This is a Northern Brewery extract kit recipe with the addition of an extra pound of corn sugar added at the end of the boil. This was supposed to go in another recipe that I brewed recently, but I forgot. The Honey Koelsch might be a little light otherwise, so I figured that raising the gravity a little bit wouldn’t hurt.

I’m brewing this as a compliment (read: complete opposite) to the Black IPA that I just moved to a secondary fermenter.  I hope to have both of these kegged and on tap at the same time here in a couple of weeks so that I can astound my guests with diversity… or something.  At least it’ll get me motivated to order up a second tap and drill another hole in the fridge out in the garage.

Fermentables:
6 lbs Gold Malt Syrup
1 lb Honey (0 min)
1 lb Corn Sugar (0 min)

Hops:
1 oz Vanguard (60 min)
1 oz Vanguard (30 min)

Yeast:
Safale US-05

O.G: 1.048 – Ready: 6 Weeks

Ah, the joys of racking.  Actually, I probably dislike racking more than anything else in the brewing process.  It just doesn’t seem like you can do enough to be sanitary.  Once I take the lid of the primary fermenter I feel like I’m just exposing my precious, precious beer to all the evils of the world.  Then, I’ve come  to really dislike the auto-siphon.  It just feels like another tool that’s impossible to properly keep sanitized and handle throughout the process.

Anyhow, I got it done and managed to end up with a nice, clear looking, sediment free batch of beer into the secondary.  With a sprinkle of Ahtanum on top for dry hopping, this puppy is ready to sit around for another couple of weeks.

As I was siphoning, I just happened to spill a little bit into a pint glass to sample.

Right away there’s no way of getting around the fact that this is an IPA.   The aroma was nice and citrusy, floral, and sweet from the Cascade and Summit hops.  From my early impressions, I think that the body is going to add a very nice balance to the beer overall.  The body was slightly rich, with some chocolate tones and a sweetness that I hope sticks around.  It’s like a chocolate porter with a big grapefruit head.  It’s not quite a orange Toblerone or anything, but I think it’ll do the trick.  Sounds crazy, right?  Crazy good, son!

I don’t know if I’m going to be able to wait any more than 10 days or so before I throw this puppy in the keg, toss it in the fridge, and crank up the CO2.  If, and that’s a big if, I can practice some degree of patience then two weeks in the secondary and a week settling in the keg would give me a drink date of 3/19 or so.  We’ll see.

Finally, as promised here’s the full ingredients list.

Grains:
.25 lbs Dehusked Carafa III
.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
.50 lbs Briess Caramel 80

Fermentables:
3.15 lbs Dark Malt Syrup (60 min)
6 lbs Dark Malt Syrup (15 min)
1 lb Corn Sugar (0 min)

Hops:
1 oz Summit (60 min)
1 oz Simcoe (15 min)
1 oz Centennial (10 min)
1 oz Cascade (5 min)
1 oz Amarillo (0 min)
1 oz Ahtanum (Dry Hop)

Yeast:
Safale US-05

Recipe @ NorthernBrewer.com

Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been nearly four months since my last brew day.

I don’t know what it was that spurred me on to order up some new supplies, but I can’t imagine that I went as long as I did without stirring up some homebrew anticipation. There’s really nothing like the feeling of walking by the bubbling fermenter, or spying the carboy tucked in the closet, and thinking about how that first pour is going to turn out.

So, I doubled my order and picked up two completely different styles to brew over the next couple of months. First up, the “Black IPA” from Northern Brewer. Sounds strange, right?

Well, I think two of my top three styles of beer in general are IPAs and Porters, so when I saw this I couldn’t help myself. Ingredients-wise, this is definitely one of the more ambitious brews I’ve ever attempted. The kit came with a pound of crushed grains, 3/4ths of a gallon of malt extract and a whopping six ounces of hops. Here’s a snippet of the description from NB:

An ebony pint with a beige head is surrounded by an aromatic citrus-and-pine force field, backed by a smooth roastiness redolent of cocoa and French roast coffee.

Brew-day was 2/13, so I’m hoping to move this to a secondary fermenter (in order to remove some sediment and do some dry-hopping) on the 26/27th.  I’ll take a picture and post some initial comments then.  I’ll go ahead and post the full ingredients then too since this post has gone on far too long already.

The pumpkin was a little too hoppy and a little short on pumpkin pie flavors.  This isn’t to say it wasn’t drinkable, because at the end of the day the keg was gone, it just wasn’t all that everyone was expecting for a Halloween tailgate.  If I were to try this brew again I’d definitely go for a sweeter malt, double up on the pumpkin spice, and cut the quantity of hops in half.  Also, because I rushed the brewing process, cutting the total fermentation period to only two weeks (plut two weeks keg conditioning) I think the beer was a little cloudy.  Another couple of weeks in a secondary fermentation could have reduced the sediment and helped the brew to clear a little bit.

Bottom line: although this wasn’t a successful beer, it was drinkable.  Here’s to hoping that I come up with something that I really enjoy next time.  It’s been a while since I was really impressed.

‘Tis ‘Twas the season for hearty, malty, nutmeg and cinnamon spiced beers.  While this isn’t the sort of fare that I typically make for myself since it’s hard to drink more than a couple at a time, a tailgate / costume party afternoon assured that there would be plenty of thirsty folks to get the job done.

Generally, the reviews were good, although the recpe fell a little short of my own expectations.  First of all, the balance of malt to hops was skewed in the wrong direction.  Although there was only an ounce of hots in the recipes, I would consider either cutting the amount or the boil time in half.  Next, there wasn’t nearly enough ‘pumpkin’ flavor to really make you feel like you were drinking something seasonal.  I’m not sure if there’s a good way to add an real pumpkin or not, but doubling up on the ‘pumpkin spice’ is a must.

Anyway, here’s the recipe.  If anyone has any suggestions, I’m happy to hear ‘em.

Specialty Grains

* .5 lbs. Bries Caramel 40

Fermentables

* 3.15 lbs. Amber Malt Syrup (Boil 60 min.)
* 1 lbs. Pilsen DME (Boil 60 min.)
* 3.15 lbs. Amber Malt Syrup (Boil 15 min.)

Boil Additions

* 1 oz. Cluster (60 min)
* 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (0 min)

If you choose dry yeast

* Safale US-05. Optimum temperature: 59-75° F.