Mellody Brewing

The Hop Store Haul

Rye With Me Baby

I'm headed out to prepare for this weekend's brew session.  It's going to rain, snow all day and night so it's perfect brewing conditions.  We'll be getting some beers to sip while we brewing, starting the first fire of the season and settling in for a few hour brew session.  I've decided to make a Brown Ale, but with flaked rye and it will be dry hopped.  I may also add a few more fun things after the boil to see what happens.

Watch for brew day live blogging later and pictures.

American Triple Checkin

Transfered the triple today and boy does it look and smell great. Taste is right where I hoped as well, nice sweet taste with subtle carmel taste and hop profile. This will be a very sessionable triple just as I wanted.

Brew Day Update: Stuck in a fermenter with you

Yes, my first batch in almost a year and I make a rookie mistake...I didn't prep my yeast.  I didn't make a starter and with such a high gravity beer that was a big mistake.  We had active fermentation for about three days, then it just died.  I'm pretty sure it had to do with the cold temps in the apartment tied with a bad start to the fermentation.  So, I consulted with my local home brew shop owner and a few boards and decided first course of corrective action was the electric blanket to warm the beer back to ideal fermentation temp - 65-75 degrees.  That brought some small bubble action, but not enough.  Before we repitch more yeast, tonight I added Yeast Energizer.  Yup, a magical mixture of yeast nutrients that should jump start the process...think of it as a shot of speed or something I guess.  We'll see what happens.  We now have yeast energizer and the electric blanket at work - let's hope we get more bubbly action soon.

Sunday = Brewday

That's right, tomorrow's officially a brew day.  We have all ingredients and will be making home made Belgian style candi sugar tonight for the beer.  This beer should be interesting, as I had to substitute a few ingredients that I planned on using due to availability.  I'm brewing what I'm calling an American Triple.  Belgian style triples are golden in color with a sweet flavor and a dry and spicy finish.  I am replacing the hops with American grown hops for one thing, and a few other surprises.  This will also be slightly lighter and will be cask conditioned and available on draft during the Mellody Brewing Apartment Concert in November.  I may bottle a few to save some too, we'll see if there's enough.

Watch tomorrow for some brewday updates and pictures.  We'll be brewing in the apartment - going back to a partial grain recipe and process since I will be boiling stovetop.  

Mellody Brewing - Brown Ale

According to BeerAdvocate.com, a Brown Ale is, "spawned from the Mild Ale, Brown Ales tend to be maltier and sweeter on the palate, with a fuller body. Color can range from reddish brown to dark brown. Some versions will lean towards fruity esters, while others tend to be drier with nutty characters. All seem to have a low hop aroma and bitterness." I've never been one to seek out a Brown Ale, or Nut Brown, thought back in the day I was a huge fan of Newcastle and an other brown ale that we used to drink all the time in Baltimore whose name is escaping me at the moment.  Anyway, it's a style that I think when done right, is a very sessionable and drinkable beer.  This will be the extract beer we'll be formulating over the next few days, and maybe brewing this weekend if it's cold and snowy as predicted.  If you want to come and join in the brew day fun - let me know.

The ingredients will include:

Grain Bill: Amber Malt, Dark and Medium Crystal, Pale Chocolate Malt

Extract: This is a tough one - but we'll see what the store has.

Hops: Fuggle

Yeast: British Ale

This is probably a better winter beer, but who the heck cares.  According to the groundhog from hell, we're going to be in winter for a while so, buckle up.

C Clef Coffee Stout

A good friend of mine is slightly obsessed with stouts.  Milk stouts, chocolate, coffee, breakfast, you name it - he likes it.  As I wrote in What's Pouring the other day, I've decided that Mellody Brewing's next beer will be a stout, and not a breakfast or bourbon or imperial stout, as these are clearly all the rage right now.  I'm thinking a coffee stout.  One were I'll roast my own beans for addition to the recipe.  I'll spend Sunday Night Research today looking at recipes as well as how to roast my own beans.  This will be a great addition to the coffee/beer bar idea we've been floating around as well.  A product that lasts the entire day in essence.  The clef is also something I'm exploring from a branding perspective, having the beers fall in a clef range or something to match their style.

 

 

Seminole Sunset - Batch "A"

So, the first brew day on the all-grain set up is over.  After running around all morning attempting to get things in order and a few what seemed like minor bumps in the road, Batch A of Seminole Sunset was made.  Lessons were learned:

1. Bigger brew pot needed - after the 60 minute boil, we had considerable loss of wort.  I believe we're at 4-4.5 gallons of beer.  Not a big deal, but this might hurt the beer, but we'll see.
2. Slower sparge - I built the three-tier system with the idea of fly-sparging.  We did this, but in a much faster manner than I wanted.  Need to slow down the sparge and I think we figured out how to do that, but was too late.
3. Lower 2nd tier of system - gravity works well, but we need more height to ensure we don't lose flow.
4. Get refractor - our OG readings seemed off and well, they were.  But I forgot that OG is effected by temperature, so our original reading was dead on, but with the wort being 150 degrees it seemed wrong.  The good thing is, we were ok, the bad thing is - we probably wasted some time debating it and reran the wort through the sparge just in case.
5. Need help - I had the help of a friend during this day, which was great as we had to lift coolers of hot water, and it was great to bounce ideas off him as things went off through out the afternoon. 

All in all, it was a great afternoon.  The beer looked and smelled great.  The color was dead on.  The taste was dead on, and it turns out the OG was good too - we just ended up with a smaller batch then planned.  It was a great afternoon to brew, not hot, sunny and having a friend there to drink while we waited 60 minutes during mash and 60 minutes during boil definitely adds to why I like beer and brewing so much, it fosters friendships.

On the Batch "B" with a few slight variations, mainly hops and yeast - going to keep the grain bill the same.

Seminole Sunset: Florida Style Wheat Ale

The above is a screen shot of the recipe of the first batch of Seminole Sunset.  This will most likely end up being an American Wheat style ale, with a bit of orange undertones.  Details to come later on the workings of the homemade brew house.  I'll be sure to take some pictures.  This will be Batch "A" for our panel.

I seriously can't wait for this.  I have read everything I think I can, dove into recipe after recipe, tasted beer after beer and researched and posted to forum after forum.  Cross your fingers, click your heels three times and wish me luck.

American Pale Wheat vs. Belgian Witbier

It's a grudge match!! 

American Pale Wheat is the US take on Hefe Weizen style beers.  The classic Belgian Witbier well, speaks for itself.  These are two very different styles, but related. Being that we're in Florida, I want Mellody Brewing focus on a lighter style, and a very drinkable beer.  I've toyed with an orange influenced Pale Wheat or Witbier and still think that'll be one of the tasters for the panel to contemplate.  This weekend, if all the parts arrive on time, I plan on brewing my first attempt of our take on the Pale Wheat/Witbier.  I've formulated a reciepe based on a few taste tests and looking at what I think are the best flavors in the style range.   

I've been using BeerSmith and ProMash samples to see which program I'll be using to track results and reciepes going forward.  BeerSmith is a lot easier for the novice at least for me right now. More to come, and hopefully some pictures and a review of the All-grain set up early next week.