#51: Two Dogs Mexican Brown (take 2)

Back to my AG confort zone...

I did the Yazoo Dos Perros recipe a while back... It tasted all right, but it was my first AG and I had some temp control issues.

This time I had better control of the temps, but I had to figure out a good way to do 5 gallons on the stovetop (since I still haven't gotten the turkey fryer and bigger pot as I intended when I bought this grain). Thus, I split the recipe between my bigger pot and my water cooler for the mash (staggering the times so that I wouldn't have them finish at the same time), and continued to run them parallel in my big and small brew pots the rest of the way out. Worked pretty well, but I don't think I'll run a 5 gallon AG again until I upgrade my equipment.

Regardless of process challenges, I hit my OG perfectly. RDWHAHB...


Here's take #2:

Two Dogs - All Grain - 5 gallon

Type: All Grain
Date: 6/12/2011
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Swenocha
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 58.99 %
2.25 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 33.17 %
0.33 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 4.82 %
0.20 lb Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 3.02 %
0.85 oz Pearle [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 18.6 IBU
0.40 oz Saaz [4.90 %] (5 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
S-04 yeast


Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.037 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.037 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.52 %
Bitterness: 20.1 IBU
Calories: 162 cal/pint
Est Color: 13.0 SRM

#50: Irish Red

Ahhh, number 50. Haven't brewed a lot lately, so just getting back in the swing of things this week.

Second of the Mr. Beer extract series. This one is one of the three (or so) with add-ons. Going for a nice Irish Red, and EKG and Mt. Hood sound like a good boil addition to me.


Irish Red Ale

Type: Extract
Date: 6/6/2011
Batch Size: 2.40 gal
Brewer: Swenocha
Boil Size: 2.75 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 33.11 %
1.21 lb Bewitched Red Ale (13.2 SRM) Extract 40.07 %
0.20 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (60 min) Hops 9.0 IBU
0.20 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.70 %] (60 min) Hops 7.0 IBU
0.81 lb Booster (0.0 SRM) Sugar 26.82 %
1.00 pkg Nottingham yeast

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Actual Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.82 %
Bitterness: 25.0 IBU
Est Color: 8.1 SRM

#49: Czech "Pilsner" Ale

After buying the international and American sampler boxes on a whim when I saw them on a super cheap clearance, I decided to do two or three of them straight up (well... either straight up or using a recipe from the Mr. Beer recipe book), while modifying the other three or four. I hadn't done a Mr. B straight-up standard extract brew since the first month I started brewing (I quickly moved to non-HME brewing out of preference).

First up in my venture into basic Mr. Beer brewing: the Czech "Pilsner" recipe (pilsner in quotes, as a true pilsner is a lager and this is an ale, but I digress). I did the HCCD once before early in my brew experience with booster and 1 lb of DME, as well as some Argentine Cascade for dryhop, and had a banana flavor that never conditioned out. I'm hoping that that isn't the case with this one. I will monitor my temps closely, as I believe that to be my problem from the last go.

I did do a slight modification, as I used .4oz Saaz and a .1oz smidge of Glacier for the dryhop instead of the Sterling listed in the recipe. Saaz and Sterling are good subs for each other in general, and as Saaz is the traditional aroma hop for a Czech Pilsner, all is good there. The smidge of Glacier was added simply to clear some excess inventory and to round things out at .5oz. I also used three Fromundas instead of one.

Super quick brew day. A boil with the Booster, and then add the HME and into the sanitized fermenter. I had kinda forgotten how easy these are, but I also remember this simplicity being why I quickly moved out of "soup mix" brewing (no offense to anyone who normally HME brews... I have no problem with it, and I've tasted some fine brews made from HME. I simply prefer the control I have over AG brewing).

The only issue I had was a loss of wort as I moved to the fermenter. Generally I use a bigger brewing pot, and then use my auto-siphon to transfer. This time, I went back to using the smaller pot that I used when I started, and did the pour into the fermenter. Unfortunately I poured a bit down the side beginning my pour. I suppose I should stick with the auto-siphon. Hydrometer reading tells the tale... 1.034. A bit lower than anticipated, but no worries...

Czech "Pilsner"
---------------
Brewer: Swenocha
Style: German Pilsner (Pils)
Batch: 2.12 galExtract

Characteristics
---------------
Estimated Gravity: 1.038 OG
Measured Gravity: 1.034
Recipe Bitterness: 20 IBU
Recipe Color: 3° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.008
Est Alcohol by Volume: 3.4%

Ingredients
-----------
MrB. High Country Canadian Draft1.21 lb, Extract, Extract
MrB. Booster 0.81 lb, Sugar, Other

MrB. High Country Canadian Draft1.00 oz, Pellet, 5 minutes
Saaz (Czech) 0.40 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Glacier 0.10 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes

Mr. Beer Dry Ale Yeast 3.00 unit, Yeast