WestOfEden Weizenbier

Summer is here, and with that, big thirst for refreshing, Bavarian style Weissbeer! This brew is using the coveted Weihenstephan yeast, which was not available to the public until recently. Lore has it that some american college students were standing outside the Weihenstephan brewery in Bavaria and waving towels, thus collecting the spores and being able to re-create this famous beer. Can't wait to find out if this lives up to the standard!

BREW DATE: 07/22/2018

BOTTLING DATE: forgot

GRAIN BILL: 12lbs total

-4lbs Briess Pilsener Malt

-4lbs Rahr White Wheat Malt

-1lb Rahr 2-row Brewers Malt
-1lb Briess Golden Light DME 4.0Lovibond

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 155F, Mash-out 10 min at 170F. Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz Czech Saaz pellets

OG: 14.8brix for 14l wort filled up to 23l => alcohol content should come out at 4.7%.

YEAST: Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat

TASTE NOTES: Awesome! This one came out exactly like I wished, a true and classic Bavarian Weizenbier. 

West of Eden IPA

Summer time is here so we need to revert back to Ale style beers. What's better than a hearty IPA? This one uses some of my home malted barley that was left over, plus a variety of malts for complexity and depth. Note the Red Wheat malt. I believe this goes exceptionally well with IPAs, adds a little sweetness and fruity aromas. Red Wheat also does not have as much protein as White Wheat, so beers tend to be less cloudy than the typical wheat beers you will see. 14lbs of malt is a LOT, actually the biggest grain bill I ever had, lets hope I don't spend too much time extracting. But what I'm aiming for is big flavor and high gravity. Hops is also from my garden. Chinook for a base, and Cascade for aroma and dry hopping.

BREW DATE: 06/12/2018

BOTTLING DATE: 07/15/2018

GRAIN BILL: 14lbs total
-2lbs Jarvis 2-row homemade Pale Malt

-3lbs Briess Pilsener Malt
-2lbs Rahr Red Wheat Malt

-3lbs Rahr 2-row Brewers Malt

-4lbs Briess Vienna Malt

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 160F, Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 2oz Jarvis Chinook

-30min 1oz Jarvis Cascade

-10min 1oz Jarvis Cascade
Dry hopped for 1 week with 2 oz Jarvis Cascade after 2weeks in the primary fermenter

OG: 17.9 brix for 13.5l wort filled up to 22l => alcohol content should come out at 5.9%.

YEAST: Wyeast American Ale 1056

TASTE NOTES: Yummy! Full bodied and strong hops. 

Mt Hood Pilsener

Another California Pilsener as the previous one came out fantastic! This one is made mostly with my Mt Hood hops.

BREW DATE: 03/10/2018

BOTTLING DATE: 04/30/2018

GRAIN BILL: 9lbs total
-3lbs Pilsener Malt

-3lbs Maris Otter Malt

-3lbs Vienna Malt
- 1lb Briess light DME

MASH-IN: 1hr at 160-165F. Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz WestOfEden Cascade 2017 2nd harvest

-30min 1oz WestOfEden Mt Hood 2017

-10min 1oz WestOfEden Mt Hood 2017

OG: 15.5 brix for 17l wort filled up to 23l => alcohol content should come out at 6.0%.

YEAST: Wyeast California Lager 2112

TASTE NOTES: Very mellow and subtle. Slight sweetness. Dark yellow color, head retention somewhat poor. But tastes great after conditioning for a couple of weeks! Maris Otter may not be the best malt for this style of beer. 

Mt Hood Pilsener!

Dark Cloud: West of Eden Black Ale

Winter is coming! By the time this brew will be ready I'll expect the first winter storms to be here in California. Need to have some strong dark beer to cope with that! This beer features extra strong dark malts, throwing in some punches with my own homegrown Cascade hops.

BREW DATE: 08/20/2017

BOTTLING DATE: 10/29/2017

GRAIN BILL: 14lbs total

-6lbs Vienna Malt
-3lbs Dark Munich Malt

-2lbs Briess Caramel 40L Malt

-1lbs Carafa Chocolate Malt Type I

-2lbs Briess Dark Malt Extract 30L

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 155F, Mash-out 10 min at 170F. Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz Jarvis Cascade leaf hops 2017 harvest

-30min 1oz Czech Saaz leaf hops

-5min 1oz Czech Saaz leaf hops

OG: 16.8 brix for 14l wort filled up to 21l => alcohol content should come out at 6.0%.

YEAST: Wyeast Northwest Ale. The bag didn’t inflate well and after 3days there was no sign of fermentation. I salvaged the batch by using some yeast from a previous batch. That kicked fermentation off nicely, however we had some super hot days above 40C even inside the house the following week. Hope that didn’t screw things up. Upon bottling taste was still ok but some side notes I didn’t like. Oh well, let’s see how it turns out eventually..

TASTE NOTES: ..and just as expected, this one ended up having some side tastes and I ended up throwing the whole batch away. Some sourness so I guess I ended up with some acid bacteria contamination. Never again ordering from homebrewsupply.com. 

Rough Ryder RyePA

I thought I give another shot at a RyePA. The last one didn't quite come out as strong and hoppy as I had hoped for, so I upped the ante a little by getting some extra DME for body, and used pure Chinook for hopping. That should give it a grand, piney underswell of hoppiness. For dry hopping, I double the dose to 2oz and switched to Citra, which gives great citrusy head flavors. Let's see! A RyePA can take quite some hops flavors without risking to overdo it since the Rye malt adds such a strong, bready malt flavor that it is very hard to push into the background making the beer unbalanced. So, full blast ahead! Here's to West Coast happy hoppiness!

Grain bill and hops. Notice the darker color of the Rye Malt in the middle

BREW DATE: 06/25/2017

BOTTLING DATE: about 6 weeks later

GRAIN BILL: 12lbs total

-6lbs Rahr 2-row Malt

-3lbs Weyermann Light Rye Malt

-3lbs Weyermann Vienna Malt
-2lbs Briess Sparkling Amber DME 

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 165F, Batch/Fly sparked with 170F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz Chinook leaf hops

-30min 1oz Chinook leaf hops

-10min 1oz Chinook leaf hops
-dry hopped w/ 2oz Citra leaf hops

OG:27.1 brix for 9l wort filled up to 23l => alcohol content should come out at 5.9%.

YEAST: Wyeast American Ale 1056

TASTE NOTES: Nice IPA with some bready untertones thanks to the Rye Malt. Citra is a little bit overhyped I have to say, it tends to be on the light side unless you use tons of it. I thought 2oz would really get some citrus flavors going but it is still quite benign. Anyways, good beer, no complaints!

California Chinook Pilsener

Winter time is the time to brew Pilsener in California. Day time temperatures are usually low enough to support continuous fermenting temperatures below 60F. Wyeast has a Lager Strain that works well up to 65F, we'll try that out this time. To give it a nice West Coast touch I'm pairing noble Pilsener malts from Germany and the Czech Republic with my backyard grown Chinook hops.
  

BREW DATE: 12/08/2017

BOTTLING DATE: Early Jan 2018

GRAIN BILL: 9lbs total + 1lb DME

-5lbs German Pilsener Malt

-4lbs Bohemia Pilsener Malt

-1lb Briess Light DME

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 160F. Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz WestOfEden Chinook

-30min 1oz WestOfEden Chinook

-10min 1oz WestOfEden Chinook

OG: 15.0brix (1.0611OG) for 13l wort filled up to 21l => alcohol content should come out at 5.1%.

YEAST: Wyeast California Lager 2112

TASTE NOTES: Awesome! Crisp and clear with lots of hops flavor from my home grown Chinook hops. Still quite balanced with fine malt notes from the high quality Pilsener Malt I used. Light color, no haziness, perfect head. Probably the best one I ever made! 

West of Eden Britannia Ale

I really like British Ales like Newcastle or Bass. They are slightly hoppier than the usual pub fare like Irish Red and come with lots of malty flavor. Here is my interpretation of this style of beers. I used some Caramel Malt and Dark Munich to give it some nice brown color. Not to forget some true Victory Malt for authenticity. Hop schedule include East Kent Golding, topped off with Perle for aroma. Most importantly, I got my hands on some London Ale yeast. To my experience the yeast makes all the difference for flavor and texture, so I'm really looking forward how this one turns out!

BREW DATE: 05/15/2017

BOTTLING DATE: 06/14/2017

GRAIN BILL: 12lbs total

-6lbs Briess 2 row Malt

-2lbs Dark Munich Malt

-2lbs Vienna Malt
-1lb Caramel 40l
-1lb Victory Malt

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 165F, Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz East Kent Golding

-30min 1oz East Kent Golding

-5min 1oz Perle

OG: 13.5 brix for 16l wort filled up to 23l => alcohol content should come out at 5.2%.

YEAST: Wyeast London Ale III

TASTE NOTES: Wow this one has tons of malt flavors, some licorice undertones and very subtle but still noticeable hops. Very nice! Unfortunately this yeast doesn't clear very well so the end product is quite hazy. Doesn't subtract from the flavor, but to be real I would have like it to be more clear. Also the head retention isn't quite there. Something the Brits don't really care about anyways, but I kind of like it with a little more head. 

Quite hazy, but still tasty! Keep calm and Carry On!