brewing in maine » Beer

Sixty Schilling, Served

christopher.falk — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:40:35 +0000

So the 60 Schilling Scottish is done, kegged and tasty. It actually has a distinct malty, almost pretzel flavor that I think came from the honey malt primarily. The color is lighter than the photo lets on – much more of a reddish amber. Kegged at 5 psi for 1.5 volumes of CO2 at 50 degrees, and sitting in my basement.

60 Schilling Scottish Ale

christopher.falk — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:32:28 +0000

It seems like every time I brew something I haven’t tried before I find myself looking up the Jamil Show podcast for that particular style. Usually I don’t use the recipe exactly (though this time I did) but it’s got a ton of great detail on the little things and why they matter. High mash temp for some extra unfermentable body, a little gypsum for Burtonizing my softened water, and so on. And you get this:

The recipe (direct from JZ, credit where credit is due) is below:

4 lb English pale malt (I used Maris Otter)
1/2 lb Munich malt
1/2 lb Honey malt
1 lb 40L Crystal malt
1/2 lb 120L Crystal malt
2 oz Pale Chocolate malt (for color and a touch of nutty roastedness)

1/2 oz Kent Goldings, 60 mins

California Ale (Chico) yeast (I used White Labs WLP001)

Mashed at 158 degrees for 60 minutes, single infusion, mashed out at 168 for 15 mins, recirculated for a while and then sparged. Much darker than expected, but probably the right SRM in the end. Late runnings were (obviously) much paler. Boiled for 90 minutes, and ran out of gas halfway and had to swap in the spare tank.

Starting gravity came in at 1036. Aerated for 45 mins (new aeration kit!) and pitched the WLP001. I’m planning to lock our thermostat at 65 for the next few days and see how it goes – looking for lower attenuation to hold onto some sweetness.

Can I just say how awesome Maine Brewing Supply is? No matter how obscure the malt, Rob’s got it.

Oktoberfest

christopher.falk — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:19:30 +0000

OK, the first real post here. Nearly two weeks ago I brewed my first lager, an Oktoberfest, which has been in the chest freezer at 50 degrees since. It took a few days to start fermenting (didn’t do a starter at all, probably should have) and looks like this now:

The recipe was cribbed from Northern Brewer’s Oktoberfest recipe and modified somewhat.

5.0 lb. Munich Malt
5.0 lb Pilsener Malt
0.5 lb Dark Munich Malt
0.5 lb CaraMunich 60
0.5 oz Millenium (15.0% AA), 60 minutes
0.5 oz Mt. Hood (5.0% AA), 0 minutes
Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend smack pack

Mash Schedule:
20 minutes @ 122 degrees (Protein Rest)
60 minutes @ 153 degrees (Saccharification Rest)
15 minutes @ 168 degrees (Mash Out)
Sparged to collect about 7 gallons in the kettle.

Boiled 90 minutes, chilled with the immersion chiller, strained into the carboy and pitched the yeast.

I’ve found out in some reading that with modern malts the protein rest isn’t really necessary, so I may omit that in the future. In another week I’ll rack to secondary and do a 1-2 day diacetyl rest at room temp, then put it back in the fridge and slowly drop the temp to 33 degrees for lagering.