Mango Wheat Beer

I was going to make a Strawberry Wheat beer, but my wild strawberries did not fruit this year. They took over my garden, flowered and then went to seed. I was a little disappointed, but decided to go another route and bought a box of mangoes. I have 6 mangoes cut up and waiting patiently in the freezer for their time in the secondary.
This is my first time using wheat and I hope my gravity reading is not too low. I will have some sugar or honey near by just in case.
From my research, I learned that you should mill the barley and wheat grains separately because the wheat is a small grain and might not get an adequate crush.
I had a difficult time figuring out what flavour route I should take. Mango is a subtle, delicate flavour that might not always shine through. So, instead of trying to make it the big taste, I decided to try to complement the fruit with something else. If I was to use a German Wheat yeast, I would probably get some banana notes (if I fermented at a higher temperature) and mango banana is a tasty combination. Citrus also goes well with mango. After much deliberation, I decided on a neutral American wheat yeast and Amarillo hops. I wanted to do Citra Hops, but they were not available at the beer store. It has been said that Amarillo can taste mangoey so the combination should really bring out the mango.

Here is my recipe:

Mickey Mango Wheat beer
2.72 KG / 6 LB of Domestic 2-row
2.00 KG / 4 LB 8 Oz of Wheat malt
.34 KG / 12 OZ of Crystal 10L

21 Grams / .75 OZ of Amarillo 60 mins
21 Grams / .75 OZ of Amarillo 1 min
15 Grams / .50 OZ of Amarillo dry hopped 7 days

Wyeast 1010 (American Wheat)

6 Mangoes in Secondary.

B(re)aking Beer Bread with the Boys.

I found an excellent recipe for beer bread at the Northern Brewer Blog page. I pulled out a sample of my newest beer, The Golden Ale for a hydrometer test and took a pint more for the bread. It was a tasty, non-carbonated beer that I thought would be perfect for the recipe. My twin boys helped me make the bread and they were very excited about it. I have decided to make beer bread every time I bottle. Such a great idea and I definitely recommend trying this. Here are some photos of the process:

It's Time for a Cream Ale

Why not? Actually, I changed my mind in the beer store. It is now a Golden Ale.

Sure, it is a light, fluffy drink with little to no character, but there is a challenge to the process. Fuller-bodied beers can mask any off flavours that can appear due to poor sanitation and careless technique but a cream ale Golden Ale just stands there naked waiting to be scrutinized by anyone with a palate and at least one working eye.
Another characteristic of a cream ale Golden Ale is crystal clarity which is definitely not one of my beers defining qualities.
Usually, The cream ale Golden Ale has a very simple grain and hop bill but I'm going to spice it up a little with some Vienna malt to add a little toastiness.

Cream Ale Golden Ale

4.08 KG / 9 LBS Domestic 2 Row
.90 KG / 2 LBS Vienna Malt
.34 KG / 3/4 LB Flaked Corn
.30 KG / 1/2 LB Crystal Malt 10L

20 grams centennial 60 min
15 grams saaz 10 min
29 grams saaz 1 min

Harvested 1098 British II Yeast

I have a feeling that this will have a little more character than the normal Cream Blond but, hey, it's my beer.

Bottle Design is Important.

I bottled the Citrus City Ale last night and I came to the conclusion I will be throwing some bottles away. I use a butterfly capper for bottling and it works much better with deeper ridged bottles.

This bottle does not have a deeper ridge. No leverage leads to a greater potential of cracking the bottle.

The bottle on the right does have a deeper ridge which makes it a lot easier to cap.

I have a couple bottles that gave a little crunch as I was capping it. I haven't thrown those away, it may still be good.

So, all Anchor Steam and poorly designed bottles will get the turf treatment.

Update on Beer Garden

This hop vine was already growing on the North side of the house when we moved in 3 years ago. That was before I became obsessed with homebrew and I had no idea what it was. This year, I took a couple rhizomes and planted it in a wine crate on the southeast corner of the house. I think there are couple of cones already starting to form whereas there were no cones on the north side. The big question is: What kind of hops is it? I went to this website and found this image of a cascade hop vine. This looks the closest to my vine. I like the citrusy notes of Cascade so I won't be disappointed with that variety. It could also be nugget hops because the leaf structure is similar. The hops look different so I will have to wait to be definitive.
Well, as long as I get hops to make at least one batch, I will be happy.