Kegerator update, Common Room ESB and future brews!

I was lucky enough to get a new dual tap draft tower for christmas and have installed it! I also received a tap from the brewery in my hometown.

I have been using an app on my iPhone called BrewPal and I highly recommend it. The ease and helpfulness of this app have made brew days a lot easier!

Now on to brewing! A few weeks back I made my first ESB based off a recipe I found on homebrewtalk.com. I put that beer in the keg yesterday and so far it tasted great, it may replace my
Irish Red as a must-have-on-tap beer. It was the first time, in a really long time, that I felt 110% confident and I think it shows in this beer. The recipe is as follows:

10 lbs Maris Otter
12 oz 60ºL Crystal
6 oz 120ºL Crystal
2 oz East Kent Goldings (1.5 @ 60 mins, .25 oz @ 20 mins, and .25 oz @ flameout)
.75 oz Fuggles (.25 @ 60 mins, .25 oz @ 20 mins, and .25 oz @ flameout)
White Labs WLP002 English Ale yeast

I added 1 tsp of Gypsum to the mash water and 1 tsp to the sparge water. (We have really great water here in Portland, fairly close to distilled water)

The beer had to following properties:

OG 1.061 FG 1.009
ABV 6.8%
IBU's 33

In 2 weeks I will be brewing 2 batches. The first will be to get my Irish Red back on tap by St. Patrick's Day and the second will be 3 gallons of Chocolate Coffee Stout for my sister in-laws 21st birthday.

The Irish Red will be my standard recipe:

8 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb 20ºL Crystal
8 oz Munich (light)
3 oz Roasted Barley
1.7 oz Northern Brewer (.85 oz @ 60 mins, and .85 oz @ 30 mins)
1 oz Fuggles (1 oz @ flameout)
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast

I will be adding the Gypsum again, just to see what it does for the Irish Red. It should finish as follows:

OG 1.058 FG 1.012
ABV 6%
IBU's 58 (out of style for a "true" Irish Red, but balanced by the malt)

I will post the recipe and specifics for the Chocolate Coffee stout later as I'm trying to acquire some  Ghiradelli powdered cocoa for this!

Weekend Brewtime!

This weekend will bring to a close a 18 month brewing absence from my all grain system and brewing with my father in-law and mother in-law. We have brewed several time together since my wife and I moved to Oregon, but it has been too long since the last time.(May of 2012) Needless to say its time. No I'm on the fence with what to brew and anytime I'm on the fence I usually just brew both. So we will be seeing a IPA and  NW IPA being made this weekend.

The IPA will be the easy partial mash, with the recipe as follows:

8 lbs Light LME
1.5 lbs 20°L Crystal
.5 lbs Victory Malt
1 oz Magnum
2 oz Simcoe
2 oz Cascade
1 tsp Irish Moss
1 tsp Gypsum
Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Predicted 1.064 OG - 1.012 FG for a 6.8% ABV and 82 IBU's

The next will be a North West IPA that I have been trying to prefect for a while, the recipe is as follows:

8.5 lbs Maris Otter
1.5 lbs 40°L Crystal
1 lb Light Munich Malt
2 oz Amarillo
1 oz Cascade
1 oz Willamette
1 tsp Irish Moss
1 tsp Gypsum
Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale

Predicted 1.062 OG - 1.013 FG for a 6.5% abv and 77 IBU's