Thanksgiving Brew: The Nuts...

As we all have much to be thankful for this year, I will be making a simple but tasty brew with my good brewing partner Dan. We've teamed up on multiple occasions to brew some great beers and this Friday we will be really stepping it up to make an already great day into amazing one.

Nut Brown Ale
12 Gal Yield
1.055 SG

The Recipe:
Grain
22# 2 Row
1# Crystal 60L
1# CaraVienne Malt
.5# Victory Malt
.5# Chocolate Malt
Hops
1.5 oz Northern Brewer 9AA% @ 60 Minutes
2 oz Willamette 5AA% @ 5 Minutes
2 oz Willamette 5AA% @ 1 Minute
Yeast
Possibly split between Nottingham and S-04


Mash at 154*f for 60 minutes or till conversion

Pictures to come.

Kolsch Transfer and Crash 11/11/09

Unfortunately no pictures of the actual transfer but I'll post up some pictures of the secondaries happily starting their one month stay in my chest freezer.

I used my first Better Bottle today, and I have to say that the weight savings really helps in the cleaning and moving departments. I quickly sanitized with Star-san and promptly racked my beer directly ontop of the foam... Hey don't fear the foam they say... so I'm not...

This beer is supposed to be made to the German purity laws, but depending on how clear my beer gets in the next couple days will really determine if I use some gelatin for fining or not. Either way it wouldn't be a detrimental addition to the beer if I did use it.

So here are the results:

After 12 days of Primary fermentation, the Kolsch achieved a Final Gravity of 1.011 which is exactly where it should have ended up based on the BJCP style guidelines.

From 1.051 to 1.011 in 12 days seems pretty good and especially based on the fermentation temps and yeast activity, I'd be willing to say that this was a textbook fermentation for a Kolsch.

The ABV will clock in right around 5.27%.

The taste right now is typical Kolsch however the Lagering period will really bring out that crisp clean taste that all Kolsch beers have. The yeast has thrown off a bit of that winey/sulfur character but I believe that with the one month of aging, this will be impercieveable in the nose.

I'll post some pictures up tonight of the secondaries happily sitting in my chest freezer at 33*F

Prosit!

Fighting a Cold comes with Inspiration for Brewing

I have recently been fighting a head cold and a pretty bad cough. When you are laying on the couch you find yourself always wanting a nice hot bowl of chicken soup or anything else to keep you comfortable and warm. Nice bold flavors that really put your mind and body at ease.
How does this fit into brewing beer? I'll tell you.

Originally I thought that my next few batches would all be Pilsner's because when I get home from work I usually like to reward myself with a beer that is easy and relaxing... That's probably why I went and brewed this recent Kolsch batch. However with the cold weather fast approaching here in New England, I thought about what I really like to enjoy; A nice scotch and a full bodied Cigar.

Nothing could bring me anywhere near this sensation that a great full bodied beer. Lately I feel like most of my brew's have been a little bit on the thin side, so to counter this I give you Denny Conn's Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter (BVIP)

I think in a few week's I'll brew this heavenly concotion. So many people have brewed this recipe and have hailed its praises over and over, so I must brew this for the season...

Here is the Recipe:

6 Gallon Batch

Grain:
11 Lbs 2-row
2.5 Lbs Munich 20L
1.5 Lbs Brown Malt
1 Lb Crystal/Caramel 120L
.5 Lb Crystal/Caramel 40L
.5 LB Chocolate Malt 350L


Hops:
.75 Oz Magnum @ 60 Minutes
1 Oz East Kent Goldings @ 10 Minutes

Yeast:
Wyeast American Ale 1056 3L starter

Extras:
Whirfloc Tablet
Vanilla Beans (2) in Secondary Scraped and quartered
Bourbon 2 oz per gallon

Mash in at 150-152*F
Mash out at 168*F

Ferment at 64*F

Great Video on How to Home Brew

This is a Two Part series on how to Brew Using an All-Grain approach.

When I first started out this is the tutorial I used to understand really how its done. Great tutorial

Part 1:


Part 2:



Joel Polvino does a great job and really does walk you through a typical brew day. He may have more equipment than you do starting out, but its still the same concepts applied in a more advance brewing environment. Good luck! I'm sure you will find these two video's extremely beneficial.

Kolsch Brew Day 11/09/2009

I thought it would be useful for me to post up the the results of my brew day of last week's 12 gallon Kolsch session.

Recipe:
12 Gallon brew
70% Brew House Efficiency
Anticipated SG: 1.051
Actual SG: 1.051
4.3 SRM
24.1 IBU's

Grain:
20 Lbs Pilsener Malt (Great Britain) pppg 1.036
2 Lbs Munich Malt (Germany) pppg 1.039
2 Lbs Wheat Malt (Germany) pppg 1.037

Hops:
2 Oz German Tradition 5.7%AA @ 50 Minutes
1.5 Oz Hallertauer Mittelfruh 3.7%AA @ 10 Minutes

Yeast:
Wyeast 2565 Kolsch: 1 gallon Starter

Extras:
2 Whirfloc Tablets @ 15 minutes

Mash Schedule:
148-149*F for 60 minutes or till conversion
168*F mash out 15 Minutes constant stirring and Recirculation

Boil:
90 Minutes to drive off DMS.
Skimmed off Hot Break material and used Fermcap S to prevent boil over.

Equipment Used:
Brew Stand with Converted Kegs
Cooler Mash Tun (Blue)
March Pump
25' Copper Immersible Chiller
Hop Bag
Mix Stir for Aeration

Pitching and Fermentation:

Pitched entire yeast starter at high Kreusen into 65*F wort and aerated very well.
Fermentation environment fluctuating temperature from 58-63*F
Wort's fermenation temperature:
Day 1-2: 62*F
Day 3-4: 64*F
Day 5-7: 61-58*F
Day 8-10: 64*F (D-rest)


As of today, this Kolsch is still Fermenting actively... as we are approaching the 1.010 mark for this beer I am getting antsy to cold crash and transfer to the appropriate vessels for Lagering.

Day 3 of fermentation came around and had massive blow off through the air lock and had to install blow off tubes. Even at 58*F we were still seeing vigorous fermentation with no signs of stopping...

Day 6: I finally stopped seeing Kreusen coming through the blow off tubes and into the blow off canister.

Day 8-10: I moved the Kolsch carboys next to the heater and brought temperatures to 63*F from 57*F for 2 days...


Look forward to the next post on cold crashing and transferring!

Prosit