American Brown Ale

Brew Day: 2/17/15

1 gallon extract kit from Northern Brewer.

1 1/4 gal in the kettle

0.05 lb Crystal 80L
0.05 lb Chocolate malt
0.025 lb Black malt

Let grains steep while I heated the water. Put them in at 120, took off the heat at 160. Still had 4 mins left of 10 min steep. Down to 158 after remaining 4 mins. Turned heat back on. 55 min boil. (waited to add hops until past the hot break, about 10 mins)

1.5 lb Gold LME - 55 mins
7 gram Willamette hops 4.7% AA - 45 mins
1/4 tsp Irish Moss - 15 mins
3.5 gram Willamette hops 4.8% AA - 15 mins

Killed the heat. Whirlpooled and set kettle in sink for ice bath. Siphoned out of kettle (to leave hops behind) through the double-mesh strainer into a 2 gal bucket. Put the end of the siphon hose in a nylon mesh hop bag in attempts to keep this clearer in the fermenter. Pitched half a packet of Danstar Windsor Ale Yeast at 69. Hoping to keep the fermentation temp between 65-70 using ambient temps in the apartment. The gravity came in at 1.055, up 2 points from the est OG of 1.053. Ended up with just over 3/4 gal in the fermenter. Guess that extra 10 mins of boil and that hop bag really reduced the total volume.

The recipe calls for 2 weeks in primary, then 2-3 weeks in secondary, then about 2 weeks to bottle condition.

OG: 1.055 (13.6 brix) 

est IBU: 27.5

est FG: 1.015
est SRM: 21.5

Fermentation Update: 2/25/15

On 2/22 I took a gravity reading and it was down to 1.017, two points from final gravity. I've heard of these English yeast strains taking longer to finish than others. I've also been told by several people online and in-store at Northern Brewer that hitting a "stuck" fermentation with some champagne yeast can help it get going again without imparting additional unwanted flavor. So I put in 1/3 or a pack of dry champagne yeast on 2/22 and waited a few days. Today I measured again and it went UP 2 POINTS instead of down! So now I'm at 1.019. No idea what's going on. I guess I'll have to give it a few more days, and then see what's changed. Anyone else experimented with champagne yeast? Let me know in the comments.

Packaged: 3/17/17 

No secondary. These 1 gal kits from NB don't call for one in the recipe, but I normally do to help clarify. The champagne yeast must've helped, because I got the gravity down to 1.013. It just took longer than expected. As stated above, some English yeasts can take longer to finish out. That puts this beer in 5.51% abv. I bottled 5 12oz bottles. I could've gotten a bit more, but I was starting to pick up the yeast cake at the bottom and I'm going for quality over quantity. I can always make more if it's good. This recipe is NB's clone of Big Sky's Moose Drool. So when mine is fully carbonated, I'll do a side by side.