Mint Stout

Here goes another 1 gallon stout yeast starter. Still one more stout idea that may spark something unusual for my brother's wedding in the Fall.

This an improvised version from Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing. Here I used some starter wort from some previous batches, adding a touch of crystal into it. Then I took the put in chocolate for half the dark malt proportion and split the half into Roasted Barley and Black Patent. The boiling wort smelled quite good.

The hopping is pushed a little to the aromatic side by 5 minutes. The mints were added as close to the level as Randy's recipe, and smelled quite nice at knockout. This batch filled the gallon jug to the very top, and was poured over sediment from an initial pint starter.

Mint Stout

Grains & Fermentables
1.00 lb. Briess Light DME
44.0 oz. Amber All-grain wort (from previous batches)
0.20 lb. Belgian Biscuit
0.10 lb. Rst. Barley/Black Patent
0.10 lb. Chocolate Malt
0.10 lb. CaraPils

Hops
.10 oz. Centennial, 9.5%, pellet, 90+min
.20 oz. Centennial, 9.5%, pellet, 15min
.20 oz. Spearmint, fresh, sliced, KO
.02 oz. Peppermint, dried, KO

Yeast
Wyeast 1056: American Ale (decanted, 1 pint starter)

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 4/25/08
Bottled:

OG: 1.054
IBU: approx. 46
Color/SRM: Black/38
Ferment Temp: 72-80°F

FG:
ABW:
ABV:

Tasting Notes & Photo

Appearance:
Aroma:
Taste:
Mouthfeel:
Aftertaste:
Drinkability:

Click here to see a full list of one gallon batches.
And here to see the Raisin Toast Stout.

4 Herbal Beers

David and I brewed our second, third, forth and fifth herbal/medicinal beers today. From one mash, we boiled and prepared 4 separate 1-gallon batches. The first two were "stagger" boiled, pots were cleaned, then the second two beers were also stagger boiled. This made for a longer day, but we're hoping its all worth it. Each one smelled wonderful as they boiled down from 1.5 gallons to 1. Much like hops loose their fragrance in a long boil, some of these herbs lost it too. Our first herbal beer was a Dandelion Mead made in the Spring.


Originally I had a Heather Beer in mind, but heather tips were T.O.S. So we decided to go with Nettle instead. Also, I wasn't able to locate any roasted Chicory, so we went with Mugwort. This is fine, because we plan on brewing all sorts of herbal beers, and there will come a time to brew with Heather and Chicory later.

I guess I shouldn't have waited to the last moment (and during Chicago's first snow and freezing rain storm) to get the ingredients. Not to mention I went out early evening Saturday, on a busy shopping weekend.

Inspiration for these recipes came from the book Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers. It's an indispensable resource as I enter the realm of herbal/medicinal beers. I look forward to trying many of the recipes in the book. Along with the help of some herbal professional friends, I also look forward to increasing my knowledge about how to most effectively utilize herbal potential in my fermented beverages...similarly to the way we maximize utilization of hop resins in 1-2 hour boils.

So with some on-the-fly improvisation, we came up with four recipes...


1. Cardamom Ginger Beer
1.1 oz. ginger root
8 cardamom pods

2. Fennel Nettle Ale
.6 oz. nettle
1 tsp. fennel

3. Burdock Beer
½ oz. burdock root
¼ oz. mugwort
½ tsp. cracked coriander
16 oz. smoked wort

4. Fresh Sage Ale
1 oz. fresh sage
¼ oz. licorice root
8 oz. smoked wort


All-grain malt base recipe...

Grains (OG 1.048)
5.0 lbs. Organic Pale 2-row
1.0 lbs. Vienna Malt
.50 lbs. Crystal 60L
.25 lbs. Crystal 20L
.25 lbs. Biscuit Malt
.25 lbs. CaraPils

Yeast
Wyeast 1098 British Ale: 1 pint starter divided into four

No Hops...Well Then... No Hops!

What? No more hops? Well then, maybe I just won't put any in my beer.

It's true, I can't order most of the hops I prefer...like Hallertau, Tetnanger, Saaz, Cascade, Centennial, etc. For a lot of German style lagers coming up, I've had to buy alternatives to ideal German varieties. I'm not too concerned because my curiosity of hybrids is high. In fact, my last order of ingredients from Northern Brewer (NB)included enough alternative hops to get me through the winter lager season, and into the beginning of springtime ales. But, when it comes time to make an American Pale Ale with aggressive Cascade and Centennial hops, well, I'm out of luck. Again, I'm very interested in new blends of hops that wouldn't normally be thought of as a good mix for aromatic pale ales.

We are definitely in the midst of a serious situation. At the time of writing this, the only hop varieties currently available through NB are Admiral, Ahtanum, Boadicea, Crystal, Galena, Marynka, Newport, Pride of Ringwood, Progress, Sladek, Spalt, and Tradition. Most of these I've never heard of before, nor considered in any of my brews so far. I also wonder how much of these are available. It almost looks like availability is more of a concern than price hikes. Tough times indeed, and sort-of scary.

What can we do? Wait? It has been told by Northern Brewer that they have not yet received shipments from the 2007 hop harvest. When that rolls in, we may be able to resume our hop-headed impulses for the most intensely hopped IPA's. At the very least we can brew some more traditional styles.

Perhaps this shortage is trying to tell us something about our American ideals. Are we using too much hops? Sure hop-heavy Barleywines, American IPA's and Imperials taste great, but are they completely necessary? I'm starting to think they aren't.

I don't have too much to say about this shortage. I am a bit concerned, but at the same time, I am looking forward to using different/unusual hop varieties and perhaps hop alternatives. I am interested in growing my own, and harvesting some from "herbal" friends of mine who have some pretty old and massive hop vines.

On a positive note, this shortage has caused my brother and I to get started with our deeper interest in herbal/healing beers. We've had herbal beer ideas for almost a year now. If you are also thinking about shifting towards hop alternatives, I highly recommend getting started with this book...Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner.

As for non-hopped ideas, I'm looking forward to using bittering alternatives. Among others, herbs such as alecost, betony, dandelion, horehound, milk thistle, nettle, sage and yarrow can be used. Aside from providing bittering properties, many herbs, roots and barks also provide additional health benefits. I have concerns about the cost of some of these herbs as well, but I intend on growing substantial herb plantings for brewing and cooking.

Undoubtedly, alternative bittering/flavor/aroma ingredients will cause beer to taste very different. Personally speaking, I've come to a point in brewing where my beer tastes as good as any commercially sold ale or lager. So I'm very interested in giving my beer a new twist by working into the recipes any good combo of herbs, roots and barks.

We are home brewers. We brew beers the way we like them. We have the ability to be as inventive with our beer as we want. This means that any truly creative or inventive beer style comes from new ideas and innovation, and ultimately from personal taste. Using hops with moderation and including alternative bittering/flavor/aromas can prove to be just as appealing as solely hopped beers.

I'm looking forward to posting about my first herbal beer experiments in the coming month.

The following list of links are blogs/articles related to the world wide hop shortage: I'll be adding to it as more are published

An article about the hop shortage by Gregory McLaw...
Will homebrewer’s get hopping mad or smile over the brew kettle

Beervana wrote about Northwest hop prices and the craft beer dilemma...
This Hop Shortage Thing May Be Serious

Leah Beth Ward of the Yakima Herold writes about how...
Hop Shortage Hits Home

Stonch writes...
Spruce up your ale

Travis writes...
Hops of Wrath

Belgian Strong Dark Ale - Recipe & Brewday Stats

I'm getting in the habit of reusing yeast for at least an additional batch. This time I'm reusing the Wyeast Ardennes from the Belgian Pale Ale to make a 3 gallon batch of Belgian Strong Dark Ale. It's been a kind-of crazy trying to come up with a recipe of a beer I've never brewed before, and have only infrequently tasted examples of.

The malt bill is pretty big, but there aren't any malts too strong or powerful. I'm not going for a very dark color. The SRM should end up at around 16.

With the Belgian Pale Ale, I added some minerals to the water. Without knowing the effect of those minerals, I will still go ahead with additions for this beer.

The beer will be racked into 3 jugs, so I've been pondering the idea of adding some kind of flavoring to one of them. Hops, fruit, or other spice? I'm playing with the idea of adding more juniper tincture at bottling. Anyone have any good ideas?

Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Brewday 6/8/07

Grains & Sugar
5.0 lb Belgian Pilsner Malt
1.0 lb Vienna Malt
1.0 lb Munich Malt 10L
.31 lb Belgian CaraMunich 57L
.19 lb Belgain Special B 147L
.25 lb Wheat Malt
.75 lb Corn Sugar
.25 lb Jaggery

Hops & Spices
1.0 oz Styrian Goldings, 4.3%, pellets, 60min.
.25 oz Styrian Goldings, 3.5%, pellets, 60min.
.75 oz Styrian Goldings, 3.5%, pellets, 30min.

1 tsp Juniper tincture, steeped 6 months, 15min.
1/8 tsp Black Peppercorn, crushed, 15min.

Yeast
Wyeast 3522 - Belgian Ardennes - reused 1+ cup slurry

Brewday Stats

Water Adjustment: .5 tsp. Gypsum, .5 tsp Calcium Chloride

H2O/Grain Ratio: #1 1qt/lb, #2 1.6qt/lb
Mash Ph: low
Sacch Rest Temp #1: 145*F
Sacch Rest Time #1: 45min. no conversion
Sacch Rest Temp #2: 157*F
Sacch Rest Time #2: 30min. good conversion, nice and sticky!

Mash-out Batch Sparge vol/temp: 2 gal/180*F

Pre-boil Vol: 4 gallons
Boil Time: 1.5 hrs
Post-boil Vol: 3.25 gallons

OG: 1.078
IBU: 35
Color: 15-18 (looks a lot lighter and golden)
Mash Efficiency: Approx. 78.8%

Fermentation Temp: 70-73*
Cost: $16.15, .50 cents/12oz., $3/6-pack

Notes:
1. Mash Ph was pretty low (I think below 5), so when using darker malts with an intended hop bitterness, avoid Gypsum and Calcium Chloride in mash water, and add only to sparge water.
2. The 180* Mash-out Batch Sparge water wasn't high enough to bring the mash to 168*. It only got up to 158*.
3. The color looked very close to that of the Belgian Pale Ale I made a couple weeks ago, so I dipped .5 oz each of Roasted Barley & Chocolate Malt for a couple minutes for some more color. Unfortunately the old tea infuser ball must have had some oils on it.

Fermentation Progress:
6/14/07 - It's been fermenting consistently and actively at about 70-73*F. There's still a lot of movement this morning at a temp of about 68*F. I've never seen so much foam building up during fermentation. This Ardennes yeast strain produces a 5"thick and very creamy/frothy foam that sticks around for a very long time. It takes some agitation, at the end of primary, to settle it into the beer.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Pours a crystal clear, deep copper with amber/brown highlights into a stemmed Belgian glass. A ½ inch dense, light tan head forms and diminishes gradually to a ring of bubbles around the glass with minimal lacing.
Aroma: Clean, sweet, mellow spiciness (clove, coriander), and mild alcohol.
Taste: Very much like aroma, clean with a smooth sweetness, moderate spice, mostly from yeast.
Mouthfeel: Definitely not heavy, a medium mouthfeel, and lower carbonation for a Belgian strong style.
Aftertaste: Jaggery sugar definitely contributing to a lingering aftertaste, with a faint juniper taste that builds as the time between sips increases. The both of these aftertastes build to an almost rubbery taste, then diminishes over time.
Drinkability: Aside from the low carbonation and peculiar aftertaste, it is very drinkable, especially given its alcoholic strength and lower carbonation.
Final Notes: The Ardennes yeast strain definitely prefers worts with higher gravity, as it shows off more spicy flavors. I'd definitely add much more Special B and try using very dark homemade caramelized sugar. Skip the Juniper tincture and use halved juniper berries, or try a new spice or herb.

Healing Beers

What is beer? These days its not typically associated with healing properties. Beer is normally associated with its great/unique taste, ability to quench thirst and the effects of intoxication. Currently, I've been turned on to the idea that my homebrewed beers can possess the power to heal using specific herbs, spices and various fermentables.

For my birthday, I received a book called Sacred Herbal and Healing Beers. It is a fascinating read which provides mind opening, exploritory depth to this whole topic. My eldest brother has been delving deeper into Chinese medicine and diet to find healing for various physical and mental conditions. His Fiance is presently going through intensive study into Chinese/Eastern healing & medicine. I feel lucky to have their positive influence in my life.

Through talking with them and reading this book, I am already shifting my goals in homebrewing. I've enjoyed drinking most styles of ales and lagers, and brewed a good number of them with positive results. After two years of intensive brewing, I know what styles I prefer to make and drink. But now there is a whole new realm to explore...healing beers!

We've been talking about producing small batches of beer for experimentation. I've had good results making 1 gallon ales and meads, and feel this is the perfect way to start experimenting with healing beers. Normally beer is analyzed and critiqued for its pallatable qualities and balance. Though I'd like a healing beer to be drinkable, I'm not too concerned about great taste at this time. A more appropriate approach would be to use "beneficial" herbs, healing agents and fermentables. My "Western" mind initially thought about adding any combination of herbs for their potential for good taste or aroma. We tend to think that if there's "any" amount of "any" herb, it will be a "positive" thing. Not necessarily so. An Eastern approach first looks deeply within a person's physical and mental condition, and then suggests specific healing herbs and tonics.

The first step, then, is to find out what "my" body needs. What are my body's internal conditions? What areas need attention, and what hebs will help? This initial exploration will inform my recipe formulations and procedures.

Some initial questions I have are:

What blend of fermentables is more beneficial at this time? (Barley, rice, corn, honey, fruit, etc.)
What organs in my body need healing?
Is my body hot, cold, wet, dry?
What herbs will help?
What spices can help?
How long do herbs need to boil/steep?
How much herbs are needed for the right kind of effect?
Will the process of fermentation increase the effects of boiled herbs?
What is the best way to utilize herbs in beer? (Boiling, primary, secondary, in bottle)
Is alcohol neccessary to break down resins in herbs, flowers, barks, etc?

After answering questions these, I'll get into making recipes and brewing some small batches. Please check back for a post regarding my findings and plans for brewing healing beers. In the meantime, there are many more "regular" batches of beer and mead to brew.