Hop Surprise

What we have here is 8oz of fresh cascade hops from the guys at www.freshops.com. I placed the order first thing Monday morning and they arrived(all the way from Oregon) while I was at home during lunch today. Talk about service!! Two thumbs up freshops!

Also in the shipment were 6oz of northern brewer hops for our porter. Can't wait to use these guys in the porter.

-Andrew

Dry Hopping FTW

Greenville Beer Brother Andrew has ordered us up some fresh hops to Dry Hop our first batch...freshops.com is pretty amazing. The original recipe was only good for 13 IBU's, but our final result should be much, much hoppier, after adding the additional hops in the wort, and now dry hopping in the carboy.

Looks like we've got 8 ozs of Cascade and 6 ozs of Northern Brewer on the way. The Cascade will also contribute to our next venture, a Pumpkin Porter...I've nearly got the photos from last night up onto Flickr, and should have some online after lunch.

- Ron

Recipe #1 - Modified Pale Ale

Recipe #1 - 10/25/2009 - Ron's House

6 oz Crystal Malt Grains (steeped in grain bag)
6 oz Caramel Malt Grains (steeped in grain bag)
2 lbs Light Dried Malt Extract
3.3 lbs Canned Lightly Hopped Malt Extract (1 Can)
1 oz. Chinook Hops (11.4% Alpha Acid) @ 60 min.
.5 oz. Cascade Hops (7.5% Alpha Acid) @ 15 min.
1 oz. Chinook Hops (11.4% Alpha Acid) @ 5 min.
.5 oz. Cascade Hops (7.5% Alpha Acid) @ 5 min.
1 vial liquid Ale Yeast
Publix brand spring water
Dry Hop TBD
1 tsp. Irish Moss
Recorded Original Specific Gravity 1.14

Malt grains were steeped for 50 minutes at 155 degrees, in their grain bags, then squeezed and discarded.

Wort brought back just to a boil, before removing from heat. Canned malt extract and two pounds of light dried malt extract were added, with constant stirring to prevent sticking.

Wort brought back to heat, and brought back to a boil. 1 oz Chinook Hops added at the 60 minute mark, for bittering.

.5 ounce of Cascade hops and 1 tsp of Irish Moss added at the 15 minute mark.

1 ounce of Chinook and .5 ounce of Cascade added at the 5 minute mark (aroma).

At 0 minutes (i.e., after 60 minutes of hop boil), the pot was covered, and an ice water bath was prepared in the sink to reduce wort temperature. After 35-40 minutes, wort temperature was approx 80 degrees. A hydrometer reading was taken, and the wort was poured through a strainer into 3 gallons of cold spring water. Liquid was topped off up to 5 gallons.

Liquid Ale Yeast pitched into carboy, and vigorously shaken.

Due to high specific gravity reading, an additional quart of water was added to the carboy. Carboy then affixed with fermentation cap and placed in it's resting area to ferment.

- Ron