Baltic Porter

This was my first attempt at brewing a Baltic Porter. So far, so good, although I got worse efficiency than expected and bumped up the gravity with a bit of DME. I've had the same efficiency problem on a few big beers lately where I've never had issues in several years with it before, regardless of gravity. My mill needs fixing though, and I wonder if part of it has something to do with the crush I'm getting on my grain.

This is the first lager where I had the yeast trying to crawl out of the bucket (within 2 hours, pitched at 50F!) It's also the first time I brewed a strong abv lager as well. I've pretty much stuck to Helles, Dunkel, and Kolsch prior to this.

Baltic Porter

brewed on: 4/30/12
OG: 1.086
IBUs: 42 IBUs
SRM:  31
mash temp: 142F
 
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed (got 65% in the end and bumped up with DME)

malt:
12 lbs Munich
7 lbs Pilsner
8 oz Crystal 65L (Fawcett)
8 oz Caramunich
8 oz Crystal, Extra Dark (Simpsons)
6 oz Carafa II
4 oz Chocolate (Simpsons)
1.5 lbs Extra Light DME (last 10 minutes of boil)


hops:
85 gm Saaz @ 5.5% - 60 minutes
28.3 gm Saaz @ 5.5% - 15 minutes


yeast:
WY2206 Bavarian Lager cake from Munich Dunkel
primary - 52F

lagering - 5/18/12

Brandy Barrel Archaic Beer

I brewed a collaboration recipe from Sean Paxton (Homebrew Chef) and Urbain of De Struise. It was their 'Archaic Beer' meant to pay homage to beers like De Dolle's Oerbier. My original batch turned out great 2 years ago and my friend Jesse & I decided to do a 12 gallon batch to fill up my 10+ gallon brandy barrel. The main difference from last time was that we went with the Wyeast Belgian Stout strain rather than a starter made from Pannepot dregs like last time. I also opted for Dark Candi sugar (syrup) rather than the piloncillo sugar I used last time. Here's the recipe:

Archaic Beer #2

brewed on: 3/11/12
OG: 1.092
IBUs: 24 IBUs
SRM:  34
mash temp: 150F (would have preferred higher, but we undershot a bit)
 
12 gallon batch
60 minute boil
70% efficiency assumed

malt:
27.2 lbs Belgian pale
3.6 lbs flaked oats
2.25 lbs Caramunich
1.7 lbs flaked wheat
1.5 lbs flaked barley
1.4 lbs Dark crystal (Simpsons)
1.4 lbs Extra dark crystal (Simpsons)
1.13 lbs Crystal 20L
0.57 lbs Black malt (Simpsons)


1 lb D90 candi sugar
1 lb D180 candi sugar
 

hops:
118.6 g Styrian Goldings 
yeast:
Wyeast Belgian Stout (limited release)

 fermented 3 weeks in primary, then racked to 10+ gallon brandy barrel

New Years Day Barleywine 2012

We started a tradition a year ago of brewing barleywine at my friend's house on New Years Day. It makes for a REALLY FRIGGIN' COLD brew day in Wisconsin, but that's alright. It's a lot of fun and good company as well!

I decided to do my best to emulate J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale, which is one of my favorite beers and probably my favorite barley wine along with Thomas Hardy's Ale. I took a recipe Gordon Strong published in Zumurgy in 2010 and bumped up the gravity to push it into the ridiculously strong/sweet range!

It tasted good enough out of the secondary that I ended up bottling it still. So far it is on track to age into something great. I just have to be patient enough not to drink it all now!

New Years Day Barleywine 2012

brewed on: 11/1/12
OG: 1.137
IBUs: 45.5 IBUs
SRM:  23.5
mash temp: 152F
 
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
57% efficiency assumed

malt:
12 lbs Pale
12 lbs Vienna
1.5 lbs Amber malt
1.5 lbs Carapils
1.5 lbs Victory
1.5 lbs Wheat malt (German)
1.25 lbs Dark Crystal (Simpsons)
6 oz Extra Dark Crystal (Simpsons)
1 lb Turbinado sugar
3 lbs Extra Light DME - 10 minutes


hops:
50 g Nugget @ 13% - 60 minutes
16 g Willamette @ 4.8% - 45 minutes
14.1 g Fuggles @ 5.1% - 30 minutes
30 g Willamette @ 4.8% - 5 minutes




yeast:
East Coast Yeast Scottish Heavy starter (repitched into starter from 2 previous batches)
 

Kolsch

Last winter I went to a MABCAB (Milwaukee Area Brewers & Chicago Area Brewers) get together in Shorewood, WI. The guy who hosted it served a really good Kolsch. I've been wanting to brew one all year. Having not brewed any sort of lager or hybrid in awhile, the time finally arrived. I used his recipe, scaled up to 6 gallons so excuse the odd grain amounts, except that he used the same IBUs worth of Perle hops rather than Hallertauer. I've seen many recipes with Hallertauer though, and it's what I had on hand. (I need to start brewing some hoppier beers to get last year's hops used up!)

Kolsch

brewed on: 12/2/11
OG: 1.047
IBUs: 46.6 IBUs
SRM:  5
mash temp: 149F
 
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed

malt:
5.38 lbs red Kolsch malt
4 lbs Pilsner malt
0.67 lbs Wheat malt


hops:
18.5 gm Hallertauer @ 3.9% - first wort (90 minutes)
39.5 gm Hallertauer @ 3.9% - 60 minutes


yeast:
WY Kolsch strain - 2 liter starter

I overboiled by a bit and had to boil/top up with some water. Not a big deal. Back to 6 gallons. I'm hoping it didn't get too dark though.

primary: ~58F- raised to 62. Back down to 58-59.
 

Anglo-American Pale Ale

My friend Jim pointed out to me the other day that I hadn't brewed a hoppy beer in over 2 years. I hadn't felt like that long, but in checking back, he was right. And that one was an attempt at an all-brett IPA. It was time to break open the package of Amarillo hops I've bought a month or 2 ago! I call this an "Anglo-American" Pale Ale because I'm using English yeast (Fuller's strain) and Burtonized the water with a 10 gm gypsum addition to the mash.

Anglo-American Pale Ale

brewed on: 11/28/11
OG: 1.058
IBUs: 46.6
SRM:  7
mash temp: 152F


6 gallon batch
60 minute boil
assumed 75% efficiency

mash:
11 lbs US 2-row
1 lb Munich malt
0.7 lbs Carastan


10 gm Gypsum - mash


Hops (all loose pellets):
22 gm Yakima Magnum @ 14.4% - 60 minutes
14 gm Cascade @ 5.5% - 10 minutes
14 gm Amarillo @ 8.5% - 10 minutes
14 gm Chinook (homegrown whole-cone) - 10 minutes
14 gm Cascade @ 5.5% - flameout
14 gm Amarillo @ 8.5% - flameout
14 gm Chinook (homegrown, whole-cone) - flameout

16.5 gm Amarillo - dry hop, 5 days
16.5 gm Cascade - dry hop, 5 days

Yeast:
WY 1968 - London ESB (Fuller's strain) - repitched slurry from Golden Ale)

Yeast:
ECY Scottish Heavy - 2L starter

primary: started at 64F. Raised to 68F slowly over 3 days, then lowered back to 64F.

12/5/11 - Added dry hops - 16.5g each of Cascade & Amarillo loose pellets.

Brandy Barrel Golden Ale

We recently removed our Wheat Wine from the Apple Brandy Barrel it was aging in. It tastes amazing! I can't wait to bottle it. (This is definitely aging-worthy, and I'm hoping to bottle condition it toward that purpose.)

We brewed a Golden Ale recipe I came up with as an experiment for the second barrel beer. I don't mean a Belgian Golden Strong. This didn't really fit a style. I knew I wanted to try a mid-gravity, malt forward light colored ale in the barrel. We've done lots of sours, dark beers, and big beers so far. This is probably with good reason. I have a hunch that something like this lower gravity, lighter colored ale will not take to the oxidation in the barrel well. We'll see. I can imagine it going in a good direction though as well, picking up the apple-clove notes from the wood. We didn't rinse the barrel before immediately refilling, so there should be residual wheat wine notes to it as well. While I'm not expecting the wonderful beer that the Wheat Wine was, I'm hoping for the best!

We went with MO and some Vienna to get nice maltiness, and the Wyeast Fuller's strain to accentuate the malt as well. (I love the Fuller's strain, WY1968, for malty beers! It is a favorite of mine in general.)

Brandy Barrel Aged Golden Ale

brewed on: 11/11/11
OG: 1.059
IBUs: 28.5 IBUs
SRM:  7.5
mash temp: 152F

mash:
9 lbs Marris Otter
3 lbs Vienna
0.6 lbs Cara-Pils
0.6 Crystal 40L


Hops (all loose pellets):
22 gm Nugget @ 13% - 60 minutes
28.3 gm Challenger @ 7.5% - flameout

Yeast:
WY 1968 London ESB - 2 liter starter

11/25/11 - Barrel filled with Bob, Jim, Dan S., John, and myself.

Old Ale

Old Ale is one of my favorite types of beer. There are so many good Old Ales and English Barleywines out there and I've enjoyed exploring them over the last few years. I only wish we could get more here in Wisconsin. I found a clone recipe for Fuller's 1845, one of my favorites, and did some slight tweaking. My changes were the addition of 1% chocolate malt, and using East Coast Yeast's Scottish Heavy yeast instead of the obvious WY1968 Fuller's strain, as much as I love that yeast.

I got the idea to brew an Old Ale with the ECY strain a year ago when they first started selling it. Their description sounded perfect. Unfortunately, due to a mislabeled shipping address, it arrived after I had brewed and I never got to use the starter I made. So, when it recently arrived again this year, I put it right to work (after building up a 2L starter, of course!)

Old Ale

brewed on: 11/7/11
OG: 1.064
IBUs: 40.5 IBUs
SRM:  17
mash temp: 156F

mash:
11.75 lbs Marris Otter
1.5 lbs Amber Malt
1.5 lbs Crystal 65L (Fawcett)
3 oz Pale Chocolate malt
1 tsp gypsum


Hops (all loose pellets):
60 gm Fuggles @ 5.1% - 60 minutes
50 gm Fuggles @ 5.1% - 15 minutes

Yeast:
ECY Scottish Heavy - 2L starter




I'm debating adding some oak chips I received from Aeppeltreow owner Charles McGonegal that he soaked in his Pommeaux fortified pear dessert wine.