Scotch Cask Ale (Pale Ale)

Scotch Cask Ale

Pale Ale

After my first use of a 5 gallon gallon keg used for single malt scotch, I'm using the water stored in this barrel to make this beer and then use this barrel to ask age this beer for 2 to 3 months. High amounts of Rauch malt are being used here along with a higher mash temp. I want smokyness. I'm expecting this to be about 6% ABV and dark golden in appearance. Magnum is used to create a smooth bitterness and Golding is used for a nice flavour typical of England bitters. Yeast will be repitched from a porter.

Water from Cask

Malts
1 lb Malt - Rauch (Smoke)
0.5 lb British Crystal 50/60L
0.5 lb Malt - Crystal 40L
8 lbs 2-Row


Yeast
Re-pitched

No active fermentation after 2 days 

Added Saf lager (yellow) set temp at 68F
Fermenting rapidly after 12 hr after 2nd pitch. Temp set to 66F.

Hops
Magnum (1 oz) Bittering 60 mins
East Kent Golding (2oz) 20 mins

Mash 153F

Ferment for 2 weeks then move to cask for 5 to 6 months.

Aug 2- refraction enter says 7.5 Brix. 1.03?  Tastes great and is dry. Moved to barrel. Next time make 6.5 gals. This did not completely full the barrel. But no worries, it's still fermenting. The head space should be CO2. 

Sep 20- Moved from barrel to keg. Tasted very oaky. Need to let this age for a month or two. Brix 5.1

Oct 26 - This has turned into a beer that is mild in flavours and could best be described as pleasant yet nothing special. The Oak barrel and the smoke malts have added little flavour. Recommendations to make this better: 155F Mash temp. More Rauch and Smoke Malts.Use a funky hop at FO.

Night Brewer's Schwartz (Dunkle Style)

Night Brewer's Schwartz

Dunkle Style

Aiming for a crisp lager with malty overtones. This is my first dunkle.

7 lbs German Munich
0.5 lb Carafa Special II
0.5 lb Dark Munich
0.5 lb Abbey Malt

White Labs Yeast (Pilsner Lager) 840

Tettnanger (2 oz)
Liberty (2 oz)

Mash

120F 30 mins then 153F for 60 mins

No Whirflox added. 

OG 1.04 (1.038 @ 95F)

FG. 1.01 @ 2 weeks at 55F

ABV 3.5%

Oct 26 - Excellent dark lager. Smooth
with nice flavour. Lite yet dark.
Mar 19, 2015 - Just finished the keg. So sorry to see this finish. Beautiful lite dark lager.

IIPA Red Comfort Ale (June 21, 2014)

Grains

14 lbs 2-row (fermentables)

2 lbs 40 C (body and taste)

2 lbs Carapils (body)

3 lbs 9 oz Golden Promise (leftovers)

8 oz Carared (I love this grain)

Total grains 22 lb 1 oz

149F Mash 2 hours

Sparge to make 13 gallons @ 170F

Low mash is for a light ale. 

Hop schedule 

73 mins  1 oz  US Magnum         14.7%  Alpha

43 mins  1 oz  Northern Brewer   7.8%   Alpha

23 mins  1 oz  NZ Pacifia             4.5%   Alpha

13 mins  1 oz  Zythos                   10.9% Alpha

3   mins  1 oz  Simcoe                  13%    Alpha

Cooled to 95F

OG 1.056    FG 1.013     ABV 5.7%

Yeast: Sal 04

Dry hop for 3 days 2 oz Simcoe (W) using steel hop holder

Dry hop for 3 days 1 ox Simcoe (P) and 1 oz Citra (P) using steel hop holder

Keg #2. -  4 oz of Simcoe dry hopped 

July 13, 2014 - Light golden in appearance, slightly bitter, slight aroma of  green pine, nice full mouth feel, good body. Needs to age 3 more weeks.

Jul 18, 2014 - Aroma is starting to come through. 3 weeks and this should be amazing.

Aug 31 - Lite and fresh with nice ABV. Good aroma ( keg 1). Good recipe for IIPA if I raise the ABV and follow techniques for IIPA. 

German and Belgian Kolsh

This is a lightest of the two beer. Still lots of flavour.

This is a tale of two Kolsch's. Yeast, method, mash, sparge are all the same however the Malts are different. I've only used seven  pounds of base malt to keep this beer around 3% to 4 ABV. Hops are the star with IIPAs. Yeast is the star here.


Keg #1
GR310 Malt - German Pilsner - 7Lb
GR400 Malt - German Munich - 1/2 Per Lb
OG 1.036 ABV 4.2%
Fermented at about 62F

Made total of 5 gal


Keg #2
GR340 Malt - Belgian Pilsner - 7Lb
GR410 Malt - German Vienna - 1/2 Per Lb
OG 1.040 ABV 4.5%

Made total of 4.5 gal

First day fermented at 74F then down to 62F. This started fermenting much faster than the other.

Mash

151F for 60 Mins and sparged at 170F to make 7 gallons

Boil

60 minute boil

Tetenger 60 mins (pellets with no bag)
German Spalt 20 mins (pellets with no bag)
Cooled to 90F and pitched yeast

Comments

July 22, 2014 - both have the same aroma. Keg #1's taste is sharper and thinner. Keg #2 has good body. Placed into secondary @ 60F.

Aug 20 - Poured the remaining beer from #1 into two growlers to make room for more beer in kegs. This was a great beer. It improved with lagering for 3 weeks.

Aug 31 -  keg 1 is lower in ABV and what I would consider a lite beer. Still good Kolsch flavor however a bit lite.  I think the other keg is better

Oct 4 - Aging in the made this very clear and rounded out the falvours. I would recommend aging for 4 to 6 weeks next time.

Note: From the 4 Kolschs I've made 5% to 4.5% is the best for delivering a drinkable full body flavour with the Kolsch style. Any less gives a very lite yet good beer. Any heavier is too much flavour. 

Rastpeatin Hybrid (3rd)

This is half Rastpeatin Honey an LS half Rastpeatin Maple with some Red Bastard Ale to top off the barrel (Maple Barrel).

On July 5th I added a vile of California super yeast to take the sweetness out. 

This will be aged in the barrel for at least 6 months.

Oct 2 2014 - It's dried out nicely. Still needs more time in the barrel.

Dec 5 2014 - filled one keg. Tasted dryer but a bit on the heavy side. Good flavor. Remaining stout put in 5 gallon barrel and topped off with Red Bastard Ale. Let this age for 5 to 12 months. 

Kölsch Style - Einfach Wunder - Tim's Recipe

Einfach Wunder -  Kölsch Style

The appearance is like a Pilsner: pale straw-coloured and clear. The taste is delicate and refreshing, less bitter than a Pilsner, gently fruitier and a little sweeter, often with a delightful biscuityness. A pale barley malt is used, sometimes with wheat added. The result is a refreshing cool beer (served at about 8°C), ideal for summer afternoons or perhaps with white fish. Many people would mistake it for a lager. (Source: http://www.germanbeerguide.co.uk/kolsch.html)

I've done several Kolsch style beers over this year and the results of my beers have all be great beers. I've also paid close attention to Kolsch beers at the bars. Based on my results below is what I would consider my go-to recipe for the perfect Kolsch.  All red text are potential alterations.

Malts

8 lbs German Pilsner Malt (depending on your quality, you might use 7 to 9 lbs)
0.5 lbs German Munich Malt.

7 lbs - lite body and flavour ~4%

8 lbs - medium body and flavour ~ 4.8% <--- Recommended

9 lbs - full body and flavour. ~ 6.5%

If you like wheat beers you may wish to add 0.5 lbs of White Wheat malt.

Mash

150F 60 mins

If you want a darker maltier beer then:  156F 20 mins after the above mash

If you want to simplify the mash you can mash at 152F for 60 mins. This will delivery similar results however you will a bit less flavour and a bit less ABV.

Sparge to make 7 gallons @ 170F

The Boil

1.0 oz Tettnanger hops 4.3%, 60 minutes
1.0 oz German Spalt hops 4.3%, 30 minutes

If you are unable to get Spalt hops then choose any low alpha noble hop. Hallertau and Tettnanger are great alternatives

Fermentation

WLP 0029 Kolsch Yeast or other brand of Kolsch yeast

Ferment for 2 weeks at 64F (±3)

Dry hop with Crystal hops for 3 days @ 68F (±3) if you want more nose to your beer

Condition for 3-6 weeks @ 48F

If you are unable to use a Kolsch yeast then you are not making a Kolsch any longer. Yeast to me is the single most important ingredient in this recipe. I've done this beer with an English Ale yeast but the flavour was much milder and took longer laugering to bring some of the Kolsch falvours to the front.

ABV target 5%

If you want more ABV up the Kolsch base malt to 9lb which will give you about 6%. More grain will change the style of the beer.