Yet another belated update

Why do i bother stating that my blog is behind the actual brewing activities? It's pretty much a given at this point.

Session Ale

The Session Ale remained at 1.011 adjusted gravity for its final reading, which means I can drop the pretense and just call it an IPA at 5.3%ABV. It's now conditioning in the keg until i hook it up to the Angram for some yummy cask action. When I had racked it to secondary and did the dry hop, i'd been a bit afraid that i had missed my hoppiness target. It was the right bitterness, but the flavor was a bit subdued. However, the Simcoe plugs did their job, not only imparting that wonderfully floral aroma, but also accenting the flavor. Can't wait for a pint of that.

Winter Spiced Ale

I also racked the Winter Spiced Ale to secondary. OG was 1.062 @80F or 1.065 adjusted. At secondary, i got a specific gravity of 1.016 @66F or 1.017 adjusted. That gives me 6.5% ABV. I didn't rack any of the wort, so i don't anticipate much of a change there by the time it gets kegged. As you can tell from the gravity, the sugars were pretty much converted. The spices are fairly subtle now (subtler than i had hoped, to be honest) and the Roast Barley really imparted a strong chocolate flavor. It's almost more a chocolate Porter than anything. The Spiced Ale will get kegged this coming Sunday.

Session Ale, once again

Time to play post catch-up and that means starting with the more IPA than Session 4th edition of my session ale. This time it came out to about 5.3% ABV, so really not quite session material. But it'll rock on the Angram. Since I change my recipe every single time, let's get to that first:

Steep, 30min @160F

• 1# Carapils
  
• 1# 10L Crystal
  

Boil @ 60min

• 2 oz. Magnum pellets
  

Boil @ 15 min

• 6# Light Malt Syrup
  
• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
  

Boil @ 0 min

• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
  

Pitched with White Labs English Ale Yeast at 80F. Primary lasted for a week, at which time I racked it into secondary with 2 oz. of Simcoe plugs. It's still in secondary now (second week) and I'll let it sit at least the full second week before racking to the keg.

Initial gravity was 1.048 @ 80F or 1.051 adjusted and gravity at secondary fermentation was 1.010 @ 72F or 1.011, which gives it a current ABV of 5.3%.

Catching up and the MindTouch RESTful IPA

As usual, my entries are woefully behind my actual brewing. Quick recap (with some questionable chance of detailed follow up) of the last 6 months:

• Second batch of Session Ale recipe using British Ale yeast came out the way i intended right at about 4.5%. This was bottled as the Bunkspeed Hyperdrive 2.0 Release Ale
  
• Third batch of Session Ale repeated the second batch's success but was cask conditioned and put on the Angram (and is already gone)
  
• Another attempt at a Paulaner clone ended up off the mark. A fine Hefeweizen but not quite a Paulaner
• Second annual Cranberry WitBier is now on tap and even tastier than last year.

And my most recent brewing excursion is the MindTouch RESTful IPA. This is a variation on my take on the SDPA and will be bottled. I'll probably start another batch of it next weekend to put on the Angram. Either that or another Session Ale, since it is more quaffable.

SDPA kegged

Just kegged my SDPA and put another ounce of Simcoe in there for further dryhopping. The specific gravity was 1.016 (1.017 adjusted) giving an approximate alcohol content of 6.4%. I put in a little bit of fermentation sugar, since this is going on the Angram and needs to be just lightly keg conditioned.

OAB @ 12% and new SDPA

I just kegged the Oaked Abstract Bastage and it's gravity had further decreased to 1.034 or 1.035 adjusted which gives it a whopping 12% alcohol by volume. Still has that guava juice taste to. Still very sweet. I'm letting it age some more before tasting it, partially because i don't have room in kegerator. In two weeks it'll probably go in the kegerator and be tapped for a tasting, but i still expect to let it age at least another month or two before drinking it.

In the meantime, I've started a new SDPA. Well, I really started it two weeks ago and today transfered it to secondary for dryhopping. It's got a beautifully light color and a yummy aroma. It's gonna be a bit of a weird one, because i completely screwed up my hop additions. My plan was to use some spare hops for the bittering, since hop prices have shot up and I want to leave the strong aroma hops for flavoring and aroma. Except i kept grabbing the wrong packets. So here's the recipe as it turned out:

Steep (30min @ 160F)

• 0.5# Victory
  
• 1.0# Cara Pils
  
• 0.5# 10L Crystal
  

Boil @ 60 minutes

• 1 oz. Amarillo Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Magnum Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Boil @ 15 minutes

• 7# Light DME
  
• 1 oz. Amarillo Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Boil @ 0 minutes

• 2 oz. Perle Pellets
  

Yeast

• White Labs California Ale Yeast
  

Dry Hop after two weeks

• 2 oz. Simcoe Plugs
  

My initial gravity was 1.060 @ 87F or 1.064 adjusted. Today's reading was 1.018 @ 66F or 1.019 adjusted which gives me 6.3% alcohol by volume. That's just about perfect, although I assume it's gonna pick up another 0.3-0.4% by the time i keg it.

The SDPA will be keg-conditioned and replace the guiness on the Angram.

Cask-conditioned Guiness clone

So the Guiness clone has cask-conditioned and is now hooked up to the Angram. Bought a 4-pack of rocket-widget powered Guiness cans, still the best way to enjoy a pint outside a pub (don't like the widgetted bottle). So we had nitrogen vs. hand pulled here. I've previously done this recipe and done the A/B with the cans, so i know the recipe is pretty darn close. Well, the head wasn't as thick from the Angram as what nitrogen was able to pull off, but you did have the usual effect of the two ale being aerated and a nice thick head building up from the bottom up. The color is spot on and when it came to taste, the Angram version tasted richer, almost making the canned Guiness taste watery. All around, I'd call this exactly what I wanted

SDPA: Cask-Conditioned IPA, take 2

As usual, plenty of beer related things have happened since the last post, but I didn't write anything down. The long and short is that the Cask Conditioned IPA I did back July was hooked up to my Angram in August and it was perfect. Right Hop flavor and aroma, right mouth-feel coming out of the hand-pump. Exactly right. Tastes like those tasty San Diego casks at the Liar's club. Now, using only 7 lb. of DME, it's not quite DIPA strengh, but it certainly is fashioned after the San Diego DIPA, or as it ought to be called, SDPA. Maybe it's a light SDPA.

Anyway, that keg is nearing at the bottom and so i'm way overdue to start a replacement, since i want a proper conditioning period. So what I brew today won't be ready for a month. Regardless, I'm doing another batch with the only change is swapping out the Amber DME with more Light DME and moving it to the late addition stage at 15 minutes. This should give me an even lighter color, as is characteristic of SDPAs.

Steep (45min @ 160F)

• 0.5# Victory
  
• 1.0# Cara Pils
  
• 0.5# 10L Crystal
  

Boil @ 60 minutes

• 3# Light DME
  
• 1 oz. Columbus Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Centennial Pellets
  
• 0.5 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Boil @ 15 minutes

• 4# Light DME
  
• 1 oz. Columbus Pellets
  
• 0.5 oz. Cacade Pellets
  

Boil @ 0 minutes

• 1 oz. Centennial Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Yeast

• White Labs California Ale Yeast (repitched from last IPA's wort)
  

This will ferment for a week and then get racked to secondary w/ dry hopping.

Dry Hop

• 1.5 oz. Cascade Flowers
  
• 1 oz. Simcoe Plugs
  

After another two weeks, I'll rack it to the keg with another 0.5 oz. of Cascade and 1 oz. of Simcoe and sugar for cask conditioning.

I'll need to kick in another batch next weekend that I can get on tap in 2 weeks. I have a Steam beer kit still waiting for me to brew it, and after tasting the San Diego Brewer's Association serious overhopped Steam beer at Home Brew Mart yesterday, I'll probably augment that kit with various hops.

Angram enclosure

When I originally got my Angram pump I just threw together a wood enclosure so i'd have a way to use the beer engine. The way it's supposed to be installed it clamped on the inside of a bar. While we have a kitchen bar, it didn't suit itself and the place where i could have mounted it was too far away from the kegerator. So it was clear from day one that I'd build a custom enclosure and I knew I wanted it to fit visually with the look of the beer engine.

This weekend, my cask conditioned IPA is finally ready and so is the new enclosure.

This is a picture of the quick fix box on the right and the new box, milled from 2" oak on left.

A closer look at the just assembled, unstained enclosure.

Stained, varnished and installed in its final location on top of the wine fridge next to the kegerator.

Detail of the fit of the beer engine in the enclosuse. Because of the clamps protruding from the side of the Angram, I had to cut fairly deep rails to let me slide it into the enclosure.

Detail of the wood grain and finish comparison of the enclosure and the Angram's own wood cap.