Black Treacle Oatmeal Stout - Tasting Notes

Tasted 2/7/2011

Appearance

Deep black, with a nice tan head that recedes after pouring but never quite disappears.

Smell

Lots of heavy roasty notes (more coffee-like than chocolate), with a little sourness from the roast barley and a hint of smooth butterscotch (presumably from the black treacle).

Taste

Similar to the smell; it begins with tons of roasty flavors, then progresses to a sort of tangy molasses-like sourness that’s probably due to a combination of the dark malts used, the oatmeal, and the treacle. It finishes smooth with some serious (but not overpowering) coffee bitterness and some of the complex caramel flavors I tasted in the treacle.

Mouthfeel

Nice thick body with medium carbonation.

Notes

The finish is fantastic (it reminds me a bit of Deschutes’ The Abyss), but overall it’s a little more bitter and sour than I would like. Still, it’s definitely drinkable and a fun experiment, even if the recipe could use a bit more tweaking.

See the recipe for this beer.

Heather ESB

As a change from making strong beers, I thought it'd be fun to do a unique Extra Special Bitter (ESB). This is a classic British style that has a relatively low level of alcohol (at least compared to what I've been making and drinking recently), a slightly sweet malt character, and plenty of hop bitterness, but without a really hoppy flavor.

With that flavor profile in mind, it seemed that heather tips, which have a slightly floral, somewhat woody character, could be a great addition. Heather was one of the early herbs used to bitter beer in lieu of hops, and is still used in some Scottish beers like Fraoch. Since I've never really used heather tips before, I mostly guessed at the amounts by looking at some other beer recipes I found that use heather. To complement the heather, and (hopefully) keep it from dominating the flavor too much, I also dry hopped the beer with Northern Brewer and Amarillo hops, which should add a slightly spicy and citrusy character.

In regards to the malts, there's some crystal for sweetness, British brown for aroma, color, and a little bit of malt-oriented bitterness, and torrified wheat to help ensure that it has a thick, creamy head of foam.

Heather ESB

(Partial Mash)

Batch Size: 5 Gal

OG: 1.051

Anticipated Alcohol: 4.9% abv

Anticipated SRM: 12

Anticipated IBU: 43

Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Fermentables:

5 lbs Light malt extract syrup

2 lbs Pale ale

1 lb Crystal 55L

0.5 lbs Torrified wheat

0.5 lbs British Brown

Hops:

0.75 oz Amarillo (9.9% AA) – 60 min

0.25 oz Northern Brewer (8.0% AA) – 15

0.25 oz Northern Brewer (8.0% AA) – 5

0.5 oz Northern Brewer – dry hop

0.25 oz Amarillo – dry hop

Extras:

1 oz Heather tips - 15 min

1 oz Heather tips - 5 min

2 oz Heather tips – “dry hopped”

Yeast:

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Mini Mash Schedule:

60 min @ 150˚ F

Notes:

Brewed 12/30/10

Added dry hops and heather directly to the primary

Racked 1/16/11

Black Treacle Oatmeal Stout

Inspired by a post on reddit, I decided to try brewing an oatmeal stout with black treacle. Though somewhat similar to molasses, black treacle seems to have a smoother flavor with more pronounced caramel/butterscotch notes, and lacks the more pungent character that molasses (especially blackstrap) generally seems to have.

The recipe is based on the Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout clone in Clone Brews, but has a little more base malt (to kick up the amount of fermentable sugar) and a little extra roastiness to compensate for the higher alcohol content. Hopefully I'll get a rich, smooth, roasty stout with lots of complexity!

Black Treacle Oatmeal Stout

(Partial Mash)

Batch Size: 5 Gal

OG: 1.074

Anticipated Alcohol: 7.1% abv

Anticipated SRM: 39

Anticipated IBU: 41

Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Fermentables:

8.5 lbs Light malt extract syrup

1 lb Black treacle

0.5 lbs Chocolate

0.5 lbs Flaked oats, toasted at 325˚ for 75 mins

0.5 lbs British brown

0.5 lbs Crystal 70-80L

0.25 lbs Roasted barley

Hops:

1 oz Brewer’s gold (9.4% AA) – 60 min

Yeast:

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Mini Mash Schedule:

60 min @ 150˚ F

Notes:

Brewed 11/27/10

Racked 12/4/10

Bottled 12/18/10

See the tasting notes for this beer

Down the Rabbit Hole Brown Ale - Tasting Notes

Tasted 11/27/2010

Appearance

Semi-transparent dark brown, with a white head that fades quickly

Smell

Coriander and celery are predominant, but there are some rich coffee notes in the background as well, along with a little bit of grassy/fruity hop aroma.

Taste

Coriander, roasted malt, and a very slight tang (presumably from the Brett) dominate the flavor. Fortunately, the celery flavor is more muted than the aroma would seem to indicate, and only really comes in at the very end, creating an interesting, almost dry, finish to the beer.

Mouthfeel

Medium body with medium carbonation.

Notes

This is a very interesting beer. Despite all the different flavors, it actually seems to work pretty well and is surprisingly drinkable.

See the recipe for this beer.

Delta Single-Hop IPA

I recently ended up with a ton of free hops courtesy of a talk at the University of Colorado by Charlie Papazian, Darwin Davidson (a hop botanist), and Maureen Ogle (a historian who’s written about beer in America). Darwin works for Hopsteiner and showed up with about 5-6 bricks of new experimental hops, which he offered to anyone interested. I ended up with an ounce or two of some really interesting hops – one smells like a piña colada, while the other is incredibly resiny and oily – plus about 6.5 oz of Delta hops. These are a cross between Fuggles and Cascades and have a great floral, earthy, spicy aroma. To my knowledge, the Harpoon Brewery is the only brewery that has actually made anything with them thus far, but I haven’t gotten a chance to try that particular beer yet.

I thought it’d be fun to try making an IPA with all of the Delta hops to get a sense of their full flavor profile and end up with something totally unique in the process. Instead of dry-hopping the beer, I’m going to add the majority of the hops towards the end (late hopping), which I’ve read can create a fuller, smoother hop flavor.

Delta Single-Hop IPA

(Partial Mash)

Batch Size: 5 Gal

OG: 1.066

Anticipated Alcohol: 6.3% abv

Anticipated SRM: 7

Anticipated IBU: 85

Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Fermentables:

8 lbs Light malt extract syrup

2 lbs Pale ale

1 lb Crystal 10-20 L

Hops:

1.5 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 60 min

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 15

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 10

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 5

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 3

Yeast:

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Mini Mash Schedule:

60 min @ 150˚ F

Notes:

Brewed 11/20/10

Looks like the scale at my local homebrew store wasn't calibrated correctly – I ended up getting about a pound less extract than I was planning on. Since the beer will still end up at around 6% abv, I'm not going to worry about adding more extract to make up for it (I've altered the recipe to reflect this change).

Racked 11/27/10

Sour Cherry Saison - Tasting Notes

Tasted 11/12/2010

 

Appearance

Beautiful reddish-orange color, crystal clear (though I poured a bit of yeast in by mistake for the photo), and with a thick white head that gradually fades but never quite goes away entirely.

Smell

Cherries, acid, funky spicy notes, and a slight bready character in the background

Taste

Slightly sweet bready character followed by tart cherry flavor, finishing dry with the classic spicy yeast characteristics and a little acid. There's a hint of grassy bitterness at the end (presumably from the dry hops) that works well with the acid from the cherries, even though it's not really in style for a saison.

Mouthfeel

Medium body with moderate to high carbonation.

Notes

Apart from being a little bit bitter at the end, this is pretty much what I was hoping for – a classic spicy saison with added complexity from the sour cherries. It'll be fun to see how it changes with age!


See the recipe for this beer.

Down the Rabbit Hole Brown Ale

Several weeks ago I tried a celery seed soda for the first time, and it seemed like the complex sweet, peppery, earthy flavors would lend themselves well to a beer. Given this flavor profile, I figured I'd use a basic brown ale recipe as a base and add several other flavors to balance out the celery. Having previously made a Reading Ale, a spiced British pale ale with coriander and grains of paradise based on a historical recipe in The Complete Practical Brewer (see page 179), coriander seemed like a good choice for balancing out the celery flavor. To add a little additional complexity and earthiness, I decided to use Brettanomyces after the primary fermentation (I’ve never used Brett in any of the beers I've made so far, but I’ve been interested in playing with it for a while).

Hopefully I’ll end up with a spicy but balanced dark session beer!

 

Down the Rabbit Hole Brown Ale

(Partial Mash)

Batch Size: 5 Gal

OG: 1.050

Anticipated Alcohol: 5.2% abv

Anticipated SRM: 18

Anticipated IBU: 28

Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Fermentables:

7 lbs Light malt extract syrup

1 lb Crystal 50-60 L

0.75 lbs British Brown

2.5 oz Chocolate

Hops:

1 oz Willamette (4.7 AA) - 60 min

.5 oz Homegrown Cascades - 15 min

.5 oz Homegrown Cascades - 3 min

Extras:

0.5 oz Coriander - 5 min

0.5 oz Celery Seed - 5 min

Yeasts:

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Wyeast 5112 Bettanomyces Bruxellensis

Mini Mash Schedule:

60 min @ 150˚ F

Notes:

Brewed 10/24/10

Racked 10/30/10 – Added the Brettanomyces


Took a hydrometer reading 11/5/10 - FG is 1.011 (5.9% abv)


Bottled 11/6/10


See tasting notes for this beer.