This is another in the ever-evolving Brush Valley Brewing House Ale. This one is largely driven by ingredient availability.

I formulated this recipe to produce five gallons of beer for packaging. I assume a boil-off rate of about one gallon per hour with a full-volume boil. I use bagged pellet hops for all hop additions. I assume a loss due to trub of a half-gallon in the boil kettle and another half-gallon in the fermenter.

Recipe: Brush Valley Brewing House Ale v 1.5

BJCP Style: 14B — American IPA
Brewhouse Efficiency: 74%
Pre-Boil Volume: 6.44 gallons (24.4 L)
BG: 1.054 SG (13.3 °P)
Original Volume: 5.5 gallons (20.3 L)
OG: 1.062 SG (15.2 °P)
FG: 1.017 SG (4.3 °P)
ADF: 73%
Bitterness (Tinseth): 50 IBU
ABV: 6.1%
Color (Morey): 11 SRM (22 EBC) — Deep amber
Boil Duration: 55 minutes
BU:GU 0.80
Calories per 12-ounce Serving: 216 — 119 from Alcohol, 96 from Carbs

Grains	Quantity	Percent
Crisp Maris Otter Malt (3.5 °L)	11.0 lb. (4.990 kg)	88
Crisp Light Crystal Malt (45 °L)	1.5 lb. (0.680 kg)	12
Hops		IBU
Citra 11.4% AA, 55 min.	1.5 oz (43 g)	46.7
Citra 11.4% AA, 5 min.	0.6 oz (17 g)	3.8
Citra 11.4% AA, dry	1.7 oz (48 g)	0
Yeast
Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale™ (Manufactured 11/9/11; 60% viability)	Want 229B; Have 120B
Other
Irish Moss, 15 min.	2.2 g
Brewer’s Choice™ Wyeast Nutrient Blend, 10 min.	2.2 g
Water Treatment	Mash	Boil
Gypsum (CaSO₄)	9.4 g	6.4 g
Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂)	1.4 g	1.0 g
Baking Soda (NaHCO₃)	0.9 g	—
Canning Salt (NaCl)	0.5 g	0.3 g

Adjusted Mash Water Profile

Sodium (Na):	26 ppm
Calcium (Ca):	191 ppm
Magnesium (Mg):	3 ppm
Sulfate (SO₄):	301 ppm
Chloride (Cl):	57 ppm
Total Alkalinity (CaCO₃):	148 ppm
Residual alkalinity:	10
Chloride to sulfate ratio:	0.19 (Very Bitter)
pH:	5.2

Continue reading “(33) Saturday, December 31, 2011 Brew Day — BVBHA1.5”

Today is a re-brew of batch 29. Changes in today’s version include:

• Crisp Maris Otter in place of the Thomas Fawcett & Sons Halcyon malt
• Simpson’s Roasted Barley (550L) in place of the Briess Black Barley (500L) — I thought I ordered Crisp Roasted Barley (695L) but that’s not what my records show
• Re-pitching the Wyeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale yeast from batch 31 in place of the Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale
• Single Infusion Mash in place of the Double Infusion Mash skipping the protein rest.
• As with batch 31, I am going to be using a low vigor boil — medium heat seemed to work fairly well

Note for next time: Gretchen pointed out the flaker marks on the flaked barley just like the ones she gets when she flakes oats for our oatmeal. We got a sack of barley from a local farmer to try our hand at malting, but we could use it directly just by running a pound of it through our flaker.

Continue reading “(32) Saturday, November 26, 2011 Bew Day — Night Horse Dry Stout”

Today I am making another batch of my 2011 Holiday Ale. There are four things I am going to do differently with this batch then before.

• I am going to get the mash salts into the mash tun correctly.
• I am going to reduce the vigor of the boil. I have been tracking my brewhouse numbers and I find that my boil off rate is 21% ± 2%. Boil off itself is not bad, but it is a secondary indicator of thermal loading. That has an impact on the reactions that occur in the kettle. Below some level, there is not enough energy to drive off DMS precursors. Above some level, The Maillard reactions start to cause off flavors that can be mistaken for fermentation problems. There is some debate as to what the ideal evaporation rate is, but the suggestions range from 10–15%. Since DMS in Ales does not appear to be as much of a problem, I’m not going to worry about shooting too low.
• I am going to repitch my yeast from the slurry in the last batch. Mr Malty suggests a bit more than half a cup.
• I need to do a better job with the fermentation temperature. This is not so much a plan at this point, as an observation.

Continue reading “(31) Saturday, November 12, 2011 Brew Day — 2011 Holiday Ale”

Die Hard: With a Vengeance. Dir. John McTiernan. Perf. Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, and Samuel L Jackson. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1995. Film.

The Brush Valley Brewing 2011 Holiday Ale is a smooth, full-bodied beer with a rich copper color from traditional, floor-malted English Maris Otter, caramel, and pale chocolate malts lending hints of caramel, chocolate, coffee, and nuts. Cascade hops used throughout the brewing process add subtle flavors and aromas of citrus and spice.The West Yorkshire yeast provides esters reminiscent of marshmallow and hazelnut. At 6.5%, this beer will help keep you warm on cold winter nights.

Recipe

Brewhouse Efficiency: 72%
Boil Volume: 7 gallons (26.5 L)
Boil Gravity: 1.054 SG (13.3 °P)
Original Volume: 5.6 gallons (21.2 L)
Original Gravity: 1.068 SG (16.5 °P)
Final Gravity: 1.021 SG (5.3 °P)
Apparent Degree of Fermentation: 69%
Bitterness (Tinseth): 64 IBU
Alcohol by Volume: 6.5%
Color (Morey): 16 SRM (31 EBC) — Copper
Boil Duration: 60 minutes
Calories per 12-ounce Serving: 232 (127 from Alcohol, 105 from Residual Extract)

FERMENTABLES	Quantity	Percent
Crisp Maris Otter	12.5 lb (5.670 kg)	89.3%
Crisp Crystal 60L	1.25 lb (0.567 kg)	8.9%
Crisp Pale Chocolate	0.25 lb (0.113 kg)	1.8%
	14 lb
HOPS		Bitterness
Cascade, 5.4% AA, 60 minutes	2 oz (57 g)	28.4 IBU
Cascade, 5.4% AA, 30 minutes	2 oz (57 g)	21.8 IBU
Cascade, 5.4% AA, 15 minutes	2 oz (57 g)	14.1 IBU
Cascade, 5.4% AA, Dry hopped	2 oz (57 g)	0 IBU
	8 oz
YEAST		Attenuation
Wyeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale	234B Cells	69%

Continue reading “(30) Sunday, October 29, 2001 Brew Day — 2011 Holiday Ale”

Today’s brew is Jamil Zainasheff’s Dry Stout recipe. For those of you with a copy of Brewing Classic Styles, this is the Cerveza de Malto Seco. Since this recipe is already available online, I am going to go ahead and document here what I am brewing. Perhaps you will feel encouraged to go buy your own copy of the book.

Original Gravity: 1.042 SG
Boil: 60 minutes
Mash: Protein rest for 15 minutes at 120 °F (49 °C) then saccharification rest for 60 minutes at 150 °F (64 °F).
Fermentation: Ferment at 65 °F then do a diacetyl rest.
Serving: Serve at 52–55 °F (11–13 °C) with 1–1.5 volumes of CO₂.

Grain	Amount
Thomas Fawcett & Sons Halcyon	70%
Flaked Barley	20%
Briess Black Barley	10%
Hop
Kent Goldings 60 min.	38.5 IBU
Yeast
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale	162B Cells

Continue reading “(29) Sunday, October 2, 2011 Brew Day — Dry Stout”

Gretchen and I pressed 3½ bushels of the apples from our orchard today. It was a mix of a half-dozen varieties of which we are uncertain, though one is definitely Cortland and another is probably Macintosh.

Gretchen picked the apples Monday and Tuesday and they have sat in the garage all week. I find that letting the apples sit for a week softens them, which makes them easier to press, which produces more juice, and forces them to ripen more, producing more sugar. Some rot, but the improved yield more than makes up for the ones we have to toss.

We got 8¼ gallons of juice. I put 6 gallons in a cleaned and sanitized food grade plastic bucket along with six crushed Campden tablets. We pasteurized the rest, sealing two in clean gallon jugs. The remaining quart is the refrigerator. We will probably drink it for breakfast.

Continue reading “(28) Saturday, September 24, 2011 Brew Day — Cider”

Thursday Evening (9/1) Gretchen and I just picked the hops we grew at the cabin this year. When we did this last year, I told myself that I would be ready to brew with them this year. This is the result of that preparation. Amat Victoria Curam.

I worried about bugs and thought maybe I should wash the hops, so I asked for advice on the AHA Forum.

So that is what I am doing.

I ended up with the following:

• 15¾ ounces of Cascade
• ⅞ ounce of Chinook
• ¾ ounce of Zeus

I also have 1 ounce of Magnum pellets at 13.5% AA — just in case.

Yakima Chief gives the range for Cascade as 4.5–7.0% AA. If I assume I am at the low end of the range, that would give me 4.5% AA for dried hops. Likewise, the Chinook would be 12% and the Zeus would be 14%.

Then there is the question of how to compensate for the undried state of the hops.

If we go with the one-fifth of the low end alpha acid for these hops we get:

Variety	Alpha Acid %
Fresh Cascade	0.9
Fresh Chinook	2.4
Fresh Zeus	2.8

A hop schedule like this seems reasonable:

HOPS	Weight	Bitterness
Magnum, 13.6% AA, 60 minutes	1.00 oz	37 IBU
Fresh Zeus, 2.8% AA, 20 minutes	0.25 oz	1.2 IBU
Fresh Chinook, 2.4% AA, 20 minutes	0.96 oz	1.2 IBU
Fresh Cascade, 0.9% AA, 20 minutes	5.25 oz	7.8 IBU
Fresh Zeus, 2.8% AA, 10 minutes	0.25 oz	0.7 IBU
Fresh Chinook, 2.4% AA, 10 minutes	0.96 oz	0.7 IBU
Fresh Cascade, 0.9% AA, 10 minutes	5.25 oz	4.7 IBU
Fresh Zeus, 2.6% AA, 5 minutes	0.25 oz	0.4 IBU
Fresh Chinook, 2.4% AA, 5 minutes	0.96 oz	0.4 IBU
Fresh Cascade, 0.9% AA, 5 minutes	5.25 oz	2.6 IBU

That gives me a total bitterness of 61 IBU using Tinseth, and a BU:GU ratio of about 1.1 given my 1.056 SG original gravity.

The grain is weighed and crushed, the brewery is set up, and the water is measured out.

See you in the morning.

Continue reading “(27) Friday, September 2, 2011 Brew Day — Harvest Ale”

Today’s beer is different in a couple of ways. First I am using a different hop schedule. This one is based on a presentation from Daniel Morey in December 2000 called “Hop Schedule Guidelines: Award Winning Homebrew and Classic Beer Style Recipes.” The second thing is a different yeast. This one is Wyeast 1768-PC English Special Bitter Yeast. It is a seasonal yeast that is currently available and is similar to 1968 London ESB Ale but slightly less flocculent. The third thing is… I cannot remember the third thing, but I am sure there was one. I’ll think of it.

I remembered the third thing. I am going to go with a different chilling regimen. Last time, I believe that I had a noticeable amount of Dimethyl sulfide (DMS). I believe that this was from my 20-minute hot steep to extract hop aromatics. This time I am going to start my whirlpool cooling right at flame out which is why I wanted to use a different hop schedule in the first place.

Oh, and there’s a fourth thing. I am not going to do any dry hopping in the fermenter. The two ounces of dry hops are all getting added in the keg!

Last night I weighed out and crushed my grain and weighed out my hops. The rest of the hops went in the freezer. I set up the brewery and measured out my mash and sparge water.

Continue reading “(26) Sunday, August 14, 2011 Brew Day – BVBHA1.4”