Power Play Ale

 Okay, I really want to take a shot at this whole blogging thing.  I don't know why it is so hard for me to post updates.

So, yesterday I brewed a beer that I need a quick turn-around on for my son's upcoming end of season hockey party. This Power Play Ale will be for the adults and then I am making an orange soda for the kids. We also decided to give the coaches a ceramic top growler filled with this beer for their help this year. This was my son's first year in hockey and the effort he has put forth has been amazing!



Power Play Ale
A ProMash Recipe Report
Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal):        12.00    Wort Size (Gal):   12.00
Total Grain (Lbs):       22.00
Anticipated OG:          1.050    Plato:             12.36
Anticipated SRM:           3.4
Anticipated IBU:          24.4
Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 %
Wort Boil Time:             65    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 81.8    18.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              America        1.036      2
 13.6     3.00 lbs. Wheat Malt                    Germany        1.039      2
  4.5     1.00 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt                      1.033      2

Hops
   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 oz.    Amarillo                          Pellet   8.00  12.8  60 min.
  1.50 oz.    Amarillo                          Pellet   8.00  11.6  20 min.

Yeast
-----
Fermentis US-05 American Ale/Chico

Mash Schedule
-------------
Mash Type: Single Step
Saccharification Rest Temp : 152  Time:  45
Mash-out Rest Temp :           0  Time:   0
Sparge Temp :                180  Time:  60

1st Best of Show

So, I am realizing that I am just not good at keeping up with blogging, just too many other things occupying my time.

Well, this past weekend I judged in the Enchanted Brewing Challenge that my local homebrew club, Dukes of Ale, puts on every spring.  Not only did I judge but I also had entered 5 beers.  Not all the results are posted yet but I know I got 2 golds, a silver, Best Specialty Beer and Best of Show.  I can't tell you how excited I was to beat out over 125 other beers!  My BOS winning beer was my Flanders Red, named The Leftorium after the store Ned Flanders opened on The Simpson's.

As for brewing, I haven't done as much as I had hoped recently.  I have a no-sparge English bitter in the primary that need to go in a keg this weekend.  And I have so many beers ready to be brewed, but with my son's racing season starting up it will be hard to get them all brewed.

Cheers, Rob

And away we go!

Hi, I am Rob and I have been a homebrewer since 1997 when a college buddy, Ron Davis, introduced me to the hobby(or as my wife refers to it...obsession.) I was mostly an extract brewer utilizing some specialty grains up until 2004 when I made the shift to all-grain and haven't looked back since. I love almost all styles of beer, but am really interested in brewing Belgian styles. My "go to" beers have been APAs, IPAs, British bitters, Belgian Pale Ales and Saisons but in the last few years I have put a lot of time and effort into the "funky" stuff. I have done things like BDSA's secondaried with brett, all-brett fermentations, Berliner weiss, funky saisons, and currently have a Flanders red aging in secondary.

I hope to use this blog to record my future brewing escapades and will include pictures when I can. I use a 3-tiered brewing system with a 48qt cooler mash tun. My typical batches are 6 gallons but with my converted sankes I have the capability of doing up to 12 gallon batches. I chill using a March pump and a Shirron plate chiller with a copper pre-chiller due to the temperatures here in New Mexico. I have 3 chest freezers, all with temperature controllers, that I utilize as a fermentation chest, a lagering chest and a kegerator. I keg most of my batches into corny kegs with the exception of my stronger and funkier ales which all go into bottles.

I am lucky enough to have a very understanding wife that just happens to appreciate beer almost as much as I do. We even spent our honeymoon touring around Belgium and Germany a few years ago.

Cheers, Rob