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.