Screwys Recipe #57 - Screwy Pale Ale (All Grain)

This time around I added another pound of Crystal 60L and removed a pound of Marris Otter but I left the 1/4 pound of biscuit malt unchanged. My 5 gallon mash tun allows me to mash 11 pounds of grain with a 1.25 thickness in just under 4.5 gallons of space, leaving me more than enough room to tune the mash temperature up or down as/if needed.

Size 5.00 gallons: Estimated IBU=59, SRM=14, OG=1.062, FG=1.015, ABV= 6.0%

I pitched Safale S-04 dry yeast directly into the 70F wort right after aerating it this time. I soaked the packets and scissors in One-Step too as an extra precaution against infection.

Recipe:

Click to download this recipe file for qBrew 
9.0 pounds Marris Otter Malt (UK)

1.75 pounds Crystal 40L

0.25 pounds Biscuit Malt (Belgium)

1 ounce Yakima Magnum (pellets)

2 ounces Kent Golding (UK) (pellets)

1 ounce Cascade (pellets)

1 - Safale S-04 Dry Ale Yeast

Aerate, pitch at 70° F and ferment at 68° F until final gravity is reached

Raise to 70° F over 2 days and rack to secondary fermenter

Cold condition secondary fermenter for 1 week at 34° F

Keg at 30 psi for 2-3 days and serve at 34° F

Infusion Mash at 156° F for 60 minutes.

Boil for 60-90 minutes.

Ferment at 68° F (18.8 °C).

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 Click to download this recipe file for qBrew 

Directions:  

Infusion Mash: (Soak mash tun in 8 quarts of 180° F water for 20 minutes to pre heat it)

Heat 21 quarts of filtered water to 173° F

Pour 14 quarts of 173° F water into mash tun

Mix in 11.0 pounds of crushed grain mix at 67° F

Pour the remaining 173° F water to fill mash tun to 4.50 gallon mark

Stir water and grain mixture and adjust to 156°F and mash for 60 minutes

Fly sparge with 168° F strike water to set mash bed to 168° F

Lauter for 30 minutes adding 11.5 quarts of sweet wort to both 12 quart pots

Full Wort Boil: (Split these quantities between both boil pots)

Add 1 ounce Magnum hops with 60 minutes remaining to boil

Add 2 ounces Kent Goldings (U.K.) hops with 20 minutes minutes remaining to boil

Add 1/4 tablet WhirlFloc with 9 minutes remaining to boil

Add 1 ounce Cascade hops with 7 minutes remaining to boil

Use wort chiller to cool wort to 70° F

Primary Fermentation:

Pour wort through strainer to remove excess hop and grain debris

Fill the Mr. Beer fermenter with wort to just above the 8.5 quart mark

Aerate wort and pitch 1 package of Safale S-04 Dry Ale Yeast at 68-70° F

Ferment to final gravity, raise to 70° F over 2 days

Secondary Fermentation:

Cold condition secondary fermenter for 1 week at 34°F

Keg/Bottle:

Keg and force carbonate at 30 psi for 2-3 days at 34°F

Bottle prime and carbonate at 70° for 7-14 days

After lautering off a little over 5 gallons of wort I took a gravity reading of almost 1.020 proving to myself that they were still plenty of sugars available to be drawn off from my 11 pounds of grain.

I got to use my new auto-siphon to transfer moving my cooled wort into the fermenters, it worked perfectly too. All this time I had spent pouring from the boil pots into the Mr. Beer fermenters was soon forgotten as using an auto-siphon was so easy to do. I placed my cooled wort on top of the sink attached the auto-siphon to the side of the pot and pushed the tube down to the bottom of the pot, all without spilling a drop.

This tool was so easy to use, clean and sanitize I still can't wait to use it again the next time I brew. I just fill the tube and tubing with One-Step and let them soak before connecting the tubing and transferring the cooled wort.

I was able to transfer all the clear wort out of the boil pot and into my fermenters leaving only the trub behind. The clear plastic allows you to see the wort and stop the siphoning at any point.

By the end of brewday there was a nice layer of krausen on top of both fermenters a sure sign there was  plenty of yeast activity.

I pitched the dry yeast right on top of the cooled wort after aerating it. About a minute later I aerated the wort again mixing the yeast up and spreading them around the entire keg to mix thoroughly with the wort. A quick starting fermentation is always a good sign that this fermentation will go well.

  After 10 full days of fermentation at 70F the hydrometer reading was 1.019 pretty close to the estimated final gravity of 1.015 so tomorrow I'm going to transfer them to corny kegs, give them a little gas and let them condition out for another 4 weeks or so before drinking.

Sanitized the corny kegs then racked the SPA to them today. Gassed them with 10 psi to set the lid seals and purge the O2 out of them. I'll let them condition in my office for another 3-4 weeks before tapping in. The samples I tasted form both kegs when filling were great, this is going to give me something to look forward too in the coming weeks.

I put one of the corny kegs in the refrigerator on June 20th and gassed it with 30 psi of Co2, it had been conditioning for a little over 3 weeks. A few days later I drew off a couple of glasses to see how it tasted and it definitley needs more conditioning time.

SPA Sample After 24 Days

(June 23, 2011) When I drank it there was not much hop flavor or aroma present, this one could definitely have benefited by some dry hopping, I may drop a sanitized muslin sack with .5 ounce of Cascades into each of the kegs in another week or so and let them sit for another week. The beer also had a biscuit finish and an slight alcohol bite that warmed the stomach a bit as it went down.

I have to let this one condition out  for a few more weeks before I try it again as 4 weeks after brewday is just too soon to be drinking this beer. The other keg is conditioning in the basement where the temperature is still below 70F and I'll tap this one in four weeks to see how it tastes.

Recipe 56 - Screwy's Noble Wheat

In my never ending search to re-brew the same great recipes I've already brewed and enjoyed, well the same recipes with a few new twists that is, I decided to re-brew my previous interpretations of a Weizen/Wiessbier wheat beer style. This recipe would include steeping Carahell grain and then adding Hallertauer (Germany) hops and Briess Bavarian Wheat DME to the boil, along with a pound of honey just for good measure.

The finished beer should come out a light golden color, dry and with some hints of banana and that faintly sour finish typical of a Bavarian style wheat beer. The alcohol by volume will be somewhat higher than the BJCP style guidelines, giving this beer enough kick to slow folks down from drinking it all too quick. The Noble in the name of this beer comes from the fact that Hallertauer hops were selected and used for this recipe.

The brewday started off at the computer using qBrew to quickly put together this new recipe using the same recipe I brewed last in October 2010. I then decided after some Internet searching that I should add some steeping grains to the recipe and increase the amount of honey as well. Once the steeping water was around 160F I placed the muslin sack with the Carahell grains into the steeping pot and very quickly adjusted the temperature to 153F and held it there for a full 30 minutes.

The steep went pretty much as planned, I found that by using a thicker walled stainless steel pot and keeping the gas burner on the very lowest setting the steep held a steady 153F from start to finish. I also filled my 20 quart pot with filtered water and gave it the gas to get it hot enough for the boil ahead of time. This helped by reducing the wait time, had I added cold water to the steeping wort, to reach my full boil volume in the other pot.

The only stressful part of the brewing day was when I turned my back on the boil pot a little while after I added the DME! I watched in shock as the hot break suddenly rose to about a quarter inch above the rim of the boil pot as I fumbled to quickly turn the gas burner off. It was a miracle the whole thing didn't boil over the pot and onto my nice clean stove.

I added my hop schedule as planned which gave the wort time enough for a good hard 30 minute boil, leaving the top off the entire time. I was able to cool the wort down to 70F for pitching in less than 20 minutes which helped to make quick work of pitching the yeast.

qBrew had estimated the OG to be 1.063 and my initial hydrometer reading showed 1.061 at 70F which for me was close enough to my estimated target. To take the hydrometer reading I filled the tube with clear wort, being careful not to include any trub, then spun the hydrometer around with my fingers to shake loose any bubbles that would otherwise throw the reading off.

The fermentation took off really fast and by the next morning, about 12 hours later, there was a nice healthy layer of krauzen on the top of both fermenters and a whole lot of activity inside. The inside thermometer probe read 72F and was around 3-4F higher than the room temperature of my office where I do most of my ale fermentations. I was able to split an 11 gram package of Safbrew WB-06 which allowed me to pitch half a package into each Mr. Beer fermenter and save a few dollars on yeast in the process.

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Recipe:

Click to download this recipe file for qBrew 
Size 2.13 gallons: Estimated IBU=14, SRM=6, OG=1.063, FG=1.016, ABV= 6.1%

1 pound honey

1/2 pound CaraHelll

2 pounds Briess Wheat DME - 65% Wheat/35% Barley

1/4 ounce Halleteur pellet hops boiled for 30 minutes

1 pound of Honey for 25 minutes

1/4 ounce Halleteur pellet hops boiled for 17 minutes

1/2 ounce Halleteur pellet hops boiled for 7 minutes

11.5 gram Safbrew WB-06 dry yeast

Pitched at 70F and fermented at 70F

Directions:
** Steep grains at 153F for 30 minutes **

Remove grain bag, stir and pour into 12 quart boil pot

Top pot off with filtered water and bring to a boil

Add hops at 30 minutes

Stir in honey and boil for 25 minutes

Add hops and boil for 17 minutes

Stir in DME and boil for10 minutes

Add Whirlfloc and boil for 9 minutes

Add hops and boil for 7 minutes

Place in ice bath, or use wort chiller until wort temperature cools to 70F

Aerate and pitch yeast

Ferment at 70F temperature until final gravity is reached

To split the Safbrew WB-06 yeast package into 2 equal parts, for pitching one into each fermenter, I used a couple of left over White Labs yeast tubes which were perfect for the job. The whole process was very simple to do and worked out perfectly. You can substitute the White Labs yeast tubes with any other small containers that are equal in size, the idea is to get equal volumes of yeast into both containers.

Instructions:
Step 1: Fill both yeast tubes with water, empty them into a small container and mark the water level on the side of the container. This will tell you how much boiling water to add to the bowl for rehydrating the dry yeast.

Step 2: Soak the bowl, thermometer, small spoon, and yeast tubes in One-Step for 10-15 minutes while boiling about a cup of filtered water.

Step 3: Pour the boiled water into the small container until it reaches the water level mark.

Step 4: Set the emptied bowl in a small dish, pour the water in the small container into the bowl and place some ice cubes in the dish to help cool it off.

Step 5: Once the water cools to 90F sprinkle the dry yeast evenly over the top of the water in the bowl, cover it with a paper towel and let it sit for 20 minutes.

Step 6: Stir the yeast every 5 minutes or so until it has the consistency of a thin cream then pour the contents of the bowl into the 2 empty yeast tubes and screw on the caps until you're ready to pitch.

This morning I walked into my office and the fermentation was in high gear. There is a nice banana aroma coming from each of the fermenters, a very good indication of a perfect fermentation. Using viable yeast, enough of it, pitching and fermenting at the yeast's optimal temperature and sanitizing your brewing gear properly are important to producing great beer. After brewing for a while I've leaned the importance of saving time and money wherever and whenever possible without hurting quality as I'm sure you have as well.

The samples I tasted at bottling and kegging time were great they had that nice wheat beer taste that let those great Hallertauer hops come through in the background. They final gravity reading I took read 1.010 which says how well this beer attenuated. I didn't notice any obvious honey flavor or aroma but this is one very interesting wheat beer recipe with lots of interest.

This beer was brewed on May 15th moved to secondaries on May 20th and cold crashed until I kegged it on May 26th. We began drinking it on May 30th for Memorial Day and it tasted really good, proving a wheat beer can be turned around in as little as 2 weeks.

Recipe 55 - Oktoberfest/Marzen Lager All Grain

This is my latest all grain Oktoberfest/Marzen lager recipe. I decided to brew a lager beer this time because of how well received my past lagers have been. Plus I've been looking at my empty fermentation chamber for the past few months and figured it was time to get some use out of it. The ingredients were bought at Princeton Homebrew, where I get all my brewing supplies. I sent Joe Bair, the owner of Princeton Homebrew, an email with the list of items I needed and he had them ready for me to pick up a few hours later.

CaraMunich, Melanoidin, Munich, Pilsener, Hallertauer And Saflager 23

Since brewing my original recipe this past January I've developed a new process for mashing my grains and have been using it for several months now. It involves calculating the recipe using 2 times the normal Mr. Beer size which for me is 2.13 gallons. I setup qBrew to use 4.25 gallons, instead of 2.13 gallons, then add my grain bill and hop schedules until I get the recipe close to the ABV, IBU and SRM range I'm targeting.

qBrew Grain Bill For 4.25 Gallon Batch Size

Since mashing takes an hour to an hour and a half I figured why not just double up on the grain bill and mash it all at once. This definitely shaves at least an hour off my brewing time while still giving me the same end results, two Mr. Beer fermenters filled with wort. My Screwy Mash Tun can hold 11 pounds of grains using a mash thickness of 1.25 to 1.5 and produces 4.25 gallons of 7% ABV beers with no issues.

qBrew Hop Schedule For 4.25 Gallon Size

For a 4.25 gallon batch I mash as usual and then lauter into 2 boil pots, alternating the filling frequently so that both pots get an equal share of the sugar rich wort as it leaves the mash tun. I lauter for 30 minutes and moving the fill tube between both pots gives me something to do while waiting for them to fill up.

Lauter And Alternating The Fill Between Both Pots

The hops schedule is then split into 2 so that each of the boil pots get the right amount. For example the qBrew recipe calls for 1.5 ounces boiled for 60 minutes, so I divided that by 2 and added .750 ounce to each boil pot. After mashing and filling the boil pots equally we can look at the rest of the boil as if we were doing 2 batches again.

Hop Additions Divided In Half To Add To 2 Boil Pots

I used qBrew's default 'Oktoberfest/Marzen' style guidelines as the basis for crunching this recipe's numbers. You can download the latest qBrew database below and use it to upgrade your current ingredient database. This latest ingredient database includes more yeast, fruits, extracts and other helpful entries then ever before.


 Click to download Screwy's latest qBrew database   

Recipe:

Click to download this recipe file for qBrew 
Size 4.25 gallons: Estimated IBU=34, SRM=13, OG=1.072, FG=1.018, ABV= 6.9%


1/2 pound CaraMunich

1/2 pound Melanoidin

5.0 pounds Munich (German)

5.0 pounds Pilsener (German)

1.5 ounce Hallertauer (Germany) pellet hops boiled for 60 minutes

0.75 ounce Hallertauer (Germany) pellet hops boiled for 30 minutes

1/8 tab WhirlFloc boiled for 9 minutes

0.75 ounce Hallertauer (Germany) pellet hops boiled for 7 minutes

Directions:
** Infusion mash at 156F for 60 minutes **

Soak mash tun in 12 quarts of 160F water for 20 minutes then dump to pre heat tun
Heat 20 quarts of filtered water to 170F

Pour 14 quarts of 170F water into mash tun

Mix in 11 pounds of crushed grain mix at 60F

Pour the remainder of the 170F water into mash tun filling to 4.5 gallon mark

Stir water and grain mixture and adjust to 156F and mash for 60 minutes

Sparge with 170F strike water to set mash bed to 168F

Lauter for 30 minutes adding 11.5 quarts of sweet wort to each boil pot

(Using 2 boil pots)

Boil for 60 minutes (8.5 quarts remaining for fermenter)

Add 3/4 ounce bittering hops at 60 minutes to flameout

Add 3/8 ounce flavoring hops at 30 minutes to flameout

Add 1/8 tab WhirlFloc at 9 minutes to flameout

Add 3/8 ounce aroma hops at 7 minutes to flameout

Pitched at 65F and fermented at 54F for 25 days

Raise to 60F over days 26 to 28 then rack to secondary fermenter

Cold lager for 4-6 weeks at 34F

Two 12 Quart Boil Pots And A Smaller Pot To Hold Extra Wort

 I keep an extra pot of wort boiling on a back burner and use it to replace wort lost in the boil pots during the 60 minute boil. I want to make sure I have at least 8.5 quarts of wort to put in each Mr. Beer fermenter before pitching my yeast. The extra wort ensures a full wort boil using the smaller 12 quart pots on the stovetop.

Nice Layer Of Krausen 12 Hours Later At 54F

This is my first time using Saflager 23 for this recipe so I expect it will behave a bit differently than the Saflager 34/70 I've used several times before. I'll look in on the fermentation every few days to see how it's progressing and I may have to make some adjustments to the fermentation times.

Here is a view inside the fermentation chamber on day 2 where the krausen has continued to thicken over the past 2 days. The temperature probe attached to the side of the fermenter wall is reading around 50F right now and I will adjust it upward to 52F where it will remain for the rest of the fermentation.

Day Two Fermentation At 50F

On May 28, after a 2 day diacetyl rest, I racked the lagers into clean secondaries and cold crashed them in the refrigerator at 36F where they''ll stay until I'm ready to keg them in time for the 4th of July weekend.

Oktoberfest Bottling Sample @ 38F

  On June 10th I bottled up the Oktoberfest Lager beer in 1 liter and some 12 ounce longnecks. The samples I tasted were spot on as for what I had expected. I plan on drinking these around the last week of June so they should have at least 14 days to carbonate in the bottles.

Condensation Formed On Bottles Filled With 40F Beer

The bottles have been carbing for about 7 full days and the 1 liter PET bottles are hard to squeeze now, a sure sign that the carbonation is taking place and working. Since it's only possible to check the carbonation level in glass bottles by actually popping one open I like bottling a least 1 PET bottles to use as a firmness gauge.

I brewed this recipe and allowed 4 weeks for primary fermentation at 54F, 3-4 more weeks for cold lagering at 36F and 3 more weeks at 62F for natural carbonation and conditioning. I'll let this brew fully carb up before chilling down and starting to drink them. I'll snap a few more pictures of the finished lager in a glass and provide my feedback trying my best to describe the taste.