Oktoberfest - The Pinnacle of Lager Season

Well its over and done. The Muhleisen Oktoberfest/Marzen is now sitting in the fridge on the verge of fermentation.  The past 8 hours have been a battle for the brew.  Here's how it all unfolded.

Oktoberfest beer is by far my favorite style of beer.  Flavor wise it is just a straight up malty lager with no 'in your face' or 'funky' flavors.  The reason I enjoy it so much is from a combination of sensory combinations.  Fall begins to roll into the US and the air takes a turn from hot and humid to warm/cool and dry.  The smell of autumn sets in air and the leaves that are green turn to brown.  When I first started brewing beer in August of 2008 I had just started my journey on craft beer.  I found myself fascinated with the delicious German Oktoberfests from Paulaner, Spaten, Ayinger and an American Craft Oktoberfest from Great Lakes Brewing Company.  I remember sitting on my parents deck one early autumn evening and eating dinner whilst quaffing on some of these fine brews.  I was hooked.  Every September/October I get reignited for a delicious Oktoberfest beer. I also love drinking these beers from big 1 litre mugs while singing German songs, but that is a separate blog post.

Even though its my favorite style, of the 3 dozen odd batches of beer I have brewed I have yet to brew an Oktoberfest.  So today was the day.  The weather is beginning to warm and soon I will have to decrease my brewery output as the hot days of summer come back to Arkansas.

Here was my recipe:

4# German Pilsener
3.5# Munich Malt
2.5# Vienna Malt
0.5# Crystal 60
0.5# Carafa45
Preboil Gravity (7.5 gallons) ~1.045
OG (6 gallons) ~1.056

90 minute boil
1.1 oz. Hallertau (5.7% AA) at 60 min
0.4 0z. Hallertau (5.7% AA) at 20 min

Water was a 50% dilution of Mountain Valley Spring Water and distilled water.  Approximately 3 grams of CaCl added with 2 grams of CaSO4 to bring the alkalinity in check and add needed minerals.

Yeast was White Labs Oktoberfest Lager yeast off a 2 stage starter to achieve roughly 400 billion cell count.

The mash was 'Hochkurz Double Decoction'.  Hochkurz roughly means 'HighShort' in German and this approach employs two different saccharification rests with decoction to raise between the first and second sacc temps and then a second (decoction) to raise the mash to mash-out temp.  I won't bore anyone with details but my fist rest was at roughly 145F and my second rest was at 158F.  I hit 85% brewhouse efficiency and the decoction boils should add a nice malty backbone to the final product.


Decoction brewdays are much more hectic than the average infusion mash brewday.  Therefore I don't have a bunch of pics.  But here are some action shots:

The aftermath of the decoction.  I did the majority of it on the stove (the decoctions were small [7 quarts] because of the small temperature increases needed).

Boil boil boil boil.

Was happy to hit my gravity goal.  I also really like the color.

The sweet sweet wort is making its way to the fermentor.

The sweet sweet wort has been inoculated with the yeasties and well aerated.

 

So as excited as I am for this beer, it is going to take patience.  I want to do this the way that the Germans intended for this beer.  They would brew this beer in March and lager it in caves in the summer months before enjoying it in the fall.  The history is a little blurry but it was called Oktoberfest beer after 1810 when these beers were brewed specially for a celebration of a Prince/Princess wedding.  


Long story short.  I'm going to ferment this beer for 3 weeks and lager for 6 weeks.  Then I will bottle it, let it condition, then put it back in the fridge to sit, and sit, and sit.  In late September I will bake pretzels, grill brats, and enjoy this beer with my brewthers and brewisters.


Thanks for stopping by.  I hope this beer rocks!

Willie's Helles Lager, Big Bad Baltic Porter, and some Hoppy Ale Updates

So as usual I have procrastinated on my brewing updates.  Unfortunately this won't be a long post for two reasons:

1. I took crappy notes when I brewed Willie's Helles Lager so that will be a paragraph and pictures.
2. My Baltic Porter was a complete last minute decision (decided yesterday to brew it today) so I am writing this blog not three hours removed from pitching the yeast and I am tired and not in the mood to type as much as usual.

Willie's Helles is a lager recipe I got from my brother Willie.  I won't even go into details on the recipe instead I will direct you to his blog post where he discusses making it, click here. The only difference between his recipe and my attempt was water and a decoction mash.  This was my first try at a decoction mash and I can safely say that I won't be making it a habit.  It was a lot of work!  I got to break in brother Mark's gift of a brew paddle for all the intense decoction boils.  The brewday went relatively smoothly but I was so busy decocting that I hardly took notes or got pics.  It has been three weeks since I brewed and I racked it to secondary yesterday.  OG of 1.069 to a racking gravity of 1.017.  It was sweeter that I had hoped in an odd 'macro' corn way.  I hope some time in secondary mellows it out and brings the gravity down another point or two to dry it up.

Stir the mash

Stir the decoction

Still stir the decoction

The spent grain looks a little more spent after a decoction mash

Racking from primary to secondary.

So Willie's lager was fermented with the same German Lager yeast I used for my German Pils (which I will be bottling in a week).  I wanted to resuse the yeast one last time before throwing it out and I thought I better go big or go home.

So I brewed a Baltic Porter.  Originally I was aiming for a 3 gallon batch at 1.090 OG.  But then I got carried away.  More on that later.  Here is the recipe:

7.5# Munich
5# German Pilsner
0.5# Crystal 60L
0.5# Belgian Special 'B'
6 oz. Debittered Black Malt
0.25# Chocolate Malt

1# Light DME added to preboil volume.

3.5oz of Czech Saaz (3.0 AA) at 60 min
1.3oz of Czech Saaz (3.0 AA) at 15 min

With my original intentions of a 3 gallon batch I decided to try my hand at a 'Brew-in-a-Bag' method of brewing.  This is basically an easier way to do all-grain brewing with the trade-off being slightly lower efficiency and typically smaller batch sizes.  The concept is easy, put your grains in bag and soak them in water at the appropriate temp (think super big tea bag steeping) for an hour before draining off the grain and proceeding with brewday as usual.  I decided to make it more complicated.  I couldn't handle the idea of a lower efficiency (mainly because I didn't plan for it in my grain bill) so I decided to insert my copper manifold under my grain bag so that I could sparge extra sugars off the grain into the boil kettle.  What I ended up with was 8.5 gallons of wort that when boiled to 4.25 gallons (50% reduction yikes!) would yield the desired 1.090 OG.  But then I figured 'what the heck' and added the aforementioned pound of light dry malt extract to boost me to a projected 4.25 gallons at 1.100 OG.  INSANE!

Obviously the longest part of this brewday was the boil.  It took about 2 hours to boil the wort down to a point where I could start the hop additions and proceed with brewday.

I hit my targets and the beer is currently sitting in my fridge at 53F and will stay there for at least a couple of weeks before I bring it out to room temp to finish fermentation.  Sorry for the lack of pics...it was another busy brewday and my pretty little helper wasn't here to snap pics.

Grains. In a bag.

Bag of grains.  In a pot of hot water.

Racking the sweet sweet wort to the primary fermentor.

So for new brews that's all the news I have.  The two ales I have brewed this year (Two Hearted Ale Clone and Pig Trail Ale 2) have been in the bottle for a few weeks now and this weekend I got to give them a taste.  I won't offer too much of my opinion but all in all I am quite happy with how these turned out.  I am interested to see what my brewin brothers and sisters think of them next time we Skype.

PTA2 on the left.  2<3 2 on the right.

With all the busy business of this past weekend I even had time to run my truck through a car wash....she needed a bath!

I hope you enjoyed the post.  Talk to you all soon!

An India Pale Ale, A German Pilsener, and An Amercian Brown Ale all walk into a bar....

LONG POST ALERT!  SETTLE IN!


So as per my latest post I have some big brewing updates to share.  As I type this my hoppy brown 'Pig Trail Ale' is in the mash tun.  By the end of this post the brew will be happily in a fermentor. 

PINNAC-ALE #2
I brewed the IPA two weeks ago but never shared much detail.  It is yet another brew from my Columbus days that I had to retry (Mark and I screwed up the last batch and I felt the need to redeem).  Here is the recipe:

10# American 2 Row
2# Vienna
0.5# Carapils Dextrin
0.5# Crystal 20L

Mash at 150F for 60 minutes

1.2 oz of Centennial (8.7%AA) at 60 minutes
1.2 oz of Centennial (8.7%AA) at 15 minutes
1.2 oz of Centennial (8.7%AA) at 5 minutes
1.2 oz of Centennial (8.7%AA) at 0 minutes
1.2 oz of Centennial (8.7%AA) dry (added in secondary)

I used the standard White Labs California Ale yeast from a simple starter.  The water from this brew is an interesting story but I will keep it short and sweet.  A co-worker owns about 300 acres of farm-land east of town and he has several springs of delicious water.  I decided to use this water but I guessed it would be highly alkaline (due to abundance of limestone on property).  So to the 11 gallons of water I added approximately 3 tsp. of gypsum.  The gypsum would lower the mash pH into the appropriate range while adding sulfate for hop bitterness.

This beer is currently in secondary and I have yet to have a taste....it is very cloudy so that does not give me complete confidence....but it should be okay.  Will get a taste in about a week when I go to bottle it (this is where Mark and I screwed it up last time).

MUHLEISEN PILS
Yesterday I had plans to have a double brew day.  But after waking up late and getting started late, I only had time to brew my pilsener (first lager of the season!).  This brew went pretty flawless and as I type this it is filling up my fridge with the horrid aroma of sulfer (good from a lager fermentation perspective).  This aroma will give way to cleaner fermenation aromas in once primary winds down.  Here are the details of the brew:

11# of German Pilsener Malt

Mash at 147F for 90 minutes

1.1 oz Perle (7.5%AA) for 60 minutes
0.35 oz Hallertau (5.7%AA) for 15 minutes
0.35 oz Hallertau (5.7%AA) for 1 minute
(90 minute boil)

I used a healthy dose of White Labs German Lager yeast to get this party started.  My water situation was the most interesting aspect of brewday.  I used Mountain Valley Spring Water at a 2 to 3 ratio with distilled water.  The distilled water cut the high alkalinity for this super pale brew.  I also added a teaspoon of Gypsum and teaspoon of Calcium Chloride per 5 gallons of water.  This further balanced the alkalinity and added sulfate to accentuate hops and chloride to accentuate malt.  I am excited to see how this brew progresses.

My last Muhleisen Vienna Lager.  This was the first lager my twink and I brewed together.  A year after brewday, it was a delicious way to start another lager brewday!

My Pils recipe is supposed to be a good clone of Bitburger, so I bought a six pack to do my research.  I will be pleased if mine turns out similar.

I have been noticing that my copper manifold has been brighter than usual after the mash...may pH must be improving (hopefully).

Totally random photo but I thought the setting night sky was rather lovely.

Pale Beer.

AMERICAN BROWN ALE (Pig Trail Ale #2)
So my first batch of this dark elixir turned out a little too tart and fruity form its hot fermentation (~75F).  I also think I way underpitched the yeast and the brew never recovered from distracting off flavors.  It still turned out quaffable, but not what I was looking for.  I won't bore you with the ingredients and activity again, you can reference my first post to this brew for the details.  But a few things did change:

I am repitching a healthy and high-population yeast slurry from the aforementioned IPA.  This should handle the underpitching woes from batch #1.  I also got a better handle on my water chemistry.  The water in this area is highly alkaline without high counts of the more important brewing salts.  This water probably makes killer english browns, porters, and stouts.  But for American brews I don't think it cuts it.  Using straight Mountain Valley Spring Water I also added approximately 2 grams of Gypsum, 1 gram of CaCO3 (chalk), and 1.5 grams of Calcium Chloride to every 6 gallons (6 gallon mash, 6 gallon sparge).  This will add sulfate and chloride for a good malt and hop punch while balancing the alkalinity to yield a good mash pH.  The final thing that will make this PTA an improvement over last is the lower fermentation temps.  My house is rockin at 63F which will yield a nice steady 67F inside the carboy at peak fermentation.  Once peak primary is over, I will slowly raise the temp in the house to keep a consistent 67F for the brew.  This will also be dry hopped in secondary and should be ready to taste as early as a month from now!

Hit my pitching gravity.  And then I hit that coca-cola!

Ready to blow-off some krausen.

 

AND THEY ALL ORDERED A WEE HEAVY SCOTTISH ALE

This is an update to the Scot I brewed in October.  It has been in the bottle for a little over a month now and it gets better every day.  My brewthers and brewisters are hankering for a taste but I am procrastinating cuz I don't think its ready.  This was a high gravity brew that had a cool fermentation.  It tastes about how I thought it would, but I can tell it still has a lot of improvement ahead.  All bottles are aging in the fridge and a month from now it will be better.  I actually think it will be at its prime around May or June, just when it is getting too hot outside to enjoy the caramel maltiness.  That's alright, I am going to keep some for Christmas 2012 and it is sure to be a real pleaser then!

Alright, that was a long post, but I was making up for lost time.  I hope all of you who have read this far were entertained. I also hope you are all well and happy in this crazy little thing called life!  Stay tuned for more lagers!  I'll give you a hint for what's next.  I learned it from brewther Willie..........................'Helles Yeah!'

Update Way Overdue

Friends, Family, Brewers,

Our blog has fallen to the way side.  I will be working over the next couple of weeks to revive it.  The last post was the Scottish Ale Brewday.  That Scott is getting better with time and I think in another 4 weeks it will be stellar. I will be sending it out to my brewthers and brewisters hopefully this week...I'm excited to share.

I am about to go on a brewing rampage.  It's lager season!  Last weekend I brewed an IPA and this upcoming weekend I am starting a lager series.  I am going to start with a German style Pilsener, then proceed to a Helles/Dortmund style brew.  After that I am not sure what I will brew but my 4th lager will be my favorite style of beer, Oktoberfest.  I'm hoping to have a whole bunch of brew lagering away in a couple of short months.

Somewhere in between all of this lager activity, I am going to rebrew my very first all-grain Arkansas batch, the Pig Trail Ale (Hoppy Brown Ale).  The water in this area is best for darker beers and since I love malt and hops, I think this is going to be my standard brew that I am going to perfect.  I was not thrilled with my first batch of this and know this next batch will be a huge improvement!

Anyways, my next post will have some picks of the IPA brewday and a tasting of the Scottish.

Until then, have a brew for me and a wine for Ash (or a drink of your choice if you abstain from alcohol)!

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.