Miscellaneous Musings: Thoughts for 2014

2013 was a good and busy year. I did a lot of new things that really expanded my brewing knowledge and techniques. Hopefully some of them helped people who've stumbled upon this site.

I brewed my first SMaSH Beer, Sour and Wheatwine. New stove-top Mashing techniques were introduced. 2012 beers were revisited after time in the Cellar. Non-Alcoholic beer was also tackled. I even threw in a Clone for good measure. Oh, and I went auto racing, which has little to do with beer (or does it?), but it is my blog, so I can write about what I want to.

That's a lot of ground covered in just one year. So where do I go from here? How do I keep things fresh?

Thankfully, there are still lots of new things I want to try.

More Sours are definitely in order, with a proper Lambic at the top of the list. With that in mind, Turbid Mashing will join my list of stove-top Mashing techniques. More wood aged beers are also in the pipeline. Since my desire to brew Big Beer has waned, there will also be a heavy emphasis on delicate Session styles in 2014. I also hope to tackle making my own specialty grains.

After two years, there are still quite a few beer styles that I have yet to tackle. This includes some fairly obscure beers that don't get a lot of press. Look for a Kentucky Common, Czech Dark Pseudo-Lager and Dampfbier in the coming months. Of course, it wouldn't be me if several more Belgian beers didn't show up as well. Finally, look for some "blast from the past" beers from my original brewing days back in the 90s, because it's always fun to revisit pass successes (I promise not to post past disasters). I'm sure I'll also come across additional ideas as I go along.

That's it for 2013. I hope everyone has a happy and homebrew filled 2014!

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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...

Out of the Bottle: Insert clever use of the word Wit here

My latest Wit was a hit at my friend's birthday party. He especially liked the beer's citrus components. Others found it to be light and refreshing. I heard no Blue Moon comparisons, which actually made me quite happy. Compared to My Wit's End , this beer is much closer to style. Unmalted Wheat is part of the reason, as there's much less grainy sweetness at work. Instead, the beer is crisp and dry. The bitter orange peel really does its thing. The peel's sharp flavor melds nicely with the sweet orange peel I also used. Coriander pushes the beer's spicy character along. If I were to change anything, it would be to dial it back a notch or two. Some light sourdough aromas round out the flavor and aroma. Despite the relatively low ABV of right around 5.0%, the beer sports a fairly hefty body. Overall, I'm quite happy with this Wit. Next time, I'll hold back on the coriander. Maybe I will even take a shot at a Turbid Mash, which sounds like a great sub...

Out of the Cellar: Old Man's Chest

2014 I can't believe it's been a year since I bottled my last Old Ale . I suppose time flies while you're having fun. Anyway, it's time to see what's taken place in the last 12 months. Things have changed quite a bit the last 12 months. First off, the flavors meld better than they did before. This is still a complex flavored beer, but the balance of the different pieces is more cohesive. Bitterness has faded just a bit, but still carries the black tea bite that was there before. 2013 The rum-like qualities have really cut through with time. There's an almost vinous quality to the beer that wasn't around before. This is especially true in the nose. A slightly heavy body persists that is drier than before. The beer finishes with lingering toffee and rum flavors. Overall, I'm quite happy with how this beer aged. I'd still tweak the recipe if I brewed it again, but time has made for a much more cohesive brew.

Colorado Kitchen Brew

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