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 -