Project: Snow Day

[uncleleon]

I did brew this. It was a very good beer and I got alot of compliments. It's been awhile since I've had one, but the hops I used were nothing like the original. I heard alot of roasty and hoppy without coffee or burnt tastes. This midnight wheat malt needs to be explored further. I will probably put this beer in my rotation for a fall brew. I think I used WLP001 so the yeast profile was a bit muted. I will look back at my notes and see if anything jumped out. There have been many beers since this one. It just keeps getting better and better for me. God bless homebrewing!

 

[CarolinaMatt]

Okay, we're close.

Here's round two;

12.5 lbs 2-Row
12oz C80
4oz Midnight
.5oz Cascade, Centennial, Styrian Golding @ 60min
.5oz Centennial @ 30min
.75oz Cascade @ 5min

iBrewmaster #'s; OG 1.065, FG 1.018, IBU 55.4, ABV 6.16%

We'll see in a handful of weeks...

Was Hoping to bring this post back to life! Going to try to clone Snow Day tomorrow. I feel this one looks really close. Does anyone know what size this batch was? I'm looking to just do a 2 gallon batch until I get it spot on.
Thanks!
-Matt

 

[Helly]

Matt, if all goes as planned I'm going to finally try my attempt at an homage to snow day tomorrow. My notes are at home but I think I've got about 10 lbs of base (mixed between 2 row and pilsener based upon what I had on hand), 1 lb of midnight wheat, 1 lb of Crystal 80, and a mix of centennial and cascade hops to about 50 ibu. I have no idea if it will be close to the original and I know I'm missing the Styrian Goldings but I think it will be a decent brew. I wish you could still get this one, it was one of mine and SWMBO's favorites.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

It is such a great beer! Hopefully it comes back someday or we just come up with an amazing clone.

Will you be doing a 5 gallon batch? I'm going to do a 2 gallon batch and broke it down to this---

80oz (5LBs) 2-row
1.6oz of midnight wheat
4.8oz of crystal 80l
.2oz Cascade, Centennial, Styrian Golding @ 60min
.2oz Centennial @ 30min
.3oz Cascade @ 5min
.5oz DRY HOP of Cascade

Let me know how yours goes!

 

[Helly]

Yes 5 gallons. I will post more when I get home. I sat down and kinda worked it out the other day but I don't have it saved in beersmith yet. I have two batches planned for tomorrow and this is one. Worst case I might tackle it next week.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Here's what I've got. My crystal and midnight wheat ratios are off from the recipe attempts I've found for this. But I'm rolling with it.

6.5 lb 2-row
3 lb pilsener
1 lb Crystal 80
1 lb midnight wheat

Mash 148-150

Hops (kinda made up to make it sound good to me and hit 50-ish IBU)
Centennial 1 oz 60 min
Cascade 1 oz 30 min
Centennial 1 oz 5 min
Cascade 1 oz flameout

Dry hop cascade 1 oz

Safale US-05




Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

That all looks great! What are you going to try and ferment at and how long? I'm thinking around 65* and going 2 weeks primary, 1 week secondary which will include .5oz cascade dry hop, and then bottle and sit for 2-3 weeks.

Taking some "taste samples" throughout of course!

 

[Helly]

Yup, pretty similar. I'll probably shoot for 63 and 2-3 week primary and see how it's looking and tasting. Just setting up my HLT. Man it's cold out there this morning.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Just doughed in. Hit between 150-151.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Gathered my wort and it's in the boil kettle. First glance I'd definitely say it's too dark. Your ratio of midnight wheat is probably much closer than mine.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Well I hit about 1.052 and I pitched rehydrated US-05 at 62. I'll let you know how it turns out.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

Alright so I just finished everything and finished cleaning. Looks good and tastes good. 2 gallons in the primary which is what I wanted. OG of 1.062 and came out with 91% efficiency so I was ecstatic about that! I rocked the BIAB method. I pitched 05 as you did. Got impatient and pitched at 70 haha I'm going to keep primary for 2 weeks and then secondary for one week which is when I will dry hop with .5 oz of cascade. Keep me up to date how yours is coming along!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

so quick question. I aerated my 2 gallons for about 5 minutes and had a ton of foam in it. I let it sit for about 20 minutes and there was still a good bit left when I pitched my dry yeast in. The yeast sat on top of the foam. Woke up this morning and still a good bit of foam left over and I can still see some of the dry yeast hanging out on top of the foam. There is a little airlock activity.

Do I need to be worried about the yeast not getting down into the wort? Should I shake the bottle to get it mixed in?

 

[CarolinaMatt]

Here is how it is looking now.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[LLBeanJ]

Maybe swirl it up a little to sink the foam and yeast.

 

[Helly]

Matt did yours take off yet? Mine had a nice krausen on it this morning. Cranking along in the low 60s with US-05. Took a while to take off because I got it a bit too cold there in the swamp cooler on Saturday.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

Hey Helly-

So I pitched on-top of probably 4 inches of foam (from aerating and star san) so I was worried I messed it up as I could see the yeast just hanging out on top of it and not down in the wort. Checked this morning though and it is finally going to town and the air lock was going crazy so I think I'm good finally and holding at about 64-65.

Did you rehyrdate your yeast or just dump from the packet?

 

[Helly]

I rehydrated about 20-30 minutes before I pitched. Gave it about 45 seconds with my oxygen stone right before that too. Hope yours turns out. I'll check in end of the week to let you know where it's at.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Matt, I tested mine this morning. Pretty good beer. Gravity is down under 1.010 (about 1.008). Taste is very clean. Color is too dark and there's a bit too much roasty flavor. I assume it's from too much midnight wheat since my % was higher than yours and the grain bill is pretty simple. So mine is more of a black IPA than the brown IPA I was going for. I'm also rethinking 1 oz dry hop. I think that needs to be 2 oz and I'll see how that goes. My plan is to give it 3-4 days to continue to clean up then dry hop it with 2 oz cascade and check it again over Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe pump some more dry hops at that point if it's not enough. I hope yours is looking good. Will definitely try it again with %s closer to yours on the grain bill.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

Sounds like it's coming along nicely! How many days will you dry hop? I'm going to let mine sit for one more week before putting into secondary. Then let it sit in secondary for a week and the last three days of that I'll dry hop and then bottle.

Only bad thing about a 2 gallon batch is that it's not easy to test gravity...maybe I need to ask Santa for a brix refractometer!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Right now I'm thinking 2 oz dry hop for maybe 4-5 days. Then I'll keg it. I'm gonna let it sit for probably 4 days then do another test then start the dry hops if it seems done. Glad I finally tried this one.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

I started the dry hop last night with 2 oz of cascade.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Just tested and tasted it. It's done and the dry hop improved it greatly. Has a nice aroma and taste. Thinking about cold crashing and kegging it tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Cold crashed it today and put it in the keg tonight. Smelled great has started to clear quite nicely.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

fantastic to hear its tasting great! Sorry for the delay in response. Was up in MN visiting family. I'll be transferring to secondary tonight and then probably dry hop on Wed/Thurs and bottle on Sunday!

 

[CarolinaMatt]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417743042.076096.jpg
Just threw in my .5 oz of cascades. Hopefully they are not too hard to rack around into the bottling bucket.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Helly]

Cool, good luck. Looks like you used leaf Cascades. I don't think you'll have a problem. Mine is carbing up. I think we need to finish off a couple last pints of cider this weekend then I can clean the line and put it on tap. I'll post some pics and tasting notes when it's flowing.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

I did. Might be a little messy when I rack, but just need to be careful. I'm bottling Sunday so I can finally taste a tiny bit.
That sounds like a plan! What's your ABV% at?

 

[Helly]

I think I'm at 5.8%. If I remember correctly I started at 1.052 and ended at 1.008.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CarolinaMatt]

I bottled Sunday night and ended up with fifteen 12 oz bottles. Not bad, but always wish I had more! So I wonder if my OG reading was off. Because if that stands true of 1.062 and I know I ended at 1.008 I'm rocking 7.2% ABV. Seems high, but guess I will find out when I taste a fully carbonated version in a few weeks. The small sample had I of the uncarbed stuff was great though! I'm excited to see what happens in 2-3 weeks when it settles down and the flavors mellow out.