#16: Swen's Noble Ale

Well, I decided to start my noble hop beer. So, I grabbed the hop schedule recommended by the Sam Adams brewer I found online, slapped a simple grain/DME backbone on it, and away I went. I originally intended to do a 5 gal, but ultimately opted to cut this to a 2.4 batch. The only minor screw-up up front is that I am using Golden Light instead of Pilsen Light as I originally intended (because I grabbed the wrong one in my haste at the LHBS), but that's cool. It will be a bit darker than I intended, but still in the 7 range instead of in the threes or fours.

This is a bit pricey with the cost of a couple of these European hops, so I may try a cut with cheaper alternatives on the next go for comparison. Looking at $10 for the DME, $1.50 for the grains, $4 for the US-05 yeast, and about $14 for the hops, so nearly $30 for a small batch. Hmm....

Here's the final recipe...

Swen's Noble Ale
----------------
Style: Pale Ale
Batch: 2.40 galExtract

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.053 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 35 IBU
Recipe Color: 7° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.013
Alcohol by Volume: 5.2%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.1%

Ingredients
-----------
Briess DME - Golden Light 2.65 lb, Extract, Extract
Crystal 10L 0.50 lb, Grain, Steeped

Hallertauer (Germany) 0.18 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Hersbrucker (Germany) 0.18 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Saaz (Czech) 0.18 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Spalt (Germany) 0.18 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Tettnanger (Germany) 0.18 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Hallertauer (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes
Hersbrucker (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes
Saaz (Czech) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes
Spalt (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes
Tettnanger (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes

flameout:
Hallertauer (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Hersbrucker (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Saaz (Czech) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Spalt (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Tettnanger (Germany) 0.20 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes

dryhop:
Hallertauer (Germany) 0.21 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Hersbrucker (Germany) 0.21 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Saaz (Czech) 0.21 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Spalt (Germany) 0.21 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Tettnanger (Germany) 0.21 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes

US-05 Ale yeast 1.00 unit, Yeast,

#15: (Almost Free) Berry and Lemongrass Mead

I thought I was going to do one of the beers I have queued up tonight, but decided at the last minute to do the mead instead. This may totally stink when complete, but here goes...

The honey ended up being free due to Kroger's policy to give the product free if you are overcharged (it was tagged on sale, but rang up full price)... Bonus! The frozen berries were on hand, as was the ginger, the hops, the corn sugar, and the wine yeast (most of the recipes called for champagne yeast, so I hope this yeast works out). The only outright purchase was $1 worth of lemongrass. So ROI on this brew is pretty darn good if it is good, and the loss is not much of anything if not...

I scaled down and modified to the ingredients on hand a Winner's Circle recipe to suit my needs. We'll see how it turns out. I don't know how accurate QBrew is with this type of concoction (the OG and FG in the book are wildly different, and the FG is listed in the book is below 1, but since I scaled down so much, and changed some ingredients, so no worries), and thus the characteristics may not be totally accurate...

Here's the recipe:

(Almost Free) Berry and Lemongrass Mead
----
Brewer: Swenocha
Style: Spice, Herb or Vegetable Beer
Batch: 1.00 gal

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.095 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 21 IBU
Recipe Color: 3° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.024
Alcohol by Volume: 9.2%
Alcohol by Weight: 7.2%

Ingredients
-----------
Corn Sugar 0.50 lb, Sugar, Other
Honey 2.00 lb, Sugar, Other
Raspberries. Blueberries, Blackberries (frozen)0.28 lb, Extract, Extract

Cascade 0.20 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes

Dry Wine Yeast 1.00 unit, Other, 
Ginger 0.20 oz, Other, add to hop boil
Irish Moss 0.25 unit, Fining, add to hop boil
Lemongrass 2.50 gram, Other, steep, strain, add after ferment

Notes
-----
Recipe Notes:
Bring honey and 1.25 gallon to boil. Add hops, ground ginger, irish moss. Boil 60 min. Add sugar late in boil. Remove from heat. Add fruit. Cool to room temp. Load in 1 gallon fermenter, pitch.

After primary fermentation, steep lemongrass in a small amount of water. Strain and add steep liquid to the fermenter.

Ferment for approx 3 weeks. Bottle and let set for 6 months.

#13: Hop Slop IPA

The attempt to nail down and perfect the beer that I see being my pipeline regular (a citrusy IPA) is back in progress. After weighing my options and considering what I wanted to brew today, and after looking at ingredients on hand, the Citra hops were just staring at me, saying "use me! use me!" and the other ingredients seemed to agree.

Thus, cut #3 at the IPA. I've been happy with the two IPAs I've done thus far, but I really want one with the citrus pop in flavor and aroma that the first two are a bit lacking in. I've learned a lot since those first two efforts, so I think that this one might be it...

HopSlop IPA
-----------------------
Style:  IPA
Batch: 2.40 galExtract

Characteristic
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.060 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 79 IBU
Recipe Color: 11° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.015
Alcohol by Volume: 5.8%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.5%

Ingredients
-----------
Briess DME - Sparkling Amber 1.37 lb, Extract, Extract
Crystal 10L 0.42 lb, Grain, Steeped
Light LME 2.00 lb, Extract, Extract

Centennial 0.50 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Centennial 0.50 oz, Pellet, 20 minutes
Citra 0.50 oz, Pellet, 20 minutes
Citra 0.50 oz, Pellet, 10 minutes
Citra 1.00 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes

Ale yeast 1.00 unit, Yeast, 
Irish Moss 0.50 unit, Fining, 
Maltodextrin 1.00 unit, Other,

Notes
-----
Recipe Notes:

Steep crushed grains at 155 for 30 min
Strain grains, run the additional water thru grains.
Set to boil. Add DME. Start the hop sched.
Maltodextrin and Irish moss at 15 min.
Cut from boil. Add LME
ice bath after boil. to fermenter. stir, pitch, stir

NOTE:  Dubbed Hop Slop due to the clogged spigot that resulted from a dryhop bag that came undone...

#12: Smoked Porter

So, I wanted to make a smoked porter, and I wanted to get some special roast for another brew. So I handed the (much too laid back) older dude at All Seasons (you know who I'm talking about if you've been there) the two bags and asked him if he could run 'em thru the old crusher for me. He says of course he can... So I go about my shopping, and then he comes back with one big bag. I look at the bag, and lo and behold, he's ground them both into one bag thinking they were both special roast. I point out that they were two different grains, and I was expecting to get two separate bags back (since they were for two separate brews). Though, as I think about, I didn't specifically state that. But I thought it was implied, especially considering they were clearly labelled as different grains.

In his ever friendly way, he noted that I may have a happy accident with the combo, that he thought they'd work well together, and that he's offer them to me at half price (as he was going to throw it away). So... I took it.

So, for my $2ish, I now have 2 lbs of 1/2 Briess American Smoked malt and 1/2 Briess Special Roast, which should work great in my proposed smoked porter, I think. I think I'll use 1lb steeped for my (first) 5 gallon batch of said porter.

Smoked Porter
------
Style: Robust Porter
Batch: 4.28 galExtract

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.073 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 11 IBU
Recipe Color: 20° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.018
Alcohol by Volume: 7.1%
Alcohol by Weight: 5.6%

Ingredients
-----------

Malt Extracts:
Ironmaster Porter HME 4.00 lb, Extract, Extract
Light LME 2.00 lb, Extract, Extract

Grains:
Smoked Malt 1.00 lb, Grain, Steeped
Special Roast 1.00 lb, Grain, Steeped

Adjuncts:
Brown Sugar, Dark 0.50 lb, Sugar, Other
MrB. Booster 0.81 lb, Sugar, Other

Cluster 0.50 oz, Pellet, 5 minutes
Cluster 1.00 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Muntons Connoisseurs HME - Nut Brown Ale0.50 oz, Pellet, 20 minutes

Muntons Ale yeast 1.00 unit, Yeast

#11: Soured Stout

Soured this stout by leaving four bottles of Guinness sitting out in an open vessel for 2.5 weeks.

Couple of suggestions I received in doing this from a brewmaster -

1: It may take more than a couple of days for that Guinness to get really sour. And you WANT it to be SO FREAK NASTY that you couldn't imagine putting in your body. Once it has reached that point, it is ready to be put in your beer. 

2: Maybe try inoculating the sour sample with a few kernels of grain so that those lactobacillus cultures can get a good start. You want to make sure that it is lactic sour (like rotten milk), not acetic sour (like vinegar). If you just leave it to chance on the kitchen counter, you'll probably wind up with vinegar.

So...  so freak nasty...  gotcha...

Soured Stout
--------------------------------
Style: Oatmeal Stout
Batch: 2.13 galExtract

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.057 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 38 IBU
Recipe Color: 41° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.014
Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.3%

Ingredients
-----------
MrB. St. Patrick's Irish Stout1.21 lb, Extract, Extract
MrB. Creamy Brown UME 1.21 lb, Extract, Extract
Briess DME - Traditional Dark 0.50 lb, Extract, Extract
Chocolate Malt (US) 0.00 lb, Grain, Steeped
Black Patent (US) 0.03 lb, Grain, Steeped
Crystal 10L 0.03 lb, Grain, Steeped
Roasted Barley 0.03 lb, Grain, Steeped

Brown Sugar, Light 0.22 lb, Sugar, Other

Fuggles (U.K.) 0.50 oz, Pellet, 20 minutes
MrB. St. Patrick's Irish Stout1.00 oz, Pellet, 5 minutes

Ale yeast 2.00 unit, Yeast,
Soured Guinness Extra Stout 1.00 unit, Other, 4 guinness extra stouts soured for 2.5 weeks

Notes
-----
Recipe Notes:
- toasted oats at 300 until begin to brown
- steep grains and oats for 30 min at 155 in 1.5 quarts water
- bring to boil after removing grains and oats
- drop hops; boil 20 min
- add soured stout at 10 min
- remove from heat, follow Mr. B instructions

Batch Notes:
- ended up needing to add a quart of water at 10 min in boil... oatmeal took a LOT of the water out of play
- Not sure how to account for the soured stout in QBrew...

#9: WCPA Done Right

Had a can of Mr. B WCPA that needed to be used, so here goes...

WCPA Done Right
----
Style: IPA
Batch: 2.13 galExtract

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.062 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 67 IBU
Recipe Color: 13° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.016
Alcohol by Volume: 6.0%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.7%

Ingredients
-----------
Crystal 60L 0.50 lb, Grain, Steeped
Briess DME - Sparkling Amber 1.80 lb, Extract, Extract
MrB. West Coast Pale Ale 1.21 lb, Extract, Extract

Centennial 0.40 oz, Pellet, 30 minutes
Warrior 0.50 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes
Columbus 0.40 oz, Pellet, 5 minutes
MrB. West Coast Pale Ale 1.00 oz, Pellet, 5 minutes
Centennial 0.25 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes (dryhop)

Ale yeast (US-05) 1.00 unit, Yeast

#7: Beta Prince Pale Ale

I found a 5 gallon extract based Three Floyds Alpha King clone and trimmed it down to Mr. B size, though I made some substitutions (specifically, I made a change from the LME it called for to the DME I had on hand) that may cut away from it's clone-ness, but I'll have beer nonetheless. It was generally a fun process and no one got hurt, so success has been had. Really had no missteps, so I'm hoping for a good brew out of this. This was also my first cut with the hydrometer, and I totally nailed the OG, so that was kinda cool.

Here's what it ended up looking like (the notes were pretty much cribbed from the recipe I started with):

Beta Prince
-----------
Style: APA
Batch: 2.40 gal

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.062 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 66 IBU
Recipe Color: 14° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.015
Alcohol by Volume: 6.0%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.7%

Ingredients
-----------
Crystal 60L 0.75 lb, Grain, Steeped
Muntons DME - Amber 1.00 lb, Extract, Extract
Muntons DME - Extra Light 2.00 lb, Extract, Extract

Centennial 0.50 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Warrior 0.20 oz, Pellet, 30 minutes
Cascade 0.50 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes
Centennial 0.55 oz, Pellet, 5 minutes
Centennial 0.40 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Columbus 0.40 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes

Ale yeast 1.00 unit, Yeast,

Notes
-----
- Steep the grain in the full boil volume of water. Fill the pot with cold water, put in the grain bag, and heat the water to just below 170 deg F (around 20-30 minutes). As the water heats, bob the grain bag up and down with a spoon underneath to assure all the grain is well wetted (once every five minutes or so).

- Once the temp is just below 170, let it rest a few minutes and then remove the grain bag, allow it to drain, then discard.

- Continue heating to a boil and add a 2lb of the pale DME.
- Hold boil, and add Centennial hops at 60min to go
- Add Warrior hops at 30min to go
- Add Cascade hops at 15min to go
- Add Centennial hops at 5 min to go
- Pull hops at 0 min, and mix remaining 1lb amber DME

- Follow normal process to add to fermenter

- After primary fermentation subsides, add Columbus and Centenial hops (dry hops)