Star of Brewing
Just down the street from our apartment, there is a traditional Kölsch tavern called Em Golde Kappes.  With a history going back to the 1910s, this brewhouse is a fixture in the cultural of my neighborhood in Cologne.  Along with Kölsch and great bratwurst, this biergarten has some very interesting symbols, images, and emblems that harken back to the city’s brewing history.  One such symbol is hanging above the main entrance in front of the brewhouse.  Suspended from an awning above the door, there is a large gilded cabbage (Em Golde Kappes means “At the Golden Cabbage”) above which is, what appears to be, the Star of David.

Ever since we moved into this neighborhood, I have wondered what the origins were of this curious symbol.  What, if anything, does a Kölsch tavern have to do with Judaism?  I decided recently to do a little research surrounding this symbol, through which I found out that it has nothing to do with the Jewish Star of David at all.

It turns out that the six-pointed star, or hexagram, is one of the oldest symbols of a brewing guild.  In medieval Germany, local aristocrats would issue licenses (for a small fee, of course) to brewers granting them the right to brew and serve beer.  In order to notify customers that a licensed brewer was operating, taverns would post so-called tapping signs at their entrances.  The hexagram became one of many tapping signs common throughout Germany.  For more information, I highly recommend a great article discussing the history and significance of these signs.

It’s Wheat, It’s Bock…It’s Delicious!
G. Schneider & Sohn is quickly becoming one of my favorite German breweries.  Wheat beer is the name of the game for these guys.  This exclusively wheat beer brewery, which is the oldest in Munich*, has one of the best Weizen line-ups in the world.  Awhile back I got to sampled their classic Hefeweizen, which got me curious to delve more into their beer offerings.  Much to my joy, I found in a local supermarket a few bottles of perhaps their most famous brew – the Aventinus Weizenbock.

I find the whole idea of the Weizenbock just plain awesome.  This beer definitely delivers with a beautiful marriage between the fruit and spice flavors of the Weizen and the caramel and bready goodness of the Doppelbock.  The beer pours a rich, opaque dark brown color with a light, effervescent head.  The aroma of caramel and yeast if evident but not overpowering.  With the taste you get a whole range of flavors.  The front end is dominated by the banana and clove typical for a Weissbier which is then followed by the powerful caramel and cereal flavors.  Robust and full-bodied, this brew is a real heavy hitter.  I love this beer.

*Note of Correction:  The G. Schneider & Sohn brewery is no longer located in Munich.  From 1872 to 1945, the brewery was indeed the largest and oldest wheat beer brewer in the city.  However, an Allied bombing raid in 1944 completely destroyed their production and brewing facilities.  After the war, the brewery relocated to Kelheim, Germany where it still operates today.

Westmalle
Ever since my trip to Belgium, I’ve had it as a goal of mine to sample every Trappist beer out there to enjoy.  The seven official Trappist brewers produce, by my count, 25 individual beers.  So far, I have gotten my mitts on 7 of them including brews from Westvleteren, Rochefort, Orval, and Chimay.  This past week I added Westmalle to my list.

Specifically, I was able to sample Westmalle’s Tripel.  Now, this was my very first forray into the world of Tripels, so I was going on minimal experience in my tasting.  But, I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed in this beer.  I was expecting a complex brew with a range of fruit flavors and a good malt-hop balance.  What I got instead was a one-sided flavor profile with some malt sweetness and fruit notes along with very little hop character.  I’m not sure if I got a bum batch or if it just went over my head, but I found this beer no match to either an Orval or Rochefort.  However, with the outstanding reputation that Westmalle has in the beer world, it’s very likely that I simply didn’t get it.  In any case, I’m planning more samplings in the Tripel style, so hopefully I’ll be able to get more of a grasp on it.

The real difference between the two is based on the type of method used to infuse the malt or grains. With extract brewing, the majority of malt used is malt extract. Malt extract has the same consistency as molasses. Malt extract is technically malt that has already been steeped in water, but 80% of the water has been removed. You can also buy dried malt extract which is pre-malted extract with 100% of the water removed. Manufacturers sell malt extract in small retail-sized cans or bags, but also in wholesale drums. If you’re a cook, think of malt extract as a wine reduction sauce.

All-grain brewing is the process of home brewing using 100% raw grains, not pre-malted grain extract- hence the name. All-grain brewers use what’s called a mash tun to steep their grains and infuse the sweetness into their final product.

Diving Deeper

Equipment costs: In the beginning, extract brewing is cheaper based on start up costs because extract brewing does not require the use of a mash tun. Therefore, a mash tun does not need to be purchased.

Ingredient costs: Over the long run, home brewing using the all-grain method saves on ingredient costs because all-grain brewers buy raw grains. Raw grains are cheaper than malt extract because malt extract is processed further.

Time: Extract brewing takes less time because the majority of the grains, or malt, just needs to be re-hydrated with water. Again, all-grain brewing requires the lengthy step of mashing grains, a step extract brewers bypass.

Creativity: You may find posts on the internet saying all-grain brewers can be more creative than extract brewers because they use more raw ingredients. Personally, I’ve had no limitations to creativity with my final extract brewed products.

In regards to quality, home brewed beer, no matter which method, will surpass the quality of any brew bought in stores. So what are you waiting for? Go get started!

Like I said, Mike and I built a mash tun yesterday.  Rather than build one of those easy braid pieces we went for a CPVC set up.  It took quite a bit to find all the pieces but once we had everything it took only about an hour to put everything together.

We used this outline for our project.

Thanks Dustin.

This is how it turned out:

The manifold was the harder part.  Making the precision cuts and drilling was tedious.

The nozzle was very easy to assemble and fit perfectly into the existing cooler hole.

Planning on making an Irish Red in the next day or two, all grain of course.  I’ll update then.

Ein Prosit!

Trevor.

Well, there’s quite a bit to update.  First of all, the American Amber Ale has been bottled.  It looks great and has a final gravity of 1.012, about 4.3% abv.  Mike and I  really rocked this out.  Only issue is that I did not dissolve my priming sugar completely.  Most of it was though so I’m not worried.  The end result may just lack some carbonation, maybe low head retention.  I’m sure it will taste great however.

My ambition did get a little crazy that day.  I ran to Keystone earlier in the day with Mike and we picked up an extract recipe for a Single Hop IPA.

9 lb. Golden Light Dry Malt Extraxt

1/2 lb Briess Crystal Malt 120° L

1/4 lb Briess Victory Malt

6 oz Warrior  (3 bittering, 2 aroma, 1 dry hop)

1 tbsp Irish Moss

11.5 g Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast

My friends Will, Matt, and his girlfriend came over to give me a hand.  Everything went to plan.  I fixed all the mistakes that I made during my first brew.  It was a challenge dissolving the entirety of the dry malt, very dense solution.  After that I added 3 oz of hops at the beginning of my boil using meslin bags.  Then with 10 and 5 minutes left in the 60 minute boil I added 2 more oz of the Warrior Hops.  Warriors are extremely stinky, I can’t wait to see how this effects my end result.  I also had an issue bringing my wort down to yeast pitching point after my boil.  I solved that issue by buying a wort chiller and some other nifty tools (shout-out to Carlos of Lansdale, PA).  Can’t wait to use it on my next batch (The Irish Red “Zepplin” Ale).

I will re-rack to a secondary fermenter on day 2 and dry hop on day 5.  I will remove the dry hops after 5 days.  The room where the IPA is fermenting is very cold, about 55°, so I am going to let this one ferment in the secondary fermenter upwards of 3 weeks to make sure the final product is not too sweet.

Tomorrow, MLK Day, I plan to assemble a Mash Tun for an all grain Irish Red.  I will post extensive photos of the assembly and how the brew day goes.  I am also very sure Meeze will stop by and post a couple quick words about the day tomorrow.

Until then,

Trev.

Tettnang
For our vacation last summer, my wife and I spent a week relaxing along Lake Constance in southern Germany.  While we were out and about one afternoon, we drove past a whole bunch of farms that had these strange vines on massive wooden trellises. For the life of us, we just couldn’t figure out what they were growing on these things.  Our best guess was that it was some sort of grape-vine, but it was unlike any grape cultivation we had seen before.  For months, it remained a mystery.

Well, the mystery was solved this past week.  While browsing around on the internet, I came across this picture.  It turns out that these farms were growing hops!  The Lake Constance area is a major producer of the Tettnang variety of Noble hops.  The region exports this valuable commodity to breweries all over the world.  Because of its rich floral aromas and low bitterness, this hop is most commonly found in German Pilsners, wheat beers, and many American lagers.  These puppies are the ultimate aroma hops producing a refined, flowery aromatic.

In retrospect, I’m a little bummed that we didn’t realize what we were looking at.  It would have been cool to explore a little more while we were in the area.  I found out later that there’s even a hop museum near the town of Tettnang that’s supposed to be pretty amazing.  As I grow more interested in the subtlties of the beer world, it’s seeing stuff like this that really fascinates me.

Poor German Pilsner
In recent years, the German beer scene has been in decline.  Sure, there are still amazing breweries in Germany that are making some of the world’s best beers.  But, for the most part, the trend in Germany since the 1990s has been consolidation with an accompanying decrease in quality.  Most major German brewers have abandoned brewing starkbier in favor of flavored products such as lemon beer (Radler) or the awful Cola-beer mix.  You can’t blame them though.  They are simply following their market research which says that their most important consumer – young people – are moving away from traditional beers to sweetened varieties.

No other style has taken more of a beating than the Classic German Pilsner.  This once proud tradition was the unquestioned conqueror of the entire beer world.  However, the unfortunate consequence of this dominance has been a gradual decline in the overall quality of Pilsners that are produced.  Most German Pilsners barely fit the traditional characteristics of the style being mostly generic, pale lagers.

A few months back, I set out to find  brewers in Germany who were still brewing quality German Pilsners.  I sampled most of the national brands like Warsteiner, Bitburger, Radeberger, and Krombacher as well as some regional varieties.  Most of the national producers – beers we normally associate with German imports in the States – were rather disappointing.  However, among all of the weak, watered-down Pilsners, a few national brands stood out as brews that were upholding the Pilsner tradition.  I specifically enjoyed the offerings from Jever and Flensburger both of which had a really nice malt character balanced by a light but fine herbal hoppiness.  Despite these two decent showings, the real German Pilsner is nowadays found among the local and regional companies – breweries like Rothaus, Schwelmer, and Waldhaus.  It has given me impetus to continue my search for authentic examples of this much-maligned style.

I’ve been wanting to go all-grain for a good long while now, but the truth is, I was scared.  I was afraid that I would totally screw it up.  That rather than beer, I would end up with something truly wrong and completely unpalatable.

Well, I may have done all of those things, but the fact is I did it.  Alone.  Without support from others who’ve done it before.  I mean not totally without support…my wife was in the house and brewing friends sent me a bunch of messages on Facebook while I was brewing, but pretty much without any substantive support.  And I’m proud of myself for doing it!

Here's what my dough in looked like for my first All-Grain Beer!

So for Christmas my Mother-In-Law gave me a Spiced Winter Ale kit from Northern Brewer.  It was an all-grain kit.  I had built my chiller.  I had built my Mash Tun.  I had just not made the leap into All-Grain brewing.  I have to thank my Mother-In-Law for giving me a really good reason to start.

I’ll admit that I did, in fact, screw a couple of things up.  I forgot to Vorlauf when I began running my wort off from my mash tun into the kettle.  Oops.  I think I’ll still end up with beer.

My 10th Level Beer Nerd Mash Tun. Built it myself!

I’m sure there were other things I forgot to do, but it’ll all work out in the end, I’m sure. It will still end up as beer!

I’d also like to thank my wife for taking the picture to the right.

The recipe for the beer I made yesterday…

9# Simpson’s Golden Promise

1# Simpson’s Medium Crystal

1oz U.S. Goldings Hops

Mulling spices

Safale US-04 Yeast

It was a very simple recipe, which was one of the things that made it appealing to me as my first all-grain beer.  I sometimes get a little over ambitious when first starting out with a project and end up not liking the process because I’ve overstepped myself in my initial foray into whatever field I’m entering.  Thankfully this time I didn’t.  I found all-grain brewing to be completely accessible to me.  In fact, I wish I’d started doing it years ago!

Boiling Junkanoo Spiced Winter Ale

So the real point of all of this is: If you’re thinking about going all-grain, just go ahead and do it!  It’s a daunting jump to make, but it’s fun and it’s worth it!  Embrace the Change!

Privatbrauerei Schwelmer
Living in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, you tend to get an ear full of the two dominant brewing traditions in the region: Altbier and Kölsch.  So, it’s nice to find a quality regional brewer in my area that’s producing something other than these two brews.  Although the town of Schwelm is less than 60km from Cologne, you surprisingly hear zip about Schwelmer beer where I live.  I discovered it while at my favorite specialty beer store in town and after a little research found out that there was some good buzz surrounding this traditional family owned brewery.

Out of curiosity, I picked up a couple of bottles of their Bernstein Bock, which is a traditionally brewed Heller Bock beer.  The brew pours a magnificent amber/copper color with a medium, dense head.  The taste was a definite change from the sweet and malty beers I’ve been having lately.  The Heller Bock is generally more bitter and less malty than its Doppelbock cousin, and this beer certainly fits that bill.  The flavors ranged from grassy and nutty on the front end with a hint of caramel to a very strong hop presence in the finishing.  All in all, it was a worthy representative of the style.  There will definitely be further sampling from this brewer on my wish list!

Our Salvator Is Nigh!
This is it, baby.  The original Doppelbock.  Whenever you hear stories of monks brewing liquid bread to sustain them through their religious fasts, they were originally referring to Paulaner’s Salvator.  My forays into the world of the Doppelbock have so far been pretty limited, but I am definitely a big fan of the style (especially Andechs offering, their Doppelbock Dunkel).  So, while I was shopping for beer the other day, I had some room in my crate, so I grabbed a few of these out of curiosity.

Salvator is actually Latin for Savior.  Not quite sure what the monks were trying to say when they christened this delectable brew.  In any case, the trend caught on.  It’s typical for Bavarian brewers to name their Doppelbocks with a variation on the -ator theme – such as Ayinger’s Celebrator or the Augustiner Maximator.  One US brewer even pokes a little fun at the usage by calling their Doppelbock Seeyoulator.

Well, when they call this stuff liquid bread, they were not kidding.  This is one rich, full-bodied beer. It pours a wonderful dark amber or brown color with light head.  The aroma is sweet and fills the air as soon as you open the bottle.  And, boy, the taste.  Quite sweet up front with notes of dried fruit and caramel, with a blast of wheat and bread in the middle, and a subtle grassy hop finish.  This is a complex, sippin’ beer.  Andechs’s Doppelbock is much softer and more subtle on the palate, so I would prefer it.  But, this one was definitely still pure beer-drinking delight.  The experience has all but guaranteed a future post on this amazing style.

Fellow Beer Bloggers
Recently, I’ve taken to patrolling the web finding interesting site on beer.  In particular, I’ve come across a few other bloggers who are doing a heckuva lot better job at this than I am.  So, I thought I’d pass on a few that I’ve really enjoyed.  I definitely recommend The Hopry.  These two Kerls out of Kansas City do video reviews of some of the best craft beers from around the world with a particular emphasis on brews coming out of the US of A.

Also, check out Tales of ales and more.  This guy is probably my Doppelgänger – an American living in London using his expatriate situation to explore the world of European beer.  He’s had some excellent posts on English beers as well as great info on beer drinking locales in London.

Each piece of the soldered manifold is made from 22mm copper pipe with un-soldered joints to allow disassembly and cleaning with a ‘cask tap cleaning brush’, the underside 1/3-1/2 of the copper tube is slotted with a 1mm Angle grinder disk.
The hole in the coolbox was made with a 21mm Q-max cutter, the tank connector was drilled out with a 15mm Blacksmiths drill (this would have been a lot easier with a Pillar drill and a Vice, but all I have is a crappy woodworking vice clamped to a wobbly table and a Cordless drill!)

Tools used were:
Pipe cutter
Solder, Flux, and Blow lamp
Round file
Flat file
Angle Grinder with 1mm Cutting disks
Scotch Brite pad
21mm Q-max cutter, with 8mm pilot drill
15mm Blacksmith’s drill
Cordless Drill / driver

Parts used were:
45litre Igloo coolbox
22mm Copper pipe
15mm copper pipe
6-off 22mm Equal Elbows
4-off 22mm Equal Tees
1-off 15x22x22mm Un-equal Tee
15mm Brass compression tank connector
15mm Brass Ball Valve

The Igloo coolbox which came from an ebay seller:

Some of the manifold pieces cut and arranged:

Soldered and separated:

Soldered and attached:

15mm Ball Valve tap fitted approx 11mm up from the inside base of the coolbox:

Cleaned manifold:

I found while fitting everything together that the Elbows were a bit more acute than 90 degrees which made it look all out of parallel, I fixed this by soldering it up with the removable end pieces on.
Everything was filled clean of burrs inside and out, excess solder removed, then scotch-brite pad used to polish up the copper. A thorough clean with a mild soda crystal solution gave it a final internal clean out. I later added a short bent turn-down spout from the ball valve with a 8mm reducer soldered to it.

Since then, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning about brewing and buying bits to improve my process.  One of my favourite items is the 10 Gallon pot that I have, which, when full, will not come to a boil on my woefully inadequate stove.  I’ve also talked about this.

What I have not yet done is developed the full capacity to mash, properly, all of the grain.  You may have read (or can still read) my crazy experiments with doing this without actually having a proper mash tun.

Well, yesterday I made it.

I was out shopping, and ended up near a Walmart.  I went inside, and lo and behold, a 12 Gallon cooler for under $24.  So I bought it.  The Walmart was beside a Home Depot, and I picked up the few bits that I needed to finish the tun.

I got home and got to work.

All the stuff

Here is the new cooler with a variety of parts.  The manifold is the long stainless steel thing (it’s actually the outside of one of those reinforced water supply tubes you see behind toilets and in sinks, with the actual pipe removed.  It acts as a filter). Then the various other bits.

Remove the spigot

Remove the spigot that came with it.

The manifold connected through the hole

I actually ended up having an incorrect part, so I hopped on my bike and raced to the Home Depot.  This picture is after the problem was resolved.

The connection on the outside.

With the ball valve attached.

Here you can see the connection with the ball valve and “hose barb” (the thing that will attach to a hose) sticking out.  when I go to mash, I will connect a vinyl hose to that barb.

The whole thing

Here is the final product–you can see it through the wall.

Now, as for leakage. Originally I had some water seeping through.  I took the whole thing apart, and added another “O” ring to the inside.  This made a better seal between the various components.  so far there has not been a problem.  I will check this again after my first mash, which will come sometime this week.

All I need to do now is get something to heat all the water with.  I ended up not going to look for that stove.  I sat in my car and looked at the map, and realized I just wanted something closer to home.  The next day (today) I went to a local vendor, and learned just how much the kind of gas stove I want will cost. Probably $2000.  Because I also need to get the gas connection made, and a vent hood.  Yikes.  I think I have to go across the river and buy a gas ring to use outside.

Or just keep making half batches.

Since then, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning about brewing and buying bits to improve my process.  One of my favourite items is the 10 Gallon pot that I have, which, when full, will not come to a boil on my woefully inadequate stove.  I’ve also talked about this.

What I have not yet done is developed the full capacity to mash, properly, all of the grain.  You may have read (or can still read) my crazy experiments with doing this without actually having a proper mash tun.

Well, yesterday I made it.

I was out shopping, and ended up near a Walmart.  I went inside, and lo and behold, a 12 Gallon cooler for under $24.  So I bought it.  The Walmart was beside a Home Depot, and I picked up the few bits that I needed to finish the tun.

I got home and got to work.

All the stuff

Here is the new cooler with a variety of parts.  The manifold is the long stainless steel thing (it’s actually the outside of one of those reinforced water supply tubes you see behind toilets and in sinks, with the actual pipe removed.  It acts as a filter). Then the various other bits.

Remove the spigot

Remove the spigot that came with it.

The manifold connected through the hole

I actually ended up having an incorrect part, so I hopped on my bike and raced to the Home Depot.  This picture is after the problem was resolved.

The connection on the outside.

With the ball valve attached.

Here you can see the connection with the ball valve and “hose barb” (the thing that will attach to a hose) sticking out.  when I go to mash, I will connect a vinyl hose to that barb.

The whole thing

Here is the final product–you can see it through the wall.

Now, as for leakage. Originally I had some water seeping through.  I took the whole thing apart, and added another “O” ring to the inside.  This made a better seal between the various components.  so far there has not been a problem.  I will check this again after my first mash, which will come sometime this week.

All I need to do now is get something to heat all the water with.  I ended up not going to look for that stove.  I sat in my car and looked at the map, and realized I just wanted something closer to home.  The next day (today) I went to a local vendor, and learned just how much the kind of gas stove I want will cost. Probably $2000.  Because I also need to get the gas connection made, and a vent hood.  Yikes.  I think I have to go across the river and buy a gas ring to use outside.

Or just keep making half batches.

If I can get my hands on a decent cooler, I’ll make an MLT and then post pictures, videos and ride the blogging train to the end of NaBloPoMo…

If I can get my hands on a decent cooler, I’ll make an MLT and then post pictures, videos and ride the blogging train to the end of NaBloPoMo…

Last night before bed I was contemplating my all grain experience.  Exhausted and a little demoralized, I figured there’s no reason to do all grain when it’s so much bother, and I’m better off sticking to extract.  Yet this morning, when I was rested and reflecting again, I realized that it’s the challenge of getting it right that will keep me coming back.   When brewing with extract, the most difficult part is already done for you.  So although I can make some pretty decent beers with extract, I want to be able to do the same with all grain.

But, until I do, I’m going to have to keep stocking some Dry Malt Extract for emergencies like last night.

Tomorrow I will post pictures from my brew day.

Last night before bed I was contemplating my all grain experience.  Exhausted and a little demoralized, I figured there’s no reason to do all grain when it’s so much bother, and I’m better off sticking to extract.  Yet this morning, when I was rested and reflecting again, I realized that it’s the challenge of getting it right that will keep me coming back.   When brewing with extract, the most difficult part is already done for you.  So although I can make some pretty decent beers with extract, I want to be able to do the same with all grain.

But, until I do, I’m going to have to keep stocking some Dry Malt Extract for emergencies like last night.

Tomorrow I will post pictures from my brew day.

Heated 3.5G water to 170F.  Threw it in the cooler.  It cooled to 163.  Threw in the grain (11lbs).  Stirred it up.  It cooled to 152F.  Perfect.

Now the best part: resting.  Waiting.  Hoping the stove can boil 5Gallons.  Yikes.

Pics of the session later.

Heated 3.5G water to 170F.  Threw it in the cooler.  It cooled to 163.  Threw in the grain (11lbs).  Stirred it up.  It cooled to 152F.  Perfect.

Now the best part: resting.  Waiting.  Hoping the stove can boil 5Gallons.  Yikes.

Pics of the session later.

Nevertheless, today I feel like chronicling my day, blow by blow (for which Twitter would be good).  Because today is my first real all grain day.  I say this, even though I have yet to make a proper mash tun.  I’m using a modification that some diehards might even like.  Basically, I’ve created a false bottom to my cooler without messing with the spigot (my cooler doesn’t have one) by connecting a regular stainless steel mesh tube (acting as a filter) to 3/8″ plastic tubing, which I’ll use to siphon off the wort into the brew kettle.

I’ll take pictures later.

I did not brew yesterday; I was really dragging my butt for half the day, then I just bottled my ESB (which tastes pretty good so far).  I also drank a bottle of my Original Bitter, the one that I had messed up when I primed it (too much priming sugar).  It was perfectly carbonated.

More later.

Nevertheless, today I feel like chronicling my day, blow by blow (for which Twitter would be good).  Because today is my first real all grain day.  I say this, even though I have yet to make a proper mash tun.  I’m using a modification that some diehards might even like.  Basically, I’ve created a false bottom to my cooler without messing with the spigot (my cooler doesn’t have one) by connecting a regular stainless steel mesh tube (acting as a filter) to 3/8″ plastic tubing, which I’ll use to siphon off the wort into the brew kettle.

I’ll take pictures later.

I did not brew yesterday; I was really dragging my butt for half the day, then I just bottled my ESB (which tastes pretty good so far).  I also drank a bottle of my Original Bitter, the one that I had messed up when I primed it (too much priming sugar).  It was perfectly carbonated.

More later.

Today I contemplate a big brewing day to get that all out of my mind.

The plan is as follows: bottle the ESB, and brew a barley wine using the same yeast as the ESB.

Barley wine is a strong, sweet-ish beer that often clocks in over 10%ABV.  American styles have lots of hops, but in my opinion, a strong hoppy beer is a Double IPA.  I’m probably missing something, and will have to read up on the styles.  I’m planning a British version, which is more toasty biscuity malty with less hops, but enough to act as the required preservative.

A recent issue of Brew Your Own (BYO) magazine had a big article on Barley wine.  One of the things several brewers recommended for this style is to begin with a lot of wort and boil it down for several hours.  One said four hours.  Given the limited capabilities of my stove, I would say I’ll begin with less wort and brew a smaller volume of beer altogether.

I’m going to try my deviant all grain brewing style once again.  This time, instead of pouring 12 Lbs of grain through a strainer, I will siphon the wort off the grain after it has finished mashing.  This will save me from making a false bottom or other manifold in the bottom of my cooler.  It’s the only cooler I have, and I’d like to be able to use it for other things.  By siphoning, no modification is required.  I had planned on doing a modified Brew in a Bag method, but my bag maker has not had time to sew the bag.  I’m not complaining, because she’s busy.  But I want to brew, so here we go.

I am, however, still contemplating making a mash tun using the traditional methods.   We’ll see.  I’ve eased off brewing lately, because I have so much beer just sitting around (I can only drink so much!) so it doesn’t seem to make sense to do so much modification at this point.

Today I contemplate a big brewing day to get that all out of my mind.

The plan is as follows: bottle the ESB, and brew a barley wine using the same yeast as the ESB.

Barley wine is a strong, sweet-ish beer that often clocks in over 10%ABV.  American styles have lots of hops, but in my opinion, a strong hoppy beer is a Double IPA.  I’m probably missing something, and will have to read up on the styles.  I’m planning a British version, which is more toasty biscuity malty with less hops, but enough to act as the required preservative.

A recent issue of Brew Your Own (BYO) magazine had a big article on Barley wine.  One of the things several brewers recommended for this style is to begin with a lot of wort and boil it down for several hours.  One said four hours.  Given the limited capabilities of my stove, I would say I’ll begin with less wort and brew a smaller volume of beer altogether.

I’m going to try my deviant all grain brewing style once again.  This time, instead of pouring 12 Lbs of grain through a strainer, I will siphon the wort off the grain after it has finished mashing.  This will save me from making a false bottom or other manifold in the bottom of my cooler.  It’s the only cooler I have, and I’d like to be able to use it for other things.  By siphoning, no modification is required.  I had planned on doing a modified Brew in a Bag method, but my bag maker has not had time to sew the bag.  I’m not complaining, because she’s busy.  But I want to brew, so here we go.

I am, however, still contemplating making a mash tun using the traditional methods.   We’ll see.  I’ve eased off brewing lately, because I have so much beer just sitting around (I can only drink so much!) so it doesn’t seem to make sense to do so much modification at this point.

Fermentables:
Pale Malt - 3990g - 70%
Brown Malt -  625g - 11%
Crystal Malt - 340g - 6%
Wheat Malt - 285g - 5%
Chocolate Malt - 225g - 4%
Crystal Rye Malt - 170g - 3%
Crystal Malt, Dark - 57g - 1%

Hops:
Sovereign @ 60 mins - 56g
Sovereign @ 10 mins - 19g

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.015
Alcohol Content: 5.6% ABV
Total Liquor: 34 Litres
Mash Liquor: 13.7 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 80 %
Bitterness: 33 EBU
Colour: 144 EBC
60min Mash @ 68c
60min Boil
Cooled to 21c before pitching yeast
Mash treated with General Profile in the GW water treatment calc
3g of common Salt added to copper at the end of the boil

Updates on my Twitter-T.watter page – https://twitter.com/pdtnc
Malts, Temp & Salt additions:

The three tier:

Waste of time checking pH as usual:

Mash efficiency 95.3%!:

First runnings being recycled, FWH & old yeast ready in copper:

10min hop addition:

StarSan-ing everything that will touch sterile clean wort:

My Mash was on at 8.05am
The Boil started at 10.30am
I collected 30litres @ 13.5 Brix
Cooling from boiling took 10mins & 44Litres of water to 33c, then 3mins more to 21c. The 44L was collected in the HLT @ 42c
Original Gravity was 1056 with hydrometer, 14.9 Brix with refractometer (1058, Bang on to recipe)
Started Run-off to FV at 12:00, taking it slowly probably took the best part of an hour.
The Wort & Hops were smelling lovely

*Bottled 17th Nov ’10 with 65g of Soft Brown Sugar Came down to FG 1020 ish, needs some age for the dark malts to meld into something lush

[showtime]

Nelson Brucker

Fermentables:
Pale Malt - 2740g - 75% (Actually 3650g as I weighed the total grain amount rather than the Pale malt!)
Crystal Rye Malt - 365g - 10%
Munich Malt - 365g - 10%
Torrefied Wheat - 180g - 5%

Hops:
Hallertauer Hersbrucker @ 60 mins 15g
Nelson Sauvin @ 60 mins 15g
Hallertauer Hersbrucker @ 15 mins 40g
Nelson Sauvin @ 15 mins 20g
Nelson Sauvin @ 0 mins 20g
Hallertauer Hersbrucker @ 0 mins 30g

Final Volume: 23 Litres – I’ve been going against my half batches a bit lately
Original Gravity: 1.040 – (Actually 1.050 due to Pale malt mess up!)
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 3.9% ABV – (Actually 5%)
Total Liquor: 32 Litres
Mash Liquor: 9.1 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 85 % – I’m starting out at 85% now rather than 75% (Actual Efficiency was 86.2%)
Bitterness: 42 EBU – (Actually 39 as I added 5 mins to boil to compensate a little)
Colour: 28 EBC – (Actually 30EBC, though it does look a nice colour)

Today’s malts:

Weighing out the salts:

Boring Mash shot:

Our hops today are…:

First runnings going into the copper with First Wort hops:

Copper about Half full, collected a total of 30L @ 10.2Brix = 1.039, 108% Mash Efficiency??!! I think I must have weighed something wrong?! Maybe an extra kilo of Pale if it looks like its going to be a 5.1% after the boil:

Weirdly I managed to hit 1040!:

Quite like this colour, its Beer coloured:

Pitched Safale US-05 at 22-23c
The post boil gravity was 1043 according to the Refractometer’s 11.2brix which should make the 4% beer I was aiming for if it finishes at 1012! (I’m a little confused about all this, should I really stick to 75% mash efficiency in my recipe software?)
1043 – 1012 x 0.129=3.999% ABV

*Bottled 22nd Sept ’10 with 75g White Sugar