Winter Brew

Summer Blues

Just like my last post, I have the blues.  Only now it’s the middle of summer.  The beer closet is all but empty.  I brewed a summer beer and an IPA around March and I am down to just a few bottles of each.  I still have several Old Ales, Imperial Stouts, and three or four of the Number 8 aging.  I brewed a summer Saison a month ago and I have yet to bottle it.  I know, the adequate brewer has turned into the lazy and depressed brewer.

The summer beer from March was an interesting brew and one that I really am proud of because I made up the recipe once again, and once again it is good.  I used flaked wheat, oats, barley, and corn as steeping grains and all my fermentables came from extract.  The flaked grains came out of the steep looking like gruel and smelled like they would be good with a little salt and butter.  The resulting beer is super-hazy, highly carbonated, and light, much like a Belgian Wit.  I used the Wyeast French Saison yeast and gave it plenty of sugar for carbonation.  While bottling it, I started thinking of what to call it and the words Gruel Summer came to mind in the form of the song Cruel Summer by Bananarama.  Yep, that tells my age right there.  I laugh every time I think of it.

The IPA that I made in March is dark and hoppy.  I wanted to make a dark-colored IPA and little did I know at the time that the Cascadian Dark Ale or whatever they are calling this “new” style would be all the rage.  I haven’t followed many of the brewing podcasts or publications lately.  I mentioned that I am now the lazy and depressed brewer, right?  Anyway, the dark IPA idea worked great in theory, but the resulting beer is not all that good.  I used all extract, as it was too cold out and I was just plain lazy by not at least doing a partial mash.  I used a whole bunch of hops that I don’t remember and the Safale US-05 yeast.  The beer is darker than most IPAs and quite bitter with a good hop aroma, but overall it’s just not that good.  I’ve drunk most of them, but that’s typical and not indicative of flavor in my house.

So okay, I have boo-hooed enough for today.  I’ll try to post more… when I brew more.

The Adequate Lazy and Depressed Brewer

Winter Blues

I’ve got the winter blues.  The holidays are over, I’m back to work and school, and it’s been below freezing here for a couple of weeks now so I just don’t feel like brewing.  The trouble is that I am running a bit low on home brew.  I have plenty of beers aging and a few styles ready to drink, but I just get nervous when I can walk several feet into the beer closet.  It’s usually packed full.

I have a plan for a dry stout with cherries that I am going to brew as a partial mash so I don’t have to go outside, but I just can’t seem to get a free day or two to prepare and brew it.

The Raspberry Blonde has carbonated but not yet to my satisfaction because the house has been cool for quite a while now.  I’ve sampled a few and they are quite good.  The clean malt flavor is supported by a touch of hop bitterness and raspberry flavor.  The aroma is nearly all raspberries with a touch of malt.  It’s also very light-colored and extremely clear.  Here is the recipe for any that may want it. 

Raspberry Blonde
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.010
IBU: 29
ABV: 5.5%

Malts/Fermentables
8 lb 14 oz Pilsner malt
1 lb 2 oz UK Pale Ale malt
4 oz US Caramel 40L
1 oz US Caramel 20L
12 oz Frozen Raspberries @ 0 min.

Hops
.75 oz US Amarillo (8.9% AA) @ 60 min.

Yeast
Wyeast #2565 Kolsch

Single Step Infusion Mash – 149 degrees F/ 60 min.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post about this beer that I was originally planning to do a partial mash but changed to a full mash the day of the brew.  I also didn’t have enough of any one malt to make a full mash.  So, the recipe seems a bit strange with unusual amounts of malt.  These specific amounts don’t need to be replicated.  Rounding the malt amounts or using all Pilsner or all UK Pale Ale malt will result in a very similar beer, in my opinion.  I would do it this way if I were to re-brew the recipe.

The Adequate Brewer

Bitter & Brown Update

I promised that once I tasted the Bitter & Brown ale I would post the recipe if it was worth posting.  Well, I am pleased to announce that the beer is really quite good!

It’s more of a brown porter if we’re talking BJCP Styles, but with a hint of smoke character from the Weyermann Smoked Malt.  The beer is quite dark but also quite clear with a decent head on it.  I like the rich, chocolate and coffee flavor and aroma.  The smoke is there, but is subtle.  I may make this again with a little more smoked malt just to make it more pronounced.  But, like I said, the beer is good now.

So if you wish, take this recipe and brew it.  If it’s good, let me know.  If it’s bad, well then I don’t know what to tell you.

Bitter & Brown

Original Gravity: 1.048
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: 26.2 (Rager formula)
Single Infusion Mash (153 degrees F – 60 minutes)
Fermentation Temp: 70 – 72 degrees F

Malts
6 lb UK Pale Ale Malt
2 lb German Munich Malt
1 lb German Smoked Malt
10 oz US Chocolate Malt

Hops
.75 oz Northern Brewer (8% AA) @60 minutes
.25 oz Northern Brewer (8% AA) @ 0 minutes

Yeast
Wyeast #1968 London ESB (1 qt starter)

The Adequate Brewer

Raspberry Blonde

I was on vacation just before Thanksgiving and had planned to do a partial mash brew of a blonde ale with raspberries.  The day I planned to brew turned out to be cloudy but in the mid 50s, so at the last minute, I milled some more grain and did the batch all-grain.  I can assume that this was the last all-grain brew day until spring.  I can’t imagine brewing outside this winter, even though I know people do it.

I wanted to use up some of various light base malts I had around so I mixed Pilsner and US 2-Row and added just a touch of Caramel 40 for some more depth.  I used Amarillo hops at the beginning of the boil for about 25-26 IBUs and no late hops at all.  Just before I shut off the burner, I added a 12 oz bag of frozen raspberries.  It was fun to see the raspberries basically explode when they hit the boiling wort.  The smell was incredible…in a good way.  I probably should have used my screen inside my kettle as the raspberries that didn’t disintegrate, wanted to clog the spigot.  All went well though, as I guess the raspberries were soft enough that they did shoot through the spigot and hose to the fermenter.  I use a strainer to catch the hop bits before they reach the fermenter with every batch and I am glad because I didn’t want all the raspberry chunks in there either.

I used Wyeast #2565 Kolsch yeast with a quart starter and by bedtime the batch was fermenting nicely.  By morning, there was a tremendous blow-off that lasted all day.  It has settled down after a week, but still I hear the satisfying “bloop” of the air-lock now and then.

As usual, I will post the recipe if, after tasting, it is worth posting.

The Adequate Brewer