It's time to brew something different. Something exciting. Something, dare I say... DANGEROUS! Okay maybe not dangerous (unless you choke on the beer... somehow), but still we are heading in a new direction here. What direction is that? Pepper beer. So crack open a homebrew and read on!
I recently went to the Extreme Beerfest here in Boston and it has gotten me thinking about brewing something bigger than your run of the mill stouts, IPAs, Pale Ales, etc. One of the best beers I had at the festival was easily a Sake-Beer from Cambridge Brewing Company. It was absolutely amazing. It had the sweet and floral flavors from the Sake but on top of the malty goodness of the underlying beer. Apparently CBC first brews the Sake and starts the fermentation process. Once fermentation has gained some momentum they brew the beer and dose in the wort to the fermenting Sake so that the two ferment together, driven by the Sake yeast. The process is complicated but the result is absolutely delicious! If you happen to live in the Boston area I highly recommend trying it out if they still have it.
But I digress. I just can't help talking about the Sake beer, it is that good. So pepper beer. There was at least one brewery with a pepper beer offering at the Extreme Beerfest but unfortunately it was a butterbomb with very high diacetyl. I felt like I was drinking room temp butter and if there was any pepper in there I certainly couldn't find it.
Fortunately, one of my homebrewers-in-training has a love of pepper beer that couldn't be diminished by a whole tub o' Land O' Lakes and so we are forging on to brew a pepper beer.
Considerations
1) What kind of pepper should we use? This depends on your goal. Are you trying to just get some extra bite with the hotness or are you also trying to get some pepper flavor? There is a great Chipotle Beer out there (The brewery escapes me) that not only has kick to it, but the smokiness that is characteristic of the Chipotle.
2) What will the malt base be? I have read about pepper beers built on porters, pale ales and amber ales. I like the idea of a porter base maybe with some addition of a small (VERY small) amount of smoked malt. I am hesitant to use a lighter beer as the base because I don't feel that there would be enough complexity in the maltiness to complement the spiciness of the pepper. However, I could be completely wrong and I would love to try a pepper beer built on pale malt to find out.
3) When should we add the pepper? There doesn't seem to be a consensus out there. Some people add during the boil and others to the primary or secondary as when fruiting a beer. I am not sure how volatile capsaicin (the chemical in peppers that produces the burning sensation) is so adding to the boil may not be the best. I think we are going to add it to the primary after the first few days of vigorous fermentation or maybe we will rack into a secondary over the peppers.
4) To roast or not to roast? On days where I have spare time for some legitimate cooking with a recipe involving red peppers, I occasionally like to roast the peppers myself in my oven. The change in flavor can be subtle or dramatic depending on how you roast, but I like the idea of opening up more flavor for the beer. We will probably roast our peppers ahead of time.
Alright reader(s), you have made it through another meandering post about beer that hasn't even been brewed yet! Congratulations. I suggest opening a homebrew as a reward for yourself and be sure to check back later for the results of the brew! Cheers!
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Bitter Beaver IPA
Okay, okay this post is a little later than it should have been after all the talk of "Midnight Brewing back online" but better late than never! If you have not done so already, crack open a homebrew and read on about the first weekend of brewing in almost a year.
We chose to brew an IPA about a month ago. Now with that first sentence I am sure you are thinking something like "Wait, wait, wait A Brewer. You distinctly said last time B Brewer had moved away so what is this 'We' you speak of?" A fair question. Well as it turns out there are other people here in business school that are interested in homebrewing but like most, have never taken that interest anywhere. Personally I can't let that stand. If I have the equipment and you have the interest then by god lets brew some beer! So the new "We" would be me and a group of 3 or four other (new) homebrewers. But I digress.
RECIPE
As I said we chose an IPA by popular vote. We aimed for a copper colored IPA with bitterness under 90 IBU. We weren't aiming for a West Coast IPA or East Coast IPA in particular though in general I prefer the citrusy West Coast flavor. Details:
8.5lbs 2-row
2lbs Crystal 40L
0.5lbs Vienna
1oz Nugget (Pellets) 60min
0.5oz Nugget (Pellets) 30min
1oz Cascade (Whole) 10min
1.5oz Nugget (Pellets) dry hop - 4 days
So it has been a long, long time since I have made an IPA so this is the rough beginnings of a new recipe. I am a little concerned about the effect on flavor and body of 2.5lbs of Crystal & Vienna, but on the other hand I am curious so why not try it. As far as the hops go, BrewPal says this should lead to about 66 IBU but this does not necessarily reflect the perceived bitterness. I try not to get too hung up on IBUs in general as I have had a 50IBU beer that tastes less bitter than a 23IBU beer due to the balance of malt flavor. So while IBUs are certainly a good indicator, it is not a guarantee of how bitter a beer will actually taste. Again, the best choice is to taste the beer we end up with and adjust for the next time.
THE RESULTS
I wrote the above portion of this post many moons ago when we actually brewed this batch and the beer has since fermented, been bottled and mostly consumed. This batch turned out absolutely delicious and I can't wait to make another batch. It is a bit thicker than I expected, but I think that the mouthfeel fits well with the overall beer experience. As I expected the perception of actual bitterness is not up there, but it is definitely in IPA territory. The malt and the body of the beer balance the bitterness very well and make for an extremely drinkable beer. As for color, it is a deep copper with a decent straw colored head. The aroma of the nugget hops really comes through as soon as you pour yourself a glass and people that have sampled it have said they expect it to be very bitter from the aroma but are pleasantly surprised. If you love IPAs and have a friend who you want to get hooked as well I think this would make a great "gateway" IPA. It is bitter, but balances so well that the newbies will not run in fear at the first sip.
A great comparison to this beer would be to Troegs Nugget Nectar. If you are on the east coast and have the opportunity to try Nugget Nectar I highly recommend this IPA. If you like Nugget Nectar then by all means try out this recipe.
A few other notes: Our efficiency was pretty abysmal at 62%, but there were some issues I will go into in another post about the current equipment situation. The final abv was 4.5% which is respectable enough for me though could be higher if we can achieve better efficiency. Overall though I am very happy with this beer and can't wait to brew it again. We just bottled a Spiced Holiday Ale so I will try and throw up that recipe soon. If you haven't brewed your holiday beer at this point though it is not likely to be ready by Christmas.
You have made it through another post fair readers so why not congratulate yourself and crack open a homebrew! Cheers!
We chose to brew an IPA about a month ago. Now with that first sentence I am sure you are thinking something like "Wait, wait, wait A Brewer. You distinctly said last time B Brewer had moved away so what is this 'We' you speak of?" A fair question. Well as it turns out there are other people here in business school that are interested in homebrewing but like most, have never taken that interest anywhere. Personally I can't let that stand. If I have the equipment and you have the interest then by god lets brew some beer! So the new "We" would be me and a group of 3 or four other (new) homebrewers. But I digress.
RECIPE
As I said we chose an IPA by popular vote. We aimed for a copper colored IPA with bitterness under 90 IBU. We weren't aiming for a West Coast IPA or East Coast IPA in particular though in general I prefer the citrusy West Coast flavor. Details:
8.5lbs 2-row
2lbs Crystal 40L
0.5lbs Vienna
1oz Nugget (Pellets) 60min
0.5oz Nugget (Pellets) 30min
1oz Cascade (Whole) 10min
1.5oz Nugget (Pellets) dry hop - 4 days
So it has been a long, long time since I have made an IPA so this is the rough beginnings of a new recipe. I am a little concerned about the effect on flavor and body of 2.5lbs of Crystal & Vienna, but on the other hand I am curious so why not try it. As far as the hops go, BrewPal says this should lead to about 66 IBU but this does not necessarily reflect the perceived bitterness. I try not to get too hung up on IBUs in general as I have had a 50IBU beer that tastes less bitter than a 23IBU beer due to the balance of malt flavor. So while IBUs are certainly a good indicator, it is not a guarantee of how bitter a beer will actually taste. Again, the best choice is to taste the beer we end up with and adjust for the next time.
THE RESULTS
I wrote the above portion of this post many moons ago when we actually brewed this batch and the beer has since fermented, been bottled and mostly consumed. This batch turned out absolutely delicious and I can't wait to make another batch. It is a bit thicker than I expected, but I think that the mouthfeel fits well with the overall beer experience. As I expected the perception of actual bitterness is not up there, but it is definitely in IPA territory. The malt and the body of the beer balance the bitterness very well and make for an extremely drinkable beer. As for color, it is a deep copper with a decent straw colored head. The aroma of the nugget hops really comes through as soon as you pour yourself a glass and people that have sampled it have said they expect it to be very bitter from the aroma but are pleasantly surprised. If you love IPAs and have a friend who you want to get hooked as well I think this would make a great "gateway" IPA. It is bitter, but balances so well that the newbies will not run in fear at the first sip.
A great comparison to this beer would be to Troegs Nugget Nectar. If you are on the east coast and have the opportunity to try Nugget Nectar I highly recommend this IPA. If you like Nugget Nectar then by all means try out this recipe.
A few other notes: Our efficiency was pretty abysmal at 62%, but there were some issues I will go into in another post about the current equipment situation. The final abv was 4.5% which is respectable enough for me though could be higher if we can achieve better efficiency. Overall though I am very happy with this beer and can't wait to brew it again. We just bottled a Spiced Holiday Ale so I will try and throw up that recipe soon. If you haven't brewed your holiday beer at this point though it is not likely to be ready by Christmas.
You have made it through another post fair readers so why not congratulate yourself and crack open a homebrew! Cheers!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Brewing the Spiced Christmas Ale
Yesterday was brew day for our spiced Christmas ale. Just like every other beer of ours we don't really have a name for it other than the descriptor of what type of beer it is. Suggestions anyone? (Does anyone really read this?) This was B Brewer's recipe and was based on the very first beer we ever brewed, a fitting tribute as it was this time one year ago that we first started brewing. That first beer was a Red Ale (also nameless) that I wasn't really too fond of until about a month after it had been bottled. This was the first homebrewing lesson in patience though personally I still haven't taken it to heart.
Originally the Red Ale was a mixture of extract and grain, with a complete mess of the kitchen made in what could maybe be described as a mash using a grain bag. Oh the memories. It was then that we used a rolling pin and a cutting board to try to crush our meager few pounds of grain for the mash. In fact the background of the banner is from that attempt. Do you have any idea how long it takes to crush even a few pounds of barley with such a setup? Think hours. Grueling grueling hours. That was the experience that made us invest in a grain grinder (The Barley Crusher which I swear by) which has saved countless hours of frustration, especially when we transitioned to all grain several beers down the road.
In any case, the base malt for this batch was 2 row pale malt combined with roasted barley, and dark crystal malt (I think, I don't have the recipe in front of me) for the specialty grains. We also held some dry malt extract (DME) in reserve for the boil in order to really bring up the potential alcohol. Of course a spiced ale is nothing without spices. We used a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel, cardamom and something else that I just can't quite remember (will update later). For hops we used Northern Brewer (pellet), Cascade (whole) and Willamette (pellet). Originally Willamette wasn't going to be in there but apparently we were overdue for a boilover because as soon as I added the first Northern Brewer our kettle immediately frothed furiously and boiled all over the deck taking a lot of the hops with it. Some could say this was an amateur mistake and I should have paid closer attention as the person adding the hops but I would rather say shouldn't someone have been watching me watch the boil... So the Willamette hops were added to account for this act of god that removed our other hops from the boil and we moved on. Since the goal was to get not just the flavor of the spices but also that powerful aroma, and what an aroma it was, half of the spices were added at 15 minutes to the end of the boil and the rest were added at 5 minutes.
Cooling took us about an hour with the wort chiller running. I think we can get better cooling if we can keep the coils from bunching up in the kettle. At the moment even if we spread out the coils before immersing them in the kettle, in the end they all end up settling in a bunch at the bottom. We are going to try using some heavy duty copper wire to weave in and out of the coils vertically to try and keep them spread out more. With all of the coils bunched at the bottom a half hour of running cold water through cools the bottom of the kettle so it is safe to touch but the middle and top are still too hot.
We took a reading just before pitching our yeast and the result was a SG of 1.092. Too high you say? Well lets hope it ends up at that high holiday beer level that warms you up but not so high that you can't taste the spices. Going to take a reading next weekend and then rack it and let it sit for another week or so. So check back later but in the meantime you too should be drinking a homebrew.
Originally the Red Ale was a mixture of extract and grain, with a complete mess of the kitchen made in what could maybe be described as a mash using a grain bag. Oh the memories. It was then that we used a rolling pin and a cutting board to try to crush our meager few pounds of grain for the mash. In fact the background of the banner is from that attempt. Do you have any idea how long it takes to crush even a few pounds of barley with such a setup? Think hours. Grueling grueling hours. That was the experience that made us invest in a grain grinder (The Barley Crusher which I swear by) which has saved countless hours of frustration, especially when we transitioned to all grain several beers down the road.
In any case, the base malt for this batch was 2 row pale malt combined with roasted barley, and dark crystal malt (I think, I don't have the recipe in front of me) for the specialty grains. We also held some dry malt extract (DME) in reserve for the boil in order to really bring up the potential alcohol. Of course a spiced ale is nothing without spices. We used a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel, cardamom and something else that I just can't quite remember (will update later). For hops we used Northern Brewer (pellet), Cascade (whole) and Willamette (pellet). Originally Willamette wasn't going to be in there but apparently we were overdue for a boilover because as soon as I added the first Northern Brewer our kettle immediately frothed furiously and boiled all over the deck taking a lot of the hops with it. Some could say this was an amateur mistake and I should have paid closer attention as the person adding the hops but I would rather say shouldn't someone have been watching me watch the boil... So the Willamette hops were added to account for this act of god that removed our other hops from the boil and we moved on. Since the goal was to get not just the flavor of the spices but also that powerful aroma, and what an aroma it was, half of the spices were added at 15 minutes to the end of the boil and the rest were added at 5 minutes.
Cooling took us about an hour with the wort chiller running. I think we can get better cooling if we can keep the coils from bunching up in the kettle. At the moment even if we spread out the coils before immersing them in the kettle, in the end they all end up settling in a bunch at the bottom. We are going to try using some heavy duty copper wire to weave in and out of the coils vertically to try and keep them spread out more. With all of the coils bunched at the bottom a half hour of running cold water through cools the bottom of the kettle so it is safe to touch but the middle and top are still too hot.
We took a reading just before pitching our yeast and the result was a SG of 1.092. Too high you say? Well lets hope it ends up at that high holiday beer level that warms you up but not so high that you can't taste the spices. Going to take a reading next weekend and then rack it and let it sit for another week or so. So check back later but in the meantime you too should be drinking a homebrew.
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