Category: Homebrew

Mini Dubbel and stout. New filter.

stoutmakerLeave a comment

I found time to get a couple of brews in before the end of the year. 

I had to get the last of the TMNT beers in, so last weekend Donatello hit the kettle. Not my first Belgian, but the first with the T-58 yeast. And yet another mini batch. 
Donatello the Dubbel.
5.5 lbs pale malt
4 oz aromatic 
4 oz special B
8 oz melenoiden 
1 lb dark candi sugar
1/2 oz willamette 60
1/4 oz willamette 30
T-58 yeast mashed 152
First time actually using the fermentation chamber. Got it set at 61. Everything looks good so far. Smells Belgiany in there. Far far better than the last Belgian.
And the second brew was yesterday. I started out making a dry stout. Yep another mini batch.  
I had some extra grain left over so I threw them in as well. An extra 1.25 lbs in a 3 gallon batch is quite a bit. So decided to also bump the hops as well and turn this into an American Stout. 
This smelled Sooo good. Wanted to crawl right in there. 
Nebula. Mini batch
4.75 pale malt
.5 lb Munich malt
.5 lb roast barley
.5 lb flaked barley
1 oz willamette 60
.5 oz cascade 60
.25 oz willamette 10
.5 oz cascade 10
05 yeast and mashed high 158
Pulled a .062 OG.
This was also the test run for the new water filter we put together. 
Can’t wait to see the results. 

Moar

stoutmakerLeave a comment
I’m not one to do things on a whim. But I don’t always have a plan either. But this time I thought I had a plan. I had planned to buy a bunch of grain and work on my mini batches over the winter. I bought 20 lbs of 2 row and a pound of willamettes. I could easily pick up the ounce here or there of other grains on brew day if needed.

As my first recipe I was going to go ahead and brew a bitter. Just an everyday bitter, but using American, Willamette hops, and American 2 row. Ok, I know, I know,, its a pale ale. (but Bitter sounds better)

As I’m adjusting the final recipe something goes off in my brain. 
“Lets make this and Amber. No wait,, a brown. Yes an American brown!”
Yes!  I love browns. And its been a while since I’ve drank, much less brewed one. Ok I have the basic beer formulated,, just need brown it up so to say. 

Ok that was easy. We now have a good looking beer recipe. The once again something in my head pings. 
“Make a bigger batch” 
But I wanted to start the mini batches. I suppose I could do a regular batch. I’ll still have enough grain for two minis. 
“Do a 10 gallon batch” 
A what? 10 gallons? Are you nuts? But right then several things occurred to me all at once.
1- I am looking at 2 empty kegs and another not far behind.
2- If I fill these kegs now, I would almost no choice but to do mini batches for a while.
3- The basement is the perfect temperature right now (never mind that the ferment chamber is always the right temperature. I just skipped remembering that part)
4- I have right here in front of me almost everything I need
5- I am off tomorrow and have nothing to do

Fine! 10 gallons it is. I scaled everything up. And all I needed was 1.5 lbs more grain. I dug out the big mash tun and fiddled with the manifold a bit. And here is what we brewed on Tuesday.

Harbor Lights brown10 gallon
20 lbs 2 row
1 lb crystal 120
.5 black pat
1 lb chocolate malt
1 oz Chinook @60
2 oz Willamette @10
1 oz Willamette @1
2 pkg us 05
Mashed at 152

Had an angry boil with this one. Didnt think the 15 gallon keggle was gonna keep it in.

Mini red roadie

stoutmakerLeave a comment

With two of the TMNT beers in the books, we now move to the one that I was looking foreward to. 

Looking foreward to an extract beer? Yep. 
Raphael is an American Red (amber if you must). And is one of the very first beers that I was making back during the extract days. And one that I made quite a few times.
 I’m quite curious as to how different this tastes now compared to when ingredients were not as fresh as what they are now.  
Couple of things with this batch.  It’s a mini 3 gallon, and it’s a road brew. Over at Capelle’s place during the Packer game.
The road trip is also an experiment to see if I could possible brew while camping. So I packed my own water supply. More on this later. 
Raphael the Red mini extract 
1 can amber LME (this time it was rye)
12 oz two row
8 oz 80L
1 oz midnight wheat
1 oz willamette @ 60
1 oz willamette @ 1
05 yeast 
Took 2 gallons and heated to 158 and steeped the grains for 30 min in a grain bag. 
Added water to the 4.5 gallon mark and started to boil. Hop charges as usually. 
Cooled, racked, pitched. Boom done. 
But here is the experiment part. I said I was bringing my own water. So I used the jug that I use for picking up the Titletown wort. I used it here to not only transport the water and wort, but to ferment in.
The cool thing is that the cap has a valve that’s used to dispense the water with. But if you leave it on the inside and just open the valve, the air lock fits perfectly in the hole. 
Plus it’s 7 gallons so could use for regular batches as well.