Colorado Kitchen Brew

Near as I can figure, Sours are to the 2010s what American IPAs were to the 1990s. They're the hot style in the US beer world and every serious beer drinker I know covets them. I'm personally not obsessed with Sours, but that doesn't mean I'm not anxious to brew one. My favorite Sour beer style is Flanders Red . More specifically, I'm a huge Duchesse de Bourgogne fan. I love the tart Red Wine quality it brings to the glass. While I'm not going to attempt to clone it, I am aiming for a beer that's similar. In keeping with my 2013 goal of doing more with less, my recipe is pretty straightforward, while still checking off all the style guideline boxes. In addition, I'll be adding an ounce of oak cubes to the secondary for a little extra something. The oak cubes will be soaked in Oloroso Sherry first to simulate the effect of the Casks that are used for one of my favorite Single Malt Scotches . Having done a fair bit of research on Sours, I...

My Session Saison is ready. Having recently moved to the mountains, I've come to learn one thing about brewing beer here. Even in the middle of summer, the evening temps drop into the 40s and 50s. This is great news for keeping the house comfortable. Open the windows at night, let the temp in the house drop, close the windows in the morning and have a nice cool house all day. This isn't the best scenario for a Saison, unfortunately. Most of the "city folk" I know brew Saisons during the Summer months because the yeast actually likes high fermentation temps. As in 80 degrees or more. I could wrap my fermentors in blankets in the warmest part of the house and never reach those temps. Of course, I could buy extra equipment to warm my fermentors, but that goes against the grain of what I'm trying to do here: brew great beer with cheap gear . With all that background out of the way, it's time to see how my Saison did. First off, the clarity of the beer...

My Bavarian Pseudo-Pils is ready to go. It turned out even better than I expected. So much so that my fiancé and I horded it and only shared a couple of bottles with friends (from whom I have no tasting notes). First off, the beer didn't come out as Alt-like as my Prohibition Bock did. It's extremely clean and has none of the fruity aromas often associated with ale yeasts. Instead, the nose is dominated by lemon and pepper hops, plus some cracker-like aromas from the Pils malt. Even though the grain-bill consisted exclusively of German Pils malt and only two hop varieties were used, this beer is actually pretty complex. Things start out with light sweetness and a bit of dry grain. The bitterness comes on quick with a lemon and pepper bite that's just about right for this style of Pils. The beer finishes with a lingering bitterness. The medium-light body could stand just a touch more fizz. Time to ramp up the priming a sugar a bit. The pour is a little hazy and won...

The beer below is for the Wit I'm brewing for my friend's Birthday Party. This one is more traditional than my last beer , in that it uses Unmalted Wheat and Bitter Orange Peel. The switch to Belgian Pale Ale malt is out of necessity. My local homebrew store was out of Belgian Pils, which seems to be an unfortunate recurring theme there of late. This is the last brew out the door for the party and should be ready just in time. Although I'm not exactly a Blue Moon fan (there are other Wits I'd rather drink), I'm hopeful that this beer will appeal to the crowd that is. Here's the five gallon recipe: Grains: 4 lbs Castle Pale Ale 4 lbs Rahr Unmalted Wheat 8 oz Flaked Oats Hops: 0.5 oz Saaz (7.6% a.a.): 60 min 0.5 oz Saaz (7.6% a.a.): 10 min Extras: 1 oz Crushed Coriander Seed: 15 min 1 oz Dried Bitter Orange Peel: 15 min 1 oz Dried Sweet Orange Peel: 15 min Total Boil Time: 90 min Yeast: Safbrew T-58 Mash Schedule: Protein Rest: 122F ...

Apparently I just can't brew enough Dunkelweiss. I've already brewed three here. With my friend's birthday around the corner and time running short, I need to get yet another one going. My original plan was to simply brew a second batch of my Ein Heldenleben . Unfortunately, I forgot to buy Pale Wheat before my planned brew day. What to do? Amp up the Munch and Dark Wheat from the other recipe, of course. I then added just enough Blackprinz malt (Dehusked Carafa II or III work too) during Mashout to get the color just right. The hops and yeast are the same as the other beer. An all-important Decoction Mash rounds out the brew. Here's the recipe for five gallons: Grains: 5 lbs Weyermann Dark Wheat 4 lbs Weyermann Light Munich 2 oz Briess Blackprinz Hops: 0.5 oz Opal (6.3% a.a.): 60 min Total Boil Time: 90 min Yeast: White Labs WLP300 - Hefeweizen Ale Yeast Mash Schedule: Protein Rest: 122F for 20 min Decoction: Heat and rest ~1/2 of mash at 155F ...

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...