Mu: Catharsis

A re-hash of last years Porter.

A few months back C's Brother, who has a very different brewing philosophy than I, brewed an ESB. After some discussion, it was obvious that the exactly meaning of the label 'ESB', (extra special bitter), was not particularly well understood by me. Further investigation lead me to a believe that ESB was a term applied to a bitter (or amber ale) that was stronger than normal. Not very helpful given the wide rang of options for what could be called a bitter.

It's been a few months since I last updated on the Kolsh beer project (or have posted at all, busy summer...) At this point I think the project can be classified as a failure.

Over the last few months, the beer had been mostly aging in secondary. As stated in previous updates, fermentation had continued slowly beyond the initial primary. I allowed this to continue for almost a month before putting the beer into the fridge to lager.

The last Kolsch attempt was pretty good. This brew attempts to build on it. The following objectives: - Make the color lighter - To that end, test some process changes -- namely not boiling the DME/LME for very long ~ 10 minutes before (add just before flavor hop. - Add slightly more, and different flavor hopping. - Find out if the fourth pitch of my White Labs Kolsch yeast is still good - Make so damn beer :)

Since that last batch went so quickly, I figured it would be fine to make another. This time with a slight change. Instead of using a pound of honey I figured on trying some grade A maple syrup instead. The calculation for how much syrup to use was based on the assumption that the refiners had accurate calorie information. The conversion also assumes the yeast treats a honey calorie the same as maple tree calorie, which may not be not entirely true.

In preparing to make another batch of cider, I realized I had not recorded the results of the last batch. After allowing it to ferment very dry (to a gravity bellow 1.00), I racked it to secondary. This was a bit of a challenge due to the number of loose raises. They had swollen and become encrusted with yeast (they had become zombie raises). Even after scooping most of them out with a slotted spoon, they still manage to clock my racking tube twice. Thankfully I had some help with the process.

In nearly two years of brewing, I've yet to make a porter. A friend of mine sent me this recipe a few weeks back, and I thought it might be fun to try something similar -- using an extract base. For this beer, the adjunct grains were the interesting part of the recipe. There are over two pounds of them. I was going for a smokey coffee flavor, with a medium hop profile -- a dark beer with a dark head.

Apparently last years cider came out decently enough that a few people were asking if I had planned to make it again this year. Given that feedback, It was hard to resist another go. I wasn't entirely satisfied with last years results, so there are a few things I'm hoping to change with this batch.

Generally speaking, it's been a while since I've posted about anything, let alone my brewing efforts. The reasons for that are two fold. The first is that I was out of town for several weeks in July, enjoying time on the West Cost. The second is that I've not had a lot of luck, with the weather, or the recipes when I have brewed. I've made only two attempts in they entire summer. Neither have had any results worth mentioning. Though, I suppose the most recent wheat beer was OK (especially when mixed with some lemon, maybe I'll post about him later.) Today I hope to change that.

It's been nearly a year now since my first homebrewing attempt, and nearly a half year since my last attempt at a Scotch Ale. With all the lessons of the last year behind me, I'm hoping for a much less sweet, and accurate rendition of one of my favorite beer types. This recipe is supposed to produce a beer similar to Belhaven Scottish Ale. Though based on the sugar content I suspect it will be somewhat stronger. "Scotchie" Scotch