Homebrew: Bourbon Vanilla Stout

I am going to attempt a vanilla bourbon stout.  I have been soaking some charred oak staves in bourbon for a few months.

First step: the stout.  I had two epic boil-overs making this - never turn your back on boiling wort!  Hopefully I didn't lose too much rich, beery goodness.

Steep for 30 minutes at 150:

1 lb. Black Malt (450-500 L)
1 lb .Dark Crystal Malt (94-108 L)
2 oz. Roasted Barley
3 oz. Chocolate Malt

Boil:

1 kg. Dark DME
1 kg. Light DME
1 lb. Medium DME

Added 1 oz. Fuggles (4.2%AA) at 60 minutes
At 2 minutes added 1 oz. Fuggles (4.2%AA), .5 oz. Czech Saaz

Filled to 20 litres, pitched White Labs WLP005 British Ale

I will rack to secondary in a few day, add the wood staves, a splash of bourbon and a splash of vanilla.

Homebrew: Saison

This brew is a bit of a hodge-podge of a French Saison, Belgian Saison and Biere de Garde.  It was also a bit of a "use what I have on hand" recipe. Not sure how it will turn out, I guess we will see.

Note, this was a 3 gallon batch

Steep 1 hour at 150 degrees:

2oz special aromatic biscuit malt
5oz honey malt
4oz caramunich 3
4oz caramel Munich 40L

bring to a boil, add:

2kg light DME
1lb dry wheat extract
.4oz Columbus hops (pellets) (15% AA)

Boil 55 minutes, add:
.4oz Czech Saaz hops (pellets) (2.6% AA)

Pitched Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Primary ferment 2 days at 65 degrees, 5 days at 70 degrees.

I just racked it to the carbuoy.  I will likely keep it at 65 degrees or so for two weeks then bottle.

Homebrew: Hefeweizen

I can't remember the last time I made a plain, simple hefe, without fruit or some other twist.  German style hefe is a great summer beer, so here is my recipe:

Steep at 150 degrees for 30 minutes:

4oz Caramel Munich 40
2oz Cara Munich 3

Boil for 60 minutes:
2kg wheat DME
500g light DME
200g amber DME
1oz Hallertau Hops (3.2% AA)

Pitched Wyeast 3333 German wheat.  Total - 20 litres

Great Places to have a beer - Bruges

Sith@Heart and I spent some time in June in Bruges, France and Amsterdam.  Needless to say, we found some great places to have a beer.  This post, Bruges:

't Bruges Beertje - a must see for beer lovers

2be - The Beer Wall

2be - The Beer Wall (great selection, nice canal side patio)

De Garre - Challenged to find this by Chris S.  Mission accomplished!

Homebrew: Lucky 13 Milk Stout

Brother from a different mother Darren Reed and I decided to try our hand at a milk stout.  Recipe is our own version, based loosely on a combination of the Left Hand Milk Stout and Mackeson Triple XXX stout recipes.  The name comes from the 13 ounces of lactose we use.

8 oz flaked oats

8 oz roasted barley

8 oz Chocolate malt

8 oz 60 L crystal malt

8 oz black malt

4 oz pale malt

4 oz smoked malt 

13 oz Lactose

1 oz EKG 5.7 AA (boil)

1 oz EKG 5.7 AA (flavour)

2tsp gypsum

1 tsp Irish Moss

• Crush and steep grains 30 min @ 150
• Strain and sparge top up to 3 gallons 
• Bring to ‎Boil
• Add DME, lactose, gypsum and boiling hops
• Boil 45
• Add flavour hops and Irish moss
• Boil 15
• Drop into primary, top up to 5 gals
• Pitch WLP‎002 English ale 

OG: 1.050

Homebrew - Irish Red, with Darren Reed

The second batch from the Barley Legal Brewing Company / Brothers From Different Mothers Brewing Co.  We decided to prepare for fall with an Irish Red.  After we brewed it I was worried I have once again made a brown ale instead of a red, but it turned out a nice, deep copper colour.  Dry tasting and slightly creamy with a nice finish.

Steep for 30 minutes at 150:

11oz Crystal Malt
1.5oz Black Malt
1oz Roasted Barley
2.5oz Pale Malt

Bring to a boil
1.5kg Pale Malt Extract
1kg Amber Malt Extract
1oz East Kent Golding hops (5.7%AA)

Boil for 50 minutes, then add:
1oz East Kent Golding hops (5.7%AA)
1tsp Irish Moss

Fill to 5 gallons in the fermenter.  Pitched White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast.

Due to schedule issues it was racked after a week to the carbuoy, but not bottled for about a month.  The ageing didn't seem to cause any problems.

Whale - found!

Dogfish Head 120 IPA.  Not what I expected - far richer and less hoppy than I thought it would be.  We put a couple in the cellar to see how they age.  I will let you know in a few years.