It's Been Awhile

We have not been idle, contrary to what the ol' blog would seem to indicate.

We've made (and consumed) a batch of Winky Dink Marzen, with another fermenting at present. Those were both at Marco's, as was a batch of Goat Scrotum Ale. That one was a bit disappointing, because we didn't bother re-racking to secondary, so the final result had a lot of sediment. It wasn't quite chewy, but you get the idea.

My keg currently has Whitey's Gone Fishin' Pale Ale (p.171), which spent two weeks in primary and two weeks in secondary. The result was a smooth, strong, extremely clear brew that's very easy to drink. It was also the first at my house to use an Ale Pail for the primary, rather than a glass carboy. Before that was our third stab at Snapping Ginger Ale. For my money, it was the best batch yet, but most of it was lost in what I refer to as the Super-massive Beer Foul, not to be confused with the merely Massive Beer Foul. That will need its own post, however.

APIS Updated

Since updated articles don't generate new RSS entries, I thought I'd point out that Apple Pie Imperial Stout has been updated with more recent tastings.

Leap Beer

(Marco Cavagna and Mike Marsh, based on "Sparrow Hawk Porter")

My niece's birthday is February 29, so we had a big party for her yesterday evening. In honor of the occasion, we made a special batch of homebrew to keep the adults relaxed while a score of little kids ran around having fun. What I wanted, beer-wise, was a good February seasonal with a bit of a kick. It being Winter, we started with a nice dark porter. The "leap" part would come from the addition of dried chiles.

Unlike our previous recipes, this one is based on modifications to an existing recipe, "Sparrow Hawk Porter" (p.201). Consequently, we'll only list the modifications we made.

Beginning with the malt, we opted for amber (out of the choice between amber and light). For both types of extract, we used equivalent measures of DME, rather than syrup.

The aroma hops were as listed, though for the boil we substituted 2oz. of whole-leaf Golding. The higher quantity more-or-less compensates for the lower alpha acidity compared with the called-for Northern Brewer hops.

We used an Edinburgh ale yeast, since my brother-in-law's ancestry traces back to Scotland (and he's a fan of Scotch Ales).

The final modification was the dried chile peppers. Surprisingly, these were difficult to find. We ended up using dried California chiles, with which I'd never worked before. We added two of them (whole) at the start of the boil. During the course of the boil they split open, and some of the skin peeled off and rolled up into little tubes. There was also a distinct red tint to the blow-off.

The final result went over well at the party, though I still have a bit under half a keg left. The chiles had a much milder effect than I'd expected — future brewings will need a hotter chile, or just more pepper. While the keg was sufficiently pressurized, the beer wasn't as carbonated as it should have been. It's back under pressure now, and it should be interesting to compare the flavors of the relatively flat and fully carbonated versions.

Massive Beer Foul

Marco and I kegged our latest creation — Leap Beer (recipe to follow) — today, and let it pressurize while we went to a movie. When we got back to my place, we decided it was time to taste-test it. I attached my brand-new picnic tap to the keg, which the person at the store assured me wouldn't need any kind of clamp to keep attached, and we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a storm of dark beer. There was enough pressure in the keg that the tube was forced off the ball-lock connector, and we had to remove the connector from the lock on the keg. What followed was a lengthy clean up of my laundry room. (If you brew, you need a Swiffer.) The beer was pretty good.

Ginger Revisited

Marco and I made a second batch of Snapping Ginger Ale. We tweaked the recipe slightly, always in search of perfection. The ginger was upped to about 1.5 pounds to give a bit more bite. We also added half an ounce of Saaz hops to both the boil and the finish.

We brewed on January 20, and kegged on the 26th (this past Saturday). We're happy with this batch — there's a much more distinct hop bitterness in addition to the extra ginger. It's about as strong as the previous one, which is to say "deceptively." More hops in the finish also give it some head retention, which was lacking in the first batch.

A Quick Update

The "Phat Fired Weizenbock" is long-since kegged. It's not bad, but not as tasty as we'd hoped. Still, a solid, drinkable beer.

We also made another batch of "Danger Knows No Favorites Dunkel" (p.204), almost completely by the book, which was kegged about two weeks ago. It's delicious. I shared some with my neighbors this evening after work, since the weather was so nice everyone wanted to hang around outside.

One of my neighbors shared some homemade limoncello, which was also delicious. It was starting to rain, so we had to swig down the last of what we had in our glasses. For the record: swigging limoncello should only be attempted by trained professionals.

Apple Pie Imperial Stout

(Marco Cavagna, Christine Garnett, and Mike Marsh)

This beer is a sort of "work in progress." The idea was to have a strong, dark, malty beer with notes of apples and cinnamon, as a Winter seasonal. It hasn't worked out quite as we'd hoped, as of the pre-Thanksgiving tasting, but we'll be reporting on the progress as the batch ages. Note that this, as well as the Snapping Ginger Ale, are experiments. Some work better than others, but all are learning experiences.

9 lbs. amber DME
0.5 lbs. chocolate malt
0.5 lbs. roasted barley
1 lb. tart apples (cored, peeled, and chopped) — we used 6 Fujis
2 cinnamon sticks (boil)
5 cinnamon sticks (priming)
English ale yeast

Do the usual 30 minute steep of the grain between 150 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Strain and fill the pot to 2 gallons or more. Add the malt extract and 2 sticks of cinnamon, bring to a boil, and boil for an hour. Turn off the heat and let the wort cool to 180 degrees. Steep the apples between 150 and 180 degrees for 20 minutes. Strain out the apples and cinnamon, sparge and cool, and pitch when the wort is cool enough.

When fermentation is complete, boil 5 cinnamon sticks with the priming sugar for 10 minutes. Add the solution (with cinnamon) to the young beer (the alcohol will pull out a few more flavors). Bottle condition for at least two months.

There was a little (well under a pint) left after filling 17 1-liter bottles, so we tasted the primed young beer. Obviously, the priming sugar made it a little sweet, and it was room-temperature and flat. That being said, we could feel the cinnamon more than taste it, as a bit of tingling on the tongue and a bit of warmth. Because we used tart apples and no hops, rather than the bitterness to which we're accustomed, the beer was a bit sour. Based on this initial impression, we'd go with a less-tart apple next time.

The first tasting, at about 50 days in bottle, was better than the primed beer, but still disappointing. Without hops there's no head retention. The tartness is still present, and tends to overwhelm the other flavors (the cinnamon is basically undetectable). I'd describe the flavor as hard cider and weak coffee. Marco and I split a 1-liter bottle, but we ended up pouring out about half of it. We'll try it again in another month or two, but we don't expect it to ever taste the way we wanted. Cider takes awhile to develop its flavor, and this (inadvertently) is closer to cider than beer in character. The next time we'd use at least a little hops, and go with fewer of a sweeter variety of apple.

The second tasting, at 195 days in bottle, was considerably different. The sour flavors are essentially gone, leaving the cider and coffee flavors to dominate. While it would never be my regular beer, I found it quite drinkable, and consumed nearly the full 1-liter bottle myself. Marco still doesn't like it, but he seems not to like hard cider. The beer was at cellar temperature; another tasting with the beer chilled will be necessary.

Less than a week later (4/18), I chilled a couple of bottles and brought one out with me for my standard nice-weather sitting-on-porch-drinking-homebrew. The malt flavors were pretty thoroughly muted, leaving just the apple tartness. As the beer warmed, the coffee notes returned. I shared a bit with an intrepid neighbor, after warning him that it wasn't what we'd hoped for in terms of flavor, and he at least said he liked it. Apparently I'm not alone in considering this beer drinkable.

Brewed: 9/8/07
Racked: 9/22/07
Bottled: 9/30/07
First Tasting: 11/19/07
Second Tasting: 4/12/08