Sleet & Freezing Rain!

Day off!! no work today... yeah! Brewed a variation of Otter Creek Spring Mud Bock Ale, with many substitutions based on my present inventory of ingredients. WTH... looks good on paper

Spring Bock Ale

23-A Specialty Beer

Size: 5.24 gal

Efficiency: 75.0%

Attenuation: 72.0%

Calories: 188.48 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.056 (1.026 - 1.120)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (0.995 - 1.035)

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Color: 20.8 (1.0 - 50.0)

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Alcohol: 5.32% (2.5% - 14.5%)

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Bitterness: 30.37 (0.0 - 100.0)

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Ingredients:

1.0 lbs 2-Row Caramel Malt 60L

0.5 lbs 2-Row Carapils® Malt

0.5 lbs American Caramel 20°L

1.75 lbs American Victory

7.0 lbs Pilsner Malt

0.25 lbs De-Bittered Black Malt (Mout Roost 1400)

1.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

0.5 lbs Midwest Wheat Malt

1.0 ea Fermentis S-33 SafBrew S-33

01:02:59 Mash In - Liquor: 3.59 gal; Strike: 162.3 °F; Target: 150.0 °F

01:07:59 Sparge - Sparge: 3.47 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 5.72 gal collected, 5 min; Total Runoff: 5.84 gal

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

Sunday's Brew

A tough weekend for football fans... waiting for SB XLII.. and the big TV sports event is ice skating!!!

Enough to send a man to drink... or to brewing

Waiting for the Super Bowl Ale

14-A English IPA

Size: 5.0 gal

Efficiency: 75.0%

Attenuation: 75.0%

Calories: 182.35 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.055 (1.050 - 1.075)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.018)

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Color: 13.6 (8.0 - 14.0)

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Alcohol: 5.39% (5.0% - 7.5%)

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Bitterness: 41.19 (40.0 - 60.0)

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Ingredients:

0.5 lbs 2-Row Caramel Malt 60L

0.25 lbs 2-Row Carapils® Malt

2.0 lbs American Munich

1.0 lbs American Victory

2 lbs American Vienna

5 lbs Pilsner Malt

0.5 oz Galena (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

.75 oz East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min

0.75 oz East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min

1.0 ea Danstar Nottingham

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

Step Mashed 140 for 15 minutes, then 152 for 45. Batch sparged.

NFC Championship Brew

In honor of the Giants victory in the NFC Championship Game, I've named my latest brew "Big Blue Super Bowl Ale". I hope to be able to sample some in two weeks.

Big Blue Super Bowl Ale

23-A Specialty Beer

Size: 5.0 gal

Efficiency: 75.0%

Attenuation: 75.0%

Calories: 196.3 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.059 (1.026 - 1.120)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (0.995 - 1.035)

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Color: 12.3 (1.0 - 50.0)

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Alcohol: 5.8% (2.5% - 14.5%)

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Bitterness: 43.62 (0.0 - 100.0)

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Ingredients:

2.0 lbs American Munich

3.0 lbs American Vienna

0.5 lbs American Caramel 60°L

1 lbs American 2-row

5.0 lbs Pilsner Malt

1 oz Nugget (9%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

0.5 oz Mt. Hood (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min

0.25 oz Mt. Hood (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min

0.25 oz Mt. Hood (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min

1.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

Smoothing out a dry stout

I've made a few brews that I am not real enthusiastic about. Two recent ones are a dry stout... a Guinness clone from BYO's 150 Clones and a Blonde Ale from the latest issue of BYO. The stout is too dry and too "roasty" for my taste and the blonde lacks character.. kinda blah.

However blending the two into a Black and Tan has worked out fine,,, balancing the two extremes and making a tasty brew.

Brick Haus Ale with local grown hops

Brewed on Sunday. I'm running low on grains, so I had to tweak the recipe. It uses leaf hops grown by a friend right here in Vermont.

Vermont Brick Haus Ale

10-A American Pale Ale

Size: 5.0 gal

Efficiency: 75.0%

Attenuation: 75.0%

Calories: 183.7 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.055 (1.045 - 1.060)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.015)

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Color: 5.8 (5.0 - 14.0)

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Alcohol: 5.43% (4.5% - 6.0%)

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Bitterness: 44.62 (30.0 - 45.0)

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Ingredients:

4.0 lbs American 2-row

4.0 lbs Pilsner Malt

2.0 lbs American Vienna

0.25 lbs 2-Row Caramel Malt 10L

0.25 lbs American Caramel 20°L

0.25 lbs Cara-Pils® Malt

1.0 oz Nugget (9.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

0.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min

0.25 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min

0.25 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

I had to guess on alpha levels of the home grown hops, so I think it will be less bitter than predicted.

Nottingham yeast, batch sparge, mashed at 152

Kegging & ESB

Kegged the Apfelwein and Amber Ale today. The ESB turned out to be a great brew, somewhat like Bass Ale with bit more bite. I'll be brewing that recipe again.

Tomorrow I'll be brewing my Brick Haus Ale, which is a variation on EdWort's venerable Haus Ale. BHA uses Vermont grown Nugget & Cascade hops.

Amber Ale Recipe

This is done fermenting and will go to the secondary tomorrow. With putting away the decorations and sending the youngest back to college, there is no time for brewing this weekend

amber ale

10-B American Amber Ale

Size: 5.04 gal

Efficiency: 75.0%

Attenuation: 75.0%

Calories: 179.32 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.045 - 1.060)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 - 1.015)

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Color: 13.0 (10.0 - 17.0)

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Alcohol: 5.3% (4.5% - 6.0%)

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Bitterness: 29.72 (25.0 - 40.0)

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Ingredients:

9 lbs American 2-row

0.5 lbs Munich Malt

1.0 lbs 2-Row Caramel Malt 60L

0.25 lbs 2-Row Carapils® Malt

0.5 oz East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min

0.5 oz Fuggles (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min

01.0 ea Fermentis S-04 Safale S-04

0.5 oz Amarillo (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F

Source Water: 60.0 °F

Elevation: 0.0 m

00:56:58 Mash In - Liquor: 3.36 gal; Strike: 168.1 °F; Target: 155.0 °F

01:02:03 Mash Out - Heat: 5.1 min; Target: 168.0 °F

01:47:03 Sparge - Sparge: 2.86 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 5.52 gal collected, 45.0 min; Total Runoff: 5.66 gal

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

Amber Ale & No Skunky Smell

Cheers and Happy 2008.  My amber ale is in the fermenter and it should be an interesting experiment.  Used a higher mash temperature and Safale 04 in hopes of making a sweeter and more malty brew.

Pleased to the report that the blonde ale tastes fine, with no skunky notes after the inadvertent exposure to light.