“Whale Arrow” IPA

Also known as “IPA 2″, since it’s the second batch of the Boston brewing, and they’ve both been IPA.
This one is a little different from the first, but not by a lot. The most striking difference is that it’s the first time I’ve brewed with spray malt. The dry stuff is significantly cheaper, so let’s see how it comes out.

The recipe comes from the Modern Brewer recipe book, they’re calling it a Harpoon clone.
1 # crystal (40)
1/2 # Belgian Biscuit

3.3 lb light malt extract
3 lb light spray malt

For an hour boil,

3/4 oz galena at t-60
1 oz Cascade at t-15
Irish moss at t-15 (neglected this step!)
1 oz Cascade at t-5 (this was more like t-2, in the pot and off the boil very fast)

Boilup 5/31/10
Racked to secondary 6/5

NW IPA

Online brewing notes, number 2

3/22//10
Started a batch of actual beer the other day. Since I can’t find my recipe book (it’s around somewhere, but I haven’t looked at it since Portland) I went to the Steinbart’s site, and sure enough their recipes are there, how clever.

So this is basically their “NW-style IPA”. Screwups are mine, not theirs. Will post the link to the recipe. Here it is: http://fhsteinbart.com/beerrecipes.html

5/25
Bottled.
I started this on March 22, which means it’s had two months in the fermenter. I racked it at about two weeks, and it hasn’t flocculated a lot since – very little yeasty sediment.
From the initial tasting, it seems like an excellent brew. Warm and uncarbonated, it still had a clean flavor, sweet but no syrupy mouth feel. Quite strong hop presence (look at the recipe, you’ll see why!). Don’t bump up the hops on this one, whatever you do.
I’ll be cracking into it in a week or so, will update then.

6/7
Well, I’ve been drinking this for the last few nights. Came out very nice. Still very clean, nothing cloying in the mouth feel. Not a lot of body, but enough that you know you’re drinking a beer. Hop bite has mellowed a little, but some people will probably find it too strong still. Not a very distinctive flavor, but a nice cold beer for drinking.

Brew Log: Boston Mead #1

Two days ago, after a long break, I started brewing again. I figured I might as well use this page as my brewing log, since it’s one less notebook to keep track of.
So here’s the notes on the first batch of mead:

10 pounds New York wildflower honey heated slowly in 2 gallons of water until well dissolved (1 hour) then raised to a slow boil for 12 minutes and skimmed. Previously, I’ve used an acid blend with good effect. Having none, this time I used 4 tsp of dehydrated lemon juice. We’ll see what that does – there was a notable lemon presence in the wort, I hope it tames itself a little in the fermenting.
After taking the wort off the boil, I added 2 Tbsp of yeast energizer – a little over the recommended 1/2 tsp/gallon – and decanted into a carboy, topping off with cold water.
Proofed a packet of champagne yeast in 110 degree water and pitched it when wort was blood-warm.
Honey is supposed to be a fermentation resister, but primary started in a few hours, and two days later is still going at a good clip, despite the cold weather.

No blow-off, possibly because I filled only to the shoulder and not to the neck.

I’ll rack it come this weekend, and then it’ll be a long slow fermenting before I’m ready to bottle. Perhaps I’ll start a batch of beer, just to get back in the game.

Any of my constant readers who want to taste it should plan on a visit, say in June or July. It should be drinkable by then.

6/7 update – I wound up adding another 5 pounds of honey to this, and that got it up to speed. It’s pretty okay, although not up to my old standards. Still worth drinking, and we’ve got a reasonable stock on hand. Next batch starting soon…