Recipe:
Northern Brewer Honey Weizen (with some creative liberties taken)
Grains:
6 lb Wheat malt syrup (I think we used Bavarian wheat)
Other Ingredients:
1 lb raw filtered honey (local)
Hops:
1 oz German Tettnang pellets
Yeast:
Wyeast 1010 American Wheat Yeast
Priming Sugar:
5.5 oz corn sugar
Batch Size/Yield:
30ish Grolsch style bottles
Original Gravity:
NR (1.048 expected)
Final Gravity:
1.010
Alcohol Content:
4.99%
Primary Fermentation/Time:
6 gallon glass carboy/3-4 weeks (guess who forgot to rack to secondary again)
Conditioning Time:
12-14 days (we couldn't wait!)
Tasting Notes:
YOU GUYS. We did it. A beer without the "homebrew tang." We were suuuuuper careful adding the malt extract; I added about half the dry extract at the beginning of the boil and stirred like crazy, then let it boil for 30 minutes and added the other half. There was no extract residue at the bottom of the pot this time, and no scorching! We also used a better yeast, which I adored. Better water, better fermentation chamber, better priming sugar (actually calculated the amount and used almost twice as much as the recipe said), better bottles, better beer! This one is super drinkable with no off flavors. I know I'm gushing, but...this is the best one yet. Fresh, not too sweet but almost no bitterness, and pairs perfectly with a good pepperoni pizza. I can't wait to use what we've learned for our next batch!
Next Up:
Red Yum Amber Ale (and kegging!)
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
#4: American-style IPA
Recipe:
Dead Ringer IPA by Northern Brewer (which is totally not the copyrighted Bell's Two Hearted, no sir)
Grains:
1 lb Briess Caramel 40L (hey, I learned what that means this week!)
9 lb Briess Golden Light dry malt extract (because we couldn't find Gold liquid malt extract)
Hops:
5 oz (!!) Centennial (60 min, 20 min, 5 min, and dry hop additions)
Yeast:
Safale US-05
Priming Sugar:
4 oz corn sugar
Batch Size/Yield:
5 gallons/46 12-oz bottles
Original Gravity:
NR (expected was 1.064)
Final Gravity:
1.012
Alcohol Content:
6.83%
Primary Fermentation/Time:
5 gallon plastic fermenting bucket/6 weeks
Secondary Fermentation/Time:
None (we fully intended to, but never had time!)
Conditioning Time:
14 days
Tasting Notes:
Update #1: This beer hasn't even finished fermenting yet, and I can already tell Centennial hops are going to be one of my favorites. The smell alone is much nicer than other hops we've used, and once they were added to the wort, the scent became downright delicious. I keep poking my head in the fermenting closet just to get a whiff...I sincerely hope this beer tastes as good as it smells!
Update #2: I tasted this beer while we were bottling, and it was super sweet and malty. I would say we had stuck fermentation, but the final gravity was spot on. All my research is telling me to relax because the finished product will taste very different after carbonating and conditioning, so...fingers crossed!
Final notes: After conditioning, this beer did not wow us. The same semi-sour aftertaste was present as our other beers, despite the strong hop flavor! When we moved, we actually ended up pouring quite a bit out. We loved the Centennial hops, but it just wasn't enough to save this IPA. But fear not, we have a plan! I've done tons and tons of research, and I've come up with several possible causes of the off flavor.
1) Yeast. Online reviews are mixed for the Safale line, so next time we'll be trying something different.
2) Water. We've just been using tap water, so next time we'll be grabbing gallons of water from the store.
3) Plastic. We have upgraded to a glass fermenting carboy and will be completely ditching the plastic buckets.
4) Heat. Apparently there is such a thing as the "homebrew tang," which sounds exactly like the taster we're noticing. So, we add the ingredients later in the boil, at a lower heat, and stir a lot more.
All in all, we will be trying this recipe again, once we nail down our off flavors!
Next Up:
Honey Weizen repeat
Dead Ringer IPA by Northern Brewer (which is totally not the copyrighted Bell's Two Hearted, no sir)
Grains:
1 lb Briess Caramel 40L (hey, I learned what that means this week!)
9 lb Briess Golden Light dry malt extract (because we couldn't find Gold liquid malt extract)
Hops:
5 oz (!!) Centennial (60 min, 20 min, 5 min, and dry hop additions)
Yeast:
Safale US-05
Priming Sugar:
4 oz corn sugar
Batch Size/Yield:
5 gallons/46 12-oz bottles
Original Gravity:
NR (expected was 1.064)
Final Gravity:
1.012
Alcohol Content:
6.83%
Primary Fermentation/Time:
5 gallon plastic fermenting bucket/6 weeks
Secondary Fermentation/Time:
None (we fully intended to, but never had time!)
Conditioning Time:
14 days
Tasting Notes:
Update #1: This beer hasn't even finished fermenting yet, and I can already tell Centennial hops are going to be one of my favorites. The smell alone is much nicer than other hops we've used, and once they were added to the wort, the scent became downright delicious. I keep poking my head in the fermenting closet just to get a whiff...I sincerely hope this beer tastes as good as it smells!
Update #2: I tasted this beer while we were bottling, and it was super sweet and malty. I would say we had stuck fermentation, but the final gravity was spot on. All my research is telling me to relax because the finished product will taste very different after carbonating and conditioning, so...fingers crossed!
Final notes: After conditioning, this beer did not wow us. The same semi-sour aftertaste was present as our other beers, despite the strong hop flavor! When we moved, we actually ended up pouring quite a bit out. We loved the Centennial hops, but it just wasn't enough to save this IPA. But fear not, we have a plan! I've done tons and tons of research, and I've come up with several possible causes of the off flavor.
1) Yeast. Online reviews are mixed for the Safale line, so next time we'll be trying something different.
2) Water. We've just been using tap water, so next time we'll be grabbing gallons of water from the store.
3) Plastic. We have upgraded to a glass fermenting carboy and will be completely ditching the plastic buckets.
4) Heat. Apparently there is such a thing as the "homebrew tang," which sounds exactly like the taster we're noticing. So, we add the ingredients later in the boil, at a lower heat, and stir a lot more.
All in all, we will be trying this recipe again, once we nail down our off flavors!
Next Up:
Honey Weizen repeat
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