Brew Day - 4/14/13 - Double IPA

So, today's Brew Day (which was actually over a week ago...) involves several firsts. The first first (heh) was this is the first beer that I am brewing in my new facilities (i.e. our new house). We moved in last October, and with the garage being a total mess, I have been putting off making any beer just for sheer logistical reasons. Well, 6 months later, and the garage is still a mess, but a little bit more of a controlled mess. I was really itching to make something, so I set aside some space and some time and away I went...

That brings us to the next first (second first?). My new Mash tun!!

I've finally got a proper 10 gal MT and now I can start making full 5 gal All grain batches. Cool!

I need to focus a little bit better on my calculating because my mash temp was higher than I anticipated. I think I assumed that my grains were colder and adjusted too much. I'll be sure to get a better read next time.

Now I just need to get a bigger boil kettle because it's REALLY hard to prevent boil-overs with this "7.5" gal turkey fryer. I say "7.5" because that's how it's advertised, but I measured it and it's closer to 6.2-6.5 gal. If you look closely at the next picture, you can see the residuals of the boil-over... Oh well, one more piece of equipment to look for. This will make a nice HLT some day. BTW, I have found some great deals for 10 gal kettles over at http://www.homebrewfinds.com/ .

Ok, so the next first for this brew day is this is the first time I've used the super-hyped Mosaic hops. I was surprised at how fruity these smelled. A lot of pineapple and mango. I was expecting more citrus and pine for some reason. I don't know why. In any case, they smelled AMAZING before and after throwing them into the boil.

So that's pretty much it. I also used my new refractometer for the first time this day, but I didn't get any pictures of that. For the most part the brew day went pretty well. My OG was a little bit lower than I was shooting for, I think that is because of the higher temp in the mash. Not too bad for a day of firsts!

Recipe:

The recipe is based on a Ruination clone I found on homebrew talk. I used the same malt bill, but replaced the hops with what I had on hand.

Malt bill

14 Lbs Pale Malt (2 row)

1 lb. Crystal 20L

Mash - 152 Est OG - 1.077 (I hit closer to 156 and my OG was 1.071)

Hops

1.75 oz. Cascade hops (60 min boil)

1 oz. Citra hops (30 min boil)

1 oz. Citra (10 min)

1 tablet Whirfloc (15 Min Boil)

1 oz. Citra (1 min)

1 oz. Mosaic (1 min)

1 oz. Citra (dryhopped)

1 oz. Mosaic (dryhopped)

Hydrated US-05

14 days ferment @ 62

Then DryHop 7 days @ 65

Est FG - 1.013

Wilco play Conan

Brew-Weekend Re-cap.

Ok, so In know it's already Wednesday, but I'm just now getting around to posting about this past weekend.

As I said before, my plan was to bottle the stout on Friday, and then brew two batches on Sunday.
Well, I'm happy to say that both of these items were accomplished, right as scheduled! :-D

First, Friday.

Bottle-time went well.

This is an Oatmeal Cream Stout, and I decided to add cocoa-nibs to the secondary. I also added some raspberry extract to half of the batch (the smaller half, on the left).

I hope this wasn't a mistake, as the raspberry was very sweet and almost cough syrupy. We'll see over time if this mellows out. If I don't like it, maybe some of our friends will.



Next we fast forward to Sunday, Brew day!!

Since this was my first attempt at a lager, I was a little nervous that this would all go as planned. For the most part all went well. I had a little issue with my digital thermometer. The temp seemed to hit pretty quick for the mash, and about halfway through, I decided to check it against another thermometer that I knew was correct. 15 degrees off!! Oh no! So my mash that I thought was 151 was actually more like 136!! Fortunately I had some near boiling water ready for the sparge, so I added some of that and got it up to about 145 for the last half hour. I probably could have left it in for longer, but I had a deadline!



Time to boil, and as you can see I'm using a hop bag. I've never done this before, but hopefully this will make for a clearer beer. This first batch is a Schwarzbier, a German Dark Lager. And for the next batch I really want it to get as clear as possible.

Finished the boil, chilled nice and quick thanks to the wort chiller, and pitched the yeast at about 62 degrees. I forgot to do a hydrometer reading before I pitched so I did one right after. Will it make that much of a difference that soon? Anyhow, it read at 1.051 which I think is right at the range I was looking for.

Next, the Premium Light Lager.



Here's a pic of the mash. As you can see I'm using my analog meat thermometer now. Sorry I didn't get more pics, but I was pretty focused on making the beer!

Again, mash and boil all went well. Hit all the temps that I wanted to hit. The recipe for this calls for Halertau hops and the WLP840 American Lager Yeast. But I wanted to use Amarillo hops because I've never used them before, and a lot of IPA's and Pale Ales that I like use them, and the LHBS didn't have 840 so I substituted it with WLP802 Czech Budejovice Lager Yeast. I don't know what difference this will make, but it ain't going to taste like Bud!

This time I did throw in the hydro before I pitched and the reading was 1.070!! Can that be right?
I need to look over my grain bill again to see what happened there.

Anyhow, both brews are bubbling away happily in the fridge. I'll take a pic of that tonight and post soon.

Homebrew Weekend!

So if all goes as planned, I plan on bottling my Chocolate "Stout" tonight, and then making two lagers over the weekend. Either one on Saturday, and then the other Sunday, or both on Sunday. This of course all depends on whether or not my ingredients show up in time. Estimated delivery date is 3/19, tomorrow.

This is the first time I have ever ordered from Brewmasters Warehouse and it was a pretty cool experience. They have this thing called the Brew Builder™ and you enter the ingredients, build your recipe and save it for later. It's got other cool options, so I suggest you check it out.

Anyhow, If all goes as planned I'll report back on Monday with a Brewday recap!

Lorraine Bowen - Crumble Song (Bombay Mix) Feat. Rajesh David

I dare you to watch this and then not sing it to yourself ALL DAY!!!

Best Rare-Bird Pictures of 2010: National Geographic

Some really cool photos of rare and endangered birds like this one.

New Zealand's large, flightless Kakapo.

Best Rare-Bird Pictures of 2010 Named

Toddlers & Tiaras with Tom Hanks