Homebrew Review: Catching Up
It’s been awhile since I last posted about homebrewing, so I think it’s about time to catch up on my what’s been going on. I brewed plenty leading up to the move, but remember, every recipe below is set up for the stove top, 2 gallon, BIAB that I’ve been using. This weekend I did get to brew my first batch in the new place, a full blown 5 gallon brew, but that was an adventure deserving of its own post. Spoiler alert, it was a mess. I have adjusted what I think needs fixing, so hopefully this Sunday goes more smoothly. Anyway, here’s what was brewing, rather inefficiently, before then.
Ground Rule Dubbel – Belgian Dubbel
Grain Bill
4.5 lb. 2-row
.125 lb. Munich 10L
.125 lb. Chocolate malt
.125 lb. Belgian Special B
.5 lb. Candi Sugar (added with 10 minutes left in boil)
Hops
.5 oz. Styrian Golding at 20 min.
.5 oz. Styrian Golding at 5 min.
Yeast
WLP510
Brew Stats
| Measured | |
| OG | 1.062 |
| FG | 1.014 |
| ABV | 6.3% |
| IBU | 12 |
This was bottled with more homemade candi sugar and came out a deep, amber brown. Tasted pretty rough right off the bat, but after sitting for a couple months the flavors came together. I don’t think it’s necessarily a dubbel, but it’s still a pretty good beer. It also has the distinction of being the only beer in this group to get its own label, so Ground Rule Dubbel has that going for it.
Indië Bleek Aal
Grain Bill
5.0 lb. Pale malt
.25 lb. 20L
.25 lb Candi sugar
Hops
.25 oz Warrior at 60 min.
.5 oz Amarillo at 20 min.
.5 oz Amarillo at 5 min.
Yeast
WLP510
Brew Stats
| Measured | |
| OG | 1.062 |
| FG | 1.007 |
| ABV | 7.2% |
| IBU | 55 |
This beer, a Belgian IPA (Indië Bleek Aal is a rough Dutch translation of India Pale Ale), was pitched on top of the yeast cake from the the dubbel that was brewed earlier. This was an experiment to see if it’d work, and it did! The IPA fermented down very low, and had the usual banana esters along with a nice hop touch. Turned out great.
Brain Eater IPA
Grain Bill
6 lb. 2-row
.25 lb. 20L
.25 lb. 60L
Hops
.5 oz. Citra at 60 min.
.5 oz Citra at 20 min.
1 oz Citra at 5 min.
1 oz Citra, dry hop for 3 days
Yeast
US-05
| Measured | |
| OG | 1.077 |
| FG | 1.020 |
| ABV | 7.5% |
| IBU | 93 |
Inspired by Three Floyds’ use of Citra hops in Zombie Dust, Brain Eater turned out to be an interesting, creamier IPA. I believe the mash ended up higher than the targeted 154°F, and along with a relatively high final gravity this lead to a thicker beer. It had a very earthy taste along with being a hop bomb, and while no where near as good as what Three Floyds offers I still enjoyed it.
Each brew keeps getting better, and with my first 5 gallon batch eventually getting into the fermenter I’m excited to see where it goes from here. I’ll even have extra to share now, so if you’re in the area and want to do a homebrew swap let me know!
3 comments on “Homebrew Review: Catching Up”
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Das Ale Haus 
When do I get to try these?
When I brew a style you’ll like haha.
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