Beer Recap for 2012

Beer Recap for 2012

2012 was a good year for brewing.  I stepped away from attempting to conquer cloning Lost Coast Tangerine wheat beer and focused on some other ales.  My brewing buddies Chris & Janet and I made several double-batches this year and it was fun brewing with them.  Early on this year I made an IPA clone of a local brewery beer called McMenamins Hammerhead Ale that turned out very good.  I also made a couple of Bavarian Hefeweizen beers based on information obtained from the Franzikaner and Paulanner breweries in Bavaria Germany.  They both turned out very nice.   I also made a Irish Red Ale for a Mash-Fest.   I am sure I will get into another batch of Tangerine wheat beer in 2013 but for now I am going to enjoy my most recent achievements; Bourbon Vanilla Porter and Pliny the Elder clone.

Bad Hooch:
OK...I should start out with my failures...  (yes, even us masters of brewing have some experiments go bad...).  Actually I shouldn’t consider these batches as failures as much as I should chalk them up to scrumming to bad advice.  Either way, I learned that from now on I will trust my instincts and stick to what I have proven as good. 

Lesson Leaned:
I have always used Reverse Osmosis (RO) water from a local grocery store for all my brews.  That is a process to purify tap water of solutes, like Chlorine, by forcing the water through a semipermeable membrane.  Basically speaking this process takes out unwanted chemicals in the water but leaves the basic minerals and salts.  However, I went ahead and took some advice from a fellow brewer to simply use tap water and get the same beer results.  Well, I learned my lesson on a batch of Nut Brown ale and Belgian Triple that turned out really bad tasting.  Never again will I use tap water for my brewing and stick to RO water from my local grocery store.  Besides the RO water only cost 30 cents a gallon.  So $3.00 for 10 gallons is such a small amount to try to cut corners on.  Unfortunately I had to throw the two batches into the drain because they were so bad. 

Now for the Good Hooch:
OK...now for my successes!  WOOHOO!!!  I made several wheat beers and amber ales early on in 2012 that turned out quite good.  I made a Irish Red Ale in the fall I called Carnage Red Ale for a Mash-Fest put on by our local home brew club that turned out really nice.  It didn’t win an prizes but many people came back for 2nd, 3rd and 4th tastes.  I have that recipe on the back burner and will make it again early in 2013.  Also the Hammerhead Ale was outstanding as well. 

But I have to say the two batches later in the year were exceptional.  A Bourbon Vanilla Porter and a clone of a Russian River Brewery beer called Pliny the Elder.  The 1st batch of each was excellent and I surprised myself on how good they tasted.  I am in the process of making a second batch of each with some small changes. 

I call the Bourbon Vanilla Porter Arachna Negra (Black Widow Spider) because it is very dark in color, has a little oak, 2 vanilla beans and Jim Beam bourbon.  So, along with vanilla and bourbon flavors, it has some chocolate and subtle smoke oak flavors as well.   For this second batch I lightened up on the oak little and added an additional 1/4 cup (12oz in all) of bourbon to the mix.  That one is definitely a winner in my book.  It is currently aging in a keg waiting for December 21, 2012 to help us celebrate the end of the Mayan (Aztec) calendar.

For the Pliny the Elder clone I moved all bittering hops to the last 20min of the boil vs. adding at the beginning (60min).  I am trying to achieve a smother bitter flavor but a bolder hop flavor and aroma.  The Pliny is currently fermenting and the hop smell is outrageous!!  The Russian River brewery beer flavor has a distinct “pine” flavor and aroma so I am hoping I can achieve that with the late hop addition method.  This one too will be ready by December 21st. 

Well, all in all, it was a great brewing year and I am looking forward to next year brews.  As my buddy Armando and I use to say when we toasted the start of our Friday night drinking extravaganzas...  “Hasta los Huevos Amigo..”

dB