work really does get in the way...

[brewshki]

I recently just started my first job out of college and it really does steal all of one's time. Additionally, I am also studying for a professional certification and that sucks up any free time I can manage to get (currently on a study break).

A few months ago now, I decided my next brew was going to be a Vienna Lager to try making my first lager. Now, I am really wanting a super low ABV beer that I can enjoy a few pints of as I study and that won't ruin me for work the next day.

Any thoughts, tips, or recommendations about a good session beer style or recipe? Part of me wants to lower the ABV on the Vienna Lager I was going to do, but I am worried about doing that to an already "lightish" beer and especially on my first lager. Unfortunately, with my work schedule I would have to buy all my ingredients today if i want to brew next Sunday.

For reference, my favorite style is a German Hefe but I have been finding myself drinking more commercial brown ales lately as my home brew stock has dried up.

Thanks!

 

[brewshki]

I'm really thinking something under 4%.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Give edworts. Haus ale a shot. Low abv quick fermatation time and a all around great beer. You can find it in the recipe forum.

 

[ChemErik]

My favorite session beer is a dark mild. Similar to the brown ales you've been drinking but lower ABV and British malt and yeast character.

 

[jcav]

OK if you want under 4% then here you go. It's my favorite mild. It's only 3 grains but huge flavor. Gotta use Thomas Fawcett chocolate malt for this recipe though. Don't substitute another dark chocolate malt for it and you won't be sorry. Here is the recipe. It's 3.1 % ABV.
6.5 gallons
O.G. 1.036
F.G. 1.012
IBU 15
SRM 20

I get much higher efficiency so I will give you the recipe as I got it originally for 75% and you can adjust it for your system as I had to do.

7 lb. UK Maris Otter
12 oz. UK Crystal 65-75
7 oz. Chocolate (Thomas Fawcett dark not pale)
0.5 oz. UK Target 8.1% pellet hops at 60 minutes
Wyeast 1968 London ESB yeast
Mash at 158 degrees for 60 minutes
mash out at 168 degrees for 15 minutes
Kettle volume 8 gallons
Boil 60 minutes
Final volume 6.5 gallons
Ferment at 66 degrees F (19C)

That's it, great mild just like going to England! Enjoy!

John

 

[brewshki]

OK if you want under 4% then here you go. It's my favorite mild. It's only 3 grains but huge flavor. Gotta use Thomas Fawcett chocolate malt for this recipe though. Don't substitute another dark chocolate malt for it and you won't be sorry. Here is the recipe. It's 3.1 % ABV.
6.5 gallons
O.G. 1.036
F.G. 1.012
IBU 15
SRM 20

I get much higher efficiency so I will give you the recipe as I got it originally for 75% and you can adjust it for your system as I had to do.

7 lb. UK Maris Otter
12 oz. UK Crystal 65-75
7 oz. Chocolate (Thomas Fawcett dark not pale)
0.5 oz. UK Target 8.1% pellet hops at 60 minutes
Wyeast 1968 London ESB yeast
Mash at 158 degrees for 60 minutes
mash out at 168 degrees for 15 minutes
Kettle volume 8 gallons
Boil 60 minutes
Final volume 6.5 gallons
Ferment at 66 degrees F (19C)

That's it, great mild just like going to England! Enjoy!

John

I went with brewing classic style's English mild and it is super close to this recipe you have. It includes C120 and I used pale chocolate and black patent. .85 oz of EKG at 60. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

 

[jcav]

Sounds good, I think you will like this style. Let us know how it turns out!

John

 

[brewshki]

So beer smith wants me to mash my mild in with only 10 quarts of water and then sparge with 6. this seems like a recipe for disaster. any advice on how much to mash or sparge with? Ive heard you can go up to 2 quarts per pound without any issue

 

[andrewmaixner]

If you like sours, you can make a 2% - 3% berliner weiss and also dry hop it (mosaic, citra, etc). Makes for a lot of flavor with barely any alcohol

 

[jcav]

So beer smith wants me to mash my mild in with only 10 quarts of water and then sparge with 6. this seems like a recipe for disaster. any advice on how much to mash or sparge with? Ive heard you can go up to 2 quarts per pound without any issue

Need a little more info first. What do you brew on? Coolers, 3 vessel system, BIAB, etc. Some people recirculate with a pump during the whole mash, some just cover the cooler for an hour, some have a lot of water under the false bottom and some don't, etc. As an example with my 3 vessel keggle electric herms system, for most of my recipes I regularly use 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain. But that is what I have found works best for my system.

By the way I see you have Janet's Brown Ale fermenting right now in your post. I wonder how yours is turning out. I just bought all the grain for that as that is on deck as my next batch. Probably won't be able to get to brew it until Thanksgiving weekend.

John

 

[jcav]

Oh yea I should quantify that, I use Kal's formula which is here in his "Step By Step Brew Day": http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/brew-day-step-by-step?page=5 So it takes in consideration liquid in the tubing, water under the false bottom, etc and figures that in the formula. So it's not just 1.5 quarts per pound of grain, sorry.....

John

 

[brewshki]

Oh yea I should quantify that, I use Kal's formula which is here in his "Step By Step Brew Day": http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/brew-day-step-by-step?page=5 So it takes in consideration liquid in the tubing, water under the false bottom, etc and figures that in the formula. So it's not just 1.5 quarts per pound of grain, sorry.....



John

I actually ended up using about 1.5 quarts per pound. It was just about 3.6 gallons including a .5 gallon dead space. I use a cooler system. My ending runnings were 1.010 so I have no worries about extracting tannins. I was aiming for 1.035 and I ended up getting 1.041 ish. My refractometer and hydrometer aren't reading the same so I need to recalibrate them. It was a very thin mash but it doesn't look like anything bad has come from it.

I need to update my sign off! Janet's brown was delicious and has been kicked! Looking at those results and today's brew, I think my system is more efficient than I plan, Janet's brown was up over 7% for me. It was so good.

 

[dallasdb]

Professional certification... lawyer, CPA, or?

 

[jcav]

Looks like your dialing in your system! Nothing wrong with a thin mash, your getting excellent conversion and you are extracting the sugars, judging by the Janet's Brown ale over 7% and today's readings were higher at 1.041. So maybe your recipes should be dialed back, so instead of say figuring on 75% efficiency you should figure your getting 80% or whatever BeerSmith is saying you are really getting. Not a bad problem to have!

John

 

[brewshki]

Professional certification... lawyer, CPA, or?

CPA. I've passed two parts of the exam and am working on the third now. I'm actually supposed to be studying as I write this haha.

 

[brewshki]

Looks like your dialing in your system! Nothing wrong with a thin mash, your getting excellent conversion and you are extracting the sugars, judging by the Janet's Brown ale over 7% and today's readings were higher at 1.041. So maybe your recipes should be dialed back, so instead of say figuring on 75% efficiency you should figure your getting 80% or whatever BeerSmith is saying you are really getting. Not a bad problem to have!

John

It looks like I am haha! That was the whole reason to by the refractometer; to have a better ability to do so. However, the hydrometer and and refrac are measuring differently so I need to buy some distilled water and see which is wrong. If I believe the refrac, my mash efficiency would be 91.6% and my BH efficiency would be 82.2%. This doesn't seem all that likely and I think the hydrometer is more likely to be correct. But, Janet's brown was brewed when I only had the hydrometer so I think I am a bit more efficient than I am anticipating anyway.

 

[jcav]

Yea if you get some distilled water you can calibrate both the hydro and the refractometer. Also a lot of people have trouble with getting the correct pre-boil gravity reading as they do not stir the kettle well before taking a sample, and all the sugars are not incorporated in the sample. Not saying you do but something to think about when taking readings and dialing in your system. You are getting excellent conversion though, and you are extracting those sugars into your boil kettle since your over shooting your O.G. numbers and alcohol %. BeerSmith is probably telling you that you are getting a higher percentage of efficiency than the percentage your recipe started with when you designed it. When dialing in a new system after about five batches or so if you keep getting the same results and over shooting and BeerSmith was telling me I was getting say 80% instead of say 75% that I started with, I would then scale my next recipe to 80% and see it I hit my numbers spot on.

John

 

[bobeer]

yea life after college is a rough adjustment. It was for me at least and I didn't even go to a typical 4 year school. Wait until you're married with kids while working full time! Then the brewing time really becomes scarce.

I see you have a few options for your session brew. I'd suggest the Centennial blonde that's on here. I've brewed the 4% version of it, a 6% version and an 8% version, and I've used different yeasts and hops with it. All turned out well. I used a Belgian Abby ale yeast one time and the beer was great. I've dry hopped it, and added syrups and fruit too. It's a good recipe to play with.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Bwahahah. Like @BoBeer said, you think time is scarce now, just wait until you have the trifecta of work+wife+kids.

Between 8 hours of workaday, chores as soon as I get home (cooking/cleaning with the wife), and homework/nightly routines with the kids all I ever want to do is sit.

Nearly $150k in brewing and woodworking machinery in my garage for hobby use and any spare moment I get, I just want to sit.

 

[bobeer]

Bwahahah. Like @BoBeer said, you think time is scarce now, just wait until you have the trifecta of work+wife+kids.

Between 8 hours of workaday, chores as soon as I get home (cooking/cleaning with the wife), and homework/nightly routines with the kids all I ever want to do is sit.

Nearly $150k in brewing and woodworking machinery in my garage for hobby use and any spare moment I get, I just want to sit.

+1 on just wanting to sit down! Hahaha. I have guitars, smoker, brewing stuff, woodworking stuff, and my modded truck. All hobbies that have collected dust ever since having kids. Getting married cut down on my free time but I still had time to brew whenever I wanted and sit and play my guitar for a while. Now that I have 2 kids, 2 months and 2 years old, my free time is at odd hours or when they're all sleeping. I've learned to say hello to 2am brew sessions.

 

[jleiii]

Nearly $150k in brewing and woodworking machinery in my garage for hobby use and any spare moment I get, I just want to sit.

Damn, that sounds more like a professional brewery AND custom woodworking business!

 

[dallasdb]

CPA. I've passed two parts of the exam and am working on the third now. I'm actually supposed to be studying as I write this haha.

NICE! Keep at it. I passed all 4 sections on the first attempt. Passed the last exam May 2016. Took me 12 months but I was working and have four kids!

What software are you using to study?
What sections have you passed so far?

Between 8 hours of workaday, chores as soon as I get home (cooking/cleaning with the wife), and homework/nightly routines with the kids all I ever want to do is sit.

He's going to be a CPA... an 8 hour workday doesn't exist!

 

[catdaddy66]

Work... amiright???

Luckily I have the day off. I didnt realize that until I commuted 1.5 hours (1 way!) to the office after voting at 7am. Still was able to swing by the lhbs and get ready to brew a brown ale on election day!

 

[BigMack]

Work... amiright???

Luckily I have the day off. I didnt realize that until I commuted 1.5 hours (1 way!) to the office after voting at 7am. Still was able to swing by the lhbs and get ready to brew a brown ale on election day!

We all might need five gallons of beer after this election....

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I plan on doing a parti-gyle for my next brew. Half will be a Scottish light 60 at around under 3% and a wee heavy at around 8%. I don't know if you want the strong beer as well as the small beer and the boil for my beer will be a long one so that might not fit with your schedule, but for me it will be a good compromise to get a session beer and a strong beer in one brew day.

 

[jcav]

NICE! Keep at it. I passed all 4 sections on the first attempt. Passed the last exam May 2016. Took me 12 months but I was working and have four kids!

What software are you using to study?
What sections have you passed so far?



He's going to be a CPA... an 8 hour workday doesn't exist!

My father was a CPA. So was his father. They ran their own business together. I remember when I was a kid when "tax season" came around every year he worked his but off. He always made time for my brother and sister and I though. Great father, and he made a very good living and provided very well for his family, but the hours are long. Just saying..... Good luck on your certification exams!

John

 

[brewshki]

NICE! Keep at it. I passed all 4 sections on the first attempt. Passed the last exam May 2016. Took me 12 months but I was working and have four kids!

What software are you using to study?
What sections have you passed so far?



He's going to be a CPA... an 8 hour workday doesn't exist!

I am using Becker, luckily my firm pays for it. I have passed FAR and BEC and am studying for REG.

I'm working 8s right now which is nice but come January, it will be mandatory 11s.

Someone else mentioned tax season, so I thought I would include here that I am in audit. I started on October 3rd.

 

[jleiii]

Damn you bookies are doing better than my daughter. 5 yrs working in accounting and a masters, but the first cpa exam kicked her butt. Her only 'kid' is a dog!

 

[dallasdb]

I am using Becker, luckily my firm pays for it. I have passed FAR and BEC and am studying for REG.

I'm working 8s right now which is nice but come January, it will be mandatory 11s.

Someone else mentioned tax season, so I thought I would include here that I am in audit. I started on October 3rd.

Ugh... Becker Talk about a snooze fest!

FAR was the most content to study, glad you got that one done but BEC should've been last... it's the easiest!

I was shocked at how few questions I had that actually required you to understand how to compute tax in Reg.

Try to knock out as many as possible before busy season and the 2017 exam changes.

 

[dallasdb]

Damn you bookies are doing better than my daughter. 5 yrs working in accounting and a masters, but the first cpa exam kicked her butt. Her only 'kid' is a dog!

Unfortunately a college education doesn't help you pass the exams!

Work experience and understanding the journal entries and theory is what you need. You understand the basics and learn to break down the question in the simplest form. Some accountants only know SALY (same as last year).

If she's still struggling to pass the exams have her get the Roger CPA review course. It was AWESOME. The way he instructs he can teach a layman how to understand accounting and pass the exam. Plus he is very entertaining.

It's a test of discipline and remember, you only need a 75 to pass the exam... that's how you get the "C" in CPA

 

[brewshki]

I am using Becker, luckily my firm pays for it. I have passed FAR and BEC and am studying for REG.

I'm working 8s right now which is nice but come January, it will be mandatory 11s.

Someone else mentioned tax season, so I thought I would include here that I am in audit. I started on October 3rd.

BEC has the most drastic changes in 2017, so it was important to get that out of the way. Busy season is going to come before I take all 4, but I'm definitely going to take them all by March because they are paid for and just to see if i can get done before the changes.

 

[brewshki]

on a more beer related note, the beer is 6 days old and looks like it is done fermenting. Im debating if I want to try and keg it tonight or tomorrow or let it go another week for my traditional 2 week fermentation.

 

[dallasdb]

BEC has the most drastic changes in 2017, so it was important to get that out of the way. Busy season is going to come before I take all 4, but I'm definitely going to take them all by March because they are paid for and just to see if i can get done before the changes.

Take it one lecture at a time. In the beginning I'd only study when I had a few hours to really sit down and get into it. It was taking FOREVER to get through the content. Then I started 1-2 hours a night and more on the weekends. Spent many months going to work, coming home and studying, falling asleep (sometimes while studying) and repeated that until I got through it.

I rescheduled a few times, sometimes just to give me an extra week or two and it was worth it.
I also took time off the two days before every exam and skimmed the content of each section, did 20-50 question quizzes only on that section. It helped master the content of each section.
I never spent time practicing the research questions where they give you a situation and ask you to look up the relevant guidance. The research questions were generally pretty easy to find using the advanced search.

Also, utilize the actual practice exam the AICPA gives you. It's only a few questions and task based simulations but it is a good confidence builder before an exam. Good luck!

 

[brewshki]

Two cool things!

I kegged the beer on Sunday and it is almost completely carbonated tonight. It is delicious. That also means I went grain to glass in just about a week. That is the first time I have ever done that, and it is pretty cool.

This is my first experience with an under 4% beer and it is definitely interesting. It is definitely flavorful, but I do understand why people have issues with the mouthfeel. Even Marris Otter and a 154 degree mash left this a little thin. I do not dislike it, but I am needing to get used to it. I am very willing to drink the keg and maybe look into some techniques to up the mouthfeel next time.

It is just slightly cholatey and smells exactly like grain which I love.

The even better news is that I caught the bug again! It is very exciting. I'm yearning to make a Pilsner or a Vienna Lager next, but SWMBO really wants a Christmas beer... Christmas beer it is.

Does anyone have any good Christmas beer suggestions? I'm thinking I want to stay away from the winter warmer option as it may be a little late to give a big beer time to mature for Christmas. However, I am up for ideas.

Thanks!

Brewshki