Competition Hefeweizen

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Clone, with adaptations
5 gallons
6/28/2012

Steep for 30 min. at 155F:

4 oz aromatic malt
4 oz acidulated malt

Then add:

5.75 lb Wheat DME
2 oz malto-dextrin
1 oz Hallertau hops @ 4.1% AA (60 min.) [dried whole hops]

1/4 oz Perle hops @ 8.9% AA (15 min.) [pellet hops]
1/4 oz Spalt hops @ 4.0% AA (15 min.) [pellet hops]

Whitelabs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast

Pitched: 6/28/2012 1.050 SG
Secondary: 7/9/2012 1.010 SG
Kegged: 7/16/2012 1.014 SG (with priming sugar)

Notes: I've usually had very, very vigorous fermentation with hefeweizens but this time was more normal, with steady bubbling for a week or so and no blowout. The smell of the hefeweizen is unmistakable even through the airlock.

I bottled six bale-top bottles and kegged the rest.

From Ben, the brewer at Gritty's in Auburn, taken without permission from Maine Brews.com

HERE’S THE RECIPE FOR CZECH PILSNER WITH AN AMERICAN TWIST (ALL-GRAIN RECIPE FOR 5 GALLONS):

Note: This recipe is highly dependent on soft water, so if yours is high in minerals I strongly recommend diluting or substituting with distilled water. Portland’s water is very soft, so I add either a few ounces of acidulated malt or 15 mL lactic acid to the mash.

Grain:
9# German Pils malt
0.5# Munich malt
0.5# Caramel Pils malt
0.75# Carapils malt

Hops:
Crystal Whole Flower (or other noble variety), 4%AA, 1 oz, added first wort
Saaz Pellets, 3.9%AA, 1 oz, boil 60 min
Saaz Pellets, 3.9%AA, 1 oz, boil 20 min
Saaz Pellets, 3.9%AA, 1 oz, boil 5 min
Summit Pellets, 18.5%AA, 0.5 oz, boil 5 min
Saaz Pellets, 3.9%AA, 1 oz, boil 1 min
Summit Pellets, 18.5%AA, 0.5 oz, boil 1 min
Saaz Pellets, 0.5 oz, dry hop in secondary (lagering) vessel
Summit Pellets, 0.5 oz, dry hop in secondary (lagering) vessel

Yeast:
WYeast 2278 Czech Pils – I strongly recommend making a very large starter for this beer (as for all lagers). I typically make 1.5 gallons of starter well in advance, then decant the beer before adding the slurry to the wort.

Other ingredients:
1 Whirlfloc tablet, boil 15 min
1 tsp WYeast yeast nutrient, boil 15 minutes

Procedure (single decoction mash):
Mash in with 3.2 gal of 138F degree water for a protein rest of 122F. After 15 min infuse 2.2 gal 212F water for saccharification rest at 154F. After 20 min pull 1.5 gal of the mash, heat to boil while stirring almost continuously, boil 30 min then add to back to main mash for mashout at 165 F. Vorlauf, then lauter to get 8.75 gal in kettle (predicted gravity with 83% efficiency, 1.037). Boil 90 minutes, adding hops. Chill as quickly as possible to 52F.
Note: you will likely have to adjust times and temperatures to account for your system.

Ferment at 52F until fermentation appears to be slowing dramatically, then raise temperature to 60F for two days. If this is your first lager, don’t be alarmed by disgusting smells coming from the fermenter – this is normal and the beer will end up ok. Rack to secondary with dry hops (I use Cornelius kegs, because I can keep pressure on them and not worry about an airlock during cooling), then drop the temperature about 2F per day until you reach 35F. Lager for at least 3 weeks (5 is ideal), then keg or bottle. Prost!

Competition Hefeweizen

Hefeweizen
10 gallons all grain

Grain Bill
     German pilsner malt  10 #
     Weyermann pale Wheat  10 #

Hops
     Tettnang 2 oz @60 min
     Cascade 1 oz @ 15 min

Yeast
     Wyeast 3068
     Wyeast 3638
     Yeast started and after package swelled (3-4 days) each added to 4 oz Munton Extra DME in 1 qt water.   After 2 days beer brewed and dividdeed into two 5 gal batches.

6/7/12 brewed OG 1040
6/13/12 transfer
6/27/12 bottled and kegged with priming sugar  FG 1010

Kitchen Sink Porter

Porter
5 gal all grain made with left over specialty grains

Grain Bill
     Warminster Floor Matted Maris Otter 10#
     Wyermann CaraAroma 10 oz
     SimpsonsBlack Malt 4 oz
     Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal 4oz
     Briess Carapils 8 Oz

Hops
     Nugget 1.5 oz 60 min
     Millenium Kestrel 60 min
     Nugget 0.5 1 min

Yeast
     Safale S05

6/27/12 brewed 1.044
8/11/12 kegged 1.010

Pale Ale

Shining Star Pale Ale
(10 gallons)
4/14/2012

15.0 lbs rahr premium pils
2.5 lbs bairds light carastan

6.3 lbs gold malt syrup
6.0 lbs golden light dry malt extract

1.5 oz palisade (60 min)
1.0 oz centennial (10 min)
1.0 oz columbus (10 min)
1.0 oz centenial (0 min)
1.0 oz columbus (0 min)

yeast:
Safbrew US-05

Infusion mash at 152 for 60 min
60 min boil

Kölsch

Recipe from Northern Brewer

5 gallons extract

1 lb Pilsen Light DME
6 lbs Pilsen LME (late addition: last 15 min. of boil)

1 oz Tradition @ (60 min.)
1 oz Hersbrucker @ (30 min.)

Wyeast 2565 Kölsch

Pitched: 4/20/12 OG 1.052
Secondary: 5/19/12 SG 1.010
Kegged:

Notes: The late addition liquid malt extract was a bit unusual; adding that much late in the boil really cools things down and I wasn't quite sure whether I needed to adjust the boil time to give it a full 60 minutes of vigorous boiling or whether the entire heating time from first boil was supposed to be 60 minutes. I went with the first option, so the wort was bubbling away for 65-70 minutes in the end. The fermentation is supposed to take place at a somewhat lower temperature than normal, between 55 and 65, so I lugged the primary fermenter down to the basement in search of a chillier spot.

It spent much longer in the primary than I expected: just after brewday the weather got very cold indeed and our basement may have been cold enough to stop or slow fermentation. After a couple of weeks, things were still moving along with plenty of vigour, so it ended up being in the primary for almost four weeks. It tasted pretty good at transfer, and the specific gravity was good.

This was one of my favourite styles when I lived in Germany, often served in tiny Kölsch glasses, so I'm hopeful that the outcome will be good here.

Saison

Saison
(10 gallons)
3/11/2012

2.0 lbs franco-belgs pilsner malt
1.25 lbs simsons golden naked oats
1.25 lbs weyermann aciduated malt
1.25 lbs belgian aromatic malt
12 lbs pilsen malt syrup

1.0 oz styrian goldings (first wort)
1.0 oz columbus (60 min)
3.0 oz styrian goldings (0 min)

yeast:
wyeast 3522 belgian ardennes
Partial mash recipe
Steep grains with 2 gallons at 165 for 60 min
Sparged with 1.5 gallons at 150
60 min boil

Partial mash version of all-grain saison:
http://scbrew.blogspot.com/2011/05/saison.html