Notes on a Brewday: Northwoods Double Porter

Seven grain mash, roasted grains ground in coffee grinder

Black ales are the adopted bane of homebrewers. It seems like from one's inception into homebrewing, the popular camp means to get us started on the campaign to disassociate dark ales from the idiom that these black liquids are 'thick and highly alcoholic'. Each of us is given that old Guinness recipe for Dry Irish Stout, with it's high percentage of flaked barley, and made to adhere to the gospel fermentation time frame that produces an opaque black refreshment that never fails either adjective.

Short on Supply, High on Concepts

I've had a couple years' run wherein my brewing has been a gently purring animal.

Tastes have become recipes. Those recipes have met practices on brewdays, and then found their way through the cell membranes of various yeasts, until the whole was poured into pint glasses. Those glasses were emptied into dozens of parched mouths; occasionally, a few of those mouths gave coherent, positive feedback. My three & some odd years of homebrewing have led me to a fine place where the only limits have been my imagination, palate & budget.

Notes on a Brew Day: Helles VII

House beer: do you have one? A brew that you always keep on hand, or at least return to frequently? Perhaps it's a seasonal feature in your homebrewery's lineup? And, in a world where change is the only constant, is the recipe static? Or do you, like me, succumb to the urge to fiddle?

Tasting: Twa Oats Roastie

Hello, stout ... nice to see ya. It's been a long time; you're just as lovely as you used to be.

I'm sorry, Conway Twitty - that's your song, and this is an oatmeal stout.

How to Plan a Rebrew: Part Two

This saga began with a recipe I created for an oatmeal stout. The first round of triple oat stout was a decent success, but I wanted to make some improvements to get the beer more where I wanted it to be. Things that I attempted to correct in the second version were color, hop selection and yeast selection.

Here is the recipe for version two:

Eat Your Beer Like A King

There are many ways to consume beer. Sometimes, we drink it out of a pint glass, other times a ram’s horn or a beer bong shaped like a skull. I, sometimes, consume beer out of food. Ever make a beer solely for eating with brats? I have. In Wisconsin, beer and brats go hand-in-hand. Or maybe brat in-bun-in-hand with beer in-the-other-hand.

Rye Wine (a parti-gyle experiment)

I stumbled across the idea of making a rye wine in early 2010. I imagined the next winter would be much better with a silky, dark, garnet beer full of booze and character in my mittened hand.

Ingredient Showcase: Biscuit Malt

Biscuit malt, come on down! It's your turn to be smashed, steeped, and then drunk!

Let's look at biscuit malt today. This is a favorite of mine. I have met people who hate biscuit malt, people who love biscuit malt, and people who use it to the point of excess. Perhaps the latter tend to create the former. With moderation, it does add a unique component to a recipe.

Notes on a Brewday: Saison Regalitarian

Distressing over the fact that most of my beers are either Belgian-inspired or IPAs, I decided to purchase a sack of Castle Pilsner malt. I should declare an aside here - this is currently my favorite malt, in part because it makes a great base for any pale Belgian-style recipe, and in part because it always yields perfect runoff at the proper crush - no vorlaufing needed.

Brewer's log: Floor Malt Experiment #3: Parti-gyle 140 Shilling and a “Halvsy”

I too had the opportunity to experiment with the Warminster floor-malted Maris Otter. My goal was two worts from one mash: a Scottish 140/- ale, and a second "small beer" (we'll call it the Halvsy). In total the grist was about 24 lbs for a 5 gallon batch of each of the two beers.

Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake

All great epic tragedies start out with the protagonist having good intentions. Unfortunately, protagonists usually suffer from chronic hubris and they manage to foul everything up and something usually dies and then the protagonist experiences catharsis and then suffers from regret for the rest of his/her days. I am the protagonist of this story.

Grain Malts Demystified

Golden Promise ... pale malt? Two row? What's the difference?

School's in:

Brewer's log: Floor Malt Experiment #2

MD had his fun, now's my time.

I got my hands on several pounds of Warminster floor-malted Maris Otter. Last Saturday found me without the fiancee for the afternoon. So I rolled out of bed, made up the sanitizer, gathered the ingredients & lit up the hot liquor on the stove...

The plight of over using crystal

There is an evil living among us!

Today's Reading

All rise. Today's reading will be from Brewing, 12.4.1 ... Decoction mashing.

An Ode to Bitter

British bitter is one of my favorite styles to brew. It's simple, cheap, and well balanced, much like yours truly.