Bi-Annual Update
Well, again, it has been under six months, so I'm a bit early on my update. Nonetheless, I've had a bit of a brewing resurgence, so I thought I'd document some of my planned undertakings:
First, I've three batches yet to bottle: the aforementioned Rauchian Imperial Stout, an espresso stout, and a brown juniper anise gruit ale.
Tonight I am brewing the first new batch in five months or so. First up will be a very simple Best Bitter. 8lbs of British Optic malt sweetened with a half pound of Crystal 60 malt, bittered with an ounce of Willamette at the start of the boil, and a half ounce of East Kent Goldings at the 30 and 10 minute marks, for flavor and aroma. Fermented with S-04, a good British ale yeast. Should make a great session brew.
In a week, I will brew a "tiered" batch, using the yeast cake from the Bitter. This will be a Honey Ginger Ale, using perhaps 6 lbs of malt with 4 lbs of honey, for a style similar to a braggot. It will probably utilise Argentinean Cascade hops for the bittering, and will have close to a pound of fresh ginger, creating a strong, dry, pale golden ginger beer. Perfect for a barbeque on a hot summer evening.
Continuing on the line of summer style beers, I have two wheat beers lined up as well. The first is an exercise in simplicity; 4 lbs of pale malt with 5 lbs of wheat malt. A single bittering hop addition of 1 oz Spalt hops will balance it out, and a new Danstar wheat beer yeast (that came highly recommended to me by Kristen England of Northern Brewer) should be the star of the show, as a traditional Bavarian weizen.
A week after that has brewed, I will essentially duplicate the process using the yeast cake, and brew another weizen with the same ingredients. This time, as the beer is racked to the secondary fermentor, a quart of Montmorency tart cherry juice concentrate will be added, which would reconstitute to 2 gallons of tart cherry juice. This should create a refreshing fruit beer...rather interesting.
After all this, I'll still have a packet of K-97 Alt yeast, and I might try a Roggenbier. But I need to be careful not to fill my fermentors faster than I can bottle.
First, I've three batches yet to bottle: the aforementioned Rauchian Imperial Stout, an espresso stout, and a brown juniper anise gruit ale.
Tonight I am brewing the first new batch in five months or so. First up will be a very simple Best Bitter. 8lbs of British Optic malt sweetened with a half pound of Crystal 60 malt, bittered with an ounce of Willamette at the start of the boil, and a half ounce of East Kent Goldings at the 30 and 10 minute marks, for flavor and aroma. Fermented with S-04, a good British ale yeast. Should make a great session brew.
In a week, I will brew a "tiered" batch, using the yeast cake from the Bitter. This will be a Honey Ginger Ale, using perhaps 6 lbs of malt with 4 lbs of honey, for a style similar to a braggot. It will probably utilise Argentinean Cascade hops for the bittering, and will have close to a pound of fresh ginger, creating a strong, dry, pale golden ginger beer. Perfect for a barbeque on a hot summer evening.
Continuing on the line of summer style beers, I have two wheat beers lined up as well. The first is an exercise in simplicity; 4 lbs of pale malt with 5 lbs of wheat malt. A single bittering hop addition of 1 oz Spalt hops will balance it out, and a new Danstar wheat beer yeast (that came highly recommended to me by Kristen England of Northern Brewer) should be the star of the show, as a traditional Bavarian weizen.
A week after that has brewed, I will essentially duplicate the process using the yeast cake, and brew another weizen with the same ingredients. This time, as the beer is racked to the secondary fermentor, a quart of Montmorency tart cherry juice concentrate will be added, which would reconstitute to 2 gallons of tart cherry juice. This should create a refreshing fruit beer...rather interesting.
After all this, I'll still have a packet of K-97 Alt yeast, and I might try a Roggenbier. But I need to be careful not to fill my fermentors faster than I can bottle.
posted by SQLFunkateer at 9:40 AM
2 Comments:
Montmorency tart cherry juice is a great additive to beer. It adds a great taste to beer. I have tried 2 or 3 different brands of cherry juice for my beer and I found that Fruit Advantage Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate http://www.fruitadvantage.com works the best because it is sediment-free. I don't need to worry about unknown chunks in my final product.
I had my first java stout from Bell's the other day and I really enjoyed it. They're one of my favorite brewers...besides Neufbrews of course!
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