Fresh out of empty fermenters.

The St Patty's beers are both fermenting away now. I used a Guinness Draught clone recipe that I found for the stout. I made a few changes to work with what was available in terms of ingredients and time. Original here.

Batch #7
"Guinness Draught Clone" Dry Irish Stout
Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs P004)
--4 lbs Ultralight Malt Extract (liquid)
--2 lb Flaked Barley
--14 oz British Roasted Barley
--21 oz soured stout(15min)
--1 oz Santiam 5.8%AA (60min)
--2 oz Kent Goldings 5.5%AA (30min)
--1 Whirlfloc tablet (15min)
OG:
FG: 1.010
ABV: ~3.7%
Calc. IBUs: 52

Flaked barley steeped from cold up to 175F (giving ~20 minutes between 150 and 170), allowed to rest for ~30 minutes as temp fell to 160 and roasted barley was added. Extract and first hop after hot break. Yielded 5 gallons in the fermenter. My hydrometer is still hanging out with the Malty Brown, so no numbers there yet (should be ~1.038 if the "mash" was 75% efficient; and, yes, Guinness is a low OG beer). This recipe ended up being a little on the bitter side, but should be tasty. Guinness is rumored to use ~3% sour wort to get the lactic acid twang, hence the 21 oz sour beer. I only had two days to sour, so it may not do anything. I used a 10oz bottle of my blackberry stout and a bottle of Guinness.

St Patty's is just 60 days away...

...which means we've started brewing for that. We also now have our draft tower and tap handles are on the way.

The dunkelweizen is very tasty, if a little too hoppy and in need of another few weeks aging.

First up, the red. This is the version of Dana's Smilin' Irish Eyes Red Ale that I found at beerrecipes.org, with hop substitutions and a little extra bitterness. I've seen this recipe calling for 1/2# and for 1# of Special B.

Batch #6
"Dana's Smilin' Irish Eyes" Red Ale
Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs P004)
--6 lbs Ultralight Malt Extract (liquid)
--1 lb Belgian Special B
--1 lb Orange Blossom Honey (with 15min hop addition)
--1 oz Palisade 9.7%AA (60min)
--1 oz Amarillo 8.9%AA (15min)
--1 oz Amarillo 8.9%AA (0min)
--1 Whirlfloc tablet (15min)
OG:
FG: 1.01
ABV: ~5.2%
Calc. IBUs: 60

Specialty grains steeped from cold up to 170F (giving ~20 minutes between 150 and 170). Extract added all at once. First hop after hot break. Yielded 5 gallons in the fermenter for me. My hydrometer is currently hanging out with the Malty Brown, so no numbers there yet (should be ~1.05).