Jasmine IPA
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Saturday, 29 March 08 - 03:24 PM (GMT -07:00) By Matt Margeson in Beer Recipes |
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Since Matt makes so many dishes just for me, I thought it would be nice to create a beer for him. He loves jasmine tea and was excited to taste a jasmine beer. If you're not a big jamine fan you can leave it out and make a regular IPA or you could make the flavor subtler by adding less. Like hops, jasmine is a flower and will lose aroma during long bottle aging. However, I think the subtler flavor and aroma could be nice so we'll see how a few more weeks in the bottle changes the ale and let you know.
For 5 gallons:
5 ½ lbs light dry malt extract
1 lb crystal malt (60L)
½ lb toasted malted barley
2 tsp gypsum
2 oz Northern Brewer hops (boiling) – whole hops were used
¾ oz Cascade hops (finishing) – palletized hops used
Jasmine flowers – Matt’s handful for boiling, a hearty pinch at 55 minutes, and a pinch at 1 minute
7 whole green cardamom pods, bruised and added at 55 minutes
2 pinches of coriander (we only had ground) at 55 minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss at 45 minutes
¾ cup corn sugar for bottling
To start, I’d like to make a few notes about the ingredients. For the barley, buy whole malted barley and toast it in your oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. When cool, put the barley in a gallon sized zip top bag and use a rolling pin to crush the malt. Jasmine flowers can be found on various spice websites. I always try to buy organic products for making beer and was able to find organic dried jasmine flowers. In this case we only had ground coriander on hand so it was used, but I would suggest using whole coriander seeds, slightly crushed, if you have them. And now on to the brewing specifics…
Steep the crystal malt and barley at 155 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the grain, bring to a boil, and all the malt extract. Dry malt extract has tendency to boil up a lot so pull your pot off the heat while you mix it in and keep a close on it. Add in the gypsum, Northern Brewer hops, and a large handful of jasmine flowers. Boil for 45 minutes and add the Irish Moss. Boil another 10 minutes and add a hearty pinch of jasmine, coriander, and cardamom. Boil 4 minutes and for the final 1 minute of boiling add in the Cascade hops and a pinch of jasmine.
All those jasmine flowers...
Matt originally pitched the yeast too hot and it died so we had to add another round of yeast after a few days to get things going (pitch yeast at 70-75 degrees). Ferment, rack to secondary, and bottle with corn sugar as usual. Our original gravity was 1.055 and the final gravity was1.018 giving us about 3.9% alcohol.
We had our first taste about 8 days after bottling. The carbonation was pretty good already and the color and clarity were fantastic. The jasmine aroma and flavor were very strong.
Another beautiful glass of homebrew.
A month after our first tasting...it is now evident that not all of the original yeast died. The beer is now extremely carbonated and causes some pouring issues. We're finding that you just have to be patient, pour slowly, and let it rest between pours. It takes a while, but you won't have this problem because you're going to cool the wort sufficiently before pitching the yeast, right? The flavor at this point is the same as a month ago but much subtler and smoother. The jasmine is very evident right from the start but not quite so overwhelming now. We have quite a few bottles and it should be interesting to see how strong or subtle our friends prefer this ale over the coming weeks.
Holiday Ale Follow Up
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Monday, 28 January 08 - 07:14 PM (GMT -07:00) By Matt Margeson in Beer Recipes |
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As promised, we have an update ready for you guys, not only on the beer, but on the skiing case as well. We'll start with an update on the case.
Wow, public sentiment can be a brutal thing. And the 60 year old who filed suit against an 8 year old for allegedly bumping into him on the ski slopes has certainly been introduced to the power of the internet. This quote pretty much sums up what's happened since we last checked in on this case:
"The story began circulating on the internet, and Pfahler and his wife started receiving emails complaining about his legal action. A few emails became a lot, and grew into an electronic blizzard worthy of
Does this man deserve this level of harassment? I'll let the readers be the judge, but one thing is for sure everyone involved in this case could certainly use a homebrew at this point. So, without further ado...
The holiday ale has been bottled and conditioned for just over a week now. Here are a few pictures to wet your whistle.
Just before bottling it's a good idea to let your beer know how you feel about it.
When bottling, first add your corn sugar solution to the bottling bucket and then add the beer using the hose to create a swirling motion to help mix it all together.
A young finished product. More bottle conditioning will yield a better beer.
We're planning to let this batch bottle condition for a few more weeks before entering it in a local homebrew competition. It will also be submitted to the annual national homebrew competition this spring. Wish us luck!
Holiday Ale
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Thursday, 10 January 08 - 09:25 PM (GMT -07:00) By Matt Margeson in Beer Recipes |
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Alright, we know the holidays have passed but Nicole is a firm believer that holiday ales are best enjoyed during ski season and why not? Everything at Christmas time is already rich, spiced, and heavy so the ale gets lost in the crowd. After a long day of skiing, however, you can really sit back and enjoy the full, deep, warming flavors of holiday ales while taking in the snow covered mountain views.
Skiing is one of the best parts about living out in Colorado, and I find that most folks on the slopes are fairly laid back. Not this guy though... http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14897687/detail.html. So here's to you guy who got knocked over by an 8 year old and thought that the proper response was a lawsuit. Maybe if he'd had a homebrew he'd have been in a better mood. As we brew this beer and keep posting updates with new pics I'll keep following this case with updates on its status and commentary.
Since we've already posted details about the brewing process, from now on we'll just be putting up the ingredients and basic instructions.
Our
7lbs plain light malt extract
1 lb clover honey
½ lb crystal malt
2 oz black malt
2 oz Cascade hops (boiling)
½ oz Saaz hops (finishing)
1 oz grated ginger (we grated 2 inches of a piece about as thick as my finger)
6 in cinnamon stick
3 allspice balls
5 cloves
1 vanilla bean (broken in to pieces since ours was dry, otherwise slice in half lengthwise)
1 whole nutmeg, cut into 3 or 4 pieces
3 orange peels, grated
1 lemon peel, grated
American-ale type yeast (we used
Simmer grains for 30 minutes at 150-160 degrees. Add malt extract, honey, and Cascade hops and boil for 60 minutes. Add all the the spices and citrus zest and boil for 8 minutes. Add in the Saaz hops and boil for 2 more minutes. Follow the rest of the brewing process and get ready to enjoy some holiday flavor.
Our holiday ale grain blend.
Brewing Your Own Beer, Part 2
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Thursday, 10 January 08 - 07:46 PM (GMT -07:00) By Matt Margeson in Beer Recipes |
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So you’re ready to bottle your first batch of beer. If you're following the Amber ale recipe, we waited about 11 days after racking to the carboy before bottling. This part is fairly simple once you get the hang of it.
As usual you’ll need to sanitize everything before getting started. Your clean bottles can be sanitized by running them through the dishwasher on the hottest wash and rinse cycles. If you’re recycling bottles and want to remove the labels, just soak them in hot, soapy water. After 10-15 minutes you should be able to peel off the labels. With most bottles you’ll have a lot of glue residue which can be loosened up by soaking them a little while longer without the label. Rinse and scrub off the last bits of glue with a scouring pad. You’ll also need to sanitize your bottling bucket with spigot, racking wand, plastic hose, and bottling wand with a sanitizing solution. Bottle caps can be sanitized by boiling them for 5 minutes or soaking them in vodka.
Now it’s time to get down to business. Start by boiling a pint of water with ¾ cup corn sugar for 5 minutes. Allow it to cool a little bit and then pour it into your bottling bucket. Once added to your beer, this sugar will reactivate the yeast which in turn will carbonate your beer. The next step is to place your carboy on counter and your bottling bucket on the floor (make sure the spigot is closed!). Using your racking wand and plastic hose, siphon the beer into the bucket just like you did for the secondary fermentation. You want to do this quickly without splashing or creating bubbles and avoid picking up any sediment. Now move the bucket to the counter and hook up the hose and bottling wand. You’re finally ready to fill those bottles! Put the wand in the bottle and press it down against the bottom to fill. If you fill all the way to the top of the bottle then the beer will drop down to the proper level when you take the wand out.
If you’re doing this yourself then go ahead and fill all the bottles before capping. We get an assembly line going with Nicole filling and Matt capping the bottles. To cap, just place a bottle cap on the top, fit the capper over it, and press down hard. It actually takes a good bit of force to press the capper all the way down. If you get an odd bottle in a bunch that doesn’t have carbonation it was probably not capped right.
You can also use Grolsch style bottles with reusable flip tops though they are more expensive.
Our bottles: awesome, super awesome, and UberBottle.
I'm sorry but there's still more wait time until you can enjoy your beer. We had our first taste of the Amber ale 10 days after bottling but the more time goes on the better the beer tastes. The longer you can hold off the better your reward. The last step: enjoy a glass of your own homebrew!
Yes, it does taste as good as it looks.
Brewing Your Own Beer, Part 1
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Sunday, 16 December 07 - 08:19 PM (GMT -07:00) By Matt Margeson in Beer Recipes |
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The law and beer have always had a rocky relationship at best. When you have a product so controversial that it required two seperate amdements to the constitution, you have to be aware of the local laws in your state regarding brewing. Some places, like Colorado, have excellent brewing laws that are easy to understand and easy to follow. Some states, like Mississippi, have no laws at all. If you want to make sure you can legally brew your own beer check out this absolutely phenomenal site http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/legal.html
Beyond the laws on brewing itself there are tons and tons of laws that directly or indirectly implicate your favorite brew. First and foremost DUI laws. So have fun brewing and by all means enjoy your awesome homemade beer, but remember generally speaking the criminal justice system and beer do not mix.
Nicole’s been talking about brewing beer for years so it was time to get started. We’ve determined the two key elements of beer making: sanitation and preparation. So with each step of the brewing process you’ll need to clean your work area, review the steps, gather all of the hardware and any ingredients, and sanitize all hardware before starting. We purchased a home brewing kit from The Brew Hut in
Ingredients for 5 Gallons of Amber Ale
4-5 gallons of water, either spring water or tap water that has been boiled and cooled or set out overnight to allow added chemicals such as chlorine to evaporate out
7 pound bag of ice (not needed if you have a fancy wort chiller)
½ pound crystal grain, milled
7 lbs light malt extract syrup
1 oz Cascade hops
1 ¾ oz Kent Goldings hops
½ tsp Irish moss (it’s actually a type of seaweed!)
1 vial British ale yeast
To begin, steep the grain in 2 gallons of water at 155 degrees for 30 minutes. Add 1 gallon of water, the malt extract (immerse the container in hot water to help it pour more easily), and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add in the Cascade hops, ¾ oz Kent Goldings hops, and boil for 10 minutes. Add the Irish moss and boil another 5 minutes. Add the final 1 oz Kent Goldings hops, turn off the heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Strain the wort into your primary fermenter and add in the 7 lbs of ice and enough water to bring it up the 5 gallon mark. You’re trying to bring the mixture down to 80 degrees as quickly as possible so stir frequently to ensure even cooling. Just our luck, when the wort got down to about 85 degrees our thermometer went on the fritz! Now you’ll want to remove a small amount of the brew to a hydrometer flask (ok, we just used the plastic container it came in). As we learned later, our hydrometer measures best at about 60 degrees so we didn’t get a very good reading at 80, but you live and learn and luckily it’s just a good research tool. Now you’re going to pitch the yeast, which means shake the yeast vial until well mixed and pour it into the fermenter. Go ahead and stir the heck out of the mixture before putting on the lid and the airlock. We’re using a two chamber airlock as opposed to a one chamber airlock, but either way don’t forget to add water (or vodka) to the line. Stash your fermenting brew in a cool dark place such as an unused bathtub or the back of your closet like us.
After 4 days the fermentation had slowed quite considerably and we were able to rack the beer. Using you racking wand and a siphoning tube, siphon the beer from the primary fermenter to a glass carboy and get your airlock back on.
This is by far the fastest and easiest step of the process. Try not to get any residue in the siphoning tube, but a small bit is not going to hurt anything. If your storage spot might get some light exposure go ahead and cover the carboy with a paper bag with a hole in the top for the airlock. Theoretically you can leave the beer in this stage forever, which comes in handy if things come up and you aren’t able to bottle when you planned.
Check back for information on finishing your own homebrew. Note: you should really try to keep the cats out of the kitchen, but it's a bit difficult when one of them actually enjoys drinking beer too!
A New Section Just for Beer!
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Sunday, 16 December 07 - 06:18 AM (GMT -07:00) By Matt Margeson in Beer Recipes |
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... More items are available in my News Archive
