Simplicity

I’m on a simplicity kick.  Nothing for a total of ten beers (only successfully completed and drank beers) can be in any way complicated.  My reasons for this are a few in a row of very so-so beers that were also too complicated to be able to accurately trouble shoot without doubt.  So it’s KISS only from here to a while from now.

My lager came out good, that’s one.  It was merely golden promise plus cascade, and it’s damn tasty.

I’ve got a couple Munich SMaSH beers going too.  One’s a petite saison smash with munich and citra, one’s a regular old
US-05 munich/cascade smash beer.  Also got a super simple stout planned with 90% 2-row, 10% roasted barley, and Irish ale yeast, for a super simple dry Irish stout.

Also got a blonde ale that came out fantastic (again!)  Reasonably simple beers that I’ve done before successfully are IN as far as my simplicity kick goes. Elderberry wheat may be repeated shortly too.

When you realize that your simplest beers are usually your best, then you should consider going on a simplicity kick.  Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Sam Adams Summer Ale Clone

4.5 lbs 2 Row Malt

4.5 lbs Wheat Malt

1 oz lemon peel at 5 min

3 g grains of paradise at 5 min

Mash temp 153°

I’ve wanted to try brewing with grains of paradise, so I’ve finally gotten my chance.

Now there was a bit of a mixup between this brew and my quadro-smash, and this may have been dry-hopped with the hops from that one!  Oh well, we’ll find out when the time comes.  Although I didn’t mean for this to be dry hopped, if ti was, it should merely be “extra tssty.”  The quadro-smash will just be more like any other IPA that’s not dry hopped, so no biggie there. Can’t wait to taste them!

2-Row and Fuggles SMaSH

Made a SMaSH with just 12 lbs* 2-row and fuggles.  Used Nottingham yeast.  Boiled about a gallon of the first runnings for about an hour to increase malliard reactions, then boiled the whole thing longer than normal too (total boil was near three hours).

The funny thing was that I had “around” 5 oz or so of Fuggles (leaf), and wanted to use them up (to free up freezer space, I have two freezers that have a bunch of hops in both. LOL).  So I decided I was going to use them all no matter what.   Also, just to make it interesting, I decided NOT to use a scale.  I put a good handful in at first wort hops, then started tossing in a handful here, a handful there, starting at 15 minutes.  Most of it was added at around 8 minutes or less.  The funny thing is…

It will come out tasty. 🙂

I know.  I’m a rebel and I’ll never be any good.

I have various other SMaSH beers planned for the near future, including one I’ve already got the ingredients for, Maris Otter and Simcoe.  And I’ll definitely be brewing that petite saison again (probably identical grains, but this time use cascade hops).  And the Bravo/Munich smash was out of this world!  Gotta try some Vienna, some golden promise, and who knows what else in the future!

*I am using 12 lbs of grain for all my smash beers, just to “standardize.”  In my system this makes an approximately 6.0-6.2% ABV beer. 

The Averagely Perfect American IPA Project

Very interesting project started by Vikeman on Beer Advocate.  31 polls decided all aspects of this beer, from gravity and ABV to ingredients and amounts, even fermentation temperature.

Well I brewed it last night.

5 Gallons (into fermenter)
Target ABV: 6.5%
Target OG: 1.062
Target FG: 1.012
Apparent Attenuation: 81%
Recommended Mash Temp: 151F
Fermentation Temp 64-66F*
64 IBUs (per Tinseth Calc)

Grain Bill:
Two-Row Brewer’s Malt (92%)
Crystal 40 (5%)
Carapils (3%)

Bittering Hop: Bravo

Flavor/Aroma Hop Schedule:
15 minutes – Simcoe 0.5 oz, Centennial 0.5 oz, Cascade 0.5 oz
10 minutes – Simcoe 0.5 oz, Centennial 0.5 oz, Cascade 0.5 oz
5 minutes – Simcoe 0.75 oz, Centennial 0.5 oz, Cascade 0.5 oz
FO/Whirlpool/Stand – Simcoe 1.0 oz, Centennial 0.75 oz, Cascade 0.75 oz
Dry Hop – 1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz Centennial, 1 oz Cascade

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056/WLP001/US-05

It’s in the fermentation chamber now, we’ll see how the “wisdom of crowds” doees on this one!  I suspect it will come out great!!

*note: mine is getting 64-66F because that’s where my fermentation freezer/controller is set and that’s where I like it, lol.

Bleache Blonde Ale II

This one will be a revisit of my original Blonde Ale, but done with all grain.  The specialty grains will be a little different as well.  Here’s the recipe:

• 5 lbs pale malt 2-row
• 3 lbs pilsner malt
• 1 lb Vienna malt
• 6 oz caraamber
• 6 oz carafoam
• 6 oz flaked corn
• 0.5 oz northern brewer hops at 60
• 1 oz willamette hops at 10
• 1 oz willamette hops at 0

Mash at 152F

Targets

• OG 1.052
• FG 1.011
• IBU 19.6
• SRM 4.8
• ABV 5.3%

1. prepare checklist
2. lay out ingredients and equipment
3. reconstitute dry yeast using 95F boiled spring water and allow to cool to room temperature
4. Add grains to mash tun
5. bring 4 gallon spring water to 167 F
6. Add 3 1/3 gallons of 167F spring water to mash tun on top of grains, then stir well
7. add more water to boil pot, bring to near 172F and hold for sparging
8. measure temperature after temperature equalizes in mash.
9. adjust mash temperature using either heated mash water or cool spring water as needed to reach 152F
10. mash for 75 minutes at 152F
11. during mash, stir about every 15 minutes or so, checking temperature and adjusting if needed
12. at end of mash, begin draining wort into pitcher
13. allow first runnings to drain into a pitcher until clear
14. pour first runnings back on top of mash
15. slowly drain remaining wort into boil pot until mash tun is near empty
16. add 2.4 gallons 172F water (adjusted as needed)
17. stir well, let sit at least 5 minutes
18. drain first runnings of first batch sparge into pitcher until clear (or close to it)
19. pour first runnings of first batch sparge back on top of mash
20. drain wort into main boil pot until near empty
21. add another 2.4 gallons 172F water to mash tun (adjusted as needed)
22. stir well, let sit at least 5 minutes
23. drain first runnings of second batch sparge to pitcher until clear (or close to it)
24. add first runnings back into mash tun
25. drain wort into main boil pot
26. add wort chiller to boil pot, filled with hot water
27. bring main boil pot to a boil
28. when boil is reached, boil 60 minutes total
29. at 15 minutes, add 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
30. at 12 minutes, add 1/4 tsp Irish moss
31. during boiling, skim off hot break as needed
32. add 1 oz willamette hops in nylon paint bag at 10 minutes
33. add 1 oz willamette leaf hops in nylon paint bag at 0 minutes
34. at flameout, turn on water for wort chiller and chill to 170 F
35. let stand about 15 minutes hop rest, then turn wort chiller back on
36. begin sanitation procedures on spoon, thermometer, bucket, wine thief
37. stir occasionally with sanitized stainless spoon during cooling
38. ensure bucket, wine thief, thermometer, strainer, spoon are sanitized
39. when wort gets to about 68F, add to fermentation bucket, pouring through sanitized strainer to catch any extra solids and to help aerate.  If necessary, clean strainer during process and re-sanitize to remove most of the trub before fermentation
    
40. take OG reading with sanitized wine thief
41. thoroughly aerate wort with sanitized stainless steel spoon
42. ensure wort is 68F or a little less before pitching yeast
43. ensure yeast is a little cooler than wort before pitching
44. pitch yeast
45. gently stir using sanitized stainless steel spoon
46. install sanitized bucket lid and airlock
47. ferment in temperature controlled freezer chest for 14+ days at 66F
48. ferment a total of 14 or more days
49. take FG sample and bottle
50. use 5 oz corn sugar at bottling

Actual OG: 1.050

Actual FG:

Notes: Well there were some issues, but I doubt they will be anything major.  First off, I misread the strike water volume on beersmith and added too much strike water.  So we mashed at about 1.5 quarts/pound instead of 1.2.  I really don’t think it will make a major difference.  However, the mash tun was pretty darn full!  Also, the yeast probably wasn’t added to the rehydration water at 95F, it was probably more like 80F.  I doubt this will have a major impact either.  Finally, the mash started out a little warm, and basically held about 154 for about 45 minutes till it finished out at 152.  So a little higher than I planned.  A less than perfect day, but I am guessing that from the appearance, taste, and FG of the wort, it will all work out just fine.