Maybe an IPA?

Transferred Brandon's nameless pale ale to secondary today. I ended up using a dry yeast for this batch and the attentuation was crazy. OG was 1.061 and the FG was 1.009. Man this beer is gonna be big. I might have to try the dry yeast Safale US-05 on my next batch. I think I wanna make a balanced pale ale next, after my pilsner for Katie of course, with some low AA hops. I love doing this stuff man. Great results so far from my AG switch

Black Cap Beer

The first Common is now bottled. I have decided to treat it like a Seasonal Release, therefore it's only in 22's. With around 7 percent ABV, it's gonna be one of those beers that you should savor. Hopefully the flavor coincides with this. My next beer is going to be a pilsner, as per Katie's request, thinking about rehashing the German one I made with a partial mash recipe not too long ago. It will look something like this

8# German pils malt
1# Vienna malt
6 oz Carapils

2 0z saaz for 60 min
.5 oz tettnanger for 30 min
.5 oz tettnanger for 15 min

The guys at Brewcraft told me that a triple decoction was the best way to get a really clean and crisp pils, I don't know if my set up could handle all that. It involves taking part of the mash out and boiling it to raise the temp of the whole mash slowly. The other thing that would do is lengthen my brew day by about 3 hours, I will probably just do a single infusion and try to rig some filters and what not to clean out the beer nicely.

The beer of champagne

The Pale Ale is complete. Brandon got to do most of the heavy lifting, thank goodness, because I have a serious crick in my neck right now. As a result of our concerted efforts we now have 4.4 gallons of wort fermenting in the hall closet. I wanted to get more than that, but I think my kettle and brewing system just boils off more than I thought. I started with just about 6.5 gallons pre boil and I ended up getting about 4.5 after. I should be able to tweak some things to get it going right. My efficiency was at 74%, it would have been higher had I gotten 5 gallons, but I can live with 74. The OG was 1.061 and with an expected FG of 1.012, we should have a pretty punchy pale ale in about a month.

Competing

I'm entering two beers into a competition tomorrow. The tasting actually happens on the 30th with winners announced on the 6th of June. It's up in Sonoma in the town square. I will be entering my Laddertruck IPA and Bitter Beer Face Pilsner. Wish me luck

Brandon's Brew Day

Saturday is again Brewturday. Finally getting Brandon going on this. He's been waiting patiently since Christmas. We are brewing an APA with a fair amount of hoppiness. I was going to do a single hop series but decided to go with Cascade and Fuggles on this one.

8# Pale 2 row
1# Munich malt
1/2# Victory Malt
1/2# Carapils

2 0z Cascade pellets for 60 min
1/2 oz Fuggles pellets for 30 min
1/2 oz Fuggles pellets for 10 min

Going to mash at about 152 for 60 min hopefully getting about 2.5-3 gallons of first runnings

If my system stays the same I should get about a 1.054 reading on the hydrometer after boil. Mmm beer. Brandon has two cases plus of empty Sierra Nevada bottles ready to go, and who know, maybe this will be close to a clone of that beer. We'll see

It is decided

Let it be written. I am brewing this Saturday, finally giving Brandon his long awaited and well deserved batch of beer. We will be doing an American Pale Ale in the style of Sierra Nevada. I am aiming for the same efficiency as my last two beers, or thereabouts. If we do hit that number, 77% or so, the gravity should be around 1.055-58. We are going to do a single hop series. His will be Cascade and then I'm going to use the yeast cake from that beer and make the same exact beer but with Willamette hops. Should be tasty goodness.

Need a backup

I have completed my first real all grain brew day. I'm counting the actual first day as a practice run. I used my larger beverage cooler and was able to collect more than enough wort. I started out with just under 7 gallons and after the boil, just about 5.5 gallons went into the primary right on top of the yeast cake. My mash tun seems to work fine, although I broke my thermometer today, but it holds the mash temp really well. I think this helps with my extraction rate because I got a 1.054 reading on the hydrometer which puts my efficiency at 77%. I will be ecstatic if I can continue that for the rest of my brewing days.

Everything was going well, my first hop addition was in, and so I went upstairs to clean up a little bit. I came back down and my flippin propane had run out. AAAAAHHHHH. I had to carry 7 gallons of liquid, boiling hot liquid mind you, upstairs and try to get a rolling boil on the stove top. I got it done, and everything else went as planned, but that would have really sucked had I fallen or spilled boiling water all over myself. The two commons are getting along nicely, bubbles are already happening in today's batch. Can't wait to drink em

Commonly misconstrued

I am brewing today. The (hopefully) five gallon version of the Cal Common. I am going to change one thing in this version. Instead of Fuggles as my last two hop additions I am going to use Cascade. It will be cool to have a horizontal flight when both of these beers are done. We'll see how they both turn out. I know that the smaller batch is going to be a two and done type beer with almost 8% ABV. But this one today should be right around a 5%-er

FUNemployment

Day two of FUNemployment went well. I went with Veronica to Kindergym and got to see what she does with her Papi and Grandma on Tuesday's. What a blast that was. I continued the cleaning project that is our garage. Got rid of some cardboard, cleaned some more bottles. I also got the ingredients for another Cal Common which I am going to brew on Thursday. I am looking to hit 70% percent efficiency which will put me right around an OG of 1.055 which is more like a common than my little batch that's fermenting right now. I got one more pound of 2 row to put the total at 9# 2 row, 1/2# each of munich, cara-pils, and 40L. I converted my other beverage cooler to a mash tun and will now be able to sparge with the desired amount.

The next one's on you

Common misconceptions

I've decided to give the Common another go. I am going to make another batch of it in my larger cooler and then just use the yeast cake from my current batch. It will save me eight bucks which will put my cost right around 20 bucks for a whole batch. After I do this it's onto the Pale Ale that I promised my buddy we would make a while back. He's got all the bottles ready, now we just need to get it done. I haven't forgot Brandon.

Brew day complete

The first all grain brew day at Brewery 20th Ave is done. My "Not as Common as You Think" Cal Common is in the primary. Every site and video I've seen had me thinking that I was going to have to commit to an eight hour process. I started at 2 and am done before 6. Did I miss a step? Did I do something wrong? The proof will be in the pudding when I try the beer a month from now.

I found out that my 5 gallon water cooler is too small to batch sparge 10# of grain. I started out with 3.5 gallons of water at 170 which got me to my mash temp of 155. Surprisingly it held that temp the whole hour of mashing. I only got 2.5 gallons of wort out of this first running. So I tried to sparge with 4 gallons but I could only fit 3. It seems as though my next batch will put to use my ten gallon water cooler.

Everything went smoothly though. I ended up with 5 gallons of wort pre boil and 4 gallons post boil. My gravity was a wopping 1.070 which puts me at 80% efficiency so we're talking about 7% alcohol when all is said and done. Yikes. Til next time

Tomorrow is the day

Tomorrow will be kind of bittersweet for me. I am getting laid off for three weeks but at the same time it will give me so much time to do many things I don't usually get to do during the week. Hang out with my daughter, hang out on the couch and do nothing, make beer. I am excited about all the possibilities and tomorrow starts the journey. I am going to delve into all grain brewing for the first time with a California Common (like Anchor Steam). I am so juiced. I have my cooler mash tun ready to go with no leaks and plenty of test rounds to clean out the plastic smell. I am hoping for 68-72% efficiency which would put me right around a 1.050 original gravity. This is kind of a redux of my extract Common but this time I will have dextrose on hand to carb it. My first attempt at this style produced a really good but almost champagne like beer because I used cane sugar to carb it.

I will let you know how everything goes. That includes my hang time alone and with my baby girl

Friday is the big day

I finally have all the equipment I need. Gonna get a wort chiller today as well as all the ingredients for my first all grain batch. I'm thinking about re doing my Cal Common. I really liked how it turned out only this time I will have the corn sugar so I can carb it to style more so than last time. It was a little effervescent because I had to carb it with cane sugar which also imparted, I think, some flavor. Corn sugar is flavorless and creates less vigorous carbonation. We shall see. I think I'm gonna name it More Common than a Sixth Generation San Franciscan.