Jun 20

Ruby Hooker and Liberty Pale Ale Bottled- batch 38 and 44

So, for Father’s day I decided it was about time to bottle my pale ale and my mead.  15 gallons of bottling- no problem, right?

Bottles drying in dishwasher

Bottles drying in dishwasher

So, I began with the mead.  5 gallons sitting in the carboy since December and ready to bottle.

Ruby Hooker Mead in carboy

Ruby Hooker Mead in carboy

I transferred the mead to my bottling bucket and took the final gravity.  1.012.  Given that the original gravity was 1.124, the alcohol content on this bad boy is 14.7%.  FOURTEEN POINT SEVEN PERCENT!!!!  Holy cow, I’m going to have to be careful with this one!

Added 3/4 cup corn sugar and bottled it up.  The taste was a lot less sweeter than I thought it would be.  I got a lot of tartness from the raspberries and a hint of dryness.  Seems like my yeast might have done it’s job a bit too well.  Still should be good, though.  Here’s what it looks like in the bottle:

Ruby Hooker in the bottle

Ruby Hooker in the bottle

Now, doing the Liberty Pale ale was interesting.  I had some helpers to bottle it with me.

Greggory and Josiah bottling

Greggory and Josiah bottling

It took a long time to bottle this one, as I had two fermenters full of beer and each one had to be transferred to my bottling bucket separately and everything sanitized in between transfers.  The whole day started at around 2:30pm and ended at around 9pm, and that’s including cleanup.

The final gravity on the Liberty Pale ale was 1.012 on both batches (strange), so with a fudge of a starting gravity of 1.058 that gives me an alcohol content of 6.04% by volume.  Wow, turned out stronger this time. Possibly due to all that extra time in the fermenter?  Maybe. The nice thing is I have a ton of beer to tide me over for the next few months, which will give me time to brew and age my next beer- a Belgian style.  Stay tuned!

Ruby Hooker Mead label

Ruby Hooker Mead label

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=687

May 22

Liberty Pale Ale (batch 44) and bottling Framboise (batch 43)

Saturday (May 21st), I decided to do two things at once: Brew a 10 gallon batch of beer and bottle my wife’s Framboise.  Well, they don’t call be crazy for nothing.

I decided to redo my Liberty Pale Ale, since the first time I did it it was so stinking good.  Alas, I didn’t have any Centennials for bittering hops, so instead of .75oz of Centennials I did 1oz of Cascades.  I like Cascade hops anyways.

Liberty Pale Ale Ingredients

Liberty Pale Ale Ingredients

I doubled my original recipe, and being lazy rather than doing the whole thing in my great big new pot I just did two separate batches in two separate pots, with the exception of the mashing, which I did in one pot. Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=675

Apr 11

Framboise Transferred to Secondary- Batch 43

So, in what seemed like an eternity, I finally got around to transferring my lovely wife’s Framboise to a secondary fermenter this last Saturday.  Didn’t take the gravity, which I originally planned on doing, but added the Belgian yeast to it- some good old Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Strain.

I’ll plan on letting it sit in the secondary for a few months while the Belgian yeasts do their thing, and will hopefully have some Torrani’s syrup by bottling time.

My first gluten-reduced beer.  For my wifey!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=673

Mar 21

A New Framboise Attempt- Batch 43

I’ve been wanting to revisit my last Framboise attempt for some time, and with our kitchen being clean I decided now is the time.  So, after some research and some thinking, here’s the recipe I’ve come up with:

7lbs liquid wheat malt extract (I believe Steinbart’s uses a 60/40 barley/wheat ratio)
1lb dry malt extract
1lb 20L crystal malt
1.5lbs white wheat malt
1lb honey (holly/berry honey)
2oz Saaz hops
Safale SA-05 yeast
Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Strain
96oz Canned Raspberries (for wine making, but it was all Steinbarts had!)

Framboise Ingredients

Framboise Ingredients

Now, here is my plan:  mash the grains for 45 minutes at 145-150 degrees, sparge, add malts and honey, add Saaz, boil.  After boil remove from heat, add raspberries and pasteurize for 30 minutes.  Since most of the raspberries in the can were liquified, I could easily strain before adding to the primary.  Cool, aerate, take gravity, add yeast and Clarity Ferm (to make more clear and remove glutens.)*  After a week transfer to a secondary, pitch the Lambic yeast, and wait a few months.  At bottling time I plan on either using sugar water or some Raspberry Torrani syrup to give some sweetness to the beer.  As I get closer to bottling I’ll make that decision, but I’m leaning towards the Torrani syrup idea.

My Brewing Assistants

My Brewing Assistants

So, I started with mashing the grains.  The crystal and white wheat malts should add some sweetness to the final body of the beer.  And I always have extra little hands around to help.

Josiah helping to stir

Josiah helping to stir

Grains Mashing

Grains Mashing

With the mash done, I did a lazy man’s sparge (i.e. used a strainer and some 170 degree water), and added a bit more water and brought it up to a boil.  Once boiling I added the wheat malt, the dry malt extract and the honey.  Of course, Josiah decided to touch the burner during this time and burned his finger.  I was able to quickly rescue him with a rapid administration of ice and ibuprofin, and fortunately no blisters emerged.

After adding the Saaz, I boiled the wort for an hour.  Then, I removed the pot from the heat and added the raspberries.  I waited 1/2 an hour, then strained the mash and added it to my fermenting bucket.

Early this morning I aerated the wort, took the gravity, and pitched the yeast.  Initial gravity turned out to be 1.068.   Should turn out somewhere around the 7% alcohol range when done.

Of course, the clarity ferm was supposed to be added at this time, but I forgot.  Fortunately, I texted my wonderful wife and she added it to the beer.

Now, to wait a week to transfer the beer to the secondary!

 

* Having friends with gluten issue, I can’t share my beer with them.  Clarity Ferm by White Labs, which is made with Brewers Clarex, is a clarifying agent that removes excess proteins from the beer to make it clearer.  Removing proteins also means removing glutens.  Thus, a simple solution to make gluten reduced beer without too much extra effort.  😉

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=664

Jan 23

East India IPA- Batch 42

Friday I made a batch of my East India IPA.  I redid the recipe from last time, with only two differences.  As I was getting my ingredients, Steinbarts ran out of the 120L crystal malt.  So, I used 1/4lb of the 120L crystal and 1/4lb 80L crystal.  I also had access to some loose leaf Cascade hops, which was nice as I am all out of Cascade pellets. I used some Safale SA-04 English ale yeast, as it’s cheap and it’s what I used the last time I made this and it turned out great.

Grains added to the pot

Grains added to the pot

Added the grains to 1 gallon of water and did a protein rest at 130 for 30 minutes.

Greggory helping me brew

Greggory helping me brew

After the protein rest I added 1/2 gallon of near-boiling water to the grains to bring it up to 150.  The strange thing was it should have done it easily, as technically 1/4 gallon should have.  I eventually got things settled at 150 degrees and let it simmer there for 45 minutes.

Josiah helping me also

Josiah helping me also

Mashing the grains

Mashing the grains

Next, I took the temp up to 158 for 15 minutes, then up to 168 to stop the conversion process.  I sparged with 2 gallons of 170 degree water.  I added 1/2 the gypsum to the boil water and 1/2 to the sparge water.

Sparging the grains

Sparging the grains

Once sparged I began the boil.  Had an incident with the malt extract bucket falling into the water and splashing wort all over the stove.  Argh!  Cleaned that up and realized I wasn’t stirring the malt extract, and naturally some got scorched on the bottom of the pot.

Once the boil started I added the first batch of hops.  2oz of Chinook and 1/2oz of Centennial.  Wowza!  Hoppy goodness!

2.5OZ Chinook and Centennial Hops

2.5OZ Chinook and Centennial Hops

At the 30 minute boil mark I added 1/4oz Centennial and 1/4oz of the loose leaf Cascades.  With 2 minutes remaining I added the remaining Cascades, which was 1/2oz worth.  More than last time, but didn’t see the need to leave them sitting around.  Another thing I forgot this time was the Irish Moss.  Grr…..

Filtered out the hops as best as I could and added it to my fermenter, topping it off to 5 gallons.  Yesterday I aerated the beer, took my hydrometer reading and pitched the yeast.  My initial gravity came out to 1.074, more than last time I brewed this.  Hmm…. ok.  Maybe my sparging was better this time.  Who knows.

The fermentation has really kicked off on this.  I plan on letting it go for a week then transferring it to a secondary fermenter with some oak chips.  Should add more to this delightfully wonderful beer.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=650

Jan 10

My Beer Batch Numbering Screw-up

Screw Up

Screw Up

As those of you who follow this know, I number each batch of beer I do.  Currently I’m up to batch 40.  Well, after making a little spreadsheet of all the beers I’ve brewed, I realized I screwed up in my numbering.

My Lucky Stout I did last year was batch 36.  My next batch was my Liberty Pale Ale, which was batch 36.

See the problem here?

Well, I don’t feel like editing all my blog entries, so I’ll just start my next beer out as batch #42, as my Oatmeal Stout should have been #41.  That will fix it from this point on.

 

Side Note:

Oh, also going to start reducing the gluten in my beers considerably, thanks to White Labs Clarity-Ferm, which contains Brewers Clarex, an agent that reduces the proteins in beer.  Its intent is for clearer beer and no chill haze, but removing the proteins also removes the gluten.  Papazian sent a batch of his homebrew off to be tested after using it and it came back with a gluten level of less than 5 parts per million.  Will start using this so my friends who are gluten intolerant can hopefully enjoy some of my beer.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=646

Jan 06

Bottled Oatmeal Stout- Batch 40

Bottled the stout tonight after a 2 hour delay, thanks to uncontrollable circumstances.  Final gravity came to 1.020 for an alcohol percent of 5.00% even.  Got 94 12oz bottles and two 22oz bottles out of it.  Should be ready to drink by my party on the 15th.  Looking forward to it.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=640

Dec 28

10 Gallons of Oatmeal Stout- Batch 40

Went to F. H. Steinbart’s yesterday and bought ingredients to make 10 gallons of oatmeal stout.

Oatmeal Stout Ingredients

Oatmeal Stout Ingredients

Ingredients: 2lbs of rolled oats, 8lbs of Six Row malt, 1lb of crystal malt, 1lb of chocolate malt, 1/2lb of roasted barley, 7lbs of dark malt extract syrup, and some Wyeast 1084 Irish ale yeast.  I had the gypsum and the Irish moss and the Willamette hops for the rest of this.  The nice thing about this recipe is I get to use my big pot!  Another nice thing is that I had some help from my friend Rob.

Added grains to 3 gallons of 150 degree water.  The theory is that the grains added to this would take the temp down to 130.  Well, they didn’t.  Quickly added extra Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=616

Dec 01

I Threw a Hooker in a Bottle- Ruby Hooker Mead Batch 38

Racked off my Ruby Hooker Mead today.

Raspberries floating in mead

Raspberries floating in mead

The first thing I noticed when I opened the lid was the smell.  STRONG ALCOHOL SMELLS!  It also had a strong raspberry odor and an almost wine like characteristic.  Transferring the mead went well, and the color on the mead is amazing!

Ruby Hooker Mead Transferring

Ruby Hooker Mead Transferring

Mead tranferring into carboy

Mead tranferring into carboy

There were some floaties that made its way into the carboy as well, so this will need to be racked off once again before bottling.  I plan on keeping it in the carboy for several months before bottling, to get as many of those sugars converted to alcohol as I can.  This is going to be an awesome drink when it’s done!

Ruby Hooker Mead in the Carboy

Ruby Hooker Mead in the Carboy

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=605

Dec 01

Holiday Cheer- Batch 39

Holiday Cheer

Holiday Cheer

It’s the holiday season again, and like always I intended to brew this beer several weeks ago, but was prevented from doing so by all the combined forces of the universe.  Brett must not have his way, EVER!!!  It’s a cosmic law.

Well, with Tracy being sick today and me being in a vehicle with the kiddo’s after dropping Angelique off to school, nothing was preventing be from heading to Steinbarts.  Did I tell you I love Steinbarts?

Holiday Cheer Beer Ingredients

Holiday Cheer Beer Ingredients

So I picked up my 7lbs of light malt extract syrup, my cheapo Safale SA-05 yeast, 1/2 lb of 60L crystal malt, and 2 oz of black patent malt.  Some may ask why I use light malt extract syrup when the recipe calls for dry light malt extract.  Well, the answer is because it’s cheaper.  So there!

Holiday Cheer Beer Ingredients

Holiday Cheer Beer Ingredients

I added the grains to 1.5 gallons of water and held it at 145 degrees for 30 minutes.  I had some help making the beer also.

Greggory adding grains to water

Greggory adding grains

Greggory stirring the grains

Greggory stirring the grains

The beautiful wort

The beautiful wort

Once the grains were strained I added my 7lbs of malt extract and my bittering hops.  I almost forgot to add the honey, but I remembered after only a few minutes of boil.  After 60 minutes (which should have been 50 minutes) I added the cinnamon, ginger, and orange peel.  With 2 minutes left of the final 10 minutes of boil I added my 1/2oz of Saaz.  I then strained everything out and poured it into my fermenter and topped it off to what I thought was 5 gallons of water, but given I picked the bucket I haven’t marked yet, I had to guesstimate.

Some differences happened this year with the batch, some intentional and mostly unintentional.  I ran out of Cascade hops, so instead of 2oz of Cascades for my bittering hops, I used 1/2oz Cascade and 1oz Centennial.  I was going to use my normal freshly grated ginger, but I forgot to get some at the store.  I had some ground ginger in a spice bottle, so I used that.  I thought it might be stronger than the freshly ground stuff, so I only added 1/2oz of it.  Usually the orange peel is a bit overwhelming, so I planned on only adding 3 tsp of dried orange peel (I added 4 last year), but I ran out and only was able to add 2 tsp.

Holiday cheer in the fermenter

Holiday cheer in the fermenter

I put the beer outside to cool off sooner, as I plan on pitching yeast this evening.  Can’t wait till this is done and drinkable, as I have some of last years Holiday Cheer to compare with it.

Note: Pitched the yeast tonight.  Initial gravity came out to 1.060, same as last years batch.  Must be doing something right.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=594