This blog has sparked some interest with some of the people I've discussed small batch home brewing with. From the sounds of it, a lot of people think about doing 'test' size batches, but rarely do them. I think a lot of people think it's a waste of energy for a 8 - 10 beers. I love the idea of having a lot of different brews around. Yeah, it's a lot more work. About 5 times more work if you think about it.
The easiest way to start experimenting with small batch brewing would be to divide up a basic 5 gallon pale ale or amber recipe in to 1 gallon jugs and throw stuff in. More hops, fruit, vanilla beans, chocolate, honey, vegetables, etc... Give it a shot some time.
On to the beer...
Beer #14 - Blonde on Blonde
Style: Blonde Ale (6B)
Recipe: For 1 Gallon (All-Grain)
1.5 lb American Pale 2-Row Malt
2 oz Carahell Malt
2 oz CaraFoam Malt
2 oz Flaked Barley
.25 oz Cascade Hops (3.2%) (Last 30 minutes of 45 minute boil)
.25 oz Saaz Hops (4.5%) (Last 10 minutes)
Wyeast 1098 British Ale Yeast
Beer notes: I've had a lot of blonde ales, and I've found it's a style I've come to enjoy. But, based on the last 3-4 different blonde ales I've had, I think it's a hard style to get a great session beer out of. It's not something I can just sit and drink over and over. Which seems odd to me- the style is extremely loose in terms of what can be used to make it, and what actually falls in to the style of Blonde ale. Adjuncts allowed, any type of hop you want, some hop flavor, no hop flavor..heck, they'll even let you use lager yeast. Anyhow, this is not a style I recommend tackling if you're an extract brewer. It's gonna be tough to keep it light in color. Even with a partial mash the color would be tough to keep in style. I'm usually not a stickler for color (or clarity for that matter), but this is a style where you don't want to be staring at a dark beer. Mashed in with 1.5 gallons of water at 152. Held it as best I could between 148 and 154 for 60 minutes. Went longer, about 90 minutes, as I figured it wouldn't hurt and I was in the middle of helping some customers. Poured a quarter gallon of water over the grain bag to "sparge" it some. Wish I would have marked 1 gallon on my pot, as I'm pretty much looking to boil down to that point. Was planning on a 30 minute boil, but went with 45, hoping that'd bring me close to a gallon. Used 1.5 or 1.75 lbs of 2-Row, can't remember. OG finished at 1.044.
Cheers!
Aaron
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Hey Aaron, great blog, its a fun read. couple questions.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly are you doing for your "sparging" process?
Also I know that owning the store makes you the master of the domain but for the hops are you opening up the 1oz hops packages for these brews and dividing them up among the brews? Are you using whole leaf or pellets?
My 'sparging' process is pretty much allowing the grains to drain from the nylon bag, and then pouring 1/4 to a 1/2 gallon of hot water over the bag while I hold it over the pot. Fancy, eh?:)
ReplyDeleteFor hops, I'm pretty much using 1 and 2 oz bags I keep around the shop (minus the cascade, I have a big bag of whole leaf I'm working through.) I'm really not preferring either whole leaf or pellet, I'm just using what I have in that type of hop. It's probably been pretty close to 50% leaf and 50% pellet. Just taping up whatever I don't use and throwing in the fridge.