Weekly Update, 11/10/10

Newly bottled Over-the-Fence Weissbier

Ad-Seg IPA - tastes great.  Almost done conditioning in the bottle. 

Rolled Up Irish Red - in the bottle.  Very alcoholic (8.5%) to the taste at bottling - probably will take a couple of months to reach best flavor.  Good now, but too much alcoholic burn.

Hard Cider - in the fermenter for a few weeks.  Used Wyeast Sweet Mead yeast and it's fermenting like crazy.  Didn't expect it to be so fast or furious.  Had to install blowoff tube.

Early morning bottling crew

Short Timer Stout - ready to rack to secondary.  Tastes great.  This one's a keeper.

Planning on brewing a brown ale (Nuts 'n Butts Brown Ale) this weekend.  It's the last beer I'm going to try and get done before Christmas.  Here's hoping!

Weekly Update, 10/23/2010

This week marked the first in a while that I didn't brew.  But only because all my buckets and carboys are full of beer - which is a good thing.  However, I will be brewing in the next day or two as I have just transferred my Contraband Chocolate Stout to the secondary.  So, here's what's going on as of now:

Ad-Seg IPA - bottle conditioning.  Popped one and the taste is great - a tad cloying, but I'm hoping that fades with carbonation.

Over-the-Fence Wiessbier - mostly gone due to an Oktoberfest party last night.  Need to make more, though - it was a hit with a lot of people, particularly the ladies.

Contraband Chocolate Stout - transferred to secondary today.  Added Belgian chocolate as I did.  Smells great.  Can't wait to taste it.  Only about 7% ABV, which means it should be ready for Christmas.

Brevis Bock - still lagering.  Still has a funny taste to it.  Hope it's nothing.

Bottom Number Blonde - ready to be brewed within the next 48 hours.  Can't wait.

Rolled Up Irish Red - primary fermentation is almost non-existent after a very furious beginning.  Lost about 1/2 gallon of beer to fermentation.  Thank God for blowoff hoses.

Weekly Update, 10/14/10

I haven't had much time to post my impressions on all the beers I have going right now, so here's an aggregate of what's happening:

Ad-Seg IPA - still stuck at 1.040.  Cold crashed it and the sediment settled out, but no change in SG.  Plan on bottling within the next couple of days.  Taste is dead-on to Dogfish Head 90.

Off Paper Lager - conditioning in the bottle, though first tests show good carbonation and OK head retention.  I'll probably throw in a heading powder next time.  Taste is good, but less fruity than Dos Equis Lager.  The fruity esters seems to have mellowed in the lagering/bottle conditioning.  Still decent, for what it is.

Contraband Chocolate Stout - in the primary and fermenting like crazy.  Still trying to decide how much cocoa to add to the secondary - 1oz, 2oz, 3oz, or more?

Brevis Bock - lagering away at 38 degrees.  Check yesterday still had an odd grainy flavor to it.  Should (hopefully) mellow out in lagering/conditioning.

Over-the-Fence Weissbier - carbed up super fast.  Tasty with good head.  Could be a new favorite.

Rolled Up Irish Red - just tried making this one again today after the last disaster with yeast.  Did a full boil this time.  Went well, OG came in higher than expected.  Should be pretty tasty, if all continues well.

On deck is Bottom Number Blonde, my first attempt at all-grain brewing using the BIAB (brew in a bag) method.  After that, a Guiness inspired Dry Stout, though not a Guiness clone.

Over all, the brewing thing seems to be going well.  I like it, I'm learning a lot, and I'm going to have some great beers to give away for Christmas.  Besides that, I'll have a lot of great beers to enjoy myself throughout the holidays.  Cheers!

Updates on All Brews

Last night I checked all my brews with the following results:

Ad-Seg - fermentation stuck at 1.040 for the last five days.  To be a proper Dogfish Head clone, it needs to get down to at least 1.020 and preferrably 1.010.  I'd like at least 8%ABV or else this can't be called anything like a clone.  So, tonight I'm going to make a 1/2 gallon wort with .5# of DME and pitch 12g Muntons Brewer's Yeast I have on and in it.  Once it begins to ferment, I'm going to pitch the whole thing into the Ad-Seg primary and see what happens.

Brevis - fermenting great!  Down to 1.012.  Shooting for 1.010, but should be there by the end of the week.  Then I rack it to the secondary and lager for 36+ days.  Taste out of the hyrdo test is a little grainier than I expected, but pretty good.  I'm hoping the grainy taste mellows out in the lagering process.

Off-Paper - this stuff is my crown jewel as of now.  It's the first brew I made with my own recipe rather than a kit.  I bottled it on Friday last week at 4.1%ABV.  It tastes almost exactly like I remember Dos Equis tasting.  My neighbors should be happy.  It's also the right color.  Once I finish bottle conditioning it, I will post some pics and final thoughts.

Ad-Seg IPA: The Name

I just realized that I haven't updated the reason for the name of my Ad-Seg IPA.  So, here it is.

First off, I love Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA.  It's in my top 5 beers, if not the top beer on my list.  So, this is my attempt at cloning it.  As such, it should come in around 9% ABV and have a nice hoppy flavor to it.  Since it's a little more hardcore than the previous beers I've tried, I decided to name it Ad-Seg.

Ad-Seg is short for Administrative Segregation.  This occurs when someone in the prison administration decides that an inmate needs to be locked in a holding cell to separate him from the rest of the prison population.  Administrative Segregation can occur for multiple reasons: the inmate may be in danger from other inmates; he may be a danger TO other inmates; he may be considered a flight risk; he may be under investigation; etc.  There are many reasons to Ad-Seg an inmate.  However, it is usually not a popular decision and most inmates do not like being in Ad-Seg. 

Ad-Seg IPA: First Brew Impressions

Well, last night was certainly and adventure.  It seems now that every time I brew, I learn something vital!

Last night I learned that 11 lbs. of malt in 1.5 gallons of water will boil over a 5-gallon brewpot in a few seconds.  And not just once, but continually.  Thanks to the folks at Homebrewtalk for the quick advice so I could save the brew.  I wasn't sure how to handle the fact that every time the wort heated up, it boiled over.  I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to finish the boil - or that it would take me hours to do.  But, using cold water from a spray-bottle was the advice I got, and it worked like a charm.

On the other hand, trying to hold a spray-bottle, a stirring spoon, and have a free hand for continual hop addition was a bit tricky.  Seemed to go OK, though.  However, two things for next time: (1) bigger brewpot and (2) fermcap tablets to keep foam down.  I'll be researching both of those options today.

On a lighter note, I checked the fermenter this morning and it is chugging away.  Though my OG was 1.075 (when Beersmith estimated it at 1.098), the starter kicked it off quickly and vigorously.  That confirms my newfound commitment to a yeast starter.  All in all, I'm very hopeful for this brew.  Maybe a tad low on the ABV, but that's a minor detail.

Ad-Seg IPA: First Brew

In a couple of hours, I'm going to start the first brew of a recipe that I hope tastes somewhat like Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA.  I'm not going for a full clone, but something close.  That said, here's the recipe:

Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 3.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.098 SG
Estimated Color: 9.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 41.1 IBU

Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 58.33 %
4.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 33.33 %
1.00 lb Rice Extract Syrup (7.0 SRM) Extract 8.33 %
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.20 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Warrior [15.80 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.75 oz Warrior [15.80 %] (90 min) Hops 13.0 IBU
0.75 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] (90 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.20 %] (90 min) Hops 18.0 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
4.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs Whitbread Ale (Wyeast Labs #1099) [StarterYeast-Ale]

One thing that bugs me about Beersmith is that I haven't figured out how to calculate IBUs with dry-hopping.  The program just leaves it blank, but we all know that there's going to be a lot more than 41 IBUs in this brew after a week of dry-hopping. 

Also, the starter has been stepped up over the past few days and should be good to go.  So, here's hoping!