Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Stories

So I'm a vicarious brewer, or a "brew bitch" if anyone cares to be lovingly crude (being woken up to bottle at three in the morning, and the like), just thought I'd throw out an open ended sort of question about anyone's brewin' stories. Mishaps? Mayhem? Success? Satisfaction? Or if nothing else, how are your operations going? What's bubbling in your brew closet?

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Permalink Reply by Sun Dog on January 26, 2008 at 11:09pm: Strange Brew -- I was once inspired to brew a Persimon Ale. Ripe persimmons have a very distinct flavor that is hard to describe. We used wild persimmons and the hardest part was removing the seeds. Our wild persimmons are much smaller than those available in the market so the seeds take up a large portion of the fruit and it was easier removing seeds when the fruit was semi-frozen. Anyway, we used a standard pale ale recipe minus the hops and added the persimmons into the boil. The final product was drinkable -- the persimmons added a distinct flavor and a bitterness -- but I can't say that it was very enjoyable. There are some things that should not be added to beer.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by usemoreglue on January 27, 2008 at 12:53pm: Wow. Persimmon beer. I love persimmons (the flavor is almost avocado-like to me), but persimmon + beer...hmm...live and learn, eh? I wonder if persimmon cider would work any better. I'm surprised by the exclusion of the hops, any specific reason, or just a thought?

We've been doing a lot of kits from Northern Brewer (www.northernbrewer.com), and have been mildly disappointed by the similarity between brews. The honey wheat we tried stood apart for a while (as it aged, it got a lot "fuller" though, which seems to be a characteristic in the rest...all real nutty, caramely, banana/clovey beers...great for winter ), but the "new old ale", "irish draught", and "english pale ale" are waaaay to similar. Still delicious.

We do a lot of fruit cider brews, particularly in the summer. A lot of herbal brews too.

Mmm...all of which are sounding positively delicious on this gloomy January day.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sun Dog on January 27, 2008 at 7:29pm: I use Northern Brewer kits fairly often. The last batch was Three Hearted Ale, which I'm still enjoying. It is improving with age. I did a lot of experimentation when I was a new homebrewer but I tend to go more for English-style ales now and keep it clean and crisp without many additives. I do a batch for a Christmas party each year and that one is usually hoppy.

We omitted the hops from the Persimmon beer so we could better identify the fruit flavors and see if they added bitterness. I'm not sure about Persimmon cider but I know someone who attempted Persimmon wine and was unhappy with the outcome.

I'm considering doing a porter next which will be a little different. I agree that some kits seem to be very similar as a finished product....although I've never had a really bad one. I wonder if some of the kit styles are "American-ized" too much.

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Permalink Reply by usemoreglue on February 16, 2008 at 5:39pm: Over the past week we've been dabbling in the reserves and I'm actually extremely relieved to discover how many of those I was talking about being too similar only a few weeks ago have really diverged and taken on personalities of their own. The EPA, for example, which started ridiculously heavy had grown significantly lighter in color and flavor, picking up that crisp bitterness you've mentioned. Yay!

Just finished a Scottish 80 on Thursday. We're a little concerned that it got too watered down (the gravity was way low compared to the expected gravity). May have to add honey to it later.

Also set away a 5 gallon of MEAD! mmmm...

I'm pretty sure we ordered a Three Hearted Ale recently too, so I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sun Dog on February 18, 2008 at 9:06am: What water do you use when you make a batch? Do you use bottled water? Is the local water okay for brewing? We have a public (well) water system that produces very hard water (mostly limestone and dolomite in our bedrock). I'll use commercial bottled water for most of my brewing.. I'm not sure that it is always necessary to use bottled water.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by usemoreglue on February 19, 2008 at 6:29pm: We have a charcoal filtration system hooked up to the sink, so we'd just been using that. The boyfriend has been reading up a lot about different minerals/salts in the water (although the science aspect of brewing is neat, I find myself more interested in the making-things aspect of it, so many of the details allude me at the moment) and their affect on different commercial beers, flavor impact, etc. The Scottish 80 was made using 5 gallons of water from the reverse osmosis machine at the co-op (with salts added back in), so it will be interesting to taste the difference (if any).

I can't recall if he was talking about the water having too much iron or not, but when we get around to doing the sake batch, it may present a problem, so we'll be going with some form of well-filtered water.

What part of Albuquerque are you in?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sun Dog on February 19, 2008 at 7:44pm: I'm a "future resident".......hope to be there in a year or so. Right now I live in Missouri -- thats why I asked about your water. I'll probably have to adjust my brewing a little when I move.

I suppose the altitude will also have an impact on the boiling temperature. From what I've read, the boil times need to be longer at high altitude but I don't know how much longer. I'm at about 600 feet here.; ▶ Reply to This