This weeks video we offer up some Brown Ale Tasting Notes.  I brewed this beer May 1st (not February as I thought in the video).  This beer comes out super clean, super smooth.  But has a rich chocolate and toasty note to it.

The success of this brew, the third iteration of brown ale brew sessions recently, is a testament to note taking in the brew house.  I have brewed Brown ale off and on over the years.  I recently really started to focus on this recipe starting last year.  After two decent but not just right attempts I was thumbing through old brewing notes of mine.  In those old notes I found a recipe and brew session entry that noted an excellent outcome with Brown Ale that I had apparently overlooked from the past.

The success of a much earlier batch had included the use of Special Roast.  So I used that info and combined it with the qualities of my last two attempts and VIOLA!  Brown ale #3!  Absolutely beautiful.

Now to be fair, I think that to make this more English in character a better yeast strain should be used.  Something in the WLP002 or WLP007 zone of English yeasts.  Also this beer could use about 10 more IBUs in bittering.  Right now I brewed it to ~25IBUs.  I think if I bumped it closer to 30 or 35 it would be more balanced.

Regardless of those slight tweaks as a Nut Brown this recipe could also be a great base for an American Brown Ale as well.  I think if you were to brew it with a more attenuative and clean American Ale Strain (WLP001) , bump up the gravity by 10 points to 1062 and load it up with some Columbus, Cascade and Citra Hops; you’d have a great American Brown Ale on your hands.

Maybe that’s for another time.
Check out the recipe LINK.
Enjoy the video as we ramble on about this beer.

BREW ON!

Great summer time beer recipe that mashes up the refreshing tastes of lemon and wheat in a beer. This beer is an update of my summer ale that I brewed before. If you are wondering what Sorachi Ace hops can bring to a beer, this recipe is a good entry level introduction to the lemony hop variety.

I plan to brew this beer this weekend and I will update the post with links to the brew day.

Boil size: 7 gallons
Final batch size: 5.5 gallons
Volume for fermentation: 5 gallons

Ingredients:

5 lbs 2-Row Malt
5 lbs White Wheat
1 lbs Pilsner Malt
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled 60 mins.
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled boiled 15 mins.
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled boiled 1 mins.
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled dry hopped
Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale or White Labe WLP029 Kolsch yeast

Instructions:
Mash all malt and malted wheat at 152°F for 60 minutes and collect enough wort for a seven gallon boil. Boil for 60 minutes and add hops at specified times. Chill wort to 65° F and ferment for 2 weeks.
At the end of two weeks, rack the beer into a clean, sanitized carboy with last bit of hops. Leave the beer on the pellets for 3 days and then bottle or keg as necessary.

Predictions:

Original Gravity: 1.052
Terminal Gravity: 1.011
Color: 4.05 °SRM
Bitterness: 19.0 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.3 %

This beer won’t be a hop heads’ dream. The American wheat style isn’t supposed to be too hoppy so I have developed this recipe based on the style guidelines. My first thought was to added some lemon zest to this beer. I had the thought of zesting one lemon and adding it to the secondary along with the dry hops. I may still do that but just split the batch in half. I still want to get the know Sorachi Ace hops without anything else getting the way.

If you want to brew a German pilsner, here is my recipe for this beer style. After brewing a Bohemian pilsner last year, it’s time to brew another pilsner for summer and try to improve on my process.

The improvements I am looking to accomplish with this beer are getting better clarity in the finished beer and getting a more pronounced noble hop aroma. I think with the water chemistry information we will have with our water (our tap water is really soft), I can dial in the sulfate additions to get my water profile to better match the water used in the style.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

10.5 lbs Pilsner Malt
0.5 oz Magnum Pellets at 14.5 %AA boiled 60 mins.
0.5 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrüher Pellets, 4.5 %AA boiled 15 min.
0.5 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrüher Pellets, 4.5 %AA boiled 1 min.
Yeast: White Labs WLP800 Pilsner Lager

Predictions

Original Gravity: 1.047
Terminal Gravity: 1.010
Color: 3.91 °SRM
Bitterness: 37.4 IBUs
Alcohol (%volume): 4.8%

Instructions

I want to get this beer to be as dry as I can get it. The final or terminal gravity is a soft goal. If I can get it a few points under 1.010, I will be happy. To do that, I am going to mash the grain at 147° F (64° C) to get as fermentable a wort as possible. Because of the low temp, I will mash for 90 minutes to ensure a full conversion. Then, I’ll sparge until I get 7 gallons of wort for a 90 minute boil to get 5.5 gallons into the fermentor.

After fermenting at 50° F (10° C) for two weeks, rack into a secondary carboy and lager for a month or so at near freezing temperatures. Bottle or keg as usual.

The end goal should be a light colored but nicely hopped beer with some distinct floral aroma coming from the Hallertau pellets. With the late hop additions and the water treatment, it should work out well.

Here is a recipe for a Belgian Dubbel. The aspect to nail down for this style is to keep the solvent-y alcohol flavors out of the beer. With a good healthy pitch of yeast and keeping fermentation temperatures on the cooler side of the range, this beer will be a good sipper on a crisp Autumn day.

If you are at the mercy of ambient temperatures during your fermentation, it makes sense to brew this beer in the early spring and have it ready for colder days on the other side of summer.

Belgian Dubbel

Brew Method: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency 75%

Ingredients:

10 lbs – Belgian Pilsner Malt
1 lbs – Munich 10° L
0.25 lb – Belgian Special B
0.5 lb – Abbey Malt
0.5 lb – Cane Sugar
1 lb – Belgian Candi Syrup – Dark 90 °L
1.25 oz – Tettnang Hops boiled for 60 mins. (AA 4.5%)

Yeast: White Labs – Abbey Ale Yeast WLP530

Ingredients:

Ferment at 66°F for two weeks raising the temperature if necessary towards the end of the two week period to 70°F to ensure proper attenuation. Bottle or keg as usual to carbonation levels of 3 to 4 volumes. Store at fridge temperatures for at least one month before serving.

Stats:

Original Gravity: 1.069
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV: 7.01%
IBUs: 18.73
SRM: 13.69

This beer should not be hot with alcohol flavors but should have a nice dry finish.

Since the raspberry melomel has now won multiple awards in competition (more on that later) and with a large amount of honey in the basement, I have to start making some more meads.  This is the first in at least three I am going to make is a medium show mead – just honey, yeast, water – with some nutrients sprinkled in.

First off, I am inspired by the Maine Mead Works and their dry mead.  I had some on NYE and I was blown away.  Their mead was as tasty as all the texts say meads are supposed to be.  Beyond the product in the bottle, I am a big fan of the bottle’s labeling – different and distinguished as mead should be.

Since I think I know what I am doing with meadmaking,  I am ready to pump out a 5 gallon batch.  I think that if I were to do it all over again, I would start my mead making with this recipe.

Medium Show Mead Recipe

Ingredients:

13 lbs of high quality honey

4 gallons of water

2 tsp yeast energizer

2 tsp yeast nutrient

2 packets of Lalvin D -47 yeast

Instructions:

Mix honey and water together in carboy along with energizer and nutrient.  Proof packets of yeast and pitch.  Follow the staggered nutrient/energizer additions on this timeline:

Add 1/4 teaspoon of  yeast energizer and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast nutrient  at the 24 hour mark after fermentation begins.
Add another quarter teaspoon  of yeast energizer and another half teaspoon of  yeast nutrient  at the 48 hour mark after fermentation begins.
When 30% of the sugar has been depleted, add one last quarter teaspoon of yeast energizer and half teaspoon of yeast nutrient.

Ferment at 65° F (18° C) for at least two weeks.  Rack to a secondary and let it condition until it clears.  Bottle as normal.

I may let this sit on oak for a little while – I may not.

Starting Gravity: 1.096

Final Gravity: 1.010

This mead should be ready to drink in 8 weeks from the date you make it.  It will age well – so drink some soon and then drink some later.

If you are interested in going beyond just brewing an ale with a little honey in it, this braggot recipe is for you.

My plan was to keep this recipe on the small side from a starting gravity perspective. I wanted to see if I could make something that would drink more like a high gravity beer. Looking that the starting gravity now, it’s still pretty high but in the world of meads, I think starting gravities under 1.100 is on the smaller side.

For this recipe, you are going to mash, boil, and chill the grains and the hops like you normally would for a brew, but just with a smaller boil size and smaller resulting finished wort.

After the wort is chill, you are going to combine it with the honey. I don’t boil the honey. You can but I don’t.

Boil size: 4.5 gallons
Final wort: 3.5 gallons
Batch Size: 4.0 gallons (honey + wort in the fermentor)
Starting Gravity: 1.096

Ingredients:

4 lbs German Pilsner Malt
0.5 lb Victory Malt
0.5 lb Honey Malt
6 lb Local Honey
2 oz Centennial Hops (boiled 60 mins)
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
2 tsp Yeast Energizer
Yeast: Wyeast Scottish Ale 1728

Instructions:

Make a big yeast starter a few days before brew day.
Mash only grains at 149° F for 60 minutes. Run off and boil wort with hops for 60 minutes. Chill wort to 65 degrees F and combine with honey in fermenter. Add nutrient and energizer. Aerate well. Pitch yeast.

Ferment at 65° F for 2 to 3 weeks or until the gravity stops

Ferment for 2 to 3 weeks. It make take longer. You’ll be looking for a final gravity in the 1.028 range. Rack to a secondary vessel and condition at basement temperatures for 3 months. Prime and bottle or keg and force carbonate before serving.

P.S. So I have this idea where you could brew a Scottish ale and then brew a braggot right after it and use the same yeast for both. That’s what I am planning to do, so in essence your Scottish 70 Shilling ale is your yeast starter, but a yeast starter you can enjoy while your braggot is conditioning.

Brewed this Falconer’s Flight IPA Recipe  at the end of Decemeber 2012. Stay tuned for tasting notes and some video highlights.  Made my latest purchase of some bulk hops from NikoBrew!

 
Batch Size- 6.5gal
OG- 1.060
SRM- 6.5
IBUs- 55

6 lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt
6 lbs Belgian Pale Malt
1 lb Briess Crystal 20L
0.5 lb CaraPils
1.0 oz Falconers Flight (11.7%AA) 60min
1.0 oz Falconers Flight  (11.7%AA) 20min*
2.0 oz Falconers Flight  (11.7%AA) Dry Hop 10 days.
2 PK US-05 Fermentis American Ale

Mash temp 154F
*- employed a no chill technique. 20 min is time assumed for bittering a flameout addition without a chill step.
Ferment 3 days at 65F
Ferment 9 days at 70F
Crash cool to 50F, dry hops added directly to primary.