Watermelon Wheat - Revisited

This was the second time brewing my watermelon wheat recipe and first time kegging it.  I brewed it previously, to rave reviews I might add, and bottled it.  My original recipe added the watermelon candy oil into a secondary after 10-14 days of primary fermentation.  I found that the the watermelon flavor was too strong going right to the keg this time and it needed about a month to mellow in the keg.  In the next batch, I will add the flavoring at pitching to see if it makes a difference.  I used my CB20 system for this brew day.

Grains
5.5# 2-row
5.5# wheat
.25# c-10
.25# c-20
mash at 154

Additions

60 min boil

1 oz Amarillo at 45 min

1oz Amarillo at flame out

S-05 for 10-14 days at  66

1 dram watermelon Lorann candy oil into secondary for 10 days
OG-1056
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Water Adjustments (tsp)

.6 Epsom Salt

.102 Chalk

Ca=36

SO4=61

Mg=17

Na=27

Cl=70

Carb=67

Hard=162

Alk=59

Pliny the Elder - Ordinary Bitter Partigyle

Perhaps the greatest IPA ever created, Pliny the Elder holds a warm and tender spot in my heart.  It is the only beer that lives up to its tremendous hype, in my humble opinion.  I have had Pliny the Younger, and I still prefer the Elder.  Vinny gave out his recipe many years ago and it is a very good recipe, but you just know it is not the real thing when drinking it.  This was my second time brewing the recipe and I did a blind taste test with a fresh bottle of Pliny from the west coast.  It is darn close, but the finish just isn't the same.  Likely due to the enormous amount of dry hops, this beer continually changes in the keg and in the bottle.  It typically gets darker for me over time.  Because of the higher gravity of the mash, I decided to try a partigyle brew from the second runnings.  The resulting ordinary bitter turned out to be really, really good.  If I brew Pliny again, which I know I will, I will always make this ordinary bitter on its heels.  This was a long, but very fun brew day.  I used my CB20 system for the Pliny and my 5 gallon stockpot on the stove for the ordinary bitter.

Update (11/22) - I found a bomber of this brew stashed away in my basement and delightfully cracked it after work.  It was so much better than I remembered on tap, the simcoe hops punching through, the color did get darker as it had for me before.  I was on the fence about brewing this one again with the upcoming hop shortage, but I may have to make it again.

Grains:

15.25# 2-row

.5# Wheat

.5# c-40

Mash at 150

Additions:

90 minute boil

1.5# corn sugar          

2 oz warrior at 90

2 oz chinook at 90

1 oz simcoe at 45

1 oz columbus at 30

2.25 oz centennial at 0

1 oz simcoe at 0

3.25 oz columbus dry hop 10 days

1.75 oz centennial dry hop 10 days

1.75 oz simcoe dry hop 10 days

S-05 ferment at 67 ferment raise to 70

OG 1070
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Mosher's Ideal Pale Ale

Water Adjustments (tsp)

.587 Epsom Salt

.066 Chalk

4.407 Gypsum

Ca=120

SO4=269

Mg=19

Na=27

Cl=70

Carb=65

Hard=377

Alk=57

3 gallon Ordinary Bitter Partigyle

Mash Additions:        

.25# C-120

.125# Special Roast

Added 3.5 gallons of 170 water, stirred and let sit for 15 minutes or so     

Boil Additions:
60 min boil

.6 EKG at 60

.25 EKG at 30

.25 EKG at 1

           

s-04 at 68 degrees
OG 1044     
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Berliner Weisse

I first sampled a Berliner Weisse at Tria the summer before when my sister was working there.  It was a Dr. Fritz Briem 1809 served with woodruff syrup and was amazing.  It is a nice intro to sour beers.  So I set off researching the style and the multitude of techniques for brewing this beer.  I settled on going with a 15 min boil and using lacto.  I used my single kettle e-BIAB setup with a full volume continuous recirculation.  The European Ale was slow to ferment and after a week I pitched a packet of S-05 for safe measure.  I let it sit for 3 months and kegged it, which was a big mistake.  It had no sourness and was very boring.  I almost poured out the keg but decided to bottle the remainder with my new bottling adapter that lets me go right from the tap to the bottle without changing any pressure.  A few months later I cracked a bottle and was stunned, the beer was perfect, great carbonation, great head, great sourness.  Just a great Berliner Weisse all the way around.  Lesson learned, always bottle this beer.

Grains:

4.2# Pils

3# Wheat

Mash at 149 for 90 mins       

           

Additions:

15 min boil    

1 oz Hallertau at 15 min

Wyeast 1338 – European Ale and Wyeast lacto

OG 1036
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Poland Spring water with no adjustments

Levitation - Fail

I respect the guys at Stone a heck of a lot and wanted to brew one of the recipes that they released in BYO.  I was looking for a beer with some hop, but more of a session beer so I settled on Levitation.  I used my CB20 system and missed my target marks by 5 gravity points.  My target efficiency was 81% and I got 73%, which is about right for a CB20 system with no sparge.  I had planned for this in my calculations, so it wasn't a big deal, but I am thinking about redesigning my system to have an option to sparge.  I didn't have any crystal hops on hand so I subbed Hallertau.  I kegged the beer and at first tasting, it just wasn't good.  I let it go for a few months hoping it would get better and it never did.  Sadly, I gave up and poured out the keg.  Maybe it was the hop sub or the higher suggested mash temp, I don't know, but this beer came out bad.  Others have reported good results with this recipe, but it didn't work out for me.

9.4# 2-row

1.1# c-75

.6# c-150

.044# black patent

Mash at 156-157

Additions:

90 min boil

.5 oz columbus 90 min

1 oz amarillo 30 min

1.16 oz crystal 20 min

.38 oz simcoe 20 min

1.48 oz amarillo dry hop

s-04 at 67 add diacytyl rest

1048 OG
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Mosher's Ideal Pale Ale

Water Adjustments (tsp)

.587 Epsom Salt

.066 Chalk

4.407 Gypsum

Ca=120

SO4=269

Mg=19

Na=27

Cl=70

Carb=65

Hard=377

Alk=57

New Year's Eve Stout

It was New Year's Eve and I felt the need to bring in the new year with a brew session.  I had been sampling a lot of stouts in the fall and wanted to brew a dry stout.  I used my CB20 system and had great results with my efficiency, hitting all of my numbers.  Most likely this was due to a longer mash with a protein rest and a mashout.  I always do a mashout, but I think the protein rest really helps with the CB20 system.  I kegged this beer and it was really good.  I wouldn't hesitate to make it again.  Perfect to style.

Grains:

7# 2-row

2# flaked barley

1# black roasted barley - crushed to dust

Mash at 120.0 F 15 min

150.0 F 60 min

170.0 F 10 min

Additions:

60 min boil

2 oz EKG at 60 min

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast 1.5L starter

Ferment at 65 for first 1/3 raise to 71 last 1/3

OG 1050

Mosher’s Ideal Stout Water Profile

Belgian Wit

I originally brewed this beer for my father after he won the national championship as a keepsake and was very pleased with the way it turned out.  I typically try to brew for the season but wanted to have something lighter on tap come January.  I used my CB20 system and had to bump my grain bill a little bit to hit my target numbers.  I am still getting used to the ins and outs of my setup.  The beer was very good on tap and I enjoy the wit yeast a lot.  I will definitely make this recipe again and again.

Grains:

5# pils

3# flaked wheat

1# flaked oats

1# wheat

Mash at 122 for 30 mins

154 for 30 mins

168 for 10 mins

Additions:

60 min boil

0.50 oz Cascade at 45 mins

0.18 oz Orange Peel, Bitter at 15 mins

0.18 oz Orange Peel, Sweet at 15 mins

0.35 oz Coriander Seed at 15 mins

0.50 oz Cascade at 10 mins

WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale raised on 1.5L starter

Ferment at 66

OG 1048

Water Adjustments (tsp)

.6 Epsom Salt

.102 Chalk

Ca=36

SO4=61

Mg=17

Na=27

Cl=70

Carb=67

Hard=162

Alk=59

Green Flash West Coast IPA

Green Flash is another brewery that I truly admire.  Their hoppy beers were some of the first beers that instigated my lupulin threshold shift.  This recipe came from Jamil's show CYBI and is a fantastic recipe.  Three separate friends did blind taste tests (including my sister) and each picked this homebrew over the commercial example.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited with the results.  My process is finally coming into its own.  I used my CB20 system for this brew.  This is a very nice, very hoppy, beer not for the faint of heart. 

14# 2-row

1.31# c-40

1.31# carapils

Mash at 152

Additions:

90 min boil

0.50 oz. Simcoe 90 min.

0.2 oz. Columbus 90 min.

0.25 oz. Columbus 60 min.

0.25 oz. Simcoe 60 min.

0.25 oz. Columbus 30 min.

0.25 oz. Simcoe 30 min.

0.75 oz. Columbus 15 min.

0.75 oz. Simcoe 15 min.

1.00 oz. Cascade 10 min.

0.50 oz. Columbus 1 min.

0.50 oz. Simcoe 1 min.

0.50 oz. Amarillo Dry Hop

0.50 oz. Centennial Dry Hop

0.50 oz. Columbus Dry Hop

0.50 oz. Simcoe Dry Hop

0.20 oz. Cascade Dry Hop

S-05 at 68

OG 1070

Vista, CA Water Profile
Water Adjustments (tsp)	Ca=57
.854 Epsom Salt	SO4=136
.825 Baking Soda	Mg=22
.155 Canning Salt	Na=71
1.254 Gypsum	Cl=88
	Carb=147
	Hard=233
	Alk=122