Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Smokin' Oinker Bacon Ale

This next brew was inspired by my friend Drew Urbanovsky.  One day at work we were coming up with the ultimate business idea.  He thought any bar that would incorporate beer, bacon, and boobs would never go broke.  Well this next brew takes care of two of those.

When I think of bacon, I think of roastyness, smoke, and salt.  So in developing the recipe I added 2 oz. of chocolate malt to give it some brown color and some roastyness.  I also added 8.2 oz. of Caramel 60L malt to give it some sweetness and a little more color.  Also a nice malt base will give the beer some depth.  I also wanted to try some high alpha acid hops for the bittering hop.


9 lbs. 2-row Barley
8.2 oz. Caramel 60L
2 oz. Chocolate Malt
1/2 oz. Yakama Magnum 60 mins.
1/2 oz. Willamette 2 mins.
5 oz. Cooked Bacon
1968 London Ale Yeast

I brewed and poured the cooled wart over the flocculated yeast of the Chief Pale Ale.  It was fermenting almost immediately.  I will add 5 oz. of cooked bacon when I transfer it over for secondary fermentation.  After that I will taste it daily until the beer has the right amount of bacon flavor.

Here's an updated picture of the Kegorator with my current brew numbers
Last night I cooked the bacon for the "Dry Hogging."  I heated up the oven to 425 degrees and placed the bacon on a cookie sheet.  


I then dried the bacon and let the grease from the bacon drip off.  I then dried the bacon with paper towels and placed it in a muslin bag and I will daily test the flavor of the beer until it has he right amount bacon flavor.


Chief Pale Ale

In my last post I explained Warrior the 1981 Rabbit Diesel truck.  Well this post is about her sister, the Chief, my brother's 1981 Rabbit Truck.  He bought her in Colorado and was driven back to Nebraska, well, about three quarters of the way and at about Ogallala, NE the water pump went out and she was flat-bedded the rest of the way to Kearney.

This is not a picture of Chief, but it is the same color, apart of her orange hood...

Since Chief is a nice pale yellow, I decided her most fitting dedicated brew would be a pale ale.  I wanted to do something with some hop flavor but still a nice malty-ness.  I decided to start with a 2-row barley base and add some caramel malt with some carapils as well.  I also wanted to stick with a traditional English hop, so I went with Willamette for the bittering, aroma and dry hop.

10.5 lbs. 2-Row
8 oz. Carapils
8 oz.Crystal 40L
1 oz. Willamette 60 mins.
1 oz. Willamette 20 mins.
1/2 oz. Willamette Dry Hop

I carbonated the beer today and it has a very nice flavor.  The hops are subtle and not over powering but it still has a little sweet and malty finish. I think next time I'll try a little more dry hop.  But over all, a good Pale Ale.


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Warrior Double India Pale Ale

I have a new girlfriend.  Her name is Warrior, yes, my wife knows.  She has a few issues and obviously needs quite a bit of attention, but I'm excited at my new relationship.  And my new beer is inspired by her.

She's a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit or "Caddy" Truck.  She has a 1.6L Diesel engine, no turbo, so 56 horsepower.  Still the last owner thought it was a big truck so she's got dual chrome stacks, a 3" lift, and emblems that say "Size Matters" and "Turbo" (even though she's naturally aspirated).  She's equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission so that mean about 50 miles to the gallon.  She's dressed in forest green with orange pin striping.



Now I can't get credit for finding this treasure.  My brother Eric helped me find this beauty.  His first truck, also a '81 Rabbit came from Colorado.  His yellow truck with an orange hood named "Chief" was the first in his fleet.  The second truck, Warrior, found him.  Along with a third, an '80 Rabbit, and a parts truck.  Deciding he had too many projects, he turned one over to me.

I named this truck "Warrior" for a few reasons.  One, it plays off the name of my brother's truck, "Chief".  It is also the name of one of my favorite types of hops with a high alpha acid content.  It is also green so, as a home brewer, it reminded me of hops.  It was also a leadership position I help in a group, the Scarlet and Cream, in college.

I was inspired by these diesel trucks to make some dedicated brews, an IPA and a Pale Ale for Chief.  Today was my day off so I decided to start with the IPA.  This is a strong IPA, it'll be around 8% by volume with plenty of Warrior hop flavor.  It has a nice amber color and it had a  roasty smell while it was in the mash.



Recipe:
16 lbs. 2-row Barley
2 lbs. Amber Malt
2 oz. Warrior Hops
2 oz. Summit Hops
1 oz. Warrior Hops Dry Hop
.5 oz. Summit Hops Dry Hop
1968 London Ale Yeast



I started my mash at 152 degrees and a stiff mash as well.  I let it sit for an hour and then began sparging.  I did a 90 minute boil and I started adding my hops at 10 minutes after the first bubbles appeared.  I mixed together the Summit and Warrior hops in a bowl, I added .5 oz. of the mixture every 10 minutes.  This should give the beer a nice variety of hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma.  The dry hopping will also give it some grassy, resin flavor.  I can't wait to try this beer.



I did something stupid though, I haven't brewed in a while, and I know that isn't an excuse, but I forgot to sanitize my fermenter.  I had just rinsed it out, but there could have been some bad critters in it anyway.  I had already pitched my $6 yeast so I decided to just chance it.  So we'll just see what happens.  Again, cross your fingers...

So it tastes great!  The beer turned out fantastic and is a great dedication to the truck.  It has a great malty-ness and a great hoppy bitterness.  It also has a nice grapefruit citrus flavor.  That color came out great too.  I think this is my favorite double IPA recipe so far.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Birthday Märzenbier

I'm posting this a little late but my birthday was November 22nd.  For my Birthday I received some grain and hops and I decided to do a little brew/birth-day.  My favorite beer to drink would be an IPA but my second favorite is definitely Marzen lager or Oktoberfest.


Here's the recipe:

8 lbs. Pilsner Malt
4.5 lbs. Vienna Malt
8 oz. Carapils
8 oz. Caramel 40L
2 oz. Mt. Hood 60 mins
1 oz. Hallertau 2 mins

I didn't do anything too epic in the process.  I had a nice steady mash temperature of 151 degrees.  I thought about batch sparging, but since Marzens are very malty beers I decided to just sparge on the fly.  I did a 60 minute boil adding two ounces of Mt. Hood for my bittering hop.

I pitched the Wyeast Bavarian Lager Yeast and let it sit for two weeks at 50 degrees.  I lager it in a keg for 4 weeks at 40 degrees.



The beer turned out nice, it has nice head retention and a sweet malty aroma.  It reminds me of Ayinger or the more traditional Oktoberfests.  Its a little sweet but that could be because of my colder lagering temps.  It still has a great Amber color and it cleared out very nicely.  I am excited too because today I have a 50 lb. bag of 2-row Barley showing up in the mail with enough yeast and hops for 4 recipes.  So more on this to follow...