Cleansing Waters

I spent little time yesterday thoroughly cleansing several fermenters that were badly in need.  No brew this weekend, but next weekend I'm planning a partigyle brew day.  The first beer will be a high gravity English barleywine that I hope ages well for many years to come.  The second brew is going to be a strong ale aged in a whiskey barrel.  This is my first foray into partigyle brewing.  Hopefully all goes well.

Keep it clean,

HolzBrew 

Hoosier Red Ale

It's been a busy month or two and I haven't had much time for brewing (or blogging).  That being said, I managed to carve out a few hours this morning to brew up a red ale that I have had the ingredients for some time.  I wanted something with a reasonable ABV that would be great on draft.  Lately, most of the commercial red ales I've tried have been really hop-forward, which is great.  Because I can buy great hoppy red ales, I decided to go in the other direction and shoot for a malt focused red.  I snapped a couple of photos when I was setting up the mash this morning.

Mrs. HolzBrew and I got out yesterday afternoon for a hike in Brown County State Park.  It's been a great fall weekend here in Southern Indiana.  Hoosier Red Ale

	Style: American Amber Ale
	Type:	Calories: 178
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.85 Gal
	IBU's: 27.77	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color:   15.6 SRM	Boil Time: 75 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.052

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	11/11/2012
	OG:	1.055	1.055
	FG:	1.010	1.010
	ABV:	5.90 %	5.89 %
	Efficiency:	70 %	70 %
	Serve Date:	12/07/2012	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	11/11/2012	11/11/2012
Secondary	19 days @ 72.0°F	11/18/2012	-

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
8.00 lbs	68.09 %		Crisp Maris Otter	60 mins	1.038
1.00 lbs	8.51 %		Fawcett Torrified Wheat	60 mins	1.035
1.50 lbs	12.77 %		Briess Mild Malt, Ashburne	60 mins	1.036
0.50 lbs	4.26 %		Crisp Crystal Dark 77L	60 mins	1.035
0.50 lbs	4.26 %		Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	60 mins	1.034
0.25 lbs	2.13 %		Fawcett Pale Chocolate	60 mins	1.030

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	21.04		Brewers Gold	60 mins	6.20
1.00 ozs	6.74		Styrian Goldings	15 mins	4.00

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis S-04

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 oz	Orange Peel	01 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 152.0°F

Add 14.69 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 16.84 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins The Redder the Better, HolzBrew