Sunday, November 5, 2017

Kolsch - May 14/2017

This is a great and simple beer to make. I see a lot of recipes on the web but none like this. I use Kolsch Malt. The Munich malt plays a flavoring role. You can change this with similar German malts. The best Kolschs will result in about 4.5 to 5% ABV. This give the best malt balance. More ABV and it seems to be too malty. Less and theirs not enough flavor. So ideally with my technique I would 16 lb of base malt.Yeast is important. It give the beer the Kolsch flavor that you are familiar with. Hops should be mild and noble. Cascade is a nice hop but it does detract from the pure Kolsch flavor.



Malts
20 lbs Kolsch malt

1 lb Munich malt
Yeast
1 pack Kolsch WLP white pack
Hops
1 oz Liberty
2 oz Cascade
2 oz Cascade (Hop Rocket)
Other
1 tsp Yeast Nutrients
2 tablets whirlflox
Mash
120F 60 mins
150F 60 mins
170F Sparge

Produced 13.5 Gal
Boil
Cascade Leaf 60 mins
Liberty pellets 20 mins
Other  20 mins



Hop Rocket
2 oz Cascade leaf (before coil)
Produced  9.5 gallons



Measurements 
OG 1.050
FG 1.002 (really?) Ok so this was 6.3% ABV
Fermented in house at about 75F (House was about 68F)

West Coast Smash IPA - Aug 6/2017

This is a kit from Morebeer. This is a good hoppy brew but nothing special. The ingredients and the results are simple with no complexity.

Simcoe hops have a great profile but this was not a "oh my god, smell the hops brew". I would consider making this again if I could get fresh whole hops.

Ingredients

14 lbs California Select Malt - 2-row
1 oz Simcoe 60 mins
2 oz Simcoe 5 mins
2 oz Simcoe 1 min
2 oz Simcoe Dry hop for 5 days

Mash

122 F 60 mins rest
158 F 5 mins (accident)
149 F 60 mins

Other

Brew Nutrients 1/2 tsp
Gypsum 1 tsp

OG 11.2 Brix (1.044)
No other measurements. Guessing this came to FG 1.010 (4.5%ABV)

Extra Special Bitter 11/04/2017

My first brew was a Bitter. It was an extract brew and I nailed it. What I like about Bitters is their lower carbonation, ease of drinking, slightly warmer serving temperature and mouth feel.

Over the years making this I've experimented a lot. What I’m learning is to keep this very simple. Less flavoring hops and malts. Better malt extraction with the mash.

Ingredients
20 lbs  Maris Otter
2 lbs Caristan
2 oz. Magnum 60 mins
4 oz EK Golding. 15 mins
2 tsp Gypsum mash
2 tsp Gypsum
Whirflox (forgotten this time)

Mash
25 mins 125F
60 mins 153F, 2 tsp Gypsum
Sparged with 180F (2 gallons)
Mash yield: 12.8 gal

Hard boil with Hop additions. No bags.
First use of Trub Catchers. This does not seem like a good thing.
Boil yield: 9.8 gal

Cooled to 90F

London Ale Yeast  WLP013, 89F
Target OG 1.048, Actual G 1.064