Winter Warmer & Honey Root Beer

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Saturday was a Brew Day!!! Dizzy & I woke up, none of the roommates were around… so we decided to start up our next batch of delicious brew…

 

The Winter Warmer

 

Basically it appears to be a bit of a brown ale with darker grains so that it’s primarily for sipping by the fireplace & warming the cockles of your heart while you enjoy family time. Of course, because none of the roommates were around mid-day on a Saturday and it was a perfect time to do it… they immediately showed up as soon as all of the stuff was getting sanitized in the kitchen. Oh well… it happens… and luckily they didn’t really need the kitchen other than to warm a few things up for lunch, etc. Yes… it’d be nice to have a garage or something to do the homebrewing in… but you work with what you have… and frankly, it’s not a bad situation at all. Maybe it’s just that I worry too much about being in my roommates’ ways… but I’ll get over it. They know how it goes. Anyway… we started with sanitizing the equipment… and then sparging out those delicious sugars for our wort…

 

 

Sparge the first bit... then put it back in so you get the good stuff...

Spent grains make good fertilizer...

even though we really don't care...

I'm guessing the birds don't mind

Add the hops...

Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize...

Now, we’re beginners with the mash-tun… and apparently we have a little learning to do. See… apparently what happens if that you have to make sure that you have enough water to sparge out all the goodies. If you’re making 5 gallons, then you’d think 5 gallons would be enough… and you’d be WRONG!!! The grains that you’re pulling the sugars from are all dried out, cracked to expose their innards, so you really have to calculate the amount of water that you use to get a desired amount of liquid through there. The dried grains will obviously rehydrate with the addition of the hot waters, some of the gelatinous qualities act up and basically, depending on the amount of grains used (in this case, about 12 pounds) we should’ve used somewhere in the range of 8-9 gallons of hot water for the total sparge to get the desired 5 gallons.

 

However, we didn’t really do a lot of calculations beforehand… so I think we only used about 7-8 gallons of sparge water… so we only ended up with about 3.5 gallons of wort when it was all said and done. Take into account the evaporation from the hour-long boil for the hops… and we basically ended up with three gallons of Winter Warmer for the primary fermenter. Not a complete loss obviously… but definitely could’ve used an extra two gallons. Rookie mistake that we’ll certainly learn from… and that’s why you live… so that you can learn.

 

 

From this point, the process will still basically be the same despite the lower amount of wort. We still add yeast, primary fermenting, secondary fermenting, bottling, and it should be ready in about six weeks. The best part about learning of this now… is that we’ll definitely have enough water ready for our next batch… which is our Oktoberfest batch… which I’m personally really excited about because I LOVE German biers. Also, we got a little bored trying to cool the hot wort as fast as possible... so we decided to take some pictures of melting ice like we're filming a glacier documentary like "Chasing Ice" and here are the results...

 

Another added bonus of the mashing & sparging… is that we then have a few pounds of extra “spent” well-hydrated grains that we can use for things like making bread. With just a few eggs, some flour, olive oil, etc. We took some of those grains that we would’ve just given away or thrown on the lawn as compost… and turned them into delicious high-fiber bread for… well, anything bread is used for. Sandwiches, snacks, soaking up beer, whatever. It’s really good stuff… and you can even dress it up more if you like by adding raisins and other things that people unnecessarily add to good old fashioned bread.

 

Honey Root Beer

 

Since we had the stuff out, we also decided to make a batch of Honey Root Beer. What makes it Honey Root Beer? Well, we used some delicious honey as the sugar instead of standard cane or corn sugar in the recipe. Here are some pictures before the process… honey on the bottom, extract & water on top...

 

This batch should be ready in a week which is perfect for our Bacon & Beer Day Celebration this Saturday!!! You know, a magnificent alternative for those who don’t want to have a bunch of homebrews, may not be of age (though I don’t know why they’d be hanging out with us), or just to try a twist on a classic. We’ll keep you posted.

 

Monday, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day by going to downtown Santa Rosa to try out a delicious sampler of beer at Russian River Brewing Company. During last weekend’s adventure, we didn’t really have suitable time to experience it… but we did this time. They were still pretty busy despite being just after noon when we arrived… but we got some Drew Bites (like a little pepperoni & peppercini pizza cut into little bites) and THIS SAMPLER!!!

 

 

There was also this car parked nearby...

Bay Area... it's what we do...

The beer was magnificent! We highly recommend it! The service was a little slow… but they were really busy, still pretty nice though. I just kinda had to make things happen to get the order in, get a check, and to help out… I even went & got my own drinks at the bar. I’m cool with it… but you just may not be expecting it.

 

Have a great day everybody!!! We’ll see you next weekend with a report on our Bacon & Beer Day Celebration!!!

Chapter 5: The First Taste

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Welcome to another chapter in our Homebrewing Adventure as I present “Chapter 5: The First Taste”. Yes, it’s that time… after making the wort, then two weeks primary fermentation, then two weeks secondary fermentation, then two more week fermenting in the bottles… our first homebrew batch of Irish Red Ale was FINALLY ready for the taste test.

 

Red Ale Tasting

 

We chilled two bottles, clean glasses, poured… and then kinda looked at our creation for a while…

 

As you can see, it was a little cloudier than red ales and really the vast majority of beers that you’ll see at the market. We didn’t use any techniques to really clean it up like Irish Moss or anything… so this is what beer typically looks like without a little clarity control.

 

So then… we tasted… and our initial taste left us wondering a little bit. See, the night before we had tried Rogue Ales’ “Santa’s Private Reserve” which is a Red Double IPA… so basically all the flavor of our brew times about three. Think going from milk chocolate to 72% cacao dark chocolate. However, that was the night before… and this was the next afternoon. It just didn’t have that “kick” that we were expecting with that first judgmental sip. We’ve also been spoiled by trying a few fantastic red ales in the weeks leading up to this… you know, for research. It was still good… but just not great.

 

As we pondered why this was different from what we were expecting, we chatted about it of course being a malt extract kit that we used as opposed to mashing the grains ourselves… possible contamination points along the way, which there really wasn’t any… adjustments to the recipe that may improve the lack of a lasting flavor, which was probably the real criticism of it as a whole… and then as we were doing it, the chilled beer warmed up a little bit… and we found ourselves still drinking… and long story short, it actually tasted a little better.

 

I know what you’re thinking… of course beer tastes better the more you have… but come on, this was a few sips. In summation of our Red Ale, it seems that it would be best served not as an icy-chilled beer for immediate consumption since… basically just about any beer will taste tolerable when it’s just icy booze going down the gullet (why Old Milwaukee is still in business). Perhaps home brew is best appreciated cold, not quite frosty… but sipped at a enjoyable pace. There are still some tweaks that we’d like to make to future batches obviously to meet our personal tastes… but for a first batch, and with the basic brew kit, I think it’s pretty fantastic.

 

Summary

Batch: Irish Red Ale (malt extract kit)

Brew dates: Sep/Oct 2013

Alcohol content: about 5%

Malt: 6 pds Malt syrup

Specialty Grains: 1/2 pd Belgian Caramel Pils, 1/4 pd Briess Special Roast, 1/8 pd Belgian Biscuit & English Chocolate Malt

Hops: 1 oz Willamette (60 mins) & 1 oz US Goldings (30 mins)

Yeast: Dry – Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast

Initial Taste: October 12, 2013 (6 weeks)

Initial Reactions: Not as potent as expected with initial test at cold temperatures, no real finish taste. However, as it settled towards room temperature, flavors started to come out more. Finish taste still lacking compared to other red ales that I’ve tried. Overall, very satisfied for a first batch.

Possible Experiments: For next batch, adjust the malts and/or hops towards a little more of a lasting taste.

 

Hopefully you’ll all get to swing by & try it out yourselves. We’d love your feedback.

 

Quick Root Beer Tasting

 

Our next taste test was for our “quick method” Root Beer that we made last Sunday and placed in two separate two-liter plastic bottles. We tried the first bottle on Thursday night, then again throughout the weekend. With the initial test, you could see some of the yeasts & sugars on the bottom of the bottle… but that’s perfectly normal. The root beer goes into the bottle basically uncarbonated… then with the yeast eating the sugars, it creates the carbonation (CO2) and you can feel it when you squeeze the bottle after a few days. The bi-product of this is the “satisfied” yeasts falling towards the bottom of the bottle. A little sugar falls to the bottom as well if it doesn’t dissolve fully, but not too much. For a over a pound being in there, you see about the amount that you would kind of dust off a counter top to the floor… but only if you wanted ants for some reason. Behold…

 

As for the taste, it was pretty good root beer. Of course, each bottle has over a pound of sugar in it so it’s hard to screw up… but it had a very distinct root beer flavor like it was brewed at A&W or something. Not the best that I’ve tried… but definitely very good. I’d say like a B if I were grading it.

 

Summary

Batch: Root Beer (quick method, root beer extract)

Brew dates: Early Oct 2013

Alcohol content: (trace?)

Malt: Cane Sugar

Hops: More Sugar?

Yeast: Basic Brewer's Yeast

Initial Taste: October 10, 2013 (4 days)

Initial Reactions: Pretty good root beer

Possible Experiments: Considering brown sugar for next batch, possibly vanilla accent

 

We have another bottle that we’ll be trying over the week as well, so a little more aged… and then we have the “bottled method” of Root Beer that we will be trying this weekend so that we can contrast & compare. Again, you’re welcome to join in…

 

Pumpkin Ale Bottling

 

Sunday night, Dizzy & I bottled our batch of Pumpkin Ale that has been fermenting for four weeks. When we were transporting this ale from the carboy to the bottling bucket, once again the kitchen was filled with the scent of pumpkin pie. We seriously cannot wait to try this batch next week. Here are some pictures…

 

 

Mmm... doesn't that look delicious?

Just over two cases per 5 gallon brew...

"Duuuuh I'm helpiiiing..." Not my best picture

Well, that’ll do it for this chapter… but join us next week when we bottle our Hefeweizen (still has another week for primary fermentation) and then we decide what to do for our next batch. Seriously, we haven’t even decided yet… but we have a few options at our immediate disposal… and they’re all pretty exciting. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Chapter 4: Hefeweizen & Root Beer

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Saturday, Dizzy & I started up a batch of Hefeweizen. Now, our first two batches were ales… so they apparently required a longer fermentation period of about 6 weeks… but because the yeast involved with a hefeweizen is different, as well as the amount of wheat & malt in the original wort, this beer only takes about four weeks to turn & doesn’t require secondary fermentation. That explains how it’s typically cloudier than standard beer when you try some of the finer craft brew examples out there. One of my personal favorites is the Widmer Brothers version… but most are a bit of a cloudy golden color after it’s ready for drinking… but we found that it’s a little darker in the beginning… behold…

 

Hops are added right here...

Icing it down...

See it's a darker then you might think...

You can see all the cloudy roughage in there...

Oops... looks like the yeast got a little excited...

Now we include the blow-off valve...

After setting up the Hef, we found that there’s a homebrew supply shop about a mile from my house, so we went to check it out. There we found all the usual items that you would expect to find from empty bottles to kits to all kinds of grains & yeast… and the staff was also very helpful as we picked their brains a bit. While there, Dizzy found some root beer extract, read the recipes… and somehow convinced me that it’d be a good idea to make some. Needless to say, it really didn’t take much… so we got the extract & headed home to start up that brew.

 

The recipes for the Root Beer are basically the same for the two versions in the extract… so we thought we’d try both. The quicker method was you mix up about a gallon of root beer (water, extract, a few cups of sugar & some yeast) and put them in two separate two-liter bottles to let them do their fermentation for about 3-4 days, then you can drink it. The other version takes longer… but is supposed to be more flavorful… and it’s the same recipe, but you place the root beer in glass bottles instead of plastic and let them ferment longer (we’re going two weeks). We will let you know the results of the taste test.

 

Dizzy & I are obviously pretty excited about this home brewing thing… and really, what’s not to like? It’s a bit of nerdy mix of Science, cooking, self-sustainment, working together, sharing with our friends & family, and the end result is fantastic BEER!!! Sure, the initial startup capital is a little bit with getting all of the equipment… but now that we’ve got a nice little routine going & turning out batches… that initial cost is being paid for… and soon we will be experimenting with our own ideas on what a great beer should taste like & be composed of. It’s really exciting stuff… and I’m even reading up on how to make beer better.

 

Next week will be a big one… as our first batch of Irish Red Ale will be reading for drinking… that first taste test. We’ll also have that first quick batch of root beer, bottle our Pumpkin Ale for tasting two weeks later, and shortly after that we should have our Hefeweizen bottled & ready as well. Then later will come experimentation… and new recipes & lagering methods… and we intend on just having a LOT of fun with this. It’s like those school science experiments… you know, like the volcano with dry ice… but with sugar, wheat, hops, etc to make delicious concoctions that you can drink.

 

Well, that’ll do it for this chapter in the home brewing legacy. Next update will have a few great movies & some adventures in the Bay Area. Have a great day everybody!!!