Posted: June 1st, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Duvel, Homebrew | 2 Comments »
I’ve mentioned before that I’m not an all-mash brewer, preferring in my lazy way to brew from extracts or modified kits. A few years ago I came across Great Beer from Kits, an excellent source of recipies based on modified beer kits. The results have always been delicious, and my favorite it Don’s Honey Duvel.
If you’re not familiar with the duvel style, it’s much like a Belgian golden ale with an alcohol level of around 8%. Strong, devilish stuff indeed! Starting with Brewferm’s Diabolo extract kit, the recipe calls for 2 pounds of honey to be added to the boil. Simple and delicious!
This duvel has long been a favorite in our house, and its delicate sweet spiciness and crisp flavor make it an excellent toast beer. This beer won’t be ready to drink 9-12 weeks since it ferments for 3 weeks and conditions for 6 in the bottle. Now I just have to decide if 5 gallons of it is enough or if I’ll need to make more…
Posted: May 10th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Bottling Beer, Homebrew, Kolsch | No Comments »
After two weeks of fermentation, the kolsch was ready for bottling. Since lagering was optional and the temperatures in my garage right now are a little high to lager a beer well, I decided to just bottle it and call it good. We’ll see how it turns out! The malt extract got a little burned on the bottom of my brew pot, so there’s a slight burned sugar flavor in it right now. I’m really hoping that goes away.
Besides, I have a bigger problem: I’m out of bottles! My seven year beer bottle surplus has finally been depleted, which is totally amazing. I’ll have to start collecting bottles from friends.
Posted: April 26th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Homebrew, Kolsch | 4 Comments »
I first made this recipe from The Joy of Homebrewing last spring, and Kathy and I drank it all up right quick. Yum! It turned out the be the perfect light, malty, flavorful but not heavy spring/summer beer. I wasn’t really planning to brew this weekend, but a conversation with some of my students after class about beer left me craving a kolsch. Not enough breweries in town make one! So I guess it’s up to me to supply my own this season.
With the price of hops and malt rising, I was pleased to find all the hops I needed in my freezer — leftovers from last year, or acceptable replacements for the hops I didn’t have. And Let’s Brew has bulk wheat malt extract for only $2/lb, which is great!
Nearly done with the first 30-minute boil, then I add more hops and boil for another 30 minutes. Then it’s time to strain, sparge, and let it cool before I pitch the yeast. In a month or so, I’ll have fresh kolsch to enjoy! Maybe if my students are nice (and 21+), I’ll share some with them!
Posted: April 13th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Experiments, Homebrew | No Comments »
After a weekend in the 70s and 80s in Portland, my lager-temperature garage reached 60, so I decided to stop lagering the experimental beer and just bottle it. Enough! It’s the clearest beer I’ve ever made, which is no surprise given that it’s mostly made of rice and corn, with “just the kiss of the malt” (as opposed to Schlitz’ “just the kiss of the hops”). Pale and light like, well, Pabst I have to say. Which was my goal! Tastes fine enough warm and uncarbonated, so I’m hoping it’ll be tasty with some fizz and fresh from the fridge. In a few weeks I’ll know for sure.
Posted: April 6th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Experiments, Homebrew | No Comments »
After two weeks of steady fermentation, the experimental beer seems ready for lagering. There hadn’t been much action going on in the carboy for the last couple of days, so I broke out my trusty wine thief and transferred the lager/maibock to a secondary fermenter (aka, another carboy), put a fermentation lock on it, then moved it into the garage. Who knows how long it’ll lager!