SpoBREW - Brew Day Part 1

The Spokane food blog SpoCOOL decided to put on a homebrewing competition. I enlisted my coworker Will as my partner and we set about designing our brew. We quickly decided that we didn't want to rely on one recipe. We chose three recipes to brew to be split into 6 different beers with different additions. We brewed three ten gallon batches on Memorial Day; a porter, amber, and IPA. Here are some pics from the day. A leaky wort chiller required some soldering, but for the most part brewing went off without a hitch.

Firkin Friday

I've been having a fantastic time at Jones Radiator since it opened. They have great beer and something you don't always find at beer bars: a happy hour! They started Firkin Friday last month. The first friday of each moth they are going to have a firkin on tap. Last month, local brewer Chachi from C.I. Shenanigan's brought his cask-conditioned porter. Tomorrow will be a firkin from Two Beers Brewery of their EVO IPA.

Washington Beer Open House 2011

On February 26th, the Washington Beer Commission held an open house at breweries across the state. It is essentially the Washington version of Zwickelmania. The only location in Spokane participating was C.I. Shenanigan's. Shenanigan's is affiliated with The Ram and mostly brews recipes from their brewery. The brewmaster at Shenanigan's gets to experiment with some of his own recipes as well. We got to taste a handfull of beers from the zwickel (what is a zwickel?) while we were there.

The Beers:

Dark Czar Russian Imperial Stout
Unnamed Belgian Golden Ale
Big Red IPA*
Ole St. Mick's Irish Stout*

*Ram recipe

Full Kegerator

I completed this a while ago, but I thought I should have a picture of the full kegerator. Two 5-gallon cornelius kegs and a 10 lb CO2 tank on the compressor hump. This is a Fridgidaire FRC445GB.

Oregon Brewer's Festival 2010

Great time at the Oregon Brewer's festival this weekend. Beers I tried:

Caldera Hibiscus Ginger Beer
Deschutes Fresh SqueezedIPA
Double Mountain Brewery The Vaporizer

Great Divide Hoss Lager

Riverport Bedrock Bock

Rogue 21

Widmer Captain Shaddock IPA

Widmer Bourbon Barrell Aged KGB Imperial Stout

Hopworks Organic Rise Up Red

Wolf Pack IPA

I didn't post about this recipe earlier because it was supposed to be a gift for the groomsmen in my wedding. I used Amarillo and Cascade hops in this IPA. I tried dry hopping for the first time, which I think turned out well.

Wolf Pack IPA

Brew Type: All Grain	Date: 2/6/2010
Style: American IPA	Brewer: Matt
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 5.72 gal	Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %	Equipment: My Equipment
Actual Efficiency: 63.02 %

Taste Rating (50 possible points): 38.0
Hoppy with good dry hop aroma. Would like to try more Amarillo in dry hop. Slight diacetyl/band aid flavor on aftertaste. Medium brown color with slight golden hue.

Ingredients

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1.00 lb	Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)	Dry Extract	8.33 %
9.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	75.00 %
1.50 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	12.50 %
1.50 oz	Amarillo Gold [7.50 %] (60 min)	Hops	37.2 IBU
1.00 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 8 days)	Hops	-
0.50 oz	Amarillo Gold [7.50 %] (Dry Hop 8 days)	Hops	-
0.50 oz	Amarillo Gold [7.50 %] (30 min)	Hops	9.5 IBU
1.50 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min)	Hops	13.5 IBU
0.50 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min)	Hops	1.8 IBU
0.50 lb	Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM)	Sugar	4.17 %

Beer Profile

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.062 SG (1.056-1.075 SG)	Measured Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.016 SG (1.010-1.018 SG)	Measured Final Gravity: 1.007 SG
Estimated Color: 12.5 SRM (6.0-15.0 SRM)	Color [Color]
Bitterness: 62.0 IBU (40.0-65.0 IBU)	Alpha Acid Units: 23.3 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 6.05 % (5.50-7.50 %)	Actual Alcohol by Volume: 7.05 %
Actual Calories: 269 cal/pint

Mash Profile

Name: My Mash	Mash Tun Weight: 0.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 10.50 lb	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F	Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 3.70 gal	Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE

Name	Description	Step Temp	Step Time
Step	Add 13.13 qt of water at 163.7 F	152.0 F	60 min

Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Carbonation Volumes: 2.4 (2.2-2.7 vols)
Estimated Priming Weight: 4.1 oz	Temperature at Bottling: 68.0 F
Primer Used: 3.6	Age for: 6.0 Weeks
Storage Temperature: 68.0 F

Notes
Mash in at 152 F. 147 F after one hour. Sparge at 165 F after 180 F strike. Mash OG 1.030 at 150 F. Added 1 lb DME and .5 lb brown sugar. S-05 yeast cake from EdWort's Pale Ale (2 batches). Secondary on 2/13. Dry hopped on 2/20. Bottled on 2/28. Tried first bottle on 3/16, carbonated.

Cave Singer Oktoberfest Ale

My goal was to get as much brewing done as possible before I leave town for two weeks at the end of the month. A sale at Austin Homebrew Supply turned yesterday into a double brew day. Since I still had a Kölsch yeast cake, I decided to something with that. That led me to EdWort's Oktoberfest Ale using Kölsch yeast. I decided to buy my grain from AHS because they were having a free shipping special. I started modifying the recipe and came up with something more my size and economical. I tagged on a Wheat Stout kit (on special) from AHS to give me two brews and free shipping.

The brew day had some issues. The 12 pounds of grain for the Oktoberfest overflowed my mash tun. I ended up leaving about .75 pounds of grain out. I must have had some grain balls. I hit my mash temps pretty well and got pretty good efficiency. I started heating up the mash for the wheat stout during the final half hour of the boil. The whole brew day took about 7 hours, but I have 10 gallons of beer bubbling in the closet.

Cave Singer Oktoberfest Ale

Brew Type: All Grain	Date: 4/18/2010
Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen	Brewer: Matt
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 5.72 gal	Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %	Equipment: My Equipment
Actual Efficiency: 67.65 %

Taste Rating (50 possible points):

Ingredients

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
4.70 lb	Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)	Grain	39.40 %
4.70 lb	Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)	Grain	39.40 %
0.95 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)	Grain	7.96 %
0.95 lb	Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)	Grain	7.96 %
1.00 oz	Saaz [3.90 %] (60 min)	Hops	13.5 IBU
0.50 oz	Hallertauer [3.90 %] (30 min)	Hops	5.2 IBU
0.50 oz	Hallertauer [3.90 %] (15 min)	Hops	3.3 IBU
0.50 lb	Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM)	Sugar	4.19 %
0.13 lb	Honey (1.0 SRM)	Sugar	1.09 %
1 Pkgs	German Ale/Kolsch (White Labs #WLP029)	Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.058 SG (1.050-1.064 SG)	Measured Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (1.012-1.016 SG)	Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Color: 23.9 SRM (7.0-14.0 SRM)	Color [Color]
Bitterness: 22.0 IBU (20.0-30.0 IBU)	Alpha Acid Units: 7.8 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.74 % (4.80-6.50 %)	Actual Alcohol by Volume: 6.52%
Actual Calories:

Mash Profile

Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge	Mash Tun Weight: 0.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 11.30 lb	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F	Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 3.54 gal	Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE

Name	Description	Step Temp	Step Time
Mash In	Add 14.13 qt of water at 165.9 F	154.0 F	60 min