Milk Stout

Brew Day: 11/18/14

5 gallon extract kit from Northern Brewer.

2.5 gals in the kettle. 

0.5 lb UK Chocolate
0.5 lb Carafa III

Steeped grains at 152 for 20 mins. Raised temp to 170. Rinsed grains with 1 gal of 165 water. Total pre-boil volume of 3.5 gals. 60 min boil. 

3 lb Amber LME - 60 mins
1 lb Lactose (milk sugar) - 60 mins
1 oz Willamette hops 4.7% AA - 60 mins
3 lb Amber LME - 15 mins
1 tsp Irish Moss - 15 mins

Killed the heat. Whirlpooled and set kettle in sink for ice bath. Took 30 mins to cool down to 80. Siphoned out of kettle through double mesh strainer into 6 gal glass carboy. Topped up to with cold water to 5.25 gal. Didn't evaporate as much as I'd intended during the boil, which means I added a bit more cold water than I'd planned. Brought my OG down a bit, but I'd undershot it anyway. Not sure how. Pitched yeast at 70. Wyeast British Ale 1098. Added 1.5 tsp of yeast energizer, since the smack pack didn't expand all the way by the time I was ready to pitch. Attached blowoff tube just in case the extra headroom on the carboy isn't enough. Fermenting at 68.

Forgot to take pictures. But I do have this instagram video from the boil.

The recipe calls for 2 weeks in primary, then 2-4 weeks in secondary, then about 2-3 weeks to bottle condition. Should be drinking it by mid January.

OG: 1.042 (10.2 brix)

est IBU: 19

est FG: 1.019
est SRM: 37

Racked to secondary: 12/09/14

This brew has been rather fickle. First, I undershot my gravity on brewday. Then, I gave it an extra week in the fermenter and it still didn't get down to the est gravity. It bottomed out at 1.023, which coupled with the low OG only puts this beer at 2.49% abv. Session stout anyone?

I decided to split the batch in half and put some coffee in one carboy. I used 2/3 of a French press of the LaCosecha City Limits Line from back home in St. Louis, MO. My buddy Gregory Lowe is a coffee guru and hooked me up with this awesome blend. 

Have you done any coffee additions? Tell me about it in the comments.



Update: 4/09/15

Popped a Coffee Milk Stout open today. Very large head, but it faded very quickly with some residual bubbles around the edge of the glass. I've done some reading about how the steeping temp can affect the head retention. If I can nail down this carbonation, it'll be a great beer. Wondering how it will age with the low abv and the low carbonation. I think the sooner I drink this, the better.

Used some of the Milk Stout to make a roast in the slow-cooker. Toss in some veggies, and let it sit for 5-8 hrs. It made the apartment smell amazing all day. Have you ever cooked with beer? Let me know in the comments. 

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English Bitter

Brew Day: 11/11/14

5 gallon extract kit from Northern Brewer.

2.5 gals in the kettle. 

0.25 lb Crystal 120L
0.25 lb Belgian Biscuit

Steeped grains at 165 for 20 mins. Rinsed grains with 1 gal of 165 water. Total pre-boil volume of 3.5 gals.

Brought to boil and started timer. 60 min boil. During the boil, I read up on the style in Jamil Zainasheff's Brewing Classic Styles book. A good read with a recipe for every style in the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) Style Guidebook.

1 lb Pilsen DME - 60 mins

3.15 lb Marris Otter LME - 60 mins

1 lb Corn Sugar - 60 mins

1 oz Fuggles hops 5% AA - 60 mins

1 oz Kent Goldings hops 6.47% AA - 45 mins

1 Whirfloc tablet - 15 mins

1 oz Styrian Goldings hops 3.2% AA - 5 mins

Killed the heat. Whirlpooled and set kettle outside on patio. Outside temp of 25. Packed snow around kettle, which melted pretty quick. Took 30 mins to cool down to 80.

Siphoned out of kettle through double-mesh strainer into sanitized 5 gal bucket, topped off to 5 gals, then poured through funnel into carboy. Undershot my gravity a bit. Estimated OG was 1.041; I ended up at 1.035 but I'm not too worried. Pitched 1 packet of Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast at 72 and rocked carboy to mix. Attached blowoff tube. Fermenting at 65. 

The recipe calls for 2 weeks in primary, then 2-3 bottle conditioning. Every review I read on the NB forum said it doesn't need a secondary and that it tastes great fresh as well as aged a month or two.

OG: 1.035 (8.6 brix)

est IBU: 41

est FG: 1.009

est SRM: 9.1

Update: 11/24/14

Checked the gravity today and it's down to 1.008. Tomorrow I'll be bottling it. Very excited that it'll be ready to drink for Christmas.

Bottling Day: 12/01/14

Didn't get to it last week like I'd hoped, but today my wife helped me bottle up 35 12 oz. bottles and 4 20 oz. bottles. Total volume bottled is 3.91 gal. The gravity stayed at 1.008, so according to my Brewer's Friend app, it is 3.54% abv. Nice to have a session ale around for the holidays. I'll let it carb up for 2-3 weeks and be enjoying by Christmas.

Honey Pilsner

Brew Day: 11/04/14

Small batch extract kit from Northern Brewer.

1.25 gals in the kettle, pre-boil volume.

Brought to boil and started timer. 60 min boil.

1 lb Pilsen DME - 60 mins

7 grams Willamette hops 4.7% AA - 45 mins

7 grams Willamette hops 4.7% AA - 20 mins

*put both hop additions in a nylon hop bag to keep wort clear*

1/4 tsp of Irish Moss - 15 mins

2 oz Ames Farm Single Source Honey - 0 mins

Cooled with ice water bath in sink. Down to 80 in 10 mins. Siphoned out of brew kettle through double mesh strainer into fermentation bucket to aerate and get any hop sludge or Irish Moss out. Fermentor volume approximately 1 gal. Put lid on and shook for 30 seconds to help aerate further. Pitched yeast at 66. Sprinkled 1/2 packet of Safale W-34/70 German Lager Yeast, then added 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient. First time doing a lager and want to make sure the dry yeast has enough "umph" to take care of it. Put in fermentation chamber, set at 54.

It'll sit for 2 weeks in primary, then I'll rack it to secondary and drop the temp to around 36 for 4 more weeks to lager before bottling. As I'm typing this, I realize my next brew is an English Bitter and my fermentation chamber will be too cold. I guess I'll have to clean out the bottom of my closet to put the carboy whenever I brew next. It's in the mid 60's in the apartment so that'll be just fine for the bitter. 

OG: 1.053 (13 brix)
est IBU: 39
est FG: 1.012
est SRM: 2.4

Racked to secondary: 11/18/14

Got it down to 1.013 after 2 weeks. My brewers friend app says it's about 5.25% abv. Racked it to a secondary fermentor, and it's lagering in the fridge as we speak. This is by far the lightest beer I've ever made, even more than the German Blonde Ale I brewed last spring (before the blog, sorry no notes). In the siphon tube, it was a light straw color. I'll leave it 3 weeks in the fridge before bottling.

Bottling Day: 12/09/14

Bottled it up after 3 weeks of lagering in the fridge at 40 deg. Got 8 12 oz bottles filled. Tastes pretty nice, always interesting to see what it'll be like with carbonation. Very clear. 

California Common

Brew Day: 10/14/14

Extract kit from Northern Brewer. 

2.5 gals in the the kettle to begin with, though I added more later. Brought water up to 145, then added grains. Added 1/4 gal of 174 water to pot at to get from 145 to 168. Let heat up to 170 then took off heat, covered, and let steep for 20 mins.  Down to 166 after the 20 steep. Drained grains in strainer and brought heat back up. Poured 1/4 gal of 174 water through grain bag to rinse. Total pre-boil volume of 3 gal. (174 is how hot my microwave gets 1/4 gal in 4 mins)

Grains:

1.5 lbs US Crystal 60L

Brought to boil and started timer. 60 min boil.

3.15 lb Gold LME - 60 mins

1 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 60 mins

*water addition - see below*

3.15 lb Gold LME - 15 mins

0.5 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 15 mins

1 tsp of Irish Moss - 15 mins

0.5 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 5 mins

1 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 0 mins

*Brought 1 gal of water to boil in separate pot, then added to boil kettle. Trying for fuller volume for better hop utilization. 4 gal maxed out my kettle capacity. Added with 20 mins left in boil.*

Cooled with ice water bath in sink. Down to 95 in 20 mins. Used two 3 lb bags of ice. Siphoned out of brew kettle through double mesh strainer into bucket to get hop sludge out. Cleaned out strainer, then poured through it again into carboy, added 1 gal cold tap water to bring to total volume to 5 gal.

1.2 liter starter of Wyeast 2112 California Lager made the day before on stir plate. Pitched at 64.

Sharing the fermentation chamber with the Scottish Wee Heavy in secondary. Fermenting at 60. Attached the blowoff tube to get through the first 48 hrs of fermentation. Then will switch to airlock and bung.

OG 1.048 (12.6 brix)

est. IBU 51.1

est. FG 1.014

est. SRM 12.83

While I brewed, I listed to the Brewing With Style podcast about California Common on The Brewing Network.

Racked: 10/28/14

I put 1 oz of the hops I picked in August into a sanitized mesh bag and racked the beer on top of it. My first attempt at dry hopping. Maybe I should've let it sit in secondary for a week or so before dry hopping, but we'll see what happens. Still have the fermentation chamber set at 60. 

I took a gravity reading and it ended up at 1.013 which should make it approximately 4.59% abv. Pretty much right where it should be. Ever since getting this chest freezer as a fermentation chamber, I've been much more consistent in my fermentations. I highly recommend it. I got mine on Craigslist for around $100.

Here's a timelapse siphoning video from today.

Update: 12/01/14

I checked the gravity today, and it was down to 1.013. Right where it needs to be. I bottled up the English Bitter today so I may go ahead and bottle this one up too. I've already got the equipment out.

Bottling Day: 12/09/14

Had all my bottles out from last week when I bottled the English Bitter. Gave them a StarSan dunk to sanitize and put 1 fizz drop in each bottle. I find it much easier than making a sugar priming solution, and I've never had a problem getting enough carbonation.

Ended up with 40 12 oz bottles full (roughly 30 pints). As by evidence in the photo below, it turned out to be the clearest beer I've ever made. You can even see the vertical blinds hanging behind the glass 3 feet away. The sample I took tastes amazing and I can't wait to have them all carbed. Not bad for my first attempt at dry-hopping.

West Coast American Pale Ale

Brew Day: 10/07/14

Extract small batch kit from Northern Brewer. This should be a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone.

1.25 gallons of water. Heated to 162, took off heat, put lid on, and steeped grains for 10 mins. Down to 158. Got to use my new digital thermometer. (added 1/4 gal of water later, see below)

Grains:

1.6 oz US Crystal 60L

Brought to boil. Boil time: 55 mins (was supposed to be 45, but added 1/4 gallon of hot water to pot after 1st hop addition to bring volume up, hopefully getting better hop utilization)

1.5 lb Gold LME - 55 mins

3.5 grams Centennial hops 10.4% AA - 55 mins

3.5 grams Perle hops 7.1% AA - 20 mins

1/2 whirlfloc tablet - 15 mins

7 grams Cascade 6.5% AA - 0 mins

Cooled via ice bath down to 92 in 20 mins. Aerated wort by pouring out of kettle through double mesh strainer into 5 gallon bucket, cleaned out strainer, then out of 5 gal bucket through strainer again into 2 gal bucket. Right around 1 gallon. Put lid on and inserted airlock (to keep bad stuff out) and placed out on balcony (outside temp 57) for 1 hour to finish bringing temp down. Pitched yeast at 65. 3/4 packet of US-05 yeast. Put in temp controlled chest freezer at 62. Nailed the OG right on!

OG 1.053 (13.2 brix)

est. IBU 34.7

est. FG 1.015

est. SRM 8.2

Bottling Day: 10/20/07

Straight to bottling, no secondary on this one. Lots of hop trub in the bottom so I only got eight 12 oz bottles. You know quality > quantity anyway. Didn't get any photos, but just imagine 8 full bottles of beer.

Checked the gravity and it came in at 1.013 so that's 5.25% ABV. Put 1 fizz drop in each bottle. I'll give it 2-3 weeks to carbonate before tasting.

I Smell Hops

Brewing has been on the back burner (pun intended) for the past few weeks. My wife was in a car accident, so we've been a bit preoccupied with Dr visits, insurance calls, and car shopping. I will soon be back to brewing, and my next batch includes some hand-picked hops. Looking forward to it.

What are you brewing with your homegrown hops this fall?

Hop Harvest 2014

Today, a coworker told me that the previous owner of his house planted hops on his back fence, and that if I wanted some, I could help myself to them. So after work, I picked up my wife and we headed out, bucket in hand, to "harvest" some hops of unknown origin or variety. In an hour, we picked enough to fill my 5 gallon bucket up to the 2 gallon mark. We then went to Chic-Fil-A for dinner because, you know, date night. Tomorrow, we plan on drying them and using my mother-in-law's vacuum sealer so I can store them in the freezer until later this fall/winter. I plan on dry hopping my California Common next week and then making a Hoptoberfest once I get some free space in the fermentation chamber. Here's a few photos of our date night hop harvest.

If you can help us identify these hops, please do so in the comments section below.

My lovely assistant, really getting in there.

Bucket view. It made the car smell great all the way home. Like fresh citrus.

Scottish Wee Heavy

Brew Day: 8/12/14

Extract kit from Northern Brewer

2 1/2 gallons of water in my 3 gallon kettle. Heated to 165, took off heat, put lid on, and steeped grains for 15 mins. Down to 160. As grains drained in strainer, slowly poured 1/2 gallon of 170 water over grain bag to rinse and bring boil volume to 3 gallons.

Grains:

8 oz UK Crystal 30L

6 oz Belgian Biscuit

2 oz UK Roasted Barley

Brought to boil. Boil time: 60 mins

6 lbs of Gold LME - 60 mins

1 oz German Northern Brewer hops 7.8% AA - 60 mins

6 lbs of Gold LME - 15 mins

1 whirlfloc tablet - 15 mins

Cooled via ice bath down to 100 in 20 mins. Aerated wort by siphoning out of kettle through funnel and double mesh strainer (keep out the hop sludge). Topped off with 2 gallons of cold water. Right around 5 gallons. Pitched yeast at 73. Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast 1.2L starter. Put in temp controlled chest freezer at 64. First batch in my 6 gallon Big Mouth Bubbler. Attached blowoff tube, as I've heard this yeast is a chugger.

OG 1.075 (19 brix)

est. IBU 24

Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast, 1.2L starter on the stir plate.

Love that hop smell.

Rolling boil.

In the Big Mouth Bubbler with blowoff tube set up, just in case. The tube doesn't seem to seal very tightly in the lid. Maybe it's the Star San that's making it slick. Hopefully when it dries it'll be a better seal.

The other brew in the fermentation chamber is my Noble Trappist Ale in secondary. The next kit in there is a California Common.

Fermentation Update: The seal held just fine, but I awoke the next day to some crazy blowoff. Here's a side-by-side. I had 1/4" of beer in the bottom of the chest freezer and foam everywhere. I replaced the little blowoff pitcher with a 5 gal bucket, and left clean up until I got home from work that night. I took me 90 mins and 3 rolls of paper towels to get it all cleaned up. I installed a bubbler airlock while I soaked the hose in PBW and gave a quick Star San dunk, and the airlock was emptied of sanitizer/water within 3 minutes. It all bubbled out. Strong fermenting yeast, for sure. I replaced the hose into the 5 gallon bucket for more blowoff caution, and kept it there for 3 days until the violent action subsided then replaced with an airlock. 2 more weeks then I'll rack to secondary. Most of homebrewing is just waiting, but homebrewing is never boring.

9/29/14 Racked to secondary after 6 weeks in primary. I was only planning on 3 weeks, but my wife was in a car accident so I've been a bit busy and preoccupied as of late. But now I'm back at it! It smells like toffee and caramel, simply amazing. It's a wonderfully copper brown color. Checked the gravity, and its down to 1.017 which should be about 7.4% ABV. I'll bottle it up in a few weeks and should will be enjoying it by early December. This will be my get-me-through-the-first-long-days-of-Minnesota-winter beer. I have until then to find a thistle glass to properly enjoy it.

1/06/15 Bottling day...finally

Finally got this thing bottled. Ended up with 34 12 oz bottles and 4 20 oz bottles. It will now need at least another month to condition. This thing better be good or it might discourage me from making long-fermenting strong brews again.

She got her degree. I made the beer.

My wife graduated from seminary this summer. So this weekend we had a party to celebrate. I started making beer for the party in April. Some of the beers I showcased were a German Blonde Ale, Bavarian Berry Weizen, Chinook IPA, Honey Ale, Saison au Miel, and a Rum Stout. I made 1 gallon batches, so I ended up with 7-9 bottles of each. Some were more popular than others. The Honey Ale & Berry Weizen were the favorites.

Have you made beers for an event? Share your story in the comments.

Noble Trappist Ale

Brew Day: 7/22/14

Recipe from Midwest Supplies. 

-obtained the extract, hops, light candi sugar from a Craigslist deal which also included a bottling bucket, 50+ bottles, siphon, hoses, hydrometer, etc.

-purchased soft candi sugar, yeast, grains from Northern Brewer store in St. Paul, MN.

2 1/2 gallons of water in my 3 gallon kettle. Heated to 155, steeped grains for 20 mins, then another 10 mins w/ no heat (per recipe instructions). 

Grains:

8 oz Caramel 40L

8 oz Carapils

Brought to boil. Boil time: 60 mins

6 lbs of Pilsen LME - 60 mins

2 oz Hallertau hops 4.6% AA - 60 mins

1 whirlfloc tablet - 15 mins

1 lb Light Belgian candi sugar - 10 mins

1 lb Soft White Candi Sugar - 8 mins (at the suggestion of the guy at NB store for higher ABV potential)

1 oz Styrian Goldings hops 3.8% AA - 2 mins

Cooled via ice bath down to 95 in 15 mins. Aerated wort through funnel and double mesh strainer (keep out the hop sludge). Topped off with 2.5 gallons of cold water. Just under 5 gallons. Pitched yeast at 62. Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity 1.2L starter. Put in temp controlled chest freezer at 66, raised to 68 after 3 days.

OG 1.069 (17 brix)

est. IBU 36


Racked to secondary: 8/04/14

I siphoned just over 4 gallons into a sanitized glass carboy, there was quite a bit of yeast and hops caked to the bottom of the fermenting bucket. Using my refractometer and this calculator, I figured out my final gravity was 1.016 (9.2 brix). Which brought my final abv to 6.4%. Thanks to everyone over the Northern Brewer forum, for helping me out with the refractometer correction factor.

That was hungry yeast. I had some in the blowoff tube within 48 hrs of pitching, but most fell back into the beer. Wyeast 3787 is a beast!

Siphoning away! The foam in the carboy is from the Star San. It's a great sanitizer, but a bubbler for sure.

Now it sits for 2-3 weeks to clarify a bit and mellow out without the yeast and hops imparting too many off-flavors.


Bottling: 10/07/14

It went way longer in secondary than I planned. My wife had been in an auto accident a few weeks ago, so the dr visits and insurance phone calls put brewing on the back burner, but today I bottled it. I got eight 1 Liter flip top bottles and 17 12-oz bottles.

I had a bunch of fizz drops left over from some small batches I made over the summer, so I used those instead of making a priming solution. 3 drops in the 1 liter bottles and 1 drop in the 12 oz bottles. I really should've waited until my wife got home before I bottled, because it would've been really nice to have a 2nd pair of hands. Bottling alone can be tricky; gotta hold the siphon, bottling wand, and find the next bottle to fill, all without spilling it everywhere. I'll let it sit for 3-4 weeks and then enjoy/share.

I used the last bit of my Brewer's Best caps, B for Belgian.

Welcome

My name is Ben. I live in MN. I am a homebrewer.

Right, now that's out of the way let's get to it. First some background information. Though I've only been brewing for 8 months, I've had some moderate success. My wife bought me 1 gallon starter kit for Christmas in 2013 and I brewed my first batch on New Year's Eve. Since then I've continued doing small batch recipes and recently upgraded to full 5 gallon batches, all on my stove top in the apartment. I enjoy stouts, Belgian ales, German beers of all kinds, and IPA's.

I will upload to this blog on brew day and edit as the process goes along for each brew.