Horton's Homebrew - Nectar of the Gods

I had wanted to try adding chocolate to a beer and with the ingredients I had left over from After Midnight Porter, I decided to try adding chocolate to the recipe.  I came up with the name from a recollection of chocolate being referred to as “nectar of the gods”.  Nectar of the Gods (5.63% ABV and 40 IBU) looks just like After Midnight and the chocolate addition added very little flavor to the beer.  Nectar of the Gods tastes almost exact like After Midnight.  Lori could not detect any chocolate influence in the beer.  I just bottled two amber ales and I think I will try a wheat beer next.  

The recipe is as follows:

Malts -

7# Briess Pale Liquid Malt Extract

8 oz. Briess Caramel 60 L

8 oz. Briess Chocolate Malt

4 oz. Black Patent Malt

8 oz. Unsweetened Baker’s Chocolate added at the start of the boil.

Hops -

.25 oz. Nugget – 60 Minutes

.25 oz. Nugget – 40 Minutes

.25 oz. Williamette – 40 Minutes

.25 oz. Williamette – 20 minutes

Yeast – Wyeast 1056 American Ale

American Porter - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/159 – BeerAdvocate

The Brew Hut - http://thebrewhut.com/

May Beer Dinner = Wheat Beers

There are many different styles of wheat beers and wheat beer was very popular in the U.S. before “the great experiment” of prohibition.  I recall sampling American Hefeweizens while I lived in the Pacific NW and these were; and still are, a very popular summertime beverage.  The primary wheat styles that I have tried are Hefeweizen and Belgian Wit.  A classic Hefeweizen has hints of clove and banana due to the yeast and a Belgian Wit usually contains spices (coriander) and fruit (curacao orange rind) that coupled with the Belgian yeast, provide a distinct taste.

Tibor and Nicole prepared excellent food selections of watermelon and deviled eggs for appetizers and dinner of brats steamed in beer, corn on the cob, asparagus, and pretzel rolls.  Dennis brought over a turtle cake and I brought over baked beans.  Everything was very tasty and it was an excellent meal with friends.  The brats were Johnsonville brats and the steeping in Twisted Pine’s Ghost Face Killah (a chili beer) transformed them to another level.  Tibor also grilled some buffalo jalapeno cheddar brats from Continental Sausage located here in Denver and they were fantastic. The pretzel rolls were a recent addition to the Costco lineup and these were very tasty.  Again, everything served was very good.

The beer lineup is as follows:

1)     Horton’s Homebrew – After Midnight Porter (not a wheat beer - covered in a previous  post)

2)     Twisted Pine – Ghost Face Killah (not a wheat beer – a chili beer)

3)     Odell – Easy Street Wheat

4)     Dry Dock – Hefeweizen (a favorite and a previous medal winner)

5)     Tommyknocker – Jack Whacker (fermented with lemongrass)

6)     Sam Adams – Cherry Wheat

7)     Shock Top – Pumpkin Wheat

8)     Shock Top – Lemon Shandy

9)     Shock Top – Belgian White

10)   Avery – White Rascal

11)  Widmer Brothers – Hefeweizen

12)  Boulder Beer – Sweaty Betty

Probably needless to say, but we did not drink full pours of these beers as we wanted to be able to do things the next day.  The other helpful factor is these wheat beers are typically lower in ABV than many other beer styles.  The take away is there are a number of really good wheat beers.  None of these were bad and there were a wide variety of flavors – everyone had ones they liked.  On a side conversation with Tibor, we agreed that the Dry Dock Hefeweizen was our favorite – it is just a fantastic beer and brewed to style perfection.  I can understand why they have won awards for this beer. 

Next month we focus on Amber Ales.

Horton’s Homebrew - After Midnight Porter

For my next batch, I decided to brew a porter and used a slightly modified recipe from John Palmer’s book How to Brew - just buy the book.  The recipe is called Port O’ Palmer in the book and is similar to Sierra Nevada’s Porter.  The changes I made were to hops and the hop schedule.  This is my best batch to date, it turned out really good and should only improve with a bit of age.  The name is in tribute to Eric Clatpton’s song After Midnight.  The ingredients were obtained from The Brew Hut in Aurora, CO and I have enough specialty grains remaining to brew another batch and I plan to add cocoa to the next batch. 

The grain bill all from Briess Malting is as follows:

7# Pale Liquid Malt Extract

0.5 # Briess Caramel 60 L

0.5# Briess Chocolate

0.25# Black Patent Malt

The hop additions were:

0.25 oz. Nugget (14.8% AA) at 60 minutes

0.25 oz. Nugget (14.8% AA) at 40 minutes

0.25 oz. Williamete (7.5% AA) at 40 minutes

0.25 oz. Williamete (7.5% AA) at 20 minutes

I made a 2L starter with Wyeast 1056 – American Ale yeast and 200 g of Munton’s Pale Dry Malt Extract.  The beer sat in the fermenter for 2 weeks at 68 degrees and then was bottle conditioned for 2 weeks at 74 degrees. 

Beer specifications:

Target OG – 1.053

Actual OG – 1.052

Target FG – 1.013

Actual FG – 1.012

ABV – 5.24%

IBU – 40 (using the Rager formula)

American Porter – http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/159 - Beeradvocate

Briess Malting – http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/

The Brew Hut – http://thebrewhut.com/

John Palmer – How to Brew - http://www.howtobrew.com/

Horton’s Homebrew – Crescent Moon

Crescent Moon (5.5% ABV and 38 IBU) is a pale ale and one of my newer creations in my adventure in home brewing.  My recipe is 6# Briess Pale LME, 1.25# Briess Sparkling Amber DME, 8 oz. Briess Caramel 20L and 8 oz. Briess Caramel 40L.  Steep the Caramel Malts in 153-degree water for 30 minutes and strain.  Add enough water for approximately 2.5 gallons, added the DME and brought it to a boil for 60 minutes.  Cascade hops were added in 0.5 oz increments at 60 – 30 –15 - 5 minutes with a 1 oz. additional at knockout.  During the boil, I heated up the Briess Pale LME to make it easy to pour.  The wort was chilled and water was added to bring to 5 gallons in the fermenter.  Yeast was Wyeast 1968 – London ESB ale and fermented 2 weeks at 68 degrees.  Finally, use 4.5 oz of corn sugar in 1 C. water – bring to boil – chill and add to bottling bucket with the beer.  This resulted in 24 – 12 oz. bottles and 13 – 22 oz. bottles with some left over for tasting.  OG – 1.058, FG – 1.016, SRM 11.1, IBU 38.19 with the Rager formula, and 5.5% ABV.  I was shooting for an APA that was more on the malty side with a nice hop bitterness too.

American Pale Ale (APA)  - Of British origin, this style is now popular worldwide and the use of local ingredients, or imported, produces variances in character from region to region. Generally, expect a good balance of malt and hops. Fruity esters and diacetyl can vary from none to moderate, and bitterness can range from lightly floral to pungent.   American versions tend to be cleaner and hoppier, while British tend to be more malty, buttery, aromatic and balanced.  Beeradvocate

Appearance – Light Amber with a nice two-finger head this has good carbonation too.

Aroma – One can easily pick up a biscuit / light dough aroma from the malts and a fruit / citrus smell from the hops.

Taste – You first taste sweetness a little honey or caramel then a hit of hop bitterness that is fruity and a finish of biscuit / bread.

Overall – B - this turned out very well and I will stick with the base grain bill.  I will brew this again and will next play with the yeast and the hops

URL - Ingredients sourced at The Brew Hut - http://www.thebrewhut.com/

Horton’s Homebrew – Orion Stout

My first attempt at a stout was from a Williams Brewing Stout brew kit and it turned out well.  It has a great color and the carbonation was spot on with a nice two-finger head that took awhile to recede.  The beer tastes sweet with a nice roasty / toasty undertone from the dark malts.  It finished a bit under attenuated and I will focus on the wort aeration and use a yeast starter on the next batch.  It has a slight grainy finish and a little more aging should take care of this – a couple of weeks / months in some cold storage should even out the flavors.  I would also add a few more hops to increase the bitterness a touch.  In summary, the beer is easy to drink and it would be easy to drink a number of these with lower ABV (I estimate ~4% ABV and 35 IBU).  What I would do differently on the next batch – 1) use a yeast starter, 2) focus on wort aeration, 3) use a touch more hops to increase bitterness.  These three things and a little more time in storage should take this beer to the next level.  Next up – a pale ale using only Cascade hops.  I’ll be brewing this one later today, and yes, I made a yeast starter.

Website description of the Williams Stout Kit – “In England, stout has traditionally been a sweet black beer, often sweetened with lactose. In Ireland, stout has traditionally been dry. William's Stout is slightly sweeter than the famous Irish stout, yet drier than sweet English stouts. A potent stout with a creamy head, our stout derives its rich bittersweet flavor from a combination of a special dark extract, ale hops, and a liquid yeast with a somewhat dry character. A smooth black stout with a balanced character. Alcohol: 4.9%, IBU's 35.  Includes 8 lbs. of our blended malt extract, English fuggle and other hops, 125 ml of liquid ale yeast, and corn sugar for carbonation. Makes 5 gallons with a starting gravity of 1.050. Ease of Brewing: Beginner.”

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAMS-STOUT-P280C189.aspx