Bottling the Toasted Rye Porter

The Toasted Rye Porter has been in secondary for 2 weeks after a 1 week stay in the hotel de primary fermenter. F.G. was about 1.017, a bit high and I believe I am going to attribute this to using Mutton's Ale Yeast (never again) to ferment. Bad idea I suppose, lesson learned. Regardless the brew had a nice flavor, good aroma and wonderful color, and with a 5.4 ABV, it won't be terrible, just a bit on the thick side. Regardless it is in the bottle, perhaps some bottle conditioning will do it some good? Enjoy the pretty pictures...

Mars à la Saison

Tis the season for brewing a Saison. I brewed one last year and was quite pleased. This year, I am brewing another and hoping for less fruity esters and more peppery flavors. I have concocted another pepper/bourbon mixture as I did with my most recent Rye Pale Ale, consisting of about 20 peppercorns and 1/4 cup of bourbon. The bourbon will be infused until bottling in about 3 weeks or so. For this Saison I have opted to steep 1 lbs. of Malted Belgian Pilsner, 1/2 lbs. of malted white wheat and 1/2 lbs. of oats for my mini-partial-mash. The oats should produce a creaminess and the wheat will aid in giving the beer a nice head retention. The Belgian Pilsner probably won't add all that much to the Pils-LME, but I had it on hand. The remainder of the fermentables are 6 lbs. of pilsner liquid malt extract and 2 lbs. of turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw), that should help add to the alcohol, but keep the flavor light. For hops, I have enjoyed the simply spiciness of the French Stisselspalt in a previous Saison, but added an ounce of Cascade's at the 45 min. mark to add some much needed alpha's. Hopefully this won't reflect too much on the flavor, yet enhance the bitterness. Only time will tell on this one!

Here is the recipe:

Beer:	Mars à la Saison		Style:	Belgian Saison
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	14 HCU (~9 SRM)		Bitterness:	25 IBU
OG:	1.067		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	7.1% v/v (5.6% w/w)
Grain:	1 lb. Belgian Pilsner 8 oz. Rolled oats .8 oz. Flaked wheat
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.084	4 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 2 lb. Brown sugar
Hops:	1 oz. French Stisselspalt (2.9% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. French Stisselspalt (aroma)

This table generated by The Beer Recipator.

The Two Tony's India Brown Ale

While in Aiken, SC I had the pleasure of brewing with Anthony and Tony, both members of the Aiken Brewers Club. Together we brewed a handful of beers in my brief stint in SC, but one of the most memorable was the India Brown Ale, a rich malty beer with great hop aromas and bitterness. The beer was astounding and was modeled after Terrapin Breweries Brown IPA. The two Tony's and I did justice to the style when we first brewed it, and I am attempting to do justice to that brew.

Beer:	The 2 Tony's IBA		Style:	India Brown Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	55 HCU (~23 SRM)		Bitterness:	40 IBU
OG:	1.068		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	7.2% v/v (5.6% w/w)
Grain:	1 lb. American Munich 8 oz. American crystal 60L 8 oz. American chocolate
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.084	4 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 1 lb. Light dry malt extract 1 lb. Brown sugar
Hops:	1 oz. Warrior (17.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Vanguard (5% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. East Kent Goldings (aroma)

This table generated by The Beer Recipator.

Toasted Rye Revolting Wisconsinite Porter

In honor of worker solidarity in Wisconsin, I brewed a robust porter and in addition to the typical malty & chocolaty grain that one would expect I have added a pound of rye grain, 1/2 flaked and 1/2 whole rye nuts. What I am looking for in this brew is a typical porter, a bit beefed up with the addition of some brown sugar and a hint of spiciness that one would expect from the addition of rye into the mix. This could be considered an experiment of sorts as I have never indulged in a dark stout/porter with rye grain. The OG was dead on with what the recipator sugested around 1.060. I am fermenting this with a good old Mutton's Ale yeast packet, which produced a vigorous fermentation after about 12 hours in the carboy. Way to go Mutton's! I intend on fermenting this around 65 degrees for a week in primary and a week or 2 in secondary, although I might rack to secondary sooner if the fermentation drops off soon and produces a nice flocculation quickly. We'll see when the time comes. For now it is burbling away.

On the right is the rye pale ale that was bottled the same day and the left is our Revolting Wisconsinite Rye Porter.

Beer:	Toasted Rye Revolting Wisconsinite Porter		Style:	Robust Porter
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	93 HCU (~33 SRM)		Bitterness:	52 IBU
OG:	1.059		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	6.0% v/v (4.7% w/w)
Grain:	8 oz. American crystal 60L 8 oz. American chocolate 8 oz. Flaked rye 8 oz. Rye (raw)
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.073	4 gallons
	6 lb. Dark malt extract 1 lb. Brown sugar
Hops:	1 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 30 min.)

This table generated by The Beer Recipator.

Tasting of the What's In a Name - New Year Pale Ale

So it has been a couple weeks since I bottled the Pale Ale and it is time for an official tasting. Of course I have already tried a few in the run up to the tasting, with the hopeful notion that it would be ready for business, but the beer still hadn't settled out and had a overpowering citrus aroma. So after a few weeks in the bottle here goes:

Smell – The first reaction is still citrus and herb, yet a bit more subdued than I recall when the beer was initially tasted after 1 week. The cascade hops still present an an initially overpowering experience, but I think a couple more weeks in the bottle will help with that.

Taste – The taste is refreshing, almost like that of a cyclist (beer and lemonade). There is very little noticeable sugar/malt sensation, but a large amount of bitter on the back of the tongue characteristic of some hopier beers. This beer was made with 3 oz. of Cascade hops @ 60, 30 and flame out times. There is a bitter aftertaste to the beer, yet it doesn't spoil the experience. I feel as if I want another sip.

Mouthfeel – The beer is light and refreshing with minimal malty character, only enough to remind you it is a beer. The attenuation was high and thus most sugars were converted to alcohol. The 1.010 FG was a bit more than I expected but am enjoying the light refreshing character.

Drinkability & Notes – The beer is definitely drinkable. The appearance is still a bit cloudy, either a result of chill haze or the fall out hasn't finished happening. I am not experienced enough to know the difference yet. The head upon pouring was a nice 1/2 inch that tapered down to a thin clean film of bubbles. As I was drinking the beer, I noticed lots of CO2 produced as I was tilting the glass towards my mouth.

Planning a Solera Keg Fermentation....

My inspiration comes from a paragraph in Randy Mosher's book, Radical Brewing, where he mentions a Barley Wine Solera. Basically, brew up a lot of beer, not just any beer, but a big one, put it in a big fermentation vessel (I am thinking a sanke keg) and only pull a bit a year, replacing it with new wort.

I had my own idea for this...even have a name for the beer that I want to brew.

1. Obtain a sanke keg.
2. Have a coney keg lid welded to the top of your sanke keg that is air tight. Drill a hole for the air lock. Add a ball valve at the very bottom where the keg is convex and yeast would settle. Add a second valve on the side towards the bottom.
3. Brew up a batch of beer (5 gal.) and put it into primary fermentation in a glass carboy. Make sure the beer weights in around 1.090 O.G. Ferment for a week or so with a yeast that can handle big beers.
4. After a couple weeks in primary, rack the first beer off to secondary, leaving a good supply of yeast in the bottom of the primary fermentor.
5. Brew up a second batch of similar quality and character brew. Put it in the primary fermentor with the yeast from the previous batch.
6. After a couple weeks, start brewing a 3rd batch of beer. Again, similar quality and character.
7. Put all three batches in the sanke keg fermentor that you built in step 2.
8. Let it sit for 6 months, then pull off 4 or 5 gallons of beer, leaving 8-10 gallons in the sanke keg fermentor. You will remove the beer using the ball valve you put into the side of the keg, close to the bottom.
9. Bottle with 1/2 the priming sugar. This is a Barley Wine, so you don't need/want big head. You might also have some sugar unattenuated that will provide some carbonation. Tough to say, trial and error.
10. The valve in the bottom of the keg should allow you to remove dead yeast cells periodically. Best to do this at least every 6 months, perhaps more.
11. Brew up enough beer to replace what you removed from the sanke keg, again high gravity beer. Put it directly into the sanke keg fermentor. The yeast will have a field day with the fresh sweet wort.

The goal would be to pull 5 gallons of beer off 2 times a year and each time, immediately replace it with 1/3rd fresh wort. Except for the first pull, the beer would have an average age of 1 year old.

If something like this were to work out well, I could see doing a solera fermentation on a big stout beer, but perhaps not as big as a barley wine. Something in the 1.075-1.080 range. Perhaps it would be something that could be brewed and bottled quarterly since it wouldn't be as big as the BW? If I can do 2 solera's, why not a 3rd with a Big Belgian Triple?

Frodo Likes Rye Pale Ale - Elijah Jackson RPA

I share a birthday with Frodo Baggins, Jackson Pollack and St. Thomas Aquinas. Frodo is a hero (ask a hobbit, any will tell you), Pollack was an amazing artist and Aquinas sadly inspired too many people with his idiocy. In honor of Elijah, Jackson, and my birthday; I bring you Elijah Jackson Rye Pale Ale. Forget about St. Thomas Aquinas; he sucks.

The Rye Pale Ale style has to be my favorite. As much as I enjoyed the standard pale ale, the spiciness of the rye along with the hop character of a pale ale is heaven in a glass. What I am doing is taking a recipe, similar to what I made here, and mashing flaked rye and raw rye berries along with the standard bohemian pilsner grain. They say it helps to pre-cook the flaked rye into an oatmeal type of consistency, then add it to the sparge. I have done this and I have just added the flaked rye uncooked to the sparge and see little difference in results.

When I go to bottle this one, I am going to amp this up just a bit more. For a month I have been soaking 2 tablespoons of peppercorns in a cup of bourbon. I took a sip of this on brew day to see how it was coming along and it was off the chain spicy. I have had good luck with adding pepper to beer in the past (need to post my Saison experience) and I think this will hit the spot.

Here is what the Recipator says about the recipe.


Elijah Jackson RPA

Brewer:	Scott		Email:	-
Beer:	Elijah Jackson RPA		Style:	Rye Pale Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	8 HCU (~6 SRM)		Bitterness:	23 IBU
OG:	1.060		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	6.5% v/v (5.1% w/w)
Grain:	1 lb. German Pilsner 8 oz. Flaked rye 8 oz. Rye (raw)
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.121	2.5 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 1 lb. Belgian candi sugar 2 oz. Molasses
Hops:	1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (aroma)

This table generated by The Beer Recipator.




O.G. was 1.060, so it was dead on. I pitched this with Fermentis' Safbrew S-33 yeast. I haven't used this particular yeast strain before, but have had lots of good beers from Fermentis' products.

I will let you know the results in a month or so!

Standard Pale Ale - 1st Brew of 2011

Hello Everyone,
After a long blogging hiatus and nearly a nearly as long brewing hiatus, I am going to try and be a more responsible blogger and brewer. Isolated in what seems like the backwoods, I am finding my isolating existence in the Hudson River Valley to be a bit more time alone than I enjoy. I have yet to find any brewers in proximity to me to share in my trials and tribulations and long for the days of brewing with a friend and sharing some home brew with other like-minded folks. With that, I go it alone in 2011 and look forward to my future life in Maine, where perhaps I can brew with some other folks interested in brewing good home brew!

To the 1st brew of 2011!

I have enjoyed brewing pale ales for quite some time. I learned to like beer; drinking the Free State Breweries Copperhead Pale Ale and Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. They are easy to brew in that the hop character hides a multitude of brewing sins. I have traditionally bumped up the gravity with additions of rice syrup solids or turbinado sugar, but for this one I wanted a quick fermenting, session quality brew, that is lightly hopped and that will quickly replenish my brew stash.

What's In a Name - New Year Pale Ale

What's In a Name - New Year Pale Ale		Style:	American Pale Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	8 HCU (~6 SRM)		Bitterness:	27 IBU
OG:	1.047		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	4.8% v/v (3.8% w/w)
Grain:	1 lb. Bohemian Pale Ale Malt
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.095	2.5 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract
Hops:	1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (aroma)

This web page generated by The Beer Recipator.


Initial gravity weighed in around 1.048. Recipator says it should be slightly less, but who is counting. After a week in Primary Fermentation, I racked to secondary. Gravity reading was 1.015. I will keep this one for a week in secondary and hope the gravity settles in at a crisp 1.010-1.012.

Cambriged Brewing Company - Yum!

Just took a trip to Boston, MA and enjoyed a sampling of the high gravity brews at the Cambridge Brewing Company. What a pleasure to try some amazing brews. The Belgian Pale Ale was sheer delight. Hoppy, but with that characteristic phenolic flavoring of some Belgian brews only very subtle. I wanted to give the Barley Wine a try but the realization that I had to at some point drive made up my mind that I would have to try it when it was safer to do so.....

Here is the brew docket on my sample journey:

• Three Rings Belgian Pale Ale
• Big Man Ale CBC's Winter Seasonal I.P.A.
• Late Harvest I.P.A. India Pale Ale with New England hops!
• Tripel Threat Belgian-style Strong Ale
• Harvey Milk Stout Sweet stout served via nitrogen faucet.

Cream Corn Ale

I'm not so sure where the cream part comes into play, but the name sounded good to me. When I was dreaming this brew up, I was thinking of something that imparted a bit of creaminess (hopefully carbonation will help with that). Perhaps next time I brew this I will use some lactose sugar instead of corn sugar as an adjunct to try and impart a brief, but definite Creaminess to the beer. Regardless, here is the recipe:

Creamy Corn Ale

Brewer:	Scottieie		Email:	-
Beer:	Creamy Corn Ale		Style:	Cream Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	7 HCU (~6 SRM)		Bitterness:	23 IBU
OG:	1.056		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	6.0% v/v (4.7% w/w)
Grain:	8 oz. American 2-row 1 lb. Flaked corn
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.094	3 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 1 lb. Corn sugar
Hops:	.5 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.) .25 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.) .5 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 30 min.) .25 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 30 min.)

Spreadsheet was generated by The Beer Recipator.

Scott's Pale Ale - Bottled and Wow

I hate to brag, scratch that, I brag every once in a while and I love it. Usually I am a pretty harsh self critic, but on the SPA (Scott's Pale Ale), I am really excited about this brew. It is my own recipe (First one mind you), and the first time I tried it, wow, it was good. The second go around of this brew is even more potent alcohol wise. I Only got 43 - 12 oz. bottles of this brew. I did put it through a secondary fermentation, so you always  loose some beer that way, but I think I didn't add as much of the H2O when I made the beer, so stronger brew.

When bottling, it was amazing to smell....the hop regime on this recipe is intense and it smells like a million bucks. In a week when this brew is ready, I just can't wait. It is going to be a delight to down one of these.

A few notes, the final final gravity was 1.012 after the addition of the priming sugar. I did add a smidgen more priming sugar just to give it a touch more carbonation. I hope it works and creates happy little bottles of beer and not improvised explosive devices.

Bottled on: 2/13/2009
F.G. 1.012
Time in primary:  15 days
Time in secondary: 12 days

Building my Own Rye Pale Ale

The move to the south has led me to discover some new great beers, one of which is Terrapin Beer's, Rye Pale Ale. They are a brewery from not too far off in Athens' Georgia. The brew is very tasty, begging to be served with something spicy. One of the fun parts of learning about new brews is that sometimes I find something I want to try brewing myself.

I am already fond of my own Pale Ale recipe, so what if I mixed it up a bit steeping a pound of malted rye along with a half pound of honey malted barley and a quarter pound of rice hulls. On the sugar side of things, 6 lbs. of golden malt extract and a pound or two of sugar in the raw to boost the alcohol yet not add any additional flavoring. As with the SPA, I am trying to achieve a pretty light beer, with lots of alcohol and lots of bitter and flavorful hop to it. I have most of the ingredients for this one, just a matter of time before I get around to brewing it. The biggest hurdle might be emptying some bottles. That means enjoying some brew!


Scott's Rye PA

Brewer:	Scottieie		Email:	-
Beer:	Scott's Rye PA		Style:	American Pale Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	8 HCU (~6 SRM)		Bitterness:	50 IBU
OG:	1.068		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	7.5% v/v (5.9% w/w)
Grain:	12 oz. Belgian pale 1 lb. Flaked rye
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.113	3 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 2 lb. Cane sugar
Hops:	1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 15 min.)

This web page generated by The Beer Recipator.