Learning from the mistake

With help from a relative and also a friend who work at breweries: Lo Rez and Breckenridge Brewery; I realized I mashed at a way to high of a temperature (actual mash temp = 163.7°F). One wants to mash at between 146°F-156°F. I was aiming for 158°F. I also didn’t experience as much as a drop due to the spring/summer conditions we are getting which is lovely.

Now that I know what is wrong, what do I do with 3.2 beer?

I decided to do a dry hop/secondary fermentation experiment as part of my rededication to this blog. It calls for a dry  hop of 3 oz for the 10 gallon batch.

Question: Does dry hopping in the same fermentation have a difference when compared to dry hopping in a sanitized secondary container?

Hypothesis: The beer that is in the secondary fermentor will be a cleaner tasting beer.

Method:

1. Brew beer
2. Ferment beer
3. Add 1.5 oz Armarillo hops to fermentor A
4. Add 1.5 oz Armarillo hops to empty sanitized fermentor
5. Rack beer on top of hops
6. Keg after 1 week of dry hopping

Analysis:

WILL BE UPDATED AFTER TASTING

Conclusion:

STAY TUNED

Brew Day, Clone Day

Clones are a controversial subject. The first “real” clone was in 1995 which actually used human cells before “Dolly” even come into existent. Of course, they didn’t allow the human cells to become a baby, just a group of cells. The human cells actually had 1% genetic code from a cow. A clone with a twist.  Source

Clone brews are also an interesting subject, but not a very controversial one. There are books on the subject. Some clone brews take a lot of ingredients others are quite simple. Odell’s IPA has over 7 different hops in it. Some clones are simple, I made what I thought was a simple one.

Honestly, I haven’t made many clones, actually I’ve only made one. I’ve made plenty of beers that have been influenced by certain beers, but never something exact.

I decided to do my first clone brew this weekend. I decided on a beer I’ve drunk a few cases of over the years, but one not readily available to me. I chose Gumball Head from 3 Floyd’s Brewery located in Munster, IN.

The recipe is as follows:

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Wheat or Rye Beer
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 11 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 13 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.043
Efficiency: 75% (brew house) Actual efficiency: 47%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.051 Actual OG: 1.032
Final Gravity: 1.015 Actual FG: Still fermenting
ABV (standard): 4.65%
IBU (tinseth): 27.09
SRM (morey): 5.43

FERMENTABLES:
6 lb – American – Pale 2-Row (30%)
12 lb – American – Wheat (60%)
2 lb – Belgian – CaraVienne (10%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz – Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: First Wort, IBU: 4.35
0.5 oz – Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 7.19
1 oz – Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 7.14
2.5 oz – Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.17
2 oz – Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 1 min, IBU: 1.24
3 oz – Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 153 F, Time: 60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

YEAST:
Wyeast – London ESB Ale 1968
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 69%
Flocculation: Very High
Optimum Temp: 64 – 72 F

The fermentors are bubbling away in the garage. I am still waiting on dry hopping them. I’ll let everyone know how it turns out.

I had really crappy efficiency, the worst ever. I don’t know what happened, but I’m sure I’ll find out. My batch a few weeks before had 77% efficiency. I may have added 1-3 more gallons of water or the mill at the homebrew shop may have been adjusted by a fellow homebrewer. Any ideas absent followers?

Current Homebrew Setup

Hello Again

Its been over two years since my last update. Since then a lot of beers have been made and drunk, mountains have been rode and bikes have been ridden.

I have switched to all grain and made mead. More on both in following postings.

There had been things I have not accomplished in the past two years in regards to homebrewing. This list includes:

• Entering competitions
• Performing experimenter
• Identifying a house strain
• Compile ~7 amazing standard recipes ( have about 2)

Now that I am back, what do you want to see? Beer samplings, brewery tours, beer events? Send me your ideas!

Paliside Short Tasting Tour

As you know this past weekend I spent some time in Grand Junction visiting a some good friends. Before I left I visited some alcohol production establishments.

1. Meadery of the Rockies
   I really enjoyed this meadery. Their meads were not the highly carbonated champagne-like, but a thick honey drink almost wine-like which I prefer more than the former. I sampled almost every mead they had to offer. I favored their heavier fruit and chocolate flavored desert mead. Ended up spending some money on a few bottles and I can not wait to open them! I also want to make some soon and it was great to taste my end goal.
2. Plum Creek Winery
   I’m not very experienced when it comes out to tasting wine. This winery was across the street and I am interested in Colorado grown and made wines. I enjoyed all of their wines preferring some more than other. My favorite was the 2005 Riesling which is a style I don’t really like. What was interesting is though unlike most of the beers and mead my friends and I tasted which was similar, our taste in wine varied from all three of us. Plum Creek Winery’s price per bottle is very reasonable.There tasting room was very welcoming and warming filled with artwork and nick-knacks.
   

   Clay artwork seen at Plum Creek Brewery

   

   Cool Clay Mugs

   Sorry about the quality, I took the photos with my cellie

And the last stop was…

1. Palisade Brewing
   

   The brewery

   GREAT BEER, FOOD, AND ATMOSPHERE! Sorry for the shouting, but really it has it all. The prices could be a bit better, but it was worth it. If I started a brewery I could see it quite similar to Palisade Brewing.It was awesome to be able to walk around looking inside the mash tun to examining their gas mix and canning line.

   I started with a sample tray which is always my favorite when trying a new brewery. I enjoyed their Dirty Hippy which is their flagship beer and I believe the only one they can. My buddy attempted to make a clone of their beer which was totally different, but just as good. I was also told that Palisade Brewing tends to adjust their Dirty Hippy so each batch tastes a little different. I don’t know how accurate this is though and would wonder why. Palisade Brewing, care to comment?

   Other beers I enjoyed was their Off Belay and their take on a dark Cascadian Ale which I am at a lost for the actual name.

   

   Almost finished sandwich that was quite yummy

    

I wasn’t able to go next door to the distillery, but maybe next time.

AG IN GJ

This weekend I’m in Grand Junction spending time with my friends Emily and Carl.  I got my hands wrapped around all grain and now have an idea to build my own setup.  We brewed two beers, an I.P.A and an Irish red.  The Irish red is the exact same extract recipe I brewed and brought out here but AG style. 

And “what’s up dawgs?”

Cooking with Spent Grain

One of the reasons I brew is to save money and to be resourceful.  I wanted to figure out a way to use my specialty grains after steeping and decided to cook with it.  I made some BBQ Spent Grain Burgers.

I ended up splitting these up into 6 burgers and ended up with leftovers.  What is your favorite way to use your spent grain?

Frugal Brewing with Yeast

Yeast starter made with pale DME

Being a post-graduate who is scraping to get by I am always looking for QUALITY ways to save money brewing beer.  I tried re-pitching yeast by pouring a new wort onto a yeast cake in a somewhat dirty carboy after I siphoned beer out of it.  The first time I tried this with the New Albion Ale it fermented ferociously filling the air lock a few times with yeast.  The second time I tried it with my ginger stout it didn’t ferment for some reason.  This was with Whitebread Ale 1099.  To save the batch I made a starter with the same yeast (new packet from the store) and I am going to pitch it tonight.  Update on that soon.

To prevent this problem in the future and still save money I decided to start rinsing my yeast.  A lot of people call it washing, but most chemist/scientist think of washing as using a acid-wash to kill bacteria while preserving the yeast.  I am not equipped enough to attempt that at this time.  I am equipped enough to rinse my yeast though.

I am not going to explain how to rinse yeast since there is a lot of videos and posts about how to do it.  If you cannot find enough info on rinsing yeast, try googling washing yeast.

Thick trub layer with a small layer of yeast and a lot of beer

Captured Rinsed Yeast with beer on top.

I haven’t brewed with this yeast yet.  I am going to re-rack some ale today and going to try to get some more strains for storage and future use.

Any questions?

Update

It has been a spell since I last posted, but it has not been a dry one.  I have had quite a few new experiences and made plenty of new brews.  Some techniques I have been working on is re-pitching yeast, using different types of sugars, rinsing/washing yeast, and kegging.  Since my last update I have brewed lagers, stouts, I.P.A.s, S.M.A.S.H., and more.  If there are any interests in my recipes or reviews of the brews let me know, and I will post them.

Liquid Poets Society at New Belgium

This past Thursday I was lucky to attend the Liquid Poets Society as a guest of a member.  The night started in the a back room of the tasting area where members broke out their homebrew for others to sample.  I brought along a bomber of the Gingered Ale  brewed a while back.  My buddy showed me the skill of picking out the right beer to sample.  Sniff it first to try and find out if you’ll like it.  I tried a very delicious Spruce Tip IPA which gave me the idea to make an Imperial Spruce IPA.  I also tried a few pale ales, a Saison IPA, and a some darker ales of higher ABV.

After the tastings we grabbed a glass and took a tour of small batch brewery that New Belgium has been working on.  The brewer answered some of the members questions.  I don’t have many details on it since it was quite noisy, but I did hear one thing though.  They sanitize their system by running 83C water through it.  I thought this temperature is a little low to sanitize piping and tanks.  What do you think?

After questioning the brewer he told us to fill up of one of the tanks.  It was surprisingly cold due to the chilling it to settle the yeast.  I don’t know what exactly we where tasting, but it was delicious.

We went back to the tasting room to finish off some samples.  During this there were different breakouts: one was a tasting of some of the top craft IPAs, and the second talking about yeast slates available to members.  I bypassed the breakouts while sampling some more homebrew and meeting some members.  I was about to leave when a member said I should stick around for a moment or two.

 
Next thing I know I am in back of New Belgium with the rest of the club members in front of bags and bags of ingredients.  New Belgium graciously allowed as to grab as much hops and grains that we could.  I grabbed some Centennial, Pacific Gem, and Amarillo hops.

I’m thankful to New Belgium and the Liquid Poet’s Society for such a great evening.

IPA’s and Braggots

I’m always looking for a good deal, trying to make my dollar go farther.  I’m always picking the micro-brew that is on sale if it looks tasty.  I was at my local store when the artisan series from Twisted Pine Brewery located in Boulder, CO.  I picked up a few of the Hoppy Girl and Westbound Braggot.  A bottle of one usually goes for $12.99; I got them on sale for $4.99.  The bottles are great for homebrewing once you remove the labels and wax on the top.

Hoppy Girl is an Imperial IPA that is “infused with hibiscus and jasmine.” It was delicious and hoppy, but it could have used a bit more of the herb infusion.

Westbound Braggot  is “#4 of 12, Crafted with malted barley, orange blossom honey, Citra hops, Tasmanian pepper berries, and Bhudda’s hand zest. 8% ABV, label design by Lael Har.”  In case you readers don’t know what a braggot is, it is an old drink.  I had it to look it up myself on beeradvocate.com.  It has been mentioned in literature since the late 1300’s.  Braggots are made by “blending spices and herbs with mead and beer, to produce a strong concoction with uncommon flavors.”  This was a true artisan ale, but don’t just trust me look at its results in the Great American Beer Fest 2012.  It received gold in the Specialty Honey Beer category.