Begin Brewing!

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...