RAMROD - Beer # 11

I was hoping to make an American Brown style beer with homegrown hops (thanks to Rod) but the LHBS did not have any Carafa Malt, so in a hasty decision, I went with Brown Malt. The beer turned more amber than brown due to the substitution and the taste will probably be considerably different. Definitely will not be as heavy or 'roasty' of a flavour profile but it should be reasonably biscuity/nutty due to the biscuit malt and my home toasted Oatmeal flakes that I added to the mash.
When coming up with this recipe, I thought about showcasing the hops that Rod gave me (Brewer's Gold and Willamette) but homegrown hops that haven't been tested can be fairly unpredictable and perhaps low in potency. That would be fine if I was making a summer session beer but winter is creeping up steadily so I figured I'd go the maltier way and produce a beer that would be more fitting for the Winnipeg Winter months.
My prediction for this beer: Low hop bitterness with a nice toastiness and a subtle nutty flavour. This should go very well with bacon and eggs.

RAMROD
4.65^KG / 10.25^LBS Domestic 2 row
.565^KG /1.25^LBSBiscuit Malt
.340^KG /12^OZBrown Malt
.260^KG /9^OZ Home Toasted Oats
60^Grams / 2^OzBrewers Gold Hops 60 mins
30^Grams / 1^OzBrewers Gold Hops 30 mins
8.5^Grams / .3^OzWillamette Hops 5 mins

(Rod's Willamette vine produced very little hop cones this year but his Brewers Gold was bountiful at about 9 ounces)

TASTING PARTY

Last week, I had a tasting party with 8 of my beers and 20 of my friends. All of the ales were paired with a delicious appy prepared by Chef Cindy of Peppercorn & Co. It was an awesome night with great feedback; Everybody loved the food and the beer and it was paced very nicely. There were a lot of people telling us that we should open a brewpub. That would be cool, but I need to perfect my craft a little more before I start considering that. Anyway, here are the beers used and their pairings.

The beers praised the most were: The Ginger Beer (A lot of people thought it would be a perfect Christmas beer), The Mango Wheat, and the Mint Porter.

Pumpkin Brew Day Turns into a Nightmare

This has been by far the longest, most frustrating brew day to date.

But I guess it is apropos for a Halloween beer to turn into a horror story.
I'll post the recipe and then explain what happened:

Hellish Halloween Harvest Beer
4.53 ^KG 10 ^LB Domestic 2 row pale
.43^KG1^LB Biscuit (Melanoiden) Malt
.22^KG1/2^LB Crystal Malt
2 small sugar pumpkins baked in the oven at 350 for one hour
2 orange sweet potatoes baked in the oven at 350 for one hour

I chose to mash the veggies instead of including them in the boil.
18 Grams / 1/2 Ounce Nugget Hops 60 mins
29 Grams / 1 Ounce Hersbrucker 5 mins
Wyeast 1275
(I bottled my British Mild tonight, and will rack on top of the yeast slurry)
I picked up my grains this morning and had my boys gut the sugar pumpkins and they had a great time doing it.

Everything went according to plan until it was time to chill the beer and that's where it all fell apart. The immersion chiller sprung a leak and gave the beer about 3 extra gallons of cold water. There was a lot of swearing. The only choice I thought I had was to boil to reduce back down to 5 gallons. Well, 4 hours later, I was finally able to put it in the bathtub full of cold water. I didn't dare try fixing or using the immersion chiller ( that would be just asking for more trouble).

I didn't know what to do regarding the hops or what the best method would be so I threw in 18 grams of nugget at 60 mins left in the boil and 29 grams of Hersbrucker at flameout. I wonder what the double dosing of the wort with the additional hops will lend to the beer? I tried the sweet wort and it tasted like a baby bitter but unfortunately, I didn't get any pumpkin notes. Of course, you shouldn't judge a beer on the first day so I will wait and find out.
Well, it is 4 AM and I think it's finally reached its pitchable temperature. Then, I'm off to bed. This was my first 14 hour brew day. I hope that never happens again.

Hop Harvesting

I was a little down when I realized that my hop vines were male. That meant there would be no cones for me to put in my beer and I would have to dig up all the rhizomes and try again next year. Luckily, my friend Rod had planted 2 hop varieties in May and in September, there were plenty of cones to be harvested. He also decided to donate those hops to me. I couldn't be happier.

This variety is Brewer's Gold which yielded about 9 ounces of bittering goodness and the other hops netted only 1 ounce of Willamette.
I have a concern about this though:
Brewer's Gold is considered to be a bittering hop because it's supposed to have a neutral aroma (although there is a distinct nondescript smell to these hops), but all the literature I have read about home grown hops state that since you do not know the AA of the hops, it's best to use them as aroma hops at the end of the boil. I think I might just say 'the hell to you internet' and put 2 ounces of BG at 60 minutes, 1 ounce of BG at 30 minutes and 1 ounce of Willamette at the end of the boil.
I will report back and see how that works. It won't be for a while though since I will be making a harvest beer next.

Triple Split Brew (Mild, Ginger, Pumpkin Pie)

Last weekend, I brewed 8 gallons of wort to get one 5 gallon carboy of British Mild, one 1 gallon growler of Pumpkin Pie beer, and one 1 gallon jug of Ginger beer:
British Mild
5.45^KG 12^LB Maris Otter 2 Row
.45^KG 1^LB Crystal 45 L Malt

60^GR 2^OZ Fuggles hops at 60 minutes
1275 Thames Wyeast
Nothing fancy there for the mild. It has just a little bitterness (29 IBU) but no flavour hops. I wanted to keep that end pure so when I added the adjuncts for the other beers, they wouldn't be competing with the aroma hops. This is also the first time trying Maris Otter and I wanted to see what it actually tasted like.
Ginger Beer: Near the end of the boil, I transferred about a gallon of wort into another brew pot and added a ^1/2 tsp of lime zest at 5 minutes left then about ^1/2OZ of grated ginger root at flameout.
Pumpkin Pie Beer: I mixed together^3/4teaspoon of McCormick mixed spice,^1/4teaspoon Cinnamon, 3 teaspoons dextrose into a cup with some water and microwaved that for about a minute. I put the mixture into a 1 gallon carboy and racked the British Mild into it.

Sad Day in Hopville

Remember that hopvine that was growing in my garden when I moved in? Well, as far as the internet goes, my vine is a male plant.

I was excited about my new "find" but now I realize that I have to dig up all those rhizomes come fall and prepare an area for new and improved female rhizomes. At least I'll probably know what type of hops they are.

SPLIT BREW (PORTERS)

I have decided to make two beers this weekend. One regular 5 gallon Mint Porter and one 1 gallon Vanilla Porter. I am using the same recipe for both and will be augmenting the grain bill to reflect a 6 gallon batch. I will put the mint/vanilla bean in after primary fermentation is complete.

MINT PORTER / VANILLA PORTER

4.87 KG / 10 LB 12 OZ Domestic 2 Row
.39 KG / 14 OZ Chocolate Malt
.39 KG / 14 OZ Oats (Quaker - cooked before I added it to the mash)

29 G / 1 ^OZ Golding Hop 60 Min
29 G / 1 OZ Golding Hop 20 Min
They were out of Golding so I picked up some nugget instead. It's pretty intense at 12.2 AA so I am just going:
20 G of Nugget 60 mins

1335 reharvested Wyeast

1.5 Oz of Vietnamese Mint from the garden
1/4 bean Vanilla Bean.
I will soak each adjunct in some Vodka or Bourbon 24 hours before placement in primaries.