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Beamish Irish Stout Brew Day

As promised I’d share some more details about my Beamish Irish Stout brew from Friday.  I brewed the recipe given in Brew Your Own magazine from September 2008.  The recipe looked like this, which is very close to the recipe in the magainze.

6.0 lbs Maris Otter Malt

1.75 lbs Flaked Barley

1.0 lbs Roasted Barley

1.0 lbs Rice Hulls (for easier sparge)

1.0 oz Challenger Hop Pellets 7.6% AA – 60 minutes

0.5 oz Kent Goldings Hop Pellets 5.6% AA – 60 minutes

0.5 oz Kent Goldings Hop Pellets 5.6% AA – 15 minutes

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast Smack Pack.

The mash went well, I got 82% efficiency on my mash and mashed at 152F.  The OG of my wort was 1.043 and calculated IBUs was 40.  I oxygenated the 5.5 gallons of wort in my fermentor for 45 seconds and pitched the yeast into wort at 71F.

Here are some photos I think a lot of you may enjoy.  Next week I’ll share a few photos of the fermentation process.  But now to the brew day photos!

Justin

beamish_grains

Here is a photo of the grains before adding to the mash tun.  The white specks are barley endosperm, the whiteish flakes are the flaked barley, the dark specs is roasted barley and you can see a great deal of barley husk and rice hulls.

Here is a photo of the mash shortly after doughing-in.

This is the mash after 60 minutes. Notice how the top watery portion of the mash has become clear compared to after doughing-in.  This is one sign of complete starch to sugar conversion.

Here is my boil setup.  The collected wort with a propane tank fueling the boil.  You can also see the big pot in the background, that’s what I use to heat my water for mash and sparges.

Not that is picture is especially exciting, but I thought it was neat with the steam rising.  It is the spent grain in a trash bag.

A wonderful photo of the boil.  You can see some flecks of protein and hop in the clear portion of the wort, lots of steam and on the left is protein hot break.  Occasionally I’ll skim some of this out and dispose.

……And finally the chilled, oxygened and yeast pitched wort.  I’ve got a blow-off tube in there just in case.  I’ll leave this post here for now.  I’ll post a few pictures of the fermentation process during the week.  An early update: fermentation is going well, I have a krausen head developing about 8 hours after pitching my yeast.

Brewday: 10/24 Beamish Irish Stout

What better to do with a vacation day before a trip?  Well after getting stuff done around the house, the answer is definitely to brew!

Today I brewed up a clone recipe from the September 2008 issue of Brew Your Own magazine, this recipe is for Beamish Irish Stout (I think I said Murphy’s Stout in the video clip, but this was the one for Beamish Stout.  Too many recipes too little time I guess!).

Beamish and Guiness are similar beers, although I like Beamish a little bit more.  It as a bit of hop flavor/aroma that isn’t in Guiness.  Anyway here’s a short video clip of the rolling boil.  It smelled wonderful, if only your monitor was scratch and sniff.  I’ll post some pictures and a some more details later in the weekend.

Anyone else brewing up a batch this weekend?  Enjoy the video!

Goose Island Harvest Ale Review

Another beer in the fall seasonal group of beers.  This one is a little different than most.  Unlike making an Oktoberfest, Goose Island went a different route, making an American Amber Ale with a nice Cascade hop presence.  This is a great beer and the hoppy aroma gives a nice change of pace from all the Oktoberfest seasonals.

The beer pours a clear copper color with a white head that leaves a nice lacing.  The aroma has a moderate spicy, citrus hop character as well as a medium-low toasted malt aroma.  The flavor is moderately malty, some sweetness with a pronounced, moderate spicy hop flavor.  The bitterness is moderate.  The beer

finishes crisp with a lingering hop flavor and slight sweetness.  The body is medium-full and carbonation is moderate.  Overall a nice brew, an Oktoberfest meets an American Amber Ale.  I especially like the balance of very robust hop and malt flavors.

Great Lakes Oktoberfest Review

With the leaves changing I can’t help but keep with the Oktoberfest theme.  I thought I’d share some notes on a new Oktoberfest I recently tried:  Great Lakes Oktoberfest.  This one is definitely one of my favorites and worth every penny!

This fest pours a brilliant copper color with moderate white head, just like the picture from their website!  The aroma is moderately malty, spicy, biscuity, grainy, and a bit sweet.  The flavor is highly malty; biscuit and bread-like, spicy malt and a spicy, earthy low but noticeable hop flavor.  The finish is exceptionally smooth and pleasantly dry.  Carbonation moderate-low and body is full.  Overall an exceptionally smooth, flavorful beer.  A great example of the style.

Victory Festbier Review

Victory Festbier

Fall is the time for Oktoberfests!  I love the Oktoberfest style!  Oktoberfests have a lot of range in terms of are they sweet or malty or a bit bitter, but all are equally delicious!  If you haven’t tried many Oktoberfests they generally fall into the amber color range, usually have a notable malt presense (toasty, bready, biscuity) and can finish from sweet to just a bit bitter.  A few Oktoberfests will even include a touch of spicy European hop flavor and/or aroma.

Victory Festbier is one of my favorite Oktoberfests.  I had one the other night and thought I’d share a few notes about it.  The Festbier pours a clear copper color with a thin white head.  The aroma is moderately malty, toasty, bread-like and slightly sweet.  The flavor is highly malty; bready and a bit spicy.  The hop bitterness is medium-low and there is just a hint of hop flavor at the swallow.  The body is full and carbonation is medium with a very smooth swallow.  Overall a well done Fest, smooth and a bit of a unique aftertaste!

Check out the Victory Festbier webpage and pick up a six pack tonight!

Welcome to BeerEasy.com Blog!

Hi!

Thanks for signing up and becoming a member of the BeerEasy.com Blog.

What you’ll find here are some commercial beer reviews, an update on my latest homebrewing adventures, comments on the brewing industry and beer in general, and some resources any homebrewer may find useful.

I’ll be sure to post some of my favorite website for you all to check out.

Thanks again and Happy Brewing!

Justin