beer


Chocolate Milk Stout

Yeast:

  • Safale S-04

Specialty Grain:

  • .25lb English Extra dark Crystal
  • .75lb Fawcett Pale Chocolate Malt

Malts:

  • 6 lbs Dark malt syrup (60 min)
  • 1 lb Lactose (60 min)

Hops:

  • 1 oz Cluster (60 min) 7.2% AAU
  • .5 oz Cluster (30 min) 7.2% AAU
  • 4 oz Cacao Nibs (add to secondary)

Gravity:

  • Target O.G: 1.051
  • Initial O.G:  1.070 @ 72 degrees
  • After 1.5 weeks:  1.020 @ 74 degrees
  • Racked to 2nd-ary.  Added Cacao Nibs

 


My First Beer Label

And my realization that I SUCK at photoshop….

I decided to call my latest batch of homebrew Rosie IPA (in honor of the Puppy’s first christmas) and I had an idea for a label in mind.  After stumbling and bumbling through the wealth of photoshop tutorials I realized that I SUCK AT PHOTOSHOP.  Actually, let me clarify, I suck and graphic designing in Photoshop.  I can rock Bridge + Camera Raw for photo editing, but when it comes to graphics and text and layouts and layers I SUCK.  It took me an hour to figure out how to draw a rectangle that fit across the top third of the canvas!!

Anyway, I stumbled through it and I’m actually pretty happy with the result:

The crazy thing is that I think I can do all of this even easier in the simplified editor that comes with Snagit!


Honey Brown Ale

Description:

A spinoff of our highly popular Nut Brown Ale kit that combines American malts and ale yeast with English hops and Minnesota honey.  Kit link

Yeast:

Safale S-33 Dry Ale Yeast.  Dry.  11.5g.  Rehydrated.

Speciality Grains:

Simpson’s Chocolate .25 lbs. Crushed Grain
Dingemans Special B .25 lbs. Crushed Grain
Dingemans Biscuit .25 lbs. Crushed Grain
Briess Special Roast .25 lbs. Crushed Grain

Fermentables:

Northern Brewer Gold 6 lbs Liquid
Honey (0 minute late addition) 1 lbs Liquid

Hops:

1. Cluster 7.5% AAU 60 Minutes 1oz

Calculated IBUs: 26
Kit OG: 1.050
MY OG: 1.060 @ 70 Degrees
FG: 1.018
ABV: 5.4%

Brew Day – 4/30

Get Ice.
Clean and sanitize: Stir Spoon, Measuring Cup, Bowl, Knife, Table Spoon, Thief, Thermometer, Fermentation Lock, Strainer.

Heat 1.25 Gallons of water to 160 F
Steep Speciality Grains for 30 minutes.
Remove bag and squeeze off excess.
Added 1.25 Gallons of water.
Remove from heat and Stir in 6 lbs liquid extract
Bring to boil (~3 gallons)
Add hops.
Boil partially covered for 60 minutes.
Rehydrate Yeast.
Remove from heat and Stir in Honey.
Chill wort.
Strain out gunk
Pour back and forth 3 times. Lots of “head”. Added 1.5 extra gallons
Let head settle. Pitch yeast. Seal. Swirl. Add sanitize solution to air lock.

Weird: Fermentation stopped after ~8 days, but it picked up fairly vigorously around the 3rd week in the fermenter…

Bottle Day – 5/29

Clean and Sanitize.
2/3 cups Corn Sugar in 2 Cups water.
Rack to bottling bucket + Priming Solution
26 12oz bottles, 9 22oz, 1 Growler


American Wheat Beer Extract Kit

Description:

A wheat ale with medium hopping and a fairly clean, neutral finish – a spritzy, refreshing warm-weather crowd-pleaser. Link to kit.

Yeast:

Safale S-05 Dry Ale Yeast. Dry. 11.5g. Rehydrated.

Malts:

Northern Brewer Wheat 6 lbs Liquid OG:1040 Calculated OG (2.5 gallon boil): 1062

Hops:

1. Willamett 4.7% AAU 60 Minutes 1oz
2. Cascade 6.1% AAU 15 Minutes 1oz

IBU 60 = 4.7 x .202 x 75 / 5 = 14
IBU 15 = 6.1 x .101 x 75 / 5 = 9
Calculated IBUs: 23
OG: 1.046 @ 68 Degrees
FG: 1.012 @ 70 Degrees
ABV: 4.4%

3/20 – Prep

Clean and sanitize Fermenter, Lid, Brew pot and Lid.
Boil 2.5 – 3 gallons water. Let cool.
Pour water into Fermenter, seal, cover fermentation lock w/ saran wrap.

3/21 – Brew day

Get Ice.
Clean and sanitize: Stir Spoon, Measuring Cup, Bowl, Knife, Table Spoon, Thief, Thermometer, Fermentation Lock, Strainer.

Boil 2.5 gallons (40 cups) water. Remove from heat.
Dissolve in all extract. Bring back to boil stirring every 5-10 minutes.
Add Willamett Hops. Stir and partially cover. Set timer for 45 minutes.
Add Cascade Hops. Stir uncovered. Set timer for 10 minutes.
Add any remaining Malt Extract. Stir uncovered. Set timer for 5 minutes.
Move Brew Pot to Ice Bath. Let cool for 30 – 45 minutes.

Scooped out Cold Break + Trub.
Strained to fermenter.
Filled to 5 Gallons (~ 1/2 gallon from Britta).
Sealed and Fermentation Locked.
OG: 1.046 @ 68 Degrees F.

Good bubbling after 24 hours.
Stopped Bubbling on 3/25.

4/5 – Bottling Day

FG: 1.012 @ 70 Degrees F.


Pirates Gold Ale

Recipe Name: Pirates Gold AleVolume: 5 Gallons
Yeast:
Safale S-04 Dry Ale Yeast. Dry. 11.5g. Rehydrated.
Malts:
Northwestern Gold extract 3.3 lbs Liquid

Hops:
1. ??? 60 Minutes ??oz
2. ??? 30 Minutes ??oz
3. ??? 15 Minutes ??oz

1/24 – Brew Day:
Boiled 1 gallon water. Removed from heat and dissolved in all Malt extract. Returned to boil (partially covered).
– After 30 minutes, no visible hot break (?)

Added 1st hops (Bittering). Boiled and partially covered. Stirred every 10 minutes
Added 2nd hops (aroma) after 30 minutes. Boiled and partially covered. Stirred every 10 minutes
– Rehydrated Yeast at 30 minutes.
Added 3rd hops (aroma) after 45 minutes. Boiled uncovered. Stirred once.
– Stirred Yeast at 45 minutes.

Chilled wort in ice bath for 30 minutes.
Strained wort into 3 gallons of water in fermenter.
Aerated by pouring back and forth 3 times.

Temp: 74 F
OG: 1.060 (This was w/ 5 gallons of wort. I added additional gallon after taking reading. Whoops!)
Probably closer to 1.050

Fermentation:
Fermenter in spare shower. Dark, room temp.
Started bubbling within 12 hours.
Stopped bubbling after 2 1/2 days.
Single stage fermentation.
1/30 FG = 1.014 @ 62F
2/2 FG = 1.014 @ 64F
2/3 – Cleaned 24 12oz bottles and 12 22oz bottles with one step. Heated dry in dishwasher. Covered w/ Saran wrap over night

2/4 – Bottling Day:
FG = 1.014 @ 68F
Estimated FG should be between 1.012 – 1.020
Priming sugar = 3/4 cups Corn Sugar in 2 cups water. Boil 10 minutes. Let cool to Room Temp.
Clean and sanitize w/ one step:
Caps, siphon, hoses, Bucket, Thermometer, hydrometer, thief, stirring spoon.
Filled 25 12oz and 12 22oz bottles. Could have used ~3 more 12oz bottles.
End to End ~2.5 hours (when cleaning bottles the night before).

OG: 1.055
FG: 1.015
Alc Content: 5.3%

2/9 – Bottle Conditioning
After 5 days the control bottle has fully expanded.