Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Brew Your Own Magazine Stout Feature

On December 21, 2010

Just as we finished our exploration into the wide world of Stout recipes, Brew Your Own Magazine features Imperial Stout, Dry Stout and Sweet Stout on the cover of the First issue of 2011. The magazine tag line is “Shout for Stout.”

Check it out. Remember that if you need to renew your subscription, subscribing for the first time, or looking to get a subscription for your mom; do so by clicking through our BYO sponsored link at the bottom right of the page. A small cut of the the click through comes back to us and helps keep the site running.

BREW ON! (your own)

Carastan Malt

By John Krochune

On December 17, 2010

In Malts

Mike recently brewed this English Bitter using Carastan malt to get a real toffee flavor. Here is our profile of Carastan malt.

I found a bunch of sources that discussed this malt and most trails led to Bairds Malt Ltd. They are a UK malt producer and had Carastan malt as one of their products.

Not sure where the name came from, but using everything I read, I can make these statements with confidence:

Carastan is a label used for British Crystal malts that lie in the 30 to 37°L range that impart a rich, toffee flavor to your beer.

You can get American caramel malt that fits the same Lovibond color range but it won’t taste the same…similar probably, but not the same.

I found this malt to be available on a few homebrew websites, so pick some up when you have the chance. It may make your English styles more, you know, English.

Flavor: Toffee, light toast

Color: 30 to 37°L

Body: Adds body and color to your brew

Use: Probably best used in English styles especially English clone recipes that call for lighter colored crystal malts. Bitters, Browns, Milds

Rauchbier Bottled

By John Krochune

On December 15, 2010

In Brew Log

On Sunday, after 7 weeks of lagering, the Rauchbier was finally bottled up. I added a little more corn sugar to prime with this time since the Maibock‘s carbonation was a little lacking. I also used a sanitized spoon to mix up the beer in the bottling bucket to make sure the priming sugar was well integrated.

The samples out of the fermenter seemed good. No weird tastes. The clarity was there. The color seemed right and the smoke flavor was satisfactory.

My friend Brian came over and helped out. He went home with a case of homebrew. How about that?

I was able to fill up twenty four 22 ounce bottles and seven 12 ounce bottles – just the right number for drinking and submitting to competitions.

We tried the other beers I had available including the blonde ale with homegrown hops, the saison, and one of the last bottles of the Irish Red.

We’ll taste it in a month…or sneakily open a bottle for NYE.

Dry Stout Recipe

By Mike

On December 14, 2010

In Recipes

Classic. Dry Stout is often the first stout style most people encounter on the path to dark beer-dom. This is style is best exemplified by Guinness Draught Stout. (Don’t confuse your varieties of Guinness. There is a Guinness Porter and Foreign Extra on the market and they are easily confused).

One online beer write I know likens dry stout to white sauce for a chef; every good home-brewer should be able to whip up a classic dry stout.

Here is a most classic example of a dry stout. Ah… the basics. Brew often and enjoy:

8lbs Maris Otter (English pale malt)
2lbs Flaked Barley
1lb Roasted Barley
2.0 oz EKG (5AA) 60min
WLP004 Irish Ale yeast.

OG ~1.043
IBU~41
FG~1.010
Mash 120F for 15min, Raise to 150F for 60min.

(You could make this same recipe with extract subbing 3.6lbs LME of English variety. And partial mashing the two grains with 2lbs of any base malt. The flaked barley must be converted with a mash, so don’t skip that step and try and steep 2lbs of flaked barley. You will release too much raw starch in the beer leading to under-attenuation and a sticky mouthfeel.)

BREW ON! (and on with this one)

Weldless Ball Valve Fittings

By Mike

On December 13, 2010

In Equipment

If you have ever wanted to put together your own weldless valve set-up into a cooler, pot or keg I’ve got a list of parts you need. Rather than buy a weldless valve set up from a supplier you can get the parts yourself and maybe save a couple bucks. If you are just a total DIY type of brewer, this list should help you out.

You can get these from McMaster-Carr at http://www.mcmaster.com/ .

Part#
4464K214 Stainless Steel Full Coupling 1/2″
4830K171 Stainless Steel Close Nipple, Full Thread 1/2″
98126A797 Stainless Steel Washers 1/2″ (pk of 10)
9396K32 Silicone O-Rings (pack of 50)
4429K124 Locknut, Brass 1/2″
4190K22 Brass Ball Valve 1/2″ Full Port

This set up will give you what you need to put a valve on a cooler, keg or pot.
The only unfortunate part of ordering some of this from McMasterCarr is that you have to get a 50 pack of washers.
But maybe you can trade with some friends, or you’ll have a life time supply if you need to replace one later.