Dream Stout Part X

The nose is very chocolate malt forward, a little dry and roasty, too. And this beer delivers on those flavors: maybe a little more roasted than sweet, but chocolate is there and the finish is quite dry- surprisingly so, to me.

The marijuana flavors are almost completely covered up, which I think is a positive. However, this beer is stronger in that realm than it lets on. If I have three of these in an evening, I can tell that my mental faculites are a little different and I can wake up with a marijuana hangover; feeling a little sluggish and dense until I get moving.

It’s a pretty tasty beverage though and I am pleased with how these have come out. I’m also looking forward to making something different, as there have been a LOT of marijuana beers in the past year.

Brew date: 12/23/18

Steeping grains
1 lb Chocolate
.5 lb Brown malt, obsidian barley
.25 lb roasted barley
1.5 lb maris otter
3 lb Lamonta, pale high color

Fermentables: 4 lb ExLME

Hops/Other
1 oz Nugget @60
1 oz Blue Dream (marijuana) @ 60

Yeast: Imperial’s Darkness 3rd and final use

OG: 1.065

FG: 1.018

Bottled on 1/13/19

ABV: 6.4%

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One More For The Red

The nose on this is exactly where it should be. A little sweet, with some roasted quality to help balance it out, a bit like cooked sugar.

The malt quality, though; this is where it’s at. Following through with the scent qualities, there’s this strong malt sweetness that is exactly where I’d hope it be: carmalized sugar. Which means that there’s a tang of roasted quality there which keeps it all in check.

This beer is really good, and a great way to bring this experiment to a close. I will certainly use this recipe again, since it hits the marks well. This ale is drinkable as all get out and light enough for cool summer days, plus anytime in spring or fall.

Brew date: 11/18/18

Steeping grains
4.5 lb Metolius
2 lb C 20
1 lb Chorus
.5 lb Encore (C50)

Fermentables: 5 lb Extra Light Malt Extract

Hops
1 oz Golding, 1 oz Lemondrop @ 60
1 oz Lemondrop @5

Yeast: Imperial Flagship (2nd use)

OG: 1.085

FG: 1.04

Put into secondary 12/13
Bottled 12/16

ABV: 6.1

State of the Homebrew

Here’s an interesting take on homebrewing in America: namely, less people are doing it than before.

What I am reminded of is that anecdotes are not data, and that the fact that less people have to Google “homebrewing” as a term isn’t necessarily an indicator that the hobby is “dying”. I know that in the homebrew club I belong to, membership has been slowly on the rise-but again, that isn’t proof.

In a rare instance, the comments of the essay are worth reading: bringing up other reasonable concerns such as ‘we don’t have as much money as we used to’ (provably true), ‘you seem to need a LOT of specialized equipment now’ (false, but with qualifiers), or ‘homebrew shop websites are kinda trash’ (well…YMMV) as reasonable barriers to entry.

The one argument that I think holds water is that commercial breweries are prolific enough, both in volume and scope, that the needs of most of the audience is being served. Gluten free ales? You got it. Belgian browns made with chocolate and peanut butter? Someone’s doing it.

Part of the drive to homebrew does come from wanting to make the beer that the market doesn’t provide…but if the market is providing then what you have is a nice hobby. A hobby that maybe you don’t have to put as much time into as you did before.

For the time being though, I see new people getting into it and at least as far as my homebrew club is concerned, a drive to educate and help new people learn and connect. Connections with people are what keep anything lively and thriving: community matters.

Still, I have to wonder if homebrewing will become-if it isn’t already-the kind of thing that people who knit, or rebuild old cars do.

Last Loss

I can tell something is wrong visually-the head on this beer has bubbles that are too big, and the head itself is too thick while somehow not being dense. That’s not the only issue though;  there isn’t any malt or hop nose that I can pick up. For a beer that has this much carbonation, more scent would be something I would expect.

What I can pick up on the nose is more of a sour yeast nose, akin to a lager.

The flavors aren’t what I would hope, either. It isn’t thin, so that’s an upside, but the malt qualities aren’t there. This ale is neither roasted nor sweet, and it’s not as if there are hops to give me something to look forward to, either.

Even if there were, everything is just wiped by the dominant effervesce and a note of sourness. It’s not overwhelming, the beer isn’t undrinkable but it definitely isn’t my best effort. The mouthfeel gets dry in the corners and roof of my mouth, and the flavors just don’t come through.

I’m not sure if the yeast got infected on storage-this is most likely-or if it’s just an inappropriate yeast to use for this style. Knowing that I know, odds are the error is likely on my end. So I’ll have to try to ensure I’m sanitizing everything correctly, going forward.

Brew date: 10/7/18

Steeping grains
5 lb Maiden Voyage pale malt
.75 biscuit, Caramunich, Admiral’s Hearth
.5 lb Dextrapils, C30

Fermentables: 5 lb LME

Hops
1 oz Chinook, .5 oz Nelson Chauvin @ 60
.5 oz Nelson Chauvin @ 5

Yeast: Imperial’s Flagship

OG: 1.072
FG: 1.015

Put into secondary on 10/26, bottled 10/28

ABV: 7.7%

Mary MacLeod (Devil’s Mother) ’18

My annual imperial milk stout has come to fruition! Here’s the results:

The nose has some of the milk qualities-and this beer has a fine, sustainable head on it that keeps providing some scent long after the pour.

There isn’t much milk in the flavor though, so I definitely  needed to add a second pound of lactic sugars to this one.

There is, however, a decent viscosity to this beer; it’s dense but not oily, rich without being too heavy. It clears off the palate nicely, leaving a strong but not sharp flavor of coffee behind.

That’s a plus; the beer not being as sharp as last year’s. I credit my buddy Jeremy for recommending Karafa malt instead of Black Patent. It’s helped improve the beer by dialing down the bitter quality. Anything that helps a beer with this alcohol volume and these kind of robust flavors needs a little nudge in the drinkability column.

And this one definitely is drinkable. There’s a harsher element, a hard coffee flavor, that isn’t tempered by any sweetness and I believe it’s this flavor that lingers. It doesn’t spoil the beer in any way, though, it just makes that initial fluffy sweetness work out better.

Brew date: 9/9/18

Steeping malts
2 lb Chocolate
.5 lb Carafe 3
5 lb Maris Otter
2 lb Opal 44
1 lb Golden Promise
2 oz cocoa nibs

Fermentables: 7 lb LME

Other: 1 lb Lactose

Hops: 1 oz Nugget @ 60

Yeast: Imperial Barbarian 4th use (d’oh! I really try to only use yeast three times, in order to keep the flavor profile stable)

OG: 1.10

FG: 1.022

Bottled 10/22

ABV: 10.6%

Penultimate Amber

This was the second to last amber ale I made in 2018; the year of ambers is almost over! So what we got?

There’s a good nose; rising bread scent, yeast and malt and I like it.

The flavor doesn’t quite hold up though, which is a little disappointing. It isn’t bad, but I was hoping for a little more malt character in there than I’m getting. There’s a roasted note, that doesn’t suck but it’s wiped out pretty had by some serious carbonation. The mouthfeel on my tongue is all sparkly, and that means the beer isn’t as smooth or drinkable.

It’s not a disaster by any means! I don’t hate this. I just was expecting a little better.

Brew date: 10/13/18

Steeping grains
1 lb C60
1 lb Special Roast
1 lb C20

Fermentables: 7lb LME

Hops: 1 oz Golding, .5 oz Nelson Sauvin @60

Yeast: Imperial Darkness (2nd use)

OG: 1.065

FG: 1.015

Bottle: 11/4

ABV: 6.7%

The Porter Dream

This beer has a nose of chocolate and marijuana. The chocolate is closer to coco powder-dry, sidling up to bitterness but not quite there. A little sweetness, even but that seems to be cut off by the marijuana.

The flavors follow this pattern, too. There is, I think, a little more sweetness in the taste than in the nose, which is nice. Again, though, the marijuana cuts through the beer on the finish. However, the marijuana isn’t the finish on this beer, which is great.

There’s a dry cocoa quality that re-introduces itself and keeps everything in check.

I should’ve been doing things this way long ago; contrasts instead of competition. Every good chef knows that, and lord knows I’ve been taught enough times.

On the upside, though: now I have a path forward!

 

Brew date: 9/16/19

Steeping grains
.5 lb Chocolate
.5 lb black barley
.25 lb black patent
2 oz cocca nibs
1 cup toasted oats

Fermentables: 7 lb Light malt extract

Water additions: 1/2 tsp Gypsum

Hops
1 oz Nugget
3 oz Pale Blue Dream (marijuana strain)

Yeast: Imperial Darkness

OG: 1.06

FG: 1.018

Bottled 10/6

ABV: 5.7%