The Brew Dudes went out for beer last Thursday night. I twittered about it. Mike didn’t know we tweet. I said I didn’t know we did either.

I also told him we are now friends with Charlie P. on Facebook. He didn’t know that either. Dude, the world is shrinking….and these were the subjects we discussed during the first beer.

The second beer we had was a Cantillon Kriek Lambic and it was tremendous. I have had some Lambics before, but this Kriek was great. Not sure if a master of pairing beer with food would have approved of my Kriek/BBQ Cheeseburger combo…but oh well. It worked for me!

Lambics are traditionally fermented with wild yeast, including our friend Brett (Brettanomyces). Not sure if this Kriek was fermented with Brettanomyces but it had a light body.  It also had a sourness that may have come from cherries or bacteria or both, but it definitely did not taste like “beer”. The range of flavors you can get from different kinds of beers is amazing…and I am glad I am still amazed to this day.

The wild yeast that live in Senne valley of Belgium give lambics have their signature taste. This concept gives me a few thoughts.

1. What would wild yeast that live in my neighborhood make my beer taste like? They would probably bring in da noise and bring in da funk…and not in a good way…but it might be a good experiment. Put that one on the ever-growing list of experiments that the Brew Dudes need to conduct.

2. Would I ever attempt to brew a lambic? You can get strains of Brettanomyces from White Labs. It might be interesting to give it a go. My hesitation comes from the fact that Brett is usually seen as an off-flavor in other beers…which brings me to thought number 3.

3. When is someone’s off-flavor someone else’s on-flavor?

I would like to get input from readers who have brewed with Brett. What has your experience been?

With Mike constantly refining his Oatmeal Stout recipe, he came to a conclusion about Roasted Barley.  He feels that this ingredient should be the main contributor of the dark color and roasty flavor to his beer and that he should eliminate Black Patent Malt from his recipe.  

Note that I wrote “ingredient” and not malt…since Roasted Barley is not malt.  It’s unmalted barley and does not have enzymes that are in malt that convert starch to sugar.  It is roasted until it turns the targeted color…which I think is right before it turns to ash.

Flavor: Roasty (natch), Intensely bitter, coffee notes, dry

Color: I have seen a range of 300 to 660 (!) Lovibond.  I think I will stick with a tighter range of 350 – 400 L

Body: I don’t think it modifies a beer’s body in a significant way.

Use: Stouts, primarily dry stouts.  Used in small amounts, it will add complexity to porters, nut brown ale, and other dark beers.

Inevitably when we dream of great summer beers we start to think of FRUIT BEERS!

A good lawnmower beer is a great beer to have on a hot day after working in the yard or playing with the dog.  However, when the temperature climbs a little touch of fruit in a well made crisp beer can really slake the thirst… and keep you coming back for more.

Getting fruit into your beer can come in three general ways: Raw fruit purchased fresh, fruit flavored extracts, or prepackaged fruit products.  Each one has its pros and cons.

Raw Fruit:
If you are fortunate to live in an area with a unique source of fruit in ample supply there can be great pride taken in making your own beer with local produce.  Depending on location you can often get raw fruit at the peak of freshness for maximum impact on the beer.  The down side to natural raw fruit is that from a beer stand point it is dirty.  If you want to keep wild yeasts and bacteria out of your precious brew this can be a challenge with raw fruit.  Secondly, the fruit likely needs to be processed in some way, such as a food processor or other mechanical mashing, to release its goodness into the beer.

Fruit Extracts:
The largest advantage that extracts have is the extremely low likely hood of a microbial contamination. These things are often made as alcohol based extractions of fruit flavors and they are easily filtered free of microbes.  Second to that is the ease of use.  You can easily control the amount of flavor you get by adding a little at a time to a keg or bottling bucket.  Just add an ounce at a time, stir and taste.  When its just right you are done.  The disadvantage with extracts is that many people complain they tend to taste like….extracts.  Something is just missing from the flavor profile that you can only get with fresh fruit.

Prepackaged Fruit Products:
Namely I am referring here to fruit purees.  With these products you get the advantage of whole fruit fully processed to expose the fruity characters and you get cutting edge packaging and handling technology.  Many fruit purees are flash pasteurized so the microbial contamination issue is eliminated.  The only minor disadvantage is how much to add.  You’ll need to add a puree in a secondary fermentor like you would raw fruit and let it ferment out to prevent overly carbonated beers at bottling time.

Overall, I think that Fruit Purees are the way to go.  You get pre-processed fruit that is sterile and packaged at its peak of freshness.

A common variety is the Oregon Fruit Products brand.  I have seen these a many a homebrew shop.  So give them a try next time you are looking for a fruit addition.  I know the next Strawberry Wheat I make, I am going to try it out.

Brew On!

So I was reading How To Brew last night and I read through one of the appendixes (is that how you spell that?) which was written around the theme of beer clarity.  I am interested in this subject since I want to brew a clear, sparkling cream ale but my first attempt was cloudy.

There was an interesting bit in this section about irish moss.  It stated that it wasn’t effective or shouldn’t be used in extract brews or brews with adjunct in it.

Is that true?  I mean, I guess it is.  Why would he write that if it weren’t.  It’s just the first time I have read that statement.

Does anybody else have any thoughts?  Leave a comment and we will open this up.

Since I couldn’t find what I was looking for in my local megamart, I found a nice Vermont farm online that sells Grade B Maple Syrup:  http://www.morsefarm.com/

When I think maple syrup, I think Vermont.   I think I picked a good place.

The ordering process was very easy.  I selected the cheapest shipping options they offered.  I hope to get the syrup by next week so I can brewing soon.

We’ve got competitions to enter!

Well I got my order last night from MoreBeer.  I received my replacement high pressure gauge for my busted regulator, a regulator cage (so I don’t knock it over and bust it again), I received a racking cane clip to hold the cane to the bucket (just a cheap fun gadget) and I received my coveted aeration/oxygenation setup to improve my yeast starters and wort fermentation.  Lastly, I also received a weldless thermometer set up to install in my kettle (damn I have a lot of stuff to do if I want to be ready to brew soon).

So today is the 28th which means it took just under two weeks to get here.  Not to bad from the west coast with regular ground shipping.  It may have arrived sooner if they had actually picked the order the day or day after I placed it, but they still turned it around in time for this weekend…..

Which reminds me I am tentatively planning a double brew day this holiday weekend.  Not sure when yet, but I am planning a batch of Scottish 60/- and Belgian Tripel.  I’ll post up the recipes I am planning on using soon and I’ll hopefully get up some pictures and a Brewlog with it. Exciting Exciting!!!