Summer Ale in December

My wife's favorite beer is Sam Summer. Unfortunately, you can only buy it from from April - August. I attempted to clone it with the following recipe:

5.00 gallons

4.75 Canadian 2-Row
4.50 White Wheat Malt
1.00 oz Tettnang @ 60 minutes
2 tbls. Fresh Lemon Zest @ 5 minutes
2 grams Grains of Paradise @ 5 minutes

Yeast: WLP008 White Labs East Coast Ale
Mash temp: 152 degrees F
OG: 1.054 (I was aiming for 1.050, but I got better than expected efficiency)


It was my first time performing a mash out. I was a little scared of the high quantity of wheat malt without using any rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge, so I thought it would be helpful. The mash out worked great! It was the fastest draining mash and sparge I have ever had.

The smell coming from the carboy has a really strong lemon note. I am assuming that fermentation will scrub some of the lemon flavor away, because I thought that 2 tablespoons would give it a subtle flavor, instead of in-your-face Pledge aroma.

UPDATE: 1/14/11 ~ I bottled a few days ago. The lemon flavor has really subsided. I bottled 3 gallons plain. I moved 1 gallon into secondary and added some dregs of Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend, where it will sit for the better part of a year to develop some funk thanks to Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. The final gallon was "casked" into my Cubitainer at 1.0 volumes of CO2 with the equivalent of 1 ounce of Amarillo dry hops and .5 ounces of light toast oak chips.

UPDATE: 2/17/11 ~ The beer is really nice! It came out better than I had expected. It isn't a true clone because the yeast created some peach/apricot phenols, but it works nicely in the beer. There is a tropical feel to it.

Support Your Local Brewpub

I probably wouldn't homebrew as often as I do if it weren't for the people at Haverhill Brewing Company/The Tap, my local brewpub in Haverhill, MA. Because of them and their respect for homebrewers, I am able to purchase sacks of grain at cost. What this boils down to is significant savings on my part.

I went today to pick up 55 lb. bags of Pilsen, Vienna, and Munich for a Flanders Red Ale that the Renegades of Funk are brewing over the Christmas Holiday. In total, it cost $102. To put that into perspective, to order the same grains from midwestsupplies.com, an online retailer that I use for pretty much every other homebrewing purchase because of their low prices, it would cost me $178.85 for the grain and another $79.57 for shipping. That is a grand total of $258.42.

That saved me $152. 42 and reduces my carbon footprint by buying it locally. My brewpub sold it at cost to me, therefore not making money off of that specific transaction, but while I was there I took the liberty to purchase five bombers of Joshua Norton, their exceptionally delicious and well made Imperial Stout. They sell bombers in-house for much lower than the liquor stores in the area and actually make more of a profit than if I were to buy it somewhere else. On another occasion, Evan and I ate lunch there and had 2 pints of beer each before we bought a bag of Marris Otter to brew our Imperial Stout. It seems like a win-win for all parties involved.

Autumnus: An American Brown Ale

The cold has gripped New England and probably won't let go until April. I was driving to my Aunt's house the other day and I realized that I was a little too early. I decided to pull off the road and park alongside a large pond that is on the way to their house. To my surprise, the edge of the pond had started to ice over. I immediately got back into my car and drove to my Aunt's house, dejected and early.

I wanted to brew a beer that will scare the chill right out of you. Hopefully, it will be toasty, nutty and hoppy as hell. I have never used Nugget as a flavor or aroma hop, so I am really excited to see what it adds. I am hoping that a Nugget/Centennial combo will work well in a dark seasonal ale.

3.25 gallon batch

6.25 lbs. Canadian 2-row

.60 lbs. Flaked Oats

.50 lbs. American Crystal 60

.30 lbs. Chocolate

.50 oz Nugget @ 60 minutes

.50 oz Nugget @ 10 minutes

.50 oz Centennial @ 10 minutes

.75 oz Nugget @ 0 minutes

.75 oz Centennial @ 0 minutes

Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale

Mash Temperature: 152 degrees

OG: 1.062

Projected FG: 1.018

IBU's: ~46

UPDATE: 1/14/11 ~ The hop aroma wasn't as strong as I was expecting, but it is still a nice beer. It has a silky mouthfeel, thanks to the oats. I made 3 experimental bombers that turned out exceptionally well. The first was bottled with the equivalent of 2 ounces of Amarillo hops, the second was with the equivalent of 2 ounces of whole coffee beans (Mokka coffee from Maui), and the third was with the equivalent of 8 ounces of cacao nibs. Each one changed the beer pretty dramatically. The dry hopped version was probably my favorite. Maybe next time I will omit the flame out addition of hops and switch them to dry hops.

McGinty's River Ale

In Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", the main character (Jake Barnes) leaves the chaos and pretentiousness of Paris and goes fishing in Spain on the Irati River. The fishing trip symbolizes purity and rejuvenation. I wanted to brew an American Pale Ale that is meant to be enjoyed without any pretensions: something you can sit around a table or campfire with a group of friends with. I decided to use Marris Otter and Caramel 60 to give the beer some backbone to stand up to the approaching Autumn nights. The type of fly Jake uses while fishing is called a McGinty, thus the name of the beer.

Recipe:

9.0 lbs. Marris Otter
0.5 lbs. Crystal 60
0.5 lbs. Carapils

0.5 oz Zeus 12.3 AA @ 60
0.75 oz Centennial 9.0 AA @ 10
0.75 oz Amarillo 7.8 AA @ 10
1.00 oz Centennial @ flameout
1.00 oz Amarillo @ flameout

Yeast: US-05

OG: 1.054
Estimated IBU's: ~35.6
Estimated ABV: ~5.5%

Imperial Porter/Stout/Brown Ale

Tonight, I am planning to brew a 2.5 gallon batch of a dark beer. I have no idea what category it would fit into because it basically is sitting in no man's land somewhere in-between a stout, porter and brown ale. I guess I will have to wait until I am able to drink it to determine once and for all what category of beer it would fall into (it is designed to be a Foreign Export Stout based on BJCP style guidelines, but I don't use roasted barley).

5.00 lbs. Marris Otter 2-Row
0.50 lbs. Flaked Barley
0.50 lbs. Carafa II
0.50 lbs. Caramel 40

.6 oz of US Northern Brewer hops @ 60 minutes

Expected OG: 1.069
Expected FG: 1.018
Expected ABV: 6.7%
IBU's: ~38
SRM: 34

Hula Girl DIPA

My wife and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and we spent most days sitting by the pool, drinking some of the amazing beers that Maui Brewing Company produces. I was partial to the Big Swell IPA because it seemed like a perfect accompaniment to my surroundings with it's abundance of fresh tropical fruit flavors. I wanted to make a big IPA with tropical hop notes as a tribute to one of the best experiences I have had in my life.

The planned 4.5-gallon recipe:

13.0 lbs. Canadian 2-Row

0.5 lbs. Caramel 20

0.5 lbs. Carapils

0.50 oz CTZ FWH (75 minutes)

1.00 oz CTZ @ 75 minutes

.75 oz Simcoe @ 10 minutes

.75 oz Amarillo @ 10 minutes

.75 oz Simcoe @ 5 minutes

.75 oz Amarillo @ 5 minutes
0.5 oz Simcoe @ 0 minutes
0.5 oz Amarillo @ 0 minutes

1.0 oz Simcoe dry hop for 12 days

1.0 oz Amarillo dry hop for 12 days

Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London ESB

Projected starting gravity: 1.082 (assuming 72% efficiency)

Projected ABV: 8.8%

Projected IBU: ~97

Projected SRM: 6.3

Planned mash temperature: 150 degrees F

Hybrid Session Stout

To brew the Imperial Stout with Evan, we needed a huge amount of yeast cells (or buy 5 yeast packets or build a 9 liter starter, which are both huge wastes of money). I brewed a 2.5 gallon low gravity session stout to build up the yeast cells so that we could pitch the new beer on top of the yeast cake. I was aiming for something with notes of caramel and chocolate with a viscous mouthfeel and low alcohol content.

The recipe:

3.25 lbs Canadian 2-Row

6.0 oz Caramel 60

4.0 oz Roasted Barley

4.0 oz Chocolate Malt

4.0 oz Flaked Oats

2.0 oz Caramel 120

0.50 oz Goldings @ 60 minutes

Mash Temperature: 156 degree F for 45 minutes

Yeast: Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Specs:

OG: 1.045

FG: 1.015

ABV: 3.9%

IBU: ~22.2

I bottled it 3 weeks after brewing. I put one gallon into my cubitainer and added enough table sugar to carbonate it to ~1 volume of CO2. I bottled the rest and carbed them to approximately 2.2 volumes of CO2. Review to follow shortly.

Collaboration Imperial Stout with Evan

A few weeks ago, my best friend Evan visited me for a few days. He has been in Peru for months now and he's been itching to brew. We decided to brew a huge Imperial Stout so that we can enjoy it for years to come.

The recipe:

20 lbs. Marris Otter

2.5 lbs. Chocolate Malt

2.5 lbs. Roasted Barley

2.0 lbs. Wheat

0.85 lbs. Caramel 120

2.8 oz Northern Brewer @ 60 minutes

2.0 oz Goldings @ 30 minutes

2.0 oz Goldings @ 15 minutes

2.0 oz Goldings Dry hop

Yeast: Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

5/29/10 Update: Gravity is at 1.034. I transferred the beer into a 5 gallon Better Bottle and had enough remaining to transfer into another 1/2 gallon growler. The 1/2 gallon portion will sit on a bed of cacao nibs (.8 ounces) and coffee (.2 ounces). That is the equivalent of a half pound of cacao nibs and 2 ounces of coffee for a 5 gallon batch.

Cami's Special Bitter

I had an aging packet of Wyeast 1028 London Ale in the fridge that I wanted to brew an double IPA with (using CTZ, Amarillo and Simcoe hops), but first, I needed to build up some yeast. I decided to brew a 2.5 gallon batch of special bitters as a starter beer.

Recipe:

3.00 lbs. Marris Otter

0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L

0.25 lbs. White Wheat Malt

0.75 oz Fuggles/Goldings mix @ 60 minutes

0.25 oz Fuggles/Goldings mix @ 20 minutes

0.50 oz Fuggles/Goldings mix dry hop for 12 days

Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Mash @ 152 for 60 minutes

OG: 1.041

Projected final gravity: 1.010

Projected ABV: 4.0%

IBU's: 33.6

Brew day went off without a hitch. I hit my mash temp target on the spot (152) and my post-boil volume was just a shade under 2.5 gallons. I achieved 72% efficiency.

5/27/10 Update ~ I added the dry hops today. I resisted the urge to take a sample of it, but it smells great.

6/5/10 Update ~ Reached a final gravity of 1.008, giving me a 4.3% ABV beer. I bottled to 1.5 volumes of CO2. I am really excited to drink this in 2+ weeks.

Blueberry Wheat Beer

My wife really detests hoppy beers, so I wanted to brew her something light & easy to drink. With the promise of spring around the corner, I decided to brew a blueberry beer for her to enjoy all the way through the summer.

5.00 gallon recipe:
5.5 lbs. Bavarian Wheat DME
5 oz. Crystal 15
3.33 lbs. Oregon Blueberry Puree
1 oz. Tettnang 4.0% AA at 60 minutes

Yeast: US-05

I plan on waiting for primary fermentation to slow before racking the beer on to the blueberry puree. I am hoping for a lot of the blueberry flavor and aromatics to remain. I hope that the blueberry color will ferment out, but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't.

Session Stout Test Batch

Most of my homebrews have this odd plastic aroma and taste to them that some people (especially me) can detect. I have narrowed it down to either being Chloramines in my water or to the malt extract that I was using. I decided to try a one gallon test batch using a Campden tablet to treat the water and a different brand of dried malt extract. Campden is potassium metabisulphate that binds to Chlorine and Chloramines.

I decided to brew a stout because I have never brewed one before. I wanted it to have notes of dark chocolate, coffee and some dark fruits thrown in for good measure.

The recipe:
1 lb. 0 oz. Munton's Light Dry Extract
1.6 oz Roasted Barley
0.8 oz Chocolate Malt
0.8 oz Caramunich 60
0.8 oz Caramel 120
1/4 tsp Gypsum
0.1 oz Warrior hops @ 60 minutes

OG: 1.045
Projected FG: 1.011
Projected ABV: 4.4%
Targeted IBU: 30.5

Hard Cider/Apfelwein Experiment

I was recently given a bunch of empty one-gallon wine jugs from my wife's grandmother that I was really excited to fill with random test batches of beer/wine/mead/cider/whatever I could think of. Last night, I decided to make a few batches of hard cider. I made two using Musselman's Apple Cider from Walmart and another batch following EdWort's Apfelwein recipe that I found on a homebrewing website.

Batch 1:
1 gallon Musselman's Apple Cider
1/20 of a teaspoon Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
Red Star Montrachet Yeast
1.054 OG

Batch 2:
1 gallon Stop & Shop Apple Juice (not from concentrate)
.4 lbs corn sugar
Red Star Montrachet Yeast
1.064 OG

Batch 3:
1 gallon Musselman's Apple Cider
1/20 of a teaspoon Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
Red Star Premier Cuvée Yeast
1.054 OG

I have the jugs sitting on the stairs to my basement at a reasonably constant 62 degrees (ambient). In a month, I will either rack them to a secondary vessel or bottle them, depending on how they look at the time. They will be ready for consumption in 9 to 12 months.

The Last of the Extract

I decided to brew a Robust Porter using my last bag of liquid malt extract and a mishmash of leftover hops and grains from previous batches. I am hoping the final product is a highly drinkable beer with strong notes of coffee and chocolate that is well suited for the cold New England nights.

The recipe:
7 lbs. Ultralight Liquid Malt Extract
6 oz. Caramunich 60
5 oz. Coffee Malt
4 oz. Chocolate Malt
3 oz. Black Patent

0.50 oz Target hops (12.1 AA%) @ 60 minutes
1.00 oz Fuggles hops (4.5 AA%) @ 20 minutes

Yeast: Nottingham Dry Yeast

OG: 1.057
FG: 1.014 (projected)
ABV: 5.7% (projected)
IBU: 31.0