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.

Brewing with olive oil

It sounds crazy, but I think I'm going to give it a try. Maybe do a small batch experiment.

http://brewcrazy.com/brewing-beer-with-olive-oil-article/

GingerBread 1 Gallon Brew

I say gingerbread beer, having recently tried ginger beer and having bought the ginger to do it. I thought why not add some malt and molasses?

Brew in a bag, 1 gallon batch.

Malt:
6.3 oz - 2 Row
2.5 oz - Rye Malt
4.0 oz - CaraMunich III
2.0 oz - Munich I
1.2 oz - Midnight Wheat
1.0 oz - Pale Ale Malt

Mash: 152-154 F for 1hr

Boil:
6.5 oz - Light DME
8.0 oz - Mollasses
1 Cinnamon Stick @ 60 min
0.5 oz - Styran Goldings

FlameOut - Coast for 20 min
3.6 oz - Ginger grated fine
1 tsp Nutmeg (fresh grated)
6 cloves
1 Cinnamon stick


OG = 1.053