Journal of Brewing

Starter
Made the typical starter with my new pyrex flask!! Oxygenated it for 1 minute and put it on the new stirrer. Oh yes, there was flocculation…
Holy Jesus!
Ran a partial mash with the grains. 3lbs of grains x 1.25 quarts/lb of water so 3.75 quarts. Sparged with 3 x 1.5 = 4.5 [...]

A little ditty we’re constructing for phDiesel. “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” Ale. Since he’s an accountant I thought he’d appreciate it. I think it’s supposed to be a pale to medium colored ale. We picked up the ingredients from Northern Brewer.
The new trick with this brew is defintely going to [...]

Final Gravity: 1.020
Attenuation: unknown
ABV: unkown
Bottling was quite uneventful. Primed with 5oz priming sugar boiled in 1 pint of water. I’m suspecting a dilute O.G. reading because everything seemed to go as plan. While drinking some samples yesterday I noticed the extreme hop presence. I also noticed that I was getting buzzed. [...]

Gravity Reading: 1.020
I’ll let it sit in the carboy for a week or so before I bottle. I’ll take my next reading then. I’m suspecting that I got a dilute wort reading because I took off the top. I hope so because that attenuation is not good.

This recipe is my own. It’s a modified version of Keystone Wheat Beer. My modification is 1oz of Tettnang hops for the final 30 mins and 2 lemons zested and added for the final 10 minutes.
I’ve made this beer before and with great results. I make sure to add the malt extract [...]

Final Gravity: 1.017
Attenuation: 75%
ABV: 6.69
Bottling was quite uneventful. Primed with 5oz priming sugar boiled in 1 pint of water. I’ll let it age until April

Gravity Reading: 1.019
Attenuation: 72%
ABV: 6.43
I’ll let it sit in the carboy for a week before I bottle. I’ll take my next reading then.
Sunday Feb 12, 2006 Update: Loads of flocculation on bottom of carboy. Woo!

HOP SOUP BATMAN!!
9.3 lbs Gold Malt Syrup
1lb Simpsons Caramalt
1oz Nugget Hops (60 min)
1oz Fuggle Hops (30 min)
1oz Kent Goldings Hops (10 min)
1oz Fuggle Hops (1 min)
2L starter made with Wyeast XL pack #1275
Steeped grains at 150 for 20 minutes. Removed grains. Brought to boil. Added malt extract and nugget hops. After [...]

Made the starter today with a volume of 2L. Pretty standard really. See here for the recipe. Pitched the yeast when it was below 90F. Off and runnin…..

My latest kit from Northern Brewer is on its way to my home. I’ll be attempting their India Pale Ale. Why an IPA, well I say to you, why not?
I really enjoy this style of beer for a variety of reasons. First, as a hophead, I love to be pelted in the [...]