Aug 12 2009

Pale Ale and a Hefeweizen- Batch 29 and 30

Today had some friends over and we brewed two beers simultaneously.  Been thinking about what to brew for a few days, knowing today was coming, and was having my normal difficulties of deciding.  I knew I wanted a pale ale but didn’t care for the recipes I’ve seen, and I wanted to use my Liberty hops.  So, I made my own recipe for a pale ale, plus I decided on doing a hefeweizen ala Widmer style.  But, none of the pseudo Widmer clone recipes I cared for, so I made my own, since I wanted to use Liberty hops in that as well.

So, here are my recipes:

Brett’s Liberty Pale Ale (6 gallon batch):

7 lbs light malt extract syrup
1 lb British crystal malt (40 l)
.5 lbs Munich malt
.75 oz Centennial Hops (60 min-bittering)
.5 oz Liberty hops (15 min left- flavor)
.5 oz Liberty hops (5 min – aroma)
Safale US-05 yeast

Brett’s Half A Weizen (5 gallon batch):

7 lbs wheat extract syrup (60 wheat/40 malt ratio- thanks, Steinbarts!)
1 lb white wheat malt
.5 lbs Munich malt
1.5 oz Liberty hops (60 min – bittering)
.5 oz Liberty hops (5 min – aroma)
Safale WB-06 yeast

Doing both batches at the same time went well, especially since I had two helpers, Jeremy and Mike, both of whom thoroughly enjoy my home brew, and Mike in particular is displaying interest in doing it himself.

We mashed the grains in about 1/2 gallon of water at 150 degrees for 35 minutes (at one point we got to talking and the temp spiked on both, so we quickly added a bit more water to bring the temp down quickly).  We sparged the poor lazy man’s way, since there weren’t enough grains in the pots to justify dirtying my lauder tun.  Then we added more water, added 1/2 the malt extract syrups, our bittering hops, and away we went.  Once both batches had 15 minutes left we added the rest of the malt, and I nearly burned myself when the malt bucket handle broke and dropped into the pale ale.  Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt badly by the water splashing on my foot.  Also added the flavor hops to the pale ale at this time.  With 5 minutes left, added the aroma hops on both.  Once the boil was done, removed the heat, strained the hop pellets out, and poured into the fermenters.

Tomorrow morning I will aerate both, take the gravity, and pitch the yeast.  Then, will need to come up with clever logo’s for the bottles.  I’m having a get together with a bunch of friends on the 29th, so hoping these beers are good and ready by then.

Update:  Initial gravity on the pale ale was 1.050.  Initial gravity on the hefeweizen was 1.060.  Both smell wonderful and taste pretty darn good as they are.  Going to be some fine beers!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/pale-ale-and-a-hefeweizen-batch-29-and-30/

Jul 24 2009

Bottled Weizenbeir- Batch 28

After re-reading my last blog, I realized I omitted some very important notes.  First, I failed to list the initial gravity (1.044), and I also failed to note my accident with the water.

Normally, after your wort is finished and in your fermenter, you top it off with water to the mark specified by your recipe (normally the 5 gallon mark).  The last time I brewed this I topped it off to just below the 6 gallon mark, mostly because I used more extract and sugar than originally called for, and because I wanted to stretch it out longer.  Well, this time I was distracted while topping it off, and I topped it off to 6 1/2 gallons.  Oops!

Today, while bottling, I sampled the overly-watered weizenbeir, and it tasted like the original, only lighter.  Now, the lighter is definitely due to the additional water, but the corn sugar I added to the wort was more than the last time I brewed this, which will also make the flavor lighter.   So, note to self:  pay attention when topping off your beer.

The final gravity at bottling time was 1.010, bringing the alcohol content up to 4.46%, definitely lighter than the last batch.

With the weather supposedly hitting 100 degrees this weekend, my only wish is that this beer was ready to drink a week ago.  I’ll need a nice light drink like this to fight off the hot weather.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/bottled-weizenbeir-batch-28/

Jul 14 2009

Weizenbeir Redux- Batch 28

Redid my Weizenbeir I recently did (since it all got consumed).  This time, instead of just randomly adding corn sugar to it, I added 1/2 lb exactly.  Other than that, brewed identically to my previous batch.

Also tasted my IPA, which was a bit premature (not done bottle fermenting).  Not bad.  My guesstimate is the bitterness is around 70 IBU’s.  Nice Cascade hops aroma.  Gonna be nice once this is fully bottle conditioned.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/weizenbeir-redux-batch-28/

Jul 08 2009

East India IPA- Batch 27 Bottled

East India IPA logo

East India IPA logo

I finally had time to bottle my IPA I made two weeks ago.  Let’s just say that my sample of this tasted as good if not better than most commercial IPA’s I’ve tried.  It was darn good.

Final gravity turned out to be 1.012, giving me a 7.09% alcohol by volume.  The bitterness from the hops is pronounced, but not overpowering.  And the aroma is great.

I’m sitting on this for at least two weeks before I crack one open.  And, when I do, I happen to have saved two bottles of my Bombay IPA to try along side and compare.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/east-india-ipa-batch-27-bottled/

Jun 20 2009

My Own IPA- Batch 27

I decided to brew an IPA.  With some $$$ from a friend and some side work I did, I decided to brew a big hoppy IPA.  I checked out dozens of award winning beer recipies, and in the end decided to formulate my own.

7lbs light malt extract syrup
2lbs 2 row
1/2lb crystal malt 120l
1/2lb crystal malt 60l
1/2lb aromatic malt
1/2lb white wheat malt
2 oz Chinook hops (60 min)
1/2 oz Centennial (60 min)
1/4 oz Centennial (30 min)
1/4 oz Cascade (30 min)
1/4 oz Centennial (2 min)
1/4 oz Cascade (2 min)
2 tsp gypsum
1/4 tsp Irish moss

So I took my grains with 4 quarts of water for my protien rest at 130 degrees.

IPA- Grains during protien rest

IPA- Grains during protien rest

After 30 minutes at 130 degrees, I added 1 quart of boiling water to get it up to 150 degrees.  For some reason, Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/my-own-ipa-batch-27/

Jun 02 2009

…Hmmm……Weizenbeir…

My weizenbeir was ready to drink last Friday.  Bottle fermentation was quick, thanks to the warm weather.  How did it turn out?

The first thing I noticed was the aroma.  The Saaz with the wheat and Hallertauer made a playful combination of smells, the distinct smell of a wheat with Hallertauers but the Saaz teased of something lighter, like a lager or pils.  My first sip the wonderful wheat came out, but lighter than expected due to the extra corn sugar.  The Hallertauers came out on the finish, making this a really unique but good, drinkable beer.

Anyone want to invest in some beer?  You pay for ingredients, I’ll do the labor, and we can split the proceeds 50/50.  What’dya say?

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/hmmm-weizenbeir/

May 24 2009

Batch 26 Bottled

Witty Weizenbeir

Witty Weizenbeir

Yesterday I bottled my weizenbeir.  Final gravity was 1.010, for a final alcohol by volume of 5.25%.  Taste wise, it was less wheaty than I normally like, but that was due to the extra corn sugar I put in lightening the flavor.  The hop presence was nice, you could really pick out the hallertauer’s- not too hoppy, but enough to keep you interested.  All in all it should be a nice, drinkable beer.  Nothing world class or knock your socks off, but a good, drinkable beer.  And I got 56 bottles out of it!  Yippie!!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/batch-26-bottled/

May 15 2009

Batch 26- Weizenbeir

Had a little bit of money left over from a job I did, so I decided to make some beer.  Not wanting to do an all-grain without my buddy Jared, I decided to do a Papazian recipe that was pretty dirt cheap, his Lovebite Weizenbeir.  The irony is my friend Jared, independent of me, did the same beer.  But, being the creative types we are, we both modified the original recipe.

The recipe calls for 6.6lbs of wheat extract, but I can get 7lbs of wheat at Steinbarts for cheaper, so I used 7lbs.  It also called for 3/4 oz of Hallertauer hops, but I used 1oz and 1oz of Saaz for aroma.  During the boil, instead of adding the entire 7lbs of liquid extract I added only 2/3 of it up front and the rest with 15 minutes left.  Hallertauer’s were in the whole boil and the Saaz were added with 2 minutes left.  Oh, also added a bit of corn sugar, just to up the alcohol.

Today I pitched my yeast, good old Safbrew WB-06, after taking my initial gravity reading, which was 1.050.  Should be a nice 4 to 4.5% alcohol by volume brew.  Nice and drinkable.  We’ll see how she turns out at bottling time.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/batch-26-weizenbeir/

May 15 2009

Batch 25- Lucky Stout

Back in March I brewed my 25th batch of beer.  Did a remake of the famous Lucky Stout (famous among those who’ve tried it.)

Bottled it on 3/18/09, and have only a few bottles left.  My next brew is a German style Weizen, will follow up once I pitch the yeast.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/batch-25-lucky-stout/

Mar 19 2009

Vote For Your Favorite Beer City

The Examiner is having a poll to see what city is your favorite city for beer.  Given that I live in one of the largest beer producing cities per capita in the world, I naturally voted for Portland, OR.

But, let democracy be heard.  Click here and vote for your favorite beer city.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/vote-for-your-favorite-beer-city/