Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Sunday, 2 November 2008 07:15

Description:
We had a bit extra so we are doing a small fermentation (without the raspberies) of about 3/4 of a gallon. To this we added a teaspoon of yogurt to try to get a lacto bacillus infection and produce lactic acid. If it produces anything interesting I’ll post the results. Anyway, I can’t comment on how this beer will taste as it is still in secondary and is fairly expeimental.
Ingredients:

* 7 pounds, Lager Malt
* 7 pounds, crushed raspberries
* 3 pounds, Wheat Flakes
* 1 ounce, 2 year old Cluster hops that had been baked for 20

Primary Ferment: 2 weeks
Procedure:
We did a beta glucan rest at 120 degrees for 30 mins, a protein rest at 130 degrees for 30 mins, and a saccrafication rest at 155 for 1 hour. Be extra careful with the sparge because it has the potential to be very slow (although we managed to whip right through in 45 mins.). We boiled the wort for 2 hours, leaving the hops in for the entire boil. Cooled with an immersion chiller to 42 degrees and strained into a carboy. After 8 hours we racked the wort off of the trub and pitched the yeast. We left it in primary for 2 weeks and then racked it into a carboy and added the raspberries.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Friday, 24 October 2008 12:35

Beer Style: fruit beer, cherry wheat beer, honey
Recipe Type all-grain
Description:
The batch does not taste bad although the cherry taste is none to prominent.
Ingredients:

* 6 pounds, 2 Row English Pale Malt
* 4 pounds, Malted Wheat
* Gypsum (for adjusting PH)
* Irish Moss (Clarity)
* 10–1/2 pounds, Cherries
* 1 pound, Honey
* 1 ounce, Saaz Hops – Boiling
* 1/4 ounce, Saaz Hops – Finishing
* yeast

OG: 1.040
Procedure:
I mashed using 10 quarts at 140 F strike heat for a protein rest at 130 F. Then added an additional 5 quarts at 200 F to bring to a starch conversion at 150 F raised to 158 F, with a mash-out at 168 F. Sparged with 5 gallons of water at 168 F recovering over 7 gallons. Boiled for two hours. Chilled down to about 70 F, pitched yeast.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Friday, 24 October 2008 12:32

Brown and Blue Ale
beer glass color indicator
Beer Style: fruit beer, blueberry ale
Recipe Type all-grain
Description:
There was lots of blueberry aroma coming from the fermenter the first couple of days, but not very much when I racked after 4 days. I bottled after 4 more days in the secondary.

I think lots of aroma volatiles got lost with all the outgassing in the primary; I think next time I may wait to add the berries to the secondary. I may also skip the roasted barley, and use only 1/2 pound of 40L crystal so the blue from the berries is more obvious.

The next batch is going to be a cherry wheat, with lots of tart baking cherries in the secondary and a looong maceration. Yum!
Ingredients:

* 6–1/2 pounds, pale malt
* 1/2 pound, wheat malt
* 3/4 pound, crystal malt (80L)

OG: 1.046 (5–1/2 gallons) FG: 1.010
Procedure:
Mash in 2 gallons at 130F, protein rest 30 minutes at 125F, add 1.25 gallons, mash 30 min at 150F, raise temp to 158F until converted (15 minutes), mash out 10 minutes at 170F. Sparge with 4 gallons to yield 5- -1/2 gallons at 1.046. Add Fuggles and 3/4 ounce of Goldings after 20 minutes of boil, boil 60 minutes, add last 1/4 ounce of Goldings and boil 15 minutes more. Rinse blueberries in a dilute sulfite solution (after weeding out the fuzzy ones), puree, and add to primary along with yeast.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Friday, 24 October 2008 12:23

Beer Style: fruit beer, blueberry ale, bitter
Recipe Type all-grain
Description:
Here is the blueberry bitter I brewed up last summer. I was quite happy with it — the blueberry flavor came through nicely, yet the malt/hops were evident enough that it tasted like beer.

The finished beer was quite striking in appearance — purple color and purple head. (The head color was kinda cool.) The hopping was relatively light — I would definately use a low-alpha hop for bittering. The flavor hop (I used a half ounce of Cascade for 30) could probably be eliminated. It was yummy, but I don’t think it ages well.
Ingredients:

* 9 pounds English Pale 2-row
* 1.5 oz Cascade hops for 60 minutes
* 0.5 oz Cascade hops for 30 minutes
* 1.0 oz Kent Goldings hops for 1 minute
* 1 tsp. gypsum added to mash
* 2 tsp. Irish Moss added 30 minutes prior to end of boil
* 10 pounds fresh blueberries
* Wyeast American Ale yeast — no starter

OG: 1.060 FG: 1.007
Procedure:
Mashed in single infusion. Starch conversion around 156F for 60 minutes. Mash out at 168F for five. Sparge water @ 170F. Exact amount of sparge water unknown; I simply sparger until desired yield was reached.

The blueberries were crushed prior to adding to wort. They were added to wort after the end of boil, when temperature of wort was lower than 180F. The blueberries were allowed to sit in hot wort for 15 minutes. The wort was then chilled with an immersion chiller. Then, the whole shebang (fruit, hops, and all) were poured into a plastic fermenter for primary fermentation. Primary done for seven days, following which the beer was racked off of the gunk into glass. I think I left it in the glass for two days; fermentation was pretty much complete. Oh — a tsp. of polyclar added 24 hours prior to bottling.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Friday, 24 October 2008 12:15

Beer Style: German ale, kolsch
Recipe Type all-grain
Description:
First, let’s look at the style. A Kolsch has starting gravity of 1.040 to 1.046, IBUs of 20-30, and SRM of 3.5 to 5. The Zymurgy description of a Kolsch is: Pale gold. Low hop flavor and aroma. Medium bitterness. Light to medium body. Slightly dry, winy palate. Malted wheat okay. Lager or ale yeast or combination of yeasts okay.

Malts can be U.S. or continental, including a fraction of wheat malt if desired. Hopping should be continental noble hops. The yeast is the tricky part, as to my knowledge there is no available Kolsch yeast. The Goose Island Brewery in Chicago brews a Kolsch using a Kolsch yeast from Germany. The Free State Brewery in Lawrence, Kansas, brews a Kolsch using Wyeast “European” ale. This yeast is suggested by Fred Eckhardt. I’ve used the yeast from time to time and think it’s a great yeast, so use this in preference to any generic ale yeast.
Ingredients:

* 6 pounds, U.S. 2–row malt
* 1 pound, Vienna malt
* 1 pound, wheat malt
* 1/4 pound, light crystal malt (10 L.)
* 1 ounce, Hallertauer (2.9% alpha) (60 minute boil)
* 1 ounce, Hallertauer (30 minute boil)
* 1/4 ounce, Tettnanger (3.8% alpha) (15 minute boil)
* 1/4 ounce, Tettnanger (2 minute boil)
* Wyeast European ale yeast

Procedure:
I’m assuming 80% extraction efficiency. The hop schedule broadly follows the German method, and you can substitute Perle or Spalt, and mix and match however you want.

Following Fred Eckhardt’s description of Widmer’s mash sequence, mash in at 122 degrees F and hold for 30 to 45 minutes, and then raise to 158 degrees F for starch conversion. Following conversion, raise to 170 degrees F for mash out and hold for 10 minutes.

Primary fermentation should be done in the mid-60s. This beer benefits from cold-conditioning, so rack to secondary and “lager” at 40 degrees for a couple weeks.