Thinking About the Holidays

As the "Summer Without Sun" winds down, my thoughts turn to Holiday Beer. I served Charlie's Holiday Cheer at last year's company Christmas party, and the boss offered to buy the ingredients for this year's batch. I also want to brew Hookarms Dark Holiday Ale again. That one, I'll have to pay for.

I don't think I will make any changes to Charlie's Holiday Cheer. But I am going to change Hookarm's Dark Holiday Ale. The last time I made it, I used three vanilla beans added at the end of the boil, then strained out and 1 tsp cardemom. I am going to omit the cardemom. After a little Googling, I ran across a couple other ways to add the vanilla:

Option 1: Add more chopped vanilla in secondary fermentation.

Option 2: Cut the bean lengthwise, scrape the insides with a knife blade, and add both the husks and the interior matter into a glass. Top off with just enough vodka to cover it all, and let it sit for a day. Then add to my secondary fermenter.

Option 3: Soak 4 oz. of American Oak Chips in 8 oz. of Bourbon for a few days with two chopped vanilla beans while the beer is in primary, then adding it to the secondary fermenter.

There are drawbacks to all of these options. I want a smooth, dark beer with just a hint of roasted malts and a lot of vanilla in the finish. Option 3 let's me add bourbon to the flavor, which I like, but I don't know that I want in this.

Ahhh. Decisions. Decisions.

Kentucky Common tasting notes

Despite a disappointing screw-up with the grains, the Kentucky Common 3.0 tastes pretty good.

Kentucky Common 3.0

Appearance (0-4): Black. Not apparent highlights. But it looks clear, if you know what I mean. 3 points
Aroma/Bouquet (0-4): Roasted coffee notes. Hint of sourness in beer. (Whee!) No hop aroma detected. 2 points
Taste: Hop/Malt Balance (0-4): Very low hop bitterness, accented by sour flavor. 3 points
Aftertaste (0-3): Sour, from Belgian yeast, on back of tongue. A bit of coffee-like roast malt finish, with a lingering hop taste. 2 points
Mouthfeel (0-3): I think it's perfect. I was aiming for a lower alcohol beer with some flavor. 3 points
Overall Impression (0-3): For a low alcohol beer, this has some intense flavor. It's what I was hoping for, even with the low alcohol (2.6% ABV) so I'm rating it high. 2 points
Total: 15 points

Hookarm's Kentucky Common 3.0

I ordered the ingredients on April 18 for the latest version of Kentucky Common. I thought I would add rye and flaked maize to the grain bill to give it a more authentic mix of grains. Kentucky common is, essentially, what whiskey before distillation.

Hookarm's Kentucky Common 3.0
2 pounds flaked maize
1 pound flaked rye
1 pound carapils dextrine malt
4 oz chocolate malt
3 pounds Dark DME
1/4 oz Wye Target 11%/60 min*
3/4 oz Willamette 5%/20 minutes
*The hops were left over from the Real Ale Brewhouse Brown Ale Clone recipe.
Mash the grains in 3 gallons water for 60 minutes at 155F. Sparge and add the extract. Dissolve well and boil.

I poured the grains into a steeping bag, and it looked like a parfait. I dropped it in the water and went about sanitizing my fermenter.

It's been awhile since I've used flaked maize, and I remembered something: It cakes when it gets wet. When I emptied the bag after an hour, the grains came out of the bag with no problem, the corn had become a thick disc that was hard on the outside, and completely dry on the inside!

My OG came in at 1.030, instead of the predicted 1.050. But it tasted good.

Hookarm's Dark Ale #2

Over the weekend I brewed Hookarm's Dark Ale. Here's the recipe and the brewing notes:

Hookarm's Dark Ale #2

6 pounds liquid dark extract
4 ounces 90° lovibond Crystal malt
2 ounces chocolate malt
1 ounce 3.6% Saaz pellets/60 minutes
1 ounce 3.6% Saaz pellets/30 minutes
1 ounce 3.6% Saaz pellets/5 minutes
1 teaspoon Irish Moss (for clarification)
White labs WLP060 American Ale Blend Yeast

I brought 1.5 gallons of water and the specialty grains to 155° and removed from heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Then I added the malt extract and brought to a boil. I added the hops as noted above. After 45 minutes, I added the Irish moss as a clarifier.

Using the Good Eats method, I put a 7lb bag of ice in 1 gallon and 1 pint of water. I strained the wort onto the ice, and topped up to 5 gallons.

ProMash said the Original Gravity would be 1.044. I got 1.042.