I'm sitting here drinking Goose Island's Demolition and the label says "serve in" with a picture of a snifter glass.
Does the glass really matter?
I have a pint glass, a tumbler, a tulip, a goblet, and a stange, and I've drank beer from a lot stranger. As long as it was in a clean glass, I cant' say I've really noticed that the flavor 'came out' better in one glass than another.
I will need to determine a beer I know well enough that I can taste the subtleties of the flavor in different glasses, as well as one with a standard flavor.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Grizzled Veteran
I am by no means a 'grizzled veteran' of homebrewing, I just wanted to say that.
Anyway, I had the KGB Russian Imperial Stout (can't find the product page, so I linked to the beeradvocate.com page) the other day, and it made me think of my own Russian Imperial Stout from the Brewer's Best kit.
I wish I had left the beer for several more weeks, possibly months, as my beer tasted extremely similar to the KGB, and would have probably surpassed it, given the right amount of aging.
However, now I know what a 'green' beer tastes like, and will remember the lesson.
Anyway, I had the KGB Russian Imperial Stout (can't find the product page, so I linked to the beeradvocate.com page) the other day, and it made me think of my own Russian Imperial Stout from the Brewer's Best kit.
I wish I had left the beer for several more weeks, possibly months, as my beer tasted extremely similar to the KGB, and would have probably surpassed it, given the right amount of aging.
However, now I know what a 'green' beer tastes like, and will remember the lesson.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Spring Brew - Kumdis Island Spruce
I was finally able to do the Kumdis Island Spruce Brew today - the spruce trees have sprouted their new green tips, and I cut down a few branches from our back yard.
I wasn't sure how much to do, but I read online that "a loosely packed pint jar" was about 4 oz. I used a pint glass, because I've seen both 4oz and 5oz measurements for the spruce.
One of the unique things on this recipe was that there was no grains to soak/sparge - it was all-extract. I also discovered what caused a funny boil attribute. I noticed that when I stirred it vigorously, the middle of the pot 'coughs' up oddly-colored wort, but not if I hadn't - I think it's something with the heat at the bottom.
Ingredients:
6.6 lbs Cooper's dark liquid malt extract
2oz Hallertauer hops
4-5oz loosely packed spruce tips
Add liquid malt extract to approximately 2.5 gallons of water and brought it to boil. Turned off heat and added hops - had my son add spruce tips (he thought it was hysterical putting a tree in the beer).
Boiled for 45 min, stirring about every 10 minutes.
Removed from heat, chilled, added water to make 5 gallons, stirred in American Ale Yeast and put in basement.
I wasn't sure how much to do, but I read online that "a loosely packed pint jar" was about 4 oz. I used a pint glass, because I've seen both 4oz and 5oz measurements for the spruce.
One of the unique things on this recipe was that there was no grains to soak/sparge - it was all-extract. I also discovered what caused a funny boil attribute. I noticed that when I stirred it vigorously, the middle of the pot 'coughs' up oddly-colored wort, but not if I hadn't - I think it's something with the heat at the bottom.
Ingredients:
6.6 lbs Cooper's dark liquid malt extract
2oz Hallertauer hops
4-5oz loosely packed spruce tips
Add liquid malt extract to approximately 2.5 gallons of water and brought it to boil. Turned off heat and added hops - had my son add spruce tips (he thought it was hysterical putting a tree in the beer).
Boiled for 45 min, stirring about every 10 minutes.
Removed from heat, chilled, added water to make 5 gallons, stirred in American Ale Yeast and put in basement.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Cherries! Also Blow Off Tube Technique
I was walking through Safeway a few days ago when I saw that cherries had come in - they were $4 a pound, which makes the desired recipe over $25 just for the cherries (with tax). I think I'll wait until they're back to $1 a pound, but it's encouraging to see them back in stores. I'll have to pick up the rest of the stout grain bill when I get a chance.
Also, I purchased a clone brew kit from Austin Homebrew Supply - I modified the base Tripel Karmelite clone recipe to have 'mini-mash' (which adds a very surprising amount of grains - not something a standard grain bag can hold - it will require steeping loose grains and 'sparging' them into a backup container due to the 5+ lbs of grains that came). It also came with a huge bucket of 7lbs of LME, which was astounding until I remembered the stout kit I made with a large amount of grains as well - the LME came in two different tubs at that point, which is why it looked smaller to me.
I went with the recommended White Labs (or at least the first on the list) yeast, but left out the yeast fuel. The OG on this is up over 1.08 and if you added fuel to this, you'd have such active fermentation that you'd definitely need a blow off tube in addition to a lot of rags.
It looks like the blow off technique is to insert a tube into the carboy that is well above the wort (but not right up at the lid). Make sure the seal going out of the carboy is tight. From there, put the other end of the hose into a container that has a good amount of water in it so that the gas released from the fermenting wort will be pushed through the hose an into the water, but not allowing 'air' back into the carboy. It's just a really big airlock.
As the yeast was liquid, I did add the 'cold pack' and I hope (for my brother's sake) that I remembered to include the priming sugar. If not, sorry bro, you can use regular table sugar, just decrease the amount a bit (you'll have to google it, I don't remember the proportion off the top of my head). Table sugar is more potent and I'm not sure it is the best flavor, but I've been told that I just over-carb'd the one recipe I did with it.
I also hope I added the 1% ABV boost - just a cup or so of maltodextrine - just because it's kinda fun to have a really strong beer. However, this means that maturation time will be longer (by several weeks), and fermentation will be more active (violent, if you use a standard airlock - it will pop!), and then I hope I also included bottling caps. If not, priming sugar and caps can be picked up quickly and easily at a local homebrew supply and I'm sorry.
Hopefully I'll get a review of the kit (nobody had posted one online, which was sad because you don't really know what you're getting), but also - hint, hint - a bottle or two to taste myself.
Also, I purchased a clone brew kit from Austin Homebrew Supply - I modified the base Tripel Karmelite clone recipe to have 'mini-mash' (which adds a very surprising amount of grains - not something a standard grain bag can hold - it will require steeping loose grains and 'sparging' them into a backup container due to the 5+ lbs of grains that came). It also came with a huge bucket of 7lbs of LME, which was astounding until I remembered the stout kit I made with a large amount of grains as well - the LME came in two different tubs at that point, which is why it looked smaller to me.
I went with the recommended White Labs (or at least the first on the list) yeast, but left out the yeast fuel. The OG on this is up over 1.08 and if you added fuel to this, you'd have such active fermentation that you'd definitely need a blow off tube in addition to a lot of rags.
It looks like the blow off technique is to insert a tube into the carboy that is well above the wort (but not right up at the lid). Make sure the seal going out of the carboy is tight. From there, put the other end of the hose into a container that has a good amount of water in it so that the gas released from the fermenting wort will be pushed through the hose an into the water, but not allowing 'air' back into the carboy. It's just a really big airlock.
As the yeast was liquid, I did add the 'cold pack' and I hope (for my brother's sake) that I remembered to include the priming sugar. If not, sorry bro, you can use regular table sugar, just decrease the amount a bit (you'll have to google it, I don't remember the proportion off the top of my head). Table sugar is more potent and I'm not sure it is the best flavor, but I've been told that I just over-carb'd the one recipe I did with it.
I also hope I added the 1% ABV boost - just a cup or so of maltodextrine - just because it's kinda fun to have a really strong beer. However, this means that maturation time will be longer (by several weeks), and fermentation will be more active (violent, if you use a standard airlock - it will pop!), and then I hope I also included bottling caps. If not, priming sugar and caps can be picked up quickly and easily at a local homebrew supply and I'm sorry.
Hopefully I'll get a review of the kit (nobody had posted one online, which was sad because you don't really know what you're getting), but also - hint, hint - a bottle or two to taste myself.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
New Recipe: Pad Thai
So I was in charge of cooking tonight, and found a decent recipe that I had made modifications to in order to reach 'great.'
Ingredients
Just under 1-ounce tamarind paste
(1 and 1/4 Tablespoons)
3/4 cup boiling water
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons fish sauce
2 rounded Tablespoons palm sugar
3/4 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Sambal
4 ounces rice stick noodles
1 to 2 Tablespoons oil (I used vegetable
, original recipe called for peanut
)
1 cup chopped scallions
, divided 1/3 (serving) and 2/3 (recipe)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 whole eggs
, beaten
3 ounces bean sprouts
, divided
Freshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste (I used Sambal)
1 lime
, cut into wedges
Directions
Place the tamarind paste in the boiling water and set aside while preparing the other ingredients. Stir occasionally.
Combine the fish sauce, palm sugar, Sambal, and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
Place the rice stick noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Once the other ingredients are measured out into separate bowls, drain the water from the noodles and set them aside.
Press the tamarind paste through a fine mesh strainer and add to the sauce. Stir to combine.
Place a wok
over high heat. I did not have a wok, so I used a cast iron skillet
, and it worked wonderfully (for the tossing, I was still able to hold both ends, as my cast iron skillet came with a small nub on the side opposite the handle).
Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil. Heat until it shimmers. Add 2/3 of the scallions and then the garlic, cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the eggs to the pan; once the eggs begin to set up, about 15 to 20 seconds, stir to scramble.
Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss after each addition: noodles, sauce, cabbage, shrimp, and 2/3 of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Toss everything until heated through, but no longer than 1 to 2 minutes total.
Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with the remaining scallions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Serve immediately with lime wedges.
Ingredients
Just under 1-ounce tamarind paste
(1 and 1/4 Tablespoons)3/4 cup boiling water
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons fish sauce
2 rounded Tablespoons palm sugar
3/4 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Sambal
4 ounces rice stick noodles
1 to 2 Tablespoons oil (I used vegetable
, original recipe called for peanut)1 cup chopped scallions
, divided 1/3 (serving) and 2/3 (recipe)2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 whole eggs
, beaten3 ounces bean sprouts
, dividedFreshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste (I used Sambal)
1 lime
, cut into wedgesDirections
Place the tamarind paste in the boiling water and set aside while preparing the other ingredients. Stir occasionally.
Combine the fish sauce, palm sugar, Sambal, and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
Place the rice stick noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Once the other ingredients are measured out into separate bowls, drain the water from the noodles and set them aside.
Press the tamarind paste through a fine mesh strainer and add to the sauce. Stir to combine.
Place a wok
over high heat. I did not have a wok, so I used a cast iron skillet, and it worked wonderfully (for the tossing, I was still able to hold both ends, as my cast iron skillet came with a small nub on the side opposite the handle).Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil. Heat until it shimmers. Add 2/3 of the scallions and then the garlic, cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the eggs to the pan; once the eggs begin to set up, about 15 to 20 seconds, stir to scramble.
Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss after each addition: noodles, sauce, cabbage, shrimp, and 2/3 of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Toss everything until heated through, but no longer than 1 to 2 minutes total.
Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with the remaining scallions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Serve immediately with lime wedges.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Recipes!
I was looking for inspiration online and found this
Brewers Best Recipes Page
The best kits and recipes available - including my favorite - the English Brown Ale
Brewers Best Recipes Page
The best kits and recipes available - including my favorite - the English Brown Ale
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Flavored Beer Base
I've been looking into doing a lot of different flavored beers, and I finally picked up Brewing Classic Styles
. In there was the Apricot Wheat recipe, and it provided a great base wheat to add fruit and some other light flavors to.
8.3 lbs wheat LME
4L
1/2 lbs crystal 15L
.85oz willamette hops
5%aa
Suggested yeast is Wyeast 1010 American Wheat
This will provide a great base for any number of fruits, with possible minor tweaking needed for apricot, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, etc...
. In there was the Apricot Wheat recipe, and it provided a great base wheat to add fruit and some other light flavors to.8.3 lbs wheat LME
4L1/2 lbs crystal 15L
.85oz willamette hops
5%aaSuggested yeast is Wyeast 1010 American Wheat
This will provide a great base for any number of fruits, with possible minor tweaking needed for apricot, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, etc...
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Out of Season Red Ale
Both the Kumdis Island Spruce Ale and the Cherry Fever Stout apparently both require ingredients that are currently out of season, so I went to my Local Home Brew Shop and picked up Bob's Red Ale recipe.
7 lbs light malt extract
8 oz dark brown sugar
(added last 5 min of boil)
1 lbs 40L crystal malt
2 oz roasted barley
2 oz Willamette hops
(60 min boil)
1 oz Willamette hops (5 min boil)
1 Whirlflock tablet
1084 Irish ale yeast
This was definitely a new procedure for me, but I've attempted to 'sparge' with a very very small strainer.
Steps
Add 3 quarts of water to a med to large saucepan and head to 165-170 degrees. Stir in grains and steep for 30 to 45 minutes in a warm oven (mine was set at 150). Pour grain mixture through a strainer into boiling kettle. Rinse (sparge) grains with 2 quarts of 160-170 degree water into boiling kettle.
Add 2.5 gallons of water to boiling kettel and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, remove from heat. Add malt extract and mix well. Return kettle to heat and bring to boil. Add boiling hops and boil per hop schedule (add Whirlflock at 45 min in, add brown sugar and finishing hops at 55 min in).
When hour boil is done, remove from heat and cool wort. Add to fermenter, and add enough cool water to bring total volume to 5 gallons. When wort is below 80 degrees, aerate well by stirring, and pitch yeast.
7 lbs light malt extract
8 oz dark brown sugar
(added last 5 min of boil)1 lbs 40L crystal malt
2 oz roasted barley
2 oz Willamette hops
(60 min boil)1 oz Willamette hops (5 min boil)
1 Whirlflock tablet
1084 Irish ale yeast
This was definitely a new procedure for me, but I've attempted to 'sparge' with a very very small strainer.
Steps
Add 3 quarts of water to a med to large saucepan and head to 165-170 degrees. Stir in grains and steep for 30 to 45 minutes in a warm oven (mine was set at 150). Pour grain mixture through a strainer into boiling kettle. Rinse (sparge) grains with 2 quarts of 160-170 degree water into boiling kettle.
Add 2.5 gallons of water to boiling kettel and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, remove from heat. Add malt extract and mix well. Return kettle to heat and bring to boil. Add boiling hops and boil per hop schedule (add Whirlflock at 45 min in, add brown sugar and finishing hops at 55 min in).
When hour boil is done, remove from heat and cool wort. Add to fermenter, and add enough cool water to bring total volume to 5 gallons. When wort is below 80 degrees, aerate well by stirring, and pitch yeast.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
On Hold - Cherry Fever Stout
It seems that with cherries out of season that the Cherry Fever Stout is on hold. I will be collecting cherries as soon as they're in-season and freezing them for a delicious future.
Instead, I will be brewing Papazian's Kumdis Island Spruce beer.
Instead, I will be brewing Papazian's Kumdis Island Spruce beer.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Next Up - Cherry Fever Stout
Ingredients
3.3 lbs plain dark LME
2.5 lbs hopped flavored light LME
1.5 lbs plain dark DME
1 lbs crystal malt
1/2 lbs roasted barley
1/2 lbs black patent malt
1.5 oz Northern Brewer hops (boiling)
1/2 oz Willamette hops (finishing)
8 tsp gypsum
5 lbs sour cherries
1 - 2 packages ale yeast
3/4 cups corn sugar (priming)
Directions
Add crushed roasted barley, crystal and black patent malts to 1 1/2 gallons of cold water, bring to boil. At boil, remove grains and add malt extracts, gypsum, and boiling hops, for 60 min. Add 5 lbs cherries (pits and all), and steep for 15 min (160-180 degrees) - do not boil. Add finishing hops 2 min before adding to fermenter, add cold water to make 5 lbs. Pitch yeast when cool, after 4-5 days, move to secondary for another 2 weeks and bottle upon complete fermentation.
3.3 lbs plain dark LME
2.5 lbs hopped flavored light LME
1.5 lbs plain dark DME
1 lbs crystal malt
1/2 lbs roasted barley
1/2 lbs black patent malt
1.5 oz Northern Brewer hops (boiling)
1/2 oz Willamette hops (finishing)
8 tsp gypsum
5 lbs sour cherries
1 - 2 packages ale yeast
3/4 cups corn sugar (priming)
Directions
Add crushed roasted barley, crystal and black patent malts to 1 1/2 gallons of cold water, bring to boil. At boil, remove grains and add malt extracts, gypsum, and boiling hops, for 60 min. Add 5 lbs cherries (pits and all), and steep for 15 min (160-180 degrees) - do not boil. Add finishing hops 2 min before adding to fermenter, add cold water to make 5 lbs. Pitch yeast when cool, after 4-5 days, move to secondary for another 2 weeks and bottle upon complete fermentation.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Raspberry Mead
We made up a bit of this recipe as we went along, but I'm looking forward to tasting it in about a year.
Ingredients:
12 lbs Clover Honey
(thanks CostCo!)
7 gallons purified drinking water
1 lb (16oz) raspberry preserve
(pectin, sugar, water and raspberries)
2 handfuls frozen raspberries
1 orange
peel
1/4 oz coriander seeds
2 satchets champagne yeast
Directions:
Added 2 cups water to mason jar, microwaved for 2 min. Added 4 tbsp honey, pitched 2 satchets of yeast. In 2 pots, poured 1 & 1/2 gallons of water each. Heated the water until almost boiling, mixed in 8 oz of raspberry preserves and 1 handful of frozen raspberries per pot. Added the peel of half an orange into each pot. Brought the water to a boil and removed from heat. Added honey - 6 lbs per stock pot - honey added volume, so we siphoned must out, and then put the warm must back in the containers to dissolve the honey and get all of it into the pots. Siphoned must into 7 gallon fermenter, and put in ice bath. Added coriander seeds, and pitched yeast after an hour.
Ingredients:
12 lbs Clover Honey
(thanks CostCo!)7 gallons purified drinking water
1 lb (16oz) raspberry preserve
(pectin, sugar, water and raspberries)2 handfuls frozen raspberries
1 orange
peel 1/4 oz coriander seeds
2 satchets champagne yeast
Directions:
Added 2 cups water to mason jar, microwaved for 2 min. Added 4 tbsp honey, pitched 2 satchets of yeast. In 2 pots, poured 1 & 1/2 gallons of water each. Heated the water until almost boiling, mixed in 8 oz of raspberry preserves and 1 handful of frozen raspberries per pot. Added the peel of half an orange into each pot. Brought the water to a boil and removed from heat. Added honey - 6 lbs per stock pot - honey added volume, so we siphoned must out, and then put the warm must back in the containers to dissolve the honey and get all of it into the pots. Siphoned must into 7 gallon fermenter, and put in ice bath. Added coriander seeds, and pitched yeast after an hour.
Monday, August 9, 2010
English Brown Ale
I made this one yesterday, and am hoping it turns out.
I did my 1 1/4 gallon boil with:
4oz Crystal 60L
4oz Chocolate
1 1/2oz Roasted Barley
3oz Carapils
steeping for 20 min and then added 1lb of amber DME and (where I should have done 1/4 oz Cascade hops) 1/4 oz Styrian Goldings hops.
Boiled that for 45 min, added 1/2 a Whirlflock tab, boiled for 5 more minutes and added my other 3 lbs of amber DME as well as 3/4 oz of Hallertauer hops (where I should have used Northern Brewing - if I was following the original recipe).
I pitched using a high-gravity trappist ale yeast, so this should be interesting!
And my wife broke my hydrometer, so I was unable to get an SG reading.
The goal of this one is to get a very chocolaty brown ale with a hint of roasting in the aftertaste.
I can't decide if I want to get a new brewpot
, or a smaller carboy
.
I would like to point out that I felt much more at ease wandering and asking questions at Bob's Homebrew Supply than back in Chi-Town. The Brew and Grow will always have a special place in my cupboard, but I think I'm more of a Bob's type of guy.
I did my 1 1/4 gallon boil with:
4oz Crystal 60L
4oz Chocolate
1 1/2oz Roasted Barley
3oz Carapils
steeping for 20 min and then added 1lb of amber DME and (where I should have done 1/4 oz Cascade hops) 1/4 oz Styrian Goldings hops.
Boiled that for 45 min, added 1/2 a Whirlflock tab, boiled for 5 more minutes and added my other 3 lbs of amber DME as well as 3/4 oz of Hallertauer hops (where I should have used Northern Brewing - if I was following the original recipe).
I pitched using a high-gravity trappist ale yeast, so this should be interesting!
And my wife broke my hydrometer, so I was unable to get an SG reading.
The goal of this one is to get a very chocolaty brown ale with a hint of roasting in the aftertaste.
I can't decide if I want to get a new brewpot
, or a smaller carboy.I would like to point out that I felt much more at ease wandering and asking questions at Bob's Homebrew Supply than back in Chi-Town. The Brew and Grow will always have a special place in my cupboard, but I think I'm more of a Bob's type of guy.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Chimay Blue Half Recipe
I made this on Saturday, though it was a bit of a process:
Steeped the grain in 1 1/4 gallons of water for 20 min at 156 degrees:
4 oz Special B
4 oz CaraMunich
2 oz Belgian Aromatic
4 oz Wheat
Strained that to a bucket, strained it back into a pot and added 2lbs of amber DME, as well as 1/2 oz Hallertauer hops. I killed the boil after 30 min and I'm not sure why, but I restarted it and added the 1/2 oz of Styrian Golding hops, and then killed the boil again at 45 min, immediately after adding the 1/2 Whirlflock tab.
I didn't have Lyle's Golden Syrup, so I made invert sugar by adding 2 1/2 lbs sugar to 3/4 a pint of water. That was very interesting. I reduced it for about half an hour, then added to the re-re-boiling wort. As soon as that was boiling again, I dropped in the 2 1/2 lbs of Munich Malt LME, and boiled for another 5-10 min.
I strained that, which I probably shouldn't have, but the strainer fell anyway, so not much of those hop pellets were captured. I pitched the yeast and the OG was 1.090 - this one's gonna be strong!
Steeped the grain in 1 1/4 gallons of water for 20 min at 156 degrees:
4 oz Special B
4 oz CaraMunich
2 oz Belgian Aromatic
4 oz Wheat
Strained that to a bucket, strained it back into a pot and added 2lbs of amber DME, as well as 1/2 oz Hallertauer hops. I killed the boil after 30 min and I'm not sure why, but I restarted it and added the 1/2 oz of Styrian Golding hops, and then killed the boil again at 45 min, immediately after adding the 1/2 Whirlflock tab.
I didn't have Lyle's Golden Syrup, so I made invert sugar by adding 2 1/2 lbs sugar to 3/4 a pint of water. That was very interesting. I reduced it for about half an hour, then added to the re-re-boiling wort. As soon as that was boiling again, I dropped in the 2 1/2 lbs of Munich Malt LME, and boiled for another 5-10 min.
I strained that, which I probably shouldn't have, but the strainer fell anyway, so not much of those hop pellets were captured. I pitched the yeast and the OG was 1.090 - this one's gonna be strong!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Belgian Tripel Update
After reviewing the process and ingredients list (and a side-by-side comparison to New Belgium's Tripel - mine won :) next time I'm going to
Switch the 1 lb candi sugar for 1 lb honey
Try to make the LME all DME
Add cloves (giving it a taste more like Delerium Tremens or Goose Island's Sofie)
Add more priming sugar (to give the somewhat flat tripel a bit more head and effervescence)
I'm also going to make an English Dark Chocolate Ale, with a bit of black patent (just a bit) to get that dark, bitter taste, and a lot of chocolate grains, though I'll finalize that recipe later.
I'm also going to make a beer for my wife - a basil ale. To that end I picked up 3 of the Rogue beers - their chocolate stout, their nut brown ale, and their chipotle ale - the last being the most helpful when attempting to add an odd ingredient. I'm not sure if I'm going to make and IPA or a regular ale, but I'm interested to find out.
Switch the 1 lb candi sugar for 1 lb honey
Try to make the LME all DME
Add cloves (giving it a taste more like Delerium Tremens or Goose Island's Sofie)
Add more priming sugar (to give the somewhat flat tripel a bit more head and effervescence)
I'm also going to make an English Dark Chocolate Ale, with a bit of black patent (just a bit) to get that dark, bitter taste, and a lot of chocolate grains, though I'll finalize that recipe later.
I'm also going to make a beer for my wife - a basil ale. To that end I picked up 3 of the Rogue beers - their chocolate stout, their nut brown ale, and their chipotle ale - the last being the most helpful when attempting to add an odd ingredient. I'm not sure if I'm going to make and IPA or a regular ale, but I'm interested to find out.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Gumballhead Clone Bottling
I bottled the Gumballhead clone tonight - it had an SG of 1.012. I had to use granulated sugar instead of dextrose (corn sugar), so I will have a slightly more cider-y flavor when this is carbonated than usual.
The Belgian-style tripel is overly sweet, and tastes like it needs another few months, but time is working against me here, and I am attempting to purge bottles in favor of getting a corny keg. Hopefully that works well and occurs soon.
The Belgian-style tripel is overly sweet, and tastes like it needs another few months, but time is working against me here, and I am attempting to purge bottles in favor of getting a corny keg. Hopefully that works well and occurs soon.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Hard Lemonade Procedure
Tonight, we dance! And make hard lemonade.
Going off this recipe, we made several modifications to fully utilize our 1-gallon carboys.
We purchased 5 cans of frozen generic brand lemonade concentrate, 2 cans of pink lemonade, 2 cans of limeade, and 1 can of pomegranite raspberry. The recipe called for 2 pounds of sugar, plus or minus to taste, so we added 3. We heated about a gallon and a half of water, and dissolved all the sugar in there, poured it into a 5 gallon carboy, and added enough water to make 5 gallons. At that point the SG was 1.032. Before adding more sugar, we added the DME, which clumped and was a pain to mix in.
We ended up skimming all the clumps off the top and heating them in some wort to help dissolve it. Once that was fully mixed in, the SG was 1.042. We then took the individual cans of frozen concentrate and began putting them in the carboy to spread out the surface area and help warm them up faster.
1 - Blueberry pomegranite lemonade - SG - 1.080 (the really dark one)
2 - Lemonade - SG - 1.082 (has writing 'B Lock' on it)
3 - Lemonade 2 - SG - 1.080 (has letter 'C' on neck)
4 - Limeade - SG - 1.076 (has letter 'A' on neck)
5 - Pink Lemonade - SG - 1.082 (the pink one)
As part of the control, I will be taking 2 home and putting them in my basement - hopefully a more stable, and lower temperature than what Chicago has in for us in the next few days. The other 3 will reside in Nova's closet.
Going off this recipe, we made several modifications to fully utilize our 1-gallon carboys.
We purchased 5 cans of frozen generic brand lemonade concentrate, 2 cans of pink lemonade, 2 cans of limeade, and 1 can of pomegranite raspberry. The recipe called for 2 pounds of sugar, plus or minus to taste, so we added 3. We heated about a gallon and a half of water, and dissolved all the sugar in there, poured it into a 5 gallon carboy, and added enough water to make 5 gallons. At that point the SG was 1.032. Before adding more sugar, we added the DME, which clumped and was a pain to mix in.
We ended up skimming all the clumps off the top and heating them in some wort to help dissolve it. Once that was fully mixed in, the SG was 1.042. We then took the individual cans of frozen concentrate and began putting them in the carboy to spread out the surface area and help warm them up faster.
1 - Blueberry pomegranite lemonade - SG - 1.080 (the really dark one)
2 - Lemonade - SG - 1.082 (has writing 'B Lock' on it)
3 - Lemonade 2 - SG - 1.080 (has letter 'C' on neck)
4 - Limeade - SG - 1.076 (has letter 'A' on neck)
5 - Pink Lemonade - SG - 1.082 (the pink one)
As part of the control, I will be taking 2 home and putting them in my basement - hopefully a more stable, and lower temperature than what Chicago has in for us in the next few days. The other 3 will reside in Nova's closet.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Beer Review
I've never tried this before, but my brother in law got a box (a literal box full) of 50c beers, and decided to get 2 of everything and share some with me. I'm going to carpe the diem and attempt my own reviews of these beers. There were 4 total:
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
I rated each on head, color, body, finish, aroma, and overall, trying to describe the taste of the beer with less emphasis on what I did or did not like.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Head
This was frothy and quick, a very light and pale head that well mirrors the flavor of the beer.
Color
It's a bit orange-y and freaking creepy that the Fringe cutscenes show fetuses (fetii?) in APPLES
Oh, right, it's a cloudy orangish, probably from the bottle conditioning
Body
The body is full, but moves very quickly from hoppy to fruity - though I'm wondering if I've had enough at this point that I meant that the other way around as hops are usually an aftertaste. Anyway, I do remember the flavory, and I believe it's fruity to hoppy, though I'll try another SNPA later and post. Either way it's almost a scent the first flavor is gone so quickly.
Finish
The finish is bitter and biting but still smooth.
Aroma
The aroma is very faint, but just smells like a generic IPA.
Overall
This is where I stop trying to be impartial. As I'm not a huge fan of IPAs, I can't say too much about it - I would certainly drink it over Bud or Miller. Better than Magic Hat's Beet-juice summertime, but I'd almost rather drink a Heineken. Almost. 6.5
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
I rated each on head, color, body, finish, aroma, and overall, trying to describe the taste of the beer with less emphasis on what I did or did not like.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Head
This was frothy and quick, a very light and pale head that well mirrors the flavor of the beer.
Color
It's a bit orange-y and freaking creepy that the Fringe cutscenes show fetuses (fetii?) in APPLES
Oh, right, it's a cloudy orangish, probably from the bottle conditioning
Body
The body is full, but moves very quickly from hoppy to fruity - though I'm wondering if I've had enough at this point that I meant that the other way around as hops are usually an aftertaste. Anyway, I do remember the flavory, and I believe it's fruity to hoppy, though I'll try another SNPA later and post. Either way it's almost a scent the first flavor is gone so quickly.
Finish
The finish is bitter and biting but still smooth.
Aroma
The aroma is very faint, but just smells like a generic IPA.
Overall
This is where I stop trying to be impartial. As I'm not a huge fan of IPAs, I can't say too much about it - I would certainly drink it over Bud or Miller. Better than Magic Hat's Beet-juice summertime, but I'd almost rather drink a Heineken. Almost. 6.5
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Family Time (Bottled and Brewed)
Belgian-style Tripel Update
I took a final specific gravity reading and the tripel ended up at 1.020 - so the OG was a little low (the kit said it should be between 1.083 and 1.086. The alternate tripel recipe I have has an OG of 1.080 - 1.084, and an FG of 1.016 and 1.022, so it's right in between that, which is comforting.
I'm concerned about the two 80 degree weather days we had in the last month, and I hope they don't turn the taste. As its getting into summer, I'm going to move everything down to the storage unit after brewing. This will keep temperature down and stable, especially in the hot summer months.
The tripel spent 9 days in the primary ,and then another 25 days in a secondary before bottling, and the bottles are going to end up down in the storage unit as well to age.
Gumballhead Clone
I brewed the Gumballhead clone - I had 1 lb of Caravienne grains that I needed to crush myself. I started with a rolling pin, until I realized that pushing that hard imprinted on the pin, and my wife would kill me if I started breaking her good kitchen utensils. So I got out a spoon. A teaspoon. That worked better than the rolling pin when crushing the gains, but had a slightly diminished volume it was able to crush at a given time. Finally, I stumbled across my wife's food processor, and having already crushed a separate pound at my "Local Home Brew Supply" (LBHS) store, and compared the two - the food processor did just as good as a manual crushing apparatus.
I was a little slow on the straining, and forgot to get the sieve in place for the first half, so I didn't get all the trub out. It's supposed to sit in the primary carboy for a week, and then strain and transfer to a secondary where its dry-hopped. I've never dry hopped before especially not with pellets, but I'm going to put the last ounce I have in the secondary and let it sit for another week before bottling. As soon as I make sure that fermentation has started with this clone recipe, I will pull this 5 gallon tub in the basement as well.
Bottling
So we've actually turned bottling day into a family event - I sanitize everything, ensure the beer is in the carboy with tap, set up the tube and wand, then my wife fills the bottles (usually - we keep a stock of towels nearby), and I cap. This all goes on while we watch a movie or TV show, but it's surprising how this draws my wife (and sometimes my whole family if we need to get something from the kitchen and are bottling while my son's still up) into the beer making process. This led her to brew a batch with me, and now I'm brewing a batch for her specifically - hopefully this one comes out well.
I took a final specific gravity reading and the tripel ended up at 1.020 - so the OG was a little low (the kit said it should be between 1.083 and 1.086. The alternate tripel recipe I have has an OG of 1.080 - 1.084, and an FG of 1.016 and 1.022, so it's right in between that, which is comforting.
I'm concerned about the two 80 degree weather days we had in the last month, and I hope they don't turn the taste. As its getting into summer, I'm going to move everything down to the storage unit after brewing. This will keep temperature down and stable, especially in the hot summer months.
The tripel spent 9 days in the primary ,and then another 25 days in a secondary before bottling, and the bottles are going to end up down in the storage unit as well to age.
Gumballhead Clone
I brewed the Gumballhead clone - I had 1 lb of Caravienne grains that I needed to crush myself. I started with a rolling pin, until I realized that pushing that hard imprinted on the pin, and my wife would kill me if I started breaking her good kitchen utensils. So I got out a spoon. A teaspoon. That worked better than the rolling pin when crushing the gains, but had a slightly diminished volume it was able to crush at a given time. Finally, I stumbled across my wife's food processor, and having already crushed a separate pound at my "Local Home Brew Supply" (LBHS) store, and compared the two - the food processor did just as good as a manual crushing apparatus.
I was a little slow on the straining, and forgot to get the sieve in place for the first half, so I didn't get all the trub out. It's supposed to sit in the primary carboy for a week, and then strain and transfer to a secondary where its dry-hopped. I've never dry hopped before especially not with pellets, but I'm going to put the last ounce I have in the secondary and let it sit for another week before bottling. As soon as I make sure that fermentation has started with this clone recipe, I will pull this 5 gallon tub in the basement as well.
Bottling
So we've actually turned bottling day into a family event - I sanitize everything, ensure the beer is in the carboy with tap, set up the tube and wand, then my wife fills the bottles (usually - we keep a stock of towels nearby), and I cap. This all goes on while we watch a movie or TV show, but it's surprising how this draws my wife (and sometimes my whole family if we need to get something from the kitchen and are bottling while my son's still up) into the beer making process. This led her to brew a batch with me, and now I'm brewing a batch for her specifically - hopefully this one comes out well.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Belgian-Style Tripel Ingredients and Procedure
Fermentables
3.3 lbs Light LME Briess CBW Golden Light
3.3 Amber LME Briess CBW Sparkling Amber
3 lb Pilsen DME Pilsen Light Spray Dried Malt
1 lb Light Candi Sugar
8 oz Maltodextrin
Specialty Grains
4 oz Aromatic Crushed Aromatic Malt
Hops
2oz Bittering Kent Bittering Hops - 4.5% alpha acid
.5 oz Aroma Kent Aroma Hops - 4.5% alpha acid
Yeast
1 Sachet Nottingham Ale Yeast
Specs
IBU's: 24 - 30
ABV %: 8.5 - 9.0
OG: 1.083 - 1086
Procedure
1) Sanitize everything - 1 carboy
, 1 big plastic spoon
, 1 airlock
, 1 hydrometer
(did not sanitize 7 gallon pot or thermometer
)
2) Steep grains
I poured about 2.5 gallons of water into the brew pot and set burner to high. I poured the 4 oz of crushed 'aromatic malt' grains into grain bag and tied a knot at the top of the bag. When the water was at 150, I put the grain bag into the brew pot and reduced heat. I steeped grains for approximately 20 minutes and checked water temp about every 3 to 4 min, adjusting as necessary to attempt to keep the water as close to 150 as possible. Removed grain bag and set drain bag in a clean bowl. The water was then wort.
4) Start boil
I set the heat to high to bring the wort to a gentle, rolling boil. As this was heating, I tossed the grain bag, and poured the drained liquid back into the pot. I poured the dried malt extract (DME) - the 3 lb Pilsen Light Spray Malt and Maltodextrin - into a bowl and added that so I could just dump it all at once (as it tends to crust as it leaves the bag. Then I poured the LME - two cans of Briess CBW, one Golden Light and one Sparkling Amber - in and the Candied Sugar as the wort turned into a boil
5) Add hops
I then slowly sprinkled the bittering hops into the boiling wort. I did this extremely slowly as the initial addition of the hops causes a sudden foaming, that goes back down and allows the rest of the hops to be added without that foaming. I then boiled for 50 minutes after which I added the aroma hops and boiled for 5 more minutes.
6) Cool wort and transfer
I then filled my bath tub full of cool water and placed the brew pot in. After about an hour I poured the wort into a carboy, but will probably try to strain next time. I attempted to avoid transferring the heavy sediment (trub) from the brew pot to the carboy.
7) Add water
I then added enough clean water to the carboy to bring the total volume of wort to approximately 5 gallons, stirred, and took an initial specific gravity with the hydrometer.
8) Pitch yeast
I poured the yeast satchet in and stirred it up; capped the carboy, filled the airlock just under halfway with water, and stuck it in.
Monitor and record
9) Fermentation starts
I left the airlock set up for the first day, and then began to monitor closely. As I suspected - the high specific gravity beers (by proxy, high alcohol beers), there is so much activity that it frequently reaches the airlock and can block or just build a significant amount of pressure. As I'd already had the Russian Imperial Stout explode on me, as soon as I saw the beer overflowing the airlock, I opened it up and pulled the top and inside of the airlock so that the gas could release straight out. As I heard a constant whistle, I had no worry that air was getting in and affecting the taste. This lasted for approximately two to three days, and I put the airlock back together when there was still very active fermentation so I didn't have to worry about oxidation.
10) Wait
I will bottle this as soon as my English Brown Ale is gone, and I have the larger bottles - especially with the bulk aging, the larger canister available, the better (in my experience).
3.3 lbs Light LME Briess CBW Golden Light
3.3 Amber LME Briess CBW Sparkling Amber
3 lb Pilsen DME Pilsen Light Spray Dried Malt
1 lb Light Candi Sugar
8 oz Maltodextrin
Specialty Grains
4 oz Aromatic Crushed Aromatic Malt
Hops
2oz Bittering Kent Bittering Hops - 4.5% alpha acid
.5 oz Aroma Kent Aroma Hops - 4.5% alpha acid
Yeast
1 Sachet Nottingham Ale Yeast
Specs
IBU's: 24 - 30
ABV %: 8.5 - 9.0
OG: 1.083 - 1086
Procedure
1) Sanitize everything - 1 carboy
, 1 big plastic spoon, 1 airlock, 1 hydrometer (did not sanitize 7 gallon pot or thermometer) 2) Steep grains
I poured about 2.5 gallons of water into the brew pot and set burner to high. I poured the 4 oz of crushed 'aromatic malt' grains into grain bag and tied a knot at the top of the bag. When the water was at 150, I put the grain bag into the brew pot and reduced heat. I steeped grains for approximately 20 minutes and checked water temp about every 3 to 4 min, adjusting as necessary to attempt to keep the water as close to 150 as possible. Removed grain bag and set drain bag in a clean bowl. The water was then wort.
4) Start boil
I set the heat to high to bring the wort to a gentle, rolling boil. As this was heating, I tossed the grain bag, and poured the drained liquid back into the pot. I poured the dried malt extract (DME) - the 3 lb Pilsen Light Spray Malt and Maltodextrin - into a bowl and added that so I could just dump it all at once (as it tends to crust as it leaves the bag. Then I poured the LME - two cans of Briess CBW, one Golden Light and one Sparkling Amber - in and the Candied Sugar as the wort turned into a boil
5) Add hops
I then slowly sprinkled the bittering hops into the boiling wort. I did this extremely slowly as the initial addition of the hops causes a sudden foaming, that goes back down and allows the rest of the hops to be added without that foaming. I then boiled for 50 minutes after which I added the aroma hops and boiled for 5 more minutes.
6) Cool wort and transfer
I then filled my bath tub full of cool water and placed the brew pot in. After about an hour I poured the wort into a carboy, but will probably try to strain next time. I attempted to avoid transferring the heavy sediment (trub) from the brew pot to the carboy.
7) Add water
I then added enough clean water to the carboy to bring the total volume of wort to approximately 5 gallons, stirred, and took an initial specific gravity with the hydrometer.
8) Pitch yeast
I poured the yeast satchet in and stirred it up; capped the carboy, filled the airlock just under halfway with water, and stuck it in.
Monitor and record
9) Fermentation starts
I left the airlock set up for the first day, and then began to monitor closely. As I suspected - the high specific gravity beers (by proxy, high alcohol beers), there is so much activity that it frequently reaches the airlock and can block or just build a significant amount of pressure. As I'd already had the Russian Imperial Stout explode on me, as soon as I saw the beer overflowing the airlock, I opened it up and pulled the top and inside of the airlock so that the gas could release straight out. As I heard a constant whistle, I had no worry that air was getting in and affecting the taste. This lasted for approximately two to three days, and I put the airlock back together when there was still very active fermentation so I didn't have to worry about oxidation.
10) Wait
I will bottle this as soon as my English Brown Ale is gone, and I have the larger bottles - especially with the bulk aging, the larger canister available, the better (in my experience).
Scratched and Bottled
So we scratched the mead - it was skunky, didn't taste good, and would probably take about a year to age and actually be drinkable. I may try again eventually on the 1 gallon scale, but I probably won't be soon.
The cider is bottled - there is very little taste difference between the wine and champagne yeasts, though they both taste delicious with a bit of sugar right before consumption. It was very easy to set up the siphon with the bottle wand - which is a clear stick with a pressure release at the end, so when it's pushed, it drops whatever liquid is in it to the container it's pushed against - stuck straight into the hose, and then filled up with water. Then the individual bottles can be put lower than the carboy, and even with the small opening, it's easy to start siphoning and stop the liquid to switch bottles.
And that means that all my jugs are free for hard lemonade. I'm thinking we'll do the full 5 gallon recipe, and then we can do differences per-jug. That way we can at least have a full vat - a good standard baseline/ratio of ingredients and yeast before putting them in separate 1 gallon jugs that we can then play with.
Also, I'm going to the Brew and Grow tomorrow to pick up a few grain bags so I can make Gumballhead - and I'm very excited about that, but I need to take a temp reading of my basement first because my condo is starting to get affected by the Chicago warm-up.
The cider is bottled - there is very little taste difference between the wine and champagne yeasts, though they both taste delicious with a bit of sugar right before consumption. It was very easy to set up the siphon with the bottle wand - which is a clear stick with a pressure release at the end, so when it's pushed, it drops whatever liquid is in it to the container it's pushed against - stuck straight into the hose, and then filled up with water. Then the individual bottles can be put lower than the carboy, and even with the small opening, it's easy to start siphoning and stop the liquid to switch bottles.
And that means that all my jugs are free for hard lemonade. I'm thinking we'll do the full 5 gallon recipe, and then we can do differences per-jug. That way we can at least have a full vat - a good standard baseline/ratio of ingredients and yeast before putting them in separate 1 gallon jugs that we can then play with.
Also, I'm going to the Brew and Grow tomorrow to pick up a few grain bags so I can make Gumballhead - and I'm very excited about that, but I need to take a temp reading of my basement first because my condo is starting to get affected by the Chicago warm-up.
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