West Coast Brewer Home Brewing Blog

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Celebrate IPA Day!

Happy IPA Beer Day!

Happy IPA Beer Day!

Happy IPA Beer Day! In honor of this beloved beer drinkers holiday, you can reap the rewards at MoreBeer! From now until Sunday, you can save 15% on all of MoreBeer’s IPA home beer brewing kits including their famous Pliny the Elder beer kit! Here are the details and links to this More Beer promo code.

Promo Code Description: 15% OFF IPA BEER KITS AT MOREBEER.COM WITH THIS MORE BEER PROMO CODE
Promo Code Date: 8/2/2019 to 8/4/2019
MoreBeer Promo Code: IPADAY – Click for Promo Code Offer 
MoreBeer.com Promo Code Type: MoreBeer Coupon Codes for August, 2019

MoreBeer Click For The Promo Code: SAVE 15% ON ALL IPA BEER KITS AT MOREBEER.COM

West Coast Brewer NEIPA Hazy IPA Version 2

West Coast Brewer NEIPA – Hazy IPA Recipe v2.0

We just finished brewing our most recent batch of beer!  For this one, we took another crack at a Hazy IPA. Hazy IPA’s have quickly become one of my very favorite styles to both brew and consume.  The combination of tropical hops and fruity esters from the yeast end up creating a hoppy fruitiness that is difficult to resists!

Just a word of caution, if you choose to brew this recipe, beware that there is a good deal of oats and wheat in it and depending on your system it could cause sparge and recirculation issues.  I personally experienced that with this batch.  It may be wise to add some rice hulls to the mash to help prevent it from sticking. It did finally clear, but it was a struggle for a little while. I ended up adding an extra gallon of water to the mash to help clear it.

Ss BrewTech Stainless Steel Conical Homebrewing Fermenter

Ss BrewTech Stainless Steel Conical Homebrewing Fermenter

Sanitizing the stainless steel Ss BrewTech conical fermenter. I ended up chopping the feet off of mine and using a flat top so that it fits inside my cest freezer for fermentation. I also traded out the racking arm for More Beer’s Ultimate Racking Arm solution. I am super happy with it and also have a 14 gallon version.

 

Here is the post boil whirlpool after I added the additional hops in at flame out!  I let it whirlpool for approximately 15 minutes. I added a weldless stainless steel whirlpool arm from More Beer and it has worked out really well for me.  It was easy to install into my kettle and has been completely leek free!

 

The TrubTrapper Post Boil

The Trub Trapper Post Boil

This is probably my best recent purchase! The Trub Trapper did an incredible job on this batch and really exceeds expectations when I use it in conjunction with a whirlpool process.  It captures 90%+ of the hops and trub so that I can draw in clean wort to my fermentor with out worry!

Here is my West Coast Brewer Hazy IPA v2.0 beer recipe!

If you brew it, please let me know how it turns out for you!

Beer Name:  West Coast Brewer Hazy IPA v2.0
Beer Style: New England IPA / NEIPA / Hazy IPA / Vermont Style IPA
Recipe Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5 Gallons
Mash Type: Infusion
(60 Min) 150F Mash with recirculation
(10 Min) 169F Mash Out
1 tsp Calcium Chloride
1/2 tsp Gypsum / Calcium Sulfate
Grain Bill:
12 LBS Pale 2 Row US
2 LBS Flaked Oats
2 LBS Flaked Wheat
1 LBS Flaked Malt
1 LBS Honey Malt
Hops:
1 oz Mosaic – 5 Minutes
2 oz Citra – 5 Minutes
1 oz Mandarina Bavaria – 5 Minutes
1 oz Citra – 0 Minutes – Whirlpool for 15 Minutes
1 oz Mosaic – 0 Minutes – Whirlpool for 15 Minutes
Other: DO NOT USE A CLARIFIER
Yeast: London Ale III Wyeast  #1318
Fermentation:2 Week Primary @ 72F
– I ferment this at a slightly higher that usual temperature to increased ester production
and to create a more active fermentation)
On day 3 of active fermentation make the following hop additions
2 oz Mandarina Bavaria
On day 7 of fermentation make the following hop additions
2 oz Mandarina Bavaria
2 oz Citra
Once fermentation has completed or on day 10, cold crash and transfer to keg or bottle.

Portland Beer Tour

Portland, Oregon Beer Tour

Portland, Oregon Beer Tour

I just got back from a trip to Portland, OR with a few of my friends and just wanted to post a few comments and suggestions of places that you may want to visit in case any of you are heading up there in the future.  If Portland is not on your beer radar it probably should be.  While we were up there, a Lift driver mentioned to us that Portland now has 98 breweries, which is the most of any city in the United States.  I am not sure if either of the statements that he made were true, but I can tell you this, Portland has A LOT of breweries! If you only had time to see one of them, I would suggest that you visit Great Notion Brewing!

 

Great Notion Brewing, Portland, OR

Great Notion Brewing, Portland, OR

So why Great Notion Brewing?  Well, for the beer.  Their beer is so good, my friends and I visited the brewery 3 times and we were only there for 4 days. For a brewery with such a small brewing space, they push out several great beers.  If I recall correctly, when we were there they had at least 8 of their own beers on tap, plus 2 from other local breweries. They had everything from a super juicy NEIPA to a Maple Syrup Stout that was just incredible.  I personally got hooked on their “Cuddle” NEIPA. To top things off, the folks who work there were helpful and friendly and the crowd was relaxed and down to earth. The only bad part about the brewery is that they are so small that they do not have any distribution in California and I am unlikely to try it again until I have the chance to visit Portland next.

 

Stammtisch, German Beer & Food

Stammtisch, German Beer & Food

Another great destination on my list is not a brewery, but you will find excellent beer there. It is a German Restaurant / Bar called Stammtisch.  I happen to enjoy German Beer and German Food and was excited to visit their location. If you do as well, this is a great spot to add to your list.  After a failed hike attempt at Multnomah Falls, due to last years fires in the Columbia Gorge, we headed back to Portland for lunch at Stammtisch.  It had just opened, so there we were some of the first people to arrive and we got a great table.  The people who work there were supper friendly and happily recommend some of their favorite beers for us to try. Everything from the beer to the chicken schnitzel sandwich was fantastic!

 

Bridgeport Brewing, Portland, OR

Bridgeport Brewing, Portland, OR

Bridgeport Brewing, is another notable destination that we visited while there.  They had a giant beer selection and a large / beautiful establishment.   We unfortunately did not have much free time to spend there and for that reason could not take advantage of all of the beers they had to offer.  That is why they are on my list of breweries to check out again when I am in Portland next. Bridgeport had a wide variety of IPA’s on their menu, from straight up West Coast to New England Haze.

 

Culmination Brewing, Portland OR

Culmination Brewing, Portland OR

Culmination Brewing is a smaller sized brewery in Portland, but they are putting out some great  beers.  I sampled a variety of them, including a super clean table saison featured in the image above, a Marrionberry Sour and a NEIPA. All of them were quality beers.

When it boils down to it, with approximately 98 breweries in the area, you can’t really go wrong.  If you do not like the beer at one brewery, walk a few blocks down the street and you are sure to find one that has something you will like. While we were there, we hit Modern Times, who now has a brewery in Portland, and we also hit up Cascade which is a sour beer lovers dream. So if you love beer, I suggest you book a plane ticket to Portland as soon as you have the chance.

 

Portland, OR Beer Trip

Portland, OR Beer Trip

NEIPA Hazy IPA Recipe

I just finished up my latest batch of NEIPA, North East IPA, Vermont Style IPA,  New England Style IPA, Juicy IPA or Hazy IPA; however you chose to label it and it turned out incredible so I wanted to share the recipe in case anyone else out there was interested in brewing one. The basis for this recipe is MoreBeer’s Haze Craze IPA which can be purchased in either an Hazy IPA Extract Beer Recipe Kit or Hazy IPA All Grain Beer Recipe Kit. I just made a couple of small tweaks to mine. Although the West Coast was slow to latch on to the NEIPA trend, we have sunk our teeth in and they are currently all the rage. The haze of the yeast, hops and yeast esters pushes the boundaries of what an IPA is and can be. In order to fully enjoy them you need to discard your expectations of what an IPA is and embrace the haziness and sometimes juicy and tropical flavors that are created by new varieties of hops and unconventional yeast strains.

Hazy NEIPA All Grain Beer Recipe

 

Beer Name:Hoptic Thunder Hazy IPA / More Beer Haze Craze IPA
Beer Style:New England Style Hazy IPA
Recipe Type:All Grain
Batch Size:5 Gallons
Mash Type:Infusion
(60 Min) 152F
(10 Min) 169F Mash Out
1 tsp Calcium Chloride
.5 tsp Gypsum / Calcium Sulfate
Grain Bill:11 LBS Pale 2 Row US
1 LBS Flaked Oats
2 LBS Flaked Wheat
8 oz Carapils Malt
8 oz Wheat Malt
4 oz Honey Malt
Hops:.5 oz Warrior – 60 minutes
1 oz Citra – 10 Minutes
2 oz Mosaic – 0 Minutes
1 oz Citra – 0 Minutes
Other:DO NOT USE A CLARIFIER
Yeast:London Ale III Wyeast #1318
Fermentation:2 Week Primary @ 70F
– I ferment this at a slightly higher that usual temperature to increased ester production
and to create a more active fermentation)
On day 3 of active fermentation make the following hop additions
2 oz Mosaic
1 oz Citra
On day 7 of fermentation make the following hop additions
1 oz Mosaic
2 oz Citra
Once fermentation has completed or on day 10, cold crash and transfer to keg or bottle.
Notes:The More Beer Haze Craze IPA Beer Kit can be purchased here:

More Beer Haze Craze Hazy IPA Beer Recipe Kit

 

NEIPA Hazy IPA Beer Recipe

NEIPA Hazy IPA Beer Recipe

 

Cider, The Gateway Drug To Beer!

Hey, I thought that West Coast Brewer was a home beer brewing site, why are you making cider?

Yes, it is a homebrewing blog; but I figure that cider making is in the same wheelhouse and that I would share what I learned on the topic in case anyone else was interested in making a batch. The idea of making a batch of cider came to me when I was considering what I wanted to fill my next batch of kegs with. My goal was to having something for everybody. That got me thinking. We all know one of those people who is “Not a beer person”. Whenever I hear someone mutter those words I immediately think that they just have not found the right beer or had a bad beer experience where instead of someone easing them in to beer, they pushed a double IPA on them or gave them a poorly made sour.  Although Hard Cider is not beer, many people consider them to be somewhat synonymous with one another and it has to be one of the most approachable alcohols on the planet. It has a low ABV, it is relatively sweet, can be bubbly and has next to no bitterness; it is the gateway drug to beer!

Making cider is easy! Making good cider is a bit more difficult but not too hard if you have the right equipment and a little bit of patience. The good news is that if you are a home beer brewer, you probably have just about everything that you will need in order to make a batch of cider.  If not, do not worry, I will go over all of that with you. So you have a few options.  If you are happy with mediocrity, I highly recommend you purchase a cider making kit! For approximately $45, you can purchase a Mangrove Jack apple cider kit and create a 5 gallon batch of hard cider that will produce somewhere between a bad and mediocre cider. These kits come with all of the ingredients that you will need, include instructions and make the process very simple. It may not be the best cider you have ever tasted, but it you have never made cider before and have no home brewing experience, this may be a great way to go.  You can purchase a Mangrove Jack Apple Cider kit here. You can also find some helpful information on making cider from a kit at HomebrewingDeal.com.

If you have higher aspirations and want to try and create a good to great cider then keep reading and I will do my best to help you reach that goal. The batch of cider that I ended up making was a hard apple cider aged on oak and Oregon Sour Cherries. To make a good cider it is critical to start with the best ingredients possible.  Your base ingredient will be apple cider.  If you have it available to you from a local apple orchard, pick up fresh pressed cider! If like most people you do not, a great alternative is Musselman’s 100% Apple Cider.  It can be purchased at Walmart for approximately  $4.50 a gallon.  It is pasturized, so there are no additives that will negatively impact your cider and is a great compromise between cost and quality. You need minimal equipment to make cider and the most important item is a fermenter that can hold approximately 7 gallons.  If you can swing the price, I highly recommend a Stainless Steel fermenter that will last you a life time.  You can purchase a 7 Gallon Stainless Steel Brew Bucket Fermenter here for $199 with free shipping.  You will also need to bottle or ideally keg your cider when fermentation has completed.  Items for kegging and bottling cider can be found here at MoreBeer for a reasonable price and ship free on orders of $59+. If you need any specific suggestions or help with this, please leave a comment or shoot me an email and I would be happy yo help you.  Okay, so here is the recipe that I used to make my cider:

 

How to guide to making hard cider

How to guide to making hard cider

 

Step 1: Prepare for fermentation

Clean and sanitize your fermenter and anything that will come in contact with you cider.  If you need a food grade sanitizer, I highly recommend Star San Sanitizer.

Add 5 Gallons of Musselman’s 100% Apple Cider to your fermenter
Add 1 (12oz) container of 100% frozen apple juice concentrate (make sure that there are no preservatives aside from Ascorbic Acid(Vitamin C))
Add 2 Tablespoons of Pectic Enzyme (for clarity)
Add 1 Tablespoon of Yeast Nutrient (for yeast health and a strong fermentation)
Make sure that your cider is at an ideal fermentation temperature for your yeast strain (typically 68 F)
Add your yeast, I like Wyeast 4766 or Cote Des Blancs dry wine yeast; both are great choices for cider yeast.
If possible, take a specific gravity reading. Make sure that your gravity is above 1.045 or else you may have stability issues with your finished cider. You can add additional apple juice concentrate if needed to boost your gravity.
Next seal your fermenter, place it in a temperature controlled location and let it fermenter for 2-3 weeks until your fermentation has completed.

Step 2: Post Fermentation

Once your fermentation has completed there are just a few more tweaks.
Add 1 Teaspoon of Malic Acid  (gives the cider a little zip) You may want to add a little more or less depending on your taste

 

Step 3: Back Sweeten Your Cider or Add Fruit (Optional)

At this point your cider will probably be somewhat dry. I suggest that you back sweeten it to help highly some of the apple flavor it in. In order to do so, you will need to render the yeast unable to ferment the new sugars that you will be adding to the cider. To do so conduct the following steps:
Crush 5 campden tablets and mix it with 1 teaspoon of potassium sorbate  and it to your cider.  If possible, drop your fermentation temperature down to 45F.  Wait 24-48 hours.  At this point your fermentation should be completely halted.
A 1 (12oz) container of 100% frozen apple juice concentrate (make sure that there are no preservatives aside from Ascorbic Acid(Vitamin C)) for sweetness and flavor
Add fruit if desired.  I added 2 can of Oregon Sour Cherries
Let the cider age at 45 F for an additional 7 Days

Step 4: Transfer Your Cider To The Keg

I use a keg partially because I am lazy and partially because it is the best choice.  If you want your cider to be carbonated and you chose to back sweeten or add fruit to it, kegging is your only reasonable choice. Otherwise you will need to add yeast to it once again to force carbonate it in the bottle and risk both over carbonating and undoing all of the effort you placed in to back sweetening the cider in the first place. If you keg, you are able to bottle once the carbonation level that you desire is reached and the cider will come out much cleaner!

Clean and sanitize your keg and anything that will come in contact with the cider.
Transfer your cider from the fermenter to the keg, doing your best to avoid drawing in any of the particulates that have settled to the bottom of your fermenter.
Add oak sticks or oak cubes to the keg for additional complexity if desired. I think it adds a nice touch to the cider. Oak takes time to impact the flavor of your cider, so as it ages in the keg its flavor will become more noticeable.
Let the cider carbonate and condition in the keg for approximately 2 weeks. Your first few pours from the tap will be a little cloudy but after that it should begin to clarify rapidly.

That is it. If all goes well, you should now have a delicious glass of cider in front of you!  Please let me know how yours turns out or if you have any comments, questions or suggestion.

 

Home Brewing for the Holidays

Adding Hops to the Boil

I was fortunate enough to get a little time off of work before New Year’s and decided to try and make the best of it!  I was able to dedicated a good deal of time to some home brewing projects and all in all I was able to brew 4 batches.  I made a 5 gallon batch of hard cider that I am aging on Oregon tart cherries, I brewed an Irish Stout that I am again on Irish Whiskey oak cubes, coffee and Irish Cream flavoring which I am calling car bomb, MoreBeer’s Hop Gatherer IPA which uses distilled hop oil and a slightly modified version of More Beer New England Style IPA called Haze Craze, their Hazy IPA.  In the coming weeks I will post recipes and reviews on all of them. For now, here are some photos from my most recent home beer brewing sessions.

 

Home Brewing Mash of an Irish Stout

Home Brewing Mash of an Irish Stout on a Blichmann 20 Gallon Mash Tun

 

Recirculating the mash using my stainless steel RIMS temperature controller and More Beer Stainless Steel Ultimate Sparge Arm

Recirculating the mash using my stainless steel RIMS temperature controller and More Beer Stainless Steel Ultimate Sparge Arm

 

Transferring my stout to my stainless steel SS BrewTech 7 Gallon Conical Fermenter

Transferring my stout to my stainless steel SS BrewTech 7 Gallon Conical Fermenter

 

New WestCoastBrewer.com Website

New West Coast Brewer Website

New West Coast Brewer Website

Happy and Hoppy New Year!  With the arrival of 2018, WestCoastBrewer.com is going to get a new look and feel! It will be a bit of a work in progress, fixing all of the broken links as the website transitions to its new format, so please hang in there with us. Ultimately it should be a big improvement to the old website! We hope that 2018 brings you only the best and plenty of good homebrew!

Building a keg bar stool for the home brewery.

Home Brewer Seating

Beer Brewery Keg Stool

 

For my most recent home brewing project I converted an old decommissioned 5 gallon keg that my buddy hooked me up with in to some seating for brew day! For me, half of the enjoyment of home beer brewing is being creative, either in designing beer recipes or making things such as homebrew tap handles, home brewing equipment or accessories like this brewery bar stool, beer brewing throne!

 

The design process for this brewery bar stool, keg stool was pretty hap hazard. Basically I went online, search for an inexpensive bar stool that had the aesthetics that I was looking for for the base materials and cut it up to be used for parts. As expected, the homebrew bar stool did not fit together perfectly so there was a good deal of cutting, grinding, welding and finishing involved to get the keg stool to fit together as desired. All in the project took about 3 hours but I am happy with the results. Having the ability to adjust the height on the seat comes in pretty handy depending on what project I am working on.  The additional legs around the base of the keg adds some stability to the stool in case one of my friends or I has had a few too many!

 

Home Brewing Keg Chair

Home Brewing Keg Chair

 

 

 

The tools that I used to make my brewery stool were a old crappy mig welder, grinder, hack saw / cut saw, wire brush, hammer and a little sand paper for finishing. If you would like to make your own brewing throne, brewery stool, keg stool or keg seat and have any questions, please feel free to ask or leave a comment.  I am always happy to help a fellow home brewer out!

More Beer Veteran’s Day Coupon – Save $25 on Orders of $150+

More Beer Promo Code #homebrewing #homebrew #morebeer #more #beer #promo #code #coupon

More Beer Promo Code #homebrewing #homebrew #morebeer #more #beer #promo #code #coupon

 

Coupon Code Date: 11-11-2016
Promotion Details: Save $25 On Your $150+ Order at More Beer
Promo Code: SAVE25

Coupon Description: I came across one of those promo codes that I had to share. More Beer is the best home brew supply shop around in my opinion, they have great every day prices but rarely have promotions.  Today they do!  Right now at MoreBeer they are having  a Veterans Day Sale going on that will save you $25 on any order of $150 or more!  More Beer also has free Shipping on orders of that size so if you have been wanting to make a large purchase or pick up a few home brewing kits, this is a great time to do it.  Click on the links for all of the details.

 

MoreBeer.com Veterans Day Promo Code

 

Updated Homebrewing Beer Recipe Listing

Hot Girl Chugging Beer Animated Gif

Girl Chugging Beer Animated Gif

 

Beer drinkers and home brewers rejoice!  I am happy to announce that I have updated my homebrewing beer recipe archive and will be adding additional recipes shortly including my Pliny the Elder All Grain Beer Recipe and my Squanto Pilsner Homebrew Recipe.  So please check back often and let me know if you have any suggestions!

Home Brewing Beer Recipe Archive

 

Hoppy Brew Year!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Hoppy Brew Year and a Happy New Year. 2015 ended up being a great brewing year for me and I was able to add some new home brewing equipment to my setup and brew some great beer batches with my friends and family.

 

I have a couple of beers in the works for 2016 right now and if they come out well, I hope to post the recipe for anyone who is interested. I hope you had a great 2015 and have an even better 2016.

 

Here are a couple of home brewing photos from November and December 2015

Hoppy Brew Year

Hoppy Brew Year

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