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Homebrew Board - Recipes

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Gator2_01
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10:15p, 10/5/14
AG
I should've been hanging out here a while ago, unfortunately I'm pretty lazy. Mrs. Gator and I have began brewing after a GABF trip in 2008 when my brother opened our eyes to good beer. When discussing all the great beers that we'd never be able to find again he let us know that we could brew anything we wanted cheaper than we could buy it commercially... well after we got the equipment.

We brew on a 4 tier gravity fed all-grain system that was built by a homebrewer in our club when we lived back in Florida. We've finally got it spun up a time or two now that we're in Austin.



It is a "4 tier" system because when you're done boiling the wort you crank the boil kettle up to drain through the counterflow chiller and into the fermenter.



Let me dig up the recipe for the Saison-Brett Brown we brewed and post it.
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Gator2_01
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10:42p, 10/5/14
AG
Alrighty, so this recipe started because we had a local Austin brewery that ordered too much grain and sold off their extra bags. We snagged a cheap bag of grain and brought a sanitized flask with us to see if they "had any extra yeast." Luckily they were brewing something special so they had a blend of 4 saison strains and 4 brett strains that we snagged from a fermenter.


Happily we went home and decided we wanted to do something on the dark edge of the saison range but let the yeast strains shine through. We ended up with the following:

Pilsner - 46%
Munich - 31%
C60 - 11.5%
C40 - 3.5%
Wheat - 8%
Saaz - 3oz - 75min (18.7 IBU)
Saaz - 1oz - 15min (2.7 IBU)

Which we proceeded to brew up and ferment, with some help.

We recently upgraded to a Sabco fermenter so we will be using the carboys primarily for sours. Which will keep our main fermentation system uninfected.

Four months later it pours well. The color is nice and the grain/hop bill don't overpower the saison or brettanomyces. Five gallons is kegged and another five gallons is still in a secondary. We're contemplating adding something to the secondary, but we're not sure right now. Possibly some oak or raspberries.

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farmer2010
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1:32p, 10/6/14
AG
Sweet setup, Gator!
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Sooner Born
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1:47p, 10/6/14
Maybe a dumb question but in the first pic, do you have the hose going out of the mashtun and into the boil kettle through the valve?
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Gator2_01
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8:32p, 10/6/14
AG
Sooner, we have a false bottom on the mash tun and boil kettle. When I sparge I drain from ball valve to ball valve.

On the water input side is a valve system:
Water in on the right, then heading left you have a valve to the water filter -> hot liquor tank, a valve to the copper coil ice chiller -> counter flow chiller (cooling water is collected in the HLT for cleaning, and finally a valve to the hose for spraying down whatever you need without disconnecting the water source from the far right.
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Sooner Born
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8:36p, 10/6/14
Why go ball valve to ball valve? Why not just run the mash tun hose into the top of the keggle? (Not questioning, just curious)
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Gator2_01
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10:17p, 10/6/14
AG
No real reason. I could turn the mash tun to the side to drain straight down into the top of the boil kettle, I just don't. Going valve to valve gives me no issues because I have the mash tun physically above the boil kettle.
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farmer2010
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9:06a, 10/7/14
AG
Transferring from valve to valve cuts down hot side aeration since it's gentler and there's less contact of your wort with air. Now, whether hot side aeration should even be a concern for most home brewers is a different argument, but with something as simple as transferring valve to valve you can greatly reduce or eliminate it.
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Gator2_01
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1:40a, 10/8/14
AG
I'm kicking up a starter of Cry Havoc yeast tonight for a porter brew on Thursday.

So what we're doing is a Sweet Potato Porter. I want to bring out some complex flavors from the grain bill while still maintaining a lower ABV easy drinking porter. Here's our grain bill:

2 Row - 56.8%
Munich - 21.9%
C60 - 8.6%
Special B - 4.4%
Special Roast - 4.4%
Chocolate - 2.2%
Carafa II - 1.6%
Perle - 1.5 oz / 75 min - 21.6 IBU
Saaz - 1 oz / 15 min - 3.4 IBU

Now the interesting thing will be using the sweet potatoes. I've got two 29 oz cans of sweet potatoes in syrup. Based on a brewery tour of Lazy Magnolia a few years ago I found out that in their sweet potato stout they use cans of sweet potatoes/syrup in their recipe. They drain the syrup (to add to the boil kettle) and hand crush the potatoes to add to the mash. So that's my plan, kind of. We're going to drain the syrup and add it to the boil. Then I'm going to mash the potatoes with a hand potato masher and mix with ~1 gal of strike water. I'm going to hold the potato/water mixture at ~150*F for 15 min prior to adding it to the mash and then mash for 75 min. This is because the little bit of info I've found has recommended a longer mash time to fully convert the potato starches.

I'll report back Thursday!
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jock itch
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9:36a, 10/8/14
quote:
Now, whether hot side aeration should even be a concern for most home brewers is a different argument


I always joke w/ homebrewers overly worried about the HSA boogeyman to go watch a commercial system mashing in. Maybe I'll take a video tomorrow, but our brewhouse basically dumps hot water and grain through the grist hydrator 6-8 feet above the false bottom, and as you can guess there's A LOT of splashing going on. Most of our beers do generally go out faster than homebrewers will drink theirs, but we still have some lagers in the cold storage that were brewed 4-6 months ago and not a hint of oxidation.

It's definitely smart to at least try and minimize splashing/turbulent flow, but I always like sharing that w/ homebrewers to hopefully give them at least one less thing to be OCD about.
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Sooner Born
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3:43p, 10/8/14
Do you guys follow brulosophy.com? Great site that does lots of experimentation. I realize his sample size is generally too small but he comes to some good conclusions about what is necessary and what isn't.
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Kyle98
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8:04a, 10/9/14
AG
I am now, Sooner, interesting stuff!
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Kyle98
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11:17a, 10/10/14
AG
Question on bulk aging. Better to do it in a keg, or in secondary? Either way, I'm going to wait for FG. It may already be there, going to take some gravity readings this weekend.
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No Bat Soup For You
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12:38p, 10/10/14
AG
I've always thrown away champagne style beer bottles because my capper doesn't work on them and I didn't want to invest in a corker but I noticed that Jester King puts a cap on the champagne style bottles instead of a cork.

Does anyone know where to get a hold of some of those oversized caps and do I need to buy a completely new bottle capper for it to work?
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Kyle98
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12:50p, 10/10/14
AG
They're 29mm caps, and you can get them at just about every online homebrew retailer. Depends on which capper you have. Mine is the red one with handles, don't know what it's called, but not a bench capper. The little plates in it are reversible, but you need to buy a 29mm bell for it, I believe.
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WorkBoots09
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12:56p, 10/10/14
AG
Kyle,

To me it would depend on how long you're talking. In a keg, you have absolutely no exposure to light, and if you purge when you rack to the keg, zero exposure to air. This would seem to be a good idea for long term aging. If you're imparting a flavor or spice, I'd secondary for a while and then age in the keg for a short while. The only downside would be one more step for something to get into the batch to ruin/introduce off flavors.

henny,

You should be able to find the larger caps at Midwest or Austin Homebrew online. Not sure about the capper, but if you have the bench mounted capper (single lever job), I would imagine it would have a die for the larger cap. That being said, I have no research or knowledge to back that up. And I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
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Kyle98
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1:36p, 10/10/14
AG
Planning on 4-6 months of aging, not imparting any flavors. My plan has been to just go straight to keg and purge with CO2 and let it sit at room temp.
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WorkBoots09
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1:53p, 10/10/14
AG
Kyle that sounds fine to me, at least that's how I would do it.

I roasted some hatch chilies last night and put them into some Tito's for a tincture to add to my porter. If all goes well, I'll add it to my porter at kegging time tomorrow and let it sit for a few weeks.
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Kyle98
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1:57p, 10/10/14
AG
Excellent, thanks! That sounds interesting, hatch chilie porter.

Anyone else making the trip to Auburn? I'll have some of my Pumpkin Spice Saison along for our trip.
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Kyle98
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8:13a, 10/13/14
AG
Thinking about doing a simple Bavarian-style hefe next weekend. Here's what I've got:

6lbs Pale Wheat
4lbs Pilsner

Mash @ 152 (BIAB)

.5oz Hallertauer for 60
.5oz Hallertauer for 30

WLP300 yeast

Thoughts?
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farmer2010
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9:34a, 10/13/14
AG
Looks like a solid hefe. Ferment it warm (~75 degrees) to let the yeast esters shine.
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farmer2010
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9:38a, 10/13/14
AG
This is what I'm planning for my first black IPA (edited with suggestions and in more detail):

13.25 lb 2-Row (88.3%)
1 lb De-bittered Black (6.7%)
.75 lb Crystal 90L (5%)

1 oz Columbus (15% AA) - 60 min
1 oz Centennial (10% AA) - 15 min
1 oz Summit (18.5% AA) - flame-out

US-05 @ ~ 65 degrees
1oz each of Summit and Centennial dry hopped for 5 days after primary fermentation is complete

Batch size: 5.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.078
Estimated FG: 1.020
Estimated ABV: 7.71%
Estimated IBU: 64.21
Estimated SRM: 39.97
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jock itch
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3:07p, 10/13/14
Malt bill looks pretty good, but make sure you get the Carafa III Special and not regular Carafa III. The former is the de-husked version and makes for a much better option when you're really just looking for color and don't want a lot of the roastiness/astringency.

I'd also personally completely nix the Chocolate. It's not as neutral flavor wise as the Carafa and is redundant from the coloring stand-point.
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farmer2010
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4:48p, 10/13/14
AG
Yep, that's my intent. I forgot there even was a husked version of carafa iii since I've only used the dehusked before. Thinking of replacing part of the 2-row with munich, but probably won't bother since it's a hop-forward beer anyway.
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jock itch
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6:14p, 10/13/14
I absolutely love Munich, but agree it doesn't always fit in American style IPAs unless used in small quantities. An all 2-Row w/ some medium crystal malt bill is really all you need if you want to let the hops shine. Taken me a long time to realize that though...it's easy to over-complicate things w/ brewing!

Also, while on the topic of roasted malts, you might consider Briess' Midnight Wheat if the Carafa Special isn't available. Since it's wheat, there's no husk to contribute any astringency, and from what I understand Firestone Walker confirmed that they use it in Wookey Jack which is personally one of the best Black IPAs I've ever had. We've used it in everything from our Schwarz to our Black Saison and it does seem to be the most neutral tasting dark malt I've ever used at least. Also seems to make for some fantastic head retention.
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farmer2010
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9:08p, 10/14/14
AG
Since I hate paying full shipping on a single beer's ingredients, I decided to throw together a simple bock recipe to order alongside my Black IPA:

12 lb Munich (96%)
0.5 lb Carabohemian (4%)

Hersbrucker additions at 60 and 15 minutes, target ~ 25 IBU

Mangrove Jack Bohemian Lager yeast

It'll be my first time trying Mangrove Jack yeast, but I've heard good things. Side note: if it wasn't already obvious, the short discussion about Munich malt might have played a small part in shaping this recipe.
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jock itch
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9:49a, 10/15/14
quote:
Side note: if it wasn't already obvious, the short discussion about Munich malt might have played a small part in shaping this recipe.


Funny, must just be that time of year! I just ordered the malt bill for a Doppelbock last Friday and I'm considering just going 100% Munich w/ a really long boil to bring out some depth and color. Might end up adding a little Midnight Wheat just for color, but we shall see!

Mmmm...Munich.
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jock itch
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9:52a, 10/15/14
Post back when it's finished...never had experience w/ that yeast either.

Recipe looks good. My only really minor critique is that I'd omit the 15 min addition. In most malt forward beers I generally either use only bittering additions or save just a small amount for the whirlpool IF appropriate in the style. In a bock, I wouldn't bother personally. Up to you of course though!
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Kyle98
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10:19a, 10/15/14
AG
Having to order from Midwest or Northern Brewer to get my pale wheat malt. My LHBS doesn't carry it, and neither does AHS, apparently. Oh well, I'll still get them in plenty of time for brew day next weekend.

I'm jealous of you guys with your lagers. Still looking for a chest freezer for a fermentation chamber so I can get cold enough for lager brewing!
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Scriffer
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10:22a, 10/15/14
AG
I'm in the same boat on a fermentation chamber, and I'm starting to think the Sears Outlet is my answer. They've got scratch-and-dent and refurb chest freezers in the 5 and 7 cu. ft. range for about $200-250 if memory serves.

I'm thinking of walking in and offering them $600 total for a chest freezer and 12 cu. ft. fridge to use for beer storage.
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dave99ag
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10:30a, 10/15/14
AG
Do it!

And then build a cool temp controller out of a STC-1000. I can print a 3D box for you.
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Scriffer
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11:09a, 10/15/14
AG
Ordered the STC-1000 at your house when I thought that free deep freeze was coming my way.

Get to work.
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farmer2010
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In reply to Kyle98 • 11:56a, 10/15/14
AG
quote:
I'm jealous of you guys with your lagers. Still looking for a chest freezer for a fermentation chamber so I can get cold enough for lager brewing!

It's nice having the option to lager, but I rarely choose to do so because of the extra time it takes before you have finished beer. Maybe I'm just bad at it or maybe my palate isn't refined enough to appreciate the subtleties of a well crafted lager, but I haven't made one yet that I've considered superior enough to an equivalent ale fermented cool with neutral yeast to make the process worth it. That hasn't stopped me from occasionally trying, though.

In short, other than the "cool factor" you get from being able to brew lagers, I've found that it's largely not worth the effort in my experience. Maybe my opinion will change with this next one.
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jock itch
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12:50p, 10/15/14
quote:
I'm jealous of you guys with your lagers. Still looking for a chest freezer for a fermentation chamber so I can get cold enough for lager brewing!


I've actually always had a theory that as long as lagers are pitched cold and go through the growth phase cold, that the final fermentation temperature isn't AS critical as people tend to think. I've never had the balls to test this theory intentionally, but our glycol chiller went out about 3-4 days into fermentation this past week and 40 BBL's of Pils was sitting at 63F when I came in on Monday morning. Gravity was within the 5-7 Plato range, so it wasn't just like a standard diacetyl rest where you let it run 1-2 P from final.

Naturally I'm concerned about this beer, but so far it's smelling/tasting about the same as normal. Will be hard to tell until it's crashed and carbed, but will definitely let you guys know what I find out. Would certainly make lager brewing more approachable for the average homebrewer!

quote:
In short, other than the "cool factor" you get from being able to brew lagers, I've found that it's largely not worth the effort in my experience. Maybe my opinion will change with this next one.


Minus the extra equipment generally needed, I actually think the extra effort people associate w/ lager brewing is vastly over-stated when using modern techniques. A typical lager fermentation looks like this for us:

1) Pitch between 48-52F (easier said than done for many setups)
2) Set temp control to 55F
3) After 4-5 days, 70-80% of fermentation is usually complete and we let rise to 65F for diacetyl rest.
4) Let sit at 65F for 2-3 days (you can do a forced warm test here to confirm absence of diacetyl)
5) Crash to as close to freezing as possible
6) Let "lager" for 7-10 days or until clarity is acceptable to you.
7) Carb and keg

That's it. Only other thing I can recommend is pitch A LOT of yeast...preferably double what you normally would for an ale. Given the above, we're turning around most lagers in 21-28 days depending on OG and they taste great (IMO of course!). We've tried doing a lot of "fakey" lagers and never could get some styles right (like the Pils) until using a lager yeast.

As you can tell by our line-up though, I've somehow developed a weird passion for lager brewing...so feel free to disregard the above.
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No Bat Soup For You
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1:06p, 10/15/14
AG
What brewery do you work for?
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