Mockwerks Brewing Co.

Mocktoberfest Applesauce

2011-09-26T09:54:00.001-05:00

We've had a couple people ask about making the applesauce.

It's incredibly simple.

12 apples peeled and sliced
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Stir all ingredients together and cook in slow cooker on low for 8 hours (or on high for 3-4 hours).

I recommend stirring the mixture half way through to break up the bigger pieces and pushing the sauce off the sides.

Bitter-O-Honey

2011-09-01T10:21:00.001-05:00

Stovetop Brewing Series

Grist of a English Bitter, American versions of English hops, and Honey Malt from Canada. This could also be called Crown Colony Bitter.

1.7 lbs. Maris Otter

.1 lb. Carastan

.2 lb. Honey malt

.25 oz. Galena @ 60 min.

.5 oz. East Kent Goldings @ 5 min.

Nottingham yeast

OG 1.053

FG 1.011

IBU 57 (probably less based on age)

SRM 12

Mini Horse Dunkelweizen

2011-08-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

This is the same as the Draft Horse Dunkel, but in a smaller package.

.3 lb. Pilsner
.5 lb. Munich I
1.2 lbs. Wheat malt
.075 lb. (1.2 oz.) Special B
.075 lb. (1.2 oz.) Crystal 40
.025 lb. (.4 oz.) Carafa Special II

Big Daddy Cane Saison

2011-08-26T14:13:00.003-05:00

Here's your uninteresting fact of the day.

In the Belgian market, the share of refined white sugar

produced from sugar cane is among the lowest in the EU. Belgium is a major sugar beet

producer and has a negligible demand for imports of raw cane sugar for refining.

Is that going to stop me from using brown cane sugar in a Saison? Absoluut niet.

5 lbs. Pils

4 lbs. 2-Row

1 lb. Brown sugar

1 lb. Wheat malt

.5 lb. Carastan

.5 lb. CaraAmber

.75 oz. Galena @ 60 min.

1 oz. Styrian Golding @ 5 min.

WhiteLabs WLP565 Saison I (and maybe S-05 to finish drying it out)

OG 1.068

SRM 11

IBU 35

Beeman's Braggot

2011-07-26T14:48:00.001-05:00

6 lbs. Wild flower honey (64 fl. oz.)

7.25 lbs. 2-row barley

1.75 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 60 min.

S-04 Dry English yeast

OG: 1.080

FG: 1.017

IBU: 22

SRM: 5

Fool's Gold American Wheat

2011-07-15T11:13:00.000-05:00

No backstory. Just a hoppy American wheat.

4.5 lbs. 2-row

4.5 lbs. Wheat malt

.33 lbs. Caravienna

.35 oz. Summit hops @ 60 min.

1 oz. Cascade hops @ 10 min.

2 oz. Cascade hops for dry-hopping

OG: 1.051

FG: 1.011

ABV: 5.2%

IBU: 32

SRM: 6

Bramble On Saison

2011-07-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

I like blackberries. There you have it.

7.25 lbs. 2-row

1.66 lbs. Vienna

.33 lb. CaraVienne

1 lb. wheat flakes

1 lb. beet sugar

1 oz. Brewer's Gold hops @ 60 min.

.5 oz. Styrian Goldings @ 10 min.

WLP565 Saison

Racking onto 5 lbs. blackberries after primary fermentation.

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.015 (hopefully lower)

ABV: 6.1%

IBU: 30

SRM: 6 (before fruit)

Lamplighter Ale

2011-06-27T10:32:00.002-05:00

Meant to be enjoyed during the evening.

7C. Düsseldorf Altbier - Based off a recipe by Jamil Zainasheff.

Malt bill:
6 lb Pils
1.6 lb Vienna
1.6 lb Weyermann Munich I
0.6 lb Weyermann CaraMunich III
0.104 lb Weyermann Carafa II

Hops bill:
0.66 oz Horizon (13.6% AA, Pellet)
0.5 oz Tettnanger (4.5% AA, Whole)

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

OG: 1.050

FG: 1.011

ABV: 5.1

IBU: 44

SRM: 21

Wielerkoers Ale

2011-06-13T15:39:00.000-05:00

Did you know that Roeselare is the home to the Nationaal Wielermuseum? No? That's the National Cycling Museum for you non-Dutch speaking types. Apparently Roeselare and the Belgians have enough of a passion for two-wheeled transportation that they have a nice little museum dedicated to the sport in the town.

You can read more about it here. Make sure your translator is at the ready.
http://www.wielermuseum.be/

Now on to the recipe. This is a Flanders Red taken from Jamil Zainasheff's recipe on Beer Du Jour, not Brewing Classic Styles. Here is the link to the original.
http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/The_Jamil_Show_-_Flanders_Red_Ale.html

The exciting part of this is that it will be brewed, then blended with other beers from the same recipe, then wine barrel aged! Awesome!

Here is my adaptation for my brewing system.

3.6 lbs. Pilsener
4 lbs. Vienna Malt
0.4 lbs. Aromatic Malt
2.4 lbs. Munich Malt
0.4 lbs. CaraMunich Malt
0.4 lbs. Special B Malt
0.4 lbs. Wheat Malt

.7 oz. EK Goldings @60 min

2 packets of Wyeast Roeselare blend

OG: 1.059
FG: 1.011 (or less)
ABV: 6.2
IBU: 16
SRM: 19

Mocktoberfest Mustard

2011-05-24T15:34:00.001-05:00

Another addition to Mocktoberfest.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
2 1/2 tablespoons brown mustard seeds
1/3 cup Hefeweizen ale
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
Pinch ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Directions:
In a non-reactive bowl, combine all ingredients and refrigerate overnight, covered.

Transfer the mustard mixture to a blender and process until mustard has obtained the desired texture and thickness; it is equally delicious whether you leave it chunky or smooth. Store in an airtight, non-reactive container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Mockwerks Pickled Sausage

2011-05-24T15:06:00.001-05:00

I have actually made this before, but I always lose the recipe and have to find it again on Homebrewtalk.com. I thought I would put it down here so I can keep it.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f56/pickled-sausage-112481/

This will be for Mocktoberfest in September.

The Recipe

The brine gets boiled and cooled slightly. Then layer, sausage, onions, jalapenos, garlic (2-layers) in a large gallon size jar. Then pour the slightly cooled brine over the pickling ingredients.

Brine Ingredients
8 cups vinegar
4 cups water
4 tablespoons of pickling spices
4 tablespoons of pickling salt
2 tablespoons of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons of black peppercorn balls
Pickling Items
1 teaspoon of minced garlic (add in 1/2tsp qty, 2X)
2 Smoked Sausage Links (Sliced about 3/4") (Sausage must say they are pre-cooked)
2 Onions (Sliced Thin)
5 Jalapenos (sliced thin)

Credit to Homebrewtalk.com for the picture.

Pootie Tang American Wheat

2011-04-25T14:59:00.002-05:00

UPDATE!

Kraft Foods no longer makes Sugar Free Tang! I am forced to use Crystal Light, but I'm for sure not calling this Pooty Crystal Light Ale.

Why not? I'm thinking Heritage Brewers Festival needs this.

5 lbs. 2-row

5 lbs. wheat malt

.33 lb. Caravienna

.35 oz. Summit hops @ 60 min

S-05 yeast

OG: 1.060

FG: 1.013

ABV: 6.0%

IBU: 26

SRM: 6

Sugar-free Tang added at kegging!

Black Dragon Wit

2011-04-12T10:26:00.000-05:00

What makes a Belgian Wit into a Black Dragon Wit? The answer is Oolong tea. For the upcominng National Homebrew Day, one of the recipes is called Season of the Wit. The recommendation is to include locally available herbs, flowers, etc. to make the Wit your own. I don't care about adding dandelions and other yard weeds to my beer, but I am fascinated with adding tea.

Here is the original recipe:

O.G.: 1.053

F.G.: 1.013

IBU: 13

SRM: 4.5

Fermentables:

5 lb (2.3 kg) 2-Row Pale Malt (50%), 3 SRM

2 lb (0.91 kg) Wheat Malt (20%), 2 SRM

3 lb (1.4 kg) Flaked Soft White Wheat (30%), 2 SRM

Hops:

0.7 oz (20 g) Mt. Hood whole hop, (6.5% AA), @ 60 minutes

Extras:

1.0 to 1.5 oz (28 to 43 g) fresh orange zest (1 or 2 oranges), added at 5 minutes left in boil

0.5 to 6.25 oz (14 to 184 g) fresh crushed/ground coriander seeds, added at 5 minutes left

Local Flower:

Local Herb:

Local Spice:

Local Fruit:

Yeast:

Two (2) packages Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier; or two (2) packages White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale yeast, or make an appropriate size yeast starter

In addition to this, I'll also be adding a few cups of fine grade Oolong. I'll be doing some tasting before this to get the right concentration.

Little Pig Wheat Beer

2011-02-17T13:41:00.000-06:00

This is actually the second version of this beer, if you look down through the old posts. I like the name and I want to give this a another shot.

4.5 lbs. Malteries Franco-Belges Pale Wheat
4.5 lbs. 2-row

.75 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 60 min.
.25 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 20 min.
.25 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 0 min.

White Labs WLP300

OG: 1.049
FG: 1.012
SRM: 4
IBU: 16

Shorthorn Ale

2011-01-11T11:35:00.004-06:00

American Red Ale

9 lbs. American 2-row

.8 lb. Crystal 40

.4 lb. Crystal 80

2 oz. Magnum hops @ 60 min.

1 oz. American blend hops (TBD) @ 20 min.

2 oz. American blend hops (TBD) @ 0 min.

2 oz. American blend hops (TBD) Dry hop

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

OG: 1.056

FG: 1.011

ABV: 5.9%

SRM: 15

IBU: 80+

Whitefish Bay Porter

2010-10-28T11:01:00.001-05:00

"The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay

if they'd put fifteen more miles behind 'er."

Since this in an Edmund Fitzgerald clone, it seems only right to include the words of the greatest troubadour the world may ever know.

Credit for this recipe goes to Tim Cochran of the St. Louis Brews.

8.75 lbs. 2-row

1 lb. Crystal 60

.5 lb. Roasted barley

.5 lb. Chocolate malt

1 oz. Northern Brewer (8% AA) @ 60 min.

.75 oz. Fuggle (4.7% AA) @ 30 min.

.5 oz. Cascade (5.0%) @ 1 min.

Using S-04 Dry English Yeast

OG: 1.058

FG: 1.013

ABV: 6.0%

IBU: 41

SRM: DARK

No Mercy, More Turkey Ale

2010-10-25T13:28:00.001-05:00

Birds shall receive no quarter. Should be a fine drink for Thanksgiving festivities.

This one should have a nice biscuity/bready flavor from the Vienna and Carastan malts to support the punch of American hops.

8 lbs. American 2-Row

1 lb. German Vienna

.5 lb. English Carastan (30L)

.5 lb. Belgian Wheat malt

1 oz. Magnum (14% AA) @ 60 min

.25 oz. Amarillo (9% AA) @ 10 min.

.25 oz. Cascade (5% AA) @ 10 min.

.5 oz. Amarillo (9% AA) @ 0 min.

.5 oz. Cascade (5% AA) @ 0 min.

OG: 1.055

FG: 1.013

ABV: 5.7%

IBU: 47

SRM: 7

Day of the Scarecrow

2010-10-25T08:36:00.001-05:00

I attempted to start the brew day early in the morning, but after just a little bit, it seemed the mojo was not with me. I finally put a stop to it once I couldn't get my garden hose to seal up and my son was non-stop crying because he hadn't slept long enough.

But things improved.

My son went back to sleep and I ran to Home Depot to get a hose mender. With that, the day took off. Nothing fantastic to report other than 106.5 The Arch plays a lot of power ballads on Sunday afternoons. I started just past 11 and was all cleaned up and done by 3:30, thanks to my fellow brewers.

1.050 on the dot and a nice flavor. See...scarecrows aren't that scary after all.

Scarecrow Ale

2010-10-18T15:43:00.001-05:00

If you've ever met anyone who said that scarecrows aren't creepy, they were a dirty liar. Scarecrows are in the same family as ventriloquist puppets, dead-eyed porcelain dolls, and clowns. Creepy all the way through.

Maybe the beer can redeem them? We'll see.

7.5 lbs. 2-row Barley malt

.5 lb. Flaked corn

.33 lb. Flaked barley

.33 Crystal 20 Barley malt

.75 oz. Tettnang (5% AA) @ 60 min.

.5 oz. Tettnang (5% AA) @ 10 min.

US-05 Dry yeast

OG: 1.049

FG: 1.011

ABV: 5.0%

IBU: 20

SRM: 4

Brewing the Dubbel

2010-09-16T09:37:00.001-05:00

Here are some notes from the day.

The brew day didn't start until almost 10
Willie came over with 1 lb. of Munich
I substituted the Caramunich with American Crystal 40
Willie brewed a 1 gallon batch of all oat malt
I used pH stabilizer for both mash and sparge
I pulled almost 9 gallons of runnings
I had to boil for over 2 hours to get the volume I needed
I didn't forget any additions, including the rock candy and sugar which I generally forget
The OG was 1.082, which is way over recipe and target style

The ferment action started fairly quickly and required a blowoff after 24 hours. This will go in bottles due to the strength.

Raisin Hell Dubbel

2010-09-11T13:36:00.000-05:00

This is just a carbon copy of Jamil Zainasheff's Dubbel found in Brewing Classic Styles with one small addition.
Raisins.

6 gallon batch
1.064
1.012

10.6 Pilsner
1.0 Munich
0.5 Aromatic
0.5 Caramunich
0.5 Special B
0.75 Dark candi syrup
0.5 Table Sugar

Mash at 149F w/ 90 minute boil

Hops Tettnang 4.5AA 1.5 ounce 90 minute (23 IBU)
4 oz. raisins at flameout

Mockwerks Belgian Blend yeast

Temperature 64F slow 7 day rise to 70F.

Brewing the extract ale, now known as Mocktoberfest Ale

2010-09-05T15:30:00.002-05:00

In truth, I brewed this almost a month ago. Instead of breaking open little bags of caramel malts to steep with, I used an old bag of pre-crushed malts that were supposed to be part of an Oktoberfest extract kit from Northern Brewer. Hence, Mocktoberfest Ale was born.
I used the two cans of extract that I had planned originally along with the old grain that was steeped at 152-ish for about 20 minutes.
The whole thing was wrapped up by 10:30. Nice!
My hop additions were to the original recipe. This may have been a mistake. The Oktoberfest grains, which by the way aren't the same as they used to be on the NB website, were over the top caramel.
Flash forward 4 weeks and now I have a dry-hopped Oktoberfest style ale that smells EXACTLY like a Werther's Original.

Remember kids. Don't take candy from strangers. Beer...that's ok.

Big River Ale

2010-07-22T16:49:00.000-05:00

This is yet another Two-Hearted clone attempt, but I have a feeling this one is closer than the Tackle Box IPA. Jim H of the Garage Brewer's Society (garagebrewers.com) made this recipe and has brewed and tweaked it multiple times to get it as close as possible.

Malt bill:
5.6 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt
2.8 lb DeWolf-Cosyns Pilsen
0.8 lb Briess Munich 20L Malt
1.2 lb Briess Vienna Malt
1.2 lb Dingemans Pale Wheat

Hops bill:
1.25 oz Centennial (9.5% AA, Pellet) @ 35 min.
0.75 oz Centennial (9.5% AA, Pellet) @ 15 min.
0.75 oz Centennial (9.5% AA, Pellet) @ 10 min.
0.75 oz Centennial (9.5% AA, Pellet) @ 5 min.
0.75 oz Centennial (9.5% AA, Pellet) @ 0 min.

Yeast:
WhiteLabs WLP007 Dry English Ale

OG: 1.059
FG: 1.012
ABV: 6.3
IBU: 68
SRM: 7

Amber Waves of Extract Ale

2010-07-16T09:06:00.001-05:00

I've had two cans of Coopers extract in my collection of brewing stuff for about 2 years now and I think it's time to use them. Without further ado...

Malt bill:

6.6 lb Coopers Light 2-row LME

0.33 lb Briess Caramel 20L Malt

0.33 lb Briess Caramel 80L Malt

Hops bill:

0.5 oz Magnum (14% AA, Pellet) @ 60

0.5 oz Cascade (5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 20

0.5 oz Cascade (5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 10

0.5 oz Cascade (5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 1

Yeast:

Fermentis Safale US-05 (US-56) American Ale (dry)

OG: 1.051

FG: 1.011

ABV: 5.3

IBU: 40

SRM: 15

Yardarm Ale

2010-07-12T15:01:00.004-05:00

I started this recipe with the intent to make some version of a pirate-themed spiced rum ale, but I really think it would end up tasting like a pumpkin beer and that isn't refreshing in summer. So sticking with the sailing/pirate theme in name only, here is one of my favorite styles. Saison.

Malt bill:
9 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt
0.5 lb Briess Caramel 20L Malt
0.33 lb Dingemans CaraVienne
0.33 lb Dingemans Aromatic
1 lb Cane sugar

Hops bill:
1 oz Brewers Gold (7% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.
0.5 oz Styrian Golding (5% AA, Pellet) @ 15 min.

Additions:
1/2 tsp. crushed coriander @ 15 min.
1 tsp. sweet orange peel @ 10 min.

Yeast:
WhiteLabs WLP566 Saison II

OG: 1.066
FG: 1.013
ABV: 7.1
IBU: 35
SRM: 8

Grain Bin Ale

2010-06-09T15:43:00.000-05:00

This is a modification of the cream ale that I brewed last year. I enjoyed the flavor, but the alcohol was a little high for easy drinking.

Malt bill:

7 lbs Briess Brewers 2-row Malt

0.75 lb Briess Yellow Corn Flakes

0.25 lb Briess Barley Flakes

0.25 lb Briess Oat Flakes

Hops bill:

0.75 oz Tettnang(US) (5% AA, Pellet)

0.5 oz Tettnang(US) (5% AA, Pellet)

Yeast: Fermentis Safale US-05 (US-56) American Ale (dry)

OG: 1.047

FG: 1.010

ABV: 4.8

IBU: 22

SRM: 3

Remy's French Ale

2010-05-20T15:01:00.011-05:00

It's not a Biere de Garde. It's not a Saison. What is it? A light colored dry sparkling French ale based on my standard Belgian Blond recipe. Lower in alcohol than the blond, designed for easy drinking in the heat of summer.

Here are the numbers.

6.65 lbs. (6 lbs. 10.4 oz.) Briess Brewers 2-row Malt

0.35 lb (5.6 oz.) Briess White Wheat Malt

0.35 lb (5.6 oz.)DeWolf-Cosyns Aromatic

.7 lb (11.2 oz.) cane sugar

2.5 oz Styrian Golding (2.6% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

WLP072 French Ale

OG: 1.048

FG: 1.010

ABV: 5.1%

IBU: 28

SRM: 3

Brewing the American Craft Wheat for NHD

2010-05-08T16:34:00.003-05:00

This day didn't start out as planned.
1. I got there late.
2. I didn't have my recipe.
3. I didn't have my water calculations.
4. I didn't have my hops.

It seemed nobody else was quite working the same way I was, so I couldn't find someone with the calculations I needed. Forgetting that, it was still a successful day.

I ran home and grabbed some Magnum hops while mashing and I made a call to Willie to get my water numbers. At the end, I put just over 5 gallons in the bucket at 1.042. This was after shorting myself a little on grain and shorting myself a little on water too.

Today also marked the maiden voyage for my chiller, which I finally completed last night. It worked like a charm and cooled 5 gallons down in no time. I'll make a separate post on that later.

Since I've ran myself short on time, this beer will be my Brewers Heritage Fest beer. I'm sure the kiddies will like it.

Brewing the Bière de Garde

2010-04-18T16:35:00.002-05:00

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.

National Homebrew Day 2010 - American Craft Wheat

2010-04-14T08:23:00.004-05:00

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

Fields of Rye Barleywine

2010-04-01T14:58:00.003-05:00

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

Brisby's Blond Ale

2010-03-24T15:35:00.004-05:00

Brisby? Mrs. Johnathan Brisby?

After a while, it gets boring naming your French and Belgian beers after types of mice, so I thought I'd name this one after one of my favorite mice in literature. This is a Belgian blond that is going to be brewed for the Brewer's Heritage Festival on June 11th and 12th in Forrest Park. Last year's ale went very quickly and so I hope this one will be just as popular.

Malt bill:
9.5 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt
0.5 lb Briess White Wheat Malt
0.5 lb DeWolf-Cosyns Aromatic
1 lb Cane sugar

Hops bill:
2.5 oz Styrian Golding (2.6% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP530 Abbey Ale

Spiced with:
0.5 oz crushed coriander, 0 minutes
0.5 tsp Grains of paradise, 0 minutes
0.25 oz Curacao (sweet) orange peel, 0 minutes
0.25 oz Valencia (bitter) orange peel, 0 minutes

OG: 1.068
FG: 1.015
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: 23
SRM: 5

Aye Aye, Cap'n Cream Ale

2010-03-23T14:50:00.006-05:00

We'll call this the first of my whimsical brews, even though it may never get made.

This is built off the same basic recipe as the Dirty Cow Farmhouse Ale, but using *defatted Cap'n Crunch for the flaked corn.

4 lbs. 2-row malt

4 lbs. pilsner malt

1.5 lbs. *defatted Original Cap'n Crunch

.5 Caramel 20L

.5 oz Northern Brewer ( 8.0% AA, Pellet) at 60 min.

.5 oz Saaz ( 4.0% AA, Whole) at 10 min.

WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

This is a guess...

OG: 1.053

FG: 1.012

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 22

SRM: 4

*Defatting the Cap'n Crunch is basically smashing it into little pieces and pressing it between paper towel. The Cap'n is loaded with coconut oil, which doesn't make for good beer.

Ingredients for Original Cap'n Crunch.

CORN FLOUR, SUGAR, OAT FLOUR, BROWN SUGAR, COCONUT OIL, SALT, NIACINAMIDE*, YELLOW 5, REDUCED IRON, ZINC OXIDE, YELLOW 6, THIAMIN MONONITRATE*, BHT (A PRESERVATIVE), PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE*, RIBOFLAVIN*, FOLIC ACID*.

*ONE OF THE B VITAMINS.

Ploughman's Ale

2010-03-19T11:22:00.002-05:00

This ale is somewhere between a Kölsch and a Northern German Alt. It's slightly darker than a Kölsch, but not as dark as an alt. This is also a SMaSH beer meaning single-malt, single-hop.

I want this beer to be crisp and clean with a little more hop bite than the typical Kölsch.

On to the recipe.

Malt bill:

9 lb Briess Vienna Malt

Hops bill:

1 oz Tettnang(US) (5% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

1 oz Tettnang(US) (5% AA, Pellet) @ 15 min.

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

OG: 1.047

FG: 1.010

ABV: 4.8

IBU: 34

SRM: 6

Brewing the Stove Top

2010-03-11T13:38:00.010-06:00

It was fun. Small scale brewing might just be my new thing. It'll certainly due in a pinch.

Here's a pictorial account of my process.

1. Heat up water to ~155

2. Crush the specialty grain with a meat tenderizer. (This leads to a pretty inconsistent crush, but I just need color and flavor.)

3. Add the crushed grain directly to the warmed water without using a grain bag. This is the similar to the difference between tea bags and loose leaf tea. The picture below shows the steeped grain liquid after full absorption of water in the grain.

4. After 20 minutes or so, I strained the weak wort into a larger kettle.

5. Once the wort was brought to boiling, I killed the heat and added my DME. I brought it back to boiling and added the first hops.

6. After a last minute addition of more hops, it was time to chill. Since this is such a small batch, it only takes the ice in the freezer to get it down.

7. Time to go into the jug fermenter. I used my handy strainer and funnel to get my chilled wort to its 2-week resting place.

The next time I do this, I'm going to account for more boil off. I didn't have this at a crazy boil, but between the grain and hops soaking up their share, I'm a little short.

Stove Top Best Bitter

2010-03-10T10:27:00.003-06:00

Truth be told, I'm on a medical vacation...but I need to brew. Hmm...how about a 1 gallon batch done on the stove?

Malt bill:
1 lb Briess Pilsen DME
0.25 lb Briess Caramel 40L Malt

Hops bill:
0.3 oz Kent Golding (5.3% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

0.2 oz Kent Golding (5.3% AA, Pellet) @ 1 min.

Yeast: Muntons dry ale yeast

OG: 1.044

FG: 1.010

ABV: 4.5

IBU: 37

SRM: 14

Current hop inventory - March 10, 2010

2010-03-10T10:08:00.004-06:00

Just for my sake, really.

Hop Name Total Oz.

Cascade 20.7

Celeia 4

Centennial 14.1

Chinook 1.25

Fuggles 4.8

Kent Goldings 4.35

Magnum 14.8

Northern Brewer 0.65

Saaz 0.55

Sterling 0.95

Strisselspalt 1

Styrian Goldings 4

Tettnanger 16.5

Top of the 3rd IPA

2010-03-01T11:06:00.009-06:00

Yet another recipe in my quest to make an IPA that really knocks my sox off.

Name: Top of the 3rd IPA

Style: American IPA

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.016

Batch Size: 5 gallons US

Boil Size: 6.5 gallons US

Color: 7.91 SRM

IBU: 68.62 Tinseth

ABV %: 6.4 Volume

############### Fermentables ###############

American Two-Row 9.5 lb 84.4%

British Carastan 0.8 lb 6.7%

Munich Dark 0.7 lb 5%

Flaked Barley 0.5 lb 3.8%

############### Hops ###############

Magnum 1 oz 14% Boil 60

Cascade 0.75 oz 6% Boil 30

Amarillo 1 oz 9.5% Boil 20

Centennial 0.5 oz 10.5% Boil 10

Cascade 1 oz 6% Boil 1

Cascade 1 oz 6% Dry Hop

Blacksheep Dry Stout

2010-02-09T13:11:00.008-06:00

I won't bore you with any World War II history, so I'll let you read at your leisure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMA-214

If it's possible to have a favorite airplane, the F4U Corsair would be mine. It stems from building a model when I was young. It was so much cooler than my brother's P51 Mustang.

On to the recipe. This is Ted O'Neill's prize winning Dry Stout that was featured at the 2009 Brewer's Heritage Festival after winning the St. Louis Brew's HHHC.

Malt:

6.8 lbs. 2-row

1.2 lbs. flaked barley

.8 lb. roasted barley

.4 lb. malted wheat

Hops:

2 oz. Fuggle (4.7 AA%) @ 60 min.

Yeast:

WLP004 Irish Ale yeast

OG: 1.050

FG: 1.011

ABV: 5.2%

IBU: 39

SRM: BLACK!

Brushfire Imperial IPA

2010-01-28T08:21:00.006-06:00

What is a hop-bomb? Some people would define it different ways. I define it as a beer that has an outrageous amount of American hops with a nearly balancing amount of malt, but not that balanced.

I don't know if this counts as a hop bomb in most people's opinions, but it does for me.

Malt bill:

14.5 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt

1 lb Briess Caramel 40L Malt

0.33 lb Briess Victory® Malt

Hops bill:

1.5 oz Magnum (14% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

0.5 oz Centennial (8.5% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

1 oz Cascade (5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 30 min.

1 oz Amarillo (7% AA, Pellet) @ 20 min.

1 oz Centennial (8.5% AA, Pellet) @ 10 min.

1 oz Amarillo (7% AA, Pellet) @ 1 min.

1 oz Cascade (5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 1 min.

Dry hopped with Cascade and Amarillo

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP001 California Ale

OG: 1.082 (70% efficiency)

FG: 1.016

ABV: 9

IBU: 116!

SRM: 15

White Rabbit Witbier

2010-01-27T11:14:00.003-06:00

This is a recipe by Dr. Scott of the Brewing Network for a Belgian Wit. I've never made a Wit, but I've made a Saison that is similar in spicing. This should be lighter in color and alcohol content than the Saison, but have a little more flavor and bite from the acid malt.

Malts:

5.5 lb Belgian Wheat

2 lb American Six-Row

1 lb Oats (Flaked)

0.13 lb German Acid Malt

Hops:

.5 oz.Northern Brewer (7% AA) @ 90 minutes

.25 oz. Saaz (3.8% AA) @ 30 minutes

.25 oz. Saaz (3.8% AA) @ 5 minutes

Extras added to the boil:

0.5 oz crushed coriander, 0 minutes

0.25 oz Curacao (sweet) orange peel, 0 minutes

0.25 oz Valencia (bitter) orange peel, 0 minutes

0.50 Oz Chamomile, 0 minutes

1 tbsp. flour, 0 minutes

Yeast:

White Labs WLP410 Belgian Wit II

OG: 1.047

FG: 1.012

ABV%: 4.74

SRM: 3.3

IBU: 14.75

Field Mouse Pale Ale

2010-01-26T13:42:00.003-06:00

This is a Belgian Pale Ale that will be brewed when it gets warmer outside. Belgian Pale Ales are usually found in Flemish provinces of Antwerp and Brabant and are considered "everyday beers". They are much lower in alcohol than many of the other Belgian styles and are very balanced in flavor.

Malt:

6.75 lbs. Belgian Pilsnen

2.5 lbs. German Vienna

.5 lb. Belgian Caramunich

1 oz. Belgian Black malt

Hops:

.75 oz. Styrian Goldings (5.5 AA%) @ 60 min.

1 oz. Saaz (4 AA%) @ 30 min.

1 oz. Saaz (4 AA%) @ 5 min.

Yeast:

White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale, WLP515 Antwerp Ale, or WLP530 Abbey Ale

OG: 1.052

FG: 1.013

ABV: 5.2%

SRM: 11

IBU: 23

The Raven Black IPA

2010-01-25T14:29:00.006-06:00

The style for this beer is not an official category for the BJCP, but it's made quite a craze for itself among craft breweries and homebrewers alike. It utilizes a good amount of debittered dark malt to get color and roast without grain bitterness or harshness associated with blackened malts or blackened grains.

This was adapted from a published Northern Brewer recipe.

Grain:

11.5 lbs. American Two-Row

.5 lb. Crystal 80

.375 lb. Carafa III

.375 lb. Chocolate

Other fermentables:

1 lb. corn sugar

Hops:

1.25 oz. Magnum (14% AA) @ 60 min.

1 oz. Simcoe (13% AA) @ 15 min.

1 oz. Centennial (8.5% AA) @ 10 min.

1 oz. Cascade (6% AA) @ 5 min.

1 oz. Amarillo (9.5% AA) @ 0 min.

1 oz. Amarillo (9.5% AA) (Dry-hop)

OG: 1.077

FG: 1.019

ABV: 8%

SRM: 33

IBU: 66

Wolfhound Irish Ale

2010-01-19T12:53:00.005-06:00

This is a clone of a Northern Brewer recipe except I have exchanged their chocolate malt for pale chocolate.

BJCP style: 9D. Irish Red Ale

Malt bill:

6.5 lb Simpsons (Maris Otter)

0.5 lb Simpsons CaraMalt

0.25 lb Simpsons Golden Naked Oats

0.25 lb Fawcett Pale Chocolate

1 lb Honey

Hops bill:

1 oz Cluster (7% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP004 Irish Ale

OG: 1.049

FG: 1.013

ABV: 4.8

IBU: 29

SRM: 18

Bottling the Tackle Box IPA

2010-01-18T09:35:00.005-06:00

I wanted to write up a quick post on bottling the Tackle Box IPA only because I'd dry-hopped it ten days before. I used whole leaf hops for the purpose along with a little pellet. The whole leaf hops soaked up a ton of beer!

From TackleBox_IPA

The smell of orange was HUGE! It may not be much to look at though. I pulled off the leaves with a strainer because my siphon started sucking them up.

Here's a pic when it's ready for bottling.

From TackleBox_IPA

Notice the swirl of green goodness on top? Hop residue. The color came out a lot lighter than I'd expected. The taste was really fresh, but I'm not sure it'll have the malt backbone I wanted. It may require a bit more Crystal the next time I brew it. I guarantee there will be a next time, too!

Harvester American Ale

2010-01-08T10:19:00.003-06:00

This is an American amber/red ale that's sure to please. It's not a killer on the hops, but enough to make sure you know they're in there.

This has been adapted from Jamil's recipe for West Coast Amber.

8.5 lbs. American 2-row

.33 lb. Briess Victory

.75 lb. Crystal 40

.75 lb. Dark Munich

.33 lb. Crystal 120

.2 lb. Pale Chocolate

.5 oz. Magnum (14.5% AA) @ 60 min.

.5 oz. Cascade (6% AA) @ 10 min.

.5 oz. Centennial (8.75% AA) @ 10 min.

.5 oz. Cascade (6% AA) @ 0 min.

.5 oz. Centennial (8.75% AA) @ 0 min.

White Labs California Ale WLP001

OG: 1.057

FG: 1.015

ABV: 5.7%

IBU: 37

SRM: 15

Longhorn American Wheat

2009-12-23T15:54:00.005-06:00

This is a clone of Three Floyds' Gumballhead Wheat beer. This beer uses exclusively Amarillo hops for all additions. Amarillo, TX was one of the great cattle markets in the US and I thought it'd be a fitting to name this beer after the animal that made the town a hub. A stretch...I know.

This is the first recipe I've posted that utilizes the "hop bursting" technique of using a small amount early addition hops and a lot of late editions to get the big citrus flavor and bitterness. It's also the first to use first wort hopping.

5.1 lbs. Malted wheat

4.25 lbs. 2-row

.85 lb. Caravienne

.25 oz. Amarillo (first wort hop)

.25 oz. Amarillo @ 60 min.

.5 oz. Amarillo @ 15 min.

1.25 oz. Amarillo @ 5 min.

1 oz. Amarillo @ 1 min.

1.5 oz. Amarillo (dry hop)

White Lab California Ale V (WLP051)

OG: 1.054

FG: 1.014

ABV: 5.4%

IBU: 29

SRM: 9

Whig Party Wheat

2009-12-17T08:14:00.007-06:00

Concept beer only:

A little history.

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832. In addition to his political achievements, Earl Grey famously gives his name to an aromatic blend of tea.

I want to make a beer using Earl Grey tea, but I'm torn on if I want to use the actual tea itself or just the bergamot orange extract/oil. At any rate, here it is.

4.5 lbs. Malteries Franco-Belges Pale Wheat

4.5 lbs. Pilsnen

.75 oz. Hallertau (4%) @ 45 minutes

10 bags of Earl Grey tea steeped for 4 minutes at flame out

WLP 300 Hefewiezen Ale

At 70% efficiency that gives

OG: 1.049

FG: 1.012

ABV: 4.9%

IBU: 13

SRM: 2 (this will change based on the tea addition)

Pullman Porter

2009-12-15T12:47:00.003-06:00

This, again, is just a scaled version of the robust porter recipe from Jamil. I use Jamil's recipes as the launching point for my foray into styles and I'll branch out from there.

Grain bill:

8 lbs. .8 oz. American 2-row malt

1lb. .8 oz. Munich (20L) malt

1 lb. .8 oz. Crystal 40 malt

5.6 oz. Black Patent malt

8.4 oz. Chocolate malt

Hop bill:

1.65 oz. Kent Goldings @ 60 min.

.75 oz. Kent Goldings @ 1 min.

Yeast:

WLP001 California Ale/WLP060 American Blend

OG: 1.059

FG: 1.012

ABV: 6.3%

IBU: 36

SRM: (Not calculated)

Pfeffernüssebier

2009-12-09T10:58:00.005-06:00

Pfeffernüsse are spicy cookies made around Christmas in Germany. They're made with ground nuts and spices including black pepper, cloves, anise, cinnamon and nutmeg. Although this recipe is basically an English oatmeal stout, the addition of ground Pfeffernüsse cookies to the mash will hopefully give the beer the characteristic flavor of these great cookies.

I might not make it this year, but I will for Christmas next year.

Batch size:5 gallons

BJCP style:13C. Oatmeal Stout

Malt bill:

7.8 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt

.83 lb Briess Oat Flakes

.625 lb Dingemans Chocolate

.625 lb Briess Victory Malt

.42 lb Briess Caramel 80L Malt

.42 lb Briess Roasted Barley

Additons:

7 oz. of ground Pfeffernüsse cookies in the mash

Hops bill:

1.5 oz Goldings ( 5.5% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

Yeast:

WhiteLabs WLP002 English Ale

OG: 1.058

FG: 1.017

ABV: 5.4

IBU: 38

SRM: 35

Brewing the Tackle Box IPA

2009-12-07T09:33:00.002-06:00

I finally got around to brewing the Tackle Box recipe from September.

There's nothing exceptional to report. The only interesting item was that I was told my thermometer was about 5 degrees too warm at typical mash temps. This time, I attempted to counter that, but I still ended up a little too cool. I made a hot water addition to get it up a little and let it go when it hit 153.

The hop additions were plentiful. The AA% on my Centennial was only 8.7% and my recipe was formulated for 9.5%. I used .25 oz. of Magnum at 60 minutes to get my IBUs to my recipe. This thing is nice and bitter with lots of hop aroma and taste.

Started at 9, finished by 2:15.

OG: 1.068 (78% efficiency)

Pecan Tree American Brown

2009-11-19T16:23:00.006-06:00

Here's the first draft of an American brown ale made with roasted nuts in the mash.

Malt bill:

8.375 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt

1 lb Briess Caramel 80L Malt

1 lb Briess Barley Flakes

0.125 lb Weyermann DH Carafa II

2 cups of roasted pecans

Hops bill:

1 oz Willamette (5% AA, Pellet) at 60 min.

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP001 California Ale

OG: 1.054

FG: 1.011

ABV: 5.7

IBU: 23

SRM: 25

Brewing the Reindeer

2009-11-10T08:37:00.004-06:00

I had to wait a couple days before I could post on this if that gives you any indication of how it went.

...

I packed all of my stuff up in the Wunderauto and was off to the O'Fallon brewery by 8:30 AM. I showed up and nobody else was around. No problem. My pick of brewing spots. I walked inside to meet Brian Owens, who happens to be the Head Brewer for O'Fallon. What an great guy! He's a hard working man. He basically helped me all day, but I'll get to that.

We milled my grain using O'Fallon's mill. It made short work of the 23.5 lbs. He pulled water straight from his hot liquor tank for us to use. It was a little warm for the mash in, but it worked fine. After lots of stirring and some cold water, according to the same thermometer I use every time, I was in a 154. The mash wasn't even that thick, which surprised all of us. More people were gathering now and it was starting to be fun. I was explaining the process to a couple people and I was in my element.

The first minor issue. I pulled the first runnings without a problem. I sparged in with more of the hot water...without checking the temp. Bad idea. My sparge was sitting at 150. Blek! I need the hotter water to make sure all the sugars get into solution. Think of it like dumping sugar into warm tea. It takes a lot of stirring to get the sugar to dissolve.

The second and major issue. I hadn't brought any cooling method. Honestly, my thinking was that there was going to be at least ten brewers there and surely I could use someone's immersion chiller. Nope. There were four brewers including me and it wasn't looking promising. Brian to the rescue. He pulled out a plate chiller and pump. So cool! I've never seen one in action, much less use one for my brew.

The time came to chill. Brian engineered some fittings using my tubing (bad idea) to connect to the chiller. My tubing always does fine to pull off the cooled wort, but it was a total failure at pulling near boiling liquid. Between the temp and the pump, it collapsed after just a minute of so and dropped the flow rate to a trickle.

That was acceptable for a while...until I clogged the plate chiller. It could have been that fact that I let it suck on one of the hop bags for a while or maybe that I didn't use a hop bag at all for the first addition. Whatever it was...it was a lost cause. Once again, Brian helped and tried to get it back pressured to flush it, but it was done.

I still had a fair amount in the kettle. Steaming hot and nowhere to go. Jim Leabig (the unofficial organizer for the day) had pity on me, boiled his chiller and let me use it. By this point, my wort had sat for a while. I was warned, rightfully so, that if there's any infection after the first ferment, that I wouldn't make it to the barrel. So be it. I pulled out the rest, which wasn't much. That left my 6.5 gallon carboy with a lot of headspace after leaving a little in the kettle and losing some to the ground during the transfer through the chill plate.

Final tested gravity was 22 Brix, which is 1.088 or so.

The lessons learned:

1. Bring your own chilling method.

2. Make sure all the tubing that can be used on the hot side is able to take the heat.

3. Test your water temp for all processes. (This isn't usually an issue since I'm typically heating my own mash and sparge water.)

Reindeer Games Russian Imperial Stout

2009-11-05T10:55:00.001-06:00

This is going to be brewed on Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day at O'Fallon's brewery. It's part of a bourbon barrel project hosted by the Garage Brewers' Society. The bourbon barrel is from the Four Roses distillery.

Grain:
19 lbs. Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter 77.4%
1.5 lbs. Roasted barley (500 L) 8.5%
1 lb. Special B (120 L) 5.6%
.5 lb. Caramunich (60 L) 2.8%
.5 lb. Chocolate Malt (350 L) 2.8%
.5 lb. Pale chocolate malt (200 L) 2.8%

Mash temp: 154

Hops:
1.5 oz. Magnum (14% AA) @ 60 min.
2.0 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA) @ 10 min.
2.0 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA) @ 1 min.

*OG: 1.091

*FG: 1.030

*SRM: 57

*ABV: 9.7%

*IBU: 77

*Numbers from the original, not the calculations.

Brewing the Black Horse

2009-10-26T19:37:00.007-05:00

This brewday didn't go quite like I'd hoped, but I guess that's what you get for trying to get everything ready in the last moments. I hadn't even decided if I was going to brew when I got up on Sunday, so I didn't do anything to prepare.

Everything was going to plan. I measured out the grain and rushed to get in the garage to avoid delaying even further. With my lovely assistant, I was milled and mashed in before I knew it.

For a supposed black beer, it sure was amber.

I made a dash down to the lab and grabbed a palm full of roasted barley. I made quick work of it using what I call the "brick and meat tenderizer" method and tossed it in. Some stirring later, but no real difference.

Screw it. It is what it is.

Time goes by. Willie and family drop by. Mash out. Sparge out.

I went to the lab once again to grab the scale for the hops. What did I find? The 4 oz. of Carafa II sitting in the measuring bowl. Not milled. Not in the mash. Holy cow.

So I've already got a boiling wort by then. What to do? Stovetop steeping!

Using the B&MT method again, I made a nice tea of Carafa II and 150 degree water. I let that sit for 20 minutes and added it straight to the boil. Did it darken it? Yes. Did it make it black? No.

So what happened in the end? No 5.2 pH stabilizer. No Irish Moss. Lot's of kettle trub. Bummer. Around 70% efficiency.

I pitched it on the 2nd generation 351 Bavarian weizen yeast with an extra vial. I thought I would need the extra because of the super high gravity (which I didn't hit).

I had bubbles this morning. By lunch it had ruined a blowoff tube. When I got home, the second tube was full, but with enough room to allow lots of CO2 through. Good enough.

Chalk this one up to a lesson learned.

Cellar Mouse Bière de Garde

2009-10-19T12:31:00.006-05:00

The percentile amounts of grain in this recipe were taken from Farmhouse Ales in the Classic Beer Series as provided on the White Labs site.

Cellar Mouse Bière de Garde

Batch size:5 gallons

BJCP style:16D. Bière de Garde

Malt bill:

9 lb DeWolf-Cosyns Pilsen

1.8 lb Weyermann Dark Munich (1 lb. 12.8 oz.)

0.6 lb Dingemans Aromatic (9.6 oz.)

0.144 lb DeWolf-Cosyns Biscuit (2.3 oz.)

0.42 lb Dingemans CaraVienne (6.7 oz.)

0.036 lb DeWolf-Cosyns Black malt (.6 oz.)

Hops bill:

.33 oz Magnum (14.5% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.

1.5 oz Strisselspalt (2% AA, Pellet) @ 15 min.

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP072 French Ale

OG: 1.069

FG: 1.017

ABV: 7.0

IBU: 25

SRM: 16

Black Horse Weizenbock

2009-10-12T12:51:00.004-05:00

This is an adaptation of the Draft Horse Dunkelweizen that is going to be brewed 5o% stronger and darker in anticipation of Mattingly Brewing Co. Big Black Beer Night.

Beer name:Black Horse Weizenbock

Batch size:5 gallons

BJCP style:15C. Weizenbock

Malt bill: (Edited amounts to show oz. instead of small decimals)

2 lbs., 8 oz. Dingemans Pilsen

3 lbs., 12 oz. Briess Munich 20L Malt

8 lbs., 10 oz. Dingemans Pale Wheat

7.5 oz. DeWolf-Cosyns Special B

7.5 oz. Briess Caramel 40L Malt

4 oz. Weyermann Carafa II®

Hops bill:

2 oz Hallertauer (4% AA, Pellet)

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP351 Bavarian Wheat

OG 1.091

FG 1.022

ABV 9.6%

IBU 30

SRM 56

Gone Grizzly Gone California Common

2009-09-29T11:46:00.003-05:00

Did you know that at one time San Francisco was home to grizzly bears? In fact, grizzly bears once wandered a large area of the western United States reaching all the way to the Nebraska-Iowa state line. All of that changed of course and now they roam mainly to Canada. In homage to the heritage of the grizzly bear and the Bear Flag Republic, here is my recipe for a California Common.

8 lbs. 2-Row

.5 lb. Crystal 90

.5 lb. Carapils

.75 oz. Northern Brewer @ 60 minutes

.75 oz. Northern Brewer @ 15 minutes

1 oz. Northern Brewer @ 1 minute

WLP810 San Francisco Lager

OG 1.052

FG 1.014

ABV 5.1

IBU 43

SRM 12

Tackle Box IPA

2009-09-24T14:40:00.004-05:00

This is an attempt at a clone of Bell's Two-Hearted IPA.

REVISED

10.625 lbs. 2-row

.5 lb. Crystal 40

Mash @ 153 for 60 minutes

1 oz. Centennial @ 60 minutes

1 oz. Centennial @ 20 minutes

1 oz. Centennial @ 10 minutes

1 oz. Centennial @ 1 minute

1 oz. Centennial (Dry hop)

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

OG 1.064

FG 1.013

ABV 6.9%

IBU 67

SRM 8

Smoked Applesauce Ale

2009-09-14T12:55:00.008-05:00

What started out as a joke might actually get made someday.

Malt bill:

1 lb Weyermann Beechwood Smoked Malt

1 gal Apple juice

6 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt

1 lb Briess Caramel 20L Malt

Hops bill:

1 oz Tettnanger (4.5% AA, Pellet) @ 60 minutes

Yeast: White Labs 072 French Ale (only available during Nov/Dec)

Additions: Mulling spices

Pectin enzyme (to reduce pectin haze)

OG: 1.058

FG: 1.013

ABV: 6.0

IBU: 18

SRM: 9

Mockwerks Brewing Co. welcomes a new assistant brewer

2009-09-11T10:07:00.003-05:00

Mockwerks Brewing Co. is pleased to announce the arrival of our new assistant brewer, Charles A. Mock. Charles (Charlie) was hired on September 2nd, 2009 for our production plant in St. Louis, MO.

Although Charlie hasn't worked for a brewery previously, he does come from a brewing family and is sure to be a quick study and hard worker.

He's pictured here with our Senior Vice President of Finance, Kelly.

From Charlie090909

Brewing the Old Thresher

2009-08-24T09:42:00.002-05:00

Brewing this beer wasn't nearly as eventful as the brew session itself. In addition to Willie and Peter, I also had an open invite to STL Hops and STL Brews members. Two guys from Hops showed up and an additional Brews member as well. Peter also invited two other Brews members to step into all-grain brewing for the first time.

8 people. 3 beers brewed. Many, many beers drank.

Combine that with the Missouri sun and you've got a long day. The good news was that all of the brewing seemed to be a success.

My original gravity measured in at 1.060 relating to a 81% efficiency. My efficiencies are starting to level out in that range, so I'll be calculating my recipes closer to that from now on.

I transferred the dunkel into a keg and pitched my beer right on top of the yeast cake.

I was done early. My fellow brewers...not so much. Willie's Belgian Tripel clocked in at a killer 1.110 OG after not using enough sparge water and a big 90 minute boil. Mike's first time all-grain American IPA measured up at 1.060 using my mash tun, so again a 80%+ efficiency turn out.

6 hours after I pitched, I had bubbles in the blowoff. Nice yeast.

The dos and don'ts of making candi sugar

2009-08-20T09:33:00.008-05:00

For the third time ever, I made a batch of candi sugar for an upcoming Tripel brew on Sunday. The first time I did this, I had great success and I was loving life. The second time wasn't quite as easy because I did 2 lbs. worth compared to the 1 lb. batch the first time. Not learning, I went ahead and did 3 lbs. last night. The problem isn't the amount of sugar I'm using, it's the cook.

To those readers (I have readers?) that don't know what candi sugar is or how to make it, I'll explain. Some Belgian beers are made with sugar as a fermentable. The sugar can be regular sucrose from either beets or cane or it can be invert sugar. What is invert sugar you're saying?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_sugar_syrup

In a nutshell, the process of inverting sugar breaks down the sucrose into glucose and fructose. The rumor is that the glucose and fructose are easier for the yeast to eat and produce alcohol. However, "Brewers yeast have their own invertase (enzyme) and readily convert table sugar (sucrose) into its monosacharide components of fructose and glucose which can then be fermented.". Competing thoughts on the subject are rampant. Additionally, there are other brewers that say you can not duplicate in your kitchen what is produced commercially due to the trace minerals and other chemicals in household sugar.

Forgetting all of that, let's talk about my mistake(s).

3 lbs. of Schnuck's sugar (most likely beet)

Just enough water to make into a stirable solution

1 healthy squirt of lime juice

Cook in a non-stick pot until the solution reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit or the hard crack stage (1st mistake). Pour onto a jelly roll pan (2nd mistake). Cool this COMPLETELY (3rd mistake). Break the sugar into pieces and freeze for storage.

1st mistake: Make sure you get the entire pot up to 300.

Lesson: Don't rush it. Just because the probe reads 300, stir it up and make sure.

2nd mistake: When you use 3 lbs. of sugar, it makes a lot of hard crack syrup. Since I used a single pan, that makes the hard sugar very thick and hard to break apart. We're talking over 1/4" of a substance that's about as strong as anything as you can make in your kitchen.

Lesson: Seperate the batch into multiple pans to avoid having bulletproof sugar.

3rd mistake: Hard crack candy only cracks and breaks well when it's had a chance to totally cool down. If it has any warmth at all, it will bend then break. A contributing factor to this is also the 1st mistake.

Lesson: Put your pans in the fridge. It won't do anything but help.

I worked on getting the sugar pieces out of my single pan last night for almost 30 minutes and that was on a non-stick pan. Hopefully, I remember this for next time or we'll just use table sugar.

Old Thresher Dampfbier

2009-08-17T10:42:00.003-05:00

This is a little known style outside of Germany. Dampfbier means "steam beer", but it shouldn't be confused with the San Fransisco steam beer. German Dampfbier is an all barley malt beer fermented on Weissenbier yeast. It's one of the few German ales and comes from the forests of Bavaria. This will be served at Mocktoberfest if things work out.

On to the recipe.

7 lbs. Pilsner

2 lbs. Munich

1 lb. Carapils

90 minute boil with

1 oz. Hallertaur @ 60 min.

Irish moss @15 min.

Fermented on a White Labs 351 Bavarian Weizen

OG - 1.049

FG - 1.010

ABV - 5.2%

IBU - 19

SRM - 10

Brewing the Draft Horse

2009-08-03T08:12:00.002-05:00

The sea was angry that day my friends...like an old man trying to return soup at a deli!

It started like any other mild mannered brew day. I was at Willie's house around 8:30 with all of my equipment in tow. Setting up was no issue and all looked well. The calm would not continue.

Willie's Giganta-burner would not light. I wish I had a picture of this thing to post. It's a 200K BTU house warmer that can shoot a flame about 6 feet high on full blast. It's taken a lot of abuse over the last year that I've known it including a lot of boilovers. Well it finally gave up the ghost Sunday. The last hurrah was an attempt by Willie to bypass the safety mechanisms. He shut it down when it started peeling all of the labels off and it looked like we were about to have a full on meltdown and/or explosion.

Willie had to bust out his old burner, but it was obvious that to boil the 14 gallons or so, he would have to use my burner.

Fast forward to my brewing. Milling, mashing, sparging, and boiling went off without a hitch, except I forgot my thermometer. I had to use my old floating thermo, which actually worked ok. I'm sure I mashed a little hot and probably sparged a little hot too. Colling the wort also went fine with the combo of Willie's immersion chiller and a tub with a little ice water. I had already put away the thermo, so I used the finger test (sanitized of course). Cool to the touch is fine enough for brewers of old, so it was good enough for me.

Original gravity: 1.060 on a 5.5 gallon batch. (We left the last half gallon in the pot avoiding the cold break).

Brewhouse efficiency: 82%

I pitched two vials of WLP351 Bavarian Wheat.

Willie got his giant kettle to almost boiling on his little burner. Once we switched to mine, it took off like a rocket and I actually had to dial down the heat. Since his giant kettle covers the area of the burner completely, almost none of the heat is wasted off the sides.

We finished out the day with an attempt at finishing my immersion chiller, but by that time the afternoon sun had beaten our wills and burned our skin. It was finished.

This morning, my beer was bubbling away through the blowoff tube I had set up when I got home.

Draft Horse Dunkelweizen - Redux

2009-07-31T08:31:00.003-05:00

It's been pointed out to me that Jamil's recipes are always formulated at 6 gallons with 70% efficiency. In fairness to this, I've recalculated the grain bill and numbers to show this.

Pilsner 1 lb. 10.66 oz

Munich 2 lbs. 8 oz.

Wheat 5 lbs. 12 oz.

Special B 5 oz.

Crystal 40 5 oz.

Carafa Special II 1.66 oz.

Total: 10 lbs. 10.33 oz.

OG 1.055

FG 1.013

ABV 5.6%

IBU 16

SRM 23

Never doubt the Pope!

Blue Rooster ESB

2009-07-20T11:59:00.005-05:00

A possible for this Saturday?

Blue Rooster ESB-

10.5 lbs. Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter

.5 lbs. Cara-pils

6 oz. Crystal 55

1 oz. Chocolate Malt

Mash for 90 min. @ 150 degrees

1.5 oz. Fuggle @ 60 min.

.5 oz. Fuggle @ 15 min.

.5 oz. Fuggle @ 1 min.

White Labs Premium Bitter yeast

OG 1.060

FG 1.016

ABV 5.9

SRM 14

IBU 31

Notes from the 1st Annual Brewcation

2009-07-06T09:27:00.003-05:00

First off, beer fans, I was not able to brew both of my recipes. Only the Bulldog Brown Ale (Hobgoblin clone) was made on Thursday morning.

Here are some pics from the first runnings.

Here is a pic shot by Willie of me working the ice bath chiller.

The gravity was dead on to the recipe, but that means my efficiency was only around 70%. Not as high as I would like, but acceptable. The whole process took about 5 hours and 15 minutes.

I pitched with the Platinum strain of White Labs Premium Bitter. I checked after about 18 hours and the bubbles were less than a second apart.

The only other beer related activities, other than drinking my brother-in-law's Sam Adams was de-labeling bottles in a OxyClean bath.

I have another brew day coming up July 24th, so maybe I can get the Snakebite in this month anyway.

Two more days till Brewcation

2009-06-30T16:52:00.002-05:00

First up...Bulldog Brown Ale.

Draft Horse Dunkelweizen

2009-06-23T15:19:00.005-05:00

This is the recipe given by Jamil Zainasheff on the "The Jamil Show" as heard on the Brewing Network.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show

The only thing different for me is the yeast. He recommended the typical White Labs Hefeweizen yeast and I'll be using a Platinum strain, WLP351.

2 lbs. Pilsner malt

3 lbs. Munich malt

6.9 lbs. wheat

6 oz. Special B

6 oz. Crystal 40

2 oz. Carafa Special 2

Mash at 152

Boil for 90 minutes

Add 1 oz. Hallertau at 60 minutes.

Note: I've recalculated the figures below. Jamil's seemed off.

OG 1.066

FG 1.017

IBU 16

SRM 19

ABV 6.3%

Brewing the Barn Mouse

2009-06-15T17:35:00.002-05:00

I started early running some errands at 7:30 AM for the brew. I needed a refill on gas and some bags of ice since I still don't have my immersion chiller complete. Stay tuned for a post on that.

Everything went very well. My lovely assistant Kelly helped me mill the grain the night before, so it was straight into mashtun warming and mashing for me.

I won't bore you with the gory details, but here are the results. Almost 6 gallons at 1.070. If I round that down to 5.5 gallons, it's 78% efficiency, which is my highest using this pilsner malt. The key, it would seem, is stirring at the 15 and 30 minute marks.

I was all done, including cleanup by 1:30PM.

I used the 3rd generation yeast from the Saison du Mock. I pitched about .5L slurry. I was a little concerned about using it since I hadn't seen activity this morning, but as of 5:30PM the next day, the bubbling is non-stop.

Since Willie hasn't brewed a saison yet, I've offered my yeast cake for his Belgian pleasure.

Souris de Grange Belgian Blonde

2009-06-10T14:34:00.003-05:00

Have you seen this before? Yes! This is a small revision on the Church Mouse Belgian Blonde recipe that went over really well at the St. Louis Brewer's Heritage Festival. The only difference is that I might be forced to use some domestic 2-row in place of the Pilsner malt if I don't have enough for the batch and I'm going to ferment this a lot warmer than last time to try to gain some big Belgian flavors. Also, I'm using Styrian Goldings for the single hop addition.

10 lbs. Belgian Pilsner (or 2-row depending on supplies)
.5 lb. malted wheat
.5 lb. Dingemans aromatic
1 lb. beet sugar
Mash at 150 degrees.
90 minute boil
1.5 oz. Styrian Goldings for 60 minutes
WLP540 Abbey IV Ale Yeast
http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp540.html

By the way, the name translates to Barn Mouse. I figured it's not as prestigious as the Church Mouse if I have to use 2-row.

Strike 2 American IPA

2009-06-09T12:08:00.004-05:00

I'm taking another shot at my American IPA recipe. The first batch was good (it even took a second place in a competition), but I think it could use a little more late edition hops. Since my first batch was boiled way down, I'm going to work on making sure I pull the right amounts of everything.

Here it is for now. The hops may change a bit since I have Centennial available.

12 # Breiss 2-row
1 # Breiss Crystal 40
1 oz. 14.4 AA Magnum @60 min
1 oz. 4.5 AA Cascade @30 min
1 oz. 4.5 AA Cascade @15
1 oz. 4.5 AA Cascade @1 min

1 oz. 9.0 AA Centennial @1 min

Dry hop with 1 oz. 4.5 AA Cascade and 1 oz. 9.0 AA Centennial

White Labs WLP001 California Yeast

At 70% efficiency -

OG: 1.067
FG: 1.013
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: 71
SRM: 12

Snakebite American Strong Golden Ale

2009-06-01T16:50:00.006-05:00

The other Brewcation recipe. This is going to be similar to a light barleywine.

Brew date:7/4/2009

Beer name:Snakebite Oaked American Golden Strong

Batch size:5 gallons

BJCP style:19C. American Barleywine

Malt bill:

14 lb. Briess Brewers 2-row Malt

.5 lb. Briess Carapils 2-row Malt

1 lb. Gambrinus Honey Malt

1 lb. Light Munich Malt

Hops bill:

1 oz Magnum (14.0% AA, Pellet) at 60 min.

1 oz Cascade ( 5.5% AA, Pellet) at 20 min.

Yeast: 2 packets of Fermentis Safale US-05 (US-56) American Ale (dry)

Original Gravity: 1.085
Final Gravity: 1.019
ABV: 9.1%
IBU: 53
SRM: 11

Bulldog Brown Ale

2009-06-01T16:21:00.005-05:00

This is for the upcoming Brewcation happening during the 4th of July weekend. At least one British beer and one American beer are going to be made. This is the Brit.

Brew date:07/03/2009

Beer name:Bulldog Brown Ale

Batch size:5 gallons

BJCP style:11B. Southern English Brown Ale

Malt bill:

10.5 lb Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter

.5 lb Briess Caramel 60L Malt

.4 lb Briess Carapils Malt

.3 lb Thomas Fawcett Chocolate

Hops bill:

.5 oz Fuggles-UK at 60 minutes

.5 oz Styrian Golding at 60 minutes

.5 oz Fuggles-UK at 30 minutes

.5 oz Styrian Golding at 30 minutes

.5 oz Fuggles-UK at 0 minutes

.5 oz Styrian Golding at 0 minutes

Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP026 Premium Bitter Ale

Original Gravity: 1.061

Final Gravity: 1.015

ABV: 6.1

Bitterness (IBU): 33

Color (SRM): 34

Know Your Styles: Berliner Weisse

2009-05-24T22:03:00.008-05:00

As the French Protestants Reformers known as the Huguenots were making their way to Flanders in the 1600s, they documented a particular beer as they passed through Berlin. Later in 1809, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his troops decided to celebrate their Prussian victory with that same type of beer, which the Napoleon referred to as the "Champagne of the North". That beer, of course, is Berliner Weisse.

Berliner Weiss is a very specific style of wheat beer most often originating from Berlin, Germany. An interesting note about this style is that is one of the lowest in alcohol among all styles, with the the BJCP guidelines listing it between 2.8-3.8% ABV. The two examples I enjoyed were Bayerischer Bahnof Lepzig (3%) and 1809 by Dr. Fritz Briem (unusual at 5%).

Interesting facts
Unlike any other beer I can think of, it is served in a large goblet with a straw. Because of its sour taste, it is commonly drunk mixed with raspberry (Himbeersirup), woodruff (Waldmeistersirup) syrup, or lemon (Zitronensirup) and is then called Weiße mit Schuss (Weiße with a shot [of syrup]). The mixtures are called Berliner Weiße rot, grün, or gelb respectively. This mixed drink is very refreshing in the hot summer months and is served throughout Berlin. For my tasting, Paul provided authentic German raspberry syrup. I decided to drink half way through, then mix the syrup in.

As described in one of my homebrew books and also on the label of the 1809, the wort or a portion of the wort in this beer is not boiled. The boiling kills off the natural bacteria to allow the yeast to ferment the beer without other "critters" infecting your finished beer.

This beer has been described by some as the most purely refreshing beer in the world.

What you should be smelling
A sharply sour, somewhat acidic character is dominant. Can have up to a moderately fruity character. The fruitiness may increase with age and a flowery character may develop. A mild Brettanomyces aroma may be present. No hop aroma. The 1809 was much more sharp in sourness than the BBL, but the BBL did show some light fruit notes.

What you should be seeing
Very pale straw in color. Clarity ranges from clear to somewhat hazy. Large, dense, white head with poor retention due to high acidity and low protein and hop content. Always effervescent. The 1809 poured like champagne as you can see in the pictures. The BBL was very similar to most other wheat beers, but lost it's head quickly.

What you should be tasting
Clean lactic sourness dominates and can be quite strong, although not so acidic as a lambic. Some complementary bready or grainy wheat flavor is generally noticeable. Hop bitterness is very low. A mild Brettanomyces character may be detected, as may a restrained fruitiness (both are optional). Again, no hops. I didn't even pick up light bitterness. The 1809 came through with the sour, but was not sharp. You might expect a real sour kick from the aroma, but it's not really like that.

What you should be tasting with syrup
Awesomeness. The super sweet syrup rounds off the sourness and turns this into a happy little mixed drink. It wasn't bad at all to start, but this is like raspberry Kool-Aid with a tiny punch. Ohh-Yeah!

Additonal comments from the BJCP guidelines
Wheat malt content is typically 50% of the grist (as with all German wheat beers) with the remainder being Pilsner malt. A symbiotic fermentation with top-fermenting yeast and Lactobacillus delbruckii provides the sharp sourness, which may be enhanced by blending of beers of different ages during fermentation and by extended cool aging. Hop bitterness is extremely low. A single decoction mash with mash hopping is traditional.

Vital Statistics
OG: 1.028 – 1.032
IBUs: 3 – 8
FG: 1.003 – 1.006
SRM: 2 – 3
ABV: 2.8 – 3.8%

Commercial examples
Schultheiss Berliner Weisse, Berliner Kindl Weisse, Nodding Head Berliner Weisse, Weihenstephan 1809 (unusual in its 5% ABV), Bahnhof Berliner Style Weisse, Southampton Berliner Weisse, Bethlehem Berliner Weisse, Three Floyds Deesko

New Glarus also made a version available last summer. I don't know if they are planning that again, but it was very good.

Final thoughts
The two commercial examples I was provided were both great beers, but the BBL is probably closer to the style guidelines. It was very refreshing, especially when you add in the syrup.
If you haven't tried a Berliner Weisse style beer, do yourself a favor this summer and grab one (preferably from The Wine and Cheese Place). Even if you're tried other sour beers and didn't like them, you may enjoy this one. While you're at it, get some of the syrup. I think it was $.99 and it would also be great over ice cream.

Brew-centric weekend without actually brewing

2009-05-22T16:12:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything regarding my brewing, so I thought I would stick out there what my activities I have to accomplish this weekend.

I have the old Dirty Cow to bottle. It's been sitting in the cold basement in it's secondary for a while now. It's ready.

The Belgian Blonde has to go into a keg in preparation for the Brewer's Heritage Festival, so that means a little cleaning and sanitizing action.

I'm entering the First Crack IPA into another competition. It took second in Light Ales at the St. Louis Microfest. It also received Honorable Mention at the Bluegrass Cup.

On Sunday, I'm going to both a baby's Christening who's father happens to be another homebrewer. It's mostly a reason to drink homebrew and his keg of O'Fallon 5 Day IPA. After that, it's off the STL Brew's Picnic for more homebrew and nice food.

I'm going to try another bottle of the Little Pig Wheat tonight. Hopefully it will have fully carbonated and developed some kind of head. The last one at 5 days in the bottle was fizzy, but had no head to speak of.

Later, beer fans.

National Homebrew Day - Saison du Mont

2009-05-11T09:54:00.003-05:00

National Homebrew Day was May 2nd, but we celebrated in St. Louis this last Saturday instead because of the Microfest the weekend before. Worm's Way provided the grain, honey and spices as a promotion of the hobby. Here's the recipe.

Saison Du Mont – All Grain Recipe
For a 5.5 gallon (21 L) yield:
O.G.: 1.056F.G.: 1.008IBU: 21
Fermentables -
7.25 lb 2-Row Pale Malt
2.0 lb Vienna Malt
8 oz Flaked Wheat
8 oz Flaked Oats
8 oz Honey, added after boil
Hops -
1.0 oz Golding, (4.75% AA), 90 minutes (If Golding is unavailable, substitute Willamette hops for 17 IBU.)
0.5 oz Hallertauer, (4.0% AA), 15 minutes
0.5 oz Hallertauer, (4.0% AA), at 0 minutes
¾ tsp Irish moss, added at 15 minutes
Spices -
0.5 oz crushed coriander, 0 minutes
0.5 tsp Grains of paradise, 0 minutes
0.25 oz Curacao (sweet) orange peel, 0 minutes
0.25 oz Valencia (bitter) orange peel, 0 minutes

The only changes I made to this were the hops. I used Styrian Goldings instead of EKGs at 60 minutes (not 90 minutes) and used Styrians again at 0 minutes. I traded off the Hallertauer I had to Trish for some nice Centennial.

My OG was 1.056, so right on. I used a donated amount of proprietary Belgian yeast from Mattingly Brewing Co. www.mattinglybrewing.com , but it didn't seem to be taking off too fast. I pitched some of the yeast from the Church Mouse Blonde and it seems to be doing fine.

I need a name for this. Saisons are traditionally farmhouse ales. Maybe I'll just call it Saison du Mock.

Brewing the Church Mouse Belgian Blonde

2009-05-06T10:26:00.003-05:00

I brewed the Belgian Blonde recipe on Sunday after painting the nursery. It was a long day.

I started the process at 3:00 PM on the nose. Everything went very smooth all the way through. With the assistance of my beautiful bride, I was able to use my new drill with the grain mill. Speaking of, I set the rollers with a feeler gauge to .030 inches.

I finished at everything including cleaning at 8:00 PM. The original gravity was 1.055. To continue the beer fun, I bottled the German Weizen (Little Pig) then which took me until 9:30.

Something seemed lost.

I forgot the sugar!

Long story short, I was boiling down 1 lb. of sugar until 11:45. It's bubbling away now and looks to be very happy with the sugar addition.

Updates on the Cow and Bull

2009-04-21T11:11:00.002-05:00

An update on the Cow.
The Kolsch yeast did a great job. I transfered to the secondary last night. When I opened the bucket, I was greeted by a huge floating yeast cake (or sponge). I broke through with siphon starter and pulled very clear beer. As I moved the siphon around, I managed to pull in a lot of bottom yeast, which was not my goal. It will clear even more and be a great summertime beer. Even at just basement cool and with some of the yeast sponge, my little sampler was very good.

And for the Bull.
It's going to get less bittering hops at 60 minutes in favor of getting more hop additions at the midpoint and later in the boil. I'll also bump up the chocolate malt and use a lighter British pale chocolate to avoid getting too roasty.

Old Bull Brown Ale

2009-04-16T13:16:00.002-05:00

Here's a possible recipe that will be made for drinking in the fall.

Beer name:Old Bull Brown Ale
Batch size:5 gallons
BJCP style:10C. American Brown Ale
Malt bill:
10 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt
.5 lb Briess Caramel 80L Malt
.375 lb Dingemans Biscuit
.125 lb Briess Chocolate 2-row Malt
Hops bill:
.50 oz Magnum (14.0% AA, Pellet) @ 60 min.
1 oz Cascade ( 5.0% AA, Pellet) @ 15 min.
1 oz Cascade (5.0% AA, Pellet) Dry Hop in the secondary
Yeast:
WhiteLabs WLP001 California Ale

At 70% efficiency

OG 1.057
FG 1.011
ABV 6.1%
IBU 40
SRM 23

Hoochie-mama!

2009-04-14T20:33:00.000-05:00

In an unrelated post...

Here is a pic of our winnings at the St. Richard's Trivia Night. This was their Wheelbarrow of Fun raffle. You can't see it all in this. It was about $600 worth of stuff and that didn't even include the wheelbarrow which we donated back. (They use it ever year.)

Blowoff eh!

2009-04-14T20:26:00.000-05:00

Here's the pic of that blowoff tube I had to make for the Little Pig Wheat Beer. My first time using liquid yeast proved successful.

Dancing Bear Roggenbier

2009-04-14T11:56:00.007-05:00

This is scheduled for a July brew, but I thought I might as well get my recipes down.

5 lbs. Weyermann Rye Malt
4 lbs. German Munich
2 lbs. Rahr 2-Row Pale
0.25 lbs. Weyermann Chocolate Wheat
0.25 lbs. Weyermann Caramel Wheat
0.25 lbs. Rice Hulls

1 oz. Mt. Hood (60 min)

WLP351 Bavarian Weizen Yeast or Wyeast 3638 Bavarian Wheat Yeast

Church Mouse Belgian Blonde

2009-04-13T12:00:00.004-05:00

I'll think of a better name.

How about

Souris D'église Belgian Blonde?

10 lbs. Belgian Pilsner
.5 lb. malted wheat
.5 lb. Dingemans aromatic
1 lb. beet sugar

Mash at 150 degrees.

90 minute boil

1.5 oz. Hallertau (4%AA) for 60 minutes

WLP540 Abbey IV Ale Yeast
http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp540.html

OG 1.068
FG 1.015
ABV 7.2
IBU 26
SRM 5

Stupid little pig!

2009-04-12T23:53:00.003-05:00

This stupid little pig. The brew day was not as successful as the last.

66% efficiency.

I guess I don't know what happened. It's not disasterous or anything...just lower than I would have expected after hitting 82% the Saturday before.

The good news? The White Labs yeast WLP300 (German Hefeweizen) took off like mad the day after brewing. By the evening, I had to construct my first blowoff tube. I'll get pictures up soon.

A blowoff tube for a 1.044 OG? I guess, but maybe my gravity was actually higher than I read.

kleines Schwein Weizenbeir (Little Pig Wheat Beer)

2009-04-05T20:47:00.002-05:00

Here is the beer plan for Good Friday. Good Friday indeed!

4.75 # Malteries Franco-Belges Pale Wheat
4 # Pilsen

1 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 60 min.

Dry yeast Safbrew WB-06

This will be brewed with the assistance of Jim Ziegelmeyer, a real life chemical engineer!

I can see that the naming beer after farmhouse animals is going to continue. I guess my fictional brewery would be Farmhand Brewing Co.

The Dirty Cow Strikes Back

2009-04-05T19:10:00.002-05:00

Here are the results from my second all-grain brew session using the Dirty Cow recipe.

I hit around 80% efficiency. That'd be great normally since it means that I converted more of the starches to sugar meaning more alcohol. However, since I was calculating at 70%, it drove my potential ABV way above the guidelines. I'll probably still enter it in competitions, since most people wouldn't know the difference of a 5.5% beer vs. a 6.4% by taste.

I used a Kolsch yeast slurry provided by Willie (www.yearofbeer.com). It's bubbling away right now.

Next up. Ein nettes Bier des deutschen Weizens.

Frist Crack IPA

2009-03-24T10:48:00.002-05:00

I really meant to take pictures of this whole process since it was my first all-grain brew. I didn't of course. I also didn't keep great track of the numbers, but I did keep track of the recipe.

10.5 # Breiss 2-row
1 # Breiss Crystal 40
1 oz. 14.4 AA Magnum @60 min
1 oz. 4.5 AA Cascade @30 min
1 oz. 4.5 AA Cascade @ 10 min
S-05 Yeast

I dry hopped this with another ounce of Cascade after 2 weeks in the primary, allow it to sit in the secondary for only a week and a day.

I plan on entering this at the Microfest competition. I don't care about winning, but I want the judging. Who knows? There is a special category for new brewers.

Dirty Cow Farmhouse Ale

2009-03-19T14:55:00.004-05:00

Like Spotted Cow? This might be another alternative to the Cream Ale.

Beer name:Dirty Cow Farmhouse Ale
Batch size:5 gallons
BJCP style: 6A. Cream Ale
Malt bill: 4 lb Briess Brewers 2-row Malt
4 lb Dingemans Pilsen
1 lb Briess Yellow Corn Flakes
.5 lb Briess Barley Flakes
.5 lb Briess Caramel 20L Malt
Hops bill:.5 oz Northern Brewer ( 8.0% AA, Pellet) at 60 min.
.5 oz Saaz ( 4.0% AA, Whole) at 10 min.
Yeast: WhiteLabs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

OG: 1.053
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 22
SRM: 4

Cream Ale recipe

2009-03-19T11:34:00.003-05:00

This recipe is from Jamil's Show on The Brewing Network that I may use on March 28th. There's a good chance I'll switch this around.

5 lbs. Pilsner
5 lbs. 2-Row
1 lb. flaked corn
1 lb. table sugar

Mash at 149 F

75 minute boil

1 oz. Liberty (4.0% AA) at 60 min.
1/2 oz. Liberty (4.0% AA) at 1 min.

California Ale yeast

Predicted O.G. 1.054

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...brewin' times here.

2009-03-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

The latest schedule of brewing events. Subject to change at any time for any reason.

March 28th - Cream Ale
April 11th - Hefeweizen
April 19th - Belgian Blonde
May 9th (National Homebrew Day) - Saison

If I think about it, I'll post for each session.

Cheers all!