Sunset Stout #1

Brewed: 24 January 2016
OG: 1.053
Target: 1.042-1.044
Bottled: 28 February 2016
F.G: 1.014
Target: 1.009-1.010
Estimated IBU: 36
Estimated ABV: 5.2%
Target ABV: 4.2%

This recipe is taken from Beer Captured and I will not therefore reprint the whole of it here.

Extract and specialty grains combined in this brew to approximate Beamish Irish Stout.


I can't say for sure that it's close or not as I couldn't remember the last time I had a Beamish. It is however, quite good with a few caveats.

Nearly all black in color this stout pours with a moderate tawny head that does not last. Likely due in part to the fact that I chose to more lightly carbonate this batch than suggested.

The bottom of the glass finishes clean and despite the beer's darkness it is obviously nicely cleared.

I would imagine that if the target ABV was closer than a full point away it may not seem as thin flavor wise as I feel this is.

I ended up using some non-recipe hops I had to approximate the required bitterness as the hops I received through mail order had a much lower AA% than I had expected based on the average. There is likely some flavor skew because of this but not enough to be notable.

Strange to be off the numbers by so much in an extract recipe. The primary difference may come from not knowing if one of the ingredients should have been a liquid ounce or weighed ounce. I went with liquid perhaps increasing my OG by 10 points.

All in all, not bad...but not quite.

Smoky IPA

4 lbs. Maris Otter
4 lbs. Weyermann Rauchmalt
4 lbs. Briess 2-Row Pale
1 oz. UK Roasted Barley

4 AAU      German Hersbrucker
2.7 AAU   German Hallertau
12.4 AAU German Magnum
10.5 AAU German Northern Brewer

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Brewed: 3 April 2016

Single infusion mash
90 minutes 154° F

Calculated OG to fermenter: 1.061 @ 75% efficiency.
Measured OG at fermenter 1.067

Originally, I had planned to do a Märzen as is tradition once March comes. Unfortunately my schedule and the weather conspired against me. When I finally found some time, I made this essentially unplanned recipe.

Notes to come.

Back in Action - Sunset House and the Burnt offering.

After moving to my own home and having the space I have shifted at long last to all grain brewing.

It took some time to get up and running but after finally getting off my butt I have gathered up some new gear and restarted brewing with real interest again.

The new setup and location is affectionately referred to as Sunset House. If I ever get around to designing some lettering that I don't detest I may make labels for my bottles in the future.

The burnt offering is the unfortunate moniker of the first new brew with the new gear in the new place. Sadly, five minutes before the end of the boil the whole batch caramelized to the point of burning. It was a new burner and I was not prepared for how hot it would be, clearly. I figured what the hell though and fermented that batch anyhow. Curiously it offered the same weird high readings as the batch I had mentioned a few years ago. Wildly off the chart and completely unmeasurable. This time I could confirm that with two hydrometers and a spectrometer. I'm presuming that the free floating burnt sugar and hops debris renders it nigh impossible to actually get a reading.

Fermenting went fine. Strangely I still have no carbonation. It has been quite some time too. I bottled on the 10th of January. I'm not keeping the faith on that one.

About to come of age is another Dry Stout. Only two weeks in the bottle so far so we'll see what happens. 

Behind that is an ale in secondary. So far so good.

I had planned on a lager next but the unseasonable warmth has changed that plan so I'm not certain what's to come.

Measurements and racking...

Today I racked the oddball lager from primary to secondary and added some Galena hops to the secondary for dry hopping. The color is still a little dark but I have measured the current gravity and it falls pretty close to the expected zone. 1.01 SG to be exact which is actually a little low. The Galena are the "wrong" variety for the dry hop. It should be Crystal but I had the Galena pellets so, whatever.

Tasting the beer as it is at the moment it's actually close to what I was trying to get flavor wise. Don't get me wrong, it's no Kloster Kreuzburg. It could be more bitter. Not much more but I didn't do any calculations to bump up the volume of hops called for despite a lower listed AA% than called for by the recipe so it's expected to be low. So it's a little malty perhaps but otherwise, the general flavor is pretty close. The color is still off but now I am beginning to be pretty certain that it is from scorching. The difference between the measured O.G. and the current gravity suggests that there is 10% ABV. Not a chance. It's lower than that to be sure. Unfortunately the flaw in my measurements makes it impossible for me to know what the apparent attenuation really is. Bummer.

I would guess that if I can get enough carbonation into this one it's going to be a pretty good beer despite the flaws along the way. Fortunately that encourages me instead of making me second guess everything in my system.

Part of the fun of home brewing I guess.

I have no idea.

Well, it seems that the odds are against me these days as the "lager" that I am trying to ferment at the moment is being stymied by uncharacteristically warm temperatures. Dangit. I was banking on low 60's at most and here we are looking at mid 70's during the day.

Normally, I'd follow good ol' Charlie P.'s advice and not worry. Problem is with the previously mentioned issues in measurement I expect I'll have some trouble knowing for sure if the beer in the fermenter has finished for real. Not that I expect the ABV to hit the mark or anything but until I can figure out where the measurements are off I can't use a calculator to know if I've hit a target.

I did some searching to see where I could be off. I'm generally ignoring the SRM discrepancy since that could be chalked up to scorching. I don't suspect that's my problem but since it is a possibility I am assuming for the time being that's the flaw there. That being said, based on some forum searches I guess it isn't uncommon for the cheap-y brewing hydrometers to be off some. Unfortunately not the 40 points I'm seeing. I may get a new hydrometer and compare the two.

I don't understand how the first bunch of attempts were within the margins of all the calculations and recently my forays into beer brewing have been met with faulty outcomes.

I may try and brew a few considerably smaller batches to get a larger sample size to check my method and equipment.
In the meantime, I'll have to keep my eye on the currently sour smelling fermentation going on in the corner.

Hmmmm...

So, after a long hiatus after ceding disappointment in the smoked beer I tried (It ended up down the drain), I decided to brew another batch. This time I figured I would try, despite the lack of appropriate cold storage, a kind of lager. I figured a lager not unlike the beauties I had in Europe this past summer would be ideal. Bavarian excellence. Think like Munich's Hofbräuhaus only on a smaller scale, from places like Wurzburg or Bamberg.

Well, here's the thing. Something is amiss in my system for sure. As I had mentioned in my "Super Efficiency" post, recipe calculations and my O.G. readings didn't cooperate. Well, here again, I have an issue. It's not a point here or there on the scale either. It's a whopping error. I thought perhaps I should measure my water. Boring I know but then at least if it was a hydrometer error, it would show in tap water too. I know that it should realistically be distilled water but a giant error would show in tap water as well.

No dice.

Tap water measures correctly. I suppose my thermometer may be wrong but, even 20 degrees can't account for the variation. My measuring cups certainly can't all be wrong for water volumes, I suppose my scale could be off but calculators lead me to believe that would have to be by a factor of 2 to be coming out where I am measurement wise. I will say that the SRM estimations are all off too. Sure that's an eyeball kind of thing in an operation such as mine but probably worth noting. It's certainly the kind of thing that until I can figure out in an extract recipe leads me to think that hybrids and full mash are probably best avoided.

I'm at a loss. It's extraordinarily difficult to hit a target if you can't figure out how you're missing.
I have way more sugars in the fermenter than I should by calculation so I guess in a week or so, I'll see what happens.

Oh well...

Not Quite

Well, I've had a few of the stout. It's not really what I was aiming for. The basis is good but there isn't quite enough body for the style. I'd like a richer malt flavor over all. I was definitely looking to get a lighter session beer and this is close. I think there is a little too much alcohol for the style and I'm sure that also accounts for some of the missing body.

Not bad overall for a first shot at this style. I'll definitely try it again with some recipe modifications. I think that as time goes on I'll have some opportunity to get some other opinions on this particular beer as well. At least one of my cronies says it grows on you. I would have to agree but it still never rounds out flavor wise.

On another note...

The neglected smoke beer is still in the fermenter. I've ended up being crazy busy with work and such so it's just aging there quietly. I've got a trip coming up so it'll be at least another week before I get the beer into bottles. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.