Brew 34: Grapefruit IPA, December 18, 2015

I'll start this off by saying that as I write this, this is my favorite brew so far.  Expect to see it again in the near future.  The recipe is inspired by Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin.  I got online looking for a clone recipe and found this thread on beer advocate.  The tread quickly devolves into a "spirited discussion" of acid malt and mash pH. It's an entertaining read.  But before total war begins, there's a recipe, a good link to another thread about adding grapefruit, and a couple of good insights about the same.  I ended up using the grain bill from this thread, adjusted for efficiency and a hop schedule based mostly on this post on crafted pours.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 5 gal (5.25 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.074 (1.061)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.016 (1.010)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 69% (59%)
IBUs: 90
Color: 7.7 SRM
Style: American IPA
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Carbon filtered York water

Grains:
11.75 lbs US 2-row
1.5 lb Caramel 10
1 lb Dextrine
10 oz Cara20 (formerly Caravienne)

Hops:
0.5 oz Warrior (pellets) @ 60 min.
1.0 oz Centennial (pellets) @ 30 min.
0.5 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 20 min.
0.5 oz Simcoe (pelelts) @ 20 min.
1.0 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 10 min.
0.5 oz Simcoe (pelelts) @ 5 min.
0.5 oz Centennial (pellets) @ 0 min.
0.5 oz Centennial (pellets) dry hop 7 days
1.5 oz Amarillo (pelelts) dry hop 7 days


Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
2 oz grapefruit zest (10 grapefruits) dry hop 7 days

Yeast:
WLP090 San Diego Super

Brewing Notes
12/16/15 - Yeast Starter:
2 Liter yeast starter: 7c of water, 7oz Extra light DME, 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled 10 minutes and chilled to room temperature. Fermented on a stir plate.

12/18/15 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 18.5 quarts of water with PH 5.2 to 168 F in 8 gallon stainless HLT on outdoor propane burner
• Mashed in in 10 gal Igloo cooler, paddled until everything was well mixed and there were no dough balls. 60 minute mash rest
• 0 minutes: temperature was 151-152F
• 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 149-150F
• 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 148-150F
• 60 minutes, temperature was 148F, began vorlauf
• Manual Vorlauf: I run a 2 cup measuring cup full of wort out of the valve and gently pour this on top of the mash.  Then I repeat until I'm satisfied with the clarity.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.
• Ran off and fly sparged with 15.38 quarts of 190F with pH 5.2 water
• Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes
• Boil gravity was 12.8 - 1.051, which missed by 8 points.
• Brought to boil - 60 minute boil time
• Added:
  0.5 oz Warrior (pellets) @ 60 min.
  1.0 oz Centennial (pellets) @ 30 min.
  0.5 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 20 min.
  0.5 oz Simcoe (pelelts) @ 20 min.
  1 Whirlfloc Tab @ 15 min.
  1.0 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 10 min.
  0.5 oz Simcoe (pelelts) @ 5 min.
  0.5 oz Centennial (pellets) @ 0 min.
• Chilled  and siphoned to BMB, Volume was 5.25.  Look at the Whirlfloc work.
  
  
• Took an OG brix reading of 15.2% which calculated to to 1.061.  Obviously I missed on efficiency pretty bad here.  Based on the pre-boil reading I didn't get a bad reading on the refractometer. There's a possibility I had a bad crush on the grains.  Someone was adjusting the mill at the LHBS just before I milled mine.  The other possibility is that I didn't mash long enough at the lower temperature, but the temperature wasn't that low so I doubt this is it. I made some changes to my sparge for #35, which I'll spell out then.
• Pitched entire yeast starter, volume was now about 5.75 gal

12/18/15 - 1/3/16 - Primary Fermentation:
Transfer to 5 gal glass carboy. Measured 7.4% brix which calculated to 1.010.

1/3 - 1/23 - Secondary Fermentation:
The reason this one had longer than a 2 week secondary was just because of collecting the grapefruit zest.  Between my house and my parents' house we collected the zest of 10 grapefruits with as little pith as possible.  To keep these hydrated and preserved as well as sanitize we soaked them in vodka (just enough to cover the zest) for at least 48 hours.
On 1/16 dry hopped with 1.5 oz Amarillo, 0.5 oz Centennial, and all of the grapefruit zest and vodka.  I had to pull a little bit of beer out of the carboy to make room for all of this addition.

1/23- Kegging:
I bought myself a 3-tap kegerator for Christmas with a little help from my family. I had not yet taken delivery on it, but the LHBS hooked me up with the first keg, gas bottle, regulator, gas line, and disconnect.  Here's what I did:

• Cleaned and sanitized keg
• Reassembled keg except for stud and poppet on the "out" side so that the dip tube would fill
• Siphoned beer through sanitized mesh bag to strain
• Closed the keg
• Pressurized the keg to 20 psi then shut off gas
• Vent, Fill, Vent, Fill, Vent, Fill
• Reduced pressure to about 16 psi
• Brought the keg down to the basement which was about 50F ambient.  Left the gas bottle hooked up to force carbonate.

2/12 - 3-18 On Tap:
It probably didn't need the extra time in the keg but this is when I finally got the kegerator.

Like I said - favorite beer to date.  Expect to see it again soon. I wouldn't change a thing. I don't really care if its not a "clone" so I never did a side-by-side.

Brew #33: Belgian Dubbel 3, November 14, 2015

I wanted to make another Belgian Dubbel because the first 2 (#13 and #22) were among my favorite brews so far. But by this point I couldn't let myself make a third identical version of the same recipe. Because it was the middle of November, I wanted to make a "winter" verison, toning up the dark malts and the ABV.  I didn't make any changes to the hops or yeast.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 5 gal (5.25 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.070 (1.071)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.011 (1.011)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 69% (71%)
IBUs: 28
Color: 32.4 SRM
Style: Belgian Dubbel
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Carbon filtered York water

Grains:
9 lbs Belgian Pilsner
1 lb Special B
2 lb Caramunich
1 lb Caramel 60L
1 lb Dark Candi Sugar

Hops:
1oz Northern Brewer (pellets) @ 60 min.
1 oz Hersbrucker (pellets) @ 10 min.

Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.

Yeast:
WLP500 Monastery Ale Yeast

Brewing Notes
11/11/15 - Yeast Starter:
2 Liter yeast starter: 7c of water, 7oz Extra light DME, 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled 10 minutes and chilled to room temperature. Fermented on a stir plate. 500 likes to lag, so the starter took 2 days before it got started.

11/14/15 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 16.25 quarts of water with PH 5.2 to 168 F in 8 gallon stainless HLT on outdoor propane burner
• Mashed in in 10 gal Igloo cooler, paddled until everything was well mixed and there were no dough balls. 70 minute mash rest
• 0 minutes: temperature was 151F
• 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 149-151F
• 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 149-151F
• 70 minutes, began vorlauf
• Manual Vorlauf: I run a 2 cup measuring cup full of wort out of the valve and gently pour this on top of the mash.  Then I repeat until I'm satisfied with the clarity.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.
• Ran off and fly sparged with 16.75 quarts of 190F with pH 5.2 water
• Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes
• Brought to boil - 60 minute boil time
• Added:
  1oz Northern Brewer (pellets) @ 60 min.
  1 Tab Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
  1 oz Hersbrucker (pellets) @ 10 min.
• Chilled  and siphoned to BMB,
• Took an OG brix reading of 17.6% which calculated to to 1.071.
• Pitched entire yeast starter

11/14 - 11/22/15 - Primary Fermentation:
Siphoned to Secondary on 11/22. Brix was 9.0%? which calculated to 1.014. It was very blurry.

11/22 - 12/15/15 - Secondary Fermentation

12/15/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled with 4.6 oz of corn sugar in 2 C water.  Measurement was 8.6% Brix which translated to 1.011 FG, 7.9%.

Tasting:
This is good but not as good as the previous two.  The yeast character is great, but I think I overdid it on the Special B.  I find this one too raisiny.

Brew #32: Christmas Miracle Winter Warmer, October 28, 2015

Initially, I had named this "Time Change Winter Warmer" because I brewed it the weekend of the time change, but it was later renamed to "Christmas Miracle" as in "It will be a miracle if it is ready to give away by Christmas."  I'd call this one an original - I browsed a variety of sources online as well as the previous winter warmer I made in Brew #12 - but I ended up with something that would not be considered a clone or a variant on any of those.

I wanted something full bodied, high ABV, spiced, and with very little hop bitterness.  In other words I wanted to make something with mass appeal, but also just a little out of the "non craft beer" people's comfort zones. I used honey as a fermentable because so far I've liked what it does to beer.  There's also ginger, bitter orange peel, seeds of paradise, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla.  It's a bit over the top, but that's how we like it.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 5 gal (5.5 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.091 (1.083)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.016 (1.025)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 69% (67%)
IBUs: 33
Color: 17.7 SRM
Style: Holiday/Seasonal/Spiced
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Carbon Filtered York Water

Grains:
13.5 lbs Marris Otter
1 lb Caramel 60L
1 lb Caramel 20L
2oz Black Patent
1.5 lbs Honey (15 minute boil)

Hops:
1 oz Northern Brewer (pellets) @ 60 min.
1 oz Saaz (pellets) @ 10 min.

Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
1 oz Ginger Root @ 5 min.
1 oz Bitter Orange Peel @ 5 min.
1/2 tsp Seeds of Paradise (2g) @ 5 min
2 Cinnamon Sticks @ 5 min.
1 Cinnamon Stick @ 0 min.
2 Vanilla Beans Dry Hop 10 days

Yeast:
White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

Brewing Notes
10/28/15 - Yeast Starter:
Another 1.5 Liter yeast starter: 6c of water, 6 oz Extra light DME, 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled 10 minutes and chilled to room temperature.  Then I decanted a 1-pint jar of washed yeast from #30.  By the next day I didn't see any activity and didn't want to risk pitching a super low cell count so I bought a vial of 007 and added this too.

10/31/15 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 19.50 quarts of water with pH 5.2 to 172 F in 8 gallon economy stainless HLT on outdoor propane burner
• Mashed in in 10 gal Igloo cooler, paddled until everything was well mixed and there were no dough balls
• 60 minute mash rest
• 0 minutes: mashed in, temperature was 157F
• 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 156F
• 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 155F
• 60 minutes, began vorlauf
• Manual vorlauf.  I run a 2 cup measuring cup full of wort out of the valve and gently pour this on top of the mash.  Then I repeat until I'm satisfied with the clarity.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.
• Ran off and fly sparged with 14.75 quarts of 195F water with pH 5.2
• Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes
• Took a pre-boil refractometer reading of 15.6%, which calculated to 1.063 boil gravity, 2 points under target.
• Brought to boil
• Added:
  1 oz Northern Brewer (pellets) @ 60 min.
  1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
  1.5 lbs honey @ 15 min.
  1 oz Saaz (pellets) @ 10 min.
  1 oz Ginger Root @ 5 min.
  1 oz Bitter Orange Peel @ 5 min.
  1/2 tsp Seeds of Paradise (2g) @ 5 min
  2 Cinnamon Sticks @ 5 min.
  1 Cinnamon Stick @ 0 min.
• Moved kettle to the kitchen and chilled with wort chiller
• Siphoned to BMB,
• Took a refractometer reading of 20.2%, which translated to 1.083. Volume was 5.5 Gallons
• Pitched decanted entire starter
• Put the BMB in the beer corner of the dining room with a blow off tube.

10/31 - 11/7/15 - Primary Fermentation:

So this was new for me - 4 batches in process at a time (not including bottle conditioning).  1 of the carboys was borrowed.  Back to front are:

#28 Bourbon Barrel Porter (2), #30 Oak IPA ,#31 Honey Oat IPA (2), and #32 Christmas Miracle.

I put t-shirts over the hoppy beers to try to keep them from getting lightstruck.

Brix was 12.1% translated to 1.027 when I racked to the 5 gallon glass carboy. Racked on top of 2 vanilla beans.

11/7 - 11/17/15 - Secondary Fermentation:
Dry hopped with 1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz Centennial, and 1 ounce Amarillo on 11/1.

11/17/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled  with 4.1oz of corn sugar boiled in 2 c water to prime.  Brix was 11.8%, 1.025 (7.7% abv).

Experiment in Yeast Washing, October 18, 2015

THIS IS NOT A HOW-TO GUIDE!
I screwed this up somehow, so I'm posting this as "here's what I did" and not "here's how to do it."  If you see in my process where I went wrong, feel free to let me know in the comments or by email.  The yeast was WLP007 from Brew #30.
Here's what I did

• Racked the beer from the primary, leaving about a half inch of beer on top of the trub on 10/18, then put the primary lid back on,
• Boiled 6 clean 1 pint mason jars, lids, and rings for about 15 minutes
• Closed all of the mason jars, full of the boiled water
• Put outside to cool down to room temperature
• Poured 4 of the jars into the primary
• Swirled primary to break up the trub
• Allowed to settle 30-45 minutes until it clearly had 3 layers of trub, yeast, watery beer
• Poured off the beer and yeast back into the 4 jars, leaving the trub
• Capped the 4 jars and allowed them to cold crash in the fridge for about an hour while I cleaned my primary. Again, I clearly had 3 layers of trub, yeast, and watery beer
• Dumped the water from the remaining 2 jars and poured the watery beer and yeast layers from the first 4 jars into these
• Capped the jars, labeled and put them in the fridge for later.
• This whole process, start to finish, was about 3 hours

On 10/29 I attempted to use the first of these jars for Brew #32.  I decanted the jar to get the water beer off the top, then added the yeast and trub from the jar to a 6 cup starter.  I was used to seeing my starters take off within about 12 hours, so when after 24 hours had passed and the visible activity was still very anemic, I went to the LHBS and got another vial of 007 and added that to the starter. Then I threw away the other jar.  I just had no confidence in the quantity of viable yeast in these jars, and I don't like the idea of pitching unhealthy yeast in one of my beers.  I haven't attempted yeast washing since, becuase A) I use a pretty wide variety of yeasts, and B) I don't think it was worth the time invested to save $7-$8.

Brew #31: Honey Oat IPA 2, October 17, 2015

This is a repeat brew of my first original recipe, #19.  Rather than brew a straight-up repeat, I decided to make a couple of changes.  First - I changed up the yeast to WLP090 - San Diego Super.  I just wanted to give it a try. Next, I upped the flaked oats from 1 lb to 1-1/2 lb to try to give it a little more nuttiness.  Then the first time I made the Honey Oat, I used an assortment of 1/2 oz hop bags that I had left over from previous brews. This time, I didn't have the leftovers, and I didn't plan to split hops to make a true repeat.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 5 gal (5.25 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.067 (1.064)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.015 (1.007)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 69% (68%)
IBUs: 82
Color: 5.9 SRM
Style: American IPA
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Carbon Filtered York Water

Grains:
11 lbs US 2-Row
1.5 lb Flaked Oats
1 lb Honey Malt
8 oz Rice Hulls

Hops:
1 oz Columbus (pellets) @ 60 min.
0.50 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 20 min.
0.50 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 20 min.
0.50 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 5 min.
0.50 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 5 min.
1 oz Simcoe (pellets) dry hop 6 days
1 oz Amarillo (pellets)dry hop 6 days
1 oz Centennial (pellets) dry hop 6 days

Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.

Yeast:
White Labs WLP090 San Diego Super

Brewing Notes
10/13/15 - Yeast Starter:
Another 1.5 Liter yeast starter: 6c of water, 6 oz Extra light DME, 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled 10 minutes and chilled to room temperature.

10/17/15 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 17.50 quarts of water to 170 F in 8 gallon economy stainless HLT on outdoor propane burner
• Mashed in in 10 gal Igloo cooler, paddled until everything was well mixed and there were no dough balls
• 60 minute mash rest
• 0 minutes: mashed in, temperature was 151-152F
• 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 148-149F
• 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 147-148F
• 60 minutes, began vorlauf
• Manual vorlauf.  I run a 2 cup measuring cup full of wort out of the valve and gently pour this on top of the mash.  Then I repeat until I'm satisfied with the clarity.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.
• Ran off and fly sparged with 16.5 quarts of 200F water
• Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes
• Took a pre-boil refractometer reading of 13%, which calculated to 1.052 boil gravity, 2 points under target.
• Brought to boil
• Added:
  1 oz Columbus (pellets) @ 60 min.
  0.50 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 20 min.
  0.50 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 20 min.
  1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
  0.50 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 5 min.
  0.50 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ 5 min.
• Moved kettle to the kitchen and chilled with wort chiller
• Siphoned to BMB,
• Took a refractometer reading of 16%, which translated to 1.063. Volume was 5.25 Gallons
• Pitched entire starter
• Put the BMB in the beer corner of the dining room with a blow off tube.

10/17 - 10/26/15 - Primary Fermentation:
Nothing of note. Brix was 7.2% translated to 1.007 when I racked to the 5 gallon glass carboy

10/26 - 11/7/15 - Secondary Fermentation:
Dry hopped with 1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz Centennial, and 1 ounce Amarillo on 11/1.

11/7/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled  with 4.2oz of corn sugar boiled in 2 c water to prime.  Brix was still 7.2%, 1.007 (7.5% abv).  Yield was 47 12 oz bottles


11/20 - First Taste:
Was still flat

Later (and I don't know when) this did carbonate and I was once again very happy with it.

Brew #30: Elevation Fanboy Oak-Aged IPA, October 10, 2015

Here's another one for the "clones of things I've never tried the original of" category.  I had wanted to make an oak-aged IPA so I started browsing recipes online and came across this one on Crafted Pours. I made a change or two since I couldn't get some of the ingredients, and I wanted my oak chips to be bourbon-soaked.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 5.25 gal (5.5 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.081 (1.072)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.019 (1.016)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 69% (63%)
IBUs: 100+
Color: 10.3 SRM
Style: American IPA
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Carbon filtered York water

Grains:
14 lb US 2-Row
1 lb Cara20L
1 lb Munich
0.50 lb Caramel 60
0.50 lb Cara-Pils

Hops:
1 oz Galena (pellets) @ 60 min.
1/2 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 30 min.
1/2 oz Galena (pellets) @ 30 min.
1 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 20 min.
1 oz Citra (pellets) @ 10 min.
1 oz Centennial (pellets) @ 5 min.
1 oz Centennial (pellets) Dry Hop 10 days

Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
2 oz bourbon-soaked oak chips

Yeast:
WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast

Brewing Notes

10/8/15 - Yeast Starter:
2L starter, with 7 cups of water, 7oz extra light DME, 1/2tsp yeast nutrient, boiled 10 minutes and chilled. I added 2 drops of fermcap to keep this one from making a mess, then set this on my stir plate on medium until brew day. This yeast was very clumpy. Cold crashed and decanted overnight before brew day.

10/10/15 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 21.25 quarts of water with pH 5.2 to 167 F in 8 gallon stainless HLT on outdoor propane burner
• Mashed in in 10 gal Igloo cooler, paddled until everything was well mixed and there were no dough balls.  Mash in temp was 150-151F
• 60 minute mash rest
• 0 minutes: temperature was 150-151F
• 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 149-150F
• 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 148-149F
• 60 minutes, temperature was 148F, began vorlauf
• Manual Vorlauf: I run a 2 cup measuring cup full of wort out of the valve and gently pour this on top of the mash.  Then I repeat until I'm satisfied with the clarity.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.
• Ran off and fly sparged with 14.75 quarts of 190F water.
• Measured bre-boil brix of 15.2%, which converted to 1.061, so I missed here by about 5 points.
• Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes
• Brought to boil - 60 minute boil time
• Added:
  1 oz Galena (pellets) @ 60 min.
  1/2 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 30 min.
  1/2 oz Galena (pellets) @ 30 min.
  1 oz Simcoe (pellets) @ 20 min.
  1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
  1 oz Citra (pellets) @ 10 min.
  1 oz Centennial (pellets) @ 5 min.
• Chilled to 74F - Immersion wort chiller to 120, then ice bath the rest of the way.
• Siphoned to BMB, I had about 5 1/2 gallons
• Took a refractometer reading of 17.9% Brix which converted to 1.072
• Pitched decanted yeast starter

10/10 - 10/18/15 - Primary Fermentation:
Siphoned to Secondary on 10/18 on top of 2 oz of bourbon-soaked oak chips (see #28). Measured 9% Brix (1.013).

10/18/15 - 11/25/15 - Secondary Fermentation:
Dry hopped on 11/17 with an ounce of Centennial.

11/25/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled 50 12 oz bottles with with 4.2 oz corn sugar, boiled in 2c water.  Final Brix was 9.4% which calculated to 1.016 (7.4%).  I'll write some real tasting notes the next time I drink one.

4/23/16 - Bottle Bomb Update:
First ever.  I'm not sure what happened here, but I went down to the basement and smelled spilled beer. Upon further investigation, I found that one of the stubby bottles (Sierra Nevada) had exploded.  It wasn't a huge mess - it just soaked the cardboard case and dripped on the floor below.  This one has been pouring very foamy recently.  It doesn't taste infected, and the attenuation was around 77% when we bottled.  I'll drink one today and take a gravity sample to see if it has changed a lot in the past 5 months.

Brew #29: Dunkelweizen 2, September 26, 2015

Just like #8 this was a recipe from Bailee's.  The first time I brewed the dunkelweizen, we decided that it tasted like fall, so the following year I brewed it again.  Let's call this the "second annual" dunkelweizen.  This one is the all grain version, straight from the recipe book in the shop. Among the many things I like about this brew is that it is quick and easy.  I didn't make a starter, I brewed on 9/26 and I opened the first bottle by the end of October, and it doesn't seem to need any aging time.  This is a dark beer that tastes light, so it tends to appeal to people who say they don't like dark beers.  But it also has enough spice and flavor to appeal to those who like full-flavored beers.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 5 gal (5 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.062 (1.059)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.013 (1.012)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 69% (65%)
IBUs: 32
Color: 30.7 SRM
Style: Dunkelweizen
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Carbon filtered York water

Grains:
5 lb US 2-Row
5 lb English Wheat
1 lb Flaked Wheat
12 oz Midnight Wheat
4 oz Chocolate Malt
8 oz Rice Hulls

Hops:
1 oz German Northern Brewer (pellets) @ 60 min.

Yeast:
WLP380 Hefeweizen IV Ale

Brewing Notes

9/26/15 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 15 quarts of water with pH 5.2 to 165 F in 8 gallon stainless HLT on outdoor propane burner.
• Mashed in in 10 gal Igloo cooler, paddled until everything was well mixed and there were no dough balls.  Mash in temp was 150F
• 60 minute mash rest
• 0 minutes: temperature was 150F
• 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 148-150F
• 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 147-148F
• 60 minutes, began vorlauf
• Manual Vorlauf: I run a 2 cup measuring cup full of wort out of the valve and gently pour this on top of the mash.  Then I repeat until I'm satisfied with the clarity.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.
• Ran off and fly sparged with 17.5 quarts of 200F water.
• Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes.
• Brought to boil - 60 minute boil time
• Added:
  1 oz German Northern Brewer (pellets) @ 60 min.
• Chilled with Immersion wort chiller to 120, then ice bath the rest of the way.
• Siphoned to BMB
• Took a Brix reading of 14.7%, calcuated to 1.059.
• Pitched yeast directly

9/26 - 10/9/15 - Fermentation

10/9/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled 49 12 oz bottles with with 4.5 oz corn sugar, boiled in 2c water.  Final Brix was 7.6% calculated to 1.012FG, 6.2% ABV

End of October - First Taste:
Delicious from day 1.  Next time I drink one, I'll update with some real tasting notes.