Home Brewer

Brewing Procedures

2006-08-25T05:34:00.000-05:00

With September just around the corner, it is almost time to begin brewing again. I do like the real old-timers used to do and that is take the summer off from brewing. Summer seems to be a better time to drink the beer than to make it. Well, anyways, I was reading my latest copy of Brew Your Own magazine it it has a great article on the proper procedures for extract beers. The four procedures are:

No-Boil Brewing - I have never tried this but looks like a great time saver. The extract is added at the end.

Concentrated Boil Method - This is what I normally use. You boil a condensed wort and then dilute it in the fermenter.

Extract Late Method - This is where you add the 1/2 the extract towards the end of the boil

Texas Two-Step - This is where you essentially boil 1/2 the wort at 1 time.

On my next batch of beer, I plan on using the No-Boil Method. Bascially to see if it saves time and if that method makes good beer.

If you would like to read the whole article Click Here. There are also 5 recipes that you can try.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, Methods, Brewing

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Octoberfest Beer

2006-08-07T18:08:00.000-05:00

You still have time to start planning and gathering together your ingredients to make your Octoberfest beer. I usually brew mine in late March or early April and let it age until September, but you can make it now and have it ready for October. This recipe will make a 5 gallon batch.

Ingredients:

2 Bierkeller Liquid Amber Malt 3.5 pound cans

1 pound amber dry malt extract

8 ounces 10 degree crystal malt

6 ounces chocolate malt

1 ounce Cascade hops 5.5 alpha

1 ounce Hallertauer hops 4.5 alpha

3/4 ounce Tettnanger hops

1 packet dry yeast or Wyeast no. 2206

1/2 cup of corn sugar to prime

Procedure:

Crush grains and step for about 1 hour.

Strain and pour liquid into brewpot.

Add additional water and begin to boil.

Slowly add the dry malt and liquid malt.

Make sure that you stir the malts so that they don not burn on the bottom of the pot.

Once the wort begins to boil, add the Cascade hops. After 30 minutes, add the Hallertauer hops. At the end of another 30 minute period, add the Tettnager hops for 1 minute.

Chill wort and add the yeast.

Primary ferment for about 2 weeks at 45 to 50 degrees and about another 2 weeks at the same temperature for the secondary.

Rack one more time and ferment for another 2 weeks at 35 to 40 degrees.

Bottle and keep stored at about 40 degrees.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Octoberfest, Recipe

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Beer Recipes

2006-07-17T22:12:00.000-05:00

Arrogant Bastard Clone

Basic Stout

Bass Ale Clone

Blond Ale

British Bitter Beer

Braggott

Budweiser Clone

Cherry Ale

Chimay Trippel

Dos Equis

Double Ale

Easy Beer Recipe

Fat Tire Amber Ale Clone

Gluten Free Beer

Guinness Clone

Hefe Weizen

India Pale Ale

Irish Cream Ale

Newcastle Clone

Oatmeal Stout

Octoberfest

Pete's Wicked Ale

Pilsner Urquell Clone

Sam Adams Clone

Scotch Ale

Sierra Nevada Clone

Strong Ale

Vienna Lager

Yuengling Amber Lager Clone

Technorati Tags : Beer, Recipes, Homebrewing, Homebrew, Clones
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Updated July 2006

Double Ale

2006-07-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

This is one of my first recipes that I designed and actually wrote down. The term double is more for the number of pounds of grain or equivalent per gallon of water. For example, 2 pounds of grain per gallon of water = double. It's a pretty simple recipe and was hopped up. If you wish to tone down the hops, then cut the boil time by 1/2.

Double Ale

Ingredients:

3 1/2 lbs Amber Malt Extract

8 oz Crystal Malt Grain

4 oz Pale Malt Grain

4 oz Oat Grain

1 oz Cascade Hops

1 oz Fuggle Hops

1/2 Teaspoon Irish Moss

1 packet Muntons Ale Yeast

3/8 cup Corn Sugar (priming)

Date Brewed: March 21, 2001

Original Gravity: 1.049

Pitching Temp: About 100 degrees

Primary Fermentation: 1 week at 64 degrees

Procedures:

1. Steep Grains for 1/2 hour

2. Strain grains and add to brew pot along with 1 gallon water

3. Add Malt Extract and allow to boil

4. When wort begins to boil, add 1/2 of the Hops and boil for 1 hour

5. After 1 hour, remove hops and add the other 1/2 of hops, boil for 1/2 hour

6. Last 15 minutes of boil, add Irish Moss

Notes: Cascade hops 7.3%, IBU's around 60, more of an IPA.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, Homebrew, Recipes

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Hops

2006-06-15T21:48:00.000-05:00

Boy, things have really changed in the past few years when it comes to hops. Seems like just yesterday that if you had hops reaching a 9% alpha acid, you had some really strong stuff. Most of my brewing books do not mention Simcoe, Warrior, or Yukama-Magnum, all hops that have an alpha content in the double digits.

I found a nice hops chart at Weekend Brewer that list the hops that they sell along with letting you know if they are bittering or aroma hops.

Also, a nice article from the Philadelphia Inquirer that pertains to hops and microbreweries. Part of that is reprinted below.

Joe Sixpack | Hybrid-hop Simcoe is hot

Philadelphia Inquirer
June 09, 2006

We thought, 'Man, wouldn't it be great to make a beer that would be dominated by Simcoe?

FORGET cascades hops. The newest beer craze is Simcoe.

Cascades, of course, is the classic West Coast hop, the small, vine-grown bud that gives beer its aroma, its bitterness, its spice. For 20 years, the fresh, aromatic, grapefruit-like Cascades virtually defined American-made craft beer, and it still reigns as one of the biggest sellers.

But six years ago, agriculture scientists in Washington State introduced a hybrid called Simcoe, and brewers have been boiling it big time ever since.

Yards Brewing, in Kensington, used it in its reformulated Philly Pale Ale recipe, and watched sales rocket. Troegs Brewing, in Harrisburg, adds it to Nugget Nectar Ale. In Delaware, Dogfish Head Brewing's Sam Calagione said his brewers were using Simcoe before it even had a name, when it was known only as 'Experimental Hop No. 555.' Today, he said, Dogfish Head tosses a 'load' of it into 90 Minute IPA.

Even savvy homebrewers are onto Simcoe. 'There's a latent buzz around it,' said Jason Harris, of Keystone Homebrew Supply in Montgomeryville. 'Simcoe's made a huge impact.'

Simcoe is so hot, Weyerbacher Brewing in Easton just named its newest beer after the plant: Simcoe Double IPA.

Read more at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, Hops, Simcoe, Warrior, Microbreweries

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Hefe Weizen Beer Recipe

2006-06-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

Summer is just about here and time to make a lighter type of beer. One style that tastes great during those hot, steamy days is a hefe weizen. Sure, it takes a few to get use to the taste (not your typical beer), but during the summer it sure hits the spot.

This recipe was taken from the Tastybrew recipe bank and is primarily geared to extract brewers.

Killer Bee Wheat

Name	Killer Bee Wheat
Description	A Perfectly Balanced Honey Weizen
Added by	Matt Wilson
Date Submitted	Sun, 15 Dec 2002 03:49 AM (GMT)
Ingredients
6# Wheat LME 3# Clover Honey 1/2# Carapils 2 oz Saaz hops 5 oz corn sugar Muntons Gold Ale Yeast 1 Tsp Irish Moss 1 package Knox unflavored gelatin
Preparation
8 oz Carapils in 2 gallons cold water, heat to 170 and hold 30 minutes.Remove Carapils and bring to boil. Add 6# Wheat LME and 1 oz Saaz in hop bag.Boil 45 minutes.Add 2# Clover Honey. Boil 10 minutes. Add 1oz Saaz and 1 Tsp Irish Moss in hop bag. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat add cold water to make 5.5 gallons. Cool to 80 degrees and pitch yeast. Primary ferment 3 days, rack to secondary fermenter.Pasterize 1# Clover Honey @ 180 degrees for 30 minutes, add to secondary fermenter for 14 days. Fine with 1 package Knox Gelatin 3 days before bottling. Condition 2 weeks @ 65-70 degrees.
Specifics
Style	Hefe-
Recipe Type	Extract
Batch Size	5 Gallons
Original Gravity	1.060
Final Gravity	1.018
Boiling Time	60 minutes
Primary Fermentation	plastic 3 days
Secondary Fermentation	glass 14 days
Other Specifics	IBU=10 color= 3HCU Alcohol content 5.4%
Comments
I tried this tonite after bottling on thanksgiving and I cant stop grinning! This is far and away the single best homebrew I ( or my wife and a few friends) have ever tried. It is very carbonated, next time I will cut the priming sugar back to 4 oz. The head is thick and tall and lasts the length of the glass.Color,clarity,and balance is perfect. I think the honey in the secondary really kicked it up a notch.This batch won't last long. Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, Hefe, Weizen, Recipe

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Blonde Ale

2006-06-05T21:19:00.000-05:00

With lawmower season upon us, now is the time to brew a lighter style of beer. This is and original recipe that has been generated using Promash software. The grains in this recipe are to be crushed and steeped for about and hour. Add the Irish moss when you put the second batch of hops in and allow to ferment for about a week.

This is a good base recipe to use to make other beers, so experiment with it.

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

03-A Light Ale,

Blonde Ale

Min OG: 1.045

Max OG: 1.060
Min IBU: 15

Max IBU: 33
Min Clr: 2 Max Clr: 8

Color Yellow Gold

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00

Wort Size (Gal): 3.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 6.00
Anticipated OG: 1.051

Plato: 12.65
Anticipated SRM: 6.3
Anticipated IBU: 18.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 30 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

---------------------------------------------

5.00 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract

.50 lbs. Crystal 10L
.50 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt

Hops

-------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Cascade Pellets for 30 min.
1.00 oz. Fuggle Pellets for 20 min.

Yeast
-----------------------------------

Lallemand Doric

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Blonde, Ale

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Making Beer the Easy Way

2006-05-11T21:40:00.000-05:00

I found this tutorial at Instructables.com. It doesn't get any easier than this except for maybe buying a commercially made beer. This is really for the true beginner and uses a lot of techinques that I have used and still use for making beer. One thing to be careful about is using the plastic water jug. Most companies will not take them back if you use them for making beer or wine. Also, I never use a bottle brush on my plastic jugs instead I use Oxi-Clean. Oxi-Clean will take out and clean the plastic jug almost 100% of the time and if you do need to clean inside the neck, you a soft cloth.

So, you've considered brewing your own beer but you're not yet willing to drop the cash for the entry level kit just yet. With a few simple pieces of equipment and ingredients here's how you can brew your own mini batch. In just a couple of weeks you can taste for yourself if homebrewing is a hobby you want to take to the next level.

Don't get me wrong, I think the entry level brew kits are a good value. They include some special equipment not used here that will make things easier. But, will you enjoy the beer or find the brewing process rewarding? I think so. This project will allow you to find out for yourself.

Step 1 Equipment

* Brew pot - any large kitchen pot that will hold a couple of gallons of water with room to spare to avoid boiling over.
* Kitchen strainer - to strain grains and hops before going to the fermenter
* Kitchen thermometer
* Large funnel
* Rolling pin - for crushing the grain
* 3 gallon container of bottled water - this will provide you with the water to make your beer and serve as your fermentation container
* Bottling container - An empty container of at least 3 gallons...could be another empty water bottle or a clean, scratch-free, food grade plastic bucket.
* 3 feet of 3/8" clear poly-vinyl tubing - for siphoning and fermentation air lock
* Bottles - there are a lot of options here and I'll cover some of them in the bottling step later

Read all the steps at Instructables.com

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Beermaking

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Brewer's Malt

2006-05-08T21:20:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting article on 2 row and 6 row malt that I found at Realbeer.com.

Brewers call malt "the soul of beer" but they might also add that malt contributes mightily to the different personalities we expect from beer. It's a big subject, so this week we'll discuss barley malt only and stick to the paler varieties.

Of all the barley grown, only one-quarter or less is used for malting. The rest is used to feed animals. Barley is well-suited for malting because it has the right components for yeast nutrition, it tastes good (homebrewers already know this -- if you aren't one, then ask to try some malt next time you visit a brewpub or tour a microbrewery), and it has a solid husk (protecting it at harvest, then later aiding the brewing process).

Barley is first of all divided by how many rows of grain there are in each ear -- either six or two.

Two-row is plumper and responsible for a softer, sweeter flavor. It is regarded as higher quality and long has been the standard in the traditional brewing nations (all of Europe and Great Britain).

Six-row barley is found more often in the United States and hotter Mediterranean lands. Europeans brewers are not alone in calling it less refined, and a beer made only with six-row is more likely to taste grainy and will probably show chill-haze because of excess proteins. In moderation, it lends a firmness and husky character to beer, which some ale brewers prefer.

Six-row is less efficient (yielding less extract from a mash) but because of higher levels of diastic enzymes and protein it is better suited for mashing adjuncts, such as corn or rice, that lack those materials. Thus it was (and is) a perfect barley malt for the style (light lager, with adjuncts) beer that came to dominate the U.S. beer landscape in the 20th century.

Within two-row there are the continental and maritime varieties. The continental barleys, such as those grown in the Czech Republic, are generally sweeter, nuttier and maybe oilier. The maritime barleys of Denmark and the United Kingdom are a bit cleaner and more delicate.

Then there are winter barleys and spring barleys, sown in the fall and later winter respectively. Winter barleys tend to be huskier, spring varieties softer and sweeter.

We'll spare you the details of the different manners in which barley may be malted, and just tell you that is another important variable. Sound confusing enough?

Over much of time, brewers have used the barley grown closest to home, often even malting it themselves. It's fairly recently, and mostly in the United States, that a brewer could order malt from halfway around the world so he or she could make a true-to-style Czech pilsner (with Moravian malt) or a Belgian dubbel (with two-row Belgian pale malt made from winter barley).

A quick summary of these pale options:

- Pilsner malt (2-row) from Europe. This is the palest two-row malt available, and is used in pilsners and other lagers.

- Lager malt (2-row) from the United States. Used in lagers of all colors, as wells as ales and steam beers.

- Lager malt (6-row) from North America. Excellent to use with a high percentage of adjuncts, but generally considered inferior in taste to 2-row.

- Pale ale malt (2-row) from Europe. This malt is what British-style ales are all about (70-90% of a stout is actually pale malt; more next week). The top British and Belgian pale malts are generally considered the best you can buy, and their flavors at quite similar, imparting a maltiness without being sulfury.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Malt, Barley

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Priming Chart

2006-05-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

Priming Chart for a 5 gallon batch

I found this chart in Charlie Papazian's book called The Home Brewer's Companion and thought I would replicate it for you. One of the reasons I am posting it is that I am going to try an experiment with "mini-kegging" my beer in a two gallon plastic container with a spigot. Plans are to see how long it can keep in the fridge and stay fresh and carbonated. I'm thinking that it will stay good for about 2 weeks max after tapping it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Dextrose, Honey, Molasses, Sugar, Syrup, Extract

Homebrew Term of the Day

2006-05-08T20:47:00.000-05:00

Hot Water Extract - The international unit for the total soluble extract of a malt, based on specific gravity. HWE is measured as liter*degrees per kilogram, and is equivalent to points/pound/gallon (PPG) when you apply metric conversion factors for volume and weight. The combined conversion factor is 8.3454 X PPG = HWE.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Extract< /P >

Beer Articles

2006-05-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

A couple of nice articles about making beer. I'm sure some of the info pertains to making wine too.

Bottle of Beer

By Michael Machosky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 4, 2006

If there's anything more satisfying in this world than sitting down with friends and a frosty mug of beer -- it might be sitting down and sharing a frosty mug of beer that you made yourself.

But that's just the payoff. There are almost as many reasons people get into home-brewing as there are bottles of beer on the wall. For some, it's the science that attracts them -- a grown-up version of childhood chemistry sets, with easily measurable results. For some, it's the art, the style, daring and detail that goes into each brew. Some want something very specific, like those who prefer hop-laden bitter beers, old-fashioned beers, or darker stouts and porters. Some just want a brew you can't get at the local pub.

To its most fervent adherents, home-brewing is more than a hobby. It's more like a personal quest for the Holy Grail of beer -- that magic elixir that will make all other stouts, porters, lagers and ales pale in comparison.

Here's suds in your eye

Brew pubs bring exploration of beer to a head

05/04/06
By Lane Page

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy," according to Benjamin Franklin or some other sage. In truth, there is question whether the wittiest of our Founding Fathers was indeed the originator of this quotation, but as some wags have responded, if Franklin didn't say it, he should have.

Obviously, someone did. And although it was neither Matt Hahn nor Frank Helderman, no doubt they concur. Hahn and Helderman are brewmasters at Howard County's own brew pubs, Rocky Run Tap & Grill in Columbia and the Ellicott Mills Brewing Co. in Ellicott City, respectively.

They also agree that freshness is the reason such happiness is to be achieved more readily from a pub-produced microbrew than a six- pack from the package goods store.

"Bottling is tough on a beer," says Helderman. "Without getting all technical, you have the possibility of introducing staling agents such as oxygen, getting light struck, sitting on a truck or getting filtered to the extent of stripping out the long chain protein molecules that contribute to the head and the mouth feel."

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Wine, Microbrew

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Dos Equis Clone Recipe

2006-05-01T20:37:00.000-05:00

I tried a Dos Equis Special Lager on Saturday and thought that it would make a nice recipe for a homebrewer to try. The Special Lager is a Pilsner style beer where the Amber is a Vienna Lager style. I usually refer to them as either Dos Equis Yellow (pilsner) or Dos Equis Amber.The recipe below was found at the Oklahoma Homebrew Club.

Ingredients for 6 gallons:

Grains:
8 lbs American 6 Row (Mash)
2 lbs Crystal 40L (Mash)
3.5 lbs Rice
1 lb Corn

Hops:
1 oz Saaz (3.7%) Boil 60 minutes (we used 1.5 oz with 2.29%)
1 oz Cluster (6.8%) Boil 60 minutes (we used 1 oz 5.98%)
1.5 oz Hallertauer (3.4%) Boil 15 minutes (we used 2 oz 2.25%)

Other Ingredients:
1 tsp. Irish Moss
5 tsp Gypsum
1 pkg XLWyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager (no starter)

Prepare: 12 gallons of water and added 5 teaspoon of gypsum
(2 grams of gypsum per gallon w/ 1 teaspoon = 5 grams)

Mashing Procedure:
Mash Efficiency: 70%
Add 3.63 gallons of water at 181F to heat mash to 158F
Add 1.29 gallons of boiling water to heat mash to 170F.
Sparge with 3.86 gallons of water to yield 6.00 gallons to primary.
Water Absorbed by Grain: 1.45 gallons
Water Evaporated during boil: 1.00 gallons

Notes:
With a kitchen pot, mash (cereal mash) corn-rice and 20.5 oz (5 oz of malt per pound of rice-corn) with 16 pints (1.5 qt. of water per pound of corn and 2 qt. for rice) of water at 153F for 20 minutes.

Bring the cereal mash to a boil in ten minutes and boil for 35 minutes.

Bring main mash (10 pounds of 6 row and crystal malt) into another pot with 10 to 15 qt. (20-30 pints) of water at 104F for 20 minutes (we added 26 pints).

Bring main mash to 145F for 30 minutes.

Add cereal mash to the main mash, adjust temperture to 158F for 30 minutes.

Go to 170F for 10 minutes then sparge-lauter.

Mash between 148F - 157F.

As soon as kettle bottom is covered add first wort hops and maintain wort temperature at approx. 170F during lautering.

Collect enough wort to yield 6 gallons of finished wort.

Boil uncovered at least 60 min.; longer to reduce DMS

Chill to 48F, areate well, pitch yeast from large starter.

Ferment at 48F until fermentation nearly stops, about 10 to 14 days, rack to secondary and reduce temperature by 4F per day to 32F. Lager six to seven weeks. (which we did and then bottled with 1 cup of priming sugar, stored at 65F for two weeks before returning to 32F freezer)

Stats:
O.G. 1.061
T.G. 1.015
Alc% 5.9
IBU 44.4
SRM 15.8

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Dos, Equis, Recipe

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Homebrewing Term of The Day

2006-05-01T20:22:00.000-05:00

Hopback - A vessel that is filled with hops to act as a filter for removing the break material from the finished wort.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Hopback

Homebrew Term of The Day

2006-04-26T22:31:00.000-05:00

Priming - The method of adding a small amount of fermentable sugar prior to bottling to give the beer carbonation.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Priming

Priming Chart

2006-04-25T22:50:00.000-05:00

Whenever I first began homebrewing I had a tough time fiquring out how much dextrose to use in priming my beer. After quite a few trials and errors (mostly errors) I did settle on 1.2 ounces per gallon of beer to be primed. If I had a 3 gallon batch, then I would need 3.6 ounces (1.2 x 3). I found this chart in The Homebrewer's Companion for different types of primers and how much to use.

The Homebrewer's Companion

For 5 Gallon Batches

Dextrose 3/4 cup

Honey 1 cup

Maple Syrup 1 1/4 cups

Brown Sugar 2/3 Cup

Cane or Beet Sugar 2/3 cup

Dried Malt Extract 1 1/4 cups

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Priming, Dextrose, Honey, Malt, Molasses

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Homebrew Term of the Day

2006-04-25T22:37:00.000-05:00

Cold Break - Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution when the wort is rapidly cooled prior to pitching the yeast.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Break

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Beer Convention

2006-04-24T20:43:00.000-05:00

I got to attend the annual Pennsylvania Malt Beverage Distributor's Association's meeting in Pittsburgh over the past weekend. Besides having training in alcohol laws and underage drinking prevention, they also have some fun things. I attended the Beer School seminar, which was to teach beer sellers how beer was made. The idea being, if you know how it is made, then you can better inform your customers. The class was run by a couple of home brewers and there were a couple of micro brewer's brewmasters there.

After, the seminar, there were numerous booths set-up with samples from quite a few breweries. Of course, the major breweries were there, but the Pennsylvania Room was the best. I got to sample beers from the following Pennsylvania mircobreweries:

Stoudts Brewery

Lion Brewery

The Church Brew Works

Erie Brewing Company

Victory Brewing

Troegs Brewery

Rolling Rock

Iron City

Penn Brewery

Straub Brewery

The best thing about the microbreweries is that they usually post on their websites what ingredients are in each beer. This allows us homebrewers a chance to replicate the many fine beers that are being made. Check out some of the sites.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, Homebrew, Stoudts, Lion, Erie, Victory, Troegs, Rock, Iron, Penn, Straub

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Hombrew Term of the Day

2006-04-24T20:08:00.000-05:00

Hopback - A vessel that is filled with hops to act as a filter for removing the break material from the finished wort.

Technorati Tags : Homebrew, Beer, Hopback

Needs to Hombrew

2006-04-20T23:27:00.000-05:00

Thought that this would be an interesting read.

Letter Home: Last Call

Mar, 2006 by Sgt. William Andrews, 3rd Infantry Division, Lutifiyah, Iraq

A soldier in Iraq misses the comforts of brewing. The old adage, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” rings in my head continuously as I pore over the myriad of pages from brewing magazines, product catalogs and homebrew clubs on the Internet. The clacking sound of the plastic airlock of my fermenter, at first nearly inaudible, grows into a thunderous stomp in my head as my concoction grows to life. The pungent smell of malt and hops that permeate the house on brew day seem to me like the fond memories of fresh-cut grass people recall when asked of childhood. And as these distant mental images and olfactory delights wash over me now, there are some of you out there who let your opportunities squander away. Your brew pots, bottles and kegs lay empty — dry as the Iraqi landscape that I now sit in day after brewless day.

Hombrew Term of the Day

2006-04-20T23:14:00.000-05:00

Enzymes - Protein-based catalysts that effect specific biochemical reactions.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew

Hombrew Term of the Day

2006-04-20T22:57:00.000-05:00

Aleurone Layer - The living sheath surrounding the endosperm of a barley corn, containing enzymes.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew

Homebrew Term for the Day

2006-04-19T20:29:00.000-05:00

Priming - The method of adding a small amount of fermentable sugar prior to bottling to give the beer carbonation.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Priming

Homebrewing Term of the Day

2006-04-18T20:11:00.000-05:00

Alpha Acid Units (AAU) - A homebrewing measurement of hops. Equal to the weight in ounces multiplied by the percent of alpha acids.

Technorati Tags : Homebrew, Beer, Hops

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Pete's Wicked Ale Clone Recipe

2006-04-17T20:25:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I have had a Pete's maybe I'll give it a try over the weekend. This recipe is mostly for extract brewers and is fairly simple.

2 cans Unhopped light Extract
1 lb Crystal Malt
1 oz. bullion hop
1 oz. Cascade hops
1 oz. Fuggles
Ale Yeast

Put the 1 lb crystal malt in hop bag and put in gallon of cold water. Bring water up to a boil, then removebag of crystal with strainer and throw away(you made a tea with the cystal).

Remove from heat and add 2 cans of Unhopped light extract. Bring back to a boil and add 1 oz bullion simmer for 30 minutes.

Then add 1oz. cascade hop and simmer for another 15 minutes. Then add 1/2 oz Fuggles simmer for 15 minutes.

At last minute add other 1/2 oz. of fuggles.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Pete's, Wicked, Ale, Recipe

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Homebrew Term of the Day

2006-04-17T20:15:00.000-05:00

Hops - Hop vines are grown in cool climates and brewers make use of the cone-like flowers. The dried cones are available in pellets, plugs, or whole.

Technorati Tags : Homebrew, Beer, Hops

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6,998 Drops and Other Beer Facts

2006-04-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

I found this on Bloglines and thought it was an interesting article. It was orginally posted on Slashfood.com. Hope you enjoy it !!!

6,998 drops and other beer facts

Posted Apr 11th 2006 5:11PM by Nicole Weston

We have some facts and figures about general drinking trends, but what about just beer? Here are a few fun bits of beer trivia, from Here's to Beer and other randomly collected factoids, to quiz your buddies when you're all relaxing over a brew and a game after work:

According to the Canadian Ace Brewing Co., there are 6,998 drops in a 12-ounce bottle of beer.
St. Arnold is recognized by the Catholic Church as the patron saint of brewing beer.
A 12-ounce beer has fewer calories than two slices of standard, sliced bread.
In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is illegal to give beer to a moose.
The country with the most brands of beer - 400 - is Belgium.
In Germany, you can buy beer popsicles.
Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of an empty [beer] glass

Technorati Tags : Wine, Homebrew, Winemaking, Beer

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Homebrew Term of the Day

2006-04-13T20:08:00.000-05:00

Blow-off - A type of airlock arrangement consisting of a tube exiting from the fermenter, submerging into a bucket of water, that allows the release of carbon dioxide and removal of excess fermentation material.

Technorati Tags : Homebrew, Beer, Blow-off

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Homebrew Term of the Day

2006-04-12T20:46:00.000-05:00

Decoction - A method of mashing wherein temperature rests are achieved by boiling a part of the mash and returning it to the mash tun.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Decoctin

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Homebrew Term of the Day

2006-04-11T20:14:00.000-05:00

Primary Fermentation - The initial fermentation activity marked by the evolution of carbon dioxide and Krausen. Most of the total attenuation occurs during this phase.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Primary, Fermentation

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Flying Fish Brewery - Farmhouse Summer Ale Clone Recipe

2006-04-10T20:31:00.000-05:00

I may be rushing on this one, since spring is only a few weeks old, but if you want to be enjoying this beer during the heat of the summer, now is the time to begin. Just imagine, hot day, cold beer and burgers on the grill. I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it. This is a nice beginning wheat beer for those of you who want to give it a try. Happy brewing !!!!

5 gallon/19 L, extract with grains

Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Coopers light malt extract syrup
2.2 lbs. (1.0 kg) Briess wheat dry malt extract
0.5 lbs. (0.2 kg) wheat malt
3 oz. (85 g) Carapils (dextrin) malt
3 oz. (85 g) pale 2-row malt (for sour mash)
1.0 AAU Styrian Golding hops
(0.25 oz./7g of 4.0% alpha acid)
3.5 AAU Magnum
(0.25 oz./1.8 g of 14.0% alpha acid)
2.1 AAU Styrian Golding hops
(0.53 oz./15 g of 4.0% alpha acid)
1.4 AAU Styrian Golding hops
(0.35 oz./10 g of 4.0% alpha acid)
White Labs WLP005 (British Ale) or
Wyeast 1098 (British Ale) yeast
0.75 cup of corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
For the sour mash, start 2–3 days in advance. Steep 3 oz. (85 g) 2-row pale malt in a pint of 150 ºF (66 ºC) water, then cover and let sit for 2–3 days. On brew day, steep the sour mash along with the wheat and dextrin malt grains in 3 gallons (11.4 L) of water at 152 ºF (67 ºC) for 30 mins. Remove grains from wort, add the first wort addition of Styrian Golding hops, malt syrup and dry malt extract, tnen bring to a boil. Add the Magnum hops and boil for 60 mins. Add the second addition of Styrian Golding hops for the last 30 mins. of the boil and add the last addition of Styrian Golding hops for the last 2 mins. of the boil. Now add wort to 2 gallons cool water in a sanitary fermenter and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons (20.9 L). Cool the wort to 75 ºF (24 ºC), aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 68 ºF (20 ºC) and hold at this temperature until the yeast has finished fermentation. Bottle and enjoy!

All-grain option:
This is a single infusion mash. Do the sour mash the same as above. On brew day, add 8.7 lbs. (3.9 kg) of 2 row, 0.5 lbs. (0.2 kg) wheat malt and 3 oz. (85 g) of dextrin malt to complete the grain bill. Mash grains and sour mash at 152 ºF (67 ºC) for 60 mins. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 mins. and have a 5.5-gallon (20.9-L) yield (about 7 gallons or 26 L). Lower the Styrian Golding hops in the 30-min. boil to 0.5 oz. (14 g) to account for higher extraction ratio of a full boil. The rest of the recipe is the same as above.

Recipe from Brew Your Own.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Ale, Summer, Recipe, Flying, Fish

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Homebrew Term of The Day

2006-04-10T20:28:00.000-05:00

Ale - A beer brewed from a top-fermenting yeast with a relatively short, warm fermentation.

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Priming Your Beer

2006-03-30T23:06:00.000-05:00

Whenever I first started homebrewing, the toughest thing for me get right was priming my beer. My first batches were either under carbonated or over carbonated. A few tweaks here and there and now I have a basic idea. Still, I use more art than science. The following article from Brewrats.org gives a more scientific approach and hopefully will help you from experiencing what I did.

by Mark Hibberd (Bayside Brewers Club, Melbourne, Australia)
mfh@dar.csiro.au

Most homebrewers carbonate their beer by adding priming sugar at bottling time. Usual instructions call for about a teaspoon of sugar per bottle. But exactly how much sugar is needed and what types of sugar are suitable? And what can you do if a beer is over- or under- carbonated?

Carbonation levels

The amount of carbon dioxide in a beer can usefully be described in terms of the volumes of CO2, i.e. how many volumes of CO2 (at atmospheric pressure) are dissolved in one volume of beer. This terminology is familiar to those who keg. Charts for kegging systems show the gas pressure to apply at each temperature to achieve a particular carbonation level. If this pressure is held for several days, the carbonation reaches its equilibrium value, i.e. the beer will absorb all the CO2 it can at that temperature. In bottle conditioning, the CO2 is produced by the fermentation of an accurate dosing of priming sugar.

Read More

If you are not into reading the article, check out this Priming Calculator at Tastybrew.com

Technorati Tags : Homebrew, Beer, Priming, Carbonation

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Fat Tire Amber Ale Clone Recipe

2006-03-28T00:36:00.000-05:00

Fat Tire Amber Ale
(5 gallons, extract with grains)

Ingredients:

o 5 lbs. Laaglander plain extra-light DME
o 0.50 lb. crystal malt (20° Lovibond)
o 0.50 lb. crystal malt (40° Lovibond)
o 0.50 lb. carapils malt
o 0.50 lb. Munich malt
o 0.50 lb. biscuit malt
o 0.50 lb. chocolate malt
o 3 AAUs Willamette pellet hops (0.66 oz. at 4.5% alpha acid)
o 1.33 AAUs Fuggle pellet hops (0.33 oz. at 4% alpha acid)
o 2 AAUs Fuggle pellet hops (0.50 oz. at 4% alpha acid)
o 1 tsp. Irish moss
o 2/3 to 3/4 cup corn sugar to prime
o Wyeast 1056 or BrewTek CL-10

Step by step:

Steep specialty grains in 3 gallons of water at 154° F for 45 minutes. Remove grains and add dried malt extract. Bring to boil and add 0.66 oz. Willamette pellet hops. Boil for 60 minutes and add Irish moss. Boil 10 minutes and then add 0.50 oz. Fuggle hops. Boil another 20 minutes, add remaining Fuggles and remove from heat. Cool to about 70° F and transfer to fermenting vessel with yeast. Ferment at 64° to 68° F until complete (7 to 10 days), then transfer to a secondary vessel, or rack into bottles or keg with corn sugar. (Try lowering the amount of priming sugar to mimic the low carbonation level of Fat Tire.) Lay the beer down for at least a few months to mellow and mature for best results.
All-grain option: Omit extract and mash 6 lbs. pale malt with specialty malts in 9 quarts of water to get a single infusion mash temperature of 154° F for 45 minutes. Sparge with hot water of 170° F or more to get 5.5 gallons of wort. Bring to boil and use above hopping and fermentation schedule.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrew, Fat, Tire, Recipe

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Newcastle Clone Recipe

2006-03-20T19:03:00.000-05:00

Simple little recipe that tastes similar to Newcastle Brown Ale. Personally, I like to add an ounce or two of biscuit malt to add a little more complexity.

Ingredients

Grains:

2 oz 60L Crystal Malt

2 oz Chocolate Malt

1 oz Black Malt

Extracts:

6 lbs Light DME

Hops:

6.5 HBUs Target Hops (Bittering) I usually use 1 oz of Fuggles Hops

1/2 oz East Kent Goldings (Flavor)

Yeast:

British Ale Yeast

Instructions:

Put the specialty grains into the muslin bag and steep in 150 degree water for 20 minutes. Pull the bag out, allowing it to drain freely into the brew kettle. There is no need to "squeeze" the bag. Squeezing the bag will only release tannins that will harm your beer.

Add 170 degree water to the brew kettle to bring the total volume to 2.5 gallons. As you add this water, run it over your bag of grains to sparge ("rinse") the rest of the grain water out of the bag.

Bring kettle to a boil, then remove it from the burner. Stir in the Dry Malt Extract (DME), and put Target (Bittering) hops in a muslin bag (tied closed) and add into the kettle.

Return to heat and boil for 45 minutes. Add the 1/2 oz East Kent Goldings to the muslin bag and boil for 15 minutes.

Cool to room temperature, add water to bring total volume to 5 gallons. Stir vigorously to incorporate air into the wort. Pitch (add) your yeast.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Recipe, Homebrewing, Newcastle

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Braggot

2006-03-13T18:36:00.000-05:00

I decided to go way back for a beer recipe. This style of beer was popular during the Medieval times and I thought that it would be a fun beer to make. After the recipe is a little history about this style of beer.

Ingredients:

3.3 pounds, wildflower honey
3.3 pounds, amber malt extract
2 pounds, wheat extract
1 pound, light malt extract
1/2 pound, 10L crystal malt
2 ounces, Northern Brewer hops (8.0%), 30 minute boil
2 ounces, Kent Goldings pellets (4.6%), 20 minute boil
1/2 ounce, Kent Goldings pellets, 15 minute boil
1/2 ounce, Kent Goldings pellets, finishing (10 minutes)
Irish moss, last 5 minutes
Whitbread ale yeast
1/2 teaspoon, yeast energizer

Procedure:

Step mash. Crush grains and add to 3 qts water (with gypsum dissolved) at 130F. Maintain mash temperature at 125 for 30 min (protein rest).

Add 3 quarts of boiling water to mash and maintain temperature at 158 for 1 hour (saccharification rest).

Drain wort and sparge grains with 5 quarts water at 170.

Add to the wort in the brewpot the malt extract and brown sugar. Bring to a boil.

After 30 minutes of boil, add 1/2 ounce of Northern Brewer hops and 1/2 ounce of Fuggles hops.

After 15 more minutes, add an additional 1/2 ounce of each hop.

Boil for a total of 1- -1/2 hours.

Ten minutes before the end of the boil, add the Irish moss.

Five minutes before the end of the boil, add 1 ounce of Fuggles hops (for aroma).

Cool the wort and add to the primary fermenter with sufficient water to make 5 gallons.

Pitch yeast when temp of wort is below 75. Ferment at 65 for 5 days. Rack to secondary and ferment for 15 more days at 65. Bulk prime with corn sugar before bottling.

History of Braggot

From Everything2.com

Braggot (aka Bracket, Braket, Brackett...) is a malted beverage made with honey and barley. It is usually categorized as a type of mead, except for when hops are added - then it is usually considered a beer. The honey/barley ratio should be about 50/50, in the amounts used in the recipe and in the taste of the braggot. Both should be clearly defined, with an overall sweetness. Braggot is a very old drink, and was very popular in Medieval Europe. Chaucer wrote about it, as did several other authors.

Modern braggot is made usually as novelty ales by micro-breweries or by wineries specializing in Honeywine. Braggot is also very popular in home brewery for the same reasons it was popular in ancient times - they were as easy to brew as beer, but due to the honey were very high in alcohol content (generally around 10-12%).

What's Braggot?

by George de Piro

A long time ago, before the days of television and internet surfing, people actually had to rely on social interaction for entertainment. The local pub was a place where people would gather to discuss life, argue relevant issues, and drink a little something to make the night seem warmer.

Mead was a popular choice for those wanting more alcohol than the average beer. A fermented beverage made from honey, meads can exceed 10% alcohol by volume (ABV). They were sometimes spiced to add complexity to their flavor.

Braggot was made by blending mead and beer, to produce a strong drink with unique flavors. This blending was often done right at the bar, but was sometimes performed by the brewer. Today there are few modern examples of braggot produced commercially.

From Evans Ale

Technorati Tags : Braggot, Homebrew, Europe, Medieval, Beer, Recipes

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Guinness Clone

2006-03-09T10:52:00.000-05:00

It's probably a little late to make your batch of "Guinness" for St. Patrick's day but here is a recipe for making Guinness at home. The original recipe is for an all-grain brewer, but I have listed the substitutions for the extract brewer,

Ingredients:

7 pounds, Crushed pale malt
2 pounds, Flaked barley
1 pound, crushed roast barley
1 ounce, bullion hops
3 ounces, northern brewer hops
1 tsp. CaCO3 (if you are in a soft water area)
yeast starter made from a bottle of Guinness
OG: 1045-1053

Extract brewers: Substitute 2 cans of a light extract for the 7 pounds of pale malt. Also, if you don't want to make a yeast starter use Whitelabs Irish Ale yeast or Wyeast Irish Ale yeast.

I generally boil at 60 minutes, 30 minutes and 15 minutes and add my hops in at those intervals. At the 15 minute mark, I also use Irish moss to help settle the solids.

More Beer Recipes

Technorati Tags : Guinness, Beer, Recipe, Home brewing

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5 Days of Pain

2006-03-08T20:16:00.000-05:00

5 days of Pain + 2 Days in the Hospital - 1 Gallbladder = No blogging activity.

Yes, there have been no posts for the past week do to what ended up being an 8mm gallstone that had blocked my gale bladder. This is one pain that you do not want to wish on your worst enemy. I am at home recouping and should be back posting on Thursday the 9th.

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Arrogant Bastard Clone Recipe

2006-02-27T18:30:00.000-05:00

Arrogant Bastard Clone

Place crushed grains in water and steep at 155 degrees for 60 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes, adding the hops according to schedule. Add Irish Moss last 5 minutes of the boil. Cool wort and pitch yeast. Primary ferment at about 68 F for 7 to 10 days. Secondary fermentation optional.

Style Strong Ale

Recipe Type All Grain

Batch Size 5 gallons

Original Gravity 1.074

Final Gravity 1.018

Boiling Time 90 minutes

Primary Fermentation Glass, ~ 68 F, 7-10 days

Secondary Fermentation optional

Other Specifics 75 IBUs, about 7% abv.

Aging will mellow the Bastard so drink it young if you want to prove your worth.

Extract Brewers can substitute Light Malt Extract for the 11.5 pounds of pale malt. Should take about 2 three pound cans.

Recipe from Tastybrew.com

Technorati Tags : Arrogant_Bastard, Beer, Recipe, Homebrewing

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Scotch Ale

2006-02-22T21:53:00.000-05:00

I stopped into our local brewpub (Marzoni's) for a few beers and some fine grub. They make six beers that are the everyday beers and usually have 2 different ones on tap. During October, you can have an Octoberfest beer, Spring time was a Sassion, etc. Currently, they have a Scotch Ale and an Imperial Stout on tap. I tried the Scotch Ale and for those of you that do not like a lot of hops, then this beer is one to make. You can taste the malt in a Scotch Ale and is a nice drinking beer. My wife even liked it and she is not a beer drinker. So this week's recipe is a Scotch Ale.

This recipe has a variety of procedures that may be new to some beginners. Give it a try and see how well you do.

Read This Week's Recipe

Or, If you want to try an easier recipe, here is one to try.

Ingredients:

6.6 lb Ireks munich light LME
2.0 lb Ireks munich malt (10L ?)
0.5 lb M&F crystal malt (60L)
0.5 lb Ireks crystal malt (20L)
3.0 oz M&F chocolate malt (350L)
4.0 oz white wheat malt (2L)
2.0 oz Hugh Baird peat smoked malt (2L)
1.0 oz East Kent Goldings (whole, 60 min boil)
1.0 oz Fuggles (whole, 15 min boil)
1 tsp Irish moss (rehydrated, 15 min boil)
Wyeast 1338 (european ale, 1 qt starter)
4.5 oz corn sugar (primimg)

Procedure:

- mashed all the grains in 4 qts of 156F water for 1 hr
- sparged with 4 qts of 170F water
- SG of runnings: 1.036 in ~7 qts
- added LME, made volume up to 3 gal, boiled for 1 hr
- chilled with immersion chiller, aerated, made volume up to 5 gal, aerated some more, pitched 1 qt starter
- fermented at 65 - 68F

To do the mash on my stove, I just heat up the mash water to ~165F (in my kettle) then drop in the grain bag containing the crushed grains. Stir real well, let it sit for a minute, then check the temp. If its to low (which it will be) either add small amounts of boiling water (1 cup at a time, stir, let it sit for a minute, then check the temp) or add heat with the stove burner on medium heat while gently stirring constantly. After you hit the mash temp, cover it up and let it sit for 1 hour. At the end of the 1 hour, I lift the grain bag just above the surface of the wort and sparge by pouring the sparge water over the grains gently with a measuring cup.

As you can see, my mash setup/technique is pretty simple and doesn't require a lot of extra equipment. I'm not trying to get the max possible extraction from the grains, only the flavor/body that was missing before I started doing these partial mashes.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Recipe, Homebrewing, Ale, Scotch

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Stuck Fermentation

2006-02-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

Weekly Troubleshooting Tip

I have had troubles in the past with different wines and beers not starting out as they should or stopping before being complete Most recently, a cherry concentrate took a couple of days to get started. I fiqured it was due to low temperature and took the steps to correct it.

This article from Grapestompers is a very good article and covers most of the problems with a stuck fermentation. It is a long post, but is really worth the time to read it.

Have you ever started a wine - and fermentation seems to start normally enough - but all of a sudden, the signs of fermentation (bubbles in your airlock, or falling Specific Gravity, for example) seem to slow down or stop too soon? If so, you've experienced what's known as a "stuck fermentation."

Definition
By definition, a stuck fermentation is a fermentation that has stopped before all the available sugar in the wine has been converted to alcohol and CO2. Were you to give up on the wine at this point, it would taste semi-sweet and pretty bad. That would be a shame, and what's more, a waste of good juice!

How did this situation occur? More importantly, what can you do to restart fermentation and salvage your wine?

Is It Really Stuck?
Before we dive into these questions, we should first make sure that our wine is stuck. Ask yourself these questions before you start dumping yeasts, additives, and chemicals willy-nilly into your carboy:

What is the SG (specific gravity) of your wine? Do you have proof that the SG is no longer falling, or is tremendously sluggish? If you don't know (or aren't sure how to do this), we recommend you see our article on how to use the hydrometer. It explains the ins and outs of measuring your wine's SG.
Do you have a good airtight seal at your airlock? Is your airlock firmly seated in the bung, and is the bung securely seated in the mouth of the carboy? If not, this might explain why you don't see bubbles in your airlock.
Are you fermenting in hot weather or in a hot area? Yeast works faster under higher (yet tolerable) temperatures, so your wine may actually be finished fermenting before you realize it.

Luckily, stuck fermentations don't occur very often - but when they do, it's important to make corrections right away and get the fermentation going again.

Causes of Stuck Fermentations
More than likely, the cause of a stuck fermentation centers around the wine yeast. Either something in the wine environment is preventing the yeast from working properly, or there is a problem with the yeast itself.

Even if the proper yeast is used, most experienced vintners know that wine yeast is pretty particular when it comes to fermenting wine to dryness - the proper environmental conditions (such as cleanliness and temperature) must be met, and nutrients (such as a balanced source of DAP [diammonium phosphate], amino acids, minerals, and vitamins) need to be available for the yeast to continue their hard work.

Wine yeast is most happy when:

It's not too hot, and not too cold
There's lots of food to eat
No killer agents are present
They live in sanitary conditions
Oxygen is available (to kick off fermentation)

Sounds a lot like humans, huh? Using a little common sense, then (which vintners seem to have a lot of!), we can easily extrapolate the major causes of a stuck fermentation:

Extreme fermentation temperatures - too high or too low
Using unsanitized equipment - dirty or unsanitary equipment increases the possibility that microbiological factors such as wild killer yeasts and bacteria will spoil your wine
Using old yeast - weakened or expired/out-of-date
Incorrect yeast used - match the proper yeast for your wine (in the case of buying wine concentrate kits from grapestompers, this is automatically done for you)
Yeast not rehydrated before pitching - always rehydrate yeast according to manufacturer's suggestions
Yeast rehydrated at too low or too high a temperature - this can kill a large percentage of yeast cell population
Temperature shock when rehydrated yeast is introduced to must - try to allow no more than a 5-7° C differential between yeast mixture and must
Sulfite levels too high - adding too much metabisulfite; failing to wait 24 hours after Campden applied to must before pitching yeast; or high must pH, which can lead to high fermentation rate
Pesticide residue on the exterior surface of grapes or fruits - wash all grapes or fruits well before processing
Lack of nutrients, including a lack of nitrogen or certain amino acids
Extremely high starting SG - too much sugar in must at the outset
Sugar has all been utilized - you don't want your starting SG to be too low either!
Too much CO2 in your wine - don't forget to degas
Naturally occurring sorbate in must - as in the case of blueberries

Prevention of Stuck Fermentations
Here are some things the home winemaker can do to prevent stuck fermentations:

Monitor and ensure proper fermentation temperatures
Ensure proper sanitation - learn how to sanitize equipment
Use fresh yeast
Use the proper yeast for the wine you're making - don't guess or use a packet of yeast just because it's handy
Properly rehydrate yeast before pitching
Pitch the yeast within 20 minutes of rehydrating it
Maintain proper free SO2 levels - the amount of metabisulfite to add to your wine depends on pH of wine
Add yeast nutrient before pitching yeast - Item # 2733
Keep your starting SG to reasonable levels (1.090 - 1.100 or lower). If you don't currently have a hydrometer, buy one (they're inexpensive - about $5) and learn how to use it.
Aerate the must properly by vigorous stirring, just before pitching the yeast. This will introduce the oxygen needed to "kick off" fermentation.

Treatment of Stuck Fermentations
And here's what to do if you get stuck... and remember - always start with the simplest things first. Resist the urge to add yeast or additives until you've tried the easy things.

Adjust the temperature of your wine. In most cases we've seen, simply warming your wine to 70-75° F for a couple of days will get the ball rolling.
Rouse the yeast by swishing or stirring the lees (trub) - sometimes moving the yeast around in the wine will get fermentation going again.
WARNING: Although it may be tempting, don't add vitamins (yeast nutrient) during stuck fermentations. Leftover vitamins can stimulate spoilage microbes. Only add a yeast nutrient before or as you pitch your yeast. If you want to add a yeast energizer at this point (which is not the same thing as yeast nutrient), that's OK. Simply go to the local drug store and ask the pharmacist for some Thiamin HCL (thiamin hydrochloride). Add 25 mg. per gallon of wine and mix well.
Remove the old yeast by racking the wine, then re-inoculate with fresh yeast, preferably a killer strain like Lalvin EC-1118 or Red Star Premier Cuvee. In a pinch, you could even use a Red Star Champagne yeast. We want to get rid of the old yeast because yeast cells seem able to detect the presence of other dying cells, and are more likely to get "lazy" themselves.
If you detect there is a nitrogen deficiency (less than 200 mg/L fermentable nitrogen), addition of DAP (diammonium phosphate dibasic - commonly known in the winemaking industry as Fermaid*) is called for.

If none of the above seem to help restart your fermentation within a couple or three days, it's time to bring in the heavy hitters:

Make a yeast starter by pulling off approximately 1/2 gallon of must, and add 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer (thiamin HCL) and 1 packet of "killer" or champagne yeast. Mix well, cover loosely and place in a warm spot. Once you have a vigorous fermentation you can add it back to the original must. OR...
Make a different kind of starter: use about a 1/2 cup of warm water, dissolve 1 teaspoon of sugar in the water, add some orange juice to this mix, make sure the temperature is about 90° F, before adding a packet of Red Star Premier Cuvee or Lalvin EC-1118 yeast to this mixture. Wait until it really gets working. Take about a gallon of your must and warm it up to about 68° to 70° F. Now add the yeast starter to the gallon of must, as it starts to work and gets going, SLOWLY add small portions of the stuck fermentation to that which is working. You should not add more than a quart, make sure the temperature of that which you are adding is at least 70° F. As the volume of the working must gets larger, you can add larger portions to the fermentation. Make sure the temperature is at least 70° F before you add it.

Using one of these methods should help get your fermentation restarted.

References
Clicking on any of the reference links below will open a new browser window:

http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/oldsite/nsurvey.html
http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/archives/ven3w00/log0002/0001.html
http://www.fst.vt.edu/Zoecklein/Fermentationissues.html
http://www.teleport.com/~wineman/feb99.html
http://www.wynboer.co.za/recentarticles/0399ferment.php3
http://www.wynboer.co.za/recentarticles/0299pinotage.php3
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/faculty/acree/fs430/lectures/thk35yeastnutrients.html
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/yeast.asp
http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt12.html
http://www.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/lalvin.html

Technorati Tags : wine, beer, fermentation

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India Pale Ale

2006-01-31T21:08:00.000-05:00

Beer Recipe of the Week

Orginally From: Beer Recipes.Org

India Pale Ale (2gal)

Category

India Pale Ale

Recipe Type

All Grain

If you haven't tried mashing yet, you really should. You can start small and grow as equipment and funds permit. Also, by starting small, you don't have a large sum invested in equipment if you decide mashing isn't for you.

Fermentables

2.5 lb	pale malt
5 oz	crystal malt (80L)

Hops

1 oz	willamette hops 5%
.5 oz	willamette hops (finish)

Yeast

Wyeast #1028 London ale

Procedure

This is a 2-gallon batch. Mash in 5 quarts 132 degrees (140 degree strike heat). Adjust mash pH to 5.3. Boost temperature to 150 degrees. Mash 2 hours, maintaining temperature at 146-152 degrees. Mash out 5 minutes at 168 degrees. Sparge with 2 gallons of 165 degree water. Boil 90 minutes, adding hops in last hour. Add finishing hops 5 minutes before end of boil. Ferment at 70 degrees, 6 days in primary, 4 days in secondary.

Submitted by: Todd Enders

Technorati Tags : Beer, Recipe, Beer_Making, IPA, India, Ale

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Mr. Beer

2006-01-26T00:46:00.000-05:00

I've talked about using a Mr. Beer fermenter when I first started out making homemade beer. Well. here is another person's view on his first attempt at beer making and it pretty much sums up the Mr. Beer brewing process.

From Nothing to See Here

Well, my first attempt at home brewing with this little kit turned out pretty good, I must say. It’s not the best beer I’ve ever had, but it didn’t turn out to be totally bad either.

I’ve read a lot of bad things about this kit on the ‘net since I started looking around, so I figured I’d post about my own experiences with it.

Firstly, it’s about as straightforward and easy to do as can be. Brewing with this thing is a total no-brainer. Here’s the instructions, simplified:

Read More

Technorati Tags : Mr_Beer, Beer, Beer_Making, Home_Brewing

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Sweet Mead

2006-01-23T19:07:00.000-05:00

Ingredients: (for 1 gallon)

5 pounds, Honey
1 teaspoon, Citric Acid
1/4 pint, Strong Tea
1 package, Champagne Yeast
Yeast Nutrient

Procedure:

Boil 1 quart of water, honey and citric acid for seven minutes. Then the add the tea and boil for five more minutes. The mixture was then added to 48 FL. oz. of cold water in the one gallon jug. The wort was then cooled overnight to 70 degrees. Add yeast and yeast nutrient. Ferment for four months.

Technorati Tags : Honey, Mead, Wine, Beer, Recipe
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Sierra Nevada Clone Recipe

2006-01-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

6.6# light unhopped malt extract
1/2# Cara-pils
1/2# caramel
1 oz. Perles (boil) 8.5 alpha
1/2 oz. Cascade 4.6(?) alpha (15 min. remaining)
1/2 oz. Cascade 4.6(?) alpha (5 min.)
Wyeast 1056

Procedure:

Specialties steeped 1 hour at 155-160 deg. F (68-71 deg. C). 1 hour boil.

Specifics:

OG: 1048
FG: 1010
Primary: 8 days
Secondary 12 days +

Technorati Tags : Sierra, Nevada, Pale_Ale, Beer, Recipe

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Basic Equipment for Making Wine or Beer

2006-01-17T22:16:00.000-05:00

Most people think that you need a lot of equipment and spend a lot of money to get into making your own beer or wine. Not true. I use a lot of stuff from my kitchen. There are a few inexpensive items you will need to purchase.

Items you need

6 gallon food grade bucket with a lid that has a hole to fit airlocks

hydrometer

stainless steel pot (12qt to 20qt)

funnel

airlocks

thermometer - floating one is great. I use an electronic because it is easier.

rolling pin - to crush grains

This basic equipment assumes that you are using juices to make wine and either liquid or dry malt to make beer. In other words, real simple techniques. As you advance in either one, you will want to pick up more equipment, but this should get you started.

Technorati Tags : Equipment, Wine, Beer
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Basic Stout Recipe

2006-01-17T21:09:00.000-05:00

This is a fun recipe to experiment with. I usually like to add about 4 ounces of a crystal malt to mellow out the taste for my friends that are not stout drinkers.

6-8 pounds dark malt extract
1/2-1 pound roasted barley
1/2-1 pound black patent malt
3-4 ounces bittering hops (e.g., Bullion)
small amount aromatic hops (optional)
ale yeast

Technorati Tags : Stout, Recipe, Making_Beer
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Octoberfest Beer Recipe

2006-01-15T16:09:00.000-05:00

6.6# Northwestern Gold Malt Extract

1/2# Caramel 30L Grain

1# Munich Grain Malt

1 oz - Hallertau 3.7% AA-60 min

1 oz - Hallertau -30 min

3/4 cup - Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast 2206 - Make 1/4 gal of starter using 1/2# Northwestern Extract Co. DME. Boil for 15 min let cool, add

yeast and let stand 24 hrs.

Mash grains at 150 degrees for 30 min, add to 3 gls of water. Remove from heat and add extract. Bring to a

boil and add hops as scheduled. Cool wort using prefered method, and add cold water to bring the batch up

to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast starter.

OG: 1:055

IBUs: 20

This recipe won the Marzen Catagory at the Dixie Cup in Houston TX.

Source: Charles Sule - Lousianna

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Lagers

Page 14

Japanese Rice Beer

3.3# Northwestern Midwestern Light Malt Extract

2# Rice Syrup

1/2# Carapils Malt

1 oz - Saaz 3.1% AA-45 min

1/2 oz - Cascade 4.3% -30 min

3/4 cup - Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast 2112 - Make 1/4 gal of starter using 1/2# Northwestern Extract Co. DME. Boil for 15 min let cool, add

yeast and let stand 24 hrs.

Steep grains at 150 degrees for 30 min, add to 3 gls of water. Remove from heat and add extract. Bring to a

boil and add hops as scheduled. Cool wort using prefered method, and add cold water to bring the batch up

to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast starter.

OG: 1:041

IBUs: 17

Source: Northwestern Extract Co.

Honey Lager

6# Northwestern Gold Malt Extract

1# Wild Flower Honey

1/2# Carapils Malt

1 1/2 oz - Cascade Hop Plugs 6.6% AA-60 min

1/2 oz - Cascade Plug 6.6% -10 min

1 tsp - Iriah Moss - 15 min

2/3 cup - Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast 2007 -

Steep grains at 150 degrees for 30 min, add to 3 gls of water. Remove from heat and add extract. Bring to a

boil and add hops as scheduled. Add honey at last 15 minutes of boil. Cool wort using prefered method, and

add cold water to bring the batch up to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast (starter prefered) to wort that is cooled to 65-70

degrees F. Ferment primary at 50 degrees F for 14 days and secondary at 50 degrees F for 14 days

OG: 1:045

TG: 1:011

Source: Joel Beckman - Minnesota

For malt syrup and dry malt specifications click here

back to top

Lagers

Page 15

SPECIALITY BEERS

These are beer recipes using any combination of unusual ingredients. Speciality recipes include beers using

primarily Wheat Malt, Rice Syrups, Spices, Smoke, or Exotic Ingredients (pumpkin, etc.).

Summer Wheat

Extract Pumpkin Ale

Japanese Rice Beer

Brown Bess -Smoked Bitter

Nutty Wheat Ale

Summer Wheat

6.6# - Northwestern Weizen Syrup

1 oz - Fuggles - 30 min

1 tsp - Irish Moss @ 15 minutes

4 Lbs - Frozen Blackberries

1 pkg - Edme Ale Yeast

3/4 cup - Priming Sugar

Boil extract in 1 1/2 gallons water. Add hops as scheduled. Dump hot wort with cold water to make 5 gallons.

Add frozen blackberries and pitch yeast. Rack to secondary on the seventh day.

OG: 1.040, TG: 1.013, Bitterness: 9 IBUs (plenty of room for even a non-hop head.)

Source: Dan Poe - Maryland

Extract Pumpkin Ale

Ingredients:

6 pounds Northwestern Golden malt extract

1 pounds amber malt

10 ounces pure maple syrup

1-1/2 ounces Fuggles hops for 60 minutes

3 pounds sliced up pumpkin (smaller “sweet” pumpkin, not the big halloween kind)

1-1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

1-1/2 teaspoons Allspice

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

1-1/2 ounces fresh grated Ginger root

1/2 ounce Fuggles finishing hops

Wyeast #1056 (American Ale)

Procedure:

Cut the pumpkin into 1 inch cubes, but leave out the gooey inside and seeds. Add the pumpkin for the last 10

minutes of the boil along with all the spices.

Leave the pumpkin in the primary, then rack off the pumpkin after about 4 days. Leave in the secondary for

two weeks, then bottle-age for another couple of weeks Yield: 5 gallons

Source: Jamey Moss - Cats Meow III

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Page 16

Japanese Rice Beer

3.3# - Northwestern Gold Syrup

2# - Northwestern Rice Syrup 1/2# - Carapil Grain (Dextrine) 1 oz - Saaz 3.1AAU- 45 min

1/2 oz - Cascade 4.3AAU - 30 minutes

1 pkg - Wyeast 2112 or Dry Lager Yeast (started)

3/4 cup - Priming Sugar

Steep grain and bring volume to 3 gallons. Add extract then bring to a boil. Be sure not to scorch extract. Add

hops as scheduled. Cool wort and bring volume up to 5 gallons.

OG: 1.041, TG: 1.010, IBUs: 17.5

Source: Northwestern Extract Co.

Merry Christmas! Ale

Ingredients: (for 5-1/2 gallons)

6.60 lb. Northwestern Gold LME

1.00 lb. Crystal 80L

0.50 lb. Chocolate malt

0.50 lb. Brown Sugar

0.50 lb. Honey

1.00 oz. Northern Brewer 7.8% 60 min

1.00 oz. Fuggles Leaf 3.8% 15 min

1 tsp cardamom

2 oz grated ginger

5 3 inch cinnamon sticks

Zest from rind of 4 large oranges

1 tsp Irish moss

3/4 c. Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast #1056 American ale yeast

Yeast nutrient

Procedure:

Prepare yeast starter. Crush specialty grains and steep for 30 min. Add LME, brown sugar, and bittering hops

and begin boil. At 30 min, add honey, cinnamon, and cardamom and half of the orange zest and ginger. At 15

min, add Irish moss, flavoring hops, and remaining ginger and orange zest. Cool, aerate and pitch yeast.

Ferment at 70-74^F. Rack to a secondary after 7 days and store at 70^F. After another 14 days, bottle beer.

Specifics: IBU: 28

Source: Philip Gravel - Cats Meow III

Autumn Maple Wheat

Ingredients:

6# - Northwestern Weizen Malt Extract

32 oz - Pure Grade A Maple Syrup

1/2# - Carapils

1/2# - Caramel 10L

1 oz - Cascade Hops 4.4% - 60 min

1056 Wyeast

Steep grains usual fashion, and add extract. Add Maple Syrup 15 minutes before end of the boil. Ferment five

days in primary and two weeks in secondary.

Source: Dan Thurk - Minnesota

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Specialty

Page 17

Pumpkin Ale

6.6# -Northwestern Gold Malt Extract

2 cans (16oz) -Cooked Pumpkin

1/4 tsp - Amylase Enzyme

1 oz - Fuggles 4.0% AA - 60 min

1 oz - Pumpkin Pie Spice - 5 min

3/4 cup - Dextrose

Wyeast 1056 - Made with 1/4 gallon of starter using 1/2# Northwestern Extract Co. DME.

Mix 2 cans of pumpkin into 1 gl of water and add amylase. Bring the mixture to 150F and let sit for 30 min.

Make sure the solution is mixed very well. Then heat the mixture to 170F, turn off heat, and let settle for 30

min.

Pour off the liquid into the brew kettle, leaving as much of pulp behind. Add the malt extract and bring volume

up to 3 gallons. Bring wort to a boil, add hops as scheduled. Cool wort and bring volume up to 5 gallons in

the fermenter and add yeast starter.

OG: 1:052

IBU: 15

Source: Charles Sule - Louisianna

Berliner Weisse

3.3# -Northwestern Weizen Extract

1/3 lbs - Northwestern Weizen DME

2/3 lbs - Northwestern Gold DME

1 oz - Hershbrucker Pellets 2.0% AA - 30 min

1 oz - Pumpkin Pie Spice - 5 min

1 tsp - Yeast Nutrient

Wyeast 2565 - Kolsch

Boil in 3 gallons, makes 5 gallons. Add 6 fluid ounces 22% Lactic Acid at bottling.

OG: 1.035

TG: 1.011

IBU:6

Source: Jon Stika - North Dakota

Blueberry Ale

6# -Northwestern Gold Extract

1 lbs - Caramel Malt 20L

1 oz - Kent Golding Hop Plugs - 5.20% AA - 45 min

1/2 oz - Kent Golding Hop Plug - 15 min

1/2 Tbl - Irish Moss - 15min

1/2 oz - Kent Golding Hop Plug - steep at end of boil

5 lbs - crushed Blueberries 1 tsp - Ascorbic Acid (at Bottling)

7/8 cup - Corn Sugar for priming

Wyeast 1056 - American

Boil in 5 gallons. Add fruit at end of boil, and leave in primary.

Remove the fruit after racking to secondary.

Source: George Nenni - Ohio

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Specialty

Page 18

Brown Bess - Smoked Bitter

6.6# - Northwestern Amber Malt Extract

2# - Crystal 40L crushed malt

1 tsp - Gypsum

2 tsp (10 ml) - Liquid Smoke

2 oz - Fuggle Pellets - 4.5 AAU - 60 minutes

1 tsp - Irish Moss - 15 minutes

1/2 oz - E. Kent Golding Pellets -4.8 AAU - 5 minutes

3/4 cup - Priming Dextrose or 2 Primetabs per bottle

1 pkg - Ale Yeast of Choice - recommend using a starter

Steep crushed malt in 2 gallons water. Add the gypsum. Bring the water to a hard simmer and remove from

heat. The total steeping time should be about 30 minutes. Then remove crushed malt. Add malt extract and

dissolve well before returning to heat. Add the liquid smoke. The theory of adding the liquid smoke at this

stage is to imitate the use of a smoked malt. Now return to the heat and add hop pellets as scheduled once

boiling begins. 15 minutes before the end of the boil add the Irish Moss. In the fermenter pour the wort into 3

gallons of cold or ice water. Insure wort is cool before adding yeast slurry, and rack to secondary fermenter

after the initial fermentation slows down.

SG: 1.054

FG: 1.020

Source: Robert Harrison - Pennsylvania

Nutty Wheat Ale

6.6# - Northwestern Wheat Malt Extract

1# - Northwestern DME Wheat

1/2# - Caravienne

1 oz - Hallertaur Hops 3.9 AAU - 60 min

1/2 oz - Hallertaur Hops 3.9 AAU - 30 min

1 tsp - Irish Moss - 10 minutes

1 oz - Hallertaur Hops 3.9 AAU - 5 min

1 cup - Priming Dextrose or 3-4 Primetabs per bottle

White Labs Hefeweizen Liquid

Steep crushed malt in 1.5 gallons water 170 degree for one hour. Then remove crushed malt. Add malt

extract and dissolve well before returning to heat. Bring to a boil and add hops and Irish Moss as scheduled.

Mix hot wort and cold water in fermenter to equal 5 gallons. Run 2 stage fermentation. Bottle condition 3

weeks minimum.

Source: Robert Restivo - Texas

For malt syrup and dry malt specifications click here

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Specialty

Page 19

The Following is typical domestic malt syrup and dry malt specifications.

Liquid Malt Extracts

TYPICAL MALT SPECIFICATION

Gold

Sparkling Amber

Trad Dark

Solids:

80%

Color:

5-10 deg L

10-15 deg L

15-20 deg L

OG:

11.5 deg Plato

11.5 deg P

13.5 deg P

FG:

1.6 - 2.0 deg P

2.0 - 2.6 deg P

2.6 - 3.3 deg P

All of the above is 100% barley malt and water as ingedients.Specific gravity is determined by beer style and

desired alcohol level. For example, if using 40 lbs of Gold extract for one barrel of beer, the specific gravity would

be 1046.

Weizen's specs are identical to Gold except: FG is 1.6 - 2.2 deg P and the ingedients are 65% Wheat Malt, 35%

Barley Malt, and water.

Dry Malt Extract

Gold

Sparkling Amber

Trad Dark

Solids:

97%

Color:

5-10 deg L

10-15 deg L

15-20 deg L

OG:

11.5 deg P

13.5 deg P

FG:

1.6 - 2.0 deg P

2.0 - 2.6 deg P

2.6 - 3.3 deg P

All of the above is 100% barley malt Specific gravity is determined by beer style and desired alcohol level. For

example, if using 32 lbs of Gold Dry Extract for one barrel of beer, the specific gravity would be 1046.

Weizen's specs are identical to Gold except: FG is 1.6 - 2.2 deg P and the ingedients are 65% Wheat Malt, and 35%

Barley Malt.

Brewers keep in mind these are a typical analysis of our products.

Liquid Malt Extracts

5/2/01 2:35 PM

Northwest Extract Co.

Page 1 of 1

http://www.nwextract.com/malt.htm

back to top

6.6# Northwestern Gold Malt Extract

1/2# Caramel 30L Grain

1# Munich Grain Malt

1 oz - Hallertau 3.7% AA-60 min

1 oz - Hallertau -30 min

3/4 cup - Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast 2206 - Make 1/4 gal of starter using 1/2# Northwestern Extract Co. DME. Boil for 15 min let cool, add

yeast and let stand 24 hrs.

Mash grains at 150 degrees for 30 min, add to 3 gls of water. Remove from heat and add extract. Bring to a

boil and add hops as scheduled. Cool wort using prefered method, and add cold water to bring the batch up

to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast starter.

OG: 1:055

IBUs: 20

This recipe won the Marzen Catagory at the Dixie Cup in Houston TX.

Source: Charles Sule - Lousianna

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Lagers

Page 14

Japanese Rice Beer

3.3# Northwestern Midwestern Light Malt Extract

2# Rice Syrup

1/2# Carapils Malt

1 oz - Saaz 3.1% AA-45 min

1/2 oz - Cascade 4.3% -30 min

3/4 cup - Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast 2112 - Make 1/4 gal of starter using 1/2# Northwestern Extract Co. DME. Boil for 15 min let cool, add

yeast and let stand 24 hrs.

Steep grains at 150 degrees for 30 min, add to 3 gls of water. Remove from heat and add extract. Bring to a

boil and add hops as scheduled. Cool wort using prefered method, and add cold water to bring the batch up

to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast starter.

OG: 1:041

IBUs: 17

Source: Northwestern Extract Co.

Honey Lager

6# Northwestern Gold Malt Extract

1# Wild Flower Honey

1/2# Carapils Malt

1 1/2 oz - Cascade Hop Plugs 6.6% AA-60 min

1/2 oz - Cascade Plug 6.6% -10 min

1 tsp - Iriah Moss - 15 min

2/3 cup - Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast 2007 -

Steep grains at 150 degrees for 30 min, add to 3 gls of water. Remove from heat and add extract. Bring to a

boil and add hops as scheduled. Add honey at last 15 minutes of boil. Cool wort using prefered method, and

add cold water to bring the batch up to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast (starter prefered) to wort that is cooled to 65-70

degrees F. Ferment primary at 50 degrees F for 14 days and secondary at 50 degrees F for 14 days

OG: 1:045

TG: 1:011

Source: Joel Beckman - Minnesota

For malt syrup and dry malt specifications click here

back to top

Lagers

Page 15

SPECIALITY BEERS

These are beer recipes using any combination of unusual ingredients. Speciality recipes include beers using

primarily Wheat Malt, Rice Syrups, Spices, Smoke, or Exotic Ingredients (pumpkin, etc.).

Summer Wheat

Extract Pumpkin Ale

Japanese Rice Beer

Brown Bess -Smoked Bitter

Nutty Wheat Ale

Summer Wheat

6.6# - Northwestern Weizen Syrup

1 oz - Fuggles - 30 min

1 tsp - Irish Moss @ 15 minutes

4 Lbs - Frozen Blackberries

1 pkg - Edme Ale Yeast

3/4 cup - Priming Sugar

Boil extract in 1 1/2 gallons water. Add hops as scheduled. Dump hot wort with cold water to make 5 gallons.

Add frozen blackberries and pitch yeast. Rack to secondary on the seventh day.

OG: 1.040, TG: 1.013, Bitterness: 9 IBUs (plenty of room for even a non-hop head.)

Source: Dan Poe - Maryland

Extract Pumpkin Ale

Ingredients:

6 pounds Northwestern Golden malt extract

1 pounds amber malt

10 ounces pure maple syrup

1-1/2 ounces Fuggles hops for 60 minutes

3 pounds sliced up pumpkin (smaller “sweet” pumpkin, not the big halloween kind)

1-1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

1-1/2 teaspoons Allspice

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

1-1/2 ounces fresh grated Ginger root

1/2 ounce Fuggles finishing hops

Wyeast #1056 (American Ale)

Procedure:

Cut the pumpkin into 1 inch cubes, but leave out the gooey inside and seeds. Add the pumpkin for the last 10

minutes of the boil along with all the spices.

Leave the pumpkin in the primary, then rack off the pumpkin after about 4 days. Leave in the secondary for

two weeks, then bottle-age for another couple of weeks Yield: 5 gallons

Source: Jamey Moss - Cats Meow III

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Page 16

Japanese Rice Beer

3.3# - Northwestern Gold Syrup

2# - Northwestern Rice Syrup 1/2# - Carapil Grain (Dextrine) 1 oz - Saaz 3.1AAU- 45 min

1/2 oz - Cascade 4.3AAU - 30 minutes

1 pkg - Wyeast 2112 or Dry Lager Yeast (started)

3/4 cup - Priming Sugar

Steep grain and bring volume to 3 gallons. Add extract then bring to a boil. Be sure not to scorch extract. Add

hops as scheduled. Cool wort and bring volume up to 5 gallons.

OG: 1.041, TG: 1.010, IBUs: 17.5

Source: Northwestern Extract Co.

Merry Christmas! Ale

Ingredients: (for 5-1/2 gallons)

6.60 lb. Northwestern Gold LME

1.00 lb. Crystal 80L

0.50 lb. Chocolate malt

0.50 lb. Brown Sugar

0.50 lb. Honey

1.00 oz. Northern Brewer 7.8% 60 min

1.00 oz. Fuggles Leaf 3.8% 15 min

1 tsp cardamom

2 oz grated ginger

5 3 inch cinnamon sticks

Zest from rind of 4 large oranges

1 tsp Irish moss

3/4 c. Dextrose (priming)

Wyeast #1056 American ale yeast

Yeast nutrient

Procedure:

Prepare yeast starter. Crush specialty grains and steep for 30 min. Add LME, brown sugar, and bittering hops

and begin boil. At 30 min, add honey, cinnamon, and cardamom and half of the orange zest and ginger. At 15

min, add Irish moss, flavoring hops, and remaining ginger and orange zest. Cool, aerate and pitch yeast.

Ferment at 70-74^F. Rack to a secondary after 7 days and store at 70^F. After another 14 days, bottle beer.

Specifics: IBU: 28

Source: Philip Gravel - Cats Meow III

Autumn Maple Wheat

Ingredients:

6# - Northwestern Weizen Malt Extract

32 oz - Pure Grade A Maple Syrup

1/2# - Carapils

1/2# - Caramel 10L

1 oz - Cascade Hops 4.4% - 60 min

1056 Wyeast

Steep grains usual fashion, and add extract. Add Maple Syrup 15 minutes before end of the boil. Ferment five

days in primary and two weeks in secondary.

Source: Dan Thurk - Minnesota

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Specialty

Page 17

Pumpkin Ale

6.6# -Northwestern Gold Malt Extract

2 cans (16oz) -Cooked Pumpkin

1/4 tsp - Amylase Enzyme

1 oz - Fuggles 4.0% AA - 60 min

1 oz - Pumpkin Pie Spice - 5 min

3/4 cup - Dextrose

Wyeast 1056 - Made with 1/4 gallon of starter using 1/2# Northwestern Extract Co. DME.

Mix 2 cans of pumpkin into 1 gl of water and add amylase. Bring the mixture to 150F and let sit for 30 min.

Make sure the solution is mixed very well. Then heat the mixture to 170F, turn off heat, and let settle for 30

min.

Pour off the liquid into the brew kettle, leaving as much of pulp behind. Add the malt extract and bring volume

up to 3 gallons. Bring wort to a boil, add hops as scheduled. Cool wort and bring volume up to 5 gallons in

the fermenter and add yeast starter.

OG: 1:052

IBU: 15

Source: Charles Sule - Louisianna

Berliner Weisse

3.3# -Northwestern Weizen Extract

1/3 lbs - Northwestern Weizen DME

2/3 lbs - Northwestern Gold DME

1 oz - Hershbrucker Pellets 2.0% AA - 30 min

1 oz - Pumpkin Pie Spice - 5 min

1 tsp - Yeast Nutrient

Wyeast 2565 - Kolsch

Boil in 3 gallons, makes 5 gallons. Add 6 fluid ounces 22% Lactic Acid at bottling.

OG: 1.035

TG: 1.011

IBU:6

Source: Jon Stika - North Dakota

Blueberry Ale

6# -Northwestern Gold Extract

1 lbs - Caramel Malt 20L

1 oz - Kent Golding Hop Plugs - 5.20% AA - 45 min

1/2 oz - Kent Golding Hop Plug - 15 min

1/2 Tbl - Irish Moss - 15min

1/2 oz - Kent Golding Hop Plug - steep at end of boil

5 lbs - crushed Blueberries 1 tsp - Ascorbic Acid (at Bottling)

7/8 cup - Corn Sugar for priming

Wyeast 1056 - American

Boil in 5 gallons. Add fruit at end of boil, and leave in primary.

Remove the fruit after racking to secondary.

Source: George Nenni - Ohio

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Specialty

Page 18

Brown Bess - Smoked Bitter

6.6# - Northwestern Amber Malt Extract

2# - Crystal 40L crushed malt

1 tsp - Gypsum

2 tsp (10 ml) - Liquid Smoke

2 oz - Fuggle Pellets - 4.5 AAU - 60 minutes

1 tsp - Irish Moss - 15 minutes

1/2 oz - E. Kent Golding Pellets -4.8 AAU - 5 minutes

3/4 cup - Priming Dextrose or 2 Primetabs per bottle

1 pkg - Ale Yeast of Choice - recommend using a starter

Steep crushed malt in 2 gallons water. Add the gypsum. Bring the water to a hard simmer and remove from

heat. The total steeping time should be about 30 minutes. Then remove crushed malt. Add malt extract and

dissolve well before returning to heat. Add the liquid smoke. The theory of adding the liquid smoke at this

stage is to imitate the use of a smoked malt. Now return to the heat and add hop pellets as scheduled once

boiling begins. 15 minutes before the end of the boil add the Irish Moss. In the fermenter pour the wort into 3

gallons of cold or ice water. Insure wort is cool before adding yeast slurry, and rack to secondary fermenter

after the initial fermentation slows down.

SG: 1.054

FG: 1.020

Source: Robert Harrison - Pennsylvania

Nutty Wheat Ale

6.6# - Northwestern Wheat Malt Extract

1# - Northwestern DME Wheat

1/2# - Caravienne

1 oz - Hallertaur Hops 3.9 AAU - 60 min

1/2 oz - Hallertaur Hops 3.9 AAU - 30 min

1 tsp - Irish Moss - 10 minutes

1 oz - Hallertaur Hops 3.9 AAU - 5 min

1 cup - Priming Dextrose or 3-4 Primetabs per bottle

White Labs Hefeweizen Liquid

Steep crushed malt in 1.5 gallons water 170 degree for one hour. Then remove crushed malt. Add malt

extract and dissolve well before returning to heat. Bring to a boil and add hops and Irish Moss as scheduled.

Mix hot wort and cold water in fermenter to equal 5 gallons. Run 2 stage fermentation. Bottle condition 3

weeks minimum.

Source: Robert Restivo - Texas

For malt syrup and dry malt specifications click here

back to top

Specialty

Page 19

The Following is typical domestic malt syrup and dry malt specifications.

Liquid Malt Extracts

TYPICAL MALT SPECIFICATION

Gold

Sparkling Amber

Trad Dark

Solids:

80%

Color:

5-10 deg L

10-15 deg L

15-20 deg L

OG:

11.5 deg Plato

11.5 deg P

13.5 deg P

FG:

1.6 - 2.0 deg P

2.0 - 2.6 deg P

2.6 - 3.3 deg P

All of the above is 100% barley malt and water as ingedients.Specific gravity is determined by beer style and

desired alcohol level. For example, if using 40 lbs of Gold extract for one barrel of beer, the specific gravity would

be 1046.

Weizen's specs are identical to Gold except: FG is 1.6 - 2.2 deg P and the ingedients are 65% Wheat Malt, 35%

Barley Malt, and water.

Dry Malt Extract

Gold

Sparkling Amber

Trad Dark

Solids:

97%

Color:

5-10 deg L

10-15 deg L

15-20 deg L

OG:

11.5 deg P

13.5 deg P

FG:

1.6 - 2.0 deg P

2.0 - 2.6 deg P

2.6 - 3.3 deg P

All of the above is 100% barley malt Specific gravity is determined by beer style and desired alcohol level. For

example, if using 32 lbs of Gold Dry Extract for one barrel of beer, the specific gravity would be 1046.

Weizen's specs are identical to Gold except: FG is 1.6 - 2.2 deg P and the ingedients are 65% Wheat Malt, and 35%

Barley Malt.

Brewers keep in mind these are a typical analysis of our products.

Liquid Malt Extracts

5/2/01 2:35 PM

Northwest Extract Co.

Page 1 of 1

http://www.nwextract.com/malt.htm

back to top

Now is the time to start planning and gathering together your ingredients to make your Octoberfest beer. I usually brew mine in late March or early April and let it age until September. This recipe will make a 5 gallon batch.

Ingredients:

2 Bierkeller Liquid Amber Malt 3.5 pound cans
1 pound amber dry malt extract
8 ounces 10 degree crystal malt
6 ounces chocolate malt
1 ounce Cascade hops 5.5 alpha
1 ounce Hallertauer hops 4.5 alpha
3/4 ounce Tettnanger hops
1 packet dry yeast or Wyeast no. 2206
1/2 cup of corn sugar to prime

Procedure:

Crush grains and step for about 1 hour. Strain and pour liquid into brewpot. Add additional water and begin to boil. Slowly add the dry malt and liquid malt. Make sure that you stir the malts so that they don not burn on the bottom of the pot. Once the wort begins to boil, add the Cascade hops. After 30 minutes, add the Hallertauer hops. At the end of another 30 minute period, add the Tettnager hops for 1 minute. Chill wort and add the yeast. Primary ferment for about 2 weeks at 45 to 50 degrees and about another 2 weeks at the same temperature for the secondary. Rack one more time and ferment for another 2 weeks at 35 to 40 degrees. Bottle and keep stored at about 40 degrees.

Technorati Tags : Octoberfest, Beer, Recipe, Making_Beer
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Sam Adams Clone Recipe

2006-01-13T19:43:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the local pub and was informed that they took Guinness off the tap and put Sam Adams on. Had a Sam's and thought that it would make a great addition to the beer recipe file.

Ingredients:

1 can Munton & Fison Premium Kit
1 Packet yeast (under cap)
2 1 lb. packages Amber DME
1 1 oz package Hallertauer hop pellets
1 1 oz package Tettnang hop pellets
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Procedure:

Remove label from Kit and stand in warm water for 15-20 minutes. In a pot sufficient to boil 2 gallons of liquid, empty DME. Open can of malt and empty contents into pot onto DME. Using one gallon hot water, rinse out can and add to pot. Turn on heat and carefully bring to a boil.

Add package of Hallertauer hops, Adjust heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add Tettnang hops and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put 4 gallons cold water into primary fermenter. When boil is complete, empty hot wort into cold water. When temperature reaches 80 degrees Fahrenheit, open yeast and sprinkle onto surface of the wort and cover tightly.

Place fermentation lock with water in lid. Allow beer to ferment for four days in primary fermenter,Transfer to clean secondary fermenter and allow to ferment for an additional ten to fourteen days.

Syphon beer from secondary fermenter into clean bottling bucket. Dissolve priming sugar in a small amount of beer and add to bottling bucket. Fill clean bottles and cap. Let stand for five days at room temperature and then move to a cool place.

Beer will be carbonated in three weeks and will improve for several months.

Technorati Tags : Sam_Adams, Beer, Recipe, Beer_Recipe

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Irish Cream Ale

2006-01-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

Here is an extract recipe that uses some grains for flavor and texture. I picked this recipe from Home Brewer's Digest website.

Brewer:

Derrick

Email:

Beer:

Irish Cream Ale

Style:

Cream Ale

Type:

Extract w/grain

Size:

5 gallons

Color:

11 HCU (~8 SRM)

Bitterness:

19 IBU

OG:

1.057

FG:

1.007

Alcohol:

6.4% v/v (5.0% w/w)

Water:

Used bottled artesian water - water in my area is super hard and bad tasting.

Grain:

8 oz. German Munich
8 oz. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils)
8 oz. Belgian CaraVienne
8 oz. Flaked barley

Steep:

steeped 35 minutes on the way up to boil.

Boil:

60 minutes

SG 1.081

3.5 gallons

6 lb. Light malt extract
12 oz. Lyles Golden Syrup

added 1tsp Irish Moss in final 15 minutes of boil

Hops:

1 oz. Fuggles (4.75% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Willamette (5% AA, 15 min.)

Yeast:

White Labs Irish Ale Yeast

Carbonation:

2.6 volumes

Dried Malt Extract: 7.51 oz. for 4.7 gallons @ 67°F

Technorati Tags : Beer, Recipe, Beer_Recipe, Homemade_Beer

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Estimating Beer Bitterness

2006-01-10T19:45:00.000-05:00

AAU Units

The simplest way to describe the bittering potential of a given hop sample is to use Alpha Acid Units (AAU) or Homebrew Bittering Units (HBU) (they're the same). For the sake of discussion we will use the term AAU, which is calculated as follows:

AAU = AA * W

where:

AA = alpha acid % provided with the hops
W = weight of the hops in ounces

AAU's are literally hundredths of an ounce, so the units would be ounces. This is a bit awkward, and they are usually discussed as if they are "unit-less". It is generally assumed that, when using AAU or HBU, the batch size is the standard homebrewing unit of 5 gallons. If a beer is said to have 10 AAU's of bitterness in it, and it is a 5 gallon batch, there would probably be no confusion. On the other hand, if it is a 10 gallon batch, there is actually half the AAU's per gallon when compared to the 5 gallon batch and the beer would be quite different. Another drawback to using AAU's is that they don't consider the utilization obtained from long, intermediate, or short boil times. Fudge factors are sometimes added but at best they offer a rough approximation.

Read More about hops.

Technorati Tags : Beer., Hops, Hops_Utilization

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Pilsner Urquell Clone Recipe

2006-01-10T19:23:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

4 pound can, Alexander's Pale malt extract syrup
2-1/3 pounds, light dry malt extract
15 AAU's, Saaz hops
Wyeast 2007 Bohemian Pilsner yeast

Procedure:

Bring extracts and 2 gallons of water to boil. Add 5 AAU's of Saaz hops at beginning of boil. Add 5 AAU's again at 30 minutes and at 10 minutes. Pitch yeast when cool.

Technorati Tags : Pilsner_Urquell, Beer, Recipe, Beer, Recipe, Making, Beer

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Strong Ale Recipe

2006-01-08T06:32:00.000-05:00

Here is a fun recipe that I found at Brewery.Org.

Ingredients:

1# British/English 2-row
1# 37-64L crystal
8# Alexanders Pale DMS (or equivalent)
2/3 cup chocolate malt
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses (mmmm)
1/2# clover honey (optional)
2 oz Kent Golding (60 minute boil)
2 oz Fuggles (15 minutes)
1 oz Hallertau - 5 minutes (aroma)
1 oz Hallertau - steep for 3 minutes with heat off (aroma)
Gypsum as needed
Irish moss at final 15 minute
WYeast London Ale yeast or Williams Brewing Triple Ale liquid yeast pack

Procedure:

Mash grains at 148-158 degrees for 1 hour. Also works well with simple "steep in water until just before water boils method." I do a "quickie" sparge with about a gallon of 170 degree water ("quickie" meaning slowly pouring gallon of 170 deg. water over grain bag in a strainer - Sshhh, I think I heard an all-grainer gulp..:^). Bring to boil, add the extract and molasses (and honey if desired) and ....you know the rest.

For a partial mash, this beer is simple and yielding. All variations have worked wonderfully (ie, with honey and without; with 8# Alexanders pale ale DMS; with 6# Williams Brewing pale DMS + 3# pale DME..etc.)

Technorati Tags : Strong_Ale, Ale, Beer, Recipe

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Cherry Ale

2006-01-07T05:59:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

6 pounds, Laaglander light dry extract
1/4 pound, crystal malt
1/4 pound, lactose
7-8 pounds, fresh sweet cherries
1/2 ounce, Chinook hops (boil)
1/2 ounce, Chinook hops (finish)
1/2 ounce, Hallertauer hops (dry)
1/2 teaspoon, Irish moss
Whitbread ale yeast

Procedure:

This recipe makes 5-1/2 gallons. Freeze cherries a couple days before brewing. Defrost in the fridge. While wort is boiling, remove stems and crush cherries. After boiling, pour wort over cherries in fermenter. Add cold water and pitch yeast. After a couple days, rack to secondary, straining out cherries. Secondary ferment for 6 - 8 weeks.

Technorati Tags : Cherry, Cherry_Ale, Beer, Beer, Recipes, Recipes, Homemade_Beer

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Vienna Lager

2006-01-06T19:21:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

1 lb. Vienna malt
0.5 lb. dark Munich malt, 10° to 12° Lovibond
0.25 lb. malted wheat
1 lb. lager malt
4 lbs. unhopped amber malt extract syrup
1 oz. Perle hop pellets, for 60 min.
0.5 oz. Hallertauer hop pellets, for 20 min.
0.5 oz. Spalt pellets, for 20 min.
0.125 lb. coarsely cracked (not ground) light-roast coffee beans
1 broken cinnamon stick
14 g. dry lager yeast or liquid culture
3/4 cup corn syrup

Step by Step:

Heat 1.5 gals. of water to 132° F, crack and mix in malts and malted wheat. The mash should settle at 121° F. Hold 30 minutes, then remove 3 qts. of liquid from the mash and boil it 15 minutes. Stir heated mash back into the mash tun. This should raise the whole mash to 137° F or so. Hold another 30 minutes, then remove 3 qts. again and bring to a boil. Boil this 15 minutes, add it back to the mash tun, raising the whole to about 152° F. Hold here for 60 minutes, then lauter and sparge with 2 gals. of 168° F water. To this runoff (about 3 gals.) add extract syrup and bring to a boil. Add Perle hop pellets, boil 40 minutes. Add Hallertauer and Spalt pellets, boil 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, set in ice water to cool, and add coffee beans and cinnamon stick. Steep at least 15 minutes, then chill and top off to 5.25 gals. with pre-boiled chilled water. At 75° F pitch dry lager yeast or a liquid culture (I've had great luck in this recipe with Wyeast 2308 Munich). Seal and ferment for two days at 65° to 70° F, then place in a cooler (50° to 55° F) for a week. Rack to secondary and, if possible, place in a cold place (40° F or below) for three to six more weeks. (Otherwise, maintain at 50° F for three or four weeks.) Prime with corn sugar and bottle. Age cold (40° to 50° F) six to eight weeks, space permitting.

Recipe from BYO.com

Technorati Tags : Vienna, Vienna_Lager, Beer, Beer_Recipe, Brew_Your_Own
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Oatmeal Stout Recipe

2006-01-05T19:50:00.000-05:00

With all the hype on television about oatmeal lowering cholestrol, I wonder if I should be drinking this for breakfast instead of eating oatmeal?

Ingredients:

8 pounds, British amber extract
1/2 pound, black patent malt
1/2 pound, roasted barley
1/2 pound, chocolate malt
1 pound, steel cut oats
2 ounces, Eroica hops (boil)
1 ounce, Fuggles hops (finish)
Whitbread ale yeast
1/2 cup, corn sugar (priming)

Procedure:

Crack grains using a rolling pin. Add grain and oats to 2 gallons cold water. Bring to boil. Strain out grains. Add extract and Eroica hops. Boil about 1 hour. Add Fuggles and boil an additional 2 minutes. Steep 15 minutes. Sparge through sieve over ice. Mix. Rack to 7-gallon carboy and pitch yeast. Bottle when fermentation is complete (about 1 week).

Technorati Tags : Oatmeal_Stout, Recipe, Stout, Oatmeal, Beer, Beer_Recipe

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Lovibond Scale

2006-01-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

Article by Dr. George Fix

Color affects the appreciation and evaluation of beer in subtle but definite ways. The "halo effect" refer to a situation where a positive (or negative) response to one attribute leads to an over evaluation (or under evaluation) of other attributes. The color of beer can be a powerful but often subconscious generator of the "halo effect."

An example is the low marks given to otherwise satisfactory beers in competitions where the entry's color is inappropriate for the category. In professional tasting, the "halo effect" is generally regarded as an unacceptable bias. However, in less formal settings it reflects the natural influence that physical appearance of a food or beverage has over sensory anticipation. For this, and other reasons, color control in brewing is important, and the goal of this chapter is to review the basic issues. Before describing the test we first review the units in which beer and wort color are measured, and then review the factors that affect color in malting and brewing.

Read More

Technorati Tags : Lovibond, Scale, Beer, Beer, color

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Bass Ale Clone Recipe

2006-01-03T18:31:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

6.6 lbs Munton & Fisons light unhopped liquid malt extract

2 1/2 gallons Artesian bottled water or boil and cool water, store in sanitized plastic milk jugs

1 1/2 lb Crystal Malt 20L

1 oz. Kent Goldings hops 5.0 AA (boil)

1/2 oz. Fuggle hops 4.8 AA (boil)

1/2 oz. Willamette hops (finish)

1 tsp Gypsum 1/2 tsp. Irish Moss

1 pkg. #1098 British Ale Liquid Yeast

1 1/4 cup Light DME or 3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

Procedure:

Add crushed grains to 2 1/2 gallons of cold tap water, add gypsum. Heat to 170 degrees, remove from heat cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove grains from liquid, add liquid malt extracts and boiling hops. Boil for 60 minutes. Add Irish moss in last 15 minutes of boil. Add finishing hops last 2 minutes of boil. After boiling cover pot and set into cold water bath in sink for 30 minutes. Add 2 1/2 gallons of cold water to the 5 gallon carboy. Add cooled wort to carboy. Shake carboy to add oxygen to wort. Add yeast pkt., shake carboy again to mix yeast.

Technorati Tags : Beer, Beer_Recipe, Bass_Ale

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Chimay Trippel Beer Recipe

2006-01-01T05:51:00.000-05:00

Ingredients: (for 7 gallons)

3.3 pounds, pale unhopped extract syrup
12 pounds, pale dry extract
1 pound, 6-row pale malt
1 pound, wheat malt
1 pound, Vienna malt
2 pounds, light brown sugar
1/2 pound, corn sugar
10 grams, coriander
8 grams, orange peel
4 HBUs, Saaz hops (boil)
4 HBUs, Hallertauer hops (boil)
4-1/2 HBUs, Fuggles hops (boil)
handful, hops (finish)
1 teaspoon, Irish moss
Chimay yeast culture or White Labs Trappist Ale Yeast

Procedure:

This is a 7-gallon partial mash recipe. Use standard procedures, brewing about 7 gallons of wort in a 10-gallon kettle, followed by a 7-gallon primary and 2 5-gallon secondaries or a 7-gallon secondary. Then keg (or bottle). The yeast was cultured from a bottle of Chimay.

Technorati Tags : Chimay, Trippel, Belgain, Belgain_Ale, Ale, Beer, Making_Beer, Trappist

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India Pale Ale Recipe

2005-12-31T08:28:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

4 pounds, Munton and Fison light DME
4 pounds, Geordie amber DME
1 pound, crushed Crystal Malt
1-1/2 ounces, Cascade leaf hops (boil 60 minutes)
1-1/2 ounces, Cascade leaf hops (finishing)
1 teaspoon, Irish Moss
Wyeast #1056 Chico Ale Yeast (1 quart starter made 2 days prior)

Procedure:

Add the crystal malt to cold water and apply heat. Simmer for 15 minutes or so then sparge into boiling kettle. Add DME, top up kettle and bring to boil. When boil starts, add boiling hops and boil for 60 minutes. 10 minutes before end of boil add 1 teaspoon of Irish Moss. When boil is complete, remove heat, add finishing hops and immediately begin chilling wort. Strain wort into fermenter and pitch yeast starter. Primary fermentation took about 4 days. After about a week bottle and let set for another 2 weeks.

Technorati Tags : IPA, India, Ale, Beer, Recipe

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British Bitter Beer Recipe

2005-12-30T20:07:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

5 to 6 pounds, Alexander's pale malt extract
1/2 pound, crystal malt, crushed
10 ounces, dextrose (optional)
1-1/4 ounces, Cascade hops (boil)
1/4 ounce, Cascade hops (finish)
Munton & Fison ale yeast
corn sugar for priming

Procedure:

Steep crystal malt and sparge twice. Add extract and dextrose and bring to boil. Add Cascade hops and boil 60 minutes. In last few minutes add remaining 1/4 ounce of Cascade (or dry hop, if desired). Chill and pitch yeast. Technorati Tags : British, Beer, Recipe

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Revamped Website

2005-12-13T00:02:00.000-05:00

Ben's Wine Making Tips took on a new look this evening. The original website looked like a third grader designed it and I felt it was time for a huge upgrade. I started experimenting with Cascading Style Sheets and felt that they made a better looking website. I also made my own navigation buttons with Adobe Photoshop.

The new site works in IE6, Avant and Firefox. For some reason, in IE6 and Avant the navigation buttons are in a square instead of a straight line. Probably because IE6 and Avant are really not geared up for CSS designed websites. The revamped site is much more prettier in Firefox.