Craig, the head brewer at Sixpoint, had the great idea of getting all the Sixpiont brewers and interns to meet up once a month to share a homebrew they made, with a planned beer theme for each month. Craig, Evan and I picked a style or theme for each month for the next year, and we will have a tasting once a month and share recipes. With our trademark creativity and almost gymnastic use of the English language, we're calling it the "Homebrew of the Month Club".
Here is the planned schedule:
June: Pale ale
July: "Worker's Ale": 4% or less ABV beer brewed with Sixpoint ale yeast
August: Saison
September: Belgian Golden ale
October: Belgian Dubbel
November: Fruit or vegetable beer
December: Christmas/spiced beer
January: Single-hop IPA
February: Imperial Stout
March Wood-aged or smoked beer
April: Lager
May: Wild Ale
I brewed my pale ale submission for June yesterday, which we should be tasting at the end of the month.
This is a seriously back-ended hop schedule with a tiny 60 minute hop addition, and all other hops added in the last 20 minutes of the boil. I will probably dry-hop it too. I'm hoping to get a bright blast of the orange / tangerine flavor from the Summit addition, without the funky garlic/onion quality that is supposedly a product of adding it at the end of the boil. If it comes out like I want, it should be in the same vein as Mike McDole's "Pliney Lite" or Lagunitas New Dogtown Pale Ale.
"Meetification" Pale Ale
Recipe is for 6.9 gallons pre-boil, 6 gallons post boil, all-grain
O.G. 1.055 F.G. 1.011 ABV 5.8% IBU's 48
8.5 lb. 2-row American pale malt
1.5 lb. Glen Eagle Marris Otter
8 oz. Victory malt
6 oz. British Crystal 70
5 gr. Summit pellets 18.5% AA (!) 60 min
28 gr. Summit pellets 18.5% 20 min
28 gr. Centennial pellets 8% 15 min
28 gr. Cascade pellets 6% 0 min
14 gr. Amarillo pellets 8.6% 0 min
Dry hops: 1 oz. each Centennial and Amarillo pellets, in the keg (in bags)
Mash: 4 gallons H20, 152 for 60 minutes (fell to 145 over that time). Raised to 170 over 25 minutes.
Sparged with 5 gallons water at 170
Collected 6.9 gallons at 1.048 = 84% efficiency.
Boil as noted, with additions of Whirlfoc at 15 min. and Wyeast nutrient at 10 min.
Chilled, racked to carboy, and added pure oxygen for 75 seconds. Pitched an appropriate-sized starter of Wyeast 1056 at 69 degrees. Fermenting at 68 degrees.
Mash: 4 gallons H20, 152 for 60 minutes (fell to 145 over that time). Raised to 170 over 25 minutes.
Sparged with 5 gallons water at 170
Collected 6.9 gallons at 1.048 = 84% efficiency.
Boil as noted, with additions of Whirlfoc at 15 min. and Wyeast nutrient at 10 min.
Chilled, racked to carboy, and added pure oxygen for 75 seconds. Pitched an appropriate-sized starter of Wyeast 1056 at 69 degrees. Fermenting at 68 degrees.
Racked to keg on 6/24/09. Still very yeasty, but tastes promising!
Mineral additions: I still haven't had the time to study and prep on the water additions with John Palmer's calculator, but I added 1 tsp gypsum, 1 tsp chalk, and 1 tsp. "Burton salts", about half in the mash and half at the start of the boil. I added the chalk to attempt to increase the mash pH, but it would not increase past 5.0. So I guess I have to deal with it next time.
Mineral additions: I still haven't had the time to study and prep on the water additions with John Palmer's calculator, but I added 1 tsp gypsum, 1 tsp chalk, and 1 tsp. "Burton salts", about half in the mash and half at the start of the boil. I added the chalk to attempt to increase the mash pH, but it would not increase past 5.0. So I guess I have to deal with it next time.