For our first club brew session, the Calaveras Hoppy Brewers met at Bob’s Brewing in Valley Springs for National Homebrew Day, 2014. We had a great time, and it was lots of fun seeing everybody’s setups and techniques. Plenty of good food, friends and Homebrew!

Some of the gang!
I chose to brew a recipe from Michael Dawson. I was able to match most of his ingredients.
It was a lot of fun brewing at a remote location, but I really had to think things out. Some worked out OK, others not so much. The mash tun and burner/brew kettle worked just fine. I had to cobble together a mash tun stand using my piano keyboard stand, and I think I’ll keep using this rig at home. I had a little more trouble preparing to re-hydrate the dry yeast. I chose to boil the water at home and then rinse an Erlenmeyer flask in StarSan before poring the boiled water in it to cool. I think too much of the sanitizer was left in the flask. The primary fermentation has been a little sluggish…we’ll see how that comes out. If I were to do it again, I’d boil the water in the flask, then cover it. Next time I’ll also make sure to bring a Y-valve for the faucet, so I’ll be able to share the water at kettle cooling time. I did hit my final gravity, so I’m happy with that, too.
FINALLY got this batch into bottles yesterday (6-1-14). SG was still about 10 points high after 2 weeks when I transferred to secondary. Quite a bit of yeast activity after racking. I kept it in secondary until yesterday. A bit of effervescence, but not too bad. SG was down to 1.008, and it tastes pretty decent!
Recipe Details
Batch Size |
Boil Time |
IBU |
SRM |
Est. OG |
Est. FG |
ABV |
5.5 gal |
90 min |
41.5 IBUs |
36.3 SRM |
1.044 SG |
1.010 SG |
4.4 % |
Style Details
Name |
Cat. |
OG Range |
FG Range |
IBU |
SRM |
Carb |
ABV |
Dry Stout |
13 A |
1.036 - 1.05 |
1.007 - 1.011 |
30 - 45 |
25 - 40 |
1.8 - 2.5 |
4 - 5 % |
Fermentables
Name |
Amount |
% |
MCI Stout Malt |
7 lbs |
70 |
Chocolate Malt |
1 lbs |
10 |
Crystal 190 Patagonia |
1 lbs |
10 |
Wheat Malt (Gambrinus) |
1 lbs |
10 |
Hops
Name |
Amount |
Time |
Use |
Form |
Alpha % |
Goldings, East Kent |
1 oz |
60 min |
Boil |
Pellet |
5 |
Challenger |
0.5 oz |
60 min |
Boil |
Pellet |
7.5 |
Hallertauer Hersbrucker |
0.5 oz |
60 min |
Boil |
Pellet |
4 |
Challenger |
0.25 oz |
10 min |
Boil |
Pellet |
7.5 |
Goldings, East Kent |
0.25 oz |
10 min |
Boil |
Pellet |
5 |
Hallertauer Hersbrucker |
0.25 oz |
10 min |
Boil |
Pellet |
4 |
Miscs
Name |
Amount |
Time |
Use |
Type |
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) |
10.00 g |
60 min |
Mash |
Water Agent |
Whirlfloc Tablet |
1.20 Items |
15 min |
Boil |
Fining |
Yeast
Name |
Lab |
Attenuation |
Temperature |
Windsor Yeast (-) |
Lallemand |
75% |
62°F - 72°F |
Not sure where this fits in the style guidelines!
Maybe Foreign Extra Stout?