Having been enticed into the world of aromatic US hops, I brewed an all Amarillo IPA at the weekend....some interesting new ingredients (Munich malt and cara-amber, supposed to give a bit of colour, sweetness, and something to do with biscuits???? WTF???), including amazingly pungent Amarillo hops. They smelt really citrusy, and I'm looking forward to a bottle of this chilled down....shame it takes so long to brew, the weather here is just a bit on the muggy side.
Another brew-in-the-bag effort this. I'm still struggling to control temperatures, and I am hoping I managed to get something approaching a decent conversion out of the process. Clocked in at OG 1052, not quite the 1058 I planned for. Still, the way it started bubbling within about an hour of pitching, fermentation might be done before I know it!! Great pitchable vials of yeast from White Labs, same price as the smack packs I buy, no starter necessary....bonus. Certainly liked the warmish temperatures to start it off; it's now frothing away like mad.....
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Pacific Rim musings
It's been a mad month.....travelling hither and thither. Start of the month, the Lakes for a week, third week of May two days in Germany, week four saw three days in France, and the end (plus 13 days in June) sees me on Vancouver Island.
What a place this is. Difficult to sum up in words, you just need to come here! Different to my visits to the Rockies, but none the worse for missing the odd glacier!
Added to that, the West Coast vibe of craft brewing has also made it here. Sampled some good stuff from Vancouver Island Brewery, and, last night checked out two beers by the local Tofino Brewing Company (Beer transport miles = 1). A good 'Tuff Session Ale', well balanced with an interesting hint of at the end...burnt sugar?...reminded me of that really dark maple syrup you can get. But the Hoppin' Cretin IPA was glorious...not hopped beyond belief like some of these new N American IPAs, and better for it, in my opinion. Great citrus hits from the hops, and a solid bitter taste throughout.
On the homebrew front, thoughts turn to that all Amarillo IPA I have been promising to myself...will have to get to ordering the ingredients, so they are there on my return
What a place this is. Difficult to sum up in words, you just need to come here! Different to my visits to the Rockies, but none the worse for missing the odd glacier!
Added to that, the West Coast vibe of craft brewing has also made it here. Sampled some good stuff from Vancouver Island Brewery, and, last night checked out two beers by the local Tofino Brewing Company (Beer transport miles = 1). A good 'Tuff Session Ale', well balanced with an interesting hint of at the end...burnt sugar?...reminded me of that really dark maple syrup you can get. But the Hoppin' Cretin IPA was glorious...not hopped beyond belief like some of these new N American IPAs, and better for it, in my opinion. Great citrus hits from the hops, and a solid bitter taste throughout.
On the homebrew front, thoughts turn to that all Amarillo IPA I have been promising to myself...will have to get to ordering the ingredients, so they are there on my return
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Early May update - Maturing Milds and Well Tasty Wheats
Back from another week of the Lakes - up hill, down dale, and, regrettably only Ped for company of an evening, supplemented with the odd pint of Cumberland.
Still, back from field work I return to find that J has raided my wheat beer collection. Having tasted it now, all I can say is...bloody hell. It tastes like proper wheat beer. Sure there are a few tweaks I need to add (been looking at all kinds of techniques like decoction and Hochkurz Mashing, which are brewing rather than medical terms!). But colour - pale golden. Check. Carbonation - high, great frothy top. Check. Aroma - slightly banana, spice. Check. Taste - Weißbier. CHECK. Think this brew in a bag thing is great.
Just to convince myself, I've just had a half of the defunct-porter-that-became-mild. With a month in the barrel, it has matured very nicely. A bit of haze from the oats, but that 'thin' taste I got early on has gone - perhaps that's just a maturity thing? Tasting rather good now; slightly sweet, bit of coffee/chocolate. Very light mild at just under 3%. Still, it was my first attempt at all-grain, so cannot complain.
Yet to try the rather strong dry-hopped IPA experiment. Maybe next week. Time to start thinking of a new brew, if Julie is going to start giving all my beer away...I was rather taken by a pint of beer that Langers had, made with Amarillo hops. Might give something a go with those....it is summer, after all.
Still, back from field work I return to find that J has raided my wheat beer collection. Having tasted it now, all I can say is...bloody hell. It tastes like proper wheat beer. Sure there are a few tweaks I need to add (been looking at all kinds of techniques like decoction and Hochkurz Mashing, which are brewing rather than medical terms!). But colour - pale golden. Check. Carbonation - high, great frothy top. Check. Aroma - slightly banana, spice. Check. Taste - Weißbier. CHECK. Think this brew in a bag thing is great.
Just to convince myself, I've just had a half of the defunct-porter-that-became-mild. With a month in the barrel, it has matured very nicely. A bit of haze from the oats, but that 'thin' taste I got early on has gone - perhaps that's just a maturity thing? Tasting rather good now; slightly sweet, bit of coffee/chocolate. Very light mild at just under 3%. Still, it was my first attempt at all-grain, so cannot complain.
Yet to try the rather strong dry-hopped IPA experiment. Maybe next week. Time to start thinking of a new brew, if Julie is going to start giving all my beer away...I was rather taken by a pint of beer that Langers had, made with Amarillo hops. Might give something a go with those....it is summer, after all.
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Dry hopping an IPA that isn't
I had a load of things ingredients left over, so decided to give an experiment a whirl.
Taking my lead from these guys (or you can find it here too), I got inspired to try out a 2 litre brew in a demijohn. Liked the dy-hopping idea, so decided to do my own version of an IPA. There's was v. American - all Cascade...mine should have been more like the real thing; all Fuggles and Goldings. The recipe is here.
Its bubbling away in the d-j now. I decided to dry hop on the primary ferment, just to save time, as I will be away in two weeks time. However, my major gripe was that the beer was anything but pale!
Following the idea from the 'Basic Brewing', I boiled the first bittering hops on their own, then added malt and flavour/aroma hops. I used DME again, as I didn't have enough grain for a mash. But on boiling the first lot of hops my water was a real brown colour, and I know have wort that is closer to a bitter than an IPA. No idea what happened there.
Anyway, looks like it could kick in at 8+%, so that is looking promising.
On another note, the weißbier is bottled and should be ok to sample next week. Interesting...doesn't look half as cloudy as commercial wheat beers, and I lost that banana/bubble gum aroma. From the FV it tasted like a malty light lager, so I am hoping for something a bit more interesting after secondary fermentation. The liquid yeast was great - after skimming and rousing, it fermented right out to target.
Taking my lead from these guys (or you can find it here too), I got inspired to try out a 2 litre brew in a demijohn. Liked the dy-hopping idea, so decided to do my own version of an IPA. There's was v. American - all Cascade...mine should have been more like the real thing; all Fuggles and Goldings. The recipe is here.
Its bubbling away in the d-j now. I decided to dry hop on the primary ferment, just to save time, as I will be away in two weeks time. However, my major gripe was that the beer was anything but pale!
Following the idea from the 'Basic Brewing', I boiled the first bittering hops on their own, then added malt and flavour/aroma hops. I used DME again, as I didn't have enough grain for a mash. But on boiling the first lot of hops my water was a real brown colour, and I know have wort that is closer to a bitter than an IPA. No idea what happened there.
Anyway, looks like it could kick in at 8+%, so that is looking promising.
On another note, the weißbier is bottled and should be ok to sample next week. Interesting...doesn't look half as cloudy as commercial wheat beers, and I lost that banana/bubble gum aroma. From the FV it tasted like a malty light lager, so I am hoping for something a bit more interesting after secondary fermentation. The liquid yeast was great - after skimming and rousing, it fermented right out to target.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Die Katze wird gebraut
Indeed.
Spent yesterday having a go at an AG Weißbier. The mash went ok, think I was a bit down on the efficiency this time...it came out a little lower in gravity than I expected (1041 not 1047).
However, getting the thing down to pitching temeprature was a nightmare. Remind me to make this bier in winter next time. Had to pitch at 16C rather than 12C, and I am hoping that it will ferment at around 18C - should still be ok. From what I can see the raised temperature just promotes more banana and clove scented esters, so that's fine by me!
I am also having a 'mare getting the wort from boiler to fermenter. In the past this has been to too many hops and/or adjuncts blocking the hops trainer. No idea why its sticking now - must be all that gloopy crap that seems to settle out upon cooling. Of course, being a wheat beer, the proteinaceous gunk that gives the beer its taste, texture, and appearance cannot help!
Have to say the yeast I used (my first batch from White Labs) smelt wonderful...just put me back in Germany. I can only hope this gets somewhere close.
Spent yesterday having a go at an AG Weißbier. The mash went ok, think I was a bit down on the efficiency this time...it came out a little lower in gravity than I expected (1041 not 1047).
However, getting the thing down to pitching temeprature was a nightmare. Remind me to make this bier in winter next time. Had to pitch at 16C rather than 12C, and I am hoping that it will ferment at around 18C - should still be ok. From what I can see the raised temperature just promotes more banana and clove scented esters, so that's fine by me!
I am also having a 'mare getting the wort from boiler to fermenter. In the past this has been to too many hops and/or adjuncts blocking the hops trainer. No idea why its sticking now - must be all that gloopy crap that seems to settle out upon cooling. Of course, being a wheat beer, the proteinaceous gunk that gives the beer its taste, texture, and appearance cannot help!
Have to say the yeast I used (my first batch from White Labs) smelt wonderful...just put me back in Germany. I can only hope this gets somewhere close.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
New Adventures in All Grain - Part II
Well the beer has been sat there for two weeks, allegedly fermenting. And that's kind of the problem.
It started looking good, nice head and trub on the beer after 2 days. After 5 days, I took a gravity and skimmed and roused well. 1026. Ok, some to go.
After 9 days, the gravity had plummeted all of 2 points, and it has remained there for the rest of the fortnight I let the beer ferment for. I am a bit nervous kegging at such a high gravity, but nothing o could do seemed to shift it, so I wonder if it was done. If this is the case, then the high mash temperatures really screwed this up. I have invested in a digital in situ thermometer, so it is easier to regulate temperature next time.
But what about the beer? Well, it now sits at just under 3%, perhaps it might make 3% on conditioning?!! But it is nowhere near as thin as I had feared...perhaps those high mash temperatures did do something after all. It is not sweet exactly, as my hop bill was relatively high as my extractions were expected to be higher with Hopville's (now defunct) calculator. In fact, where as I had designed it to be about the same bitterness as the last extract brew I made, it was, in fact, twice as bitter. Still, it is not over whelming, so I am happy to wait a fortnight or so, and drink on. At 3% one might be shifting a lot of this in one evening :-}
It started looking good, nice head and trub on the beer after 2 days. After 5 days, I took a gravity and skimmed and roused well. 1026. Ok, some to go.
After 9 days, the gravity had plummeted all of 2 points, and it has remained there for the rest of the fortnight I let the beer ferment for. I am a bit nervous kegging at such a high gravity, but nothing o could do seemed to shift it, so I wonder if it was done. If this is the case, then the high mash temperatures really screwed this up. I have invested in a digital in situ thermometer, so it is easier to regulate temperature next time.
But what about the beer? Well, it now sits at just under 3%, perhaps it might make 3% on conditioning?!! But it is nowhere near as thin as I had feared...perhaps those high mash temperatures did do something after all. It is not sweet exactly, as my hop bill was relatively high as my extractions were expected to be higher with Hopville's (now defunct) calculator. In fact, where as I had designed it to be about the same bitterness as the last extract brew I made, it was, in fact, twice as bitter. Still, it is not over whelming, so I am happy to wait a fortnight or so, and drink on. At 3% one might be shifting a lot of this in one evening :-}
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Moving on up to All Grain!
Well, the time had come to start thinking about doing this brewing malarkey properly. And that, friends, means mashing.
No more malt extract, just the pure grain. It's kind of tricky, because, it appears, temperature and pH control is pretty crucial. I'll be honest, I left the pH thing alone. There were lots of other things to worry about, and I was pretty secure that my pH ranges were not way out because of the bottled water I use...and pH movement would come from the grain. Ah, well, I thought give it a go.
But I have no mash tun. Fear not, though, for a found an alternative, the brew in a bag method (BIAB). Again, thank the Lord for t'internet. I know that a few purists get a bit sniffy about extracting into largish volumes of water etc., but this is still experimental stuff for me, so I decided to give it a bash. The basic principles are the same, add grain to water at a certain temperature, and leave at that temperature for about 90 minutes. As I only do small brews this meant that I could do the whole thing in my boiler (just) without the need to sparge (wash) the grains afterwards - another potential difficulty.
Well, it went ok.....just need to practice controlling the temperature better. Many BIABers tend to mash in a pot and insulate it, a la many of the mash tuns you can buy, but I went for the tweak the thermostat option on the boiler. All I can say is that I overshot the temperature quite a lot - all that means is that I extract more non-fermentable sugars, so I end up with a fuller beer, sweeter, but lower in alcohol. As it was an oatmeal stout, not really an issue [Conversely, mashing at too low a temperature liberates lots of fermentables, giving higher alcohol but thinner tasting beer]. Anyway, the recipe is here.
One problem I did have was the bloody OG again. It was WAY under that predicted from the recipe. Those nice folk at BIAB.info had given me a handy calculator for scaling recipes, but I had a devil of a job understanding it. A few posts, and I've cracked it. The efficiency on Hopville is incorrectly defined....that calculates my 'Efficiency into bottle' and you lose loads. It assumes 75%, when in reality I get 55%!! Sorry, this is sounding technical now, but simply put, if you define the terms properly, I would NEVER get the gravities I had hoped for (and thus, not the strengths). By recalculating on the basis of this Damascene moment, I realised I was short on my grain bill by about a third!! DOH
This revelation also explains why all of my recipes have been coming up short on the OG readings, apart from my first brew that was extract only!![so doesn't suffer from extraction issues!]....So back to Hopville to reprogramme all my recipes :-{
However, apart from all of this, operationally the process wasn't too bad...felt quite realistic in a way. OK, so this time my stout comes out a 4% not 5%, but that shouldn't be an issue. Just waiting to see what it tastes like now...thinking of kegging this.
As the days get longer, and warmer, thoughts now turning to a lighter, Dalley-esque, beer, with a nice pale malt. J wants me to try a weißbier after sharing my bottle of Schneider Weisser Tap 5....a wapping 8% but UTTERLY GLORIOUS......mmmm, that might have to wait!
No more malt extract, just the pure grain. It's kind of tricky, because, it appears, temperature and pH control is pretty crucial. I'll be honest, I left the pH thing alone. There were lots of other things to worry about, and I was pretty secure that my pH ranges were not way out because of the bottled water I use...and pH movement would come from the grain. Ah, well, I thought give it a go.
But I have no mash tun. Fear not, though, for a found an alternative, the brew in a bag method (BIAB). Again, thank the Lord for t'internet. I know that a few purists get a bit sniffy about extracting into largish volumes of water etc., but this is still experimental stuff for me, so I decided to give it a bash. The basic principles are the same, add grain to water at a certain temperature, and leave at that temperature for about 90 minutes. As I only do small brews this meant that I could do the whole thing in my boiler (just) without the need to sparge (wash) the grains afterwards - another potential difficulty.
Well, it went ok.....just need to practice controlling the temperature better. Many BIABers tend to mash in a pot and insulate it, a la many of the mash tuns you can buy, but I went for the tweak the thermostat option on the boiler. All I can say is that I overshot the temperature quite a lot - all that means is that I extract more non-fermentable sugars, so I end up with a fuller beer, sweeter, but lower in alcohol. As it was an oatmeal stout, not really an issue [Conversely, mashing at too low a temperature liberates lots of fermentables, giving higher alcohol but thinner tasting beer]. Anyway, the recipe is here.
One problem I did have was the bloody OG again. It was WAY under that predicted from the recipe. Those nice folk at BIAB.info had given me a handy calculator for scaling recipes, but I had a devil of a job understanding it. A few posts, and I've cracked it. The efficiency on Hopville is incorrectly defined....that calculates my 'Efficiency into bottle' and you lose loads. It assumes 75%, when in reality I get 55%!! Sorry, this is sounding technical now, but simply put, if you define the terms properly, I would NEVER get the gravities I had hoped for (and thus, not the strengths). By recalculating on the basis of this Damascene moment, I realised I was short on my grain bill by about a third!! DOH
This revelation also explains why all of my recipes have been coming up short on the OG readings, apart from my first brew that was extract only!![so doesn't suffer from extraction issues!]....So back to Hopville to reprogramme all my recipes :-{
However, apart from all of this, operationally the process wasn't too bad...felt quite realistic in a way. OK, so this time my stout comes out a 4% not 5%, but that shouldn't be an issue. Just waiting to see what it tastes like now...thinking of kegging this.
As the days get longer, and warmer, thoughts now turning to a lighter, Dalley-esque, beer, with a nice pale malt. J wants me to try a weißbier after sharing my bottle of Schneider Weisser Tap 5....a wapping 8% but UTTERLY GLORIOUS......mmmm, that might have to wait!
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