Shua Brewing

With summer right around the corner you would think its time to brew up a few lighter refreshing beers for the upcoming hot months. But just as the weather has been undecided (65 and sunny Sunday, snow/hail/rain/wind Monday), so will I. I have been on a run of lighter brews so I thought it would be good to brew up something dark and smooth. And what is better then a tasty Oatmeal Stout. I had most of the grain on hand other then the Marris Otter so I ran down to the brewery and snagged some of that as well as a smack pack of Denny’s Favorite 50 yeast. I have never used it before but have heard good things, so I thought why not. I guess I could ramble on further while I wait for my group meeting but I wont make you suffer. Here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Stout

OG: 1.055   FG: not yet     ABV: not yet    IBU: 36.1     SRM:38.2

Size:5.25 gallon       Mash:67.7C / 154F  Ferment: 18.8C / 67F avg

Recipe:

60% Marris Otter (GW)

12.5% Quick Oats (Quaker)

10% Munich 10L (GW)

6.5% English Dark Crystal 77L (Crisp)

6.5% Roasted Barley 700L (Crisp)

2.5% Pale Chocolate 250L (Crisp)

2% English Extra Dark Crystal 120L (Crisp)

35g Challenger 60min [36.1 IBU]

yeast: Wyeast 1450 Denny’s Favorite 50

Notes:

3/23/12 made 1.1L starter. Yeast dated Feb28.

3/24/12 Brewed by myself. It went smooth other then I forgot to add my sparge salts. In this case 4.5g Baking soda. Aerated 30 minutes. pitches yeast and took off within 6 hours or so. A bit slower then usual actually.

3/27/12 boiled a tiny amount of water for 10 minutes with 4.5g baking soda and added to still fermenting beer. I think this should work fine, but we will see.

54.3 Ca, 16.4 MG, 71.6 Na, 5 S04, 60.6 Cl

Appearance - Good clarity (not seen here, just moved keg around). Darker Copper color. Two finger fluffy white head that dissipates pretty quickly to a thin white layer that lasts the entire pint.

Aroma - Not a ton of definable aroma. Mostly floral hops followed by a bit of earthy/toasted notes.

Taste - Starts a little sweet with a bit of bready characteristics and then moves toward the fruity hops. Smooth bitterness that is not to much or to little. Also finishes a tiny bit astringent/grainy. Possibly from not letting the toasted grain sit for a few day after baking it or from over sparging a touch.

Mouthfeel - A medium mouth feel but a bit to much carbonation in this one. I had it right for awhile but bumped it up when I put my IPA on to carb as well.

Overall - Overall I am really glad I brewed this recipe. Was really good. And just a great beer to drink after a long day at class. Small and sessionable but not boring by any means. I know a few things I want to change already. One variation that the source of this recipe has done before as well, so we will see where it takes me. Rebrewing as I type this.

Recipe

I have officially switched my whole brewing system and notes to the metric system. Well all but gallons and quarts since my sight glass and system make that hard to change. My friend called me a nerd the other day for being excited about it, but oh well what does she know. In school I prefer to work in metric for the ease of calculations, so it really is beneficial. I just purchased a grain mill, which was the last of my process that I needed to have full control over before I made the switch, since where I buy/crush my grain does not have a scale that works in grams. So now my recipe posts will follow a bit different of a format. Grain wise it will all be the same since I usually work in percentages for these posts. But hops and water additions will be new. Here is a brief overview of possible changes and how to convert:

• 1lb = ~454g or .454 Kg (grain)
• 1 ounce = ~28g (Hops)
• 1tsp = 4.5g (salt additions for water profile)
• Temperature wise I will probably give both, but C= (9/5)F+32

Overall this stuff is pretty straight forward, and I doubt anyone actually reads thoroughly enough through my recipes for this to have any effect. If you ever need anything converted though just ask.

But in the end America, we really make things difficult for ourselves with the US system. What a pain the ass. Think metric!

I enjoy a good Black IPA, Cascadian Dark Ale, whatever the hell you want to call it. But I also dislike an IPA that is just colored black. While I don’t need a ton of dark chocolate/roast, I do appreciate a brew that shows signs or even hints that a dark malt went into it other then just for color. I obviously didn’t go crazy with dark malts, kept it simple with the Carafa and a touch of chocolate malt.. after words I wished I added a bit more but we will see. I always feel very piny hops go well with this dark back drop. I stepped away from my usual Columbus/Cascade pairing and bought a bit of centennial to bitter with as well as Chinook to give me that wonderful pine tree flavor and aroma I enjoy in this style. With a pound of Cascade in the freezer though I had to put some in, so I chose to finish with it at flame out and dry hop. So here it is (A week late):

Black IPA

OG: 1.062   FG: not yet     ABV: not yet    IBU: 65.5     SRM:26.7

Size:5 gallon       Mash:152F  Ferment: 67F avg

Recipe:

80% 2row (GW)

10% Munich 10L (GW)

6% Carafa II

3% Crystal 40L (GW)

1% Chocolate 450L (GW)

.75oz Centennial 70min [26.7 IBU]

.75oz Chinook 40min [28.1 IBU]

.5oz Centennial 10min [9.3 IBU]

.5oz Chinook 5min [5.1 IBU]

1oz Cascade 0min [2.8 IBU]

2oz Cascade Dry Hop

yeast: Wyeast 1056

Notes:

3/17/12 made 1.2L starter of 1056

3/18/12 Brewed early ish. Slept through my alarm by an hour and a half but I mean it was set for 5 and I went to bed at 2 so it seemed reasonable. The girl was hung over and in bed most of the morning so it really turned out to be a perfect time to brew and then when done the girls made breakfast for the full house (morning after saint patty’s day party). Perfect.

3/19/12 explosion! should of used a blow off tube. haha.

73.5 Ca, 16.4 MG, 9.9 Na, 126.1 S04, 5 Cl

I just bought a bottle of Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA at the grocery store by my parents place. Its not something I have ever sought out but since it was right in front of me for a decent price I thought I might as well pick it up. Sometimes I think I am the only person in the world but I am not the biggest fan of the brewery. I think all there beers are good, but nothing really blows my mind. Yes you are allowed to hate me for this. haha. But maybe this beer will change my mindset.

I have been planning on brewing a big Imperial Stout since I brewed the barleywine back in November. Something big dark and strong to get me through colder months next year. I was hoping to get this brewed in early January to give it almost 12 months to age but I kept pushing it back since I wanted more to drink sooner. But finally this last weekend I brewed it up. I realized after I mashed in I didn’t lower my efficiency as much as I should of for such a big beer. But the addition of 1/2 lb of extract and 1/2 lb of sugar fixed that problem just fine. I wouldnt call this beer a kitchen sink esque brew but it had some hints of it, from the .75 lb of flaked barley I had sitting around to the .25lb of C120. Overall though everything I added went into the vision I had flying around in my head. Something big but smooth, lots of roast and chocolate depth. While I am a fan of all Imperial stouts, I lean more toward the roasty robust ones then the sweeter “dessert” like counterparts. Hopefully this will be what I’m looking for after I let it age for a good while. Might add Oak/bourbon as I did with the barleywine if I feel like it would benefit it. But only time will tell.

Imperial Stout

OG: 1.102   FG: not yet     ABV: not yet    IBU: 87.9     SRM:60

Size:5 gallon       Mash:147F/155F  Ferment: 67F avg

Recipe:

81% 2row (GW)

4.25% Flaked Barley (GW)

4.25% Roasted Barley 700L (Crisp)

3% Black Malt (GW)

3% Chocolate 450L (GW)

3% Crystal 60L (GW)

1.5% Crystal 120L (GW)

+.5lb extract, .5lb sugar

1oz Columbus 90min [45.0 IBU]

1oz Columbus 30min [32.3 IBU]

1.5oz Cascade 15min [10.7 IBU]

yeast: wyeast 1056 4th generation and 1 pack US-05

Notes:

3/3/12 Brewed a bit late at 9am with a pretty strong hangover from drinking tell 3am the night before at my neighbors. Poor choice. haha. Added extract and sugar to make up for my lost efficiency. Chilled down, aerated for 45 minutes, pitched big thick slurry of 4th generation 1056 and another dry yeast pack of US-05 to be safe and guarantee a strong fermentation since its pretty difficult to over pith something this large.

123.9 Ca, 16.4 MG, 68.8 Na, 5 S04, 30.4 Cl

It’s funny, when I started brewing I was all about IPA’s. I brewed a decent amount of them that first year of extract brewing, and my first year of brewing all grain. But surprisingly I have not brewed that many of them since then. A couple here and there, but nothing like before. So a few weeks ago I decided I need to put one in my lineup, especially with my homebrew club having an IPA competition at the end of April. I decided to go with a basic American IPA recipe, mostly 2row, with some of the Vienna I had lying around and finish off with a bit of lighter crystal, in this case 40L. Since I bought a pound each of Cascade and Columbus a while back I decided to stick just with those two. I love the combo as is explained in me using them solely in my late hop pale ale I brewed awhile back. I went with a bit of Columbus bittering, and then used both for the additions at 10, 5, flameout, and dry hop to provide a great hop burst. Hoping to get that big bang of flavor and aroma in it. I fermented it with a pretty strong slurry of 3rd generation 1056, so I decided to ferment a bit on the lower side at 64.5 F to get a good clean beer. But anyways, hopefully it turns out.

IPA

OG: 1.061   FG: 1.014     ABV: 6.25%    IBU: 63.8     SRM:6.3

Size:5.5 gallon       Mash:152F  Ferment: 64.5F avg

Recipe:

86% 2row (GW)

9% Vienna (GW)

5% Crystal 40L (GW)

.5oz Columbus 60min [25.8 IBU]

.5oz Columbus 20min [15.6 IBU]

.5oz Columbus 10min [9.3 IBU]

.5oz Cascade 10min [5.1 IBU]

.5oz Columbus 5min [5.1 IBU]

.5oz Cascade 5min [2.8 IBU]

.25oz Columbus 0min  *see notes below

.25oz Cascade 0min   *see notes below

yeast: wyeast 1056 3rd generation

Notes:

2/25/12 Brew day went good until my hop bag apparently touched the element and burnt a slit open, spilling some of my hops, with  only 1 disposable hop bag on hand, I only used .5oz at flameout compared to the expected 2oz. Then when I thought I collected all the spilled hops I still managed to clog the pump but after I luckily had got it down to 70. I hope there is no burnt taste in the beer. I couldn’t get any from the sample. Used 250ml of thick slurry from previous batch

2/28/12 bumped temp up .3C a day to finish out starting now.

73.5 Ca, 16.4 MG, 9.9 Na, 126.1 S04, 5 Cl