Begin Brewing!

Having managed to get three successive batches out of the Brewie+ which hit my volume and gravity goals, today I decided to brew a Dry Irish Stout for possible competition. I like the style and I have never brewed it before, so it seemed like a good time to try. I began by reviewing some articles online about brewing the style, then by considering the BJCP criteria for it. I took one of the published recipes and tweaked it to suit my taste (hopefully).  I added Melanoidin malt and Carapils to try to get the beer to have a nice head on it. I used Willamette hops and Bramling Cross for a little twist to the style, while not taking it too far off base. The Bramling Cross hops are used in British stouts and reportedly carries fruity, citrusy notes with some blackcurrant, loganberry, gooseberry, and lemon - sometimes even with vanilla. That should all do nicely in the stout. I'm adding gypsum to help punch up the hops, since I'm hopping it toward the lower end of the style (the ...

With some satisfaction that the issue with the Brewie+ overshooting target volumes being possibly solved (by removing excess water after loading), I decided to try one more recipe to see if I could consistently hit my volume and gravity targets. I decided to try another Pale Ale with a blend of Simcoe, Cascade, Citra, and Amarillo hops. Ingredients 5 pounds Briess 2-row Pale Malt 12 ounces Caramel 10L Malt 8 ounces Munich Malt 1/2 tsp. Citric Acid added to mash water 0.10 ounces Simcoe Pellets @ 13.6% AA (60 min.) 0.10 ounces Cascade Pellets @ 6.9% AA (25 min.) 0.10 ounces Citra Pellets @ 13% AA (25 min.) 0.10 ounces Amarillo Pellets @ 8.6% AA (25 min.) 0.10 ounces Cascade Pellets @ 6.9% AA (10 min.) 0.10 ounces Citra Pellets @ 13% AA (10 min.) 0.10 ounces Amarillo Pellets @ 8.6% AA (10 min.) 0.10 ounces Citra Pellets @ 13% AA (0 min.) 0.10 ounces Amarillo Pellets @ 8.6% AA (0 min.) 0.10 ounces Cascade Pellets @ 6.9% AA (0 min.) 1/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient 1/8 tsp. B...

My last two attempts at an Irish Red Ale were (at least to me) disappointing. The first did not taste all like an Irish Red to me, though it was a very drinkable beer. The second ended up way over volume and therefore came out kind of bland. This time around, I'm babysitting the Brewie+ to make sure I get the results I am looking for. This recipe began as one of Gordon Strong's, but I've modified it slightly to see if I can get a nice head with long retention and a little more reddish color. Ingredients 2 pounds, 6 ounces 2-row Pale Malt (Briess) 2 pounds, 6 ounces Simpsons Golden Promise Ale Malt 17 ounces Vienna Malt 8.5 ounces Flaked Corn 2 ounces Roasted Barley 2 ounces Cara-Pils/Dextrine Malt (added for head retention) 5 ounces Caramel 40L 0.5 ounces Melanoidin Malt (added for head retention and color) 0.40 ounces East Kent Goldings Hops Pellets @ 6.1% AA (60 min.) 0.15 ounces East Kent Goldings Hops Pellets @ 6.1% AA (10 min.) 1/4 tsp. Yeast nutrient ...

Recently, I have struggled to get the desired final volume out of the Brewie+ system. To try and resolve that issue, I've decided to brew a couple of recipes and babysit the mash and sparge process to see where the problem is occurring, as well as double-checking my calculations to ensure they are correct. The first test was this Pale Ale recipe. Ingredients 5 pounds of 2-row Pale Ale Malt 1 pound of Munich Malt 4 ounces of Flaked Corn 0.75 ounces of Mandarina Bavaria hops pellets @ 9.2% AA at 10 min. 0.60 ounces of Citra hops pellets @ 14% AA at 5 minutes 1/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient 1/8 tsp. Brewtan B in the mash water 1/4 tsp. Brewtan B in the boil at 10 min. 1/2 tsp. Irish Moss in the boil at 15 min. 1 packet of Lallemand Nottingham dry ale yeast 9.2 liters of mash water 3.2 liters of sparge water The mash schedule began with a mash in at 104F, followed by 20 minutes at 140F, and 40 minutes at 158F. Mash out was 15 minutes at 168F. BeerSmith estimated the follo...

Last year, I entered the 23rd annual homebrew competition at Barley's Ale House in Columbus. To my shock and amazement, I won the competition with my Belgian style Dark Strong Ale. On March 15, Angelo Signorino, Jr., and his brewing assistants Tate and Singer made my dream of brewing a professional-sized batch of beer a reality. Angelo preparing to load the first bag of barley, and me preparing to stir The day began at 10am when I arrived at Barley's. We went over the recipe to make sure it looked correct. Not surprisingly when dealing with pros like the guys at Barley's, it did. Seventeen bags of grain (plus a bit, I think) went into the mash tun. The Barley's crew did the heavy lifting since my shoulders are pretty arthritic, but I helped stir the mash for a while and helped load the hops. If you don't think that brewers like these work hard, then it's only because you've never seen them mash in. Lugging the big bags to the brewing system, dum...

I'm a big fan of the Tripel Karmeliet Belgian Tripel. I've wanted to brew something similar since I started home brewing. My last couple of attempts have gotten close, but have lacked the bright lemony flavor and aroma I get from the real beer. Last time around I had a touch of that flavor. This time I'm making some changes to dial it up a notch. I'm adding more corn sugar to dry it out somewhat, doubling the amount of lemon peel in the boil, shifting the hop load closer to the end of the boil to pick up more of Hallertau Mittelfruh's citrus notes, and even including a bit of citric acid in the boil. I'm hoping that the addition of acid will brighten up the hop flavor, and the slight drying out will make the citrus clearer. Ingredients 6 pounds Swaen Pilsner Malt 1 pound Swaen Wheat Malt 8 ounces Flaked Oats 12 ounces of Corn Sugar added to the mash water 6 handfuls of rice hulls added to help the mash flow 0.50 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 2.7% A...