Double Batch: Ahtanum Pale Ale and Chocolate Raspberry Stout Stage 1

After doing the last three single batches, I realized that if I bought another carboy and another grain bag that I could actually outscale my homebrewing to two batches at a time, which means that (if I had the time) I could be starting two five-gallon batches each week. So, that’s exactly what I did. Here you can see the grain bag ( I went for a larger grain bag this time to make large mini-mashes easier to tie off), extra airlock and holed rubber stopper, and carboy:

So, to make the most of this new outscale in production, I went ahead and decided to make two completely different beers: an Ahtanum Pale Ale which uses the Ahtanum hops with some Amarillo hops for flavor and aroma, and a Chocolate Raspberry Stout, which not only will be my first stout, but it will be the first beer that I’ve added flavors to like chocolate and raspberry. Here you can see the Pale Ale ingredients:

The ingredients are:

2 1/2 lb. 2 Row Grains
1/2 lb. Crystal 60L Grains
1/2 lb. Cara-Pils Grains
5 lb. Extra Pale Malt Extract
2 oz. Ahtanum Hops
1 oz. Amarillo Hops
White Labs California Ale 001 Yeast

And here you can see the Chocolate Raspberry Stout ingredents:

The ingredients are:

1.75 lbs. 2-Row Grains
1/8 lb. Roasted Barley Grains
1/4 lb. Crystal 40L Grains
1/8 lb. Black Patent Grains
3/4 lb. Chocolate Grains
5 lb. Amber Malt Extract
1/2 lb. Malto Dextrin
1 oz. Premiant Hops
1 oz. Unsweetened Cocoa
White Labs London Ale 013 Yeast
2 oz. Raspberry Flavoring Syrup

I was pretty excited to try this new setup out so I started right away and boiled a small pot of water for 10 minutes to make a sanitary supply of water for the two batches while I brought the water for the two batches up to 160 degrees F for mini-mashing.

I set the sanitary water aside while I continued to prepare my mini-mash water, using 2.5 gallons of store bought purified water for the batches. I use nothing but purified water for all batches, to get the most out of my yeast and my beer.

Once a stockpot was up to 160 degree F, I started the stout mini-mash:

One I secured the grain bag in the first stockpot for the stout, I waited until the second stockpot was 160 degrees F. and started the mini-mash for the pale ale.

I let both batches mini-mash for 45 minutes. Since I started the stout first, it was done with the first part of the mini-mash first and so I dunked the grain bag for the stout in and out like a teabag and then put the grain bag in a strainer for the second part of the mini-mash. The second part of the mini-mash required me to pour 1.5 quarts of 170 degree F. water over the grain bag and then allow the grain bag to drip dry, getting all of the last of the use out of the grains. So, just like the American Brown Ale batch, I turned back on the heat to the stockpot and used the water in the stockpot to pour over the grain bag. I did this so that I wouldn’t have to worry about boil over with the extra water but also since I wanted to keep the water as sanitary as possible.

Once I was done with the stout mini-mash, it was time for the pale ale mini-mash, while followed the same process of 1.5 quarts from the stockpot at 170 degree F.

Once both mini-mashes were done, I brought both worts up to a boil.

The pale ale batch actually finished first since it was on a larger burner, so I turned off the heat, took the stockpot off the burner, and added the 5 lb. Extra Pale Malt Extract to the stockpot.

Once all of the malt extract was added and stirred into the batch, I put the stockpot back onto the burner and started to bring the batch up to a boil, stirring every few minutes to keep the sugar from burning.

Once the stout batch was up to a boil, I took the stout stockpot off of the burner and added the 5 lb. Amber Extract to the stockpot.

Additionally, once all of the malt extract was added to the batch, I added the 1/2 lb. of Malto Dextrin to the batch. The Malto Dextrin is basically an inbetween of a sugar and a starch and I was adding it to the batch to thicken the body of the stout.

I put the stout back on the burner and started bringing it up to a boil as well. Once the pale ale was at a steady boil, I added 1 oz. Ahtanum hops to the batch for bittering and waited for 45 minutes while it boiled.

Additionally, once the stout was up to a steady boil I added 1 oz. Premiant hops to the batch for bittering and waited 55 minutes while the batch boiled.

Since one batch had to use a smaller burner, I switched the pale ale to the smaller burner for the boil and I put the lid of the stockpot on it to help it stay at a consistent boil. This worked moderately well but I did put the lid on the stockpot a little too closely and I had some boil over, so I would only recommend putting the lid on a stockpot if you are sure you are getting enough heat out of the top that you won’t boil over. I think I’ll try the lid again, just this time I’ll make sure that I have plenty of air flow.

Once the 45 minutes were up for the pale ale, I measured out 1/2 oz. Ahtanum hops and 1/2 oz. Amarillo hops for flavor and added those to the batch to boil for 10 minutes.

Once the pale ale had boiled for 10 minutes, I added another 1/2 oz. Ahtanum hops and 1/2 oz. Amarillo hops to the wort for aroma and let the batch boil for another five minutes.

Additionally, once I added the last of the hops to the pale ale, the stout had finished up it’s 55 minutes of boiling and it was time to add 1 oz. of Unsweetened Cocoa to the wort.

I let the stout boil with the cocoa for another five minutes. Once the pale ale boiled for another five minutes for a total of 60 minutes I took the pale ale stockpot off of the burner and put it into the sink where I had a wort chiller ready to cool the wart down to 80 degrees F.

After about 10 minutes, the pale ale was down to 80 degrees F. and ready for the yeast. I poured the batch into the primary fermenter glass carboy, filled the carboy up to 5 1/4 gallons using purified water, and then took a sample of the wort to measure the initial gravity, to make sure nothing went wrong with the pale ale and also to later calculate the Alcohol By Volume (ABV).

As you can see, the original gravity of the pale ale was about 1.060, which is really close to the expected 1.052 initial gravity. Once I returned the sample to the carboy, I pitched the White Labs California Ale tube of yeast.

Now that the yeast was in the batch, it was time to aerate. Since I was using the glass carboy primary fermenter, I plugged the carboy with a solid rubber stopper, picked the carboy up, and shook it sideways for about 15-20 seconds for the top side and the bottom side of the carboy.

As you can see, when you aerate you can get a pretty large head on the batch, which is a good sign the batch has plenty of oxygen for the yeast to start fermenting. I filled a three piece airlock with some of the sanitized water that I initially boiled, put a holed rubber stopper and the airlock in the carboy, and set it aside in the pantry while I finished up the stout.

While I was aerating the pale ale, the stout finished up its final five minutes of boiling with the cocoa and so I took the stout off of the burner, put it into the sink, and started the wort chiller in the stout to get it down to 80 degrees F.

After about ten minutes, the stout was down to 80 degrees F.

I added the stout the the plastic bucket primary fermenter, added purified water to bring the stout up to 5 1/4 gallons, and took a sample of the wort to check the initial gravity of the stout.

The stout read about 1.055, which is dead on with the expected gravity of 1.055. Once I returned the sample to the fermenter, I pitched the White Labs London Ale 013 tube of yeast into the wort. I then poured the wort back and forth twice between the plastic bucket and the stockpot, to work air back into the wort, making sure the yeast would have enough oxygen to start fermenting.

Now that the stout was ready to ferment, I put the airtight lid on the plastic bucket, filled a three piece airlock with sanitary water, put the airlock into the rubber hole at the top of the bucket, and finally put the stout into the pantry, packed nicely next to the pale ale.

This is the end of the Double Batch: Ahtanum Pale Ale and Chocolate Raspberry Stout Stage 1. Come back next Sunday for Stage 2 of this Double Batch series.

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