Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Learn To Homebrew Day 2022 Beer Results

On December 14, 2022

On November 5, we brew the AHA’s Learn to Homebrew Day recipe for 2022. We also livestreamed the brew day and if you caught that, we apologize. It was fairly disastrous from a video perspective with wind and insect problems. After a month, we’re ready to talk about this beer. Check out this video that has our takes on this Hoppy Amber Ale!

Hoppy Amber Ale Recipe

Here’s the recipe from the AHA website:

Ingredients

Fermentables
14 oz. (400 g) Pilsner dry malt extract
10 oz. (280 g) Pale dry malt extract
5 oz. (140 g) Crystal 40 malt
5 oz. (140 g) Crystal 80 malt
Hops
0.4 oz. (11 g) Nugget hops (60 minutes)
0.25 oz. (7 g) Amarillo hops (15 min)
0.25 oz. (7 g) East Kent Goldings hops (0 minute)
Yeast
1/2 packet dry ale yeast (ex: Mangrove Jack’s M42 New World Strong Ale)
Miscellaneous
0.8 oz. (23 g) corn sugar (for bottling)

Specifications

Yield: 1 gallon (3.8 L)
ABV: 4-5%
IBU: 45-60
SRM: 14

Now, Mike scaled this recipe up to be 3 US gallons (11.4 L). He did have it boil a bit too long in his estimation as his gravity was higher than he expected it to be. No matter – we had these thoughts on this Learn to Homebrew Day 2022 beer.

Our Tasting Notes

It has a strong color. It hasn’t cleared yet but the amber visuals are pleasing. The aroma is filled with strong caramel notes. With the flavor, the strong caramel malt note hits hard. It’s cloying, as Mike put it. The amounts of Crystal malt in this recipe are much higher than we would suggest using in a recipe. The American hops come through in the aftertaste but they don’t balance out the malt presence.

Mike had a suggest of using table sugar to dry this flavor out and I agree.

If you had a better experience with this recipe, we’d love to hear it.

Brew ON!

Olive Nation Milk Chocolate Stout brewed with cacao nibs

Chocolate Milk Stout Recipe & Tasting Notes

By John Krochune

On December 7, 2022

In General, Partial Mash, Recipes, Videos

The holidays are a good time to give the gift of beer. Specialty beers are the best kind to give as gifts. With help from our friends at OliveNation, we brewed up a Chocolate Milk Stout using cacao nibs and lactose. In this post and video, we provide the recipe and our thoughts of the beer.

You can see the reflection of the iPhone in this glass of Chocolate Milk Stout

Recipe Details

Let’s get to the recipe. I lifted most of it from Northern Brewer, but I needed to use 6 pounds of liquid malt extract (LME) that was sent to me by mistake from my local homebrew shop (LHBS). Homebrewers have to problem solve all the time. My solution is delicious, just so you know.

OliveNation Milk Chocolate Stout

5 US Gallon Batch

WATER

Tap Water treated with a Campden Tablet

GRAINS & EXTRACT

6 pounds of Pilsen Liquid Malt Extract (LME)

2 pounds Rahr Pale Malt (907 g)
0.75 pounds. Fawcett Pale Chocolate Malt (340 g)
0.25 pounds. English Extra Dark Crystal (113 g)
0.75 pounds. Weyermann Carafa III (340 g)

SPECIAL INGREDIENTS

1 pound of lactose
4 ounces of Cacao Nibs soaked in 10 ounces of vodka added at kegging

HOPS

1 ounce (28 g) of Nugget Hops at 15.3% AA for 60 minutes

YEAST

1 packet of Safale S-04

Mini-mashed the grains at 150 °F (66 °C) for 60 minutes in 2.5 US gallons (9.5 L) of water. Add wort to 4 US gallons (15 L) of water and LME in kettle and boiled for 60 minutes.
Fermented 2 weeks at 68°F (20° C)

Original Gravity: 1.072
Final Gravity: 1.025
ABV: 6.17%

Chocolate Milk Stout Tasting Notes

The appearance of stout is black. None more black, one may say. It’s dark. There does not seem to be any highlight. The head is dark brown and thick.

The aroma hints at some chocolate goodness that awaits in the first sip. We detected some dark fruits and sugars. Mike got some smoke notes too.

The taste has chocolate notes and some caramel sweetness. There is a lack of roast. Without roasted barley, the flavors are a bit different in this stout.

The lactose is bringing a full mouthfeel. This beer is a sipper – just the right pint to have at the end of the day in front of a fire.

Thanks to our friends at OliveNation. They have been kind to us over the years and sent us the Cacao nibs to use in this recipe. You can browse all of their brewing flavorings and ingredients.

BREW ON!

English IPA – Jar of Destiny

By John Krochune

On November 30, 2022

In Brew Log, Style Profiles, Videos

Some beer styles are appreciated. Some are not. The Jar of Destiny forced us to revisit one of those underappreciated styles. From their guidelines listed at 12 C, we brew up this English IPA for our enjoyment and yours.

Well, what went into this beer? Let’s see:

JoD English IPA Recipe

This recipe for 5 US Gallons in the fermentor.

WATER

Spring water with 4 g of Gypsum added during the boil

GRAINS

12 pounds of Crisp Maris Otter Malt (5.4 Kg – 94% of the bill)
12 ounces of Briess 80°L Crystal Malt (340 g – 6% of the bill)

HOPS

1.5 ounces (42 g) of Target Hops at 11.6% AA for 60 minutes
1 ounce (28 g) of East Kent Goldings Hops at 5.6% AA for 20 minutes
2 ounces (56 g) of East Kent Goldings Hops at 5.6% AA for dry hopping for 3 days

YEAST
2 packets of Wyeast 1098 British Ale

Mashed at 152 °F (67 °C) for 60 minutes
Fermented 2 weeks at 68°F (20° C)

Original Gravity: 1.064
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV: 6.56%

The Notes on This Beer

Mike really likes the color of this beer. He is a big fan of English styles and for him to say he really enjoyed this beer is saying a lot.

Here are my thoughts on the experience. I wanted to nail the water so I went with a clean water source which I enhanced with Gypsum.

The hops and yeast were imperative to get right so the recipe has a high alpha acid English hop and finishes with East Kent Goldings.

The grain bill is simple. We like the biscuit notes that Maris Otter brings and the 80° Lovibond crystal malt gave the beer the color and caramel notes it needed.

With all the IPAs in the world, it’s good to go back to the original. Hope you can revisit this style soon.

BREW ON!

Links To The Jar of Destiny Series Results
Check out the British Strong Ale post
Check out the Black IPA post
Check out the International Amber Lager post
Check out the Belgian Tripel post
Check out the Double IPA post
Check out the Kölsch post
Check out the English IPA post
Check out the Wood-Aged Beer post
Check out the Belgian Golden Strong Ale post
Check out the American Amber Ale post
Check out the German Pils post
Check out the Brett Beer post
Check out the Munich Helles post
Check out the Imperial Stout post
Check out the Foreign Extra Stout post
Check out the Belgian IPA post
Check out the Eisbock post
Check out the Czech Dark Lager post
Check out the California Common post
Check out the American Light Lager post
Check out the Pale Kellerbier post
Check out the Belgian Pale Ale post
Check out the Trappist Single post
Check out the Classic Style Smoked Beer post
Check out the Czech Amber Lager post
Check out the Gueuze post
Check out the Irish Stout post
Check out the Tropical Stout post
Check out the Schwarzbier post
Check out the American Wheat Beer post

Wood Aged Beer – Jar of Destiny

By John Krochune

On November 23, 2022

In Brew Log, Style Profiles, Videos

We are inching closer to the end the of year. With that, we’re inching closer to the end of this (year’s?) Jar of Destiny challenge. The first of two beers we have to present is from the BJCP category 33 A. It is a Wood-Aged Beer and here is what Mike did with his pick.

Wood Aged Beer Recipe

As a point of clarity, the 33 A category stipulates that these beers are brewed on “just wood”. It can’t be a used Bourbon barrel, for instance, it should only be wood. With the timeline we gave ourselves, which is only a few months, Mike brewed this simple Amber ale recipe with the addition of wood while it conditioned.

For a 3.5 US Gallon Batch

Grains

76% Rahr Standard 2-Row malt
20% Vienna malt
4% Chocolate Rye malt (170° L)

Hops

1 ounce (28 g) of Warrior hops

Yeast

Kveik Voss

Wood

2 ounces (56 g) of Hungarian Oak Cubes, aged for one week.

Original Gravity: 1.064
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV: 6.5%

Our Thoughts

The color is a dark copper. It has nice orange tones in it. Mike opined if he had added a tiny amount of roasted barley if there would be more red tones. Most of the color is coming from the Chocolate Rye.

The aroma has good malt notes coming from the Vienna malt. I picked up some esters from the yeast and maybe some vanilla from the Hungarian oak.

The taste has a nice blend of malt and wood with the Warrior providing the needed bitterness in the aftertaste.

We think this beer came out well especially with the accelerated pace that was needed to have a beer ready in two months. The Kveik yeast fermented quickly and the smaller batch size allowed for shorter contact time with the wood to impart flavor.

Can’t wait to get a gift of this beer for Christmas.

BREW ON!

Wild Hops Lab Analysis

By John Krochune

On November 16, 2022

In Hops, Videos

Growing up, we knew of a climbing plant that existed down the street from our house. We were told later they were hops. Flashforward over 30 years later, a better understanding about the plant and road construction project put into a motion a plan to move the hops to my brother’s backyard.

After a couple of years, the plant acclimated to its new surroundings and produced a healthy number of cones. In September, my brother harvested them and gave them to me for more brewing (We brewed with them for the first time in 2021). This year, with more harvested cones to spare, I sent a sample to the University of Vermont to have them run some tests. Here is our post on the outcome of the wild hops lab analysis:

Results of the Wild Hops Analysis

Here are all the details from the report:

Alpha Acids: 1.98%
Beta Acids: 7.30%
HSI (Hops Storage Index): 7.30

Compared to my homegrown Chinook hops, these results were quite different. The very low AA% in contrast to the very high BA% made me think that these hops wouldn’t be good for brewing beer.

I did a few searches to find a good match for this profile and I found information about Teamaker hops on the web.

Are these hops from a Teamaker hops bine? We don’t know that but with the report, we know that these hops would not impart a large amount of bitterness to a beer. These wild hops are more for late boil additions or for making a nice hop tea.

If we were more invested emotionally and financially, we could have these hops tested again. This time, we would try to find out their lineage and hopefully understand what variety they are. Since we aren’t, we’ll stick to this data set and use them appropriately.

We can’t stress enough the use of labs to better understand your homegrown hops. Shout out to the staff at the UVM’s E. E. Cummings Crop Testing Laboratory for the work they put towards getting these results to us.

Brew ON!