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Freezer Burn Raspberry Ale

February 21, 2011 3

This time around, I really wanted to brew a Raspberry Wheat ale. I’m not necessarily fond of fruit beers, but the idea fascinates me. Besides, I wanted something for the warm weather. Since I don’t drink many fruit beers, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try a couple of things. First, I wanted to brew a small batch using the Mr. Beer keg. 5 gallons of fruit beer is too much, but 2 gallons is easily doable.  Second, I wanted to try the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method.

I believe I modified a recipe from Brewing Classic Styles, but I don’t remember for sure.  I wanted a bit of a honey flavor, so I added honey malt (something I recently discovered).  For the hops, I just used whatever was in my freezer, which was Northern Brewer and Kent Goldings.  I figured since it was a light tasting beer, hop choice isn’t going to be a major factor in the flavor.

I went to the brew store to get my supplies.  I asked the guy to double-crush my grains.  He gave me a lot of grief for  it, even though I explained what I was doing.  He’s never heard of BIAB.  He was skeptical at best.  But in the end, after confirming three times that I really wanted my grains double-crushed, he got me my ingredients.

I brewed up the ale on my stove-top.  I used a 5 gallon paint strainer from Home Depot to put my grains in.  I used a steamer basket at the bottom of the kettle to keep the bag from the bottom of the pot.  I raised my temp to strike temperature and added my grains.  Then I wrapped the pot with a towel and let it rest for 60 minutes.  Unfortunately, the temperature dropped close to 10° over that hour.  Next time, I’ll put the pot in the oven at the right temp for the rest to maintain proper temperature.  Oh well.

After 60 minutes, I raised the temp to 168° and pulled the bag and drained the excess wort which I added back to the pot.  Then I brewed as normal.

The whole brew day was a bit sloppy.  The sanitation wasn’t top notch.  I spilled the wort when transferring to the Mr. Beer keg, so I topped it off with tap water.  I added frozen raspberries that were 1 year old to the secondary.  Probably not the best idea.  But in the end, this was an experiment with new processes.  Since it cost me about $12 to brew, I wasn’t overly concerned.  But you know what?  It still made beer.  How’s it taste?  Pretty good, if you’re into fruit beers.

 

BeerTools Pro Color GraphicFreezer Burn Honey Raspberry Wheat
6-D American Wheat or Rye Beer
All Grain – Brew In A Bag
Batch #5
Size: 2 gal
Calories: 148.81 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.040 – 1.055)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 – 1.013)

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Color: 5.63 (3.0 – 6.0)

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Alcohol: 4.4% (4.0% – 5.5%)

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Bitterness: 24.8 (15.0 – 30.0)

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Ingredients:

  • 1.25 lb American 2-row
  • 2 lb Midwest Wheat Malt
  • .2 lb Honey Malt
  • .25 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60 min
  • .5 oz East Kent Goldings (6.5%) – added during boil, boiled 5 min
  • 1.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05
  • 1 lb Frozen Raspberries

Schedule:

  • Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
  • Source Water: 60.0 °F
  • Elevation: 0.0 m
  • 00:03:00 Mash – Liquor: 2.83 gal; Strike: 158.91 °F; Target: 154 °F
  • 01:03:00 rest – Rest: 60 min; Final: 154.0 °F

Notes:

  • Based on a recipe found in Brewing Classic Styles.
  • My final temp for the rest was 153°F.  I wrapped the pot with a towel.  Over the 60 minute rest, the temp dropped to 144° F.
  • After the rest, I raised the temp to 168°F, then pulled the bag and drained.  I finished my brewing as normal
  • I guess I’m not a very good pour-er, because I spilled a bunch of wort during my transfer to primary (I used a Mr. Beer keg).  So I used tap water to top it off to 2 gallons.  I used an aeration stone to pump pure O2 into the wort for 50 seconds.  Then I pitched my dry yeast.  Fermented at 63° F.
  • 3/2/2011 – I racked to 2nd Mr Beer Keg and added 1lbs of raspberries I had in the freezer.  After talking to my wife, I discovered the raspberries were in the freezer since last summer.  Hence the brew name, Freezer Burn.
  • 3/17/2011 – I used Cooper’s carbonation drops to prime my bottles.  Between loss to trub and the raspberries, I yielded 19 bottles.
Category: Home Brewing

Zuul Drool Brown Ale

January 1, 2011 2

This time around, I wanted to try a brown ale. During my research, I’ve discovered there are several styles of brown ale. The one I decided on was a nutty brown ale brewed traditionally in Northern England. Looking through my books, I settled on Nutcastle Brown Ale from Brewing Classic Styles.

One of my favorite brown ales is Moose Drool from Big Sky Brewery. And there’s nothing better than watching Ghost Busters with a pint of of this fine brown ale. So I decided to pay homage to both Moose Drool and to Ghost Busters by calling this Zuul Drool. Not only does it sound cool, it also rhymes!

When I went to the homebrew store, they were pretty much out of yeast, so we substituted the London Ale with Nottingham. I also wasn’t interested in buying canned English Pale Ale LME, so I went with some bulk Briess Pilsen which is about half the cost. The Kent Goldings had a higher Alpha Acid, so I cut back on the bittering addition a bit to compensate. I didn’t use any conversions, just guessed.

I’ve been having trouble with too much sediment getting into the bottle. When pouring a brew, I have floating chunks of protein and yeast. Normally, I just dump the wort into the fermenter. This time, I wanted to see if I can leave as much of it I can in the brewpot. I decided I’d swirl the wort and let it rest. This should concentrate the sediment to the center of the pot. Then I would siphon off the wort into the fermenter. Unfortunately, there is so much cold break and I would lose 1/4 of the wort. Frustrated, I poured the wort back into the brewpot and decided I’d strain it instead. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any cheesecloth. So I layered on coffee filters (everything sanitized) onto the strainer. That worked….kinda. The filters probably got clogged up and the wort didn’t drain. Eventually, I said to hell with it and poured everything into the fermenter. Up to this point, I’ve only done a single stage fermentation. So I bought a secondary fermenter and will rack it over in hopes of clarifying it that way.

I hope I didn’t contaminate this batch with all the fussing I was doing with the wort. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Zuul Drool
11-C Northern English Brown Ale
Extract w/ Steeping Grains
Batch #4
Size: 5.0 gal
Calories: 178.03 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.040 – 1.052)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.008 – 1.014)
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Color: 16.26 (12.0 – 22.0)
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Alcohol: 5.26% (4.2% – 5.4%)
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Bitterness: 26.8 (20.0 – 30.0)
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Ingredients:

  • 6.5 lb CBW® Pilsen Light Liquid (Malt Extract)
  • .75 lb Special Roast Malt
  • .5 lb Victory® Malt
  • .5 lb Crystal Malt 40°L
  • .25 lb Pale Chocolate Malt
  • 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.5%) – added during boil, boiled 60 min
  • .5 oz East Kent Goldings (6.5%) – added during boil, boiled 5 min
  • 1.0 ea Danstar 3767 Nottingham yeast

Process:

Steep specialty grains in 3 gallons of water for 30 min at 150 degrees. Add 1/2 LME and bring to boil. When reaching a rolling boil, add 1oz hops for 60 minutes. Add last half of LME to boil at 15 minutes. Add .5 oz hops for last 5 minutes. Cool wort and transfer to primary. Add water to top off to 5 gal. Pitch re-hydrated yeast. Ferment 57-70 degrees.

Notes:

  • Recipe based on Nutcastle Brown Ale from Brewing Classic Styles.
  • 1.10.2011 – Racked to secondary. Gravity at 1.018. Tasted really nice. Some sweetness, a nice nutty flavor and low hop. I think this will turn out really well.
  • 1.24.2011 – Bottled with 1/2 c of corn sugar. I wanted a lower carbonation. FG is still at 1.018. The target was 1.012. ABV 4.8%. Seems a bit sweet. I’m interested in seeing what it tastes like when fully carbonated and cold.
  • 2.4.2011 – Tried it for the first time. The beer was basically flat. It didn’t carbonate very well at all. I think it had a really good flavor, but the lack of carbonation was so off-putting, its hard to tell. Since I had a really slow fermentation, I wonder if it wasn’t fully bottle conditioned. Either that, or the yeast health isn’t the best. It could also be the fact I under-primed it. Anyway, I decided to move 1 six pack to a warmer room (it was bottle conditioning at about 64 F). This should speed up the bottle-conditioning, I’d hope. I also took a 1 liter bottle (screw cap) and dropped in two Coopers Carbonation Drops and screwed the cap back on. I’ll try the 1 liter and see if the extra sugar fixes the problem. I’ll also try one of the other bottles from the 6 pack and see if moving to a warmer place makes a difference.
Category: Home Brewing

Cheap Bastard Pale Ale

November 27, 2010 0

After brewing my Honey Steam, I was really craving a good ol’ American Pale Ale. I looked at several recipes, but finally settled on Liberty Pale Ale from How To Brew. From reading the forums, it sounded like it was a well liked recipe. So I went ahead and photocopied the recipe and headed to my local homebrew shop. Usually, my homebrew supplier is at the ready to swap out ingredients. But after looking over the recipe, he grabbed my stuff without any changes. I must be on the right track. I can’t wait to try it out!

I named this beer Cheap Bastard because I was a bit short on money. The ingredients only cost me $26.50. This breaks down to about 53¢ per bottle. Who said good beer has to be expensive?

BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Cheap Bastard Pale Ale
10-A American Pale Ale
Type: Extract w/ Steeping Grains
Batch: 3
Size: 5.0 gal
Calories: 158.86 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.048 (1.045 – 1.060)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.010 – 1.015)
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Color: 8.93 (5.0 – 14.0)
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Alcohol: 4.7% (4.5% – 6.2%)
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Bitterness: 37.9 (30.0 – 45.0)
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Ingredients:

  • 3.25 lb CBW® Pilsen Light Liquid (Malt Extract)
  • .5 lb Crystal Malt 60°L
  • 3.25 lb CBW® Pilsen Light Liquid (Malt Extract)
  • .5 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60 min
  • .5 oz Cascade (7.3%) – added during boil, boiled 30 min
  • 1 oz Cascade (7.3%) – added during boil, boiled 15 min
  • .5 oz Cascade (7.3%) – added dry to primary fermenter
  • 1.0 ea WYeast 1056 American Ale
  • 1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 min

Schedule:

Steeped the Crystal at 150 degrees in 2 gallons of water for 30 minutes, then pulled the bag. Added 3.25 lbs LME and brought to boil. Followed hop schedule. Add whirlfloc at 15 minutes. At knockout, add 3.25 LME and sit for 10 min.. Cooled wort and topped to 5 gallons. Pitched yeast.

Fermented in single vessel for 27 days at 68°.

Primed with 3/4 cup corn sugar and bottled on 12/24/2010.

Notes:

  • Recipe based on Liberty Pale Ale from How To Brew.
  • 1/1/11 – Cracked the first bottle after only 7 days conditioning. Oh, wow. That is a tasty beer. Can’t wait to see how it ages.
  • 2/5/2011 – Beer has a pretty harsh bitter at first. Maybe a bit more than I’d like. But after the first beer, you really get into it. I’d like to bump up the aroma and flavor hops, though. The body is quite nice.
Category: Home Brewing