Rye'd Pale Ale(s)

Brewing a ten gallon batch of a an American Pale Ale with just over 15% Rye malt. I'll be doing a little bit of a hop experiment on this one. I've got quite a bit of whole leaf hops that need to be used up (In freezer for 6 months). I am confident they are still 'fresh' enough' to use but I would like to use them up quickly at this point. So I'm going to be adding over half a pound of whole leaf Palisade, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops all combined at end of boil. Still leaving me with part of a brick of Simcoe to use up. I've heard/read about this hop technique being used by Deschutes for their Hop Trip. Brewed with very little, if any bittering hops and a truck load of whole leaf hop flowers at the end of boil. So I'll be first wort hopping with some Chinook hops, which provides some bitterness, then not adding another hop until end of boil. Today's brew is based off my Rye'd Pale Ale recipe I brewed in January 2010.

Grist Bill: Briess two row, Rye malt, Munich malt, Crystal malt, and Amber malt. Hopped with Chinook, Palisade, Amarillo, and Simcoe. Fermented with Chico yeast.

American Pale Ale(s)

Beer Advocate describes the style, "Of British origin, this style is now popular worldwide and the use of local ingredients or imported, produces variances in character from region to region. Generally, expect a good balance of malt and hops. Fruity esters and diacetyl can vary from none to moderate, and bitterness can range from lightly floral to pungent. American versions tend to be cleaner and hoppier, while the British tend to be more malty, buttery, aromatic and balanced."

In my version today I'll be adding some of the extra English malt character by using both Maris Otter and American two row as my base malts. Rounding out the grist bill with some Amber, Crystal, and Wheat malt. First wort hopping with Palisade and Willamette, bittered with Warrior hops. Some whole leaf Palisade hops at thirty minutes and the only other hops added will be dry hops. Used similar hopping technique in a pale ale and Rye'd Pale ale I brewed earlier this year. For the second batch of the day I'll be brewing the same recipe with the only change being no crystal malt, substituting more amber malt for the crystal malt. I just want to see if I can notice a difference in the pale ale without the crystal malt, basically to see which I prefer overall.

classic American IPA

The style re-invented in America. Beer Advocate describes it as "The American IPA is a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style. More flavorful than the withering English IPA, color can range from very pale golden to reddish amber. Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well. Moderate to medium bodied with a balancing malt backbone."

I used a little amber and crystal malt to add a color and complexity to the malt backbone of this IPA. Used a variety of citrus forward northwest American hops. Will be dry hopping with more hops, one and a half more ounces. Calculated color 7 lovibond, 45 IBU's and around 6% abv.

American style Amber Ale

Brewed an American style Amber ale yesterday. Scaling up the grains and hops to create a 6.5% abv with 50 IBU's (international bittering units). Using some crystal, and roasted malts to attain the amber color. The hops in this batch are warrior, palisade, and lots of simcoe towards the end of the boil. Fermenting with a dry English yeast to accentuate the malt back bone of this hoppy offering. The English yeast will help to balance the hops and malt.

Cali Belgique

The style of beer I'm brewing today is a completely modern American style of beer. It's a cross between a West Coast style IPA and a Belgian Triple. A great new style that combines the citrus hoppy notes of an IPA with the spicy yeast character of Belgian beers. Stone Brewing makes one that is literally their IPA recipe but with a different yeast. Another example is Green Flash's Le Freak. The grist today is pale, wheat, dark munich, and amber malt. Hopped with warrior, palisade, and amarillo. Fermented with a blend of Belgian yeasts.

Rye IPA

Brewing another collaborative beer with my friend and fellow brewer. We've been talking about brewing a rye IPA for awhile. Brewing late night, heating up the strike water now and hoping to get mashed in by midnight. Doesn't look good. Today's brew has pale, rye, munich, wheat, and chocolate malt. Some crystal rye for good measure. Target numbers are 15 plato, 12 lovibonds, and 50 IBU's. Finally mashed in at 12:40. Mash rest for forty minutes then mash out to 168 degrees. Quick vorlauf. Only halfway through the boil and it's 3:45 in the morning. Nice copper color with big hop character in the final wort. Pitching american ale yeast to let the ingredients shine.