the Post Mortem

Alright folks... here's the results: 27 of 28 styles brewed, with multiple substyles of some categories...

28 - specialty cider, is the only one we didn't get covered. I went to get some cider and the store was fresh out of the fall run of local cider, d'oh! The plan was to make a New England Cider by mixing a lot of cider with a bunch of honey... oh well!

It was a fun project and I thank everyone involved, I think we all learned a lot and made a _ton_ of great beer!

cheers,
Chris

15C - Weizenbock

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: decoction
  
• Date: 12/21/2008
• Size: 5 gallon post-boil

Grain Bill:

• 8lb wheat malt
• 5.5lb Munich malt
• 1/2lb CaraVienna malt
• 1/4lb Carafa II (added at _end_ of the mash)
• 1.5lb Briess organic 2-row malt

Notes:

• Grist is 50% wheat malt, per German law
• 2-row was added at the last minute to increase gravity, didn't have any other base malt on hand... My choice would to have added more wheat and Munich.
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1010 - American Wheat
  
• Pitched on top of the yeast cake from my wheat beer from last week.
• Yes, this is not 100% to style, but it's what I had to work with...
  

The Mash:

• start grains @ 131F @ 2qt/lb
• rest 30 minutes
  
• pull thick third to start the decoction
• raise decoction to 154F (STIR LIKE MAD!)
• rest decoction for 30 minutes
  
• raise decoction to boil (STIR LIKE MAD!)
• boil decoction for 20 minutes (STIR EVEN MADDER!!!)
• add decoction back to main mash, temp should reach 154F, add additional water if necessary
• rest 60 minutes
• add pulverized Carafa II
• rest 10 minutes
  
• sparge with 180F
• collect 7 gallons
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 1.5oz Mt Hood (5.0aau) @ 60
  
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
  
• Total: 23 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.078
• FG: 1.019
  

9C - Scottish Export 80/-

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: infusion
  
• Date: 12/20/2008
• Size: 5 gallon post-boil

Grain Bill:

• 3lb Briess Organic 2-row malt
• 1/2lb Briess 120L crystal malt
• spent grain bed from barleywine made earlier in the day
• 1lb Briess light DME
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale
  
• Starter made using light DME
  

The Mash:

• start grains @ 151F @ 2qt/lb while the barleywine is mashing
  
• rest 45 minutes
  
• add to spent mash with an additional 2 gallons
  
• rest 30 minutes
• sparge with 180F
• collect 7 gallons
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 0.25oz Zeus (16.4aau) @ 60
  
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
• 1lb DME @ 10
  
• Total: 20 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.048
  

19C - American Barleywine

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: infusion
  
• Date: 12/20/2008
• Size: 5 gallon post-boil

Grain Bill:

• 17lb Briess Organic 2-row malt
• 1lb Briess 40L crystal malt
• 1lb Briess carapils malt
  
• 1/2lb Special B
• 3lb Briess light DME
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale
  
• Starter made using light DME
  

The Mash:

• dough in to 151F
• rest 60 minutes
• sparge with 180F
• collect 7 gallons
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 1.5oz Zeus (16.4aau) @ 60
  
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
  
• 1.0oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 15
• 1.0oz Amarillo (9.3aau) @ 10
• 3lb DME @ 10
  
• 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 5
• 0.5oz Amarillo (9.3aau) @ 5
• 1.0oz Amarillo (9.3aau) @ lights out
  
• Total: 90 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.112
  
• To be dry hopped in secondary with 1.0oz Centennial and 1.0oz Amarillo
  

California Common

Info:

• Brewer: David
  
• Date: 12/19/2008
• Size: 5 gallon post-boil
• Picked the hop-iest California Common recipe I could find
• Style Guide 7B, California Common
  

Grain Bill:

Main Mash

• 9.5 lbs Gambrinus Pilsner Malt
  
• 0.5 lbs Caramunich Malt
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2112 California Lager
  

The Mash:

• 3 gallons to 127 and dough in all grains.
  
• 30 minute protein wait at 120-123F.
  
• 90 minutes mash at 150F (+/- )
  
• Iodine tested good, no starch
  
• Sparge with 180F
• Sparged to about 6 gallons
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• Slow to bring to boil, new burner, pretty small. Have to upgrade If I want to do more than a 5 gallon batch.
• All hops are Northern brewer
• 2 oz at 75 min ( this Hop sock split the seem at about 40 minutes, resulting in lots of loose hops.)
  
• 1 oz at 60 min
• 1 oz at 40 min
• 1 oz at 25 min
• 1 oz at 15 min
• 1/2 tsp Irish moss at 10 min
• 1/2 tsp Wyeast yeast nutrient at 10 min
  
• 1 oz at 5 min
• 1 oz back for dry hopping.
  

The Finish:

• Crash cool to 70F. Dropped to about 100, and slowed down while I found a working thermometer. My digital died in middle of brew (battery ?) and my backup only went down to 100F. Then dropped the rest of the way to 70F.
  
• OG: 1.051 at 60F. Target was 1.046 - 1.054
  
• Went to siphon to 6 gallon carboy, and the free hops plugged the siphon. Wound up skimming most of the free floating hops out with a mesh strainer. Then just funneling everything that was left into carboy by hand, Definitely less than ideal. Should have poured out to second pot, through strainer, and then siphoned from that to carboy (hindsite.)
  
• Temperature had dropped to 60F by time I got done with this. And pitched yeast.
  
• Lot more particulate in batch than I expected, I assume this is from the loose hops, seems to be settling out well though.

22B - Smoked Porter

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: infusion
  
• Date: 12/19/2008
• Size: 5 gallon post-boil

Notes:

• Recipe is based on the Stone Brewing Co Smoked Porter recipe published in BYO Magazine in the December 2008 issue.
• Bittering hop changed to Zeus
  
• 4oz peated malt changed to 8oz German rauch malt
  

Grain Bill:

• 11lb Briess Organic 2-row malt
• 3/4lb Briess 60L crystal malt
• 1 3/4lb chocolate malt 350L
  
• 1/2lb German rauch malt
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1098 - British Ale
• Starter made using light DME
  

The Mash:

• dough in to 154F
• rest 60 minutes
• sparge with 180F
• collect 7 gallons
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 0.5oz Zeus (16.4%) @ 60
  
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
  
• 0.5oz Mt Hood (5.0%) @ 10
  
• Total: 35 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.065
  

Chocolate Cherry Stout

Info:

• Brewer: Ryan
• Mash: Straight infusion mash
  
• Date: 12/14/2008
• Size: 5.75 gallon post-boil after cherry addition

Grain Bill:

Main Mash

• 9.4 lbs 2 row malt
• 0.5 lbs black roasted
  
• 0.75 lbs 350L chocolate malt
• 0.5lbs 80L crystal malt
• 0.75lbs victory malt
• 0.5lbs oatmeal (actually quick oats - pre gelitanized) lightly toasted in a 300F oven until just barely showing color and nicely aromatic.
  

Yeast:

• Coopers Ale yeast (dry)
  

The Mash:

• Dought in to protein for 10 minutes (not totally intentional, I was a little short on hot water - Doh! indeed)
  
• Brought up to 154F with roughly 4 gallons of 180F (+ a little at 200) water (I put two pots on at once and it was getting a little thin so I dumped in some of the hotter water. I blame the weather for the slow rise, it was 17F outside, yeah I was in the garage but the door was mostly open to keep from poisoning myself. Brrr)
  
• Mash until conversion is complete about 1hr and 30m. Iodine test showed happy grain time.
  
• Sparge with 180F
• Sparged to 6 gallons
  

The Boil (60 minutes):

• 1.5oz US goldings 5.7AA @ 60
• 4oz of Penzeys dutch process (22% butter fat) coaco powder (dutch process is less bitter), I had saved a little (~1 quart) of the tail end of the wort (after having poured out a cup for the celebratory post sparge drink) and whipped that with the coaco powder to make a medium thick paste (looked like frosting)
• Added 2 cups of hot wort to the coaco mix and then stirred into beer @10. Hopefully just long enough to izomerize the oils, but not long enough to kill the flavor. It took about two minutes to get back to a roiling boil, so full boil with coaco for only about 8 min.
• Cooled to roughly 80F (yes it was freezing, I had to pour the saved sparge water on the drain hose to unfreeze the immersion chiller drain. The new chiller - 40' or 1/2" copper worked awesomely though, down to 80 in about 5 minutes, which is damn good even considering how cold it was out).
• Pitched in 5lbs of pitted bing cherries I'd gotten from a buddy over the summer and froze for just such an occasion. I realize that this is earlier than most people add fruit, but I'm shooting for an rich cherry undertone with less of the fruity up front and based on past experiences I think the CO2 scrubbing from the primary will do what I want.
  

The Finish:

• OG: 1.060 with cherries (stupidly I didn't take OG w/o cherries - I think I was suffering from a mix of carbon monoxide poisoning and brain freeze at this point). Either way its going to be a nice thick beer. Tastes delicions already!
• Pitched yeast on Dec14 at 8:00PM
  

The Polish:

• One vanilla bean, split open added evening of Jan 2
  

The Dog Cookies:

• 2 whole eggs (shell and all)
• two medium apples chopped
• one giganormous spoonful of peanut butter
• blend in food processor until fully blended
• 6 cups spent grain
  
• 2 cups fresh ground brown rice
• 4 cups flour
• enough "grain juice" from the bottom of the sparge vessel to make a stiff dough (may not take any)

The cooking of the cookies

• Mix well, and form into deliciously shaped cookies (press into a flat and then cut with a pizza wheel works for me.
• Put on a cookie sheet, leaving some space between the cookies helps them dry faster/better.
• Bake in 350F oven until dry on the outside (45m-1.5 hours)
• flip over
  
• lower heat to ~250F and leave for a couple of hours until pretty dry
• crack oven door open and leave to dry fully overnight
• Enjoy (err I mean - the dogs will enjoy, yeah thats what I meant)

Double Play Wheat Redux

Check out this clip, shot less than 18 hours fter pitching. Note: I used the olive oil method, hence no aeration, plus a little bit of yeast nutrient in addition to the Wyeast 1010 smack pack...

Double Play Wheat

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: hybrid cereal mash
  
• Date: 12/15/2008
• Size: 9.5 gallon post-boil

Notes:

• Mash based on Ryan's Wit
• To kill two birds with one stone, I made a large batch of a wheat beer... the first half fermented with a American wheat yeast and will have apricot puree added to it to make a fruit beer. The second half received a pound of Belgian blonde candi sugar and some funky Belgian yeast (read: brettanomyces)
• Hops were all homegrown
  

Grain Bill:

Cereal Mash

• 3lb unmalted wheat
• 2lb Briess organic 2-row

Main Mash

• 3.5lbs red wheat malt
• 4.5lbs white wheat malt
• 6lbs Briess organic 2-row

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1010 - American Wheat™
• Wyeast 3278 - Belgian Lambic Blend™

The Mash:

• Dough in both mashes to a protein rest
• Let cereal mash sit 15 minutes
• Raise cereal mash to 154F via direct heat (STIR!!)
• Let cereal mash sit 30 minutes
• Raise cereal mash to a boil (STIR LIKE MAD!!)
• Boil cereal mash 15 minutes (STIR LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!)
• Add cereal mash back to main mash, this should raise it to 154F, add extra water if necessary, but if you do your math right this is not needed
• Mash until conversion is complete
• Sparge with 180F
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 2.0oz Tettnanger @ 60
  
• 1.25oz Tettnanger @ 10
• took half of the wort for batch #1 after 90 minutes
  
• then added 1 pound of blonde candi sugar and boiled another 10 minutes for batch #2
  

The Finish:

• Batch #1 OG: 1.048
• Batch #2 OG: 1.058
• Apricot puree will be added to batch #1 in secondary.

27A - Common Cider

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Date: 10/25/2008
• Type: Common Cider
  
• Size: 5 gallons
  

Ingredients:

• 5 gallons of fresh Ryan's Cider (locally pressed)
• 2 tsp.yeast nutrient
  

Yeast:

• 1 pkg Wyeast 1056
  

.
Pretty straight forward... dumped the cider, nutrient and yeast in a 6 gallon carboy, that's about it!

TO BE CONTINUED

25B - Pyment

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Date: 10/18/2008
• Type: Pyment (mead made with grapes)
• Size: 6 gallons
  

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon (12 pounds) clover honey
• 2 tsp. yeast nutrient]
• 20 pounds of 3 unknown varieties of wine grapes (2 red, 1 white)
  

Yeast:

• 1 pkg. Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast (starter made in advance)
• 1 pkg Wyeast 4366 "Distiller's M-Series"
  

.
I based this largly on Cindy's traditional dry mead (24A).

The fruit has been picked a few days before. It had been washed and frozen, to break them down to make the yeast's job easier.

Heated 3 gallons of water to 160F, stired in honey, let sit 15 minutes, and cooled. Moved to fermenter and pitched yeast. A few weeks later, I added the grapes and pitched in the Wyeast 4366...

TO BE CONTINUED

8C - OMGWTFESB

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: infusion
  
• Date: 6/8/2008
• Size: 5.25 gallon post-boil

Notes:

• Recipe was originally to be the bitter from the 2008 Big Brew Day, which was called "Chiswick Bitter," but it ended up a bit different. :)
  

Grain Bill:

• 8lb Briess Organic 2-row malt
• 1/2lb Briess 120L crystal malt
• 1/2lb Briess 60L crystal malt
• 1/2lb Briess victory malt
• 1/2lb Briess CaraPils malt

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1098 - British Ale™
• I meant to get 1968, whoops!
  

The Mash:

• dough in
  
• 12qt @ 170F
• settles @ 150F
  
• rest for 75 minutes
• mash out
  
• 8qt @ 212F
• settles at 165F
• sparge
• 14qt @ 180F

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 1.5oz Willamette (4.5aau) @ 60
• 1.0oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 60 (yeah, yeah, I know, C-hops in an ESB...)
  
• 0.5oz Willamette (4.5aau) @ 15
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
• 0.5oz Yakima Goldings (4.2aau) @ 10
• 0.5oz Yakima Goldings (4.2aau) @ 1
• Total: 47 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.053
  
• To be dry hopped with 0.5oz Yakima Goldings (4.2aau) in secondary
• To be dry hopped with 0.5oz Yakima Goldings (4.2aau) in keg

The Post Script:

• This blog post was written beforehand, and the recipe was adjusted to reflect reality, that said, this was probably the most messed up batch I've ever done...
• I looked at the mash temp, which I thought was too high. After pouring in some cold water I realized that I was reading the wrong temp scale... d'oh! Pulled some wort, heated, added it back in, got things rolling again. This added 20-30 minutes to the mash.
• My burner seemed anemic, after an hour of no boil I had to tear apart the burner and put it back together. I didn't find anything, but it worked **much** better. (I mean, it'll push 150k+ BTU)
• After this was done (about 11pm) I fell asleep on the couch... NEVER DO THIS!! I woke up at 4am to find a few extra gallons boiled off, joy. Luckily, I hadn't added hops yet, so I added a bunch of water, got it back to boiling, and continued as usual. Total boil was 6 hours...
  

6B - Sweet Blondie Ale

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: infusion
  
• Date: 5/4/2008
• Size: 6 gallon post-boil

Notes:

• The name is a nickname for my son Noble, who has long blonde hair :)
• Recipe is from the 2008 Big Brew Day, which was called "Fill in the Hop Blonde Ale," and it got filled in with Cascade because that's what I have a lot of sitting around. I also substituted crystal 20L for the aromatic because it's what I had/could find.
  

Grain Bill:

• 9lb Briess Organic 2-row malt
• 1/2lb Briess 20L crystal malt
  
• 1/2lb Gambrinus honey malt
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1056 - American Ale™
• Starter made on previous day using light DME
  

The Mash:

• dough in
  
• 11qt @ 176F
• settles @ 152F
  
• rest for 60 minutes
• mash out
  
• 8qt @ 212F
• settles at 167F
• sparge
• 14qt @ 180F

The Boil (60 minutes):

• 1.0oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ start of boil
  
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
  
• 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 10
  
• Total: 18 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.047
  
• To be dry hopped with 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) in secondary

14B - Caution: American IPA

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: two step infusion
  
• Date: 5/3/2008
• Size: 6 gallon post-boil

Notes:

• Yeah, I'm a hophead :P
• Inspired by Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
  
• This was quite an interesting brewing experience, with some equipment performing excellently, and others straight out letting me down.
• :( Had some problems with my grain mill, which led to low efficiency:
• drill issues... including the one I borrowed
  
• broke the hopper and housing I had built
• had to crush one cup at a time using a 9.6V cordless drill and a makeshift hopper, which led to a very uneven crush
  
• :) First brew using my new kettle, a converted Gordon Biersch keg
• :) 150,000 BTU hurricane burner stood up to rain and 20 knot winds
  
• :) Massive wort chiller kicking ass, wort was pitchable in 5 minutes.
  
• :( Need a false bottom for keg, hose from the ball valve clogged and the auto siphon wasn't happy with the insane amount of hop material in the wort.
  

Grain Bill:

• 13lb Briess Organic 2-row malt
• 1/2lb Briess 20L crystal
• 1/2lb Briess Carapils
• 1/2lb Belgian Special "B"
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1056 - American Ale™
• Starter made on previous day using light DME
  

The Mash:

• start
• 15qt @ 142F
• settles @ 126F
  
• protein rest for 30 minutes
• the big show
• 7qt @ 212F
• settles at 151F
• rest for 90 minutes
  
• sparge
• 10qt @ 180F

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 1.0oz Centennial (9.7aau) @ 60
• 1.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 60
  
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
  
• 1.25oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 15
• 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 5
• 0.5oz Centennial (9.7aau) @ 5
• 0.25oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ lights out
  
• Total: 67 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.060
• To be dry hopped with 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) in secondary
• To be dry hopped with 1.0oz Cascade (4.0aau) in keg

10A - American Pale Ale

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: single infusion
  
• Date: 4/28/2008
• Size: 5.25 gallon post-boil

Notes:

• Essentially, this was to be a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone :)
• This is the first brew made under the new 2008 BJCP guidelines.
• It was supposed to be 10lb of 2-row, but my drill battery died.
• Also, I had planned to put some Centennial in @ 15min, but forgot.
• Therefore, the malt and hop info is as brewed, not as planned
  

Grain Bill:

• 9.5lb Briess Organic 2-row malt
• 1/2lb Briess 60L crystal
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1056 - American Ale™
• Starter made on previous day using a small mash of 2-row
  

The Mash:

• start
• 14qt @ 170F
• settles @ 151
  
• rest 75 minutes
  
• mash out
• 6qt @ 212F
• settles @ 171
• rest 15 minutes
  
• sparge
• 14qt @ 171F

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 1.0oz Centennial (9.7aau) @ 60
• teaspoon of Irish moss @ 15
  
• 1.0oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 15
• 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) @ 5
  
• Total: 45 IBU(ish)

The Finish:

• OG: 1.050
• To be dry hopped with 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) in secondary
• To be dry hopped with 0.5oz Cascade (4.0aau) in keg
  

Die dunklen Bieren

Here's a picture of the Munich Dunkel (left) and the Doppelbock (right), after both finished primary. Their FG's were 1.015 and 1.018, respectively.

BJCP Styles Updated

The BJCP released a minor update to the guidelines, details at www.bjcp.org

We'll consider our work done up until now under the 2004 guide, hereafter our efforts will be done with the 2008 version.

Update: German Pils, Marzen

The German Pils is now out of secondary and into a keg for lagering. The FG was 1.018, which is high so I'm going to top it off with some distilled water to get it down to about 1.012. Volume is 4 .25 gallons.

The Marzen is beautiful! The color is spot on and it's mmmmalty, and the FG stands at 1.014. Volume is 4.75 gallons.

I'd rather be over than under :)

4B Recycled Munich Dunkel

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: 2-step Infusion plus residual from Doppelbock decoction
  
• Date: 2/2/2008
• Size: 6 gallon post-boil
• Notes: For this mash I took a second run from my Doppelbock mash by adding a bunch of Munich and some Crystal on top of it. The Carafa II from the Doppelbock helped contribute some color, along with the residual sugars from the first mash.
  

Grain Bill:

• 7.5lb Munich malt
• 4oz Crystal 40L
• spent grains from the Doppelbock earlier in the day
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2124 - Bohemian Lager™
• Starter made previously by Ryan
  

The Mash:

• start with 12qt @ 130F for the new grains, settles at 120F
  
• rest 40 minutes (I was busy sparging the Doppelbock)
• added this mixture to the spent grains from the Doppelbock
  
• add 9qt @ 200F, settles at 151F (w00t!)
• rest 60 minutes
  
• sparge using 180F

The Boil (90 minutes):

• Volume to 28qt (7 gallons)
• 1.5oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60
• Total: 25 IBU(ish)

The Pitch:

• OG: 1.048 (on the lighter side, but to style)
  

5C Liquid Bread Doppelbock

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: 1-step Decoction plus some stepped raises
  
• Date: 2/2/2008
• Size: 6 gallon post-boil
• Notes: This mash is based on the hybrid infusion/decoction that Ryan used for the SchwarzBierz. Heck, it got me 72% efficiency.
  

Grain Bill:

• 9lb Munich malt
  
• 6lb Vienna malt
  
• 3lb Pilsner malt
  
• 1lb CaraMunich I
  
• 4oz Carafa II
• 4oz wheat malt
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2124 - Bohemian Lager™
• Starter made previously by Ryan
  

The Mash:

• start with 1qt per lb @ 100F
  
• rest 15 minutes
  
• add 150F at 1/2qt per lb, settles at 126F
• rest 20 minutes
  
• decoction!
• pull 10qt (about a third) that's very thick
  
• raise to 155F
• rest 20 minutes
• raise to 167F
• rest 20 minutes
  
• bring to boil
• boil 20 minutes
  
• add back to mash
• mash settles @ 153F
• rest 60 minutes
• sparge
• using 180F
• I had an issue with my valve on my mash tun getting clogged, thankfully Ryan and Cindy had dropped off a set of coolers early in the day. So I scooped out the mash and resettled it in a cooler with a nice stainless false bottom. Thanks guys!!!
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• Volume to 28qt (7 gallons)
• 2oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60
• Total: 23 IBU(ish)

The Pitch:

• OG: 1.098 (high for style, but style says 1.096+ :)
  

18B No Trouble Dubbel - Belgian Dubbel

Ryan and Cindy came by to help brew this one, with Fritz and Crunch in tow. After two hours of being extremely cold, we moved into the shop and turned on the 240V monster heater to keep warm.

This was a mixed grain/extract batch with a very simple boil. The grain bill is a combination of several online, with some randomness thrown in to taste. I hope this batch will be as easy to drink as it was to brew!

Info:

• Brewer: Gordon
• Mash: Steep
  
• Date: 1/21/2008
• Size: 5 gallon post-boil
  

Grain Bill:

• .25 pounds Crystal 10 L
• 1 pound Munich
  
• 1.5 pounds Belgian Biscuit
• .5 Cara Vienna

Yeast:

• Wyeast 1214 - Belgian Ale Yeast
  

The Mash:

• 150 degrees for 45 minutes, grain in grain bag
• Gave a pretty decent pressing of the grain bag at the end, still definitely wet though
  

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 5 minutes naked boil
• ~ .75 oz Halletaur, 55 minutes
• Added ~0.3 oz Sterling (Saaz), 5 more minutes
  
• total 22 BUs

The Pitch:

• OG: 1.070 (on style!)
• Tossed it in

First month - 8 styles done.

We seem to be well on our way to getting all 28 styles done. As of yesterday, we had 8 styles brewed -- over 1/4 of the way through the list in the first month.

I don't think Ryan and I will keep up this pace once we get past the strong beers. We're running out of carboys at this point, so we may need to take a break soon!

11B - Nutty Man Brown Ale

Another 2 beer day for Ryan and me. Not as long of a day since this was from extract.

This is a Southern English Nut Brown. This is not a common style; most nut browns are Northern English. This will be a dark, sweet, low-alcohol beer.

The recipe is adapted from a recipe in Brewing Classic Styles. I subsituted 4 lbs DME for 5 lbs LME, and substituted 4 oz Chocolate + 4 oz Crystal 40 for 6 oz of Pale Chocolate.

Ingredients:

4 lbs Extra Light DME
1 lb Crystal 80 L
10 oz Crystal 120 L
.5 lb Special Roast
4 oz Chocolate Malt
3 oz Crystal 40
4 oz Carafa II
.8 oz US Goldings
Nottingham Dry Yeast

Stepped grains for 45 minutes at 150 degrees F. Added DME, hops. Boiled 60 min.
Pitched yeast starter. Fermenting in the house at around 68 degrees F.

OG: 1.045 (recipe has said 1.041). Slightly high for style.
Color: recipe said would be 26 SRM. Very dark - almost purple.
IBU: 17

4C SchwarzBier - is that a pils in my stout?

I like things that are surprising and a little bit different than expected. This is a good example of that, a good schwarzbier is basically a dark pilsner. Its certainly dark, hopefully its also delicious.

Schwarzbier (4C)
Based on the Köstritzer clone from "Brewing Classic Styles" Zainasheff and Palmer with a little inspiration from a recipe from the Weyermann site.

Info:

• Brewer: Ryan
• Mash: 1-step Decoction plus some hot water stepped raises
  
• Date: 1/18/2008
• Size: 5 gallon post-boil
  

Grain Bill:

• 8.0lb weyerman pilsner malt
  
• 2.0lb Munich
• 8 oz dextrin
  
• 8 oz carafa II (added after decoction)
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2007 - Pilsen Lager™ This was some yeast Chris had saved over for me from his pilsner batch
• Starter (or maybe a booster since it was already a pretty nice yeast cake) made on previous day with light DME

The Mash:

• Set Carafa aside for now
  
• Dough in with 1 quart per pound of 98F water to 95
• rest 15 minutes
• add 150F to 126F (roughly 1/2 quart per pound)
• rest 20 minutes
• Decoction
• removed 6.5 quarts of thick part of mash, raised to 156 over 15 minutes
• rest decoction 15 minutes
• raise to 167 over 15 minutes
• rest 15 minutes
• bring to boil over 15 minutes
• add carafa II to main mash, this was left out of the mash before the decoction to try and keep a clean flavor profile (less roast) but added after to the main mash so we can get all the color.
  
• boil for 20 minutes
• return decoction to main mash, only hit 140
• rested at 140 for 25 minutes (only had one burner today so I'm heating water right now)
• added 190F water to 150F
  
• rest 20 minutes
• add 190 water to 167F rest 20 minutes
• sparge with 180 F water

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 30 minutes naked boil
• 1.5 oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60 (21 BUs)
  
• 0.75 oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 15 (6.5 BUs)
  
• total 26-27 BUs

The Pitch:

• OG: 1.054 (a smidge high for style, but not crazily so)
  
• Pitched yeast
  

16A Wit Guy White Ale

WitBier (1D)
Based on from "Wit Guy White Ale" from "Radical Brewing" Mosher.

This batch was started right before the sparge of the Munich Helles. Fortunately Gordon and Tarra came over and were able to help out with stirring, and Cindy took over the Helles boil.

Info:

• Brewer: Ryan
• Mash: 2 part adjunct mash
• Date: 1/13/2008
• Size: 5 gallons post-boil
  

Grain Bill:

• Adjunct Mash
  
• 3.0lb unmalted wheat (ground to coarse grist in my hand flour mill)
  
• 2.5lb 2 row pale
• 1.0lb rolled quick oats

• Malt Mash
• 3.0lb 2 row weyerman pilsner
• 1.0lb munich
• 1.0lb rice hulls
  

Yeast:

• Safbrew WB-06 dry wheat yeast
• Starter made a couple of hours before pitching with a little corn sugar and a pinch of yeast nutrient.

The Mash:

Mash schedule based on "Adjunct Mash Procedure" in "Radical Brewing" by Randy Mosher

I was going to try and explain the mash, but decided that it was easier to just plot it. Since I didn't have gnuplot installed I thought to myself "how hard can it be to do this in open office"? Well it turns out that its basically impossible. So I downloaded gnuplot and plotted it in about 2 minutes.

The basic idea is that you do a short mini mash with the wheat, oats and pale. This is then boiled to gelatinize the wheat starch. While this is going on the malt mash is brought through acid and protein rest with hot water like a regular infusion mash. The adjunct mash is then add that back to the malt mash to raise to mash out temperature. After this another short infusion of water is added to go to a high mash, then sparge at 180F.

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 20 minutes naked boil (the wort not the players)
  
• 1.2 oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60
• 0.5oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 5
• peel from two mandarin oranges, .5 oz crushed coriander and the "mystery spice" (red peppercorns .2 oz) crushed and added @ 5 (left in primary)
  
• Total: 20 IBU

The Pitch:

• OG: 1.052
  
• Pitched yeast, full krausen in <>

1D Helles Bels

Munich Helles (1D)
Based on Munchen Grobes Bier from "Brewing Classic Styles" Zainasheff and Palmer.

Info:

• Brewer: Ryan
• Mash: 2-step Decoction
• Date: 1/13/2008
• Size: 5 (and a bit) gallon post-boil
  

Grain Bill:

This is a bit lower than the recipe called for based on my previous experience with the Czech Pils. In retrospect I might have been getting higher efficiency because of the 10 gallon batch (the full 3 stage decoction probably didn't hurt either) because I was a little on the low side on this one - a little below style. Oh well.

• 8.9lb weyerman pilsner malt
  
• 0.7lb Munich
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2308 - Munich Lager™
• Starter made on previous day with light DME
• and (through fault of my own) 3944 - Belgian Witbier™
• Starter made on previous day with light DME

The Mash:

Mash schedule based on "German 2-Mash Decoction" in "The Brewers Companion" by Randy Mosher

• strike (acid rest)
  
• Added 150F water plus 2 quarts cold to hit 98F (1qt/lb total)
  
• rest 15 minute

• Protein rest
• Added 150F water to 125F (0.5qt/lb)
• rest 30 minutes

• First decoction
• thick 1/3 of mash removed
• raise to 156F over 12 minutes
• rest 20 minutes
• raise to boil over 20 minutes
  
• immediately return to main mash (we don't want the color here, just the malt)
• adjust to 150F
• rest 25 minutes
  

• Second decoction
• Remove thin 1/2
• raise to boil over 20 minutes
  
• immediately return to mash
• rest 30 minutes

• Sparge @180F

Right before the sparge we started the witt bier since apparently I have the sense of a snail and don't know when I should just slow the hell down. Ironically I was doing the witt because I had the yeast (why thats ironic will become apparent below - read on)

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 30 minutes naked boil (the wort not the players)
  
• 1.1oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60
• Total: 18 IBU(ish)

The Pitch:

• OG: 1.040 (low but close, we'll call it good enough - I knew it was a smidge low preboil, but figured I'd rather not risk changing the color/flavor profile by adding DME to adjust).
• Pitched 3944 Witt Beer starter
• Realized mistake
• Cindy made a new quick starter from some dry wheat beer yeast (see next blog post) while I
• pitched 2308 Munich Lager (sigh)

I think this may be ok, the wheat yeast is a low ester, and I'm fermenting it pretty cold so I'm hoping the lager yeast out competes. It had a nice big krausen by the next morning so its fermenting anyway. I was originally going to call this To Helles and back, but given this screwup I decided to change the name. How will it turn out? Well we'll find out I guess.

3B - Marzen

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: 2-step Decoction
• Date: 1/13/2008
• Size: 6 gallon post-boil
  
• Note: I'm not as insane and/or anal as Ryan :)
• Note: I'm still without a hydrometer, so no OG measurement :(
  

Grain Bill:

• 6lb vienna malt
  
• 2lb munich malt
• 2lb pilsner malt
  
• 1lb cara vienna
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2308 - Munich Lager™
• Starter made on previous day by Ryan with light DME

The Mash:

• start
• 16qt @140
• settles @127
  
• rest 20 minutes
  
• first decoction
• pull 1/3
  
• heat to 160, rest 25 minutes
• then boil 25 minutes
• add back to mash
• settles @148, rest 25 minutes
• second decoction
• pull 1/4
  
• boil 20 minutes
• add back to mash
• settles @160, rest 50 minutes
  
• sparge
• 8qt @170
  

The Boil (80 minutes):

• Add 4qt to bring volume to 28qt (7 gallons)
• 1.5oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60
• 0.5oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 15
• Total: 27 IBU(ish)
  

Background...

So, Ryan had the idea to become a certified beer judge, and shared the idea with a few fellow beer drinkers, which we of course jumped at. Part of studying for the test is knowing all the various styles and sub-styles inside and out. Somehow in a BJCP discussion, the notion of brewing all 28 styles came up as a way to study.

We all agreed.

After a few bulk grain, hop, and corny keg purchases, we were itching to go. The initial idea was to do all the brews in 2008, but brewers will be brewers... So we started anyways, using the pagan calendar and the the Winter Solstice the commence our endeavor. Given that in the first two weeks we've covered three styles plus an extra sub-style, the sky is the limit!

Check back periodically to see our progress. We'll be posting recipes and tips, as well as our trials and tribulations. Cheers!

26A - Metheglin (spiced mead)

Ryan made a yummy honey liquer, krupnikas, a couple of months ago. I'm trying to replicate that flavor in this spiced mead.

Ingredients:

• 60 grams dried mandarin peel (4 mandarin peels)
  
• 15 grams lemon peel (1 lemon)
• 4 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 8 cardamon pods, lightly crushed
• 7 whole cloves
• 1.5 nutmeg nuts, crushed
• 3/4 tsp. white pepper, lightly crushed
• 3/4 tsp. black pepper, lightly crushed
• 1 oz. ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 gallon (12 pounds) wildflower honey from Millers Honey
• Yeast starter with Red Start Premier Cuvee yeast and yeast nutrient
  
• 1/2 gallon (6 pounds) clover honey from Costco
  

Simmer the dry spices in 1.5 quart of water until fragrant. Add ginger, simmer 5 more minutes, put aside.

I had a yeast starter I made a couple of days ago from the yeast residue from my last batch of mead. I took that out of the fridge to warm up.

Bring 4 gallons of water to 180 degrees. Turn off water. Add honeys and spice mixture. Stir. Let it cool down to 70 degrees, pitch the yeast.

OG - 1.103 (the floating thermometer was floating horizontally on top!). This is right near the top of the range for a standard mead - 1.120 would be a sack mead.
FG - I'm shooting for a semi-dry - 1.010 range.

This is probably going to be very slow - probably a couple of years before it is drinkable.

This should be very different than the other mead - the orange blossom is very light and delicate, while this is very dark, rich, and spicy. I plan on making the orange blossom as dry as I can make it and sparkling, while this one I'll try to leave a little sweet and probably do still. They should be interested to compare to each other.

24A - Traditional Dry Mead

A couple of weeks ago I made a traditional mead

Ingredients:

• 1gallon (12 pounds) orange blossom honey
• 1 pkg. Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast
• 1 tsp. yeast nutrient
• 4.5 gallons of water

This was my first batch of mead.

I made a starter a couple of hours ahead of time with the dry yeast, about a quart of water, and a teaspoon of yeast nutrient.

There seem to be varying ideas on the best way to make mead - some people boil the batch, some heat it to 160 degrees to pasteurize it, and some people don't heat at all (and somethings sulfite to kill any wild yeasts). I took the middle approach.

I heated about 3 gallons of the water to 180 degrees F and took it off the heat. I stirred in the honey and let it sit for 15 minutes. I cooled the batch to about 80 degrees, poured it into the primary, and pitched the yeast starter.

It took about 36 hours to be really active. Five days later I moved it to the secondary and saved the yeast sludge at the bottom to use as a starter for my next batch of mead.

I forgot to get the OG, but it should be about 1.085 based on the amount of honey which is at the very bottom of the OG range of a standard strength mead - any weaker and it would be a hydromel. I'm aiming for a dry mead, so my FG should be under 1.000 - maybe as low as .990. I'm probably going to do this as a sparkling, but it will be a couple more months before it is ready to bottle, and it probably won't be ready to drink until the end of the year.