Brew Day

Erika and I try to sit down every season about this time and plan what we will be making for the winter up until spring.  This last year we started but didn’t get very far.  In fact we had three carboys of beers that we mashed and boiled, but because of injuries, my Squiring and everything that goes into re-focusing parts of your life to support such an adventure, these three carboys stayed in a dark-ish, cool and obscure part of the house.

So we planned a brewing day for yesterday at the last minute since family plans had been changed in the previous week.  Lori Mason-Bennard had been interested in the process of the beverage fermentation arts as I have called it.  She even sat in on a class I attempted to give at last years West Coast Culinary Symposium (don’t get me started on that, please).  We didn’t touch two of the carboys from last November, though I am quite certain one of them is beyond drinkable as it has a dusty or slighty fuzzy cap…I am thinking infection.  The other one (the high gravity ‘Kitchen Sink Ale’), we haven’t checked yet, but believe me I will be soon.  The third one was a Rogue Brewing Kit cloning their Hazelnut Brown that I was gifted from my mother-in-law, which showed promise.  We had racked it once before we forgot about it, so what appeared to be a huge cap at the bottom, turned out to be just yeast dust.  But more about that later.

So here is how the day went.  I wrote down some projects that I need to get done and want to get done, along with the wine that Erika has been dying to do.  Here is the tally, but with out dates and the usual shopping list.  We really didn’t get that far hanging out with Lori.

• Semi-sweet gooseberry wine (started 11/23/2013)
  • Erika grew up with gooseberries.  I have never seen the appeal though I haven’t had a preparation that I couldn’t eat.  But for Erika it seems to bring a smile back to her face anytime we get gooseberry jam in the house and what more do I need to say about her smiling.  So we found gooseberries in water without additives in the wine section at F.H. Steinbart in Portland, OR (the oldest brewing supply store in the US at just under a century old).  We began a yeast starter using Lalvin D-47.  As of this morning, we haven’t pitched it but will do it sometime today as we are waiting on the metabisulfates to finish their work.
• Scottish Stout – Commission Project
  • This commission project is for Theodore.  He crafted some much needed brass work for the Horn of Hospitality, a prize given by house Bjorgvin and the Barony of Stromgard every year at a spring event they hold called The Grand Thing.  The Roaming Rogues received this honor two years ago, but the horn needed some care and love so we commissioned Teddy to ‘brass-it-up’ for us.  In trade, he asked for a beer to be made for him.  He asked for something akin to Belhaven Scottish Stout.  Never having drank the stout, I figured I would start off with a clone recipe first and if he wants changes he can keep commissioning me for more 🙂  He also brought up Monkey Paw but I haven’t found a record of it yet nor have I looked for a clone recipe to see what he might be referencing.
• Raisin Sherry
  • Erika and I made this brunette bombshell drink in 2008, and everyone seemed to like it so much.  However, it is such a high gravity wine that it can take the better part of 9 months to a year to become drinkable.  After 1 year to two years, it becomes down-right heavenly.  Instead of the 8-9 pounds of raisins we used for the first 1 gallon batch, we decided to make a larger batch requiring about 50 pounds of raisins.  When it’s ready, ask us about the bread pudding recipe with the irish cream liqueur soft serve preparation.
• Medium sweet mead
  • Starting with the recipe that I have used quite a few times out of a modern book that I have.  It’s not overly sweet and lends itself to fruiting the finished product to make a melomel, which has won Erika and I a local award for the end result.
• 2 batches of Hefty Braggot
  • Here is another high gravity beer that I really enjoy making, drinking and sharing.  For those that don’t know, a braggot is a beer made from a fair amount of honey (not the little piddly amounts breweries who are trying to be hip and posh put in their honey beers that makes it taste like crap, but 10-20+ percent of the beginning volume before pitch) and grains.  The recipe that I have is one that I don’t share but it results in a light colored draught that is 14% alcohol, but enough residual sugar to mask that burn.  It masks it so well, professional drinkers have accused me of giving them sweet water only to be schnockered after 1-2 standard 12 ounce bottles.  All the while, it maintains a floral edge that isn’t ‘perfumie’ and in my mind perfectly blends the finishing hops and the originating nectar of the honey.  I need to make two batches this year, one for a commission and one for next fall.  It is drinkable in 6-7 months, but I find it is best after 9-12 months.
• Sorghum beer
  • We have many friends who are ‘Glutards’.  That’s not an insult.  It is actually the word they use to describe themselves that I originally heard from Lara Olin (Khalja).  They have told me that they like beer but can’t have it because of the gluten that they are allergic to.  I have heard of recipes using an extract of sorghum that are quite tasty, so I will make an attempt at using this ingredient for those friends who can’t have the barley or wheat beers.
• Golden Ale
  • This oldie-but-goodie is a modification of Liberator Brewing’s original Golden Ale recipe.  Liberator brewing isn’t around any more but their legend lives on in my homage.  This beer has been my silver bullet for many people who told me at events that they hated beer.  Usually I would get them to try 5 ounces and tell them to come back if they wanted more.  I would then see them sneaking up to the keg getting more and more all night long.  Good for long sessions, it has a lightly sweet malt flavor but isn’t cloying and the hops sit well with the alcohol content that is present but doesn’t take you on a trip.
• Whiskey Barrel Euro IPA
  • Every since a friend at my first Sport of Kings introduced me to my first rum barrel beer, I have wanted to spend time on this type of recipe.  The idea is that a beer that would be medium to high gravity would be shipped in a barrel.  But if you ran out of your normal beer barrels, and all that you had left were a couple of rum or whiskey barrels for shipping….yeah….are you getting the same idea he did?  I tried the rum barrel and it was an excellent idea in practice, though if you don’t have a whiskey or rum barrel lying around anywhere, I am told soaking food grade oak chips or blocks and placing it in a bucket with the beer for a period of time will have the same effect.  I have been dying to try this technique and I believe I will do that this year with a high gravity european styled IPA

Now, I am certain you are dying to hear about the result of the Hazelnut Brown clone.  We popped the cap and it didn’t smell bad or off like I was expecting.  In fact it still had that slightly buttery smell of the hazelnuts.  So Lori and I proceeded to rack it to a new carboy.  About midway through, we poured a little into a glass and shared it around with Erika, Lori, and Chuck.  We were all surprised how well it tasted after having been in the carboy for nearly a year.

So I raise a glass to the heavens and give thanks to the phrase that my mother’s second husband would always say: “Lucky beats good…everytime”