Compromise.

Yeah, nobody says they like to do it…but they do it all the time.

I had to compromise yesterday.  Let me explain.

I wanted Magnum hops.  I had to get Northern Brewer hops.

I wanted White Labs WLP833 strain.  I had to get the WLP830 strain instead. 

I did get my Pilsner and my Munich malt though.  Photos below:

So, it’s not going to be exactly as I planned. I still think it’s going to come out great, but just not in line with the initial thoughts.

Sadly, it’s time to tell my gift certificate giving family that I would be better off with another homebrew shop. I hate typing that but I think I need to buy from a place with a larger inventory.

So I am thinking about my first lager session.  I was going to shoot for a Marzen/Oktoberfest style amber lager.  Who knows maybe ready for October!?!?

But I was wavering between using the White Labs Marzen lager yeast or using the White Labs German Lager yeast.  (WLP820 and WLP830, respectively)

I’d like to pick a lager yeast that I can move forward with on subsequent lager beers.  I have heard and read that its best to pick one lager yeast and get comfortable with how it performs, then use it as your standard lager strain.  As opposed to chasing down a different lager yeast for every different lager you do. (Like we do with Ale yeasts).

Anyhow, I am swayed by the marketing of an Oktoberfest yeast called ‘Oktoberfest’ yeast.  However, I am wondering if I might be better served with using a “utility” lager yeast like WLP830, German Lager that I would definitely try out in the future on beers like Dortmunder and Helles.

Any experience in our readership with WLP820 vs. WLP830?
Or what do you use instead.

BREW ON!

I am always pondering my Oatmeal Stout recipe and recently was thinking about the toasting of flaked oats.

I have toasted oats myself before, but I don’t use any specific process.  I just like to lay out a pound of Old Fashioned oats on dry non grease cookie sheet.  I set the oven at 375, then put them in.  I look every 5 minutes or so.  The start to dry out, and sometimes you can even hear a little crackling like sound as it happens.  I’ll shake the sheet a couple times as they toast.

But you do have to keep a close eye on them, as once they start browning they go quick.

I find it rather useful to also have a handful of the untoasted oats on a plate near-by.  That way I can pull the sheet out, and compare the color side by side.  Once I think I’ve gotten a new color that isn’t too dark, I shut down the process.

I can’t say that I have done enough testing to compare side by side, but now that I feel like the base of my recipe is about done, I may start playing with toasting oats again.  The only problem I have with toasting/roasting grains yourself at home is consistency.  I find it improbable to expect to get the same results each time.  This like residual humidity and ambient temps probably effect the process considerably.  However, its still a fun thing to play around with.

Anyone else care to chime in on how they toast oats (or other grains, base malts).
I normally, toast my oats the day of brewing.  Some sources mention letting the grain sit in a paper bag to “off-vent” for a couple days. Thoughts on that?

So here is a new twist in the personal passions of your truly.  Not only am I an avid beer brewer, I also dabble in other fine things for consumption.  Amongst baking my own bread and making my own pizza crust I also enjoy the occasional batch of home made ice cream.

My latest triumph in the frozen treat arena was a totally kick-ass fresh coconut ice cream (recipe below).  The first night I tasted it I was blown away.  I think the coconut itself helped keep the ice cream very smooth and silky.  It had a great mild, but present, coconut flavor.

This past Saturday night we had a few folks over for some grilling and chilling on the patio.  Despite it finally being summer-esque here in New England, I still enjoy a tasty Oatmeal Stout when its nice and cold.  We had been drinking wheat beer and American Brown Ale when I poured myself a stout.  The chocolate aroma was so strong and perfect I was blown away.  The beer had a great nutty chocolate quality and a creamy smoothness from the oatmeal.

After we all sampled the Stout, John declared: “I want a scoop of ice cream in that Stout!”.  Chocolatey, nutty stout and the coconut just seemed like a great combo.  So we tried it out.  I have to say I like the two delicacies separately, but joint together it was a pretty good marriage.  The Stout picked up a great chocolate cream texture and smoothness.  We snapped a few shots to give an idea of the look of it.

Regardless, of what you mom said….YOU SHOULD PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD.

Cheers….BREW ON!

Ice Cream Recipe

1 pint heavy cream
1cup whole milk
1cup sugar
1tbsp vanilla
1/2 fresh coconut, ground in food processor as fine as you can get it.
coconut extract to taste

Process the ingredients per instructions on your ice cream maker

I emailed Mike a question yesterday and he responded with an answer.  Here’s the correspondence:

Question:  Do you think it would be nuts to use 2 pounds of honey in my Honey Wheat Ale recipe?

Answer:  I brewed a honey ginger beer once several years ago, and it had close to 2lbs of honey in it.  It was OK, but the ginger wasn’t very nice.  It was a kit beer, and it was rather thin because of the huge amount of simple, bodiless sugar from the honey.  But with all-grain you can fix that.  Depends on when you add it.  The later in the process you add it the more flavor you’ll retain.  More importantly, the later you add it in the process, the better success you’ll have driving your final gravity to where you want it.  If you add 2lbs to the boil, your FG may finish higher than expected.  This is because the yeast will feast on the simple sugars from the honey first, then turn to the maltose.  At which point, they will likely be tired out and the %ABV is already on the rise.

The best way to handle large amounts of simple sugars is to add them after about 4 days of primary.  Let the yeast work away at the maltose, then give them simple sugars for dessert.  This way you’ll still get a good FG.

The problem with honey will be getting it into a less viscous state to add to the primary.  You can’t really add too much water to it because your volume limitations in the fermentor.  Normally for Belgian styles requiring sugars (Tripel, Golden Strong) , you can get away with just a half quart to make a simple syrup with raw sugar.  But honey is already pretty “volumous”.
I recommend adding 0.5-1.0lb in the boil, then diluting the second pound in enough water to get it easier to pour for primary.

You’d probably do well to make your base beer a 4 gallon batch at a higher gravity that expected, then add the honey and water mix to get the rest of the volume.  For example,   If you wanted a 5.5 gallon batch of 1.050 beer, I’d make 4.5 gallons of 1.061OG beer.  Ferment that for 4-5days with a good healthy pitch of yeast (no 22oz starter, you’ll want a 1L starter), then pour in 1 gallon of your honey/water mix for a final 5.5 gallon batch. To anticipate to thin a body with 2lb of honey, I’d mash in a little high, say 155-156Fish.

I was reading some of the forums and I see a common theme around the rising cost of home brewing ingredients.   We all know of the hop crisis that has affected the hobby for a couple of years now (but it’s supposedly better, right?) and that has affected prices of hops (but now that it’s better, prices should go down, right?).

Now I am reading that dry yeast is going up in price.  In some places, an almost 100% increase. 

Malts are getting more expensive too.  People are blaming the need for corn/ethanol production.

What say you?  Are the prices going up?  Are the costs of home brewing your own batch of beer getting too hefty?   

So much for brewing your own beer as a cost cutting measure!

This month’s Fermentation Friday is being hosted by NorthernTable.com.

The theme is as follows:

My topic is all about liquor….and how you use it in your brewing!

I think the best example of using liquor in homebrew is the Holiday Ale that Mike created. It may not be the season to be brewing holiday ales, but keep this one in mind for late summer.

Here is the recipe for Mike’s Holiday Ale with Bourbon!