Rye Amber Ale

 So I've been slacking a bit on getting this in the blog.  Last Saturday, I turned the ingredients seen on the left into beer.  It;s going to be very similar to my usual Amber Ale that I make, except, I added a pound of rye to the grain bill.  The rye will add some spicey undertones to the beer.  It's also well hoped, and I used Wyeast Northwest Ale yeast to finish it off.

This brew was a partial mash, over 4 pounds of grain, mixed with 3 pounds of light dry malt extract (DME,) I also had a pound of corn sugar laying around from when I used to bottle, so I added that to the boil as well.  That will add an extra percent of alcohol to the finished product as well as allow the yeast to fully attenuate, meaning it should have a crisp, dry finish.

After 3 days the fermentation was starting to slow down.  I figured this would be the ideal time to add some more flavor to the party.  A few years back, I wrote to the good people at Templeton Rye Whiskey, in Templeton, IA.  I told them I was a homebrewer, and wanted to do a wood aged beer using their oak.  The quickly shipped out a board from one of their used whiskey barrels, and I try to use it sparingly for one brew a year.  I always use two 6 inch long pieces at once.  Before adding it to the fermenter, I bake them in the over for a half an hour.  This kills any microscopic critters that can add some interesting flavors to the beer.  I'll let this sit for at least two weeks before kegging.  I guess that means I need to finish the last of my Weizenbock to make room for this.  So once again, thank you to the people at Templeton Rye for making such an awesome product, but for being generous enough to share your barrels.  If you haven't checked them out yet, you really need to.  http://www.templetonrye.com/

Mad Town

 This weekend we went to Madison, WI to visit family.  It was also the annual neighborhood art walk that my sister participates in (see makes and sells pottery.)  Every year her husband does beer samples during the event.  The past 2 years he's sampled my homebrew there.  This year I brought just over 8 liters of beer for sampling, a Weizenbock, Cherry Stout, and Ginger Saison.

Little did I know, it was Madison Craft Beer Week.  What perfect timing!  Dale (my brother in-law) had a connection with a local brewery, and got us a short private tour.  The House of Brews http://houseofbrewsmadison.com is a small Co-op style brewery.  Paige, the owner and brewer, is working very hard, and producing high quality brews.  I highly recommend the Bungalow Rye ESB.

We also checked out a cask ale festival, and had 2 very interesting beers there, went to a few local markets/liquor stores, and also hit a local distillery, Old Sugar Distillery.  http://www.madisondistillery.com  Their rum and ouzo were very tasty.  Spending time with family, and enjoying great local brews is my idea of a great weekend.

Above and to the right is the haul of Wisconsin beer that made the trip back to Iowa.  

Above and to the left is a Maibock from Capital Brewery.

Below is an IPA from Ale Asylum.

Hop Wrangler

 I enjoyed a nice Hop Wrangler from Peace Tree Brewery (Knoxville, IA) tonight.  If you like hops, this is the beer for you.  The citrus flavor of the hops smacks your taste buds with the first sip, and the oils coat your tongue and throat on the way down.

Peace Tree has been around for 3 years or so now, and they make some great beers.

The hoppy IPA goes great with spicy food.  Tonight I made grilled pork chops (with Galena rub from Penzy's Spices,) zucchini, and jalapeno poppers.

This weekend I'm off to Madison, WI to visit family, and it also happens to be Madison Craft Beer week.  I hope to enjoy many local Wisconsin brews while I'm there.  Prost!!

Ginger Saison 2

1 1/2 weeks carbonating in the keg, and it's ready to drink.  This is the perfect spring/summer beer that I was hoping for.  Light, tangy, and refreshing, now bring on the sun!  It also goes great with food.

Rib eye, zucchini, asparagus, and jalepeno poppers ready for the grill.  Sorry, no after pictures, the food went too fast.  Especially when washed down the my ginger saison.

Going to get supplies for my next brew this weekend.  Still not sure what I'm doing yet.  I'm leaning towards a Rye Amber Ale.  We shall see.

Beer Review

I've tried in the past to keep a beer journal.  A log of all the different brews I've tried, maybe a brief summary of what I thought and a 1 to 10 rating system.  That lasted about 2 months.  I love my beer, but I simply do not have the dedication to stick with that for the long haul.  I will however use this blog as a chance to review the occasional brew.  This week, I chose a smoked porter by O'Fallon.

In general, I've like their brews in the past.  I don't consider them to be a top tier, must have brewery for me, but they usually have good, solid beers.  This however, is not one of them.  If I wanted to drink liquid smoke, I'd go to some crappy, faux BBQ joint and drink their sauce.  The smoke flavoring was over powering, and absolutely fake.  I don't like that in my BBQ, and I don't like it in my beer.  To top it off, the smoke flavor was followed by a weak malt background.  I would not buy this again, nor recommend it to anyone.  I will still continue to drink and try different beers from O'Fallon, just not this one.

First Dark Cherry Stout taste

10 days after kegging, and it's time to try a beer.  As you can see, there's a nice, thick, foamy head on the Cherry Stout.  The cherry aroma is followed nicely by the dark malts in the beer.  Turned out to be a very smooth, tasty, and easy drinking beer.  Props to Jerry at the Bluff Street Brew Haus in Dubuque, IA for putting this recipe together.

As I said in a previous post, I don't usually make my beer from kits, but this was a Christmas gift from my wife.  Also, she knows if I am going to brew a kit, it has to be one of Jerry's.  If you're ordering supplies, check him out online at http://www.bluffbrewhaus.com/ or stop in to his shop next time you're in Dubuque.  Thanks Jerry for a great beer, I'll be stopping in for more supplies soon!

Kegging Time

My stout is ready to be moved into the keg.  It's been two weeks since I put it in the fermenting bucket, fermenting is complete, and the yeast has dropped to the bottom.  This is a quick and easy process.  After cleaning and sanitizing the keg, syphon, and tubing, I simply transfer the beer from the fermenter to the keg, and attach the CO2.

While syphoning, I simply keep the wand about 1-2 inches off the bottom to avoid the trub (yeast that has dropped to the bottom of the fermenter.)  This helps keep the beer nice and clear.  A lot of people I know like to transfer their beer to a secondary before kegging to help keep the unwanted trub out.  I found if your careful, it's just an extra, unnecessary step, and extra steps always add the chance of either contamination or oxidization, both of which can cause off flavors in the final product.

After all the beer is in the keg, I add some CO2, than open the pressure relief valve to purge out any oxygen in the keg.  I repeat this step about 3 times to ensure the oxygen is out.  Than I move the kegs to it's proper location, and leave it hooked up to the CO2 for about a week.  I'll pour a test beer in a week to see if it's fully carbonated, or if it needs more time.  This is another one of those difficult sacrifices we homebrewers must make.