What’s Cookin’?

Robust Porter

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:17:03 -0500

From a LHB brew kit that’ll be aged for 6-7 months. Included 1.5# of mixed steeping grains doing at 150F for 30 minutes.

Robust Porter
Beer Style: Porter
Recipe Type: Extract/Partial Mash
Brew Date: January 09, 2010

malt and fermentables
% LB MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L
75% 6.15 Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup 36 5
25% 2 Wheat Dry Extract 44 8

Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Original Gravity
1.066 at 72F
Final Gravity
Target 1.016 - 1.020

hops
USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA
Boil 60 mins 1.0 Newport pellet 9.3

Boil: 6.0 avg gallons for 60 minutes
Bitterness
9.3 HBU
37.7 IBU

yeast
White Labs Platinum Yorkshire Ale (WLP037)
ale yeast in liquid form with high flocculation

Alcohol
6.3% A.B.V.
4.9% A.B.W.
Calories
205 per 12 oz.

misc
USE TIME AMOUNT INGREDIENT
boil 15 min 0.5 ounces Irish Moss

New England Winter Warmer

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:11:17 -0500

From a LHB brew kit. Included 1.5# of mixed steeping grains doing at 150F for 30 minutes.

New England Winter Warmer
Beer Style: Ale
Recipe Type: Extract/Partial Mash
Brew Date: December 22, 2009

malt and fermentables
% LB MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L
75% 6.15 Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup 36 5
25% 2 Wheat Dry Extract 44 8

Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Original Gravity
1.060 at 72F
Final Gravity
Target 1.013 - 1.016

hops
USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA
Boil 60 mins 1.0 Newport pellet 9.3
Boil 01 mins 1.0 Goldings leaf 4.2

Boil: 7.0 avg gallons for 60 minutes
Bitterness
9.3 HBU
35.5 IBU

yeast
White Labs California Ale (WLP001)
ale yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation

Alcohol
6.3% A.B.V.
4.9% A.B.W.
Calories
205 per 12 oz.

misc
USE TIME AMOUNT INGREDIENT
boil 15 min 0.5 ounces Irish Moss

Update coming soon

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:48:11 -0500

It’s been a bit of a lag on the old blog. For that, I’m sorry. Updates galore are coming, though!
I was worried that my Double Rye IPA and a Golden Honey Kölsch were both infected with a bottling bug, but it was a false alarm, thankfully. Both batches have been well-received and tasty, especially the Double Rye IPA.
I’ve brewed twice since the last update, and those recipes will be coming shortly, as well as new pictures. I had helpers!
Thanks for visiting.

Bottling Day for Double Rye IPA and Golden Honey Kölsch

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:20:52 -0500

My day off seemed a good day to tuck away the newest members of the Gathering Brews family, a Double Rye IPA and a Golden Honey Kölsch.
Oddly, the ABV on both came in exactly the same: 5.764% Scary.

The IPA ended up finishing at 1.028 and the Golden Honey Kölsch ended at a respectable 1.010.
Looking forward to trying them in a few weeks. Until then, the Wee Heavy is tasty, and I’ve got three more batches in the clip, waiting to do.

A Busy Few Weeks

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:50:14 -0500

Since I last posted, I brewed a double rye IPA (recipe in separate post) and today, along with my friend Jon, brewed up a batch of kölsch (also in another post). I’ve got the fixings for three more brews ready to roll, two of which are reserved for my two-week vacation at the end of the year.
I also managed to drop and break another hydrometer... I’m just having a fine string of luck of the darned things. The up side is, I had an extra this time, so I’m back to having one, that I should probably just be careful with, no?
I’ve got some pictures up in the gallery of the two new brews.
Good to be back in the OG of the gravity game...

Honey Kölsch

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:50:07 -0500

From a Northern Brewer brew kit.

Honey Kölsch
Beer Style: Kölsch
Recipe Type: Extract
Brew Date: Nov 29 edit

malt and fermentables
% LB MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L
86% 6 Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup 36 5
14% 1 Honey 35 1

Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Original Gravity
1.054 at 70F
Final Gravity
Target 1.013

hops
USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA
Boil 60 mins 1.0 Hallertau Select pellet 1.5

Boil: 6.0 avg gallons for 60 minutes
Bitterness
3.0 HBU
10.6 IBU

yeast
Wyeast Kolsch (2565)
ale yeast in liquid form with low flocculation

Alcohol
4.9% A.B.V.
3.8% A.B.W.
Calories
164 per 12 oz.

misc
USE TIME AMOUNT INGREDIENT
boil 15 min 0.5 ounces Irish Moss

Double Rye IPA

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:26:40 -0500

Whipped up from a LHS brew kit. Should be interesting:

Double Rye IPA
Beer Style: American IPA
Recipe Type: Extract
Brew Date: 11/23/09

malt and fermentables
% LB MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L
67% 60 Wheat Malt Extract Syrup 36 3
22% 20 Wheat Dry Extract 44 8
11% 10 Corn Sugar (Dextrose) 46 0

Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Original Gravity
1.072
Final Gravity
Shooting for 1.017

hops
USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA
Boil 60 mins 1.0 Newport pellet 9.3
Boil 30 mins 1.0 Simcoe pellet 11.9
Boil 1 min 1.0 Simcoe pellet 11.9

Boil: 6.5 avg gallons for 60 minutes
Bitterness
9.3 HBU
60.4 IBU

yeast
White Labs California Ale (WLP001)
ale yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation

Alcohol
7.1% A.B.V.
5.5% A.B.W.
Calories
231 per 12 oz.
misc
USE TIME AMOUNT INGREDIENT
boil 15 min 0.5 ounces Irish Moss

Scottish Wee Heavy and Hops Update

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:33:08 -0500

Back in April, I brewed a Scottish Wee Heavy ale, that has since aged quietly in the basement. Today, I bottled it up for winter enjoyment. It ended up at about 1.026, resulting in a 7.336% ABV and it looks fantastic. Pictures are in the gallery. The taste was very nice. Mellow, slightly malty with a dry finish and real drinkable character. I used half a pack of Safale 04 to rejuvenate the beer for bottle conditioning, along with 3 oz. of priming sugar.
In the same gallery I finally uploaded some pictures of my hops. Three varieties produced cones this year—Mt. Hood, Cascade and Centennial—while the Newport variety was healthy but didn’t get big enough to produce cones this year. All those hops were dried, vacuum-sealed and put on ice until I’m ready to brew up some ales and such.
I’ve got supplies for three more brews on hand: a strong porter for aging, a winter ale and a double rye IPA. Unfortunately, I crushed my hydrometer today by accident, so until I get another one, I’m held up from brewing ... thankfully, they’re inexpensive!
Cheers!

A Long and Continuing Hiatus

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:51:41 -0400

It’s been quite a long time since an update. This summer has just not been conducive to brewing. My photography business is picking up steam—www.bmmimages.com or become a fan at www.facebook.com/bmmimages—but I haven’t forsaken beer! My hops plants grew and yielded good things. I’ll update with some pictures of that as soon as possible.
Also, I just returned from a business trip to Germany that was amazing and included many fantastic beers, of course, which I’ll post some pictures of, too.
I hope you’re all well, and I hope to get back to brewing after the fall photo sessions are tidied up.
Cheers!

Strawberries & Cream All Bottled

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 16:37:06 -0400

Updates have been sporadic, and for that I apologize. Brewing is on hold just for budget reasons for a little while. However, I did finally get the Strawberries & Cream bottled up finally. I had to add some more strawberry extract, about another 1.5 ounces, and I probably could have gone with the entire bottle, in hindsight. Ah well, I’m sure it’ll be good, still.
Hoping to do another round of the California common, as that has been the overwhelming favorite so far.
Also racked over some dandelion wine that Lori’s put together for later in the summer. Also, the hops are coming along nicely. I’ll post some pictures soon.