Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Sacking the Sack

A colleague of mine was cleaning out his house and came across two of these and gave them to me:

Monday, June 21, 2010

Fermentation Cogitation

(Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on http://sites.google.com/site/billsbrewing on June 21, 2010)

The two beers which I have fermenting right now are the Light and the Dark. Each of these was brewed with the same yeast strain, White Labs American Ale Yeast WPL060. They are being stored in the same location, and so have been kept at the same temperature. However,the Light has seemed much more aggressive in its fermentation. I had to switch out my standard three-piece air lock for my makeshift vinyl-tubing-submerged-in-a-bucket-of-water air lock.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Square Footage

(Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on http://sites.google.com/site/billsbrewing on June 19, 2010)

My home brewing has taken up very little space in our Swarthmore apartment. To see what I mean, just have a look at the current space which is dedicated to all things brewing:

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Light and The Dark

(Editor's note: This post originally appeared on http://sites.google.com/site/billsbrewing/ on June 17, 2010)

The move to LA is coming up soon, and so the number of available brewing days is few. So few, in fact, that today I brewed for the last time ever...

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Bottling Days

(Editor's note: This post originally appeared on http://sites.google.com/site/billsbrewing/ on June 16, 2010)

Today is a bottling day. Tomorrow is as well. Here's what bottling entails, in case you were wondering.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Dark

Description
This recipe is mainly to use up leftover beer ingredients before the move to Los Angeles. It has a partner in crime: Light.
Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 3/4 lb. Roasted Barley
  • 3/4 lb. Chocolate
  • 2/3 lb. Black
Extracts:
  • 6.6 lbs. Dark Extract
  • 0.5 lbs. Dark Candi Sugar
Hops:
  • 1 oz. Cascade (60 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. Willamette (15 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. Willamette (dry hop)
Yeast:
  • White Labs American Ale Yeast WLP060
Notes:

The dry hopping was skipped with this one.

Photos

Light

Description
This recipe is mainly to use up leftover beer ingredients before the move to Los Angeles. It has a partner in crime: Dark.
Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 1/2 lb. Belgian Biscuit
  • 3/4 lb. Extra Dark Crystal
Extracts:
  • 1.5 lbs. Amber Malt Extract
  • 3.3 lbs. Light Extract
  • 3.3 lbs. Extra Light Extract
Hops:
  • 1 oz. Cascade (60 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. Willamette (15 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. Willamette (dry hop)
Yeast:
  • White Labs American Ale Yeast WLP060
Notes:

Photos

Winter Ale

Description
I found this recipe somewhere on the web and omitted ALL of the spice ingredients when I brewed it.
Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 1/2 lb. Crystal
  • 2 oz. Black Patent
Extracts:
  • 6.6 lbs. Pale Malt Extract
  • 1 lb. Honey
Hops:
  • 2 oz. Cascade (40 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. Saaz (5 min.)
Yeast:
  • Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast
Additives:
  • 1 oz. Ginger root
  • 2-3 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 oz. dried lemon peel
Notes:
The spices are added at the same time as the Saaz hops (5 minutes left in the boil). But I didn't add them. I don't know. It sounds kinda... terrible with those spices. I was mostly looking for a nice dark ale for the winter without the cliche. I will look elsewhere in the future.

Photos

Pumpkin Ale

Description
This one also came from George at Home Sweet Home Brew.
Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 6 lbs. 10 oz. Canned Pumpkin
  • 1 lb. Extra Special (Breiss)
  • 1 lb. 2-Row Pilsen (Harrington)
Extracts:
  • 6.6 lbs. Northwestern Gold
Hops:
  • 1 oz. Tradition Hallertau (4.6%) (60 min.)
  • 3 Tbs. Pie Spice (15 min.)
Yeast:
  • Dry Ale Yeast (Safale S-04)
Notes:
The pumpkin gets steeped in its own cheese cloth at the same time as the rest of the grains.
When I made this one, I didn't have enough premixed pie spices, so I used equal parts cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. I do NOT recommend this. Nutmeg is stronger than the other spices, and it's probably best to use the ratio that are used in the premixed pie spice containers (whatever that may be).
Photos

English Pale Ale

Description
I wanted to make something hoppy, but not crazy hoppy. This is what George at Home Sweet Home Brew came up with.
Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 1 lb. Cara??
  • 1 lb. Cara??
Extracts:
  • 1 lb. Light dry
  • 1 lb. Demerara??
  • 4 lbs. Light extract
Hops:
  • 1 oz. First Gold (60 min.)
  • 1.5 oz. WGU Golding (0 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. WGU Golding (dry hop)
Yeast:
  • dry yeast S-04 (English Ale Yeast)
Notes:
I intended initially to use some yeast I harvested from a previous brew, but it was dead, so I opted for the dry yeast I had as a back-up.

Photos

Blackberry Wheat

Description
This recipe and the ingredients came from George at Home Sweet Home Brew.

Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 1 lb. Carapils
Extracts:
  • 1 lb. Wheat Dry
  • 4 lb. Wheat Syrup
  • 1 lb. Raspberry Honey
Hops:
  • 1 oz. Select 60 min.
  • No aroma hops!
Yeast:
  • Wyeast 1010
Additives:
  • 1 oz. Blackberry Flavoring
Notes:
Since berries were out of season when I made this, I opted for natural berry flavoring instead of whole fruit.
The flavoring is added just before bottling. It's strong stuff, so I added it "to taste," which for me meant that I added it until I could notice the blackberry flavor in the beer.

Photos

Coffee Stout II

Description
This is the second effort at a coffee stout. The stout portion of this recipe follows the Dry Stout recipe in Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Home Brewing. As with the Coffee Stout, a batch of cold brewed coffee is brewed and sterilized and added before bottling. I ordered my beer ingredients from Northern Brewer and got the coffee from The Head Nut in Swarthmore, PA.

Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 3/4 lb. Crystal
  • 1/3 lb. Black Roasted
  • 1/3 lb. Roasted Barley
Extracts:
  • 6.3 lbs. Dark Malt Syrup
Hops:
  • 2 oz. Willamette (4.7%) (60 min.)
Yeast:
  • Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale
Additives:
  • 1 lb. Coffee
Notes:
Cold brew the coffee, sterilize, and add to beer before bottling. Original brew date 5/28/2010.

Photos

American Dubbel


Description
This recipe largely follows the Belgian Dubbel recipe in Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Home Brewing. However, I decided to do some dry hopping with this one for a bit more hoppy aroma to balance the maltiness. I ordered my supplies from Northern Brewer.

Recipe
Grain bill:
  • 1/2 lb. Crystal
  • 1/4 lb. Chocolate
  • 1/2 lb. Toasted
Extracts:
  • 7.5 lbs. Amber Malt Syrup
  • 1/2 lb. Candi Sugar
Hops:
  • 2 oz. Goldings (60 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. Mt. Hood (15 min.)
  • 1/2 oz. Mt. Hood (dry hop)
 Yeast:
  • White Labs Belgian Ale Yeast
Notes:
This one had a vigorous initial fermentation. I expected this and didn't use a standard three piece air lock. Instead, I attached one end of a hose to the carboy and the other end was submerged in a bucket of water. The bucket neatly collected the foam which would have clogged up the standard airlock and possibly could have even ejected the airlock, making a huge mess everywhere. Instead, the mess was nicely collected in the bucket.

Photos:

Coffee Stout