Turkey & Beer

Happy Thanksgiving!  The Blichman was on double duty today...

Two ounces of Simcoe leaf hops:

This was 50 mins into boil:

After the brewing was complete, we fried a Turkey!  It was a 14 pounder, which took 48 minutes.  It was delicious!

Citra IPA Brew Day

Today, we brewed an all Citra Hop American IPA. This is batch 9 of this recipe, with small tweaks along the way.  The last batch scored second place for American style IPAs at the Music City Brew Off AHA BJCP homebrew competition in Nashville on 11/8/14.

The malt in the recipe was American 2-row Pale Malt as the base with Munich for breadiness/maltiness, Crystal 10L for light sweetness, Carafoam for body & head, & Melanoidin for sweet toastiness.  The hops were of course all Citra added as First Wort Hops, then 60, 15, 10, 5, 0, & Dry Hops.  The mash was a single infusion which rested at 152F.  We did a single batch sparge and 60 minute boil.  After chilling and racking to the carboy, we pitched Safale S-04 English yeast at 9pm into the 1.062 original gravity (OG) wort.

Ginger Ale

After having tried some great homemade Ginger Ale at Fulton Brewing in Minneapolis, MN, we decided we would like to have some on tap.  Today was batch #3 as we continue to toy with the ratios of the four ingredients:

• Sugar
• Ginger
• Lemons
• Water

 The process is fairly simple:

1. Heat 5 gallons of water to 180 (minus about 16 ounces for the juice)
2. Stir in sugar
3. Stir in juiced lemons and ginger
4. Steep for 60 minutes
5. Cool in ice bath
6. Rack to keg
7. Refrigerate and carbonate

Black Rye Ale Brew Day

Today was an experimental brew day.  We took our Rye Pale Ale recipe and painted it black.  During the mash and sparge process, we had an esteemed guest stop by.

This was a 10 gallon batch, which tested the limits of our system.

Grist:

1. Pale Malt
2. Rye Malt
3. Vienna Malt
4. Biscuit Malt
5. Honey Malt
6. Crystal 75L
7. Melanoidin Malt
8. Carafa II Special (added to mash tun prior to sparge)

Hops:

• 60: Warrior
• 30-15: East Kent Goldings
• 15-0: Amarillo & Cascade
• Dry: Amarillo & Cascade

Yeast:

1. American Ale
2. American Ale II

Notes:
American Ale showed signs of finishing at about day 5, where American Ale II still had krausen, but little airlock activity at day 7.  This turned out pretty dark; hopefully it gives a touch of roast like a black IPA.

Deep Ellum Brewery

November 8, 2014 was the 3 year anniversary party for Deep Ellum Brewery in Dallas, TX.  They had many great beers on tap and it was a great time!  It is amazing to see how much growth can occur in a short period of time from a small brewery.

This is a view of one of the refrigerator cases at the brewery.  They have many great offerings and my favorite special brew was a Belgian Golden Strong ale.

Group Brew Day

Today was the "Teach a Friend to Homebrew" Day sponsored by the American Homebrewers Association.  Several local homebrew clubs and individuals set up in a tailgate-like event in the parking lot at Beer & Wine Workshop next to Three Taverns Brewery in Decatur, GA today. We made a 1.062 OG American Brown Ale.

It was a cold and windy day.  Despite having to fish out a few leaves from the brew kettle, everything worked out well and we got to meet a lot of new people and compare processes and equipment.