Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

Bock Bock Doppelbock for Club Brew Day

May 22nd, 2013

May 26, 2013 I’ll be brewing my adaptation of Jamil’s Doppelbock for the Brasseurs a la Maison club brew day. With any luck this beer will come out well and serve for a great Fall drinker and perhaps place in a few little competitions like 2013 Dixie Cup and 2014 Bluebonnet Brew Off. If that works out I’ll save enough for 2014 AHA competition.

I’ve been too lazy/forgetful to buy gram a scale so I’m yet again noting my guestimates on water additions. .6 teaspoon of Calcium Chloride. .5 teaspoon of Epsom salt and .25 teaspoon of calcium chloride. 8-9 ml of lactic acid should do for this batch.

How it Went(5/27/2013):

All in all the brew went pretty well. I’m still having trouble with the new brew rig and I think it was amplified by having a bunch of folks around. I did add an additional .6 teaspoon of calcium chloride to get more calcium due to Nathan explaining why adding chalk was a waste of time. Other than that there were no deviations and the gravity ended up at 1.077 which is almost right on. I did forget the whirfloc tablet but oh well it still looks very clear. Also I ended up with a slight Caramunich substitution. I only had 1.5 pound of Caramunich III so there is .5 pound of Caramunich I in there. Waited overnight for the wort to cool way down to about 40F and pitched my 1 gallon starter. Lots of carbon dioxide coming off it within a few hours so it is chugging away.

Update 6/18/2013

After two weeks of fermentation it completely tanked and finished cloying. I’m pretty confused about the whole thing since it appeared to be going so well I didn’t even bother with checking the gravity until what I thought was the end. Will rebrew in a month after the barleywines I have planned and probably research the yeast vs the WLP837 I normally use for these beers. Really a bummer because even the cloying beer tastes great for a few sips.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		15	1.08	1.018	7.5

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Doppelbock	5 5C	1.072 - 1.112	1.016 - 1.024	16 - 26	6 - 25	0 - 0	7 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Munich Malt	14 lbs	68.29
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	4 lbs	19.51
Caramunich Malt	2 lbs	9.76
Melanoiden Malt	0.5 lbs	2.44

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
Lactic Acid	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Chalk	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Southern German Lager (WLP838)	White Labs	72%	50°F - 55°F

Notes

One gallon starter made from an initial 2 liter starter. The Munich malt used in this recipe was a little on the light side for Munich Malt. It's Best Brand and around 7 Love. 25 quarts of water to mash infuse at 166F. 2.5 gallons lost in absorption. 10 total gallons have to go through the mash with hopes of pulling 7.5 of wort pre-boil of a respectable gravity.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Mosaic Amarillo Late Hop IPA

May 9th, 2013

So I will brew two beers tomorrow 5/10/2013. For my first beer I’m going to do an IPA. The second beer will the the Weizenbock further down the blog.

How it went on 5/11/2013

After getting rained out on Friday I finally got to brew on the new system on Saturday. It was a lot of fun but I’ve got to admit I really didn’t know what the Hell I was doing and was basically flying off how I thought it should work. I did have a few issues.

1. My efficiency ended up being pretty bad on both batches. I’m not used to working with a pump nor am I used to sparging with a auto-sparge which was a little clumsy for me. I think I ran off the wort a too fast and I think I mashed with too much water per pound at 1.5 quarts per pound. Additionally I think I need to adjust the mill and try a finer crush. My crush suspicion is due to efficiency dropping on the old system as well.

2. I’m going to bail out on the Blichmann therminator and go with the whirlpool chiller. On the first batch it cooled fairly quickly but I had to use a hop bag for my hops to prevent clogging. I don’t like having to use hop bags as it’s another variable. I already own a pretty good immersion chiller and I can buy a $30 addition for whirl-pooling which I think I’ll prefer. I got pushed over the edge when I forgot to use the hop bag on the second batch and ended up clogging the chiller some as it’s speed slowed. After I test and confirm whirl-pooling tool someone will end up with a plate chiller at a deal and i can re-invest on a second pump.

Why a second pump? Well I’ve figured out with two pumps, the hoses I have and the whirl-pooling tool I can boil/chill/recirculate/mash a second batch all in circuit without a whole boat load of hose switching or waiting for other processes to finish.

Despite very low gravities(1.05 for the IPA and 1.06 for the weizenbock) the wort was spectacularly clear, clean and fermentation took off quickly. They’ll be unbalanced but they’ll be very hoppy which most of my beer friends love so it’ll drink for certain. Next time I’ll do better on the system.

Update 5/16/2013

Dry hopping ended up being .9 ounces of Amarillo as I’m now out. I also didn’t have enough Mosaic to hang on to so there is about 1.4 ounce of Mosaic in this dry hop. I guess we’ll see how this little botch beer turns out!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min		0	1.06	1.015	6

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	92.31
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	0.5 lbs	3.85
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	0.5 lbs	3.85

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Amarillo	1.5 oz	20 min	Boil	Pellet	9.5
Mosaic	1.5 oz	20 min	Boil		12.5
Amarillo	1 oz	1 min	Aroma	Pellet	9.5
Mosaic	1 oz	1 min	Aroma		12.5
Amarillo	0.5 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	9.5
Mosaic	0.5 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	12.5

Miscs

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

Yeast

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

Notes

4 gallons of water in the mash.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Took the BJCP Tasting Exam

May 6th, 2013

Talk about the quickest two hours of my life as time flew while trying to quickly describe what I percieved in these beers. It was certainly a unique set of circumstances for a test being that it was essentially a blind beer tasting exam where they give you a blank BJCP exam sheet with many of the descriptive words from the left column removed, pour you a beer and tell you what sort of beer they’re claiming it to be. Walking in to the exam I thought that 15 minutes was an extremely long period of time to describe a beer but actually you’re scrambling to finish each beers description in 15 minutes.

As far as which beers were thrown at us it wasn’t that bad. Premium American Lager, Mild, ESB, American Rye, Doppel bock and English Barleywine. I was at least fairly familiar with taste profiles of all but the Rye. I have a hard time understanding rye taste in beer but I think I winged it ok with my base understanding of the style. I suspect that all of the BJCP exams for the most part go easy on which beers folks have to judge and don’t go all the way to the really obscure styles. I talked with a guy who took it at a different location and he was hit with some fairly familiar styles as well.

The Bay Area Mastronauts made the whole experience a lot of fun. They were very hospitable and fun to be around. It certainly made the whole “test” aspect of it a little less anxious experience for me. They’ve got their own home brewing competition coming up here in a few months that I’ll have to go check out.

After the exam we all headed down to a place called Boondoggles that had pretty awesome pizza, calzones and an excellent selection of draft beers. The restaurant had a great view of the water and some really cool decour. Definitely worth checking out if you’re in Houston/ SeaBrook

National Homebrew Competition Results and BJCP Exam in Houston

May 4th, 2013

It’s been an extremely busy for me and my beer hobby lately. I’ve been buying a new brew system, having to go pick it up, participating in Zapp’s, judging in the Louisiana Club Competition and oh yeah trying to brew every now and then. It all culminates this weekend with me getting my AHA results back and taking the BJCP exam in Houston tomorrow.

American Homebrew Competition Results

I put 3 beers in the AHA competition this year. A bock, a barleywine and a Dunkel all of which I really enjoy. The barleywine managed to advance to the second round of the NHC, the bock scored very well with a 41 and the dunkel didn’t get a lot of love with a 30. The one fault all the beers had in common were an overall impression section including a desire for more carbonation which matches the comments my weizen got earlier this month from the club competition. I currently carbonate high thinking that the carbonation will maintain through the bottling process but apparently it isn’t enough. One judge commented that I might cool down the tools and the bottles before bottling. I’ll have to do more research but I’m fairly sure I can move up from 3rd place and min-bos results to 1st and 2nd place showings.

BJCP Tasting Exam in Houston

I’m driving my ass all the way to Houston and back in one day to drink beer. The Baton Rouge tasting exam for 2013 was already full 6 months in advance so I got on every waiting list within 6 miles and got a spot with the Bay Area Mastronauts so I’m using it or losing it. I’ve studied enough for this thing so failure shouldn’t be an option.

Weizenbock

May 3rd, 2013

So the first beer on the new Blichmann RIMS will be a Weizenbock. I figure what the hell might as well brew a simple beer for the first ever beer on the brand new fancy system. Ron who sold me the system walked me through it’s use at his shop and I was as impressed with all his thought in building the system as the system itself. By the way Main Grain in Abita Springs is an extremely nice brew shop that’s just an awesome place to hang out while shopping brew supplies.

Well it’s time for me to get these bocks and barleywines brewed. Dixie Cup is in 6 months and they’ve got to age if they’re going to win there’s no doubt about it. Weizenbock will be the last in my spell of brewing all of German Wheat & Rye category so here it goes.

Update 5/29/2013

The OG was low due to not being familiar with the new system so the gravity was a tad over 1.06. The final gravity was about 1.013 which is fairly low for the style. This beer is quite clear, beautiful and tastes very nice albeit a little on the light side. I plan on fixing this via an attempt at freezing to concentrate it in to style. I suppose it’ll be an Eisbock of a weizenbock which should be fun to do! I’ve got several months to get this guy just right so no worries.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		16	1.081	1.021	8

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Weizenbock	15 15C	1.064 - 1.09	1.015 - 1.022	15 - 30	12 - 25	0 - 0	6.5 - 8 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Wheat Malt, Dark	10 lbs	53.33
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	5 lbs	26.67
Munich Malt	2 lbs	10.67
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	8 oz	2.67
Special B Malt	8 oz	2.67
Caramunich Malt	8 oz	2.67
Chocolate Malt	4 oz	1.33

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	2 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	529.11 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Hefeweizen Ale (WLP300)	White Labs	74%	68°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	152°F	60 min

Notes

Gonna brew it on the Blichmann system so only God knows what the actual efficiency will be. Chocolate malt will actually be pale chocolate. Yeast is the dunkelweizen yeast cake.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Bought a Blichmann Top Tier Ultimate Brew System

April 28th, 2013

So they say when opportunity knocks you have to answer. I feel like one man answering his opportunity presented me with mine this weekend when Ron over at Main Grain decided to sell his shop system in order to raise money for his newest endeavor. On my part I’ve looked at different base configurations of the Blichmann gear just hoping I could get the base Top Tier and build it over the years. So when Ron put his for sale I scraped together every piece of cash I could and made a few promises to the wife in order to buy what I’d call my idea of a dream homebrewing system. So here’s what I picked up for an outstanding deal:

Blichmann Top Tier Stand
Blichmann Burners x3
Blichmann Boiler Maker 10 Gal Kettles x3
Blichmann Auto Sparge Arm
Blichmann Thermonator
Chugger Stainless Pump
Blichamnn Tower of Power Control Unit

Just when I’ve finally learned how to use all my base equipment now I’m faced with learning to use this wonderful gear. Here’s a picture Ron took of the system in the shop:

Dunkelweizen

April 18th, 2013

Fresh off my latest good run of medals(3rd in Weizen at Louisiana Clubs Homebrew Competition, 2nd in Bock at Bluebonnet Brew Off and 3rd in Barleywine at Bluebonnet Brew Off) it’s time to brew another hopefully good beer. I’m working my way through the German wheat and rye this time with Dunkelweizen. Looking forward to this one big time as it’s one of my favorite drinkers. Beer will be brewed 4/19/2013. Pitching it on a yeast cake from my hefeweizen so lord knows how that’ll go.

Update 5/18/2013

In my attempt to perfect my carbonation issues I hit this one at 24 PSI for 2 weeks. It’s given this beer a remarkably better mouthfeel. As I’ve carbonated it I’ve tried it. I started initially with 18 PSI to see how it turned out and it wasn’t quite right after a week. It tasted decent but wasn’t quite centered. Fast forward one week it’s very smooth, creamy and complete. The beer tastes wonderful.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		15	1.056	1.012	5.5

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Dunkelweizen	15 15B	1.044 - 1.056	1.01 - 1.014	10 - 18	14 - 23	0 - 0	4.3 - 5.6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Wheat Malt, Ger	7 lbs	50.63
Munich Malt	3 lbs	21.7
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	3 lbs	21.7
Special B Malt	5.6 oz	2.53
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	5.6 oz	2.53
Carafa II	2 oz	0.9

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	529.11 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Hefeweizen Ale (WLP300)	White Labs	74%	68°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	154°F	70 min

Notes

Prepare 10 gallons of water with intention of using 9 in it. Salt and acid go in to the 10 gallons. 3.5 volumes of carbonation. 165F strike water at 20 quarts.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Traditional German Hefeweizen

March 30th, 2013

And I know it’s traditional because I used red wheat! I’m a little easily excited and when I was picking up ingredients at Brewstock in New Orleans I learned that red wheat is more traditional and the white wheat was more of an American thing. Cool little thing I didn’t know that Aaron dropped while getting my order together.

I don’t know a whole lot about wheat beers when it comes to brewing them. This will be my first shot at a weizen and I’ve purchased the ingredients for a couple of other weizens.

How it went 3/30/2013

Brew day went very well. I used the PH meter for the first time and got the ph down. I have a feeling I’ve been pretty high on PH on past beers even though I have been adjusting with acid. My previous beers have probably been in the 6.5PH range as it took a little more acid to get this thing in the right range.

The mash went well but I was a little worried I may experience a stuck sparge which didn’t happen. Everything lautered off just fine. The boil went well but had to go a little viscous to get the excess boiled off. Cooled down and transferred over a very clear and very beautiful reddish beer. I pitched the active starter after it cooled down into the mid 60’s. This beer should turn out fine based on process. We shall see.

Update 4/3/2013

The gravity is about 1.015 and it tastes pretty darn good flat. Should be about ready to carbonate tomorrow so I’ll get that started for the sake of getting it ready for the Louisiana Club Homebrew Competition in Lafayette.

Update 9/8/2014

Looked up this recipe to brew it for Oktoberfest 2014 and realized I never noted that it placed 3rd in the Louisiana Club Homebrew competition. there were 15 entries so pretty good. I was having problems with transferring beer from kegs to bottles without losing carbonation at the time and the primary complaint was it needed more carbonation. So fix that and it wins!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		5	1.05	1.012	5

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Weizen/Weissbier	15 15A	1.044 - 1.052	1.01 - 1.014	8 - 15	2 - 8	0 - 0	4.3 - 5.6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	6 lbs	50
Wheat Malt, Ger	6 lbs	50

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	70 min	Boil	Pellet	4.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	529.11 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Hefeweizen Ale (WLP300)	White Labs	74%	68°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	153°F	70 min

Notes

Prepared 10 gallons of water and used 9 of it. Salts and acid went in to the 10 gallons. Missed gravity which was my fault due to calculating on inappropriate efficiency but should be more than fine at 1.048. Used PH Meter for first time and for first time ever I am confident it hit the range.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

German Pilsner

March 9th, 2013

So I decided to make a pilsner without measuring the grain I had left first. I ended up only having about 9.5 pounds of pilsner and .5 of wheat that was just sitting there. I thought the wheat would be nice being that I was going to have to make up gravity with DME.

How it went 3/9/2013:

The gravity landed high at 1.056 so depending on how much liquid I end up I may have to top up a bit. I can’t accurately measure it because I’ll be fermenting in two 3 gallon better bottles in my lager refrigerator.

Fermentation Update 3/30/2013

Well my dorm refrigerator appears to have been too cold for this beer. I set it at the lowest setting and have produced a couple of good beers in it but this time the fermentation just really lulled. It may have been due to the cold snap in Baton Rouge so this thing was really cold at night. In any event I moved the fermenters in to my chest freezer and rocked it at 48F and it’s currently at 1.09. I am giving it a “diacetyl rest” for 24 hours before putting them back in that refrigerator to lager under I clear up some keg space for it. It looks good and tastes ok so I guess we’ll see how it finalizes.

Update 4/1/2013

Strange enough one of the 3 gallon carboys holding this beer finished at 1.08 while the other didn’t finish at around 1.021. Looks like half this stuff will get tossed! I really need to get better temperature control for lagers because my success rate is too low.

Update 4/28/2013

Well I forgot about this one and got around to kegging it today. It’s just been sitting at 35 degrees in a refrigerator lagering. So we’ll see how it goes but it looks beautiful.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		4	1.05	1.007	5

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) Bel	9.5 lbs	82.61
Extra Light Dry Extract	1.5 lbs	13.04
White Wheat Malt	8 oz	4.35

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	2 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.5
Magnum	0.25 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	0.25 oz	15 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.5
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	0.25 oz	1 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Whirlfloc Tablet	35.27 oz	15 min	Boil	Fining
Calcium Chloride	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Southern German Lager (WLP838)	White Labs	72%	50°F - 55°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	147°F	90 min

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Belgian Dubbel 1B – AKA Disaster Dubbel Day

March 4th, 2013

Jeez whatever could go wrong did go wrong brewing today. Amazingly enough it really didn’t translate in to any problems brewing. I had to cancel my second brew planned today due to all the hang ups and delays I ran in to.

So this is Dubbel 1B because I very uncreatively named the first version 1 and then I needed to go ahead and swap out the hops for some I already had opened. The rest of the brew day went well and the beer finished right on gravity at 1.072. The wort for this beer tastes fantastic so I’m really excited about this geer. I pitched the entire starter of 2 liters. I did miss mash temperature so I added an additional 4 quarts to get around 146ish. 28 total quarts for the mash.

Update 3/8/2013

After fermenting extremely hard for 4 days it’s slowed down. The temperature was allowed to rise up to about 67 degrees ambient.

Update 3/13/2013

The temperature has stayed around 67 degrees and the current attenuation at 9 days is 72%. It should easily get to 80%+ in another week. Tastes very nice.

Update 3/23/2013

Beer is down to 1.012 as desired. Tastes great. Cooling it down and will keg it up soon.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		17	1.07	1.012	0

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Belgian Dubbel	18 18B	1.062 - 1.075	1.008 - 1.018	15 - 25	10 - 17	0 - 0	6.3 - 7.6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	13 lbs	76.47
Munich Malt	1 lbs	5.88
Candi Sugar, Dark	1 lbs	5.88
Aromatic Malt	0.5 lbs	2.94
Caramunich Malt	0.5 lbs	2.94
Special B Malt	0.5 lbs	2.94
Sugar, Table (Sucrose)	0.5 lbs	2.94

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	0.5 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	4
Saaz	2.75 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	3

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride		60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet		15 min	Boil	Fining

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Abbey Ale (WLP530)	White Labs	76%	66°F - 72°F

Notes

The dark candy sugar is actually the 90L dark candy syrup. 1.032 gravity, 1 pound. Mash with about 22 quarts of water. Prepare 10 gallons total water for brew.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file