The Number 10

The 10th beer of the fall and hopefully a wonderful example of a Belgian strong dark ale.

Grist:
9lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt
3lbs Belgian Pale Malt

Hops;
1oz Northern Brewer 60 mim
1oz Styrian Goldings 20 min
1oz Hersbrucker 10 min

Adjuncts:
1lb D-180 syrup 10 min
1lb D-90 syrup right into the fermenter at high krausen

Yeast:
WYEAST #3787 yeastcake from the Patersbier

Mashed in with 4.5 gallons 161 degree water, target 150
Mashed out with .5 gallons at 180
Sparged 3.5 gallons out at 190 degrees
90 minute boil, 7 gallons collected

Target OG 1.072
Actual OG 1.070 before sugar to fermenter

Brewed 12.08.13, gravity reading 12.18.13 = 1.018 (10 days), moved to secondary at 1.011, conditioned at 50 degrees for 4 weeks, bottled.

Update-I actually had to bottle condition these in the oven. The basement was 62 degrees which is way to cool for Belgian yeast and I didn't want to stress the yeast out and cause off flavors. The oven (off) with the light bulbs on was 74-76 degrees, so I conditioned in there for two weeks. The capped bottles came out great, the corked bottles seem a bit under carb'ed. Regardless, I cellared them because I didn't want them warm for too long either. Looking forward to tasting these next year, the capped test bottles were very good with minimal esters.

Rye of the Storm

I expect a full bodied IPA, hefty is all respects, not a cross between an American Pale Ale and an IPA...Straight up IPA.

Grist:
11.25lbs Rahr 2-row
2.75lbs.Weyermann-Rye-malt
1lbs Crystal-60
.5lbs Briess Carapils
.5-lbs Rahr White Wheat malt

Hops:
1oz Mt.Hood(first-wort)
1oz Columbus 60min
1oz Mt.Hood 30min
1oz Mt. Hood 0min
Dry Hop:
1oz Columbus 7 days

Yeast:
Safale US-05 yeastcake from Pale Ale

Mashed in 4.75 gallons 166 degree water, target 153
Mash out .25 gallons 190 degree water
Sparge 3.25 gallons 190 degree water

60 minute boil

Target OG 1.078 Actual OG 1.074

Brew Date 12.06.13
Primary fermentation 2 weeks
Secondary fermentation at 52 degrees 3 weeks
Bottle condition 2+ weeks, it was cold in my basement and took a bit of time to carbonate

Update: This beer was fantastic, one of my favorites to date. Nothing floral or citrus about this beer, just spicy rye and bitter hops following some serious malt flavor.

Bit O Honey

Continuing to take a Half Hearted IPA clone recipe and evolve it into new beers, I added Simcoe hops to the mix as well as some honey directly into the fermenter at high krausen.

Grist:
8 lbs Briess 2-row
1 lb Briess Caramel 40l
1 lb Munich Malt

Hops:
1oz Centennial 60 min
1.25oz Centennial 20 min
1oz Centennial 5 min
1 oz Simcoe 2 min
Dry hop 1oz Centennial, 1oz Simcoe, .5oz Cascade (7-10 days)

Yeast:
S-05 cake from Pale Ale

Mash 4.8 gallons 165 degree water target 153
Sparge 3.4 gallons 186 degree ater

60 min boil

Target OG 1.070 Actual 1.067 (before honey)

Brew Date 11.22.13

Update: The honey really dried this beer out over time...different, but very good

Common Denominator

California Common is a New World beer style. In fact it is one of two classic styles that everybody agrees are genuinely American, the other being cream ale. California Common is an odd beer, essentially a lager that tastes more like an ale. Some people call it a hybrid beer; others are less genteel and call it a bastard. It is a quaffing brew for the common man and woman, a brew reminiscent of the rough and tumble days of the Alaska Gold Rush of the 1890s, when many of the mostly male inhabitants of San Francisco lined up on the docks waiting to be transported to the riches of the northern frontier.

Obviously, in those days before the Panama Canal, there was hardly enough “imported” beer available to satisfy the collective thirst of the disparate lot of prospectors, thrown together from all corners of the country, even the globe. Not surprisingly, enterprising publicans quickly filled the void by brewing their own beer on location, and because German immigrant brewers used to dominate American brewing, including California brewing, at the time, the brews these California pioneer brewers made were lagers . . . but lagers with a difference.

California Common, a can-do and make-do style

Before man acquired the technology to control the entire brewing process as well as the transportation network to make locales irrelevant, he could only make the beers nature allowed him to brew, and do so with local materials. In the cold winters of Munich, for instance, near the foothills of the Alps, lager emerged, because only bottom-fermenting yeasts can work in such a climate. The Rhineland, by contrast, never got cold enough for lager brewing nor warm enough for ale brewing by the British way. The result was the cool-fermented Altbier and its blond cousin, the Kölsch. In the British Isles, on the other hand, warm-fermenting brews thrived, which resulted in a cornucopia of ale styles from the blondest pale ale to the darkest stout.

In far-away California, however, it was much warmer and the brew equipment was primitive. According to the Anchor Brewing Company Website, the California brew scene was run mostly by German-born entrepreneurs in the 19th century. They had such names as Behlmer, Böse, Freyer, Garms, Hage-mann, Hansen, Lurmann, Schleemann, Schröder, Schwarz, Thode, Veen, Win-deler and Wunder. True to the tradition of their native land, they used lager yeast, probably hauled in from the Eastern seaboard. As for grain and hops, they probably used whatever happened to become available on the local market. From these ingredients, they made their beers in flat open fermenters. Even after the invention of refrigerated beer vats in Munich in the 1870s, such technologies were not yet available in the pioneer outposts at the Golden Bay.

Whichever lager yeast these early brewers might have used initially, it is likely that it mutated rapidly in the unusual, non-lager-like environment. Not surprisingly, the character of the San Francisco brews began to reflect the character of their times and circumstances. The result was a beer, which, though bottom-fermented, tasted more like an ale, probably with plenty of fruitiness and butter-scotch flavor.

Initially this brew from the steamy shores of San Francisco was called “steam beer.” It is not clear where the name came from, but according to one fanciful theory, the cask-conditioned California brews of the 1890s gave off plumes of “steam” when their bung holes were opened prior to tapping. Another theory suggests that the name relates to the early steam engines installed in some California breweries. As these steam-equipped breweries proudly bragged about their modern machinery in their promotions, their brews came to be known as “steam beer.”

Whichever is the true explanation, for legal reasons, the descendants of these beers are now universally called California Common, because “Steam” has since become a trademark owned by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco. The steam beer style had nearly faded into oblivion by the 1960s. Fewer and fewer breweries bothered to make it, while generic mass lagers were capturing an ever-increasing market share. It was then that Fritz Maytag purchased one of the last steam breweries — namely Anchor. This brewery was founded in the 1850s by two German immigrants. In 1896, it had fallen into the hands of two German-born steam brewers, Otto Schinkel and Ernst Baruth. After several changes in ownership, Fritz Maytag acquired the brewery in 1965, just before it was to be closed down, and he turned it into one of the biggest success stories of the American craft brew revival.
Not a difficult beer too brew if you have a temperature controlled environment:
Grist:
9lbs 2-Row malt
1lb Crystal 20l (should be 60l, see Simple Pale Ale
1lb Munich mALT

Hops:
1oz Northern Brewer 60min
.5oz Northern Brewer 15min
.5oz Northern Brewer 5min
1oz Northern Brewer 1min

Yeast:
Wyeast California Lager

Target OG 1.048 Actual OG 1.051
Ferment 2 weeks at 60 degrees and one month at 50 degrees
Crash cool to 40 for one week, then I kegged the beer.
This was outstanding and amazingly clear by Christmas.

For Starters

This beer is based on one of the rarest beers in the world, brewed in the Belgian town Malle solely for consumption by the reverent Cistercian brothers. This ale is not served or sold to the public. Made only from pilsner malt, hops, and yeast, the complexity that results from these simple ingredients is staggering: perfumey floral hops, ripe pear fruit, sour apple, spicy cloves, candied citrus and a slight biscuit character on the drying finish ... a monks’ session beer.

Grist:
9lbs Belgian Pilsner malt

Hops:
1oz Tradition 60min
.5oz Saaz 60min
.5oz Saaz 10 min

Yeast:
Wyeast #3787 Trappist High Gravity

The yeastcake for this beer will also provide the starter for #10 in December, a traditional Trappist Ale to be cellared for one or more years. (Of course there will be test bottles too:))

Mashed in 4.3 gallons of 158 degree water, no mash out, target 147
Sparged with 3.5 gallons 185 degree water
Boil time was 75 minute to adjust for volume

Target OG 1.047
Actual OG 1.049

Update: I mashed this beer very low and the result is a very dry, highly drinkable Belgian single with hints of clove and pronounced fruitiness from the yeast. Bottle date was 12/8, brew date for #10 was 12/9.

Rusty Pale Ale-Take Two

The first mistake turned out wonderful, so I changed up the hops a bit and did it again.

8lb 2-row
2lb vienna
.75 crystal 60l

.25 cent .25 chinook 60
.25 cent .25 chinook 30
.25 cent .25 chinook 15
.20 chinook .20 citra .20 simcoe .10 cent 0 min

s-05

OG 1.050

dry hopped this with .80 cascade...

Simple Pale Ale

Rusty after not brewing all summer...rusty in color because being rusty caused me to add crystal 40l that was slated for my common denominator by accident, giving me a slightly darker "pale" ale.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S-05
Yeast Starter: Nope
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: Nope
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.051
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU: 39
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 10 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 Days at 68 degrees

Grain Bill
8 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
2 lbs. Vienna Malt
0.5 lb. Crystal 20L Malt

Mash
Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 152 degrees.
Dough-in with 3.5 gallons of water. After 60 minutes, add 5 quarts of 175 degree water and begin vorlauf. My system only takes about 2 quarts before it clears up, then it's wide open to drain in the kettle. Have another 3.25 gallons of 175 degree water ready for the next batch sparge. You should then get 6.5 gallons to your kettle for the boil.

Boil & Hops
1.0 oz Cascade 6.6% at 60 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 30 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 15 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 5 min.
0.25 oz Simcoe at 0 min
Chill to 70 to 75 degrees

Ferment at 60-64 ambient.

Brew Date 09.26.13

Bacon Fig Jam

Same basic recipe of the marmaljam, with a few tweaks. I was prepared for the amount of time it was going to take to reduce this go around and even made a pizza in the interim.
Ingredients:
12 or so figs cut into quarters
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raw honey, cinnamon
1 teaspoon sweet orange peel
6-7 pieces cooked bacon
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 lemon

Bring water to just about boiling
add figs, simmer until tender
add sugar and honey
reduce by half
add orange peel and bacon (crumbled)
reduce until it begins to thicken
add juice of 1/2 lemon
stir and reduce until jam begins to adhere to spoon-reduce another 15 minutes
cool
chill

Orange Cinnamon Fig Marmaljam

I had a great fig harvest this year, over 100 and they are still coming. I decided to try my hand at a marmalade. Everything I read about a marmalade involves precise temps for setting the mush as well as copious amounts of pectin. Lots of trial and error on the marmalade boards and lots of disappointing, runny, end results. Since I'm not one to ever follow recipes to the "T", I adapted several recipes into a pseudo jam and utilized some left over brewing adjuncts from seasonal beers. I'm going to be honest, it took a while to render that sucker down, a lot longer than I thought it would (stupid me for starting at 9pm when I had to work at 5am the next day), but the end result was spot on. I'm going to use this in a bacon, fig, marmaljam grilled cheese tomorrow, but here's the recipe in the interim.

Marmaljam(not quite marmalade, not quite jam):

12 or so figs (some were very overripe(can you say shrinkage?), some were perfect) cut into quarters
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raw honey (seriously, only because wanted to get rid of it, I scraped the jar)
1/4 oz sweet orange peel (leftover from brewing)This too can be potent and if you don't want the orange to co-star with the fig, taper it back to an 1/8oz.
1 cinnamon stick (left over from last year's christmas ale)
2 cups water
1 1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 lemon

Bring water to just about boiling in a large NON-STICK saucepan (I used my scan pan wok, I love this utensil and cook everything in it. pasta never boils over, no matter how high, burgers, rice, veggies, you name it)
Add the fig quarters and turn down to medium
Stir and stir until tender, giving a slight mash with a wooden spoon
Add the sugar and stir some more, gently, until dissolved, bring to a simmer
Add the sweet orange peel
Add the raw honey
let it render down until it darkens and add the cinnamon stick
(I took the cinnamon stick out several times and tasted, my stick was old, but it's very powerful stuff, don't overdo it and remember that it's going to be concentrated)
Simmer and stir, and stir and stir, until midnight, even if you have to get up at 4am
As it begins to render down and thicken, add the juice of the 1/2 lemon, pick out any seeds)
Once you get to a consistency that holds a bit on the spoon, let it go 15 more minutes (seriously, this was a total guess)
Remove from heat and let cool (it will thicken even more) and put it into jars or a bowl with a lid (you aren't making enough to bother canning)
Go to bed at 12:30am
Get up at 4:00am and rejoice at the consistency, put it in the fridge and hope it doesn't harden like candy and go to work
Crazy good on bread with some peanut butter, can't wait for the grilled cheese!
Cheers!!

Taleggio Pairing

Taleggio is one of those cheeses whose name even a novice turophile would recognize. Many people associate it with being a very stinky cheese when in fact, on the stink level, it's pretty mellow. It gets its name for the Valtaleggio region in northern Italy, near Lombardy. It is characteristically aromatic yet mild in flavor and features tangy, meaty notes with a fruity finish. The texture of the cheese is moist almost jello-like with a very pleasant melt-in-the-mouth feel. The combination of the soft texture, pungent aroma, and buttery flavors has proven to be addictive especially when spread on fresh crusty bread. 
You can see that the rind has a bit of a reddish hue and that tells us that this is a smear ripened cheese similar to an Epoisses or Grayson. When the cheese is being made, the curds are put into molds and then left at temperatures of around 70-77 degrees F. From there they are brined or hand salted and aged in caves for about 40 days. During the aging process, they are cleaned with a salt water solution to keep any unwanted molds away and to help develop the sticky, reddish rind that have beome so popular in today's cheese circles.

The texture of this cheese is like a dense marshmallow. It is pale cream in color and is springy, yet wonderfully smooth. The scent is super grassy and not too stinky. I don't typically eat the rind on this cheese because it is a bit bitter, but the paste of the cheese is so creamy and unctuous, sweet and mushroomy all at the same time. The pasteurized version tends to be a bit more mellow than the raw version as the raw milk keeps a lot of the natural flavors which shine through beautifully.

This cheese pairs wonderfully with a fruity, effervescent, Saison like Great Divide's Colette or Surly's
Cynic.

The Red C

An American Red Ale in the spirit of Independence Day, fermented on the yeast cake of Beach Blonde Summer Ale. Ok, so in a moment of weakness, I named it Scarlet last night, but with a line up of Columbus, Chinook and Cascade and Citra, how could I ignore the C theme-so I'm "parting" with Scarlet and bringing on the red C.

Grist:
11 lb Malteurop 2-row
.75 lb Briess Caramel 60L
.5 lb Belgian Special B

Hops:
.50 oz Columbus 60 min
.50 oz Chinook 20 min
1 oz Cascade 5 min

Dry Hop:
1 oz Centennial
1 oz Chinook

Yeast:
S-05 cake

Mash in 5.25 gallons 167 degree water, target 153, actual 153.7. Sacch Rest 60 minutes. 8:30
Sparge 3.5 gallons 170 degree water.
90 minute boil.
Chill 12:30
Aerate yeast 1:15am
Full blown fermentation 8am the next morning

Target OG 1.058 Actual OG 1.060
Fermentation temp is 70 degrees ambient, a bit high for my liking, but within the range for this yeast. I'm going to ferment it in a sink of groundwater just in case i need to bring the temps down with some ice. My fermentation chamber has saison du weizen in it at 40 degrees and i don't want to change that.

Blonde Highlights (Again)

Taking advantage of the break in the heat to brew this easy drinking summer ale. Fermentation temps will be a bit warmer than March, so I'm going to add a a touch of aroma hops to balance out the increased fruitiness s-05 will probably throw off at 70 degrees ambient.

Grist:

7.5lbs Briess 2 row

.5lb Briess Carapils

.25lb Flaked Barley

.25lb Flaked Corn

Hops:

.5oz Cluster 45 min

.25oz Cluster 15 min

.15oz Cluster 5 min

Yeast:

Safale 05

Mash 4.25 gallons 161 degree water, target 152.

Sparge 3.25 gallons 180 degree water

Start volume 6.5 gallons

Target OG 1.041 Actual OG 1.042

Fermentation temps 68-70 degrees, basement ambient

Dog Days of Summer...

are coming fast, so is the need for a hot dog thread...

5/19:
1. Grass fed dog, whole wheat bun, taleggio cheese, roasted tomatoes.
2. Grass fed dog, whole wheat bun, German mustard, red beet and cabbage kraut fermented with ginger, garlic and cilantro
My Half-Hearted IPA in the background.

Moses Sleeper and The Prince

Moses Sleeper is a luscious bloomy rind named after historical figure in the Greensboro area of Vermont. Moses Sleeper was killed in 1871 along with Constant Bliss (another cheese by Jasper Hill that resembles Charouce, but is no longer in production) while guarding the trail that led to the area of Vermont near what is now the Jasper Hill farm and creamery.  Moses Sleeper, just recently released, is a bloomy rind cheese made from pasteurized cows milk. Like all Jasper Hill Farm cheeses, that milk is produced by a small herd of Ayrshire cows which graze seasonally on the farm’s pastures. Those pastures have been developed by herdsman Andy Kehler, and the excellent milk stays on the farm where it is converted to cheese by a team led by Andy’s brother Mateo. Moses Sleeper is compared to French styles like Reblochon and Camembert. The cheese matures for about 40 to 60 days and it develops a thin pliable white rind with some pink patches. The paste develops very small eyes or holes. The flavor should be mild, with notes of fresh milk when it is released, gaining complexity as it ages further.

The cheese: Paste was ivory and shiny, with the impression of small to medium eye holes in the ooze. From the rind and paste there was an earthy aroma, mushroom, some asparagus. On taste, definitely asparagus notes up front, and fresh cream on the finish. The mouthfeel was soft and silky, like melting chocolate punctuated by chewy bits of rind. Some bitterness on the rind, but nothing off-putting. The overall impression I kept getting was of a nicely-made cream of asparagus soup. Most reviews note the clean freshness of this cheese, but keep in mind that mine was a bit further into the ripeness curve. I loved the complex vegetal flavors, but I would also love to compare it to a younger Moses (that doesn't sound right).

The Beer: The Prince, my Tripel, brewed on April 13th and just carbonating now,  pours a deep golden-amber with a white, fluffy head that falls quickly to a compact ¼-inch cap. It’s bright and clear with columns of tiny bubbles ascending. The aroma is sweet like cotton candy-really and that's exactly how my 4 year old described it (smells like candy daddy). The flavor attack is slightly bitter, sweet and alcoholic (phenolic). Very much what one would expect of a Belgian style Tripel with maybe a hint of "harsh", but the beer is very young and I plan to celler it for months. The mouthfeel is perfect, with a fairly light body, and an effervesent carbonation (it has only been in the bottle 6 days, so it should continue to carbonate over the next week or two to about 3.3 volumes CO2 per the style.

Beer Plus Cheese: These two play off each other well, but they keep a bit of a distance. They are well matched in terms of intensity — the ripeness of my piece of Moses may have helped here. Two very nice, bold flavor packages. In your mouth together the asparagus soup theme continues, with an overlay of exploding bitterness and alcohol esters. This is a nice, if not completely harmonious pairing. The sweet, high octane flavor of the beer and the rich vegetable and cream flavors in the cheese don’t quite wrap around each other enough to be a perfect pair, but instead seem to stand together nicely.

Saison du Weizen 05.13.13

Taking advantage of some seriously cold May temps to brew a wheat Saison, my 4th Saison of the Season...

Grist:

5 lbs Weyermann Pale Wheat
3 lbs Franco–Belges Pilsen Malt

Hops:
(Triple hopped!)
1 oz Nugget 45 minutes
1 oz Saaz 15 min
1 oz UK Kent Golding 5 min

Adjuncts:

.75 oz Sweet Orange Peel 5 min
.75 oz Lemongrass 5 min
1 lb Orange Blossom honey 5 min

Yeast:

Wyeast #3522 Belgian Ardennes

Mash in 3.75 gallons @161 degrees, target 151
Mash out .75 gallon @170
Sparge 3.50 gallons @170

Initial volume 7 gallons
Target OG 1.052 Actual OG (No clue, I broke my first hydrometer this evening)

WFM Carrollwood (North Tampa) Florida

Saison Gone A Rye

The final beer of the spring line up, a ridiculously rye Saison fermented on top of my petite Saison cake that I bottled Thursday. This beer is also being brewed with that magical Vermont well water that I brought home in March. Why is Vermont producing such world class beers with increased frequency? Let's find out...

Grist:
7lb Belgian Pilsner Malt
2lb Franco-Belges Pilsen Malt
3lb Weyermann Rye Malt
4oz Belgian Carmel Pils

Hops:
1oz Stryian Golding 60 min
.75oz Styrian Celeia 60 min
.30oz Czech Saaz 30 min
.25oz Stryian Celeia 10 min

Adjuncts:
8oz rice hulls added to mash
1lb Amber Candi sugar 10min
.20oz black peppercorns crushed
.25oz dried orange peel

Yeast:
Wyeast #3711 French Saison (cake)

Mash in 5 gallons 165 degree water, target 152. Mash for 60 minutes
Sparge 3.5 gallons 170 degree water

75 minute boil, pre boil volume 7.1 gallons.

Target OG 1.060
Actual OG 1.070
Really not sure what happened here, except incredible efficiency. I even wound up with about 5.7 gallons, so i expected the OG to be on the low side. This is going to be once scary beer with #3711, probably over 8% ABV. This really did go awry..

Massive Hotbreak...

Brew Date 04.20.13

Yeah, I'm Bitter

Grist:
4 lbs. Fawcett Optic
3 lbs. Canada Malting Pale Ale Malt
.75 lbs. Simpsons Golden Naked Oats
.38 lbs. English Medium Crystal
. 05 lbs. English Roasted Barley

Hops:

.25oz Glacier (First Wort Hop, add to wort as it drains from mash tun)
.5oz Warrior (90 min)
1.75oz Glacier (0 min)
3oz Glacier (Dry Hop)

Yeast:
Wyeast #1335 British Ale II

Mash in 3.5 gallons 163 degree water, target 153
Mash out with 1 gallon boiling water

Sparge with 3.5 gallons 180 degree water

I collected 7 gallons of wort-this was a 90 minute boil

Brew day 03/10/13
Ferment 2 weeks at 60-64 (basement ambient)
Ferment 3 weeks at 50 degrees (temperature contolled)
Dry hop last 10 days at 50 degrees

Target OG 1.041 Actual OG 1.043

Bottle date 4/20/13

Are you a Herve Mons fan? You will be after trying Ovalie Cendree. This long oval shaped cheese exhibits classic milky ovaltones( yeah, we went there), grassiness and citrus abound but with warm earthy attributes and hints of mushroom on the rind. Ovalie Cendree has the most unique depth to it and pairs wonderfully with artisan crusty bread and fruit.

The Prince

Tripel, brewed using the yeast cake from The Pauper...

Grist:
12.5lb Pilsner Malt Belgium
.75lb Caramel Pils Belgium
1lb 12oz table sugar

Hops:
1.75oz  Styrian Golding 60 min
.5 oz Saaz 15 min
.25 Saaz 5 min

Adjuncts:
.25oz ginger-fresh 10 min
.5oz coriander seed, crushed 10 min
.20oz Black Pepper, ground 10 min
2grams Grains of Paradise 10 min(.07oz) all they had:(

Yeast:
Wyeast Trappist High Gravity from The Pauper recipe

Mash in 5 gallons 165 degree water, target 1.048 (came in low for some reason, trying to cook dinner at same time-actual temp 145, so I mashed for 90 minutes)
Sparge 3.5 gallons 170 degree water (batch sparge, but stir for 15 minutes because of low temps in initial mash)
Boil 75 minutes

Initial mash 7:00pm
Sparge 9:00pm
Boil 9:30pm
Flameout 10:45pm
Chill to 70 11:05pm

Target OG 1.076 Actual OG 1.075
Fermented at 64 degrees ambient for 3 days, moved upstairs 70-78 ambient for 4 days. Today, 4/20 krausen has dropped, but so have the temps outside, but I'm going to leave it upstairs for a few more days at warmer temps.

Blonde Highlights

Grist:
7.5lbs Briess 2 row
.5lb Briess Carapils
.25lb Flaked Barley
.25lb Flaked Corn

Hops:
.5oz Cluster 45 min
.25oz cluster 15 min

Yeast:
Safale 05

This beer is a starter beer for Cinitra Pale Ale and Half Hearted IPA.

Mash 4.25 gallons 161 degree water, target 152.
Sparge 3.25 gallons 180 degree water
Start volume 6.5 gallons
Target OG 1.041 Actual OG 1.042

Brew Date 03/09/13 Ferment at 59-63 (Basement ambient)

It’s the Say-Sun for Saison

Grist:
4.5lbs Belgian Pilsner
2.75lbs German Vienna
.75lbs Torified Wheat

Hops:
1oz UK Kent Goldings 60 min
.25 Styrian Goldings 10 min
.25 Saaz 10 min
.75 Styrian Goldings 2 min
.75 Saaz 2 min

Yeast:
Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Mash in 3.5 gallons 160 degree water, target 150
Mash out 1 gallon 180 degree water
Sparge 3.5 gallons 170 degree water

This is a starter beer for a Rye Saison

Target OG 1.041 Actual OG 1.043

Brew Date 03.16.13.
Ferment 3 days low 60's (basement ambient)
Finish for 5 days 69-72 (first floor ambient)

Chinitra Pale Ale

Grist:
9lbs Briess 2 -row
.75lb Munich Malt
.375lb Briess Caramel 60l
.3125lb Biscuit

Hops:
.25oz Chinook 60 min
.25oz Chinook 45 min
.25oz Chinook 30 min
.5oz Chinnok 15 min
.5oz Chinook 2 min
.25oz Citra 2 min
Dry Hop .5oz Citra, ..2oz Chinook

Yeast:
S-05 Cake from Blonde Highlights

Mash in 4.75 gallons 163 degree water, target 152
Sparge 3.50 gallons 180 degree water
Collect 6.8 gallons wort
Boil time 60 min
TARGET OG 1.056 Actual 1.058

Brewday 03/23/13 Ferment 60-65 degrees basement temps

Half Hearted IPA

Grist:
11lbs Briess 2 row
1lb Briess Caramel 40
1lb 4oz Munich Malt

Hops:
1oz Centennial 60 min
1 oz Centennial 20 min
1 oz Centennial 5 min
1 oz Simcoe 1 min
 Dry Hop .75oz Centennial .75oz Simcoe

Yeast:
S-05 Cake from Blonde Highlights

Ferment for 3 weeks at 60-65 (basement ambient)

Dry hop 7-10 days

Mash 5 gallons 165 degree water, target 153

Sparge 3.5 gallons 170 degree water

60 minute boil

Brew Date 04.05.13
Target OG 1.068 Actual OG 1.066