1 Hour Pale Ale Brew Day

Today I brewed a 1 Hour Pale Ale that is a kit from my LHBS. It supposed to be a clone of DFH 60 Minute. Yesterday I bottled the Brown Ale. I was a little hesitant but the gravity hadn't changed since Monday. I also found out how tough carboys are to clean inside. But after a little Google search I found a suggestion. It said to add a 1/4 cup of rice and a few tablespoons of baking soda to the carboy. Then fill with just enough water to make a sort of past. Then just shake the crap out of it, concentrating on getting the paste around the krausen ring. It was clean after just a few minutes of shaking. Plus the baking soda deodorized the carboy.

I am also making some dog biscuits from the spent steeping grains. I learned of this from some beer friends on the Mr. Beer forum. I took about 4 cups of spent grain, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of peanut butter and two eggs. Mix it all together and then spread on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and then cut into biscuits and spread them out. Mine stuck to the bottom of the pan, so I may spray some olive oil to help next time. Then bake for about 2-3 hours until completely dry. I took my temp down to 300 for this long bake. Then keep them in an airtight container. Not sure how long they last, but my dog really enjoyed the one I gave him. So I don't think storage will be an issue.



54 1 Hour PA
American Pale Ale
Type: Extract Date: 12/30/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 3.50 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
End of Boil Volume 3.21 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3 93.3 %
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.3 %
4.0 oz Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 1 3.3 %
0.50 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 19.8 IBUs
0.75 oz Hop Mix [7.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 6.9 IBUs
0.75 oz Hop Mix [7.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 5.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Hop Mix [7.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 2.8 IBUs
1.50 oz Hop Mix [7.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Hop Mix [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -
Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.066 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.3 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.7 %
Bitterness: 34.5 IBUs Calories: 223.2 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 5.6 SRM
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Bottle Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 3.93 oz Carbonation Used: Bottle with 3.93 oz Corn Sugar
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes

This is a kit that my LHBS put together. It is a clone of DFH 60 minute. The "Hop Mix" is a total guess on AA. They dont list the exact AA on the kit. The kit does list amarillo simco and warrior as the hops used.

Brewed 12/30/11 OG 1.066
Created with BeerSmith

Why my wife should love Star San.

I normally use Oxyclean Free to soak commercial beer bottles in to clean and remove labels after I drink them. The Oxyclean Free does a great job, but if you use too much it can leave residue. The only way to remove that residue, at least that I can find, is to soak the bottles in Star San. So I just cut a step out. I read somewhere that you can soak bottles in Star San to remove the labels. So I tried it with some New Belgium Ranger IPA bottles. The Star San worked amazingly well, labels were coming off cleanly after about a 5 minute soak. Then just a little scrub with a dish brush to remove the glue from the bottle. It could not have been easier.

After that I tried something I read on a blog or forum. Not sure which, so I can't give proper credit. I soaked the black plastic spatulas and such in the Star San. The spatulas had gotten a white residue on them from being used and washed in the dishwasher. A quick soak in Star San took that right off. I also soaked all the regular drinking glasses in Star San. They have the same problem as the spatulas. They get cloudy and have spots on them. Again another quick soak in Star San and the glasses were as good as new.

I was going to take a before and after photo but neglected to do so. In a few weeks when these things get all nasty again I will do so.

So if you're getting ready to toss out a batch of Star San, put it to good use before you do.

Christmas Vacation

I am on vacation this week. The kids are off of school this week. However the wife has to work. So it's just me and the kids. I have been cleaning, baking, and cooking. I made some banana bread and some ham and bean soup. Both of which turned out really good. Lots of laundry has been done as well, however I have not folded it and put it away. Which in my estimation is what they make you do in Hell.

We got a couple of inches of snow yesterday, so the kids and I went outside. We made snowman and had a snowball right. A good time was had by all.

I bought myself a 12 pack of New Belgium Ranger IPA, a bottle of Sam Smith's Winter Welcome, and a bottle of Sam Smith's Nut Brown Ale. I was gifted a bottle of Lump of Coal Stout from my parents. All of which have been consumed and there wasn't a bad beer in the bunch.

On the brewing front I have the Chocolate Milk Stout that I am starting to drink and it turned out well. It's a little roasty which I think prevents the chocolate from being detected as much as I want it to be. I also have Nanci's Brown Ale in the new glass carboy. I dry hopped this on Monday and am trying to patiently wait to bottle it. The gravity was about where I wanted it to be and I have another recipe sitting in the pantry waiting to be brewed. I guess I could brew it and put it into a plastic fermenter but I want to use the glass since I paid for it.

I also need a Brew Hauler. I had moments while I was using the carboy for the first time that I thought I could drop it. Like when I filled it with sanitizer and then had to dump it. I felt it slipping out of my hands as I was carrying it to the sink. I just think having the handles would make breaking it a little less likely, and also make transporting it from the kitchen to the fermenting closet and back much easier.

Merry Brewmas to me!

Today I went to my LHBS and picked up my Christmas present to myself. Basically it was a shopping spree. I finally got myself a glass carboy after wanting one for a couple years. I also picked up ingredients for a couple of 5 gallon extract with steeping grain batches. The one I am brewing today is from Jamil's book Brewing Classic Styles. It is the recipe called Janet's Brown Ale which I am renaming Nanci's Brown Ale after my wife, even though she does not like beer. It is a crazy hopped American Brown Ale. I had no plans on going for a brown this hoppy but for some reason all the recipes I was contemplating brewing were hoppy.
The recipe starts out with a lot of steeping grains, almost 3 pounds. Which includes some crystal 40, carapils, and some nice chocolate malt. Then for the extract it is 6 pounds of light DME and 1 pound of wheat DME. Then the hops. It is just over 9 oz of hops. A nice mix of Northern brewer, and what was supposed to be centennial and cascade. But I love cascades and it looks like when I was adding the brew to beersmith I typed cascade for all three of the finishing hops. Oh well, It will still be awesome. For the yeast I am using WYEAST 1056. Its 62 IBUS, about 6.5% abv and on the BU:GU scale its a 9.5. WOW.




53 Nanci's Brown Ale
American Brown Ale
Type: Extract Date: 12/18/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 3.15 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
End of Boil Volume 2.86 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 4 60.6 %
1 lbs DME Wheat Bavarian (Briess) (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 5 10.1 %
1 lbs 1.1 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.8 %
1 lbs 5.0 oz Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM) Grain 1 13.3 %
8.3 oz Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.3 %
1.84 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 36.5 IBUs
1.84 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 18.1 IBUs
1.62 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 7.6 IBUs
1.99 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.99 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 10 -

Chocolate Milk Stout Hydro

Sample with the stupid thief



I just took a sample for my Milk Stout to get a hydro reading and taste test. I had to use my thief which I hate and now I remember why. First I have to sanitize it and then put the hydrometer in it. Then I can't get the sanitizer to flow out of the bottom because the hydrometer is blocking the hole. Then I have to try to open the lid on the fermenting bucket with one hand while I hold the sanitized thief in the other hand and try to keep it from touching anything. Then I have to get the sample into the thief without getting too much gunk, while making sure I still get enough beer for the hydrometer to float in. Much easier if you have a fermenting bucket with a spigot.
Anyways took the reading and after two weeks its at 1.034. I don't know how many gravity points lactose adds but that still seems kind of high to me. I still plan on leaving it in the fermenter for another week at least. Most likely won't be bottling next weekend because of family things, so it looks like Wednesday the 30th will be bottling day.

I let the sample sit in the freezer for about ten minutes then tasted it. It smelled a little "hot" from the alcohol when I was taking the sample and it tastes of that as well. That's basically all I get. Maybe some chocolate undertones but it could be me just wanting to taste that. I don't think there is anything wrong with this beer, it should mellow over time. I just need to get some more beer going so I can stay out of this one.

Finally brewing again!

I finally brewed a batch of beer on Sunday 11/5. The last batch of beer I brewed before that was July 27th. I have just been really busy with work, and the twins started kindergarden. But my Dad purchased a Mr. Beer kit and has been going crazy. I talked to him about maybe going to the LHBS and he said he wanted to go, so that made me get a recipe together.
I decided on a Chocolate Milk Stout which is a recipe I have been wanted to mess with for a while. I started with the Milk Stout recipe from Brewing Classic Styles and then looked at the Chocolate Milk Stout recipe on www.northernbrewer.com and I made my own. I wanted to do extract for the ease, this time.
I wanted to use cocoa nibs since that is what the northern brewer recipe used. They used to include chocolate extract in that kit but it got lots of negative reviews for tasting like fake chocolate.

Here is the recipe from Beersmith. This was a five gallon batch with about a starting boil of 3 gallons.

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs DME Dark Traditional (Briess) (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 4 80.0 %
4.0 oz Crystal, Dark (Simpsons) (80.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.3 %
12.0 oz Pale Chocolate (200.0 SRM) Grain 1 10.0 %
8.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.7 %
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 26.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Whitbread Ale (Wyeast Labs #1099) [124.21 ml] Yeast 7 -
1.00 lb Lactose (Boil 0.0 mins) Flavor 6 -

My OG was high at 1.072 but I attribute that to the lactose and it should be right around 5% ABV. I let this ferment a week and then added 4 oz of cocoa nibs in a hop sack. I'm not going to transfer to a secondary but I will leave it in the primary for three weeks total. Two of those with the cocoa nibs.
I also want to make a Jalapeno beer. My dad made the Fire in the Hole Mr. Beer recipe and it got me thinking about the all grain Jalapeno Cream Ale I did last year that was awesome. I also want to do another batch of the Amarillo Face.

It would be nice to get the pipeline going again but with money and time, I don't know if that is going to be possible.

Sun King Barleywine

The other day I got an interesting opportunity to try a local beer. Sun King Brewery which is about 10 minutes from where I work, cans their beer. One of the first beers they brewed when they started production was a Barleywine called Johan the Barleywine. They served this mostly on tap, but they did release a limited number of cans and I was lucky enough to get one. It was actually given to me by a guy that I work with who got two cans and didn't like it. So I lucked out.

Im not good at describing what I smell and taste so if you interested in that I will let you read the reviews on Beer Advocate. I will say that I'm not a huge fan of barleywines, being that I am a hophead, but I did find the complexity of the beer nice. I'm not one to let a beer reach room temp before I drink it. I like to pour it cold right out of the fridge and be amazed at how the beer totally changes its flavors as it warms up.

What I think is particularly cool about this beer is the fact that it's a barleywine in a can. Probably one of the first of its style to be canned, if not the first. It's not just any can, but a can that Sun King has made for limited run brews. I guess when they order from the Ball can factory they have to order a ridiculous amount of each can design. So for the smaller batches they had a generic can made and they place a sticker on each can to identify the beer. I find that pretty cool.

So here are some pictures of the can.

BP ale spill label

I don't usually make labels for my beer because they seem like a waste of time but I thought this was a funny name that I came up with today as I was bottling this beer. So I made a label using Gimp. If you have not heard of gimp then you should check it out. I found it today as I was searching for alternatives to expensive photoshop. I use photoshop a lot at work and I find this software very much like photoshop but it's free so that's very nice. So anyways here is the label I made.

BP Ale Spill

From Instant Upload

BP Ale Spill Sample at bottling.


I don't like Belgian Beers. But for some reason I decided I wanted to make one. I think I was inspired by one of my beer buddies Esheppy, who says one of his favorite homebrewed beer is his Buckwheat Belgian Pale Ale. I have never made a Belgian, but always wanted to, so I picked up a kit from my LHBS Great Fermentations. I am calling this BP Ale Spill.
I bottled this today and I was completely surprised by the smell. I don't know why, because it smelled exactly like a Belgian beer should. It was kind of meaty, spicy and farmish. I used Wyeast Belgian Ardennes. I don't know exactly how to describe it but it doesn't make me excited for this beer. We will see in 2 weeks when I give this one a taste test.

From Instant Upload

BPA in the bottle.

From Instant Upload

Amarillo Face

I just finished the best batch of beer I have made to date. It was the Amarillo Face, which is another kit I picked up from the LHBS. The thing that this beer and the Belgian have in common is that I used liquid yeast.

New LHBS in Indy.

Somehow a new Local Homebrew Shop called the Tuxedo Park Brewers opened just a few minutes from where I work and I had no idea. I haven't been there yet since I just found out it was open last night. I plan on going and browsing later this week and checking the place out.

There is also a winery downtown that's pretty close to my work. It carries a few homebrew supplies but their stuff is always prepackaged grains and hops which I am a little leary of because I'm not sure of the age. It's a good place to go and pick up a hydrometer or a quick pack of yeast if I'm in a pinch.

I love my normal LHBS which is called Great Fermentations, but the problem is the location. I live on the southwest side of town and it is located on the north east side of town. It takes me about 45 minutes to get there and 45 minutes back. But the customer service and brewing knowledge are impressive. One of the guys that used to work there even opened a brewery in the same building a few months ago. I also have done a couple of the in house kits that Great Fermentations puts together, and they have been complete, easy to use and so far very tasty.

AHHHH crap!!!

I brewed an APA that just had a 15 minute boil and then a 5 minute addition of amarillo. It was supposed to be dry hopped with another .25 oz of amarillo hops but I FORGOT! I bottled it yesterday and was inputting the FG into beersmith today and realized what I had done. This was a recipe created to use up the .5 oz of amarillo I had left but now I still have .25 oz. Oh well it will still be a good beer but I love dry hopping especially with amarillo.
Heres how it looked after my mistake.

Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3 75.0 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 12.5 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.5 %
0.50 oz Apollo [18.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 4 36.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 6 -
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5 3.0 IBUs

Belgian Pale Ale

I just started the boil on my Belgian Pale Ale. I'm a little worried because in 6 hrs my Wyeast pouch is barely swollen. But I imagine that any swelling is a good sign. I have also heard that if you shake it and you hear fizzing then that is a good sign as well.
This is my first attempt at this style of beer. I love the smell of the Tettnang hops. This recipe is once again from my LHBS. I am going to do it as they recommend and then make some changes if I decide I want to brew this beer again. Or maybe I wont make changes if its really good.

Here is the recipe for the BPA.

Boil Size: 3.50 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
End of Boil Volume 3.21 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 5 74.0 %
8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 1 7.4 %
6.1 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.6 %
8.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 7.4 %
6.1 oz Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) Grain 4 5.6 %
0.75 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 11.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 8.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belgian Ardennes (Wyeast Labs #3522) [124.21 ml] Yeast 8 -

I also have been drinking the Amarillo Face recipe I did a few weeks ago. It's really good. My only problem is the yeast dregs in the bottle are nasty. I try not to pour it into the glass but I always seem to get some. It has a nasty bitter taste. I doesn't ruin the beer, but it doesn't do it any favors either.

50th batch

I just thought I would mention that I just brewed my 50th batch of beer. It really doesn't seem like a lot considering I have been brewing 3.5 years. My 50th batch was the 15 Minute American Pale Ale. I just noticed this happened as I was importing all of my recipes off of my old computer onto my new computer and then transferring those files into Beersmith 2 which is where I built this new recipe.

I also just spent a few minutes trying to reorganize my recipe listing site. I put a new section in just for the 2011 recipes and a new section for everything else. Maybe someday I will go through and actually organize all the recipes by year but it will probably take a while.

Some brewing notes. I have been keeping the American pale ale in a cooler with ice bottles. This was 2.5 gallon batch and I filled it up pretty high. But krausen never overflowed and I've been keeping it pretty cool to ferment it cleanly. The krausen has fallen now as of yesterday which was day two. I will let it finish out a little warmer and get a complete fermentation and then probably dry hop this on Sunday July 31st to be bottled on August 3rd.

The Amarillo face is bottled and conditioning. Today is one week in the bottle and I will try to resist sampling it for another week. It is a hoppier beer so the hop freshness will start to fade quickly so I want to taste it while it's fresh.

Next thing is I will be brewing a Belgian Pale Ale soon. I wanted to do it today but its just too dang hot. I want to ferment this a little warm to get some of the spiciness from the Belgian yeast but right now its a little too warm. So I will put that off until we have a cooler spell for a couple of weeks.

15 minute APA

I have been inspired by time, money and Basic Brewing Video to make a 15 minute American Pale Ale. I was on my way to the brewing store today when I remembered I had a 1/2 oz of Amarillo leaf hops in the freezer at home. So I decided to make a beer using 3 lbs of DME, Nottingham Yeast, and the Amarillo hops. This was the base for my recipe. I just needed a bittering hop and some steeping grains. With a little help from the guy at my LHBS I chose Apollo hops. Its a newer hop and someone described it as if Columbus, Cascade, and Amarillo got together and had a baby. It's high AA makes it a perfect bittering hop and its fresh citrus aromas make it a great flavor and aroma hop as well. But today I'm just using it for bittering. As for the grains I decided to use carpils and crystal 60, always good for APA's.

My plan is to steep .5 lb of carapils and .5 lb of crystal 60. Then I will add the light DME and get past the break. Then I will add the .5 oz of Apollo hops and start the timer for 15 minutes. With about 5 minutes left I will add .25 oz of Amarillo and then dry hop with .25 oz of Amarillo for about 3 days before bottling. Chill, add to the fermenter, seal it up and wait.

Along with the ingredients for this beer, my primary purchase was a Belgian Pale Ale kit. Inspired by Esheppys BPA he says is one of his favorite brews, I bought the kit that the LHBS has assembled for this style. I'm not a huge fan of Belgian's but I'll give it a go. That will be brewed later this week and I will post the recipe soon. Soon the pipeline will be in full swing again.

I also purchased Beersmith 2. This is first recipe I have created using it, so far its pretty nice. But I'm not blown out of the water yet.




Kitchen Sink IPA
American Pale Ale
Type: Extract Date: 7/17/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.50 gal Brewer: Scott
Boil Size: 3.00 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 15 min Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
End of Boil Volume 2.93 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 2.50 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3 75.0 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 12.5 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.5 %
0.50 oz Apollo [18.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 4 36.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 6 -
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5 3.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 7 0.0 IBUs

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 39.8 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 12.4 SRM

Bottling Day

From Instant Upload

Amarillo face sample at bottling


Today I am bottling my Amarillo Face. It was brewed on June 26th and has now spent 17 days in primary. I dry hopped this on Sunday and also took a hydro reading which of course leads to a sample. The beer tastes bitter and clean. I used liquid yeast for the first time ever on this batch and I think I liked the results. I usually stuck with dry yeast for price but since Fermentis yeast is about 5 bucks a pack now I decided to try the liquid which is 6.99 a pack. I used the Wyeast smack pack worked well, easy to smack despite some of the things Ive heard from other people and within half an hour the pack was pretty swollen and after about 3-4 hours I thought it might burst.
Today I decided to use the dishwasher to sanitize the bottles I'm using today. This was recommended to me by my LHBS and I've always been a little hesitant to try it, but what the heck, I'm feeling especially lazy today.
My normal bottling day schedule is pretty easy. I use Star-san with a vinator and a bottling tree and I think it takes me all of about 5-10 minutes to sanitize my bottles but it does involve some relocating of the bottles. My dishwasher happens to be right underneath where I normally bottle so I will just open the dishwasher and fill them. No need to sanitize on the kitchen table and then move 60 bottles to the counter for filling.
I also like the fact that my bottles are cleaning and sanitizing while Im sitting here blogging and watching episodes of Brewing TV. I also like the fact that I would feel comfortable running the sanitizing cycle on the dishwasher and then letting the bottles sit for while while I do other things. I could probably run the washer the night before and as long as the dishwasher door stays closed the bottles will stay sanitized.
I also want to note my second day blogging in a row. Its got to be a new record, it's probably just because I got a new laptop that actually has a battery that works so I can type from my couch.

I just finished bottling this brew. I liked using the dishwasher for all the reasons I stated above. From making the priming sugar slurry to capping the last bottle it took all of about 45 minutes. I got 47 12 oz bottles and one sample of about 8 oz to drink right now. It tastes really good. It was bitter and didn't have much going on when I sampled it before dry hopping. Now the hop notes are very fresh and vibrant. I'm hoping to give this two weeks before I drink it but I will probably start after a week.


Here is the final Beermith file without tasting notes.


49 Amarillo Face
American Wheat or Rye Beer


Type: Extract
Date: 6/26/2011
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Scott Churchill
Boil Size: 3.50 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: -
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb DME Wheat Bavarian (Briess) (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 46.15 %
1.00 lb DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 15.38 %
1.00 lb Rice Extract Syrup (7.0 SRM) Extract 15.38 %
0.75 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 11.54 %
0.75 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 11.54 %
1.00 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 11.5 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (30 min) Hops 8.9 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (15 min) Hops 5.7 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.044 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.37 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.30 %
Bitterness: 28.4 IBU Calories: 199 cal/pint
Est Color: 6.0 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: None Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Sparge Water: - Grain Temperature: -
Sparge Temperature: - TunTemperature: -
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: -

Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)



Mash Notes: -
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 4.3 oz Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 72.0 F Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 72.0 F

Notes

brewed 6/26/11
Dry hopped 7/10/11
Bottled 7/13/11

Used 121 g corn sugar, batch primed. used dishwasher on sanitize to sanitize bottles. 47 12 oz bottles.

Pipeline Dwindling

This is my next to last bottle homebrew that is ready to consume, it is an attempt to make a breakfast stout. It turned out pretty bad. It ended up being about 2% percent ABV and not tasting very good. It has been in the bottle for about 8 months and is probably the worst beer I have ever brewed.
I have a five gallon batch of beer that will be bottled tomorrow, which is called Amarillo Face an American Wheat. In all reality I will be drinking in a week. It wont be ready to drink in a week but with no beer in the house I will be forced to. It should probably have at least 4 weeks in the bottle at room temp to be considered fully conditioned.
I am kinda upset at myself for letting my beer get this low. I haven't had much time at work to work on new recipes, browse forums and all the stuff that kept my head in brewing. I would like to get another batch of beer in the fermenter this week after I bottle, but I know that wont happen. With work, time, and money all getting in the way.
I also would like to try some new techniques in homebrewing. I used liquid yeast for the first time on the batch I'm bottling tomorrow. I would like to try at some point to wash and reuse my yeast as pointed out in this blog. Which was recommend by a beer buddy Esheppy. If I reuse yeast I would also like to try and make a yeast starter to confirm that my yeast is actually viable and to have enough yeast to pitch for a batch of beer. These are both things I have never done before. Also at some time I would like to get a propane burner and an 8-9 gallon brewpot and do some 5 gallon brew in a bag batches.

Amarillo Face

Today is the first time I have brewed a batch of beer in what seems like a long time. I did make the Coopers wheat a few weeks ago but that was an all extract no boil kit. Work has been really busy and I just havent had time to brew or even visit the forum. However, I have had plenty of time to drink my pipeline almost dry. So today I will be brewing a batch of beer called Amarillo Face.
Amarillo face is my LHBS's version of Three Floyds Gumballhead. It is one of my favorite wheat beers. Its a little hoppy but still very drinkable. It uses only amarillo hops, thus the name.
This is also the first time I will be using liquid yeast. I am using the Wyeast 1010 American Wheat yeast. I was a little uncertain about the timing on smacking the yeast. But I did it this morning and within 90 minutes the bag was swollen and has only gotten even more so.
I have high hopes for this brew since the guy at the LHBS says he has a hard time telling the difference between this brew and Gumballhead.




49 Amarillo Face
Brew Type: Extract Date: 6/26/2011
Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer Brewer: Scott Churchill
Batch Size: 5.00 gal Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 3.50 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb DME Wheat Bavarian (Briess) (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 46.15 %
1.00 lb DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 15.38 %
1.00 lb Rice Extract Syrup (7.0 SRM) Extract 15.38 %
0.75 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 11.54 %
0.75 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 11.54 %
1.00 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 11.5 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (30 min) Hops 8.9 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (15 min) Hops 5.7 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) Yeast-Ale

Wheat Bottling Day

A couple of weeks ago I brewed a Cooper's Brewmaster Selection Wheat with three lbs of Wheat DME and a half lb of carpils steeped. Today I finally bottled it. I had a high FG at about 1.020. The beer tasted good, not sweet and no off flavors that I could tell. I looked up the priming amount for a wheat beer on a couple of sites and finally settled on about 5 oz of dextrose for my 5.5 gallon batch. But after bottling I realized I actually got a only about 4.8 gallons in the bottles. It may be a little over carbed but hopefully I get no bottle bombs.
I used 35 glass 12 oz bottles and 6 1 liter pet bottles. I usually dont use the pet bottles but after using them for my american brown ale I realized I liked them. Less bottles to fill and they hold just enough to fill my 20 oz pint glass twice. If I dont drink both glasses in one night then the pet bottle will hold the carb just fine for about 24 hrs until I finish the bottle. I havent tested the carb beyond that amount of time, however.

Some time has passed this I wrote the first portion of this post. I actually did try keeping beer in an open pet bottle for about 3 days and the carb was fine. The head was significantly less but it was still there.
I also have tried a couple of the wheat beer with less than a week in the bottle. It is really good. The only issue I have is I believe with the Coopers yeast. It leaves a kind of vanilla aftertaste. I also experienced this with the Coopers IPA kit I did a while ago. Of course it could be the extract but I would be led to believe that since its two totally different styles of beer and I used the fromunda Coopers yeast on both batches that it is the yeast.

But the wheat beer is nice and easy to drink. I dont know the exact ABV since I only did a FG hydrometer reading. But with qbrew I estimated it to be around 5% abv. I have a lot of outside projects to do around the house and the wheat beer will be a perfect thirst quencher.

Not ready to bottle.

Mr. Beer Double American Brown Ale

I was thinking about bottling my 317 wheat beer today. Which is just a can of Cooper's Brewmaster Selection Wheat extract with three lbs of wheat DME. But I took the gravity and it was above 1020 so I'm leaving it for about another week in the fermenter. I was really hoping to get this done today but I don't want to rush it and have bottle bombs or under fermented beer.
The other day I decided to try a bottle of the Mr. Beer Double American Brown ale that I brewed a few weeks ago. It spent three weeks in the bottle and was at 12 days in the bottle when I tasted it. I put it in the freezer for about half an hour and then tried it. It was surprisingly good. The pour was perfect with about 2-3 fingers of head, the color is a little dark for a brown ale. The flavor/aroma is really good nice and hoppy up front and carmelly in the back. I didn't do gravity readings on this but according to Mr. beer its about 6.5% ABV. I will try to let these condition for a few more weeks as I can only imagine how good this will taste with a few more weeks in the bottle. But I see myself grabbing one and putting it in the fridge to drink tonight. I bottled this in the Mr. Beer 1 liter bottles, so I had 8 and now only 7 one liter bottles.

National Homebrew Day, Brew day

Saturday was National Homebrew day so I decided to brew up a quick batch. That combined with the pipeline being low led me to brew an all extract batch, which is something I haven't done in a while. I got a Cooper's Brewmaster selection Wheat Beer. I added 3 lbs of DME and steeped half a lb of carapils for body and head.

I brought 1.5 gallons or so of water up to about 160 and added the carapils for about 20 minutes. Then I brought the water close to 200 and removed from the heat and added the DME. Then I brought that to a boil for about 10 minutes. I removed it from the heat and mixed in the Cooper's wheat extract. I added the wort to the fermenting bucket that had about half a gallon of cold water and then topped of to about 5.5 gallons. My temp was high so I put the bucket in an ice batch and cooled down to about 79 degrees before pitching the yeast. The OG was 1.052, and the wort tasted really good.

.5 lb Carapils (steeped)
3.75 lb Cooper's Brewmaster Selection Wheat
3 lb Briess Wheat DME
Coopers yeast