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girard — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:35:41 +0000

This weekend, my father came up from Florida to drop off some yard equipment. Yay for having my own lawn mower and trimmer. However, this left us with a Sunday with no real firm plans.

So, it was time to get back to my roots as a homebrewer. You see, I actually learned brewing from my father. I was in middle school when he picked up the hobby, and I used to help with all aspects of the brewing process. I can say I’ve been bottling beer since 7th grade, and it still sucked back then.

To kick off the inaugural batch for my new keg system, I thought something with a nice creamy head would really take advantage of the kegerator. Thus, I pulled out my Creamy Vanilla Ale recipe, and Dad and I spent the afternoon relaxing, not worrying, and making home brew.

Let’s see – I found out that my stove really won’t do the job for bringing wort up to a boil. We had to span the pot over two burners to get anywhere, and it still didn’t really boil like I would have liked. Guess I need to find a turkey fryer (that might be fun in January/February). I also learned that the new yeast smack packs from American Brewmaster really take off. I smacked it at the start of the brew process and the dang thing looked like it was going to explode before the wort was cool enough. Lastly, I think I used the wrong grains – it should still be tasty, but not as blonde as the last one.

Looking forward, I’m planning two experiments in the future. In the near term, I’m going to make one more partial extract beer (to use up some of the malt extract I’ve got sitting around), but this time I want to make it with Durham’s Municipal water. I’ve gotten the watter quality assessment from the city, and it’s not horribly far off the water I’m buying in the stores.

Then, probably after Ymir, I’m going to go for an all grain batch. Considering that there will be lots of opportunities to add hops, I think that one is going to be an IPA.

If all goes well, I should be able to bring a keg or two to Ymir, and anyway, it’ll be on tap at my house. Stay tuned for news of keg tapping day.

The Joys and Woes of Hyperfocus?

guenievre — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:30:11 +0000

So I mentioned at the Kappellenberg meeting that we were re-designing Erminespot… this process was expected to take something like a week. Well… I got interested. Which means it’s mostly up now. While most of the content hasn’t changed from the previous Erminespot, and the gallery is still a bit… fugly, there are a few things that are just now seeing the light of day:

St. Catherine’s Tourney Documentation – A Light Evening Meal
Feast Menus from Battle of the Oranges and Baronial Champions 2006 (recipes to follow)
The Purple “Tacunium Sanitatis” dress
And Girard has finally released his “Goat Scrotum Stout” recipe on the world. (NO goats were harmed in the production of this beverage).

Enjoy…

Goat Scrotum Stout

girard — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:52:50 +0000

This very well may be my most famous of all brews. It’s “kitchen sink beer,” to be brewed with whatever else you happen to have hanging around from a number of other batches. The ingredient list should be taken as a mere suggestion. The last two ingredients have no measure nor quantity, and should be added to taste or whim, whatever comes first. I’ve found some that will not drink it, not on a bus, nor with great fuss. I’ve found others who can not get enough of it. Brew, and drink, at your own risk

Ingredients

3.3 Lbs Dark Malt Extract
1.5 Lbs Crystal Malt
½ lb Black Patent Malt
¼ lb Roasted Barley
1 oz Willamete Hops (boiling)
½ oz Willamete Hops (finishing)
2 tsp Irish Moss
1 cup Molasses
1 lb corn sugar
Szechuan Chile peppers
Bakers Chocolate
Chocolate Extract

Method

Boil the malt with one gallon of water, slowly raising the temperature, for 20 minutes. Sparge into your brew pot with 3 more gallons of water, add the malt extract, and bring to the foam break. After the foam break, boil for 50 minutes with the boiling hops, chocolate (powder and extract), and peppers. For the last five minutes, add the Irish moss and finishing hops. Bottle with the corn sugar.

Lovebite Wiesenbier

girard — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:52:02 +0000

The original idea was to make an unfiltered, Bavarian style wheat beer. Often, when at a bar, this is served with a slice of orange to garnish. I know that’s totally an American thing, but I have to admit it makes the beer a bit more tasty to have that hint of citrus. So, rather than carry fruit with me, I just brewed it right into the beer.

Ingredients

7 lbs 60/40 wheat/barley malt extract syrup
1 oz Hallertauer hops (boiling)
1 large package Liquid Weizenbier Ale yeast (#3944)
Zest and juice of 6 blood oranges
1 package bitter orange peels
Couple tablespoons of coriander

Method

Boil the malt extract in 3 gallons of water, until you hit the foam break. After the foam break, add the oranges, coriander, and hops, and set to a rolling boil for 60 minutes. Add to fermenter with 2 more gallons of water or 1 gallon of water and 8-10lbs of ice, and pitch yeast when cool to the touch.

Notes

Orginal Gravity = 1.044
Final Gravity = 1.007 on day 14

I bottled this beer in 16 oz bottles and brought it to Pennsic 35 with me. It was a huge hit.

The end result was a perfect summer wheat beer. I got into the habit of rolling the bottle around to re-suspend the yeast, rather than leaving it at the bottom of the bottle (that is a German thing), and it really helped the flavor of the beer, as well as give it that more authentic mouth feel.

I believe I came home with only about a six pack of it left, and that was because they were hiding at the bottom of the cooler. It was such a popular beer with folks, both “beer drinkers” and “beer haters”, that I had a hard time keeping the cooler stocked.

Gingered Ale

girard — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:47:38 +0000

My wife is a huge fan of ginger, and when I started brewing, she was flipping though my Dad’s old copy of Papazian, and found the “Vagabond Gingered Ale” recipe. Hence, we dove into that batch and out came a dark brown beer with some ginger flavor. While it was nice, I wanted to give it another shot with something that would be more conducive to summer drinking at Pennsic 35. Thus, I played with the grains, swapped out some of the malt extract between dark and light, and upped the ginger content. The results were quite refreshing and very nice to drink.

Ingredients

3.5 lbs Amber Malt Extract
2.5 lbs Dry Light English Malt Extract
2 lbs Crystal Malt
2 oz Cascade Hops (boiling)
1 oz Willamette hops (finishing)
2 Hands Freshly Grated Ginger
1 pack German Ale Yeast (#1007)

Method

Crack or lightly grind the grains (I used the food processor for this one). Place the grains in a pot and cover them with water. Bring them up to around 150 degrees, and hold at that temperature for at least 10 minutes, then bring to a boil. Sparge the grains into another pot, and run water though them until you have 3 gallons of water. Bring to the foam break, then add the boiling hops. Boil for another 55 minutes, then add the finishing hops. Boil for another 5 minutes, then add to your fermenter with either 2 gallons of water or 1 gallon of water and 8-10 lbs of ice.

Notes

Origional Gravity = 1.037
Final Gravity = 1.010 on day 12

The recipe suggests 2 hands of ginger. That means, go find some ginger root at the store. You’ll see it’s sold by the pound, and you can get bunches of the tuber looking stuff pretty reasonably. Get 2 roots about the size of your own hand. If you like ginger, go a bit more; if you don’t, go a bit less. I then ran all the ginger though a microplane grater to get it nice and chopped up. I think surface area is key, so really get it small to get the most flavor out of your ginger.

In the end, I didn’t filter it before bottling. This left little pieces of ginger floating, that settled out in the bottle. I was ok with that, and just left that as sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but others might want to filter that out.

A “Good” Mead

girard — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:52:03 +0000

I had recently taken up brewing as a side hobby, and so with Their Excellency’s competition for Baronial Champions drawing near, I set to brewing a mead for competition. I am not a huge fan of mead, but I thought that perhaps a period recipe and some labor on my part might help me acquire a taste for it. My Lady, Guenièvre de Monmarché, found a recipe that she thought would work well and be tasty, so we tried it out. It hasn’t turned out to be something that I personally like to drink, but it is interesting to taste and sip on. I also find it to be better if watered down, much in the style of other period wines.

Period Recipe

The recipe is from Ein Buch von Guter Spise (German, c. 1350), which Guenièvre (my Lady) found online for me at this address. (It pays to marry a period food geek.) This version is from copy that was re-printed in 1844.

In German for those who can speak it:

Der guten mete machen wil, der werme reinen brunnen, daz er die hant dor inne liden künne. und neme zwei maz wazzers und eine honiges. daz rüere man mit eime stecken, und laz ez ein wile hangen. und sihe ez denne durch ein rein tuch oder durch ein harsip in ein rein vaz. und siede denne die selben wirtz gein eime acker lane hin und wider und schume die wirtz mit einer vensterehten schüzzeln. da der schume inne blibe und niht die wirtz. dor noch giuz den mete in ein rein vaz und bedecke in, daz der bradem niht uz müge, als lange daz man die hant dor inne geliden müge. So nim denne ein halp mezzigen hafen und tu in halp vol hopphen und ein hant vol salbey und siede daz mit der wirtz gein einer halben mile. und giuz ez denne in die wirtz, und nim frischer hoven ein halp nözzeln und giuz ez dor in. und giuz ez under ein ander daz ez geschende werde. so decke zu, daz der bradem iht uz müge einen tae und eine naht. So seige denne den mete durch ein reyn tuch oder durch ein harsip. und vazze in in ein reyn vaz und lazze in iern drie tac und drie naht und fülle in alle abende, dar nach lazze man in aber abe und hüete daz iht hefen dor in kumme und laz in aht tage ligen daz er valle. und fülle in alle abende. dar nach loz in abe in ein gehertztez vas und laz in ligen aht tage vol und trinke in denne erst sechs wucher oder ehte. so ist er allerbeste.

I do not speak German. So, luckily enough, two folks have provided translations of this text. First, the translation by Alia Atlas:

He, who wants to make good mead, warms clean water, so that he can just stand to put the hand in. And take two maz water and one honey. One stirs that with a stick and lets it set a while and then strains it through a clean cloth or through a hairsieve into a clean barrel. And boil then the same wort against an acre long there and back (as long as it takes to walk this distance and back) and remove the foam from the wort with a bowl with holes. The foam stays in the bowl and the wort does not. Next pour the mead in a clean barrel and cover it, so that vapor can not get out, until one can bear the hand there in. So take then a half maz pot and add until half full hops and a hand of sage and boil that with the wort against a half mile (as long as it takes to walk this distance) and give it then in the wort and take a half nut of fresh yeast (the amount that could be held in a nutshell) and give it there in and mix it together so that it will ferment. So cover also, so that the vapor can get out, a day and a night. So strain then the mead through a clean cloth or through a hairsieve and pour (it) in a clean barrel and let it ferment three days and three nights and fill (it) in all evenings. There after one lets it go down and looks that yeast comes therein. And let it lay for eight days, so that it falls and fill in all evenings. There after let it down in a resined barrel and let it lay eight days full and drink in the first six weeks or eight. So is it the best.

Secondly, a translation by Stephen Pursley, which I found via the Florilegium:

To make good mead, warm clean water to the point where you can just stand to place your hand in it. Use two parts water to one of honey. Stir with a stick, then let it sit a while. Then strain through a clean cloth or a hair sieve into a clean barrel. Put the must back into the brewpot and boil it as long as it takes to walk the length of an acre and back. Skim the foam from the pot with a bowl with holes in it. Pour the mead into a clean barrel and cover it tightly, so that no vapor escapes. Let it cool until one can bear to put ones hand into it. Take a half maz pot of hops and a hand full of sage. Add this to the must and boil for the time it takes to walk 1/2 mile. Add the must a half nut of fresh yeast (the amount that would fit into half a nut shell). Cover, so that the vapor can get out. Let it ferment for a day and a night. Strain the mead through a clean cloth or hair sieve and pout it into a clean barrel. Let it ferment three days. Rack it. After fermentation stops, let it sit and settle for 8 days. Rack to a clean barrel and let it sit for eight days. Drink within the next 6-8 weeks for best results.

The translations are not horribly different, so I felt good about the recipe being reasonably close to the original intent of the period German brewer.

Ingredients and Method

So, now time for some math. We had to figure out some quantities. I haven’t ever bought honey in maz’s, and I don’t really want to go for a big walk during the brewing process, so we cracked out a calculator instead.

In the translation notes of the Atlas translation, a maz is referenced to be 1.43 Liters. Google told me that’s a bit over 48 ounces. Honey is 12 oz (by weight) for every 8 oz (by volume) cup. Thus, one maz of Honey would be 48 oz (by volume), or 4.5 pounds. Thus, we went off to the farmer’s market and procured half a gallon (64 fluid oz, or 6 lbs, or one and a third maz’s) of locally gathered honey.

On the way home, we picked up some bottled water from the grocery store. Fresh mountain springs are in short supply in the South Point area of Durham, NC. According to the proportions, we’ll need twice as much water as we have honey. Luckily, we picked up half a gallon of honey, so that math was pretty easy.

We will also need some sage and some hops. The recipe says to fill a half maz pot half full of hops, or a quarter maz of hops. That’s about 12 oz, or a cup and a half, of hops. We picked up a bag of full leaf Willamete Hops from the brew store for this, and used the entire bag (about 2 cups). The recipe also calls for a “hand” of sage, so I threw in a handful of fresh sage from the grocery store.

Lastly, we’ll need some yeast. They don’t sell yeast in “nuts” so we had to take what we could get on that front. We used an active yeast packet of the “Dry Mead Yeast”. The reason we went with dry rather than sweet yeast, is because of the super high sugar content in this mead. We thought sweet yeast would finish too early and leave a lot of sugar left to be done. Dry yeast would run longer and convert more of the sugars to alcohol.

So, home and to the boiling we go. A gallon of water and half a gallon or honey into the pot, brought to a boil. Oh right, how long to boil.

As long as it takes to walk an acre and back. Acroding to Wikipedia, average walking speed is 3-5 kilometers per hour. According to the curators of Hemyock Castle, a medieval acre is 220 (201 meters) yards long. Thus, the walk would be 402 meters, or .402 kilometers. At 4 Km/hr, that would take about .1 hours (6 minutes). In a couple minutes, it’s going to ask us to walk half a mile, which is 804 meters, or twice the first measurement. Hence the second boil measurement is 12 minutes. (With all this math, it would be pretty important that you not be sampling other batches while brewing.)

Ok, so back to boiling. We boiled it for about 6 minutes, skimmed off the foam, then added our hops and sage. We then boiled it for another 12 minutes and then put it aside to cool down – skimming the top as we went. Not being a professional brewer, I didn’t have time to look at it the next day. So, later that evening, we strained it (removing the hops and sage), added the yeast, and put it in fermenters. Four days later, we transferred it to another fermenting vessel, and let it run for another 7 days. At that point, we bottled it. I wish I had some nice oak barrels to do all this in, but glass carboy’s had to make due.

Fermentation took off pretty quickly and ran quite vigorously for a good time of the process.

Results

I’m still not a huge fan of mead in general, but I will admit to liking a few sips of this “good” mead every once in a while. Like I said, I think it’s better watered down a bit, and definitely better chilled. While I wasn’t planning to make sparkling mead, it does have quite a bit of fizz to it. I think that is due to the high sugar content and the short brewing process.