This page will be a little compendium of my recent homebrewing adventures. Last updated February 25, 2011.
My Homebrewing History:
I started in January of 1994, after living above a homebrewer for several months. He made tasty beer, and I loved waking up to the smell of home-roasting malt seeping into my apartment. I moved to all grain in 1996 and have been brewing on and off again since. Prior to mid-2008, my longest hiatus was about six months, but having a three tap kegerator actually drove me to drink commercial beer almost exclusively for about 18 months. When the kegerator died, I quickly tired of paying six pack prices for beer, and restarted brewing in the Spring of 2010. I’ve been having a lot more fun this time around.
Fermenting Now:
Experimental Batch 1: A grist that is equal parts 2 row, raw wheat and cherry puree, with just a handful or two of CaraMunich fermented entirely with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis.
Coming Up:
Batch 9: A midweight stout. Recipe still in development.
Recent Batches (since I restarted brewing in earnest in 2010):
Batch 1: Modified Northern Brewer Three Hearted Ale Kit – just upped the hops.
Batch 2: Modified Northern Brewer Extra Pale Ale Kit – upped the hops
I went with a couple of kits when I restarted brewing to make sure I would stick with it, so I wouldn’t waste a bunch of bulk grain if I didn’t. Both kits were fine, but even with increased hops, they didn’t scratch my hop itch. Either I’m an extreme hop head, or I just get crappy hop utilization with my system.
Batch 3: My Summer beer. Grist was one third raw Missouri wheat, 500g Carapils and the rest Cargill 2 Row to an OG of 1.042. Bittered with Columbus. Flameout hops were 40g Citra, 20g Columbus, 20g, Centennial with a repeat of that for dry hop. I loved this beer (something I rarely say about my own beer) – incredibly refreshing and hoppy.
Batch 4: Similar to Batch 3, except I dropped the wheat to only 500g. This was a demonstration brew for a group from church. Beer turned out well, despite some brewday hiccups due to too much talking and not enough paying attention on my part.
Batch 5: Similar to batch 4, except no wheat and only Centennial and Columbus. Split with Zac. Nice beer and quickly gone.
Batch 6: A Fall beer. Maris Otter base, with a kilo of Cargill 2 row thrown in (still working on finishing it), some Fawcett Crystal 60, and 500g of raw wheat to an OG of 1.055. Bittering was German Magnum again to about 30 IBU. Flameout/whirlpool hopping was 40/30/10g of East Kent Goldings, Styrian Goldings and Citra. Dry hopping was 30/20/20g EKG, Styrian and Citra.
Batch 7: 1.062 OG; 64% Maris Otter; 21% Cargill 2 Row (have a sack I’m using up so drop some into each recipe); 7% MFB CaraMunich 40; 7% raw Missouri Wheat. German Magnum for bittering to about 30 IBU; flameout/whirlpool hops were 30g of Citra, 20g Columbus, 20g Centennial. It was dry-hopped for 14 days with 40g Citra, 30g Columbus (adds dank), and 20g Centennial.
Batch 8: 1.060 – all US 2 row, apart from 500g of wheat and 250g of CaraMunich 40. Bittered with German Magnum to 40 IBU, some Columbus at 15 min, Centennial, Ahantum and Citra at flameout, dry-hopped for 14 days with a lot of Ahantum supported by some Columbus (for dank) and a touch of Citra.
My System:
Currently, my batch size is 25 liters into the fermenter. I run all brewing water through a filter to remove chlorinizing chemicals that our water company adds. My mash tun is a $16 rectangular cooler with a Bazooka screen, and stainless steel ball valve. I batch sparge. I have a non-adjustable, non-motorized JSP mill, and I grind my grist twice. I use a $40 Bayou Classic as a burner, and have a 9 gallon stainless brewpot. I use a 25 ft immersion chiller to cool, though I have a 2d one I use as a prechiller in a salted ice water bath during the summer heat. I ferment in 7.9 gallon plastic buckets. Right now, my entire brewday takes approximately 4.5 hours from starting to grind the grist through clean-up, and I get 77% efficiency.
