Sunday, November 15, 2009

Surly Imperial Brown Update

Got full attenuation on my wort, 78% using US-05 dry yeast. Started with an OG of 1.088 and finished at 1.020. This leaves it at a hair over 9% alcohol level. Initial small sampling indicates that all is well, no alcohol flavor, at all!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent initial flavor, I will let it carbonate up a little bit before I have a pint and can fully qualify it.

It has been 5 weeks since the beer was brewed, time can only make it better I suppose, but we'll see.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Surly AHA Rally

On Oct 10, the AHA (American Homebrewers Association) hosted a rally at the Surly Brewing Company. At first, it was supposed to be a brewery tour, and tasting event. Then, to the surprise of us all, Surly offered to brew a batch of beer, so we could all fill our fermenters with 5 gallons of Surly wort. The trick was that there would be only enough for 160 people or so, due to batch size.

The reservation for this wort fill up expired a few hours after the email announcement. Surly then graciously offered to brew a second batch, so everyone can fill their carboys if they liked. In the picture below, you can see just a fraction of the buckets carboys and kegs.

Ok, so Surly gave away an Imperial Brown Ale wort... the (5 gal approximation, taken from actual percentages in the given real recipe) recipe is below. I tasted the wort, and it is phenominal! I can't wait until it completes.


Surly Imperial Brown



10/10/2009


BeerTools Pro Color Graphic



Size: 21.12 L

Efficiency: 80%

Attenuation: 80.5%

Calories: 296.89 kcal per 12.0 fl oz



Original Gravity: 1.089 (1.045 - 1.060)

================================



Terminal Gravity: 1.017 (1.010 - 1.016)

===========================#====



Color: 24.1 (18.0 - 35.0)

=============#==================



Alcohol: 9.5% (4.3% - 6.2%)

================================



Bitterness: 65.4 (20.0 - 40.0)

================================


Ingredients:


14.5 lb Pale Ale Malt

1.9 lb Brown Malt

.6336 lb Candi Sugar Dark

.3168 lb Crystal 85

.3168 lb Crystal 120

1.3 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

0.5 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.2



Sunday, October 4, 2009

Northern English Brown Ale

I have decided to try and brew a new type of beer, Northern English Brown... I guess the commercial version of this is Newcastle Nut Brown. I am using some hops that I already have... they are not British, but this is really not a hop-centric beer, so it doesnt matter. Ok, we will see how this turns out. Here is the recipe ->

I will brew within a couple of days.


Northern English Brown

10/4/2009


BeerTools Pro Color Graphic



Size: 44.16 L
Efficiency: 73%
Attenuation: 75%
Calories: 177.61 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.053 (1.040 - 1.052)
=========================#======
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.008 - 1.013)
=========================#======
Color: 17.83 (12.0 - 22.0)
=================#==============
Alcohol: 5.25% (4.2% - 5.4%)
=====================#==========
Bitterness: 22.4 (20.0 - 30.0)
===========#====================


Ingredients:

19.5 lb Pale Ale
1.5 lb Special Roast Malt
1 lb Victory® Malt
1 lb Light Crystal
1 lb Pale Chocolate
.85 oz Magnum-PLMG (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
.4 oz Magnum-PLMG (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 20 min
2 ea Danstar 3767 Nottingham

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.2


Sunday, March 22, 2009

First Basement Brew

First basement brew took place this week. It was not only the first brew in the basement, it was also the first time I did a 10 gallon boil (actually 13.5). This was all thanks to the 5500W water heating element used in the kettle. The element is not physically mounted to the kettle, but attached to a heatstick so it can be easily removed/cleaned, etc. Here are some things I learned from this whole experience...


1. 5500 watts is more than adequate to boil 13.5 gallons of wort.

2. The absorption ratio of grain is a bit more than I had thought... need to calculate this again.

3. My batch sparging method used on a ten gallon batch is stretching the limits of my 48qt mash tun. Actually, the mash tun is too small if I want to single batch sparge. I was able to finish it with a 2 batch sparge. The liquid did go up to the top a couple of times, but it worked out fine in the end.

4. It is easier to hit mash temps with greater volumes of grain and liquid... definitely a big bonus.

5. Moving the tubing around for the march pump is not entertaining. Will need to put the valves into effect to end this nonsense.

6. The SSR was needed for the water heating element. I would have had boilovers if I had not throttled down the element to 70-80% duty cycle sometimes. The frequency I was running the SSR at was 1Hz. This seems ok. The SSR is mounted to an old pentium/CPU heatsink and fan setup. There are no problems dissipating the heat the SSR puts out.

7. A fan running 240CFM will exhaust a 5500W element's boil with a 18" diameter brew kettle. A 240CFM fan is barely adequate though. I would prefer something over 280CFM.












Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cold Fermentation of Wheat

Since it is a cold winter here (including the upstairs closets), my latest batch of weissbier had the opportunity to ferment in a sub 60F environment. One word (awesome).

Ok, WLP380 will ferment under 60F, and the flavor is great. I am not a big fan of the banana, and, it did not give me any.

The crisp, spicy clove flavor that I long for in a weissbier is ever present, and that is the way it needs to be.

On another note, my extraction efficiency was really bad on that particular batch (around 60%), which made for a slightly thinner beer than I would have liked. It ended at 1.010 FG, whereas I am usually at 1.015FG or so. That is fine. At 4.2% alcohol or so, I can drink a bit more of it at any particular time.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

WB-06 vs WLP380 PT II

Ok, a couple of things went wrong with the last batch after stressing the WLP-380 yeast in the starter.

One is that it may have taken on an infection, although it is very difficult to recognize. I say this due to the fact I fermented the thing at around 68 - 70F, which will throw a lot of esters (smells) that I am not used to. My usual fermenting temp is below 64F. It just didn't smell like a 68-70F weissbier, and I am not talking about banana aroma either.

That all being said, the beer tastes fine, and the slightly strange smell goes away within 5 seconds of pouring the beer into the glass. The color is adequate as well.

WLP380 is still my yeast of choice, because given all that, it still made a fine weissbier.