A real flavor update

Man does the ale taste good! Apart from the obvious beautiful color of the beer, the taste is wonderful. Inspired even. I can't believe this is my first beer. The taste has really blossomed since I first sampled the beer last weekend. This weekend really showed some wonderful character to the ESB, which is now proving to have a nice hoppy bitterness, the Kent Goldings giving off an earthy and mildly floral goodness. The malts provide a nice balance and make the brew super drinkable. The mouthfeel is beautiful, medium carbonation and silky light body, with of course the beautiful creamy head that I displayed in the last post. All I can say is, thank you St. Arnold!

I am totally excited about the beer, and everyone else seems to really like it, too. This beer is well-balanced and very drinkable, with tons of interest for the palate. Come by and try it, I guarantee that you've never had anything like it before!


In other news, today I sold out. My family likes light beer and requested that I brew them one, so with the help of some extra-light malt extract and some amylase enzymes, that is going to happen rather soon. I will be cold fermenting in my perpetually 50° garage and lagering, well, somewhere. Don't judge me, we're all whores. Honestly, even just throwing together another brew was really fun for me, and as soon as the Youzaho Light Lager goes into secondary, I'm going to brew my summer witbier. Very exciting. And in case anyone's interested:

2 lbs Munton's light hopped dried malt extract
1 lb Munton's extra light dried malt extract
2 lbs dried rice syrup solids
1/4 oz. Hallertauer hops, flavor, 10 min


Prost,

The Brewmaster

Ain't she pretty?

Cheers :)

Looking ahead...

Even though my most recent brew is a style of beer that is quick to mature, not all beers are like this (obviously). Today, I had a huge surge of inspiration as I look ahead at my brewing prospects. I already know that I really want to have an Oktoberfest/Märzen for this fall (either to bring to school or to have for fall break/Thanksgiving) and a winter warmer stout for winter break. Am I thinking too far ahead? Hell no. These types of beer require a bit more patience, as they tend to mature into godly nectar greatness over the course of a couple of months, so I plan to brew these in the summer months and then literally not touch them until their proper season. I am currently researching prospects for my Oktoberfest, but I have already formulated a recipe for my Christmas stout. This recipe stemmed from an idea I had when I first started reading Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing over a month ago, and I have recently planned out the brewing of said idea. First off, I am a big fan of Chocolate/Double Chocolate stouts, stouts that use bittersweet or bakers chocolate as an ingredient, in addition to chocolate malt, which is just a type of dark malted barley. Additionally, I am quite the fan of chocolate desserts etc that have chili peppers as an ingredient, as the spiciness compliments the chocolate beautifully. FURTHERMORE, Charlie Papazian is a big advocate of using hot peppers in beer, as apparently it can be really effective and delicious. Thus birthed my idea of the "Hot Chocolate" Stout, a winter warmer for the ages brewed with real cocoa and hot chilies. Hot damn, you might say. I am already unbelievably excited about it. Probably will brew it within the next month or two, then open it up after my fall exams are over and I start singing Christmas carols. So awesome.

In other news, I have developed another original recipe that I plan to brew soon (and also drink relatively soon) for a summer Belgian witbier. This one will no doubt be really delicious, and in addition to the traditional ingredients of orange zest and coriander, I plan to throw in some grapefruit zest and top it off with a sparkle of ginger, perhaps a few cloves as well. Look for this one in the summer--should be a real treat.

First Bottle

Oh man. I got to taste my beer for the first time in its carbonated state aaaand...

It's only been in the bottle for about 5 days, but it's already showing some signs of being a wonderful brew. The malts I used in the recipe gave it not only a nice caramelly sweetness, but also a BEAUTIFUL color. This beer is the most beautiful caramelly amber EVER! The Wye Target hops proved excellent for bittering, and the Goldings have the most amazing flavor--so earthy and yet with a residual estery fruitiness with hints of juniper and light citrus (calamansis or tangerines perhaps?). It was just *slightly* hazy with an equally *slight* yeastiness to it. Not necessarily a bad thing, and certainly a characteristic of unfiltered, unpasteurized, bottle-conditioned English Bitter, but it will fade into the wallpaper along with the haze as the bottles sit for another couple of days.

The final prognosis: this beer is already great, and it is going to get even better. My lovely girlfriend, who doesn't even like beer, thought this was delicious :). It's earthy character along with its silky fruitiness will prove to be a treat for any palette as it matures these last couple of days.

Lastly, I have been neglecting the fact that this beer is LIKE NO BEER I HAVE EVER TASTED BEFORE. And why shouldn't it be? I made it here at home. It's fresh, delicious, and made mimicking the water of Burton-on-Trent, England, thus adding extra authenticity and a character that you wouldn't necessarily find in other American ales.

Happiness!

-The Brewmaster

P.S. I was so excited about the beer that I forgot to take a picture of my first pint of the ale. It is so beautiful, I promise to share it with the world soon :)

Definitions, Jargon, etc.

Hey everyone,

On the excellent suggestion of my sister, Bethany, I have now put links to explanations for all of the jargon on this blog so that non-brewers can enjoy it just as much, and maybe even get excited about brewing themselves! Enjoy :)

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

The Brew is Bottled

I read a consistent FG reading today and I was super psyched to see that the beer was indeed done fermenting. This led to bottling today...so exciting! Bottling is, in some ways, more enjoyable (and less messy) than wort boiling. My bottle filler is such a neat gadget, and my capper is so nifty and satisfying to use! Now I have about 2 cases of wonderful English Special Bitter aging and carbonating in a nice, dark closet 'til I open them up for tasting! I have gotten over the nervous hump of waiting for the beer to finish fermenting and now I'm just really excited to taste the brew. I will definitely be trying a bottle in a week, with perhaps a release party the following weekend, so stay tuned :)

Cheers,

The Brewmaster