Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Try a Belgian!

For New Years this year, keep one thing in mind. Champagne is sparkly and bubbly, but so are the giant bottles of Belgian beer!

Give something like Unibroue or Duvel a try this year and see how it goes.

This works great for those who don't like Champagne and just want a little something different.

Happy Early New Years!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Spice

Of course I am not talking about Sand Worms and Melange, but of the massive artillery of spice we have at our disposal to make our carbonated malt beverages festive.

Many Belgian beers use spices and herbs to flavor their beer, especially in the Wit styles. Coriander and orange peel are common, but there are many other additions in festive beers.

Ever pick up a Holiday brew and feel like you were just face punched with mulling spices? It is not unusual, and many people enjoy it.

I prefer to have a good lightly spiced Christmas beer where you can still tell it is beer.

Some good examples of spiced Christmas beer are Karbach's Yule Shoot Your Eye Out, which is strong in ABV and in spice content, and Anchor Christmas Ale (although it is a little different each year).

I discovered a good lightly spiced beer this year, the Ebenezer by Bridgport. It had a good malty backbone but enough hops to consider it a well balanced beer and just spicy enough not to make me need water afterwards.

Either way, enjoy some good brews on this cold ass Xmas day!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Brooklyn Concoction

The consumption of delicious and enticing brews is what being a beer aficionado is all about. Broadening one's horizons and expanding one's palate is something any beer explorer should be open to.

Condemning a beer just because it is not the kind you enjoy, is just plain ignorant.

If you are looking to expand your taste buds, don't just limit yourself to beer, but taste wine and spirits, and also any foods that you have never had. These things will allow you to understand better the flavors you experience in your beer.

I bring all this up because I was enjoying some good ol' Brooklyn beer recently when I saw The Concoction on tap. Not knowing what it was I ordered it.

The smell was like extremely tart hops. I was a little confused by this but took a sip anyways. I felt at first like I was licking vapor rub... the flavors of menthol and camphor were off the wall.

After a few more sips I started realizing what I was tasting. Peated malts and lemon at first, followed by the honey. This recipe mimics the famous Scotch based cocktail "Penicillin".

I went to Anvil, the well-known cocktail bar in Houston, and did a side-by-side tasting of The Concoction and Penicillin. After a couple sips, they seemed almost identical.

Way to go Brooklyn!


Don't be afraid to try new things. If you are, you are just holding yourself back. Step over your own boundaries and show up when you would rather just sit around.

Monday, December 5, 2011

All-Grain

Let me take a moment to explain something very new to me (and hopefully throughout this process we can both learn something).

I have been partial mashing and steeping specialty grains for some time now.

Steeping the specialty grains is just like making tea. It will affect the overall taste but not leave much to ferment, while partial mashing will allow just a little of the fermentable sugars to be created while allowing the flavor be imparted.

All-Grain however is something completely different. I have a recipe I have created and the process that I will follow written down, and would like to just go over it a little.

This is the All-Grain crash course from a newbie. Of course if anything needs adjusting please let me know, and at the same time hopefully some will learn from it.

1) Mashing
  • Strike water is the first batch of water set inside the mash tun which the malts will be soaked in at a given temperature for an hour or so.
  • Generally 1-1.5 quarts of strike water are used per pound of grain.
  • The grain will be soaked for one hour in water ranging from 150-158 degrees F
  • The temperature chosen for the mash will result in different outcomes
  • The higher the temperature (between 150-158F) the sweeter the malts will be, and the lower the ABV will be.
  • The lower the temperature the drier the malts will be and the higher the ABV will turn out.
  • Remember to have the water at at least 10-12 degrees higher than your mashing temperature, because adding the grain will make the temp. drop.
  • It is a good idea to use 2-row malts for single infusion. This just makes life easier all around. (At least 50% of grain should be 2-row)

Equipment can be purchased or even made. I have seen all sorts of different methods but this one really strikes my fancy. Here is a video by Don Osborn. This is a great reference to check out when you are stuck.


(And of course we cannot forget John Palmer and his methods)


2) Sparging
  • What I have decided on is 1/2 gallon of around 170 degree water should be over the grains to sparge. This method is the process of extracting the sugars by basically pouring water of mashed grains. Any temperature over 170 degrees could cause the tannins to be more noticeable and therefore causing off-flavors.
  • There are many methods of sparging. I personally like Don Osborn's technique but just take a look around a decide for yourself.
  • A good rule of thumb is this. Oversparging will create a more watery beer while undersparging will create a more concentrated beer.


Here is my simplified checklist to follow when I brew my all-grain.

-Boil strike water to 166, pour grains in and close the container for 1 hour. (stir well)

-Cover as well as possible and let sit for an hour.

-Mash Out -Pour a couple gallons of boiling water on top to raise temp (optional).

-Collect some of the wort before letting it fill the container.

-This should give around 3 gallons of liquid.

-Close the container.

-Boil 3 more gallons to about 170 degrees (maybe a little higher depending on how far it will be carried, and pour it slowly over the grains.

-This will give us 6 gallons of wort.

-Start boiling the wort as usual.

-Follow recipe!

A lot to take in and it took me a very long to really comprehend it, but if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at Sudsandsmokes@gmail.com.

I will update the process when the time comes!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Leprechaun

Recently on our podcast "The Beer Party Show", which you can catch almost every week at http://thebeerpartyshow.podomatic.com, we sampled the up and coming Leprechaun Cider. I was lucky enough to meet the owner himself recently and was so impressed by everything he stood for that I gave it a shot.

The words "Artificial, and concentrate" were used as if they were naughty and so I went on to test this theory.

Leprechaun Cider is by far the most delicious cider I have ever had. I do enjoy ciders from time to time, and consumed many of the well known brands (Ace, Crispin, Woodchuck), and while these are all delicious in their own way, they still lacked the authenticity that Leprechaun puts forth.

Using Cider apples instead of dessert apples was quite an important step in the making of the cider, and the lack of any apple juice concentrate made a world of difference. Many more techniques were used to make this cider what it is, and once again... cider is GLUTEN FREE for those of you that can't take the awesomeness that is malts.

In the end, if you enjoy ciders... or hell, if you enjoy a fine champagne... buy a bottle and give it a try yourself. I highly doubt you will be disappointed.