Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Berry Wheat Beer Phase 2

On July 2, 2012

For phase two of the berry wheat beer, I racked the beer that had finished fermenting in the primary vessel to another washed and sanitized carboy filled with 3 pounds of mixed berries.

If I had more time and energy, I would have bought fresh blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries from the local farm. Since I didn’t have either, a frozen bag of fruit did the trick. I let it thaw overnight and then I sprayed the bag with a pre-mixed Star-san solution.

With the large funnel, I poured the juice and the berries into the carboy. By pouring slowing and shaking the funnel a bit when things got stuck, I emptied the whole bag.

Once the fruit was in, it was time to rack the beer on top. From the gallery below, you can see I had some help. The beer is for the adults coming to her first birthday party, so it’s fitting she was around to witness the transfer.

I guess we could officially call this new vessel a secondary fermenator since there will be a little activity while the yeast eats up the sugar the berries brought to the party. In about a week, I will check on how the beer tastes. If it’s ready to go, I’ll bottle if I am ready or I may rack again to leave the berry bits behind.

Sovereign Hops

By John Krochune

On June 28, 2012

In Hops

I was reading a great article in All About Beer Magazine about breeding new hops. One of the varieties that was mentioned in the article was one that we hadn’t covered yet. This variety is named Sovereign hops.

So using the article as a starting point, I gathered the information I found online and married it with what was explained in the magazine to put together as comprehensive a post I could muster.

It was bred at Wye College, which is a well known entity for English hop breeding. We’ve covered a few different hops bred there. It started off known as TA200 and is a descendant of the Pioneer hop variety.

The year of origin was 1995 from an open pollination. It is a dwarf or hedgerow variety, which means its bines don’t grow that tall. Dr. Peter Darby has the EU Plant Variety Rights for Sovereign hops.

Ok, let’s break it down.

Origin: UK (see above)

Aroma/Flavor: Soft, earthy, and slightly floral, similar to Fuggles with a bit of tropical fruit

Alpha Acid: 4.5 – 6.5%

Typical Usage: Aroma

Beer Styles: Extra Special Bitters, other English ales

Half Year Brew Review

By Mike

On June 28, 2012

In Brew Log, General

The end of June is nearly here. I have been steadily brewing once a month this year. A challenge issued to me by my wife; and I am loving every month of it. In fact I am seven brews into only 6 months of brewing. Here’s the tally:

Cream Ale- family favorite, good recipe but next time I plan to brew it with rice vs. corn
Raspberry Wheat- originally two cans of cherry puree, eventually got 1# frozen raspberry. The wife likes it, but I am ready to dump it out to make room in the kegorator.
Brown Ale- Amazing toffee nose, and an almost hazelnut finish. Plan to lighten the color next time around.
Pale Ale- Warrior hops are a good sub for Magnum. Happily this one got a nice late hop addition of Centennial hops before they become so hard to get. 4 days of dryhopping just too short.
Orange Wheat- I love this recipe, American Hefe yeast was a twist, still love WLP400 instead though.
Munich SMASH Lager- Amazingly orange color, still lagering so a true taste test remains to be done.
Munich Helles- Fermenting away quietly. Gravity and Diacetyl test this weekend.

Trouble with brewing every month is that I am having a hard time deciding what to brew next. I honestly didn’t think it would be this hard to choose each month.

Without much detail here’s the short list of ideas for my next couple brews in no specific order:
Belgian Triple with 40% Rye malt. Maybe a split batch with half of it getting a Brett finish.
Partigyle English Barelywine and English IPA.
Flanders Red or Berliner Weisse
Repeat of Brown Ale, Cream Ale and Oatmeal Stout (dec 2011)
Sweet potato beer
Dry Stout

I could go on and on.

BREW ON!

Berry Wheat Recipe

By John Krochune

On June 21, 2012

In Extract, Recipes

This recipe uses malt/wheat extract and is calibrated for a 4 gallon batch with a 5 gallon boil. If you are looking to brew using an all grain method or to yield a 5 gallon batch, use this beer recipe calculator to modify the recipe.

Ingredients:

3.3 pounds of Munton’s Wheat Extract (Liquid)

2 pounds of pilsner or extra light dry malt extract

1 ounce Mt. Hood Hop pellets – 4.5% AA for 60 minutes

Yeast: WLP862 Cry Havoc Liquid Yeast (If unavailable or you just hate that strain, substitute with White Labs WLP001 Liquid Yeast)

3 pounds frozen mixed berries (added in secondary vessel)

Instructions:

Boil wheat extract, dry malt extract and hops for 60 minutes.

Cool wort to 64°F. Pitch healthy 2 liter yeast starter or 2 vials of liquid yeast.

Ferment around 64°F for two weeks in primary fermentation vessel.

After primary fermentation is complete, rack beer to secondary vessel filled with 3 pounds mixed berries.

Leave beer on berries for a week. Taste after a week. After a week, if taste isn’t where you want it to be, leave it on berries until the taste is where you want it to be. I would think two weeks is a maximum time limit but maybe not. Rack and bottle/keg as normal.

Predictions:

Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (standard): 4.23%
IBU (tinseth): 23.84
SRM (morey): 3.68

See this post for an account of this beer’s brew session escapades.

Wheat Ale Brew Night

By John Krochune

On June 18, 2012

In Brew Log

If you have been following our twitter feed (http://twitter.com/BrewDudes), you already know that these Brew Dudes have had a few brew sessions over the past few days. Mike brewed up a Munich Helles on Friday night and I brewed up a simple wheat ale on Saturday night.

We have a big party coming up towards the end of July and the Bohemian Pilsner probably won’t be ready in time, so a quick American wheat ale will do the trick.

Plus, it gives me a good base beer for adding fruit to the secondary to make a berry beer suitable for a large audience.

It was a full boil extract brew which made for an easy going session under the stars. From start to finish, it only took me 2.5 hours which added to the easiness of the session.

I’ll post the recipe soon but here’s a teaser – it was the first time I used the Cry Havoc yeast strain.

Photos of the brew session:

The boil was mysterious. Well, not really…but the photo makes it look like I was boiling with dry ice.

Two vials of Cry Havoc yeast. No time for a starter.

The hydrometer reading after the boil. I had to add a few points because my wort was warmer than 60°F. Starting gravity was more like 1.054.