| « Older Journal Entries |
| By Gary Where's the hops? Randall on Mar 13th 2006, 10:58 pm | Permalink |
|
A quick follow up on the chili beer. Props to Vance Barnes and his help in considering the recipe. Another of the reasons that I love Tastybrew... members like Vance that are so willing to help another brewer. A high five also to Carlos from Six Rivers Brewing in McKinleyville California for his input. After agonizing over how to go about brewing this beer. I opted to put some serrano's in the boil and add habaneras to the secondary. I had some reserve about cooking the chili's as I was unsure if there will be a negative effect on head retention due to oils in the chili's. I'm glad to report that head retention seems to be fine, helped out by the dextrin me thinks. The flavor of the beer seems to quite nice. It's a pale brewed with Willamette hops. Looking past the hop and malt profile, it has a slight cooked bell pepper flavor, and a much milder heat than anticipated... I will add more habaneras next time, although I was told that the habaneras will vary in capsicum content, and so some will be hotter than others. This will be considered in the next batch. I have about four gallons in the keg and just for shit's and grins, I will be adding dried chili peppers to the keg just to see what it will do. This is the experimental batch after all, and so experimentation is ongoing. Another note. I had a pint with a Mexican meal and it was great. It should a perfect pairing with Mexican food. Prosit... Gary |
|
| By Gary Where's the hops? Randall on Feb 8th 2006, 9:14 pm | Permalink |
|
In reference to: http://www.tastybrew.com/forum/thread/49599 I've brewed the chili beer. Only five gallons this time, mini mash to try to play with the chili's in the beer. Once I figure out if this is going to work, and I like it, I'll convert it to all grain. Thanks to Vance Barnes and the others in the thread for the great input. The recipe ended up like this: 1.00 lbs Cara-Pils Dextrin Malt 1.00 lbs Crystal 10L 7.00 Light LME 1.50 oz. Willamette Pellets 5.0% Alpha 60 min 1.00 oz. Willamette Pellets 5.0% Alpha 40 min 0.50 oz. Willamette Pellets 5.0% Alpha 5 min 0.50 oz. Willamette Pellets 5.0% Alpha Dry Hop 50 Serrano Peppers topped, cut in half and de-seeded in the last ten minutes of the boil. 2 Habanera chilies added during dry hopping for the last three days in fermenter. Wyeast 1064 American Ale Yeast. O.G. 1.052 F.G. 1.013 IBU's 51 ABV 5.0% I tried it when I racked it into the secondary before I added the Habaneras and the dry hops, and it tastes pretty damn good. It has medium hints of cooked chili in the nose and the flavor with a little capsicum bite, one that gives you slight hotness on your tongue but doesn't linger or burn your lips off. Keep in mind that this is before the habaneras. I'll be kegging tomorrow morning. I actually think it would be a nice chili beer without adding the habaneras... I'm kinda skeered. I talked to Carlos at Six Rivers Brewing in McKinnleyville California, who makes a terrific chili beer, prior to making this batch and he indicated that he adds his chilies to the Grundy and wanted me to let him know how the chili in the boil turned out, as he has thought of trying it. I think I'll try roasting a couple of the Serrano's next time to see how that goes. I'll post a follow up. Thanks all. Gary |
|
| By Gary Where's the hops? Randall on Apr 10th 2005, 5:08 am | Permalink |
|
Why don't I take the time to type something in here every so often? Let's see... Here I sit, relaxing. I am down to just a keg of my Pale. I call it a Pale, but it is really more an IPA. It is basically my extract IIPA recipe cut in half. When I brewed this batch I was exposing my old friend Ron "Meadow Muffin" Macomber to the world of homebrewing. He doesn't like the high gravity beers quite as much as I do. He does like Bridgeport IPA, Mirror Pond and the like. He wants to brew extract to start out, so I pulled together some Centennials for the boil and some Cascades to flavor and finish. I had some crystal malt a little caramel and some vienna. We brewed 10 gallons. It hit 1.056. I fermented here and he came back when it was ready. We bottled his five gals and I kegged mine. It turned out great, and he is nursing that batch of beer. He usually waits until he is visiting with someone so he can pull out a bottle or two and say.. "I brewed this beer. I think I hooked another victim... Gary |
|
| By Gary Where's the hops? Randall on Oct 14th 2004, 4:30 am | Permalink |
|
Hard to believe I haven't added an entry since before I brewed that Wildcat IPA I mentioned in my last post. I drank my first one from that batch last night. My friend John came by and had about 3 or 4. "World Renowned" was his comment. 1.088/1.023. 38 oz of Centennials and Cascades for 10 gallons. Big hop monster, not at all for the faint of heart. I think it's almost a Barlywine. I should put some back for New Years. I'm sure it will be much better after a little time in the keg. Not quite so abrasive on the tongue perhaps... Gary |
|
| By Gary Where's the hops? Randall on Aug 22nd 2004, 7:20 pm | Permalink |
|
The rain finally made it back to Oregon... It is starting to feel like fall with cooler temperatures... I'm sitting here realizing that I have all the ingredients for my Widcat Mountain IPA... and a and a house that needs to be cleaned. I think it's time to brew. Who needs a clean house, when you have two corney kegs of kick ass homebrew? Rowdey~ |
|