Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sean and Adam's Birthday Bitter


Adam Winkel's birthday is on March 2nd, mine is on the 5th. We're both turning 29 and I'm not scared at all...I swear! So anyway we are having the party at his house and we are going to serve this beer, which we brewed mostly all-grain at my place.

Batch Size (Gal): 11.50 Wort Size (Gal): 9.00

Total Grain (Lbs): 18.25
Anticipated OG: 1.049
Anticipated SRM: 11.4
Anticipated IBU: 29.5
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.049
Actual FG: 1.013

Alc by Weight: 3.70 by Volume: 4.74 From Measured Gravities.
ADF: 72.7 RDF 60.5 Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation.


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
76.7 14.00 lbs. 2-row Glen Eagle Marris Otter Great Britain 1.038 6
11.0 2.00 lbs. Muntons DME - Light England 1.046 5
2.7 0.50 lbs. Aromatic Malt Belgium 1.036 25
2.7 0.50 lbs. Crystal 105L Great Britain 1.033 120
2.7 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
1.4 0.25 lbs. Biscuit Malt Belgium 1.035 24
1.4 0.25 lbs. Crystal 80L 1.033 80
1.4 0.25 lbs. Special Roast Malt America 1.033 40

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
14.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.50 5.5 60 min.
28.00 g. Chinook (homegrown) Whole 10.50 19.0 60 min.
28.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Plug 5.50 3.4 20 min.
28.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Plug 5.50 1.7 1 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step
Heat Type: Direct

Grain Lbs: 16.25
Water Qts: 16.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 4.00 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 0.98

Dough In Temp: 166 Time: 0
Saccharification Rest Temp: 151 Time: 60
Mash-out Rest Temp: 0 Time: 0
Sparge Temp: 0 Time: 0

Total Mash Volume Gal: 5.30 - After Additional Infusions

Mash Notes
----------

4 gal of water + 1 tsp gypsum,

Mashed in to 149, brought up immediately to 151.

Rest for 60 min, add 2 qts boiling water. Add heat too.

Started lauter when mash was at 155.

Sparge w/ 5 gallons at 170

Boil for 60 min,
DME at 20 min.

Chill as normal, racked of into 2 carboys ,2 gallons per carboy

Refilled pot w/ 5 gal cold tap h20, and strained again.

collected 5 gallons per carboy at
1.054

topped up with .5 gallons each.

Pitched a healthy slurry of 007 English ale yeast at 66 degrees, Fermented at 66 degrees for 3 days. When Krausen subsided, I let it warm to 70. Planning on kegging in a few weeks, I may dry hop w/ a half ounce of EKG per carboy.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Welcome to my Blog

I've been homebrewing for coming up on 6 years now. I started in Ohio, diving pretty much straight into all-grain (a very passionate mistake!). I had a lot of fun brewing in Ohio, brewing outdoors a lot of the time with friends, hosting parties, etc. Then I moved to NYC in the summer of 2005.

From a homebrewing perspective, it was tough to adjust to the move to NYC. The apartment was smaller, no basement to ferment cool, no backyard. The first brew I did, I ripped all the bottom shelves and drawers out of our refrigerator and brewed a lager. It quickly became apparent that I would need fermentation temperature control and SPACE. I bought a small deep freezer, added a wooden collar to extend the height, a thermostat, and added some taps. This is now my combination kegerator/ fermenting chamber.

I joined the NYC Homebrewers Guild about 2 years ago, after being attracted by the BJCP classes they were offering at the time. The first year, 14 of us took the test and I think about 10 passed. I passed and have been judging homebrew comps when I can. I also helped teach the BJCP classes last year.

I also served as the NYCHG Vice President last year and took over this year as the President. And, along with a group of contributors, I'm coordinating our second annual homebrew competition, which will take place on February 10th 2008.

I used to have a brew log on brewcommune.com, but this was somehow wiped along with all the other blogs. Doh! luckily I still have all the Promash recipes. I'm not going to try and repost all that stuff, but I am going to start fresh here (or only backtrack a month or 2).

My brewing interest is mainly focused on what I like to drink, and formulating my own recipes while relying heavily on proven recipes and techniques. I try to brew mainly to style, every once in a while, diverging off on an inspired and creative recipe.

Thanks for checking it out, recipes, pics, and annecdotes to follow!
Sean