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Showing posts from March, 2021

Kitchen Brewing: Brew Low with Cold Mashing, Part 2

As promised in Part 1, now that we know how to Cold Mash, it's time to brew some beer! The recipes below are all beers that I've had good luck with. Styles include Oatmeal Stout, Witbier, Dunkelweizen, Mexican Lager and Schwartzbier. I intend to add styles in the IPA realm as I continue experimenting. Hopefully I've provided enough variety to get people started.  Oatmeal Stout Grains: 3lbs Simpsons Golden Promise 12oz Fawcett CaraMalt 12oz Flaked Oats 12oz Simpsons Chocolate Malt 4oz Crisp Roasted Barley Hops: 0.75oz Challenger (6.3% a.a.): 60 min Total Boil Time: 60 min Yeast: White Labs WLP002 - English Ale or Imperial A09 - Pub Mash Schedule: Cold Mash for 12 Hours at 37F  Original Gravity: 1.015 Final Gravity: 1.005 ABV: 1.31% IBU: 30 SRM Color: 28 Fermentation Schedule: 1 Week Primary at 67F 2 Weeks Secondary Witbier Grains: 2.5lbs Castle Pilsen 1.25lbs Weyermann Pale Wheat 1.25lbs Briess Flaked Wheat 8oz Flaked Oats Hops: 0.5oz Styrian Golding (3.5% a.a.): 60 min 1oz

Kitchen Brewing: Brew Low with Cold Mashing, Part 1

Cold Mashing is a technique I stumbled upon while researching ways to make very low ABV beers. My goal was to see if I could get below 2% ABV without using either microscopic grain bills, or boiling off alcohol post fermentation.  Why would I want to do this? For one, my wife loves the taste of beer, but not the aftereffects of having a couple. That left her drinking the limited array of NA beers that you can get in my neck of the woods. Plus, she's a fan of darker beer styles that aren't exactly well represented in the NA beer landscape.  In addition, low ABV also means you can have a few without getting loopy. If I'm working outside in the garden, I want to plow the fields, not get plowed in the fields.    I've tried both the small grain bill and the boil off techniques. Neither of them produced what I would call good beer. Small grain bills produced thin, beer flavored water. Boiling left behind an aftertaste that's most generously described as different, but mo