Cider and IPA Kegging Sessions

Well I decided to keg The IPA and the Cider, after I finally gathered all the kegging equipment. The IPA came out nice and hoppy, with a lot of malt character. At first It seemed a little too sweet, but as it aged a bit, and settled at the proper carbonation level, it actually turnned out not too bad. I don't think this stuff will last very long!
As for the Cider....
I ended up back sweetening with some apple cider that contained preservatives, some apple juice, and a simple syrup that I boiled with some cinnamon and clove. It tasted real nice, with good crisp apple flavor. Its got a nice tannin level that balances with the tartness and the sweetness of the cider.
The final gravity fell to 1.000, so with a starting gravity of 1.050 its should be around 6.5% ABV before I added the juice and sugar. The ABV should be a little lower after the addition.
Next time I might add some french oak and some honey or sugar to the recipe.

Duchess de Nodak

Last night I attempted a Flanders Red. Overall it was a nice session, even though it was only about 10 degrees outside. My wife Jenny is from North Dakota and loves Duchess de Bourgogne, so hence the name Duchess de Nodak. Nodak = North Dakota. I used the method of starting fermentation with wyeast 1056, and then secondary with oak chips and the wyeast Rosalare blend. This is supposed to get more consistent results, and make it turn out not as sour as the Rodenbach Grand cru, but more like the regular Rodenbach.

Duchess de Nodak
A Flanders Red

5.25 lbs Canadian 2 row
5.25 lbs Vienna
1/2 lb Wheat
1 lb Munich
1/2 lb Special "B"
1/2 lb Caramunich III
1/2 lb Aromatic
1 tab Wirlfloc 10 min
.8 oz Goldings (5% AA) 60 min
1 pk Wyeast 1056 American Ale
1 pk Wyeast VSS Rosalare blend
1 oz oak Chips

I mashed at 154 for 90 minutes, boiled for 75 minutes and chilled to 63 degrees before pitching the 1056. After racking this to secondary it will ferment for about a year. I might add sour cherries before bottling, we'll see how it goes!

Centennial Pale Ale V2.0 Tasting Notes

This was a good beer. Nice and Hoppy!
Not to be over critical but it was a little too caramel candy sweet, but in reality it was not cloying and pleasant to the palate. I'll tweek that down a bit next time. Nice white to off white head. Very "drinkable". This stuff was gone fast.



In other news.....



I finally scored a sanyo 4912 mini fridge for a kegerator!!!!!
Thank you Craigslist!
I took it off this guys hands for a mere 100 bucks.
I got the tubes and fittings coming from the always reliable Northern Brewer, and a dual regulator from Midwest Supplies for $99. All I have to do now is pick up the co2 from the gas store, Suburban Carbonics.

Rock Face IPA Brew Session

Today I made an IPA using a recipe I just came up with out of the blue with a little help from Brewing Classic Styles.

Rock Face IPA

12.75 lbs Canadian 2row
.75 lbs Munich
1 Lbs Caramel 20
.25 lbs Caramel 40
1 oz Magnum (14.2% AA) 60 min
1/2 oz Centennial (9% AA) 10min
1/2 oz Cascade (7.2% AA) 10 min
1 oz Cascade (7.2% AA) 5 min
1 oz Cascade Flame out
1 oz Cascade Dry Hop
2.89 liter Yeast Starter Wyeast 1056
1 tsp Irish Moss 15 min

Mash For 90 min at 150-149
1.3 qt per pound ratio
target OG 1.065
Estimated FG 1.012

Actual OG 1.060
I ended up adding a little too much water for a mash out, and I collected 7.25 gal instead of 7 gal, thus diluting the pre-boil gravity. Over all, a very smooth session. I used a big starter that I made sunday morning. I pitched at 3:00 pm and krausen had formed by the time I woke up the next day.
"Chin Chin"

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