Homebrewin' thread

Oh man, my coffee porter has really come into its own. I've found that a fresh bottle just has too much carbonation, so if I pop and pour (and drink) a little, then return to it the next day after it's had some flattening time: magic! A pronounced coffee flavor all the way through, slightly sweet, slightly bitter. We started with 14 liters on October 5 and are down to six (with a couple gifted out). I can't stop drinking it!

Finally bottling my Autumn Cherry-Apple Cider this weekend. It's hard to find the time with baby and schedules and what not, because in addition to bottling, I have to be available to do the pasteurization 4-5 days later or else .... BOOM!

I halfway through my fall brewing schedule and trying to decide where to go next. I'd originally planned to attempt a pumpkin ale this year, but I've since decided that I hate pumpkin beers and want them to die. I could skip to #4 and lay down a sour, but that won't be drinkable for a LONG time so I kinda want to do something else first. The cider will need a friend, and I'm not thinking the coffee porter will last much longer.

Your next beer sounds lovely. I tend to find saisons a bit tame, but I think with a little snap from the ginger and warmth from the cinnamon, that could be a very festive libation indeed.

Because I am an oafish male who thinks not of the future, I hadn't even considered holidays. But it would be cool to have a couple things to bring. I need to make sure my next beer is something populist and not, like, a double-IPA which I was genuinely considering. Hmmmmm.

It is decided. This year's holiday beer will be an Apricot-Ginger Strong Ale. Brewing tomorrow.

In other news, I don't think my cider is carbing up like I want it to. Not the end of the world, but it does mean moving everything from bottle back to bucket, re-pitching yeast, adding a little more priming, and then (ugh) re-sanitizing and re-bottling everything. Cider's a long game anyway, so this can come after my next brew.

You've been doing this wrong, but the beers came out okay, so like you said it's probably not a huge difference.

I think the main reason LME (liquid malt extract) is not added during the mash is because there is simply no reason to do it. LME has already been broken down. There's nothing left to extract, so you don't GAIN anything adding it that early. Below the boil, it's kinda just gonna sit there floating in your mash. It's probably not hurting anything, either, but here are a couple reasons why it may:

1. Mashing is an extraction process, right? And nothing is better at extracting sugar, body and flavor from grain than good clean water. Pre-saturating your solvent with sugar (LME) may make it less efficient at extraction. You may not be getting your ALL out of the grain. The difference would be less flavor, body and sugar (gravity). Your beers have been good, but they could have been subtly better in every way. Again, maybe. I doubt you've been adding enough LME to the mash tun to truly impact the mash dramatically.

2. Some brewers recommend waiting for late boil to add the majority of the LME and DME, because those are just fancy names for sugar, and sugar caramelizes. Boiling LME for 60 full minutes will inevitably result in at least some of it taking on some caramel. The result? Darker beer and a very slight caramel flavor. If you're brewing a porter, then no one will notice. If you're brewing an IPA or a pale? Well, the point is that every little thing matters. It does need to be sterile, though, so a rule of thumb I've read is to add 20% of your LME at 10 minutes in to the boil, and then add the remaining 80% at 45 minutes in to the boil.

Me personally? I dole out my sugars over the course of the boil, being sure to have everything in by 45 minutes in. This is not because I'm trying to avoid caramelization, but because I tend to make BIG beers with LOTS of sugar, and if I add everything at once I'll stifle my boil, and that's bad for hops.

My strong ale I made on Sunday, for example, had the mash, 5 lbs of LME, a pound of DME, a pound of brown sugar, and some molasses in it. That a lot to get in there, so I added it slowly over the course of 45 minutes from the start of the boil so I never hosed my temp.

In conclusion: big difference? No. But still, don't do it.

Thanks, LazBro. I thought about it and figured it was something like that. Mentally I think were just like, "well, it's part of the malt, it should go in with the malt, right?" But your explanation makes sense. Our next one will be a saison, so we'll definitely wait on the LME till the boil.

Okay so we brewed yesterday. And Wilford Brimley Explosion!!!!! added a bit of belgian candi sugar at the end. And now the fermenter is going *crazy*. I think this is gonna be a high ABV.

We also had our first boil-over, when we added the DME, and now the front burner on my stove won't light. I'm maybe gonna take a hairdryer to it later. (We really need a new range...)

Yes, gas, which is why the flame went out when it boiled over. Boo. But I do like having a gas stove in general.

We added the ginger and cinnamon later in the boil (ginger 20 mins in, cinnamon 40 in), and filtered it out when it went into the fermenter. Smelled really good. Used candied ginger at the suggestion of the Internetz.

Bottled my honey basil wit (It's Always Honey in Basildelphia) last week. Haven't cracked a bottle yet, but the little bit I tasted while checking the FG seemed quite tasty. I'm hoping it turns out. If so I will likely be back to brag about it.

Cracked my first bottle of It's Always Honey in Basildelphia, and surprised at how much head it as after only two weeks in the bottle. (On the other hand I'm now worried I could be dealing with a potential bottle bomb or two). For it being still quite young I was impressed. No off flavours, slightly sweet honey notes, grassy fresh bite from the basil. And some warm spice which is still a little too muddled with everything else for me to identify. I feel like there was some citrus in there too, but again needs time to clarify. I think this one is gonna be really good in a month or two!

I'll let you know how it turns out. Yours sounds pretty fantastic as well, I've had it on my to do list to make a saison either in the next batch or the following one. Keep us posted on how it turns out, I'd love to try and replicate it.

Introducing...

Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball  (Diablo String Orchestra)
Apricot Ginger Strong Ale, 8.5% ABV, bottled November 2014

A classic, malty strong ale bombed at secondary with fresh ginger, candied ginger and dried apricots. Faint stone fruit sings harmony to the forward heat of the ginger. This is one of my most complex beers to date, with a linger that makes it good for sipping. Just don't take too long, because the ginger grows more assertive as the beer warms. The recipe's creator notated in his brew log that the beer changed personalities over time, with the ginger stepping back and the apricot taking over. It'll be cool to taste that happen in my own bottles, but even if it doesn't, I'm really happy with this. I've got 11 liters just in time for Christmas, plus 6 12oz bottles to kick start my aging program.

Finally, 'dat color!


   

Our Christmas saison turned out well. A wee funk, nice ginger cinnamon notes at the end. Pretty color.

Yay we drank Seven Swans a Swimming on Christmas Eve. It was lovely. 

We haven't done anything for awhile -- about time to plan our next beer, I'd say.