Mix Bag aka Trinity Cream Stout aka Creme Brûlée Stout

Brewing beer is complex, if you want it to be. I must be glutton for punishment then, because most beers I make are. My first beer I ever made was a brown ale, I messed up and didn't filter the hops. I was like what is this strainer for?! It tasted fine, but it looked horrible. The next beer I made was a raspberry wheat, I dropped the borrowed carboy filled with ready to bottle brew. It shattered and pink, sticky beer went everywhere! Smelled like a frat party for months... horrible. But I persisted and made that beer again, it came out great. This was in the summer. Now I brew a fruit beer every summer not because it is summer but to remind me of my mistake and keep making my brewing process better!

It is not summer yet, so that fruit beer will have wait, but I love making complex beers because it brings out my creative side. Some times it works like my PB&J brew other times it goes horribly wrong like my lemon brew, soap beer anyone?  Yes I am of a lose cannon. But luckily I have learned to take great notes just in case you stumbled across something amazing, or if you like to keep tweaking that almost amazing IPA or the pumpkin porter. 

Recently my wife and I welcome a new addition to our family, a handsome sweet boy. This brew was the first brewed after his birth. I asked my wife, what beer do want the next beer to beer, she being a lover of great dark craft beers said "how about Southern Tier's Creme Brûlée Stout?" I had to say yes to that! If you haven't had this beer, you are missing out! Yes it is very sweet beer and a must to be shared, but if you like to have your dessert in a glass this is it! On ratebeer it has the ingredients listed.  Besides two row, lactose seems to play a big part. Below is the recipe, I will also be adding caramelized sugar in the secondary, and possibly carmel bits melted down. Updated to follow. For now this is what I did today. 

Mix Bag
	Style: Specialty Beer	OG: 1.083
	Type: All Grain	FG: 1.021
	Rating: 0.0	ABV: 8.12 %
	Calories: 271	IBU's: 35.28
	Efficiency: 75 %	Boil Size: 5.31 Gal
	Color:   55.2 SRM	Batch Size: 4.50 Gal
	Preboil OG: 1.076	Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary	7 days @ 68.0°F
Bottle/Keg	14 days @ 68.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
11.35 ozs	4.79 %		Special B Malt	60 mins	1.030
11.20 ozs	4.72 %		Aromatic Malt	60 mins	1.036
7.85 ozs	3.31 %		Joe White Dark Munich	60 mins	1.038
14.65 ozs	6.18 %		Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.028
8.00 lbs	54.00 %		Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt	60 mins	1.037
1.00 lbs	6.75 %		Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	60 mins	1.034
1.00 lbs	6.75 %		Milk Sugar (Lactose)	60 mins	1.035
1.00 lbs	6.75 %		Briess Roasted Barley	60 mins	1.033
1.00 lbs	6.75 %		Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	35.28		Mt. Hood	60 mins	5.80

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg	Denny's Favorite 50	Wyeast Labs 1450

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
2.00 each	Vanilla	15 mins	Boil
2.00 oz	Hazelnut Extract	14 days	Bottling
1.05 oz	Cocoa	15 mins	Boil
1.00 oz	Vanilla extract	14 days	Bottling

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion 60 min @ 152.0°F

Add 18.37 qt ( 1.33 qt/lb ) water @ 168.2°F

Carbonation
Amount	Type	Beer Temp	CO2 Vols
2.51 oz	Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation	68.0°F	1.90

Notes
1.05 oz of cocoa powder
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*****UPDATED******
I got taste this past Saturday for the first time while brewing my next batch Aloha Ale (Pina Colada Cream Ale), my wife and friend who tasted it with me said it was really good. It has a nice Southern Tier Cream Brulee flavor but not as strong, it is lower in alcohol then the commercial example.  This brew has nice dry chocolate flavor at the end. With a nice creamy texture throughout, it pours a jet black with a dark brown head, and prominent aromas of vanilla and hazelnut. This is still a dessert beer, but easily drinkable for the summer. Not hot or heavy, this can really bring be a put off  for a hot summer day. This is still a young beer, so with age it will mellow out a bit more, but it can and probably drank now!

Peach Wheat, aka Pirate Teachey's Peachey Wheat

For whatever reason I never posted this one till today, over 7 months later. This beer was made for my wife's stepmother's 50th surprise birthday party! For the occasion I made a peach wheat ale for the event. The theme of the party was a pirate looking at 50. It was a blast! Being a fellow
pirate myself, i had a good name for it! Besides tons of friends and family that came to celebrate, and the great music played by Phil Durham, and the amazing food and cupcakes, the beer was a hit!
Half of the 5 gallon batch was all gone by the end of the night, with request from others following that night to have more.

This beer was suppose to be a apricot wheat ale, but the 3 lbs of apricot puree fermented completely out in the primary, which was fine, so I added peach flavoring at the bottling. This gave the beer a nice hint of peach without being too fruity or sweet. Here is the recipe!

Pirate Teachey's Peachey Wheat

	Style: Witbier
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 190
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 9.00 Gal
	IBU's: 20.01	Batch Size: 5.50 Gal
	Color:    3.9 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.039

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	04/22/2012
	OG:	1.058	1.058
	FG:	1.015	1.015
	ABV:	5.63 %	5.63 %
	Efficiency:	85 %	85 %
	Serve Date:	05/26/2012	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	20 days @ 68.0°F	04/22/2012	04/22/2012
Bottle/Keg	14 days @ 74.0°F	05/12/2012	-

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
4.00 lbs	36.36 %		Briess White Malt Wheat	60 mins	1.039
6.00 lbs	54.55 %		Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	9.09 %		Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	13.57		Tettnang	60 mins	3.90
0.75 ozs	3.79		Williamette	10 mins	4.00
0.25 ozs	2.66		Williamette	30 mins	4.00

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Forbidden Fruit	Wyeast Labs 3463
1.0 pkg	French Saison	Wyeast Labs 3711

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 oz	Orange Peel	10 mins	Boil
0.50 tsp	Irish Moss	10 mins	Boil
2.98 lb	Apricot purée	00 mins	Boil
2.00 tsp	Gypsum	01 hours	Mash

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion 75 min @ 150.0°F

Add 22.00 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.7°F

Carbonation
Amount	Type	Beer Temp	CO2 Vols
4.40 oz	Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation	72.0°F	2.30

Notes

Peach flavoring added at bottling add 2oz

Scarface IPA

Yesterday, I realized I have not posted anything about my brews of late. So in a mad rush I added the PB and J brew and now I am doing the newest one called Scarface. About eight months ago, I made a brew called Babyface IPA which was aged on pineapples and using a new hop called Citra which has pineapple like aroma and flavor. That brew was for my sister-in-law's engagement party. It was gone quickly with many praises about it. So I decided to make an imperial version of that but I ended up over sparging  the mash aka I had a lot more wort (pre-beer) to boil off to get to the 10% abv after fermentation. So I decided to keep the extra which resulted in more beer, high ratio of hop flavor and aroma, but lower in alcohol. It will end up being around 7.5 abv and about 88 IBUs.

For those that dont know, when making an IPA most professional breweries will stick to a very close similarity of alcohol (abv) to hope flavor (ibu) meaning if an ipa is 7.5 abv it is usually close to 75 IBUs. So as you can see mine IBUs are going to be a bit higher than called for but because this brew will be aged on fruit it should lower the IBUs slightly. This will give the beer more well rounded flavor. After all, hop bombs are nice but I like to taste more than just grapefruit, pineapple, and other citrus like fruits in a brew.

The beer, Scarface, was split in half  3.5 gallons of it was aged 1lb of strawberries and the other aged on 1 pineapple, but both were dry hoped with a blend of Centennial and a new hop called Belma. This hop, I have been told by my awesome homebrew store in Raleigh (American Brewmaster), has -

"A very new dual use hop variety with a subdued citrus flavor and dominant melon / strawberry character A very clean hop, with a very orange, slight grapefruit, tropical (pineapple), strawberry, and melon." I was going to make an exact replica of the pineapple ipa but I had to try this hop out and age it on those two fruits. Yesterday, I transfered the brew into the secondary and added the fruits and hops to each. In about two, weeks from this posting I should be able to bottle, and then after couple more weeks it will be carbonated and ready to enjoy! Below is a snapshot of the recipe.  Scarface Pineapple/Strawberry IPA Style: Imperial IPA Type: All Grain Calories: 248 Rating: 4.0 Boil Size: 9.50 Gal IBU's: 88.88 Batch Size: 7.00 Gal Color:    8.6 SRM   Boil Time: 75 minutes Preboil OG: 1.060 Estimated Actual Brew Date: - 01/26/2013 OG: 1.076 1.076 FG: 1.019 1.019 ABV: 7.47 % 7.47 % Efficiency: 72 % 72 % Serve Date: 03/02/2013 / / Fermentation Steps Name Days / Temp Estimated Actual Primary 7 days @ 70.0°F 01/26/2013 01/26/2013 Secondary 14 days @ 70.0°F 02/02/2013 02/02/2013 Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 70.0°F 02/16/2013 - Grains & Adjuncts Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity 13.00 lbs 59.09 % Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt 60 mins 1.037 3.00 lbs 13.64 % Briess Vienna Malt 60 mins 1.036 3.00 lbs 13.64 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L 60 mins 1.035 3.00 lbs 13.64 % Briess Carapils 60 mins 1.034 Hops Amount IBU's Name Time AA % 1.00 ozs 25.42 Belma 60 mins 11.30 1.00 ozs 19.57 Centennial 60 mins 8.70 1.00 ozs 23.34 Belma 45 mins 11.30 0.50 ozs 7.52 Centennial 30 mins 8.70 1.00 ozs Belma 14 days 11.30 0.50 ozs Centennial 14 days 8.70 0.50 ozs 0.54 Chinook 1 mins 11.10 0.50 ozs 12.49 Chinook 60 mins 11.10 Yeasts Amount Name Laboratory / ID 1.8 pkg Denny's Favorite 50 Wyeast Labs 1450 1.8 pkg American Ale II Wyeast Labs 1272 Additions Amount Name Time Stage 1.00 lb Strawberries 14 days Secondary 1.00 each Pineapples 14 days Secondary Mash Profile Light Body Infusion 75 min @ 152.0°F  Add 44.00 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 169.0°F Carbonation Amount Type Beer Temp CO2 Vols 3.13 oz Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation 74.0°F 1.90

Charlie Brown Ale (PB & J brew)

I decided to brew a beer inspired by a beer I had in the 2012 Brewvival by a small not well known brewery called Funky Buddha. They were a major hit and every brew they served was amazing! One of the beers they served was called No Crust. An brown ale with peanut butter and jelly. It was straight up that. I knew I had to try make this, so finally nearly a year later. I made this brew. Below is the recipe. I roasted 1 lb of raw unsalted peanuts and then added them in the secondary inside mesh nylon bag. The brew came out with an nice nutty aroma and flavor. I also added 3 lbs of blackberry puree in the secondary. This gave the beer a nice sweet finish. Though this beer didnt taste exactly like PB and J it did have very good overall flavor. I would have to call this a Nut brown ale. Great brew and worth trying again. Possible with more blackberry and less peanuts.

Charlie Brown

	Style: American Brown Ale
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 195
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
	IBU's: 28.31	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color:   37.7 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.056

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	11/03/2012
	OG:	1.060	1.070
	FG:	1.013	1.013
	ABV:	6.16 %	7.47 %
	Efficiency:	70 %	84 %
	Serve Date:	12/07/2012	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	11/03/2012	11/03/2012
Secondary	14 days @ 68.0°F	11/09/2012	-
Bottle/Keg	14 days @ 68.0°F	11/23/2012	-

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
6.00 lbs	48.00 %		Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt	60 mins	1.037
1.00 lbs	8.00 %		Victory Malt	60 mins	1.034
1.00 lbs	8.00 %		Joe White Light Munich	60 mins	1.038
1.00 lbs	8.00 %		Rye, Flaked	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	8.00 %		Honey Malt	60 mins	1.037
8.00 ozs	4.00 %		Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.028
1.00 lbs	8.00 %		Biscuit Malt	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	8.00 %		Candi Sugar, Dark	60 mins	1.036

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	16.01		Williamette	60 mins	4.90
1.00 ozs	12.31		Williamette	30 mins	4.90

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Trappist High Gravity	Wyeast Labs 3787

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
3.00 lb	Blackberries	07 days	Secondary
2.00 oz	Peanut Butter Extract	02 weeks	Bottling
1.00 lb	Peanuts	07 days	Secondary

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion 60 min @ 152.0°F

Add 23.00 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 169.0°F

Carbonation
Amount	Type	Beer Temp	CO2 Vols
3.06 oz	Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation	68.0°F	2.00

Notes
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Hazel Pumpkin vs Pum'mores!!

I love being a mad scientist, I have made some crazy beers in the past, like Gone Bananas for the Holidays, a holiday spice beer with bananas in the yeast starter, or like my 30th birthday brew made with 30 different ingredients. But lately, I have not truly gone crazy with a beer, so all my built up imagination needed to be released to a magical creation. So normally for the past 3 years or so I have made something with pumpkin for Halloween, my last two were pumpkin imperial porters, but each one was quite different than the other. I added chocolate to the last one, and with keeping with the theme, I made yet again another pumpkin brew, but very different than the last two.

The first difference peat smoked malt, raw sugar, and honey added at different parts of the boil or mash. I also added pumpkin puree about 3 lb. in the mash, different spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. All pretty normal for a pumpkin brew.  But since I found hazelnut extract, I had to find a use for it, and I wanted to make S'mores brew with marshmallow fluff, gram crackers, and chocolate! So, after the boil, I split the batch in half after couple weeks in the fermenter. 

Both got raw sugar, and then I added in one secondary 2 oz of hazelnut extract, and in the other I added chocolate, gram cracker crumbs ( both of these were put in pot and boiled together then added), and marshmallow fluff, yes marshmallow fluff!  After many days and nights, at least 14 days I bottled them.

As I type this out, I am having my first taste of the marshmallow one aka Pum'mores - doing a direct quote from my untappd account, "A nice pumpkin spice aroma, and taste with a slight chocolate flavor and overall sweet creamy texture from the marshmallow fluff."

I have yet to have the hazelnut pumpkin but I did have a slight taste of it while bottling it (product control ya know?!) Anyways, if anyone has ever wondered how Southern Tier makes their Creme Brulee Stout besides caramelizing sugar, hazelnut extract has to do something with it! OMG amazing flavor AND aroma. FYI Walmart at least the one I go to has some amazing extracts, like banana, cherry, and peanut butter (and yes I am going to make a brew with that PB&J brew?!)   This is most of the recipe.... 

Enjoy and dont forget to have fun exploring (it is half the fun/and journey in creating great brews!) 

Pumking Vs Marshmallow Man

	Style: Imperial Stout
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 313
	Rating: 4.0	Boil Size: 5.85 Gal
	IBU's: 55.16	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color:   30.9 SRM	Boil Time: 75 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.089

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	08/25/2012
	OG:	1.095	1.095
	FG:	1.029	1.029
	ABV:	8.65 %	8.65 %
	Efficiency:	75 %	75 %
	Serve Date:	09/29/2012	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 72.0°F	08/25/2012	08/25/2012
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F	09/01/2012	-
Bottle/Keg	14 days @ 74.0°F	09/15/2012	-

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
9.00 lbs	48.34 %		Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt	60 mins	1.037
1.00 lbs	5.37 %		Briess Vienna Malt	60 mins	1.036
2.00 lbs	10.71 %		Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L	60 mins	1.035
1.00 lbs	5.37 %		Briess Carapils	60 mins	1.034
1.00 lbs	5.37 %		Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	60 mins	1.034
1.00 lbs	5.37 %		Briess 2-Row Caramel 120L	60 mins	1.032
1.00 lbs	5.37 %		Honey	15 mins	1.035
12.00 ozs	4.03 %		Raw Sugar	2 mins	1.046
1.00 lbs	5.37 %		Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037
2.00 ozs	0.67 %		Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037
4.00 ozs	1.34 %		Peat Smoked Malt	60 mins	1.034
8.00 ozs	2.69 %		Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.028

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	32.34		Columbus (Tomahawk)	60 mins	13.30
1.00 ozs	17.99		Glacier	60 mins	7.40
1.00 ozs	4.83		Williamette	15 mins	4.00

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Northwest Ale	Wyeast Labs 1332
1.0 pkg	American Ale	Wyeast Labs 1056

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
3.00 each	Vanilla	02 mins	Boil
3.00 lb	Pumpkin	01 hours	Mash
1.00 tsp	Nutmeg	15 mins	Boil
0.25 tsp	Cloves, Ground	15 mins	Boil
1.00 tsp	Cinnamon Powder	15 mins	Boil
18.00 oz	Baker's Chocolate	14 days	Secondary
2.00 oz	Hazelnut extract	14 days	Bottling
1.00 each	Golden Grams Pack	14 days	Secondary
11.00 oz	Marshmallow fluff	02 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion 60 min @ 152.0°F

Add 21.09 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 169.0°F

Carbonation
Amount	Type	Beer Temp	CO2 Vols
2.98 oz	Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation	74.0°F	1.90

Clone of Two Hearted Ale w/ Pineapples aka Babyface

Summer, is here! What better than a great IPA from Bell's for those hot sunny days, well for me I don't make anything by the book but I did stay pretty close to the given clone on BYO magazine. I added Citra hops, and upped the amount of crystal 10L from half pound to 2 pounds. The biggest change though will come when I add pineapples in the secondary. Though I will most likely split the batch and dry hop with Centennial and Citra and in the other I will put 3 lbs of pineapple/juice not sure which might do both.

Still in the works, but planning to brew it  Saturday June 23rd with the hops to be ready to drink in a month for beach trip in late July! Crossing fingers.... Here is the recipe so far... 

Expresso Coconut Porter - aka A Beany Kup'O Coconut

Yesterday, was a fun day of brewing and today I realized I haven't ever made a beer with either coffee or coconuts! So obviously both would have to be in it! Inspired by two beers, one from Maui Brewing and the other from Funky Budha. Both are porters with coconut in them. Neither had coffee in them, but I found a good recipe on BYO.com for a coffee porter. Also, the awesome peeps at American Brewmaster, gave me some great advice, and lucky for me one of them actually just made a coconut porter! With all this information and advice, I felt pretty confident that this brew recipe will turn out grrrreat! A fellow beer snob and good friend came over and helped me out in the brewing process, for that the name of this brew is named after him, thanks Rick!

Below is the recipe!

Expresso Coconut Porter

Style: Robust Porter OG: 1.062
Type: All Grain FG: 1.016
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 6.03 %
Calories: 203 IBU's: 24.80
Efficiency: 65 % Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
Color:   40.5 SRM   Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Boil Time: 60 minutes
 
Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary 14 days @ 68.0°F
Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 68.0°F
 
Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
8.08 lbs 64.23 % Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt 60 mins 1.037
4.00 ozs 1.99 % Black (Patent) Malt 60 mins 1.025
4.00 ozs 1.99 % Briess Roasted Barley 60 mins 1.033
1.00 lbs 7.95 % Chocolate Malt 60 mins 1.028
1.00 lbs 7.95 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 60 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 7.95 % Cara-Pils/Dextrine 60 mins 1.033
1.00 lbs 7.95 % Brown Sugar, Light 10 mins 1.046
 
Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 24.80 Glacier 60 mins 7.40
 
Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg British Ale Wyeast Labs 1098
 
Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 lb Coffee 10 mins Primary
 
Mash Profile
Medium Body Infusion 60 min @ 154.0°F
 Add 14.48 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 171.3°F
 
Carbonation
Amount Type Beer Temp CO2 Vols
2.91 oz Table Sugar - Bottle Carbonation 68.0°F 2.00
 
Notes
Coconut sugar, for bottling and 2lbs of coconut roasted in secondary, for 3 weeks. Coarsely grounded coffee 14.5 oz at cool down after boil in nylon bag for 10 minutes.