I usually don't like to brew fruity beers, since I don't really like to drink fruity beers.  However, my little sister in law turns 21 in June, so I'm going to break down and brew her a McMenamin's Ruby Clone, which is a raspberry pale ale.  I should be brewing this tomorrow morning.
Recipe:
5.5 gallons
Grains:
8.8lbs GW 2-Row
Hops:
I think I'll use like .5oz of Colombus for 60minutes.
Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 slurry that keeps on giving.
Anticipated Results:
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.036
Post-Boil Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV: 4.4%
IBU: 21
Extras:
I'll boil about 2 pounds of raspberries and strain the extract and add to secondary.  That way it won't affect the gravity or add too much more fermentation. 
Strike: 3 gallons @163
Sparge: 4.6 gallons @ 176
I'll post actual results as they occur as usual.
Brewing Update:  Man, five gallon batches are really easy!  Including cleanup the whole process took about 4 1/2 hours.  Everything went super smooth.  Possibly the smoothest brewing day yet. 
Actual Results:
Pre-boil Gravity: 1.036
Post-boil Gravity: 1.040
Collected 1.85 gallons from strike and 4.5 gallons from sparge. 
I think I'm missing my temps on the strike cause I'm not pulling the gravity's I'd like to be.  I'll raise them and see what happens.  Either way, this will be a good session beer gravity, which will be good for a 21 year old!
Update 5/13/11: Gravity down to 1.009.  Really good flavor too, and I don't even like beers like this!  I'm going to try to bottle this up tonight.
Update 5/15/11: Finally bottled this.  Got 35 12's and 9 22's.
Update 5/23/11: So my wife said this is her second favorite of anything I've made so far.  Looks like I'll be brewing this again to make her happy.  The raspberry is a nice subtle aftertaste.  This is probably a really good ale for the summer time.

 

I once brew in 3.5 hours. The trick is to get your mash at like 155-160 so you don't need to cover the MLT. Then you can heat the sparge water while you're mashing :)
ReplyDeleteOops. This is Randy....or is it? Muhahahahaha
ReplyDeleteThe better trick is to have two lids. Since I've gone to all grain I've been heating the sparge while mashing. I just got the boil going faster this time.
ReplyDelete