My goal with each new batch of beer is to do something I’ve never done before. I use this experimentation as a way explore and learn about the world of beer and brewing. There are usually several new things that I introduce each time I brew, but overall I try to limit the variables to a small extent in order to help me understand the role that each one plays. In this case, I’m trying out a new style. Also, I’m working with both LME and DME in a single batch. While I’ve worked with each on their own, I’ve never combined them. It shouldn’t really be a big difference, but it’s still a new variable.

This particular recipe comes from the replicator column in the December 2009 issue of Brew Your Own magazine. It’s a clone of Great Lakes Brewing Co’s Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. This is a small regional brewer located in Cleveland, Ohio. I’ve never actually had the original and have never seen it distributed on the west coast or even anywhere west of the Mississippi. I chose this recipe based only on my recent interest in the porter style. I can only judge the results against my experience with other porters and not whether it stacks up as a successful clone.

Original Recipe

• 6.6# Coopers Light Unhopped Extract
• 1.1# Light DME
• 12oz Crystal 60L
• 8oz Chocolate Malt
• 8oz Roasted Barley
• 1oz Northern Brewer 9% AAU
• .5oz Fuggle 4.75% AAU
• .5oz Cascade 5.75% AAU
• WLP013 / Wyeast 1028
• Yeast Nutrient

Profile

• OG 1.060
• FG 1.015
• IBU 37
• ABV 5.8%
• SRM 34

Notes

I’ve quickly found out that my LHBS introduces yet another unforeseen factor into the mix as well. They’re a very small shop with limited space for warehousing the vast array of ingredients that recipes can call for. As a result, ingredient substitutions are sometimes necessary. In this case, I’ve been forced to substitute Safale 04 as the yeast and Styrian Goldings in place of the Fuggle. Additionally – though probably less notable – I used a generic pale LME rather than the Coopers branded light extract. I’m not entirely sure about the exact name or brand sold at my particular shop. They simply measure requested quantities out into 1 gallon buckets from a much larger unmarked 55 gallon barrel.

Stats

• Brew Date: 11-15-09
• Actual O.G. 1.060
• Actual F.G. 1.020
• Actual ABV: 5.3%
• Actual IBU: 31

Schedule

• Steep grains in 1.5 gal water @ 155° 30 minutes
• Northern Brewer @ 60 minutes
• Fuggle @ 30 minutes
• DME @ 15 minutes*
• Yeast Nutrient @ 15 minutes
• Cascade @ 0 minutes
• Primary: 3 days
• Secondary: 11 days

*One final deviation I’ve made to my version is to use late extract addition and with the DME. This leads to a slightly higher IBU due to greater hop utilization. It could also potentially reduce the effects of extract caramelization which include a higher SRM (darker color) and off tastes. In the case of a dark beer such as a porter, these aren’t significant issues anyway.

Brew Day

With two batches now under my belt, I’m beginning to feel a bit of confidence in the basic processes. There are three simple tenets to the mise en place of the brew session – sanitizing, cooking water, and measuring hops. Anything that touches the wort after the boil must be properly sanitized. Since this is a partial boil extract recipe, additional top off water must be first boiled and set aside to cool. More water must be heated both for steeping and rinsing grains. Finally, the hops additions need to be measured out for adding during the boil as well.

Everything seems to be going smoothly. Then, disaster strikes. Knowing the risk of burning undissolved extracts, I’ve made sure to turn off the stove’s burner while the malt extract is poured and mixed into the kettle. Regardless, I’ve still somehow managed to burn it. Either my boil is too vigorous or the extract just isn’t fully dissolved before turning the burners back on. Large black flecks begin to circulate in the boil. I’m not sure exactly what has gone wrong, but what resemble large flakes of peeling paint are threatening to ruin my brew. I try to reduce the damage by lowering the heat while still maintaining a boil and using the brew spoon to attempt to collect and fish out these burnt extract confetti bits throughout the hour long boil. My only hope is that anything I can’t manage to get out of the wort is going to settle out into the trub during fermentation. It’s a gamble, but the only choice I have given my limited experience and resources.

Final Notes

Had this been another style, the problems during the brewing session could have been much more devastating. Luckily, any off or burnt flavors or darker color produced from the scorched extract are able to blend well with the porter style. Additionally, the material has mostly settled into the trub and been removed from the final bottled product. Having prepared a yeast starter instead of simply relying on un-rehydrated dry yeast might have also increased attenuation and helped to get closer to the expected final gravity.

Despite these shortcomings, after priming and bottle conditioning it still ends up being great beer. It might not be anything resembling a proper clone of its namesake, but I don’t much care. Successful recipe cloning and reproduction may certainly be a display of technical brewing expertise. I’ve taken a slightly different path here. Using one interpretation of an existing successful commercial recipe I’m continuing to follow the ethos of the craft and homebrew worlds and created something that is my own.

Bell’s Two Hearted Ale is an IPA brewed by Bell’s out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Unfortunately, it isn’t available on the west coast. My first introduction to it was through a visit to the Patton Alley Pub during my vacation back home in Springfield, Missouri. It’s a straightforward dry-hopped IPA brewed with all Centennial hops. Having enjoyed my sampling and not having any access to it back home, I decided to attempt a clone. After a quick bit of Google research, I had a base extract recipe and shopping list.

Ingredients Shortlist


6# Extra Light DME
12oz. Wheat DME
8oz. Aromatic Malt
8oz. Crystal 10L Malt
3.5oz. Centennial 10% AAU
WLP001 Ale Yeast
Whirlfloc Tablet


Hop Schedule


1.5oz. @ 60 minutes
0.5oz. @ 15 minutes
1.0oz. @ 5 minutes
0.5oz. Dry Hop @ 6 days in secondary for 7 days


The clerk at my LHBS recommended sticking with a cheaper single liquid extract instead of two different more expensive dry malt extracts. Taking his advice, I replaced the six pounds and twelve ounces of dry extract with eight pounds of pale liquid malt extract. According to BeerSmith’s calculations, this seems to produce a slightly darker, lower A.B.V, and more bitter beer. The difference does not seem to be significant, though. There is a bigger difference in stats due to using the late extract addition method. Less extract at the beginning of the boil means increased hops utilization and a higher final IBU.

Vital Stats


Target OG w/ LME : 1.063
Target OG w/ DME: 1.064
Target FG: 1.014
IBU w/ LME: 76.7
IBU w/ LME w/o LEA: 50.9
IBU w/ DME: 72.8
SRM w/ LME: 10.2
SRM w/ DME: 6.4
Expected ABV w/ LME: 6.35%
Expected ABV w/ DME: 6.51%

Actual Measured Session OG: 1.060


Session Recipe Summary


6 quarts water @ 158 degrees
4 quarts water boiled, cooled and set aside in primary
8oz. Aromatic Malt +
8oz. Crystal 10L Malt @ 155 degrees for 30 minutes
12 quarts water @ boil
2# Pale LME @ 60 minutes
1.5oz. Centennial Pellet Hops 9% AAU @ 60 minutes
6# Pale LME @ 15 minutes
1 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 minutes
0.5oz. Centennial Pellet Hops 9% AAU @ 15 minutes
1.0oz. Centennial Pellet Hops 9% AAU @ 5 minutes
1 WLP001 Ale yeast
0.5oz. Centennial Pellet Hops 9% AAU @ Dry Hop 7 days in Secondary


The brewing session went along fairly smoothly and without any major hiccups. The process started with boiling and then cooling an extra gallon of water that would complete the partial boil when mixed with the wort in the primary fermenter. At the same time another gallon and a half of water was heated up to 158 degrees. Once heated, the pound of milled malt grains, combined in a grain bag was steeped for thirty minutes. This rest period presented a good opportunity to sanitize all of the remaining equipment and get the various ingredients measured out in the appropriate timed addition quantities.

The session picked back up with the main boiling period. I’d decided to continue to use late extract addition with a small amount of extract added at the start and the bulk of the remainder near the end. So there were two extract additions and three hop additions along with the clarifier tablet before flameout. The kettle then went into the ice water bath in the sink to cool down below 80 degrees. Once cool, it was mixed with the remaining water in the primary fermenter and the yeast pitched. The last step was sealing it all up with the lid, stopper, and sanitized airlock.

Fast forward twelve hours later to the next morning and there was still virtually no airlock activity. Was the wort hotter than I thought? Had I not aerated it enough? Would I need to go back to the store for more yeast and repitch? I gave it a bit more time and worrying about and by mid-afternoon, the little brewing droid finally began to show signs of life with it’s dutiful bloops and gargles. Within around 36 hours after pitching, yeast activity had kicked into high gear, pushing foam and solid material up into the airlock. Not wanting to switch my worrying over to a clogged airlock and a huge mess, I swapped it out with a sanitized blow off tube and run off bucket.

There are still a few areas in my process that need improvement. I forgot to take a hydrometer reading until almost an hour after I pitched the yeast. This should have been done right before pitching. Also, I might have been able to aerate the wort a bit more by pouring the first batch of water in the primary fermenter a bit more. I don’t think I’m getting very good conversion of my steeped grains. The slightly lower than expected O.G. reading seems to suggest this. I didn’t cover the kettle during the steep so I probably lost a lot more temperature over the course of the half hour than I should have. I also should have rinsed the grains with hot water at the end in order to extract more wort goodness from them.

One of the things I learned coming from the Porter session was how to better handle adding the malt extract. During that boil, the extract hit the bottom of the kettle and scorched and burned. This time, during each extract addition I turned off the heat and then mixed a bit of the hot liquid into the extract before adding it into the kettle. (You could think of this sort of like tempering an egg mixture when making a custard or some egg based sauce.) When working with liquid extract, this loosens it up and makes it easier to mix in. Plus, you can get all of it in the kettle without leaving a thick layer stuck in your measuring container.

All in all, it was a positive session. I’m continuing to learn new stuff every time and still have fun in the process. I’m looking forward to the dry hopping procedure after I rack to secondary next – and of course to tasting the final product in the end. This will also be the first batch that I keg. That’s the subject of another upcoming post…

Addendum

S.G. at the time of racking to secondary was at 1.015 for an A.B.V. of 5.74%. Everything looked good and I tossed the half ounce of pellet hops directly into carboy right before sealing it up with the airlock assembly. Airlock activity is down to one or two bloop per minute now.

After much contemplation and searching on various home brew recipe sites, I eventually settled on a Belgian golden strong ale known as “Blonde Bombshell.” Weighing in at around 8.3% ABV, it’s a surprisingly straightforward ingredient list that leads to a big favorful Belgian style beer.

Blonde Bombshell


18B. Strong Belgian Ale, Tripel
OG 1.074
FG 1.012
IBU 26
ABV 8%
SRM 4


Recipe:

• 1 vial WLP550 White Labs Belgian Ale Yeast
• 7# Light DME – 4# @ pre-boil + 3# @ 20 minutes
• 1# Candi Sugar – @ 15 minutes
• 1# Carafoam – steep 30 minutes in 1 gallon water @ 150° for 30 minutes
• 1oz Hallertau 4.2% AAU – @ 60 minutes
• 1oz Styrian Goldings 4.2% AAU – @ 30 minutes
• 0.5oz Styrian Goldings – @ 15 minutes
• 1 tsp Irish Moss – @ 15 minutes
• 0.5oz Styrian Goldings – @ 0 minutes

Yeast Starter

An average yeast packet contains around 100 billion active cells. Higher gravity beers such as this require about double that amount to hit the target gravity in a 5 gallon batch. Rather than buying two packets to reach the necessary number of cells, a simple starter can be used to increase the cell count of a single packet. The starter is essentially a mini-batch of low gravity beer that the yeast is pitched into in order for it to feed and multiply to the required volume. Before preparing the starter, the yeast should be removed from the fridge and allowed to come to room temperature for a few hours. The closer to equilibrium temperature the yeast is to the wort it is being pitched into, the less initial shock it will undergo and the better chance it will have of doing its job.

08-07-09 – 11PM

I began with preparing a yeast starter the evening before the brewing session. The wort was prepared by mixing 1 cup of the DME into 2 pints of water and boiling it for 15 minutes to sterilize it. The boil pot was then quickly cooled in an ice bath for about 10 minutes before transferring the liquid to another container and pitching the yeast. The container, a funnel, large stopper, and airlock were all sanitized beforehand. A stopper and airlock are then placed into the container to seal it. The airlock should begin bubbling as a sign that the yeast is doing its job. The cell count should now double within the next 12 to 24 hours.

Yeast Starter

A large erlenmeyer flask is often recommended because it can be used directly on the stove without requiring a separate boiling pot. However, Any food grade plastic or glass container can be used to hold the starter. A bottle or jug into which a standard stopper fits works the best. I used a plastic 1/2 gallon orange juice jug. The same stopper which fits in a glass carboy fits tightly in the opening.

It is also important that the yeast gets oxygen in order to improve its efficiency. This can be accomplished most effectively by using a stir plate. Though not as productive, the container can also be shaken every few hours to aerate the wort.

Brew Day

08-08-09 – 4PM

When I purchased the hops at my LHBS, the AAU’s were slightly different from the recipe. The Hallertau was only 3.6% and the Styrian Goldings were just 4%. As a result, I adjusted the recipe slightly and included an extra ounce of Hallertau in the bill. Half of it went in with the original scheduled hop addition and the remainder was added at flame out.

Dry Malt Extract

At this point, the ingredients are sorted out and I’m finally ready to begin the brew. Once everything is organized, it’s actually a pretty simple process. Boil, steep, boil, add ingredients, sterilize items, stir, etc. From the notes taken in my log book during the session, this was my procedure:


- boil 1 gallon water
- heat 2 gallon water to 150 °
- place carapils in grain bag
- steep grains in 2 gallons of water for 30 minutes
- in the meantime, sterilize bucket, stopper, airlock
- discard grains
- add 2 gallons of 'grain tea' + 3qt cold water to kettle + 3# DME
- heat to boil
- start 60 minute boil timer
- @60 minutes add 1oz hallertau + 0.5oz hallertau
- @30 minutes add 1oz styrian goldings
- @20 minutes kill heat
- mix in remaining DME
- return to boil / restart timer
- @15 minutes add 1# candi sugar
- @15 minutes add 0.5oz styrian goldings
- @15 minutes add whirlfloc tab
- in the meantime, prepare an ice bath in the sink
- @0 minutes (flame out) add 0.5oz styrian goldings & 0.5oz hallertau
- submerse kettle in ice bath and quickly cool wort temperature below 80°
- pour into primary fermenter with 1 gallon water
- take hydrometer sample - OG 1.074
- pitch yeast starter
- seal fermenter with lid, stopper, and airlock


Within a few hours, the airlock began fervently bubbling, indicating that the yeast were healthily doing their job. It also quickly became clear that the airlock need to be replaced by a blowoff tube. For the next few days while the fermentation remained fairly violent, a clear plastic tube leading to a bucket of clean water replaced the airlock. After things settled, a fresh airlock was put back in place.

Primary Sample

8-15-09 (7 days)

One full week after the initial brew session, I pulled a sample for a gravity reading and moved the primary fermenting bucket to the counter in preparation for transferring the beer to the secondary carboy for additional aging. Doing the move ahead of time allows any sediment stirred up by the movement to settle back down before the actual transfer. The gravity reading at this time comes in at 1.014 – indicating that the yeast has nearly reached its full attenuation. It is only a couple of points off from the target FG for the recipe. Hopefully, it will drop the final point or two over the course of the secondary conditioning period.

Secondary Transfer

8-19-09 (11 days)

Several days after moving the primary fermenter, it’s finally time to transfer to the secondary carboy. This is a pretty quick and simple process that involves nothing more than attaching a tube to the spigot on the primary bucket and then opening it up to drain. Another gravity reading shows that the gravity is still at 1.014.

Bottling Day

9-20-09

It’s finally time to bottle. The easiest way to bottle is to use a short piece of rubber tubing to connect the bottling wand to the end of the spigot of the primary fermenter. In this way, the primary fermenter also doubles as a bottling bucket. All that needs to be done then is to prepare the priming sugar solution and put it in the bucket. Next, start the auto siphon and gently transfer the beer from the secondary carboy into the bucket, being careful not to splash or disturb things to introduce any additional oxygen into the beer.

With a collection of empty sanitized bottles and new caps prepared, the bottles can be quickly filled and then sealed. Filling the bottles is simply a matter of raising each bottle up onto the wand and then removing it once the bottle is full. Each bottle can be filled all the way to the top. When the wand is removed, it will leave the correct amount of head space in the bottle. Finally, cap, label, and store the bottles for a few weeks of bottle conditioning.

Unfortunately, there is no FG reading as I’ve closed a drawer on my hydrometer, making a mess of shattered glass on the floor. I can only guess it has held within a point of the last reading a month ago.

The final yield count of batch #2:

• 20 bombers
• 5 12oz stubby’s
• 1 1pt 0.9oz

Even as I opened with the fact that I was a first time brewer, everyone in the shop was eager to provide helpful advice. In fact, The homebrew community on the whole seems to be very open and welcoming of newbies just starting out on their first brew. Local shop owner ‘Griz’ discussed various tips and helped me with my first recipe. After a bit of conversation about what kind of beer I liked and wanted to make, Griz began scrawling a list of ingredients out on one of the shop’s special premade recipe template sheets. His shop hands then fetched the various ingredients and pieces of kit as he called them out.

Also highly recommended by the shop (and included with the price of the kit) was a free introductory class taught every Monday evening packed with useful information about proper sanitization, boiling, and bottling techniques. Among the helpful advice given during my short visit to the shop was to ignore all of the helpful advice on the internet – this information fell into either of the categories of boulderdash or that which made things much more complex than they needed to be. The parting tip was to just not turn it into an anal retentive process and just enjoy it. And if I happened to screw anything up, by all means call them up ASAP for help.

Kit

Once back home with everything from my trip unloaded in the kitchen it was time to organize and start the brewing process. With my various bits of kit and ingredients sorted out, I began poring over the included instructions. While I’m sure they aren’t the worst out there, with several sections scribbled out and margin annotations in my printed photocopied version, I’ve definitely seen better. Luckily, even with the many subtleties and nuances available to complicate things, the basic brewing process is pretty straightforward.

Ingredients

The procedure consists mainly of cleaning and sanitization followed by various cycles of boiling water and adding things to it. Without having a large enough brewing kettle to accommodate a full 5 gallon batch, either a partial boil or 2 step process must be used instead. The simplest method is the partial boil where a double strength wort is made with half of the volume of liquid and then added to the remaining half of water at the end. After the first half of water is has been boiled, cooled, and added to the sanitized primary fermenting bucket, it’s finally time to get down to making the wort.

The recipe I used was for a simple I.P.A. composed of:

• 2# Munich Malt
• 1/2# Aromatic Malt
• 1/2# Oats
• 6# Liquid Malt Extract
• 1oz. Galena Hops
• 1oz. Cascade Hops
• Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast
• 1 whirlfloc tab

Some of the exact ingredients are just a guess. I’m not even sure of the actual beer name. Griz’s handwriting is almost impossible to read most of the time. Fortunately, the recipe sheet is laid out well enough to get the gist of which ingredients go where. It just might be difficult to get the correct ingredients to ever repeat the recipe exactly elsewhere.

Steeping Grains

First, the specialty grains are placed in a mesh grain bag and steeped in 155° water for 45 minutes before being removed from the wort and discarded in the compost bin. Next, the liquid is brought to a full boil with the addition of the Liquid Malt Extract. The boil period lasts a full 60 minutes with this schedule of additions:

• 1 oz. Galena Hops @ 60 minutes (beginning of boil)
• 1/2 oz. Cascade Hops @ 30 minutes (halfway through)
• 1 tab whirlfloc @ 30 minutes
• 1/2 oz. Cascade Hops @ 10 minutes (almost done)

The boiled wort is then subjected to an ice & water bath in the sink to quickly cool it down below 90°. Once it has cooled, it is pitched in the primary fermenter with the yeast. While the instructions indicate that the yeast be added directly to the wort, I activated the yeast in a bit of warm water early on in my process. Since the kit only included a single yeast packet, I wanted to make sure I had good yeast before I became invested in the wort production. Finally, after everything is mixed up, a hydrometer sample is taken and the bucket is sealed up with the lid, stopper, and airlock.

Fermenting Brew

Within about 6 hours, the airlock has started to gurgle with a frequency of every 5-10 seconds, indicating that fermentation is well underway. While the recipe calls for an original specific gravity of 1.062, I landed at 1.050. I’m not sure what I did in the process to affect this, but I suspect it may have been during the grain steeping step. It should ready to rack the brew into the secondary fermenter in about a week. In another two weeks, it should be ready to bottle with another 2-3 weeks of bottle conditioning before it’s finally time to find out if I’ve successfully homebrewed my first batch of beer.

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