Brother John's Abbey Ale

A couple months back, John E and I discussed putting together a nice winter ale. While what we experience in North Carolina doesn't really resemble winter, I was up to the challenge.

The "Winter Ale" is not actually a recognized beer category. In fact winter ales generally conform to a few specific characteristics, and can conform to many different particular syles. Winter ales get their name because of their ability to keep the drinker warm when the weather gets cold. They do this with a stronger alchohol content. Winter ales are generally considered more of a sweeter malty beer with lower bitterness. I believe this sweetness will actually add to the warming effect of the beer.

The style I chose to go with is 18C - Belgian Trippel. The term dubbel, trippel, and quadruple are referring to the amount of malt in the brew. Trippel for example will generally see trippel the amount of fermentable sugars then your regular ale.

The problem with doing a trippel is that I can only fit about 12lbs of malt into my 5 gal mash tun... so unfortunately I'll have to make up the rest of the sugars using some dried malt extract. Oh well... at least this is reasoning for a larger mash tun down the road! :-) I put together a pretty basic recipe. From what I was gathering online, it seems trippels are at their best when they're simple. As in 2 or 3 types of malts, a few hop additions, and let the yeast do the rest. I decided to just go with pale and munich malts. Munich should add that nice malty flavor I like. I also wanted to up the sugar content using some Belgian candy sugar. Here's the recipe

Amount    Item Type                                   % or IBU 
2.00 lb   Light Dry Extract (8 SRM) Dry Extract       12.90 % 
10.00 lb  Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2 SRM) Grain           64.52 % 
2.00 lb   Munich Malt (9 SRM) Grain                   12.90 % 
1.00 lb   Candi Sugar (Soft), Blonde (5 SRM) Sugar     6.45 % 
0.50 lb   Candi Sugar (Soft), Brown (40 SRM) Sugar     3.23 %

1.00 oz   Tradition [5.70 %] (60 min) Hops           14.7 IBU 
1.00 oz   Goldings, East Kent [4.80 %] (30 min) Hops  9.5 IBU 
1.00 oz   Saaz [3.40 %] (7 min) Hops                  2.4 IBU

1.00 cup  Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min)                 -
2 Pkgs    Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500)         Yeast-Ale 

Original Gravity: 1.080 (missed target by -.002)
Bitterness: 26.6 IBU
Est Color: 9.3 SRM
Calories: 368 cal/pint

This guy had been bubbling strong every day last week. It finally slowed down a bit, but it's definitely the strongest fermentation I've had on a beer yet. The #WLP500 has been known for it's banana/clove esters. I tried to keep the fermentation temps low, however even with the house at 66 degrees, the ferementation was releasing so much heat that the temperature of the beer was mid 70s!!

I'll be out in Kansas City for the beginning of Feb, but when I get home I'll be bottling up the HCSP from last month.

Honey Chocolate Smoked Porter

So after hearing the Basic Brewing Radio podcast on "Smoked Beers" on my way up to visit some DC friends last month, I decided I wanted to try producing a smoked beer.

While I like a nice smokey taste, I figured too much smoke can easily over power the beer, and perhaps not allow the taste buds to find anything else. I decided to try to go with 30% of the grist as Rauchmalt (Smoked Malt) as a baseline, and adjust up or down from there depending on how this turned out. I wanted a good flavor in the beer to compliment the smoke. Searching for recent smokey tasting experiences, I remember getting a Mo's Bacon Bar produced by Vosges chocolate awhile back. One wouldn't figure bacon and chocolate to go hand in hand, however the salty smokiness of the bacon meshed really well with the smooth sweetness of the chocolate.

So my smokey concoction was starting to take shape! I figured since I'd be using a chocolate malt, obviously I would have to be brewing a dark style. I decided to go with Porter

Here is what the Campaign for Real Ale has for the history of the Porter (and its brother Stout):

Porter was a London style that turned the brewing industry upside down early in the 18th century. It was a dark brown beer - 19th-century versions became jet black - that was originally a blend of brown ale, pale ale and ‘stale' or well-matured ale. It acquired the name Porter as a result of its popularity among London's street-market workers. At the time, a generic term for the strongest or stoutest beer in a brewery was stout.

The strongest versions of Porter were known as Stout Porter, reduced over the years to simply Stout. Such vast quantities of Porter and Stout flooded into Ireland from London and Bristol that a Dublin brewer named Arthur Guinness decided to fashion his own interpretation of the style. The beers were strong - 6% for Porter, 7% or 8% for Stout. Guinness in Dublin blended some unmalted roasted barley and in so doing produced a style known as Dry Irish Stout. Restrictions on making roasted malts in Britain during World War One led to the demise of Porter and Stout and left the market to the Irish.

So back to the chocolate.... The Earth Day Ale was a great beer! And I really liked the flavor that came out of the brew. There was definite chocolate/coffee flavors. However for this beer, I wanted more of a smoother cocoa flavor to shine through. This brought about the idea of boiling and "dry-cocoaing" with baking chocolate. I also wanted to up the ABV of the brew, so I went with 2 lbs of honey. It will be interesting to see if the honey can actually shine through both the smoke and the chocolate. I may have just been better off using corn sugar. We shall see.

Amount      Item Type                            % or IBU 
5.00 lb     Mild Malt (4 SRM) Grain              37.04 % 
4.00 lb     Smoked Malt (5 SRM) Grain            29.63 % 
1.00 lb     Biscuit Malt (23 SRM) Grain           7.41 % 
1.00 lb     Chocolate Malt (350 SRM) Grain        7.41 % 
0.50 lb     Caramel/Crystal Malt (80 SRM) Grain   3.70 % 
2.00 lb     Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar                14.81 % 

0.75 oz     Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops     31.2 IBU 
0.25 oz     Chinook [13.00 %] (7 min) Hops       2.8 IBU 

1.50 cup    Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min) 
2.00 oz     Cocoa (Boil 10.0 min) 
2.00 oz     Cocoa (Secondary 2.0 weeks) 

1 Pkgs      British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) Yeast-Ale 

Original Gravity: 1.063 (missed target by -.002)
Bitterness: 34.0 IBU
Est Color: 30.8 SRM
Calories: 274 cal/pint

We brewed her two weeks ago. The inital tasting on first racking was a very nice chocolate flavor, however there was definitely some astringent tannings in there as well. Suprisingly even with as little as 30% rauchmalt the smoke flavor was going strong! I want to bulk age this baby for a bit longer then normal, but I'm guessing she'll be ready to bottle when I get back from my trip to KC in mid February.

I'll post an update when I have some tasting notes and a final gravity

Southampton 750 Series - Scotch Ale

The fourth and final beer in the 750ml series was Southampton's Scotch Ale. I saved this one for last because I'm a big fan of "British Isle Style" ales. Scotch Ale is named because...ta da!...it was first made in Scotland! The Scotch Ale is a lightly hopped and sweetly malted brew. They traditionally will have roasted malt flavors as well. Beersmith tells me something quite interesting: "Any caramelization comes from kettle caramelization and not caramel malt (and is sometimes confused with diacetyl)." Note to self...when you make a Scotch Ale....boil for the caramalization (don't use caramel malts).

Appearance

The color reminds me of dark toffee or perhaps copper would be the correct term...Like the last brew this beer produced a very small amount of head, which did not stick around for very long. Lacing on the glass was very slight.

Smell

First thought...yum!! If this beer tastes the same way it smells, it's going to be hard to not buy 4 more before the end of the trip. There are definitely scents of roasted caramel, perhaps light coffee/chocolate. There is a nice sweet fruitiness in the nose as well. It's an overpowering smell too.. Don't plan on smelling much after this! It fills the nose, and sticks with you.

Taste

The beer has a very nice medium mouthfeel. My mouth instantly recognizes caramel and perhaps a bit of a buscuitness. The brew on the tongue feels sweet, but after the swallow there's a very pleasing bitterness. There was a bit of a strong alchohol flavor on the end of the taste as well. You can tell this beer has some UMPHH to it at 6.5%. I'm not sure if it was my mind playing tricks on me, but after a few sips, I was definitely getting some smoke flavor shine through as well.

Etc...

This is a very nice sipping beer. Especially say sitting in a cottage overlooking the Scottish highlands!! I'll definitely have to explore this style some more in the comming months.

Southampton 750 Series - Cuvée des Fleurs

Well the name should give it away. Like the last 2 the Cuvée des Fleurs is another one of Southampton's French farmhouse ales. This is the first beer I've ever had that is an "Ale brewed with Flowers and Rose Water". Fancy eh? Cuvée translates to "wine" in French, and Fleurs translates to "Flower". So I'm guessing the name of the brew would translate to "Wine of Flowers". Reading from the back of the bottle: "Cuvée des Fleurs is a unique brew of our own imagination. We flavor this distinguished ale with a variety of flowers including L. angustifolia, A. nobilis, C. officinalis, and a generous amount of H. lupulus". By the way... H. lupulus is the common name for hops :-)

Appearance

The beer pours a nice golden yellow. The 2 fingers of head very quickly dissipated. The head on this beer was very thin...more like that of a carbonated soda. I almost wonder if that was an effect of the flowers that this brew is produced with. Needless to say...no lacing. Even with the yeasties a bit stirred up from the bottom of the bottle, this was still a fairly clear beer.

Smell

Holy Flower Power! You immediately get a very diverse aroma that smells like a summer garden. The floral aromas are exceptionally strong, however they don't overpower too much. There is a slight yeast scent in there as well.

Taste

Another blast of flowers, this time on the tongue. It's hard to determine how much of the flowers used by the beer contribute to the flavor, or if it's mainly a large dose of floral tasting hops. The flavor is so complex though that I have to think that there has to be some contribution from the flowers. It eventually works its way into a dry well bittered finish, albeit still a strong aftertaste of flowerbox.

Etc...

While this was a good beer to try, I have a feeling I could only enjoy one on very rare occasions. I struggled to finish both glasses, mainly becaue the floral component was so overwhelming, I just couldn't drink anymore. I would recommend for the avid beer drinker to try this very brew at least once though, as this is a very unique style of beer that one will not be able to find in many places.

Southampton 750 Series - Biere De Garde

The second brew to try for the 750 series is Southampton's Biere De Garde. So other then a very fancy way to spell Beer...what makes this beer unique?

The Bier De Garde or "keeping beer" is a farmhouse style beer that was first brewed in France. The farmhouse style was originally brewed by and for farmers and their hands, brewed for taste with readily available ingredients and served as a reward for a hard day's work. Biere De Garde's literal translation is "keeping beer" as in "keep it for awhile as it gets damn good later on!" The Biere De Garde is Category 16D in the BJCP

Appearance

This beer pours a nice light amber to copper color. The cork came out with a nice solid pop, as this beer was quite well carbonated. A bit of a over anxious pour left me initially with about 4 fingers of head! Have to be careful of the pour as it seems all of the 750ml series are carbed in the bottle, and have a good size yeast cake on the bottom.

Smell

A very fruity aroma is present right away on first sniff. There is some nice sweet malt scent as well.

Taste

A medium body gives way to a semi-dry finish. Definite hop spicyness on the tongue. Overall a very clean taste that leaves the mouth with a nice clean malty flavor. Doing a bit of research online shows that SHPH uses the French Strisslespalt Hops for this brew.

Etc...

Very drinkable beer!! I could easily have polished off another 750ml bottle if I had one! This brew looks to hit the style dead on, and does a great job doing it. I'd give it about a 4/4.5 out of 5.

Southampton 750 Series - Saison Deluxe

Well, I'm up in Long Island for the month. While it sucks being away from home, there's always a great oppurtunity to try some new brews. After hiking the Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island, I made my way to the Southampton Publick House. After eating some great dinner, and trying 7 of their on tap brews, I brought home all 4 bottles of their "750 series". These brews were not available on tap, and only available in corked and caged 750ml bottles. Over the rest of my trip I will try all 4 of these brews, and give my thoughts on each one

Saison Deluxe

Mmmmm...the high temp fermented Saison. Full of those nice fruity and spicy esters. Saison is the french word for "season". So when you say "Saison" make sure you say it with an outrageous French accent! Especially when you've had a few...it makes drinking it that much more fun! BJCP 16C is reserved for the Saisons. These brews came before the refrigeration. As these brews sat in the 85 to 90 degree heat, the yeast would produce strong esters and phenols that would drive these beers to be very unique.

Appearance

This beer pours a nice dark golden yellow. The cork forced itself out nice and strong. I had a feeling that this beer would be very carbonated and it was. The large amount of yeast in the bottom of the glass shows the brewer bottle carbed. A careful pour still yielded 3 fingers of long lingering head on the glass. The beer was a medium turbidity

Smell

An immediate yeasty aroma fills the nose. There is a light hint of phenols there as well.

Taste

MMMMMmmmmm... This was a great flavored brew. Yeast dominates a complex flavor that includes a nice sweetness with light phenols. A moderate mouthfeel gives way to a bitter and long lasting finish with spicy pepper powering the taste.

Etc...

This is an extremely flavorful and complex ale. The 7.4% ABV is masked extremely well. The finish makes me find myself wanting more, and I could easily find myself pouring glass after glass of this if it wasn't for the hefty price tag. $14 will yield 2 glasses. While this may be a bit depressing for the wallet, you'll make your mouth very happy!

Strawbery Wine

On top of cider, we made some Strawberry wine before I left for NY. The strawberries at the local grocery store were buy 1 get 2 free....kind of hard to pass up the oppurtunity.

Here's our basic recipe:
30 lbs strawberries
3/4 tsp tannin
5 lb corn sugar
4 lb cane sugar (unfortunately we ran out of corn sugar)
2 gallons of water
1 pkg K1-V1116 Lalvin dry yeast

OG of Total: 1.078

We started off by adding all the ingredients to the 6.5 gallon carboy. In order to make sure your fruit (now must) is sanitized, you need to add sulfur in the form of Campden tablets. The goal is to get 50ppm of sulfur into the must. This will kill any bacteria. Since we were using 6 gallons, I needed to get 300ppm for 1 gallon in order to equal 50ppm for 6 gallons. Since my Campden tablets give 30ppm per gallon, I used tablets...this gave me my 300ppm for 1 gallon or my 50ppm for 6 gallons. After waiting 24 hours for the sulfur to dissipate, we're ready to pitch the yeast.

Using a carboy for an initial fruit wine fermentation was my first mistake. If you're going to make wine, make sure to do it in a bucket, not something with a narrow neck.

Here is why:

The fermentation was "vigorous" to say the least!! Upon filling the carboy up to about 6 gallons, I capped it with an airlock and bung. However, one thing I didn't think about was that the strawberries would float. Once the liquid underneath the strawberries started to produce CO2, the strawberries on top were pushed up the neck of the carboy. The airlock quickly plugged with strawberry gunk, and eventually exploded out of the neck, and into the air!! The carboy then spewed molten strawberry lava for the next few hours!!

However it wasn't all bad. The strawberry lava, actually tasted great! They tasted like strawberries dunked in wine, and covered with pop rocks (the CO2 they released made them fizzy).

Needless to say, we had quite the mess to clean up. However when all was said and done, the wine kept on bubbling away without spewing anymore. It's now aging in the cupboard waiting for its first rackings.