American Pale Ale Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale

[philrose]

yeah, your utilization will be lower if you're boiling less wort and topping up.

mess around with an IBU calculator's volume variable until you get what you like

heres one

 

[fishkid]

Snapped a terrible pic with my cell after racking my second batch of the pale ale today. But I'm going to share anyways. Had to make small substitutions due to LHBS inventory. I went with 7.5%AA cascade and Crystal 20L.

Taste test was great...just like the first batch.

 

[elbajista]

That looks tasty!

Does this brew have little krausen? That's not much headspace...

 

[fishkid]

That looks tasty!

Does this brew have little krausen? That's not much headspace...

It sat in primary and did it's business for 10 days. Final gravity was 1.011, so I'm hoping that the bulk of the fermenting goodness is finished with. If not, I'll just have to remove a bit to drink

 

[keelanfish]

I've brewed this beer twice (11 gallon batches) sticking exactly to the recipe each time. I was wondering if anyone had tried dry hopping this beer and how was the result?

 

[medic4070]

Got a question for you guys- I brewed a 2.5 gallon batch about 10 days ago and pitched a rehydrated packet of Nottingham. I'm fermenting in a bucket, resting in a swamp cooler. (I usually get about 65-68 degrees F on the outside of the bucket with this.) In the past few days, I've been noticing a stronger and stronger banana smell coming out of the pantry where I've got this resting. I've read a few things on here about banana esters, but nothing solid on reducing them. Should I leave it to rest for another week or two, put it in secondary or just bottle it and hope for the best? Does anything help to reduce the banana?

 

[fishkid]

Captain Badpicture strikes again!

Enjoying a pint from my first batch (brewed 6-7-09).

This is a great beer for those of you who are on the fence about brewing this!

 

[chirs]

I just racked to secondary and noticed my hydro sample had a definite banana bread note. I didn't have a fridge thermostat so I was more or less turning the fridge on and off manually...probably missing a few days, so it could have been fermenting at 70º now and then.
Gravity is at 1.023 after 18 days (OG 1.051)...

oh and i forgot to mention it tastes awesome!

 

[bendavanza]

Add me for 5 gallons, I ordered the kit from BMW.
It looks like the Cascade I got is 7.5% AA and I'm just going to go with it. Tinseth says 35 ibu and Rager says 45 so either way I should still be in the ballpark although just a bit hoppier than Ed's recipe.
-Ben

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

Well I tried this recipe as my first all grain batch yesterday. My home made cooler mash tun worked great!

I missed the strike temp, started at 155 and it dropped to 150 over the course of the hour. I figured that wasn't too harmful. I hit the water volume targets exactly.

Only problem was the OG... it came out only at 1.038!?

I am sure it will still yield a good beer, but I was really disappointed about not hitting the gravity...

I did the recipe right, came close to the temps, hit the volumes... I am going to check the PH of my water but besides that any ideas on why I was 15 points low on the gravity?

 

[bendavanza]

many things to look for def. do a search on efficiency.
not enough stirring, poor crush, channeling (if you did fly) too fast on the drain (fly)
Dropping 5˚ is quite a bit, maybe your cooler needs more insulation.

 

[Memorex88]

Dropping 5˚ is quite a bit, maybe your cooler needs more insulation.

I agree. You should preheat the cooler with a gallon or two of hot tap water for 15 to 30 minutes before you start your mash. That helps to not draw the heat from the mash.

 

[masonsjax]

]I missed the strike temp, started at 155 and it dropped to 150 over the course of the hour.

+1 to pre-heating the cooler. Just heat your strike water about 12-15 degrees higher than your calculated strike temp. Add that to the mash tun and leave it for 5 mins, lid closed. Then stir it until it's down to the strike temp you need and stir in your grains.

Try wrapping some blankets around the cooler while it's mashing, and don't open it until it's done. Doing all of the above, my mash loses less than 1 degree in an hour.

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

+1 to pre-heating the cooler. Just heat your strike water about 12-15 degrees higher than your calculated strike temp. Add that to the mash tun and leave it for 5 mins, lid closed. Then stir it until it's down to the strike temp you need and stir in your grains.

Try wrapping some blankets around the cooler while it's mashing, and don't open it until it's done. Doing all of the above, my mash loses less than 1 degree in an hour.

I did pre-heat with boiliing water for 10 mins before mashing and wrapped in towels... the cooler loses a bit of heat where the lid handle is carved into the lip of the lid.

BUT... I think I figured out what the problem was:

I lautered and sparged at full throttle... that is, I cranked the ball valve all the way open. From what I've been reading up on, one should lauter and sparge slowly.

Would this practice really have accounted for the apparent lack of efficiency?

EDIT: grammar and spelling

 

[bendavanza]

Williamston-
Lauter and sparge at full throttle will make a small difference if you are batch sparging, and a huge difference if you are fly sparging. We don't know what method you use, or what kind of manifold/braid/false bottom you have. Grain crush has had the biggest difference in efficiency for me.

 

[masonsjax]

I use a SS braid in a 48qt rubbermaid, and drain as fast as it will go. The only batch I had real efficiency problems with was when I miscalculated the sparge volumes and ended up with some water left in the mash after hitting my pre-boil volume. Luckily, I still wasn't too far off though.

There are a million variables that can effect your efficiency. The crush is a big factor. There could have been dough balls still, or water chemistry might be off, you didn't boil strong enough, or long enough, or your thermometer is mis-calibrated, forgot to stir batch sparge water into the mash, immersion chiller leaks water into the kettle, etc.. If you're like me and drink too much while brewing, it's easy to overlook little things too. No matter what happens, you usually end up with decent beer in the end, so if we just keep at it, eventually we'll nail down our process pretty well.

Congrats on your first all-grain batch! It's a good one.

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

I am using a 10 gallon Coleman chest-style cooler with a stainless steel braid. The thermometer is right on, it's a digital probe style.

Water was a factor I had considered. The brew fermented away really vigorously and rapidly at about 72 degrees. I think it'll turn out right. Perhaps, until I pinpoint the problem, I can compensate by adding more grain?

I didn't stir too often during the mash, maybe 3 times. I batch sparged.

 

[Prionburger]

I mash in a thin aluminum (high heat conduction) pot, and after 1 hour in the pot the mash loses less than a degree of heat with ambient temps ranging 60-70f.

I'm guessing stirring may have been a problem. When you put your grain into the hot water for the first time, you need to make sure you stir it so it doesn't clump up into gooey "dough balls" that are impervious to water. What you want is the grain to form a slushy mixture. You want it all to flow freely. I stir quite often at the beginning of the mash to make sure all the grains are hydrated. That's what you're going after. Partial hydration results in gooey dough balls.

Furthermore, stirring homogenizes the temperature, because the grain starts out at ambient temperature and draws heat from the water thereby decreasing the temperature of the mash (and perhaps accounting for your temperature loss).

Anyways, once I find where to get stainless steel washers, I'm going to try this recipe unadulterated Texas style for my first run with cooler mashing.

 

[bsay]

Did this batch as the second batch of a double brew day. Didn't have to think too much about it, just brewed it up! Thanks for the recipe.

Speaking of not thinking, I just realized I didn't add the yeast nutrient or the Irish Moss. Guess I was just brewing in classic Ed style - Reinheitsgebot!

 

[elbajista]

Does anyone know of a website that sells all of the ingredients for the extract version?

The best I've found is Morebeer.com, but they only have:
7 LB Ultralight Malt $16.10
Crystal 15L - 1 lb Milled $3.40
Cascade Pellets (2 oz @ 5.6%) $7.00
Nottingham Ale (11g) $1.60

This is way off of the posted recipe. The Cascade pellets are only 5.6%, so I figured that 2 pack of hops will work, but increase the bitterness pretty sharply.

Will the different kind of Crystal Malt and the extra 0.5# of ultralight malt severely affect the finish product?

Also, Austin HomeBrew is the only place I found that sells Munich, but they don't have all of the other items!

 

[philrose]

Does anyone know of a website that sells all of the ingredients for the extract version?

The best I've found is Morebeer.com, but they only have:
7 LB Ultralight Malt $16.10
Crystal 15L - 1 lb Milled $3.40
Cascade Pellets (2 oz @ 5.6%) $7.00
Nottingham Ale (11g) $1.60

This is way off of the posted recipe. The Cascade pellets are only 5.6%, so I figured that 2 pack of hops will work, but increase the bitterness pretty sharply.

Will the different kind of Crystal Malt and the extra 0.5# of ultralight malt severely affect the finish product?

Also, Austin HomeBrew is the only place I found that sells Munich, but they don't have all of the other items!

you should probably pm this one as a lot of the flavor comes from malt that can't be steeped.

just my $0.02

 

[CaliBrewin]

anyone brew this AG using WPL 001?

im thinking of doing that next weekend.

 

[philrose]

anyone brew this AG using WPL 001?

im thinking of doing that next weekend.

I believe that's the same thing as s-05 and wyeast 1056, so it would work well as a notty alternative according to edwort.

But I don't use white labs so I could be mixed up the strain number

 

[fishkid]

My second batch is bottled and has cleared up nicely,

Curt

 

[FailureDrill]

I picked up all the business for this one, rocking 5 gallons tommorrow. Looks good, love me some Cascade.

 

[ChshreCat]

My second batch is bottled and has cleared up nicely,

Curt

Now how are you gonna get your bottle of Fermcap outta that bottle of beer! You got a problem there!

 

[JohnnyO]

I just brewed this today as my first All Grain Brew.

Session went well considering it was my first outdoor session as well. I was a little disorganized with the outdoor session. All in all, good session.

Hit my OG at 1.049. Brewsmith tells me I had a 70% Efficiency. Not too shabby IMO. I slapped an airlock on there, but may go down and change out to a blowoff tube just in case.

Thanks for the easy to use recipe Ed.

 

[wes_d]

I just brewed this today as my first All Grain Brew.

Session went well considering it was my first outdoor session as well. I was a little disorganized with the outdoor session. All in all, good session.

Hit my OG at 1.049. Brewsmith tells me I had a 70% Efficiency. Not too shabby IMO. I slapped an airlock on there, but may go down and change out to a blowoff tube just in case.

Thanks for the easy to use recipe Ed.

I brewed this today as my first all-grain, and I had 72% efficiency. My cooler mlt isn't finished yet, so I decided to use bags (paint-straining, 5 gallon). My final color was a bit more copper than I had expected - though I brewed a summer ale about 6 or 7 weeks ago and it had the same color straight out of the kettle. It cleared to a nice pale color after secondary and bottling. So I'm not going to worry much about this.

I'm about ready to pitch and let the yeast take over the work.

 

[JohnnyO]

I'm at about 27 hours post pitching and I have heavy activity. Probably my heaviest yet. Without a wort cooler, I used an ice bath in the kitchen sink and brought it down to about 77F before I pitched my yeast.

I have it stored in the basement where it is 68-70F. The sticky thermometer on my primary is reading 79-80F. Should I put this in a water bath with an ice bottle?

Here's a video I took earlier (my first youtube post):

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cXtB-tlkbc]YouTube - Fermentation Day 2[/ame]

 

[JohnnyO]

I erred on the side of caution and created a swamp cooler. Cleaned the krausen out of the airlock And blowoff tube too.

I love homebrewing. I must have stared at the blowoff for 30 minutes today!