(33) Saturday, December 31, 2011 Brew Day — BVBHA1.5

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”

An Obsession with Brewing Protocol

Sacred Grounds:

“An obsession with brewing protocol is generally the mark of an amateur — that pitiable person who makes a simple thing complicated in the futile hope of feeling kinship with the professionals. Nevertheless, if you are making coffee you might as well make it well.” — Kelefa Sanneh

(Via Boing Boing.)

It is a quote about brewing coffee, but it seems to me to equally apply to brewing beer. Something I struggle with at the moment is trying to decide how much of what I know is how to use brewing equipment or brewing techniques and how much of it is how to brew beer.

Changing the Night Horse

The start of the journal entry for my most recent batch of dry stout lists the changes from the previous batch. I did not expect much impact from the changes, so I felt comfortable changing five things at a time. Now that the new batch has fully conditioned and I can really appreciate it, I can say it is significantly different from the first. There are no overt flaws, but

  • The roast flavor is harsher
  • The body is thinner
  • The head is lighter in color, thinner, is not long lasting, and leaves little lace

I want to look at the changes to see what I might want to do next time.

Continue reading “Changing the Night Horse”

LHBS

I took a drive down the valley to the Bald Eagle Brewing Company today. Tom Sweet, the owner, seems like a friendly and knowledgable guy. He has a nice variety of beer and winemaking ingredients and equipment. Tom offers his own beer kits, grains and extracts from Briess and Muntons, yeast from Wyeast and Fermentis, and a nice range of what I think are Hopunion hops. I picked up a few things. His prices are within a few pennies of the best prices I can find online. I do not have to pay shipping. I do not have to wait days to get my ingredients. I think I will go back the next time I brew.