Begin Brewing!

Back in late December, I made the first version of a beer intended to be handed out as a favor to guests at my step-son's wedding. That beer was loosely based on a New England IPA recipe I'd found, but the hops were all swapped out for those with a decidedly citrus flavor. The resulting beer turned out more like a traditional American IPA than a New England style IPA (NEIPA). The American Homebrewers Association posted a recipe for WeldWerks Brewing's Juicy Bits NEIPA that sounded much more like what I was looking for. WeldWerks uses a blend of Citra, El Dorado, and Mosaic hops. With Mosaic often used interchangeably with Citra, I decided to remove Mosaic from the equation to keep things simpler. I also decided to drop El Dorado during the boil and go with an El Dorado hop extract in the dry hop phase.  Why only use Citra? Aside from the simplicity of eliminating one hop from the ingredient list, Kegerator.com describes Citra as " The Most Citrusy Aroma Hop in the ...

Last year, I made an Irish Red Ale recipe of my own . Although it turned out fairly well and only a couple of bottles remain, when I saw Gordon Strong's Irish Red Ale recipe, I decided I'd like to try it to see how it compared with mine. I adjusted the recipe for a smaller volume batch and the efficiency of my brewing system, which results in the recipe you see here. Ingredients 2 pounds and 6 ounces of 2-row Pale Malt (Briess) 1 pound of Vienna Malt (Weyermann, I think) 8 ounces Flaked Corn 6 ounces Caramel 40L 2 ounces Roasted Barley 2 ounces Carapils/Dextrine Malt 4 handfuls of Rice Hulls in the mash 0.38 ounces East Kent Goldings hops @ 6.1% AA (60 min.) 0.13 ounces East Kent Goldings hops @ 6.1% AA (10 min.) 1/4 tsp. Brewtan B in the mash 1.5 tsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer in the mash 1/4 tsp. Brewtan B in the boil (15 min.) 1/8 tsp. Yeast Nutrient (15 min.) 1/8 tsp. Super Irish Moss (10 min.) 2.4 gallons of Mash Water 2.0 gallons of Sparge Water BeerSmith 3....

The finished beer, one week after bottling The English Dark Mild Ale is a style I first encountered several years ago at The Winking Lizard location on Bethel Road, a location that sadly is no longer open. The one I tried back then was Cain's Dark Mild, and I found it a very enjoyable beer. In 2018, I made my first attempt to brew the style. I thought it turned out well, but wanted to try again. Jamil Zainasheff's book Brewing Classic Styles  contained a recipe for a Dark Mild Ale named "Through a Mild Darkly" that was similar to my 2018 recipe but different enough that I decided to try brewing it. My first attempt was a failure, caused by an oversight on my part that resulted in the wort being ruined and discarded. Today's attempt was more successful. Ingredients 3 pounds, 14 ounces of a mix of Simpsons Golden Promise, Swaen Pale Ale, and Rahr 2-row malts 4 ounces British Medium Crystal Malt 3 ounces Crystal 120L 2 ounces Pale Chocolate Malt 1 ounc...