#20 - HNY14 IPA

Another shot at this IPA thing for the new year. Have only used the new pot for the stout, which is still hanging out in secondary; so I can't be sure if that was the problem or not. Will probably bottle that next week and hope to learn more. That being said there weren't much hops in it so may not learn much anyway. In another effort to combat the weird taste that has popped up tonight am going to try bottled water to see if that takes care of things. Could just be crappy Pittsburgh water. This is spring water from Ohio! There's always distilled water but that's just getting crazy.

Going to redo / retry the all Citra IPA. Will be using lots of late additions and dry-hopping. The goal for this one is Citramaxx as made by Market Garden Brewing in Cleveland, OH - A sublime beer that comes out once a year and is gone in days. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/94750/hny14-ipa
OB - 16, OG - 1.065, EOG - 1.081
Water - Rest/Infusion/Sparge - 10/10/8

Again OG low due to high volume. Next time going to have to decrease protein rest volume. Hopefully this whole spring water thing works...

Grapefruit Mead Tasting...

Aroma - Honey sweetness, flowers, grapefruit - 10/12    
Appearance - Clear, yellow-orange - 3/3    
Flavor - The fruit and the honey complement each other well, just a hint too bitter - 14/20
Mouthfeel - Effervescent, smooth, moderately full - 4/5
Overall - 8/10
Total - 39/50

Really has some potential. Could tweak the honey choice (leave out the darker one) to make it just a bit sweeter. The color is great, it's nice and dry, and I like the carbonation levels. Need to back off on the grapefruit just a bit to better balance this one out. Happy with a first try...

Pacific IPA Tasting...

Aroma - Not much hop aroma, hint of citrus - 4/12    
Appearance - Beautiful golden orange, creamy head - 3/3    
Flavor - Bitter, dry, bread and pepper notes, almost no hop flavors - 7/20
Mouthfeel - Good carbonation, smooth, moderately full - 4/5
Overall - 4/10
Total - 22/50

Not undrinkable but not that good. Will keep a bottle or two to see if anything changes but not something that I'll pour for awhile. Not even going to finish this one. The yeast is interesting in that it is a little bready, which I don't think that I like in my IPAs. Also don't think that the Pacific Jade helped at all either. Way to go!...

'TISTHE Saison Bottled...

Bottled the 'TISTHE X-mas saison today. Unfortunately, this probably didn't happen in time to have it for X-mas although it will be close. Color is great, crystal clear, still has the late bitterness / off flavors that has plagued many of the beers since moving to Pittsburgh and starting this. It's not terrible, but the saison doesn't stand out. Gonna let this one sit for a little bit before drinking...

Chocolate Stout Racked...

Racked the second attempt at the chocolate stout tonight. And I have to say...so far, so good. I had read that people complained that using cocoa made the beer "grainy" but so far I don't think that is the case. It's a good color, nice body, taste is middle-of-the-road. Lots of volume, which explains the slightly low OG. This is attributable to the new pot. The boil was not nearly as vigorous as before. 

Bottling the X-mas beers next week in preparation for the holidays...!

#19 REDUXII Stout...

Second attempt at the chocolate stout. Have recently made the switch to drinking more stouts. Am assuming that this is the first sign of my seasonal affective disorder setting in. Really like a good roasty, rich, chocolate stout, which I have still yet to make. The first one was very low OG (thinking due to grain crushing issues) and fairly bland, but had some nice roastiness to it. Have given up on cocoa nibs for flavoring because I think they don't do much in the 3 beers that I used them in. Contemplated and read about using hot chocolate packets, but am going to try pure cocoa powder before I stoop to that level. 

Sidenote: bought some Terrapin Moo-Hoo milk chocolate stout to drink while making this. Normally, I have been very impressed with what they make (Wake n' bake, etc.); but this one falls way, way, way, way, short (IMO). It actually tastes similar to my "failed" first attempt. For shame Terrapin. Anyway, recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/89644/reduxii-stout

OG - 1.065, OB - 15.9

Low again from the estimate. Think a bit high on volume again, the new pot didn't seem to develop as vigorous a boil.

Will be bottling the X-mas beers next...

Pot?...

So after reviewing the water report(s) the conclusion is: They are conflicting and confusing. I think to be totally accurate I would have to send off some of my own water for analysis; and that's not happening. Only because we're only here for a year. Otherwise I would. Totally. So for the next IPA I am planning on adding a little gypsum because it does seem that the pH may be high and the calcium a bit low. Who knows? 

To further confuse matters I also bought a new brewpot. Was wondering if the old one was contributing to some off flavors. Less likely, but it was just and old pot that we had lying around, and I wasn't entirely sure what it was made out of. New one is a 3 gallon pot from Food Warehouse. Shipped fast, $20, and looks great...

Water?...

Had a sip of the new IPA yesterday as an unofficial tasting. Smell was fantastic, taste however had that same late oddness that I've had in a few of my Pittsburgh beers. Wondering if it's the water, considering I think that I've resolved most other problems with the small batch approach and am happy with the process otherwise as it. Water analysis compared to Cleveland posted below for easy reference for me in the future. Will either try using carbon filtered water for the next batch or even tweak the water chemistry a bit. This would be new as I've never had to do this before (good brewing water in Cleveland).

Cleveland:
pH   7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est ppm   170
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm   0.28
Cations/Anions, me/L   3.0 / 2.7
    ppm
Sodium, Na   10
Potassium, K   1
Calcium, Ca   35
Magnesium, Mg   10
Total Hardness, CaCO3   129
Nitrate, NO3-N   0.3 (Safe)
Sulfate, SO4-S   12
Chloride, Cl   13
Carbonate, CO3   < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3   97
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3   80
Flouride, F   1.14
Total Iron, Fe   < 0.01

Pittsburgh:
pH 8.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 117
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 236
Sodium, Na 18
Calcium, Ca 52
Magnesium, Mg 22
Total Hardness, CaCO3 74
Nitrate, NO3-N 1
Sulfate, SO4-S 39
Chloride, Cl 50
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 30
Total Iron, Fe 0.016
Free Chlorine, Cl2 1.5
Pittsburgh Trout, 0

X-Mas Saison Racked...

Racked the X-Mas (TISTHE) saison to secondary yesterday. Really cloudy, but quickly cleared after racking. Not a ton of hop aroma / flavor right now. Little darker than I wanted. Otherwise taste is good...

#18 - 'TISTHE Saison...

Second of the X-Mas beers made this week. Trying a new tilt on a saison for this one; and an awesome name. Going with a traditional saison recipe, adding some piney hops to see what that does. Also a dash of honey for some added festiveness. Pine hops are also supposed to boost the festiveish flavors. Wrestled with the idea of some citrus hops but decided to stay true to my original concept. Again, this is not like any traditional X-Mas ale; no spices, etc. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/83971/oremus-saison

OB - 16, OG - 1.065

Interested to see how this one comes out considering how not good the pear saision was...

X-Mas Quad Racked...

Racked to secondary, already fairly clear, some hint of the toffee flavors I wanted. Like the color, not a ton on the nose. Just hoping it's full...

Pine IPA Bottled...

Bottled the first of the IPAs mde with the new style additions. Little bitter, some flavor, tons late. This one also had a healthy dose of dry hopping. As with the wet-hop that we made this summer I forgot to account for water losses from the hops - Needless to say, this one was smaller than usual. However, came out clear, big pine nose, and slick resiny mouthfeel. 

FG - 1.009, FB - 7.2, ABV - 6.6%

Could be good...

#17 - D-T-Q XMAS Ale

First of the two non-traditional X-mas ales. Again, I like X-mas ales. I'm just getting tired of the spiced sameness of most of them.

Should be ready just in time for X-mas. Despite my previous post stating that one was going to be a traditional ale, I have scrapped that idea. No cinnamon, nutmeg, or anything going in this one. I made that decision while staring at the spice rack in the brewing store today. Now - It's a festive Quad! Should be malty, cooked some sugar and malt (per Radical Brewing) to try and get some toffee flavors, some honey added, and just a pinch of corriander. Aiming for rich, warming, and ABV. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/83975/d-t-q-xmas

OB - 17.6, OG - 1.072, EG - 1.081

Next up is the X-mas saison...

Pacific IPA Bottled...

Not sure what to make of this one. Was very, bready / malty as it was going into secondary. That has faded and it's been replaced by...well, not much actually. Not a lot of hop nose or flavor on this one. At least it doesn't taste malty...

FB - 6.8, FG - 1.008, CABV - 6.47%

Coffee Dubbel Bottled...

Bottled the coffee dubbel tonight (amongst other things). Clear as can be, taste is smooth, lots of coffee, full, hint of roast. So far happy with this one. Official tasting next week...

FB - 7.5, FG - 1.01, CABV - 6.66%

Christmas Time...

Planning on making two beers in the spirit of Christmas this and next week. I enjoy XMAS beers. I'm not crazy about them. But I enjoy them. Personally, I think Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas is one of the best. Of the two planned one is going to be traditional(ish), the other is not.

1. Belgain yeast, malty, spiced
2. High-hopped saison

The first with have all the usual ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. The second is outside the box. Choosing hops with strong pine flavor and aroma. After the pear saison came out we'll see how this one does...

CASIMOOK IPA Racked...

6 days post brew racked the new IPA to secondary. Great hop aroma and taste, still some bitterness. There was a ton of yeast / hop sludge at the bottom of the bucket that smelled great. Happy for the first time ever using this yeast. Plan is to do two dry hop additions; one today and one on Monday. Wish I had a hop bag, but, oh well.

Unfortunately, I now have 6 beers on secondary in the closet. Plan is to bottle three next week. The Old Bruin(ish) continues to grow some funk on top and ferment away...

#16 - CASIMOOK IPA

#16 was inspired by two things:

1. My desire to make a truly great West Coast IPA (hasn't happened yet)

2. The article on hop bursting in the latest Zymurgy

My recipes were trending towards late hop additions to try and minimize the bitterness while maximizing hop flavors and aroma based on the early results from the hop-series. The Zymurgy article takes those findings and that concept to an entirely different level. 

It will be interesting to see what almost no bittering hops (some first wort), big additions at flameout, and dry-hopping does. Hops chosen are all traditional West-coast hops; Simcoe, Cascade, Chinook (hence CASIMOOK). Instead of the usual 1 oz of hops for the previous IPA recipes this one has 3 oz! Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/80996/casimook-ipa

OB - 14.8, OG - 1.060, EG - 1.062

Neato...

Home Toasted Bottled...

Bottled the brown today and so far am pretty pleased. Hint of roast, nice malty flavors, moderately full body, great color. We'll know more in a week...

Pacific Racked...

Racked the Pacific IPA to secondary today. Really like the color. Not really crazy about the hops in this one. Not the traditional hop flavor / aromas. Could also be the different yeast. Will be able to better differentiate once I use it again. White labs describes the yeast as malty. So I think we have the culprit because I was thinking to myself as I was drinking it: "It's a little bready". Oh well, we just have to see what happens.

Taking a week off brewing this week. Next week hoping to finally make a really good West Coast IPA...

DRIS Tasting...

Aroma - Roast, hint of sweetness - 7/12    
Appearance - Jet black, creamy dark head - 3/3    
Flavor - A lot, lot of sweetness, subtle background roast notes, trailing bitterness - 14/20   Mouthfeel - Full, creamy, smooth - 4/5
Overall - 8/10
Total - 36/50. Never made a stout before that tasted like this. In fact, one of the better beers that I've ever made. By far the best beer made in the 50(1) process. The mouthfeel is fantastic. It's smooth and coats the palate. The sweetness detracts a bit but I think that if it doesn't explode in the bottles it should fade with time. This one will age well.

Next time more roast malts for the nose and taste, otherwise no changes.

Not sure why this one stopped fermenting when it did. The champagne yeast should have taken it lower. With it had gotten about 0.03 lower. This one will be made again...

#15 - Pacific Jade IPA (SEIPA)

Fifth(?) beer in the IPA series. Never heard of Pacific Jade before but the package sounded interesting and is 13% alpha. The internet says that this is a mild bittering hop, with some nice aroma. I'm still back-loading this given what happened with the first of the hop series. I want less bitter, more flavor, and more aroma!

I've changed the malt bill a little bit again for this one. No biscuit, acid malt added to the recipe, some more wheat, and crystal 20. Should be lighter in color with a little less malt backbone. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/76388/nogtft-old-bruin
OB - 14, OG - 1.057

#15 already! - Which sounds like a lot, but I'm only 30% of the way to 50...

Bruin(ish) Racked...

After days of no action an me wondering what was going on I reopened this to check things out. Evidence of fermentation in the bucket! (Which also doesn't have a perfect seal!). Also, the Brix dropped to 9 from 15 for a current gravity of 1.02 and ABV of around 5%. Is already has a lot of Brett smell / flavor and even a hint of sour already.

Also of note the recipe has been updated. I realized that I forgot to put the brown sugar in. I'm glad that I did and it's been deleted. Which means that my OG of 1.061 was actually pretty close to the new estimate 1.064. 

Also, also of note Brad the Brewmaster from Jackie O's got back to me. Nothing they make is pasteurized so anything is culture-able. Thanks Brad.

Now patience...

Coffee Dubbel Racked...

Racked the coffee dubbel to secondary today onto the filtered 1 oz cold-extracted coffee. 

Was a little on the early side for transfer, but was able to top-crop some of the Belgian ale yeast for future use. Future use may be as soon as next week depending on what happens with the Bruin(ish). Opened it today and no activity whatsoever. Pitched the Orval culture and we'll see what happens over the next 24 hours...

Wit Tasting...

Just accidentally deleted the wit tasting post while trying to make an adjustment. Apparently Ctrl-Z is not undo in Blogger but a convenient erase everything button. Coincidentally, just drank the last one of these today (I think). If another turns up will re-review it. Otherwise, this one has been lost to cyberspace forever...

Mead Bottled...

After two months in secondary this one was ready to bottle (FG - 1.01). It's crystal clear and is like nothing I've every made before (mostly because I've never made a mead before). Starts sweet (but not overly so), ends dry with a definite grapefruit taste and bitterness. It's a smooth transition and a nice balance.

FB -10, FG - 1.01, ABV -  9.8%

Just found out that meads are either still, sparkling, or petillant depending on the level of carbonation. I went for petillant (the middle level) and aimed for 1.5 volumes of CO2 by adding 0.5 oz of corn sugar. This was a little over the calculated 0.4 but I had just over a gallon to bottle.

Not sure how long this is going to take to carb. Probably have to wait 2-3 weeks...

Cold Extraction...

Cold extracting some dark roast coffee for the Dubbel, which is going into secondary tomorrow (fermented fast). Ground 1 oz of the beans and mixed with 400 cc water and put the whole thing in the fridge. Will run it through a coffee filter tomorrow on the way into the jug...

#14 - Old Bruin(ish)

This is my first attempt at an Old Bruin. I say first because I've never made and Old Bruin before and attempt for several reasons:

1. Apparently "real" old Bruins (Petrus, Jackie O's, etc) are all extensively barrel aged for 20 months or more. No one got time for that. Well not 20 months. I plan on aging this one until it's time for the move.

2. The starter that I made from the Jackie O's has something in it. Not the usual yeast layer at the bottom that I get after culturing yeast, but a cloud floating in it. So something has grown, but not sure what. Also, it has bubbles (positive sign?)! I'm going to be adding the dregs of a Russian River that I'm drinking now to supplement as well. I emailed the Jackie O's people to see if the Chunga's Old Bruin could be cultured but they must be too busy making incredible beer to get back to me.

So, in summary. I have no idea what I 'm pitching into a beer I've never made. Plan B is to go pick up some White Labs Trappist tomorrow and just turn this into a Quad. The next beer is going to be a quad anyway so it might be good to have on hand.

Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/76388/nogtft-old-bruin

OB - 15, OG - 1.061

So this will be something...

Pear Saison Bottled...

Bottled the pear saison this evening. Little lighter in color than I thought it was going to be. Taste is good, hint of pear on the nose, starts with some sweetness from the pear then moves into more of a traditional, tart, saison flavor. I think it will be good once it carbs up and my sinuses clear from this stupid infection.

FB - 7, ABV -  7.7%

Will know more in a week...

Random Thoughts...

Some things I've leaned and realized:

1. Water managment - Critical when doing 1 gallon brews. It's tough to hit 1 gallon going into the bucket exactly and if you don't, well there goes your gravity. So 1.5 qt / gallon for protein rest (131 deg F) and mash (boiling) each seems about right and hits the temperature every time. Sparge water (165 deg F) is whatever is needed on top of protein rest and mash to get to 1.5 gallons (24 cups) plus 2 cups water per lb of grain (roughly).

2. Hops - Limit the 60 min addition. Got a lot of bitterness (astringent notes) with the early IPAs. Not sure if it's the different water, my early troubles with temperature control (likely) when I was trying to use the stove to raise the temperature during the mash, or the yeast (never used the California V strain before), but the recent IPAs, with the lower 60 min additions, have been tasting much better.

3. Thirteen batches completed to date and another coming before the end of the week. This is approaching the total number of beers that I made prior to starting this whole experiment when I was making about 4 batches per year. I really feel that this has been helpful and will give me some good base recipes / jumping off points to make better beer in the future. Gallon brewing is nice, quick, and I've had a wide variety of beers to drink. Also it's been an enjoyable, weekly break from work, worries, etc.

4. Follow up to #3 - I'm looking forward to tweaking some of these recipes. So far I think that the Citra IPA and the Wheat wine could both be really good with some minor changes...

Future Planning...

With the first of the long-term projects coming to an end next week (the mead will be bottled), I am trying to come up with something else that can sit for awhile. While drinking a Jackie O's Chunga's Old Bruin tonight I somehow came up with the idea of doing a Old Bruin (deliciously sour). So I pitched the dregs into a E-flask with the hope of growing whatever yeast and delicious bacteria they used for this one. It looked like there was some sediment but not a ton. 

Fingers crossed...

#13 - Coffee Dubbel (L-IAG!)

Heading deeper into the Belgian brews. Tasted the Wit today and it was good. Official review to follow. 

This is my adaptation of a Belgian Dubbel. I love the sweet, dark fruit richness of most Dubbels and it remains one of my favorite Belgian styles. Thinking about balancing that with just a bit of coffee in addition to the small amount of roast barley in the recipe. Haven't decided if tipping this slightly towards a stout is a good idea and whether it's going to happen or not yet. If not, I need to add coffee to something soon or I'm going to lose my mind!

Original plan was to add some rich dark fruits to this, and still may do that alternatively. Was thinking raisins, figs, plums, or something like that. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/74097/l-iag-coffee-dubbel
OB - 15, OG - 1.061 - Perfect - Slightly on the high side of volume.

We'll just have to see what ends up going into secondary with this one (hint - it's still going to be coffee)...

Brown Racked...

Racked the brown ale to secondary today. Taste is very good. Rich and full, just a hint of toast flavors. Also like the color a lot - Darker than a brown in supposed to be. Not your usual thin, watery brown...

Mosaic IPA Tasting...

Nice creamy head, same color as all the other IPAs. This is the first one where I decreased the 60 min hop additions in order to try and minimize the overwhelming bitter / astringent flavors that were present in some of the early versions and...Great success! Review below:

Aroma - Lots of mango / tropical notes, dank - 9/12
Appearance - Creamy head, clear- 2/3
Flavor - The hops really shine in this one. Lots of mango, just a bit of trailing bitterness. Malt bill complements the hops without getting in the way - 13/20
Mouthfeel - Smooth / full - 4/5
Overall - 8/10

Total - 36/50. About right for this one. Love the mouthfeel and despite my love of Mosaic hops, they have a very particular flavor. And the flavor on this one is good...But, I personally think that what separates the good IPAs from the great IPAs (Heady Topper) is a balance of several hop flavors. Also they have just a little more bitterness than this.

One thing that I would change in the future would be to lighten the color a bit.

Of note: This is a great aroma / flavor hop. Consider something else for bitterness...

#12 - Home Toasted Brown (FK:II)

First experiment with home toasted grains. Toasted the pilsner malt as outlined in the previous post. It only makes up 18% of the grain bill so I'm not sure how much it's going to contribute or what impact it will have. That being said the grains smelled great when I was grinding them. 

I hate a thin, watery brown ale so I'm trying to amp up the body on this one. The recipe is a bastardization of multiple recipes for brown ales that I read. Aiming for minimal hop flavor contribution. Want this one to be rich, dark, and carmel(ly). Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/74091/fk-ii-brown-ale
OB: 15
OG: 1.061
Close, probably a little high on volume. Estimated OG 1.066

Biere de Garde Racked...

Racked the Biere de Garde to secondary. When I opened the fermenter I thought to myself "What is all this stuff (shit) floating on top?!". It was the figs. Phew. Anyway the taste was interesting, not as malty as I thought it was going to be, but I didn't have much to try because most of it went into the jug before I could fill my glass off the siphon. Still had a lot of clearing to do, minimal sediment transferred. Curious...

Spiced Wit Bottled...

A slightly cloudy, very lightly colored beer (like I wanted). The taste is good, just a hint of the pepper without being overtly obvious what it is or overly spiced, just a hint of sweetness, crisp, not much in the way of phenols. 

FB - 8.8 for a calculated ABV of 5.9%.

Next two beers are the home toasted Brown (#12) then a Brett Dubbel (#13)...

DRIS Bottled...

Bottled the DRIS today. Dark brown / black, taste is really good with a hint of chocolate, almost no roast flavors, on the sweeter side.

I have no idea what the ABV is but It was definitely done fermenting. Final Brix (FB) was 23 for a calculated ABV / FG of  7% and 1.066 respectively. That being said I don't know what the true original Brix (OB) was because I just took the highest value because it was off the scale of my refractometer. If the OB was closer to 36 (Calculated OG from recipe) then the current ABV is actually over 10% (estimated 15% but estimated FG of 1.04). I think the 1.066 is correct because there has to be some residual sugar that went unfermented because of the sweetness. 

Now we just have to see if the Champagne yeast is able to carbonate this one without it blowing up...

#11 - Biere de Garde (LEFRANCE)

Time to start into the Belgians. First attempt ever at a Bier de Garde, which of course in French means: Beer of the Garde. Recipe modified from a AHA beer of the week post: (https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/blog/show?title=beer-recipe-of-the-week-biere-de-guarde). According to this was supposed to mash at 160 deg. Didn't read that until the end of the mash (mine was closer to the usual 148 deg).

So no experience with this one at all before. Expecting a rich, malty, adventure. Threw in a couple figs for a little more richness and because I just found out that I like fresh figs. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/73484/lefrance-biere-de-garde
Brix 16.8, OG 1.069. Yielded a little over 1 gallon and love the color.

Next up is the brown ale made with the home toasted malt from a couple weeks ago...

FKYLE Racked...

Saison racked to secondary today onto the pear slurry. Very light color, taste is light and crisp, not a ton of acid / sour flavors, somewhat cloudy (worsened with the pear slurry for the photo). 

Brix into secondary was 7.5 for a current gravity of 1.008 and an estimated ABV of 7.4%. Good job yeast!

Overall taste is good and excited to see what the pears do to this one...

#10 - Pear Saion (FKYLE)

Loosely based on a previously used saison recipe that turned out great. Different yeasts and up'ed the acid malt just a bit.

Yeast was cultured Saison du Pont. Experiment here is seeing what happens when it's racked onto Bartlett pears. Thought they would complement the taste well. Who knows?

Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/71186/fkyle-saison
Brix - 15.9, OG - 1.065

Next up: Biere de Garde...

Mosaic IPA Bottled

Perfectly clear, taste is great, really like this hop...

Spiced Wit Racked...

Lots of yeast still flocculation(ing) slowly. Very cloudy, cleared a bit after transfer. Nice taste, not a lot of the spice / tea flavors...

Galaxy IPA Tasting...

Aroma - Mixture of pine / tropical citrus notes, pleasant - 8/12

Appearance - Clear, orange / brown - 2/3

Flavor - The bitterness is smoother than in the Citra, not as pronounced, but don't like the hops as much, little too one-dimensional, again nice malt base - 10/20

Mouthfeel - Smooth / full - 4/5

Overall - 7/10

31/50 - Better in some ways than the Citra but don't like the hop flavors. Think Galaxy would fare better as a bittering hop with a clean citrus (hint of pine) background with the Citra for flavor / aroma.

Citra IPA Tasting...

Scoring of the Citra IPA tonight. Nice head with pour, like the golden / coppery color.

Aroma - Tropical fruit notes, honey - 8/12

Appearance - Like the color, clear, good head retention - 3/3

Flavor - Little bitter through the finish, nice balance otherwise - 8/12

Mouthfeel - Full, rich - 3/5

Overall - 7/10

29/50 - Decent, I like the hop smell and flavor but don't like the overall hop distribution / balance. Would take away a little from the bittering addition and split it up with the flavor / aroma additions. The malt bill works well for this hop, just a hint of sweetness, not too malty.

Home Toasted...

Doing something that I've wanted to do for awhile for the upcoming FK:II Brown Ale - Toasting my own grains. I'm going off of the chart given in Radical Brewing. Toasting 8 oz of pilsner malt at 375 deg F for 40 minutes. Supposed to give it a toffy-like, sweet flavor without any bitterness. My place kind of smells like slightly burnt popcorn now...

Mead Re-Racked...

Racked the grapefruit mead to tertiary today. It's nearly clear, but you can still see small bubbles tracking up the side. 

Brix dropped from 21 to 9 for a current OG of 1.004 and 10.6% ABV. It's more bitter (grapefruit-y) than it was going into the secondary when it was balanced by the sweetness. There's a definite etOH heat to it. Will probably bottle next month...

Also made a starter from Saison DuPont for a some sort of saison next week. This is one of my favorite saisons - Crisp, hint of phenolics, touch of bitterness; it's all (mostly) in the yeast. This has yielded good results in the past...

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/35994/guy-de-loimbard-french-saison

#9 - Spiced Wit (SIATAB)

Had some of my wife's tea this week and really like the way it tasted. So tonight making a spiced wit with some black pepper and Red Rubris (sp?) tea. Recipe is loosely based on a Grand Cru that I made when I first started that was probably the first good beer that I made. Wanted to use the White Labs 410, which is supposed to really accentuate the spice, but they only had the 400. I cultured it up and saved some to try and remake that Grand Cru in the coming weeks. Should have a nice full body, added a bit of rye for a hint of spice and head retention and a touch (0.5%) acidulated malt for a little sour twang.

Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/69708/siatab-wit

Brix - 15.6, Calculated OG - 1.064  
Next up, some sort of Saison...

Citra IPA Racked...

Decided to get a lot done (beer-wise) tonight. Racked the Citra IPA to secondary as well. Ton of hop / yeast sediment headed into the secondary. Not worried because the others looked like this and actually cleared quickly. Quick taste was great. Best of the single-hop beers so far at this point. Mosaic taste is dank, tons of tropical citrus, not a lot of hop aromas on the nose though. Should be ready to bottle next week...

DRIS Racked...

Racked the DRIS to secondary today. Quick taste was good, rich and very full, I think there's still a lot of fermentable sugar left. The Dry English and Champagne yeast seemed to get along OK. Think this one's going to take a little longer in secondary but is very promising...

Wheat Wine Tasting...

Big moment. Going to use BJCP scoring. Try to be Objective. I will not be scoring as if they were to fit into a specific category.

Aroma - 8/12
Appearance - 3/3
Flavor - 9/20
Mouthfeel - 4/5
Overall impression - 5/10

Overall score - 29. Think this is pretty accurate. Beer is in the high good range. Happy with this for a first shot at 1-gallon brewing. Pros: The smell and color are perfect. The mouthfeel is full and smooth. Cons: There is a slight astringency at the finish that detracts from the taste.

Think the astringency may be from over-hopping or some temperature control issues during the mash leading to some tannin release. If brewed again would decrease the IBUs but I think that's about it.

#8 - Double Russian Imperial Stout (DRIS)

This one has me excited. The goal was an ABV monster that still tastes good (obviously) and meets almost none of the accepted standards (IBU, ABV, etc) for the style. 

The recipe is based on a beer that I brewed with a friend of mine and was entered into the National Homebrewing Competition where it got a silver certificate (36/50). I changed it up a little, adding the cocoa nibs and dropping the agave syrup, but it's otherwise the same. Still searching for that ingredient that gives the great stouts that smooth, richness (Peche Mortel).

This one's a partial extract (had to be to get the ABV), and I will be adding champagne yeast to get it to attenuate down and still have something left to carbonate in the bottles. Thought about adding the yeast into the secondary but don't want to have to introduce any oxygen for the yeast so its going into the primary with the Dry English. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/68691/dris

Brix - 33? (Past the top of the scale), OG - 1.144 (Estimated 1.156)

It's tough when making a stout to not throw in the kitchen sink because everything sounds so good. I kept looking in the cupboard at the vanilla, coffee, etc but am holding back! Hooray for some self-control.

Citra and Galaxy IPA bottled...

Last night put the Citra and Galaxy in bottles. Yes, the labels leave something to be desired. However, I know what's what and they are easy to get off for the next batch.

Both are crystal clear and the color lightened significantly from when it first went into the bucket for primary. There was only a minimal amount of debris in the Galaxy bottling bucket from the dry hop. 

Both came out a nice golden-orange color. It's amazing how different they smell next to each other just from the hops. Early impression: I think that the galaxy has got nothing on the citra but as always, we'll just have to wait and see...

#7 - Mosaic IPA (OCOCOM)

On Labor day brewed the 3rd of the IPA single hop series. Probably going on a IPA hiatus for a bit.

Changed the malt bill again slightly for this one. Increased the wheat while decreasing the percentage of crystal. Hoping for something slightly light body, just have to see whether this small of a change results in something different. For the next one I think I'm going to get even more drastic and use 1/2 pilsner with 1/2 2 row for the backbone. This should lighten the color significantly and we'll see what else.

Excited about this one. I really like Mosaic hops (GLB - Alchemy Hour) and this one smelled great going into the bucket. Recipe below:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/68689/ococom-ipa
Brix - 16, OG - 1.065

Even more importantly I was much closer to the right OG this time (1.070 calculated). I used a step mash and hit 149 deg perfectly, no temperature fluctuations like I had when heating with the stove directly. Also the volume was perfect. The other factor that I think was contributing to the low OGs was the mill. I checked the grain after going through and I think my plates were set just a little too far apart. Cranked them down a bit and they were nicely crushed - Will have to remember to check this in the future. Only took 7 batches to get this process down...