Scarecrow Pale Ale Recipe

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

I’ve been brewing quite a lot, but haven’t posted in a long ass time. Back to it: Pale ale time! I love a good pale ale, one of the first beers that made me fall in love with pale ales was Golden Tuna from Half Acre (now called Tuna session ipa). I would pound 20 oz pints at the taproom and they were fresh, balanced, flavorful, and easy to drink.

Last year I was in Denver for GABF and I went to TRVE brewing and had a pale ale called Scorn. That beer took me back to how I felt drinking Tuna and I wanted to brew something similar – a clean, dry hopped pale ale. I found the recipe for Scorn here, It’s got a clean pilsner malt base, some vienna for sweetness, and some wheat for body and mouthfeel. Since I have lots of hops, I’m switching the combo of citra & mosaic for sabro & cashmere. Let’s gooo!

Scarecrow Pale Ale Recipe

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3 gal 60 min  ~38.38 IBUs 3.52 SRM 1.053 1.011 5.57 %

Grain

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Briess Pilsen Malt 4.8 lbs 78.1
Weyermann Barke Vienna .8 lbs 13
Rahr White Wheat 8.7 oz 8.9

Hops

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Vic Secret 5.9 g 60 min Boil pellet 19.6
Sabro .6 oz 15 min Whirlpool pellet 14.5
Sabro 1 oz 3 days Dry hop pellet 14.5
Cashmere 2 oz 3 days Dry hop pellet 7.2

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
US-05 Safale 78-82% 64-82°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash 151°F 60 min

Water

Calcium Magnesium Sodium Chloride Sulfate
90 12 16 74 143

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary  TBD 68°F (temp controlled)

Brewed: 3/3/20 | Actual OG: 1.056 | Actual FG: TBD| ABV: TBD

Water: Minneapolis tap water, campden added, 2.2g gypsum, 1.4g calcium chloride, 1.5g epsom salt

75% efficiency| Mash ph: 5.6 (adjusted) | whirfloc/yeast nutrient @15

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Jalapeño Business Pale Ale

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

I had a really tasty beer with Serrano peppers from Headflyer Brewing, it was crisp, fruity, and full of pepper flavor and aroma with very little to no heat.  They describe it as “a combination of light heat from Serrano peppers paired with the citrus backdrop of pineapple” and it was bangin! This reminded me of some habanero peppers I put in vodka to make a tincture a while ago. When using peppers, a lot of people suggest using tinctures so you can start with a little and adjust the flavor\heat. I’ve also heard of using peppers in the boil to get deeper flavor. After some research on how to go about using the peppers, I wanted something easy drinking with nice pepper flavor so I settled on a Jalapeno Pale Ale.

To get the pepper flavor I wanted, I used them in the boil and also made a tincture to dose at kegging. For the boil peppers, I split and roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes and threw them in the for last 15 minutes of the boil (1 deseeded). I ended up using all of the tincture at kegging to get maximum pepper flavor. Halfway through the keg I threw in a chopped jalapeno I froze in case I needed more. It added some nice spice and fresh pepper flavor. I wanted to use fruity hops, since it paired well in the beer that inspired this recipe so I used El Dorado and Citra hops. I’m quite pleased how this beer came out and it’s all gone as I write this. Check the recipe.

Jalapeño Business Pale Ale

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3 gal 60 min  35.15 IBUs 7.32 SRM 1.047 1.010 5.17 %

Fermentablesgrains

Name Amount %
Pale Ale Malt 4 lbs 72.7
Red Wheat 1 lbs 18.2
Crystal 40L .3 lbs 5.5
Golden Naked Oats .2 lbs 3.6

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
El Dorado 3 g 60 min Boil pellet 14.4
El Dorado .5 oz 8 min Boil pellet 14.4
Citra .5 oz 5 min Boil pellet 13.1
El Dorado .5 oz 3 days Dry hop pellet 14.4
Citra .5 oz 3 days Dry hop pellet 13.1
jalapeños
Split jalapeños (1 deseeded) before roasting.

Other

Name Amount Time Use Form
Jalapeño peppers 2 each 15 min Boil Spice
Jalapeno tincture ~1.5 oz 0 days Keg Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
American Ale Yeast US-05 Fermentis/Safale 74-76% 64°F-82°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash 150°F 60 min

jalapeños in the boil

Water

Calcium Magnesium Sodium Chloride Sulfate
129 2 12 109 151

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary  10 days Ambient (~68)

Notes

Brewed: 4/4/19 | OG: 1.046 | FG: 1.008 | ABV: 5%

Water: Minneapolis tap water,  campden added, 2.5 g gypsum, 2 g calcium chloride

70% efficiency| Mash ph: 5.1 (adjusted) | whirfloc/yeast nutrient @15

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Strawberry Milkshake Ale

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

I’ve been a big fan of milkshake style beers for some time. I love how they’re fruity, creamy, and just all around tasty AF. Check my Enigmanilla recipe for some background on the style. For this iteration, I was a little closer to the style by adding fruit in addition to the vanilla beans and lactose. I live near Modist Brewing and they’ve been pumping out some nice milkshake style beers (their shook series). Another brewery from MN, Omni, has been pumping out some amazing milkshake ipa’s with their malt shop series. Now, my turn.

I started with a base of 2 row and golden promise, at a 2:1 ratio. I then added some oat malt and wheat for a creamy body, then a touch of flaked oats and honey malt for silkiness and sweetness. I’ve brewed a similar beer, but I tweaked the recipe slightly. I didn’t want this beer to be hoppy, I wanted the strawberries to shine, but still have some hop aroma. I added a little bittering hops at 60 minutes, an ounce of rakau hops at 5 minutes, and an ounce of mosaic at flameout with a little dry hop action with rakau and mosaic before going on the fruit. Check the recipe.

Strawberry Milkshake Ale

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3 gal 60 min ~22.74 5.29 SRM 1.077 1.024 6.88%

grain

Fermentables

Name Amount %
American 2-row 4 lbs 44.3
UK Golden Promise 2 lbs 22.1
Fawcett Oat Malt 1.5 lb 16.6
American Red Wheat .5 lbs 5.5
Lactose 6.52 oz 4.5
Flaked Oats 4 oz 4.2
Honey Malt 4 oz 2.8

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Chinook 3.5 g 60 min Boil extract 13
Rakau 1 oz 5 min Boil pellet 10.5
Mosaic 1 oz 0 min Flameout pellet 12.5
Rakau 1 oz 2 days Dry hop pellet 10.5
Mosaic 1 oz 3 days Dry hop pellet 12.5

Othervanilla bean

Name Amount Time Use Form
Lactose 6.52 oz 15 min Boil Non-fermentable sugar
Vanilla Bean 1 each 5 days Secondary Spice
Strawberries 3 lbs 5 days Secondary Fruit

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
London III Yeast 72-76% 64°F – 74°F

Mashmash temperature

Step Temperature Time
Mash 155°F 50 min

Water

Calcium Magnesium Sodium Chloride Sulfate
123 2 12 151 77

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary 7 days Ambient (~68)
Secondary 5 days Ambient (~68)

Notes

Brewed: 1/8/19 | OG: 1.062 | FG: 1.018 | Kegged: 1/20/19 | ABV: 6.04%

Minneapolis tap water: 1 g gypsum, 3 g calcium chloride (mash) | campden | yeast nutrient @ 15

Vanilla bean to primary (split, scraped, & soaked in vodka for 1 week) | Fruit mashed up and added.

+.26 abv for fruit via this.

Over some brews I’m realizing oat malt really drops my efficiency, so I’m going to go back to flaked oats in my future recipes/ adjusting for the loss.

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Blueberry Muffin IPA Tasting

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

😋Appearance

Dark blue, indigo, wine-like color with a light pink head.

Aroma

Jammy and fruity, bright fresh, deep blueberry, and light sweet malt. faint hops.

Mouthfeel

Medium mouthfeel that’s lightly creamy with nice, lightly prickly carbonation.

Taste

At first you’re hit with a fresh, deep blueberry flavor and it washes with lightly sweet malt and finishes with blueberry essence and light hoppiness. The blueberry is the star here, but some light, sweet malty flavors are present.

Notes

This beer is really tasty! It has a light malt backbone that really let the blueberries shine. The flavor is unmistakably fruity and juicy and it drinks quite clean. It could be more muffin-like, but the flavor is so pleasant and fruity you don’t miss it. If I were to brew it again and wanted more muffin, I’d up the victory and Munich malt and maybe even add another “bready” malt in there as well. Overall, a very good beer.

Check the recipe here.

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Enigma Oat Coat Tasting

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

Beer

Appearance

Golden/orange/light honey color, light haze.  Stiff white head that dissipates slowly.

Aroma

Stone fruit, melon, pineapple, berry, light spice, sweet malt, oaty, crisp.

Mouthfeel

Medium mouthfeel, light body, but a little creamy, nice crispy carbonation.

Taste

Starts with light sweet malt and oat flavors, then washes with tropical, fruity, and lightly dank hop flavor. There’s a tiny hint of spice and it finishes with light clean bitterness that doesn’t linger. 

Notes

I’m really digging this beer, and I <3 enigma hops. It drinks really clean, like a pale ale, and it has great aroma and mouthfeel. This beer could work with other hops as well. The oats add a nice mouthfeel and flavor and It’s supremely drinkable. It cleared quite a bit in the keg, but the flavors were stable for the life of the keg.

Check the recipe here.

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