Microbus Amber Ale

Here's my second original recipe that I'm brewing for the first time today.

Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.074 SG
Estimated Color: 13.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 31.6 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM)
8.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days)
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (30 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min)
1 Pkgs Fat Tire Ale (Wyeast #WYXL1792)

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium BodyTotal Grain Weight: 14.00 lb
Mash AT 154.0 F

Update 6/12/2010: I made this one again recently. This time I used White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast. I tried it at about 4 weeks and it was a little grassy. The grassy-ness went away after about 6 weeks, so I'd recommend letting this one condition for 6-8 weeks. Also, the WLP001 is probably a little more neutral than I'd like. It could be my imagination, but it seemed the Fat Tire yeast tasted more "bready". This is the first original recipe of mine that I really enjoyed and I'm willing to admit that I may be a bit prejudiced, but I'd rate this at B+/A-

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Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar:

We recently went to The Bayou for dinner and I tried one there. The flavor was great...very rich with definite hazlenut flavor. I'm not sure if it was the hazelnut or just my imagination, but it seemed to have a very slight sweetness to it. So I decided it would be a great holiday brew to give to friends.

8.25 lbs pale malt
9 oz Hugh Baird brown malt
1.5 lbs Munich malt (10L)
6 oz crystal malt (15L)
4 oz chocolate malt (187L)
7.8 AAU's Perle hops (60 minutes)
1.75 AAU's Saaz hops (30 minutes)
White Labs WLP001 yeast
Cellar Pro Hazelnut extract to taste
3/4 cup honey for priming

Procedure: Mash grains with 15 quarts of water for a single infusion mash at 153 F for 45 minutes. This is a "bigger beer" than I usually brew and my 5 gallon mashtun was barely big enough to hold all the mash. Sparge with 170 F water to collect 6.5 gallons of wort. Boil for 90 minutes using the above hopping schedule. For this batch, I made a yeast started the day before. This was in the primary and actively fermenting for 9 days and transferred to the secondary on day 10 (and it's still in the secondary). I'll add the hazelnut flavoring when I transfer it to the bottling bucket. My local brew shop said to use the hazelnut flavoring sparingly. The bottle says 2 oz per 5 gallons of beer, but the brew shop recommended adding a capful at a time until the desired taste is achieved.

Hazelnut Clone - I tried the first one about a week ago, and it's pretty darn good. It's pretty rich...probably not something you'd want to drink all night long. Also very fragrant with the hazelnut extract. I'd probably only brew this around the holidays. I'd rate this one as a C+

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Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone 2

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone 2

11.5 # Great Western 2 row
1# 1 oz Briess Crystal 40 L
9 0z Dingeman's Cara-Pils
1 oz Perle 90 minutes
1 oz Cascade 15 minutes
1 oz Cascade 5 minutes
1 oz Cascade dry hopped in secondary
Wyeast American Ale #1056

Single infusion mash at 152 F, 90 minute boil

Rating: A-/A

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IPA Experiment #1

I've formulated my own recipe for the first time. I've been drinking lots of highly hopped IPA style beers lately, so I decided this would be a good place to start. My test batch is in the secondary right now.

Experiment #1

11 # Golden Promise 2 row
1 # Briess Crystal 20 L
1 # Briess Crystal 80 L
1 # White Wheat Malt
8 oz Dingeman's Cara-Pils
1 oz Centenial 60 mins
1 oz Amarillo 30 mins
1 oz Amarillo 10 mins
2 oz Amarillo dry hopped in secondary

151 F single step infusion mash, 60 minute boil, primary 6 days, secondary 7 days

Notes: My mash got stuck so I was a little off my target OG. I attribute the stuck mash to the wheat malt (I've heard Wheat can cause stuck mashes) and the fact that the stainless steel mesh hose I use in place of a false bottom got a kink in it. I've heard brewers recommend rice hulls to prevent wheat from causing a stuck mash, but I really think it had more to do with the kinked hose. This is because I've used this much wheat before without having problems. So unfortunately, I think my test batch will turn out to be a much lower alcohol version than I had planned...a session IPA if you will.

Rating: D+/C-

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Amarillo Ale

I recently brewed James Spencer's Amarillo Ale (of Basic Brewing). I've been wanting to brew this beer ever since seeing James and his buddy Steve Wilkes raving about it...I think it was on one of their podcasts. They definitely made it sound good and worth brewing. What sealed the deal was a recent trip to Red Rock Brewing Company. I enjoyed a couple pints of their Harvest Ale and I was commenting to the waiter how much I liked it. He informed me it's only available once a year, and it's brewed with Amarillo Hops.

I believe the recipe is in the DVD's, but I also found it on on bigfoamyhead.com.

The recipe from bigfoamyhead.com:

10 lbs Rahr 2-row pale
1 lb Briess Caramel 60L
1 oz Amarillo Hops 60 mins
1/2 oz Amarillo Hops 15 mins
1/2 oz Amarillo Hops 5 mins
WL California Ale
Anticipated results: OG 1.050 - FG 1.007. ABV=5.7%

The following is the recipe as I made it:

10 lbs Great Western 2-row pale
1 lb Briess Crystal 60L
1/2 oz Cascade Hops 60 minutes
1/2 oz Fuggles Hops 60 minutes
1/2 oz Amarillo Hops 15 mins
1/2 oz Amarillo Hops 5 mins
1 oz Amarillo Hops dry hopped in the secondary
White Labs WLP001 California Ale

I used a single infusion mash at 154 degrees farenheit for 60 minutes. As you can see, the original recipe called for Amarillo hops as both the bittering hops and the flavor/aroma hops. After I caught a whiff of the very fragrant Amarillo hops, I decided I'd rather use some leftover Cascade/Fuggles hops for bittering, and save the 1 oz of Amarillo for dry hopping in the secondary.

It's still in the secondary right now and I can't wait to give it a try. Oh, and I forgot to take a OG reading on this batch, so I don't really know if I hit the target OG. Thanks to Steve Wilkes suggestion, I'm using honey for my priming sugar from now on.

Rating: B+

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