Brewing Babe in Boston

[peacefrog]

Greetings,

Sitting here waiting for various sanitizing cycles to complete so that I can bottle, I figured it was a good time to finally say hello.

I've been brewing for about two years, having apprenticed with my roommate, who's been brewing for around fifteen. (He's an all-grain snob, so I haven't gotten around to doing extract brew or kit yet. The dunkelweizen currently waiting to be bottled is my first solo brew (and he'd never done a wheat beer before, believe it or not) so it's an exciting time!

Speaking of which, I had to make enough changes to the recipe due to what was in stock or not at my LHBS that I wonder at what point the original style of beer no longer applies.

I have some other questions, too, such as how to come up with a recipe if I know the grains, hops, and style of the beer I want, and also whether it's okay to start a new batch of Ed's Apfelwein on top of the yeast cake from the last batch (which has probably already been covered somewhere in that epic thread).

Thanks in advance for all the spicy brains I will be picking. And nice to meet y'all.

-peacefrog

In progress: Bavarian Dunkelweizen
Bottle conditioning: Blackberry Barleywine
Drinking: Irish Red, Chocoholic (Vanilla Chocolate Porter)
Gone but not forgotten: Maple Pale Ale
Next in line: Ed's Apfelwein (which seems to be a rite of passage here

 

[Parker36]

Look into the software for recipe formulation, its worth every penny in the long run when you consider you will use it on every beer your brew and some that you don't.

As for the yeast cake question, how long has the aplefwein been sitting on it? If its been a while, I would buy the $1 pack of yeast because they yeasts may be fairly stressed/dormant after they ate all that sugar and lived in a high alcohol environment.

Welcome aboard!

 

[peacefrog]

Good tip about the software. I'd figured I'd post the ingredients to a relevant forum and someone with more experience than me could figure something out. I may do that anyway, since I'm not sure I'd trust my calculations given my limited experience.

I haven't actually made the apfelwein yet, but was thinking ahead. I also didn't realize the yeast it called for was so much cheaper than the beer yeast. (Not that it's terribly expensive either way, but I'm generally a big proponent of re-use. Victory yeast!)

Thanks.

-pf

 

[HopTrap]

I was just reading about developing a grain bill in "Designing Great Beers". Based on what the book says, you need to review one of those profiles. You can find the generally accepted profiles at the BJCP website.

To start you need to know
1. Target Gravity
2. Finish Volume
3. Fermentables and proportions

Then to determine the grain bill
1. Determine the total extract gravity units
(Final GU x Final Vol = Total GU)
2. Total Extract GU per source
(Extract % per ingredient x Total GU = Ingredient GU)
3. Determine pounds of each ingredient needed
(Ingredient GU / GU per lb = Lbs needed)
(System Efficiency x Extract % per ingredient = GU per lb)

Efficiency as far as I can tell is determined by (Total GU in your wort / potential GU from all grains)

I don't have the math for the Hops yet so I have been using a slide rule my wife got me for that. From what I can tell software is the best way, but I want to get in an know the nuts and bolts. If my math looks off to anyone please correct as I am far from perfect and well aware.

-Trap

 

[peacefrog]

It would indeed be nice to have all of that information.

I'd like to do an Innis & Gunn clone, which is a (bourbon) oak-aged English Strong (or Pale, depending on where you look) Ale. All I know are some ingredients: Golden Promise and Crystal Malt grains and Phoenix hops. And of course oak and bourbon, but I already have a reasonable idea of how I'll do that part. I just need to know how to use those grains and hops to make an English pale/strong, which seems like might be an easy thing for someone familiar with that style of beer, which I am not.

Alas, the trials of life!

To update on my evening's task, the dunkelweizen is delicious even without carbonation, but I look forward to trying it fizzy in a week or so. (Rooftop Brew ABV Calculator Results says it's at 6.1% ABV before priming.) I will definitely do another wheat beer soon -- gotta stock up for the summer!

-peacefrog

 

[Cape Brewing]

Welcome to the forum. If you've been around the site at all you'll probably notice about 500 million other folks fromm Mass. There's a bunch on here.

welcome again and enjoy the site. It's got a ton of info

 

[bigjohnmilford]

Welcome from Attleboro

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[thdewitt]

I love the title of this thread. It already has 187 views in just a couple of hours. There are many desperate brewers out there. HA.

 

[peacefrog]

I love the title of this thread. It already has 187 views in just a couple of hours. There are many desperate brewers out there. HA.

*laugh* Well, I started with just "Brewing in Boston", but then decided to go all out with the alliteration. Not too many replies, though. Clearly I need to include a photo next time.

So I hosted a potluck tonight and had fun showing off my beer, which people quite enjoyed, even if my friends do sometimes think I'm a freak for not letting them drink out of the bottle.

 

[thdewitt]

Yes, you may have better luck getting replies with the photo. Guys around here like "Beer Porn" but if you have another idea, that would be great to.

I looked around on the net and found this description for you:


"In this brew we combine the best ingredients from both Scotland and England - Optic Malt and Chocolate Malt grown in the Scottish borders and Goldings hops from the hop fields of Kent.
After brewing we filled the beer into American White Oak barrels{...}and left it there for an uncommonly lengthy maturation
Once we judged that the beer had absorbed the perfect degree of oak character, we emptied the barrels into a marrying tun, and let the maturation continue until the flavours from the individual barrels had blended together and mellowed to our satisfaction.
We then filled this batch into bottles, inside which the final, month-long maturation took place."

 

[peacefrog]

That description is, I believe, from their "Triple Matured", not the regular one, which seems to list different ingredients (golden promise and crystal malt, phoenix hops). Unfortunately, in either case, I don't know how to turn the grains+hops into a recipe. I should take this to one of the other forums, probably. I appreciate the help, in any case.

-pf

 

[StoutFan]

Welcome and Happy Hopping!

 

[thdewitt]

I take it you do not Have Beersmith or Promash or similar program. I can enter it for you, but I need to know the following things.

What beer class are you trying to achieve or what IBU, OG, Color do you want to achieve.

Then I need to know, what base grain, what specialty grain, and what hops you would like to use.

I also need your batch size, whether you fly or batch sparge, and what your system efficiency is.

With this info I could get you a recipe. I think you should invest the $20 dollars or so for Beer Smith though because you recipe will vary depending on the Alpha of your hops, your equipment, and your grain. etc. When you have Beersmith you can change as you understand your variables.

For instance, when I go to the LHBS I often find the hops have a way differnt alpha than the recipe calls for. I adjust the additions amounts so that my final IBU comes out right.

Tom

 

[JustMrWill]

Welcome from N. Attleboro.

Beersmith is what I use...great investment...even if you never create your own recipe....plug in a recipe...save it...brew it.. and it will track it on the calendar page...even has a place to rate it...so you can make re-brew or not to re-brew decissions. I think it even has a 30 day trial..so you don't have to buy it at first.

-Will

 

[Homercidal]

From the title of the thread, I had given it no more than 3 posts before someone requested a photo! Good work guys! I am amazed.

Now get the photo!!

LOL! Good idea opening up with a few sentences about brewing. I think that distracted them slightly. he he.

 

[Joe C]

Welcome to HBT! So you completely skipped over extract and kit brews? Good for you!

 

[flylock_jac]

Howdy , from the South Shore.

 

[Hippie]

Welcome to the forum! I love your name, as that song rocks:fro: