As I predicted, a brew has just been scheduled for this coming Saturday. Mikey Schamer, Emma and I, also known as Club MED (GET IT?!?), will be putting together a batch - so far undecided - sometime in the afternoon. Starting at 12:30-1ish, we'll be heading to the party source for brewin beers, then listermann's, back to brew and then out for the evening.
open up the comment section for this weeks batch discussion and join in.
In other news, I neglected to mention that we are conjuring up a tea batch of beer for the springtime. Definitely keep you posted there. Later
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6 comments:
I have plenty of hops, so the batch really has no limit in that sense. however, i just brewed two IPAs so i'm a little spent on super-hopped brews.
my thoughts right now are:
oatmeal cookie stout (or any other kind of "cookie" stout),
a Fullers ESB Clone,
or a version of this, "Chocolate Raspberry Seasonal Ale:"
http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=7106
what do you think?
i say the ESB clone. ESB always taste interesting, so interesting, in fact, that i cant tell if i like them or now.
i think davedave is ready for something like that.
i agree with the ESB clone as the number one option. I'm having a tough time tracking down a concrete Fullers ESB Extract Clone. I can find plenty of all-mash versions, but the extract seems to evade me. there's a place to order kits from, but it's almost 50 bucks and i'd need to do overnight shipping from texas to get it here.
my number two vote is the chocolate raspberry seasonal ale.
what kind of yeast variations or hop combinations might be interesting to try for this batch?
I have Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, Mt. Hood, Perle, Fuggle, Williamette, Summit, Magnum all available
Hah...I definitely second the chocolate raspberry seasonal ale. Earlier today, I was brainstorming and I had three vague ideas, the first very similar to that:
1.) I was thinking that, despite the deliciousness of Lucy (which I haven't yet experienced), we may want to try out a lighter, simpler "dessert" beer with a more "classic" kind of flavor like chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. A chocolate raspberry seasonal ale sounds a little bit richer, but it definitely fits in with the "dessert" theme, and I think it's really worth a shot as a novelty beer. That said, the ESB sounds appetizing as well if we want to go for a serious, traditional beer.
2.) To contrast with the last batch I was involved with (God), I also got to considering a really fresh, cool, crisp beer with a few herbs and spices and a generous dose of mints (like, LaRosa's mints ;)). Not sure if that would be terrible or terrific, but it would probably be pretty interesting.
3.) As another idea to keep on the backburner, Laura and I always talk about how "butterbeer" from Harry Potter sounds totally appetizing. I have no idea how such a flavor would be achieved, but I'm picturing something smooth and creamy that gives you a "warm and fuzzy" feeling on the inside. Using actual dairy would likely be absolutely disgusting and unsanitary, but as I've never had a "warm and fuzzy" beer, something following those characteristics may make for a fine goal someday.
That said, I haven't really had the chance to get into what kind of malt and yeast to use for any of the above (it'll take me a bit of research given my gross inexperience).
Random thought: This might sound strange, but what do you think about something strongly accented by lemon?
Finally...I just realized that your beers generally vary between bitter and sweet. Salty is treacherous territory, but have you considered playing around with sour flavors? (As a crude example, what would happen if we threw a bunch of warheads into a brew?)
Mr. Schamer, first of all, let me say that although you may have some doubts yourself as to what to brew, being that you are at a slight inexperience to the process, the suggestions you have a quite valid and in fact, create excellent jumping blocks from which to build upon. I can see viable options for *almost* all three of your suggestions.
first, in going the way of a "dessert" beer, i would definitely be interested. a thought that comes to mind is actually adding a bottle of port to the end of the fermenting stage, a day or so before bottling takes place. also, we would use a bit of candi and brown sugars to get a sweet, rich, caramelized flavor.
i agree that if we were to go more the route of a traditional beer, an ESB would be a new, interesting way to go, considering that many ESB's are relatively hit-or-miss.
i really like your second idea of adding some kind of crisp, light flavor to the beer. in this case, we would definitely want to use actual mint leaves and muddle them in the boil as well as "dry hop" with them to give us maximum freshness. a guy that works at listermanns has a beer that involves copious amounts of atomic fireballs. i believe that it's a spicy honey beer. interesting...
but on that note, my thoughts lead me to a few places. first, i have been kicking around the idea of a mint wheat brew for some time now, and since i haven't done a wheat yet, this could be a good time to do so. also, when i think mint wheat, my mind wanders to mint julep (crisp derby drink - whiskey, mint, soda water, sugar, etc.), or even to a mojito (same thing, but with rum). i'm not talking about making a sweet, girly drink. no. i'm thinking something with a manly amount of alcohol but a taste incredibly light and refreshing. i believe mint is a key ingredient in doing so.
third, as far as a "butterbeer," i'm all out. we can use lactose to the mix to simulate actually putting milk into the beer, but adding butter or milk could be very tricky and even health hazardous to a point. i'm completely in on making a "warm and fuzzy" beer, but this would need a bit more brainstorming as to how such a batch would be pulled off. the only way i could see this, is some kind of bitter sweet taste that you maybe even had to serve warm, or mix half and half with warm milk. it would be interesting how this could work out. i'll sit on this for a while.
finally, your mention of a *sour* beer isn't too far off the map. most belgian beers tend to go into that realm, with the wild strains of yeast that they use. i'm not incredibly into really really sour belgian brews, but i would be very much into the possibility of creating a goose island reserve matilda, or demolition-like clone, which features a much milder sour note to accompany a symphony of sweet malt and floral hop notes. we'll have to pick some of this up at the party source on saturday and i'll show you just what i mean.
oh yeah, and a beer strongly accented by lemon would be fantastic. many different types of hops feature a lemony aroma and flavor already, so adding a complimenting strain would be quite easy to do. they only question from here is, lemon _______(what)?
good discussion. although we landed the chocolate raspberry porter, there are tons of great brew ideas here - all of which i would love to try in the upcoming months.
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