The Wedding

So, it's been a while since my last post, mostly because I've been so busy getting ready for my friend's wedding this past January. We decided on three beers: Blonde Ale, Strawberry Chocolate Porter, and the Irish Red. I pretty much stayed true to the original recipes, so I'm not going to post those here, but they are on my blog and pretty easy to find. I also made a flat cider, that we served as a wine due to its very high alcohol content (about 11%). The cider was simple: 5 gallons of apple juice, 2 pounds brown sugar, 2 pounds honey, and one pack of champagne yeast. I fermented it for 2 weeks before transferring it to wine bottles.

 I did make some minor changes in the malts to try and get the color just a bit better on the beers. Although it is perfectly fine for porters to be brown, I really like a very dark porter, so I added a little more roasted barley to the original recipe which did help. We also lightened the malt bill on the red, which helped a little. Instead of being black like the first go round, it was a dark brown, which is as good as it's going to get apparently.

Everything was a success. Everyone who visited me seemed to enjoy what they were drinking. A few even asked me where they could buy it. Some asked me for my information so they could get in contact with me about making their own beer, or having me make some for them. This all made me very excited. I am very glad that everyone seemed to like the beer. I'm also very excited that my friend's idea of having me make the beer went over so well.

At the end of the night, we ran out of the red and cider. We had more blonde than porter left. The blonde, while well received, seemed to be the least favorite of the night. This doesn't surprise me because the flavors of the other two beers are so much more complex and robust, which is going to attract people who like beer more than the simple offerings of a blonde. And ultimately we had a lot of beer drinkers in the house. However, those who were more casual beer drinkers really did seem to like the blonde a lot. The cider was a hit among those who were looking for something closer to wine to drink.

While I wouldn't necessarily want to do this all of the time due to the time constraints (and not to mention the pressure of getting it right), it was a lot of fun and I definitely wouldn't mind doing this again for very special occasions. We also came up for names for the brews (with the exception of the porter), which are entertaining but apt. I'm still taking suggestions on the porter. Leave me your idea in the comments section of this post.

What we served:

Strawberry Chocolate Porter (name pending)
OG: 1.070
FG:  1.018
ABV: 7%

"Black Irish" Red
OG: 1.064
FG:  1.020
ABV: 6%

Dirty Blonde
OG: 1.060
FG:  1.012
ABV: 6%

Sinful Sippin' Cider
OG: 1.090
FG:  1.010
ABV: 11%


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