Great Beer!

The finest beers in the world have begun to show up in the homes of Americian home brewers.  These beers are brewed  in basements, garages and back yards. (But  almost never in the kitchen since all married home brewers have been exiled from the kitchen by their significant others.)     This might be hard to believe; but in recent years the ingredients and technology of craft brewing have become available to the home brewer and the results have been spectacular.  I now brew the beer I drink and with rare exception do not purchase commercial products.  I have placed below a formulation for a APA (Americian Pale Ale) from John Palmer, Author of "How to Brew" a wonderfully informative tome available in print or on the internet.      I have to go brew this beer now. This weekend I am brewing my stock Americian Pale Ale (APA) .

    I am struggling with how to index my recipes so for now   For now I will just hang some of my favorites on this page.  See the links at the bottom of this page for some of my favorite recipes.  The file below is a APA that I much enjoyed brewing, serving and drinking.  It appears with the notes I took along the way.   I just now notice that the efficiency was not all that good and that the attenuation was down.  I have been mashing hot for  a beer full of unfermentable dextrin.  I don't think I will make this beer dryer.

Go Just Plain and Kickass Pale

Beer Style Guides 

 

I call this "Palmer's Liberty Ale"
Brewing Date: Sunday September 14, 2003
Head Brewer: Arthur J. Bieker
Asst Brewer: Arthur J. Bieker
Recipe: !PalmersLibertyAle

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
06-B American Pale Ales, American Amber Al
Min OG: 1.045 Max OG: 1.056   
Min IBU: 20 Max IBU: 40   
Min Clr: 11 Max Clr: 18  Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
Batch Size (Gal): 11.00 Wort Size (Gal): 11.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 20.00      
Anticipated OG: 1.048 Plato: 11.89
Anticipated SRM: 10.8        
Anticipated IBU: 36.8      
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75  %   
Wort Boil Time: 90  Minutes   

Actual OG: 1.044 Plato: 10.96   
Actual FG: 1.014 Plato: 3.57   
Alc by Weight: 3.08 by Volume: 3.94 From Measured Gravities.
ADF: 67.4 RDF: 56.2 Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation.

Actual Mash System Efficiency: 69 %
Anticipated Points From Mash: 47.90
Actual Points From Mash: 44.00

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
42.5 8.50 lbs.  Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
42.5 8.50 lbs.  Pale Ale ESB malt Americian 1.035 5
5.0 1.00 lbs.  Flaked Barley America 1.032 2
5.0 1.00 lbs.  Crystal 80L    1.033 80
5.0 1.00 lbs.  Crystal 60L America 1.034 60

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
0.42 oz.  Northern Brewer Whole 8.00 6.8 First WH
0.84 oz.  Northern Brewer Whole 8.00 13.7 60 min
1.50 oz.  Cascade Whole 6.90 10.7 30 min
1.50 oz.  Cascade Whole 6.90 5.6 15 min
0.50 oz.  Cascade Whole 5.75 0.0 Dry Hop


Yeast
White Labs WLP001 California Ale
White Labs WPL 001 California Ale Yeast 

Water Profile
Profile: Burton On Trent
Profile known for: Strong Pale Ales
Calcium(Ca): 268.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 62.0 ppm
Sodium(Na): 30.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 638.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 36.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 141.0 ppm
pH: 8.33


Fermentation Specifics
Pitched From: Slurry
Amount Pitched: 150 mL
Lag Time: 5.00 hours

Primary Fermenter: Stainless Steel
Primary Type: Closed
Days In Primary: 5
Primary Temperature: 68 degrees F

Original Gravity: 1.044 SG 10.96 Plato
Finishing Gravity: 1.014 SG 3.57 Plato

Hop Origin Recipe Oz Oz In Stock Oz Needed
Northern Brewer - Whole USA 0.42 0.00 0.42
Northern Brewer - Whole USA 0.84 0.00 0.84
Cascade - Whole USA 1.50 0.00 1.50
Cascade - Whole USA 1.50 0.00 1.50
Cascade - Whole USA 0.50 0.00 0.50

Extras Recipe In Stock Needed

Yeast Recipe In Stock Needed
California Ale - (White Labs WLP001) 1.00 0.00 1.00



Mash Notes
mash was hot at 158 and drifted to 156. I mashed for one-half hour and conversion was almost complete. in forty minutes I had conversion according to iodine test. I was a few minutes waiting for sparge water and performed a mash out. Mash went to 160 and stayed here but I ran it into boil kettle and boiled the wort all the way up to full. I first wort hopped about one third of the NB hops. O.G. was only 1.044 so efficiency was down. The halo fell off so I ended up batch sparging the wort. Wort however ran clear and it clear in the hydrometer jar after the cold break settles to the bottom. Strike water was heated to 172f. Next time I am only going to 170 and see if I can mash in at about 155 and see what that does for body. Of course, it might be nice to see what I have for the last batch and this one before altering course.


Fermentation Notes
Used air stone and aquarium pump for one hour. The beer put out a very thick foam like shaving cream so the finished brew might have a heavy head. Yeast was pitched at 3:00 p.,m on Sunday 14 September 2003. It was a huge slug from a starter made for m slurry from the brew before it. September 16, 2003 Anaerobic fermentation has begun. Gravity is 1.017. Beer can be seen fermenting in the hydrometer jar. There is much break material in the wort or many islands of yeast. The appear to be no off flavors at this time. September 17, 2003 the beer continues to ferment slowly. I have been reading Palmer. He says that the business of racking to secondary as soon as the Kroysen is down is wrong and the beer should be left to condition on the troob. Or at least I think that's what he is saying. I am going to not dump cold break for a time maybe 10 days or so. September 18, 2003 - Beer is still. I have not dumped trub but think I will wait for the weekend. I may take a gravity today. Beer has a gravity at 1.014. Dumped Troob and got a 60 oz pitcher of slurry which I put down drain. There will be plenty more then the beer clears. The beer is Bitter up front and then has malt and then is bitter with a lingering finish. September 19, 2003 Friday The beer is still. I will take a reading this weekend. September 20 2003 Saturday the beer is 1.014 I guess that's all there is. September 26, 2003 Ten gallons kegged in two five gallon keggs. Primed with 7.7oz of corn sugar divided volumetrically between the kegs. Have not yet dry hopped. A Quarter slipped into one of the kegs. I hope it's fairly inert because I am not going in after it. I will need to think about dry hops for each. September 29, 2003 Dry hopped both five gallon kegs. One with Willamette and one with Cascade. Beer now tastes like tea. This is the tenth and fifteenth five gallon batch that I have ruined with too much dry hops. I will keep it and see if it smoothes out and then try to brew something to blend with it to kill some of the hoppyness.. Maybe it will settle down. I hope so. THE NEXT DAY - THE BEER IS FINE. WDWHAHB! Beer is thick and has body. Foam stands on the beer like shaving cream. It's like desert. THE DAY AFTER THAT - The beer is fine in the Cascade keg. It seems to have a sour note in the Willamette keg. The Cascade keg has more body. Things are so subjective! 10/03/03 The cascade beer is wonderful! It's just wonderful. October 4, 2003 - The Willamette dry hop is also very good. The hop aroma is perhaps a little better but hop taste is not as pleasing as the Cascade. The slightly sour taste that was noticed two days ago seems absent and the beer is quite drinkable. I will blend the two in a two liter jar. Perhaps both hops should be used in the dry hop. October 6, 2003 Monday - Things are very subjective. I had two oz of beer this morning. I thought it was thin and going bad. This evening it seems thick well balanced and wonderful. I guess I am just paranoid. Sometimes the brew seems better than others but it does appear to be sound. October 8, 2003 - beer is stable and very good. Somehow a post to this section was either deleted or accidentally posted elsewhere. Beer if very good, worth brewing again and seems sound. It's not thin, it's not spoiled it's very good.


Tasting Notes
Blended to two beers (dry hopped cascade/Willamette) and took them to a party. Very well received. Nice beer. The cascade has a nicer flavor over all but the Willamette a better nose to my way of thinking. So I blended them. I think that I will put both hops in dry hop next time. October 20, 2003 VanGelder came over and had three or four beers. I had a glass tonight and found it quite a bit hoppy from the dry hop. I think that in the future I will dry hop with smaller amounts and them maybe only in the fermenter and not in the keg so that the hops are finished in the fermenter. October 25, 2003 - Saturday night - First keg of Willamette dry hopped blown. I didn't realize that we had consumed so much of it. The keg of the (Better) cascade holding up ok. Kevin says that he has hung around more than one home brewing person and this beer was not the home brew that he remembers. This was like the best craft beer he has ever consumed. I will brew it again soon. November 23, 2003. The second keg of this brew was blown some weeks ago. This beer is dead, Long live the beer! This beer is a must brew again sort of thing. It was wonderful and needs to be recreated. It was the best of show with John Van Gelder while Kevin liked the Munich pale better.


Problem Notes
Mill came apart and I lost about a pound of grain. I added mystery grain which when milled was pretty dark. I don't know what it was.




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Here is the formulation for a very drinkable beer I call Just Plain Ale. My most memorable American Pale Ale Kickass Pale.

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