April-cot Ale

Grist:
8 lbs Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt
2 lbs Crisp Maris Otter
8 oz Gambrinus Honey Malt
Hops:
.5 oz Centennial Pellets @ 60 min
.25 oz @ 30 mins


Apricot Flavoring- 1 can Vintner's Harvest Apricot Puree (49 oz) 2 to 3 days into fermentation

Yeast :
Wyeast Denny's Favorite 50

Bottling:
2-4 oz natural apricot flavoring added to the bottling bucket depending on desired flavor profile.

Mashed in 6:10pm, 4 gallons 166 degree water, target 154
Mash out 1 gallon 170 degree water
Sparge 3.5 gallons 168 degree water
Actual temp 6:20pm, 153.1
Mash out 1 gallon 170 degree water
Hotbreak 7:16pm
Chill 8:20pm
68 degrees 8:35pm

Update 3/28:
pitched 1 can Apricot puree at 8:30am and the yeasties went wild!

Update 4/22:
Bottled today, had almost 6 gallons of beer, so I may come in a little light in carbonation, and i used all 4oz of extract

Leroy Brown

An American Brown Ale incorporating a lot of left over grains and hops, fermented with two different yeasts.

Grist:
12lb 2 row
1lb white wheat
1lb crystal 40L
8oz chocolate malt
8oz flaked barley

Hops:
2 oz northern brewer 60 min
1 oz northern brewer 30 min
1.5oz cascade 10 min
1.5oz cascade 1 min

1-2 oz centennial dry hop (I'll evaluate it after I taste it and see how much of this potpourri flavor profile I need to have covered up.

Other:
3 oz belgian candi syrup left over from other brews 10 min

Yeast:
Wyeast PACMAN
Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Target OG 1.070
Actual OG 1.068

MASH IN 5.75 gallons 168 degree water, target 154, actual 153.8 degrees at 9:19pm, 152.4 9:55pm
MASH OUT 3.40 gallons 170 degree water
Pre boil volume 6.65 gallons
Post boil volume 5.50 gallons, but left some back in the fermenter due to the copious amounts of hop trub.

Update:
I racked this to a secondary and dry hopped with 1oz centennial on 04.27.12. Crash cooled it on 5/6 to 40 degrees and i am bottling it today at 45 degrees. Tastes pretty amazing right now, I'm really interested to see how these two yeasts played with one another.

Humulus Lupus C

Grist:
11 lbs 2-row
1 lb crystal 40

Hops:
.7 oz C 60 min AA10.6% 10pm
.9 oz C 20 min AA 10.6% 10:40pm
2 oz C 5 min AA 8.1% 10:55pm
1 oz C dry hop AA 8.1%
1/3 cup belgian dark candi sugar 10 min 10:50pm

Yeast:
Safale US-05 (American Ale) 2 packets

mash into 5.00 gallons 166 degree water, target 154 (actual at 10 minutes 154.8)
mash out 3.5 gallons 170 degree water
Target OG 1.064
Actual OG 1.061 (5.75 gallons of wort, my boil off rate was way low tonight, must be the warm air so early in the year, too much in the kettle for this recipe.)
I didn't use bags for the hops, so I'll purposely leave 1/2 gallon or so of wort behind.
Ferment at ambient basement temps, right now 64 degrees.

Update 4/22:
Bottle today, very malty, nice beer so far.

Rusty Pail Ale

8lb 2row pale malt
2lb vienna malt
.5 lb crystal malt
Dough in with 4.0 gal water
Mash 152 60 min
add 1 gallon 170 degree water
Vorlauf
Drain
Add 3.5 gal water stir
Vorlauf
Drain
1oz cascade 60 min
.5 oz cascade 30 min
. 25 cascade 15 min
.25 cascade 5 min
Cool, pitch yeast
dry hop 10z citra for 5 days in the secondary.
Target OG 1.052
Actual OG 1.051-I was left with about 5.75 gallons in the kettle, so the efficiency makes sense for my system. It's actually ok, since I plan on leaving about 1/4-1/2 gallon in the kettle.

Update, I dry hopped this with 1.25 oz citra

Update 4/22, almost fully carb'd, very tropical!!!

Kale and Quinoa

2 cups salted water
1 cup quinoa
1 bunch lacinato kale, washed and chopped into 1" lengths
1 meyer lemon, zested and juiced
2 scallions, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Bring the water to a boil in a covered pot. Add the quinoa, cover, and lower the heat until it is just enough to maintain a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then top with the kale and re-cover. Simmer another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to steam for 5 more minutes.
2.While the quinoa is cooking, take a large serving bowl and combine half of the lemon juice (reserving the other half), all of the lemon zest, scallions, olive oil , pine nuts, and goat cheese.
3.Check the quinoa and kale when the cooking time has completed -- the water should have absorbed, and the quinoa will be tender but firm, and the kale tender and bright green. If the quinoa still has a hard white center, you can steam a bit longer (adding more water if needed). When the quinoa and kale are done, fluff the pilaf, and tip it into the waiting bowl with the remaining ingredients. As the hot quinoa hits the scallions and lemon it should smell lovely. Toss to combine, seasoning with salt and pepper, and the remaining lemon juice if need

Dubbell Lite

Grist:
Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt 6 lbs
Gambrinus Dark Munich 1 lbs
Special B 12 oz
Weyermann Cara Munich II 8 oz
Weyermann Melanoidin 8 oz
Aromatic 8 oz

Hops:
Tettnang, German Pellets
.75 oz @ 60 mins 4.4% AA
Hallertau Pellets, German 4% AA
.5 oz @ 60 mins

Other:
Malto Dextrin - 8 oz 10 min
D-90 Dark Candi Syrup 8 oz O min

Yeast:
Wyeast Labs Belgian Ale

mash in 157 for a bit more body, Belgian Ale yeast tends to attentuate high and dry out beers.
Actual 157.4
heat 4.5 gallons strike water to 173.
mash out with 3.5 gallons 170 degree water
pre boil volume 6.80 gallons
post boil volume 5.45 gallons
Target OG 1.048
OG 1.053. I may have added 10oz of the candi syrup, either way, came in high on efficiency. Certainly not going to be a session beer, but by Belgian standards, should be fairly light in ABV as long as my fermetables are down a bit based on the higher mash.
Update 3/6, bubbling away, trying to keep ambient temps between 63-65 for a few days to minimize the chance of a fusel bomb. I'm going to move this upstairs into the 70's over the next few days (warm spell here in NJ for March)and then let if finish out back inthe 60's. I'm not trying for anything particular with flavor here since this isn't meant to be a high gravity, complex Belgian.