Paulaner Heffe-Weissbier

This was a commissioned beer, and my first all-grain brewing attempt. I did many things wrong; I went for cheaper ingredients, forgot to sparge (the horror), diluted the wort afterwards as if it was an extract brew, and finally I am tasting it very early (barely 3 weeks in the bottle). The surprising thing is that I still have an enjoyable thirst-quenching drink, which to me is vindication of all-grain homebrewing; as long as you adhere to good sanitation practices, it's very hard to make an undrinkable beer.


Of course when it comes to homebrew can kits, it's a whole other story (that stuff is just nasty).


This is a classic wheat beer (as the name suggests) modeled after the Paulaner recipe. The total cost for ingredients came out at about 40 AUD, largely as there is only one hop variety used and I chose to go for a dried wheat beer yeast rather than a liquid one.

Method: All-grain

Specialty grains: German dark Munich malt.

Hops: German Hallertau Hersbrucker.

Additional: None.

Yeast: Wheat beer (dried)

Comments: I added finings to clear the beer in the primary fermenter and bottled with carbonation drops after a week and a half.

ABV: 4% (the recipe suggests 5.4%).

Yield: 19 litres

Tasting notes: I'm drinking this early so the flavours will mature in the next two to three weeks when it is primed for tasting. There is no hop aroma as the Hallertau is only used for bittering so what you get is the lovely wheat malt smell right out of the bottle. It pours with a lovely light straw colour and a white head made of large bubbles that quickly dissipates (they will refine a little more as it ages and as the carbonation improves in the bottle, so will head retention). The flavour is of a wheat beer that has decided it wants to see what life is like as a lager. You expect a little bit more body but it isn't there, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. My home brewing error has created a beer that will be perfect for the event it has been brewed for (an all day poker tournament with a German food theme). I like this beer. It's a hot day and this had turned out to be a very refreshing drop. Definitely a beer I will brew again, if only to see what it tastes like when you make it properly.

What I learnt: 

1. Sparging is an important step that should not be left out of all-grain brewing.

2. Read the bloody instructions you fool!

Indian Summer Pale Ale - Brewing notes

Today I started an all-grain brew with an Indian Pale Ale. One thing I hadn't realised when I bought my slightly bigger brew pot (24 litres) is how much liquid one loses when boiling for an hour. In hindsight I could have done with a 30 litre pot in order to get the 18.9 litres recommended by the recipe by the end of the boil. We live and learn I guess. One day I'll cave and buy a 30 litre but until then I'll resign myself to the fact I'll be making smaller brews (or adding some DME to increase the gravity and topping up with water once it's in the fermenter). I have yet to work out if this changes any of the characteristics of the beer but I'll be sure to let you know if it does.

Pale Malt is the grain of choice to add body, and Crystal malt for flavour. This IPA uses a number of hops to give it a long finish and citrusy body. On show are Williamette, Cascade and Northern Brewer (instead of Chinook).

Unlike my first attempt at all grain - I calculated the mash and sparge water correctly and collected about 22-23 litres for the brewpot. I lost almost 7 litres over the hour of boil.

Flavouring hops and Irish Moss
waiting to go in during the last 15 minutes

The boil

Cooling the wort with my home made
chiller

London Ale Yeast

Gravity: 1.048 (Target 1.052-1.054). Final gravity 1.004 (doesn't seem right! target is 1.014)

Yield: 16.5 litres (target 18.9 litres)

Sparge method: US batch sparging

Notes: The lower gravity may be due to inefficiency in my mash and sparge. The recipe assumes 70% efficiency however, I do not have the patience for continuous sparging so I will stick with batch sparging. By my incredibly dodgy calculations, I estimate that I am at 65% efficiency.

Japanese Lager - Ashahi Dry clone

I'm very fond of Japanese beers (at least the ones they export. The Japanese do some strange things with beer on occasion, such as All Clear - a zero alcohol beer made by Suntory. It may be zero alcohol, but it is also zero taste.) and so when I found this recipe in Clone Brews I jumped at the chance to make it. Whilst the end result does not really match the commercially made Asahi, I am very happy with the results.

Method: Extract 

Specialty grains: German light crystal malt.

Hops: Czech Saaz.

Additional: Rice Syrup extract.

Yeast: Pilsen lager (liquid)

Comments: I added finings to clear the beer in the primary fermenter and bottled with carbonation drops after a week and a half.

ABV: Not recorded (the recipe suggests 4.1%).

Yield: 19 litres

Tasting notes: This was ready to drink after 4 weeks and is a very refreshing brew. It has a bit more body than the commercial version and the flavouring hops are more present on the tongue. The dryness from the Rice syrup is there and it finishes clean so it tastes similar and feels like an Asahi however, when drinking you can't help but feel there is more beer there; fruitier and more complex. I am very happy with this one. The only problem will be keeping it all for myself. In fact, scratch that. It's a terrible beer - worst I have ever made. It made me violently ill. Twice.

What I learnt: I managed to get the wort down to temperature quite quickly by adding ice instead of water when making up the wort to 18.9 litres in the primary fermenter. One thing I didn't manage which may have changed the flavour was to keep the fermenter under 15 degrees during fermentation (it was just too warm. I even tried leaving it out on the balcony overnight in the chill air but could not get the temp down - and I have no space for a second fridge in our one bedroom apartment) so the yeast had done it's work in under a week. I'll probably think twice before brewing another lager (which require brewing temperatures between 6-11 degrees), particularly now as Summer has finally arrived.

Belgian Ale - Duvel clone

The first recipe I tried from Clone Brews was an ambitious Belgian Ale. I managed to knock up a mini mash tun from a 10 litre esky and some steel braid and then set off to buy the specialty grains. For a first attempt I think it went smashingly well.
As with all recipes that I take from this book. I shall only be listing what ingredients I used. It is up to you to hunt down the original recipe (let no one accuse me of not respecting another man's copyright!)

Method: Extract 

Specialty grains: Belgian aromatic malt, German light crystal malt.

Hops: Styrian Goldings (bittering), Czech Saaz.

Additional: Belgian clear candi sugar.

Yeast: Belgian Ale yeast (liquid)

Comments: I added finings to clear the beer in the primary fermenter and bottled with carbonation drops after a week and a half.

ABV: 7.8% (compared to 8.5% from the recipe).

Yield: 19 litres

Tasting notes: This hits you like a velvet glove filled with a brick. Strong and fruity. The alcohol sits there behind the flavours ready to give you a black eye as soon as you drop your guard (which is after 2 pints). As you can see from the picture, it developed a great white frothy head made up of fine bubbles and the beer was clear with an excellent colour and has a short finish (which I learnt  is a characteristic of malty or sweeter beers (low hops) ). Compared to a commercial bottle of Duvel, this recipe is very close. 

What I learnt:

I ended up putting a little to much liquid into the wort when trying to cool the liquid enough to pitch my yeast. and I think this affected the final ABV however; I'm not too fussed as this tastes fantastic.

Literature

Like any good Librarian, I've started to build up a collection of homebrew titles. There is always something one can learn of this ancient art, and not having the best recall in the world, it helps me greatly if it is written down.

If your looking for recommendations; here is what can now be found crammed into my bookshelf between Bruce Campbell's autobiography 'If chins could kill' and Umberto Eco's 'Foucault's pendulum':

• The Complete Guide to Beer & Brewing by Laurie Strachan 

This is a good introduction to beers and brewing with some recipes for the novice homebrewer (adding additional hops to can kits) and a few for the more adventurous (extract and all grain). He tends to have a harsh word in regards to Australian beers and some of his advice is a little lacking in detail and occasional at complete odds with what I have discovered to be conventional wisdom. My general impression is that that it is well written however, I am not convinced that following his directions will really set the novice brewer onto the right path.

• Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher

With a name like 'Randy Mosher', you would imagine he has a lot to live up to and in this book he succeeds. It is an excellent all round read; full of interesting and essential facts and useful recommendations. The style is light-hearted and this makes it an enjoyable read. There are plenty of recipes, ranging from novice to advanced to get you started, including a number of interesting brews that have already been requested by my wife (the Juniper Rye Bock for starters). If there was ever anything you needed to know about beer or brewing, you'll find it in this book.

• Clone Brews 2nd edition by Tess and Mark Szamatulski

As the subtitle suggest; there are over 200 recipes for commercial beers in extract brewing format. All of these recipes are supplemented with additional instructions for mini-mash and all-grain brewing methods. This is an invaluable resource, and although a  large majority of the beers are a bit too commercial (do I really want to brew a Foster's Lager?), there is plenty here to keep you occupied.

• Beer Captured by Tess and Mark Szamatulski

Another great title by Tess and Mark. 150 excellent beer recipes. There tends to be a bit of an American focus however, the beers that appear in this collection are the higher end range of brews set out in the same format as Clone Brews. This is another must for anyone wishing to go further than can kit brewing.

A new direction

It would appear that I have let this blog lapse. It cannot be helped; my life is clearly not interesting enough to recount every detail. An unused blog however, is such an eyesore, and to this end I am resurrecting it to a new glory. It shall be a diary of my home brewing endeavors (and potential home cooking tragedies) so that I may catalogue and monitor my efforts - what works, and what doesn't. Read it, or don't. It shall be here nonetheless.

Bibo Ergo Sum - I drink therefore I am.