English Bitter w/ WLP002

About a month ago we visited Homebrew Shop Ltd. in St. Charles IL to say hello to owner Ed Seaman, and great guy who runs a great shop. We had heard good things about Ed's extract kits (dominating the Drunk Monk competition), so we picked up the English Bitter kit (Ed's current fav), which uses DME along with Maris Otter and Crystal 40 for steeping grains. Hops were all Fuggles, with 1oz additions at 60 and 30 minutes, and yeast was White Labs English Ale 002 (1L starter). OG was 1.034 and FG was 1.011 - fermented 2 weeks at 68-69F, then kegged. Carbonated to around 2 volumes and boy is it easy to drink.

This is probably the finest extract beer we've done. I think much of that is due to us having a more solid brewing process since our last extract batch over a year ago, and also because dry extract has a better shelf life than liquid (no twang). 

The thing that I find most interesting is the yeast. WLP002 fermented like gang-busters (bit slow to start), and then dropped like a brick. I shook the carboy a little during the first week to help keep it in suspension. The second week I was gone on a trip, but with my temperature controller/ferm-wrap setup, it stayed at 68-69F the entire time. While I really enjoy this beer and can toss back 2 at a time, there's a touch of diacetyl/toffee/caramel something in there. I tasted this side by side w/ the butter-bomb of a Pils we brewed earlier in the year (and keep trying to "fix"). Tasting a beer I know has too much diacetyl showed how it can be confused with certain malts. Suddenly the bitter tasted more toffee-like than buttery. I do think the bitter has a touch of diacetyl, but it's in style and does not dominate the flavor profile.

One thing I love about the White Labs site is that Chris White has recorded himself discussing many of his yeast stains, and you can listen to what he has to say about 002. He mentions its diacetyl production, and how it's a natural part of this strain's sweetness. But if you really don't want it, you should keep the temp up and shake the carboy every day as fermentation winds down (not enough to aerate!). Either way, I recommend keeping the beer on the cake at least 2 weeks, assuming you had a solid fermentation during the first.

Cheers!

Irish Fudge Brownies

We had the opportunity to spend some quality time at the Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, CA a couple of weeks ago. If you ever have the opportunity to go there, don't pass it up. It's truly Beer Mecca. After many hours of sampling beer and sausages and cheese, we capped off our visit with their brownie sundae. The brownies, made with beer of course, were tasty but not nearly as good as mine. So I thought I would share my recipe.

I've experimented with this recipe quite a bit. And even though I enjoy them, I have yet to taste the beer. To me the whiskey flavor is more prominent, which is why they're "Irish" instead of "Stout" brownies. Nonetheless, they're still quite yummy. If you want to try to get a stronger beer flavor, maybe try omitting the whiskey.

Irish Fudge Brownies

1/2 c. unsalted butter
4 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 c. sugar
2 T. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 t. vanilla extract
1/3-1/2 c. coffee stout
2-5 T. Irish whiskey*
3/4 c. sifted flour
1/3 t. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9" square baking pan.

In 2-quart saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Stir in sugars and mix well.

In separate bowl, combine next 5 ingredients (through whiskey). In another bowl, sift flour and salt. Add wet ingredients and dry ingredients to chocolate/butter mixture alternatively by 1/2 cupfuls. Stir after each addition until just blended. (Do not overmix.) Fold in nuts.

Pour into pan and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes. (Or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.)

*I used The Knot, which is a very sweet Irish whiskey, so I put in quite a bit. You'll probably want to use less if you're using something less sweet, such as Jameson.

Video: The Making of JZ's Hop Hammer

I got a Flip Camcorder last Christmas, and put it to some good use filming the entire process of brewing the Hop Hammer recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. We take you from start to finish, grain to glass - of our first attempt at making this insane Imperial IPA.

By the time we got around to filming the final tasting, the beer has been in the keg awhile, and had cleared up a lot. The initial glasses we poured were much cloudier from all the hop material. We dry hopped using a nylon in the keg - if we make this again, I'd probably try dry hopping in a carboy wo/ a bag, just to see if that makes any difference. Anyways, this is nice brew for all us hop lovers. My only complaint is that at 8.9%, it's a rather dangerous beer to have around - enjoy!


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Smoky Beef and Bean Chili

Although I'm rather sick of winter by this point, the cold weather is perfect for comfort food - chili being my favorite. I like a fairly spicy and thick chili, none of that soupy sweet stuff. So when I found this recipe, I was a little skeptical because of the brown sugar and cocoa powder. But it used beer, so I was going to try it.

This is a very complex tasting chili. You've got everything from beer to coffee, and chipotle peppers to cocoa powder. Surprisingly, it all works together really well. The smokiness of the chipotles paired perfectly with our Black Pepper Porter and some green chili & cheese cornbread.


Beef and Bean Chili
Recipe by Your {Everyday} Mama

2 Tbs olive oil
2 large Vadalia or other sweet onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb beef sirloin, cubed
1 lb ground beef
1 large yellow bell pepper, diced
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
4-6 oz double concentrated tomato paste (tube)
1 can dark lager beer (I used an Irish stout.)
1 cup strong black coffee
1 can low sodium beef broth
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs cocoa
1 Tbs cumin
2 tsp coriander, ground
2 tsp oregano
1-2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
3 (15oz) cans kidney beans, mix of regular and dark red
2-3 large Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, finely chopped

1. Sweat onions and garlic in oil in a large dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot. Add meats, salt and pepper and brown. Add all other ingredients bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Metallic Taste in Your Beer?

Late last fall we brewed up an AG batch of porter, and let it age until the dog-days of winter here in Chicago, which is basically the month of February. We knew a good porter would be especially good that time of year.

So after fermenting, we moved it into a carboy, and placed it in a dark room and forgot about it. We kegged and carbed her up a couple weeks back, and while it has a nice malt and hop base, there was this other flavor in there I had a hard time putting my finger on. After bringing it to one of my homebrewer gatherings, some buddies helped me identify it as "metallic" - after finally having the word I needed, I totally agreed.

It's not terrible, still a decent beer. But the question remains - what happened to cause this????

After asking fellow homebrewers in the area, and posting to the Chicago Beer Society list and AHA's Tech Talk, I got very little response - what I did get was people asking me to keep them posted if I found the answer! Generally it seems like a flavor that mysteriously appears from time to time. Anyways, here are some of the answers I collected:

1. It's something that happens with the yeast, particularly English Ale strains. (I used Wyeast 1968 for this, it was a second batch for the yeast, originally having used it for a stout that turned out fine.)
2. It's the water, and/or how the water reacts to certain dark malts. 
3. If you've had any new pipes or plumbing installed, or if the city has installed any new piping in your area.
4. If you scrub your brewpot with a metal scouring pad or other abrasive-type scrub pad.
5. One guy said, "The only time I used Phoenix hops I had a metallic taste in an ESB that some judges picked up on in a competition."
6. Getting a new keg, and not cleaning it prior to use.

I think our problem here is either a result of new water lines being installed in front of our place (doubtful, but the city did do some sewage line work in front of our place around the time we brewed this - not sure if they did anything to the regular water lines), and/or we used to scrub our brewpot with an SOS pad (which we don't do anymore - just either soak in PBW/Oxyclean overnight, or clean it out with lots of hot water, and a soft sponge with mild dish detergent). There was one particular time where in an effort to help, someone scrubbed the be-jesus out of the pot in an effort to get it totally clean. [Sorry! - Meg] My best guess is that's the culprit.

So anyways, what I've taken to doing is wiping down the brewpot with a clean, wet towel before adding anything to it on brew day. We've brewed several batches since this porter with no metallic issues. In my research I've even read that great homebrewers like Jamil Z. have had this flavor pop-up with no explanation.

So don't know if this helped anyone or not - if you have any further insights, please post a comment! Cheers.

Update July 21, 2010: After a day brewing at Goose Island, I saw they use steel scrubbies. So the problem may not have been with the scrubbie, but the chemical in the S.O.S pad (?).