Monthly Archives: December 2009

Celebration Time! (Review of Celebration Ale, Sierra Nevada)

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Celebration Ale from Sierra Nevada

OK, let’s get this out of the way first off. If you see this bottle and think you are going to be buying a traditional festive winter warmer or Christmas ale, you will be sadly mistaken. If you know anything about Sierra Nevada, you will know they specialize in hoppy beers. Their Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the primary exemplary style example for an American Pale Ale. Their Harvest Ale is one of the top 5 IPA’s that has ever crossed my lips. So it goes without saying that Sierra Nevada’s Celebration style would be nothing less than a celebration of hops. And it is, this American IPA style will work well for the hop heads, but those seeking spicy Christmas beers, or malty winter warmers will need to look past this one.

The aroma is classic cascade hops, with the white grapefruit citrus character. There is some pine and floral aspects to the beer as well. Although the malt does not take the center stage, it is also not off the stage. There is some mild bready malt, a little toasty malt, and small amount of caramel. All in all the aroma is fairly well balanced with a bit of leaning towards the hops. Some DMS is detected as the beer warms, small amount though. (A quick note about balance: Balance in beer does not mean that the malt and hops are equal, but rather balance refers to how the two support each other. A beer that is in balance may have more hop character than malt, but if the malt stands up to the hops well enough to prevent the beer from becoming unpleasantly hoppy, the balance is there. Same hold true for the reverse and other flavor characteristics. Balance refers to overall interplay between ingredients. ) (8 points)

The color of this beer is a thick copper with some haze. The haze is probably due to the dry hopping process which is where the brewer adds hops to the fermentor after primary fermentation has taken place. The hop oils can cause the haze. The long-lasting head is dense and rocky. (3 points)

The flavor is soft and malty, yet pleasantly bitter. The rounded softness from the malt is toasty and slightly sweet. There is also a nice caramel edge to it. The hop flavor is grapefruity up front and full of sticky resinous pine in the center. This gives way to a lasting bitterness that fades away slowly, the whole while you not only feel the bitterness but taste the hops. For an IPA, this flavor is full and quite honest. There is a lot going on, but nothing real subtle. I like that. (16 points)

The mouthfeel is medium and creamy. There is enough carbonation to work the palate and leave you wanting a  bit more. There is some mild astringency, but I attribute that to the hops. (4 points)

Overall the beer is quite good and worth picking up for the hopheads. However, there is nothing special about it that would lead me to tell you that you just have to go out and try this one. It is a well put together American IPA with a simple and honest (yet pleasing) flavor profile. I happily drink this beer, but yet wish there was a bit more about it to get excited about. After all, this is the Celebration Ale, they only offer it at this time of year. Give us a bit something special. (7 points)

39 points falls into the B+ or even A- category for me. Although a very good IPA, I wish for a special season offering it had a bit more appeal to set it apart from the rest of their beers. One things for sure, this beer is much better than Torpedo.

Chocolatizing Your Beer

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Like many other aspects of brewing, there is more than one method to achieve a specific end result. You have the Extract vs. All Grain methods (and those in between), dry yeast vs. liquid cultures, fly sparging or batch sparging (or even now sparge methods), and so on. So when it comes to adding chocolate flavor to beer, it should come as no surprise that brewers use various methods to impart chocolate character to  their beers. In this posting I will discuss my favorite method, which I have been using for years with great success, using roasted cacao nibs.

To add a distinct chocolate character to beer, brewers use roasted malts, cocoa powder, bakers chocolate, bar chocolate like dark chocolate,  cacao nibs, chocolate flavoring, or a combination of these. I have had beers that used all of these methods and some are better than others in my opinion. Out of these, the worst is the use of bar chocolate and Baker’s Chocolate. To make the chocolate into a bar, the manufacturer uses cocoa butter or other fats to bind the chocolate. You do not want these fats and oils in your beer, not only does it affect head retention, but fats go rancid fairly quickly. Chocolate flavoring can be OK, but many times it does not give you the chocolate character that goes well with beer. Most chocolate flavoring gives you a sweeter milk chocolate or chocolate candy flavor (maybe you remember Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager from Miller Brewing Co).  The use of Cocoa Powder is pretty popular, but in all honesty still tastes like cocoa powder in the beer, but it can work. The use of malts to impart chocolate is probably the best, but can sometimes be tricky to really get that chocolate character you may be looking for. For, me the use of Cacao Nibs gives you the distinct natural bitter-sweet chocolate flavor and aroma, non of the fats, and does not give you that cocoa powder flavor.

Here is what Cacao Nibs look like.

Cacao Nibs are chocolate at is roots. They are the roasted and broken up pieces of the cacao bean. You do need to find the roasted nibs, and not raw. There is a difference. There are several vendors that sell Nibs, and I prefer these.

Scharffen Berger Cacao Nibs

You can add the nibs to the end of the boil for a small amount of chocolate flavor and aroma, or add them to either the end of the primary or in the secondary fermentor. The best way that I have found to impart the most the character from the nibs is to soak them in vodka for 24 to 72 hours prior to adding them. You use just enough to cover the nibs amount you want to use. For example, if you use 6oz for a batch of beer, the amount of vodka it takes to the cover the nibs in a small container is not enough to alter the ABV by anything you can detect by taste or smell. You do add the nibs and vodka to the beer. Just remember, only add enough to cover the nibs, no more than that.

So why the vodka you ask? Because there are volatile components to the chocolate that are not soluble in water. So for better extraction of the flavor and aroma qualities of the nibs, you need a medium like alcohol to draw them out. Vodka is neutral enough to do the job, while not affecting flavor or aroma in the small amount used for a 5 gallon batch of beer.  Another benefit is that the vodka is high enough in alcohol to sanitize the nibs prior to adding them to the primary or secondary fermentor.

So does it work? Yes, I have a special recipe I will share with you that I have done well with in competition. The extract version of the beer and the all grain version of this beer have both won awards. The all grain version also lost by only 4 votes in a “Best of the Fest” people’s choice award at a brewfest against 30 commercial brewers and one other homebrew club. The issue with this beer you can expect if you enter it in competition is that it is what I call a tweener beer. It is too dry to be a sweet stout, too sweet to be a dry stout, and does not fit in the oatmeal stout category well even though there is some oats in the recipe. But one fact remains, this is a very good people pleasing chocolate stout.

The 501st Vader's Fist Chocolate Stout

The 501st Vader’s Fist Chocolate Stout (All Grain Version)

Batch Size= 5 gallons

6.00 lb Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM)
2.00 lb Munich 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM)
1.25 lb Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel Malt – 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (Briess) (1.4 SRM)
0.25 lb Roasted Barley (Briess) (300.0 SRM)
1.50 oz Fuggles [4.10%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.10%] (30 min)
1 tbsp 5.2 PH Stabilizer (Mash 0.0 min)
6.00 oz cacao beans (Secondary 7 days)
1 Pkgs US-05, Wyeast1056, or WLP001

OG=1.054
FG=1.013
IBU’S=33.5
SRM=40.5
ABV=5.3%

MASH INFO:
Single infusion/Batch Sparge/Full Body
Mash in with 14.38 quarts of water at 174. Should equalize to 156 degrees. Mash at 156 for 60 minutes.

Batch Sparge twice with 2.5 gallons of water at 175 degrees.
Boil for 60 minutes using the hop schedule listed in the ingredients section.

Add Nibs to primary after fermentation has ended, do not rack beer to a secondary. Just add the nibs to the primary fermentor. 2-3 days before adding them, soak the nibs in just enough Vodka to cover the nibs. Then dump them in, vodka and all, let sit on the nibs for 7-10 days max, 3 to 4 days seems about right. Add Milk Sugar if preferred.

501st Vader’s Fist Chocolate Stout (Extract Version)

6.60 lb LME Dark Traditional (Briess) (8.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM)
3.25 oz Fuggles [4.10%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.10%] (25 min)
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
6.00 oz cacao beans (Boil 5.0 min)
1 PKG US-05, Wyeast 1056, or WLP001

(For 5 gallon pot) Bring 1.5 gallons of water to 158 degrees and place grains in pot, place cover on pot and allow to steep for 30 min. Remove Grains and Sparge with 1 gallon of Hot Water in a strainer. Bring water volume to 4.0 gallons. Bring Water to boil and add LME and EKG hops.  Add Sterling Hops at 30 min in. Then Add Irish Moss with 15 min left in boil. Cool and add top-up water to fermentor as needed to reach 5 gallons. Soak nibs in Vodka for 2 to 3 days and add nibs and vodka to primary after fermentation slows allow to sit on the nibs for 7-days. If you have the ability to do full boils, add your usual water volumes for a 5 gallon batch.

If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.

Review: Unibroue’s Raftman

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Raftman by Unibroue

Raftman is a Specialty ale with a base style of Belgian Pale Ale. What makes this beer unique is that it is brewed with smoked whiskey malt. What exactly that means as far as flavor goes, I have no idea. I have never experienced any non-distilled beverage brewed with Whiskey malt. If you recall from other Specialty ales we looked at, you will remember that the main focus of the judgment is based on the play and balance between the base style and what the special ingredient or brewing method is. This will be unique for me, because I am not familiar with what character whiskey malt brings to the table, but I will see what may prove different from other Belgian Pales I have had.

The aroma has that traditional Belgian yeast phenolic aroma. Spicy and inviting. There is some floral hops in the aroma as well as some sweet fruitiness. I wouldn’t say there is orange or pear, but it is a light and airy fruit. The malt profile is slightly toasty but more bready. Not much smokeiness carrying over from the smoked whiskey malt, you really have to search for it. But it becomes a bit easier when the beer warms. Overall, good phenolic character to the beer, but the lacks any special appeal. (7 Points)

The color is a semi-clear copper with a good deal of frothy and rocky head. The head disappeared fairly quickly. (3 points)

The flavor seems a bit thin to me. The malt profile is weak but has some biscuity character as well as some toast. Hop flavor and bitterness is low, but the hop flavor does come through nicely thanks to the weak malt profile. Again, the smokiness from the whiskey malt is extremely low. I had to really search for it, which sometimes leads me to wonder if it is really there or do I just want it to be there. There is an underlying fruitiness, and this time it is pear-like. The phenols are spicy and slightly peppery, and just at the level I enjoy (which is on the lower end of the scale). There is some low  initial sweetness, but the beer does finish dry which makes it easy to drink.  All in all the flavor is OK, but just seems to fall short of anything spectacular. (11 points)

The mouthfeel is a bit watery and too light for a Belgian Pale Ale style. There is no astringency or other odd feel to the beer here. ( 3 points)

Overall, the beer is just a bit too watery and does not showcase the smoked whiskey malt as much as I personally feel it should. There was nothing in the beer that brought my attention to anything different suggesting it was brewed with any smoked whiskey malt, or any other specialty ingredient for that matter. The phenol and ester profile fo the beer is good and at a good level. It’s just too thin and lacks any special character. (5 points)

I score this beer a 29, which is at the high-end of the “Good” scale. This would be a C+ in my opinion. It’s a drinkable beer with some good points, but just does not deliver what I feel it suggests.

Review of Leinenkugel’s Red Lager

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Leinenkugel's Red Lager

Leinenkugel’s Red Lager is a Vienna Style Lager. In Wisconsin, this beer is affectionately called Leinie’s Red, and is a fairly popular beer. Not quite as popula

r as New Glarus’ Spotted Cow, but popular non-the-less. Although I feel Leinenkugel’s often caters to the masses with most beer being either very bland or over flavored with artificial flavors, they do have some good offerings. I have yet to find an outstanding beer, since they stopped making No

rthwoods Lager, but when they come out with something new, usually you do want to give it a try. A few of Leinies that I do enjoy are 1888 Bock, Creamy Dark, and Leinies red. This bottle of Leinies Red was donated to me, but I wouldn’t  mind having a few in the fridge for visitors because it may not be the best Vienna lager, but it’s not bad.

The aroma of this beer is very clean. There is a nice toasted malt character to the beer, with very little spicy hop presence.  In all honesty there is not much to the aroma other than the toasty malt character with some underlying  melenodian aroma. In sort is smells like a very small bock. There is no caramel aroma in this beer, but many times people mi

stake the toasty vienna malt for caramel character. If you pay close attention and think of how caramel smells, you will notice that this aroma is a bit different.

This is a very pretty beer. It pours bright and clear with a nice rich reddish amber color. It pours a nice head that lasts for several minutes.

The flavor is where the beer falls just a bit short.  The malt profile matches the aroma and although the malt flavor is soft, it is just a bit too small in my opinion. There is a slightly sweet aspect to the beer, but it does finish dry, as it should. The hop bitterness is just barely enough to balance, but it does its job. The Vienna malt flavor is very evident in the finish and fairly pleasant. The only thoughts I have on the flavor is that it could be just a bit bigger in malt side. Not very much, but just a touch more. The components are nice, just too small.

The mouthfeel is medium, but on the lighter side of that. The small addition of malt would bring that feel more into the medium range. All other aspects of the beer feel right on.

For a Vienna lager, I feel that this beer is a very good example of the style. It is clean and has the toasty quality that you should see in a Vienna Lager. The melenoiden character is nice and he hops are sitting where they should be for this beer style. The only downfall of the beer is that it is a bit small on the malt side. Although all the flavor and aroma components are there, they are fairly small.

In the end, I generously score this beer a 34 which is a very good example of the beer. A 34 would be a B- in my book.

Home Roasting Your Malts (with Pictures): Updated 7/11/11 with new data

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(Note: I have a part 2 to this post that you can jump to Here. It is based on my first run at making Special B)

Roasting your own grains is an awesome way to add another personal touch to your homebrew.  I love roasting my own malts and even make my own crystal malt from time to time. It is so easy, and all you need is an oven and some time. Roasting your malts doesn’t take more than an hour at the most, except for crystal malt. Be aware that early on, I had found from my experience that roasting your own malt seems to reduce the amount of sugars you get, but since then I have found this to not be the case. Still, home roasting adds some awesome malt flavor to your beer. I have made several beers using only home roasted malts for the specialty grains and even made a beer using all home roasted malt as the base malt, a single malt ale with amber malt. I have also won several awards with some of the beers that have home roasted malts in them. One of them is my highest scoring beer with a 43 out of 50. So great beer with home roasted malts is quite possible. Granted, you don’t have the consistency of professional malts, but you have added more home-made factor to your beer.  For more on this topic or how to do your own crystal/caramel malts I suggest buying Randy Mosher’s Book Radical Brewing, which is where I based my roasting methods off of. I have added some pictures of home roasted malts in comparison to straight 2 row malted barley. See below for the pictures as proof you can make some beautiful home roasted malts.

Why it Works
The roasted grains you get from your homebrew shop, mostly start out exactly like the two or six you pale malt you are buying. The difference is how they are treating the grain afterwards. They have specific process that they follow each time and have exact temperatures and testing equipment to ensure a consistent and stable product. But in the end all they are doing with the malted grain is playing with the browning reaction called Malliard Reactions. Mainly this is an altering of the flavor and aroma of the grain by browning the starches and proteins inside the grain to a specific degree. The changes in color, again the browning of the starches and proteins  change the chemical properties of the grain my changing the melanoidins in the malt. It is reported that this melanoidin change also helps preserve the beer by slowing the oxidation process of the beer.

Before We Begin
There have been some questions on whether it is necessary to let your grains rest for 2 weeks prior to using them. I highly suggest doing so, but if you find you can’t wait, just make sure you are using the lighter roasts. The rest time allows for unwanted aromas that are produced during the browning of the starches in the grain to dissipate. From what I can find, this is mostly for the darker roasts, possibly deep amber and above. I have found that as a general rule, the professional maltsters allow their roasted/toasted grains to rest for 4-6 weeks. I personally have used some grains after a week without any noticeable off flavors or aromas, but then again none of those were the richer roasts.

The Process

  • For Pale Gold Malt (est. 10 L), which has a nutty but not toasty flavor, roast your base malt for 20 minutes at 250 Degrees F.
  • For Gold Malt (est. 20 L) that is malty, caramelly and rich but not toasty roast your base malt for 25 minutes at 300 degrees F.
  • For Amber Malt (est. 35 L) that is Nutty, Malty, and lightly toasty roast your base malt for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
  • For Deep Amber Malt (est. 65 L) that is nutty, toffee-like; with some crisp toastiness roast your base malt for 40 minutes at 375 degrees F. (This one has quickly become my favorite roast of all. I do this one often. It seems to be a well balanced specialty grain.)
  • For Copper Malt (est. 100 L)that has a strong toasted flavor with some nutlike notes roast your base malt for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F.
  • For Deep Copper Malt (est 125 L) that has a roasted, but not toasted flavor; roast your base malt for 40 minutes at 400 degrees F.
  • For Brown Malt (est. 175 L) that has a strong roasted flavor, roast your base malt for 50 minutes at 400 degrees F.
  • For Chocolate Malt (est 200+ L depending on time and heat): You need more heat and control than what you can get in the oven. For Chocolate malt use a clean stainless steel  or cast iron fry pan on low heat, slowly bringing medium-high heat. You need to stir or shake the pan constantly and not let any kernels sit still or you will end up with scorching instead of dry roasting. I now use a nut roaster, so you can use that if you wish. I bet one could also use a clean wok if you have a gas stove. I have electric though. Here you are going to go more by color than time, but I find it takes about 25 minutes to 30 minutes to get the dark color I want. Remember, you are making chocolate malt, not burnt black malt. There is a difference. The key is keep the grain moving, be patient, and pull it when you think it’s done. Go too far and you will have an acrid and burnt grain that is not too pleasant. You can also make a very interesting sweeter chocolate malt by trying to soak it for a bit in water prior to roasting.
  • For Crystal/Caramel Malt soak 1-2 lbs of pale 2 row in just enough water to cover plus about an inch (make sure you use distilled, filtered tap, or spring water). Let soak for a few hours, but no less than 2 hours and no more than 24, I soak for 3 hours. Then Put grains into a pan and keep grains about 2″ deep then place into a preheated 180 degree oven (make sure you have a probe thermometer in the oven and not to let the temps inside the stewing grain to go above 160. If they do reduce your ovens temperature) for 1 1/2 hours. Then spread out grain into 2 separate pans and make sure the grains are no more than 1″ deep. Then increase temperature in over to 250 and let bake for 2 hours or until dry. Then if desired remove from oven for light crystal, or use the roasting guide above to create your own darker versions of crystal malt. Personally I like the 350 degrees for 45 minutes for a sweet roasty crystal malt. Experiment with 1lb batches and see what you like. I find that 1.5lbs is perfect, 2lbs seems to take way to long to dry. To minimize any foul flavors, use distilled or filtered water.
  • You can also do what I call Sudo-Caramel malts. To do these you just wet the grain a bit to change the flavor and aroma profile and add a bit of sweetness to the grain. You will not get as much sweetness as if you do a full caramel malt process above, but you will make a great grain for both all grain and steeping grain for extract. Generally what you are going to do is soak the grain for under an hour, I find a half hour works well to impart a bit of wetness to the grain. You can use the same temperatures above to produce similar grains but add a touch of sweetness.

In the end, everything is all up to you. Use these above processes as a guideline, but not as law. Have fun, try different temps and times. Play around with wet or dry roasts as well as caramel malt processes and develop your own specialty malts. There my friends, is a truly unique beer that will be difficult to reproduce. Just don’t fear roasting, your really can’t screw it up if you pay attention to temps and times.

The Photos. (you will notice I line my pans with tin foil to avoid getting any oil or grease from previous uses of the pans. You could use dedicated jelly roll pans if you want. But you do not want any oil or fat getting onto your grains)

This is our control picture. This is straight from the sack, 2-row Brewers malt. This is what it looks like before roasting.

This is Deep Amber Malt as described above halfway through the roasting process. I like to stir it halfway through to get a more even toast.

This is finished Deep Amber Malt as described above. This is probably my favorite roast to make.

This is Amber Malt as described above. Slightly lighter than the deep amber.

Here is a side by side of some pale golden malt as I have described above and some unroasted pale 2 row. It is hard to tell the differnece until you do a side by side, then it is obvious.

Golden Malt as I have described in the process at the top of the page.

Crystal Malt in Process.

I like to soak this way for three hours. Then I just pull up the collendar, and pour out the water, then let the malt drip dry for a while. It helps reduce the exess water. Generally, I do a pound to pound and half max.

This grain is not roasted, but it is wet grain. I place it in a small mound then cook it as I have described above. Essentially, you are mashing in the husk.

This is the finished crystal malt. The drying time is the longest part, but once dry and you start the roast, it's all up to you how to make your crystal/caramel malt. The one in the picture was roasted at 325 degrees for 30 minutes after drying.