Revisiting Your First Homebrew

My very first homebrewed beer was back in the the fall of 2006. My brew-buddy (who long ago gave up the hobby) bought a nut brown ale extract ingredient kit from Oak Barrel Winecraft in Berkeley, CA (I had purchased the brewing equipment for him as a birthday present), and we got to brewing. After 2 weeks in the bucket fermenter and another 2 weeks in the bottle, we had 50 bottles of cloudy, sweet dark brown beer with about a half inch of sediment on the bottom of every bottle. But it tasted all right - more than all right - I was hooked.

Flash forward to the fall of 2012. I have now been brewing for 6 years and I am a pretty advanced-level all-grain brewer who has presented on brewing techniques and beer styles, and who is an active member of 2 different AHA- sanctioned homebrew clubs. I have brewed so many styles several times, and so many recipes have been honed and improved upon over the years. But I never went back and brewed another Nut Brown Ale.

Well, after a few different American-style brown ales came out pretty tasty - and after the malty, English-style brown ales seemingly faded from existence on the shelves of my local beer shops - I decided to brew up another batch of Nut Brown Ale inspired by my first homebrew.

Now that first homebrew was an extract beer, it was very dark brown (chestnut-colored), and it was balanced in favor of the malt. It also had an OG of 1.060 (we followed the advice of the guy working the counter of the LHBS and added a half cup of brown sugar to the boil). I was pretty sure some of the extract was "amber" and I remembered it had chocolate malt and crystal malt, but I wondered whether any other "steeping grains" were included - and what kind of extract did we use? Thankfully, someone on Hopville posted the recipe, although I am nearly certain that when I brewed it, the late hops were East Kent Goldings and were dropped in with 15 minutes left in the boil (not a flameout addition as indicated on the posted recipe). Nonetheless, I think I figured out how to brew this thing right - a lot of crystal malt, some chocolate malt, and some out-of-style "homebrew" flourishes.

I settled on using my ample inventory of Canadian Vienna Malt as the base of this recipe (not too far off from the Munich Malt base of the posted recipe). And on utilizing my beloved British Extra Dark Crystal Malt (120L from Crisp, though I usually use a darker one from Fawcett or Simpson's). And in keeping with the "homebrew flourish" concept, I added a bit of Golden Naked Oats. In lieu of standard chocolate malt, I went with some Crisp Pale Chocolate Malt (which, at 400L is actually darker than standard 350L American chocolate malt from Briess).

For the hop rate, I wanted to avoid anything citrusy or fruity and keep it similar to the 60 min Northern Brewer, 15 min East Kent Goldings recipe I remembered from my original brew. So I decided to use Nugget for bittering (a 60 min addition) and FWH with Glacier. I did add double the Glacier compared with the EKG/Willamette of the original recipe, but there is no way this beer will turn out to be a "hop bomb" by any means, with less than 2 oz of hops in it for a whopping 32 IBU at 1.060.

I mashed at 152 and used Nottingham (the yeast that came with my original kit, though we opted for a single vial of WLP002 with no starter because that was recommended to us by the LHBS. Everything in the brewday went pretty smoothly, aside from running out of propane while I was heating up my mash water (no harm done). I was shooting for 1.055-1.057, but a bump in extract efficiency (I think that Canadian Vienna Malt has a higher extract potential than the US Vienna Malt I used for my calculations), as well as a bit too much evaporation has led me to a situation where my beer will be just a bit bigger than planned (but even closer to my first batch), as I hit 1.060.

I followed the instructions on the yeast packet to rehydrate the yeast properly, then I added it to the fermenter with the wort temperature at 60F. I am shooting for a clean 62F fermentation, and planning on giving this beer 9 days at 62F followed by a few days (maybe a week) at ambient temp, and then a cold crash before I keg it.

Here is a simple un-scientific version of the recipe:

11 lbs Gambrinus Vienna Malt
1 lb Crisp Extra Dark Crystal Malt (120L)
8 oz Simpson's Golden Naked Oats
8 oz Crisp Pale Chocolate Malt (400L)

30g Glacier (5% AA) FWH
20g Nugget (10.9% AA) 60 min

Nottingham Dry Yeast (1 packet)

Mash at 152 for 60 min, no mashout
90 min boil
Ferment ~62F

SRM 26 (Somewhere between a Northern English Brown Ale and a Brown Porter, if you ask me)
IBU 32 (pretty tame for 1.060, but Nugget is a bold bittering hop, so I think it will come across fairly balanced)

Brewing at Mom's

Aside from the 100 qt mash tun that I let at Pat's after the last brewday, I took my entire system to my mom's house, as she has a yard and I do not. In order to be able to brew there sometimes, as brewing in my little apartment just isn't happening. I brewed on this system

last week, and took some pictures this time around. The beer is a black IPA and the recipes will follow the images.








Recipe: Enigma Black IPA
Style: 14B-India Pale Ale(IPA)-American IPA

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 35.00 l
Wort Volume After Boil: 27.00 l
Volume Transferred: 23.00 l
Water Added: 0.00 l
Volume At Pitching: 22.00 l
Final Batch Volume: 20.00 l
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.047 SG
Expected OG: 1.061 SG
Expected FG: 1.010 SG
Expected ABV: 6.8 %
Expected ABW: 5.3 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 65.6
Expected Color: 32.6 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 83.5 %
Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
US Mystery Malt 11lb 4oz (72.6 %) In Mash/Steeped
US White Wheat Malt 1lb 4oz (8.1 %) In Mash/Steeped
German Carafa Special II 1lb 4oz (8.1 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Munich 10L Malt 1lb 0oz (6.5 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Medium Crystal 12.00 oz (4.8 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
US Summit (14.6 % alpha) 15 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 80 Min From End
US Columbus(Tomahawk) (9.0 % alpha) 30 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 30 Min From End
US Centennial (8.5 % alpha) 100 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Summit (14.6 % alpha) 60 g Bagged Pellet Hops used At turn off
US Columbus(Tomahawk) (9.0 % alpha) 60 g Bagged Pellet Hops used At turn off
US Centennial (8.5 % alpha) 60 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
US Columbus(Tomahawk) (9.0 % alpha) 30 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped

Other Ingredients

Yeast: DCL US-05 (formerly US-56) SafAle

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name: No Chosen Schedule

Recipe Notes
Bulk of grain bill was a pre-measured recipe weighing 11 lbs 4 oz. Due to the loss of my previous laptop, I don't know what the recipe was (though I suspect it was a "bulked up" Kölsch or Altbier (without any carafa). 
 
My unusually poor hop harvest left me with too few hops to base a beer around, so these were added to the flameout. There was roughly 1/2 oz dried and it was mostly columbus with a little cascade.

The Carafa Special II was all added to the mash tun after the first runnings had drained, but before my batch sparge. I let that sparge steep for 15 minutes in order to get maximum color from the Carafa. The wort was nearly pitch black. First runnings wort was a medium amber, leading me to believe the "mystery malt" was a Düsseldorf Altbier malt bill.

Brewing a West Coast IPA (or Brewing Somewhere New)

Nine days ago, I brewed beer for the first time in over four months. Since my new apartment isn't a very brewing-friendly place, I co-brewed on my 10 gallon system with a friend at his grandfather's house and split the batch with him. We decided to brew a West Coast IPA because we both still had a ton of 2011 hops left and the new harvest is already picked, so it seemed like time to brew with those 2011 hops.

There were a few hiccups, due in part to my never brewing on that exact system before and in part on the fact that I was a bit rusty. I measured the mash water wrong and also the sparge water because of some fuzzy math and lack of caffeine - let's just call it a case of rusty brewing. So we ended up with a slightly lower efficiency than expected, and we got a more concentrated wort that subsequently needed to be diluted with water.

But everything is fermenting all right and I have managed to keep the fermentation nice and cool. Here's the recipe:

Recipe: New Oakland IPA
Style: 14B-India Pale Ale(IPA)-American IPA

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 49.00 l
Wort Volume After Boil: 40.00 l
Volume Transferred: 36.00 l
Water Added: 2.00 l
Volume At Pitching: 38.00 l
Final Batch Volume: 36.00 l
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.055 SG
Expected OG: 1.064 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Expected ABV: 6.9 %
Expected ABW: 5.4 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 75.1
Expected Color: 7.0 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 79.6 %
Mash Efficiency: 71.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
US 2-Row Malt 22lb 0oz (80.0 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Vienna Malt 4lb 0oz (14.5 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Carapils Malt 1lb 0oz (3.6 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Caramel Munich Malt 60 8.00 oz (1.8 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
US Magnum (9.5 % alpha) 30 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 90 Min From End
US Columbus(Tomahawk) (9.0 % alpha) 70 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 30 Min From End
US Amarillo (8.0 % alpha) 100 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Simcoe (10.0 % alpha) 50 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Citra (10.0 % alpha) 50 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Simcoe (10.0 % alpha) 120 g Bagged Pellet Hops used At turn off
US Citra (10.0 % alpha) 120 g Bagged Pellet Hops used At turn off
US Amarillo (8.0 % alpha) 60 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
US Simcoe (13.0 % alpha) 60 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
US Citra (12.0 % alpha) 60 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped

Other Ingredients
Whirlfloc Tablet 2 g used In Boil
Yeast Nutrient 2 g used In Boil

Yeast: White Labs WLP001-California Ale

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:IPA-Pale-ESB
Step: Rest at 150 degF for 60 mins

Brewing After Not Brewing for 3 Months

So I haven't brewed since June - crazy. And my new apartment has no outdoor space, so I am having to move my brewery elsewhere. I decided on my mom's house, though it is very far away, on account of that she will let me brew there and not hassle me about when or how often I do brew there. And MY LAPTOP WAS STOLEN! It was insured, so I got a shiny new laptop, but I lost DOZENS of homebrew recipes and I now have to buy a new copy of Beer Alchemy! Balls.

Anyway, a lot of non-brewing stuff has taken my attention. I swore into the State Bar of California, I opened my own law office, and I built a website for that law office, which you can go to by clicking on these links or just going to SchuylerCampbell.com.

But I still have a lot of 2011 crop hops left, so I am planning on doing 2 10-gallon batches of IPA in the near future - one Black and one Regular (possibly even a re-do of my Old School IPA - though the recipe is lost). We'll see. I miss having beer on tap.

Brewing Like Rogue

It's funny to think that Rogue, a brewery known for several renowned "classics" like Dead Guy Ale, Brutal Bitter (now annoyingly called "Brutal IPA"), Shakespeare Stout, and I2PA doesn't really brew many true-to-style beers. Indeed, of the above-named beers, only I2PA fits neatly into any BJCP category. Dead Guy Ale was inspired by Maibock, only extra hoppy and brewed with an Ale yeast. Brutal Bitter/IPA was basically meant to be Rogue's take on ESB - except it is extra bitter, wonderfully hoppy, and fermented dryer and cleaner than most English ales. Perhaps this is why it is marketed as an IPA now, except that it is too malty, not bitter enough, and doesn't really have an IPA-style hop profile. But who cares? It tastes great, and is probably Rogue's finest beer. I think that the reason Rogue's beers don't fit into the now-standard BJCP categories is because many of those beers predate the BJCP, or at least they predate the brewing industry's common acceptance of the BJCP style guidelines.

Back to Brutal Bitter - it is a great beer, really. It is very hoppy, robustly bitter (but in a balanced way), cleanly fermented, and with a rich caramel malt profile (not particularly toasty or biscuity). I would describe this beer as a hoppier, cleaner ESB. Famously, this beer is brewed with 100% Crystal hops, which must cost a small fortune, since they are extremely low in alpha acids, and so a massive amount must be used to get the beer as bitter as it is. I decided to make a similar beer with the same balance and focus on crystal hops, but at a slightly more sessionable strength. I ended up deciding to use an American super-alpha hop (Summit) for bittering, since it seemed wasteful to use so much crystal for bittering, and I like the bittering properties of Summit hops. Then I decided to fortify my domestic 2-row with a touch of Vienna malt to "up the ante" as far as malt profile. And I added a touch of wheat malt to smooth out the body and improve head retention. Rather than using a variety of crystal malts, I opted for a judicious dose of my "house specialty malt" which is Thomas Fawcett Medium Crystal (120 EBC or ~65L). I dosed it with crystal hops at 30 min, 10 min, flameout, and a big dose of dry hops - treating the hop profile somewhere in between an American IPA and an ESB, since that is how Brutal tastes to me. I fermented fairly cool and with WLP051 California V Ale yeast. I know that Rogue uses their house Pacman yeast for this recipe, but I had WLP051 on hand and since it is a relatively similar strain, I figured it wouldn't hurt to save myself some time and money and just go with this one. I mashed fairly low (150F) to keep it fairly dry. The result should be a medium-bodied, clean, hoppy beer with a rich malt backbone and without the usual-for-me citrusy hop kick.

The recipe:
Recipe: Crystal Ship ESB
Style: 14A-India Pale Ale(IPA)-English IPA

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 8.50 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 5.50 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.25 US gals
Expected OG: 1.055 SG
Expected FG: 1.012 SG
Expected ABV: 5.7 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 46.7
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
US 2-Row Malt 8lb 10oz (78.4 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Medium Crystal (120EBC) 1lb 0oz (9.1 %) In Mash/Steeped
US White Wheat Malt 12.00 oz (6.8 %) In Mash/Steeped
Canadian Vienna Malt 10.00 oz (5.7 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
US Summit (15.9 % alpha) 15 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Crystal (3.3 % alpha) 30 g Bagged Whole Hops used 30 Min From End
US Crystal (3.3 % alpha) 60 g Bagged Whole Hops used 10 Min From End
US Crystal (3.3 % alpha) 90 g Bagged Whole Hops used At turn off
US Crystal (3.3 % alpha) 50 g Loose Whole Hops used Dry-Hopped

Other Ingredients
1 Whirlfloc Tablet used In Boil (10 min)
1/2 tsp Wyeast Nutrient used In Boil (10 min)

Yeast: White Labs WLP051-California Ale V

Mash at 150 degF for 60 mins

Brewing After Diminished Victory

So I passed the California Bar Exam the second time around. Although passing the bar exam the second time feels a little like winning the special olympics, it is definitely cause to celebrate, so I am brewing a style I haven't attempted since my extract days - Imperial/Double IPA. It's not only a pleasant style to drink, but it also happens to be the most "celebratory" style I can think of, and a great style to brew when "money is no object" since it uses up a lot of hops. I am brewing this one with a pretty traditional hop bill and a now-traditional zero-crystal malt bill. Also unusual for me, the beer will be augmented by some cane sugar to keep it nice and dry and to boost the ABV a bit. I have a fresh cake of WLP051, so I will be using some of that for this beer and saving the rest for a Mirror Pond Clone I am planning to brew in the near future. Here's the recipe:


Passing the Bar DIPA
Style: 14C-India Pale Ale(IPA)-Imperial IPA

Wort Volume Before Boil: 9.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.50 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.02 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.053 SG
Expected OG: 1.080 SG
Expected FG: 1.014 SG
Expected ABV: 8.8 %
Expected ABW: 6.9 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 192.3
Expected Color: 5.1 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 81.6 %
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
US 2-Row Malt 16lb 0oz (88.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Canadian Munich 10L Malt 1lb 0oz (5.6 %) In Mash/Steeped
Sugar - White Sugar/Sucrose 1lb 0oz (5.6 %) Start Of Boil

Hops
US Centennial (11.1 % alpha) 60 g Bagged Pellet Hops used First Wort Hopped
US Apollo (18.0 % alpha) 50 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Columbus(Tomahawk) (13.2 % alpha) 50 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 30 Min From End
US Centennial (11.1 % alpha) 90 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Amarillo (10.1 % alpha) 90 g Bagged Pellet Hops used At turn off
US Centennial (11.1 % alpha) 30 g Bagged Pellet Hops used At turn off
US Amarillo (10.1 % alpha) 60 g Bagged Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
US Columbus(Tomahawk) (13.2 % alpha) 30 g Bagged Pellet Hops used Keg-Hopped
US Centennial (11.1 % alpha) 30 g Bagged Pellet Hops used Keg-Hopped

Yeast: White Labs WLP051-California Ale V

Mash at 148 degF for 60 mins

Problems with the BJCP Guidelines

I often gripe about issues I see with the BJCP guidelines. So I decided to put my feelings on the guidelines here: I actually credit some fault in many homebrew competitions to the BJCP for including some styles that I personally deem (in all my omniscient wisdom) to be too obscure and rare or undefined-in-their-home-country to be appropriate for judging. Other styles should be merged, I think. And some styles should have a better spot than Category 23. I also have some other issues with the guidelines. Among them:

Northern German Altbier and Düsseldorf Altbier: "Northern German Altbier" is exceedingly rare and basically fits within parameters of Düsseldorf Altbier, so the styles should be merged. And despite what the guidelines say, I do not believe anything called "altbier" in Germany is made with a bottom-fermenting yeast. Then again, if a brewer submitted a beer fermented with a lager yeast, no one would be able to tell that it wasn't a German Ale yeast fermented extra cool.

Scottish 60/-, 70/-, and 80/-: all three Scottish session ales should be a single style, IMO, or included with bitters since, in Scotland, that is how they are treated; and they are RARE in Scotland, as the hoppier "bitter" style has dominated the draught ale market for the past 30+ years.

Southern English Brown Ale: there is only one such beer brewed in England (Mann's Original Brown Ale) and it is pasteurized, never-cask-conditioned crap, which is not CAMRA-approved and not exported to the USA. Just fold this one into Northern English Brown Ale and call it "English Brown Ale."

Brown Porter and Robust Porter: should just be a single category since they can be fairly judged against each other and are so similar

Foreign Extra Stout and American Stout: should be merged into a single, "Extra Stout" category since any foreign extra stout fully fits within the guidelines of an American stout and the difference implies an American Stout needs a C-hop aroma which muddies judges' perceptions and causes judging errors.

English IPA: should be treated as a style of bitter, since that is how it is treated in England and cask ales almost NEVER exceed 6% ABV (most beers called IPA are under 5% ABV in Britain), the recent brewers who do English IPA's that fit within the style guidelines were inspired by American beers and usually use imported American hops - so they are really just brewing American IPA. My point being, the idea of a maltier-than-American-IPA 6.5% ABV hoppy ale brewed with British hops existing in any form in Britain is unfounded. If anything, splitting the American IPA into the styles of "East Coast IPA" and "West Coast IPA" makes more sense since both styles actually exist on a large scale, but I would just drop English IPA and fold it into bitters.

Belgian Pale Ale: while I appreciate the BJCP trying to create a style for De Koninck-style beers, the truth is that only De Koninck and Palm truly fit this style. Anyone who has tasted a fresh De Koninck in Antwerp and subsequently tasted a Rare Vos in upstate New York will tell you the two beers couldn't be further apart, stylistically. While I very much like De Koninck and Palm, there are too many Belgian Styles as is, and many more common styles in Belgium (like the modern trend of hoppy Blond Ales or the widely-seen style of "Red Ales" that are essentially toned-down Dubbels) are kept out of the guidelines. This is why there is a specific "Belgian Specialty Ale" category. In my opinion, this category should absorb "Belgian Pale Ale"

Sour Ale: while this style is basically well put-together, there is no "other sour ale" or "specialty sour" subcategory, despite the fact that 99% of homebrewed sours do not fit within the guidelines of the existing categories and end up overloading the Belgian Specialty Ale category as well as Category 23 with sours (which inevitably leads to especially bad apples-oranges problems for judges).

Strong Ale: I just don't see a reason for the distinction between Old Ale and English Barleywine.

If it were up to me, the guidelines would be shorter and probably with more "other ________" or "specialty ________" subcategories, but since these guidelines are what we have, they will define styles (and do - I have seen pro breweries in the US brew the BJCP "English IPA" as though the style was really English and not just a way for the brewery to sell an "IPA" brewed with fewer and cheaper hops like Willamette and Nugget. Regardless, I am glad the BJCP exists, despite its flaws, because these competitions would be hell if there were no universal guidelines.