Brew Five: Winter Ale & Anne's IPA

Brewing an all-grain beer is so much more work than picking up a beer kit. So, the beer had better be that much better! I was commissioned to brew 2 batches of beer for my friend Anne. The first was brewed back in June, a hefeweizen which ended up getting contaminated with lactobacillus and having a sour flavour. I brewed the second, an IPA along with a spiced winter ale on this occasion in July.



I borrowed my friend Alex's gear again: modified cooler with a copper manifold in the base which filters the sparge from the mash, thermometer, heat stick, and a turkey fryer for the boil. I set everything up in the back yard with the help of the kids picnic table.



I searched both recipes out online and modified slightly to my purposes. Here they are:

Anne's I Pee Eh (Chainbreaker White IPA Clone)
MASH (90 min)15 L Water (65-68˚C)
6 lbs Canadian Superior Pilsen (1.4-1.9°L)
2 lbs Wheat (1.5-2.5°L)
1 lb Toasted Wheat (425°L)
1 lb Crystal Medium (75°L)
BOIL (60 min)60 min - 1 oz Warrior Hops (13.7% alpha)
5 min - 1/3 oz Sweet Orange Peel; 1.5 tsp Coriander Seed; 0.5 oz Falconer's Flight Hops (10.5% alpha)
1 min - 1.5 oz Falconer's Flight; 0.5 oz Cascade Hops (5% alpha)
0.5 lb Wheat Dry Malt Extract
PITCHWyeast 1332 (Northwest Ale)

Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity (30 days later): 1.006
ABV: 5.4%

Winter Ale (Sciukas All Night Long)
MASH (90 min)15 L Water (63-66˚C)
10 lbs Canadian 2-Row (2°L)
2 lbs Light Crystal Malt (45°L)
Sparge: 16L 67˚C (it should have been 75.5˚C to mash out)
BOIL (60 min)
60 min - 1.5 oz Cascade Hops (5% alpha)
6 min - 2/3 oz Sweet Orange Peel; 1 oz Ginger Root; 2 Cinnamon Sticks; 1 oz Caraway Seed; 0.2 oz Whole Clove
3 min - 1 oz Tetinang Hops (4.9% alpha)
1 lb Honey
PITCH
Wyeast 1388 (Belgian Strong Ale)

Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity (30 days later): 1.001
ABV: 6.7%

The entire process for two 5-gallon batches - cleaning, heating water, racking, bringing to boil, racking, cooling, cleaning - took 5 hours. I had to take my son to the dentist in the early afternoon and help make supper, so I started early in the morning.



Both brews turned out quite well. I have several litres of the winter ale ready for Christmas holidays and I have been enjoying some in the fall too. Now that I have read about the chemistry and enzyme reactions that occur during the mash, I think I could have made even better beer had I played with a few different temperatures and stuck with very light SRM grains for the IPA to give it a lighter colour and taste.