Begin Brewing!

The finished beer I've made only a few Saisons in the past.  In competition, they've not done all that well, I suppose because my taste in Saisons leans away from the overly dry, overly bitter end of the style toward something milder and more complex.  Today, I decided to review a bunch of winning Saison recipes and analyze what I thought made them winners... then build my own. I liked the mix of Pilsner, Wheat, and Vienna I found in a BYO Magazine recipe.  I'd gotten complaints that one of my Saison recipes lacked malt complexity.  Another recipe referenced using cane sugar and a high mash temp to balance out the dryness from the cane sugar with some unfermentable sugars.  I wanted to mix Saaz, Citra, and Mandarina, but didn't have any Saaz on hand.  Last, but not least, I wanted a hint of spice and fruit.  That's where the coriander and grains of paradise come in.  Hopefully this will all play well with the Saison yeast. Ingredients ...

In October 2019, I made an Acerglyn that I was fairly happy with.  I decided to revisit that recipe, but to dial up the percentage of maple syrup in the must and increase the volume so that I could split off a gallon or two and add toasted oak to that. Last time around, I used 7 ounces of syrup and 2 pounds of honey.  That's around 18% of the fermentables as maple syrup.  This time around, I'm aiming for a higher percentage of maple syrup. Ingredients 5 pounds of Wildflower Honey 2 pounds Grade A Dark Maple Syrup (formerly Grade B) 1 tsp. Fermaid K 1 tsp. DAP 1 packet  Lalvin K1V 1116 yeast Filtered tap water to the 3 gallon mark in the fermenter Characteristics of the brew: Batch Volume: 3.0 gallons Original Gravity: 1.085 SG estimated, 1.095 SG actual Final Gravity: 0.992 SG estimated (1.004 SG actual) ABV: 11.4% estimated, 12.1% actual Fermenter Used:   Lister Bottling Wand Used:   n/a Carbonation Method Used:   n/a ...

Yesterday, I brewed a Passion Fruit Milkshake IPA.  In the process of doing so, I opened a container of natural passion fruit flavoring I had purchased.  Since I didn't want that to go to waste, and I had been wanting to make a Passion Fruit flavored mead anyway, I decided to put that together while I was in the brewing area working on something else. Ingredients 5 pounds of Wildflower Honey 2.9 ounces of Amoretti Natural Passion Fruit Flavoring 0.5 tsp. Fermaid K 0.5 tsp. DAP 1 packet Lalvin K1V 1116 dry yeast Spring water to the 2-gallon level in the fermenter This should yield a melomel with the following qualities: Batch Size: 2.0 gallons (1.87 gallons, approximately, in fermenter) Original Gravity: 1.075 SG estimated (1.108 SG actual) Final Gravity: 0.984 SG estimated ABV: 12.3% Fermenter:   Yoda Bottling Wand: Stainless 2 Carbonation Method:  none for part of the batch, 4 Brewer's Best conditioning tablets (medium carbonation) for ...

The finished beer Long-time readers and friends will be familiar with the fact that I am not that fond of the IPA style in general.  I get far more enjoyment from the flavors inherent in specialty malts and yeast, as we find in Belgian style beers.  That said, I do occasionally drink one of the more flavorful IPAs like Rhinegeist Truth.  A number of friends and family members enjoy so-called Milkshake IPAs, and I've enjoyed some (and less, others) over the last few years.  Having spent a couple of years in Brazil and getting to experience the flavor of passion fruit first hand, I thought that might make a particularly interesting milkshake IPA. I reviewed a few successful and popular Milkshake IPA recipes and settled on a grain bill that mixed barley, oats, and wheat to achieve the signature hazy thickness.  A high mash temperature should ensure some sweetness, with a bit of lactose to back that up.  Lots of passion fruit puree and the use of Southern...