Connecting to SQL Server from SQL Developer on a Mac

I just spent a couple of hours trying to get SQL Developer (4.0.0.13) to authenticate to SQL Server 2012 using Windows authentication from OS X (Mavericks). Although SQL Developer prompts for a domain and whether you want to use Windows authentication, it appears to ignore those settings on OS X. Hopefully this is useful to someone else in the future. Here’s what worked for me, after reading this fellow’s instructions and stackoverflow.

1. Edit the SQL Developer connections file: /Users/<username>/.sqldeveloper/system4.0.0.13.80/o.jdeveloper.db.connection.12.1.3.0.41.131202.1730/connections.xml
2. Modify the JDBC connection string to pass useNTLMv2=true and domain=<domain>

<StringRefAddr addrType=”customUrl”>
<Contents>jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://<hostname>:<port>;useNTLMv2=true;domain=<domain></Contents>
</StringRefAddr>

3. Save the file and start SQL Developer. You should be able to connect.

Similarly for Pentaho Data Integration (e.g. spoon), you need to pass the same params to the driver:

• Connection Type: MS SQL Server (not the Native driver)
• Under Options, create parameters for useNTLMv2 and domain.

Hoppy American Wheat Ale

My earliest forays into the world of craft beer were likely American Wheat Ales, followed closely by massively hopped IPAs. Last summer, I decided to brew a wheat ale to bring together the two styles. I wanted something crisp with citrusy hop notes – something to enjoy on a warm, sunny day. Given how much I enjoyed the Amarillo/Citra combo in my Wookey Jack clone and the Summer Golden Ale – it was clearly the right choice for the recipe. As usual, my desire to write about beer isn’t quite as strong as my desire to sit around drinking beer – so I never got around to writing a post about it (though, I do have some great photos of it in a Muskoka Brewery Weizen glass). My brief tasting notes at the time were: “Light. Golden Promise shines through. Bit of Amarillo/Citra fruitiness on finish, slight tartness from wheat. Delightfully easy drinker!”

As our “winter” transitioned to spring (this is Vancouver after all), I decided that I needed to revisit the recipe… and add more hops! MOAR HOPS! Drawing upon recipes from Bertus Brewery and The Mad Fermentationist, I substantially increased the hops from last year’s recipe. Similar to last batch, all hop additions are after 15 minutes in the boil – employing yet again, the hop burst technique. As Mike described his beer, this is “a real beer-nerd session beer. Layers of hop flavor in a package you could drink a few of.” Exactly what I wanted and exactly what I got, as scrawled in my notes from the first taste of the beer: “Nailed it with this year’s batch. It just got carb’d and it’s great. More IPA than wheat ale, fine by me!” It lasted a few weeks and was my go-to beer when the sun was shining. This has the makings of an annual beer…

Hoppy American Wheat Ale Recipe

Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.10 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.02 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.044 SG
Expected OG: 1.052 SG
Actual OG: 1.051
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Actual FG: 1.010 SG
Expected Efficiency: 60.0 %
Actual Efficiency: 58.1 %
Expected ABV: 5.2 %
Actual ABV: 5.4 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 36.4
Expected Color: 6.5 SRM
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins

Fermentables
Wheat Malt 7.00 lb (48.3 %)
Golden Promise 7.00 lb (48.3 %)
Carastan Malt 0.50 lb (3.4 %)

Hops
Amarillo (8.8 % alpha) 28 g Loose Pellet Hops used 15 Min From End
Citra (14.1 % alpha) 28 g Loose Pellet Hops used 15 Min From End
Citra (14.1 % alpha) 113 g Loose Pellet Hops used At turn off
Amarillo (8.8 % alpha) 57 g Loose Pellet Hops used At turn off
Citra (12.5 % alpha) 70 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
Amarillo (8.8 % alpha) 23 g Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped

Other Ingredients
Yeast: DCL US-05
Mashed at 67C/152F

Summer Golden Ale

Sitting here in the midst of a west coast winter, thinking about this beer brings memories of summer flooding back. Admittedly, it’s been a very easy winter – hardly any rain and plenty of sunshine. Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to summer and reflecting on this beer is a great way to prepare for the summer ahead.

Being a fan of the golden ales brewed by Conrad and Tak at Steamworks (apologies for such a crappy link), I wanted to brew something similar, albeit more citrusy, without becoming an India Session Ale. I kept the malt bill simple and decided to forgo bittering hops in lieu of a hop burst at 10 minutes.

The result was a very quaffable golden ale that I enjoyed through June and July. I was particularly happy with this beer because drinking it back to back with a pro golden ale showed that I can produce something of comparable quality on the homebrew scale. It might seem like a small achievement, but it’s taken a lot of work to get to this point.

I’m going to forgo the usual BJCP-esque tasting notes since I didn’t take any back in the summer. Instead, here are a couple of check-ins from Untappd that will need to do. Rest assured, I’ll be doing another batch of this beer again this summer. Maybe with a touch of Simcoe?

Summer Golden Ale Recipe

Specifics
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.10 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.033 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.036 SG
Expected OG: 1.038 SG
Actual OG: 1.041 SG
Expected FG: 1.009 SG
Actual FG: 1.010 SG
Expected Efficiency: 60.0%
Actual Efficiency: 65.3%
Expected ABV: 3.8%
Actual ABV: 4.1%
Expected IBU: 30
Expected Color: 4.4 SRM
Boil Duration: 60 mins

Fermentables
Gambrinus Pale Malt 10.00 lb – 90.9%
Munich Malt – 1.00 lb – 9.1%

Hops
Amarillo (10.4% alpha) 28 g – 10 mins
Citra (14.1% alpha) 28 g – 10 mins

Other Ingredients
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale
Mashed at 152F

2013 Homebrew Tally

A quick tally of the beers that I brewed in 2013. I’ll admit two batches eventually found their way down the drain, but otherwise it was a pretty successful year for homebrewing. With some volume variations from batch to batch, I brewed approximately 400 litres in total.

Amarillo/Citra/Simcoe Pale Ale – 6.2%
Amarillo/Citra Wheat Ale – 5.2%
Apollo/Cascade Amber Ale – 6.4% (dumped)
American Barleywine Jan 12th – 11.9%
American Barleywine Nov 27th – 9.6%
Blue Dog DIPA – 9.2%
Cascade Fresh Hop Ale – 6.7%
Centennial Pale Ale – 3.6%
Dan’s Strathcona Pale Ale – 6.5%
HBC 342 American Wheat Ale – 5.3%
Historical Porter – 8.2%
Kitchen Sink IPA – 8.2%
Kitchen Sink IPA Redux – 6.9%
Milk Stout – 5.9%
Rye Mild – 3.8% X3
Summer Golden Ale – 4.1%
Vista IPA – 7.7%
Zeus IPA – 5.3% (dumped)

Blue Dog IPA: A Blue Dot Clone Attempt

Continuing to catch-up on brews from earlier this year…

In the summer of 2012, I attended OSCON – which was one of the best conferences that I have ever attended (with the exception of the National Homebrewers Conference). Conveniently, the Portland Convention Center and our hotel were within walking distance of Hair of the Dog Brewing Company. For those of you who aren’t beer geeks, Hair of the Dog is a brewery you’ll find on many beer geeks’ bucket lists – this is evidenced by the high ratings on Beer Advocate.

While there, I got to try to their Blue Dot IPA. It was dank, resinous and citrusy, but not overly bitter. Speaking with the server, he indicated the current recipe was hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe – which explained why I enjoyed it so much. I brought a few bottles home and quickly added it to my list of beers to try to clone on my homebrew rig. Subsequent research suggested that the hop schedule varies with availability, but the key message from brewer Alan Sprints is “I like strong hops, any will do”.

So I put together a recipe and I was ready to go…  until I woke up on brew day and realized I only had 10 pounds of pilsner malt, not the 20 pounds I needed. Given that the closest homebrew shop didn’t open until 11am, I had to improvise and add some pale malt. Given that I had already made one change, I decided to throw in a bit of Cascade to use up what I had in my inventory.

Appearance – Regardless of keg or bottle, fresh or old, this beer had a lot of haze. See the picture if you want to know more about the appearance. Feel free to admire my awesome White Labs stein.

Aroma – Citrus, pine, and a little bit of apple (uh-oh).

Taste – Resinous, dank and some citrus. Some vegetal hop flavours. But as the aroma suggested, there’s green apple flavour – acetaldehyde – which became more pronounced as hop flavour subsided. There’s a bit of spiciness that can be attributed to the rye – it plays well with the Simcoe hops. A bitter finish, perhaps more bitter than I remember Blue Dot being. I get a little bit of alcohol warmth as it goes down my throat.

Mouthfeel – The lower mash temp definitely worked out well. It finishes dry, but still has some body, which can likely be attributed to the rye.

Drinkability/Notes – I was really looking forward to this beer…  and while I enjoyed it fresh, I was let down longer term. Obviously, there’s some acetaldehyde, which I haven’t quite figured out why. Then there’s the vegetal hop flavour from leaving it in-contact with dry hops for an extended period of time. My biggest lesson from this beer is to avoid keg-hopping when the beer will be in contact with hops for more than a week or two. I know plenty of people who put a stainless steel screen on the dip tube in their keg and leave dry hops for the entire duration of the keg…  well, that’s not for me.

Blue Dog IPA Recipe

Specifics
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.10 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.076 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.058 SG
Expected OG: 1.087 SG
Actual OG: 1.078 SG
Expected FG: 1.024 SG
Actual FG: 1.009 SG
Expected Efficiency: 62.0%
Actual Efficiency: 47.5%
Expected ABV: 8.5 %
Actual ABV: 9.2 %
Expected IBU: 140?
Expected Color: 7.0 SRM
Boil Duration: 120.0 mins

Fermentables
Gambrinus ESB Pale Malt 10.25 lb – 44.9%
German Pilsner – 10.00 lb – 43.8%
UK Rye Malt – 2.56 lb – 11.2%

Hops
Apollo (18% alpha) 40 g – First wort hopped
Amarillo (9.5% alpha) 57 g – 20 mins
Simcoe (14.1% alpha) 57 g – 20 mins
Cascade (6.2% alpha) 57 g – 10 mins
Amarillo (9.5% alpha) 57 g – 0 mins
Simcoe (14.1% alpha) 85 g – 0 mins
Cascade (6.2% alpha) 57 g – 0 mins
Amarillo (9.5% alpha) 57 g – Dry-hop
Simcoe (14.1% alpha) 57 g – Dry-hop

Other Ingredients
Yeast: Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale
Mashed at 148F

Reflections on Permanence and Purpose

During October, I had a lot of time to think about life and specifically, what I want of my life. I had the great fortune to do much of this thinking far from home in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and London. Four weeks away from the usual day-to-day. Three of those weeks in cities with immense history that dwarfs the history of all Canadian cities. No work, no responsibilities – just time… for eating baguettes, wandering city streets, drinking beer, and exploring museums.

In the end…

Early in the trip, a theme quickly emerged: permanence. Wandering through Paris, I was astounded by the vast history everywhere. Here I was, in a city with a history stretching well before the Roman Republic. A city central to the Napoleonic Empire. A city where La Résistance worked amidst Paris’ massive underground tunnels – the same tunnels where Nazi soldiers established bunkers in World War II. I wondered about the individual people who lived in these buildings and walked these streets. I imagine there was largely hardship, occasionally punctuated by happy moments – likely brought by luxuries that I take for granted today. I was surrounded by an overwhelming history in a vibrant city where people continue to live. But the recurring question that preoccupied my thoughts was: who were these people as individuals and what is left of their lives today?

The sheer number of people whose lives are without permanence was underscored by a visit to the Catacombs of Paris where there are more than 6 million skeletons organized in an elaborate ossuary. There are no tombstones, no records of the individuals – just general records of the graveyards from which the skeletons were removed and when they were deposed in the catacombs. There are no individuals. A person’s skull or femur might be used as part of a wall or monument – but that’s the extent of individual permanence, if you can call it that. Nameless bones amidst a giant pile of nameless bones. There’s something about a pile of bones that makes you feel utterly insignificant and acutely aware that your eventual fate is much the same.

The jarring lack of individual permanence in the Catacombs was sharply contrasted by the history preserved in countless, stunning museums. I was floored by the volume of art. To be honest, I don’t know much about art – my knowledge is probably on par with the average person.  I know some artists and the names of a few pieces, but that’s about it. But visits to museums provided a window into people’s lives – individual narratives that I could follow.  In particular, I was enthralled with impressionism and the lives and works of Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. I could trace the trajectories of their careers and lives: the challenges they faced, the families they raised, the places they lived.  I felt a tenuous connection to them as individuals.  But when I thought about the individuals represented in the museums, it’s a frighteningly small percentage of the people who lived in their era. The likelihood that anyone reading this insignificant blog post will leave some form of lasting legacy…  a rather depressing thought.  Nonetheless, the museums provided a foggy window into lives that still have a legacy today.

Van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhone (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

I don’t intend for any of this to come across as profound, because it’s undoubtedly not. But it left me with considerable perspective from which to reflect on my life. What have I done with my life thus far? Why do I feel compelled to leave something of importance behind after I die? Will that legacy be important to me and those near me, or could it have some larger importance? Is it even reasonable to think I have the potential to leave some form of legacy? I still have more questions than answers, but grappling with these questions has left me with some clarity with which to move forward.

Picking hops at UBC Farm

First and foremost, I am happiest when practicing a craft. As such, I need to spend more time day-to-day as a craftsperson. I don’t expect any lasting legacy from this work, but there’s considerable self-fulfillment to be found in practicing a craft amidst a community of like-minded individuals. My work in edtech has largely been driven by community, characterized in recent years by those who have congregated around ds106radio. (My contributions are minimal and I’m no Jim Groom, Brian Lamb, Audrey Watters or Grant Potter – I only mean to say that’s the community that inspires me). Similarly, I’ve become an avid homebrewer due to my love of the craft and the vast community that surrounds it. I came across a Van Gogh quote on the trip that captures my love of craft and community: “I know how much I still have to learn myself, but all the same I’m beginning to see light ahead of me and, one way or another, by practising on my own, by learning anything I can from others, I’ll continue to paint with passion” (Van Gogh, 22 Oct 1883). Whether it’s brewing, cooking, farming, music, software craftsmanship, systems administration, solving problems, or writing – I need to make craft a priority, personally and professionally. Hell, maybe I’ll take up painting.

Secondly, I need to come to terms with my mortality and that of those I love. I am fortunate to be in reasonably decent health and I haven’t lost many people in my life. But this will not always be the case. I have been fixated on illness and death for quite some time and I need to get over it. I need to find some way to accept death.  I need to take better care of myself (namely, lose weight) and stop worrying. On a train from Paris to Amsterdam, I was listening to The Japandroids and as the refrain goes in Young Hearts Spark Fire: “We used to dream, now we worry about dying … and I don’t wanna worry about dying, I just wanna worry about those Sunshine Girls”. It’s no master piece of art, but the passion is there. What matters is the present and it’s where I need to be living. More dreaming, more living.

Finally, I need to focus on family. Time passes so easily and I don’t make enough time for family. I need to make this a priority immediately. More FaceTime, more email, more phone calls, and more face-to-face visits. It’s also time to start a family of my own, which raises a barrage of questions like ‘should we buy a house?’ and ‘where?’ I am excited and terrified in equal proportions. A friend whom I won’t name here, has commented that while his wife is pregnant, he has trouble sleeping – lying awake, worrying about how to provide for them. I suspect I will be of a similar disposition. Having this in the forefront of my mind has certainly changed my thinking in recent weeks.

But getting back to permanence…  I’m left with the impression that permanence is fleeting and unlikely. Electronic artifacts are easily destroyed, by accident or malicious intent, or en masse by something like a coronal mass ejections. Even physical artifacts, like works of art, can be stolen and haphazardly destroyed. It’s depressing, but it’s a reminder to live in the present. Sing with your friends. Have fun. Make the most of the moments we’re afforded. It’s such a cliché, but with good reason. In the end, permanence is found in those you share your life with, which is why I’m rambling here to all of y’all…

Homebrew Milestone: First Place with JLo’s Rye Mild

I am really proud of this beer. It took first place in the English Brown Ale category of the 2013 VanBrewer Awards.  But like every beer, it has a story. To start, this isn’t my recipe and it was actually the first mild I brewed! While it could be written off as a fluke, I think this beer reflects my growth as a brewer.  But more importantly, I think it shows how the homebrewing community has cultivated my passion for this hobby and given me enough knowledge to brew a decent beer, even a style I have never brewed.

The first contributor is VanBrewers – one of the largest homebrew clubs in Canada.  Every month there’s a meeting where folks talk about their beers, equipment, ingredients, process, recipes and more. There’s a good deal of tasting and you can submit beers to be reviewed by BJCP judges. I have gotten a tonne of feedback about my beers and while tasting such a wide-range of styles, I get ideas for my recipes. On the topic of milds, a few guys in the club are very knowledgeable about English ales and specifically milds. This allowed me to try more milds than I could ever access commercially and generally, discover it as a style. Turns out, I quite like milds and I’ve been able to learn a great deal from the English ale ‘experts’.  I always learn something at a VanBrewers meeting – great people and great beers.  I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who wants to get into homebrewing.

The next contributor is the broader homebrewing community, much of it online.  The amount of available knowledge is astounding.  Much of it exists  in forums: HomeBrewTalk, Beer Advocate, Northern Brewer, and Homebrewers Association.  Or in a number of blogs. I most keenly follow: Bertus Brewery, The Mad Fermentationist, The Perfect Pint, and Brew Science.  Lest I forget podcasts: BeerSmith and Basic Brewing. Or magazines: BYO and Zymurgy.  The online community and countless homebrew clubs convene every year at the penultimate gathering for homebrewers: The National Homebrewers Conference (NHC). I still need to write a proper summary of my time at the 2012 conference, but getting back to milds – it was at NHC where I attended Drew Beechum’s session on Brewing On The Ones. One of the recipes that Drew presented was his Rye Mild, of which I was lucky to have a sample.  For a mild it had a great mouthfeel and a touch of caramel-y sweetness, something I’ve found missing in some milds that I’ve tasted.  Drew describes the beer best:

I was going to brew Drew’s recipe, but made a few adjustments: I added a little Briess Blackprinz to darken the beer and add a wee bit of roast flavour.  I also hopped a little more aggressively than the original recipe, which added a stronger earthy spice flavour.  I thought this complimented the spice from the rye nicely.  Small adjustments to a simple recipe.

Instead of my tasting notes, I’ve included notes from the judging sheets (as I said, I’m rather proud of this beer).

Appearance

•  Judge A0830 – 2/3 – Great clarity. Rich amber. Thin white head. Low retention.
• Judge A0969 – 3/3 – Dark coppery colour. Decent head retention. Crystal clear colour. White head.
• Steward – 3/3 – Super clear, copper amber colour. Ivory coloured head with some retention.

Aroma

• Judge A0830 – 8/12 – Fruity, apple like aroma. Light caramel toffee notes (diacetyl?). Low hop character.
• Judge A0969 – 9/12 – Some caramel coffee toffee notes, hints of fruit with mid subtle hop notes.
• Steward – 7/12 – Light caramel, chocolate malt aroma. Slight spicy hop background, some fruity esters present.

Flavour

• Judge A0830 – 12/20 – Rich crystal flavours and tobacco hop character in support. Balance is slightly bitter (too much for style). Low esters. No acetaldehyde. Finish is roasty and bitter.
• Judge A0969 – 13/20 – Slight hop bitterness dominates the flavour. Some roasty notes. Would prefer more malts in the balance. Slight metallic notes.
• Steward – 15/20 – Malty, caramel and chocolate. Some hop bitterness balanced towards bitter, not appropriate to style, but tastes great.

Mouthfeel

• Judge A0830 – 4/5 – Mod to mod/low body. Mod-low CO2. Low creaminess. No astringency or alcohol.
• Judge A0969 – Nice light medium body. Decent carbonation. No slickness. Nice creaminess.
• Steward – Medium body with low carbonation, some creaminess.

Overall Impression

• Judge A0830 – 8/10 – Wonderful beer. A bit too bitter for style and balance of the beer. Roast and yeast character is really nice. A touch more CO2 (would be fine as is in a full pint) would balance the creaminess of the already fantastic mouthfeel. Well done!
• Judge A0969 – 7/10 – The roasted malts have detracted from the sweetness, throwing the hop balance out. Try reducing either the bittering hops or roasted malts.
• Steward  – 8/10 – Very good beer. Slightly too much hop bitterness for the style. I would drink a lot of this one! Great job!

Rye Mild Recipe

Specifics
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.10 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.038 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.040 SG
Expected OG: 1.044 SG
Actual OG: 1.048 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Actual FG: 1.019 SG
Expected Efficiency: 60.0%
Actual Efficiency: 62.8%
Expected ABV: 4.0 %
Actual ABV: 3.8 %
Expected IBU: 31
Expected Color: 17.9 SRM
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins

Fermentables
Gambrinus ESB Malt 10.00 lb – 84.2%
UK Rye Malt – 1.50 lb – 12.6%
UK Briess Blackprinz – 0.38 lb – 3.2%

Hops
East Kent Goldings (6.1% alpha) 43 g – First wort hopped

Other Ingredients
Yeast: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale
Mashed at 157F

Apollo Pale Ale

Continuing with my effort to catch-up on recipes and tasting notes. Going back to January 5, 2013 with this beer. I was planning on brewing a barley wine, but rather than making a huge starter, I decided to make a pale ale. For a simple beer that started out as a means to another, bigger, maltier beer – I was shocked by the result. Keeping the recipe simple was definitely the way to go:  Golden Promise + Crystal 70-80 + Apollo + Wyeast 1968 = an easy going pale ale. It was so tasty that I don’t seem to have any tasting notes. I do have 21 checkins on Untappd, thankfully, to inform the tasting notes below.

Appearance – Copper colour and clear, clear, clear!  Between the highly flocculant Wyeast 1968 and my transition to kegs, this beer cleared spectacularly well after ~2 weeks of cold-conditioning.

Aroma – It’s been a few months, but I can still recall the smell of this beer: clean malts, some citrus, and that English ale yeast aroma.

Taste – Slight English esters w/ light, clean bitterness from Apollo hops on finish. Can easily identify the sweetness from the Golden Promise malt.  Malt tastes very fresh.  Hops flavours are earthy, spicy with slight citrus.

Mouthfeel – Light and easy-drinking.  At 4.4% ABV that’s to be expected.  Tasted back-to-back with Powell Street’s Old Jalopy Pale Ale, I found this beer to be much thinner.  The next batch could use a little more mouthfeel.

Drinkability/Notes – Very pleasant English Pale Ale.  I wish I had saved a few bottles to enter in competitions, but it was too tasty and far too tempting when I got home from work in the evening.  A refreshing, low ABV pale ale.  Will definitely brew again, but with some adjustments to get better mouthfeel.

Apollo Pale Ale Recipe

Specifics
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.10 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045 SG
Expected OG: 1.051 SG
Actual OG: 1.048 SG
Expected FG: 1.015 SG
Actual FG: 1.015 SG
Expected Efficiency: 65.0%
Actual Efficiency: 65.7%
Expected ABV: 4.7 %
Actual ABV: 4.4 %
Expected IBU: 75
Expected Color: 11.1 SRM
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins

Fermentables
UK Golden Promise 12.00 lb – 92.3%
UK Dark Crystal (70-80L) – 1.00 lb – 7.7%

Hops
Apollo (18% alpha) 14 g – First wort hopped
Apollo (18% alpha) 14 g – 15 mins
Apollo (18% alpha) 28 g – 0 mins

Other Ingredients
Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale
Mashed at 152F

West Coast Amber Ale

Generally, I don’t brew much in the summer.  That’s largely because I have no fermentation temperature control and while it isn’t particularly hot in the summer in Vancouver, a few 24C days will create a lot more esters than I like.  So it’s weird that I wanted to brew in early July (2012).  But the weather was great and I was out of homebrew.  A few weeks earlier, I attended the National Homebrewers Conference and sampled some awesome amber ales (not to mention, every other style).  Having never brewed an amber, I figured a good place to start would be the West Coast Blaster in Brewing Classic Styles.  To keep fermentation temperatures in some semblance of control, I used a swamp cooler for the first time.  It worked relatively well and didn’t require much effort, so I may give it a try this summer.  Though, I recently re-purposed my ‘keezer’ as a fermentation chamber and I think I could be convinced to invest in a mini-fridge for fermentation.  The alternate plan is to brew Saisons until cooler weather returns.

The brew day didn’t go particularly well – efficiency was terrible!  It was the first batch where I used my Monster Mill to crush the grains.  I didn’t crush the grains enough and efficiency suffered.  I decided to boil for an extended time, acknowledging that I would undershoot my target volume.  The only problem was that I made the decision after adding the 60 min hops – so they were more like 120 min hops, which made this beer quite bitter.  But it was a gorgeous sunny day, so I didn’t really care at the time.

Fermentation went well.  The swamp cooler kept temperatures around 18 C.   But getting it to carbonate (in bottles) took a long, long time.  There was some carbonation after a month, but it was 3-4 months before it was carbonated to style.  Which worked out in the end, because this beer was far too bitter until it was at least 6 months old.  Age also rounded out a tartness that I noticed in this beer.  Some tasters noticed it, but others didn’t.  I found a message board thread discussing tartness when using Wyeast 1322, but I know that Will from The Perfect Pint uses this yeast regularly and I’ve never seen him mention tartness in his tasting notes.  Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the tartness.  It will be a while before I try this yeast again.

Appearance – Nice and clear, can see through it and read newsprint.  One of the clearest bottle-conditioned beers that I’ve made.  Colour is a nice amber.

Aroma – Light malt aroma, some sweetness and a slight tart smell.

Taste – Toasted malt at start. Tartness, presumably from the yeast, blending into a strong bitterness from the Magnum hops. Light malt sweetness on finish with dryness from the bitter.

Mouthfeel – Kind of thin.  Carbonation has always been a little lacking, it never carbonated quite right.

Drinkability/Notes – I wasn’t fond of this beer until it began to carbonate around 3-4 months.  Even then, I wasn’t a big fan.  But at 8 months, the last bottle of this beer was rather tasty. I felt dumb for having wasted so many bottles in the first 3-4 months.  I’ll definitely brew this beer again, but I think I’ll use a different yeast.

West Coast Amber Ale Recipe

Specifics
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.10 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.057 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.042 SG
Expected OG: 1.066 SG
Actual OG: 1.052 SG
Expected FG: 1.020 SG
Actual FG: 1.014 SG
Expected Efficiency: 70.0%
Actual Efficiency: 51.9%
Expected ABV: 6.2 %
Actual ABV: 5.0 %
Expected IBU: 49.2
Expected Color: 12.2 SRM
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins (but boiled much longer to offset poor mash efficiency)

Fermentables
Maris Otter 12.75 lb – 83.1%
Munich 1.00 l.00 lb – 6.5%
Carastan 1.00 lb – 6.5%
Victory 0.50 lb – 3.3%
Chocolate 0.10 lb – 0.7%

Hops
Magnum (14.2% alpha) 28 g – 60 mins
Cascade (6.5% alpha) 28 g – 10 mins
Simcoe (14.1% alpha) 21 g – 10 mins
Cascade (6.5% alpha) 28 g – 0 mins
Simcoe (14.1% alpha) 21 g – 0 mins

Other Ingredients
Yeast: Wyeast 1322 Northwest Ale
Mashed at 152F

Wookey Jack Clone Attempt

I’ve never had Firestone Walker’s Wookey Jack, but I’ve wanted to brew a Black IPA for quite some time.  I also have a fondness for Rye IPAs, so I started looking for a good example to work from.  Reviews on Beer Advocate quickly lead me to Wookey Jack, with a rating of 94 across 1000+ reviews.  Being such a popular beer, it was easy to find a recipe on Home Brew Talk.  I had to make a few changes, given lack of access to ingredients – e.g. Cara Rye, Carafa III, and Midnight Wheat.  Also, not having Magnum handy, I substituted Apollo.

Appearance – Body is black, pretty much opaque.  Pours with an inch of tan head, which diminishes quickly to a solid layer of bubbles.  Slight lacing as I finished the pint.

Aroma – Smells like lightly roasted malts.  Can pickup hints of spice alongside mango and light grapefruit.  Hop aroma has quickly dissipated in the 4 weeks it’s been in the keg.

Taste – Starts with spice, roasted malts and slight sweetness.  Hop fruitiness in the middle, fading into a bitterness that finishes sweet.  After taste is roasty and sweet.  Alcohol is well-hidden.

Mouthfeel – Although it feels thin, it has a certain thickness that’s particularly noticeable as you swallow.  Carbonation could be slightly higher, might improve the mouthfeel.

Drinkability/Notes – I have no idea if it’s anything like Wookey Jack, but I doubt it.  Nonetheless, it’s a good beer.  But it’s not great.  In future batches, I’ll dial back the rye and maybe drop the Carafa II in lieu of a bit more Blackprinz.  Although I’ve enjoyed having it on tap, I’m happy to be near the end of the keg.  A half pint is enjoyable, but a full pint can be a bit much.

Wookey Jack Clone Recipe

Specifics
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.10 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.055 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.057 SG
Expected OG: 1.063 SG
Actual OG: 1.072 SG
Expected FG: 1.016 SG
Actual FG: 1.020 SG
Expected Efficiency: 60.0%
Actual Efficiency: 62.0%
Expected ABV: 6.3 %
Actual ABV: 6.7 %
Expected IBU: 75
Expected Color: 33.8 SRM
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins

Fermentables
UK Maris Otter Malt 14.50 lb – 81.7%
UK Rye – 2.00 lb – 11.3%
Carafa II Special – 0.50 lb – 2.8%
Briess Blackprinz – 0.5 lb – 2.8%
Chocolate Rye – 0.25 lb – 1.4%

Hops
Apollo (18% alpha) 14 g – First wort hopped
Amarillo (10.4% alpha) 57 g – 15 mins
Citra (13.4% alpha) 28 g – 15 mins
Amarillo (10.4% alpha) 57 g – 0 mins
Citra (13.4% alpha) 28 g – 0 mins
Amarillo (10.4% alpha) 57 g – Dry hopped
Citra (13.4% alpha) 57 g – Dry hopped

Other Ingredients
Yeast: Wyeast 1450 Denny’s Favorite 50
Mashed at 152F