Colorado Kitchen Brew

Yes, that's really me. I've had a lot of fun writing this blog for the last eight months or so. A lot of ground has been covered, but there's much left to do. My New Year's resolution is to take my brewing to a new level (which I imagine is the goal of all homebrewers). Drew Beechum's "Brewing on the Ones" article in the November/December 2012 issue of Zymurgy has inspired me to start experimenting with the SMaSH (Single Malt/Single Hop) brewing technique. My goal behind trying SMaSH is to get a better handle on what impact individual ingredients have on my beers. This is because it can be challenging for me to tell exactly what's doing what in a beer with six grains, six hops and a blend of yeast strains. Of course, I'll also pop out the more adventurous brews too. But my focus will definitely be on doing more with less this year. In addition to the new beers, you can expect more brewing advice gleaned from my experiences and those of fe

My Winter Warmer is ready for the Holidays. It came out just in time for the first real splash of winter weather we've had all month. Time to find out if this will be worth sharing with the family. When all was said and done, the beer finished with a 6.7% ABV, which feels just about right to me. It's not too strong, yet has enough heft to help warm you on a cold night. The beer pours with a dense dark cream head that falls to a nice patchwork quilt of foam. It has a deep walnut hue and pretty good clarity. Moving past the appearance, the nose is greeted with a generous helping of orange peel and cinnamon dominated mulling spices. There's also a light floral quality from the hops, plus hints of chocolate and molasses. These aromas flow nicely into the flavor. On the tongue, there's a good balance between the sweet, bitter and spicy flavors. Baking chocolate and molasses get things going, followed by good dose of cinnamon, orange peel, clove and ginger. Bittern

The last of my Trappist beers for 2012 is ready to pour. Time to see how my Dubbel turned out. Visually, the beer pours with a slightly hazy, deep mahogany hue. The small cream head is extremely dense and slowly settles to a patchwork quilt of foam. A nice latticework of lace is left in the beer's wake. There are a lot of similarities between this beer and my Quad , which I expected. Like the Quad, dark dried fruit aromas of prunes, raisins and currants are front and center. There's also just the slightest hint of baking chocolate. Pepper and coriander scents keep the sweetness in check. The beer's aromas transition nicely into the flavors. Sweet dark fruit flavors are out front, bolstered by a bit of chocolate. The bitterness level is just enough to balance the sweeter flavors. In the mouth, the beer is light and dry. Soft carbonation creates a nice tingle. With a final ABV of 6.5%,the beer is much lighter than my Quad and Tripel , which it should be. This

Even in the middle of winter, I occasionally want a lawn-chair beer that won't blow me away with a thick body, alcohol warmth and/or a wall of bitter. So in the midst of a season filled with brewing "big" beers, I decided it would be nice to shift gears and brew an easy-drinking English Brown Ale . Nutty malts, a mild earthy bitterness and a light body pretty much sums this beer up. This is also my last of use of West Yorkshire yeast for the year (I've gotten five brews out of one packet of yeast , in case you're curious). My beer should be pretty quick to finish due to its low strength. I'll report back in five to six weeks with the outcome. The 5-gallon recipe is below: Grains: 8 lbs Maris Otter 8 oz Victory 8 oz Brown 4 oz Pale Chocolate Hops: 0.5 oz Newport (9.8% a.a.): 60 min 1 oz Fuggles (4.3% a.a.): 10 min Total Boil Time: 60 min Yeast: Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Mash Schedule: Saccharification Rest: 152F for 60 min Mashout: 16

After 12 weeks of patiently waiting, my Quadrupel is ready to go. It's time to see if the wait was worth it. Was it worth it? One word: Totally. Visually, the beer pours with a slightly hazy, deep mahogany hue. The small cream head is extremely dense and slowly settles to a patchwork quilt of foam. A nice latticework of lace is left in the beer's wake. The red wine effect I was going for is right there. Dark dried fruit aromas of prunes, raisins and currants are front and center. Pepper and coriander spice keep the sweetness from going out of control. A very subtle whiff of alcohol finishes the picture. The beer's flavor echoes the aroma. Although it leans toward the sweeter dark fruit flavors, there's just enough spicy bitterness to keep them in check. The alcohol is well masked, but adds a little warmth going down. Letting the beer warm a bit makes things even better, as some almond notes start to peek through. In the mouth, the beer is substantial and sl

It's amazing how some of the best commercial beers have a really straightforward list of ingredients. A beer doesn't have to be made of seven grains and five hop varieties to be excellent. My attempt at a Wee Heavy follows this theme by mimicking the excellent, yet deceivingly simple Traquair House Ale . Because the physical ingredient list is so simple, the real key ingredient is the boiling process. It's very time consuming, but the payoff should be worth it. To make a proper Wee Heavy, I need to heavily caramelize the wort. My (and many other people's) way of doing this is to take a gallon of the first-running of wort, put it in a second pot and boil it until there's only about two pints of thick liquid left. For this beer, 90 minutes of a vigorous rolling boil turned the wort into a nice syrup. As the liquid gets thicker, I reduce the heat and stir continuously to avoid scorching. The resulting caramelized syrup is mixed back into the rest of the wor

Winter is just around the corner, which means it's time to get something strong going.  This time around, I'm brewing an English Old Ale . I've chosen the style for two reasons. First, I've never brewed one. Second, I intend to mix part of this with a Mead I'll be making to create a Braggot . The BJCP guidelines recommend using a yeast with low attenuation. I'm hopeful that Wyeast's West Yorkshire cultured from my Taddy Porter clone will fit the bill. The addition of brown sugar and flaked corn follows the common practice of using adjuncts in this style. The sugar should add strength and a hint of extra sweetness. My favorite English aroma hop finishes things off. If the yeast doesn't go too crazy, the finished brew should have an ABV right around 8%. Here's the 5-gallon recipe: Grains: 8 lbs Crisp Pale Ale 2 lbs Flaked Corn 1 lb Special Roast 1 lb English Medium Crystal 8 oz English Extra Dark Crystal 4 oz Pale Chocolate Hops: 1

My Tripel is ready just in time for Thanksgiving. It should pair nicely with the Turkey at the table. The beer pours with a hazy peach hue that should become more and more clear with age. An extremely dense eggshell head forms a pillow of foam that stays with the beer the whole way down the glass. A solid sheet of lace is left behind. The nose is floral, spicy and fruity. Pear, green grape, a bit of coriander and a hint of lemon sourdough are the most distinct features. The esters from the yeast are very Belgian in presentation. In the mouth, pale fruits are out front with pear and green grape flavors. Bitterness is sharp and spicy, but balances well against the sweetness of the malts. It becomes more intense as the beer warms. As intended, the alcohol is masked in the flavor, but adds a touch of warmth going down. The body is deceptively light and dry, as it should be. Soft carbonation rounds out the picture. An ABV of 8.3%, combined with a light body and easy drinkabilit

Back in the olden days of my brewing life, circa 1994, my brother and I brewed a great Winter Warmer for the holidays. That recipe is sadly lost to history, but I have a pretty good memory of what went into it. The base of this beer is malt forward, with a low hop profile and a focus on caramelized sugars. Toasty carmelized malts, plus earthy and floral Willamette hops serve as a backdrop for mulling spice, ginger and molasses. My beer's grain-bill is inspired by the Scottish Ale I brewed back in the spring and utilizes the yeast from it. I used a commercially available mulling spice mix that's made up of cinnamon, allspice, sweet orange peel and clove. The finished beer will have a modest strength of around 6% and should be good served warm with a cinnamon stick, just like we did it back then. For five gallons: Grains: 10 lbs Maris Otter 8 oz English Medium Crystal 4 oz English Extra Dark Crystal 4 oz English Chocolate Malt Hops: 1 oz Willamette (5.6% a.a.): 6

It's Election Day! What better beverage is there to imbibe while watching election results than a glass of White House beer? My take on White House Honey Porter is right on schedule and ready to drink. The finished beer has a deep mahogany hue with a dense cream head. The nose is heavy with molasses and coffee, plus a slightly minty herbal note. In the mouth, the beer has nice density and is slightly syrupy. I'm guessing the honey has something to do with that. Despite there being no roasted barley in the recipe, the black and chocolate malts bring a heavy roasted edge. They also provide the burnt bitterness I expect to find in a Stout. Where the beer departs from that style is in its additional layer of herbal bitterness from the hops. The honey in the recipe can be sensed way in the background. The beer finishes dry and slightly acidic. Overall, this is a pretty nice little Porter. I'm not sure if I'll brew it again, but I'm glad I gave it a whirl. As a

It's Halloween night and Flaming Pumpkin is ready to frighten away the ghosts and goblins. Hopefully it won't also frighten away the people who drink it. This is my first Pumpkin Beer, so I was flying blind outside of doing research and trying commercially available brews. I basically cobbled together suggestions I thought were the best approach to the style, with a vision in my head of what the finished product should taste like. So how did it turn out? Pretty good. My goal was pumpkin pie in a bottle. What I got is more spice than sweet, but I still like it. The pie spices are right out front, with clove and cinnamon leading the way. The sweeter flavors are muted and focused toward dark sugars from the brown sugar and dark crystal malt. Bitterness is just enough, with no hop flavors competing with the spices. And what about the pumpkin? You can taste it. It's subtle. But you can definitely tell it's there. Overall? I'm quite happy and hope that my niece l

Red Sky Dubbel is the last of the Trappist style beers that I'm brewing in 2012. This recipe is closely related to my Quad from a few weeks back. Like the Quad, the beer is very malty and should bring a lot of dark fruit flavors to the table. The main difference is that my Dubbel packs a much lighter punch. Since Dubbel is one of my favorite beer styles, I'm hopeful that this one will turn out well. Here's the 5-gallon recipe: Grains: 9 lbs Belgian Pilsner 1 lb Aromatic 6 oz Crystal 45L 6 oz Special B 2 oz Dehusked Carafa II Hops: 0.5 oz Sterling (9.0% a.a.): 60 min 0.5 oz Tettnanger (4.8% a.a.): 20 min 0.5 oz Tettnanger (4.8% a.a.): 7 min Extras: 1.5 lbs Amber Homemade Candi Sugar : 5 min Yeast: Safbrew T-58 Mash Schedule: Saccharification Rest: 150F for 75 min Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes Original Gravity: 1.063 Estimated Final Gravity: 1.012 IBU: 22 SRM Color: 19 Fermentation Schedule: 2 Weeks Primary 4 Weeks Secondary 2 Weeks

Election Day is coming up soon. What better way to celebrate our democracy than with the White House's own beer? White House Honey Ale and Porter are the two beer recipes recently released by the White House. I decided to brew a variation on the Porter. The original recipe is extract based. I practiced my 1st Amendment rights and replaced the malt extract with Colorado Pale Ale malt to make an all-grain beer. The White House recipe doesn't indicate what variety of hops to use for bittering. It only states that 10 HBUs (approximately 35 IBUs) are needed. I went with some Crystal hops that I had on-hand. The very patriotically named Liberty descendent of Hallertauer hops completes the picture. Here's the 5-gallon plan. The beer should be ready just in time for November 6th: Grains: 9 lbs Colorado Pale Ale 1 lb Crystal 20L 12 oz Munich 6 oz Black Malt 3 oz Chocolate Malt Hops: 1 oz Crystal (6.2% a.a.): 45 min 1 oz Crystal (6.2% a.a.): 30 min 0.5 oz Liber

My Beer My attempt to clone Samuel Smith Taddy Porter is ready to pour. For a change of pace, I've picked up a 4-pack of the real deal to compare and contrast against my efforts. Since I'm not exactly an impartial judge, my girlfriend agreed to blind taste test the two beers side by side in identical, unmarked glasses. I've mixed her notes in with mine. First off, I must say that the beers look remarkably similar. Taddy pours with a slightly larger head, but the beers share the same deep garnet hue. Mine has a bit more carbonation going on. Both beers have good head retention and leave some lace behind. My girlfriend's first comment was that my beer was very similar, but finished quicker than the Samuel Smith. She also noted that the Samuel Smith is slightly more bitter, with more depth of flavor. The first thing I noticed was that my beer has a more roasted edge and is a bit nuttier. It also lacks the unique dark fruit esters that I sense in all of the Samuel

I'll admit that I'm not a huge Pumpkin Beer fan. I didn't have one on my brewing calendar for this year and didn't have my sights set on one for next Fall either. Then my niece came along and threw down the gauntlet. She asked me to brew her a pumpkin beer and I accepted the challenge. I did a lot of reading to see how to best go about using pumpkin in beer. Some people mash it with the grains. Others add it to the brew kettle during the boil. Some add it to the primary or secondary fermentor. The consensus from professional brewers appears to be adding it to the mash, so I took the same approach. The pumpkin was cooked ahead of time by my girlfriend to soften it, convert some of the starch and help release some of its sugars. It then joined the grains in the mash. I really want the pumpkin pie effect here, so I've thrown in all of the requisite spices toward the end of the boil. I've also gone with just enough bitterness to balance the sweetness of the

The Quadrupel (often referred to as a Quad) is the strongest of the Belgian Trappist style beers. It is a powerful, malty creation that ages well and takes a long time to mature. My favorite examples of the style come across to me as a Trappist Dubbel that's been turned up to 11. With that in mind, my Quadrupel's specialty grains are inspired by an Abbey Dubbel that I will be brewing in a few weeks. Extra strength is provided by additional base-malt and a much greater use of homemade Candi Sugar than in my Dubbel. A modest hop flavor and aroma from Tettnanger hops completes the picture. As I've already said, a beer like this takes time to mature. Mine should hit its stride just in time for Christmas. Here's the recipe for five gallons: Grains: 11 lbs Colorado Pilsner 1 lb Aromatic 8 oz Crystal 45L 8 oz Special B 2 oz Dehusked Carafa II Hops: 0.5 oz Opal (6.3% a.a.): 90 min 1 oz Tettnanger (4.8% a.a.): 20 min 1 oz Tettnanger (4.8% a.a.): 7 min Extras

My Oktoberfest is ready just in time for the big event in Munich. Time to see how things turned out. The finished product has an ABV of 5.7%, which is a couple of tenths of a percent higher than the style guidelines. Still, it's close enough. What really matters is if the beer is any good. I'm happy to report that it is. This was my first attempt at lagering a beer in the bottle for a month. I had no idea if it would have much impact on the finished product. My first impression is that it did. First off, this is the best clarity I've ever gotten out of a bottle-conditioned beer. The pale amber hue is brilliant. My photo really doesn't do it justice. An eggshell cap has decent retention and leaves a bit of lace behind. Even with the lagering, the nose has a touch of ale yeast fruitiness. However, some of that fruitiness could be from the Smaragd hops I used for flavor and aroma. Behind them is a very clean beer. Toffee and caramel dominate the palate. Bitterne

Beet sugar waiting to invert. I love Belgian Candi Sugar. So much so, that since I started this blog, it's shown up in my Belgian Strong Pale Ale , Tripel-Dubbel , Enkel and Tripel recipes. Unfortunately, the stuff is rather expensive. Upwards of $5.00 a pound expensive. This led me to wonder if I could make it myself. How hard can it be? Checking the temp at 15 min. After a bit of research, it turns out to be a pretty simple and inexpensive process. In addition to a pot and spoon, all it takes is sugar, water, cream of tartar, a candy thermometer, a cookie sheet, aluminum foil or parchment paper, plus a little time. More importantly, the finished product will cost less than a $1.00 a pound. The syrup is darkening at 30 min. If you want to be true to the Belgian original, you'll want to use beet sugar. Here in Colorado, we have a local producer of it, but it can be hard to find in some other markets. No worries though, as cane sugar works just as well.

For the upcoming holiday season, I've decided to brew all three of the strong Trappist beers: Dubbel , Tripel and Quadrupel . First up is the Tripel. Unlike it's sister brews, a Tripel is not a malty creation. It has a golden hue and a more balanced bitterness. Candi Sugar adds strength, while lightening the beer's body. My recipe is a fairly straightforward take on the style. Pilsner malt makes up the bulk of the grist. Crystal and Aromatic malts add some extra complexity. This is my first time using Styrian Bobek hops. I'm hopeful that I'll like what they add. This beer will take a about ten weeks to mature. It should be ready just in time for Thanksgiving. Here's the plan: Grains: 11 lbs Colorado Pilsner 8 oz Aromatic 8 oz Crystal 15L Hops: 0.5 oz Merkur (12.4% a.a.): 90 min 1 oz Styrian Bobek (3.9% a.a.): 20 min 1 oz Styrian Bobek (3.9% a.a.): 7 min Extras: 2 lbs Clear Candi Sugar: 15 min Yeast: Safbrew T-58 Mash Schedule: Saccharif

My grandfather's 1930's glass. As Summer comes to a close, it's time for my last summertime beer. A few weeks back, I brewed a pseudo Classic American Pilsner using a Kölsch yeast. After a fair amount of waiting, the beer is ready to usher Summer out. The beer looks pretty good out of the bottle. Clarity is nice for bottle-conditioned beer and there's a generous white cap. The beer also leaves a fair amount of lace behind. The beer's body is dry and has the right amount of fizz. For those into numbers, the Final Gravity came in at 1.008, for an alcohol content of 5.8% ABV. The line on Cluster hops is that their aroma is pungent, plus the flavor can be a little rough. I agree on both counts. Since I tempered them with Tettnanger, the aroma also has some spice. However, once I wrapped my head around the unique Cluster experience, I found myself liking the beer more and more. The malt comes through with a dry straw-like flavor. The corn can be sensed, but is v

Samuel Smith Taddy Porter is one of my favorite beers in the whole-wide-world. Famed beer writer Michael Jackson even coined it “One of the world’s five best beers.” It was one of my gateway beers back in the early 90s and has stuck with me ever since. Although I'll be hard pressed to truly duplicate Taddy Porter, it never hurts to try. After some extensive internet research, I've formulated this recipe using entirely English malts and hops, plus a yeast strain that's supposedly the one used by Samuel Smith. The finished beer should be nutty, roasty and slightly sweet, with a mild bitterness. Here's the plan for five gallons: Grains: 7 lbs Maris Otter 1 lb English Brown 1 lb English Medium Crystal 12 oz English Chocolate Hops: 1 oz Fuggles (6.0% a.a.): 60 min 1 oz Fuggles (6.0% a.a.): 7 min Yeast: Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Mash Schedule: Saccharification Rest: 151F for 60min Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes Original Gravity: 1.048 Estimated Fin

The tools you will need. I realize it's been a couple of months since I posted actual brewing advice. Today that all changes with another installment on yeast culturing. Back in June, I wrote a blog on a Simple Yeast Culturing technique that allows you to reuse yeast from previous batches of beer. The simple method I presented required that you re-pitch the yeast within a month or so of cultivating it. But what happens if you wait longer to reuse? Well, you have to do a little extra work to bring the yeast out of hibernation. Rousing older yeast isn't terribly complicated. Before pitching your hibernating yeast into a new batch of beer, you have to get it going the day before with a starter made from fresh, sterile wort. Here's a rundown of the procedure: Yeast joins the fresh Wort. Mix 1/4-1/3 cup of DME (Dry Malt Extract) with 2 cups of water. Boil the mixture for 10-15 minutes to sterilize. Cool the fresh wort to 70F. Pour the wort into a sterilized c

Believe it or not, Oktoberfest is just around the corner. This year, the festivities in Munich start September 22nd. In beer brewing terms, it means I better get a Fest beer going. This time around, I'm going to be experimenting a bit. As I've posted before, I can't lager. However, I've been using a Kölsch yeast for pseudo-lagers to great effect . To see if I get a little more of the lager experience, I've cleared out enough space in my fridge to cold-condition half of the beer for four weeks after bottling. The rest will have to make due conditioning in a basement. I have no idea if there will be all that much difference between the two, but experimentation is what makes homebrewing fun, right?  You'll also notice a new base-malt in the mix. Colorado Malting Company is only a few hours away from me, so I've decided to start buying local and will be using their malts as much as possible. Grains: 5 lbs Colorado Pilsner 4 lbs Munich 8 oz Cara Pils

My first attempt at one of these didn't exactly turn out as I expected. For round two , I was determined to get it right. The recipe for the beer was a complete departure from my first brew. I even went so far as to special order Weyermann Dark Wheat for the grain-bill. Time to pop open a bottle and see how things turned out. Things look promising enough out of the bottle. Because of the intended vigorous carbonation, it takes a careful pour to keep the head under control as the beer enters the glass. A quick swirl of the bottle before the final few ounces are poured rouses the yeast and creates the distinct cloudiness of traditional German wheat beers. The beer's chocolate hue is dead-on and the generous head stays as a thick blanket of foam the whole way down the glass. So, what about the aroma and taste? Well, I think I got pretty close to what I was aiming for. Over-ripe banana that borders on bubblegum makes up the first whiff of the nose. Clove is there too, plus

My Bohemian Kölsch has reached maturity and is ready to pour. The final numbers yielded a 1.008 Final Gravity and a light 4.9% ABV. The ABV is actually a touch higher than my target. But as I've stated before , Qbrew regularly predicts higher Final Gravities than what I end up with. In the future, I'll be compensating for that discrepancy in my recipes. As you can see from the photo, the beer pours a bright gold, with a dense white head. Clarity is about as good as you're going to get from an unfiltered, bottle-conditioned beer. The head slowly falls to a thin blanket of foam and leaves a healthy amount of lace in its wake. My goal of melding a Kölsch with a Bohemian Pils seems to have worked. The big picture is a beer that's crisp and refreshing. The nose is dominated by pepper, lemon and fresh cut grass. The beer isn't a lager, so there is a touch of fruitiness from the yeast as well. In the mouth, a light honey sweetness gets things going. Bitterness come

The Pre-Prohibition American Lager (a.k.a. Classic American Pilsner ) is making a comeback. Long before the days of empty and tasteless mass produced beers, American breweries were producing some interesting brews. Although corn is now used as a cheap adjunct that lightens a beer's body and flavor, it was originally brewed with out of necessity. This is because the six-row barley native to America is harder to work with than European two-row. Unlike two-row, six-row barley is too high in protein to make stable beer. Using 20-30% Corn in the mash dilutes the protein and solves the stability problem.  I've mostly stuck to the Pre-Prohibition plan. The addition of a little CarPils should aid body and head retention, but everything else is where it should be. Most of the hops are the Cluster variety used in many early 20th century American beers. Several articles I stumbled across recommended using Noble hop varieties for finishing and flavor. Following form, I threw in some

Two Brothers Tap House holds a special place in my heart. Warrenville, Illinois is where I was born and Two Brothers is the town's brewery. I make it a point to go there every time I'm in Illinois visiting family. This year marked my third trip to the brewery. The Tap House is inside the warehouse that houses the brewery. The warehouse itself is not exactly easy to find, because it's hidden off of a secondary highway that is currently the site of much road construction. However, the hidden location doesn't deter the locals. I was there on both Tuesday and Friday nights, and the place was hopping. The Tap House has seating for perhaps 90 people. There's a small bar area at the back, while the rest of the seating is made up of tables and chairs. Aside from large prints of Two Brothers beer labels, the walls are bare. Behind the bar is a wall of windows that look into the brewery. The floor is concrete, the duct work exposed, and there are no dividing w

My Scottish Ale is finally ready to go. First off, my goal of creating a midway point between an 80 Schilling and a Wee Heavy was overruled by the yeast. With a Final Gravity of just 1.008, the alcohol level is only a few ticks below 8.0%, which is way out of 80 Schilling Territory. Oh well. The beer pours a deep mahogany hue, with nice clarity for a bottle conditioned beer. A vigorous pour nets a small nougat tinged head. Head retention isn't quite what I'd hoped for, but a good swirl of the glass brings it back to life. The aroma is exactly what I was shooting for. Deeply caramelized sugars intermingle with a touch of roasted grain. There is very little hop aroma to be had. What's there brings a hint of black tea. In the mouth, caramel, toffee and just a touch of coffee intermingle nicely. Bitterness is very low, as was to be expected. The beer gets a little astringent late, but not overly so. The mouthfeel is somewhat dry and not quite as hefty as I'd hoped fo

Why; pray-tell, am I writing about a grocery store in a beer blog? Well, John's Grocery in Iowa City isn't your ordinary grocery store. It's actually one of the best beer stores in all of Iowa. I stumbled across John's almost three years ago on a trip to Illinois. This month I was headed through Iowa again and just had to make a return trip. John's is best described as a cramped maze that has everything under the sun. To get to the beer, you have to do a bit of wandering. It's kept way in the back. About half of it is in a tight walk in cooler. The rest is on shelves in a just as tight air conditioned room. Because the space is so limited, John's uses every spare inch of it. Beer is shelved from floor to ceiling and the variety is tremendous. If my budget were unlimited, I could have driven away with a car load of Midwest beers that have yet to wander to Colorado. Import selection was also great, with quite a few beers I'd never seen before.

After nearly two months of fermenting, dry hopping and bottle conditioning (not to mention having to pose for pictures while being brewed ), my English India Pale Ale is ready to drink. Time to find out if the beer was worth the wait. I'll say upfront that I have to be in the right mood to drink a 100+ IBU bitter-bomb. That said, I like a hop-forward beer where the hop flavors and aromas dominate the proceedings. To that end, my English IPA has a moderate bittering addition, followed by three heavy flavor and aroma ones. The end result is a modest 50 IBUs of bitterness, but a heavy dose of flavor and aroma. At 1.008, the Final Gravity is quite a bit lower than the 1.016 my Qbrew software predicted (darn technology). As a result, the ABV comes to a hefty 7.4%. The beer pours about as brilliant a pale amber hue as you can get without filtering. It has a dense eggshell head on top that sticks around and leaves decent lacing. As I wished, the nose is greeted with a healthy dos

...take another stab at making a Dunkelweizen. My first attempt didn't turn out so great . It actually improved as it aged, but things never quite jelled. I've decided to start over from scratch. I'm hopeful that one of the magic ingredients will be German Dark Wheat. Since my local store doesn't carry it, I ordered some online, because I'm just that insane dedicated when it comes to brewing good beer. The other trick is dehusked roasted malt. In this case, I'm using Dehusked Carafa II. Removing the the husk is supposed to let the malt give your beer a brown hue, without the astringent notes traditional roasted malts can bring. To be safe, I'm using just enough to give me the color I want. My boil time has also been increased to 90 minutes to minimize the risk of DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide) odors in the finished beer that Pilsener malts can sometimes impart. As a final comment, you'll notice below that my Dunkelweizen is a very inexpensive beer to

The beer from my Dark Saison project is finally finished bottle conditioning. Time to pour a glass and see how it came out. The Final Gravity came in at a very low 1.004, which results in a 5.8% ABV. That's a bit stronger than the 5.4% I was expecting, Going into the glass, the beer is rather pretty. As you can see from the picture, it has a deep garnet tone and nice clarity against the early evening sun. The head is rocky, firm and leaves decent lacing behind. At this early stage of development, the Saison yeast is really out front with a lot of clove and sourdough bread aromas. I'm guessing that part of  it can be attributed to the insane temperatures here the last few days. The beer has been exposed to temps in excess of 80 degrees. Behold the downside to no basement and minimal A/C. A nice heavily toasted bread scent sits in the back of all the yeast notes. I'm guessing that with age, the yeast will settle down and the bread aromas will come through more. When I

Being a brewer on a budget, I don't have an extra fridge to lager in. That poses a bit of a problem, because I love a good Pilsener on a hot Summer day. To my palate, the closest style to Pilsener in the ale department is a German Kölsch . To that end, I've wedded a Bohemian Pilsener influenced recipe with a Kölsch yeast strain to create my Bohemian Kölsch pseudo-lager. I realize that the finished product won't be as clean, crisp and clear as a traditional Pils, but I'm hoping to come close. I want a full five gallons of this beer. Since my kitchen setup isn't conducive to five gallon all-grain batches, I've taken the partial-mash approach. I've also thrown in a bit of Irish Moss toward the end of the boil to help with clarity. Here's the five-gallon recipe: Grains: 3.5 lbs German Pilsener 8 oz Munich 8 oz Crystal 10L 4 oz CaraPils Hops: 1 oz Saaz: First Wort Hopping 0.5 oz Merkur: 60 min 1 oz Saaz: 7 min Extras: 3 lbs Pilsen

I follow a lot of beer websites. Occasionally, a deal comes up on one of them that's too good to pass up. When a chance to get a nice discount on kits at Northern Brewer came along, I pounced. I purchased the partial mash version of Surly Cynic and gave it a whirl. The kit was purportedly created by the brewers at Surly Brewing and is a copy of their take on a Saison. I won't post the recipe, because that would allow all of you to cheat and not buy the kit. The only change I made was with the yeast. I wanted the full Saison experience, so I picked up Wyeast's French Saison instead of the prescribed  Belgian Ardennes . Otherwise, I followed the kit's instructions. The yeast got to work within eight hours of pitching, but it wasn't the fastest worker. The fermentation lock bubbled regularly for a couple weeks before dying down. Cynic is fairly light, so it was ready to bottle after three weeks. After a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning, it was good to g

I dry-hopped my English IPA last week, so I'm writing this short blog about my dry-hopping technique. Dry Hopping is underway. The amount of hops you use is a matter of taste, but I usually use 1-2 ounces in a 5 gallon batch. I'm a big fan of using leaf rather than pellet hops for dry-hopping, but they can be messy. I like avoiding the mess and have found that the best technique for me is to use a hop bag and marbles. The hop bag keeps stray hop particles from getting into the beer, while the marbles stop the hops from floating on top of it. By not floating, more hops are in contact with the beer for better hop utilization. Boiling the marbles keeps them clean. Before using them, the marbles need to be sterilized. This is especially true if they have been in the hands of kids, like mine have. Boil the marbles for 15 minutes, put them in the bag with the hops, pull the bag shut and drop it in the fermentor. I usually leave the hops in the secondary fermentor for th