Red Tide- An American Red Ale

My good friend Nick is turning 32 this coming weekend and when his wife asked him what he wanted to do for his Birthday, he said, go to Jeff's house, drink homebrew and watch football. Sounds like a good time to me! I decided to brew a beer for the event, and when I asked Nick what he wanted, he said a brown or a red. I was inspired to brew a red after having a couple of great commercial versions lately, plus I have never made this style. I wanted a beer that balanced carmel, toffee-like flavors with a nice citrusy, piney aroma and flavor. I didn't want the beer to be too bitter, and I wanted it to finish somewhat dry, even though it has a well rounded malt profile. The one thing I am not sure of is whether or not I will get a nice deep red color or not. I know that there is a CaraRed malt, but my LHBS didn't carry any and I didn't want to order any online.

I called the beer Red Tide because the week that I brewed it San Diego was having a bloom of plankton (dinoflagellates) along our coasts that is called a Red Tide. The coolest thing is that when this particular red tide occurred the plankton have a secondary effect of bioluminescence. This mechanism acts as a predator avoidance technique. When these plankton are disturbed, by wave action or human interference they bioluminesce blue. I have linked a cool video here

The beer smells amazing, and I will transfer it to a keg tomorrow. Hope it is red, but even amber will be okay.

Recipe: 2-Row, Crystal 60, Dark Munich, Victory, and a tiny bit of Chocolate Malt, US-05, Northern Brewer @ 60, Amarillo & Cascade @ 15, Amarillo & Cascade @ Flameout.

Flight Path IPA

My house sits directly under the incoming flight path for the San Diego International Airport. On cloudy nights the jets will pass over and a few seconds later the air they displace will come crashing back into the place it once idly sat and make the craziest, eeriest noise. We have lived here for almost 3 years and I have wanted to make an IPA named after our location under the flight path.

As I have said before, I love San Diego/West Coast style IPAs that are light on malt bills, have moderately high bitterness, and a ton of flavor and aroma additions. I am making this beer in a similar manner. Simple malt bill, moderate bittering charge and big citrusy, fruity late hop additions of Amarillo and Nelson. As I sit here writing this post the Nelson hops are just smelling amazing and my mouth is watering for this beer.

I didn't hit my OG, so the beer will be a little smaller, maybe more like a Pale than an IPA, oh well.

Ingredients: US-2Row, Honey Malt, Warriors @60, Amarillo and Nelson @30, Amarillo and Nelson @15, Amarillo and Nelson @1, Dry Hopped with Amarillo.

NHC Results, San Diego County Fair Results and Honeymoon

I got my score sheets back from the NHC 2nd round a couple of weeks ago but with wedding planning, getting married and getting ready for our Honeymoon to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand I haven't had a chance to write about it or scan in my score sheets. I still don't have much time but here is a brief overview:

NHC 2nd Round: 100% Brett c. 100% Amarillo Belgian Pale Category 23: Specialty Beer. Scored a 40 1st round and earned a second place. In the 2nd round it scored a 40.5, I got some great feedback, and made the mini best of show, I ended up with an dHonorable Mention. I am super stoked about these results. I will be brewing this beer again for sure.

San Diego Count Fair (805 entries in one day!). I have entered this contest in the past, it was the first contest I entered, 4 years ago and I earned a second place for my hefe. I was shut out the next, my hefe didn't carb otherwise it scored really well. Last year I missed the deadline. This year I entered 6 beers for fun. Meyer Lemon Blond in the Veg/Spice category, dark strong, schwartbier, robust porter (same beer as the schwartz), golden strong, and in the specialty category a Sour Cherry Stout. I couldn't make the competition because it was the day after my wedding so my buddy took them. I haven't got my score sheets back yet but I guess I got a 4th place for the robust porter. The robust porter was brewed as a schwarzbier but is was pretty roasty so I decided what the heck. I am surprised the Meyer Lemon Blond and Bon Hiver didn't do better as they scored well at the America's Finest City contest back in February. There is earlier competition results here. I find it funny that the beer that went earned a honorable mention in the 2nd round in 23 Specialty only scored a 24.5 in an earlier comp when entered in 16 Belgian Specialty. Go figure!

We are off on our honeymoon in the morning. We will be gone until early August. Upon return I will have reviews of the wit, peach wheat, RIS and my Dortmunder Export. I will be brewing some of the following upon my return ( I don't have to go back to work until the end of August):

Belgian Pale/Blond with Lemon Grass and Citra Hops

Table Saison

Saison d'Indochine (saison with SE Asian Spices)

Hefeweizen

BRETT 2

10 gallons of a Lambic (5 gallons straight, 5 gallons will get apricots)

Rauchbier

Oktoberfest

Many more....

See you in August!!!

Edgemont IPA-Review

I brewed this beer a month or so back, so the hop profile has faded a bit. I don't typically brew IPAs because living in San Diego I am surrounded by exceptional commercial IPAs all the time. I am also very picky about my IPAs. I like my IPAs to be dry, light colored, lower in bitterness, and have intense hop aroma and hop flavor.

Appearance: Light copper in color (still too dark in my opinion). Large off-white head that lasts a long time. Clear.

Aroma: Big apricot/peach aroma with a nice citrus background, strangely as the beer warms a light grassy like aroma develops. A light sweetness lingers as well.

Taste: Nice fruity, citrus flavor up front followed by the same grassiness mentioned earlier. I think I left the dry hops in a little too long.

Drinkability: Drinkable and actually pretty good, just not what I wanted or had envisioned when I built the recipe.

Although it isn't exactly what I wanted it is the best pale/ipa I have made so far. I am getting better at the style. I probably won't brew another until the late fall. Next time look for Amarillo and Cascade hops, and just pale/pilsner malt to keep it extra dry and light in color. I may even throw in a little sugar like I do for my Belgian styles.

I may not get a ton of post in the next month or so as I am getting married in two weeks and then we are off on a 5 week honeymoon to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. I will then brew heavily again in August.

I kegged up the two beers for my work part a American Wheat with Peaches (very fruity and slightly tart) and a basic wit (very nice beer and when cool and carbed it is gonna be a hit). Look for a review...if I have time. Thanks for following and see you all in August.