Scottish Ale Brewday

So today marked my 4th brew (3rd all-grain) in Northwest Arkansas.  As we get nearer to that cold weather I realized I had to brew a good warming, malty beer for those winter nights.  I haven't decided if this will be a holiday ale, but either way I wanted to brew another Scottish Ale.  Last November my twink and I brewed a Scottish on a whim and it turned out to be my most memorable brew of the holiday season.  This time around I wanted to brew a more classic 'Wee Heavy' style of Scottish ale that has a very basic grain bill and utilizes caramelization in the boil to obtain the rich caramel and malty flavors (as opposed to using caramel malts in the mash).  It presented itself to me as a decent challenge and an exciting opportunity to push myself as an amateur brewer.  So off to my LHBS I went for the grains and hops:

13# Marris Otter
0.25# Roasted Black Barley

1.3 oz. 5% AA East Kent Goldings at 60 minutes

Nothing too exciting about that grain.

Pretty dang simple, huh?  I thought so, too.  I mashed for about an hour, starting around 157F and winding down around 154F by the end of the hour. 

Mash it up.

This is where my typical brewing practices got a little more complicated.  I started to recirculated the wort until I obtained clarity and a good (1 qt/min) flow.  I then proceeded to collect the first gallon of the wort and put in on the stove to boil.  While the rest of the wort collected, this 1 gallon started its caramelization boil.  I took the boil all the way down to 1 qt of syrupy and sweet wort. 

Not a terribly valuable pic, but it the first gallon of runnings boiling away.

Concurrently, I collected the rest of the wort (~7 gallons) and got it out onto the turkey fryer stand.  I allowed this to hot break and begin the boil (about 30 minutes) before I added the caramelized wort.  Are you keeping up with all this action?  Okay.  So once I combined my worts I started a 90 minute boil. 

One full brew kettle.  Luckily, the hot break was over.  All I had to do was boil this down.

At the 60 minute mark I added my EKG's and the rest of the brewday basically went as normal.  I was able to cool this brew down to ~78F in 20 minutes.  Earlier in the week I had made a yeast starter from a White Labs Edinburgh (Scottish) Ale vial.  I pitched this starter and stuck my Scottish ale in my kegerator....

Scottish ales are supposed to be clean with minimal esters.  Being so, I decided to put a temperature controller on my kegerator and set it to 58F.  With the frenzy of fermenting, I figure the internal temp of the carboy will be closer to 62F, right where I want to be.

I am still in the process of refurbing the kegerator, but it should be alright for some fermenting.  You can see the temp controller on top of the brass tap fixture in the top left of the picture (It's a small Loves TSS2-2100 dual stage controller).

So that is about all.  I was able to hit (and even exceed) my OG target of 1.070 (I got closer to 1.072).  I expect the final gravity to be in the mid teens, making this a medium bodied brew with a super clean and malty flavor balanced with about 20 IBUs.  The prolonged boil and reduction should make for some toffee-ish flavors as well.  I can't wait to see what happens; should be a great beer.

A Dick's Scottish Style Ale from WA (compliments of the Tuckers).  I really like this beer, though it utilized smoked malts in the recipe, which I did not.  So mine probably will not resemble it much.

Sampling of my brew.  It is very sweet and thick.  I can taste the hops fighting for balance.  I am very interested to see where this brew goes with the cooler fermentation.

On a side note, Connor told me (the night before brewday) that he didn't want to hear any sob stories about missing my targets or screwing something up.  He wanted me to nail this ale.  So, I told him that this brew was for him.  Then I had an idea for the name of this batch, 'Willie's Scottish Ale'.  William is a good Scottish name and it is also Connor's first name.  Thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay tuned for updates on this brew.  Tomorrow Ashley and I are making a standard Chardonnay and I am transferring my pumpkin ale to secondary.  My Common ale and my Pig Trail Ale are both in bottles and conditioning.

Pumpkin Ale Brewday

Well it seems like all of my brewing buddies are in on the pumpkin ale this year.  I decided to jump into the action this past weekend with a Pumpkin ale all my own.  Ashley made for a great brewing partner (though I still miss you Mark [and Amber]) and game updater (The Razorbacks were in a heated match against the Aggies, they won!).  She thought the beer was really smelling nice during mash and boil.  Here is my grain bill for the brew (3 gallon batch, don't want any bottles after the holidays):

9.5# Roasted Pie Pumpkin (cut into small chunks)
6# Organic American 2-row
1/3# Dingeman's Caramel 45L
1/3# Carapils

 

Roasted Pumpkins, they came out perfectly...

 

Adding that grain player.

 

Grain and Pumpkin...just add water.

I meant to mash at 154 but failed to include the weight of the pumpkin into my calculations so I ended up at 140F.  After two more boiling additions (and close to 40 minutes) I was finally just over 150F.  Decided not to mess with it and let it sit for 40 or 45 minutes.

 

Halfway through the sparge.

Before boiling I stirred in a 1/4# of dark brown sugar.  Here is my hop schedule:

1.25oz Hersbrucker (German Noble Hop, 3.8% AA) at 70 min
0.75oz Hersbrucker at 10 min

 

The nice thing about 3 gallon batches is you can have a nice ferocious boil.

 

I don't know how else to say it, the Hersbrucker hops smelled great....very Noble. That's Ash adding the hops....no, I don't paint my nails.

 

Ashley's dogs (left to right: Mercedes, Haley) were very helpful and entertaining on this fine brewday.  That's me in the background chillin like a villain.

The brew day went fine (pumpkin was a little messy) but I missed my desired OG (1.054) by over ten points.  I was closer to a 1.042 OG.  I started to think it was from either the crappy mash (but then decided the mash wasn't that bad, I basically had a two stage mash) or from using organic malts (thinking possible they had a lower sugar yield per pound of grain).  However, when I went to dump the grain I realized what it was.  I noticed a lot of the hulls were not even cracked.  So I am very disappointed in myself for not checking my crush.  I should have looked after it was crushed, turned the wheel in more and ran it through again.  Oh well, I'm going to make lemonade from this lemon.  Being low on gravity (and ultimately lower in alcohol), Ash recommended I call this brew 'Pumpkin D-light' to admit that yes, it is a lighter beer, but it will be a delight regardless.  This brew will probably end up around 4.5% ABV and 30 IBU.  The color is nice and I think there will be a nice pumpkin flavor to it.  It may turn out to be a good low cal brew.

I am going to add a very small amount of spices to the secondary.

I used a vial of White Labs California Ale yeast that was very viable (big hiss and suds when I cracked it open).  Fermentation has already slowed almost to a halt and the smell of the airlock is clean and hoppy and earthy (pumpkiny).  I can't wait to see how this brew turns out!
 
P.S.  No pics of it in a fermentor because I was out of carboys....had to use a plastic bucket!

I am brewing a Scottish Ale next weekend so be sure to  check back!

-Matt and Ash

A Busy Brewing Weekend (Extract Common and All Grain Brown)

GET THE EQUIPMENT (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)

A lot of brewing activity has happened since our last post, so this is going to be a long read (make sure you have time because I would hate for you to get halfway through and give up, the best part is the last part!). 

About the time we finished bottling up our Peach Chardonnay the weather took a serious turn towards autumn.  This is the time of year I always get reignited for beer brewing (and drinking, Oktoberfest yum).  The only issue was that I had moved to AR with very limited brewing equipment.  I basically had a mash tun and carboys.  The rest of the equipment stayed behind with my twin brother in OH.  Well I had remedied some of my more basic needs when I bought some equipment to make the Peach Chardonnay.  Some of you may remember that the guy I bought the equipment from (buckets, hosing, capper, air-lock, hydrometer, etc.) threw in an old extract kit for a California Common he never brewed.  All that I really needed to brew my first batch was a couple of brew pots, a propane burner, and a wort chiller.  I am very fortunate to be networked with members of FLOPS (Fayetteville Lovers of Pure Suds), a homebrewing club here in town.  Trying not to invest too much capital to churn out some brews, I inquired on the groups FB page for some used equipment.  For $20 I was able to chase down two aluminum brewpots (a 30 qt, and a 32 qt) and a used wort chiller.  Thanks guys!  I also found a regional sporting goods store (The Academy) that sells propane burners for cheap ($30).  I was off and running!

BREW THE COMMON (Friday Night)

Soooo, I decided that it couldn't really hurt anything to try to brew this old extract kit, if anything it might show the true effect of time on brewing ingredients (I estimate the kit to be at least 3 years old).  I did upgrade the finishing hops and yeast to fresher offerings with the help of the local homebrew store (more on them later!).  I also decided at the last minute to add some cane sugar to the boil (about 1/2 cup).  I figured the simple sugar would be a good start for the yeast in case it wasn't too fond of the old malts. I brewed this batch on Friday night and it went smoothly.  The OG on 5 gallons was right at 1.050.  I swapped out the old package of Saflager S-23 for a package of Safale US-05 (first time using dry yeast since my very first batch 3 years ago).  The temperature in my house will be better received by the ale yeast strain.  As I type this it is happily fermenting away....so we will see what happens with it.

I will apologize in advance for the poor quality, and quantity, of pics.  I didn't have my better camera on me.





I boiled the extract in 3 gallons on the stove, cooled it and then blended it with 2 gallons of spring water.

Just a pic of the hops.  The top group is the old bag of cascade hops that came in the kit.  The bottom group are fresh cascade hops....a little nicer looking, no?  The bottom group went into the boil, the top group went into the trash.




The extract kit was fun, and a good way to get my feet wet in AR (first ever beer I brewed down here!).  But my true passion is all-grain.  Without further a due, on to the main event.....

BREW THE BROWN ALE (Saturday)

That crisp autumn air sure makes a man want to brew.  It didn't take long for me to decide what I wanted.  A brown ale.  Not  a traditional malty, sweet, English brown ale.  But a hoppy, balanced, American brown ale.  It would be the perfect brew for Football Saturdays (and Sundays) as the weather fades to the chill of winter over the next few months.  I love looking over recipes and trying formulate my own, but above that I just love the process of brewing and the rushed activity and excellent aromas of a brewday.  I decided not to formulate a recipe, rather I would take one from Brewing Classic Styles, an excellent recipe book written by Jamil Zainesheff and John Palmer.  Here are the particulars of the brew:

12# American 2-Row
1.25# Carapils Dextrin
1# Wheat Malt
0.75# Crystal 20L
0.5# Crystal 60L
0.5# Chocolate Malt

0.75 oz. of Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) added to mash
1.0 oz. of NB at 60 min
0.75 oz. of NB at 15 min
1.5 oz. of Cascade (5.9% AA) at 10 min
1.5 oz. of Cascade at 0 min
2 oz. of Centennial (8.9% AA) at 0 min

So I grabbed hold of my recipe, gave my rollin GMC a shove and I started, rockin and rollin, over the hills towards The Homebrewery.  In all my years of brewing, I think this is the only store I have been to that specializes in beer brewing.  They also carry wine-making supplies, but they are more devoted to beer brewing.  The guys there are very knowledgeable and helpful.  They got my ingredients all together and I grabbed a few extra items (thermometer, mash paddle, bung) and started back to my house.  I could already smell that mash!

 Pouring the grain into the mash tun.  One of the best parts of the day.

This recipe called for a hop addition in the mash.  Can you spot those pellets?  Unfortunately, the hops curbed the intense sweet aromas you usually get when mashing.  No big deal!

Not having a filtration system at the house, I used 20 gallons (total between the common and brown) of local spring water.  I paid just over a buck a gallon....not terrible considering it is spring water from right here in NWA.  I tasted a little, it drank pretty goooood.

To the 16# of grain I added 6 gallons of 165F water.  The mash started at 154F and trickled down around 150F by the end of the hour.  Time to sparge!

My sparging system is pretty basic and better suited for a 2 man operation, but I made it work.

Look at that sweet brown wort.  I collected 7 gallons and had a pre-boil gravity of about 1.055 (corrected). 

About to hit the hot break.  With 7 gallons in an 8 gallon brew pot, this is always tricky.  But no boil overs were had.

Boiling away.  About the only thing cooler than a boiling batch of brew is my Yukon.  Sometimes its a headache but for the most part I love it. Okay, back to the brewing.

 A typical brewday for me usually includes a brew and sometimes (like today) a cigar.

My cooling system.  I know, I know, somewhat janky.  But you know what?  I got down to 80F in about 30 minutes...so I will take it.

OG clocked in for me at 1.062 (corrected).  So I was a little under my recipe target but I did collect more wort than I thought (about an extra quarter gallon) so that might be a factor.

 A final picture of my brews (taken just this morning, common on left and brown on right).  Both are off like rockets.  I also used the Safale US-05 American Ale dry yeast for my brown ale.  It was sooooo easy and cheap.  Just sprinkle that yeast in there and let it ferment, playa.

My brother (aka brewther) Connor sent me this brewing log binder as part of a b-day gift and honestly, its awesome.  I don't know how I brewed without one.  It is useful for taking organized notes so in 6 months when I drink the last bottle of brew from this brewday I will be able to look back and remember what I actually did!  Thanks Connor!

So that is, sadly, all for right now.  Ashley was out of town this weekend and bummed to miss the brewday, but she will be around for bottling (and she is a big help with that).  I am going to call this brown ale 'Pig Trail Ale' in honor of the scenic byway that cuts and winds through the ozark mountains of Northwest Arkansas.  In the fall the hills change to a myriad of colors, and the pig trail sure is beautiful.  I plan to take a few bottles of this brew out for a Saturday picnic in them hills.

On a final note, I dedicate this brew weekend to my brother, Mark.  He has been my brewing partner since day one and, on hectic brewdays, been the level head that keeps production moving.  It was strange to brew 10 gallons of beer without him in sight.  He was missed.  The beer is a tribute to our ambiguous taste in beer, hoppy but malty, balanced between the light and the dark side.  We never could seem to successfully brew a brown ale together, so I am hoping to redeem our attempts in this latest batch of brown!  Cheers to all, and stay tuned for bottling updates on these two brews.

The Finished Product!

I was able to help Matt out with making labels for our Peach Chardonnay! These are images of the final product!

We can't wait for everyone to try it!
XoXo

Peach Chardonnay Update (Labor Day Chardonnay)

Our Peach Chardonnay is all finished and it is delicious! All in all we had just under 6 gallons of wine. We used some standard wine bottles for some of it and we also got some cool blue flip-tops. The flip-tops will probably hold some beer too in the future! Each flip-top is 1 liter, and my brewing buddies all know how I prefer my beers a liter at a time! I'm thinking these would be perfect for holding a bock or other tasty German lager for spring time....okay okay, let's get back on track. Ash was a great help for sanitizing and filling the bottles. The cool thing about wine is it doesn't need any bottle conditioning time; once you bottle it all you need to do is get it cold. So we sampled some last night while we watched the Razorbacks whoop up on Missouri State. It is semi-sweet, peachy, and all around clean and crisp. A really good brew for autumn, which is fast approaching. Enjoy the pics of our Labor Day Peach Chardonnay! That is all for now. The next update you all hear from me will hopefully be a beer brewing update....I am itching like a hound to fire up the brew kettle.

Sanitation is key!




Racking the wine.

Gravity, final gravity was just under 1.020. That's because of the peach extract we added in the secondary. I never took a gravity reading beforehand but I would guesstimate the wine is about 10% ABV.

Ash was a natural at bottling the wine, not a drop was wasted!




The final bounty (minus a few bottles that were in the fridge chilling already).

The Best Coffee Drip Pot

Well my 27th B-day has come and gone and I don't feel any older. But I had fun celebrating in Fayetteville with Ash et al. Her gift to me this year completely caught me off guard. I was delighted to unwrap a Technivorm Moccamaster Drip Coffee Maker! This coffee maker has been on my radar for years but I never bought one....mainly because I am sometimes too frugal. Anyways, this coffee maker (which is handmade in the Netherlands) is the only coffee maker certified to brew coffee at the right temperature. That's right, your basic 'Mr. Coffee' fails to heat the water to a high enough temperature to extract all the wonderful flavors of coffee. Beside the fact that it brews a great cuppa joe, it just looks cool anyways. A true engineer's coffee maker. I have used it a couple of times so far and I can tell you it makes some great coffee. The next thing I need to buy is a burr grinder so I can control the freshness and consistency of my grind. It will take my Arkansas coffee brewing to the next level. Thanks for the gift, Ash! I love you!








I'm Matt Milliren. I love coffee, and quality. Quality coffee is also really nice. This coffee maker makes quality coffee.



















Checking the brewing progress.















Finished product. Tasty.

Uncle Brad's Royal 50th Birthday Party!

A couple of weeks ago we flew out to Marion, NC for the weekend! It was Uncle Brad's 50th Birthday party and we had such a great time getting to see a lot of Matt's family!

Brad making his entrance with his escorts to the party!

Uncle Bobby's Band! They were so good and Brad loved it. This is them singing "Let the circle be unbroken."

We had the best time with Matt's wonderful family! We can't wait to see everyone again soon!
XoXo,
Ash

Exciting News & Answered Prayers!

I can't contain my excitement any longer! We just found out that we are going to be a Aunt and Uncle again! So very grateful for answered prayers for my wonderful Brother and Sister in Law! They will be having their first baby in April and we could not be more excited! Congrats Gary and Rachelle!
XoXo,
Auntie Ashley

Peach Chardonnay Update

Well it has been 14 days since we started the Peach Chardonnay. Primary fermentation lasted about a week or 10 days and the wine has been relaxing in the primary bucket for about the last 4 days. Today we racked the wine into a glass carboy for secondary fermentation, which as I can gather, is a clarifying stage (and necessary) for wine. Being a peach wine though, we also got to add some more peach nectar to the carboy to add a sweet tart kick to the Chardonnay base.

Along with the peach juice we added some potassium based salts for stabilizing the wine and some other chemical which force clarity. I am not well versed on what each of them does, but I trust they will do their job. I forgot to get a gravity reading before adding the peach juice but I got one once we were all finished. The gravity was 1.020 and I think the majority of that 20 points was in the fresh juice. I tasted a sample it tasted good and clean and peachy. I think this will really turn out to be a good late summer sipper. Updates will follow on bottling day!

For those that know of mine and my twins struggles with sanitation on our latest beer batches, this is me bleaching the carboy. I'm back in the saddle again.

Transferring from primary to secondary

Assembling the pink drill to the stir rod to stir up the clarifying agents. It is actually a really nice drill.

Final product. In 14 more days it should be nice and clear and ready for bottling. Stay tuned.....