Orange Rye IPA

Since I have consumed almost all of the simcoe single hop IPA, it is time to brew more beer as I am running out! I brewed up an orange rye ipa that I think will be really tasty. It is a combo of several recipes, from denny conn and don osborn with my own hop twist. Here is the grist and hop schedule:

12lbs rhar 2 row
3 lbs Rye Malt
1 lb crystal 40
.5 rhar white wheat
.5 carapils

Mash 180>156 for 1 hour (mashed high as I knew this was going to be really bitter and I wanted enough sweet left over to balance it out. Sparge at 167 for 30 min.

FWH 60+ 1oz Simcoe 12.7
60 1oz Centennial 9.7
30 1oz Centennial 9.7
15 1oz Sweet Orange Peel
5 2oz Simcoe 12.7
2oz Simcoe 12.7 Dry hop

Yeast starter of 1056

OG 1.070!
FG ?

68% brew house efficiency

Brew day was split into two, I mashed and sparged friday night and heated the kettle to 185 covered it in blankets and let it sit over night. Woke up @ 6am and the kettle was @ 170, added FWH and brought the kettle to a boil.

I am hoping that this works out just fine as I rarely have time to fit in a brewday and if I can keep splitting it up I think that I will be able to brew more as I am not spending a whole day brewing. Stay tuned for updates! Cheers to good beer.

Homegrown Hop IPA on Deck for this weekend!

I am really excited about this brew, my first with the nordeast homegrown hops! I will repost back with pics and notes from brewday.  Here is the bill for the HomeGrown IPA:

GRIST
65% 10lbs Golden Promise
6% 1lbs British Crystal 50-60L
6% 1lbs Biscuit Malt
6% 1lbs Munich Malt - 10L
3% .5lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine

With 10-15 min left in boil
13% 2lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose)
1 Whifloc Tablet
Yeast Nutrient

HOP SCHEDULE (ALL HOMEGROWN)
FW 60+ 2oz Magnum
1oz Cascade @ 20
1 oz Cascade @ 10
2 OZ Cascade @ flameout to 140 degrees
2 oz Cascade Dry Hop

Pitched a tube (no starter) of WL051 Cal V and
Since I didn't do a starter I also pitched a pack of Nottingham dry yeast (was worried about underpitching with a high SG)


Cheers and look out for the updates on brewday.

All Grain Black IPA

I love dark beer and I love hoppy beer so why not put them together. It is worth a shot, oh to be drinking a dark but hopalicious beer in the fall time in MN! Here is the bill for the Black IPA:

12 lbs Rhar
.5 lbs carmel 80L
.25 lbs dehusked carafa III
.25 lbs chocolate malt

Hops:
1 oz Summit 60
1 oz Simcoe 15
1 oz centennial 10
1 oz cascade 5
1 oz amarillo @ flame out steeped until 140 degrees

WL001 saved/washed yeast from Amarillo Pale!

Mashed for 1 hour @ 154
Sparged a little cool ended up with 8.5 gallons of wort (Uh Oh)...

So this beer went better than the first all grain, but I still need to get my efficiency up I am hovering in the low 60's and want to get to 70-75 (barley crusher here I come), I ended up boiling the extra 2 gallons in another pot in the kitchen. I knew that I collected too much wort so I did a mini batch and used all home grown hops in this and pitched the same yeast.  I am anxious to see how that turns out! I am expecting it to be much more malty as I have no idea what the AA content of the homegrowns are, but I threw in two handfuls (getting scientific here!) of Magnums for bittering and three of cascades at flame out.

Here are some pics of the brew day:

All of the ingredients

Draining the first runnings

Look at that color!

All grain trinity, from the left, Amarillo Pale Ale, Black Bitter with homegrown hops, Black IPA

First All Grain Batch in the Fermenter!

UPDATE:
I am going to transfer from primary to secondary tonight as the brother in law and I are bottling the celebration stout. I took a gravity reading last night and it finished off at 1.008! Some great attenuation from the WL001!  I tasted the hydro sample and it tasted really really good, the bitterness is nice and the maltiness is nice as well, I am super excited to try this. Only about 3-4 more weeks and this beer will be in the belly and I cannot wait! I will update the post with some pics when the racking is completed.

Sweetworts first all grain batch is in the fermenter. I brewed an Amarillo American pale here is the bill:

10 Lbs domestic two row
8oz carapils
8oz crystal 60

Doughed in mashed at 152 for an hour, only lost one degree!
Collected a little over 2 gallons
Sparged with 5 gallons and collected 6.75 gallons of wort

1/2oz chinook first wort hop
1/2 chinook @ 60
1oz Amarillo @ 20
1oz amarillo @ 5
1oz amarillo @ flame out
1oz simcoe dry hop

I had a few issues but that is to be expected as this is the first go at all grain.  It took only 4 hours so it was not that bad.  My gravity was a little low at 1.048 but I am positive that had to do with my sparge, I used too much water and it was too hot as well so I sparged really fast and collected my first runnings a little too fast as well.  I also pitched a 1/2 gallon yeast starter of WL001! Here are some pics of the brew day!

Grain Bed

First runnings

The boil

Fermentation at 24 Hours

All in all it went well and I am happy, I cannot wait to taste this tasty beverage!  I will report back in about a month with the tasting!

First year Hops from NE Minneapolis!

Here is a video of my first year hops growing on the fence.  SWMBO wanted something to cover the fence as I planted some hops, a nice dual purpose compromise!  They look great and I am hoping to get at least a few ounces of hops this year!  They are budding like crazy and it looks like a good year for the magnums and cascades.  Cheers!

60 Quart Igloo Ice Cube Mash Tun

My mash tun is completed, tested and just about leak free. I was really surprised how easy it was and being that I can now do 5 AND 10 gallon mashes I am pretty excited. I already had the cooler that I bought for a party last year and used once, but I think that I paid somewhere around 22-25 dollars for it. The manifold and valve cost about $19.  Here is the parts list:

10' CPVC 1/2" pipe (I only used about 6 feet) - $2.50
1 1/2" Slip to Male CPVC Adaptor - .35
5 90 degree CPVC elbows - .27 each
3 CPVC Tee's .72 each
1 1/2" brass ball valve female to female - $7.00
1 1/2 mip to 3/8 barb fitting - $2.75
10' 3/8 ID tubing - $4.25
1 Hose gasket

I then measured and cut the pipe with a copper pipe cutter, fit it all together and used a coping saw to cut the slits into the manifold. I filled up the cooler the first time and I had a leak on the outside of the ball valve.  I replaced the gasket before the second run and it was just a drip or two, so that will do for me. One problem/concern that I have read about with these coolers is that it won't drain all of the water from the tun. Well in my 3 tests that most water I was left with was less that 1/2 cup so I am not worried. Here are some pic of the tun, let me know if you have any questions...all grain here I come!

Equipment is Purchased - Chiller Made

I finally got it all done. I bought the brewing kit and made the chiller. I also bought a kit that I hope to brew by the end of the weekend! Here is a picture of the chiller. I was suprised how easy it was. I used some free 5/8 copper pipe that was generously given to me by the Champ, so a big thanks to the Champ for that! No kinks and leak free. This thing is a beast. I am hoping for 20 min tops to cool the sweet wort, but we will see! Expect some more blogging about brewing soon!