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%