Kollath & Kraemer together at last! A glorious day! A meeting of minds, philosophies, tastes. Very high-brow...
Nah, we just spent all afternoon brewing the hell outta some beer! ;p
My buddy Jeff and I have been talking about crafting a brown ale together since we both got started brewing a few years ago. After a few life-changing events (Jeff-baby, Peter-brew rig) we finally got our act together.
Jeff, ever ambitious, insisted on brewing two beers. Peter, ever foolish, let himself be convinced. It may have been biting off more than we could chew -- barely finishing in time to watch the Final Four -- but it was fun. And a heck of a nice spring day (FINALLY!).
Brown Ale
#27 - 6.25 gal
I worked together a recipe inspired by Abita's Turbo Dog clone and Bell's Best Brown clone. Jeff supplied me with a delicious New Holland Brewing "Into the Woods." Our malt bill and yeast probably wont pick up the hints of gruyere cheese, smoke, and dry rye bite of that beer, but it's something to shoot for next time.
Since brewing, this brown has fermented in my basement with an ambient air temperature of 59-62F. The first 36 hours showed the carboy temperature to be pretty steady at 64-66F. Since then, it has ranged from 60-70F. After work each day, I've hit it with some heat from a carboy wrap, and then allowed to cool overnight. I'll do this for the remainder of the week. Then allow to sit a week before transferring to secondary.
Ingredients:
- 10# Maris otter
- 1# Victory
- 1# Caramel 60L
- 1# Belgian aromatic
- 0.75# Caramel 120L
- 0.5# Chocolate malt
- 0.25# Roasted barley
- 0.75 oz Chinook (11.6%, pellet) (60 min)
- 0.5 oz Willamette (5.3%, pellet) (15 min)
- 8 oz Black strap molasses (10 min)
- 1 t Irish moss (10 min)
- 0.5 t Yeast nutrient (10 min)
- 0.5 oz Willamette (5.3%, pellet) (5 min)
- Wyeast 1469 W. Yorkshire Ale (2 liter yeast starter)
Target OG: 1.064
Target FG: 1.016
Target ABV: 6.27%
Target IBU: 31.5
Efficiency: 75%
Schedule:
- Mash in 6 gal 50/50 filter and RO water @ 163F
- Stabilize and rest @ 153F (60 min)
- Mash out @ 168F
- Batch sparge 4 gal 50/50 filtered and RO water (10 min)
- Boil (60 min)
- Chill to 70F and pitch
- Ferment 64-68F (2 wks)
- Split batch, half on bourbon staves, half secondary (2 wks)
Observations:
- First runnings: 4.25 gal @ 1.063
- Pre-boil: 7.5 gal @ 1.050
- OG: 1.064
4/7/2014: Split 4 Old Sugar Distillery whiskey staves and added 2 oz Makers Mark to refresh and sanitize them. Will add to half the brown in a 3 gallon carboy and condition a few weeks.
"Kollasch" Kolsch
#28 - 6.25 gal
One can only drink so many big, bold ales -- especially during summer. This kolsch aims to be light and refreshing. Inspired by articles on brewing this style by Beersmith and Brew Your Own, and a recipe on Norther Brewer.
Since brewing, this kolsch has fermented very aggressively in the ambient air temperature of my basement, 59-62F. Good thing Jeff brought his 6.5 gallon carboy and blow-off tube, or I'd be cleaning yeast off my ceiling once again. I plan to just let this one go for two weeks, before racking to secondary and keeping as cool as possible in my basement for a few weeks to get it as clear as possible before bottling.
Hoping this will be one to share with all the non-beer drinkers. (Those that I allow to hang out with me.)
Ingredients:
- 10.5# Pilsner malt (Best Malz)
- 0.75# Vienna (Briess)
- 0.75# Munich 10L (Briess)
- 2.5 oz Spalt (3.2%, pellet) (60 min)
- 0.5 oz Saaz (3.0%, pellet) (60 min)
- 0.5 oz Spalt (3.2%, pellet) (15 min)
- 1 t Irish moss (10 min)
- 0.5 t Yeast nutrient (10 min)
- Wyeast 2565 Kolsch (1.5 liter yeast starter)
Target OG: 1.049
Target FG: 1.012
Target ABV: 4.8%
Target IBU: 29.6
Efficiency: 75%
Schedule:
- Mash in 6 gal 50/50 filtered and RO water @ 126F
- Stabilize and rest @ 120F (20 min)
- Rest @ 150F (30 min)
- Rest @ 158F (30 min)
- Batch sparge 4 gal 50/50 filtered and RO water (10 min)
- Boil (60 min)
- Chill to 64F and pitch
- Ferment 60-64F (2 wks)
- Secondary @ 60F (2 wks)
Observations:
- First runnings: 1.060
- Pre-boil: 1.040
- OG: 1.049