Yes I have been Brewing Too

I was just noticing that it has been sometime since I've posted anything about actually brewing. Well I have been trying to brew around every 4 to 6 weeks. Since my last Brew Day post I've done an American Pale Ale, Robust Porter, Black IPA and the old staple Cream Ale (with a slight adjustment). I'm going to do another APA next. I always seem to do the Cream Ale and APA back to back because of trying to use up the small amount of hops in the Cream Ale. I pick up some grains and usually some Cascade and I'm good to go. For those interested, here are the recipes for

American Pale Ale
Cream Ale  - I wanted to get the adjuncts up to 20% so I adjusted the flaked corn to 1.75 lbs and the Crystal 10 to 0.50lbs to lighten the color.

Robust Porter
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Batch Size (G):           5
Total Grain (lb):         13.500
Total Hops (oz):          2.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.064  (°P): 15.7
Final Gravity (FG):       1.016  (°P): 4.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  6.29 %
Colour (SRM):             32.5 
Bitterness (IBU):         18.2   (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill
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10.000 lb Pale Malt
1.250 lb Crystal 40
1.250 lb Munich
0.750 lb Chocolate
0.250 lb Black Patent

Hop Bill
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1.00 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes


Single step Infusion at 154°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 64°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale


Black IPA
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Batch Size (G):           5
Total Grain (lb):         13.875
Total Hops (oz):          4.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.074  (°P): 18.0
Final Gravity (FG):       1.015  (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  7.76 %
Colour (SRM):             28.2
Bitterness (IBU):         63.3   (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill
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11.000 lb American 2-Row (79.28%)
1.500 lb Crystal 10 (10.81%)
0.750 lb Carafa II malt (5.41%)
0.625 lb Special Roast (4.5%)

Hop Bill
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1.00 oz Warrior Pellet (16.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 2 Minutes (Boil)
0.75 oz Warrior Pellet (16.7% Alpha) @ 2 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)
0.25 oz Warrior Pellet (16% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)

Single step Infusion at 150°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 65°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
I dry hopped for the last 4 days that I had the beer in the fermenter.

Four Leaf Mash Paddle

Every gift I got for Christmas this year was beer related. I got a refractometer, a weldless fitting to convert a keg to a keggle and other miscellaneous stuff. But by far the coolest thing was my personalize mash paddle from my father-in-law. Its a 36" paddle made of unfinished maple. It has a nice long handle that would make stirring the mash a breeze. Can't wait to try it out in a few weekends.