Brew Day - May 4, 2014

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

The Plinian Legacy (Northern Brewer recipe)

Ingredients:
Malteurop American 2-row
Briess Carapils
Bairds Carastan
Corn sugar
--total grain bill 15.25#

Hopshot x2
Columbus
Simcoe
Centennial

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Stats:
OG: 1.070 (estimated); 1.072 (measured)
FG: 1.015 (estimated? Not provided); 1.009 (measured)
ABV: 7.2%% (estimated? Not provided); 8.3% (calculated)


Brewing Steps:
Note: recipe states calculations are based on 6 gallons due to expected losses from hops

• Heated 4.8 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 163 degrees
• Target mash temperature 151; volume at 1.25 quarts/pound
• Used Sparge Pal app for volume calculations
• Added water to mash tun first (all water, then grains)
• After 75 minutes lautered into bucket (to measure volume)
• Heated 5.5 gallons of sparge water to approximately 175 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 10 minutes, then lautered until we had about 7.25(?) gallons
• Added hops according to schedule
• Chilled by putting pot into tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to 75 degrees in about 10 minutes
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Pitched yeast from starter
• Poured into fermenting bucket 
• Ferment about 2 weeks in primary
• Will do 2+ weeks on secondary to do dry hopping
• Dry hop (first addition) for 14 days
• Dry hop (second addition) for 5 days)

Notes:

-Harvested small amount of yeast from starter to save for future batch (worked well)
-About 5 days after first dry hop addition moved across town; carboy in passenger seat so everything was very well mixed
-After second dry hop addition complete transferred into another carboy because couldn't cold crash fridge because had just put new brew into it. Will let sit overnight and then keg following day (6/9/14)

Brew Day - April 20, 2014

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Farmhouse Session Saison (Hoggetowne Ale works recipe)

Ingredients:
Belgian Pilsner Malt
Vienna Malt
Pale Wheat Malt
Flaked Wheat
--total grain bill 7.75#

Willamette Hops
Styrian Golding Hops
Strisselspalt Hops
Irish Moss

WLP 568 Belgian Yeast Blend yeast

Stats:
OG: 1.040 (estimated); 1.041 (measured)
FG: 1.009 (estimated); 1.008(measured)
ABV: 4.1% (estimated); 4.2% (measured)


Brewing Steps:

• Heated 2.5 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 165 degrees
• Target mash temperature 150; volume at 1.25 quarts/pound
• Used Sparge Pal app for volume calculations
• Added water to mash tun first (about 2-3 gallons), then added grains and rest of sparge water
• Initial mash temperature about 139-140
• Heated 1 additional gallon to about 180/185 and added to mash tun
• Temperature rose to 152
• After 60 minutes lautered into bucket (to measure volume)
• Final mash temperature 151
• Heated 5 gallons of sparge water to approximately 175 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Original calculation called for 6 gallons of sparge water; only did 5 to account for extra gallon added during initial infusion
• Let sit for 10 minutes, then lautered until we had about 6 gallons
• Added hops according to schedule
• Chilled by putting pot into tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to 75 degrees in about 8 minutes
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Pitched yeast straight from bottle; did not do yeast starter (was told that because OG is low don't need starter)
• Poured into fermenting bucket 
• Took 11 minutes post-boil
• Ferment about 2 weeks in primary

Notes:

-Brewed alone; did not aerate wort a lot (maybe transferred 5 times total)

-Little cooler weather today (temperature around 62 degrees); put bucket inside in bathroom for first few days (until weather warms up)

Taste: Not great - not much flavor

Brew Day - April 7, 2014

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Milk Stout (Steve "bearded" Smith recipe)

Ingredients:
0.3# rice hulls (approximate; only size at brew store was 0.5# so guessed)
9# 2-row Pale Malt
0.89# Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L
0.51# Black Malt
0.45# Roasted Barley
0.4# Chocolate Malt
0.31# Barley, flaked
0.31# Oats, flaked
1.13# Lactose (added during boil, 60')
--total grain bill 12.17#

East Kent Goldings hops (0.25 oz, 5%) - 60'
Magnum hops (0.25 oz, 15.2%) - 60'
Irish Moss - 10'


White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001 via 1.5 L starter

Stats:
OG: 1.064 (estimated); 1.062 (measured)
FG: 1.022 (estimated); 1.024 (measured)
ABV: 5.3% (estimated); 5% (measured)


Brewing Steps:

• Heated 3.8 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 165 degrees
• Target mash temperature 153; volume at 1.25 quarts/pound
• Used Sparge Pal app for volume calculations
• Added water to mash tun first (about 2-3 gallons), then added grains and rest of sparge water
• After 60 minutes lautered into bucket (to measure volume)
• Heated 4.8 gallons of sparge water to approximately 175 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 10 minutes, then lautered until we had about 6 gallons
• Added hops according to schedule
• Chilled by putting pot into tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to 75 degrees in about 8 minutes
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured into fermenting bucket 
• Put bucket into fridge at 62 degrees (took 13 minutes post-boil)
• Ferment about 2 weeks in primary
• Plan for secondary fermentation for 2 weeks
• Put into secondary on 4/20/14
• Kegged 5/21/14

Brew Day - March 15, 2014

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Hop Zombie Pale Ale (Hoggetown Ale Works recipe)

Ingredients:
US 2-Row malt
US 20L Crystal malt
CaraPils malt
Victory malt
--total grain bill 11#

Magnum/Horizon hops
Cascade hops

White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001 via 1.5 L starter

Stats:
OG: 1.054 (estimated); 1.050 (measured)
FG: 1.012 (estimated); *** (measured)
ABV: 5.4% (estimated); *** (measured)
78 IBU


Brewing Steps:

• Heated 3.5 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 164 degrees
• Target mash temperature 152; volume at 1.25 quarts/pound
• Used Sparge Pal app for volume calculations
• Added water to mash tun first (about 2-3 gallons), then added grains and rest of sparge water
• After all water added mash temperature approximately 147.5 degrees 
• Heated 0.5 gallons to boil; added to mash tun and temperature increased to 149
• Final mash temperature 149 degrees
• After 60 minutes lautered into bucket (to measure volume)
• Heated 4.5 gallons of sparge water to approximately 175 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 10 minutes, then lautered until we had about 6 gallons
• Added hops according to schedule
• Chilled by putting pot into tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to 75 degrees in about 6 minutes
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured into fermenting bucket 
• Put bucket into fridge at 62 degrees (took 9 minutes post-boil)
• Ferment about 3 weeks in primary
• Dry hop '6 days (start on 3/30/14)

Notes:

-Only about 1/2 pitcher of sweet wort left in mash tun after lautering
-Low OG due to volume? Post-boil volume about 5.5ish gallons (maybe a little more?), so potentially a little bit of dilutional decrease in OG?

Brew Day - March 09, 2014

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Black IPA (Hoggetown Ale Works recipe)

Ingredients:
US 2-Row malt
US C-40
Weyermann Chocolate Wheat
Weyermann Carafa Special III
--total grain bill 12.5#

Aussie/NZ Bittering Hop
Falconer's Flight
Falconer's Flight 7Cs
Zythos
Dry Hop with "Blend Blend"

White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001 via 1.5 L starter

Stats:
OG: 1.070 (estimated); 1.060 (measured)
FG: 1.015 (estimated);
ABV: 7.2% (estimated);


Brewing Steps:

• Heated 4 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 164 degrees
• Target mash temperature 152; volume at 1.25 quarts/pound
• Used Sparge Pal app for volume calculations
• Added water to mash tun first (about 2-3 gallons), then added grains and rest of sparge water
• After all water added mash temperature approximately 150 degrees 
• Final mash temperature 148 degrees
• After 60 minutes lautered into bucket (to measure volume)
• Heated 4.5 gallons of sparge water to approximately 175 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 10 minutes, then lautered until we had about 6 gallons
• Added hops according to schedule
• Chilled by putting pot into tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to 75 degrees in about 7 minutes
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured into fermenting bucket 
• Put bucket into fridge at 62 degrees (took 12 minutes post-boil)
• Ferment about 2 weeks in primary
• Dry hop '6 days (start on 3/25/14)

Notes:

-Only about 1/2 pitcher of sweet wort left (low OG not due to dilution)

Brew Day - March 4, 2014

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Denny's Rye IPA (NB recipe)

Ingredients:
Rahr 2-row malt
Weyermann Rye malt
Briess Crystal 60
Briess Carapils
Rarh White Wheat malt
--total grain bill 16#

Mt. Hood
Columbus
Wyeast #1450 Denny's Favorite 50 via 1.5 L starter

Stats:
OG: 1.078 (estimated); 1.062 (measured)
FG: 1.015 (estimated); 1.014 (measured)
ABV: ?% (estimated); 6.3% (measured)


Brewing Steps:

• Heated 5.1 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 168 degrees
• 1.25 quarts/pound 
• Used Sparge Pal app for volume calculations
• Added water to mash tun first (about 2-3 pitchers), then added grains and then rest of sparge water
• Hole in grain bag so had to pour entire bag out into mash tun before adding more water
• Poor mixing? Disturbed braid location/positioning? 
• After all water added mash temperature approximately 159 degrees 
• Left lid off for about 12 minutes; decreased to 155
• Final mash temperature 154 degrees
• After 60 minutes lautered (slowly) into bucket (to measure volume)
• Heated 4 gallons of sparge water to approximately 175 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 10 minutes, then lautered until we had about 6 gallons
• Did not drain extra water left in mash tun to determine if sweet wort was "diluted" 
• Added hops according to schedule
• Added '30 addition at about '14
• Chilled by putting pot into tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to 75 degrees in about 7 minutes
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured into fermenting bucket 
• Put bucket into fridge at 62 degrees (took 12 minutes post-boil)
• Ferment 1-2 weeks in primary
• Will put into secondary for 4 weeks (recommended

• Put into secondary on 3/12/14
• Will dry hop for about 7 days (starting on 3/19/14)
• Kegged 3/25/14

Notes:

-Unclear why OG was so low. Maybe adding all the grains and then the water led to suboptimal mixing (some pockets of grain not in contact with water)? Or mixed too much and messed up the position/location of the braids? Volume was too high? Did not drain out remaining volume in mash tun so unsure how much was left; not likely enough to drop OG 16 points. Also double checked hydrometer and it seemed to be working fine.

Brew Day - February 2, 2014

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Peat Smoked Porter (NB recipe)

Ingredients:
British Golden Promise
German Munich Malt
English Black Malt
Briess Caramel 80
British Peated Malt
Added: 15 oz of priming sugar

Cluster
Willamette

Wyeast 1056 American Ale via 1.5 L starter

Stats:
OG: 1.062 (estimated from recipe; calculated to be 1.069 after dextrose addition); 1.068 (measured)
FG: 1.008-1.013 (estimated);
ABV: ~6.7% (estimated);


Brewing Steps:

• Heated 4.1 gallons of water to a strike temperature of approximately 165 degrees
• 1.25 quarts/pound 
• Used Sparge Pal app for volume calculations
• Added water to mash tun first (about 2-3 gallons), then added grains and rest of sparge water
• After all water added mash temperature approximately 153 degrees 
• Final mash temperature 152 degrees
• After 60 minutes lautered into bucket (to measure volume)
• Lautered slowly - seems to help the efficiency
• Heated 4.8 gallons of sparge water to approximately 175 degrees and added to mash tun 
• Let sit for 10 minutes, then lautered until we had about 6 gallons
• Added hops according to schedule
• Added priming sugar at 60'
• Chilled by putting pot into tub with ice and water (filled about 6-8 inches of tub with water) and wort chiller/pre-chiller to 75 degrees in about 6 minutes
• Pitched yeast and then aerated wort by transferring between brew pot and bucket 6 times
• Poured into fermenting bucket 
• Put bucket into fridge at 62 degrees (took 11 minutes post-boil)
• Ferment about 2 weeks in primary
• Will put into secondary for another 2 weeks

Notes:
-Priming sugar added to boost ABV only. Hopeful to be up around 6.7%