NHC Amber Ale

I'd like to enter the American Ale category in the 2014 National Homebrewing Competition. Looking at past winners and the style guidelines, it seems that the playing field is skewed towards more complex entries. I thought to myself, why would I brew a standard American Pale Ale or IPA when I can give it a nice malt body that can set it apart?

I've been really itching to brew something like Modern Times' Blazing World. With Simcoe, Amarillo, Apollo, and Columbus sitting in the freezer, I thought I'd put together a hoppy, west coast style amber ale featuring two of the most popular hops in the IPA/pale ale category and use the whirlpool and steeping techniques that I've been hooked on lately to extract tons of aroma and flavor from them. I'm aiming for a balanced, yet assertive amber ale with a formidable malt body. To get a nice amber color, I'm adding a pinch of midnight wheat. I'm adding it at vorlauf to avoid extracting acrid flavors from it.

I don't know what my dry hops will be yet, as I plan to sample the beer then decide which hops to use based on what I think it needs.

This batch will be brewed as a pilot. I'll push it a bit to get it out in 2.5 weeks. That should give me enough time to brew another batch for the March 10th shipping time for NHC.

Water:
Calcium: 69
Magnesium: 5
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 121
Sodium: 44
Chloride: 32
Sulfate: 131
Effective Hardness as CaCO3: 52
RA: 69

Water treatment: 5g baking soda, 10g gypsum.

I had some trouble getting the water profile for this. Darker, hoppy beers are difficult for my water because I need to add alkalinity via baking soda, but I also need to keep my sodium down so that it the doesn't outcompete the hop flavor. It is a balancing act to add enough gypsum to get my sulfate and calcium levels up enough, enough baking soda to get my alkalinity to where it needs, and keep my sodium levels down. I'd like to see more calcium and even more sulfate, but to keep the alkalinity down, that would have required more baking soda and an unacceptable level of sodium. This was the best compromise.

Notes:

Mashed at 152 degrees. Treated strike water with 1/2 campden tablet, 7.5 grams of brewing salts.

Sparged and transferred 13 gallons to kettle over 20 minutes.

Preboil OG: 1.050

I added the other half of my brewing salts at the start of the boil.

My final runnings were about 10.22. I added about a gallon of wort from my tun because my volume was looking low and I knew I'd lose a gallon or so to hop trub.

Rehydrated 2 tsp of Irish Moss and pitched it in at 5 minutes. Added 1 tsp of yeast nutrient at 15 minutes.

Whirlpooled for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.

I bagged the Magnum whole leaf hops to keep them from clogging up my hop blocker...no avail

Cooled to 60 degrees then allowed it to sit for 20 minutes to settle.Collected ~11 gallons of wort. I think my wort chiller bumped my hop blocker when I put it in and hop debris got into the chamber. It started gagging right at the top of the hop blocker and I probably had to leave a full gallon or more of wort in the kettle.

Pitched yeast, set in fermenting chamber for 64 degrees (17.7C).

The color is looking muted. I'd like to get a bit more bright red out of it. I also think I wasn't boiling vigorously enough at the time of my irish moss addition, since I didn't see a very good cold break. Hopefully I can clear this beer despite that.

Update 2/14/2014:

I racked this to kegs last night after 2 days of crash cooling at 38 degrees. It dropped out crystal clear at 1.011 SG. The aroma was muted Simcoe/Amarillo - tangerine and tropical. The flavor was well balance between hop and malt, with maybe a little malt dominance. I think with carbonation and dry hopping it will be about perfect. The malt was biscuity, slightly roasty. The hop flavor was mostly the Simcoe citrus coming out, with hints of grapefruit and dank. I decided that I didn't want Simcoe to overpower this beer so I ended up dry hopping with 4oz Columbus for depth and dank-ness, 2oz Amarillo to accentuate the non-Simcoe citrus notes, and 2oz Cascade to round out the grapefruit character. So in each 5 gallon keg went a nylon garment sock with 2oz Columbus and 1oz each of Cascade and Amarillo.

I'll let the hops do their thing for 5 days then crash cool the beer with finings to clear it out. I'm looking forward to having a pint next weekend and potentially brewing this once more for the 1st round NHC in mid-March.

The fresh Columbus hops I just got from Yakima Valley Hops had a pronounced onion aroma. Much more than Columbus usually does. I've read that that Columbus can lend some undesirable onion character. I'm thinking with just a 5 day dry hop and only 2oz in there it shouldn't be an issue.

Nice clarity after two days of crashing. Dad in back for reference.

Current recipe below:

Recipe: NHC Dreams American Amber Ale
Brewer: Adam Keck
Asst Brewer: 
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.75 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal 
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 13.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 54.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
10.00 g               Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   1        -             
5.00 g                Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 mins)             Water Agent   2        -             
20 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)           Grain         3        84.4 %        
2 lbs                 Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM)           Grain         4        8.4 %         
1 lbs                 Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM)   Grain         5        4.2 %         
8.0 oz                Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)   Grain         6        2.1 %         
3.2 oz                Midnight Wheat (550.0 SRM)               Grain         7        0.8 %         
2.00 oz               Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           8        54.8 IBUs     
3.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min          Hop           9        0.0 IBUs            
2.00 oz               Apollo [17.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min          Hop           10       0.0 IBUs      
2.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min      Hop           11       0.0 IBUs      
2.00 oz               Columbus [14.00 %]- Steep/Whirl 30m      Hop           12       0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz               Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirl 30m Hop           13       0.0 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast         14       -             


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 23 lbs 11.2 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Saccharification  Add 29.62 qt of water at 163.7 F        152.0 F       60 min        
Mash Out          Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min             168.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 8.44 gal water at 168.0

Adventures in production home brewing part 2

Last week I filtered the session pale ale. Man. "The kit" from The Filter Store worked beyond my expectations. I'm ecstatic that I don't have to deal with paper filters ever again.

If you remember, I brewed the beer, fermented it for 5 days, pitched polyclar finings into it, and crashed it at 38 degrees for two days. Since I ferment in sanke kegs, I installed the sanitized spear in the sanke, applied 5 psi of pressure, then ran the cloudy beer through the filter. The picture below gives you an idea of what the .5 micron filter accomplished. For what it's worth, the finished beer was a bit clearer than the hydrometer jar would let on, as the test draw was still pulling sediment that from the bottom of the keg that ended up clearing out about a half gallon into the transfer.

As I was hoping, I was able to get the entire 10 gallons through the filter without it jamming up. With my paper filters, I was able to get about 6 gallons through one pair of filters.

Pushing from the sanke fermenter, through the filter, and into a sanitized corny keg at 5 psi

The filter during use

Just before backflushing. Look at all the yeast at the bottom.

Backflushing...the filter came back out clear with only 2 visible patches of yeast/residue

Filtered, force carbonated, then bottled. This was about 4 hours later once I was home.

I carbonated the beer by applying 30psi of pressure and shaking the keg for three minutes. Although it was "pouring" perfect drafts, I'm a little worried at how the carbonation level will be once it is in the bottles. It's really hard to tell what the actual carbonation level will turn out to be once it's pushed from the keg through the Blichmann beer gun and into a bottle. I've had best results getting the beer and bottles as cold as possible and pushing the beer as close to 10psi as possible, then capping on foam.

Once again, this is far from how I want to brew every beer, but it was a great exercise in process and equipment. I'm confident in this new filter to use on any batch that I want commercial beer clarity on and can't afford the time to allow the beer to clear via gravity.

How did the beer taste? I saved a bottle, so I will do an in-depth review later. It was tasty though. I did a side by side with the flat beers - pre-filtering and post-filtering - and did not notice a perceptible difference in aroma. This beer was not dry hopped though. More volatile dry hop aroma and flavor is where I would be most worried that I'd lose out. The flavor was much cleaner than the pre-filtered sample, as would be expected.

The plan worked: a tasty beer that accomplished what I needed it to, brewed, fermented, fined, filtered, carbonated, and bottled in 7 days.

New Year, New Beer

I'd taken about a month off from brewing over the holidays. That's not to say I wasn't busy with brewing related projects...A busy holiday brewing schedule meant I was racking beer, bottling, kegging, filtering, and sampling beer to get it packaged for holiday parties and, of course, giving out my Kexxxmas Ale as gifts. Unfortunately, I didn't get to bottle and label as much of my Christmas beer as I wanted to. There will be many friends and family who receive their Kexxxmas Ale gifts in the new year.

After the hiatus, I wanted to get back to brewing in a big way, so I put together a triple brew day and invited out a few friends. On deck was a Heady Topper clone (which ended up as an Imperial Heady Topper...yikes), House Hefeweizen 1.5, and a Munich Helles.

After 18 hours of brewing, sampling, and geeking out over home brew, I've got 30 gallons fermenting.

Brew madness

Details below:

Heady Topper Clone

I have a really solid Conan culture that I've used on a handful of beers. I made a 6L starter for this monster and more or less followed theveganbrewer's fourth and final recipe from HBT. I adjusted the recipe to fit my 15 gallon kettles and sized my batch for 12 gallons, but with increased efficiency and careful inattention to detail, I seemed to have overshot my original gravity by about 13 points. I ended up with an "Imperial Heady Topper" at 1.090. Other than that, the brew went perfectly. I finally have confidence in my whirlpool and Blichmann hop blocker combination to minimize kettle hop loss and separate the beer from the massive amount of hop pellet debris.

PB OG: 1.065 @ 13.5 gallons
OG: 1.090 @ 12 gallons

Hit with a solid 3 minutes of oxygen and pitched the decanted Conan starter.

I knew something was off with my recipe when I realized how full my mash tun was

22ml of CO2 hop extract warming up on the boil kettle

The best I've done at minimizing kettle loss and keeping that pellet junk out of my fermenter

Recipe: Heady Blunder

Brewer: Adam Keck

Style: Imperial IPA

TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications

--------------------------

Estimated OG: 1.088 SG

Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM

Estimated IBU: 167.9 IBUs

Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:

------------

Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         

15.00 g               Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   1        -             

24 lbs                Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM)      Grain         2        68.6 %        

6 lbs                 Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)           Grain         3        17.1 %        

2 lbs                 Caramalt (Muntons) (12.0 SRM)            Grain         4        5.7 %         

2 lbs                 White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)               Grain         5        5.7 %         

1 lbs                 Turbinado (10.0 SRM)                     Sugar         6        2.9 %         

6.25 oz               Hop Extract [10.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min    Hop           7        113.2 IBUs    

22.00 ml              CO2 Hop Extract (Boil 90.0 mins)         Other         8        -             

2.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 Hop           9        8.5 IBUs      

6.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min          Hop           10       0.0 IBUs      

3.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Steep/Wh Hop           11       20.5 IBUs     

2.00 oz               Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop           12       8.3 IBUs      

2.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 0.0 Hop           13       0.0 IBUs      

2.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  30.0 Hop           14       12.7 IBUs     

1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool   Hop           15       4.9 IBUs      

1.0 pkg               Conan (Mad Fermentationist #) [35.49 ml] Yeast         16       -             

2.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Days      Hop           17       0.0 IBUs      

1.00 oz               Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Day Hop           18       0.0 IBUs      

1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Days  Hop           19       0.0 IBUs      

1.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop  Hop           20       0.0 IBUs      

0.50 oz               Apollo [17.00 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Days      Hop           21       0.0 IBUs      

2.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days      Hop           22       0.0 IBUs      

1.00 oz               Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Day Hop           23       0.0 IBUs      

1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days  Hop           24       0.0 IBUs      

1.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop  Hop           25       0.0 IBUs      

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out

Total Grain Weight: 35 lbs

----------------------------

Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     

Mash In           Add 42.50 qt of water at 163.5 F        150.0 F       75 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 8.95 gal water at 168.0 F

Notes:

------

20ml of hop extract

House Hefeweizen 1.5

I kept the recipe the same for this iteration of House Hef, but opted for 1lb of Melanoidin malt in lieu of a decoction. When you're brewing 30 gallons of beer in a day, or brewing commercially for that matter, an extra 1.5 hours and the logistics of decoction make it a nightmare. I'm also fermenting it in my 67 degree basement without a fermentation wrap. This should get it up to 72-73 degrees at peak fermentation, which should result in a little less banana character than I've pushed this beer previously. Although I really enjoy heavy banana flavors, the style is technically less aggressive. We'll see how it turns out compared to the last iterations of the recipe.

Speck und Zwiebel to go with our Bavarian brew

PB OG: 1.042 @ 12.5 gallons

OG: 1.05 @ 11.5 gallons

Gave it 2 minutes of oxygen and pitched 15g of rehydrated Safbrew WB-06.

Recipe: House Hefeweizen (1.5)
Brewer: Adam Keck
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Weizen/Weissbier (Wheat Beer)
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 4.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 10.6 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
11 lbs                Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         1        52.4 %        
8 lbs                 Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         2        38.1 %        
1 lbs                 Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)             Grain         3        4.8 %         
1 lbs                 Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)               Grain         4        4.8 %         
0.50 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min     Hop           5        5.3 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 30.0 min     Hop           6        5.4 IBUs      
0.50 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 0.0 min      Hop           7        0.0 IBUs      
2.0 pkg               Safbrew Wheat (DCL/Fermentis #WB-06) [50 Yeast         8        -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 21 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 28.25 qt of water at 162.8 F        152.0 F       60 min        
Mash Out          Add 14.70 qt of water at 202.9 F        168.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.98 gal water at 168.0 F

Munich Helles

I had some aging Oktoberfest lager yeast in my fridge. Now that my 1972 Delfield cooler is up and running, I can finally dial in temperature control to the precision that I need for both lagers and ales. Of course, on my 14th hour of brewing I had to hit a snag: I ran my pump too aggressively at first while recirculating my mash and it sucked enough grain up to clog the wet end of my pump. Everything worked fine after I disassembled/reassembled it. I cooled to 45 degrees before pitching my WLP 820 starter - 6L decanted. Lager cooling is such a breeze in the winter time. I have an external 1/8th HP pump connected to a bucket that I use to clean kegs out. Dual purposing it couldn't be simpler. I just fill it with cold water and ice/snow and set the outflow to the input on my wort chiller and recirculate the ice cold water. After I got the temperature down to ~ 65 degrees with well water, I switched over and dropped it another 20 degrees in about 15 minutes.

PB OG: 1.042 @ 12.5 gallons

OG: 1.059 @ 11 gallons

Applied 3 minutes of oxygen and pitched the decanted 3L starters of WLP 820.

So much yeast for such a delicate beer.

Transferring to the last boil of a long day.

Brewer: Adam Keck
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Munich Helles
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 18.6 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
20 lbs                Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         1        100.0 %       
3.00 oz               Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.60 %] - Boil  Hop           2        17.1 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.60 %] - Boil  Hop           3        1.5 IBUs      
2.0 pkg               Octoberfest/Marzen Lager (White Labs #WL Yeast         4        -             


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 20 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Saccharification  Add 25.00 qt of water at 163.7 F        152.0 F       60 min        
Mash Out          Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min             168.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 11.15 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
------

Update:

Heady Blunder (Heady Topper clone gone imperial)

I fermented this at 68 degrees for four days then bumped up the temperature to 71 degrees. On 1/8/2014, it recorded a ~1.030 specific gravity. The color is a very intense dark orange. Probably darker than Heady Topper. The flavor was extremely fruity with signature Heady Topper dankness. I didn't taste any of the sweetness that comes with a 1.030 gravity, as the hops covered it up entirely. The Conan "peach" flavor was there, but not pronounced.

Fiery orange.

I took the heat off of the fermenter on 1/13/2014 and will let it crash cool to 38 degrees while I am on vacation next week. I opted to let the beer sit, rather than rush to dry hop it. This will be the first time I do a two stage dry hop in earnest. I want to do it right.

House Hefeweizen 1.5

Transferred 10 gallons to kegs on 1/14 after 10 days in the primary. FG: 1.010, kegged at 30 psi. The sample was as expected: a little more reserved on the banana notes due to the cooler fermentation. It also had a different texture than I remember in the last batches. This could be a result of it not being carbonated and not representative of how the final beer will come out or it could actually be a result of skipping the decoction mash (and the protein rest that comes with it). We'll see on the final beer.

Munich Helles

Checked the gravity on 1/15 to see if it was ready for a diacetyl rest. SG: 1.020. Bumped up the temperature to 57 degrees. I'll leave it set for 2 days then I'll begin to cool the beer down to lagering temperature. This is probably the most malt focused beer I've done and even with the unfinished yeast business, the prominent taste was bready, pilsner malt. I used 100% Avangard Pilsner malt in the grist and it shows off.

Update 2:

Heady Blunder

After crashing for a week, the beer came out much clearer. I transferred with CO2 by installing a spear in my sanke fermenter. I added the first round of dry hops on 1/27, the second round on 1/30, then put the corneys in the fridge for crashing on 2/2. I've been dry hopping in the keg with nylon socks. Looking forward to tasting what the 2-stage dry hop will do for this beer. Later this week, I'll pull samples of the beer till it is clear then transfer to clean kegs for serving. 

One week @ 38 degrees cleared the beer out really nicely, even without finings

Munich Helles

I was thinking about filtering this beer into serving kegs, but then I drew a sample and saw how crystal clear it was after two weeks of lagering. I tasted it for any diacetyl or off flavors before deciding whether I'd lager it longer or package it for serving. There were no off flavors. It tastes delightful. I transferred it into two corney kegs then set the kegs on 10 psi of gas. I intend to serve one keg within the week and bottle a few of them and the other I'll allow to lager longer to see if there is a noticeable flavor improvement.

I'm a little thrown off by the FG: 1.020. I suppose I could have allowed it more time to ferment, but I really thought that the diacetyl rest at 58 degrees for two days would have finished it out. It didn't move a single point of gravity. The attenuation for WLP820 lager is 65-73% and from 1.059 to 1.020, I hit the low end of the scale at 66% apparent attenuation. Next time, I'll pitch a larger starter (easier now that I've salvaged the yeast) and I'll allow it a full 2.5 weeks to ferment.

The sample was excellent though, and I didn't sense any extra sweetness.

Crystal clear.