Lemonweizen in the bottles

The FG turned out to be 1.016 (no different tha last week).

(36) 12-ounce, (4) 22-ounce and (1) 2-liter wine bottle (corked of course). I was out of bottles :)

Barb said it tasted like a light beer.

Update on Lemonweizen

During the week, the fermentation could not have went smoother. You can smell the lemon.

Today I transferred it to secondary. I took a gravity reading and it is now at 1.016. I tasted it and it was really good. It kinda reminded me of a corona with lemon squeezed in it but better. I'm really looking forward to next week when it gets bottled.

Lemonweizen

I received this months publication of Brew Your Own magazine and am attempting this recipe in the 10 Wildest recipes.

Lemonweizen recipe
2.5 lbs Coopers wheat liquid malt extract (replaced with 3 lbs of Ken's wheat LME)
2.0 lbs Briess wheat DME (replaced with 3 more lbs Wheat LME)

0.5 lbs lager malt

0.5 lbs malted wheat
0.5 lbs Carapils malt
0.5 lbs raw wheat
1.0 oz lactic acid (15 minutes) . I actually added 0.5 oz
1.0 oz lemon zest (at rest for 15 minutes)
1.0 oz Tettnanger hops (60 minutes)
0.5 oz Saaz hops (15 minutes)
Wyeast 1007 (I used a White Labs German yeast)
7/8 cups corn sugar

Steps (modified to my recipe)
- Steep crushed grains between 148-153 (mine was right at 150) for 45 minutes
- Combine grain tea and LME and enough water for 6 gallons in pot
- Boil for 60 minutes (adding hops as indicated)
- At 15 minutes left in Boil add lactic acid
- Add lemon zest when boil is complete and let it sit covered for 15 minutes
- Cool Wort 70 degrees
- Pitch yeast

After the wort was cooled, the gravity reading reported 1.050 (originally was to be 1.044). I'm guessing that it was higher because of the substitutions of LME.

Fruit Ale (Strawberry) #2

Summary of a Strawberry Ale I made around Christmas 04.

I originally made this recipe back in April. My wife really enjoyed it. The first time I made it, I did not add in the irish moss at the 15 minute mark of the boil, but did add the gelatin. The beer was clowdy (expected), because of the enzymes contained in the strawberries. I think the only way around this is to put pectic enzyme in the fruit before you add it in and keep transferring it with geltin, until it gets clear. My wife didn't care, so neither did I.

I will post the recipe when I get the chance, but here is how it went.

This beer is very easy to make. It uses very little hops and no additonal specialty grains. I think the popularity in the recipe is based on it';s simplicity and effectiveness. From beginning to end everything went fine. I made sure to not make the mistake I made with the recent IPA and added water when necessary.

Once the boil was complete, I cooled it and the OG was ~ 1.050 and trnasferred it to the primary.

3 days into the primary, I simmered 7 pounds of strawberries, cooled it, and added them in. I didn't bother with another gravity reading, due to the strawberries sinking to the bottom. Once the primary was complete, I took a gravity reading (1.010) and tranferred to secondary with a teaspoon of geletin dissolved in clean warm water to get some of the strawberry particles to sink.

When secondary was complete the FG was ~ 1.008 and it was still clowdy. It tasted pretty good and was pleased that no wild yeast bacteria formed.

It came out to 2 cases and has been complete for 1 month now. My wife enjoys them occasionally. Some were not sealed well for some reason as some are more carbinated than others. All in all, successful.

Dog Fish Head 90 (maybe more like 120) IPA

This is a summary on a recipe for Dogfish Head 90 in the September Edition of Brew Your Own magazine started around Thanksgiving 04.

I followed the All-Grain instructions, but should have added water in during the boil as this was a 90 minute boil. I only ended up with around 4.5 gallons. The OG is estimated to be around 1.075. This was a very concentrated beer.

Once the primary fermentation was done (8 days), it was still at roughly 1.022. I tasted it and could taste the alcohol and hops, but was pleased at the time. There is rough 4.25 gallons.

Once the secondary was complete the FG was ~ 1.018. I mixed in the priming sugar and bottled it. Only ended up being about 4 gallons. Very strong flavor. This beer is roughly around 9%, by estimates. Most people might not have a palate for this type of beer, because of the hops.

I have had this beer bottled now for a little over 2 months. The carbonation is there, but not enough to create a head for the beer. The hops have a nice balance for the strength. When I sit and practice guitar, I usually only have 1. So far, I am the only one that can handle style (IPA) of this beer. I have made IPA's in the past, but this one was so strong, I think it killed the yeast before it had a chance to finish carbonating.

I think next time I will choose the Yeast that yields that tolerates alcohol (not many do around 9%) and I will make sure I supplement water during the boil.

I will try to locate the recipe and edit this post.

Wit/Brown Ale Update

I bottled the Wit. It has a nice citris aroma and you can make out the spices. The FG was 1.004. It came out to roughly 2 cases.

Unfortunately, something went wrong with the Brown Ale. I tastes awful. I decoded to take it to Ken and get his opinion. Ken didn't seem to like it too much either. He characterized it as a beer that developed a wild yeast and had a bandaid feel to it. He did say that it wouldn't hurt to drink it. When I got home, I dumped all the bottles and used them for the Wit.

In hindsight, I would guess that the plastic fermentator may have been the culprit. With the recent Honey Porter fermenting in it, I may not have cleaned it out well enough and residual natural yeast from the honey created some sort of hybrid satan yeast.

Oh well. That's why I have this journal.

Mead and Wit

After 2 months, I have finally moved it to the secondary.

The SG was 1.050 and it tastes very sweet. Will give it a month and then check the gravity again.

I transferred Belgium Wit to Secondary as well. It's SG was 1.004 and it has a pretty complex taste.

Will send to bottles next weekend.