Chasity Ale

Ok, so when you find a brew that is well liked by others, they will ask you to brew it again. I have a "Chasity" brew that is enjoyed by my girlfriend. She really likes it. It is a really easy batch to make. Basically, it's: 5 lb german pilsner malt 5 lb 2 row malt 1 lb german melanoidin malt 2 oz cascade hops 6.0% alpha 1 oz fuggles hops 5.5% alpha In the boil, I use one ounce of cascade for 60 minutes. at 30 minutes, one more ounce of cascade. at 15 minutes, one ounce of fuggles, 1 tsp gypsum, 1 tsp irish moss. I usually add the wort chiller at this point as well to sanitize it. This beer is not overly hoppy and tends to be a light red. Very easy good beer.

Kolsch Brewed

I brewed a Kolsch (though I can't call it that as I don't live in Koln Germany) on Saturday. It was an interesting brew. I found some Kolsch malt which was malted in Koln Germany so I decided to use 2 pounds of that along with 5 pounds of German Pils Malt. I added 1 pound of Belgian Wheat Malt as well. The hops were 2 ounces of Hallertau and 1 ounce of Tettnang. It was a very simple recipe. I started with five gallons of water and heated to 182. It was a bit too hot so I added the hot water to the mashtun and let it cool to 152 and maintained the temp. I left it alone for two hours then sparged. The boil was only an hour. I am brewing this for the style contest at Forest City Brewers for the June contest. The brew is fermenting nicely with an Original Gravity (O.G.) of 1.044 starting out. I think the Final Gravity (F.G.) will be around 1.010 based on the fermentation so far. Visit my blog page at www.beerandwineathome.com.

Scottish Ale bottled - entered - drinking

Well, I bottled the scottish ale. It is a bit dark to meet the bjcp standards but it tasted good. I entered it into the style contest at the brew club Forest City Brewers and only got an honorable mention. That was a bummer because I really like the taste of this brew! Oh well. I am drinking it up and lovin' it! The next style contest for May is Maibocks and Hellesbocks. I don't have one brewed so I am brewing a Kolsch for June this weekend. I think I may enter a simple pale ale I brewed up in between for the open contest for May though. I need to hurry though. It is still in the primary fermenter but it's done. I may as well filter out the yeast and throw that one in a keg. Visit my page at www.beerandwineathome.com.

Special Discount on the Second Release of my Book

‎$2 off on the newest release of my book Beer and Ingredients II, What does What. This is good for March only. To celebrate the new release of the 2nd edition of Beer Ingredients book, you can get $2 dollars off. Use code 6DNT3ESB when checking out and the enclosed link. Use the extra money and book to homebrew up a great batch of beer.

Click here to order the book.

Don't forget to like the book on Facebook.

Visit my website as well. www.beerandwineathome.com

Scottish Export Ale

I brewed a Scottish Export Ale last Friday 2/24. I did a step infusion mash. The first temperature was 140 degrees F for 45 minutes. The second was 150 for 45 minutes. The third was 159 for 45 minutes. I sparged well and boiled for 90 minutes.

The brew worked out great with an O.G. of 1.058. The only odd thing that happened was when I activated the liquid yeast. I "thought" I smashed it and mixed the yeast with the nutrient, but it really didn't break and mix. So, I had to pitch the yeast as it was. This resulted in a very slow start to the fermentation. But, I checked it today and the gravity is now 1.012. The color is pretty dark for a Scottish Export Ale, but still within bjcp guidelines.

I brewed this batch to enter into the beer contest at Forest City Brewers.

Visit my site at beerandwineathome.com for other information.

Beer & Ingredients II, The Ultimate Beer Ingredient Guide, What does What. Take your homebrew to the next level, homebrew's ingredient guide.

The second release of my beer book is out on Kindle now.  I have already gotten some good feedback that I'll take and use for release three.  Click here to take a look!  I've added some ingredients missing in the first book and updated the formatting.

This book was written to give brewers a general feel of the ingredient needed to make the beer they want to make.  Many ingredients are similar so when you get to the store and the store is out of stock, you can use my book to come up with an alternative ingredient and still brew up a great batch of beer.  Who knows....  Experimenting with ingredients to make a new batch of beer may make the beer better.  My book is geared to help you experiment and love brewing beer.

The printed version of the book should be out early next week!

Happy Brewing!

The Russian Imperial Stout is in the Bourbon Barrel

My friends at Forest City Brewers built a stand for the 55 gallon bourbon barrel and added a fresh bottle of bourbon to re-saturate the wood.  We all got together and brewed a Russian Imperial Stout.  All the batches worked out well and are now in the bourbon barrel aging and soaking in that lovely bourbon flavor.  This is going to be a great brew!  I think we ended up around 40 gallons and I think they told me another 10 gallons is on the way.  We should end up at around 50 gallons of beer.  

Great teamwork guys!

Visit my site at www.beerandwineathome.com

The Russian Imperial Stout is going to the Bourbon Barrel

I moved the Russian Imperial Stout to the secondary carboy.  It had a final gravity of 1.018, which is slightly low.  The BJCP states that the low end of the Final Gravity is 1.018, but others are saying 1.020.  So, I'm going with the BJCP.

I took a small sample to taste.  It was very good.  Today is the Forest City Brewers meeting and I plan to take the beer in the carboy to the meeting and give it to my friend who owns the bourbon barrel.  This beer will have no issues passing the strict quality tests they are doing to everyone's beer that will potentially go into the bourbon barrel.  I can't wait to taste it after it ages!

Visit my site at www.beerandwineathome.com

Patrick

The Russian Imperial Stout is in the Primary

In my last post, click here if you missed it, I wrote about the Russian Imperial Stout I am brewing for The Forest City Brewers Club.  I did a single mash infusion at 150 degrees F.  I mashed for a long time as the O.G. for a Russian Imperial Stout should be at or above 1.075.  My brew ended up right at 1.075.  In hindsight, if I would've added 190 degree F water to the mash to increase the temperature to about 158 degrees F, I would've extracted unfermentable sugars which would've added to the body of the beer sending it well past 1.075.  As a result, my beer will be a bit higher in alcohol as long as the yeast lives and can survive in the higher alcoholic brew.

Regardless, the color is right, the body is a bit lighter then it should be, but all in all... it's gonna be a great tasting beer to add to the bourbon barrel to age!

Feel free to visit my site at:  www.beerandwineathome.com.

Russian Imperial Stout

The brew club I belong to, Forest City Brewers, recently got a hold of some 55 gallon bourbon barrels.  Obviously, the bourbon was no longer in it, but it has a great aroma.

We are all joining together to make 5 gallon batches of a Russian Imperial Stout to fill the barrel and age it.

I'm all in man!  I'm brewing this weekend.

12 LB Maris Otter Malt
1 LB Crystal Malt 20L
1 LB Munich Malt
1 LB Special B Malt
1 LB Wheat Malt (which was very hard to crush, by the way)
1 LB Crystal Malt 60L
.5 LB Chocolate Malt
.25 LB Black Patent Malt
.25 Roasted Barley

1 OZ Galena AA 13.2
1 OZ Northern Brewer AA 8.5
1 OZ East Kent Goldings AA 4.9

The Yeast we are using is WYeast 1056 American Ale.

Wish us luck!

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Niagra Grape Wine

I recently got about 40 pounds of niagra grapes from a friend of mine.  Yesterday, I went through them to pick out the bad one and get them off the stem.  I did it by hand.  It took four hours!  I had spiders try biting me, earwigs crawling on me, and lady bugs.  I didn't have a fruit press so I ended up using a blender.  So, what was supposed to be crushed grapes turned into a grape puree.  I added some water, bentonite, two camden tablets, and hopefully a little luck.

I have brewed many beers.  I don't have bugs crawling on me when I brew.....  Oh well.  It was an experience.  Hopefully it turns out well and it is worth the effort.

Red Pale Ale

Ok... So my last batch of pale ale is gone already.  So, I decided to make a variation to it.

5 lbs German Pilsner malt
5 lbs Cargill 2 Row Pale Malt
1 lb German Melanoidin Malt
0.5 lb Flaked Corn
1 oz Sterling Pellet
1 oz Liberty

and the yeast is dry Nottingham. 

I wanted a nice red hue to this one.  I am brewing it now and it smells sooooooo good!

Black IPA is fermenting!

I made a black IPA yesterday.  I used 4 ounces of Chinook at 12.0% Alpha Acid and 4 ounces of Nugget at 11.7% Alpha Acid.  I think it is gonna be a good one!

I added 1 pound of German Melanoidin malt to this.  Oddly, I think it gave it a little bit of a purple (ish) hue!  Oh well, let's see how it comes out.

Black IPA is next!

I just bought the ingredients to make a black IPA.  I am going to use a full pound of chocolate malt and a pound of German Melanoidin malt.  I love using Melanoidin malt.

10 lbs 2 row pale malt
1 lb german melanoidin malt
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb crystal malt 60 lovibond
1 lb cara pils malt (dextrine malt)
4 oz chinook alpha acid 11.7%
4 oz nugget alpha acid 12.0%
safale us-05 dry yeast

ok... So i'm deviating a bit from the standard black IPA by using the dextine malt, but I wanted to!  This brew is going to be tasty!  IPA's are my favorite.

On the search for an eisbock craft beer....

I am looking for a good eisbock craft beer.  Anybody know of one available in retail stores?  I would like to buy a couple as I am thinking of making one.  I want to get a feel for the style and give it a shot!

Please let me know!

Eisbock

I am doing some research on different beer styles for my new book and ran into one I haven't tried yet.  It is basically the same recipe as a Bock or a Dopplebock but they slowly freeze the beer and yank out the frozen water.  This gives the beer a lot of body, flavor, and alcohol.  I don't currently have the equipment to make one so I am looking for a good one to try.  Please make a recommendation for me.

Also, I think I will make a Bock or Dopplebock soon.  Here is the recipe I'm thinking of:

Amt.	Unit	Ingredient	Form	Time
6.0	LBS	Pilsner Malt	Grain	90
7.0	LBS	Munich Malt	Grain	90
0.5	LBS	CaraVienna Malt	Grain	90
1.75	OZ	Tettnanger (Alpha Acid 3.6%)	Pellet	60
0.75	OZ	Mt. Hood (Alpha Acid 4.0%)	Pellet	15
0.50	OZ	Tettnanger (Alpha Acid 3.6%)	Pellet	2
1.0	TSP	Irish Moss
1.0	Vial	White Labs German Bock Lager (WLP833)	Liquid Yeast

Dry Hopping - Carefull!!!!

Ok... so I made an ESB and decided to dry hop it with East Kent Goldings whole leaf hops.  I put the hops in about one day after putting the yeast in.  It hadn't activated fully yet but I thought I was fine.  I should've been as my plan was to dry hop for three days and then get the beer moved to a secondary fermenting vessel.  However, I forgot about it.  I wasn't home for a few days and by the time I got back, fermentation was pretty much done.  On day NINE, I remembered I needed to move the beer.  I took a sample and it has a good flavor, but it has now become an IPA!  LOL!  Oh well, I guess I'll have to try making it again to get it right.  It's fine though.  I love IPA's as well.

Extra Special Bitter

I made an all grain Extra Special Bitter (ESB) on Sunday.  It was a lot of fun.  My modified cooler worked fantastically.  The only downside was that I had to tilt it a bit to get the rest of the wort out.  But that was easy enough!  I mashed for about 2 1/2 hours to see how long I could hold the temperature in the mashtun.  I started at 150 degrees F and ended at 148 degrees 2 1/2 hours later.  It was pretty cool.
Here's my recipe:

Amt.	Unit	Ingredient	Form	Time
12.0	LBS	Maris Otter Malt	Grain	250
1.0	LBS	American Crystal Malt 80L	Grain	250
1.0	LBS	American Wheat Malt 40L	Grain	250
0.75	OZ	Perle (Alpha Acid 7.0%)	Pellet	60
0.50	OZ	Perle (Alpha Acid 7.0%)	Pellet	45
0.50	OZ	Fuggles (Alpha Acid 4.5%)	Pellet	30
0.50	OZ	Fuggles (Alpha Acid 4.5%)	Pellet	15
0.50	OZ	Fuggles (Alpha Acid 4.5%)	Pellet	10
0.50	OZ	Fuggles (Alpha Acid 4.5%)	Pellet	5
1.0	OZ	East Kent Goldings(Alpha Acid 4.5%)	Whole Leaf	Dry Hop for 3 Days
1.0	TSP	Irish Moss
1.0	PKG	Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast

Belgian Tripel Recipe All Grain

Here is a good recipe for a Belgian Tripel.  If you brew them, and you aren't a Trappist Monk, you can't call it a Trappist Ale.  However, if you are a Trappist Monk, you'd already know how to brew a Trappist Ale, right? 

Anyway, here is a recipe for a Belgian Tripel.  I'd like to know what you think.

Amt.	Unit	Ingredient	Form	Time
19.0	LBS	German Pilsner Malt	Grain	90
1.0	LBS	Vienna Malt	Grain	90
1.5	LBS	Light Belgian Candy Sugar	Sugar	10
1.5	OZ	Tettnanger (4.5% Alpha Acid)	Pellet	60
1.0	OZ	Saaz (3.75% Alpha Acid)	Pellet	30
0.50	OZ	Saaz (3.75% Alpha Acid)	Pellet	15
0.75	OZ	Cascade (7.1% Alpha Acid)	Pellet	10
1.0	TSP	Irish Moss
1.0	Vial	White Labs Abbey Ale (WLP530)	Liquid Yeast

Mash at 152 Degrees F for 90 minutes minimum if you are doing a single stage infusion. Add the sugar to the boil in the last 10 minutes but before adding the Cascade hops.  The sugar will need to be stirred and desolved well.

A Dunkelweizen???

What is a Dunkelweizen?

This is pronounced “doonn-kel vite-sen”.  The “oo” sounds the same as the “oo” in the word “foot”.   This is a dark version of a hefewiezen.  The beer tends to be a bit cloudy and can range in color from a dark yellow to brown.  They are highly carbonated with a long lasting head.  These are not heavily hopped and tend to have a fruity flavor.  However, this type of beer can also have the flavor hints of clove, vanilla, banana, apple, bubblegum and nutmeg.  The alcohol content can range from 4.0% to 7.0%.