W00bwit was awarded Best of Show at the Brewer’s East End Revival (BEER) 15th Annual Brew-off Homebrew Competition in 2012. This Belgian wit style recipe was created by a brewer named Kyler Serfass. If you enjoy a beer with a light, fluffy body you won’t want to miss out on this award winning Belgian witbier recipe, called W00bwit.

All-grain recipe, 6-gallon batch size
Original gravity: 1.051
Final gravity: 1.011
Bitterness: 19.2 IBU

4.5 pounds Belgian pils
4.5 pounds pale wheat malt
1 pound Golden Naked Oats
1 pound flaked wheat
.5 pounds rice hulls
12 grams Crystal hops (3.5 percent AA)—added during boil, boiled 60 minutes
15.0 grams Hallertauer Tradition hops (6.5 percent AA)—added during boil, boiled 60 minutes
12 grams Czech Saaz hops (4 percent AA)—added during boil, boiled 30 minutes
14.2 grams coriander, crushed—added dry to secondary fermenter
3.0 ounces citrus zest—added during boil, boiled 10 minutes
1.0 liter Starter WYeast 3944 Belgian Wit
NYC tap water, added 1 gram gypsum and 1.5 gram CaCl to the boil. Mash pH was 5.56 at room temperature.

Mash at 154 degrees F for 60 minutes and boil for 90 minutes.

Fermentation: Make a 1-liter starter the night before on a stir plate. Use a wine degassing rod attached to a cordless drill for 30 seconds to draw in oxygen (in the current setup I use pure O₂.) Ferment the beer at 64 F for about two weeks, raising the temperature toward the end of fermentation.

Brewer’s notes: I believe the key to this recipe is using fresh citrus zest. I used a mixture of grapefruit, lemon, and navel and Valencia orange zest. Also, get the freshest green coriander you can get—it’s important. I also completely forgot to add the coriander to the boil, so I made a “tincture” by boiling the coriander for 10 minutes in about 4 ounces of water and added it to the serving keg. I also think that the Golden Naked Oats are much more flavorful than flaked or raw wheat, and I sub them in all recipes calling for flaked wheat. The beer peaked at about 5 weeks after brewing, when all the flavors came together and seemed balanced.

The Hoppy Brewer is your one-stop-shop for homebrew supplies, equipment, and ingredients. Find hops, barley, yeast, kegs, homebrew equipment, kegging equipment, a beer making kit, and even books on home brewing and beer recipes. Browse our Hops here.

SRC: Click to learn more about this W00bit homebrew recipe.

Medium Crystal malts (40L-60L) are the most common specialty grains used by homebrewers. Crystal malt, also called caramel malt, can be used in many beer styles and can be used in all-grain, partial mash, and extract brewing methods. These specialty grains are steeped, germinated, stewed, and then dried. Add a sweet caramel flavor to your brew by using Crystal malt specialty grains. Learn details about the different variations of Crystal malt below.

Light Crystal (Caramel Malt) 10 L5 to 20% will lend body and mouthfeel with a minimum of color, much like Carapils, but with a light crystal sweetness.

Also sold as CaraPils from the Dewolf-Cosyns maltster. My own opinion is that this is a much better choice in malt sweetness/body builder than the US Dextrin malt version.

Pale Crystal (Caramel Malt) 40 LAs with all Crystal malts, the character of this malt is contributed by unfermentable crystallized sugars produced by a special process Called “stewing”. 5 to 20 % Pale Crystal will lend a balance of light caramel color, flavor, and body to Ales and Lagers.

Caramel 40 is a mainstay malt in brewing of all types of ales. It can be used in British and American ales, and in conjunction with other malts in Belgian ales and German lagers. Hugh Baird Maltings in Witham , Essex, England make very fine high grade caramel malts. US domestic specialties are made from 6 row malt, whereas the European vesions are 2 row. This makes imported specialties a much higher quality product. The grain kernels are also plumper and as such will mill better than 6 row malts.

Medium Crystal (Caramel Malt) 60 LThis Crystal malt is well suited to all beer recipes calling for crystal malt and is a good choice if you’re not sure which variety to use. 5 to 15% of 60 L Crystal malt will lend a well rounded caramel flavor, color and sweetness to your finest Ales.Dark Crystal (Caramel Malt) 120 L5 to 15% will lend a complex bitter/sweet caramel flavor and aroma to beers. Used in smaller quantities this malt will add color and slight sweetness to beers, while heavier concentrations are well suited to strong beers such as Barley Wines and Old Ales.

The Deschutes Brewery’s founding brewmaster, John Harris is an icon in Oregon’s craft brewing history. John Harris brewed for McMenamins from 1986-1988, continued on to create recipes for Deschutes Brewery, and then spent 20 years running Full Sail Brewing’s brewmaster reserve program. Since 2013 he has continued his beer brewing career with Ecliptic Brewing. Join The Hoppy Brewer in an Ecliptic beer tasting event on Thursday, June 9th, 2016.

Ecliptic Brewing is a venture from John Harris, an Oregon craft brewing icon.  John’s background is one steeped in Oregon’s rich craft brewing history.  After beginning as a brewer at McMenamins’ breweries, he moved to Deschutes where he created the recipes for Mirror Pond, Black Butte Porter, Jubelale and Obsidian Stout.  He spent the next 20 years of his career as a Brewmaster at Full Sail in charge of creating the Brewmaster Reserve line of beers.  The creation of Ecliptic Brewing is the next chapter in John’s illustrious career.

The name Ecliptic Brewing unites John’s two passions:  brewing and astronomy.  The ecliptic is earth’s yearly path around the sun.  The centerpiece of our pub, a massive light fixture in the shape of the Analemma, represents our path through the seasons; we celebrate this journey with beer and food menus in constant change and rotation throughout the year.  Our seasonal menu rotates every 6 weeks on the old world calendar:  Samhain, Winter Solstice, Brighid, Spring Equinox, Beltaine, Summer Solstice, Lammas and the Autumnal Equinox.

Stay updated on our live music, beer events, and home brewing club meetings by checking out The Hoppy Brewer Events Calendar.

SRC: Learn more about Ecliptic Brewing at: http://eclipticbrewing.com/our-story

Brew your very own batch of this India Pale Ale, 1st round winner of the 2012 National Homebrew Competition in the India Pale Ale category. This American style IPA recipe was created by a brewer named Fritz Fernow. If you enjoy a highly bitter and golden IPA you won’t want to miss out on this award winning India Pale Ale recipe.

All-grain recipe, 6-gallon batch size
Original gravity: 1.062
Final gravity: 1.012
Bitterness: About 80 IBU
Alcohol by volume:: 6.7 percent

12 pounds two-row malt
1 pounds Simpsons Caramalt
8 ounces Carapils
4 ounces Red Wheat
.5 ounces Citra hops (11 percent AA), first wort hop
.5 ounces Magnum hops (14 percent AA), 60 minutes
.75 ounces Chinook hops (12 percent AA), 60 minutes
.5 ounces Centennial hops (10.5 percent AA), 20 minutes
1 ounce Citra hops (11 percent AA), 10 minutes
1 ounce Columbus hops (15 percent AA), 5 minutes
2 ounces Amarillo hops (7.5 percent AA), 1 minute
1 ounce Amarillo hops, 1 ounce Centennial Hops, .5 ounce Simco Hops—primary dry hop
1 ounce Citra hops—secondary dry hop
Whirlfloc and 1 teaspoon Wyeast nutrient, 10 minutes.
White Labs 001 California Ale Yeast

Mash for 60 minutes at 152 degrees F. Add the first-wort Citra hops addition to the boil kettle before the boil begins and begin heating the wort as soon as an inch or so of wort is collected in the kettle, continuing to run off the rest of the mash until full volume is reached.

Fermentation and dry-hopping procedure:Make a 1600-milliliter starter created 24 hours in advance of brew day. Pitch yeast at 66 degrees F and maintain. Aerate with pure O₂ for 45 seconds. Begin the dry hop after three to four days of fermentation. Add the primary dry-hop addition to the fermentation vessel and let rest for a week. When fermentation stops, do a dactyl rest by raising temperatures three to four degrees for two days. Transfer the beer off the dry hops and into a new vessel one full week after they were added. In this secondary vessel add ounce of Citra and let rest for once week before kegging or bottling.

Brewer’s notes: For dry hopping and aroma hops you need to be fearless—the more the merrier. I like to ferment IPAs in a bucket as opposed to my standard carboy for ease of dry hopping. The first round of dry hopping gets 2.5 ounces of hops. I do this by boiling a hop bag and 3 ounces of marbles for 10 minutes to sanitize them, and then add the 2.5 ounces of hops—take the lid of the bucket and toss them in. In the morning I will give the carboy a slight back-and-forth rock for about 15 seconds to get the hops mixed into the beer well. I will repeat at night when I get home from work.

The Hoppy Brewer is your one-stop-shop for homebrew supplies, equipment, and ingredients. Find hops, barley, yeast, kegs, homebrew equipment, kegging equipment, a beer making kit, and even books on home brewing and beer recipes. Browse our Grains here.

SRC: Click to learn more about this India Pale Ale Beer Recipe.

The Lagunitas Brewing Company bottles everything from lagers to ales, stouts to IPAs, and more. The Lagunitas Brewing Company is based out of Petaluma, California and Chicago, Illinois but don’t fret you can enjoy a pint of their brew in Gresham, Oregon. Visit The Hoppy Brewer and have a beer from the Lagunitas Brewing Company on Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 from 6pm-8pm.

Stay updated on our live music, beer events, and home brewing club meetings by checking out The Hoppy Brewer Events Calendar.

We all know, at least we should, that sanitization is number one when it comes to bottling your homebrewed beer. After everything is sanitized and dried, you’ll begin the bottling process by mixing the priming sugar. When your priming sugar is ready, you’ll siphon your beer on top of it and make sure everything is mixed evenly. The next step is to grab your bottle filler, attach it to your siphon, and start filling the bottles. The final step to bottling your beer is capping the bottles, this is when you’ll use your bottle capper. Simply raise the bottle capper’s arm all the way up and you will be able to adjust the height of the capper to fit different size bottles. Read detailed instructions from The Kitchn’s How To Bottle Beer at Home below.

What to Do: How to Bottle Your Homebrew

You’ll get 9 to 10 bottles of beer from your 1-gallon batch of homebrew.

What You Need

1-gallon batch of beer, ready to be bottled
.80 ounces (22 grams) corn sugar, or equivalent

Your fermentation bucket or stockpot
Measuring cups
Autosiphon
Tubing
Hose clamp
Bottle filler
10 12-ounce bottles
10 bottle caps
Bottle capper

1. Sanitize all your equipment: Sanitize everything that the beer will touch, including the fermentation bucket or stockpot and the bottle caps. As the bottles are sanitized, you can turn them upside-down in a dish drainer or on the shelf in your dishwasher to drain.
2. Prepare the priming sugar: Bring 1/4 cup of water to a boil, add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Pour the sugar water into the sanitized bucket or stockpot and let it cool to room temperature (this should only take a few minutes).
3. Mix the beer with the priming sugar: Siphon the beer from the jug into the bucket or stockpot with the priming sugar. Avoid stirring up the sediment at the bottom of the jug as much as possible. (Get detailed siphoning instructions: How To Transfer and Siphon Beer.)
4. Take a hydrometer reading: As you’re siphoning, siphon a little beer into a sanitized measuring cup and take a hydrometer reading. This reading will be your final gravity. Use this and the original gravity to calculate the alcohol in your beer. Pour the beer back into the pot — or drink it!
5. Prepare for bottling: Move the primed beer to the counter and arrange the sanitized bottles on the chair below. To keep the bottles steady, place them on a baking sheet.
6. Assemble the bottle filler and begin siphoning: Place the auto-siphon in the bucket of primed beer and insert the open end of the tube in the first bottle. Pump the auto-siphon to begin siphoning. As soon as beer is flowing, use the hose clamp to tightly close the tube. Fit the bottle filler into the open end of the tube. Insert the bottle filler back in the bottle so the tip presses against the bottom and release the hose clamp. The flow of beer should start again; pump the siphon if needed to help it along.
7. Fill the bottles: Fill the bottle until the beer reaches the lip of the bottle. Lift the bottle filler to stop the beer from flowing and move the filler to the next empty bottle. This will leave behind the correct amount of headroom in the bottle. Press the tip of the bottle filler against the bottom of the empty bottle to start the beer flowing again.
8. Cap the bottles: Move the bottles to the counter. Place a sanitized cap over the top of the first bottle. Position the bottle capper over the cap and press down on the “butterfly” sides of the bottle — this presses the crown of the cap down around the lip of the bottle, creating a seal. You don’t need to use much force to do this. Once the cap is crimped, the bottle is capped. Continue capping the remaining bottles.
9. Label and store the bottles: Label the bottles with the name of your beer and the date it was bottled. Store the beer in an enclosed cupboard, cardboard box, or plastic bin for 2 weeks or up to 1 year. Refrigerate the bottles before drinking.

If you’re ready to start bottling your brew, visit The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham to get your: Bottle Capper.

SRC: Learn more about bottling beer at: www.thekitchn.com/how-to-bottle-beer-the-kitchns-beer-school-2015-217267

Click below to learn more about our:

If you’re looking to brew a Northern German Altbier this Sticke Alt recipe is one to try. Compared to traditional Alts this Sticke Alt is darker, stronger and hoppier too. While brewing this German Altbier keep in mind the “Alt” refers to the old style of brewing, so you can imagine yourself in the old country brewing like the original German brewmasters.

INGREDIENTS

For 5 gallons (19 L)
Grains

SPECIFICATIONS

• Original Gravity: 13.5 °P (1.056)*
• Final Gravity: 3.5 °P (1.014)*
• ABV: 5.3%*
• IBU: 50*
• SRM: 22*
• Boil Time: 90-120 minutes
• Efficiency: n/a
• Pre-boil Volume: n/a
• Pre-boil Gravity: n/a

DIRECTIONS

You don’t have to visit Ontario, Oregon to enjoy a pint from the Beer Valley Brewing Company, they’ll be in Gresham, Oregon. The Beer Valley Brewing Company is an independent microbrewery specializing in the production of strong ales. Stop by The Hoppy Brewer and enjoy a strong ale from the Beer Valley Brewing Company on Thursday, May 26th, 2016 from 6pm-8pm.

Stay updated on our live music, beer events, and home brewing club meetings by checking out The Hoppy Brewer Events Calendar.

Summer is a great time to enjoy a batch of this Sour Blonde with Apricot, Sour Ale! Adding your apricots at the peak of harvest, June-August, is ideal so you’ll want to plan your brewing and aging accordingly. If you’re looking to make a refreshing soured fruit beer give this Sour Blonde with Apricot Ale a try.

INGREDIENTS

For 5.5 Gallons (20.82 L)

5.11 lb (2.32 kg) domestic pale two-row malt

2.25 lb (1.02 kg) unmalted flaked wheat (20%)

2.25 lb (1.02 kg) white wheat malt (20%)

1.75 lb (0.79 kg) Vienna malt (15%)

0.25 oz (7 g) Saaz pellets, 4% a.a. (60 min)

Ale or lager yeast of your choice for primary fermentation

Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus blend such as WLP655 or Wyeast 3763 for secondary fermentation

8.25 lb (3.74 kg) fresh, ripe, pitted apricotrs (see Directions)

Water: Target ion levels under 100 ppm each. Target mash pH 5.2-5.6

SPECIFICATIONS

• Original Gravity: 1.055
• Final Gravity: 1.004
• ABV: 6.6%
• IBU: 3
• SRM: 4

DIRECTIONS

If you’re starting a new homebrew venture you may prefer to use a propane burner. Propane burners are great for boiling your wort. Some people start their wort boiling on the stove top but if you don’t want the associated heat and scent in your home, a propane burner would allow you to boil outdoors. Homebrewing in your own backyard can be a relaxing experience with an easy cleanup. Learn more about the advantages of brewing outdoors below.

The Outdoor Advantage

There are some real advantages to taking the brewing process outside: having space for a full-wort boil, making cleanup easy, and cutting down on wasted water, to name a few.

Full-wort boil: The ability to boil the entire wort on a natural gas or propane cooker is one of the biggest advantages to brewing in the great outdoors. A full-wort boil is important to beer quality, and sometimes it’s hard to do in the kitchen. Ten- or 15-gallon batches are just about impossible on a kitchen stove, because the pots are much too large to fit on a single burner. And even if they did, it would take a long time to bring one to a boil.

Even a five-gallon batch requires about a seven-gallon brewpot. A pot that size often won’t fit conveniently under a kitchen range hood. If it does it will probably span a couple of burners, which can scorch the stove top. Electric ranges can cause some problems in brewing, such as scorching malt extract in the bottom of the pot. Temperature control on an electric range is difficult because the heating element stays hot after it is turned off.

The solution to all this is purchasing a natural gas or propane cooker to use outside. Bigger is better for this, so don’t be afraid to get a big one for homebrewing. Gas and propane cookers are economical, usually less than $50 without the propane bottle. They go from about 50,000 BTUs to 200,000 BTUs. BTU, or British thermal unit, is a standard measure of heat (a BTU is the amount of heat it takes to raise one pound of water at a specific temperature one degree).

A 200,000-BTU propane cooker at full throttle sounds like a 747 taking off, frightens small children and timid men, and brings five gallons of cold water to a boil in about 15 minutes.

All gas cookers must be used outdoors, unless you have an inspected and approved venting system installed for the exhaust gases.

If you are brewing 10- or 15-gallon batches, be sure to get one of the cookers with extra steel support to handle the weight. Your homebrew supplier can help you find a cooker made especially for homebrewing. The “shrimp cookers” made of round wire and sold by chain stores will bend under the weight of a big brewpot.

Easy cleanup: Brewing outside can save a lot of cleanup time in the kitchen. At the start of a full-wort boil, it seems that the pot tends to boil over once or twice just before the hot break. Indoors that’s a big deal. If you can’t stop the foam from going over, the stove has to be cleaned. Outdoors, all that is involved is hosing off a patio slab after the brewing session. Since I brew outdoors in all weather, I have found that being outside can even help control a boilover. A handful of clean, fresh snow tossed into the brewpot makes the foam go down!

If you’re ready to start your brew visit The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham to get your: Bayou Classic Outdoor Propane Burner

SRC: Read more about Outdoor Brewing at: http://byo.com/body/item/158-backyard-brewing