Jamm'n Brews

Belgian Quad II

2012-01-09T21:10:00.000-05:00

For the first beer of 2012, I looked back at my older recipes before I started all-grain brewing. I noticed that my Belgian quad I made almost three years would be a fun one to convert to all grain. When looking up recipes I got some really good ideas. First add raisins, second add aromatic malt and the base malt will be Belgian pilsner (saddly my homebrew store was out so I used German pilsner malt), third I did 2 different beligan yeasts, and finally add some raw sugar. Fun brewing beers of this style, Belgian beers are my cup of tea, almost anything goes!!

Belgian Quad II

Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Type: All Grain Calories: 330
Rating: 0.0 Efficiency: 67 %
IBU's: 30.96 Boil Size: 5.88 Gal
Color: 34.9 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Estimated Actual
Brew Date: - 01/08/2012
OG: 1.101 1.101
FG: 1.025 1.025
ABV: 9.96 % 9.96 %
Serve Date: 02/19/2012

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp Estimated Actual
Primary 21 days @ 68.0°F 01/08/2012 01/08/2012
Secondary 7 days @ 68.0°F 01/29/2012 -
Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 70.0°F 02/05/2012 -

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
12.00 lbs 62.75 % Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 60 mins 1.037
22.00 ozs 7.19 % Briess Gold LME 60 mins 1.035
1.00 lbs 5.23 % Abbey Malt 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs 5.23 % Pilsner (2 Row) Bel 60 mins 1.036
1.00 lbs 5.23 % Candi Sugar, Dark 10 mins 1.036
1.00 lbs 5.23 % Weyermann Caramunich II 60 mins 1.035
8.50 ozs 2.78 % Joe White Dark Munich 60 mins 1.038
0.50 lbs 2.61 % Turbinado 10 mins 1.044
5.00 ozs 1.63 % Aromatic Malt 60 mins 1.036
5.00 ozs 1.63 % Special B Malt 60 mins 1.030
1.50 ozs 0.49 % Briess Chocolate 60 mins 1.035

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 17.51 Newport 60 mins 7.00
1.00 ozs 13.46 Newport 30 mins 7.00

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg Belgian Strong Ale Wyeast Labs 1388
1.0 pkg Belgian Abbey II Wyeast Labs 1762

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
0.50 tsp Ginger Root 15 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Cloves, Ground 15 mins Boil
0.25 lb Raisins 15 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Medium Body Infusion 90 min @ 151.0°F
Add 20.31 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 167.8°F

Graduation

2011-12-18T00:41:00.002-05:00

Breaking from all the beer talking I do, I like to post something way more meaningful. First it has been a long journey, with so many downs I thought I never see the end. Somehow I felt I will finish, I will see that diploma. I never thought in 1999, that I would be 32 years old before I got my BS. When I was 19, I was down on myself, I graduated in HS w/ Honors, finished with a 3.6 gpa and thought, "I can get into UNC, or State no problem." FAIL, deflated and tired of having my face in a book, I gave up on school, but I thought ok I will get serious I will go to Durham Tech and do a transfer program. I did that, I applied it went well! Got on the Dean's List at one point, but then I got really sick,and depressed dropped out. Something I really did not want to do but sadly I let it happen. Years go by, but the desire never left. Zoom to 2003, I apply to UNCG to become a nurse, I wanted to live on campus, but I needed financial aid, I didn't get enough for it, so yet again bailed.

Then something amazing happened, I met my wife, on July 26, 2004. It changed me, more then I thought it ever could. At once, I felt purpose, I felt a desire, to please, to gain her respect, and devotion. You would think your Mom or Dad's comments would be good enough like "you need to go back to school" or "you really need to go back" or "we will kick you out, if you don't act right!" ok that last one is so false. My parents have been so loving, and caring during this process. I knew I was going back, but I thought, "Once I know what I want to do for a living, I will go back."

Back to 2004, I started to realize, hey it doesn't matter what you want to be just go to school and at least get something that you at the least know. Well, growing up in with a Dad who graduated from VT, and worked for both IBM and SAS, I thought ok I know computers. Let's roll with that. So I did, I applied to Wake Tech to get my Associates Degree in Networking Technology. I started in the summer of 2005. All went well, no real hiccups, and in 2008 I graduated with my 2 yr degree, but that was not good enough. I am 28, I am better than this.

Luckily, or should I say a Devine sign from God, Wake Tech the year I graduated allowed my degree to be a 2+2 program with certain BS degrees at ECU. So at first I decided to apply into the BSIT in Computer Technology. I got in, did my classes, but one issue that would prevent me from completing. I needed a Cisco certification degree. I thought, I could study for it during the summmer, but something kept me from completing it, by either poor decisions, or hectic schedule. Whatever it was, I finally realized that I wont graduate in this field, I was freaking out. Thoughts of bailing came back, but my wife would not let that happen! Haha See what I'm saying she is perfect for me, motivating me to be better, but I wanted to be better because that made me and her happy.

So I didn't bail, I emailed my adviser and asked was there a degree that I can switch to. Luckily there was, and it didn't set me back at all! So, on May 4, 2012, I will graduate with a BSIT degree with a concentration in Logistics and Distribution, with a GPA of 3.81 or better. To get there was no easy task, this last semester was one of the hardest ever, taking 4 classes one in Trig, and the others in Global log, security, and pricing. I ended it amazingly with all As. I don't know how I did it, I got really sick during this semester, and still don't know what caused it or if it is still resolved, but I pulled through, through much prayer, and love.

What does all this mean?! Well, let's just say I am going to be making a beer for May 2012, that will be one of a kind, unique and great, because yes, I am gloating, but this one guy well deserves the best, that I can make. What will it be only time will tell, for now.. I got 3 classes to my goal and then it will be victory time!!

Bring in the Cheer!

2011-11-17T02:43:00.000-05:00

What do you brew when the leaves are falling? Of course, a holiday ale! I recently brewed a 10 gallon clone recipe of the Nutcracker Ale by Boulvard Brewing Company. I have never had this beer, and cannot even get it where I live, but the reviews on ratebeer sound very delicious, and it was probably e first time I edited the recipe by very small margin. Here is the recipe, it should be ready to drink two weeks before Christmas! Ben's Nutcracker Ale

Style: Christmas / Winter Specialty Spiced Beer OG: 1.075
Type: All Grain FG: 1.019
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 7.34 %
Calories: 245 IBU's: 28.92
Efficiency: 70 % Boil Size: 11.04 Gal
Color: 20.0 SRM Batch Size: 10.00 Gal
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary. 7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary 7 days @ 68.0°F
Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 74.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
18.00 lbs 65.45 % Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt 60 mins 1.037
2.00 lbs 7.27 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 60 mins 1.034
2.00 lbs 7.27 % Weyermann Caramunich II 60 mins 1.035
2.00 lbs 7.27 % Briess Carapils 60 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 3.64 % Barrett Burston Wheat Malt 60 mins 1.037
2.50 lbs 9.09 % Brown Sugar, Dark 5 mins 1.046

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.50 ozs 0.00 Chinook 0 mins 14.10
0.75 ozs 16.53 Magnum 60 mins 15.00
0.50 ozs 3.11 Cascade 30 mins 5.50
0.25 ozs 0.00 Cascade 0 mins 5.50
0.50 ozs 5.65 Chinook 30 mins 10.00
0.50 ozs 3.65 Chinook 15 mins 10.00

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg London Ale Wyeast Labs 1028

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
0.50 oz Yeast Nutrient 15 mins Boil
0.50 oz Irish Moss 15 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Medium Body Infusion 60 min @ 152.0°F
Add 31.25 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 169.0°F

Sent from my iPad

Chocolate Banana Split Stout w/ Cherries!

2011-08-21T09:22:00.000-04:00

It has been too long since making a crazy beer. Something I use to do all the time. The last beer I made that had bananas in it was in 2009. I made a holiday spice ale then and put the bananas in the yeast starter. Here is the link to that beer - Gone Bananas This time around I am putting the bananas in the secondary and using a Belgian yeast strain and fermenting it at a warmer temperature. The cherries and vanilla beans will also go into the secondary. My efficiency finally was really good! Nearly 75% which for those that don't know efficiency is related to the mash and converting the complex starches in the grains into sugar. 100% would mean that all possible starches available was converted. If you don't convert there will be nothing the yeast will want to eat thus no alcohol and co2 (aka carbonation).

I know it sounds a bit strange to have a beer with all this going, but that is normal for me! Everything went well and I took lots of pictures and my hope is to show others how to all grain brew though the pictures. I will post them soon. Here is the link the recipe - Chocolate Banana Split Stout w/ Cherries

Wedding Brew

2011-07-19T00:22:00.005-04:00

Ya know when my friend Chris finally proposed to his long term girlfriend,Sam, I must say I jumped for joy. I know, I am dude, you don't jump for joy when a man any man gets married. It is like Bambi, boom your dead. But I was jumping for a whole different reason, I was hoping in someway I would be able to brew beer for his wedding. Guess what? Me and him just did that! They are going to serve this beer as gifts for the guest at the reception. To make a beer for 200 people, we decided the best way was to make a 10 gallon batch brew then let it ferment completely then add another 10 gallons of water to it. So a strong beer aka imperial IPA deluted down to a pale ale. So here is the recipe, if the beer does not ferment out completely we are planning to add more yeast till we get to the right F.G.
Chris & Sam's Wedding Brew

Batch size 11 gallons
Boil size 12.8 gallons
Boil time 60 minutes
Grain weight 32 pounds
Efficiency 75%
Original gravity 1.100
Final gravity 1.025
Alcohol (by volume) 9.8%
Bitterness (IBU) 74
Color (SRM) 10.7°L
Yeast
8 liquid packs
Wyeast
    1056 American Ale

Grains/Extracts/Sugars
32 pounds
6 Row Base
    35ppg, 1.5°L 16 pounds
    50%
Dry Malt - Light
    43ppg, 5°L 10 pounds
    31.2%
Dry Malt - Amber
    43ppg, 10°L 4 pounds
    12.5%
Crystal 60L
    34ppg, 60°L 1 pound
    3.1%
CaraVienne
    35ppg, 20°L 1 pound
    3.1%

Hops
6.5 ounces
Warrior hops
    15.8%, Pellet 2 ounces
Sorachi Ace hops
    12.1%, Pellet 1 ounce
Crystal hops
    3.5%, Pellet 1 ounce
Summit hops
    18.7%, Pellet 1 ounce
Columbus hops
    12.8%, Pellet 1 ounce
Citra hops
    12.3%, Pellet 0.5 ounces

Mash
60 minutes, 15.9 gallons
Strike
    Target 152°F 6.8 gallons
162°F
60 minutes (+0)
Sparge
    Target 170°F 9.1 gallons
181°F

Boil
60 minutes, 12.8 gallons
Warrior hops
    15.8%, Pellet 2 ounces
60 minutes (+0)
Summit hops
    18.7%, Pellet 1 ounce
60 minutes (+0)
Columbus hops
    12.8%, Pellet 1 ounce
60 minutes (+0)
Citra hops
    12.3%, Pellet 0.5 ounces
60 minutes (+0)
Crystal hops
    3.5%, Pellet 1 ounce
15 minutes (+45)
Wort chiller 15 minutes (+45)
Sorachi Ace hops
    12.1%, Pellet 1 ounce
5 minutes (+55)

Ferment
14 days @ 60-72°F

Blackberry/Blueberry Pale Ale aka Black and Blue

2011-07-11T15:00:00.002-04:00

Ok, it has been way too long since I updated my blog and I wanted to make sure y'all knew that I am still brewing and coming up with some crazy ideas still. This latest one is not one of my craziest but I do believe it to be one of my favorites. Every year around this time, I make one summer time beer, this one is a bit late but I know it wont go to waste. In every summer beer I make I try and put some type of fruit in the beer. One of my first fruit beers was a raspberry wheat when I was still making beer from extract. I have also made one with fresh watermelon that was an ipa that I love and the other a wheat which was good too. Now, this summer I wanted to make a beer that was refreshing, light, and tasted like blueberry lemon tart. Two problems occurred in the process of making this beer. One, my local homebrew store did not have any blueberry puree though their website said they did. This resulted in a blackberry ale. Second, when I mashed my beer, I did not mash at the right temperature because I recently upgraded my mash tun from a 10 gallon gatorade cooler to a 17.5 gallon flat bed cooler. This transition resulted in my wort having more surface area which results in a cooler resting temperature. It rested at 148 F instead of 152. I lost some available sugars in the mash but recovered it by adding honey and more yeast to the secondary. I added about 42 ounces of honey that was harvested from Charlotte. The yeast is my own concoction from previous beers I made, the brews from my black ipa, imperial amber, and barleywine (all of which are on this blog). If not, you can find them on my hopville page with the same name bensbrews. Since this yeast was fermenting beers that where very high in alcohol I dont think there will be a problem with it fermenting a 7 or less percent beer.

Now back to this current beer! Previously I would just copy and past the recipe but I believe the best option is just give you the link to the website I do most of my work with brewing beer. http://hopville.com/recipe/747291/american-pale-ale-recipes/american-brewmasters-pale-ale-with-blueberries

Obviously I didn't brew the beer with blueberries but I did it with blackberries same amount 3 pounds and they did not go into the boil but in the primary. I know that this will result in less fruit flavor but don't worry I will fix this problem by adding blackberry or blueberry flavoring at the time of bottling. The amount i put at bottling will depend on how much fruit flavor I taste before I bottle, if it needs all 4 ozs that's what I will put, but I have heard people saying that 4 ounces is too much, we will see! At this moment, the beer is in the secondary with the honey and added yeast doing it's thing popping away! I also dried hoped with a special hop Sorache Ace which is stated on the recipe but the numbers are a bit off on how much hops I put in the boil and dry hopped. I will update this soon! Trying to be able to bottle this brew by friday, but the beer is still going.... Update soon to follow on how it taste and anything else that might happen.

Till then enjoy the summer the best way possible - aka feet in the sand and craft beer in hand!

Cheers!

Ben

Bat Cave IPA a Black IPA

2011-04-09T16:39:00.000-04:00

Black Ipa

Style: Imperial IPA OG: 1.092
Type: FG: 1.024
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 8.91 %
Calories: 301 IBU's: 89.87
Efficiency: 75 % Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
Color: 34.5 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
(none)

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Gravity Color
12.00 lbs 70.05 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 1.036 2.0
2.00 lbs 11.68 % Munich Malt - 20L 1.035 20.0
1.13 lbs 6.60 % Carafa I 1.032 337.0
1.00 lbs 5.84 % White Wheat Malt 1.040 2.4
1.00 lbs 5.84 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 1.034 40.0

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.50 ozs 3.71 Cascade 15 mins 5.60
0.13 ozs 4.71 Simcoe 90 mins 12.70
0.25 ozs 9.99 Chinook 90 mins 14.00
1.00 ozs 33.90 Simcoe 60 mins 12.70
0.50 ozs 20.02 Magnum 60 mins 15.00
0.75 ozs 17.23 Amarillo Gold 30 mins 11.20
0.50 ozs 0.32 Cascade 1 mins 5.60
0.75 ozs 0.00 Cascade 0 mins 5.60
1.25 ozs Amarillo Gold 7 days 11.20

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg American Ale II Wyeast Labs 1272

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 oz Irish Moss 15 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Full Body Infusion In 60 min @ 152.0°F
Add 21.41 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 169.6°F

I took a recipe from BYO magazine and altered it just a bit nothing major but believe it will end up a really good black IPA, crossing fingers...

Grampa Jeff's Barleywine turns into Jam'n Barleywine

2011-02-28T10:00:00.000-05:00

Two days ago, I decided to make a barleywine. I have made one before SAK Attack that one was done with really no clue on what should or shouldn't go into a barleywine, but it turned out pretty good. Yesterday I had one that my fellow beer snob Rick had been keeping, besides being a little over carbonated it was pretty close to style. I wanted to make an all grain version so I found one on American Brewmaster's website their Grampa Jeff's Barleywine. I got the kit and was going to go verbatim on the recipe something I rarely do, but I figured I should because this was an award winning recipe from a homebrewer in Garner. But like it seems lately with all my homebrewing experiences I had to change it. After pouring the 23lbs of grains into my mash tun I noticed after an hr of soaking the grains were not cracked, even though I paid for them to do that. Thusly I had to head back over to the store and tell them what happened. The best options they gave me was A - crack a new batch of grains or B - do an extract version. A would be free but B would cost a little more but only 15 bucks more.

OK for those that might be a little lost as to what all grain,extract, and this mash thing is all about here is the low down. Extract either dry or liquid form is the result of doing a mash with grains then it is concentrated to a thicker substance or dried. A mash is the soaking of cracked grains at a temperature around 152 F. The lower the temperature results in a beer that is dryer and higher in alcohol, and with a higher temperature the sweeter and lower the alcohol. Soaking the grains allow the complex sugars to be broken down to allow easy fermentation.

My grains were not cracked. Cracking the grains allow the hot water to get inside the grain to the starches where the hot water can then work the starches and break the sugars down to fermentable levels. I was limited on time and didn't want to spend all day brewing but in the end that pretty much happen anyways. I picked option B. Though it cost a little more in the end it was the faster choice and it ended up with a higher abv and a beer now that I can clam as my own.

Because I didn't want to waist the sparage liquid that I had from the all grain experience, I used that liquid plus the extract liquid to make this beer. The result is a bit higher in abv and color. I will post original recipe but show were the alterations were for extract. Here it is!

%	LB	OZ	MALT OR FERMENTABLE	PPG	°L
80%	20	0	American Two-row Pale	37	1
6%	1	8	Light Dry Malt Extract	45	8
6%	1	8	American Crystal 80L	33	80
6%	1	8	American Crystal 120L	34	120
2%	0	8	American Crystal 60L	34	60

Batch size: 5.0 gallons

Original Gravity

1.139

(1.125 to 1.145)

Final Gravity

1.038

(1.033 to 1.041)

Color

28° SRM / 56° EBC

(Dark Brown to Black)

Mash Efficiency

75%

hops

USE	TIME	OZ	VARIETY	FORM	AA
boil	60 mins	3.0	Magnum	pellet	13.0
boil	15 mins	1.0	Amarillo	pellet	9.9
boil	15 mins	1.0	Centennial	pellet	9.7
dry hop	7 days	1.0	Cascade	pellet	5.0

Boil: 7.0 avg gallons for 90 minutes

Bitterness

180.6 IBU / 39 HBU

ƒ: Rager

BU:GU

1.30

yeast

Safale US-05 Dry Yeast

ale yeast in dry form with low to medium flocculation and 73% attenuation

Alcohol

13.5% ABV / 1e+01% ABW

Calories

458 per 12 oz.

The grains and extract part ignore. This recipe was adjusted to show what the true O.G. and F.G. should be now. If the all grain didn't mess up then minus the extract part, but if you were doing an all extract version remove the top two ingredients and replace it with 3 bags of 44 oz of dry light malt extract and 1 bag of 3.3 lbs of liquid light malt extract. I used all the grains and all the extract for all extract recipe, but like I said before the all grain part did not resulted in a very low gravity reading.

Imperial Clone of Mac and Jack's African Amber Ale

2011-01-24T10:09:00.000-05:00

The only place you can get the regular mac and jacks is in Seattle, and it is one of the best of that style or any beer in my humble point of view. But if you live in the Apex area you might be able to get the imperial version I created last Friday. It went well, no major hiccups except for a late night run to try a beer with ghost peppers infused with it. The worldest hottest pepper lives up to it's name, but was very good! I might just have to make soon!
Now back to this beer - I wanted to double to recipe but in doing that it will double to alcohol but not the correct amount of bitterness. So I adjust the hops schedule and added more to get the double amount of bitterness. To do an all grain version, would have taken twice as long and I most likely would have to spend a lot more on grains to get it up to the required O.G. Thankfully, there is LME and DME so I used that as well as some base grains to get it up. I also created a starter and pitched a old ale yeast that I believe will give it another unique flavor.

In the end, this beer might not taste anything like an amber, but as long as it tastes great, it doesn't really matter. But this beer should not be too far off from an amber gone imperial.

Here is the recipe.

Imperial Mac & Jack Clone (2011-01-04 version)

% LB OZ MALT OR FERMENTABLE

36% 8 0 British Pale

18% 4 0 Light Dry Extract

15% 3 4 Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup

13% 2 12 American Two-row Pale

9% 2 0 Munich Malt

5% 1 0 Cara-Pils/Dextrine

5% 1 0 Crystal 90L

Batch size: 5.0 gallons

Original Gravity

1.134

(1.120 to 1.140)

Final Gravity

1.039

(1.034 to 1.042)

Color

17° SRM / 34° EBC

(Light Brown to Medium Brown)

Mash Efficiency

70%

Hops

USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA

boil 60 mins 0.5 Magnum leaf 15.0

boil 60 mins 2.0 Centennial pellet 9.7

boil 30 mins 1.0 Cascade pellet 5.0

boil 1 min 1.0 Cascade pellet 5.0

dry hop 7 days 1.0 Cascade pellet 5.0

Boil: 6.5 gallons for 90 minutes

Bitterness

71.7 IBU / 27 HBU

ƒ: Tinseth

BU:GU

0.54

yeast

White Labs London Ale (WLP013)

ale yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation

Wyeast Old Ale Blend (9097)

ale yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation

Alcohol

12.7% ABV / 1e+01% ABW

Calories

443 per 12 oz.

misc

USE TIME AMOUNT INGREDIENT

boil 15 min 1 tsp Irish Moss

bottling 14 days 12 ounces Corn Sugar

Pumpkin Porter Version 2.0 aka Sam's PP

2010-10-13T03:17:00.001-04:00

I came accross an extract version of this recipe in the book Extreme Brewing a book by Sam Calagione. Needing to convert it to all grain I called on some advice from my bro-in-law Johnny, an awesome all grain brewer in the Seattle area! Making some adjustments to try and fit the profile the book gave, this is what I came up with. Once I added the spices to the beer, the room immediately smelled like pumpkin pie! What an awesome smell! Though it took a lot longer to get the target gravity reading I wanted it was well worth it. So far the beer is progress well in the fermenter. In a few weeks I will be enjoying this great brew for Halloween or soon after.

Malt & Fermentables

80% 14 lb American Two-row Pale

6% 1 lb American Chocolate

6% 1 lb American Crystal 40L

6% 1 lb American Munich

3% 8 oz Black Barley

2.8 lbs pumpkin puree (in the mash)

Additions in Boil

boil 20 min 2 tsp Irish Moss

boil 5 min 1 tsp Cinnamon

boil 5 min 1 tsp Nutmeg

boil 5 min 1 tsp Allspice

Batch size: 5.5 gallons

Original Gravity

1.075

Target Final Gravity

1.016

Color

30° SRM / 60° EBC (Dark Brown to Black)

Mash Efficiency

70%

Hops

boil 60 mins 1.75 oz Hallertauer pellet 3.0 AA

boil 20 mins 1.0 Cascade pellet 5.0 AA

boil 10 mins 1.25 Hallertau pellet 3.0 AA

Bitterness 33.6 IBU calculated using Rager

Boil: 6.8 gallons for 60 minutes

Yeast

2 packs of Wyeast American Ale (1056)

Alcohol

7.8%

Calories

261 per 12 oz.

Watermelon Wheat

2010-07-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

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Recently I made a Belgian IPA that I split the batch on. One of them had watermelon in it. My wife loved it and I had to make it again! This time though I made a watermelon wheat. The first time everything went perfectly for an all grain batch!

malt & fermentables

%	LB	MALT OR FERMENTABLE	PPG	°L
54%	7	American Two-row Pale	37	1
31%	4	Wheat Malt	39	2
15%	2	Munich Malt - 10L	35	10
	13

Original Gravity: 1.072
(1.064 to 1.075)
Final Gravity: 1.017
(1.015 to 1.018)
Color: 6° SRM / 11° EBC; (Yellow to Gold)
Mash Efficiency: 75%

hops

USE	TIME	OZ	VARIETY	FORM	AA
boil	60 mins	1.0	Willamette	leaf	4.5
boil	30 mins	1.0	Mt. Hood	leaf	4.6
boil	10 mins	1.0	Saaz	leaf	3.6
boil	10 mins	1.0	Crystal	leaf	4.3

Bitterness: 37.3 IBU / 5 HBU; ƒ: Tinseth
BU:GU: 0.52

yeast

Wyeast American Wheat (1010)

ale yeast in liquid form with low flocculation

Wyeast Bavarian Wheat (3056)

ale yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation

Alcohol: 7.3% ABV / 6% ABW
Calories: 237 per 12 oz.

The Recipe- Belgian IPA

2010-05-16T17:52:00.006-04:00

Update 6/13/2010:
In my tradition, I changed up this beer. I split the batch added 5.2 lb of watermelon to half of the batch. I bottled that part 2 weeks ago. It came out great! Actually my wife thought it had a great watermelon smell and flavor. The other half I dry hoped with .65 oz of Amarillo, .90 oz of Norther Brewer, and 1.4 oz of Cascade. After a week the alcohol level in the dry hop batch was way off on the low end. Some how I had a lot of unfermentable sugars. Not good = too sweet! I decide to add 4 lbs of pureed mangoes. Yesterday did a gravity ready and nothing! I knew this would probably happen because I did not take that batch off the old yeast and into a secondary. So I did this, and add 3 lbs and 1 oz of blueberry puree, and a batch of belgian yeast that I collected off a belgian stout that I made while back (Cherry Belgian Stout ) It worked! It is going well in the fermenter now. FYI the yeast I used is before I added the wild yeast in the secondary.

Here is the recipe that I came up with for this beer I brewed today.

% LB OZ MALT OR FERMENTABLES

81% 13 0 Pilsner (2 Row) Bel

16% 2 10 Sugar, Table (Sucrose)

3% 0 8 Belgian Candy Sugar Light

Original Gravity

1.093

(1.083 to 1.097)
True O.G. result was 1.087

Final Gravity

1.023

(1.020 to 1.025)

Color

5° SRM / 10° EBC

(Yellow to Gold)

Mash Efficiency

70%

hops

USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA

boil 60 mins 0.5 Amarillo leaf 9.0

boil 60 mins 1.0 Cascade leaf 7.0

boil 30 mins 1.0 Amarillo leaf 9.0

boil 15 mins 1.0 Centennial leaf 9.0

boil 5 mins 1.0 US Fuggle leaf 4.5

Boil: for 90 minutes

Bitterness

59.4 IBUs

Yeast

Wyeast Belgian Abby Ale II (1762) &

Wyeast Trappist High Gravity (3787)

Alcohol

9.3% ABV

Calories

306 per 12 oz.

Notes:
The grains were done in a single infusion mash at 153 F for one hour. The sugar and Belgian candi are added with 15 minutes left in the boil.

March Madness = New brew (Big Benny's Belligerent Belgian IPA.)

2010-04-02T00:58:00.000-04:00

I wanted to make a new brew but I also wanted it to be little different process of getting to that point. So I decided to do a competion involving the NCAA tournament. The short of it was anybody was invited, put in your brackets, and who ever wins gets to pick out the beer I make and keep half. If though I won I get to pick and everybody else can just watch me make it. Of course losers will get to have some of that brew. Recently, I bottled my Dirty 30 brew which freed up my fermenters for this brew. The beer would be made sometime in April after the tournament is over. So far on my bracket, it looks like I will be winning the bet! What should I make!? I have a fair amount of hops I need to use soon. The ideas I have for this one are: A belgian IPA, a watermelon wheat, an amber ale, and finally a Mountain Dew brew! I don't have a recipe as of yet for the belgain IPA but I have fair amount of the ingredients for it. Since it is spring time I am leaning toward doing something refreshing and drinkable. The watermelon wheat will have to wait till the watermelons get into season. The amber is good all time brew but a little bit on the boring side. The mt. dew brew is good but not enough hops. Looks like it will be a Belgian IPA, aka Big Benny's Belligerent Belgian IPA. Now off to master this complex brew!

Ben's Dirty 30 - Old Ale

2010-03-05T04:27:00.002-05:00

There is never a better way to celebrate the big 3-0 by brewing a beer on that day. I will be brewing not just any "old" brew but one that has 30 ingredients in it! I will be making an old ale and trying to stay to style, but also have a little bit of added twists. This will be my second all-grain brew, and to making the process a little bit easier. I got myself a bigger burner and upgraded from a 7.5 allumium pot to a 15.5 gallon stainless steel pot. At some point I will be addeding spigot to my big boy pot.
Enough of that, now on to the really exciting stuff the ingredients!!

Ben’s Dirty Thirty Old Ale

Original Gravity

1.075

Final Gravity

1.010

Bitterness

49.7 IBU

Color

21° SRM / 41° EBC

(Brown to Dark Brown)

Mash Efficiency

67%

Alcohol

8.7% A.B.V.

Calories

283 per 12 oz

Malt and Fermentables

59% 12 lbs British Pale (Maris Otter)

5% 1 lb Vienna Malt

5% 1 lb Honey

5% 1 lb Munich Malt - 10L

2% 8 oz. American Crystal 40L i

2% 8 oz. Wheat Malt

2% 8 oz. Belgian Special B

2% 4 oz. Belgian Candy Sugar Light

2% 6 oz. Brown Sugar, Light

1% 4 oz. Victory Malt

1% 4 oz. Belgian Biscuit Malt

1% 4 oz. Honey Malt

1% 4 oz. Caravienne Malt

1% 4 oz. Aromatic Malt

1% 4 oz. German Acid/Acidulated/Sauer Malt

1% 4 oz. Belgian Pale

1% 4 oz. Flaked Oats

1% 4 oz. Crystal 20L

1% 4 oz. Rye Malt

1% 4 oz. Cara-Pils/Dextrine

1% 2 oz. Chocolate Malt (UK)

1% 2 oz. Peated Malt

1 vanilla bean

Oak chips added to secondary (soaked in whiskey)

Hops

boil 60 mins 1.0 oz. Northern Brewer info leaf 7.8 AA

boil 60 mins 0.5 oz. Crystal info leaf 4.3 AA

boil 60 mins 1.0 oz. Mt. Hood info leaf 4.8 AA

boil 30 mins 1.0 oz. Saaz info leaf 3.1 AA

boil 30 mins 0.75 oz. Willamette info leaf 4.5 AA

boil 10 mins 0.5 oz. Cascade info leaf 7.0 AA

boil 10 mins 1.0 oz. Fuggles info leaf 4.5 AA

Boil: 8.0 gallons for 90 minutes

Yeast

Primary Yeast

2 Packs of Wyeast London Ale (1028)

Room For Beer: A Philosophy of Life

2010-02-05T04:14:00.000-05:00

Got this post online at http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/beer-humor/

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a “VERY LARGE” and empty mayonnaise jar. He proceeded to fill it with rocks, which were about 2 inches in diameter. He filled the jar to the top!

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They said, “Yes.”

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. They rolled into place, all around the rocks. He shook the jar lightly. This allowed him to pour more pebbles in, until they were up to the top of the jar.

He again asked the students if the jar was full. They said, “Yes.”

The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled the spaces between the pebbles.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students wondered what the right answer was this time, wondering what else could be poured into the jar.

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty spaces in the sand. The students mumbled.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The rocks are the important things — your family, your partner, your health, and your children. Things, that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks! The same goes for your life. If you spend all of your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first . . . the things that really matter . ..then the pebbles.

Set your priorities. The rest is just sand (the little stuff)!”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled and said, “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”

First All Grain Brew - A Piece of "Cake" IPA

2010-01-17T17:17:00.005-05:00

Recently I built my first mash tun from a 10 gallon water cooler. My brother-in-law has helped me a lot with the transition. I used an excel file he created for the mash. He gave me his IPA recipe that he loves. I used that recipe to create my first all grain brew. Here it is, I had to replace the british pale most of it because they were out with american two row, and had o change some of the hop additions because it was higher or lower in AA.

Batch Size: 5 gallons

Assumed Efficiency: 70% percent

Ingredients:

Grain

11 lbs American two row

3 lbs. British pale

1 lbs. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils®)

0.5 lbs. American crystal 40L

0.5 lbs. Wheat malt

Total 17 lbs.

SG = 1.072

Hops

1 oz. Chinook (11.4% AA) at 60 min. (pellet)

0.5 oz. Magnum (15% AA) at 60 min. (whole)

0.5 oz. Cascade (7 % AA) at 30 min. (whole)

0.2 oz. Cascade (7 % AA) at 10 min. (whole)

0.8 oz. Centennial (9% AA) at 10 min. (whole)

0.5 oz. Centennial (9% AA) at 2 min. (whole)

0.5 oz. Simcoe (11.7% AA) at 2 min. (pellet)

60 minute Boil

Dry Hop

Amarillo (Dry) whole 0.25 7 days

Cascade (Dry) whole 0.25 7 days

Simcoe (Dry) whole 0.50 7 days

Centennial (Dry) whole 1.00 7 days

Mash

Single Infusion mash at 154 degrees

1.25 qts/lb.

Yeast: Wyeast 1056

SG = 1.072

FG = 1.018

Mash Tun

2010-01-05T19:44:00.002-05:00

I made my own mash tun from some instructions I found online http://members.shaw.ca/Fly_Guy/mlt.htm.
I had to make some alterations from the plans because no one sells 5/8" fender washers. I used instead for the outside 3/4" cut washers and only needed 2 of them. The inside washer I used a stainless steel flat washer that was 3/4" as well.

Here are the parts you will need for the conversion

- Rubbermaid 10 gallon round beverage cooler
-all stainless steel ¼” hose clamps x 2
- brass square head plug (Watts A-737)
- ½” x 12” (or larger) braided stainless steel supply hose
- 3/8” female barb adapter (Watts A-298)
- 5/8” stainless steel fender washer (sometimes hard to find, but try Fastenal if you are stuck)
- 3/8” MIP x 1-1/2” brass nipple (Watts A-786)
- seal from plastic spigot of cooler
-Teflon tape (note: everything above goes inside the cooler, and everything to the right goes outside)
- 5/8” O-ring (preferably heat resistant, if you can find one)
- 3 x 5/8” fender washers - 3/8” threaded ball valve
- 3/8” male barb adapter (Watts A-294)

Gone Bananas for the Holidays

2009-11-28T18:24:00.008-05:00

It has been a good while since my last brew, and since the holidays are coming up, I thought the best beer to make would be a holiday spiced brew. In this brew though it is going to be a bit different than the normal holiday brews. The biggest change up is a banana in the yeast starter. Here are the ingredients and everything that went down. Enjoy!

Gone Bananas for the Holidays

MALT OR FERMENTABLES

3.4 lbs Amber Liquid Extract

2.12 lbs Amber Dry Malt Extract

2 lbs Crystal 80L

1.10 lbs Munich Malt

1 lb Honey

1 lb American Dextrin (Cara-Pils)

4 oz Chocolate Malt (US)

4 oz Biscuit Malt

Batch size: 5.0 gallons

Original Gravity

1.081 (1.073 to 1.085)

Final Gravity

1.019 (1.017 to 1.021)

Color

25° SRM (Brown to Dark Brown)

Hops

Boil

60 minutes 1 oz Cluster pellet 7.9%

20 minutes 1 oz Sterling pellet 6.0%

10 minutes 1 oz Hallertau Select pellet 1.5%

Bitterness

30.1 IBU

Yeast

Nottingham Ale Dry Yeast

Yeast Starter:

Cut up one big banana put into a small pot add 1/2 quart of water, 1 teaspoon of honey, and 4 tablespoons of corn sugar. After 10-15 minute boil, cool down to almost room temp. Pour liquid into a sanitized 1 gallon water jug. Add the yeast, let it sit over night or during the time you are starting your boil to the end. Make sure to release to pressure often.

Spices:

1 Cinnamon stick

1 small piece of ginger

3 to 4 dried cloves

Spices go into the boil with 15 minutes left in the boil

Alcohol

8.3% A.B.V.

6.4% A.B.W.

Calories

266 per 12 oz.

Brewdog fights back with a super mild beer!

2009-09-14T16:37:00.002-04:00

If you know this brewery then you also know they are big news in the UK for making a beer that is 18% alcohol. (Tokyo*) It was such a big deal there that the government has put a ban on it's sale there! Insane, well Brewdog came back big with a 1.1% alcohol brew with 225 IBUs (Called Nanny State)! Insane (they call it an imperial mild) read more about it here! Brewdog

Jamm'n Pumpkin Porter

2009-09-07T12:16:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I brewed a new fall brew. It has candied yams, pumpkin, spices, molasses, and honey. It will be a porter style brew with all the above which was added at different times of the brew making process.

2 lbs of Amber DME
4 lbs of Dark DME
1 1/2 lbs of Honey added with 15 minutes left in the boil.
8 oz of Molasses added before boil
3 cups of English Chocolate Malt (at 145 F for 30 minutes before boil)
3 cups of Crystal Malt 120 L (at 145 F for 30 minutes before boil
29 oz of Pumpkin Puree added to primary.
16 oz of Candied Yams (Sweet Potatoes) added before boil and pureed.
Pumpkin spices will be added in secondary.

Hops
Bitter hops - 1 3/4 oz Palisades ( 6.7%) Pellet for 90 minutes
Flavoring hops - 1/2 oz Cascade (7.6%) leaf for 30 minutes
Aromatic hops - 1/2 oz Fuggle (4 %) leaf for 5 minutes

Yeast
Cultivated yeast from my Devil's Nectar & SAK Attack brews (Originally Wyeast 1056)

Life and Limb & Limb and Life

2009-08-12T21:16:00.004-04:00

There is a new beer a brewing. Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head are collaborating together to make two different brews. One is being bottled (Life and Limb) and the other is only going to be on draft. Both are being made at the Sierra Nevada location in CA. and distributed through their network.

Life and Limb will be a very strong brew at 10% while the other Limb and Life will be 5 % and will actually be the the second runnings of the strong brew.

Life and Limb will have maple syrup from the family farm of Calagione and be naturally carbonated from birch syrup from Alaska (a first). The barley used for this brew is actually grown the family farm of Sierra Nevada. Finally the yeast used is a combo yeast both from the house strains used at each brewery.

It says it will be able age very well. I can see why with all that sugar and natural carbonation going, it will be very complex flavors that will only get better with time. This sounds like it might be depending on what barley is used be barleywine like brew. Very excited to try this one out though it will not be going out to the market till late November in 24 oz bombers and the lighter version will be available in October

Check out more at http://beernews.org/2009/08/dogfish-head-and-sierra-nevada-brewing-form-epic-collaboration-for-life-limb/

Cherry Belgian Stout

2009-08-05T16:45:00.006-04:00

Brewed this beer yesterday with the collaboration of a friend. This is going to be a little bit more complex beer that even I don't normally do. Dark Belgian candi, special B malt, and Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale to contribute the Belgium flavors. The stout was made by using roasted barley, and chocolate malt. What is going to be crazy is when I add the cherry puree to the secondary I will add a wild yeast as well!

Updated 1: The grains and the Belgian candi was put at rest for 30 minutes at 142 F. Also split this batch, one without the cherry and wild yeast added. This batch was bottled last week and I am taking my first tasting notes of what this brew is like. A nice dark brown color with light brown head that goes away fairly quickly to a thin layer. The smells are of dark sweet chocolate and a light alcohol level to it. It taste just like it smells! Pure milk chocolate flavors with a light sweet taste of Belgian notes in the middle with a lingering bitterness that must becoming from the hops used. I am having a hard time not drink another, this is a brew I will have to do again!

Update 2: Bottled the split batch that has Wild yeast and 3lbs of cherry puree added to it. It has amazing sour flavors. A good amount of puckering at back of the mouth. Has light chocolate flavors with a sour cherry kick. Can not wait to see how it ages in the bottles. I left this brew on the wild yeast and cherries from 8/25/09 to 10/01/09. I believe the alcohol is bit higher than the regular Belgian stout and finishes a little dryer as well.

Brewed- 08/04/09
O.G. 1.058
F.G. 1.012

Malt Extracts

44 oz. of Light DME
3.3 lbs of Munich LME

Speciality Grains

16.5 ounces of Two Row Pale
1 lb of Chocolate Malt
1 lb of Special B
8 ounces of Roasted Barley

Hops

1 oz Centennial (75 mins)
1 oz Hallertauer 5.7 AAU (15 mins)
1 oz Styrian Goldings 5.3 AAU (5 mins)

Additions

3 lb can of Cherry Puree in the secondary
1 lb of Dark Belgian Candi in the boil.

Yeast

Wyeast 1388
Wild Yeasts in the secondary

Beer and food parings.

2009-08-03T12:03:00.006-04:00

I came across this awhile back and have been meaning to post it. One area that I am starting to learn a lot about is paring a good brew with the right dish. Luckly some of the questions I had were answered with this PDF file from beertown.org.

http://seasonalbeerandfood.org/pdf/beer_food.pdf

Running

2009-08-03T11:26:00.006-04:00

To be big beer enthusiast it takes a big toll on your body if you do not keep it in check at all times (aka beer gut). To balance that out for me I do my other fun hobby, running! One of my favorite places to run is at the beach. I recently just came back from a short trip to Cherry Grove Beach and to balance out my crazy addiction to brew I ran twice. Both being 5k distances. For my gloating pleasure I added my Nike+ Mini on my blog site. One of the beers I need to run off the cals was one my favorite beers from Southern Tier - Creme Brulee

This is delicious stout. Has extreme flavors of vanilla, buttery, chocolate, and roasty flavors. It claims to be an imperial milk stout but taste like strait up creme brulee. This is not a easy drinking brew because of the heavy flavors and thick weighty mouth feel. Yet, it is very enjoyable just a brew that should be shared with friends and drank slowly.

Home Brewer Video

2009-07-27T13:19:00.001-04:00

New Brews coming from Duck-Rabbit and Terrapin!

2009-07-08T19:23:00.003-04:00

For those that are lucky to live close enough to either Duck-Rabbit Brewery and Terrapin Brewery then you know they both make some great stuff. Duck-Rabbit has some of the best seasonal brews I have ever tasted plus their year round Milk Stout is amazing, and Terrapin has the Monster series with the Wake-n-Bake (Oatmeal Coffee Stout) that is so good I collect that stuff and drink it year round, (at least I try).

It came to my knowledge that Duck-Rabbit and Terrapin are both adding new year round brews. Duck-Rabbit is making a dark lager called Schwarzbier coming around 5.8% that is high for a German style beer, here is the decal for it. It should be out in late July.

The Terrapin new addition to their year round brew is an IPA called Hopsecutioner. Pretty cool name and the decal for it funny and really imaginative. The alcohol level will be 7.3%. Should be available sometime in August.

For more information on these beer checkout www.beernews.org (where I got this very exciting news)

S.A.K. Attack Barleywine

2009-06-22T00:32:00.004-04:00

At the last moment, I realized I could brew another beer. A fellow beerknurd friend of mine has expressed interest in watching the brewing process go down. Lucky he was able to come over and participate and watch the brewing process. We decide to make barleywine. I called my other brewknurd, the one with the brewmaster degree to help us out. It was loads of fun. Something I could do every month. I decided to call the beer S.A.K. which stands for the last names of the people involved making this brew.

S.A.K. Attack Barleywine

O.G. 1.080

F.G. 1.010

IBU 92

SRM 30

Fermentable Sugars:

5.5 lbs of British Amber DME

1 lb of Brown Malt

1 lb of Crystal Malt 80L

1 lb of Crystal Malt 40L

13 oz. Brown Sugar

8 oz. Dark Belgian Candy

Hops

1 oz. Warrior for 120 mins (30 mins in the rest at + 90 min. boil)

1 oz. Columbus for 45 mins

3 oz. Williamette 15 mins

1 oz. Fuggles 5 mins

Yeast

Wyeast Belgian Abby Ale II (1762)

Update :

A lot has happened with this brew. One thing I was not expecting, the yeast Belgian Abby Ale II was bad and I had to use my personal cultivated yeast from a previous batch. This yeast was from the Devil's Nectar brew. Luckily it worked! It converted the wort to beer with the F.G. mentioned above. Which gives this brew an alcohol level of 9.3%. We bottled yesterday. Should be ready to drink in 3 weeks at the earliest, but should be really good around Thanksgiving time. From what we tasted it seems to be a very balanced brew. Crossing fingers.

Rye IPA - The Hop-Ryed Squared

2009-06-15T09:39:00.006-04:00

Recently, a good friend of mine came back from brewery school aka (Siebel), something I wish I could have done with him. Almost immediately getting back he starting making beer. He went through all his fermenters and wanted to make another brew. Wanting to see his new found knowledge at work, I offered to make the next one at my place. Using my turkey fryer, and all my other gadgets it was a lot of fun. Sadly no pictures of the event, but I will show you the recipe we came up with and talk a little about the steps we took.

First off, I have not had many Rye beers or a rye IPA for that matter, but from what I have had the rye pale ale and Rye squared by Terrapin Beer Company and the Hop Rod Rye IPA by Bear Republic Brewery I found them to be delicious and unique. I was very eager to start when he told me he wanted to make that. Here is the list of the ingredients we used.

Brewed on (06/09/09)

O.G. - 1.076

F.G. - 1.012

IBUs - 100

SRM - 24 or brown to dark brown.

ABV- 8.46%

Dry Malt Extract

44 oz. of British Amber DME

44 oz. of Extra Light DME

Grains

2 lbs of Rye Malt

2 lbs of Two-row

1 lb of Belgian Special B

10.5 oz of honey malt

Hops - Each hop listed is 1 ounce each and all pellets.

Summit (18.1%) for 90 min.

Chinook (11.4%) for 90 min.

Challenger (6.5%) for 30 min.

Saaz (5.8%) for 15 min.

Perle (5.7%) for 5 min

Saaz (5.8%)- dry hop

Yeast

Wyeast 1272

One of the biggest things I did differently was doing different temperature stages for the grains.

First off add enough water to completely submerge the grains. Here is the stages.

1. Bring the temp to 90F or 32C for 30mins

2. Bring the temp to 122F or 52C for 30mins

3. Bring the temp to 147F or 64C for 60mins

4. Bring the temp to 170F or 77C and remove grains and sparge with warm water.

If you have any questions to this recipe or anything else beer related, let me know I would love to answer any questions you might have. If I don't know the answer, my brewmaster friend will. Cheers!

Update 1# Transferred the beer into the secondary on (06/17/09) and added the dry hops. Took a tasting of it has malty beginning and odd spiciness that is hard to label. Gives good amount of puckering of the mouth late in the swallow.

Update 2# I bottled the beer today (06/30/09) should be ready in a few weeks.

Slamination (Ruination + Hopslam)

2009-05-09T09:16:00.011-04:00

Yesterday, I finally made an IPA. I have probably made over 12 or more beers since I started home brewing a couple years ago, but never made an IPA because I am more of a malt person. Recently though I have found some really good IPAs and I wanted to try and clone them. I could not decide on which I liked more the Ruination IPA by Stone or the Hopslam by Bells. So I decide to take the recipe i had for the Ruination IPA from brew your own magazine and add honey malt to give that honey flavor that the Hopslam has.

Here is the list of ingredients and times for everything (below some of the ingredients have been altered from the byo magazine and other items added )

O.G. = 1.075 F.G. = 1.010

IBU = 100+

ABV = 8.6%

Ingredients:

88oz (5.5 lbs) of Light DME

1.5 lbs of Light LME

1 lb of 2-row malt

14 oz. of crystal malt (10 L)

8 oz. of honey malt

1 tsp. Irish moss (15 minutes)

1 orange zested added for 10 minutes

3 oz. of Magnum whole leaf hops (14.2% AA)

60 minutes

2 oz. of Centennial whole leaf hops (9% AA)

15 minutes

2 oz. of Simcoe whole leaf hops (12% AA)

(dry hopped)

Yeast - Wyeast American Ale 1056

4 oz. (1/2 cup) orange blossom honey for priming

Update 1#: I changed the dry hops from Centennial to Simcoe. I did this to give a more well rounded flavor and smells for this ipa. Hopefully I didn't screw up the brew. I also add about 6 oz. of orange blossom honey to the secondary when I added the dry hops. My hope is this cut into the very high bitterness. Though I believe I am just fooling myself since I know honey converts almost all into alcohol.

Update 2#: Bottled the double ipa today (05/24/09) should be fully carbonated in 2-3 weeks!

Update 3#: Slamination has been ready for a while. Tasted it many times now. It has smells of the Hopslam with taste of the Ruination. Nice golden color, with good lacing and head retintion. Very enjoyable, one that I am having a hard time not drinking all I have.

Hops and IPAs

2009-05-07T02:11:00.005-04:00

I am in the process of growing my own hops for the first time! There are many different hops out there. From the really bitter to the more aromatic type. One of the more expensive types of beers to make now are IPAs and Double IPAs because of the earlier hop shortage the price of hops has nearly tripled in price. One of my many reasons I wanted to grow my own hops is for saving some "moo-la" and it's just lots of fun to see it grow and know you made it happen. Well, for now "hope" to make it grow.

The hops I decided to grow are Nugget and Cascade. Nugget has a range of 12-14% alpha acids and Cascade has a range of 4.5 -6.5% alpha acids. You might be wondering what is alpha acids? Well, the short of it is, the higher the alpha acids the more bitter the beer will be. The more acidic the more grapefruit like flavors come out. The low level AAs of Cascade make this hop better for all types of beers, but still works best for IPAs because they impart citrus like smells and flavors.

I dug two separate holes one for each type of hop. I put the two rhizomes of each type of hop into the grown. I put a stake into the grown beside mound with good dirt mixed with bad native dirt. I have two 20 foot long pieces of twine. I attached the twine to the stakes and at the end of the twine I attached it to the top of the ledge of my garage frame. When the hops start to grow, I will then take two of the vines from each hop mound and wrap them around the twine in a counter-clockwise motion.

Hopefully, if everything goes well I will have my own collection of home grown hops! I will be posting pictures of the setup I have now and periodic pictures of the growth of my hops and of course pictures of the harvesting day!

The Devil's Nectar

2009-03-08T17:55:00.006-04:00

With the help of my brother-in-law Johnny and I, we were able to seduce another to the dark side (becoming a home brewer) my brother-in-law Daniel. Him and my sister swung over to my place to help and watch how to brew. It was loads of fun! I decided to make the clone for the Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown. We decided to call this one "The Devil's Nectar" which was inspired by my parents influence. We altered the recipe a bit because of a lack of supplies at my local home brew store.

These are the ingredients we used.

6 pounds and 6 ounces of Light LME by Coopers

2.75 pounds of Light DME British

1 pound of Caramel Malt 40 L.

1 pound Light Munich Malt

1/2 pound Roast Barely

2 ounces Fuggles plugs

1 ounces Liberty pellets

12 ounces of Maple Praline Syrup

1 packet of 1056 American Yeast

O.G. - 1.12

F.G. - Unknown till time of bottling.

In a pot put at least 1 gallon of water into it. I did almost 3 gallons because of I was using bigger pot (7.5 gallon). I heated up the water to 165 degrees but went way past that mark (Strike One). The grains are put into a steeping bag. It let sit in there for 45 minutes at 154 degrees (Strike Two). The temperature was more around 170 so we took it off the burner and because it was so hot and this would not burn the grains.

After 45 minutes had passed we rinsed the grains with 1 gallon of 170 degree water that was prepared in a separate pot. This rinsing process was done over the bigger (7.5) gallon pot or "the grain tea" pot. After that, we added the DME, all the hops, and boiled for 60 minutes. Within 15 minutes left or 45 minutes into the boil we added the LME and at the end of the 60 minute boil we added the maple syrup.

We then cooled the beer down to around room temperature by using a wort chiller. After cleaning the fermenter, air lock, lid, and strainer, Daniel poured the wort into the strainer that was above the fermenter, I moved around the hop and other residue with a spoon so not to over flow the strainer. We then added the yeast and more water to make a total of 5 gallons of liquid.

The O.G. (Original Gravity) reading was 1.12 which if it was complete now would be 16 % alcohol.

In about a week from now, I will transfer this brew into a second ferementer and then after a couple days bottle the beer. Hopefully by the end of March, it will be ready to drink.

Update on Brews

2009-02-12T13:49:00.005-05:00

It has been awhile since my last post. Since that time I have tasted the Scottish Ale which has turned out to be very smokey, almost too smokey but not bad. I did mix the two matches together leaving about 3 gallons left of plan Belgian Ale in one of the ferementers, and the other was about 4 gallons of mixed Scottish and Belgian.

To back track for a moment, this Belgian Scottish combo came to mind after I tasted the French Broad Wee-Heaviest which is a Scottish Ale with Belgian yeast add to it. It has now been about 2 weeks since this combo beer has been in bottles. I have gotten many chances to taste this fine ale since I put it in bottle. I really enjoy this beer a lot. It has a lighter smokiness that is not overpowering and you smell and taste the banana and cloves you normally expect from a Belgian. I love this beer !

As for the Belgian I have yet to bottle this beer because after I bottled the combo beer I added a friend's yeast strain left over from a dark Belgian IPA he made.

(I was able to cultivate the yeast from his beer by simply taking the yeast from the bottom of the bottle of beer and adding some water, corn sugar, and shaking it all up. After that I poured all that goodness into a sanitized plastic bottle water bottle that I was able to cap off and keep it save from contamination. Ideally you want to keep this yeast starter in a cool dark place and check on it daily and make sure to release the pressure inside by simple twisting the cap off for a second or two. You will know the yeast has converted all the sugar to alcohol because after while when you twist off the cap there is no sound made from doing this. Also, make sure to have enough yeast for your next batch if you do not see a good amount of yeast at the bottom add more sugar.)

This Belgian is still not ready to bottle because the beer is still and I repeat still popping in the air lock. I would also add that to aid the cultivated yeast, I put the yeast in sanitized bottle added some of the Belgian beer in the fermenter and waited few days before adding it all back to the fermenter. After I while, I noticed the beer was not popping so I added about 1 cup of boiled down brown sugar and water to the fermenter. This helped it start off almost immediately.

I might bottle it this weekend or either next. Whenever I do bottle I will be doing them in 22 oz bombers that I have collected over the years. Hopefully that will give it enough room and air not to blow up on me. I have been told that Belgians do better in bigger bottles. Lets hope that is so!

New brews!

2009-01-13T13:54:00.003-05:00

Recently I blogged about my next batch of brew the Double Scottish Ale. Well, I after putting into the secondary, I got a chance to taste it. Wow, the peated malt that I put in there gave it a very good smokey and almost woody taste. To enhance the flavor a little bit more I added some dark oak chips in a muslin bag after I had soaked them in vodka to make sure not to contaminate the beer. I took a gravity reading at that time and it read 1.03.

I will be bottling this beer most of it this weekend. The rest I am going to do something special with.

After a day or two I realized I wanted to make Belgian Strong ale/Quad. So this weekend I got all the stuff I need to make it. Here is the list of items that went into my Turkey Fryer.

9.9 lbs Light LME

1 lb 2 Row Pale Malt

1 lb Carapils (Dextrin Malt)

.25 lbs Cara Munich II

.4 lbs of Special B

1 lb Dark Belgian Candi

Hops

1 oz Willamette 60min

1 oz Willamette 30min

1 oz Willamette 1min

I added the Irish Moss and about 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, cloves, and cardamon

with 15minutes left in the boil.

First step was I put enough water in the pot to cover the grain bag that has everything from 2 row to special B in it. I turned the temp to 150 and kept it at that temp for 30min.

After that I pored 1 to 2 gallons of 170 F water over the grains that I held over the pot.

Then I took the pot of the burner and added the extract and Candi stirred it all together till everything was melted.

Then I brought the whole pot of wort to a boil and kept it at a boil for a total of 60min.

I added the hops, the Irish moss, and the spices at the times given above.

After the 60 min, I cooled down the wort and strained out the hops while pouring the wort into the fermenter.

I took a gravity reading O.G. - 1.070 added the Wyeast 3787 after letting it sit out for a few hrs.

The final gravity reading will be done in a week or two.

In regards to the Double Scottish Ale, I plan to bottle like I said before most of it this weekend but with about maybe 1 to 2 gallons left I will add some of the Belgian Strong ale to it and let that age for a week then bottle that. After another week I will bottle the rest of the Belgian and take the F.G then.

What a Day!

2009-01-05T22:14:00.004-05:00

OK, so this will be one of those post that after reading you will either be like
"really" or "not surprised". Here it goes.....

First my day started off like normal, coffee and breakfast with the wife. Great no problems there. After taking a nap that is when it went a little crazy. While taking classes at ECU I am allowed to take classes at other places like a community college. I signed up for my math class at wake tech and I waited till 2 days before classes start to get my books- bad move. First mistake was to buy the books on the Wake Tech website, second mistake was to wait this long. After printing off the copy of my order to take to them I headed off on my long adventure to see them.

I knew my gas was low, so on the way to Wake Tech, I decided to stop at the "nice looking" Exxon close to my house thinking that was OK, compared to NADs (yes that is name) that is right beside it and NADs looks like any day it would fall to the ground in a blaze of glory. I needed to break an 20 so at the gas station I decide to finally grab myself the American Ale even though I knew it will taste like horse dung. My passion to beer leads me astray a time or two. Well, I do what I have down a thousand times before and leave the pump running and get that nasty beer and leave. After grabbing the beer, a Latino lady is at the counter and lets me go first for whatever reason - later I know why. After I payed I went to my car, and saw something I have never seen before. A horrible waste of money, the gas that I so needed now is flowing like mad all over my car on the ground and down the street!! Of course, I run to stop it and save whatever little amount I could. Thank God, gas is as low as it is, it only cost 35 instead of 95, though I only needed probably 20. Oh that Lation lady? I dont about her but the guy in the car she came in was just watching as gas pored out.

Yeah, that was bad, I keeping thinking what if, knowing how things go in the back of my mind I was thinking OK what is next? When I finally got to Wake Tech the line was out the door and I realized that my best bet was to talk to someone at the bookstore just in case I could get it done without waiting in the long line. After finally finding someone, he rudely tells me - "When did you place your order." I tell him "This morning." he then tells me "Come back in 48 hrs, we send emails out when it is ready." So, now I just drove all the way out there for nothing and I wasted all that gas and I have nothing to show for it!?

I cannot leave on a bad note. So, on the way home I swung by Lowe's Foods and got myself the Harpoon Winter 12 pack. I got it mainly because of the www.sevenpack.net review of the beer in that pack- Harpoon Chocolate Stout. This beer is only available through this 12 pack, stupid because this beer is great! If they sold this beer in 6 or 12 packs they would make a fortune! I love chocolate in beer, and this one does a great job of it. Dark chocolate smells, and dessert like chocolate tastes. Of course, it is not the best I have had that would go to either Foothills Sexual Chocolate or Southern Tier's Choklat.

On a ending note- show your parents some love, even if they were horrible, great or just ok- they got you to where you are today bad or good and that is something that needs to be acknowledged and respected. Love ya mom and dad!

A new year!

2009-01-01T14:08:00.005-05:00

I am starting the new year with a new brew! A Double Scottish Export Ale. This will be my first beer made in my turkey fryer! It can hold up to 7.5 gallons of glorious brew, very nice!

It was a fun process, I used 10 lbs of Pale DME and 1.5 oz of bitter hops and 1 oz of finishing hops to make this brew.

Hope everybody has a great a joyous 2009.

I have lots plans for the new year, the main plan is keep at it with my ECU degree. I got my first semester done with and amazingly i pulled out all As. Sometime this month I will be hosting a couples beer tasting so that will be loads of fun.

Christmas time gatherings and Panthers!

2008-12-18T23:54:00.005-05:00

Well, this weekend is going to be a crazy one. It is going to be loads of fun, but with going to two different Christmas family get together in one day, relaxing it will not be. Jenni has lot of cooking and preparing to do for that today and of course with my assistance!

The other item of course this weekend is the Panther's game and my fantasy football ego at steak. My boys are playing the Gaints and who ever wins this game will have a lock for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Beating the Giants at home would be sweet, but with a winter mix and most likely Jacobs playing it will be a very hard win but no doubt a fun game and most likely to wire. With so much on the line for the Panthers this game deserves some good brew. I will have dig deep and find something extra special. Cheers and Go Panthers!

Beer Tastings and All Types of Fun!

2008-12-13T11:37:00.006-05:00

OK, so I have been super slack and not posted anything of late. Sorry my bust. Hopefully this will make up for it.

Tis, the season and with that I mean drink'n awesome seasonal winter and holiday brews. My wife and I recently came back from Asheville and there we tasted a glorious amount of seasonal brews and bought enough brew to sink the Titanic.

One of the brews I bought was Black Albert by De Struise. This rated number 4 beer in the world on ratebeer.com. It was not cheap but well worth it. We had lots of fun out there in Asheville. Got to finally open Foothills Sexual Chocolate Stout WOW that stuff is amazing! I love it . Correction it is the best beer that I or Jenni have ever past our lips!

Beer tastings are loads of fun and the best way to try something new. You could go to bar even Flying Saucer and drink something new and it could count towards your 200 (UFO Members only) beers, but being in someones' home drinking some rare brews is an unreplaceable experience. A review sheet of a brew means you will never forget how this beer tasted when you want to compare it to another beer. It is without a doubt the best way to make fast friends and good memories. I would love to do a beer tasting every month, but alas there are just times when life (work, etc) gets in the way.

For those of you waiting on my next batch of beer, I will be waiting till after the holidays to make my next batch. The next brew though will be a beer that is a Scottish Ale with chipotle peppers. What I hoping will come out of this beer is a high malty taste with nice smokey and spicy kick from the chipotle. (Cross'n my fingers) this will be one of best.

Multiple Thanks

2008-11-04T21:07:00.003-05:00

Hey, everybody!
It is has been a while since i did my last thankful list so i have 18 to list. Here we go!
1. Being able to vote in this great country of ours!
2. Tree's during the fall I love the colors they bring out during this time so relaxing!
3. A stable job
4. ECU because they are educating me to become the best I can!
5. Heat, a few days back it was very cold and the heat inside my home was felt so good.
6. A gas fireplace because it brings so much character to my home.
7. The invention of the pager, without one of these bad boys it would be very hard to notify Doctors about a patient that has arrived.
8. Soft blankets that feel great when it's cold outside.
9. Peanut butter, I love this stuff I could probably eat it till i throw up.
10. My family, it is crazy and loud when just few of them are around let alone all of them, but I could not be where I am today without them, much love and the more craziest the funnier it is right?
11. My parents, for their love, support, and wisdom they have given me through out my life.
12. Jenni's car because it has been saving us loads of money on gas when I driving to work.
13. Paint, yes I know paint, but recently Jenni and I tore up the walls putting a couch upstairs, with out paint their be no way to cover up those nasty scraps.
14. My Northface jacket, i love it because not only does it help me stay warm, it is also very soft!
15. The Internet, without that I would not be able to go back to school to get my BSIT degree. (I am doing it online)
16. Umbrella, even though I didn't need to use it to vote today, I am glad I had one just in case I need to shelter myself from the elements.
17. BYO (Brew Your Own) magazine, I love this magazine. They have loads of information to harness my brewing powers!
18. Blogspot.com because without this blog area I would not be able to post such an awesome thankful list!

Coffee

2008-10-29T22:55:00.002-04:00

Everybody knows I love beer, but my addiction to coffee is almost as extreme. I am in the process of fighting off a nasty cold, and a good cup of coffee helps so much. I wish I was at home right now but saddly I am at work.
Things I am thankful for:
1. Coffee and lots of it help me through my nights at work. I dont know how I would be able to drive home without some.

2. Getting into bed, after working a long night. I could sleep forever.

3. Soft Kleenex tissues, so much better than toilet paper lol

Ice Cream

2008-10-28T13:54:00.003-04:00

Today, I blew up at some poor Hispanic person on my cell phone. Calling me 4 times in 3 hrs is ridiculous especially when you are not even calling the right number! lol After that I went to get some ice cream to step away for a moment. Edie's Ice Cream has pumpkin ice cream for the fall and it is so good! Which brings me to my Thankful list!
1. Ice Cream of any kind is delicious, eat a whole pint? Yes, I can!

2. A good TV show, especially Heroes that show is addicting!

3. Drugs, the kind that help you get better when your sick. I have a nasty cough and cold. Hopefully this stuff will go away soon.

Mondays

2008-10-27T15:46:00.002-04:00

Today is Monday and when people think of Mondays they get this sick feeling in their stomach knowing that it is the first day back to work. For me it is the last day I have off, so it is one my favorite days. Which brings me to my thankful list

1. Mondays, my last relaxing day before back to work. Most of the time it is also a chance for me to catch up on school work.
2. My man-chair, my little piece of ownership that declares to all that this mine and do not touch! ha ha ha. Also, it is so relaxing
3. Wii fit, helps me stay in shape and have fun doing it. Also, is a great way to escape for a moment from school work.

Panther's Football

2008-10-26T19:29:00.002-04:00

Well, today my boys pulled out a miracle and won today. They were very slow on offense on the first half but I guess John Fox lite a fire under them and finally got their act together. Next week is their bye week so I will have to wait a while to get my Panthers fix.

While enjoying the Panther's game, I got a chance to taste the Fall Pyramid Beer Broken Rake
This is an Amber Beer with malty finish, at least that is what they clam. I believe that is correct. It does have that plus a slight hoppy finish. It is an enjoyable beer, that I will need to have more of during these fall/winter days.

Thankful items
1. Panther's football, I know I am somewhat bias, but I can not help it. This team with the leadership of John Fox are just a great team in all regards. They proved today that they are still the Cardiac Cats and as fan that is a lot of fun to watch, maybe not for my blood pressure.

2. My TV. With the Bush money, Jenni and I bought a new TV recently. A 40" Samsung LCD HD TV. Why am I thankful for a TV, you ask? Well, when the best TV growing up was only a 27" tube TV, you appreciate a TV that brings true life to the screen, especially when you watching your favorite football team on the screen.

3. My lawn, there is something about owning land even if it is 2 feet to 2 million square feet that makes you feel special or maybe proud, like you accomplished something grand. Taking care of my lawn today made me realize how much I care about something I own especially a lawn that everybody that drives by can see.

Barb-B-Que

2008-10-25T21:31:00.002-04:00

Well today was a long day but lots of fun. My wife left me for a girl's weekend so I went with my brother-in-law to Lexington for their 25th Bar-B-Que Festival. It was my first time going to this festival, and I enjoyed every minute of it. From the great bar-b-que to the Chairmen of the Board playing their "Carolina Beach Music" it was loads of fun. I will have to go next year.

Beer wise today I am tasting a beer I have been wanting to taste for a while and found it at the World Market. It is Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale. It is one of their best beer's they produce. They are located in California. I can taste the traditional spices you would have in a pumpkin pie. It is a light ale with a low head retention and very drinkable. Overall I would have to give this beer a 3 out of 5 stars.

Thankful items in my life

1. Lexington Barb-b-que, nothings better then some good ole bar-b-que and they do it the best.

2. Chairmen of the Board, these guys have been jamm'n it out for decades and they do not seem to bee slowing down anytime soon. They bring the summer beach fun anytime of the year and I love it.

3. The beach, I do not know what God was thinking when he created the ocean and the dirt we stand on, but thank the Lord He did! When these two places meet it is awe inspiring fun. Instantly, you are struck by the beauty of it all and become completely relaxed and almost transported to another realm.

2008-10-24T18:47:00.002-04:00

Hey Everybody!
I just wanted to update you on the Cinnamon Oatmeal Stout. It was very good, but like with all my beer adventures I found something wrong with my beer. It has not fully carbonated. So, a picture of it would not be good until it is fully carbonated. It is though very good. The cinnamon is not there fully, but from my past experiences, I believe it will show later. As of right now, it has very pronounced coffee and chocolate flavor. As long as it carbonates well, it will be the best stout I have ever made.

Thank everybody for you patience. After a couple weeks, I will bring out a picture of it in all its glory.

Thankful items in my life

1. The ownership of a home. I love being able to improve my home however I see necessary.

2. Movies, a good movie allows you to escape for just a few hours of your day and it is well worth it.

3. Our new furniture and the comfort and style it brings to our home. Makes everything less stressful and more relaxing.

2008-10-23T23:01:00.001-04:00

Thanksgiving up soon and my wife has started a "three things your thankful" for list everyday till Thanksgiving Day. I like the idea a lot so I will be taking a break or add it to my blog of beer stuff when I post.
1. A caring and beautiful wife that takes way better care for me then I deserve.
2. A beautiful home to rest my tired bones after working a long night.
3. My dog, Freddie, for protecting my number 1 and 2 while I am away at work.

Well, exciting stuff in the beer world has been happening in my area. Finally Founder's Brewery is selling their beer here, and they make one of the best Coffee Stouts I have ever tried (Breakfast Oatmeal Stout). Up there with Terrapin's Wake'n Bake Coffee Oatmeal Stout. If you live in the Triangle Area you should swing by Sam's Blue Light in Durham off Erwin Rd, or Carrboro Bottle Shop in duh Carrboro beside Tyler's before they sell out. If you haven't had either of the Terrapin's or the Founder's oatmeal beers. The main difference between the two is Terrapin's is sweeter and Founder's has more of a coffee taste and is a bit dryer mouth feel.

Tomorrow, I will be tasting my Cin-Jamm'n Oatmeal Stout for the first time since bottling!Usually, beer takes about 3 weeks to fully carbonate, but I love to compare it to my first week's tasting. Tasting notes and a picture of it will be coming tomorrow!

Cin-Jamm'n Oatmeal Stout

2008-10-08T21:18:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody!
I want to let y'all know that I have another beer in the works. It is a cinnamon oatmeal stout.
The following is the recipe

Cin-Jamm'n Oatmeal Stout

Malt and Grains
5.5 lbs of Amber DME (Dry Malt Extract)
3.3 lbs of LME (Liquid Malt Extract)
1 lb of Crystal malt 60 L
1.5 lbs of flaked oats
1 lb of roasted barely
12 oz of steel cut oats
12 oz of chocolate malt
8 oz of Lactose (10min)
8 oz of Black Patent
Hops
1 oz Chinook hops 12 AA (60min)
1 oz Northern Brewer hops 9.5 AA (30min)
1 oz Willamette hops 5 AA (10min)
Yeast
Wyeast Scottish Ale 1728
Safale 05 dry yeast

During bottling
1 cup of corn sugar for primary or 1 cup of DME .

Note: I am adding cinnamon and nutmeg to the secondary about 1/2 teaspoon and 1/4 teaspoon.

I will be adding the cinnamon and nutmeg to the secondary this Friday. Brew should be ready to bottle in week from that date, then at least 2 to 3 weeks in bottle to fully carbonate.
Also, since this is a stout, the longer it ages the better and smoother it will be. About 6 months in the bottle will be prime time drink'n time!

And don't worry guys, I will have a picture or two of the fine brew during first tasting!

Blackberry Chocolate Stout

2008-09-25T02:19:00.000-04:00

I recently bottled my newest beer. Second Degree Blackberry Chocolate Stout. Even though this was my 8th or 10th different batch of beer I have made. I am still learning many things, and like always the hard way.

You might be wondering why I called this Beer Second Degree. Well that was my one and only really mistake I made on this batch of beer but it was a big one. "Do not and I repeat do not over fill your boiling pot with either water, malt, or the combo of the two." First it will boil over. No mater how much you try to think it won't, it will and you better be ready and watching when it does. If you don't a massive amount of boiling and i mean raging boiling wort will pore everywhere and in the process you probably will burn yourself very badly. I did and the pain lasted for days. Massive blisters formed on my fingers.

Besides the boiling hot liquid poring on every inch of your hands, the other reason you don't want to is because when it boils over you lose whatever wort pores out. This will effect the taste, alcohol content and possibly if you don't have back up hops, no way to bring balance to the sweet malty wort. That is just gross.

Through all that, this beer turned out to be one of my best beers I have made so far. I am not saying that because I made it. Every time I make a new beer I give out a few to co-workers and friends. From their honest feedback, it gives me an idea of what to change next time and what I did right.