Mardi Gras Winter Warmer Wheat

In a few weeks I'm headed to the Mardi Gras celebration in St. Louis with a group of friends. I was asked to bring a beer that was "light, something the girls would drink" but would be good for standing out in the cold for several hours. Thus, I brewed a wheat beer with a bit of kick (more of a kick than I was expecting). Here's the 5-gallon recipe:

6 gallons of tap water added to the brew pot and heated to about 155(F), steeping the grains for 60 minutes:
- .5 lb Munich malt
- .5 lb Crystal 20L malt
Heated to 170(F) and removed the grains and brought it to a boil and added:
- 1 oz Perle whole leaf hops (7.9% A.A.)
Boiled for 50 minutes and added:
- 6.6 lbs wheat liquid malt extract (Muntons and Briess)
- 4 lbs corn sugar
- .5 oz Cascade pellet hops (6.3% A.A.)
Boiled for 15 minutes and added:
- .5 oz Cascade pellet hops (6.3% A.A.)
Boiled for 2 minutes, removed from the boil and cooled wort.

The gravity was 1.084 (a bit higher than I expected.

I used Pacman yeast and it's been bubbling away for about a week now.

Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout and Chocolate Raspberry Imperial Stouf

Sorry, it's been a while since I last posted, but I lost the password... it's found and here's what's currently brewing...

Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout & a Chocolate Raspberry Imperial Stout
This started as a 6 gallon recipe of a Russian Imperial Stout split into two separate 3 gallon batches. Here's the original recipe:

6 gallons of tap water into brew pot and heated to 155(F), steeped grains for 90 minutes
- 1 lb. Briess Chocolate Malt (350L)
- 1.5 lb Roasted Barley (non-malted)
- 1 lb Special B Malt
- .5 lb Caramunich Malt
heated to 170(F) and romved the grains and brought to a boil, when boiling, added:
- 2 oz Simcoe pellet hops (11.9% A.A.)
Boiled for 60 minutes, added:
- 1 gallon more tap water
- 9 lbs Extra light dry malt extract
- 3 lbs Corn Sugar
- .5 lb Lactose
Boiled for 15 more minutes then added:
- 2 oz Kent Goldings pellet hops (4.8% A.A.)
Boiled for 15 more minutes then added:
- 2 oz Kent Goldings pellet hops (4.8% A.A.)
Boiled for 1 more minute and cooled wort.

Original gravity was 1.089

I used Pacman yeast and let it sit for 3 weeks in the primary and then transferred to secondary, which is where I made the flavor additions to the two separate 3 gallon batches...

Bourbon Barrel - slighly burned/toasted 1/2 lb of oak chips and then soaked them in 2 oz. of Makers Mark Bourbon for 3 hours. Drained off the excess bourbon and patted down the chips with a paper towel. Added wood chips directly to the 3 gallons of Imperial Stout in the secondary.

Chocolate Raspberry - Boiled 1 quart of tap water for 15 minutes and added 2 oz. of unsweetened chocolate, stirring until melted. Turned off boil and added 1 can of Oregon Raspberries. Cooled the mixture and added it to the carboy with 3 gallons of Imperial Stout in the secondary (straining the raspberries on the way into the carboy.

These have been in the secondary about a week now.

Pumpkin Porter

This past weekend, I brewed what has become my favorite beer - pumpkin beer. This time I'm experiementing with a modified recipe from the book Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head. Here's how my recipe went:

1 gallon of water
60 oz of pure Libby's pumpkin
Boiled it for 20 minutes
Let sit for 2 hours (not by choice, the kids were acting up)
Added 1 gallon of water
Brought to 156 degrees and added crushed grains in grain bag:
1 lb Briess Chocolate Malt - 6-row Lovibond 350
1.5 lb Briess 2-row Pale Malt Lovibond 1.5
Added 2 tsp of gypsum
Maintained the heat between 153 - 157 degrees for about 45 minutes
Removed the grain bag and strained some of the pumpkin out (as best I could)
Added 4 gallons more water and brought to a boil and added
1 oz Kent Goldings (product of UK) pellet hops A.A. 4.8%
Boiled for 40 minutes, then added
3 lbs Muntons Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract (color 20 EBC)
3.3 lbs Muntons Light Liquid Malt Extract (color 8-12 EBC)
.5 lbs of Lactose
1 oz Ken Goldings (product of USA) pellet hops A.A. 4.5%
2 tsp of Irish Moss
Boiled for 10 more minutes and added
.5 oz Cascade pellet hops A.A. 6.3%
.5 lb corn sugar
1 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
Boiled for 10 more minutes and removed from heat.
It cooled down slowly over 24 hours.
Original Gravity = 1.074
Shook the carboy vigorously and added Coopers Dry Ale Yeast - 7.5 grams

It started fermenting today, so I'll try and keep you updated on its progress. I'm still debating adding 15 oz. more of pumpkin and 1/4 teaspoon of each of the spices to the secondary. Your thoughts?

Update on Beers

I realize it's been awhile since I've posted, so I thought I'd give you an update on the last few beers. The Hefewiezen turned out not too bad. My experiement with the Schlafly Hefe yeast was a good one, as there was a very notable difference with the taste. The Schlafly Hefe yeast had a much smoother finish and mouthfeel than the other. The dry yeast was a little sharp. The Raspberry was OK... it was my first experiment at putting raspberry in the secondary and I don't think I'll do it again. It added a bit of tart to the taste. Whenever I've added raspberry at the end of the boil, it's turned out much better, both in terms of taste and aroma.

I also brewed the GAC IPA and the Initiation Day IPA. Both IPAs were pretty good. For the amount of alcohol, they are pretty smooth. Both had a bit of a hoppy taste, but it wasn't as pronounced as most IPAs I've had before. Perhaps next time I brew these I'll try a bit more hops, especially in the secondary.

Bottled the Hefeweizen

I bottled the Hefeweizen and Raspberry Hefeweizen this week. It smelled, and even though it wasn't carbonated yet, tasted pretty good. I'll let you know how the final product turns out in 2-3 weeks after bottle conditioning.

I couldn't come up with an interesting name for either of these brews, so they're generically named by their style.

As far as labels go, I've been printing these off on my inkjet printer, cutting them out and then applying them with clear packing tape. So far they've worked well on beers right out of the fridge, but I haven't tried submersing them in a cooler full of ice and water yet.

Brewed a Pale Ale

I bottled the Hefeweizen and the Raspberry Hefeweizen and brewed a Pale Ale this past weekend. It might be close to an IPA, but I'm not sure. Here's the recipe...

Steeped .5 lb of Crystal 40L for 24 hours in 5.75 gallons of hot water from the tap
Brought up to 155F and let sit at that temp for 30 min.
Brought to a boil and removed grains.
1 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3%
Boiled for 30 min.
.5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3%
2 cups of corn sugar
2 cans of Alexanders Sun Country Pale Malt Extract
1 tsp Irish Moss
Boiled for 15 min.
.5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3% Boiled for 10 min.
.5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3%
Boiled for 5 min. and removed from heat
Cooled the wort and added Muntons Gold yeast at around 79F
Gravity = 1.066

I'm planning on dry hopping (my first experiment with dry hopping) with .5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3% after a week in the primary and let sit for another week in the primary before transferring over to the secondary. Again, I'll let you know how it goes.

Hefe moved to Secondary

Last week was busy and I had a wedding this past weekend, so I finally moved the hefeweizen over to the secondary after 2 weeks in the primary. Again, I'm experimenting a little... I went to a local flea market and bought a 5 gal. carboy for $6. This allowed me to split the 6 gallons into 2 carboys - 1 with 2.5 gal. and one with 3.5 gal. In the secondary carboy with 2.5 gallons, I added 1 can of Oregon red raspberries with juice to make a raspberry hefeweizen. Again, I'll let you know how it turns out when I bottle it in a week.

I've already purchased the ingredients to brew an IPA this weekend... This is partly because of my excitment that my local homebrew shop finally has a new supply of hops. I bought several packs of Cascade hops for my upcoming IPA recipe. I'll post the recipe next week after I brew.