Blonde Ale

For those of you who keep up with this blog, you know that I'm brewing beer for a friend's wedding in January. We decided that one of the beers should be a very light and mild beer for those who are "casual" beer drinkers, so I decided to brew a blonde as a trial. Here's hoping it turns out to be what we're looking for. It was incredibly easy.


Ingredients:

• 6.6 pounds Light LME
• 1 pound Light DME
• 1 pound Table Sugar
• 0.5 pound Crystal 15L
• 1.5 ounces Willamette Hops
• Whirlfloc
• 10 grams American Ale Yeast (White Labs WLP001, Wyeast 1056, or Safale US-05--I used 2 packages of US-05 for a really crisp feel and flavor)

Instructions:

• Steep grains at 150-160 F for about 30 minutes
• Add dry extract, sugar, and hops. Boil for 60 minutes.
• At 15 minutes left, add liquid extract.
• At 10 minutes left, add one whirlfloc tablet
• After one hour, remove from heat. Cool wort and pour into fermenter. 
• Pitch yeast.
• Ferment for 7-10 days.
• *Before kegging, I transferred the batch over to a secondary to remove excess sediment from the beer. I did not let it sit long at all. I then transferred the batch right over to the keg and pressurized it. This beer is supposed to be light and clear, so we don't want a lot of sediment getting in the way.

OG: 1.060
FG: 1.012
ABV of about 6%

It turned out to be a little more alcoholic than I would have liked for a blonde, but we'll see. I'll update in a couple of days to let you know how it turned out.

Until Next Time,
RHSC

The Ultimate Compliment

A little while ago, a good friend of mine got engaged. He and his bride to be are getting married sometime in January. He asked me to be a part of the wedding in a somewhat original way. He asked me to make the beer for his reception. I, of course, accepted. What an awesome compliment. I will need to get some more equipment (oh darn) in order to do this right, but he's offering to help me buy some of that, not to mention he's buying the ingredients for the beer. This is so cool. I'm really looking forward to this. I'll be making 2-3 beers and one cider. We're currently discussing types of beer. This should be fun!

Until Next Time,
RHSC

Irish Red Update

I let the Irish Red ferment for about two and a half weeks before transferring it over to the keg. It came out nicely, in my opinion. It has a very deep copper color (a little darker than most reds) and has more roasted character than I would usually associate with a red. It has a great mildly bitter aroma, followed by a smooth texture. It has some great caramel and roasted malt characteristics, without too much of a bitter aftertaste sometimes associated with reds. A few of my friends who tasted it recently really liked it, but didn't think it tasted like an Irish Red. I'd be interested in comparing it to more traditional Irish Reds to see how it stacks up. At any rate, I really like it and would make it again.

OG: 1.064
FG: 1.020
ABV of approximately 6%

Until Next Time,
RHSC

Lemon Wit Update

The Lemon Wit is done. I let it ferment in the primary for seven days before moving it to the keg. I then force carbonated it for about 2-3 days. It turned out really well. It has a somewhat darker than normal amber color for a wheat-style beer, but everything else about it screams Belgian Wit. It has a great citrus aroma upfront followed by a nice smooth, crisp feel. It has a great lemon addition to the flavor, as well as just the right amount of spiciness. This is a great summer beer and is easily the best wheat beer I've ever made. I also really like the lemon flavor; it's something different as almost all wheat beers have an orange flavor accent. I'm very pleased.

OG: 1.043
FG: 1.013
ABV of approximately 4%

Until Next Time,
RHSC

New Faucet

A friend of mine bought me a Perlick stainless steel tower faucet for my birthday back in May. I had been having issues with leaks with the faucet that came with the kegerator pretty much since I got it. Both the faucet and elbow shank were original to the fridge and were honestly just worn out. I bought a new elbow shank and installed the faucet on the tower yesterday. It works great! There are no leaks or issues at all. I can control the flow of the beer a lot easier and am in love. I have looked at Perl faucets in the past and thought they were kind of pricey, but I can tell you (even after just one day) they are worth it. When I upgrade to a two-tap tower, I will be getting another Perlick to go with this one to replace the standard faucets that new tower comes with. I really like how simple and sturdy it is. It doesn't have a lot of working parts, which leaves less room for mishaps. The faucet itself is one piece (no moving ball pieces or locking joints on the faucet), which removes a lot of the leaking and pressure issues I was having with the other faucet. I know that standard faucets are a lot cheaper and ridiculously easy to find, but I highly recommend going for a Perl. This thing is awesome!

Until Next Time,
RHSC

Inventory

A while back I created a post entitled "Wish List" where I wrote down all of the items I would like to accumulate for home brewing purposes. The purpose of this post is to basically just take stock of what I have and where I am in the process.

What I Have:

• (2) 6 gallon plastic fermenter 
• (1) 5 gallon plastic fermenter 
• (1) 6 gallon bottling bucket with spigot
• (1) 5 gallon brew pot
• (1) 8 gallon brew pot 
• (1) 6.5 gallon glass carboy
• (1) U-Line Keg-Meister kegerator with single tap tower
• (2) 5 gallon Cornelius Keg with ball-lock connectors
• (1) 5 pound CO2 tank
• (1) growler filler attachment for kegerator faucet
• (1) bottle capper
• (2) hydrometer
• (2) racking cane
• (1) candy thermometer
• (1) bottle filler
• (3) plastic 3-piece airlock
• (2) rubber stopper for carboy airlock
• (1) auto-syphon
• (2) plastic paddle for stirring
• (2) carboy carrier

What I Want to Acquire in the Near Future:

• Outdoor burner/Turkey Fyer with 8 gallon pot
• Additional 5 gallon Cornelius keg
• floating thermometer
• New tower for kegerator with two faucets
• Extra CO2 tank
• 8+ gallon brew pot with built-in thermometer and spigot
• Hop Garden (with some other herbs used in beer)

What I Want to Acquire in the Not-So-Near Future

• Mash tun and hot liquor tank setup for all-grain brewing
• Grain mill for all-grain brewing
• Aluminum grain bucket
• 7+ gallon conical fermenter with stand
• Barley garden
• Temperature controlled refrigerator for lagering

What I Started With:

• (1) 6 gallon plastic fermenter
• (1) 6 gallon plastic bottling bucket with spigot
• (1) bottle capper
• (1) racking cane
• (1) bottle filler
• (1) hydrometer
• (1) candy thermometer
• (1) plastic 3-piece airlock

It's amazing to think how far I've come from the days using a wooden spoon and my 2.5 gallon chili pot. I've also noticed that I don't want newer things just to have more stuff for my hobby. I really want these items because it will enhance my abilities to make better beer. The better equipment I have, the more I can do. And isn't that what this is all about? Isn't this the reason why we all get started with home brewing in the first place? Making better beer? Think about it.

Until Next Time,

RHSC

Irish Red

I brewed this one at the same time as the witbier (see Lemon Wit). I've never brewed a red before, and I really like them, so I thought I'd give it a try. In my opinion, reds can be a perfect compromise of beer tastes. They are not as heavy as super dark beers (like stouts and porters), but they have more flavor and malt characteristics than really light beers (like blondes, goldens, and some lagers). This is a really easy recipe and should hopefully taste really good.

Ingredients:

• 6.6 pounds Light (or English Pale Ale) LME
• 2 pounds Light (or English Pale Ale) DME
• 6 ounces Crystal 40L
• 6 ounces Crystal 120L
• 6 ounces Roasted Barley
• 1.25 ounces Kent Goldings Hops
• 10 grams Irish Ale Yeast

Instructions:

• Steep grains and barley at 150-160 F for 30-60 minutes.
• Add dry extract and hops. Boil for 60 minutes
• At 15 minutes left, add liquid malt.
• After one hour, remove from heat. Cool wort and add to fermenter.
• Pitch yeast. *I used one packet Fermentis Safale US-05. If using liquid yeast, you could use up to 2 packets. You could use White Labs WLP004 or Wyeast 1084.
• Ferment for 7-14 days.
• I will keg with CO2.

OG: 1.064

Until Next Time,

RHSC

Lemon Wit

I really like wheat style beers, especially Belgian wits. I've brewed two citrus wheats in the past (both recipes can be found on my blog), and they both turned out nicely. I decided to go down a little different path this time. Not only did I follow a more traditional Belgian wit recipe, but the citrus flavor I used was lemon instead of orange.

Ingredients:

• 6.6 pounds Bavarian Wheat LME
• 1 pound Flaked Oats
• 1 pound Pilsner Malt
• 1 ounce Dried Lemon Peel
• .4 ounce (11 g) Crushed Coriander
• 2 grams (.06 ounce) Dried Chamomile Flowers
• 1 ounce Hallertau Hops
• 2 packages liquid Belgian Wit ale yeast 

Instructions:

• Put the oats and pilsner in a mesh bag and perform a partial mash for 30-60 minutes at 160 F.
• Remove grains. Add half of extract and the hops to the wort and boil for 60 minutes.
• At 15 minutes left, add the remaining extract. 
• At 5 minutes, add the chamomile, coriander, and lemon peel.
• After 60 minutes, remove from heat.
• Cool wort and add to fermenter. Add water to get 5 gallons.
• Pitch yeast. *I used White Labs WLP400 and Wyeast 3944. You can use two packs of the same yeast, but I am curious as to how the subtle differences will affect the taste.
• Ferment for 7-10 days. 
• I will keg using CO2.

Notes:

The original recipe called for 1.5 ounces citrus zest, as opposed to peel. I went with 1 ounce of lemon peel because in order to get that much zest, you need a lot of lemons. The dried lemon peel is only about $3 at your local HBS. 20 lemons would be a lot more than that. Also, because it calls for unspecified citrus zest, you can substitute oranges if you like. Be careful with playing with the levels of the coriander. Coriander is very strong and putting in more than the 11 grams could really give it a stronger than desired aroma and taste.

OG: 1.043

Until Next Time,

RHSC

Updates on Cider and Porter (pt. 2)

I finally kegged the strawberry cider and the chocolate strawberry porter after about 4 weeks in the fermenter. Both have turned out nicely.

The cider is nice and refreshing with a very smooth texture. It has a little more sweetness than the last batch, which I'm attributing to the strawberries, but it has no noticeable strawberry flavor. I did some research and found that when using mild fruits in beer, such as strawberries, you really need to use a lot more of said fruit (one pound of puree to one gallon of beer or more) in order to get the desired flavor. I forgot to take a gravity reading (I know, I know... a rookie mistake), so I don't have a clear idea of ABV, but I'm guessing at least 8% (OG was 1.074 with fruit).

The porter really turned out well. The aroma has some dark chocolate overtones right up front, which I really like. You can also get a hint of the strawberries in the aroma, which really does add to initial impression of the beer. The beer has a nice smooth mouthfeel with a slight bitter taste to begin with and finishes off with a slight sweetness in the aftertaste (thank you, strawberries!). I was a little worried when the strawberries didn't show up at all in the taste of the cider that the same would be true about the porter, but I think the longer than normal fermentation time (a little over 4 weeks) really helped the strawberries to contribute to the flavor of the beer. I think next time I might use more strawberries, but I don't think I'll use more than about four pounds of puree (I used three in this batch). I didn't get quite the strawberry flavor I was hoping for, but you can definitely taste the strawberries. Overall, I really like this beer. It is a nice, rich porter with a lot of flavor. It did turn out to be very high gravity, so I will definitely go easy on it.

OG: 1.072 with fruit
FG: 1.018
ABV of about 7.25%

Until Next Time,
RHSC

Updates on Cider and Porter

We added both the porter (formerly titled Sexual Chocolate...still looking for a new name) and cider to the secondary fermenters last night. We added the boiled strawberry purees to the fermenters first (carboy for the cider and another brew bucket for the porter), and then added the beer.  We weren't able to get accurate gravity readings, so I made an estimate on how the strawberries will affect the gravity based on other recipes and a little research. I am very anxious to try both of these brews.

Cider
The gravity of the cider before adding the strawberries was 1.054. This was a little surprising, because it didn't consume very much of the sugar, yet (that makes it about 2.25% so far). However, once we added the cider to the strawberries in the carboy, we could literally see the yeast feeding off of the newly added sugar. Apparently initial fermentation was slowed down a lot for one reason or another. Once we added the cider to the secondary, an immediate reaction occurred. We had to wait almost an hour before adding the airlock due a slow steady overflow of foam. It has since calmed down a lot and appears to be fermenting at a steady pace.

It has a great dark amber color and smells wonderful. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

OG: 1.072; 1.074 with fruit (estimated)

Porter
We didn't have nearly the problems with the porter that we had with the cider. There are two good explanations for that: 1) we used a bucket, so there was more open space and the pressure didn't bottleneck (so to speak). 2) the gravity reading we took before racking the beer was 1.020. This places the beer at an ABV of 6.5% before adding the fruit. The yeast had already done a lot of work. We did notice about 10-15 minutes after we sealed the lid and placed the airlock, that we were getting a slow steady stream of bubbles.

This beer has a very dark brown color with a slight red tint to it. The aroma of bitter chocolate and sweet strawberries combined was amazing. I can't wait to try this beer.

OG: 1.070; 1.072 with fruit (estimated)


The plan was to wait about 2 weeks to keg both. I may transfer the porter over sooner simply because I don't want all of the sugar consumed. I already have a 6.5% beer, so I really just want the flavor from the strawberries. I don't need it to have a higher alcohol content.

A note for anyone keeping up with this at home, I ended up using about 2.5 pounds of fresh hulled strawberries for the puree for the cider. It was right at 3 pounds for the porter. I added about .5 cup of sugar to both purees in the pot. The puree was really easy to make if you have a blender; just add water and strawberries and blend until you have the consistency you want. Add it to the pot with any desired sugar and boil for about 5 minutes. I will update once I've added them to the kegs.


Until Next Time,
RHSC

Sexual Chocolate

I have had really good luck with porters since I've started brewing. I've also discovered more of a taste for them as I've been making them. A couple of friends of mine really liked the last porter I made (refer to Black Cat) and wanted me to experiment with another porter. We came up with an idea for a dark beer with strawberries after we had already planned to make a strawberry cider (see previous "Strawberry Cider" post). I found a recipe for a raspberry porter that I liked. I will simply substitute in strawberries. I've also added some chocolate to the recipe to add some texture and flavor (chocolate and strawberries go great together), and modified the grain and malt bill a little. This is a pretty simple recipe and we had a lot of fun making it at the same time as the cider. It turned out to be a strawberry themed brew party.

Ingredients

• 6.6 pounds Light LME
• 3.3 pounds Munich LME
• 8 ounces Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 1 pound Crystal Malt (40 L)
• 3/4 pound Chocolate Malt
• 1/2 pound Black Patent Malt
• 2 ounces Kent Golding Hops
• American Ale Yeast (12 grams)
• 3 pounds Strawberry puree

Instructions

• Steep grains at 150-160F for about 30 minutes
• Remove grains and add half of the light extract and the hops. Boil for 60 minutes.
• Add melted chocolate at 30-40 minutes into the boil.
• Add the remaining extract in the last 10-15 minutes of the boil.*
• Remove from heat after 60 minutes. 
• Cool wort and add to fermenter. Add water to get 5 gallons.
• Pitch yeast.
• Ferment in primary for 7-10 days (or until fermentation slows dramatically).
• Boil strawberry puree for 5-10 minutes (I will be making my own puree using fresh strawberries). Let cool.
• Put puree in the secondary fermenter. Rack the porter on top of the puree in the secondary.
• Let ferment in secondary an additional 7-14 days. 
• I will keg using CO2.

OG: 1.070

*I used all liquid malt extract (LME) for this batch. When using LME, I have found that you can get more flavor out of the malt by not boiling all of it for the entire 60 minutes. 

I am excited about this beer. It should be good. I hope to update at the secondary process when I take more gravity readings. We came up with this name as kind of an homage to one of Eddie Murphy's numerous characters in "Coming to America." We were trying to come up with something creative and original to capture the essence of what we hope this beer will turn out to be. After mulling over ideas like "Chocolate Covered Strawberry," "Strawberry Chocolate Porter," and "Strawberry Porter," one of the guys helping brew the beer blurted out "Sexual Chocolate." I hope it will fit--a little sweet, a little strong, a tad bit outrageous, but ultimately very enjoyable and satisfying. 

I could also be reading way too much into this. It's a creative and hilarious name for a beer.

Until Next Time,

RHSC

Strawberry Cider

I have a friend who really likes ciders. I have always liked ciders, but over the last couple of months he has really turned me on to them more. This is the third cider I have made since I started brewing, and the second cider that he has helped me with (and funded). Having made two very simple and straightforward ciders, we decided to experiment a little by adding some fruit flavoring.

Ingredients

• 5 gallons no sugar added apple juice
• 2 pounds light brown sugar
• 2 pounds pure honey
• 1 packet Champagne yeast
• 1-2 pounds of fresh strawberries

Instructions

• Combine sugar and honey with one gallon of apple juice on the stove top. Heat until completely mixed.
• Pour mixture into the fermenter with the rest of the apple juice.
• Pitch yeast and secure lid and airlock on fermenter.
• Ferment in primary about 7-10 days.
• Puree fresh strawberries using sugar and water. Boil puree on stove for 5-10 minutes. Let cool.
• *Make puree as sweet and thick as you desire. You could also add a little syrup or juice if you want the puree thicker or sweeter. More sugar will add to the gravity and can raise the alcohol content. This also holds true for the amount of strawberries you use. Use enough to give it the taste, but if you don't want it super sweet, you may not want to add too much puree. I am planning on using 2 pounds of fresh sliced strawberries for my puree.*
• Add puree to the secondary fermenter. Rack cider on top of puree.
• Ferment for an additional 2-3 weeks
• I will keg this batch using CO2. 

OG: 1.072

I will try to update once I secondary. Since adding fresh fruit is a new experience for me, I'm learning as I go. If this turns out well, I might like to do it again and bottle it flat (with no carbonation). We'll see.

Until Next Time,

RHSC

Update on three beers

Over the fall, I brewed three beers: a porter, a pumpkin ale, and a Belgian. The pumpkin ale and porter both turned out really well.

The porter was especially a big hit among my friends and was gone in less than a month. I did notice a little bit of a sour taste in the after taste, and I wonder if that was because of the vanilla extract. Next time, I'll either add it to the keg, or leave it out completely.

The pumpkin ale got better as it aged in the keg. It definitely grew on me, as I did not think it was as good as the porter at first. The flavors were well balanced and it had a very smooth mouthfeel to it. It definitely had a nice spice aroma. I know that pumpkin really doesn't have a lot of flavor (most pumpkin ales don't even call for real pumpkin), but I think the addition of real (and fresh) pumpkin really helped. Roasting it with the spices upfront also helped bring out what little flavor is in pumpkin flesh. Overall, this was a good spiced brown ale and I would make it again. The only real downside to this beer is the amount of prep and time it takes to make it.

The Belgian did not turn out at all. Belgian's typically do better with longer fermentation times, but I think I went too far by letting it ferment for over 12 weeks. It was completely sour and had no flavor. This is the first batch I have ever tossed. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Until Next Time,
RHSC