Thirsty Mallard Brewing Blog

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

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! 

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/-

Although every leg muscle I had was dead due to a Saturday of playing softball… I spent my Sunday brewing! (And that night collapsed in pain and agony wishing I had a hot tub to soak in…)

It was another productive brew day (can’t just do one thing).  I brewed 5 gallons of American Amber Ale, kegged and bottled 5 gallons of Hefeweizen, cleaned all my equipment… ouch.

So here is the recipe for 5.5 gallons:

8 lbs Pale Malt
1 Lb. Crystal 55L
1 Lb. Munich Malt 10L
2 oz. British Chocolate Malt - 450L

0.7 oz. Columbus - 14.5%AA - 60 Min.
0.7 oz. Mt. Hood - 4.2%AA - 35 Min.
0.5 oz. Mt. Hood - 4.2%AA - 5 Min.
1 oz. Columbus - Dry Hop

Wyeast American Ale

The brewday went well, and as of today it is vigorously fermenting (so much so that a good amount came up through the blow off tube and into the catch bucket).

 I will bottle/keg this on May 5th, and I can’t wait!  I have been looking for a good American Amber recipe and I think this could be it!

Forgot to report…

 Last Sunday’s brew day went well… I have about 5 gallons of Kolsch in the fermenter. 

Also, my girlfriend Erin helped me make some cranberry apple cider, so I have 4 gallons of that fermenting with some wine yeast.

I also kegged up my Scottish ale and it was suprisingly good (considering the problems I had with fermentation).  I kegged it and am force carbonating it and will bring it out Friday of Frontier Fiesta this weekend.

Cheers!

I have a free weekend coming up, so I am going to brew.  I decided since the summer months of Texas are quickly approaching I am going to brew a Kolsch style ale.  This is light ale that is meant to be crisp and refreshing with a low to moderate alcohol level.  Here is the recipe I will be using:

Grain:
9 Lbs. German Pilsner Malt
0.5 Lbs. German Munich Malt
0.5 Lbs. German Wheat Malt

Hops:
0.9 oz. Tettnanger (Germany) - Pellet - 5.6% - 60 min.
0.4 oz. Tettnanger (Germany) - Pellet - 5.6% - 5 min.

Yeast: Wyeast 2565 Kolsch

Mash: 1.4 qts./Lb. at 150F for 70 minutes.  Batch sparge.

Est. OG - 1.044
Est. IBUs - 20.5

I plan on using Dexter for this ferment, so I should be able to keep it pretty cool.  I am going to shoot for about 58F.

That should be ready to drink in late April.

As for competitions, I have decided to enter the National Homebrew Competition and the Samuel Adams Longshot Competition.  I will be entering my Scwarzbier, Vanilla Porter, and the Kolsch.  Stay tuned here for updates.

Yesterday I had a unique brew day… I decided to brew TWO BEERS in one day!  In retrospect, I probably won’t do that again, but it is nice to have all 3 of my fermentation vessels filled with beer!  (FYI: I have about 13 gallons of beer in fermentation tanks right now… that’s about 140 beers).

 So I started off brewing an American Amber (all-grain).  My mash temp was  a touch low (152.6F, I wanted 153-154F), I was short about .25 gallons, and I wasn’t paying attention to time, so I ended up boiling for 75 minutes instead of 60.  Other than that, everything went fine and I ended up with 4 gallons.  I brewed this recipe before, and this batch seemed to be considerably darker… I suppose time will tell.

The second batch was a Scottish 80/- (extract/steeping grains).  I figured since it was extract it would be easier… wrong.  Dealing with thick syrupy extract is a pain in the ass.  Other than that, everything went alright… until it was time to cool, and my immersion chiller broke (the vinyl tubing came off).  I tried to ice bath, but it was less than effective and still an hour later I was still in the upper 80’s (shooting for 65).  So I left it in the fridge overnight to cool… I’m crossing my fingers for no ifections… we shall see.

I started around 11AM and ended around 9:30PM.  I was dog tired by the end of it all.  I suppose if I had an assistant brewing 2 beers would be easier, but as it stands I am just one man.

If you would like to try these beers, come out to Frontier Fiesta at the end of the month!  I will be bringing both kegs out!

Cheers!

Aside from the problematic brew session, I finished off my experimental cider!  It ended up fermenting down to 0.990 so I added back about a can and a half of concentrated apple juice (the frozen kind you buy at the store) and sweetened it up to Erin’s liking.

I bottled about 22 bottles of it and it is ready to drink!  It’s nothing special, just basically alcoholic apple juice.  My next batch will have more umpf… now that I know what I am doing!

Last weekend I brewed a Robust Vanilla Porter (see previous thread).  I found a Madagascar Vanilla Bean at the HEB so I was excited about adding that to the boil since I never have cooked with vanilla.

I mashed in and didn’t quite hit my numbers… I was shooting for 154F, but held at around 155.5F.  I didn’t want it to go below 154, so I didn’t mess with it at that point.  So, mash drain and filling for the batch sparge went swimmingly.  Then came running off the sparge… the tube that connects my false bottom to the valve came off, not once, not twice, but three times!  I had to empty the mash into buckets while I made each repair… so I wonder how that will affect the flavor.

From then on things seemed to go well… until the end when I didn’t even come close to hitting my gravity.  Unless there was some misreading (which is possible) I ended up at about 1.055 when I should have been at 1.067.  Great.  At that point I lost all hope that this would be a good beer… now I just was hoping for something to salvage.  We will see in about 2 weeks.

 Last time I brewed was perfect… this time was crap.  It’s the circle of life…

I have decided I want to start brewing soda as well as beer.  I am mostly thinking of root beer right now, but I fully intend to soon be making cream sodas as well, since I love them.

As for the root beer, I am trying to find a good extract and process that I like.  Like making beer, there are many variables, most depending on what sugars and additives you use.  I am currently researching table sugar vs. brown sugar vs. honey.  I also think I will take 1 gallon aside, split it between two 2-liters and play around with adding vanilla.  I like a good creamy root beer and I think that would be an awesome addition. 

I will keep this blog updated with the latest on the soda front…

For the record that will make beer, cider and soda in my resume!  Wine is not far off…