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s part of a Homebrew Tasting/Judging Circle I’ve been organizing, we recently did a tasting of an array of different Caramel malts. The goal was to identify the differences between these malts, other than color.
For each malt, I did a small mash of 6% crystal, 84% Briess Pale Ale malt. All of the Caramels were also made by Briess. The mash temp was 154 degrees. Continue reading
This past summer, I brewed a concept beer known as a SMaSH: Single Malt and Single Hop. Turned out pretty well. I called it Pale Ale #2. Won 3rd place in a local SMaSH competition.
A few brews later, I have an assortment of bits of leftover hops, a few ounces of miscellaneous malts. I decided to make a “potluck” beer to get rid of these odds and ends. I stumbled on the name “Many Malts and Hops I Have At Home” or “MmHhah!”
If you don’t understand the significance of the expression “Mmm Hah,” I say “Yoi! Double Yoi!” Please educate yourself. Continue reading
I submitted my Hoppy Gnome IPA to this year’s National Homebrew Competition. It didn’t make it out of the regional round, but it did do very well – a 37.5 out of 50 possible points, good enough to earn a Silver Certificate, which I fully intend to frame and display proudly. This is only the second recipe I came up with on my own, and American IPA is a notoriously difficult category, because of the large number of entries this category receives. It did much better than I hoped. Continue reading
Today I brewed my new SMaSH recipe, Pale Ale #2, using 2-row from Valley Malt. I used a total of 10 pounds of their malt, which arrived within days of being malted. A few weeks ago, I took a half-pound and tried to make 60L Crystal. So the resulting recipe is: Continue reading
I recently bought 10 pounds of 2-row from Valley Malt, with the idea of using it as part of an American Pale Ale SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) brew with some extra Summit hops I have sitting around. The name of this fine beverage: Pale Ale #2, of course.
After some thought, I decided the recipe needs some color and a touch of residual sweetness, so I thought I’d take a shot at toasting some of the 2-row myself, aiming to make a 40-60L crystal malt. Whether or not this should still be considered a SMaSH is open to debate. Continue reading
I currently have three beers in “regular” production. I brew each of these beers regularly, with small tweaks each time, with the goals of really learning my brew system, tweaking my process, focusing my brewing math, and refining the recipes. The beers are Gimp Biscuit E.S.B., Hoppy Gnome I.P.A., and Ghostly Juror Oatmeal Stout. My goal is to brew each of these beers four times this year. Continue reading
Today I bottled the first installment of my Hoppy Gnome IPA. It’s a touch darker than I expected, but it smells and tastes great. The Citra hop is definitely featured, as was the plan, with no hints of the “catty” aroma (cat piss) that sometime is associated with Citra.
I managed a solid 81.8% mash efficiency, with my starting and final gravities hitting within a measurement error of the targets. At 7% ABV, it’ll pack a wallop, but it should be nicely balanced out by the 90.2 IBU’s of hops, plus a lot more aroma and dry hops that should make this a true hop bomb. Continue reading
Today I brewed the 2nd edition of my “Gimp Biscuit” ESB. Changes from the first version include:
Reduced base grist weight to reduce OG. Reformulated hop additions to keep BU/GU near .8. Substituted Fuggles in place of Challenger as the aroma addition. Continue reading
Yesterday I ordered supplies for version 2 of my Gimp Biscuit ESB. I made some major revisions to the original (which I liked a lot but was quite a bit off-style). Following recommendations from Ray Daniels Designing Great Beers (as well as feedback from my own taste buds), I wanted to make this beer: Continue reading
I’ve been working on a new recipe for an oatmeal stout. I’m starting fresh on this one, basing it completely on the info in Designing Great Beers.
Here’s where I’m at with the recipe: