Doppelbock - Decoc

The beer shown above is amazing. It can best be described as a gentle smoky malty beer that is full of flavour but medium body. Wonderful smoky beech-wood flavours with smooth malty flavours hang on your pallet from beginning to end. I hope to come close with this brew.

Malts

• 15 lbs Weyermann Rauch Malt

Yeast

• Wyeast 2206 (Lager)

Hops

• Bitter Hallertau 2 oz, 60 mins
• Flavour Liberty 2 oz, 7 mins, also Whirflox, yeast nutrition

Decoction Mash

1. 125F  30 mins,  mash temp ended at 123F, strike temp 134F 
2. First decoction --> 20 min bring 2 large colanders of mash to boil. Added 1 gal of tap water. Boiled for about 7 mins.
3. Added above back to mash resulting 135F mash temp for 30 mins
4. Second decoction --> 2.5 large colanders plus 1 gal of mash liquid boiled down. Added some more mash liquid to this to raise mash temp more.
5. Mash temp now 155F. Lid off for first 10 mins then covered for 60 mins 
6. Sparged at 173F to make 9 gallons

The rise in mash temperature is created by removing stiff grains from the mash and bring them to a  boil for 5 mins then  adding it back to the mash. This is done to bring the temp up. 

Boil

• 60 mins bitter hops
• 5 mins flavour hops

Comments

1. OG 1.076
2. Fridge 58F until I see active fermentation then set to 54F
3. 1/9/2016 Gravity is 1.017. Taste full of body with a mild smoky flavour.
4. 1/23/2016 1.014 Brix 9.5. Abv 8.1%

Back Yard Hop hop Ale. 80F+ Fermentation 9/19/2015

Heat Wave Beer
with backyard grown hops

Mash

California Select 10 lbs
Special Roast 1lb

Hops

Northern Brewer 2 oz

Yeast

Turbo Yeast - Heat Wave

Mash

152F
Mash Time: 90 mins
Yielded 7 gals

Boil

50 mins - hops addition
10 mins bark yard hops - cascade 4 oz (probable contamination)

Made 4 gals

Comments

Tastes like peanuts. After 4 weeks fermenting I finally threw this batch out due to the strong off flavours.

Most likely the hops from my back yard contaminated this batch of beer. I thought about cold distilling this beer and also dry hopping of adding adjuncts to embrace the funk. There was no saving this beer.

Best Bitter 10/17/2015

Best Bitter

This is the style of beer that pulled me into brewing. I enjoy this most served at about 62F with very low carbonation.

Malts(milled)

Fawcett Optic - 10lbs
Crystal 40L - 1lb

Hops (pellets)

Fuggle 2 oz
Kent Goldings 2 oz

Mash

Strike temp 170F
Mashed 1 hr with 6 gals @ 152F
Produced 7.2 gals

Boil

50 mins Fuggle
15 mins Goldings
Yielded about 5.5 gals

Cooled to 97F
Poured into vessel that had Red Ale Brew and yeast
OG 1.044

Comments

Tastes like the Bitter I love. ABV it expected to be about 4.6% based on 5.5 gals made.

Placed into cold storage for 1 month.

Carbonated and aged this beer is flavourful yet light and easy to drink. Perfect. 

Irish Red Ale Oct 4, 2015

Objective and Comments

This is my recipe and method yielding an amazing ale that is balanced with darker malts.  It is  easy to drink yet full of malt falvour. I started at 1pm and finished at 7:15pm including clean up. This should have been about 1 hr faster do to a slow pour into the fermenter and a long mash. I should have hit 154F this first time for 60 minutes.

Malts

2 lbs    Carared
2 lbs    70/80 L Crystal
1 lb     40 L Crystal
1 lb     60 L Crystal
4 oz     Black Roasted Barley
20 lb   British Base Malt

Total Malts: 26 lb 4 oz

Mash tun could have taken about 2 more lbs of malt but that would be pushing it.  Strike temp was 165F. Air temperature was about 78F.

Hops

Magnum 2 oz (bittering)
Warrior 2 oz (flavour)

Magnum is a clean bittering hop. Warrior is a robust hop that should balance the malts. This is about adding enough hopes to balance but not play centre stage.

Mash

150F for 50 mins, drained 3 gallons
153F for 60 mins, drained 12 gallons (154F would be better)

Sparged at 172F.

Boil

Bittering hops 60 mins
Falvour hops 20 mins including pour into fermenter

I skimmed off the foam off the top to help prevent a boil over.

No clarifier

Fermentation

OG 1.064

Taste was asexpected but maybe a bit thin. Good dark color. Yielded 10 gallons plus a couple of pints in hydrometer and sprayer.

Yeast: Irish Ale WLP Labs. Yeild expired 1 week ago but was showing good life in vile.

Repitched new yeast (saf04) 1.5 days later. Morebeer sold me expired yeast (mailorder). 

Comments

Clarifier would have improved appearances. 2oz buttering was not enough. 4 oz next time. Try mash temp 154 and at dextrose next time. 

Top 4 easiest and most rewarding Home Brews

You have four ingredients and unlimited beers styles. Some easy, some not so. I choose these four because the grain bill is very minimal and there are no special steps. Here are the most rewarding and easiest beers I've made. 

4. Guinness

Oh yes. This is a very easy to brew with the caveat that you have a nitro tap. For those of you that say that you can't recreate the original Dublin black bliss I say, not true. The grain bill is simple. The hop schedule can vary and fermentation is nothing special. Mash to mug is as fast at 10 days, but it's best rested for about 7 days. Water is again nothing special. Your water may vary from what I use but if it's not super high in minerals I would not be concerned. The reverse bubbles and creamy head are the result of a nitro tap. A simple parlour trick once you have the nitro tap.

Ingredients: 8 lbs 2-Row, 1 lb Flaked Barley, 1 lb Black Roasted Barley, Saf 04, 1 oz Magnum 60 mins, 1 oz Magnum 15 mins
Temperatures: Mash 152F, Ferment 62-67F

3. American Pale Ale

This is probably the first beer many try. Keeping the hop schedule simple is key. 2 oz of fresh hops are far better than 8 ounces of hops on sales from last years harvest. Don't key sucked in. Mashing at 152 to 154 will create a lot of malt flavour so keep your flavour malts low. Even a 1/2 lb of Crystal 40 can create a full body flavoured 5 gallon ale. Keep things minimal and simple and your Ale will be a big hit. 

Ingredients: 8 lbs 2-Row, 1/2 lb Crystal 40, Saf 04, 1 oz Magnum 60 mins, 2 oz Zeau 15 mins
Temperatures: Mash 152F, Ferment 62-67F

* Note: Zeus can be substituted with Columbus, Centennial, Cascade, Citra, Magnum, ...

2. Hoegaarden

I really enjoy this beer with a slice of lemon draped on top. Again surprising easy to brew. This does require an extra step but the rewards are there. 

Ingredients: 4.5 lbs White Wheat, 4.5 lbs 2-Row, Saf 04, 1 oz Magnum 60 mins, 2 oz Saaz 15 mins
Temperatures: Mash 152F, Ferment 62-67F
Adjunct: Add 1 oz of Coriander and 0.5 oz of sweet orange peel to 1 gallon of boiling water for 5 minutes. Add to wortz at the end of fermentation.

1. Kolsch

I originally brewed Kolsch Ale because it's similar to a traditional lager but ferments at a warmer temperature. This beer also dies bot need to be lagered and I've made it from mash to mug in 7 days with great success. This is an easy beer to make. It uses Kolsch yeast, Kolsch grain and a noble hop for flavour. fermentation should take place in the low 60's. You can ferment at a higher  temperature but you will develop some esters that require about three weeks of lagering. You want to aim for a ABV around 5 to 6.  Lower is too thin and higher bring a mouthfeel that is not as nice. I use about 8lbs to get 5% ABV. This is a great beer and very good for parties when people are looking for drinkability with flavour. 

Ingredients: 9 lbs Kolsch Malt,  Kolsch Yeast, 1 oz Magnum 60 mins, 2 oz Liberty 15 mins
Temperatures: Mash 152F, Ferment 62-67F

Top 5 Mistakes that Kill the Perfect Home Brew

Avoiding off flavours is important as you tune your techniques as a brewer. Everyone has different equipment. Everyone has different levels of experience, but these 5 areas are your top cultripes of ruining your brew.

Here are 5 top areas that can ruin your home brew.

1. Clean equipment before the boil and sanitized equipment with everything the brew touches after the boil. Sanitizing prior to the boil is a waste of time. If any contamination happens prior to the boil, the boil will take care of it. After the boil you should consider it a race to get your chosen yeast to take over your sweet wort. Yeast is responsible for many of the flavours so don't allow wild yeasts to compete. Don't let anything that would go moldy come near your wort.  From the time you cool your wort to the time your yeast kicks in you have a risk of  contamination. Once you're past this stage the lack of sugar and the presence of alcohol make the contamination risk very low.

2. Maintain a rolling boil for at least 20 minutes. Boiling gets ride of all kinds of nasties. Having a slow boil does not help. You need to get your wort to be vigorously boiling for at least 20 minutes of your 60 mins boil. Shorter boils or less intense boils leave the risk of off flavours. 

3. Mash temperature. Ever hear of the brewers window? You should have if you do all grain brews. When you mash in your grain temperature is super important.  148F will extract more fermentable sugars and mashing at 156F will produce a more malty lower ABV beer. Although this is not an off flavour it is a huge influence on the taste and mouthfeel of your beer. Calibrate your thermometer regularly and measure you mash with precision. 

4.  Fermentation temperature. All yeast stains have target fermentations. Know your range and make sure that you can maintain this temp range during fermentation. Temperatures too high will give you off flavours. Temperatures on the lower end of the range generally give cleaner flavour profiles. 

5. Lager your finished beer. This is the hardest part. You've finished your beer and you taste it and it's ok or pretty good. Lagering or resting your beer at a cool temperature for 3 to 4 weeks turns good beer in many cases into great beer.  Lagering allows your beer to rest and settle. Some off flavour disappear. Some new flavours emerge and improve the beer. Even your hoppy beers need some rest. Plan ahead and lager your brews. 

Hoegaarden 10 Gallon All Grain

Made on June 21th


Grains
10 lbs. Pilsener Malt(2-Row) Continental Eu
10 lbs. Flaked Soft White Wheat America
1.00 lbs. Rice Hulls America

Adjuncts
Sweet Orange Peel 1/2 oz 5 mins in 1 gallon boil
Coriander (crushed) 1.0 oz 5 mins in 1 gallon boil
Boil was done separatly and the the whole thing was dumped at flame out


Yeast
3944
Target Temp: 62F - 75F

Hops
Magnum 1.0 oz 60 mins
Styriam   1/2 oz 15 mins
Saaz         1/2 oz 15 mins

Mash
124F 15 mins rest
152F 60 mins

Wort
Produce 14 Gallons (next time make 13 gallons)
Boil to produce 12 (next time make this 11 gallons)

Secondary
Coriander (crushed) 1.0 oz, 1 week

Gravity
Preboil 1.043, Postboil (before 1 gallon of adjunct added) 1.048
Original Gravity: 1.048 Actual 1.046
Final Gravity: 1.010

Comments

I've made this been before about 4 times with great success. The trick is to hit you OG and then getting the flavour and ABV is easy. This recipe is the same except for the rice hulls. These rice hulls facilitated a fast mash out. Getting 14 gallons of sweet wort was pretty easy. Minor risk of a stuck mash. 

Fermentation started well after 24 hours. Vessel submerged in water tank. Started at 72F and brought downto 64F with freezer pasks. 

14 Gallons - Start of Boil

Spice Boil -  One Gallon