I recently received my order from Hops Direct. So I am excited to get some brews going with this fresh hops!!!

1# Mt. Hood
1# Crystal
1# Willamette
1# Sonnet Golding (split with a friend)

I have not made a lager in a while and I came up with these recipes on Saturday. I brewed the helles on Sunday and plan on brewing the pilsner this Friday.

You will notice the grain bill is the same, but mash temp and hops are different.

Strom von Schwartz Pilsner
Earth on Helles

The down and dirty of Oktoberfest.

Just wanted to share this recipe with you all. I used 1968 in half and
1098 in the other. Hands down the 1968 is the better yeast in this
recipe. .97 Munich II, was all I had left thus the odd number.

This is probably the best ale I have made in years. I am blown away on
how good it is. My wife was praising it also.

One thing that I noticed in the recent past of my brewing is that was
becoming lazy with water amounts etc. I know that I am capable of
brewing great beer and have not been that happy with the my beer
lately. So this beer I was anal about water amounts, times and all the
little things. It paid off!!!

I brewed an ordinary bitter on the weekend, and it felt great to get back at it. More details to come.

I have not posted anything in over a year. I suck!!!!

I have been crazy busy with life. I have not brewed in a while, but plan to soon.

I joined a band about a year ago call Hero’s Last Rite. We released a CD in October and all is going well.

Stay tuned as I blow the dust off the brewery very soon.

Tim

Did another weekday brew last Thursday and once again finished up before 9PM.

I was asked how I manage to do this. Easy, weigh out your recipe prior to brew day, mill your grain the night before or that day, mash in at lunch (this shouldn’t take you long), go back to work, get home and start your first runnings. Works for me…

Recipe: Doing Well Bitter
Brewer: Tim Gorman
Style: Special/Best/Premium Bitter
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
————————–
Batch Size: 40.00 L
Boil Size: 48 L
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 11.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 32.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.50 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount

6.50 kg Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM) 77.84 %
0.75 kg Munich II (Weyermann) (8.5 SRM) 8.98 %
0.45 kg Carafoam (2.0 SRM) 5.39 %
0.45 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 5.39 %
0.20 kg Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 2.40 %
28.30 gm Crystal [3.30 %] (60 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)
28.30 gm Pearle [7.00 %](60 min) 12.3 IBU
28.30 gm Pearle [7.00 %] (45 min) 11.3 IBU
28.30 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (30 min) 6.1 IBU
28.30 gm Crystal [3.30 %] (15 min) 2.9 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [Cultured]

Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 8.35 kg
—————————-

Double Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name
Description Step Temp
15 min Protein Rest Add 17.37 L of water at 55.6 C 50.0 C
270 min Saccrification Add 15.41 L of water at 89.3 C 66.7 C

My band had a gig Saturday night, and we had a practice Friday evening. So I decided to brew during the week last week as I knew that weekend brewing was going to be out of the question and I had yeast ready to go.

Anyways, I came up with this Marzen (ish) recipe. I mashed in during my lunch break from work and started the first runnings as soon as I got home. I wasn’t rushed and it was all done around 9PM. The wort tasted great, so I am looking forward to some of this around Christmas.

Recipe: Last Minute Lager
Brewer: Tim Gorman
Asst Brewer:
Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen (sort of)
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
————————–
Batch Size: 40.00 L
Boil Size: 46.95 L
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 11.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.50 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount Item
7.00 kg Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) 75.59 %
1.50 kg Munich II (Weyermann) (8.5 SRM)16.20 %
0.33 kg Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) 3.56 %
0.23 kg Caramunich II (Weyermann) (63.0 SRM) 2.48 %
0.10 kg Carafa I (337.0 SRM) 1.08 %
0.10 kg Special B Malt (220.0 SRM) 1.08 %
42.00 gm Pearle [7.00 %] (60 min) 17.7 IBU
28.30 gm Crystal [3.30 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) 6.2 IBU
0.53 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1 Pkgs Bavarian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2206) Starter

Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 9.26 kg
—————————-
Double Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name
Description Step Temp
30 min Protein Rest Add 17.37 L of water at 55.6 C 50.0 C
270 min Saccrification Add 15.41 L of water at 89.3 C 66.7 C

I have been really keen on brewing lately and pretty excited about trying my hand at some Belgian Ales after visiting the Allagash Brewery in Portland Maine in August.

So in the next week or so, I have a Belgian Pale Ale planned and then move on to a Dubbel. The Dubbel is what I have been looking forward to brewing and I am going to make the Pale Ale to build up the yeast for the Dubbel. Once the fermentation is complete, I am going to do the unthinkable and bottle them. YIKES!!!!

I am also going to brewing a number of English Ales and German Lagers. Can’t wait!!!

Cheers,

Tim

This was another brew that I put on during my vacation. It turned out to be more of a kitchen sink brew as I checked out my inventory. I had some odds and sods of stuff left so figured I would finish them off.

Again, it was beautiful warm autumn day so brewing outside was not an issue. I ended up starting this one late in day as the kids had the day off from school and some of their friends called for them to come over for a visit.

You maybe wondering why I did a protein rest for this ale as I usually don’t. The reason is simple, the protein rest does not create dough balls when I mash-in at that lower temperature, like the higher temperature mash-in does. So, it’s just easier.

This beer is pretty much ready for kegging now. I haven’t check the gravity but this beer should come in around 3.5%ABV. A good session beer.

I am crossing my fingers on this ale. My last few didn’t turn out very well, but I think it was because of under pitching of the yeast and this might have happened to this also.

Recipe: Deerwood Bitter
Brewer: Tim Gorman
Style: Standard/Ordinary Bitter
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
————————–
Batch Size: 40.00 L
Boil Size: 48.17 L
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 10.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.50 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount Item
6.00 kg Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM) 85.35 %
0.45 kg Carafoam (2.0 SRM) 6.40 %
0.25 kg Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 3.56 %
0.22 kg Special B Malt (220.0 SRM) 3.13 %
0.11 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt – 40L (45.0 SRM) 1.56 %
28.30 gm Crystal [3.30 %] (60 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)
44.00 gm Northern Brewer [6.00 %] (60 min) 17.7 IBU
28.30 gm Pearle [7.00 %] (30 min) 10.2 IBU
28.30 gm Pearle [7.00 %] (15 min) 6.6 IBU
1 Pkgs London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [Starter 12Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 7.03 kg
—————————-
Double Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
15 min Protein Rest Add 13.19 L of water at 55.6 C 50.0 C
75 min Saccrification Add 11.42 L of water at 89.9 C 66.7 C