1Gal Hop Test - Galaxy

I want to start a program of testing hop flavors. My plan it to do 1oz of a single hop in 1gal beer batch. The first hop is Galaxy, a new and citra like hop that smells fantastic.

This is a partial mash, BIAB, I'm calling the recipe WIPA (wheat IPA).

7.7 oz Wheat Malt
6.9 oz Floor Malted Bohemian Pilz
3 oz Crystal 80L

Mash in 0.5 gal @150F.
Rinsed bag w/ 1 gal of room temp water, adding 0.8-1lb of Amber LME.

Hop Schedule:
8g @ 60 min
10g @ 10 min
8g @ flameout
10g saved for dry hoping.

1Gal Chocolate Imperial Stout

I am again brewing something that I'm not sure I'm going to like, but this is why we brew 1gal batches, right? I want this to be chocolate, reincarnated as a beer.

The mash was:
4oz Roasted Barley
1oz Midnight Wheat
1lb  2Row
0.9 oz Crystal 120L
4oz Rolled Oats

Mash is BIAB in at 120F, then raised to 152F for 1hour in 1gal.
After mash, I pulled the bag, drained, and rinsed with another 1gal at room temp.
After the wort came to a boil, I took some wort for a pre-pitch at low SG, and after it cooled down I pitched a whole packet of US-05.
I boiled the remaining wort for 90 minutes, after adding 2 lbs of Amber LME.

The first chocolate infusion was by taking 3Tbs of dutch process coco powder and about 1cup of wort for a simmer. After simmering I added 2tsp vanilla extract and let it sit and cool for the duration of the boil.

At 60 minutes I added 0.2oz Magnum hops at 13.3%AA.

I tried to filter the chocolate mixture w/ a coffee filter, but it was a partial success, as the filter broke the first attempt, and clogged the second.

The fermentation has been slow but steady. I have been degassing it daily. For the secondary, I have 4oz of Coco nibs which I will put in after the fermentation is complete.

I expect about 7-9% ABV for this one, but as usual no SG readings (too lazy to be honest).

Review brew - HopCity barking squirrel lager

Not all that great tbh
Not much for hops at all

Review brew - Back in Black

Back in black. 21st Amendment Brewery
6.8% Alc/vol. 65 IBUs

This is really good. The malt is extreamly roasty, unlike any i've tried before. 

Review brew - Mow Master

Mow Master
Ellicottville brewing co. NY
5.0% by vol

Quite refreshing, light bitterness and light body.
Aroma is cascade or centennial.
Taste is just mild bitterness, no residual sweetness.

keeps its namesake

Mash Tun

I can't believe I never posted about the mash-tun I made. I have two rectangular coolers at about 10gal and 4 gal. I built a system of interchangeable rigid PVC sections that fit together to fit either cooler, depending on which sections I use. These connect to a hose that I syphon the wart from and using a hose clamp I can change the flow rate pretty effectively. The wart goes through cuts in the tubes, which are fine enough I've never had any issues with stuck sparges (so far). This system is pretty easy to clean since all the tubes come apart.

Belgin IPA, No really...

1/19/2014 - Brewday
Belgin IPA 5g - Belgian Tripel
================================================================================
Batch Size: 5.445 gal
Boil Size: 6.695 gal
Boil Time: 60.000 min
Efficiency: 70%
OG: 1.074
FG: 1.017
ABV: 7.4%
Bitterness: 51.1 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 11 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
================================================================================
                       Name  Type    Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
          Rahr - 2 Row Malt Grain 13.000 lb    Yes   No   80%   2 L
                  Abby Malt Grain  3.000 lb    Yes   No   75%  22 L
          Cane (Beet) Sugar Sugar  1.000 lb     No   No  100%   0 L
 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L Grain  4.000 oz    Yes   No   74%  80 L
Total grain: 17.250 lb

Hops
================================================================================
       Name Alpha   Amount     Use       Time   Form  IBU
     Simcoe 13.0% 1.000 oz    Boil 30.000 min Pellet 22.6
 Centennial 10.5% 0.500 oz    Boil 35.000 min Pellet  9.9
    Cascade  6.0% 0.500 oz    Boil 45.000 min Pellet  6.2
   Amarillo  9.5% 0.500 oz    Boil 25.000 min Pellet  7.5
      Citra 12.0% 0.500 oz    Boil 10.000 min Pellet  4.9
   Amarillo  9.5% 0.500 oz Dry Hop  2.000 day Pellet  0.0
 Centennial 10.5% 0.500 oz Dry Hop  2.000 day Pellet  0.0
    Cascade  6.0% 0.500 oz Dry Hop  2.000 day Pellet  0.0
    Magnesium Sulfate    1.5tsp into boil

Yeast
================================================================================
                        Name Type   Form     Amount   Stage
 WLP500 - Trappist Ale Yeast  Ale Liquid 2.367 tbsp Primary

Mash
================================================================================
               Name     Type    Amount      Temp    Target       Time
               Mash Infusion 4.956 gal 170.599 F 152.600 F    0.000 s
 Final Batch Sparge Infusion 3.776 gal 189.810 F 165.200 F 15.000 min

OG was 1.082 (volume was a little short)

Gravity Update (1/26/2014) 1.008, but tastes sweet?!?

Good hops, good belgin character, but a tad sweet for my taste.

Stirred up the yeast cake, hopefully get a little bit more fermentation before moving to secondary.