Oh My Darlin’ Ale – BIAB Clementine Wit

Ambitious brew day yesterday. I did a clementine witbier using BIAB and a lot of Doc’s (The Brewing Network) ecipe and techniques.

Main mash @122F while cereal/decoction mashing:
3.5# Belgian Pale
0.25# Acidulated malt
6.52g CaCL

First Step @ 113F decoction/cereal mash for 15 minutes:
3.19# Raw Wheat ground to powder
2.5# American 6 Row
1.05# Quick Oats ground to powder
5.78g CaCL

Next step 152F for 15 minutes.
Next step boil for 15 minutes.
Add to main mash for 155F for 45 minutes.
Raise to 160F for 15 minutes.

90 Minute Boil:
First wort hops 0.5 oz Northern Brewer while draining/squeezing bag and raising to boil.
30 minute hops 0.3 oz Saaz
15 minute 1 tablespoon flour
10 minute zest of 1 grapefruit, 2 clementines, several baby food jars of dried clementine peel de-pithed
5 minute hops 0.3 oz Saaz
Flameout 0.50 oz freshly ground coriander, 0.50 oz chamomile (a mix of teabag contents and dried flowers from our garden)

Hoses frozen, hose bib frozen so slow chilled in a snow bank. 1.5 hours got down below 80F.

Ferment at 70F with White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale yeast 1 L starter used
Shot of O2 for 20 seconds pre-ferment

All the gear ready to go!

Lots of additions!

Main mash in acid rest, water heating for decoction/cereal

Decoction/Cereal

Lots of lagging going on.

A rare moment's rest

Temperature step in progress.

Gavin came out to inspect the process.

Boiling the decoction/cereal mash...lots of foam!

I boiled in the dark

Slow chilling in a snow bank.

Tucked into the ferementation chamber.

Woke up to a nice puffy pillow...we have lift off!

First Mead

Finally did it. I went and made my first mead. I’ve been waiting on the Homebrew club to get a bulk purchase and do a group “brew” but it hasn’t come to fruition. A buddy of mine took up homebrewing for the first time then went and jumped in the deep end and made a mead. One of the great things about being around new homebrewers is you get a little nudge sometimes to do things you haven’t done before or an interest gets a fresh spark. So I decided to go old skool and make a JOAM.
Thanks Dave!

Honey, clementines, yeast, cinnamon, cloves, raisins

Honey dissolved in warm water

Clementines, raisins, cinnamon, and clove added and shook up.

Another missed label

Bottle Day!

Are you WIT me?

Got all my stuff for my Clementine Wit.
Ok, here we go wit the plan:

Main Mash
3.5 # Belgian 2 row
.25# acidulated malt
Total=3.75#

Decoction
3.19# Raw wheat (ground)
2.5# American 6 row
1.05# Oats (ground)
Total=6.74#

.5oz Northern Brewer First Wort Hop
.3oz Saaz 30 minute
Zest of 4 clementines 10 minute
1 Tablespoon white flour
.3oz Saaz 5 minute
.5oz Coriander flame out
WLP 400

Water Volumes
Absorption: 10.49# x 0.05 gallons/# = 0.52 gallons
Batch Volume: 5 gallons
Boil Off: 90 minutes x 2 gallons/hr = 3 gallons
Total: 0.52+5+3 = 9.02 gallons
Decoct: try 17 qts (4.25 gallons) / 6.74# = 2.52 qts/gallon (goal 2-3)
Mash: 9.02 gallons – 4.25 gallons = 4.77 gallons

Pot 4.77 gallons and 3.75# of grain for main mash at 122F, set aside
Pot 4.25 gallons and 6.74# of grain for first step at 113F for 15 minutes
Raise to 152F and hold for 15 minutes
Raise to boil and boil for 15 minutes
Add portion (or all) to main mash for target of 155F (direct fire kettle or hold back decoction volume as needed) rest for 45 minutes
Raise to 160F for 15 minutes
Yank the bag pitch first wort hops
Squeeze the bag add liquid to boil kettle check for 8.5 gallons preboil volume adjust as needed
Begin 90 minute boil
30 minute hops
15 minute immersion chiller, flour
10 minute orange zest
5 minute hops
Flame out coriander, chamomile
Chill to 64F
Aerate, pitch yeast

My water adjustments
I want 98 ppm additional Ca and 180 ppm additional Cl
9.02 gallons = 34.14L and CaCl is 27.2% Ca so I need 12.3 grams of CaCl (I’ve spared you the conversions and math)

Now I’ve got to decide if I have time to do it this weekend so I need a starter tomorrow, or wait until next weekend.

Chinese Food for the New Year

We made homemade Chinese Food for the New Year celebration this year. We made lots and froze some for future enjoyment. As they say “If Yan can cook, so can you!”

Pork Fried Rice

Chicken Lo Mein

Crab Rangoon

Eggrolls

Pork Fried Wontons

Beef and Broccoli

Fried food keeping warm waiting for eating

Frying

The Pork Fried Wontons looked funny frying

Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please?

Got my next brew ingredients ordered up…a RED LAGER. My first lager!
Got an 02 stone to go with my medical 02 regulator I just won on ebay. Along with my temperature controller, this should be a big jump in beer quality and types of beers I can brew. I plan on slowly stepping the size of my lagers up until I reach Doppelbocks.
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 67.08 %
1.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 15.48 %
1.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 10.32 %
0.25 lb Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 2.58 %
0.25 lb Munich Malt – 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2.58 %
0.19 lb Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 1.96 %
1.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.20 %] (90 min) Hops 14.1 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.20 %] (20 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
0.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.20 %] (1 min) Hops 0.2 IBU
1 Pkgs German Lager (White Labs #WLP830) Yeast-Lager

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.051 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.15 %
Bitterness: 18.9 IBU
Est Color: 14.9 SRM

Doesn’t that look like a great beer to wash down a packet of crisps?

So the near future holds my Wit and the Red Lager. Then I need to use up the extra hops I have: Columbus, Cascade, Centennial, and a bunch of homegrown hops. I’m thinking IPA or DIPA.