Monday, December 10, 2012

Batch No. 62 - American Beauty Pale Ale

American Beauty Pale Ale

Brewed - December 8, 2012

Style - American Pale Ale

Ingredients:
  • 12.0 lbs. Gambrinus 2-Row
  • 5.0 lbs. Maris Otter Pale
  • 1.5 lbs. Munich Light
  • 0.5 lbs. Crystal 20L
  • 0.5 lbs. Crystal 40L
  • 0.5 lbs. Victory
  • 0.75 oz. Cascade (60)
  • 0.50 oz. Belma (60)
  • 0.50 oz. Cascade (30)
  • 0.50 oz. Amarillo (30)
  • 0.50 oz. Belma (30)
  • 0.50 oz. Belma (10)
  • 0.50 oz. Belma (5)
  • 0.50 oz. Belma (KO)
  • 2.5 oz. Belma only (dry hop - keg #1)
  • 1.5 oz. Belma, 0.70 oz. Cascade & 0.70 oz. Centennial (dry hop - keg #2)
  • Wyeast #1056 American Ale (2 packs / 1000 ml starter)

OG – 1.058
Primary – 14 days
Secondary - 24 days (dry hopped for 16 days)

Kegged - January 7, 2013

FG - 1.011
Attenuation - 71%
ABV - 6.16%

Notes:
  • American Pale Ale brewed with new hop variety - Belma, which means beautiful, from Hops Direct and Puterbaugh Farms
  • Mash at ~ 152° for 60 minutes
  • 60 min boil
  • Dry Hop keg #1 with 2.50 oz. Belma only
  • Dry Hop keg #2 with blend: 1.5 oz. of Belma, 0.7 oz. Cascade & 0.7 oz.

Batch No. 61 - Three Billy Goats

Three Billy Goats

Brewed - December 8, 2012

Style - Maibock / Helles Bock

Ingredients:
  • 17.0 lbs. Weyermann Pilsner
  • 4.40 lbs. Munich
  • 3.0 lbs.Vienna
  • 0.33 lbs. Melanoidin
  • 1.00 oz. Northern Brewer (60)
  • 0.75 oz. Hallertaur (60)
  • White Labs WLP835 German "X" Lager (1000 ml starter / 1 vials)
  • Wyeast #2206 Bavarian Lager (1000 ml starter / 1 pack)

OG – 1.070
Primary – 56 days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

White Labs WLP835:
FG - 1.018
Attenuation - 75.0%
ABV - 7.1%

Wyeast #2206:
FG - 1.020
Attenuation - 72.2%
ABV - 6.8%

Notes:
  • First time brewing a Maibock / Helles Bock
  • Trying out two different lager yeasts and using both for the first time
  • Mash at 154° and 90 min boil
  • Carboy #1 (White Labs) - start at 40° in my chest freezer
  • Carboy #2 (Wyeast) - start at 40° in my chest freezer

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Batch No. 60 - Mellow Mood Rauchbier

Mellow Mood

Brewed - November 8, 2012

Style - Classic Rauchbier

Ingredients:
  • 12.5 lbs.Weyermann Rauch
  • 4.5 lbs. Pilsner
  • 2.0 lbs. Munich
  • 0.75 lbs. CaraMunich
  • 0.75 lbs. Melanoidin
  • 0.10 lbs. Black Barley
  • 1.75 oz. Hallertaur (60)
  • 0.75 oz. Hallertaur (20)
  • White Labs WLP830 German Lager (1000 ml starter / 2 vials)
  •  Saflager S-23 Lager Yeast (dry / 1 pack)

OG – 1.058

White Labs WLP830:
Primary – 86 days
Secondary/Lager - 60 days

Kegged -April 3, 2013

FG - 1.017
Attenuation - 70.7%
ABV - 5.37%

Saflager S-23:
Primary – 30 days
Secondary/Lager - 35 days

Kegged -January 15, 2013

FG - 1.014
Attenuation - 75.9%
ABV - 5.76%

Notes:

  • First attempt at a Classic Rauchbier, a style that continues to grow on me esp. with the rich smokey and clean, crisp dark lager flavors
  • I held up at ~ 61% rauch malt and based on the brewing day aromas and flavors, I hope it's turns out smokey enough
  • Trying out two different lager yeasts and using both White Labs and Saflager for the first time (have used dry ale yeast but haven't tried with a lager until now)
  • Mash at 154° and 60 min boil
  • Carboy #1 (White Labs) - true lager fermentation; start at 40° in my chest freezer; 12/8/12: only down to 1.035!!; 1/15/13: down to 1.017 and it tastes great, so I decided to live with the FG and pull it out of chest freezer for short d-rest and now lagering
  • Carboy #2 (Saflager) - fermenting at control room ambient; low 50's to start and will monitor; 12/8/12: down to 1.014 and transferred to a keg for lagering 

Monday, September 24, 2012

Batch No. 59 - No Simple Highway

No Simple Highway

Brewed - September 22, 2012

Style - Saison

Ingredients:

  • 13.0 lbs. Weyermann Pilsner
  • 1.5 lbs. Red Wheat
  • 1.5 lbs. White Wheat
  • 1.5 lbs. Belgian Caravienne
  • 0.75 lbs. Flaked Wheat
  • 1.75 oz. Perle (60)
  • 0.50 oz. Saaz (30
  • 1.00 oz. Saaz (10)
  • 1.50 oz. Saaz (0)
  • Wyeast #3711 French Saison (slurry from previous beer)

OG –1.046
Primary – 14 days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.003 
Attenuation - 93.5%
ABV - 5.63%


Notes:
  • A simple, sessionable Saison
  • I ended up putting this in the rye whiskey barrel on 10/24/12; not much whiskey flavor remains and hoping to get more dry oak out if than anything; need to check soon and transfer it before much whiskey comes out

Batch No. 58 - Sticky Fingers Fresh Hop

Sticky Fingers Fresh Hop Ale

Brewed - September 22, 2012

Style - Fresh Hop Ale / American Pale Ale




Ingredients:
  • 15.0 lbs. Gambrinus 2-Row
  • 4.0 lbs. Maris Otter Pale
  • 2.0 lbs. Munich Light
  • 0.5 lbs. Crystal 20L
  • 0.5 lbs. Crystal 40L
  • 0.5 lbs.Victory
  • ?? oz. Fresh Cascades
  • 1.50 oz. Cascade (60)
  • 1.00 oz. Centennial (60)
  • 1.00 oz. Cascade (30)
  • 0.50 oz. Centennial (30)
  • ?? oz. Fresh Cascade (5)
  • ?? oz. Fresh Cascade (0)
  • ?? oz. TBD (dry hopped)
  • Wyeast #1056 American Ale (2 packs / 1000 ml starter)

OG – 1.056
Primary – 10 days
Secondary - 13 days (dry hopped)

Kegged -October 15, 2012

FG - 1.010
Attenuation - 82.1%
ABV - 6.0%

Notes:

  • "Fresh Hop" American Pale Ale brewed with fresh Cascade hops harvested the previous evening at Finn Hill Farms....thanks Bob!!!
  • Inspired from the trip to Yakima for Hop School and my first fresh hop beer :)
  • I didn't weigh the fresh hops, but after picking from the bine, my bucket was filled over the 4-gallon mark
  • I added a few oz. or so into the mash with the bulk added at the 5 and 0 min mark of the boil; pellet hops added for bittering at the 60 and 30 min marks

 Trunk full of hops :)
 




Thursday, September 6, 2012

Batch No. 57 - Vindobona Lager

Vindobona

Brewed - September 1, 2012

Style - Vienna Lager

Ingredients:

  • 17.0 lbs. Vienna
  • 2.0 lbs. Pilsner
  • 1.0 lbs. CaraMunich
  • 0.5 lbs. Melanoidin
  • 2.0 oz. Hallertaur (60)
  • 0.75 oz. Hallertaur (20)
  • 0.50 oz. Hallertaur (0)
  • Wyeast #2124 Bohemian Lager (1200 ml starter / 3 pack)

OG – 1.058
Primary – ?? days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.011 (estimated)
Attenuation - 81.6% (estimated)
ABV - 6.2% (estimated

Notes:
  • mmmm, Vienna Lager....love to drink it, so was overdue for making another batch; slight variation to my first batch brewed late last year
  • Mash at 154° and 60 min
  • Ferment at 40 degrees
  • Had trouble cooling below 65, so let the wort cool down to ~ 40 overnight in the chest freezer and pitched the yeast the next day

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Batch No. 56 - The Pide of Cucurbita

The Pride of Cucurbita

Brewed - August 25, 2012

Style - Robust Porter


Ingredients:
  • 15.0 lbs. American 2-Row
  • 4.0 lbs. Smoked Hubbard Squash
  • 2.5 lbs. Munich Light
  • 2.0 lbs. Vienna
  • 2.0 lbs. Chocolate
  • 1.5 lbs. Crystal 120L
  • 1.5 lbs. Caraplis/Dextrine
  • 1.25 lbs. Flaked Barley
  • 1.0 lbs. Midnight Wheat
  • 1.5 oz. Centennial (60)
  • 0.5 oz. Cascade (30)
  • 8.5 lbs. Smoked Hubbard Squash (20)
  • 0.75 oz. Cascade (10)
  • Safale US-05 Dry Yeast (2 packs)

OG – 1.065
Primary – ?? days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.012 (estimated)
Attenuation - 82% (estimated)
ABV - 6.9% (estimated)


Notes:
  • Had some squash left over and since Elysian brewed the smoked squash brown, I decided to use the smoked squash with a darker beer this time - a chocolate porter; should be a good beer for the cool fall weather
  • 2.0 lbs. of squash in the mash and 8.5 lbs. in the boil





Wednesday, August 8, 2012

facebook, what?

In an effort to communicate more easily with my extended family (and to bump my readers beyond 3 - ha!!) I've made a Fermented Minds Brewing page on gulp, facebook!!  Check it out :)  I think the blog will remain a good spot for my recipes especially, but I think FB will be better for quick updates, photos and especially what's currently on draft.  Keep on eye there for new beers coming online and hit me up anytime for bottles and growlers!! 

I need to schedule the 2nd Annual Intergalactic Malt Liquor Appreciation Day.....I'll toss out a few dates for September

Some misc. updates as my summer break continues - the hot weather is much more conducive to drinking beer rather than making it!!
  • MamaLou's Czech Pilsner: currently on CO2 and will ready in a few days...woot!!
  • Sasquatch Ale: carbed up and drinking smooth but a little heavy for the summer
  • Shores of the Baltic Sea: carbed and yummy!!
  • Northweiss Corner: ~ 1/3 keg remains...hops fading a little bit
  • Theme from the Barrel #1 (Barleywine): resting in kegs; will bottle condition in September
  • Theme from the Barrel #2 (Imperial Porter): transferring from the barrel this weekend
  • Finders Keepers Biere de Garde: lagering still; bottle condition soon for winter release

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Serious Beer :)

Thanks to Serious Eats for the plug of my smoked apple beer and the Fraternal Order of Wayward Brewing in their "best beers of the NHC review"

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/06/national-homebrewers-conference-best-beers-recap-slideshow.html#

Adam and Jerome were gracious enough to step in while I was out wandering the floor and drinking...haha

some serious beer and two serious dudes :)


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Time for the Meatstick

Late post on this, but back on June 27th was the Parkway Am-Pro event where my Meatstick Smoked Porter was part of the 6 other homebrews on draft that night.  In late May I brewed a 10-gal batch at  the Station U-Brew in Puyallup so it could legally be served at the Parkway.  A fun evening of drinking homebrews and pretty cool to order your own beer at a bar.


Friday, June 29, 2012

National Homebrewers Conference

The National Homebrewers Conference (NHC) in Bellevue has come and gone.  There was a lot of drinking, lectures, drinking, eating, dorking out on beer, drinking, seeing vendors, hanging with other homebrewers and more drinking.  It was my first time attending the conference and I'd consider traveling again to it on the west coast.  Some of the lectures were hit and miss but the real value of the conference was serving our beer and talking to other homebrewers about it.  The Wayward crew was rocking the fez thanks to Jerome!!  We poured beers at both the Hospitality Suite on Friday morning and at Club Night of course, which was a one-of-a-kind experience of amazing beers from all over the country and crazy themed booths.  Jerome and I also got to meet and discuss our Sasquatch beer with Charlie Papazian, the "godfather" of homebrewing.  Cheers to Mark Emily and the whole WAHA crew for putting on a seamless conference.

Full Photo Set



Monday, June 4, 2012

Batch No. 55 - Theme from the Barrel No. 2

Theme from the Barrel No. 2

Brewed - June 3, 2012

Style - Imperial Porter


Ingredients:
  • 11.0 lbs. American 2-Row
  • 9.0 lbs. Maris Otter
  • 5.0 lbs. Rauch Malt
  • 3.0 lbs. Midnight Wheat
  • 2.0 lbs. Crystal 60L
  • 1.5 lbs. Sugar in the Raw
  • 1.5 lbs. Chocolate
  • 1.0 lbs. Crystal 90L
  • 1.25 oz. Centennial (90)
  • 0.75 oz. Cascade (90)
  • 0.75 oz. Cascade (30)
  • Safale US-05 Dry Yeast (3 packs / no starter)

OG - 1.092
Primary – 25 days
Barrel - ?? days
Secondary - ??? days

Transferred to the barrel -June 28, 2012

Kegged - ???

FG - 1.021
Attenuation - 77.2% 
ABV - 9.3%


Notes:
  • Finally brewing one of my favorite styles, an Imperial Porter
  • Fermented beer will be dumped into my 7.5-gallon Rye Whiskey Barrel from Woodinville Whiskey Company, which was recently emptied of the American Barleywine
  • I'm hoping to get one more good turn out the "fresh" barrel and fuse the imperial porter with the rye whiskey notes; afterwards I will strip and clean the barrel to either use for a few fresh oak beers or turn it loose for sour beers 
  • Barrel was rinsed with warm water after transferring out the barleywine and then I burned a sulfur stick in the barrel to prevent microbial growth while it sits for approximately 3 more weeks until the new imperial porter is ready; ideally I would have been more on top of this to have it ready closer to the emptying of the barrel, but I've been busy with NHC beers and the barrel flavors really took off into the barleywine the last 1.5 weeks before transferring it out
  • Mash at 152° for 90 minutes
  • Turbinado Sugar was added into the boil @ 30 mins to help bump ABV and fermentability
  • 90 min boil
  • First time using Midnight Wheat malt and the wort had a gorgeous chocolate cappuccino layer as it approached boiling
  • I got a normal ~ 10 gallons with this batch, so unlike the barleywine where I used 100% for the barrel, I will have ~ 2.5 gallons of base beer to compare to the barrel-aged version
Updates:
  • Hydrated the barrel with water for 2 days prior to transfer
  • Transferred to the barrel on June 28, 2012
  • Gravity at transfer was 1.021 for a 9.3% ABV
  • Transfer to the barrel much easier the 2nd time around!!
  • The barrel is definitely bigger than the listed 7.5 gallons; closer to 8.5 gallons and will measure it next time I clean it out

Friday, June 1, 2012

Batch No. 54 - Apple Cores, Smoke Galore and a Blonde of some Uniqueness

Apple Cores, Smoke Galore,
and a Blonde of some Uniqueness

Brewed - May 27, 2012

Style - Blonde Ale / Other Smoked Beer



Ingredients:
  • 16.0 lbs. 2-Row
  • 1.0 lbs. Crystal 15L
  • 0.5 lbs. White Wheat
  • 1.5 oz. Willamette (60)
  • 0.5 oz. Willamette (20)
  • ~ 10 lbs. Smoked Apples (20)
  • Wyeast #1056 American Ale (2 packs / 1200 ml starter)

OG – 1.042
Primary – ?? days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.008 (estimated)
Attenuation - 81% (estimated)
ABV - 4.5% (estimated)

Notes:

  • Blonde Ale brewed with ~ 10 lbs. of smoked apples curiosity of Brandon and his BGE; the lot was split between Gala and Fiji apples; like the smoked squash beer, I added this into the boil at the 20 min mark
  • Even though the inside of the apples were surprisingly moist and sealed off from the smoke when I cut them into smaller pieces, I don't expect to get much apple flavor, so I will probably be adding apple juice into one of the fermenters after I take a sample
  • Mash at ~ 152° for 60 minutes; 60 min boil
  • Grain Mill was out of commission, so I used an old coffee grinder; grains were finer than usual and that hurt the efficiency a bit as I expected to be more in the 1.050 OG range

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Batch No. 53 - The Alpha Acid Test

The Alpha Acid Test

Brewed - May 18, 2012

Style - American Pale Ale


Ingredients:
  • 10.0 lbs. Maris Otter Pale
  • 7.0 lbs. Gambrinus 2-Row
  • 1.0 lbs. Munich Light
  • 0.4 lbs. Crystal 20L
  • 0.4 lbs. Crystal 40L
  • 0.4 lbs. Biscuit
  • 0.90 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (60)
  • 0.60 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (10)
  • 0.25 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (5)
  • 0.25 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (1)
  • 1.30 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (dry hop - keg #1)
  • 2.00 oz. Chief #2 / P9-VA436007 (dry hop - keg #2)
  • Wyeast #1056 American Ale (2 packs / 1000 ml starter)

OG – 1.052
Primary – 9 days
Secondary - ?? days (dry hopped)

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.006
Attenuation - 88.5%
ABV - 6%

Notes:

  • American Pale Ale brewed with some new experimental, high alpha hops
  • We received 7 types of experimental hops from Hop Union to be used at our discretion for a beer to pour at NHC; they were all high alpha hops and based on comparing the aromas, I choose one to be the "single" hop to get me to ~ 40 IBU's
  • I figured a simple Pale Ale would be a good way to go to really see how the hop does in bittering and flavor 
  • I used Chief #2 / P9-VA517005 (15.5% alpha, 5.6% beta) for all hop additions and will dry hop one keg with the 1.3 oz. that remain
  • I will use some Chief #3 / P9-VA436007 (17.6% alpha, 6.4% beta) for dry hopping the 2nd keg
  • Both of these hops had a nice, fruity, spicy aroma and quite a few others were heavier on the garlic, onion side that I tend not to like that much; we weren't given any flavor profiles, so we'll see how the flavor works out 
  • Mash at ~ 152° for 60 minutes; 60 min boil
  • Fermentation started in the low 70's

Batch No. 52 - From the Northweiss Corner

From the Northweiss Corner

Brewed - May 18, 2012

Style - Light Hybrid Beer / American (Hoppy) Wheat

Ingredients:
  • 12.0 lbs. Rahr Red Wheat
  • 5.0 lbs. Weyerman Pilsner
  • 5.0 lbs. Weyermann Vienna
  • 1.0 oz. Cascade (60)
  • 0.75 oz. Amarillo (60)
  • 1.5 oz. Amarillo (5)
  • 2.0 oz. Amarillo (1)
  • 4.0 oz. Amarillo (dry hop)
  • Wyeast #3068 Bavarian Wheat (3 packs / 1200 ml starter)

OG – 1.062
Primary – ?? days
Secondary - ?? days (dry hopped)

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.011 (estimated)
Attenuation - 82.3% (estimated)
ABV - 6.7% (estimated)

Notes:
  • 2nd go at a New Glarus Crack'd Wheat inspired beer; a hoppy hefeweizen aka a Pacific Northweiss Ale (new style - haha!)
  • Mash at ~ 152° for 60 minutes; 60 min boil
  • Tried to start fermentation in the mid-60's but ambient temps kept it in the low 70's for the first few days

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Sasquatch Ale on the airwaves

Mark Emily was recently on the Basic Brewing radio show giving some updates on the National Homebrewers Conference and of course some background on the mighty Sasquatch Ale.  Reports from the field are that the beer is coming along nicely and I look forward to trying it soon.  Great interview Mark!!

If you want, you can give a listen to the May 17th show here:
Basic Brewing Radio - May 17th


Monday, May 7, 2012

Batch #51 - Saison de Soufflé Fleur

Saison de Soufflé Fleur

Brewed - May 5, 2012

Style - Saison

Ingredients:
  • 27.0 lbs. Pilsner
  • 5.0 lbs. Red Wheat
  • 2.0 lbs. Munich Light
  • 1.0 lbs. White Wheat
  • Perle - 3.0 oz. (60)
  • Saaz - 2.0 oz. (30)
  • Dandelion Tea - 32.0 fluid oz. (1.1 oz. dry dandelion leaf tea)
  • Wyeast #3711 French Saison (1200 ml starter / 3 packs)

OG –1.068
Primary – 13 days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??


FG - 1.005 
Attenuation - 92.7%
ABV - 8.2%


Notes:
  • Collaboration brew with fellow homebrewing aficionado Bob Zormeir
  • After trying Fantome Pissenlit years ago, I have long wanted to try to brew a dandelion saison; with NHC coming up, this was one the beers I wanted to finally get brewed 
  • In this case, we brewed the beer together and each are trying a different method with the dandelions
  • On the fly, we scaled up a recipe that Bob has worked up; I had never brewed a 15-gal batch on this system, so it was a learning process
  • I didn't estimate the pre-boil runoff correctly and we ended up with 13.5 gallons and overshot the targeted OG
  • Bob took ~ 5 gallons home with him and when fermentation slows, he will be adding a tea he made with fresh dandelion flowers and a different saison yeast (Wyeast #3724 Belgain Saison I think)
  • I made up some strong dandelion tea an dumped ~ 32.0 liquid ounces into the fermenter before the transfer; ~ 5 gallons were transfer on top and I will be adding more tea depending on flavor, strength, etc.
  • The remaining ~ 3.5 gallons will be fermented as is with no dandelions and hopefully will turn out to be a tasting wheat saison 
  • We both plan on serving our saisons at the NHC Club Night and it will be interesting to taste the different results 
  • Mash at 152° and 90 min boil
  • Start the ferment ~ 72° 

Updates:
  • Wyeast #3711 is a workhouse and this was down to 1.005 in 13 days
  • On May 18th, I added ~ 40 oz. of dandelion tea to 4.5 gals of saison in one keg; I have ~ 3.5 gals in the other and will either leave as is as a base or will use some to blend into the dandelion keg depending on how it tastes in a few weeks 

Friday, April 27, 2012

Transfer to the Barrel

After a long, slow ferment that including re-pitching some dry yeast, the Theme from the Barrel No. 1: American Barleywine was finally ready to transfer into the rye whiskey barrel.  The ~ 2.5 gallon carboy fermented down to ~ 1.028 and the ~ 5.0 gallon carboy fermented down to ~ 1.034.  Not quite as low as I had hoped, but it tastes pretty good and we'll see how it turns out after some time in the barrel.  So that comes out roughly to 1.032, 72% attenuation and a hefty 10.6 % ABV.  The barrel should add a little to the ABV.

One bummer though is that I didn't quite have enough barleywine to top off the barrel, so I had to add a little bit of Shore of the Baltic Sea (the only other dark, strong beer I have going right now).  Didn't quite get the runoff I thought I got during the brewday and my math must have been off somewhere.  I had hoped to have ~ 1 gallon or so to keep around to top off every so often as the beer was absorbed into the barrel, evaporated, etc. but I'll just have to do that with the baltic porter instead.

I'll give it some time and give a taste in the next month or so.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sasquatch Ale - Part 2 @ Larry's Homebrew Supply

Brewing the Sasquatch Ale for NHC - Part Two

On April 22nd, Jerome and I headed down to Larry's Homebrew Supply in Tukwila to brew the second part of the world's first ever Sasquatch Ale.  Bascially concerned about not having enough for the conference, so we brewed ~ 120 gallons total (~ 90 at BJ's and ~ 45 at Larry's).  Essentially the same recipe though no smoked squash in the batch at Larry's.  We brewed in the warehouse on Don's super slick "homebrew" system.  So many cool features including hot water on demand, big clean vessels on wheels, stainless steel conical fermenters and efficient burner for the brew kettle.  I didn't hang around the whole day, but Don was a great host.  We had to add quite a few rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash and the transfer was incredibly slow.  I will post updates when the beer is kegged, etc.

Final recipe and some photos are below (full photo album). 

Recipe:
  • 2 Row - 55.0 lbs
  • Smoke - 55.0 lbs.
  • Biscuit - 9.0 lbs.
  • Flaked Rye - 9.0 lbs.
  • Crystal 80L - 4.5 lbs.
  • Crystal 60L - 4.5 lbs.
  • Special B - 2.0 lbs.
  • Carafa I - 2.0 lbs.
  • Chocolate - 2.0 lbs.
  • Juniper Berries in the mash
  • Juniper Boughs stuffed in the grant during sparge 
  • Cascade - 10.0 oz. (60)
  • Centennial - 5.0 oz. (60)
  • Cascade - 5.0 oz. (30)
  • Centennial - 5.0 oz. (30)
  • Juniper Berries - 5.0 oz. (0)
  • Coriander - 5.0 oz. (0)
  • Wyeast #1056 California Ale
  • OG 18.65 (1.077) 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Sasquatch Ale - Part One @ BJ's

Brewing the Sasquatch Ale for NHC - Part One

On April 18th, Brandon and I headed down to BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in Tacoma to brew the first part of the world's first ever Sasquatch Ale.  BJ's brewer extraordinaire, Derek Osborne, was a great host and put us right to work throughout the whole process and he was very welcoming to the big mess of juniper and smoked squash.  It was a blast and eye-opening experience brewing on a professional system for a first time and even the cleaning was fun!!  The aroma mix from the smoked malt, juniper boughs, smoked squash and spices was amazing.  Batch size was ~ 3 barrels (90 gallons) and it is fermenting away.  I will post updates when the beer is kegged, etc.

Final recipe and some photos are below (full photo album).

Recipe:

  • 2 Row - 137.7 lbs.
  • Munich Light - 111.2 lbs.
  • Biscuit - 23.0 lbs.
  • Flaked Rye - 23.0 lbs.
  • Smoke - 15.0 lbs.
  • Crystal 80L - 11.5 lbs.
  • Crystal 60L - 11.5 lbs.
  • Special B - 5.7 lbs.
  • Carafa I - 5.7 lbs.
  • Chocolate - 5.7 lbs.
  • Juniper Boughs in the mash
  • Juniper Boughs stuffed in the grant during sparge 
  • Cascade - 21.0 oz. (60)
  • Centennial - 10.5 oz. (60)
  • Cascade - 10.5 oz. (30)
  • Centennial - 10.5 oz. (30)
  • Smoked Buttercup Squash - 14.0 lbs. (20)
  • Juniper Berries - 9.0 oz. (0)
  • Coriander - 9.0 oz. (0)
  • White Labs WLP 01 California Ale
  • OG 19.8 (1.082)