Black Rye West Coast IPA
My Black Rye IPA is finally on tap, and tasting delicious. I had talked about the recipe here, and I found out shortly after I brewed this, that Firestone Walker is brewing nearly the same damn beer. Now I’ll be honest, I had heard they were brewing a Black Rye IPA, but I had no idea our recipes would be so flipping close. Their beer is a little bigger (8.5% ABV), looks to be a little less dark, and uses a slightly different malt bill, but it still looks remarkably similar.
Read More
120 Minute: Your Newborn Baby
Brewing a 120 Minute IPA clone is much like having a newborn: It’s very temperamental, and it needs fed twice a day. In all seriousness, this beer is a lot of work. You need to be very organized, and very sanitary, as you’ll be messing with your fermenting wort daily. So here are a collection of tips and tricks I learned along the way that will help should you want to tackle this beer.
Read More
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA Clone
After this post discussing my plan to brew a cross between 120 Minute and Pliny the Younger, I got some feedback that I should post the recipe and process for the original 120 Minute clone. Most of the info is detailed here, but that thread is a million pages long and the information isn’t condensed. Unfortunately, there’s a flipping ton of information about this beer, so hold onto your hats, this is going to be a long one.
Read More
American Amber Ale Brew Day
Today was an absolutely perfect day in Phoenix, 70* and sunny; hard to beat that for February. With the Super Bowl tomorrow, today was also a great day to squeeze in a brew day.
Read More
If Pliny the Younger and 120 Minute had a baby…
Last July I took on the monumental challenge of cloning Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA. I documented the entire process here and it turned out really well. It tastes just like the older 20%+ ABV versions of 120 Minute. Mine topped out at 21.1% calculated ABV, but considering volatilization of alcohol, I called it 20% for good measure. I drank a few bottles, gave away a few bottles, and now have about 30 left that I’m going to stash away for a long time to mature.
Read More
Bertus Porter Brew Day
Whew! Yesterday was a busy, exhausting, but fun day. Woke up very sore for Friday’s crossfit workout, ran some errands, then played golf at noon. Grabbed a quick bite at five and took off to Greg’s to brew a Robust Porter. Got home around 10:45 feeling absolutely beat, but productive.
Read More
Foreign Extra Stout Brew Day
This weekend I brewed a foreign extra stout. This is my first attempt at brewing this style, so I’m fairly eager to see how it turns out. Equally as exciting, I finished building a counter-flow chiller, and it made it’s maiden voyage on this batch. Where has a counter-flow been all my life! I recirculated wort back into the kettle, and in about 7 minutes it brought the entire batch down to 120* using hose water to cool. Once I switched the cooling water to recirculating ice water, the wort was coming out at 60*, which I pumped directly into the fermenter. The entire batch was chilled in about 15 minutes; I’m very impressed.
Read More
Ten Gallons of Delicous
Yesterday was my first 10 gallon batch. Greg and I have been using our keggle mash tun for awhile and we broke our boil keggle in last week, so we gave it a full run for it’s money yesterday. This batch of Honey Blonde is destined for the East Valley Crossfit Iron Fest. Same exact recipe as my earlier post here, only doubled for 10 gallons, and I used WLP007 rather than US-05 this time. Should be mighty tasty by January 14th! If you’re going to be in the area, drop by. It’s going to be fun!
Special Bitter Brew Day
Today I brewed a special bitter. Just about any one living in the Phoenix area is familiar with Four Peaks brewery. They make a special bitter called 8th Street Ale that I am just obsessed with; it’s a lower gravity session beer that just hits the spot. It has a big pronounced hop aroma, more so than you’d expect for a bitter, but the flavor is mostly malty sweetness. Today marks my second attempt to clone it.
Read More
Honey Blonde
Here’s what else is on tap at my house right now. A crisp blonde ale. Blonde Ales are a little out of season considering the weather is cooling off, but for Sunday football, there’s not much better. This is a beer that can be consumed in volume! It’s dry, crisp, malty, just a hint of hops, and very, very drinkable.
Read More