Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

German Pilsner 1.5 Gallon Attempt A

May 14th, 2016

So this will be my first go at brewing 1.5 gallon batches of beer. Lately I’ve had an interesting go of it with brewing beers I’ve not perfected yet. American stout and American porter came out mediocre at best. I straight dumped about 8 gallons of the stout because to me it was undrinkable. My 10 gallons of German pilsner were very nice and a great lager but I want world class. I mean hell who wants to drink 8 gallons of great lager when you want great German pilsner? So I’m going to try my hand at small batches. It’ll allow me to do induction brewing in my beer room with air conditioning. It’ll allow me to take up less room and not have to waste so much if it doesn’t end up well. Most importantly it’ll allow me quick turnover to perfect some of these recipes that require very honed in recipes and practices.

So I’d already built a small mash tun for single infusion brewing. It’s a 5 gallon water cooler. I purchased a 5 gallon induction ready pot off Amazon. Also picked up a 1800 watt induction cook top on Amazon. I already had a couple of 3 gallon better bottles I purchased a few years back to small brew lager batches. I think this small scale will give me good feedback on new recipes. It’ll also allow me to brew in the air conditioning and do it quickly. Time is always tight with kids.

This will be German pilsner rebrew of the recipe I brewed a few months back. Feedback from 2 different judging sessions was scattered at best. From what I can tell it needed improvement in two places. 1. It wasn’t bitter enough or hoppy enough. So Going to give it late hops and a bit more bitterness. 2. Improve maltiness yet make it dry. So adding a tad of melanoidin malt. Also going to make it a bit more carbonated to impress dryness since the last beer was dry enough as far as gravity was concerned.

Update 5/17/2016

So the brew day went very smooth in terms of process. I did have a few issues in regards to volume. The volume ended up a little low due to my Beersmith equipment profile being off in the calculations. The beer will be pretty close in it’s original gravity at 1.05 but I’ll be lucky to end up with a gallon. I suppose I didn’t think about the loss to trub and the boil off not being linear things when scaling down to a 1.5 gallon batch. So we’ll see how this guy ends up but I’ve already concocted the Attempt B to try again.

All in all it was a lot of fun to brew in the air conditioning with the control of the electric cook tops and the small size, weight and cost. I ordered a 1.5 gallon Torpedo keg from Morebeer.com and am looking forward to trying that out. Hoping to end up with a stack of 4 of those kegs in my kegerator along side 3 regular rotating beers so that I can experiment without having to waste or choking down a bad beer.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
1.8 gal	60 min	38.8 IBUs	4.8 SRM	1.045	1.009	4.8 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
German Pils	5 D	1.044 - 1.05	1.008 - 1.013	22 - 40	2 - 5	2.5 - 3.2	4.4 - 5.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	3 lbs	96
Melanoidin (Weyermann)	2 oz	4

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Hersbrucker	0.55 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	6
Hallertauer	0.13 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.8

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	4.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	2.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	2.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
German Lager (WLP830)	White Labs	77%	50°F - 55°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	150°F	75 min

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German Pilsner

January 17th, 2016

I always love brewing lagers when it’s cold. Living in South Louisiana it just seems easier to manage lager fermentation when it’s cold and the beer will be ready in time to start the Summer. So…given that some of the 2016 Bayou State Circuit homebrew competitions are sporting German Pilsner I went with that one. I decided to do 10 gallons and vary the yeast. One will be the bock strain of WLP833 while the other will be WLP830 or simply “German Lager Yeast”. I chose to go with straight Magnum because in the past when brewing this sort of beer I got comments concerning the beer being too hoppy. I suspect this is due to judges being used to trying pilsners which were not fresh from shipping across the ocean. We’ll see! The grain bill was simply Weyermann Pilsner malt which is supposed to be great for this.

The brew day went fine although the gravity was coming in a little high so I adjusted with tap water. Pitched the yeast in the very yellow wort. Fermenting at about 50F. Hopefully it comes out great because the wort tasted very nice.

Following this I’ll be using the yeast for schwarzbier and finally doppelbock.

Update 2/6/2016
The WLP830 version ended up being the best pilsner I’ve ever brewed. Professional quality clear, crisp, refreshing and drinkable by the liter. Very delicate with a fine head. The WLP833 is also better than any other pilsner I’ve ever brewed before but just a tad less clear and not quite as spot on for pilsner as the WLP830. So next time I brew this beer it’ll be the WLP830 along with some other like WLP838 Southern German Lager for example.

Update 4/7/2016
So much to my disappointment this beer didn’t place with comments being it needed more bitterness. Scoring was 37 on the points scale which is a win and still the only 30+ pilsner score I ever received so I’m happy about that. Point of this update is next time add more hopping. Possibly a small late hop addition.(although topping up 10% with water probably dropped bitterness some also) It was also commented that the carbonation should’ve been higher for a pilsner. Perhaps that contributed to the lower perceived bitterness. Carbonation will be the next issue I tackle since my beer comes out the kegs perfectly carbonated by transferring via the beer gun appears to lose some of that. So this beer only needs a very minor recipe tweak and I need to tune my carbonation to bottling process.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
12 gal	90 min	35.6 IBUs	3.9 SRM	1.049	1.010	5.1 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
German Pils	5 D	1.044 - 1.05	1.008 - 1.013	22 - 40	2 - 5	2.5 - 3.2	4.4 - 5.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	25 lbs	100

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	2 oz	45 min	Boil	Pellet	12

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	8.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
German Bock Lager (WLP833)	White Labs	73%	48°F - 55°F
German Lager (WLP830)	White Labs	77%	50°F - 55°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	148°F	75 min

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American Pale Ale

November 29th, 2015

Wow it’s been probably the longest drought between brews I’ve had in a while. I did brew a barleywine last month in the event I forget to post it. Just haven’t had the time to do anything since September. I have been doing beer related things such as judging and trying to figure out how to adjust my beers based on scoresheet feedback from the last few competitions I participated in. The desire to try some IPA/pale ale hopping theories combined with running out of beer got me out of my rut.

All hopping additions were done with the flame off at 215F or below as it dropped. Basic issue I’m trying to address is reduced astringency I believe is due to boiling hops and taking too long to reduce temperature. I’d also like improved hop aroma although my procedures to date have been aromatic enough.
Reduced lactic acid additions based on new understanding of using acid to adjust Ph.
Dry hop added as soon as the airlock starts bubbling based on Sierra Nevada notes on the effects of fermentation on dry hop.
Note. Trashcan beer. Meaning the grain bill changed a bit due to not having things around the house I thought I did.
Volume was low and 1.047 was a little lower than intended gravity. I keep forgetting to adjust Beersmith for my efficiency to volume ratio on calculations.

Update 12/1/2015
Fermentation going well. Added the dry hop of Amarillo today. Went ahead and added 2 ounces of Columbus because I was reading brulosopher and make a decision to up my dry hop.

Update 12/3/2015
Gravity finished at 1.01. Pretty darn dry. Tastes great. Cold crashing today.
Update 12/6/2015
Racked to keg and fined with gelatin for the first time ever today. Felt strange adding gelatin to a beer but appears to work. Lots of pine, onion, tropical fruit in this beer aroma/flavor hop profile. Should bee a great brew when its carbonated.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
4.7 gal	60 min	45.3 IBUs	7.7 SRM	1.047 SG	1.013 SG	4.5 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Pale Ale	10 A	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.015	30 - 45	5 - 14	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	4.25 lbs	45.95
Pale Malt, Maris Otter	3.75 lbs	40.54
Munich Malt - 20L	8 oz	5.41
Aromatic Malt	4 oz	2.7
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	4 oz	2.7
Caramunich II (Weyermann)	4 oz	2.7

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Simcoe	1 oz	10 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Amarillo	1 oz	7 min	Boil	Pellet	9.2
Simcoe	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Amarillo	1 oz	3 min	Boil	Pellet	9.2
Simcoe	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Simcoe	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	13

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	8.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Lactic Acid	8.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	5.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	154°F	75 min

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Twelve Dazed Version Two

October 9th, 2015

The original brew of Twelve Dazed was extremely boozy. It hasn’t done well in competitions and I think that’s why. So this version is tweaked some in leaving out the sucrose and it’s much better this way. At the time of writing this I have 5 gallons on tap and it’s quite nice. Very toasty, bready, cocoa and chocolate from a malt standpoint. Very spicy, lemony and black currant like from a hop perspective. We brewed this beer as a barrel experiment so the other 5 gallons is in a LA1 whiskey barrel at a fellow brewers house. Really looking forward to getting that one carbed up.

Update 2/4/2016
This version is amazing. The barrel and non-barrel versions are both incredibly complex and savory beers. This beer is ideal for a whiskey barrel and it really melds together well. I bottled it up, taped it up and put most of it in a safe corner of the house until around Christmas.

Update 5/28/2017

Drinking this beer watching the LSU game in the SEC championship for baseball. Whoa it is incredible. Deep, complex and savory. Dark fruits, deep caramels, treacle, almost licorice hiding in there. Very Very smooth. Dark, rich pastery type maltiness in there. Like those blueberry pasteries that have the rich jelly in them. The beer is wonderful. I feel I did myself a disservice my drinking so much of it earlier in it’s life. It’s been at least six months since I last tried it and it wasn’t this wonderful. Will brew again and hide for a couple of years before passing out to friends, competitions and enjoying.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
11 gal	120 min	58.2 IBUs	18.1 SRM	1.104	1.030	9.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
English Barleywine	19 B	1.08 - 1.12	1.018 - 1.03	35 - 70	8 - 22	1.6 - 2.5	8 - 12 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt, Maris Otter	23 lbs	51.11
Melanoiden Malt	4 lbs	8.89
Rye, Flaked	4 lbs	8.89
Vienna Malt	4 lbs	8.89
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	2 lbs	4.44
Victory Malt	2 lbs	4.44
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	1 lbs	2.22
Extra Light Dry Extract	5 lbs	11.11

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	3.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Bramling Cross	2 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	6
Bramling Cross	2 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	6

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Scottish Ale (1728)	Wyeast Labs	71%	55°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	145°F	75 min
Mashout	170°F	40 min

Notes

Used a Scottish Export as a giant yeast starter. Split the cake between the two fermenters.

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Gordon Knight Clone Type Beer

August 20th, 2015

I love the Oskar Blues G’Knight beer. It’s been one of my favorites lately. I’ve never brewed an Imperial Red / Red IPA / Whatever it is. I sure as Hell love drinking them. So based off of the Can You Brew It podcasts and some of my own observations I’ve developed a recipe.

Update 9/4/2015
Brew day went fine. Efficiency was low so I added some DME and ended up about 1.077ish. This beer is extremely hoppy with the 6 ounce charge in the last few minutes. I am extremely interested to see how this turns out. I have a feeling it’ll be the type of beer that’ll take a month to get right after kegging.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	90 min	67.9 IBUs	11.7 SRM	1.079	1.013	8.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Imperial IPA	14 C	1.07 - 1.09	1.01 - 1.02	60 - 120	8 - 15	2.2 - 2.7	7.5 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	13 lbs	70.27
Munich Malt	3 lbs	16.22
Rye, Flaked	1 lbs	5.41
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	12 oz	4.05
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	8 oz	2.7
Amber Malt	4 oz	1.35

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Columbus (Tomahawk)	4 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Amarillo Gold	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	8.5
Simcoe	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	13
Amarillo Gold	1 oz	5 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	8.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	18.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	8.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	5.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	148°F	75 min

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Recipe is here but my plugin stopped working on this file. Boo! Will need to fix.

American Barleywine 2015 Harley of Barley Edition

May 30th, 2015

Although this was loosely based on the barleywine that did so well a couple of years ago it’s pretty different. Given my experiences with rye lately in English barleywine and American black IPA I felt like it’d be a good dose to this beer. Centennial was left out and substituted with Amarillo due to running out of Centennial.(time to order a few more pounds) Given the reception the beer got based on how hoppy it was before I decided to up the ante a little more with some additional flame out hops. Finally I substituted a healthy dose of Munich in place for crystal malts. I’ve found I’m getting far better reception for beers when crystal is balanced with Munich than I got before using straight pale malt with crystal. I think it just adds complexity to the malt bill overall.

So for the first month or so this thing will basically be an American Triple/Quad IPA if you will. I see the American Strong Ale listed in the 2014 BJCP guidelines and given how dry I’m shooting for with this thing I’d bet it could pass for one if it finishes out appropriately.

Brew day was a stormy May 30th and it all went fairly well. Pump lagged a few times but the bigger grain bills seem to stabilize better on mash temperature. I had to modify the recipe some because I had pretty poor efficiency hence the two pounds of DME. Broke my refractometer near the end of the boil but it’d already gotten over 1.1 so I’m pretty certain it’s around the 1.11 we were shooting for. As always with this sort of beer the mash, boil and finished wort was heavenly. Cooled it down to 74ish then put it in the mash tank over night to chill down to 63F before transferring the wort on to the yeast cake from my oat/wheat pale ale I brewed a week or two ago. Oxygen added and it was fermenting in no time. 3 days later it’s still going but slowing down. If it’s anything like the English barleywine it should be terminal gravity by day 5-6.

Update 6/25/2015

I think this beer turned out quite fine. I really enjoy drinking it. I do wish I’d used some aromatic malt in this sucker since it has to warm before you get any of the fine maltiness in the nose. Small detail in the grand scheme of what can typically go wrong with a barleywine. I’m happy!

Update 10/17/2015

This beer really came together given a few more months. The maltiness came out a little more and the hop character settled in to a fine background note. It was just in time to finish 2nd at the Dixie Cup for 2015.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min	87.8 IBUs	17.5 SRM	1.122 SG	1.022 SG	13.5 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Barleywine	19 C	1.08 - 1.12	1.016 - 1.03	50 - 120	10 - 19	1.8 - 2.5	8 - 12 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	15 lbs	49.79
Munich Malt	6 lbs	19.92
Rye Malt	3 lbs	9.96
Cara-Pils/Dextrine	1 lbs	3.32
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	0.5 lbs	1.66
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	0.25 lbs	0.83
Special B Malt	0.25 lbs	0.83
Pale Chocolate Malt	0.125 lbs	0.41
Light Dry Extract	2 lbs	6.64
Cane (Beet) Sugar	2 lbs	6.64

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	4.5 oz	40 min	Boil	Pellet	12.5
Amarillo Gold	2 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	8.5
Citra	2 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Simcoe	2 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	13

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	10.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	5.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	59°F - 75°F

Notes

Was pitched on a yeast cake from an American ale. Also tossed a dry packet I had in there for good measure. Refractometer was dropped and broke so the actual OG was somewhere around 1.10+ last reading before that happened.

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Pilsner Wheat Oat Pale Ale

April 18th, 2015

So in my continued trial of multiple combinations of pale ale here we go with the oats & wheat. This is another variation of my pilsner pale ale all of which have been wonderful. This is actually a variation of the Hopasaurus Sex from Zapp’s to be precise.

The brew day went well and I’m certainly looking forward to trying this beer. Fermented it out and racked it to secondary so I could pitch my American barleywine on it’s yeast cake. Added the dry hops and will let it go for about a week before kegging.

Update 8/3/2015

This beer turned out very well. It ended up placing first in American IPA and second in pale ales for clash of the carboys. Interesting since it was about 3 months from it’s complete and ready to drink date which was in May. I think the extra malts and reduction in crystal malts made it more interesting than what judges are typically used to. I think the wheat helps with presentation and bready savoriness with this beer. The oats added a substantial mouth-feel sensation without being heavy like you’ll get from too much crystal. I do feel like this beer needs a little bit of age though. 1-2 months before it clears well enough and mellows a little.

My next stop on this beer will be to convert it to an Imperial Red.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	90 min	43.5 IBUs	4.6 SRM	1.054	1.009	5.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Pale Ale	10 A	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.015	30 - 45	5 - 14	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	7 lbs	68.29
Munich Malt	1 lbs	9.76
Oats, Flaked	1 lbs	9.76
White Wheat Malt	1 lbs	9.76
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	4 oz	2.44

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1 oz	40 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Centennial	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	12
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	10
Simcoe	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	13

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	148°F	75 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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Munich Pilsner Pale Ale

March 8th, 2015

So my wife decided she wanted to brew for 2015 Zapp’s beerfest. This was fun because we set the recipe up together. She loves Centennial and the pilsner pale ale I typically use. Following some advice from Stone Brewery concerning the use of crystal with IPA’s/PA’s I’ve decided to swap part of the pilsner and the crystal 40 I typically use with 3 pounds of Munich. Also put some Citra in there to make the hop profile a tad more diverse than just the Centennial. Decided to add some Simcoe to the dry hop that I found in my hop stores.

Brew day went well. Having help made it much more easy to setup and tear down. I don’t think I converted her but she had fun I think. I pitched the beer on the yeast cake of the all Munich ale I’d just brewed. Within 4 hours it was fermenting quickly. It was curious that my gravity ended up high again on this brew day. Targeting 1.045 and ended up at 1.047. Thought I’d come in extremely high again which made no sense given my track record. My kid must’ve done something with my refractometer because it ended up needing calibration.

Going in to the keg this beer tasted great. If the hop aroma holds up this might be the best pale ale recipe yet

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	90 min	49.7 IBUs	5.6 SRM	1.052	1.009	5.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Pale Ale	10 A	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.015	30 - 45	5 - 14	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	7 lbs	70
Munich Malt	3 lbs	30

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Centennial	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	12
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	10
Simcoe	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	13

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	148°F	75 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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All Munich Pale Ale

March 1st, 2015

I want to see what happens when you brew a beer that’s 100% munich so I cooked up this little pale ale recipe just full of American hops. The brew day ended up being 10 gallons so that I could have 5 for my house and 5 for Zapp’s beerfest. The color was surprising in that I thought it’d be lighter. I may end up having to call this an Amber ale. Post fermentation and dry hop it tastes great. Perhaps a little sweet though due to the weather going from 82F to 35F in the same day and possibly crashing my fermentation a little early.

The planned original gravity was to be 1.045 and ended up about that once I figured out my refractometer was reading very high. Final gravity ended up being 1.011. Beer tastes excellent. Next time I might add some wheat or carapils for body depending on how the carbonation effects the final product.

Update 3/19/2015

This beer did indeed come out very good albeit a little focused on malt due to the Munich bill. So in the spirit of American pale ale I took two tea balls / hop balls as they’re called, put an ounce of Simcoe in one and and ounce of Simcoe in the other and dropped them in the keg. 36 hours later the hop flavor/aroma was faaaar more pronounced. It went from good to excellent to me and added this post carbonation dry hopping with hop balls to the playbook.(hop ball is a metal ball with a clasp to keep all the particles in the ball. Any homebrew shop or Amazon will have them)

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	41.3 IBUs	9.8 SRM	1.052 SG	1.010 SG	5.5 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Pale Ale	10 A	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.015	30 - 45	5 - 14	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Munich Malt	10 lbs	100

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertau Magnum	1 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	12.4
Simcoe	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	12
Columbus (Tomahawk)	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	14
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	12
Columbus (Tomahawk)	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	14
Simcoe	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	13

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	8.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	59°F - 75°F

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Sake Bomb Rice Saison

February 7th, 2015

Iron Brewer 2015 is upon us. It’s an awesome event that goes down annually at Tin Roof Brewery. Iron Brewer is organized and executed by my fellow homebrew club members at Brasseurs a la Maison. 2015 is special because it features participation from Redstick Homebrew Club, Dead Yeast Society, Good Time Brewers and LA Homebrew. Date is February 28th.

My team ended up with rice this year. We had good ideas earlier about brewing our own sake and stuff like that but we never really got on the ball. Rice in a saison should produce a nice crisp beer though! So we’re going with a sure to be a crowd pleaser.

yellow dot labels.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	90 min	28.9 IBUs	4.4 SRM	1.053 SG	1.010 SG	5.6 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Saison	16 C	1.048 - 1.065	1.002 - 1.012	20 - 35	5 - 14	2.3 - 2.9	5 - 7 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	9 lbs	72
Rice, Flaked	2 lbs	16
Munich Malt	0.75 lbs	6
Wheat Malt, Bel	0.75 lbs	6

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	0.7 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Hallertauer	0.75 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.8

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

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