Brotherly Love to Baltimore Pale Ale (w/ orange peel)

Brew date: July 12, 2014
#29 - 6 gal

After a few years in Philadelphia, my brother is heading to Baltimore for a new gig. What better way to send him off (and not give him any of the finished product) than by brewing something to commemorate the journey.


I settled on a mid-summer American pale ale emphasizing the citrus note with a late boil addition of bitter orange peel and some cascade first wort hopping. An additional dry hopping with more cascade and chinook is also in store.

It's always fun to show people how their beer gets made: the raw ingredients, the smell of freshly milled grain, how mashing works, why we vorlauf, the variety of hops, the ridiculous amount of cleaning and sanitizing necessary. It's also fun to share war stories of past brews. I know I like to describe homebrewing as boredom punctuated by moments of terror.

While there was no real terror this session (no loose hoses spraying boiling hot wort, etc) there was a fair amount of waiting around. Especially while chilling the wort. I've got to find a better system for this. It takes forever. And my pump just will not stay primed for whirlpooling the wort around the immersion chiller. I may just need to suck it up and buy a counterflow chiller... Can anyone spare a dime (or $200)?

Until I figure out a better system, I need to be more mindful of the time involved. Always estimate 5 hours. This session's total brew day: 10 am - 3 pm.

Ingredients:

• 7.25 lb 2-row (Briess)
• 4.25 lb 6-row (Briess)
• 0.75 lb Vienna (Briess)
• 0.75 lb Munich 20L (Briess)
• 0.5 lb Caramel 40L (Briess)
• 0.5 lb Wheat flakes
• 1 oz Cascade (7.8%, pellet) (FWH)
• 1 oz Centennial (9.5%, pellet) (60 min)
• 0.5 oz Chinook (11.6%, pellet) (20 min)
• 1 t Irish Moss (15 min)
• 0.5 oz Orange peel (dried, bitter) (5 min)
• 0.5 oz Cascade (7.8%, pellet) (KO)
• 1 L Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast starter (7/8/14)
• 0.5 oz Cascade (2nd)
• 0.5 oz Chinook (2nd)

Target OG: 1.056

Target FG: 1.014

Target ABV: 5.5%

Target IBU: 40

Target Efficiency: 75%

Schedule:

• Mash in 6 gal of 50/50 filtered/RO water @ 162F
• Rest @ 152F (60 min)
• Mash out (10 min)
• Batch sparge 3.5 gal 50/50 filtered/RO water (10 min)
• Boil 60 min
• Chill to 72F and pitch
• Ferment @ 68F (66-72F) (10 days)
• Secondary (2 wks)

Observations:

• First runnings: 4.3 gal @ 1.070
• Second runnings: 3.6 gal @ 1.028
• Pre-boil: 8 gal @ 1.050
• OG: 6 gal @ 1.064
• Efficiency: 93%

Kollath & Kraemer Bottling Extravaganza

Bottle date: May 9, 2014

A brief detour to sample some of the unique offerings from Central Waters Brewing and O'so Brewing for Madison's Craft Beer Week notwithstanding, we spent most of the evening bottling our kolsch and brown ales.

Kollasch Kolsch

Ingredients:

• 94g corn sugar
• 1.5c filtered water

Desired CO2: 2.2 vol (5 gal @ 60F)

Brown Ale

Ingredients:

• 57g corn sugar
• 1c filtered water

Desired CO2: 2.2 vol (3 gal @ 60F)

Bourbon Barrel Brown Ale

Ingredients:

• 49g corn sugar
• 6g brown sugar
• 1c filtered water

Desired CO2: 2.2 vol (2.75 gal @ 60F)

Kollasch Kolsch [secondary]

Racking date: April 21, 2014

Decided not to dry hop this beer after sampling.

Observations:

FG: 1.010
Appearance: Light yellow, straw color. Opaque.
Aroma: Bready slightly spicy/flowery hop note.
Flavor: Light, light-to-medium hop bitterness, bready character.

Molasses Brown Ale Two Ways [secondary]

Racking date: April 21, 2014

Observations:

FG: 1020
Appearance: Deep red hue, fairly clean.
Aroma: Not much.
Flavor: Fairly dry, some dark caramel/toffee notes at end.

Smarch Maibock [bottled]

Bottle date: April 21, 2014

Ingredients:

• 102g corn sugar
• 1.5 c water

Desired CO2: 2.3 vol (5 gal @ 60F)

Poor Lyla Belgian IPA: Tasting Notes

Appearance:
Pale orange color, very slight haze, frothy white head, good lacing.

Aroma:
Belgian notes, fruitiness, citrus, piney resin hop smell.

Taste:
Good IPA bitterness. Piney resinous bite quickly gives way to a subtle sweetness. Citrus and bread flavors flow at the end. Finishes dry and bitter. Medium bodied. Would be refreshing in a late July heatwave.

Verdict:
I really like this beer. My best effort at an IPA yet. Great aroma from the mash up of Belgian yeast and citrus/piney hops. Still dealing with over-carbonation problems though.

Kollath & Kraemer Brewstravaganza: Brown Ale and Kolsch

Brew day: April 5, 2014

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