Yield: 5 gal
Crush:
4 lbs. American Pale Malt
1.25 lbs. Crystal Malt (40L)
10 oz. Belgian Chocolate Malt
10 oz. Munich Malt
Pour 2 gal boiling tap water into plastic cooler mash tun (if applicable) to preheat. Close top and let rest.
Heat 2.5 gal bottled spring water (or dechlorinated tap water) to 170 F.
Empty pre-heat water from mash tun.
Pour about .5 gal of 170 F water into mash tun (or enough to bring water level above false bottom).
Gradually add crushed grains, mix thoroughly, add more water, and repeat until all grains and 2.5 gal water is in mash tun.
Stir until mixture is uniform, and no clumps exist. Do so quickly enough to keep from losing too much heat, but avoid agitating/aerating the mixture.
Seal-off cooler and let grains steep at approx 150 F for 90 min. (You can mix in an additional .5 gal of 170F water, if necessary, to adjust temperature.)
After 90 min, open mash tun valve slightly to release a small amount of sweet wort. Use iodine test to check starch conversion on a white plate away from the mashing/brewing area.
After starch conversion is complete, open valve to release ~1 quart of wort. Close valve, and pour the wort back slowly down the inside wall of the cooler. Repeat ~3x until liquid runs clean with few grain husks.
Open valve completely, and empty all wort from lauter tun into a large brew pot that's capable of boiling 5.5 gal of wort without boiling over.
Close valve to begin sparge.
Sparge grains with 3 to 3.5 gal (for a total of 6 gal added since beginning of batch) of 170 F water, emptying runoff into brewpot.
It's helpful to have markings on the inside of the brewpot showing gallon increments. Boil enough water to be added to the brewpot so there's 5.5 gal total.
Meanwhile, place brewpot on burner, and turn gas on high.
Stir in 2 lbs (6 cups) amber DME and 1 pint pure maple syrup (warmed in microwave)
Add boiling water, and bring wort to boil. Stir occasionally
Add 4 AAUs Fuggles hops for bittering.
Boil 45 min., then add 4 AAUs Goldings aroma/flavor hops.
Boil for 15 min., then remove from heat.
Cool rapidly to 80 F using immersion chiller (or other method), and add room temperature water until 5.25 gal total. (May add chilled water to speed-up cool-down.)
Transfer wort into fermentation vessel (pref. 6.5 gal glass carboy) and aerate.
Add one packet of Wyeast 1098 (or equiv.) liquid yeast. Stir yeast into wort to ensure it gets mixed thoroughly.
Seal off carboy with airlock and let ferment in dark closet at approx 70 F for 2 weeks.
Transfer to secondary 5 gal glass carboy, seal off with airlock, and let sit in same storage conditions for another 4 weeks.
Add 1/2 c pale DME and 1/2 c pure maple syrup to 1 c pure spring water and boil for 3 min.
Pour sugar/syrup/water mixture into 5 gal bucket, then transfer beer from secondary fermenter to bucket.
Bottle, and store in cool, dark closet for 3 weeks prior to drinking.
Beer should keep for 6 months.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
First Batches
Here's what I remember from my first batches:
Brew #1: American Wheat Kit (dried malt extract)
I made my first batch on my kitchen stove. It took forever to get the water boiling. In general, the beer turned out good for being my first batch. I learned, though, that it's best to mix the beer into the sugar water before bottling (instead of the sugar water into the beer). I did the latter in this first batch, and some bottles were over carbonated and others turned out flat. Bottled in 2 cases of used Grolsch swingtop bottles.
Brew #2: American Wheat Kit (DME)
I learned a lot from this batch... With my new turkey fryer set (outdoor gas range & large aluminum pot), I was ready to give the wheat ale another shot. I tried getting a little fancy and bought some dried orange peel and coriander, and fermented the beer with these new ingredients in my "ale pail". What I should have done, though, was strain out the orange peel after it steeped in the beer for a few minutes after the boil. All of the orange peel floating around in the fermenter wound up clogging the siphon that I used to transfer the beer to the carboy (from primary to secondary). Without a good, sanitary means of removing the orange peel, I was forced to dump the batch...
Brew #3: Belgian Tripel Kit (mini mash + DME)
This was my first time to use crushed grains. The recipe called for steeping them in a grain bag for about 20 min., and then adding dried malt extract. Finally, candy sugar was added to provide additional "food" for the yeast. (The sugar creates a beer that has both a higher amount of alcohol, and more sweetness.) I'm still not quite sure what happened with this batch. The fermentation seemed to stop very early-- it was like the yeast stopped working. I added more sugar prior to bottle conditioning, and sealed the beer in my old Grolsch swingtop bottles. A combination of a poor seal in the swingtop cap, and the yeast "not working", led to the beer turning out way too sweet, under-carbonated in some cases, and flat in others.
Brew #4: American Wheat Kit (DME)
Back to the basics... My buddy Scott and I brewed this batch on a Saturday afternoon when the wife was out of town for a bachelorette party. We drank a few beers while brewing, and talked about the steps in the process & results of prior batches. (This was Scott's first time to homebrew.) Things were going well until I realized I'd forgotten to add the bittering hops immediately after stirring in the extract into the boiling water. (the recipe calls for bittering hops to be in for the whole 60 min. of the boil) I called the home brewing store, and they said I should just add them asap. This apparently wouldn't ruin the batch-- it would just be significantly less bitter. We tried the batch several weeks later, and the brew store was right. There was hardly any bitterness. The beer wasn't in line w/ its intended style, but actually tasted great.
Brew #5: American Wheat Kit (DME)
My wife (fiancee at the time) and I decided to brew a batch for the guests coming to town for our wedding in 10/2008. By this time, I finally had the wheat kit thing down, and decided to give the orange peel & coriander another shot. Everything went off w/o a hitch, and I bottled the beer about 1 month before the wedding. I used myownlabels.com to create custom labels with a picture taken near our house. The beer was a definite success.
Brew #1: American Wheat Kit (dried malt extract)
I made my first batch on my kitchen stove. It took forever to get the water boiling. In general, the beer turned out good for being my first batch. I learned, though, that it's best to mix the beer into the sugar water before bottling (instead of the sugar water into the beer). I did the latter in this first batch, and some bottles were over carbonated and others turned out flat. Bottled in 2 cases of used Grolsch swingtop bottles.
Brew #2: American Wheat Kit (DME)
I learned a lot from this batch... With my new turkey fryer set (outdoor gas range & large aluminum pot), I was ready to give the wheat ale another shot. I tried getting a little fancy and bought some dried orange peel and coriander, and fermented the beer with these new ingredients in my "ale pail". What I should have done, though, was strain out the orange peel after it steeped in the beer for a few minutes after the boil. All of the orange peel floating around in the fermenter wound up clogging the siphon that I used to transfer the beer to the carboy (from primary to secondary). Without a good, sanitary means of removing the orange peel, I was forced to dump the batch...
Brew #3: Belgian Tripel Kit (mini mash + DME)
This was my first time to use crushed grains. The recipe called for steeping them in a grain bag for about 20 min., and then adding dried malt extract. Finally, candy sugar was added to provide additional "food" for the yeast. (The sugar creates a beer that has both a higher amount of alcohol, and more sweetness.) I'm still not quite sure what happened with this batch. The fermentation seemed to stop very early-- it was like the yeast stopped working. I added more sugar prior to bottle conditioning, and sealed the beer in my old Grolsch swingtop bottles. A combination of a poor seal in the swingtop cap, and the yeast "not working", led to the beer turning out way too sweet, under-carbonated in some cases, and flat in others.
Brew #4: American Wheat Kit (DME)
Back to the basics... My buddy Scott and I brewed this batch on a Saturday afternoon when the wife was out of town for a bachelorette party. We drank a few beers while brewing, and talked about the steps in the process & results of prior batches. (This was Scott's first time to homebrew.) Things were going well until I realized I'd forgotten to add the bittering hops immediately after stirring in the extract into the boiling water. (the recipe calls for bittering hops to be in for the whole 60 min. of the boil) I called the home brewing store, and they said I should just add them asap. This apparently wouldn't ruin the batch-- it would just be significantly less bitter. We tried the batch several weeks later, and the brew store was right. There was hardly any bitterness. The beer wasn't in line w/ its intended style, but actually tasted great.
Brew #5: American Wheat Kit (DME)
My wife (fiancee at the time) and I decided to brew a batch for the guests coming to town for our wedding in 10/2008. By this time, I finally had the wheat kit thing down, and decided to give the orange peel & coriander another shot. Everything went off w/o a hitch, and I bottled the beer about 1 month before the wedding. I used myownlabels.com to create custom labels with a picture taken near our house. The beer was a definite success.
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