Thanks a million to Old Guy from the Garage Brewer’s Society for helping me learn a ton of great stuff yesterday!! I’m learning about all aspects of brewing, so I had in mind an extract/partial mash batch for my first try at a five gallon batch. That plan is now on hold! Instead, I went to Old Guy’s house and helped him brew an all-grain batch (5.5 gallons of which is now in my fermenter). Now I’m ready to brew my originally planned beer, but will be waiting until Al’s Celebration Ale is bottled. Yep, that’s what we named it!
We decided on a clone batch of Sierra Nevada Celebration, and named it after me (LOL).
Al’s celebration ale
08Jan2012
10 gallon batch
Targets:
- 47 IBUs
- 1.067 SG
- 6.3% ABV
Ingredients:
- 23 lbs Canadian 2-row
- 1 lb Canadian 60L
- 1 lb Canadian 120 L
- 8 oz US Carapils
- 8 oz Belgian Gambrinas Honey Malt
- Nugget bittering hops
- Cascade flavor and aroma hops
Mash @ 152F for 90 minutes
5-2 pH stabilizer 1TBSP each in hot liquor tank and mash tun
1.6 oz Nugget bittering hops, 8.6 HBUs 12.2 AA (90 minutes) Tweaked to 2.0 oz due to OG being higher than expected
2 oz Cascade 5.1 AA Flower (15 minutes)
2 oz Cascade 5.1 AA Flower (at flameout)
Wyeast English Yeast 1469 W Yorkshire
90-ish* minute boil. 1.6 oz bittering hops added at boil, 0.4 oz added at 75 minutes, 2 oz cascade at 15 minutes, 2 oz cascade at flameout
Expected OG 1.067
Actual OG 1.072
I can’t wait to taste it!!
More to come on this one.
*LOL we accidentally reset the timer and had to kind of wing it. A common hazard of drinking when brewing, apparently. It should be pretty close though
Beer and Stuff 
Comments
Go Al! I hope it turns out better than you expect, damn shame I can’t share :-).
Hey Al, my 5 gal. already hit high kreusen this morning. How’s your doing.
old guy
Can’t tell because it’s in a sealed plastic bucket, LOL!
Temperature in my room has ranged from 70-72, keeping it at a pretty steady 72. I now see the advantage of the glass carboy for primary fermentation, you can see what’s going on!!
Thanks again man!! I will keep you posted.
Oh wow, the airlock is bubbling!! I heard this strange, faint knocking noise and tried to find it, only to discover it was the airlock going up and down!! Sweet!!
OK. Day 12 today, took the first SG reading, 1.021-1.022, getting close to target. Got my wine thief in the mail today, which made sampling easy. Beer was still very cloudy and a pretty nice light brown color. Smelled and tasted quite IPAish, and thus I’m inclined to think that we’re on track here.
Looks like I’m probably waiting to bottle for up to another week. Weighing options, but overall it’s looking like waiting will produce a better product in the end. Unless something changes my mind, I’ll take another SG reading in about four days and take it from there. I don’t want to keep opening the bucket, so perhaps patience is the best option here.
This one is getting bottled this week, thursday or friday. That will leave it with 19-20 days fermentation before bottling. I’m not worried about the FG anymore, it will be spot on (But I will measure it during bottling, for scientific purposes). We’ll see how it turns out, I’m expecting pretty good!
Old Guy kegged 2.5 gallons already, and he’s dry hopping 2.5 more gallons for the next Garage Brewers Society meeting. I’m quite curious how good the dry hopping will make it, and hope to try it myself soon!
I may also brew my next batch this weekend. It will either be the original IPA kit or another kit I just got, a sweet stout. Haven’t decided yet but I’m anxious to brew again!!
Bottled this one last night. It went pretty smoothly except for I kind of got distracted and slightly overcooked the corn sugar. Tasted fine though, I’m sure the beer will turn out fine. Three weeks from now I should be drinking Al’s Celebration Ale!!
Tried a 12oz-er of this one today, it’s already damn delicious! Deep orange/red in color, pretty clear, already plenty carbonated. Tasted quite malty, with ample hops, not as hoppy as I expected, but then I’m not totally sure what I expected. Probably could use to be dry hopped next time. I’ll leave the rest to bottle condition until Valentine’s day. At any rate, I’m damn pleased, it’s a very fine brew!