Sunday, November 29, 2009

Lug Wrench Brew: Brother Barleywine, English Barleywine

Just after Thanksgiving of 2009, Lug Wrench brewed its third collaborative beer. Thanksgiving is a traditional time to gather together and enjoy the company of family and friends. Such a festive time should be remembered and enjoyed for years to come. So too should an English barleywine, a traditional strong ale style that is designed to be aged and enjoyed for many years. The style was also ideal for us, given that it is a full-bodied, high gravity, dark ale that would survive until we could meet again.

Neither of us had previously brewed a barleywine, so we started with the recipe found in Jamil Zainasheff's Brewing Classic Styles.

Brother Barleywine, English Barleywine

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.5
Total Grain (Lbs): 22.75
OG: 1.096
FG: 1.018
SRM: 15
IBU: 64
ABV: 10.2%
Brewhouse Efficiency: 64 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
---------------------
16.5 lbs. Muttons English Pale Malt
5.0 lbs. Maris Otter Malt
0.62 lbs. Caramunich II
0.62 lbs. Crystal 120L

Hops
-----
1.65 oz German Magnum Pellets (11.8% AA) at 60 minutes
0.70 oz East Kent Goldings Whole Hops (4.5% AA) at 20 minutes
0.60 oz East Kent Goldings Whole Hops (4.5% AA) at 0 minutes

Extras
-------
1.0 Tab Whirlfloc at 15 Min
28 drops of Foam Control in the boil

Yeast
-----
17 grams – Danstar Nottingham, Dry Yeast

Mash Schedule
-------------
60 min at 150°F

Notes
-----
Brewed on 11/29/2009 by the Wallace Brothers. Third collaborative brewing session.

The wort was aerated with an aquarium pump, sterile filter, and stainless stone for 20 minutes.

Yeast was pitched when wort was at 70°F. The beer was fermented and aged at 68°F for a month.

12/26/09 - Bottled the beer using bottle conditioning. Targeted 2.0 volumes of CO2.

2/9/10 - First tasting of beer. Nice level of carbonation. No hot alcohol, but beer has lots of character and a fair amount of residual sweetness.

5/30/10 - While the beer is still young, we were able to taste the brew together

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Lug Wrench Brew: Dragon's Breath, a Dragon's Milk Clone

In the summer of 2009, Lug Wrench brewed its second collaborative beer – Dragon’s Breath, a clone of New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk. Dragon’s Milk has such depth of character and its such a good beer that neither one of us hesitated when the suggestion came up. It also met our criteria of being a full-bodied, high gravity, dark ale that could be aged for a long period of time, which is an important element, given the two of us only get together 2-3 times a year.

The recipe below was adapted from the Dragon’s Milk clone recipe from BYO Magazine .

Dragon’s Breath – Dark Strong Ale Aged on Bourbon Oak

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.5
Total Grain (Lbs): 15.13
OG: 1.082
FG: 1.021
SRM: 26.2
IBU: 37.2
ABV: 8.0%
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
---------------------
10.0 lbs. US Pale Malt (2-Row)
1.50 lbs. Munich Malt
0.50 lbs. Crystal 80L
0.50 lbs. Crystal 120L
0.50 lbs. Flaked Oats
0.63 lbs. Chocolate Malt
0.25 lbs. Wheat Malt
1.25 lbs. Extra Light Dry Malt Extract

Hops
-----
All hops are pellet hops
0.65 oz Columbus (14% AA) at 60 minutes
0.50 oz Northdown (10.5% AA) at 20 minutes

Extras
-------
1.0 Tab Whirlfloc at 15 Min
28 drops of Foam Control in the boil
1.0 oz American Oak Chips (heavy toast)
3.0 oz Jim Beam Bourbon
1.0 oz Royal Crown Whiskey

Yeast
-----
WLP001 – California Ale Yeast (2L starter)

Mash Schedule
-------------
60 min at 155° F

Notes
-----
Brewed on 7/18/2009 by the Wallace Brothers

Due to the limitations of the 5 gallon mash tun, 1.5 lbs DME was added before the boil to bump the pre-boil gravity from 1.060 to the targeted value of 1.068.

Aeration accomplished by vigorously rocking the carboy (Better Bottle) during and after transfer from kettle.

Yeast was pitched when wort was 68°F. Primary fermentation held at 68°F with a freezer and digital temperature controller.

7/21/09 - Oak chips and 4 oz of bourbon/whiskey were combined and sealed in a Tupperware container. Oak chips were allowed to soak in bourbon/whiskey for ~2 weeks.

7/30/09 – Transferred oak chips and bourbon/whiskey into 5 gallon secondary carboy and then racked the beer on top of it. Returned beer to freezer and held at 68°F.

8/4/09 – Pulled beer out of freezer and let it rise up to room temperature (~72°F) for several days.

8/7/09 – Bottling day. Racked the beer off the oak chips and into a bottleing bucket with 3.5oz of priming sugar (corn sugar) for carbonation (~5g at 72°F = 2.1 volumes of CO2). Bottle condition and age at room temperature for at least 2 months before first sample.

2/27/10 – Samples of the Dragon's Breath beer was submitted to the 2010 Boston Homebrew Competition, where the beer was awarded a bronze medal in the Specialty Beer category.  The beer recieved a score of 38.5 based on the BJCP scoresheets from the competition.

5/30/10 - While we were both up in New York for a family function, Tom and I were able to open a bottle to see how the last 10 months have treated the beer.  Read about the tasting here.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Lug Wrench Brew: Devoted Brother, a Lost Abbey Devotion Clone

In May of 2009, Lug Wrench brewed its first collaborative beer - Devoted Brother, a clone of the Lost Abbey's Devotion. Devotion is a Belgian pale ale that has gained quite a following since Lost Abbey began producing it. Neither of us had tried the beer before, but we certainly had heard its hype. When we saw the clone recipe in the July-August 2008 issue of BYO, we decided to give it a shot.

Devoted Brother - Clone Recipe for Lost Abbey's Devotion Ale

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.5
Total Grain + Sugar (Lbs): 9.5
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.006
SRM: 4
IBU: 35
ABV: 5.9%
Brewhouse Efficiency: 81 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
---------------------
7.50 lbs. Continental Pilsner Malt
0.50 lbs. Crystal 20L
1.50 lbs. Dextrose

Hops
-----
All hops are pellet hops
0.40 oz Warrior (14.75% AA) at 90 minutes
0.30 oz Brewers Gold (9.1% AA) at 45 minutes
0.30 oz Brewers Gold (9.1% AA) at 15 minutes
0.80 oz German Tradition (5.4% AA) at 0 minutes

Extras
-------
1.0 Tab Whirlfloc at 15 Min
28 drops of Foam Control in the boil

Yeast
-----
WLP575 – Belgian Ale Yeast Blend (1L starter)

Mash Schedule
-------------
60 min at 146°F

Notes
-----
Brewed on 5/11/2009 by the Wallace Brothers. First collaborative brewing session.

The wort was aerated with an aquarium pump, sterile filter, and stainless stone for 20 minutes.

Yeast was pitched when wort was at 67°F. The beer was allowed to natural rise over the four day fermentation, ending up at about 72°F.

Fermentation was very vigorous, resulting in the beer pushing up through the airlock and spilling on the floor.

5/27/09 - Racked the beer to secondary to hold until an empty keg was available to transfer into.

6/1/09 - Transfered the beer to keg and set at 2.5 volumes of CO2 with storage at 40°F. Beer has a decidedly cidery and rough character to it.

7/7/09 - The cidery character has evened out and the beer has started to develop a "funk" in the aroma.

7/18/09 - We did a side-by-side comparison of our beer with the actual Devotion. The homebrewed version had a very "grainy" and rough character compared to Devotion, which was light and smooth. You could tell they were similar, but definately not cloned.

8/2/09 - Keg is all gone.
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