monocle brewing

citra american pale ale: brewday 1

2011-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

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!

double hop IPA: brewday 7

2011-06-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

27 may 2011

after seven days in the primary we transferred the IPA to the secondary. this is pretty much the same process as shown for the cream ale.

the major difference here is we are dry hopping the IPA. so in the secondary there are 4 oz of cascade hops in a nylon bag. this is going to be darn near impossible to get out after we siphon the beer. we should have tied a string to it. next time...

cream ale: brewday 6

2011-06-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

20 may 2011

after six days in the primary fermentor we transferred the cream ale to the secondary fermentor.

view when we opened the primary

this was a fairly easy and uneventful process. we just had to be careful not to suck up the sediment at the bottom of the bucket.

DIY - wort chiller

2011-05-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

it's important to cool the wort (aka: the gross looking liquid in the pot) quickly from a boil to under 80 to avoid contamination prior to adding the yeast. the first time we tried this, we used a sink full of ice and water, and wow, that was a serious pain in the butt.

being the semi-ingenious folks we are, we decided to build a wort chiller. why not buy one? because they are expensive, ranging any where from $60 to $100. was it worth it the time and effort to make it ourselves? well, maybe not...

after spending over an hour with some guy who may or may not be named bill at home depot, we left with the following chiller building supplies:

~ 20 ft of pre-coiled 3/8 inch copper pipe
~ a pipe connector (pipe came in two 10 foot lengths)
~ 3/8 inch length of latex tubing
~ faucet adapter
~ bag o' clamps
~ pipe cutter

josh formed the pipe into the shape of a wort chiller. it took a while to get it right, as he had to be careful not to kink the pipe. the faucet adapter in it's current state is a pain; we need to get a quick release adapter so it's easier to screw on. that's an easy fix though.

so all in all, this endeavor ran us about $63 and a full afternoon of farting around home depot and then building the chiller.

good news is: it works. we brought the wort down 100 degrees F in just six minutes.
mediocre news is: we probably could have bought one for the same price and saved some time and effort.

oh well.

double hop IPA: brewday 1

2011-05-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

20 may 2011

for our second brew, jessica chose a double hop IPA. on the hop scale of 1-4, this bad boy is a 4. we think this will be a nice contrast to our first brew, the cream ale.

mmmmm....hops. lots and lots of hops.

here's what midwest has to say about this beer:

Hops hops hops - did we mention this beer was hoppy? American citrus hops mingle with a screaming alcohol by volume (ABV) percentage and malt profile (twice the normal IPA) that is the one of latest and popularized micro styles: The Double IPA. Truly a great American achievement! Our ingredients for this recipe include: 9.3 lbs. Gold Malt extract, 4 oz. Aromatic, 12 oz. Caramel 60L, 8 oz. Victory specialty grains, 1 oz. Chinook, 1 oz. Cascade, 1 oz. Centennial, 1 oz. Crystal, 2 oz. Leaf (dry hop), priming sugar, muslin bag, and yeast.

in a word: YUM.

some recipe specifics:
~ boiled the Victory specialty grains for 30 min

big ol' bag of grains

the hops boiled for 60 min. here's the breakdown of when they were added.
~ 1/2 oz chinook hops added at the start of boil
~ 1/2 oz cascade hops added at 15 min
~ 1/2 oz centennial hops added at 30 min
~ 1/2 oz chinook hops added at 30 min
~ 1/2 oz centennial hops added at 45 min
~ 1/2 oz crystal hops added at 55 min

hops in the nylon boiling bag

~ chilled the wort in 20 min from boiling to 72 degrees F
~ original gravity measured 1.08 at 72 degrees F
~ 4 oz of cascade dry leaf hops will be added at the start of secondary fermentation

we can't wait to drink THIS?

it takes beer to make beer

2011-05-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

disclaimer: no mom, we did not drink all this beer ourselves. we have wonderful friends that have diligently helped us over the past few weeks, err....months. yes, months.

the typical 5 gallon batch of beer will yield about 54 12-ounce bottles. you can buy unused bottles, but this can easily cost you over $30. and that's silly.

if you're brewing beer you probably drink beer. and have friends that drink beer. and some of these folks will be drinking pop-tops bottles. which are the only ones that you can re-cap (sorry miller lite).

getting the labels off was much easier than anticipated. we soaked the bottles in hot water mixed with baking soda. when the labels were loose, we took them out and rubbed any sticky areas with a paper towel and some Goo Gone. we popped them in the dishwasher (without soap!) on the super hot cycle to remove any sticky residue. we will sanitize them later.

some of the bottles do have the brand insignia embossed in the glass. as a brew team, we are split on if that matters or not. luckily, there is always time to collect new ones!

cream ale: brewday 1

2011-05-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

14 may 2011

fedex brought us a bundle of joy today. fresh off the truck we received our 2 plastic carboy intermediate brew kit from midwest supplies. this had almost everything we needed to started. we purchased a 5 gallon stainless steel pot, a large stainless spoon set, and some thermometers from sam's club.

these guys are total creepsters

josh got the libery cream ale brew kit, so that's where we started. here's midwest's description:

A perfect Ale for those who enjoy a lighter bodied beer. A refreshing and easy to brew, light Cream Ale. A real crowd pleaser for all tastes. Some of our local customers brew this Plain American Styled beer every second or third time they brew. Our ingredients for this recipe include: 6 lb. Gold liquid malt extract, 8 oz. Carapils specialty grains, 2 oz. of Cascade pellet hops, yeast, priming sugar, and a grain bag.

it sounds like the perfect summer beer!

Carapils grains - post boil

some recipe specifics:
~ Carapils grains boiled for 28 minutes
~ added .75 ounces of the Cascade pellet hops boiled for 45 minutes
~ finishing hops boiled for 2 minutes
~ used Wyeast Headwaters Activator
~ original gravity of 1.05 at 74 degrees F

adding the very viscous liquid malt extract

stirring the wort

mmmmm....wort

adding the hops

the beginning of all things awesome

2011-05-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

greetings fellow beer lovers! thank you for peering into our little hole on the web.
today starts a very exciting journey into the world of home beer brewing. (and more importantly, home brew DRINKING!) please follow along as we get started and become the most amazing brewers in the universe! or at least our neighborhood. or well, at the very least, our own home.