Springtime Aroma Pale Ale

Well, spring is in the air and it has been beautiful here in Portland lately.  Best spring I can remember.  That better not jinx the next three months... I tried a new beer the other day, NWPA from Fort George Brewing.  It was awesome.  Light bitterness with a ton of hop aroma.  There was a large amount of hop particles floating in the beer, that was poured from a can (why breweries filter everything seems strange to me, I like the lack of filtering on a beer like this).  It was delicious.  So naturally, I used that beer to inspire one of my own.

This is a session style beer (4.2%) with only 23 IBU's.  There are a ton of hops in this thing though.  I'm hoping that the aroma and flavor really dominates over the usual crazy bittering I do.  I also didn't do any hop additions at 60 minutes, but let it boil plain for 30 minutes, then added hops at the midway point.  Hopefully that really does something good for the beer.  Anyways, here's the details...

Recipe:
10.5 gallons

Fermentables:
12.5# GW 2-Row
2# Victory
1.5# Carapils
1.5# Crystal 30L

Anticipated OG: 1.044
Actual OG: 1.048
Anticipated FG: 1.010
Actual FG:
Anticipated ABV: 4.5%
Actual ABV:

Hops:
(60 minute boil)
1oz CTZ at 30m
2oz Citra at 5m

2oz Cascade at flameout
2oz Citra at flameout

4oz Cascade dryhop for 7 days
2oz Citra dryhop for 7 days

IBU's: 23

Yeast:
1 pack of Safale US-05 made with 1L starter two days before.

Notes:
4/24/13: Brewed this last Monday (2 days ago).  I'm fermenting this one in a 50L keg with a stopper and an airlock in the bunghole.  So far so good.  Gravity was at 1.019 today which is impressive since I only used one pack of Safale.  I guess the starter is helping out.  It's the first time I've used a starter.  So far the aroma and flavor is exactly what I was going for.

Brewing Series

As part of stepping up my brewing skill set I've recently begun doing much more research into the science behind brewing.  I'm still pretty green going in this as far as the chemistry/science part so I've got a lot to learn.  Luckily my buddy Scott is super into this so he helps put stuff into laymans terms.

In order to learn more and get really indepth we've ordered a couple of books that are much more extensive than I though when we ordered them.  I just started reading the one on Hops and Scott is going to tackle the Yeast edition, then we'll switch.  There's also an edition on Water that is going to be released next month.

We'll be reading these and then reviewing them (so far they seems pretty incredible, although they read more like thesis papers than books).  We'll get to the main ideas and help pass on information.  The one I'm reading first is titled "For The Love of Hops".  Seems like a good book for me to start with since I sure love me some hops!  The series is called Brewing Elements Series and I'm hoping they also write one on barley/malts.

Here's some links to the current volumes available so you can check them out yourself if you're so inclined.  Clicking the links here helps support his site through your Amazon purchases (and costs you nothing extra).  I was not paid by the publishers or authors for putting these up or reviewing these books.  It just seemed like something fun to do!

Cheers!

Resurrection IPA

Finally, another post about an IPA.  This is going to be my first time brewing with Citra, which seems kind of crazy since it's supposedly such a great IPA hop.  I guess I'll be the judge of that once it's all ready to be tasted.  I'm tempted to wait for Easter to tap this, hence the name.  If this is as good as I hope it is, then what better way to enjoy it than to celebrate the Resurrection!  The citrus-floral aroma while brewing will hopefully highlight the greatest holiday we have.  So here's the details...

Here's a 6 second clip of brewing this...
(if this doesn't play, sorry!)
Recipe:
11 Gallons

Fermentables:
17lb GW 2-Row
7lb Simpsons Golden Promise
3lb Carapils
2lb Crystal 40L

Anticipated OG: 1.068
Actual OG: 1.066
Anticipated FG: 1.017
Actual FG:
Anticipated ABV: 6.6%
Actual ABV:

Hops:
4oz Summit for 90m
2oz Summit for 30m
2oz Citra for 30m
2oz Summit at flameout
2oz Citra at flameout
2oz Amarillo at flameout

2oz Amarillo for 7 days dryhop
2oz Citra for 7 days dryhop

IBU's: 148

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 American Ale in both buckets

Notes:
Smooth brewing.  Finished in a little over 5 hours, which is pretty good for an 11 gallon batch.  Half the batch is for my buddy Randy who is preparing to head to the Dominican Republic to start a baseball ministry to tell kids about Jesus.  You should check it out and support them here.  He's the one who got me into brewing and helped me out early on.

Vinnie's Pliny

I've brewed Pliny the Elder several times now, each slightly different.  This one is also different.  However, this is the official recipe given out by Vinnie at Russian River for Pliny.  He's awesome, he gives out the recipe to one of the best commercially made beers in the world.  What other breweries do that?  Buttwiper sure doesn't, and their beer is crap.  So here is what you have been waiting for...

Recipe:
5.5 gallons (so you end up with 5)

Fermentables:
13.25 lb 2-Row
9.6oz CaraPils
9.6oz Crystal 40L
12oz Dextrose (Corn Sugar)

Anticipated OG: 1.078
Actual OG: 1.071
Anticipated FG: 1.018
Actual OG:
ABV%:

Hops:
3.5oz CTZ for 90m
.75oz CTZ for 45m
1oz Simcoe for 30m

1oz Centennial at Flameout
2.5oz Simcoe at Flameout

1oz Centennial for 14 days Dryhop
1oz CTZ for 14 days Dryhop
1oz Simcoe for 14 days Dryhop
.25oz Centennial for last 5 days of the 14 above Dryhop
.25oz CTZ for last 5 days of the 14 above Dryhop
.25oz Simcoe for the last 5 days of the 14 above Dryhop

Yeast:
White Labs California Ale WLP001

Notes:
Smooth brewing after giving a sermon. I'd say that's a productive Sunday.  I did substitute about 1oz Northern Brewer for 1 of the 2.5 ounces of Simcoe at Flameout.  Just couldn't afford too much more Simcoe.  Missed my OG by a touch, so hopefully it finishes a little lower than the 1.018 to balance that out.  I seriously can't wait to drink this.  This will probably be something I regularly do so I always have it available.  After all, why not spend a few hours a $30 to get $200 worth of a beer that is worth that.  It's $5 for a 16 ounce bottle here in Oregon, and it only comes once a month and you can only buy one.  So looks like I'll be brewing this a lot...
Update 11/30/12: Gravity is as 1.022, almost there.  Takes a while for these big brews to ferment all the way.  Taste is really good.  Probably the best IPA I will have brewed so far.  So stoked to get this on tap soon!

Another Workhorse IPA Variation

Man, it had been a while since I brewed for myself.  So long in fact that I'm really close to running out (at least on tap).  It's also been a while since I've had an IPA on tap (meaning more than a few weeks) so I decided to brew up another Workhorse.  Since Amarillo is hard to come by, I switched it out for Summit.  I've had really good results with that before so I figured it was a good switch.  Here's the details:

Recipe:
5.5 gallons

Fermentables:
14 lb GW 2-Row
1.2 lb Carapils
1 lb Crystal 40L

Anticipated OG: 1.081
Actual OG: 1.075
Anticipated FG: 1.019
Actual FG:
Actual ABV:

Hops:
1.75oz CTZ for 60m
.5oz Summit for 30m
1oz Cascade for 10m
.5oz Summit for 5m

1oz Cascade in Hopback
1oz Summit in Hopback

1oz Cascade for 7 days in secondary dry-hop
.5oz CTZ for 7 days in secondary dry-hop
1oz Summit for 7 days in secondary dry-hop

88 IBU

Yeast:
White Labs 001 Slurry

Notes:
Everything went pretty smooth.  It took some trickery to get the hopback flowing well.  A chugger pump would help that quite a bit.  Perhaps someday.

Cana's First Run

Rather than repost what we did, how bout you check this out!
http://canahomebrewclub.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-first-gathering.html

This is going to be sweet!

pTARAdactale

One of the many things I love about my wife is that she loves a super hoppy IPA.  She loves the IBU's cranked up.  She loves Pliny and so many other great IPA's.  So this IPA is named after her (and she loves dinosaurs, hence the name).







Recipe:
5.5 gallons

Fermentables:
14 lb GW 2-Row
1.6 lb CaraPils
1.2 lb Crystal 40L

Anticipated OG: 1.081
Actual OG: 1.070
Anticipated FG: 1.023
Actual FG: 1.018
ABV: 6.8%

Hops:
2oz CTZ for 60m
1oz Summit for 30m
1oz Cascade for 5m
1oz Centennial for 5m

2oz Cascade in Hopback (mash tun)
1oz Summit in Hopback (mash tun)

2oz Cascade for 7 days in secondary dryhop
1oz Centennial for 7 days in secondary dryhop

88 IBU's

Yeast:
White Labs WLP001 (new)

Notes:
Smooth brewing.  I need to get a pump so I don't have to move really hot kegs up a level on the brew tree.  Brewed on Friday, August 10.
Update 8/27/12: Racked to secondary last week and added 1.5oz Cascade and 1oz Centennial Dryhops.  I'll keg tomorrow probably.  FG was 1.018.
Update 9/13/12: Man, this is tasty!  Really good hop aroma and finish.  It's a little bit sweet due to the Crystal 40.  I'll revise that next time I think.  Otherwise another winning IPA!

Foster Art Night IPA

There's a street called Foster in SE Portland that has been long neglected and considered the bad part of town.  It's been referred to as "felony flats" amongst other bad terms.  Well, it's making a comeback and it's going to be awesome.  Part of what's happening is people are taking back the neighborhood and making stuff happen.  One of the groups working towards this is a creative group that is putting on a monthly event called "Foster Art Night".  This is essentially a moving party that happens on the third Saturday of the month from roughly 2p to late PM.

This month (as in a week and a half), The Southeast Church is going to host art and music as part of the event.  We're going to also offer free homebrew (a fairly limited amount though).  This IPA is going to go towards that (well, at least half of it).  Hence the name of the brew.  If you're in the Portland area and want to taste it, come to The Day Theatre on SE Foster at 55th Ave on Saturday the 18th between 4pm and 5pm and we'll be serving it up!



Recipe:
11 gallons

Fermentables:
17 lb GW 2-Row Base
5 lb Simpsons Golden Promise
3 lb GW Crystal 40L
2.4 lb CaraPils
8 oz Dextrose (corn Sugar)

Anticipated OG: 1.066
Actual OG: 1.071
Anticipated FG: 1.019
Actual OG:
ABV:

Hops:
3 oz CTZ for 60m
2 oz CTZ for 30m
2 oz Cascade for 10m
4 oz Cascade in Hopback (mash tun)

3oz Cascade for 7 days Dryhop
2oz CTZ for 7 days Dryhop

(total of 1 pound of hops!)

Yeasts:
Fermentis Safale 05 in one bucket
White Labs WLP001 California Ale in other bucket

Notes:
This brewday took a long time.  Everything was going smoothly until the boil time.  Instead of using the normal boiling station I moved the boil kettle up to the second tier so I could gravity feed to the mash tun that I was going to use for a hopback.  The only problem was that it took an hour and a half to get the wort up to boiling, then had to boil it for an hour, plus a long wort chilling since the screen would get a little plugged from the hops in the mash tun/hopback.  Time to get a pump I guess so I can use my actual boil burner for boiling.  Oh well, it's all part of the learning process...
Update 8/12/12: Racked the batch for Foster Art Night to secondary and added 1.5 oz of Cascade and 1oz of CTZ Dryhops.  Gravity was 1.018, so an ABV of roughly 6.9%.  Flavor was smooth, hoppy, and awesome.
Update 8/19/12: Unveiled this at Foster Art Night last night.  Response was really good, although there was a rather small crowd there (if 12-15 people is considered a crowd).  So the leftovers will go towards Cana.

Cana

Some friends and I were passing around ideas like we always do about homebrewing and the furtherance of the gospel.  We thought, how could homebrewing lead to Jesus?  So we decided to try something out.  We're going to start a small community venture called Cana.  Why Cana?  Well, for starters Jesus turned the water into wine in the city of Cana at the start of His ministry.  This occurs in John 2.  You can read it here, which is also the site for our community ramblings, recipes, and other random tidbits.

Here is the blog address:  www.canahomebrewclub.blogspot.com

We'll likely be meeting on the first Saturday of each month at my house to start.  We'll brew a batch or two of beer, discuss and engage the Bible (probably to start by looking at everything the Bible has to say about alcohol, both good and bad), and enjoy being in community with one another.  Meetings will generally last about 4-5 hours (length of time to brew a batch of beer), although everyone is free to come and go as they wish.  Each meeting will also be the tasting of the previous meetings beer, so there's the incentive to come back!  Also, a suggested donation of $5 will help cover expenses and keep the venture going.  More details will come eventually, but all are invited (21+ that is due to US alcohol laws).

Lawnmower IPA

I've been wanting to experiment with a lower ABV IPA for a while now and finally got around to doing it.  So often in order to get really big hop flavor you have to have a higher ABV beer.  I'd like to have a lower ABV beer with really big hop flavor (one of the reasons I like Bitter American from 21A so much).  So this is my first attempt at a "lawnmower beer" in the IPA department.  Here's the details...

Recipe:
5.5 gallons

Fermentables:
8 lb GW 2-Row
12 oz Crystal 40L
8 oz Carahell
4oz Dextrose

Anticipated OG: 1.047
Actual OG: 1.046
Anticipated FG: 1.013
Actual FG: 1.010
Anticipated ABV: 4.4%
Actual ABV: 4.7%

Hops:
161 Calculated IBU's
1oz CTZ for 60m
1oz Summit for 60m
1oz CTZ for 30m
1oz Summit for 30m

1oz Centennial at flameout
1oz Cascade at flameout

2oz CTX hopback (used my mash tun)

1oz Centennial for 7 days dryhop
1oz Cascade for 7 days dryhop

Yeast:
Safale 05

Notes:
I had been reading about hopbacks and using them while brewing.  I'm not sure how I didn't come across this before or pay attention to it, but decided it was time to put it into play.  I first tried to convert a thermos into a hopback that could also be used as a randalizer in the beer line, but I probably rushed it and failed.  I'll retry that another time.  So I then thought maybe I could drain the boiled wort into my cleaned out mash tun with 2oz of CTZ in it which would filter the hops out as it then entered my wort chiller.  That worked perfectly.  It's now fermenting in my basement and should be ready to transfer to secondary in a couple more days.  I brewed this last Friday (7/13/12).
Also I once again ended up about a gallon short after the boil so I added a gallon of water to the wort.  I'll have to figure out how to adjust Brewpal for that.
Update 7/21/12: Racked to secondary.  FG was 1.010 so ABV is about 4.7%.  Added 1oz of Centennial and 1oz of Cascade.

Tricerahops IIPA Clone

I've come to the realization that of all the beers out there, I want to drink mainly IPA's.  It's not that other brews aren't as tasty, it's just that IPA's are really tasty.  So I've decided to spend a lot more time perfecting the IPA.  In fact, within the next five years I plan on making the greatest IPA that anyone has ever had.  I'll let you know when it happens.

For now though, I'll have to keep practicing.  So with this round of practice I present to you my take on Ninkasi's Tricerahops.  It's a double IPA, meaning more hops and a higher gravity.  I made up the recipe myself after looking at their ingredients and partially going off the Total Domination Clone I made that turned out really close.

Recipe:
5.5 Gallons

Grain:
14lb GW 2-Row
2lb Carahell
2lb Munich Light

Hops:
2oz Summit for 60m boil
1oz Amarillo for 30m boil
1oz Centennial for 5m boil
1oz Palisades for 5m boil
1oz Amarillo at flameout

1oz Centennial for 7 days dry hop
1oz Palisades for 7 days dry hop

Yeast:
Whitelabs WLP001 California Ale Slurry

Notes:
Brewed this a couple weeks ago, but forgot to post it.  I messed up when adding the grain and knocked my filter loose.  That caused the grain to flow out when I drained the mash.  I was able to strain it, but it killed my gravity.  It was supposed to come in about 1.085, but actually came in about 1.074.  The final gravity when I racked it to secondary and added the dry hops yesterday was 1.014, so I got 7.9ABV, which is just under the 8.5ABV listed on the website.  IBU's are about 102 according to BrewPal.  The flavor was really good when I checked it yesterday.  Nice and bitter with some good floral aroma's coming off it.  Should be quite good after a week of dry hops.
Taste Update:  I guess I forgot to update this one on secondary.  I added the hops listed above and let them sit for a week.  The flavor on this was outstanding.  I'll grab a 22 of Tricerahops tonight so I can do a side by side.  I'm actually almost out of this one already.  I've shared a bunch and brought a couple growlers to friends houses lately.  The taste is really smooth with a nice crisp hop finish.  I think using CO2 in the secondary bucket and in the keg really helped that out.  The body is has a nice mouthfeel and flavor.  This is definitely something I'll be brewing again.

Taste Comparison:
The one on the left is the homebrew, the right is the real Tricerahops.  You can see the color is darker in Ninkasi's, although that is about where the differences in the two end.  

Color: Ninkasi is a little darker, but they're pretty close.
Body: Really close.  I actually couldn't tell any difference in the body except that Ninkasi's was a little more carbonated (which is a relatively easy fix for me).
Hops: Again almost dead on.  Ninkasi's was a little more on the aroma since it was straight out of the bottle, but the aroma flavor was identical.
Overall: Outside of the color being lighter, this was pretty dang close to a dead ringer of a clone.  I'm confident to say that you will not be let down by using this recipe if you're looking for a Tricerahops clone.  Cheers!

The IPA Experiment, Part 2

So this was the second round of the IPA Experiment.  Luckily my good buddy The Stokska came by today to hang out and help me brew.  Everything went pretty smooth.  I'm still getting used to brewing with the new setup, setup being the side of my house.

Today was the aroma emphasis IPA.  Pretty much the same as the last recipe, I'm just adjusting the hop additions.  Here's the details.

Grain:
12lb GW 2-Row
1.5lb Crystal 40L
1lb Carapils

Hops:
1oz CTZ @ 60m
.5oz CTZ @ 30m
1oz Simcoe @ 1m

Dryhop 1oz Simcoe for 7 days in secondary

Yeast:
New pack of Wyeast 1056

Notes:
Smooth brewing.  OG was 1.064, which I think was right on target.

Hop Harvest Part 2

The Bines at the Heitschmidt's.

So I went over to Ryan and Nikki's house to harvest the hops we planted out there.  Granted I had picked about 6oz of wet hops a couple weeks ago.  So the totals I got dried from our harvest this year is the following:

2 Hallertau Bines: .5oz
2 Centennial Bines: 1oz
2 Cascade Bines: 3oz

Next year we're going to plant another 6-12 bones to boost our numbers (plus Ryan and Nikki really love having the hops so they want to have more!).  Hopefully after a few years we'll start pulling the 1 pound or more per bine!

Hop Harvest Part One

The bounty on the trellises.

So my neighbors had planted hops to go over their trellises a few years ago and haven't ever used them for anything except shade and great aesthetics.  They had offered me free reign of them for brewing purposes so today I started the harvest.  I picked about 17 gallons today in about 2 hours.  There's probably another 50-70 gallons available to be picked.  I think they're mostly cascade, although we're not certain on that.  I put them on a couple screens in my blazing hot attic as well as in my grain dryer outside.  Hopefully they get good and dried out by tomorrow so I can pick more.  Now to just find someone with a vacuum sealer so I can package them.  Here's some pics of the harvest.

A portion of a bucket full.

Drying on the grain dryer.