Emergency Medicine Brewing Alliance

Time to brew again

Andrew — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:57:24 +0000

It’s about time to get together and teach the new interns how to brew. And, with the resident retreat coming up end of September, we have plenty of reason to drink. So, if you’re interested, let me know and we’ll … Continue reading →

Extra Special Bitter, All Grain

Andrew — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:56:54 +0000

Adapted from Broken Spear Bitter recipe, Northern Brewer

Ingredients: Mashed at 155F for one hour
Maris Otter 7 lb
Chocolate Pale 4 oz
Dark Cryst 120 8 oz

Hop Additions:
East Kent Goldings 1.5 oz (60 min)
East Kent Goldings 1 oz (10 min)

Yeast:
Nottingham dry yeast from yeast starter

OG: 1.055
FG: 1.010
ABV: 6%
IBU 37
SRM 14

Secondary fermented on Day 14, kegged on Day 20.

Tasting notes: Started this out as a common bitter, but by definition really an ESB. Maltier than anticipated.

Coldbeers on Tap

Andrew — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:09:05 +0000

So we now have our second coldbeer on tap in the kitchen. First we had an all-grain ESB, which turned out fantastic. I tried to improvise too much with the recipe of a common bitter and got too high of an original gravity, clocking in at 1.055. So I called it an ESB instead of a bitter. Had a couple parties at the house, including a WordPress meetup, and reviews were all good for the ESB. I thought it had a very sweet, malty finish to it, with just enough bitterness up front to make it easy to drink. Kelly loved it, which shows that it wasn’t too aromatic or bitter. Overall, a great first kegged beer.

The next beer on tap was another bitter, this time sticking closer to the recipe and actually sticking to common bitter specifications in the end. This one had an OG of 1.046. Brewed it with John R one crisp winter morning when they came down for the day. We made a double batch and he took his back to Memphis to bottle it. His comments upon tasting it when secondary fermenting… ”Mmmmm… tastes like malty Cheerios.” Once kegged, definitely a little too bitter. Still great maltiness (hence the Cheerio taste) but Kelly didn’t really dig this one quite as much due to the excess bitterness. And I agree, a little too bitter, but overall a C+ or so. Slightly above average, and a hell of a lot better than Bud Heavy. We used (for a 10 gallon batch) 3 ounces of bittering hops (EKG and Williamette) and once ounce of aroma hops. I’ll continue to tweak this recipe a bit, and will keep you posted.

Trying to figure out a way to easily post recipes to this blog. I’m married to a WordPress designer, my brother is a WordPress designer, and I had a WordPress meetup here at the house. I think with their powers combined, someone can point me in the right direction. Until then, keep close notes on your brew days, and we’ll figure a way to share them in the near future.

I’m initiating two new brewers this afternoon. Hopefully their first experience is enough to keep them coming back for more. Two different Extra Pale Ale kits, both extract. One from the local store AlaBrew, and one from Northern Brewer. May the best recipe win.

where the beer flows like……………

Nima — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:46:23 +0000

beer?

Who’s comin’ with me?? I’ll be going with a couple of college buddies since I’ll be in ATL that weekend. The more the merrier!
3/5/2011

Kegging the Bitter

Andrew — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:45:06 +0000

The first all grain bitter is officially kegged. Much, much easier than bottling, so I recommend everyone’s significant other be ask cool as mine and purchase them a kegerator. Basically, you just shake a bunch of sanitizer in the Corny Keg, siphon the beer into it, and leave it at low pressure (10-12 psi) for a week, and you got delicious beer on tap. Hopefully delicious, not quite sure yet since we haven’t tasted it.

The only issue I had was with converting my kegerator from a standard keg to the Corny keg. I put the gas valve on the beer input, and it got stuck. So we had to be creative in how to remove it. After about an hour of tugging, soaping, lubing, etc, the hack saw finally made its appearance and made short work of the project.

So, listen to the guy at your local homebrew store when he tells you the gray goes on the gas. That would have made life easier. But now that it’s straightened out, I should be enjoying a nice homebrew on tap whenever I want. Come on by starting Friday, and we’ll drink a bitter.