Rhythm Section IPA

   

12 lbs	Pale Malt (2 Row)
1 lbs	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
8.0 oz	Biscuit Malt
1.00 oz	Citra [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 6 days)
0.50 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (40 min)
0.50 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] (40 min)
0.50 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min)
0.50 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] (20 min)
0.50 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min)
0.50 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min)
1 Pkgs	American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)

* 1gallon was dry hopped with home grown Cascade and bottle conditioned

Eye of Horus Barleywine

Barleywine has long been a style that I've shyed away from. After all, I started kegging so I wouldn't have to bottle any more and let's face it, a barleywine takes some cellar time to become its best. But since it is "The Year of Beer", what the hell.

I added a little rye to the recipe and used a blend of belgian yeasts so it is a little departure from a traditional barleywine. Estimated ABV is between 9-10% and it will be on the lower end of the bitterness scale for the style, but I'm hoping by backing off a little on the hops, the rye will come through a little more.

The idea for name came from a tune by Here Come the Mummies, perhaps the greatest party band in existence. For the label, I sketched the Horus character, scanned it, and re-drew it un Illustrator. The rest of the label was drawn in Illustrator with some finishing work in Photoshop. Since the bottles will be aged for a while and I will be giving some of them away to my Beerspot friends, I put a little more effort into "packaging" by ordering some sealing wax. I think it turned out nice.

The beer itself, is still in the secondary (brewed 2-21-11). It will be bottled in the next couple of weeks. I'll add some pictures of the bottling, labeling and sealing. Cheers.

13 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
2 lbs Rye Malt
1 lbs Rye, Flaked
1 lbs Special B Malt
2 lbs Light Dry Malt Extract
2.00 oz Centennial
1.00 oz Hallertauer
Belgian Style Ale Yeast Blend (White Labs #WLP575)

Devil You Know IPA

The year of beer is off to an inauspicious start as I pour the mash water over the grains and quickly realize that many of the grains had not been crushed. A quick check of the grain bill tells me that I had failed to check the "crush grains" box for all but the 10lbs of base malt, leaving, uncrushed, 4lbs of specialty grains (biscuit and cara-pils) for this brew and an entire grain bill for the saison scheduled for a couple weeks down the road.

It was a struggle, but I finished the brew. Estimated gravity was way off thanks to the inefficiency of mashing whole grain, but the beer turned out OK. If you'd like to try this recipe as it was intended, here are the ingredients:

10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
3 lbs Biscuit Malt
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (40 min)
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (40 min)
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (20 min)
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (5 min)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min)
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days)
All American Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1272)

...and I will name him George

Thanks to all the veterans who have sacrificed to give us the freedom that we enjoy.

Another beautiful day to brew. Today's batch is a winter warmer that I will call George, and I will hug him and squeeze him... anyway, here's the recipe.

13 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
2 lbs Caramel - 20L
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt
2.00 oz Williamette (60 min)34.8 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette (10 min)6.3 IBU
Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728)Yeast

CBIV (CryBaby IV) Watermelon Wheat

4lbs Wheat
4lbs 2 Row Barley
1oz Willamette Hops (60min)
1oz Willamette Hops (15min)
Watermelon Flavoring

Another holiday brewday! Beautiful weather and beer, what could be better. I realized over the winter that it had been 5 years since I had brewed a wheat beer so I thought it would make a nice summer beer. Well, I'm a little late brewing but there will be plenty of hot weather left when this one is ready.

(click on the label for a full size view)

Project Gator Hater

This American IPA was brewed for the inaugural Beer Spot homebrew contest and brought home the win. The very unoriginal name I gave this batch was in "honor" of one of the other competitors, a "reasonably" good guy who goes by the username Kegergator.

I had a very difficult time rounding up enough hops to pull off this recipe. Thanks to the hops shortage, my LHBS limited the amount of hops "per recipe". Even though, I argued, my malt bill was large enough for two batches of beer.

The victory earned me bragging rights at TBS, some regional beers from the judges, and confimation from some certifiable beer nuts that I'm ok at this homebrewing thing. I've always liked my brews and received good feedback from friends and family, but it is cool to have a beer judged by folks in the know.

7 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
4 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
1.00 oz Cascade (60 min)
1.00 oz Cascade (45 min)
1.00 oz Cascade (30 min)
1.00 oz Cascade (15 min)
2.00 oz Cascade (2 min)
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold (Dry Hop 7 days)
Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332)

Oldfield's 999

Original Gravity: 1.052 Final Gravity: 1.009
Alcohol by Vol: 5.60 %

9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
13.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
2.9 oz Chocolate Malt
1.00 oz Target (60 min)
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent (10 min)
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
British Ale Yeast(White Labs #WLP005)

This recipe was chosen at the request of my brother in law, Gene, who asked me to brew something in the style of Newcastle brown ale. Gene also chipped in admirably as Assistant Chief of Putting Stuff in the Pot and Stirring on brew day. This beer turned out pretty well and is still available on tap at the Bootknocker Pub.

The beer is named after the 999 racer built by Henry Ford ans successfully driven by Barney Oldfield.

What the Puck? ESB

6lbs - Midwest Gold LME
½lb. - Special Roast
½lb. - Crystal 60
½lb. - Torrified Wheat
2oz. - Kent Golding Hops
½oz. - Willamette Hops
English Ale Yeast (WLP002)


This Extra Special Bitter was my first try at kegging in my freshly built kegerator. The result is a nice even carbonation that you don't always get in the bottle conditioned beers. Unfortunately, What The Puck does not live up to the lofty standards of High & Tight. I did not use oak chips in the secondary this time and I believe that it would have improved this beer. That being said, it is a very drinkable and refreshing beer. Not my best but very refreshing.

Mean Bean

Brewed - 1/27/06
O.G. - 1.114
F.G. - 1.028
11%± ALCOHOL

3.3lbs - Midwest Gold LME
½lb. - Light DME
½lb. - Munich 20
½lb. - Munich 10
½lb. - Chocolate Malt
¼lb. - Carafall Malt
½lb. - Biscuit Malt
1oz. - Tettnang Hops
¼oz. - Liberty Hops
½lb. - Lactose
4tbsp - Belgian Chocolate Chips
12oz. - "Charbucks" Bongo Java Coffee
½ vanilla bean
German Ale/Kolsch Yeast (WLP029)

This one was an experiment. A half batch to try something that I probably wouldn't ordinarily brew. But I have a 3 gallon carboy so I figured what the hell. Something went horribly wrong on brew day and my target gravity of 1.070 ended up at 1.114. I was a little concerned that the yeast would have a problem with such a high gravity without a starter, but since the tube is made for 5 gallon batches I went ahead and pitched it. After 1 week it was down to 1.030 so I racked to the secondary and pitched a package of champagne yeast. The vanilla bean was sliced and put in the secondary. After three more weeks in the secondary, priming sugar and cold brewed coffee were added and Mean Bean Ale was bottled.

This beer will take some aging to be its best, but I still couldn't resist popping a bottle after a couple of weeks. It was lightly carbonated and had a nice full flavor without being heavy. The flavors blended together to the point that none were really distinct although the chocolate could be picked out with some effort.

Slobberknocker Pale Ale

Brewed - 9/25/05
O.G. - 1.056
F.G. - 1.015
5.4% ALCOHOL

6lbs Gold LME 3.3lbs Amber LME 8oz. Caramel 20 2oz. Cascade Hops (60 Minutes)
1oz. Willamette Hops (30 Minutes)
1oz. Tettnang (2 minutes)
2oz. Oak Chips
English Ale Yeast (WLP002)
Spring Water
Priming Sugar

    I love hoppy beers. This beer was brewed to get me through football season and has done a fine job. Nice clear amber color and
excellent malty flavor. This didn't turn out as hoppy as I had hoped, but it is a very nice beer.

    My bottle conditioning turned out a little inconsistent. While none of the bottles came out flat, a few where a bit
overcarbonated. Like my experience with High & Tight ESB, the oak chips where a nice addition.

Bad Ass Barley Pop

Brewed - 10/13/03
O.G. - 1.046
F.G. - 1.016
3.9% ALCOHOL

7lbs - Ultraligh Malt (LME)
12oz. Crystal 40L
8oz. Caravienne
2oz. Chocolate
1oz. Hallertauer Hops
1oz. Cascade Hops
2tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1tsp Irish Moss (whirfloc tablet)
English Ale Yeast (WLP002)
Spring Water
Priming Sugar

Since listening to "Poetry and Prose" by Primus, I have consciously tried to use "barley pop" as much as possible in conversation. I don't know what it is I like about the word, it's just a lot more fun than beer, ale, lager, etc. Anyway, I finally got around to naming one of my brews a barley pop.

This thanksgiving ale includes pumpkin pie spice to give it that holiday feel. The final product had a nice light amber color to it. Very clear. The beer was very drinkable although I think the spice would prevent me from wanting very many at one sitting.

The name and label were inspired by Weird Al's "The Night Santa Went Crazy", a gorefest of a song where Santa loses it and goes postal at the North Pole. The tune got me thinking about what it would be like if our other holiday icons went berzerk. You know, the Easter Bunny becomes a homocidal madman or Cupid, the registered sex offender. The heavily armed turkey taking it to the pigrims seemed like the natural extension. I put the turkey together with the ammo belts and the name came to me and seemed to fit.

Cry Baby 2

(Brewed - 11/10/02)
O.G. - 1.054
F.G. - 1.010
6.6% ALCOHOL
6lbs.Wheat LME
2oz. Saaz Hops
½lb. Crystaline Malt Grain
3lbs Blackberry Honey
Hefeweizen Ale Yeast (WLP300)
4oz Blackberry Flavoring Concentrate
Spring Water
Priming Sugar

This beer was brewed to commemorate the birth of my first child. Instead of cigars we gave away beer (and root beer for the teetotalers). It is a honey-wheat beer flavored with blackberry flavoring. This was an excellent warm weather beer with a light taste and mouthfeel that belied its high alcohol content. The blackberry flavoring, while a bit overbearing at first, mellowed wonderfully with conditioning.

This is the second of the Cry Baby beers. All are fruit & honey hefeweizens. In this iteration, I used blackberry honey instead of the wildflower honey that was used in the original Cry Baby.