Brotherly Love to Baltimore Pale Ale [dry hop]

Date: July 23, 2014

Ingredients:

• 0.5 oz Chinook
• 0.5 oz Cascade

Gravity: 1.012

Appearance: Very light orange color, very slight opaque.

Aroma: Light orange aroma, very light malt aroma.

Flavor: Light body, bread, then dry citrus, followed by moderate bitterness. Needs a bit more sweetness to balance the dry-bitter flavor.

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.