Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

Sweet Stout – AKA Benedict Arnold Stout

November 27th, 2013

Or Milk Stout if you please. This beers brew day was actually November 15th and I just realized when logging in to note it’s final gravity that I forgot to even add the entry. This beer was the final beer in my dutch oven style brewing marathon of Safale-05. I brewed an IPA, Imperial Stout and finally this sweet stout. I’d heard from podcast before that 05 had a distinct subtle peach/pineapple/tropical/biting type character and that’s definitely evident. It’s interesting and good if you like that character. I do like the yeast and enjoy the beers. I think the best part about it is it just works as expected every time. Also it needs to be noted that I ended up using US Goldings instead of East Kent Goldings.

The most interesting part of this experiment was tossing the sweet stout on top of the cake after the larger Imperial stout. The theory was added complexity by some blending.

The sweet stout although it was targeted OG of 1.057 ended up closer to 1.065 as my unpredictable efficiency woes continue. The final gravity was about 1.012 as desired. The mouthfeel is right and the lactose is definitely there. With some age this should be very interesting. I need to re-note this post after I try it carbonated.

Dutch oven brewing as I am calling it is pitching on top of the same yeast in the same fermenter. Essentially I take one beer out and 15 minutes later pump the second in. As with cast iron cooking the seasoning adds a little something special to the beers. After the primary fermentation I quickly remove the beer to minimize any chance of harsh off flavors. Obviously this won’t work for all flavors but I think with things like Stouts and Barley wine I can produce some nice complexity.

Update 12/7/2013

This’ll be called Benedict Arnold Stout because it’s a British beer made with US ingredients. I found it funny at least. 😛

Update 3/10/2014

This beer ended up winning Best of Show in the Louisiana Club Homebrew Competition. I came back to read my notes before sharing the recipe with people and realized I forgot to add the water treatment I use. Essentially I treat 10 gallons of Baton Rouge tap water with the same treatment I used for the Russian Imperial Stout.

Interesting enough this beer didn’t place at the Bataille des Bieres yet it did get low 40’s marks. The marks from that competition were that it was slightly too bitter which I agreed with at the time. As with most stouts a little time fixed that problem in about a month. I really look forward to getting my scoresheets from the LCHC.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	29.0 IBUs	33.8 SRM	1.057	1.012	5.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Sweet Stout	13 B	1.044 - 1.06	1.012 - 1.024	20 - 40	30 - 40	2 - 2.4	4 - 6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt, Maris Otter	11 lbs	73.33
Black (Patent) Malt	1 lbs	6.67
Cara-Pils/Dextrine	1 lbs	6.67
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	1 lbs	6.67
Milk Sugar (Lactose)	1 lbs	6.67

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Goldings, East Kent	2 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	5

Yeast

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

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	156°F	45 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

Notes

Pitching this on top of the Russian Imperial Stout cake that was pitched on top of the Tomahawk American Pale Cake.

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LA Homebrew – New Homebrewing Supplies Store in Baton Rouge

November 9th, 2013

Oh happy days to be a homebrewer in Baton Rouge Louisiana. In just 3 short years we’ve gone from one homebrewing club to 3 with memberships booming on all clubs. And now Keith Primeaux of Redstick Brewmasters has opened a dedicated full scale homebrew supplies business in South East Baton Rouge. Keith is one of the most knowledgeable and active brewers in our area so it’s very exciting as he’ll have all the supplies you need and tons of great advice if you need it. He’s already put up a coming soon website page that he’ll be converting in to an online ordering system. You can see that at LAHomebrew.com. He also has a Facebook page.

I’ve been over to his shop twice to get supplies and am very impressed with the selection. Every grain you could want, liquid yeasts both Wyeast and White labs, chillers, homebrew kits, spices and everything you really need.

Get your Homebrewing Supplies in Baton Rouge at LA Homebrew.

7987 Pecue Lane 8-H
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809

(225)773-9128

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Russian Imperial Stout

November 7th, 2013

I’ll be pitching this on top of the Safale-05 beer from two weeks ago since this big ole beer will need one heck of a starter. The original recipe called for a big hit of WLP001 so this should do just fine.

Update 11/8/2013

Brew day went not so smooth. Using Beersmith for the first time in brewing was a little confusing and took some getting used to. Had a boil over, had pump issues, had some strange issue with hitting mash temperature and the thing was all over the place at first. So a perfect storm for a great impossible to reproduce beer. The original gravity was. 1.110 although I had to add 2 pounds of DME due to continued efficiency issues. The wort tasted amazing though so this thing should be pretty fantastic. Pitched it on that yeast cake and it was fermenting hard n heavy in less than 4 hours.

Update 11/9/2013

airlock on bottom of the chest freezer, wild out of control fermentation. Looks good! Blow off tube rigged and a mess to clean up when it’s done.

Update 11/20/2013

This beer finished just fine at 1.025ish and a very healthy 11-12% ABV. All the flavors are certainly present and it’s a fine beer carbonated. Given a few months the complexity will certainly develop as it refines but I think this beer would win medals today. Very happy given this is one of the more expensive beers I’ve brewed.

Update 3/10/2014

After getting score sheets and results back from a couple of competitions this beer was deemed to be slightly lacking in body. The scores were high 30’s and a 40 which while ver good aren’t winners. I believe a nice dose of flaked barley would put this beer right on the money. I apparently lapsed in my judgement on carbonation. I shot for lower intentionally but the judges didn’t like it. Perhaps this was a result of the need for more dextrin or flaked barley?(thanks for the suggestion Toby)

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	59.3 IBUs	53.5 SRM	1.107 SG	1.026 SG	10.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Imperial Stout	13 F	1.075 - 1.115	1.018 - 1.03	50 - 90	30 - 40	1.8 - 2.6	8 - 12 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) UK	20 lbs	76.92
Roasted Barley	1 lbs	3.85
Special B Malt	1 lbs	3.85
Black (Patent) Malt	0.5 lbs	1.92
Caramunich Malt	0.5 lbs	1.92
Chocolate Malt	0.5 lbs	1.92
Pale Chocolate Malt	0.5 lbs	1.92
Light Dry Extract	2 lbs	7.69

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	2 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Goldings, East Kent	2 oz	1 min	Aroma	Pellet	5
Goldings, East Kent	2 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	5.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	5.00 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

Pitched on top of an American Ale yeast cake.

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American APA – With Wheat, Melanoidin

October 26th, 2013

So I’m working on brewing an American Pale I really enjoy. I brewed a somewhat similar IPA which I enjoyed and did ok at Dixie Cup but I want something more malty yet similar. So I’m giving this guy a shot and see how it does. It should at least have a nice red color. As a note I’ll be putting in 100ml of phosphoric acid not 90ml. 6.75 tablespoons

Trying something different by using Brewers Friend to calculate the water. We’ll see how it goes!

Update 11/20/2013

After about a month this beer tastes very nice. The Columbus hops are certainly interesting and assertive. Very ruddy and spicy as is expected from American hops. The Cascade does what Cascade does and the Simcoe is certainly there. This beer is extremely easy drinking that’s for sure with a nice malt profile hanging in the background. In early December it should be clear and ready to bottle.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min		13	1.05	1.014	5

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Pale Ale	10 10A	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.015	30 - 45	5 - 14	0 - 0	4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	10 lbs	80
Wheat Malt, Ger	1 lbs	8
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	12 oz	6
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	8 oz	4
Melanoiden Malt	4 oz	2

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk)	1 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Simcoe	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	13.5
Cascade	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Columbus (Tomahawk)	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	14

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	3174.66 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	70.55 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	38.8 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	38.8 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
SafAle American Ale (US-05)	DCL Yeast	75%	59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	153°F	60 min

Notes

acid used was phosphoric acid. 18 teaspoons or 90 ml or 6 tablespoons to be easier.

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Oktoberfest for 2013 Party

August 30th, 2013

We’re having an Oktoberfest again for Brasseurs a la Maison. Got to have a Marzen for that. This one should come out good based on the brew day and 4 days in to fermentation it’s going quite well. I tightened the gap on my mill for the crush on this one due to bad efficiency on the bock I made the same day and appeared to get a better efficiency on this one. I’m beginning to wonder if those things start to slip over time. This beer was actually brewed 8/26/2013.

The brew came out very nice but as of the party it still needs some age. There was plenty of beer so I brought it home to spend time lagering and hopefully will be nice at the end of October. This and the bock I fermented with it I had at ambient temperature of 50F instead of the 45F that had been failing fermentations on me. I think unless I’m pitching 5 liter starters I’ll stick with this temperature.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		15	1.06	1.015	6

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
		0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Munich Malt	8 lbs	53.33
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	5 lbs	33.33
Caramunich Malt	1 lbs	6.67
Vienna Malt	1 lbs	6.67

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer	1.5 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.8
Hallertauer	0.25 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.8

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride		60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)		60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Octoberfest/Marzen Lager (WLP820)	White Labs	69%	52°F - 58°F

Notes

Used the mix of 2 parts caramunich III, 1 part Vienna and 1 part munich to get the 1 pound of caramunich due to mess up at brew store. The second addition of hops was actually just something continental based on the smell of the hops. The label came off the bag but I'm pretty sure it was magnum. I just needed something appropriate for a little hop aroma.

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Bock Plus Vienna

August 28th, 2013

This bock was a little bit of a trainwreck beer. Brewstock messed up my order and combined my two stock-up base grains. No worries as I just calculated how much caramunich was coming out of this mix of caramunich and Vienna I was sent. Everything went pretty well. I may have gone heavy on the Epson salts but we’ll see. I pitched on top of the yeast from last month’s Helles Bock and boy that thing took off with the WLP833. Brew date was 8/26/2013

Update 9/27/2013

This beer turned out fantastic in my opinion. It’s just a wonderfully smooth and rich beer at 1 month. Given another month it should clear more and be a beer that can win some awards.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6.5 gal	90 min		18	1.08	1.018	8

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
		0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Munich Malt	14 lbs	59.57
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	4 lbs	17.02
Caramunich Malt	2 lbs	8.51
Extra Light Dry Extract	2 lbs	8.51
Vienna Malt	1 lbs	4.26
Aromatic Malt	0.5 lbs	2.13

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer	2 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.8
Hallertauer	0.5 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.8

Miscs

Name	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet	15 min	Boil	Fining

Yeast

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

Notes

Caramunich 3 came in a mix of 2lbs caramunich 1 pound vienna and 1 pound munich

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I Eised my First Bock in my Weizenbock

August 3rd, 2013

How do you like that title? It really concentrated the phenolics so if it doesn’t mellow out a drinker will never get past the phenols. As I understand it I can rest assured it’ll mellow. With any amount of luck this should be a great weizenbock entry for Dixie Cup and Roberts Cove beer competitions.

The “Eis” part means you put your keg at a freezing temperature and when you can hear it slushing with ice you transfer the liquid to a second keg. The beer is then much more concentrated and strong.

July Helles Bock

July 28th, 2013

Brewing another Helles bock. I did this last year and it was one of my favorite beers ever. Did well at the Dixie Cup but didn’t medal so we’ll try again this year!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		14	1.07	1.011	7

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
		0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	12 lbs	71.64
Munich Malt	4 lbs	23.88
Caramunich Malt	8 oz	2.99
Aromatic Malt	4 oz	1.49

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	141.1 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	21.16 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	8.82 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

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

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	153°F	90 min

Notes

The acid will be phosphoric acid this time. Out of lactic acid.

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Cascade and Simcoe IPA

June 29th, 2013

Out of beer around the house! Time to try out some of this Simcoe and Cascade. Also been interested in putting a little wheat in an IPA since I’ve had some issues with body. We’ll see how it goes. Brew day is 6/30/2013

The brew day went very well. I think I have the new brew system all squared away. Hit a gravity of about 1.058 and did end up using Simcoe instead of Chinook since I didn’t have Chinook.(mistook citra) Looks great, smells great, pitched an active 1.5 liter starter.

Update 7/1/2013

fermentation was going quite well at less than 24 hours with an ambient temperature of 60F.

Update 7/3/2013

Fermentation about done. Adding dry hops on July 4.

Update 7/13/2013

Fermentation was not done! Upon transferring on July 5 the fermentation kicked back up. I transferred the beer to pitch barleywine on it’s yeast cake. It’s attenuation was pretty low and it instantly kicked up again. Should be interesting to see how this beer comes out.

Update 7/28/2013

Turned out to be a pretty darn good beer. Very tasty, good body and nice overall impression. The bitter on the end is a little harsh but I will probably submit this as an American Pale Ale entry in a competition.

Update 10/26/2013

This beer did quite well as an American Pale Ale at Dixie Cup in Houston. It scored 37 and was in the second round. No beers in that category scored over 40 so it was a little stiff on judging. Will brew again 10/27/2013 albeit with slightly different hopping and water adjustments for the sake of getting it a little better and less harsh.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min		13	1.059	1.014	7

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American IPA	14 14B	1.056 - 1.075	1.01 - 1.018	40 - 70	6 - 15	0 - 0	5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	12 lbs	80
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	1 lbs	6.67
Munich Malt - 10L	1 lbs	6.67
Wheat Malt, Ger	1 lbs	6.67

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Simcoe	1.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	13.5
Cascade	0.5 oz	15 min	Aroma	Pellet	5.5
Simcoe	0.5 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	13.5
Cascade	0.5 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	5.5
Cascade	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	5.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	282.19 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	35.27 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
California Ale V (WLP051)	White Labs	73%	66°F - 70°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	153°F	60 min

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Northwest Pale Malt American Barleywine Hopasaurus

June 14th, 2013

Well I purchased a giant sack of American 2 row on the club group buy, I have a lot of American hops in 4 ounce bags and I’m down to my lasst 7 bottles of barleywine in 6 months. So lets brew some barleywine! I’m going to do 10 gallons but space them out a couple of weeks. I just don’t have the tools to do 10 gallons of barleywine in one day so I’m planning for two brew days. I’m taking some of the feedback about the hopping in my Harley of Barley beer and applying it hoping to come up with a real gem for the end of 2013.

Update: 7/13/2013 – This beer has been fermenting for about a week. I’m really happy with the Northern Brewer hops in this guy as they were a nice smelling very ruddy, woody and just pleasing hop to smell. I have a feeling this guy will be very different than anything else I’ve brewed. I did forget to add the additional DME until right at the end when I was throwing in my aroma hops so I had to cook the whole thing about another 5 minutes to mix that in. So some aromatics were likely lost but if it comes out fantastic I’ll repeat that mistake! Who knows but at 80 IBU this should be the most bitter barleywine ever. Really will need time to age and mellow I would think.

Update 8/3/2013 – The fermentation appeared to go well but the fermentation apparently dropped out around 40% apparent attenuation. I stopped by Cuban Liquor and picked up a packet of Safale us-05, made a one liter starter and got it chugging real good then pitched it active. After about 24 hours a nice Krausen has formed up and with any luck it should finish. The beer tastes very nice albeit too sweet since it’s only half finished.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	180 min		23	1.095	1.016	10

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
		0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	20 lbs	70.18
Munich Malt	3 lbs	10.53
Extra Light Dry Extract	2 lbs	7.02
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	1 lbs	3.51
Cane (Beet) Sugar	1 lbs	3.51
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	0.75 lbs	2.63
Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	0.25 lbs	0.88
Pale Chocolate Malt	0.25 lbs	0.88
Special B Malt	0.25 lbs	0.88

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Northern Brewer	1.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	8.5
Columbus (Tomahawk)	1.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Simcoe	1.5 oz	5 min	Aroma	Pellet	13
Cascade	1.5 oz	5 min	Aroma	Pellet	5.5
Northern Brewer	1.5 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	8.5

Miscs

Name	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet	15 min	Boil	Fining
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
California Ale V (WLP051)	White Labs	73%	66°F - 70°F

Notes

This is a rework of my Harley of Barley recipe trying out Great Northwestern Pale Malt. I'm also using the hops I have on hand which are American and fairly new to me. I'm going for a radically different hopping schedule this time. Cane sugar to be added to primary after 3 days of fermentation.

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