Ale to the Chief-Hawaiian Pale Ale

Unnofficially, my final beer of the summer...started this at 4:40am on an overcast and rather cool spring morning.

Grist:
9lb Marris Otter
1lb Munich Malt
1/2lb Honey Malt
1/4lb cara pils dextrine

Mash in 4 gallons 168 degree water, target 154 5:10am
actual temp, 153.4
add 1 gallon 185 degree water at 60 minutes 6:15am
stir for 10 minutes, vorlauf
drain to kettle
add 3.50 gallons 170 degree water
stir for 10 minutes, vorlauf
drain to kettle
Target 7 gallons
bring to boil
boil time 75 minutes
add .50 oz centennial 10% @ 60 min 7:25am
add .25 cascade 5.5% @ 40 min 7:45am
add .25 cascade @30 min 7:55am
add .25 cascade @20 min 8:05am
add .25 cascade @10 min 8:15am
add .20 Mt Hood @5 min 8:20am
chill to 74 @ 8:50am
whirlpool and settle 30 minutes
TARGET OG 1.055
Actual OG 1.058
Aerate and pitch yeast, WLP 029 in 800ml starter
Ferment for 3 weeks
Dry hopp with 1/2 oz Centennial hops for 5-7 days before bottling

Ratskeller Kolsch

Grist:
7lb 2 row pilsner malt
2.5lb wheat malt

Add 3.5 gallons 163 degree water, target 151 8:05pm, came in a little low, 149.8
Add 1.50 gallons 190 degree water at 75 minutes 9:20pm
Stir for 10 minutes 
Empty to kettle
Add 3.50 gallons 170 degree water 9:40pm
Stir for 10 minutes
Empty to kettle 9:50pm
Pre boil 7.1 gallons, bring to boil
Boil 75 minutes
Add 1 oz Perle 7.5AA @ 60 min 10:20pm
Add 1/2oz Tettnanger @ 15 min 11:05pm
Add yeast nutient @ 15 min
Add wort chiller @ 15 min
Add 1/2oz Tettnanger @ 5 min 11:15pm
cool to 70 11:40pm
Aerate
Pitch WLP 029 Kolsch yeast 12:00 am from 1L starter
OG Target 1.050
OG Actual 1.051

Grilled Scallops with Jersey Corn

Nothing beats grilling over an open flame...
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced sweet onion
3 tablespoons chopped tomato
2+ tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4-6 ears of corn, husked
olive oil, for brushing
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon pure ancho chile powder
4 ounces (crumbled 1 1/4 cups) cotija cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 large sea scallops
Lime wedges, for serving

1. In a large bowl, toss the garlic, onion and tomato with the lime juice and let stand for 10 minutes.
2.Brush the corn with oil and grill over moderate heat until charred and just tender, about 10 minutes. Let cool and cut the kernels off the cobs.


3.Whisk the mayonnaise and chile powder into the garlic, onion, tomato and lime juice. Add the fresh cilantro. Add the cheese and corn to the bowl and toss. Season with salt and pepper.
4.Brush the scallops with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over high heat until nicely browned and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.


Spoon the corn salad onto plates and top with the scallops. Serve with lime wedges and watermelon to cool the palate, if needed.

Takeeee Me Out to the Balllll Gaamee.....

Beer here!!!! Getttttt your cold BEEEER here!!

Batting 1st:
The Pauper
Made only from pilsner malt, hops, and yeast, the complexity that results from these simple ingredients is staggering: floral hops, ripe pear fruit, sour apple, spicy cloves, candied citrus and a slight biscuit character on the drying finish ... a monks' session beer. 4.3% ABV.
Batting 2nd:
The Prince (Dubbel Vision)
Fermented on the yeast cake of the Pauper, this beer reinforces the notion that simple isn't the necessarily the same as easy. Uncluttered sparseness is kinda scary in an era of big, bombastic, over the top beers that we now know as the "craft" beer market. As a homebrewer, I know when to stand aside and allow that segment of the market to do whatever it does best. After all, when all is said and done, monk brewers of the Trappist monasteries make what are, in my mind, some of the most jaw-dropping beers on the planet from elementally simple formulations. They achieve great complexity through equally as great simplicity. Inspired by that ideal of brewhouse austerity, this Dubbel based simply on the grain/hops bill of an earlier Belgian recipe (The Pauper) with some added fermentables in the form of Belgian candi syrup and sugar. 8.5% ABV
Batting 3rd:
Cascades De La Orange
An American Pale Ale with a twist…of orange. Orange and coriander are very low in the profile, with the orange showing through a bit more with the help of the fruity Cascade hops. Think Blue Moon, but not watered down by the folks at Coors. 5.25% ABV
Batting Clean-up:
Sophia’s Choice
This beer is actually cleaning up---in the bottle. This is a beer I’m aging in Sophia’s bedroom closet and my first ever attempt at corking a beer. This is my example of a Belgian strong dark ale brewed in the Trappist fashion. A very dangerous beer that seems lighter than its (approximately) 8% ABV would suggest. High carbonation, peppery alcohol, spicy cloves, rum-raisin and caramelized figs. Simply sublime, well almost. I fermented this a bit high, so I have some fusel alcohol notes which are not uncommon for some higher gravity beers, but need to mellow out a bit. This beer should only get better with age (like my daughter), so I look forward to popping one open next Christmas. 8% +/- ABV

Batting 5th:
Cent-sational Blonde
Light and crisp. The IBU’s are on the low side, sorry hopheads, but there is a nice sweet/spicy balance to the beer. This is a good example of the great fresh taste of a homebrewed ale with an extremely clean finish. Very drinkable and should elicit wide appeal, even from macro lager drinkers. The secret lies in the name; Centennial as the bittering hop and left over Cascades as the flavor/aroma hop is a match made in heaven. 4% ABV
Batting 6th:
Bier De Table
Like its close cousin Belgian Saison, the farmhouse ales of northern France were rustic ales brewed on-site to sustain and refresh workers. But unlike today's “deluxe” versions, with their high starting gravities and potent alcohol content, the originals were “petite beers” of modest gravity, so the imbiber could finish the plowing instead of finishing by getting plowed. Low-alcohol but very flavorful beer; unlike a fruity, funky Saison, however, this farmhouse style combines restrained esters with clean malt character, straddling the line between a lager and ale. 4.13% ABV
Batting 7th:
I’m Especially Bitter (ESB)
This beer was designed with the goal of recreating a very traditional ESB (Extra Special Bitter) with authentic British ingredients. Keeping the grain bill as simple as possible and balancing the malt and hops has produced an easy to make authentic English ale and a more complex beer than an "ordinary" low-gravity bitter. 5.25% ABV
Batting 8th:
Harry Potter Butter Beer (AKA Caramel Ale)
My homemade candi syrup was key here, since it adds a wonderfully complex caramel flavor and aroma, but ferments out almost completely so that the final beer is relatively dry. Combined with the increased bitterness from the hops, the low final gravity balances the sweetness from the caramel flavors and gives the beer great drinkability. The rich caramel hits your tongue first, followed immediately by the unique bitterness of the Chinook hops. An ever-present maltiness holds everything together while the sip makes it's way to a dry, lingering finish. Butter in beer? Actually there is an “off flavor” produced during lagering that is often described as “buttered popcorn”, a result of too much diacetyl, but if I’m going to lager a beer for three months, I’m certainly not going to ruin it for the sake of Harry! 5% ABV
Batting 9th and Pitching (yeast) hehe:
Ratskeller Kolsch
This pale, light-bodied golden ale is copyrighted by, brewed in, and named for the German city of Köln. Kölschbier is traditionally given a long, cold aging period like a lager, which makes for a very smooth and clean beer. A small dose of German Hallertau hops cuts the richness of the malt. Very refreshing and a popular lawnmower beer for beer snobs who might even be fooled into thinking it’s a Pilsner. 4.5% ABV

English Special Bitter

Building up my summer arsenal of beers....
had a really nice brew night with zoie the brew dog; the wife and child were away for the weekend, so i brewed an ESB, ate some grass fed burgers with Zoie the brew dog, let her on the couch with me and watched some Ultimate fighting until 2am. I feel like Tim taylor arh arh arh...anyway, the recipe:

10lb crisp maris otter
.75lb medium crystal
.25lb extra dark crystal
Hops/adjuncts:
1.5oz Kent Golding at 1st running FWH
.25 oz fuggle @ 20 minutes
.25 oz Kent Golding @ 20 minutes
.25 oz Kent Golding @ 0 minutes
.25 oz fuggle @ 20 minutes
TARGET OG 1.054
Brew notes:
Mash in 3.75 gal 168 degree water, target 155 7:40pm
Add 1gal 185 degree water @ 60 min 8:45pm
Stir 10 minutes, Vorlauf, empty to kettle. 9:00pm, make that 9:10, stuck sparge, dammit!!
Add 3.50 gallons 175 degree water, stir 10 min, Vorlauf, drain to kettle 9:25pm
Pre boil 6.90 gallons, bring to boil
Boil 60 minutes- hotbreak 9:44pm
Add .25 Kent, .25 fuggle at 20 min 10:24pm
1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient at 10 min. 1/2 whirlfloc 10 min, sanitize chiller 10 min 10:34pm
Add .25 Kent, .25 fuggle at flameout,  no bag
Cool wort to 70 degrees 
100 10:51pm
80 10:55pm
80 11:02pm
Whirlpool, let settle  1/2 hour, cook hamburger for me and brewdog 11:30pm
Empty kettle
Target OG 75% efficiency (Batch sparge): 1.058
Actual OG: 1.061
Aerate 1 minute 20 seconds
Pitch yeast dry 12:05am
The whirlfloc really causes me to lose valuable beer at the expese of a little clarity in my final product. Executive decision here to never use it again. I wasted almost a gallon of wort, and this isn't the first time. I've decided that my beer is pretty damn good, cloudy or not. if you're that particular, drink it from a mug and you won't see the difference.

Cascades La De Orange

Brewing this for a summer sipper. Lots of cascade hops with sweet orange zest will combine for a citrusy and not overly hoppy summer ale.
Recipe:
9lb maris otter 
1lb Vienna malt
1lb crystal malt 10
Mash in 3.5 gallon 167 degree water, target temp 155
Add 1.25 gallon 185 degree water at 60 min
Sparge  with 3.50 gallons 168 degree water
1 oz cascade FWH
1oz cascade 10 min
1oz cascade 5 min
1oz cascade 1 min
2 oz sweet orange zest 10 min
1oz fresh  coriander crushed 10 min
Whirlfloc 15 min
2 packs safale s-04
Primary 1-2 weeks
2 oz cascade dry hop in secondary 1-2 weeks

The Prince and the Pauper

I'm going to brew two completely different Belgian style beers with basically the same grain hops and yeast. The first beer, which I'm going to brew today (3/19) will actually become the starter for my second beer that I will brew in about two weeks.
The simple recipe Pauper:
9 lbs Belgian pilsner malt, that's it. 
1 oz tradition hops @ 60 minutes
1/2 oz saaz hops at 10 minutes

Mash in 3.25 gallons 161 degree water 4:20pm grain temp/ cooler temp 64 degrees
Target temp = 150 actual at 4:30pm 150.8, 150.4, 149.9 three areas. 
add 1.25 gallons 180 degree water at 60 minutes actual time 5:25pm
Stir for 10 minutes
Vorlauf until clear
Empty into kettle
Add 3.50 gallons 170 degree water
Stir for 10 minutes
Vorlauf until clear
Empty into kettle 
Bring to boil 6:15pm
Add 1oz tradition Hops
Add 1/2 oz saaz/ add chiller/ add yeast nutrient w 10 min left in boil
Begin chill 7:20pm
Cool to 74 degrees - 7:33pm
Whirlpool/settle 1/2 hour
Drain kettle 8:00pm
Aerate 1 minute
Pitch yeast starter of wyeast Trappist high gravity #3787.
Target OG 1.049@. 75% efficiency
Actual OG 1.047
A bit more about the Prince which will be a higher gravity Belgian Dubbel. The recipe is as follows: 
12 lbs Belgian pilsner malt
1 lb Belgian dark candy sugar
1 lb D2 Liquid Belgian candy sugar 
1 oz tradition hops 60 minutes
. 5 oz saaz 10 minutes
Pitch onto the yeast cake from the Prince. Same basic recipe with some added sugars that will yield a completely different beer. More on the prince later, it'll be aged for next Christmas.