Harvest Ale!

 Beer Recipes, Brew Sessions  No Responses »
Aug 282012
 

With my hops harvest complete and the end of summer rapidly approaching, I thought that a Harvest Ale would be an appropriate use of my first year hops. looking at the amount that I have and the beer style I wanted to use them in I knew I’d get real close with just MY hops. However, since my Galena hops were less than spectacular this year, I did use some Galena that I purchased in bulk, but only as a 5  minute addition.

I was thinking of an IPA but making it in the 7% range. In order to do that I used 2lbs of an invert sugar syrup (similar to Lyle’s Golden Syrup) which isn’t unheard of in English Ales and is an easy way to boost the ABV. For bittering I used the Galena hops I grew as my FWH hops and then used the Ultra at 10 minutes and cascade (along with purchased Galena) at 5 minutes. For dry hopping I plan on using an ounce of my Cascade hops.

The brew day was this past Sunday and went a little something like this:2012-08-26 10.12.11
Weigh out the grains.
9lbs 2 row Pale Malt
1lb Crystal 60L
.5lb Carapils
Then crush them in my Barley Crusher. Since I use the BIAB (Brew In A Bag) method of mashing I can crush extremely fine. This allows for a brewhouse efficiency of 75-80%.

I measured out the water I would need for my batch of beer using the following formula. Batch size + absorption + boil off +Trub loss = water needed. To determine absorption amount I used grain weight * .065 = absorption. To put all that into number it would look like this. 10.5 * .065 = .68 gallons absorbed by grain. My batch would be 5.5 gallons, I know my boil off for a 60 minute boil is 1.25 gallons and I normally lose .25 gallons to trub.  So 5.5+.68+1.25+.25 = 7.68 gallons. I rounded it up to 7.75 gallons of water and lit the burner. I heated the water up to 157F and killed the heat. At this point I placed my CustomBIAB grain bag into the kettle and stirred in my grains. After stirring for a couple minute to make sure there were no dough balls (dry clumps of grain) I checked the temps. I was right on my target of 152F so I 2012-08-26 13.38.34placed the lid on and wrapped it up in my trusty sleeping bag for 90 minutes.

After the mash was over I pulled the grain bag out via my rope and pulley (not needed but does free up my hands to do other things) and let it drain. At this time I added my FWH hops (0.8 ounces of Home Grown Galena). Now since I don’t sparge with BIAB and FWH (First Wort Hopping) normally takes place while the sparge is occurring, I simulate it by letting the grain bag drain for 20 minutes. I know that the wort looks real cloudy in the pic, but that’s OK. All the cloudy parts will be left behind after the hot break and cold break occur.

After the simulated sparge time is over, I spin the bag to compress the grains and squeeze the hell out of it. This doesn’t extract tannins so forget that piece of misinformation. Squeezing lets me recover as much of the sweet wort as possible. Now I normally take the grains and dump them for the deer to eat, this time I took them to my wife so she could 2012-08-26 14.59.02make dog treats for our Rottweiler, Ella. Next it was time to light the fire and get things to a boil.

The boil was uneventful (YAY) and at 15 minutes left I added my immersion chiller and a whirlfloc tablet. With 10 minutes remaining I added 1 ounce of Home Grown Ultra hops. With 5 minutes left the 1 ounce of Home Grown Cascade hops and 1 ounce of purchased Galen hops went into the boil. Next was flame out and chilling time!

Of course while brewing beer this I did have to drink a little home 2012-08-26 18.36.59brew as it is tradition. My choice  this time around was some of my Pond Skipper Brown Ale. After everything was chilled to pitching temps I transferred the clear wort from the kettle to the carboy and pitch my yeast. This time around I used SafAle S-04 English Ale yeast. The hydrometer Sample was right at 1.068 and will hopefully ferment down to 1.010. That would give me a 7.4% IPA  that will have in the neighborhood of 44IBU. Of course since this is using my home grown hops I have no way of knowing the exact AA% for the hops so the IBU is just an estimate.  Once the fermentation is done I’ll dry hop with another ounce of my Cascade hops for a week then keg it up. ( yes the hydrometer sample tasted AWESOME)

I’ll try to remember to post a review of my Harvest Ale and even a couple pics of it when it’s ready to drink. Until then……

Prost
MM

Birth of a Dragon….. part 2

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Jul 232012
 

This is the second part of this brewing session. Please read part 1 if you haven’t already as it explains a lot about this beer and how to make it.

On day 2, we are on the actual brew day itself. Already completed are the Candi Syrup and the starter (let the starter spin on the stir plate until it’s time to pitch). Now it’s time to break out all the brewing equipment and make sure everything is clean and ready to go. As most readers of my blog know, I use the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method of all grain brewing. It’s no better or worse than any other method of all grain brewing, it’s just a different way to reach the same goal. If you haven’t tried it, give it an honest shot before dismissing it.

I guess to begin with here, you’ll need the recipe. This was 2 years in its creation and recently I looked over a couple “award winning” tripel recipes. Guess what, mine is real similar to those. Here’s the recipe.
12 lbs               Pilsen Malt 2-Row
2 lbs                 Munich II
8.0 oz               Cara-Pils/Dextrine
2 lbs                 Invert Sugar
2.00 oz             Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.90 %] -Boil 60 minutes
1.00 oz             Saaz [5.40 %] – Boil 15 minutes
1.00 oz             Styrian Goldings [3.40 %] – Boil 5.0 minutes
1.0 pkg             Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500)
Keep in mind that since we’re using Pilsen malt that means we’re going to boil for at least 90 minutes in order to boil off any DMS. The above recipe is formulated assuming 75% efficiency. The Original Gravity (OG) should be 1.090 with 5.5 gallons as the batch size. The color should be 4.5SRM and it should have 28 IBU’s. Feel free to adjust the recipe as you see fit for your tastes and equipment. If you do use my recipe, please give proper credit to my blog.

On brew day I started out by weighing out my base grains and adding my specialty grains. Once everything2012-07-21 20.22.50  was weighed I loaded up my trusty Barley Crusher. I know that some people don’t like the Barley Crusher, for me it was an affordable mill that to date hasn’t let me down. Would I like to have a motorized 3 roller monster mill? Of course I would! Can I afford one? Nope. Hey now… If anyone wants to buy me a birthday 2012-07-21 20.35.13 present now you know what to get me! Since I use the BIAB method I can crush my grains real fine without worrying about a stuck sparge (no sparge in BIAB). With that comfort in mind I normally run my grains twice just to make sure there are no uncrushed grains. The results look something like this.

OK, so far we have checked and cleaned all brewing equipment, we weighed and crushed the grains. Now it’s time to get down to brewing this beer. With the amount of grains I 2012-07-22 17.18.51was using, knowing my boil off rate, the absorption amount and the amount lost to trub (absorption+boil off+batch+trub loss = total water needed) I knew that I needed 8.25 gallons of water. I also knew that with  that much water and 14lbs of grain, I was going to be pushing it for space in my 10 gallon kettle. I could have used my 15.5 gallon keggle, but since I’d have just enough room, the thermal mass would be greater and heat loss over the 90 minute mash would be minimal.

I heated my 8.25 gallons of water to 155F, then inserted my grain bag 2012-07-22 17.24.25 (thanks CustomBIAB) and slowly added my grains. After stirring the grains to make sure there were no dough balls (dry clumps of grain) I checked my mash temperature. Perfect! 149F I wasn’t kidding when I said the pot was going to be real full. I maybe had enough room for another .25 gallons of water or another pound of grain. Keep in mind that I needed room for the lid. Once the lid was in place I wrapped the pot in my old sleeping bag and set my timer for 90 minutes.  While waiting for the mash to 2012-07-22 17.26.10 complete I was getting everything ready for the remaining portion of the brew day including running to grab a 16lb bag of ice that will be used during the chilling phase.

Once the 90 minute mash was complete it time to remove the bag. Now normally I would grab the bag and lift it out and wait for it to drain. However, lately I have been suffering with De Quervain’s Tendonitis which makes it difficult to lift and hold the bag for extended periods. So instead of my normal 2012-07-22 19.03.00 method of lift, hold, place in second pot with colander to drain. I used a hook and pulley and simply suspended the bag over the pot for 20 minutes. I then squeezed the bag to get as much good sweet wort out as possible. Yes it’s OK to squeeze the grains, No you won’t extract tannins that way.

Now I don’t know why I never used a hook and pulley before. Quite frankly it makes the brewing process easier. Sure it limits me to one location for my brew pot, but that’s not really a bad thing now is it?I was even able to 2012-07-22 19.03.13suspend my hop sack from it instead of tying it off to the handle. While  waiting for the bag to drain I did fire up the burner to start heating the wort. I did leave it on a low flame setting as I didn’t want a boil going before the bag was completely drained.

Soon after the bag was drained and squeezed, I was nearing a boil. Once I got a good roiling boil going and was past the point of hot break (Hot break is when the proteins in the wort form a thick foam and if you don’t pay attention and manage your heat will boil over creating a huge sticky mess) ( set my timer for 90 minutes. Now if you have an Android Smart Phone there’s an app that will read Beersmith files as well as BeerXML files. That app is called BrewAide its free and it works great. of course you can read my review of it here. 2012-07-22 19.35.00

From here it was pretty much a normal brew day. The one exception would be adding the Candi Syrup with 15 minutes left in the boil. I added my hops as per the recipe starting at 60 minutes left in the 90 minute boil. At 15 minutes left I added the Candi Syrup, my second addition of hops, and then placed my immersion chiller in the kettle. At 10 minutes I added a Whirlfloc tablet. With 5 minutes remaining I added my last addition of hops.

At 0 minutes it was time for flame out. I turned on the water for the chiller and let the cooling process begin. Now here’s where I differ from some people. I do a 2 stage chill. The first stage is 212F –115F, this is all tap water. Now in order to get the most cooling for my tap water I do have it barely running so it’s not gushing 2012-07-22 22.37.51out the other side. Slower moving water has a better chance of doing it’s heat exchange thing and the temp  drop faster. Once we hit 115F I added 16lbs of ice to a cooler, fill it with water and connect my immersion chiller to a pond pump in the bottom of the cooler. the exit water goes back into the cooler. This recirculates until I reach pitching temps. Why waste water if you don’t have to? The reason for waiting till I reach 115F is so the ice doesn’t all melt in the first 5 minutes of cooling.

While waiting for the wort to cool I clean and sanitize a carboy using my Carboy Cleaner and Starsan. Once I reached pitching temps I transferred the wort to the carboy and added the yeast. During the transfer to the carboy the wort get aerated pretty well (I pour the wort into a big funnel and it drops into 2012-07-23 08.55.02 the carboy). As always I fitted a blow off tube (good thing too since after 12 hours it was blowing lots of foam). Starters are always a good thing and for a big beer like this it is a requirement. I had signs of fermentation within 4 hours and by 12 it looked like this.

There’s part 2. When the fermentation is complete I’ll move on to part 3 (there’s that number three again) which will be bottling in Belgian bottles complete with corks and cages. Until then if you have ANY questions, please feel free to ask.

Prost!
MM

Birth of a Dragon…. part 1

 Beer Recipes, Brew Sessions  No Responses »
Jul 232012
 

One day I woke up with the thought running through my head that in a few years I’ll be 50 years old. While some might think of that as a young age, others may think of it as holy crap that’s old! The age itself isn’t that important, but it is a milestone that sadly few ever see. I asked my friends to make sure to throw me a hell of a birthday party that year. One that would not fade from memory quickly like so many birthdays before it have done. That gave them 5 years to plan this party.

I of course wanted to do something special for that day as well. I wanted to be able to provide a beer that was truly deserving of a party celebrating me reaching the half century mark. I initially thought of a barley wine. BIG in alcohol and strong in …well alcohol! There are very few barley wines out there that are really any good for the masses. Either you like it or you don’t. The same goes for a Russian Imperial Stout. You’ll either love it or you won’t. That led my thoughts towards a Belgian Tripel. A beer that was big in flavor. Partially from the malts and Candi Sugars, the remainder from the yeast. Not a lot from the hops, which means that even non-beer drinkers wouldn’t be turned off by a bitter drink. Of course it would also have to pack a hell of a punch.

I sat down and started reading up on the beer style, then I started looking through my grains database (thanks Beersmith). Over the next couple years I worked on designing this recipe, tweaking it here, changing it there. Until I felt that I had the perfect Tripel recipe sitting before me. As I looked over my recipe the name for it rushed into my head shouting, Three Headed Dragon! The recipe was born, next came the planning of the brew day.

Knowing that a well made Tripel would need time to age (it would be around 10%abv) I knew that I would need to get this beer brewed with plenty of time to spare. I decided that three years in advance would be a good number. After all, Three is in it’s name. Three is present in just about every religion since the beginning of time. The Greek’s the three Fates, three Graces, three Gorgons and the three Furies. Even Apollo’s Pythia sat on a three legged chair (tripod) and Cerberus was a three headed dog. Multiples of three also seemed to be used such as the nine Muses and the twelve Olympian gods.

The Ancient Celts saw the number Three as The Maiden, Mother and Crone representing the three stages of life for a woman (women were equals in their religion). It was their representation of the Mother Goddess. In Celtic stories Heroes traveled in groups of three. Oak, ash, and thorn were called the faery triad of trees. Where they grow together,it is still said that faeries live.

The number three is represented in the triad or trinity symbol  triad which can be seen on many things in many cultures. It was on the swords of the noble Samurai, it adorned the shields and coat of arms for the Templars. Tibetan monks had the symbol on their rings and it is even on the coat of arms for popes. Three is a powerful number so, My Tripel would need to age for three years. Which of course meant I needed to get busy!

The day before brew day I made a 1 liter starter and added a tube of Whitelabs WLP500 Trapist Ale yeast. I put the starter on the stir plate and let it do its thing. I then turned my attention to making the Candi Syrup for the beer. Most commonly the Candi sugar comes in a rock candy form. Lately the Syrups have been popular since they dissolve pretty much instantly. However, finding a clear Candi Syrup is both hard to do and very expensive. Even an amber or dark amber syrup is costly, normally running $7.25 for a 1lb bag at my local homebrew store. A clear Candi Syrup is not much different than an invert sugar syrup so that’s what I made. 2012-07-22 09.59.31 Sugar is made of sucrose which while it can be converted by yeast, it’s not a simple sugar and takes more time and energy. Inverted sugar is sucrose that is broken down into fructose and glucose, which as simple sugars are more easily consumed by yeast.

I added 2lbs of sugar, beet sugar is best for this but cane will work as well (if the bag doesn’t say cane sugar, it’s probably beet sugar) to a pot along with 1 cup of water. I SLOWLY heated the sugar and added 1/2 tsp of Cream of Tartar, which will aid in the conversion process. Do not stir as it’s heating (good reason to heat it slowly) as natural convection will gently stir it and not cause crystals to climb up the side of the pot. At first the sugar is cloudy looking and well, just looks like wet sugar.

2012-07-22 10.02.23

That soon changes though as the heat increases. It’s a good idea to keep a cup of water handy during the part as it will be needed to control the temperature.  A good candy thermometer is essential. As the sugar boils water is evaporating. Since sugar boils at a much higher temperature than water converts to steam rapidly. As water evaporates, the temperature rises. If it goes to high, the sugar will scorch and that leaves you with a mess to clean and some useless sugar.  Add a little water at a time being careful because it will convert to steam quickly. Now is a good time to stir making sure teh water is well distributed. Holding a temperature between 240-260F for 20 minutes will allow the sugar to fully convert to an invert sugar. Add water as needed to keep the temperature in check.

While you’re holding the temperature it’s a good time to preheat a 1 quart mason jar. To do this I fill the jar 2012-07-22 01.11.14with water and place in a pot of boiling water. This will bring the jar up to near 212F preventing a shock to the glass breaking it leaving you with a huge mess to clean up, oh yeah and boiling hot sugar searing itself to your skin! So please pre-heat those jars and avoid a painful and costly trip to the hospital. Once you have held the sugar at 240-260F for 20 minutes add some water stir the water in carefully as it’s going to  again convert to steam. The temperature will drop quickly below 240F. Allow it to heat again and just as it reaches 240F remove it from the stove and pour it into the pre-heated mason jar (empty the water from the jar first of course). Secure the lid and ring and sit it someplace to cool. You should end up with a jar of a nice 2012-07-22 10.57.30golden syrup that once cooled is about as thick as honey.  There you have it. a simple Clear Candi Syrup. For an Amber syrup do the same thing except after conversion heat it to 290F and hold for 10 minutes. Keep watching it as the color darkens then add  more water to cool and then heat back up to 240F. Then pour in your jar. The darker the syrup, the more flavors you’ll get. They can range from a caramel, to a plum/raisin/toffee. Just be careful as once it burns, you have to start over. If you notice I use 240F as a reference temperature. That’s the softball stage in candy making and its what allows the sugar to remain as a syrup. Since this was the end of day one for me, I think this is a good spot to stop and I’ll continue in part 2.

Prost!
MM

 

 

Ancient Berserker Crunk-Juice of Kings A.K.A Making 32 gallons of mead in a single day!

 Beer Recipes  1 Response »
Mar 052012
 

As mentioned in a previous post, a great friend and the guy that taught me to brew (John) passed away. His son inherited a LOT of brewing equipment as well as a couple gallons of honey, over 1.5 gallons of that was 28 year old honey. Add a LOT more honey to that and you have the makings of a marathon mead making experience of a lifetime. At one point we had about 240lbs of honey sitting there just begging to be turned into mead. Now to be true to the friend/father that we lost, we used this as an opportunity to spread the knowledge of mead making to others. First thing up was cleaning all those carboy’s. Just to be fair and to help educate we first showed the good ole "L" shaped carboy brush. Then we did them all a favor and broke out the Carboy Cleaner™. I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again and again, The Carboy Cleaner™ is the best invention EVER! It went through 6-8 carboys in no time. I think a few converts to the carboy cleaner were born that day.

Next up, making mead! The first 2 batches were both Wildflower honey. 1 gallon of Wildflower honey plus 2 quarts of clover to balance it out in each batch. One of the gallons of Wildflower was from John the other was new. We covered all the steps for making mead to the group that had gathered. Its really easy to make mead, after all people have been doing this for thousands of years. It’s so easy not only could a Caveman do it, They DID! Here’s the steps:

  1. heat 3-4 gallons of water (depending on kettle size) to 185F
  2. add 12-15lbs of honey and stir to ensure its dissolved
  3. maintain the temperature of 180-185F for 20-30 minutes to pasteurize
  4. skim the foop (technical term for the foam that rises)t
  5. If you need to harden your water a teaspoon of gypsum
  6. add a cup of strong tea or a teaspoon of tannin (helps add astringency)
  7. After 20-30 minutes kill the heat and chill to pitching temps (70-75F)
  8. Transfer to carboy or fermentation bucket
  9. add yeast nutrient
  10. pitch yeast
  11. seal the carboy or bucket and install airlock
  12. wait 3-6 months for fermentation to complete.

To chill the honey water (known as Must) we demonstrated 2 different ways. First up was adding the 4 gallons of hot Must to a 10lb bag of ice. this dropped the temps to just below 70F almost instantly at the same time increasing the volume to 5.5 gallons. While this was instant chilling we used an immersion chiller to cool the second batch. An immersion chiller is great when making a full volume batch in a larger pot. We chilled the 5 gallon batch and transferred to a carboy added yeast nutrient to both batches and pitched White Labs Sweet Mead yeast to both. That was 2 down and 4 to go.

Batches 3 and 4 were Orange Blossom and a very special batch that has been named “Orwellian 2012-03-03 20.43.18Reserve” (The honey was from 1984). That one used 1.5 gallons of 28 year old honey from the man we were honoring. Now over the last 28 years this honey crystallized and even oxidized a bit (OK, more than a bit it was solid and for the most part black as a stout) Soaking the quart jars in a pot of boiling water for 15-20 minutes took care of the crystallizing and the honey was now pour-able. The honey itself tasted GREAT. It had a nice complex caramel 2012-03-03 20.27.55molasses thing going on and the aroma was similar to a molasses and sorghum syrup. The Orange Blossom batch went without any issues except a minor one, instead of making 5 gallons we made 7 gallons. Oh darn. Instead of making 15-18% alcohol mead we will end up with a 12% batch. That just means we’ll be able to drink it sooner. The Orwellian Reserve went without a hitch as well. We ended up with a 5.5 gallon batch and it should end up around 14-15%. When making that one it looked like I was brewing my oatmeal stout. It was black as night which was appropriate sine it was now, dark outside.,

Once both of those were in the carboys/buckets round 3 got started. One batch straight Sweet Clover the other Sourwood. By the time we had finished all 6 batches we had 32 gallons of mead (aka crunk juice) in the carboys/buckets with yeast pitched and it was now midnight. Brewing from 4pm to midnight makes for a very long day but it was a lot of fun. We got to pass along the knowledge of brewing to others and ended up making a batch of mead with some VERY old honey. By the next day all batches were fermenting happily and in 3-6 months we’ll have everyone get back together for a mass bottling. As the fermentation process takes place pictures will be made to show the progress. I’ll make sure those get posted here.

Hopefully in the next month I’ll be getting everyone together for a beer making class. Brewing beer is a great way to pass the time needed for Mead to ferment and mature. Besides, the world needs more home brewers.

 

Prost!
MM

Black IPA/Cascadian Dark Ale

 Beer Recipes  No Responses »
Jan 102012
 

Leave it to those of us in North America to take a well loved beer style like the IPA and take it to the next level. First we took the Pale Ale and made it hoppy and called it American Pale Ale. Then we took the IPA and did the same thing but took the hops bitterness to the extreme that it basically numbs the palette with 1 or 2 sips. Now there’s the Black IPA also known as American Dark Ale or Cascadian Dark Ale. A hoppy bitter IPA that has been turned as close to pitch black as possible. Now, when it comes to dark ales, almost everyone knows about a stout. Most stouts out there are dark and bitter from the use of Black Patent malt. It lends the color and well, if over used can add a burnt taste. Some like that burnt taste, I’m not one of them.

Now I’m not saying that the use of Black Patent malt should never be done. Far from it. It has it’s place in brewing and is used correctly will make a Stout nice and black while adding a small amount of flavor. For a stout that’s appropriate, but not an IPA. An IPA should be malty and hoppy with enough bitterness to balance to malt backbone. You can have intense hop flavor and aroma without the bitterness going through the roof but how would you make it black as night and not taste like it was burnt? The answer is simpler than most would think.

Steeping the dark grains instead of mashing them! Not just any dark grain either. Using something like Weyermann De-Husked Carafa II ® or Weyermann De-Husked Carafa III ® will add the color you’re seeking and yet not the overly burnt taste. If mashed it will add aroma and a little body with a much smoother flavor than Black Patent. However, if you steep it by adding for the last 15-20 minutes of the mash, you’ll get the color and maybe a slight amount of body with almost no flavor. Now I didn’t say no flavor, it’ll impart a little but not so much that it’s noticeable

To convert one of your favorite IPA recipes to a Black IPA. Add 1-2 pounds of Weyermann De-Husked Carafa II ® to the mash during the last 15 minutes of the mash. If you do extract beers steep the grain for 15 minutes and then add the liquid to the kettle. The resulting IPA will be nice and dark and still taste mostly like an IPA should taste, just a little different.

 

Prost!!

MM

The Stout – dark, chewy, flavorful, warming, filling.

 Beer Recipes, Main  No Responses »
Jan 032012
 

Winter is here and what better way to spend a quiet cold evening than sipping a rich dark stout. Just the name stout can bring various sensations to mind. The aroma of the dark malt mingling with the hops. The full body mixed with the roasty, toasty flavors of coffee and the bittersweet of dark chocolate. If it’s an oatmeal stout you’ll add in a silky creamy mouth feel. A stout is a drink for those like to live life boldly. It’s not for those that prefer their beer lacking in extreme flavors that can both sooth the soul and invigorate you at the same time. Where did this beer style come from? Keep reading and you’ll find out.

The word stout meant proud or brave until after the 14th century when it also meant strong. At that time and strong beer could be prefaced with the word stout. In the early 1730s a dark ale called Porter was the favored drink for the street and river porters in London (hence the name the beer is porter).  Stout Pale Ale and Stout stoutPorter were common variations of the time. As the trend for lighter beers became the fashion, the porter was no longer the popular beer in London. Ireland breweries of Guinness, Murphy’s and Beamish continued brewing a dry (Irish) Stout Porter. In the 1820s Guinness was primarily brewing a Stout Porter and soon the name porter was dropped as ordering a Stout at the pub only meant one thing, stout porter.

by the late 1800s the Stout was no longer found anywhere but Scotland and Ireland. World War II also brought darker beers to an end in England as there were restrictions on roasting of malts. The style of Stout was then for the most part unknown in the world except in Ireland. That is until Michael Jackson (not the king of pop) mentioned it in his book “The World Guide To Beer” in 1977. Since then the popularity of the stout has grown. His book even helped revive the once lost style of Oatmeal Stout. I for one am very glad that the Stout didn’t die out completely and the Oatmeal Stout is one of my favorite versions of this incredible beer.

How many different versions of the beer style are there? Well, lets see. There is the Dry Stout (Irish Stout), Oatmeal Stout, Chocolate Stout, Coffee Stout, Milk Stout, Oyster Stout and Imperial Stout. Of course, there can be any combination of those styles as well as the addition of herbs and fruits. I’ll be brewing a Chocolate Mint Imperial Stout soon as just an example of a possible combination. The stout has a long history and hopefully this helped spread a little of that to you. Now go out there and brew up a stout of your own or stop by and grab a 6 pack of one of the many craft brews out there for this style, your taste bubs will thank you for it.

Prost!!

MM

Pumpkin and Beer

 Beer Recipes  No Responses »
Sep 302011
 

Fall is a wonderful time of the year. It’s a time of change. The days grow shorter and the nights grow longer. The warmth of summer fades into a coolness that foretells of the cold winters to come. With the changing of the seasons our beers start to change. out with the light golden colored lighter flavored ales and in with Ales that have more color and flavor. Hearty ales to help temper the cool nights. Not a heavy dark ale, but reds and oranges with a few golds thrown in like the color of fall leaves.

Now that Fall has arrived, that make me think of the up coming holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas will soon be here. Out of those three Thanksgiving and Christmas make me think of the holiday dinners. Both of those make me think of Pumpkin Pie! What better way to celebrate this time of year than with a Pumpkin Ale. A nice malty ale with a orange/red color not too bitter but just enough to be balanced. The flavor of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and clove shinning through with a creamy mouth feel and flavor of pumpkin. Mmm. Just thinking of it makes my mouth water. Click here for the recipe!

Prost!

India Pale Ale

 Beer Recipes  No Responses »
Sep 092011
 

I want to start taking a look at not only the history of beer styles but how they have changed over the years. A great place to start is with the India Pale Ale or better known as an IPA. In the latter part of the 18th century (circa 1772) Britain had expanded to the Indies and setup colonies across the region. These colonies were of course manned by sailors, soldiers as well as British citizens living abroad. All of them wanted something of their homeland to quench their thirst. They wanted English Ale! After all, who doesn’t like a nice dark English ale? Okay, maybe the people in a HOT climate don’t want a dark heavy beer, but they did want English beers. Back in England several idea were presented, including breweries boiling the wort down to a liquid and having it reconstituted and finished in India (the beginnings of extract brewing?).

Then a brewer named George Hodgson from the Bow Brewery in East London had an Idea. He had a beer that was copper colored and called a Pale Ale by those in London that had been enjoying it for a few years (called a pale ale because it was lighter than the browns and porters). Since refrigeration and pasteurization hadn’t been invented yet he used to next best thing to preserve the beer, Alcohol and Hops. A higher amount of alcohol along with a heavy amount of hops produced a very very bitter alcoholic sparkling pale beer. In addition to the high amount of hops in the kettle  hops were also added to the casks before they were loaded on the ships. This added even more protection against spoilage. By the time the beer made it to India it had matured and mellowed a bit and while still bitter it wasn’t as bitter as when it first left port. This highly hopped pale ale soon came into a huge demand. In 1750 1480 barrels of beer were exported, by 1800 that number had increased to 9000 barrels. That’s an increase of over 500%. Soon Salt, Allsopp, and Bass breweries followed suit and copied Hodgson’s recipe for a  pale ale and shortly made the Burton-on –Trent region the beer capitol of England.

The entire beer style might have died off completely after England ended its reign of India if it wasn’t for a shipwreck in the Irish Sea. The contents were auctioned off and the locals in Liverpool were soon demanding the export beer at home. Shortly after that Londoners started demanding the IPA as well as it was a refreshing change from the dark sweet beers they had been drinking. Today the IPA in America has seen a resurgence. As craft breweries increase and the population  starts to seek out beer other than those produced by BMC (Bud/Miller/Coors) they have discovered hoppy beers. As they drink beer that is more and more bitter they are soon drawn to the IPA. Sadly, here in America it seems that almost all craft beers are heavy handed on hops as that seems to be what a lot of former BMC drinkers think makes a good beer. With that, American variations of traditional beer style have emerged and the main difference is that the American version is brewed with a high hopping rate. It almost seems that one of the key things about the original IPA has been lost. During that 3-5 month trip across the ocean with a near constant rocking motion. The bitterness was diminished significantly by the time it was bottled and consumed.

Now, for MY tastes, I don’t want an IPA that is nothing but a bitter fluid that I can either swallow or spit out. I want a beer that is slightly on the hoppy side of balanced with an incredible hop aroma and flavor. Yes I said flavor and that doesn’t mean bitter. One of the method to get the intense hop aroma and flavor is called Hop Bursting. This is where a very small amount of the bittering addition is done at the normal 60 minute mark and the remainder of the bittering is done at the 10 minute mark in order to maximize the aroma and flavor as well as get some bitterness. yes it takes more hops than normal and that makes it cost more, but its more than worth it in the end. With that, here is my interpretation of an IPA. Some may like it, others may not. I hope most of you do. Please adjust for your equipment and efficiency.

Batch Size: 5.50 gal     
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 10.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 42.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount        Item                                                             Type         % or IBU     
9.00 lb       Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)                   Grain        75.00 %      
1.00 lb       Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)                             Grain        8.33 %       
0.50 lb       Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)                        Grain        4.17 %
0.75 lb Caramel Malt – 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM)             Grain        6.25 %     
0.75 lb Caramel Malt – 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM)             Grain        6.25 %   
0.50 oz       Citra [13.40 %]  (45 min)                              Hops         18.6 IBU      
1.00 oz       Bravo [14.20 %]  (10 min)                            Hops         15.6 IBU     
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (10 min)                         Hops         6.0 IBU       
1.00 oz       Saphir [3.50 %]  (5 min)                               Hops         2.1 IBU
1.50 oz Citra [13.40 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)                       Hops -        
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04)       Yeast-Ale     

Mash Schedule: single infusion mash at 154F for 60 minutes. mash out for 10 minutes @ 168F

Oktoberfest!

 Beer Recipes  No Responses »
Sep 012011
 

Ahhh. The end of August has come and gone, that means that Fall is right around the corner. The HOT and HUMID days of summer will soon turn into mild days and crisp cool nights. That means the light beers of summer will be giving way to the amber beers of autumn. What better way to celebrate the changing of the seasons than with a beer style that is in itself a celebration of Fall. I’m of course talking about the Octoberfest beer!

In truth, the beer style known as Oktoberfest, or Oktoberfestbier is really a Märzen Bier or March beer. This is a beer brewed in the late fall through early spring and stored in ice filled caves to enjoy throughout the summer. When October rolls around a celebration takes place to use up the stores of beer to make room for the new beers that will soon be brewed with that years harvest. Hey, its as good a reason as any to throw a party! An Oktoberfest beer should be fairly strong (5.5 – 6.2% abv), amber colored,  well hopped but still malty.

Most Oktoberfest beers are stored cold for many months. During this extended lagering phase they develop their clean malty flavors. They truly are a wonderful beer. The whole reason for the old German brewers to make an excess amount of beer in the late fall through early spring was simple. It was too cold for most microbes to survive meaning they had a less chance of an infection ruining their beer. So they would put beer production into overdrive and pretty much brew all day and night until they filled the storage caves with beer and packed them in ice. With modern technology and sanitation practices this is no longer needed. That doesn’t stop the planning of the annual Oktoberfest party in Munich.

Each year the breweries in Munich brew Märzen beers that will be in cold storage for many month as only the breweries in Munich are invited to the Oktoberfest celebrations. Oktoberfest normally starts around the middle to late September and ends on the first Sunday in October. In 1994 East and West Germany became one untied country again. With this it was determined that Oktoberfest would now continue until October 3rd to include German reunification day in its celebration. In 2010 for the 200th Oktoberfest celebration they extended the celebration to include Monday the 3rd of October.

Now, like many other brewers out there. I lack the equipment to do long lagering periods for  a beer and face it, beer sitting around my house won’t last 6 months. But I truly love a fresh Oktoberfestbier and have ever since living in Germany during the early 90’s. So I went on a search for a beer that looked like an Oktoberfestbier, smelled like and Oktoberfestbier, tasted like an Oktoberfestbier and most importantly didn’t take many months in the making. The bar was set very high and frankly my hopes and expectations were very very low. Then I found it!! Biermuncher over at Homebrewtalk.com had a similar need for a faster version of this wonderful beer style. His recipe called OktoberFAST has been very well received in the brewing community. So I have taken his recipe and modified it just a bit based on the ingredients available to me. Sit back and wave goodbye to the dog days of summer and hello to the crisp coolness of fall. Either brew an OktoberFAST for yourself or buy a good quality Oktoberfestbier, some bratwurst, invite some friends over and celebrate this wonderful time of the year!

Now for the recipe:

Recipe Specifications
————————–
Batch Size: 5.50 gal     
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 12.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
4 lbs 8.0 oz  Pilsen Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.0 SRM)      Grain        37.50 %      
2 lbs 8.0 oz  Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM)            Grain        20.83 %      
2 lbs         Munich Malt – 20L (20.0 SRM)              Grain        16.67 %      
1 lbs         Aromatic Malt (Briess) (20.0 SRM)         Grain        8.33 %       
1 lbs         Caramel/Crystal Malt – 20L (20.0 SRM)     Grain        8.33 %       
8.0 oz        Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)              Grain        4.17 %       
8.0 oz        Caramel Malt – 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM)    Grain        4.17 %       
1.00 oz       Saphir [3.70 %]  (60 min)                 Hops         11.5 IBU     
0.50 oz       Saphir [3.70 %]  (45 min)                 Hops         5.3 IBU      
0.50 oz       Saphir [3.70 %]  (30 min)                 Hops         4.4 IBU      
1 Pkgs        SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04)      Yeast-Ale                

Mash the grains at 156F for 60 minutes. Follow your normal sparge schedule and adjust the volume for your boil off. 

BMC Killer Cream Ale (All Grain)

 Beer Recipes  No Responses »
May 202011
 

I want to start this by saying that I didn’t create this recipe. It was created by BierMuncher over at HomeBrewTalk. His exact recipe is located here. I was looking at recipes at HomeBrewTalk wanting something that would be nice and light and refreshing for the summer months. I kept getting pointed towards Cream Of Three Crops by BierMuncher. The description of it and all the reviews sounded like what I was looking for and I decided to give it a try (tweaked for my setup and tastes) What I ended up with is a beer that is very light golden/straw colored very crisp and a very refreshing easy drinking beer. It looks like a typical American light lager, it feels like a light lager in the mouth, but it tastes soooooooo much better than a commercial light lager. Oh yeah, it’s an Ale!! BMC Killer

Here’s what I came up with it came out a little high in alcohol (oh noooo!) and that was due to me using my newly constructed pasta maker turned into grain mill and getting a killer crush and 84% efficiency! Other than being a little stronger than expected or for the style, it came out PERFECT!!

Recipe: BMC Killer (BIAB All Grain) 
Style: Cream Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
————————–
Batch Size: 5.50 gal     
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 3.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 84.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
5 lbs 8.0 oz  Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (2.0 SRM)     Grain        61.94 %      
2 lbs 8.0 oz  Corn – Yellow, Flaked (Briess) (1.3 SRM)  Grain        28.15 %      
14.1 oz       Rice, Flaked (1.0 SRM)                    Grain        9.91 %       
1.00 oz       Crystal [3.10 %]  (65 min)                Hops         10.5 IBU     
1.00 oz       Saaz [3.20 %]  (15 min)                   Hops         5.3 IBU      
1 Pkgs        Safale American  (DCL Yeast #US-05)       Yeast-Ale                 

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 8.88 lb
—————————-
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp    
90 min        Mash In            Add 8.50 gal of water at 155.8 F    152.0 F      
10 min        Mash Out           Heat to 168.0 F over 2 min          168.0 F      

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