Coopers IPA

Back in November, the first Saturday is always "Teach a Friend to Homebrew" Day. As I had been on a bit of a hiatus from brewing due to the house being packed up and always show-ready, I figured now that we're in the new house, this was as good a day as any to get going again. Unfortunately, as with any move, things are not found as easily as they are packed, so it was decided extract would be the way to go.

Mikey had purchased a Coopers IPA kit, so he and another friend came over and we fired it up. All went pretty well, except that I had forgotten that carboy fermentations can be pretty powerful, and put an airlock instead of a blowoff tube on the carboy. It didn't explode, but it made a good bit of a mess. I cleaned it up and salvaged the majority of it, and after almost 2 months, the final product is on tap.

My wife was kind enough to go with my idea of bringing the small kegerator into the house and setting the tower on the countertop. I ran the lines through the side of the kegerator and through the cabinet, insulted the lines with 1/2" pipe insulation and promised to always have root beer on one of the taps.

The end product, both taps and IPA, turned out pretty well. It'll likely take a little while for the lines to balance, but I think the beer has already done that.

11-06-2010 Coopers IPA A ProMash Brewing Session Report -------------------------------- Brewing Date: Saturday November 06, 2010 Head Brewer: Mike Ring Asst Brewer: Mikey Snot Recipe: Coopers IPA BJCP Style and Style Guidelines ------------------------------- 14-A India Pale Ale, English IPA Min OG: 1.050 Max OG: 1.075 Min IBU: 40 Max IBU: 60 Min Clr: 8 Max Clr: 14 Color in SRM, Lovibond Recipe Specifics ---------------- Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 6.00 Total Extract (Lbs): 5.67 Anticipated OG: 1.046 Plato: 11.47 Anticipated SRM: 9.3 Anticipated IBU: 48.6 Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes Actual OG: 1.049 Plato: 12.15 Actual FG: 1.012 Plato: 3.07 Alc by Weight: 3.81 by Volume: 4.87 From Measured Gravities. ADF: 74.7 RDF 62.2 Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation. Grain/Extract/Sugar % Amount Name Origin Potential SRM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 66.1 3.75 lbs. Coopers LME - Amber Australia 1.038 16 22.0 1.25 lbs. Generic DME - Light Generic 1.046 8 11.8 0.67 lbs. Corn Sugar Generic 1.046 0 Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon. Hops Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.50 oz. Cascade Whole 3.53 48.6 60 min. Yeast ----- Coopers Brewe 03309 IPA

Re-motorized Grain Mill

It's been a little while since my last post, mainly due to the upheaval of our household by packing, showing and moving to another house. However, those days are done and gone, hopefully never to return. With moving, unfortunately, also comes unpacking, which means trying to locate all of the brewing gear that got packed. I still haven't been successful at that yet, but I did get motivated enough to try again at motorizing my Schmidling Malt Mill.

This is a project I've been working at for some time now, and this is my third attempt. Every time I've completed it the test (dumping a few shovels of grain in and turning it on, ultimately to be disappointed by an electric motor not turning) it has failed. Every time, this one included.

I don't know if it's the gearing, incorrect sheave sizes or motors without enough torque. They just never seem to have enough oomph to crush the grain if they aren't already moving. The latest design was inspired from the December 2010 issue of BYO. Dayton motor, sheaves, everything was identical, but still no go. I may play a bit more with the size of the sheave on the mill (kind of like stepping it down to first gear on a 10-speed bike) but it looks like I may just have to live with starting the mill, then slowly pouring the grain in. I think my addition of the output chute was a pretty good idea.

In other beer news, if you haven't heard of it, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head has a series on Discovery called "Brewmasters" that - through one episode, anyway - is pretty enjoyable. The first episode was about his collaboration with Sony Records to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew by creating a DFH beer of the same name. I've had the beer, and it is something else, that's for sure. To see the story behind it makes it that much better. Catch the show if you can.

It's Been a Long Time, Been a Long Time....

It's been quite some time since my last post, and there hasn't been a whole lot of brewing going on this year. This is due mainly to the situation with my previous job, change to a new job, family obligations and recently the process of selling and buying a new home. Add the upcoming move to the mix and there's almost no time for anything. I did, however, manage to squeeze in a Belgian Tripel back around the end of February. This was my first attempt at a Tripel, but I think it went pretty well.

I started this recipe with one from Northern Brewer, but had been reading Stan Hieronymus' book "Brew Like a Monk", which is essential reading for anyone wanting to brew Belgian or Trappist beer. I started with Wyeast 3787, Trappist High Gravity yeast, creating a starter that I stepped three times - the first two were 1000 ml starters, both of which overflowed my 2000 ml erlenmeyer flask, the third a 500 ml starter - to ensure a good, healthy and hungry batch of yeast.

5 gallon batch recipe:

11.5 lb pilsner malt

1.0 lb clear candi sugar

0.5 lb honey

0.25 lb Cara pils

1.79 g baking soda

0.88 g canning salt

2.01 g calcium chloride

2.46 g gypsum

1.75 oz Czech Saaz pellets (5 minutes)

1.50 oz Tettnanger pellets (60 minutes)

Infused mash w/ 5 gallons 166 F strike water (salts added to mash); mash at 148 F for 60 minutes. Recirculated through HERMS to raise the mash temp to 170 F for mash out. Pre-boil SG 1.040, sparge stopped at 1.010; added candi sugar and honey at the start of the 90 minute boil. OG 1.093, aerated for 2 hours, pitched 700 ml starter. FG 1.022 for a 96% efficiency and an ABV of 9.3. Spent 20 days in the conical (primary), 20 days in secondary and bottled all 4.5 gallons using Fermentis S-33 dry yeast to bottle condition.

I've cracked open a few bottles so far, and in a side-by-side taste test against Tripel Karmeliet, the taste is pretty darn close, but the appearance differences are obvious. The Karmeliet is very clear with a high level of carbonation that seems to float throughout the glass; my tripel is a bit cloudy and not quite as highly carbonated, although it's carbonated enough for the style.

All told, it's a pretty good first attempt. Hopefully once the move has been completed I'll get back to brewing. I've got a wit on tap, and I know Mikey is itching to get back to brewing as well.

London Ales Are Going Down

This past week my wife and I spent a week in London, staying with our friend Timm in Brixton. It's a lovely town and I wish we'd made a point to go there when the weather was nicer, but we still had a fabulous time. Since this blog is mainly about beer, I'll skip the traditional touristy bits and jump straight to my focus on the visit - pubs and good ale.

A few of these were suggestions - Allyson Shaw of Impy Malting and Feral Strumpet Teatime gave me a few great ones and Carl Hensman recommended The Turf Tavern in Oxford - and others, such as The Gunmaker's Arms in Clerkenwell were pubs I'd read about, in this case on Jeff's late blog. In chronological order, here were the ales and pubs of note:

Sunday:

• Zatec and Budvar Czech; Luxe in Spitalfields Market
• Timothy Taylor Landlord and Polar Beer; The Black Friar
• Rodenbach Grand Cru and Brugs Wit; Moules, Brixton

Monday:

• Suthwyk Liberation Ale; Tate Modern Café
• Harvey's Best Bitter, Woodeforde Wherey, Purity Mad Goose and a sample of Anastasia Imperial Stout (thanks Eddie!); Gunmaker's Arms, Clerkenwell

Tuesday:

• Fuller's London Pride; The Swan, Bayswater
• Cobra (with a curry takeaway)

Wednesday:

• Shepard Neame Rudolph's Reward, Cragg Valley Organic Bitter, Brains Party Popper; Eagle and Child, Oxford
• Greene King IPA, Hook Norton Old Hooky; Turf Tavern, Oxford

Thursday:

• Deuchars; Nellie Dean
• Tapas dinner at Fino, Fitzrovia

Friday:

• Acorn Pacific Gem, Mauldoon's Mid-Winter Gold; Wenlock Arms, Shoreditch

Saturday:

• Sharps Doom Bar; The Lock, Camden Town
• St. Peter's Organic Best Bitter, Charles Wells Bombardier, Meantime Pale Ale; The Engineer, Primrose Hill
• Greene King St. Edmunds; Prince Albert, Brixton

Although this is by no means a thorough and complete list, it's the

ales and pubs I remembered to write down. Many thanks to those who gave recommendations and to our gracious host for an unforgettable week.