citra american pale ale: brewday 1

5 august 2011

this concoction is 100% JJ's brain child.  therefore this is going be either:

a) ridiculously awesome

b) a big fat disaster

we're hoping more former than latter. the goal is a balance between malt and hops with notes of honey and citrus.  here's what we did, how we did it, and a description of the ingredients from the AHB website.

3.5 lbs gambrinus honey brumalt

Light roast with no astringency, adds strong malt sweetness, nuttiness, honey-like aroma.

3.5 lbs rye malt 

For complexity. Distilleries use this to make a single malt whiskey.

boiled for 40 min

7 lbs pale ale malt extract

Rich malt flavor; hints of biscuit and nutlike flavors.

2 oz citra hops for 60 min

Citrus, peach, apricot, passion fruit, grapefruit, lime, melon, gooseberry, lychee fruit, pineapple, mango, papaya and other tropical fruit flavors and aromas. 

super irish moss added at 50 min

1 oz bitter orange peel added at 52 min

1 oz cascade hops added at 54 min

Known for its grapefruit-like aroma, this hop is used to widely for flavor and aroma in moderately and highly hopped ales.

adding 2 oz of bitter orange soaked in vodka (for sterility, of course) to the secondary and crossing my fingers.  (even the guy at AHB has never done this step.)

 

 

OG = 1.05

maximum potential alcohol content = 6.9%

it's been a while, friends

yikes.  slackin on the bloggin.  sorry, sorry.

okay so here's what's been brewing over at monocle...

cream ale: awesome

double hop ipa: awesome

raspberry wheat: will debut saturday august 20 for the general public.

belgian ale: delicious. just popped the first ones and i am enjoying one as i type. (so that's my excuse for poor spelling and grammatical errors.)

belgian dubble: being bottled today.

citra american pale ale: being transferred to the secondary today.  (see separate post for more info.)

today we are brewing another cream ale.


wow, we are busy brewers!

raspberry wheat: brewday 1

23 june 2011

another brew is born. this will probably be our last midwest brewkit for a while.  we are feeling pretty good about the brewing process and will soon venture into the world of recipes, and perhaps if we are feeling overly sassy, grain brewing. but i digress..

here's the lowdown on our latest experiement:

This recipe is perfect for those who want to start brewing Wheat beers. The pure raspberry extract gives just the perfect amount of fruit flavor to this refreshing beer. Our ingredients for this recipe include: 6 lb. Wheat liquid malt extract, 8 oz. Carapils specialty grains, 1 oz. Tettnang, 1 oz. Hersbrucker pellet hops, 4 oz. Raspberry extract, yeast, priming sugar and a grain bag.

grain sack.

the plan is to forgo the raspberry extract in favor of pure canned raspberries at the time of secondary fermentation.

 

double hop IPA: brewday 32

21 june 2011

so we slept a little on bottling the IPA. it was in the secondary fermentor for about three and a half weeks. we just didn't have time to bottle, but that's okay since it was being dry hopped.

getting the hop bag out of the secondary wasn't as difficult as initially anticipated.  you can definitely see how the hops broke down during fermentation.

 

we have 44 full bottles on the shelf carbonating away and can't wait to try one. 

this beer is going to be a whopper weighing in at 8.9% ABV!!!

OG = 1.08

FG = 1.012

belgian ale: brewday 1

14 june 2011

alright, alright!  this is another midwest brew kit.  here's what they have to say:
 

This popular Belgian Ale comes from one of the most respected breweries in the mountain states. This rich, nutty ale is bottled conditioned with a blend of hops that impart a fresh aroma and a smooth texture. Our ingredients for this recipe include: 6 lb. Light liquid malt extract, 8 oz. Special B, 8 oz. Caramel 120L, 8 oz. Munich 10L specialty grains, 1 oz. Northern Brewer, 1 oz. Saaz pellet hops, grain bag, priming sugar and yeast.

cream ale: brewday 29

18  june 2011

finally...TIME TO DRINK!!!

the day was upon us, the feeling was right, and we could wait no longer.

and the final result: DELICIOUS! 

this beer is crisp and refreshing. it's got a creamy start and a nice smooth finish.  it is indeed a perfect summer brew.  we are delighted this first attempt has resulted in success!

creme ale: brewday 20

3 june 2011

happy bottling day!  after about two weeks in the secondary we decided to bottle up the creme ale. we had assistance from our very experienced brewfriend brian (thanks brian!) who offered some very helpful tips and techniques.

according to a homebrew calculator this beer will be about 5.2%. 

OG: 1.05 at 72* F

FG: 1.01 at 74* F

 

 the beer is born!