Dark Rye IPA

Can a beer be a dark anything and I Pale A at the same time.  Judy thinks it is a contradiction in terms, so maybe this should be titled ID(dark)A, or hopped dark ale.  Brewing this beer for the
45th (?) Allen Christmas Party.  It is the dark rye IPA recipe with double the Simcoe in the secondary.

I have been milling Blue Ox malt grains myself and  think that the efficiency has been down.  This batch a ran the grains through the mill twice which seemed to help.

10 gallons, all grain

Grains:
     Blue Ox Malt                20
     Rye                                 3
     Special B                        1
     Wheat                             1
     Carapils                             12 oz

Hops:
     Columbus 15.2%      1 @ 60 min
     Summit 15%             1 @ 30 min
     Summit                     2 @   1 min
     Simcoe 11.6%           4 in secondary*  (double original recipe)

Yeast:
     Safale S05                 2

Brewed 11/20/2016   OG 1042
Secondary  11/28/2016  1012
Second 5 gallons kegged 1/3/2017

Cider 2016

The apples at Sunnycroft were good but not as abundant as 2015 when branches were breaking from the crop. Sarah, Gareth, S and O came to Maine for cider weekend 2016 and helped with the harvest.  Most of the apples were from our trees with perhaps a bushel from Winnie's trees.  We ended up with 23 gallons.

10/15/2016

5 gallon to be sweet carbonated cider.  2 tablets of Campden added.

5 gallon to be hard cider for Gareth,  Lalvin K1-V1116 wine yeast

5 gallon to be vinegar for Russ, Lalvin K1-V116 wine yeast

8 gallon sweet cider, frozen

Vinegar

Some may think that this subject may be not appropriate for this blog, but I believe that because of the yeast addition and the already accepted cider posts that vinegar is not that much of a stretch.

We, at Sunnycroft, have an abundance of apples, so the obvious next step is vinegar.  After attending a talk by Sewall's Orchard about cider vinegar at The Common Ground Fair this year, we had the knowledge and the Mother needed to begin.  In a nutshell the process is to ferment the cider with wine or cider yeast for a year and then add the Mother to the fermented cider for another year.

Batch 61
     2014 Sunnycroft Cider put into growler with about 1 oz of Sewall's Cider Vinegar batch 67

Insanely Hopped Fresh Hop Ale

Insanely Hooped Fresh Hop Ale 2016

10 gallon, all grain seasonal fresh hop ale brewed with proprietary Sunnycroft and Bird Brook Hop Farms

Grains:
     Blue Ox Malt                    20
     Brown malt                            4 oz
     Crystal 10                           1
     Carapils Malt                      2
     Biscuit Malt                           5 oz

Hops:
     Sunycroft                            5.6 oz     60 min
     Bird Brook                          3.6          15 min
     Bird Brook                          4              after boil, steep for 30 min

Yeast:
     Safale us-05

Brewed 9/21/2016
     OG  1040
     Transfer 10/29    1012

Hops 2016

The summer was hot and dry so we decided  to harvest early, August 15.  The cones were plentiful but small, total for this year (wet) 1 lb 4.8 oz, which dried to 5.6 oz  Bird Brook Farm had a banner year and donated 7.6 oz.  Mathias took about that much for his brewing.

Basically Great Porter (Brewers Cup 2016)

10 gallon, all grain entry for the Brewers Cup 2016, with a nod to and hopefully some votes from our guest Irish judges

Grain:
     Blue Ox pale malt                          20 lbs
     Belgian Special B                             2 lbs
     English Brown malt                            12 oz
     Briess Chocolate malt                         12 oz
     Biscuit malt                                         12 oz
     Belgian Munich malt                          12 oz
     Wyermann Melanoidin malt                 4 oz

Hops:
     Cascade 4.8%                           4 oz 60 min
     Cascade                                    1 oz 15 min

Yeast:
     Safale us 05                                 2

Brewed 8/2/2016  OG 1.034
Secondary 8/10/2016  1.014

Kama Galaxy Session IPA

5 gallons extract (adapted from Northern Brewer Kama Citra Session IPA)

0.75 lbs Crystal 40

6 lbs Golden DME

0.5 oz Centennial @ 8.5% AA (60 min.)
1 oz Cascade @ 6.8% AA (20 min.)
1 oz Cascade @ 6.8% AA (10 min.)
1 oz Galaxy @ 15.2% (flameout, resting for 10 min.)

1 oz Galaxy @ 15.2% (Dry hop at secondary transfer)
1 oz Cascade @ 6.8% AA (Dry hop at secondary transfer)

Safale US-05 Ale Yeast

Pitched: 5/8/16  OG 1.060
Secondary: 5/31/16 SG 1.012
Kegged: 6/12/16 SG 1.012

Notes: There was nothing whatsoever wrong with the original Kama Citra, but the hops available locally at the time of brewing necessitated some adaptation and renaming...

McLaughlin Ale

Recipe from ale of 5/19/15. If this test batch is as good as I expect, and I am invited back as brewer for Garden Illuminated, then this is it.
10 gallon all grain

Grains:
     Blue Ox Pale Malt               20 lbs
     Carapils                                  0.5 lbs
     Caramil pils (crystal 10*)      0.5
     Munich                                  0.5

Hops:
     Summit  15.0%                     2.5 oz     60 min
     Saaz  3.7%                             3              5 min
     Pearle 5.8%                           1              5 min
     Simcoe 11.6%                       2              secondary

Yeast:      Safale S04
                Safale S05

Brewed 4/26/2016  OG  1046
Secondary 6/15/2016  1010
Kegged  6/27/16   1008  (S05 slightly darker and more bitter)

Dark Rye IPA

Taken from 6/15/15 but brewed with Blue Ox Malt
10 gallon all grain

Grains
     Blue Ox Pale Malt        20
     Rye Malt                         6
     Special B                        2
     Carapils                             24 oz
     Wheat                              2

Hops
     Columbus 5.2%              1 oz 60 min
     Summit 14.2%                1 oz 30 min
     Summit                            1 oz 1 min
     Simcoe 12.3%                 2 oz 1 min
     Simcoe                            2 oz secondary

Yeast Safale s05

Estimated IBU 36.22
Estimated Efficiency 75.52%    (100% = 1.066)

Brewed 3/15/2016  OG 1050
Transfer to secondary 3/29/2016  1020  hops added

Ben's Lager

This recipe is from Ben the brewer at Gritty's.  I have tried variations of it before, but this time it is as written.  Well almost as written. I bought an extra ounce of Saaz * from the Hop Shop and decided to add it to the secondary.   As I was getting myself primed for a fun day of brewing Judy reminded me, "Do you actually like any of Gritty's bear?"  Oh well it was going to rain all day anyway, one might as well be brewing.

It was no small feat getting supplies.  During the first trip to the Hop Shop Ed did not have any Saaz hops, I needed 9 ounces.  He said he would order some.  Yesterday we set out for a road trip including Brunswick, Freeport and then Gray.  I called Ed to see if he did get the Saaz and he said he only had 6.  I decided to go anyway because today was brew day for me, with or without the Saaz.  Well there is no easy way to get from Freeport to Gray especially with no map or GPS.  We made a 30 min trip into an hour trip, which seemed like 2 hours.  When we finally arrived at The Hop Shop Ed had remembered he had ordered Saaz for me, or someone, and all was well.  Actually he had ordered 10 ounces, the extra ounce *.

10 gallons, all grain

Grains
     Pilsner malt      18
     Munich malt       1
     Light crystal       1  *     Substitution from caramel pils malt which Ed didn't have
     Carapils malt      1.5

Hops
     Saaz          2     60 min    3.7%
     Saaz          2     20 min
     Saaz          2      5
     Summit     1     5 min     14.2%
     Saaz          2     1
     Summit     1     1

     Saaz          2 in secondary
     Summit     1 in secondary

Yeast
     Saflager     w-34/70  2 dry lager yeast

Brewed 1/10/2016  1050
Secondary. 1/18/2016  1014
Kegged 2/4/2016. 1010