Gumballhead Inspired WPA

About the Recipe

Recipe Type

Extract

Yeast

S-05

Batch Size (Gallons)

5

Original Gravity

1.054

Final Gravity

1.010

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

Color

orange-golden

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

9 @ 62

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

14 @ 68

Tasting Notes

Excellent american hop flavor and aroma, with a full, smooth wheat body

Recipe and Instructions

• 1lb. Caravienne
• 1lb. 2-row
• 1lb. White Wheat
• 5lb. Briess Wheat DME
• .5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, 60 min.)
• .5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, 15 min.)
• .5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, 5 min.)
• .5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, flameout)
• 1oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, dry-hop)
• 1oz Simcoe pellet (12.1 AA, dry-hop)

Brewing Notes

Used White Labs WLP320 “American Hefeweizen” yeast.

Pitched at 60°f (which is cold for this yeast).

Started primary in an ancient 5gal Pyrex carboy (my grandpa used it to make wine back in the ’60s). Unfortunately, the closest size bung plug I could find didn’t fit snugly, and at the end of the first day of fermentation I was greeted after work by a rather large amount of krausen spilling out from around the plug. After some fucking around, I decided the best course of action was to cut my losses and rack to a 6gal plastic bucket.

This also allowed me to leave behind the hops, which I originally neglected to strain out of the wort.

After racking to the bucket, fermentation continued as expected, but the volume of wort is now slightly less than four and a half gallons.

OG was six point high, probably because I failed to account for the volume of the plug hops.

Dry hopped with 1oz each Simcoe and Amarillo hops on 12/23/2010.

Hydrometer Readings

12/12/2010 (OG)

1.060

12/23/2010 (Dry Hop)

1.020

Tasting Notes

Coming soon…

The Innkeeper

About the Kit

This beer was brewed from Northern Brewer’s limited edition kit, The Innkeeper.

“…Spicy, herbal, and English biscuits. Flashes of clean citrus and chewy minerals blend into a complex finish that is refreshingly bitter and remarkably dry…”

Brewing Notes

Primary fermentation started in 6gal glass carboy on 12/04/2010, with an original gravity of 1.045.

Bottled on 12/23/2010. Yeast has reached 80% attenuation, which seems extremely high given that the Wyeast 1469 is only supposed to reach 67-71% attenuation.

Hydrometer Readings

12/04/2010 (OG)

1.045

12/23/2010 (FG)

1.009

Attenuation

((1.045 – 1.009) / (1.045 – 1.00)) * 100 = 80%

St. Paul Porter

About the Kit

This beer was brewed from Northern Brewer’s St. Paul Porter kit.

“NB’s hometown gives its name to our robust porter kit – an assertive black ale dominated by roast-coffee and chocolate character and hop bitterness. Toffee-like maltiness and citrusy hop flavor are in there as well, with a medium-full body and lingering roast malt/hop bitterness before a bittersweet finish. We like spiking barbecue sauce with a splash of this porter; it’s also great with strong cheese like sharp cheddar or Stilton.”

Brewing Notes

Primary fermentation started in a 6gal glass carboy on 11/26/2010, with an original gravity of 1.060.

Racked to 5gal glass carboy for conditioning on 12/4/2010 (8 days).

Hydrometer reading on 12/8/2010 (12 days) was 1.022. Assuming fermentation is complete (there’s been minimal airlock activity since racking to secondary), this puts final gravity at 4.99% ABV.

Attenuation was 64%. Attenuation for this yeast (Wyeast 1187 ”Ringwood Ale”) is supposed to be 68-72%.

It’s possible that the porter dropped a few points between when I last took a hydrometer reading and when I bottled. Sadly, I lost the FG reading, so I’m not sure exactly what the apparent attenuation was.

Fermentation temperature was in the low to mid 60s.