Epic Brewing - Mid Mountian Mild #23

Mild Ales are not a style that I have a whole lot of experience with. There just aren't too many of them around here. Originally, the term "Mild" meant the beer was served young as opposed to other beers that were served aged, or "stale.". Generally speaking, these days the term is used to mean a beer that is lower in alcohol and lighter hopped than their Brown Ale and Bitter cousins.

This beer pours with an inch of white head and maintains between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. The carbonation sounds a lot like Rice Crispies.

The alcohol comes in at 5.1%, which is on the high side for a Mild, but is not distracting from the beer.

Base malts include: Muntons Maris Otter and Briess 2-Row Brewers. Specialty malts include: Weyermann Cara Munich 1, Weyermann Munich Malt Type 1 and Roasted Barley.

New Belgium Ranger IPA

I was not terribly impressed with this beer at first. Oh, another pine-grapefruity IPA. But over time, this beer has grown on me.

Guess its a good thing I picked up a 6-pack.

Here's a quick rundown of New Belgium's Ranger IPA statistics:  ABV = 6.5%.  IBUs = 70.  Hops consist of Chinook, Simcoe, and Cascade.  Malts are pale malt and Caramalt 120L.

Here's what I've come to enjoy about this beer:

Thanksgiving 2012 Results

Turkey Post-Brine

I'm a bit slow getting it up, but i wanted to post the results of my 2012 Thanksgiving Turkey Fry.

My wife and I had a bit of a miscommunication.  I mentioned to her that we could put some oranges and lemons in the brine if she wanted to.  She thought I said that she could stuff oranges or lemons in the cavity of the turkey for the frying. It was an understandable mistake. We've stuffed onions and garlic heads in the cavity of the bird before with great success.

When two sliced lemons hit the 350F oil, the oil started bubbling and frothing like crazy.

I was very thankful for two things: 1) the burner was off on the fryer, and 2) I was standing at the end of a long rope instead of holding an 18lb turkey with my hand.

Epic Brewing - Smoked Porter Release #14

Smoked beers are among the most interesting beers.  Before the invention of electric kilning, all beers would carried this flavor from the wood fires used to roast the malt.  Some of these beers are aggressive and weigh heavy on the palette.  Others are light and refreshing.

Epic's Smoked Porter pours with an inch-or-so of head. It maintains about 1/4 inch of head as it laces down the glass.

This beer, perhaps, is midrange on the smokey scale. Many smoked beers need to be pared with food. But this beer goes down nicely on the palette without becoming overtaxing. Although, I'm not sure I could drink two in one sitting without a major palette cleansing in between.  By the time I finished the 22oz bottle, my mouth was holding onto a serious ashy aftertaste.

Thanksgiving Turkey Fry Homebrew Brining Wort

Crushed Grains for Wort and Grain Bag

It will have been two years this Christmas since I received my turkey fryer.  The ostensible reason for asking for it as a gift was to make the move to all-grain brewing and to move my homebrewing out of the kitchen and into the garage.

It was just before Thanksgiving last year, when my wife and I were planning to host both our families at our house for the first time, that I realized I could use my turkey fryer to actually fry a turkey.  We ended up frying three turkeys last year:  thanksgiving, christmas, and another one for fun sometime in March.

Turkey Frying - Safety

What time is it?  TURKEY FRYING TIME!!!

The most juicy turkey I have ever ate is deep fried turkey.  Frying the turkey really doesn't add much in the way of calories to the turkey either.  Because it isn't breaded, when the turkey is lowered into the pot, the hot oil instantly sears the surface of the meat closed.  All the moisture that was in the turkey before it went in, stays in.

They purpose of this blog post is to detail safety tips you will want to keep in mind if you decide to fry your own turkey.  In subsequent posts, I will chronicle this Thanksgiving's turkey fry.

It is awesome.

I know they show scary videos of fryer fires every year.

Don't be afraid.

Buoyancy Test

I don't want to minimize the danger, because what you are doing is using an open flame to heat up a flammable liquid (cooking oil) that you are going to use to cook the turkey in.  The trick is to keep the flammable liquid away from the open flame.  You accomplish this and there will be no fryer fire.

There are three main reasons turkey frys can turn into turkey fryer fires.


Fire Cause #1:  Too Much Oil
How do you avoid putting too much oil in the turkey fryer?  Its simple:  do a buoyancy test.  Days before the turkey fry, take the frozen turkey and put it in your fryer pot.  Fill the pot with water until the level reaches the top of the turkey.  The first thing this does is give you an idea how full your pot will be when you are frying your turkey.  If you have very little freeboard on the sides of the pot above the water level, you will probably want to get a bigger pot or a smaller turkey.

Fruit Smoothies

Another thing I've been working on over the past few weeks has been fruit smoothies.

Between work & home-life stress and some weight gain over the past couple of years, my blood pressure has risen into 140/90. So I'm trying to exercise more and eat better.

Part of eating better has been cutting back on the beer intake. Calories are calories and alcohol raises blood pressure.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not replacing craft beer and homebrew with smoothies. I'm using the smoothies to ensure I'm getting proper nutrition. This is the basic recipe I've been working with:

1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 - 1.5 cup fruit (preferably frozen)
3 or 4 ice cubes if the fruit is not frozen

Place all in a blender and purée.

Fruit combos I have tried:
Strawberry - banana
Blackberry - banana
Raspberry - banana
Pineapple - banana
Apple - banana
Raspberry - apple
Mango - banana

I know there is a lot of banana on that list. Banana is blood pressure reducing. Also, when frozen, it gives a milkshake quality to the smoothie.

The yogurt is to give it a little more sweetness. Choose the flavor you like.

If it ends up more chunky than smooth, add more milk.

Finally, you will want to have a blender that can blend ice. I purchased a Ninja for about $50.

Squatters - Big Cottonwood Amber Ale

I was wrong. I found one more Squatters bottle lurking in my cellar. I totally did not know what to expect with this beer. I didn't even check to see the style before opening it.

This dry hopped American Amber manages to maintain an off-white half inch head. The alcohol comes in at a nice 5.75% ABV. The dry hop is a nice citrusy and floral Cascade. Color is a darkish tan to faint red.

Except for the color and maltiness, this beer sort of presents itself as a pale ale. And it does have a nice maltiness. I've written before how that doesn't seem achievable in a 4.0% ABV beer.

If you really get your nose in the glass and take a deep whiff, you can smell brown sugar and caramel.

Moose Drool Brown Ale by Big Sky Brewing Company

An update: first I came down sick for a couple weeks. After that, I decided to enjoy some of my homebrew. I mean, I could literally sing "100 bottles of beer on the wall" in my cellar. Mostly, I've been enjoying the double hefe.

Tonight I dug out a bottle of Moose Drool. This is a seriously enjoyable beer if you are a dark beer drinker.

The Brown Ale is an under appreciated style. If you like Stouts and Porters, you should really give Brown Ales a try. Mild Ales too for that matter.

Seriously, broaden your beer horizons any chance you get. Even if you try a beer and you didn't like it, give it a couple more chances. Make sure you don't like it and try to figure out why.

Moose Drool is as dark as many porters but it not completely opaque if held up to a light. It's a little roasty but tastes primarily of chocolate and caramel malts.

Hops consist of Kent Goldings, Liberty, and Willamette. The hops are just strong enough to be noticeable and balance the sweetness of the malt. From the hops, I mostly get a little spice and flowers. Kent Goldings, and Willamette are two of my favorite hops.

Wasatch Evolution Amber

If there is one thing that hoppy and malty beer drinkers can almost always agree upon, it's that Amber Ales are an acceptable alternative. When I think of a perfectly balanced beer, it's Ambers that I think of.  And when someone isn't sure exactly what to drink, Ambers are what I advise.

This beer uses Tennanger hops.  It has a reddish brass color and maintains a slight head.  The flavor comes across as lightly toasty, slightly spicy, and has some estery/fruity and floral notes in the background.

My overall conclusion: its a lawn mower beer -> light bodied, thirst quenching, and sessionable.

The main fault of this beer comes back to the Utah Beer 4.0% ABV requirement to be sold on draft or in grocery stores. It's tough to make a beer malty at 4.0% ABV. It ends up a little hollow or watery on the mouthfeel.

Undecided Voters 2012 Election

As I sit here drinking a beer and thinking about the 2012 election coming, I became inspired to write something about the so called "undecided voters". What these people should be called is "low information voters."

I had the misfortune of knowing an undecided - low information voter 8 years ago. I want to relay this story not because of the politics involved, I have very political opinions but I don't want to use this space for that. I want to relay this story in an election year to help people understand that these people are not logical.

We will call this former friend 'C'.

-----------

In 2004 my wife and I when over to C's house for dinner. After dinner the discussion moved to politics. C announced that she just decided she was going to vote to reelect Bush.

I thought this was a bit weird. She is socially liberal, supported gay marriage, supported abortion rights, she wasn't wealthy, and she wasn't anti-tax or anti-government.

I said, "Really? Why?"

She said, "The war in Iraq is really screwed up. I think Bush deserves the chance to fix his mistakes."

I stared at her for a few seconds then said, "You think the war in Iraq is screwed up?"

She said, "Yes."

I said, "You think if Bush is reelected, he will take that was a sign that he needs to do something different in Iraq?"

She thought about it and said, "Yeah, I think he will fix it."

-----------

Undecided - Low Information voters are people who feel voting is part of their civic responsibility but don't care enough about news or politics to follow them closely. And most importantly: they are not logical.

Logical people will think "If A and B, then C." Undecided - low information voters think, "I want X. I want Candidate Y to give it to me, even if they say they are against it."

When a politician is reelected, they take it as a sign of voter approval, not disapproval. They take it as a sign that voters want more of the same, not something different.

But that was a concept that C didn't grasp.

Another example is a twitter exchange I had with someone complaining that the health care industry was "too regulated." His solution to rising health care costs included banning DTC advertising of drugs and regulating pharmaceutical company's profit margins.

I asked him, "Isn't that more regulation?"

No reply.

The good news, I suppose, is there are fewer of these people in this election cycle. The bad news is billions of dollars are being spent trying to alter the gut-feelings and fantasies these people have when that money could be put to a more productive and beneficial use

Homemade salsa

I've been a little busy & a little sick over the last couple weeks. I think I'm finally in full control of my sinuses. One of the things I've been up to has been bottling homemade salsa from farmer's market vegetables.  I didn't get much in the way from the peppers or tomatoes I planted this year.

Here's this is based on my mother's recipe she used for decades:

Chop, dice, or blend (your choice of consistency) the following vegetables:
40 tomatoes (I used 20 Romas & 20 regular)
6 Serrano peppers
2 Poblano peppers
3 Anaheim peppers
3 Jalapeño peppers
1 large onion (2 cups)
5 cloves garlic
* my mom adds 2 cups bell peppers, my wife is allergic to them.
** this yields a mild-medium salsa. More peppers = hotter. Fewer peppers = milder. I personally prefer salsa much hotter than this, but I wanted it to be enjoyable for younger taste buds. My mom recommends 9 - 12 Jalapeños for hot salsa. I'm guessing that would translate to "pleasantly medium-hot" level.  (My mom has less robust tastebuds than I do)

Put vegetables in a very large stockpot. Add:
1/4 cup sugar (I'm investigating the potential to use less))
1 Tbsp non-iodized salt (I use kosher salt)
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp cilantro
Juice 4 limes
1 cup vinegar


Slowly heat to a boil. Almost all the liquid for the salsa is coming from the tomatoes. If you heat it too fast, it will scotch.

I turned the knob to simmer and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then I turned it up 1/2 of a number on the dial every 5 minutes until it boiled. Then I turned it down 1/2 a number every 5 minutes until I found a nice simmer.

Boil/simmer for 60 minutes.

Ladle from stock pot to bottling jars. Leave about a 1/2 inch space in the jar. Jars need to be clean but not sterile. Lids should be sterile. Put lids on.

Bottle per your bottling device instructions. I have an old steamer they no longer recommend using because its impossible to know the internal temperature of what is in the bottle and thusly if all pathogens are destroyed. However, since salsa cooks an hour, I'm pretty sure it's sterile after.

This recipe yielded 16 pints.

Imperial / Double Hefeweizen Homebrew

This beer is a good example of the iterations I go through when formulating a new recipe.  Originally, the plan was to make a California Common out of a Pilsner grain bill.  I quickly came to the decision that my brew areas were too warm.

So I thought, "maybe an estery Hefeweizen?"   So I took half Pilsen malt and half wheat malt started fooling around.  So I thought "make it big, use weird hops, and dry hop."   In short: everything you're not supposed to do.   I debated for a while on whether to call it an Imperial or a Double.  Eventually, I decided on "Double" because my goal was "twice what you typically find in a hefeweizen."

Here's what I came up with for my Double Hefeweizen:

Chimay - White Label Cinq Cents

I discovered in my cellar today that I had purchased a bottle of Chimay White and forgot about it.

One of the things I like about drinking Trappist beers is the history.  The monastery started brewing in 1862.  When you open a Trappist beer, you are opening up history.

You may have noticed in all my beer pictures, I use the same pint glass but tonight I'm using a snifter glass. There are very few beers and wines that I believe the shape of the glass actually has an effect on the beer drinking experience.   Belgian and Trappist beers are among the few exceptions.   This is because so much of the experience of these bees takes place in the smell.

Chimay corks all of their bottles.  Again, I don't much like corked beer because cork is susceptible to cork-rot.  I did not have that in this beer but I did once on a Chimay Blue.  The cork on this beer was amazingly easy to remove by hand.

Sierra Nevada - Southern Hemisphere Harvest

Today is the first day of real Autumn temperatures at my house. My outdoor thermometer is sheltered and always seems to read a little high. This morning it read 40F (4.5C). The house dropped down to 64F (18C).

So I spent this morning getting the house ready for winter. Mainly this means covering the evaporative cooler and making sure the boiler still works.

After all that work, I decided to crack open something refreshing: Sierra Nevada's Southern Hemisphere Harvest 2012.

This beer uses only freash hops from New Zealand: Pacific Hallertau, Motueka and Southern Cross.

I had it with some left over spinach, chicken, & parmesan pizza from last night.  Mmmm... nothing better than spinach pizza.

Squatters - Hell's Keep Belgian Style Golden Ale

This is probably my last Squatters review for a while.  I'll have to check my cellar, but I'm pretty sure this is the last of the beers I purchased at the brewery on my last stop.  It's kind of sad.

But Untapped just informed me that I've had 10 different Squatters beers in less than 30 days.  So, maybe it is time to move on.

I don't have a whole lot of experience with the Belgian Golden Ale style. I'm more of a Trappist & Lambic Belgain beer drinker.

A couple things to get out of the way:   1) Not a fan of the label art.  Be cartoonish or be realistic.  Don't be vague.  2) Foil wrapped.  Again, I ask "Why foil wrap a beer?"  This is not wine.   But if you want it to be like wine, make it easier to remove, like wine.   Besides, if prettiness is the goal, bottle caps can be pretty too.

Aesthetics rants aside, this is a great beer.

This beer is smooth with a bit of fruitiness with musty/earthiness thrown in.  The head on the beer is stiff and thick.  It reminds me of egg whites beaten stiff for a meringue.

Epic Brewing - Hop Syndrome Lager (Release #7)

Hop Syndrome is one of my favorites from Epic Brewing. It's an American Lager. It's also just about the lowest ABV beer that Epic brews.

Stats from the website:
Malts: Pilsner, Light Munich Malt, Carapils

Boil Hops: Calypso, Crystal
Hopback: whole leaf Aramis
Dry Hops: Crystal, Calypso

ABV: 4.8%

I think of this beer as essentially being a dry hopped American Pilsner. The body is thinner than a true pilsner without the corn flavors you would associate with a macrobrew.

The hop flavors are what this beer is about. Don't let the name mislead you, it's not a "hop bomb". It's a hoppy pilsner. And it doesn't take much dry hopping to hop-up a crisp Pilsner / American Lager.

Pumpkin Saison Fermentation Results

The pumpkin saison is finally bottled and in the process of carbonating.  I've been kind of sick for a while, so I've fallen behind on posts.  You can compare the beer results to what my original recipe and plan was here.

Pumpkin Saison in the bucket

Grain Bill
9lb Pilsen Malt
12oz Wheat Malt
8oz Biscuit Malt
8oz Crystal 20L Malt
1lb Belgian Clear Candi Sugar (added with 10 minutes remaining in the boil)

Hops
2oz 3.8%AA Hallertau 80 minutes
1oz 13.9%AA Citra 5 minutes

Spices (at flameout)
0.5oz Coriander
0.15oz Cinnamon sticks
0.15oz Clove
0.15oz Nutmeg

Fruit/Vegetables
3.62lb (58oz) of Canned Pumpkin Purée in the mash

Wing Nutz - Wings & Beer

Wing Nutz is a local chain in Salt Lake. It's a place I like to frequent to get my hot wings fix.

These guys have quite a variety of sauces and they aren't overly vinegary, like you might get at a Chili's or a Wingers (another local chain).

Also, they strictly do not fry their wings. I've had some sauces that are really good & some that are bad. I can't remember the bad ones, I don't order them anymore.

Actually, I don't order anymore. I let my wife order the wing combinations, because I can't remember.  So I'm guessing here:  chili garlic, parmesan curry, jalapeno honey BBQ, traditional, and southern hotties.  You can also get them as either chicken or "hog" wings.  Hog wings are pork shanks.

Squatters - India Pale Ale

Finally I have gotten to another new-to-me local beer.

If you want a quality IPA that isn't trying hard to over-do-it, isn't hopped to the point the enamel peels off your teeth, and isn't so aggressive that you think you've juiced a pine tree into a grapefruit, then this might be the beer for you.

It has a simple, geometric label. It's not stretching to make a pun with the name. Hops are simple and straight forward: a little grapefruit and a little pine (yes even I can take pine when it is a complementary flavor). Even though the hops are American, it's a hopping rate I more associate with English IPAs or Bitters. Neither are overpowering on the nose or the palate. The ABV is 6.5%, which again puts it middle of the road for the style.  It pours a nice copper with a white head. 

It's a straight up classic American IPA.

Wasatch Brewing : Belgian White Ale

This is a prime example of how when you are evaluating a beer, you really need to give it two or three tries, especially if you don't like it the first time around.  Much of the experience you will have in trying a new beer depends upon things that have nothing to do with the beverage: mood, food, personal bias, palate fatigue, etc.

When I first tried this beer, two or three years ago I was not impressed. I was at a conference, I was tired, I was eating greasy pub food, and I think that all overwhelmed the subtitles of this beer.

Also since that time, I have brewed a citrus-herb saison and a hefeweizen with moteuka hops (lemon-lime flavors).  Because of that, I'm better at picking out specific citrus flavors in beer.

This beer is a 6% Belgian White Ale flavored with orange peel, coriander, and spices. It bills itself as like Blue Moon but bigger, better, and bolder.  It pours hazy straw with a creamy white head.

Spaten Optimator Dopplebock

It's nice to be drinking a dark German beer made in Germany (Yes I know it's an InBev-Lowenbrau beer -> it's the nostalgia of it). Now if I can only get the opportunity to take it one step further: drink a German beer, made in Germany, while being in Germany...

First of all, I hate foil wrapped beers. I'm always paranoid that foil crumbs will get in the bottle.  They always leave me asking, "Why? What purpose does it serve?"

I know, it is very, very pretty.  And, of course, that is why I drink beer.

No, not really.

I don't much like corked beers either. But that's another discussion for another day.

For me, drinking the Optimator reminded me of chilling with my friends at a beer tent in the late fall or early spring, when our city would have their city fests.  The aromas and the music come back to me.  Even though it is a dopplebock, the flavor reminds me of schwartzlager.

This is a dark, ruby-brown dopplebock. A lot of roasty, dark chocolate flavors come through with no bitterness and no hints of coffee.

I not sure of the hops in it. I'm guessing noble hops. Maybe Saaz, because I'm getting a little woody & spiciness.  But the hops are a complementary flavor (not dominating), as you would expect from bock.

Unibroue - Ephemere Black Currant White Ale

As John Cleese would say, "And now for something completely different."

I must admit that I am an out of the closet fruit beer fan. The second beer that I ever brewed was a peach cream ale. It turned out all right, but probably could have used different hops.

A white ale is a pretty good canvas for a fruit beer. White ales are typically subtile in flavor, so when you fruit them, the fruit flavor and color dominate.

I didn't know what to expect from this beer and I'm not sure what I think about it. The color is a pinkish red. The color does not extend to the white head.

Squatters Hop Rising – My Gateway IPA

I was at a conference two and a half years ago.  The morning of the first day of the conference was filled with a particularly long and grueling meeting.  When lunch finally rolled around, I needed a break from the conference and a beverage, so I walked from the convention center to a conveniently located bar.

While looking through the drink menu, I saw a new beer from a local brewery that I had not seen before:  Hop Rising by Squatters.  I didn’t know anything about it, so I ordered it.

When I first looked at the bottle, I was a bit skeptical on whether I would like it or not.  It was an Imperial IPA.  I wasn’t much of a fan of the IPA style genre.  My general impression at the time is that too many PAs and IPAs are over C-hopped, too citrusy, too piney, and unbalanced.

To my wonderment and surprise, I loved this beer.  The first IPA that I really liked.  It’s a 9% beer with 75 IBUs.  But the thing is, it isn’t an overpowering flavor and isn’t the same-old IPA hops that everyone uses.  It packs in Amarillo, Cascade and Chinook.

Snowbird Oktoberfest 2012

Oktoberfest always holds a special place in my heart.  I lived at Ramstein Germany from 1983 through 1988.  I was 11 to 15 years old.

I began my love of beer while living in Germany.  Now an important disclamer note here:  Germany has vastly different drinking laws than the United States.  I do not advocate changing the US drinking laws to match Germany's.  Also, some day I'll write a post about how I ended up in the emergency room after a night of binge drinking.

Not a fun memory.

Anyway... so I grew up drinking a lot of Dortmonder Exports and Schwartzlagers.  So when I get nostalgic, that's what I go for.

While living in Germany, I never made it to the actual Oktoberfest.  I don't think my mother was willing to risk having my brother an I exposed to that much drinking.  Also, the mid-1980s was a bad time for Americans living in Europe.  American military and their families were the targets of choice for Libyan sponsored terrorism.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2012 Barleywine

I've had this review sitting in draft form for over a week. I've needed some time to reflect upon it. This is a beer that I really wanted to like and didn't.

There are two conclusions that I've come to, and both are my fault.
1) I was exhausted when I had this beer. I had been painting all day. When I drank my double hefe earlier in the day, it really hit the spot.

Why? Well, even though high in alcohol, it has a lighter body & is on the dry side. It's also citrusy and therefore, refreshing.

Barleywines are full bodied and have a residual sweetness. That combo is not "refreshing."

2) this is a drink-with-food beer. In doing my reviews, I have been waiting until after my daughter goes to bed before opening the bottle. Why? So I can focus on the beer and not have any distractions. This means, dinner was hours earlier in the day.

Lighter beers -> good on their own. Heavier beers -> need food to accompany them.

From now on, anything over 7%, I'm going to drink with dinner.

Outer Darkness from Squatters

The Utah craft beer I chose to enjoy on this trip to Smith and Morehouse is Outer Darkness from Squatters.

The beer pours with a thick, brown head. At least it looks that way in a Red Solo Cup.

Outer Darkness is a Russian Imperial Stout that runs at 10.5%. Creamy, chocolatey, and hoppy (65 IBUs).  I was not able to hazard a guess on the hops.  Too many flavors in this beer for me to try to pin it down.

By the way, this is the first Russian Imperial Stout that I've ever had.

It's a little bitey at the end of the taste.  I'm attributing this to the licorice added at the end of the boil and the oak conditioning.  The biting flavor disappears as the beer warms.  I may have chilled it too cold before opening.

When I opened it, I didn't realize that this was an oaked beer.  If I had, I would have cracked it open with dinner instead of drinking it as a late night campfire dessert.  I find that oaked beers are beers that are best enjoyed with food.

Consensus from the group around the fire is that it would pair well with hot wings or other similarly spiced and fried food.  I think the pork chops we had for dinner would also have been an excellent option.

Camping at Smith & Morehouse

Smith & Morehouse Res.

We motorhome-camped last weekend at Smith & Morehouse reservoir.   Normally we would tent camp, but my folk's motorhome was the only thing I had access to that would sleep all six of us going.

The only tech I used this weekend, other than the heater on the motorhome and a couple Coleman grills, is my phone for writing blog posts.  Having a tech-free weekend is something everyone should do.  It helps refocus the mind on what is important.  This is my second tech-free trip this year.  The first one was a working vacation to Capital Reef.

Weird Starter

If you've ever seen a starter do this, let me know.  Its WLP 566 - Saison II.  The black spots have me the most worried.

Side By Side Comparison - Homebrew Wee Heavy vs. 70 Shilling

These are the same beer, literally the same grain bill. The difference is the 70 Shilling was a second running on the Wee Heavy's mash. I filled my mash tun back up with 168F water and drained it again.

I was going to post my recipe here.  But it looks like when I updated my brewing software, the recipe got corrupted.

But its a fairly standard Wee Heavy recipe for a 7% beer with 8oz of Peated Malt, 8oz of Smoked Malt, plus sitting on oak chips for 3 weeks.

The 70 Shilling is a second running on the first.  It came in at 3%.

Upcoming Beer Topics

1. A side-by-side comparison of my 2012 Wee Heavy and 2012 70 Shilling Scottish Ale experiment.

2. Picked up more beers from Squatters for review.

3. A discussion of my gateway IPA.

4. Brewing the 2012 Pumpkin Saison.

5. Review of my 2012 Hazelnut Stout.

6. Review of my 2012 Double Hefeweizen.

2012 Pumpkin Ale - Part 2

I've been thinking about the pumpkin ale some more and something started getting me nervous:  when do I have to start brewing it?

My typical brewing schedule goes:  2-4 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, 4 weeks bottle carbonating.  And that's if I secondary.  For this beer, I think it will be worth it.

So according to that schedule, if I want to be absolutely sure it is ready for Halloween night, I have to brew it before the end of August.

Brewing in August is problematic for me.  I had to give up my fermentation fridge to my wife's new tattoo shop:  Liquid Jade Tattoos.  That means I'm at the mercy of my basement and cellar temperatures for fermenting.  My basement is currently 76F and my cellar is currently 78F and neither is likely to change substantially until mid to late September.

Solution:  Switching to a saison base and yeast for the Pumpkin Ale.  It should work.  I've never had a bad fruited, spiced, or herbed saison.

Here's the new recipe:
Fermentables
9lb of pilsen malt (mash)
8oz of 20L Crystal malt (mash)
12oz of Wheat malt (mash)
8oz of Biscuit malt (mash)

1lb of clear candi sugar (boil)

4lb of roasted pie pumpkins (mash) (I will substitute an equal amount of canned pumpkin because fresh pumpkin is not available)

Rice Hulls

Spices (added at flameout)
0.5oz Coriander
0.25oz Allspice
0.07oz Cinnamon (1tsp)
0.07oz Clove (1 tsp)
0.07oz Nutmeg (1 tsp)

Hops
1oz Hallertauer 60 minutes

1oz Citra 5 minutes

(edit:  my local home brew store was out of hallertauer, so I substituted 2oz strisselspalt)

Yeast
White Labs 566 - Saison II

Step Infusion Mash
120F for 30 minutes
153F for 60 minutes
168F for 10 minutes

OG = 1.067
FG = 1.019
ABV = 6.3%
IBU = 21
Color = 13L

2012 Pumpkin Ale

I'm not exactly a pumpkin ale fan.  But I've decided to make one this year.

My main problem with pumpkin ales is that they don't ever seem to be either pumpkiny enough our spiced enough or bready enough.

So I'm going to try to resolve those issues with the following recipe:

Squatter's Radio From Hell - Red As Hell Ale

This is a beer that I must admit I was hesitant to try. I mean, I like Radio From Hell (KXRK Provo FM 96.1). But naming a beer after a morning show on a radio station seemed a bit gimmicky.

The graphic novel style label adds to the gimmicky feel... at least to me.

I do like Squatter's Beers too.  As I stated in one of my previous posts, Squatters is one of the local breweries that I think has vastly improved their brewing with the recent change in Utah law that allows greater than 4.0 ABV beers to be sold at the brewery.

With that said, This is actually quite a good beer. I do enjoy Irish Red Ales and this one doesn't disappoint. It clocks in at 5.5% ABV in a 750 mL bottle.

The bad part of a 750 mL bottle is that I generally don't want to drink that much beer in a night. On the other hand, it's perfect for splitting two or three ways.

On the third hand, this is the first 750 mL bottle that takes a standard sized bottle cap, which means I can bottle homebrew in it at take it to parties with a couple litter swingtops.

The hop level is very subtile and complementary of it's rich maltiness. Plenty of caramel and light hints of fruitiness.

I'm not sure of the hop varieties used. They seem like English varieties, but I suppose some of the fruitiness could be coming through because of something like Citra, Calypso, or Williamette.

The color on this beer, though, is absolutely amazing. I've had Red Ales that are rustic and deep copper colored but I've never had anything that was this crimson without it having been fermented with fruit.

By the way, next time, I'm pretty sure I can drink the full 750 mL of this in one sitting. It is that smooth.

Epic Brewing Spiral Jetty IPA

Epic Brewing's Classic Series IPA - Spiral Jetty,named after the sculpture built in the Great Salt Lake by Robert Smithson (thepinkness of the water in the photo is from naturally occurring sulfur bacteriain the north arm of the Great Salt Lake).

Epic is currently my favorite local brewer.  When the Utah changed their lawsallowing for breweries to sell greater than 4.0% ABV beer direct from thebreweries, it changed the landscape of the beer scene.  Some breweries seemed thrive on thechange, while others seem to have lagged behind.

Epic came on the scene shortly after the change inthe law went into effect.  Theirbrewing philosophy is that they will only brew greater then 4.0% ABV beers.  I believe that their lowest strengthbeer is the Mid Mountain Mild at 4.5% to 5% ABV.

I’m not a big IPA drinker.  I know, it’s a sin to say it on IPA Day2012.  But it’s true.  It is rare that I find an IPA that Ilike.  For similar beers, I tend tofavor its bigger brother, the Imperial IPA.   In order to get the higher ABVs of IIPAs, brewers tendto use a maltier backbone and more residual sweetness is left in the beer.

Its even more rare for me to find a simcoe hoppedIPA that I like.  I know, another heresy.  But it is also true:  I don’t like a lot of pine flavor in myfood or drinks.

This beer has an excellent copper color and thehops highlight  citrus, piney, andfloral flavors and aroma.

I should mention that I have a little bit ofdifficulty differentiating between bittering “flavor” hops and dry “aroma”hops.  I tend to taste themboth.  Aroma hops come in softerwaves than flavor hops.

Epic Brewing has three other variations on thisbeer:  (Elevated Series) CopperCone Pale Ale, (Elevated Series) Hopulent IPA, and (Exponential Series)Imperial IPA.  Copper Conetypically ranges from 6% to 7%ABV and I tend to think of it as a Pale Ale Extra– meaning half way between a Pale Ale and an IPA in hopping.

Hopulent IPA weighs in at 8 to 9% and averages closeto a pound of dry hops per barrel (31 US gallons).  It is much more of an aggressive beer than either SpiralJetty or Copper Cone.

There aren’t many of Epic’s beers that I haven’thad the pleasure of trying.  TheExponential Series Imperial IPA is one of them.  Rest assured, I will steadily working my way through theirlist of beers

Ephraim Malt Shop

Work today took me down into central Utah. On the way back, stopped at The Malt Shop in Ephraim. It's a great, classic diner.

Ordered a quarter pound hamburger, curly fries, & a small vanilla shake.

Ice cream when I'm traveling is always a dangerous proposition because of my lactose intolerance. But I decided to chance it. I mean, how often do you get the chance to eat at a bonifide malt shop?

The shake was above the rim, so thick that I could not suck it through the straw for about 20 minutes.

Dinner at the Green Pig

One of the trends that I’m starting to notice in Salt Lake is that some bars and restaurants are paying local breweries to make house beers for them.   Iggies has a couple house beers and as I discovered last night, so does the Green Pig.

The Green Pig ) is a nice sports and music bar in down town Salt Lake (31 East 400 South).  It is one of the newer bars in Salt Lake started up by the former owners of Port O’ Call – a very popular bar in Salt Lake that was the victim of Eminent Domain with the construction of the new Federal courthouse.

In the interest of full disclosure – I don’t know the owners of The Green Pig but I do have friends that are in a funk bank, The Vision, and they perform at The Green Pig frequently.

I was there last night with friends and my wife enjoying the open jam – electric blues night.  Highly recommended.  I’m hoping to be back on Friday (August 3) when The Vision will be performing again.

Last night, I sampled the chips & salsa, the hot wings, a Reuben soup, and the Green Pig Pilsner.  The chips are traditional homemade tortilla chips (much thicker than something you would typically buy in a store) and were quite tasty.  The salsa, however, was mostly chopped tomatoes.  While the tomatoes were fresh and very good, it takes more than chopped tomatoes to make a salsa fresca.  My opinion, it could have used some cilantro, onions, and peppers.

Lets get started

As of today, I’ll be posting my thoughts on beers that I have made and their recipes.  I’ll also post my thoughts of craft beers that I have tried and clone recipes for them.  I am going to try to post to this blog on a weekly basis.

A little back story on myself, I’m a home brewer.  I’ve been brewing since 2004.  With few exceptions, I have only brewed recipes of my creation, or at least ones that I have modified to suite my tastes.  I typically brew out-of-style.  My brewing philosophy is,

Styles are very important in terms of history, marketing, and competitions.