Sunday, April 18, 2010

Brewing the Bière de Garde

Just for record keeping purposes.

OG: 1.069 on the dot. Finished by 1:00 PM.

That's when I realized I forgot my 15 minute addition. BLAST!

I took my own advice from a while ago and made a hop tea on the stove top. Boiled for around 10 minutes. I should have taken a picture. It looked like pesto in the pot. I strained it and added it right to the wort.

Note: Don't start drinking at 10 AM.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

National Homebrew Day 2010 - American Craft Wheat


To celebrate National Homebrew Day this year, I'll once again pack all my stuff up and brew in the parking lot of Worm's Way (http://www.wormsway.com/missouri.aspx?t=store&AC=1). Worm's is sponsoring our efforts and I think that's really a superb way of promoting the hobby.

There are three recipes to choose from. http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/BigBrew2010
I've selected the American Craft Wheat.

Malt:
4lb 10.4 oz. 2-Row Pale Malt (56.7%)
3lb 5.6 oz. Wheat Malt (40.9%)
3.2 oz. Munich Malt (2.4%)

Mash at 145 degrees for 60 minutes (this is really low...)

Hops:
0.25 oz Simcoe pellets, (13% AA), first wort hop (FWH) addition

Yeast:
Wyeast 1010 American Wheat yeast

O.G.: 1.043
F.G.: 1.011
ABV: ~4.5%IBU: 13.1
SRM: 4

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fields of Rye Barleywine


Inspired by an abundance of 2-row barley in the grain silo, this one will take a little age to full appreciate. I estimate by the time the weather cools again around late harvest, a bottle of this might be welcome.

Malt bill:
13.5 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt
4.5 lb Briess Rye Malt
0.25 lb Dingemans Cara 20
0.125 lb Briess Caramel 80L Malt
0.5 lb Briess Victory® Malt

Hops bill:
2 oz Magnum (14% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.
1 oz Amarillo (7% AA, Pellet) @ 20 min.
1 oz Cascade (5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 20 min.
1 oz Amarillo (7% AA, Pellet) @ 5 min.
1 oz Cascade (5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 5 min.

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP001 California Ale

(@65% efficiency)
OG: 1.096
FG: 1.019
ABV: 10.7%
IBU: 106
SRM: 14