Non-Alcoholic Sangria - 12-14-2012

Today, I gave out multiple samples of my home brew, sangria, lemon cello, and a non-alcoholic sangria.  At the request of some of the samplers, I am attaching the recipe for the non-alcoholic sangria

4 cups cranberry grape juice
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice
1 pear, diced
1 apple, diced
3 cups carbonated lemon-lime beverage

Refrigerate all ingredients except the lemon-lime beverage for 2 hours.  Right before serving, add the lemon-lime beverage.

Holiday Cheer!!!

Today, I was finally able to bottle my home brew that has been fermenting for 8 weeks.  It was a seasonal called Saison De Noel.  It was fairly complicated because it actually had a "malt schedule", which is basically putting in different malts during different times of the cooking process.  I was used to a "hop schedule", which is hops at different times of the boil, but this was the first "malt schedule".  It had a lot of ingredients in it, and was very aromatic when I was bottling it.  

I also bottled a Lemoncello that has been fermenting for several weeks.  I was able to find 12 oz wine bottles that I could cork.

I made a non-alcoholic Sangria, which is a recipe I made last summer and was very popular.  

Last, but not least, I made the real Sangria recipe.  This one is loaded with wine, triple sec, and brandy.  The taste is fantastic.

The plan is to distribute these to friends and co-workers based on preference.  It's been a lot of fun making everything.  I love the process of experimenting with different recipes and combinations.  I probably missed out on a career as a chemist, but I think I like it better as a hobby anyway.

Brewing Activities - 12-2-2012

Today, I made the final kit that I ordered a couple of months ago.  It's called the Brickwarmer Holiday Red.  Reds are one of my favorites as far as boldness of taste and not as strong on the hop end of things.  This one had the malt added all at the beginning of the boil, while the other winter and seasonal ales had the malt added in different phases.  Also, this one had a spice pack of sweet orange peel that is in during the fermentation.  The aroma is excellent!  I think that has been my favorite part of making the winter and holiday ales is the fact that the aroma and spices are very pleasant to the smell.  More than likely, bottling will be the end of December, and then distribution in mid-January.

Here are the ingredients

.5 lb of English Dark Crystal
.25 lb Baird's Carastan
.25 lb Pale Chocolate

6 lbs NB Gold malt syrup
1 lb Wheat dry malt extract
1 lb Amber dry malt extract

1 oz Brewers Gold (60 minutes in boil)
1 oz Styrian Goldings (10 minutes in boil)
1 oz Sweet Orange Peel (add at the end of the boil)

Honey Amber - 11-25-2012

Today, we bottled the beer I'm probably most excited about.  I took an Amber recipe, and added oak chips that had been soaking in Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon for two months.  As I was bottling, I noticed a very slight "oaky bourbon" scent to it, which is exactly what I was shooting for as far as flavor goes.  I got 10 of the 22oz bottles and 28 of the 12 oz bottles.  It will be in the bottle in my garage for about another two weeks, and then it's time for a taste.

Over the weekend, my daughter and I opened up our Bery Blonde, which was a blonde recipe with strawberries and raspberries added to it.  My first taste of this was a couple of weeks ago, and it was OK.  However, it appears that as it ages in the bottle, the flavor gets better.  It still has the consistency of cider, but the flavor gets better with age.

Also, the feedback on the Novemberfest (actually Oktoberfest that didn't finish by the end of October) has been excellent.  It had a spice pack with some nutmeg, cinnamon, and orange peels in it.  It has a very bold and strong flavor, so you can't drink a lot of it.  However, it's very smooth.  I was pleased the way that the spices and the hops came together to form a good flavor.

Beer Stock as of 11-23-2012

I did a complete inventory of all of my beer stock this morning while getting it organized.  In the table below, you will see all of the different recipes we have made.  This does not include the Amber with Oak Chips soaked in Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon or the Seasonal Ale, which are currently fermenting (5 gallons each).

Right now, we have 2,104 ounces of beer in our available stock.  If you figure that we average 6 22 ounce bottles and 35 12 ounce bottles per batch, we have made 552 ounces of beer per batch.  At 15 batches (75 gallons before fermentation), we have made 8280 ounces of beer.  Given that I only have 2104 ounces of beer left, that means I've given (not sold) 6176 ounces of beer to family, friends, and co-workers.

Holiday Ale Bottling - 11/18/2012

Today, I bottled the Holiday Ale with a friend.  It has a combination of orange, cinnamon, and nutmeg flavors.  The smell was fantastic.  If the smell is any indicator, the taste of this batch of beer should be fantastic.

Brewing Activities on 10-28-2012

I'm late posting this entry that updates my brewing activities from last weekend.  I took an Amber Ale recipe, and then added oak chips that have been soaking in Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon for the last two months during the fermentation process.  The yeast has been very, very active the entire week, and I'm anxious to see the results of this effort.  The taste should be fantastic as I did not add any bourbon to it.  I just added the oak chips.  So the oak bourbon flavor should not be very overwhelming.

Here is the recipe.  I got the kit online from Northern Brewer.

Grains

.5 pounds of Victory Malt
.5 pounds of Briess Caramel 60

Malt

1 pound Pilsen dry malt extract
6 pounds Munich malt syrup - added at the last 15 minutes of the boil

Hops

1 oz German Perle
1 oz Hersbrucker - added at the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Yeast - Safale US-05 Ale Yeast

Rather than just add the dry yeast to the wort, I decided to start it with a cup of warm water and some honey (since I was using Honey Bourbon).  I feel this gave the yeast a huge kickstart to the fermentation process, and should enhance the flavor.