I brewed a California Common this week (Tuesday, 12-26-2006) with ingredients I purchased from Northern Brewer (www.northernbrewer.com). I'm sure the ingredients are of high quality, but one of the issues I had was finding the information to setup a ProMash recipe. I ended up just guessing and adding ingredients that were similar and were already in the ProMash database. Below are my notes on the brew day. Not a bad brew day after it was all said and done. It was the first late afternoon brew I've ever done. I usually start around 9 or 10 in the morning mainly due to the mosquito factor here in the south. You're fine in the morning but after about 3pm they will eat you alive. Since it's officially winter here the "skeeters" are not an issue. It wasn't too cold either that day.

Brew Day Notes:
Grains milled @ 2:28pm
Water added to heat Mash Tun (1 Gallon) not boiling yet @ 2:28pm
Dough in water calculated to 2.92 Gallons at 167f 2:29pm
Water in Mash Tun boiling at 2:33pm
Ran water from HLT to MT to warm @ 2:34pm
Strike water heating up at 2:40pm
Strike water at 145f @ 3:00pm
Dough in @ 3:15pm, mash temp ~155f (digital thermometer said 150f, regular thermometer said 155f) I have reason to believe the digital is messed up, wire on probe has gotten wet before and it acts funny at times, will test later.
Prepared 4.38 gallons for sparge water 3:20pm
Forgot to add 5.2 mash stabilizer, added at 3:35pm
Sparge water at ~175f 4:14pm. Turning fire off HLT.
Vorlaf & First runnings begin at 4:16pm. Runnings clean from start, maybe first 1/2 cup w/ debris.
Wyeast smack pack not expanding much, smacked about an hour ago (forgot to log)
First runnings finished at 4:22pm
Started adding sparge water to MT 4:22pm
Sparge water added to MT 4:28pm (seemed like a lot of water, I think I've been doing two sparges in the past. We'll see if this makes any difference) Just over 1 gallon in boil kettle after first runnings.
Yeast pack still not expanding. 4:44pm
Began second runnings 4:45pm clean from start.
4:58 set boil kettle on burner, almost exactly 6 gallons in boil kettleBoil kettle @ 155f @ 5:07pm
Boil kettle only @ 165F at 5:16 so I turned up the burner a little.
Boil kettle @ 190f @ 5:25pm
Added 1/2 oz of NB hops 5:30pm
Added 2nd 1/2 oz of NB hops at 6:00pm
Boil kettle at 5 1/2 gallons 6:09pm
Added Irish Moss @ 6:12pm
Added IM chiller to boil kettle @ 6:13pm
Added 1oz of NB hops @ 6:28
Killed heat to boil kettle @ 6:29
Started IM chiller water @ 6:30
175f @ 6:38pm
150f @ 6:40pm
125f @ 6:48pm
110f @ 6:58pm
105f @ 7:03pm
100f @ 7:07pm
Poured wort into fermenter @ 7:10pm
Aerating wort @ 7:15pm
90f @ 7:18pm
Pitched yeast @ 80f @ 7:30pm
Sealed up fermenter and set in other room 7:31pm
Hydrometer sample says ~1.050
Clean up done @ 7:55pm
_____________________________________

I checked the fermenter yesterday and it was rocking. The temp in my fermentation room as been between 62f and 66f since this brew has been in there. I think it will be just fine, but we'll see in about another week.

Recipe used:
Northern Brewer California Common
A ProMash Recipe Report
Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00
Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 9.00
Anticipated OG: 1.048
Plato: 12.02
Anticipated SRM: 7.1
Anticipated IBU: 43.6
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
88.9 8.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
11.1 1.00 lbs. Carastan Malt Great Britian 1.035 34

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 9.60 23.6 60 min.
0.50 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 9.60 12.1 30 min.
1.00 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 9.60 7.9 1 min.

Yeast
-----
WYeast 2112 California Lager

Well, next up I've decided to do a California Common beer which is an Ale/Lager hybrid. Which basically means it is a lager that is fermented in the lower temp levels of an ale. This beer will be fermented at about 60f - 65f since that is about the range my basement is holding at right now. This will be the first lager I've attempted. I'm trying to get several different brews on hand so I'll be ready for 2007 competitions.

Here is the BJCP info on this beer. All can be found here. I'm having a little issue finding the stats for some of the ingredients so I can setup a ProMash recipe. If I do I'll post it here so anyone else who needs it can find it.

7B. California Common Beer

Aroma:
Typically showcases the signature Northern Brewer hops (with woody, rustic or minty qualities) in moderate to high strength. Light fruitiness acceptable. Low to moderate caramel and/or toasty malt aromatics support the hops. No diacetyl.

Appearance:
Medium amber to light copper color. Generally clear. Moderate off-white head with good retention.

Flavor:
Moderately malty with a pronounced hop bitterness. The malt character is usually toasty (not roasted) and caramelly. Low to moderately high hop flavor, usually showing Northern Brewer qualities (woody, rustic, minty). Finish fairly dry and crisp, with a lingering hop bitterness and a firm, grainy malt flavor. Light fruity esters are acceptable, but otherwise clean. No diacetyl.

Mouthfeel:
Medium-bodied. Medium to medium-high carbonation.
Overall Impression: A lightly fruity beer with firm, grainy maltiness, interesting toasty and caramel flavors, and showcasing the signature Northern Brewer varietal hop character.

History:
American West Coast original. Large shallow open fermenters (coolships) were traditionally used to compensate for the absence of refrigeration and to take advantage of the cool ambient temperatures in the San Francisco Bay area. Fermented with a lager yeast, but one that was selected to thrive at the cool end of normal ale fermentation temperatures.

Comments:
This style is narrowly defined around the prototypical Anchor Steam example. Superficially similar to an American pale or amber ale, yet differs in that the hop flavor/aroma is woody/minty rather than citrusy, malt flavors are toasty and caramelly, the hopping is always assertive, and a warm-fermented lager yeast is used.

Ingredients:
Pale ale malt, American hops (usually Northern Brewer, rather than citrusy varieties), small amounts of toasted malt and/or crystal malts. Lager yeast, however some strains (often with the mention of "California" in the name) work better than others at the warmer fermentation temperatures (55 to 60°F) used. Note that some German yeast strains produce inappropriate sulfury character. Water should have relatively low sulfate and low to moderate carbonate levels.

Vital Statistics:
OG 1.048 - 1.054
FG 1.011 - 1.014
IBUs 30 - 45
SRM 10 - 14
ABV 4.5 - 5.5%

Commercial Examples:
Anchor Steam, Southampton West Coast Steam Beer, Old Dominion Victory Amber, Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager

I did my first cold weather brew last weekend and it brought about a few new challenges. First of all I'm not too good with cold weather. It's my firm belief that humans should hibernate all winter. I had to make sure I didn't get in too big of a hurry while I was doing something outside during the brew. Second of all, I could only get my mash up to 147f. I did get close to my target OG though. I think I was aiming for 1.049 and I hit 1.047. I didn't do a starter but one thing I did different with the yeast was, since it was so cold, I carried the vial around in my pocket during the entire brew session so the yeast would be awake and kicking when it came time to pitch. Fermentation started pretty slow, I think it was 24+ hours before I noticed it starting to bubble and that was after I moved it into a semi-heated room in the basement. The main basement was getting down to the low 50s, this room seems to stay in the low to mid 60s. We'll see how it comes out.

(By the way, the name Fuzzy Weasel Head comes from the acronym FWH which stands for First Wort Hopping. A method I used for this brew)

Fuzzy Weasel Head Brown Ale
BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
10-C American Ale, American Brown Ale

Grain:
8.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)
1.00 lbs. Crystal 60L
0.50 lbs. Chocolate Malt

Hops
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole First WH
0.50 oz. Nugget Whole 60 min.
0.75 oz. Willamette Whole 30 min.
0.25 oz. Willamette Whole 15 min.

Extras
1.00 Tsp 5.2 added to Mash
1.00 Tsp Irish Moss 15 Min.(boil)

Yeast
White Labs WLP001 California Ale

This is my current stock of specialty grains. It is mainly crystal malts with a few others like flaked barley and an aromatic malt. Some of these are odd malts, but most are ones I'll use fairly often. The two big jars are chocolate malt, that I didn't really need that much of but that was all the LHBS had when I needed some.

We took a tour of the French Broad Brewery on Saturday around 1pm local time. This brewery is really great. From their equipment to their beers to the attitude the employees have, just amazing. I'm posting out of order here because I didn't feel my little 300kp camera on my cell phone would do the beautiful fermenters in this place justice; so I had to break out my wife's 4.1mp camera and take a few shots. This place has live music every night from about 6 till 8 with great performers. The musicians/bands play right there in the brewery amongst the fermenters and brite tanks. It kind of makes me wonder if that doesn't help the beers a little. I've heard of homebrewers putting headphones on their little bucket fermenters and playing certain types of music, much like an expecting mother will do for their unborn child. Remember, those little yeasties are living creatures as well and it's a known fact that certain types of music has an effect on other animals as well.

This is a really cool brewery and brewing company and it's going to be interesting watching it grow.

PROST!


Click below for larger pics: http://homebrewing.mattburks.com/images/FrenchBroad/1.JPG
http://homebrewing.mattburks.com/images/FrenchBroad/2.JPG

Well, this was a true micro-brewery. Their 30 bbl brewery consisted of two large rooms located in the basement of Barley's Taproom & Pizzeria. The first half was the brew house including the equipment shown above. Just about all of their equipment was used dairy equipment. In the second half was their fermentation room which consisted of several ice cream tanks that they had converted to fermentation tanks.

It took us a while to find the place, especially since apparently the city of Asheville doesn't believe in road signs. By the time we found the place I was a little ticked off. We walked right in the back of the brewery and met up with the UNCA students who were going to be touring with. They were handing around samples of their beer as I walked in and one of the students turned to me and asked if I wanted him to pass me one back. I said sure and he handed me, what I think was their Oatmeal Porter. So, my "ticked off" mood quickly faded. The beer was pretty good. After touring we went upstairs to Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria, where they have 40 ~ 50 beers on tap and several more in bottles. The first beer I tried was the "Rogue John's Locker Stock #18 Harvest Ale". I believe they said this was an IPA, and I would believe it. It had a HUGE hop flavor. The description on their beer menu was this:

"This release is the 4th vintage of Rogue Ales' Harvest Ale using wet hops. John Maier arranged to pick up 1000 pounds of Newport hops which were being picked as he arived... 11 Burlap Sacks were transported to the brewery where Chris Spollen (#2 brewer at Rogue) and John "more hops" Maier pitched 150 pounds of wet, freshly picked Newport Hops into the kettle... the rest is history... four batches were brewed in total."

The second beer I had was a "Thomas Creek Dopplebock". This was a good beer as well. It's the first Dopplebock I've ever tasted so I don't know how much to style it was. It tasted a little like a wine to be perfectly honest. It was still a good beer.

Well, I've made the jump to buying stock grain. I first had a friend of mine pick up a bag of American 2-Row base malt to have on hand (Thanks Rich!). Then went to my local homebrew shop (http://www.brewerscorner.com) and picked up a few 1lb bags of of specialty malts like Crystal, Victory and Aromatic. I would like to start keeping a good stock of grain on hand, that way when I decide to do a brew I'll have everything I need.

Fifty pounds of grain.

This is my little 5 gallon brewery. It is an all-grain setup using two turkey fryers and a cube type cooler. The hot liquor tank is an aluminum 7.5 gallon pot with a ball valve at the bottom that allows me to pour directly into the cooler/mash tun. The Mash tun is a 48 quart cooler with a stainless steel braided hose attached to another ball valve that allows me to lauter the grain and drain the wort directly into my boil kettle which is another 7.5 gallon aluminum pot. In the future I'll be adding a sight glass to the hot liquor tank and maybe a ball valve to the boil kettle so that I can drain into a cooling device into the fermenters. It's not much to look at, but it makes some of my favorite beers :)

~Matt