Recipe

Bobby Brown Holiday Brown

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

A little while back I brewed and American brown ale (Bobby Brown Ale) and it was really nice. It had chocolate and caramel flavors, but was really clean and drinkable. It’s the season for darker beers and I love a good American brown, so I wanted to revisit and revamp that beer. The BJCP describes a brown ale as “A malty but hoppy beer frequently with chocolate and caramel flavors. The hop flavor and aroma complements and enhances the malt rather than clashing with it.” That’s what I love about brown ales, the balance, the flavors, and the fact that they’re darker, but supremely drinkable.

For the base, I added Maris otter instead of just 2 row. I used Crystal 80 instead of 60, upped the chocolate malt a touch, and added maple syrup in the boil. I wanted to spice it up for the holidays, so i added two cinnamon sticks and some ground allspice, ginger, and nutmeg to the boil. I wanted a silkier mouthfeel so I added some maltodextrin to boost the body. Check the recipe:

Bobby Brown Holiday Brown

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3 gal 60 min 24.62 IBUs 24.29 SRM 1.061 1.015 5.96 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Rahr 2 row malt 5 lbs 66.5
Maris Otter pale malt 1.5 lbs 20
American Chocolate malt 6 oz 5
Crystal 80L malt 4 oz 3.3
Maple Syrup 4.25 oz 3.5
Maltodextrin (3% fermentable) 2 oz 1.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Chinook 8 g 60 min Boil pellet 13.1

Other

Name Amount Time Use Form
Cinnamon stick 2 each 15 min Boil Spice
Dried ginger 1 tsp 15 min Boil Spice
Dried nutmeg .5 tsp 15 min Boil Spice
Dried allspice .5 tsp 15 min Boil Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Denny’s Favorite 50 Ale Slurry (1450) Wyeast 74-76% 60°F – 70°F
maltodextrin & maple syrup

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash 154°F 60 min

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary 14 days Ambient (~66)

Notes

Brewed: 11/21/18 | OG: 1.051 | FG: 1.008 | ABV: 5.64%

Water: Minneapolis tap water,  campden added.

65% efficiency | whirfloc/yeast nutrient @15

Tasting notes here.

No comments yet

The Mad Saison

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

If you’re here, then I’m sure you’ve heard of The Mad Fermentationist, Michael Tonsmeire. He literally wrote the book on sour beers (a very informative and great read) and his blog is full of recipes, tasting notes, and all kinds of goodness. I’m a frequent visitor and really enjoy his work, so when I got the chance to buy his yeast, I jumped on it.He had a house brett-saison culture that he created over the years and Bootleg Biology isolated selected microbes and put together a culture for brewers to use, The Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend. They describe the yeast as “Fine tuned over two years, this blend morphed over time to become an elegant powerhouse of classic saison spice, stone-fruit Brett, lactic tartness and a dry but well-rounded body. The final master blend consists of saison yeast, wild Saccharomyces, rare brettanomyces and an opportunistic lactobacillus culture.” Yes, I can dig that!

They suggest you dry hop during the tail end of fermentation, since it plays well with fruity and tropical hops. I wanted the yeast and bacteria to shine and was looking for some tartness. Michael says the lacto wasn’t very hop tolerant, so I was added some fruity hops at flameout and forewent the dry hop. Check the recipe:

The Mad Saison

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3 gal 70 min low IBUs 3.66 SRM 1.054 1.005 6.43 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Belgian Pilsner malt 5 lbs 76.9
Red wheat malt 1 lbs 15.4
Rye malt .5 lb 7.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Rakau 10 g 0 min flameout Pellet 10

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
The Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend Bootleg Biology high 60°F – 80+°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash 150°F 60 min

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary 51 days ~80°F

Notes

Brewed: 9/7/18 | OG: 1.050 | FG:1.002 | ABV: 6.3%

Water: Minneapolis tap water, camdpen added.

70% efficiency | Mash ph adjusted to ~5.6 | whirfloc/yeast nutrient @15

21 days @ 80°F  with heating pad, 30 days ambient.

Tasting notes to follow.

No comments yet

Honey Chamomile Wheat Recipe

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

Whenever I see interesting ingredients or anything I could possibly brew with, I buy it. This happened with some chamomile I bought a little while back. However, this wasn’t new to me, I’d brewed a chamomile saison last summer and it came out quite nice, so I was excited to use it again. This brings me to the Honey Chamomile Wheat!

I stumbled upon this post on Homebrewtalk so I started doing some research…I found the recipe in the Extreme Brewing book here (full text here). It was first brewed at Dogfish Head in the summer of 2005 and they say this about the beer: “The addition of chamomile flowers and honey lends this American style Wheat beer a soothing character that compliments warm weather and relaxation.” I can dig that!

 

Honey Chamomile Wheat

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3.1 gal 60 min 17.33 IBUs 3.82 SRM 1.059 1.011 6.24 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Rahr 2 row 3 lbs 46.9
White Wheat malt 2.4 lbs 37.5
Honey (late addition) 1 lb 15.6

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Tahoma 10 g 60 min Boil Leaf/Whole 7.7

Other

Name Amount Time Use Form
Dried chamomile flowers 1.2 oz 60 min Boil Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
American Wheat (1010) Wyeast 74-78% 58°F – 74°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash 154°F 60 min

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary 17 days Ambient

Notes

Brewed: 7/23/18 | OG: 1.046 | FG:1.006 | ABV: 5.25%

Water: Minneapolis tap water, campden.

70% efficiency | Mash ph adjusted to 5.2 | whirfloc/yeast nutrient @15

Honey was added at 5 mins.

Tasting notes here.

 

 

 

No comments yet

Enigmanilla, a milkshake style IPA Recipe

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

I’ve been interested in brewing a milkshake style IPA for some time, so I decided to give it a shot! The milkshake IPA style usually has fruity hops, milk sugar (lactose), fruit, and vanilla. This beer has been described as a sub-set of hazy NEIPAs, but it oftentimes has more mouthfeel & the hops have to mesh well with the fruit and/or vanilla.

milkshake IPA labelIt appears that Omnipollo were the first to put out these kind of beers when they came out with a “smoothie IPA” in 2014. In 2015, Jean Broillet IV of Tired Hands teamed up with Omnipollo to release the first “milkshake IPA”, which has turned into a growing series, including: Rose Panna Cotta Milkshake IPA, Bananas Foster Double Milkshake IPA, Raspberry Green Tea Milkshake IPA, and many more.

Jean Broillet IV didn’t only want to use lactose but, “[gobs of] oats, apple puree, vanilla, and fruit.” Brewing with oats increases viscosity due to the high content of beta-glucans, while the apple puree is used for pectins to create a luscious, thick mouthfeel. The beer is then conditioned on fruit & vanilla beans to round out the flavor profile. These are culinary focused beers and I’ve seen versions without fruit, without vanilla, and even without lactose. They’re more popular now and since they’re in such high demand and are damn tasty, I don’t see them going anywhere soon.

vanilla bean
scraping split vanilla bean

For my iteration (milkshake style), I didn’t use any fruit or apple puree (next time). I fell in love with enigma hops last year when I had Other Half‘s All Enigma Everything and I’ve been hooked (kind of obsessed) since. I wanted to get all that enigma goodness, and I added a vanilla bean after primary fermentation to get some Nilla warmth that I think will pair well with the sweetness from the lactose, and the earthy fruitiness of enigma hops.

For my base I used 60% 2 row and went heavy with the oats at 40% (hell yea). 30% of those oats are Fawcett oat malt (which I’ve never used before). Oat malt is described as, “a unique malt that adds a distinct texture and smoothness to your brews similar to flaked oats.” I’d heard Tired Hands uses Fawcett oat malt in their beers so I was excited to give it a shot!

Enigmanilla

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3 gal 60 min ~85(not really) IBUs 5.29 SRM 1.079 1.020 7.79 %

Grain

Fermentables

Name Amount %
American 2-row 6 lbs 60
Fawcett Oat Malt 3 lbs 30
Flaked Oats 1 lb 10

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Co2 hop extract 2.5ml 60 min Boil extract 61.6
Enigma 1oz 5 min Boil pellet ~16
Enigma 2.28oz 20 min Whirlpool (150) pellet ~16
Enigma 1.5oz 12 days Dry hop pellet ~16
Enigma 2oz 8 days Dry hop pellet ~16

hops

Other

Name Amount Time Use Form
Lactose 2 oz 15 min Boil Non-fermentable sugar
Vanilla Bean 1 each 8 days Secondary Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
A38 Juice Imperial Yeast 72-76% 64°F – 74°F

A38 Juice

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash 154°F 50 min

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary 8 days 65
Secondary (same vessel) 8 days Ambient (~70)

Notes

Brewed: 8/27/18 | OG: 1.074 | FG: 1.015 | Bottled: 9/12/18 | ABV: 7.74%

Minneapolis tap water(4.5 gal): 2g gypsum | 6.1g calcium chloride | campden | yeast nutrient/whirfloc @ 15

Added vanilla bean to primary (split, scraped, & soaked in vodka for 1 week)

8/30- bumped temp to 67.

Tasting notes to follow.

1 Comment

Ginger Pale Ale Recipe

Posted on by mrwesleyjohnson

Ginger Pale Ale

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
3 gal 60 min ~40 IBUs 5.64 SRM 1.052 1.010 5.52 %

chopped ginger

Fermentables

Name Amount %
American 2-row 5 lbs 75.2
Munich 10L .75 lb 11.3
Flaked Barley .6 lb 9
Crystal 10L .3 lb 4.5
Whole leaf Tahoma hops

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Tahoma .5 oz 60 min Boil Leaf/whole ~6
Tahoma .5 oz 30 min Boil Leaf/whole ~6
Tahoma .5 oz 10 min Steep/Whirlpool Leaf/whole ~6

Other

Name Amount Time Use Form
Fresh ginger 2.6 oz 15 min Boil Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
US-05 Safale 81% 64-82°F

US-05

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash 152°F 50 min

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary TBD 66°F

Notes

Brewed: 7/22/18 | Bottled: 7/30/18 | OG: 1.050 | FG: 1.010 | ABV: 5.25%

Water: Minneapolis tap water.

70% efficiency | Mash ph adjusted to 5.2 | whirfloc/yeast nutrient @15

Tasting notes.

 

No comments yet