Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Abbey Malt

On February 8, 2013

Beers with complex malty profiles intrigue me. I have learned over the years that less is more when conceiving your grain bills, but one or two specialty malts in the right proportions can give you beers that have intense malty aromas and flavors.

The information put forth in this malt profile will help you to make excellent beer.

The Weyermann maltsters have a trademarked specialty malt called Abbey malt. It is a Belgian brown-biscuity type malt and it has unique characteristics. It’s sweeter than a typical biscuit malt.

I got the feeling that there is some confusion about what malt you can use in your recipe to substitute for Abbey malt. I don’t think there is a straight-up similar malt – it’s a combination of aromatic malt, honey malt, and biscuit malt.

Another interesting descriptor I got out of my research was the use of the word “friable”. To be honest, I had to look it up. Abbey malt is easy to crush for your mash so it’s highly friable. How about that?

Here is the rest of the malt profile:

Flavor: Pronounced maltiness, highly aromatic, cooked bread, nutty, fruity, lots of residual malty/sweetness

Color: 16-19° L

Body: It does add to the body of the beer and provides a fuller mouthfeel.

Use: Buy this malt and brew up a excellent abbey or trappist ale. It also works great in other pale to dark Belgian ales. Might be interesting in a brown porter or fruit beer.

English Yeast Strain Experiment

By John Krochune

On February 6, 2013

In Experiments, Videos

Mike brewed an Extra Special Bitter (ESB) and an Oatmeal Stout. He split each batch in two and fermented with two different yeast strains. One half of each beer was fermented with White Labs’ WLP002 strain and the other half was fermented with White Labs’ WLP007 strain.

Here is our video post with the results of an English yeast strain experiment.

The experiment was conducted to find out if there was a noticeable difference between the finished beers that used two different English yeast strains and if the differences that we perceived matched up with the written, documented differences that we have read and understood.

Watch this video to see the side by side tastings and evaluations. Is there a difference? Is this difference what we expected?

I think there are more experiments like this one that we could be conducting. Yeast is only one facet in beer to test. Of course, malts and hops are other ingredients we could test and taste side by side to understand the similarities and differences between the two.

Beyond ingredients, techniques like fermentation temperature and mash temperature are other things we can test and discuss the findings, but let’s start with the big items first.

We hope you have enjoyed our Wednesday video series so far. Let us know if there is anything you would like us to vlog about.

Mosaic Hops

By John Krochune

On February 4, 2013

In Hops

Another hop profile for you to get to know before you buy your next new hop variety.

Here is the Mosaic hops profile.

They are a trademarked variety from the Hop Breeding Company, LLC of Yakima, WA. Before they were branded they were known and maybe still known as HBC369.

The parentage of this hop is Simcoe (YCR 14) and a Nugget derived male.

These hops were made available after the 2012 harvest and are just getting some play in homebrewing and craft brewing circles.

These hops have a complex, fruity aroma and flavor. There seems to be a lot going on with them. One source claimed they were Citra on steroids.

Origin: USA

Aroma: Mango, citrus, lemon, pine. Stan Hieronymus states “notably, blueberry” in his book.

Alpha Acid: 11.5-13.5%

Typical Usage: Source claim this hop is a triple threat: Bittering, Flavor, and Aroma. It might be interesting to brew a single hop beer with these. I think I would use these as flavor/aroma addition along with some Magnum hops for the bittering.

Beer Styles: So far – IPA, APA, and American wheat ales

Hop Rhizomes 2013

By Mike

On February 1, 2013

In Hops

Despite the frigid temps and wind and snow here in the Northeast lately we never stop thinking about spring. My email inbox lately has been getting hammered with notifications of pre-order sales for hop rhizomes.

For those that don’t know a rhizome is a small cutting of root stock from a mature hop plant. These cuttings are usually 3-5 inches long and contain one or two little green buds. You build a mound, dig a hole and put this little piece of root in the ground.

Growing your own hops is an interesting part of the beer brewing hobby. John has a couple plants going himself.

I figured this year might be my year to start a little hop yard. My wife and I have been in our current house for two years. Now that I have a feel for how the spring and summer sun rise and set, its time to tear out some bushes, set up some trellis’ and start growing hops. I was thinking of planting 4 varieties, two rhizomes a piece. But I might be over stretching, we’ll see.

Maybe in the summer if I can get the project off the ground we’ll shoot some videos from the hop yard!

If you’re interested in getting your own hop plant started try these resources for getting your rhizomes:

MoreBeer
NorthernBrewer
Beer and Wine Hobby

BREW ON!

Braggot Recipe

By John Krochune

On February 1, 2013

In Recipes

If you are interested in going beyond just brewing an ale with a little honey in it, this braggot recipe is for you.

My plan was to keep this recipe on the small side from a starting gravity perspective. I wanted to see if I could make something that would drink more like a high gravity beer. Looking that the starting gravity now, it’s still pretty high but in the world of meads, I think starting gravities under 1.100 is on the smaller side.

For this recipe, you are going to mash, boil, and chill the grains and the hops like you normally would for a brew, but just with a smaller boil size and smaller resulting finished wort.

After the wort is chill, you are going to combine it with the honey. I don’t boil the honey. You can but I don’t.

Boil size: 4.5 gallons
Final wort: 3.5 gallons
Batch Size: 4.0 gallons (honey + wort in the fermentor)
Starting Gravity: 1.096

Ingredients:

4 lbs German Pilsner Malt
0.5 lb Victory Malt
0.5 lb Honey Malt
6 lb Local Honey
2 oz Centennial Hops (boiled 60 mins)
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
2 tsp Yeast Energizer
Yeast: Wyeast Scottish Ale 1728

Instructions:

Make a big yeast starter a few days before brew day.
Mash only grains at 149° F for 60 minutes. Run off and boil wort with hops for 60 minutes. Chill wort to 65 degrees F and combine with honey in fermenter. Add nutrient and energizer. Aerate well. Pitch yeast.

Ferment at 65° F for 2 to 3 weeks or until the gravity stops

Ferment for 2 to 3 weeks. It make take longer. You’ll be looking for a final gravity in the 1.028 range. Rack to a secondary vessel and condition at basement temperatures for 3 months. Prime and bottle or keg and force carbonate before serving.

P.S. So I have this idea where you could brew a Scottish ale and then brew a braggot right after it and use the same yeast for both. That’s what I am planning to do, so in essence your Scottish 70 Shilling ale is your yeast starter, but a yeast starter you can enjoy while your braggot is conditioning.