#28 - Coffin Ship Survivor Imperial Stout [All Grain]

I was really happy with how my previous imperial stout turned out despite its below average marks (31/50) in a recent brewing competition. I am down to my last two bottles so I decided it was time to make a new version to try out a few different things. The new version is going to use different hops, contain alterations to the malt bill and also will have oak chips added after the initial fermentation as ceased. I'm calling this one the "Coffin Ship Survivor" in reference to the coffin ships that would have brought Irish immigrants to America. The boat that would have brought them there would have been made of oak and the ancestors of those that would have survived the journey would have drank beer made with the Columbus and Cascade hops which give this beer its flavour.

Chocolate & Pale Malt

The 11kg Grain Bill

The malt bill is quite large for this brew as when I was originally making the recipe my efficiency was consistently in the 50% region or so I thought. Realising my errors in calculation I calculated my efficiency today to be 63%, I guess it would have been higher only I had to make a thicker mash so that I could fit all the grain into my mash tun.

Hop Bill

In the previous imperial stout I put in over 100g of hops at flame-out and dry hopped with another 100g.  Given that imperial stouts are meant to be aged for a while, this action is a bit of a waste of hops as the aroma would have diminished significantly in the several months that the beer would have been ageing. Instead I am putting in the hop additions earlier at 10 and 5 minutes with a small amount at flame-out to use up anything I had lying around. 

The Boil

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Oak Aged Imperial Stout 
Brewer: Shane Phelan
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 25.34 l
Post Boil Volume: 22.71 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 19.00 l   
Bottling Volume: 17.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.092 SG
Estimated Color: 105.4 EBC
Estimated IBU: 79.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 50.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 57.5 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
7000.00 g             Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)         Grain         1        60.9 %        
900.00 g              Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC)                   Grain         2        7.8 %         
900.00 g              Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC)                Grain         3        7.8 %         
750.00 g              Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L (30.0 EBC)    Grain         4        6.5 %         
750.00 g              Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC)                    Grain         5        6.5 %         
500.00 g              Barley, Flaked (3.3 EBC)                 Grain         6        4.3 %         
500.00 g              Black Malt (Stout) (1333.0 EBC)          Grain         7        4.3 %         
200.00 g              Chocolate Malt (1050.5 EBC)              Grain         8        1.7 %         
60.00 g               Columbus (Tomahawk) [10.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop           9        48.4 IBUs     
30.00 g               Columbus (Tomahawk) [10.00 %] - Boil 30. Hop           10       18.6 IBUs     
60.00 g               Cascade [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop           11       7.9 IBUs      
60.00 g               Cascade [4.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           12       4.8 IBUs      
10.00 g               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min      Hop           13       0.0 IBUs      
10.00 g               Columbus (Tomahawk) [10.00 %] - Boil 0.0 Hop           14       0.0 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004)     Yeast         15       -             
50.00 g               Oak Chips (Primary 7.0 days)             Flavor        16       -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Single Batch Sparge [Shanes AG]
Total Grain Weight: 11500.00 g
----------------------------
Name              Description                  Step Temperature       Step Time       
Mash Step         Add 22.05 l of water at 169. 152.0 F                60 min          

Sparge: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun, , 13.29l, 4.02l) of 168.1 F water
Notes:
------
Columbus hops adjusted to 10% Alpha from 14% as they are more than a year old. 
Cascade hops adjusted to 4.5% Alpha from 5.5% as they are more than 5 months old.

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#27 - Sylvan Blonde Ale [All Grain]

My parents recently moved into a new home which is quite close to a lot of trees. Given that there are several neighbours with the same first and last names as my parents, they needed to give the house a name to  help the postman identify who is who. After a lot of brain storming and thesaurus overuse, they finally settled on the name "Sylvan Lodge". Given that they like light flavoured beers and would probably be expecting a lot of visitors for the coming months I thought it would be a good idea to brew them a blonde ale. This recipe is based on the original recipe from homebrewtalk forums. 

First hop addition

The hops I used for this brew were both fresh from the 2012 harvest but even at that they would still be nearly 6 months old. Due to poor vaccuming (on my part) I decided to use the hop age too in BeerSmith to take into account the fact that they are 6 months old and haven't been stored that well. That is why when you see the recipe the AA values wont be what you would expect, they are slightly lower than normal. I wont know whether this has had a positive effect or not until I try the brew.

Normally I would dry hop but given that the target audience for this beer is quite conservative, I wont be doing it for this batch. Depending on its popularity I may do it in future versions which would be brewed for the summer.

The recipe can be found below:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 26.38 l
Post Boil Volume: 22.88 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 19.00 l   
Bottling Volume: 18.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 11.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 28.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 50.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 57.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                          Type          #        %/IBU         
34 l       Ballymore Eustace (South Dublin)         Water         1        -             
2tsp       Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -             
5000g      Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)         Grain         3        88.9 %        
250g       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L (30.0 EBC)    Grain         4        4.4 %         
250g       Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC)                    Grain         5        4.4 %         
125g       Acid Malt (5.9 EBC)                      Grain         6        2.2 %         
15g        Centennial [7.48 %] - Boil 55.0 min      Hop           7        12.7 IBUs     
15g        Centennial [7.48 %] - Boil 35.0 min      Hop           8        10.8 IBUs     
15g        Cascade [3.70 %] - Boil 20.0 min         Hop           9        3.9 IBUs      
1tsp       Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)              Fining        10       -             
15g        Cascade [3.70 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           11       1.3 IBUs      
1pkg       Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml]       Yeast         12       -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Single Batch Sparge [Shanes AG]
Total Grain Weight: 5625.00 g
----------------------------
Name              Description                  Step Temperature       Step Time       
Mash Step         Add 16.56 l of water at 165. 154.0 F                60 min          

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 17.95l) of 168.1 F water

#26 - Christmas Ale MK2 [All Grain]

This year I decided to do an all grain version of my Christmas Ale that I previously made using extract. The previous beer had been very popular at beer tastings due to its subtle level of spicing and liberal contribution of cascade hops. I used the same amount of 'Carafa 1' grains along with 6kg of base malt and 500g of torrified wheat to aid head retention. I also added a small amount of chocolate and black malt to add some additional complexity to the beer. Given that I was using 2011 harvest (1 year old) hops I decided to up the hopping regime significantly with the addition of Columbus hops in addition to the cascade in the original recipe. 

First runnings with a much thinner mash my normal level

I have been having consistently poor efficiency since I have started all grain with efficiency's typically in the 45 to 50% region which is very low. I have spoken to other brewers with the exact same mash tun as mine and they are getting efficiencies in the mid to high 70's so it is definitely down to either the ingredients or the water that is causing my low efficiencies. For this brew I bought a tub of the PH 5.2 buffer solution as my previous all grain mash seemed to have a slightly higher mash PH of 5.9 rather than the recommended 5.2. Unfortunately it didn't make any difference as the pre-boil gravity indicated that the efficiency was still below 50%. 

Ingredients

Warming up the yeast

 

Here is the final recipe:


Recipe: Christmas Ale MK2 TYPE: All Grain
Style: Fruit Beer
---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------
SRM: 61.8 EBC SRM RANGE: 9.8-98.5 EBC
IBU: 50.5 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 5.0-70.0 IBUs
OG: 1.081 SG OG RANGE: 1.030-1.110 SG
FG: 1.018 SG FG RANGE: 1.006-1.024 SG
BU:GU: 0.622 Calories: 476.4 kcal/l Est ABV: 8.3 %
EE%: 70.00 % Batch: 19.00 l      Boil: 26.38 l BT: 60 Mins

---WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS----------------
Taste of Christmas! 
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
1.00 tbsp             PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 mins)       Water Agent   1        -             

Total Grain Weight: 7070.00 g Total Hops: 165.00 g oz.
---MASH/STEEP PROCESS------MASH PH:5.40 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
6000.00 g             Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)         Grain         2        84.9 %        
500.00 g              Carafa I (663.9 EBC)                     Grain         3        7.1 %         
500.00 g              Wheat, Torrified (3.3 EBC)               Grain         4        7.1 %         
50.00 g               Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC)               Grain         5        0.7 %         
20.00 g               Black Malt (Stout) (1333.0 EBC)          Grain         6        0.3 %         


Name              Description                  Step Temperature       Step Time       
Mash Step         Add 24.02 l of water at 165. 154.0 F                60 min          

---SPARGE PROCESS---
>>>>>>>>>>-RECYCLE FIRST RUNNINGS & VERIFY GRAIN/MLT TEMPS: 61.0 F/120.0 F
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD BOIL CHEMICALS BEFORE FWH
Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 11.94l) of 168.1 F water

---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.068 SG Est OG: 1.081 SG
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
15.00 g               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop           7        18.7 IBUs     
60.00 g               Cascade [4.30 %] - Boil 45.0 min         Hop           8        23.2 IBUs     
0.45 kg               Honey (Boil 45.0 mins)                   Other         9        -             
1.00 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins)              Fining        10       -             
2.00 Items            Star Anise Petals (Boil 15.0 mins)       Spice         11       -             
4.00 Items            Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 10.0 mins)      Spice         12       -             
3.00 Items            Cloves (Ground) (Boil 10.0 mins)         Spice         13       -             
2.00 tsp              Vanilla Extract (Boil 10.0 mins)         Spice         14       -             
0.50 Items            Cinnamon Stick (Crushed) (Boil 10.0 mins Spice         15       -             
40.00 g               Cascade [4.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           16       3.4 IBUs      
50.00 g               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 2.0 Hop           17       5.3 IBUs      


---FERM PROCESS-----------------------------
Primary Start: 05/12/2012 - 14.00 Days at 67.0 F
Secondary Start: 19/12/2012 - 10.00 Days at 65.0 F
Style Carb Range: 2.00-2.80 Vols
Bottling Date: 19/12/2012 with 2.4 Volumes CO2: 
---NOTES------------------------------------
Heated strike water to 175. Mashtun already heated with hot tap water. 
Temperature a little high at 156, added ice to bring it down to 154. All day mash

#15 - Ronk Christmas Bock [Extract]

Since its getting close to the festive season I went searching for a Christmas beer that sounded tasty. Seeing as I was still quite new to extract brewing and I had just started using BeerSmith (#14), I went looking on their website for a recipe. I went through the various recipies and came across "Happy Holidays Ale" which attracted my attention due to the simplicity of the ingredients and the addition of a speciality grain called 'Special B Malt'. It was great to see something that wasn't the same old iteration involving crystal grains.

Steeping grains

As was the case in the previous brew (#14), some of the ingredients were not available in the home brew store. I had to substitute the grains with something so I literally guessed that Carafa Special I Roasted Caramalt would do the trick. 

The resulting taste of this brew has been very good. Fairly good head retention which I reckon could be improved a lot with the addition of some flaked Oates. As it was a Christmas beer I would have liked a bit more of the cloves and cinnamon to come through. They were very much in the background and I couldn't detect them. The next time I think I would double their addition size to increase their potency. The hops come through very well in aroma and taste. They are not overpowering but are still upfront enough to be enjoyable. Overall a recommended recipe. :) 

Recipe: Ronk Christmas Bock TYPE: Extract

Style: Fruit Beer/Bock

---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------

SRM: 31.3 SRM SRM RANGE: 5.0-50.0 SRM

IBU: 21.4 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 5.0-70.0 IBUs

OG: 1.059 SG OG RANGE: 1.030-1.110 SG

FG: 1.013 SG FG RANGE: 1.006-1.024 SG

BU:GU: 0.365 Calories: 169.1 kCal/12 oz Est ABV: 6.0 %

EE%: 72.00 % Batch: 5.02 gal      Boil: 3.69 gal BT: 60 Mins

---WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS----------------

Taste of Christmas! 

Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         

3.96 gal              Dublin, Ireland                       Water         1           -             

Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort

---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------

Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.088 SG Est OG: 1.059 SG

Amt                   Name                                                 Type           #        %/IBU         

6 lbs 9.8 oz          Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)                  Dry Extract   3        85.7 %        

2.00 oz               Cascade [4.30 %] - Boil 45.0 min           Hop           4        19.3 IBUs     

0.45 kg               Honey (Boil 45.0 mins)                         Other         5        -             

1.00 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins)                    Fining        6        -             

4.00 Items           Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 10.0 mins)      Spice         7        -             

2.00 tsp              Vanilla (Boil 10.0 mins)                         Spice         8        -             

0.25 tsp              Cloves (Ground) (Boil 10.0 mins)           Spice         10       -             

0.25 tsp              Cinnamon (Powdered) (Boil 10.0 mins)   Spice         9        -             

1.00 oz               Cascade [4.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min            Hop           11       2.1 IBUs