Friday, June 13, 2008

Hops Update




The Hop plants are moving along pretty good. A squirrel or bird bit off the tops of both of them a few weeks back and I was nervous they we're going to keep growing, but they're doing well. Can't wait to see the buds!!




Cheers,


Jason

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Red Tide Amber Ale #2

This is a re-brew of the Red Tide Amber I made a few months ago. After getting the results back from the home brew competition, I decided to make a few changes and brew it again. One change that I made was swaping out 8 oz of Victory malt for 8 oz of Cara-pils ans 1 oz of Perle hops for 1 oz of Halertauer. I'm hoping that this won't change it too much, but just slightly enough.
I think the reduction of alpha's from Perle to Hallertauer will please me a bit more (probably not the home brew judges, but oh well). I like my hops, but this beer is for my family reunion an my family isn't into the hop bombs, so I'm giving this one a shot.

OG=1.050
FG=1.012
ABV=4.98%

Fermentables:
1 lb. 2-row
8 oz. Vienna
8 oz. Crystal 40l
8 oz. Cara-pils

5lb 8 oz. Amber Malt Extract

Hops:
1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min)
.5 oz. Hallertauer (4.25% AA, 45 min)
.5 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 45 min)
.5 oz. Hallertauer(4.25% AA, 30)
.5 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 30 min)
.5 oz. Fuggles (4.75% AA, 15 min)
.5 oz. Fuggles (Aroma)

Yeast:
Wyeast #1272 American Ale II

Mashed grains @ 150f-155f for 90 min in a cheese cloth bag. Mashed out at 168f for 10 minutes. Removed grains and brought to a boil. Follow the hop schedule from above and boil for 60 minutes. Cool to 75f and rack to carboy. Pitch yeast and let ferment. When fermentation is slowed to 1 minute between bubbles, rack to secondary.

Cheers,
Jason