HOP Farm 2012

Hop harvest 2012, 10lb fresh, 5.5lb dry.
Had to give away all my 2011 hops, still had over 3lb left.

Blue Moon Clone tests continue

Just a heads up, brewing another batch (#7) where I replaced the oats with 2 TBS of corn starch. My feeling is that I will get a thicker beer with chill haze, like the commercial BM. I'll post the results in a week or two.
Cheers.

UPDATE 09/18/12 - Recipe number #7 can be found  HERE
The beer tasted great and had more chill haze, which match better the commercial BM.
I made a mistake on the top water so got a little higher OG.

YUCA BEER (UPDATE)

Here's the final recipe and brewing numbers:

-5lb gambrinus 2row

-1lb carapills

-5lb fresh yuca root

-S04 yeast

-1 tsp irish moss for 20min

-2oz goldings for 15min

Fermented at 65F for 2 weeks.

OG=1.035

FG=1.007

ABV%=3.6

SRM=2

IBU=14

Here's the yuca after going thru my meat grinder. Added to the mash with the grains.

And the iodine test after mashing for 1h at 150F. Doesn't seem to have any starches. I was surprised on my OG. Low points coming from the yuca.

The beer came out OK, very crisp and refreshing, not much flavors coming from the yuca that I can tell.
I added some fresh ginger to half of the bottles. It tasted great.

YUCA BEER

YUCA BEER

Raw yuca root

 Peeled and deep fried

Planning this crazy recipe using yuca root, a popular ingredient in South America. Also called cassava or manioc, it is eaten just like potatoes, boiled and/or deep fried or ground and toasted to be used as a type of flour (tapioca or "farinha"). Delicious! Consider it a "potato on steroids". It it much more dense than potatoes and my understanding is that is has much more starch. The plan right now is to brew this recipe:
-5lb 2 row pale malt
-5lb crushed yuca meat, fresh
-S04 dry yeast fermented at 65F
-1oz hallertauer for 30min
-1 tsp irish mosh for 20min
-mash at 150F for 1h
-Boil with 1oz fresh sliced ginger and 1oz sweet orange peel for 15min

I'm wondering what the yuca will add in terms of flavors, body and appearance. I expect that the enzymes from the base malt will convert all starches from the yuca. Will mostly brew this on Sat Feb 11th 2012.

Update 02/12/12
Brewed this yesterday and made few changes on the fly. Decided to add some carapils to increase body and FG and did not add any spices yet. Will taste the final beer and will decide on the spices for a secondary. This way I can get the feel for any flavors coming from the yuca, if any. Also, OG came out quite lower than expected. My initial assumption was  a PPG of 30 coming from the yuca. The actual PPG is estimated at 15, so it will be a low ABV beer, like 4% or less depending on FG. Will post the updated recipe when I get a taste of this beer.

Update 02/22/12
Fermentation is completed. Beer is still sitting in primary at 65F and it looks amazingly clear. FG is 1.008 and as expected, ABV will be low at around 3.5%. But it tastes clean and crispy. I'm not going to add any spices , just waiting to buy my keg system to transfer and carbonate. So far, not much Yuca taste that I can tell.

Update. Please check full results at newer post HERE

Irish Red Recipe

Here's the recipe for an Irish Red, brewed few weeks ago. Color came out a little light I think, but it tastes great.

- 9lb 2row

- 1/2lb Carapils

- 1/2lb Crystal 10L

- 1/2lb Belgian Biscuit 25L

- 2oz Chocolate 350L

60m boil with the following additions:

- 1oz goldings for 60min

- 1oz goldings for 5min

- 1 tsp irish moss for 20min 

Mashed at 155F for 60min, fermented at 68F with S04 and these were the final brewing numbers:

OG=1.048

FG=1.010

ABV%=4.9

IBU=21

SRM=10

Fermentation profile is below.

Cream Ale Recipe

Here's a delicious beer, got the recipe from Homebrewtalk.com. This is one of the best beers I have brewed to date. Very light, easy going and creamy beer!

All grain recipe, 5gal batch:
-9lb 2 row malt
-1/2lb carapills
-1/2lb biscuit malt 25L
-1lb flaked corn

Mashed at 155F for 1h and boil as follow:

-1oz hallertauer 4% for 60min
-1 tsp irish moss for 20min
-1/2oz hallertauer 4% for 10min
-1/2oz hallertauer 4% flameout

Used Safale S05 yeast at 68F and these were the brewing numbers:

OG=1.049
FG=1.007
ABV%=5.4
SRM=5
IBU=17

Here's the fermentation profile:

Hop Harvest 2011 update

Here's the final numbers on the harvest this year. I huge increase from last year. Total, harvested over 12lb of hops which represented an increase of almost 50% from last year. Ended with almost 6lb of dry hops, an increase of 70% from last year.
Here's the data. Got to brew a lot of beer now.