A Challenge!

Jake has challenged me to a beer-off! This is very exciting. We will be brewing the same recipe (below), an Ordinary Bitter, and see what kind of results we get. I ordered a pound of Fuggle hops from Hops Direct and sold 4 oz to Jake and Kelly (at cost, of course). So now I have 13.5 oz of Fuggle hops (they gave me a heavy lb) that need to used in some beer. Thus the English Mild, or the Brown ale on my to-do list. As I said, I'm looking forward to this brew-off, which I will probably brew this weekend, and will of course post all things brew related.


Ohiobrewtus' Ordinary Bitter

6.75 lb Marris Otter
0.50 lb Crystal Malt 60L

0.50 oz Fuggles (60 min)
1 oz East Kent Goldings (40 min)
1 oz East Kent Goldings (15 min)
1.5 oz Fuggles (5 min)

Wyeast English Special Bitter yeast (Private Collection)

Expected OG 1.041
Expected FG 1.010
IBU 35
SRM 7

IPA a go-go

I'm back to the IPA basics. Love me some hoppy brews, and it's been a while since I made one. I brewed a Dogfish Head 60 min IPA clone back in the last week of November, it's bottle aging right now. I have tried a bottle and it's just like I remember (well, I bit lighter as I missed my OG by 10 pts). It's got an amazing grapefruit aroma from the dry hops, nice smooth, light body, and a lovely crisp bite.
The Rye IPA has been fermenting for two weeks now, and I just took my first sample of it. I was very pleased with the results. It's got a very strong hop bitterness right now, but once it gets dry hopped that should balance it out pretty well.

It's The Litte Things

As I mentioned earlier, brewery activity has slowed lately. I brewed up a 2 gallon batch of Dogfish Head 60 Min clone, it's dry hopping right now and will be ready to bottle in about a week (I can't wait!). That basically came about from brewing withdrawal. I put the porter on the gas to carbonate and it's coming along. I think it's too young still as it is very sweet. Served at just below room temp it's not as bad, more of the roasted flavor comes through. But being that this is a rather big beer (OG was about 1.084) it probably needs months of aging in reality.
The stout came out pretty darn great! It's actually pretty light in body, and has a good bitterness to it that compliments the roasted flavors very nicely. The oats definitely added a smoothness to it that I enjoy.
I'm looking forward to getting the amber ales on the gas so they can be drinkable in a week or so. Then this weekend it's time to (finally) brew up Denny Conn's Rye IPA. I am very excited for this as I have only heard good things. And I'm ready for nice hoppy beverage. It'll also need some aging, but that's why I have the Dogfish Head to tide me over. I think I'll also make another quick turnaround brew after that. Something similar to the Scottish Light I brewed a while back, but more along the lines of an English Mild. Something that's drinkable within a few weeks of brewing, not heavy, goes down easy. A good lunch beer. Yeah, that's what I'd like about now.