JC makes beer?

These are the beginnings of a delicious Black Cacao Stout.

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:07:38 -0400

These are the beginnings of a delicious Black Cacao Stout.

Black Cacao Stout

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:06:47 -0400

OG: 1.059
TG: 1.013
ABV: 5.4
IBU: 35
SRM: 43

3.3 lbs Pilsen Light liquid malt extract
3.3 lbs Munich Light liquid malt extract
4 oz dark brown sugar
11 oz Chocolate malt
5 oz Roast Barley
2 oz Black Patent
6 oz Flaked Wheat
handful rice hulls
1/2 oz Chinook hops — 60 mins.
Irish moss — 15 mins.
6 oz cocoa powder — 5 mins.
1 lbs lactose — 5 mins.
1/4 oz Chinook hops — 60 mins.
1056 American Ale
4 oz Cacao nibs (dry hop)

Steep and sparge grains, boil 60 mins. and add hops and other ingredients at times listed. Ferment 5-10 days in primary. Dry hop cacao nibs in secondary for 2-3 weeks.

Pumpkin Ale

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:52:00 -0400

OG: 1.059
TG: 1.014
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 20
SRM: Orange

6.6 lbs Pilsen Light liquid malt extract
1 lb Rice syrup
1 lb Melanoidin (mash)
10 oz Honey malt (mash)
10 oz 40L Crystal/
1/2 oz Perle hops — 60 mins.
1/2 oz Perle hops — 15 mins.
Irish moss
2 whole nutmeg — 7 mins.
1 cinnamon stick — 7 mins.
3 allspice pods — 7 mins.
1/2 tsp cloves — 7 mins.
2 cans pumpkin — 1 min.
3 slices fresh ginger — 1 min.
Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Steep grains, sparge with hot water, add extracts and rice syrup. Boil 60 mins, adding spices and pumpkin at times listed. Dump everything into primary fermenter and add water. 7-10 days in primary, 2-3 weeks in secondary.

You love beeerrr

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:53:24 -0400

Yes. Yes, I do.

Photo

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:35:00 -0400

Photo

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:29:46 -0400

Sam Adams Summer Ale

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:37:32 -0400

OG: 1.056
TG: 1.014
%ABV: 6.4%
IBU: 18.4
SRM: 9.1

This is a clone of Samuel Adams Summer Ale. Yeah, the one in the commercial where they talk about Grains of Paradise, that historic brewing spice. The recipe is from Doug at Just Brew It!, and I give credit to him for explaining the process of a mini-mash and sparging to me. This is a first attempt at a mini-mash, so I hope it turns out nicely.

3 lbs wheat dry malt extract
3.3 lbs light liquid malt extract

1 lb American 2-row Brewer’s malt
0.5 lbs Cara-Pils Dextrine
1 lb Flaked wheat

1/2 oz Hallertauer 3.5%, 60 minutes
0.5 oz Hallertauer 3.5%, 5 minutes
2 grams Grains of Paradise, 2 minutes
1 tbsp fresh lemon zest

Wyeast 3942 Wheat

This is a mini-mash recipe. To do that, you use lots more grains, and put less water in the pot and let it sit for a while to loosen the sugars in the grains. Then you pour hot water over the grain, collecting the water from underneath, and you pour that back over the grain a few times. After letting the water seep through the grains, getting all of the sugars dissolved into the liquid, you take that liquid and proceed as usual, adding the malt extract and hops and other ingredients, then boiling. Interesting process. I had a lot of fun learning this method, and I think I’ll keep using it.

Scottish 80 Shilling with Heather

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:13:37 -0400

OG: 1.050
TG: 1.013
%ABV: 4.9%
IBU: 19
SRM 13

A Scottish 80/-! It’s a traditional kind of Scottish ale. This recipe also came from Just Brew It! in Fayetteville. Even though this is Doug’s recipe, I’m sure it came out a little different from how he intended. I accidentally let the temperature get just a little high after adding the extract, so maybe it’ll end up with a little more caramelized flavor? I dunno. I understand that an 80/- should have a caramelized flavor, so maybe it’ll work out. I haven’t tried one yet, but it should be ready soon!

3.3 lbs Golden Light liquid extract
3.0 lbs Extra light dry malt extract

8.0 oz Special Roast malt
6.0 oz 90L Crystal malt
1.5 oz Roast barley
2.0 oz Smoked malt

1 oz WGV hops (“Whitbread Golden Variety”) 4.5%, 60 minutes
1/2 tsp Irish moss, 15 minutes
2 oz Heather tips, 15 minutes

Wyeast 1728 Scottish ale yeast

7 days in the primary, 21 days in the secondary. Primed for bottling with 5 oz of priming sugar.

Oops.

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:59:05 -0400

I kinda was too busy and/or forgot to post, well, anything for the past two batches of beer. So here comes a couple of my recipes. I currently have bottled a blonde, an amber, a cherry wheat, a peach wheat, and my newest beer in the bottle, a Scottish 80 Shilling with Heather. Currently in the secondary: a clone of Sam Adams Summer Ale. The summer ale is my first mini-mash, so I’m going to post the process and pictures when I can.

Also, anyone who has tasted my beer, I would be very happy if you would leave a comment about how it tasted or what you thought about it. Thanks!

Simple wheat beer

Sun, 01 May 2011 20:24:54 -0400

About a week ago I started another batch of beer. It’s a very basic wheat beer recipe, but I intend to split the batch up and then flavor them before bottling. So in about two weeks, I will be bottling cherry wheat and peach wheat.

Simple wheat beer

Grain
6.6 lbs Bavarian wheat LME
1.0 lb 10L US Crystal
4 oz Carafoam

Hops
1 oz Cascade hops, pellet, 60 mins

Yeast
Wyeast 1010 American yeast

Other
Wheat primer at bottling
cherry/peach extract at bottling

This beer will sit in the primary fermenter for three weeks before bottling, no time in a secondary fermenter.

Dear sir,
Will you come visit me in Atlanta and bring some beer along with you?

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:28:58 -0400

Dear madam,

Yes. Yes, I will.

i can has beers?

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:26:00 -0400

NO. :|

Well, maybe.

This is the red ale in my hydrometer jar. We racked it to the...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:17:30 -0400

This is the red ale in my hydrometer jar. We racked it to the secondary fermenter tonight, took a gravity reading, and then got to taste it. Beer — it’s science. Tasty, tasty science.

Here’s the first opened bottle of the first batch of...

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:46:37 -0400

Here’s the first opened bottle of the first batch of Blonde Ale! It’s pretty tasty, but I think a little more time would do it lots of good.

Irish Red (Sorta)

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:33:00 -0400

Brew day 2! I started my second batch of beer on March 31. Even though the recipe says it’s in Irish Red, the guy at Just Brew It! in Fayetteville told me that it’s not. Upon further research, I discovered that it’s an American Amber Ale, or maybe an American Red. Apparently, Killian’s Irish Red is also an American Amber, not an Irish Red. Weird, huh? Anyway, I got the recipe from homebrewtalk.com, where it was very highly recommended by lots of people. There were a few mistakes made in the brewing process, like accidentally letting the steeping temperature get above 170, and a misunderstanding about how the liquid yeast packet was supposed to work. But hopefully it will work anyway.

The calculated OG for the recipe is 1.047, while my own reading on the hydrometer after brewing came to 1.044.

Irish Red Ale

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: WYeast 1272 American Ale II
Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 20.6
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 10.3
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
———————————————-
09-D Scottish And Irish Ale, Irish Red Ale

Min OG: 1.044 Max OG: 1.060
Min IBU: 17 Max IBU: 28
Min Clr: 9 Max Clr: 18 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
————————
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 2.00
Total Extract (Lbs): 7.01
Anticipated OG: 1.047 Plato: 11.68
Anticipated SRM: 10.3
Anticipated IBU: 20.6
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
————————
Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 2.35 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.100 SG 23.75 Plato

Grain/Extract/Sugar
%        Amount    Name                     Origin     Potential   SRM
—————————————————————————————————
85.6    6.00 lbs.   Briess LME- Gold     America 1.035       4
7.1      0.50 lbs.   Caramel Pils Malt     Belgium 1.034       2
3.6      0.25 lbs.   Special Roast Malt   America 1.033       40
1.9      0.13 lbs.   Biscuit Malt              Belgium 1.035       24
1.9      0.13 lbs.   Chocolate Malt        America 1.029       350

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops
Amount    Name                Form   Alpha   IBU     Boil Time
——————————————————————————————
1.00 oz.   Goldings - E.K.   Pellet    4.75   17.5    60 min.
1.00 oz.   Willamette         Pellet    5.00    3.1     1 min.

Yeast
——-
WYeast 1272 American Ale II

Notes
——-
Wyeast #1272 American Ale Yeast II. Fruitier and more flocculant than 1056,
slightly nutty, soft, clean, slightly tart finish. Flocculation: high. App
arent attenuation: 72-76%. Optimum temperature: 60-72.

Prime w/ 5 oz corn sugar.

As for the use of the grain, bag it and drop it in 2.0 gallons of cold water bring it up to 150-160F and hold the temp for about 30 minutes then yank it out lettting it drip and don’t squeeze the bag. Bring your wort to a boil (KILL THE HEAT) add the extract (mixing really well to prevent burning the extract), bring to a boil again, add 1st bit of hops and start timing. Add the last hops at the last 5 minutes.

Here’s a bunch of pictures from bottling day for my very...

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:10:00 -0400

Racking to the bottling bucket.

Filling a bottle.

Capping a bottle.

About to taste the flat, warm beer.

Here’s a bunch of pictures from bottling day for my very first blonde ale. The picture of the little cup is the last bit from the bucket… had to taste it, of course. I’ll hold off on describing it until I try a carbonated one.

Photo

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:50:52 -0400

Lots of bottles.

Boiling the priming sugar in water.

Bottling day, finally.

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:46:45 -0400

Yesterday, I unbunged (Debunged?) my secondary fermenter for the first time, and got ready to bottle. Pretty exciting stuff. We put priming sugar in the bottling bucket, then racked in the beer, then put it in bottles! As soon as the bung was off, I smelled beer. It had a very strong immediate aroma… it’s definitely beer. Of course, the beer is all fermented and flavorful, but it was warm and completely flat. We put beer into 47 bottles, and now we just have to wait for them to get fizzy!

I’m finally done putting my backlog of stuff on this site. My beer is currently sitting in the...

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:16:00 -0400

I’m finally done putting my backlog of stuff on this site. My beer is currently sitting in the secondary fermenter, just hanging out and hopefully getting tasty. My collection of used bottles is nearing the right number, although I have a bunch of interesting beers in the fridge right now.

I’m going to try to write my very first beer review this weekend. (I was told that I should do that with lots of beers to get a good grip on subtleties. I think that’s something I can handle. Besides, it gives me more bottles to recycle!)

I would enjoy feedback or suggestions of beers to try, by the way.

Transferring the beer to the secondary fermenter. March 14,...

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:42:00 -0400

Racking to the carboy.

Siphoning out the beer.

At least we can see it now.

Lots of gunk on the sides.

The bottom of the fermenter.

Transferring the beer to the secondary fermenter.

March 14, 2011.

JC makes beer?

These are the beginnings of a delicious Black Cacao Stout.

Black Cacao Stout

Pumpkin Ale

You love beeerrr

Photo

Photo

Sam Adams Summer Ale

Scottish 80 Shilling with Heather

Oops.

Simple wheat beer

Dear sir, Will you come visit me in Atlanta and bring some beer along with you?

i can has beers?

This is the red ale in my hydrometer jar. We racked it to the...

Here’s the first opened bottle of the first batch of...

Irish Red (Sorta)

Here’s a bunch of pictures from bottling day for my very...

Photo

Bottling day, finally.

I’m finally done putting my backlog of stuff on this site. My beer is currently sitting in the...

Transferring the beer to the secondary fermenter. March 14,...

Dear sir,
Will you come visit me in Atlanta and bring some beer along with you?