Colorado Kitchen Brew

I recently stumbled upon a box of homebrew that I'd been cellaring for quite some time. Nearly three years, to be exact. I'd kind of forgotten about it, so finding the box was a pleasant surprise. Half the fun was deciphering my markings on the caps. I'm sure it made perfect sense to me at the time. Three years on, not so much. The first beer I deciphered was a bottle of my Kitchen Sink Barleywine . Let's see what happened over the years. First off, the beer is as bitter as ever. I was expecting that side of the beer to dial back, but that doesn't seem to be the case. However, the hop aroma has become much more subdued. The pine is still there, but the citrus has mostly faded. With much of the hop aroma out of the way, the biggest development in the nose is a prevalent mix of toffee and tobacco. They give the beer an almost English Barleywine character. Once in the mouth, more changes are in store. The aforementioned bitterness still hits right away, but t...

The beer below is inspired by the Kölsch/German Pils hybrid I brewed last Summer. My fiance said the original beer was one of her favorites, so I'm brewing a mild variation on it. This time around, I'm using a local Pils malt in addition to some Kölsch Malt that I had good luck with last year . I've also upped the ante by switching from a single to a double decoction mash. The hops and yeast are the same. The final beer should be perfect for our warm late Spring wedding. Here's the recipe for 5 gallons: Grains: 6.5 lbs Colorado Malting Pilsner 1.5 lbs Global Malt Kölsch Malt Hops: 1 oz Spalt (5.3% a.a.): First Wort Hopping 0.4 oz Magnum (14.7% a.a.): 60 min 1 oz Spalt (5.3% a.a.): 7 min Total Boil Time: 90 min Yeast: Wyeast 1007 - German Ale Mash Schedule: Protein Rest: 125F for 20 min Decoction 1:      Heat ~1/2 of mash to 155F and hold for 20 min      Heat Decoction again to boiling and boil for 15 min Saccharificati...

After a lot of waiting, my Wheatwine is ready to go. Let's see what happened. The beer pours with a hazy mahogany hue and sports a dense cream cap that's slow to form. Head retention is OK, but not great. However, a nice smattering of lace is left in the beer's wake. With 70 IBUs on hand, I was expecting a rather hop forward beer. That's not so much the case. Instead, there's a good sweet/bitter balance at work. Pine, citrus and candied fruits dominate the nose. There's also a healthy dose of fresh toasted bread. In the mouth, the grain flavors are dominated by toffee and sweetbread, while the bitterness carries in pine and citrus from the nose. Even with an ABV near 9.5%, the beer packs no alcohol heat. Letting the beer warm to cellar temp allows more of the woodsy and toffee flavors to come through. The beer finishes sweet, oddly enough. There's just enough residual bitterness to keep the sweetness under control. The beer's body is heavy, dense...

I said in my previous post that I'd saved some of Northern Brewer's La Petite Orange kit to age with Sherry Infused Oak Cubes. The aged beer is ready to go, so let's see what the Oak and Sherry did. I've had more than a few Barrel Aged beers that were completely dominated by the wood and whatever alcohol (Rum, Bourbon, Sherry, etc) the barrel originally contained. In my beer, the oak and sherry are subtle. That's what I was shooting for, so I'm quite happy with that. The flavors and aromas from the original beer are still present. There's no point in revisiting them. What I really care about is the changes the wood made. Vanilla is the most significant contribution. There's also a very mild almond note at work. The Sherry really cuts through in the aroma. It provides an extra helping of dark fruits, plus a little more alcohol heat. The beer is definitely more wine-like than before. On a side note, I took my own advice and bumped the priming su...

I feel like my Kitchen Sink Barleywine is finally ready to review. It's been a long wait, but I think the results were worth it. Sink pours into my snifter with a deep chestnut brown hue that has decent clarity. A generous head provides nice retention and leaves a solid serving of lace behind. Pine, oak, orange marmalade, citrus and lightly toasted bread greet the nose. The hop aromas are way out front, but not overpowering. In the mouth, the 87 IBUs bring a forceful bitter bite that carries the pine and citrus from the nose, without being overly grapefruit happy. Malts are there with a toasted edge. There's not much sweetness to be found outside some of the hop flavors, but that's OK by me. The bitterness lingers long into the finish. The roughly 9.5% ABV adds a nice warmth going down, but the alcohol is otherwise well masked. Letting the beer warm to cellar temperature makes the experience even better. The beer's body is substantial from the large grain-bill an...

The Leftovers It's time for a cleanup of leftover grains and partially used packets of hops from 2012. With the exception of the 2-Row base malt, everything in the recipe below has been sitting on the shelf, or in the fridge waiting to be used. I had several open hop packages, some leftover toasted malts and a half-full bottle of malt extract too. I also had yeast cultured from my White House Honey Porter . My decision was to use almost all of my leftovers and make a partial-mash Barleywine. The finished beer will be quite strong and quite bitter. A toasted malt backbone should nicely complement pine, spice and citrus hop flavors. Because of the beer's strength, it will not be ready for at least three months and should improve with age. The recipe has been scaled up to five gallons from the 2.5 gallons I actually brewed: Grains: 9 lbs Rahr 2-Row 8.5 oz Victory 7.5 oz Brown Hops: Bittering: 0.75 oz Chinook (11.1% a.a.): 60 min 0.5 oz Colum...

I follow a lot of beer websites. Occasionally, a deal comes up on one of them that's too good to pass up. When a chance to get a nice discount on kits at Northern Brewer came along, I pounced. I purchased the partial mash version of Surly Cynic and gave it a whirl. The kit was purportedly created by the brewers at Surly Brewing and is a copy of their take on a Saison. I won't post the recipe, because that would allow all of you to cheat and not buy the kit. The only change I made was with the yeast. I wanted the full Saison experience, so I picked up Wyeast's French Saison instead of the prescribed  Belgian Ardennes . Otherwise, I followed the kit's instructions. The yeast got to work within eight hours of pitching, but it wasn't the fastest worker. The fermentation lock bubbled regularly for a couple weeks before dying down. Cynic is fairly light, so it was ready to bottle after three weeks. After a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning, it was good to g...

It seems fitting that my first real post be about the beer that inspired this blog. My son appropriately named it Golden Spark. It's a Belgian Strong Pale Ale (BSPA, for all you beer nerds out there) that weighs in at 9.8% alcohol. In the future, my "In the Fermentor" articles will list the recipes for my beers, but I'm making an exception this time. Golden Spark is a Partial Mash recipe that can easily be converted to all-grain. The following recipe is scaled up to make the traditional five gallon batch of homebrew: Grains: 4 lbs Rahr Two-Row 8 oz Crisp Crystal 15L 4 oz Briess Carapils Hops: 1 oz Hallertauer: 60 min 0.5 oz Saaz: 20 min 0.5 oz Crystal: 20 min 0.5 oz Saaz: 7 min 0.5 oz Crystal: 7 min Yeast: Wyeast 1388 - Belgian Strong Ale Extras: 6 lbs Briess Pilsen Light DME (Dry Malt Extract) 12 oz Clear Belgian Candi Sugar Original Gravity: 1.077 Final Gravity: 1.002 Fermentation Schedule: 2 Weeks Primary 4 Weeks Secondary 2 Weeks B...