Pumpkin Cinnamon Spice Brown Ale

Okay ladies and gents it's been a while since I have posted because I am back to brewing! It being fall I decided that I needed a beer that represented everything I love about this season. So I took cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice in order to replicate the smell and taste of pumpkin pie. Then I thought, "well if I am going to replicate the taste of pumpkin pie then I need a freak-in pumpkin"! So I added two pounds of pumpkin right into the mash, I know what your thinking "What crazy Jack o'lantern brewer would put two pounds of a gourd into a beer"? I will tell you which one this guy!  Then at the boil when it came down to putting in the spices I thought "why add only one cinnamon stick when I could add TWO WHOLE STICKS!  The end result was a complex autumn beer with a slight pumpkin profile, a strong cinnamon bite, settling out with a hint of nutmeg and a dry hop finish. The is honestly the most complex tasting beer I have ever brewed and couldn't be happier with it. You can't have a sip of it with out thinking of the changing colors in the trees or the crisp autumn air. Here is the recipe below brew and enjoy:
10lbs 2 row brewers malt
.5 lbs malted barley
.5 lbs American Vienna
.2 lbs candi sugar dark
2 lbs pumpkin
2 oz pumpkin spice mix
1 oz East Kent Goldings (.5 oz 60min, .5 oz 30 min)
1 oz Fuggle
Original Gravity 1.052
Final Gravity 1.010

Next week I will be brewing an Oatmeal Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout, this beer will be my winter beer and getting the peanut butter in there will be a challenge for sure!

Happy Brewing

Three Floyds

Thank you Kendall for the advice on beers! I had a Three Floyds Robert the Bruce Scottish Ale and I would say it was pretty good!  It Stayed true to it's style by being a very big, very malty beer with hints of chocolate and a nice clean finish. I am excited to try the rest of their line up and will continue my search for great beer here in the Midwest.

Brew Madness

Oh how I long for a home brewed beer. 

I fester in my chair, staring, and fidgeting at my recipe book

Yeast cells dance in front of my eyes, hop vines grip my forehead, the smell of malt is overwhelming

Have I gone mad? Has the lack North West style beers driven me over the edge?

The only cure I can think of is to brew the largest IPA ever created

It must include four, no eight styles of hops

It must be balanced with the sweetness of Belgium malt

It must suck every taste bud dry so that I will have no choice but to have another then another

Until I run out

Until the need returns

The search for good beer in Indiana Part 1

 Upon arrival here in Indiana my first thought was "God I hope they have some decent beers here". So I began my search and found Bloomington's largest brewpub Upland Brewery. Outside, Upland seemed very plain; the bricked walls reminded me of an office building the only distinguishing factor was the large fermenters that sat behind it. I Walk through the doors and inside is just your basic brewpub set up beginning with a viewing window and down to the chalkboard with all the pubs beers on tap. I had maintained hope that the beer would outshine the architectural dullness however, I am again disappointed. I tried the IPA, in its description it told me that it had a bold hoppy flavor...they do know you need to add hops to get that flavor right? The beer was so malty I would barely call it a pale ale.  So I tried the Dragonfly Double IPA which was suppose to be absolutely intense and not for the faint of heart. Again this beer hardly qualifies as a regular IPA which is concerning me because the locals swear by this brewpub! This beer has won awards! Who was their competition? Budweiser?

Questions?

Just an fyi if anyone has questions about events or home brewing issues or even ideas for topics please post them.

The tale of a disappointing Raspberry Stout

Once upon a time lived a home brewer who dreamed of one day creating a fruity flavored beer that would blow the mind of even the most traditional beer connoisseur. He pondered all day and night looking at recipe after recipe until one day he found it! Oatmeal, Chocolate and Raspberry together? Can it be done? Would this small one gallon test batch really be the beer that he has searched for all these months? So he broke out his pot, he dug out his fermenter, and he pulled out his grain bag. He brought his water up to a temperature at 165 degrees and then added the ingredients:

The Joy of Home Brewing

 Home brewing beer can be one of the most rewarding experiences in a beer lovers life. Making beer that actually tastes good is not only satisfying, but it will also bring you numerous friends who just want to hang out and drink your beer all day which is completely okay because then you get to brew again. Extract brewing is the easiest way to get started on the adventure of brewing your own beer right from your house. Extract is a syrupy, gooey, molasses like substance that is the base for your beers. Just add water, boil, then toss in a few hops maybe add some specialty grains and presto beer is made (I know I sound like a late night infomercial but it's true its that easy).

Coming Soon!

Next week I will be talking about how to get started brewing your own beer and the best place in the Northwest to get your home brewing materials!

Oregon Organic Brewers Fest, A Mouthful to Say The Least

 Beer festivals in my book are usually one the biggest let downs I have all summer. Oh sure it sounds like a great idea: get as many brewers together as possible to make some extraordinary specialty beers and get people interested in the microbrewery movement. In theory that is a great idea unfortunately, what usually happens is a mob of drunken patrons swarming the beer tents like... well like a drunken mob. The beer runs out fast and the lines are so long you are forced into an endless circle of ordering your beer then immediately going back in line. While you are circling about the smell of all those people hits your nose like a mallet hitting a sealed can of rancid dog food. So usually I try to avoid the big water front beer festival in downtown Portland.

Coming Back!

Alright everyone I know it's been awhile since I have been doing this but I am coming back! There are a lot of events this summer that I will be writing about and I will do a brewery of the month bit as well. So look forward to all those things and more!