Finally, the first truly dark beer I have made. Sure I have flirted with browns, played around with ambers but now I go black and convoluted. This recipe is the result of discussions with people from my homebrew group, Palmer’s “How to Brew” and my experience drinking Great Divide’s Yeti. Although it’s my first stout, my goal was to create something rich, roasty and still hopped like any good American beer should be. I had help this time around from another chemical engineering homebrewer, Tim, and I felt my process this time was the smoothest yet. Also this is the first beer to hang in the fermentation fridge, more details to follow later.


Ingredients
4.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) 61.5 %
1.00 lb Dark Dry Extract (17.5 SRM) 15.4 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) 7.7 %
0.40 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) 6.2 %
0.30 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) 4.6 %
0.30 lb Special Roast (50.0 SRM) 4.6 %

0.30 oz Magnum [14.40%] (60 min) 16.5 IBU
0.30 oz Cascade [6.00%] (60 min) 6.9 IBU
0.35 oz Magnum [14.40%] (30 min) 14.8 IBU
0.18 oz Cascade [6.00%] (30 min) 3.2 IBU
0.20 oz Magnum [14.40%] (5 min) 2.2 IBU
0.50 oz Magnum [14.40%] (3 Day Dry-Hop) -
Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084)

The Brew
Soundtrack: The purple, brown and green line.
Brew Beer: Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti


Stats
Fermentation: 8 days at 68F, 3 days at 50F
Original Gravity: 1.048
Final Gravity: 1.012
Est. ABV: 4.7%
IBU: 44 [Tinseth]
Color: 35 SRM
Brewed: 7/24/09
Bottled: 8/4/09

Finally! I’ve been building up the brewery for almost 3 months now and finally all the equipment I need to brew great beer is in place and ready to go. 10 gallon stock pot (with 2000W supplemental heatstick)? Check. Immersion chiller? Check. Some experience and lessons learned? Check!
This recipe is a take off of one from Dogfish head founder Sam Calagione’s book, “Extreme Brewing“. This day did not go off without a hitch though; after deicing my refrig I put it on max to recover. Unfortunately, I did not turn it back in time and most everything inside was zapped with ice…including my Wyeast Irish Ale activator pack. I attempted to revive the suckers with a starter but 24 hrs later I still had only a small colony. With the help of my buddy Adam, we grabbed another smack pack and pitched it along with the starter colony – sort of the ~200 billion Mr. Malty tells us – but the best we could do. It’s bubbling furiously now so we will see how it turns out!


Ingredients
6.00 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) 70.6 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 80L (80.0 SRM) 5.9 %
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) 11.8 %
0.50 lb Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) 5.9 %
0.50 lb Molasses (80.0 SRM) 5.9 %

0.90 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) 27.5 IBU
0.50 oz Cluster [7.10%] (30 min) 9.8 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.20%] (10 min) -
0.10 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (5 min) -

1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

1 Pkgs Irish Ale (White Labs #WLP004) Yeast-Ale

The Brew
Soundtrack: A Day to Remember…then Jenny watched Heroes.
Brew Beer: Simcoe Circle Pit, Convocation IPA, Magic Hat No. 9


Stats
Original Gravity: 1.057 [1.059 target, nice!]
Final Gravity: 1.009
Est. ABV: 6.1%
IBU: 37 [Tinseth]
Color: 17.5 SRM
Brewed: 7/11/09
Bottled: 7/23/09

Yowzah. Picked up this beauty from Northern Brewer last week. Just…awesome. Completely dominates my stove (which can’t even bring 5 gallons to a boil). To compensate, I am also building a 2000W heatstick. Can’t wait to break this baby in.

Whew! I am exhausted after that grueling brew session. Fun, but tiring. This recipe was a joint-effort with my lovely fiancee Jenny, who has been gracious enough to let me brew away in our kitchen. We definitely went ginger crazy, and I could not have done it without her. This was a 2.5 gallon batch, with a ~1 gallon water top off. The trub losses on this were insane; so much plant/root matter floating around! Regardless the smell already was kicking with ginger so I am very excited to see how this joint effort will pan out.


Ingredients
1.70 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 64.2 %
0.50 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 18.9 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 9.4 %
0.20 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 7.5 %
0.50 oz Cascade [8.70%] (60 min) 32.0 IBU
0.25 oz Simcoe [13.00%] (40 min) 21.0 IBU
0.20 oz Cascade [8.70%] (10 min) 4.6 IBU
0.30 oz Cascade [8.70%] (Dry Hop 3 days)
0.13 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
0.50 items Lime Juice (Boil 5.0 min)
1.00 gm Lime Zest (Boil 3.0 min)
2.00 oz Ginger Root (Boil 55.0 min)
2.00 oz Ginger Root (Boil 8.0 min)
3.00 oz Ginger Root (Boil 30.0 min)
2.5 gal Chicago Water
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale [76 billion cells needed]


The Brew
Soundtrack: Mythbusters
Brew Beer: PBR


Stats
Original Gravity: 1.036 [projected est. was 1.043, I blame losses on insane trub losses]
Final Gravity:
Est. ABV:
IBU: 57.7
Color: 8 SRM
Brewed: 7/2/09
Bottled: 7/12/09 (for the non-serrano pepper aged bottles)

With my commencement rolling by last week, the family celebrated and donated generously to the beer-making budget. First purchase? A 25′ copper immersion wort chiller, essential for bringing 5+ gallons down to pitching temperatures. I have been lurking homebrew forums for a while and considered scraping together my own until I saw this excellent deal on ebay. For $40 (including shipping!), I got 25′ of 3/8″ copper already bent into the correct shape and all the other required fittings. The seller was excellent and the chiller looks even better; I’ll share cooling stats (yes, engineering! cooling efficiencies!) after my next batch.

Appearance - Look left. Crisp white head with great retention and decent lacing. Body is golden and unfiltered (it’s homebrew!) but still surprisingly clear. The ’super’ irish moss I have been using is doing an excellent job. I have been thrilled how my first two beers have looked.


Aroma – Sweet with a hoppy, citrus edge. The malt sweetness came out a little stronger than I would have liked, but the citrus zest is working well with the simcoe dry hop. Refreshing! Swirling the glass allows the lime/orange zest to punch out even more, but they could use some stronger hoppy background (considering dry hopping with a simcoe/cascade split next time).


Taste – The taste is clean and ends somewhat sweet. Not as bad as 1.001, but their is a slightly sweet malt twang on the end. Still! I am very proud of the improvement in this one! Excellent mouthfeel, the carbonation is right on. I would very much like to repeat this batch with a different seeping grain (maybe a crystal) and with 10-15 more IBUs from cascade hops. Great summer beer!


Jenny says she enjoys it as well, and gave me a 35/50…a massive step up from 9/50 in batch #1.001. I’d love to do this one again!

My buddy Chris Danzig and I threw together what I hope to be a rocking IPA on the day before my convocation ceremony at Northwestern. This third one-gallon batch rounds out the end of my inaugural ‘pale’ series as well as the end of my first batch of yeast (this is their 3 pitch). Approximately three brews down I can already run down some of my strengths and weaknesses. Strengths: sanitation, carbonation, process knowledge (no need to reference a book to see what to do next). Weakness: recipe formulation, system-specific knowledge (i.e. boil off rate, but I am getting better). I am also happy to report that with graduation around the corner, my 5 gallon batch is not far behind. Next up for the one-gallon series? Porters and stouts. Yum.


Ingredients
1.20 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
0.10 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 80L
0.21 oz Simcoe [12.70%] (60 min) Hops 51.8 IBU
0.20 oz Cascade [6.00%] (30 min) Hops 17.9 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [6.00%] (5 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
0.05 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.15 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM)
1.65 gal Chicago, IL Water
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale (from #1.002)


The Brew
Soundtrack: As Tall As Lions, Bloc Party, South Park episodes
Brew Beer:  Newcastle Brown Ale, Goose Island 312 (thanks Danzig!)


Stats
Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: 1.009
Est. ABV: 6.1%
IBU: 75.6 (Tinseth, still not 100% behind these estimates)
Color: 8.0
Brewed: 6.18.09
Bottled: 6.29.09

With batch #001 in bottles and ready to drink, I was anxious to get a chance to brew again and implement the lessons learned. Jim and Brian came on out (with brew beer, very important) to help with this batch. I centered #002 around Simcoe hops, known for their aggressive, citrus tones. For kicks, I zested some citrus I had in my refrigerator to experiment with the results I would get. This batch was also the first time I prepared a preboil tea; Caravienne may not be the optimal choice of specialty grain (aka it’s what I had on hand) but I was more focused on practicing the process.


Ingredients
0.10 lb Caravienne malt, preboil tea
0.55 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)
0.08 oz Simcoe [12.70%] (55 min)
0.08 oz Simcoe [12.70%] (25 min)
0.08 oz Simcoe [12.70%] (5 min)
0.10 oz Simcoe [12.70%] (0 min) DH
1 Lime, Zest (Boil 5.0 min)
3/4 Orange, Zest (Boil 5.0 min)
0.30 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.05 lb Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM)
1.70 gal Chicago, IL Water
American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale (from 1.001)


The Brew
Soundtrack: The Ghost Inside
Brew Beer: Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Westmalle Tripel and assorted American micros (none that great) from Jim


Stats

Original Gravity: 1.040

Final Gravity: 1.008

Est. ABV: 4.2%

IBU: 39 (Tinseth)

Color: 7.5 (Est.)

Brewed: 6.6.09

Bottled: 6.15.09

I’ve been hearing and reading from a lot of sources that a making a yeast starter is another powerful tool to make great beer. Giving your yeast ample time to multiply and activate before you pitch is essential to meet proper pitching rates for both store-bought packs and cakes recovered from your primary of a previous batch. In a nutshell a stir plate is used to aerate the starter wort/yeast mixture by spinning a magnetic bar inside the flask. This action keeps the yeast in suspension and continuously mixes oxygen into the mixture. Oxygen – while bad for the beer (aka starter wort) – is an important growth nutrient.

Personally, I am using the plate to start-up a cake I had recovered and washed from a previous primary. It’s been in the refrigerator for about two weeks, so this process (I let them stir and multiply overnight) makes them ready to pitch later during brewday.

Making your own stir plate is simple. The tools you’ll need are a screwdriver or two, drill (with bits), superglue and a soldering iron. I followed instructions or pictures from these following sites: via Homebrewtalk, via David Trumbel, via Beertools. Given that I had a few of this items laying around, this all in all cost me approximately $25.


Parts

• 1 – 4″ PC DC Fan (check the voltage, make sure it will match what you’re feeding it)
• 1 – Project Box Radio Shack #270-1806
• 1 – Rocker Switch Radio Shack – #275-694
• 1 – Knurled Knob Radio Shack – #274-424
• 1 – 25 Ohm Rehostat Radio Shack – #271-265
• 1 – 12v DC Power Supply (old cell phone/camera charger)
• 1 – Rare Earth Magnet from old PC Hard Drive or decent magnets
• Wire (you’ll use under a foot)
• Some way to stabilize the fan (I superglued it to a small, empty spice container)
• Magnetic stir bar (you can find these cheap online)
  

Costruction

1. Drill holes for on/off switch, power supply wire, rehostat in the project box. Ensure everything fits properly.

2. Prepare the fan wires; mine had PC power supply hookups so I did not have to strip the wires.

3. Prepare the power supply wires. Snip the end with the device plug in adapter. Now to quote Homebrew talk user Anthony Lopez “Some phone chargers will have two wires, while others I’ve found have a “braid” going around another insulated wire. The “braid” is our ground or negative and the inner cable is your power side. For the chargers with 2 single wires inside, black is your ground.”

4. Connect the ground (black) of the power supply to the ground (black) of the fan.

5. Solder the male end of the power supply wires (red or striped) and solder it to the top terminal of the power switch (may be labled supply). If you have it oriented correctly (the ‘O’ on the bottom for off) this is usually the top terminal on the back of the switch. Here is a decent picture of that.

6. Connect the other terminal of the power switch (may be labled load) to the middle arm of the rehostat using a short length of wire. Solder it in.

7. Almost done wiring; now connect the ‘red’ of the fan to an outside arm of the rehostat. This is were I got confused – and it may be a good idea to test out your setup before you solder it in, to ensure you have the polarity right and your rehostat is working.

8. When all of the soldering is done and you’re satisfied, find a makeshift way to stabilize your fan in the position you’d like. Like I mentioned, I superglued it to an old spice container (which was also superglued to the bottom of the project box). Another note if you’re using superglue; give it a few hours to dry before you close up the box or you’ll get crusty junk coming out all of the openings of your device, yuck.

9. Use common sense/test runs, to align the magnets properly to spin the stir bar. Glue them down.

10. Clean up the inside of the box and when you’re sastisfied, screw up the box and enjoy!

Another quick note, if you’re in Chicago and want some help building one of these, drop me a line. I don’t mind :)

Cluster#$@& is now in bottles are ready to be sampled maybe next weekend for the next, more effective brewday. My early idea is to do another pale ale based around Simcoe, but we will see.

#001 cleared up extremely extremely well and has a very light golden color (oh no it looks like a millerwiser! haha). I tried it from the secondary and the taste is – as expected – somewhat thin and yeasty. The aroma gives a hint of cluster but is also on the light side, this could be improved by carbonation though. Regardless, I am glad to have this first one under the belt and can’t wait to hit the kettle with something bigger and definitely better. Another note: I need to get ‘real’ sanitizer (Iodine-based) ASAP, this bleach smell is hard to deal with…