Posted: October 29th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Brown, Homebrew | No Comments »
I’ve never “cellared” a beer after fermentation, but that’s what this nut-brown recipe called for, so I did it. Usually, fall is a great time to stick a carboy of beer in the garage for a 55-degree cellaring treatment. Of course, not this year! No, it’s been between 65-72 in Portland for the last two weeks, which is freakishly warm for October. The beer ended up cellaring at 58-62, which I hope is good enough. My biggest concern is that any remaining yeast won’t have the strength to consume the corn sugar and carbonate the beer in the bottles. But we’ll see!
It’s also interesting how different a beer smells on first siphoning it from the carboy to the bottling bucket – very yeasty and almost musky – from how it smells after you add the corn sugar and the beer gets a little air. After adding sugar, the nut-brown started to have nutty aromas that didn’t exist before. Wacky!
Now I wait a couple of weeks for the beer to condition and carbonate, then I’m ready to drink it! Here’s hoping it’s a toast to Change and not to Mavericks…
Posted: October 12th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Brown, Cider, Homebrew | 3 Comments »
‘Tis the season for making awesome hard cider! I bought 5 gallons of fresh cider from our local Apple Festival and 3lbs of honey from some nice folks at the Farmer’s Market. Just add yeast and soon I’ll have tasty cider. I’ve opted for a champagne yeast and wildflower honey (a nice savory amber) this time, hoping it’ll come out tart and dry. Even the garage is the perfect temperature for cellaring it during fermentation — it just hit 55 degrees and will likely hold that through November. I omit campden tablets from my cider because sulfites give Kathy a headache, and it’s nice to have a gluten-free and sulfite-free offering for guests.
I also determined last week that there aren’t enough brown ales on the market, which means it’s time to make more of my own. I’m trying a new recipe from Charlie Papazian’s Microbrewed Adventures for Puritanical Nut Brown Ale. It promises to be carmely and smooth, with a nutlike flavor, roasted chocolate maltiness, and soft mouthfeel. Sounds good to me! Next month I’ll know if it turns out as advertised.
And of course, that blackberry mead is still going strong…