20090804 - Time to catch up

I've not posted anything lately. It just means I've been having fun brewing and drinking the beer instead of writing about it. I did get to attend the National Homebrewer's Conference in Oakland. Many good beers, lots of things learned. I think the most worthwhile one for me was a session on cleaning and sanitizing. It's a subject that I needed to learn more about.

I've had a run of three batches that didn't turn out as expected. First, an Abita TurboDog clone came out with a touch of green-apple-y flavor. I've decided to try to save it by taking that sourness and boosting it to lambic-ness. I've dumped in tart cherries and we'll see what that does. Next, I had a Kolsch that got phenolics in it - the antiseptic or plastic flavor. I *know* it can't be from chloramines or chlorine. I took a mix of R/O and filtered water and treated it with potassium metabisulphate. My phenolics must have been produced by the fermentation. Instead of the normal fermentation in the 72-74F closet, I tried controlling the temp by sticking the fermenter in a water bath and throwing in ice every so often. I did achieve lower temps but the variance went from 65F to 70F. Last, my friend Dave brought over a Flander's Brown recipe for us to brew together. This one got green-apple-y again and I suspect that I used the same secondary as the TurboDog. Well, green apple indicates acetaldehyde which is a precursor to ethanol - the yeast didn't finish before I racked away. This one got a new starter of yeast back into it to see if they could fix the problem.

I have had some successes though. I've mixed a too-bitter Czech Pilsner with a too-sweet one to come up with my 6040 and 4060 Czech Pilsners. One is a touch more bitter and the other is a touch more sweet/malty. I go back and forth on which I like better.

I've brewed my Holiday Spiced ale in prep for the Halloween/holiday season. The house smells like gingerbread for a few days. I really have to say that PBW works wonders. I soaked the primary for a bit and it come out spotless with no other scrubbing. (Yes, you shouldn't scrub your plastic buckets, but I've been scrubbing them long before I knew better. I'll just keep scrubbing until I replace the buckets.)

On the cleaning side, I've been working through the entire list of equipment with a PBW soak, a rinse-rinse-rinse, and a sanitize. I should be able to kill off anything wild and get down to producing the clean beers like normal.

Austin Zealot Inquisition picnic is coming up on Saturday Aug. 8. Woohoo!!!

Brew #107: Bohemian Kolsch

I won Bohemian Pilsner grain in the raffle at the Bluebonnet. Why not replace any German Pilsner malt with Bohemian Pilsner malt in a Kolsch recipe and see what happens. I also get to use the yeastcake from the previous brew.

Brewed: 05-07-2009
Racked: 05-19-2009
Kegged: 0?-??-2009

OG=1.040@67F
FG=1.0XX@YYF

ABV=%

Brew #106: Czech Pilsner

My batch #5 was one of the brews I remember as the best. I rather enjoy Pilsner Urquell and that brew did rather well. Since that time, AHS has been modifying the recipe to make the mini-mash version and keep up with the extracts that they get. I went back to that original recipe for the hops and specialty grains though. I also added 1 tsp. of Calcium Chloride to accentuate the malt and used the Kolsch Ale yeast like I had way back in 1998. I'm still fermenting in the same closet.

Brewed: 04-26-2009
Racked: 05-07-2009
Kegged: 0?-??-2009

OG=1.049@71F
FG=1.0XX@YYF

ABV=%

Brew #105: Centurion Blonde #2

I wanted more honey malt to show through in the first attempt and less of the bitter. Here's the recipe for this attempt:

1.5 lb Honey Malt
0.5 lb Flaked Wheat
1.5 lb Pilsener Lager Malt
.25 lb 2-row CaraPils Malt
3.0 lb Extra Light DME (to keep the color as light as possible)
0.5 oz Amarillo - 30 min.
0.5 oz Amarillo - 15 min. + 1 Whirlfloc tablet + 5 tsps Yeast Nutrient
0.5 oz Sorachi Ace - at flameout (0 mins.)
0.5 oz Sorachi Ace - Dry Hopped

Got low on the O.G. and the maltiness and sweetness is coming through. The balance is off however. I liked Centurion Blonde #1 better. It's still a good drinkable beer. Still need to work out what is unbalanced.

Now that it's been a while, the beer is growing on me. It's got more mouthfeel, the color is more at pale ale, nice and quaffable. The first version had a lighter feel, but more bitterness. Mouthfeel may be specifically linked to the Carapils. So I've got to figure out if I like the base as a Blonde or let the beer go more at Pale Ale. So maybe do the same thing again but drop the CaraPils from the recipe.

Brewed: 04-16-2009
Hopped: 04-21-2009 (hop addition into primary after initial fermentation was complete)
Racked: 04-24-2009
Kegged: 05-12-2009

OG=1.040@69F
FG=1.013@72F

ABV=3.537%

Brew #104: Summer Saison Belgian Ale

I've made this a few times. The lemon zest hits first and then you get the bready/yeasty Belgian type flavor to finish. It is a good summer beer as the lemon makes it refreshing. Here's the first beer I make with water conditioned with a campden tablet to rid the water of any chloramines. Kegged straight from primary.

Brewed: 03-18-2009
Kegged: 05-08-2009

OG=1.063@67F
FG=1.014@69F

ABV=6.419%

Brew #103: Vroom-Vroom TurboKitty Renamed TLA #4

Abita Turbo Dog. Nice brew to mimic. Only I have no dogs and twin turbos in my car so I have my own name for the clone. :) Sadly, I've gotten something wild in this one. Has a green apple taste that is mellow and not too bad, but the beer rates "OK if desparate". I get to drink this and think about what went wrong. Or, I get to drink this and think about what might make it drinkable. First thought is to try to get fruit and sour going and turn it into a lambic. It may be that I left it in the primary three weeks and racked straight into a keg. Or it may be that some gunk on my filter lines got a hold here. (I've gotten to the filter line since then)

Brewed: 03-17-2009
Kegged: 04-09-2009

OG=1.045@67F
FG=1.014@69F

ABV=4.061%

Brew #102: Illegitimate Pride

My second go at an Arrogant Bastard clone. The first one got me my first ribbon. Yay! And it was dead on with the hop profile. My version was sweeter than the one in bottles, so I still had sugars where the professionals get theirs down further. The other fun thing is that it uses the same yeast as the Vanguard Red (brew #101) and so I threw this on that same yeast cake. BOOM! Within 8 hours, it blew the top on the fermenter and "painted" my beer closet. What fun to go and wipe down the walls, door, ceiling of the closet and then wipe down all the other equipment in the closet too.

I've had a taste of this, and it's still sweet so I'm letting it sit in the keg for a while more before I put it in the kegerator. Let it finish out more.

Brewed: 02-02-2009
Racked: 02-20-2009
Kegged: 05-12-2009

OG=1.075@66F
FG=1.0??@??F

ABV=%