Thirsty Mallard Brewing Blog

So on Saturday I dropped off beer and entered in the annual Big Batch Brew Bash.  This year’s style was Weizenbock, and I think I made a KILLER one!  I will probably enter this beer into one more competition and then jelously guard the rest! 

The only problem I can forsee is that it was undercarbonated when I bottled it (I forgot to connect CO2 early enough).

This Sunday is the BBBB (5/18) and I will be attending for the fun and festivities.  I hope to make it to the second round at least, but it would be something to win it!  If I did,, I would get to brew my recipe on a large scale with Saint Arnold Brewing Company and the beer would be released and sold to the public as one of their special releases!

Like I said, I just hope to make it to the second round and I would be happy.  Either way, wish me luck!  If you want to try a pint, come on over!

So I joined the local homebrew club (CIA - Cane Island Alers) this last weekend for a big brew and thought I would share my experience.

We decided to brew 30 gallons of dopplebock (~1.098 OG) and 20 gallons of traditional bock from later runnings (ended up low… 1.053 OG). The fun part was that we did this the only really good way to do a dopplebock… TRIPLE DECOCTION!

We started at about 5:15AM crushing the grain and mashing in for our protien rest. Then we pulled out a third of the mash and brought it to a kettle to raise temp. Well… about 5 hours later we were just reaching boiling for our FIRST decoction. Eventually got it boiling, then added it back. Did I mention we took turns stirring the heated mash. For 5 hours…

Ok, second decoction, we decide to split it up into 3 pots. Worked much better. Only about an hour or so.

Third decoction, same thing.

Add back to mash… rest at sacc rest temps… alright, let’s sparge… uh oh, stuck sparge.

We finally got it going at a trickle, but at that point we just let it trickle away. I think it was 2 or 3 hours later we had collected about 25 gallons. So we started boiling while more ran off.

We boiled and transferred and all was well after that (aside from the low OG of the traditional). I got home at about 1:00AM.

Lesson learned? Probably will never want to do another big batch triple decoction ever again.

Alright, I forgot to post about last weekend since I brewed on Saturday.  I brewed up a beer for an exchange with some forums members on The Brewing Network forms, so this beer is officially dubbed my TBN Army Brew.  So here is the recipe (its a Scottish 70/-):

TBN Army Brew
5.5 Gallons
OG - 1.040
 
8 Lbs. - Maris Otter
0.25 Lb - Roasted Barley (625L)

0.6 oz - Willamette - 5.5%AA - 60 Min

WLP 028 - Edinburgh Ale (Fermenting at 65F)]
Everything went well for this beer, so I expect good things.  Once it is ready I am going to have a few bottled and sent to various other members of the TBN Army, and maybe a few to The Brewing Network studios.  I’ll update with how that goes when I get there.  The rest is getting kegged and probably taken out to Frontier Feista this year.

Speaking of Fiesta, I was supposed to brew an amber ale THIS weekend, but alas work needed to be done and my dad needed help… so looks like I will have to pull double duty next week and do two batches.  The second batch is going to be that Weizenbock for the Big Batch Brew Bash that I mentioned in earlier posts.

Other than that, I went to the Cane Island Aler’s meeting yesterday and had some great beers!  It’s always great to get with fellow homebrewers and drink and discuss good beer and homebrew.  I also had my first sour beer… and it was awesome!  I can see why people say they get hooked on them.  I am going to have to look into brewing one soon…

Well, that’s all for now… I have to get back to work.

Cheers!
Jeff

Due to some housework I had to help my dad with last weekend, I wasn’t able to brew… so I decided that on Monday I would brew rather than go to the gym!

I am going to be making a Weizenbock for the upcoming Big Batch Brew Bash, so I wanted to have a starter batch of Wheat Ale to use the yeast slurry for the Weizenbock… so I decided to make a heffe, and while I was at it, I decided to do my first fruit ale!  (Side note:  One can of Oregon Puree cost me about $17… that’s an extra $34 to add Raspberries… ouch.)

Ok, so I decided to do extract since it would be easier… and it was.  Some boiling water and 6.86 lbs of extract later, I was cooking up some beer!  Everything came out perfectly and I only had a 5 hour brew day… so can’t complain!  As of Tuesday it was happily fermenting along.

 I also decided to go ahead and keg the mysterious IDK Ale.  I was a bit afraid… but it wasn’t bad at all!  I really enjoyed it actually!  The malt was definitely complex and the hops were prominent, but right on!  I think this is definitely going to be a Brewer’s Reserve that I don’t put on a main tap!  I may try it in competition, but I have no idea what category to enter it.  It’s bitter like an APA or IPA, but I don’t think there is enough hop complexity or aroma to do well.

I am going to sit down with a pint this weekend (after it is carbonated) with the BJCP guidelines in front of me and see what i think. 

 All in all, I’m pretty happy with the outcome!

 Until next time… Cheers!

So today I brewed up a batch of Scottish 80/-.  I originally intended to brew the recipe for Scottish 80/- found in Brewing Classic Styles, but due to malt shortages at the local homebrew shop, I had to make some adjustments.  Here it is:

Quackenshire Ale
5.75 Gallons, 90 Minute Boil
OG: 1.068
IBUs: 19.6

Grain:
8.8 lbs. - Maris Otter
1.0 lb. - Caramunich (45L)
0.5 lb. - Caravienne
0.5 lb. - Munich Malt (9 L)
0.38 lb - Crystal 120L
0.12 lb - Chocolate Malt (450L)

Hops:
1.0 oz - EK Goldings - 5% AA - 60 min.
0.3 oz. - Mt. Hood - 4.5% AA - 60 min.

Yeast:  Yeast Slurry of White Labs WLP001 - California Ale - Ferment at 65F.
————————————-
Ok, first off, the 0.3 oz of Mt. Hood are in there just because I had some and I wanted to up my IBUs a bit.   Also, I reused the yeast from the Fourth Quarter Porter I brewed a few weeks ago, so that should get that high OG taken care of.

Speaking of the 4th Quarter Porter, I transfered it to a keg today and it looks and tastes great!  It still needs to carbonate and age a bit, so it is hard to tell exactly how it will end up, but so far I think I would have preferred more body.  It did ferment down to about 1.010 which is a few points lower than what I would have preferred, but at least it will be a good drinking beer!

As for something fun… I was walking through the garage while brewing when I came across a “Make Your Own Beer” kit that had made its way to my shelf.  I opened it out of curiosity and found some liquid male extract and hops… so I decided to take those ingredients and whatever else I could find and make a kitchen sink ale. 

I ended up putting in what was in the kit (some amber malt extract and some light malt extract), two pounds of light dry malt extract I had, some dextrose, some mollasses… and about 2.5 gallons of water.  I added an ounce of Columbus hops that I had in my freezer and boiled for 60 minutes.  At flame-out I thre in some Mt. Hood for aroma, again, just because I had them lying around. 

After I cooled it, I had about 2 gallons at an OG of 1.110!  I added about one and a quarter gallons of water to get the OG down to the high 50’s and pitched a few packets of dry ale yeast I had (one from the kit).

 We will see what happens!  Either it will be terrible, or great, or not.  Either way, it should be interesting!  Since I don’t know what it is or will become, I was going to call it Uhhh… Ale, but my fiance suggested a spin on the IPA and calling it an IDK (I Dont Know) Ale! 

So the 2008 brew-season is finally upon me!  I made a porter and everything went perfectly.  I even hit every number EXACTLY!  Now THAT’S a good way to start the ‘08 brewing season!  Here is the recipe (its from the Dec. 07 BYO)

Fourth Quarter Porter
Est OG - 1.044
Est FG - 1.009

Grain:
4.0 lbs - 2-Row
3.0 lbs - Munich 10L (I am using 6L)
0.5 lb - Crystal 40
6 oz - Chocolate Malt
2 oz - Black Patent
1 oz - Roast Barley 500L
0.75 lbs - Cane Sugar - 15 minutes

Hops:
1.6 oz - Willamette - 5% - 60 min

Yeast: Cal Ale

Mash: 149F for 60 min.

 ———–

 I look forward to having another easy drinking dark beer on tap.  My Scottish 75/- is a hit with everyone who tries it so I am running out of beer faster these days!

Cheers and here’s to a brewing up a great 2008!

I’m enjoying a few pints of my Scottish 75/- and I have to say it is damn tasty and one of the easiest drinking beers I have ever made!  I really like this beer for it’s simplicity, yet it still has a distinct flavor from the process and the Scottish yeast.

I think this is the perfect beer for people who aren’t beer geeks.  It is nice and malty with only enough hops to balance it out, but not be noticeable and overly bitter.  I think this is going to become one of my flagship beers that I will try to always keep on tap. 

I think I may also try making a batch of this and aging it on oak or adding some smoked malt.  Either way… this one is definitely enjoyable!

What a title for a blog…

 Anyways, the Scottish 75/- was ready to drink tonight.  It tasted great!  It was simple and clean with a malt forward flavor profile that I think will be very enjoyable even to non-beer geeks. 

The only problem is that there seems to be a “house flavor” that I taste in all my beers.  It’s not a terrible flavor, but it is something I don’t find desireable.  I really think it has to do with my brewing water.  I brew at my parent’s house (no room for brewing equipment in my apartment) and they have some very interesting water.  They are on land so it is pumped from a private well which means it is unfiltered and quite full of minerals and whatnot.  The filtered water in the house is so soft that it would make for poor brewing water… so I am at a crossroads.  I buy water know and then, but it is a hassle.  I am looking forward to moving into my new house with city municipal water where the biggest problem is getting rid of chlorine.

In other news (since water chemistry isn’t quite riveting enough), my Wee Heavy is coming along nicely.  After a  week it has already dropped from 1.089 to 1.030 and it tastes pretty good.  I am hoping it drops about another 10 or so points.  I have decided to secondary it for a week, then bottle it and age it until my wedding day (July 13th) where I will open the first bottle!  I will post the recipe at some point just in case anyone is looking for a recipe.  I do plan to archive a few for about 2-3 years for my enjoyment and for competition.

Other than that all I have to say is it’s probably not a good idea to drink two bombers of Imperial Stout and then think you can play Halo 3. 

First off, apologies for not updating this blog more frequently.  For shame… I will get back to keeping up. 

Ever since the CIA meeting (see previous blog post) I have gotten an obsession with Scottish Ales.  They aren’t too hoppy and have a smooth, almost slightly smokey flavor from the yeast which I find really delicious and enjoyable.  I also love the fact that Scottish Ales are more non-beer-geek-friendly since they are more malty than bitter, so others can enjoy my beer (and not wince at the unfamiliar taste of a massive hop presence).

So right now in the fermenter I have 5 gallons of Scottish 75/- (It’s just a touch heavier than a 70/- and… I think… not heavy enough to be legitimatley called an 80/-).  Here is the recipe:

 Mallard McDuck’s Scottish 75/-
5.5 Gallons, 120 Minute Boil
Est. OG - 1.041
Est. IBU - 12

Grains:
7.50 Lbs - Maris Otter
0.25 Lbs. - Roasted Barley

Hops:
0.6 oz. - Fuggles - 4.5% AA - Pellets - 60 Min.

Yeast:
White Labs - WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

I like this recipe for its simplicity.  Simplicity means it is easy to gather ingredients, easy to understand what impact they have on flavors (not so many variables), and with less grains the cost stays down.  In addition to simplicity, this recipe is fairly traditional (according to the book Brewing Classic Styles) so it has the added benefit of being a good example of style.

A check on the gravity on Sunday showed it was coming along perfectly and the taste test was fantastic!  That beer will be ready to keg on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  I am planning on using that day as a brew day as well and making a Wee Heavy Ale and just putting that brew right on top of the yeast bed from the Scottish 75/-.  I have always wanted to brew a Wee Heavy (one of my favorite strong ale styles) so I am really looking forward to making this beer.  Unfortunately the beer will need to age for 8-12 months after fermentation, so that part will be less than awesome… but in the end I will have some great beer!

Once I finalize a recipe I will post it here on my blog. 

 ——-

Bottled: CIA Scottish 70/-, Vanilla Porter
On Tap: Erin’s Cranberry Apple Cider, Rat Pad Pale Ale, Duck Days of Summer Kolsch, Dusseldorf Alt Bier
Primary: Mallard McDuck’s Scottish 75/-

Well, I went to my first official homebrew club meeting today with the Cane Island Alers!  It was a brew-in meeting, so we spent the day brewing beer.  It was pretty interesting, as we brewed about 70 gallons (yes, that is over TWO barrels of beer) of Scottish Ale of different strenghts… all from one mash.

 It was a beautiful thing… and I have never seen so much beer come from a single mash.   I had a good time, and the people were really friendly, so that’s a plus.  (I’m already looking forward to the next meeting!)

 The only mishap (and it was a doozy) was on the way home I had 2 carboys full of wort sitting next to each other (bad idea).  We took a turn and the two clanged against one another, shattering one of them and spilling 5 gallons of beer in the back of my girlfriend’s Xterra.  Not pretty.  I scrubbed and vaccumed for hours, but it still smells like wort!

But hey, lesson learned, and I still have 5 gallons of Scottish 60/- in the fermentation cooler!  I can’t wait to try this one… the wort alone smelled great!  I will be entering this one in the Dixie Cup (Houston homebrew competition) under the CIA, so hopefully we can win some awards!

I’ll keep you all posted…. cheers!