Category: Homebrew

Last minute updates

stoutmakerLeave a comment

I thought I posted a few things here since November.. Guess not. Lets do a quick catch up.

I got the Blackfeather stout kegged up already. Remember this was my revised American stout. And it came out fabulous. The changes I made were minimal, but came out rather drastic. I moved the mash temp down 6 degrees and mistakenly didnt add the chocolate malt. (only a 1/4 lb)

What came out of this was a beer so different from the original, I think a name change may be in order. So different, but so good. And did everything I wanted it to do. It dried it out quite a bit, and why it bittered up like it did I dont know, but it fits the category more I think. Am going to keep this version as is for a while.

To my horror one night, I discovered that I was out of beer. And Christmas and New Years is a coming. I needed something quick. I chose a recipe that I wrote out a while ago. A Southern Brown. Having never had one, and not knowing anyone else who had one either, I guessed, and used American style ingredients.
  • 7lbs 2 row
  • 1/2 80L
  • 1/2 lb 120
  • 1/4 roast barley
  • 1 oz fuggles @ 60
  • 05 yeast
I wanted a sweeter raisiny kind of beer. And I couldnt have been further off. I was sooo expecting to have one kind of beer, that when I got another,, I hated it. But after I relaxed and drank 4 or 5 of them I came to realise that this may be the best damn beer I drank in a long time! I’m not sure what it is yet. (will need to drink,, I mean research more). A mild brown? A mild stout? Not sure yet, but after all of the beers I’ve considered,, this may be the closest to becoming the “house” beer.
 
And finally a cider update. I have not bottled yet, but have had a few Hydrometer samples. And this cider is damn good. The 04 left it sweet and appley, but it with all of the sugar and molasses its coming in at a 8%.
This was only a half batch, so it will bottle quickly. Which is good, because the next batch of it will go in almost immediately.
 
Got the ingrediants for a Schwartz and could be brewing tomorrow, definatly within the next few days. Gotta dry hop the 20Plato brown for the TTO. And start bottling up the rest of the entries. I got a busy week coming up.
 
 

Vanhelsing

stoutmakerLeave a comment

It’s time to brew the beer I will be drinking during my infamous Halloween garage concert this year. 

Normally it’s been just what ever I had in stock at the time, but this year I decided to come up with a beer that hopefully will become my “traditional” Halloween brew. 
In order to come up with a beer, I first needed to define what it is I’m doing, or trying to do.
I need a beer that not only fits the holiday, but can stand up to a heavy dose of heavy metal played at extreme decibels. Nothing fruity or nothing heavy like a stout. Something with backbone and character.  I think a hoppy American Brown will fit right in here.  
Something not overly sweet, but enough to handle some decent hopping. Some thing darker but not heavily roasted. 
Here is what I came up with … 
Vanhelsing- American Brown
10 lbs 2 row
1 lb 80L
.5 lb 10L

.5 lb chocolate malt
.75 oz magnum @60
1 oz cascade @15
1 oz cascade @ flame out
1 oz cascade dry hopped after activity slows
05 yeast. 
I wanted something with a medium body, so to match with the 1 1/2 lbs of crystal I went with a mash if 152. 

I still underestimate the color a little chocolate malts gives. I wouldn’t say it’s black. But damn close. As it sits in the fermenter I’m guessing in the 20’s SRM.
It was a good brew day. The humidity dropped, 73 degrees. But the wind seemed to keep the boil to a slight roll instead of a hard boil. But it did look like there was a good break.