Category Archives: Beer

Beer, Homebrewing

I bought fish supplies, and I don’t own fish

4 Comments

One of the, shall we say, issues confronting homebrewers is equipment: you never have enough. I buy something new seemingly every brew day. All purchases, so far, have been good purchases, and result in better beer.

Saturday was brew day; I believe it’s batch #9 since I started. Building on the success of my last batch, Wazzup Wit, I formulated a recipe, and submitted it for comments on a couple of beer forums.

This, however, brings about another issue homebrewers have: how much advice to take when brewing beer. It takes some time to wade through the comments, and separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff. when i posted my recipe.


Simcorillo IPA

14-B American IPA

BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Size: 4.84 gal

Efficiency: 6.62%

Attenuation: 78.6%

Calories: 212.42 kcal per 12 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.064 (1.056 – 1.075)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 – 1.018)

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Color: 11.7 (6.00 – 15.00)

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Alcohol: 6.61% (5.50% – 7.50%)

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Bitterness: 95.8 (40.00 – 60.00)

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Ingredients:

7.0 lb Dry Extra Light

1 lb Crystal Malt 20°L

8.0 oz Caramunich® TYPE I

1 ea White Labs WLP051 California Ale V

1 oz Simcoe (11.9%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

2 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20 min

1 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 7.0 min

.5 oz Simcoe (11.9%) – added during boil, boiled 7 min

.5 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0 min

0.5 oz Simcoe (11.9%) – added dry to secondary fermenter

.5 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added dry to secondary fermenter

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F

Source Water: 60.0 °F

Elevation: 0.0 m

Notes

Late extract addition – first time experimenting. Added 3lb DME at 60 minutes, 4lb at 15 minutes.
Mash temp for grains: 150F. 45 minute steep.
Created yeast starter (first time) following Palmer’s How to Brew method (http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html)
Aerated wort for ~5 minutes using fish tank oxygenator.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.9b

Beer, Homebrewing

Ah, homebrewing

It’s nice to have a Friday off where I’m not sick to the point of incapacitated.

I’m brewing a Belgian Wit today. Getting a late start, but that’s OK.

I’ve not brewed in a few months, so it’s a good feeling to be boiling, cleaning, and sanitizing again. I formulated my own recipe, with a few aspects slightly out of style, but I think it’s going to be a good brew.

Formulating recipes is probably the most enjoyable and most frustrating part of brewing for me. I don’t know a lot about it yet, and often, I feel like I shouldn’t ask for input, because I’ve not contributed enough to a forum. I don’t know the individual ingredients (hop and malt characteristics) well enough to know what goes well with other things, but I’m learning. It’s definitely fun, though, to start a recipe in BeerTools Pro and add and subtract different ingredients, the time during the boil to add them, and how much of each to add.

This recipe is a completely original creation with no input from anyone, other than reading other recipes and combining the best of each; which is usually how I cook, anyway. It should be a good summertime beer, though the alcohol level (a hair over 6% ABV) is a bit higher than it probably should.

 

Wazzup Wit

16-A Witbier
BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Size: 4.36 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 203.9 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.061 (1.044 – 1.052)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.008 – 1.012)
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Color: 2.57 (2.0 – 4.0)
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Alcohol: 6.02% (4.5% – 5.5%)
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Bitterness: 17.0 (10.0 – 20.0)
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Ingredients:

6.6 lb Liquid Wheat Extract
16 oz Cara-Pils® Malt
.5 oz Styrian Goldings (4.2%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Saaz (4.40%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.5 oz Saaz (4.4%) – added during boil, boiled 7.0 min
1 oz Bitter Curacao/Bitter Orange (Peel) – added during boil, boiled 5 min
.5 oz Corriander seeds – added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 ea White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale

Notes:

Partial Mash – 30 mins @148 degrees

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.0b