My Turbodog clone was a hit. Enough so that it is all gone. I don't have a dog, but I do have a kittycat and so I came up with my name. Here's a second batch to make a few of my friends happy. This time, I'm going to have to buy a bottle or two of the real Turbodog, just to see how close this comes.
Whee! More TurboKitty!
Brewed: 02-24-2008
Racked: 03-12-2008
Kegged: 03-19-2008
OG=1.046@72F
FG=1.014@??F
ABV=4.192%
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Brew #80: Double Chocolate Stout
In previous brews of this Double Chocolate Stout, I would melt chocolate and add it only at the time I would keg the beer. I always had to deal with a bit of oils that killed the head real quick. After drinking a gallon or two and perhaps sitting for a bit in the kegerator, the pours start coming out with better head.
This batch has the chocolate added 5 minutes before flameout. Since I expect some loss due to the chocolate settling out, I put in 3/4 bar of 82% Scharfenberger and 3/4 bar of 41% Scharfenberger. With the chocolate in the wort already, it meant that all the equipment got an extra good cleaning to clear all the oils that stuck to everything. I skimmed the top of the wort before putting the beer into the primary, hoping to rid myself of more oils. This is still in primary almost two weeks later. There seems to be a foam at the top. It may be that more oils have gone to the top. I'll rack it by two weeks and a day regardless.
There was a thick "butter" at the top. Normally, when a beer still has foam at the top, I leave it sitting in the fermenter a bit more. This one threw me off. I am thinking that the stuff at the top was cocoa butter or the fat content of the chocolate bars that I melt into the brew. I spooned that stuff off then racked the beer. The trub at the bottom of the bucket makes me think that the chocolate is all settled out of the beer. I'll have to see how it tastes when I get it on beer gas.
The next version of this stout may use the actual roasted cacao beans. This is what Rob over at Independence was doing with a porter. Go straight for the source of the chocolate flavor. Someday, I'm also going to use real raspberries instead of the extract.
Kegged on 3-19 and the F.G. is a bit higher than normal. I am wondering if the ABV is actually higher and the extra specific gravity comes from chocolate in the beer. Tastes rather nice whatever the case.
Brewed: 02-17-2008
Racked: 03-12-2008
Kegged: 03-19-2008
OG=1.057@70F
FG=1.020@66F
ABV=4.847%
This batch has the chocolate added 5 minutes before flameout. Since I expect some loss due to the chocolate settling out, I put in 3/4 bar of 82% Scharfenberger and 3/4 bar of 41% Scharfenberger. With the chocolate in the wort already, it meant that all the equipment got an extra good cleaning to clear all the oils that stuck to everything. I skimmed the top of the wort before putting the beer into the primary, hoping to rid myself of more oils. This is still in primary almost two weeks later. There seems to be a foam at the top. It may be that more oils have gone to the top. I'll rack it by two weeks and a day regardless.
There was a thick "butter" at the top. Normally, when a beer still has foam at the top, I leave it sitting in the fermenter a bit more. This one threw me off. I am thinking that the stuff at the top was cocoa butter or the fat content of the chocolate bars that I melt into the brew. I spooned that stuff off then racked the beer. The trub at the bottom of the bucket makes me think that the chocolate is all settled out of the beer. I'll have to see how it tastes when I get it on beer gas.
The next version of this stout may use the actual roasted cacao beans. This is what Rob over at Independence was doing with a porter. Go straight for the source of the chocolate flavor. Someday, I'm also going to use real raspberries instead of the extract.
Kegged on 3-19 and the F.G. is a bit higher than normal. I am wondering if the ABV is actually higher and the extra specific gravity comes from chocolate in the beer. Tastes rather nice whatever the case.
Brewed: 02-17-2008
Racked: 03-12-2008
Kegged: 03-19-2008
OG=1.057@70F
FG=1.020@66F
ABV=4.847%
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Black Star: I finally attended a Social
I joined the Black Star Co-op months ago, but online. I knew I was going to join for about a year but I just never made any of the socials. I was perusing their website and they had Pay with PayPal. Well, I had a PayPal account so a few minutes later I was done.
I heard that they had a homebrewer's corner starting on this social. I'm all about getting rid of some of my beer. I brought four growlers but only served three. I served Vroom-Vroom TurboKitty (an Abita Turbodog clone), my Spiced Holiday Ale, and my Bavarian Doppelbock. I had a growler of my Bohemian Red along, but this beer is a rarity. I might not be able to make it for a year or so. I want to savor it properly. I think that the Saaz Sladek was still in supply. I may try to use it all through and see how it comes out.
I had some of the Black Star Vulcan. It's made with rye. Nice flavor.
I heard that they had a homebrewer's corner starting on this social. I'm all about getting rid of some of my beer. I brought four growlers but only served three. I served Vroom-Vroom TurboKitty (an Abita Turbodog clone), my Spiced Holiday Ale, and my Bavarian Doppelbock. I had a growler of my Bohemian Red along, but this beer is a rarity. I might not be able to make it for a year or so. I want to savor it properly. I think that the Saaz Sladek was still in supply. I may try to use it all through and see how it comes out.
I had some of the Black Star Vulcan. It's made with rye. Nice flavor.
Brew #79: Psychedelic Monk
This is my name for the Delirium Tremens clone AHS recipe. I had one that hit, one that missed and I'm trying to recreate the greatness of the one that hit. Things are changing a bit though. The hop shortage meant that I substituted Fuggle for the Styrian Goldings and I used Saaz Sladek rather than the Trschitz type. That may add a touch more bitterness. AHS was also out of extra pale extract. Instead of the 8 lbs. of liquid malt extract, I took 7 lbs. of dry malt extract (DME). I have been using late addition for any of the lighter colored brews and I tried with this one too. I put 2 lbs. of the DME in with the 1 1/2 lbs. clear candi at the start and added the last 5 lbs. of DME after the boil. The DME is interesting to get stirred in correctly. I had lumps to work down. In the end I had a wort with an O.G. of 1.098 - much more than the 1.085 the recipe expects. I did leave this a bit more concentrated in the primary to give more head space. The previous two versions blew the lid a couple times. I set up my blow off tube expecting that the foam would spill through the tube into the bucket. Not so. It did give good bits of bubbles for a couple days, but then settled down. I don't have temp. control in my brew closet, but it has been a bit on the colder side these days. I might expect that the average temp is 67F or 68F. Still reminds me that my next beer project is to get another freezer for temp control on fermentation. Still, checking the beer through the airlock hole, I can see that the foam still completely covers the top. I think the yeasties are still happy and working. I'll have to wait a week, maybe two, until I rack it off to a carboy. I fully expect this one to sit for 3-4 months. I'm wondering if I have to wait longer. This beer has the potential of 13%.
Racked into secondary on the 24th. I measured the S.G. at 1.020. At least I know that the yeast was doing its work. It's already at 10% ABV. The taste had me thinking I've got a good batch. There is an initial sweetness followed by the bread/cheese Belgian Abbey yeast flavor and a clean finish. I like it already!
At kegging after two months in a carboy, the beer was such a beautiful ruby color. The clarity was unbelievable it had to be finished. It only dropped another 2 points in that time. I think the yeast is done. The taste that I had from the gravity sample was a touch too sweet. Since then I've had a taste and I think this may be OK. I may have to blend it into Monkenstein again, but maybe not. I'm leaving this one in a keg but in the closet. Let's see if the yeast might push this a touch more. As high in ABV as this one is, a bit more aging won't hurt.
Brewed: 02-07-2008
Racked: 02-24-2008
Kegged: 04-29-2008
OG=1.098@68F
FG=1.018@70F
ABV=10.48%
Racked into secondary on the 24th. I measured the S.G. at 1.020. At least I know that the yeast was doing its work. It's already at 10% ABV. The taste had me thinking I've got a good batch. There is an initial sweetness followed by the bread/cheese Belgian Abbey yeast flavor and a clean finish. I like it already!
At kegging after two months in a carboy, the beer was such a beautiful ruby color. The clarity was unbelievable it had to be finished. It only dropped another 2 points in that time. I think the yeast is done. The taste that I had from the gravity sample was a touch too sweet. Since then I've had a taste and I think this may be OK. I may have to blend it into Monkenstein again, but maybe not. I'm leaving this one in a keg but in the closet. Let's see if the yeast might push this a touch more. As high in ABV as this one is, a bit more aging won't hurt.
Brewed: 02-07-2008
Racked: 02-24-2008
Kegged: 04-29-2008
OG=1.098@68F
FG=1.018@70F
ABV=10.48%
Saturday, February 16, 2008
20080216 - Musings
Thursday night, Dave came over and we racked his "Wilson's Winter Warmer" into a keg. That was tasting very nice even warm and flat. It's been in the kegerator a couple days and now its cold. I did one force carbonation shake session, but with a small air space, I know I'm going to have to do it one or two more times. If I take some off for tasting a sample, I'll have that much more air space for the CO2 to go in. :) I told Dave he has to give me 6 bottles worth. I'll take three and enter them in the Bluebonnet Brew-Off. The other three I'll share with the ZEALOTS at the March meeting.
I also got my Ahtanum Pale Ale into a keg that night. Great aroma, great taste. I love this recipe. Thanks JB at Austin Homebrew. I'm resting up a bit before I give this one a shake session today.
Last night, I had enough time to rack my British Pale that I dry-hopped with Summit into another carboy. I stole a taste of this one. I'm hoping for that taste of tangerine or orange that the Summits are supposed to have. It was dry-hopped with ony 1/2 ounce. The flavor reminds me more of Cascades right now. Perhaps it is just that I can make out the citrus flavors but not distinguish them as yet. I may have to wait until it's cold and carbonated before the flavor really comes out.
I also took my Vanguard Red and racked it into a keg. It is a little quicker than my normal process of one week in primary, one month in secondary, and then into keg. The FG is a bit higher than I expected. Many times I come in lower than what the recipe expects. I'm going to leave this out of the fridge for another week or two. Perhaps the yeasties can finish it out a bit more.
I've got even one more keg open because I got impatient. My last version of White Oak Porter was overpoweringly wood flavored. I know that I could blend it or wait on it until that flavor smoothed out or diminished, but I'd rather not wait or work on it. Chalk it up to experience. Dumping a 5 gal batch sears in the lesson: Don't leave a beer on oak for too long (without really planning on it). A Porter doesn't have strong enough flavors to compete with strong oak flavors.
My Psychedelic Monk surprised me when it didn't blow the top off the primary. It didn't even foam up into the blow-off tube that I had set up. I was thinking this might be a stuck fermentation, but I can peek inside through the airlock's hole and see that foam still covers the entire top of the beer. This one I may have to let sit up three to four weeks before transferring to carboy. Even there, I expect to wait 3-4 months before kegging. This has the potential to get to 13%.
I'm rested now, off to shake up my Ahtanum Pale Ale.
I also got my Ahtanum Pale Ale into a keg that night. Great aroma, great taste. I love this recipe. Thanks JB at Austin Homebrew. I'm resting up a bit before I give this one a shake session today.
Last night, I had enough time to rack my British Pale that I dry-hopped with Summit into another carboy. I stole a taste of this one. I'm hoping for that taste of tangerine or orange that the Summits are supposed to have. It was dry-hopped with ony 1/2 ounce. The flavor reminds me more of Cascades right now. Perhaps it is just that I can make out the citrus flavors but not distinguish them as yet. I may have to wait until it's cold and carbonated before the flavor really comes out.
I also took my Vanguard Red and racked it into a keg. It is a little quicker than my normal process of one week in primary, one month in secondary, and then into keg. The FG is a bit higher than I expected. Many times I come in lower than what the recipe expects. I'm going to leave this out of the fridge for another week or two. Perhaps the yeasties can finish it out a bit more.
I've got even one more keg open because I got impatient. My last version of White Oak Porter was overpoweringly wood flavored. I know that I could blend it or wait on it until that flavor smoothed out or diminished, but I'd rather not wait or work on it. Chalk it up to experience. Dumping a 5 gal batch sears in the lesson: Don't leave a beer on oak for too long (without really planning on it). A Porter doesn't have strong enough flavors to compete with strong oak flavors.
My Psychedelic Monk surprised me when it didn't blow the top off the primary. It didn't even foam up into the blow-off tube that I had set up. I was thinking this might be a stuck fermentation, but I can peek inside through the airlock's hole and see that foam still covers the entire top of the beer. This one I may have to let sit up three to four weeks before transferring to carboy. Even there, I expect to wait 3-4 months before kegging. This has the potential to get to 13%.
I'm rested now, off to shake up my Ahtanum Pale Ale.
Friday, February 8, 2008
20080208 - The tally from last year
2007 was a pretty gung-ho brewing year for me. I've been brewing quite a bit and also purchasing some new equipment. I was wondering just how much I spent on brewing and brewing equipment. So here's the tally:
01/29/2007 65.53
02/12/2007 36.01
02/20/2007 43.63
03/12/2007 40.69
04/02/2007 73.63
04/16/2007 47.90
04/24/2007 60.97
05/07/2007 251.94
05/11/2007 44.64
06/18/2007 120.06
07/06/2007 94.34
07/13/2007 36.51
07/16/2007 15.64
07/23/2007 66.87
08/03/2007 38.46
08/13/2007 37.53
08/20/2007 43.30
09/04/2007 54.69
09/08/2007 43.31
10/09/2007 33.69
10/12/2007 453.45
10/15/2007 -108.24
10/15/2007 66.80
10/19/2007 205.30 *Praxair
10/27/2007 76.29
11/05/2007 33.43
11/19/2007 42.69
11/24/2007 9.73
11/30/2007 31.19
12/17/2007 274.00
12/24/2007 38.89
=======
TOTAL $2372.87
With that total I made 150 gallons of beer. I think I had one or two gift certificates that saved just a touch and I know that one batch was commissioned by a friend (he paid for the recipe). About $1000 was for equipment that I can use the rest of my life - I got another CO2 tank and a beergas system.
Simple math of 8 pints per gallon gives 1200 pints and $1372.87 in recipe costs so my beer is costing $1.14 per pint? Hmm. Premier beer - it's worth it!
Ed
01/29/2007 65.53
02/12/2007 36.01
02/20/2007 43.63
03/12/2007 40.69
04/02/2007 73.63
04/16/2007 47.90
04/24/2007 60.97
05/07/2007 251.94
05/11/2007 44.64
06/18/2007 120.06
07/06/2007 94.34
07/13/2007 36.51
07/16/2007 15.64
07/23/2007 66.87
08/03/2007 38.46
08/13/2007 37.53
08/20/2007 43.30
09/04/2007 54.69
09/08/2007 43.31
10/09/2007 33.69
10/12/2007 453.45
10/15/2007 -108.24
10/15/2007 66.80
10/19/2007 205.30 *Praxair
10/27/2007 76.29
11/05/2007 33.43
11/19/2007 42.69
11/24/2007 9.73
11/30/2007 31.19
12/17/2007 274.00
12/24/2007 38.89
=======
TOTAL $2372.87
With that total I made 150 gallons of beer. I think I had one or two gift certificates that saved just a touch and I know that one batch was commissioned by a friend (he paid for the recipe). About $1000 was for equipment that I can use the rest of my life - I got another CO2 tank and a beergas system.
Simple math of 8 pints per gallon gives 1200 pints and $1372.87 in recipe costs so my beer is costing $1.14 per pint? Hmm. Premier beer - it's worth it!
Ed
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Brew #78: American Red Ale
THe AHS recipe calls for Cascades but we know that those are in short supply. Vanguard hops are one that can be in supply and it is said that they can be used as a replacement for Cascades. So here's a red with all Vanguard.
When I was steeping grains, I let the temp go to 180F. Oops. Opinions are that the grains may have converted quickly enough that I got most of the sugars out. The OG wasn't too bad, I'm historically low and an adjusted 1.051 instead of 1.053 isn't too far off. Tastes pretty good at the rack into secondary.
I racked into keg on 2-16 and the SG at the time was 1.018 at 70F. The recipe expects an FG of 1.014 (so 1.013 @ 70F). I'm leaving the keg out of the kegerator to allow the yeast to finish up a bit more. I'll measure the SG next week, and maybe wait one more week. I may just push it up to be able to draw off some bottles to enter the Bluebonnet.
It's now in the kegerator and carbonated. Bottles have been drawn off for the Bluebonnet. This one has a mellow flavor that I think is more popular to folks that aren't hop heads like most brewers. It still has a zing to it.
Brewed: 01-27-2008
Racked: 02-05-2008
Kegged: 02-16-2008
OG=1.050@70F
FG=1.015@70F
ABV=5.895%
When I was steeping grains, I let the temp go to 180F. Oops. Opinions are that the grains may have converted quickly enough that I got most of the sugars out. The OG wasn't too bad, I'm historically low and an adjusted 1.051 instead of 1.053 isn't too far off. Tastes pretty good at the rack into secondary.
I racked into keg on 2-16 and the SG at the time was 1.018 at 70F. The recipe expects an FG of 1.014 (so 1.013 @ 70F). I'm leaving the keg out of the kegerator to allow the yeast to finish up a bit more. I'll measure the SG next week, and maybe wait one more week. I may just push it up to be able to draw off some bottles to enter the Bluebonnet.
It's now in the kegerator and carbonated. Bottles have been drawn off for the Bluebonnet. This one has a mellow flavor that I think is more popular to folks that aren't hop heads like most brewers. It still has a zing to it.
Brewed: 01-27-2008
Racked: 02-05-2008
Kegged: 02-16-2008
OG=1.050@70F
FG=1.015@70F
ABV=5.895%
Brew #77: British Pale Ale
The AHS British Pale Ale is near a Bass Ale. I've brewed this using the late addition for the extract to keep the stuff from carmelizing on the bottom of the brew pot. It works well - there was hardly anything there at cleanup. I'm also going to dry hop with 1/2 ounce of Summit. I'm trying to pull the orange/tangerine flavors out of those hops.
This has a flavor like an IPA. The Summits give it a nice hoppy flavor, but it still hasn't dinged "tangerine" on my palate. It is pleasant whatever the case. Still, that was warm and flat. It is in the fridge now and ready for force carbonation. I have dubbed this one "Prince of Orange Pale".
Brewed: 01-21-2008
Racked: 02-05-2008 (dry-hopped w/ .5 oz. Summit)
Racked: 02-16-2008
Kegged: 02-26-2008
OG=1.047@70F
FG=1.010@68F
ABV=4.847%
This has a flavor like an IPA. The Summits give it a nice hoppy flavor, but it still hasn't dinged "tangerine" on my palate. It is pleasant whatever the case. Still, that was warm and flat. It is in the fridge now and ready for force carbonation. I have dubbed this one "Prince of Orange Pale".
Brewed: 01-21-2008
Racked: 02-05-2008 (dry-hopped w/ .5 oz. Summit)
Racked: 02-16-2008
Kegged: 02-26-2008
OG=1.047@70F
FG=1.010@68F
ABV=4.847%
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