Victory Hop Devil Indian Pale Ale

The Victory Hop Devil IPA is a heavily-hopped American style Indian Pale Ale. It is described as having a dried fruit, roast grains and hoppy nose, with a dry and hoppy palate. It is guaranteed my wife will hate this.

The Boil

Gravity: Original Gravity: 1.065 (target 1.076) Final Gravity: 1.010 (target 1.018) ABV: 7.7% (target 6.3%)

Yield: 11.5 litres
Brew method: All-grain with US batch sparging.

Notes: I only managed to get 12 bottles out of this batch. I understand where I went wrong; foolishly, I assumed my water requirements would be the same as the previous batch without recalculating. The result was I didn't have enough. I also need to factor in more liquid for that lost during dry-hopping. We live and learn!

Jaggery Pale Ale

It's time to start experimenting! 


My new resolution is to move away from extract brewing, and to start brewing smaller batches of all grain beer. By brewing in smaller batches (11.4 litres which gives me 15 bottles) I can experiment more and have a higher turn over, hopefully developing a better sense for making beer.


This Jaggery Pale Ale is a recipe found in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing which adds a twist to a classic pale ale recipe with the addition of jaggery and fenugreek.


Turns out, jaggery sugar, adds a maple flavour to the beer while the fenugreek enhances those tones in the final beer. It also has a lot of hops - 65g of East Kent Goldings in the flavouring boil which is approximately three times as much as I add to a brew twice the size. It will be interesting to see what it turns out like - I figure this would be a nice beer to accompany a curry!

Gravity: Original Gravity: 1.064 (target 1.076) Final Gravity: 1.010 ABV: 7.5% (target 6.5 - 7.3%)
Yield: 12 litres
Brew method: All-grain with US batch sparging.

Notes: Once again, my original gravity is off by almost ten points, which makes me think that possible my mash tun efficiency is quite low. The odd thing, is that I always seem to hit the ABV after fermentation. Go figure.

Long Trail Ale

We've got an all day poker match in a couple of months so I wanted a beer that would be easy drinking and in some way, remotely match the theme. I would have preferred a lager, but it's really the wrong time of year for them, and I have no way of lagering so I settled on the recipe for Long Trail Ale. 


It's a northern German alt-bier, and a motivating factor was the California ale yeast it uses. I've been wanting to make a few recipes that utilise that yeast, so I can reclaim some at the end to reuse.


It uses 4 different hops, and a touch of Wheat DME along with British Crystal malt as the specialty grain.

Frothy!

Gravity: Original Gravity: 1.046 (target 1.047-1.048) Final Gravity: 1.016 (target 1.011-1.012) ABV: 4.4% (target 4.6%)

Yield: 23 litres

Brew method: Extract with US batch sparging for the specialty grain.

Notes: It hasn't reached the recommended final gravity which, after reading a few books, I'm thinking might be down to the makeup of the DME that I'm using. A quick taste before bottling reveals a full mouth feel, almost oily, and a quick bitter finish. I think this will be a good session ale for the Poker match.

Shakemantle Ginger Ale

I like the idea of Ginger Beer, but I wouldn't want to brew a whole batch as I find them a bit too sweet after the first glass. This recipe is for a Wheat Beer, lightly hopped and flavoured with fresh grated ginger.

I decided to amend the recipe a little to make it a single hop beer (Fuggles all the way) as I'm entertaining the idea of taking it along to my first BrewShare at the Local Taphouse in May (the theme being single hop).

It's a simple recipe - possibly the simplest I've made so far as there are no specialty grains - just Wheat DME, Fuggles and grated ginger. I'm very interested to see how it turns out.

Fuggles.
I also find an IPA helps the process

Grated ginger

Gravity: ABV target 5.0%

Yield: 23 litres

Brew method: Extract 

Notes: This beer gets dry hopped with more fresh grated ginger, so I'm expecting it to a full fresh ginger aroma and taste.

Carnegie and Co. Stark Porter - Brewing Notes

I have never brewed a porter, or any type of stout before so I thought I would choose something  unambitious for my first one.

D. Carnegie and Co. Stark Porter is a, full-flavoured beer with plenty of roasted malt, toffee, chocolate and coffee flavours with a dry finish (according to the write up). It's brewed in Stockholm, Sweden and as such, should be a great beer for enjoying during the colder months. The simple list of ingredients and means I'm not too concerned if this goes horribly awry - something I wouldn't be happy about if I was brewing an Imperial Stout where the high starting gravity would require a considerably higher expense in grain or dried malt extract.


This baby should be ready for drinking in May, 3 months after pitching the yeast.

The beautifully black, inky, wort; a combination of chocolate, dark and black malts.

Gravity: 1.058 (Target 1.057). FG 1.020 (target 1.014) ABV 5.5% (target 5.5%)

Yield: 23 litres (target 23 litres)

Brew method: Extract with US batch sparging for the specialty grain.

Notes: The dark crystal, chocolate and black malt produce a beautiful black coffee colour which, because of the darkness, means I will get a better approximation of the correct colour for the beer. Most of my beers have the same colour profile because the local homebrew shop only stocks one variety of dried malt extract, so I am unable to get the lighter colours for my pale ales and lagers.


*edit* I haven't managed to hit my final gravity which a little disappointing. I'm not sure as to the cause of this - possibly the yeast was at the end of it's life. The brewing calculator still thinks I've managed to hit my target ABV so there is a plus. I'm wondering whether this will make this porter taste a little sweeter than it should. Who knows - I'll have to wait until mid-may before I'll know.

The Brewer's Assistant, showcasing the German Northern Brewer hops used for bittering

Magic Hat: Fat Angel

Magic Hat is a small brewery out of South Burlington in Vermont, U.S.A. While we were living in New York we found that there were very few palatable beers on tap, Magic Hat and Blue Moon being the two staples that we turned to. Many an evening was rescued by the appearance of the 'Magic Hat' above the bar tap and so this a homage to that upstanding brewery that made the bars of New York bearable.

Fat Angel is no longer produced by Magic Hat, however, it was the standard beer on tap so I have a fair idea how it should turn out. It's an American Pale Ale which takes crystal and Munich malts for the colour and flavour, and Styrian Goldings for the flavour and aroma. This beer is also dry-hopped, so I'm expecting a very tasty and citrusy beer by the end of it.

Gravity: 1.054 (Target 1.050). FG 1.016 (target 1.012) ABV 5.5% (target 4.8%)

Yield: 23 litres (target 23 litres)

Brew method: Extract with US batch sparging for the specialty grain.

Notes: I've upped the quantities so that I may get a full 23 litre batch out of the brew. So far, the recipe appears to have scaled well.

Hobgoblin Extra Strong Ale

Hobgoblin and the other brews produced by Wychwood Brewery are among my favourite British beers, and so I was very excited to get my hands on a recipe for the beer characterised by the axe wielding goblin.

The Hobgoblin

This is my third all-grain brew and was a full day effort thanks to the many hiccups I had with my new three ring burner on the balcony (incorrectly sized connections). 

The guardian of the mash tun

The grain bed

My new burner

This beer takes a variety of specialty malts for the colour and Styrian Goldings for the flavour and aroma.

This batch uses reclaimed Irish ale yeast from my Amber Ale brew. I'm looking forward to tasting the result!

Gravity: 1.050 (Target 1.059). FG 1.010 (target 1.016) ABV 5.7% (target 5.5%)

Yield: 19 litres (target 18.9 litres)

Brew method: All-grain with US batch sparging.

Notes:My final gravity was off quite a bit, but I'm hoping that I can reclaim the ABV during fermentation (my last all-grain batch ended up .010 lower than the predicated gravity). I'm unsure as the cause to this. On the recommendation of a couple of fellow beer lovers, brewers and chemists, I compensated for liquid lost during the boil by adding water near the end. It could be either this or inefficiency in my sparging. 

McNeill's Firehouse Amber Ale

This is another beer that uses East Kent Goldings for it's bittering, flavouring and aroma hops. This simple Amber Ale, coloured with US Crystal Malt, gets dry-hopped with Cascade to give it a bit more character.

Gravity: 1.054 (Target 1.055 - 1.056). FG 1.017 (target 1.016-1.017)  ABV 5.3%

Yield: 19 litres (target 18.9 litres)

Brew method: Extract with US batch sparging for the specialty grains

Notes: Straight forward brew. I transferred it to the secondary fermenter for dry hopping after about 5 days to ensure there was still some yeast activity to ensure a layering of CO2 (which will prevent oxidisation). I also boiled up a small amount of DME and finings to kick start extra fermentation and to hopefully clear the beer a bit more before bottling. This was all added during the dry hopping phase.


I also reclaimed the Irish Ale yeast from the brew for my next three beers: HobGoblin Extra Strong Ale, Tom Mik's Imperial Stout and, Shipyard LongFellow Ale.

Lucknow IPA - Brewing notes

For me, the word Lucknow evokes the drama and bloodshed of the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. The Occupy! movement around the world has nothing on the Indian Rebellion where the native population of a country took it upon themselves to try and shrug off what amounted to government sponsored corporate control of an entire country and it's occupants. Imagine having your entire country run by a company whose only purpose was tow ring as much wealth out of you and your natural resources to send overseas? To say things were in a bad way is an understatement. This was colonialism at its most unsavory, and it took the brilliance of Gandhi before independence was finally achieved, ninety years later.

Reading the histories of the many wars across Queen Victoria's empire, and the comical recounting by the fictional Harry Flashman, it was the battles of the Indian Rebellion that stood out the most to me, much as did this beer when I was flicking through my book of recipes.

It's an American Indian Pale Ale heavily hopped with Cascade, one of the most popular American varietals. One of the more important reasons for choosing this ale was it gave me an opportunity to use the London Ale yeast I had reclaimed from my Indian Summer Pale Ale (is there a theme here?).

Chinook and Cascade bittering hops

After the sparge (using my homemade mini-mash tun)

The boil

Gravity: 1.062 (Target 1.059)

Yield: 20 litres (target 18.9 litres)

Brew method: Extract with US batch sparging for the specialty grains

Notes: This went surprisingly smoothly and my method of using large ice blocks when topping up the water in the fermenter means I can get down to temperature in about 30 minutes. The yeast starter (using the reclaimed London Ale yeast) hadn't really kicked off when I pitched it so I'm just going to hope that it was reactivated and all will be well. 


*Edit* Twelve hours later and I have a very healthy krausen forming on top of my wort. Looks like the yeast survived!

My only frustrations today was finding out that the Brew shop had left off 3 kg of light malt extract from my order so I was unable to put the Ginger ale on as planned.


*Edit* 6 Days later, fermenting activity has subsided so I'm now moving onto the dry hopping stage. This will add extra hop flavour and whole lot of hop aroma. 
To dry hop, you add the hop pellets to a secondary fermenter and then drain the primary fermenter right into the second. There is no need to worry about contamination at this stage as most of the fermentables (read "food for infections to grow on") have already been converted to alcohol, and the hops have antibacterial properties (hops were originally used in beers as a preservative which is why IPAs are heavily hopped - they required a highly level of hop oil to preserve the liquid for the long voyage on ships from England to the Indian subcontinent where they served to slake the thirst of the colonials).


The beer will stay in the secondary fermenter for 2-3 weeks till it clears further (meaning the sediment will settle out of suspension) and it will then be bottled in the regular way.

transferring the beer to the secondary fermenter

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.