Velvet Merkin Clone Round 2 All Grain

Origins:
I have brewed this seasonal beer from Firestone Walker before but as an extract recipe.  Its a little late for brewing seasonal beers to be ready for the Christmas season, but I really wanted to brew this beer.  I am trying to get a little more technical with my brewing too so I am adding a recipe specification section to the write up.  This is a clone of Velvet Merkin so Ill call it something close to that.... how about Fleece Bush.

Recipe Specifications:

Batch Size: 10.00 gal 
Boil Size: 12  gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 9.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter 4 °L
• 7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 
• 3.50 lb Oats, Flaked 
• 2.00 lb Munich Malt 5 °L 
• 0.80 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30 °L   
• 0.80 lb Roasted Barley 300 °L
• 0.40 lb Carafa III 550 °L
• 0.40 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120 °L 
• Total Grain Weight: 23.90 lb

• 4.00 oz Fuggles, US [6.7 %] (60 min) Hops
• WLP 005 English Ale Yeast

Starter Procedure:
I didn't do a starter since it was one of those decide to brew that day so I had an extra recently expired English Ale Yeast vile in my refrigerator and I bought 2 fresh new ones to pitch. Splitting the new vials between the carboys and then splitting the old yeast into each one. Not ideal but it should get my fermentation started OK.

Brew Procedure:
      On December 4th 2011, I decided to brew. First I calculated how much mash water I needed. total grain weight was 24 lbs. So to calculate mash water I used the following calculation: 

24 lbs grain x 1.33 qt/lb = 31.92 qt. x 1/4 gallon/qt = 8 gallons

I filled the mashtun with 8 gallons of water and began heating it to 165 °F.  After the water reached 165 °F I added the grain and began stirring. After stirring the mash vigorously for a few minutes the temperature had dropped down to a perfect 158 °F.  I placed a newly made mashtun insulation jacket around the vessel and let it sit for 1 hour.
     After mashing I transferred to the kettle and completed the brew using the following schedule:

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
3 oz.	Fuggles	Entire 60 min boil
1 oz.	Fuggles	Last 15 min. of boil
2 tsp.	Gypsum	Last 15 min. of boil
1 tsp.	Yeast Nutrient	Last 15 min. of boil
2 tabs	WhirlFloc	Last 15 min. of boil

I cooled the wort and pitched the yeast into two 6.5 gallon carboys. 


Additional Comments:
    I am extremely pleased with how this recipe turned out.  I don't know how it will turn out but It was a successful all grain brewing session.  I hit all my temperatures and nothing went wrong and hit my OG right on.  I was also pleased that it only took 5 hours for this session down from 6.5 for my last brewing experience.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.060  


UPDATE: 12/11//11
Gravity at Transfer: 1.022
131.25*(1.060-1.022)=4.9875

The beer tasted great possibly one of the best I've ever tasted at transfer I am really excited to get this kegged and start drinking it.


UPDATE 12/18/11:
I kegged and bottled the brew today I used 5 gallons to keg and bottled the other 5 gallons.  I had not bottled in a long time so it didn't go perfectly smooth but I got it done.  The biggest issue is that I forgot that I lent my corn sugar out because I don't use it very much.  Just as I started to transfer the beer into the bottling bucket I made this realization.  I quickly drove down to the brew store and picked up a pound.  I yielded 28 x 22 oz.  bottles.  I took a gravity reading and saw it had dropped a couple points in secondary bringing the final alcohol to 5.25%.


Gravity at Kegging/Bottling: 1.020
131.25*(1.060-1.020)=5.25%

Party Beer

Origins:
I wanted a beer that I could give out at parties and wouldn't fill you up so you could drink it while playing beer pong or some other irresponsible method of drinking.  This beer needed to be something all people could drink and not have a problem drinking a lot of it.  I chose to go for the taste of a macro brewed rice beer.  I know I will not be getting any brewing street cred for this but this beer is mostly for my friends and their girlfriends, this is a Party Beer.

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs Rice
• 1 lb Carapils
• 9 lbs 2 row malt
• White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001)
• 2 tab. Whirlfloc
• 1 tsp. Wyeast yeast nutrient
• 2 tsp. Gypsum

Starter Procedure:
Saturday November 12, 2011 I made my starter. I actually was able to boil for 15 minutes uninterupted becasue of the Fermcap-S made it possible to boil without boiling over.  Adding hops to prevent over boiling worked pretty well but I still couldn't get a rolling boil like I wanted.  I added the DME and Fermcap-s and began heating.  When it reached a full boil there was no boil over.  I almost felt comfortable leaving it to boil while I went and did something else.  Not one boil over in the entire 15 minutes it boiling.  The ingredients I used in the starter were:

• 100 g DME
• 1/4 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient
• 1 Drop Fermcap-S Foam Inhibitor
• 1000 ml Water

This should give a starting gravity of about 1.040.

Brew Procedure:
     Sunday November 13 was brew day. I started with 5 gallons of water in my mashtun which I then heated to 165 °F so that when my grains were added it would drop it down to around 155 °F.  This was a cold day so my calculations were a bit off the grain dropped the temperature down close to 150 °F.  I needed to heat it up a little bit to activate the correct enzymes and convert the starches, so I turned on the burner under the mashtun.  I walked away for a second do go do something else.  Mistake.  After about 10 minutes of the mashtun burner being on I remembered that I needed to turn it off.  By this time it was too late the temperature had soared to 185 °F far above the correct mashing temperature and into the tannin extracting realm.  This was devastating.
     I quickly tried to cool the mashtun by spraying water on the kettle and taking the lid off to stir.  This did not cool it enough.  If I were level headed and a little more experienced with all grain brewing I would have simply added some cold water to the mashtun and cooled it easily to a reasonable temperatue.  But I wasn't so I just let it mash out at that temperature. Idiot.
     After mashing I transferred to the kettle and completed the brew using the following schedule:

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Nugget	Entire 60 min. boil
1 oz.	Nugget	Last 45 min. of boil
1 oz.	Cascade	Last 30 min. of boil
1 tsp.	Yeast Nutrient	Last 15 min. of boil
2 tsp.	Gypsum	Last 15 min. of boil
1 oz.	Cascade	Last 15 min. of boil
2 tabs	WhirlFloc	Last 15 min. of boil

I cooled the wort, pitched the yeast into two 6.5 gallon carboys.  Fortunately I got my mash and sparge water volumes correct this time so I cam out with almost exactly 10 gallons of beer post boil.  I took the gravity reading and it turned out pretty close to projected.  I will have to see if there were too many tannins extracted during mashing hopefully this will be drinkable.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.035  


UPDATE 11/18/11:

Fermentation had slowed down significantly by Friday November 18th so I transferred and took a gravity reading.

GRAVITY AT TRANSFER: 1.020
131.25*(1.035-1.020)=1.98

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed at this reading but it has been cold lately and maybe the fermentation is just slow.  Hopefully it will finish out faster in the secondary.



FINAL GRAVITY: 1.020
131.25*(1.035-1.020)=1.98 Weak sauce I hope its at least drinkable probably won't be.  This is weaker than bud light.  I definitely will not be using this recipe again in lieu of a crappy lager wannabe I will try a Kolsh next time.

UNTAPPD

Drinking in your pocket

I recently discovered a fun app for your smartphone that is sure to pique the interest of any beer connoisseur.  This app does what I thought never possible, it makes drinking MORE fun.  Its like a social beer network, beer log and game all in one. Several apps like this exist but I like this one best and my friends have got behind using it so this is the one I'm promoting.

Badges for drinking

UNTAPPD has a pretty simple interface with 5 tabs on the bottom (or top if you are using android) that you can see what your friends are drinking, what is being drank at bars around you, enter a beer, track what you have drank and see if you have any notifications.

When you start the app the "Drink Up" tab opens allowing you to quickly enter what beer you are currently drinking, and uses the phones GPS to locate bars near by that you might be drinking it at.  The "My Tab" allows you to track all the beers you drink as well as where and grants access to the best feature of this app, Badges.
Badges are a great take on an old idea, anyone familiar with the xbox live achievements system knows how this works.  When you drink 1 beer you automatically recieve the Newbie badge which just introduces you to the system.  Other badges can be unlocked by drinking at different venues for instance you can unlock "Bowl-o-Rama" for drinking 5 beers in a bowling alley.  There are too many different badges you can unlock for me to list.  You can track the badges I have unlocked by going to the UNTAPPD website and visiting my page.  I currently only have 4 badges but I got those all in one day so its a decent start.
The "Friends" Tab is pretty self explanatory it allows you to see what your friends are drinking and what badges they have unlocked, so you can compete/trash talk about your drinking prowess over them.
This app is free from the app store for both Android and iOS I would recommend it to anyone (even kids).

They Think I'm Mexican Brown Ale (All Grain)

Origins:

Recently my girlfriend wanted to watch a movie and play a drinking game to it.  No reason other than drinking is fun and we didn't have anything else to do.  So as we started to scan through my movie collection for something to watch we debated what the rules should be.  Previously we had enjoyed a game using the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Those rules had you drink any time of of the following happened:

1. A shot of The Ring in someones hand
2. Anyone presents their weapon in front of their face
3. Sam and Frodo exchange a gay look
4. A shot of the Eye of Sauron

Over three extended edition movies you get pretty drunk playing with these 4 rules.  Since it was already like 8:00 I didn't want to do that one again.  What we came up with was to watch Super Troopers and everytime they said a line that has been quoted in our group of friends, take a drink.  Since this is one of my all time favorite movies and I have seen it at least 100 times we got pretty wasted.

One such quotable scene is in a diner and Arcot Ramathorne (Indian actor Jay Chandrasekhar) walks up to a group of local police officers.  When they notice him he is greeted with an order for Mexican food.  Confused his partner asks about it to which he replies "They think I'm Mexican."

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Northern Brewer hops (7.0% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
• 2 oz Cascade hops (7.9% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
• 2 oz Centennial hops (10.0% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
• 12.00 lbs. Pale Malt (2 row) (2° L, Crushed )
• 1.25 lbs. Crystal Malt (40° L, Crushed )
• 1.25 lbs. Carapils (1.3° L, Crushed )
• 1.00 lbs. Wheat Malt (2° L, Crushed )
• 0.50 lbs Chocolate Malt (350° L, Crushed )
• White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001)
• 1 tab. Whirlfloc
• 1/2 tsp. Wyeast yeast nutrient
• 1 tsp. Gypsum
• 1 Vial White Labs Clairty-Ferm (WLN4000)

Starter Procedure:
I decided to try and and boil the starter wort in a pan this time.  It worked out excellent, no boil-over and started boiling much faster than in the flask.  However, I now had a problem that my flask was not sanitary so I devised a quick solution for that.  I thought "I've got a great idea I'll just heat it up on the stove."  I didnt think this posed a problem since it is borocilicate glass and it can be heated and cooled rapidly without risk of breaking.  I was wrong.
When I heated the glass on the stove everything went splendid.  The glass got really hot killing anything that would risk infecting my beer.  Now I needed to cool it down so that I could pour the wort into it, pitch and begin the starter.  When I placed the flask in the ice bath CRACK! The entire top broke off and the bottom shattered into about 5-6 pieces.  Water is extremely efficient at absorbing heat quickly.  This is why you can boil water in a paper cup. I assume this is also is the case with glass.  I am guessing that since there was no water in the flask it absorbed all of the heat when it was cooled rapidly caused the glass to fracture due to the rapid heat change.  So the moral of the story is don't heat your glassware empty.
I had 1L of wort that didn't have  place to live now.  The only thing I could find on such short notice was a mason jar I quickly sanitized.  Fortunately 1000ml is just a little less than a quart mason jar (940ml=1Qt.)  I left the lid on and unscrewed a little so that air could escape and it would keep most of the bugs out.  Due to the concavity of the jars bottom I was unable to use the stir plate for this starter but it was better than nothing.

Brew Procedure:

I am positive that I did this process incorrectly so I am not going to go into depth about how I did it.  what I did was poured 5 gallons of 155°F water with the grain and let it sit for an hour.  After it mashed for a hour I sparged with 2 1/2 gallons of 170°F water.

Big Brew, Little Brew

Pat also came over to brew his Glutenus Minimus Pale Ale with me so he could get another brew under his belt before diving into homebrewing.  Suddenly the scale my new brewing apparatus became evident to me.

The Mash

Adding Grain

Stirring Mashtun

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Northern Brewer	Entire 60 min. boil
1 oz.	Northern Brewer	Last 15 min. of boil
1 tab	Whirlfloc	Last 15 min. of boil
1/2 tsp.	Yeast Nutrient	Last 15 min. of boil
1 oz.	Cascade	Last 10 min. of boil
1 oz.	Cascade	Flame-out
2 oz.	Centennial	Dry Hop

I cooled the wort, pitched the yeast along with the Clarity-Ferm and put it in one of my new 6 gallon carboys After transfereing the beer to the primary fermenter I realized that there was not enough wort to make 5 gallons of beer.  This was becasue I miscalculated how much water to start off with.  To solve this I filled the carboy up to 5 gallons with water.  This undoubtably lowered my OG but I'll know better next time.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.050  Recipes Projected OG 1.066

I obviously screwed something up because the gravity reading is 16 points below the anticipated gravity. This is probably because I didn't use enough water and had to add water after it had been transferred into the primary fermenter.

UPDATE 8/1/11:

Today I transferred the beer into the secondary fermenter.  I thing I have discovered one of the reasons that the beer turned out with such a low gravity.  I filled the carboy up WAYYYY to high.  I must have made 6 gallons of beer with what should have been 5 gallons.  Since I have not used a 6 gallon carboy as a primary fermenter I kind of got over zealous on filling it. This beer was a learning experience so Ill just chock it up to that. I put some of the excess in a sanitized 2 liter bottle but that was all I had laying around but there was still a lot of beer that was poured down the drain.  I also forgot to take a gravity reading so the final gravity will have to suffice.

Transferring Beer

Dry Hops

UPDATE 8/7/11:

I transferred my brown ale into a keg today.  I was a little disappointed at the low alcohol content but that is find since this was a learning experience.  Pat is supposed to come over today to bottle his beer but I don't know if that is going to happen. He is apparently a rock star and was up all night partying after a gig.

Carboy to Keg with one waiting

Final Gravity: 1.020

131.25*(1.050-1.020)=3.9375

All Grain Brewing System

This weekend I drove to Salem to take a look at an all grain brewing system from craigslist.  When I arrived at the storage center and the guy opened the door I was amazed at what I saw.  The culmination of what looked like a decade of brewing equipment.  What really attracted me to this setup is that it had a 15 gallon capacity which meant that I could brew 15 gallons and use three different yeasts on the same wort.  Producing three very different beers, depending on the yeast strains.
With this all grain setup I can produce higher quality, lower cost beers.  The trade-off is that I will have to surrender an entire day to brewing instead of the usual 4 hours and the chance of the beer coming out ruined is higher.  There is far more things to screw up in all grain brewing as well as smaller margins for error.

The system contained the following items:

• 1 x brewing tower
• 1 x hot liquor tank
• 1 x mash/lautertun with False Bottom
• 1 x kettle with false bottom and stainless heat exchanger for cooling wort
• 1 x large propane tank
• 2 x 5 gallon cornelius kegs
• 1 x 2.5 gallon cornelius keg
• 2 x 6 gallon buckets of 2-row malted barley
• 1 x 18 gallon plastic conical fermenter
• 3 x decent to cheap hydrometers
• 1 x nice hydrometer with internal thermometer
• 1 x 25 lb. CO2 Tank
• 2 x complete (gas side) cornelius keg lines with manifolds (one 3-line and one 4-line)
• 4 x 6 gallon car boys
• 1 x copper cooling coil
• 1 x wort pump
• 1 x grain mill pretty nice one that can be drill operated.
• Lots of little extras: Airlocks, tubes, siphons, spoons, scale, grain bags etc. 

Total Cost: $ 1200.00 

Total Value: Priceless

Total Cliche's used: 1

This is the best picture I have right now but there will be many more to follow during future brew sessions.

Fire Crotch Red

Origins:
Whitney wanted to brew a red for a while now and this weekend seemed like a good enough weekend do such. I have always felt there is a group of people that has been discriminated against and doesn't have a support group. Of course, I am talking about the Gingers. Even child molesters have a legitimate tax exempt group to offer them support; while the lonely ginger has no one to turn to. So it is in their honor, I name this beer Fire Crotch Red. If you have any confusion about what a fire crotch is I have provided a diagram on the right to help explain the situation.

Ingredients:

• 8 lbs Extra-Light Extract
• 4 oz Cascade hops (7.9% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
• Wyeast 1764 Rouge Pacman Yeast
  
• 4 oz. Carastan (30° L, Crushed )
  
• 4 oz. Caramunich (65° L, Crushed )
• 4 oz. Crystal Malt (80° L, Crushed )
• 4 oz. Aromatic (26 ° L, Crushed )
• 4 oz. Melanoidin (30° L, Crushed )
• 2 oz. Carafa II (430 ° L, Crushed )
• 1 tsp. Gypsum
  

Procedure:
After going to MainBrew on Saturday July 9, 2011 to buy ingredients. Since I have a stir plate now I have to buy my ingredients the day before brewing. In the past I ahve always used White Labs Yeast to brew, but while at the brew store I learned Rouge has let Wyeast release their proprietary Pacman yeast. I have have always heard Pacman is an extremely versatile;e and aggressively fermenting yeast, Rouge also uses it exclusively in their beer.

From the Wyeast website:

Wyeast 1764-PC ROGUE Pacman Yeast
Beer Styles: American Pale Ale, American Amber Ale, American Brown Ale, Brown Porter, Cream Ale, Irish Red Ale, Strong Scotch Ale, Dry Stout, American Stout, Russian Imperial Stout, American IPA, Imperial IPA, American Barleywine, Fruit Beer, Spice/Herb/or Vegetable Beer, Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer, Other Smoked Beer, Wood-Aged Beer
Profile: A versatile yeast strain from one of Oregon’s leading craft breweries. Pacman is alcohol tolerant, flocculent, attenuates well and will produce beers with little to no diacetyl. Very mild fruit complements a dry, mineral finish making this a fairly neutral strain. Pacman’s flavor profile and performance makes it a great choice for use in many different beer styles.

Alc. Tolerance 12% ABV
Flocculation med-high
Attenuation 72-78%
Temp. Range 60-72°F (15-22°C)

As you can see Pacman is an appropriate yeast for a variety of styles including a red. I had to try this super yeast for myself.

Starter Procedure:

I learned a few things this time when I made my starter:

1. The first being that when you bring your wort to a boil it is best to introduce heat SLOWLY otherwise boil overs occur and the stove becomes a sticky mess. I am very happy I figured this out on my second attempt cleaning up wort is not fun.
2. The second is if you throw some hops into the the flask after completing the 15 minute boil the oils from the hops keep the krausen from overflowing the Erlenmeyer flask and covering the counter top.
3. Finally instead of cooling the flask in large container like the bowl I used previously I used a much smaller malt bucket that the flask fit in perfectly. Now instead of the ice having to cool the entire volume of water and then the flask, the thermal energy can go mainly to cooling the wort. This resulted in a much faster cooling time and pitching temperature.
   

Other than those three minor changes the process was exactly the same. This resulted in a 1000 ml starter that could be pitched the next day.

Brew Procedure:

I poured the specialty grains into a grain bag and and steeped them at 190°F for 15 minutes. I got a new thermometer and checked the temperature against the one I have been using and it was off. The grains were already steeping at 190°F so lets hope it wasn't too hot. After sparing I turned the heat back on and started the boil with an ounce of Cascade. After many late boil hop additions it was time to cool and pitch.

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Cascade	Entire 60 min. boil
1 oz.	Cascade	Last 15 min. of boil
1 oz.	Whirlfloc	Last 15 min. of boil
1 tab	Cascade	Last 10 min. of boil
1 oz.	Cascade	Last 2 min. of boil

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.054 @ 90°F Adjusted SG for Temperature 1.058
Since I took the gravity as such a hot temperature I had to adjust for that. Specific gravity is closely tied to temperature and when too far from 60°F. This gravity reading is much higher than usual when i use 8 lbs of extract I believe this was due to steeping the grains for 15 minutes and then sparging the sugars off the grains and into the pot to be boiled.

UPDATE 7/17/11:

Transferred beer today I took a gravity reading but I forgot to write it down so I'll have to settle for the final gravity reading to determine alcohol content.


UPDATE 7/22/11:  Final Gravity 1.020
I have decied to stop determining what the Alcohol by Weight is.  Nobody gives a crap what that is so instead of multiplying by 105 to get weight and then by1.25 to get volume.  I am just going to multiply by 131.25 to get the ABV.

131.25*(1.058-1.020)=4.9875% ~5%

Rapist's Wit Re-brew

Origins:
The Rapist's Wit was the first beer featured on this website way back in 2010. I decided that I needed to give this another brew.

Ingredients:

• 8 lbs Wheat Extract
• 2 oz Mt. Hood hops (4.6% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
• White Labs Belgian Wit Ale Yeast (WLP400)
• 1 lb. Flaked Wheat
• 1 tsp crushed coriander
• Zests of 2 large oranges
• 1 tsp. gypsum

Procedure:
On June 19th, Fathers Day, I decided I needed to brew a some beer because my kegerator is getting empty. Since I have brewed this beer before I wanted to try something different a add an extra pound of extract and bump the alcohol level up a few points. Also since I had just completed my stir plate so I wanted to try it out.

Stir Plate / Starter Procedure:

The first step in creating a starter is to mix a cup of dried malt extract (DME) with 1000 ml of water in a 2000 ml Erlenmeyer flask. To sanitize the stir rod drop it in the flask and begin to boil the wort. After boiling for 10 minutes (I didn't know how long to boil so I figured 10 minutes should be enough) I removed the flask from the stove covered the top with foil and placed in a salted ice bath. Salt is added to lower the freezing point of water therefore the water can be colder than 0°C.


After the ice bath had cooled enough to be cold to the touch I put the flask on the stir plate. I had to cool it to colder than I probably needed because I broke my thermometer during the last brew. After I made sure that the stir plate was going to be OK, I left it there and did something else.

The following day I came down stairs to see YEAST-AGEDDON!! The yeast growth had reached epic proportions. Due the the stir plate making the yeast propagate much faster it overflowed the top and went all over the counter, stir plate and everything. This was not ideal but there was enough yeast in the flask to make a proper starter.

Brew Procedure:

I poured the flaked wheat into a grain bag and and steeped them at 170°F for 15 minutes. I haven't steeped grains like this before, I have kind of just soaked until the water reached 170°F then removed. I don't know why I haven't done this before this is closer to all grain brewing because the grains have time to extract the sugars in the malt (Flaked wheat is not malted but I thought I should get in the habit).

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Mt. Hood Hops	Entire 60 min. Boil
1 Tblsp.	Crushed Coriander	Last 20 min. of boil
1/2 oz.	Mt. Hood Hops	Last 15 min. of boil
2 (Large)	Oranges Zests	Last 10 min. of boil
1/2 oz.	Mt. Hood Hops	Last 5 min. of boil

After the boil finished I cooled the wort took a gravity reading and pitched the yeast. I poured the entire 1000 ml flask into the fermenter. Since WLP400 is an not a flocculent yeast it would take several days for the yeast to settle enough to decant.
INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.044

UPDATE 6/25/11:
The wit has been sitting for about a week and the fermentation has slowed down to a bubble ever few minutes. While packing for a trip to Alaska I remembered that I needed to transfer or the beer would be sitting on the dead yeast for another week. In a scramble (Not Ideal) I quickly sterilized all components for the beer took a gravity reading and transferred to secondary.
Gravity at Transfer: 1.012
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.044-1.012)=3.36
• ABV=1.25*3.36=4.42%

UPDATE 7/4/11:I returned from Alaska and kegged the gravity had not changed so final ABV was 4.42 ill wait 48 hours while the beer is on 30PSI and drink it.

Alternitive brewing styles

There are many different theories on brewing the best beer and this comes through in the different brewery styles. This instructional video is no different I believe when I put my all grain brewing system together this is how I will do it.

DIY Stir Plate for 4$

Project:
OK so the 4$ may be an under estimate since I had most of this stuff lying around my house but for most Do-it-yourselfers they should have most of these things. My goal with this project was to build a stir plate out of crap I had lying around the house and with the exception of the potentiometer I did. If I had more than a $4 budget I would have done a lot of things differently. This is possibly the most white trash stir plate you are likely to find on the internet. If you find one please post it in the comments.

Step 1: Disassemble hard drive and retrieve rare earth magnet.

I had an old 120 GB hard drive lying around from an old computer I wasnt using so it got sacrificed for the stir plate. Take out basically every screw you can find on this the only thing your are trying to save is the rare earth magnets. Everything else is expendable and useless after taking apart the drive.

Once you have removed the magnet backing seen above take two pairs of pliers and bend the backing so that the magnet can be removed. There will be a thing layer of glue holding the magnet in place which is easily broken once the metal backing is bent. There will be one magnet on the top of the hard drive arm and one on the bottom, remove both.

Step 2: Wiring and construction
Now that all of that is completed here comes the fun part. You can really build this out of anything you want as long as the material between the fan/magnet and the surface is not metal. I used an old CD case spindle becasue it is round and a 2000 ml Erlenmeyer flask sits nicely on top.
Some double stick foam tape work great for attaching the magnet to the top of the fan and the fan to the base of the CD spindle I only had a 12 V power supply lying around so I used some resistors on the power line to lower the voltage. If you can find a 6 V supply these probably wont be necessary but I wouldn't go any lower than 6 V since these fans are meant to run on 12V. But what do I know I just threw resistors on until it seemed slow enough.
Once the fan is assembled to the base I cut a hole for the potentiometer on the top clear part and attached it. One small cut in the base of the clear top for the power cord and its ready to be assembled. The final project was actually pretty nice and self contained. The only problem I had was the top was clear so I could see all of the crappy wiring and tape holding everything together. Although it was clear so the SUPER COOL BLUE LED (vommit) fan got to show off with the clear case. The fan lights are actually pretty useful in case I can't find a flash light and need to see something poorly lit up within the 3 feet that the cord allows. Overall the stir plate works great for what it is and how much it cost. No, it doesn't create a gigantic vortex to the bottom of the flask but it will create a small one about 1-inch deep. Which is enough to stir the yeast and keep them healthy which is all I care about.

Summary:
So the final cost of this project was 4$ for the 25-ohm potentiometer at Radio Shack. The goal of creating a functional stir plate for the least amount of money possible was achieved. Later I will probably build a better one but this was a quick 2-3 hour project to get me started. There was an additional cost of the stir bar of of ebay but I needed to buy that because I am not comfortable making something that is supposed to remain sanitized. The flask I had bought earlier becasue I was going to do starters but never got around to it. Now that I have my stir plate I will start.

Glutenus Minimus Pale Ale

Origin:

In a follow up to my Celiacs Wheat Dream my gluten intolerant co worker wanted to try a new enzyme I had read about. This enzyme according to Charlie Papazian had gluten reduction properties and can make your beer drinkable for the gluten impaired people in your life. Since the doesn't completely eliminate the gluten from beer it just minimizes it we are going with Glutenus Minimus. Which someone has already used for a beer but I came up with it not knowing that.

Ingredients:

• 6.0 lbs Light Malt Extract
• 2.0 oz. Cascade (7.0% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
• White Labs British Ale Yeast (WLP005)
• 1.0 lb. Carapils (1.3°L, Crushed)

Procedure:
On Friday May 20th during lunch, Pat and I drove to Brew Brothers and purchased ingredients for the beer. The brew process was pretty standard other than I added a teaspoon of gypsum to the water to lower the pH and after the boil had completed and the yeast was pitched I added a vial of Clarex. If you would like to read more about Clarex (or Clarity-Ferm) check out this link from the manufacturer. Clarex is not recognized by the FDA as a reducer of gluten so it is only approved for use as a clarifier to reduce chill haze. But, according to empirical evidence found on multiple sites and anecdotal evidence from employees of both brew supply stores it looks like it works. There was a small SNAFU during the brew process the thermometer broke in the kettle. So... I am going to claim ignorance and hope that the metal beads in the bottom of the thermometer were steel and not lead. After I discovered the broken thermometer I quickly stopped the boil and transfered the wort into a bucket standing by. At the bottom there was about 30 metal beads, after removing the beads I rinsed the kettle out and poured the wort back in and continued the 60 min boil. So fingers crossed I won't be getting lead poisoning.

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Cascade	Entire 60 min. Boil
1/2 oz.	Cascade	Last 30 min. of boil
1/4 oz.	Cascade	Last 5 min. of boil
1/4 oz.	Cascade	At flame out

After the boil finished I cooled the wort took a gravity reading and pitched the yeast.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.042


UPDATE 5/25/11 : Pat wanted me to post a picture of the beer fermenting in the primary so here it is. As you can see the layer of trub on the bottom which is yeast and grain that was suspended in the wort during the boil. In a few days I will transfer to the secondary where the yeast will start to ferment the last remaining sugars before it is ready to be bottled. Since Pat is a brewing n00b he doesn't have a kegging system yet, we will be bottling.


UPDATE 5/27/11:
1.014 at transfer still a lot of suspended solids in the beer when I transferred. I don't know if this is becasue of the clari-ferm enzyme of some other reason. The recipe was pretty simple but after a couple of days a great deal of sediment has accumulated at the bottom of the secondary fermenter. Perhaps I transferred to secondary too soon. Interestingly this has the exact same gravity at transfer as the Ceiliacs Wheat Dream I brewed last.

Gravity at Transfer: 1.014
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.042-1.014)=2.94
• ABV=1.25*2.94=3.68%

UPDATE 6/7/11:
Today I finally got around to bottling the beer for Pat. I was holding off becasue I wanted him to see the process (Read: I didn't want to do it by myself). The picture to the left is transering from the secondary to a bucket. After this third transfer I took the final gravity measurement and added a cup of corn sugar. The sugar was first dissolved in boiling water then cooled. Using a siphon and a bottle filler the bottles were filled and then capped. The beer was extremely clear and tasted like a good mellow pale ale. I believe the clarity was caused by the combination of the Irish Moss and the Clarity-Ferm. I hope Pat enjoys his delicious beer. The big pay off on this is if he gets into home brewing if the gluten reduction was successful. You can never have enough brew buddies.

Final Gravity: 1.012
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.042-1.012)=3.15
• ABV=1.25*3.15=3.94%

Matches the Drapes Blonde

Origin:
My girlfriend Whitney wanted to brew her first beer. So we chose something simple that I knew was going to come out good. A light summer blonde ale. Since Whitney is a natural blonde she liked the name Matches the Drapes Blonde.

Ingredients:

• 7 lbs ExtraLite Malt Extract
• 2.0 oz. Cascade (7.9% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
  
• White Labs Dry English Ale Yeast (WLP007)
  
• 12 oz. Carahell (10°L, Crushed)
  

Procedure:

On Good Friday, April 22, 2011 I had work off so... brew day. My girlfriend wanted to learn how to brew so I decided to let her brew. She wanted to brew a nice summer ale. So we went to main brew and bought ingredients. While the the grains steeped she zested 2 lemons, and split up the hops.
The brew started off like any other by steeping the grains in a bag while the water came up to temperature. Once the water began boiling we added the liquid malt extract and waited for the boil to begin again. After boiling had resumed Whitney added hops according to the hops schedule. Lemon zests, Irish moss and hops were all added during the last 15 minutes of the boil. A final addition at 5 minutes and the boil was done. After cooling with an immersion chiller the beer was transferred the initial gravity was taken and the yeast was pitched. Into the brewing closet the bucket went.

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Cascade	Entire 60 min. boil
1/2 oz.	Cascade	Last 15 min. of boil
2 qty.	Lemon Zests	Last 15 min. of boil
1/2 oz.	Cascade	Last 5 min. of boil

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.048

UPDATE: 4/30/11
I transferred from primary to the secondary today. Nothing special just an update. It's looking like it needs a while longer to attenuate. After I transferred to the secondary fermentation resumed immediately with a fury. It was bubbling every couple seconds once in the carboy.

Gravity at Transfer: 1.014
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.048-1.014)=3.57
• ABV=1.25*3.57=4.46%

UPDATE: 5/13/11
I transferred the blonde to a keg a few days ago. Unfortunately Blogger (that I host my site on) went down and I lost my original post so I had to rewrite it. The blonde turned out great very smooth and mellow. Slight citrus aftertaste. Great beer for a hot day.

Final Gravity: 1.012

• ABW=105*(1.048-1.012)=3.78
• ABV=1.25*3.57=4.725%

Celiac's Wheat Dream

Origin:
Wheat contains a great deal of gluten and celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in the small intestine that makes people react adversely to gluten. Basically to someone with celiac disease beer is pretty bad for you. However wheat beer is especially bad for you because of the much higher gluten content. Also my friend co-worker pat is either celiac or gluten intolerant so its just a poke with stick at his misfortune. Other peoples tears are my comic lubricant. That is why this beer that a celiac can't have is called Celiac's Dream Wheat
UPDATE 2/2/11: My girlfriend came up with a better name for this beer. Wheat Dream makes makes it sound like a "Wet Dream" , which is funnier. I should be getting ready to keg this beer pretty soon. So from now on it will be Celiac's Wheat Dream.
Ingredients:

• 7 lbs Wheat Malt Extract
• 2.0 oz. Cascade (8.6% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
• White Labs Pacific Ale Yeast (WLP041)
• 6 oz. German Vienna (4°L, Crushed)
• 6 oz. Crystal (10°L, Crushed)

Procedure:
On Saturday January 15th I went to the brew store with my Dad who was down from Alaska visiting with the rest of my family. Main brew was closed so I went to Brew Brothers and purchased ingredients for the beer. Upon returning we realized that I had to take my brother and his girlfriend to the airport so I had to wait until Sunday to brew. Sunday after a couple trips to Lowe's for misc. house repair items my dad and I started brewing.
Overall this was a pretty uneventful beer, nothing unusual. I decided to brew this so my dad could see the fundamentals of brewing The hop schedule shown below is pretty standard:
Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Cascade	Entire 60 min. Boil
1/2 oz.	Cascade	Last 15 min. of boil
1/2 oz.	Cascade	Last 5 min. of boil

After the boil finished I cooled the wort took a gravity reading and pitched the yeast.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.050


UPDATE: 1/28/11I transfered from primary to the secondary today. Nothing special just an update. It's looking like it needs a while longer to attenuate. Hoping for a higher ABV.

Gravity at Transfer: 1.022
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.050-1.022)=2.94
• ABV=1.25*2.94=3.68%

UPDATE: 2/13/11I kegged the Celiac's Wheat Dream today after a very long secondary fermentation. Something was off about this batch. I don't know if I achieved full attenuation but I tasted and there was no sweet flavors of un-fermented sugars. With 7 lbs of malt extract I would have thought a higher ABV but I am happy with the beer. 48 hours on the CO2 and it should be ready to drink.
I couple things that I did notice was it was extremely bubbley when I dropped the hydrometer into the theif there was higher than normal amount of bubbles attached to the hydrometer when took a reading. To remedy this you spin the hydrometer and the bubbles come right off.
The second thing was that when I transferred it from primary to secondary the rate of fermentation was pretty constant and very slow between 45 seconds shortly after starting to about a minute when I transferred. It might have been a stuck fermentation but I don't know how to test that hypothesis. The weather has been colder than normal and that may have contributed to it. I usually keep it covered with 2 towels to keeping it at a stable temperature thorough out the day. My next major home brewing project will most likely be some type of fermentation temperature controller.
Final Gravity: 1.020
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.050-1.020)=3.15
• ABV=1.25*3.15=3.94%

Rihanna Double Black Eye-PA

Origin:
This tactful name was brought about by this. While I in no way condone domestic violence I am a sucker for word play. I have been wanting to try a beer with citra hops for a while now but havent had a chance. Citra is a proprietary hops developed by Sierra Nevada named for its very strong citrus aroma and flavor. It is a cross between Hallertau, Mittelfreuh, U.S. Tettnanger, Bavarian, Brewers Gold and E.K. Golding. A very complex but wonderful hop. This is used in such popular beers as Sierra Nevada's "Torpedo Extra IPA" and Widmer's "Sunburn" summer seasonal. Citra is very high (22%-24%) cohumulone which is sometimes described as the "Good" bitterness in beer.
Ingredients:

• 10 lbs Light/Pale Malt Extract
• 4.0 oz. Citra (13.4% alpha-acid, whole leaf) Note: Higher than most strands (10-%12%) but should be fine.
• White Labs Dry English Ale Yeast (WLP007)
• 5 oz. English Crystal Malt (50°L, Crushed)
• 3 oz. Crystal (120°L, Crushed)
• 6 oz. Carafa II (550°L, Crushed)
• 2 oz. Roasted Barley (300°L, Crushed)

Procedure:
On Friday December 31st I worked half a day so I decided to take a couple co-workers (Ones Blag) and teach them how to brew. This was more complicated than I originally anticipated. Since Brew Brothers is very close to my work I decided to go there. However when I reached their location they had moved. Only a short distance but enough that I had call and find their new store. When I got there the guy that usually works wasn't available. This was not ideal since I was hoping he would help me put together my recipe. After that unfortunate turn of events I went to my normal store Main Street Homebrew Supply Co they also had moved recently. I voyaged to their new store. The new store was much nicer and 4 times as big, a huge improvement, much more space.
Following a standard brewing process I began brewing. Nothing eventful with this batch except narrowly avoiding a boil over and like a true dumb-ass I forgot to add the Irish moss again. Following this hop schedule I dumped the leafy goodness into the boiling cauldron (I have decided its a cauldron now not a brew pot.)
Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled for
1 oz.	Citra	Entire 60 min. Boil
1 oz.	Citra	Last 20 min. of boil
1 oz.	Citra	Last 10 min. of boil
1/2 oz.	Citra	Last 1 min. of boil
1/2 oz.	Citra	Dry Hopped

After the boil was completed I cooled with the wort took a gravity reading and pitched the yeast.
The smell of this batch is like nothing i have experienced before pure hoppy goodness. I have done a couple IPA's in the past but nothing that has been the truly carnal hop experience that my nasal passages knew with this IPA. Sorry I didn't take any pictures but I mean if you are really hurting for some pics look at any of my other posts and imagine that they were from this batch.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.060


UPDATE: Tuesday 1/11/2011:I transferred the beer to the secondary fermenter today when I put my head into the primary and took a big whiff I was mortified by what I smelled. I don't know what has happened or if it is a property of the Citra hops but my nostrils were burning intensely. The pain that I felt was immediate and agonizing. It was similar to when a friend of mine had made apple cider and it had turned into vinegar. When I tasted it however the burning vinegar taste was not present. Relieved I transferred to the secondary and placed in the brew closet.
Overall it tasted pretty good however it was missing a lot of alcohol taste and the hoppiness I was hoping for. This may be cause because I transferred too early but I hope it will get more hoppy and the ABV will jump up too. .
Gravity at Transfer: 1.030
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.060-1.030)=3.15
• ABV=1.25*3.15=3.94%

Somehow my double IPA has become a half IPA. I am hoping that it is because the fermentation is not fully completed but this low of an alcohol content is troubling for an alleged double. I did start with a much lower starting gravity than I would have liked also so that may have contributed to it.

UPDATE Friday 1/21/2011:

The carboy has stopped bubbeling and I transfered it to the keg and took a reading. Dissapointingly, but not unexpectedly, this has turned into a standard black Eye-PA unfortunately something happened and the OG was not high enough. I don't know what caused this phenomenon. Perhaps it is because I didn't get every drop of the sticky malt extract out of the bucket. It was very cold that day and after adding the extract there was a lot at the bottom left. Only after I had finished the boil and placed it in the fermentation bucket did I realize this though.
I did taste the beer and was very happy with the flavor though. The citrus notes did not come through as thick as I was anticipating. I believe this is because of the dark malts that were added to give the beer its dark color also gave it a roasted flavor, overpowering the Citra. I am very pleased with how the beer turned out and cant wait to drink it on Sunday when it has completed carbonating.

Gravity at Kegging: 1.022
Current Alcohol:

• ABW=105*(1.060-1.022)=3.99
• ABV=1.25*3.99=4.99%