Summer Blonde Ale

One of the primary limitations of brewing in southern California is the weather...there is a short window indeed where ambient air temperature--even in a basement--is within the happy zone for ale yeast. You can brew when it's warmer, of course, but there is more danger of off-flavors developing (well, unless it's a Belgian...off-flavors are the default there). So, I've been mostly limited to brewing between November and March, with maybe a little wiggle room on either end. It also meant I had to get as much brewing as possible during that window, to have a good supply for the long summer months.

Well, those days are now at an end. The parents shipped me a Ranco temperature controller for my birthday, which regulates a fridge or freezer into appropriate fermentation temperatures. I bought a cheap 7 cubic foot chest freezer, hooked it all up, and now I'm ready to go! First up...a good, drinkable summer blonde ale. This recipe is ever-so-slightly modified from one that originally appeared in BYO.

Summer Blonde Ale

• 10 lbs. 2-row pale malt
• 8 oz. 20° crystal malt
• 1 oz. Willamette hops pellets
• 1 tsp. Irish moss
• 1 pkg. (11 g) Safale American US-05 yeast

Steps

• I preheated the mash tun and added the grains with 1 tbs. of 5.2 pH stabilizer.
• I mashed in with 3.25 gallons of water at 165°. I adjusted the water slightly by adding 1 gallon distilled water (and another gallon when I did the sparge).
• The mash temperature stabilized at 152.3°, was down to 151.5° within 30 minutes, and was at 149° after 60 minutes.
• After 60 minutes, I added 1.08 gallons of water at 170°, stirred, and let it sit for 10 minutes. I then decanted ~3.15 gallons of wort.
• I added 3.14 gallons of water at 170°, stirred, and let it sit for 10 minutes. This raised the temperature of the mash to 160°.
• In the end, I collected 6.5 gallons of wort. Pre-boil gravity was 1.040, which works out to around 67.5% mash efficiency.
• After heating the wort to a boil, I added the hops pellets and boiled the wort for 60 minutes. 10 minutes prior to flame-out, I added the Irish moss.
• I cooled the wort down to ~78°, and transferred it to the carboy. Total volume is 5 gallons. 
• After rehydrating the yeast in 1 cup of water, I pitched it and sealed up the fermenter.
• In order to gain a clean flavor profile, I'll be fermenting at ~62°. The plan is to ferment for around a week before bottling. Starting gravity was 1.046.
• The beer was brewed and yeast pitched on Saturday, June 28. By the next morning, visible fermentation had started.

Beer Updates: El Dorado Amber Ale, Rodinia IPA

Mopping up some loose ends from the brewing season...

El Dorado Amber Ale

• After 20 days of dry-hopping, I bottled this on April 27.
• Final gravity was 1.010 at 60 degrees; down from 1.053 original gravity, this works out to 5.6% abv.
• Total yield was 2 mini-kegs (5 L), 15 12-oz. bottles, and 2 22-oz. bottles. The former was carbonated with 1.5 tbs. of corn sugar each; the latter with carbonation drops.

Rodinia IPA

• It took almost 2 days before I saw activity in the primary fermenter. I suspect this was a combination of high gravity and a slow start typical for the BRY-97 yeast strain.
• After 15 days in the primary fermenter, I transferred this to the secondary fermenter on 27 April 2014. Gravity at this point was 1.022, down from 1.076.
• I let the beer sit in the primary for around 3 weeks, and added 1 oz. of Nelson Sauvin hops on Sunday, May 18, for dry-hopping.
• Bottling day was June 5, so I had a total of 18 days dry-hopping. Gravity at this point was 1.013 at 60 degrees, working out to a final abv of 8.3%.
• I ended up with 3.5 gallons of beer. This was primed with 3 oz. of corn sugar dissolved in 2 cups of water, to reach a target of 2.5 volumes CO2.
• I sampled a bottle after a week; it is shaping up quite nicely. The aroma is sweet and quite reminiscent of the white wine aroma I expected for Nelson Sauvin hops. Taste so far is pleasantly bitter with just a touch of sweetness (the hops again, I think).