Barley’s Homebrewing Supplies – Our First Ever Video (and it shows)

Recently we got to visit Barley’s Homebrewing Supplies in New Westminster.

They are located at 101-455 East Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC. for all your homebrew needs. Let us now what you think of the video!

2012 Brew Year In Review

By V1rgilmdm

In all, we brewed 14 different beers in 2012—up 4 from the 10 we brewed in 2011. We thought we’d share each brew with you, what we learned, and some other key developments including upgrading to a 50L batch size, and winning a home brew award.

Tartan Eater Strong Scotch Ale (All Grain)

28.7 IBU, 18 SRM, 6.4% ABV Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Carastan, Roasted Barley, Smoked Malt, Belgian Biscuit Malt
Hops: Perle, Fuggles, Willamette
Yeast: WYEAST 1084 Irish Ale

We decided to mirror our first brew of 2011 (which also happened to be our first brew ever) but this time we re-brewed the recipe as an all-grain. We hosted a tasting and compared our scotch ale with other commercial brews (such as Cannery Brewing’s Squire Scotch Ale, Russell Brewing’s A Wee Angry Scotch Ale etc. ). After the praise we received from friends and family, we decided to enter it into the Vanbrewer Competition—where it went on to take first place in it’s category!

Key lesson: We received great feedback from the competition! There isn’t much we would change, except maybe add a bit more peat smoked malt.

Maple Barley Wine (Extract and Grain)

43.3 IBU,18 SRM, ~11% ABV Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale Extract Syrup, Carastan, Chocolate Malt
Hops: Fuggles, Northern Brewer, Goldings
Adjuncts: Maple Syrup
Yeast: WYEAST 1028 London Ale

This brew was our first attempt at a high alcohol beer. We used extract for this recipe because of the size limitations of our mash tun. We added maple syrup for a distinct flavour and to provide some extra sugar to kick up the alcohol content (at least that was our intent). The brew tasted good when it was young (several weeks bottle-aging), but we could tell it was young and lacking carbonation. Unfortunately, as it aged it started to taste more and more like cola syrup and was sickly sweet.

Key lesson: When brewing a monster (brew with high ABV), use as much all grain as possible to lend complexity to the brew, and make sure it carbonates!

Hopful Monk Imperial IPA 3.0 (Extract and Grain)

86.2 IBU, 12 SRM, 7.3% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Pale Extract Syrup, Honey Malt, Carastan
Hops: Simcoe, Chinook
Yeast: WYEAST 1388 Belgian Strong Ale

The third variation of our Imperial IPA (check out the previous attempts)—this time with more hops and Belgian strong yeast. Again we did a half extract, half grain due to size limitations of our mash tun.

Key lesson: Even similar strands of yeast (Belgian Abbey, Belgian Strong) will have a huge impact on flavour.

Dark Star Apprentice Licorice Stout (All Grain)

63.3 IBU, 26 SRM, 8% ABV, Batch Size 19L
Malts: Pale, Black Patent, Roasted Barley
Hops: Fuggles, Willamette
Adjuncts: Molasses, Dark Brown Sugar, licorice root, fennel
Yeast: WYEAST 1084 Irish Ale

This was our first attempt at brewing a licorice stout. We based it on Dark Star licorice stout by DogFishHead (from the book Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione), but converted it into all grain with adjuncts added.

Key lesson: Tea shops carry a plethora of home brewer adjuncts.

Black IPA (All Grain)

78.5 IBU, 34 SRM, 7.6% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Carastan, Roasted Barley, Chocolate, Crystal 60L
Hops: Zeus, Chinook, Citra
Yeast: WYEAST 1084 Irish Ale

Based on our Imperial IPA recipe, we made this one dark and added Citra hops. This brew turned out delicious, with citrus and piney flavours and a dark creaminess.

Key lesson: The dark side has chocolate.

Ginger Ninja Ale (All Grain)

34.5 IBU, 7 SRM, 5.3% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Honey
Hops: Mt. Hood, Goldings
Adjuncts: Nettles, Dried Ginger Root
Yeast: WYEAST 1056 American Ale

Using a Golden ale base, we tried to re-create a golden nettle ale from Saltspring Island Brewing. During the boil, the aroma of the dried ginger root ended up smelling stronger than we anticipated. To balance this, we ended up using more nettle then we thought we would. This ended up softening the ginger in the final brew and created a more ‘herby’ beer—not what we were going for, but a great beer nonetheless. Next time we’re going to try fresh grated ginger root instead for a better balance.

Key lesson: Fresh is best! (Especially with ginger)

Imperial White IPA Witbier (Extract and Grain)

79.2 IBU, 5 SRM, 7.7% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Wheat, Pale, Pale Extract Syrup, Flaked Oats
Hops: Zeus, Saaz, Cascade
Adjuncts: Flour, Orange peel
Yeast: WYEAST 3463 Forbidden Fruit

This was the first of two brews we did on a double brew day. We had a stuck sparge and ended up having to use extract to bring up the gravity. The extract caused the primary to be very muddy. Then we accidentally over-pitched the yeast, giving the brew some very strong clove flavours. This one was bottled too soon, leaving too much yeast in and making it spicier than we had hoped for.

Key lesson: Let the yeast do its thing—and die.

Pineapple Volcano White IPA (All Grain)

74.7 IBU, 8 SRM, 4.5% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Wheat, Honey
Hops: Perle, Citra, Chinook
Adjuncts: Pineapple puree
Yeast: WYEAST 3463 Forbidden Fruit

The second wheat beer on our double brew day. This one turned out rather well, despite some interesting complications—the primary foamed over forcing us to utilize a blow-off bucket.

Key lesson: Fruit sugars ferment rapidly—think volcano!

Grapefruit IPA (All Grain)

78.9 IBU, 7 SRM, 6.0% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Honey, Carastan
Hops: Citra, New Zealand Cascade
Adjuncts: Grapefruit Zest
Yeast: WYEAST 1056 American Ale

This was a brew just for the sake of brewing. A stripped-down version of the Hopful Monk, with some fun New Zealand hops we found at Bosagrape. The grapefruit zest was added to lend a citrus flavour. In hindsight, we should have used pink grapefruits.

Key lesson: Keep better notes. We’re not even sure when we brewed it, let alone the specific gravities.

American Pale Ale (All Grain)

49.7 IBU, 6 SRM, 5.6% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Crystal, Carapils, Carastan
Hops: Cascade, Willamette, Chinook
Yeast: WYEAST 1056 American Ale

This was our first requested brew! The request was for something plain that could be enjoyed by everyone, and it was well received. We made the plainest pale ale we could think of—and then added more hops!

Key lesson: Push comfort levels.

Hopful Monk Imperial IPA (All Grain)

94.6 IBU, 11 SRM, 6.5% ABV, Batch Size: 50L
Malts: Pale, Honey, Carastan
Hops: Zeus, Chinook
Yeast: WYEAST 1388 Belgian Strong Ale

This was our first brew using our new 50 litre equipment. We wanted our first to be a familiar recipe, so we went with the Hopful Monk since we’d done the most variations with that one. This one worked well, we re-used the false bottom from the mash tun, and utilized our 50,000 BTU Blichman burner. Everything turned out very well—best first time ever!

Key lesson: Never get rid of working equipment, you may find a new use.

Ghoulish Ghourd Pumpkin Pie Ale (All Grain)

22.7 IBU, 16 SRM, 5.3% ABV, Batch Size: 50L
Malts: Pale, Biscuit, Carastan, Carapils,
Hops: Fuggles, Goldings, Hallertau
Adjuncts: Brown Sugar, Cooked Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Cloves
Yeast: WYEAST 1056 American Ale

This ended up being one of our best brews ever. It tasted delicious and we served this at a Halloween party from a keg. It was a bit heavy on the specialty malts, and for future batches we may scale that back slightly.

Key lesson: Grinding cinnamon sticks and smashing nutmeg is tiresome. Just buy the spices from the store.

1030 Cranberry Vanilla Russian Imperial Stout (All Grain)

42.4 IBU, 62 SRM, 9.3% ABV, Batch Size: 50L
Malts: Pale, Chocolate, Flaked Oats, Roasted Barley, Crystal
Hops: Magnum, Crystal, Goldings
Adjuncts: Brown Sugar, Molasses, Frozen Cranberries, Vanilla Beans
Yeast: WYEAST 1056 American Ale

This was an ambitious monster brew, with mixed results. The goal was a chocolaty, strong stout with a vanilla flavour profile and a hint of berry bitterness. Initial samples were promising, but the result was more like cold, strong coffee. Also, it did not carbonate well. To save time (we’re lazy), we used wine bottles and added a corker to our repertoire. When we make this again, we will most likely use cranberry juice and a few drops of vanilla extract.

Key lesson: Proper carbonation is important for carrying flavour.

Gingerbread Beer (All Grain)

30 IBU, 20 SRM, 6.7% ABV, Batch Size: 19L
Malts: Pale, Chrystal, Wheat, Special B, Roasted Barley
Hops: Hallertau, Cascade
Adjuncts: Brown Sugar, Molasses
Yeast: WYEAST 1056 American Ale

This was an experimental Christmas beer. I had been told of a beer (Cookie beer) that was filtered through sheets of special Belgian biscuits, and I thought, GINGERBREAD! We thought it would be a fun thing to try. So using a winter ale base, and a great gingerbread recipe, we painstakingly filtered the wort through sheets of gingerbread before putting it in the primary. Results were not as strong in flavour as we would have liked, but it was definitely interesting. Next time, to up the flavor, we think we’ll also add spices to the primary.

Key lesson: Travel to Belgium to see how they do it.

Like every great idea, this one involved Ninjas!

What’s next?
We are on to 50 L batches with a brew group of 5. We want to do more batches, create more styles and definitely enter more competitions. Our first brew of the year, a red lager, is currently sitting in the primary. We chose a lager to take advantage of the cooler weather.

2012 had some great experiments and we will continue to work on those recipes to lock them down.

We’re also tossing about the idea of creating a Youtube channel and filming some video reviews and brewing tutorials—so stay tuned for those.

What would you like to see? Leave your comments below.

FastRack!

Recently we were contacted by makers of the FastRack bottle system, asking if we would help spread the word of their product..

So here we go:

We think this product looks amazing and would be useful for any restaurant or bar owner, home brewer, or avid entertainer. It’s definitely on our Christmas Wishlist! Check out the video below.

A Tale of Two Brews

By V1rgilmdm

A couple months back, we had our most ambitious brewing day ever—two batches in a single day! We started brewing at 6 a.m. on Saturday (OK it was more like 8 a.m.) because we wanted to use the same yeast packet for both wheat ales. Yay efficiency!

Here’s what we used:

WYeast 3463: Forbidden Fruit

A widely used strain in the production of Witbier and Grand Cru. This yeast will produce spicy phenolics which are balanced nicely by a complex ester profile. The subtle fruit character and dry tart finish will complement wheat malt, orange peel and spice additions typical of Wits.

Origin:
Flocculation: Low
Attenuation: 72-76%
Temperature Range: 63-76F, 17-24C
Alcohol Tolerance: 12% ABV

Styles:
   Belgian Specialty Ale
   Witbier

It was our first time using this yeast and because we wanted to use it for two separate brews, we made our largest starter ever, approximately 7 liters. We then split the starter between the two batches—without measuring.

The first recipe was an all-grain, Pineapple Wheat India Pale Ale. We used 48% Pale Malt, 40% Wheat, and 12% Honey Malt. To get the pineapple flavour, we pureed two medium cans of pineapple rings, and added them in the last ten minutes of the boil. We hopped this brew with Perle, Citra, and Chinook which resulted in about 55 International Bitterness Units.

The second recipe was for an Imperial White India Pale Ale, which has been a bit of a fad recently (e.g.. Lighthouse’s Belgian White, Vancouver Island Brewing’s Flying Tanker, etc.). Our original plan was for an all-grain batch, but the sparge got stuck and we had to add a pound of extract to hit our target gravity. We used 59% Wheat, 33% Pale Malt, 7% Pale Malt extract, and 1% Flaked Oats. We started with 1 oz. of Zeus hops in our hour long boil. At the 25 minute mark, we added 1 oz. of Saaz hops. Then at the 40 minute mark, we added 1 oz. of Cascade hops. The result was about 53 International Bitterness Units. In the last 10 minutes of the boil, we added about an ounce of orange peel.

We finished about mid-afternoon and decided that after a hard day spent in the kitchen brewing, we could go out for the evening with a feeling of job well done. Meanwhile at home this was happening:

Thus the nickname ‘Volcano’ was created. This is what happens when your yeast reacts to the readily available fructose sugars in the pineapple, and there’s not enough headspace in the carboy. The beer continued to foam for several hours, and I ended up taking the tubing from my mash tun, and running it into a bucket with water, essentially making a giant airlock (the idea to create this “blow-off bucket” came from this forum posting: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/airlock-bubbling-over-95581/).

While the Imperial White did not have the ‘explosive’ issue, it did stay a muddy brown colour due to the extract we had to add to achieve the gravity we wanted. Both of the brews were fermented for ten days in the primary and then went straight to the bottle.

Fruits of the labour!

We bottle-aged both brews for a week and then rested for another week in the fridge. Then finally, we got to taste the brews!

Volcano, the Half-Wheat Pineapple IPA, turned out great. The pineapple was more in the aroma than the taste, but that complimented the citrusy/pine hop character very well. If we did this recipe again, we would rack to a secondary and add some more pineapple puree to really heighten the taste.

Unfortunately, the Imperial White IPA wasn’t quite as good. The freshest bottles had an almost overpowering clove spice flavour. We think the strong flavour came from the fact that there was too much yeast used for the batch and the fermentation happened at too warm a temperature. Luckily, as the bottles aged, the spiciness of the cloves was suppressed and the bitterness from the hops became the more dominant flavour. The oldest bottles have high amounts of carbonation causing foam-overs in the glass. If we did the Imperial White IPA brew again, we would use less yeast, more orange peel, and add some coriander. We would also rack to a secondary and use a large mash tun to prevent the stuck sparge issue that forced us to resort to the Pale Malt Extract.

In the end, both brews were great for the summer, and neither lasted very long in the fridge—which is always a good sign!

Home Brewed The Series (hopefully)

This is a fun pilot episode set around the comically rich community of home-brewing. I look forward to more in the series, if they can get the funding.

http://www.homebrewedseries.com/

2012 Vanbrewer Awards

Well the 2012 Vanbrewer homebrew awards have come and gone . This was our first year participating in the event and thought it would be interesting to share our experience. We have been home brewing for little over a year now experimenting with only a few different styles. We are limited on what we can brew due to lack of equipment  (mainly a lager cellar). There were a total of 23 BJCP categories to enter in with over 300 different beers entered from all across Canada all we could do was hoped that our beers are good enough to place in at least one category.

Four there were, that went bravely forth.

 We managed to enter 4 beers:

1).  Tartan Eater Scotch Ale – 6.4% – 22 IBU

Malts: Pale malt base with roasted barley, smoked malt, and biscuit malt. Hops Perle, Fuggles, Willamette

                This was our second go at the Tartan Eater, but this was the first time all-grain. The Tartan eater was our very first home brew attempt using extract in January 2011. Our goal was to make a beer as good as our better than the Alexander Keith Tartan ale which came out about that time. We think we succeeded, even though we blotched the sugar priming for bottle conditioning and ended up with super sugar foamers.

2).  Hopfull Monk Belgain Imperial IPA – 7.3% – 67 IBU

Malts: ½ Malt Extract, ½ Pale malt Base, honey malt, and carastan. Hops: Simcoe, and a lot of Chinook (dry hopped with Chinook also)

                The only other recipe we’ve done more than once (5 times to date) and we keep tinkering with it. We’ve tried different yeasts, different hops and different hop schedules. This version as supposed to be the beta version of what we were to ultimately enter. However due to timing we entered this version which was half malt and half extract. We found this was the best way to get the flavour and alcohol content we wanted, with our limited mash tun.                               

 3). Maple Barley Wine -  10.3 % – 32 IBU

 Malts: all extract, carastan, chocolate malt. Hops Fuggles, Norther Brewer, Goldings.  Extras: Maple Syrup

                This was our first attempt at a barley wine and it was still pretty young when we entered it. The best in show winner (and the $3,000 prize) was a barley wine so one might surmise that the other entries in this category were quite good.

4). Dark Star Apprentice Liquorice Stout – 8% – 49 IBU

 Malts: Pale malt base, molasses, brown sugar, black patent, roasted barley.  Hops: Fuggles,  Willamette. Extras: Fennel, Liquorice root

                This was a first attempt at a licorice stout, based on the Dogfish Head Dark Star Licorice stout extract recipe from the Extreme Home brewing book. We converted to all-grain and then ignored the original recipe. It could have used some star anise to compliment the aroma and flavour. It ended up being quite good, if not hit-you-over-the-head black licorice flavoured.

The entry process was simple enough. They hold the contest every year, and for the modest fee of $6 per entry, anyone can enter through their website. The drop off location was at the Parallel 49 brewery, and it was a treat to see the facility, even just briefly. Also we got to meet Parallel 49 brewer and contest organizer Graham With, and that was very cool. A couple of things were learned in that brief conversation: if the contest asks for 2 standard sized bottles, supply two standard sized bottles. Anything bigger is a waste. The second bottle is in case you win that style’s category and move onto best in show selection. Also you need to brew with your eye on the contest and make sure that your brew has aged sufficiently, or is properly fresh at the time of the contest.

                On the Monday after the contest, we attended the Awards night and got to try some very unique and great tasting beers. We won’t give a review of each thing we tried but here’s a quick recap: Parallel 49’s Hoparrzzi India Pale Lager and Seedspitter Watermelon Wit, Yaletown Brewing’s Oud Bruin, Big Ridge Brewing’s ESB, and last year’s winner Rick August, had a cask of the award winning  brew, a Russian Imperial Stout, produced by Russell brewing (the other part to the best in show prize). The Rick August Russian Imperial stout was very good. We made sure to try that first while there was some available. On a side note, now you can try this brew too! Look for it in bottles at Brewery Creek, Firefly and other private liquor stores of discerning quality.

So how did we do? Well… *drum roll please* we took first place in category 9: Scottish and Irish ale! Needless to say we are happy and slightly shocked with the results. We find our brews to be quite tasty but it’s always nice to know we’re not delusional.

In the future we will have to work on entering more contests across Canada and under more styles.

Check This Out! May 20, 2012

Here’s what we thought was cool since the last edition:

Beer:

The Shopping List (aka New Releases):

2012 VCBW Collaboration Ale now available at

Driftwood Brewing Naughty Hildegard

Howe Sound Brewing Fourway Fruit Ale

Vancouver Island Brewing Flying Tanker White IPA

Support This (please)!

Exp Bar is the fusion of gaming culture and drinking (which is kind of what this blog is all about).

They have an Indiegogo campaign here. And on the facebook here.

 

Blogs:

We’d like to welcome Is That Beer Good to the ranks of beer blogging.

There’s a lot of good beer blogs out there and we need to update our links page.

Events:

Vancouver Craft Beer Week: May 18-26, kicks-off tonight (we wish we were there!)

Van Home Brewers Awards Monday May 21^st (we will be there!)

 

 

Games:

Diablo 3 came out this week. See you all in 6 months!

 

 

 

Comics:

 Avengers vs. X-men (again) looks very epic.

 

 

 

Random & Cool:

 B.C. Zombie Preparedness Week: Are you ready?

Game Of Thrones theme song played on floppy drives.

A New Adventure in Home Brew: Scotch Ale Tasting

First Brew of 2012 -Story of a Scotch Ale

We recently had a Scotch Ale tasting in which we sampled several commercial Scotch Ales alongside our own home brew.  This Wee Heavy was our first brew of the year (January).  Our very first home brew last year (and first ever) was an extract Scotch ale with steeped dark grains.  then our goal was to make a beer that was at least as good as or better than the Alexander Keith’s Tartan Ale, which was pretty good for a macro-brew (but that’s like saying it’s the tastiest turd from a pile of turds).    It is interesting to see how we progressed in a year. 

A well stock Beer fridge is key to any beer tasting.

It was fun to compare our own humble brew to a beverage crafted by professional brewers.  Unfortunately Wee Heavy’s tend to be a seasonal release and everyone eneded up bringing either the Cannery Squire Scotch Ale or Russell’s Wee Angry, with one notable exeption of Pike’s Kilt Lifter.  So we rounded out our tasting with Tree’s Black IPA, GIB’s Imperial IPA and Irish  Red ale.

So.  Let’s meet the competition.

Cannery Brewing Squire Scotch Ale

Commercial description: Squire Scotch Ale is rich in both flavour and tradition. This variety of pale ale is defined by malt flavours that are strong and smoky with a touch of sweetness. The deep caramel colour and gentle hop profile round out this classic style ale.  6.5%ABV

Ratebeer rating: 3.05/5 

Tasting notes: ok I didn’t keep notes, but here’s a few things I noticed.  We drank this later, and the difference in taste is remarkable.  This brew is lighter (a pale ale base) and is very smoky.  Most of our guests did not enjoy it.  I found I had to savour it awhile to acclimatize my taste buds.  It’s good, but a little over-powering at the start.    

Russell’s Wee Angry

2010 Silver Medal Winner -Canadian Brewing Awards

Commercial description: Wee Angry scotch ale is part of the Russell Brewmaster Series: a succession of small batch beers that push taste boundaries and explore new styles of beers. This beer has been brewed with a blend of Scottish specialty malts in the style of a 19th century 90 Shilling Scotch Ale – a strong, dark ale with a dominant malt accent that originated in Edinburgh.  6.5%ABV

Ratebeer rating: 3.14/5

Tasting notes: for me this is a great beer and exeplifies Scotch ales.  It’s dark with a thick malty sweetness and a bit of peat smokey goodness.  Basically when we made ours, this was what we were going for.

Pike’s Kilt Lifter

Pike Kilt Lifter

Commercial description: Unlike the lighter “Scottish” ales, this is an authentic heavy Scotch ale. It is lightly hopped with a strong malt character, and a hint of peaty smokiness. Warm fermentation produces fruity esters and balances the sweet malt character.  6.5% ABV

Ratebeer rating: 3.32

Tasting notes: I found the Pike to be a very well balanced beers, but there was nothing about it that stood out for me.  When I try new beers I look for something that stands out.  A flavor that the brewmaster has chosen to highlight, or a combination that is unique; something that makes his brew stand out amongst the hordes of other brews in that style.  The Kilt Lifter has none of that.  And in fact there are over a dozen different beers named “Kilt Lifter” listed on Ratebeer.com.

The Upstart!

Glorious Home brew!

Now it may seem presumptious our even arrogant to think that we could make quality beer in our kitchen, that is comparable to a beverage hand crafted by a master; but this is the goal.  Any serious homebrewer is striving to create a beer that is good as or (in a  lot of cases) better than what is available at the store. 

Brewing notes: this was our inaugral batch using a single step decoction method.  It worked very well and I reccomend it for anyone doing a high gravity beer.  I’m still new to it, and not qualified to give pointers but I will talk about it briefly.  Bascially what we did was once I covered the grains in the mash tun, we took out a third of the grains and put them in a pot.  We then covered the grains in the pot in water and boiled it for about an hour.  then we added it back to the mash tun and let sit.  then sparge as normal.  boiling the third of grains releases more enzymes and then when you add it back to the tun it does a better job of breaking down the grains into sugars.  It was our first time and we could have spent more time with the sparge, but overall we ended up with a 6.4%ABV Scotch ale that tasted delicious.

Here’s what we used:  Malts-Pale, Carastan, (peat) smoked malt and belgian biscuit malt. Hops-Perle, Fuggles, Willamette.  OG: 1.060  FG: 1.012  Mash effeciency: 60%    22.2 IBUS  We were going for a strong dark ale with sweet toffee/caramel notes with a smoky peat malt finish.

We did 7 days in the primarya nd 30 days in the secondary.  We find that a long secondary fermentation really clears up the brew and creates a clean finish in the flavour.

So how did it taste?  Well I think it stood up well to the commercial offerings.  the general consensus of the people at the tasting was that “it’s good”.  Unfortunately there were’nt a lot of beer geeks at the tasting and most of them were family who would have been supportive regardless. But I think the best way to judge the home brew is that there’s none left.  I helf a few bottles back in case we decide to enter it at the VCBW home brew competition.  But most everyone asked for seconds and thirds. 

I offer my own completely biast tasting notes.  Appearance: dark in colour, pours with medium head which dissipates quickly.  Smell: aromas of smokey peat malts and sweet caramel and toffee tones.  First taste: first thing i notice is that it is very smooth.  Nicely carbonated with strong caramel and toffee sweetness.  Finish: smokey finish and lingering sweetness.  Overall a very enjoyable beer.

I won’t be so bold as to claim that the homebrew was the best beer at the tasting.  But it certainly held up.  Next time we will have to get more samples of the same style and harsher critics.  Any volunteers?

Home Brew Year One -2011 in Review

Looking back over the last year, through the tried and true practice of trial and error we have gained some valuable insight and learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do in the brewing process.  We started the year by buying our starter kit and ingredients for an extract/grain Scotch Ale.  Prior we did a lot of reading; especially John Palmer’s How To Brew; a bible for anyone starting to home brew.  We brewed ten beers over the course of last year, to mixed results.  Of the ten, 2 were undrinkable, one was a batch of “foamers” and another ended up being low-alcohol (but tasty).  There is something empowering about being able to brew beer.  It is cheaper than the store and tastes better than macro-brews with even with minimal effort.  Knowing where your beer came from, how it was made and having put the effort in yourself makes the beer taste better.

Below is a recap of what we brewed and what we learned.

Key Learnings:

1.  Patience – It is not a race! Relax and give yourself plenty of time to brew and extra time just in case things do not go as planned.
2. Keep it simple – Don’t over complicate things.  Adding too many ingredients can lead to more complications.
3. Brew to your tastes – If you start brewing what you like, you won’t be disappointed and once you feel comfortable with the process, try expanding into new styles.
4. Save the refreshments till after – It is important that you are focused on what you are working on.  Boil overs can happen every quickly, and you’re going to need your reflexes.
5. Equipment will break – So far the brew gods have claimed: 1 glass thermometer (dropped on cement floor), 1 digital thermometer (dropped in the boil-too many refreshments), a plastic spoon (after 8 brews, the all-grain was too much, we upgraded to metal spoon), and a plastic lid (cracked under pressure).
6. Review and prepare – Know what the process will be and set aside ingredients before you start.  Make sure you have the equipment you need; clean sterilized and ready to go.
7. DON’T PANIC –don’t worry if you think something is going wrong or that you are not doing it right just leave it be. You are more likely to make things worse then better.
8. Just remember to have fun and enjoy the process. There’s nothing better then cracking open a fresh brewed beer, that you have made yourself.

 

 

 

 

The Brews:

1. Tartan Eater (extract and grain) -we used the Storm Highlander Scottish Ale recipe on Dan’s Homebrew website.  It turned out fairly well.  We named is Tartan Eater because Alexander Keith’s Tartan Ale had just come out and we figured that as long as we could brew something that tasted better than a macro-brew, there was hope for our brewing endeavours.  Everything went well but when it came time to bottle we had a collective brain fart and added ALL the priming sugar than came with the starter kit.  The first bottle I opened was a geyser and blew the swing top right off the bottle and into the ceiling.  After letting the contents of each bottle settle after pouring, the result was a very sweet but very delicious Scottish Ale.  So note: if your beer is over-carbonated we recommend pouring it into a pitcher to settle.  Key lesson: read the directions.
2. Summer Run (extract) – a Weizen (wheat ale) with blueberries.  We added 3.5 pounds of frozen blueberries to wheat extract brew in the primary.  It turned our well, though in hindsight that was a lot of blueberries, and we would have done better to defrost it, puree it and add it to the boil.  Key lesson: read Extreme Brewing by Sam Calgione which has a useful table on when best to add fruits and how much and for how long.
3. Sweet Tooth (extract and grain) – a Russian Imperial Stout from extract with grain adjuncts.  This also had an addition of raisins soaked in rum.  The inspiration was to make it taste like Rum Raisin, however there were too much raisins and not enough rum flavoring.   We want to remake this brew but with less raisin fruit and more rum raisin spices.  Key lesson: concentrate your flavor using extracts and spices.
4. Hopful Monk – a strong Belgian Double Imperial Pale Ale (DIPA) made from extract and Belgian strong yeast.  We used Simcoe hops for bittering and Chinook hops for aroma and flavor.  It turned out perfectly.  We have done this recipe with slight variations 4 times.  Key lesson: keep good notes, so that when you are successful you’ll be able to repeat what you did.
5. French Saison (all grain) – our first attempt at all grain and our first time using a mash tun.  We didn’t research the single step infusion process very well and ended up with a very tasty Saison but only 3.7% ABV.  Key lesson: take longer on the infusion.
6. Trapt Monk (all grain)– our homebrew shop was out of belgian yeasts so we took the opportunity to try something different for our second attempt at a Belgian DIPA.  We used a  *Brettanomyces strain, which is aggressive yeast, which can be hard to clean especially if there are any scratches for it to “hide” in.  To circumvent this we used a glass carboy as our primary.  We used an all Chinook hop bill and made our first attempt at dry-hopping. The result was an astringently bitter beer that was big on flavor and aroma.  The Chinook hops are naturally citrusy, and compliment the Belgian strains of yeast very well.  Key lesson: refer to your notes when repeating a style.
7. Highgarden Honey Wheat Ale (a.k.a. Lemon Pops) – for this attempt at an all-grain wheat ale, basic science got away from us.  We thought that if we lowered the pH level of the mash we’d get greater efficiency.  To accomplish this we added powdered citric acid.  We also added 2 pounds of honey to the boil.  The result was a mostly undrinkable lemon soda with 6.4%ABV.  We also added champagne just prior to bottling.  The citric acid worked in lowering the pH and our mash efficiency was excellent.  However the citric acid was made for wine and made the beer very lemony.  The added yeast made each bottle foamy and gave it a drier flavor.  Key lesson: people have been brewing for millennia.  Ask someone before you add adjuncts.
8. Porter I (all grain) (a.k.a. Lemon Pledge) – we brewed this at the same time as the Lemon Pops, so we hadn’t tasted the extend of our mistake yet, though we had an inkling and added less citric acid.  On this one we didn’t even hit our desired original gravity.  We had some oak chips as well so as a test we split the batch into two secondary fermentors and added oak chips to one half, and left the other half as it was.  Again we added champagne yeast when bottling; effectively turning each bottle into a bomb.  The batch had to be dumped but we learned a lot about how oak influences the flavor profile.  Key lesson: don’t be afraid to make mistakes, just make sure to learn from them.
9. No Nut Brown (all grain) – originally supposed to be an all-grain nut brown ale with nut extract and maple syrup, but we left those out.  So instead we got a decent brown ale that was a bit short of the desired original gravity (5.5% BV instead of 6.1% ABV).  Key lesson: if a process isn’t working, find a new way.
10. Hopful Monk v2.0 (all grain) – for our third attempt at the Belgian DIPA, we had to downgrade it to just an IPA because of poor mash efficiency.  The brew itself turned out well.  This time we used Belgian Abbey yeast and we dry hopped for a month!  We used Simcoe hops for the backbone and added Chinook and Cascade hops frequently.  The result was a very aromatic hoppy beer that was a little astringent but full of flavor.  The hops seemed to be slightly at odds with the yeast, which is usually noted for its spiciness; we found undertones of banana.  Key lesson: when doing super hoppy ales, the oils from the hops sit on the top.  Frequent agitations of the fermentor help fold the oils in, giving a more uniform tasting beer.

So what’s next for us?

Well it’s early in 2012 but we already have two brews in fermentors; a barley wine and an all-grain Scottish ale.  Our plan was always to switch to all-grain brewing but we’ve come to realize the value in malt extract.  As well we have incorporated decoction method of brewing into our repertoire, which was very successful.  We also want to start scaling up and start doing bigger batches.

Look for more Adventures in Homebrewing soon.

If you have questions or comments, please contact us.

*Edited for accuracy because I have bad memory.

Bottle The Brown -New Adventure Oct. 2

Bottle of the Brown!

Still no name as yet but for now I’m calling it “no nut brown”.  We bottling the latest brew and it smells (and tastes) promising.

Minimal collateral loss when bottling.  The trub (sediment) was high but we got 12x1l potstoppers and 6x650ml bombers.  Course that’s being split 3 ways so it won’t last long.

We threw out a few bombers due to mold in the bottle.   Its time for a new bottle brush and I took the lazy way out and recyled the bottles rather than try to wash the mold out.

It was a fairly easy bottling session.  We used a full cup of light brown sugar for priming that I think will go well.  Saw activity right away so I know we are going to see nice carbonation.

Og: 1.050
Fg: 1.009
64% efficiency
5.5%abv
This was supposed to have 1lb maple syrup orginally but went basic instead. 

Next?  Belgian pumpkin ale?  We will see….