Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

American IPA Brewed with All Simpsons Malt

June 19th, 2017

So I have all this Simpson’s pale malt now. I will brew this IPA and then I will brew a third run at the Fuller’s Golden pride in which I’ll reduce the Crystal by half again.

Used Brewer’s Friend to try and further rehabilitate my water since I got my report back from Ward labs. My IPAs are always hit and miss. They’re always pretty good but sometimes they’re phenomenal and win awards at Dixie Cup or Clash of the Carboys. Generally the same recipe but now I’m paying closer attention to total oil content on hops as well as trying to remove water as a somewhat unknown. The hop additions will be all whirlpool. All that being said this beer is very much a new approach.

In addition to the recipe below I will be adding an ounce or two of Ariana hops which are said to add a big fruity note as a dry hop.

Update 6/22/2017

So I’m not going to trust my memory for hop inventory anymore. Ended up having to sub out hops. All whirlpool. 2 ounces each of Centennial, Mosaic and Citra. Still going to stick with my dry hop plan. Brew day went well overall.

Update 8/5/2017

This beer got overall “meh” marks at the Clash of the Carboys. 33 isn’t terrible. I would agree with that to a degree. Don’t care for Arianna. Wish I’d added some Simcoe. But the beer was nice and the keg did float. It did score better as a New England IPA which is what I would call it based on how it tasted compared to other NEIPA I’ve had. That wasn’t intentional here and likely had to do with the hopping schedule which will be noted if I want to brew that in the future. I am interested to see the judging notes.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	40.1 IBUs	7.2 SRM	1.058	1.011	6.1 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American IPA	21 A	1.056 - 1.07	1.008 - 1.014	40 - 70	6 - 14	2.4 - 2.9	5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt, Best (Simpsons)	12 lbs	96
Crystal, Light (Simpsons)	8 oz	4

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Galaxy	2 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	14
Centennial	1 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	10
Mosaic (HBC 369)	1 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	12.3
Citra	2 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	12

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	9.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Lactic Acid	6.00 ml	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	150°F	75 min

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Cascade First Wort Hop Pale Ale

April 7th, 2017

So I ordered whole leaf hops to use in a Randall for Zapp’s beerfest. I forgot to pick up the hops and my buddy forgot to bring the Randall! Talk about not meant to be! So while I’m waiting for the sack of Simpson’s pale malt and Simpson’s caramel malt that LA Homebrew is ordering for me, I’m going to make a beer out of the 3 ounces of hops I have.

Minor edit to the recipe. I’m mashing at 154F.

Brew Day 4/9/2017

Brew day went very well. Efficiency was quite high as the beer was around 1.062. Efficiency has always been an issue of mine that I’ve not quite figured out. Lately I’ve been attempting to use a continuous sparge in an effort to reduce labor and raise efficiency. For me it seems like I can set it and forget it and get better results. But those results may cause me to re calibrate how I calculate.

The first wort hopping was quite lovely on the mash. The beer smelled extremely good. A nice low, rich, citrus character from the cascade hops. It was great and I was thinking man I’m going to use whole leaf hops more often. HOWEVER, the boil was another story. When I added whole leaf hops at flame out and started the whirlpool they clogged up everything. The hops swell back to their original mass and just cause all sorts of issues. Depending on how well this beer comes out I may or may not use them in the boil again. Total pain.

The aroma though of the mash. It was extremely complex with the hops being added. Reminded me very much of that background aroma you get in beers like Dale’s pale ale. I very much look forward to tasting and smelling the results of this brew.

Update 5/27/2017

Just a very smooth and great beer to drink. The first wort hopping certainly adds to the hop flavor complexity for me. It’s just a deeper, more savory sensation this way. Great daily drinking beer.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	36.3 IBUs	7.0 SRM	1.050	1.010	5.3 %

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) UK	8 lbs	74.42
Munich Malt - 10L	2 lbs	18.6
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	12 oz	6.98

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Cascade	2 oz	60 min	First Wort	Leaf	5.5
Cascade	1 oz	60 min	Aroma	Pellet	5.5
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	12

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	7.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	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
Mash In	150°F	75 min

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Pound Town IPA

February 16th, 2017

So it’s time to brew for Zapp’s beerfest. I’ve decided to brew a beer with 5 pounds of hops per gallon. I have a newer hop called Ariana I want to try out. Supposedly it’s an excellent dry hop for big fruity aromas.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	45.6 IBUs	9.1 SRM	1.062	1.012	6.6 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American IPA	14 B	1.056 - 1.075	1.01 - 1.018	40 - 70	6 - 15	2.2 - 2.7	5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	8 lbs	54.24
Munich Malt	5 lbs	33.9
Cara-Pils/Dextrine	1 lbs	6.78
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	8 oz	3.39
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	4 oz	1.69

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Centennial	2 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Simcoe	4 oz	3 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Mosaic (HBC 369)	4 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	12.3
Ariana	2 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	10.2

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	8.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	7.00 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	150°F	75 min

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Hippidy Hoppidy Rebrew

May 1st, 2016

Floated the rest of the last keg I had. I really enjoyed the brew for Zapp’s so we’re brewing it again. Adding a tad more crystal 40 and made minor changes to the hop schedule. Basically a little less simcoe and more mosaic.

The brew day was April 30 and went fine. Beer came out around 1.048 original gravity. Pitched and was bubbling well within 24 hours.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	30 min	43.9 IBUs	8.5 SRM	1.048	1.010	4.9 %

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	%
Munich Malt	5 lbs	45.45
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	5 lbs	45.45
Cara-Pils/Dextrine	8 oz	4.55
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	8 oz	4.55

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Galaxy	1 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	15.2
Centennial	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Simcoe	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	12
Mosaic (HBC 369)	2 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	12.3

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	11.00 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

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

Notes

Didn't have as much pilsner on hand as I thought I did. Luckily I had pilsner DME at the houes. Original plan was to use Magnum for bitter but ran out so used Columbus instead.

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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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West Coast Pale Ale

April 26th, 2014

So I have a bunch of Citra and Simcoe I need to use. I also have some Cascades and picked up some centennial at LA Homebrew. Going to brew a 50 IBU pale ale given that my wife loves Samuel Adams West Coast IPA which all the hop heads would call a pale ale. Mash temperature will be about 153-154 range. I also am using some Munich 20 hoping the malt character stands up a little more than previous renditions of this beer. I just want a little more malt.

Update 4/30/2013

Brew day went great and the OG was around 1.052. I seem to get the best efficiency with this double batch sparge routine I’ve been running. I was a little low on Citra so the hop additions were more like .8/.8/.8 oz. Smells great, looks great, fermentation appears to be going well at about 70F. Hopefully finishes out to be a good one!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	52.7 IBUs	6.8 SRM	1.051	1.012	5.2 %

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	10 lbs	83.33
Munich Malt - 20L	1 lbs	8.33
Victory Malt	8 oz	4.17
Vienna Malt	8 oz	4.17

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Simcoe	1 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Centennial	1 oz	10 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Cascade	1 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Simcoe	1 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Citra	2 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	12
Cascade	1.01 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	5.5
Simcoe	1.01 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	13

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	5.50 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
California Ale V (WLP051)	White Labs	73%	66°F - 70°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	150°F	75 min

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Tropical Ale for Zapp’s Beerfest

March 17th, 2014

The original brewdate for this beer was Friday the 28th. The beer hit it’s gravity and worked out very well. Dry hopped and transferred the 10 gallons in to kegs for carbonation. I’ll re-transfer them to prevent the cloudiness problems I’ve had in the past bringing beers to festivals and stirring up the yeast. The dry hopping also includes adding mango and pineapple to make the beer super tropical. This is the same beer we made for Iron Brewer.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	63.1 IBUs	5.4 SRM	1.057	1.011	6.0 %

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	10 lbs	86.96
Munich Malt - 10L	8 oz	4.35
Victory Malt	8 oz	4.35
Vienna Malt	8 oz	4.35

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk)	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Centennial	1 oz	10 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	12
Simcoe	1 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	12

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	5.50 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
California Ale (WLP001)	White Labs	77%	68°F - 73°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	150°F	75 min

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