Honey malt, and fresh sweet basil…a summer ale WTF happened to this ale, ale. Somehow, this ale turned sour. I suspect the yeast, since the basil itself was added during the boil, and any bacteria would have been killed. That being said, it may be good after all. Sours can be quite nice, but take time to mature properly. So…we’ll see.

Type: All Grain
Style: Blonde Ale
Volume: 2.5 Gallons
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Brewed: May 20, 2012
Bottled: June 8, 2012
OG: 1.055  FG: 1.013
IBUs: 33  ABV: 5.5%

Grains
3.5 lb. 2-Row Pale Malt
0.75 lb. Honey Malt
0.5 lb. Belgian Wheat Malt
0.25 lb. Flaked Barley
0.25 lb. Cara-Pils

Hops (Pellet)
60 min: 0.5 oz East Kent Goldings
20 min: 0.25 oz East Kent Goldings
10 min: 0.25 oz East Kent Goldings

Spices
1 oz Fresh Sweet Basil (Boil 5 mins)

Yeast
400 ml starter of California Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP001)

A Maredsous 8 (Brune) clone.

Type: All Grain
Style: Belgian Dubbel
Volume: 5 Gallons
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Brewed: May 5, 2012
Bottled: June 6, 2012
OG: 1.084  FG: 1.012
IBUs: 27  ABV: 9.5%

Grains
10 lb. Belgian 2-Row Pilsner
2 lb. German 2-Row Pilsner
1 lb. Caramunich Malt
1 lb. Special B Malt

Sugars
1 lb. Dextrose (Boil for 10 min)

Hops (Whole Leaf)
60 min: 1 oz Styrian Goldings
30 min: 1 oz Saaz

Yeast
2 l. starter of Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388)

An all grain Kölsch, brewed with a proper yeast and temperature schedule. The only thing not proper with this beer is the ABV, which is slightly higher than the style guidelines…oops 😉

Style: Kölsch
Brewed: April 21, 2012
Bottled: June 4, 2012
OG: 1.056  FG: 1.008
IBUs: 24  ABV: 6.3%

Grains
8 lbs 2-Row Pilsen Malt
1.5 lbs Wheat Malt
8 oz Cara-Pils

Hops (Pellet)
60 min: 1 oz Saphir
30 min: 0.5 oz Saaz
10 min: 0.5 oz Saaz

Yeast
800 ml starter of German Ale / Kölsch (Früh) (White Labs #WLP029)

This is the second time we brewed this beer, but this time was to get the numbers right…we did that, and more. It’s on the slightly higher ABV end for an American Pale Ale, but we slightly lowered the IBUs to make sure it wasn’t considered an IPA…don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of those.

Style: American Pale Ale
Brewed: April 21, 2012
Bottled: May 16, 2012
OG: 1.062  FG: 1.010
IBUs: 36  ABV: 6.8%

Grains
6 lbs 2-Row Pale Malt
1 lb Caramel Malt 20L
1 lb Munich Malt
1 lb Belgian Wheat Malt

Sugar
8 oz Light Belgian Candi Sugar

Hops (Whole Leaf)
60 min: 1 oz Cascade
30 min: 0.5 oz Cascade
10 min: 0.5 oz Cascade
5 min: 0.5 oz Cascade
Steep: 0.5 oz Cascade
14 day Dry Hop: 1 oz Cascade

Yeast
800 ml starter of California Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP001)

This beer was designed as an experiment to test out the new mill before a large double-batch brew weekend. So I only did a 2.5 lb batch, with a recipe that would have been a hoppy IPA at our old efficiency. However, the experiment went so well, that it actually is more like an Imperial IPA, that’s light on the IBUs. Named for tax day, which I thought was the 16th (since the 15th was a Sunday), but as it turns out, the IRS gave two extra days to get taxes in. Not sure why, but I’m sticking with the name/concept. And in good form with the name, it’s both bitter (from the hops) and sweet (from the caramel malt)…the 1.5 lbs. of caramel malt was sort of a mistake, and depending on how it ages, we might only use 1 lb. next time.

Type: All Grain
Style: Imperial IPA
Brewed: April 16, 2012
Bottled: May 14, 2012
OG: 1.083  FG: 1.016
IBUs: 56  ABV: 8.9%

Grains
5 lbs 2-Row Pale Malt
1.5 lbs Caramel Malt 20L
1 lbs Aromatic Malt

Hops (Whole Leaf)
60 min: 0.25 oz Centennial
50 min: 0.25 oz Citra
20 min: 0.25 oz Centennial
10 min: 0.25 oz Citra
Steep: 0.25 oz Centennial & 0.25 oz Citra
28 day Dry Hop: 0.25 oz Centennial & 0.25 oz Citra

Yeast
200 ml starter of San Diego Super Yeast (White Labs #WLP090)