June Brew of the Month: Sofrunky Wow Pear Gose

Original label by Jaime Miller

By Hayden Shelley

We’re a few weeks from the start of summer now and it finally feels as if the warm weather might be here to stay. Around this time of the year I find myself filled with a sudden urge for two styles of beer: fruit beers and Gose (Goses?).  Therefore, for my brew of the month I wanted to combine the two. I brainstormed about which fruit would combine best with the crisp refreshing flavor of a Gose when, finally, my mind came to pears, and I got to work on my recipe.

For this beer, I chose a classic grain bill of 60% wheat malt accompanied by 40% pilsner malt. I mashed in for a 60-minute rest at 148°F to finish with a highly fermentable wort. To achieve the sourness I felt appropriate, I added two pounds of sour malt after the initial mash was complete and followed with a second rest for 45 minutes. Once complete I sparged as usually and proceeded with a 90-minute boil. Tettnang hops were added at 60 minutes for bittering. The only other additions came from coriander seed and pink Himalayan sea salt added with 10 minutes left in the boil.  For a clean yeast character I chose to pitch Wyeast 1007 German Ale. After two weeks in the primary I racked the beer onto five pounds of Bartlett pears where it sat for one more week prior to kegging.

With this being my first experience using pears I was eager to tap the beer. To the eye it has a light-yellow color with the familiar haze and creamy white head often seen in wheat beers.  The flavor shows a subtle pear sweetness combined with citrus character from the coriander and a salty minerality from the pink Himalayan sea salt. The beer finishes tart, dry and highly refreshing.

Overall I am pleasantly surprised with the way this turned out.  It is a Frankenstein creation of two of my favorite styles of beers and I feel as if it can please even the pickiest of beer drinkers. Oh, and for the name, let’s just leave it at AutoCorrect’s attempt at translating a drunk text message. Vital Statistics OG: 1.048 FG: 1.009 IBUs: 11.3 SRM: 3.6 ABV: 5.1%

All Grain Brewing ($28.31*)

• 5.75 lbs. Briess White Wheat Malt
• 3.75 lbs. Avangard Pilsner Malt
• 2 lbs. Acidulated Malt
• 1.4 oz. German Tettnang Hops (60 mins)
• 1 oz. Coriander Seed (10 mins)
• 0.75 oz. Pink Himalayan Sea Salt* (10 mins)
• Wyeast 1007 German Ale
• 5 lbs. Bartlett Pears*

Extract Brewing ($34.24*)

• 4 lbs. Wheat Liquid Malt
• 2.9 lbs. Light Liquid Malt
• 2 lbs. Acidulated Malt
• 1.4 oz. German Tettnang Hops (60 mins)
• 1 oz. Coriander Seed (10 mins)
• 0.75 oz. Pink Himalayan Sea Salt* (10 mins)
• Wyeast 1007 German Ale
• 5 lbs. Bartlett Pears*

*Cost of pink Himalayan sea salt and Bartlett pears not reflected in this price.

March Brew of the Month: Mark's Weizenbock

By Mark Iacopelli

Raise your steins to spring! For this month’s brew I decided to do a Weizenbock. I must confess that I was hesitant to brew this beer as I am not a personal fan of many wheat beers or the banana esters found in many german ales. For this reason, this was only my second brew in my years of brewing that is German in origin (the first was a failed Berliner Weisse). That being said the point of homebrewing oftentimes is the ability to brew to one's personal tastes, and this was an opportunity to create a German wheat beer that conforms to what I enjoy.

The recipe design started with my selection of yeast. Yeast character often is the defining feature of German ales, but as I previously stated I try to avoid the banana esters. After reading the descriptions on a number of yeast strains I chose WLP351. This strain is more dominated by its spicy clove character and has little banana. I also fermented cooler in order to restrain the yeast’s ester production for a cleaner-tasting beer. The malt bill was fairly straight forward with some dark wheat at the center, munich for added maltiness, and pilsner malt to aid in starch conversion. I also splashed in a little Carafa I to darken things up and give final product a slight reddish hue. Lastly, traditional Northern Brewer hops were used late in the boil to accentuate the spiciness I expected from the yeast I choose.

The appearance on this beer is a medium brown with ruby highlights, clarity has a slight haze, and the head is pillowy cream colored with medium retention. The nose is bready and slightly sweet from the munich malt and spicy clove from the yeast. With the first sip you get bread and clove flavors that fade away to more subtle notes of vanilla, nougat and banana. The finish is medium dry with a lingering clove. Despite its alcohol strength it is not hot or boozy. This recipe was designed to try to bridge the rich maltiness of winter brews and more bright flavors of spring and summer. I feel this beer does meet those expectations.

The final result is a german wheat beer that fits my current taste, and I am very happy with it. I hope that this article will serve as a reminder that as a homebrewer we don’t have to accept beer the way it is served to us commercially, and we have the ability to create beers uniquely designed for us personally. This beer would pair well with steak and mushrooms or a spicy German sausage on a pretzel bun. It is strong enough to keep the last bit of winter chill away and bright in flavor for your next grill out. Cheers!

Vital Statistics OG: 1.072, FG: 1.015, IBUs: 19.6, SRM: 16.6, ABV: 7.5

All Grain Brewing ($30.61)

• 6 lbs Weyermann Dark Wheat
• 5 lbs Avangard Pilsner Malt
• 2.25 lbs Pilot Munich
• .25 lbs Carafa I
• 1.5 lbs Rice Hulls
• 1oz Northern Brewer 8.50%AA (30 mins)
• 1oz Northern Brewer 8.50%AA (0 Mins)
• WLP 351 Bavarian Weizen Yeast or Lallemand Munuch

Extract Brewing ($39.66)

• 9.75 lbs Wheat Liquid Malt
• 1.5 lbs Amber Liquid Malt
• .25 lbs Carafa I
• 1oz Northern Brewer 8.50%AA (30 mins)
• 1oz Northern Brewer 8.50%AA (0 Mins)
• WLP 351 Bavarian Weizen Yeast or Lallemand Munuch

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

November Brew of the Month: M. Spencer's Strong Bitter

By Max Spencer

With the holidays coming up I wanted to make a crushable yet weather appropriate beer for the long drinking sessions that family gatherings entail. This need inspired me to create a Strong Bitter, better known in America as an ESB (Extra Special Bitter). This very British style of beer incorporates a strong malt backbone with enough hop character and bitterness to be balanced — dangerously drinkable, endlessly enjoyable. ESBs typically have flavors of bread, biscuit, nuts, toffee, fruits, earth, spices, and flowers. To me, this flavor profile screams fall and early winter — a perfect companion for holiday foods too.

I used a technique called first wort hopping as you will see down in the recipes. First wort hopping is an advanced hopping technique that has great practical uses and is easy to execute — it increases the utilization of all the hops that are added to the boil by around 10-15%, increases hop aroma and results in a “softer” bitterness overall. German breweries have traditionally used first wort hopping as a method to get more out of less hops. For all grain, first wort hopping entails adding hops as soon as you start draining your mash into your kettle. For extract, add hops after steeping your grains and adding all or some of your LME before boil.

I ended up brewing an additional gallon of beer to do something a little special with. I took my extra gallon and aged it on oak chips soaked in Calvados — apple brandy from the Normandy region of France. I thought that the flavors of rustic apples and earthy spices found in Calvados would complement my ESB in all the right ways. Feel free to do something similar with Calvados as well, or any form of brandy — especially apple brandy — or even whiskey.

All Grain

• 9.5 lbs. Golden Promise 
• 1 lbs. Medium Crystal
• 0.5 lbs. Amber Malt
• 0.5 lbs. Melanoidin Malt
• 0.25 lbs. Pale Chocolate
• 1 oz. UK Challenger First Wort (60-minute boil)
• 1 oz. UK Challenger @ 30 minutes
• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings @ 15 minutes
• 1 oz. UK Challenger and 1 oz. East Kent Goldings @ 5 minutes
• Yeast: Lallemand’s London ESB

Extract:

• 7.75 lbs. Light Pilsner LME
• 1 lbs. Medium Crystal
• 0.5 lbs. Amber Malt
• 0.5 lbs. Melanoidin Malt
• 0.25 lbs. Pale Chocolate
• 0.5 lbs. corn sugar
• 1.5 oz. UK Challenger First Wort (60-minute boil)
• 1.5 oz. UK Challenger @ 30 minutes
• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings @ 15 minutes
• 1 oz. UK Challenger and 1 oz. East Kent Goldings @ 5 minutes
• (Alternatively, use the same hop schedule as all grain if you are boiling at full volume)
• Yeast: Lallemand’s London ESB

Manipulations: For all grain, you can replace Golden Promise with Maris Otter as the base malt if you prefer one over the other. For extract — if you feel like spending a little extra money for authenticity — you can use Munton’s Pale LME in place of the pilsner LME. There are several English ale yeast strains that you could use as an alternative to the Lallemand ESB strain — Safale 04, White Labs 005 British Ale, Wyeast 1028 London Ale, Wyeast 1098 English Ale. Really, any English ale yeast will work. You can use American hops if you wish, but I would recommend a lighter hand on the quantity.

October Brew of the Month: Mark's American Brown

Mark Iacopelli

Now that Octoberfest is over — yes, it actually is celebrated in September — and fall is in full swing, it's time for the dark, malty ales of the season. It is an exciting time in the beer world with countless seasonal beers on the shelves. For this month’s brew I decided to do an American Brown ale to kick off the fall, and to pay tribute to the browning leaves.

To make this one different I decided to go with a Munich malt base and omitted any type of caramel malt. Caramel malt is in almost every brown ale recipe I have seen and/or written for myself and for our customers. My reason for opting against Munich is to challenge my recipe design skills and to explore new malts. I believe that putting limitations on yourself in this way can better familiarize you with the different flavors you are picking up from each malt. To fill the void that the caramel malt left I decided to boil for two hours to pick up some maillard (browning) reactions. This is where I hoped to get the caramel sweetness found in many browns.

The finished product pours a deep brown with dark ruby highlights when held up to the light. The head is a light tan with medium retention. On the nose the beer is predominately biscuity and bready with very slight chocolate, but mostly clean. In the flavor the beer is considerably toasty up front. In the middle it has a balanced savory sweetness before finishing a nutty dry. The carbonation is medium with a soft round body, yet finishes dry.

Overall, I found it to be a pretty comforting beer that is satisfying on its own, but light enough to have two or three in a sitting. I think the only change I would consider in a rebrew is to add a little rye in order to give the beer slight fruitiness. If you choose to pair this beer it would go well with honey ham and a side of mashed potatoes with apple pie for dessert.

All Grain Recipe

• 8lb Briess Munich Malt
• 1lb Pilot 6 Row
• 1lb Biscuit Malt
• 1lb Crisp Pale Chocolate
• .5lb Aromatic Malt
• .5oz Centennial (60mins)
• 1oz Northern Brewer (15mins)
• .5oz East Kent Goldings (5mins)
• US-05 yeast

Extract with Specialty Grains

• 6.6lb Liquid Munich Extract
• 1lb Liquid Pilsner Light Extract (bring a mason jar)
• .75lb Biscuit Malt
• .75lb Crisp Pale Chocolate
• .5lb Aromatic Malt
• .5oz Centennial (90mins)
• 1oz Northern Brewer (15mins)
• 1oz East Kent Goldings (5mins)
• US-05 yeast

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

September Brew of the Month: Farmhouse IPA

Cashmere hops

By Max Spencer

Late August and early September is harvest season for many crops, including one of our favorites as brewers: hops! Harvest season always puts me in the mind of agriculture — the smell of a farmyard, produce fresh out of the fields and long hours of hard manual labor.

Recently I found myself in the possession of fresh wet hops thanks to one of our regular customers and felt that I should make a special beer with them. I decided to make a wet-hopped farmhouse IPA inspired by agriculture and driven by opportunity.

The phrase “farmhouse” refers to historical beers, typically some kind of pale ale, brewed at farms for the consumption of farmhands during the farming seasons. A well-known example of a modern beer inspired by this tradition is the Saison.

Saisons (“seasons” in French) are derived from ales brewed in Wallonia, Belgium. In this region farmhands were entitled up to five liters of beer each workday (the average ABV would have been around 3-3.5%, so farming wasn’t necessarily an all-day rager). I utilized Saison yeasts in my take on a wet-hopped IPA to add the “farmhouse” aspect that I was looking for in honor of harvest season and the farmhands that are working hard for our benefit.

Not everyone will have access to fresh hops, so in the recipes I added hop schedules that use pellet hops. If you do have fresh hops, scroll down to the bottom for a wet-hop schedule.

ALL GRAIN

• 8.5 lbs. Pale malt
• 4 lbs. Maris Otter
• 1 lbs. Carahell
• 1 lbs. Golden naked oats
• 0.5 oz. Magnum @ 60 min
• 1 oz. Mosaic @ 30 min
• 1 oz. Mosaic @ 15 min
• 1 oz. Mosaic @ flameout
• 1 oz. Motueka @ flameout
• OG: 1.065
• Bitterness: 61.5 IBUs
• SRM: 6.2

EXTRACT (Boil volume: 3.85 gallons)

• 8 lbs. Pilsner liquid extract
• 2 lbs. Wheat liquid extract
• 1 lbs. Carahell
• 1 oz. Magnum @ 60 min
• 1 oz. Mosaic @ 30 min
• 1 oz. Mosaic @ 15 min
• 1 oz. Mosaic @ flameout
• 1 oz. Motueka @ flameout
• OG: 1.064
• Bitterness: 59.9 IBUS
• SRM: 6.9

YEAST

With yeast, you have all kinds of options! I wanted to do something fun with my IPA, so I used two yeasts: Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison and White Labs 644 Saccharomyces “brux-like” trois. The Belgian Saison is known for producing spicy phenolics, fruity esters and providing a dry, acidic finish. 3724 is also notorious for stalling out, so I co-pitched with the S. “brux-like” trois, a highly attenuating yeast that imparts flavors of mango and pineapple. I thought they both would work well with the tropical flavors of the Cashmere hops I was able to use.

If you wanted to keep it to a single yeast strain, I would recommend Wyeast 3711 French Saison or the Danstar Belle Saison. Additionally, if you want to avoid Belgian yeast all together, you can use any American ale strain to create a clean IPA.

WET-HOPPED

Use your favorite bittering hop (I like Magnum) for a 60 minute addition to achieve around 50 IBUs, or 60 IBUs if you want a high level of bitterness. Starting at 30 minutes until flameout add approximately an ounce (3-5 handfuls) of wet hops every 5 minutes. Dump any remaining hops, or around 4-8 oz if you have an extreme amount left, in at flameout to get a huge burst of aroma and flavor. Be sure to stir the hops in as you go to make sure they are submerged into the wort.

August Brew of the Month: Golden Promise Saison

By Matt Ross

The Brew of the Month for August pairs well with outdoor patios, camping, grilling and sunshine. It is a diverse recipe that was a lot of fun to create. My inspiration behind it was to make a malt-forward grain bill with fruity hops and saison yeast (of course).

I chose Golden Promise in combination with Vienna and Wheat malt to add a richer malt character that was still going to be light and balanced. For a bit more complexity I added Carahell and Cara Gold (Cara20). These bring out caramel and grain aroma without adding a significant amount of palatable sweetness. This beer was mashed at 150F to create a dryer beer that is easy to drink. I also used Clarity Ferm in this brew. For those who are unfamiliar, Clarity Ferm is a product from White Labs that was initially created as a fining agent but they discovered that when used correctly it greatly reduces Gluten.

When I started draining the mash tun, 0.25 ounces of Simcoe were added as first wort hops. As discussed in previous posts, first wort hopping adds a well-rounded hop flavor through the entire beer. You get higher hop utilization and less sharp bitterness. Simcoe was added two more times, 0.25 ounces at 60 minutes and .5 ounces at 30 minutes. German Hallertau Blanc was selected as the final hop addition at 10 minutes. These hops are newer to us at Siciliano’s Market and I had not used them prior to this brew. When paired with Simcoe, they lend subtle citrus fruit with white grape juice and pineapple aroma.

My love for Wyeast 3711 French Saison goes without saying. This yeast is a work horse and being that it is summer I thought it would be a perfect fit. I fermented on the warm end, around 80 degrees, and had very high attenuation. This beer finished at 1.003 making the attenuation 93% but the ABV about 5.5%. Yikes.

Overall I found this beer mostly balanced but leaning more towards the fruity-hoppy end of the spectrum. The aroma is a great bouquet of yeast and tropical fruit with the malt adding a full grainy and biscuit flavor across the palate. One of my favorite parts about this beer is the bright golden color. If you want a fun beer to beat the heat, this brew is for you. As always, make the recipe your own. Want to try it is a pale ale? Consider adding American Ale yeast instead. Brew on.

All Grain Recipe

• 6lbs Fawcett Golden Promise
• 2lbs Breiss Vienna
• 1lb Briess White Wheat
• 12oz Weyermann Carahell
• 6oz Castle Cara Gold
• .25oz Simcoe First Wort Hops
• .25oz Simcoe @ 60 minutes
• .5oz Simcoe @ 30 minutes
• 1oz German Hallertau Blanc @ 10 minutes
• Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Extract with Specialty Grands

• 4lbs Pilsen Light LME
• 2.5lbs Bavarian Wheat LME
• 12oz Weyermann Carahell
• 6oz Castle Cara Gold
• .5oz Simcoe @ 60 minutes
• .5oz Simcoe @ 30 minutes
• 1oz German Hallertau Blanc @ 10 minutes
• Wyeast 3711 French Saison 

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

July Brew of the Month: Pre-"Joe"-hibition Cream Ale

By Joe Potter

The anniversary of our declaration of independence, July is a great month to celebrate our nation’s history, and the summer heat requires a refreshing, cool homebrew while doing so. Therefore, July’s Brew of the Month is a Pre-Prohibition Cream Ale: A light and crushable historical style higher in alcohol and slightly hoppier than modern versions. This brew uses local malt from Pilot Malt House, Michigan honey and an interesting lemon-lime hop from New Zealand. The honey drives attenuation, giving the beer a thirst-quenching quality perfect for a sunny Michigan summer.

In cream ales, the fermentables can include up to 20% adjuncts (corn is traditional) and up to 20% brewing sugars added during the boil. Wanting to avoid an overt corniness, I substituted half of the flaked maize for flaked rice, using a pound of each. I included a pound of Pilot 6-Row to help enzymatically convert the adjunct sugars. I wanted this beer to be highly attenuated, so I mashed for 90 minutes at 149°F. Additionally, I added 0.6 pounds of honey during the boil to boost the alcohol and dry out the beer. Style guidelines allow for any hop variety to be used, and I was intrigued by the citrusy and lemon-lime characteristics of the New Zealand Motueka hop. I used this single hop for all my additions, including dry-hopping, a common practice for Pre-Prohibition beers.

Desiring as clean a beer as possible, I fermented with White Labs San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090) and fermented it between 61-65°F. This strain is very similar to WLP001 California Ale in terms of flavor profile but is quicker, prefers a lower temperature (65-68°F) and can be more attenuative. If you are unable to ferment that cool, try WLP001 or Safeale US-05. My starting gravity was 1.049 and I finished out at 1.005, resulting in an apparent attenuation of 89% and a 5.78% ABV beer. This beer received a lot of praise from my friends and coworkers and scored a half point shy of a Gold Medal at the 2016 Siciliano’s Homebrew Competition.

All Grain Recipe ($29.58)

• 6 lbs Castle Belgian Pilsner Malt
• 1 lb Pilot 6-Row
• 1 lb Briess Flaked Rice
• 1 lb Briess Flaked Maize
• 0.6 lbs Michigan Honey (available at Siciliano’s)

Partial Mash Recipe ($31.09)

• 1 lb Pilot 6-Row
• 1 lb Briess Flaked Rice
• 1 lb Briess Flaked Maize
• 4.5 lbs Briess Pilsen Light LME
• 0.6 lbs Michigan Honey (available at Siciliano’s)

Hops & Yeast

• 0.25 oz Motueka @ 60 min
• 0.50 oz Motueka @ 30 min
• 0.25 oz Motueka @ 0 min
• 1.00 oz Motueka - Dry Hopping
• White Labs San Diego Super WLP090

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

June Brew of the Month: Mark’s Sleeping Bee Honey Smoked Pale Ale

Recipe by Mark Iacopelli

I love laying in my hammock or sitting in around a bonfire on a warm summer day.  This homebrew recipe was inspired by my desire for an ale that is both complex and quaffable while lounging around in the summer. My thought was for something that was reminiscent of a lightly peated scotch. Creating flavors of spice, honey and a touch of smoke was my objective with this beer.

The two distinct variations on this beer as opposed to traditional pale ales are honey and smoke. The honey flavor in this brew was achieved through a combination of honey malt and actually honey. Honey is so highly fermentable that it can be difficult to use in brewing and get much flavor. I used honey malt to give the beer perceived honey sweetness. I also waited until three days into primary fermentation to add the non-pasteurized honey. This is an excellent way to promote a great fermentation and complete attenuation. It also helps retain a little bit of that real honey flavor. In order to introduce the honey affectively and not have it just sink straight to the bottom of the fermenter I pulled off some of my wort during the boil and added it to the jar of honey to thin it out. As for the smoke I have never used the Weyermann beechwood smoked malt before. I was informed by my co-workers that this malt is subtle which lead to me doubling my original plan of using one pound.

The results: From brew day to kegged and carbed this beer took about seventeen days to make. I found that it really needed an additional week of conditioning to allow for acetaldehyde (green apple/cider flavor common in young beers) to clear up. My efficiency was low at 61% (1.050 OG) but it fully attenuated down to almost 1.000. It has near perfect clarity, golden color and a white head (head retention is somewhat lacking). On the nose a light graininess and smoke is present with a small touch of hops. The initial smoke flavor and a crisp bitterness quickly give way to a nice balance of grain and malt sweetness. Despite the sweetness it still finishes bone dry and just begs for another sip. Everything is very well balanced and makes this a great beer to sip on or to drink in more of a session style. Either way this keg of beer will likely not stick around for long.

All Grain Recipe ($29.55)

• 7lb Breiss Brewer’s 2 Row
• 2lb Weyermann beechwood smoked malt
• 1lb Pilot Munich
• 1lb Gambrinus Honey Malt
• .5lb Non-Pasteurized Honey

Extract with Specialty Grains ($36.16)

• 7.5lb pilsner light liquid extract
• 2lb Weyermann beechwood smoked malt
• .5lb Pilot Munich
• .5lb Gambrinus Honey Malt
• .5lb Non-Pasteurized Honey

Boil Hops

• .5 oz Centennial (60 mins)
• .5 oz Horizon (30 mins)
• 1 oz Liberty (30 mins)
• OPTIONAL: yeast nutrient & whirfloc tablet (15 Mins)
• RECOMMENDED: Place Immersion Chiller in kettle to sterilize (15 Mins)    
• .5 oz Horizon (10 mins)
• 1 oz Liberty (10 mins)

Process

• Mash @ 150F for 75 Mins
• Sparge @ 168F
• Ferment with 1 package of Safale US-05 @ 68F
• 3 days into primary fermentation add .5lb Non-Pasteurized Honey dissolved in wort from the boil that was stored in the refrigerator for this addition.
• Leave in primary of 2 weeks then bottle or keg according to your own process.

Optional Water Additions

• 1 campten tablet
• 10g gypsum
• 3g calcium chloride
• 5ml 88% lactic acid (all grain only)

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

Brew of the Month, May Edition: Matt's 30 Minute IPA

By Matt Ross

May’s Brew of the Month recipe was created to fill a void in my palate. Beer of all styles appeal to me and I can appreciate almost anything, but lately I’ve just wanted to punish my tongue with hops. May’s Brew of the Month recipe was crafted to do just that. I present the 30 Minute IPA.

The beer I've been craving has a light malt presence with moderate attenuation and almost no yeast character. It's obviously hop forward but not extremely bitter. I prefer more flavor and aroma, specifically tropical fruit, citrus and pine. I studied award-winning homebrew IPA practices and through my research as well as conversations with other homebrewers, I decided on doing a hop stand, and first wort hopping. These are probably considered “advanced” methods but in my experience, timing and patience are the most important points.

To explain, first wort hopping is an old German technique where you add a small amount of your bittering hops (up to 30%) to the wort in your kettle when you begin draining your sparge water. This does a number of things. According to the folks at Beersmith, it will increase your overall IBUs by 10% but produces a more well-rounded bitter instead of a tongue scraper. It should be noted that this recipe and method were used on an all-grain system. I have read but cannot confirm that similar results are gained in extract brewing when you first wort hop at the same time you add your malt extract.

The grain bill on this recipe is pretty no nonsense with mostly pale malt and a bit of C40, Victory and flaked barley. Total grain weight came to 13.88 pounds and I mashed at 153° for an hour. Prior to draining the mash tun of sparge water, first wort hops (.25oz of AU Topaz) were added to the kettle. Once the sparge water was drained off I took the collected wort and boiled it for 45 minutes. I call this brew the 30 Minute IPA because I did not start adding kettle hops until the 30-minute mark. Starting at 30 minutes I added one ounce of hops every ten minutes until the boil was done. I then began chilling the wort along with the hop stand process.

A hop stand occurs after the boil when you chill your wort down to 175° or lower and add hops. 175° is important because that is the temperature that hops isomerize (create IBUs). In short, you are making bitterless hop tea. Brewers will often stack techniques and whirlpool during this stage but it is not necessary. I went with one ounce of Simcoe for 30 minutes. From here it was a pretty standard fermentation around 65° with US-05 and dry hopping for 5 days in secondary with one ounce each of Citra and Mosaic.

All in all, this beer was very fruit forward. It has intense tropical fruit aroma and flavor that finished with a sneaky bitterness that was not overwhelming. I chose Topaz, Simcoe, Mosaic and Citra because my palate enjoys the big fruit flavor they lend. If you prefer a different flavor profile change up the recipe to make it your own. Hope you enjoyed this edition of Brew of the Month. Brew on.

All-Grain Recipe

• 12 lbs Briess Pale malt
• 0.75 lbs Briess Caramel 40L
• 0.75 lbs Briess Flaked Barley
• 0.38 lbs Briess Victory
• 0.25 oz Topaz FWH
• 0.75 oz Topaz 30 min.
• 1 oz Simcoe 20 min.
• 1 oz Topaz 10 min.
• 1 oz Citra @ Flameout
• 1 oz Simcoe Hop stand 30min (under 175°)
• 1 oz Citra Dry Hop 5 days
• 1 oz Mosaic Dry Hop 5 days
• Safale US-05 American Ale Yeast

Extract with Specialty Grains

• 1.5 lbs Briess Amber LME
• 7 lbs Briess Pilsen Light LME
• 0.75 lbs Briess Caramel 40L
• 0.50 lbs Cara-Pils
• Hops: See Above
• Yeast: See Above

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

Brew of the Month, April Edition: Spencer's Spring Porter

By Max Spencer

To me, spring is about earth. I cherish when the wind first carries the scent of wet dirt and the herbaceous aroma of freshly emerged plants every year. With the first days of spring here I wanted to create a beer that I felt embodied the primal essence of the season. After a fair amount of deliberation, I decided to make a dry porter with mint and star anise in honor of spring.

While mint is primarily used in winter beers, I feel it is more appropriate in a springtime ale. In addition to a cooling sensation on the palate, fresh mint adds a lot of herbaceous flavors beyond the one-note taste found in mint gums and toothpastes. Star anise adds another layer of complexity by providing earthy and spicy tones reminiscent of licorice or fennel.

The resulting brew poured opaque dark brown with a solid beige head. The mint and anise dominated the nose, lending the pleasant spice and earth tones I was looking for. Anise and chocolate flavors from the malt kicked off the palate, finishing strong with bold herb and spice notes derived from the mint. The body was dry and effervescent from the addition of honey, which I felt was appropriate in attempting to illicit the effect of a cool spring breeze. I enjoyed this brew and the process of designing it. The mint and anise worked great together and added a level of complexity without taking away from the beer itself.

All Grain ($38.87)

• 5 lbs. of Munton’s Maris Otter
• 5 lbs. of Breiss Pale 2-Row 
• 1 lbs. of Crisp Pale Chocolate
• 0.7 lbs. of Breiss Caramel 60°L
• 0.5 lbs. of Breiss Chocolate 
• 1 lbs. of Non-Pasteurized Honey

Extract w/ Specialty Grains ($39.26)

• 5 lbs. Breiss Pilsen Light LME
• 1.5 lbs. Breiss Amber LME
• 0.8 lbs. of Crisp Pale Chocolate
• 0.6 lbs. of Breiss Caramel 60°L
• 0.5 lbs. of Breiss Chocolate 
• 1 lbs. of Non-Pasteurized Honey

Boil / Hops

• 0.25 oz U.K. Challenger @ 60 minutes
• 0.5 oz U.K. Challenger @ 30 minutes
• 0.75 oz U.K. Challenger @ 15 minutes
• 0.5 oz U.K. Challenger @ 5 minutes
• 2 oz fresh mint @ 5 minutes
• 2 oz star anise @ 5 minutes

I preferred the beer as is without extracts, but if the two ounces of mint and anise are not enough for your own tastes I would recommend using the anise and/or spearmint extracts from Beanilla ($7.59 each). Be careful when adding these extracts as a little goes a LONG way. I suggest investing in a pipette ($0.99) and adding a few drops at a time followed by a gentle stir until it tastes how you want it.

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

Brew of the Month, March Edition: Joe's Witbier

By Joe Potter

Last month, a certain Pennsylvanian rodent predicted an early spring, but with the way March has started, that might be wishful thinking. Keeping in that spirit, however, March’s BOTM is a refreshing Witbier, which (I’m hoping) might help beckon in spring a little sooner. If brewed now (or soon), the beer will be ready to enjoy when this month, presumably, goes out like a lamb.

I tried a handful of new things with this brew: I mashed in with water directly from my tap, performed my first step mash, added fresh orange zest, and fermented with a brand new yeast strain, the K-97 from Safale™. The yeast is a German ale strain with low ester production, also recommended for Belgian wheat beers. It forms a nice, firm head during fermentation making it great for “top cropping,” the act of harvesting yeast from an already active fermentation and pitching it into a new batch. Top cropping can be used when you’re brewing multiple batches close together, saving you money on yeast.  

The resulting beer is straw colored, and almost glows. A small amount of flaked oats lends it a haziness reminiscent of sundown on a summer day, where imbibing began an hour or two earlier. It’s aroma is wheaty and sweet, with a touch of tartness. The citrus is subtle, but becomes incredibly prevalent as the beer warms. It’s smooth and creamy, medium-bodied, with a long finish due to the lower attenuation of the yeast. In an act of stylistic defiance, I left out the traditional coriander. I now feel the beer would benefit from some spicy complexity, perhaps black peppercorn. Feel free to make it your own.

My starting gravity was 1.043, and the beer finished out at 1.008, giving the K-97 an apparent attenuation of 81% (which is exactly what Safale™ reports on their website), and a nice 4.6% ABV. Here is the recipe for 5.5 gallons:

All Grain ($18.63)

• 5 lbs Castle Pilsner
• 4.5 lbs Briess Flaked Wheat
• 0.5 lbs Briess Flaked Oats

Partial Mash ($19.84)

• 0.25 lbs Pilot 6-Row
• 0.5 lbs Briess Flaked Oats
• 6 lbs Briess Wheat LME

Boil/Hops

• 0.75 oz German Hallertau @ 60 mins
• 0.25 oz German Hallertau @ 15 mins
• Zest of one orange @ 5 mins          

If you care, here is the mash schedule I used: Having a grain bill composed of 50% adjuncts, I decided to try my first step-mash with a protein rest at 128° F for 20 minutes before raising the mash temperature to a usual 154° for starch-breakdown.

I discovered that the hottest water which runs out of my tap is a piping 133°. Incidentally, for my mash tun, this is nearly the perfect temperature to achieve 128° after infusion. I used the side sprayer to “mash in” directly from the sink, and kept filling until I arrived at what I estimated to be a 1:1 quarts to pounds ratio. (This is essentially analogous to the couple breweries I know of which utilize tankless water heaters to provide their mash and sparge water, forgoing hot liquor tanks altogether.)

After the 20 minute rest, I infused boiling water from my pot to get up to 154°. My reasoning was that starting with a relatively thin mash ratio of 1:1 would allow me to infuse as much water as needed to bump up the temp while still staying close to the totally reasonable ratio of 2:1. (No surprise, this required way more hot water than I expected, so I recommend having a lot on hand and ready to go before even mashing in.) I added just enough hot water to bring me up to temp, and rested for an additional 30 minutes before sparging.

I hope you enjoy this brew and that it succeeds in building excitement for the approaching summer and brewing season. Brew on, Grand Rapids.

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

Brew of the Month, February Edition: Belgian Pale Ale

By Matt Ross

February’s Brew of the Month is a Belgian Pale Ale. This style is known for being packed full of flavor yet sessionable at the same time. All ingredients act harmoniously to create a delightful and crisp brew.

More than 90% of the grain bill for the Belgian Pale Ale is base malt. Pilsner malt accounts for 60% and is complimented with smaller additions of 20% Vienna and 10% Munich. For increased malt complexity, small amounts of aromatic and cara 20 were selected for a sweeter biscuit flavor. For all-grain brewers, the grains are mashed at 152F to create a balanced wort that will not be too fermentable or too sweet.

Hops include an ounce of Glacier at 60 minutes, an ounce of UK East Kent Goldings at 20 minutes and an ounce of German Select at fire out. It is also dry hopped with an ounce of UK East Kent Golding to bump up hop aroma. This combination was chosen to highlight delicate floral and bright citrus flavor without turning this fun crisp pale ale into an IPA.

This beer was fermented with White Labs 550 Belgian Ale yeast. This yeast likes to ferment a bit warmer (around 68 degrees F on the low end) but produces a wonderful bouquet of estery spice, phenolics and banana. Starting gravity on this beer was 1.049 and it finished around 1.007 making this beer a sessionable 5.5%.

Overall malt and hops balance well and allow the yeast to shine through on the palate. It has a touch of residual sweetness which plays nicely with the floral aroma from dry hopping. This beer is great to drink fresh but will also do well with some age on it.

The all-grain Belgian Pale Ale brew of the month recipe is $29.93 and extract is $33.05. As always, we encourage our patrons to take our recipe and put their own spin on it. Curious about how this beer would taste with a saison yeast? Make it yours. Brew on, Grand Rapids.

All Grain

• 6lbs Cassel Pilsner Malt
• 2lbs Weyermann Vienna Malt
• 1lb Briess Munich 10L
• .5lb Cara20
• .25 Aromatic

• 1oz Glacier @ 60min
• 1oz East Kent Golding UK @ 20min
• 1oz German Spalt (Select) @ 0min
• 1oz East Kent Golding UK Dry Hopped 5 Days

Extract

• 6lbs Briess Pilsen Light LME 
• 1lb Briess Sparkling Amber LME
• .5lb Cara20
• .25 Aromatic

• 1oz Glacier @ 60min
• 1oz East Kent Golding UK @ 20min
• 1oz German Spalt (Select) @ 0min
• 1oz East Kent Golding UK Dry Hopped 5 days

The staff at Siciliano's is always eager to answer your homebrewing questions. Stop by for help developing custom-made recipes like this one!

Brew of the Month, January Edition: Oatmeal Stout

Matt Ross

By Matt Ross

Starting this month, Siciliano’s Market is making a few changes in our homebrew section. Along with the continual updating of inventory, we are releasing a monthly staff-developed recipe. Each recipe will be written and brewed by us and tested for quality with friends and family.

We are kicking off the first Brew of the Month with an Oatmeal Stout. It is a rich and creamy beer with a focus on chocolate malt and roasted barley. To bring out a thicker body, we mashed at higher temperatures, did a two-hour boil and fermented with Wyeast 1272 American Ale II. In my experience, this yeast does not attenuate as fully as other American strains. When we brewed this recipe our OG was 1.058. The beer finished at 6.5% ABV. The finished product reminded me and fellow staffer Joe Potter of oatmeal flavored subtly with peanut butter and chocolate.

Joe Potter

For me, homebrewing is about full creative expression and making whatever you want. In that spirit we decided to cold steep the darker grains instead of mashing with them. This gives a more subtle chocolate coffee character without any astringency. We encourage people to look at this recipe and make it their own. In other words, we outfitted the recipe but each brewer is the artist.

January’s Oatmeal Stout recipe is available for both all grain and partial mash brewers. For 5.5 gallons, this recipe's ingredients will cost around $31 and about a buck more for the partial mash version. Ask any of our staff about the Brew of the Month and stay tuned for recipes to come. Brew on, Grand Rapids.

All-Grain Ingredients

• 9-lbs Maris Otter
• 8-oz Chocolate Malt
• 12-oz Roasted Barley
• 12-oz Victory Malt
• 6-oz Caramel 40L
• 1-lb Flaked Oats
• 1-oz Fuggle @ 60min
• 1-oz Fuggle @ 30min
• Wyeast 1272 American Ale II or Safale US-05

Partial Mash Ingredients

• 6.75-lbs Light Liquid Malt Extract
• 8-oz Chocolate Malt
• 12-oz Roasted Barley
• 12-oz Victory Malt
• 6-oz Caramel 40L
• 1-lb Flaked Oats
• 1-oz Fuggle @ 60min
• 1-oz Fuggle @ 30min
• Wyeast 1272 American Ale II or Safale US-05

The steep 

The kettle

"When you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."
-Nietzsche