Sunday, February 7, 2010

Brew # 17 Mild Smoker

Mild Smoker

11-A Mild
Author: Reuben Gray (Saruman)

BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Size: 25.00 L
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 117.3 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.036 (1.030 - 1.038)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.009 (1.008 - 1.013)
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Color: 23.25 (23.64 - 49.25)
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Alcohol: 3.47% (2.8% - 4.5%)
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Bitterness: 18.5 (10.0 - 25.0)
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Ingredients:

1700 g Mild Malt
2000 g Smoked Malt
100 g Chocolate Malt (pale)
250 g CaraPils Malt (brupaks)
100 g Rye Malt
15 g Challenger (6.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
20 g East Kent Goldings (4.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
15 g Fuggle (4.1%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1084 Irish Ale - No Irish Ale yeast so US04 used instead.

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It's brewday again after a few months of abstinence

The water issues are behind me, well not quite as it turns out. I started brewday and that is fine but I do not have a lot of water pressure so it took longer to fill my strike water for the mash than it should. As it turns out, the pressure is too low to make it up to the attic to fill my water tank. That will not affect brewday but will affect the bathroom supplies and shower water.

Anyway I am brewing a smoked mild. I enjoyed the one Al did over on fuggled when he first got in to brewing. We both got in to it at the same time, he however started off more on extract brewing. Sure he used a kit as the base but he steeped grains and got some great results with his smoked mild.

I do All Grain these days so it will be interesting to see how mine turns out.
I will post up the recipe soon.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

So long and thanks for all the fish...

Last night I got home and opened one of the last two remaining bottles of Cloaked Stranger Stout and started watching The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie. I am a big fan of the books and the radio series and I even watched the original TV series. Hell I even played an old Dos text only game years ago.
I have to say there is nothing like watching a movie which brings a nostalgic tear to your eye and having some good stout. After the Cloaked stranger was gone I opened up two bottles of O' Hara's stout. I prefer my own actually but I still adore the O' Hara's.

Sorry about the lack of blog posts this year. Not only was I not drinking for a while due to soem dental work, I also have been without internet at home since January 14th. I sometimes get to log on using some cough... neighbournet.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Dubbel tasting


I have had this La Trappe Triple for a few months now and decided to open it up. I previously had the Quadruple last year. This was much more to my liking though. It pours a brown and red autumn leaves colour. Alcohol and fruit along with caramel are in abundance on the nose.
On tasting it I was hit by dried fruit, like a fruitcake but one soaked in alcohol. Immediately after the fruit comes a decent bitterness giving it a bitter finish but in the background is always some sweet caramel to balance it out. Also there is spice from the coriander. This is a rather good Tripple and the type I like. Not cloyingly sweet like many Belgian Trappist Ales.
I already talked about how my own Dubbel, called Dubbel Whammy turned out. Well this is the keg version and it is very drinkable. Think of a Belgian dubbel, the kind that is not too sweet. Remove a lot of the alcohol making it an average beer in abv terms and you have a Session Dubbel.
The kegged version is pretty much the same as the bottle although whether it is the extra conditioning time or what but I got a little extra burnt toffee with this.

Currently I have been drinking the wonderfully drinkable Haka for the last week but I think I was have some more Dubbel this weekend. In fact, I will go pour one now and have it with my lunch.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

No beer for me for a little while

I recently had some pain in my teeth so I decided it was time to go to a dentist. The last time I went was back in the late 90's I think, probably 1999 or around that time anyway. I had a rotten tooth which was essentially drilled to the point of only having enamel left and then filled. That tooth has been black for a long time so I figured since the pain was coming from there, it is probably time to have it taken out. I was worried though that the tooth beside it, which looks perfectly fine was a little tender also.

So I go to a dentist and he takes an X-ray and it turns out the black tooth is just fine but the tooth beside it has a massive hole which you can't see because it is hidden by the black tooth. I need a root canal. Great.... Well to make things worse, I have a prescription for two drugs now to clear the bacteria. One of them is Flagyl and I can not have any alcohol with that one. That is not a suggestion, it is a simply fact. I drink alcohol and I will probably be violently sick. So no beer for me for 5 days (prescription time), I will probably just stay off it until after the root canal
The root canal happens next Thursday and that is the night of the ICB meet at the Bull and Castle so I will not be in any shape for that either.

Oh and still no water at my house.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

My Hero for the beginning of 2010

I mentioned recently we have been having water issues since before the New Year. It was being rationed and turned off at certain times. Well since Friday we have been completely without water as has most of our community. The next housing estate over had a standpipe set up by Westmeath County Council to provide water for those who need it. Running the show was this little kid above in his yellow jacket and green boots. I had heard about him when I was checking with a neighbour I noticed get out of her car with lots of milk jugs filled with water. She told me to follow the road, I can't miss it because it is the one that has all the obvious use through the snow. She said this little 6 year old is running the show and sure enough when I got there, he was. There was an organised line and he was the one making sure everything was done correctly.
The image above shows one of my two fermenting buckets being filled. While this was being filled he noticed a leak in the standpipe so he got people with smaller bottles and containers to pass their bottles to another kid he recruited and told him to put them under the leak.
The real reason this kid is a hero, apart from volunteering his time is because I got to see the sort of person he will grow up to be and I hope to God that he turns to politics some day as he has the makings for a great leader.
The old man in front of me tried to give him a little money and he kept holding his hand up and saying (in a westmeath accent) no no I couldn't take that, no no I am happy to volunteer as long as someone breaks me. By break me I assume he means someone takes over for an hour so he can get some lunch.
That kid will go far if he sticks to those sort of principals.


Another less impressive hero, but a hero of the beer verity none the less is another Goose Island classic. Bourbon County is a bourbon cask aged stout weighing in at 13%. I thought it fitting to pour it in to a whiskey glass and set it on a pile of peat briquettes for the picture.
It pours a motor oil thick black with no head which is to be expected for this sort of beer.
On the nose is a powerful bouquet of Vanilla, Liqourice, alcohol and caramel.
All of these qualities come through with the first sip with the addition of sherry and a hell of a lot of chocolate, and not just dark chocolate either as I was reminded of milk chocolate at times due to its creamy smoothness.
Ruth over at Deveneys off license, where I bought this incidentally is in love with this beer. By the way, they are holding a beer festival next month and there are still tickets available. The proceeds go to charity and details can be found in store or on the blog. It looks like my wife is fecking off to Manila for three weeks for work so will miss out.


At the same time I got the Bourbon County I also picked up this Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. I had been meaning to try it for ages and have had beer mats for the beer but no beer. Now for those not familiar with a Rauchbier, it is a smoked beer. The smokiness is achieved by smoking the malt grains in the same way as you might smoke sausage or salmon. In fact a description of how they do it can be found on the website.
The beer pours a dark ruby, plenty of light shows through. It also boasts a massive head.
It smells very smoky like smoked bacon.
The smoke assaults you from the beginning and then wood notes come through. The beer is actually quite thin on body, which was a surprise but what that means is that this is quite a drinkable beer and could even be a session beer for people who like the smoked flavour.
I have some smoked malt myself and plan on making a Rauchbier. I need to have water though so brewing has been on hold for a while.

In the meantime I have The Haka tapped and it is a lovely easy to drink pale ale. Not so bitter that my wife does not like it which makes her happy. It is currently cloudy and yeasty but a little time will clear it however I will keep on drinking it.
I reckon Blonde Beggar is nearing the end and Dubbel Whammey will go in soon.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Goose Island Oatmeal Stout

I have not had much in the way of Oatmeal stout and in fact I believe this might be my first Oatmeal stout. Being a big fan of stout I am surprised by the neglect. Well my introduction to Oatmeal based stout came in the form of the brilliant Goose Island Oatmeal Stout. I am not sure what I was expecting but the rich dark chocolate extravaganza was I had was not something that came to mind. Firstly, this beer is dark. It pours pretty much black with a tan/off white head which is short lived (in my case anyway).
The aroma starts off with pure dark chocolate leading to a sort of porridge (oatmeal) thing (sweet) and some coffee and caramel.
In the mouth it is lighter than it looks and vanilla is the first thing I noticed which instantly moved on to chocolate, a little coffee and a citrus finish.

A wonderful beer from start to finish. I have had stouts that I prefer to drink but this was a very lively and interesting stout and worth further exploration.