I haven’t posted in… let’s see… six months. Yikes. Here’s a quartet of beer recipes, though, so that’s basically the same as posting almost once per month.
10.2 Mk2: I’m still struggling to get the attenuation I need out of my Belgian-style “Blond” (I use quotation marks because BJCP-wise, it would be a Belgian Specialty Ale). So this attempt ended up clocking in at 3.3% ABV, which actually made it pretty great for daytime drinking in the desert. Hopefully hitting the numbers will improve the mouthfeel as well, since it was a little watery this time around. I may try to generate more esters by over-pitching and/or fermenting warmer in the future.
Mango Habanero IPA: This was the sleeper hit of the burn. I lucked into a pound of Citra, and using a third of it (2 lb/bbl) contributed a definite tropical fruit flavor and aroma – no messy, expensive mangoes required. The habs were added using my standard technique for chile beers. I de-seeded them to cut down on the piquancy, then coarsely chopped and steeped the peppers in just enough vodka to cover them for two days before adding both peppers and vodka to the fermenter, along with the dry hops. (The 200 mL of vodka adds about 0.4% ABV to the beer – fortunately, the gravity came in a bit lower than anticipated.) This one is already on the schedule for a re-brew in a couple weeks.
MOOP Brown Ale Mk2: Returning to the playa by request, this is a fairly low-gravity American Brown Ale that makes use of a generous amount of crystal malt to maintain a full mouthfeel. The Centennial/Willamette hop combination provides a blend of citrus and spice flavors. It’s actually the hop schedule I use in my amber, albeit without the dry hopping.
Trash Fence Tripel: This was a spur-of-the-moment brew thrown together from some things I had on hand. Ordinarily, I would hesitate to use the word “undrinkable”, but this is the only keg that didn’t come home empty, and for good reason. I’m not sure quite what went wrong, but it’s cloyingly sweet. The FG is a bit higher than intended, but not enough to explain the flavor. It is one of only two beers I’ve brewed using Clarity-Ferm; I don’t want to jump to conclusions but there could be a correlation.
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