The Brew Blog

Jinx Clone

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:43:23 -0500

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:

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.

Christmas Ale 08

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:34:53 -0500

I'm brewing the Christmas Ale from last year, and once again, I'm tweaking the recipe a little. Last year, I used Dried Malt Extract (DME), this year, I'm using Liquid Malt Extract (LME). I also increased he cinnamon sticks to three, instead of two, hoping that a little more of the flavor stands out. Also, last year, I used a whole vanilla bean. I couldn't find one this year, so I opted for vanilla extract. I didn't look too hard for a recipe that used vanilla extract, so without knowing how much to use, I decided to add as much that a cake recipe called for. Maybe it'll be too much, maybe not, I'll just have to wait and see. And finally, 1 tsp. of whole cloves substituted for 1/2 tsp. of ground cloves, since I couldn't find that either.

So, here's the ingredient list:

1/2 lb.	Crystal 60
1/2 lb.	Chocolate Malt
7 lbs.	Amber LME
2 lbs.	Honey
2 oz.	Hallertauer Hops
1 oz.	Cascade
3	Cinnamon Sticks
1/2 oz.	Ground Nutmeg
1 tsp.	Whole Cloves
1 tbsp.	Vanilla Extract
1 tsp.	Ground Ginger
1 tsp.	Irish Moss
1 packet	Safale 05 Yeast

I started by putting the grain in a grain bag, placed it into the brew pot with 2 1/2 gallons of water, and brought the temperature to 156ºF. I let it steep for 30 minutes. I then removed the grains, added the LME and honey and brought to a boil. Once boiling, I added one ounce of the Hallertauer hops, one of the cinnamon sticks, and the cloves, and set the timer for 30 minutes. I decided to try adding the cinnamon stick for the full boil to see if I can tell the difference. In afterthought, however, I may not be able to differentiate between the full-boil stick and the two added later.

At the end of the first 30 minutes, I added the other ounce of Hallertauer hops and set the timer for 15 minutes. At that time, I added the Irish Moss, and set the timer again for 10 minutes. Then, for the remaining 5 minutes of the boil, I added the other two cinnamon sticks, the nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla extract.

I then cooled the wort in an ice bath, bringing it down to around 70ºF. The stick-on strip thermometers that I have on the carboy read at 68ºF, but the room where I ferment is around 62º-64ºF. I'll have to check on the temperature in a few days.

The SG was lower than last years at 1.066. I'll update this article with the readings at each step.

Update - 11.7.08: I checked the carboy today, it's been going for about four days now. The strip thermometer says 65º degrees. I'm not exactly sure how to read them, but the 64º mark is green, and the 66º mark is brown, so I'm saying it's 65º. And I have to apologize for forgetting that I left the draft flag on, and it didn't publish till today.

Update - 11.18.08: I racked to the secondary, and the gravity stands at 1.012.

Phat Stout 08

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:57:00 -0400

Once again, I'm repeating a previous brew. This time it's the Phat Stout from last year. I really enjoyed last years batch, so it makes sense to do it again. I kept a few bottles from the first batch, so I can compare both this years and last. But that's not why I kept them, I wanted to see how they age. If I remember correctly, the last few bottles that I drank were much better than the first, and I figured that after a year in the basement, they'll be even better. This year's brew will have to wait for a few months before being tapped, most likely late January or early February, and that should give it the time it needs to age properly. But then again, I'll have to wait and see.

So, here's what I used this year:

1/4 lb.	Black Patent Malt
1/4 lb.	Chocolate Malt
1 1/2 lbs.	Roasted Barley
7 1/2 lbs.	Dark LME
1 cup	Brown Sugar
2 oz.	Millennium Hops
1 oz.	Cascade Hops
1/2 tsp.	Irish Moss
1 packet	Safale S-04 Yeast

The only changes are the Millennium hops, which were substituted for Chinook hops; the addition of brown sugar to try to increase the SG; and the yeast. Apparently, Chinook hops are hard to find. And I added the brown sugar because I'm using liquid malt extract instead of the dry malt extract, so I'll loose a little of the fermentable sugar. The yeast is different this year because the brew shop where I bought the ingredients doesn't carry the Muntons dry brewers yeast. That may not make any difference with this batch, or at least I hope it doesn't.

The procedure is basically the same as I usually do: I put the Black Patent Malt, Chocolate Malt, and Roasted Barley in a couple of grain bags, put them in the brew pot with 2.5 gallons of water, and heated it up to about 156ºF, then let it steep for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, I removed the bags and added the LME and brown sugar, and brought to a boil. Once boiling was achieved, I added one ounce of Millennium hops, and set the timer for 45 minutes. At the 45 minute mark, I added the Cascade hops and reset the timer for 10 minutes. I then added the remaining Millennium hops and boiled for another five minutes.

I cooled the wort as usual, using bagged ice from the grocery store. Once the temperature was down to around 70ºF, I poured into the carboy using a straining funnel, topped it off to five gallons, pitched the yeast, and put it in the basement to ferment.

The SG came in at 1.062, which is lower than last years batch. Next time I make this, I'll use more LME, or maybe go back to the DME. I'll see how it turns out with the brown sugar, I may use it in the next batch as well.

In the meantime, happy brewing.

Update - 11.3.08: I racked to the secondary, the gravity reading was 1.020. I'll update again when I keg.

Update - 11.18.08: Before kegging this batch, the FG was 1.018 for an ABV of 5.78%. Much lower than I hoped. I'll make sure I use the brown sugar next time.

Pumpkin Ale 08

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:59:16 -0400

I'm repeating the seasonal brews from last year, and for this batch, I'm making the Pumpkin Ale. There are some differences from last year's brew, but for the most part, it's the same. The main differences are that I used a real pumpkin instead of canned, and I omitted the brown sugar. The brown sugar didn't make it in because I just read the ingredients list from last years batch, which wasn't listed. But if I had read the whole article, I would have seen that I used a 1/2 cup. As for the Pumpkin, last year, I brewed in August, which is too early for pumpkins, at least here in New England. Brewing in October allowed me to easily find pumpkins near my home.

So, here's the ingredients list:

6.5 lb.	Pumpkin
6 lbs.	Light LME
1 lb.	Crystal 20L
1 oz.	Willamette Hops
1/2 tsp.	Irish Moss
3 tsp.	McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Packet	Safale 04 Yeast

I started yesterday by cleaning and halving the pumpkin, baking for one hour, and then dicing it. While cleaning out the seeds, my wife decided to see if we could roast them. She found quite a few recipes, and she's now talking about buying more pumpkins to try all of them. I guess we'll also be having a lot of pumpkin pie this year too. Or maybe another batch of Pumpkin Ale...

I followed my normal procedures when brewing this batch; I steeped the grains at 154ºF for 20 minutes, then added the LME and pumpkin, and then brought to a boil. I recommend adding the LME first, since adding the cubes of pumpkin to the water makes it difficult to stir in the LME, I know from experience. All the little dice sized pieces floated at the top, while the LME wanted to sink.

After it started to boil, I added the Willamette hops and set the timer for 45 minutes. I then added the Irish Moss, and set the timer for another 10 minutes. My final addition, with five more minutes to boil, was the Pumpkin Pie Spice.

I then cooled as usuall in an ice bath, strained out the pumpkin pieces, and poured into the carboy. Last years batch had a lot of sediment on the bottom of each bottle, which is probably due to the fact that I used canned pumpkin. This year's batch should be much better. The SG of 1.042 was much lower than last year's because I didn't add any brown sugar. I'll be sure to do that next time.

It's getting late, so watch for the updates on the gravity as it progresses along.

Enjoy

Update - 10.20.08: Gravity stands at 1.010 after racking to secondary, which gives it a respectable 4.2% ABV so far.

Update - 11.3.08: I kegged this batch tonight, and the FG is 1.010.

Octoberfest 08.2

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:37:41 -0400

This batch is basically a repeat of Octoberfest 08. The only thing I did differently was accidentally let the temperature get up to 160ºF while steeping the grains. I was reading a magazine waiting for it to come up to temperature, and I didn't check it soon enough, so I shut the flame off and set the timer for 20 minutes. It was 152ºF when the timer went off. I followed the rest of the procedure from the last batch, and even got the same OG reading: 1.056.

Please refer to the previous article for the recipe.

(Oops, I forgot that I had this article set as "Draft" so it didn't publish when it was supposed to. My apologies.)

Update - 10.6.08: Gravity stands at 1.014 after racking to the secondary.

Update - 10.20.08: FG was 1.012 after racking to the keg for a ABV of 5.8%.

Octoberfest 08

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:30:40 -0400

I'm planning to attend a party in October, and I offered to bring a keg of my homebrew. I decided that I wanted an Octoberfest, so I looked up my previous batch, German Oktoberfest, and used that as a starting point for this batch; I modified the recipe a little because I used a kit. I'll actually be brewing two batches of the same beer, since I'm sure the keg I bring to the party will be empty when I leave, and I'll want some for myself. I can't remember what yeast was used for the aforementioned batch, so I'm using Safale us-05. If I remember correctly, the kit had a liquid yeast, probably White Labs.

Here are the ingredients:

7 lbs.	Light LME
1 lb.	Crystal 20
1 oz.	Willamette Hops
1 oz.	Hallertau Hops
1 packet	Safeale us-05

I put the Crystal in a grain bag, and placed in the brewpot with 2.5 gal. of water, and brought to around 154º, and let steep for 20 minutes. I then removed the bag, and brought it to a boil. I added the LME, and Willamette hops, and boiled for 55 minutes. I then added the Hallertau hops, and boiled for another five minutes. After the boil, I cooled to around 70º, and poured into the carboy, pitched the yeast, and brought it down to the basement to ferment. The OG was 1.056.

As usuall, I'll update when I transfer to the secondary, and again when I keg.

Happy brewing!

Update - 9.22.08: I forgot to rack to the secondary last week, so I did it today while waiting for tonights brew to boil. The gravity stands at 1.012. I'll keep it in the secondary for another two weeks before kegging. Hopefully, the FG will be at 1.010.

Update - 10.6.08: The FG came in at 1.011 for an ABV of 5.9%.

Serrano Chile Beer

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:29:00 -0400

I'm going to be a little crazy for this batch and brew a chile beer. My uncle had made one a few years ago, and from what I remember, it was a good beer with a bite. I'm not sure what he used for his, so I looked around for recipes. I found a few, and they all had different variations on ingredients. Some were all-grain, and some were extract, and all used different chiles, so I decided to try my own concoction. I chose Serrano chiles because I was originally planning on putting a chile into each bottle. Their size would make it easy to slip into the bottle, but I decided that it could prove too difficult to get them out when it comes time to clean them. I don't think I'll be kegging this beer because it may be one that I drink only on certain occasions, and tying up the only tap with a beer that I don't drink very often wouldn't be prudent.

So, here is what I used:

8 lbs.	Light LME
1/2 lb.	Crystal
20	Serrano Chiles
2 oz.	Centennial Hops
1 oz.	Cascade Hops
1 packet	Safale S-04

I got started later than I wanted, and rather than staying up until early morning, I decided to go with my old method of steeping the grain until boiling instead getting it to 150º and steeping for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I halved the chiles to get ready to put them in the boil. I left the seeds, figuring that I'll be able to strain them out when I pour into the carboy. Once it reached a boil, I removed the grain bag, added the LME, chiles, and 1 oz. of the Centennial hops, and brought to a boil again. I boiled for 30 minutes and added another ounce of Centennial. Then after boiling for another 15 minutes, I added the Cascade for the last 15 minutes of the boil.

I cooled as usual, and poured into the carboy while straining out the chiles and seeds. I decided to try one of the peppers when I had gotten them all out, which was almost a mistake. They are hot! During the boil, the aroma from the chiles was very interesting. I could feel my eyes wanting to tear, but not enough to actually do so, at least not until I actually ate one.

The SG came in at 1.060, and I'll keep it in the primary for a week before transferring to the secondary. As usual, I'll update at each step, so stay tuned.

Update 8.12.08: I bottled tonight and the FG came in at 1.012 for an ABV of 6.3%. I actually racked into the secondary a few days after the fermentation started because of a blow-out. I didn't check the gravity at the time since I was more interested in getting everything cleaned up. The funny thing about the blow-out was that it just seemed to want the airlock off, since it pushed it out onto the floor, then backed down. There was only a few inches of foam down the outside of the carboy, and nothing else. Back to the subject; while botteling, I tried a small sample. It has a chili flavor with just a hint of heat. I'll write a review in the forums in a few weeks, after it's had a chance to carbonate.

Barking Mutt IPA

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:15:21 -0400

I'm trying another IPA this time. The Amarillo IPA is very tasty, so another IPA seems like a good choice. This recipe has several types of hops, some that I've had in the freezer from a couple of prior batches, and some I bought for this recipe. I don't have a scale that measures less than an ounce, so I may be off a little on the measurements, but I hope I'm fairly close. Also, I'm not sure how long hops last in the freezer, so the IBUs may be lower than what each one is supposed to be.

So here are the ingredients I used:

8 lbs.	Light LME
1 lb.	Crystal 20
1/2 lb.	Munich Malt
1 oz.	Phoenix Hops
1 oz.	Cluster Hops
1 1/2 oz.	Cascade Hops*
1 oz.	Tettnanger Hops
1/2 oz.	Perle Hops*
1/2 oz.	Spaltz Hops*
1 packet	Safale US-05

The hops with the asterisk (*) are what I had in the freezer, with the exception of the Cascade, which 1/2 oz. of the total 1 1/2 oz. was from a previous batch. Instead of my usual steeping until boiling technique I've been doing in the past, I tried steeping the grains at 150ºF. I found that just turning the flame down all the way brought the temperature up to 160ºF, so I shut the flame off for about 20 minutes, for a total steep time of 30 minutes.The temperature came down to about 154ºF. I then removed the grain bags, added the LME, brought to a boil, and added 1 oz. of Phoenix, 1 oz. of Cascade, and 1 oz. of Cluster hops for 45 minutes. I then added 1/2 oz of Tettnanger, 1/2 oz. Cascade, and 1/2 oz. of Perle hops, and boiled for another 10 minutes. For the final five minutes of the boil, I added 1/2 oz. of Tettnanger, 1/2 oz. of Cluster, and 1/2 oz. of Spaltz hops.

As usual, I cooled the wort in an ice bath and poured it into the carboy. I now have a much better thermometer, so I was confident that I could pitch the yeast right away after topping it up to five gallons. The room in the basement where I normally set it to ferment was over 70ºF, so I brought it into the storage room, where the temperature is in the mid 60's. I'll ferment for a week, and rack to the secondary for three weeks. The SG was 1.060, and I'll post an update both when I rack to the secondary, and when I rack to the keg.

In the meantime, enjoy!

Update - 7.16.08: I racked into the secondary this evening. Gravity is currently 1.012.

Update - 8.4.08: I kegged this batch this evening, and the FG came in at 1.010. ABV calculates to 6.56%

Amarillo IPA (Updated)

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:06:00 -0400

I decided to brew an IPA this time, and I found an Amarillo IPA that sounded good. I followed the recipe except for the addition of 1 oz. of hops. I did so because two people posted that the hoppyness was good for them, but could possibly use a little more, so I increased it slightly.

So, here is what I used:

7 lbs.	Muntons Light LME
1/2 lb.	Crystal 40
5 oz.	Amarillo hops
1 packet	Safale US-05

I used the grain bag method I normally do - steep until boiling. I then added the LME, brought to a boil, added 1 1/2 oz. of the Amarillo, and boiled for 45 minutes. I added another ounce, boiled for 10 minutes, and then added another 1 1/2 ounces for the last five minutes of boil time. The final ounce went in at flame out. The last two hop additions were 1/2 oz. higher than the original recipe called for, so I hope that it turns out like I want, but I'll just have to wait and see.

After adding the final hops at flame out, I let it steep for about 10 minutes while I finished sanitizing the carboy and airlock. I then placed the pot into an ice bath to cool the wort to 70°F. Once cooled, I poured the wort into the carboy, topped it up to five gallons, sprinkled the yeast directly into it, and brought it downstairs to ferment. I'm planning on using the secondary for this, and will rack it in a week. The OG came in at 1.052, lower than the 1.067 that the original recipe states. I wonder if my grain bag method is the culprit for that. Maybe I'll try another batch using a different method to see if I can get the OG higher.

I also bought a keg setup, so this will be my first time kegging my brew. No more bottle cleaning. I had just about every bottle I own filled, and washing those bottles after drinking the beer is getting to be a pain. I currently have three batches in bottles, and I just finished the Dawg Slobber Ale, which was also in bottles. I only have enough bottles for four batches, but I'll have enough kegs for six, so I will be brewing more over the next few months.

I'll update next week when I rack to the secondary.

Update (6/10/08): I racked to the secondary and checked the gravity. It was 1.014. I'll leave it in the secondary for three weeks before kegging, so I'll post the FG then.

Update (6.29.08): I racked to the keg tonight. The FG came in at 1.011 for an ABV of 5.38. This is my first batch to go into a keg, and it was much easier than bottling. I'm excited not to have to wash a bunch of bottles, and I'm looking forward to utilizing the six kegs I now own. Four are pin-lock, and two are ball-lock, so I'm going to have to work on my setup to accomidate for the two types, but my hobby is going to be much more enjoyable now.

The Session

Fri, 02 May 2008 08:00:00 -0400

I found a site that has a great idea, and I'll participate in it this month. It's called "The Session", where "Beer bloggers 'gather' to drink beer based on a single theme." This months theme is "How did it all start for you?". Boak and Bailey's UK Beer Blog are the hosts for this month, and they ask "At what point did you realise you were a beer lover/geek/enthusiast? What beer(s) triggered the conversion? Did someone help you along your way, or did you come to it yourself? In short; how did you get into good beer?"

Well, I don't think that there was an epiphany beer that got me started, but rather a series of them. I would buy a six or twelve pack of beer from the local liquor store, and I would look for something different other than the staple Budwieser, Coors or Miller beers that everybody else in line at the checkout counter had. I bought German beers, Irish beers, Canadian beers, Craft Brewery beers, or anything else that looked interesting. Some I didn't like, some I loved. But there was still this feeling that I was missing something.

My uncle has been brewing his own beer for years, and I've tried many of them. Again, there were some that I didn't care for too much, while others I wished I could have more of, but I never thought about brewing my own. That was until I was contacted by one of my high school classmates. She was trying to organize our 20 year class reunion and asked me to help. One of the people who became part of the planning committee brewed his own beer, and I started asking questions. A few months after the reunion, I visited my uncle and asked him if he could show me how to brew. He took me to the local homebrew shop, bought the ingredients needed to brew a couple of batches, and showed me the basics. He then sent me home with the ingredients for the other batch. I bought some equipment that I needed to brew, followed the procedures that he showed me, and came up with a nice beer that I brewed myself. I was hooked, homebrewing became my hobby.

I started with ingredient kits, and then started experimenting with recipes that I found online. And, I've found that I like a wider range of beer styles than I even knew existed. I joined the South Shore Brew Club last year to learn more about brewing, and started this blog. I bought more equipment. And now, I'm planning on converting my basement into a brew pub. That will take a while, but as I learned from brewing beer, good things take time. Homebrewing is my hobby, and the fun is in the process. The reward is the finished product that I get to enjoy as long as it lasts, which for some, isn't long enough. The great thing about brewing is that I can make the beer I enjoy so much again, and again, and again.