I'm down to the last few bottles of my Sam Adams ale clone (#579 above) so I thought I'd post a pic before they're all gone.... Last I recall, the "remastered" Sam Adams Boston Lager was lighter than this and even the brewery was boasting about how it is "brighter". What gives the old Boston Lager and this ale its color, rich flavor and balance with the hops is the Caramel Malt, and that's what I think Samuel Adams cut back on with their new recipe. I have a hard time believing their new filtration method has anything to do with the change in flavor and color. I'm going to be brewing another (lazier) version of this within a few weeks with a little more Cara malt, Tettnager hops and without all the decoction mashing. It'll be interesting to see how that pans out...
The sweet taste of success...and just in time for the Fourth of July weekend - the Bavarian Hefeweizen I've been struggling to nail for the past nine months (Post #595 above): It's got a nice balance of the clovey, spicy, fruity flavors one expects from a Bavarian Hefe. I would have preferred it to be a little more clove-forward so I'll give it a longer acid rest next time but it came out real nice.
This is the best, tastiest, heaviest canned beer I've ever had. I've had more potent but from on tap, not on cans sold in stores.
You got me asking myself what is the most potent I've had that wasn't cans in a store. Trillium in the Boston, MA area. I think they come on tap or in a bottle. https://trilliumbrewing.com/pages/fort-point What I got came in a 10 oz brandy snifter.
LOL ~ Sounds like an appropriate glass. Get a load of these beers - some of them are in brandy snifters too: The Strongest Beers In The World https://renegadebrewing.com/strongest-beer/ The current record-holder for the strongest beer in existence – ever – is Snake Venom from Scottish brewer Brewmeister. It comes with a warning label on the bottle, and at an eyewatering 67.5% ABV, this is not the kind of beer you’ll want to sink in pints.... It pours and looks like a whiskey but is aggressive on the nose, with earthy tones detectable beneath a miasma of alcohol. "A miasma of alcohol". The imperial stouts you had were about twice as strong as anything I've accidentally brewed. Once I went to sleep on a Spring Maibock that I left in the fermenter too long (#533) and it came out around 8.3%, which was pretty boozy for a golden ale. I've never drank a beer that had an ABV of 15%.
The same way one makes applejack, apparently: Brewmeister Snake Venom is currently recognised as the strongest beer in the World. It is brewed in Moray from smoked, peated malt using two varieties of yeast, one beer and one Champagne. Like other ultra high strength beers it is frozen several times after the fermentation process, and the ice crystals removed. This concentrates the alcohol, flavour, and body of the beer as water is removed each time. The beer is then fortified with alcohol to increase the strength further. If you're into Scotch that might be appealing, but why bother? The name's a turn-off but it's getting great reviews: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/345294/ There's a lot going on in there. That's one of the great things about stouts, you can go wild with the ingredients. The best stout I've ever had is a seasonal Holiday brew made by a craft brewery in Goochland, VA (Hardywood) called Gingerbread Stout. It's essentially a honey stout - it doesn't taste like gingerbread - but it's not cloying. It's real rich and not terribly ass-kicking at 9% ABV: GINGERBREAD STOUT IMPERIAL MILK STOUT WITH GINGER AND HONEY Made with baby ginger from Casselmonte Farm and wildflower honey from Bearer Farms, Hardywood Gingerbread Stout captures the terroir of Central Virginia in a rich, creamy libation with a velvety mouthfeel and an intriguing evolution of notes from milk chocolate and vanilla, to honeycomb and cinnamon, to a snap of ginger in the finish. We hope Hardywood Gingerbread Stout contributes to your merriment this season. AWARDS Bronze Medal, Herb and Spice Beer, World Beer Cup, 2012 https://hardywood.com/beer/gingerbread-stout/ They say it's made with wildflower honey and I have no reason to doubt them, but I suspect their grain bill includes honey malt - honey, along with its flavor, has a tendency to dissipate during the brewing and fermentation process. Some time ago another local craft brewery made an excellent golden ale using honey malts combined with Cascade hops and it was a perfect flavor combination: Front Row Golden Ale https://starrhill.com/front-row-golden-ale Unfortunately, they don't make it anymore, but I'm going to try to clone their recipe when I harvest my Cascade hops in a few months. It doesn't seem to be a terribly complicated brew but it's probably going to take a few batches to get the balance between the malts and hops just right.
A pic of my Kona Clona that I've been tapping for a couple weeks. It's a clone of Kona Brewery's Big Wave Golden Ale (#600 above), and it came out real nice: IBUs: 46.5 Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.030 Original Gravity: 1.050 Final Gravity: 1.004 ABV: 6.04% 9 lbs 2-Row malt 2 lbs Cara 20L malt 1 oz. Galaxy hops 13.5 AA 3 ozs. Citra hops 14.2 AA .5 ozs Galaxy 60 mins. .5 ozs Citra 15 mins .5 ozs Citra 5 mins .25 ozs Galaxy 0 mins 2 ozs Citra, .25 ozs Galaxy dry hop (after 3-5 days in primary) Great summer ale and at 6% ABV it’s not too heavy. Very Citra hop forward, which gives this brew its distinctive tropical fruit flavor. Yum yum. The only thing I am going to change is dry-hopping with CryoHops, which produce twice the flavor and half the sediment. PS. I used more Galaxy hops for bittering and flavor/aroma than other clones and it worked out great.
I'm finally getting back into the game. I haven't brewed since March but that's about to change... I finally broke down and bought a mill so that I can buy grains online and in bulk (I've tried buying crushed online in the past with less than stellar results). First brews will be an oktoberfest (it's in season so not marzen lol) and Kolsch with ESB and a small batch of stout in deck.
Are we talking beers only here or any kind of brew? Grain alcohols tend to disagree with me taste wise, but I'm down for ciders and and mead.
Any time of year is a good time for an Oktoberfest/Marzen. I've been out of action because of the heat, as well, but the temps are supposed to cool back down next week so I'm hoping to brew my lazy version of the Sam Adams clone I brewed earlier this year. Once things get reliably cooler I'm going to get back to brewing Bavarian Hefes - to get a spicy-clovey flavor like a Paulaner you've got to keep your primary fermentation temp down in the low 60s. I need to pick up a mill and start buying grains (at least 2-row malt) in bulk, too. The last equipment I bought was a magnetic stir plate and beaker to make yeast starters.
The heat is a problem for me too. It takes ~30 minutes to cool my wort to the upper/mid 70's with my IC. The general consensus is that it's way too warm to pitch lager yeast, I usually use 34/70, but I haven't had a problem (knocking on wood).
I don't know why we couldn't talk ciders and meads here, especially if you're brewing them. I'd like to homebrew a hard cider but I've had a hard time finding an unpasteurized, preservative-free cider to start with.
I'd have to look at my records to confirm this, but I think I've used an S-23 to ferment ales above lager temps and I never had any issues or crazy off-flavors with it.
I look forward to when I can set up to do this. But such is not my current situation. However, given that commercial beers have been discussed, then the commercial meads and ciders should be valid as well.
Mead is actually pretty easy to make. I've used this method several times with good success: https://gotmead.com/blog/articles/bray-denard/brays-one-month-mead-aka-the-bomm/
It doesn't take a lot of equipment to make hard cider and mead. You can get this kit for $55 from Northern Brewer: Hard Cider Making Kit - Essential Equipment Kit https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/hard-cider-making-kit-essential-equipment-kit?variant=29493171847212&msclkid=5d69b85951b01e69fc9edca1ff81ed4c&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping - Main&utm_term=4579878250243361&utm_content=Rest/Others - Missing Products (exc paused adgroups) (The kit doesn't include bottles but you can reuse beer bottles and other vessels if you don't want to buy bottles.) Either way, it's a heckuva lot cheaper and less equipment intensive than what's required for all-grain beer brewing. Here in Virginia where we grow a lot of apples, there are all kinds of cider makers, from mass producers such as Bold Rock that sells its products in grocery stores https://boldrock.com/products/ to craft/artisanal cider makers like Albermarle Cider Works https://www.albemarleciderworks.com/our-cider/cider-varieties Just like making beer you can keep it simple or go wherever your imagination, ingredients and expertise takes you.
Mine is more of a situation of having a good place to set it all where I don't have to worry about the grandkids upsetting the kit and kaboodle. If you get a chance to go up to NH (or is it VT) Woodchuck has a brewery up there. They have some awesome flavors not regularly available on the greater market in their tasting room. Bold Rock didn't grab me, but I'll have to check out Albemarle, which might require ordering some. I've never seen them locally. Since you mentioned VA, have you tried Silver Hand in Williamsburg? They have some good mead, and a good variety.
Thanks for the tip. I've never had a mead (or a braggot) much less known there was a meadery in Billsburg. Next time I go to Colonial Williamsburg with my wife we'll have to check it out. While we're on the subject of meads and braggots, it brought to mind a brew made by Dogfish Head Brewery called Midas Touch, which is a cross between beer, mead and wine: This was the first beer in our Ancient Ales series. This sweet yet dry beer is made with ingredients found in 2,700-year-old drinking vessels from the tomb of King Midas. Somewhere between beer, wine and mead, Midas will please the chardonnay and beer drinker alike. https://www.dogfish.com/brewery/beer/midas-touch It's pretty cool that people are literally dredging up these ancient recipes and recreating them.
It's homebrewing season again! Back on September 23 I brewed a lazy ale version of the Sam Adams clone I brewed in April (#579) and last weekend I popped open the first 22 oz. bottle and it came out great. Since I blew off the decoction mash this time around I added an additional 1/2 pound of 2-row malt and one pound of 60L Caramel malt. I also dry-hopped using Tettnanger hops instead of the Hallertau Mittelfrüh I was forced to use last time. The results came out pretty much as expected - You're greeted with a slightly richer maltier flavor thanks to the extra Caramel malt and then it finishes with the dry-hopped Tettnager. Neither flavor is overpowering, so it's got a nice smooth balance. I would agree with other home brewers that you cannot make a proper SA Boston Lager clone without decoction mashing, but this brew came out so well that I don't see much point in going through all that hassle again. I really like Noble hops so this recipe is going to become my go-to amber. Oh, one unusual thing about this brew - I used a WP001 California Ale liquid yeast that was three months past its expiration date because I couldn't brew during the Summer heat, but I made a yeast starter the night before brew day and the yeast performed as well as a yeast that hadn't expired. So, yes kids, you can brew with expired yeast. I've read in brew forums that some people have brewed with liquid yeast that was a year past date, provided you make a yeast starter. I certainly wouldn't recommend doing that, but if you've got a yeast that you couldn't use before the Summer heat set in, you can still get good results from your yeast in the Fall (this ale was fully fermented in 7 days). I'm going to try this with some WLP380 Hefeweizen IV liquid yeast that expired in late July. I've read that if you under-pitch this yeast the Hefe will come out with a more pronounced spice-clove flavor which is what I like, so even if the yeast doesn't perform as well as new I expect I'll still get the results I want. Anyhow, here's my Lazy Sammy Ale Clone recipe: IBUs: 18.7 (est.) Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.030 Original Gravity: 1.056 (on target) Final Gravity: 1.006 (low) ABV: 6.56% Color: Amber INGREDIENTS: Grains (new adjusted): 12 lbs 2-Row Malt 2 lb Bries Caramel Malt 60L Total Grain Bill: 14 lbs. Hops: 1 oz. Tettnanger 4.0 AA 60 mins 1 oz. Hallertau Mittelfrüh 3.6 AA 45 mins 1 oz. Hallertau Mittelfrüh 3.6 AA 10 mins 1 oz. Tettnanger 4.0 AA 5 mins 1 oz. Spalt 5.7 AA 0 mins - at flameout 1 oz. Tettnanger 4.0 AA dry-hopped in primary (days 5-7*) Total Hops: 3 ozs. Tettnanger 2 ozs. Hallertau Mittelfrüh 1 oz. Spalt *Probably could have dry-hopped on days 3-5 and bottled on day 6 Yeast: WP001 California Ale (Yeast was 3 months past use-by date. Made a yeast starter the night before brew day) BATCH SPARGED (using two 5 gallon mash tuns lined with BIAB bags) Total Water: 9 Gallons (could have used .5-.75 gallons more and been OK) Mash Water: 5 gallons - Produced approx. 3 gallons of wort Sparge Water: 4 gallons Strike Temperature: 170 F Mash Temperature: 154 F Sacc rest: 1 hour Sparge Water Temperature: 160 F Batch 1: 1 hour Batch 2: approx. 15 minutes 7 gallons of wort at boil 5.5 gallons post-boil .5 gallons lost in trub sludge 5 gallons finished to fermenter 23 X 22 oz bottles 1 X 12 oz bottle Next up, another Bavarian Hefeweizen. I may get creative with it and add a few additional flavors for a Holiday brew...
If it tastes a little bit like bananas you did a good job. I don't dare to brew beer by myself, I would spoil it - okay, I',m German, so hy should I?
If I lived in Germany I probably wouldn't homebrew, either. The beers I usually make are German styles that I can't find here in the States or are only available once a year.
I happened to be scrolling through the articles at RealClearPolitics today and to my surprise I ran across this: The Complete Guide to Oktoberfest Beer Things look a lot different in Germany than the United States BY NICKOLAUS HINES September 20, 2023 6:46 am https://www.insidehook.com/drinks/complete-guide-oktoberfest-beer Woo-hoo It's that time of year again! I'm sure some of you here in the States have already gotten their hands on the Märzen/Oktoberfest beers that breweries release this time of year. I also know I'm not the only person here who has brewed this style themselves, too. Personally, I prefer the darker, amber Märzens and they're fun to brew because the trick to making a good Märzen is getting the perfect balance between the malts and the hops. Once you've done that you can take your recipe anywhere you like. My wife likes a pseudo-Märzen that's a little on the malty side, so sometimes I'll brew that instead of a traditional Märzen. Another spinoff is to go a little strong on the hops - who doesn't like Hallertau Mittelfrüh and Tettnanger hops? - or a little strong with both the hops and malts. I've done both in a custom recipe I came up with and it makes for a heck of an amber, and if you're really into German Noble hops you can dry hop your batch to get an even stronger flavor (Sam Adams does this with their Boston Lager). However, be forewarned - too much a good thing can be too much of a good thing. If I want to brew an IPA I'll go crazy with something like Citra and Mosaic hops. Anyhoo, enjoy the festivities and beers, my friends. Happy Oktoberfest!
