s able to fill bottles
directly from kegs at serving pressure, but I’ve found that to be totally
inaccurate. Even with pre-chilled
bottles, at serving pressure (8-10 PSI), it was almost all foam. I lowered the keg pressures down to under 5
PSI and purged the head space, and there was only a very small amount of
foam. I was able to completely fill the
bottles, then cap on the small amount of foam that came out, leaving the
perfect amount of head space in the bottles.
Hopefully they have enough carbonation in them, but I can’t see that
they won’t. A couple of hours later I
opened one of the quads, and it had a good amount of carbonation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXweh-IAe4KZRkynJrn20I9uGr2_6EmPo4pMpIjouCEvsZrNmhFuKs2SixJj1Zx0hnZzKntWMCsAXMiqCxaqn9OIdghXl55Yfp39bDvrsBuunRuH8B5ZXGbs87JuLT8S628NxO1QxM3As/s1600/FB_IMG_1452735028896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXweh-IAe4KZRkynJrn20I9uGr2_6EmPo4pMpIjouCEvsZrNmhFuKs2SixJj1Zx0hnZzKntWMCsAXMiqCxaqn9OIdghXl55Yfp39bDvrsBuunRuH8B5ZXGbs87JuLT8S628NxO1QxM3As/s320/FB_IMG_1452735028896.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the quad after the head had dissipated some</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I also kegged The Chestnut Troop (my British best bitter)
last night, and I have it on CO2. Since
it’s such a lightly carbonated beer (0.8-2.0 volumes of CO2, compared to around
2.3-3.0 for most "regular" beer styles), it shouldn’t take long. I also bumped the temperature in the
fermentation chamber up a few degrees yesterday before I left for work, so that
the yeast in the dark mild can finish cleaning up before kegging this
weekend. I’ll try to force carbonate
that one pretty quickly so I can get it into a few bottles, so David and I can
meet up and do a quick blind taste test and decide which one we like best, and
enter that one into Bluebonnet. Entries
are due by the 28<sup>th</sup>, but since I’m out starting on the 24<sup>th</sup>,
I’m going to have to get my entries in before then. Shouldn’t be a problem.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Speaking of the dark mild (named Steel Main, a combination
of our brewery names), David has his <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/2016/01/so-we-didnt-win-powerball.html" target="_blank">recap </a>of our brew day up, along with some
really cool stuff on <a href="http://www.drjeckyllsbeerlab.net/" target="_blank">Dr. Jekyll’s Beer Lab</a> down in Arlington. They’re a homebrew store with 40 craft beers
on tap, and David is working with them on building an awesome in-house brewing
system. For a small fee (plus the cost of
ingredients, of course), you’ll be able to brew a batch in the store, then take
the wort home with you to pitch your yeast.
Sounds like an awesome way to get into homebrewing, or, if you’re
currently an extract or partial mash brewer, to move up to all grain without
the up-front cost of upgrading all of your equipment right away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moving forward, I’m about to have 2 more than half full
kegs, and 2 completely full kegs (I have to double-check the saison and the
dunkelweizen, to see how much is actually left in those), so I need to have a
beer-drinking party soon, maybe. I would
like to be able to do a brew day for a new batch of the quad so it can get to
aging. It would then be 9 months old at
Operation Bravo, and almost a year for next year’s Bluebonnet. After that, I’ll work on a beer every couple
of months or so to keep the pipeline full.
I’ve been batting around several ideas for new recipes, and also
returning to some old favorites. Some of
the new ones include a Rye IPA, a Schwarzbier, and a Helles Bock. Returnees will probably include Killer Junior
and D30. I might also try some small
batches and experiment with ingredients.
I’d also love to try my hand at a sour beer, maybe a Lambic of some
kind. Those take patience, though, and
an extra set of fermenting gear just for sour beer. Of course, I will also take any suggestions in the comments on the blog (which I never seem to get) or on Facebook (I do get some of these).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately, we did not win the Powerball drawing last
night, so Steel Rain Brewing will stay a homebrew operation, and Erin and I
will have to keep our day jobs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'm working on adding more recipes to the section on the right, I'm still hoping to eventually have everything I've made on there (serves as a good backup in case I lose my data), and keep it updated as I brew more and more.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-62623735890264488192016-01-11T12:40:00.002-06:002016-01-11T12:40:57.507-06:00Collaboration DayBrewing beer is fun. Brewing beer with friends is more fun. Collaborating to brew a lot of beer with friends is even more fun! That’s what I learned this weekend. As you know if you read the last entry, David and Amanda from New Main Brewing came over on Saturday to brew up a double batch of a Dark Mild recipe David and I collaborated on to come up with via email a few weeks ago. The idea got its genesis when we shared a tent at Operation Bravo back in November. We wanted to do something we could enter into the Bluebonnet Brew Off, and since the deadline to have entries submitted is Jan 28th, we needed something that would be ready quickly. A British Dark Mild fits that bill nicely, as it’s pretty routine to go grain to glass in just over a week.<br />
<br />
It was a little chilly on Saturday afternoon, but that didn’t stop us, or stop a couple of neighbors who showed up sporting nearly-matching Pittsburgh Steelers jackets from the 90s, I think. My next-door neighbor, David, even had one of those old beanies from the 70s with the pom-pom ball on the top! But I digress…With 15 pounds of grain and 14+ gallons of water, it’s a good thing I have the new 20 gallon kettle. The total mash volume was just over 16 gallons, so with my old one, or with David’s keggle, we would have needed to add a sparge step to make the mash fit.<br />
<br />
We doughed in a little warm, but with the cool temperature outside, we got it back down to our target mash temp of 155°F pretty quickly, and wrapped the kettle in blankets to keep it from dropping too much more over the 60 minute mash. The rest of the day went pretty well, no hiccups to speak of. We ended up a tad under the goal of 11 gallons, but not by much. We each had nearly 5.5 gallons to take home. I pitched a 1L starter of WLP007 and David used a packet of Mangrove Jack M07 dry yeast. They’re supposedly the same strain, from what I’ve seen, but we’ll see. We’re planning on meeting up once they’re both done and seeing which one we like better to enter into the competition. I think we have similar fermentation plans, so it will be interesting to see how much different they actually turn out!<br />
<br />
In other news, I think I’ve got the Last Straw bottle filler figured out, as I was able to get a couple of bottles filled with the saison and opened one last night, and it was pretty well carbonated still, and had the correct amount of head space. Since I’m entering the saison in its category as well as the New Entrant category, I need 6 bottles of it. I’m not going to enter the dunkelweizen I’ve decided. While it still tastes good and drinks well, the scorching during the boil (see last blog entry) gave it a bit of a burnt flavor. I don’t mind the flavor, and it doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of the beer, but it will definitely cost me points, and I’d rather brew it again without the scorching and get comments on it that way. This way, I know most of the comments are going to be about the burnt flavor, and that’s not really going to be helpful. I also need to see if I can get three bottle of the quad from the keg. If not, I’ll just drink the rest to free up the keg and the space in the fridge, since I need to keg the bitter soon, as well as the mild.<br />
<br />
Those loyal readers who have been following along for a while will notice that I removed the pages banner from the top and moved the recipes portion over to the right hand side. I’ll work on adding recipes this week until I’ve got them all up there.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-86684418437040579452016-01-07T09:54:00.004-06:002016-01-07T09:54:55.465-06:00Brew Kettle Down!<div class="MsoNormal">
May the first part of this blog entry serve as a PSA for all
you homebrewers out there, and add something to your “don’t do this” list…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, I had planned on brewing an English bitter right after
Christmas, and had gotten all the ingredients at the new homebrew store up in
Denton, Baron’s Brew Works, and got my yeast starter going. I got a stir plate for Christmas, so I put
the starter on that for the rest of that day, then put it in the fridge in the
evening to drop all the yeast out of suspension. Everything was ready to go for brewing the
next day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I got everything setup on Saturday, the 26<sup>th</sup>, to
start around noon. I
called/texted/Facebook messaged all my regular brew day attendees, and I was
ready to go. I started filling up the
brew kettle with my mash water and start heating it up. As it’s heating, I notice that water is
dripping from the bottom of the kettle onto the propane burner. This is odd, since I haven’t had a leak
before. I thought maybe the seal on the
spigot wasn’t good, but I checked it, and that’s not where the leak was coming
from. I turned off the heat and let the
kettle cool back down, and found the site of the leak was on the underside of
the kettle, and the kettle was warped on both the inside and the bottom at the
leaking spot. There wasn’t a clear hole,
though, that I could see. So, brew day
was cancelled.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I eventually worked out what happened. When I brewed the dunkelweizen a few weeks
before, I had done what I always do and used the lid from my old 8-gallon aluminum
stock pot as a heat shield at the bottle of the kettle during the mash. I do that so that if I have to heat the mash,
I don’t have to worry about melting my BIAB bag. Well, I totally forgot about it when it came
time for the boil, and left it in there.
Big mistake. Not only did the
kettle get pretty badly scorched, but it also apparently caused the warping,
which must have caused a small crack to develop in the steel (single ply bottom
on this kettle). So, there would be no
brewing on that day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I considered trying to fix it, as we have some friends with
welding equipment and experience, but since I couldn’t pinpoint and exact spot,
or see the crack, I thought that might be too difficult, so eventually I just
ordered a new brew kettle, this time with a triply bottom. I got a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/CONCORD-Stainless-Kettle-Couplers-Thermometer/dp/B018FY0KS4/ref=sr_1_72?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1452179911&sr=1-72&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A5752263011" target="_blank">Concord 20-gallon kettle</a> with 2 welded
couplers for a ball valve and a thermometer.
It’s very nice, and it got here on Monday.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, what did I do? I
brewed, of course! My efficiency
actually jumped up a few points with the new kettle, too. I also got a Thermapen instant read
thermometer for Christmas, so I don’t really need the thermometer on the
kettle, but it is nice to have it to know when I’m getting close to hitting my strike
temp for the mash, and to check the temp during the mash without removing the
lid and whatever I’m using to insulate during the mash (usually a handful of
blankets). I hit my strike temp and mash
temp right on the nose, and lost a couple of degrees in the first 30 minutes,
so I turned the burner on and stirred the mash with my fancy new mash paddle
while it was heating to avoid scorching the wort or melting the bag. Way better than using a heat shield and
possibly forgetting it again. After I
got back to 153°F, I covered the kettle back up and let the mash work its
magic. Another 30 minutes and I started
the boil. No problems at all with the
brew day, and with the colder temperatures, I was able to get the wort cooled
do to 85°F pretty quickly, and got it into the fermenter and got that into the
chest freezer to cool the rest of the way overnight. I’ve been doing that lately when I’m pressed
for time, and haven’t had any ill-effects.
I pitched my yeast starter Tuesday morning before leaving for work, and
that afternoon it was happily bubbling away!
I didn’t get quite as much into the fermenter as I wanted, but I’ll
figure out the quirks of the new kettle pretty quick and get my volumes dialed
in. The only thing I miss about the old
kettle is the volume markings on the side.
I used a tape measure to help calculate my volumes as I went, but that’s
probably not the best way to do it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here’s the recipe for The Chestnut Troop (the name come from
A Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, the senior battery in the Royal Regiment of
Artillery, British Army):<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7.5lbs Maris Otter<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1lb British Crystal 60L<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.5lb Flaked Corn<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.5lb Flaked Barley<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mash @ 153 for 60 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1.5oz Fuggles (UK) @ 60 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1oz East Kent Goldings @ 15 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.5oz Fuggles (UK) @ 5 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
60 minute boil<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
WLP007, fermenting at 65 for 3 days, then bumping up to 70F
until finished. Probably going to
naturally carbonate with priming sugar in the keg to 1.3-1.6 vols of CO2<o:p></o:p></div>
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My OG target was 1.043, but since I got higher than expected
efficiency, I hit 1.045. This might be
closer to a Strong Bitter (ESB) than a Best Bitter, but we’ll see what the FG
ends up being.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
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This weekend is going to be my collaboration brew day with
David from <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">New Main Brewing</a>. We’re doing
a double batch of a British Dark Mild, and each take half to ferment. Hopefully
it turns out well!<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-90908887803755514392015-12-15T13:04:00.002-06:002015-12-15T13:04:39.201-06:00ProgressA quick update on how things are progressing on the beers I’m planning on entering into Bluebonnet next month. The saison has finished carbonating, and it’s delicious. Just as good as the first batch. This is the first time I’ve successfully recreated a beer using the exact same recipe, and have it turn out just as good, if not better, than the first time, so I’m pretty pumped. I’ll get 3 bottles filled here soon and set them aside for the competition.<br />
<br />
I still need to see if the quad is going to yield 3 more bottles or not. I’m putting that off, letting it age in the keg a little longer. I have one bottle left over from the original bottling, but since those were gushers at Operation Bravo, I’m not going to use it as an entry. I’ll probably toss it in the beer fridge soon and then open it to see how it is.<br />
<br />
The dunkelweizen is just about finished fermenting. I’ll probably take a couple of readings this week, and if it all looks, tastes, and smells good, I’ll be kegging this weekend, or early next week, then getting it on the CO2. I could potentially have it ready for Christmas even, if I force carb it with the over-pressure and shake method. We’ll see.<br />
<br />
After Christmas, I’m planning on brewing up an English Best Bitter. That should be ready fairly quickly. I’ve tentatively named it The Chestnut Troop, after A Battery, Royal Horse Artillery. It is the senior Battery in the British Regiment of Artillery, and I think it has a cool ring for a beer name! <br />
<br />
It’s a pretty simple recipe, too:<br />
<br />
8lbs Maris Otter<br />
1lb British Crystal 60L<br />
.5lb Flaked Corn<br />
.5lb Flaked Barley<br />
<br />
Mash at 152F<br />
<br />
1.5oz Fuggles @ 60<br />
1oz EKG @ 15<br />
.5oz Fuggles @ 5<br />
<br />
60 minute boil<br />
<br />
Planning on using WLP002, English Ale yeast. Should be a pretty quick fermentation, then into the keg for a very small amount of carbonation. I’ll be able to bottle before entries are due on 1/28 easily.<br />
<br />
The last entry is going to be a team entry with our good friends over at <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">New Main Brewing</a>. David Clark and I are going to brew up an English Dark Mild. As the name suggests, it’s a little darker (more like a light brown or amber, than truly dark as most people would think of) and very low in ABV. It’s a very sessionable beer. We’re going to do a double batch, and each ferment part, and enter whichever turns out better.<br />
<br />
As for Operation Bravo next year, there’s probably about a 50/50 chance I won’t be able to enter. If it’s the weekend before Veteran’s Day (11/5), I’ll most likely be out of town, and if it’s the weekend right after Veteran’s Day (11/12), I could have drill. We’ll see, I suppose. I’m going to continue with my brewing calendar plans as if I am entering. I’m going to probably do the quad again, but this time early in the year so it has more time to age. I’m aiming for February.<br />
<br />
Sticking with Belgian beers, I’m going to try my hand at a Tripel in March or April, probably. That’ll be one of my entries for Labor of Love. I’ve been working on a recipe for a Tripel for quite a while now, tweaking here and there as I continue to learn about this process. I’ll try to have it finalized in the next couple of months.<br />
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That’s all for now. We’ll talk again after the brew day for the bitter. Merry Christmas to all!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-30127795551176022912015-11-25T07:52:00.002-06:002015-11-25T07:52:57.938-06:00Christmas Gifts<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, which means Black Friday is just a
day later, so it’s just about time to think about Christmas shopping. Does your husband or boyfriend (or wife or
girlfriend, for that matter) love beer?
Think they’d like to take a stab at homebrewing? Or, do they already homebrew, and are looking
at stepping up their game? If so, today’s
blog entry might be for you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s start with some gift ideas for people wanting to get
into hombrewing for the first time, or for those using smaller systems, like
Mr. Beer, wanting to step up to larger and more complex batches. If you’re a one stop shopper, you can’t go
wrong with Northern Brewer’s <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/beer-equipment-starter-kits/deluxe-beer-brewing-starter-kit/big-mouth-bubbler-deluxe-brewing-starter-kit" target="_blank">Deluxe Starter Kit</a>. The one linked here is the version with the Big Mouth Bubbler fermentors. I have two of these, and I highly recommend them. Unfortunately, though, they're not the kind with a spigot on the bottom, so transferring from the fermentor isn't as easy, but they're still great. It also comes with everything he/she (I'm just going to use "he" from now on for simplicity, but this all applies to anyone of either sex, gotta keep it PC!!) needs to start homebrewing, with a couple of exceptions. The biggest need is going to be a brew kettle. I started with an 8 gallon aluminum kettle, which worked fine for extract brewing. However, it's always a good idea to look ahead, and get something that will allow him to make the leap to all grain down the road. We'll talk about brew kettles a little later on. You will also probably want to get an outdoor propane burner, since the kitchen stove will take a very long time to bring 5-10 gallons to a boil, plus, as my wife pointed out after my first (and only) batch on the kitchen stove, "it made the kitchen smell like a brewery!"</div>
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Now, if you're not the one-stop-shopping kind, and want to put together your own starter kit, here is what you'll need. These also provide some great upgrade opportunities for those looking to improve their current equipment.</div>
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<b>Brew Kettle</b></div>
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I have a 16 gallon stainless steel Bayou Classic kettle with a ball valve. It's awesome. I can easily do 5-6 gallon batches doing all grain Brew in a Bag (more on that later), or even larger extract batches. It works as a starter kettle, and you won't need to upgrade once you move to all grain brewing. It also happens to be on a pretty good sale at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-1064-Stainless-16-Gallon/dp/B007V493PG" target="_blank">Amazon </a>right now. I might have to look at getting a second one, and finding a false bottom for it to use as a mash tun!</div>
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There are plenty of other options out there for brew kettles, including keggles (a 1/2 barrel keg converted to use as a brew kettle), but the Bayou Classic is what I have experience with, so that's what I'm going to recommend.</div>
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<b>Fermentors</b></div>
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Like I said before, I can't say enough about my <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/fermenting-equipment/big-mouth-bubbler/siphonless-big-mouth-bubbler-ported-6-5-gallon" target="_blank">Siphonless Big Mouth Bubbler</a> carboys. I have two of the plastic ones, and love them. Some reviews I've seen saw they don't seal well, but I haven't had that problem. To start, you really only need one, but if he plans on knocking out batches back-to-back, it's nice to have a second one. The kit above comes with one 6.5 gallon, and one 5 gallon. If you're going with multiple, I'd just stick with all 6.5 gallon.</div>
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You'll also want to get a wine thief, or some other device to pull samples from your fermentor, and a hydrometer for testing these samples for gravity readings. There are many kits that you can buy that come with everything you need, including <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/brewery-essentials/brewery-essentials-gravity-testing-assembly" target="_blank">this one</a> from Northern Brewer.</div>
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<b>Bottling/Kegging</b></div>
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I, like most homebrewers, started out bottling my homebrewed beer. And, like most, I've since switched to kegging. Kegging is much faster and easier, plus you have the cool factor of drinking your hand-crafted beer on tap! It's not always feasible to go right with kegging, though, so we'll start with the essentials for bottling.</div>
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First, you'll need a <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/6-5-gallon-bottling-bucket" target="_blank">bottling bucket</a> and <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/bottling/bottling-accessories/fermenters-favorites-bottle-filler" target="_blank">bottle filler</a> (you'll also need a length of 3/8" ID plastic tubing). Once your beer is finished fermenting, it'll go into the bottling bucket, and from there into bottles using the bottle filler. Of course, you'll need bottles and bottle caps. For bottles, you can get these anywhere, as long as they're brown and not twist-top, they'll work. For the longest time, I used Sam Adams bottles from the beers that I drank. You'll need a <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/bottling/bottle-cappers/fermenters-favorite-royal-crown-bottle-capper" target="_blank">bottle capper</a>, to get those bottle caps on tight. For cleaning and sanitizing bottles, I used a <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/bottling/bottling-accessories/vinator-bottle-rinser" target="_blank">Vinator </a>bottle rinser and a <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/bottling/bottling-accessories/45-bottle-drying-tree" target="_blank">45-bottle drying tree</a>.</div>
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For kegging, there are several places that have good starter kits. I went with <a href="http://www.kegconnection.com/" target="_blank">Keg Connection</a> for my starter kit. Kegs you can get all over the place. I'd shop around for the lowest prices on reconditioned ball lock kegs.</div>
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That's pretty much everything you're going to need to get your man/woman started in their homebrewing adventure. Next, we'll talk about some upgrades the more experienced homebrewers can make to really up their game.</div>
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<b>Cleaning/Sanitation</b></div>
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Proper sanitation is probably the most important aspect of homebrewing, and cleaning is most of what brewing is, really. You'll want to get plenty of sanitizer. There are several different ones, and it mostly boils down to preference here. I use Iodophor, an iodine-based sanitizer, but I know people who swear by Star San.</div>
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<b>Fermentation Temperature Control</b></div>
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If your homebrewer is like me, his first few batches will have zero temperature control for fermentation. In Texas, this generally means that fermentation occurs way too hot, which will lead to some serious off flavors, like fusel alcohols, which will give the beer a "hot" alcohol flavor. The simplest way to combat this is to use a "swamp cooler" setup. That's what I did for the longest time. If you're interested, there are a ton of articles on the Internet that talk about it, so I won't go into it. Since this blog entry is all about upgrades, we'll talk about one other way to control fermentation temperatures. The easiest way is to build some sort of fermentation chamber, and the most effective of these is using a chest freezer and a temperature controller. For the chest freezer, you can buy one new from any one of a hundred places, or you can check Craigslist. That's what I did, and ended up with a 5 cu. ft. chest freezer. I can fit one fermentor in it, which is all I need. You'll also need a temperature controller. I use an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Digital-All-purpose-Temperature-Controller-STC-1000/dp/B00862G3TQ" target="_blank">STC-1000</a>, which is very popular with homebrewers. The only downside to it is that it will require some wiring to be done. Here's a very <a href="http://brewprof.com/weekend-diy-homebrew-project-dual-stage-temperature-controller-stc-1000/" target="_blank">good article</a> on how to setup your STC-1000. He uses a hairdryer for his heating element, I use a light bulb inside a paint can. They both work.</div>
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<b>Wort Chillers</b></div>
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A wort chiller of some kind is a must, especially in Texas in the summer. Your homebrewer will want to chill his wort as quickly as possible to get nice, clear beer. There are several different types of chillers: immersion chillers, counter-flow chillers, and plate chillers are just a few of these. I currently use an immersion chiller, and it can take over an hour in the summer to chill the wort to pitching temperature (around 65F or so). Plate chillers and counter-flow chillers are both supposed to be faster, but I have no experience with either of these. If you go with an immersion chiller, make sure you get one that will easily fit into the brew kettle.</div>
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<b>Making the Jump to All Grain</b></div>
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There are lots of homebrewers out there who never make the switch from extract or partial mash brewing up to all grain, and they make really good beer. All Grain doesn't make better beer, necessarily. The pros of doing extract include that it's cheaper, equipment-wise, and the brew day is much simpler. The trade-offs, though, are that it is more expensive, ingredient-wise, and you're limited in how creative you can get with your recipes. The creativity part is why I made the step up to all grain.</div>
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The big downside to all grain is that it can require some different equipment than extract brewing. If you already have a larger (15 gallons+) brew kettle, though, you can make the jump pretty cheaply if you want. There are really two ways to make the jump, multi-vessel or single-vessel. Multi-vessel means you have a separate mash tun and boil kettle (and sometimes a separate hot liquor tank). Some people use two or three kettles for this type of approach, and some use one kettle for the boil, and a combination of coolers for the mash tun and hot liquor tank. Single-vessel all grain brewing is mostly accomplished with Brew in a Bag. This is how I brew, so I'm going to spend the most time talking about how to go all grain that way.</div>
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As I said before, if you already have a larger brew kettle, you can almost immediately start doing Brew in a Bag, or BIAB. BIAB uses your brew kettle as a mash tun by using a large bag to contain the grains. You can make your own bag from voile (or similar) material, or you can buy them custom-made from <a href="http://biabbags.webs.com/" target="_blank">wilserbrewer</a>. I bought his "Grand Slam" package, which came with a custom-sized bag (you give him the dimensions of your kettle), a hop sock for boiling, a dry hop sock, and a pulley and rachet system (the bag full of wet grains can be heavy). For only $32, that's a pretty cheap way to upgrade to all grain. For an in-depth look at BIAB, check out this <a href="http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/04/14/brew-in-a-bag-biab-all-grain-beer-brewing/" target="_blank">blog post</a> on Beersmith.</div>
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Some all grain brewers turn their nose up at those of us who do BIAB, but I think my gold medal winning saison, and my friend David's best in show robust porter (both done with BIAB) prove that it makes just as good, if not better, beer than traditional multi-vessel brewing.</div>
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<b>Yeast Starters</b></div>
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Dry yeast packets normally have plenty of yeast cells for a 5-6 gallon batch of beer. Liquid yeast, on the other hand, generally have only 100 million cells, and that number will drop as the package sits in a fridge at the homebrew store. Thus, you need a way to bump up the number of cells so you're not underpitching (although underpitching is desired in some instances, but that's a totally separate discussion). Mr Malty has a great <a href="http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html" target="_blank">calculator </a>that will help you see how many yeast cells you'll need. For the saison I did a couple of weeks ago, I needed 190 million cells. The package was about 2 weeks old when I bought it, so it had around 85-90 million viable cells left. To get that to 190 million, Mr. Malty tells me I need a 2L starter. That will drop to 1.2L with intermittent shaking, or all the way to 1L with a stir plate.</div>
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So, what do you need to make yeast starters? Well, you need a vessel of some kind for sure. Erlenmeyer flasks are great for this, since they're Pyrex, and you can boil water in them directly on the stove. I would get at least a <a href="http://www.homebrewing.org/Erlenmeyer-Flask-2000ml_p_1250.html" target="_blank">2L</a>, if not larger, one. As you can see above, a stir plate will really reduce the size of the starter needed. These can be either bought or you can try to <a href="http://byo.com/mead/item/398-build-your-own-stir-plate" target="_blank">make your own</a>.</div>
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Hopefully this gives anyone out there looking for Christmas gifts for the beer-lover in their life some ideas. I'll also happily answer any questions people have! Happy Thanksgiving!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-76431243067749084312015-11-24T12:27:00.001-06:002015-11-24T12:29:04.920-06:00Bluebonnet Brew Off<div class="MsoNormal">
With two pretty successful homebrew competitions under my
belt, I’m looking at entering the biggest one in Texas, which is also the
largest single-site homebrew competition in the United States, the <a href="http://www.bluebonnetbrewoff.org/" target="_blank">BluebonnetBrew Off</a>. As far as I can tell, there
isn’t a max number of entries a person can have, but last year they cut off
total entries at 1525! That’s a lot of
beers! </div>
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I’m going to enter the saison
that’s finishing up fermentation for sure, and hopefully I’ll be able to get
three bottles’ worth of the quad out of the keg. We’ll see, it’s feeling pretty empty! I’m also planning on brewing a Dunkelweizen (German dark wheat beer) this
weekend (probably Saturday), and I’d like to get one more in after Christmas
(something that’s good fresh, so an IPA or a Pale Ale, most likely).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s the recipe for the Dunkelweizen I’m brewing this
weekend:<o:p></o:p></div>
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DONAR DUNKELWEIZEN<o:p></o:p></div>
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7lbs Wheat malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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5lbs Munich malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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.25lbs Chocolate malt<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mash @ 149 for 60 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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60 minute boil<o:p></o:p></div>
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1oz Tettnanger @ 60 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
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1L starter of either Wyeast 3068 or WLP300 (supposedly both
are the Weihenstephan strain), pitched at 70°F<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Donar is a reference to a German <a href="http://www.military-today.com/artillery/donar.htm" target="_blank">self-propelled 155mm howitzer</a>, named after the Germanic pagan god of thunder (analogous to Thor in
Norse mythology). That’s where the name
came from. Took me a while to figure out
an artillery themed name to go with this, but it seems to fit pretty well, and
rolls off the tongue pretty well, too!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, as you may have noticed, there’s a new Recipes section
in the menu bar. I’m going to be posting
my recipes there from now on, so anyone who wants to is welcome to try to
duplicate anything I’ve brewed. Right
now, I haven’t added very much, just Fiddler’s Green and Donar. I’ll add more soon, I promise!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve put a <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/kegging/draft-bottling/the-last-straw-bottle-filler" target="_blank">bottle filler</a> on my Christmas, to hopefully make
it really easy to fill bottles for competitions, or for taking beer places
(tailgates, parties, etc). That should
help me avoid overcabonating problems like I had with Canon de 12 at Operation
Bravo earlier this month. I’m still
kicking myself over that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyway, that’s it for now.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-84614035862839917532015-11-09T10:39:00.000-06:002015-11-09T10:43:03.672-06:00Operation Bravo<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, another competition is in the books. This one didn’t got quite as well for me, but
I still had a really good time doing it.
This one was Operation Bravo, held at Shannon Brewing Company in
Keller. It was put on by the good folks
at Homebrew for Heroes, and was free for all current and former military, as
well as first responders. This was the
first (of hopefully many) annual event, and the turnout was pretty great. There were about 30 homebrewers or so, and
the crowd was great. I’d bet at least
half of the crowd were walkups from Shannon’s normal Saturday open house and
tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I got there pretty early and got my tent and table all setup
with the help of my father-in-law. I had
a good spot, only a few spaces down from the entrance, so I was able to get
guests to come by before they had already had a few! I dropped my entry bottles off and then
waited for the crowd to get there. In
the meantime, a homebrewing friend of mine, David with <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">New Main Brewing</a>, showed
up a little late, and there wasn’t a lot of room for him to setup
anywhere. Since I wasn’t taking up all
that much space, I offered to let him setup under my tent. It worked pretty well, as we turned out to be
a popular stop.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unfortunately for me, my bottles all turned out to be
gushers, so they weren’t able to be judged.
The judges did end up stopping by my booth later on, though, to try out
my quad out of the keg, and they were impressed. The only negative comment that I got was that
it needed to be aged/conditioned longer.
So, for next year, if I enter the same beer again, I’ll brew it 9 months
or more ahead of time! I had several
people stop and ask if I was the guy with the quad they were told they had to
try, so I had some good word of mouth going.
Can’t be too upset about that!
All the other homebrewers that came by and tried it were impressed as
well. It wasn’t all bad news in the
competition under the tent, though, as David’s robust porter took first
overall! He’ll be joining Shannon
Brewing at some point in the future to brew a batch of it on their system for
local release, and to enter into the 2016 Great American Beer Festival in the
ProAm category! I was able to taste a
sample of it before it was all gone, and it was damn good. Well-deserved win, David!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The next competition I’m going to try to enter will probably
be next year’s Bluebonnet Brew-off.
Entries are normally due in February, so I’ll probably enter the saison
that’s fermenting now into that one. It’s
a competition only, no serving festival to go along with it, so I’ll only need
to enter three bottles. I might try to
see if I have three bottles worth of the quad left, too, and save that to enter
as well. It claims to be the largest
single-site homebrew competition in the country, so it will be nice to see how
my beer stacks up there! I might also be
able to get one or two more brew days in before then. I don’t want to rush anything, though, so we’ll
see.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Up next for me, I thinking of doing a Dunkelweizen. It’s similar to a hefeweizen, just darker, maltier,
and a bit stronger. It’s a style that’s
good for fall brewing and winter drinking.
Of course, half of the fun of homebrewing is being able to brew whatever
you want, whenever you want, so seasons don’t really matter, so maybe I’ll try
something else. Apparently I’m getting
pretty good at brewing Belgians, so maybe a nice Tripel or Biere de Garde!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I do need to take a quick moment to thank Shawn and the guys at Homebrew for Heroes for putting on an amazing event. I chatted with Shawn for a bit during the event, and we're all hoping this is the first of many for this. Also a big thanks to Shannon at Shannon Brewing for hosting us all, and giving all the homebrewers a quick, private, tour of the brewery before the festival started. It was a great time all afternoon!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-69744671154028113352015-09-15T14:36:00.001-05:002015-09-15T14:36:17.013-05:00Beer Names<div class="MsoNormal">
So, at Labor of Love, I had some people ask about the
brewery name and my beer names. The
brewery name, Steel Rain, comes from the artillery. Artillery rounds are made of steel, and they
rain down on the enemy. Pretty straight
forward. The beer names can be more
obscure, I admit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The first beer I named was my double IPA, which I called
Charge 8 Imperial IPA. At the time, I
was assigned as Platoon Leader/Fire Direction Officer for a M119A2
battery. The M119A2 is a 105mm howitzer,
and the max charge for the weapon system is normally called charge 7 (there are
seven increments). Charge 8 can be used,
but rarely is, to boost the max range from ~11.5km to ~13.7km.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here are some of the other beers and the stories behind the
names:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Willy Pete Wheat – a German-style hefeweizen, named after
the nickname for white phosphorous, which is used in artillery rounds for smoke
screens now, but used to be an anti-personnel weapon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Enzo’s English Ale – my only non-artillery named beer, this is
an English Pale Ale named after our dog, Enzo, who is an English Springer
Spaniel<o:p></o:p></div>
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D30 Russian Imperial Stout – a RIS named after a still in
wide use Russian made 122mm howitzer.
Some friends on mine used them while training the Afghan army a few
years ago, named in their honor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Killer Junior IPA – Killer Junior is a direct fire (as
opposed to normal indirect fire) technique where an HE round is fitted with a
time fuze and the fuze is set to function over a target very close to the gun’s
position. Killer Junior referred to the
technique when used by 105mm and 155mm howitzers. Killer Senior was used with 203mm
howitzers. The name comes from the call
sign of the battery that developed the technique during the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fiddler’s Green Farmhouse Ale – a Belgian-style saison, the
name comes from the legendary Valhalla where artillerymen go when they
die. “Halfway down the trail to hell in
a shady meadow green, Are the souls of all dead Redlegs camped near a good
old-time canteen, And this eternal resting place is known as Fiddler's Green.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Blockhouse Blonde Ale – every artilleryman knows the
namesake of this beer, Blockhouse Signal Mountain, which sits on top of the
most prominent point in the impact area at Fort Sill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Canon de 12 – a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, also called a
Belgian Quad. This beer is named after a
WWII Belgian medium field gun, the Canon de 12 cm L mle 1931<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Redleg Red Lager – A Vienna-style lager with a red
tint. Redlegs are artillerymen. In the Civil War, Union artillerymen wore red
stripes down the sides of their blue uniform pants, and were called Redlegs. The name endures today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus ends today’s lesson on beer and artillery.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-56380314187997528502015-09-11T14:02:00.004-05:002015-09-11T14:02:41.546-05:00Gold Medal!!<div class="MsoNormal">
So, I’d say Labor of Love was a smashing success for Steel
Rain Brewing! We took home gold in the
Strong Belgian Ale category with our Fiddler’s Green Farmhouse Ale! Both scorecards had great comments about the
beer, especially about how dry it ended up.
I’ll be using that Wyeast 3711 on all my saisons from now on! The only negative was one judge would have
liked to have seen better head retention.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Killer Junior didn’t score nearly as well, though, with both
judges commenting that it was watery and very astringent. Since it was very good the first time around,
I’ll go back and see what I might have done differently, and then try it again
a third time and try to get it right! It
was really good the first time, and still pretty good, I thought, this
time. Obviously the judges
disagreed. It happens!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ve got Operation Bravo coming up next, at Shannon Brewing
Company in Keller. I’m entering Canon de
12, a Belgian Dark Strong Ale (sometimes called a Belgian quad). It should be pretty much done fermenting by
now, and the yeast should be working hard cleaning up after themselves! I’ll probably try to keg it after we get home
from vacation. My plan is to naturally
carbonate a handful of bottles, then the rest in the keg. Belgians are almost always naturally
carbonated, so I’m going to stick with that.
Not sure if I’m going to repitch yeast at kegging time or not yet. That’s sitting in the pantry working away at
around 78F. There’s a new beer
fermenting in the chest freezer now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The blonde ale I’m doing for the baby show for my brother
and his wife is all brewed and should also be ready for the keg when we get
back from vacation. I missed my OG by a
bit, I was under again. I’ve missed my
target a few times in a row now; I’m not getting the efficiencies that I had been. I might start trying a
double-crush on the grains and see if that helps. I really don’t care what the number is, as
long as I can stay consistent, I can make up for lower efficiency with more
grain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, that’s it for now.
In case anyone reading wants to try their hand at making their own great
saison, here’s the recipe I used for the gold medal winner!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
11lbs
Dingemanns Pilsner<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mash at 151F
for 90 minutes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
90 minute
boil<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
@ 60<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
@ 15<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
@ 5<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
dry-hopped for last 5 days of fermentation<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Wyeast 3711
starter<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Pitched at
65F and kept it there for 3 days or so, then let it free rise to 76 and kept it
there for another 10 days or so. After
that, it went into the house and sat in the pantry at ~78F ambient for another
week before going into the keg. Carbed
cold in the keg (warm in bottles) to 2.8 volumes of CO2.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-81115252454512031692015-09-02T08:49:00.001-05:002015-09-02T08:55:21.844-05:00The Long Wait<div class="MsoNormal">
The day is almost upon us.
Labor of Love is 4 days away!
Four days until the rest of the world (or at least 1000+ people who
attend a homebrew festival in Dallas) is introduced to the epic wonderfulness
that is Steel Rain Brewing! I cracked
open one of the last two bottles of Killer Junior last night, and it’s
fantastic. I’ve sampled both it and
Fiddler’s Green from the kegs, and they’re both really damn good and ready for
Sunday. I’m getting pretty excited about
it. Between the wait for this, and the
wait for the start of college football on Saturday, this has already been the
LONGEST. WEEK. EVER!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m also looking forward to meeting other DFW-area
homebrewers, and sampling some of their wares.
Homebrewers are a very experimental lot, I so expect some wacky stuff to
be out there. If you’re out there to
come support me and taste my beer, be sure to stop by and check out <a href="http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com/">New Main Brewing</a> as well. He always has good stuff on tap, and has a
great blog worth checking out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve been thinking about how I want to keep my beer cold out
in the September heat. The ideal way
would be a jockey box. Those are pretty
pricy, though. The low end ones are $250
to $300 for a double tap system. Or, I
can just pick up a big trashcan at Lowe’s and pack that sucker with ice around
the two kegs, and serve from picnic taps, which I already have. Yeah, I think I’ll go that route. If it turns out that other people actually
like my beer, then maybe I’ll think about a jockey box for future events.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, if you’re bored and have nothing to do on Sunday evening
(and remember, Monday is a holiday!), come on out to Labor of Love 4 at Deep
Ellum Brewing Company in Dallas. Tickets
(they call them memberships in order to be legal with the <s>Gestapo</s> TABC)
are $35 and can be purchased at <a href="http://www.lolhomebrew.com/">http://www.lolhomebrew.com</a>. You need to pick your affiliated homebrew
club. I can be found under Steel Rain
Brewing (duh).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next up on the brewing schedule is a simple Blonde Ale for
my brother and sister-in-law’s baby shower that we’re hosting at the end of
October. I took a popular recipe from
the HomeBrewTalk forums that has a bunch of good reviews and went with it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
7lbs 2-row<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
¾ lb
Carapils<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½ lb Crystal
20L (recipe called for 10L, but Dallas Homebrew was out, at only ½ lb, shouldn’t
change the recipe all that much)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½ lb Vienna<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½ oz
Centennial @ 60<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½ oz Cascade
@ 15<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½ oz Cascade
@ 5<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Danstar
Nottingham ale yeast<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
See everyone
on Sunday!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-68540149744928763522015-08-19T12:28:00.000-05:002015-08-19T12:28:21.729-05:00Labor of LoveDeep Ellum Brewing Company sent out some more info on the 4th Annual Labor of Love Homebrew Competition and Festival. The event is on Sunday, September 6th from 6:00pm to 10:00pm, at the field across from Deep Ellum Brewing Company, at 2823 St. Louis, Dallas.<br />
<br />
Tickets are $35, and can be purchased at http://www.lolhomebrew.com/. Select Steel Rain Brewing as the affiliated homebrew team, of course.<br />
<br />
I'll be serving the two beers that I entered, Fiddler's Green Farmhouse Ale and Killer Junior IPA. The Farmhouse Ale is a French-style Saison, using Belgian Pilsner malt and Cascade hops. The IPA is an American IPA that doesn't have the normal punch-you-in-the-mouth hop flavor, but come across very refreshing and citrusy.<br />
<br />
Both turned out fantastic, and I can't wait to see how the judges rate them! I dropped my entries off on Monday.<br />
<br />
There will be food trucks and live music, as well. Should be a great time!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-13559136277818969692015-07-07T10:36:00.002-05:002015-07-07T10:36:18.985-05:00Wyeast 3711Short entry today. Brewday for the saison went pretty well. I think I need to recalibrate my refractometer, though. Based on it's reading, my gravity into boil was 1.043, which would have given me a mash effeciency of 99%!! That's insane. Unfortunately, I tossed the sample before I thought to use a hydrometer to get a good gravity reading. I'll be sure I do that correctly this weekend for the IPA. OG was 1.045, a little under the 1.049 I was shooting for, though. I might try double-crushing the grains next time, that seems to help other who are using the BIAB method.<br />
<br />
I was able to get the wort cooled down to around 68F pretty quickly this time, though. I got it down under 100F in a few minutes with the immersion chiller. After it got down to around 90F, it started really slowing down, so I went ahead and transferred to the fermentor and put the whole thing into the ice chest filled with ice water. Yeah, I'm using that method again this weekend. It was down to 70F in no time. By the time I got it into the fermentation chamber, it was at 68F. Got the yeast pack and pitched at 68F.<br />
<br />
This is the first time I've used a Wyeast yeast pack, and the first time for the French Saison strain as well. Last saison I used WLP565, which is the Dupont strain. The Internet tells me that it's a very vigorous strain, and will ferment quickly and end up attenuating way down. I kept it set at 65F for 3 days, then bumped it up to 75F. Took a sample on Sunday and checked the gravity. It's already down to 1.010, which is 78% attenuation (Wyeast claims 77-83 is normal)! I'm going to check again Thursday to see where it is. I'm hoping it will finish around 1.004, which would be over 90%. If it's not done by Saturday when I need the fermentation chamber for the IPA, I'll just move the fermentor into the pantry, probably, and let it sit for another week before kegging. That will also give the yeast a chance to clean up after themselves, and get rid of any off flavors. I might have to get a second 6.5 gallon fermentor, though, for that. I'll see what they have at the homebrew store tomorrow when I go for the ingredients for the IPA.<br />
<br />
That's it for now. More to come in the next few weeks as these start to get finished and ready for Labor of Love!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-75811036126029434222015-06-26T12:42:00.001-05:002015-06-26T14:19:17.988-05:00New Name and Labor of Love<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Greetings loyal readers!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s been a while since I’ve made an entry, and if you’re here, you’ve
probably noticed a new name in the URL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since there is now a commercial brewery called Texas Ale Project (and it
probably existed before I started brewing, considering how long it takes to get
a license), I figured I should come up with something new, and more creative
than Texas Ale Company for my home brewery.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After much thought and internal deliberation, I came up with
Steel Rain Brewing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you may have
noticed, most of my beer names have been artillery-themed, so it made sense to
go that direction with the brewery name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, the very obvious Redleg Brewing is already taken by a brewery in
Colorado.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came up with a handful of
ideas, but to me, Steel Rain had the best ring to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I just need to come up with a logo!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any artistic people out there want to help me
with that…for free? <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:-)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, now that I have a new name, I need to enter some
contests, so people will come to know and love the Steel Rain beers!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deep Ellum Brewing Company has such a contest
every year, their Labor of Love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
name comes from the fact that the festival that accompanies the contest is held
Labor Day weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brewers (or homebrew
teams/clubs) can enter up to two beers each for the BJCP-sanctioned competition,
and can serve up to five beers at the festival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Best in Show winner will have their beer featured as DEBC’s 2016
Labor of Love beer, and it will be entered into the Pro-Am Competition at the
2016 Great American Beer Fest!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
this is my first homebrew competition to enter, I’m not expecting much, but I
still have high hopes, especially for my IPA.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, on to the good stuff-what I’ll be entering into the
competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last IPA I did, with
Citra and Mosaic hops, was immensely popular with my regular brewday
crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was gone very quickly, so I’ll
be brewing that again with no tweaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the other beer, I’m going to try a new recipe, but one that’s pretty
simple, a SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) dry-hopped Saison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m going with Belgian Pilsner 2-row malt and
Cascade hops, with mostly late additions and dry hops to give it plenty of
aroma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In keeping with my theme, I’m
going to call it Fiddler’s Green Farmhouse Ale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The IPA remains Killer Junior IPA. Hopefully I can logistically pull off getting two beers brewed and finished by the August 17th deadline to submit them for entry. With my National Guard AT in there, it might be a tight squeeze, but I'm confident that I can do it!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The recipes for the beers (both 6 gallons into the
fermentor):</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fiddler’s Green
Farmhouse Ale</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
11lbs Belgian Pilsner (Dingemanns)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
@ 60 minutes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
@ 10 minutes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
@ 5 minutes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Cascade
dry hopped in the keg</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
WY3711 French Saison yeast</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killer Junior IPA</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
11lbs 2-row
(Briess)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
2lbs Munich
20L (Briess)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1lb Crystal
10L (Briess)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz US
Magnum @ 60</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Citra @
15</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½oz Mosaic @
5</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½oz Citra @
5 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1oz Mosaic @
flameout</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½oz Citra
dry hopped in the keg</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
½oz Mosaic
dry hopped in the keg</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
WLP001
California Ale yeast <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">The festival is September 6<sup>th</sup>, time TBA, but I
believe last year it was late afternoon/early evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last year it was $30 a ticket, and it sold
out pretty quickly from what I hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Homebrewers
can get their team of 4 people in free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were bands and food trucks last year, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hope to see some of you out there, and make
sure you stop by Steel Rain Brewing and say hello! </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-63789820588423064142015-04-20T13:56:00.001-05:002015-04-20T13:56:50.740-05:00I'm Alive!So, it seems that my posts on here have slowed down quite a bit since I started. I’ll try to be more frequent with updates, at least post some recipes up for anyone who is actually reading this and interested.<br />
<br />
In my last update, I posted the recipe for the IPA I wanted to enter into Brew Riot. Well, good news and bad news, and a small screw up. Good news, beer got brewed on 2/28. Bad news, I put off entering Brew Riot too long, and it was full when I finally got around to it. The screw up I’ll talk about in just a second.<br />
<br />
So, for those of you in the DFW Metroplex, you might remember that on 2/28 we were in the middle of our snow/ice-pocalypse of 2015. It was a balmy 25°F on brew day. I had a few brave souls make the trek from around the neighborhood (and one from all the way down in Bedford) to join me in the garage. As you can imagine, on a brisk day like that one, it took a bit to get my mash water heated up. Finally got it done though, and had no more issues through the mash and boil. The one small hiccup came when I accidentally knocked over the table and spilled sanitizer all over the garage. Unfortunately, the hops that were set aside for dry hopping were also on the table, and they got pretty much ruined, so there were no dry hops in this batch. Everything else went fine, though, and to wort cooled to pitching temps very quickly, thanks to the cold weather. Lesson learned: don’t try to lift one leg of the table to get a dog leash attached to it. The dog can stay warm and lonely inside on brew day.<br />
<br />
This beer was the first to use the new chest freezer fermentation chamber. Man, how did I ever make beer without this? It simplifies that process so much. All I had to do was set the temperature controller and let the beer ferment happily away at 63°F, regardless of how hot or cold it was outside. The cool side was hooked to the freezer, and the heating side to a lightbulb-inside-a-paint-can setup. It never got more than a degree away from the target any time that I saw it, and was usually within a half degree.<br />
Once it hit FG, I cold crashed for a few days to help with clarity, then racked over to a cleaned and sanitized keg, and into the fridge and onto CO2 to carbonate up for a few weeks. Sampled it after a week, and it still needed more carbonation, but the flavor was awesome. Let it sit until last weekend when we went to a Cards Against Humanity (awesomely un-PC game) party, and I took a growler full. It was very well-received.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, during my March drill weekend, some neighbors had a crawfish boil, and Erin went. The host, Scott, and his neighbor, Lloyd, were at the 2/28 brew day, and both raved about all three beers I had on tap at the time (hefe, stout, IIPA), so Erin came back and got a growler of both the stout and the hefe (the IIPA keg had kicked a week or so earlier) to take back. That finished off the hefe keg, so I was down to one keg (two, once Killer Junior IPA was ready). <br />
<br />
I figured it was about time for another brew day. I asked Facebook what to brew, putting forward a few options. By far, the favorite was the red lager idea. I really wanted to brew a lager, since I haven’t done one yet, and with the chest freezer fermentation chamber, I’ll have no problems getting down into the low-50s needed for lager fermentation. I came up with this for a red Vienna-style lager:<br />
<br />
7lbs Vienna malt<br />
3lbs Dark Munich malt<br />
0.25lbs Carafa II Special malt<br />
<br />
The Vienna and Munich malts are pretty standard for the style, and are both give a good malty flavor to the finished beer, with the Munich being a little darker, and giving a little more pronounced malty and grainy flavor. The Carafa II Special is a dehusked version of Weyermann’s Carafa II malt. Since it’s dehusked, it add the rick color, flavor, and aroma of the husked version, but without the harsh flavors and astringency you typically see with darker grains. It’s supposed to contribute to a nice reddish-brown color when used in smaller amounts, and that’s what I’m hoping for from it.<br />
<br />
The hop schedule is pretty straight forward:<br />
<br />
1.5oz Tettnanger @ 60 minutes<br />
1.5oz Tettnanger @ 10 minutes<br />
<br />
Yeast is the Saflager W34/70 dry yeast. 2 11.5g packets rehydrated and pitched at 50°F.<br />
<br />
Brew day was 4/18, and had a good-sized group come out this time-both neighbors and friends who live in other parts of the Metroplex came. Erin made some awesome mint chocolate chip brownies, as well. The only issue with the day’s activities was that I overshot my strike temperature by about 10° since I wasn’t paying attention. It was solved by getting rid of a gallon of hot water, and adding in a gallon of cold water. Mashed for 60 minutes at 152°, then removed the grains and heated to boiling. Added the hops (forgot the Whifloc, I’m just realizing, but hopefully the cold crash and lagering will help clear the beer) and cooled the wort down to around 60°. Racked to the carboy and into the fermentation chamber it went, set at 50°. Once it got to about 52°, I pitched the yeast and left it to do its thing. Once it’s close to FG, I’ll bump it up to 60° to 65° for a quick diacetyl rest, then I’ll cold crash and keg, and let it carbonate and lager at the same time. I’ll probably check on it around Memorial Day to see if it’s ready to drink yet or not.<br />
<br />
I’m definitely learning more and more every time I brew. Using different grains allows me to see how they affect a beer’s taste, aroma, and color. Next up, I’m thinking I’ll do something darker and a little higher ABV to replace the stout once it’s gone. Something I can age until the fall or winter. Maybe a Belgian quad, or even a tripel, even though it’s a paler beer. After that, I’d like to do a saison that will be ready for the heat of July and August. Depends on how long the IPA and stout last. The IPA turned out so good, it might just become a sort of “house” beer, and on constant rotation!<br />
<br />
Well, that’s it for now, hope you enjoyed reading.<br />
<br />
Slàinte!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836700341286686820.post-3722702300796542212015-02-16T08:48:00.005-06:002015-02-16T08:48:58.777-06:00Brew RiotBeen a while since my last update. The hefe and the imperial IPA are probably pretty close to being kicked by now, with the stout not too far behind. So, it's getting close to time to start brewing again! Each May in Dallas, there's a homebrew competition/festival called <a href="http://brewriot.com/" target="_blank">Brew Riot</a>. Homebrewers and homebrew clubs can enter their beers to be judged by both festival goers and actual judges. I'm going to try my hand this year and enter a couple of beers. Since I'm sure it will be warm in May, I'm going to do a couple of refreshing beers. I'm thinking a good citrusy IPA and a hefeweizen. My hefe that I did last year turned out pretty well, so I'll probably just brew that same recipe again. For the IPA, here's what I've got:<br />
<br />
11lbs 2-row<br />
2lbs Munich 10L<br />
1lb Crystal 10L<br />
<br />
1oz Magnum @ 60<br />
1oz Citra @ 15<br />
1/2 oz Mosaic @ 5<br />
1/2 oz Citra @ 5<br />
1oz Mosaic @ flameout<br />
1/2oz Citra Dry hopped for 10 days<br />
1/2oz Mosaic Dry hopped for 10 days<br />
<br />
WLP001 yeast <br />
<br />
The Magnum is a pretty "clean" bittering hop, so it shouldn't overpower the citrus characteristics of the Citra and Mosaic. I have a chest freezer now to use as a fermentation chamber, so I'll be able to control fermentation temps much better. I'll start it around 64* for active fermentation, then let it warm up to 68* until it hits FG. I'll rack over to secondary at that point and add the dry hops. Then into the keg to carbonate. I'm going for 6 gallons into the fermentor, and hoping to have a bit extra to bottle when it's all done. We'll see.<br />
<br />
For brew Riot, you enter as a team/individual with a team name or brewery name. Since there is now a commercial brewery up and running with the Texas Ale Project name, I'm going to have to change the name of my little homebrew brewery so I don't get them all upset. I have a few ideas percolating, so hopefully I can decide on something soon.<br />
<br />
Brew day for the IPA will probably be next weekend, with the hefe a month later.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232141618354015050noreply@blogger.com0