Monday, March 16, 2009

Brew 12:Hoppy Amber Ale


I really like Stone's Levitation ale.  At only 4.4% alcohol you can drink a couple without getting too buzzed, but it is very full of flavor.

I wanted to do something similar, and I found a reference to the ingredients, ABV and IBUs so I made up my own recipe to get me somewhere close and brewed it a week ago.  On Saturday I racked it to secondary, and had a sample.  It is a bit too sweet still, maybe another point of gravity is yet to be fermented,  but it tasted decent.  I will update this post once I taste it.

The brew was the fastest I have ever done.  The key is to set up a bit ahead of time, and to stay busy cleaning and clearing equipment so that when you are finished with the boil, all the other equipment is cleanded and put away.

I also paid close attention to the times on the chiller.  Brad is having trouble getting his temp to drop in less than 30 minutes, but for some reason mine is much faster, on this brew, it dropped to 80f in 10 minutes.

This brew is also the closest I have ever come to hitting the calculated OG, and volume.  I was within 0.001 of the inidcated OG, and within 0.3 gallons of the intended volume.

2:50 PM 3/7/2009 Achieved 170 in Mash Tun, mix water to drop temp slightly
2:56 PM 3/7/2009 Dough in @ 161, observe temp drop to 150
3:07 PM 3/7/2009 Temp = 145
3:19 PM 3/7/2009 Temp = 140, recirc started
3:23 PM 3/7/2009 Recirc 1.25 gallons temp to 150
3:32 PM 3/7/2009 Recirc 1.25 gallons temp to 158
3:40 PM 3/7/2009 Vorlauf started
4:10 PM 3/7/2009 Sparge Complete
4:30 PM 3/7/2009 Hops Added
5:15 PM 3/7/2009 Hops Added
5:22 PM 3/7/2009 Hops Added
5:27 PM 3/7/2009 Irish Moss Added
5:31 PM 3/7/2009 Flameout, Hops Added, Start Immersion Chiller
5:41 PM 3/7/2009 Temp = 80 deg
6:06 PM 3/7/2009 OG = 1.049