Colorado Kitchen Brew

I'm doing a 4-for-1 with this installment, and will be bundling my finished beers going forward, rather than writing a blog for each.  That should leave me space for more brewing oriented posts. This month, I've got beers I posted the recipes for back in November, December and January. First out of the gate is Enchanted Nightmare Imperial Stout. This beer is an amalgamation of extra grains and hops I had that were combined with some 2-Row and additional hops to create a 9.95% ABV Stout for the depths of Winter. So what if it wasn't actually ready until the Spring Equinox arrived? A beer like this can't be rushed. My beer pours nearly pitch black, and has nice ruby highlights. The head could stand a touch more staying power, but is appropriately dense. In the mouth, the body is a little lighter than I expected. The carbonation is very soft, and feels just about right for this beer style.  When I bottled this beer, I was slightly worried that the whiskey and oak were a li...

Back in 2012, I did a post on making your own Candi Sugar for Belgian beers. Nine years later, it's time to make Brewer's Invert Syrup for British beers. While these syrups are available commercially, they're tough to find in the US, as there are only a handful of homebrew shops that carry them. They're also not exactly cheap, so why not make your own? The sugar I prefer to use for making Invert Syrup is Turbinado. Complexity is what I want from these syrups, and I feel that Turbinado, as well as other raw sugars, create more complex flavors than plain white table sugar does. However, table sugar works just fine.  Here's the basic procedure for making one pound of Invert Syrup: Mix one pound of sugar with approximately 1 cup of water to make a thick syrup. Over Medium heat, gently stir the liquid until the sugar is dissolved.  Add 1/4tsp of Cream of Tartar. You can optionally add roughly 2Tbsp of Lyle's Golden Syrup at this step to help avoid crystalizing your s...

If you hit the  way-back machine to 2013 , you'll find a post similar to this one. My Barleywine was basically an end of year excuse to clear out a collection of leftover ingredients. It's 2020, and I'm doing it again by making an English Imperial Stout.  This time, I didn't have quite as many leftovers, so I had to buy the 2-Row and Warrior hops. Everything else was either in a box in the basement or the fridge.  The idea behind using two yeast strains was taken from a recipe I stumbled across a few years ago for the long unavailable Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter . That beer used both an American and English strain for fermentation. My guess is that at this strength, the SafAle US-05 will make up for the fermentation limitations of the LalBrew London. Plus, if it was good enough for Gonzo, it's good enough for me.  As a last step, I'll add an oak spiral that's been soaked in Whiskey. I'm hopeful that the oak will be subtle rather than overpowering. ...

Well, that was easy. After only five short weeks, the Bitter I brewed based on suggestions from Twitter was done. Having consumed quite a few bottles while doing research for Grad School, I figure it's high time I finally write about how my beer turned out. My goal was for a Session Beer and that's what I got. With an ABV of around 3.5%, this is a beer you can drink several of (a Session's worth?) without fear of getting loopy. The body is light and refreshing, although a bit too tingly for a proper Bitter. But how does it taste? Not earth shattering, but pretty decent. The nose is primarily earthy hop, plus a bit of a toasty aroma. I was expecting some fruitiness from the yeast, but there isn't much there. The flavor is light, but interesting. Next time, I'll dial back the Amber Malt. It's a little too prevalent and doesn't quite balance the toffee undertones at work. Bitterness is just right and brings a black tea bite to the beer. It lingers thro...

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.

My Sweet/Oatmeal Stout hybrid is ready to go. This beer gets a bonus round, because I bottled both a regular and N/A version of it. This is a nice chance to see what kind of a difference removing the alcohol makes. The beer itself is intentionally light, but not insubstantial in body. The regular beer's ABV barely cracks the 5.0% barrier. I'm not super happy with how the flavors blended to together. You can sense some sweetness from the milk sugar. It sits across the room from the roasted grains as an odd counterpoint. I definitely need to play with balance next time around. Bitterness is light and bolstered by the roasted grains. The nose has a touch of fruitiness to it. The N/A version is very close. The roasted flavors are slightly more pronounced. There's less fruitiness in nose too. The rest is pretty much the same. This includes my questionable balance of lactose and roasted grains. So, this definitely isn't the best beer I've ever brewed. The flavor...

I was asking around on Twitter about what beer style I should brew with some of my lingering grains, hops and yeast from 2013. The finalists came down to a Mild or an Ordinary Bitter . I've decided to combine both into a brew with the flavor of a Bitter, but the low ABV session beer goodness of a Mild. Since my goal was to brew without taking a trip to a Homebrew store, everything in the beer below was already on hand at home. My hop quantities are a little odd, because I was trying to use up open Challenger and EKG packages. The finished beer should have a nice sweet/bitter balance and an alcohol content of around 3.5%. Here's the 5-gallon recipe: Grains: 5 lbs Fawcett Optic Malt 8 oz Briess Caramel 80L 8 oz Fawcett Amber Malt Hops: 1 oz Challenger (6.9% a.a.): 60 min 0.5 oz Challenger (6.9% a.a.): 20 min 0.75 oz East Kent Goldings (4.5% a.a.): 0 min Total Boil Time: 90 min Yeast: White Labs WLP002 - English Ale Mash Schedule: Saccharification Rest: 1...

This year's Winter Warmer is ready just in time for the holidays. Rather than make 2012's beer again, I went with a Burton Ale. Let's see how things turned out.   T he beer pours with a slightly hazy mahogany hue. A dense nougat cap is slow to form, but generous once it gets going. Head retention is quite good and a nice amount of lace is left in the beer’s wake.   When I bottled this beer, it possessed a generous stone fruit aroma from the yeast. That fruitiness has dialed back a bit with some time conditioning in the bottle. Hops are now further out front with flowers and spice. A light roasted edge from the chocolate malt is also present. In the mouth, the beer starts out with a dry baking chocolate edge. The bitterness comes on quick with an earthy tea-like bite that’s not too heavy. While subtle, you can tell there’s molasses in my beer. It adds the light mineral profile I find desirable in this style. A touch of astringency shows up late. A body that’s not...

This space was originally reserved for an all-grain remake of my Super Easy Cream Ale . That was before I started receiving requests for Porters and Stouts. I prefer Sweet Stouts (a.k.a. Milk Stouts) to their more coffee-like Dry Stout brethren, so that's what I'm making here. As with many Sweet Stouts, I'm using Lactose to provide a sweet balance to the beer's roasted grains. Although not typical for the style, a small amount of Flaked Oats will add a slightly silky quality to the beer's mouthfeel, in addition to a mildly nutty flavor component. The argument could therefore be made that this beer is more a Sweet Stout/Oatmeal Stout hybrid, than a traditional Sweet Stout. However, being able to cross style boundaries is one of the joys of Homebrewing. Here's the five-gallon brew: Grains: 6 lbs Crisp Maris Otter 12 oz Briess Caramel 80L 8 oz Flaked Oats  8 oz Bairds Chocolate Malt 6 oz Crisp Black Patent Hops: 1 oz Newport (9.8% a.a.): 60 m...

Lasts year's Winter Warmer brought back some wonderful memories. I could have brewed it again this year and been happy. What fun would that be? My new Winter beer is a variation on a Burton Ale (minus messing with water salts). My original intent was to swing by the store and purchase Maris Otter to use as the base malt. Then I remembered that I still had a bunch of Golden Promise in the house, so I brewed with it instead. The Chocolate Malt provides a light roasted edge. Flaked Corn follows the tradition of using starchy adjuncts in this beer style. A classic English Aroma Hop adds some sweet floral aromas. There's a bit of molasses at work too. An Ale yeast with low attenuation rounds things out. The final product won't be too terribly strong, but will still have a little heft. The finished beer should be perfect for sipping around the fire on a cold Winter evening. For five gallons: Grains: 10 lbs Simpsons Golden Promise 1 lb Briess Flaked Corn 6 oz Baird...

Awhile back, I attempted to clone Taddy Porter and came up short. Initially, this beer was to be round two in that quest. Then I had an even weirder idea. The Porter below was meant to be a variation on my original beer. Unfortunately, my local store was out of Maris Otter (a frustrating ongoing theme ), so I used Crisp Pale Ale instead. They were also out of the English yeast strain I intended to use, so I went with Wyeast's London Ale. I'm not using large quantities of grain, because I don't want a very strong beer. This one should land in the low to mid 5.0% ABV range. Whether I miraculously clone Taddy in round two, or simply make a nice Porter, what's going to happen to part of this beer once it's done fermenting is the real unique bit. While I could tell you up front what I'm planning, that would be boring. For now, here's the recipe for five gallons: Grains: 7 lbs Crisp Pale Ale 1.5 lbs Hugh Baird Brown Malt 1 lb Crisp Crystal 77 12 ...

After much waiting, my Old Ale is finally ready for the light of day. It looks great coming out of the bottle. Clarity is good and there's a nice dense head that leaves a fair amout of lace behind. I can tell right away that I went a little nuts with the number of grains I used. There are six of them in all. They each bring a different flavor to the party. Throw in the brown sugar and hops, and the beer gets busy in a hurry. I'm not saying I don't like the result, but this beer won't be winning any subtlety awards. The overarching theme is that of toffee and rum that's been bolstered by tobacco and black tea. There's a bit of a roasted note too, but it's in the background. The sweet/bitter balance is good. Even with an ABV of around 8.5%, the alcohol is well masked and doesn't add much warmth. The beer's body is dry, slightly heavy and has nice soft carbonation. The black tea and toffee flavors linger through the finish. My overall assessmen...

My anti-wintertime Brown Ale finished up right on time and is ready review. Let's see how things turned out. Unlike my heavier Winter brews, my Brown Ale clocks in at an easy drinking 4.9% ABV. It pours with the expected brown hue and sports a dense cream head. The head sticks around well and leaves a fair amount of lace behind. Although my grain-bill was built around nutty and toasted malt flavors, there's a distinct fruitiness at work balancing them. The yeast has to be the reason and I like the result. Bitterness is low; as intended, and brings an earthy black tea bite. The toasted and black tea flavors linger nicely through the finish. The beer's body is light, dry and perhaps a touch too fizzy for the style. Overall, this beer is a nice change of pace when I don't feel like popping open something strong. If I were to change anything, it would be dialing back the amount of Brown Malt I used. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with this one.

Even in the middle of winter, I occasionally want a lawn-chair beer that won't blow me away with a thick body, alcohol warmth and/or a wall of bitter. So in the midst of a season filled with brewing "big" beers, I decided it would be nice to shift gears and brew an easy-drinking English Brown Ale . Nutty malts, a mild earthy bitterness and a light body pretty much sums this beer up. This is also my last of use of West Yorkshire yeast for the year (I've gotten five brews out of one packet of yeast , in case you're curious). My beer should be pretty quick to finish due to its low strength. I'll report back in five to six weeks with the outcome. The 5-gallon recipe is below: Grains: 8 lbs Maris Otter 8 oz Victory 8 oz Brown 4 oz Pale Chocolate Hops: 0.5 oz Newport (9.8% a.a.): 60 min 1 oz Fuggles (4.3% a.a.): 10 min Total Boil Time: 60 min Yeast: Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Mash Schedule: Saccharification Rest: 152F for 60 min Mashout: 16...

Winter is just around the corner, which means it's time to get something strong going.  This time around, I'm brewing an English Old Ale . I've chosen the style for two reasons. First, I've never brewed one. Second, I intend to mix part of this with a Mead I'll be making to create a Braggot . The BJCP guidelines recommend using a yeast with low attenuation. I'm hopeful that Wyeast's West Yorkshire cultured from my Taddy Porter clone will fit the bill. The addition of brown sugar and flaked corn follows the common practice of using adjuncts in this style. The sugar should add strength and a hint of extra sweetness. My favorite English aroma hop finishes things off. If the yeast doesn't go too crazy, the finished brew should have an ABV right around 8%. Here's the 5-gallon recipe: Grains: 8 lbs Crisp Pale Ale 2 lbs Flaked Corn 1 lb Special Roast 1 lb English Medium Crystal 8 oz English Extra Dark Crystal 4 oz Pale Chocolate Hops: 1 ...

My Beer My attempt to clone Samuel Smith Taddy Porter is ready to pour. For a change of pace, I've picked up a 4-pack of the real deal to compare and contrast against my efforts. Since I'm not exactly an impartial judge, my girlfriend agreed to blind taste test the two beers side by side in identical, unmarked glasses. I've mixed her notes in with mine. First off, I must say that the beers look remarkably similar. Taddy pours with a slightly larger head, but the beers share the same deep garnet hue. Mine has a bit more carbonation going on. Both beers have good head retention and leave some lace behind. My girlfriend's first comment was that my beer was very similar, but finished quicker than the Samuel Smith. She also noted that the Samuel Smith is slightly more bitter, with more depth of flavor. The first thing I noticed was that my beer has a more roasted edge and is a bit nuttier. It also lacks the unique dark fruit esters that I sense in all of the Samuel...

Samuel Smith Taddy Porter is one of my favorite beers in the whole-wide-world. Famed beer writer Michael Jackson even coined it “One of the world’s five best beers.” It was one of my gateway beers back in the early 90s and has stuck with me ever since. Although I'll be hard pressed to truly duplicate Taddy Porter, it never hurts to try. After some extensive internet research, I've formulated this recipe using entirely English malts and hops, plus a yeast strain that's supposedly the one used by Samuel Smith. The finished beer should be nutty, roasty and slightly sweet, with a mild bitterness. Here's the plan for five gallons: Grains: 7 lbs Maris Otter 1 lb English Brown 1 lb English Medium Crystal 12 oz English Chocolate Hops: 1 oz Fuggles (6.0% a.a.): 60 min 1 oz Fuggles (6.0% a.a.): 7 min Yeast: Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Mash Schedule: Saccharification Rest: 151F for 60min Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes Original Gravity: 1.048 Estimated Fin...

After nearly two months of fermenting, dry hopping and bottle conditioning (not to mention having to pose for pictures while being brewed ), my English India Pale Ale is ready to drink. Time to find out if the beer was worth the wait. I'll say upfront that I have to be in the right mood to drink a 100+ IBU bitter-bomb. That said, I like a hop-forward beer where the hop flavors and aromas dominate the proceedings. To that end, my English IPA has a moderate bittering addition, followed by three heavy flavor and aroma ones. The end result is a modest 50 IBUs of bitterness, but a heavy dose of flavor and aroma. At 1.008, the Final Gravity is quite a bit lower than the 1.016 my Qbrew software predicted (darn technology). As a result, the ABV comes to a hefty 7.4%. The beer pours about as brilliant a pale amber hue as you can get without filtering. It has a dense eggshell head on top that sticks around and leaves decent lacing. As I wished, the nose is greeted with a healthy dos...

I promised that the next one of these articles wouldn't be Belgian, or contain candy sugar. I've kept my promise and present to you an English IPA. If you're following my Kitchen Brewing series, this is the beer that I was making in all those pictures. This beer has a simple grain bill, but a heavy dose of two of my favorite English hops: Fuggles and Kent Goldings. The finished beer won't be the citrus bomb that is the typical West Coast IPA. This one should turn out earthy, floral and slightly woody. IPAs were made strong and heavily hopped to survive the long journey from Britain to India. With a target ABV of 6.4% and four hop additions, mine covers both bases. Here's the plan for five gallons: Grains: 12.5 lbs Maris Otter 8 oz Victory Hops: 2 oz Fuggles: 60 min 0.5 oz Fuggles: 20 min 0.5 oz Kent Goldings: 20 min 0.5 oz Fuggles: 7 min 0.5 oz Kent Goldings: 7 min  0.5 oz Fuggles: Dry Hopping 0.5 oz Kent Goldings: Dry Hopping Yeast: Wyeast 1469...