Not quite sure where this beer sits. A little maltier than a “Red IPA” but this puppy is heavily hopped like an IPA. Could be considered a strong ale, stock ale, Christmas ale, or keeping ale. Really not that concerned about styles but I was thinking about it and this beer could almost be Hop Head Red. Check out this recipe I did a couple years ago.

It’s funny the more I brew the more I think I have things dialed in. Reality is you always have to double check everything in your process. I only measure final volume once it’s in the kettle. By then its too late if you have too much volume. I measure out my filtered tap water in a marked 5 gallon PET carboy and my RO water in a marked gallon jug from the under sink RO filter. As you can imagine you might lose count. This batch was 1.25 gallon over in the kettle resulting in a much reduced pre-boil gravity. Not too sure how this happened but it did. So need to take my trusty measuring dowel and mark the other side for the mash tun in one color and hot liquor in another and measure before firing up. Simple yeah, but never thought about it until I screwed up.

Anyhow, lesson learned and had to do a 2 hour boil to get the gravity up, but hey some of these English, Scottish and Belgian beers were boiled for a couple hours. Maybe it will add some extra maltiness? On my second attempt with dry yeast. The Czec Pils had a successful ferment with the much maligned Saflager S-23 but that will be a another post. The Windsor really fired up quick.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.071
Estimated FG: 1.013
Estimated Color: 19 SRM
Estimated IBU: 74 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.7%

Grain
13.25 lbs Pale Two Row (2 SRM) 72.5%
2.5 lbs Vienna (3.5 SRM) 13.7%
1.75 lbs Bairds Crystal 77 (80 works fine) (80 SRM) 9.7%
10 oz Special Roast (50 SRM) 3.4%
2 oz Carafa III (470 SRM) .6%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Cascade [6.9%] – First Wort  21.5IBUs
28.00 g El Dorado [15%] – Boil 60 min 39.6 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [6.9%] – Boil 10 min 6.6 IBUs
28.00 g Citra [12%] – Boil 5 min 6.3 IBUs
56.00 g Cascade [6.9%] Dry hop 3 days
28.00 g Citra [12%] Dry hop 3 days

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
50% Ventura water (very high sulfates and bicarbonates)
50% RO water
4g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
2ml Lactic Acid added to sparge water
Mash in 7 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4 gallons cold

Yeast
Lallemand Windsor 2 packs

I love a good Pils whether German or Bohemian (Czech), problem is getting them in good condition is still a bit of a challenge. Toronado in San Diego used to get Radeberger (hopefully they still do) which I could guzzle by the pint no problem. Here in the 805 Pivo is pretty easy to get but, although a excellent beer, its definitely a pils with an American flair. Pilsner Urquell is purportedly shipping cold through the supply chain now but haven’t had it in ages. Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yellow Pils is about as close to a fresh Bohemian style pils you’re going to get this side of the Rockies. Just an excellent beer. I drank 2 liters recently and was astounded how great a well done (and fresh!) pilsner can be. I could have easily drank 2 more liters. Anyhow I had a Northern Brewer gift card burning a hole in my wallet and thought why not do a proper lager. Going to try the rapid lagering method:

5 days cold at 57F
Ramp up to 68F and hold 3 days
Take gravity reading and if fully attenuated cold crash 1 day
Add gelatin and let settle 1 day
Rack to keg and carbonate 3 days

Total estimated time: 13 days.

That’s right two weeks turn around. That’s a tad longer than many of my pale ales and bitters using my favorite Dry English Ale yeast.

5.5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.045
Estimated FG: 1.008
Estimated Color: 3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 45.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.7%

Grain
9.5 lbs German Pilsner (2 SRM) 97.4%
.25 lbs Carahell (Carapils)  (2 SRM) 2.6%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Perle [8%] – Boil 60 min 28.4 IBUs
28.00 g Czech Saaz [3.75%] – Boil 30 min 10.2 IBUs
28.00 g Czech Saaz [3.75%] – Boil 15 min 6.6 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
100% RO water
1g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
1g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
Just a pinch of gypsum in mash and sparge water (1/8 teaspoon or so)
Mash in 4 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 150F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.75 gallons cold

Yeast
Saflager S-23 2 packs

A Vienna lager without the lagering. Same malt bill and hop schedule as a typical Vienna but utilizing a  clean ale yeast instead of lager yeast which will allow for a quick turn around,  although I’m thinking when I finally attempt a lager I’m going to do the 2 week lagering method. I went with Edinburgh but any clean ale yeast would do – Cal Ale, German Ale, etc.  I have not been able to find real German Tettnang hops. This has been an ongoing trend for years now. It’s not exactly like I’m using them all the time but I always look in the cooler at the homebrew store to see what’s available and never see them. Are they not available in the US anymore? Also, all these noble landrace varieties have had extremely low alpha acids recently – Herrsbrucker 2.9%, Saaz 3%, etc. Not exactly that ideal for bittering. Anyhow, used US Tettnang and Liberty. Both hops smelled really really nice.

Ferment this beer pretty cool. I’m shooting for 60F for 3 days and then letting it free rise till it finishes out, which should be around 5 days or so. Crash and then fine with gelatin. I used gelatin on the last batch and it worked wonders. Usually have floaters from dry hopping. 24 hours at 32F and the beer dropped clear. A couple more days while carbonating and it was close to crystal clear.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.058
Estimated FG: 1.015
Estimated Color: 10.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.7%

Grain
9 lbs Munich (10 SRM) 60%
6 lbs Vienna  (3.5 SRM) 40%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g US Tettnang [5%] – Boil 60 min 14.6IBUs
28.00 g Liberty [4.5%] – Boil 15 min 6.5 IBUs
28.00 g US Tettnang [5%] – Steep/Whirlpool 10 min 2.6 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
Mash in 5.75 gallons water 161F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
4g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
Batch sparge 4 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP 0028 Edinburgh Ale 2L starter

A winter classic. For many years I used to brew this around Christmas using the 2006 edition. Been quite a few years since and I am using the 2013 recipe this year. Comparing the two years you can see that the hopping is almost twice as much in the newer version demonstrating the trend of hoppier beers over the years. I don’t know what it is with me and WLP001 it just doesn’t seem to flocculate all that well for me. Eight days in and  krausen is still lingering even though it had reached finishing gravity. Went and did my first dose of dry hops anyway and it seemed to help settle that out. Will add the second dose in the keg using some tea balls. I’m never really satisfied with my dry hopping outcomes. I’m hoping that dry hopping in the keg will capture those aromas without the off gassing that happens in the fermenter.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.065
Estimated FG: 1.011
Estimated Color: 12.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 65 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.2%

Grain
14 lbs Pale Two Row (2.0 SRM) 83.6%
2 lbs Crystal 60 (60.0 SRM) 11.9%
12 oz Carapils (2.0 SRM) 4.5%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Boil 60 min 35.9 IBUs
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Boil 15 min 17.8 IBUs
42.00 g Cascade [5.5%] – Boil 15 min 11.3 IBUs
42.00 g Cascade [5.5%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [5.5%] – Dry hop 3 days
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Dry hop in keg

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
6 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
Mash in 6.5 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Batch Sparge 4 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP 001 Cal Ale 2L starter

I made this beer the same time last year for Thanksgiving. It’s a stout with pumpkin and cinnamon. It came out pretty good except you really couldn’t detect any cinnamon. The first brew I actually scaled back the spicing from the original recipe so this time I upped it to the original and added a bit more pumpkin to see if that pumpkin flavor will come through as well. Had a bit of a problem when I doughed in. Mash temperature came in at 160F which is just too high so added half gallon cold water and stirred. Still 160. I then added the pumpkin and stirred – still 160 and then shot up to 162! Something weird was going on. Damn BeerSmith! When I scaled up the recipe it adjusted the water additions wrong. It told me 33 qaurts for mash when it should of been 27 quarts! Had to add another gallon of water which finally go it down to 140 so then I had to basically step mash up to 156. Needless to say it was a thin mash and didn’t quite convert as well as I would of liked even after an hour and a half. Came out 1.060 instead of 1.071 so we’re looking at maybe a 5.8% beer instead of 6.9%. Just a little concerned about the yo yoing mash temperature and the effect on the dextrins. Didn’t really want an overly sweet or overly dry beer which could be these two scenarios from screwing up the mash. Another lesson learned about BeerSmith.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.071
Estimated FG: 1.020
Estimated Color: 56 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 6.9%

Grain
13.5 lbs Pale Two Row (2.0 SRM) 67.7%
1 lb 8 oz Munich (9.0 SRM) 7.7%
1 lb 3oz Chocolate (350 SRM) 6.2%
1 lb 3oz Roasted Barley (650 SRM) 6.2%
10 oz Crystal 20 (20 SRM) 3.1%
10 oz Crystal 80 (80 SRM) 3.1%
14 oz Pumpkin(mash) (3 SRM) 3.1%
14 oz Pumpkin(boil) (3 SRM) 3.1%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Warrior [15.0%] – Boil 60 min 39.1 IBUs
28.00 g US Saaz [4.0%] – Boil 0.0 min 0 IBUs
7.0 g cinnamon – Boil 5.0 min
4.0 g cinnamon – Boil 0.0 min

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
7.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
3 g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
Mash in 6.75 gallons water 166F and let stabilize to 156F for 60 min
Batch Sparge 3.33 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English 2L starter

Fermentation
Ferment at 68F for 4 days and then let free rise to 70F next 2 days.

A turn of the century Burton Ale. A ton of hops for this puppy so I substituted Warrior and Admiral for 4 oz of EKG at the start of the boil but kept the Hallertau and EKG as flavor and aroma or it would lose all its intended character. Never used Admiral before but its an off shoot of Wye Challenger. I’ve had good success with these beers but have had them turn out a tad bit dry. Hopefully the addition of Crystal and corn flakes will add a little body and mouth feel to balance the high IBU and alcohol. I can’t be bothered to make the invert sugar the recipe calls for. It’s time consuming, although you can taste a difference. Turbinado with a little molasses is a good substitute or if you can find it pilloncillo is even better but twice as expensive as turbinado. I am going out on a limb and using Carafa III to color up. It’s a dehusked roasted barley that supposedly doesn’t add much flavor and no astringency. Was happy with the color so we’ll see if it’s claims for adding no astringency ring true.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.071
Estimated FG: 1.018
Estimated Color: 24.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 98.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
ABV: 7.0%

Grain
9 lbs Marris Otter (3.0 SRM) 56%
2.5 lbs 2 Row (2.0 SRM) 15.6%
1.5 lbs Flaked Corn (1.3 SRM) 9.3 %
8 oz Carafa III (525 SRM) 3.1%
8 oz Crystal 120 (120 SRM) 3.1%
2 lbs Turbinado sugar (10 SRM) 12.4%
1 oz Molasses (80 SRM) .4%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Warrior [5.70%] – Boil 60 min 39.6 IBUs
28.00 g Admiral [13.00%] – Boil 45 min 31.5 IBUs
56.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.70%] – Boil 30 min 20.3 IBUs
56.00 g Hallertau [2.7%] – Boil 15 min 7.1 IBUs
28.00g East Kent Goldings [5.70%] – Dry hop 3 days

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
1/2 Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
1/2 RO Water
4 g Calcium Chloride Mash
4g Calcium Chloride Sparge
Mash in 4.5 gallons water 163F and let stabilize to 154F for 60 min
Mash out 170F
Batch Sparge 4.25 gallons cold sparge

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English Ale 2L starter

Fermentation and packaging
63F for 7 days raise temp each day 1 degree to 70F. Dry hop in fermenter for 3 days. Rack off 5 gallons into keg and cold crash and carb. If bottling cold crash for a few days and then bottle. You could prime keg with 122g of sugar and let it condition for minimum 3 days and then put on gas at 7psi and chill at least 24 hours before serving to make sure everything drops.

Loosely based on Flowers OB from the 50’s. I added a late addition, which wouldn’t be traditional, at zero minute/flame out/whirlpool. Interesting how the thought has changed from zero minute additions not adding any IBUs to it adding IBUs. I guess it depends if you don’t chill immediately. According to Mitch Steele the heat threshold for alpha acid extraction is around 185F. So depending on how fast your chiller cools the wort to 185 plus when start chilling after flame out would equal some IBU extraction. My brief reading on the subject has pointed out a few extra points, one bieng that the IBU estimate doesn’t take into account less utilization at elevated levels of IBU. There was also an interesting Mr. Wizard article  in the latest issue of BYO about how IBU is calculated as opposed to estimated. Big difference. Anyhow, I think the importance is taste and aroma. I think this should be spot on. One final note. In my experince I don’t think the Dry English yeast will get down to 1.007 more like 1.010 giving 4.7%.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.044
Estimated FG: 1.007
Estimated Color: 4.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 46.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.9%

Grain
9 lbs Marris Otter (3.0 SRM) 90%
1 lbs Turbinado sugar

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.70%] – Boil 60 min 18.4 IBUs
28.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.70%] – Boil 30 min 14.1 IBUs
28.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.70%] – Boil 15 min 9.1 IBUs
28.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.70%] – Whirlpool/steep 15 min  4.6 IBUs
28.00 g Celeia Goldings [3.7%] – Dry Hop 3 days

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
1/2 Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
1/2 RO Water
3ml lactic acid mash water
3ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 4 gallons water 160F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
Mash out 170F
Batch Sparge 5.25 gallons cold sparge

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English Ale 2L starter

Fermentation and packaging
65 F for 5 days raise temp each day 1 degree to 70F. Dry hop in fermenter for 3 days. Rack off 5 gallons into keg and cold crash and carb. If bottling cold crash for a few days and then bottle. You could prime keg with 122g of sugar and let it condition for minimum 3 days and then put on gas at 7psi and chill at least 24 hours before serving to make sure everything drops.

This is a highly hopped pale ale. I guess maybe you could call it a session IPA. I like to think of this beer as kind of a hybrid of an English PA and American PA. English malt and yeast with aggressive late and dry hopping with American hops. I’ve been looking through my archives since I started recording these recipes and I’m seeing a clear trend for me. Pale ales with English yeast. I really love how these yeasts drop clear. Cal Ale will not flocculate for me. Two weeks and three weeks in I have seen murk. 5-6 days with WLP007 and my beer is relatively clear and finished.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.053
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 5.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 72.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.4%

Grain
13 lbs Marris Otter (3.0 SRM) 100%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Warrior [16.00%] – Boil 60 min 48.3 IBUs
14.00 g Cascade [7.4%] – Boil 5 min 2.2 IBUs
14.00 g Centennial [8.7%] – Boil 5 min 2.6 IBUs
28.00 g Amarillo [9.2%] – Whirlpool/steep 10.7 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [12.25%] – Whirlpool/steep 15 min 8.6 IBU
28.00 g Amarillo [9.2%] – Dry Hop 3 days
14.00 g Cascade [7.4%] – Dry Hop 3 days
42.00 g Centennial [8.7%] – Dry Hop 3 days

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
1/2 Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
1/2 RO Water
4gm calcium chloride  mash water
3gm calcium chloride  sparge water
Mash in 5 gallons water 160F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
Mash out 170F
Batch Sparge 4.5 gallons cold sparge

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English Ale 2L starter

Fermentation and packaging
68 F for 5 days raise temp on 4th day 1 degree and 5th day 1 degree to 70F. Dry hop in fermenter for 3 days. Rack off 5 gallons into keg and cold crash and carb. If bottling cold crash for a few days and then bottle.

Tips
Any of these beers with high hopping rates (this is equivalent to about 2.75lbs per barrel) your final yield is going to suffer. Plan on brewing for 6 gallons instead of 5 gallons. Two to three more pounds of grain cost little. If you have leftovers after racking to your keg you can bottle it. If bottling, wash bottles like your bottling for 5.5 gallons. Depending on how well my water measurements are I always boil about 7.5 – 7.75 gallons. This will yield about 6.5 gallons at the end of boil with an assumed loss of about 1 gallon to trub form all the hops and break so we are looking at 5.5 gallons of clear wort  in the fermenter.  I will then pitch my whole 2L starter, so another 1/2 gallon of wort, but remember to adjust you final IBUs by 1/12. So in this recipe I’m really getting 63 IBUs instead of 72. Noticeable? I don’t know. These IBU rating are assumptions anyhow.

Had Deschute’s Fresh Squeezed for the first time about a month ago. Was really impressed. I’m liking these more malt forward IPAs. I think the malt plays really well with the hefty IBUs and the fruitiness of these hops. I highly doubt I’m getting 90 IBUs. It tastes around 60-70. I’ve read that when homebrewing expect 20% less IBU extract. Another successful cold sparge as well. I’m not burning 20 minutes worth of propane to heat sparge water and getting the exact same extract. Funny thing is I was talking to my wife’s cousin the day after I brewed it and I told him I went through a few recipes on the internet and felt this one ‘s the best just by gut instinct. Meanwhile he’s leafing through the latest version of Zymurgy and what do you know my recipe is almost identical except they have it dry hopped. I kegged this six days after I racked to the fermenter. Let it chill at near freezing while it carbed for two days. No need for dry hopping in my opinion. The late additions were coming through excellent. An excellent beer with a quick turn around. What more could you ask for?

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.064
Estimated FG: 1.015
Estimated Color: 13.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 89.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 6.5%

Grain
14 lbs Two Row (2.0 SRM) 84.8%
1.5 lbs Crystal 80 (80 SRM) 9.1%
1 lbs Munich (10 SRM) 6.1%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Nugget [13.00%] – Boil 60 min 36.1 IBUs
28.00 g Citra [12.00%] – Boil 15 min 16.5 IBUs
28.00 g Mosaic [12.25%] – Boil 15 min 16.9 IBUs
28.00 g Citra [12.00%] – Whirlpool/steep 10.1 IBUs
28.00 g Mosaic [12.25%] – Whirlpool/steep 15 min 10.3 IBU

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
1/2 Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
1/2 RO Water
5gm calcium chloride  mash water
3gm calcium chloride  sparge water
Mash in 6.5 gallons water 161F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
Mash out 170F
Batch Sparge 3.5 gallons cold sparge

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English Ale 2L starter