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.