Begin Brewing!

In a previous post I shared  the recipe for the Digital Haze IPA kit  that was offered to attendees of HomeBrewCon 2021.  Today, I decided to brew the kit.  It was at that point that I realized the 8 ounce package of Carapils was missing from my kit. I decided to swap in some Pilsner malt I had that I wanted to use up - so what you see below is slightly different from the actual kit from Brewer's Best. Refer to the link above it you want the exact kit recipe. Ingredients 4 pounds Pilsen DME 1 pound Corn Sugar 8 ounces White Wheat Malt 8 ounces Flaked Oats 1.5 pounds German Pilsner Malt (8 oz. to replace Carapils, plus 16 "just because") 1 package Lallemand Voss Kveik yeast 1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (boil, 10 min.) - added to reduce oxidation 5.5 gallons of RO water, treated with: 1g Baking Soda 6.5g Calcium Chloride 3.3g Epsom Salt 1.5g Gypsum 2g Magnesium Chloride 1 Tbsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer (optional, to hold pH at 5.2) Brewfather estimates the beer to have the following ...

Having just made a Hefeweizen last week, I decided to follow up with a Weizenbock this week.  The BCJP guidelines describe the style as strong, malty, and fruity... something akin to a marriage between the Hefeweizen and the Doppelbock styles. I did some reading and finally decided to brew a batch based on an AHA recipe by fellow Ohioan Jim Ruper t of Germantown. Ingredients 4 pounds Dark Wheat malt 1 pound plus 11 ounces of Weyermann Pilsner malt 12 ounces Avangard Munich malt 6 ounces of Rice Hulls 3 ounces British Medium Crystal malt (65-75L) 3 ounces Dingeman's Special B malt 3 ounces Pale Chocolate malt 3.50 gallons of mash water, reverse osmosis 1.15 gallons of sparge wate, reverse osmosis Water treated with 2.3g Gypsum, 2.7g Calcium Chloride, 2.3g Epsom Salt 0.9 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh hops (60 min.) 1/2 package Wyeast 3068 Hefeweizen yeast 1/2 tsp. Irish Moss 1/8 tsp. Brewtan B in the mash 1/4 tsp. Brewtan B in the boil 1/2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient According to Brewfather ...

It's been quite a while since I tasted a true Hefeweizen.  The incredible popularity of IPAs, Pale Ales, Sours, and Stouts has been gradually squeezing dozens of other tasty styles off store shelves.  This is very unfortunate, especially for those of us who grow tired of the lack of variety. In any case, I decided today to try my hand at brewing a decent German style Hefeweizen.  I began by reading an article on BYO.com about the style and tweaking an award-winning recipe from the AHA's web site.  This version features the traditional German Pilsner malt base, combined with both red and white wheat malts, and some Carapils for body and head retention.  I'll be using German hops for the bittering and a true Hefeweizen yeast for fermentation. Some things I've done in this recipe that you might wonder about, and why I did them: I wanted to source German wheat, but couldn't, so I went with Briess and Swaen, which were the best I could find at the time. ...

The finished beer Long-time readers and friends will be familiar with the fact that I am not that fond of the IPA style in general.  I get far more enjoyment from the flavors inherent in specialty malts and yeast, as we find in Belgian style beers.  That said, I do occasionally drink one of the more flavorful IPAs like Rhinegeist Truth.  A number of friends and family members enjoy so-called Milkshake IPAs, and I've enjoyed some (and less, others) over the last few years.  Having spent a couple of years in Brazil and getting to experience the flavor of passion fruit first hand, I thought that might make a particularly interesting milkshake IPA. I reviewed a few successful and popular Milkshake IPA recipes and settled on a grain bill that mixed barley, oats, and wheat to achieve the signature hazy thickness.  A high mash temperature should ensure some sweetness, with a bit of lactose to back that up.  Lots of passion fruit puree and the use of Southern...