back in business

After over a month of being too busy and trying to get a keg turned into a boiling pot we finally started brewing again with an American style IPA brewed on 4/13. here is the recipe we used:

13.5lb English two-row
1.75lb munich malt
0.5lb Crystal 20
0.25 Crystal 40
0.13 Crystal 60
2oz Centennial 90min
1oz Cascade 20min
1oz Cascade 1min
Wyeast American Ale

pictures of the brewing are not yet available but here is a picture of the carboy:

no brewing lately

we haven't brewed anything for a little while....we are looking to alter a keg we found into a brewing kettle and have been holding off on brewing until we get that done....but our espresso stout is currently bottle-conditioning and we are thinking about cracking the first one this weekend....stay tuned for reviews and new brews....in the meantime here are some photos from previous batches

all in time

we have brewed three all-grain batches this semester already.....we are in the process of finishing off a keg and hope to cut out the top and put in a spigot to be used for brewing bigger batches, so far this spring we have brewed a espresso stout, and a maibock...we are really excited about both, hoping to try and keep better track of our ingredients and times and such on this blog.....keep checking

view of the brew

Dave stirring the Off-Kilter Ale

still brewing despite a complete lack of posts

Fall has arrived in Missoula. Dave has grown a beard and Neil is dodging car doors on his bicycle. We are indeed still brewing, and we are going to make an effort to begin to post more regularly. Our new house in the Rattlesnake gives us a nice clean kitchen (and dishwasher, wahoo) to work with and a basement perfect for storing batches.

Since September we have brewed many types of beer and seen various results.

Our first venture was the ambitious "Goat Scrotum Ale", a recipe that called for anything we felt like throwing in it. We used a variation of hops, juniper berries, ginger, dark malt extract, and some other things laying around the kitchen. After doubts about fermentation we pitched more yeast a week into storing. We let it ferment for another week, conditioned it for a few weeks in a carboy, and to our surprise this batch came out to be somewhat drinkable.

After the questionable Goat Scrotum Ale we thought we'd try a traditional Brown Ale. This brew appeared to have all the qualities of a fine brown ale until the bottleing process, where we slipped up on the priming sugar. Distributing sugar into the fermented wort is CRUCIAL, without it done correctly you will have a flat, foamless brewha. We'll give the Brown Ale another try soon cause we were on to good things, thats for sure.

In mid September Dave dreamed up another ambitious creation. Dubbed the "Honey Hybrid" we attempted to splice two recipes and create a Honey Amber. Our average batch of homebrew calls for 6 lbs of malt extract. The malt extract is an important base for the brew, containing all the sugars that will eventually convert to the alcohol we're after. In this batches case we substituted the malt extract for clover honey. This honey contains the sugar we need, and should work as a nice base for a rich amber. We'll keep you posted on it's success (or failure).

Just last night we brewed a Scotch Ale titled the "Off-Kilter Ale". This batch called for some new brewing techniques and methods, and a combination of ingredients we're not used to either. This batch has dark chocolate and crystal malts, flaked barley, and light malt extract (both dry and syrup) which should bring a nice full taste. This batch has been fermenting through the roof, which is always a pleasure to see.

On Saturday night we plan on tasting a whole bunch of our beers that are stored in the basement. We'll update you with "roommate reviews", a truly unbiased review of our recent batches from the likes of Drew Johnson and Colin Scott.

This blog will document the homebrewing adventures of Dave Whisenand and Neil Murray. Our first batch was brewed last fall sometime and since then we have brewed a few others.

Batch #1 was an American Amber Ale kit ordered through northernbrewer.com
Ingredients
1lbs. Dingemans Caravienne Specialty Grains
3.3lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
3.3lbs. Amber Malt Syrup
1oz. Northern Brewer Hops
1oz. Hallertauer Hops
Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast


Our second batch was a Dry Irish Stout, we named the Sir Patrick because the three guys that helped brew it are named David Patrick Whisenand, Neil Patrick Murray, and Sean Patrick Priest.
Ingredients
1 lbs. Simpson's Roasted Barley
6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
1 oz. Kent Goldings hops
1 oz. Kent Goldings hops
Wyeast #1084 Irish Ale Yeast.

This beer received rave reviews from the likes of Ryan Martin, Paul Schmidt, and Abby Scott.



The third brew was a Pale Ale, brewed by Neil-solo.
Ingredients
1 lbs. Dingemans Caramel Pils grains
6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
1 oz. Chinook hops
1 oz. Cascade hops
Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast

This beer was somewhat of a disappointment, but still not a bad tasting brew.

Those were our first few brews all brewed last fall. This spring we have started buying our own ingredients at a local place called Lolo Peak Winery, and we hope to start pumping out a brew each week.

Last week I purchased the ingredients needed for an India Pale Ale. We brewed that sometime last week and bottled what will be known as the Grey Duck IPA tuesday night.

Grey Duck IPA Ingredients
6 pounds amber plain malt extract
1 pound crystal malt
1/2 pound toasted malt
2 oz. northern brewer hops
1 oz. kent golding hops
1 package dry ale yeast

Most of the pictures on this post are from the porter we brewed last night.
Porter Ingredients
1/2lbs. dark crystal malt
1/4lbs. black patent malt
1/3lbs. chocolate malt
6.6lbs. amber malt extract
1oz. northern brewer hops
1oz. tettnanger hops
1/2 teaspoon Irish moss
1 package dry ale yeast

The wort of our fourth batch- the Grey Duck IPA. Hydrometer readings say it should ring in at a hearty 6.5% Alcohol/Volume, and a preliminary taste test shows extreme bitterness. Ahhh yes.

Bottling our 2nd batch and in my opinion the best yet, The Sir Patrick Dry Irish Stout.