Fall (??) Cider

So it's not Fall...but I hear that cider ages very well, and my cider tends to be pretty dry so that should help it age. Really, this will be more of a test of willpower than anything else, as I'm going to try to age this cider for 8 months or so...we'll see :)

Again, this is a very simple recipe...still trying to get cider right :) I'm going to add some fruit to the secondary, but I'm not sure what type yet. Also, I tried champagne yeast this time...not sure what difference it will make, as it usually ferments completely anyway, but at least they will be strong enough to eat up any fruit I put in there.

Fall Cider

5 Gallons Apple Cider (Kirkland/Costco Brand)

1 Package of Wyeast 4021 Pasteur Champagne Yeast (Smack-Pack)

OG: 1.051

SG when transferred to secondary:
FG: 1.000 (yep...that's right)

Date into Primary: 1/17/2011
Date into Secondary: 1/23/2011; Added 7 lb bag of mixed berries from Costco (raspberries, boysenberries and blueberries)
Date Bottled: 2/20/2011

Taste upon bottling was very dry and pretty puckery. I bottled with 8 oz of lactose (to hopefully add some sweetness) and 3 oz of corn sugar for a mild carbonation.

New Year's Resolution

To make more beer...enough said. My goal is 6 brews this year. Any more would be gravy, but until we're out of an apartment, not sure if that's possible due to space limitations.

Weed n Feed Ale II

Weed n' Feed Ale II

My attempt to make the first edition of this brew a bit better...increased the hops, decreased the wheat malt to give it a more pale ale type taste. Slight increase in lemon peel, as this was barely noticeable previously. Again used 1 gallon cold water and 10 lbs ice to cool rapidly. began fermenting on 5/30/2010.


.50 lb 10L Crystal malt (steeped at 155 for 15 minutes)
.50 lb Honey Malt (steeped at 155 for 15 minutes)

3 lb Extra Light DME
3 lb Amber DME
1 lb Wheat DME

1.00 oz Chinook (11.40%; 60 min.)
0.50 oz Williamette (4.9%; 15 min.)
0.50 Hallertauer (4.70%; 10 min.)
0.50 oz Williamette (4.9%; 5 min.)
0.50 Hallertauer (4.70%; 5 min.)

0.75 oz Lemon Zest (5 min)
1.00 lb Honey (Orange Blossom; 5 min)

1 Pkg Safale US-05 (did not reconstitute)


OG: 1.082
FG: 1.020
ABV: 8.12%

IBU = 48.2

Color

Overall comments: On bottling, tasted great. Much more hop flavor came through, and still retained that big body and malty flavor, with less wheat character, which is what I was looking for. Looking forward to drinking it over the 4th of July!

Lily's Stout

I wanted to brew an aging beer for the birth of Lilian, but decided to brew a wintery beer instead. To store and age a bunch of beer before a big move seemed a little annoying. Perhaps when we get to our next location I'll make up for it :)

To get ready for the cold winter, I decided to brew a heavy, American stout. And the time seems perfect, as I am on paternity leave for Lily's birth, and to top things off, it's National Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day. My neighbor, Mike, joined me for a bit today.

In the absence of a good name (Lilyhammered got vetoed by the fam :) I'll just call it Lily's Stout for now...

Similarly to the last beer (Weed n Feed Ale) I chilled it with cold water and ice. Once again the wort dropped within pitching temp in about 2 minutes...we'll see if my use of ice has any ill effects. Contrary to the last batch, I used all LME and a smack pack instead of dry yeast.

Here is the recipe I used (the liquid extract is from Northern Brewer):

Lily's Stout

6.00 lb	Dark Liquid Extract [Boil for 15 min]	Extract	56.34 %
3.15 lb	Dark Liquid Extract (17.5 SRM)	Extract	29.58 %
0.50 lb	Black Malt - 2-Row (Briess) (500.0 SRM)	Grain	4.69 %
0.50 lb	Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)	Grain	4.69 %
0.25 lb	Carafa III (525.0 SRM)	Grain	2.35 %
0.25 lb	Caramel Malt - 120L (Briess) (120.0 SRM)	Grain	2.35 %
2.00 oz	Williamette [4.40 %] (60 min)	Hops	29.7 IBU
1.00 oz	Cascade [7.50 %] (15 min)	Hops	12.6 IBU
1.00 oz	Cascade [7.50 %] (1 min)	Hops	1.1 IBU
1 Pkgs	Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332)	Yeast-Ale

OG: 1.077
FG: 1.026
ABV: 6.67

IBU: 54.8
SRM: 45.2

Overall comments: TBD

Fall Cider

With Fall comes cider...yum :) Last time it was a raspberry hard cider, but this year I decided to go a simpler route and perfect the basics first. I will definitely carbonate this one less than the previous cider. Perhaps half way between carbonated and flat, whatever that means. Either way, I'm hoping for no bottle bombs this year :) Here's what I'm using for this VERY basic recipe:

Fall Cider

5 Gallons Apple Cider (Kirkland/Costco Brand)

1 Package of Wyeast 4766 Cider Yeast (Smack-Pack)

OG: 1.050
SG when transferred to secondary: 1.007
FG: 1.004

Date into Primary: 10/12/2009
Date into Secondary: 11/1/2009
Date Bottled: 12/13/2009

Back sweetened half the batch (2.5 G) w/ 1.5 cans 11 oz apple juice concentrate and used pottasium sorbate to inhibit yeast metabolism, resulting in still, sweet cider

Carbed the other half with .5 cans of apple juice concentrate, resulting in sparkling, dry cider.

Weed n' Feed Ale

Happy National Homebrew Day!! Today, May 2nd, is national homebrew day, and to celebrate I decided to make some beer...fitting, no?

With the hot weather coming, I've been wanting to make more of a "lawnmower beer," so that after working outside in the hot weather I'm not stuck with trying to drink a stout...So, this is my attempt at a lighter beer, that should hopefully be pretty clean and crisp...we'll see. I added honey, and before it started bubbling away I tasted it...very sweet. Hopefully a lot of that sweetness will be fermented away (we'll see how good this yeast is!).

I used several different things this go around:

First, I used only dry malt extract, half wheat and half extra pale.

Second, I used dry yeast for the first time. Reconstituted it in about 1.5 cups of 100F water for about an hour. Pitched at about 80F, and it now has a nice thick layer of krausen, so it's obviously working.

Third, instead of trying to cool the hot wort with a surrounding ice water bath (takes forever), I lowered the boil volume to 3 gallons, and then diluted it with 1 gallon of cold water and 1 (7lb) bag of ice. Chilled it to about 85 right away...if it doesn't alter the flavor, this was a much better way to go!

Here's the recipe I used...

Weed n' Feed Ale

3 lb Extra Light DME
3 lb Wheat DME
.50 lb 10L Crystal malt (steeped at 155 for 30 minutes)
.50 lb Honey Malt (steeped at 155 for 30 minutes)
1 oz Hallertauer hops (4.80%; 60 minutes)
1 oz Willamette hops (5.50%; 5 minutes)
.50 oz Lemon zest (one large lemon; 5 minutes)
1 lb Orange Blossom Honey (5 minutes)

1 Package of Safale US-05, reconstituted in 1.5 C of 100F water

OG: 1.072
FG: 1.018
ABV: 7%

IBU = 21.5

Color

Overall comments: This brew turned out quite nice. It was a great summer beer, but it still had a lot of punch to it. Only thing I will change is substituting some of the wheat malt for more pale malt. It had a little too much wheat character for my liking. Otherwise, I had no complaints, nor did those who tried it :)

Chocolate Milk Stout

It's been a while since I updated this, but with the move it's also been a while since I brewed anything. We had some friends in town for Halloween this year, and I decided to brew a batch of Chocolate Milk Stout for the occasion. It turned out fairly tasty. But it had a little too much bite to it (perhaps lactic acid?) and a little too much chocolate. It was certainly not as good as the Meet Me In St. Louis Stout I made in 2008. However, it was somewhat of an experiment, as this was the first recipe I concocted on my own. Here's how I rated it (BJCP guidelines), followed by the recipe:

Aroma: 7/12
Appearance: 2/3
Flavor: 10/20
Mouthfeel: 3/5
Overall Impression: 6/10

Total: 28/50 or "Good"

Chocolate Milk Stout Brew Type: Extract Date: 9/28/2008 Style: Sweet Stout Brewer: Ben Giesbrecht Batch Size: 5.10 gal Boil Time: 60 min Boil Volume: 6.53 gal Taste Rating (50 possible points): 28.0 Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU 6.00 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 63.16 % 1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 10.53 % 1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.53 % 0.50 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 % 0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.63 % 0.25 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.63 % 2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 31.3 IBU 16.00 oz Chocolate Powder (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 0.50 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5.26 % 1 Pkgs London Ale (Wyeast Labs #1028) Yeast-Ale Beer Profile Measured Original Gravity: 1.068 SG Alpha Acid Units: 9.0 AAU Measured Final Gravity: 1.018 SG Estimated Color: 37.8 SRM Actual Alcohol by Volume: 6.53 % Actual Calories: 309 cal/pint Bitterness: 31.3 IBU (20.0-40.0 IBU) Carbonation and Storage Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar Carbonation Volumes: 2.4 (2.0-2.4 vols) Estimated Priming Weight: 3.9 oz Temperature at Bottling: 60.0 F Primer Used: - Age for: 4.0 Weeks Storage Temperature: 52.0 F Notes Added chocolate to boil during final 5 minutes Pitched yeast approx. 68F Fermented in basement w. avg temp approx. 70-72 10-05: SG = 1.028; transferred to secondary