When I put in a large hop order a few months ago, Simcoe hops were nowhere to be found. I'm was really interested in using some in a few IPAs, so I was excited to see Austin Homebrew Supply just had them come back instock today. I can't way to try them when they get here!
While browsing around for Simcoe hops I saw that a new variety, El Dorado, that was available at a few places. The description from Austin Homebrew got me pretty interested in trying these. "This dual purpose hop variety has high alpha acids making it great for bittering. Additionally, it has a tropical fruit, watermelon candy, pear and stone fruit aroma making it an interesting flavor and aroma hop." I'm looking forward to trying El Dorado as a flavor and aroma hop in an APA or small IPA. I can't wait to see how this description translates into the finished product.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Citrarillo IPA (American IPA with Amarillo and Citra hops)
Last week I brewed an IPA where I set out aiming for a west coast style (lighter bodied, dry, and excessively hoppy). I'm a big fan of IPAs that have a strong citrus hop flavor and aroma, like Ballast Point's Sculpin. To achieve something like this I decided to use only Amarillo and Citra hops. This is my first time using either hop, but reading up on each it sounded like they would met my needs perfectly. Amarillo is a dual purpose hop that delivers a clean bitterness, which is what I was looking for since I wanted this beer to be more of a showcase for hop flavor and aroma. I've seen the amarillo flavor described as grapefruit, but in all the commercial cases I've had as well as smelling the hops I've always thought they have more of a tangerine and mango flair. I also paired the amarillo with citra hops in the late boil and dry hop additions for flavor and aroma. The citra should add even more tropical fruit flavor to the mix.
As for fermentables I'm constrained to using extract to brew due to my apartment size. I kept it pretty simple with extra light dry malt extract, sugar, and carapils. I'm developing a mild hatred for caramel malt in IPAs so I left that out. I added the pound of sugar to get the FG down and add dryness. This was done at the end of the boil to keep my hop utilization up. In an effort to keep as much hop aroma as possible around I also added a stirring component when chilling the wort. I used my wort chiller like normal, but left a spoon in during the last 20 minutes of the boil to sanitize it. Once I had the wort chiller going I would periodically stir. This really sped the cooling step up since I was able to displace the cooled wort from around the coils with hot wort from the middle of the kettle. The wort temperature was down to 75F in under 10 minutes by far the fastest time I have achieved.
This was my first time fermenting with American Ale II, but with a 1 L starter that was intermittently shaken for 24 hours the fermentation took-off in under 12 hours once pitched. The hop aroma that was coming out of the fermenter when the air lock was active was intoxicating. The FG landed at 1.008 after 5 days (the OG was 1.053 instead of the 1.056 I was aiming for). I transfered to the a secondary and added in the dry hops.
I stole a sample when transferring to see how the beer was progressing and it was terrific. The color is a little lighter than I expected, but that isn't such a big deal. The citrus aroma is very strong even before the dry hops were added. The taste was had a strong but mellow bitterness and tons of tropical hop flavor (tangerine, mango, pineapple, and orange). Hopefully this awesome hop profile holds up! I'll add tasting notes after this is bottled and carbed.
Here's the recipe.
14B-India Pale Ale(IPA)-American IPA
Wyeast 1272-American Ale II
UPDATE: 2/28/2011
I just transfered this beer into a tertiary fermenter since I won't be able to bottle for a few days and I didn't want it sitting on the 4 ounces of dry-hops that long. The tropical hop aroma and flavor is crazy now. It's too bad I have to wait another 2 weeks before I have this beer bottled and carbed.
As for fermentables I'm constrained to using extract to brew due to my apartment size. I kept it pretty simple with extra light dry malt extract, sugar, and carapils. I'm developing a mild hatred for caramel malt in IPAs so I left that out. I added the pound of sugar to get the FG down and add dryness. This was done at the end of the boil to keep my hop utilization up. In an effort to keep as much hop aroma as possible around I also added a stirring component when chilling the wort. I used my wort chiller like normal, but left a spoon in during the last 20 minutes of the boil to sanitize it. Once I had the wort chiller going I would periodically stir. This really sped the cooling step up since I was able to displace the cooled wort from around the coils with hot wort from the middle of the kettle. The wort temperature was down to 75F in under 10 minutes by far the fastest time I have achieved.
This was my first time fermenting with American Ale II, but with a 1 L starter that was intermittently shaken for 24 hours the fermentation took-off in under 12 hours once pitched. The hop aroma that was coming out of the fermenter when the air lock was active was intoxicating. The FG landed at 1.008 after 5 days (the OG was 1.053 instead of the 1.056 I was aiming for). I transfered to the a secondary and added in the dry hops.
I stole a sample when transferring to see how the beer was progressing and it was terrific. The color is a little lighter than I expected, but that isn't such a big deal. The citrus aroma is very strong even before the dry hops were added. The taste was had a strong but mellow bitterness and tons of tropical hop flavor (tangerine, mango, pineapple, and orange). Hopefully this awesome hop profile holds up! I'll add tasting notes after this is bottled and carbed.
Here's the recipe.
Selected Style and BJCP Guidelines |
Minimum OG: | 1.056 SG | Maximum OG: | 1.075 SG |
Minimum FG: | 1.010 SG | Maximum FG: | 1.018 SG |
Minimum IBU: | 40 IBU | Maximum IBU: | 70 IBU |
Minimum Color: | 6.0 SRM | Maximum Color: | 15.0 SRM |
Recipe Overview |
Wort Volume Before Boil: | 3.00 US gals | Wort Volume After Boil: | 2.50 US gals |
Volume Transferred: | 2.50 US gals | Water Added To Fermenter: | 3.10 US gals |
Volume At Pitching: | 5.60 US gals | Volume Of Finished Beer: | 5.25 US gals |
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: | 1.013 SG | Expected OG: | 1.059 SG |
Expected FG: | 1.011 SG | Apparent Attenuation: | 80.9 % |
Expected ABV: | 6.3 % | Expected ABW: | 5.0 % |
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): | 63.6 IBU | Expected Color (using Daniels): | 9.2 SRM |
BU:GU ratio: | 1.09 | Approx Color: | |
Mash Efficiency: | 75.0 % | ||
Boil Duration: | 60.0 mins | ||
Fermentation Temperature: | 64 degF |
Fermentables |
Ingredient | Amount | % | MCU | When |
US Carapils Malt | 1.50 lb | 18.8 % | 0.3 | In Mash/Steeped |
Extract - Munton Extra Light Dry Malt | 5.50 lb | 68.8 % | 3.4 | Start Of Boil |
Sugar - White Sugar/Sucrose | 1.00 lb | 12.5 % | 0.0 | Start Of Boil |
Hops |
Variety | Alpha | Amount | IBU | Form | When |
Amarillo | 8.2 % | 2.00 oz | 32.7 | Loose Pellet Hops | 60 Min From End |
Citra | 12.3 % | 0.50 oz | 12.3 | Loose Pellet Hops | 60 Min From End |
Amarillo | 8.2 % | 0.50 oz | 4.1 | Loose Pellet Hops | 15 Min From End |
Citra | 12.3 % | 0.50 oz | 6.1 | Loose Pellet Hops | 15 Min From End |
Citra | 12.3 % | 0.50 oz | 4.4 | Loose Pellet Hops | 10 Min From End |
Amarillo | 8.2 % | 0.50 oz | 1.6 | Loose Pellet Hops | 5 Min From End |
Citra | 12.3 % | 0.50 oz | 2.4 | Loose Pellet Hops | 5 Min From End |
Citra | 12.3 % | 1.00 oz | 0.0 | Loose Pellet Hops | At turn off |
Amarillo | 8.2 % | 1.00 oz | 0.0 | Loose Pellet Hops | At turn off |
Citra | 12.3 % | 2.00 oz | 0.0 | Loose Pellet Hops | Dry-Hopped |
Amarillo | 6.9 % | 2.00 oz | 0.0 | Loose Pellet Hops | Dry-Hopped |
Other Ingredients |
Ingredient | Amount | When |
Irish Moss | 0.17 oz | In Boil |
Yeast Nutrient | 0.02 oz | In Boil |
Yeast |
Water Profile |
Target Profile: | No Water Profile Chosen |
Mash pH: | 5.2 |
pH Adjusted with: | Unadjusted |
Total Calcium (ppm): | 8 | Total Magnesium (ppm): | 0 |
Total Sodium (ppm): | 3 | Total Sulfate (ppm): | 5 |
Total Chloride(ppm): | 6 | Total Bicarbonate (ppm): | 20 |
Mash Schedule |
Mash Type: | Extract |
Schedule Name: | No Chosen Schedule |
Step Type | Temperature | Duration |
Recipe Notes |
Add sugar at flame out. 1 tsp. irish moss at 15min 1/2 tsp yeast nutrients at 10 min |
UPDATE: 2/28/2011
I just transfered this beer into a tertiary fermenter since I won't be able to bottle for a few days and I didn't want it sitting on the 4 ounces of dry-hops that long. The tropical hop aroma and flavor is crazy now. It's too bad I have to wait another 2 weeks before I have this beer bottled and carbed.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Exciting News from the Alchemist Brewpub!
Follow the link to the news on the Alchemists progress on setting up a canning line. Looks like Heady Topper will be available in cans some time this summer at a new retail shop at the brewpub! Heady Topper is one of the best beers I've ever tried. It is worth the drive to Waterbury, VT to just get it on tap, but soon you'll be able to take some home with you too!
Friday, January 28, 2011
New England Brewing Company Tower Takeover at Prime 16
The first thing I went after was the Goldstock. Goldstock might be my favorite beer made by NEB. Lots of english hops that creates a really nice, intense grassy and herbal hop experience. It is a pretty unique beer and I hope they end up canning this at some point. I ended up trying the double oaked Goldstock as my night cap. It was pretty interesting as well. There was a subtle oak flavor that smoothed the taste out nicely. The hop profile was the same, but the oak flavors added a level of complexity. I think I prefer the regular Goldstock, but the double oaked version would be great for the times you may not want such a strong hop punch and I can never complain about an interesting variant of an already great beer.
We finished dinner (which was accompanied by a personal favorite Sea Hag) right before 8 pm, when all the special taps were going to be poured. By this point the bar area was the fullest I've ever seen it. They even had the row of tables across from the bar removed. There were 4-5 rows of people behind the people sitting at the bar.
The staff started pouring the casks of IST pretty promptly at 8 pm. There was no real organization to getting the beers out which I think would have made things move a little more smoothly. Maybe no seating at the bar or a serving station with some sort of line would help in the future. Overall this was a really crowded event, but the staff handled it well and my complaints are just nit-picking. The bartenders were continuously busy the entire time I was there and they did a great job getting the beers out as fast as they could. I hope they had a bit of fun doing it!
Sarah and I shared a coffee IST and cherry vanilla IST. Both are VERY good variations of IST. The cherry vanilla IST has a strong cherry vanilla aroma that compliments the roasted and chocolate malt aromas of the IST very well. The cherry vanilla flavors take total control in the taste. I was impressed by how well the cherry and vanilla flavors could come through such a heavy flavored base beer. In all honesty I was glad to be sharing the 10 ounce pour with someone. The first few sips were really good, but after awhile the sweetness from the vanilla became too much for me. This was is definitely a slow sipper and nice to try, but 5 ounces was enough for me. The coffee IST was the highlight of the event for me. There was a pleasant coffee aroma that mixed with the chocolate and burnt malt aromas of IST. It came off a more subtle than the cherry vanilla variation. The flavor was outstanding. Strong, distinct coffee flavor that wasn't overpowering and was a great compliment to the base beer. It wasn't like drinking a totally different beer that shared the IST name, but it was more of an extension. The bitter coffee flavor worked well to balance the strong roasted malt flavor of the IST. Coffee-infused IST is one of the best coffee beers I've ever had. Hopefully more of it shows up in the future and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it will one day show up in bottles.
This was a really fun event. I'm looking forward to the other brewery tower takeovers at prime 16 in the future. They had a list up on the one blackboard and off the top of my head I remember Allagash on March 31st and Sierra Nevada. There were 3-4 others as well, but I'm blanking on them right now. NEB had a really great selection of beers on tap and on cask last night. I consider myself lucky to be living so close to a great brewery.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Bell's Hopslam Ale
A fresh bottle of 2011 Hopslam recently found its way into my hands. This will be the first time I've had a Hopslam and I'm fairly excited since this is a highly hyped beer and this continues my recent kick of highly hopped beer. "A biting, bitter, tongue bruiser of an ale. With a name like Hopslam, what did you expect?" I have high expectations and I hope I don't end up disappointed.
Here is the description from the Bell's website:
Starting with six different hop varietals added to the brew kettle & culminating with a massive dry-hop addition of Simcoe hops, Bell's Hopslam Ale possesses the most complex hopping schedule in the Bell's repetoire. Selected specifically because of their aromatic qualities, these Pacific Northwest varieties contribute a pungent blend of grapefruit, stone fruit, and floral notes. A generous malt bill and a solid dollop of honey provide just enough body to keep the balance in check, resulting in a remarkably drinkable rendition of the Double India Pale Ale style.
After recently using some honey in a batch of homebrew. I'm pretty intrigued to find out how well honey works in a big beer like this.
Hopslam is a deep golden-orange with a slight bit of haze. The bright white head laces down the glass with every sip.
The aroma is filled with citrus hops from the dry-hopping. Lots of apricot, grapefruit, tangerine. I have a really soft spot for beers that are heavy on citrus aroma. There is a subtle caramel sweetness that hangs around as well. The aroma is huge and I can smell it across the room. For a hop dominated aroma it is really complex.
The hop bitterness and flavors are thrown right at your tongue when you take a sip. Lots of grapefruit, pine, and some grassiness. Like the complex hop aroma there is a nice complex hop taste as well. The hop bitterness is biting, but not overwhelming since there is plenty of sweetness to balance it all out. The honey works really well to add sweetness and overall balance. This is a beer of bigness. The huge hop bitterness is balanced by a huge malt/honey sweetness, but the balance is there. The 10% ABV stays hidden under all of it, which is a pleasant surprise.
I was secretly hoping that I would be disappointed by this beer so I could be the contrarian, but it is really an excellent example of how a big hoppy beer should be. Lots of bitterness, lots of hop flavor, and a balancing sweetness that adds to hops instead of masking them. I really need to get more of this and next year I'll be timing a trip back to PA around the release of Hopslam hopefully. I'm officially on the Hopslam bandwagon. One of the best DIPAs around.
Here is the description from the Bell's website:
Starting with six different hop varietals added to the brew kettle & culminating with a massive dry-hop addition of Simcoe hops, Bell's Hopslam Ale possesses the most complex hopping schedule in the Bell's repetoire. Selected specifically because of their aromatic qualities, these Pacific Northwest varieties contribute a pungent blend of grapefruit, stone fruit, and floral notes. A generous malt bill and a solid dollop of honey provide just enough body to keep the balance in check, resulting in a remarkably drinkable rendition of the Double India Pale Ale style.
Hopslam is a deep golden-orange with a slight bit of haze. The bright white head laces down the glass with every sip.
The aroma is filled with citrus hops from the dry-hopping. Lots of apricot, grapefruit, tangerine. I have a really soft spot for beers that are heavy on citrus aroma. There is a subtle caramel sweetness that hangs around as well. The aroma is huge and I can smell it across the room. For a hop dominated aroma it is really complex.
The hop bitterness and flavors are thrown right at your tongue when you take a sip. Lots of grapefruit, pine, and some grassiness. Like the complex hop aroma there is a nice complex hop taste as well. The hop bitterness is biting, but not overwhelming since there is plenty of sweetness to balance it all out. The honey works really well to add sweetness and overall balance. This is a beer of bigness. The huge hop bitterness is balanced by a huge malt/honey sweetness, but the balance is there. The 10% ABV stays hidden under all of it, which is a pleasant surprise.
I was secretly hoping that I would be disappointed by this beer so I could be the contrarian, but it is really an excellent example of how a big hoppy beer should be. Lots of bitterness, lots of hop flavor, and a balancing sweetness that adds to hops instead of masking them. I really need to get more of this and next year I'll be timing a trip back to PA around the release of Hopslam hopefully. I'm officially on the Hopslam bandwagon. One of the best DIPAs around.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum
I just picked up a bottle of Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum tonight and couldn't wait to crack it open. This thing is screaming hops at me even before I open it. The label boasts that this is, "The ultimate whole-cone hop experience." I hope it is!
I really dig the label and I'm usually neutral about most bottle labels and SN never really has anything this eye catching.
The beer specs:
ABV: 10.4%
Original Gravity: 22.8 Plato
Final Gravity: 4.5 Plato
Bitterness Units: 100 IBU
Color: Orange Amber
Bittering Hops: German Magnum
Aroma Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
Dry Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
Topedo Hops: Citra & Chinook
Malts: Two-row Pale, Golden Promise, Munich & Wheat
Yeast: Ale
I could smell the hops as soon as I started the pour. There is a dominate tropical citrus smell (grapefruit, tangerine, and mango) with some earthy hop aroma as well. The taste is unsurprisingly filled with hops, hops, and more hops as well. The initial hop flavor is herbal and spicy. This flavor gives way to pine and orange flavors on subsequent sips. The hops are clearly on display here, but there is a reasonable amount of caramel sweetness there was well. The bitterness is definitely tongue dominating, but I don't find it to be too much.
At 10.4% ABV I expected some of the alcohol to creep through into the aroma, but it never did. I did pick it up in the flavor and it was a little warm. That is my only knock against it really, but it is not that distracting since there is a really nice oily, full-bodied mouthfeel.
I really enjoyed this beer. Since it looked like the bottle shop I go to was fully stocked with Hoptimum I'll have to make a trip back soon to pick up another bottle or two. This is another winner from SN and I'm really glad they put out a bigger beer like this. They can clearly make these big hop beers well.
I really dig the label and I'm usually neutral about most bottle labels and SN never really has anything this eye catching.
ABV: 10.4%
Original Gravity: 22.8 Plato
Final Gravity: 4.5 Plato
Bitterness Units: 100 IBU
Color: Orange Amber
Bittering Hops: German Magnum
Aroma Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
Dry Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
Topedo Hops: Citra & Chinook
Malts: Two-row Pale, Golden Promise, Munich & Wheat
Yeast: Ale
I could smell the hops as soon as I started the pour. There is a dominate tropical citrus smell (grapefruit, tangerine, and mango) with some earthy hop aroma as well. The taste is unsurprisingly filled with hops, hops, and more hops as well. The initial hop flavor is herbal and spicy. This flavor gives way to pine and orange flavors on subsequent sips. The hops are clearly on display here, but there is a reasonable amount of caramel sweetness there was well. The bitterness is definitely tongue dominating, but I don't find it to be too much.
I really enjoyed this beer. Since it looked like the bottle shop I go to was fully stocked with Hoptimum I'll have to make a trip back soon to pick up another bottle or two. This is another winner from SN and I'm really glad they put out a bigger beer like this. They can clearly make these big hop beers well.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Mikro Beer Bar in Hamden
Mikro Beer Bar is a newer beer bar in the New Haven area. It's been open a little while so I thought it would be a good time to make the short trip from New Haven to Hamden last night. They are located at 3000 Whitney Ave. in Hamden in the middle of small shopping plaza.
View Larger Map
The first thing I notice when I walked in was the size. Mikro is a pretty small place, but a nice feature of the space is that the ceiling is really high. I think this helped cut down on the noise in the room and made it feel a lot more spacious. There is a large chalk board on the far wall that has a list of the 18 beers on tap along with their ABV and price. The beers seemed a little pricy, but I'm kind of spoiled by the Prime 16 happy hour prices I guess. There is a smaller bar with another quasi-bar with stools right behind it towards the middle of the room. The tables are arranged around the outside of the room. The seating is fairly limited. The atmosphere seems like a typical pub. Lots of darker wood and random beer paraphernalia. Nothing was overdone which kept it looking pretty respectable. There is one TV up in the corner of the bar, which due to the size of the room can seen about everywhere in the place.
When we walked in we ended up standing by the entrance for awhile. Is it wait to be seated or seat yourself? After waiting a few minutes without any staff even looking our way we decided it was seat yourself. After another 5 minutes or so the waiter finally noticed us. I found this rather annoying. Once he got to us he was pretty nice and seemed knowledgeable about the beers. I am not a fan of the way they seat here. There is limited seating to begin and no one seats you. As Mikro got more crowded later in the evening I saw people watching like hawks for a table to open, sitting down at table that weren't cleaned off yet and people were coming up to take chairs from other table. This is just really unorganized.
Their tap choices were on par with Prime 16 and Cask Republic. The only real stand out that was up tap when we were there was Cisco Winter Woods. I ended my night with this beer. It was fairly interesting beer with a plenty of winter spice and wood flavor. It was served ice cold, which totally incorrect for this style of beer. This is really a growing pet-peeve of mine. If you are going to specialize in craft beer serve them at the right temperatures! Mikro is definitely not they only place guilty of this sin, but it always annoys me. I also tried their "East Coast IPA". When I asked the server who made it, I was told he wasn't allowed to say and they were thinking about making it a house beer. It's a pretty hefty IPA at 8% ABV. I was able to get him to tell me the brewery is out of state. This is pretty lame if you are going to have a house beer. It should be made locally. That said it was a pretty solid IPA, better than average in my opinion. Heavier of the bitterness than hop flavor. We were never given a bottle list so I don't have anything to say about what they have in that department. There were 4 drafts missing from the board the entire time we were there. Would have been nice if they were filled in or our server could have let us know what else was on tap.
The food menu is rather short, but covers a decent amount of ground. It was cool to see poutine on the menu. I opted for the pulled chicken flat bread. At the $13 price tag I was expecting more. The flat bread came off as a recipe from a "how to cook in your dorm room" book. Crunching down on a few pieces of bone they missed pulling out was not pleasant either. The side of fries we ordered for the table were the highlight sadly. Perhaps they are going for more of a simple pub focusing on the beer, but when you have a menu, especially at the prices they were asking, things should be much better.
Overall Mikro ranks dead last in terms of the beer bars in the New Haven area. Prime 16 and Delaney's have much more reasonable prices and better selections of higher quality food. I think out of the two newer beer bars I've visited lately Cask Republic has a much brighter future. I don't see myself driving out of to Hamden to visit Mikro since there are better options in New Haven with more space, lower craft beer prices, and better food.
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