I LOVE MAKING BEER! Me and Liz just made our first all-grain brew at home a few days ago. Well, we made one at beer club at school but with this one we were allowed to do it how we wanted. This beer is an IPA(India Pale Ale). IPA’s were made to be very hoppy and higher in alcohol than its cousin the Pale Ale so that it could make the long journey from England to India to get to the troops back in the 17th or 18th century. Hops are a wonderful preservative so most beers that are pretty well hopped will last a while with the hop flavor mellowing out over time. So say you bought two Imperial IPA’s and drank one today and the other one a year from now you would notice that the hops in the brew would be a little less bitter and a little more malty.
For this beer we mashed our grains at a temp of 155*F for an hour. We then boiled our wort for an hour using 2 ounces of two different hop varieties. We have it in primary fermentation right now and we will leave it there for 10 days and then we will rack it to secondary a week from today with the addition of some toasted oak chips to give it that oak barrel flavor and leave it there for probably another week, maybe two.
Here is our recipe for our “Oaked” IPA
9 lbs Marris Otter Pale Malt
1 lb Medium Crystal Malt
1 oz Pilgrim Hop Pellets (11%) 60 minute boil
1 oz First Gold Hop Pellets (7.5%) 5 minute boil
1Packet of Fermentis US-05
1/2 oz Toasted Oak Wood Chips
I will keep you updated on how things are going! Now for the Beer of the Day.
Curieux
Allagash Brewing Company
Portland, ME
Belgian Tripel ( Aged in Oak Bourbon Barrels)
11%
Curieux is a Belgian Tripel Ale Brewed in Portland Maine. This was my first brew to drink from Allagash and probably in my top 3 favorite brews. I even gave two of these as a gift to my Chef and Sous Chef at my internship. The story of this brew is that Allagash had a fermentation tank full of their Tripel Ale and their shipments of bottles were late. Well needing to do something with this beer fast they stored it in some Jim Beam barrels they had gotten a few weeks before and there is the birth of Curieux. I have a bottle of this back home at my parents house in Mississippi I plan on leaving there for a long time. The bottle that I reviewed was bottled June 10, 2010 and I reviewed it on January 23 2011 so this is a 7 month old brew. They had this brew at Three Penny on tap but honestly I think it is MUCH better from the bottle. Cheers!
Appearance – Nice golden and clear. Foamy white head that goes away kinda quickly. Decent lacing.
Aroma – Nutty, sunflower seed. Roasty, slightly malty. You can sort of smell the alcohol. a hint of citrus and vanilla.
Taste – Vanilla and coconut from the barrel, even a little hint of the bourbon. Toasted grains, really nutty.
Mouth Feel – Medium – heavy bodied brew. Stings in the mouth but doesn’t stay long.
Drinkability – Awesome brew. Definitely meant to be held on to for a while and not gulped straight down. At 7 months old this beer isn’t even close to being finished, give it 2 years.
beerandsausage 