I decided it was time to get brewing today, so I quickly updated a recipe that Miss Jiwaku really enjoyed — my original Northern Brown recipe — to include things I have on hand. And since it’s a Northern Brown ale, I thought I’d name it in honor of John Brunner, a British author many consider the “godfather of cyberpunk.” Not that my ale is cyberpunky, but it is brun, and English, and (hopefully) cool. Usually, I do double-batches, but there are a few reasons why I decided to do this beer as a no-sparge brew. For one thing, English …
Tag: BEER & HOMEBREWING
… Made With Real Hops
Those of you out there who like beer, know what hops are. Probably anyone reading this blog must know by know at least a little about the wonders of hops, those resinous flowers we’ve been using for hundreds of years to bitter, and sometimes to flavor and aromatize, our beer. Well, a few weeks ago Miss Jiwaku and I made an unusual use of hops: we made some hand soap with some old hops. I had a few grams of some old Willamette hops, and some very old Cascade leaf hops — though the later, I discovered, is old enough …
Pastafarian Brewday: The Super Sekrit Wheat Beer Experiment
ORIGINAL POST (Written 14 Nov. 2011): So, a few weeks ago, my friend Rowan and I got together at my place and brewed up an “experimental beer” — in the weizen style — using a very unusual ingredient. This post is coming so much later because we decided to keep it a secret till other people tried it, and then bust out the surprise. The secret ingredient of the beer is… Pasta. And no, we’re far from the first people to try it. In fact, it was a thread at Homebrewtalk that got us considering the idea. Dry pasta, after …
Competition Brewday: Wonmisan Sour Pale Ale
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I brewed two beers today. I am trying to make a unique post for each beer recipe or batch I make, so I can update them separately. Since I’m not disclosing the recipe for that until after the contest, I’ll just say that I have high hopes for this beer to turn out as I want. I’ll be souring the wort starting sometime tomorrow morning, and boiling it sometime on Sunday or Monday, depending on how the souring proceeds. I managed to get my hands on some lacto delbrucki, but I won’t be …
Competition Brewday: Wonmisan (Bukhansan?) Pale Ale
Well, today (18 Nov.) was a big day. I brewed a split double-sized batch. I think I really need to start doing more small batches, and more batches that are split after the boil. The split-double batch that gets two different boils is a lot more work. However, I managed to economize on time by carefully making sure I was multitasking on stuff that usually wastes time when I move from one step to the other, like heating up the first runnings while the second runnings are sparging. However, I also slowed this brewday down significantly by taking (perhaps too …