#41 Amarillo-Simcoe-Centennial XPA - Brewday

Recipe     -     Brewday     -     Tasting

This brewday was pretty ambitious.  I tried to brew the dark mild at the same time, plus I opened up the HopRocket, trying to fit that into the cold-side plumbing without having inspected it before hand to see how it works.  Well as you probably guessed, it was a bit of a mess.

To start things off, the mash temperature was way off.  I had some friends helping with the brewday which is the only reason we even got this thing off the ground, but I also should have inspected their work more closely.  It's hard to hit the strike temperature just right using a propane burner and aluminum pot as the pot continues to transmit heat to the water well after the flange is shut off.  Because of this, our strike water was likely well above the target temperature, bringing the mash to 160F instead of 150F.

Next we set to work on the hop back.  The HopRocket has 1/2" threaded fittings--the rest of the system is 3/8" hose barbs--so we had to rush to Home Depot for adapters.  Then there wasn't enough pressure to drain from the brew kettle through the hop back, the chiller, and into the fermenter, so we had to hook up the pump (also a first) and of course find out we didn't have fittings for that either.  Once that was all ready, we circulated oxi clean (haven't mixed up any home made PBW yet), water, and Star San to clean and sanitize the whole post-boil assembly.

After all those hurdles, we finally got the beer knocked out.  It flowed through the HopRocket without a hitch, though we'll see how much flavor and aroma comes through.  My initial impression was not as much as I expected.

Fermentation:

Wort cooled to 68F, 45 sec oxygen.  Yeast pitched from smack-pack and placed in fridge at 65F.

1 Day:  Yeast is already throwing up a healthy krausen, unlike the mild...

3 Days:  Temp bumped to 70F.  Looks like there has been a bit of blowoff.  No surprise with an aggressive yeast like Chico and such little headspace.

5 Days:  Looks like there was a problem with the temperature controller (I'm getting real sick of this...) and the heater wasn't coming on.  Thankfully the yeast heated themselves up to 70F anyway (67F ambient).  I added the dry hops here as I'll be out of town for the next week.

15 Days:  Racked to keg.  Normally I would have cold crashed after 5 days to minimize extraction of unwanted flavors (not as much a concern with leaf hops) and drop any yeast still in suspension, but ... I forgot.  I was out of town and definitely not thinking about minimizing polyphenol load.

#42 Dark Mild #2 - Brewday

Recipe     -     Brewday     -     Tasting

This was supposed to be a fun brewday; a bunch of friends came up to hang out, brew (and drink) some beer.  Things didn't exactly go as planned.

To start with, the mash started a little warm (160F vs. 156F), so I stirred it until the temperature dropped close to the target.  Then the mash tun decided it had had enough of my shenanigans and refused to cooperate for the rest of the brew.  I got a stuck mash on the first runnings, which with my system means a piece of the PVC manifold came off and the tubing clogged.  I learned on the barleywine from hell that I can just dump the mash into a BIAB bag in the brew kettle and just forget about getting clear wort.

Well that was all well and good the first time, but then it happened again on the batch sparge.  I couldn't just dump it in the brew kettle since there was stronger wort in there, so we had to go first into the aluminum pot I use to heat water, then dump that into the brew kettle.  It was a mess.

I'm sure I could come up with something to fix all these mash issues I'm having, but I'm working on getting a whole new brewing system, so I'm not investing much time or energy into this one.


Fermentation:

Wort cooled to 68F, 45 sec oxygen.  Yeast pitched from smack-pack and placed in fridge at 65F.

1 Day:  No sign of fermentation yet.  It's a bit disconcerting with the XPA bubbling along next to it, but not a serious concern yet.  Different strains behave differently, plus this package was a bit older.

3 Days:  Ok, things did eventually take off, so no worries,  Temp bumped to 70F.

5 Days:  Looks like there was a problem with the temperature controller (I'm getting real sick of this...) and the heater wasn't coming on.  Thankfully the yeast heated themselves up to 70F anyway (67F ambient).

15 Days:  Racked to keg.

#42 Dark Mild #2 - Recipe

Recipe     -     Brewday     -     Tasting

Last January, Steve and I tried our hand at a mild ale, a low alcohol English ale with little hops and hearty malt flavor, that makes a nice complement when there's a hoppy beer on tap.  I put together a darker recipe, aiming for something similar to Nottingham Brewery's Rock Mild.  Our recipe was relatively simple and loaded up on caramel and chocolate malt, so the final product tasted fairly simple as well.  The chocolate malt did lend some roastiness, but it wasn't exactly a chocolate roastiness, and the finish was straight peanut butter.  I've heard the "nutty" tossed around to describe beer, but it wasn't until I brewed this that I understood what that meant.  The beer wasn't bad, but certainly not what we were thinking.

Well we're again brewing a hoppy beer and wanted a low alcohol complement, so it's time to give this concept another shot.  I think the key for this beer will be to trade the chocolate malt for roasted barley (300L, not to be confused with the darker black black barley at 500L).  In the stout I brewed last fall, it gave us a nice dark chocolate flavor until I screwed up the carbonation.  In addition, we're diversifying the grist, since malt flavors tend to come through much more cleanly in lighter beers.  Adding another caramel malt, and more dark grains should make it taste less boring and hopefully less thin.

After tasting my lastest session ale, I'm really excited about Wyeast 1450 for malty beers.  It emphasized the rich malt flavors without too much fruitiness on the top, even less than Chico which I always find has a slight apple crispness.  Unfortunately the homebrew shop didn't have any in stock, so I went with Wyeast 1335 - British Ale II.  The guy at the shop liked it in his milds, and I think it will be interesting to try a new yeast.  There are so many expressive English strains that I would love to try, but just haven't had the fermentation space to compare all of them.  Someday.  In the mean time, I'll settle for another shot in the dark.

Dark Mild #2
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Estimated ABV: 3.5 %
Estimated OG: 1.038 SG
Estimated FG: 1.011 SG
Estimated Color: 20.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt          Name                                     %/IBU
6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (2.0 SRM)           74.3 %
8.0 oz       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)    5.7 %
8.0 oz       Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)                   5.7 %
8.0 oz       Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)               5.7 %
4.0 oz       Brown Malt (30.0 SRM)                    2.9 %
4.0 oz       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120L (120.0 SRM)  2.9 %
4.0 oz       Pale Chocolate Malt (250.0 SRM)          2.9 %
0.50 oz      Amarillo [10.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min       17.0 IBUs
1.00 tsp     Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)          -
1.00 Items   Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins)        -
1.0 pkg      British Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1335)       -

Mash Schedule: 60 min Single Infusion @156F, No Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 12.0 oz
Estimated Cost: $20.26

#41 Amarillo-Simcoe-Centennial XPA - Recipe

Recipe     -     Brewday     -     Tasting

I found out the other day that my friend Judy has the exact same birthday as I do, so in anticipation of the event, my next beer will be her favorite style (and everybody's): IPA.  However I don't really need to have 5 gal of 7% beer beckoning from the tap everyday.  My plan is to scale this back just a bit--not quite to session IPA levels, but something like a pale ale with too many hops.  Because nobody is going to argue with that.  Now since this isn't strong enough to be an IPA, but compared to a pale ale has a little something extra, I think this beer could be called an XPA.  I'm not the first to brew something along these lines (3 Floyd's Alpha King, Drake's 1500) or use that name (Deschutes XPA, AleSmith X), but it has an X in the name and that automatically makes it cool.

The goal of this beer is to sum up my current thoughts on what an IPA should be: pale, dry. drinkable (or "chuggable" in my friend Steve's words), a perfect palette for hops to play on.  There's no reason it needs to be 9%--especially when you have to fight through malt sweetness--and I think the mid 5% range is right where I want it to be.  Pliny the Elder is a great example of the kind of malt base I'm looking for, but at 8%, the dry finish is more wizardry (and corn sugar) than a natural balance.  Those flavors could just as easily reside in a 5% package.  Clean American 2-row with just a touch of caramel and you're there.

Yeast is important, but I have to admit I haven't found a better yeast for IPA's then good ol' Chico.  I'd love to try some of the drier English strains, see if I can find one where the fruity esters complement the hops, but I don't have room for a split batch this time.  Maybe once my new brewing station is fully operational I'll have the capacity for some of these much needed experiments.

It's funny, but once this foundation is laid down, I feel like I could throw almost whatever hops on top and it would be a solid beer.  Maybe a classic 3 C's blend (à la Dale's or Universale)?  A southern hemisphere odyssey?  Experiment with something less famous like Ahtanum or Belma?  In due time I think all these are worth brewing, but this time I'm going to send Amarillo up to bat.  I've brewed several hop forward beers with it over the last year and I still have some left in my stockpile.  My previous attempts were okay, but I haven't quite hit the nail on the head; I haven't produced a beer that capitalizes on the smooth mango character while accenting it with a more piquant hop.  Simcoe is the obvious first choice, and for good reason, the two have pair beautifully in some of my favorite IPA's.  However, after my hoppy American wheat, I decided a touch of Centennial would add another sharp counterpoint to aid the Simcoe, and the lemony facet would slide in nicely alongside the Amarillo.  It's finally time to actually test that theory.


The amounts and timings I'm not real sure on, but on this batch I'll be debuting my new HopRocket, so that all goes out the window anyway.  I don't know what kind of  hop aroma/flavors to expect out of the hop back, so it will be a good experiment.  All 0 min. hops listed below will be placed in the hopback.

Amarillo-Simcoe-Centennial XPA
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Estimated ABV: 5.8 %
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated FG: 1.012 SG
Estimated Color: 5.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 57.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt        Name                                     %/IBU
12 lbs     Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           96.0 %
8.0 oz     Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)    4.0 %
2.00 oz    Amarillo [10.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min       43.0 IBUs
1.00 tsp   Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)          -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins)        -
1.00 oz    Amarillo [10.60 %] - Boil 0.0 min        0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz    Simcoe [14.40 %] - Boil 0.0 min          0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz    Centennial [10.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min      0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg    American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)         -
1.00 oz    Amarillo [10.60 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days    0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz    Simcoe [14.40 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days      0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz    Centennial [10.30 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days  0.0 IBUs

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion @150, No Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 8.0 oz
Estimated Cost: $30.55