Begin Brewing!

The finished beer While inventorying my home brewing supplies over the weekend, I realized I had a lot of flaked corn, which made me think a Cream Ale might be nice.  I also saw some dark agave nectar I'd bought a long time ago on clearance, which delivers a tequila-like flavor when fermented.  I figured adding some orange peel, lemon peel, lime zest, and lime juice might just bring that margarita flavor home. I could add some Hallertau hops (lemony) and Mandarina Bavaria (orange) to further enhance the flavor. I started with a national competition-winning Cream Ale recipe from the American Homebrewing Association web site as the base, then layered on Mandarina Bavaria hops, agave nectar, lime zest and lime juice, orange and lemon peel, and set things up in the Brewie+. Ingredients 2 pounds Swaen Pilsner Malt 2 pounds Briess 2-row Pale Malt 9 ounces Flaked Corn 7 ounces Corn Sugar (mash) 4 ounces Acid Malt 4.2 ounces Dark Agave Nectar (flameout) 1.5 tsp. pH 5....

Yesterday I toured local meadery Brothers Drak e and got to try several of their products. It got me to thinking about how I might try to put a spin on the drink. What I decided was to try mixing the idea of a Mead and a margarita into one beverage. I'd use orange blossom honey as the base, and combine it with dark agave nectar to get a tequila like flavor, adding lime juice to introduce tartness, and sweet orange peel to simulate triple sec.  The honey would provide additional orange notes and hopefully a base sweetness. Ingredients 1 pound Orange Blossom Honey 1 pound 3 ounces Dark Agave nectar 0.75 ounces sweet orange peel 1 ounce by weight lime juice 0.25 teaspoons yeast nutrient 1 packet champagne yeast Brewing Boil three quarts of water for ten minutes with the lime juice, yeast nutrient, and orange peel in it. Remove from heat and add the agave nectar and honey. Allow it to cool to around 80F and pitch the yeast into it. Fermenting I p...