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.