Colorado Kitchen Brew

Since warm weather is almost here and my Pils won't be ready until late June, I decided a few weeks back to whip up one of my other favorite warm weather beers: Belgian Wit . While I could just try and clone a commercial Wit and call it a day, I've decided to get experimental. First off, my local homebrew store was out of Unmalted Wheat, so I switched over to US White Wheat out of necessity. Also, I had a bunch of dried sweet orange peel from the grocery store in my cabinet. I decided to save some cash and use it instead of the usual bitter peel. Finally, I had yeast cultured from my Abbey Blonde in the fridge. I've been pleased with the spiciness it produces, so I ran with it rather than buying a liquid Wit strain. When all is said and done, I probably won't have a true traditional Wit. What I will have is a nice Summer beer. Here's the five gallon recipe: Grains: 4 lbs Castle Pilsen 4 lbs Rahr White Wheat 8 oz Flaked Oats Hops: 1 oz Styrian Bobek

Last year's Bohemian Kölsch was a hit, so I figured I'd take a shot this year at a Kölsch/German Pils hybrid. Since I can't lager (which I know I've stated here about a hundred times, sorry), I've used the yeast from my Prohibition Bock and will do a month of cold bottle-conditioning before I pop any beer open. Sticking with tradition, I used a grain-bill of pure German Pils malt, with no specialty grains. Following my Kitchen Brewing blueprint, a Single Decoction Mash gets that little extra maltiness from the grain. Bitterness will be moderate and not quite as forceful as a Bohemian Pils, but the beer should still have a hoppy bite. First Wort Hopping should smooth out the hop flavor. With the decoction mash, my efficiency for this batch ended up at around 82%. I usually get about 75% with a single-infusion. Therefore, I had to add water to get the gravity down. Here's a 5 1/2 gallon plan, rather than the usual five: Grains: 9 lbs Weyermann Pilsene

My last two blogs focused on my Blonde and Tripel . This one turns to the final beer I brewed: a Quad . As I stated in my original blog post, the only real difference between this beer and the others is the amount and type of Candi Sugar. In the case of this beer, I made an amber syrup that bordered on becoming caramel if I'd let it boil much longer. Let's start with the similarities between all three beers. The floral qualities of the Styrian Golding hops really impact the aroma and flavor of all three. Their fresh cut flower character is very prevalent, even though none of the beers is all that bitter. All three beers also have similar coriander and pepper spice aromas from the yeast. The Quad adds some new layers that set it apart from the other beers. Let's start with the pour. Where the previous beers had nice clarity, the Quad is decidedly hazy. Its amber hue looks nothing like a traditional Quad, but is significantly darker than the other beers. I like my

Round two of my Candi Sugar experiment is ready to go. After looking at my sugarless Abbey Blonde base beer, it's time to see how my Tripel turned out. The beer pours with a deep gold hue that's slightly paler than the Blonde. It's topped by a dense bone-white cap. Head retention is decent, but not spectacular. A nice amount of lace is left behind. I'm amazed at the clarity I got with this beer. There's much less haze than in my previous Tripel . In the picture, you can even see the Chimay logo on the backside of the glass I poured it in. Pale fruits and fresh cut flowers greet the nose. Pear and green grape are the most prominent aromas. There's a very light coriander spice note. Letting the nose linger lets the floral aromas come out. There's no alcohol heat to be found. In the mouth, the beer is dry and deceptively light. Carbonation is soft and perhaps a touch low for the style. The pale fruits from the nose are bolstered by bready grains.

The last beer I brewed for my Westy XII/Candi Sugar experiment is the first I'm going to review. This beer served as the base for my Quad and Tripel. It has no Candi Sugar, a simple grain-bill, light bitterness and a Belgian yeast strain. I figure it's best to start here and follow it up with the stronger Tripel and Quad that I built off of it. The Blonde pours with a deep gold hue and nice clarity. A bone while cap could do with a little better staying power, but leaves a nice bit of lace behind. Of course, aroma and taste are what really matter, so let's move on. Fresh bread, cut flowers and coriander spice make up the nose. It's quite pleasant. Letting the nose linger brings forth a hint of green grape and a touch of sourdough. In the mouth, it's the bready malts that start things out. Fresh French bread, plus raw grain is the best way to describe them. The floral characteristics of the Styrian Golding hops shine through afterward. However, the overall

After my general disappointment with the Weizenbock I brewed, I decided to see what would happen if I tried doing a Decoction Mash on the stove. While the Multi-Step Mash I had used improved efficiency, the beer lacked a certain something. How hard can it be? My goal here is to do a mash that doesn't require rocket-science (or an all-day brewing session) to pull off, but will give a little extra something to my German beers. But before I go any further, I must give credit where it's due. Mary Samuels' excellent 1995 article Solve the Mystery of Decoction Mashing served as the inspiration for my stove-top technique, so hop on over there if you want all the in-depth decoction mashing details. Also, if you want charts and even more details, head over here . However, if your goal is to cut out the lengthy prose and cut to the chase of brewing beer, please read on. Single-decoction is the easiest decoction to perform. Since I work with canning pots , I don't have

My first ever Weizenbock is ready to go. I'm pleased with the results, but not overjoyed. It's a nice beer, but it feels like there could be so much more. Being a glass half-full kind of guy, I'll start with the positives. The beer looks great. It's appropriately cloudy from the yeast, has a nice hue and a rocky head that sticks around. There's also a pleasant baking chocolate and fresh bread aroma, plus a bit of banana and clove. In the mouth, the beer is nice and dense. Bitterness is low and there are no hop flavors on hand. Where things begin to go off script is in the flavor. The beer is simply sweeter than it should be. I've read that a traditional decoction mash can help, so I may have to track down a stove-top way of doing one. Also, I think that the Gambrinus Munich Light malt I used simply isn't close enough to actual German Munich Malt. Unfortunately, my local homebrew store doesn't carry the stuff. I'm going to have to check the oth