Ah. My first attempt at recipe writing. I wanted something bold, something rich, something dessert-like. But before I pick it apart myself, let’s look at our tasting notes:

1.057 OG; 1.020 FG; 4.9% ABV; 38 IBU (obviously the beer is a bit more bitter because IBU refer to alpha acid bitterness, and the cocoa added its own bitterness)

Appearance: Practically black with a latte colored, thick head. Decent head retention.

Nose: Hint of raspberry, unfortunately it’s a tad too artificial. Some alcohol. Woody bitterness.

Taste: The raspberry blooms in the middle of the sip — still too artificial. Roasty and woody bitterness. Hint of chocolate masked by the bitterness, which lingers.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, coats the tongue.

Overall: The flavors we’re going for are there, but a lot of it gets lost in the bitterness of the cocoa powder. Needs a bit more [real] raspberry flavor. Not great, but good, and easy to improve.

I’d like to work with this recipe again, or at least one similar to it. On the second round, I would use raspberries, not extract — for me, there is just something a bit too artificial about the extract punching your taste and olfactory senses in their nads. We also misread the recipe and used way too much cocoa. In my notes, I should have explicitly written that we needed to use 8 oz of cocoa by volume, but we used 8 oz of cocoa by weight. Trust me, that made a big difference in the finishing bitter.

Nevertheless, I’m happy I got the chance to be wildly experimentative with my first brew. Quite honestly, I think it’s humbled me and taught me that mastering classic, solid styles might be a better idea first, which we kept in mind when we brewed my second recipe this month. I’m excited. I kept it very clean, very balanced, and no crazy ingredients. Stay tuned!

Our Brew Days, Tasting 1 Comment »

HomeBrewBeer.net is hosting this month’s Fermentation Friday, a last-Friday-of-the-month blogging event specially made for homebrew bloggers. This month’s topic: “How will you grow or change as a homebrewer this Spring? How will you embrace your Spring fever and channel it toward your homebrewing endeavors?”

In a way, this topic reminds me a bit of January’s Fermentation Friday topic of Brew Year’s Resolutions, but at the same time, I see the difference. The changing of the seasons can really have an impact on people, as well as every other living thing on this planet. For me, I know when the days become consistently sunny, the weather warms up — but isn’t sweat-drenchingly hot — I become crazily optimistic and happy-go-lucky. Springtime for me means evenings after work at the park, lunchtime walks to Whole Foods, and shoving my coats to the back of the closet. It’s amazing what an effect winter can have on our bodies and attitudes!

So, how does this relate to brewing? Bryon at HomeBrewBeer.net asked how we’ll embrace this newfound optimism charged from sunlight and channel it into homebrewing. I think for Ray and I, that means our beers will lighten up with the sun — I may love stouts, but nothing beats a delicious, thirst-quenching hefe on a warm day. We want to brew beers that we can sip on our balcony in the evening after dinner. And so far, we’ve already begun.

We just bottled a lovely hoppy dubbel and brewed a simple kolsch-style beer (more info on those brews to come!). On the docket for the coming months, we have brews that will tend toward slightly lower ABVs, lower SRM units, and lighter on the palette — all while remaining flavorful, of course! No “triple hops brewing” Miller Lite crap here.

Fermentation Friday, Homebrewing Add Comment »

We were on the moon, all right? Hey! Apple Ale! Boy this sure is yummy! Let’s see how we did!

1.061 OG; 1.012 FG; 6.5% ABV; 19 IBU

Appearance: Thick, fluffy, off white head. Reddish brown and almost opaque.

Nose: Apple apple apple. Crisp, tart, and cidery, with just a little bit of caramel maltiness.

Taste: Apple apple apple and malt malt malt. The hop bitterness perfectly balances the sweetness of the caramel malts and the tartness of the apples.

Mouthfeel: Dry, crisp, and refreshing. Medium bodied. Syrupy, but without clinging to the tongue.

Overall: Though it never forgets that it is indeed a beer, our Winter Red Apple Ale is seriously appley, which it had better be — It’s 2/5 cider and infused with five pounds of apples, after all.

Unfortunately, the spices didn’t come through as much as we’d hoped. I can spot the nutmeg if I’m looking for it, but the cinnamon, ginger, and coriander aren’t prominent enough. Maybe we’ll make a spice extract next time or steep the spices in the secondary fermenter, since the boiling tactic obviously didn’t work out.

Even without all of the spices, though, the big blast of apple and caramel really snaps the tastebuds to attention. It’s fun and playful, and if our respective families’ testimonies can be trusted, it’s also an excellent gateway beer. We’re calling this a winner.

Our Brew Days, Tasting 2 Comments »