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Dishwater Wheat #7

June 4, 2011 1

This time around, I wanted to do an American Wheat beer.  Something that will compliment the hot summer days.  My friend was placing an order at Northern Brewer, so I thought I’d tack on the order and split the shipping.  I ended up getting their American Wheat Beer based on the reviews.  Boy, I’m sure glad I did.  This beer is amazing!

When I put the recipe into Beer Tools, it pretty much hit the mark on everything but color.  The beer would be super light.  I toyed with the idea of darkening it with some crystal, but in the end I decided to go with what they had.  The result is this super pale yellowish color.  A color no beer should be, but somehow facinating.  But the taste was incredible.  After sharing it with some friends, we all laughed at the color and finally came up with the name of Dishwater Wheat because of the way it looked.

I must admit, the brew day was pretty  much a disaster.  I went with a Brew In A Bag (BIAB) mash.  I got the temp right where my software told me to put it to, and stirred in my grain.  But the temperature dropped much lower than expected.  But I covered it anyway with blankets and monitored the temps.  Over the first 15-20 minutes, the temp dropped by 7 degrees.  Frustrated, I put it back on the burner and got it way too hot.  I left off the lid for a while to get the temp back down.  All in all, the 60 minute mash went too cool, then too hot, then too cool again.  I was saying many bad words.

After the mash, everything finally went according to plan.  The boil, cooling, and pitching all went without a hitch.  I was even able to enjoy a beer and a cigar while I was boiling my wort.

In hindsight, I don’t think I should have kept the burner/mashing outside.  There was a good breeze which can take away much more heat.  I didn’t cover it as well as I should while it was resting.  I also left the pot on the burner while covered.  I also figured you need to make sure you stir and keep the lid off the closer you get to strike temperature, since the area you’re measuring could be a much different temperature than the rest of the water.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to reproduce this amazing beer, but I sure will try.  I’m already running low and the thought of running out keeps me up at night.

 

BeerTools Pro Color GraphicDishwater Wheat #7
Style:  6-D American Wheat or Rye Beer
Type:  All Grain – Brew In A Bag
Batch: # 7
Size: 5.0 gal
Calories:145.21 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.044 (1.040 – 1.055)

|============#===================|

Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 – 1.013)

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Color: 1.44 (3.0 – 6.0)

|================================|

Alcohol: 4.29% (4.0% – 5.5%)

|===========#====================|

Bitterness: 28.6 (15.0 – 30.0)

|======================#=========|

Ingredients:

  • 4 lb White Wheat
  • 4 lb Standard 2-Row
  • 1 oz Willamette (4.7%) – added during boil, boiled 60 min
  • 1 oz Cascade (6.1%) – added during boil, boiled 15 min
  • 1.0 ea Safale US-05

Schedule:

  • Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
  • Source Water: 60.0 °F
  • Elevation: 0.0 m
  • BIAB Mash – Liquor: 5.96 gal; Strike: 157.67 °F; Target: 152 °F
  • Sacch Rest – Rest: 60 min; Final: 152.0 °F

Notes

  • All Grain kit from Northern Brewer – American Wheat Beer
  • Brew In A Bag method with 6 gallons of water.
  • Mash temps were all over.  Started too low, I put some fire to it and it then got too hot.  (see introduction above).
  • Target OG was 1.044 but ended up being 1.050.
  • Very, very light and clear (for a wheat).
  • My favorite brew to date.  Will brew very soon (within the next couple batches)
Category: Home Brewing

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)

|=============#==================|

Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 – 1.013)

|==================#=============|

Color: 5.63 (3.0 – 6.0)

|=====================#==========|

Alcohol: 4.4% (4.0% – 5.5%)

|============#===================|

Bitterness: 24.8 (15.0 – 30.0)

|==================#=============|

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