Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

2023 Bavarian Pilsner

September 2nd, 2023

Keeping with the German beers. I did after all buy an entire 55lb sack of Viking brand pilsner malt. It’s time to try a Bavarian pilsner. One of my favorite styles of beer to enjoy during the Fall. I really hope this Viking brand malt turns out to be enjoyable. It was significantly less expensive than other traditional German malts. Made in Finland. Guess we’ll see how well they do pilsner malt!

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6.5 gal 90 min 32.2 IBUs 4.4 SRM 1.049 1.011 5.0 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Bohemian Pilsener 34 1.044 - 1.056 1.014 - 1.02 30 - 45 3 - 7 2.2 - 2.8 4.1 - 5.1 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Viking Pilsner Malt 13 lbs 96.3
Carahell (Weyermann) 8 oz 3.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 2.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 4
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 4

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Saflager Lager (W-34/70) DCL/Fermentis 75% 48°F - 59°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

2023 Festbier

August 22nd, 2023

Keeping the brewing going for the Fall with Festbier. A style I very much enjoy at the low end of it’s range. Just a really big Helles to me. Brew day went very well with this one. With the exception that the boil off rate seemed really low. I notice that seems to happen in humid days. I may need to really get it rolling for days like this. So a little under gravity, and probably a little less bitter due to the extra water volume, but still very much what I’m looking forward to drinking in September/October.

Update 8/31/2023

The fermentation appears to have gone fine. Fermenting right around 50F for the first 5-7 days and then ramping up a couple of degrees daily for week two as it appears to slow down. In my experience this is a pretty complete fermentation. Cold crash next and then transfer to a keg with gelatin for clarification. Can’t wait for it to get a little cool, watch some Saints and LSU football and drink this beer.

Update 9/2/2023

Final gravity is very dry. Around 1.009 from a starting gravity around 1.052. So we’re looking at about 5.5% abv. It’s on the low side of a Festbier for sure but it’s very flavorful and I really enjoy seeing how this one turns out. Clarified with gelatin in the keg and look forward to seeing the finished product. May enter it in a competition under several styles if it works out well, given how it’s right at the top of Marzen/Pilsner and low on the Festbier.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6.5 gal 90 min 21.0 IBUs 5.6 SRM 1.055 1.012 5.7 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Festbier 4 B 1.054 - 1.057 1.01 - 1.012 18 - 25 4 - 7 2.4 - 2.9 5.8 - 6.3 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Viking Pilsner Malt 13 lbs 86.67
Carahell (Weyermann) 1 lbs 6.67
Munich I (Weyermann) 1 lbs 6.67

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 3 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 2.1
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 10 min Boil Pellet 2.1
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 2.1

Yeast

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

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Hefeweizen for 2023

August 13th, 2023

It’s been nearly a year since I last brewed as best I can tell This is hard to believe. I could’ve sworn I brewed a beer in 2023 but who knows. Time flies when you have a family. In any event, I’m back for now. I bought a 55lb sack of pilsner from Morebeer along with several German base grains. A pound of Hallertau and a few different yeasts. I will be brewing at least 5 beers this year starting with this Hefeweizen.

I also bought a new malt mill from Morebeer. LA Homebrew closing has caused me to have to go back to milling my own again. I previously had the Jack Schmidt Maltmill. It still works, and is still heavy duty but never had a reasonable hopper. Rather than build one, I did the only reasonable thing, I bought a Barley Crusher mill with the 15 lb hopper. A much smaller mill but it got the job done really well.

The brew day went fairly well. I had to make a few modifications on the fly. The pre-boil volume and efficiency were coming in low, likely because I’m not in tune with the new mill yet. I supplemented with pilsner DME and modified the hopping time to ensure the bitterness came in right. Last thing you want is a bitter Hefeweizen. Currently cooling it down to 62F to pitch the starter I made.

I’ve been doing a mental toughness/discipline challenge known as the #75hard. It involves no alcohol for 75 days. I’m about 25 days out. So planning on having this guy done by then to celebrate finishing that. It’s also my wife’s favorite style of German beer. And this will be done for the September/October season when those beers are the thing. Really looking forward to it. And glad to be brewing again.

Update 8/19/2023

So fermentation went very well as best I can tell. Pitched after the wort sat in the tank for about 6 hours to let it get down to pitching temperature. Pitched the starter and it was rolling in less than 6 hours. The fermentation stayed pretty steady for about 5 days before starting to fall out of suspension. I’ve yet to take a final gravity reading as we’re at about 7 days. I am now doing something different, in addition to using the temperature controllers, I’m using wifi temperature/humidity sensors to monitor the temperature of my fermentation and kegerator at all times. I want multiple points of monitoring to ensure the temperature is accurate. Primarily because of carbonation issues in the past. The temperature to pressure ratio is important and can screw up flavor. But since they come in 2 packs, I’m also monitoring fermentation at all times. Hopefully the additional precision corrects mistakes I may not even know I’ve been making!

Update 8/20/2023

Fermentation is done. Final gravity is approximately 1.01. Original Gravity was 1.054. Banana esters and clove are fairly well balanced. I think this will be an excellent beer. Going to keg it today/tomorrow and setup a separate CO2 regulator from my standard manifold so I can maintain a high CO2 with this guy. It makes all the difference in these beers.

Update 9/2/2023

My wife is drinking this beer. She says it’s good but in a way that’s not impressive. I can’t taste it yet as I have another week on my alcohol fast I’ve been on for near 70 days. It smells fantastic. Clove, banana and bubblegum are all there for me. It’s carbonated appropriately. She’s telling me the clove flavor is harsh and unexpected. The Hefeweizen she typically likes apparently is less clove. I suppose I’ll know more next week when I can try it. I did however find a great article on Weizen beers that I wanted to post here for future reference. I suspect the clove phenols will reduce with a little age.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 10.6 IBUs 3.5 SRM 1.052 1.013 5.2 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
South German-Style Hefeweizen 71 1.047 - 1.056 1.008 - 1.016 10 - 15 3 - 9 2.2 - 2.8 4.9 - 5.6 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner (Weyermann) 7 lbs 58.33
Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) 5 lbs 41.67

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 2 oz 20 min Boil Pellet 2.8

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Weihenstephan Weizen (3068) Wyeast Labs 75% 64°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 153°F 60 min

Festbier 2022

August 28th, 2022

So it’s about as late as you can push it if you want a Festbier for 2022 to drink in October. This year, similar to the International Amber Lager I brewed, I went back to the drawing board to try something new with the Festbier. In 2020/2021 I brewed a Helles type recipe I’d been formulating that was coming out quite nice and in the range of Festbier. This year I revisited the Brewing Classic Styles book on German Classic Styles – Oktober, Vienna, Marzen book, and located some notes online around Ludwig Narziss, and comments this legendary German Brewmaster made around the Festbier style of modern Octoberfest beer. I stumbled in to this wondering if I might add a grain that I quite like, Carahell from Weyermann. Apparently the answer is yes. So I came up with the beer below and brewed it today. Gravity and volumes came out right on. Will be pitching the starter tomorrow after everything cools to fermentation temperature.. One note I’ll make for myself is that this yeast was the last German lager yeast the Homebrew shop had. Likely the result of me being the last to brew their German lager for the Fall. So well see how it comes out! To me the most important part was that they had the Weyermann Pilsner which is very important and the Carahell. Not sure about the Briess Munich but I couldn’t find any negatives on it online. In such a small amount, I think it’ll be a non-issue.

9/22/2022

Fermentation went well. Cooled the wort and starter down to fermenting temperature at around 50F and pitched. Fermented over two weeks. At the end of the first week I start to gradually raise the temperature 2-3F daily until I get up to about 60F at the end of two weeks. Then going back the other way down to 40F and let it lager for about 2 weeks. Transferred the beer over the weekend and it’s about half carbonated at this point . Final gravity is approximately 1.012, it’s fairly dry but malty in the finish as expected with the Festbier style which is a large Munich Helles in a basic description of the beer. It’s extremely clear without fining. I expect this beer will be very enjoyable. I had the time to not rush any of the process and be more precise when brewing which is key to this sort of style.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 90 min 21.6 IBUs 5.4 SRM 1.056 1.010 6.1 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Festbier 4 B 1.054 - 1.057 1.01 - 1.012 18 - 25 4 - 7 2.4 - 2.9 5.8 - 6.3 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner (Weyermann) 8 lbs 72.73
BEST Vienna (BESTMALZ) 1 lbs 9.09
Carahell (Weyermann) 1 lbs 9.09
Munich 10L (Briess) 1 lbs 9.09

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 4.5
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 15 min Boil Pellet 4.5
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 5 min Aroma Pellet 4.5

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Munich Lager (2308) Wyeast Labs 75% 48°F - 56°F

Mash

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

International Amber Lager(Octoberfest Light)

July 16th, 2022

I don’t really know how else to describe this beer. I was reading through my Zymurgy magazines from the AHA competition winning recipes looking for something to brew. I wanted to do a German lager again but didn’t want to brew a bock or another pilsner or fest bier. It did cross my mind to brew a Oktoberfest but I’ve traditionally brewed those and not loved them. They’re just too heavy.

So I run in to the most boring names of a winning entry ever. Just straight up International Amber Lager. But the statistics of the beer seem like what I want, effectively a lighter malty German beer that’s different than what I’ve tried in the past.

Update August 2022

This beer came out as desired. Honestly I hadn’t thought about how dark 10 SRM would be but it was quite rich amber. The beer is quite malty, medium balanced, quite smooth, easy drinking. It has noticeable bready / caramel notes and I enjoy it. The gravity was on target and it’s quite clear. Will make a great Fall beer!

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 60 min 19.3 IBUs 10.5 SRM 1.052 1.011 5.5 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
International Amber Lager 2 B 1.042 - 1.055 1.008 - 1.014 8 - 25 7 - 14 2.5 - 3.2 4.6 - 6 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Borlander Munich Malt (Briess) 10 lbs 74.07
BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ) 2 lbs 14.81
BEST Vienna (BESTMALZ) 1 lbs 7.41
White Wheat Malt 8 oz 3.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 25 min Boil Pellet 4.2
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 15 min Boil Pellet 4.2
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 1 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 4.2

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Czech Budejovice Lager (WLP802) White Labs 78% 50°F - 55°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

American Pale Ale 2022 Edition of Hippidy Hoppidy

May 14th, 2022

So time flies when you’re raising kids I suppose. Between family and work, my beer brewing hobby hangs on by a thread! I still read books and occasionally go do some judging, of course I still drink commercial beer! But this is a digital journal for beer brewing, and I haven’t done that for a year. Until this past weekend. I suppose it’s the fact that it’s Spring and the Covid crazy is starting to simmer down in our society. Everyone appears to be coming outside again! So as part of Spring cleaning, I completely cleaned out and cleaned up the brewing cave. It’s really nice in there and everything was just waiting to brew a new beer! So that’s what I finally did!

This Hippidy Hoppidy beer is one that I did so well with years back when I was seriously brewing many times per month. People loved it and it did well in competition brewing winning medals at Dixie Cup, Red Stick’s Homebrew competition and some others that slip my mind. So in the interest of starting off with a great one, that’s what I brewed.

The brew day went well. It was May 7th and actually quite a beautiful day. Gravity appeared to be coming in a little low but I had DME and adjusted the hop schedule a little for balance. Original Gravity was around 1.051. I grappled with the refractometer a little and it even has me considering buying a digital refractometer. But in the course of researching it, I think I figured out what I was doing wrong.(hop particles interfering with readings) So I learned something new! A really great day brewing. Cooled to pitch temperature, pitched and added oxygen. Within hours it was visibly fermenting. Added dry hop after 4 days as it looked like it was slowing down on ferment. Final gravity a week later is around 1.0125 for approximately 4.9% ABV. Going to chill it down and take it off the hops/yeast. I’m doing this quicker than I did in the past. Testing a theory around spending too much time on the trub with this sort of ale.

Update 7/14/2022

This beer came out really great. Really nice to drink, lovely hop aroma. I think the alcohol is higher than 5% based on how it makes me feel after 3 or so. It may just be that I really enjoy it and drink it too fast.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 90 min 43.6 IBUs 7.6 SRM 1.047 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 4 lbs 44.44
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 4 lbs 44.44
Cara-Pils/Dextrine 8 oz 5.56
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 8 oz 5.56

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk) 1 oz 10 min Boil Pellet 16
Centennial 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 10
Citra 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 13
Centennial 1 oz 10 min Aroma Pellet 10
Mosaic (HBC 369) 1 oz 10 min Aroma Pellet 12.3
Simcoe 1 oz 10 min Aroma Pellet 12.2
Centennial 1 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 10
Citra 1 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 13
Simcoe 1 oz 5 days Dry Hop Pellet 12.2
Centennial 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 10

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
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Notes

Appeared to be missing on original gravity, compensated with a pound of DME which was too much. Really needed about a half pound. Ended up with 1.051 but compensated with a little bit longer hop steep over 190F. Should balance accordingly.

Bavarian Pilsner 2021

August 8th, 2021

So it’s August and it’s time to get ready for September/October and Oktoberfest. A big hit from last year was the Bavarian Pilsner I built from zero using Designing Great beers. This year I attempted to brew it on a 12 gallon batch. There were adjustments due to the size but I ended up with a beer at 1.045 OG. This should result in an approximate and possibly a little more bitter version of last years beer. We’ll see how it passes muster with the neighbors. I have it cooling down to fermentation temperature and will pitch the yeast starters at the same temperature. This has pretty much been the way to go for a quality fermentation.

Update May 30, 2022

This one didn’t turn out well and was disappointing. Too bitter. I didn’t come back and add notes like I should’ve so I’m going off of memory. I remember due to time constraints, I was in a hurry and ran off quickly. Didn’t have an appropriate boil volume, tried to compensate by adjusting hop schedules and ended up with an unbalanced beer. Put an end to a run of very good pilsner brew days I’d had over the past several years. Honestly, it was purely a process issue for a style of beer I find is not forgiving to process issues. The previous attempts were successful because I was intentional in precision and hit everything just right. If there was a correction, I took my time. Oh well. I’m updating the notes now because I’m about to brew another Bavarian Lager or Oktoberfest type beer for Halloween 2022. I’ll get it right this time!

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
13 gal 60 min 32.0 IBUs 3.8 SRM 1.048 1.011 4.9 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Bohemian Pilsener 34 1.044 - 1.056 1.014 - 1.02 30 - 45 3 - 7 2.2 - 2.8 4.1 - 5.1 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ) 22 lbs 95.65
Carahell (Weyermann) 1 lbs 4.35

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Saaz 4.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 2.9
Hallertau 2 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 4
Saaz 1.5 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 3.8

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Bavarian Lager (2206) Wyeast Labs 75% 46°F - 58°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Extra Special Bitter – ESB

April 6th, 2021

I’ve brewed quite a few attempts at English bitters like those I enjoyed when I spent a few days in London. It’s just a fine beer to enjoy with the Earthy/Floral UK hops along with the estery, English caramel malt profile that just goes down smooth with echoes of nuttiness or biscuit like flavor in the profile. I’ve gotten a few hints from Fuller’s brewers concerning brands of malts, color and hops but still didn’t get quite the profile I was looking for. I’m hoping this year with a couple of tweaks, I’ll finally get that profile I’ve failed to achieve all these years….

Update 4/24/2021

I need to post an updated recipe. I had to make a number of substitutions due to not researching what was in stock. Not a big deal. Biggest was Northern Brewer for Northdown. Brands of grains were different and the crystal was kind of a guess. However the beer had an OG right on target around 1.057 and a FG around 1.017. First impression was that it was sweet, it may have just been my pallet because the next sips were very nice. Bright, flavorful ale. Need to keg it with gelatin soon so it’ll clear out and carbonate. Should be an interesting beer to have around the house.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 60 min 38.9 IBUs 8.0 SRM 1.057 1.018 5.1 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
English-Style Extra Special Bitter 63 B 1.046 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.016 30 - 45 8 - 14 2.2 - 2.8 4.8 - 5.8 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt, Best (Simpsons) 12.25 lbs 90.74
Crystal, Light (Simpsons) 12 oz 5.56
Barley, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett) 8 oz 3.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Northdown 1.75 oz 30 min Aroma Pellet 8.5
Challenger 1.5 oz 30 min Aroma Pellet 7.5
East Kent Goldings (EKG) 1.5 oz 30 min Aroma Pellet 5

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 14.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Lactic Acid 8.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
West Yorkshire Ale (1469) Wyeast Labs 69% 64°F - 72°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 154°F 75 min

Notes

The distilled water is actually 10 gallons of my Ascension parish well water. I need to add it to BeerSmith from my bayoubeer.com website.
Need a Simpson's Crystal around 40. 100 EBC. Simpsons was prescribed by the English Brewer. Said never Bairds.
The Crystal Light malt we use is closer to 100 EBC and never from Bairds- usually Simpsons.
For the hopping regime we add all aroma hops at the end of the boil before we then go on to a 30 min whirlpool rest.
Challenger and Goldings are correct but we also use the beautiful Northdown hop (6%AA)- each 33% split of the total late addition.

Munich Helles March 2021

March 7th, 2021

So when I’ve brewed it’s usually spurred by running out of German lager on tap. My father-in-law, Louis deLatour, likes to talk about when he went to Germany as a very young man and all the time he spent in the various brew halls including the famous Hoffbrauhaus in Munich. This was post World War II as his father was a high ranking military officer and working in France as part of that post war effort. He’ll come over and tell me the same stories, but they’re great. If I have a German lager, he’ll give very honest feedback on it and compare/contrast it to what he had back in Germany.

So I use Lou as a bit of a Guinea pig with these lagers. Because he has no filter and can’t hide it if he doesn’t like a beer. He compares all German lagers to those of the masters. I refined down a winning Festbier with him and brewed it multiple times over. German pilsner was too bitter for him even though I thought it was awesome. (I also tested high quality commercial versions on him and he doesn’t like those either) Bavarian pilsner he liked better. That pils is more malty and less aggressive in the bitter. So now we’ll try Munich Helles. Even less bitter and more soft/balanced. I think this will be his jam, given the likes on Festbier and an ok nod for Bavarian pilsner.

I’ve strayed away from brewing the Helles, probably because I screwed it up bad a few years ago. Given my recent success with the Germans, it’s time to try again. I’m pretty confident that I’ve figured out all the kinks of the past. It’s really all about precision with ingredients, volumes and process.

This recipe is close to the Bavarian pilsner wort. Difference is that I’m using Vienna with the pilsner malt instead of Carahell. Also using a Munich Lager yeast. Subtle changes, but subtlety seems to really matter with the German lagers.

Brew day went well. Took my time an dialed in the calculations. Volume was spot on. Gravity was spot on. Currently cooling down the wort and the starter to pitch tomorrow morning.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6.5 gal 90 min 32.8 IBUs 3.3 SRM 1.049 1.011 4.9 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Bohemian Pilsener 34 1.044 - 1.056 1.014 - 1.02 30 - 45 3 - 7 2.2 - 2.8 4.1 - 5.1 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ) 11 lbs 95.65
BEST Vienna (BESTMALZ) 8 oz 4.35

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Saaz 3.75 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 2.8
Saaz 0.25 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 2.8

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Munich Lager (2308) Wyeast Labs 75% 48°F - 56°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Janets Brown Ale

November 29th, 2020

With the death of Mike “Tasty” McDole, I realized I’ve never brewed Janet’s Brown ale. It’s a beer made famously by Tasty as a favorite of his late wife. I saw a lot of the good-bye tasty video from the Brewing Network honoring his life and thought it’d be nice to brew his beer. I tried as best I could to follow the recipe as published in Brewing Classic Styles with minor modifications to the chocolate malt addition due to availability. So I used lighter chocolate and midnight wheat as I know these together are typically something I prefer to straight 550L chocolate malt. Also had to use whole leaf Northern Brewer as it was all that was available. used some big hop bags. Smelled amazing.

The brew day went fine. Did it while putting up Christmas lights and really took my time for once. The gravity came through a little higher than anticipated at 1.068. Probably due to the extremely slow run-off of the wort. .03 points Doesn’t matter so much with the over 60 IBU’s in this beer. Cooled and pitched a few hours later. 2 packs of the Safale 05. The fermentation kicked off quickly and was very vigorous in less than 10 hours. Going to add the dry hop for 2-3 days and then keg with gelatin. Should be a great beer by the aroma and flavor of the wort.

Update December 8, 2020

This beer came out great at kegging.   The aroma, the amount of chocolate and American hop character in resin, aroma and flavor is lovely.   Great balance.  I know a beer is great when I can drink a pint flat.   Added gelatin to clear as it’s that Brown that isn’t opaque, but close.   Looking forward to it being carbonated!

Update March 2020

This beer ended up being excellent.   Just a real easy drinking brown ale without being over the top roasted like I’ve previously had happen.   The hop profile compliments the malt nicely and just makes it a wonderful American Brown.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 60 min 60.2 IBUs 23.3 SRM 1.065 1.014 6.8 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American Brown Ale 19 C 1.045 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.016 20 - 30 18 - 35 2.4 - 2.9 4.3 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 11 lbs 72.75
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 1.25 lbs 8.27
Carapils (Briess) 1.25 lbs 8.27
Wheat - White Malt (Briess) 1 lbs 6.61
Chocolate (Briess) 5.92 oz 2.45
Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann) 4 oz 1.65
Chocolate (Briess) 0 oz 0

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Northern Brewer 1 oz 60 min Mash Pellet 9.3
Northern Brewer 2 oz 20 min Boil Pellet 9.3
Cascade 1.5 oz 15 min Boil Pellet 5.5
Northern Brewer 1 oz 10 min Boil Pellet 9.3
Cascade 1.5 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 5.5
Centennial 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 10

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 10.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 10.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Lactic Acid 8.00 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 152°F 60 min

Notes

Used a Pale Chocolate Malt and a Midnight Wheat malt instead of Chocolate.

Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

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