Tag: Homebrew

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.

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

Keg Filler

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I have some brewing to do this weekend. I am quickly running out of all beer. All my kegs are down to probably a gallon or less. I decided by the wheel of fate, which beer I’m gonna brew.
Keg Filler Blonde.

A new brew. Just one that I made up in order to get something in the keg and up and running very quickly. But at the same time.. Be somewhat to style.

There are a lot of different opinions of what a Blonde ale is supposed to be. I for one don’t look at one as the lightest beer out there.
When I think of a Blonde ale I think of a lighter colored beer that’s average alcohol, but has a definite malt, hop and yeast profile. Somewhere between a light lager and a pale ale.

So to get there. I went with

Keg Filler
-8 lbs 2row for the base grain
-1 lbs Munich to get a little malt backbone
-½ oz citra @ 60- this should give it enough bittering but stay short of bitter
-½ oz Citra @10- for hop taste, yet be enough in the nose to be noticed
-Nottingham Yeast- extremely light esters and keeps it from being dry.

I’m gonna mash this at 154 because there is nothing but base malts and want to keep some of that body.
There should be nothing fancy or standoutish for this beer. And that is the point of this one. Just a quick solid Keg Filler beer.

Next up…
Something for these red currants I have.