Maple Street Brewery

I'm back

2009-07-13T14:35:00.007-05:00

Well, I took a break here from blogging. I've been brewing, not as much as I would like to, but enough. This past weekend I brewed twice! I brewed on Saturday my "Honky Tonk Pale Ale". It's a typical pale ale with your standard C-hop aroma. I tweeked the recipe this time and added some Munich to it and increased the mash temp. I was mashing this beer around 149F in the past, but I'd like to go for some more body on this beer so I increased the mash temp to 154F.

Honky Tonk Pale Ale

11 lbs - 2 Row
12 oz - Munich
12 oz - Crystal 20L

Single Infusion Mash @ 154F

.5 oz - Columbus - 60 minutes
.5 oz - Centennial - 30 minutes
.5 oz - Cascade - 30 minutes
.25 oz - Centennial - 10 minutes
.25 oz - Cascade - 10 minutes

WYeast 1056

Est OG: 1.057 IBU: 43 SRM: 5.8

Then on Sunday I brewed my Firecracker Red IPA. This is a full bodied Red beer with tons of hops.

Firecracker Red IPA

12.5 lbs - 2 Row
1 lbs - Munich
1 lbs - Crystal 40L
8 oz - Crystal 120L
8 oz - Victory
2 oz - Chocolate Malt

Single Infusion Mash @ 154F

1 oz - Magnum - 60 minutes
1 oz - Centennial - 30 minutes
1 oz - Cascade - 30 minutes
1 oz - Centennial - 2 minutes
1 oz - Cascade - 2 minutes

1 oz Cascade - Dry Hop for 5 days
1 oz Centennial - Dry Hop for 5 days

WYeast 1056

Est OG: 1.068 IBU: 56 SRM: 16.6

It's good to be back on the blog and I'll be sure to not slack so much on this in the future.

Brew Strong!

Mark A.

Let's Brew Two!

2009-02-09T10:54:00.003-06:00

Saturday was a great day in the Chicago area. We finally had some decent weather (mid 50's) and some snow started to melt. I was able to take advantage of the nice weather and get outside and brew two batches of beer! I brewed 6 gallons of my Hefeweizen and 6 gallons of Amarillo Delight. The Hefeweizen is a typical Bavarian style hefe with lots of banana and clove esters. Here is the recipe.

Hefeweizen

6 lbs - Durst Turbo Pilsner Malt
5 lbs - Rahr White Wheat

Single Infusion Mash at 150F for 60 minutes.

1.5 oz Hersbrucker @ 60 min

WYeast 3068

This recipe is super simple, but makes an amazing Hefeweizen.

Saturday was also a great day because my brother-in-law, Dave, came by with his coffee roaster and roasted 6lbs of Columbian green coffee beans! Dave has recently become involved in roasting his own coffee and he does a great job! We really like his roasted beans.

All in all it was a great day, made 12 gallons of great beer and roasted 6lbs of great coffee!

Brew Strong!

Mark A.

Beer Chores

2009-01-24T16:35:00.004-06:00

It is way too cold outside today to brew so today was a "beer chore" day for me. I went over to my local home brew shop and picked up 50 lbs of Rahr 2-Row barley and 50 lbs of Rahr Wheat. I also picked up 20 lbs of Maris Otter and some other specialty grains. I usually like to keep a large surplus of grains at home so when I get some free time I can brew on any notice. I also had to pick up some sanitation supplies, cleaners, hop bags and I bought another new 6.5 gallon glass primary fermenter. My local homebrew shop also had some very fresh Amarillo leaf hops so I picked up a few ounces of them.

I sent my Amarillo Delight to a secondary fermenter and dry hopped it with two ounces of Cascade hops. This beer has been a huge hit at the Maple Street Brewery that past few months and it doesn't last long when it is on tap! Here is the recipe:

Amarillo Delight (American IPA)

Single Infustion mash @ 150F

11 lbs - Rahr 2-Row
8 oz - Crystal 20L
4 oz - Briess Victory

1 oz - Amarillo (60 min)
1 oz - Amarillo (20 min)
1 oz - Amarillo (1 min)
2 oz - Cascade (Dry Hop for 2 weeks)

WYeast 1056 American Ale Yeast

Est OG: 1.053 IBU: 45 SRM: 5

Like I said before, this beer is a huge hit and has lots of hop flavor and aroma. The dry hopping with Cascade is what really puts this beer into the "fantastic" category!

Cheers and brew strong!

Mark A.

Spiced Pumpkin Ale

2009-01-22T09:21:00.018-06:00

During the summer I brewed 10 gallons of Spiced Pumpkin Ale (BJCP Category 21a). I kept 5 gallons and kegged it and then bottled 5 gallons and gave the bottles away as a special Halloween gift from the Maple Street Brewery to family and friends. My friend Chanda designed the labels for me.

Here is the recipe that I used

Spiced Pumpkin Ale
8 lbs - Durst Turbo Pilsner
8oz - Briess Crystal 120L
2oz - Roasted Barley
2oz - Chocolate Malt
8oz - Brown Sugar
30oz - Canned Pumpkin
3oz - Pumpkin Spice

1 oz Styrian Goldings @ 4.9% for 60 mins

WYeast 1056 - American Ale

Est OG: 1.048 IBU: 18 SRM: 16

Instructions:

Single infusion mash with all the grains and the 30oz of pumpkin at 152F for 75 minutes.
Once all the wort was collected I did a 75 minute boil.
Add the 8oz of Brown Sugar with 5 minutes left in the boil.
Add 1oz of the Pumpkin Spice at flameout.
Add the remaining 2oz of Pumpkin Spice into the secondary.

The beer turned out very nice and was a huge hit during those "crisp and cold" fall months we have here in Chicago. I was very happy with this brew and will be brewing it again!

Cheers!
Mark

Introduction

2009-01-20T10:55:00.000-06:00

Howdy All!

My name is Mark Ardito and I'm a homebrewer in the NW suburbs of Chicago. I've been brewing since December of 2005. I started out brewing extract beers from kits and then quickly upgraded to "All Grain" within a few months.

I wanted to create a blog to update everyone on my brewing adventures.

A little bit about my setup/equipment/supplies/etc.

I do batch sparging and I brew 6 gallon batches. I have a big 10 gallon "Gatorade" type cooler that I use as my Mash Tun and use a Wort Hog instead of a false bottom in the cooler. I typically keep 50 lbs of each base grain in stock. I like to brew with: Rahr 2-Row, Rahr White Wheat and Durst Turbo Pilsner. I really like the Durst barley that they malt and the "turbo" variety is really great. The "turbo" malt is meant for people that do single infusion mashes, which is what I do. I then typically keep 5 lbs of each Crystal variety (10, 20, 40, 60, 120) and then a bunch of Munich, Vienna, Victory (one of my favorite grains to use!), CaraMunich, CaraPils, etc. I do prefer to use WYeast over WhiteLabs, but that is just because the two local brewing supply stories I go to only carry WYeast. I've ordered some WhiteLabs products, and do like them, but for ease I would rather just go buy something locally.

I brew mainly Ale's but have been brewing more and more Lagers the past year. I have a large laundry bucket that I use to ferment my lagers in. You can read more about that setup here. I use the same method my buddy Ken does.

I'll be posting more in the coming days on my setup, recipes, draft fridge, etc.

Cheers!
Mark A.