McCarthy's Irish Red Brew Session

This is an Irish red recipe from "Brewing Classic Styles". Overall it was a nice brew day. It was so smooth that I completely forgot to take the SG reading before I pitched the yeast packs. Oh well, we can't win em' all! It smelled exactly like Smithwicks. It should turn out quite nice. efficiency was estimated around 70%.

McCarthy's Irish Red Ale
11.25 Crisp marris Otter
6 oz. crystal 40
6 oz. chocolate
6 oz. roasted barley
2 pks wyeast irish ale
irish moss
2.25 oz goldings (5% A.A.) 60 min

KITCHEN SINK KOLSCH STYLE BEER

As soon as I got back from mexico I had to brew. I had two packs of kolsch yeast so I thought that a nice, light kolschy ale would be great choice! After brushing up on my batch sparging technique I was excited to see how the next sesssion would progress. The problem was, my local homebrew shop gets cleaned out over the weekend and its slim pickins' come monday. So only 3 lbs of continental pils malt. I would have to make up the rest with the canadian 2-row. Here's the recipe.

Kitchen Sink Kolschy Style Ale

6 lbs Canadian 2-row
2 lbs Begian pils
1 lb German pils
1 lb Munich
1/2 lb wheat
1.5 oz Hallertau Herbsbruck 4.2%AA (60min)
1 tsp Irish Moss (15min)
2 packs Wyeast 2565 Kolsch

Mashed with a ratio of 1.3 qts per lb of grain. single infusion at 152 degrees for 90 min. Added a gallon of near boiling water to mash out, and sparged with 3.75 gallons. I got a pre boil SG of 1.039 at 6.6 gallons, and an OG of 1.050 at the end of the 75 min boil. I pitched at 60 degrees and stuck the carboy in a chiller tank. Krausen formed in under 8 hrs. I tried to keep it around 60 as best I could, but it was hard. I temped the chiller water at 63 a couple times the first 3 days. once I temped it at 65 on the 5th day. On the sixth day I let it ramp up as the krausen started to fall. the temp settled at 67. I will Carb to 2.5 Volumes, and lager for 4 weeks in the fridge.

BREWERY NEWS

Well November flew buy fast! We were able to make two beers before we left for vacation. An all Centennial hopped American Pale Ale, and a Russian Imperial Stout. The lesson from these brews were 1. make a hop sack for the brew kettle, and 2. read Denny's Cheap 'n' Easy Batch Sparge page . I thought I read it, but turns out I missed the part about both runoffs being equal for optimum efficiency. The methods we have been using are designed for a different system and brewing technique, such as fly sparging. So as soon as I got back from vacation I brewed a Kolsch, and it worked out great. Really smooth session! I also was able to control the boil off rate so I wasn't boiling off too much wort, The runoffs were pretty close to equal, and the efficiency turned out to be 76%. Not bad, seeing as the recipe was designed for 70%.

Here are a few shots of my brew partner bottling his R.I.S. Unfortunately we ran off way too much wort into the kettle and diluted our pre-boil gravity. we collected 9 gallons at the start of the boil. we boiled hard for 90 min. and wound up with 6 1/2 gallons at the end. At bottling it tasted very close to the commercial example. It was getting late so we opted not to boil longer to reduce the wort down, instead we accepted the lesson of "watch your runoff amount".

Here is the recipe for the Imperial Stout, it is based on an Old Rasputin clone.

15 lb Canadian 2-row
12 oz Chocolate malt
8 oz Black Patent
18 oz Crystal 80
8 oz Victory
2.12 oz Cluster at 7%AA (60min)
1/2 oz Centennial (15min)
1/2 oz Northern Brewer (15min)
1 oz Liberty (2min)
3 pks Wyeast 1056

CENTENNIAL PALE ALE BREW SESSION V2.0

Today is the first time I tried to duplicate one of the recipes I have brewed before. In the past I usually make changes to the recipes trying to make them better. Im a tweeker! So I got up early and started brewing my 100% Centennial Pale Ale. This is also the first time using whole leaf hops. The brew session went really smooth. I didn't cuss once! I tried to be as carefull and palnned in every aspect. Efficiency turned out to be 72%. I used the same grain and hop bill except I used 9.3# of canadian 2-row instead of 10# of american 2-row. I also made a starter for the first time with the yeast cake I harvested from the last pale ale I did. So in the end, this is not exactly the same beer as before. I did a 90 min mash at 152 degrees, and used 1.3 quarts of water per pound of grain.

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Single Hop Series "Centennial" Pale Ale V2.0

9.3 lb Canadian 2-Row

1 lb American Caramel 10*

3/4 lb Victory

1 oz Centennial 8.8 AA 90 min

1/2 oz Centennial 8.8 AA 15 min

1/2 oz Centennial 8.8 AA 1 min

1 oz Centennial 8.8 AA dry1 tsp

Irish Moss 15 min

Wyeast 1056 yeast slurry from the last centennial pale ale batch

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While I brew here is the Bohemian Kolsch. mmmm beer! The beer is a little hazy, but thats cause the yeast flocculates very poorly. Tasty!

GRAND TASTING SESSION!

My good friend Dave McCarthy is back from Alaska, so I thought it would be a good time to do a grand tasting session with a bunch of new beer and some old batches that have been in the cellar for six months.
First we tasted the kolsch I made with 100% Czech Saaz. I thought it was nice. The yeast used was the limited edition Wyeast kolsch strain. It was slightly fruity with that saaz spiciness's. The yeast flocculates very poorly so it still was hazy after 6 weeks in the fridge. Dave thought it had a slight chalky feel. I wasn't getting that at all. I liked the beer very much.
Next we tasted his chocolate raspberry porter, an extract beer. This was a Dave creation and not a memorable one. The beer had an alkaline taste from the chocolate that gave it a huge bite, despite the great raspberry flavor. Almost undrinkable!
Moving on we tasted the blueberry wheat. Dave really enjoyed this one, and said it was good. I still feel it needed more sweetness and body.
After that we tasted the two Fat Tire clones, neither tasted anything like Fat Tire. The oldest batch was based on the NB Phat Tyre kit. It was gross. Too much extract flavor. It was like drinking molasses. The other batch was an exact copy of the Beer Captured recipe for Fat Tire. I thought it tasted like a Newcastle Brown Ale. Dave liked it but said it was too malty. I agreed.
On to the IPA and Pale Ale, both of which I think are excellent batches. Dave really liked the IPA, said he could see it being commercially sold. I would have to agree. It has a great balance between hop aroma, bitterness and overall malt character. After tasting the Pale Ale Dave again said it had a chalky taste. I thought he was on crack! By far this is one of my favorites. It was made with all centennial. You get huge grapefruit notes that is balanced with the sweet malt character. These will be the first recipes I will try to duplicate.

STOCKED UP FOR WINTER!!

Well I have totally succome to the obsession that is brewing. I picked up my first 65# bag of Canadian 2-row. I also picked up a whole bunch of specialty grains such as, caramel 40, cara-pils, Belgian biscuit, flaked maze, victory, Belgian spacial-b, organic caramel 60, caramel 10, 10 lbs of organic American 2-Row, and along with the large supply of whole leaf hops from Fresh Hops , I am Stocked! I also picked up a back up propane tank, as the one I have is low. Here is the complete inventory.

Gastronomique Brewery Inventory
October 2008

Grain Stock:
Caramel 120° ½ lb
Caramel 80° ¼ lb
Caramel 40° 1 lb
Caramel 60° 1 lb
Caramel 10° 1 lb
Caramel 20° ½ lb
U.K. Crystal 60° ¼ lb
Cara-Pils 1lb
Black Pattent 1 lb
Belgian Biscuit 1 ½ lb
Chocolate ¾ lb
White Wheat 4.5 lb
Wheat 1.25 lb
German Munich 4.5 lb
Malto-Dextrine ¼ lb
Victory 1 lb
Canadian 2-Row 65 lb
Organic 2-Row 10 lb
Organic Caramel 60° 1 lb
Flaked Maze 1 lb
Belgian Special B 1 lb
Honey Malt 1 lb

Hops:
Cascade
8 oz whole (7.2% AA)
½ oz pellets (4.2% AA)
Centennial
4 oz whole (9.0% AA)
Chinook
½ oz pellets (12.4% AA)
Fuggle
2 oz whole (4.7% AA)
Golding
2 oz whole (5.0% AA)
Hallertau
2.5 oz pellets (4.2%AA)
1 oz pellets (3.9%AA)
Organic New Zealand Hallertau
2 oz whole (7.0% AA)
Magnum
2 oz whole (14.2% AA)
Northern Brewer
1 oz pellets (6.5%AA)
Perle
1 oz pellets (5.7%AA)
2 oz whole (4.2% AA)
Organic Pacific Gem
2 oz whole
German Spalt
.75 oz pellets (3.2%AA)
Czech Saaz
2 oz pellets (3.2%AA)
1 oz pellets (5.8%AA)
Willamette
2 oz whole (5.1% AA)

WICKED HARD CIDAH

This is the inaugural batch of hard cider. I have been wanting to do this for some time, and now that I'm fully stocked up on beer I thought I give it a go. I'm not a big fan of a lot of the American commercial products on the market. Unlike the European ciders, I feel they are too sweet and although it is impossible to determine the exact blend of apples, a Magner's Clone is what I am aiming for.

Wicked Hard Cidah

2 gal Wild Oats Organic Apple Juice

2 gal Hy's Apple Cider

4.5 Quarts 100% Gravenstein Apple Juice

Wyeast Cider Yeast

Making Cider is as easy as you want it to be. I just smacked the yeast pack the night before, let the juice warm up to 64 degrees, poured the juice in a sanitized bucket, pitched the yeast, aerated, and that's it. Some say to use yeast nutrient, some say to use Campden tabs to kill any wild yeast, and some say to make a starter. I wanted to start from a simple recipe and build upon it. I may add some oak in the secondary. All the juice had been pasteurized and none had added preservatives.

The next day it was bubbling like crazy!

The cider sat in primary for 2 weeks and secondary for 3 months.
When I kegged this I added about a quart of simple syrup that I made with clove and cinnamon sticks, along with about a half gallon of pasteurized apple cider. The best way is to add this in stages, and taste as you go to get the right sweetness level that you are looking for.

"DON'T CALL IT A COME BACK" IPA BOTTLING SESSION

Bottled the Don't Call it a Come Back IPA today. Yeild was just under 2 cases of 12 oz bottles. ABV is 6.1%. Great hop aroma. Should be a winner!

SINGLE HOP SERIES CENTENNIAL PALE ALE

This morning I bottled my Single Hop Series Centennial Pale Ale. I was trying to make an IPA but it ended up being 5.1% ABV, so I switched it to a good old pale ale. The little bit from the hydrometer test tube tasted really good with a great hop aroma. Im excited to have this one in my arsenal. The recipe is based upon a SNPA clone. I can't wait till it is ready!

SINGLE HOP SERIES "CENTENNIAL" PALE ALE

10 lbs American 2-row
1 lb American Caramel 10*
3/4 lb Victory
1 oz Centennial 8.8 AA 90 min
1/2 oz Centennial 8.8 AA 15 min
1/2 oz Centennial 8.8 AA 5 min
1 oz Centennial 8.8 AA dry
1 tsp Irish Moss 15 min
Wyeast 1056

DOUBLE BREW SESSION

Today I decided to brew 2 beers. A Wit and an American IPA. The wit beer is my fiances favorite so i always have to have it in the inventory. I started on the wit early, around 7am. I based it on recipe I have brewed only once before. I thought that the beer was a little too bitter so I changed the hop schedule. Instead of Belgian pils I used American 2 row, no reason, just because I had it in my grain stock.


Wit Beer:
5lbs American 2-row
3lbs White Wheat
1/2lb Belgian Aromatic
1/2lb Cara-Pils
1.5lbs Flaked Wheat
1/2lb Rice Hulls
1/2oz Willamette (4.6% AA) 60min
1/2oz German Spalt 15min
3/4oz Sweet Orange Peel 15min
1tsp Crushed Coriander 15min
1/4oz Sweet Orange Peel 1min
1/2 tsp Crushed Coriander 1min

I heated the strike water to 172, threw it in the mash tun to preheat. Once the temp was at 163 I doughed in. Mash stabilized at 152. I let it rest for 90min. I sparged with 4.5gal, and collected 6.5gal with an OG of 1.036. for a 65% efficiency. Not exactly what I was shooting for but I did increase efficiency by 10 points from the last session. When I rack this to secondary I will taste and decide how much, if any, dry hopping I will do.

On to the next one. This "Don't Call It A Come Back" IPA is a recipe that I threw together with what I had in my grain stock. I had an assistant to help with this batch, which was nice. The last brew session was supposed to be an IPA but because my efficiency was so low the OG was too low to call it an IPA, so viola, Pale Ale! This time I went for more grains, more hops, and more hops, and did I mention more hops.

"Don't Call it a Comeback IPA"
10lbs American 2-row
2.5lbs Belgian Pils
1/2lb Munich
1/2lb caramel 20
1/2lbs UK Crystal 60
1/4lb Belgian Biscuit
1oz Chinook (12.4% AA) 90min
1/2oz Perle (7.9% AA) 30min
1/4oz Chinook (12.4% AA) 30min
1/2oz Cascade 15 min
1/2oz Cascade 1min
1oz Cascade (dry hop)
1tsp Irish Moss 15min


I striked with a little under 4.5 gal of water, and doughed in at 162 degrees. Did A sach. rest for 90 min and sparged with 4.75 gal. Collected 7 gallons of wort and boiled for 90 min. got and OG of 1.058 for a 70% efficiency. Much better then the morning brew session, a great way to end the day.

KOLSCH

This is a kolsch recipe based on a Reissdorf clone. The recipe features 100% noble Czech Saaz.

7.5lbs Belgian Pils

1lb White Wheat

3/4lb Munich

2oz Czech Saaz 3.2%A.A. 60 min

1/2oz Czech Saaz 15 min

1/2oz Czech Saaz 5 min

1 tsp Irish Moss 15 min

O.G. 1.045

mash at 150 for 90 min 3.25g

Batch Sparge with 4.75g

I Switched the to a Bazooka screen in the Mash tun, replacing the P.V.C. manifold.

While the Boilermaker Boils I get to sit relax, not worry, and have a homebrew.

This is the first tasting of the Late Summer Blueberry Wheat. It has a dark Port wine color. There are blueberries on the nose but not overwhelming. The mouthfeel is spritzy, similar to Proseco. The taste is not sweet, the blueberry is the dominant characteristic with a tart finish. I feel it should be sweeter. I will up the carmel, and mabey add some dextrine malt.

INTRODUCING THE BLUEBERRIES TO THE WHEAT BEER

Gastronomique employees.

I got 10 lbs from the local restaurant supply store $36.

Racking to secondary with 10 lbs of IQF blueberries.

BEER LABELS

EQUIPMENT

Mash Tun: 10 gallon cooler with a Bazooka Screen
Boil Kettle: 10 gallon Blichman Boilermaker
Chiller: 30ft copper coil immersion chiller
Primary Fermenters: 7 gallon food grade plastic bucket, 6 gallon glass carboy
Secondary Fermenters: 5 gallon glass carboy, 5 gallon used water bottle (used only for lambics)

RASPBERRY LAMBIC

Here are some pics of the raspberry lambic. Notice the funky pelicile. gross. Im going to blend this at 12 months old with a 3 month old. I made this beer using a mini mash method. I used the wyeast 1050 american ale yeast, and then after a week I had added 10LBS of thawed I.Q.F. raspberries, and the wyeast lambic blend. After 3 months I saw all this funky stuff growing on the berries so I racked to this fermenter. I should have let it go. After it was said and done I only have 2.5 gallons left.

LADY VICTORY AMBER ALE

Tried the Amber ale after it has been in the fridge for about 3 to 4 weeks. It is smooth and creamy, kinda like Newcastle. Has great clarity. Very tasty!

LATE SUMMER BLUEBERRY WHEAT

Here is the first attempt at fruit beer. I mashed with 3.5 gallons of water and sparged with 4.75. it yielded 6.75 gallons of wort. My strike water was at 164, doughed in, and it stabilized to around 150 plus or minus a couple of degrees. I got different temps from around the mash tun. at the end of the boil I was left with 6 gallons. I had an og at 1.046/48. I will rack in a week and throw in 10lbs of thawed IQF blueberries. bottle after another week. I have blueberry beer extract if I feel it needs more blueberry flavor, hopefully not.

GRAIN BILL:
5LBS American 2 row
2LBS Belgian pilsen
2LBS White wheat
1/2LB Canadian Honey malt
1/4LB American caramel 20

HOP BILL:
3/4 oz Czech Sazz (2.9 A.A.) boil 60 min
1/2 oz French Strisselspalt (2.6% A.A.) boil 15 min
1/2 oz French Strisselspalt (2.6% A.A.) boil for 5 min

Other Ingredients:
1 tsp Irish moss boil 15 min (don't know why I added this, must have been force of habit)
10LBS thawed I.Q.F. blueberries added to secondary
1LB Rice Hulls added to the mash

1 smack pack Wyeast 1010 american wheat

GASTRONOMIQUE BREWERY MENU

Primary: Rock Face IPA, Duchess de Nodak Flanders Red
Secondary: Raspberry Lambic, Wicked Hard Cidah

Bottled: American~Russian Imperial Stout, Kitchen Sink Kolsch, McCarthy's Irish Red.

On Deck: ESB, Scotch Wee Heavy, Vanilla Bourbon Porter, Northern German Alt Bier, Hefeweizen, Oatmeal Stout.