5:30pm: Began heating two quarts water to 165 ⁰F
5:45: Grains steeping in water (initial temperature 165 ⁰F) in 170 ⁰F oven
6:15: Water temperature 160 ⁰F
6:20: Grain sparged with 165 ⁰F water
6:45: Began boil; initial volume 6 gallons water and 3/4 gallons wort. Wort temperature 120 ⁰F; specific gravity 1.022 @ 120 ⁰F = 1.032
8.5 lbs liquid malt extract used
7:35: Beginning of wort boil
7:50: More hops (1/4 oz) added
1 oz hops added 15 min before end of boil
8:34: Final 1/2 oz of hops added, 3 min before end of boil
8:36: Boil ended
Chilled to ~75 ⁰F. Final volume just over five gallons; final temperature 74 ⁰F; final specific gravity 1.066

Notes from ClintonEbadi:

Fermentation observations:
2010-11-12 04:30 Fermenter @ 71⁰F. Airlock not yet bubbling, but a slight shaking results in gas release
2010-11-12 11:08 Fermenter @ 71⁰F. Airlock bubbling once per second. This is a very good sign. Starting cooling process with a bit of water in tray but fan on the lowest setting.
2010-11-12 17:52 Fermenter @ 73⁰F. Krausen has entered the airlock! Incredibly active fermentation. Light cooling ineffective (too much heat release), and so stepping up the fan to its full speed.
2010-11-12 20:48 Fermenter @ 71⁰F. The lid has popped off from the amount of gas being produced! Reseating lid and replacing airlock fluid with boiled water.
2010-11-12 23:50 Fermenter @ 68°F. Cleaned and replaced airlock earlier (using cheap vodka, sorry J Hitz). It seems the fermentation has settled a bit. Airlock bubbling twice per second.
2010-11-13 13:15 Fermenter @ 66°F. Airlock bubbling once per second. Removing fan to let it heat back up to around 68⁰F.
2010-11-15 13:34 Fermenter @ 68°F. Temperature has stabilized here. Attenuation is winding down.
2010-11-17 14:22 Fermenter @ 70°F. Airlock bubbling twice per minute.

French Revolution

BeerXML Recipe from Brewtarget

Steve

Haystack Black Porter

Black Porter (source)

Fermentation notes:

2010-12-09 17:40 @ 90°F: Wort unfortunately heated up because ClintonEbadi is an idiot and did not cool the malto dextrin water. Pitched before taking the reading, start cooling aggressively @ 18:15.
2010-12-09 20:30 @ 81°F: Airlock bubbling once every three seconds. Well then.
2010-12-09 21:45 @ 77°F: Airlock bubbling once every one two seconds.
2010-12-09 23:50 @ 74°F: Airlock bubbling once every second. Tshirt dry and track empty, resoaking and refilling.
2010-12-10 01:30 @ 71°F: Airlock bubbling twice per second. Target temperature reached (phew).
2010-12-10 02:30 - 04:00 @ 68°F: Undershot temperature a bit. During this time ClintonEbadi had to change the damn airlock several times because of krausen clogging. This is the last time the six gallon bucket is being used for fermenting as this has proven a persistent problem and ClintonEbadi likes to sleep sometimes.
2010-12-10 12:30 @ 63°F: Airlock managed to clog again and krausen has spilled all over the lid with a bit on the walls. SteveKillen can clean the bucket. Removing the wet tshirt as things are getting way too cold.
2010-12-10 14:45 @ 63°F: Airlock bubbling once every other second. Not clogged this time.
2010-12-10 20:28 @ 64°F: Airlock bubbling once every three seconds. Not warming very quickly.
2010-12-11 20:33 @ 68°F: Airlock bubbling once every four seconds. Managed to return to proper temperatures during the day.
2010-12-12 23:30 @ 71°F: Airlock bubbling once every eight seconds. Probably attenuated, allowing to warm a bit. The airlock does not smell strongly of esters and phenols as feared!
2010-12-13 20:50 @ 69°F: Airlock bubbling once every eight seconds.
2010-12-14 23:00 @ 69°F: Airlock bubbling once every ten seconds
2010-12-15 23:00 @ 68°F: No reading taken.
2010-12-26 14:58 @ 70°F: Held around this temperature since the 15th.

Luna Moth Saison

LunaMoth Saison (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

Very well received by Eddie & John at the FLHS. Of note: nice distinctive bubblegum aroma, not too heavily spiced, good balance between malt, alcohol, and hops. A keeper! Repeating the recipe has yielded consistently delicious beer.

Steve's Extra Special

Steve's Extra Special (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

A good balance of malt and English hops. Made a great black & tan with the porter at the wedding.

Steve's Extra Special (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

A 10-gallon interpretation.

Wedding American Pale Ale

Mystery Brew #2 (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

Bubonic Porter

Bubonic Porter (5 gallon) (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

A minor reformulation of the recipe used for vees's wedding. Needs a bit more mash time than 60 minutes, I think; a couple batches were underattenuated. Delicious!

Bubonic Porter (10 gallon) (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

A 10-gallon scale of the recipe above. Mineral additions resulted in 81% mash efficiency!

Killen's Irish Red

KillensIrishRed.xml (BeerXML from BrewTarget)
Killen's Irish Red (10 gallons) (BeerXML from brewtarget)

OG 1.046 @ 69F, 4.5 gals in each fermenter (one US-05. one Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale). Ferment at 65F. Note: intentionally splashed wort during transfer to kettle rather than siphoning; I'm interested in testing small-batch effects of hot-side aeration. According to the guys at the FLHS, a tad more crystal and a tad less roasted barley will make this puppy shine as a solid example of the style. I am preferring the Scottish Ale yeast currently, but both versions have been very well-received.

Stovetop Ales

Best Bitter (Extract)

Version 1

Stovetop Best Bitter (BeerXML from BrewTarget)
#1 in a series of all-extract brews. Because...well, because we've never actually done any. We started out with specialty grains and LME, and I figured I'd take it back to the very basics and see what happens. The worst possibility is that it just tastes bad. But with over half a year of solid brewing under my belt, I don't think it will.

It turned out pretty well. The molasses took a while to tone down, but it had a nice hop spiciness to it.

Version 2

Stovetop Best Bitter mk II (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

Second attempt with this recipe, on a slightly bigger kettle. Woo, a half-gallon more beer I changed the yeast and played with the hop schedule a bit to compensate for the fruitier yeast profile. More importantly, I tried adding most of the DME near the end of the boil rather than at the beginning.

Yowie, what a difference the late addition makes! Unfortunately, the Fuggles are missed on the palate, but the extra emphasis on the Kent Goldings yields an incredibly quaffable brew. In successive iterations, I'll walk the Fuggles back in.

Northern England Brown Ale (Extract)

Stovetop Northern England Brown Ale (BeerXML from BrewTarget) #2 in the series. Going to change only the malt base and a little bit of proportion, leaving the yeast and hop flavor intact. We racked onto the yeast cake of the first stovetop, so there was this weird "peatiness" (aka funk) that the old trub imparted. Next time I'll wash my yeast before reusing it.

Smokey Amber Ale (AG/Extract)

Stovetop Amber Ale (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

#3 in the series. SA-05, Cascade, and Centennial, but essentially the same malt base. No Irish moss this time. The clarity did, indeed, suffer, but the molasses is definitely the more noticeable element. Not really liking it at a pound; from here on out I'm keeping its use to 5-6% of the fermentables. It could stand to be better-bodied, too. But the Cascade comes through nicely, and a certain smokiness/woodiness came out after a month in bottle. Definitely one to repeat.

Stovetop Amber Ale (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

An all-grain formulation of the above. It was hard to get the hops right because of the increased utilization, and I'm still not sure it accurately reflects the original. But it's a start!

Sorghum Ale (Extract)

Stovetop Sorghum Amber BeerXML: stovetopsorghumamber.xml
- (A shameless yoink of this recipe: http://homebrewexchange.net/content/gluten-free-mcgee-ale)

My first attempt at a gluten-free ale. Some notes: A very low krausen during primary fermentation, but research indicates that this is typical. Quite lemony, almost like a hard lemonade at bottling. Delicious after bottle-conditioning! Quite light-bodied, and a pleasant fruitiness in the aftertaste. The lemonyness tones down after several weeks in bottle.

American IPA (Extract)

Stovetop American IPA BeerXML: stovetopIPA.xml

Ended up a quart short in the kettle, but gravity was spot on, so the top-up brought it up to the correct volume and gravity. My first full-boil batch on the stove with the new 5-gallon kettle! I racked this onto the sorghum yeast cake. I really need to start washing yeast. The dry-hopping lasted 8 days, and gives a delightful aroma. Fairly light-bodied, but enough to support the hops--a great, easy-drinking summer recipe. I should bring a bottle of this to the FLHS.

Bleeding Heart Hefeweizen (Extract)

Stovetop Hefeweizen BeerXML: StovetopHefeweizen.xml

With blood oranges! Trying to ferment at 70F to evoke some banana out of the Danstar Munich, which is reported to be a little too clean at lower temperatures. Actual fermentation closer to 67. At bottling not much comes through in the way of aromatics, but I carbonated it at 3 volumes. Nice citrusy character from the blood oranges. The aromatics came through like a champ after carbonation! No banana, though.

Dunkelweizen? ITYM Funkelweizen (Extract)

Stovetop Dunkelweizen BeerXML: StovetopDunkelweizen.xml

First stovetop brew with steeping grains! Fermented at 72F, which might be a tick high, but what's the point of learning if you always err on the side of caution? Swamp cooler is definitely under strain now that Carolina spring is in full swing. We'll see what the coriander and black pepper do--hoping they will complement the roasty malts. Bottled young (9 days) to have it ready by Easter. Gravity sample was funky, but not in a bad way. Slightly thin body, but delicious; compares favorably to Trader Joes dunkel. Less sweet, but I like it better.

Session Saison (All-Grain)

Stovetop Saison BeerXML: stovetopAGsaison.xml

Going warp-speed to all-grain, doing the Brew-In-A-Bag method on my stove. 90-minute mash (1.75 qts/lb) @ 149F. Down to 146F at 60 mins, added 2c boiling water (determined with infusion calculator). Brewhouse efficiency 71%. Fairly cloudy wort, lots of trub settling out. I hope I get a full case out of this! OG 1.050. Pitched T-58 at 70F, target 76F. Incredibly fast initial ferment (48 hours and it's back to low outgassing), only got up to ~74F.

FG 1.010, nice attenuation (a little more than planned for, actually, making this a proper saison/Belgian pale ale). Tasty! Lemony and tart, with the pepper adding a slight (and interesting) fruitiness. This will be perfect for the dog days to come. The nose is strongly Belgian; next time I want to try Sorachi Ace as the finishing hop to give a more appealing lemony aroma. The Belgian aroma made froom for the lemon after a few more weeks in bottle. Perhaps in need of a little more malt complexity.

Hard Root Beer (All-Grain)

Stovetop Hard Root Beer BeerXML: StovetopHardRootBeer.xml

Styled after a Southern English Brown, malty and sweet, with extracts to add in secondary to try for a root-beery flavor. Mashing medium-high (154F). Used a voile curtain for this mash instead of the bag from the homebrew store. It has a much finer mesh, and much less trub was produced (though still significant amounts present). OG 1.050 @ 78F.

The extract calls for ~15mL/0.5oz (3tsp) per gallon (60mL/2oz, "makes 4 gallons") when making root beer. Starting with 2 1-gallon jugs, adding 3.75mL (0.75 tsp) to one and 7.5mL (1.5 tsp) to the other. Bottling the rest with Cooper's or Munton's drops, and will add by the dropper to test.

Tasty samples coming out of the fermenter--nice and sweet. Terminal gravity appears to be 1.015 @ 72F. Racked into the secondaries after treating them with a solution of acidified bleach (1/3c bleach into 0.75 gals water, then 1/3c white vinegar) for two days and then rinsing thoroughly and sanitizing with iodophor. Also racked some into sanitized 16oz swingtops, and added 2 Cooper's drops to each to carbonate.

Ten days after bottling: strong rootbeer aroma, but fairly flat ale taste. Not very exciting. The 4mL version is better-rounded than the 7 mL.

Persephone RIS (All-Grain)

Persephone RIS BeerXML: persephonehalfbatch.xml

My first attempt at an OG >1.1 beer, a Russian Imperial Stout. Raleigh water requires some mineral modification to bolster efficiency. Doubling up the voile fabric had good effect in reducing the amount of trub. OG 1.090, partly because I couldn't sparge the grains--no vessel big enough to hold them! Malt everywhere. Pitched US-05 after washing out the fermenter--too much trub in the bottom. Hopefully my trub problems are now solved. Vigorous fermentation! Blowoff installed, mess contained.

Excellent attenuation; FG 1.015. The sample was amazingly smooth, not hot at all. At bottling, racked 1 gallon onto a quarter ounce of bourbon-soaked oak cubes to sit until October or so.

Peachy Keen Pale Ale (All-Grain)

Peachy Keen Pale Ale BeerXML: peachykeenpaleale.xml

Trying out Amarillo as the sole hop, hoping to complement it with peaches in primary and a nice Belgian character. It helps that T-58 tolerates summer temps!. Efficiency was about 10 points below predicted (OG 1.046); the two main variables were time (75 instead of 90 minutes) and the fact that a full third of the grain bill was old grains from last year. Trying to ferment at 70, but the swamp cooler is barely keeping up. In the end, I only kept it to 73-75. :-\

Great attenuation; FG 1.010. Nice and phenolic, but not much peach in the gravity sample. Tasty! Bottling in another week.

Sriracha Porter

Sriracha Porter BeerXML: srirachaporter.xml

A challenge from a friend months ago led to this recipe. Summit hops, by many accounts, yield a garlicky/oniony flavor, and the sorghum lends a sourness. Going to secondary it with habanero peppers. We shall see...

Kristen

/LavenderMead

JHitz

Brown Town

Brown Ale (source)

Fermentation notes from ClintonEbadi:

2010-12-07 00:05 @ 71°F: Bubbling occasionally, thin krausen formed over ¾ of the wort surface
2010-12-07 01:41 @ 71°F: Bubbling once every 3-4 seconds. Solid krausen covering entire wort surface.
2010-12-07 03:05 @ 70°F: Bubbling once every 3-4 seconds. Krausen is at least an inch thick. Putting water into tray and wetting tshirt to reduce to primary fermentation temperatures.
2010-12-07 12:56 @ 66°F: Bubbling twice per second. Krausen is over two inches thick.
2010-12-07 15:15 @ 65°F: Bubbling rapidly. Krausen has grown further, and the wort is visibly churning.
2010-12-07 16:05 @ 66°F: Bubbling rapidly. Krausen has grown visibly.
2010-12-08 01:27 @ 65°F: Bubbling once per second. Krausen appears stable, and the wort is continuing to churn. Adding more water to the tray and resoaking tshirt.
2010-12-08 13:09 @ 63°F: Bubbling once per second. Wort activity has lessened. Target temperature undershot by a degree.
2010-12-08 17:42 @ 62°F: Bubbling once per second. Krausen has begun to recent. Water on tshirt has evaporated. Still under the ideal temperature, but within the range for Ringwood.
2010-12-08 19:50 @ 62°F. Replacing wet shirt with dry shirt, and removing from water tray to prevent a further drop in temperature.
2010-12-09 03:00 @ 64°F: Bubbling once every other second. Krausen has diminished significantly. Ideal temperature reached again.
2010-12-09 12:00 @ 66°F: Bubbling once every other second. Still in ideal temperature range.
2010-12-09 17:40 @ 66°F: Bubbling once every other second.
2010-12-09 23:50 @ 67°F: Bubbling once every three seconds. Krausen is about ½ inch thick.
2010-12-10 14:45 @ 68°F: Bubbling once every three seconds. Krausen has mostly dissipated.
2010-12-10 20:23 @ 68°F: Bubbling once every four seconds.
2010-12-26 14:43 @ 68°F: Held steady around this temperature since the 10th, ready to bottle

JWheatz

All-grain recipe:

Recipe (source)

10 gallons:

Recipe (source)

Sebastian

Blunder Ale (Fat Tire-inspired Amber Ale)

Blunder Ale Amber Ale (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

Jamil's Blonde Ale Mod

Jamil's Blonde Mod (BeerXML from BrewTarget)

Updated recipe for brewday hop change (sub 0.75oz Chinook for 2oz Fuggles). See notes in XML file for full brewday record. At bottling, one of the batches received 3T strawberry extract.

Rachel

Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

*http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/joes-ancient-orange-mead-49106/

first attempt- too much honey used- extra sweet? nonetheless delicious

Joey

Oo Hefe-ner