Big Feet

Update 2/6 -- Bottled, no bourbon. Doesn't need it.
Update 1/23 -- Dry hopped. My scale lacks precision, it seems, or the hop supplier's scale lacks precision. But, added the balance of the Centennial and Cascade packets, and an ounce of Chinook. Oak cubes are soaking in bourbon... still undecided there. SG of 1.020 agrees with measurement from a week or so ago, and with the FG sample.
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Next winter's barleywine, built from a Bigfoot clone recipe. There might be some bourbon coming to this one soon. I think the batch sparge and maybe mash chemistry hurt my yield a bit. Was expecting closer to 1.095 on this one... I guess we'll see how the specialty malt does at keeping some sugar in the beer. This may end up more of a hoppy imperial red than intended...

Batch #102
Barleywine
15.5 lbs Maris Otter 
1 lb CaraPils
1 lb British 70/80L
8 oz American 90L
8 oz American 120L
1 oz Chinook (13.1%aa), 60 minutes
0.5 oz Chinook (13.1%aa), 45 minutes
0.7 oz Centennial (9.7%aa), 30 minutes
0.5 oz Centennial (9.7%aa), 15 minutes
0.5 oz Cascade (4.7%aa), 15 minutes
0.8 oz Centennial, dry
1.3 oz Cascade, dry
1 oz Chinook, dry
2L starter with ~6 oz from previous 1L WLP001 starter and fresh pitch WLP090 (San Diego)
RO water adjusted for "light colored and malty".

Mash in with 23qts to 149F, hold one hour. Batch sparged with 14qts. Collected 6.7 gallons. One hour boil.

Pulled about 10 oz for a fast ferment to estimate target FG. No thank you, bottle bombs.
OG: 1.080
FG: 1.020
ABV: 7.9%
IBU: ~84

Session coffee stout

Bottled with coffee split three ways - Counter Culture (don't know which... berry and acid forward) vs Chromatic Keynote Honey (a bit less acidity, more cocoa and honey) vs Whole Foods "Islander" blend (most "coffee" flavor)
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Smallish stout as a canvas for cold brew coffee split batch.

Batch #101
Session coffee stout
7 lbs Maris Otter 
12 oz Rolled Oats
10 oz CaraPils
8 oz Roasted Barley
8 oz Black Patent
8 oz Pale Chocolate 
4 oz Coffee malt
4 oz Crystal 40L
1 oz Kent Goldings (5.2%aa), 60 minutes
WLP001 American Ale Yeast, 1 L starter (about 1/4 pulled for next batch)
RO water adjusted to classic London profile.

Mash in to 155F, hold one hour. Mash was thin, close to 2qt/lb. Batch sparged. One hour boil.

OG: 1.048
FG: 1.025 (no, really)
ABV: 2.9% (not joking)
IBU: ~25

Plum Sour the Second

Update 10/8 -- This strain is a bit slower than the last (and weather has cooled a bit). SG 1.014, plums and oak added.

Again! Again! The plum sour went over really well, and I have more plums, so...

(Changes. Additions)

Batch #100
Plum tart
5 lbs Belgian Pale Ale
5 lbs White Wheat Malt
0.5 lb Chateau Monastique ("Abbey") Malt
0.5 lb CaraRed
1 oz  Mosaic (11.2%aa), 15 minutes
4.5 lbs plums, pitted (these were frozen for a couple of months, thawed before adding)
1 oz Am oak cubes, Med+ 
WLP566 WLP644 - Saccharomyces "bruxellensis" trois (not really brett, but brett-like), 1 L starter
Soft water. Built from RO with a little chalk, epsom, and table salt. + gypsum (just shy 1/2 tsp each).

Save a fistful of crushed grain. Mash in at 125F in about 2 gallons water, rest 15 min. Add ~1.5 gallons water near boiling to bring to 155F. Rest one hour.

Lazy, so batch sparged to collect 7 gallons.

One liter stolen to boil for a starter. Starter from DME made ahead of time.

Throw the saved grain in with the wort and keep warm (100-115F) overnight two days.

Boiled for 45minutes, cooled and pitched yeast starter.

OG: 1.046
FG:
ABV: 
IBU: 10-15

Plum Sour the First

7/13/17 -- SG at 1.007. Tart, a little spice, a little fruity hop aroma. Racked just under 3 gallons into a small carboy with 1 oz HBC-438 (Ron Mexico). Added 4.5lbs frozen plums and a small handful of oak cubes (Med+ American) to the remainder. Likely adds 0.006 to SG - watching for refermentation.
7/9/17 -- SG at 1.010.

Someone brought plums to work from their tree. I asked for more, he delivered - like, easily 20 pounds, maybe not the 30 he claimed. Even so, that's a lot. Building a bigger kettle soured beer (remember this one)

Batch #99
Plum tart
5 lbs Belgian Pale Ale
5 lbs White Wheat Malt
0.5 lb Chateau Monastique ("Abbey") Malt
0.5 lb CaraRed
1 oz  Mosaic (11.2%aa), 15 minutes
WLP566 - Belgian Saison II, 1 L starter
Soft water. Built from RO with a little chalk, epsom, and table salt.

Save a fistful of crushed grain. Mash in at 125F in about 2 gallons water, rest 15 min. Add ~1.5 gallons water near boiling to bring to 155F. Rest one hour.

Lazy, so batch sparged to collect 7 gallons.

One liter stolen to boil for a starter.

Throw the saved grain in with the wort and keep warm (100-115F) overnight.

Boiled (sorta...lost temp for a bit) for 45minutes, cooled and pitched yeast starter. Allowed warm fermentation to bring out all the fun of the yeast

OG: 1.048
FG: 1.006
ABV: ~5-6%
IBU: 10-15

Elder Pig

Bottled 5/28 - very tasty. That Vinnie guy might be on to something...

My last few batches of IPA have tasted muddy to me; too much going on in the specialty malts, like drinking hoppy beers in the Midwest. To re-calibrate my recipe sense, I went back to the Vinnie-approved Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder recipes (AHA versions) and read through them again. Brewing a Pliny clone was tempting, but that much DIPA is not needed around here these days. Ultimately, decided on (very nearly) the malt bill of Blind Pig with the hop profile of Pliny the Younger, albeit dialed back a bit.

Batch #98

Best Coast IPA
5 gallons

10 lbs California 2-row malt
6 oz Carapils
6 oz Crystal 40L

3/4 oz Columbus 14.9%aa (90 min)

1/2 oz Columbus 14.9%aa (45 min)

3/4 oz Simcoe 13%aa (30 min)

1-1/4 oz Simcoe (0 min)

1 oz Centennial (0 min)

1 oz each Columbus, Centennial, Simcoe (dry, 10 days)

Water: RO with 8g CaSO4, 3g CaCl2, 2.5g MgSO4, 1g NaCl

Yeast: 1.5L starter of WLP001 California Ale Yeast

OG: 1.059

FG: 1.007

ABV: 6.8%

IBU: ~90-100

Single infusion mash at 150-152F for 1 hour. Fly sparge to collect 8 gallons wort. Kettle size meant starting the boil with 7 gallons, adding another 1/2 gal at the 60min mark for 7.5 in kettle, 5.5 in carboy. Boil 1.5 hours, chill. I let it settle a bit before racking to the carboy and pitching yeast.

Another hoppy red rye

2/25 - and bottled. Small batch, but looking forward to it. Big citrus and candied strawberry aroma after 6 days dry hopping. Still not as red as I want...

This one was good, but not quite the right color, so I brought out an old recipe with a deep red malt bill. Mixed some good base malt (MO) with mediocre (CA 2-row), subbed in some rye, and turned up the hops.

Batch #97
Red Rye IPA

5 gallons (nominally, transfer losses and hop absorption = small batch)

6 lbs Crisp Maris Otter
4 lbs California 2-row malt
1 lb Munich
1 lb Rye Malt
1 lb Flaked Rye
1 lb Crystal 40L
0.5 lb Crystal 120L

0.5 lb Victory
0.25 lb Pale Chocolate Malt

1 oz Citra 12.7%aa (60 min)

1 oz Citra 12.7%aa (10 min)

1 oz Cascade 6.9%aa (5 min)

0.7 oz Citra 12.7%aa (1 min)

1 oz Mosaic 11.2%aa (1 min)

1 oz Mosaic (dry)
1 oz Cascade (dry)
2 oz Citra (dry)

Water: RO with (about) 8g gypsum, 3g epsom, 12g chalk, 7g salt, 2g calcium chloride.

Yeast: ~1L starter WLP041 Pacific Ale Yeast

OG: 1.075 (might have read high)
FG:  1.020 **
ABV: 7.2-7.5%, depending on how much you believe the OG.

IBU: ~70

Single infusion mash at 154F for 1 hour. Fly sparge to collect 7 gallons wort. Boil 1 hour, chill. 

**which makes me really nervous, but running the numbers it seems okay. Next time I'll run a test batch in parallel for target FG. The original goal was 1.066 -> 1.016, so I'm only a slightly under-attenuated if at all based on the high OG. Right? No grenades.