Boundary Waters Wheat

If there are three things I love, they are the Boundary Waters and Beer and Beth (the three B's). So when I saw this recipe on midwestsupplies.com, I had to try it. Romer came over ate some chili (see bobcatchow for recipe) and made a batch of brew. I plan to bottle it in some plastic bottles and take it on my Boundry Waters Canoe Trip this year. Whos in?

Ingredients:

6 lb. Wheat liquid malt extract
1/2 lb. Caravienne
1/2 lb. Carapils
1 oz. Sterling hops
1 oz. Palisade aroma hops
White Labs American Hefeweizen WLP320

OG: 1.042
FG: 1.009

ABV = 4.3%

Fermentation Temp: 68

Bavarian Lager

Next up is a Bavarian Lager.  I brewed it on 1/19/11.  This recipe is from Mr. Beer, called Prince Ludwig Lager, and I followed the directions pretty close.

RECIPE INCLUDES:
1 Can Octoberfest Vienna Lager HME
1 Can Whispering Wheat Weizenbier HME
2 Packets Dry Brewing Yeast
1 Packet Saaz Pellet Hops (only used 1/4oz and froze the rest for later use)

I plan on letting it ferment for about 3 weeks and will keep you updated on the progress...

So we had a brew night, 2/11/2011.  We bottled the Bavarian Lager and started the next brew as well.  I added 2.25oz of corn sugar to the beer before bottling so it would be evenly distributed (opposed to adding sugar to each beer). 

Tried the first one this past weekend, and overall it was pretty good.  You can smell the wheat in the beer before but has a good finish. 

Columbus Beer Festival

A group of us went to the Columbus Beer Festival last weekend.  It had about 150 different beers from a ton of small craft breweries and some that you have heard of.  It was a great opportunity to try some beers before you pay $12 for a six pack and realize you don't like the beer.  We tried to rate them on a scale of 1-5 as we tasted them so we could buy them later.  Jeff have you tried Rivertown Brewery in Cincy?  They had a couple of really good beers...here are some of our favorites:

Brewery                           Not so Scientific Rating          Beer                        Style

Rivertown Brewery                    4-4.5                        Dunkel                 Munich Dunkel
Rivertown Brewery                    4                             Vienna Lager              Lager

Rivertown Brewery                    4-4.5                        Amber                       Amber

DogFish Head                            4-4.5                     90 Min IPA                  IPA

Wooden Shoe                             4-4.5                       Canoe                      Wheat 

Left Hand                                  4-4.5                        Milk Stout                  Stout

Heavy Seas                                4                          Letter of Marque         Rye Beer

Fat Head's                                  4                          Head Hunter IPA            IPA

Fat Head's                                  4.5                     Bean me up Koffee     Coffee Stout

Founder's                                  4.5                           Porter                   American Porter

Treogs                                     4                           HopBack Amber            Amber

Ferocious IPA

Bought this Shaefer beer glass from World Market because it reminded me of buying an $18 six pack from Tony's bar at 3:00 a.m. (I hope this doesn't incriminate him). The beer is a Ferocious IPA clone from midwestsupplies.com. (best homebrew website ever). Turned out great considering I poured in an extra gallon of water by mistake and blew the top off my fermenter. However, I learned that beer is resiliant and you should never throw out a batch. Just give it a little time and TLC. I let this sit in the primary for 2 weeks and 3 weeks in the secondary.

Ingredients:

6 lbs. of Gold liquid malt extract
3.3 lbs of Amber liquid malt extract
4 oz. of Crystal malt 50-60L
1 oz. Warrior hops
2 oz. Amarillo hops
2 oz. Simcoe hops
1 oz. Ahtanum hops
White labs yeast
priming sugar

Original Gravity: 1.066
Final Gravity: 1.016
IBUs = 82

My first brew!!

So here is my first attempt at brewing...

I start with the basics, a Mr. Beer kit, the standard pale ale, and no idea what I was doing.  Lucky for me, I have friends that are a few brews ahead of me and good instructions.  Followed the directions to the tee so no deviation on this one.

I let it ferment for 15 days and bottled the beer.  We collected glass bottles (pry off) to use for the beer.  Ran them through the dishwasher and started bottling.  A little sugar in each bottle for carbonation and let it sit AGAIN.

I tried my first beer 5 days after bottling, mostly because I couldn't wait any longer.  My first impression was, Holy shit I didn't completely mess this up!  It needed a bit more carbonation, a few more days to sit, but overall it was good.  A very crisp taste, some people said a slight sweet taste, but very drinkable.  It tastes much better if you use a glass and leave the butt of the beer in the bottle, there is a lot of sediment that settles at the bottom.  If you try to pour it more than once you will get that in your glass giving it a yeasty, "homebrew" taste.  Overall, very simple, but a good introduction to the process.