I am dusting off an old hobby. It seemed like a good time.
I am shooting for a serviceable, Heavy Scottish Ale. Not a prize winner, just something drinkable.
Bella does not like IPAs, hence I am shooting for about 25 International Bittering Units rather than IPA's 70-to-150.
I am using the hops I have on hand, 0.4 oz of Galena for an hour, then 0.2 and 0.2 oz of Centennial at fifteen minutes and five minutes, respectively.
Six pounds of golden malt extract, three lb of sugar approx 4.5 gallons of water and dried, Lallemand Windsor yeast.
Beers with 7%-to-8% alcohol tend to be more stable in the bottle than lighter beers.
If I was closer to you I would propose a trade. My wife makes wine, we have a Concord grape wine that came out most excellent. It was aged for 1.5 years in a cask before bottling and might be our best effort yet. ( see what I did there? success = ours, failure = hers).
ReplyDeleteShip me some and I'll taste test it and render a professional opinion.
ReplyDeleteDarn, I really hate not knowing stuff. I'm not surprised there is an international standard for bitterness(I had always been told it was liberals tears). In fact I kind of like dark beer because it doesn't seem as bitter as most American beers. I'm also somewhat embarrassed to admit I like the pretend wine coolers that are really beer. where on the bitterness scale do they fall? minus 200 or so? lol
ReplyDeleteI weigh in by bragging on how wonderful our last batch of hard cider turned out.
ReplyDeleteExcept that it turned out so awful that we dumped it into the laundry sink.
"Failure is always an option!" (Anyone who works in the real world knows that already.)
We tinker with wine making and usually produce a very drinkable table wine. Or our taste buds have simply adapted to our wine.
Do you grow your own hops? I have a bunch growing here but they are just landscaping on the sides of buildings. I planted them about 10 years ago to make beer but I never did it. Easy to grow. If you can grow quack grass you can grow hops.---ken
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