So how does that get me to this subject of this post?  Well another beer I brewed recently is an extra special recipe I’ve been thinking about doing for quite sometime.  It is a Maker’s Mark Barrel Imperial Stout.  This is an extra special brew that will require a long period of aging before it is ready for bottling and enjoying, but will be well worth the wait.

The recipe base is an imperial stout that will be aged on oak cubes that soak in Maker’s Mark Bourbon.  The soaking in Maker’s Mark has two purposes, one is to sanitize the oak cubes and the other is to impart the bourbon flavor into the beer.  Not only will this beer be delicious but a lot of craft breweries have bourbon barrel aged beers in stores and these things are NOT cheap.  $12 to $16 a six pack of bourbon barrel aged beer is a common price.  How much does it cost to make a strong, very flavorful bourbon barrel aged beer at home?  About $8 a six pack……not bad savings, not to mention you can make whatever you like.  Below are some brew day pictures along with the imperial stout recipe.  Down the road I’ll add some posts when the beer is transfered to the seconary with oak cubes and Maker’s Mark Bourbon, when I bottle the beer, and a final writeup come late 2011 or early 2012 with the beer is ready to drink.

Maker’s Mark Barrel Imperial Stout Recipe

Maris Otter Malt – 14 lbs.

Chocolate Malt – 1.25 lbs.

Roasted Barley – 1.25 lbs.

Crystal 40L – 1.0 lbs.

Crystal 120L 1.0 lbs.

Flaked Barley – 2.0 lbs.

Below are a few snap shots of the brew kettle, before the boil and  during the boil.  The recipe tweaks for this batch were to increase the chocolate malt to 1.0 lb and increase the Crystal malt to 0.75 lb.  The brew day went very smoothly!  I think the smell of a porter or stout wort might be my favorite!

Enjoy brewing up this delicious porter today, get the recipe by becoming a BeerEasy.com Member!

The hop schedule looked this:

0.50 oz Galena 13.2% AA – 60 minutes

0.25 oz Simcoe 12.2% AA – 60 minutes

0.50 oz Simcoe 12.2% AA – 20 minutes

I blended 1.5 oz each of Simcoe 12.2% AA and Amarillo 7.5% AA, for a total of 3 oz or 84 grams.  I added 7 grams of the hop blend every minute from the 12 minute mark to the end of the boil.

After the primary fermentation is drawing a close, I will dry hop with 0.5 oz each of Simcoe and Amarillo.

I’m thinking maybe the name of this recipe should be ‘Can You Handle It? Pale Ale’ because the hop flavor and aroma will be off the charts.  A solid 61 IBUs will provide a firm bitterness in what will be a mid 5% ABV brew.

I’ve included a few pictures from today’s Simcoe Pale Ale brew day.  I can’t wait for this one to finish up!

Here’s the recipe for this brew, it’s quite tasty!

• 8.00 lb Maris Otter
• 0.50 lb English Crystal 55L
• 0.75 lb Biscuit Malt
• 0.25 lb British Chocolate
• 1.00 lb Flaked Barley
• 1.5 oz Kent Goldings – Bittering, 60 minutes
• 0.5 oz Kent Goldings – Aroma/Flavor, 5 minutes
• Wyeast 1968 Extra Special Bitter Yeast

The beer pours a dark golden bordering on amber with a very clingy white head.  The aroma is moderately hoppy, citrus and spicy with a noticeable sweet malt in the background.  The flavor is moderately hoppy but there is also a noticeable and competing malty flavor, a bit sweet, slightly bready and something a bit different than any other beer I’ve made, perhaps the wheat malt shining through.  (I’ve only used flaked wheat previously.)  The bitterness is medium-low and provides a nice balance combined with a slightly dry finish.  The carbonation is moderate and body is quite smooth.  Overall I’m very happy and very impressed with this beer and the hops!  I don’t know I’d change much with this recipe, it is quite tasty.

More importantly is the aroma and flavor.  The aroma is moderately malty, quite bready and a bit sweet, the hops also shine as well, spicy and a bit floral.  I wish the hop aroma would have come through a bit more, but I’m not complaining, this beer is very inviting.  The flavor is malty upfront and remarkably smooth.  At the swallow the moderate hop bitterness and spicy German hop flavor cleanse the palate.  I very much enjoy how both the malty flavors and hops shine in this beer, it really captures what I was intending.  German malt flavors akin with Maibocks and a hoppiness typically seen with American Pale Ales (albeit a German hop flavor/aroma).

Would I do anything different next time?  Yes.  The hops just don’t come through quite as much as I wanted.  I’d prefer the hop flavor and aroma both to be a bit more noticeable, but not too much more.  The bitterness is about right.  The thing I like most about this beer is the exceptional smoothness and the fact the malt and hop flavors are both quite evident.

Brew this one up today!  Let me know how it turns out!

Justin

So the brew day started at a chilly 23F.  But no worries, I had my winter jacket and hat on.  The brew day went well despite the cold temperature, although running the hose to the wort chiller was kind of a pain, the hose was quite stiff.  Some of the water froze in the hose while I was cleaning, but no big deal, I’ll let it melt in the garage.  Also using so many whole hops I knew siphoning the wort might be a challenge, so I tried something new, using a copper scrubber attached to the racking cane to act as a filter, I got the idea from another brewer on the web.  It worked very well, no clogged racking cane.  Although I’ll say this, no more brewing outside in subfreezing weather…back to the kitchen until spring or maybe a mild spell.

The recipe today was quite simple:

9.0 lbs Maris Otter

1.0 lbs Wheat Malt

1.0 lbs Crystal 40L

Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast

1.25 oz Cascades 60 mins

1.20 oz Cascades 15 mins

1.20 oz Cascades 0 mins

I will ferment this batch cool, in the low 60s.  With the simple grain bill, clean yeast and cool fermentation temperatures this beer will showcase the entire 2009 harvest of our Cascade hops.  I’ve attached some pictures of brew day if you’re interested.  If I have time I’ll also post a few things about two of my other latest brews, a Northern English Brown, which tastes fantastic and an update on the Maibock Pale Ale which I’m enjoying as I write this.

The pictures:  1) a cold start!  2) the grains, toward the ‘top’ of the bag you can see the crushed wheat malt atop the other grains 3) the mash after doughing-in 4) the bittering addition 5) wort before the boil got going 6) wort with the bittering hops added

The recipe I came up with used a lot of German pilsner and German munich malt and a bit of caramel malt, hence the maibock part of the beer recipe, basically similar malts I would use in a maibock recipe.  We bittered with Perle and made a 15 minute, 5 minute and zero minute addition of Tettnanger hops.  For yeast we went with Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast, as this should give a rather clean fermentation, allowing the hops and malt to shine.  If you want the recipe, give me a shout, otherwise here are a few pictures of the fermentation that is going strong in my basement.

Like I said in my previous reports, my racking cane got clogged so my volume was a bit light and my efficiency was a bit off being my first batch with my new water supply, so this is a high end APA or a low-end IPA, either way a damn tasty beer!

I was a bit concerned about the slow performance of the Nottingham yeast, but like I said I was fermenting this rather cool, in the 56/57F range.  Well the beer turned out great, this was the first time I used Amarillo hops and really enjoy them, I prefer this Amarillo/Cascade blend over soley Cascade.  I’ll stop rambling about the beer, here’s my review with a picture of the beer!  Try the recipe out, if you like hops, you’ll love this!

At a couple months age (and even at just over one month) this beer is fantastic. It pours fairly clear golden-orange color with a moderate white head. The aroma is quite hoppy, lemon-citrus qualities from Amarillo and Cascade hops. The flavor is moderately hoppy with a noticeable, yet not tongue splitting hop bitterness. The beer finishes with a nice linger of hop flavor and a bit of sweet, nutty malt. The carbonation is moderate and body medium.This beer turned out wonderful, a refreshing, very flavorful pale ale!