Doin' Brewin'- Smoked Porter

In preparation for beautiful weather and barbeques, I'm brewing a nice and smokey porter.  This beautiful weather is getting me excited for campfires that leave your jacket smelling for a week.  I'm hoping this beer will have that essence smokey campfire essence.
Just kegged over the weekend, it's just as good as I imaged.  Porter may or may not be the best label.  It's somewhere between a Rauch and Porter I think.  What would you call a beer that is lighter in color and bitterness than a Porter, but not as smokey as a typical Rauch?
Nice creamy mouth feel makes it an easy drinker.  And at 6% it doesn't leave you stumbling home from the picnic.
 

Batch Size	5.000 gal	Boil Size	5.750 gal
Boil Time	60.000 min	Efficiency	75%
OG	1.058	FG	1.015
ABV	5.7%	Bitterness	33.7 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	21.6 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	192

Fermentables

Total grain: 14.250 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	10.000 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Rauch Malt (Germany)	Grain	3.000 lb	No	No	0%	2.0 srm
Chocolate malt Pale	Grain	8.000 oz	No	No	60%	250.0 srm
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	Grain	8.000 oz	No	No	74%	40.0 srm
Roasted Barley	Grain	4.000 oz	No	No	55%	300.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Santiam	7.2%	0.500 oz	Boil	5.000 min	Pellet	2.3
Santiam	7.2%	0.500 oz	Boil	30.000 min	Pellet	9.0
Warrior	13.7%	0.500 oz	Boil	60.000 min	Pellet	22.4

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
Safale S-05	Ale	Dry	2.232 tsp	Primary

Doin' Brewin'- Fraoch (Heather Beer)

Dried Heather Tips

A while ago I read the book Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers and it triggered the herbalist/gardener in me to want to make herbal beers.  I was intrigued by Fraoch and decided I needed to seek this beer out.  Fraoch is brewed with heather, a low growing shrub, instead of hops.  Well, what an endeavor that turned out to be.  Originating in Scotland, it turns out that this beer is not readily available in the states.  But alas, after many months of search, I found one and it was great!  This is not the typical beer that a hophead would like as it is on the sweeter side with no hop bitterness, but the herbalist in me likes the sprucy flowery herbal essence.  So I decided, I needed to make this beer since it's so hard to find.  So the search for heather begins.  Do I try to harvest it fresh or buy it dried?  And either way, where do I find it?

Turns out that more and more people are trying to brew this style and finding dried heather wasn't too difficult.  I was able to find an 8 oz. bag from Austin Homebrew Supply. 

Now, how do I brew it?  I did some research and found some pretty complex recipes out there.  A fraoch is technically a gruit; a mixture of herbs used to bitter/flavor.  I decided for my first batch to make it simple, and to only make 2.5 gallons in case it wasn't drinkable.

I mashed as usual for 60 minutes.  When it came time for the boil I added one addition, 6 oz of heather tips and boiled for 90 minutes.  Then the tricky part came.  Separating wort from heather.  The dried heather is ground up in small bits and a little powdery, I could see the advantages here of using fresh heather tips as it would be far easier to remove from the wort.  I debated using a bag, but I didn't have one big enough, so I just tossed it all in.  I used a small sieve and scooped out as much as I could then ran the wort through the sieve on the way into the fermenter.  Not too bad.  O.G. was 1.040.  Fraoch are not traditionally a very big beer.  This one turned out to be 3.6% ABV.

After a week of fermenting and a week of secondary I decided to "dry heather" the night before I kegged it.  To eliminate a bunch trub I did this by boiling 1-2 cups of water.  Then seeping 2 oz of heather for 5-10 minutes after which ran it through the sieve into the secondary carboy. 

Batch Size	2.500 gal	Boil Size	2.500 gal
Boil Time	0.000 s	Efficiency	70%
OG	1.033	FG	1.008
ABV	3.2%	Bitterness	0.0 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	4.4 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	106

Fermentables

Total grain: 3.314 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	3.001 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Carared	Grain	5.000 oz	No	No	75%	20.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
heather	0%	6.000 oz	Boil	90.000 min	Pellet	0.0

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
US-05	Ale	Dry	0.388 oz	Primary

I have to say I am quite pleased with the end result.  The recipe could use some tweaking but I like it.  Very cloudy as expected with that much heather added.  The aroma is amazing, no doubt about it, there is heather in this beer.  It's a pretty thin, but it also only came in at only 3.6% ABV.  I would definitely try to get more body and more maltiness next time, but I like it for the first one because you really taste the heather, it's pretty in your face.  The heather really lingers on the palate and sours a little at the end.  Reminds me of a kombucha, basically just a fermented heather tea.  Some honey flavors to next batch would pair nicely with the floral and balance out that sourness.  I've never used honey malt, but I think this would be a good recipe to play with.  And I just got this cute little keg for my small batches, so no bottling.  Double win!

Doin' Brewin'- House Stout

Mash tun/brew kettle all bundled up for the mash

When you are a lil' brewer girl there are some things to consider about your brew set up.  Most involve lifting heavy things, which can be, well, too heavy.  Also, when I started brewing all-grain, I had limited space for equipment.  Brew-in-a-bag was the perfect option for me.  Seemed easy enough with not a lot of investment or space needed.  A giant brewpot with a spout was perfect for eliminating some lifting and pouring.  Stilts on my burner means I can drain the wort into a carboy, which is usually in a wheeled cooler, and off I go to the fermenting closet.  The only lifting that is left is to get the carboy up to the counter for transfers.  I think I can handle that.

I do a full volume mash in my kettle.  I think in the future I am going to change this approach.  I am going to make some markings in the kettle so I can do a thicker mash then fill with extra water to the appropriate level for pre-boil.  Sometimes I get some thin beers which could be a result of bad recipe design or from a super thin mash.  Either way, my kettle can barely hold all the grain and water for full volume so if I only accomplish making a little less mess, then so be it.

 Wrapped up the kettle will usually drop about 10 degrees through the 60 minutes.  I don't seem to suffer any negative consequences.  

On this cold winter day in the mountains, it seems as though a stout is in order.  I have brewed this recipe several times, tweaking bits of it here and there.  It always seems to please.

Batch Size	5.000 gal	Boil Size	5.750 gal
Boil Time	60.000 min	Efficiency	70%
OG	1.057	FG	1.014
ABV	5.5%	Bitterness	43.1 IBU (Tinseth)
Color	41.7 srm (Morey)	Calories (per 12 oz.)	187

Fermentables

Total grain: 12.250 lb

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	Grain	10.000 lb	Yes	No	79%	2.0 srm
Carafa II	Grain	4.000 oz	No	No	70%	412.0 srm
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	Grain	8.000 oz	No	No	74%	40.0 srm
Roasted Barley	Grain	8.000 oz	No	No	55%	300.0 srm
Chocolate Malt (US)	Grain	16.000 oz	No	No	60%	350.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Northern Brewer	10.6%	1.000 oz	Boil	60.000 min	Pellet	34.6
Northern Brewer	8.6%	0.500 oz	Boil	20.000 min	Pellet	8.5

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
Safale S-05	Ale	Dry	2.232 tsp	Primary

Fermenting in the closet			Transfer time

Green Flash Brewing Co- Hop Head Red

Drinking Hop Head Red transports me back to a beercation a couple years ago that I took to San Diego.  There were a couple things to learn about brewery touring for a week there.  Used to going to brew pubs that have pretty regular business hours we quickly learned that in the San Diego area there are a lot of breweries that only distribute and have tap rooms.  That means they have limited tasting hours, which are usually only Thursday- Sunday from 4-8pm.  The day we went to Green Flash Brewing Co. was the day we learned that hard lesson.  On a Tuesday after checking out the LA scene a little we were ready to hit the road and start the tour and logically start working our way down towards San Diego via Escondido, the home of Stone Brewing Co .  But first stop, Vista, CA where Green Flash was originally located.  Green Flash was our 4th stop in obscurely located industrial parks, and not a beer had been tried yet.  Denied!  But we knew we could come back on our way back up the coast.  Which is exactly what we did and I was so glad.  We got to roam around the brewery floor, samples in hand and chatted with the brewer at work.

A beautiful red color leads to a nice caramel maltiness that you can even smell on first sip.  Not a lot of hop aroma, you might think this was an Irish red, then, surprise!  Hops!  Maybe a little bitter at the end but not totally out of balance.  This is not your average red or your average IPA.

Faucet re-build

Sometimes a lil' brewer girl can be intimidated when things aren't working properly because that means she will have to fix it.  This can be fun because you get to take stuff apart and figure out what's wrong.  This can be annoying because you then have to put things back together in working order.

I have Perlick faucets because they are awesome!  But not awesome when they start leaking and making a big mess everywhere.

Stout stained carpet

And how lucky that both faucets are leaking at the same time.  Ugh!  Time to get some know how from the internet and take these faucets apart, fix them, then try to put them back together.

Sideways view of tap assembly

After I took this all apart I realized that I could have just taken the taps off the tower.  Duh :)  I didn't actually have to take the shank out of the tower too.  But I was in destructo mode and in the end I'm glad I did because on examining my lines, I realized that they could use a change out and this would be the perfect time.  It was easy taking the taps all apart and interesting.   I figured out where all the o-rings were, and that those were likely the problem.  I wan't really sure how long it had been since they were new.  The hard part came a couple weeks later, when the replacement rings came and I had to remember how to put this all back together.  There are acutally a few more pieces that go on the inside of the tower not shown in this photo and embarrassingly it took me a few tries to get them all in the right order and in the right direction so it all screwed together. 



In the end I replaced 3 o-rings, the handle lever (which probably didn't need replaced), the coupling nuts which were very badly worn, and both the beverage and CO2 lines, just because I was already feeling handy.  Now it's all back together and ready for new brews and no more leaks!

Pliny the Elder

Spending Valentine's Day with one of my true loves, HOPS!!  A rarity in southwestern Colorado, I was so happy to snag the LAST two bottles of Pliny at the liquor store the other day!  Apparently they get a shipment of this gem only about every 6 weeks and they don't even put it out in the coolers.  You have to just know about it and ask for it.  Crazy! 

First time a got to experience the hoppy deliciousness in my mouth was actually at Russian River Brewing.  On a road trip with my mom several years ago, we made a detour on our journey just to hit up the brewery.  We were only able to spend a little bit of time there and I have been jonesing to go back ever since.

As you can see in the picture Pliny is on the light side.  But don't be fooled, loaded with hops it also has tons of body to back that hop up without lots of caramel.  A double IPA at 8%, it's up there but not over the edge.  It has little to no alcohol bite, super piney hops on the nose, and a slightly bitter big hop party in your mouth with the perfect amount of malt to balance it out.  They brew this in small batches (hence the rarity) and put the bottled date on the bottle so you know you are enjoying it fresh.  Don't age it or you'll loose all the fresh hoppiness.  

I am so in love with Pliny! 

Peach Porch Lounger

I don't know why but sometimes I get a wild hair to branch out from drinking IPAs.  I saw peach on the label and was reminiscing on a beer I had last year around August from Crazy Mountain.  Perfectly added fresh local peaches gave a subtle peach aroma and sweet aftertaste to, what tasted like their Mountain Livin Pale Ale.  I usually don't like fruit beers but this one nailed it on the head for me.  So I picked up this bottle of Peach Porcher.  I knew it wouldn't live up, I mean first of all, it's a sour beer.  But maybe it would have a nice hint of peach to please the palate.  Or maybe not. 

I got out my guitar and was ready for some lounging.  Not on the porch, or patio, as that is covered in snow right now.  Sniff.  Yep, there's the brettanomyces.  When I first tasted it I was thinking more of a sour beer, but it really tastes alot like a saison.  Not a lot of body there, or peachiness though.  So now I am confused.  Is it a sour or saison.  I guess it doesn't really matter because it just wasn't doing it for me and at 9.4%, better I don't drink the whole bottle anyway.  I think the best part of this beer is the G. Love logo!  "Yo, can I get a cold beverage!"