wine and beer (lots of both)

A quick look through the kitchen - and spilling over into the dining room - you’ll either think we’re stocking up for a party, or a long cold winter. We’ve got about two dozen random bottles of wine. (we need a bigger wine rack) Unopened bottles left over from recent wine parties - my wife’s soon to be done hosting in-home wine tastings (order online now!) - and others we bought intentionally (and a few more hard to find ones coming in the mail)… which will take us almost to the halfway point of sampling the wines of 100 different grapes… Now it’s getting challenging to come across new ones, but a fun challenge to look forward to. Meanwhile I’m still making beer. (and drinking LOTS of coffee!)

The interesting thing about a home brewing hobby is that you spend lots of time waiting to sample the fruits of your labor… and while you’re waiting for one batch, you can start a new one (or in my case, two at a time!). Unfortunately, If you’re waiting, you’re not drinking, and if you’re not drinking you can have either a shortage of empty bottles, or space to stock everything.

Yesterday I had a bottling dilemma. I had two mini kegs worth of beer to bottle (4 Gallons), and only enough empties for about 1/4 of it all. Apparently I’m making faster than I can, or care to drink it. Some just need a little more time in the bottle… but you can’t tell the yeast in the kegs to slow down. And you can’t download empty bottles off the internet. Yet.

Lucky for me, I remembered a few cases of empties in the basement. Left over from a first, and only, attempt at one of the local “you brew” establishments several years ago with dad. We ended up with a good Sam Adams knock off. Plenty to share, and enough left to grow tired of.

Currently I have eleven 22 oz bottles of Pilothouse Pilsner, which sounds good and I think I’ll be able to share these with Dad and others, (he just doesn’t go for the darker, or “chewy” beers, stouts, etc…) I also have twelve 22 oz bottles of a stout-like German Dopplebock, which will be mine! all mine! Both should be ready to enjoy in time for Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile the Pumpkin Lager has developed nicely, wasn’t drinkable after a couple weeks in the bottle, three more weeks was the ticket. Perhaps it was the full moon - or Halloween’s arrival that brought out all the pumpkiny goodness. I wouldn’t exactly call it “pumpkin pie in a bottle” as they do, but I’m encouraged enough to try the pumpkin porter next fall.

Next to that, I still have a full batch of Caribbean Lime Lager - which hopefully is ready to go. I should have tried it yesterday - we went a little overkill with the first fire of the year - and it was HOT in here.

I gave up on the coffee beer, but I might try this one… Eye Opener Sumatra Stout. A stout where you add an espresso shot during bottling, rather than coffee grounds to the wert. Still, I kept a few bottles to cook with. Ditto the Apple Ale

Looking back, both Stouts I’ve made to date were good (St Patricks, Sticky Wickett) - must have been, theres none left. I’m making another with liquid yeast this time. Will be interesting to compare that to the dopplebock. Gonna have some nice warm beers to enjoy this winter!

I’m also attempting a Pale Ale with Liquid Yeast. The pale ale was hands down the most drinakable I’ve made to date - also the first. The Porter was fine, The American Devil IPA was good, the Belgian Wheat and Red went down the drain (the kits were old… but there was no harm in trying) plus I needed the bottles for the next batches!

All told, not a bad year of beer. Lots of ups, few downs… and at current count I have the equivalent of 69 12-ounce bottles (in 12 ounces bottles and 1 liter bottles) in four flavors, with 23 bottles waiting… and two full kegs (4 gallons - or about 48 bottles) just starting out… Way more beer than Dad and I made way back when, but with ample variety to keep things from getting stale.

I do think I’ll be taking a break from brewing after this… 139 full bottles (a few 12 oz, the rest are mostly 22 oz or 1 liter each) won’t leave much room left in the fridge for, well, anything.

 

Pumpkin Bread (with beer)

That is pumpkin bread with beer… stay tuned for pumpkin beer bread, and pumpkin bread with pumpkin beer… (just need several weeks to get the goods for, and to brew up the pumpkin lager (or porter… still haven’t decided!)

Is there such thing as too much beer? There sure can be if you’re brewing it up gallons at a time, and have to wait several weeks to find out if it was even worth it. (Meanwhile, while your waiting to drink it, you brew more…)

I may have mentioned that a few years back, (OK several years - before my little one was born - who’s coming up on her 6th Christmas) my wife gave me the Mr. Beer Kit, along with several different recipes to try. Basically malted grains and hops in a can - open, heat, add sugar & yeast, wait, bottle, wait, enjoy. Today I’ve finally worked through all the (old) kits.

They had a warning on them to use by summer 04, but I went ahead and tried anyhow. I could either throw them away before or after I found out if they were any good - nothing to lose but time if I tried, right? I figure that molasses, etc… doesn’t really go bad, so unopened cans of malted anything should last pretty much indefinitely. Though, I’ll still be making batches from fresh kits here on out.

As long as the fermented beer isn’t sweet or vinegary before I bottle, I should have something palatable… though I may need to kick it into high gear - as far as coming up with more recipes involving beer.

So far, most have been adequate, and some have been outstanding. Even the adequate ones were better than most of what I’d tend to get out at a bar or restaurant. But I’ve got to say, I haven’t felt the need to buy much beer - as I’ve got quite a bit - though sometimes lacking in selection.

Some have been fine, once they’ve reached the proper levels of carbonation - some have improved over time, others have changed - neither for the better or worse, just changes. The Apple Ale has proved the exception. It’s devolved a bit, once light and drinkable with food, now it’s tolerable. It’s darkened. Got a stonger taste to it. Not altogether bad, just different. Perhaps it finally became what it was meant to be, but not exactly as described. I guess I just liked it a little premature. This has long been earmarked for cooking with anyway, and today (with a cool enough kitchen) it finally got it’s chance to redeem itself.

My mothers recipe - given to her from a friend, currently a baker of wedding cakes and such - has been the recipe I’ve grown up on. I’ve looked online for others, to see how I could better incorporate the beer without any negative effect (and to also use up at least a bottle per loaf) no luck there, so I just went back to basics and crossed my fingers.

The verdict - Redemption! I’m going to be making a heck of a lot of pumpkin bread. Hopefully I don’t get sick of it! Having already eaten half a loaf before it cooled.

This recipe yields 3 loaves (I must have big pans, because mine have always come out short) So any extra leavening from the beer wouldn’t be a bad thing. It was in fact, just the ticket.

• 4 Cups Flour
• 3 Cups Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Cinnamon (heaping)
• 1 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 tsp Allspice or Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1/2 tsp Cloves
• 1 Cup finely chopped nuts (nuts are always optional with kids in the house…)*

Mix above in bowl, add wet in well in center:

• 1 can pumpkin or squash puree
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 Cups Cold Water (Homebrewed Dutch Apple Ale, or any appropriate Beer you have on hand)
• 1 cup oil (canola, crisco..) I used grapeseed - use what you’ve got (but not olive oil)

Mix, pour into greased and floured pans, split evenly among 3 pans.  1/2 to 2/3rds full

bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. Or as Gramma says, when you can smell it, it’s done.

*come to think of it, I’ve typically left out nuts in recipes (at least I used to, so taking out an entire cup full of an ingredient may have been why my loaves were shorter than moms. - but I still think it’s the pans. 

Before the cable company came and took our channels away - no more Food Network ;(  (don’t really care about the rest), I remember Alton Brown talking about was using stocks or juice instead of water - they bring more flavor to the party - so perhaps there are lots more simple recipes I can just work beer into… Soups, sauces, salad dressings… well, maybe not.

While in France I did learn how to make crepes using beer instead of milk - though that was just 1/2 a can per batch. still have 4+ quarts of Apple Ale left to use up, and in the coming weeks I’ll have 7 Quarts (each) of a Higher Alcohol Red Ale, and a similarly made, high alcohol Belgian Witbier to cook with, and/or drink.

I’ll welcome any thoughts and suggestions… maybe this will end up turning into “the cooking with beer blog”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

 

whats in the wert?

I’m looking to see what to start brewing for the fall (since I’ve missed my window for some light ones for the (scorching) dog days….

I guess my recipe book has become quite passe - or some people out there have become WAY out there…

Pizza and beer… (pizza, not with beer, but in the beer.) I think it would take A LOT of (normal) beer to get someone to try a bacon brew… but then again, I should know not to be surprised by such things…

 

14 bottles of beer on the wall

I love the smell of bread baking, and I love the smell of bottling beer. Tonight I had plenty of the latter. Two kegs, 4 gallons of beer in the making, yielding 14 quarts of premium brew. How do I know it’s premium? It says so on the box!

Tonight I opened the second to last bottle of porter - even better than I remember (Which also answered a question I pondered in my previous beer post… the unlabled beer was not the porter, but was it the apple? (ah, a new question to raise a glass to). I do hope that was the apple, for otherwiseI’ll have to cook with the several quarts remaining - is there anything beyond beer can chicken or brats? I’ve used 1/2 a can in a batch of crepes, but this would be enough crepes to turn off a Frenchman.

Time indeed is an essential ingredient - one not listed in the basic instructions with my kit. Two weeks from keg to bottle to glass indeed! Ok, two weeks is certainly possible, and still a better result than most of what I’d find in the supermarket. But with a little more patience… I may never order a beer at a restaurant again. Seriously.

There was one recipe I recall that called for 6 months of hanging out in the bottles before cracking them open… While I struggle with the patience to wait out my two latest creations (for a few weeks), my mind turns to the summer possibilites. There were some recipes I’d made a mental note to make, now to find those before I run out of summer to enjoy them.

 

two brews

I’m increasingly finding myself prefering the fruits of my own labor… especially (as readers of this blog have noted) in the beer and bread departments. (If only I had some more land for garden and some animals… I might be able to forgo the grocery store altogether!)

I just tried one of the many beers I’ve made this winter. One that was left unlabeled, and I really liked it. But I couldn’t figure out which one it was! Was it an improved version of my Apple Beer? Did the Porter just need a little more time? It seems that wonderful things keep happening to the beer in the bottle… you just can’t wait too long to drink them, otherwise bad things will likely happen!

Evolutions aside, my favorite beers to date have been the first two I’ve made, an Irish Stout and an IPA. My wife, definately NOT a beer drinker, also liked them!

Well, the kegs have been empty for a few weeks now, and it was time to change that… I also have amassed enough bottles to get brewing again, so today I made the premium versions of my faves! Really looking forward to see how these compare to the basic kits.

The American Devil IPA was the first to have noticable pieces of real hops mixed into the molasses-like malt base. It was also the first one to date that smelled like I was making beer!

The Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout promises to be darker and smoother than the one I’d brewed previously.

Now, I just have to wait. . . (and get a few more bottles empty in the meantime!)

 

Black coffee in beer

That’s what the latest microbrew out of the kitchen is. Essentially the Buzz beer Drew Carey brought into the public stream of conciousness in the late 90’s.

As far as my coffee goes, I’ll make myself a mocha, or drink it black (with sugar). It took me a while to get used to the strong coffee when I lived in France, and I seem to have regressed. (Currently needing much more sugar than the single micro-cube of sugar they’d provide)

As far as this batch of beer goes, It is a fairly clean Bock style beer, with a definate (nearly iced) black coffee finish. If black coffee is your thing, but you don’t find it strong enough (or “relaxing enough”) after a hard day, this will definately fit the bill. and then some.

I have 20 bottles just waiting for me… I think It’ll take a couple to get a taste for it. It is almost too coffee flavored for my taste. I want to add sugar and ice. (or heat it up, which is probably a bad idea).

After “testing” the first bottle, I’m feeling the alcohol moreso than the caffiene… I wonder how many bottles before I won’t be able to sleep? Or, will the coffee act like a built-in sobering up mechanism. (I don’t think so!)

 

The trouble with brewin’

So, I’ve just bottled up another (what I hope will be a) fine batch of Beer. After the sucess (and super quick turn around) of my first attempt, I’ve dived into the recipe book and attempted some more recipes that go beyond the straight-out-of-the-can simplicity of Mr. Beer’s standard fare.

Thankfully my first experience was a good one, be cause the next two were just okay. Not bad, good enough to drink, but not worth making more (but definately worthy of finding their way into chili, crepes, brownies, breads, salsas, donuts and so on. numbersfour and five, remain to be seen. Six and seven will be going into works this weekend.

brewed to date:

#1 - Irish Stout. Nice and flavorful, more like a porter than “thick” like guiness, with a faint molasses finish.

#2 - West Coast Pale Ale - I started this at the same time as the next (working two kegs at the same time baby!), and bottled this one a couple weeks before. After waiting out the estimated time for full carbonation the beer came out flat. Did I open it too early? Did I forget to add priming sugar? Why do I smell apples? (Oh, no did I get confused and bottle the next batch too early?)

#3 - Dutch Apple Ale. This started out as a basic English Brown Ale, but uses about 25% apple juice instead of water. But with the bottling mix up, I was afraid I bottled this too early before it reached full apple ale potential.

So, I had two beers that I had to wait a few weeks for to see if they’d properly carbonate, meanwhile I had two more going, and I wasn’t able to re-use any of my bottles… After 2 more weeks they both seemed ready to drink. Turns out I hadn’t mixed up the two. What I thought was the Pale Ale was definately not appley. Sort of clean, went good with food. (not as good without.) The Apple Ale, was also not appley - but it did have a nice cidery finish (or after taste) which I like. I’ll drink some of this, and cook with some. Mr. Beer also offers a cider kit, which I’d like to compare this too.

#4 is a Porter, which I just bottled on Saturday but I’m eager to try, but will have to wait a few weeks.

#5 is a coffee beer, added coffee to a vienna style lager - think Drew Carey’s Buzz Beer… at least I’m hoping so…, I’ll have to wait for it to find out. First, I need to polish of one more six pack of anything (beer, IBC, whatever) before I’ll have enough bottles, and second, three weeks of racking/lagering, whatever you call it, it’s just WAITING for carbonation…..

Arghhh, the non-instant gratification of this hobby!!!

 

two kitchen day

I knew today was going to be a busy day, but I didn’t think I’d get close to everything accomplished.

I had to assemble (on the Q.T.) the toy kitchen set Santa pre-delivered (for assembly) for my little girl… (he’s getting up there in age, the worlds population is exploding and sometimes he just has to outsource the assembly) but while I was working on her kitchen, I always had something going on in mine.

I lost out in the yankee swap at work yesterday, but I scored the leftover Honey Baked Ham & bone so stock will be enjoyed by all. Got it started just after 7am! Good thing I made stock from the turkey last month, so I new exactly what to do - and thanks to Alton Brown, so I knew exactly how to cool it down quickly, without ruining everything in the fridge! (Sink full of ice water, and a frozen water bottle in the middle of the pot chilling in the sink.) Already had fat congealing on the surface when i got back from (yet another) trip out to the grocery store…. Current estimates has me going through 25-28 sticks of butter in one week! (can you hear the arteries hardening).

With the stock simmering, I moved onto making two batches of shortbread. Tried Cooks Illustrated’s recipe, which I’ve had, but never made before (was much easier than what I’ve done in the past). I’ve normally made individual cookies (with a slightly different ingredient proportions than I used today and a very different prep method). Today they spread out like lava… so I cut them into smaller shapes and no harm done. They’re still delicious. Next year, back to the tried and true.

While the Shortbread was baking, I broke open the box that the kitchen came in, sorted through everything, and started assembly. By the time I stopped for lunch, I’d finally put the finishing touches on what is essentially a piece of pre-fab furniture (that I generally abhor as a woodworker,.. but since this is a toy,.. that’s different), I’d also made a sweet and spicy nut mix - two double batches (one with the spicy, one without) and a batch of chocolate peanut butter biscotti.

After lunch - which was a trip out to Lowes, The Home Depot, Lowes again (oops), A Bookstore and the Grocery store - I pulled together the dough for sugar cookie pinwheels that were slated for the evenings baking agenda. I took Alton Brown’s recipe for Chocolate Peppermint sugar cookies, and skipped the peppermint in favor of Bailey’s. Yum!

Then… the recipe I’d been waiting for.  The Gingerbread with the Stout I made a few weeks back.

Yes, a busy day for sure…

The verdict, after all the baking, tasting and so on…

First, I still LOVE my new mixer. I wouldn’t have bothered doing half as much today without it.

Second… The Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscotti is my new favorite (after 5 batches of chocolate chip in a week (no I didn’t eat them all. Yet.) I like the peanut butterey and saltiness of these… they are suppoed to go well with coffee. (I don’t buy that, but I know my Dad will also love these. (Scientists found peanut butter in his bloodstream)

The sugar cookies - also awesome, look really good too - not an off the shelf slice and bake, but nearly as easy, without all the preservatives.

I’ve been hankering something sweet and spicy  since I saw Emeril do a spicy nut chocolate bark a week or two back… I thought this recipe would fit the bill, but it’s just not for me. Got raves online… so maybe it’s just me. Tried adding chocolate to it - a good improvement, but haven’t decided if I’ll be “gifting” that… no prob though, between the Spritz, Shortbread, 3 types of Chocolate Chip, Biscotti, and sugar cookies, I’ve got giving covered.

Oh, and the beer - The stout tastes just like a “chocolate/vanilla porter” a local microbrewery used to make - the first beer (and possibly only) that my wife could actually drink without making a face. Too bad they’re out of business. The gingerbread just came out of the oven and it looks really good too… but I can’t call it gingerbread. I accidentally left out the molasses. (after everything I’ve done today it’s a miracle I didn’t mess up anything else!) So I’ll call it a ginger stout cake. Sounds good to me.

All this butter and sugar, it’s no wonder so many people start eating salad in January… if not for the diet excuse, then to give the body a rest from all the sweets and carbs. (mmmm carbs)

 

baking fool

A double batch of spritz cookies last weekend, then a double batch of chocolate chip yesterday morning, two loaves of multi-grain bread this morning and a triple layer birthday cake tonight…

I LOVE my new mixer. I’m so happy my friend had to “upgrade” to the bigger one (ahh the demands of the foodwriter), otherwise I might have put off this purchase indefinately…

…and consequently not spent the money I saved (off retail) on flour, sugar and eggs this week! Don’t think I’m kidding.

Tomorrow (if I dare), I can try my first batch of beer. St. Patricks Stout from Mr. Beer. (It may benefit from additional time in the bottle.) If it is less than stellar, I’ll have no qualms about using the lot (yes all two gallons worth) to make the gingerbread I blogged about recently….

Lets see, two gallons of beer,.. divided by 3/4 cup per batch…

We’re gonna need a bigger oven.

 

things are a brewin

Yesterday I brewed up a nice (I hope) batch of Pale Ale, as well as an Apple Ale (not cider, but rather a beer with apple juice replacing some of the water and sugar in the recipe). The latter, along with the stout I started after thanksgiving, will work well in some of my recipes (Cakes, breads, and so on) if they’re less than drinkable.

If they are really tasty, then so much the better, for I’ll have 6 gallons to put down pretty soon.

I’m happy to have taken on this new hobby (yes, another one) that my wife slid under the Christmas tree a few years back. (She new I’d like it, and she was right… what took me so long? Am I worried that another interest will fill up my days, or push other intersts aside? Nope. At least not now.

With these kits from Mr. Beer, I’m basically making brownies from the box, rather than doing everything from scratch (not that either is terribly difficult – from scratch I mean). Also, working from the box (with hundreds of recipe variations available online) I’m pretty much guaranteed a fair amount of beginners luck in the quality dept. (Or so I’m choosing to believe.)

The stout will be ready to sample on Sunday, but will be better if I can hold off a little longer. Unfortunately the Pale Ale won’t be ready in time for Christmas, as it’s supposed to chill in the bottle until the 26th. I was hoping everything I needed would have arrived in time for a Pre-Christmas gathering at my grandparents… but the mail had other ideas. It’ll be fine for New Years, though nowhere is it written we can’t try an early nip. Perhaps I’ll try a little everyday to see if it keeps getting better!

Even though the Pale Ale and the The Apple Ale took me about an hour to brew, The latter will take considerably longer to finish. 3 weeks to ferment in the keg, then 3 weeks in the bottle. Minimum! (Oh well, others require months of waiting….) No prob, I need time to collect more bottles (or empty the ones I’ve already filled!)

But just in case expectations fall short, I’ve started to amass recipes for beer bread, biscuits, mustard (yes, mustard), and so on. I’d bet that the Apple Ale will work wonderfully in crepes. The recipe I learned In Bretagne called for beer instead of milk, (and were fantastic with cider) perhaps a splash in my grandmothers apple brownies will be a welcome addition!

In the end I may have a hard time deciding whether to eat or drink my beer! Oh, the problems we must endure!