04.10.06
Posted in beer at 5:05 pm by Brandon
So my latest Belgian is Troublette. Frankly, this one is not my favorite of all the belgians I’ve ever tried. Many classify this one as a classic Belgian White in the vein of a Hoegaarden or something of that nature. Personally, when I think Belgian, I think yeasty and sweet. To me, that’s what I expect.
Troublette is not that.
I would not classify Troublette as remotely sweet. Rather, I catch a relatively fruity sour finish in this beer. I’m not picking up much along the lines of yeast and any hops notes are EXCEPTIONALLY subtle. All in all, had I expected a more sour (almost unfruited lambic) experience, rather than a traditional Belgian White beer, I would’ve liked it more. All in all, this wasn’t a bad beer, but it wasn’t what I expected.
I saw on ratebeer.com someone described this beer as having a velvety finish. I couldn’t disagree more. Given the lightess of the mouthfeel and the carbonation of Troublette, I’d say this was the antithesis of velvety. Not that that’s bad, in fact for a beer in this style to be velvety, I’d have been a bit concerned.
All in all, if you’re in the mood for a sourish summery beer, give Troublette a try. If you’re looking for a yeasty sweet traditional triple or somesuch, I’d take a pass on Troublette.
Tags: Beer Snob
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04.01.06
Posted in life, beer at 11:26 am by Brandon
You Are Guinness
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You know beer well, and you’ll only drink the best beers in the world.
Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don’t know well.
But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.
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Tags: Beer Snob
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02.13.06
Posted in beer at 7:07 pm by Brandon
So, inspired by my own words (and, of course, my conversation with the Most High), I traipsed on down to the local liquor store to buy me some brew. It just so happens that this is the BEST PLACE TO BUY BEER ON EARTH. Why? You ask.
Well, I’ll tell you. They have beers for sale as onsies.
And, no. I’m not talking about the baby clothing “onsies” I’m talking about beer being priced by the bottle rather than by the six pack. Onsies are fantastic, especially for those of you who are afraid of committment. You know you hate to have to buy a whole six pack of beer that you may or may not be entirely fond of, and, my friends, onsies are the answer to that dilemma. (And, in addition to beer being sold in onsies, I happen to know the owners…and that also makes it the best place on earth to buy beer.)
Anyway, I picked up a number of beers, and thus far I’ve tried two of the beers that I picked out. Coincidentally, both beers hail from the greater New Orleans area, so, I suppose, you could call this my “Sufjan Stevens of Beer Goes to the Big Easy” post.
- Abita Brewing Company’s Purple Haze was a wheat brew that (despite the amberish color) I found to be reminiscent of a belgian white. This yeasty ale promised to have been flavoured by raspberry (if you believe what the bottle was telling you.) The head on this ale seemed to develop and stay nicely. However, while I loved the yeasty crisp nose of this beer, I found the finish to be watery. Also, I was hoping for a little more raspberry from this beer. I’m sad to report that I didn’t find it. Now, not all is lost with the purple haze, I will say that it is a nice way to enjoy a pretty good Belgian-ish wheat ale, and, if you’re a beer novice, you may actually find the lack of finish appealing. However, I must admit that this beer didn’t live up to all that was promised on the label. Namely, if a beer promises raspberrys, it damn well better deliver.
- Dixie Brewing Company’s Darkened Voodoo Lager fared a bit better than the first beer I tried. The head retention was a bit poor, in fact, there wasn’t really a head to speak of. The nose had detectable fruity notes of prunes and raisins. The beer started off with hints of caramel and the finish had notes of chocolate or coffee. Really, I can’t complain too much about this beer. Beyond the head retention it was pretty good, and because I don’t drink much Schwarzbier (the family to which this beer belongs) I’m not incredibly qualified to make informed comment on this one. I’d say if you like German dopplebocks (i.e. anything that ends in -ator like Optimator, Celebrator, or Salvator) you’d probably be pretty happy with Darkened Voodoo Lager. Reading between the lines here, this probably isn’t a beer novice’s first choice (or at least it shouldn’t be.)
Tags: Beer, New Orleans Beer, Beer Rating
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02.09.06
Posted in beer at 3:46 pm by Brandon
For the past few days I’ve been sensing God tugging on my heartstrings. I’ve been able to clearly discern the call of God in my life to write a post about what kinds of beer I would suggest for a novice. In fact, and don’t tell my Christian Reformed Church about this, I had a vision. This is how it went:
God: Hey Brandon, ’sup, yo?
Brandon: Oh, nothin’. I’m just sitting around.
God: Oh, good…so…I’ve got a request.
Brandon: No prob. What’s the deal?
God: I’ve been thinking, you talk a lot about, beer right?
Brandon: Yeah, I do. I can’t get enough of the stuff.
God: Well, I was thinking, I’d like to see more people drinking beer. It’s good for the soul.
Brandon: Right on, right on…
God: And, I’d love to mention it, you know like over the loudspeaker or something, but I’d hate for Jenkins and LaHaye to think they got their theology right and start expecting the rapture or something.
Brandon: No doubt, those guys drive me nuts, too.
God: Yeah, and the last time I issued a statment about how more people should drink beer the fundies had a shit-fit…so I’m thinking you should mention it over at your blog.
Never one to ignore the call of the Lord, I’m writing about beer and how more people should drink it. It occurs to me that more people would drink beer if it weren’t for the fact that lots of people don’t really LIKE beer all that much. Now, it is truly my contention that if you don’t like beer there are three possible reasons:
- You’ve never been introduced into beer slowly. (i.e. You jumped right in to a beer that was far too complex for your tastes, didn’t like it, and gave up on beer.)
- You’ve never tasted beer. (i.e. You’re too young…)
- You’ve sold your soul to Satan.
Most people, I think, fall into class number 1. And, with no more fanfare, I’d like to offer you a few suggestions for beers that I think you’d like if you’re not a beer drinker.
- I know I may have mentioned it before, but Lindeman’s Framboise is a marvelous surprise for anyone who hasn’t ever liked beer. This is, bar none, the perfect first beer.
- Hoegaarden, although after you’ve drank it for some time you may start to tire of it, is a nice refreshing summer white ale.
- My next suggestion is a New York microbrew brewed in the traditional Belgian style. Hennepin Farmhouse Saison).
- Finally, lots of people are looking to get over their dark beer phobia. Well, that’s not exactly true. Most ot the time it’s us dark beer lovers who are desperately trying to get others over their dark beer phobia because such phobias irk us dark beer lovers incredibly. I have two darker beer suggestions. My first is Newcastle Brown Ale, the perfect first darker ale. Not because it’s good, per se, but because people think it tastes like a lager. This will trick the drinker into thinking that all dark ales aren’t as bad as they think. Then, when you’ve got them so they think that dark beers aren’t bad (and they’re a little drunk because you’ve gotten 3 or 4 Newcastles into their system), it’s time to put the nails into the coffin of dark beer lovery. You buy them a Chimay Grand Reserve (yes, friends, that’s the blue bottle). You should be aware, though, that after buying them the Chimay, you may never be able to get them to drink cheap beer again, you’ll have to be okay with that.
Drink up friends, and be merry. And if anybody from your church asks, tell them Brandon said you were on a mission from God.
Tags: Beer, Good Beer, Beer Novice, Drinking
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01.17.06
Posted in beer at 7:58 pm by Brandon
Let me just say this once: Holy shit has it been boring around here lately. I mean, wow, really boring. I don’t think I can handle another post on politics for a while. And, if I’m boring myself, any of you who’re still left must be REALLY bored. I mean, political philosophy is cool and all, but seriously, it’s not as cool as beer.
It seemed prudent to me in this entry on one of the great loves of my life–yes, beer is one of the great loves of my life–to talk a bit about some of the beers I really DON’T like. Some of them just taste bad to me, others well, even saying their name just makes my skin crawl.
So, with no further adieu, my least flavourite beers–and no, that wasn’t a typo:
- Leinenkugel Creamy Dark Lager - Some beers look like they should be good on the bottle. This beer promised smooth drinkability with a nutty finish. All I got was a mouthful of overpowering malt with a nearly non-existent hop finish that left LOTS to be desired. Now, to be fair, it’s been over a year since I’ve given Leinie Creamy Dark a try…of course that’s because I thought it tasted like shit last time I tried it. (Reader’s Note: Brandon doesn’t really do overly malty beers well, feel free to have your own opinion.)
- Bud Light - My cat Thelma drinks beer (only from the bottle, of course) and even she knows the difference between Bud Light and beer. She simply refuses to drink Bud Light, I love her for it. Bud Light is one of the only beers that when I see people drinking Bud Light, I actually think much less of them. No, seriously. I have a running monologue that mumbles something to the effect of “sad excuse…(harumph)…they serve it so damn cold cos’ it tastes like elephant urine warm…(mmmrumph)…pseudo-Pilsen…(grrr)…sad excuse for a beer drinker”. You get the idea.
- Sam Adams - Oktoberfest - When I was in Boston this November, I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe Sam Adams is better in Boston than it is elsewhere!” Friends, I’ve got news for you: It’s not. Once again, I find Sam Adams, particularly their Oktoberfest, to be either significantly underhopped or too heavy.
- Harper’s Micro-Brewery Beers - Now, I’m hesitant to cast an overarching claim of shitty beer on all the beers in a brewery, but when your micro-brewery only brews about 8 or so beers, and I can try them all, I feel that I’m in a good place to comment. First off, I’ll probably keep going to Harpers, because, for the love of God, when you can get yourself 4 pints of beer and walk out of the pub only 7 dollars later, you’ve got yourself a winner, Matilda. But, though the price is right, the beer just sucks. I’m pretty sure that the Spartan Wheat (their most popular brew) was watered down last time I was there. Their brown ale is actually on the border between a Porter and a Stout, their amber is more appropriately labelled a brown ale. Plus, the porter…oh, wait…brown ale I had was doused with so much Black Patent malt it was barely drinkable. I had to order a water…oh, wait…Spartan Wheat to wash it down. I can’t even tell you how much this beer sucks. If you must drink beer go with the Raspberry Wheat (which is okay because it’s flavored so heavily that the crap-tastic rest of the beerflavor won’t bleed through the Raspberry.)
- PBR - I know, I know, all the kids are drinking PBR like it’s going out of style. It’s the latest hip thing. I’m just going to say it first, it has gone out of style and second and most importantly, the stuff tastes like shit. I don’t care if some marketing campaign can convince 18 to 24 year olds that it’s the coolest thing to by themselves a 30 pack of PBR cans for like 9 bucks and drink themselves into oblivion, the stuff tastes worse than the can it comes in. The only way I can even manage a gulp of this crap is if it’s served at a temperature approaching absolute zero.
Now, lest you think I’m a beer snob…oh nevermind. I wear the beer snob badge proudly. If I had my druthers I’d be drinking beer that costs about 10 bucks per 750 mL bottle. However, I don’t get my druthers. Somedays, I have to drink beer that is probably less up-to-snuff than I would prefer. If I have to choose, I tend toward Labatt Blue and Molson Canadian (those Dual Molson Canadian labels get me every time–my favorite is “I’m a scientist. Let’s experiment.”)
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01.02.06
Posted in life, beer, fun at 1:25 pm by Brandon
Okay, if you’ve been checking this new place out and liking it, well, then good. I’m glad you have. I’m still rooting through the code and making a few functionality changes, but I’m sort of liking this new theme I downloaded from the wordpress collective. I thought ’twas snazzy, so I’ve been working on making it mine own.
If you’re curious I’m using these plugins:
- Akismet by Matt Mullenweg- Which came with the newest version of wordpress and it handles spam (so far, it does so quite nicely).
- Bunny’s Technorati Tags by Stephanie Booth - This one allows me to simply plug my tags in on the bottom of my post writing screen instead of futzing with the HTML like I used to have to do.
- Gravatar by Tom Werner - If you noticed Allison’s comment, there’s an avatar of her daughter Maya (sp?). This is done by a plugin called gravatar. If you’d like to have your own little avatar, go over to Gravatar and upload a picture you’d like to represent yourself. It’s a bit cheesy, but hey, I’m a sucker for new technology that provides little to no functionality, is a waste of bandwith (even if it is someone else’s bandwith), but is freakin’ cool.
- Recent Comments by Nick Momrick - As you notice, there’s a link to recent comments (as there has been) on the right. I had to change the ORDER BY portion of the SQL statement in the plugin to order by comment_date rather than by comment_id because when I made the switch from B2evolution, my comment id’s got royally screwed up…probably beyond all reconciliation; however, the comment_date fix seemed to help.
- Stattraq and StatCounter - I’m using both. This is area I’m least impressed with WordPress thus far. I can’t find a good stat program to save my life. B2evolution had a nice package included in its backoffice. If you know of a good plugin that would simplify my stat tracking and be comprable in quality to what I had with b2evo, I’m all ears.
- WP Comment Quick Tags by Thomas Montague - This was inspired by Zalm’s blog. I just think it’s nice and handy for commenters to be able to click tags rather than having to screw with the html tags on their own. I hope you agree.
In other, more exciting, news: I drank my first litre of Chimay Grande Reserve on Christmas Eve this year!!! It was as good as I had dreamed. I was even allowed to do my own pouring–which, if you’re not really into bottle conditioned Belgian ales, is pretty important–so no nasty yeast gulps at the end. I honestly couldn’t taste any off flavours. ‘Twas everything I’d hoped. I’m afraid, though, that I’m hooked.
I had another beer too, a Belgian. But, damn if it wasn’t right before the Chimay and my memory as to what that beer was was simply washed away by the scent of Chimay in the warm Florida evening. When I come across it’s name, I’ll give some notes on it.
I know that some time ago I set out to become the Sufjan Stevens of beer. As with many of the little side projects and hobbies (aside from blogging) that I like to take on, this one slipped to the wayside. Well, friends, I’d like to pick up where I left off here writing more about beer in 2006. We’ll call it a New Year’s Resolution. And, while we’re on the topic of New Year’s Resolutions, I’m thinking its time for my annual pseudo-diet.
Some of you may think it odd for me to talk about beer drinking and then announce my intentions of dieting. A fair feeling, I suppose. I have no intention of drinking any less beer as a part of my diet, I’ll tell you that up front. However, I’m going to have to cut a few classic singles (*cough* or doubles *cough*) with cheese out of my diet, and I’ll probably have to drop down to one chipotle grilled stuffed steak burrito per sitting, too. I’ll keep y’all posted, as my weight-loss escapades can be entertaining…to other people.
Anyway, like I said, I’m going on a pseudo-diet. I call it this because if I don’t I’ll feel like I’m on a diet. This could induce a panic attack that only a three pack of double cheeseburgers w/ no pickles could cure. I’m trying to stay away from such ’self-medication’ if you know what I mean. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be able to cut out of my diet, but I think I’ll probably start with fast food. (My palms are already getting sweaty just thinking about the “saturated-fat-withdrawal”.) I’ll probably also try to cut back on cream in the ole’ coffee. Like I said, I’ll keep you posted. The goal is to drop around 40 pounds.
…
Okay, are you through laughing yet?
…
How about now? Good. I know 40 is a lot of pounds, but let’s be honest for a 6 foot 4 inch behemoth such as myself, it should be roughly attainable. In reality it’s only a tad over a half a pound per inch. And, yes, it’ll be tough, but if I can lay off the cheeseburgers and learn to get by on a strict diet of rabbit food like carrots and lettuce and perhaps cucumbers I should be able to make some headway. Hell, and if the past is any indication, lettuce should really do the trick (even if it’s not the kind of trick I want it to do).
Tags: Blogging, Gravatar, Chimay Grande Reserve, Plugins, New Years Resolutions, Diet
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08.31.05
Posted in beer at 8:55 am by
A week or two ago Zalm opened up a marvelous dialogue about a heavenly liquid I believe to be the teardrops of the Gods–in fermented form. (Zalm’s got another really important winner up today about the nature of transformational and renewing communication, but you’ll have to read that and discuss it over at his crib. Today, we’re talking the nectar of the Gods.)
Clearly, though I shouldn’t need to specify this, the nectar of the Gods is nothing other than beer. (You know, the cause of and solution to all the worlds problems.) Anyway, over at Zalm’s house we were chatting it up about a variety of Belgian ales. Some trappist, some not. I kind of got a little out of line by mentioning some ‘non-Belgians’. Because I was over at his place, I respected Zalm’s right to have a Belgian-only post. Yet, I’m an inclusive guy and I didn’t want all those other beer styles feeling bad. Thus, I decided, I would start with a series (yes, it even has its own category) of posts about beer.
Also, being a Sufjan fan, I thought it might be pertinent to do a ‘50 states’ beer tour. Of course, the problem with this (writing deeply on beers from each of 50 states) is that I haven’t much of a clue about beers native to places like Hawaii, for example. Then, as I began to ruminate on this problem, a solution sort of reared it’s beautiful foamy white little head. I will participate in the drinking of more beer so as I can knowlegeably speak about microbreweries native to states in which I’m not a native! The perfect solution.
Thus, much like Sufjan, I’ll start my beer expedition off right here in my home-state of Michigan. I’ll hit a few beers that I think are great. If I miss one you really like, feel free to comment on it, but please don’t question my beer credentials–that’s just likely to piss me off. (Mostly because I haven’t any beer credentials, but I fancy myself cultured in the area anyway.)
If you’re an of-age Michigander and you haven’t heard of Oberon by Bell’s, you should be permanently disbarred from being a member of the Great Lake State. Any way you shake it, you certainly can’t consider yourself a beer connoisseur, and not know about Oberon. Oberon is a summer beer. It’s light and fruity. If properly garnished, it’s served with an orange wedge. Great mouth-feel and a good flavor. This is a great beer to move one from drinking the regular American piss flavoured beers (e.g. Miller Light, Bud Light, Budweiser, PBR, Old Schlitz, etc.) into a nice fresh microbrew without too much of what I like to call “Flavour Shock”. (Flavor Shock is when you’re used to drinking shitty beer and then you taste a good beer but are so overwhelmed by the flavours that you think ‘good beer tastes bad’. Most everybody goes through it when they make the switch from shitty to good beer, some worse than others.)
Alright, I also am a big fan of Red’s Rye by Founders Brewing Company. I drink this a bit less in the summer, as it’s not as light as an Oberon, but more in the Fall and Winter. I wouldn’t say this amber is heavy, but it is quite spicy. There are CLEAR rye notes in the beer. The aroma of this beer is exceptionally distinctive, it has a biting rye flavour. It’s a beautifully colored ale, almost vermillion in color. A deep red. Wonderfully drinkable (in large quantities, I might add) and a great “sit around the ale-house and talk about life” beer. You do have to like American Amber ales to like this one. It’s got a lot of rye malt flavor (of course that’s balanced out by 60 IBUs of hops), so it’s probably not a beer for a beer novice. Yet, it’s not an “expert beer-drinkers only” beer either.
My next selection, as far as complexity goes, IS probably an “expert beer drinkers only”. It’s also from Founders Brewing, this one is called Devil Dancer. Now, this beer was even a tad complex for me. And, one should plan on having only one or two of these fellas, they’re pretty potent at 13% ABV. They’re a quite heavy ale, that’s hopped to an unbelievably high level (200+ IBU’s). All the warnings out of the way, I like this one in the winter. Perhaps, if I’m only in the mood to drink one or two beers on a cold winter’s evening, I’d go for the Devil Dancer. It’s a special ale that calls for special times.
I can see that this is turning out a shade on the long side of things. Yet, I’ve got a lot more to say. I suppose that’s the point of a series, multiple posts, right? Stay tuned for next time when we escape the beer boundaries of west Michigan breweries and move on to the great white north.
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12.31.04
Posted in homebrewing at 1:57 pm by
Wednesday I tried my very first partial mash recipe. I hadn’t really intended to do so, but it just seemed to work out that way. Here’s the recipe along with list of things I needed in order to become a partial masher.
First, the partial mash equippment list.
A Mash Tun - Basically this is another brewkettle, but it doesn’t need to be as big as the first. I bought a 16 quart capacity (I brew with a 20 quart.)
a strainer - buy the biggest strainer you can get your hands on. The bigger your grainbill the more it will need to hold. As it stood this time I had to sparge 3 strainer-fuls of grain.
a stainless steel ladle
Okay, now on to the recipe.
Happy New Year Hefeweisen
Crush:
1 1/2 lbs of wheat malt
1/2 lbs of 10L Crystal Malt
1/2 lbs of rye malt
4 oz. of rice hulls
Mash in 2.5 gallons of water
at 105 degrees fairenheit for 20 minutes
at 120 degrees fairenheit for 20 minutes
at 152 degrees fairenheit for 45 minutes
Drain wort into brewkettle straining out mashed grain
Sparge (rinse) mashed grain with 1 gal H2O at 170 deg. F.
(basically you hold the strainer over the brewkettle and the rest of the wort and take your brand spanking new stainless steel ladle and ladle a gallon of H20 over the grain allowing the sparge water to rinse the grains with the outflow landing in the brewkettle.)
Bring to boil then add:
5 1/2 lbs of Wheat Malt Extract (LME) (a 50-50 wheat/barley blend)
1 lb of Malto-Dextrin powder
1 oz of Galena Hops (11% AA)
Boil 30 minutes then add:
1/2 oz of Saaz hops (3% AA)
Boil 25 minutes then add:
1/2 oz of Saaz hops (3% AA)
Boil 5 more minutes then kill heat, bring wort to 80 degrees fairenheit.
Top up to 5 1/4 gallons in primary fermenter.
Pitch yeast:
White Labs Hefeweisen ale yeast (they have a number of different kinds, I used just the regular.)
Aerate wort and leave to ferment.
Fermentation schedule:
7-9 days primary fermentation at 65 F.
2-3 weeks secondary
Prime and bottle with:
1 cup corn sugar
Bottle condition for 2 weeks
The OG on this one came out at about 1.056. That seems just a hair on the high side, but there will be a reasonable proportion of unfermentables in this beer (the malto-dextrin, etc.) It should have lots of body as the FG should also be a touch higher than normal. Perhaps, around 1.016 or so. We’ll have to see.
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12.12.04
Posted in homebrewing at 9:25 pm by
This may interest the those of you who are interested in homebrewing. If not, well, I’ll document the whole escapade regardless, so, at least you’ll be able to laugh at me if my recipe goes awry.
So, here it is. Now for all of you die hard brewers who do all-grain batches, you’ll be disappointed, but hey, I’m a rookie.
With no further adieu, here’s Fuller Avenue Orange Ale:
Steep @ 150 degrees farenheit:
1/2 lb. Crystal Malt (20L) (Though, if I had to do it again, I might use a lighter malt)
Remove grain bag and bring to boil, then add:
6 lbs super pale liquid malt extract
1 oz. Northern Brewer Hop Pellets (10% AA)
Boil for 45 minutes then add:
1/2 oz. Willamette Hops (4.5% AA)
1 tsp. Irish Moss
1/2 oz. Dried Orange peel (Not just any dried orange peel…the kind they sell at homebrew shops).
Boil for 10 more minutes (55 minutes total now) and add:
1/2 oz. Willamette Hops (4.5% AA)
After 60 minutes of boil, kill heat & bring wort to 80 degrees F. Top up to 5 and 1/4 gallons of wort. (For this batch I did NOT remove the orange peels from the primary fermenter…we’ll see how it turns out.)
Pitch yeast:
White Labs Liquid California Ale Yeast
Fermentation Schedule:
Ferment for 7 days in primary fermenter
Rack to secondary ferementer and ferment in glass carboy for 11 to 14 days.
Prime with 4 oz. corn sugar and bottle condition for 2 weeks.
I had a pretty violent primary fermentation this time. So, be warned, it could get messy. I don’t know how much of that, though, had to do with the fact that my batch was a little on the big side. Thus, there wasn’t much head space.
My OG was about 1.041. But, with a bit smaller volume I wouldn’t be surprised to see an OG of about 1.044-7 on this recipe…like I said, I made a big recipe. If you try this recipe, let me know what you think! I’d love the feedback.
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12.03.04
Posted in homebrewing at 1:13 am by
Well friends, tomorrow, when I’m done with work and school. I’m not going home. Some of you are preparing to scream at me with all your might. I can tell, you’re planning on screaming, “You IDIOT, don’t leave your wife! You’ll never get that lucky twice.”
Never fear, I’m not leaving my wife. Jen and I are fine. I’m just going on a road trip to Indianapolis for a David Wilcox concert. I love David Wilcox. If you’ve never heard of him, or heard him, you should. He’s great.
I’ll try to come up with a trip report, but if you don’t hear from me for a while, that’s why. Have a happy weekend.
Oh, one other thing. Any of the rest of you who are interested in homebrew (read: Streak) you may be interested in this, my first recipe. (Yes, after enjoying the brewing process so much I bought another bucket and carboy and started another batch recently. (That’s two batches this week if you were keeping track.)
Brandon’s High Hopped Dark Amber Ale
Steep at 150 degrees for 30 minutes:
12 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt Barley
3 oz. Roasted Barley
Remove muslin grain bag and bring mash to boil.
Add:
7 lbs. Light Liquid Malt Extract
1 oz. Centennial Hops (10 percent AA)
Boil for 45 minutes then Add:
1 oz. Cascade Hops (5.8 percent AA)
1 tbsp. Irish moss
Boil for 14 minutes then Add:
1 oz. Cascade Hops (5.8 percent AA)
Kill heat bring wort to 80 degrees
Pitch yeast:
California Summer Ale Yeast (White Labs pre-hydrated)
Primary Fermentation: 5-7 days
Rack to carboy
Secondary Fermentation 2-3 weeks
Prime and bottle:
Prime with 4 oz DME (dry malt extract)
Bottle age for 2 weeks, minimum.
This is should be a high hopped ale with a citrus, floral hop flavor and good aroma…let me know, if you give this a try.
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