Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Longhorn American Wheat


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


Thursday, December 17, 2009

Whig Party Wheat

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)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Pullman Porter


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)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Pfeffernüssebier


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

Monday, December 7, 2009

Brewing the Tackle Box IPA

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)