483 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

Tom: I have my water numbers around here someplace, but yes, I am using Lake Michigan water. For this beer, all I do is run the water through a carbon block filter to remove the chlorine... that's it. I have found that the Lake Michigan water is excellent brewing water for just about anything except the lightest of beers which come out a little "clunky" because of the hardness. When I want to make something like a Kolsch, a Czech Pils or just an American Standard/Premium, I will use some amount of my LM water and cut it with some distilled water from the store. The MLPA should be fine if you can filter the LM water. Cheers Millstone!

[SchwanzBrewer]

I opened up my first MLPA from my 3rd batch and it was real tasty! I made this beer for my first batch and it was good, but it I screwed up the carbonation so only about 25% of the bottles carbonated correctly. I made a stater for this batch and I can definitely tell a difference. The first one might have been a little under attenuated because I used a liquid smack pack without a starter. The flavor of this batch is really good. I had better temperature control and a really strong fermentation (it looked like there was a rolling boil in the primary) so I think it made a smoother beer this time.Thanks for the recipe Ken!Cheers,Rich

[Big Nake]

Hey Rich: Good to hear that this one came out a little better. I'm looking forward to making this beer again and after my Oktoberfest Lager (brewing that one this week), the MLPA is getting brewed... hopefully next week. Yeah, the little details can play a big part in this beer: The IBUs can't be low, the mash temp can't be too high, the yeast cannot be an under-attenuater and the carb can't be low. Any of those things may make a beer that is a little too malty. But when all of those stars align properly, it makes a nice beer. I also like to ferment on the cool side (60-65°) which can cause the yeast to drop out early if you're not careful. Cheers!

[millstone]

Tom: I have my water numbers around here someplace, but yes, I am using Lake Michigan water. For this beer, all I do is run the water through a carbon block filter to remove the chlorine... that's it. I have found that the Lake Michigan water is excellent brewing water for just about anything except the lightest of beers which come out a little "clunky" because of the hardness. When I want to make something like a Kolsch, a Czech Pils or just an American Standard/Premium, I will use some amount of my LM water and cut it with some distilled water from the store. The MLPA should be fine if you can filter the LM water. Cheers Millstone!

Hi again Ken, the reason I asked about the water adjustments was because the water report I got from the Hammond water department is as follows Calcium(CA) 34 magnesium (Mg) 12 pH 7. - 7.5 Chloride C1) 18 Sulfate (S04) 32 Sodium (Na) 11 Alkalinity )CaCO3) 120 Hardness (CaCO3)130 and I figure my BiCarbonates to be 144 I have been adding 5 gallons of IceMountian water to cut the Alkalinity, Hardness and BiCarbonates in half and add some Chalk (2 grams) and Calcium Chloride (.5 gram) because my calcium is low and trying to up the chloride to sulfate ratio. If you find your water numbers could you post them as a comparison of Chicago to Hammond. thanks tom

[Big Nake]

I ran my water through a carbon block water filter and submitted a sample to Ward Labs. Here are the results I got...

pH: 6.6
Total dissolved solids (TDS): 264
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm: 0.44
Cations/Anions, me/L: 3.3 / 3.4

Sodium: 13
Potassium: 2
Calcium: 34
Magnesium: 12
Total Hardness: 135
Nitrate, No3-N: 0.4
Sulfate, SO4-S: 9
Chloride: 21
Carbonate, CO3: <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3: 138
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3: 113

The numbers are right there so it would seem that we're getting our water from the same place. For the MLPA, I just used 100% filtered tap water and the beer comes out very nice. Cheers.

[millstone]

looks like our only discrepancy is Sulfates, you're sulfate is 9 and mine is 32. Another question, whats the extra -S for in Sulfate SO4-S and the extra -N in Nitrate N03-Nthanks for the infotom

[Big Nake]

I'm about to rack a batch of this from brewpot to primary with a nice, active starter of White Labs 01. MLPA is on the way! Whoo hoo! :headbang:

[chadm75]

I've brewed this twice and each time I used Safale US05 dry and it attenuated great. Even though it's a dry, I've become a HUGE fan of this yeast. Attenuates well and it's very nuetral so it let's the beer shine through! I've up'd the IBU's subbing the Mt. Hood's in Ken recipes with some Cascades that came in at 7.4% AAU, which covered up the malt a little bit more. My recipe came in at 29 IBU's. I brewed a SNPA clone about six weeks ago and finally enjoying the fruits of my labor. Very similar to Ken's grain bill but a lot more hops and no wheat malt. Ken's MLPA is my next Pale though!

[Daryl]

I'm about to rack a batch of this from brewpot to primary with a nice, active starter of White Labs 01. MLPA is on the way! Whoo hoo! :headbang:

a long time family friend came through town and stopped by and wanted some homebrew to take with him. It was tough but I gave him my last bottle of mlpa. My fermenter is tied up with lagers but another batch of mlpa is on deck. I got new job and am busy as heck so I guess the timing is right to have lagers lagering.

[No Party JKor]

I've brewed this twice and each time I used Safale US05 dry and it attenuated great. Even though it's a dry, I've become a HUGE fan of this yeast. Attenuates well and it's very nuetral so it let's the beer shine through! I've up'd the IBU's subbing the Mt. Hood's in Ken recipes with some Cascades that came in at 7.4% AAU, which covered up the malt a little bit more. My recipe came in at 29 IBU's. I brewed a SNPA clone about six weeks ago and finally enjoying the fruits of my labor. Very similar to Ken's grain bill but a lot more hops and no wheat malt. Ken's MLPA is my next Pale though!

You didn't think it was too unbalanced? My MLPA was about 29 IBU and I think it really throws the balance too far to the bitterness. My OG was 1.045, so my BU:GU ratio was 0.64. I pretty big increase over the 0.50 value for Ken's original recipe.

[chadm75]

The first couple of times I brewed up the MLPA, I think my mash temps were too high. If I remember right, I was mashing at 154-155 which really sweetened up the beer. So I went with a hop with higher AA's. Next time, I'm going to mash around 148-150 and go with the Mt. Hood's.

[Big Nake]

On this last one, I remembered all of these little issues we've talked about... not mashing too high, allowing the yeast to fully ferment the beer (being patient during primary), using enough AAUs, etc. I think my mash temp on this one was 150-151° which should come out nicely with the WLP001. Up next for this yeast will be my Bases Loaded Blonde, then another batch of MLPA. I also have a Kölsch coming up next week... I need to get my HB supply back up.

[No Party JKor]

Man, this MLPA is rounding out very nicely, I thought it was too high in bitterness to start with but it the edge has worn off and the hop flavor from the 30 minute addition of Mt. Hood is coming through beautifully. The malt backbone and mouthfeel carry the hops nicely. The head is crazy...thick and frothy. My glass just seems to empty itself so quickly when I pour one of these.

[CaptRon]

Why don't they just pin this thread already. It is always at the top anyways.

[No Party JKor]

Ken, did you take any pr0n of the stuff I sent you? If not, I'm going to have to whip out the camera before I kick this batch.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Ken, did you take any pr0n of the stuff I sent you? If not, I'm going to have to whip out the camera before I kick this batch.

My keg is very close to kicking I think...

[No Party JKor]

I took some pr0n of my MLPA, but the wife left the house with the camera before I could upload the pics.

[No Party JKor]

My pr0n taking abilities aren't quite on Ken's level, but here's what I got:

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

nice pron - I really need to figure out how to use my camera more effectively for close up shots. I always liked how very often the head on this beer would disintegrate into a lumpy landscape that kind of looked like puffy clouds. Very nice...

[Big Nake]

JK: That looks very nice, Amigo. Actually... I did take some shots of your beer because it looked so nice in the glass. But I was having some camera issues and your beer shots came out fuzzy. Then I went back and looked at a bunch of other shots that had been taken recently and they were fuzzy too. When I looked at my camera, there were smudgy fingerprints all over the lens (pesky kids!). I had some shots of some of my beers in there too and they're all fuzzy. But the beer was good! Cheers.