Chacob Marleywine

Description:
A barleywine brewed with my brother on Thanksgiving evening. Based loosely off Jamil's American Barleywine. For flavors we added cinnamon, chipotle and cherries (hence Chacob Marleywine, not Jacob).

Ingredients:

Hop Schedule:

ABV:
Starting -
Racking -
Ending -

Notes:
Mistakes -
Changes -

Tasting:
Color -
Carbonation -
Clarity -
Aroma -
Flavor -
Finish -

Hard Pumpkin Cider

Description:
I decided to do a hard cider after visiting Ricker Hill Orchard with family. Instead of doing a straight up cider I've added pumpkin to give the flavor more depth and spice. The small pumpkin was roasted in the oven until it could be mashed, the canned pumpkin is added to give the cider a rich orange color.

Ingredients:
5gal Pasteurized Cider
1/2gal Water
60oz Honey
1 Small Pumpkin
1 Can Pumpkin
1 Lemon
2inch Cinnamon Stick

Hop Schedule:
15min - Mashed pumpkin and canned pumpkin
15min - Water
15min - Honey
0min - Juice from lemon

Fermenting Schedule:
2 week - Cinnamon Stick

ABV:
Starting - 09/18/2011 - 1.064 SG - 0.0% ABV
Racking - 10/02/2011 - 1.002 SG - 8.3% ABV
Ending - 10/09/2011 - 1.000 SG - 8.5% ABV

Notes:
Mistakes -
Changes -

Tasting:
Color -
Carbonation -
Clarity -
Aroma -
Flavor -
Finish -

Ta Henket

Description:

An attempt at cloning Dogfish Head's Ta Henket Egyptian ancient ale. I had a snifter of this ale at Dogfish Head Brewings and Eats. It had a nice yellow color with very little head or carbonation and tasted of bread and honey. Going off its description, the plan is to use an American wheat ale as a base and add grilled aysh to the mash, and Palm fruit (or more likely lychee or honey) and za'tar to the end of boil. I plan on bottling it with 1/4 cup of honey instead of 3/4 - 1 cup of priming sugar that I typically use. For yeast I'm planning on cultivating yeast from a Dogfish Head ancient ale. Since Theobroma is available right now and it is bottle conditioned that will be my best bet (getting an American Hefe yeast as a back up). I tried to find a recipe for an Egyptian za'tar and settled on one that included roasted cumin seed, roasted coriander seed, roasted sesame seed, roasted chickpeas, fresh thyme and chamomile.

On brew day I have a few fingers of cultivated yeast in a growler from the Theobroma, so I split the batch in half and pitched the Theobroma yeast in one fermenter and the Bavarian White yeast in the other.

Ingredients:

5# Pale Wheat Malt

2.5# 2 Row Pale Malt

2.5# Pilsener Malt

1 oz. Argentine Cascade Hops

1 oz. Styrian Golding Hops

Bavarian White Yeast W3056 and yeast cultivated from Theobroma

1# Raw Maine Honey

2 oz. Za'tar

Mash:

60 mins - 152 degrees

Sparge - 168 degrees

Boil Schedule:

60 mins - Cascade Hops

15 mins - Styrian Golding Hops

0 mins - Honey and Za'tar 

ABV:

Starting - 07/10/2011 - 1.050 SG - 0.0% ABV

Racking - 07/24/2011 - 1.012 SG - 5.1% ABV

Ending - 07/31/2011 - 1.012 SG - 5.1% ABV

Notes:

Mistakes - The aysh was not as present as I would have liked it. The Theobroma version did not turn at as I had hoped.

Changes - Add more aysh to the mash. Try cultivating Midas Touch's yeast next time.

Bavarian Wheat Tasting:

A - Very pale yellow with thin line of white head.

S - Honey and bread.

T - Leads with the sweetness of honey and is followed with hints of bread and sesame. It finishes with the sharpness of wheat and honey.

M - Nice and light bodied with a slight carbonation.

D - Very easy to drink.

Theobroma Wheat Tasting:

A - Golden yellow with a think line of white head.

S - Honey and plastic.

T - Sharp and sour from the Theobroma yeast and is followed by a plastic taste. Has the same finish of wheat and honey as the Bavarian Wheat version.

M - Light bodied and carbonation.

D - Eventually the plastic taste diminishes but the beer remains tart.

Dopplebock

Description:
A dopplebock that I brewed with a friend. This was a straight up recipe from Northern Brewer. It is currently aging in the crawlspace under my house at a constant 56 degrees. The temperature will hopefully drop into the 40s this winter. It will be bottled around the new year.

Ingredients:
12# Munich Malt Syrup
1# Weyermann Caramunich II
1oz Perle Hops
1oz Hersbrucker hops
Saflager W-34/70 Lager Yeast

Mash:
20min at 170 degrees - Specialty grain

Hop Schedule:
60min - Perle hops
60min - Hersbrucker hops
15min - 6# Munich malt syrup

ABV:
Starting - 06/19/2011 - 1.092 SG - 0.0% ABV
Racking - 07/10/2011 - 1.036 SG - 7.5% ABV
Bottling - 12/02/2011 - 1.021 SG - 9.4%

Notes:
Mistakes -
Changes -

Tasting:
A -
S -
T -
M -
D -

OBL's Demise

Description:
An ambitious IPA I brewed with a friend. This was based off Northern Brewer's 115th Dream Hopbursted Imperial IPA. Hopbursting is continually adding hops near the end of the brewing to give a variety to the flavor and bitterness of the hops and is used as an alternative to dry hoping during fermentation. Additionally, we aged the beer on light oak chips for two weeks. This beer got it's name because it happened to be brewed on the same day that Osama bin Laden was killed.

Ingredients:
6# Amber Malt Syrup
6# Gold Malt Syrup
2# Corn Sugar
4oz Cluster hops
12oz Hopburst hop blend
1oz light oak chips
WYeast 1056 American Ale

Hop Schedule:
60mins - 2oz Cluster hops
20mins - 2oz Cluster hops
15mins - 6# Gold Malt Syrup
15mins - 4oz Hopburst hop blend
10mins - 4oz Hopburst hop blend
5mins - 4oz Hopburst hop blend
0mis - 2# Corn Sugar
0mins - 4oz Hopburst hop blend

ABV:
Starting - 05/01/2011 - 1.086 - 0.0%
Racking - 05/17/2011 - 1.016 - 9.3%
Ending - 05/30/2011 - 1.014 - 9.6%

Notes:
Mistakes - I read that you should not age on oak chips for more than 1 week. I didn't feel that there was enough oak taste after 1 week so I went for a second. I think that the second week added good oak flavor but killed some of the hops flavor and added a tannin bitterness that is not pleasant.
Changes - Age only 1 week on chips.

Tasting:
A - A dark golden color with almost no head.
S - Smells of oak, banana and alcohol.
T - Primarily oak, banana and caramel. The oak and alcohol level make the hops flavor hard to find.
M - Thick and cloying.
D - High alcohol and bold flavors make this a sipping beer. Gives a morose buzz.

Honey Badger Brown Ale

Description:
A Honey Brown Ale that I brewed with a friend, at the last moment we added coffee to the specialty grains. One of the better tasting worts I've made and turned out to be an excellent brew. Named after The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger of course.

Ingredients:
6# Gold Malt Syrup
4oz Simpson's Chocolate
4oz Dingemans Special B
4oz Dingemans Biscuit
4oz Briess Special Roast
4oz Starbuck's Anniversary Dark Roast Coffee
1# Honey
1oz Cluster Hops
WYeast 1056 America Ale

Mash:
20min - Crushed specialty grains and coffee at 170 degrees

Hop Schedule:
60 mins - 10z Cluster Hops
0min - 1# Honey

ABV:
Starting - 02/13/2011 - 1.054 SG - 0.0% ABV
Racking - 03/02/2011
Ending - 03/13/2011 - 1.012 SG - 5.6% ABV

Tasting:
A - Reddish brown.
S - Coffee.
T - Coffee in the front followed by honey and ending with a little bitter from the coffee hops.
M - Great mouthfeel with a good carbonation
D - This turned out to be a very drinkable beer as long as you like coffee.