Greenfield Brew Crew - American Wheat Ale

Well, it's been over 10 years since I've posted - mostly because I brewed only a handful of times in those ten years.  But it looks like I'm back in the saddle so hopefully with my new brew crew the brewing will be more consistent...

I’ve had a several year hiatus from brewing, but was at a Kentucky Derby party in our new neighborhood and it came up that I am a home brewer (once a brewer, always a brewer, right?).  One of my new friends also used to brew.  He recently retired and was looking for an excuse to brew again.  I have another longtime friend that has also moved to our neighborhood and also wanted to get in on the action.  Over the next few weeks we discussed our brew day and it became clear that we had three very different tastes in beer.  I cautioned that we wanted to make an easy beer first to get our feet wet.  Everyone ended up compromising a little and we decided on an American Wheat Beer.  I based it off my previously brewed Amarillo American Wheat recipes, however those were basically session White IPAs and one of my co-brewers is not a fan of bitter beers, so I was trying to keep the bittering in check targeting 30 IBUs.

I have pounds and pounds of hops (that have been kept properly sealed and stored at sub-zero temperatures) in my freezer.  Although I’ve kept them stored properly, you have to assume some degree of degradation of the alpha acids.  I think I over estimated that degradation because this beer is much more bitter than 30 IBUs – it drinks likes it’s in the 50 range.  I’d brew it again in a second because it is a perfect White Session IPA, but it just wasn’t what I was aiming for (I guess I’m out of practice).

It was a pretty long evening of brewing, but honestly it went fairly smooth for not brewing for several years.  It was nice to have friends to brew with.  I had never brewed with others before and I think I could get used to it.

Brew Date: 6/7/2026
Beer Number: B54
Beer Name: Greenfield Brew Crew Wheat
Type: American Wheat
Primary Fermenter(s): Eric’s 6 gal. glass carboy (12 days); 3 gal. glass carboy(12 days); 3 gal. PET carboy (12 days)
Secondary Fermenter: none
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.010
Expected IBU: 30 (actually drinks like 50+)
Expected SRM: 4
Alcohol %: 5.4%

Ingredients:
9.25 lbs. American 2-row malt
9.5 lbs. white wheat

4 oz. acid malt

25g Warrior pellet hops (x.x%AA) 60 min.

56g Amarillo pellet hops (x.x%AA) 15 min.

28g Liberty pellet hops (x.x%AA) 15 min.
56g. Amarillo pellet hops (x.x%AA) 5 min.
28g. Liberty pellet hops (x.x% AA) 5 min.
56g. Amarillo pellet hops (x.x%AA) 1 min.

28g. Liberty pellet hops (x.x% AA) 5 min.
Safeale US-05 – 2 packets in 2L starter

Yeast Starter (2026-06-04):

1. Boiled 200ml in 2L of filtered water in Erlenmeyer flask;
2. Covered with sanitized foil and allowed to cool ~2 hours;
3. Boiled 1c. filtered water and transferred to coffee cup to cool;
4. Once cooled, added 2 packets US-05 (dated 2025-03) to coffee cup to rehydrate;
5. Placed starter flask in refrigerator and until temperature dropped cool to touch (75F estimate);
6. Pitched wort from coffee cup into flask and placed on stir plate at ~2PM;
7. Plate was intermittently throwing the stir bar; Until 2026-06-05 at 7AM, estimate starter was stirred roughly ½ the time;
8. At this time, adjusted stir bar and speed to better handle the spin;
9. Approximately 8AM, high kreusen and “yeast over”
10. Left on stir plate until 6/7 ~8AM at which point it was placed in the refrigerator to cold crash.
11. While bringing wort to a boil, collected approximately 1L of wort from grain bag in separate pan and boiled for ~5 minutes.  Cooled in an ice bath(allowed it to get down into the 40s by mistake) and then transferred to the starter flask, swirling regularly to wake up the yeast;

 Wort

1. Morning of brew day, collected 14 gallons of soft Reedville water and treated with 1 camden tablet;
2. Double-crushed grain in Barley Crusher;
3. Heated 48 qts. strike water to @155F;
4. Added grains to grain basket (in gain bag) and stirred – temp. settled at @149F, added heat periodically to keep temp between 149 and 151;
5. mashed @ 60 min;
6. Took a refractometer reading which showed preboil gravity to be ~1.049;
7. Added ~2 gallons of pre-collected/treated water to bring refractometer reading to ~1.045;
8. Pulled grain basket and allowed to drip into kettle while bringing up to a boil;
9. Had a small boil over before adding hops;
10. Boiled for 60 minutes, following the hopping schedule above;
11. Using wort chiller, cooled to 80F in @ 30 min.;
12. Kettle drain clogged and used sanitized pitcher to transfer wort split into 3 fermenters;
13. Pitched yeast from starter;
14. Placed into kegerator set to 63F (fermenters were 76F when placed into the fermentation chamber);
15. At approximately 12 hours, first visible signs of fermentation seen in the 6 gal. fermenter, followed by the two 3 gal. fermenters within 3 hours;
16. On day 5, ramped temperature control to 65F;
17. On day 7, ramped temperature control to 68F.

 Kegging/Bottling

·       On Day 12, transferred contents of all three carboys to 2 sanitized kegs – Approximate yield 9.5 gallons;

·       Set CO2 to 30 psi for 1 week and then bled pressure and reduced to 12 psi;

·       24 days after kegging; filled numerous bottles for my co-brewers (due to foaming I have concern about oxidation in some of the filled bottles.

Tasting

And the beer is fantastic.  We took a keg to a 4^th of July party and it was the hit of the night.  The keg was over carbonated and not using my kegerator for many years, it’ll take a while for me to dial in my system, but practice makes perfect, right?  The beer itself is a light straw color (it is 50% wheat after all).  It pours hazy but clears nicely in the glass.  The nose is incredible.  I love the Amarillo-Liberty combination – great citrus notes with a little bit of spice from the Liberty to make it interesting.  The flavor follows the aroma exactly.  It’s highly carbonated with a light mouthfeel.  It’s easy to drink several pints of this beer.  The wheat definitely brings a bready note.  We used a clean yeast at a low fermentation temperature, so I wasn’t expecting any yeast character and it is definitely as expected. Although the beer wasn’t exactly what I was targeting, it is definitely a winner and I’m going to be disappointed when the keg kicks (although it will allow the kegerator to be a fermentation chamber for the next beer.

 

My brew team is already planning our next beer.  Since we’ll be brewing at the beginning of September, it’s looking like a quick turn-around Marzen for Octoberfest.

Black Banana Dunkleweizen

Way back in April (of 2013) I did a triple brew day, but I never got around to posting the recipes.  The first beer I brewed that day was a Dunkleweisen, a first for me. 

 

Brew Date: 4/27/2013

Beer Number: B30

Beer Name: Black Banana

Type: Dunkelweizen

Primary Fermenter: 3 gal. glass carboy (101 days)

Secondary Fermenter: N/A

Volume: @ 2.75 gal into fermenter

OG: 1.038

FG: 1.003

Expected IBU: 15

Expected SRM: 19

Expected Alcohol %: 4.59%

Calories: 122

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. White Wheat malt

1 lb 12.8 oz. Vienna malt

2.1 oz. Crystal 40L

2.1 oz. Special B (100L)

1.6 oz. Carafa III special (450L)

7 g. Mt. Hood pellet hops (6.0% AA) 60 min.

WLP300 Hefeweizen yeast

 Step by Step Process:

Yeast Starter (4/21)

1. Boiled @ 150g Pilsen DME in @1.5L water for 15 minutes
2. Cooled and pitched yeast harvested from B27
3. Covered with sanitized foil and swirled infrequently for 4 days
4. Kreusen appeard @36 hours
5. Crash cooled in 35F keezer 2 days before pitching

 Wort

6. Crushed grain in Barley Crusher; double-crushed wheat
7. Heated 5.51 qt. strike water to @172F and poured into mash tun
8. Once tun settled to 166F, added grains to tun and stirred – temp. settled at @152F
9. Mashed for @7 hours (7:30AM to 2:45PM) – with ending temp @128F
10. Pulled 2.75 qt. decoction, heated to @175F  and then brought to a boil for @4 min
11. Added back to the mash which brought the temperature to 162F
12. Added 1 qt. boiling water to mash tun
13. Added 2.25 gal. @170F water to mash tun
14. Recirculated @ 2 qt.
15. Opened valve slowly and then wide open and drained into kettle
16. While draining, fired burner and set heat on medium/low
17. When empty, filled with 3 gal. of 170F water, stirred mash, recirculated and drained
18. Brought to a boil
19. Pitched bittering hops and boiled for 60 minutes
20. After boil, placed kettle in ice water bath – was close to pitching temperature in @ 1 hour
21. Transferred to sanitized carboy in fermentation chamber temp. 58F
22. OG was 1.038, below targeted OG of 1.048 – possibly due to initial sachrification rest lower than measured
23. Pitched yeast starter into @ 58F wort
24. Activity evident the next morning temp @60F
25. @3 days – activity evident temp @63F
26. @4 days – activity has slowed, temp @62F
27. @6 days – no more activity visible temp @61F

Yeast Starter (4/27)

28. Decanted liquid from 4/21 yeast starter and allowed to warm on counter for @ 1 hour
29. Collected an extra 1.5 quarts of wort (final runnings)
30. Brought to a boil for @10 minutes and then cooled in an ice bath
31. Once cool, poured into yeast starter – activity evident within 2 hours

Kegging (8/6/13)

32. Transferred to sanitized keg with 20 psi – target 4.0 volumes CO2

 

A Disastrous Brew Session

Well, I brewed the weekend before last for the first time in almost 6 months. What a nightmare it turned out to be! I had one problem after another. I actually told someone in the middle of the brew session that it might be my last time brewing – I don’t think I’ve ever said that before, but I was a bit frustrated.

My biggest problem was once again a stuck sparge. I discovered last time that a few grain particles were getting through the slots in my manifold and hanging up on the ridges that resulted from cutting those slots. A few days before brewing, I went to work with a toothbrush both cleaning the inside of the manifold and removing the ridges. I thought I was ready to go.

So I mash-in at 1.25 qts/lb. of grain for @ 1 hour. At the end I topped off my mash tun (cooler) with boiling water (total cooler volume of 12 gallons) and lo and behold, not even a trickle out of the ball valve. I stir and stir with hot wort going everywhere (remember, I filled it to the tippy top) with no improvement. I ladled the mash into my ice cube cooler (which was sitting at a nice 32F because it was full of ice to be used in chilling) and pulled out the manifold to determine that it was clear – no stoppages. As you can imagine, colorful language reached a crescendo. I then realized that the ball valve was stopped up, which was probably the issue the whole time and was probably stopped up from the last brew session. Got the ball value cleaned up, put the manifold back in, added a pound of rice hulls, ladled the mash back into the tun, re-circulated a few quarts and she drained like a champ.

My next issue was that my burner kept going out. After it burned for a few minutes, it would go out every time. In order to ignite my burner, you must hold down the pilot button. Well, I found that if I held down the pilot button the burner would continue to burn, (DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME) so I got a brick and a 2x4 and wedged them under the pilot button to keep it depressed.

At this point, I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “man, this guy really had a sucky brewing session.” Well, the hits just keep on coming. I had planned to brew a 10 gallon batch of my Amarillo Sky Pale Ale and split it between my normal Cal Ale yeast and the Duvel Belgian strain. I also planned to do my first brew-in-a-bag batch of Northern English Brown Ale. With all of my other problems, I had to cancel the BIAB. But I figured that since I already had a starter of Ringwood going, I’d pour some more water in the mash tun and do a small ordinary bitter on my stove top with the third runnings. Considering the kettle was almost completely unattended other than at my 60 and 15 minute hops additions, it’s almost a shock that I didn’t have a boil-over on the stove while I was outside dealing with the big batch.

My next big oops was when I was carrying a bunch of stuff from my basement to my garage and I dropped my only hydrometer, which promptly shattered on the concrete floor. At least I had enough composure to send some runnings into mason jars so that I could check my starting gravities when I take the time to get another hydrometer.

I actually got everything cooled down quickly and in fermenters and then yeast pitching time arrived. The Duvel starter was at high krausen, so the Belgo-American Pale Ale took off like a rocket. It finished so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to warm it up to try to get some of those wonderful belgiany esters.

I pitched what was probably way more starter than necessary into the little bitter (@ 3 gallons) and I never got any activity. I still can’t explain that one, but after 24 hours of no activity, I pitched a packet of S04 yeast and the thing was done by the next day.

I pitched a packet of US05 into the Amarillo Sky APA (with an expiration of 4/2011) and that also did not show signs of fermentation. I usually like to rehydrate yeast instead of pitching it dry, but with all of my issues, I didn’t get the chance to rehydrate. So after 24 hours I pitched a newer packet of US05 and that also took off and finished pretty quickly.

With these short fermentations, I have a feeling that my gravities suffered tremendously from my mashing issues. If I ever get a hydrometer, I’ll know for sure.

Danger! Danger!

Danger Will Robinson!

I have less than a case of homebrew left. This has become an emergency situation. Luckily I think I have carved out some time Saturday afternoon and evening to get in a brew session. I will have a couple of firsts on Saturday. I’m doing my first 10 gallon batch. I’m brewing 10 gallons of my Amarillo Sky Pale Ale. Half of it will go on its normal Cal Ale yeast and the other half is going on Duvel yeast to make a Belgo-American Pale Ale.

Back in December I was very excited to win a 3 gallon carboy that I planned to use for experimental batches. Well, it has sat empty for the last 4 months, but I’m going to correct that problem this weekend. Experimental batch number 1 will be a Northern English Brown Ale. Not necessarily an experimental recipe (I’m using Jamil’s recipe scaled down to 2.75 gallons) but an experimental process. While I’m mashing the 10 gallon batch, I plan to do the brown ale as my first brew-in-a-bag batch.

Hopefully in about 4 weeks I’ll have 12+ gallons bottled or kegged and these carboys will be filled with more wonderful nectar. If all goes as planned (does it ever), I’ll brew 8 batches before the Dominion Cup. Certainly not enough to win the Plato award, but hopefully enough to make a descent showing. Of course this plan is also dependent on getting a kegerator, because I have no intention of bottling 8 batches of beer between now and August.

A partigyle brew

I’ve been planning to brew a Special Bitter for the AHA Club Only competition in January. I’ve never brewed an English-style Pale Ale before so my recipe was going to be based on Jamil’s Special Bitter recipe from Brewing Classic Styles.

I should have brewed it a couple of weeks ago when I had the opportunity, because now I’m thinking about trying to do a partigyle. Both BYO and Zymurgy have recently run stories on Barleywines, so I’ve been trying to formulate a Barleywine/Bitter recipe. My thought was that I would top off my mash with enough water for my Barleywine runnings and then my sparge water (I batch sparge) would be enough for the Special Bitter.

Here’s what I’ve come up with:
20 lbs. Marris Otter
2 lbs. white wheat
½ lb. Aromatic (@20L)
½ lb. Crystal 120L

First runnings planned to be 6 gallons, with a 90 minute boil and estimated volume to fermenter of 4.5 gallons.
To the boil I plan to add 1 lb. dark brown sugar to help with my OG and attenuation and the hopping would be:
1 oz Cascade (5.0%AA) FWH
2 oz. Columbus (12.5%AA) @60 minutes
½ oz. Chinook (10.0%AA) @ 15, 10, 5 & 1 minutes
½ oz. Cascade (5.0%AA) @ 15 , 10, 5 & 1 minutes

Shooting for around 1.098 OG and approximately 125 IBU and SRM of 15

For my second runnings, I plan to pour in 7 gallons of sparge water and top off with ½ lb. Crystal 60L. Planning for @7 gallons in the kettle with 5 ½ going into the fermenter.

The hops schedule for the Special Bitter is:
1 ¼ oz. Challenger (5.5%AA) @ 60 min.
¾ oz. Challenger ((5.5%AA) @ 20 min.
½ oz. EKG (4.5%AA) @ 20 min.
½ oz. EKG (4.5%AA) @ 1 min.
Shooting for an OG of 1.048, IBUs of 40 and an SRM of 11

I have never done a partigyle so I’m not sure how to estimate the gravity of my first and second runnings. I’m also struggling with how to estimate my post boil gravity based on my pre-boil gravity. I’m sure there is a simple algebraic equation for this calculation, but I can’t find it. My thought is I can make adjustments in the kettle if I need to raise or lower my gravity. If you have experiences with a partigyle or estimated post boil gravity, please chime in.

Redneck Alt

I’m trying to brew a few German-style beers. Not because I typically like German beers, but I’m trying to expand my horizons. I love pale ales, so why not brew a German pale ale, which is basically what an Alt is.

I have a bunch of hops sitting in my freezer that I need to use up, so I’m trying to use them in appropriate styles – once again expanding my horizons.

I also had that Kolsch yeast cake sitting in my fridge that I needed to use. For these three reasons, I decided to brew a Dusseldorf Alt.

Brew Date: 9/2/2010
Beer Number: B13
Beer Name: Redneck Alt
Type: Dusseldorf Altbier
Primary Fermenter: 6 gal. glass carboy (78 days – including 4 weeks of lagering)
Secondary Fermenter: none
OG: 1.058
FG: 1.008
Expected IBU: 53
Expected SRM: 19
Expected Alcohol %: 5.8% (actual 6.5%)

Ingredients:
8 lbs. Weyerman Pilsner
2 lbs. Weyerman Munich (8.25L)
1 lb. Belgian Aromatic malt (20L)
½ lb. German Caramunich (30 – 48L)
.25 lb. Carafa Special II (375L)
1 oz. Magnum pellet hops (@9.0%AA) 85 min.
1 oz. US Tettnanger pellet hops (@4.0% AA) 60 min.
1 oz. German Tettnanger pellet hops (@4.1% AA) 15 min.
2 whirfloc tablets
WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch yeast – slurry from B10


• Used a 3 quart starter for yeast cake, manually swirling as often as I passed it
• Mashed at 149F for 120 minutes
• Primary fermentation occurred in the mid-to upper 50sF (55F – 59F)
• On 9th day, removed from fermentation cooler and allowed to rise to @70F for a 6 day diacytal rest.
• Lagered in fermentation cooler filled 2/3 with water swapping out frozen bottles each day – maintaining temps of 38F – 40F

I had another issue with my mash tun. For some reason it absolutely would not drain – I still have no idea of the reason, but I poured the entire mash into my fermentation cooler, detached the manifold and shot the hose through it, reattached it and poured the mash back into the mash tun. And lo and behold, it drained like a champ.

Other than the lautering issue, everything went well (except my volume was a little low - 90 minute boil perhaps).

Amarillo American Wheat II

I absolutely loved this beer last fall and I couldn’t wait to brew it again to have it for the summer this year. Nice firm hop bitterness and plenty of hop flavor and aroma. There is also a nice spicy finish from the wheat. This beer scored 1 point lower than the award winning Brown Ale in the Dominion Cup, but didn’t make it to the best of show round because it ran up against the Best of Show winner, a Kolsch, in the same category.

Brew Date: 6/4/10
Beer Number: B11
Beer Name: Amarillo American Wheat II
Type: American Wheat
Primary Fermenter: 6 gal. glass carboy (34 days)
Secondary Fermenter: none
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.006
Expected IBU: 47
Expected SRM: 4
Alcohol %: 4.6%

Ingredients:
5 lbs. American 2-row malt
5 lbs. white wheat
1 lb. flaked wheat
1 ½ lbs rice hulls
1 oz. Liberty pellet hops (4.5%AA) FWH
1 oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.5%AA) FWH
1 oz. Liberty pellet hops (4.5% AA) 15 min.
1 oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.5%AA) 15 min.
1 ½ packets Safeale US-05 dry yeast

Targeted 2.4 volumes of CO2 using 120 g. corn sugar

1 ½ pounds of rice hulls and my sparge problems still re-surfaced. I’m pretty sure this will be my last mash with a steel braid. I have a 48 quart rectangular cooler that I have recently lost the drain plug, so I think I will make a CPVC manifold for it. This will probably also be big enough for me to do 10 gallon batches.

American Kolsch

I love beer. I think it helps to love beer to be a homebrewer. I don’t understand people who don’t love beer. Unfortunately my wife is one of those people. The only beer (and I use that term loosely) that she drinks is Corona, or more accurately, Corona Light. Well, I’m not putting rice or corn in my beer, so I’m certainly not trying to make a Corona clone, but I was looking for something accessible to her.

On the day of the big unveiling, she took one sip and remarked “it tastes like beer, I don’t like it”. Well no sh*t, of course it tastes like beer, it is freaking beer. Needless to say, it’s the last time I’ll brew to please her, because I don’t really like it either, although it’s refreshing after mowing the lawn (now I know what a Lawnmower beer is). The other neighbor ladies love this beer, even those who actually appreciate beer (yes, I have a couple of those, believe it or not).

Brew Date: 4/24/2010
Beer Number: B10
Beer Name: American Kolsch
Type: Kolsch-style
Primary Fermenter: 6 gal. glass carboy (15 days)
Secondary Fermenter: 5 gal. glass carboy (20 days)
Volume: @5 gal. wort
OG: 1.043
FG: 1.004 (target 1.009)
Expected IBU: 22
Expected SRM: 4
Expected Alcohol %: 4.4%

Ingredients:
6.5 lbs. American 2-row malt
1 lb. white wheat
1 lbs. Weyerman light Munich (@6-8L)
.75 oz. Hallertau pellet hops (3.8%AA) FWH
.75 oz. Hallertau pellet hops (3.8%AA) 60 min.
.75 oz. Hallertau pellet hops (3.8%AA) 30 min.
1 vial WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch yeast (removed from fridge @6 hrs. before pitching)

You’ll notice that I used 2-row, where Kolsch typically uses German Pilsner malt. I had 2-row available, so that’s what I used. It took about 2 ½ days for fermentation signs to show up. I have come to realize that this German Ale yeast is a very slow starter, but it sure does make a clean lager-like beer. I fermented @60F and then lagered in the mid-30s for 2 ½ weeks.

Buck Slobber Brown Ale

I love brown ales and I’m a self-professed hop-head, so why not put the two together. This beer came out really tasty, but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. I’m in the minority, because everyone else that has tried it has loved it, including the judges at the Dominion Cup, where it won 1st place in the American Amber and Brown Ale category.

The recipe:

Brew Date: 3/5/2010
Beer Number: B9
Beer Name: Buck Slobber
Type: American Brown Ale
Primary Fermenter: 6 gal. glass carboy (50 days)
Secondary Fermenter: none
Volume: 5 gal. wort (approx. 4.75 into fermenter & 4.27 packaged)
OG: 1.060 (target was 1.055)
FG: 1.0 10 (target was 1.014)
Expected IBU: 47
Expected SRM: 20
Expected Alcohol %: 5.3% (tastybrew & beertools calc. of 6.5%)
Calories: 237 (est)


Ingredients:
8.5 lbs. American 2-row malt
1 lb. white wheat
.5 lbs. Crystal 40
.5 lbs. Brown malt
.5 lbs. Chocolate malt
1 oz. Libery pellet hops (4.5%AA) FWH
.5 oz. Warrior pellet hops (@15.0% AA) 60 min.
.5 oz. Libery pellet hops (4.5%AA) 15 min.
½ oz. Libery pellet hops (4.5%AA) 10 min.
.5 oz Libery pellet hops (4.5%AA) 5 min.
.5 oz. Libery pellet hops (4.5%AA) 1 min.
1 11.5g pkg. Safeale S04

I had a real problem with a stuck sparge – I continually had to blow back into the mash tun to free it up. My set-up is a 5 gallon cylindrical cooler with a steel braid and I’m wondering if the braid is somehow stopped up.

The next iteration will include an addition of Amarillo hops, probably first wort hops, and I’ll probably drop the chocolate malt down to about 1/3 lb. and swap out the Crystal 40 with Crystal 120. I may even add some toasted oatmeal.

Beaverdam Red

Every fall we decorate our porch with several pumpkins – go figure, it seems like every one of my children’s classes takes a field trip to the pumpkin farm. Not wanting these brewing resources to go to waste, I set about putting together a Pumpkin Ale recipe. I thought that the baked pumpkins and spices might go well with an American Amber as the base recipe. So I purchased all of the ingredients and then didn’t get a chance to brew it until November (originally planned to brew in early October). Well, I didn’t want to be drinking Pumpkin Ale at Christmas and I already had the grains for an Amber, so I called an audible, changed the recipe around a little bit and basically turned my Amarillo Sky Pale Ale into a West Coast Style Amber Ale.

Here are the details:
Brew Date: 11/19/09
Beer Number: B8
Beer Name: Beaverdam Red
Type: American Amber Ale
Primary Fermenter: 6 ½ gal. plastic fermenter (114 days)
Secondary Fermenter: none
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.006
Expected IBU: 52
Expected SRM: 12
Expected Alcohol %: 4.8%

Ingredients:
8.5 lbs. American 2-row malt
1 lbs. Crystal 60
.5 lbs. Crystal 80
1 lb. white wheat
½ oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.0%AA) FWH
¾ oz. Warrior pellet hops (@15.0% AA) 60 min.
½ oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.0%AA) 15 min.
½ oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.0%AA) 10 min.
1 Whirfloc tablet @ 10 min.
.3 oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.0%AA) 5 min.
1 qt. US05 yeast slurry from B5
1 pkg. US05 yeast – rehydrated in @1/3 cup water

I had a few problems with this one. With my batch sparge (second runnings), I heated the sparge water hotter than intended and the grain bed was over 180F. Thankfully I did not detect any excessive tannins in the finished beer. There was also a long lag before fermentation was visible. I used yeast slurry from a previous batch and it never started – I should know to make a starter, but didn’t get the chance. After about 3 days, I ended up pitching a packet of US05 to get fermentation started.

The beer ended up being really good – basically a sweeter version of my Amarillo Sky Pale Ale. Very hoppy, yet nice and caramelly. Unfortunately, as good as it was in December, it totally bombed in a competition 9 months later – evidently one of the bottles I sent in was a gusher. I’ve always worried about getting priming sugar mixed evenly throughout the 5 or so gallons, and this time it got me. I hope to have a kegerator soon and I’ll do any bottling from kegs. I have a kegging set up, but I need to build a kegerator for it.

Hoppy Pale Ale is bottled

Well, after 50 days in the fermenter, I finally bottled my first all-grain beer. I did a lot of firsts in this one:
1. First all-grain brew
2. First time doing first-wort hopping
3. First time doing a full boil
4. First time chilling the wort in the refrigerator overnight (problem with my chiller)

I was going for a very hoppy pale ale. I love those hoppy IPAs, but after 4 or 5, I’m about dumb as dirt, so I thought I’d do one with IPA range bitterness and a pale ale grain bill. Based on the hydrometer sample, I think I may have achieved success. We’ll know once it is carbonated…

Next up is a hoppy (seems to be the theme lately) wheat beer if I can find the time. I also bought a basic kegging system this week from MoreBeer. I still need to figure out what I’m going to do about a kegerator, but once I get that straight, I should be able to brew more. You see, I dread bottling, so kegging should make brewing more fun, plus who doesn’t prefer a great beer that’s on draft?

First All-Grain Session

Wow, do I have a lot to learn! This weekend I brewed my first all-grain batch, an extra hoppy pale ale. This is my first time using all of this new (to me) equipment and I’m going through a few growing pains. I borrowed my neighbor’s turkey fryer and I bought a barley crusher. The grain mill was supposed to be delivered on brew day, but hadn’t arrived when I went to the LHBS, so I went ahead and asked them to mill my grain. My plan was to double-crush it if my barley crusher arrived in time. It did, but I couldn’t get it to work. My cordless drill should have plenty of torque to turn it, but I couldn’t get it to turn. I’ll borrow someone’s corded drill to see if that makes a difference.

The burner on my neighbor’s turkey fryer worked like a champ – that bad boy sounded like a jet engine, but I don’t think the pot is as large as I need. I thought all of those things came with 30 quart (7 ½ gal.) pots, but I only ended up with about 4 ½ gal. of wort and I sure didn’t boil off 2 ½ to 3 gallons.

I’m close to maxing out my mash tun also. I have a 5 gal. igloo cylindrical cooler and I’m not sure I could go much more than the 12 lbs. I used in this recipe.

I’m really struggling with my volume measurements and I really need advice. What is the best way to measure volumes in your kettle? It’s not feasible for me to use a measuring cup, plus I don’t want to risk aerating the hot wort.

Here are the details:

Beer Number: B5

Beer Name: Beaverdam Pale Ale

Type: American Pale Ale

Primary Fermenter: 6 gal. glass carboy

OG: 1.055

FG: ??

Expected IBU: 58

Expected SRM: 9

Expected Alcohol %: 5.5%

Ingredients:

10 lbs. American 2-row malt

.5 lbs. Crystal 40

.5 lbs. Crystal 60

1 lb. white wheat

½ oz. Perle pellet hops (8.2%AA) FWH

½ oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.0%AA) FWH

1 oz. Magnum pellet hops (@9.0% AA) 60 min.

½ oz. Perle pellet hops (8.2%AA) 15 min.

½ oz. Amarillo pellet hops (7.0%AA) 5 min.

½ oz. Cascade pellet hops (@6.6%AA) 1 min.

Safeale US-05 dry yeast

I had never used first wort hopping before. I’m anxious to see how the FWH affected the brew. The hydrometer sample was very bitter, but it was a smooth kind of bitter. I usually strive for a more balanced beer (malt vs. hops) but I decided I really wanted something less balanced and this hopping schedule should fit the bill.

I hope to let this one sit in primary for 2 to 3 weeks and then I’d like to brew an IPA to drop onto the yeast cake.