Author Archives: Andy Farke

Pryes Miraculum Midwest IPA

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IPA’s are way too abundant at the expense of other styles, and yet there is a good reason why they are so popular. I truly enjoy the classic American IPA’s, with their malt complexity and citrusy hops. Hazies don’t do it for me, because they’re not crisp enough, and something has been lost in the quest for the pilsner-malt-only “West Coast IPAs.” That something is yeast and malt character. Hops are great, but it’s a one-note beer if the other ingredients recede beyond the horizon. So, the “Midwest IPA” is a bit of an atavistic species, a relict population from the late 1990’s when it was still acceptable to use 10 percent crystal malt in an IPA and Pinesol was a desirable hop character.

Craft Beer & Brewing has been killing it with their recipes, and I had great success with one in the recent past and a few just about ready to serve. The magazine hits some budding and uncommon styles, and I first learned about Midwest IPA’s here. I am still not totally convinced this is a unique style, so much as a population of recipes that has retained ancestral traits that others do not. Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale is considered a foundational example; having sampled it I consider it a “traditional American IPA.”

No matter what you call the style, the Summer 2025 issue of Craft Beer & Brewing had a recipe for a clone of Pryes Brewing’s Midwest IPA that looked like a good wintertime brew. My recipe is pretty similar, with some minor ingredient swaps. I used Barke Munich instead of Munich II, and CaraRed instead of CaraAmber. Columbus hops were substituted as the main bittering charge instead of Galena, and I used New England East Coast Ale yeast instead of WLP007 (Dry English Ale). Of course it’s not the same beer exactly, but definitely in the same neighborhood as the original.

Pryes Miraculum Midwest IPA

  • 11.75 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 14 oz. Barke Munich malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. Carahell malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. Carared malt (Weyermann)
  • 2 oz. Carafa Special II malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 0.4 oz. Columbus (Tomahawk) hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.4 oz. Columbus (Tomahawk) hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Kick Carrageenan tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 2 pkg. New England East Coast Ale Yeast (Lallemand)
  • 3 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), dry hop
  • 3 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), dry hop
  • 2 oz. Cascade hop pellets (7.3% alpha), dry hop

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
  • 1.062 o.g., 1.014 f.g., 6.3% abv, 75 IBU, 10 SRM
  • Claremont tapwater, adjusted to hit roughly 89 ppm Ca, 25 ppm Mg, 102 ppm Na, 195 ppm SO4, 130 ppm Cl, 10 ppm bicarbonate, RA=-70

Procedure

  • Starting with 7.5 gallons of Claremont tap water, I added 7.7 mL of 88% lactic acid to drop out the carbonates, and then added 6 g of gypsum and 2 g of Epsom salt to build out the water profile.
  • I heated the water to 158°, added the grains, and held the mash at 152° with recirculation for 60 minutes. Then, I raised the mash to 168° for a 10 minute mash out.
  • I removed the grains, collecting 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.051, for 67% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe.
  • At the end of the 60 minute boil, I added the hops and whirlpooled for 10 minutes before chilling down to 75° and transferring to the fermenter.
  • Once in the fermentation chamber, I chilled the wort down to 64° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 11 October 2025. Starting gravity was 1.062. I fermented at 67°.
  • The airlock was showing activity on the morning after pitching.
  • Dry hops went in on 17 October 2025, and I cold crashed the beer on 22 October 2025.
  • I kegged the beer on 30 October 2025, using a closed transfer.
  • Final gravity was 1.011, working out to 6.7% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Medium amber in color, relatively clear with slight haze, pours with a persistent fine white head and slight lacing on the glass.
  • Aroma
    • Moderate orange hop aroma with a slight bit of pine behind that; faint caramel maltiness. In early pours, the malt and hops clashed just a touch; with a little more conditioning, it’s really nicely balanced.
  • Flavor
    • This is a very bitter beer, with a resiny hop quality. The beer has a moderate level of maltiness, with a light caramel character. It’s less complex than I expected, and the hops and malt clash a bit. A bit of orange comes in at the midpoint of the taste, at a moderate level. There is a low level of breadiness in the malt.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate carbonation, dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a good, but not fantastic, beer. The malt character is nice, although the hop flavors are less forward than I expected, especially given the quantities, and something clashes slightly in the flavor and aroma. I wonder if the beer is a touch oxidized? That doesn’t seem likely, given the careful closed transfer and the nature of the flavor, but anything is possible. I enjoy the “old school” aspects of the beer, though, including body and maltiness. I think it might be better with just Cascade or Cascade+Chinook, or another more “traditional” American hop combo. The beer is definitely better when it has warmed slightly above the initial serving temperature.
  • Overall
    • 7/10

Old Franconia Lager

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“Farmhouse beers” are a huge and fuzzy category, in my mind including everything from saison to many kveik-based concoctions to some kellerbiers. Although a character-rich and slightly wild yeast is most common, I would also think some “rustic” lagers should also qualify. Farmhouse, like so many things in homebrewing and craft beer, is a moderately mythological concept, and one built more around feelings than strict history. I suppose that’s why it’s fun to play in the space! It can stir a different set of emotions from by-the-books or paint-by-numbers brewing; it allows creativity (and I suppose role-playing) in a way that many other styles don’t, or at least in ways that differ from other styles.

I recently ran across a supplier for Isaria 1924 malt by Weyermann (William’s Brewing). I am often interested in trying base malts outside my norm, and this was a fun opportunity to experiment. The descriptions / marketing material from Weyermann state that the malt is “made from the oldest German malting barley variety Isaria, which was officially approved for the beer production in 1924. Brewers used Isaria to brew traditional, unfiltered and flavorful traditional German Lagers.”

Colorwise, Isaria 1924 weighs in at 3.5 SRM and is thus closest to most Vienna malts (3-5 SRM, depending on supplier; the Weyermann version is 3 SRM). Relative to the Weyermann flavor wheel, Isaria 1924 reads as a subdued Vienna, with similar locations of flavor/aroma peaks, but different magnitudes (e.g., a peak at “sweet” taste but an arbitrary value of 2.5 versus 4.5).

Among the recommended styles from Weyermann, Franconian landbier was near the top. This intrigued me, because I had recently read about the “style” in the Spring 2025 issue of Craft Beer and Brewing (including recipe). Why not try something in that vein?

My version is not really based on anything in particular, other than crafting a general story–something to emphasize malt and lean into a story of a rustic beer that plausibly would originate in Franconia (which primarily overlaps with northern Bavaria). I wanted to use 100 percent Isaria 1924 malt, particularly because this was my main point of the brew session. I only had 10 pounds, which might be a bit lower on gravity than I wanted for my usual 5.25 gallon batch, so I scaled down to 4.5 gallons. Spalt Spalter hops were my hop selection, because they provide a nice earthy and spicy quality that fit well with my intended “rustic” results. Finally, I wanted to give WLP860 Munich lager dry yeast another spin; as a strain that would emphasize the malt character, and that also would be consistent with my Franconian/Bavarian theme (although Munich itself is to the south of historical Franconia–we’re going for “vibes” and not authenticity here!). During my last brew with it, I learned that a bit of patience was key–WLP860 is a slow starter, and so I shouldn’t fear if signs of fermentation are delayed.

Old Franconia Lager

  • 10 lb. Isaria 1924 malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 1.25 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1.75 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Munich Lager dry yeast (White Labs WLP860)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 154°, full volume mash
  • 1.051 o.g., 1.016 f.g., 4.7% abv, 29 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Claremont tapwater, neutralized to remove bicarbonates. Roughly 40 ppm Ca, 18 ppm Mg, 102 ppm Na, 50 ppm SO4, 130 ppm Cl, RA=-31
  • 4.5 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I treated 6.75 gallons of water with a Campden tablet and 6.9 mL of 88% lactic acid, in order to drop out the bicarbonates.
  • Next, I heated the strike water to 159°, added the grains, and held at 154° with recirculation for 60 minutes. After that, I raised the mash temperature to 168°, held it there for 10 minutes, and then pulled the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.038, for 64% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. Because my gravity was a bit lower than intended, I boiled a bit harder to bring the gravity up. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 69° before transferring to the fermenter.
  • I chilled the wort down to 50° in the fermentation chamber, pitching the yeast when the beer was at 60° (night of the brew day).
  • This beer was brewed on 21 September 2025; it had a starting gravity of 1.049.
  • I fermented the beer at 50 degrees; small bubbles were visible on the surface by 22 September 2025, 24 hours after pitching. By 29 September, there was a good layer of krausen on the surface. Given the slow start the last time I used this yeast, I wanted to confirm that things were moving along. I noted an aroma of sulfur in the fermentation chamber on 30 September 2025.
  • I raised the temperature of the beer to 56° on 2 October 2025, and moved the beer to ambient on 7 October 2025.
  • Using a closed transfer, I kegged the beer on 18 October 2025. At the time, it had an amazing malt flavor!
  • Final gravity was 1.013, for 4.7% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A deep gold beer, with a very slight haze, which pours with a thick, white, and persistent head. Beautiful!
  • Aroma
    • Medium malty-rich aroma, with moderate spicy hop character. Delicate hoppiness.
  • Flavor
    • Moderate malty rich character, against a medium level of hop bitterness. Clean yeast character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderately high carbonation, off-dry finish. There’s may be a tiny bit of astringency.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is super nice as something a little different from the “usual” lagers. Isaria 1924 stands well as a solo malt, making an interesting and highly drinkable beer. I might dial the bitterness back a touch, or else increase the gravity slightly; the aroma is amazing, but I feel that the malt character is slightly obscured. I would also do a 90 minute mash or a decoction mash in order to improve efficiency, given the lower mash yield for this particular malt.
  • Overall
    • 8/10

Update: Around Christmas, I noted an increasingly heavy protein precipitation in this beer. I’ve never experienced something like it previously, at least in my homebrew. I didn’t have anything unusual with handling or technique, so I wonder if it’s caused by the malt. Or maybe just a fluke?

golden beer in glass with lots of white flakes of protein precipitate floating in it, like snowflakes
Let it snow?

Alstadt Altbier 2.3

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My Alstadt Altbier is one of my favorite recipes, and now we’re into the sixth iteration for this fall. I inevitably have some variation, but the core philosophy of Pilsner+Munich+Vienna at the core with a ~60L crystal/caramel malt of some sort to round out the profile (and a bit of Carafa Special II for color) has been consisten. The main difference from last batch is that I used all Caramunich I instead of a 50/50 mix of Caramel Munich 60L and Caramunich II. I also switched up the yeast a bit this time, because Lallemand’s Köln strain is no longer available.

Recipe Name

  • 6.5 lb. Viking Pilsner Zero malt
  • 1.5 lb. Munich malt (BestMalz)
  • 1.5 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 1 lb. Caramunich I (Weyermann)
  • 2 oz. Carafa Special II (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 2 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Kaiser liquid yeast (Imperial G02)
  • 1 pkg. SafAle German Ale (Fermentis K-97)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
  • 1.048 o.g., 1.011 f.g., 4.9% abv, 35 IBU, 13 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, adjusted with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I made a 1L shaken-not-stirred vitality starter for the yeast (which had a package best-by date of January 2025). I used a can of starter propper with distilled water, started at 2:30 pm on brew day.
  • I heated 7.3 gallons of water to 157° and added the grains, letting it settle at 152° for 60 minutes, with recirculation. Unfortunately, I had mis-entered the strike water temperature, so I overshot the mash temperature by about 10 degrees. Once this was done, I raised the temperature to 168° for a 10 minute rest before removing the grains.
  • The mash yielded 6.5 gallons of runnings at at gravity of 1.040, for 65% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. Once the boil was done, I chilled to around 80° and then transferred to the fermenter for an overnight chill the rest of the way.
  • I brewed the beer on 30 August 2025. Starting gravity was 1.046.
  • The starter had minimal signs of life by the afternoon of 31 August 2025, so I pitched the starter as well as a packet of K-97. I fermented at 64°.
  • The fermentation kicked off vigorously within 12 hours.
  • I kegged the beer on 11 September 2025. It had a final gravity of 1.015, for 4.1% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Pours with a creamy ivory head of reasonable persistence. The beer itself is a deep amber, and brilliantly clear.
  • Aroma
    • Light caramel and malty aroma at a moderate level, with light toffee notes; no major yeast aroma. Slight herbal hop character.
  • Flavor
    • Medium malty and light caramel flavor. Medium high bitterness. Herbal and spicy hop character, at a moderate level.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderately light body, medium carbonation, slightly dry finish. The body is surprisingly thin.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This very is decent, but the body is a little lighter than usual, and the flavor seems thinner relative to my recollections and past notes. I might increase the mash temperature next time (but not as much as was here). This is not my best version of the beer! It’s odd that it feels so thing given the final gravity.
  • Overall
    • 6/10

Equipment Mini-Review: Anvil Foundry 6.5

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I have been brewing many more small (2.5 to 3 gallon) batches lately. It’s a great way to test out new styles–if I don’t like it I’m not stuck with 5 gallons. This has long been my favored format with high gravity beer, too; I don’t necessarily want 5 gallons of a 10% abv brew. I can manage well in my Anvil Foundry 10.5, but it’s a bit of a pain to navigate at smaller batches. The volumetric markings don’t go low enough to measure quickly, and a small mash can end up pretty thick within the brew basket. So, I decided that it was time to splurge a bit and add the Foundry 6.5 to my brewing setup. It is designed for smaller volumes, while also carrying over features like 220v brewing.

The form factor on the Foundry 6.5 is best described as “adorable.” It’s super compact and really easy to handle and clean compared to the Foundry 10.5. It was nice that I could reach so easily to the bottom on this one, which made the already easy cleanup on the Foundry a breeze.

Running at 220v, heating speeds were zippy, and the boil was vigorous. I had to turn it down to around 72% power to avoid too much loss to evaporation. My pump, which I also use with the 10.5 also, works great with the 6.5. The one change is that I had to use tubing of slightly different lengths; a mild annoyance, but at least I didn’t have to buy new tubes. I really like that I didn’t have to buy another recirculation kit.

With smaller batch volumes, I’ve noted that my brew days are definitely shorter; perhaps around 4 hours start to finish versus 5 hours with the 10.5. I could make it a bit shorter if I had colder water for the chiller, but it definitely feels like a more compact brew day overall.

In short, I’ve been having fun with this. The Foundry 10.5 does a great job for 5 gallon batches, but the 6.5 can’t be beat for 2.5 or 3 gallon batches! If you are planning to do only small gallon brews, or you want to extend your brew capabilities, the Anvil Foundry 6.5 has my enthusiastic endorsement.

Mountain Town Stout

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After 17 years of serious brewing with dozens (hundreds?) of batches under my belt, I’m sometimes amazed by unexpected gaps in my brewing experience. I’ve made stouts of all varieties–oatmeal, imperial, Irish, milk, and more–but never a classic American stout! The old standards from the late 1990s and early 2000s increasingly appeal to me, because I enjoy drinking them but they are nigh impossible to find nowadays. American stout is squarely in that category. Looking through my recipe books, I was somewhat shocked by how few recipes there are for American stouts. They’re mostly the substyles cited above–oatmeal, Irish, imperial, etc. It makes me wonder if my remembrance of a golden age of American stout was exaggerated through the prism of nostalgia?

From the BYO Big Book of Clone Recipes, I found a recipe emulating the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Stout, and it was exactly what I wanted. My biggest change was to aim for a 3 gallon batch, because I wasn’t certain if I wanted 5 gallons of such a “heavy” beer. I also made some small ingredient substitutions, using Maris Otter instead of the Munich malt in the original recipe, and hopping with Columbus and Cascade (versus Bravo, Cascade, and Yakima Goldings in the original).

Mountain Town Stout

  • 5 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 1.5 lb. Maris Otter pale ale malt (Thomas Fawcett)
  • 0.5 lb. 60L caramel malt (Briess)
  • 5 oz. Carafa Special II malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. roasted barley (Crisp)
  • 3 oz. 2-row black malt (Briess)
  • 3 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 0.5 oz. Columbus hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (4.5% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (4.5% alpha), 1 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale yeast (Lallemand BRY-97)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
  • 1.061 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 6.4% abv, 53 IBU, 51 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, adjusted with Campden tablet
  • 3 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 4.6 gallons of water, heated to 158°, and then held the mash with recirculation at 152° for 60 minutes.
  • After the full 60 minute mash, I heated the mash to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out rest. Then, I pulled the grains and brought the runnings to a boil.
  • In total, I collected 4 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.051, for 68% mash efficiency.
  • Once the runnings were boiling, I added hops and finings per the recipe. After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat, whirlpooled the Cascade hops, and began the chill.
  • Once the wort was chilled to around 80°, I transferred it to the fermenter and then chilled the rest of the way down to 60° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 6 September 2025. Starting gravity was 1.063.
  • I let the beer free rise to 66° for the main bit of fermentation, pulling the fermenter to ambient on 13 September 2025.
  • I kegged the beer on 17 September 2025. Final gravity was 1.021, for 5.6% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A deep, almost inky black beer, with a ridiculously persistent and creamy brown head.
  • Aroma
    • Notes of espresso and dark chocolate malt at a medium-high level; medium malty aroma also. Not much for hops or yeast aroma.
  • Flavor
    • High levels of rich dark coffee and chocolate at the forefront of the flavor. Bitterness is at a medium-high level, with a resiny quality. This is an intense (and flavorful) beer!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium rich body, medium carbonation. Rich, slightly biting finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Absolutely! This is an intensely flavored beer; classic “American craft beer” in all senses. It is surprisingly drinkable (unlike, say, an imperial stout), but not in a casual way. I am enjoying this one!
    • As a side note, the final gravity was 1.021, versus a BeerSmith prediction of 1.013. However, the recipe book claimed 1.020. I’ve noted that BeerSmith tends to do very poorly on estimating final gravity for beers with lots of non-fermentable malt sugars (~19% of the grist in this case).
  • Overall
    • 10/10