More confident about 2nd batch

Just finished my second batch last night. I have a higher level of confidence on this one than I did on the first (knocking on wood now). The first one was a True Brew Red Ale. Just for kicks, I cracked open the first bottle yesterday while brewing. It had carb'd up, and tasted OK. Just OK, but still good. Not bad. Not great. No real off flavors, it just was not as flavorful as I had hoped, but it does indeed taste like red ale.

Yesterday I attempted what I believe is a pretty straightforward IPA, made up the recipe myself, but I'm sure something just like it has been done a million times over.

1 lb Crystal 10L - steeped 35 min @ 150 in 1/2 gallon
6.6 lbs Light LME
1 lb Amber DME

1 oz Nugget @ 60
.5 oz Willamette @ 12
.5 oz Cascade @ 12
1 oz Willamette @ 5
1 oz Cascade @ 5
.5 oz Willamette @ 2
.5 oz Cascade @ 2

11.5g US-05

OG - 1.061

Planning on 5 day dry hop of 1 oz each Cascade and Willamette.

Cooled down in ice bath, then poured through a paint strainer into bucket, resulted in a softball size chunk of hops and crap. Topped off to 5 gallons, aerated by stirring and sloshing it around. Rehydrated the yeast and pitched at 85 (a little warmer than I wanted but I had to take my daughter to the playground). Went down to the basement this morning and it is bubbling away at 68 deg.

Sounds pretty tasty to me. I think I would've subbed out the amber extract for something lighter but should be good. So what's up for your third batch?

DocScott said:

Sounds pretty tasty to me. I think I would've subbed out the amber extract for something lighter but should be good. So what's up for your third batch?

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I used the amber DME because I wanted something to give a little color in addition to the majority Light LME. Just a personal preference thing, and experimenting. Wort has a nice hue to it.

Next up is going to be a Sam Adams Summer Ale clone. Got some outdoor projects this summer and I decided it would be nice to have a mid-afternoon, mid-work break beer. I had SA Summer Ale for the first time a few weeks ago and really liked it. I'm still working on getting a stockpile up...this IPA is going with me to a week-long family reunion in 6 weeks if all goes well, so it will not help the stockpile at all. I'm thinking about picking up second pail/lid/airlock.

Sounds great... And the obsession grows...

The only way to get better is to keep trying and learn from your mistakes. Let us know how the ipa comes out.

Sounds like a good second batch! I agree with Doc's point though, if you're already steeping grains might as well get your color and flavor from those if you can. For example you could have used crystal 60 instead of 10, which is likely what's in the amber. The problem with the darker extracts is you don't know what's in them, so it can be hard to replicate your recipe exactly if using different brands, or especially if you transition to partial mash or all grain. Just a thought.

Welcome to the obsession!

Sounds like you've already bypassed the mistakes made by new brewers by your second batch (wort aeration, yeast re-hydration, aware of the importance of yeast pitching temps, etc). You must be doing a LOT of researching/obsessing, aren't you?

goodgodilovebeer said:

Sounds like you've already bypassed the mistakes made by new brewers by your second batch (wort aeration, yeast re-hydration, aware of the importance of yeast pitching temps, etc). You must be doing a LOT of researching/obsessing, aren't you?

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Hey, I got 8-9 hours a day at work.

chickypad said:

if you're already steeping grains might as well get your color and flavor from those if you can. For example you could have used crystal 60 instead of 10, which is likely what's in the amber. The problem with the darker extracts is you don't know what's in them, so it can be hard to replicate your recipe exactly if using different brands, or especially if you transition to partial mash or all grain. Just a thought.

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Good to know. I'll definitely try to incorporate that methodology into future batches. It looks like the generally accepted idea with extract brewing of these types (lighter/medium ales) is to start with a plain light extract and build up to where you want to be as much as possible with grains? I decided to use this second batch to baby step my way out of the kits, so I think I forgot about that somewhat.

Any tips on steeping the grains? Given my OG, it seems like whatever I was going to get out of the grains, I got out, but would it have beneficial to steep for longer than 35 min at 150, in 1/2 gallon?

Well after 8 days fermenting, I took a reading and I was at 1.016. Tossed in 1 oz Cascade and 1 oz Willamette for the dry hop, and I'll let that go 5 or 6 days. I drank the sample I pulled for the reading, and it put a smile on my face. The citrus of the late hops definitely shines through, and has a nice orange/grapefruit flavor. Too early to judge at this point, but a 2nd batch may be in order with a bit more bittering hops, but we'll wait and see.

I would love to see the recipe you put together for the SA summer ale. that is a great all day drinker and is easy for all my BMC drinkers to put back (I pity the fools!)

There are a bunch of Summer Ale recipes floating around out there, and they are mostly the same but have some slight differences in hop additions. Also, Some used Nottingham and some used US-05. I went with this one : http://www.beertools.com/library/recipe.php?view=6216

I picked up another bucket and brewed this one Sundayt. I went with 1lb 2-row instead of 1/2 lb, because that's what I had. 3.3lbs wheat LME, 3 lbs extra light DME. I should say however, that I messed this batch up. My 9-month-old started pitching a fit and my wife was busy so I messed up some timing. I got distracted and the 5 minute additions ended up being done in the 10-15 minute mark. Should still turn out fine, but just different. Planning on giving this one 2 weeks in the primary, then cold-crashing and bottling.