On The Loose Brewery

JP's Oaked and Dry Nibbed Oatmeal Stout

2011-12-20T12:11:00.003-07:00

Another recipe compliments of the BN. This one from JP. Click the link above to check out his blog.

11 Gallons
60 min boil
70% Eff.
1.058 SG
Mash at 152 F
WLP001 @ 64F

17 lbs British Pale
2.5 lbs Flaked Oats
1.5 lbs Carafoam
1.5 lbs Crystal 75
1.5 lbs Pale Chocolate Malt
.75 lbs Black Roasted Barley
.75 Carafa II

3 oz NB @ 8% AA for 60 min boil
3 oz BKG @ 7.5% AA for 5 min

Medium toast for oak

Now, if you want to add some oak, I would suggest adding about an ounce of French Oak Chips to the fermenter. This will create some mouthfeel and give a good foundation for the oak cubes later.

Once the beer is in the kegs, add an ounce or two of cubes (not chips. C-U-B-E-S) and let that beer age for a few months. If you want to add nibs, put about 6-8 ounces in a hop bag and drop into the keg. Let those sit as long ass the oak. With this beer, I usually let it sit for a month before I can't help myself and start drinking it, leaving the oak and the nibs in the keg until it blows. But it doesn't peak until about 2 months have been put on it.

Of course, this beer sits well by itself - no oak or nibs needed. I sometimes only oak and nib one keg, so I have one straight and the other all funked up. Good times.

Janet' Brown Extract Clone-10 Gallons

2011-11-20T14:12:00.002-07:00

Where oh where have I been!? The poor brewery has been standing cold and unused now for months! I blame my new job and the 23 8 year olds now under my care each day as I begin my first year teaching in the classroom. To say I have been overwhelmed by work would be an understatement. Thank the gods for long holidays when I can dust off the refractometer, get a yeast starter going and brew some beer!

If you haven't heard of Mike "Tasty" McDole, you are missing out on learning from one hell of a brewer!
Tasty is a regular of the shows on The Brewing Network, he's won many awards including being a Sam Adams Longshot winner and this beer, Janet's Brown, has been a pro-am entry with Russian River. Tasty knows his stuff and it shows in his recipes. (I've not tasted his beer myself but hope to one of these days) This recipe, from Brewing Classic Styles has become one of my favorites after brewing it earlier this summer.

This is also the first recipe I've put into the new-ish Beersmith 2.0 and I'll be inputting tasting notes there and tweaking the recipe as I see fit.

14.5 Gallons H2O through filter and in boil kettle
Steeping Grains in at 1PM @170F
(Too much water in kettle! Spilled around 1 gal due to grain displacement)

Grains out at 1:30PM, flame on!
Sarge grains w/7cups near boiling h20 in bucket and added liquid back to kettle

Boil at 2PM, added extract..more spill-over
Plan is to increase boil time and concentrate wort a bit before adding 1st hops.

3PM Kettle level at 13Gal, big mess below =p

Hop additions hit almost right on. 15min addition was a little late.
OG: 1063 (low due to boil overs??)
FG: 1020 (higher than expected. Possibly due to cold fermentation. I had started the carboys in a cold water bath but ambient in the basement kept the carboys too cold with no evidence of fermentation. I removed them after @24 hours and they warmed up and cranked along but there was probably some yeast shock.)

Janet's Brown June 2011

2011-11-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

First time using carbon filter!
Mash temp staying very low during sparge...think about mashout next time
Recipe as per Zainasheff and Palmer: Brewing Classic Styles

All Grain
5 Gallon Batch
Yeast starter begun at 630pm
Strike Water 6 Gallons at 170F
721PM Mash on at 154F Had to add @ .5 gal of cold h2o to get temp. ( slightly high possibly due to summer temps)
1 hour mash ending at 821
Temp of mash at 821 is 150F
Sparging with 180F (8 gal)
1oz in kettle as 1st wort hop
838PM 1 gal in kettle 19 brix
848pm 2 gal in kettle 20 brix
858 3 gal in kettle 20 brix

908 4 gal in kettle 18 brix
918 5 gal in kettle 14 brix
928 7 gal in kettle 12 brix
932 8 gal in kettle 12 brix (1048 SG)

1000PM Boil on
1030PM 60 min hops 1 oz nbrewer
1115PM 15 min hops 1 oz nbrewer and Irish moss
1125pm 10 min hops
1130pm 0 min hops

On The Loose Brewery: Looking forward to 2.0

2011-06-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

A few things have changed since the last brewery tour. This spring I ordered up a Barley Crusher malt mill, silicone tubing (soo flexy!) and-tri clover attachments for all hose connections! Also, the brewery has been moved onto the back deck for ease of cleanup and to take advantage of the nice summer sun!

It's been real fun crushing grain into the mash tun and I'm saving some $$ by buying my two-row in 50 lb sacks. I love the tri-clover fittings! It takes me back to my Magic Hat days and I like the easy on/off and the fact that there is a nice sanitary fitting with very little moving parts to break and no place for bugs to hide!!

Looking forward to Brewery 2.0 here are some changes I would like to make:

1) Fermentation temperature control!! It's time to invest in a fridge and temperature control. I botched my last batch of IPA by fermenting it too hot (80F)=Fusel alcohols =(

2) Speaking of fermentation: Stainless fermentor(s): I'm planning on repurposing some 15.5 gal kegs as fermentors. I'm getting tired of lugging giant-glass-slice-your-arm-off vessels everywhere. Plus it would be nice to move the beer around using CO2 rather than siphoning. I would love to have a conical..but that will probably have to wait until OTL 3.0 (or maybe 4.0)

3) A HERMS system for the HLT. I want to emulate the design from The Electric Brewery. Eventually I would like to have the HLT electrified and automated so I can start heating up the mash water before I wake up on brew day. But for 2.0, I just want to have the stainless coil in there to recirc the mash through for improved temperature control.

4) New brew stand. I botched the dimensions on stand 1.0 and it is not possible at this time to gravity feed the mash into the boil kettle during sparging. This must be remedied. If I come across some extra cash I'll have a metal stand welded up, otherwise I'll tear down and rebuild the current wooden one.

Keep an eye out for brewery tour 2.0 later this year, probably late fall. If you're interested in OTL 1.2 pics, let me know and I'll post them up here.

Speed Racer: Tweak 1

2011-05-15T09:12:00.003-07:00

I noticed from the last Speed Racer batch that there is a harshness to the bittering on the back end. (aroma and flavor are delicious!) In an attempt to round out that bitterness, I will be adding the bittering hops as a first-wort hop addition. This means I will be putting the hops into the boil kettle as I am collecting the wort from the mash tun. The research I have done and the anecdotes from the Brewing Network guys lead me to believe this will give a rounder rather than harsh bittering. We shall see!

Batch Size: 14 gallons in the boil
Boil: 90 mins
Ingredients:

Malt:
25 lbs American 2-row malt (Rahr)
3 lbs Wheat Malt (or 1 lb wheat extract)
1.3 lbs Light crystal (8-12L)
0.5 Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.84lbs Corn sugar

Hops:
1.0oz Columbus (First wort hop)
2oz Columbus (20 mins)
2oz Cascade (20 mins)
1.0oz Columbus (10 mins)
1.0oz Cascade (10 mins)
1.0 oz each of Columbus, Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial (dry hop)

Yeast: WLP001

Tales of Rye-baldry

2011-05-09T19:47:00.003-07:00

It's nearing summertime and that means we need to have some refreshing beer on tap for the warm weather! This recipe is from the American Rye recipe Jamil wrote for BYO Vol 16, No. 4 (July-Aug 2010)

Tales of Rye-baldry American Rye:
OG:13.5 Brix
FG:

Malt:
5.5lbs American 2-row (Great Western or similar, 2L)
3.75 lbs Rye (Briess or similar, 4L)
3 lbs. Wheat (Great Western or similar, 2L)

Hops:
3.25 AAU Simcoe Pellets (0.25 oz/7g 13%AA)(60 mins)
3.5 AAU Amarillo Pellets (0.35 oz/10g 10%AA)(15 mins)
4.55 AAU Simcoe Pellets (0.35oz/10g 13%AA)(15 mins)
5 AAU Amarillo Pellets (0.5 oz/14g 10%AA)(0 mins)

Yeast:
White Labs WLP320 (American Hefe.)

Process:

HLT:
10 Gal in HLT heated to 170 F (168 F at dough in)
Mash at 152 F and 1.5 quarts/lb grain (18.38 quarts = @ 5 gallons)
MLT:
1 gal under the false bottom + 5 gallons H2O into MLT. (6 gal total)
Mash temp slightly low according to electronic thermometer....heat H2O slightly more next time. (Maybe 175F?)
Mash start at 7:40PM
Recirc start 8:40PM
8:50 going to kettle
continuous sparge with 190 F water from HLT
9:01: 2 gal in kettle
9:10: 6 gal in kettle
9:20: 8 gal in kettle
Pre-boil gravity: 10 brix = 1040 SG
Kettle:
Flame on 9:26 PM, 90 min boil
after 30 mins, 60 min hops in
Irish moss with 15 min hop addition
0 min addition at flame out.
Recirc and chill through plate chiller
Rack into sanitized carboy
Ferment 1 day at @ 80F (whoops!)
Moved to cooler basement temps for remainder of fermentation
OG:13.5 Brix

Racer 5 Clone: Speed Racer?

2011-01-21T13:29:00.003-07:00

This is a clone of Bear republic Brewing's Excellent IPA: Racer 5. The most prevalent recipe out there calls for only 90 and 60 minute hop additions which doesn't sound right to me. After a little more digging, I pulled up another recipe with a few more late-hop additions. Lets see how we do!

Batch Size: 7 gallons in the boil
Boil: 90 mins
Ingredients:

Malt:
12.5lbs 2-row pale malt (or 9lbs light liquid extract)
1.5lbs Wheat Malt (or 1 lb wheat extract)
0.63 ?Caravienna? (@12L) OR Crystal 15L
0.25 Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.42lbs Corn sugar

Hops:
0.5 oz Columbus (90min)
1 oz Columbus (20 mins)
1oz Cascade (20 mins)
0.5 oz Columbus (10 mins)
0.5 oz Cascade (10 mins)
0.5 oz each of Columbus, Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial (dry hop)

Yeast: WLP001

Brew Date: 1/21/11 (extract version)
OG: 1062
FG:1012
Tasting Notes:

1) 7 gallons in kettle
2) Heat to 160F
3) Grains in, steep for 30 mins
4) Grains out, heat cranked
5) Boil for 90 mins
6) Chill into fermenter
7) Wait
8)After 7 days of fermentation, gravity is 1012, racked into 5 gallon fermenter and dry hopped with 0.5 oz each of Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade and Simcoe

Sirdar Porter

2010-10-23T18:17:00.003-07:00

A Sirdar is the chief porter for expeditions in the Himlaya/Karakorum mountains. Since he's the head honcho of porters and this beer is meant to be the head honcho of.....well, you get the idea right?

Brew Day: 10/23/10
OG: 1080
FG:

1) 7 Gallons in Brewpot. (Did not de-chlorify water)
2) Heat water to 140F
3) Turn off burner
4) Steep grains 30 mins. Maintain temp at 150-160F
4a) Grains in at 4:40PM 152F Low flame on underneath.
4b) Out at 5:10 PM 160F
5) Run Boil
Flame on: 5:10PM
Boil reached: 5:30PM, malt extract added
Return to boil, 1st hop addition: 6:00 PM 1.75oz Kent Goldings
2nd hop addition: 6:45 PM 0.75 oz Fuggles
Flame out, final hop addition: 7:02 PM 0.75 oz Kent Goldngs (Was showing Chris Minecraft) =P
6) Chiller set-up, run into carboy
7) Pitch 1L from fresh yeast starter
11-2 - Dry-hop with 0.75oz Kent Goldings.

Obey Henry: Extract Style

2010-10-22T20:41:00.006-07:00

Brew Day: 10/23/10
OG: 1062
FG:

1) 7 Gallons in Brewpot. (Did not de-chlorify water)
2) Heat water to 640F
3) Turn off burner
4) Steep grains 30 mins. Maintain temp at 150-160F
4a) Grains in at 12:46PM 162F
4b) Out at 1:15PM 158F
5) Run Boil
Flame on: 1:120PM
Boil reached: 1:40PM, malt extract added
Return to boil, 1st hop addition: 2:00PM 1.0 oz Magnum
2nd hop addition: 2:50PM 0.25 oz each of Cascade and Centennial
Flame out, final hop addition: 3:00 PM 0.5 oz each of Cascade and Centennial
6) Chiller set-up, run into carboy
7) Pitch 1L from fresh yeast starter

11/2 - Dry-hop with .75oz Cascade

Brew Day: Obey Henry and Robust Porter

2010-10-22T14:52:00.001-07:00

I went to Beer at Home today and picked up ingredients for an Obey Henry Pale Ale and a Robust Porter (name pending).

The beers are based off of Jamil's excellent "Brewing Classic Styles" (Love that book!). Yeast starter is growing now with an expected brew day tomorrow (Saturday).

I decided to go extract because I don't forsee having the whole day to brew up all-grain and I wanted to have a few kegs ready to put in the new kegerator I am building!!!

Cheers!