After a serious hiatus, Sean and I are (finally!) back in the brewing groove. This morning’s early 8am start, and not having brewed for almost four months, caused for some sloppy going early on. I managed to spill grain and hops while measuring them out, and Sean almost dumped his entire bucket of crushed grain. We also had to get more propane tanks to finish the boil, so we got lucky we avoided any major delays of game.

After the success of last spring’s series of California Common brews, I decided to give another one a go today. To celebrate the sloppiness of our work today, I’ve named this brew Steaming Pile. Hopefully it won’t live up to the name!

For 5 gallons (90% efficiency):

Grain
8.00 lbs. Pale malt (Maris Otter)
1.00 lbs. CaraPils
1.00 lbs. Crystal 60 Malt

Hops
1.00 oz. Centennial (9.0%) 60 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial (9.0%) 15 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial (9.0%) knockout

Yeast
White Labs WLP810 San Francisco Lager strain

Mash grains at 151F for 60 minutes. Add first hop addition when wort begins to boil. After 45, add the second hop addition and Irish moss. At 60 minutes after boiling started, add last chunk of hops and turn off the heat. Knockout to chiller, and pitch yeast. Will be in primary fermentation for up to 10 days, depending on the ambient temperature. 810 likes a cooler fermentation temperature — closer to 60 if possible. When fermentation is done, rack to a new vessel for between 3-6 weeks of secondary fermentation.

OG: 1.064
Anticipated SRM: 10.0
Anticipated IBU: 46.0

Knowing that this will be a busy week at work, I decided to put another brew into the fermenter for winter drinking. I had a full mason jar of Belgian ale yeast to work with — a dubbel sounded like it could do the trick.

We don’t have a lot of specialty malt on hand right now, so I used some malts I wouldn’t ordinarily use for a dubbel — aromatic, victory and chocolate — rather than the Special B that would usually be in there. It’ll be tasty either way.

For 5 gallons (85% efficiency):

Grain
7.50 lbs. Pale malt (Maris Otter)
1.00 lbs. CaraMunich 40
0.50 lbs. Wheat Malt
0.38 lbs. Aromatic malt
0.31 lbs. Victory malt
0.31 lbs. Chocolate malt
1.00 lbs. Light brown sugar

Hops
0.40 oz. Columbus (16.6%) 60 min.
0.25 oz. Columbus (16.6%) 10 min.
0.25 oz. Columbus (16.6%) knockout

Spices
0.15 oz. coriander
0.10 oz. cumin

Yeast
White Labs WLP500 Belgian Ale strain

Mash grains at 151F for 60 minutes. Add first hop addition when wort begins to boil. After 50, add the second hop addition, freshly ground spices and Irish moss. After 10 more minutes, add last hop charge and kill the heat. Knockout to chiller, and pitch yeast. Will be in primary fermentation for up to 7 days, and then try a 1 week secondary fermentation.

OG: 1.075 (18.1P)
Anticipated SRM: 18.4
Anticipated IBU: 29.8

Wednesday night marked my consecutive third week of brewing, and it was time to dust off a recipe I haven’t brewed in a long while: Fat Tire.

For this version, I used Columbus hops for the boil, and a blend of Columbus and East Kent Goldings for aroma and finishing. It will end up a little darker than the inspiration beer, but will hopefully be similarly tasty.

For 5 gallons (75% efficiency):

Grain
7.00 lbs. Pale Malt (Maris Otter)
0.75 lbs. CaraMunich 40
0.75 lbs. CaraPils
0.50 lbs. Special B Malt

Hops
0.30 oz. Columbus (16.6%) 60 min.
0.30 oz. Columbus (16.6%) 13 min.
0.50 oz. East Kent Goldings (4.5%) 13 min.
0.50 oz. East Kent Goldings (4.5%) knockout

Yeast
White Labs WLP010 10th Anniversary strain

Mash grains at 152F for 60 minutes. Add first hop addition when wort begins to boil. After 47 minutes, add the second hop addition. After 13 more minutes, add last hop charge and kill the heat. Knockout to chiller, and pitch yeast. Will be in primary fermentation for up to 7 days, and then try a 1 week secondary fermentation.

We’re brewing tonight, after a 2 month hiatus. Since it’s summer time and Andrea is threatening to have a birthday party next month, a witbier is definitely in order.

For 10 gallons (75% efficiency):

Grain
8.50 lbs. Pale Malt (2-row)
4.50 lbs. Flaked Soft White Wheat
2.00 lbs. White Malt
2.00 lbs. Flaked Oats

Herbs + Spices
9g coriander (freshly ground)
6g bitter orange peel
6g sweet orange peel

Hops
1.00 oz. Tettnanger (4.5%) 60 min.
1.00 oz. Crystal (3.5%) 60 min.
0.50 oz. Crystal (3.5%) 15 min.

Yeast
White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit yeast

Mash grains at 152F for 60 minutes. Add all hops when wort begins to boil. After 45 minutes, add Irish moss and second hop charge. At 55 minutes, add the spices to the kettle. After 5 more minutes, knockout to chiller, and pitch yeast. Will be in primary fermentation for up to 7 days, and then go for a 1 or 2 week secondary fermentation to help with flavor maturation.

OG: 1.045 (11.2P)
Anticipated SRM: 3.5
Anticipated IBU: 17.0

Time to fire up the kettle for a fall beer. I’m using 2004’s Fall Fest as a starting point for this year’s version.

For 10 gallons (75% efficiency):

Grain
12.00 lbs. Pale Malt (2-row)
3.25 lbs. Sweet potatoes (baked, pureed)
1.00 lbs. Flaked Soft White Wheat
1.00 lbs. Honey Malt
2.00 lbs. Crystal 60L
0.30 lbs. Brown Sugar
0.30 lbs. Brown Sugar (dark)

Spices
1t nutmeg (freshly ground)
1t powdered ginger
2t china cassia cinnamon
.5t cloves (freshly ground)

Hops
1.00 oz. Northern Brewer (8.0%) 60 min.

Yeast
White Labs WLP001 American Ale

Mash grains at 154F for 60 minutes. Add all hops when wort begins to boil. After 45 minutes, add Irish moss. At 55 minutes, add the spices to the kettle. After 5 more minutes, knockout to chiller, and pitch yeast. Will be in primary fermentation for up to 7 days, and then go for a 1 or 2 week secondary fermentation to help with flavor maturation.

OG: 1.048 (12.0P)
Anticipated SRM: 12.2
Anticipated IBU: 17.9

Packaging
Kegged and force-carbonated

Production + Tasting Notes
Every fall fest beer has a story behind it. The story of the 2005 edition will be how to mash with sweet potatoes (or more accurately, now *not* to mash with sweet potatoes). Even though I used the proper precautions — adding rice hulls to the mash tun, stirring the potatoes in throughout the mash tun — I had a very slow run-off and ended up sticking the mash after about 3 gallons had run out. Luckily we have a few large buckets around to allow for emptying the tun and cleaning the screen before attempting the runoff again.

It added about an hour to our long brew night (Sean had the same problem with his fall fest beer as well, and we were both brewing 10 gallons).