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“Return of Binghamton Brown”
This was my first brew in 5 years, and I had forgotten some
details, and it came out pretty poor. I used the <simple>
instructions that came with the kit. The first brew I ever made
was based on a brown ale kit, and I had fond memories of
it. Unfortunately, I didn't write anything down, so I can't repeat
it. RBB was based on the Munton's Midland Mild Kit, but I
added some Cascade Hops. I blew the bottling by not mixing the
priming sugar in well enough.
- Brewed: 2004-08-09
- Racked: 2004-08-13
- Bottled: 2004-08-20; Yield: 43 bottles
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“New Year's Sweet Wheat”
This one is based on the Munton's Wheat Beer Kit. I used
extra corn sugar for fermentation, and I let it sit in the
fermenter for an extra long time , so it will perhaps be highly
alcoholic. Unfortunately, I didn't record the specific gravity
before fermenting, so we won't know until it's tasted. I used
extra priming sugar, too, and made sure to mix it in well this
time, so all the beer should be well carbonated. There may be
so much carbonation that the bottles might be explosive, so,
so we'll see...
... after tasting the first bottle (#25), I have to say, this one
came out OK. Or at least better than RBB. It's well carbonated,
and definitely a touch sweet. It's very mellow, and could probably
be enjoyed with a lemon slice. There are some slight off flavors,
though. Perhaps they will go with more conditioning. There's also
a hint of dead yeast in the aroma.
On tasting the second (and third) bottles (#26 and #27), there's a
definite buttery taste (presumably due to diacetyls arising
because of the higher-than-recommended summertime primary
fermentation temperature).
Update: After reading more on the subject, the yeast
should take care of the diactyls if given enough time to
condition. But I drank it all up too fast to be able to test that
theory.
- Brewed: 2004-08-16
- Racked: 2004-08-19
- Racked (#2): 2004-09-08
- Bottled: 2004-09-15; Yield: 50 bottles
- Tasted: 2004-09-22
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“I Pee, Eh?”
This is just a normal IPA, based on the
John Bull India Pale Ale Home Brew Beer Kit. I decided to
double malt instead of sugaring it up, and I used Munton's
Malt Extract Extra Light, because IPAs are generally light in
color. I also used additional Kent
Goldings Pellet Hops for flavor and aroma in the boil, and I bought and
used Windsor Brewing Yeast, instead of the packet that came
with the kit.
I'm a little nervous (at bottling time) that the yeast might be
completely dormant. When I added the priming sugar (in the future,
I believe I will switch to dry malt extract), there didn't appear
to be any CO2 bubbles at the top of the bottling
bucket. Hopefully it will carbonate properly...
Update: It did! This is a very mild tasting beer. It
would be somewhat incorrect to call it an IPA, though it does
have a strong hoppy aroma.
- Brewed: 2004-09-16
- Specific Gravity: 1.052
- Potential Alcohol: 6.375%
- Fermentation Temperature: ~69° F
- Racked: 2004-09-22
- Specific Gravity: 1.022
- Alcohol by Volume: 6.375%−2.5%=3.875%
- Dry hopped: 2 oz. Kent Goldings Pellet Hops
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.052-1.022)/(1.052-1)=57.7%
- Racked (#2): 2004-09-29
- Specific Gravity: 1.017
- Alcohol by Volume: 6.375%−1.875%=4.5%
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.052-1.017)/(1.052-1)=67.3%
- Bottled: 2004-10-03
- Specific Gravity: 1.017
- Yield: 49½ bottles
- Tasted: 2004-10-12
- Result: Excellent!
- Notes: Very mild (not particularly IPAish, though the
hoppiness definitely comes through).
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“Beer of Atonement”
The is my first beer brewed with specialty grains. I grabbed a Brewer‘s
Best Ingredient Package (1036) from Doc's (my local brewstore)
for brewing a Steam-Style Beer. Based on what I've read about Steam
beers, the package and its recipe don't seem to live up to the recipes
I've read. Still, I'm not too concerned. It didn't cost more than
the constituent ingredients (though they were stored at room
temperature, so the yeast and hops may not be the freshest), and
everything was in the proper proportions. I probably won't bother
getting another kit like this, but it was a good introduction to
specialty grain brewing.
For reference, the ingredients it came with were:
I forgot to sparge the grains, so the orginal gravity was lower than
expected. Hopefully the yeast will completely ferment the
sugars. In the future, I plan to prepare a pint of yeast a day
before the boil.
Racking notes: After racking on 2004-10-03, it appears that the yeast
worked thoroughly, bringing the specific gravity down to 1.010. It
might have been a combination of the way I activated the yeast and
the cooler fermentation temperature with the start of Fall. Or it
could be the Nottingham yeast. My next batch will almost surely
use Nottingham. I've used the Windsor variety several times now
Tasting Notes: After tasting on 2004-10-24, the
beer was not carbonated (yet). I'll wait another week before
trying one, but it's important to note that the carbonation
was not complete at this point in the conditioning (one week
in).
Tasting Notes: After tasting on 2004-10-28, the
beer was slightly carbonated. It's possible that the basement
is simply too cold at 64° F. I may have to show my bottles
some warm bedroom love for carbonation purposes. (I took one
of the “extra” Corona™ bottles, so it's also
possible that again, I didn't mix up the bottling sugars well
enough). The flavor at this point is still a little
“young” tasting, so while it's not bad, I think it
could definitely do with some more conditioning (the more
grains are used, the longer the conditioning period should
be). I should probably get a 6-pack of Anchor Steam™ beer
to compare flavors, but I'm pretty sure this doesn't taste
like it (though it's not bad at all).
- Brewed: 2004-09-25
- Specific Gravity: 1.042
- Potential Alcohol: 5.125%
- Fermentation Temperature: 69° F − 67° F
- Racked: 2004-10-03
- Specific Gravity: 1.010
- Alcohol by Volume: 5.125%−1.0%=4.125%
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.042-1.010)/(1.042-1)=76.2%
- Secondary Fermentation Temperature: 67° F − 62° F
- Bottled: 2004-10-15
- No specific gravity reading, hydrometer broken
- Yield: 51½ bottles
- Conditioning Temperature: ~64° F
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“New York-shire Bitter”
OK, I didn't come up with the name, it's from a recipe I found in
The
Brewmaster's Bible, but it's still clever and appropriate. I
deviated slightly from the recipe by putting in a little more
crystal malt, and more malt extract.
For the record, here are the ingredients I used:
- 1 lb. 40°L Briess crystal malt
- 3 lbs. Munton's Light DME
- 2.5 lbs. Munton's Amber DME
- 2 oz. Fuggles pellet hops (4.4% alpha acid) for 60
minutes
- 1 oz. Kent Goldings pellet hops (4.1% alpha acid) for 30
minutes
- 1 oz. Kent Goldings pellet hops (4.1% alpha acid) for 7
minutes
- 1 tsp. Irish Moss for 20 minutes
- Nottingham brewing
yeast, which I reactivated in 3/4 pint of water
Brewing Notes: I put too much water in the boil, so I had
to remove about 2 quarts when I added the DME. After it boiled
down some, I was able to reintroduce the other 2
quarts. Hopefully, not too much oxidation took place (or more
hopefully, maybe the boil takes care of any
oxidation?). Additionally, I let the wort chill an extra 15-20
minutes before transferring it to my primary fermenter. I put
most of the hops in muslin bags, except for the final flavoring
hops. I strained them out when I transferred the cooled wort into
my new 6.5 gallon carboy. When I pitched the yeast, I only used
the thick bed at the bottom of my reactivation glass.
Bottling Notes: Just for the hell of it, instead of
using corn sugar for carbonation, I used some leftover DME
that I saved from the original brewing.
Tasting Notes: This is my favorite beer so far. It is
well carbonated and has some light fruity flavors, while still
being full bodied. I believe that the Irish moss (carrageenan)
contributed to this ale's clarity, though it would be
interesting at some point to try and recreate it. It might be
a good idea to keep this one around for a while as the next
two or three batches will be a low-alcohol stout and a cider
(or two!).
- Brewed: 2004-10-04
- Specific Gravity: 1.042
- Potential Alcohol: 5.125%
- Fermentation Temperature: 66° F − 62 ° F
- Racked: 2004-10-13
- Specific Gravity: 1.008
- Alcohol by Volume: 5.125%-0.750%=4.375%
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.042-1.008)/(1.042-1)=81.0%
- Secondary Fermentation Temperature: 62° F − 65° F
- Bottled: 2004-10-22
- Specific Gravity: ~1.008 (different/new hydrometer)
- Alcohol by Volume: 5.125%-0.750%=4.375%
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.042-1.008)/(1.042-1)=81.0%
- Yield: 52½ bottles
- Conditioning Temperature: 63° F
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“Four Stout Men to work the Bellows”
My next beer is an Irish stout. This is the first beer that I have
used my new (handmade!) wort chiller and 5.5 gallon brew
pot. Unfortunately, my stove isn't really powerful enough to get a
full rolling boil for 5 gallons of wort. Perhaps I'll just boil
3½ or 4 gallons in the future. The wort chiller is
definitely awesome, though. 4 gallons of beer went from 212° F
to 70° F in around 15 minutes.
The ingredients I used were based on the “Dry Irish
Stout” recipe from The Brewmaster's Bible (p. 167):
- 8 oz. Crystal malt 64° L
- 8 oz. Black Patent Malt 471° L
- 8 oz. Roasted non-malted black barley 675° L
- 8 oz. Flaked barley
- 6 lb. Laaglander Dark DME
- 1 oz. Northern Brewer pellet hops (10.0% alpha acid) [45 m. boil]
- 1 oz. Kent Golding pellet hops (4.1% alpha acid) [45 m. boil]
- 1 t. Irish moss [20 m. boil]
- White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast
Brewing Notes: Wort chillers are very cool (pun
intended!). I may need to get a better heating mechanism (perhaps
a butaneor propane cooking stove) because the gas range here just
isn't powerful enough. Or perhaps next time I should cover the pot
during the boil. But then boilover becomes a serious problem.
My new hydrometer seems to be a few degrees off for water (even if
Binghamton water had a high latent specific gravity, my old
hydrometer still measured it at 1.000. This new one seems to be
off by +0.004 units.
Racking Notes: I may not have aerated enough, and I'm
sure the low fermentation temperature didn't help much, but
the yeast had very poor attenuation during primary
fermentation. I've brought the secondary fermenter upstairs,
and hopefully it will be warm enough to get the yeast to work
a little more. I may need to purchase a carboy heat-belt for
future brews. It's also worth noting that the Laaglander DME
is known to be poorly fermenting, so that might add to the
problem, but I doubt that I should be expecting an apparent
attenuation of 34.0%.
Bottling Notes: The beer has been fermenting in the
secondary for the past two weeks upstairs in the supposed
warmth. And the apparent attenuation has gone down (?!?). I
tasted the beer that I measured, and it seems to taste OK. I'm
really hoping at this point that the Laaglander caused the low
attenuation.
Tasting Notes (2004-11-20): Well, it's super sweet (even for an
oatmeal stout), as one might have imagined due to the
extremely low attenuation. It might be a good
“starter” beer for those that don't already appreciate
beer. I'll give it more time, though, the sweetness might
temper a little as it ages (it needs a bit more carbonation anyway).
Tasting Notes (2006-12-11): After 2 years of bottle
conditioning, I'm happy to say that this has turned out
rather well. It's drinkable, and not unlike some fancy
microbrew porters and stouts. I've also used it to leaven
bread dough. I've recently gotten into sourdough baking, and
rather than adding water and baking yeast to the sourdough
starter, I've used a bottle of this beer at room
temperature. It gives the bread a nice deep brown color and
the slight off-flavors in the beer actually enhance the
sourdough flavors. There's a place where you can get a free sourdough
starter for the cost of two stamps and two envelopes.
- Brewed: 2004-10-16
- Specific Gravity: 1.053
- Potential Alcohol: 6.5%
- Fermentation Temperature: 66° F − 63° F
- Racked: 2004-10-27
- Specific Gravity: 1.035
- Alcohol by Volume: 6.5%−4.125%=2.375%
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.053-1.035)/(1.053-1)=34.0%
- Secondary Fermentation Temperature: ~65° F
- Bottled: 2004-11-08
- Specific Gravity: 1.038
- Alcohol by Volume: 6.5%−4.5%=2.000%
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.053-1.038)/(1.053-1)=28.3%
- Yield: 49½ bottles
- Conditioning Temperature: 62°
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“Simple Cider”
I've been wanting to brew an apple
cider for a while now, so I went to Wegman's and got some
organic (preservative-free) Ziegler's cider. While I
was there, I checked out the apple juice and realized that
the apple juice is preservative-free by nature, so I picked up
enough juice to fill up the fermenter. I had some leftover
yeast from a beer kit, so I just threw it all into a 5 gallon
fermenter with that yeast. We'll see how it turns out.
- 1½ gallon Ziegler's organic
(preservative-free) cider @ $8.97
- 1 gallon Wegman's natural-style apple juice @ $2.78
- ¾ gallon Wegman's apple juice @ $1.89
- 1 packet generic brewer's yeast ~ $1.00
- Cost: $14.64
Racking Notes: I racked the “Simple Cider”
a little late, but I added a gallon and a half of Price
Chopper Natural Apple Juice (no added vitamin C). I'm told
that ciders need to condition especially long, but I tasted
it, and it's a very rough right now... I'm torn about brewing
a batch of “good” cider, but it might be worth it
anyway.
- 1½ gallon Price Chopper natural apple juice @ $2.97
- Total Cost: $17.61
Bottling Notes: The cider was already highly carbonated
in the fermenter, but I still added a good amount of corn
sugar. Hopefully there won't be any explosions in the
basement...
- Brewed: 2004-10-17
- Specific Gravity: 1.050
- Potential Alcohol: 6.125%
- Fermentation Temperature: 62° F
- Racked: 2004-11-09
- Specific Gravity (1): 1.011
- Alcohol by Volume:
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.050-1.011)/(1.050-1)=78%
- Specific Gravity (2): 1.022
- Potential Alcohol:
- Secondary Fermentation Temperature: 63° F
- Bottled: 2004-12-10
- Specific Gravity: 1.006
- Alocohol by Volume:
- Apparent Yeast attenuation:
- Yield: 51½ bottles
- Conditioning Temperature: ~62° F
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“Cider Mill Cider”
This week (2004-11-15 through
2004-11-18) the Cider
Mill had a 2 for 1 sale on gallons of their fresh, pasteurized,
preservative-free apple cider. In anticipation of this sale,
I picked up some Champagne
Wine Yeast (WLP715) (which is appropriate for making cider) from
Doc's. Since I had some extra corn sugar around, I also dumped that
in. Brewing Notes:
My only concern about this brew is that I didn't quite
follow the yeast's directions. I forgot to let the yeast
vile warm up while I went out to buy the cider, and I didn't
warm up the cider, either. I'll let it sit in the primary
extra long, though, and maybe that'll help.
- 5 gallons Cider Mill Pasteurized Apple Cider
- 1 quart hot tap water
- 2 ½ cups (~1 lb.) corn sugar
- 1 vile White Labs Champagne Wine Yeast
- Total Cost: ~ $23 − $24
Racking Notes:
I added an extra cup of corn sugar because there was so
little sugar left. I probably should have malted up more in
the primary. Sadly, I forgot to measure the specific gravity
after adding the sugar.
- Brewed: 2004-11-18
- Specific Gravity: 1.048
- Potential Alcochol:
- Fermentation Temperature: 58° F -> 63° F
- Racked: 2004-12-09
- Specific Gravity: 1.001
- Alcohol by Volume:
- Apparent Yeast Attenuation: (1.048-1.001)/(1.048-1.001)
- Secondary Fermentation Temperature: 64° F
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For those that have tasted my beer...
If you have had my beer, and you liked it, then that's great, and I
appreciate it. If you really enjoyed it and feel you must
reciprocate in some way, then first I suggest you start brewing your
own, and let me taste your first batch! If that sounds like too much
work, but you still want to encourage my hobby, I have compiled a
list
of books on brewing that I would like to add to my library.
If you didn't like it, then I would like to know why, so please
email me.
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