Category Archives: Homebrewing
Golden Wheat Red – A Big Beer in the Making
Progress – about 6 days ago I transferred the beer from the primary tank to the secondary, the glass carboy, for the second of the two stage fermentation process. I am still disappointed with my measurement faux pas….I can only guess at my starting gravity. At transfer it was 1.015…a little lower than I had predicted but my predicted measurements were based on the absence of Murphy, as in Murphy’s Laws. see previous post – https://bishopsbeerblog.com/2014/10/22/the-brew-is-on/
I am happy to report that the sample I grabbed was very, very nice! In two days I will dry hop with an additional two ounces of Centennial hop pellets. I will hold the temperatures at 63 degrees F for 5 days after the hop additions and then crash it to 34 or 35 F to clear everything up. I still have some decisions to make. When finished – should I fill two of my 6 L Tap-a-Draft kegs and bottle the rest, fill one 6 L keg and bottle the rest or bottle all of it? So many choices! The best part of the decision – whatever I choose it will be drinkable and sharable!
Making the transfer – primary fermenter to the secondary. Mother Nature and gravity make the siphon move the beer!
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
End of Houston’s Big Brew Weekend
We, my wife and I, poured beer Friday night in the Texas Brewers portion of the event. Friday was college football and all good things associated.
Today is Sunday and the day started off by cheering my daughter on in her second half Marathon and fittingly ended in front of the Karbach beer stand! They were out of beer but my wife planned ahead and we had frozen strawberries and several beers on ice for my daughter and her running mate.
This evening is now spent with some NFL football, grilling a pork loin and sipping on my homebrewed Belgian Wit. Life is pretty darned good I’d say!
An evening cool enough in Houston that has me in my insulated flip flops and no mosquitoes! Note pumpkin theme behind the glass.
Daughter and her running mate photo bombed by the Karbach crew.
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
Apology
I wanted to brew my Golden Wheat Red IPA this week but work got in the way. It’s terrible when that happens. So, I apologize and will “gittr” done as soon as practical.
Problem is – work is in the way for most of October too. The month will be salvaged because I will spend 7 days in Colorado with lots of free time to sample and explore some small breweries!
So, October has another work week in North Dakota and next week is followed by a mini work week in Colorado, two out of seven days……I will share some tastings!
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
A Bedtime Elixir
It was a busy day. I had a few things to take care of with my beehive, some invoicing of clients to submit and general “Harry Homeowner” stuff that never goes away. I am at the end of the evening and doing the right thing ….. Watching “Dancing With The Stars” with my bride…. it’s a small price to pay!
So, I kicked back and enjoyed a partial bottle of my Russian Imperial Stout…..it is getting better every time I crack one open. Nice tan head, a bit of lace on the sides of the glass and the bourbon notes from the whiskey soaked oak that had sat in the secondary fermenter for three months are mellowing nicely. A hint of coffee, vanilla and a nice warmth as it slides down….Can’t wait to see how it ages … a couple of years from now I will sip on the final few bottles. This is a “one and done” type of beer… a nice finish to the evening and some sweet dreams. Brewed at the end of May this year and we will enjoy it even more in December/January – if it ever cools off!
Mmmmmmm – smooth, dark and oh so warm.
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
Mopping the Floor
I bottled my Russian Imperial Stout last night. I looks inky black but, the drips on the light colored tile look like coffee! Yes, I made a small mess! I did have help, my wife cleaned up the drips as I cleaned and put away the equipment. Thanks Hun, I owe you!
I bottled most of the beer in 22 ounce bombers and the rest in the flip top bottles with the porcelain stoppers, except for one stray 12 ouncer. One of the bombers was giving me fits trying to get the crown cap to seat properly. I tried a 12 ounce bottle to see if it was the capper of the bottle? Turns out the bottle was bad so off to the recycle bin the offender went.
Initial tasting impressions; the bourbon soaked oak comes through with a hint of vanilla. Additionally there is hint of coffee in the background. A nice smooth and velvety feel on the tongue, Now, to be patient and let it sit a couple of months to mellow and mature….. like me!!!! Oh, I forgot to mention, I primed with 4.5 ounces of dark brown sugar….and the bottles are now sitting at a controlled 65 degrees as the condition.
Siphoning from the secondary into the priming tank with a glass of two year old stout from a previous batch. It was very good!
Toasted oak spirals in the bottom of the secondary fermenter. Having done their job they are off to an afterlife in the chiminea.
Thermocouple nestled amongst the bottles. Working to keep things at 65.
Some of the flip top bottles filled with the dark, thick and tasty stout.
Now, just wait and plan for the IPA I will brew next,
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
All Grain – Golden Wheat Red IPA
I am out on the patio after a brief rain here in Kingwood, 88 degrees F, 65% humidity and feels like 95! Sweat is dripping and the only effort I am making is flipping the Beef Ribs! I am softening the blow with the last “Golden Wheat Red IPA” in a frosty inverted mug.
These mugs are awesome, or should I say, it is awesome. I received a pair of them a couple of Christmas’ ago and one abruptly departed the cabinet. It is insulated and it is pretty cool to observe the inverted bottle shape.
I have just finished creating the recipe for the replacement batch, albeit in an all grain format! I use BeerSmith software and it does a good job of providing an expected product. It calculates, ABV %, IBU – bitterness, color and expected starting and final specific gravity, among all if the other important steps like water volumes, mashing times, sparge volumes and so on.
I must say adios to the last last beer of the batch. I hated to see it go but, who better to drink it than me! I hope I can replicate the final product in this all-grain recipe. Time will tell, (has anyone counted the number of cliches used?) Last photo, a creamy , thick and close to a perfect head……. on the beer! Loved it!
Drink Responsibly and Drink Local
Bishop
Blue Moon Clone and Other Tidbits
I returned from Williston, North Dakota yesterday and racked my wife’s Blue Moon Clone over into the secondary. It was a couple days later than I wanted but, based on the gravity ready and the taste of the sample pulled for the reading…..it will be a good beer. The gravity had dropped to 1.008 – very nice and it would have been more meaningful if I had remembered to get the original gravity. Beer Smith brewing software estimated the original gravity to be 1.053 and final to be 1.018. I am well below the estimated final gravity so I suspect my original gravity may have been on the low side of the estimate. In a few days, as it settles and clears a little more, off it will go into the minikegs and bottles.
Tidbits.
I just read through the top 50 commercial craft beers in the US as voted by the members of the American Homebrewer Association. By my count I have had 23 of the top 50. I apologize for not having tried hard enough to score higher. My newest “favorite IPA” was tied for 49th, Odell’s IPA. I believe as the distribution for Odell’s widens it will move up. If you can run down a sixer….and you like IPAs’, buy it and enjoy.
These same folks ranked brewers as well – of the top 25 I have sampled beers from 14 of them…Still have to work on better form. I think I need a plan for the second half of 2014! I will be in Chicago for a week in August so I expect to sample that market! I will be in the Paso Robles area soon and will visit the number “7” ranked brewery, Firestone Walker. It is home to my “personal” number one ranked beer, their barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout, Parabola!
Included in the article are recipes…clone recipes that are very tempting – One is a clone for an “All Day IPA” from Founders Brewing Company in Michigan…it comes in at an ABV of about 4.7%. The number one ranked beer, “Pliny the Elder” from Russian River in California is also included with a clone recipe. It is a heavily hopped IPA that comes in at 8.2% ABV and an amazing dosage of wonderful hops! What shall a man do? Maybe both????
I have to get my wife’s beer bottled and out of the fermenting chamber. I can only ferment 2 – 5 gallon batches at a time. If I only had a bigger chest freezer! Hmmmmmmm I wonder if Santa would say that I have been a “good enough” boy this year?
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
Imperial Stout – This was Definitely not a “Quickie”!
My second attempt at brewing an all grain batch was a significantly more time consuming. I brewed a Russian Imperial Stout – “An intensely flavored, big, dark ale. Roasty, fruity, and bittersweet, with a noticeable alcohol presence. Dark fruit flavors meld with roasty, burnt, or almost tar-like sensations. Like a black barleywine with every dimension of flavor coming into play. ” (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style13.php#1f
Hmmmmmm dark as night and an nice tan colored foam!
The total grain bill weighed in at 21 pounds. A massive amount compare to the previous all grain pale ale I last brewed. I had to make another purchase to handle this “big” beer. I am now the proud owner of a triple clad 60 quart Polarware kettle. It is built “Hell for Stout” – FYI – a subtle tongue in cheek play on words. The boil started at nearly 8 gallons and during the 90 minute boil it reduced down to the 5 gallon recipe’s designated target volume.
Dry weight was 21 pounds of grain. Now – muck more than that! At least I didn’t waste it…tried a bread recipe – not very good. Fed some to the birds….they didn’t like it, so the remainder went to the compost heap.
The batch came in at an OG of 1.088 a little lower than I was predicting…I spilled a bit pouring into the fermenting bucket( didn’t I Ben?) and had to add about 3/4 gallon of water…probably caused a bit of dilution. Still well within the acceptable range.
All in all the brewing process went well. The beer seemed to be slow kicking off and it took 4 days before I noticed any sign of activity and when I did it was a doozy! You know, intuition is something that shouldn’t be ignored. The brew store suggested using two vials of yeast sine it was such a big beer. I used White Labs WLP 007, Dry English Ale yeast. It took off sometime late on the fourth day…..when I checked on it on the 5th day it was very obvious that fermentation had kicked off….my intuition told me to use a blow-off hose. My intuition was right but I didn’t listen. Now I had a good excuse and reason to clean out the converted freezer.
What a mess! The upside is – the freezer is very clean now!
Cleaned it out and left it for another 6 or so days before I found time to rack it over into the secondary…..Today. The gravity had dropped to 1.026 – good for around 8.5% ABV – now I need to be very patient – about 6 months worth. I still have a few adds, I have some white oak toasted to a burnt toast look and being soaked in Bourbon at the moment. In another week or so the oak will be added to the secondary for a final touch.
There it is – 1.026 SG – hopefully I will get a little more fermentation and it will drop a little more – 8.47% ABV at the moment.
Continuing along at about 63-65 deg. F in the converted freezer. The sample pulled for the Specific Gravity check was PDG! How much long before Santa arrives? Yep, that’s what I thought. I will have it bottled and share one with Santa! I have 4 or 5 22 oz. bottles from my last batch brewed over two years ago and one that is about 4 years old waiting on my son Ben’s graduation celebration….July 2014!
Next, the CFO has asked for a Belgian Wit – something along the lines of a Blue Moon – only better! She loves the Raspberry Wheat Ale in the mini kegs, the Tap-A-Draft 6L ones….. She is down to about 3L remaining and getting very stingy about sharing!
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
Just A “Quickie”
A “quickie” post. I have a few weeks relatively free, just a few quick local jobs so I promise to write more about my upcoming all-grain batch planned for the weekend.
I just had to write about this beer I poured – an IPA from Odell Brewing Company! Simply, “India Pale Ale, IPA”. The impact was a double whammy – the hop aroma hit the nose and the very mellow bitterness followed! Do a search and locate a sixer. You won’t be disappointed!
I just had to do it quickly. I will apologize now and deliver a more lengthy effort soon!
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop
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