Any Home Brewers Out There?

[Captain Sousie]

Anyone have any ideas for good Stout or Dubbel kits?

Here is the one I will be trying next.

Chocolate Mint Stout

6 2/3 pounds dark malt extract
2 pounds dark dry malt extract
1 pound crystal malt
1/2 pound roasted barley
1/2 pound black patent malt
1 1/2 ounces cascade hops for bittering
1/2 ounce hallertauer hops for aroma
2 teaspoons gypsum
6 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
4 ounces fresh mint leaves
1 package irish ale yeast
1 1/4 cups dry malt extract for priming

steep crushed crystal malt, gypsum, roasted barley,and black patent malt 30 min. @ 155 degrees F. Remove grains, add dark malt extract, dark dry malt extract and cascade hops and boil for 30 min. Add chocolate and boil for additional 30 min. adding aroma hops with 5 min. left in boil. Cool wort and pitch yeast. Ferment 7-10 days, transfer to secondary fermenter and add crushed mint leaves. Ferment 7 more days. Bottle using the 1 1/4 cups dry malt extract for priming and age 14 more days min.

O.G should be about 1.063

Sounds interesting and sort of fun.

Sou

[Captain Sousie]

I just bottled my first amber ale tonight and I am happier than a tuba player during Oktoberfest. It looks to be a pretty good attempt at a beer so we will have to see in a few weeks.

Sou

[iiipopes]

Correct. But like all recipes for food, certain malts and beer varieties lend themselves to more or less hops, and different varieties of hops add different characteristics as well, just like basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, etc., are all green leafed herbs, but add different flavors to food.

I am not a big "hop-head" myself, either. I prefer lesser hopped pale ales, preferring more of the fruity, nutty textures. Try a boil with Cascade or Kent Goldings hops instead of some of the other stronger or more aromatic hops.

Here's a chart comparing hops varieties. "Alpha acid" is a measure of how bitter a hop can be, but it's not the only one. Look at the descriptions as well, because the other characteristics do more to determine the "finish" the beer will have, because we "taste" more with our noses than we do with our mouths.

http://homebrewzone.com/hops_varieties.htm

[Philip Jensen]

Less hops, Yes and No. It is the timing that matters. The lingering bitterness comes from hops boiled 60 min. or so. The bittering compounds are not very soluble. Cut back on these if you want a less bittter beer. You can keep the later hop additions where they are. The less time you boil the hops, the less bitter compounds you get and the more aroma and flavor compounds you get. A common hops schedule has them added at 60, 30, and 5 min. or at flameout, the last ones adding a lot of aroma, but no bitterness.

[Captain Sousie]

I just popped the top of one of my home-brews and I must say that it is some of the better stuff I have tried. It is not the best but it is a pretty mild and good version of an amber ale. That is a really encouraging finish for this experiment. I will definitely be brewing many more times to come.



Sou

[LoyalTubist]

Expect a big crowd, Doc.