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.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Friday, 24 October 2008 12:13

Beer Style: barleywine, strong ale
Recipe Type all-grain
Description:
Here’s a recipe I put together last spring for my brother who wanted to brew an all-grain barleywine. I have never tasted one previously but looked at a number of recipes to come up with this one. I think this one tastes wonderful.
Ingredients:

* 12# German Pils malt
* 3# Belgian Munich malt
* 12 oz British Chocolate malt
* 2# British Medium Crystal malt
* 1 oz Eroica (60 min)
* 2 oz Northern Brewer (60 min)
* 1 oz. Kent Goldings (30 min)
* 1/2 oz Kent Goldings (20 min)
* 1/2 oz. Kent Goldings (finish)
* Irish Moss at 15 min
* Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast (recultured)
* Dry Champagne Yeast (secondary)

Procedure:
The amount of grain here maxed out my bucket tun sparger. The alcohol here is only about 9%, but then I sparged only enough water to accumulate about 6 gallons for the boil. Sparging for an 8 or 9 gallons and then reducing to around 6 gallons when adding the hops should add a boost to the alcohol content. Also, the Irish ale yeast brought the fermentation down to the final gravity. The champagne yeast brought no further fermentation and could be eliminated. Brewed as a single decoct. Strike temp of 144. Main mash at 154.