Brewing Update

Today I am brewing 5 gallons of pale ale using my own hops! I ended up with about 2.5 oz of cascade and about 1.5 oz of centennial. Pictures:

Cascade

Centennial

Recipe is pretty simple, 8 lbs Pilsner, 1 lb munich, 1/2 lb crystal 60. I'm putting most of the hops towards the end for a big hop flavor.

I also brewed 10 gallons of stout a month or so ago, it came out good despite the fact I used dark crystal instead of chocolate malt. Cheers!

Busy Summer

Not much time for brewing this summer. I made 10 gallons of the Pilsner IPA about a month ago, but that was about it for brewing after the Belgian Wit. I did go to the homebrew store and picked up 80 lbs of malt, so I am ready to go. Looking to brew up some stout, then a pale ale using my own hops!
Yes, the hop plants have done pretty well this year. Looks like I will get a few ounces each of centennial and cascade, and more cones are still developing. I think I will do the first harvest this week. I'll post some pictures soon. Cheers!

Beer and hop updates

The belgian wit I brewed recently was a big hit at Isabelle's 1st birthday party, and I must say is a really good summer brew. The yeast combination worked out just like I thought it would, with a banana/clove aroma and taste up front, and a fruity/spicy belgian finish. It looks a little wierd, but is continuing to clear. Really good!
And the really exciting news is my hop plants are kicking ass! The centennial has 2 bines going (I cut back the others), with 1 over 14 feet tall, the other about 8 feet tall. They have a lot of cones developing, so I will certainly get some fresh hops. The cascade has 5 bines growing, and they are all about 8 to 12 feet tall. Cones are also starting to develop on those as well. Awesome!

Belgian Wit

I recently brewed a Belgian Wit beer for my daughters first birthday party. The recipe for 10 gallons is:
8 lbs Pilsner Malt
8 lbs Wheat Malt
2 lbs Flaked Oats
2 oz. Hallertau @ 60 min.
2 oz. Czech Saaz @ 2 min.
Zest from 3 oranges at 2 min.
1 packet Safale WB-06 and 1 packet Safale T-58
Mash for 1 hour at 152 deg., 1 hour boil
OG: 1.048, FG: 1.009

I ended up mashing at about 150, which dried out the finished product a little more than I wanted. But, the beer tastes and smells great, and I think that once it is kegged and carbonated it will really be nice. Cheers!

Tasting and Hops!

So, the Helles and Pilsner IPA are in the keg. Both turned out to be really good. The IPA I knew would be good, as it is a recipe I have brewed several times in the past, it's basically my house beer. The Helles was another story, a new recipe that I had never brewed before, using first wort hopping which I had never tried. Well, it really does result in a smooth bitterness, but I feel like there is too much hop flavor than the style calls for. However, that is not something I worry about, I think the beer tastes good and in the end, thats all that really matters.
Oh, and my hop plants have broken ground and are loving the warm weather. The centennial has 7 shoots, the tallest ones are currently about 6 inches long. The cascade has about 15 shoots, and are all about 3 inches long. I expect serious growth this weekend with the 80 degree temps being forecast. I'll post some pics soon.

Taking Advantage

So the sun was out and there wasn't much going on last saturday, so I decided to brew 10 gallons of Pilsner IPA. I omitted the roasted barley, upped the munich to 3 lbs for 10 gallons. Actually, this was probably the smoothest session ever, I was done in under 6 hours, and that included a 90 minute boil. OG was 1.062, for about 75% efficiency, and I pitched 3 packs of US-05 at 60 degrees. Beer is fermenting nicely in the basement. I also moved the Helles into an extra fridge in the basement for lagering at 35 degrees for a month or so. Cheers!

Tasting the BVIP

This is certainly quite a different tasting beer. I think right now the bourbon could have been mixed in a little better with the beer. During kegging, my guess is there is more bourbon in the bottom of the keg, so it is dominating the flavor. But, my wife likes it, so that must count for something.
The helles is going right along, it was down to about 1.012 after a week. I'm going to check it again this weekend. One other thing I learned was that the FWH is a flavor addition, not a bitterness addition. Oh well, we'll see how it comes out.