Wheatopia

Ingredients-

Grain:

1 lb German Dark Wheat
1 lb Wheat

Hops:

0.2 oz Willamette @ 40
0.2 oz Willamette @ 20
0.2 oz Willamette @ 10

Yeast:

Safale US-05

Water:

0.75 Gallon Strike @ 162 for 60 min
0.25 Gallon Sparge @ 168 for 5 min
0.75 Gallon Sparge @ 168 for 5 min (re-circulate X 2)

Post-boil specific Gravity: 1.084


11JUN2011- This morning doing the IPA was so easy I just HAD to brew again. I didn't get as much as I should have. Apparently I should not think that I am smarter than beer smith cause the first brew went well and this one I tried to change the amount of sparge water and ended up with only a 1/2 gallon instead of a full. And my gravities turned out almost twice as high as expected, oh well. Decided I would do a hoppy wheat since I've never done a wheat and since its only a gallon batch it doesn't matter if I am not super excited about it. We'll see how it turns out.

18JUN2011- Gravity down to 1.002 for a whopping 10.7% ABV. I dont know that this is going to taste very good, but we shall see.

20JUN2011- Bottled. Got 1- 22oz, 1- 12oz, and 1- 7oz bottle.

speakEasy IPA

Ingredients-

Grain:

2.5 lbs- 2 Row Pale Malt
0.5 lbs- Crystal 20L

Hops:

0.30 oz- Nugget @ 60
0.30 oz- Willamette @ 30
0.30 oz- Willamette @ 10

Yeast:

Safale American 05

Water:

Mash-
1 Gallon strike @ 161 for 2 hours (a little long cause I went to the farmers market)

Sparge-
1/2 gallon strike @ 168 for 4 minutes
1 gallons strike @ 168 for 5 minutes

Pre-boil Adjusted Gravity- Chose not to take this
Post-boil Specific Gravity- 1.062

11JUN2011- So I was sitting at work the other day just itching to brew. But sometimes finding someone to help, getting all the materials and all that is just too much of a hassle. I decided I should set up a system so I can do 1 or 2 Gallon batches fairly quickly and easily whenever I want. So I went to Target, got a 2 gallon beverage cooler, went to Lowes and got a ball valve and a brass hose barb. I already had some high temp O-rings and a 1/2 inch to 3/8 inch bushing. I took out the spout in the cooler and attached the ball valve with the bushing and crimped the end of a stainless steel braid I had laying around and attached that to the hose barb and installed it for a quick easy mash tun. IT WORKED GREAT! I can't believe how easy this is, and since I already had a brew pot and the other stuff I need it was pretty cheap too. Now I can make a beer whenever I want. (I'll just have to bottle it instead of kegging it) And my wife signed on to the idea cause she wanted me to make a beer for a friend of hers at work who just had a baby. I didn't want to do a 5 gallon deal so this works perfect. Below are some pics of the set-up and the brew!

Snorkel Stout

Ingredients-

Grain:

25 lbs- 2 Row Pale Malt
3 lbs- Crystal 120
1 lb 8 oz- Chocolate Malt
8 oz- Black Patent
8 oz- Carafa III

Hops:

1.5 oz- Nugget (pellet)
2.0 oz- Cascade (whole)

Yeast:

Safale American 05

Water:

Mash-
9.5 Gallons @ 162 for 70 minutes
Sparge-
1.5 Gallons @ 168 for 2 Minutes
6.5 Gallons @ 168 for 10 Minutes and re-circulate

Pre-boil Adjusted Gravity- 1.054
Post Boil Specific Gravity- 1.076

04JUN2011- Had the privilege of brewing this with Jon Brawley which was awesome. Brewing went fairly well except for the fact after we had mashed and drained the mash water and the first sparge water the Mash Tun clogged and we couldn't get the wort out of the mash very easily while keeping it free of grain pieces. We had to use the Poormeister suggested "snorkel" technique (hence the beers name) which was difficult and took countless tries but was finally successful. Ended up with about 13.5 gallons pre-boil. Boil was really fun yet we ended up with slightly lower final amount than expected and higher specific gravity than expected. I think this one is going to be really really good. I can't wait.

11JUN2011- Gravity down to 1.012, which gives us 8.4% ABV. I am going to transfer my 4.5 gallons to the keg today and transfer Brawley's to cold crash. This way when they are ready we can compare and see how big of a difference cold crashing makes.

More Fermentation Please

Just got 3 more buckets for brewing. This puts me up to four regular buckets, a 6 gallon glass carboy and a bottling bucket. I am trying to sell the carboy and with the cash will be able to get two more buckets for fermentation.

P.S. Thanks Randy

Upcoming Brewing

So on April 16th I will be attempting to brew three batches in one day. A feat I have never tried before. I did two batches on the first day I had my brew tree going though. I have invited a bunch of people over to come hang out and finish off what Oatmeal Stout I have left on tap. If you are reading this, are free on April 16th and want to drop by feel free to do so.

BIG BREW is also coming up on May 7th. I think I may just have to load up all my equipment, roll on out to Hillsboro and join in on the festivities. Can't think of what to brew for this yet. Any ideas? let me know.

8 Furlongs Imperial IPA

Ingredients-

Grain:

15 lbs 2 Row Pale Malt

1.25 lbs Crystal 10L

1 lb Crystal 40L

1 lb Carapils

Hops:

1.5 oz Millenium @ 60

1 oz Millenium @ 50

1 oz Millenium @ 40

1 oz Nugget @ 30

1 oz Nugget @ 15

1 oz Cascade @ 10

2 oz Willamette @ 5

Hop Tea:

2 oz Nugget in French Press for one hour added to fermentation

Yeast:

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Water:

6.8 Gallons @166F

2.1 Gallons @ 190F

Pre-Boil Gravity- 1.052

Original Gravity posty Boil- 1.072

01APR2011- Came up with about 6.8 gallons pre-boil. I moved my big burner a little closer to the keg. I think I have it set perfect now. It saves a lot of fuel and I was boiling in under 3 minutes. (I think) Having a temp gauge in the Mash Tun also is helping a lot so I can just kick the burner on if my temp drops below desired amount. Can't wait to get another thermometer for the HLT and also another big burner so I can start mashing quicker. The only thing that went bad, and it went really bad, was that I was working on some stuff downstairs when I had kicked on the burner under the Mash Tun. I didn't get back upstairs to watch it in time and the temp had hit 172 half way through my mash. I think this is what cause my really low gravity. But still, 1.072 isn't too bad.

08APR2011- Transferred to the keg and started carbonating. FG at 1.022 which puts me at 6.7% ABV. A little less malty and alcohol than I would have liked but that is due to my screw up in the mash. Hops are punch you in the face strong. Can't wait til its carbed.

Start of the Keezer

So I have been watching craigs list for a big chest freezer for quite a while now. I would like to get this set up someday so I can have a bunch more taps going. I got a nice big chest freezer last night that I think will hold 9 cornies. It will be a while before I get everything ready on it as it is quite expensive for that many cornies, taps and faucets, regulator and CO2 tank.