#60: IPA (5 gallon - partial mash)

First brew day with friends yesterday.  "Big Brew" a week or so late.  They wanted to do an IPA, and we wanted to shoot for less than four hours, so a partial mash on the new equipment seemed in order.  Cut some corners by hop-bursting the bitter and also by partial mashing and thus adding cold water at the end to get to volume.  Wrapped up in about 2.5 hours.  Super-efficient brew day considering two of the three people had never brewed before.  Did some grilling early and ordered pizza late, and also consumed a lot of beer.  Good times... 

Another side note...  Used some of the Summit I ordered from Willamette Valley Hops.  Funny thing is that every time I order from them, I end up with twice as much as I ordered.  I had spec'd a 55IBU, with a 1.5oz addition of the Summit, but they wanted to go more bitter, so we went 2.0oz for a 100+ IBU.  These hops have been in the freezer for a while, so likely I won't get that much out of them (though they still smelled great)...  Probably gonna get something in the 80ish range, but no real way to judge that.

Missed the OG by a touch.  I found when I was cleaning the equipment that there was some of the LME coating the bottom of the pot.  I guess we didn't stir well enough.  RDWHAHB...  Still should be mighty tasty.

Also, got my lagering fridge working again (at least temporarily).  So I guess I didn't need to trade my lager yeast in after all...

IPA (partial mash)

American IPA

Type: Partial Mash	Date: 1/6/2012
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal)
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 1.50 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 17.14 % 3.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract [Boil for 5 min] Extract 34.29 % 4.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 45.71 % 0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2.86 % 0.60 oz Amarillo (Leaf) [8.70 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 2.00 oz Summit [17.00 %] (35 min) Hops 67.1 IBU 1.00 oz Amarillo [6.90 %] (20 min) Hops 9.9 IBU 1.00 oz Amarillo [6.90 %] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU 8.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs Safale American (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.20 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.82 %
Bitterness: 108.3 IBU	Calories: 217 cal/pint
Est Color: 8.1 SRM EDIT:  Bloop...  bloop...

Budweiser accuses craft brewery of theft, slanders Calfkiller Brewing Company in Tennessee

Lautering.com reports today on one of my favorite breweries, CalfKiller Brewery from Sparta, TN, being accused of theft by Budweiser over the use of old kegs that they bought from a reseller.  The Sergios responded on Facebook to the situation. "The big monopoly Budweiser has started walking in to accounts, and simply taking the little guys kegs! FLIRTING WITH SLANDER they have told business owners that Calfkiller had stole the kegs," in their words.  Very petty of Budweiser (or, at least their local tentacles).

If you are in the area, please support Dave and Don by buying their wonderful brews.  If you are not in the area, you are missing out, as they are very creative and out-of-the-box in their brewing, but you can still help by spreading this story far and wide.

#59: Chestnut Brown Ale

This is a total ad-lib, as I have ingredient seal-a-mealed for a lager, but I have a broken lager fridge.  I may well be able to manage temps within the lager fridge with enough ice, but I will be out of town most of this week.  So...  why not punt and brew next weekend?  Well, I am planning to brew with other people in a few weeks, and I want to get in at least one pass with my new electric turkey fryer before doing this with someone else.  So, after realizing I had no ale yeast at all, my only option was to pick up a Brooklyn Brew Shop kit at Whole Foods and supplement from there (mainly to get the yeast).  After assessing their selection of refills, I ended up with the Chestnut Brown over the Porter or Stout.  I really wanted either the IPA or Pale, but they only had those in kits, and I really didn't need a one gallon fermenter.  No idea how to estimate the grain bill here, other than it makes 6.0%abv for one gallon, and while I could have used the grains for the lager to bulk it to 2.4 gallon, I am instead making it a partial mash with a stray Mr. B Cowboy Lager that is supposed to be 2.3% for 2 gallon, so at a 2.4 gallon I'm guessing I'll be somewhere in the 5% range. I'm also adding Mt. Hood to bump the hops and keep it close to what is intended, knowing that the HME has some hops (18 IBU).  I'm going to try to figure out some stats later, but this is truly a RDWHAHB brewday.  Currently halfway through the mash, and the new pot is maintaining temps nicely...

EDIT:  Here's my current best guess, but I will adjust further when the hydro reading is taken...

EDIT:  Pretty close...  adjusted below...  I've been playing with my efficiency on my old setup, so I adjusted back to 75% on this one, which may have been a touch optimistic, but really not far off.  This will be a nice session nut amber (is that a style?)...

Chestnut Brown Ale

American Brown Ale

Type: Partial Mash	Date: 4/29/2012
Batch Size: 2.40 gal
Boil Size: 3.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 1.20 lb Classic American Blonde Ale (3.0 SRM) Extract 34.78 % 2.00 lb Brooklyn Brew Shop Chesnut Brown Ale grain blend (20.0 SRM) Grain 57.97 % 0.30 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.70 %] (60 min) Hops 10.8 IBU 0.10 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (60 min) Hops 4.6 IBU 0.10 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (20 min) Hops 2.8 IBU 0.10 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.70 %] (20 min) Hops 2.2 IBU 0.25 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 7.25 %
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.044 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.043 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.27 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.16 %
Bitterness: 33.9 IBU	Calories: 189 cal/pint
Est Color: 10.9 SRM

The setup and ingredients...

The accompanying homebrew IPA and grilled chicken... 

#58: Sorghum Pale Ale

Decided I needed to brew today, but didn't have time to invest in a full AG.  A friend had wanted to do a sorghum brew but has never gotten back with a time, so I decided to use the sorghum extract I had bought for that purpose to do a straight up sorghum pale ale similar in nature to the Briess recipe they offer on their website.  I had Columbus on hand, so I subbed for their Cascades, and I'm using S-33 instead of their Nottingham.  I also threw in a bag of Booster that I had laying about.  I originally intended to steep some gluten-free items (oatmeal and the like), but decided to do this one straight up and save the experimenting for the next go.  So, a simple SMASH-ish go-round and the first brew day since January.  Really need to get back into the swing this spring/summer...

EDIT:  Well, that was an interesting brew day for everything that didn't involve brewing.  First, I had been missing my volumes on the low side, and while trying to adjust, I ended up coming in a bit high this time.  No worries, though it may lead to a mess in a day or two when we krausen up.   Recipe adjusted above.

But now for the non-brewing...  while I was transferring the wort to the fermenter, our backyard gate apparently broke and our dog got loose.  She was easily recovered (the boys saw it happen and called her back almost immediately), but in the melee, I am certain that I did not aerate well enough.  I did, however, pitch an entire pack of S-33 instead of the half pack I intended, so hopefully that will make up for it.  I also gave it a late stir after pitching, so I'll likely be good.

The other non-brewing catastrophe is that my free lagering fridge that has been so handy (it sat right at 50 at its lowest setting, so it was perfect for lagers) looks like it gave up the ghost.  The good news for today is that I did an ale and the fridge is sitting pretty at 62 or so.  The bad news is that I just picked up some lager yeast for a new lager I intended to do today (until time got away) and had postponed until next weekend.  I guess that gives me a week to find a new solution or to get some ale yeast.

So...  Dog recovered, fence repaired, beer in (non-working) fermenting fridge.  I guess it all turned out OK...

EDIT:  Hit 1.021 in four days.  Primary seems to have settled down.  Gonna let this sit for another couple of weeks before I can bottle, but hydro pull tasted quite promising...

Sorghum Pale Ale

American Pale Ale

Type: Extract	Date: 4/22/2012
Batch Size: 2.75 gal
Boil Size: 3.02 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 3.30 lb BriesSweet White Sorghum Syrup 45DE (3.0 SRM) Extract 80.29 % 0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (20 min) Hops 29.0 IBU 0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (5 min) Hops 9.5 IBU 0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (0 min) Hops - 0.81 lb Booster (0.0 SRM) Sugar 19.71 % 1 Pkgs SafBrew Ale (DCL Yeast #S-33) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.30 %
Bitterness: 37.4 IBU	Est Calories: 246 cal/pint
Est Color: 3.6 SRM                      First pour pic...

Restocked...

Not the best restock trip, as Three Floyds is getting irritatingly difficult to get (they need to get their distribution/production figured out), but all-in-all it was not bad.  Left to right...  From FFF...  Sixer of Robert the Bruce Scottish ale, single of Alpha King pale ale, single of Gumballhead wheat ale, Brian Boro red ale, Arctic Panzer Wolf IPA, Rabbid Rabbit saison.  Also, a bomber of the now retired Heavy Seas Prosit! imperial oktoberfest (kinda out of season, but on clearance hard to pass up), a single of Bell's HopSlam, and a sixer of Goose Island Mild Winter (also out of season, but also on clearance and similarly hard to pass up). Would have liked to get a few other sixers of FFF, but all is good.  The only FFF I passed on this time were Black Sun, which I'll try to catch it next time, and Dreadnaught, which I got last time and decided to get APW instead this time.  Of the two places I shopped, the RTB was the only sixer I saw, and this was the one and only one of those.  Crazy...

Nashville Craft Beer Week and East Nashville Beer Fest

Though apparently I don't brew anymore (or at least not nearly as often as I would like), I have had some fun beer events to attend.  Last week was the Nashville Craft Beer Week, and there were tons of events around town to celebrate, including tap takeovers and casks from several breweries; bunches of beer and meal pairings; a few beer/cheese, beer/dessert, beer/glassware events; and several beer tastings and discounts at various beer and wine stores.  I was only able to make a few...  M.L.Rose hosted a Sweetwater takeover, where six taps were devoted to Sweetwater beers, as well as a couple casks and some free glassware.  I had had all of the beers on tap prior, but I still went for this year's Happy Ending stout and Festive Ale.  Both are quite good.  I also took the opportunity to score some glassware:

Glassware:  Nashville Craft Beer Week (L) and Sweetwater (R)

I also briefly attended the BBC, Yazoo, and Terrapin promo night at Mojo/Broadway Brewhouse, and the Yazoo Taproom (though, really, that's a normal event and not a Beer Week event for me).  Most of the events were just too late in the evening for me to hit on a work night, but there were a few (the Yazoo/
Spiegelau event in particular, and also New Belgium Beer pairing dinner) that I wish I had been able to attend.


The week culminates with the East Nashville Beer Festival, which is one of two annual tastings that are really out of the ordinary and well worth attending, with the 12 South Winter Warmer being the other.  Both of these events feature a lot of beers that aren't available here, as evidenced by their brewery lists (here and here).  I also attend the Main Street Brew Fest (which was this month as well), as it is right up the road from my house and I have a lot of friends who attend, but the beer selection is rather ordinary.  No matter...  still fun in its own right.


This festival brought yet another tasting glass into my life...

Tasting glass, filled with tasty beverage...

I had over 70 beers during the five hour event (I skipped all ciders, but did have one fermented mint tea because it sounded interesting...  It wasn't) and didn't nearly hit all of the available beers.  

The Yazoo booth, and many more down the row...

Nearly every local brewery (except Cool Springs Brewery... hmm... well, I had my fill of them at the Main St. Festival) was represented, with Yazoo bringing the heat with several casks of their beers with dryhops or additives such as cocoa nibs, etc.  Blackstone also brought nine quality beers, and Jackalope, Bosco's, Black Abbey, Jubilee, Fat Bottom, Calfkiller and Broadcast also represented the local beers quite nicely. 

The Calfkiller guys with their unique tap handles (and their unique beers)...

The largest breweries represented were Sam Adams, with a mix of their standard and hi-gravs; and New Belgium, who brought their Lips of Faith series as well as the brand spanking new Shift.  Well, technically Pabst was there with their McSorley series, but I digress.  All the craft biggies were there...  Sierra Nevada, Victory, Stone, Shiner, Abita, Sweetwater, Brooklyn, BBC, Goose Island, Left Hand, Terrapin, Magic Hat, Schlafly, North Coast, etc.  There was also a nice mix from the beer hotbeds, specifically Colorado and Asheville.  But the fun is in the small breweries that we can't get in our area...  Straight to Ale, Twain's, Hat Trick, Flat12, Nebraska, Rivertown, Wild Heaven, etc.

Yazoo Gerst Amber cask hopped with Tettanger...

There was also a nice mix of music, with a stage of rotating acts...

As well as a small band that rotated through the crowd...

Finally, there were a great many of the quality Nashville food trucks, and some booths with shirts, crafts, etc.  My LHBS was represented, and were pouring homebrew from their staff.  Also, the Nashville and Murfreesboro homebrew clubs had several taps of very tasty homebrew available for tasting.  A former co-worker had a beer on tap at the Nashville booth.  


We wrapped the afternoon with a stop at one of the famous/infamous Nashville Hot Chicken shacks...  The park that housed the festival was a block from Bolton's, so we walked over and had some extra hot goodness...

A great day all around!


A goal for me?  To get a beer at the festival sometime in the next few years...

Yazoo Fortuitous Day

Today was a Yazoo sort of day.  Started with the "Yazoo Barely a 4K run."  Even though I failed miserably on my "run the whole run" goal (darn those hills... I guess I need to get outside for runs more often instead of sticking to the level, cushioned surfaces of the gym... the hills totally killed me), I was still glad I did the run. My goal is to actually run one all the way through in the Fall as I start to get my fat self back in shape.  Likely the earliest I have popped a beer in many moons, as we were drinking Gerst and Sly Rye at 7:45a before the run and at 10:00 or so after.  Though I didn't win any raffle swag, I got another Yazoo pint glass, a couple plastic Yazoo cups, and a nice Yazoo hoodie.

Later, we moved to the brewery for Fortuitous day.  This link tells the full story behind the brew (go ahead...  I'll wait), and the culmination was a party on the upper deck of the brewery that was coupled with the lottery for chances to buy this limited edition soured imperial smoked porter.  The party ended up being a nice beer swap/share, with lots of great beers available for consumption (Pliny, Founders BS and CBS, Ommegang, Mikkeller, FFF, Bell's, Racer5, and many more... oh, and of course Gerst, Sue, Sly Rye, etc. from the home team).  I provided some FFF, Bell's, and Sun King as my contribution, but I think that the beers I tasted far outweighed my contribution to the party.

Unfortunately I accidentally left my phone in Franklin so I didn't get any pics.  So I instead linked some pics here that others posted:

                                    

My lottery number did not get called (bummer!), but I was able to take home 4 bottles of Fortuitous due to a freind and his wife both hitting their numbers.  One in the fridge, one to be cellared, and a couple to be used to share with friends or swap.  I also took home a bottle of the original soured Sue that lead to this beer and event even happening.

Thanks to Yazoo Brewing Company for a great day all around...