Rum Raisin Porter: Best Ale in the Universe 4

Here is the next beer in the Best Ale in the Universe series. I wanted to use raisin and made a beer that people who are not really beer drinkers would still like. I though about a dubble style beer, but decided on something a little more fun and adventurous. I thought a Brown Porter would be a good base and then I would throw in some raisins and rum. I kept the base recipe and then created a puree of caramelized raisins (caramelized in second runnings wort, and a little bit of Old Mill Rum.

I will then add rum soaked raisins into secondary along with some of the rum.

Fermentables

Ingredient	Amount	%	MCU	When
UK Pale Ale Malt	4.50 lb	45.0 %	2.6	In Mash/Steeped
German Munich Malt	4.00 lb	40.0 %	4.2	In Mash/Steeped
UK Brown Malt	1.00 lb	10.0 %	10.7	In Mash/Steeped
US Chocolate Malt	0.25 lb	2.5 %	16.6	In Mash/Steeped
German Carafa I	0.25 lb	2.5 %	15.9	In Mash/Steeped

Hops

Variety	Alpha	Amount	IBU	Form	When
UK Fuggle	4.5 %	1.00 oz	15.4	Bagged Pellet Hops	60 Min From End
UK Fuggle	4.5 %	0.50 oz	5.9	Bagged Pellet Hops	30 Min From End
UK Fuggle	4.5 %	0.50 oz	2.8	Bagged Pellet Hops	10 Min From End

Other Ingredients

Ingredient	Amount	When
Raisins	15.00 oz	In Boil
Whirlfloc Tablet	0.10 oz	In Boil

Yeast

DCL S-04-SafAle

Mashed in at 152F, Batch sparged, 75 minute boil.

The wort smelled and tasted awesome and I can't wait to see how this beer turns out.

I was trying to get this batch of beer made quickly so I could watch some football and make some ribs. So no pictures this time.

I have the week of Thanksgiving off and I plan on brewing my second 100% brett beer. I will use brett c. and Nelson hops. I hope to bre wanother beer as well, not sure what yet, maybe my a rebrew of my RIS. I will also be doing some tasting reviews, bottling up some beers for the Bruery's 300th batch comp. http://www.thebruery.com/batch300/index.html. I also inherited a new chest freezer, which will become my new fermentation chest!

Orange Pale Ale- Best Ale In The Universe #3

For my work holiday party I will be brewing 2 unique beers. I have made two other beers for last year's holiday party and last year's end-of-the-year party. I say unique because I incorporate a food item that is left over form our student's school lunches. I figure the food is gonna go to waste so I might as well create a beer that incorporates the waste for the staff parties. The two previous batches can be read about here: Graham Cracker Southern Brown and American Wheat with Peaches.

This year I will be brewing two 5 gallon batches, since at the previous two parties the beer seems to blow way too quickly. One will be a Brown Porter with Caramelized Raisins and Rum Soaked Raisins (Rum Raisin Porter). The other, I brewed today. An Orange Pale Ale.

Malt:

9# 2-Row

1# Honey malt *

1# Wheat Malt

.25# Crystal 40

Hops:

.5 oz Cascade @ 60

.20oz Simcoe @ 60

.5oz Cascade @ 30

.35oz Cascade @30

.5oz Cascade @1

.5oz Simcoe@1

Yeast:

US--05

Notes:

Added 6 oranges cut into 1/8 into the mash. Added 20 oranges cut into 1/8 and placed in sack into boil for last 20 minutes of the boil. Added 1.30oz orange zest in hop sac last 5 minutes. Wort had a nice orange sweetness that I think will balance out well with the hops, to make it a very drinkable beer.

I also racked my 1+ year old Funky/Sour Pumpkin Saison into a keg and added 3 Chardonnay soaked oak cubes to the keg to add even more complexity.

I also brewed a October Beer (see Mosher's Radical Brewing). Essentially it is a Strong Ale made with Marris Otter and Golding Hops, both fresh from the Fall Harvest. I augmented the malt with a little Honey malt* and a tiny bit or crystal. Should be about 8%.

*I read an article recently about Kern River Brewing Company here in CA. The brewer there makes a great IPA called Just Outstanding IPA. The brewer says that he uses honey malt to balance out his beers as opposed to Crystal. Since I typically like a lighter colored and less sweet IPA/APA I decided I would try and sub some crystal malt for the honey malt. We will see how it turns out.

Up soon will be a RIS tasting, Festbier tasting. Hopefully I will be brewing more and posting more.

Cheers!

Fest Beer

I am listening to the Results of the GABF live on the Brewing Network and brewing a Fest Beer. I got into lagers last spring and have fallen in love. I wasn't always a huge fan of them but when I started making them I realized the subtle complexity of these styles and have been brewing lagers and ales at about a 1-for-1 since. I wanted to brew this style for a long time, and I want to build up a yeast cake for a Bock beer later this fall. I will be adding two types of oak to the bock, more on this later. As I was mashing the Munich malt aroma was insanely good and rich. I also used a hop bag for this batch something I haven't done in the past, well see how my hop extraction turns out.

Here is the recipe:

Fermentables

Ingredient	Amount	%	MCU	When
German Pilsner Malt	5.00 lb	47.6 %	1.2	In Mash/Steeped
US Munich 20L Malt	4.00 lb	38.1 %	15.1	In Mash/Steeped
German Dark Munich Malt	1.50 lb	14.3 %	2.6	In Mash/Steeped

Hops

Variety	Alpha	Amount	IBU	Form	When
German Hallertauer Hersbrucker	3.5 %	1.50 oz	19.4	Loose Pellet Hops	60 Min From End
German Hallertauer Hersbrucker	3.5 %	0.50 oz	3.9	Loose Pellet Hops	20 Min From End

Yeast

White Labs WLP833-German Bock Lager

I mashed in at 151F. I also made a 1.5 liter starter.

Home Grown Hops

I planted 3 rhizomes two springs ago. 2 Willamette and 1 Goldings. The Goldings never took off and flat leaf parsley now grows in its spot. The Willamettes both grew up to my roof and back down last year, although I had very few hop flowers. This year the both started out, but while I was on my honeymoon this summer one of the Willamettes died off. The other is growing strong as you can see above and although it doesn't have a tone of hops it is growing well. I will be making a fresh hop beer (well fresh hops for aroma and flavor) I will use pellets for bittering as I won't have enough hops for the bittering charge. The base beer will be a English Bitter. Marris Otter and some 40L Crystal malt, and US 05 yeast.

Valle de Oro to Ruby Red

Last spring I brewed a beer that was inspired by Orval. Wyeast had just released their blend of brett and Trappist yeast said to come close to the flavors of Orval. I was going to dry hop the beer but the brett pellicle formed so fast and thick that I didn't want to disturb it. I kept the beer in my mind and pondered what to do with this overly funky Orval-like beer. Then this summer as I sat eating some homemade raspberry ice cream and drinking Goose Island Sophie (a nice dry, hoppy, brett beer). I took a bite of the ice cream and a sip of the funky beer and wow a great combo, then it hit me add raspberries to the Orval-like beer. I added 3 pounds of raspberries to the beer and the color turned a beautiful ruby red and the beer took on an amazing raspberry aroma that blends perfectly with the brett. I am deciding whether or not to keg this beer or bottle it in larger format bottles. I think this may be one of the better beers I have made

Saison Indochine

I have always loved saison's for their spiciness, dry, hoppy flavors. I have also loved the flavors of Thai (well all South East Asian) food, specifically the ginger, keffir lime, and lemon grass. I brewed a saison about 4 years ago (my first) with galangal ginger, keffir lime leaves, and lemon grass, all dried. The beer was over spiced (ginger) and just not a great base beer. So I waited until I became a better brewer and was re-inspired by my honeymoon to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. When I got home I sourced fresh galangal, keffir leaves, and lemon grass. I decided to attempt the beer again. I wanted a light colored, dry and balanced beer with a nice low spice/herb characteristic. I also wanted to add sugar to the beer so I added palm sugar and rice solids; two common ingredients in South East Asia. The recipe calls for turbinado sugar but I subbed for the specialty sugars. I also made a extract of keffir leaves and lemon grass soaked in vodka, to add to the keg. You can see that in the jar in the pictures above.

So here is the recipe:

Fermentables

Ingredient	Amount	%	MCU	When
Belgian Pilsen Malt	8.00 lb	74.4 %	2.4	In Mash/Steeped
US White Wheat Malt	1.00 lb	9.3 %	0.5	In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Munich Malt	0.75 lb	7.0 %	0.8	In Mash/Steeped
Sugar - Turbinado	1.00 lb	9.3 %	1.9	Start Of Boil

Hops

Variety	Alpha	Amount	IBU	Form	When
UK Golding	5.5 %	1.00 oz	19.3	Loose Pellet Hops	60 Min From End
US Amarillo	5.0 %	0.50 oz	5.3	Loose Pellet Hops	20 Min From End
US Amarillo	5.0 %	0.50 oz	0.4	Loose Pellet Hops	1 Min From End

Yeast

Wyeast 3711-French Saison

Mash Notes

Mash at 147-148F for 60 minutes

Boil Notes

1.3 oz of lemon grass, 0.6 oz galangal ginger, 0.1 oz keffir lime (about 8 leaves). Added .5 lbs Palm Sugar and .5 Rice Sugar to start of boil. Added spices last minute of boil and kept in wort for 10 minutes as wort chilled.

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