Cascadian Dark Ale – CDA1

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Admin

Hail Cascadia!

We bottled this last night. The taste was not what I expected…I’m not sure if I like it or not. I dry-hopped per the recipe, but only for 2-3 days. If I would have been thinking, I would have halved the amount, due to the poor efficiency of my mash. So the hops were VERY forward, but not unpleasant. The bitterness was strong, but not objectionable. There was a bitter after-taste, though. And smoke. I have no idea where that taste comes from! I didn’t use the Polyclar, because it was pretty darn clear. I had the fermentation chamber in the low 60s for the secondary.

Oh, well…we’ll see what a couple of weeks and some carbonation does for it.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	64.6 IBUs	26.1 SRM	1.061	1.014	6.2 %
			Actuals	1.061	1.013	6.3 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American IPA	14 B	1.056 - 1.075	1.01 - 1.018	40 - 70	6 - 15	2.2 - 2.7	5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	12 lbs	85.47
Carafa Special II (Weyermann)	13.44 oz	5.98
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L	13.44 oz	5.98
Special Roast	5.76 oz	2.56

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Centennial	1.22 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Cascade	1.22 oz	45 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Willamette	1.22 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Cascade	1.2 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Cascade	1.2 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	5.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Whirlfloc Tablet	1.20 Items	5 min	Boil	Fining
Polyclar	0.30 oz	1 day	Secondary	Fining

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
American Ale II (1272)	Wyeast Labs	74%	60°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	152°F	75 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

BeerXML

BJCP Guidelines:Specialty Beer

Dang…I missed the OG by a mile on this, my first all-grain brew session. I don’t have a proper mash tun, but I’ve been doing my partial mashes with the grain in a bag in my bottling bucket. So, I used the same method for this recipe, but put all the grain in. I’m thinking I may have sparged (rinsed, really) too quickly. I harvested a good 5 gallons of sweet wort, and it looked good:

but my gravity reading at end of boil showed 1.036. I also topped up the batch volume to 7 gallons in the primary. I was kind of hoping for a session beer, but I hope it isn’t hopelessly weak. We’ll just have to wait and see…
All the hop additions went well, though. Using Beersmith Lite on my android phone worked really well. I separated all the boil additions onto individual plates, then just dumped them in when the alarm told me to. Pretty slick! All in all, a glorious brew day on Easter.

Irish Stout – IS1

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Admin

From MoreBeer kit 310

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5 gal	60 min	54.2 IBUs	34.4 SRM	1.067	1.017	6.5 %
			Actuals	1.046	1.01	4.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Amber Ale	6 B	1.045 - 1.056	1.01 - 1.015	20 - 40	11 - 18	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 5.7 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) UK	3 lbs	27.27
Barley, Flaked	1 lbs	9.09
Black Barley (Stout)	1 lbs	9.09
Pale Liquid Extract	6 lbs	54.55

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Whirlfloc Tablet	1.00 Items	15 min	Boil	Fining

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Irish Ale (1084)	Wyeast Labs	73%	62°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	150°F	75 min

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

BeerXML

BJCP Guidelines:Dry Stout

IS-1 Body

IS-1 Head

RK1 – Red Kolsch Ale

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Admin

In the glass

Head

This was my first full boil. Lots of fun!

BJCP Guideline: Kolsch

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5 gal	60 min	15.9 IBUs	15.4 SRM	1.051	1.012	5.1 %
			Actuals	1.046	1.01	4.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Amber Ale	6 B	1.045 - 1.056	1.01 - 1.015	20 - 40	11 - 18	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 5.7 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	8 oz	6.25
Carafoam	4 oz	3.13
Chocolate Malt	4 oz	3.13
Pilsner Liquid Extract	7 lbs	87.5

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Cascade	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Cascade	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Whirlfloc Tablet	1.00 Items	15 min	Boil	Fining

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Kolsch Yeast (2565)	Wyeast Labs	75%	56°F - 64°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	150°F	75 min

Notes

Brew date:12-28-12
First 6 gallon boil in new brew pot
first use or wort chiller - boil to 78F in ~12 min
Vigorous fermentation at ~ 14 hours. Switched airloack to blow-off tube
Racked to secondary 1-27-13
Bottled 2-15-13
OG=1.055
FG=1.014
First 3 days in primary @ 72F
Remainder of fermentation at 50-55F

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

BeerXML

Brew date:12-28-12
First 6 gallon boil in new brew pot
first use of wort chiller – boil to 78F in ~12 min
Vigorous fermentation at ~ 14 hours. Switched airlock to blow-off tube
Racked to secondary 1-27-13
Bottled 2-15-13
OG=1.055
FG=1.014
First 3 days in primary @ 72F
Remainder of fermentation at 50-55F
RK1 Original Notes

Let me know what you think!

BA1 – Burton Ale

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Admin

This is the first set of ingredients I’ve ordered that are not from a kit. The recipe is from Beersmith 2. I hope to brew it this weekend!

BJCP Guideline: Old Ale

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5 gal	60 min	34.6 IBUs	6.8 SRM	1.055	1.010	5.9 %
			Actuals	1.055	1.013	5.5 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)	8 C	1.048 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.016	30 - 50	6 - 18	1.5 - 2.4	4.6 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) UK	6.127 lbs	64.75
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	7.9 oz	5.22
Pale Liquid Extract	2.347 lbs	24.81
Brown Sugar, Light	7.9 oz	5.22

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Goldings, East Kent	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Northern Brewer	0.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	7.5
Fuggles	0.5 oz	2 min	Boil	Pellet	5
Fuggles	0.75 oz	3 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	4.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Whirlfloc Tablet	1.00 Items	5 min	Boil	Fining
Polyclar	0.25 oz	1 day	Secondary	Fining

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Thames Valley Ale (1275)	Wyeast Labs	77%	62°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	148°F	75 min

Notes

The Burton Ale yeast was perhaps the most interesting part - it had a very vigorous fermentation - even several days after pitching and foamed quite a bit.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

BeerXML
—
I got to brew this on Sunday morning. It went well! I used dark brown sugar instead of the light brown called for. Brew volume started slightly over 6 gallons, but by the time I got it to the fermenter it was around 4.5 gallons (lots of trub and I left a fair amount of wort behind with it). So I added almost 2 gallons of cold water to the fermenter. I didn’t boil it first, which was dumb, but we’ll see how that turns out. The OG was just about perfect (although that was before adding the cold water), so I’m happy with how the (partial) mashing went. As of this morning, the primary is bubbling happily away.

Sweet wort from partial mash

BA1 Body

BA1 Head