Happy 2016!

New Year's Eve has never been a particularly important day in our household. Even in the pre-restless natives days we never really celebrated. This year, our trusty assistant declared a new New Year's Eve tradition at the farmhouse: we shall brew to close out the calendar year; which allows us to celebrate the new year with a new beer. Also, it's our hope that you hate the word "new" by the time you get to the bottom of this post. 

Name: Out with the Old
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.022
Primary Fermentation: 4 days
Secondary Fermentation: 74 days
Age 14 days

3.3 lbs CBW Pale Ale Malt Extract
3.0 lbs Munich Malt
1.0 lbs Crystal Malt
1.0 lbs Wheat Malt
1.0 lbs LD Carlson Maltodextrin
0.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1 1/8 cup Muntons Plain Light Malt Extract
Abbey Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs)
1.0 oz UK Fuggle Hops (4.2% alpha)
1.0 oz Cascade Hops (5.5% alpha)

Pour the grains into 4 gallons of cold water. Mash at 148 degrees F for 15 minutes. Raise the temperature to 160 degrees F and hold for 45 minutes.* Sparge grains to produce 6.5 gallons of wort. Bring wort to boil and add 0.5 ounces of UK Fuggle and 0.5 ounces of Cascade hops. Boil for 15 minutes and add malt extracts. Boil an additional 10 minutes and add remaining Fuggle hops. Allow boil for an additional 5 minutes and add remaining Cascade hops. Remove from heat. Cool, transfer to primary fermenter, and pitch yeast at room temperature (for us 70 degrees).

Results: This beer turned out quite well, in part due to greater attention to detail than some of our more recent brews. Despite the spike in temperature*, the brew is a solid abbey ale. Flavor is sweet and malty with just the slightest bitterness on the back end. Color is very dark caramel; medium carbonation. If there is a negative it's that we expected a richer, more complex product. This may come with more aging. Regardless, we are very pleased with the results.

*At approximately 28 minutes remaining the temperature spiked to 170 degrees F. Heat reduced to lowest setting. At 22 minutes remaining heat turned off. Ended this phase with approximately seven minutes remaining (45 minutes reduced to 38 minutes). Obviously, this was not part of the original recipe.

Back in the Saddle Again

It has been quite awhile since we've posted to the blogs. It has been years since we've brewed a beer at home. Now is the time to hop in the saddle (see what I did there?) and ask: "Where the white women at?"

With a little help from a gift card we rebuilt our Frankenstein system. It would be more accurate to say we started to rebuild the system but it's enough to get a batch under our collective belts. With more than a little help from the good folks at KegWorks we gathered some ingredients for what was supposed to be a Lagunitas IPA clone. For reasons that shall remain within the confines of the brewery we started out close to Lagunitas and quickly veered off course. So, it's hard to say what we'll get out of this but if you want to know what we put together keep reading...

Name: TBD
Original Gravity: 1.046
Final Gravity: 1.015 (or thereabouts)
Primary Fermentation: Approximately 7 days
Secondary Fermentation: Approximately 14 days
Age 21 days

11.33 lbs Canadian 2-Row Pilsner
0.4 lbs BrewCraft Malto Dextrin
0.3 lbs Great Western Crystal Malt 60
0.2 lbs MFB Caramel Munich Malt 60
California V Ale Yeast (White Labs)
0.75 oz Zythos Hops (10.9%)
1.9 oz Cluster Hops (5.0%)
4.2 oz Cascade Hops (7.1%)

Pour grains into 4 gallons of cold water. Mash at 145 degrees F for 60 minutes. At end of mash add malto dextrin. Boil for 90 minutes adding hops as follows: 0.75 oz of Zythos (30 minutes); 0.9 oz Cluster (40 minutes); 4.2 oz Cascade and 1 oz Cluster (90 minutes). After the boil allow wort to rest for 15 minutes before cooling. Ferment at 72 degrees F.

This is a complicated brew for the first one in three years so we were encouraged by the brewing aromas and the fact that it actually is fermenting. With a little luck the end product will turn out right. And just for giggles...

Oktoberfest in July

Despite being on the 40 week disabled list, we pulled our trusty assistant off the bench to pinch hit and help us pull off our most patient brew. Several Octobers ago we promised to brew an Oktoberfest. We renewed that promise year after year until this year when our trusty assistant cracked the whip and forced us to make good. Here is our very own Josie Brand Oktoberfest-Marzen.

If you don't have central air and live in a part of the country known for it's summer heat and humidity we don't recommend you brew in July. While brewing we cooled off with our own Firenze Pale Ale. The ale helped but it was quite warm in that kitchen and we paid for it later.

Original Gravity: 1.043
Final Gravity: 1.013 - 1.016 (or thereabouts)
Primary Fermentation: Approximately 7 days
Secondary Fermentation: Approximately 8 weeks
2 lbs Pilsner Malteries Franco Belges Malt
2.o lbs Munich Malt
.5 lbs Briess Dextrine Malt
4 oz Briess Crystal 80 Malt
3.3 lbs Mount Mellick Light Malt Syrup
.5 lbs Briess M&F Light DME
1.4 oz Kent Golding Leaf Hops (4.3% alpha)
.25 oz Liberty Hops Pellets
1 tsp Carlson Irish Moss
White Labs German Lager Yeast
1.25 cups extra-light DME for priming

Add 1.5 gallons of 150 degree F water to the mashed grains and hold at temperature for 90 minutes. Strain and sparge the grains with .5 gallons of 150 F water. Add water to the brew pot for total volume of 1.5 gallons. Bring the water to a boil, remove pot from the stove and the malt syrup, light DME, and leaf hops. Add water until total volume is 2.5 gallons and boil for 50 minutes.

After 50 minute boil, add the hop pellets and Irish moss. Continue boil for 10 more minutes (total boil time is 60 minutes). Remove pot from the stove and let cool for 15 minutes. Strain the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water until the total volume is 5 gallons. Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast at 73.6 degrees F (70-75 degrees F).

Check back in about 2 months for an update.

Cheers!

Survey Says

We surveyed 100 people from around the Washington, DC metro area to evaluate the newly minted Firenze Ale. In retrospect, checking to confirm participants were of legal drinking age would have been a good idea. With any luck the judge will understand that this was all done in the name of science. Here's the feedback we obtained before the fuzz showed up:

Firenze pours a beautiful golden-amber color as if it were in a commercial with the Swedish bikini team. The foamy top is a nice off-white that settles well and leaves a web down the glass as you drink. Carbonation is neither overpowering nor is the brew flat. The armoma is that of an Italian (or English) ale but a bit weak. Firenze comes in at 2.89 percent ABV but only 140 calories per serving. Rather than saying the only thing Firenze lacks is solid flavor, the Marketing Department at DBB suggests that Firenze is "never-filling, always refreshing, and has an easy-drinking taste."

That, my friends, is drinkability.

Cheers!

24 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Today we bottled a full case of 12 oz. bottles and a one gallon jug of Firenze Ale. The final gravity was 1.010. The recipe calls for a final gravity of 1.014 so we were a bit off. We added just under 3.76 ounces of priming sugar (original recipe calls for 3/4 cup for five gallons or 4.75 ounces) for our four gallons. The aroma was good with an amber red color. We have relatively high hopes for this one. The wait time for Firenze is much shorter than for our previous Perk-A-lator Stout so we'll offer up a final review in just about 2 weeks.

Cheers!

On the Seventh Day We Brew

Today we steal a page, literally, from the Legend's playbook. A friend passed along Charlie Papazian's Microbrewed Adventures. As one would expect in anything written by Mr. Papazian, the book closes with a chapter of various recipes scaled down for the homebrewer. In keeping with our Italian theme we bring you Firenze Pale Ale. Below are the details - for better or worse. If you want to know how brew it properly you will have to purchase the book.

So, with the latest storm of the century bearing down on the nation's capital, my trusty assistant (pictured) and I spend a day in the kitchen together. We opted for the all grain recipe (which loosely translates to all day brewing).

Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.014 (or something close to it)
Primary Fermentation: Approximately 7 days
Secondary Fermentation: Approximately 7 days - preferably in a cellar (55 degrees F)
8 lbs Munton's Pale Malt
12 oz Briess Crystal Malt
1.5 oz Golding Leaf Hops (5% alpha)
1 oz Fuggles Hop Leafs (5.7% alpha)
1 oz Fuggles Hop Pellets (4.7% alpha)
1/4 tsp Carlson Irish Moss
White Labs European Ale Yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar for priming

Add 9 quarts of 140 degrees F water to the crushed grains, stir, and hold at 132 degrees F for 30 minutes. Add 4.5 quarts of boiling water, bring temperature up to 154 degrees F, and hold for 30 minutes. Raise the temperature to 171 degrees F, lauter and sparge with 3.5 gallons of 171 degrees F water. Collect approximately 5.5 gallons of runoff. Add 60-minute hops (Golding Leaf Hops) and bring to a full boil.

Boil time is 60 minutes. At 30 minute mark of the boil add 30-minute hops (Fuggles Hop Leafs). At the 50 minute mark add the Irish Moss. At 55 minutes add the final hops (Fuggles Pellets). Strain and sparge the wort into sanitized fermenter. Bring the total volume to 5 gallons by adding cold water if necessary. Aerate the wort very well. Pitch the yeast at 70.3 degrees F (70-75 degrees F).

From the recipe (b/c our brew just started doing its thing): Primary fermentation is approximately one week. Secondary fermentation is also approximately one week recommends cellar the brew at 55 degrees if you have the capability.

While you are brewing we recommend you quench your thirst with the Great Divide Brewing Company's DPA Denver Pale Ale.

Cheers!

Calculators for Homebrewing

Newbies will come to find that the more you brew the more precise you need to be, the more information you need to keep honing your craft. A friend turned us on to this novel tool and Web site. The Brewer's Lair offers calculators for your most important homebrewing needs.

The Lair is also good for recipes, tips, finding ingredients, and relaxing in the lounge.

Cheers!

Final Verdict: Perk-A-lator Stout

We managed to go a full 7 days beyond the one month aging for our Perk-A-lator Stout. Part of the reason for the extra week is that the key players were stuck in Orlando and/or Phoenix when we should have been crackin' the hootch.

After a little chilling in the fridge we hit the first capped bottle - b/c we are big dorks we marked the first bottle just so we could know what we were tasting. The beer pours dark and full in a way that only a good stout can. By dark we mean opaque, lost in the middle of woods in the dead of night with no stars while the Blair Witch is looking for you kind of dark. The head is heavy with a nice chestnut color but it settles down rather quickly. The scent provides a slight hint of coffee. Taking a nice big first swig - because we are daring and only sissies take a tiny first sip - and the stout flavor jumps out at you. The carbonation is good but not great. There is a slight coffee finish. Overall, Perk-A-lator came out with smashing success for a homebrew. We are quite proud and have been downing it heavily since opening the first bottle.

As close as we are to brewing experts there are a few drawbacks. The first being that the coffee flavor, while present, could be a bit more full in the after taste. We mentioned that the carbonation is good but not great and we stick by that - if we could take it down have a notch the brew would be smooth as silk. If you're shooting for something as smooth as Guinness we just missed. Finally, the scent after pouring is pretty good but there's a slight tinge of pungent - maybe alcohol smell. You really have to focus to pick it up but it's there.

This is not a movie so we're not going to bother making up a lame scale of beer bottles or pint glasses. Regardless, it's the best brew since bringing on my trusted assistant. It's also a close second to our pride and joy Oatmeal Stout (brewed before we discovered the blogosphere).

Hit the Bottle

We passed through the primary and secondary fermentation stages of our Perk-A-lator Stout with reckless abandon. Most of it is hazy and cloudy and we would have it no other way.

Today we bottled a case worth of the brew - just a bit over of two gallons worth. The final gravity was 1.020. The recipe calls for a final gravity of 1.021 so we were almost spot-on. We added just under one half cup of brown sugar (original recipe calls for 2/3 cup for five gallons) for our three gallons. It was admittedly rudimentary math so carbination could range from flat to way too much head - which is obviously only possible when brewing beer. The aroma was that of a good stout. It was a close-to-black body with hints of deep brown. In short, we have high hopes for this one.

Give us another month or so before tasting and we'll offer up the final review.

Perk-A-lator Stout

A friend at Gheorge reminded me that I should be focusing more on the homebrews than my cubicle requirements. So....it was just this past Labor Day making it the proper time to labor over the grains and pots to create the latest home brew - a coffee stout for the upcoming fall season. Aided by my trusty assistant (pictured left), we set to the brewing process. We are smack dab in the middle of the primary fermentation which requires a solid 2 weeks of drinking while waiting for the brew to age. Secondary fermentation is 3 weeks. The good news is that means enjoying Oktoberfests of all sorts. The bad news is that means this coffee stout takes a freakin' long time to brew - so my trusty assistant and I will be pissy if it tastes like skunk.

While we're waiting it's worth opening a cold brew and posting ingredients and particulars in the event our 1 or 2 loyal readers wants to know what poison was just sprung upon them. Follow us:

Original Gravity: 1.066

Ending Gravity: 1.020 (or something close to it)

Primary Fermentation: 2 weeks

Secondary Fermentation: 3 weeks

7.25 lbs Briess dark malt extract (dry)

.75 lbs Briess Crystal 80 malt

.25 lbs black malt

.5 oz Mt. Hood Hops, pellets (in boil 65 minutes)
.5 Mt. Hood Hops, pellets (in boil 20 minutes)

7 tspns Starbucks Sumatra Blend

1 tspn LD Carlson Irish Moss

1 tspn LD Carlson Gypsum

White Labs 004 Irish Ale Yeast

.66 cup brown sugar for priming

Steep black malt and crystal malt in 2.5 gallons of water for 21 minutes at 166 degrees F. Remove grains and bring to boil. Stir in extract. Re-establish boil and add .5 oz hops. Keep at steady boil for 30 minutes and add Irish Moss and gypsum. Boil for 15 minutes and add remaining hops and ground coffee. Boil for final 20 minutes and remove from heat.

Transfer to the primary fermenter and add water until 5 gallons. Cool to 74.7 degrees F and pitch yeast. Ferment for 2 weeks, move to secondary fermenter for another 3 weeks. Prime with .66 cups brown sugar and bottle for 3-6 weeks (since this is our first brew with this recipe exact aging after bottling is yet to be determined - stay tuned for details).

We "borrowed" this recipe from the book Homebrew Favorites - a gift from my trusty assistant. You'll find among the pages a tasty sounding Espresso Stout. Tip of the hat to home brewer Greg Kushmerek of Belmont, MA and his kick ass motto "Brew Free or Die"