Jay's Brewing

Raisin wine is a pretty easy wines to make.  Just remember that raisins are dried out grapes, so it’s only natural to get a pretty decent wine out of them.   This one is fun to throw into the mix of wines every once in a while.

Yield: 1 gallon

Ingredients

1.75 lbs large raisins (dark or light)

1.75 lbs sugar

1 teaspoon acid blend

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 package montrachet yeast

Directions

1. In a charge pot, boil raisins in 2 quarts of water for 1 min.
2. Cool down to room temp and put into 2 gallon bucket.
3. Add acid blend, pectic enzyme and enough water to make 2 gallon.
4. Stir very well
5. Add yeast and yeast nutrient
6. Cover and put an air lock on top.
7. Rack after strong fermentation is complete
8. Let it sit until the wine is clear, and then cork
9. Don’t drink for 6 months

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Summer ale’s are pretty fun to make, and there is no doubt about it that they are really refreshing.  This summer ale I put just a tad of lemon zest in it.  I guess the inspiration comes from the Sam Adams Summer Ale.  Either way, this beer is pretty easy and to me is kinda like an American Wheat.  For me this is going to be the last summer beer that I am making before I start transitioning into some really good fall recipes.  So the citrusy stuff might slow down a bit and move over to some other types of beers for the cooler weather.

Enjoy it while it last though.  For those that want to do all-grain or would like to use liquid malt extract we do have a conversion chart to make that very easy!

Ingredients

3 lbs Wheat DME

3 lbs Pils DME

1 oz Hallertau (60min)

1 oz Hallertau (20min)

1 oz Hallertau (5min)

1 oz Lemon Zest

WLP 001

OG: 1.053

FG: 1.011

SRM: 6.48

IBU: 27.6

ABV: 5.5%

Directions

• Take 2.5 gallons of water and add all of your dry malt extract
• Bring to a boil
• Add 1 oz of hops at the begining of the boil
• Boil for 40min
• Add 1 oz of hops
• Boil for 15 min
• Add 1 oz of hops
• Boil for 5 min
• End your boil, cool down the wort, put in your fermenter, fill to 5 gallons

Primary 7-14 days

Secondary 7 days

In secondary you add your lemon zest.

Bottlle: 21 days
Conclusion:

Just because this beer does not have grains in it, don’t underestimate it by any means.  This beer is great for a hot day next to the BBQ.  This beer is just refreshing all around and with the citrus flavors from the Lemons really makes a well balanced beer.

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I wanted to write-up this opinion piece specifically for those that are thinking about homebrewing.  For those that are already homebrewing this post will just confirm that you have chosen an amazing hobby.

I love homebrewing, in fact it is one of my favorite hobbies.  I have a ton of hobbies,  I enjoy fishing, bee keeping, salsa dancing, hiking, grilling and so others, but homebrewing is just ridiculously fun and simply amazing.  I have laid out my 8 reasons why homebrewing is amazing:

1) You are going to drink it anyways

If you already drink beer, might as well get into the hobby of making it.  I mean it’s not going to sit on your shelf just collecting dust.  If you are a beer drinker might as well pick up a hobby that supports your fun activities, especially around football season.

2) Really not that hard

If you start reading too much stuff online that makes it sound like it’s rocket science, stop reading because they are probably the narcissistic brewer.  When I got into homebrewing the line that was told to me which I still will tell anyone thinking about homebrewing is, “If you can make chili, you can make beer.”.  Making beer is really that simple.  Heat water, steep some stuff, add some stuff, 2 hours later throw it in a fermenter, bottle in a few weeks and wait a bit more – ya it’s really that simple.

3) Your friends and family will support your new hobby

Unlike some hobbies, with homebrewing you will find your friends and family giving you lots of support.  Giving away your beer because you are nice or just because you want to puff your chest is an easy way to get unconditional support for your new enjoyment of making beer.  Plus it really makes birthday/holiday presents really easy.  Just slap a label on it and boom, it’s been customized.

4) Man caves or “women’s lounge” (not sure what women call their version of man caves) can always use a small brewery

Nothing cooler then going into your pocket of the house and seeing a kegerator or a stack of bottles which is YOUR beer.  It’s a hobby that you can get to take pride in, you made it, it’s yours.   Having your own homebrew is always a nice addition to your lounging space.

5) If you have OCD you’ll love it, if you don’t really care about things you’ll love it.

With homebrewing, you can take it as serious as you would like or not give a damn.  Either one works!  I’ve seen people who spend a fortune ($15k) on a set up and have it so they know every single measurement down to the, hundredth.  And that makes them happy!  They feel it keeps them sharp.  On the other hand you have people who really couldn’t care less, they just want to make some beer and drink it, no measurements needed, they’ll use second-hand equipment or go as cheap as possible.   That makes them happy.  No matter what side of the fence you are on, it’s fun!  It’s a hobby where you don’t have to go all in at once or ever if you don’t want to.

6)  Not that expensive

The most expensive part for brewing is the equipment.  But that’s the start-up fee.  It cost about $100 for all of the equipment without the pot or bottles.  Then you need to get the recipe which ranges in price from $20-$65.  So for about $40-$50 per recipe you get 2 cases of beer.  And it’s really good beer.   I wouldn’t go into the hobby with your objective being, “I will save on beer now” because I really don’t think you will.  Homebrew prices cannot compete with the prices of really cheap bad tasting beer.  You will make quality beer for a decent price.

7) Keeps you sharp

I know most people wouldn’t think of something that deals with drinking as keeping you sharp but it really does.  Not before long, most homebrewers start staying up late reading blogs, reading forums, checking out videos on all of these different aspects of brewing.  You work with numbers, you work with different flavors, you keep notes.  You really can make this hobby into something that you have to use your head.  Personally I’ve learned more about tools and building things then ever before in my life because of brewing.  I’m always trying to figure out how to build a piece of equipment or will say, “well I guess I need this tool to build ____, good excuse to buy one”.

8)  You do it yourself

You wrap everything up and you know what, you have a hobby where you make something yourself and you can take pride in that.  It’s a way to take pride in your own abilities and have some independence from the daily grind.   You can go out to get a beer and say, “I like this but I would add just a bit more of ____ to it”.  Right after that, you can go and find a clone for the recipe that and add what ever you wanted and it is yours, you did it.

Conclusion

I have a ton of hobbies, but homebrewing has and will always have a special place for me.  I’m sure that there are a ton of more reasons why homebrewing is great and I would love to hear yours as well.  But these were 8 reasons why I feel that homebrewing is just an amazing hobby.

I was out  in the country over the weekend and couldn’t help but notice that peach stands were on the side of the road.  It only made me think of one thing, Peach Mead. This one is just a classic.  When ever I’ve made this one in the past I end up making a spritzer out of it.  Also it’s pretty good if you add this in to BBQ sauce.  When you add it to your BBQ sauce it gives just enough citrusy notes to make lighter meats like pork or chicken taste simply amazing.

Yield 1 Gallon

Ingredients

4 lbs peaches halved and pitted

1 cup of sugar

Juice of 2 lemons

2 lbs Honey

1 teaspoon acid blend

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 package montrachet yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1/4 teaspoon grape tannin

Directions

1. Put peaches sugar and lemon juice into a 2 gallon container
2. In a large pot boil honey ( 1 part honey 2 parts water)
3. Pour the water/honey mixture over the top and let it cool.
4. Add acid blend, pectic enzyme, and enough gallon to make 1 gallon
5. Pour yeast on top and add tannin as well
6. After most vigorous fermentation is complete rack into 1 gallon glass jug
7. In about 3 months rack into another jug.
8. In about 6 months rack again
9. Bottle, cork, cellar
10. Wait for 6 months until you open first bottle

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When getting into the hobby of  homebrewing it might get overwhelming because of the new words and tools that are used.  One tool that you will surely see  is called a, “Hydrometer”.  So what exactly is it?

What  A Hydrometer Is

A hydrometer is a tool that is used to measure the density of liquids relative to water.  The measurement itself is known as a specific gravity.  At some point in time someone said that the measurement of water should have the specific gravity of 1.000.  As you add more and more sugars to the mixture the gravity goes up and up.

So What?

You can really gain a lot from this reading.  In the beginning before the yeast is added you take a measurement, that is called “Original Gravity” or known as the “OG”.  This will tell you how many fermentable sugars are in the wort.  When the fermentation is complete you take another measurement, this is called, “Final Gravity” or also known as, “FG”.  The final gravity will be less than the original gravity because the yeast ate fermentable sugars in the process called fermentation.

Now What?

Having the OG and FG allows you to find out what the abv is or at least get pretty close to it.

The simplest formula that I know is this:

ABV = (Starting SG (aka OG) – Final SG (aka FG)) * 131

Example On How To Use Formula:

OG: 1.056

FG: 1.009

ABV=  (1.056-1.009) * 131

ABV = (0.047)*131

ABV = 6.2%

Side Note

When reading a hydrometer you should probably take a note of the temperature you are reading it at.   Most are calibrated for 68 degrees, so if you take your reading at 80 degrees it will be inaccurate reading.  The reason is, the hotter a mixture the thinner it will become.

Conclusion

Using a hydrometer is not really necessary when it comes to making beer, your beer won’t fail because of the lack of it.  But, it is helpful to take readings with a hydrometer.  Knowing what the OG and FG are is helpful for trouble shooting if your beer has any problems along the way.  It’s much like going to the doctors, no matter if it’s just a check up or if you are sick, one of the first things they will do is take your blood pressure.  It’s not the end of the world if it is a little high or a little low, but if there is something eye brow raising – then we may have some issues on our hand.

The same is with homebrewing, people will tell you what the OG and FG are suppose to be for the recipe.  Don’t expect to get it spot on every time but if you are in the ballpark you are doing good.  Also if you plan on making the same recipe again and again, it’s a good one to add into your notes.

Hope it helps ya out.

Cheers

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We are in the midst of summer and the heat is pouring on us, hopefully you have been keeping cool.  It is a pretty good time to start thinking of beers that are going to be good for September though.  I know, crazy talk!  You figure 2 weeks in Primary, 2 weeks in Secondary, and ample time for the bottles puts us right in the midst of September.  Don’t worry though.  If you are having brewers block not know what direction you should go for brewing up a batch of beer, I got just the one for you.

This is a Maple Syrup Pale Ale.  One of our first recipes for this blog was a Maple Syrup Amber.  It’s pretty good.  I really like to go with the maple syrup route in the fall and really lean on the earthy flavors, it’s just a personal preference thing.  This beer is best suited for the warm days where you can wear either shorts or pants and then in the evening you start to get those first crisp breezes from fall.  This beer is made for just that.  The reason why I will be making this one pretty soon is, I like to let this one sit for a bit and I try not rush it too much.  The Maple syrup can bump up the ABV quite a bit depending on how much you add and it may taste a bit hot if it gets rushed, so giving it some time really does help it out.

If you plan on doing this recipe all-grain we do have a conversion chart.  There is one thing to note though.  Since this recipe does have amber malt extract take the conversion of all-grain, 95% of that is Pale malt and 5% is going to be 80L.

MAPLE PALE ALE

1 lbs 40L

4 lbs Amber LME

3 lbs Light LME

6 oz Maple Syrup (last 5min)

1 oz Mt. Hood (60 min)

.5 oz Simcoe (30 min)

.5 oz Cascade (15 min)

.5 oz Cascade (dry hop)

.5 oz Simcoe (dry hop)

WLP 001

OG: 1.056

FG: 1.013

SRM: 14.59

IBU: 37.2

ABV: 5.7%

Directions:

• Steep grains in about 2.5 gallons of water for 30min
• Take out grains
• Add LME
• Bring to boil
• In the beginning of the boil add 1 oz Mt. Hood hops
• Boil for 30min
• Add .5 oz Simcoe hops
• Boil for 15min
• Add .5 oz Cascade cops
• Boil for 10 min
• Add Maple syrup
• Boil 5 min
• End boil
• Cool down, put in fermenter pitch yeast.
• After 7-14 days rack into secondary and dry hop for 7-14 days
• Bottle using 5 oz of corn sugar and keep in bottles for 3-4 weeks before you drink

Conclusion

This can be a bit on the sweet side by adding a pound of 40L as well as using amber malt extract.  The beer will have a nice hop aroma by dry hopping and you should pick up on a faint maple syrup flavor.  If you have a keg, and plan on kegging this beer, you can always add 6 oz of maple syrup directly to your keg to give it a bigger maple syrup flavor.  Since you are adding hops to this beer in the secondary, it will give the illusion of a hoppier beer then what is actually there.   It’s a pretty good beer for those that are into IPA’s but want to please friends that do not have the same appreciation for hops that you do.

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This is a dense, and dark mead.  Since it is a bit complex, it will be one of those that is better with a bit of age.  It’s a really good mead to make when you have plenty of blackberries and are trying to figure out creative ways to use them.

Blackberry Melomel

Yield: 1 Gallon

3 lbs Blackberries

1 Cup Corn Sugar

1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest

Juice from 1 Lemon

2 lbs Honey

1/8 teaspoon grape tannin

1 teaspoon acid blend

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 package Montrachet yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

Directions

• Crush blackberries and put them in a 2 gallon container.
• Add sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest
• Boil sugar and honey in water for 10 to 20min
• Pour over the berries, add grape tannin.
• Let the mixture cool
• Add acid, pectic enzyme
• Add enough to make 1 gallon
• Add yeast nutrient, and yeast
• Let ferment for 3 month
• Rack into another fermenter
• In another 6 months rack again
• Then bottle
• Let bottles sit for 6 months before opening

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I know when it’s hot outside and you read these blogs, I will normally say, “And summer is in full swing!”, today though it’s a bit refreshing outside from the insane heat, so kinda hard for me to say that.  However, I am pretty prepared for hot days to come in the future and need a perfect beer to quench the thirst.  This is the one I’ll be making just for that.

This recipe is perfect for those that do not want a beer that is too hoppy, quick to make,  easy to drink, and a general crowd-pleaser . I’ve personally been  handing this recipe out to some customers this summer, and only have received positive feed back.  You know you have a good beer when people are telling you, “Ya and my wife even told me to make this one again!”.  It’s a good beer.

The one thing about this beer is, it doesn’t have any grains.  To me that’s a perk.  It makes it that much quicker to make it.  As always, if you are an all-grain brewer we do have a conversion chart to help you convert the DME into all-grain.

Summer Blonde Ale

3 lbs Amber DME

2 lbs Light DME

1 oz Hallertau Hops (60min)

.5 oz Cascade Hops (15min)

.5 oz Cascade Hops (1min)

Safale 04

OG: 1.042

FG: 1.009

SRM: 7

IBU: 24

ABV: 4.3%

Directions

• Take 2.5 gallons of water put on stove
• Add all your DME
• Bring to boil
• In the beginning of the boil add Hallertau hops
• Boil for 45 min
• Add .5 oz Cascade hops
• Boil for 14 min
• Add .5 oz Cascade hops
• Boil for 1 min
• End boil, put in fermenter, fill up to 5 gallons, pitch yeast

Primary Fermenter – 7 days

Bottle – 21 days

Conclusion

What I like about this beer is that is has a nice aroma, and a decent flavor.  It is really a great beer for those days where you find yourself sweating by just walking up to the mailbox to get your mail.  I hope that you will make and share with friends and family.

Side Note:  If you wanted to add grains to it to make it a bit more complex I would stay away from anything too sweet or to heavy in flavor.  My suggestions of somethings you could add to it would be :

Vienna – light in color a bit of a bready flavor

Carapils – no color change, just helps with head retention.  Doesn’t contribute to flavor changes either. 

Victory/Biscuit – Adds a bit of color, but will give a biscuit aroma or flavor.  It would make it a bit more filling of a beer.

Flaked Barley – Gives a bit of head retention and also helps with mouth-feel

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I sometimes hear when people get into all-grain brewing that they are not getting close to their expected original gravity.  You know that you are doing the all-grain process correctly, you are hitting your temperature as well as going by the books, yet you still are coming up with a lower gravity.  I know it can get frustrating - but if you fall into this category, don’t get frustrated and in the words of Charlie Papazian, “Have a homebrew.”.

It use to happen to me when I first started getting into all-grain brewing and these were some small adjustments that I made that really made some huge changes in my results.   Anyone who brews all-grain can do these and they will help you out.

The 3 Ways To Improve Your Efficiency

90 min mash

If you are currently just doing a 60 min mash, stepping it up to 90 min mash might help out with getting a better conversion.  Just a quick change of 30 min you might start to see your gravity creep up closer to the expected gravity.  It just allows more time for you to get all the sugars converted.

3 Runnings instead of 2

Normally with all-grain brewing (specifically batch sparging) you end up taking your first running and then you’ll sparge once to get your second running.  If you are not getting close to your original gravity split your sparge water into half and make a third running.  By doing this sometimes you can rinse more sugars off of the grains.  I personally like this one a lot because it won’t take too much time to do it and the results are pretty immediate.

Use more grains

This is one where you might think it is just giving up, to me it’s understanding the limitations of your equipment or brewing knowledge.   While this really doesn’t help with your efficiency, it will however get you the numbers that you should be getting.  If you were going to go down this road, just add an additional 15%-20% of base malt and there you go.

Conclusion

Personally if you are constantly hitting low numbers for your original gravity, I would start off by doing all of the above.  See where you stand after that.  If you are still hitting low, then we got some issues.  Most likely you will be pretty close or even a bit high.  I would start eliminating them one by one and see where your results stand.

First eliminate the adding extra grains, because that one doesn’t really solve the root of the problem just solves the symptom.  Then I would see what happens when you go back to a 60 min mash not a 90 min because  lets face it, time is valuable.  You might end up just finding out that you need to do 3 runnings not just 2.   Hope it helps ya, and keep on brewing.

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Anyone who might find themselves with an abundance of blackberries this year and doesn’t want to see them go to waste, this is the wine recipe that you need!  I live in an area where wild blackberries are pretty easy to find, and they grow like wild fire too! This is a classic blackberry wine recipe that I have used for the past few years.  Every time it seems to make some great blackberry wine.  It is really simple and I have no problem finding blackberries once they get into season, so every year I seem to end up with a lot of blackberry wine. Hope you enjoy!

Blackberry Wine

Yield 1 Gallon

3.5 black berries

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 package wine yeast (RC212 works best)

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

2.25 lbs corn sugar

Directions

1. Wash berries and crush them in a 2 gallon fermenter
2. Pour 2 quarts of boiling water over the mixture and let is cool
3. Add pectic enzyme, yeast, and yeast nutrient
4. Ferment for 3 days
5. Rack over to 1 gallon fermenter
6. Dissolve corn sugar in 2 cups of water and add to fermenter
7. Fill fermenter with water to make 1 gallon total
8. Let it ferment for 2 months
9. Rack
10. After 2 months let bottle it
11. Wait until 6 months to open first bottle.

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