Cherries in the Snow, and more

So I'm impatient, and decided to go ahead and try one bottle of my variation of Charlie Papazian's "Cherries in the Snow". It's only been a week or so since I bottled, but I'm impatient, what can I say. I stashed one in the fridge this morning, and tried it this afternoon. It obviously could use longer to condition, and I plan to let the rest do so. I bottle primarily in 22oz'ers, but I bottled a couple of 12 oz bottles as well, for purposes like this.

Poured a reddish-brown in color - much darker than I wanted, but after watching it brew, what I expected. If I make this recipe again, I will definitely use "extra-light" or "extra-pale" extract instead of regular pale or light. Poured with a decent head, and while the beer definitely tasted well-carbonated, the head wasn't particularly full. Hopefully this will correct itself with more time conditioning.

I couldn't entirely place the aroma. It was a sweetness, but not the kind I was expecting. I don't think the batch was contaminated - after my debacle with my Irish Stout, I'm *very* careful with contamination. It also doesn't smell like anything that could contaminate a beer, based on what I've read. It wasn't a bad smell either, just something I wasn't used to. Just couldn't place it.

The taste wasn't what I was expecting - good, but not what I was expecting. A hint of hops in the background, so the cherries could shine through...but I didn't really taste the cherries. I definitely tasted the tartness of the cherries, but it was more a generic tartness and not the cherries themselves. I think this could have been due to the fact that I used canned cherries (it's all I could find), and could have used something else (maybe mixed in some sweet/dark cherries?) to compensate. It definitely tasted like a Belgian beer, like Papazian's description stated, but I guess even knowing that it wasn't what I expected. The tartness was a little overpowering, so I'm hoping that will mellow with a few more weeks bottling, and more of the cherry flavor will come through. Either way, it's definitely a good brew. I'm happy with it so far. I'll see how it is in a few weeks.

I also racked my "Chocolate Thunder" porter to secondary. And I am VERY excited about this beer.

I took a whiff as I was racking, and the aroma of chocolate and...well, beer...filled the room. When I finished racking, I reserved a few spoonfuls to taste.

Wow.

A very strong chocolate/coffee aftertaste, but that's what I was looking for. You can definitely smell and taste the chocolate in the background. It's not as dark as I would have liked - ironically, I used "extra light" extract for this one, due to the high amount of dark malt. I think the addition of all of the chocolate actually helped lighten the color of the beer - it's a very milk-chocolate colored brown right now. Cleaning up all the trub/yeast cake wasn't so pleasant - but it smelled a lot better than it looked :)

The semester ends soon, which is a blessing in more ways than one. I'll be driving home for a few weeks, so the porter will have plenty of time to sit in secondary. It'll give me something else to look forward to when I come back down here.

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to make next. I'm thinking about picking up another carboy so I can have two brews going at once. If I do that, then one of the ones I'll make is a Raspberry-Chocolate Stout, hopefully ready in time for Valentines Day. For the second beer, I think I'll try to make that pale ale/IPA I wrote about last time. I still want to make a "Thanksgiving Ale" at some point, but I figure that recipe will be a little more complicated, and it's not something that's pressing. I'll have plenty of time to formulate recipes when I'm at home :)

Well that's all for now. I'll be in New Jersey for the next few weeks, so if anyone there wants to talk homebrewing over a homebrew - or at a microbrew - let me know.

And so it begins

Well, I've been home brewing for a couple of months now. After a couple of successes (and one epic failure), and countless hours perusing other home brewer's blogs and websites, I'm ready to start formulating my own recipes. This is a hobby I am very glad I got into - a bunch of my friends brew their own beer, and they got me hooked on it. The entire process is something I enjoy (well, except for maybe the bottling...that can be a pain), and the rewards are well worth it.

So far, I've made two beers from kits (both from TrueBrew). The first one, their Amber Ale, turned out better than I could have expected for my first batch, and each bottle tastes better than it lasts (I guess it makes sense why brewers have to be so patient). The next batch, the TrueBrew Irish Stout...did not turn out so well. I tried to add too much to it, and was definitely in over my head with that little experience brewing. Furthermore, I don't think everything was sanitized properly. Needless to say, that's one batch I'm glad I didn't have my friends over to try.

Just the other day I bottled my "Cherries in the Snow", based off of Charlie Papazian's recipe in "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing". I had to modify the recipe slightly, due to what was available in my local store. Right now, I'm really excited for it. I tasted a little bit of what was left after I bottled, and I can't wait to taste how it is fully carbonated and chilled. A mild cherry flavor pervades, with just a hint of soft hoppiness in the background.

Until this year, I primarily drank lighter beers (in color, not in the Bud/Miller/Coors variety). I was a big fan of Amber Ale's and IPA's especially. This year, I've finally gotten into darker beers - Porters, Stouts (though I'm still not really a Guinness fan, as much as I try), and Bocks. I'm fortunate enough to live near a microbrewery, Foothills, and their Total Eclipse Stout and People's Porter have become two of my favorite beers. So, after much research, and discussion with other home-brewers online, I've decided to make a porter, with hints of chocolate in the background, my next venture:

Starlight Brewing's "Chocolate Thunder" Porter:

6.6 lbs Muntons extra-lite Liquid Malt Extract
1 lb Crystal Malt
1 lb Dark Crystal Malt
8 oz Carapils Malt
4 oz Black Patent
1 lb Chocolate Malt
1 lb baker's cocoa powder
1.5 oz Fuggles (boiling)

I realize there's going to be a lot of malty flavor, but I want a good, strong porter, with a lot of depth of flavor. I had originally planned on using a lot less chocolate, but after discussion with other brewers online, one reccomended upping the amount to make sure it comes through, even with all of the malts. If anyone has any recommendations, before I brew, I'd love to hear them. My local store is waiting on a shipment of chocolate malt, so I'm not doing anything until they get it in.

As for what comes after this, I've already been thinking ahead. I'd like to try making a variation of Charlie Papazian's "Cherry Fever Stout", except with Raspberries instead, and perhaps some chocolate undertones. I think the combination of raspberries and chocolate would make a perfect beer for around Valentines Day.

I also want to brew something I wish I had thought of sooner. There are Pumpkin Ales for Halloween, and Winter Warmers and Christmas Ales for around Christmastime, but there are very few 'Thanksgiving' themed beers that I've found. The flavor that comes immediately to mind for Thanksgiving is cranberry, so I want to find a way to incorporate that into a beer. I've thought about a Cranberry Wheat, but if my 'Cherries in the Snow' batch turns out well, I might try to modify that and use cranberries instead of cherries.

Either way, I have my next few weeks of brewing pretty much set. I'm going to try to contain myself for another week while the Cherries in the Snow batch bottle-conditions, but I'll let you know how everything turns out.

Happy Thanksgiving, and happy brewing!