Batch #30 - Tracy's Pale Ale

This beer I brewed specifically for my sister-in-law Tracy as she has become a fan of the pale ales that I have made. I crafted this recipe based on what she has told me she like about the pale ale style, not too bitter, caramel malt balanced with citrus hops. Tracy purchased the ingredients for this beer and assisted in the brewing process. I am excited to see how this beer turns out.

Brew Type: Extract Date: 4/18/2010

Style: American IPA Brewer: Bryce Ehrman

Batch Size: 5.00 gal Assistant Brewer: Tracy Courneya

Boil Volume: 4.08 gal Boil Time: 60 min

Brewing Steps

Check Time Step

1-2 Days Before Brewing Prepare Yeast Starter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

4/18/2010 Clean and prepare equipment.

-- Measure ingredients, crush grains.

-- Prepare Water (5.83 gal total)

Amount Item Type

5.00 gal Distilled Water Water

-- Steep Specialty Grains

Amount Item Type

0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain

-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 4.08 gal

-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.075 SG with all grains/extracts added

Boil for 60 min Boil Ingredients

Boil Amount Item Type

60 min 1.50 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract

60 min 6.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract

60 min 0.25 oz Centennial [8.30 %] (60 min) Hops

30 min 0.25 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] (30 min) Hops

25 min 0.25 oz Cascade [7.20 %] (25 min) Hops

20 min 0.50 oz Centennial [8.30 %] (20 min) Hops

15 min 0.50 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] (15 min) Hops

10 min 0.50 oz Cascade [7.20 %] (10 min) Hops

10 min 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

5 min 0.50 oz Centennial [8.30 %] (5 min) Hops

0 min 1.00 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] (0 min) Hops

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature

-- Add 1.75 gal water (as needed) to achieve volume of 5.00 gal

-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

4/18/2010 Measure Original Gravity: 1.059 (Estimate: 1.058 SG)

4/18/2010 Measure Batch Volume: 5.00 (Estimate: 5.00 gal)

7 days Ferment in primary for 7 days at 68.0 F

4/25/2010 Transfer to Secondary Fermenter

7 days Ferment in secondary for 7 days at 68.0 F

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

2.00 oz Citra [11.10 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops

5/2/2010 Measure Final Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.013 SG)

Batch #29 - Kellie and PJ's Matrimony Ale

Two of our close friends are getting married over Memorial Day weekend. As a gift to them, I offered to make a batch of beer for them to serve at their rehearsal dinner. For this beer, I was trying to come up with something that would appeal to most people who aren't normal craft beer drinkers. A few weeks ago we invited our friends out to the house for dinner and to sample some of my beers. The beer we decided on to go with was the Irish Red Ale, which was the beer that I won a bronze medal for.

I had a slight moment of panic at Midwest Supplies when getting ingredients for this beer as they were out of the key ingredient, liquid Amber Malt extract. I had to switch ingredients a bit using liquid Munich Malt extract and dry Amber Malt extract. Hopefully it turns out well!

Brew Type: Extract Date: 4/17/2010

Style: Irish Red Ale Brewer: Bryce Ehrman

Batch Size: 5.00 gal Assistant Brewer:

Boil Volume: 4.08 gal Boil Time: 60 min

Brewing Steps

Check Time Step

1-2 Days Before Brewing Prepare Yeast Starter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs Irish Ale (White Labs #WLP004) [Starter 1 ml] Yeast-Ale

4/17/2010 Clean and prepare equipment.

-- Measure ingredients, crush grains.

-- Prepare Water (5.83 gal total)

Amount Item Type

5.00 gal Distilled Water Water

-- Steep Specialty Grains

Amount Item Type

0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain

0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain

0.25 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain

0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain

0.25 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain

-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 4.08 gal

-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.066 SG with all grains/extracts added

Boil for 60 min Boil Ingredients

Boil Amount Item Type

60 min 3.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract

60 min 3.33 lb Munich Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract

60 min 1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops

10 min 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

2 min 0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (2 min) Hops

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature

-- Add 1.75 gal water (as needed) to achieve volume of 5.00 gal

-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs Irish Ale (White Labs #WLP004) [Starter 1 ml] Yeast-Ale

4/17/2010 Measure Original Gravity: 1.058 (Estimate: 1.051 SG)

4/17/2010 Measure Batch Volume: 5.0 (Estimate: 5.00 gal)

14 days Ferment in primary for 14 days at 68.0 F

5/1/2010 Transfer to Secondary Fermenter

0 days Ferment in secondary for 0 days at 68.0 F

5/1/2010 Measure Final Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.014 SG)

SRM: 14.5

IBU: 16

ABV:

Batch #28 - All Citra Hopped Pale Ale

One of my favorite styles of beer is the American Pale Ale. The primary focus of a pale ale is the liberal usage of hops for bittering, flavor, and aroma. Traditional German and English hops have characteristics that are earthy, grassy, spicy, and floral. Horticulturists in the United States have developed new breeds of hop plants that not only produce better yields, better resistance to disease, but also have a interesting new characteristics to them. The American hops used in American pale ales are typically have citrus characteristics in aroma and taste such as pineapple, orange, grapefruit, etc.

One of the ways I have helped to learn about a particular hop is to create a recipe for a beer and use only one variety of hop. I previously brewed an all Amarillo hopped pale ale, which I learned gives the beer grapefruit and floral notes. The California Common ale also contained all Northern Brewer hops. My impression of Northern Brewer is that it gives the beer a lemon and pepper aroma and flavor.

For this pale ale, I used a new hop strain that only became available in the last month at Midwest Supplies. The hop strain is called Citra and as the name suggests gives the beer a citrus flavor and aroma. In particular, the flavor and aroma is supposed to be similar to passion fruit and lychee.

As you can see from below, I added hops to this beer during the boil on a 5 minute increment. I was actually so busy with the hop additions that I forgot to add two pounds of malt extract. Therefore, a beer that was intended to be 6.0% abv is now only 4.5% abv. It will be interesting to see what difference this makes as their is less malt flavor to balance the hops.

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

3/29/2010 Clean and prepare equipment.

-- Measure ingredients, crush grains.

-- Prepare Water (5.83 gal total)

Amount Item Type

5.00 gal Distilled Water Water

-- Steep Specialty Grains

Amount Item Type

0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain

-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 4.08 gal

-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.058 SG with all grains/extracts added

Boil for 60 min Boil Ingredients

Boil Amount Item Type

60 min 6.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract

60 min 0.50 oz Citra [11.10 %] (60 min) Hops

30 min 0.25 oz Citra [11.10 %] (30 min) Hops

25 min 0.25 oz Citra [11.10 %] (25 min) Hops

20 min 0.50 oz Citra [11.10 %] (20 min) Hops

15 min 0.50 oz Citra [11.10 %] (15 min) Hops

10 min 0.50 oz Citra [11.10 %] (10 min) Hops

10 min 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

5 min 0.50 oz Citra [11.10 %] (5 min) Hops

0 min 1.00 oz Citra [11.10 %] (0 min) Hops

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature

-- Add 1.75 gal water (as needed) to achieve volume of 5.00 gal

-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale

3/29/2010 Measure Original Gravity: 1.046 (Estimate: 1.045 SG)

3/29/2010 Measure Batch Volume: 5.0(Estimate: 5.00 gal)

7 days Ferment in primary for 7 days at 68.0 F

4/5/2010 Transfer to Secondary Fermenter

7 days Ferment in secondary for 7 days at 68.0 F

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

2.00 oz Citra [11.10 %] (Dry Hop 12 days) Hops

4/17/2010 Measure Final Gravity: 1.011 (Estimate: 1.010 SG

SRM: 10

IBU: 60

ABV: 4.56%

Citra on Red Cap

Batch #27 - Czech Pilsner aka "Chincy Pils"

This recipe is for my first true lager beer. Sometimes the words lager and ale are use interchangeably to describe beer, however there are some important differences between the two style. The key difference between the two styles is the type of yeast being used, as ale yeast is a top fermenting yeast with ideal fermentation temperature of 65 -75 degrees Fahrenheit. Lager yeast is a bottom fermenting yeast with ideal fermentation temperature between 45 - 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

The term lager is a German word that means "to store" and is also used in brewing to describe the cold storage aging of beer. The ales that I have previously brewed typically required only 2-3 weeks of fermentation time and an additional 2-4 weeks of aging depending on the style. Lager beers will ferment over 4+ weeks and typically need to age or lager for 1-2 months.

You can see why many homebrewers and craft brewers avoid brewing lager beers altogether. Storage becomes an issue as you need a controlled environment to reach the ideal fermentation and lagering temperature. Time also is an issue as a lager will talk at least double the time before being ready to consume that an ale will. I am interested in brewing lagers because I enjoy the challenge it presents and also gives an opportunity to try new styles that are relatively unavailable locally.

Another misnomer is that every lager is light in color, taste, and body. Bock, Baltic porter, and Schwarzbier (German for black beer) are just a few examples of lager beers that are near black in color and have a complex flavor profile.

For this lager I chose a Czech lager yeast due to it being the freshest yeast available at Midwest Supplies at the time I went to the store. I wanted to brew a very basic lager for this beer so that I could get an understanding of what flavor the yeast will give to this beer. This was also the first beer I've done in which I only used malt extract and no specialty grains.

This beer is now in the kegerator and is still lagering and carbonating. I have taken samples and it has a crisp flavor which closely resembles vanilla.

Boil Ingredients

Boil Amount Item Type

60 min 6.00 lb Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract

60 min 1.00 oz Tettnang [3.50 %] (60 min) Hops

10 min 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature

-- Add 1.75 gal water (as needed) to achieve volume of 5.00 gal

-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs American Lager (White Labs #WLP840) Yeast-Lager

3/20/2010 Measure Original Gravity: 1.045 (Estimate: 1.043 SG)

3/20/2010 Measure Batch Volume: 5.0 gallons (Estimate: 5.00 gal)

14 days Ferment in primary for 14 days at 50.0 F

4/3/2010 Transfer to Secondary Fermenter

31 days Ferment in secondary for 31 days at 32.0 F

5/4/2010 Measure Final Gravity: 1.010 (Estimate: 1.009 SG)

SRM: 4

IBU: 11

ABV: 4.56%

Batch #26 - English Mild

Now that the temperature has started to warm up I wanted to get the kegerator going again. A A kegerator is a dorm size or full size refrigerator that has been converted to store kegs of beer and a has a tap handle built into it. I purchased a used full sized kegerator last summer, due it its large size I have it stored in the garage. I found out the hard way last December that the kegerator doesn't due too well in the winter time as the beer dispensing line was completely frozen and stayed that way until recently.

The first beer I wanted to keg was a lighter beer with a lot of flavor. I decided to go with an English Mild style. The English Mild style goes back to the 1600s in Britain and is a darker colored ale with an average abv of 3.5% to 4.0%. The term mild referred to the low alcohol content of the beer as well as the freshness of the beer. The color of the beer is near black and the focus of the style is on dark roasted malts. The dark roasted malts is balanced by light-moderate hop usage for bitterness as well as the light body and carbonation.

This beer has been in the keg for almost a month now. I hope to bottle some of this to share or brew this again in the near future as it has become one of my favorite beers to drink. The beer finished at 4.17% alcohol by volume (abv). Here are the stats on the recipe:

Steep Specialty Grains - 60 min at 155F

Amount Item Type

0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain

0.38 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain

0.25 lb Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM) Grain

0.12 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain

-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 4.08 gal

-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.057 SG with all grains/extracts added

Boil for 60 min Boil Ingredients

Boil Amount Item Type

60 min 6.00 lb Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract

60 min 1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature

-- Add 1.75 gal water (as needed) to achieve volume of 5.00 gal

-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) Yeast-Ale

2/27/2010 Measure Original Gravity: 1.044 (Estimate: 1.044 SG)

2/27/2010 Measure Batch Volume: 5 gallon (Estimate: 5.00 gal)

14 days Ferment in primary for 4 days at 68.0 F

3/13/2010 Measure Final Gravity: 1.012 (Estimate: 1.013 SG)

SRM: 19

IBU: 16

ABV: 4.17%

Batch #25 - American Brown Ale aka "Janet's Brown"

Many people have asked me where do I get my recipes from. When I first started brewing, I would go to my local homebrew supply store Midwest Supplies and pick out a pre-made recipe kit for the particular style of beer I wanted to brew. I have since spent a great deal of time learning about each beer style such as the history behind the style and the ingredients used in the style and can come up with my own formulation of a recipe that not only fits the style but more importantly suits my particular tastes. One of the most rewarding parts of homebrewing is taking a particular beer style and experimenting with the ingredients and your brewing process to come up with something that I can truly enjoy not only because I made it but because it suits my particular tastes.

For each recipe I start with one of my favorite books about homebrewing called Brewing Classic Styles. This is a recipe book from Jamil Zanasheff and John Palmer, two award winning homebrewers. The book provides a basic explanation of each beer style and then provides a recipe of brewing according to that style. What I typically do is start with that base recipe, then look to modify the recipe based on my own preference as well as what ingredients I have available to me.

Another way that I have gained a lot of knowledge about brewing is listening to brewing podcasts found on The Brewing Network. I have found the podcasts to be very informative as they go into detail on ingredients, the brewing process and often have interviews with some of the top craft brewers in the world. It is also a very humorous show as they sample beers of listeners, show guests, and their own homebrewed beer and over the course of a four hour show you can tell the effects of the beer have worn on them. The authors of Brewing Classic Styles also have a radio show where they explain each style in greater detail.

One of the recipes in Brewing Classic Styles features a recipe from a regular contributor to The Brewing Network shows Mike McDole. The recipe is for an agressively hopped American Brown Ale which he calls Janet's Brown Ale as it apparently is his wife Janet's favorite beer. Mike McDole also won first place at the National Homebrewers Conference with this recipe, so I figured I should give it a shot.

Steep Specialty Grains - 60 min at 155F

Amount Item Type

1.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain

1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain

-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 4.08 gal

Boil for 60 min Boil Ingredients

Boil Amount Item Type

60 min 6.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract

60 min 1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops

15 min 1.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract

15 min 1.25 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract

15 min 1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops

10 min 1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops

0 min 1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature

-- Add 1.75 gal water (as needed) to achieve volume of 5.00 gal

-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 1100 ml] Yeast-Ale

2/22/2010 Measure Original Gravity: 1.066 (Estimate: 1.066 SG)

2/22/2010 Measure Batch Volume: 5.0 (Estimate: 5.00 gal)

7 days Ferment in primary for 7 days at 68.0 F

3/1/2010 Transfer to Secondary Fermenter

14 days Ferment in secondary for 14 days at 68.0 F

-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

Amount Item Type

2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days)

Measure Final Gravity: 1.018(Estimate: 1.015 SG)

IBU: 48.6

ABV: 6.27%

Today I am sampling my first bottle of this beer. I think it still needs to condition, but it is an interesting mix of roasted malts and wheat with an earthy bitterness in the finish. I look forward to trying this again over the weeks to see how the flavor changes.

If you have a bottle of this, it is labeled as a green cap with "JB" marked on it.

Frostbite Brewing's Award Winning Beer

I have a lot to update today with four batches of beer brewed since the last update. I also am brewing a batch as I type, so by the time the day is over I might have over a half dozen updates. Yikes!

The most exciting thing I have to share is that last month I entered my first homebrew competition and received medals for two of the three beers I entered! I had previously been hesitant to enter a competition as I have been learning a lot and improving my recipes, equipment, and brewing techniques in the past year, but I finally feel comfortable with the beer that I have been making and thought I would give it a shot. The competition I entered was called "March Mashness" and was put on by the Cloudy Town Brewers homebrew club out of St. Cloud, Minnesota.

The beers that placed were the Irish Red Ale (A2 on the cap) taking third in the Irish/Scottish beer category with a score of 35 and the Rainy Day IPA (IPA2 on the cap) taking second in the American Pale Ale category with a score of 35.5. The third beer that did not place was my California Common (CC on the cap) with a score of 31.5. Since I have a lot to update, I will go into more detail on homebrew competitions at a later date. For those interested, you can check out an example of a homebrew competition score sheet here:

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCP_BeerScoreSheet.pdf

Along with receiving two medals, I also received a prize pack containing some liquid malt extract, a Cargill t-shirt, and a Cold Spring Brewery hat. I was quite surprised to even get the medals, so all the extra gear was a nice surprise as well! This experience was definitely encouraging and I will look to enter several competitions throughout the year.

Award winning beer... it has a nice ring to it.