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%.

Session Ale status

Session Ale went to secondary after some remarkably active fermentation. It was still fermenting when i racked it, but considerably slower. When i first kicked off almost two weeks ago, it bubbled to the top of the carboy, clogged the filter and blew out the airlock. It actually ejected the airlock with such force that it hit the ceiling of the shower and smashed it.

All this fermenting would indicate that all the sugars are converted and the specific gravity supports this. Original Gravity was 1.056@ 80F (1.059 adjusted) and current gravity is 1.010@ 68F (1.011 adjusted). Problem is that my Session Ale is now more alcoholic than my SDPA with 6.5%. Hrm... I may end up doing the old heat treatment to bring that down. Also it's really dry right now. I hope it will be tasty once it goes through secondary and carbonation and some of the current bitterness mellows out.

When I racked it, I also added 1 oz. of Simcoe plugs for dry hopping.

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.

Time for a Session Ale

The other night at a company party, I ended up with a Stone Levitation instead of Stone IPA I had aimed for. I'd had Levitation once before and remember thinking it was remarkably tasty for such an easy drinking beer. That impression was redoubled at that party. Considering that almost all my brewing efforts lately have been around big, high gravity ales, I thought I really could do with a session ale as quaffable as Levitation. Since there were no clone recipes to be found, I went off an ingredients list someone posted: 2-row, 75L Crystal, 150L Crystal, Flaked Barley, Magnum, Centennial, Chinook. Since that's all grain and I was planning on using extract, I scaled back the Crystal, to get the right color. For that matter, Home Brew Mart doesn't even stock 150L. I also replaced Centennial with East Kent Goldings in an attempt to go through my hop reserves, in the present hop climate.

This is what I ended up brewing yesterday. Curious what I will get.

Steep (30min @ 160F)

• 1.0# Flaked Barley
  
• 1.0# 20L Crystal
  
• 0.5# 120L Crystal
  

Boil @ 60 minutes

• 1 oz. Magnum Pellets
  
• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings Pellets
  

Boil @ 15 minutes

• 6# light malt extract syrup
  
• 0.5 oz. East Kent Goldings Pellets
  
• 1 tblsp. Irish Moss
  

Boil @ 0 minutes

• 2 oz. Chinook Pellets
  

Yeast

• White Labs California Ale Yeast
  

Initial Gravity

• 1.056 @ 80F (1.059 adjusted)
  

Dry Hop

• 1 oz. Simcoe Plugs
  

Yeah, I can't not dry hop. I'm just a hop-head, sorry.

Starting the Oaked Abstract Bastage

As I indicated last week, I started a new instance of Abstract Bastage and will oak it with the chips currently soaking in Scotch.

Here's the final recipe I ended up with:

Steep @ 160F for 35 minutes

• 1# Flaked Rye
  
• 1# Crystal 40L
  
• 3/4# Dark Munich Malt
  
• 1/4# Special B
  
• 1/4# Biscuit
  
• 1/4# Aromatic
  

Boil @ 60 minutes

• 12# Malt Extract
  
• 1 oz. Magnum Pellets -- Bittering Hops
  

Boil @ 50 minutes

• 1 oz. Target Pellets -- Bittering Hops
  

Boil @ 15 minutes

• 2# Dark Brown Sugar
  
• 2 tbsp Irish Moss
  

Boil @ 0 minutes

• 2 oz. Simco Pellets -- Flavoring Hops
  

Initial Pitch

• White Labs California Ale yeast

Beyond that, I plan to re-pitch without racking with White Labs Champagne yeast after about a week. Another week after that, I'll rack to secondary add 2oz. of Simcoe plugs and add the whiskey soaked oak chips. I'll probably leave the oak in for 2 weeks, but will taste once a week to be sure. After that, I'll age it for a couple of months.

Simcoe IPA, part 2

I just kegged the Simcoe IPA I brewed almost a month ago. Two weeks primary, and another two weeks for secondary. The hop aroma profile is exactly what I was hoping for--very strong floral aroma similar to Alpine's Duet. I tasted the sample I took for my specific gravity readings and it was almost ready to drink as is. This would be a perfect ale for cask conditioning. Alas, my endeavours to get a beerengine and cask setup at home have taken a back seat to other projects, so this will be normally force carbonated. I'll give it a week in the kegerator before tasting it.. Ok, I doubt that's what's going to happen. I'll probably take it tonight, but I think it won't truly be ready for another week or so.

The final gravity was 1.010, giving me about 6.14% alcohol.