First Bottle of 80 Shilling

I popped open a bottle of the 80 Shilling last night. I admit, I'm jumping the gun (less than 2 weeks in the bottle) and the carbonation was indeed weaker than it should be. It seemed mildly smoky...quite faint, but overall, a sweet, non-bitter ale. It had some funkiness I couldn't quite put my finger on, but I'm hoping it might be something that will age out. I find it in general to be slightly bland, compared to the very flavourful ales done previously (IPA, ESB, Ginger Porter). Unless it shows significant improvement I won't be passing this one out. Still, if I let it age til this winter it might smooth it out and make it quite a pleasant tipple, especially when not overly chilled.

Next projects...bottling the Spiced Cyser this weekend. It has much, much aging to do. I just need to forget about it for a year. I might check the fermentation status of the mead for the melomel, as I'll probably be getting blackcurrants this weekend too. If it has attenuated sufficiently, into secondary that mead will go. Then it's a question of which to bottle first...the barleywine or Wee Heavy. I'm leaning towards the latter.

A New Mead and Some New Plans

Another mead is in the primary; this one of local clover honey is to be the base mead for a blackcurrant melomel. I once again used apple cider, this time only 2 gallons, mainly as a nutrient aid. A good 5-10 lbs of blackcurrants added to the secondary fermentor will no doubt give this mead a rich, dark colour and a delicious blackcurrant flavour. My Spiced Cyser is coming along nicely, and I will be bottling it next weekend, as I don't want the spices to grow too strong. It's going to take some time to tame.

Take heed, hop lovers...the two next beers on the horizon will contain more hops than you can imagine. A standard strength ale with overly heavy hopping will come first, followed by a Double IPA of high strength and even heavier hopping. I'll have to do a Sweet Stout or Mild Ale just to counterbalance those, as these will be some bitter and hoppy beers, to be sure.

New Mead in the Primary

Another mead has been started. This one will end up being St. Crispin's Blackcurrant Mead, batch number 8. I used 2 gallons of water, 2 gallons of apple cider, and 1 gallon (12 lbs) of local clover honey. To add a nice tart acidity I added 1 cup of pure cranberry juice (not the diluted and sweetened cranberry juice cocktail). It is fermenting as we speak with a Côtes-du-Rhône strain of wine yeast, as with the previous mead. Technically this is a cyser right now, but I added the apple juice mainly for nutrients and a boost of gravity. When fermentation slows, this will be racked into secondary upon a bed of blackcurrants, where it will stay for some time, melding the flavours of a crisp honey wine with those of the potent blackcurrant. I saw a recipe for "blackcurrant wine" that was simply blackcurrants and 8-10 pounds of white sugar, but that seemed quite unpleasant to me. I'd rather add natural sugars, like juice, honey, malt, etc. That said, I have used brown sugar in two ales, but thats more for a nice caramel/molasses taste.

The clarifying agents appear to have worked marvelously with the barleywine...a thick yeast sediment, previous absent, now rests at the bottom of the carboy. I'm actually a bit worried the heavy yeast suspension could have thrown off the gravity reading, but I think that might be rather unlikely. It's going to be a sweet, thick, and rather strange barleywine, and I've come to accept it. It's a bit of a roll of the dice as to whether it will be worth the effort, but we'll see.

I've got to clean bottles to make ready for the Wee Heavy, that peat-smoked monster of an ale, as I don't know if I've got a lot of money for new bottles. That said, to the two guys who have been sampling St. Crispin's, if you've got empty 22oz bottles still, hang onto them as I can use them.

Spicing a Cyser

Tonight I spiced my cyser. I had used an additive to clear it to crystal clear perfection last week, and so the remaining step before bottling, other than bulk aging, was adding the spices.

I crushed around 2/3 oz of allspice berries, which released an enormously pleasing and fresh aroma. I cracked them coarsely with a newly acquired mortar and pestle. Then another 1/2 oz of cinnamon quills, again, quite coarsely cracked. I didn't want to grind these into powder. Finally, 5 nutmegs (around 3/4 oz) were cracked and broken up. I put all these in a small mesh bag and added it to the carboy. Hopefully this will add a nice spiciness to the cyser.

The specific gravity of this cyser is at a rather impressive 1.003, down from an OG of 1.120. This means approximately 16% by volume. Still, the hydrometer sample was remarkably light. It had a floral, mild honey note with a faint appley note...an excellent backdrop for the spices. It still has a good deal of aging to do to reduce the "hotness". I don't think I'll give any bottles of this out til next Christmas; I'm fairly certain it won't have reached its potential by this December. Which isn't to say that I personally won't have a glass of this on Christmas Eve.

By the way, I tried another bottle of the Ginger Porter earlier this week. This time some of the initial awkwardness of the ale (can't find a better way to describe it) was gone, and the hops were more recognizable...a citrusy, almost sweet hoppiness that is definately mild but recognizable. In case you're wondering, I used two ounces of Cascade for bittering/boiling hops and one ounce of Willamette for aroma/flameout hops. The ginger is there still in full force but it cooperates a little better with the other elements.

New projects...looking forward to finding a source of freshly pressed, preservative-free apple cider, with which to make a nice English style cider to age for a year. Any of you few guys reading this know of a good cider mill that might do this? I need to call up Stephenson's and Louisberg and ask them. Also, I might get going on the blackcurrant melomel anyday now. I actually could start the mead, and I probably should. The blackcurrants are only needed for secondary fermentation.

Bottling Mishap #1

It was bound to happen. As my confidence grows and I take an increasingly relaxed approach to brewing, I should have expected this. I bottled the 80 Shilling last Friday. The peated malt was nice, and more noticeable than I had thought it would be. A nice smokey sweet ale with a beautiful auburn colour. So I transferred it to the bottling bucket after having sanitized all equipment and bottles, and proceeded to fill the bottles. After 4-5, my wife (always the pleasant and helpful bottling companion) asked about carbonation and how it works, and I, being a know-it-all, started explaining the intricacies of bottle conditioning. A few sentences into it, it hit me. I had omitted the priming solution, and was bottling what would be flat beer.

Nonetheless, I made up a quick mix of corn sugar and boiled water and added it to the bucket, so the remaining bottles (about 16) should carbonate nicely.

After that I began a rather involved process of "musical carboys". First I cleaned the 5 gallon carboy that housed the 80 Shilling, then I racked the barleywine into it (a tertiary racking). Then I cleaned the barleywine's old 5 gallon carboy, and used it as secondary for the Wee Heavy, which is coming along...a bit underattenuated, but that's not necessarily bad for the style. Quite smokey! I then added Super Kleer finings to the barleywine, and added 1 oz of whole Cascade hops for dry hopping. I then tossed in some oak chips (probably about 3 oz) as well as the few hundred milliliters of single barrel bourbon the oak chips had been soaking in. I'll give it a few weeks to soak flavours out of the dry hops and oak, and I'll go ahead and bottle it.

Also, I added the finings to the cyser, and within a day or two it is crystal clear. A beautiful amber gold...it really ought to be bottled in clear glass. I have yet to add the necessary spices.

I'm still unsure of what to do next. It's likely that my next one will be a modified cyser...in fact, a blackcurrant melomel that uses apple juice (a cheaper store-bought variety) as more of a source of nutrients and fermentables than flavour, and then it will sit on some blackcurrants in secondary and hopefully develop a frightfully fruity potency. After that, I have a number of options...traditional cider, highly hopped IPA, English Mild, some sort of "Tanenbaum" juniper ale for the holidays, whatever strikes me.

First Impressions of the Ginger Porter

Cracked one open last night after chilling it for a few hours. It had spent 12-13 days in the bottle, and it was quite evidently carbonated. The colour was a transparent blackish brown, with a foamy, surprisingly vigorous head. The flavour profile hadn't changed considerably since bottling (further aging might cause that, though), although it did seem a bit more "melded". The brown sugar added to the boil no doubt both lightened the mouthfeel and upped the potency, as this was a crisp and light-bodied porter with a deceptive kick. However, the flavour was the main event, here: zesty, potent, spicy ginger abounds, going up against a semi-dry, roasty chocolate malt backbone. A true "ginger ale". Not terribly sweet, but that works in its favour, as the slight dryness and clean finish highlight and amplify the ginger. Hops definately take a backseat, but I know they would be missed if they weren't there.

This is completely in a different vein from prior batches (mostly English style, malty, sweet, and hoppy with full bodies) and so its a bit strange to me, but I think I like it. Show me a store in Kansas City where you can buy true gingered ale!

A Review

Let's get caught up on what's brewing...

Batch 1
St. Crispin's Extra Special Bitter
OG: 1.049
A flavourful first brew with a large dosage of English hops. As of this posting I've got only three bottles left due to premature consumption after an infection scare.

Batch 2
St. Crispin's Scotch Barrel IPA
OG: 1.074
A bigger IPA pitched onto the ESB yeast cake. Around 7% ABV and also utilizing English hops and yeast. I added some oak chips marinated in Dewar's 12 Year Scotch for a nice addition of complexity, simulating a beer aged in barrels previously used for Scotch whisky. I've got a little over half the batch left in bottles.

Batch 3
St. Crispin's Bourbon Barrel Barleywine
OG: 1.122
A massively huge barleywine pitched onto the IPA yeast cake. I'm still trying to finish out the fermentation with enzymes and champagne yeast. I used brown sugar and molasses, and plan to add a large amount of oak chips, bourbon, and dry hops. This will require a lot of aging...don't expect it any time soon.

Batch 4
St. Crispin's Spiced Cyser
OG: 1.120
A strong mead with apple juice and spices. 12 pounds of orange blossom honey mixed with 3 gallons of apple cider from a local cider mill and a gallon of spiced "tea" (water boiled with spices). This is in secondary, bulk aging and slowly clarifying. Another one to wait a while on! It is around 14-15% ABV, so it is quite strong.

Batch 5
St. Crispin's Ginger Porter
OG: 1.056
A chocolatey porter using a quarter pound of fresh grated ginger and a pound of brown sugar (for a lighter body). Should be a thirst quenching brew with a lot of spiciness. This should be ready in another week or two, I'm eager to try it.

Batch 5
St. Crispin's 80 Shilling Ale
OG: 1.052
A malty Scottish ale of average strength with a small addition of peated malt. Kind of plain, but it should be excellent in its subtlety. I should be bottling this this weekend.

Batch 6
St. Crispin's Islay Wee Heavy Ale
OG: 1.100
A full 0.75 lbs of peated malt gave this brew a strong, smokey smell as I brewed it. A strong ale with minor hop presence. A malt monster. It is still sitting in primary and I am a bit anxious to see how it has attenuated. Once I transfer the 80 Shilling into bottles I can rack this into secondary...presumably this weekend.

An Introduction

St. Crispin's is not a commercial brewery persay (as yet) but is somewhat of a project in its infancy with a vision for future possibilities. I won't go into great detail, but the concept of a brewpub in Kansas City with an authentic English pub atmosphere is essentially what has been in development. And I don't mean authentic as in, kitschy pop Brit culture ala Austin Powers with a few Union Jacks thrown about, but a genuine English feel, with authentic British "real ale" and genuine English food using the highest quality ingredients. A small, cozy, relaxed atmosphere...a place that would feel like a taste of home to a UK expatriate. Much more detail has been planned out and a lot has been considered, but such a venture is a long way off, if in the future at all.

So this blog is about the core offering of a future St. Crispin's Alehouse...namely, fine ale. As I experiment and develop brewing skills as well as unique recipes, I'll be posting my thoughts on it here, as well as tips and ideas I get along the way. This blog isn't limited to brewing, though. As passionate as I am about the sweet nectar of malt and hops, I'm also keenly interested in traditional English cooking, which we all know has been much maligned (unjustly, methinks), and you can expect postings regarding certain dishes I experiment with.

And yes, I don't expect readership really at all, but this gives me a convenient way of logging my thoughts.