What's in your fermenter??

[Chris Alvey]

Don: It could be a Cold Strong Ale ... cha ching.


Chris: How's the yeast(s) doing? Are the fermentations comparable?

[Chris Norrick]

They were very similar until I added in the sugar water yesterday. (Instead of adding the sugar during the boil I waited 3 days to add it.) Your yeast still has a nice krauzen going but the other seems to have dropped in some. The bubble rate is still about the same however.

I'm on day 4 and the temp is up to 24 c (75 f). Yes, in Celsius. My Ranco Temp controller starting showing E2 error codes in Heat Mode and one of the fixes I found online is to switch it to Celsius. I'm not sure why, but it worked.

[JohnD]

Bock

6# Pale malt
5# Munich
1# Carapils
1# Vienna
2 oz. Chocolate malt
1 oz. Tettnanger 60 min.
1/2 oz. Hallertauer 30 min.
WLP833 German Bock yeast (1 qt. starter) Will ferment at basement floor temp which now is low 50s

[john mills]

Made an Imperial Breakfast Stout yesterday
OG 1.113 in 5 gallons post boil to carboy
21# US 2 row pale
1 1/2# Carapils
1 1/2# Roasted barley
1 1/2# toasted Rolled oats - toasted in oven until a nice golden brown color
1# Chocolate malt
1# Special B
2 oz Magnum 60 min boil
2 oz Fuggle 10 min boil
2 oz Fuggle 5 min boil
pitched onto an entire yeast cake of 5 gallon American Wheat US05
Bubbling through airlock beautifully within 2 hours. Fermentation at 63 degrees. No blow off yet, only about 1 1/2 inch krausen.

I had plans of using some sorghum molasses, but OG was too high already, my thoughts were to add some in a couple of days matching the gravity of the addition to the OG. I mashed at 156 degrees hopefully to balance the sweetness/hops/alcohol in the end.

I haven't heard much of stout partigyles, and since my summer barleywine yielded a decent 2nd runnings beer, I thought the same should work for a regular Oatmeal Stout. I added enough water back to the tun to cover the grains. Runoff yielded 6 1/2 gallons of 1.037 preboil wort.
I hopped with the original hops taken from the Imperial stout for a 60 minute boil. I thought there would be enough IBU's left from the late addition Fuggles to be good enough for bittering.
I also added 1 pint jar of sorghum molasses in last 10 minutes of boil.
5 gallons yielded OG: 1.055

[john mills]

Brewed up a Nut Brown Ale today.
7 # Marris Otter
1 # Carapils
1 # Brown malt
1# Crystal 40L
1# Crystal 60L
3 oz Chocolate malt
1 1/4 oz Goldings @ 60 min boil
Danstar Nottingham yeast
OG:1.057

[JohnD]

Brewed an Oatmeal Stout last Saturday.
8# Maris Otter
1# "Naked Oats"
1# Flaked Barley
1/2# Crystal 10
1/2# Chocolate Malt
1/4# Roasted Barley
1 oz Perle hops 60 min
1/2 oz homegrown ??variety hops 60 min
Irish ale yeast from red ale primary
yeast nutrient 15 min
Mash 154F 60 min w/ 5.2 powder
6 gallons into fermenter OG 1.052

[Don]

English Old Ale #42

Last Saturdays brew.
First batch using new RIMS heat exchanger and recirculating during entire mash.
2nd try at fly-sparging.(except for the extra 50 minutes fly-sparging the 7.75 gallons, it went well.)

12 lbs 8 oz. oz Maris Otter
8.0 oz Crystal Malt - 80L
8.0 oz Naked Oats (10.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Pearle [8.20 %] (60 min)
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min)
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (1 min)
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
1.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min)
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [Starter 2 pt]Yeast-Ale

Batch Size: 5.5 gal
Boil Size: 7.75 gal
OG: 1.076 SG
IBU: 30.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 84.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

70 min Saccharification Add 16.88 qt of water mash at 155.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F

[BM1]

I've been doin' some xperimenting w/small batches of beer in one gallon batches,all grain.So far,so good.I made a mash tun from a 2 gallon water cooler and some clear tubing.Works great and realy lowers the losses on mistakes,although I haven't realy srewed any up,yet.

3lbs.Marris Otter
3Oz.American Chocolate,steeped 155deg(f)25min..
7grms Halerteu @ 60min.
7grms.Halerteu @ 40min.
1Werfloc tablet @15.
Pitched Coopers Dry abt 1/2 a pak @ 72deg(f)and moved to 68deg(f)room.
OG was 1.079 @1.3gal.
Added some filtered water(hvn good luck w/that)to adjust to 1.062.
Ended up w/abt. 1.5gal.

Trouble in frmntr:Yeast failed to floculate properly ,I skimmed what i could get w/a holey spoon n' racked it to a 1gal.jug.Now,the yeast is circulating in the wort.Tastes great ,but it's still kinda'ugly ,what to do 'bout the yeast

[john mills]

In celebration of the new president of the United States, I made a sour ale. Flanders Red to be more precise. I used Jamil's recipe, but I missed my normal extraction rate by a couple of percentage points (I believe due to a faster sparge rate than normal). Any way, I wound up with an OG: 1.053 instead of his 1.061. I might add some invert sugar to kick up the alcohol a bit, but I haven't made up my mind yet. Any suggestions?

Time will tell, which will be better come next election...this beer, or the president.

[sirgiovanni]

I'd let her ride as is. My extractions have came out about 3 points lower every since the temp dropped. I don't think I'm getting the same boil as I did in the summer. I'd love to trade a bottle too. That sour beer is neat stuff.

[john mills]

I was leaning toward letting it ride as is. What I've read had indicated that the souring bugs activity tapers off with higher alcohol. I believe that this brew should still come in at about 4.3-4.5% ABV.
I'll save you a bottle at the very least. Brewing is about sharing...spread the wealth.

[BM1]

A spiced Ale w/ginger and sweet orange peel.

Brewer: BM1 Email: -
Beer: Winter Ale
Type: Extract w/grain Size: 5.5 gallons
Color: 7 HCU (~6 SRM)
Bitterness: 20 IBU
OG: 1.050 FG: 1.018
Alcohol: 4.6% v/v (3.6% w/w)
Water: 1/2tsp gypsum in the boil.
Grain: 2 lb. Marris Otter
1 lb. Pilsen Malt
Steep: Cracked the grains and steeped in the boil pot 55min.keeping temp between 153°-160°F then removed grain bags and let drip into seperate pan to be poured back into boil.
Boil: 60 minutes SG 1.127 2.25 gallons
6.6 lb. Light malt extract
1 lb. Honey
Added 1 1/2oz.fresh ginger,chopped&peeled and 1/2oz.sweet orange peel,2tsp irish moss in hop bag w/flavoring hops.
Hops: 1 oz. Cascade (6.9% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Hallertauer (4.20% AA, 45 min.)
1 oz. Kent Goldings (4.8% AA, 15 min.)
Yeast: Nottingham dry yeast w/o starter or pre hydrating,pitched into carboy @76°F.and added bowoff tube.
Log: 12/06/2008 70°F room.
Carbonation: 3.1 volumes /Honey: 6.88 oz. for 5 gallons @ 70°F



The taste is better than I expected.Body is decent,hop flavor and aroma comes through.Head ret.is a little disappointing,shoulda added some crystal or something .However,it is enjoyable.Has a rich,bright color and spicey,wafting aroma that just smells like 'BEER'.

[BM1]

What's wrong with this recipe for Dark Ale?Any kinda help will be appreciated.

Dark Ale X 12509


Brewer: BM1 Email: -
Beer: Dark Ale X 12509 Style: American Pale Ale
Type: All grain Size: 3 gallons
Color: 97 HCU (~35 SRM)
Bitterness: 26 IBU
OG: 1.049 FG: 1.012
Alcohol: 4.8% v/v (3.7% w/w)
Grain: 3 lb. 8 oz. Belgian pale
1 lb. Belgian aromatic
1 lb. American crystal 10L
7 oz. American chocolate
3 oz. American black patent
Mash: 65% efficiency
Boil: minutes SG 1.045 3.25 gallons
2 oz. Corn sugar
Hops: 7g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.)
10g Hallertauer (4.25% AA, 45 min.)
10g Hallertauer (4.25% AA, 20 min.)

It'll be a week or 2 before I get to brew so,please look it over."Every #&$%^@# time ,I try to brew a 'Dark Ale' ,it turns out moore like a'Stout'

I may reduce some of the Paten or Chocolate but I'll need to add something else to keep my points up.
Might try a gallon 1st.

[Chris Alvey]

Here's a chart I found:
Color SRM
Clear 0
Light Straw 1 - 2.5
Pale Straw 2.3 - 3.5
Dark Straw 3.5 - 5.5
Light Amber 5.5 - 10
Pale Amber 10 - 18
Dark Amber or Copper 18 - 26
Very Dark Amber 26 - 40
Black 40 +

If you're having some trouble tempering the color but want the goodies, you could try some Pale Chocolate instead of regular Chocolate malt and see if that turns out for you. http://morebeer.com/view_product/5612/1 ... _Chocolate

Do you have a well-known beer that has roughly the same color you are shooting for? Is it more like Rogue Dead Guy or Amber Bock color that you're shooting for?

[Dwayne_Delaney]

If you want color without the roasted notes of the Chocolate and especially the Black Patent, Carafa would be the ticket. I have a couple of pounds in my stash. I could bring some to Wednesday's meeting if you plan on attending for you to try out....no charge. 6 oz. should work out for your recipe if you plan on cutting back on the Chocolate and Black Patent. Just let me know if you want it crushed. Cutting back or eliminating the Chocolate and Black Patent will keep those "stout" flavors out of your beer.


Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the loss in OG with a change in the Chocolate or Black Patent; although they will contribute some to your OG(melanoidins?), they contribute very little in the way of fermentable sugars.