I feel like I've been doing a bunch of obscure beers lately so I wanted to switch it up a bit and brew a crowd-pleaser for when the non-beer geeks come over. I often find myself in a situation where I'm offering beer to friends who like beer but who maybe are not super deep into the craft scene. I then realize, shit... I don't have any beer styles on tap that many people know of... For example, I have 4 beers on tap right now... A whiskey barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout, a very hoppy session IPA, a peat smoked Scotch Ale, and a Czech Pilsner... So, you don't like smokey things... okay...so you don't like whiskey.... okay.... so you don't like very hoppy beers... okay wellllll now you have one option. A pilsner.
So anyway, I want to probably work on a few beers to have on tap this summer in order to give our guests a few more options just in case they are too skeptic to try new things. With that being said, I mentioned in another post that Summer is really when the session beers come out anyway. I haven't brewed an American Brown ale lately, those are always fun. Maybe a basic IPA or Imperial IPA, an American Stout, a Saison perhaps? This is just myself brain storming but I think it's time to hold off on the cryptic styles for bit. Although I do have some fun things fermenting away in the closet, they can be released at strategic times... I just mean, one strange beer at a time.
It's been 10 weeks in the barrel as of yesterday and I finally kegged the Russian Imperial Stout that was sitting in my whiskey barrel. Bad news... it tastes oxidated as all hell. I kinda figured it would be because I've been trying it periodically. I think that, there, in lies my problem... I've always been impatient for beers which is why brewing the big ones are so difficult for me. I think if I would have just left it alone for the two and some months it would have been much less oxidated. The worst part is it's not even the sherry oxidation notes.. it's the wet cardboard notes that make it almost undrinkable. Anyway, I'm carbonating it right now to see if a little gas in suspension does anything for the flavor profile... who knows..? Going back to the other beers I have in my closet, I have the 100% Brett IPA which I think is coming along VERY nicely... I'm a little hesitant to take a gravity reading because I just don't want to risk contaminating my other beers until I have a second thief... It smells incredible and looks great. The only other beer I have in the closet is the Habanero Black IPA. Here's the deal, Black IPA...Vermont Ale....Cascadian Dark Ale... Black Ale... what ever you want to call it... I took a gravity reading this morning and it tastes great... I used the San Diego super yeast which is kind of weird to me... I always get a bunch of off flavors in the first week then they drop out or get reabsorbed by the second and third week so I think it's on the right track. Either way, it's nice and hoppy, very dark without the roasty aromas, thanks to Sinamar. I plan on dry hopping it but I don't want it to butt heads the habaneros. I haven't put them in yet, still deciding on a dry hop variety.
Okay, so that was mostly about other shit... I know. So, this beer I brewed today was basic compared to my current beers but I think it's for good measure. As I normally do, I'll put the recipe down below. It's an American Pale Ale. Yes, another very broad category, but it's classic in the hop choice (cascade) and the other flavor and aroma profiles from the grain follow suit. Although, I did used Chinook for bittering, I wanted to keep the amount of hops somewhat under control in this recipe. Going into the fermentor it looked nice an clean, I really like the color. I always have success with the White Labs 001 as a house strain... but I'm interested in trying maybe the Chico strain or possible looking into see what Dogfish Head's house strain is... It's what ever is in the 60 and 90 minute and you can tell recently in their 'Rising Bines' collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewing. Cheers.
Cascade Pale Ale - 5.4% (Brewed on 5/6/13) 6 gallons
10.5# American 2 Row
1.5# Crystal 60L
1 oz Chinook @ 60 min
1 oz Cascade @ 10 min
2 oz Cascade @ 0 min
WLP001 (California Ale)
(5/9/13) Here's a sequence of the first 3 days of fermentation starting with the yeast pitch.
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