Summer Time Calls for Summer Beer
It’s been up in the 90′s in Seattle which means that Summertime has officially hit (although it was terribly late this year…) Therefore, it was time to break ou the old standby: Nightengale’s Honey Ale. This beer is the epitome of lawnmower beers – light and refreshing with a hint of honey o make it special. This isn’t quite a session beer however, it rings in at about 5.5% ABV and can knock you off balance quickly if you’re not careful.
I didn’t modify the recipe too much except that I used Citra hops instead of Cascade. Here’s the recipe:
| Nightingale’s Honey Ale |
| Specialty Beer |
| Type: All Grain | Date: 7/11/2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batch Size: 11.00 gal | Brewer: Alex Shafer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boil Size: 13.14 gal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boil Time: 60 min | Equipment: Alex’s Setup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brewhouse Efficiency: 81 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ingredients | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Beer Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG | Measured Original Gravity: 1.060 SG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG | Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.32 % | Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.52 % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bitterness: 26.2 IBU | Calories: 266 cal/pint | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Est Color: 5.0 SRM | Color:
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| Mash Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge | Total Grain Weight: 13.00 lb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sparge Water: 11.44 gal | Grain Temperature: 72.0 F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F | TunTemperature: 72.0 F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE | Mash PH: 5.4 PH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carbonation and Storage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) | Volumes of CO2: 2.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pressure/Weight: 21.6 PSI | Carbonation Used: - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Storage Temperature: 52.0 F
I’m hoping to have this fermented and on tap for Saturday. We’ll see how that goes. |
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Add comment July 11, 2010
About Propane as it applies to Brewing Beer
I recently built a brewstand, if you are interested, check it out here: Brewstand. For the stand, I had initially thought that I would have a separate propane tank for each burner. This was mostly for simplicity’s sake, but also because I knew that if you drive one propane tank too hard, it cannot keep up. If you have ever been hitting a tank on full blast, you’ll notice condensation build up, and eventually freezing to the side of the tank. This is the result of a reaction in which the propane turns from liquid (in the tank) to gas (in the burner). The byproduct of this conversion is heat loss. The propane will drop from room temperature to below zero fairly quickly if you are using a large amount of it. As the temperature of the liquid drops, the pressure of the tank goes down and down, until you can no longer get the pressure you need to adequately keep the burners flowing. This is why I had initially though I would do a separate tank for each burner, so that this would not be an issue.
But 3 tanks seems a bit over the top, so after some though, I decided I would do two: one for the boil kettle (BK), and another for the mash tun (MT) and the hot liquor tank (HLT). I decided this because I know that I will never have a full burner going for the HLT and the MT at the same time, or if I do, it would be for a breif period of time (never over 10 minutes). Therefore, I decided that one propane tank would be sufficient.
The next step was to figure out how to get two burners to draw from the same propane cylinder. I had seen a couple of brewstands that use black steel pipe, so I decided that was the way to go. I went down to Lowes, and talked to the dude in the piping section (always a bad idea), and he sent me away to a propane specialty store. I went there, and they weren’t able to help much. So I decided to head back to Lowes and try to put it together myself. And it turns out your local box store is going to have eveything you need to put this thing together. Basically, this is what my manifold was comprised of:
- The first (and most important) piece is the propane regulator. This is the hose that goes from the propane tank to the piping. I made the mistake of buying one at the box store, only to find out that a normal barbecue regulator only delivers 0.5 PSI. This is not nearly enough to drive two burners! You need to find a regulator that is 20-30 PSI to run two high BTU burners. I am running 70,000 BTU burners, and so 20PSI was plenty for me. You’ll want to check, but the most common connection on the end of these is a 3/8″ male flare fitting. I got mine on amazon.
- So you need an adapter from 3/8″ flare to 1/2″ MIP. This will plug the regulator into the black steel pipe.
- From there you will need a ‘T’ fitting, followed by two 1/2″ valves rated for use with gas.
- After the valve (which you want as close to the burners as you can get them), you will need another adapter that goes from 1/2″ MIP to 3/8″ flare fittings again.
- Again, check on this one, but the adapter that my burners came with are 3/8″ flare. You do need propane specific adapters for the connection to the burner, otherwise you won’t get a proper flow. These adapters have a very narrow tube so that the propane is pushed out forcefully so that it makes it around your burner. I initially tried to use 1/4″ black steel pipe into the burners, and that did not work, you must have the proper propane fitting here. Mine came with the burners when I bought them. I got these from Agrisupply.com. I bought the BURNER CAST LOW PRESURE MULTI-HOLE 6″ which work great, but I would actually recommend you buy the CAST IRON HIGH PRESSURE BURNER because it has a higher BTU output for less money.
The most important part of working with black steel piping is to make sure that you wrench down the pipe really well. When you get it all put together, turn on the propane full blast and then spray on soapy water (I used my kid’s bubble mix) on all the joints and make sure there are no leaks.
All the black steel piping you could want is available at your local box store, just don’t ask anyone that works there, unless you’ve had success with that person in the past. Anyway, I just fired up my burners for the first time tonight after working out all of the leaks:
Add comment July 7, 2010
I promised some pictures…
Well, I’ve gone from humble beginnings to a pretty sweet setup over the last year. I wanted to show off a bit of what I have now. Lots of pictures of what I spend all of my free time creating after the break.
Continue Reading 2 comments July 5, 2010
From Virtual to Material
The Beer Sculpture is now nearly complete. All of my beer funds and energy have gone into this project for a couple of months now. I picked up the metal at my local hardware store and welded it at my parent’s house. My dad just recently bought a Oxy Acetylene torch and we decided that this would be a glorious first project. And it was! It has gone wonderfully. Pictures to follow, but it is mostly put together now with only a propane regulator to wait for before the initial brew on the new system can commence!
Add comment July 3, 2010
A Virtual BrewSculpture Emurges
Here is what I have been working on lately:
I’m hoping to start construction on this in the next couple of weeks. I’d like to see it in operation by June 1st.
Add comment April 21, 2010
Crooked Scottsman
I am kind of attached to the whole “crooked” angle for naming beer. I’ve made a Crooked Rooster Ale, and now on to the Crooked Scottsman. This one is a Scottish style export ale, weighing in at ~1.052, I used the following for my grain bill:
7.5lb Pale Malt
.75lb Wheat Malt
.5lb Crystal 40ºL
.25lb Roasted Barley
I mashed at 158° for 45 min and sparged to give me around 7.5 gallons in the boil kettle. I decided to do a 90 min boil, and as for the hops, I threw in:
1oz Chinook @ 60 min
because I didn’t have any english style hops. On a sidenote, this is the first brew where I didn’t have to go to my LHBS to get supplies. With the grain mill and yeast in stock, I just ground the grain, made a yeast starter, and now I’m brewing! It’s pretty sweet!
Add comment March 31, 2010
Irish Immigrant Stout
Well, there it is! My first home-crushed grains! I just bought a grain mill (from Monster) and I really love the versatility it gives me! As long as I am stocked up on yeast and have grains on hand, I no longer need to take a trip to the brew store to make a batch of beer! After you mill grains, they are only good for about a week, and so being able to mill them at home is a big advantage for me.
Today I am brewing Dry Stout. I started with a Guinness clone and sort-of made it my own. So it’s an americanized Dry stout, hence the name, Irish Immigrant Stout. I can’t wait to give it a try in a few weeks! It’s been too long since I brewed. This whole job-thing really cuts into my free time.
2 comments March 24, 2010
2010 Is Off to a Good Start
I finally got a chance to check on my hops today, and they are looking very nice indeed. They all have three or four shoots coming up. I need to build them a terrace in the next couple of weeks so that they will have something to climb, because it had to be dismantled last fall. I’m just hoping that the winter/spring stays mild without too much frost so that these guys get an epic start this year!
Add comment February 21, 2010
Pike Brewing is Awesome!
My brothers and I went to the tasting, and it was great. The ’97 and ’98 were like a fine brandy, very raisiny and just generally delicious. The ’07 was actually particularly delightful, a bit sweeter than the others, but well balanced. We also got to talk to the owners of Pike Brewing (Charles and Rose Ann), which was very enlightening. I had no idea of Pike’s history. Until I learned it, I didn’t know why Pike wasn’t really on my radar of spectacular Seattle breweries. It turns out that back in ’98, they sold off the brewery (along with some attached companies) to a bigger company and Pike really took a turn for the worst. It was a scummy bar with not much going for it. Fast forward to 2006 when they decided to buy it back. So for the last 4 years, the original owners have been working to get back what was lost while they were gone – one of those things being Old Bawdy. The atmosphere was very nice there and I loved the experience. I look forward to going there more often in the future, because it’s a great venue with a lot of awesome beer! If you haven’t been there in a while, I encourage you to check it out! Pike Brewing is on the rise, and quickly too!
Add comment February 5, 2010
VIP Tasting
I just secured tickets for a VIP (Very Important Pike) Tasting. It’s a vertical of their Old Bawdy Barleywine. They have 2009-2006 Varieties, and then for the VIP part, they found some properly cellared 1997 and 1998 Vintages! I’m pretty stoked to give them all a try, especially the 11 and 12 year old variety. That should be right around the aging sweetspot and will hopefully make for a very smooth and malty experience.
It’s tastings like this that make me want to keep on growing my cellar. I currently have around 30 commercial bottles in there, but it needs to keep on growing so that it will become somewhat sustainable over time.
Mmm, I’m getting thirsty just thinking about it.
Add comment January 14, 2010
