Water

I've decided it's time to start experimenting a little bit more.  After some feedback from the wonderful staff at great fermentations, I'm planning on rebrewing my scottish ale tomorrow.  I've decided that I'm going to "build up" my own water instead of relying on "spring water" from the grocery store.

I've spent the last week listening to podcasts about water in the car while commuting as well as reading several different internet forums.  In the end, at least at this level, it's not that difficult.  Pick the water profile from the brewing software for the appropritate geographic region where the style originated.  Then using the software, measure out the various salts and water chemicals for 25 gallons of water.  Then use 1/5th of that by wieght for a 5 gallon batch.

Most of these ingredients are measured in the 1 - 5 gram range per batch.  By mixing up enough for 10 batches at once, it allows my rounding errors to be spread out and minimized.  I now have a little container of "Edinburgh" water from which I will measure out 14 grams for each 5 gallons of distilled water.

The only real changes to my brew day will be adding the water mix to my mash and checking the PH to make sure I'm in range.  If not, I'll add more mix and wait 15 mins before checking again.

Chloride and sulfate evidently can greatly influence the apparent balance of a beer, sulfate bringing out more hops and crispness and the chloride emphasising maltiness. It's not the raw amount, but the relative ratio between the two.

Also, the brewing water must have some calcium for yeast health.  So many little things that you pick up along the way.  I sure wish I had enjoyed chemistry a little more.  It seems like a good chemistry knowledge would take some edge off the mystery.

I'll brew this batch, and see if I can tell a difference.  If I like it better than the last batch, I'll brew it again and just use "spring" water and see if it regresses or stays similar.  Nothing like the experimentation.

Reviews of the Nut Brown and the Scottish

2nd half of the Nut brown kit came out ok.  I think there is the slightest bit of oxidation and I think it is also suffering from the ingredients being 6 months old.  It's pretty good, but it attenuated out pretty well and I wish it were a touch thicker.  Like it had some oats or I mashed it a little higher.  I like the level of hops. Its a 7.

The Scottish all grain - I'm very very happy with this.  Well attenuated, drinks super easy, nice carbonation.  This is one I want to try and repeat.  At  the moment I'd like it to be a little bit maltier but not enough to change the recipe.  I'm hoping a slight water adjustment will get me there.  I'm going to brew it again and build the water up from distilled instead of using "spring" water.

Even though I'm only a 12 pack into it, I find myself wanting to ration it.  It's better fresh though, so I'm just going to power through and brew it again.  I do think it benefited from the cooler basement temps, so I'll try to get one more batch in this spring, and then perhaps as soon as fall hits I can really build a little bit of a pipeline for it.

On the Scottish I was aiming for 80/- but due to efficiency I ended up closer to a 70/-.  I've put aside a 6er and I'll test it in June before I put it into the Indiana Brewers Cup to be judged.

New Albion

http://www.craftbeer.com/featured-brewery/new-albion-brewing

Nice article that is much better than anything I would write.  It does explain why it was so important to me to get this signed.

Jam session english mild

Crisp Marris Otter
2% wheat - suggested switch to oats
5% vienna - suggested change
Ekg 60, 20, Flamout
Mash 152
90 minute boil.

Forgot to ask about fermentation temp or yeast

Winterfest - 1.26.2013

Wow, a great afternoon / evening volunteering for World Class Beverage at Winterfest sponsored by Indiana Brewers Guild and World Class Beverage.

I was there a few hours ahead of time to help set up and meet some of the brewers.  Everyone was so nice.  I was also lucky enough to meet and shake hands with Jack McAuliffe of New Albion.

I was able to pour and sample so many beers and meet so many brewers.

Beers I tried - 1 oz pour.
New Albion
Bells - Bourbon Barrell Batch 9000
Bells - Raspberry Ale
Schlafly - Kolsh
Schlafly - Pumpkin Ale
Bluegrass Brewing - Bourbon Barrel Stout
Bluegrass Brewing - Nut Brown Ale
Bluegrass Brewing - Jam Session English Mild - I have an approximate recipe for this one.
Bluegrass Brewing - Sunergros - Coffee N Creme Porter
Bluegrass Brewing - St Matt's Stout
Crown Brewing - 2009 Barrel Aged Grand Poobah
Crown Brewing - Patio Pale Ale
Daredevil Brewing - Lift Off IPA
Destihl - Hoperation Overload
Destihl - Black Angel Stout
Destihl - St Dekkera - Sour Barrel Aged Porter
Iechyd Da - It's Not a Skirt - Scottish Export
Rivertown - War
Rivertown - Famine
Rivertown - Pestilence
Rivertown - Death
Rivertown - Jenneke
Rivertown - Roebling
Rivertown - Winter Warmer
Sierre Nevada - Ruthless Rye
Sierra Nevada - Celebration
Sierra Nevada - Estate
Atwater - Voodoo Vator
Rouge - Old Crustacean - Barley Wine
Shoreline - Sum Nug - IPA
Shoreline - 2009 Imperial Raspberry
Zwanzigz - No Number - Scotch Ale
Brooklyn Brewery - Monster Ale
Great Fermentations - Imperial Brown
Boulevard - Stingo
Dark Horse - Perkulator Dopplebock
Flying dog - Cujo

I'm sure there were some others, but some of the breweries/beers didn't make the official list and without that to jog my memory there are just too many

Jan 19th Octoberfest all grain.

They ran out of vienna malt at the store so I switched my vienna and munich malt in the recipe.   Itll be a little darker than I anticipated but hey, it will be beer.

Mashed about 153 for 45 min. Tried to batch sparge but the manifold must have come off when I was stirring. I had to empty into the 5 gallon lexan and then reattached the manifold to start my sparge. Got down to 135 and temps never recovered.

Vorlaufed about 2 gallons and it never really cleared like I wanted. I just started sparging anyway as it jad been 20 mins of vorlauf already.  Ended up doing a continuous sparge.

Got almost 7 gallons of wort. Started the boil with 6 and added the 7th after about 30 mins and I had boiled off some.  Chiller at 15 mins. Irish moss at 10. Flamout hops.

First time using brewsmith software. Ill probably buy it when the trial expires.  Seems to be pretty detailed. 

Looks like just a touch shy on volume and just a bit over on OG. Ill adjusy my mash tun dead space and boil off rates on the software.

Should have had 5.35 gallons at 1.053 into the fermenter. I'm going to call it 4.9 gallons at 1.055. Looks like I need more water and more grain next time.

Into the fermenter and the fermenter ina water bath with some ice trying to ferment arounf 54 degrees.

1.22.2013 took almost 4 days with the cold temps but there are indications of kruasen.

Good Attenuation

Broke a bottle while I was capping the Scottish Ale today, darn it.  Oh well, it was an opportunity to take a gravity reading - 1.010 - but that was after I added the priming sugar.  Therefore, it was really about 1.007 so pretty good and dry.  Should give a nice clean finish at the time of consumption. The hydrometer sample tasted pretty good too after I checked and made sure there weren't any shards in it.

Jan 17th - Nut Brown the 2nd , 1/2 batch

Bottled the 1/2 batch of nut brown all grain. Used the carb drops.  Smelled ok, we'll see how it carbs up.  A case of 12 oz bottles and 3 swingtops for testing.

Ben came over yesterday and picked up his portion of the Rye IPA.  He said he liked it. I hope it stays that way.  I managed to drink a bottle and enjoy it pretty well. Maybe I'll try it again just to prove that I can.

Hoping to get the Scottish 70 bottled tonight as well. We'll see how many bottles I can get sanitized and prepped.

Dec 2012

Bad month for waber brew. Had to dump the 2nd breakfast stout the 2nd pumpkin and the second mild. All were heavily oxidized and had very strong cardboard flavors.

Im pretty sure all three were carbonated with dme.  I am hoping that whisking in the dme is what caused the oxidation. 

Since then we have done Dave's milk stout and Tammy's Ipa . Both were carbed w corn sugar and neither seem to exhibit the problem so far.

Here's hoping we have it solved.

Nov 2012

Switch to all grain complete. Ben has loaned me his 5 gal mash tun indefinitely as he's not using it . First brew in it was a rye ipa that stuck during the sparge. Missed our target numbers anf it ended pretty cloudy. Tastes ok though.  Bottled 12.10.2012 and tasted 1.13.2012. Tastes like an ipa and other than dome cloudyness a success.

Jan 5th

Brewed 5 gal Scottish 70 using Bens mash tun. 65% efficiency.  Batch sparged. Double pitched the yeast. Pretty good overall.

Tried to reduce some of the wort to get some carmelized flavors but low temos killed my propane tank pressure.  Reduction didnt go as well as I hoped.

Dec 23rd

Brewed the 2nd half of the nut brown kit using Bens mash tun.

Lil Charlies Batesville, IN

Blonde Pils: wonderful malty clear and yellow.  Perfect balance

Father franz wit: grapefruit through and through. Easy drinking.

Fire house red. Balanced toward malt. No real hop aroma but proper bitterness

Harry's Ipa: from the description hops dominate the palate. That description is accurate.

Imperial stout: slight smokeyness no acridness to the roast. Littlebbit of alcohol heat.  Totally enjoyable

Crown point brewing

The light: crisp refreshing clean. An local take light beer. Good stuff.
Crown blue: fruit beer with blueberries.  Hmmm yummy. Lots of blueberry aroma. Listed at 20 ibu, definitely leans toward sweet.  Fun to drink.
Pumpkin ale: spice beer. Lots of spice aroma. Some faux sweetness from the spice. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove.
Crown brown: more roast flavor than the color indicates. I prefer a maltier flavor to the roast flavors.
Going back to it after a couple bites of sandwich the roast mellows and cuts through the sandwich richness. Paired with food a lot of it could disappear quickly
Winter warlock : strong english brown with honey, maple syrup and spice. Another yummy beer. Spice provides a slight warming and the honey and syrup dry it out a little. Dangerously yummy at over 7%
Industrial porter: brilliant balance of roast malt and hops. Slight bit of raisin or plum. The roast is somehow less acrid than it was in the brown. Very well executed. Easy to see why it medaled in the 2010 world beer cup.

Sept 26th - Pumpkin 2

Pumpkin 2 has been bottled.  I think I used way too much DME for priming, so everything is in a cooler with a lid in the basement just in case.  I'll check it Thanksgiving weekend.

I played a game of whats in the fridge when I went to see the guys on Monday night.  We found a couple Belgian Quads and a quart of pumpkin 1.  I should really do better labelling my bottles.  Darrell seems to be the biggest Quad fan amoung us, so he has a bottle waiting in his fridge now.  Pumpkin 1 really held up well, even stored for 9 months.  I'm very hopeful for pumpkin 2, but I have decided that it needs some vanilla next time.