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.

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.

Racked the Big Honkin' Stout and the Scott's Pale Ale Last Night Too....

Quick note here, after bottling the Hefe', I shifted my other two projects into secondary fermentation vessels. I also took gravity readings on them as well.

The Big Honkin' Stout, originally weighing in at 1.072 is now at 1.020 after just 8 days in the primary. That would be about 7.3% A/V, which is my biggest beer to date. I have shifted it over to the secondary fermentation vessel for a full month of secondary fermentation yeast love in.

The SPA was also moved over into secondary and it has gone from 1.062 to 1.010, which consequently is also 7.3% A/V. Another big beer, only this one started off a bit smaller than the BHStout and has dried up a bit more sugar and turned it into alcohol.

More on these brews come bottling day. Scott's Pale Ale was only racked to clean it up a bit. There really isn't any more fermentation I wanted out of the beer, now just clarity. The BHStout is in for at least a month as it sweats out the sweet some more. I am hoping it arrives somewhere around 1.014, which will be a very rich beverage.

Scott's Pale Ale - Redux - The Brew

Batch 13: Since I brewed this beer last summer I have wanted to revisit this brew and now I have my chance. My goal is a light hoppy brew with a very light color, a high percent alcohol and lots of hop bitterness.



Scott's Pale Ale

Brewer:	Scottieie		Email:	-
Beer:	Scott's Pale Ale		Style:	American Pale Ale
Type:	Extract		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	7 HCU (~6 SRM)		Bitterness:	47 IBU
OG:	1.058		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	6.2% v/v (4.9% w/w)
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.097	3 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 2 lb. Rice extract
Hops:	1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. Willamette (5% AA, 15 min.)

This recipe was generated by The Beer Recipator.

Comments: Wow, the pilsner malt was a lot lighter than I had anticipated and it will be a very light brew. The next time I brew this beer, I am going to subtract one pound of the rice syrup solids with 1 lbs. of carapils malt barley and and 1/2 lbs. of rice hulls. My guess is the carapils will add some extra flavor to the brew and the hulls will add some head to the beer. Of course I don't have the full scoop on how the beer will turn out, but will save that for a later post. My O.G. turned out to be 1.062 a tad higher than the 1.058 anticipated by the recipator.

Brew date: 1/16/10
Batch #: 13

Scott's Light & Hoppy Pale Ale - Reloaded

As you may or may not know, I like to brew beer. I have been brewing for just under 1 year and now that I feel like I am pretty decent brewer. I am an extract brewer meaning that I don't brew with all grain as I don't have the equipment. Most of my batches do have some grain in the brew, but not all of them. This recipe is an example of one that doesn't have any grain in the process.

I am going to start experimenting a bit with some recipes. Thus far I have one under my belt, what I dubbed the Really Light Pale Ale. What I intended with that batch was to create a light and hoppy pale ale through the use of some Rice Sugar in the recipe. You can read all about the old recipe in the link above, but to work towards perfecting that beer, I am going to try and up the gravity a bit on it, by using 6 lbs. of Pilsen Malt Syrup and 2 lbs. of rice syrup solids. I also intend on upping the bitterness, but am very interested in dry hopping 1 oz. of hops in this recipe to get the flowery aroma one gets when dry hopping depending on the type of hops.

Calculations were done using the Beer Recipator, found here.




Scott's Light & Simple Hoppy Pale Ale

Brewer:	Scottieie		Email:	-
Beer:	Scott's Light & Simple Hoppy Pale Ale		Style:	American Pale Ale
Type:	Extract		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	7 HCU (~6 SRM)		Bitterness:	41 IBU
OG:	1.058		FG:	1.011
Alcohol:	6.1% v/v (4.8% w/w)
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.097	3 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 2 lb. Rice extract
Hops:	2 oz. Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA, 15 min.) 1 oz. Styrian Goldings (aroma)

I will keep everyone posted as to the results of the brew after I brew it.

Batch Number 8. Really Light Pale Ale - Suggest A Name?

Cat approves of the finished product.

I made up a beer recipe that I thought I would be embarrassed to admit to making up. I wanted a really light, but bitter pale ale type of beer so I used rice syrup solids for some of my fermentable sugars. What I ended up with was something that I was surprised to say I really liked and has been well received by some other beer lovers.

The beer has a really light color at ~6 HCU's, a nice bitterness to it at around 41 IBU's and ended up with a ~5% alcohol by volume.

Here is the batch ingredients for a 4 gallon batch size:

- 4 lbs. light malt extract
- 1.5 lbs. rice syrup solids
- 2 oz. cascade hops
- 1 oz. goldings hops
- 1 pkt. Mutton's yeast
- bit of Irish moss

Pretty standard instructions:
- bring 3 gal. H2O to boil
- turn off heat
- add sugars
- turn on heat
- add hops at 60, 45 and 15 mins. into the boil
- add Irish Moss at 15 mins. left to aid in clarification.
- cool in carboy or bucket and add yeast at optimal yeast temperature
- ferment 1-2 weeks or until F.G. gets down to 1.010 or so.
- bottle and wait

Oh wait...relax....have a home brew through at least 100% of these instructions.

So, for the future, I am going to make a 5 gal. batch and change a few things about the recipe trying to give it a bit more hop as well as more sugar to increase the alcohol content as well as the flavor a bit. My idea is that the rice will add sugar for fermentation, but that sugar won't be adding too much in the way of flavor, kind of like an American Macrobrew but the hop will let you know that it definitely isn't that! I am also trying to achieve a high rate of attenuation and would like most of the sugars to be converted to alcohol for a dry crisp taste.

- 5 lbs. light malt extract
- 3 lbs. rice syrup solids
- 3 oz. cascade hops
- 2 oz. goldings hops
- 1 pkt. muttons dry yeast
- Irish Moss

I am going to dry hop 1 oz of the goldings hops in a secondary fermentation vessel for a week. The rest of the hops will be added at 60, 45, 30 and 15 mins. Otherwise pretty similar, with just a bit more fermentable sugar per batch size than what I did before.

Conversions were done using the Beer Recipator 2.2.

As I get this recipe tweaked out, I will be trying to think of a name. Anyone has any suggestions, send it my way.

As usual, pics to follow some time soon.

Batch Number 3: Gopher Pale Ale - Wind River Brewing Co.

Great batch of beer that went way too quickly at a party we had for Cat's Ph.D. defense.

Ingredients:

3 lbs. Gold Malt Extract
3 lbs. Amber Malt Extract
1 oz. Willamette Hops Bittering
1 oz. Fuggles Aroma Hops
1/2 lbs. Carmel Malt
1/2 lbs. Carapils
1 pkt. dry yeast

O.G. 1.050
F.G. 1.010

Did a short secondary fermentation on this one.

Brewed on 4/25/09
Bottled on 5/6/2009