I started brewing extract beers in 2011 and quickly moved to All Grain brewing in early 2012. I use an igloo cooler for a mash tun and a keggle for a kettle. I batch sparge without any fancy pumps or tiered systems and I cool my wort using an immersion chiller. I prefer darker english ales and American IPAs. A few of my favorite commercial beers include Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout, Chimay Blue label, and Sierra Nevada's Estate Homegrown Ale.
| Date Added | Name | Style | ABV | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/19/2016 |  New Session IPA - Attempt 2 |
American IPA | 4.1 % | 8 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/13/2016 |  Sweet Brown Tammy - v2 |
Unknown Style | 5.1 % | 6.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/21/2016 |  New Session IPA - Attempt 1 |
American IPA | 4.7 % | 7 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/7/2016 |  Sweet Brown Tammy |
Unknown Style | 3.8 % | 6.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/27/2016 | 1.5L Yeast Starter |
Unknown Style | 3.5 % | 1.652 Liter(s) | |
| 2/22/2016 |  12 Day IPA - Grain to Glass |
American IPA | 5.8 % | 6.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/4/2015 | Alpine Nelson Variant |
American IPA | 7.8 % | 6.2 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/20/2015 |  The Brown Tammy - Fall Edition |
American Brown Ale | 5.1 % | 6.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/16/2015 | 1.8L Yeast Starter |
Unknown Style | 3.9 % | 0.4755 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/14/2015 |  Warrior-Simcoe-Mosaic IPA |
American IPA | 6.8 % | 6.55 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/15/2015 | Just James |
American IPA | 5.9 % | 6.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/7/2015 | Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier - Sort Of - Clone |
Weissbier | 4.5 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/26/2015 | 1.5L Yeast Starter |
Unknown Style | 3.9 % | 0.3963 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/26/2015 |  DJ2 |
Double IPA | 8.6 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/24/2015 |  1L Yeast Starter |
Unknown Style | 3.8 % | 0.2642 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/21/2015 | Baby James |
American IPA | 3.7 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/27/2015 |  Donnie Blonde |
Blonde Ale | 5.3 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/5/2015 |  Danimal |
Imperial Stout | 12.3 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/18/2015 |  Double James |
Double IPA | 8.0 % | 7.6 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/20/2014 |  Experimental Lager |
Unknown Style | 4.9 % | 3.05 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/20/2014 |  The Brown Tammy |
American Brown Ale | 5.7 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/1/2014 | ZOMG DIPA |
Double IPA | 7.4 % | 7 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/16/2014 |  Wet Hopped Mystery Double IPA |
Double IPA | 7.2 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/6/2014 |  Brown Moose Ale V4 |
British Brown Ale | 5.1 % | 6.1 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/4/2014 | Dirty English Blonde |
Unknown Style | 4.9 % | 5.2 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/29/2014 |  Brown Moose Ale V3 |
British Brown Ale | 5.4 % | 4.8 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/20/2013 |  Black Imp |
Imperial Stout | 8.5 % | 5.65 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/4/2013 |  Winter Amber |
American Amber Ale | 8.0 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/6/2013 |  The Froth Monster |
Double IPA | 6.1 % | 7 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/6/2013 |  Persimmon Spice Ale |
Unknown Style | 5.0 % | 2.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/18/2013 |  Pumpkin Spice Ale 2013 |
Unknown Style | 7.2 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/15/2013 |  Leftover Wet Hopped Ale |
Unknown Style | 4.9 % | 1 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/12/2013 |  Brown Moose Ale V2 |
British Brown Ale | 4.9 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/12/2013 |  Brother-In-Law Brew |
Belgian Blond Ale | 6.2 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/13/2013 |  Brown Bog Ale |
American Brown Ale | 5.7 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/23/2013 |  Symmetry Session IPA |
American IPA | 3.8 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/20/2013 |  Pale Mango |
American Pale Ale | 4.9 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/5/2013 |  Brown Moose Ale |
British Brown Ale | 4.7 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/8/2012 |  Porridge Ale |
Oatmeal Stout | 6.0 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/17/2012 |  Pumpkin Spice Ale |
Unknown Style | 5.7 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/13/2012 |  London Style Porter |
American Porter | 5.7 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/13/2012 |  Belgian Strong Dark Ale |
Belgian Dark Strong Ale | 7.6 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/13/2012 |  British Black IPA |
Unknown Style | 6.3 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/9/2012 |  Fat Tire Clone |
American Amber Ale | 5.4 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/8/2012 |  British Brown Ale |
Unknown Style | 4.8 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/8/2012 |  Simple Saison |
Saison | 5.9 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/1/2012 |  Almost a Pale Ale |
American IPA | 5.5 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/1/2012 |  Session Brown |
British Brown Ale | 4.4 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| Date Added | Name | Style | ABV | Amount |
ctorx
7/23/2016 12:00:00 AM
Increased boil loss to 2.12 from 2 (due to heating mash water in 20 gal pot --- see version 1 of recipe)Need to evaluate process and water issues to get it dialed in, as it's really become quite unpredictable as of late.Dry hopped on 7/28/2016 10:50 PM - Will leave in for 3 days then cold crash and keg.
ctorx
5/14/2016 12:00:00 AM
ctorx
4/23/2016 12:00:00 AM
Trying something new -- I'll be adding an extra 1/2 gallon that I plan to throw out to help with keeping hop debris out of the fermenter.Trying something else new -- adding a little Calcium Chloride CaCl2 and Gypsum CaSO4 as recommended using this tool (http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/).Target water salt additions will be (for 11.02 gallons RO water):Baking Soda: .5 gramsGypsum CaSO4 = 11 grams Calcium Chloride CaCl2 = 4 gramsSpecific Amounts:Mash - Gypsum: 5.739564428 gramsMash - ...
ctorx
3/12/2016 12:00:00 AM
Cold Crashed on 3/21FG was 1.017, which is much higher than intended, probably due to use of more crystal malt. The end result is what I was after in terms of sweetness, so next time, up the malts to get a bit more ABV out of it. Ideally this would be around 4.5% to 5% but in ended up at 3.8%.
ctorx
2/28/2016 12:00:00 AM
Need to up boil off volume to 2 gallons possibly. Also, should adjust wort shrinkage from .2 (which is for a 5 gallon batch) to .26 which is appropriate for a 6.5 gallon batch. Seemed to lose .25 gallons after chill. Dry hopped on 3/4/16Cold Crash starting 3/7/16Kegged on 3/9/163/21/2016Didn't get the hop brightness I was after -- at about 1/4 keg gone (~3.75 gallons) I added a mixture of 1/3 water, 1tsp gelatin and 1/2 tsp gypsum with the hopes of getting the flavors to pop as intended -- ...
ctorx
12/5/2015 12:00:00 AM
Messed up slightly on this one -- my wort into fermenter was set to 6 when it should have been 6.5 so I ended up with less wort. I was aiming for 6.5 to leave .5 behind and ended up with 6.2. I anticipated the boil loss at 1.7 due to cooler weather but I think it was a tad off as well.I took a gravity reading after 11 days and it came in at 1.013. The flavor and aroma was not anywhere where I was hoping so I threw in 3 more ounces of nelson to dry hop for another 3 days.Also, I had used a ...
ctorx
11/21/2015 12:00:00 AM
ctorx
10/17/2015 12:00:00 AM
My wife had a baby last night, so today's brew day is a little extra special.Had a little extra water (about .5 gals) - boiled for an additional 13 minutes (a tad too long) ended up about 1/4 short of target, but ended up hitting my target OG and still filling my fermenter.Dry hopped on 10/21/2015 as fermentation has nearly stopped Gravity 1.018 on 10/27Gravity 1.016 on 10/25Began cold crashing on 10/26 - impatient? Maybe.10/27 - Created gelatin solution by adding 1 tsp gelatin to 2/3 Cup ...
ctorx
10/3/2015 12:00:00 AM
ctorx
9/19/2015 12:00:00 AM
Messed up just a bit -- I did not adjust my Batch Size on Recipe to include the kettle trub loss from this session. Batch size should have been 6.65 not 6. Also, I collected .10 gallons extra water, so effective post boil volume was 6.75 gallons resulting in an OG of 1.064 instead of 1.072. Next recipe...DO NOT forget to include trub loss.Dry Hopped on 9/24/2015 - FG Lower than expected @ 1.018
ctorx
6/27/2015 12:00:00 AM
ctorx
5/5/2015 12:00:00 AM
Setup:3/12/2015 - Coated oak chips in bourbon and toasted in oven at 350F for 10 minutes.3/12/2015 - Added oak chips and 1.5oz bacon bits to canister with Bourbon, to soak.
ctorx
4/25/2015 12:00:00 AM
4-28-2015: Chilled to 60F4-29-2015: Added Dry Hops4-29-2015: Raised to 68F
ctorx
3/27/2015 12:00:00 AM
Boil:I used 1.7 gallons as boil off and came up short ... need to bump this back up to 1.8 next batch.Fermentation03/31/2015: Started dry hopping, new technique. I ground up the pellets into powder and will be adding 1/5 ounce each day for five days.04/03/2015: Got impatient, added the last two hop additions on day 4.04/03/2015: Moved to Fridge at EOD to cold crash.04/07/2015: Transferred to keg. Was sick as a dog, so cold crashed longer then planned.
ctorx
2/22/2015 12:00:00 AM
Brew Day:Made a silly error on this one, recipe batch size should have been 6 gallons, but I entered it in as 7 for some reason (had I been drinking?). No major issue with that other than wasting ingredients. Second issue, was calculating for 1 gallon of kettle trub loss, which ended up actually being .4 gallons for 6oz of hops (~ .07 gal lost per ounce of pellet hops). That left me with an extra .6 gallons of wort and diluted the final brew resulting in a loss of 7 gravity points. Bummer. ...
ctorx
12/21/2014 12:00:00 AM
ctorx
12/21/2014 12:00:00 AM
This was an experimental brew
ctorx
11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM
ctorx
10/18/2014 12:00:00 AM
Looks like I lose about 2 Gallons per hour to boil loss using the Blichmann 20 Gallon Brew Kettle.
ctorx
9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM
ctorx
3/7/2014 12:00:00 AM
Higher than expected efficiency (+ .4 points) and lower than expected collected wort (-.5 gallons)
ctorx
2/8/2014 12:00:00 AM
Turns out I didn't have as much chocolate malt as I thought so I supplemented with some ground coffee. Again I only collected 4.5 Gallons from the Carboy when I was expecting 5. I need to take another look at my brew day process to find out where I'm losing the half gallon.
ctorx
1/31/2014 12:00:00 AM
Mash started at 154.5F, came out at 151.5F. I ended up collecting a little extra wort...I was supposed to get 7.2 gallons and I collected about 7.5 to 7.7. My post-boil collected wort was about 5.6, .6 more than I was planning. This resulted in a lower OG and will decrease the alcohol content from 11% to 9.8% unless I can attenuate higher than I was estimating.I wasn't sure of my efficiency, so I waited to add the DME until the sample I collected cooled enough to get a correct gravity ...
ctorx
12/6/2013 12:00:00 AM
I was only able to siphon off 4 Gallons, so I'm not sure where I went wrong with volume calculations.
ctorx
11/9/2013 12:00:00 AM
This was the first time that I did first wort hopping. The aromas coming off the wort while I was collecting it were amazing. This beer had major foaming, and I'm not sure if it is due to the first wort hopping, the amount of boil hops, or something else. I basically had to babysit the boil to keep it from boiling over. I dry hopped this beer at 60F (as opposed to pitching temp) as the last few beers I've dry hopped have had grassy characters that I did not enjoy. I also did a cold crash ...
ctorx
9/18/2013 12:00:00 AM
This was the biggest brew I have brewed on my AG system, plus I was using a new brew kettle. My 10 gallon mash tun was filled nearly to the top, and unfortunately, after filling and dough in, temp was low, so I had to add some boiled water to get it up to 153 F, when I was targeting 154 F.Also, I ended up with 8.8 to 8.9 gallons of runoff when I was expecting 8.2, so I had to boil a little longer to evaporate some of the excess. This has probably happened to me several times before and ...
ctorx
9/15/2013 12:00:00 AM
Slowly coming around...I didn't use a starter. I just warmed up some old yeast that was in the fridge and pitched it.
ctorx
8/16/2013 12:00:00 AM
Not sure where I'm going wrong, but my efficiency has been low, in the neighborhood of 65% - 68% when I used to get between 72% and 75%...I'm not sure what about my process / equipment has changed. The yeast starter formed a krausen and was producing great smells and action, so I expect this bad boy to take off. It's going to be interesting because my carboy was filled almost to the top...I'm expecting some serious overflow. I'm using a blow-off tube into a 2L jar, so we'll see what ...
ctorx
6/14/2013 12:00:00 AM
Pre-Boil Efficiency was much lower than expected ... added some brown sugar to get it where it should be. I must have had one too many before I started brewing...I used water from my kitchen sink to be able start with a higher temperature, but forgot that the water is softened. The brew at this stage tastes delicious. I can't remember ever making a beer that tasted so unbelievable at this stage. I think might end up being my best so far. Stay tuned.
ctorx
4/26/2013 12:00:00 AM
I think the lid to my mash tun loosened at some point because my mash ended at 151F. I'll have to be more careful of this next time. Nothing special. The fermentation was pretty mild with this beer. I dry hopped with a whopping 6oz of pellet hops. I added the pellet hops to some boiling water, which dissolved them into a thick hop paste. I poured the hop paste into the fermenter and left it there for 5 days. It actually colored the beer a slight green color.
ctorx
4/14/2013 12:00:00 AM
Brew day went well. I took a few small taste tests of the sweet wort, as I always do, and I fear it may be a little too bitter for my wife's tastes. The Tinseth calculation for the recipe gives me a BG:GU ratio of .47, so I may need to start using the Rager calculation. Fermentation should definitely help to mellow and blend the flavors, so only time will tell. Saw krausen within 8 hours, very clean fermentation happening thus far. I used two vials of Clarity Ferm, mainly to reduce the ...
ctorx
2/1/2013 12:00:00 AM
I played techno for the beer while it was fermenting. I also used a yeast started for the first time. Visible fermentation occurred within 7 hours.
ctorx
11/9/2012 12:00:00 AM
The main takeaway from the mash for this brew is that I need to be setting aside wort to be used for gravity measurements. I've been taking them fairly hot and compensating with hydrometer correction calculators, but I've recently learned that there is an upper limit such that going over a certain temp will give you unpredictable readings that can't be corrected accurately. I let this bad boy ferment for 2 weeks at 68F. Sometimes I gradually increase the temperature after initial fermentation ...
ctorx
2/10/2012 12:00:00 AM
This was my first all grain batch, so I wasn't sure exactly what to do. I felt a little dis-organized but overall things went pretty well. Nothing exciting to report. There was krausen and C02 galore. You know the drill. Fill then cap then fill then cap then fill then cap...
