Monday, October 1, 2012

Whatchagot IPA

Origins:
    I have had several bags of homegrown hops in my freezer for about a year and I needed to brew with them before they went bad.  Since this was a short notice brew I grabbed them all and decided to clean house.  What better beer to dispense a great deal of hops than an IPA and so I am calling this creation Whatchagot IPA.

Recipe Specifications:
  • Batch Size: 10.00 gal
  • Boil Size: 13 gal
  • Predicted OG: 1.055 SG
  • Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
  • 20.0 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
  • 1.00 lb Crystal-80 Malt 
  • 1.50 lb Crystal-40 Malt
  • 0.75 lb Munich Malt
Total Grain Weight: 23.25 lb
  • 3.5 oz Nugget, US [~14%] Hops
  • 2.0 oz Northern Brewer [9%] Hops
  • 2.0 oz Simcoe (Dry hop)
  • Fermentis Safale US-05
Starter Procedure:
I didn't have a chance to do a starter since my dad and I decided we were going to brew the day before and the brew store was closed.

Brew Procedure:
      On Sunday August 30th 2012, my dad came into town and wanted to brew some beer to experience the excitement of all-grain brewing. Our trip to the brew store started off poorly, I drove to Brew Brothers and found out they didn't open until Noon on Sunday.  After calling Mainbrew I found out they were open and headed to buy my ingredients. Once at the store and realized since I didn't make a starter and to achieve close to my desired pitching rate I would have to buy 4 vials of Whitelabs which would end up costing a small fortune.  I decided to opt for packages of dry yeast since I was not looking for any distinctive flavor from the yeast.
I started off by heating 7.73 gallons of water:
                    23.25 lbs grain x 1.33 qt/lb = 30.92 qt. x 1/4 gallon/qt = 7.73 gallons
I heated the water up to 170 °F and had my dad slowly pour the grain in as I stirred.  This is usually a one man operation and is incredibly awkward.  However, with the help of another person it went much smoother and mixing was easier causing almost no dough balls. The addition of the grain dropped the temperature down to 165°F.  I placed the jacket around the kettle and let it sit for an hour.  I quickly realized I had left the burner on a tiny bit when the jacket started melting around the pot.  By the time turned the burner off it was too late and it had been melted in the four corners of the burner.  The jacket is damaged but it will still be better than nothing.
     After the hour mash I lautered into the kettle and began the boil.  I used the following hop schedule:

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

QuantityIngredientBoiled For
2.50 ozNuggetEntire 60 Min. boil
1.50 oz.NuggetLast 30 min of boil 
2.00 oz.Northern BrewerLast 15 min of boil 

     I haven't brewed in a while so I forgot to add all the kettle additions (i.e. Whirlfloc, Gypsum, Yeast Nutrient).  I was pretty pissed about this.  I cooled the wort and poured it into two 6.5 gallon carboys.  I let one carboy fill for too long before switching to the next one, so the distribution of wort was not equal. Pitching with the dry yeast was a new experience, it felt weird not having the smell of partially fermented wort and yeast fill the air.  I oxygenated the wort with an oxygen stone for 30 seconds in each carboy and then put the air lock on.
     Once the fermentation is completed and I have transferred to the secondary I will add the dry hop Simcoe.  Typically, I add the dry hops to the primary when I pitch the yeast.  I have read this is not the best idea because the yeast cover the hops making the oil extraction not as efficient.  There is also some theories that say the hop oils can retard the fermentation process.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.058

UPDATE 10/6/12: Transferred from primary to secondary and added dry hops.  I tasted it and it definitely did not taste like there was 7 oz of hops in that boil.  I was afraid of this because I waited so long to use the hops that they must have lost a great deal of their potency.  I dry hopped with 2 oz. of Simcoe and placed back in the fermentation closet.  I was drinking a BRRR at the time which is pretty hoppy but I don't think it would have offset the hops in the beer that much.  Hopefully the Simcoe will add some pleasant aromatics to the beer.


Gravity at Transfer: 1.026
131.25*(1.058-1.026)=4.2% ABV


UPDATE 10/18/12: Kegged the brew today and it was pretty good the dry hops really did wonders to this beer.  The Simcoe aroma came out really nice in this beer.  It will be really exciting to try this beer.

Gravity at Kegging: 1.023
131.25*(1.058-1.023)=5.0% ABV

Saturday, June 16, 2012

White Labs Tasting Room

     White Labs has done something that I have always been interested in.  Yesterday, they opened a yeast differentiated tasting room.  After brewing several batches of the same beer and then pitch a different yeast into each one allowing you to differentiate what a specific strain of yeast will do to a beer.  They might have 10 pale ales each with a different yeast pitched and you can taste them all.  There is a total of 35 different taps/beers on site.
     Chris White (of White Labs) and Jamil Zainasheffs book YEAST: The pracitcal side to beer fermentation  is a great book on the subject of yeast and depending on which strain you choose to pitch and dramatically affect the final product.  You can see a live list of what is on tap at their website.
   I have wanted to do this type of experiment for a long time.  My method would most likely be a little different though.  I would most likely brew a single 10 gallon batch and then split it into four, three gallon carboys each with a different yeast strain.  Since I neither have the glassware for this or the space this will probably not be an endeavour that I undertake anytime soon.
     I may split a batch into two different five gallon carboys in the future just to differentiate between two strains.  I really like the California Ale (WLP 001) and have been using the San Diego Super Yeast (WLP 090) recently because it is supposed to be similar just rapid fermenting.  I may decide to split a batch with those two strains just to see what would happen.  This being a low risk, low overhead proposition it seems right up my alley.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

They Think I'm Mexican Brown Ale (Rebrew)


Origins:
See previous brew post.

Ingredients:
  • 4 oz Northern Brewer hops (11.4% alpha-acid, whole leaf, GR)
  • 4 oz Cascade hops (7.0% alpha-acid, whole leaf, US)
  • 4 oz Centennial hops (11.6% alpha-acid, whole leaf, US)
  • 23.00 lbs. GW NW Pale Malt (2 row) (2° L, Crushed )
  • 2.50 lbs. GW Crystal Malt (40° L, Crushed )
  • 2.50 lbs. Briess Carapils (1.3° L, Crushed )
  • 2.00 lbs. GW Wheat Malt (2° L, Crushed )
  • 1.25 lbs Briess Chocolate Malt (350° L, Crushed )
  • White Labs San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090)
  • 2 tab. Whirlfloc
  • 1 tsp. Wyeast yeast nutrient
  • 2 tsp. Gypsum (Sparge Water)
Recipie Notes:
From memory I thought that this recipe was a little lighter than I wanted so I added .25 lbs (After doubling the entire recipe.)  The Northern Brewer hops were much higher alpha acid that on my previous batch I could have accounted for that but its not that important to me that if it has MORE hop flavor.  I also removed a pound of Pale Malt because I was afraid that with 31.25 lbs of grain I may overflow my mash tun.  This didn't happen, but it was only about three inches from the top.  I added the Gypsum to the sparge water instead of the boil this time because I read that was a method of doing it.  I really have no reason to do that but I wanted to try it.

Starter Procedure:
On Friday May 25th I got out of work a little early since we had a really good month, I came home and made my starter adding 100g light DME to 1000ml of water in a Erlenmeyer flask.  After applying to the stove-top I threw in a stirbar and 2 drops of Fermcap-S.  Starter finished without incident and I placed the Flask on my stir plate overnight.
Disaster Strikes

Brew Procedure:
This brew I was a little more fammiliar with the all-grain brewing process so I could correctly complete the brew.   I heated 43 quarts of water up to 170 F and poured in the grain.   Letting this mash for 45 minutes I returned to see the temperature had not dropped as much as I wanted to get into the lower end of the mashing temperature.  So I uncovered the mashtun and removed the jacket allowing to to mash for another minutes and cool off a little.  I sparged with 5 gallons of 170F water into the kettle. There was some extremely frothy foam on the top of the kettle.  I hoped it would die down before the wort started to boil.  I was wrong.  Just as the kettle came to a full rolling boil I realized that this was not going to die down.  I quickly ran to my shelf and grabbed the vial of Fermcap-S but it was too late.  The boil-over happened leaving the burning smell of defeat in the air for long after the boil-over had subsided.  Mistyping my recipe I added 4 oz of Northern Brewer to the beginning of the boil and about 3 minutes in I realized my mistake.  I ran to the house and grabbed a strainer and pulled what I thought to be about 2 oz. of hops out for addition in another 42 minutes.

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:
Massive amount of Hops

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

HOP CAKE!
Post Boil:
After the boil I cooled the wort and put it into 2 x 6 gallon carboys with 2 oz. of Centennial Hops in each one.  After I pitched the yeast I aerated the wort with an oxygen stone for 15 seconds each and inserted an airlock.  I have 20 gallons of beer fermenting in my closet, it's a pretty good feeling.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.070  Recipes Projected OG 1.080

UPDATE 6/9/13:
Gravity at Transfer: 1.023
131.25*(1.070-1.023)=6.169% ABV

Today I kegged the blond ale and transferred the brown ale to secondary.  This process was done in a whirlwind of siphons, carboys, and hydrometers.  The first thing I did was fill 2 kegs with starsan so they could clean while I moved the beer onto the counter. After placing the 4 carboys on the counter (right) I began transferring the blonde into a keg.  Once this was completed I closed up the keg and purged the air. After staring the siphon on the second carboy I went and cleaned the first while it siphoned into the second keg.  I sanitized another siphon and transferred the brown ale into the carboy I just finished cleaning.  By this time the second 5 gallon carboy had finished draining so I closed that keg up and cleaned it while the brown transferred from the second carboy.  I think you can see where this is going... One issue that I did run into while transferring the second carboy of brown is the siphon kept clogging with hops and since the only place that could release the vacuum was the seal around the siphon it entrapped some air into the line at the bottom of the siphon.  I don't think this was enough to ruin the beer but it is something to note.  I took the siphon out and removed the hops from the end and restarted the siphon.  I had to do this a couple times but other than that it went smoothly.  I tasted the brown ale and I am really excited to drink this beer.  So much hop aroma and flavor while not being overly bitter.  Another week or so in the secondary then I can keg and drink it.



UPDATE 6/23/13:
Transferred the beer to a keg today and crap, this is good beer.  I am extremely pleased with how the beer came out.  This was my first all grain batch I did and this time it turned out even better.  Two days on 30PSI and it should be ready to drink.  The hops are extremely present all the way through the drink from smell to swallow.  Having more character than a traditional IPA because of the roasted malts.  I am glad I added the extra chocolate malt because it did give it a little more color and a bit more toasty flavor that I was looking for.

Gravity at Transfer: 1.022
131.25*(1.070-1.022)=6.3% ABV


Monday, May 14, 2012

Hot Blonde Ale

Origins:
It is really hot in my office as I am typing this and I just want to go downstairs so I am going to phone this one in.  It was also very hot the day I brewed. There just thought of a half assed name.  I was just going to call it unnamed blonde.  The post title is actually titled that now.  Instead I'll go with a little less crappy beer name and call this Hot Blonde Ale.
  I also forgot to take pictures (or space fillers as I call them) so this post may appear to be a little short.

Recipe Specifications:
  • Batch Size: 10.00 gal
  • Boil Size: 13 gal
  • Predicted OG: 1.055 SG
  • Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
  • 7.7 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
  • 7.7 lb Pilsner Malt 
  • 2.00 lb Flaked Corn
  • 2.00 lb Corn Sugar
Total Grain Weight: 19.4 lb
  • 2 oz Willamette, US [6.5%] (60 min) Hops
  • WLP 090 San Diego Super Yeast
Starter Procedure:

Saturday May 12, 2012 I made my starter. I believe I have finally achieved my perfect starter procedure.  I added the DME to the flask after the water started to heat.  This way the steam did not make the DME clump together and stick to the side of the flask.  After that shake the flask up a little add the stir bar and a couple drops of Fermcap-S and place on the stove-top.  This is the most pain free starter I've done yet.  The typical 1.040 starter itself consisted of the following:
  • 100 g DME
  • 1/4 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient
  • 2 Drop Fermcap-S Foam Inhibitor
  • 1000 ml Water
Brew Procedure:
      On Sunday May 13th 2011, I decided to brew. For my birthday I received a software package called BeerSmith2.  Instead of using my typical formula I decided to put my faith in this brewing program to do all of my calculations for me.
     Beersmith suggested I use 25.75 qt of water which seemed high after doing the back calculation I was what I would have used too:
                            19.4 lbs grain x 1.33 qt/lb = 25.75 qt. x 1/4 gallon/qt = 25.75
    Beersmith calculated that based on the grain temperature which i used the ambient temperature in my house. That the mash water needed to be 166.3F to get to a mashing temperature of 156F.
     I have read several studies that claim that with such highly modified grains that are available now an hour mash is no longer necessarily.  All starch conversion can happen in a relatively short amount of time.  I decided not to go with a 20 min. mash that some brewers have suggested but lower it by 15 minutes to 45.  After mashing I transferred to the kettle and completed the brew using the following schedule:

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

QuantityIngredientBoiled For
1.0 ozWillametteEntire 60 Min. boil
1.0 oz.WillametteLast 30 min of boil 
1 tsp.Yeast NutrientLast 10 min of boil 
1 tsp. GypsumLast 10 min of boil

I cooled the wort and pitched the yeast into two 6.5 gallon carboys. Not as much boiled off as I was expecting so there was roughly 11 gallons left after the boil that was transferred into the carboys.  I oxygenated the wort with my oxygen stone for 30 seconds in each carboy and then put the air lock on.

Additional Comments:
    The brew day was very successful.   I hit all my temperatures and nothing went wrong.  My OG was a little low but I believe it was because of volumetric miscalculation of the boil off, not efficiency.  I was also pleased that it only took 4 hours for this session down from 5 for my last brewing experience.  All grain brewing is becoming as familiar as extract is.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.048

UPDATE 5/26/13: Transferred to secondary looks and tastes pretty good.  I took a gravity measurement but it did not seem right I will take another one at kegging.

UPDATE 6/9/13:
Gravity at Kegging: 1.006
131.25*(1.048-1.006)=5.5125%

So much siphoning to do
Today I kegged the blond ale and transferred the brown ale to secondary.  This process was done in a whirlwind of siphons, carboys, and hydrometers.  The first thing I did was fill 2 kegs with starsan so they could clean while I moved the beer onto the counter. After placing the 4 carboys on the counter (right) I began transferring the blonde into a keg.  Once this was completed I closed up the keg and purged the air. After staring the siphon on the second carboy I went and cleaned the first while it siphoned into the second keg.
I sanitized another siphon and transferred the brown ale into the carboy I just finished cleaning.  By this time the second 5 gallon carboy had finished draining so I closed that keg up and cleaned it while the brown transferred from the second carboy.  I think you can see where this is going...   I tasted the beer and it seems to have been a success the first thing I thought was Pabst Blue Ribbon.  Which was kind of what I was shooting for.  Pretty clean tasting but may have a bit of an unwanted ester flavor I couldn't be sure because I didn't have much to sample.


UPDATE 6/11/13:
I tasted the kegged beer and it tastes exactly like Pabst Blue Ribbon.... If Pabst had lots of estery flavors, a bunch of extra sweetness and had been under-hopped .  Its not bad and it is definitely drinkable just not as crisp as I was hoping. Maybe if I let it sit for another couple days it will clear up some.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Buffalo Theory Brewing Hop Farm

     Last year I decided to start growing hops, but based on everything I have read hops usually do not produce very much the first year.  In my case this was correct.  I planted my four rhizomes in pots because I was not ready to decide where they would be permanently located.  This year I finally planted them against the north wall of my back yard.  This way the plants would have southern exposure to the sun.
     When deciding the order of my plants I thought about alphabetical, how much I liked the hop, grouped by aroma,  but in the end I decided to sort by low to high alpha acid.   The Rhizomes I chose and order they are planted in is as follows 1:
Hop Trellis
  1. Fuggles 3.5% - 6% AA  - Mild, soft, grassy, floral aroma
  2. Cascade 4.5% - 8% AA  - Strong spicy , floral, citrus (i.e grapefruit) aroma
  3. Willamette 4% - 7% AA  -  Mild, spicy, grassy, floral aroma.
  4. Centennial 9% - 11% AA - Floral, Citrus Aroma, Often referred to as "Super Cascade" because of its similarity; a clean bittering hop
  5. Nugget - 12% - 14% AA - Heavy spicy herbal aroma, Strong bittering hop
I originally had a bad source of information for Willamette so I thought it had a higher alpha acid.  Therefore it is out of order with respect to Cascade. It doesn't really matter that much since they are so close anyway.
    I added an irrigation system so that the plants could be watered all at the same time.  This was simply a drip hose system I had purchased the previous year from lowes.  I cut the tips on the drip hoses so taht they would pour more water since the default setting was 1 gallon / hour.


Hops in a row
Plant Base
Irrigation System
1. Hop Data Taken from John J. Palmer, How to Brew, everything you need to know to brew beer right the first time, 2006

Friday, February 10, 2012

Blood Orange Hefeweizen

Origins:
Blood oranges are a small reddish orange whose fruit is almost blood colored.  They have a distinct flavor that is similar to a standard orange with a slight raspberry taste. Whitney wanted to brew a Hefewiezen that had a slight hint of blood oranges so I helped her do an extract brew of Blood Orange Hefeweizen

Recipe Specifications:
  • Batch Size: 5.00 gal
  • Boil Size: 4.25  gal
  • Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
  • 7.0 lb 60% Wheat 40% Barley Malt Extract
  • 0.5 lb Crystal 10 °L
  • 0.5 lb Vienna 3 °L
  • 2.0 oz Cascade, US [9.1%] Hops
  • WLP008 East Coast Ale Yeast
Starter Procedure:
Since this was a last minute brew we didn't have time to do a starter.

Brew Procedure:
      My fiancee Whitney had seen a blood orange hefeweizen in Sam Calagione's book Extreme Brewing and wanted to try it. So on  January 21st 2012 we went to main street home brew and gathered our ingredients. The first step was steeping the specialty grains in a nylon brew bag after the water had reached 155 °F for 30 minutes.  After the 30 minutes was up we turned the heat up and began brought it to a boil.
 While the water was coming to a boil Whitney prepared the blood oranges.  First zesting four medium blood oranges, then peeling two and chopping them into small pieces.
Steeping Orange Bits 
Zesting the Oranges
Result

     This concoction was poured into a pot and brought up to 160 °F and Then allowed to steep while it was cooled.  Usually I put the zests into the boil and leave out the fruit but the book said this was their method and I decided to try it. After this we returned to the kettle and completed the brew.

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

QuantityIngredientBoiled For
1/2 oz. CascadeEntire 60 Min. boil
1/2 oz. Cascade Last 45 min of boil 
1/2 oz. Cascade Last 30 min of boil 
1/2 oz.Cascade Last 15 min of boil
1/2 tsp. Yeast NutrientLast 15 min of boil
1 tsp.GypsumLast 15 min of boil



I cooled the wort using an immersion chiller and poured into a 6.5 gallon carboy.  After this I added the yeast and oxygenated the wort for 20 seconds with the oxygen stone.  Then using a funnel I poured the blood orange zests and fruit pieces into the primary fermenter.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.070


I forgot to take a gravity reading at transfer


UPDATE 2/10/12:
After quite some time in the secondary fermenter (we got really busy with other things), I finally was able to take a gravity reading and transfer the beer to a keg.


GRAVITY AT KEGGING:  1.018
131.25*(1.070-1.018)=6.825%

Wow this really attenuated well.  The only problem I could see with the beer is there was not a very strong blood orange flavor to the beer.  It was noticeable if you knew you were looking for it but hard to distinguish from a regular hefeweizen.  This is fine because Whitney did not want a really fruity beer and that was her biggest concern is that it would be too fruity.  All around it was a good brew the color came out a little darker than I was expecting but this may be due to the dark fruit added during fermentation.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Gettin' Some Nookie IPA


Origins:
     One of the contractors that is working at my office (Eric) is also an avid home brewer and gave me 8 oz. of extremely dense sticky Chinook hops to brew with.  I hadn't brewed an IPA in a while so that is what I decided to do with these bittering hops. Since Chinook is the only hop in this beer I decided to call it Gettin' Some Nookie IPA

Recipe Specifications:
  • Batch Size: 10.00 gal
  • Boil Size: 13.5  gal
  • Final Boil Volume: 11.25 gal
  • Predicted OG: 1.082 SG
  • Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
  • 30.0 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
  • 2.00 lb GW Crystal Malt - 40 °L
  • 2.50 lb Briess Crystal Malt -10 °L
  • 2.0 lb Briess Carapils/Dextrin
Total Grain Weight: 36.5 lb
  • 8 oz Chinook, US [12-14%] (60 min) Hops
  • WLP 011 European Ale Yeast
Starter Procedure:

     Friday January 6th, 2012 made my starter. Since this was an imperial IPA I decided to add 50% to my volume bringing it up to around 1600 ml of wort after adding the DME.  I got a little crazy on adding the Fermcap-s and put in like 4 drops instead of 1 on accident.  This shouldn't have any affect on the starter. The ingredients I used in the starter were:

  • 1.5 cups DME I used volume instead of mass this time its about the same.
  • 1/4 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient
  • 4 Drop Fermcap-S Foam Inhibitor
  • 1500 ml Water

This should give a starting gravity of about 1.040.


Brew Procedure:
      January 8th 2012 was brew day. First I calculated how much mash water I needed. total grain weight was 36.5 lbs. So to calculate mash water I used the following calculation:

36.5 lbs grain x 1.33 qt/lb = 48.55 qt. x 1/4 gallon/qt = 12.14

     I filled the mashtun with 12 gallons of water and began heating it to 165 °F.  After the water reached 165 °F I added the grain, this is where the trouble began.  My 15 gallon mashtun will hold EXACTLY 36.5 pounds of grain and 12 gallons of water. This measurement is so exact that you can no longer put the lid on the mashtun.  No lid on the mashtun posed a serious temperature problem since it was about 35 °F that day. I drained some wort out of the mashtun into the kettle so that I could put the lid on.  Since the grain had been sitting out in my cold back room it had reached a lower temperature that I was used to.  After adding the grain the mash temperature dropped to around 145 °F.  Proper starch extraction happens 10 °F higher so I needed to heat my mashtun up.  This poses a major problem since I have a screen in the bottom of my mashtun and proper heat transfer cant occur throughout the mash.  To fix this I turned the burner on and started to manually recirculate the wort with a bucket; letting the kettle heat up for a couple minutes then draining into a bucket and pouring it in the top.  This worked pretty to heat up the mash but I think it was too little too late. Based on the original gravity I am pretty sure full starch conversion did not happen.

Burnt propane hose
DANGER!!
     After mashing I transferred to the kettle, sparged and started the boiling process.  Once I started the boil the propane hose caught on fire because of the cheap connection.  My solution was to put it on my turkey fryer which turned out to be a bad idea.  The 15 gallon brew kettle completely covered the top of the fryer not allowing for any air circulation.  After a couple minutes of heating the kettle I smelled some burrning.  I bent down and looked under the burner to find the supports were glowing orange.  What I ended up doing that worked out pretty well was to use the hose from the turkey fryer and placed it on the brew stand so I could use my brew stand and also not melt the burner.
GREAT SUCCESS!!!
     This wasn't the perfect solutions but it let me complete my boil without any further problems.  I used the following ingredient schedule:

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity Ingredient Boiled For
3 oz.  Chinook  Entire 60 Min. boil
3 tsp.  Gypsum  Last 15 min of boil 
2 tabs  WhirlFloc  Last 15 min of boil 
1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient  Last 15 min of boil
2 oz.  Chinook Last 5 min of boil
1 oz.  Chinook  Flame Out
2 oz.  Chinook  Dry Hopped 

     I added a teaspoon of extra gypsum because of the article I read about adding gypsum to maximize your hoppiness. I cooled the wort and pitched the yeast into two 6.5 gallon carboys adding a vial of Clarity-Ferm to each.  My friend pat hasn't really experienced a hopzilla beer before so I thought I should help him out with this one.  I purchased an oxygen stone while at the brew store to aerate the wort and aide in aerobic respiration of the yeast.  This should speed up the fermentation process and yield a healthier yeast.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.062
     This was 20 points lower than it was supposed to be which was extremely disappointing but I think it will be OK.

UPDATE 1/12/12:
     Fermentation completed extemrely rapidly the oxygen stone appears to be extremely effective.  Hopefully I will be able to pull a couple more points out in secondary.

Gravity at Transfer
131.25*(1.062-1.018)=5.78%

UPDATE 1/24/12:



     After 12 days in secondary I kegged and bottled.  The results were a little darker than I hoped but that shouldn't affect the taste any but not exactly a "Pale Ale".  I tasted the beer and it was much less hoppy than I had anticipated.  This may have been because I didn't let it stay in eh primary long enough and dry hop since the fermentation finished so quickly.  I took a gravity measurement and it had not changed so the Final ABV was 5.78, MUCH lower than I was hoping but the beer tastes pretty good.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Brewing Better Hoppy Beers

Brew-Monkey.com has posted a outline by Vinnie Cilurzo the Brewer/Owner of Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, CA.  Russian River as you know makes Pliny the Elder, one of my favorite hop grenades.  There are some great tips in here that you should check out if you are interested in making extremely hoppy beer.  You should check it out: 10 Factors to Making Better Hoppy Beers.
Thanks Evan for showing this to me.