Autumnal Equinox Beehive (Belgian) Blonde

Well, I have just pitched the yeast for beer number two in Ewing, so I better get to posting about beer number one! My first brew day in the new apartment went great. The stove far exceeded my expectations in functionality (it is electric), and I ended up with a gorgeous, big golden Belgian beer. I brewed the beer on the autumnal equinox, and something about that just felt right. Here is the recipe I used:

9 lbs Belgian Pilsner malt

2 lbs flaked wheat

1 lb Belgian biscuit malt

Mash @152 for 90 min, mashout for 10 min @168

1 oz East Kent Goldings hops @60 min

1 oz EKG @10 min

At the end of the boil add 1 lb clover honey and steep for 15 min

WLP500 Trappist Ale yeast with 1 L starter on stir plate (which took off like a shot!)

Mash temp started a little high, so I added some ice and brought it down to target. My stove heated things up very quickly during mash and sparge, and even brought a full volume of wort to a rolling boil relatively quickly with no signs of scorching, so I'm very pleasantly surprised with my setup in the new apartment. At flameout, I added the pound of honey and let it steep before chilling the golden wort down to 68 degrees and pitching the WLP500 starter. Fermentation has been healthy and vigorous, and has slowed a bit but is still going along steadily. I'm hoping the beer will dry out appropriately with lots of spicy/fruity yeast character, and the honey should help with that while adding a nice floral subtlety to the beer. I also think the EKG character will be beautiful in this big, flavorful blonde ale.

Can't wait to see how it turns out...Prost!

Bo-Thai Ale

I just had my first taste of my Thai-Spiced Honey Coconut Ale, which I have now given the quick and clever moniker, "Bo-Thai Ale." It tastes AWESOME. The coconut is present and delicious. No mistaking the flavor, but the whole thing still tastes like beer, which is thrilling. The Thai spices taste wonderful in the ale, and the delicious, citrusy Cascade hops manifest themselves as part of the whole spice mixture, which is incredibly pleasant. The hot peppers are a perfect and pleasant addition, contributing just the right amount of heat so as not to overwhelm the rest of the flavor in the beer. It is perfectly, subtly detectable. I am super happy about this beer. The honey and coconut compliment each other perfectly and their sweetness totally stands up to the Thai spices. I'm not going to jinx myself with this one, but this has some amazing potential in the Longshot competition, as it is incredibly interesting and different as a specialty beer, but it is still beer, without a doubt (as in, the other flavors don't ruin the integrity of the barley and hops). I am so excited to unleash it on the world! Bottling soon, and then fame and fortune!!!

Basic math:
+ + =...

SO DELICIOUS!!!!

-Bo-Thai wearer and brewer

Been a while...exciting updates!

I will categorize my updates into categories for easy reading :)

Longshot Contest Entry:
My specialty beer, an all-original recipe brewed last night, is fermenting away in the carboy. I am very excited about the recipe, which I will of course not share it its entirety, but which is something along the lines of a Thai-spice coconut honey ale. Awesome, right? Yeah, you know it. I did a partial mash for this brew, which is a stepping stone for all grain brewing (meaning no malt extract, just malt from which one creates one's own extract). So, I used a manageable amount of malted grains and a much smaller amount of malt extract in this brew. This will make the brew even more "homemade" and make it taste even better and more refined. I ended up hitting my Original Gravity (OG) on the nose, so I know that I didn't screw anything up. After mashing in, I started the normal boiling process as usual, enhancing the beer with coconut, honey, and Thai spices including (but not limited to) basil and hot pepper. Mmmm did this stuff smell delicious. I used cascade hops to add a citrusy character akin to the lime accents that one often tastes in Thai food. I used a White Labs California Ale yeast culture for this one, just to pay a little more homage to the Pacific. After smelling this and tasting the unfermented wort, I think (hope) this will really be a winner! My only minor concern is with the temperature here in Andover, which seems to be fluctuating a lot but staying within range. I also took much longer to cool the wort this time because the boil volume was greater, so I definitely need to invest in a chiller. I think all of this will still be fine, as long as fermentation doesn't stop prematurely. The beer seems to be kraeusening just fine. I also NEED A CLEVER NAME FOR THE BREW, so I'm open to ideas.

Pictures from brewing:


Spent grains (left) and boiling wort (right)

Mmmm...Thai...

Hop Growing:
I now have three plants of Kent Goldings Hops and two of Cascade hops in my possession, thanks to a great afternoon with horticulturist and fellow homebrew enthusiast Peter Konjoian. On Saturday, I will prepare the patch of my yard for growing and make a trip to the Home Depot for trellis supplies. I plan on doing a tent-pole trellis, which should be very effective. It will definitely be a great construction project for Saturday. If anyone else wants to help me with edging, tearing up sod, digging holes, burying poles, doing geometry, and tensioning guy lines, you are more than welcome to join me in a fun and rewarding day. Currently, Peter's hops are almost all ready to put in the ground, and mine are still about ten days to two weeks away. His plants look beautiful, and mine are just today showing signs of sprouting. Hopefully some good weather will bring these babies out. Peter's have even grown since I brought them home on Sunday...that bodes well. Here's a photo of my beautiful flora, still in pots:


I promise to post trellis pictures this weekend.

-Your favorite homebrewdude

Rogue Mead?

Hey everyone! Today I became quite sure that I have caught the brew-bug. Upon the receipt of two one-gallon carboys (actually double-size growlers) in the mail, I started to get really excited about experimentation possibilities. Now, I have been rather interested in making mead, but I didn't want to take the huge risk of brewing a big batch of it and having it be terrible. I noticed, though, that on gotmead.com there was a recipe for a one-gallon mead that basically defies all traditional brewing practices and is made with all household ingredients with pretty much no pasteurization. And BREAD YEAST, not ale, lager or champagne yeast. Sure enough, I had all the necessary ingredients in the house already! Hopefully, in about two months I will have a delicious, spiced orange mead made with a crazy, super easy procedure :). If it's good, I'll probably make it again, but I'll also try my hand in some "real" mead. Come find me to try this stuff in early May, hopefully with some great, more refined stuff come July.
















Raise your vessels like in ancient times!

-Your Brewbug-infected Brewmaster