Palilalia India Pale Ale - Tasting

A variation of an India Pale Ale from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
O.G.: Unknown - whoops!
F.G.: Unknown - whoops!

The brew has a rich, burnt russet color with a frothy almond head and malty aroma that contains a hint of caramel. The flavor profile starts out with a rich roasted maltiness that tapers to a hint of bitterness (from the roasted barley) and finishes with a hint of smokiness left over from the oak used in secondary. With a medium mouthfeel, this gentle brew has proved to be moderately sessionable.

Looking at this post's title (and especially if you checked back to the ingredients), I'd wager that the thought 'he didn't mention hoppiness in the description' has popped into your mind. It's true that this brew was supposed to be an IPA, but it turned out tasting much more like a brown ale - this is most likely due to the use of roasted malt barley and complications with hop additions. Part of the reason for multiple additions of hops throughout the boil (i.e., boiling hops, finishing hops, aroma hops) is to extract the hops' oils at the appropriate times so they don't end up cooking off completely. I think this recipe would have benefited from additional hop additions, similar to the process the Palace Bitter underwent. In any case, this is an enjoyable brew that has been compared to Ellie's Brown Ale.

I've decided to name this brew 'Single Peak Brown Ale' since it was first tasted at 14,060 ft on Mount Bierstadt's summit (click here for photos and a trail report). I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the end of my homebrewing hiatus than cracking this one open somewhere special.

Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale & We're in the Garden - Tasting

A take on a Brown Ale from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
O.G.: 1.04
F.G.: 1.01
ABV: ~3%

I tried to like this brew... I really did. Unfortunately, whether due to human error, poor ingredients, or just bad luck this batch turned out very badly. That said, I seem to remember the Elbro Nerkte being quite tasty when I first tried it - though I'm not sure if it has deteriorated with age or I had simply consumed too much of the Belgian White prior to tasting it. In any case, I'm not even going to bother doing a full description of the flavors because, honestly, I don't want to taste it again. I will note, however, that most of the poor flavor fades if a warm bottle is consumed.


An impromptu take on a Belgian white from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
ABV: Unknown
IBU: Unknown

We're In The Garden

Happily, unlike the Elbro Nerkte, the Belgian White was a smashing success. The beer has a vibrant amber color with a snow white head and an aroma of honey and a touch of hops. The flavor profile starts out sweet with a warm, nutty citrus taste and finishes with somewhat of a sweet bite. The honey and coriander worked together wonderfully in this brew, though with age the honey taste was largely lost - perhaps the coriander remained so potent due to the coriander seed dropped into each bottle?

After passing this brew around my family, lab group, and friend group I can assure you this will be a staple recipe in my homebrew repertoire. I can count the number of people who had any kind of reservations about this brew on one hand and most of them don't care for beer and tried it because I pushed it on them. I have a feeling this Belgian White will be just what a person needs after a long summer day and hope to make quite a bit of it in the future.

Steak with Ellie's Brown Ale

A modified beef marinade from The Beer Lover's Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 2 bottles Ellie's Brown Ale
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp freshly grated horseradish root
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 New York strip steaks

Instructions:

• combine all ingredients in a sealable container
• place container in a cool place 
• note that the fridge may be too cold
• after the steaks are allowed to marinate, cook them to your liking

Well, I've been wanting to start adding some beer-related recipes to the blog for a while now and decided that a gloomy weekend was the time to do it. Since starting both this blog and homebrewing in general, I have had the opportunity to cook with my homebrew only once - used the Primal Porter to make a beef carbonade and dill-and-beer bread for a few guests about a month ago. Since I don't have any homebrew in the fridge at this point, I decided to use a brown ale from Avery Brewing in honor of the brown I bottled earlier today.

First put into the marinade.

So to the recipe: I found the cookbook referenced above several months ago, and haven't made anything from it until now. You'll note that I only used it for a marinade, which I think comments on the quality of the contents as a whole. That said, this recipe turned out fantastically.

In terms of preparation, it couldn't have been easier - just throw everything together and let sit overnight. I added a bit more horseradish than called for partly because it smelled so delicious and partly because I was enjoying grating the root. I also added extra lemon juice. I'd recommend simply putting it in a cool place overnight rather than in the fridge so the marinade doesn't separate. 

Cooking the steaks was interesting considering I don't have a grill at my current apartment. I used this griddle-type apparatus that sits on two burners. It worked out well enough, though I missed the added flavor of charcoal. The marinade didn't burn, rather caramelizing slightly with the sear on each side of the steak. 

The marinade flavored the beef wonderfully. The flavor profile starts out with the horseradish, which is followed by a hint of cayenne pepper, and finished by a mixture of onion and garlic. The beer came out to a fair extent as well. Ellie's Brown Ale is largely characterized by a brown sugar maltiness, and this is what came through in the meat. The vanilla and nutty flavors that are somewhat apparent in the brew itself didn't come through at all in the meat. 

Wondering what the sides are? As I already noted, this was a gloomy weekend and I had no desire to go to the store to get the best compliments for this meal. So, I made use of the asparagus and russet potatoes I had on hand. 

Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale - Part 2

A take on a Brown Ale from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
O.G.: 1.04
F.G.: 1.01
ABV: ~3%

About 2 dozen done, 2 dozen to go!

It has been only seven days since Ramius and I started this brew, and we've just bottled it. I cannot get over just how fast this beer fermented - definitely have a feeling that this will be a go-to brew in the future depending on how it turns out.

I've noted several times in the past how it takes a long time to bottle by one's self, and that held true today. Luckily, it has been quite gloomy out and I didn't allow myself very many distractions during the sanitizing and bottling processes. I managed to bottle everything within about a half-hour period, which is a new record bottling time. Perhaps things went by so quickly because I finally put all the bottles at arms reach rather than all across the apartment (I know this should have been done earlier, but what are you gonna do?).

The final bottle count was four dozen. I changed the amount of beer that I siphoned out of the carboy in an attempt to minimize the amount of extraneous yeast in the final product.

Be sure to check back in about 7-10 days for a description of the final product of this and the Belgian White!

Running out of storage space!

Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale - Part 1

A take on a Brown Ale from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
O.G.: 1.04
F.G.: Unknown

Ingredients:

• 6.6 pounds Breiss Traditional Dark Malt Extract
• 0.75 pounds CaraHell Weyermann malt
• 0.25 pounds Black Patent malt
• 3.0 oz Fuggles Hops
• 2.0 oz boiling
• 1.0 oz finishing
• 4 tsp Gypsum
• Yeast: White Labs Edinburgh Scottish Ale
• 0.75 cup Corn Sugar
• for bottling

Single-Stage Fermentation

Crystal and Black malts steeping

What can I say about this recipe? Well, it's ready to drink in only 14 days! That's right... 14 days. I saw this and couldn't help but try it. Plus, the price tag was about half of what I've spent in the past on ingredients. 

Anyhow, the brewing went by without incident. Steeping the malts without a muslin bag was a change, and not necessarily a pleasant one due to the subsequent straining. Beyond this, it was brewing as usual. Boiled the wort with the starting ingredients, tossed in the finishing hops, cooled the wort with a wort-chiller before straining it into the carboy, and finally topped the carboy off with cold water and the yeast. I will say that this is the first time I'd used a White Labs yeast and after shaking it (as directed) the contents exploded to some extent. I managed to salvage all but a small quantity of the bottle, but it is something to keep in mind during future brewing attempts.

The Brown Ale with fermentation cap and hose. 

Expect an update about bottling in a little under a week and a tasting review in about two, which will be around the time the Belgian White is ready to taste.