Mapleshade I2PA

On the day of C3PA's bottling, I brewed another batch (Mapleshade Imperial IPA). At the advice of Brewmaster's owner, I decided to bring C3PA into balance and add some more alcohol. To do this, we used the same recipe, but with 2.5 gallons malt extract, up 0.8 gallons from the C3PA's 1.7. This turned out to kill C3PA and created another beast entirely. At first I was very disappointed with the results: a medium bodied, darker, sweet, malty ale. Hop flavor, while discernible, was easily balanced by the malt and the sweetness was very disappointing. This beer is beginning to come of age as of 2/27, a full 2 weeks after kegging/bottling. The sweetness is not as dominant, and the flavors are becoming more complex. It has strayed away from a session beer, as the alcohol is indeed increased. 3 pints does a good job of knocking me out on a weekday. While this beer is growing on me, my next batch will be back to C3PA's original recipe, but I'll boil the first addition of Chinook for an additional 30 minutes (for a 90 minute boil total). This should bring the bitterness to a near intolerable level...just what I'm after.

Mapleshade I2PA is far from dead though, I'm gonna tweak this recipe too and morph it into what it should be. I'll increase the Chinook boil as well in this one, maybe sub a little of the extract for some grain (more Munich?), and maybe add another hop variety. I'll also be out of my Pacman yeast, which is no longer available, and have to sub for another strain (Northwest?). This recipe is going to take some tweaking, but should be really good and complex. Seems like it's going to age really well too, I may add a couple of bottles to the cellar, see what it's like in a few months.


Here you can see the difference: Mapleshade I2PA on the left, C3PA on the right.

C3PA

December 12, 2006 brought my first recipe, an off-balance IPA/APA. I came up with the name C3PA due to the 3 hop varieties used (Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade). The PA is for the general pale ale distinction. The combination of everything, obviously an homage to the gay droid form the Star Wars series.

Inspired by Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale, the hop bill was adapted to a 14 gallon batch from a 5 gallon clone recipe I found online. IBU's were calculated at around 75. The grain bill was that of Brewmaster's Airman IPA, which also fit into the requirements of an IPA grain bill according to "Designing Great Beers".

The recipe is as follows:

1.7 Gallons Light Malt Extract
15oz Munich Malt Whole Grain
13.8oz Wheat Whole Grain
14.5oz Crystal Malt Whole Grain
89oz Pale Malt Whole Grain

The whole grains were crushed and then steeped at 150 degrees for ~50 minutes.
The Light Malt Extract was added and a 10 minute boil was required for protein break.

2.8oz Chinook hops were added.
30 minutes later, 0.7oz Chinook hops were added.
30 minutes later, 2.8oz Cascade and 0.2oz Centennial hops were added and the heat was shut off to the kettle.

The wort was cooled to below 80 degrees and transferred to the fermentation vessel, which was vigorously shaken to aerate. 1 package Wyeast Labs Rogue Pacman yeast was pitched.

Nearly a month later, the fermented beer was dry hopped with 5oz Cascade and 0.5oz Centennial hops. It was kegged/bottled 2 days later on 1/12/07.

I was very much delighted with the results. An off-balanced bitter/hoppy pale, light in color and body. Hop flavor was obviously dominant providing both citrus and pear flavors. Mouth feel was slightly acidic and harsh. This was a great drinker and in my mind, damn near perfect.

Florida Brews

Titanic Brewpub:
Best brewpub in South Florida. I had the privilige of brewing with Steve at Titanic. Unfortunately it didn't turn into a regular thing. Their White Star IPA is very good, very hoppy, nice use of Cascade (I love me some citrusy Cascade). I'm probably going to be a little biased toward IPA's throughout this blog, as I'm a self-proclaimed hop head. Their oatmeal stout is also a must drink. Triple Screw Light Ale is just that, and I wasn't impressed by their seasonal wheat (which Steve admitted wasn't all that good). Their seasonal Double IPA is good, but not outrageously different than the White Star.

Indian River Brewing Company makes a couple different beers. The Native Lager, not too interested in. The Eleven Brown Ale needs a tasting. Thunderhead Red is a malty red, nothing to write home about.

Key West Sunset Ale, while no longer brewed in the keys (now also owned by Indian River Brewing Company) is a staple on the islands. Not really good enough to get back in the real world though. Found some applicable descriptions here: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/key-west-sunset-ale/2828/.

That's it for the descent and indescent local brews I've had. Here's what we have in retail:
Many grocery stores sell Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Red Hook ESB and IPA. I've always been a fan of SNPA, smooth with citrus hints from the Cascade hops. Red Hook's ESB is a little too bland for my taste, but the IPA is good in a pinch. Crown Wine and Spirits and Whole Foods carry a broader range including selections from Rogue, Dogfish Head, and Shipyard. Once pointed out to me, the buttery, diacetyl flavors created by Shipyard's yeast put me off to their beers. Dogfish Head makes many delicious craft beers. Their 60 and 90 minute IPA's are my favorite. Lots of sprucy flavored hops (Warrior and Amarillo), not the citrusy, west-coast varieties I love, but good indeed. They use a continuous hopping technique where hops are added continuously throughout the boil as opposed to in stages as is common. Rogue's beers (yummm) will be discussed more in detail later, they really deserve their own post.

What else? Nothing else I've had really deserves much mention. St. Peters Cream Stout is very good. However I really don't know much about it or the brewery. Do your own research.

My kegerator

I have a lot of back logging to do, and I'll try to do it chronologically, but we all know how alcohol affects time, that and I have a steak on the grill. Let me set the stage.....Black Friday, 2005. Brandsmart has a Haier kegerator (stainless steel door of course) on sale. I pursuade Michele to brave the crowds with me at no less that 2 Brandsmarts. Can you believe they had a line to get in? After explaining what a kegerator is to the umpteenth employee, and convincing them that "yes, you actually sell these", we found it. Now, I imagine a bright light and a chorus of angels here, but to each their own. I picked it up at the loading dock, and was on my way home; but not before a stop at the local liquor store for a 1/6 barrel keg of Sierra Nevada. It wasn't long before I added a two tap tower and new CO2 regulator from Micromatic. I also replaced all the fittings with stainless steel and got two Perlick faucets from Northern Brewer. Oh yeah, I got a sweet stainless drip tray to boot.

I'll try to include some links and pictures along the way, so here we go.

Haier Kegerator

CO2 Regulator

Two Tap Tower

Perlick Faucets

Stainless shanks and drip tray with drain were also ordered from http://www.northernbrewer.com

Back where it all began...and where the story continues

I've had a love affair with beer since about 1998. I know, you're saying: "Wait a minute, you weren't 21 in 1998." However, my roommate was, and that first six-pack of Red Hook's Black Hook (that I could barely choke down) began it all. Around the same time, I became a regular at the now defunct Kaw River Brewery in downtown Lawrence. Perhaps their downfall could be attributed to their lax age discrimination system. Ah, Kaw River....the first of many microbrews; long gone were the days of the traditional American Piss Brew. Then came Boulevard and Free State, the staples among Lawrence's discriminating taste. By the way, I find Free State's Copperhead Ale and Populist Porter among my favorites, they also make a very tasty Oatmeal Stout.
So I move to Florida, or as I lovingly refer to it as Hell on Earth. Not only is the retail beer selection expensive and limited, but there's only one real microbrewery down here and it's 30 minutes from my house. So I ended up dealing directly with the distributors, educating some of the local retailers, and purchasing a Haier kegerator on a Black Friday sale in 2005. It wasn't long before I gutted that kegerator and added a dual-tap tower and new CO2 system. It was nice to pour frothy goodness on demand from the likes of Sierra Nevada, Shipyard, and Dogfish Head. But my brewing paradigm shift came one evening at an event called Beer Fest. The first couple Beer Fests had been absolute crap; you pay $20 and if you get there a 1/2 hour late all you get are 4oz cups of Budweizer. Anyway, 2006 was different. I happened to know most of the distributors, got a lot of good beer and met a girl that had brewed her own at a place called Brewmasters. This sparked my interest and I sought out this "Brewmasters". I finally found this place and stopped in. "What do you do here exactly?", I asked the gentleman behind the counter. "Why we're a Brew on Premise", the gentleman replied. "What on earth is a Brew on Premise?", I asked. "Well", he said. "You simply select a recipe from my magic book, and turn it into your very own beer". Intriguing, I thought, as I thanked him and left. Now I only need someone to venture into this beer making with. Ah...Ellis, he's Canadian, they drink a lot of beer; perhaps I can convince him to go in with me on my endeavour (that's Canadian for endeavor). Luckily, it really didn't take any convincing. He was in from the word beer. So we made a Liberty Pines IPA (Anchor's Liberty IPA clone), and the rest is history (or rather the humble beginnings of this blog). So pull up some bandwidth and read along. It'll at least be interesting for me.

Why this blog

I have another orphaned blog (http://brianshepard.blogspot.com), much to the schgrin of my dear friend Danny. So I figured....why not write about something that interests me, and keep a log as well. And Brian's Beer Log was created. I've tried to keep notes on various brews, both my own and ones I've tried, but why not take it to the all and powerful internets (a place of wonder and amazement). Thus, here it is: my humble beginnings as a beer lover and borderline raging alcoholic.