Mar 11, 2008

Noc-a-homa I.P.A.

Target O.G. = 1.060 O.G. = 1.060!
Target IBU = 50 IBU = 52.6

This is the first beer I am making with the help of Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels. Never before have I set a target original gravi
ty and IBU. We will see how close I get. I am also making this with on East Kent Goldings for hops since I bought a pound of them on ebay. I expect this beer to be gold / amber; a step or two darker than the Gold Glove Leapday Ale. I am still reading the chapter on color.

Malt Bill:
85% (11.5 lbs) Marris Otter Two Row (x 36 Potential Gravity) = 414
11% (1.5 lbs) Crystal Malt 10L or 20L (x 34 Potential Gravity) = 51
4% (8 oz) CaraPils (x 34 Potential Gravity) = 17



I have been averaging efficiency at 72% ( GHR, Bitter, and Golden). I am going to shoot for 75%.

Target total potential gravity = 482 of which 360 (6 gallons x 60) is 74.68%.


The Hops:
Bittering Hops = 1 oz East Kent Goldings (5.6% AA) -- 90 minutes
Flavoring = 1 oz East Kent Goldings (5.6% AA) -- 30 minutes
Aroma = 1 0z East Kent Goldings (5.6% AA) -- 15 minutes
Aroma = 1 0z East Kent Goldings (5.6% AA) -- end
---
Dry Hop = 1 oz East Kent Goldings (5.6% AA) -- dry hop in secondary

The above additions equal an estimated IBU of 52.6, which is higher than the 50 I targeted, but the hops I am using are a little old, so this may even out.


Mashing:

13.5 pounds of grain x 1.3 quarts = 4.39 gallons. I am going to heat it to 165 hoping for a mash around 155. I have boiling water in the tun now hoping to minimize heat loss.

By my calculations, I will need about 3.3 gallons of sparge water to run off 6 gallons. This will be 170 degrees.

Fifteen minutes in: Temperature is at 156 degrees, so heating the tun up and covering it with blankets seemed to help. I am going to let this do its thing and not fuck with it to read temps for a while.

One Hour, Fifteen minutes in: I checked the temp and read it as 150.

One Hour, Twenty-two minutes in: I added about one pint of boiling water and shut the lid.

Running Off -- Wort looks paler than I expected.

Boiling -- Was boiling . . . 90 minutes.

As you might have seen above, I hit my target gravity on the nose -- 1.060. I did not expect that to happen. What can I say?

Notes:

3.23.08 -- Transfered to secondary and dry hopped with 1 oz EKG (5.5% AA).

4.20.08 -- Kegged. Final Gravity = 1.021. ABV = 5.1%. Sample in the hydrometer tube did not taste overly hoppy. We'll see.

5.11.08 -- I am very pleased with the Noc-a-homa. I intended this to be a milder IPA, not something more typical of an American Pale Ale. The English hops and the target IBU makes this beer mild, yet hoppy. It is, however a bit overcarbonated since I jacked the gas up and then forgot.

6.0.08 -- Noc-a-homa has cleared up very nicely, though it still is a bit overcarbonated. I have found this to happen in beers I have dry-hopped. With the abundance of EKG in my freezer, I will certainly make this again, though I may increase the IBUs just a tad. I do not want to make this taste like an APA (which would be hard without any C hops), I just would like to make the EKG a little more pronounced.




Mar 9, 2008

"22" / "22" Jr.


"22" was born from my desire to brew something strong. When this is done in an all-grain way, it would be silly to throw away perfectly good grains that have perfectly good sugar in them, so that is how "22 Jr." came along. He was a nice German lager while he lasted. Now it is "22"'s turn to shine (or at least get bottled) after mellowing patiently for nearly three months.

"22"'s malt bill was simple:

10 lbs Munich II
10 lbs Vienna

I considered calling this one a Salzberg beer since that is directly between Munich and Vienna, but I opted with "22" since this was the 22nd beer I ever brewed.

I mashed the 20 lbs of grain in 6.5 gallons of 170 degree strike water. The mash maintained a nice 155 degree temp.

I then ran off 4 gallons of wort for "22", then ran off the remaining water plus 170 degree sparge water until my 6 gallon pot was full.

I hopped "22" this way:

.75 oz Pearle (1st wort runnings)
.75 oz Pearle (60 Minutes)
1oz Hallertaur (15 minutes) (added Irish Moss)
1oz Hallertaur (End)

I hopped "22" Jr. this way:

.5 oz Pearle (first wort runnings)
.5 oz Pearle (90 minutes)
1 oz Hallertaur (15 minutes)
1 oz Hallertaur (End)

Gravities:

"22":
O.G. = 1.094 (yeah!)
F.G. = 1.022
9.4% Alcohol by Volume

1 week in Primary
3 months in Secondary


"22" Jr.:
O.G. = 1.040
F.G. = 1.012
3.6% Alcohol by Volume

1 week in primary
7 weeks in secondary
It took about two weeks to drink all the Jr. It was my first draft beer.

3.9.08 -- Bottled "22" after it spent nearly three months in the secondary. I could already tell it is going to be strong. I can't wait to see what it is like once it conditions. I am going to try to keep my hands off this one for a while, though I am sure I will have my first try in a couple of weeks.


3.23.08 -- Tasting notes from first bottle of "22": Hardy Carbonated: what a waste. It does have a lovely color, and a sweet malty taste that covers the alcohol content nicely. I think I will go shake the rest of these a little to make sure they carbonate.

4.28.08 -- Tried another tonight -- much, much better. This beer is going to age very well. It already has a very deep malt character, and the hops balance it nicely. The alcohol warmth comes through nicely. This will encourage me to brew a strong ass beer every winter.
3.1.09 -- It was snowing, so that made me want some strong lager.