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Showing posts from October, 2016

Cascade Pale Ale Clone, version 2.0

A good friend of mine loved Stevens Point Brewing's Cascade Pale Ale. Since the beer is no longer made, I tried to get the recipe from the brewery itself but failed. Based on the available data, I knew it had three malts in it: 2-row Pale, Munich, and Crystal. I made a version 1.0, but was very disappointed with it. Compared with the original, it lacked much of the flavor and aroma of the Cascade hop. It was darker, and lacked the sweetness of the original beer. In short, it wasn't even in the ballpark. Time to go back to the drawing board. Version 2.0 research had me searching various online forums for award-winning pale ale recipes by homebrewers. Specifically, I wanted to try to find a recipe that used only Pale, Munch, and Crystal malts and came out in the color and alcohol ballpark of the Stevens Point beer. I found a Lara Pale Ale recipe that used Goldings, Fuggle, Amarillo, and Cascade hops. I scaled that recipe down from 23 gallons to 5.6 (which in my system works o

MadTree Blacktart Clone

The following recipe comes from MadTree Brewing directly , so it should be close to the original beer. The Recipe Specifications BJCP Style: 13-E American Stout Batch Size: 5 gallons Efficiency: 89.78% Attenuation: 82.5% Original Gravity: 1.074 (1.050 to 1.075) Final Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 to 1.022) Color: 33.42 (30-40) Alcohol: 8.05% (5-7%) IBUs: 25.1 (35-75) Ingredients: 7.23 pounds of 2-Row Brewer's Malt (59.9%) 1.45 pounds of Victory Malt (12%) 0.96 pounds of Extra Special Malt (8%) 0.96 pounds of 2-Row Caramel 120L Malt (8%) 0.48 pounds of Midnight Wheat Malt (4%) 0.24 pounds of 2-Row Chocolate Malt (2%) 0.27 pounds of Carafa III Malt (2.2%) 1.06 pounds of Acidulated Malt (8%) 0.31 oz. of Apollo hops (17% AA) 0.48 lb. of White Table Sugar 0.1 lb. Lactose 0.31 oz. Experimental #05256 hops pellets (7.7% AA) 1.6 pounds of Blackberry puree 1 Cinnamon Stick 10.6 mL Lactic Acid MadTree doesn't specify which yeast they used, so choose a vari

Belgian Dubbel, version 1.0

I've only made one Belgian Dubbel in all the time I've been brewing. That was an extract-based Dubbel that turned out just "OK" by my taste. I decided to create a new all-grain one. The Recipe 8 pounds Belgian Pale Malt 3 pounds Belgian Pilsner Malt 8 ounces Special B Malt 4 ounces Caramunich I Malt 4 ounces Melanoidin Malt 4 ounces Cara-Pils/Dextrine Malt 6 ounces D-90 Candi Syrup 12 ounces Golden Candi Syrup 1.25 ounces Styrian Goldings hops pellets @ 6.4% AA 1.25 ounces Czech Saaz hops pellets @ 3.2% AA 1/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient 1/2 Whirlfloc Tablet 1 Tbsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer 1 packet Omega Labs OYL-028 Belgian Ale W yeast 1 packet of dry T-58 Belgian Abbaye yeast Estimated OG: 16.9 Brix (Actual was 18.3) Estimated Pre-boil Gravity: 16.7 (Actual was 15.2 before sugars) Estimated FG: 9.7 Brix (adjusted for alcohol), actual was 10.5 Brix IBU: 22.9 SRM: 17.2 ABV: 6.8% Batch Size: 5.6 gallons (5 gallons into fermenter) Some of you may be wo

My Brewing Process, Part 3 - The Boil

In the first two parts of this series, we covered recipe selection and adjustment , getting the ingredients ready, and performing the mash in The Grainfather. This week, we'll look at the boil. The Grainfather makes the boil process pretty simple. The kettle is deep enough that boil-over on a 5-gallon batch is unlikely. The thermal cut-out switch reduces the chances that you'll scorch the wort when adding sugars, syrups, or other ingredients. When we last saw our example beer, it was just starting to boil. When it finally reaches a boil, I take out my stainless steel spoon and stir the hot break foam back into the wort.  Once the foam stops forming on top of the wort, I'll rig up my hop spider and place it in the kettle. I take two soapstone rocks and drop those in the bag to weigh it down. I use binder clips to ensure that the hop bag stays on the spider and doesn't drop into the kettle. Hop spider in place, ready for hop additions As I mentioned in the f