Here is my most recent attempt at an IPA.  I got a hold of some Centennial and some Columbus hops, which I had never tried.  I couldn’t get enough to base my IPA entirely on those hops. So you’ll see in the recipe that I use a little high alpha Nugget to get my base bittering, and I introduce a little Cascade hops in the hop schedule as well.  I used some cascade to help reinforce that traditional citrus-driven American hop profile in the brew.

You may think it strange as well that my malt base is dominated by German Pils.  The reason for that is because I was making a Kolsch at the same time and wanted to make one big mash for the two beers.  More on that in a seperate post!

Here’s the recipe:

American IPA
14-B American IPA

Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 70%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Original Gravity: 1.061 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 13.3 (6.0 - 15.0)
Bitterness: 54.75 (40.0 - 60.0)

Ingredients:
11 lbs German 2-row Pils
1.0 lbs German Light Munich
1.0 lbs 2-Row Carapils® Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt 120°L
0.33 oz Nugget (12.7%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.66 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.5 oz Columbus (13%) - added during boil, boiled 20 min
0.5 oz Centennial (9%) - added during boil, boiled 20 min
0.5 oz Columbus (13%) - added during boil, boiled 2 min
0.5 oz Centennial (9%) - added during boil, boiled 2 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 2 min
1 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min

Mash at 152F 90minutes
 

Here is one of my upcoming brews that I have planned.
A nice crisp Kölsch in time for the change of seasons into spring.

Kölsch

Batch Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%

Original Gravity: 1.048
Terminal Gravity: 1.010
Color: 3.8 SRM
Alcohol: 4.98%
Bitterness: 26.23

Ingredients:
9.5 lbs German 2-row Pils
0.5 lbs Munich 10L Malt
0.5 lbs 2-Row Carapils Malt
1.5 oz Tettnanger (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.25 oz Tettnanger (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
2.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1.0 vial White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch

Mash temp- 150F

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

All right. I think I gotta brew a batch for the Sam Adams Comp. I came up with this American Pale Ale recipe:

4 lbs. 4 oz. American 2-row
2 oz. American Caramel 60°L
4 oz. American Victory
3 oz. Honey Malt
3 oz. Special B Malt
3.5 lbs. Dry Extra Light Extract
.5 oz. Cluster (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 30 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 15 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 1 min.
Yeast: White Labs WLP051 California Ale V Yeast

Original Gravity: 1.054
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 8.51 °SRM
Bitterness: 37.5 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.50%

If you look closely at the ingredients list, you will see that I have profiled many of them in recent posts. I may need to alter some of the ingredients if I can’t get them.

I will be following a partial mash procedure for this recipe. Here is my brew log for this beer:

American Pale Ale Preparations

Checking On The Hops

Checking On The Grains

APA Brew Day

I recently posted this extract Oktoberfest recipe in one of the great online forums (BKB).  If you want to brew up an Oktoberfest or Marzen but you don’t have the extra fridge space for a true lager version, sometimes you can get away with a really clean Ale yeast fermented at the cooler end of the recommended range.  Ale yeasts like German Alt yeast, or Amercian Ale yeast can give you that clean character. You can also try using the Steam Beer Lager yeast that stays clean at low ale yeast temps.

In researching this post I discovered that this may be a great beer to try using Charlie Papazian’s yeast strain, Cry Havoc.

Regardless, the key to trying to so a “fusion” lager/ale style is to really pay attention to the fermentation procedure.  Pitch big, aerate well and be patient.  The lower temps on an ale slows things down abit.

Here is an old recipe from my brewing notebooks that I used to brew.
Give it a try and tell us what you thought.

“Oktoberfest” Ale 

3.3lb Amber LME
3.3lb Light LME
0.5lb Crystal 80L (or 60L if you can’t get 80L)
0.5lb Munich (8L)
0.5lb Pale Malt (standard 2-row)
0.25lb Chocolate Malt (350L)
1oz Hallertau pellets -60min
1oz Hallertau pellets -15min
0.5oz Halertau pellets -2min
2tsp Irish Moss
Yeast= German Alt yeast or American Ale yeast (see below)

Crush grains and put in large grain bag.  Steep grain bag in one gallon of water at 150F for 30-40minutes.  Remove bag and rinse or let drain into kettle.  Bring grain tea to boil.  Add extracts.  Once boil is reachieved start 75min boil.  With 60min remaining add first 1oz hop addition, 15min remaining add second 1oz hop addition and Irish Moss, add 0.5oz addition just before the flame is killed (2 minutes).

Fermentation:  Be prepared to ferment on the cool side.  Use a good clean neutral flavored yeast that can ferment well at 65F.  Pitch a larger start than normal or use two vials of yeast, better pitched onto some yeast cake from a previous brew.  Be patient with fermentation at cooler temps (60-65F).  Rouse yeast after 5 days of fermenatation to be sure yeast stays in suspension.  This will help drive the beer to the final gravity.  Leave beer in primary ferment for 3 weeks, secondary ferment for 3 weeks to clear, then bottle as normal.

This is one of the few times I’d recommend a secondary.  Mainly because the beer does better with some age on it.
You could always brew this beer now and call it a Marzen (Ale).

I’m looking forward to spring, aren’t you?  Here’s a Maibock recipe that will help you get ready for the next season:  

Ingredients

8.5 lbs. light malt extract
0.75 lb. Munich malt
1 lb. cara-pils malt
0.75 lb. crystal malt, 60° Lovibond
1 oz. Hallertauer hops for 60 min.
0.5 oz. Hallertauer hops for 30 min.
1 oz. Saaz hops at end of boil
WLP833 German Bock Lager Yeast
2/3 cup corn sugar for priming

Step By Step

Crush crystal and cara-pils malt and put in grain bag. Steep grains for 60 minutes at 150F in the volume of water your pot can handle for brewing. Remove grain bag and add liquor to brew pot…if it’s not in your brew pot already. Bring liquor to a boil. Add first Hallertaur hops portion and light malt extract. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops on schedule indicated above.

Cool to fermentation temperature and add yeast. Ferment at temperatures as directed on the yeast vial. Final gravity should be 1.008. Move beer to secondary vessel and condition for up to two weeks. Prime and bottle condition for up to two months.

Get started now and it will be ready for April.

I told you it was a work in progress, so here is the latest iteration of my Oatmeal Stout Recipe.  This time I added a little flaked barely rather than all Oatmeal.  This is an attempt to force a creamy mouthfeel.  I also increased the amount of Black Patent and Roasted Barely, while cutting back on the chocolate.  In retrospect this may be a mistake, but its all about learning. 

I also tried to do some bittering with a high alpha hop (Nugget), and do flavoring with the EKG.  Using a low alpha hop for bittering means using more of it, which does carry over some flavor because you use so much more.  By using I high alpha hop addition for bittering the flavor contribution will be less.  Then by using the EKG as a flavoring addition, I use less overall EKG (saves on precious EKG right now), but I still get an EKG and English Stout character.  At least that’s how it plays out on paper (or blog), I’ll post some tasting notes on this in a few weeks once the beer is servable.

Oatmeal Stout#2

13-C Oatmeal Stout

Size: 6.5 gal
Efficiency: 65%
Attenuation: 70.0%
Calories: 212.9 per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.063 (1.048 - 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.019 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 35.4 (22.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 5.83% (4.2% - 5.9%)
Bitterness: 33.57 (25.0 - 40.0)

Ingredients:

12.0 lbs English 2-row Pale
1 lbs Wheat Malt
0.75 lbs American Caramel 40°L
0.25 lbs American Caramel 120°L
0.75 lbs American Chocolate Malt
1 lbs American Black Patent
1 lbs Roasted Barley
1 lbs Rice Hulls
1 lbs Oats Flaked
1 lbs Barley Flaked
0.75 oz Nugget (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz East Kent Goldings (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
2 pkg Safale-04 (Fermentis)

Schedule:

Mash In - Liquor: 4.94 gal; Strike: 178.3 °F; Target: 156 °F
Conversion - Rest: 60 min; Final: 156.0 °F
Mash out Infusion - Water: 5.09 gal; Temperature: 181.9 °F; Target: 168 °F

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

A few posts ago, I asked if anyone had a Spaten Optimator clone recipe.  I didn’t get much of a response so I did a little research and found some recipes that were created to be Spaten Optimator clones.   Interestingly enough to mention, they were all different in the types of hops and malts they called for.

So here’s a Doppelbock recipe that probably will taste as good as an Optimator (Extract with grains).

4 lbs of pale malt extract in boil
5 lbs of pale malt extract added at flameout
1.5 lbs of 80L crystal malt
1.5 lbs of Munich malt
0.5 lbs of Victory malt 
1 oz of Perle hops at 60 minutes
1 oz of Tettnang at 10 minutes
Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager

Steep crystal, Munich, and Victory malt in 160 degree water for 30 minutes.  Add to boil with first wave of pale malt extract and Perle hops.  

Ferment 2 weeks at 50 degrees.  Move to secondary vessel and lager for 6 weeks at 35 degrees.

Prime with corn sugar and bottle condition for 6 months in your basement. 

Notes:

If you can find German pale malt extract, that would be ideal. 

I put in the Victory malt to get some bready flavors in it. 

I would make a yeast starter for this big beer. 

Not sure I can wait 6 months after the long fermentation and lagering.