Stout Specifics

I had to look up some of the details I missed in my original Super Bowl Stout recipe posting since the Inland Empire Pro Am competition required a full recipe.  I thought I would post them here in case I need them in the future.

The Alpha Acid percentage of the hops:

Magnum  10.4% AA
Northern Brewer 10.5% AA

Yeast used:
WLP 013 London Ale Yeast (1/2 gallon starter)

Fermentation:
14 days at ~68F

I know, it's a boring post for everyone else, but at least it's not about wine coolers.

You Can't Win if You Don't Play

"You Can't Win if You Don't Play"...catchy slogan for the Illinois lottery, a game that is rigged in favor of the house.  You can't lose either, but they don't mention that.  Now homebrew competitions, that is another story; ideally the best beer should win.  But you still need to enter competitions if you want to win.

So what did Señor Brew™ do?  He bottled up some of his delicious Superbowl Stout and entered it into two competitions.  Or at least he thinks he did.

The first is the Maltose Falcon's Mayfaire competition.  This is the one Señor Brew™ is not too sure if he's in or not.  There was a problem with entries being picked up from the local home brew shop (LHBS) too early.  Señor Brew™ dropped off his entry before the cutoff time, but apparently the entries had already been picked up.  After email conversations with the competition organizer, he thinks he's in.  We will know for certain when the entry fee cheque is cashed.

The second is the Inland Brewing Second Annual Pro Am Competition.  The coolest thing about this competition is that the winner of Best of Show gets to brew his or her recipe on their 7 BBL system, and is also entered into the Great American Beer Festival's Pro Am competition.  Wish Señor Brew™ luck!

Barleywine Update

Just a quick update on the barleywine that was brewed in conjunction with my Superbowl Stout as part of a split batch.  It is kegged and cold conditoning in my mini-fridge.  I drew samples to measure final gravity and do a tasting--it tastes awesome!  Final gravity was 1.025, which puts it at 9.3% alcohol by volume.  I plan to get a hold of some smaller bottles (7 or 8 oz.) and bottle this one to save for special occasions.  I need to come up with a good name for this one--any suggestions, readers?

Revised Super Bowl Stout Recipe

OK, Señor Brew™ was way off in his Super Bowl prediction, but the sweet stout he brewed was a huge improvement over last years batch, and a major hit at this year's Super Bowl party.  So without further ado, here is the new and improved recipe:

(I don't remember if I mentioned in a previous post, but this was a split batch--I used the first runnings for a barleywine, and added the dark grains and used the second and third runnings for the stout--so you really get two recipes in one here).

Superbowl Stout/ Yet to be named barley wine
10 gallons stout/ ~2.5 gallons barley wine

Grains
18 lbs 2 row
2 lb pale chocolate
14 oz Carafa
1 oz roasted
1 lb cara munich 120L
2 lb cara vienna 20L

Additional ingredients
1 lb lactose sugar (stout)
8 oz turbinado sugar (barley wine)

Mash--single infusion 1hr 150F
Using only the 2 row and cara malts
Draw off ~ 2.75 gallons for barley wine.
Add additional malts and water
20 min additional mash
sparge ~11 gallons for stout

Hops--Barleywine
.5 oz Magnum 60 minutes
.5 oz Northern Brewer 30 minutes

Hops--Stout
.5 oz Magnum 60 minutes
1 oz Northern Brewer 30 minutes
.5 oz Northern Brewer 0 minutes

Sugars were added 15 minutes before end of boil
Lactose for Stout
Turbinado for Barley Wine

Stout
O.G. 1.055
F.G. 1.021
abv 4.6%

Barley Wine
O.G. 1.094
F.G. ???  (It's still in primary)
abv  ???

Posting this, I think it's time to draw a sample of the barley wine to taste and measure the F.G.  I should also look up the alpha acid percentages for the hops.  Stay tuned for further updates.  And yes, as a Bears fan, Señor Brew™ hated to post a photo of the Packers celebrating their win, but what can you do?

Superbowl Prediction 10-21

Actually, it's not a prediction of the score of Super Bowl XLV  (that's 45 to you non-Romans).  It's not a prediction at all.  It's the final gravity of Noble Square Brewing's Super Bowl Stout--1.021.  If that sounds high to you, keep in mind that this is a milk or sweet stout, with unfermentable lactose (milk sugar, hence the name) added to the brew right at the end of the boil.  It ended up just about where Señor Brew™ wanted it to, with a nice body and residual sweetness.  It got kegged tonight, and is force carbonating under high pressure to be ready for the big game tomorrow.

I took a look at my old Super Bowl Stout recipe, and realized that it was much too roasty for a sweet stout, so it has been reformulated.  I'll have to dig out my notes to find the new recipe, which I'll post later.  In the meantime, if you visited this blog to get an actual Super Bowl prediction, I'll give you one.  We will go with the final gravity, 10-21, Green Bay 10, Pittsburgh 21.  Happy Super Bowl everyone.

Brew Stand!

Señora Brew™ must have read the Christmas wish list post because she got Señor Brew™ some wire shelving for Christmas for his brewery!  Actually, she probably didn't read the last post, she might have gotten upset about the sexy Santa's helpers comment and put coal in Señor Brew™'s stocking instead.

So above is the photo of the new Noble Square Brewing setup--I used the shelving to create a 3 tier stand.  I have slightly modified it since the photo was taken, substituting an iron stand for the cinder blocks under the kettle.  I was getting some soot from an incomplete burn from the burners adjacent to the cinder blocks--they weren't drawing in enough air.  Now it's open to all sides, no soot and quick boils.  I brewed my Superbowl Stout on the system, and it was so easy.  No more lifting a full mash tun to a higher level so it can drain in the kettle.

You can see the natural gas burner under the brew kettle.  I ran a final test and it brought 12 gallons of water from 60F up to boiling in 38 minutes.  Fast!  In fact that's faster than the Blichmann Engineering top tier burner, and they're using propane (which burns hotter than natural gas).  I have to say, I'm very happy with this burner and system.  Thank you Señora Brew™!

Señor Brew™'s Christmas Wish List

Señor Brew™  has put together a Christmas wish list of things he wants to implement in the Noble Square Brewery this coming year.  He doesn't expect Santa's little helpers pictured above (or anybody else for that matter) to actually gift these things, they'll be stuff that he buys or builds himself:

New 20 gallon brew pot--since he is brewing less often, brewing a larger quantity at one time is ideal.   Upping the kettle to 20 gallons will allow him to do full 15 gallon batches without worry of boilover.  Señor Brew™ can then convert the current 15 gallon kettle to the HLT, and convert the 15.5 gallon keggle that is currently the HLT to a mash tun.

That means he needs to build a 3 tiered stand to safely hold these larger components, or a 2 tiered stand and pump.  A stand is already necessary, we have to figure out how to incorporate the new natural gas burner that is up and running.  With a pump, we'll also be able to use a Therminator style plate chiller, so we'll add that as well.  (This is a WISH list after all--Señor Brew™ will be happy if we get a third of these upgrades implemented this year.)

How about some easily implemented improvements that we should have already had for a long time now?  Like bubble wrap insulation for the HLT (instead of covering it with the grill cover, like we currently do).  If we convert the keggle to a mash tun, we'll need a false bottom for it.  There's an old one lying around the Noble Square Brewery somewhere--it was used in the old days when we mashed in a 5 gallon igloo cooler.

I'm sure there are other upgrades Señor Brew™ would like to implement, but that's a pretty good wish list for right now.  We don't want Santa to think he's greedy and put him on the naughty list.  Although speaking of naughty, he wouldn't mind if Santa's helpers stopped by Christmas eve for some Christmas brew and cookies.

Now That's A Fire!

I hooked my 32 nozzle burner up just to do a non-brewing test of it.  It seems to work fine as you can see from the photo above, or the video below.  I used some fittings to reduce the 3/4" burner inlet down to 3/8", which is the size of the flexible gas hose.  I'm going to have to take them apart and reconnect them because I used standard teflon tape which is not supposed to be used for gas line.  I have since discovered the error of my ways and bought some tape specifically for gas.  Safety first!

Now I need to build a stand.