Cold War Stout

As I did the last time I Malted My Face Off, I did a 2nd runnings beer. This time, I srike/sparged with 3 gallons of hot water in the spent grain, boiled, cooled, and pitched some yeast (London ESB). I ended up with 4 growlers full to ferment. 

Ingredients:
Spent Grain:
19 lbs GW 2-row
1.2 lbs Weyermanns Carafa III (de-husked)
0.5 Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.5 Maltextro Dark Chocolate 500L
0.5 Briess Roasted Barley


Hops:
1 oz Zeus/Columbus/Tomohawk @ 60
0.5 oz Sterling @ 30
1 oz Mount Hood @ 10


Yeast:
1968 London ESB slurry


Notes:
5-30-2011--Gravity was around 1.054, should be a perfect session stout. I filled 5 growlers.
6-4-2011--Krausen brew all over a couple of the growlers. I think it's finished.
6-6-2011--Transfered to bottling bucket and bottled with 4.8 table spoons of sugar.
6-26-2011--Good. Carmel, malt, smoke, and smooth. A really nice stout.

Malt My Face Off 2.0

Here's the story on this one: I brewed this back in March for Jim Jones (hehe inside joke), but I saved three 12 ounce bottles. I really, really liked it so I figured I brew it again. As I often do, I toyed with the recipe using the brewpal iPhone app then finally settled on a one and brewed it. When I picked up my grain from brewbrothers I had what I thought was the same recipe; however, it was pretty far off. The biggest difference is that the one I brewed in March had 9 lbs 2-row and 6 lbs Maris Otter, the one I had in my phone was 19 lbs 2-row. The other was the amount of Carafa III. The first one had 0.25 lbs, this new one's checking in with 1.2 lbs. I wouldn't say I'm worried about the amount of Carafa, but I would have liked to had the same recipe. Oh well.


Ingredients:
Grain:
19 lbs GW 2-row
1.2 lbs Weyermanns Carafa III (de-husked)
0.5 Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.5 Maltextro Dark Chocolate 500L
0.5 Briess Roasted Barley


Hops:
Hops:
1 oz Millennium @ 60
0.5 oz Cascade @ 30
1 oz Cascade @ 2

Yeast:
PacMan yeast slurry


Water:
8.1 Gallons strike @ 168
Collected 4 gallons
3 Gallons triple batch sparge @ 190
Collected 2.8 gallons


Extras:
Yeast Nutrient @ 15
1 lbs Cane Sugar half @ 30 half @ 2
1 lbs Amber LME @ 30


Notes:
5-30-2011--I ended up doing a 6 gallons batch as opposed to a 5. I figured 9% is just as good as 11%. Anyways, I ended up with just under 1.10 gravity.
6-5-2011--Gravity's down to 1.025. If I don't have an open keg by this weekend, I'll bottle.
6-8-2011--Kegged 
6-23-2011--Pretty good. Really smokey (too much carafa?). Not as punchyouintheface malty as before, but still really good. 
6-29-2011--The BIG carafa taste has all but gone, which has made it a ton more smooth.

All Simcoe IPA

Everyone in town is out of Simcoe for the season, but my buddy Andy found somewhere online that is selling it by the pound. We split 2 pounds of it, which ended up to be about $25 each. I freaking love simcoe. For a while I wasn't using it because it was the new cool guy hop--I guess my rebellious tendencies don't like it when people tell me what hops to use. Anyhooo...I am fully drinking the kool-aid now (gross hoppy kool-aid). I used the same basic IPA recipe that I always use.

 Ingredients:
Grain:
14 lbs GW 2row
.6 lbs GW Crystal 60
.6 lbs Briess Carapills

Hops:
1.5 oz Simcoe @ 60
1 oz Simcoe @ 40
1 oz Simcoe @ 15
1.5 oz Simcoe @ 0

Water:
5.3 gallons sparge @ 165
Collected 3.5 gallons
3 gallons triple batch sparge @ 183
Collected 2.8 gallons

Extras:
Yeast nutrient @ 15
Wirfloc @ 15
1/2 lbs Belgian Candy @ 10

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 slurry

Notes:
5-25-2011--Brewing took about 4 hours. I only tasted a little of it because I have to be at a meeting and I didn't want to smell of beer.
5-28-2011--Gravity down to 1.014. Seems to be finished, but I need to empty a keg...Time to call over some friends!
5-31-2011--I have an empty keg. I'll keg it this weekend and force carb.
6-4-2011--Kegged. Big grapefruity taste.
6-7-2011--Just ran out of the Rye IPA so I have a sport opened in the kegerator. I'm stoked.
6-26-2011--This was carbed by the 20th and finished 6 days later. Of course, a three day camping trip helped consume this quickly.

Workhorse IPA Clone

Laurelwood calls this beer "an extremely well balanced yet super flavorful IPA brewed in the West Coast style. The over-the-top aroma comes from a heavy handed does of hops in the kettle, hop back, and 2 separate dry-hop additions. A slightly sweet finish helps balance the hop bitterness and creates an ale that is both big on flavor yet remains quite drinkable."
At 80 IBU, it isn't a super bitter IPA but it sure is good. This is another beer I'm making for the Thirsty Brawley's. My guess is that Elisabeth and Jon end up playing drinking games after they put their kids to bed, but I'd have to verify :)
I called up the brewery to chat with a brewer about my clone guess. The ingredients are on the website as well as the stats, so it doesn't seem like a hard beer to clone; however, the brewer generously gave me the hop schedule. I had to sub Northern Brewer for Simcoe as the whole freaking town is out. Ironically, later in the day a buddy sent me a text saying he found Simcoe online. I got myself a pound of it which should last a couple brew days. I love that stuff.


Ingredients:
Grain:
 13.5 lbs GW 2-row
1 lbs GW Crystal 40L
1 lbs Carapils


Hops:
1.5 oz Columbus @ 60
1.5 oz Amarillo @20
1 oz Cascade @5
1.5 oz Northern Brewer (should have been Simcoe, but they're done for the season) @0
.5 oz Columbus Dry Hopped for 7 days
.5 oz Amarillo Dry Hopped for 7 days
.5 oz Northern Brewer Dry Hopped for 7 days
.5 oz Cascade Dry Hopped for 7 days


Yeast:
Wyeast 1968 London ESB (I would normally use a NW yeast, but I pitched my slurry of 1056 on the Elisabeer)


Water:
5.8 Gallons strike @ 170
Collected
2.8 Gallons of tripple batch sparge @188


Extra:
Whirfloc Tablet @20
Yeast Nutrient @20


Notes:
5-16-2011--Everything went smoothly; however, I under sparged. I only ended up with 4.3 gallons. I think I'll steep some 2-row, boil, and toss that in tomorrow. 
6-1-2011--DUDE. This beer is good. I know I say that all the time, and most of the time I'm making it up to look better (just kidding), but this beer's good. 

Elisabeer Pale 1.2

I had just a little bit of this after I handed it over to Brawley, so I decided to make it for myself. Same recipe as before.


Ingredients
Grain:
12 lbs GW 2-row
1 lbs GW Cyrstal 80
0.75 lbs Bries Wheat
0.5 lbs GW Munich 10L


Hops: 37 IBU
1.5 oz Cascade @60
1 oz Cascade @20
3 oz Cascade @0


Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 slurry


Water:
5.3 gallons of strike @ 170--->154 in mash
Collected 3.2 gallons
3 gallons of sparge @190
Collected 3 gallons


Extras:
Yeast Nutrient @20
Whirfloc @20


Notes:
5-14-2011--Post boil gravity 1.064
5-20-2011--Down to 1.021 I'll wait another week.
5-25-2011--Kegged
6-1-2011--Man this is yummy. A lot hoppier than I thought it would be. I sure like cascade hops.

Breakfast in a Bottle

Brewed this National Homebrew Day aka Big Brew at Brew Brothers. I wanted to do something crazy so I thought about all my favorite breakfast foods and I put them on the recipe. It was an absolute blast hanging out and brewing with everyone. Everyone had a different system, which was nice because everyone had something to envy.

Ingredients:
Grain:
12 lbs GW 2-row pale
.75 lbs GW 120L Crystal
.5 lbs Maltextro chocolate
1 lbs Roast Barley
(this is where it gets interesting)
3 home made waffles
1 Box of Trader Joes High Fiber Os
1 lbs flaked oats
1.5 oz Grade A Maple Syrup @0

Hops:
1.5 oz Cascade @60
1.3 oz Cascade @20
1.5 oz Cascade @0

Extras:
Yeast Nutrient @20
1/2 lbs of Maple Cured Pork Bacon in secondary

Water:
5.5 gallons at 165
Collected just under 3 gallons
3.5 gallons of triple batch sparge at 190 (down from 212, oops)
Collected 3.25 gallons

Notes:
5-7-2011--Everything went well enough. When you brew with this many people (all with lots of beer samples on hand) you tend to forget some stuff. I boiled my sparge water and boiled for a lot longer than I should have. Oh well. I'll ferment for a week or so, and then I'll toss in the bacon!

5-14-2011--Gravity only down to 1.035. Tons of muck and sludge.
5-20-2011--Down to 1.023 I think it's finished. Really, really dry stout (waffles?) and a hint of oatmeal at the end. I'm gonna have my personal chef (wife) cook me up some bacon and I'll toss it in secondary.
5-28-2011--Kegged. Still at 1.020ish. The bacon grease was a little nasty looking.
7-1-2011--I've been waiting to let the taste on this settle. The plan is to drink the rest of the Malt My Face Off, then let this be the stout I have on hand. 
7-7-2011--This beer's getting really good.