Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Beer making day, finally

It has been a busy couple of months with the move of the bike shop, so I have not had the chance to make any beer since September.  In fact, except for some chocolate stout, we have run out of beer for the first time in 4 years.  Since Monday and Tuesday were our first multi-days off since the middle of November, I dedicated Monday to making two batches of IPA.

For the most part it went very smoothly.  I did have to chase down a Fed Ex driver who had driven over the top of my wort cooler.  That caused a little excitement during the second batch.
Checking the mash temp

Where it all happens


Chasing the FedEx Van






Beer #
52



Date
Jan 12, 2014








Description
Just a good solid IPA with the Magnum hops doing the bittering work and some "citrus" hops for the aroma. 



Yeast
WLP #001 CA Ale Yeast





Grain Bill
Quantity
Grain


28 lbs
2-row pale malt
12.7 kg

2 lbs
Caramel Malt (40L)


1 lbs
Carapils

















Hop Schedule
Quantity
Hop

Schedule

2 oz 
Magnum
Mashout

2 oz
Magnum
1h

1 oz
Cascade 
15m

2 oz
Crystal
15m

2 oz
Citra
5m

2 oz
Citra
Dry hop




Alcohol %
OG
FG
%


1.064








Notes
Everything went pretty smoothly. I had the mash at exactly 154 degrees, but I may not have had my water temp up high enough during the lautering. 


















Beer #
53



Date
Jan 12, 2013








Description
Racer 5 Clone with some extra hops here and there






Yeast
WLP #001 CA Ale Yeast






Grain Bill
Quantity
Grain


26 lbs
2 row


4 lbs
American Wheat


2 lbs
Caramel Malt (20l)


1 lbs
Carapils






Alcohol
OG
FG
%


1.060







Hop Schedule
Quantity
Hop
Schedule

1 oz
Columbus
1h

2 oz
Columbus
20m

2 oz
Cascade
20m

1 oz
Columbus
10m

2 oz
Cascade
10m

2 oz
Amarillo
Dry Hop

2 oz
Columbus
Dry Hop

2 oz
Centennial
Dry Hop
Notes
I haven’t made this one in a long time.  I was a little low on the mash temperature, but that was the least of my problems.  Just before mashout, the Fed Ex driver drove over the top of my wort cooler.  I only noticed it when I walked out to check some temperatures and I saw it smashed in the driveway.  I ran down the street and chased her for about 4 blocks before catching up with her.  Luckily she was lost.  I confronted her and she said that I should not be leaving it in the road and that she was concentrating on street numbers and not what was in the road.  Anyway, she was not to sorry about the situation.  We called Fed Ex and lodged a complaint.  Anyway, when I got back after the chase, the sparge water was way too hot, I had to add some cold water to cool it down.  The mash was also at the end of its time, so I had to rush.  I think it is okay.  I was able to straighten out the wort cooler, but it has some extra leaks and some of the tubing is on the verge of cracking.

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