Beer of the Month Program

September 2024

One of the best parts about making beer (aside from drinking it) is the social aspect. Brewers love to swap recipes, discuss what well or horribly wrong in their brews. We thought it would be a fun idea to start a beer conversation here. We're going to make a beer every month here and encourage other brewers to make it as well. In the end, we're hoping we can share our opinions and experiences with the recipe and crowd-source some improvements. The recipes will be easy to make and we will gladly assist new home brewers in the production of these beers. They will all be 5.5 gallons in size. We find that after fermenting and racking a 5.5 gallon batch turns into a standard 5 gallon batch pretty quickly.

At the start of every month we will post the recipe in store, as well as on our website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We will also have a set price for the recipe that will include a discount of up to 25%!

Nectaron Haze

American IPA – 5.5 Gal - OG 1.062 – FG 1.012– ABV 6.4% - IBU 40 – SRM 4

Purchase this recipe online -- Printable Instructions

We LOVE haze here at KJ, and that’s no secret. After a long and lovely Summer with our Two Rivers blonde ale recipe from Royal City, it’s finally time for us to return to our hazy roots. Behold — September’s BOTM, Nectaron Haze!

We’ve been waiting for the right time (and the right stock) to release this recipe, and we’re happy to say that this brew features a few new products: Nectaron hops from New Zealand, and Pomona Yeast from Escarpment Labs!

Nectaron hops yield a hugely tropical and fruity character, giving a heavy passionfruit, peach, grapefruit and pineapple finish. EL’s Pomona is the perfect match for these hops, as it functions to bring out as much stone fruit and citrus notes as brewmanly possible, and does so while providing a beautiful, stable haze!

This recipe, unlike most hazy beers, is designed to be done without dry-hopping at all, and at 6.4% ABV, it will pack a serious punch at your next party (or party-for-one, we don’t judge!)

Ingredients

Grains

• Canadian 2-Row x 9.5lbs
• Carahell x 1lb
• Flaked Wheat x 1lbs

Hops 

• Nectaron - 1oz @ 30min
• Nectaron - 1oz @ 30min
• Nectaron - 2oz @ FLAMEOUT 

Yeast

• Pomona DRY Yeast (Escarpment Labs)

Extras (Must be purchased separately)

• Calcium Chloride - 4g (0.8 tsp) at mash.
• DME/Dextrose - 150g at bottling for priming

Important Tips on Brewing

• Be extra cautious when cleaning! Once you have stopped boiling your wort everything that gets in contact with the beer MUST be sanitary. 
• The temperature of your mash is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. Not being in the 150-155f range can drastically affect your beer. Make sure you correct the temperature ASAP once all of the grain has been added to the mash. 
• Always let your beer ferment for 10 days! Do not disturb it, do not open the lid (unless dry hopping). It is absolutely natural for the airlock to stop bubbling after a few days, it is still fermenting though. 
• When racking your beer, we recommend attaching a nylon or muslin bag around the siphon output to catch any hop residue. This is especially important if kegging. One hop chunk can clog up your entire keg line. 
• Oxidization: Airspace is always something to consider. When undergoing primary fermentation airspace is needed so that the beer can bubble up and ferment vigorously without leaking out of the container. The fermentation creates a layer of CO2 that remains in the pail due to the airlock. Once primary fermentation is over, and the lid has been opened, the layer of CO2 dissipates, and oxygen replaces it. That airspace can ruin your beer. 
• Before bottling, make sure you use a priming calculator (many can be found online) to verify the amount of sugar that needs to be added. 
  
  
  

Instructions

Mashing -> converting the grain into a fermentable liquid. 

1. Bring 6 gallons of water in your brew pot to 155°F. This is our strike temperature. Turn off the heat to the pot.

1. Wrap the muslin/nylon bag around the brew pot and slowly pour all the milled grains into the bag. Stir them in while adding to prevent clumps. The addition of grain should drop the temperature down to 150-155°F. 
2. We want to mash the grain at 154°F for 60 minutes. It is very important to hold the temperature at 154°F. If the temperature rises above 155°F it hurts the fermentation, or if it dips below 149°F it can lead to a thinner tasting beer. 
1. The first 15-30 minutes are essential for the success of your brew. The temperature HAS TO BE IN THE RANGE OF 150-155°F. Sometimes adding the grain to the strike water does not lower the temperature enough, in this case add a little bit of cold water to bring the temperature down. Cover the pot with your lid and let it sit.
2. Most brew pots will be able to maintain 154°F without adding heat for 20 minutes, we recommend checking the temperature every 15 minutes, and if it drops add more heat to bring it up. We recommend opening the lid and using a thermometer in the liquid.
3. After 60 minutes, bring the temperature of the mashing grain up to 170°F and hold for 10 minutes. This is our mash out. 
4. Time to remove the grain. Lift the bag full of grain out of the brew pot. Let the liquid in the bag dribble into your wort. Once that is done, put the bag inside of a brewing pail, or another empty pot. There will be about 4 gallons of wort in the brew pot, we need to get it to 6 gallons before we can begin the next stage.
5. Run warm water through the grains in the bag, aim for 170°f – let it run through the grains and add to the brew pot. Add until you reach 6 gallons. 
1. PSA: It is natural to think that the grains need to be squeezed to get all of the liquid out of them, DO NOT DO THIS. Aggressively squeezing the grains will lead to tannin extraction and a doughy taste in your beer. Lightly pressing the bag is fine, but do not try to squeeze every last drop out. 

Boiling -> Sterilizing the wort time. 

1. Bring 6 gallons of your wort to a rolling boil, and let it boil for 5 minutes, this is called the hot break. Start a 60-minute timer. Keep the wort boiling (212°f) and uncovered. 
2. With 30 minutes left on the timer, add 1oz of Nectaron hops.
3. With 15 minutes left, you would normally add Irish Moss, this time we are recommending to not add it. We want the beer to be hazy, Irish Moss will do the opposite. If you have a wort chiller, we recommend adding it at the 15-minute mark. 
4. With 10 minutes left, add 1oz of Nectaron hops. 
5. When your timer goes off, turn off the heat, let your liquid naturally cool to 85°C and add your last 2oz of Nectaron hops. 

Cooling 

1. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and still do not actively cool the beer.  If you have a wort chiller in the pot, do not use it yet.
2. After 10 minutes have passed, it is now time to start cooling the beer. Cool the beer down to 25°C.

Fermentation -> Turning the wort into beer

1. After the boil is done it is time to be extra careful in regard to sanitation. We recommend using a no-rinse sanitizer called Starsan. Mix ¼ tsp of it with water in a 500ml spray bottle. Before we touch any part of the beer, we spray it with Starsan.
2. Transfer the cooled wort into your fermenting pail or carboy. Run it though a strainer to catch any hop or grain residue. With all of the hop matter in this beer, it might take a while to strain through all the hops. 
1. It is also an important time to take a hydrometer reading. It should be around 1.062 give or take a few points. 
3. Make sure the wort has been cooled to at least 25c!!! Adding yeast at a higher temperature will likely kill it. 
4. Once the beer is in the fermenter, shake up and pour in the package of Pomona yeast.  

1. After 10 days have passed, take a hydrometer reading. It should be somewhere between 1.010-1.015. 
2. Lately, we have been of the opinion that secondary is an unnecessary step. Unless you are kegging, we recommend proceeding to the bottling stage. Clarification can occur in the bottle rather than in a carboy, and the risk of oxidization is greatly reduced.

Bottling -> We’re getting close to Beer Time now. 

1. Rack the now fermented beer into a bucket. 
1. Because of how many hops are in the beer, we recommend wrapping a muslin bag with a zip tie on the output of your siphon tube. This will catch any hop debris in the pail. 
2. At the same time, mix the priming sugar with 300ml of boiling water and add to the beer. Stir it in VERY gently. 
3. Rack the beer into your bottles or growlers. Then, let them sit for 2-3 weeks at room temperature. Chill and enjoy!