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A light ale based on our light grain bill. We were *very* pleased with how this grain profile worked for the lager, and so have changed only the hops (and the yeast) in this incarnation. The hope is to have both versions in the kegerator for a taste comparison.

Recipe Characteristics*

* There must be some constant that we have different in the Mac and PC versions of QBrew. Blame the tool, not the operator!

Ingredients

Recipe Notes
No changes to mash tun.

Batch Notes

1. Brought 18qts water to 165degF. Mashed 10lb grain for 60min. Temperature 158–>138degF.
2. Brought 14qts water to 170degF. Sparged through ~2.5x total batch, taking just under 45min. Probably could have stopped earlier. Maintained heat under top sparge pot throughout in order to keep temperature up.
3. 18+14qts–>27qts at the start of the boil, plus an additional 1qt added incrementally during the boil. That’s 7gal of mash water. Ended with ~26qts (6.5gal) wort. Final bucket yield of just under 6 gal (0.5gal loss in brew pot; additional in Therminator). While this yield is good volumetrically, it does suggest that we need to redo the constants for calculating the grain profile in QBrew.
4. 75 minute boil, as profiled above.
5. Chilled to 72degF, aerated, pitched, started in kitchen @75degF.

SG 1.045 –> 5.5%PABV. Slightly less than the lager - but still good!

Happy Birthday, Abe-y Baby! A light lager to preview our light grain bill. Hops should also be appropriate for a lager, kolsch, or saison.

Recipe Characteristics

Ingredients

Recipe Notes
Now brewing with Mash Tun r3.1. No space-fillers in the lower gap, so we mashed with an extra 2 gallons of water. New 1/8″ DIA drain holes work like magic, allowing several sparges through until the liquid ran clear (i.e., colored but not cloudy). Took 2.5-3hrs to get to this point. An additional hour+ of set time only released an extra 1qt of pre-wort… next time, just add this incrementally during the boil. Going for a crystal clear brew, so added Irish Moss.

Batch Notes

1. Brought 18qts water to 165degF. Mashed 10lb grain for 60min. Temperature 140-150degF.
2. Brought 12qts water to 170degF. Sparged through ~2.5x total batch (10min per 3gal). Maintained heat under top sparge pot throughout in order to keep temperature up.
3. 18qts+12qts–>just over 24qts in the boil, which is 1/2gal less (2qts) than we were going for. Pre-boil gravity of 1.043.
4. 75 minute boil, as profiled above.
5. Chilled (full flow on wort, 1/2 flow on 62degF chill water), aerated, pitched, started in kitchen @62degF.

We also noticed a darkening of the wort during the boil -> sugars are cooking and darkening. We should consider shortening the boil time for very light beers.

SG 1.049 –> 6%PABV. Final yield just under 5gal. Nice!

This is our first effort to design our own grain bill that will be used as a basis for many light bodied beer styles that we like. We hope to use this same grain profile for: Kolsch, Saison, Pilsner, and also a Wheat version, by substituting American Wheat for American 2-Row (note our generally patriotic theme as well!).

We’ve been reading more of “Homebrewing, Volume I” by Al Korzonas - which has a lot of good background information on types of grains and hops. It has a broad and useful table of general beer styles - which shows you that Kolsch, Saison, Pilsner and several other “light” styles really have the same proportions of being mostly “light” malt (6-8 pounds), and a couple small additions of a Crystal +/- something else (no more than 1/2 - 1 pound of these extras).

American 2-Row
According to Korzonas, German Pilsner and American 2-Row are the same grain grown in different countries. So, being a patriotic American - and generally supporting more locally grown products - we decided to use American 2-Row as the base light grain. Choosing 2-Row over 6-Row is more scientific: Six-Row barley has higher protein levels, and is generally harder to extract starches from. Given that we’re simple homebrewers, we’ll stick with 2-Row.

German Vienna
We wanted to add a little more character than just the 2-Row would provide, so to keep with the light malt theme, we selected German Vienna. A Vienna Malt is generally a 2-Row barley that is malted (dried) at a higher temperature than straight German Pilsner giving it more roasted character than plain 2-Row, but still light in color.

CaraPils
We learned that any malt named “Cara” or “Crystal” has actually undergone a special wet roasting process that makes these malts much sweeter and easier to extract sugars from in a mash. We wanted to keep the grains light, we we selected a light “Cara” Malt - CaraPilsner - which our homebrew store calls “Dexterine”.

Wheat
Lastly, we decided to include a little bit of Wheat. We made a Kolsch last year which we really liked (despite not writing much more about it). The Kolsch had some nice Citrus and Sweet flavors, which we think were enhanced by the Wheat - so we kept it!

Based on “Storm Peak Porter” from Amahal Turcyzn’s “A Year of Beer” pg 98. Also based on the hops available for purchase and yeast fermentation temperatures. Also based on the damn big mess we made brewing it.

Recipe Characteristics

Ingredients

Procedure

1. Heated 3.5gal water to 170degF (more water than needed by the book, but we’ve still got that big open area in the bottom of the mash tun to deal with — the float looked good).
2. Placed grains in double-bucket mash tun; filled gap in bottom with closed tupperware (which rotated halfway through and made a big mess… then blocked flow ) to extent possible.
3. Covered and mashed for 105 minutes stirring every 15mins (temperature 160–>145degF). Mash bucket should be on stool + 3″ to allow for sparge.
4. Heated 4gal sparge water to 170degF (which takes 40mins to heat!), sparged ~10gal through, then waited for bucket to drain. Low flow rate out of mash tun was so extreme we switched to brew kettle. Finer grind this time, maybe?
5. Started boil with ~6.5gal. Max that the brew kettle can handle. Nice. Rapid, no-lid boil ended with just over 5gal.
6. Therminatored down to ~60degF! Started in kitchen @67degF.

Batch Notes
SG: 1.054 –> 7%PABV. Right on from the recipe expectation of 1.056.

Based on “Back to Back Double Brown Ale” from Amahal Turcyzn’s “A Year of Beer” pg 234. Also based on the hops available for purchase…

Recipe Characteristics

Ingredients

Procedure

1. Heated 3.375gal water to 175degF.
2. Placed grains in new double-bucket mash tun… filled water gap in bottom with closed tupperware to extent possible.
3. Covered and mashed for 90 minutes stirring every 10mins (temperature ~155degF)… Need more water next time. Added an extra 1/2gal after ~30 mins. Hmmm, now we can’t stir without making a big mess… recommend no more than 13lb grain!
4. Heated 3gal sparge water to 170degF, sparged 12gal through, then waited for bucket to drain (took about 60mins total).
5. Started boil with 5.25gal — should have sparged with an additional gallon — will boil mostly covered to keep volume in.
6. Therminatored down to ~70degF

Batch Notes
Given that we shortchanged ourselves on sparge water — and then boiled covered — we’re not as big as we could have been. SG: 1.052. Started fermentation in kitchen @ 81degF.

The Scientific Method
So how many times is it worth sparging through? We took some samples…

A wheat beer by any other name (and there are so many names for wheat beers) would taste as sweet… but this one’s in honor of Chef Emma*, who just earned her hat from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.

Based some data reduction from our Prez Day BrewHaHa, we saw we were getting 0.66% less extraction from our grains as qbrew would suggest. So, we adjusted our expected extraction levels down and increased our grain levels accordingly to match the original recipe plans. Otherwise, this is a mashup (HA!) of two recipes from our favorite book, Amahl Turczyn’s A Year of Beer. Turczyn wisely points out that very few styles of beer can handle hot-weather fermentation temperatures without producing off flavors. But esters make a wheat beer. Oh, Esther!

Typically a Belgian Ale yeast is used for an orange-and-coriander wheat beer, not one with German hops. But, this yeast is rated for temperatures up to 78degF, at least 6degF more than the other wheat beer yeasts… better non-traditional beer than no beer at all.

So, as a wheat beer halfway between Germany and Belgium, we bring you Luxembourg Weizen.
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