Dec 01 2010

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/holiday-cheer-batch-39/

Nov 14 2010

Ruby Hooker Mead- Batch 38

Oooh, yeah!  Got my hands on 18 lbs of honey and 10lbs of raspberries.  What to do with them?  Why, make mead, of course!

Empty Honey Containers

Empty Honey Containers

The recipe is really simple.  Add honey to 1 gallon of water, boil for 15 minutes while skimming off the white proteins that float to the surface. After 15 minutes kill the heat, add the raspberries and let them steep for 20 minutes to pasteurize them.

Honey in the pot

Honey in the pot

Once pasteurized, add the whole lot to a large enough fermenter to handle 6 gallons with lots of empty space, or if you can’t do that then use two 5 gallon fermenters.

Canned raspberries

Canned raspberries

This morning I took the initial gravity and pitched the yeast.  After removing all raspberry floaties from my hydrometer reader, the initial gravity came out to 1.124.  This thing has the potential for up to 15% alcohol by volume.  I doubt it will get that high, but holey guacamole that is high!

In about two weeks I’ll rack it off to another fermenter, then after a month or two I’ll rack it off again and let it sit.

Next year, once this mead is done, I’m in for some good holiday libations!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/ruby-hooker-mead-batch-38/

Nov 07 2010

Rob’s Belgian Dubbel- Batch 37 bottled

Yesterday my boss Rob and I bottled up our 10 gallons of Belgian Dubbel.  Final gravity came out to 1.018.  Doing the math we have 1.086-1.018=.068 x 105= 7.14 x 1.25= 8.9% alcohol by volume.  8.9%!!!  That’s the highest alcohol by volume for any beer I’ve done, not counting my mead.

Tasting it I knew we had a winner.  It had a complex malt body with the roasted malts being predominant.  The hints of orange bitterness and the licorice came through as well.  Wonderfully complex, this one will be great once it matures.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/robs-belgian-dubbel-batch-37-bottled/

Oct 23 2010

Brewing a Belgian Dubbel- Batch 37

So, my amazingly cool boss, Rob Morrison, wanted to brew a Belgian Dubbel.

Rob "The Stud" Morrison

Rob "The Stud" Morrison

No problem, I told him.  Grabbed my clone recipe book, we flipped through it, and we decided on doing the clone of Ommegang Abbey Ale.  Wanting to know what I’m brewing, I of course grabbed a bottle for Rob and I to share.

Ommegang Abbey Ale, our Belgian Dubbel

Ommegang Abbey Ale

We also decided to double the recipe, because 5 gallons between two guys just isn’t enough beer!

So, with double in mind, I went to Steinbarts and grabbed Continue reading

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Oct 13 2010

Liberty Pale Ale bottled- Batch 36

Last night (10/13/2010) I finally got around to bottling my Liberty Pale ale.  I had run out of the regular sanitizer solution I use, so I resorted to a Papazian suggestion:  Using bleach and then rinsing with hot water.  Sampling the beer I was glad to not notice any bleach in it (thanks, Charlie!)  I did notice it wasn’t quite the same as my first batch.  I expected some differences, given I didn’t use the Munich malt, but it seemed…. different.  I will have to wait till it finishes bottle conditioning to really evaluate.

Final gravity came out to 1.012, giving an alcohol by volume of 5.25%.    Should be good still, despite the slight differences between the first batch and this one.

Next beer on the list:  A Belgian dubbel.  Stay tuned!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/liberty-pale-ale-bottled-batch-36/

Sep 26 2010

Liberty Pale Ale redux- Batch 36

Friday afternoon I decided I was going to make some beer.  So, I grabbed the kids, threw them in the van and headed off to Steinbarts.  On the way, I began to ponder what beer I would make.  Hmmm….. I was tempted to redo my standard hefeweizen (i.e. my half-a-weizen), but I began to think about what I wanted to drink right there and then, and I decided I wanted a pale ale.  Now, my Liberty Pale ale was quite exceptional, but I didn’t have the recipe in front of me.  Aww, who cares, right?   This is beer, not rocket science.  So at the beer store I grabbed 7 lbs of light malt extract syrup and 1 lb of 20 lovibond crystal malt.  I also grabbed some Safale US-05, and a new beer magazine and a new spigot for my bottling bucket.  It seems my lazy man method of cleaning the spigot has resulted in a few funky batches.

Armed with my ingredients, only slightly different from my original Liberty recipe, I began my brewing on a beautiful Saturday morning (September 25th to be exact.)

Mashed the crystal malt for 45 minutes at 145 degrees, strained and sparged them using the lazy man’s method (particularly effective with small amounts of grain.)  I then added more water, brought it to a boil and added my malt extract.  Using my hops bag, I stuck with the original hop schedule as my original Liberty Pale Ale (.75 oz Centennials for 60 minutes, .5 oz Liberty for 15 minutes, .5 oz Liberty for 5 minutes.) I also used some Irish Moss to help settle anything out I don’t want in.

All went well for the boil.  I transferred the wort to my fermenter and topped it off to 5.5 gallons (I thought it was at 5 gallons, but I had the bucket at an angle.)  Aerated and pitched the yeast today, getting an initial gravity of 1.052.  Should be ready to bottle by Friday, so I’m hoping.  Talking to my boss about making a Belgian Dubbel next weekend.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/liberty-pale-ale-redux-batch-36/

Jul 03 2010

Mead Bottled- Batch 35

I brewed this batch of mead at the beginning of January, and on today July 3rd I finally bottled it.

Brett siphoning mead

Brett siphoning mead

The first thing I noticed was the aroma.  A definite strong alcohol smell with the wonderful esters of honey.  The yeast looked very strange at the bottom of the carboy, like some undersea silt with strange jellyfish floating around the yellow liquid.

Mead in the carboy

Mead in the carboy

Mead in the bucket

Mead in the bucket

Once transferred to the bottling bucket I took the final gravity, which came out to be 1.015.  Subtract that from my initial gravity of 1.106 gives us .091.  Multiply by 105 and then again by 1.25 gives an alcohol by volume of 11.94%.  Over 11%?!?!  Holy cow, this ain’t beer, it’s liquor!

Final Gravity of the Mead

Final Gravity of the Mead

After tasting a sample, my hunches were confirmed.  It had a light sweet honey type of start with a harsh hard alcohol burn for the finish.  This will definitely need to sit for another 6 months before enjoying.

What amazed me the most about it was the color.  It is an extremely light color and completely opaque.  It looks really pretty in my clear glass bottle.

Mead in a clear corona bottle

Mead in a clear bottle

Well, true believers, this batch will be ready to sample hopefully around Christmas.

On another note, I found a potential source of crud that may have gotten into my last few batches of beer.  Although I soak my bottling bucket in bleach water after every use, I have failed to take the spigot off and thoroughly clean it.  Tonight I finally did this.  Another lesson learned.  Always seem to be learning things the hard way.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/mead-bottled-batch-35/

Feb 20 2010

Lucky Stout Bottled- Batch 36

Finally got around to bottling my Beamish clone.  Bottling 10 gallons of beer is a task, let me tell you.  To make things more difficult, I thought my bottle filler was broke, as it wouldn’t stop pouring.  After a bit I got it working again, but it was still dripping slowly.  Will have to replace that bad boy.

Final count was 84 12oz bottles and 5 22oz bottles.

Final gravity was 1.010, giving a final alcohol by volume of 4.33%.  It came out much higher than my first time brewing this.  Very curious.  Possibly due to the long time fermenting?  Maybe.  3 weeks in a fermenter is more than sufficient for most beers.

This will be nice to have around to drink.  I so love this beer.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/lucky-stout-bottled-batch-36/

Feb 03 2010

A New Pot and A Batch of Stout- Batch 36

My wife got me the best birthday present ever.  She got me a 15 gallon brew pot.

Brett and the Brewpot

Brett and the Brewpot

This thing is so stinking big I can stick both my boys in it and have room for veggies!  (Note:  I am NOT endorsing cannibalism!  I’ll leave that to the British Navy. 😉  )

Boys and the Brewpot

Boys and the Brewpot

Boys in the Brewpot

Boys in the Brewpot

So, what do you need to do to when you have a new brewpot?  Make beer.  DUH!

Not knowing what to make and desiring a nice, Continue reading

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Jan 05 2010

Mead – Batch 35

Viking Drinking Horn filled with Mead

Viking Drinking Horn filled with Mead

Ok, I’ve been negligent lately on my blog.  So much so that I can’t remember the exact day I brewed by first batch of mead.  I believe it was the 23rd of December, so I’ll go with that.

Deciding to brave this journey, I began with a very basic mead recipe.  15 pounds of honey, water, yeast nutrient and yeast.  Pretty basic.  I used clover honey, since that was available and didn’t cost me anything.  Water was free and the wine/champagne yeast was $2.50 or something like that (I forget right now what yeast I used).  Yeast nutrients were $3-$4.  So, my total in this batch is $5-6.  Oh, what I could have free honey the rest of my life!

The question of whether or not to boil came up, and I defaulted to Papazian’s advice:  Boil for 15 minutes and call it good.  This neutralizes a lot of the nasties that are normally in honey and preserves some of the floral quality (though not all).  So, I boiled 1.5 gallons of water, added the honey, stirred and waited 15 minutes, then put it in my carboy.

Talk about easy!

I still have the whole funnel issue with my carboy, so I used a measuring cup to slowly transfer the mead to the carboy.  Once most of it was out of the brew pot I lifted the pot to pour the remainder in.  All in all the safest way to do it.

Once the honey was cooled I rehydreated the yeast, took the initial gravity (1.106), and pitched the yeast.

As of today (January 5), it is still fermenting away.  February 3rd will be 6 weeks fermenting, so I’ll check it then to see where it’s at.  I am really looking forward to this.  This will be a new experience for me.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/mead-batch-35/