Category Archives: Recipe

Tis the Season for Organic Hard Cider

Not Beer, Recipe

Hey, it’s Fall, and how better to ring in the new season (short as it is) than make some hard cider?

So Saturday found me using one of these to help press 8 or 9 bushels of organic apples into delicious, juicy cider.  We had a great operation going with two people washing and cleaning the apples, and two working the cider press.  Lo and behold, sure enough, out came 20 gallons of liquid gold.  For my toils I took home 5 gallons, which I promptly pasteurized at 170F for 30 minutes, cooled, and pitched.

While I’ve brewed a bunch of beer in my time, cider is all new to me.  Research indicates that I want to reduce spoilage potential by charging up my initial 1.046 OG.  So I added 10oz of corn sugar and 1/2 cup organic dark brown sugar, for a final OG of 1.056.

Next, since the sugars in cider are much simpler than wort, we expect the cider to ferment out completely, yielding a very dry end product.  There are ways to stop yeast activity (chemical bombing, cold-crashing, bottle pasteurization) but they all seem either not-organic, require fridge space, or involve shards of glass.  So my hail-Mary pass is to use WLP002 yeast, which is known to (a) attenuate badly and (b) dislike alcohol.  Hopefully it’ll drop early and leave some residual sugar around so I don’t end up with apple-flavored rocket fuel.

It’s now at 68F in my fermentation chamber, where it’ll stay for a couple weeks, then get bottled with some priming sugar and sit around for another few weeks.  Then bottoms up!

British Series: Timothy Taylor Best Bitter

British, Recipe

Ever since a three-week vacation in the UK a couple years ago, I’ve had a thing for researching and brewing British ales.  While there I picked up copies of Dave Line’s Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy and Graham Wheeler’s Brew Your Own British Real Ale.  Having had quite a few of these beers on cask in various pubs made the whole experience that much more awesome.

Since I have all the ingredients (except the yeast) we’ll brew Timothy Taylor Best Bitter, since renamed Boltmaker.  A few notes:

  • Malt: Wheeler simply states “pale malt” but a bit of research indicates that Timothy Taylor may use Golden Promise, at least for Landlord.  There are few references to Best Bitter/Boltmaker, and none state the specific malt used.  In any case, I have Maris Otter on-hand, so that’s what I’m using.  On the other hand, I only have Crystal 60L while Wheeler recommends 120L – 150L, so this brew will be a bit lighter in color and a bit less toffee flavored.
  • Hops: Wheeler refers only to “Golding” hops, and does not specifically mention any particular variety such as East Kent or Whitbread.  I have some generic UK Goldings at 5.5% AA, so in the pot they go.
  • Yeast: It appears that Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire is the actual yeast Timothy Taylor uses, based on quick research.  Quick trip to the store and we’ve got it.

The Recipe

Expected OG: 1.039
Expected FG: 1.009
Mash: 90m @ 151F

6.68 lbs (3030g) Muntons Maris Otter
5.7 oz (160g) Muntons Light Crystal 60L
0.9 oz (26g) British Black Malt

1.23oz (35g) UK Goldings @ 90m
0.42oz (12g) UK Goldings @ 10m
Whirlfloc @ 10m

Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale

The Process

I hit strike temperature exactly but since there’s a couple degrees difference between the MLT and the HLT due to the pumps and coil, the temp dropped to 148 for the first few minutes.  I brought it back up to 151F about 10 minutes later and adjusted to pH 5.25 with some lactic acid.

ttbestbittermill
Mill me some Best Bitter

After a 90 minute mash and mashout at 168F my first runnings were about 1.040.  Because I was lazy I ended up with 8.5 gallons @ 1.025, while my pre-boil target was 7.5 gallons @ 1.030, so boil down we go.  40 minutes later we’re at 7.5 gallons @ 1.030, so I toss in the first batch of Goldings, and start the clock on the boil.  11:00 o’clock rolls around and the chilled wort is kegged and the yeast added, ending up with 5.5 gallons @ 1.040.  Not too shabby.

Cleanup lasts longer, unfortunately.  I really need to find ways to make brew days shorter, though my main breaker tripping while heating the strike water didn’t help.

This morning the airlock is bubbling every 10 seconds or so, and the chamber is set to 66F which is on the low side of the Wyeast recommended range of 64F to 71F.  I prefer to ferment low to reduce esters.