Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow India Pale Ale [Homebrew]

April 28, 2011  |  3 Comments  |  by Ben Czajkowski  |  Homebrew, Homebrew Recipes

Since Matt is posting recipes again, he chided me into posting this India Pale Ale recipe that I home-brewed last week. All in all, it’s a simple recipe, just a huge grain bill. The weird measurements for the specialty grains are because that’s what I had in my fridge. So, this is a homebrew recipe, in every sense of the word.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow IPA

16lb two row (give or take spilling it on the floor)
10.6 oz briess caracrystal wheat malt
3.9 oz briess carapils
4.7 oz belgian special b malt
7.8 oz briess caramel malt 10L

White labs California V ale yeast (or equivalent)

Heat 5.5 gallons of water to 175 degrees. Pour in, without grain, and let sit in the mashtun for about five minutes so that the temperature evens out. Then dump in all of the grain and stir. Let it stand for an hour and then drain.

At the 20 minute mark (so, 40 minutes into the mashing process), set another 2 gallons to 155-160 degrees to finish rinsing the grains and bring your total boil to 6-6.5 gallons. Once the mash tun finishes draining, pour the two gallons into the tun; pour the pre-beer into the kettle. Set course for boil land!

After ten-fifteen minutes, drain off the rest of the sparge water and add to the kettle. I managed to get my kettle to a steady 208-209 degrees. Set a timer for 90 minutes, add 2oz of centennial, and sit back. At the 60 minute mark, add another ounce. Same at 30 and 15.

Dry hop as you require with more centennial. I will be doing another ounce at the 10 day mark. Fermentation should definitely be completed by then.

Beers Brewed: India Brown Ale And Edwort’s Pale Ale

April 27, 2011  |  Comments Off  |  by Matt Hufford  |  Homebrew, Homebrew Recipes

As I keg my India Brown Ale, I realized that I haven’t posted what I’ve been brewing lately.

First up, we have the India Brown Ale previously mentioned.  I adapted this recipe from a Simcoe IPA recipe that I came across and I wanted to do something to kick it up a little bit.  The recipe also help me use up the mild ale malt that I had sitting around that I had no idea if and how I was ever going to use it.  This beer smelled wonderfully hoppy when I was kegging it.  I can’t wait for it to carb up so that I can taste it.

  • 10# 2-row
  • 1# Crystal 60L
  • 1/2# Roasted Barley
  • 1/2# Crisp Brown Malt
  • 2.4# Mild Ale Malt
  • 1.5 oz Simcoe @ 60 min
  • 1.5 oz Simcoe @ 30 min
  • 1 oz Simcoe Dry Hop
  • 0.5 oz Cascade Dry Hop

Next up, we have Edwort’s Pale Ale.  This is the second time I’ve brewed this beer.  The first time, I brewed it as a Christmas exchange gift for one of my uncles.  I plan to serve this beer at my family’s summer get together.

  • 8# 2-row
  • 2# Vienna
  • 0.5# Crystal 10L
  • 1 oz Cascade @ 60 min
  • 0.5 oz Cascade @ 30 min
  • 0.25 oz Cascade @ 15 min
  • 0.25 oz Cascade @ 5 min

And last, but not least, we have Edwort’s Robust Porter.  This is another beer that I have brewed for the second time.  This beer was so highly enjoyed by my friends and I that I had to brew it again.  If you haven’t noticed yet, I get a lot of my recipes and ideas from Homebrewtalk.com.  If you are ever in need of a recipe, go ahead and look in their recipe section.  I would highly recommend anything posted by Edwort or Biermuncher.

  • 11# 2 Row
  • 1# Chocolate Malt
  • 1# Crystal 40
  • 4 oz Black Patent
  • 1 oz Roasted Barley
  • 8 oz Flaked Barley
  • 8 oz of Malto Dextrin
  • 1 oz Northern Brewer @ 60 min
  • 0.5 oz Cascade @ 60 min

Rain, Rain: Go Away [Gardening]

April 25, 2011  |  1 Comments  |  by Ben Czajkowski  |  Gardening

It’s a bit difficult to plant a garden when it’s been raining nonstop for ages, it feels. It’s even harder to prep the garden since I can’t manage to stay outside long enough to clean up from last year.

I did manage to spend some time outside, early Saturday morning. I threw out all my dead plants; my back porch looked like a graveyard, from the fall. All but two overwintered plants bit the proverbial dust.

I went through all my gardening containers, too, only to find that I had a TON more seed-starting containers than I originally thought. All those paper towel and toilet paper rolls I’ve been saving might have been for naught… Now, I plan to use them exclusively for pea and bean planting, to function as root trainers.

I fear, though, at this point, my hopes of a spring garden are dead. I’m betting that once this rainy spell lets up, it’s going to become hot, humid, and insanely dry.