Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Honey Wheat Ale Ingredients

By John Krochune

On July 29, 2009

In Brew Log

Hey there,

Time once again to put up a brew log. This time, it all about the honey wheat ale.

I purchased a few things from Beer Wine & Hobby. Here’s some photos of the latest stuff…

5 pounds of American Wheat Malt (Milled)

5 pounds of American 2 Row Malt (Milled)

1 pound of Honey Malt (Milled)

New 5 Gal. Glass Fermenter

Fermentation Lock and Stopper

1 Pound of Rice Hulls

The first 3 things are for the recipe. The fermenter, stopper, and airlock are for secondary fermentation experiment with half the batch…details to follow.

The rice hulls are for the mash to keep it from getting stuck. I plan to brew Sunday morning…should be a good one.

If you would like to follow along with this brew session, check out these links:

Honey Wheat Ale Recipe

Honey Wheat Ale Update

Honey Wheat Ale Plans

Honey Water Solution

Honey Wheat Ale Bottling Day

Saaz Hops

By John Krochune

On July 28, 2009

In Hops

The next hop variety in the noble hops series is Saaz Hops. They originate from the Czech Republic, specifically in the region around the town of Žatec…

…which was formally known as Saaz when it was a part of Austria…

…and Istanbul was once Constantinople.

The people of this region have been growing and harvesting this hop for hundreds of years (700+). Now that’s a traditional hop.

They are the signature hop of Pilsner Urquell. Some people would argue you cannot brew a pilsner without using Saaz.

I have seen Belgian versions of Saaz hops, but my home brew shop has the Czech version available pretty readily.

Origin: Czech (see above for more details)

Aroma/Flavor: Mild spicy, earthy, some sources stated a cinnamon-like flavor. I think they define ‘spicy’ in terms of the spectrum of hop flavor.

Alpha Acid: 3% to 4.5%

Typical Usage: Aroma

Beer Styles: Pilsners, Other German and American Lagers

Other Noble hops include:

Hallertauer

Tettnang

Spalt

Spalt Hops

By John Krochune

On July 23, 2009

In Hops

All right, it’s time to tackle the final frontier of hop profiles: Noble Hops

Look – I waited until we had 2 years of blogging under our belt. You can’t say we’re some Johnny-come-latelys…

We have built some credibility. We have built some trust. We hope you will enjoy our 4 part noble hop profile series.

The first profile: Spalt Hops

Spalt hops originate from a town in Bavaria called Spalt. This is a traditional hop that is known as a landrace variety. It became a variety because of the environment it grew in…and not because of human tinkering.

I am not sure if Spalt Hops are widely available to homebrewers. I have read that it is hard to grow the traditional hop and there isn’t a large enough volume to distribute around the globe. A variation of this hop named Spalt Select is more readily available. It was released in the 1980s as a replacement for the traditional hop, but it important to note that the Select version is not a descendant of Spalt but bred using the Hallertauer Mittelfrüh variety.

Here are more details:

Origin: Germany

Aroma/Flavor: Spicy, Pungent, low bitterness

Alpha Acid: 4% to 5.5%

Typical Usage: Flavoring/Finishing.

Beer Styles: Bocks, Alts, Munich Helles, Pilsners

Other Noble hops include:

Hallertauer

Tettnang

Saaz

Toasting Oats for Homebrewing

By Mike

On July 22, 2009

In Ingredients

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?

Oatmeal Stout Ice Cream Float

By Mike

On July 20, 2009

In General

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!

Mixing together a bit

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