| Jinx Clone (Attempt 1) |
Tuesday, November 18 2008 @ 01:43 PM EST
I recently tried a beer from Magic Hat Brewing Company called Jinx, and I liked it so much that I decided to try copying it. Magic Hat's website lists the malts and hops used, so it makes it a little easier to figure out what to use, but I don't have any idea about the quantity of the ingredients, or the technique they used. I won't know how close I come until it's ready to drink, so I'm sure I'll be trying it again.
Here's what I used for this batch:
As usual, I put the grains in a grain bag and placed it in the pot with 2 1/2 gal. of water. I brought the temperature up to about 154ºF, and let it steep for 30 minutes. During this time, I watched it to make sure I keep a steady temperature, but after about 10 minutes, it dropped to about 150ºF. I turned the heat back on low to bring it back up, but after another 10 minutes, it was almost to 160ºF. I shut the heat off again for the last 10 minutes and the temperature was right around 154ºF again. I then removed the grain bag, turned the heat on high, and brought to a boil.
Once boiling, I added the LME, brought to a boil again, and added the hops. I figured that I'll add one ounce of the hops at the beginning of the boil, and one at 10 minutes before the end of the boil.
Finally, I cooled the wort in an ice bath down to about 65ºF, poured into the carboy, added the yeast, and brought is down to the basement to ferment. The SG is 1.054, so I doubt that the ABV will be close to Magic Hat's - 6.9% ABV - so I'll assume that I'll have to increase the grains or LME next time.
The room where I've been fermenting is getting cold, down to about 58ºF, so I'm using the furnace room. The temperature in there usually stays right around 70ºF during the winter, so I use that to ferment during the colder months. I'll see what the temperature does in the "cold" room, I'm thinking that maybe it'll be a good place to try lagering this winter.
Update - 12.3.08: I racked to the secondary today. I was planning on doing it on Monday, but it still had some pressure in the air lock. Enough for it to bubble up every few minutes. The gravity is 1.011, and it seems that most of my batches don't go much further than that, even after being in the secondary for two weeks. I'll update again when I keg. Also, I changed the title of this batch to reflect on the fact that I'm way off the mark on this. I believe I have way too much hops.
Update - 12.16.08: I kegged this batch this afternoon. The FG remained at 1.011 for an ABV of 5.64%.
Here's what I used for this batch:
| 7 lbs. | Light LME |
| 1/2 lb. | Cara-pils |
| 1/2 lb. | Crystal 60 |
| 4 oz. | Peat Smoked Whiskey Malt |
| 2 oz. | Columbus Hops |
| 1 Packet | Safale 05 Yeast |
As usual, I put the grains in a grain bag and placed it in the pot with 2 1/2 gal. of water. I brought the temperature up to about 154ºF, and let it steep for 30 minutes. During this time, I watched it to make sure I keep a steady temperature, but after about 10 minutes, it dropped to about 150ºF. I turned the heat back on low to bring it back up, but after another 10 minutes, it was almost to 160ºF. I shut the heat off again for the last 10 minutes and the temperature was right around 154ºF again. I then removed the grain bag, turned the heat on high, and brought to a boil.
Once boiling, I added the LME, brought to a boil again, and added the hops. I figured that I'll add one ounce of the hops at the beginning of the boil, and one at 10 minutes before the end of the boil.
Finally, I cooled the wort in an ice bath down to about 65ºF, poured into the carboy, added the yeast, and brought is down to the basement to ferment. The SG is 1.054, so I doubt that the ABV will be close to Magic Hat's - 6.9% ABV - so I'll assume that I'll have to increase the grains or LME next time.
The room where I've been fermenting is getting cold, down to about 58ºF, so I'm using the furnace room. The temperature in there usually stays right around 70ºF during the winter, so I use that to ferment during the colder months. I'll see what the temperature does in the "cold" room, I'm thinking that maybe it'll be a good place to try lagering this winter.
Update - 12.3.08: I racked to the secondary today. I was planning on doing it on Monday, but it still had some pressure in the air lock. Enough for it to bubble up every few minutes. The gravity is 1.011, and it seems that most of my batches don't go much further than that, even after being in the secondary for two weeks. I'll update again when I keg. Also, I changed the title of this batch to reflect on the fact that I'm way off the mark on this. I believe I have way too much hops.
Update - 12.16.08: I kegged this batch this afternoon. The FG remained at 1.011 for an ABV of 5.64%.