American Brown Ale

I had a great brew session yesterday. I built a slight redesign of my MLT manifold in order to get better efficiency out of my system, and boy did it work. In three batches of fly-sparging, and a re-build of the manifold, I am up from 70% to a new high of 82%. This is all very good stuff to me, but back to the beer at hand.

After much research and several very average attempts at a good brown ale, I came up with the following recipe. I really hope this one lives up t my expectations. American Brown Ale is one of my favorite styles (and very under appreciated by most) and all I want to do is make one that is good. Anyhow, my fingers are crossed!

Recipe Specifications------------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 14.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 82.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients-----------------------------------------
9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
8.0 oz White Wheat Malt
3.0 oz Roasted Barley
2.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt
1.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (FWH)
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min)
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale

Mash Schedule------------------------------------
Saccharification: Rest 50 min at 152.0 F
Vorlauf: 1-2 gallons as needed for clarity
Fly Sparge: 45 min at 190.0 F

UPDATE 8/4/08:
English / American Brown Ales are a vastly underrated style in the world of craft beer. And I actually think its difficult to brew a really good one. But I think I have finally created a Brown Ale recipe that I like. This was my fourth attempt and I am actually really impressed with the results so far. It has a great creamy, smooth textured. The flavor is of sweet chocolate, with just enough bitterness and earthyness to balance out the malt. Its been carbed and on drought for just a few days, but it is really beautiful. This might be my best overall batch to date.

Rain, Thunder, Lightning, Hail, and Beer...Oh My!

I had a friend of mine over last night to join me in a brew session. We had a Belgian Strong Golden Ale all ready to go and the session went pretty well. Well, except for the weather. This was the worst storm I've ever been through in Greensboro. There were high winds, torrential rain, lightning, thunder, and hail. It last for about an hour. And because the drainage is so poor in my back yard and patio, we ended up with about 6 inches of standing water. At least the brew session could continue on the screen porch while I went into manual labor mode.

The water was rising over the foundation vents (which is very bad by the way), so I had to get out the shovel to start tearing out some old landscaping to allow the water to drain properly down the storm grate. The previous owners somehow thought it was a good idea to block the drains with railroad ties. So I got to tear out bricks, logs, and grade the mud back down towards the drain so my house didn't float away.

And back to the brew session. After I cleaned up a bit, we continued after an extended mash. Everything else went off without a hitch. I had intended naming this beer Golden Boy, but I need to come up with something better to remember this storm by. Below is the recipe...

Recipe Specifications--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.075 SG
Estimated Color: 6.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients-------------------------------------
12 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel
1 lbs Vienna Malt
8.0 oz Aromatic Malt
1 lbs Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (30 min)
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min Aroma Hop-Steep)
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
1 Pkgs Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs #WLP570)

Mash Schedule---------------------------------
Total Grain Weight: 13.50 lb
Saccharification: Rest 60 min at 150.0 F
Vorlauf: 1-2 gallons as needed for clarity
Fly Sparge: 45 min at 180.0 F

First Fly Sparge vs Efficiency

So I worked through my first fly sparge yesterday. All-in-all, everything went very smooth and I am going to enjoy brewing using this method. No more carrying pots of hot water from the stove out to the porch.

But back to the fly sparge. I was able to keep my in and out flow rates matched pretty well. The water level in the MLT stayed between 1-2 inches above the grain bed. I ran the sparge for approximately 35-40 minutes, collecting 7.5 gallons in the boil kettle (for a 5.5 gallon batch). My problem is that I still didn't hit over 70% efficiency (same as my batch sparge efficiency). I've tried everything I know and I can't get that jump to a higher efficiency. I am beginning to think that the crush from my LHBS might be on the course side. So I will be looking to purchase a mill as my next toy.

I'm going to stick with the fly sparge method because I do like it better. I only have to vorlauf once, set my sparge and run-off flow rates, and sit back and relax. If anyone has any ideas how to improve my efficiency, please chime in.

UPDATE 6/1/08:
Second roound of fly sparging improve by 5%-6%. I sparged a bit slower, a bit hotter, and may have collected an extra quart by the time it was all said and done. I hit slightly over 75%, which is a good improvement and the best efficiency I've gotten on my system yet.

DAMNIT!!!!

So I kegged and forced carbed an APA a couple of days ago, let it sit in the kegerator last night, and pulled my first taste this evening. Blaaccchhh. It smells and tastes just like a garden hose.

Long story short, I brewed at a friend of mine's house a few weeks ago. We brewed a 10 gallon batch and split it 5/5 for each of us. I didn't think much of it at the time because it was his setup and he makes some good beers, but he used a garden hose for all our water needs (unfiltered water at that). I have to think this was a new hose because the aroma and taste of plastic is completely overwhelming. I am very disappointed.

Lesson learned.

Down the drain it goes...along with my tears.