Still bubbling about once a minute, maybe less. Krauesen has fallen, although it's kinda hard to see with all the foam stuck on the side of the fermentor. Still at about 62 dF, and tonight I'll probably take it upstairs to warm up a bit at the end of fermentation.
Which reminds me, I need to bottle the remainder of my stout, clean that keg, and get ready for APA goodness.
February 16, 2009
February 10, 2009
Little Brewing Helper
This is my little brewer, and my Cascade Test APA from this weekend. He is 19 months old, and is one of the greatest joys in my life.
The bubbling airlock is a constant source of entertainment for him (and me, honestly). The krausen is getting a little high in there, and I should probably put in a blowoff tube. After work today, I probably will. It's fermenting at about 64-66 dF, and will probably stay there.
February 9, 2009
Hops Testing
Ever drink a brew and go "Man...What is that hop? Is that Cascade? Centennial?"
I do, and it bugs the crap out of me sometimes. So I decided to brew some "single" hop beers (I'll explain the quotation marks in a sec...) with the same base recipe to help me determine the flavor profiles of a bunch of different hops.
The base recipe I started with is for a plain jane American Pale Ale:
8 lbs Pale 2 row (American)
1 lb Extra Light DME
1 lb Crystal 40
0.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
With my typical 69% efficiency, that brings me to a 1.051 OG. The DME is there because I only have a 5 gal mash tun, which I will be upgrading soon, and can only fit in about 9 lbs of grain and still use a 1.25 qt/lb ratio. Looking at the style guide for APAs (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style10.php#1a), I am right in the middle for OG, and maybe a little light on color, but still well to style. The recipe is simple, and easy to duplicate. I plan to mash at about 150 dF to keep the beer on the dry side. The lack of residual sweetness should help the hop flavors come out a bit more.
Now for the hops. 35 IBUs is right in the middle of the range in the style guide, so it sounded like a good number to hit. However, Centennial at 10% alpha acid and Cascade at 5% AA have very different bittering properties. In order to both cut down on the amount of vegetal matter in my kettle and fermentor and keep the flavor and aromas as consistent as possible, I decided to hold both the weights of my hops and the IBUs as constant as I can. This is where the quotation marks at the beginning of the post come into play. I will make hop additions to the beer of 1 oz at 15 min, 5 min, and flameout regardless of the AA of the hop. From there, I will determine the IBUs that I need to add as bittering, and toss in some Magnum at 60 min to cover the difference. I use Magnum because a) I have a lot of it and b) it is a very unobtrusive bittering hop, and should stay out of the way to let the flavor and aroma hops shine through.
Use the same yeast for all the brews, and attempt to keep the temps the same and conditions the same. I use California Ale yeast (WLP001 from White Labs) because it's clean, and doesn't get a lot of esters in the way of the hop flavor.
So yesterday I brewed the first of my hop test brews; Cascade. Below is the complete recipe:
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com/
Recipe: Cascade Base APA
Brewer: Andrew Goode
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Partial Mash
Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 5.50 gal Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 7.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 35.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 69.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
1.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked
0.50 oz Magnum [12.90 %] (60 min) 26.3 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (15 min) 5.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (5 min) 3.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (0 min) 0.0 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)
After about a 12-18 hour lag time, the fermentor is bubbling happily, and I'll get results back to you once I have them.
I do, and it bugs the crap out of me sometimes. So I decided to brew some "single" hop beers (I'll explain the quotation marks in a sec...) with the same base recipe to help me determine the flavor profiles of a bunch of different hops.
The base recipe I started with is for a plain jane American Pale Ale:
8 lbs Pale 2 row (American)
1 lb Extra Light DME
1 lb Crystal 40
0.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
With my typical 69% efficiency, that brings me to a 1.051 OG. The DME is there because I only have a 5 gal mash tun, which I will be upgrading soon, and can only fit in about 9 lbs of grain and still use a 1.25 qt/lb ratio. Looking at the style guide for APAs (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style10.php#1a), I am right in the middle for OG, and maybe a little light on color, but still well to style. The recipe is simple, and easy to duplicate. I plan to mash at about 150 dF to keep the beer on the dry side. The lack of residual sweetness should help the hop flavors come out a bit more.
Now for the hops. 35 IBUs is right in the middle of the range in the style guide, so it sounded like a good number to hit. However, Centennial at 10% alpha acid and Cascade at 5% AA have very different bittering properties. In order to both cut down on the amount of vegetal matter in my kettle and fermentor and keep the flavor and aromas as consistent as possible, I decided to hold both the weights of my hops and the IBUs as constant as I can. This is where the quotation marks at the beginning of the post come into play. I will make hop additions to the beer of 1 oz at 15 min, 5 min, and flameout regardless of the AA of the hop. From there, I will determine the IBUs that I need to add as bittering, and toss in some Magnum at 60 min to cover the difference. I use Magnum because a) I have a lot of it and b) it is a very unobtrusive bittering hop, and should stay out of the way to let the flavor and aroma hops shine through.
Use the same yeast for all the brews, and attempt to keep the temps the same and conditions the same. I use California Ale yeast (WLP001 from White Labs) because it's clean, and doesn't get a lot of esters in the way of the hop flavor.
So yesterday I brewed the first of my hop test brews; Cascade. Below is the complete recipe:
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com/
Recipe: Cascade Base APA
Brewer: Andrew Goode
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Partial Mash
Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 5.50 gal Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 7.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 35.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 69.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
1.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked
0.50 oz Magnum [12.90 %] (60 min) 26.3 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (15 min) 5.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (5 min) 3.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (0 min) 0.0 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)
After about a 12-18 hour lag time, the fermentor is bubbling happily, and I'll get results back to you once I have them.
About Me, the Long Version.
I am a father, a husband, a chemist, a gamer, a geek...
and a brewer.
My name is Andrew Goode, and I'm the brewmaster of Hedgehog Brewing Company, and my dream in life is to make that title actually mean something. I am creating this blog to chronicle my brewing career, my recipes, my dreams, and possibly even my failures.
So what is Hedgehog Brewing Company? Currently, it's the kegerator in my basement, the glass and plastic carboys where my beer is fermenting, and the propane turkey fryer in my garage. What will Hedgehog Brewing Company been in the future? A local neighborhood brewpub in Chicago where people can drink good craft brew, and eat good food in an atmosphere conducive to families and drunken fratboys alike (although hopefully not simultaneously). I envision 5-6 beers on tap at any one time, with 3-4 of them being available year round with 1-2 seasonal beers. Why Chicago? It's where I am from, and want to get back to sometime. It also, while having a very good beer scene, is lacking in brewpubs. Within the city limits, there are 2 brewpubs that I am aware of, Goose Island and Piece (well, I guess 3, if you count both Goose Island locations).
Anyway, I will post when I can. Thanks for heading my way.
and a brewer.
My name is Andrew Goode, and I'm the brewmaster of Hedgehog Brewing Company, and my dream in life is to make that title actually mean something. I am creating this blog to chronicle my brewing career, my recipes, my dreams, and possibly even my failures.
So what is Hedgehog Brewing Company? Currently, it's the kegerator in my basement, the glass and plastic carboys where my beer is fermenting, and the propane turkey fryer in my garage. What will Hedgehog Brewing Company been in the future? A local neighborhood brewpub in Chicago where people can drink good craft brew, and eat good food in an atmosphere conducive to families and drunken fratboys alike (although hopefully not simultaneously). I envision 5-6 beers on tap at any one time, with 3-4 of them being available year round with 1-2 seasonal beers. Why Chicago? It's where I am from, and want to get back to sometime. It also, while having a very good beer scene, is lacking in brewpubs. Within the city limits, there are 2 brewpubs that I am aware of, Goose Island and Piece (well, I guess 3, if you count both Goose Island locations).
Anyway, I will post when I can. Thanks for heading my way.
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