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Brewday #63 – 11:11/14 Infinite and Unknown

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Now a curse upon Because and his kin! May Because be accursed for ever! If Will stops and cries Why, invoking Because, then Will stops & does nought. If Power asks why, then is Power weakness. Also reason is a lie; for there is a factor infinite & unknown; & all their words are skew-wise. Enough of Because! Be he damned for a dog! But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!

-The Book of the Law II:28-34

This is the second time I’ve had time to brew this year, I’ve been busy and I also been pretty lazy when I had time. Anyway it is that time of the year, actually precise date it is. It’s the day I’m doing magickal beer.

As usual the beer is 11%ABV, 111 IBU is too little so this time I pushed it over 200 IBU all thanks to Columbus hops. It will be flowery and citrusy all thanks to Centennial hops and Citra hops.

The colour is black and brown, or blue and golden for those that can see. For it is a magickal beer.

Hop Island

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Systembolagets ölsläpp saknar helt logistiskt tänk

Har inte så mycket att tillägga annat att det finns bättre sätt att stapla upp de 20 mest åtråvärda produkterna som 150 pers köar en timme för att få lägga vantarna på. De flesta vet vad dom vill ha, så det bör gå snabbt.

Men vi klämmer in all öl på två stycken en-och-en-halv-hyllmeters-hyllor så att två obeslutsamma personer och en pirra kan ockupera de två kvadratmeterna mellan hyllorna. Samtidigt står 150 personer som vet exakt vad dom vill ha tålmodigt bakom och väntar.

Det här är dessutom Sveriges flaggskepp ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Hursomhelst detta roffade jag åt mig på ett par minuter 30 minuter efter öppningstid, och då var det bara 20 personer före mig i kön.

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Brewday #60 – 11:11/13 Hoppy Black Ale

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It’s that time of the year again when I brew my magickal ale with everything 1’s. It’s OG 1111, 11%ABV, 111 IBU… Shut up and drink it!

kranked up to 11It’s Chocolate dinkel malt, crystal malt, caramel malt, pale malt and rye malt.

It’s Belma hops, Centennial hops, Chinook hops, and Columbus hops.

It’s not an IPA.

It’s not a Stout.

It’s a well hopped black ale. Some call them CDA (Cascadian Dark Ale), I’m not in or from Cascadia, I’m not partiulary influenced by those. I’m not sure if I came up with this before I heard of them, but who cares.

It’s not an Black IPA, that just sounds stupid and I don’t condone that style name. Some say IBA (India Black Ale), I might sign on to that, but I’d like to promote yet another name…

HBA (Hoppy Black Ale)
A black ale which is just as hoppy as an American IPA. It should not get too much of the roasty tones as a stout, it should be hidden under the hops, it might come out as an after taste. But the hops should rule!

When the clock shows 11:11 make a wish and toast this beer and your wishes will come true, it will work best if you just happen to look at the clock. It doesn’t work if you set the alarm clock or wait for the clock, it should be by “luck” or instinct, then it works.

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Brewday #58 – Moloko Milk+ Chocolate

#58 Moloko Milk+ Chocolate (label)

Today I’m brewing a Chocolate Milk Stout. Pale malt, caramel malt and three black malts (pale chocolate, chocolate and black malt). I’m using chocolate nibs (10 min boil), and will be adding lactose at the bottling. Everything else is the same as usual.

Don’t worry about the noodles, it’s not going in to the beer. Noodles t is a quick perfect meal when the oven is occupied. I got use for the rice cooker to, it will cover the boil off from the big kettle.

I think I will do like the last time, at the second fermentation pour 10 liter in one and the rest in the the second and add water so I get a lower ABV beer.

It was 26C warm in my apartment, and it rained this morning so it’s not getting cooler than that. So I wrapped the fermentation tank in wet blanket and put the fan on it. The temp meter said 20C (pretty good).

Edit 2013-06-17: I put 12 liters in first (second fermentation) tank. Estimated 7%ABV.
I put 7.5 liters plus 4.5 liters water in the second (second fermentation) tank. Estimated 4.2%ABV.

Edit 2013-06-26: Bottled the Main batch and got 31 bottles (37cl). I added 5gr Lactose per bottle.

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Brewday #57 – Red Alert

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This is the first time I’m water adjusting the beer. To get really hoppy and crisp beers I realized I need to adjust the water. The water I have is pretty good so it was no big problem, it’s actually really good for dark beers because the PH 8.5 is quite high. But I never got a hoppy beer as crisp and hoppy as I wanted. I hope the water adjustment will make the beer a lot better.

20130517-184508.jpgCa 35 ppm -> 113 ppm
Mg 4.6 ppm -> 18 ppm
Na 12 ppm -> 18 ppm
So4 45 ppm -> 263 ppm
Cl 17 ppm -> 43 ppm
HCO3 78 ppm -> 73 ppm

But being me I just had to make it even more complicated, it’s Gung-ho style whenever I brew. There is a twist. I wanted the beer to be really red so I added beetroot, I see it got pretty much calcium and magnesium in it so it must be good for the hops. I’ll boil it with the brew for 20 minutes, I don’t think it will add much taste, or it might add some interesting notes to it. But it doesn’t look like it added any more colour.

I’m mashing in at 62C for 15 minutes, then decoct and step up to 71C for 45 minutes, so it should be medium well done body. While mashing in I’m drinking the #56 Voodoo Juice, this one turned out extremely well I don’t think it will last to August. It’s the perfect Witbier, much better than Hoegarden or any other one I had.

For the hops I will use Belma for bittering and taste, and Centennial for aroma, maybe I’ll dry hop it also?

Edit 2013-05-29: Second fermentation time. Good or bad idea, I don’t know but I think it was good. At least I can’t see anything wrong. I need more uRination Ale, it might be a warm summer and I’m out of it. So this is what I did… After the yeast cake and stuff I got 15 liters, so I put 10 liters in one vessel. The OG was 1078 and the FG was 1015 ( a little lower than expected), estimated 8.2% ABV.

Here’s what I did with the remaining 5 Liters. I added 5 liters of water. After my calculations the ABV will be around 3.5%ABV and 60 IBU. That’s an uRination Ale by my standards. If I dry hop it I think it will be good, and I need a low ABV beer for the summer anyway. If this works out well I will do this more often.