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