The adventure begins on Friday afternoon, with a visit to Calgary's finest homebrew shop, the Vineyard (no, I don't own shares). For brewing advice and good ingredients, you can't beat this place. See the awards on the wall behind Tom? He knows what he's talking about (and he's BJCP certified).
Tom measures out and mills my recipe (worked out on my Filemaker Pro database - see the recipe below).
The Vineyard North has a modified Valley Mill. With a large hopper (holds about 20 lbs) and a motor (I believe it's from a furnace fan), this machine really cooks. Great crush every time. Plus it's on wheels!
While the grain is crushing, and Tom, Bill and I are sampling my buckwheat koelsch, Finnigan checks out the deals. He's always sniffing around for new ingredients.
Here's the entire beer kit (except for liquid yeast). I keep the crushed grain in a cooler. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that keeping it in an airtight container, even overnight, helps keep the grain fresh.
What's in my Dunkel? Ingredients for 38 litres (10 US gallons)
Grain:
- 10 lb Gambrinus ESB (2 row)
- 6 lb Briess Munich (dark)
- 1 lb Briess Munich (light)
- 2 lb DWC Caravienne
- 1 lb Canada Malting dark crystal (90L)
- .25 lb chocolate malt
Hops:
- 1 oz Crystal Leaf (4.5%) - FWH
- 1 oz Crystal Leaf (4.5%) - 60 min
- .5 oz Galena Pellet (11.3%) - 60 min
Mash:
- 154F for 60 minutes
- Liquid decoct 5 litres for mashout (168F)
- Sparge and collect 38 litres, top up with 5 litres
- Boil 75 minutes
Yeast:
- 1 carboy pitched with WY 2035 (American Lager) in a 1 litre starter. Primary ferment at 56F.
- 1 carboy pitched with 2 packs Danstar Nottingham dry. Primary ferment at 60F.
- Both carboys lagered in secondary at 52F for one month.
Specs:
- OG: 1.055
- FG: 1.017
- IBU: 25
- Colour: 19 SRM
Tasting Notes:
Very malty, a bit too hoppy for style. Good lager character w/ no noticable fruitiness. Entered in the MDS homebrew competition & took 3rd as an American Brown Ale (not quite hoppy enough for that style, unfortunately).