Smoked Porter with Peppercorns - 11 quarts

Bottled this up last night.  Sample was good.  Smoke just about right.  I thought at first that there weren't enough peppercorns but it is more of a lingering heat that stays with you for a while.  So overall I am please with how this one came out.

Captain's Tripel.

Bottled this up last night.  Not as much rum flavor as I expected.  This Abbey yeast really dominates with the flavor.  It was quite boozy however, so maybe that's the rum talking.  This one is good and will get better with time.

I am also finding that I need to use more oak cubes.  When the cubes soak in the booze I notice a nice oakey aroma but when added to a larger volume of beer the flavor gets lost.  Gonna start doubling the amount of cubes I use at least.

Surface area is the limiting factor.  You will either have to age longer or go to using oak chips.

I believe that I age long enough.  The cubes soak in the liquor for three weeks.  There is some nice oak flavor and aroma in the liquor after doing this.  Then I bulk age with the beer for 2 months.  I think that the issue is that it is just not enough for the volume of beer.

When I first did this the LHBS gave me some guidelines.  They tend to err on the under doing it side which I don't have a problem with.  I have been increasing the amount of cubes and it has helped some but I like a lot of oak flavor,  So I think that the answer is to get more aggressive with the amount of cubes.  I could go with chips but I really like the flavor profile that the cubes provide.

For the Tripel I only used .75 oz of cubes.  I am going to brew a Russian Imperial Stout over the winter and am going to try 3 oz in that one.  That is a big step up but I am thinking not too heavy handed.  I'll keep experimenting.

For wine I use 2oz oak per 5 gallons.  Yeah, .75oz is very light.

Ah, OK.  This was a 3 gallon batch so you would come to 1.2 oz with that.  Good to know.  A RIS is a big thick beer so I don't think 3 oz for 3 gallons would be way over the top.

Smoked Porter with Peppercorns

This came out fantastic.  Nice and smokey complimented by a little heat from the peppercorns.  I'll have to brew this one again.

Vienna / German Hull Melon SMaSH

This gets bottled tonight.  Curious as to how those hops will taste.

I brewed up a 5 gallon batch in my garage over the weekend.  This is an IPA with all El Dorado hops, inspired by Stone's 18th Anniversary beer which uses those hops.  For the grain bill I decided to go with a toasty, nutty type flavor, and not as dark color as the Stone beer.

El Dorado Gold IPA

7 lbs US 2 Row Malt

5.5 lbs Vienna Malt

1 lbs Flaked Barley

.5 lbs Caravienne Malt

.25 lbs Chocolate Malt

Hops all El Dorado (14.9% AA)

1 oz first wort

1 oz 60 mins

1 oz 15 mins

1 oz 10 mins

1 oz 5 mins

1 oz flameout

2 oz dry hop 7 days

Wyeast 1272 American Ale II yeast, 1 qt starter.

Mash 152 for an hour.  Boil an hour, chill, and pitch yeast. Bottle after 3 weeks or so.

I overshot the volume a little (I think) so my OG was a tad lower than expected, 1.064.  Other than that it went as planned.  Those hops sure smell good.

Definitely getting the advertised flavor from those German Hull Melon hops. Melon and a little strawberry. Pretty good.

i want to use this as a finishing hop in a wheat beer of some sort. i've been thinking of a cardamom wit for spring...

Captain's Tripel

Bottled this up last night.  Not as much rum flavor as I expected.  This Abbey yeast really dominates with the flavor.  It was quite boozy however, so maybe that's the rum talking.  This one is good and will get better with time.

 

I am also finding that I need to use more oak cubes.  When the cubes soak in the booze I notice a nice oakey aroma but when added to a larger volume of beer the flavor gets lost.  Gonna start doubling the amount of cubes I use at least.

All this was confirmed over the weekend.  It's a mighty fine tripel but I am surprised at the little amount of spiced rum flavor that I am getting.  I will brew this again at some point and will get heavy handed with both the rum and the oak.

I have some vacation days to use up so I have been taking long weekends this month.  I am off this coming Monday and am going to use it as an opportunity to brew.  Been wanting to do this one.

Rye Wine - 11 qts

6 lb US 2 Row malt

2 lb Rye Malt

1 lb Flaked Rye

.5 lb CaraRye malt

Hops - Centennial 11% and Amarillo 9%, both whole leaf

.5 oz Centennial 60 minutes

.5 oz Amarillo 60 minutes

.25 oz Centennial 15 minutes

.25 oz Amarillo 15 minutes

.25 oz Centennial 10 minutes

.25 oz Amarillo 10 minutes

.25 oz Centennial 5 minutes

.25 oz Amarillo 5 minutes

.75 oz Centennial flameout

.75 oz Amarillo flameout

Safale US05 Dry yeast, no starter

Mash 150 degrees for 90 minutes.  Take 2 quarts of the first runnings and boil them separately down to about a pint.  It will be the consistency of warm maple syrup.  Add this back in with 10 minutes left in the main boil.  Boil 2 hours.  Chill and pitch yeast.  Primary for 4 or 5 weeks then bottle.  Then stay the hell away from the bottles for as long as possible before digging in.  This will take at least a year to come into its own.

Because of the longer mash and boil I will try to get this started before lunchtime so I can be done in the late afternoon.  I am mashing low because I would like to get the FG down pretty low.  I figure that between the sticky rye and boiling down first runnings this will have plenty of body.  Won't be thin, for sure.

I calculate that I will need close to 6 gallons of water to start with.  My 5 gallon pot will not accommodate how much wort there will be when the boil starts.  What I will do is have some wort in a secondary pot, at a low boil.  I will keep adding that into the main boil as the volume reduces.  I am not going on a timer until an hour left.  Once I am down to just the main pot I know where I usually start so I will start the hour timer and the hop additions. I calculated the water for 2 hours and expect to come close to that.

This sounds more complicated than it will be, really.  Should be fun.