#65: Abbey Dubbel

A rush to get some of the older yeasts in the free ingredients leads me to a third brew for this weekend.  Since these brewdays are so fast, I finished all three in less time than a normal AG day, but I'll have quite a bit to bottle on the back end, so gains here are losses later.  The final yeast that was close to expiration was the WY-3944 (Belgian Wit).  I'm not a big wheat fan, and in reading on this yeast, I found it can be used for dubbels and tripels as well.  I had intended to do an Abbey Dubbel recipe on the Mr. B site with the WY-3787 (Trappist Hi-Grav) that came with the free ingredients instead of the T-58 it called for, but I'll just do an AG with that yeast and use the the 3944 here.  OG was pretty much on par with the rest (lower than the unreasonable estimates).  Again, no worries...

#65: Abbey Dubbel

Belgian Dubbel

 

Type: Extract	Date: 10/13/2012
Batch Size: 2.12 gal
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 2.86 lb Bewitched Amber Ale (15.0 SRM) Extract 83.87 % 0.55 lb BrewMax Smooth LME (80.0 SRM) Extract 16.13 % 0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (0 min) Hops - 1 Pkgs Belgian Witbier (Wyeast Labs #3944) Yeast-Wheat
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.066 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.059 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.48 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.74 %
Bitterness: 27.9 IBU	Calories: 212 cal/pint
Est Color: 19.1 SRM

#64: ESB

Next on the free ingredient extravaganza...

The WY-1968 (London ESB) yeast had the oldest manufacturer date.  Not yet expired, but within a month or so, and thus I started with this.  Seeing that it was an ESB yeast, I figured I'd try to make something similar to that.  I decided, since I had a couple cans of the Amber HME, to start with that, with a flame-out addition of Styrian Goldings.  OG was off (as expected) from their anticipated OG (not sure why they overestimate them so), but no worries...

#64: ESB

Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)

 

Type: Extract	Date: 10/13/2012
Batch Size: 2.12 gal
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 2.86 lb Bewitched Amber Ale (15.0 SRM) Extract 100.00 % 0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (0 min) Hops - 1 Pkgs London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.057 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.18 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.69 %
Bitterness: 30.1 IBU	Calories: 212 cal/pint
Est Color: 11.7 SRM

EDIT (11/11/12):  Bottled today.  Got 22 bottles out of the deal.  FG 1.011, so nailed that pretty well for a 5% brew.  Very tasty...  The dryhop really does wonders with these kits.  Need to dryhop every one from here on out.

#63: Northwestern Pale Ale

Going to be a lot of Coopers/Mr. B brewing for the foreseeable future after winning $500 worth of ingredients (as well as $200 worth of equipment) in a contest introducing the new Coopers extracts.  A half hour brew session is nice in one respect, but I still long for the picking my own ingredients, choosing my own mash temps, etc. that all-grain gives me.  No matter...  these ingredients will not go to waste, and, again, with a limited brewing schedule due to a ton of kids activities, etc., this is the best way to get some brews in.  Though I'm going to have to stack in some AG or partial mash brew days for my sanity...

Of the ingredients I received, the WY1056 yeast was starting to swell, so I decided to use it first.  Obviously that yeast pairs well with an extract that mimicks (in name, at least) SNPA.  So we'll go with the Northwestern Pale Ale craft series extract straight up...  no additions (except for some yeast food), no grain steeps, no hop boils, no nothin'.  So this one went real quick.  The temps were a bit high after the wort was added to the cold water in the fermenter, so am currently cooling it a bit to try to get to 70 degrees before pitching.  OG is lower than their estimate (of course), but no worries...

#63: Northwestern Pale Ale

American Pale Ale

 

Type: Extract	Date: 10/13/2012
Batch Size: 2.12 gal
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 2.86 lb Northwestern Pale Ale (4.0 SRM) Extract 100.00 % 1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.057 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.62 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.95 %
Bitterness: 40.1 IBU	Calories: 222 cal/pint
Est Color: 4.7 SRM

EDIT (11/11/12):  Bottled today.  22 bottles plus a 10oz tester.  Taste is a bit apple-y, with a slight bitter.  Could use more upfront hops.  Should have dry hopped.  But many don't taste great at bottling but come out nice in the end...

The plan for all of these free ingredients...

Well, I have a mess of brewing ingredients that have fallen into my lap.  Here's the tentative plan to proceed.

I want to knock out the liquid yeast first.  Fresher the better on that front.  Also, the older the yeast, the earlier priority it gets.  Which leads to the following tentative, loose, probably not ultimately followed plan (looser the farther the list extends):

- Pale Ale: Northwestern Pale Ale HME, WY-1056 (American Ale - Chico). - Done 10/13
- ESB:  Amber Ale HME, WY-1968 (London ESB),  Styrian Goldings hops.  - Done 10/14
- Abbey Dubbel:  Amber Ale HME, BrewMax Smooth LME, WY-3944 (Belgian Wit), T-58, Saaz hops.  - Done 10/14
- Diablo IPA HME, grain mini-mash, Golden DME, variety of hops, Coopers yeast  - Done 11/2
- Oktoberfest:  Oktoberfest HME, Bavarian Lager yeast, Munich HME, Tettanger hops.  - Done 12/7
- Deluxe Weissbier:  Bavarian Weissbier HME, Weizen yeast, Golden Wheat LME.   - Done 12/10
- Pilsner:  American Light HME, Pilsen Lager yeast, Booster, Mt. Hood.   - Done 12/11



- Blonde Ale:  Canadian Blonde HME, maybe some DME, German Ale yeast(?), Fuggles hops.
- Deluxe Ole Mole Stout:  Stout HME, Coopers ale yeast, Robust LME, Brown Sugar, Cayenne, Cocoa.
- Christmas Ale: Winter Dark Ale HME, S-04, [either a mini-mash or additional DME], [hops], Mulling Spices, Almond extract.
- Mexican Cerveza:  Mexican Cerveza, S-23 Lager yeast, [either a mini-mash or additional DME].
- Pilsner:  Pilsner HME, probably some DME and hops, dry lager yeast
- Deluxe American Ale:  American Ale HME, Coopers ale yeast, Pale LME, [hops...  Centennial?  Cascade?].
- IPA:  Diablo IPA HME, coopers yeast(?), [hops...  maybe]
- APA:  Northern Pale HME, Ale yeast, [hops...  maybe]
- Porter:  American Porter, S-33, [either a mini-mash or additional DME], [hops...  maybe].
- Patriot Lager:  Patriot Lager HME, some yeast, some DME, some hops

That will leave a bunch of hops (may add some to the above), a heap of Coopers ale yeast, a few Coopers wheat yeast, champagne yeast, Trappist liquid yeast (figure I'll do a nice AG with this), 34/70 lager yeast (ditto), and WB-06 wheat yeast remaining for other recipes. 

#62: Winter Dark Ale

Haven't had time to do AG brewing much these days, so I decided to get an extract brew or two so that I could get something in the pipeline.  I found a great coupon combined with a good sale, so I picked up the four new Mr. Beer craft extracts to play with.  Of course, right after that I won a contest on their site and have apparently scored something like 14 extracts, 18 yeasts, 13 varieties of hops, 4 (or 6... not sure) fruits, 1 booster, 7 fermenters, and 112 bottles, so I guess I'll be extract brewing for a while now.

Here's what I have planned for this one, using up some ingredients I have lying about...  I"m steeping the grains right now (haven't done a steep in about 2 years...  old school...):

EDIT:  Overfilled by a bit (me thinks the gallon container I used was bigger than a gallon), so the OG is a bit lower than anticipated.  Adjusted below.  RDWHAHB...

Winter Dark Ale

American Brown Ale

 

Type: Extract	Date: 10/7/2012
Batch Size: 2.50 gal
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 0.66 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 17.51 % 2.86 lb Winter Dark Ale (30.0 SRM) Extract 75.86 % 0.25 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.63 % 2.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs Cooper Ale (Coopers #-) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Measured Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.48 %
Bitterness: 50.0 IBU
Est Color: 18.0 SRM