Friday, November 25, 2011

Winter Warmer

 2011 Batch #14 - Winter Warmer (brewed 11/25/2011)

Split 6 gallon batch w/ Dubbel Dachs


Winter Warmer
November 25, 2011
Category Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer
Subcategory Seasonal/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer
Recipe Type All Grain
Batch Size 6 gal
Volume Boiled 8.5 gal
Mash Efficiency 68 %
Total Grain/Extract 17.50 lbs
Total Hops 1.0 oz
Calories (12 fl. oz.) 231.2
Cost to Brew $50.77 (USD)
Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.) $0.79 (USD)
Ingredients Stats
12 lbs Maris Otter Pale OG: 1.070
4 lbs German Light Munich FG: 1.014
1 lbs Crystal Malt 60°L 18.70 SRM
.5 lbs Belgian Special B 28.9 IBU
1 oz Cluster (Pellets, 7.00 %AA) boiled 60 min. 7.4% ABV
2 ea. Cinnamon (stick) (Boil 10 mins)
4 ea. Clementine zest (Boil 5 mins)
.25 tsp. Nutmeg (ground) (Boil 5 mins)
.125 tsp. Cloves (ground) (Boil 5 mins)
.25 tsp. Ginger (fresh) (Boil 5 mins)
1 vial White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale
Notes
Mash 1.33 qt/lb at 154F for 60 mins, 60 minute boil

My pics here
Ry pics here

Monday, September 5, 2011

Devil Monkey Mild

2011 Batch #10 - Mild v4.0(brewed 09/05/2011)
I love brewing on holidays! Toodee helped:
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5.5 lbs Maris Otter Pale info
.5 lbs Crystal Malt 60°L info
4 oz American Chocolate Malt info
3 oz Roasted Barley info
3 oz CaraPils info
.5 lbs CaraBrown info (PDF)
.5 lbs Oats Flaked info
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.9 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.9 %AA) boiled 10 min. info
Yeast : Fermentis S-04 Safale S-04 info
Mashed @ 155° for 45 minutes

**Note to self** Restrict future brew-day cornhole activities to mash time only.
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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Wedding Brew Day

2011 Batch #09 - Haus Pale Ale (aka Lightbulb v3.0)
(brewed 08/14/2011)

Brewing in Whitehall, here is the recipe:


15 lbs American 2-row info
3 lbs American Vienna info
1 lbs Crystal Malt 40°L info
1 lbs Cara-Pils® Malt; Briess info
1 oz Centennial (Whole, 11.4 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
1 oz Cascade (Whole, 7.1 %AA) boiled 30 min. info
0.5 oz Cascade (Whole, 7.1 %AA) boiled 15 min. info
0.5 oz Cascade (Whole, 7.1 %AA) boiled 5 min. info
Yeast : Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05 info
Strike once, sparge twice
Mash @ 152°

Friday, July 29, 2011

UPDATE: Patersbier v4.0

2011 Batch #06 - Patersbier (keg018)
Brewed: 05/30/2011 OG: 1.0nn
Kegged: 07/29/2011 FG: 1.0nn
ABV: nn%
Mash Efficiency: TBD
Burst carbed @ 30psi for ~36 hours
Served @ ~12psi

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Saison Schedule

Just some fermentation notes for my records...

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  • Day 1: Pitched yeast at ~2pm on 7/3 @ 78° - on table in basement
  • Day 1: First activity noticed by ~10pm on 7/3 @ 75° - wow!
  • Day 2: Vigorous fermentation @ 75° - video from Ryan: here
  • Day 3: Moved to garage at 9am on 7/5 @75°
  • Day 3: garage at 10pm on 7/5 @ 82° - ambient temp nearly 100°
  • Day 4: garage at 8am on 7/6 @ 86° - ambient temp ~ 86° as well
  • Day 4: garage at 7pm on 7/6 @ 86° - ambient temp ~ 90°
  • Day 5: garage at 8am on 7/7 @ 84°
  • Day 5: garage at 7pm on 7/7 @ 84° - roused the yeast
  • Day 6: garage at 8am on 7/8 @ 82° - still bubbling
  • Day 6: garage at 7pm on 7/8 @ 82° - jeep & roused yeast
  • Day 7: garage at 7am on 7/9 @ 82° - roused yeast, wrapped in vest and raincoat (pic)
  • Days 8-14: garage @ ? - vacation
  • Day 14: garage at 6pm on 7/17 @ 80° - jeep & roused yeast
  • Days 15-20 garage @ 86°
  • Day 20: moved to basement at 5 pm - corrected gravity = 1.002. Yahtzee!
  • Transferred to secondary on 7/23 - in the basement with a sweet leopard fleece blanket wrapped around it.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Dubbel Saison de Trubbel

2011 Batch #08 - Saison de Trubbel
(brewed 07/03/2011)

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Ryan came over on the day before Independance Day to brew a double batch of my award winning Saison de Trubbel. The logic was twofold here: we each had a saison in our mental queues, and we thought that doing a 10g test batch before the wedding brew would be a good idea. It was. Good times!

The OG was a little lower than expected - that was surely due to volume (which was high - wound up with about ~12g). However, I fully expect the FG to be close to zero, so the final ABV should be real close to the target. Our corrected OG was 1.057... not too shabby. We should start more brewdays off with waffles... a new tradition maybe? At least for Belgian brewdays for sure.

I have a little over 6 gallons in my fermentor... I pitched the yeast @ about 76 degrees or so. Oh, and I pitched the Saison Dupont dregs in my fermentor as well... why not?

Here are the planned numbers per beer tools:

Saison de Trubbel - Saison
May 27, 2009, 10:53 am
View | Edit | Delete
OG: 1.062 FG: 1.012 SRM: 5.09 ABV: 6.5% IBU: 39.5

Ryan posted the recipe on his Dubbel Dachs site, here it is:
Ingredients Stats
16 lbs. German 2-row Pils OG: 1.062
2 lbs. White Wheat Malt FG: 1.012
1 lbs. Crystal Malt 20°L 5.09 SRM
1 lbs. Cara-Pils® Malt 39.5 IBU
3 lbs. Raw Sugar 6.5% ABV
2.5 oz. Willamette (Pellets, 6.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
1 oz. Saaz (Pellets, 3.00 %AA) boiled 15 min.
2 oz. Saaz (Pellets, 3.00 %AA) boiled 1 min.
1 big starter White Labs WLP565 Belgian Saison I


My Evo pics: here
Ryan's Droid X pics: here

P.S. Cliff Lee sure does suck in July ;-)

Friday, June 24, 2011

UPDATE: Allie Torrenta

2011 Batch #07 - Hoppy Wheat (keg017)
Brewed: 06/04/2011 OG: 1.043
Kegged: 06/24/2011 FG: 1.004
ABV: 5.2%
Mash Efficiency: TBD
Burst carbed @ 30psi for ~36 hours
Served @ ~12psi

on the left:
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Saturday, June 4, 2011

2011 Totals


My goal for the year was to brew at least one beer per month.  In total I brewed 15 batches for ~88 gallons.

1. Carlton Banks Dance Time Extravaganza - January (stats)
2. Altersbier - February (stats)
3. Mel's Bitter - March (stats)
4. Patersbier v3.0- April (stats)
5. Paul's Pride v5.0 - May (stats)
6. Patersbier v4.0 - May (stats)
7. Allie Torenta take 5 - June (stats)
8. Saison de Trubbel (10g) - July (stats, fermentation schedule)
9. Lightbulb v4.0 (wedding beer) (10g) - August (HPA)
10. Devil Monkey Mild - September (stats TBD)
11. Wedding beer v2.0 - 10/1/2011(stats TBD)
12. Llama Fuel (IPA)- 10/22/2011 (stats TBD)
13. Llama Piss (bitter 10g) - 10/23/2011 (stats TBD)
14. Winter Warmer (3g) - 11/25/2011 (stats TBD)
15. Reinbow Red - 12/27/2011 (stats TBD)


2010 totals and 2009 totals

Allie Torenta

2011 Batch #07 - Hoppy Wheat (take 5)
(brewed 06/04/2011 @ Ryan's)

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This is just a place holder for now.

P.S. I used 2oz Cara-pils and Crystal 60° - OG was 1.043 @ 73°

Pics

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Patersbier v4.0

2011 Batch #06 - Patersbier
(brewed 05/30)

I love brewing on holidays!
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Highlights:
  • Reused the yeast from Patersbier v3.0 (entire yeast cake)
  • Used German Pils in place of Belgian Pils (oversight)
  • Skipped the Cara-pils this time (laziness)
  • Used the fatty blow-off tube (and a bungee cord)
  • I kegged Patersbier v3.0 while brewing this one
  • It was hot, hazy, and humid - over 90 degrees all day
8.5 lbs. German Pils Malt
1 oz. Hallertau Tradition (Pellets, 4.7 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.2 %AA) boiled 10 min.
Yeast : White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale

Pics: here
Vid: here

UPDATE: Patersbier v3.0

2011 Batch #04 - Patersbier (keg016)
Brewed: 04/23/2011 OG: 1.042
Racked: 05/07/2011
Kegged: 05/30/2011 FG: 1.003
ABV: 5.1%
Mash Efficiency: TBD
Burst carbed @ 30psi for ~26 hours
Served @ ~12psi

Serving is a pain now... my beerlines are too short, so I have to bleed the kegs and cut the pressure back to about 6psi for a decent pour (then set it back to 'serving' pressure)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

UPDATE: Paul's Pride v5.0

2011 Batch #5 - Paul's Pride ESB (keg015)
Brewed: 05/07/2011 OG: 1.045
Kegged: 05/21/2011 FG: 1.010
ABV: 4.6%
Mash Efficiency: 59.1% (ouch!)
Burst carbed @ 30psi for ~36 hours
Served @ ~10psi

I have no idea how to properly carb a beer... I am going to try the "set it and forget" method for the next keg - force carbing is not getting it done.

P.S. Patersbier is still in secondary

Friday, May 6, 2011

Paul's Pride v5.0

2011 Batch #5 - Paul's Pride ESB
(brewed 05/07)


I've got to work on that logo

This one is on deck for tomorrow; a couple notes:
  1. I am adding cara-pils to this one for the first time
  2. I am bumping the mash temp up a bit
  3. I am going to mash a bit thicker at ~1.25 qt/lb
10 lbs. Maris Otter Pale info
1 lbs. Crystal Malt 60°L info
.125 lbs. Cara-Pils® Malt info
.125 lbs. Rice Hulls info
1.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.9 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
0.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.9 %AA) boiled 20 min. info
1.0 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.9 %AA) boiled 1 min. info
2 tsp. Irish Moss (@ 10 Mins) (not included in calculations)
2 tsp. Wyeast Nutrient (@ 10 Mins) (not included in calculations)
Yeast : Fermentis S-04 Safale S-04 info
Mash Schedule @ ~1.25 qt/lb
* 156° F for 45 minutes
* 170° F for 10 minutes

Post brew update:

Hit my mash temps and volume (which is good considering the below pic), but my OG was a bit low (probably a result of the below pic). Good times.

I also racked the Patersbier to secondary, and saved the yeast cake for next time.

Oh, and... ooops:
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Note to self: Close the ball valve on your kettle before collecting your first runnings next time dummy.

P.S. Pics here

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Patersbier v3.0

2011 Batch #04 - Patersbier
(brewed 04/23)

Ella was anxious to help Daddy brew today!
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I squeezed in an unplanned Patersbier brewday today. All went well, I hit my OG and volume targets. Things went surprisingly quick too- about 4 hours total including setup, up tear down, and clean up. Must be the new kettle ;)

I tweaked the recipe slightly, dropped a half pound of base malt to account for efficiency and attenuation, and added 2oz of Carapils, which is my new go-to for head retention. I am anxious to see how this one turns out. I plan on cold crashing and an extended secondary so that this one will really clear up.


I followed up the brewday by power washing my deck - good times.

8.5 lbs. Belgian Pils Malt
2 oz. Cara-Pils® Malt
1 oz. Hallertau Tradition (Pellets, 4.7 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.2 %AA) boiled 10 min.
Yeast : White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale

Below are some clickable pics from brewday:


Penrose in action:
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Brewing a Patersbier, drinking an Altersbier:
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Look at that, I took a sample by myself!
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I need to work on my whirlpool:
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Mobile Brewery staging area:
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

UPDATE: Mel's Bitter

2011 Batch #03 - Bitter (keg014)
Brewed: 03/13/2011 OG: oops
Kegged: 03/26/2011 FG: 1.015
ABV: no idea
Efficiency: probably not TBD
Force carbed @ 30psi for ~24 hours
Served @ ~9psi

on the right:
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Friday, March 18, 2011

UPDATE: Altersbier

2011 Batch #02 - Altbier (keg013)
Brewed: 02/12/2011 OG: 1.050
Racked: 03/06/2011 SG: 1.009
Kegged: 03/17/2011 FG: 1.008
ABV: 5.5% ABV
Efficiency: probably not TBD
Force carbed @ 30psi for ~20 hours
Served @ ~11psi

Minor dilemma with this one, but still... I kicked the Non-Mild was out of beer.

I had 10 gallons fermenting prior to last night: 5 gallons of bitter in primary that I had been hoping to keg this weekend, and 5 gallons of alt in secondary that I had hoped to continue lagering for a bit.

I was going to give the 5 in primary another week, but pending a gravity check I may have been able to keg this weekend (long story).

I asked my GB Ryan what he thought of my dilemma, and he confirmed my suspicion... so I went ahead and just kegged the Alt. It makes sense... I'm thirsty.

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Mel's Bitter

2011 Batch #03 - Ordinary Bitter
(brewed 03/13)

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Brew day went fairly well - quick too. I started the day off with a helper, but she went back inside after I would not let her play with "bouncy" near the open flame - lol, go figure.

The kettle worked VERY well... my boil off increased a bit - more due to not having to worry about boil over than anything. It was a little over 1.5 gallons per hour. One downside is that I can't really see the wort when it is boiling because of all the steam though... I can live with that though for sure. Oh, and that beast is heavy when full - wow.

2 bummers on the day, one the OG (oh well) and two, the hop bag I had my 60min addition in busted open as soon as I pitched it... I was wondering why there was so much hop dust on top of the boil so quick - I did not figure it out until I was done chilling.

Speaking of which , the chiller worked quite well with the mild temps yesterday. Over all a great brew.

I did twitter during my brew, here is the summary (in reverse order):
  • oops, forgot to take a gravity reading... #uncheck
  • Pint — Drinking a Non-Mild by Trubbel Brewing — http://untpd.it/IOhinv
  • Boil done, wort chiller activated... #check
  • Pint — Drinking a Non-Mild by Trubbel Brewing — http://untpd.it/ELZdfy
  • Mash tun cleaned, grains disposed of, pint pulled... good times
  • Sweet! Boiling by 11:30... #check
  • P.S. that black lid does not fit quite as well as I thought
  • Started my boil in my new kettle @ 11:10... #check. Let's see how this beast works.
  • Nailed my pre-boil volume... #check
  • Doughed in @ 9:30... check

All of the pics are here: http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a17/jaysus145/Beer/homebrew/2011-03-13/

And here is the recipe:

6.5 lbs. Maris Otter Pale info
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 20°L info
.125 lbs. Cara-Pils® Malt info
1 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.5 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.5 %AA) boiled 30 min. info
.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.5 %AA) boiled 5 min. info
Yeast : Fermentis S-04 Safale S-04 info
Mash:
45 mins @ 154
15 mins @ 170

* I am only using the crystal 20°L to get rid of it.
* First try with the Cara-Pils - 0.125lbs = 2oz

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Altersbier

2011 Batch #02 - Altbier
(brewed 02/12)



Dubbel Dachs hosted SOGO Brewday 3 on Saturday: I rolled with an Altbier. I am a fan of the style and always wanted to try my hand at one. I am curious to see how it turns out as I have heard interesting things about the yeast.

4.5 lbs. Light Munich info
2 lbs. Dark Munich info
3.5 lbs. German 2-row Pils info
2 oz. Cara-Pils® Malt info
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 120°L info
.66 oz. Perle (Pellets, 7.7 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
.66 oz. Perle (Pellets, 7.7 %AA) boiled 20 min. info
.66 oz. Perle (Pellets, 7.7 %AA) boiled 1 min. info
Yeast : White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch info
154° F for ~50 minutes
170° F for ~10 minutes


P.S. I pegged my OG and volume! (I needed that)

Here are a few (clickable) pics:

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Sunday, February 6, 2011

UPDATE: Mild 03

2011 Batch #01 - Non-mild (keg012)
Brewed: 01/30/2011 OG: 1.048
Kegged: 02/06/2011 FG: 1.008
ABV: 5.3% ABV (ouch)
Efficiency: probably not TBD
Force carbed @ 30psi for ~24 hours
Served @ ~8psi

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This one was a mess on brewday but whatever - it's done and in the keg now. Although not what I was after, it tastes fine, and I will drink it.

On the plus side, Edwin and I conveniently kicked the Poochie Porter keg yesterday - exactley two months after kegging it...timing is everything.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Return of Carlton Banks?

2011 Batch #01 - Mild
(brewed 01/30)




Ok yeah, so this one turned out to be a bit of a mess. My plan was to mash low and thick... but I was way too low and both attempts to bring the temp up failed. I wound up mashing in the low 140°s at about 1.3 qts per lb - oof.

Pre-boil gravity was 1.020 so I decided to improvise and:
  1. boil like crazy
  2. add 1lb of table sugar to the boil at 5 minutes.
Resulting in my volume being about a half gallon short and an OG of 1.046 (72°)... Originally I had planned for an OG of about 1.036. Oops.

So, I guess I will have to wait and see how this one turns out... I was hoping for something sweet and malty with a low ABV- not so sure that is going to be the case at this point.

I am now at the mercy of the yeast; I hope they'll be happy. On the plus side, there was some activity in the airlock the morning after brew day... so there's that.

What a day.

6 lbs. Maris Otter Pale info
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 120°L info
3 oz. Roasted Barley info
2 oz. Cara-Pils® Malt info
2 oz. Chocolate Malt info
.5 lbs. Oats Flaked info
.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.5 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.5 %AA) boiled 10 min. info
Yeast : Fermentis S-04 Safale S-04 info
60 min mash at ~150° and 1 qt per lb (note: this did not happen)