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August 4, 2009

Lion Stout and Homemade Pizza

Posted by amm002 under Rating: A Minus, Recipes | Tags: |
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Combine one part tomato basil pizza, one part Mediterranean pizza, and one part surprisingly delicious stout from Sri Lanka (yes, I said Sri Lanka), and what do you get? An absolutely fantastic and simple meal, my friends.

I love dishes that require extremely little prep, and come out tasting like you slaved over them for hours. These simple pizza recipes I went with Monday night for dinner fit that bill perfectly. Not that it was complicated to begin with, but I basically just made it up as I went along. OK, fine…if you want to quibble, it wasn’t exactly “homemade,” as I’d originally planned on making my own dough, but to save a bit of time I used the pre-formed pizza crusts from Boboli (thin). They work just fine in a pinch. For both pizzas, I brushed both sides of the crust with a mixture of olive oil and two cloves minced garlic before I added all the toppings, and cooked the pizzas at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes in the oven. Here’s the rest of the ingredients:

Tomato Basil Pizza (like I need to explain it)

  • 1/2 cup tomato sauce
  • 7 oz. diced sun-dried tomato
  • 1 oz. shredded mozzarella
  • 4 tbsp chopped basil (you can add another ounce or two after the pizza is done for a more robust basil aroma)

Mediterranean Pizza

  • 1/3 cup pesto sauce (spread as the base…and don’t use  the crap in the big spaghetti sauce jar, look for the real deal)
  • 7 oz. diced sun-dried tomato
  • 1/4 cup chopped artichoke hearts
  • 1/4 cup kalamata pitted olives
  • 1/4 cup feta
  • 1 oz. shredded mozarella
  • 4 tbsp spinach leaves

Both pizzas came out crisp and delicious, and went very well with Lion Stout (the Mediterranean pizza in particular thanks to the contrast with the feta).

Now what about this Lion Stout? I had heard of this mysterious beer from Sri Lanka recently from a couple friends, and when I stopped in to The Four Firkins the other day to see what was new on the shelves, Alvey offered up a small sample. I was immediately floored. And shocked it came from a part of the world one doesn’t normally associate with beer, let alone a rich, coffee-like stout! Brewed by The Lion Brewery Ceylon, I was surprised to also learn, according to the company’s under construction website, that these guys apparently also brew Carlsberg (I thought Carlsberg brewed Carlsberg, so I’m assuming it’s some kind of contract brewing situation for that region).

Poured from a can (another cool feature) with a big chocolatey head in a hurricane glass. Great dark brown appearance, with a pleasing roasted malt aroma, some molasses and coffee mixed in there. A great light chocolate flavor, with a slight bitterness and perceptible alcohol characteristic in the finish (it’s about 8% ABV).

Really surprised and impressed with this one. Go out and find it, you won’t be disappointed.

Rating: A-

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July 19, 2009

Kolsch Homebrew Day

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: |
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I’ve been in a bit of an appellation mood lately.

I brewed the beginnings of a lambic-style ale recently, using a wild yeast cocktail that’s supposed to mimic the native strain found in the outdoor air of the Pajottenland region of Belgium. This weekend, I finally got a chance to brew a kolsch-style ale, a beer particular to Cologne, Germany. I can’t technically call it a kolsch, of course, since the Kolsch Konvention of 1986 prevents it (similar to the legal protections on other kinds of beer categories, like Trappists, or many wine varietals). To call it a kolsch, it needs to be brewed within the city limits, and currently only about 20 or so breweries make a true interpretation of the style.  

Kolsch is an interesting beer as it is fermented like an ale, but the end product is more akin to a delicate lager…kind of a “hybrid” beer. Some very soft esters, little to no hop aroma, and a crisp, dry finish. It’s one of the only ales that comes out of the German brewing tradition, and for a homebrewer like me without a temperature controller to aid in lagering, it seemed like a fun beer to try. 

While I brewed, I enjoyed a couple nice glasses of Pilsner Urquell and Founders Centennial IPA, both great beers in their own right. I used a pretty straightforward recipe for a 5 gallon batch, based on a bit of research perusing various recipes online:

10 lbs. Pilsner malt
0.5 lbs. Munich malt
2 oz. Spalt hops (in boil at 60 min.)
Wyeast 2565 Kolsch

Single step mash at 152 for 90 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes.
Target OG: 1.050

The brewing itself went very well…hit the mash temp, nailed the target original gravity, and pitched a healthy starter. I’m fermenting at about 68 to 70 degrees, and after it’s done I’ll throw it in the beer fridge at 40 degrees to lager for a few weeks. It should help settle the proteins and clear things up for a cleaner looking beer. 
 

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July 5, 2009

India Brown Ale and Lambic Brew Days

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: , |
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Long holiday weekends call for ambitious brewing plans.

It’s been quite a while since I was out in the garage brewing, so I decided on Saturday to go with an India Brown Ale, which is more or less just a slight grain variation on the last IPA I brewed, adding some chocolate malt, roasted barley and biscuit malt into the mix. I know, I know…I’ve been talking a big game recently about how eager I was to brew up a Victory Wild Devil clone using brett, but I made a game-time decision to go with this one. But don’t worry, you’ll hear more about brett in just a minute…

The color after the boil came out just right, Newcastle-ish. But this had a a hell of alot more hops, as in about 6 ounces worth in the boil (for a 5 gallon batch — take that Miller Lite). I plan to dry hop with a couple more ounces to give it that beautiful IPA aroma, balanced (hopefully) by a nice biscuit and toffee maltiness. Very excited for this one.

After I got done cleaning up after the brew day, I sat down to relax and enjoy a beer, and out of nowhere was hit with the brewing bug again. I thought I’d gotten it out of my system for a while, but I was fortunately mistaken. I figured I’d take advantage of the energy burst, so on the spot I decided I would brew a lambic the following day, which is a style I’ve never done before. I did some research and reading, and formulated what seemed to be a pretty standard all-grain recipe…half malted and flaked wheat with the other half pilsner malt. One ounce of Saaz in the beginning of the boil.

The real trick with lambics, of course, is the fermentation. So in primary I went with a standard Belgian abbey strain from Wyeast, and in secondary I’ll add a big helping of brettanomyces to give it that funky “wild” quality, along with some bacteria including pediococcus and lactobacillus. I may also drop in some oak chips to impart a little barrel-aged characteristic. After 6 months or so, once the brett has had time to do its magic, I’ll add my fruit (haven’t decided what to go with yet, maybe cherry or peach). I was shooting for a target OG of 1.050, but ended up coming in a little short at 1.036. I’m not worried about it, since the fruit will help add quite a bit more sugar in secondary fermentation. I won’t be bottling this for some time to come, and won’t even taste it until about a year from now.     

Recipes below, both for 5 gallon batches. Oh, and a short video update on my mini hop yard at the bottom.

The Captain’s India Brown Ale

Mash at 152 for 60 minutes
Target OG 1.066

8 lb. Golden Promise
1.5 lb. Caramunich I
1 lb. Biscuit malt
10 oz. Crystal 60L
8 oz. Chocolate malt
2 oz. Roasted barley

1 oz. Warrior (in boil at 60 min.)
1 oz. Magnum (in boil at 60 min.)
0.3 oz. Amarillo (in boil at 20 min.)
0.3 oz. Simcoe (in boil at 20 min.)
0.3 oz. Amarillo (in boil at 15 min.)
0.3 oz. Simcoe (in boil at 15 min.)
0.3 oz. Amarillo (in boil at 10 min.)
0.3 oz. Simcoe (in boil at 10 min.)
0.3 oz. Amarillo (in boil at 5 min.)
0.3 oz. Simcoe (in boil at 5 min.)
0.3 oz. Amarillo (in boil at flame out)
0.3 oz. Simcoe (in boil at flame out)
2 oz. Simcoe (dry hop)
1 oz. Amarillo (dry hop)

Wyeast 1335 British Ale II

The Captain’s Lambic (Fruit TBD)

Mash at 152 for 60 minutes
Target OG 1.050

4.5 lb. Pilsner malt
3.5 lb. Malted wheat
1 lb. Flaked wheat

1 oz. aged Saaz* (in boil at 60 min.)

Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II (primary)

After 2-3 weeks, rack to secondary and pitch Wyeast 5526 Brettanomyces Lambicus to introduce souring characteristic
Let age in secondary at least 6 months, then rack beer onto 6-8 lb. of tart fruit (sour cherry, peach, raspberry, etc.)
Let age another 6 months, then bottle

* You can artificially age the hops by throwing them in the oven for a few hours at a low temp, about 200 degrees F, until the pungent aroma is muted. Not as good as using old, cheesy hops, but it works. 

 

March 23, 2009

Max Head Room

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: |
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dsc01738Word to the wise: if you’re fermenting an imperial stout with a 1.150 starting gravity, make sure your primary has enough head space. Otherwise, you’re likely to get the CSI-type murder scene that awaited me when I came home from work today.

It was unbelievable. I brewed this beer on Sunday, and the build-up of CO2 pressure in less than 24 hours of pitching the yeast literally blew the entire top off of the 6.5 gallon plastic bucket I used for primary. Forget about the air lock…I found the actual lid laying six feet away from its original location tightly secured atop the bucket. Massive chunks of dark krausen sprayed over a 15 foot radius of my dining room, with huge arcs of wort splattered all over the walls and nearby closet door. In fact, fresh krausen was still violently spewing over the edges of the bucket rim as the stout underneath happily fermented away. It looked like a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb perched atop the vessel.

Frankly, I was a little pissed about the massive clean-up job that lay ahead. But the experimental homebrewer in me was also very excited at what a great job I’d done getting the gravity up and yeast population so healthy by using a starter. 

dsc017401Instead of freaking out and dumping the stout for fear of bacterial infection, I looked at this homebrew-gone-wrong as a fun little experiment. Breweries like Sierra Nevada, Anchor, and many English and Belgian brewers use open fermentation tanks to make their beer…why couldn’t I? Granted, some of these brewers use special air filtration systems in their fermentation chambers to minimize the bacteria problem. But in many ways open fermentation could be considered a more traditional way of crafting an ale or lager, if you think about the way beer was made over the past several hundred years in monasteries or small breweries in 19th century Bavarian villages. My stout of course isn’t a lambic, and I clearly am not interested in wild yeast spores or other nasty air-borne creatures getting in there. But I thought I’d at least roll the dice, let it ferment out and see where we ended up.    

I dragged the bucket down into a corner of my basement, and put it in a larger plastic container to catch the spill-over. The bucket is still frothing as I write this. I’ll give it the standard two weeks and check the gravity again before I rack to secondary, and probably wait a little longer since it’s such a huge beer. Very interested to see how this one turns out.

For those interested, here’s the recipe I used for the 5 gallon batch. Just be sure to get a blow-off tube or huge fermentor before you brew it:

18 lbs. Maris Otter
2 lbs. Roasted barley
1 lb. chocolate malt
8 oz. flaked barley
8 oz. Crystal 60
8 oz. Crystal 120
8 oz. Black patent
8 oz. flaked oats
3 oz. Chinook (in boil at 60 min.)
1.5 lbs. honey (in boil at 15 min.)
8 oz. molasses (in boil at 10 min.)
Wyeast London Ale III (1000 ml yeast starter)

Mashed at 148 for 90 minutes

 

March 1, 2009

Smoked Porter Brew Day

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: |
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dsc01624Decided to brew up my first beer using smoked malts.

I was inspired by Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter, which is a fantastically well-balanced porter infused with alder-smoked malts. My version uses malt smoked over cherry wood, which compared to the beechwood smoked malt at my homebrew supply shop seemed like a much more robust and complex alternative.

Here’s the recipe I used:

8 lbs. Golden Promise
3 lbs. Cherry wood smoked malt
2 lbs. Munich
.75 lbs. Caramel 40
.75 lbs. Caramel 80
.75 lbs. Chocolate
.5 lbs. Black patent
2 oz. Cascade (60 min)
1 oz. Willamette (20 min)
1 oz Willamette (10 min)
Wyeast 1007 German Ale

I mashed in right at 152 degrees and held it for just about two hours. 30 minutes to sparge, and a full 60 minute boil. Didn’t yield a full 5 gallons, but I decided to just go with what I had versus topping off with tap water. Original gravity reading came in at 1.070, so depending on where this finishes out it will likely be in the 7-8% ABV range.

 I’ll try and take a video of the fermenting porter in the carboy over the next few days.

 

February 7, 2009

Port Barrel-Aged Belgian Brown Ale

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: |
[3] Comments 

dsc01590Another gorgeous winter day in the Twin Cities. Temps in the mid 30′s with not a cloud in the sky. For me, that means brewing in the garage. Gotta take advantage of these kinds of days when I can, as they’re few and far between.

In preparation, I spent a couple hours yesterday pouring over recipe websites, flipping through homebrew books, and generally trying to figure out what in the heck I wanted to brew. I have a pretty decent variety of homebrew in stock at the moment, and wasn’t really feeling like making yet another stout or your run-of-the-mill IPA. I really kind of wanted to do something different, a beer that didn’t necessarily adhere to any particular style. Something that promised to be unique, memorable and of course very tasty.

I called up my buddy Sam Calagione at Dogfish Head, and asked him if he had any ideas for me. Well, actually, when I say I called up Sam, what I mean is that I opened up his book “Extreme Brewing”, flipped to the recipe section, and found a very interesting one for a Port Barrel-Aged Belgian Brown Ale. I’m a sucker for any kind of beer that’s barrel-aged, whether it’s in bourbon, port, or scotch casks (e.g. my J.W. Lees Harvest Ale collection). So this recipe really jumped out at me, offering a unique challenge that hopefully will result in an enjoyable beer. 

Here’s what I’m using for the fermentables and hops: 

1.5 lbs Carapils (steeped)
6.6 lbs LME (boil at 60 min)
1 lb dark Belgian candi sugar (boil at 60 min)
1.5 oz Kent Goldings (boil at 60 min)
0.5 oz Saaz (boil at 20 min)
8 oz molasses (boil at 10 min)

I’ll use Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale yeast strain for the primary fermentation, and after I transfer to secondary will give it a shot of Wyeast 5335 Lactobacillus yeast strain to provide a sour, almost acidic quality common in most lambics and guezes. Kind of a departure from your standard brown ale, but what else would you expect from Sam Calagione?

Now here’s the best part. While primary fermentation takes place, I’ll marinate a quarter pound of medium roast American oak chips in a red tawny port wine, and then pitch them into secondary to give the beer that distinctive barrel-aged characteristic. I can already smell the rich, oaky goodness.

Should be a nice beer. I know at the very least I’ll have fun making it.

 

January 31, 2009

Live Blog: Surly Furious Homebrew Day

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: |
[2] Comments 

You can’t ask for any better weather during January in Minnesota. 45 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. There’s a chance I might actually get to see my driveway after most of the ice and snow melts off.

Today I decided to try and live blog my Furious brew day as best I could, providing video updates each significant step along the way. It gets a little cumbersome trying to video record everything you’re doing, especially when you sometimes need two hands for pulling pots off burners or getting your immersion chiller set up. But I’ll see what I can do to keep everyone apprised of the situation.

1:45 pm CST – Heating the mash water

2:03 pm CST – Mashing in and hop schedule

3:05 pm CST – Beginning the sparge

3:50 pm CST – Beginning the boil, first hop infusion

4:15 pm CST – Sanitizing

5:10 pm CST – Chilling the wort and pitching yeast

 

January 30, 2009

Surly Furious Clone Recipe

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: |
[6] Comments 

I recently stumbled across what appears to be a pretty solid all-grain clone recipe for Surly Furious.

It’s been a little while since I’ve brewed, and I’ve been dying to make a nice IPA to complement my other homebrew creations I recently bottled. So last night I swung over to Midwest Supplies and picked up the ingredients in hopes that I’ll be able to get out into the garage this Saturday and brew it up. Temps are supposed to be in the mid to high 30′s, so I’ll likely be out there in shorts and a T-shirt given the ridiculously arctic weather we’ve had of late. No, seriously…people in Minnesota are weird that way.

Here’s the recipe for a single mash infusion (5 gallons):

9.75 lbs Golden Promise pale malt from Scotland (same used by The Macallan)
1.5 lbs Caramunich I
0.25 lbs Crystal 55
0.5 oz Warrior hops (boil)
0.5 oz Magnum hops (boil)
1.6 oz Amarillo hops (boil)
1.6 oz Simcoe hops (boil)
1 oz Amarillo (dry hop)
2 oz Simcoe (dry hop)
Wyeast 1335 British Ale II

Check out the recipe link above for the specific mash temp and hop schedule, as the Amarillo and Simcoe are metered throughout the boil (a little like DFH 60 Minute). This recipe is supposed to deliver nearly 99 IBUs and an OG of 1.060.

I’ll be getting my yeast starter going tonight so I can be ready to go Saturday afternoon. I’ll try to take some video of the production and post over the weekend.

 

December 30, 2008

Belgian Dubbel Brew Day

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes
[6] Comments 

Considering I was brewing in blizzard conditions, I thought Belgian Dubbel Brew Day went pretty well.

I took some videos throughout the day, embedded below. The original gravity of this one was just shy of 1.070, which will likely equate to somewhere in the 7-8% ABV range. Just about spot on with most traditional commercial examples.

Grain Bill

My Beer Room

Brewing in Minnesota

The Boil

Cooling

 

December 22, 2008

Raspberry Imperial Stout

Posted by amm002 under Home Brewing, Recipes | Tags: , |
1 Comment 

My buddy Chip over at Brewhound Minneapolis recently posted what looks to be a very tasty Raspberry Imperial Stout recipe from Charlie Papazian, godfather of the homebrewing industry.

I think this recipe will work out well, if only for the fact that it uses malt extracts as opposed to all-grain, since it’s been nearly impossible for me to get out in the garage to brew with the bone-chilling temperatures of late (and no sign of letting up). I’ll at least be able to get a brew fermenting from the comfort and warmth of my kitchen so I don’t have to wait until Spring. 

I’m also thinking I’ll use the same base recipe to brew my ExperiMint Imperial Stout I talked about recently. Just substitute the raspberries for fresh mint. Should be interesting to see how the two different ingredients play out in the finished products.

Here’s the list:

6 lbs. plain light dried malt extract
8 lbs. dark malt extract syrup
1 1/4 lbs. crystal/caramel malt
1/2 lb. black roasted malt
3/4 lb. roasted barley
1/2 lb. chocolate roasted malt
2  oz. Chinook or other highly flavored hops (boiling)
2 oz. Cascades hops (aroma)
11 lbs. red raspberries (crushed and placed in the primary fermentor)
Ale yeast

This recipe is supposed to get into the 7% ABV range, a little light for what I’d call an Imperial Stout. But I’m sure very delicious, nonetheless.

 

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