Gone Bananas for the Holidays

It has been a good while since my last brew, and since the holidays are coming up, I thought the best beer to make would be a holiday spiced brew. In this brew though it is going to be a bit different than the normal holiday brews. The biggest change up is a banana in the yeast starter. Here are the ingredients and everything that went down. Enjoy!


Gone Bananas for the Holidays


MALT OR FERMENTABLES

3.4 lbs Amber Liquid Extract

2.12 lbs Amber Dry Malt Extract

2 lbs Crystal 80L

1.10 lbs Munich Malt

1 lb Honey

1 lb American Dextrin (Cara-Pils)

4 oz Chocolate Malt (US)

4 oz Biscuit Malt

Batch size: 5.0 gallons

Original Gravity

1.081 (1.073 to 1.085)

Final Gravity

1.019 (1.017 to 1.021)

Color

25° SRM (Brown to Dark Brown)

Hops

Boil

60 minutes 1 oz Cluster pellet 7.9%

20 minutes 1 oz Sterling pellet 6.0%

10 minutes 1 oz Hallertau Select pellet 1.5%

Bitterness

30.1 IBU

Yeast

Nottingham Ale Dry Yeast

Yeast Starter:

Cut up one big banana put into a small pot add 1/2 quart of water, 1 teaspoon of honey, and 4 tablespoons of corn sugar. After 10-15 minute boil, cool down to almost room temp. Pour liquid into a sanitized 1 gallon water jug. Add the yeast, let it sit over night or during the time you are starting your boil to the end. Make sure to release to pressure often.

Spices:

1 Cinnamon stick

1 small piece of ginger

3 to 4 dried cloves

Spices go into the boil with 15 minutes left in the boil

Alcohol

8.3% A.B.V.

6.4% A.B.W.

Calories

266 per 12 oz.

Brewdog fights back with a super mild beer!

If you know this brewery then you also know they are big news in the UK for making a beer that is 18% alcohol. (Tokyo*) It was such a big deal there that the government has put a ban on it's sale there! Insane, well Brewdog came back big with a 1.1% alcohol brew with 225 IBUs (Called Nanny State)! Insane (they call it an imperial mild) read more about it here! Brewdog

Jamm'n Pumpkin Porter

Yesterday I brewed a new fall brew. It has candied yams, pumpkin, spices, molasses, and honey. It will be a porter style brew with all the above which was added at different times of the brew making process.


2 lbs of Amber DME
4 lbs of Dark DME
1 1/2 lbs of Honey added with 15 minutes left in the boil.
8 oz of Molasses added before boil
3 cups of English Chocolate Malt (at 145 F for 30 minutes before boil)
3 cups of Crystal Malt 120 L (at 145 F for 30 minutes before boil
29 oz of Pumpkin Puree added to primary.
16 oz of Candied Yams (Sweet Potatoes) added before boil and pureed.
Pumpkin spices will be added in secondary.

Hops
Bitter hops - 1 3/4 oz Palisades ( 6.7%) Pellet for 90 minutes
Flavoring hops - 1/2 oz Cascade (7.6%) leaf for 30 minutes
Aromatic hops - 1/2 oz Fuggle (4 %) leaf for 5 minutes

Yeast
Cultivated yeast from my Devil's Nectar & SAK Attack brews (Originally Wyeast 1056)

Life and Limb & Limb and Life

There is a new beer a brewing. Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head are collaborating together to make two different brews. One is being bottled (Life and Limb) and the other is only going to be on draft. Both are being made at the Sierra Nevada location in CA. and distributed through their network.

Life and Limb will be a very strong brew at 10% while the other Limb and Life will be 5 % and will actually be the the second runnings of the strong brew.

Life and Limb will have maple syrup from the family farm of Calagione and be naturally carbonated from birch syrup from Alaska (a first). The barley used for this brew is actually grown the family farm of Sierra Nevada. Finally the yeast used is a combo yeast both from the house strains used at each brewery.

It says it will be able age very well. I can see why with all that sugar and natural carbonation going, it will be very complex flavors that will only get better with time. This sounds like it might be depending on what barley is used be barleywine like brew. Very excited to try this one out though it will not be going out to the market till late November in 24 oz bombers and the lighter version will be available in October

Check out more at http://beernews.org/2009/08/dogfish-head-and-sierra-nevada-brewing-form-epic-collaboration-for-life-limb/

Cherry Belgian Stout

Brewed this beer yesterday with the collaboration of a friend. This is going to be a little bit more complex beer that even I don't normally do. Dark Belgian candi, special B malt, and Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale to contribute the Belgium flavors. The stout was made by using roasted barley, and chocolate malt. What is going to be crazy is when I add the cherry puree to the secondary I will add a wild yeast as well!

Updated 1: The grains and the Belgian candi was put at rest for 30 minutes at 142 F. Also split this batch, one without the cherry and wild yeast added. This batch was bottled last week and I am taking my first tasting notes of what this brew is like. A nice dark brown color with light brown head that goes away fairly quickly to a thin layer. The smells are of dark sweet chocolate and a light alcohol level to it. It taste just like it smells! Pure milk chocolate flavors with a light sweet taste of Belgian notes in the middle with a lingering bitterness that must becoming from the hops used. I am having a hard time not drink another, this is a brew I will have to do again!

Update 2: Bottled the split batch that has Wild yeast and 3lbs of cherry puree added to it. It has amazing sour flavors. A good amount of puckering at back of the mouth. Has light chocolate flavors with a sour cherry kick. Can not wait to see how it ages in the bottles. I left this brew on the wild yeast and cherries from 8/25/09 to 10/01/09. I believe the alcohol is bit higher than the regular Belgian stout and finishes a little dryer as well.

Brewed- 08/04/09
O.G. 1.058
F.G. 1.012

Malt Extracts

• 44 oz. of Light DME
• 3.3 lbs of Munich LME

Speciality Grains

• 16.5 ounces of Two Row Pale
  
• 1 lb of Chocolate Malt
  
• 1 lb of Special B
  
• 8 ounces of Roasted Barley

Hops

• 1 oz Centennial (75 mins)
  
• 1 oz Hallertauer 5.7 AAU (15 mins)
  
• 1 oz Styrian Goldings 5.3 AAU (5 mins)
  

Additions

• 3 lb can of Cherry Puree in the secondary
• 1 lb of Dark Belgian Candi in the boil.

Yeast

• Wyeast 1388
  
• Wild Yeasts in the secondary

Beer and food parings.

I came across this awhile back and have been meaning to post it. One area that I am starting to learn a lot about is paring a good brew with the right dish. Luckly some of the questions I had were answered with this PDF file from beertown.org.

http://seasonalbeerandfood.org/pdf/beer_food.pdf

Running

To be big beer enthusiast it takes a big toll on your body if you do not keep it in check at all times (aka beer gut). To balance that out for me I do my other fun hobby, running! One of my favorite places to run is at the beach. I recently just came back from a short trip to Cherry Grove Beach and to balance out my crazy addiction to brew I ran twice. Both being 5k distances. For my gloating pleasure I added my Nike+ Mini on my blog site. One of the beers I need to run off the cals was one my favorite beers from Southern Tier - Creme Brulee

This is delicious stout. Has extreme flavors of vanilla, buttery, chocolate, and roasty flavors. It claims to be an imperial milk stout but taste like strait up creme brulee. This is not a easy drinking brew because of the heavy flavors and thick weighty mouth feel. Yet, it is very enjoyable just a brew that should be shared with friends and drank slowly.