Fab 5 fifties pale ale

After a 3 month break from brewing, Wednesday night was my time to get back to it.

I was inspired by the fun race, Chippewa 50k, and the start of the Fab 5 50 ultra running series. What does this have to do with the style of beer I chose? nothing. I figured a pale ale with medium bitterness was a good all around beer for runners. I will be cracking this pale ale at the Ice Age 50, and maybe have bottles ready at Superior 50k.

The starter.... Wyeast 1056

The Mash

The sparge/lautering

The Boil

The Boys..... Carboys, that is

Starting gravity came out to 1.057! Sweet. My efficiency is still low (64%), but that is not the end of the world.

10 gallon batch. Will keg 5, bottle 5.

less than 12 hour lag time for fermention to start, so this should be a good one.

Finally brewed the Tripel

83% Belgian Pils
4% Bdlgian Aromatice
13% Cane Sugar

Used Northern Brewer hops to get an IBU of 30 (the store was bare bones on hops)

Trappist Ale yeast WL 500 (over a gallon starter)

We did a 6 gallon batch last night, and it took way to long.

Starting gravity = 1.087

Pictures to come soon

First Belgian Tripel

It's about time I finally made one. My friend Jeremy and I are going to crank this sucker out on Monday night.

Seeing that it is 10 gallons at an OG target of 1.090, I need to make a HUGE starter this weekend. Will probably use WL500 Trappists ale yeast.

The recipe is coming together to look like

85% Belgian Pils
10% Belgian Aromatic
5% Caramunic (not sure about this one)

Hop schedule will be Northern for bittering and possible Saaz for aroma. Target IBU 30 or so.

Time to do the math

Fat Tire Clone

Mr. top 25 cigars and I brewer a Fat Tire Clone yesterday. We hit the Original Gravity perfectly at 1.052. Since I was able to get a 72% mash efficiency, the larger batch (11 gallons) came out correct. The SRM and IBU might be off, but we are not entering in a brew competition with this one.

We enjoyed cigars, Bell's Two Hearted Ale, and my Bourbon Barrel Porter. All essential ingredients for distance runners.

MN Dead Runners: this could be at the November FA