Be-otch IPA

Here is an IPA recipe that I've brewed a few times, it is one of my favorite beers to brew (and drink!).  This is the same IPA that I currently have on tap.  I brewed this batch a few weeks before I started this blog and thought that I ought to share the recipe since I do list it as "on tap".  It has been on tap for a few weeks and is almost gone.  There is something about having beer on tap (particularly IPA) that is just awesome!  The original recipe is from Brew Your Own and was listed as a Blurry Bike IPA clone recipe from Barley's Brewing Co. in Ohio.  The original recipe was for a 5 gallon batch which I scaled up to 6 gallons.  Credits go to my friends Justin and Kendra who named this beer Be-otch IPA while we were on a trip to San Luis Obispo, CA in 2011.

Brew Day: June 9, 2013

Batch Size: 6 gallons

Grains:

14 lbs lbs US 2 row pale malt
0.6 lbs Caramel/Crystal 20L

Hops:

0.60 oz Columbus - First Wort Hops (FWH)
1.80 oz Columbus - 45 minutes
2.40 oz Columbus - 20 minutes
2.40 oz Columbus - 0 minutes
2.40 oz Columbus - Dry hop in secondary fermenter

Yeast:

White Labs WLP005 British Ale Yeast

Mash & Sparge:

Mash 4.8 gallons of water at 150 degree F for 60 minutes (strike temperature of 167 degrees F).  Sparge 4.4 gallons of water at 170 degree F for 60 minutes.

OG = 1.056
FG = 1.016
ABV = 5.24%

What Have I Been Drinking Lately??

When I haven't been drinking homebrewed IPA from a keg, I've had the opportunity to taste a few new beers over the last week and I thought I'd post a brief summary on what I've been tasting:

Friday, July 19 - Buffalo Bills Brewery, Hayward, CA

I made a Friday night trip to Buffalo Bills for the first time.  My friends Justin and Kendra joined me to taste a few different beers including Buffalo Beer, Tasmanian Devil, and Orange Blossom Cream Ale.  The resounding favorite was the Buffalo Beer.  Light ales and lagers are usually not for me, but I found this one to be enjoyable.  Just as the description says it was very crisp and a great hoppiness thanks to the Cascade hops.  The Buffalo Beer had great mouthfeel (aka mouthiness)!

We thought the Orange Blossom Cream Ale was under-carbonated.  Perhaps it was just an issue with this batch, but I would've expected this style to have carbonation similar to the Buffalo Beer.

Buffalo Bills Beer List - 7/19/2013

Saturday, July 20 - San Francisco Giants Beerfest, San Francisco, CA

The Giants hosted a small beerfest before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night (the Giants actually won...shocker!).  We sampled beer from several different breweries including Pizza Orgasmica, Mendocino Brewing Company, Peter B's Brewpub, Anchor Brewing, Lagunitas, Red Hook, San Francisco Brewing Company, Goose Island (from Chicago?), and Batch 19.

There were some very good beers served at the event from Pizza Orgasmica, Peter B's and Mendocino Brewing Company.  Pizza Orgasmica and Peter B's both had great IPA's.  Peter B's also had a raspberry wheat beer and a blonde ale that were tasty.

Overall this event needed some work.  I was disappointed there weren't more local brewery's such as Speakeasy, 21st Amendment, Thirsty Bear, and Magnolia just to name a few from San Francisco.  I'm not sure what Goose Island was doing at this event seeing as they're from Chicago.  Also, I found out after the beerfest the Batch 19 is a Coors off-shoot....kinda depressing.

Lastly, they limited you to eight 2-ounce tastes, which is about a pint of beer total.  Thats not enough beer to drink at a beerfest.

Wednesday, July 24 - 21st Amendment, San Francisco, CA

Finally, I spent some time at 21st Amendment last night before the Giants game and had a couple Big Cat pale ales.  I can't recall drinking this beer at 21st Amendment before.  Overall, I thought this was a solid beer, although I did feel it was slightly under-carbonated and left my mouth feeling dry.  I always enjoy this place.  They seem to have a good mix of beers available from their flagship varieties to seasonal recipes.

UPDATE: Referring to my Brew Chem 101 from Lee Janson, dry mouth can be caused by astringency. Astringency is the result of few different things such as boiling grain husks, boiling fruit skins, or overhopping. I think we can eliminate the first two as causes of the Big Cat dry mouth. I doubt 21st Amendment would have grain husks in their boil and given that the beer is a pale ale, I don't think there were fruit skins in the recipe. That leaves overhopping, which makes sense since Big Cat is considered a pale ale and the hopping could have easily been a little aggressive. 

East Bay Beer Map

I wish I had been the one to come up with this, but congrats to Sarah Medina for compiling a nice list here of breweries and bars here in the East Bay with delicious beers.

East Bay Beer Map

For those of you on the other side of the bay, here is the San Francisco Beer Map from Caleb Garling.

Yeast and Aerobic Respiration

Just a quick hitter this morning on my way to work.

I'm reading a book titled Brew Chem 101 by Lee W. Janson.  An interesting fact that I've learned about yeast this morning is that yeast can get 15 times as much energy from a sugar molecule when using oxygen (or during aerobic respiration). This why its important to aerate the wort prior to pitching the yeast.  This will lead to a healthier, faster fermentation and allow the yeast to switch from aerobic respiration to anaerobic respiration.  During anaerobic respiration, yeast cells begin multiplying and ethanol (or alcohol) is produced.

There are any number of ways to aerate the wort. If your tired of the "shake" method, I recommend and have used this aerator kit from Northern Brewer. 

Raspberry Wheat

This particular batch is dedicated to my good friend Kendra who will be welcoming her first child to the world shortly.  Kendra requested a batch of Raspberry Wheat beer be ready once she is ready to drink again (don't worry, consumption will begin after she gives birth).  This batch is inspired by a Raspberry Wheat beer brewed in Durango, CO by Carver Brewing Co.  I haven't tasted the original so we'll let Kendra be the judge when we tap this batch in a few weeks.  Also, we didn't quite use a pound of raspberries per gallon, but we got close!

As part of this batch I brewed 7 gallons of the base recipe.  From there I split the batch into two separate 3.5 gallon batches.  One carboy received American Wheat yeast from Wyeast and the other received Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast

Here is the recipe and a few photos from transferring the beer to the secondary fermenter.

Brew Day: July 6, 2013

Batch Size: 7 gallons

Grains:

5.6 lbs US 2 row pale malt
7.0 lbs German wheat malt
1.40 lbs rice flakes
6.0 oz honey malt

Hops:

1.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker @ 60 minutes remaining

Yeast:

Wyeast American Wheat Ale (for 3.5 gallons)

Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne (for 3.5 gallons)

Other Additions:

1.5 tsp coriander seed @ 15 minutes remaining

3/8 oz bitter orange peel @ 15 minutes remaining

1.5 tsp coriander seed @ 1 minute remaining

3/8 oz bitter orange peel @ 1 minutes remaining

2 lbs 2 oz of Vintners Harvest Red Raspberry Puree per 3.5 gallons (When racking to secondary fermenter rack beer on top of the puree)

Mash & Sparge:

Mash 4.3 gallons of water at 150 degree F for 60 minutes (strike temperature of 167 degrees F).  My actual mash temp was about 156 degree F.

Sparge 5.8 gallons of water at 170 degree F for 60 minutes.

OG = 1.043

FG (American Wheat Yeast) = 1.012
FG (Champagne Yeast) = 1.020

Here are a couple photos from the transfer between primary and secondary fermenters.  The left photo here is of the Champagne yeast batch.  The right photo is the wheat year batch.  The interesting part about this is the color difference between the champagne batch and the wheat yeast batch.

Raspberry Wheat - Champagne Yeast

Raspberry Wheat - American Wheat Yeast

Homebrewing

For the time being this page is under construction.  My goal is to create a blog to share my homebrewing experiences and general love of beer. This blog will also serve as a forum that will allow collaboration amongst fellow brewers.  Posts about homebrewing and other delicious beers should in the next 2-3 weeks.