New Fermenter!

In my constant search for better homebrewing methods, I have come across a great tool.  Fermentation is such a key part of producing good beer and so easy to see go bad in a hurry.  Plus, I typically brew 10-11 gallon batches at a time, thus needing two buckets and two packs of yeast.
I've started using more starters with my brewing which greatly speeds up fermentation as well as reduces the opportunity for infection.  Enter, the new fermenter!

I recently ordered a Speidel Plastic Fermenter from MoreBeer.  This thing has been working great overall so far.  I got the 60L size, which allows me to ferment over 11 gallons at a time with a single vessel.  Here's the good and bad I've seen so far...



The Good:
-I can ferment over 11 gallons at a time (I bet I could do up to 14-15 gallons if I really pushed it).
-Super sturdy.  The handles and structure on this thing are solid!
-Wide open top for easy cleaning and hop additions.
-Valve on front allows for super easy keg filling.
-Way cheaper than a conical.

The Bad:
-Plastic, although I have never had an issue with fermenting in plastic and really more and more startup breweries are using plastic conicals until they can afford stainless steel.
-Not conical.

Overall, that's how it's doing.  I'm currently finishing up my second batch in it and it's awesome.  Easy to clean, works great, super sturdy and a good deal.  I would highly recommend one!  Check one through MoreBeer.com here.

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.

Behind the ball...

Man, I've been behind on this blog.  I've brewed a couple times since my last post.  I think I've made the Drop Top Amber clone again (for my sister-in-laws wedding which I also performed; I know, I'm a modern Friar Tuck), a ten gallon of a Total Domination variation, and my Black Eye PA.  The recipes can be accessed by following the links as they were remakes of prior brews.

I have a couple new beers I'm working on.  One is going to be a hopped up IPA (so unlike me, huh?) with Summit, Citra, and Amarillo.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I'll post the recipe once I brew it.  The other one is going to be a Westveleteren XII clone.  That one I found online and I'll probably brew at Bean's Brewhouse.  He's got a crazy electric system with super good efficiency and better temp control.  I'll post that as well once I brew it.

Anyways, thanks for being patient and I'll be back in the saddle here shortly.

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!

Hey Porter!

So in my two years of brewing I have yet to brew a porter.  So I picked up a basic recipe from Brew Brothers and went for it.  It turned out ok, but I was hoping for something closer to a Black Butte Porter.  I guess I should have just brewed one of those... The name is a nod to the great Johnny Cash and his song, "Hey Porter".  So heres the details (which you can get in a printed form from Brew Brothers).

Recipe:
5 gallons

Fermentables:
8.25 lb GW 2 Row
1 lb Crystal 10L
.25 lb Black Patent
.25 lb Chocolate

Anticipated OG: 1.052
Actual OG: 1.048
Anticipated FG: 1.017
Actual FG: 1.011
Actual ABV: 4.8%

Hops:
.75oz Fuggles for 60m
.5oz Fuggles for 10m
.75oz Fuggles at Flameout

Yeast:
WLP011 European Yeast

Notes:
Smooth brewing.  I did this one before we started our Cana meeting, so the two overlapped.  Always good to brew with friends!

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!

Widmer Drop Top Amber Clone

It's been a while since I've done an amber and I've always like Drop Top, so why not brew one!  I found a recipe for this from a commercial home brew supply store online and I just copied their recipe and then ordered the goods from Brew Brothers.  Half as much money that way and they delivered!  Seriously, if you don't go to Brew Brothers and you live within an hour of Hillsboro, Oregon, you're wasting your money.  Plus their selection is crazy good.  Anyways, here's what I did...

Recipe:
5.5 Gallons

Grains:
8.25 lb GW 2-Row
.5 lb Crystal 10L
.5 lb Honey Malt
.5 lb Special B Malt

8oz Lactose (Milk Sugar) added at the start of the boil

Mash:
Strike: 3.66gallons at 170 degrees.
Sparge: 4.19 gallons at 170 degrees.

Anticipated OG: 1.051
Actual OG: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV: 5.4%

Hops:
.25oz CTZ for 60m
.5oz Magnum for 60m
1oz Northern Brewer for 10m

It was supposed to be Magnum for 1oz for a full hour, but I only had .5oz and didn't want to buy more that I wouldn't use right away.  Since I had so much CTZ, I figured for the bittering it would be close enough.

Yeast:
Safale 05.  This is my first time using this one.  Fermented fast even without a starter.

Notes:
Brewed back on June 22, but I forgot to post about it.  The mash/boil gave out less wort than I should have had, so I added about 3/4 a gallon of water after the boil.  This gave me the right gravity as well as enough wort.
Update 7/3/12: Racked to secondary and got the final gravity at 1.013.  Right on target.  The flavor is really close to Drop Top.  Probably a dead ringer.  If you want some Drop Top, then this will do the job nicely!  I'll update again after secondary and once it's on tap.

Mt Hood IPA

So this is stage two in my IPA journey. It's probably a journey of 10,000 batches (hopefully not literally), so hopefully the batches continue to turn out good. Here's the details: 

Recipe: 
5.5 Gallons

Grain: 
10 lb 2-Row
1.2 lb Carahell
1.2 lb Golden Promise


Mashed 4.65 gallons at 152. 
Sparged 3.5 gallons at 175. (Came out short so I added a gallon of water after the boil). 


Target OG: 1.063 
Actual OG: 1.065 
Final OG: 1.009
ABV: 7.3%


Hops: 
2oz CTZ for 60m 
1oz CTZ for 30m 
1oz Mount Hood for 5m 
1oz Mount Hood at flameout 2oz 


2oz Mount Hood for 7 days dry hop 


Yeast: 
White Labs WLB001 California Yeast Slurry 


Extras:
8oz Oak chips in secondary


Notes: Smooth like always. Gravity came in really high and amount of wort was low, so I added about 3/4 of a gallon of water. That seemed to fix the problem.

Update 7/7/12: Racked to secondary.  FG was at 1.009.  Really dry tasting so far.  I added 2oz of Mt Hood and 8oz of American Oak Chips.  Trying something new with the oak chips.  I guess Vinny at Russian River uses a lot of oak chips in his IPA's, which I consider to set the standard currently, so it seems worthwhile to give a shot to.  I'll let you know how it goes.
Taste Update 7/17/12:  This is easily the worst beer I have ever made.  The oak chips were smoked instead of plain and I didn't even think about that fact until I lifted the lid on the secondary bucket.  I'm going to give this to a neighbor who thinks he might be able to do something with it.  The picture at the left is probably a better name for this because this is what it tastes like!

Summer Fruit Beer Series

Summer is quickly arriving (as it's raining as I type this...).  Summer means warm weather (usually, this is Portland afterall...), BBQ's, and sitting on the porch in the evening enjoying life.  So to go with all three of those, I'll be brewing up some fruit flavored beer.  I typically don't really enjoy these too much, but a lot of other people do, so I'll brew them up to show good hospitality (and to keep their hands off my IPA's).  I decided to do the Trixie again that I did last year that turned out really well.  I also wanted to try something new, so I'll be splitting the batch (10 gallon) in half.  Half with be Trixie (raspberry flavored beer), and the other half will be halved again.  One (2.5 gallons) will be aged with whole strawberries on secondary, the other half will be grapefruit.  I think I'll throw in some amarillo or summit hops with the grapefruit to really try to highlight the grapefruit.  This will be an experiment.  It could be awesome, or it could be horrible, the good thing is that it's only 2.5 gallons and cost me all of $3 or so for the 2.5 gallons.  Total cost of this recipe to me is probably $2 for the beer ingredients (thanks to a kind gift of a 50 pound grain bag on my ledger at Brew Brothers from a good friend) and it'll be another $12 or so for the fruit I'm guessing?  I hope to use real Oregon Strawberries which will really up the quality!  So $14 cost to me isn't too shabby.

Recipe:
10 gallons

Grain:
20 lb GW 2-Row

Anticipated ABV: 5.0%
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.013
Strike Water: 7.5 gallons @ 163 degrees
Sparge Water: 9 gallons @ 183 degrees

Hops:
1oz CTZ (16.8%) for 60m

Yeast:
1056 slurries

Extras:
I'll boil 24oz of raspberries in 1/2 gallon of water for about 30 minutes, strain out the chunks, and add that to the secondary for the Trixie (Mcmenamins Ruby Clone) portion.
I'll add a half pound or so of whole strawberries to the 2.5 gallons of one of the experiment fruit beers.
I'll add a couple grapefruits cut into slices to the secondary of the other 2.5 gallons of experiment beers plus maybe an ounce or so of summit or amarillo (probably summit because it's way cheaper than amarillo).

Notes:
Brewed last weekend (5/26/12) and everything went fine.  Fermenting nicely.  Should be ready to transfer to secondary in about a week.  Also I was able to break out the grain dryer only to have it start pouring like I've never seen in Portland a few hours later.  Most of the grain dried pretty well though, so at least there will be something for the chickens!
Update 6/19/12: Sorry for the delay on the update.  I split one bucket into two buckets at secondary.  One I added a grapefruit cut into eighths with 1oz of Summit Hops.  The other got a pint of whole Oregon strawberries (so much better than California or anywhere else).  I let those sit for a week or so and then bottled them last night.  The other buckets I racked to secondary along with 24oz of frozen raspberries that I boiled for 30 minutes, then strained and chilled.  Those have been sitting about a week and will need to be bottled shortly.  I'll update again when I taste each of them.
Taste Update: The early tasting on the raspberry one is that there's a funky flavor.  It's one I've had come up before so it's got to be from the yeast.  Time to get rid of all the 1056 slurry's I have since it's definitely from that.  The flavor isn't bad, it's just not as good as it should be.

Heavenly Storehouses Laden With Snow

Christmas Ale time!  This being the first Christmas I am brewing means that this will be my first attempt at a Christmas Ale. I'm not doing any spices in this though as I don't want to screw it up and ruin it.  I loosely based the recipe off Widmer's Brrrr, although I don't know if I've had that one at all.  I just liked the malts in their recipe and the hops used, so it seemed like a good route to go.

The name of the recipe comes from the song "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin, who got the lyric line from Job 38:22.  My wife thought that that was a really silly line before she found out it was from the Bible.  She still thinks it's silly, but at least it's biblical this way.  So since it refers to storehouses of snow and when I think of snow I think of Christmas, it seemed fitting.  Now if only it would snow here for Christmas...

Recipe:
5.5 Gallon

Grain:
9.5lb GW 2-Row
1.75lb Crystal 15L
1.5lb Crystal 75L
1.1lb Munich Light
1lb Carapils
.25lb Chocolate (Patagonia Light-a new tasty one they got at Brew Bros.)

Hops:
1.5oz Cascade (10.2%!!) for 90m
1oz Cascade (6%) for 30m
1oz Simcoe (13%) for 30m
1oz Cascade (6%) for 1m
1oz Simcoe (13%) for 1m

2oz Cascade (6%) for 7 days dry hop
1oz Simcoe (13%) for 7 days dry hop

Yeast:
Wyeast 1968 London ESB

Notes:
Smooth brewing day.  Less that four hours from setup to cleanup.  Gravity came it right at 1.069, which was a little low, but I'm not overly worried.  If the FG comes in below 1.020 then I'll hit my marks just fine.  I'm really liking brewing on the porch as I don't feel so disconnected from my family when I do brew since they're usually in the front room so it's nice being able to play with the kids while brewing!
Update 11/20/11:  So the yeast I used from my yeast supply didn't do anything so after about three days I dumped the wort into another bucket, tried to keep out the bad yeast (I didn't try to hard though) and added the new 1968 Wyeast London Ale Yeast.  Fermentation is going well.  I'll transfer in a couple days.
Update 11/23/11: Gravity is at 1.030, so this needs a few more days.  I shook up the bucket so hopefully that will help.  Flavor was really good though.  Spicy, yet smooth.  This should be great!
Update 11/26/11: Racked to secondary and added the dry hops.  FG was 1.024.
Update 1/27/12: Bottled this a while back and kegged about 2 1/2 gallons.  I'll save some for the long haul so I can try this again in five or ten years.  Flavor was very complex.  It was great with food and pretty good on it's own.  I'll probably not brew this again, but it was very good.

Lagering Up For Winter

So now that the weather is cooler it's time to break into the lagers.  The cooler temps needed to ferment make this a great one to make in the fall/winter/early spring around here.  This is actually my first attempt at a lager, so I'm excited to see how this turns out.  I fashioned a recipe loosely based on a Kona Longboard Lager and gave it a go.  I plan on racking this to secondary in a week or two and then putting it on the back porch for a month or two (so long as it doesn't get below about 30 at night).

Recipe:

Grains:
7.5# GW 2-Row
2.2# Briess Red Wheat

Hops:
1oz Mt Hood for 60m
1oz Hallertau for 30m
1oz Hallertau for 1m

Yeast:
Wyeast California Lager from Old Dirty Randy.

Notes:
Nice and smooth brew day.  Getting my groove on here at the new house and it's nice to brew on the porch.  Free from rain and easy to watch football while I brew.  OG was 1.052.  FG should be about 1.015ish to make this about 5%.  Hopefully this will be ready for Christmas (although this isn't the holiday ale I'm planning on doing).
Update 11/20/11:  Racked to secondary and put it on the back porch.  I'll deal with it again in 6-8 weeks.  OG 1.014.  ABV is around 5%, right on target.  Flavor is good, although I know that the lagering process will add and age the flavor.
Update 12/16/11: Tasted.  Clear, crisp, and tasty.  I'll keg this once a keg opens up, probably in a couple weeks.
Update 1/7/12: Kegged plus 8 12oz bottles.  I can't wait to try this!
Update 1/27/12: This is ok.  Nothing great, however it is fantastic when mixed with an oatmeal stout (Othello at the Horse Brass anyone?).

The IPA Showdown

So the time has come to compare the two Experiment IPA's.  On the left is the Experiment #2 (referred to as "Dry Hop IPA") and on the right is Experiment #1 (referred to as "Non-Dry Hop IPA").  To refresh you these were two IPA's made with the same grain and hop ingredients.  The only difference was the addition of the hops.  One was all added during the boiling stage and the second has less boiling hops and added some dry hops.  Same amount of total hops used of the same varieties.  So here's the results:




Aroma/Smell:
#1: Pretty basic IPA smell.  Not overpowering, but not too light either.
#2: Much more aroma.  I can pick up some floral and piney aroma's.  Much more robust in it's smell (if it's possible to have more robust aroma?)

Taste:
#1: Smooth, classic IPA taste.  Very similar to what you would expect from a larger micro-brewery IPA.  Good mouthfeel.  Can pick up some of the aroma flavors.  Enjoyable.
#2: Much more flavor.  While a little less bitter, it has much more flavor and mouthfeel.  Reminds me of a Lagunitas IPA.  The floral and piney flavors come through much more.

The Bottom Lines:
#1: This is a classic tasting IPA.  Something you would expect from Deschutes or Widmer.  Great flavor, very enjoyable IPA.  If you're looking for a cheap great tasting IPA that will appeal to the masses, brew this.
#2: This has much more the flavor and aroma of a smaller micro-brewery IPA.  Think of Lagunitas IPA or a lighter version of a Green Flash IPA.  This adds a lot to the aroma and flavor of the IPA.

Which do I prefer?
Between the two I really prefer the second because of the aroma and extra flavors that come through in the Dry-Hop process.  They're very similar, but side by side, you can really pick up the dry-hop process and the extra flavor that comes from that.  Ideally I'll add more hops to the boil and then even more to the dry-hopping to really max out the hop flavor!

Bonus Section:
I combined the two to see how they would taste.  They taste much more like #2 so the Dry-Hops really do stand up among the competition!

Cascade Pale Ale

I've had way too many IPA's brewing lately (wait, is that even possible?) so I decided to scale back and brew up a classic Pale Ale.  This is loosely based on a Mirror Pond (similar grain and cascade hops) but it's a made up recipe from my head.  I really love me some Cascade hops, especially when I'm using some of the 5 pounds worth I got for $30.  In case you're wondering, that's less than half of what normal retail is for these.

I switched from brewing on the side of the house after my buddy Scott (www.beanbotbrew.blogspot.com) noticed that the ceiling on my porch looked like it was probably high enough to brew under.  After check that out, I agreed and moved to the porch.  Way better.  Plus I can watch college football from there while brewing.  Talk about living large!

So here's the details that you're dying to know:



Grains:
10lb GW 2-Row
1.65lb Crystal 60L
1lb Carapils

Hops:
1.5oz Cascade @ 60m
1.25oz Cascade @ 15m
1oz Cascade @ 1m

Yeast:
Recent slurry of Wyeast 1056

Notes:
Brewing on the porch is awesome, other than having to haul the brew tree from the backyard.  Great weather that day as well.  One of my propane tanks is busted now, the top valve is somehow not functioning properly, so that's a real bummer.  I also created a new airlock for my bucket fermenter.  I hate the overflow of yeast and stuff on the tops of my buckets so I reverted to a hose in a bucket of water method.  I simply added a hose to the stem of a busted airlock and put that into a bucket of water.  Works much better for primary fermenting than a regular airlock or just a hose.  Keeps the seal tighter.

Update 11/20/11: This turned out great.  Good crisp flavor and a smooth body.  Quite a tasty pale ale.

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.

The IPA Experiment, Part 1

So in brewing I usually finish the IPA's much faster than anything else in my supply, so I'm constantly brewing and giving away IPA's.  In the next couple batches I'm going to really test the ingredient process in my IPA's.  While I have a feeling and a hunch on how this will turn out, I figured I would try it anyways.  What I'm doing is brewing two IPA's with the same ingredients, but varying the hop addition times.  This first batch is the bitter version, the second will be the aroma addition.

This IPA has four ounces of hops, all put in during various times of the boil.  The second will have less bittering additions and more aroma/dry hop additions.  So here's the details on round one:

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

Hops:
1.5oz CTZ @ 60m
.5oz CTZ @ 30m
1oz Simcoe @ 5m
1oz Simcoe @ flameout

Yeast:
New packet of Wyeast 1056

Notes:
First brew day at the new house.  Not quite a luxurious as the old house (no garage at the new place), but still works well.  Took about 4 1/2 hours.  Only downside is I forgot to take a OG reading, but the pre boil was on target at 1.052, so I'm guessing final was probably about 1.062ish.  That's the one kink in my plan.  Oh well.  I'll try to brew the next batch this week.

Brew Tree

So after coveting Randy and Scott's brew trees, I jumped on the banjowagon, ordered some banjo burners and welded me up a brew tree.  Well, by I welded I mean that me and Randy told our good buddy Dean-O-Rean-O how we wanted it and he made it happen.  It's good to have friends.  So anyways, it's about 90 inches tall including the caster wheels to make moving it easier.  The base 'H' is 42 long on each side and the center bar is 21 inside length, or 24 total.  It's super solid!

We welded each 'U' to the center vertical pole and gave it an extra support piece.  Under those we added banjo burners from agrisupply.com to each about 4.5 to 5 inches below the bottom of the keggle so I can be boiling/heating in a jiffy.  I had to cut the burner and pieces I could use from the base, but that was cheaper than ordering just the burner and then having to get regulator's and hoses.

The top tier is 22 inches below the top, and the next one is lower and the next one is lower.  If you want the specifics I can get them, I just don't want to get off the couch again.  We put the bottom tier high enough so I can fit my counter-flow-chiller under it and the fermenting bucket below that without having to lift up the keggle to something higher.  That way I can do 10 gallon batches for friends when they can't make it to help or be here for the whole time.

I still need to sand it and paint it.  I got some 2000 degree black paint so it'll look nice.  I'll probably do that next week.  Here's some more pics and close-ups of the details.

I'll break this thing in tomorrow with my buddy Gregg (with 3 G's, not 2).  We're going to make some more of the Bitter American Clone.  I'll post about that later....

Close up of the banjo beneath a keggle.

The extra support for one of the 'U's.

Easy Rollin!

Keggles

One of the kegs before the conversion.

I've begun upgrading my brewing process.  Since a nice 15-20 gallon brew kettle with a ball valve was like $150, I opted to make my own.  So I picked up three 15.5 gallon kegs off craigslist in the last week and have cut the tops off of them.  I then drilled holes and installed weldless ball valves to all three and added thermometers to two of them.  Most of the techniques used were from Poorhouse Brewing.  Check the December 2010 posts to get the details.  The thermometers are sweet and way cheaper than ordering professional ones.  Next up I'll build a brew tree and add the burners to them.  I'm looking forward to better efficiency and an even better brew day.  Also, I've had quite a few people wanting me to brew them some batches, so now I can do a ten gallon batch and keep half and half can go to someone else.  Let me know if you want to go in on a batch!

I cut the lids off with my angle grinder and a steel cutting wheel.  I then polished them up with a polishing/sanding attachment that smoothed them out so I don't cut up my arms when reaching into the keggles to clean them.  I still need to pick up a lid or two from goodwill.

The three final products.

The ball valves I did were simple brass 1/2 inch ball valves from Lowes.  Each one cost like $7, plus a buck or two for each 1/2 thread to cpvc adapter.  I'm going to switch the boil keggle to a copper inside fitting that I can remove to clean.  I'm a little worried about boiling CPVC over and over.  I added a rubber stopper to each inside and outside (touching the keggles) of the ball valves to provide a better seal.  

A close up of the homemade ball valve.
This thing works great for like $12 each!

The thermometers were installed with a 1/2 inch to 3/4 step up rubber stopper.  I drilled a hole slightly smaller than the thermometer stem in the rubber and drilled a hole in the keg.  I then pushed the rubber stopper into the hole and hammered it in tight from the inside of the keg.  After pushing the thermometer through, I put a pin nail through the outside of the stopper to keep it from slipping back in.  They work great and were only like $6 or $7 apiece.  Nice and cheap!

The thermometer with a rubber stopper.  This only cost $7 total.  

This thermometer is nice and big and easy to read!

The not-so-false bottom is simply a steel braided water supply line with the rubber inside removed.  I  attached this to the CPVC Tee attached to the pipe.  I guess that this should work great, according to my buddy Randy.

The not-so-false bottom for the mash tun.  

The Hop Spider is something I saw on homebrewtalk.com  I pretty much copied the one I saw on there exactly.  I still need to add the mesh bag to the bottom of the PVC coupler, but that way the hops will float freely and hopefully give off even more flavor!  This thing cost like $7 so far, plus like the $4 mesh bag I still need to get.  No more muslin bags for me!  

My Homemade Hop Spider.

So there you have it.  My brewing upgrades done for way less that prefabricated stuff from well intentioned, but pricey, homebrew websites.  The bottom line, be creative and save money which can be used for better stuff.  As my dad always says, "what good is money if you spend it?"

First All Grain

So here's some pics from my first all grain session.  Notes about the day on the bottom.

Mash Tun in action.

Mash Tun bundled up!

Draining out the wort.

Spent grain.

One full kettle.

With the wort chiller in for the last 15 minutes of the boil.

So here's the good from today:

1. Mash tun worked great!  Almost too great though.  Got 6.5 gallons of wort.  I was supposed to get 6.1 gallons.  I'll have to keep that in mind in the future.
2. Wort Chiller worked great as well.  Went from boiling to 65 degrees in about 10 minutes.  It probably helped that it was so cold out today.
3. Got to brew.  Always a good time.

And here's the bad from today:

1. Broke my thermometer when it fell off a table.  At least I was all done for the day.
2. Because the mash tun was so great and I got more wort, gravity came out at 1.032 instead of the targeted 1.041.  I should have let it boil longer.  That's just my mistake though.
3. The hose I got for the wort chiller was crap.  It had a dented end so hopefully I can return it.  Also, the attachment for my bottle cleaner that was on the faucet is not stuck to the hose.  So there's another thing I'm going to have to buy.

All in all it was fun as brewing should be.  Hopefully this beer turns out good.  It's supposed to be a session beer, so a lower gravity will definitely help that aspect!