Amber Brew Day

Today was my first venture into the world of Amber Ale. I was supposed to light the burners at 4:30 AM, when Sharon left to climb Half Dome, but I hadn't filtered my water or ground my grain last night, and at that time of the morning I started to doubt my choice for an Amber Ale so I started researching recipes and taking inventory of all my grains and hops on hand. After a few cups of coffee I decided to stick with the original plan and brew the Amber.














Mashing out at 9 AM. The first runnings were dark and sweet!















I took this picture for two reasons. First, I put a new piece of brewing equipment into rotation: The Ove Glove! It's much more convenient to grab hot pieces of aluminum, etc with this then trying to use a regular, square hot pad. Second, notice that there is NO BOIL OVER on the edges of the brew pot or on the ground. Why? I started using Foam Control on this brew and even though I had a great rolling boil, I didn't have all the foam associated with it. This stuff ROCKS!















11.5 gallons of Amber Waves of Grain in glass where it will sit for the next three weeks. I used a few drops of foam control in each carboy and it started eating through the foam from the aeration right away. 1/2 hour after pitching the 2 liter starter I had visible yeast activity.















Oops! I boiled off a little too much and over shot my starting gravity. Was supposed to be 1.055. As Mark would say, "This is going to be a big ole ale!"

Amber Waves of Grain - Amber Ale

This Saturday I'll be lighting the burners at 5 AM and brewing an Amber. I'm still waiting for the keg of Pale Ale to blow before I hook up the Summer Sunset Orange Wit. Man, oh man, I can't wait to taste that beer!

Here's the recipe planned for the 11th:

















Amber Waves of Grain
10-B American Amber Ale
Author: Wade L. Williams

Size: 12.0 gal
Efficiency: 64.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 173.16 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.052 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 - 1.015)
Color: 17.8 (10.0 - 17.0)
Alcohol: 5.12% (4.5% - 6.2%)
Bitterness: 35.8 (25.0 - 40.0)

Ingredients:
20.78 lb Pale Ale Malt
2.19 lb Munich Malt
2.46 lb Crystal Malt 40°L
1.59 lb Crystal Malt 120°L
1.59 lb Victory® Malt
3 oz Vanguard (5.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1 oz Cascade (7.8%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1 oz Centennial (9.1%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
.5 oz Cascade (7.8%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
.5 oz Centennial (9.1%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2.0 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

Summer Sunset Orange Wit Brewday Planned

For those followers of this blog I'm extending an open invitation to come brew with me on May 16th at 9 AM. I'll be brewing up a great session beer, a Belgian Wit. Two other folks who want to learn to brew will be there and I have room for many more. Plus, I'll have three beers on tap for everyone to enjoy. Just submit a comment on this blog with your info and email address and I'll send you directions to my house.

Here's the recipe planned for the 16th:












Summer Sunset Orange Wit
16-A Witbier
Author: Wade L. Williams

Size: 10.56 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 162.08 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.049 (1.044 - 1.052)
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.008 - 1.012)
Color: 3.69 (2.0 - 4.0)
Alcohol: 4.79% (4.5% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 17.3 (10.0 - 20.0)

Ingredients:
8 lb Pale Ale
9 lb Wheat Flaked
2 lb White Wheat Malt
2 tsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer - added during mash
1.3 oz Sterling (7.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
7 oz Orange zest - added during boil, boiled 10 min
.5 oz Corriander crushed - added during boil, boiled 10 min
2.0 ea Chamomile Tea Bag - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
2.0 ea White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

B2D2 - The Better Beer Dispensing Device

Nope, it doesn't look anything like R2D2, but the 4 tap draft box is FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here she is in all her 4 tap glory!

The collar that started it all.













The freezer fitted with a collar for the bottom to raise the unit up to acceptable (for me) pouring height, and for the top for the taps to fit through. I also added non-marring casters so it could roll around the house without scuffing up the floor.

















1x3s installed to secure the freezer to the collars to the freezer, create airflow between the freezer and the outside plywood, and to be used as nailers for the plywood.













Skinned with 1/4" plywood and dry fitted with taps and CO2 distribution unit.


















An inside peek before all of the hoses are installed.














Building the top.













After the stain and first coat of varnish is applied.

















The finished unit sans drip tray (that will come next month).


































Yes, I know that's a crappy ol' staining job but the drip tray will sit right at the bottom of those stain lines so I'm hoping it will mask it some.

Three of the taps are pouring Scottish Wee Heavy, Red Ale, and Pale Ale. Yippee!

Surly Sow IPA

Yesterday I brewed up the Surly Sow IPA. This recipe is based of the one that Vinnie Cilurzo created and won homebrew competitions with before he commercially brewed the Blind Pig IPA.

Here's the recipe:
Surley Sow IPA
14-B American IPA
Author: Wade L. Williams
Date: 4/16/2009

Size: 11.0 gal
Efficiency: 64.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 206.06 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.062 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 11.55 (6.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 6.09% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 77.7 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
26.0 lb Pale Ale Malt
1.0 lb Malted Wheat
1.0 lb Cara-Pils® Malt
1.0 lb Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 tsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer - added during mash
2.8 oz Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
2.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
2.0 oz Centennial (10.0%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
2.0 oz Oak Wood Chips - added dry to secondary fermenter
2.0 ea White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.2

The brew day went GREAT and I had a few guests. Brandy, her son Clayton, and her dad Bruce showed up and helped brew. OK, only Bruce helped, but Clayton just walked around looking cute until it was time for a diaper change and a nap. :-)

Bruce was a big help and we talked about beer all day long. We celebrated the end of the brew with a Sierra Nevada Big Foot Barlywine. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Also, this is the first time I was able to use a water filter for my brew water. It's a carbon filter and it took all of the "organic" flavor out of our well water. The beer turned out nice and clear with not a hint of that flavor!

Here's the pics from the day:

Filtering the water the night before.

I now use big blow off tubes instead of airlocks that can get clogged with gunk. Here they are in action:

Evil Twin - Kegged and Labeled

I kegged the Evil Twin on Sunday and had the usual problem of me being too greedy when it comes to getting every last drop of beer from the carboy to the keg. I "push" the beer with CO2 so the pressure makes kegging very fast. The problem is I don't know when to say when and I usually end up sucking up CO2 out of the carboy and bubbling it up through the beer in the keg. Oh, well. No use crying over spilled beer! ;-)

Here's a copy of the label I came up with. Bonus points to anyone who remembers this episode. Thanks to my parents, I remember EVERY episode! :-)

New Brew Club

A few of the Modesto Mashers club members decided to create a new club. Reasons behind the split are unimportant, but we will be focused more on the actual craft of brewing.

One of the items we needed was a club logo and while I'm no graphic design artist, here's what I've come up with so far: