Recently read a post about this beer on Mitch Steele’s blog which I believe reiterates what is in  his IPA book about Ballatine, it’s history and recipes, and what an awesome beer it was. As usual in my quest to brew something the supply chain throws a wrench in my plans. This is where we improvise and the beer becomes your own. The brewshop was completely out of 2 row (I know, I know, hard to believe a brewery doesn’t have any 2 row), so had to use Marris Otter and some 6 row as subs. Anyhow, how can you replicate something that dry hops with the distilled oil of the Bullion hop? I don’t think you can. Since I’ve been kegging I really have noticed that the final yield on IPAs aren’t so hot with so much trub and hop material sucking up beer, so this batch I am going do 6 gallons that will hopefully yield a finished 5.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.074
Estimated FG: 1.015
Estimated Color: 9.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 80.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.7%

Grain
10 lbs Marris Otter (3.0 SRM) 54.5%
3 lbs Pale Malt Six Row (2.0 SRM) 16.3%
2 lbs 12 oz Flaked Maize (1.5 SRM) 15.0%
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 10.9%
10 oz Crystal 60 (60.0 SRM) 3.3%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
56.00 g Galena [13.9%] – Boil 60 min 64.8 IBUs
28.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.7%] – Boil 25 min 15.3 IBUs
28.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.7%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs
56.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.7%] – Dry Hop 4 days

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

Mash and Sparge
Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
6ml lactic acid mash
4g calcium chloride mash
4ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 6 gallons water 161F and let stabilize to 150F for 60 min
Batch Sparge 4.25 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English Ale 2L starter

My wife’s uncle has a really prolific Meyer lemon tree and gave us a big bag of them. Ripe citrus will go bad pretty quickly so had to come up with some uses. I made some orange wine last year and have made lemon wine before using a modified Skeeter Pee recipe so decided to revamp my orange wine recipe for lemon and skip the Skeeter Pee recipe altogether which has too many  silly steps for a small batch and uses potassium sorbate. A properly fermented juice wine with champagne yeast will be completely dry and stable making the use of any preservative unnecessary unless you want to have some residual body and cut the fermentation before terminal gravity.  I prefer these wines bone dry and served cold. You can sparkle them too by priming the bottles just like a beer. Just remember the gravity should be 1.000 or less or you will have a bottle bomb! Use the Lallemand EC-118 Champagne yeast. It is fast starting, tolerates temperature swings and a high alcohol environment up to around 18% abv. If doing one gallon no need to start it – just pitch the yeast. It will literally start in a half hour.

1 Gallon

Estimated OG: 1.083
Estimated FG: 0.998
Estimated Color: 1.7 SRM
Brewhouse Efficiency: 100.00 %
ABV: 13.4%

Ingredients
1 lb lemon juice by weight (this is for brewing calculations only) which the equivalent of 1 pint of fresh squeezed juice or about 10 good sized lemons
1.75 lb table sugar
1/2 tsp  yeast nutrient
Lalvin EC-1118 (Champagne yeast)

Method

• Squeeze lemons and strain out pips.
• Add .75 gallon water to pot and add lemon juice and sugar (this should yield about 1.25 gallons).
• Stir sugar till dissolved.
• Turn on heat and pasteurize(161F) or bring to boil and shut off heat.
• Cool to 75 and transfer to sanitized 1 gallon fermenter and pitch room temperature dry yeast directly to wine and add airlock.
• Swirl fermenter occasionally.
• Let ferment at least 7-14 days and rack off lees to another sanitized 1 gallon fermenter and check gravity. If gravity is good (at least 1.000) let yeast settle out for one week by crash cooling(small enough to put in your fridge). If not at terminal gravity let ferment another week and check gravity again by racking off lees.  A double transfer will give you a clearer wine but it is not necessary if crashed cooled – this yeast should form a compact sediment bed you can pour off of.
• Bottle either still or carbonate by priming to 2 volumes and let condition at room temperature for at least a month, preferably 3. More age will smooth this wine out!

Another Lets brew Wednesday recipe. I really like these older English recipes with their heavy use of adjuncts. This beauty has over 35% of the grist as adjuncts! I’ve had pretty darn good success with using adjuncts in the past and after tasting this from the fermenter I think this is another winner. During the boil the corn will really create a lot of hot break so skim that off so you don’t have those globs of protein in the fermenter. Haven’t been able to find Cluster so Galena is a good substitute. Styrian Goldings is going by the names Styrian Celeia and Savinjski Golding. Celeia is a hybrid of Goldings and Aurora.  Savinjski Golding is the more traditional Slovenian hop that is from Fuggles rootstock but is more susceptible to root disease hence the Celeia cross that is a little hardier. The Bedford British yeast has a nice fruity profile but doesn’t seem to flocculate as well as the Dry English Ale and finished a tad high but that could be we’ve had some very cold weather here and I don’t have a way of heating a fermenter. The temp dropped to below 65F after 5 days so maybe it stalled out? Hard to say it supposed to be high flocculating and a dry finishing yeast. Well it’s in the keg and primed so if it didn’t finish will just have to blow off the excess carbonation.

5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.047
Estimated FG: 1.014
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 51.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.3%

Grain
3 lbs Marris Otter (3.0 SRM) 33.9%
2 lbs 10 oz Pale Two Row (2.0 SRM) 29.4%
2 lbs 4 oz Flaked Maize (1.5 SRM) 25.4%
1 lbs Pilloncillo Sugar (20.0 SRM) 11.3%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.7%] – Boil 60min 21.5 IBUs
14.00 g Galena [13.9%] – Boil 60 min 26.2 IBUs
14.00 g Styrian Goldings [3.2%] – Boil 20 min 3.7 IBUs
14.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.7%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs
14.00 g East Kent Goldings [5.7%] – Dry Hop 4 days
14.00 g Styrian Goldings [3.2%] – Dry Hop 4 days
14.00 g Galena [13.9%] – Dry Hop 4 days

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

Mash and Sparge
Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
3ml lactic acid mash
4ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 12.75 qt water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Batch Sparge 4.75 gallons 170F (add 1 gallon to mash and run off and then sparge with 3.75 gallon)

Yeast
WLP 006 Bedford British 2L starter

Maybe the first reintroduction of the IPA on American shores since the infamous Ballantine IPA continued to be bastardized by corporate mayhem. A very simple beer that lets the ingredients shine through. Two row, Cascade, and California Ale V (the Anchor brewery strain). Cal Ale V is more floculent and less attenuating than Cal Ale I and supposedly gives off more fruit notes(more like a classic English Ale yeast). Got the recipe from BYO but the hopping amounts were producing a very low IBU when entered into Beer Smith so upped them quite a bit. IBUs might be a tad high but after racking to secondary the beer didn’t taste that bitter so I think I’m good to go. The yeast is wonderful too. Nice fruit and malt notes allowing for a well balanced beer. I recently moved into a new place and don’t have any RO water so used 100% tap with filtration. Ran out of Calcium Chloride also which really helps to adjust the hard water here, so had to go 100% lactic acid to acidify. Probably the palest beer I’ve ever made so maybe the 100% lactic was a good thing. Can’t wait till this puppy is carbed up.

5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.059
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 4.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 57.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 6.2%

Grain
12.5 lbs Pale Two Row (2.0 SRM) 100%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Cascade [7.0%] – Boil 60min 24.2 IBUs
42.00 g Cascade [7.0%] – Boil 45 min 33.3 IBUs
14.00 g Cascade [7.0%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs

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

Mash and Sparge
Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5ml lactic acide mash
3ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 19.75 qt water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Batch Sparge 3.5 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 051 California Ale V 2L starter

This is a pumpkin beer based on Elysian’s Dark o the Moon. This beer is basically a stout with a bit of pumpkin and cinnamon. I dialed back the cinnamon from the original recipe because I didn’t have Vietnamese cinnamon and used “regular” cinnamon which is really ground cassia and also known as Chinese cinnamon, although Vietnamese cinnamon is related to cassia, so go figure if they are the same or not – the literature out there is a bit muddled on the subject. Some claim Vietnamese is the best cinnamon with less bitterness, more aromatics, and with a slightly sweet taste. The other cinnamon on the market is Ceylon cinnamon, which is also marketed as Mexican cinnamon. This is the “true” cinnamon which has a more delicate flavor than Chinese. More than likely the stuff you get at the store is ground cassia and is much stronger in flavor, less aromatic, and more bitter. Anyhow, I digress.

I always err on the side of caution with adding spices. The original recipe called for 7g cinnamon at 5 minutes and 3.5 g at flame out. I opted for 4g at flame out. This resulted in really no cinnamon flavor upon tasting the beer after being in the fermentor for 6 days so maybe the original recipe was on to something. With this in mind, I cold steeped another 4g of cinnamon in 1 pint of water and then boiled the priming sugar in it to add back to the beer. Beer tastes great so far but hopefully this will add a little cinnamon kick to make it more complex.

Other tweaks to the recipe are that the roasted barley I got was high on the Lovibond scale at 650 when the recipe called for 550. Not sure what appreciable affect on flavor this will have. Also, added all the pumpkin in mash and boil at 8 ounces each while recipe called for adding a little less in mash and boil and then adding 4 ounces pumpkin after high krausen. Also, 4g of cinnamon dry spicing got ditched with the addition of the cinnamon tea.

Should be ready for Thanksgiving.

5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.071
Estimated FG: 1.020
Estimated Color: 56 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 6.5%

Grain
11 lbs Pale Two Row (2.0 SRM) 67.7%
1 lb 4 oz Munich (9.0 SRM) 7.7%
1 lb Chocolate (350 SRM) 6.2%
1 lb Roasted Barley (650 SRM) 6.2%
8 oz Crystal 20 (20 SRM) 3.1%
8 oz Crystal 80 (80 SRM) 3.1%
8 oz Pumpkin(mash) (3 SRM) 3.1%
8 oz Pumpkin(boil) (3 SRM) 3.1%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
18.00 g Warrior [15.0%] – Boil 60 min 30.5 IBUs
28.00 g US Saaz [4.0%] – Boil 0.0 min 0 IBUs
4.0 g cinnamon – Boil 0.0 min

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

4.0 g cinnamon tea in 1pint water for priming sugar – add to keg or bottling bucket

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
Mash in 25 qt water 166F and let stabilize to 156F for 45 min
Batch Sparge 3.5 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English 2L starter

 

This beer pretty much falls into the dank red category. Red IPA I’d guess you’d call them these days. Good example would be Hop Head Red and Blazing World. Lots of hops in this puppy. I don’t know if anybody has used Cal Ale yeast recently but the last two times I have the fermentation has been very vigorous. I don’t remember it being so vigorous in the past. We’re talking blowing the airlock off the fermentor where I have to use a blow off tube.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.068
Estimated FG: 1.015
Estimated Color: 13.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 75.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.1%

Grain
15 lbs Pale Two Row (2.0 SRM) 86.1%
2 lb 2 oz Munich (9.0 SRM) 12.1%
5 oz Chocolate (350 SRM) 1.9%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
17.00 g Simcoe  [13.0%] – Mash hop 60 min 4.2 IBUs
28.00 g Columbus [15.0%] – Boil 60.0 min 41.8 IBUs
12.00 g Mosaic [13%] – Boil 60.0 min 14.1 IBUs
17.00 g Mosaic [13%] – Boil 30.0 min 15.2 IBUs
33.00 g Simcoe [13%] – Boil 0.0 min 0 IBUs
25.00 g Mosaic [13%] – Boil 0.0 min 0 IBUs
86.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.0%] – Dry Hop 7 days
28.00 g Mosaic [13%] – Dry Hop 7 days
28.00 g Simcoe [13%] – Dry Hop 2 days

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

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
3.00 g Calcium Carbonate added to sparge water
Mash in 27 qt water 161F and let stabilize to 152F for 75 min
Batch Sparge 4.00 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 001 California Ale 2L starter

Another Pattinson recipe. I like the idea that nothing is new under the sun as demonstrated by this historical beer from 1928. This is pretty much a “black IPA” without the cattiness of American hops and no roastiness from roasted or patent malt – the color is instead derived through caramel. Color didn’t turn out black more of a ruby but that could be that my homemade brewer’s caramel may not have been burnt enough? I was a bit afraid to scorch the pan but maybe I should have? Anyhow, wort was bracingly bitter when tasted. Didn’t realize Falconer’s Flight is a blend of C hops. For some reason thought it was a blend of English hops. Probably not enough to effect overall flavor but it got the IBUs where I wanted because the EKG were pretty low at 4% and couldn’t stomach putting 7 ounces of hops into the boil. I already have terrible efficiency as it is. Tasted at racking to secondary and was a bit thin and still really bitter. Too much sugar? See what a little dry hopping and carbination does to this puppy. Hopefully round it out a bit.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.067
Estimated FG: 1.010
Estimated Color: 23 SRM
Estimated IBU: 70.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.5%

Grain
8.5 lbs Marris Otter (3.0 SRM) 53.6%
3 lb Pale Six Row (2.0 SRM) 18.9%
2 lb Invert Sugar (60 SRM) 12.6%
1 lb 7 oz Falked Maize (1 SRM) 8.8%
12 oz Crystal 80 (80 SRM) 4.8%
3 oz Brewers Caramel (700? SRM) 1.3%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
56.00 g East Kent Goldings  [4.0%] – Boil 60 min 26.4 IBUs
56.00 g East kent Goldings [4.0%] – Boil 45.0 min 24.2 IBUs
28.00 g Falconers Flight [10.0%] – Boil 30.0 min 20.3 IBUs
56.00 g East Kent Goldings [4.0%] – Dry Hop

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

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
2 ml Lactic Acid to mash water
3.00 g Calcium Carbonate added to sparge water
Mash in 21.5 qt water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Batch Sparge 4.25 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 007 Dry English 2L starter

 

Liked my last attempt at a Saison with some American hopping and spice but this time around forgoing the spice. I’m really starting to see that even if you think you’re using a deft hand with spices you aren’t. I’m starting to think in small amounts of grams(1 or 2g) instead of half ounces(14g). Moot point because I want the star of the show here to be White Labs special release Saison III yeast. Straight from the White Labs website –

“Produces beer with a high fruit ester characteristic, as well as some slight tartness. Finishes slightly malty, which balances out the esters. Also produces low levels of clovey phenolics. Great yeast choice for a summer Saison that is light and easy-drinking.”

Added Czech Saaz, which is traditional for Belgians and goes well with spicy phenols, Mosaic and some wet Cascade harvested that morning from the garden to complement the fruit esters. Going to start fermentation at 68F and let ramp to 80 but not higher.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.059
Estimated FG: 1.009
Estimated Color: 8.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 33.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 6.5%

Grain
10.8 lbs Pilsner Malt (2.0 SRM) 76.4%
1 lb Caramunich (56 SRM) 7.3%
1 lb White Wheat (39.0 SRM) 7.3%
1 lb 4.0 oz Table Sugar (1 SRM) 9.1%

Schedule
90 minute Boil
56.00 g Czech Saaz [3.0%] – Boil 60 min 17.9 IBUs
7.00 g Mosaic [12.25%] – Boil 60.0 min 9.1 IBUs
28.00 g Czech Saaz [3.0%] – Boil 30.0 min 6.9 IBUs
21.00 g Mosaic [12.25%] – Boil 0.0 min 0 IBUs
50 g Cascade [Wet Hop Unknown%] – Boil 0.0 min 0 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)
5.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
3.00 g Calcium Carbonate added to sparge water
Mash in 19.75 qt water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Batch Sparge 5 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 585 Saison III 2L starter

Was in Chico a few weeks ago and had the pleasure of going to Sierra Nevada. A few things blew my mind. One, I cant believe a place that really isn’t that big pumps out so much beer per year. The place is running 24/7. No wonder they needed a second brewery on the East Coast. Two, the original Pale Ale is incredible when fresh. I know they do there best to make sure it is in good condition when you get it at the market but man it was revelatory how floral and clean tasting the beer is straight from the brewery. Third, they had a bunch of the Beer Camp collaboration beers on tap. The Alt Route Altbier, in collaboration with Victory Brewing, really stood out. It’s one of those beers that is hugely inspiring when you have a well made one. Malty rich backbone and firm bittering balance so nicely.

This is my second attempt at an Alt. My first attempt had temperature control issues. I used to do the water and ice in a tub temperature control method and we had a heat wave. The yeast crashed when the fermenter got to 80F while I was at work. Had to pitch Cal Ale after attempts at restart failed. Won’t happen this time. Will be fermenting at 62F and then racking to secondary to cold condition for two weeks dropping the fermenter down a few degrees per day.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.050
Estimated FG: 1.014
Estimated Color: 15.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 50.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.8%

Grain
8 lbs  Pilsner Malt (2.0 SRM) 63.0%
3 lbs Munich (9.9 SRM)  23.6%
1 lb Munich (39.0 SRM) 7.9%
8 oz Cara-Munich (56.0 SRM) 3.9%
3.2 oz Carafa II (412 SRM) 1.6%

Schedule
90 minute Boil
28.00 g Magnum [13.6%] – Boil 60 min 42.9 IBUs
28.00 g  US Tettnang [4.6 %] – Boil 15.0 min  7.2 IBUs
28.00 g  Strisslespalt [2.0%] – Boil 0.0 min 0.0 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)
5.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
3.00 g Calcium Carbonate added to sparge water
Mash in 5 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 156F for 75 min
Batch Sparge 5 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 036 Dusseldorf Alt Ale 2L starter

Another IPA riff. Pretty “traditional” hopping with Summit, Chinook, Cascade, Simcoe and Amarillo. Very clean almost all base malt grain bill that I’ve been using for awhile now with just a tab of sugar to dry it out and some cara-pils for a bit of mouth feel. First wort hopping is key, I feel, to achieve a nice smooth bitterness.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.063
Estimated FG: 1.008
Estimated Color: 4.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 92.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.1%

Grain
13 lbs 8 oz Pale Malt (2.0 SRM) 87.7%
1 lb 4 oz Cara-Pils (2.0 SRM)  8.1%
10 oz Sugar 4.2%

Schedule
24.00 g Simcoe [13%] – First Wort 90 min 34.1 IBUs
36.00 g  Summit [12 %] – Boil 60.0 min  42 IBUs
28.00 g  Cascade [5.5 %] – Boil 30.0 min 10.7 IBUs
14.00 g  Amarillo [5.7 %] – Boil 30 min 5.4 IBUs
40.00 g  Chinook [13 %] – Boil 0 min
56.00 g  Chinook [13 %] – Dy Hop 7 days
56.00 g  Simcoe [13 %] – Dy Hop 7 days

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

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
3.00 g Calcium Carbonate added to sparge water
Mash in 23 qt water 156.9F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Batch Sparge 4.50 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 001 Cal Ale 2L starter