HOPPY GOLDEN 3V CONICAL v1

November 25, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

Well, what is one to do with a whole metric crap ton of left over ingredients after a 7 beer NHC run? A total hodge podge high alcohol boozer of a hot mess of course!!!!!! I cleared out the grain bins and the freezer of all hops and what came out was drinkable! That said, don’t make this beer 🙂

Recipe Info
Recipe: hoppy golden v1
Style: American IPA 21A BJCP 2015
Date: 06-08-2019

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.075	1.056	1.070
FG	1.016	1.008	1.014
Color	5.9	6.0	14.0
ABV	7.6	5.5	7.5
IBU	59.0	40.0	70.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 26.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 10.28 G
Volume: 12.4 G
Temp: 152.0 F

Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.065
Predicted Mash Run-off: 7.9 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 11.0 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 9.5 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
8.500 Lb	32.0 %	Pilsen (Dingemans)	81.0	1.6
6.500 Lb	25.0 %	Vienna Malt (Weyermann)	79.0	3.4
6.000 Lb	23.0 %	2-row Pale Malt (Briess)	80.5	3.0
5.500 Lb	21.0 %	Maris Otter (Crisp)	82.0	3.0

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
1.0 Oz	Northern Brewer (DE)	9.4	60 mins	Boil	17.0
1.0 Oz	Centennial	10.0	30 mins	Boil	14.0
1.0 Oz	Cascade	6.2	30 mins	Boil	8.0
2.0 Oz	Centennial	10.0	10 mins	Boil	13.0
2.0 Oz	Cascade	6.2	10 mins	Boil	8.0
2.5 Oz	Centennial	10.0	4.0 days	Dry Hop	0.0
2.5 Oz	Cascade	6.2	4.0 days	Dry Hop	0.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	House Imperial A01

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	15 mins	Boil
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.46

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	66	3	21	30	164	30
Sparge	74	3	21	30	185	30
Final	115	5	35	51	289	51
Target	75	0	0	0	200	0

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 39.747 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 10.500 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 10.0 g
Lactic Acid: 7.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 5.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 5.500 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 6.0 g

Notes

Ferment 2 weeks at 68f

7/1/19 made 1L starter w 2B cell pitch of imperial yeast A01 house
7/3/19 normal 3V + conical brewday. no issues.
pitched a decanted starter @ 1:30pm
@10pm steady slow bubbling
7/4/19 rippin’. bumped up to 68F
7/5/19 still rippin’
7/6/19 slow steady bubbling
7/7/19 no bubbling
7/9/19 ~4 sec
7/10/19 ~6 sec
7/11/19 ~8 sec
7/12/19 no bubbling
7/17/19 took sample before pulling yeast
FG – 1.012 !!! wow, ~8% ABV
definitely noting booze but not hot. nice esters
from yeast and nice bitterness & hop flavor
collected ~500mL of yeast
added 5oz of dry hops
7/21/19 cold crashed to 35F under CO2
7/27/19 dropped cone twice & racking arm cleared
finally pretty clear. racked to keg.
a little under 5 gallons so maybe 0.5 gallon more for dry hop beers
7/31/19 on draft

Hefeweizen 3V 3_5

HEFEWEIZEN 3V 3_5

November 25, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

This beer won 2nd at NHC finals last year and took 1st in the first round this year as well as other years so I don’t feel any need to change up the recipe. It really is a stellar Hefe. Sadly it didn’t place in finals this year but the beer was excellent and scored well. That is just the nature of NHC finals. Its you and 35 other really, really good beers so you need a bit of luck which sadly I didn’t have this year.

Recipe Info
Recipe: hefeweizen 3v 3
Style: Weissbier 10A BJCP 2015
Date: 11-09-2017

Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.050	1.044	1.052
FG	1.011	1.010	1.014
Color	3.4	2.0	6.0
ABV	5.1	4.3	5.6
IBU	13.0	8.0	15.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 14.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.53 G
Volume: 7.69 G
Temp: 112.0 F

Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.039
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.23 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 10.25 G
Boil Duration: 90 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 8.0 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
8.750 Lb	60.0 %	Wheat (DURST MALZ)	84.0	1.8
5.750 Lb	40.0 %	Pilsner (DURST MALZ)	81.5	1.8

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.9 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	2.5	90 mins	Boil	6.0
1.0 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	2.5	60 mins	Boil	7.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Hefeweizen Ale White Labs WLP300

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.63

Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	73	3	21	148	24	30
Sparge	79	3	21	157	24	30
Final	119	5	33	238	38	47
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Water Profile Name: carrboro
Target Profile Name: standard

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 g
Lactic Acid: 5.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.000 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 g

Notes

Single decoction
Mash in at 105f raise to 112f immediately and hold for 10 mins
2f a min up to 126f for 10 Mins
Raise to 149f and hold for 5 mins then pull 1/3rd as thick decoction and leave main mash at 149f while handling decoction
Slowly raise decoction to 158f and hold for 20 mins and then boil for 10 mins
Reincorporate decoction into main mash slowly and stabilize at 158f for 10 Mins and make sure it passes iodine test else hold till done converting
Raise to 169f and hold 10 mins

Chill to 58f
Pull 4 gallons to fermenter and then pull 2 quarts in mason jars for speisse at bottling
Oxygenate for 60 secs with 0.5 micron stone and o2. Raise to 63f over 24 hours. Hold for 1 week. Raise to 68f over 24 hours and hold through two weeks.

speise -> 3gallons @ 3.25 volumes = 1.6 qt of speise
i pull 2 x 0.8qt of speise and sterlize @ 15psi in pressure cooker for 15 mins

Brewday notes:

5/12/19 made a 0.3L starter with 30g of DME and one pouch of WLP300
5/14/19 made two minor errors but overall a normal 3V brewday
+forgot to add CC and lactic acid at mash but added it in a bit later
+timing was off on one of my mash steps
pitched @ 2pm EST
5/15/19 @9am kreusen has formed and slow steady bubbling
5/16/19 enormous 3″ kreusen and very strong bubbling
5/17/19 still big kreusen, slow steady bubbling
5/18/19 kreusen dropping, ~2 sec bubbling
5/20/19 ~5 sec bubbling
5/28/19 bottled with speise
FG 1.010
tastes young but no off flavor. solid ester, strong phenolics but good.

Vienna 3V Conical 1_2

VIENNA 3V CONICAL 1_2

November 25, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

Of the 5 beers I submitted for NHC 2019 first round, two made it to the finals. Not too shabby. My goal has always been to get ANY beer to the finals cause, well, NHC first round is as competitive as any competition out there not to mention the finals. The Vienna finished 3rd out of 30+ entries and the score sheets were sadly the usual unhelpful very thin comments with no indication on how to make the beer better 🙁 Which is why I think I’ll be taking a break from competition next year. I have done really well in competitions including a first and a second in NHC finals so I don’t feel like I need any validation that I’m making good beer and the feedback i’m getting is not worth the effort. Or maybe I’m a bit burnt out and just need a break 🙂

Same recipe as last time but my weyerman order got a bit mixed up and I only got 1 lb of caraamber so i substitued caramunich I for the other 0.8 lb. Bummer.

Recipe Info
Recipe: vienna 3v conical 1
Style: Vienna Lager 7A BJCP 2015
Date: 01-03-2018

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.052	1.048	1.055
FG	1.011	1.010	1.014
Color	14.5	9.0	15.0
ABV	5.3	4.7	5.5
IBU	34.0	18.0	30.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 17.78 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 7.56 G
Volume: 8.98 G
Temp: 150.0 F

Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.044
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.96 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 10.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 9.0 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
7.200 Lb	40.0 %	Pilsner (Weyermann)	80.0	1.8
6.750 Lb	38.0 %	Vienna Malt (Weyermann)	79.0	3.4
1.800 Lb	10.0 %	Munich II (Weyermann)	82.2	8.5
1.800 Lb	10.0 %	Caraamber/Biscuit (Weyermann)	80.1	36.0
0.230 Lb	1.0 %	Midnight Wheat Malt	0.0	550.0

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.85 Oz	Magnum	14.1	60 mins	Boil	27.0
1.5 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	4.2	15 mins	Boil	7.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
0.500 L	German Lager White Labs WLP830

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
1.000 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.42

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	61	3	21	75	93	30
Sparge	59	3	21	89	69	30
Final	101	5	35	135	138	50
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 32.176 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 8.500 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 4.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g
Lactic Acid: 2.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 2.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g

Notes

150f 60 mins
168f 10 mins

2 weeks 50f
2 day raise to 60
Hold through 3 weeks
4 weeks lagering

Carb to 2.5 volumes

Brewday Notes:

3 vessel electric HERMS system and fermenting in 7G conical.

4/21/19 1L 100g DME starter + 4 pouches of WLP830
4/23/19 normal 3V brewday. no issues. #s all looked good. pitched 1L starter @ 1:30 pm EST. @ 48F. only concern is starter was dark brown which i have seen a couple times from white labs pitches. time to try a new yeast company, 2 of the 4 pouches were noticeably darker and the starter even after fermenting out was still very dark. starter smelled a hair boozy but maybe my imagination. only 3 months old which really is that bad from my HBS. fingers crossed
@10pm bumped to 49F
4/24/19 @ 8am up to 50F no bubbling
@noon no bubbling
@10pm slow steady bubbling -> longer lag time than normal
4/25-29/19 slow steady bubbling
4/30/19 bubble every ~5 sec
5/3/19 ~10sec
5/7/19 raised to 60F for Diacetyl Rest
5/14/19 lowered to 50 then 40F for cold crash
5/15/19 lowered to 35F for cold crash
5/20/19 racked to lagering keg
FG 1.014
nice malt character. hops seem about right. promising. no technical issues.
6/4/19 gelatined beer and put on 30psi overnight to force carb
6/5/19 moved to 14psi @ 38F for carb. of on calculator but seems to be about 2.5 volumes.

Hefeweizen 3V 3_4

Hefeweizen 3V 3_3

March 21, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

Last beer of NHC 2019 run of beers. Not much to say. I have now brewed this same beer 3 times without changing the recipe or process. Last year it placed 2nd at NHC. This one I still ferment in a 6G carboy since I’m just bottle conditioning it with speise anyway.

Recipe Info
Recipe: hefeweizen 3v 3
Style: Weissbier 10A BJCP 2015
Date: 11-09-2017

Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.050	1.044	1.052
FG	1.011	1.010	1.014
Color	3.4	2.0	6.0
ABV	5.1	4.3	5.6
IBU	13.0	8.0	15.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 14.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.53 G
Volume: 7.69 G
Temp: 112.0 F

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
8.750 Lb	60.0 %	Wheat (DURST MALZ)	84.0	1.8
5.750 Lb	40.0 %	Pilsner (DURST MALZ)	81.5	1.8

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.9 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	2.5	90 mins	Boil	6.0
1.0 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	2.5	60 mins	Boil	7.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Hefeweizen Ale White Labs WLP300

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.63

Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	73	3	21	148	24	30
Sparge	79	3	21	157	24	30
Final	119	5	33	238	38	47
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Water Profile Name: carrboro
Target Profile Name: standard

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 g
Lactic Acid: 5.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.000 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 g

Notes

speise -> 3gallons @ 3.25 volumes = 1.6 qt of speise
i pull 2 x 0.8qt of speise and sterlize @ 15psi in pressure cooker for 15 mins

2/5/19 0.3L 30g of DME starter of WLP300
2/7/19 good 3 vessel decoction brewday
followed notes from 2/12/18 brew notes without issue even though i forgot my new O2 setup no longer works so i jerry rigged an o2 setup.
pitched @ 3pm
2/8/19 8am no bubbling
@11am thin kreusen and slow bubbling
2/9/19 2″ kreusen and strong bubbling
2/10/19 1″ kreusen dropping and slow steady bubbling
2/12/19 kreusen dropping bubbling has stopped
2/14/19 no bubbling
2/21/19 bottled 3G + speise. 28 bottles. FG 1.010. tastes really good. a hair of skunk. We’ll see.

Best Bitter 3V Conical 1

March 21, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

Another NHC 2019 beer. See NHC details in my Schwarzbier discussion. I did change up this recipe a bit from last year. I went against my own advice and went to a blend of Whitbread Golding and East Kent Golding. Beer turned out well so we’ll see. I also adjusted for the larger volume of my conical.

Recipe Info
Recipe: best bitters 3v conical 1
Style: Best Bitter 11B BJCP 2015
Date: 02-05-2018

Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.048	1.040	1.048
FG	1.011	1.008	1.012
Color	7.5	8.0	16.0
ABV	4.9	3.8	4.6
IBU	46.0	25.0	40.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 73 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 15.775 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.93 G
Volume: 8.19 G
Temp: 154.0 F

Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.041
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.51 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 10.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 9.0 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
14.200 Lb	90.0 %	Maris Otter (Crisp)	82.0	3.0
0.900 Lb	6.0 %	Crystal, Medium (Simpsons)	76.0	55.0
0.675 Lb	4.0 %	Torrified Wheat	79.0	1.7

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.75 Oz	Challenger	7.6	60 mins	Boil	13.0
1.5 Oz	WGV	7.6	15 mins	Boil	13.0
1.5 Oz	East Kent Goldings (EKG)	4.6	15 mins	Boil	8.0
1.5 Oz	WGV	7.6	20 mins	Aroma	8.0
1.5 Oz	East Kent Goldings (EKG)	4.6	20 mins	Aroma	5.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	English Ale White Labs WLP002

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
1.000 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.49

Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	73	3	21	30	181	30
Sparge	64	3	21	30	160	30
Final	107	5	33	47	267	47
Target	75	0	0	0	200	0

Water Profile Name: carrboro
Target Profile Name: hoppy

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 28.391 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 7.500 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 8.0 g
Lactic Acid: 2.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 6.0 g

Notes

Mash 154f 60 mins
168f 10 mins

Ferment 68f for 2 weeks

1/29/19 1L 100g DME starter with 1 pouch of WLP002
1/31/19 normal 3V brew day. pitched @ 1:30pm entire starter at 68F
2/1/19 strong bubbling
2/2/19 steady bubbling
2/3/19 slow steady bubbling
2/4/19 ~5 sec
2/9/19 forced diacetyl test. both seemed negative to me. shook up fermter to get yeast back in suspension just in case 🙂
2/13/19 cold crashed to 35F
2/14/19 dropped cone. aeration stone was slowly leaking so wanted to get beer out
2/15/19 racked to keg. FG 1.015
tasted good. maybe a hair too bitter?
2/23/19 gelatin added. 30 psi 24 hours then 11psi at 35F.

Cal Common 3V Conical 1, Uncategorized

Cal Common 3V Conical 1

March 20, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

Another beer in NHC 2019 run of beers. Overall NHC thoughts covered in Schwarzbier discussion. This is the only beer I dry hopped out of all my NHC beers so I did get to take advantage of dry hopping with positive CO2 pressure as well as dropping the cone before and after dry hopping.

I should mention this recipe is based on recipe from local NHC gold medal winner Keith Eisel and adjusted for my system.

Recipe Info
Recipe: cal common 3v conical 1
Style: California Common 19B BJCP 2015
Date: 07-23-2017

Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.052	1.048	1.054
FG	1.012	1.011	1.014
Color	12.0	10.0	14.0
ABV	5.3	4.5	5.5
IBU	46.0	30.0	45.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 74 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 17.35 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 7.42 G
Volume: 8.81 G
Temp: 152.0 F

Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.045
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.86 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 10.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 9.0 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
13.500 Lb	78.0 %	2-row Pale Malt (Briess)	80.5	3.0
1.250 Lb	7.0 %	Caramel 40L (Briess)	75.0	40.0
1.250 Lb	7.0 %	Caramel 60L (Briess)	76.0	60.0
0.675 Lb	4.0 %	Victory Malt (Briess)	75.0	28.0
0.675 Lb	4.0 %	Carapils (Briess)	74.0	1.3

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
1.4 Oz	Northern Brewer (US)	8.7	60 mins	Boil	27.0
1.5 Oz	Northern Brewer (US)	8.7	10 mins	Boil	10.0
1.5 Oz	Northern Brewer (US)	8.7	20 mins	Aroma	9.0
1.0 Oz	Northern Brewer (US)	8.7	4.0 days	Dry Hop	0.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	San Francisco Lager White Labs WLP810

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
1.000 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.42

Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	72	3	21	78	116	30
Sparge	67	3	21	69	115	30
Final	113	5	34	119	186	48
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 30.284 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 8.000 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 5.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 4.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 2.0 g

Notes

Mash 152f 60 mins
168f 10 mins

2 weeks at 62f
Lager 3 weeks

1/20/19 1.4L starter w/ 140g DME WLP810 1 pouch
1/22/19 normal 3 vessel brewday. pitched full starter @ 1:30pm
1/23/19 8am steady bubbling
1/26/19 slow steady bubbling
1/28/19 ~ 13 sec
2/5/19 dry hopped
2/8/19 dropped to 35F
2/10/19 dropped cone
2/12/19 racked to keg for lagering
FG 1.014 . tastes good.
2/23/19 added gelatin. 30 psi overnight then 11psi @ 35F to force carb.

Vienna 3V Conical 1

March 20, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

This is the 2nd beer in my NHC 2019 run. All the same applies to this beer as the Schwarzbier.

Recipe Info
Recipe: vienna 3v conical 1
Style: Vienna Lager 7A BJCP 2015
Date: 01-03-2018

Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.052	1.048	1.055
FG	1.011	1.010	1.014
Color	14.5	9.0	15.0
ABV	5.3	4.7	5.5
IBU	34.0	18.0	30.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 17.78 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 7.56 G
Volume: 8.98 G
Temp: 150.0 F

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
7.200 Lb	40.0 %	Pilsner (Weyermann)	80.0	1.8
6.750 Lb	38.0 %	Vienna Malt (Weyermann)	79.0	3.4
1.800 Lb	10.0 %	Munich II (Weyermann)	82.2	8.5
1.800 Lb	10.0 %	Caraamber/Biscuit (Weyermann)	80.1	36.0
0.230 Lb	1.0 %	Midnight Wheat Malt	0.0	550.0

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.85 Oz	Magnum	14.1	60 mins	Boil	27.0
1.5 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	4.2	15 mins	Boil	7.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
0.500 L	German Lager White Labs WLP830

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
1.000 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.42

Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	61	3	21	75	93	30
Sparge	59	3	21	89	69	30
Final	101	5	35	135	138	50
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 32.176 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 8.500 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 4.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g
Lactic Acid: 2.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 2.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g

Notes

150f 60 mins
168f 10 mins

2 weeks 50f
2 day raise to 60
Hold through 3 weeks
4 weeks lagering

Carb to 2.5 volumes

Notes:
1/6/19 1L starter w/ 100g DME and 4 pouches of WLP830 German Lager
1/8/19 normal 3 Vessel brewday. no issues. pitched @ 1pm @ 48F. slow bubbling when I went to bed and moved up to 49F.
1/10/19 slow steady bubbling. bumped to 50F.
1/13/19 slow steady bubbling
1/14/19 ~11 sec
1/20/19 no more bubbling. raised to Diacetyl rest @ 60F
1/27/19 cold crashed to 35F
1/29/19 racked to lagering keg. FG 1.016. nice beer. no off flavors
2/23/19 added gelatin. 30 psi overnight for forced carb then down to 11psi @ 35F

Schwarzbier 3V Conical 1

Schwarzbier 3v conical 1

March 20, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

Pretty similar approach to NHC this year as last year. I assumed I’d get at most 5 beers (and I did get 5 for Tampa) so the plan was to brew the same 5 beers as last year. 3 made it to the finals last year (Schwarzbier, Vienna and Weizen)and 1 medaled (2nd for Weizen). The five are Schwarzbier, Vienna, Best Bitter, Cal Common and Weizen. They have all made it to finals one year or another (I think – maybe not the Cal Common?) and I really enjoy drinking all of them and they fit nicely into a schedule where I have enough ferment space. Lagers first into my two conicals. Then two ales into the two conicals after I rack the lagers to keg for lagering. Then the hefe into a carboy since I don’t need to cold crash it and i bottle condition it with speise.

No real changes to this recipe from last year other than having to scale it up from 4 gallons into a 6 gallon carboy to now about 6.5 gallons into a 7 gallon (it holds about 8 gallons) conical. That and I went back to Weyermann. Two years ago I won gold with this recipe with all Weyermann and last year I made it to the finals but switched to Best Malz since that was all I could get from my brew shop. Beer seemed good but didn’t do as well so back to Weyermann.

Only other change was i started a new yeast starter process. I now assume 90billion cells per white labs pouch. i calculate the yeast cells in need in Brewers Tool Belt (I’m on the app store! 🙂 ) . i always do a 1L starter which with 100g of DME grows ~100 billion cells so i subtract 100 billion cells from what I need. I then divide whats left by 90 to see how many pouches I need.
Example: for this beer I calculated I needed 425 billions cells. Subtract 100 billion to get 325 billion. Divide that by 90 and round up to 4 so I pitched 4 pouches of WLP830 into a 1L starter with 100g of DME (and a pinch of yeast nutrient 🙂 and put that on the stir plate for 48 hours. the idea is that i trust white labs to have happy healthy yeast, i just want to wake it up and get it ready to go to pitch. I also don’t want to have to decant the pitch and a 1L starter i’m good with putting in the whole thing.

Recipe Info
Recipe: schwarzbier 3v conical 1
Style: Schwarzbier 8B BJCP 2015
Date: 01-03-2018

Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.050	1.046	1.052
FG	1.011	1.010	1.016
Color	24.7	17.0	30.0
ABV	5.1	4.4	5.4
IBU	33.0	20.0	30.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 73 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info
Weight: 17.1 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 7.34 G
Volume: 8.71 G
Temp: 150.0 F

Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.043
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.81 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 10.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 9.0 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
10.350 Lb	61.0 %	Pilsner (Weyermann)	80.0	1.8
5.175 Lb	30.0 %	Munich, Light (Weyermann)	78.0	6.0
0.900 Lb	5.0 %	blackprinz	65.0	500.0
0.675 Lb	4.0 %	Caramel 40L (Briess)	75.0	40.0

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.9 Oz	Magnum	14.1	60 mins	Boil	29.0
0.7 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	4.1	15 mins	Boil	3.0
0.7 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	4.1	5 mins	Boil	1.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
0.500 L	German Lager White Labs WLP830

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
1.000 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.51

Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	65	3	21	78	98	30
Sparge	59	3	21	89	69	30
Final	100	5	34	133	137	48
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 30.284 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 8.000 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 4.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g

Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 2.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g

Notes

150f 60 mins
168f 10 mins

3 weeks at 50f
4 weeks lagering

Carb to 2.4 volumes

Notes:
12/24/18 4 pouches of WLP830 into a 1L starter with 100g DME to target 425 billion cells
12/26/18 normal 3 Vessel Brewday.
pitched all of 1L starter at 48F
raised to 49F @ 10pm
12/27/18 @noon slow steady bubbling. raised to 50F
12/30/18 slow steady bubbling
12/31/18 bubbling is slowing
1/1/19 happy new years! ~10 sec for bubbling
1/20/19 racked to keg for lagering
sample tasted really good. no issues. FG 1.014
2/23/19 added gelatin. 30 psi overnight to kick off carb

Uncategorized

Helles 3V Conical 1

March 19, 2019 hommel Leave a comment

Back to brewing for NHC!
I’ve brewed this beer before but I was reading some article (i really wish I could find the link!) on German Helles and Pils and someone shared some recipes direct from German breweries and they are using a good chunk of Munich (Braun) malt which the explanation was b/c they have moved away from decoction they felt Munich malt gave the closest color and flavor match. I had always used melanoidin malt for this effect but that was just b/c Jamil said so. Seems like German breweries may be a better source so I thought I’d give it a try. Now having tried the beer side by side with real German Helles it seems the article was right. I’ve always thought straight Pils malt Helles lacked some malt character I was picking up in Weistephaner and other German Helles and Pils I can get locally. 10% Munich seemed to get me right in same profile.
Similar plan to last year except I’m now fermenting in conicals which other than changing my volumes a bit and how I aerate hasn’t really changed things a whole lot from a brew day perspective. It’s now easier to takes sample for forced Diacetyl tests and gravity checks but they are also a lot more work on and in between brew days. The big advantage has been the ability to CO2 pressurize the headspace to add hops with positive pressure and to cold crash and then dump the cone till it runs clean enough to rack to keg. But for clean lagers I really haven’t found any real advantage to conicals since I was racking to keg before cold crashing previously. I guess it is a bit more complicated than that so I I’ll have to document my cold side practices in a stand alone article.
Last year, I brewed a Helles and then collected enough yeast from that to pitch my two lagers for NHC. My plan was to do the same this year. Things did not go as planned. One thing I have learned from conicals is they make it easier to harvest yeast since you are just dropping the cone but you have a much higher loss of yeast in the process. I’m only using 7G conicals so I’m sure it is much different as you go to larger sizes. For me, once I run off the nasty trub I only get about 350mL of clean yeast before I start running off clear beer. If I collect yeast from a carboy I was getting enough for (2) 500mL pitches (i would fill up sterilized mason jars). that said that was a mix of trub and yeast as well as about half beer. So the total yeast may be close but you lose a lot in the trub dump and then when you go to clean out the conical you will see there is a ton of yeast caught in all the nooks and crannies of the conical including trapped behind the bottom valve that didn’t come out before beer sneaks by. So with a carboy setup I was able to pull enough for two beers but the conical I can only collect enough for one. So I bailed on that plan and just grew up big pitches for the NHC beers and just enjoyed this Helles and dumped the yeast.
Recipe Info
Recipe: helles 3v conical 1
Style: Munich Helles 4A BJCP 2015
Date: 11-19-2017

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.048	1.044	1.048
FG	1.011	1.006	1.012
Color	4.2	3.0	5.0
ABV	4.9	4.7	5.4
IBU	21.0	16.0	22.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %
Mash Info
Weight: 18.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 7.78 G
Volume: 9.26 G
Temp: 152.0 F
Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.039
Predicted Mash Run-off: 6.12 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 12.25 G
Boil Duration: 90 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 10.0 G
Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
17.000 Lb	92.0 %	Pilsen (best malz)	78.3	1.5
1.500 Lb	8.0 %	Munich Dark (BestMälz)	76.1	12.7

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.65 Oz	Magnum	13.2	90 mins	Boil	19.0
0.35 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	4.1	15 mins	Boil	1.0
0.35 Oz	Hallertau Mittelfrüh	4.1	10 mins	Aroma	1.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
2.000 units	German Lager White Labs WLP830

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.44

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	65	3	21	78	98	30
Sparge	75	3	21	87	111	30
Final	103	4	31	121	153	44
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 30.284 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 8.000 G
Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 4.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g
Lactic Acid: 6.0 ml @ 88.000 %
Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.750 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.750 G
Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 4.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g
Notes
Mash 152f 60 mins
169 10 mins
Pitch at 48f
Raise to 50f over 24 hrs
Hold 2 weeks
Raise to 60 over 48 hrs
Hold through 3 weeks
Lager 1 month
Carb to 2.5-2.6 vols
12/4/18 made 2L starter w/ 2 pouches of WLP830 and 200g DME and a dash of yeast nutrient.
12/6/18 normal 3 vessel brewday. process is pretty well nailed down. conical too full with current amounts and need to cut down 0.5 – 1 gallons. pitched at 3pm at 48F. @11pm turned up to 49F
12/7/18 7am no bubbling
11am very limited bubbling. ~1 min. turned up to 50F.
8pm – slow steady bubbling
12/8-12/18 steady slow bubbling
12/14/18 ~10 sec
12/15/18 ~17 sec
12/16/18 ~35 sec
12/17/18 ~30 sec
12/18/18 ~ 38 sec
12/20/18 no bubbling. raised to 60F
12/27/18 cold crashed and 2psi co2 to 38F
12/31/18 dropped yeast. 350mL of very thick slurry but tossed it.
FG 1.012. tastes appropriately boring. clean. no off flavors. a little haze.

German Pilsner 3V 2

November 18, 2018 hommel Leave a comment

Thought it would be a good idea to brew a lager on the new conical setup before starting my NHC 2019 run of beers to make sure my process is solid. My favorite lager style is German Pilsner (ie bitburger and jever) so why not brew one up. I decided to use the most recent NHC winning recipe since it looked good.
Recipe Info
Recipe: german pilsner 3v conical 1
Style: German Pils 5D BJCP 2015
Date: 10-29-2018

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.048	1.044	1.050
FG	1.010	1.008	1.013
Color	3.4	2.0	5.0
ABV	4.9	4.4	5.2
IBU	42.0	22.0	40.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %
Mash Info
Weight: 18.0 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 7.63 G
Volume: 9.07 G
Temp: 149.0 F
Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.041
Predicted Mash Run-off: 6.01 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 11.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 10.0 G
Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
16.000 Lb	89.0 %	Pilsner (Weyermann)	80.0	1.8
1.000 Lb	6.0 %	Vienna Malt (Weyermann)	79.0	3.4
1.000 Lb	6.0 %	Carapils (Briess)	74.0	1.3

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
1.0 Oz	Magnum	12.0	60 mins	Boil	25.0
1.5 Oz	Hallertau	4.5	30 mins	Boil	11.0
1.5 Oz	Hallertau	4.5	15 mins	Boil	7.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
2.000 units	German Lager White Labs WLP830

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.44

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	68	3	21	30	171	30
Sparge	64	3	21	30	160	30
Final	96	4	30	44	241	44
Target	75	0	0	0	200	0

Target Profile Name: hoppy
Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 30.284 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 8.000 G
Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 8.0 g
Lactic Acid: 6.0 ml @ 88.000 %
Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G
Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 6.0 g
Notes
Mash 148f 90 mins
169f 10 mins
Pitch at 48f
48 hrs to 50f
Hold to 2 weeks
Raise over 48hrs to 60
Hold through 3 weeks
Lager for 2 weeks
Carb to 2.5 vols
I ended up using 11.1 lbs of Cargill 2 row since that was what I had left in my 50 lb sack and 4.9 lb of best malz pilsner since thats what my LHBS carries.
11/5/18 made a 1.7L starter 170g DME w/ 2 packages of WLP830 German Lager that were both pretty old. fingers crossed.
11/7/18 pitched @ 1pm at 48F. moved up to 49F before bed
11/8/18 @6am no bubbling. moved up to 50F
@8pm bubbling every 30 sec
11/9-12/18 slow steady bubbling
11/14/18 still slow steady but slowed a bit
11/16/18 ~6sec
11/17/18 ~10 sec
11/18/18 ~13 sec
11/19/18 no bubbling
11/20/18 ~20 sec appears to just be heat expansion
11/21/18 moved up to 60F
11/28/18 force diacetyl test and sample before cold crash
FG 1.010
clean. solid bitterness. nice hop flavor. young and hazy. not getting any off flavors
forced diacetyl test was double negative
12/5/18 cold crashed for a week. dropped cone. only got 500mL and only 250mL of that was yeast. WTF! not sure why i’m collecting so little yeast.
12/6/18 racked to keg. had almost 2 gallons extra. yow! put in keezer @ 38F
12/12/18 added gelatin
12/22/18 finally dropped super clear
comparison to warsteiner german pils
appearance: warsteiner is clearer (crystal clear) and just a hair more golden. head and carb are similar
aroma. mine is slightly sweeter smelling and just a little more herbal. warstiener has more bready notes and a bit of sulfur
flavor: mine is slightly more bitter. but close. hop flavor is similar. a bit of sulfur in warsteiner which is nice actually. a bit more malt flavor in warsteiner. comes across as bready. low but there
mouthfeel: similar carb. similar finish
pretty close. maybe a bit of munich malt to get color and bready notes. hops seem right.