Sunday, March 28, 2010

#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...

Saturday, March 20, 2010

#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

Monday, March 15, 2010

#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...

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

#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