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January 29, 2013

Apple Mead Recipe

This is a wine/mead that I’ve made in the past and it turns out pretty well. I can remember making this with my uncle when I was just a kid. Today a lot of people call it, “Apple Jack”. I’m not really sure if it’s the same thing, I just call it, “Apple Mead”. It has a citrus like flavor to it and it is a bit sweet because of the honey.

Yield: 1 Gallon

Ingredients:

3 lbs honey

1 gallon apple cider

1 teastpoon acid blend

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 package champagne yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

Directions

In a large pot, boil the honey (1 part honey 2 parts water)
Let mixture cool down, and transfer it to a 2 gallon plastic container
Add cider, acid and pectic enzyme.
Rehydrate yeast and add nutrient to mixture
Once yeast starts bubbling add to must
Put on air lock and lid, let it ferment
After 7 days, rack into another fermenter
Refill with water if needed.
Rack after 3 months
Rack again after 6 months
Then bottle
Don’t drink for 1 year

It’s a pretty simple recipe, but one that is worth making time and time again. Hope that it serves you well!

Related Post:

Blackberry Mead

Mixed Berry Mead

Raspberry Mead

11 points To Consider For Beer Logs

Fruit Additions For Mead

January 29, 2013

300 Helpful Home Brew Tips For Free!

On days where I am on the blog it usually starts off with looking for great finds on the internet. Today I found something that is worth sharing for sure.

This is an e-book that is for homebrewing, it is 300 home brew tips for free. The catch is that you need to have a kindle and also be amazon prime member. I don’t have a kindle though so I can’t give a review on it. But I figure pass along the information for those that do.

Hope you enjoy!

Click here for the deal!

January 25, 2013

Homebrewing Soon To Become Legal In Alabama

I’m rooting for Alabama on this one! As of now Alabama does not permit homebrewing , it is still illegal. Up here in VA we don’t even give a second thought to homebrewing but down there, not the case. I’m hoping that this new bill will pass so one more state in the Union can homebrew. Check out the potentially great news!

Article

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Moonshine Thursday

Pictures From Our New Location

Our Mill

January 24, 2013

Robust Porter Recipe – Be Bold!

If you are trying to get into the world of darker beers but you just aren’t ready for a stout yet, this might be a good beer to try out. This style of beer is called, “Robust Porter”, they have an explosion of bold flavors and what some refer to as, “purple” in color. Honestly today when you go to the beer isle and see Porter and think, “What’s the different between that and a stout?” I could give you a technical answer and maybe that will be a post in the future but just know it’s a lot of brewers discretion This is a simple recipe and we have a quick break down about the different aspects of it at the end. Conversion Chart for DME-LME-GRAIN.

Ingredients

1 lbs Chocolate Malt

.5 lbs 80L Crystal Malt

1 lbs Carafa I

2 oz Roasted Barley

.5 lbs Dextrine Malt

.5 120L crystal Malt

6 lbs Liquid Malt (light)

.75 oz Northern Brewer (60min)

.5 oz Cascade (60min)

WLP 005

Specs

OG: 1.058

FG: 1.014

SRM: 36.34

IBU: 39.4

ABV: 5.8%

Directions:

Steep grains for 30 min at 150 with 2.5 gallons of water
Take out, don’t ring bag, add LME
Bring to boil
In beginning of the boil, add hops
Boil for 60min
Cool down wort, put in fermenter, fill up to 5 gallons of water pitch yeast

Primary 7-14 days

Bottle: 21 days

Taste Profile

This beer has 80L crystal malt and 120L crystal malt. Both of these malts are sweet in flavor and will give a darker color to the beer. There will be a nice balance of sweetness to this particular beer. The carafa is a German malt, it really just gives color and doesn’t impart too much flavor in my opinion. It will also make the head of this beer tan – pretty cool.

That dark malt with conjunction of the chocolate and the roasted barley you are going to get some of the robust flavors out of the beer. This is going to be straight forward once you sip the beer, which it is nice to have that sweeter finish from the crystal – it’s a nice balance.

As for the hops, we only have bittering hops. Both of these hops are moderate in the alpha acid which will, “cut through” the robust flavors. Nothern Brewer have an early flavor and the Cascade have a citrus like flavor. There are no flavor or aroma hops to this beer. The purpose for this is to not distract the drinker from anything other than the robust flavors. The hops are merely a balance to this beer, nothing more, nothing less. Not having a huge alcohol, this beer is pretty easy to drink and have a few of them. Also on the plus side, it’s going to be a quick beer to brew, 5 weeks and you are ready to drink. However, this beer will get better as you cellar it.
Cheers!

Related Post:

Hop Profile

Brown Ale

Scottish Ale Recipe

The Art Of Adding Sugars To Your Beer

Importance Of Homebrewing Water

White Labs Yeast Information

Newcastle Clone Recipe

January 23, 2013

19 Steps For Yeast Starter

As of late I hear about yeast starters. Seems as if everyone is doing one. Truth be told, I do not make yeast starters. I’ve done them so I can learn how to do them, but I just don’t make them for my beers. Call it laziness, call it product of habit, but how I learned how to brew we just never did them. If I felt in the past that there was a need to make a yeast starter, I would always just double pitch yeast. Double pitching yeast is when you just take two packets of yeast and pitch those.

Now there are reasons to make yeast starters. One of the obvious is for monetary purposes. Let’s be honest, yeast is sometimes half of the cost for a recipe. If you make an all-grain batch and it’s a cheap beer, yeast is going to be around $7.00 for liquid yeast; too bad the grains were only $15.00. So if you’re making a 10 gallon batch because it’s a cheap beer, it’s unnecessary spending.

If you are making a beer that has a gravity over 1.080 then you might consider making a starter. There are so many sugars that the yeast tends to lag out usually around the 1.030 SG mark. So having more yeast will help chug along in the fermentation process.

Also if you are planning on doing lagers, making a yeast starter is sometimes helpful. Since it is fermenting at colder temps, sometimes the yeast needs a bit more help to move along the fermentation process.

If you don’t have enough yeast, you tend to get off flavors sometimes. This is caused from the yeast just being stressed out. Stressed out yeast means weird tasting beer.

Like I said, I don’t make them. If I feel that I do need to make a yeast starter then I’ll just double pitch. But this post is not about what I do, this post is really for those that want to know how to make yeast starters. So these are the easy instructions on how to make a proper yeast starter.

Instructions:

Let yeast sit out at room temp until it reaches room temperature levels (you can do the same thing for dry as well).
Make starter wort
Starter wort is .5 quart water and .5 cup of dme.
This produces a wort that is about of 1.040
Boil this mini wort for 10 min
I add just a pellet or two of hops to the boil
Add .25 of yeast nutrient
Let mixture cool down to a little above room temp (should be around 75-80F)
Sanitize the outside of the yeast package (you can do this with StarSan or something like it)
2 quart juice bottles work well for this next part
Pour yeast into jar (see instruction #10)
Cover the opening with plastic wrap
Shake the starter to aerate it
Now put an airlock on the opening of the container or drill a small hole for the lid and put a grommet in with an air lock.
You should see foaming in about 24-48 hours and should start to see a yeast layer on the bottom of the container
When the yeast has settled out it is ready to pitch. However the starter is good for about 2-3 days.
Sometimes it is recommended to add another pint or so of mini wort to it to build up the starter even more.
Before you plan on pitching the yeast stick it int he refrigerator to flocculate all of the yeast.
Pour off as much of the liquid as possible so only the yeast slurry remains – then pitch the yeast slurry

And that does it! That is how you do a yeast starter. When you look at the directions on how to make a yeast starter just know that you really do have to have some planning in order for it to work out well. This is one of the obvious pit falls to yeast starters – you have to plan them out and you can’t make them the day of the brew. Of course there are other ways to make starters and you can get into some pretty involved methods, this is just the one I do when I make yeast starters sometimes. Leave your comments and questions below!

Cheers!

Related Post:

What Is Attenuation?

Build Your Own Stir Plate

January 21, 2013March 1, 2013

Tasting Of Russian Imperial Stout

So the beer tasting went out well with Proper Hops. I personally had a ton of fun doing this with them and to top it off they seem like genuinely good people.

http://youtu.be/ImsskLkWLcA

I thought it was a great beer in general. If I was going to change anything about it, I would add a bit more mouthfeel too it. So flaked barley would be good for that or adding some malto dextrin. Both would make the beer a bit more thick.

I’m hoping that we are going to do some more together in the future and I believe that is the pla. We talked about doing a few together in the future, so we’ll see how it goes!

Russian Imperial Stout The Making

Russian imperial Stout Part 2 – Bottling

Extra Stout Recipe

Brewing Calendar

January 18, 2013

How To Use A Blow Off Effectively

This post is actually going to be pretty short it deals with blow off hoses. So here go with a quick overview on blow off hoses.

What is a blow off hose?

Normally this is used for carboys. Essentially it is a hose that you put onto the air lock or to replace the air lock. No matter what, a hose is attached and then goes into a large container of water. In essence you have created a very large air lock. In the example listed below, they just attached the hose to a 3 piece air lock.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX4D5ffT5sc&w=480&h=360]

Why is it used?

The shape of the carboy makes it so that during fermentation, the head will rise up and get funneled towards the top of the carboy. If fermentation is strong enough, head from the beer will rise into the air lock. Sometimes it can clog the bottom of the air lock so no gas can escape. After enough pressure has built up it will blow the stopper and the air lock right out of the carboy making a huge mess. This can be seen with some stouts, or wheats.

Example:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd5RAp_jKSg&w=640&h=360]

Where people have gone wrong…

This mistake can not happen if you are attaching the hose to the air lock but rather putting in larger hose into the actual neck of the carboy. What you want to make sure you avoid is, to stick the blow off tube to far into the carboy and beyond the neck. What will happen is that when the beer rises it will create a suction and you will start to siphon out your beer into your water container. So make sure that if you are putting a blow off into the neck of your carboy you are conscious about how far it is actually in there. Otherwise you will lose a lot of beer.

Note for those that want to do a blow off…

Know that you don’t have to take your blow off tube off ever. Just make sure it is submerged into a container of water and life will be good. Some people switch it out but I never do.

If you have a glass carboy and want one that is going to fit into the neck of your carboy you need a a 1 inch diameter hose, if you want a hose to fit into the stopper hole or grommet you need a 5/16 hose, if want a blow off to fit over the middle part of a 3 piece air lock you need a 7/16th hose.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Easy Trick For Sanitizing Bottles

Blow Off Tubes

Glass Vs Plastic

January 17, 2013

Crazy Good Foreign Extra Stout Recipe

Extra stouts are pretty beefy stouts. I like them for the winter and the nice thing about them is that they really do have a quicker turn around when comparing them to other big stouts such as Russian Imperial Stouts. This beer is ready to drink as soon as it carbonates so I would say it’s good to drink in about 3-4 weeks. The beer has this light tan color, it’s has a dry coffee flavor and a sweet flavor to it as well.

Ingredients

12 oz 120L crystal malt

10 oz roasted barley

6 oz chocolate malt

6 lbs Light Malt Extract (DME)

1.25 cane sugar

1 oz Target (60 min 10%AA)

1/2 oz Styrian Goldings (15 min 3.2% AA)

WLP 004 or Saf -04

Specs:

OG: 1.066

FG: 1.013

IBU: 41

SRM: 87

ABV: 6.8%

Directions

Heat 2.5 gallons of water to 150 degrees
Turn off heat
Steep grains for 30 minutes
Take out grains
Add malt extract as well as sugar
Bring to boil
In beginning of the boil add Target hops
Boil for 45 minutes
Add Styrian Golding Hops
Boil for 15 minutes
End boil
Cool down, put in fermenter, fill to 5 gallons, pitch yeast
Ferment for 7-14 days
Use .75 cup of corn sugar for priming
Let sit in bottles for 3-4 weeks

Taste Profile

What you can expect out of the grains is going to be some dark fruit flavors from the crystal malt. It has this Plum like flavor to me all the time. Alone I don’t like it but when put together with other dark malts it creates complex beer. Don’t freak out about adding sugar to the boil. I know you don’t want to add cane sugar post boil but pre boil is fine. We have a blog post up about it and why that is if you want further explanation. The Target hops are an English style bittering hop that have a decent alpha acid that will help cut through the dark malts This really does add a nice balance to the beer. I personally like Styrian Golding hops and like to use them for flavor and or aroma. Each time, it seems to make the beer just floral enough to tie it all together.

This beer is a good one to make for the final stretch of cold weather to come. It’s a dark beer with out a doubt and having a moderate ABV will really warm you up.

Russian Imperial Stout Recipe

Big Scottish Ale Recipe

Video Of Making Imperial Stout

January 16, 2013

6 Different Mash Rest That Improve Your Beer

This post is really more of a benefit for those that are all-grain brewers. If you are interested in learning how to all-grain brew, we do have a series on how to get into all-grain brewing. It’s a pretty good one also, gives you step by step instructions. If you have not gotten into all-grain brewing yet, this post is not meant to scare you – take it with a grain of salt.

Most think of mashing and enzymes as a switch that turns on and off at certain temperatures. Really this is not the case and shouldn’t be looked at that way. Instead you should think of it more as a bell curve. At certain points in the temperature the enzymes are most active. Most all-grain brewers have seen different rest for mash in specified in either forum post, or in magazines or even in recipes. The objective of this post really is to break down the different rest and see how it can help improve your beer. Brewing all-grain is really like driving stick, sometimes it’s nice because you have a lot of control.

Protein Rest

This occurs at 104 – 140 degrees. It is most active at 122-131 degrees. If you end up doing a quick protein rest for about 10-20 minutes at 131 degrees you will improve head retention and also reduce chill haze. It doesn’t work as well with American and British Malts but it really does benefit to the German and Belgium malts.

b-amylase rest

This is a primary sugar-producing rest. It generates maltose, which is very fermentable. B-amylase is active at 131-150 degrees. 142-146 is the most optimal range though. Longer rest times in the lower temp ranges will get you a highly fermentable wort.

a-amylase rest

This rest gives unfermentable sugars. This gives more body and also will provide a higher finishing gravity beer. This temp range normally works best at 154-162 degrees.

Ferluic Acid Rest

This rest is one that people who make wheat beers sometimes use. It is short but its at 111-115 degrees. It develops ferulic acid. Doing this rest aids to the clove like flavors that are in wheat beers..

Acid Rest

An acid rest is used at 86 degrees to 136 degrees. Doing a rest at this point creates phytase and lowers the mash pH. Today many brewers will just add acidulated malt or different water treatments, this particular rest is really not needed.

B-glucanase rest

This rest is at 98-113 for 20 minutes. You use this rest when you are using a lot of starches in the beer. It helps break them down a bit and prevents them from getting to gummy.

Conclusion

If you are just getting into homebrewing or just getting into all-grain I would read this and take it with a grain of salt. This post is really towards those that have been doing it for a while and want to fine tune their recipes. A ll of these different rest are easier to do if you have a pot that is a mash tun rather than a cooler. For a cooler what you have to do is add hot water and to elevate the temp and stir the mash to lower the temperature. When using a pot, you just have to add some heat to the pot and there you go.

I hope this clarify’s a bit more on how to use to use these different rest in mashing and will also clear up some confusion about what temps you need to hit and what to expect out of it.

Cheers,

January 15, 2013

Ginger Metheglin Recipe

One of the things about mead is that you can really do what ever you want. It sometimes becomes confusing for newbies in the mead world to figure out what recipes to do. Well I can assure you this is a great mead recipe. This is a ginger mead, so get ready for a bit of spice.