HolzBrew, For the Love of Craft

Fade to Dark (Saison)

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 15:57:00 +0000

Got a little creative with some Brett Trois yeast, and put together something I'm calling a Dark Saison. I'll let you know how it tastes!

el oscuro (dark saison)

	Style: Saison
	Type:	Calories: 178
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 6.35 Gal
	IBU's: 18.45	Batch Size: 5.50 Gal
	Color: 22.1 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.052

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	08/16/2014
OG:	1.055	1.056
FG:	1.010	1.010
ABV:	5.90 %	6.03 %
Efficiency:	68 %	68 %
Serve Date:	09/20/2014	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 72.0°F	08/16/2014	08/16/2014
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F	09/06/2014	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
8.00 lbs	59.26 %	Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	60 mins	1.036
4.00 lbs	29.63 %	Rahr Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
1.00 lbs	7.41 %	Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037
8.00 ozs	3.70 %	Carafa III	60 mins	1.032


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.50 ozs	18.45	Hallertauer Hersbrucker	60 mins	4.00
1.00 ozs	0.00	Citra	0 mins	13.20
1.00 ozs		Citra	7 days	13.20


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois	White Labs 0644


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 oz	Coriander Seed	15 mins	Boil
1.00 oz	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
3.00 each	Oranges	14 days	Secondary

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion In

75 min @ 150.0°F

Add 16.88 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 17.54 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Xmas on my mind

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 00:12:00 +0000

Being that its warm outside it seemed a good time to start to plan a brew for when its cold outside, namely the HolzBrew 2014 Xmas Ale. I decided upon a Bourbon Dubbel/Quad. I call it a Dubbel/Quad (perhaps a "Duad") because the OG (1.082) places this beer somewhere between the Dubbel and Quad categorical styles. I've never cared much about brewing to a particular style, so no worries. I've been on a big trappist kick lately and thought it would make a nice beer for winter. I saw that LaTrappe makes a bourbon barrel aged version of their quad that gets great ratings on BeerAdvocate and RateBeer, so I figure it might be worth aging this batch on bourbon soaked oak cubes.

The White Labs 500 strain that I pitched took off beautifully. The picture above shows the wort at pitching (left) and then again 12 hours later (right).

Papa Noel

	Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
	Type:	Calories: 260
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 7.96 Gal
	IBU's: 21.77	Batch Size: 7.00 Gal
	Color: 20.0 SRM	Boil Time: 90 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.075

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	07/06/2014
OG:	1.080	1.082
FG:	1.018	1.018
ABV:	8.12 %	8.38 %
Efficiency:	72 %	74 %
Serve Date:	06/22/2015	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 70.0°F	07/06/2014	07/06/2014
Secondary	90 days @ 72.0°F	07/27/2014	-
Bottle/Keg	30 days @ 74.0°F	10/25/2014	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
18.00 lbs	82.76 %	Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	60 mins	1.036
2.00 lbs	9.20 %	Candi Sugar, Dark - D90	20 mins	1.036
6.00 ozs	1.72 %	Special B Malt	60 mins	1.030
1.00 lbs	4.60 %	Turbinado	60 mins	1.044
6.00 ozs	1.72 %	Briess 2-Row Caramel 40L	60 mins	1.034


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	15.73	Hallertauer Hersbrucker	60 mins	4.00
1.00 ozs	6.04	Hallertauer Hersbrucker	30 mins	4.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Trappist Ale	White Labs 0500


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 oz	Oak Chips	15 weeks	Secondary
1.00 oz	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 23.44 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 20.16 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Other

2oz. Hungarian Medium Roast Oak Cubes

375ml Bourbon

-HolzBrew

New Brews during 2014

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 23:24:00 +0000

Its been some time since I've updated the blog. HolzBrew Jr. has arrived and he demands/deserves most of Sr.'s attention. Despite this, I have done some brewing the last couple of months and I figured I share the recipes. The first batch was a bock with substantial rye additions. I thought this Rye-bock (named "Heart Shaped Bock") would hit the spot at the end of winter and help usher in the Spring. The second brew is a West Coast style DIPA. It had been some time since I made a gnarly hop filled DIPA ("Hop Sauce"), so I figured why not. I brewed the DIPA yesterday and unfortunately over milled the grain which led to a painfully stuck mash, which took two hours of hand filtering to extract a good 7+ gallons of wort to go into the kettle. Fortunately, I don't think there was any irreparable damage to the brew, even if there was to my brewer-ego.

Heart Shaped Bock

	Style: Maibock/Helles Bock
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 178
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 6.87 Gal
	IBU's: 47.52	Batch Size: 6.00 Gal
	Color: 11.3 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.052

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	01/05/2014
OG:	1.055	1.050
FG:	1.010	1.010
ABV:	5.90 %	5.24 %
Efficiency:	70 %	63 %
Serve Date:	03/16/2014	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 52.0°F	01/05/2014	01/05/2014
Secondary	42 days @ 35.0°F	01/19/2014	-
Bottle/Keg	14 days @ 74.0°F	03/02/2014	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
3.00 lbs	21.05 %	Weyermann Rye Malt	60 mins	1.029
0.50 lbs	3.51 %	Weyermann Carawheat	60 mins	1.037
0.25 lbs	1.75 %	Weyermann Chocolate Rye	60 mins	1.032
0.25 lbs	1.75 %	Cara-Pils/Dextrine	60 mins	1.033
9.25 lbs	64.91 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	7.02 %	Candi Sugar, Clear	60 mins	1.036


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	21.30	Sterling	First Wort	7.50
1.00 ozs	16.37	Sterling	30 mins	7.50
1.00 ozs	7.72	Sterling	10 mins	7.50
1.00 ozs		Sterling	7 days	7.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	German Bock Lager	White Labs 0833


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Sacch' Rest

60 min @ 151.0°F

Add 19.88 qt ( 1.50 qt/lb ) water @ 165.3°F

Mashout

5 min @ 168.0°F

Heat to 168.0°F over 2 mins

Hop Sauce

	Style: Imperial IPA
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 235
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.88 Gal
	IBU's: 220.92	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color: 7.7 SRM	Boil Time: 90 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.068

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	03/01/2014
OG:	1.073	1.076
FG:	1.012	1.012
ABV:	7.99 %	8.38 %
Efficiency:	65 %	67 %
Serve Date:	04/10/2014	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 68.0°F	03/01/2014	03/01/2014
Secondary	14 days @ 35.0°F	03/15/2014	-
Secondary	12 days @ 72.0°F	03/29/2014	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
14.50 lbs	87.83 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
0.63 lbs	3.82 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	60 mins	1.034
0.63 lbs	3.82 %	Briess Carapils	60 mins	1.034
0.75 lbs	4.54 %	Corn Sugar (Dextrose)	60 mins	1.046


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
3.50 ozs	153.64	Columbus (Tomahawk)	First Wort	14.00
0.75 ozs	28.26	Columbus (Tomahawk)	45 mins	14.00
1.00 ozs	23.66	Falconer's Flight	30 mins	10.50
1.00 ozs	0.00	Centennial	0 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	0.00	Falconer's Flight	0 mins	10.50
1.00 ozs		Columbus (Tomahawk)	12 days	14.00
1.00 ozs		Centennial	12 days	10.00
1.00 ozs		Falconer's Flight	12 days	10.50
0.25 ozs		Falconer's Flight	5 days	10.50
0.25 ozs		Centennial	5 days	10.00
0.25 ozs		Columbus (Tomahawk)	5 days	14.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	American Ale	Wyeast Labs 1056


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
7.00 g	Gypsum	15 mins	Mash
1.00 oz	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion In

60 min @ 153.0°F

Add 19.70 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F

Mashout

10 min @ 170.0°F

Heat to 170.0°F over 2 mins

Sparge

Sparge 14.01 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

A Decade Under the Influence, 10 years of GABF in Review

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 03:04:00 +0000

In 2007, I had the great fortune of attending the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). It was a fun trip to Denver with several brewery visits and a trip to Falling Rock thrown in as well. If you've been, you know its the big show. The crowd is energetic and rowdy. And the brewery employees and volunteers are tremendous. Brewers can pretend that winning hardware at GABF doesn't matter, but that's simply not true. Winning medals tends to be followed by a decent bump in sales or at least increased visibility and recognition in the industry. I'd go every year if money and vacation time were no object. If you haven't been, you need to go.

With the release of this year's medal winners a few weeks ago, I took it upon myself to download the last ten years of medal winners for some quick analysis.

Top US-States

The brewing industry might be 99% free of jerks, but that doesn't mean that bragging rights don't exist. Over the last ten years, three brewing communities stand out as exceptional based upon total medals (gold, silver and bronze) won. Of the time-trends shown below only three are statistically different: California, Colorado, and Oregon.

I doubt these results are surprising to anyone attuned to the craft brew industry.

Top Breweries

I think the list of the top twenty breweries winning medals below is a bit more surprising than the top states list above. Several of the breweries on the list below are, in fact, brewpubs with multiple locations, so I'm not sure this is a fair comparison. Surprisingly, Pabst, Miller, and Anheuser-Busch are high on this list. However, these macros typically win medals in the less exciting categories, such as american light style lager. The first brewery on the list that is not a macro or a brewpub chain is Firestone Walker.

Brewery	Medal Count
Pizza Port	68
Rock Bottom Brewery	60
Pabst Brewing Co.	39
Miller Brewing Co.	38
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	37
Pelican Brewing Co.	28
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant	26
SandLot (The)	23
Devils Backbone Brewing Co.	23
Deschutes Brewery Bend Public House	23
Anheuser-Busch	22
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant	19
Barley Brown's Brew Pub	19
Dry Dock Brewing Co.	18
BJ's Restaurant & Brewery	18
Russian River Brewing Co.	17
New Glarus Brewing Co.	17
Boston Beer Co.	17
Alaskan Brewing Co.	17
Snake River Brewing	16

Fest Love,

HolzBrew

Empirical Anomaly (Brett Trois IPA)

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 02:05:00 +0000

Not everything can be explained by theory and scientific testing. Alchemy still exists to an extent when it comes to homebrewing. This afternoon I figured I'd try to brew up a batch where Brettanomyces no longer remained a member of the supporting cast. It was time for it to be featured in a staring role.

I've been reading the last couple of months about a variety of exciting Brett-only beers, so I figured it was time to give it a try. I've used Brett quite a bit in the past to help add funkiness once primary fermentation is complete. This beer uses Brett as the primary fermenter. These Brett-only beers ferment somewhat fast and have a nice flavor profile full of mango and tropical fruit, which sounds really awesome. I added some wheat to in order to keep the body light. Additionally, I added acid malt to the mash in order to give the Brett some lactic acid to grab on to. The hop profile is pretty much 50/50 Centennial (my love affair continues) and Citra (the new girl in town). I threw in a little Chinook since I already had an ounce around the house and have been trying to find a use for it.

Empirical Anomaly

	Style: Unassigned
	Type:	Calories: 212
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 6.87 Gal
	IBU's: 64.09	Batch Size: 6.00 Gal
	Color: 10.3 SRM	Boil Time: 75 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.062

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	10/13/2013
OG:	1.066	1.060
FG:	1.010	1.010
ABV:	7.34 %	6.55 %
Efficiency:	70 %	64 %
Serve Date:	11/09/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	28 days @ 68.0°F	10/13/2013	10/13/2013


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
13.00 lbs	76.47 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
4.00 ozs	1.47 %	Briess 2-Row Caramel 40L	60 mins	1.034
3.00 lbs	17.65 %	Rahr Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
8.00 ozs	2.94 %	Acid Malt	60 mins	1.027
4.00 ozs	1.47 %	Fawcett Pale Chocolate	60 mins	1.030


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	51.71	Centennial	60 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	12.38	Citra	10 mins	13.20
1.00 ozs	0.00	Citra	0 mins	13.20
1.00 ozs	0.00	Centennial	0 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	0.00	Chinook	0 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs		Centennial	7 days	10.00
1.00 ozs		Citra	7 days	13.20


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois	White Labs 0644


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Full Body Infusion In

45 min @ 158.0°F

Add 21.25 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 170.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 17.07 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Batch Updates:

10/26/13 : Gravity reading today indicated a specific gravity of 1.017, which is roughly where I hoped it would be after two weeks. I'd ultimately like this one to finished around 1.010 - 1.012 then bottle it. I'l probably check it again next weekend.

The taste was both citrusy and fruity. I hope the citrusy Centennial flavor sticks around for a bit, however, the fruity Brett Trois characteristics may dominate. Most people brewing with Trois report that the hop flavors are subsumed by the fruity brett characteristic.

Keeping it wild (yeast),

HolzBrew

Celebration Day

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 00:47:00 +0000

I was itching to brew this weekend, but was ambivalent to the style, so I asked Mrs. HolzBrew what style she is craving. Back story, she is 8 months pregnant and this beer will be ready to drink right around the time she can drink beer again! We currently have a dubbel, hoppy red and porter on draft, so she wanted something light, malty, and fruity. We decided upon a saison.

Saison is such a fun style to brew due to the incredible amount of latitude with-in the style, and I have brewed several. Almost any sort of spice or fruit is fair game in a saison, or instead, you can keep it clean and go without excessive additives. Saisons can be funky, sour, hoppy, or floral. Also, I note people have been brewing black saisons lately, which is a cool innovation. Basically, saison is defined as almost any wort fermented with a saison yeast strain. Within the yeast selection there are several belgian and french strains. I really like the Wyeast french saison varietal, unfortunately, it was not available at the local HBS yesterday when I stopped by. Consequently, I ended up with White Labs 585. I've never used this strain before, but it looked just right. Both tart and fruity.

It was a rainy day, but things went pretty well. No major set backs. I used a mix of 2 row, unmalted red winter wheat, and oatmeal for the fermentables. I would have loved to have added some belgian pilsner, but I've got a ton of 2 row around the house and I couldn't justify buying pilsner malt on my grad student budget. I also probably would have liked to have used malted wheat, but I had the the red wheat around the house. The hop profile is 100% Saaz, simple and beautiful. The color turned out really light and clear as can be seen below:

If I can swing it, I may try to brew up a Brett Trois IPA next week. I'd read a lot of great things about these all brett beers lately and I figure I might try my hand at it. Below is the recipe from today's foray into familiar Belgian territory.

Celebration Day

	Style: Saison
	Type:	Calories: 206
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
	IBU's: 32.71	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color: 5.2 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.061

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	10/06/2013
OG:	1.064	1.055
FG:	1.010	1.010
ABV:	7.07 %	5.89 %
Efficiency:	70 %	59 %
Serve Date:	10/06/2013	/ /


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
9.75 lbs	69.64 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
3.00 lbs	21.43 %	Rahr Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
1.00 lbs	7.14 %	Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037
4.00 ozs	1.79 %	Acid Malt	60 mins	1.027


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	25.10	Saaz	60 mins	4.00
1.00 ozs	7.60	Saaz	20 mins	4.00
2.00 ozs	0.00	Saaz	0 mins	4.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Saison	White Labs 585


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 tsp	Black Pepper	15 mins	Boil
0.40 oz	Coriander Seed	15 mins	Boil
1.00 oz	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion

75 min @ 150.0°F

Add 17.50 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.3°F

Sparge

Sparge 15.10 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Keep the tanks bubbling!

HolzBrew

Roasted Oats

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 01:51:00 +0000

I toasted some oats today for an upcoming espresso stout. I've never done this before, but I was checking out Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing (for the 1000th time, I love this book) and I came across an oatmeal cookie brown ale concept. I typically add oats to my stouts for enhanced mouthfeel, but I've never toasted them before. I figured that it may add a cookie character to the beer, which sounds great. I roasted 36 ozs. of old fashioned oats on several cookie sheets for about 50 mins at 345 degrees. The picture above is a side by side of unroasted and roasted oats. Additionally, you need to let them air out for a few days prior to adding to the mash in order to let some of the harsher flavors dissipate.

End of Summer 2013

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 01:17:00 +0000

The primary purpose of this blog is to share homebrew recipes and discuss homebrewing in general. However, the blog also maintains a secondary, not widely-known, scientific purpose, which is to rigorously determine the end of the summer. Scholars have maintained that as a matter of science, the summer ends when yours truly quaffs the first Oktoberfest of the season. It's a small sacrifice that I make for mankind. Well I hate to make it official but by drinking a Weihenstephaner Okfest this evening with dinner, I the ended the summer.

The summer predictably starts every year on June 21st, and on June 20th during a leap year. Consequently its relatively easy to measure the number of days in the summer and to study annual fluctuation in the length of summer based upon my historical blogposts. Last year summer ended on August 8. So I suppose we should be thankful for the extra couple of summer days this year. I hypothesize that the raging bull stock market actually extended the summer. Below is a graphical representation of the length of summer, in days, for the last five years. You can check the records (i.e. my blog archive) but I've already done the work:

Well its not all bad. As the summer ends, so begins football season. Go Hokies!

You've got to respect the Sandman,

HolzBrew

Not to fear, we've got adambier

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 23:36:00 +0000

Over the last month or two I've been trying to nail down a special brew to celebrate the birth of HolzBrew Jr. I knew it had to be unique. A few years ago, Mrs. HolzBrew and I traveled to Portland, OR for vacation. If you haven't been, and you like beer, you should go. While in Portland we drank a plethora of flavorful and unique beers. Perhaps the most unique of the bunch were the beers made by Hair of the Dog brewing company. One of their flagship beers, if you can call it that, is an adambier called simply "Adam." There is also a wood-aged version called "Adam from the Wood." This beer left a definite impression on my taste buds, and I thought it fit the bill as the type of beer I'd like to brew for this special occasion.

Adambier is a historic german beer style, which to the best of my knowledge is no longer brewed in Germany. The exact origin of the style is somewhat unknown, however, it is frequently tied to the city of Dortmund. Quite unlike modern german beers, Adambier was a very strong, dark, and oftentimes sour brew that was top fermented and aged in barrels for extended periods of time (e.g. one to four years). The beer is also described as having a smokey aroma and taste.

While doing research for this beer, I came across two recipes, Sean Paxton's and The Mad Fermentationist's, which were both inspired by the Hair of the Dog beer. I decided to do something similar, which I modified somewhat. After reflecting upon my final recipe, its funny that this beer is probably based more upon English ingredients than German ones. However, I think it will definitely be interesting. The aspect of the beer that I think it the most uncertain to me is the smokey part related to the peated smoked malt that I used. I've never made a smoked beer so this is definitely a first. I plan to age this beer in my barrel for awhile. I'll probably draw some out of the barrel in a few months and bottle it and keep the remaining portion in the barrel for up to a year or so.

I also have been struggling with a way to keep primary fermentation temperatures down this summer. My basement routinely maintains a temperature of 71 degrees. This means that during primary fermentation my beers have been maintaining a temperature around 78 degrees due to the heat created during the metabolic process. These beers realistically should be fermented closer to the 68 - 70 degree range. So in order to keep this beer a bit cooler, I decided to place my fermenter in my HLT. I then place several frozen gel packs in the gap between the cooler and fermenter and filled it with water. So far this has worked, my temps were at 68 this morning.

Never Fear, Adambier


	ype:	Calories: 388
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 4.84 Gal
	IBU's: 61.32	Batch Size: 4.00 GalT
	Color: 27.5 SRM	Boil Time: 90 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.111

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	08/03/2013
OG:	1.120	1.092
FG:	1.025	1.025
ABV:	12.44 %	8.78 %
Efficiency:	75 %	57 %
Serve Date:	12/21/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 70.0°F	08/03/2013	08/03/2013
Secondary	120 days @ 72.0°F	08/24/2013	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
13.00 lbs	67.10 %	Pale Malt, Maris Otter	90 mins	1.038
10.00 ozs	3.23 %	Peat Smoked Malt	90 mins	1.034
1.00 lbs	5.16 %	Munich Malt	90 mins	1.037
0.75 lbs	3.87 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	90 mins	1.034
0.25 lbs	1.29 %	Fawcett Pale Chocolate	90 mins	1.030
4.00 ozs	1.29 %	Black (Patent) Malt	90 mins	1.025
3.00 lbs	15.48 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
0.50 lbs	2.58 %	Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	60 mins	1.037


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	34.62	Galena	90 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	19.92	aurora	60 mins	8.00
1.00 ozs	6.79	Tettnang	20 mins	4.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Nottingham	Danstar
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis S-04


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 tsp	Calcium Chloride	15 mins	Mash

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 24.22 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 7.21 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

HolzBrew

Hopped up and Red(dy)

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 21:14:00 +0000

It's been a real nice summer in Btown thus far. Perhaps a little too much rain, but it keeps it cool, which has prevented me from overheating when I'm out on my bike, so no complaints here. Mrs. Brew and I moved last week into a townhouse literally across the street. Now, that most everything has been put in its place I figured I christen the new digs with a new brew. I love hoppy IPA beers like almost every red-blooded american beer geek, but I don't brew a ton of them because there are so many great ones available commercially. Here in Indiana I have FFF Alpha King (I realize that AK is technically an APA, settle down) readily available all over the place. Need I say more? That being said, I usually get the itch around this time of year to brew something hoppy for late summer/early fall. I have never tried my hand at an India Red Ale before so I figured I'd go for it. For the unfamiliar, an IRA is essentially a red IPA. The redness comes from some of the caramel, chocolate, and in this case, black malt additions.

One thing that I've never really mastered is water chemistry. Here in Btown we have fairly soft/neutral water which works decently for many styles. However, I thought I'd toe in the water by adding a touch of calcium chloride, which I frequently see added to RO water in hoppy IPA-esque recipes. I was pretty conservative in the amount that I added and I am curious to see if I notice more bite in this hoppy ale. I may not due to the low quantity that I added. I'd love to hear from others brewing in Btown to see what they add to the tap water here for their brews.

Also, I tried out a relatively new product that I've been interested in giving a whirl, the Hop Shot. the hop shot is essentially a 5ml syringe filled with hop resin. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what hop resin is, but I've seen others on the net using it for bittering additions with great success. I've heard it adds a mellow bitterness that is not overly sharp, which sounded perfect. I used all 5 mls at 60 mins which adds approximately 50 IBU to a brew in the 1.060s (OG). The word on the street is that Russian River uses something like this in their double IPAs for bittering. I have no idea how it will turn out, but it smelled awesome when I added it to the boil, piney goodness. The rest of my hop additions were late, which I have really been digging lately. I've heard mixed results with using Summits, so I limited them to just a half ounce at 5 mins. I've only used them once, but found in small quantities that they added a nice orangey aroma and flavor.

India Red Ale

	Style: Unassigned
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 203
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
	IBU's: 61.54	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color: 18.8 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.059

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	07/14/2013
OG:	1.065	1.071
FG:	1.010	1.010
ABV:	6.94 %	7.50 %
Efficiency:	75 %	78 %
Serve Date:	08/04/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 70.0°F	07/14/2013	07/14/2013


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
11.00 lbs	85.11 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
0.75 lbs	5.80 %	Weyermann Carahell	60 mins	1.035
0.75 lbs	5.80 %	Caramunich Malt	60 mins	1.033
0.30 lbs	2.32 %	Fawcett Pale Chocolate	60 mins	1.030
2.00 ozs	0.97 %	Black (Patent) Malt	60 mins	1.025


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	6.35	Centennial	5 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	0.00	Ahtanum	0 mins	6.00
1.00 ozs	0.00	Centennial	0 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	49.40	Hop Shot	60 mins	15.51
1.00 ozs		Centennial	7 days	10.00
0.50 ozs	5.78	Summit	5 mins	18.20
1.00 ozs		Palisade	7 days	7.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale US-05	Fermentis US-05


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 each	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.25 tsp	Calcium Chloride	60 mins	Mash

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 16.16 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 15.88 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins


Carbonation
(none)

Notes

i used danstar west coast ale yeast, not us-05

Bring the (d)Red,

HolzBrew

It's that time of year for Witbier

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 02:17:00 +0000

Oats? Check. Wheat? Check. Barley? Check! Yep, sounds like a witbier recipe. Two weeks in a row of brewing. The tanks needed refilling and I am happy to oblige. It was really an easy brew day. No hiccups. The only issue I had to deal with was some rain. Accordingly, I largely brewed in the garage. I found that the shelves in my garage substituted well for a brew stand. To add some spice I went with lemon and orange zest as well as some indian coriander. Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher sings the praises of indian coriander, so I was eager to give it a try. I also chose to go with a saison yeast as I think it will enhance the fruity esters.

Q.E.D.

	Style: Witbier
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 158
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
	IBU's: 19.71	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color: 4.7 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.046

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	06/01/2013
OG:	1.049	1.048
FG:	1.009	1.009
ABV:	5.24 %	5.11 %
Efficiency:	70 %	68 %
Serve Date:	06/29/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 75.0°F	06/01/2013	06/01/2013
Secondary	14 days @ 75.0°F	06/15/2013	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
5.00 lbs	47.06 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
5.00 lbs	47.06 %	Rahr Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
0.50 lbs	4.71 %	Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037
2.00 ozs	1.18 %	Acid Malt	60 mins	1.027


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	17.12	Hallertauer	60 mins	4.80
0.50 ozs	2.59	Saaz	10 mins	4.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Saison II	White Labs 0566


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
0.40 oz	Coriander Seed	00 mins	Boil
1.00 each	Lemon zest	00 mins	Boil
2.00 each	orange zest	00 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Full Body Infusion

60 min @ 158.0°F

Add 13.28 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 175.6°F

Alpha Sacch' Rest

15 min @ 163.0°F

Heat to 163.0°F over 5 mins


Carbonation
(none)

Notes

add 1oz of galaxy at dry hop

It's summer time,

HolzBrew

Been a long time ...

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Tue, 28 May 2013 22:02:00 +0000

Wow, I can't believe that I haven't brewed since January. This past semester at school got busy and crazy and brewing had to unfortunately take a back seat for a while. Due to the long weekend, I was thankfully able to fire up the kettle. I was provided fantastic assistance from my father-in-law, who participated in his first brew day. We brewed the recipe below. Everything went really well. My only concern is that the Wyeast that we used had been in my freezer for months and despite creating a starter, fermentation has been off to a slow start. Accordingly, I plan to pitch some freshly procured WLP500 this evening to help kicks things into a higher gear.

american malt dubbel

	Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 245
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 7.91 Gal
	IBU's: 25.36	Batch Size: 7.00 Gal
	Color: 27.5 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.071

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	05/25/2013
OG:	1.075	1.084
FG:	1.018	1.018
ABV:	7.47 %	8.65 %
Efficiency:	70 %	79 %
Serve Date:	07/06/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 65.0°F	05/25/2013	05/25/2013
Secondary	28 days @ 75.0°F	06/08/2013	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
18.00 lbs	82.76 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	4.60 %	Caramunich Malt	60 mins	1.033
0.50 lbs	2.30 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	60 mins	1.034
4.00 ozs	1.15 %	Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.028
2.00 lbs	9.20 %	Candi Sugar, Dark	60 mins	1.036


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.50 ozs	16.49	Styrian Goldings	60 mins	5.40
1.00 ozs	5.92	Hallertauer	20 mins	4.80
1.00 ozs	2.95	Saaz	10 mins	4.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Abbey II	Wyeast Labs 1762


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 152.0°F

Add 24.69 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 19.23 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Belgian Love,

HolzBrew

Still Cappin'

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:54:00 +0000

Today Señora HolzBrew and I bottled the english strong ale that we've been aging in a whiskey barrel for the last month. I think these brews are at least one month away from initial tasting, but will probably be best in about a year. I was excited to use my new custom-made bottlemark caps seen above!

-Holz

Dubbelicious

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:01:00 +0000

Roughly once a year I stumble across a Westmalle Dubbel at the store, a bar, or at a friend's house and I remember just how darn a great dubbel can be. The Dubbel style beer was orginated in the 1850s at Westmalle Abbey. Westmalle Abbey is a trappist brewery (i.e. monks!) in the Campine region of the province of Antwerp (Flanders, Belgium). The style can best be described as a smooth and creamy delicious malt-bomb. The technical BJCP description can be found here.

Lately, I've had dubbel on the brain. My last couple of batches have been english or german fermented and thus I feel compelled to brew Belgian. Despite where my interests wander from batch to batch, my heart is never far from Flanders. Accordingly, I hope to brew a large batch (approx 8 gallons) of dubbel in the coming weeks. I recently purchased a fairly large sack of US two row malted barley and thus despite ideally using a belgian barley I will most likely use this as the backbone. I also purchased a pound of both the D-90 and D-180 candi syrups, which I have been looking to use.

Here's my current thoughts on a tentative recipe, based mostly on what I've got in stock:

Dubbelicious
	Style: Belgian Dubbel	OG: 1.067
	Type: All Grain	FG: 1.012
	Rating: 0.0	ABV: 7.20 %
	Calories: 216	IBU's: 23.95
	Efficiency: 70 %	Boil Size: 8.98 Gal
	Color: 25.1 SRM	Batch Size: 8.00 Gal
	Preboil OG: 1.063	Boil Time: 75 minutes


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp
Primary	14 days @ 65.0°F
Secondary	28 days @ 50.0°F


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
18.00 lbs	82.76 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	4.60 %	Caramunich Malt	60 mins	1.033
0.50 lbs	2.30 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	60 mins	1.034
4.00 ozs	1.15 %	Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.028
2.00 lbs	9.20 %	Candi Sugar, Dark	60 mins	1.036


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.50 ozs	15.57	Styrian Goldings	60 mins	5.40
1.00 ozs	5.59	Hallertauer	20 mins	4.80
1.00 ozs	2.79	Saaz	10 mins	4.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Abbey II	Wyeast Labs 1762


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 24.69 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 23.50 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Shiny New Homebrew Bottle Caps

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:31:00 +0000

This evening when I got home I received some new bottle caps in the mail. There weren't any old bottle caps however. They were self designed logo caps printed by: http://www.bottlemark.com/

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law designed the label. I realize it may be hard to see the full glory given that these caps are still plastic wrapped, but trust me when I say they look great. I highly recommend bottlemark.

Keep'em cappin',

HolzBrew

Whiskey Weizenbock

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 01:12:00 +0000

Lately, I've been thinking about ways to use the wheat that was sent to me this summer by our new friend Jason in Kansas. The wheat was sent shortly after harvest and accordingly it was unmalted. Admittedly, I was intimidated by the possibility of having to malt close to twenty pounds of wheat. So I did what anyone would have done, I put the wheat on the shelf and ignored it for awhile. Having received a fantastic malt mill for Xmas from my parents, I started to think about that raw wheat still sitting on the shelf. After some reading I realized that I didn't have to malt the wheat as long as I used at least an equal amount of malted barley in the mash. The enzyme content in modern malted barley is quite high and that means well milled wheat can be broken down into simple sugars by the enzymes in the malted barley included in the same mash. Enter, the malt mill.

Additionally, I had just purchased a 50 lbs. bag of US two row barley. Third, while I usually brew ales, my garage has been pretty steadily maintaining a 50 degree temperature the last few weeks, which is the perfect temperature at which to ferment a lager (at least primary fermentation). All of these factors led me to brew a weizenbock this afternoon. Now, the recipe wasn't perfect. This weizenbock is not exactly to style, and I had to call a few audibles. A pure weizenbock would rely on german malts (munich and pilsner) as the backbone of the mash. But being a poor graduate student, I couldn't simply ignore that brand new 50 lbs. of two row (what I mean to say is that I couldn't afford to ignore it). Second, I stopped by my local homebrew store yesterday in hopes of picking up a German Bock yeast strain (WLP833) and unfortunately all they had was the White Labs 838 strain, Southern German Lager. Again, beggars can't be choosers so I decided to move forward. Despite both these deviations from the ideal recipe, I think I'll turn out a nice product.

As part of this beer's journey to completion I plan to age it for a few weeks in my recently acquired whiskey barrel (currently being used to age an english strong ale). I noticed today that Mike, over at the Mad Fermentationist, used a near identical barrel to age a triple wheat bock. Mike is an awesome brewer, so at least this concept is in good company (the execution is up to me!).

It was a chilly brew day at a high of 32 degrees, which gives everything a dramatic steamy look:

Whiskey Weizenbock

	Style: Weizenbock
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 208
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 6.40 Gal
	IBU's: 26.19	Batch Size: 5.50 Gal
	Color: 17.8 SRM	Boil Time: 90 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.060

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	02/17/2013
OG:	1.064	1.062
FG:	1.014	1.014
ABV:	6.55 %	6.29 %
Efficiency:	70 %	67 %
Serve Date:	04/14/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 48.0°F	02/17/2013	02/17/2013
Secondary	21 days @ 50.0°F	03/03/2013	-
Secondary	21 days @ 32.0°F	03/24/2013	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
7.00 lbs	45.90 %	Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
7.00 lbs	45.90 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	6.56 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	60 mins	1.034
4.00 ozs	1.64 %	Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.028


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
0.75 ozs	16.74	Pearle	60 mins	7.80
1.00 ozs	6.68	Tettnang	15 mins	4.70
0.25 ozs	2.77	Pearle	15 mins	7.80


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Southern German Lager	White Labs 0838


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 156.0°F

Add 19.06 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 173.3°F

Sparge

Sparge 16.47 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Sippin' on wheat and whiskey,

Holz

Holz-date

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 04:07:00 +0000

Unfortunately I haven't had time to brew lately, but homebrew and beer is never far from my mind. Last weekend I racked the English Strong Ale I brewed in early January to my new barrel. I'm pretty excited about this brew project and I can wait to see how it turns out.

Mrs. Brew and I made the drive up to Indianapolis this afternoon. While we were there we stopped at Flat 12 Bierwerks for a bit. We loved the staff and enjoyed a number of their beers. Among their notable offerings was a brandy barrel-aged IPA and a bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout. It helped feed my barrel aging frenzy.

Age it in wood,

HolzBrew

Winter Brewing and Partigyle Woes

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 01:18:00 +0000

It's been cold here. A cold white substance has been falling from the skies. Not a surprise, it's Indiana and its January. The semester starts tomorrow, so I thought I'd take some time to brew this weekend. I decided to try my first partigyle (two beers, one mash) brew day. I planned to brew two large beers (a barleywine and a strong ale) and I thought that I might run into some. I was right.

The day started off fine as I cleared off the back deck. It was a nice brisk saturday morning, clear skies and very little wind. I started to boil a full ten gallons of water and fill a trash bag with my full grain bill. The first mash filled the tun to the top. After a 90 minute mash, I started to sparge and ... my first stuck sparge. It was terrible. It basically took all day to gather enough wort to brew both beers. Sad to say, I found the limit of my system.

Unfortunately, I think this means I'll be steering clear of partigyle beers for awhile. Thirty+ pounds of grain was to heavy and the mash just became a heavy batch of goo that wouldn't run clear. Regardless, I think I wound up with two decent batches of brew. I'm not sure how to enter a partigyle brew into iBrewmaster, so I entered it in as two separate batches. I used a total of 30 lbs of Maris Otter and I entered in 15 for the first beer and 15 for the second.

21 yr itch ale

	Style: English Barleywine
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 372
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 3.85 Gal
	IBU's: 81.63	Batch Size: 3.00 Gal
	Color: 9.6 SRM	Boil Time: 120 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.104

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	01/05/2013
OG:	1.114	1.110
FG:	1.028	1.028
ABV:	11.27 %	10.74 %
Efficiency:	70 %	68 %
Serve Date:	04/26/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 68.0°F	01/05/2013	01/05/2013
Secondary	90 days @ 72.0°F	01/26/2013	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
15.00 lbs	100.00 %	Pale Malt, Maris Otter	90 mins	1.038


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	60.40	Northern Brewer	60 mins	8.50
0.66 ozs	14.42	Phoenix	30 mins	8.00
0.66 ozs	3.83	Fuggles	10 mins	4.50
0.66 ozs	2.98	Crystal	10 mins	3.50
0.50 ozs		Hallertauer	10 days	4.80
0.50 ozs		Goldings, East Kent	10 days	5.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis S-04


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
0.66 tsp	Calcium Chloride	15 mins	Mash
0.66 tsp	Gypsum	15 mins	Mash

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion In

90 min @ 150.0°F

Add 30.00 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F

Mashout

10 min @ 170.0°F

Heat to 170.0°F over 2 mins


Carbonation
(none)

Notes

This batch was brewed in partigyle fashion and this wort represented the first runnings.

English Strong Ale in the Barrel

	Style: Old Ale
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 235
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 6.38 Gal
	IBU's: 44.91	Batch Size: 5.50 Gal
	Color: 23.2 SRM	Boil Time: 75 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.068

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	01/05/2013
OG:	1.072	1.074
FG:	1.018	1.018
ABV:	7.07 %	7.34 %
Efficiency:	70 %	71 %
Serve Date:	03/27/2013	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 68.0°F	01/05/2013	01/05/2013
Secondary	60 days @ 72.0°F	01/26/2013	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
15.00 lbs	90.91 %	Pale Malt, Maris Otter	60 mins	1.038
1.00 lbs	6.06 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	60 mins	1.034
0.50 lbs	3.03 %	Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.034


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.50 ozs	34.02	Northern Brewer	60 mins	8.50
1.00 ozs	8.08	Goldings, East Kent	20 mins	5.00
0.33 ozs	1.40	Phoenix	5 mins	8.00
0.33 ozs	0.79	Fuggles	5 mins	4.50
0.33 ozs	0.61	Crystal	5 mins	3.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis S-04


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion In

75 min @ 150.0°F

Add 33.00 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 15.46 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins


Carbonation
(none)

Notes

This beer was brewed from the second runnings from the 21 year itch ale. It was aged for two months in a wiskey barrel.

To better (brew) days,

HolzBrew

Homebrew for the Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:23:00 +0000

It truly is the best time of year, for homebrewers that is. I'm sure many brewers out there will take some time this holiday season to brew up something new, but hopefully not something blue (I hate blueberry in beer). Personally, I hope to complete my first partigyle mash (i.e. multiple beers from the same mash). The first beer is a rather ambitious project that I am hopeful will stand up to the test of time. I'm aiming to brew a big english barleywine for my nephew's first birthday this April. The idea is that this is a beer that his parent's could enjoy every year on his birthday until his 21st birthday ( called the "21 year itch ale"). I'm sure this beer will be great for the next couple of years, but I'm not sure if it will hold up for over two decades. The recipe is based on Gordon Strong's 7 year itch ale from his Brewing Better Beer. The second beer will be an English Strong ale that I plan to age in my new Christmas gift (from Mrs. HolzBrew):

In addition to this beauty, I also received a gorgeous set of pint glasses designed by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law:

What a fantastic gift!

Happy Holidays,

HolzBrew

Cleansing Waters

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:44:00 +0000

I spent little time yesterday thoroughly cleansing several fermenters that were badly in need. No brew this weekend, but next weekend I'm planning a partigyle brew day. The first beer will be a high gravity English barleywine that I hope ages well for many years to come. The second brew is going to be a strong ale aged in a whiskey barrel. This is my first foray into partigyle brewing. Hopefully all goes well.

Keep it clean,

HolzBrew

Hoosier Red Ale

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 15:24:00 +0000

It's been a busy month or two and I haven't had much time for brewing (or blogging). That being said, I managed to carve out a few hours this morning to brew up a red ale that I have had the ingredients for some time. I wanted something with a reasonable ABV that would be great on draft. Lately, most of the commercial red ales I've tried have been really hop-forward, which is great. Because I can buy great hoppy red ales, I decided to go in the other direction and shoot for a malt focused red. I snapped a couple of photos when I was setting up the mash this morning.

Mrs. HolzBrew and I got out yesterday afternoon for a hike in Brown County State Park. It's been a great fall weekend here in Southern Indiana.

Hoosier Red Ale

	Style: American Amber Ale
	Type:	Calories: 178
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.85 Gal
	IBU's: 27.77	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color: 15.6 SRM	Boil Time: 75 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.052

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	11/11/2012
OG:	1.055	1.055
FG:	1.010	1.010
ABV:	5.90 %	5.89 %
Efficiency:	70 %	70 %
Serve Date:	12/07/2012	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	11/11/2012	11/11/2012
Secondary	19 days @ 72.0°F	11/18/2012	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
8.00 lbs	68.09 %	Crisp Maris Otter	60 mins	1.038
1.00 lbs	8.51 %	Fawcett Torrified Wheat	60 mins	1.035
1.50 lbs	12.77 %	Briess Mild Malt, Ashburne	60 mins	1.036
0.50 lbs	4.26 %	Crisp Crystal Dark 77L	60 mins	1.035
0.50 lbs	4.26 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	60 mins	1.034
0.25 lbs	2.13 %	Fawcett Pale Chocolate	60 mins	1.030


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	21.04	Brewers Gold	60 mins	6.20
1.00 ozs	6.74	Styrian Goldings	15 mins	4.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis S-04


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 oz	Orange Peel	01 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 152.0°F

Add 14.69 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 16.84 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

The Redder the Better,

HolzBrew

Trappist Cider

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:44:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I picked up a a few gallons of organic cider here in town at Bloomingfoods. I racked this cider on to a yeast cake left over from the primary fermentation of the sour dubbel I brewed a bout a month ago. I like the idea of a cider fermented with Trappist ale yeast, something along the lines of The Saint by Crispin. Last night I back-sweetened and kegged it. One thing that I always forget to do when making cider is to add pectin enzyme to help clear up the pectin haze. Oh well, we'll just have to enjoy it in its natural murky brown state.

I had just finished cleaning some wood cubes and chips that I used in the bourbon stout I brewed a few months ago and decided to toss them into the keg for some added complexity. While I usually wouldn't recommend wood aging beer prior to serving, it just felt right.

-HolzBrew

Dubbel the fun

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:35:00 +0000

I managed to find some time this morning to brew a Trappist-style Dubbel. Pictured above is the belgian candi rock sugar that the Trappist beers are well known for using. As you might expect, I plan to do something a little different with this brew. In a few weeks after the primary fermentation is complete, I intend to spike this holy brew with some wild yeast (and bacteria) and sour it. That being said, I may bottle a few beers before pitching the wild bugs, because a nice clean belgian dubbel would be welcomed around the house.

Sour Dubbel

	Style: Belgian Dubbel
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 197
	Rating: 4.0	Boil Size: 5.88 Gal
	IBU's: 24.38	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color: 35.9 SRM	Boil Time: 90 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.056

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	09/16/2012
OG:	1.060	1.066
FG:	1.016	1.016
ABV:	5.76 %	6.0 %
Efficiency:	70 %	70 %
Serve Date:	11/04/2012	/ /


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 73.0°F	09/16/2012	09/16/2012
Secondary	21 days @ 72.0°F	09/30/2012	-
Bottle/Keg	14 days @ 74.0°F	10/21/2012	-


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Time	Gravity
10.00 lbs	81.63 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel	60 mins	1.037
0.50 lbs	4.08 %	Caramunich Malt	60 mins	1.033
0.25 lbs	2.04 %	Special B Malt	60 mins	1.030
1.50 lbs	12.24 %	Candi Sugar, Dark	15 mins	1.036


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	19.63	Tradition	60 mins	6.00
1.00 ozs	4.75	Hallertauer Hersbrucker	10 mins	4.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Ale	Wyeast Labs 1214


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Sacch' Rest

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 16.12 qt ( 1.50 qt/lb ) water @ 168.7°F

Mashout

10 min @ 170.0°F

Heat to 170.0°F over 2 mins

Sparge

Sparge 14.98 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Dubbel your fun,
Holz

Saaz Monster Rehash

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 01:57:00 +0000

I'll admit it, I've never been good about systematically rehashing recipes after I've brewed them here on the blog. I love how The Mad Fermentationist revisits his brews religiously, so that you the viewer learn about the beer over its entire life cycle. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I'm trying to get better.

A few weeks ago I kegged the Saaz Monster clone (renamed "Doctor Dayton's Magic Mustache Ale") that I discussed a few months ago here and it was not good. Neither Mrs. HolzBrew or myself have been able to put a finger on what exactly isn't great about it but we both know its not great. I can only describe the flavor as "muddled." A strange description I realize, but I think if you tried it you would agree that it lacks direction. It has a decent biscuity flavor with some hop earthiness from all the saaz, but in order to throw it closer to a fresh hop flavor I decided to dry hop the keg with 2oz. of cascade hop leafs. While not the direction I originally expected to go with this brew I think it can only help. Citrus hop flavor is always welcome in the HolzBrew household.

I'll let you how my curve ball turns out. Hopefully it will break in my direction, but if not its out of here.

Also, I plan to brew a dubbel this weekend that I eventually hope to sour. Lastly, I think I'll try my hand at another hard cider this fall, so be on the look out for more ...

Viva el mustachio,

Holz

What is craft beer?

noreply@blogger.com (HolzBrew) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 01:09:00 +0000

A question you see in every beer magazine and scattered across the interwebs is, "What is craft beer?" Often times this discussion is framed by the Brewer's Association ("BA") as it struggles with who is allowed to call themselves "Craft Brewers." In January of last year the BA amended its previous definition of craft brewer, in what I refer to as the "Sam Adams compromise", to include all small independent breweries producing 6 million barrel of beer a year or less. To a guy who brews maybe 60 gallons of beer a year, 6 million barrels sounds pretty darn large, but I am not a for-profit entity so I digress. I understand that the BA is an industry group who derives much of its funding from its members, so it doesn't make sense to kick out your biggest due-paying members because of some arbitrary size qualification. I mean its basic economics, folks.

There are lots of definitions of craft beer, so I won't pretend this is a unique post, but I thought I'd give it a whirl. I think that we can easily agree on the second word, beer. Beer has been defined for hundreds of years, as a fermented malt beverage consisting of malted cereal grains, water, hops, and yeast. Additionally, I'd add that beer also may contain other food products such as fruit or spices for flavoring. I doubt that definition would rouse much debate. Therefore, the controversial part of the definition is the word "craft."

To me, "craft" connotes a passion for the product produced. Sure a brewery has to make money to keep the lights on and pay the bills, and the brewers and owners like money just as much as any red-blooded capitalist. My American heart appreciates this fact. That being said, when a decision has to be made regarding how to use the limited resources controlled by that brewery, a craft-oriented passionate brewer will invest in the quality of the product above other expenditures like marketing or distribution. The thing that frustrates beer geeks like myself the most about macro brewers like Anheuser Busch is that they spend millions of dollars on marketing when they could instead spend that money on making the actual beer taste better.

Support your local breweries,
Holz