Saturday, I picked up ingredients for a Listermann Dry Irish Stout kit and for another Centennium Falcon IPA. Brewed up the stout Saturday. My plans for it:
4 gallons - no secondary, keg as normal at two weeks, serve at 3.
1 gallon - at one week, secondary on top of cacao nibs soaked in 151 proof rum (Cruzan). I've been soaking the nibs (from Scharfen Berger) in about a cup of rum for about a week now. Should be good and chocolatey by then. Then I'll let that sit for, oh I dunno, 2 weeks, then bottle it in 12 ounce bottles.
Yummers.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Yeast Tester
So I finally got some drop in gravity (meaning a reduction in sugar) in my yeast started that's been on my stir pllate since Thursday. This means that there's viable yeast that I may be able to use in a Two-Hearted clone -- Centennium Falcon IPA.
So to REALLY test the starter, I brewed up a one gallon batch of IPA last night:
Yoda's Daddy's IPA
(Coz it's small and green, but gonna be bigger than just a normal beer.)
------------------
Batch Size (Gal): 1.00
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.0 0.75 lbs. Muntons DME - Light England 1.046 5
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 28.0 20 min.
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 22.2 15 min.
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 0.0 0 min.
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 0.0 Dry Hop
OG = 1.049
FG = ?
ABV = ?
----------------
So 16 hours later, I have great bubbling, so it's fermenting, so I gots good yeasties! I can totally use my harvested Bell's yeast to make CF IPA! Freakin' sweet.
Oh and Happy Halloween. Let me know what you're going as.
So to REALLY test the starter, I brewed up a one gallon batch of IPA last night:
Yoda's Daddy's IPA
(Coz it's small and green, but gonna be bigger than just a normal beer.)
------------------
Batch Size (Gal): 1.00
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.0 0.75 lbs. Muntons DME - Light England 1.046 5
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 28.0 20 min.
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 22.2 15 min.
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 0.0 0 min.
0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 0.0 Dry Hop
OG = 1.049
FG = ?
ABV = ?
----------------
So 16 hours later, I have great bubbling, so it's fermenting, so I gots good yeasties! I can totally use my harvested Bell's yeast to make CF IPA! Freakin' sweet.
Oh and Happy Halloween. Let me know what you're going as.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Told ya so
An article on rising beer prices on MSN.com:
Beer drinkers beware: Shortage to boost costs
That means a 6 of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale will jump from $8.99 to $9.99. Like I wouldn't still buy it.
Right now I'm brewing an extract based Liffey Sludge Stout from Listermann's. It only cost me $27.95 and has only one ounce of Nugget hops. Dunno how much this type of a recipe will change in price. It uses malted barley extract (syrup), instead of making me do an all-grain version.
Either tomorrow, or early this next week, I'm gonna redo the Centennium Falcon IPA. Picked up another 7 ounces of Centennial hops, so now I gots 24 ounces of that. That's about 5 batches worth. Bring on this shortage!
On a sidenote, not because of the shortage (but it helps fer sher), I'm totally gonna start growing some hops in the ol' garden, once rhizome season hits next spring. Centennial, Cascade maybe, I wonder what else.
Heck, maybe I'll grow some barley too. Ya right.
Beer drinkers beware: Shortage to boost costs
That means a 6 of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale will jump from $8.99 to $9.99. Like I wouldn't still buy it.
Right now I'm brewing an extract based Liffey Sludge Stout from Listermann's. It only cost me $27.95 and has only one ounce of Nugget hops. Dunno how much this type of a recipe will change in price. It uses malted barley extract (syrup), instead of making me do an all-grain version.
Either tomorrow, or early this next week, I'm gonna redo the Centennium Falcon IPA. Picked up another 7 ounces of Centennial hops, so now I gots 24 ounces of that. That's about 5 batches worth. Bring on this shortage!
On a sidenote, not because of the shortage (but it helps fer sher), I'm totally gonna start growing some hops in the ol' garden, once rhizome season hits next spring. Centennial, Cascade maybe, I wonder what else.
Heck, maybe I'll grow some barley too. Ya right.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Yeast Starter
My Recipe:
- 500mL H2O
- 1/3 c. Munton's Extra Light Dry Malt Extract (enough to make the specific gravity 1.020)
- 1/2 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient
Boil in a 1000mL Erlenmeyer flask for 5 min. Cool in ice bath to room temp.
Careful decant (pour) Bell's Two-Hearted Ale into pint glass. Repeat 5 times. (Yum!)
Then pour the last 1/4" - 1/2" into the flask. Hopefully, there's enough viable yeast to get my starter started.
Place on stir plate and let run as fast as possible without the stir bar coming off the magnet.
See, I made my own stir plate a couple weeks ago. Cost me about $11 and a trip to Ace Hardware and Radio Shack. (As Ogre would say -- "NERDS!") It's basically a box with a fan inside. On that fan I Gorilla glued a rare earth magnet from an old hard drive. So that makes a spinning magnet. Then in the flask, you put a little metal bar called a stir bar (thanks Ren!). That keeps the contents of the flask spinning, aiding in yeast contact with the wort (pre-beer). It also helps oxygenate and de-carbonate the wort. So once this "gets going" I'll be harvesting/liberating Bell's house yeast for use in my own beer that I'll be brewing this weekend.
BTW, I'm brewing up the Centennium Falcon IPA Sunday. I ganked about 17 one ounce packages of Centnnial hops from Listy's yesterday. Woulda gotten a one pound package, but they was outs. Now I just need to get the malts. I can taste it now. Oh wait, that's the 6 Two-Hearteds I just drank.
UPDATE:
10/27 7:00 PM
Looks like it's making yeast. Kinda surprised. Took 48 hours, which I guess isn't unhward of, but wow. Cool.
- 500mL H2O
- 1/3 c. Munton's Extra Light Dry Malt Extract (enough to make the specific gravity 1.020)
- 1/2 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient
Boil in a 1000mL Erlenmeyer flask for 5 min. Cool in ice bath to room temp.
Careful decant (pour) Bell's Two-Hearted Ale into pint glass. Repeat 5 times. (Yum!)
Then pour the last 1/4" - 1/2" into the flask. Hopefully, there's enough viable yeast to get my starter started.
Place on stir plate and let run as fast as possible without the stir bar coming off the magnet.
See, I made my own stir plate a couple weeks ago. Cost me about $11 and a trip to Ace Hardware and Radio Shack. (As Ogre would say -- "NERDS!") It's basically a box with a fan inside. On that fan I Gorilla glued a rare earth magnet from an old hard drive. So that makes a spinning magnet. Then in the flask, you put a little metal bar called a stir bar (thanks Ren!). That keeps the contents of the flask spinning, aiding in yeast contact with the wort (pre-beer). It also helps oxygenate and de-carbonate the wort. So once this "gets going" I'll be harvesting/liberating Bell's house yeast for use in my own beer that I'll be brewing this weekend.
BTW, I'm brewing up the Centennium Falcon IPA Sunday. I ganked about 17 one ounce packages of Centnnial hops from Listy's yesterday. Woulda gotten a one pound package, but they was outs. Now I just need to get the malts. I can taste it now. Oh wait, that's the 6 Two-Hearteds I just drank.
UPDATE:
10/27 7:00 PM
Looks like it's making yeast. Kinda surprised. Took 48 hours, which I guess isn't unhward of, but wow. Cool.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Mitten State
So I think about 4 of us are gonna take a road trip up to the Lower Peninsula to hit some breweries. Bell's near Kalamazoo is def on the short list. MMM...Two-Hearted.
Where else? Founder's in Grand Rapids is a possibility. So is Arbor Brewing Comany in Ann Arbor.
Any ideas out there?
Where else? Founder's in Grand Rapids is a possibility. So is Arbor Brewing Comany in Ann Arbor.
Any ideas out there?
Supply and Demand
Well, I keep reading all over that certain hop varieties are in short supply.
My take on it is that they are used a lot by big beer (ABC, aka Anheiser Budweiser Coors) and even big craft brewers (Bell's, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, et al.).
That's cool, but when I can't buy a pound of Centennial hops at my LHBS (Local Homebrew Supply) Listermann's, then we have a problem. Do I buy a bunch of one ounce packages now, or wait or what? I do have plans to grow hops in the backyard. But that takes a couple years to get a good harvest....
I hear the same thing about malt supplies.
The downside is that if I have a recipe, I may have to substitute. This isn't the first time, won't be the last. The upside is that there will be a jump in the number of alternative ingredients, like more bitter orange peels (Saisons), and other fermentables like plain ol' sucrose (light lagers). Should be interesting.
Oh, and I got my Lo-boy Sankey tap (#K182) from Northern Brewer yesterday. Now I can have commercially kegged craft brew in my kegerator and I don't have to disconnect it just to close the lid. Right now it's Dogfish Head's60 Minute IPA. Friggin' sweet.
My take on it is that they are used a lot by big beer (ABC, aka Anheiser Budweiser Coors) and even big craft brewers (Bell's, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, et al.).
That's cool, but when I can't buy a pound of Centennial hops at my LHBS (Local Homebrew Supply) Listermann's, then we have a problem. Do I buy a bunch of one ounce packages now, or wait or what? I do have plans to grow hops in the backyard. But that takes a couple years to get a good harvest....
I hear the same thing about malt supplies.
The downside is that if I have a recipe, I may have to substitute. This isn't the first time, won't be the last. The upside is that there will be a jump in the number of alternative ingredients, like more bitter orange peels (Saisons), and other fermentables like plain ol' sucrose (light lagers). Should be interesting.
Oh, and I got my Lo-boy Sankey tap (#K182) from Northern Brewer yesterday. Now I can have commercially kegged craft brew in my kegerator and I don't have to disconnect it just to close the lid. Right now it's Dogfish Head's60 Minute IPA. Friggin' sweet.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Star Wars Names
Before I even started homebrewing, Renny wanted me to make an IPA and call it Boba Fett IPA. It was my first homebrew, and I've since made it two more times. Not my best work but still drinkable. So since that, I've tried to name all my brews.
Some have gotten Star Wars names:
- Boba Fett IPA (based on Listermann's American IPA kit)
- Liffey Sludge Stout (Liffey is the river thru Dublin)
- Blind Pale Ale (no I's/eyes, as in IPA, get it?)
- First Galactic Imperial India Pale Ale (an Imperial IPA)
- Rancor Steam Beer / Alcatraz Steam Beer (California Common)
- Aaron's Orange Blossom Mead (honey, water, yeast)
- RJS ESB (Can't believe I didn't call it Episode V ESB)
- C3-PilsnerO (not really a pilsner, but I'm lagering it)
- #1 Cider
- Hard as Granate Cider
- Centennium Falcon IPA (all Centennial hops)
I think I'm gonna make the Centennium Falcon IPA my house beer.
Some have gotten Star Wars names:
- Boba Fett IPA (based on Listermann's American IPA kit)
- Liffey Sludge Stout (Liffey is the river thru Dublin)
- Blind Pale Ale (no I's/eyes, as in IPA, get it?)
- First Galactic Imperial India Pale Ale (an Imperial IPA)
- Rancor Steam Beer / Alcatraz Steam Beer (California Common)
- Aaron's Orange Blossom Mead (honey, water, yeast)
- RJS ESB (Can't believe I didn't call it Episode V ESB)
- C3-PilsnerO (not really a pilsner, but I'm lagering it)
- #1 Cider
- Hard as Granate Cider
- Centennium Falcon IPA (all Centennial hops)
I think I'm gonna make the Centennium Falcon IPA my house beer.
Bottling Cider
So, back in early September, I made two 3 gallon batches of cider. Pretty simple recipes. I'll post right after this posting.
However, Lesson of the Day:
If you're going to bottle anything, have bottles.
I guess since I started kegging in June, I've been recycling my bottles with Rumpke, instead of saving them. Yesterday, I was able to completely bottle one batch, but halfway thru the second, I ran out of bottles. After much swearing, I kegged the rest. Yay. One and a half gallons of primed cider. I'm wondering what the dextrose will do to the carbing....
=========================================
#1 Cider
(Coz it's my first, AND it kinda looks like wee wee.)
--------
3 gals Santa Cruz Organic Apple Juice
Half vial White Labs English Cider Yeast
3 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
1.5 tsp LD Carlson Yeast Energizer
OG = 1.052
FG = 1.002
ABV = 6.375%
=========================================
Hard as Granate Cider
(See, it's Hard cider, and there's pomeGranate in it.)
---------------------
2.5 gal Wild Oats Organic Apple Juice
0.5 gal Lakewood Organic Pomegranate Juice (Has other juices in it)
3 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
1.5 tsp LD Carlson Yeast Energizer
OG = 1.050
FG = 1.004
ABV = 6.125%
However, Lesson of the Day:
If you're going to bottle anything, have bottles.
I guess since I started kegging in June, I've been recycling my bottles with Rumpke, instead of saving them. Yesterday, I was able to completely bottle one batch, but halfway thru the second, I ran out of bottles. After much swearing, I kegged the rest. Yay. One and a half gallons of primed cider. I'm wondering what the dextrose will do to the carbing....
=========================================
#1 Cider
(Coz it's my first, AND it kinda looks like wee wee.)
--------
3 gals Santa Cruz Organic Apple Juice
Half vial White Labs English Cider Yeast
3 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
1.5 tsp LD Carlson Yeast Energizer
OG = 1.052
FG = 1.002
ABV = 6.375%
=========================================
Hard as Granate Cider
(See, it's Hard cider, and there's pomeGranate in it.)
---------------------
2.5 gal Wild Oats Organic Apple Juice
0.5 gal Lakewood Organic Pomegranate Juice (Has other juices in it)
3 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
1.5 tsp LD Carlson Yeast Energizer
OG = 1.050
FG = 1.004
ABV = 6.125%
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
My Setup
Might as well get this written down too.
I have a GE 7.2 Cu Ft chest freezer in my beer cellar with a Johnson Controls temp controller. Enough to hold 2 kegs, a 20# CO2 tank, and lots of bottles on the hump. Right now I have a Pilsner (SeeThree-PilsnerO) lagering.
I have only 2 corny kegs, but I have like 3-3 gallon glass carboys, 2 or 3 5-gallon ones, and a sixer. I love my little beer cellar room. It's separate in the basement, maintains cool temps, rustic enought to fit the style I wanted for such a room. Let's see, I also have a homemade stir plate I want to use soon, prolly on a Bell's yeast. I would love a conical fermenter, but man, that's a bit too much for this endeavor. Maybe when I open Ye Olde Pube Brewpub.
The freezer is on the right but this is an old pic.
I usually brew outside on a propane burner, then use the garden hose to chill thru a copper chiller. Should prolly take pics of that setup too....
I have a GE 7.2 Cu Ft chest freezer in my beer cellar with a Johnson Controls temp controller. Enough to hold 2 kegs, a 20# CO2 tank, and lots of bottles on the hump. Right now I have a Pilsner (SeeThree-PilsnerO) lagering.
I have only 2 corny kegs, but I have like 3-3 gallon glass carboys, 2 or 3 5-gallon ones, and a sixer. I love my little beer cellar room. It's separate in the basement, maintains cool temps, rustic enought to fit the style I wanted for such a room. Let's see, I also have a homemade stir plate I want to use soon, prolly on a Bell's yeast. I would love a conical fermenter, but man, that's a bit too much for this endeavor. Maybe when I open Ye Olde Pube Brewpub.
The freezer is on the right but this is an old pic.
I usually brew outside on a propane burner, then use the garden hose to chill thru a copper chiller. Should prolly take pics of that setup too....
Next Up
I'll prolly do a stout next. Maybe even a two beer brew day.
I really want to perfect the Centennium Falcon IPA, but I also wanna get a stout going.
Prolly a chocolate cherry stout. Maybe name it Blackwater Mercenary Stout or something like that. Need a recipe for that.
Man, that would be one long day, brewing two beers. Maybe a Saturday/Sunday fun weekend instead.....
I really want to perfect the Centennium Falcon IPA, but I also wanna get a stout going.
Prolly a chocolate cherry stout. Maybe name it Blackwater Mercenary Stout or something like that. Need a recipe for that.
Man, that would be one long day, brewing two beers. Maybe a Saturday/Sunday fun weekend instead.....
Centennium Falcon IPA
OK. I made this from my own recipe, based on Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.
Listermann's didn't have the exact malts I required, so I made do.
I'll post the recipe in a bit.
Basically, I needed more dry hops, a slightly diff malt bill, and I need to culture yeast directly from some bottles of Two-Hearted with my homemade stir plate. (Link to come later)
Recipe
------
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
----------------------------------------------------------------------
92.0 11.50 lbs. 2-Row America 1.036 2
8.0 1.00 lbs. Caramel 60L America 1.034 40
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.75 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 37.2 60 min.
1.00 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 16.7 20 min.
2.00 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 16.6 5 min.
1.00 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 0.0 Dry Hop
Yeast
-----
WYeast 1084 Irish Ale
Listermann's didn't have the exact malts I required, so I made do.
I'll post the recipe in a bit.
Basically, I needed more dry hops, a slightly diff malt bill, and I need to culture yeast directly from some bottles of Two-Hearted with my homemade stir plate. (Link to come later)
Recipe
------
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
----------------------------------------------------------------------
92.0 11.50 lbs. 2-Row America 1.036 2
8.0 1.00 lbs. Caramel 60L America 1.034 40
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.75 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 37.2 60 min.
1.00 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 16.7 20 min.
2.00 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 16.6 5 min.
1.00 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 0.0 Dry Hop
Yeast
-----
WYeast 1084 Irish Ale
Beer
MAYBE I'll start posting beer stuff here.
Could be an easy way to record and share what I've learned from brewing and from (mmmmm) drinking.
Is it nerdy? Ya.
Will anyone be surprised? No.
Could be an easy way to record and share what I've learned from brewing and from (mmmmm) drinking.
Is it nerdy? Ya.
Will anyone be surprised? No.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)