Out of the Bottle: A Dog Bit My Enkel

The beer that began life at a brewing party has finished fermenting and bottle conditioning. My estimated Final Gravity for this beer was 1.011. It came in a hair lower at 1.010. The ABV is a modest 5.4%.

To say this beer wasn't brewed in a controlled environment would be a mild understatement. It's easy to get distracted from the task at hand with a bunch of friends around. Once I got it home, fermentation took place at a relatively consistent temp of 70F. As I previously reported, the yeast I used worked fast. The final gravity was lower than I expected, given this yeast's reputation.

Enkel pours a hazy amber hue. The head is small, but firm and leaves nice lace. The nose has a lot of fruity esters from the yeast in the form of banana and bubblegum. Caramel, pepper and cut grass are there too. In the mouth, caramel and plum sweetness from the CaraVienne and Special B malts is out front. Bitterness is about what I expected. My goal was a good sweet/bitter balance and I got it right. The hops carry the spicy kick I expect from Saaz. The body is heavier than I was expecting; given my use of candy sugar, but still fairly light. The beer is extremely dry.

Overall, I'm pleased with how this beer turned out. I have no idea if this qualifies as a "true" Abbey Enkel, but I'm enjoying it. In the end, that's all that matters.

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Birthday Brewing: Dark Session Saison

I've been asked to brew all of the beer for my friend's Birthday. It's in mid-August, so I have to get everything going right now . There will be five beers in all: Dunkelweiss, Wit, Saison, Dark Saison and Kölsch. Rather than post all of the recipes at once, I'm going to spread them out into separate posts. My Session Saison and SMaSH Kölsch were already underway before I was asked to brew the other beers. The Dark Saison below is an extension of the Session Saison. I've expanded the original recipe to make a darker beer. CaraMunich Malt adds a little caramel sweetness, while Carafa II brings a light dark chocolate edge to the brew. The rest of the beer is as it was before, with the same hops and yeast. Adding extra grains does push the alcohol content up a bit, but the beer still shouldn't break the 5% ABV mark. I'm anxious to try my two Saisons out side by side and taste the difference that two extra grains can make. For five gallons: Grai...

In the Fermentor: Wood Aged Quadrupel-Imperial-Doppel-Barley-Weizen-Wee-Sour

Who says you can't have everything? Well, I'm doing just that by creating a beer that combines the best aspects of eight big beer styles: Quadrupel, Imperial Stout, Doppelbock, Barleywine, Weizenbock and Wee Heavy. But wait, there's more! The beer will be aged for year with everyone's favorite bacterias to make a Sour. On top of that, Sherry infused oak cubes will provide that little extra something. A massive grain-bill, plus a healthy dollop of Candi Sugar should push the alcohol content up over 11%. Compensating for the strength is a biting combination of Noble, English and American hops. A Decoction Mash gives the beer an extra bit of German character. Heavily caramelizing the First Runnings provides more depth of flavor than a standard boil. For that extra push over the cliff, 11 malts are working to make the beer one louder. I'm giving this one at least a year of fermentation before I even touch it. Here's the five gallon recipe: Grains: 4 ...

Kitchen Brewing Part 2: The Mash

Always start your session with a beer. Now that the equipment is together from Part 1 , it's time to start brewing. I'll be brewing an English India Pale Ale for my demo batch. The beer's details will be out in a future blog. Ingredients ready to go. I'm lucky to have a homebrew shop with a grain mill, so I've crushed my grains at the store. The hops have also been measured out ahead of time to keep things simple. You don't have to do this, but I recommend it. My setup. My stove-top setup is pretty simple. Two kettles, a grain bag and a metal spatula are pretty much it. I also like using a hop bag (available for around $5.00), but it's completely optional. If you're doing all-grain brewing, canning pots work best for batches of 2.5 gallons or less. Anything larger and you'll be battling spill-overs. They also work well for partial-mash batches of up to 5 gallons, where you can top off your wort after the boil. We hav...

Colorado Kitchen Brew

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