Brewing a WeizenBock

This is another first time style and like a Dunkelweizen, takes a lot of wheat malt and uses the same yeast, Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen.
It should come out quite like the Kunkelweizen with a little more malt flavor, same color and with higher alcohol level.
Brewed at 01/10/10, here's the recipe and brewing numbers:

-Batch size = 5gals. Boiled volume = 7.5 gals.
- 8# Gambrinus wheat malt
- 1# Briess Munich 20 Malt
- 1# Gambrinus Vienna Malt
- 1 # Special B
- 2oz Chocolate Malt
- 2# Gambrinus Pilsner Malt
- 1# Flaked wheat
- 0.2oz Columbus hops boiled for 60min
- 1oz Willamette hops boiled for 60min
- 1 tsp irish moss boiled for 20min

Real OG=1.065
Expected FG=1.014
Expected ABV%=7
Color=19
IBU=22

Mashed for 60min at 157ºF and currently fermenting at 62ºF. This yeast generates lots of CO2, so be aware and make sure your fermenter has plenty of head space. After 2 days, gravity is at 1.038 and going strong, dropping about 14 points a day.

Click HERE for the review of this batch.

Brewing a Dunkelweizen - Part 2

This is the final report for the batch brewed on Dec 19th.
Now bottled for just over a week, this beer already taste great. Above, a photo of the final beer, nice color and good head. Banana notes very perceptible.
Here are the final numbers.:

OG: 1.044

FG: 1.009

ABV%: 4.5

Color: 16

IBU: 14


Mashed for 60min at 155ºF and fermented at 62ºF for 12 days. Bottled and primed with 1 cup of corn sugar in 2 cups of water, boiled for 15min and cooled to room temperature before adding to the beer. Used 1 smack pack of Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen.

Here is the fermentation profile:

Click HERE for the recipe.

When a yeast goes nuts!

Yeah right, all you know about predicting the yeast attenuation goes down the drain when a regular 1056 American ale yeast decides to go nuts and attenuates 94%. Nothing out of ordinary, regular amber ale recipe, but this yeast was really up to beat the hell out of the whatever sugars were left. Check the fermentation profile below.

OG was 1.054, FG at amazing 1.003.
I saved the yeast cake for a while but was afraid to re-use it and decided to dump the monster before it was too late :-)

Brewing a Brown Ale

1st day of 2010 and here I am, brewing another batch :-)

This is my second batch of all grain brown ale and decided to do few changes to the original recipe. Here's the recipe for this batch:

- 7# Gambrinus 2-Row Pale Ale Malt 2L

- 1# Briess Crystal 120L

- 1# Special B 115L

- 1/4# Chocolate Malt 350L

- 1/4# Weyerman Carafa 2 550L

Recipe numbers:

- OG = 1.050

- FG = 1.011

- ABV = 5%

- Color = 34L

- IBU = 23

Mashed at 159F for 60 minutes. Mashing efficiency was 73%. Boiled for 60 minutes and these were the boil additions:

- 0.4oz Columbus AA13% Hops for 60min

- 0.5oz Cascade AA6.9% Hops for 5min

- 0.5oz Saaz AA5.9% Hops for 5min

- 1tsp Irish moss for 20min

Used 1 smack pack of Wyeast 1056 American Ale, now at 70F. Will lower to 65F after 24h and keep it until fermentation is completed.