Tag: beer

An Irish Extra Stout

stoutmaker

It has been a hectic couple of months, but I finally can get down there and brew a beer.

Typically last month is when I usually brew the stouts, but March will do. But probably won’t make St. Patrick’s day.

Thought I would go the Extra Stout route this time.Basically it’s just a slightly ramped up version of an Irish Stout or “dry” stout as they used to be called. So what I’m doing today is using my 5 gallon stout recipe and making a 3 gallon batch.

A bit bigger beer that’s a bit more roasty. I never worried about adjusting the hops doing this. The Extra Stout does have a slightly higher bitterness, and the hop utilization in this smaller boil seems to scale back as well.What we have then is..

Foggier Fog- 3 gallon extra stout
5lbs Maris Otter
12oz roasted barley
4oz black patent
1 lb flaked barley
1 1/2 oz EKG at 60
Mashed at 156  and US04 yeast.

Will be looking to be at 1.052 OG and finish up around 1.014.
The FG seems a bit high, but the roast,, especially the Black Patent, keeps it from feeling too sweet.

This has always been one of my favorite brews. So I can’t wait.

The Dirty Yeast

stoutmaker

Took advantage of the weird winter warm up here in Green Bay. This time of year my basement is usually around 45F. Which is a bit too cold for a good lager ferment. But this winter it’s been sitting at 52. Perfect.

So, from a followers suggestion I brewed up a Kolsch. It was a good choice for a couple reasons. First was the temps. I could still brew while my heat box was full. Second because I am currently on a SmasH beer kick and third because I can use this beer for the Germanfest contest in Milwaukee.

Very simple recipe here.

  • 8lbs pilsner
  • 1oz Mt Hood
  • S-33 yeast

I have used the S-33 yeast before, but do not remember it being as “dirty” as this.

This is over week later after pitch. But I’m not worried about it at all. I’ve seen much much dirtier looking yeast. (Like the Kveik. That looked like I fermented a mud wrestling pit)

It will clear. You can tell from the second pic that it already is. Look at the bottom half compared to the top half. I will give it a 2 more weeks to drop and then get it moved to keg. Once in keg it’s easier to move to warm and back to the fridge to condition.

Next week I will be doing a some work on the wine side of things. And maybe another Mead?? I dunno.

Stay tuned.

Idaho 7 and it’s Aroma

stoutmaker

Was able to get a couple brews in this past week. Which was some good timing because we are getting low on beer around here, and we have a few events coming up.

The first brew was the first of a series of beers I have planned for the club. There are so many new hops coming out, I want to get some profiles for them. So a simple smash beer is perfect for this.

Idaho 7 was the first hop I chose. As you can see by the description it a fairly bitter hop, with piney, fruity, citrusy, floral aromas.

Went with 8lb of 2 row for the malt and Muntons premium Gold yeast with a standard 152F mash.

I don’t know who wrote the description with the citrusy floral fruity aromas.. because I got nothing like that in the boil. They reminded me of Saaz or Goldings. The inhabitants up stairs described the smell as carrots and feet.

But we will see what fermentation does to them. They could still very well be what is described. At least I hope so!

Either way it shouldn’t be over powering, as because of the high alpha I went with only a 1/2oz for bittering and the other 1/2oz at the last 5 minutes

The wort going into the fermenter was 1.040 and did not taste like feet.

This will be kegged next week, and be tasted the first week of February. So expect some feed back around then

Idaho 7 hop test