In looking for brew recipes, I came across this website, The Homebrew Chef.  There’s some great food recipes on here, using beer, which is something I appreciate in cooking.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any appropriate homebrews to use in these recipes, but I’m really happy about the food I made, as well as the one coup de grace that is in the works.  Here’s the recipes, as written:

Chocolate Ancho Rub:

Makes 3 Cups

Ingredients:

1 Cup Cocoa Powder, like Valhrona
1/2 Cup Ancho Chili, ground
1/2 Cup Sugar, organic
1/2 Cup Kosher Salt
1/4 Cup Black Pepper, freshly ground
1/4 Cup Cumin, ground

Directions:

In a medium size bowl, add all the ingredients and mix with a whisk, until you have a uniform mixture. Add to a quart size jar and seal, until ready to use.

**My changes:
Ancho specific chile wasn’t available at the local shop, so I just used their general chile powder.
Also, there wasn’t anything that said ‘Valhrona’, so I used an unsweetened Cocoa Powder, non alkalai

Chocolate Stout BBQ Sauce:
Makes 4 Cups

Ingredients:
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion, peeled and minced
1 TSP Kosher Salt
2 TBSP Chocolate Ancho Rub
1/4 Cup Molasses, Black Strap if available
1 Stout Beer, 12 oz. of your choice
1/4    Cup Malt or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Can Tomato Sauce, preferably organic
1 Shot Espresso

In a medium sized pan add olive oil, minced onion and salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized.  Add the Chocolate Ancho Rub and stir for about 30 seconds, to toast the spices.  Add the molasses and stir another 15 seconds to combine, deglazing with the stout beer; stir well, helping lift off any of the fond on the bottom of the pan.  Add malt or cider vinegar and tomato sauce, keeping the heat to medium, stirring while cooking for about 25 minutes.

The sauce should be thick, dark brown, but not burnt. Add the shot of espresso and transfer the sauce to the pitcher of a blender and puree for about 1 minute or until smooth.

**My changes:
I assumed that the lack of garlic and peppers were an oversight, so I added:
5 garlic cloves
1 Jalepeno pepper, seeded
1 Poblano Chile pepper, seeded
- All with the onions, at the beginning
I used 2 x Bison’s Chocolate Stout as the beer. It’s a tasty stout!

All of these are just lead-ins to the main course:

Garlic IPA Brine for Pork Shoulder

1 Cup Kosher Salt
1/2 Cup Sugar
2TBSP Black Peppercorns
4 Bay Leaves, torn
2 Cups Garlic, peeled
1 Quart Water
1 Quart IPA, or Beer of choice
2 Quarts Ice

1 Pork Shoulder/butt, rinsed

Directions:

In the pitcher of a blender, add salt, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and garlic. Add 2-3 cups of water and blend, until the garlic is pureed.

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, add remaining water (5-6 cups) and IPA along with the contains of the blender. Over medium high heat, bring mixture to a boil for 3-5 minutes; making sure the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add ice. Mix well and check temperature; should be about 36°F. Chill if the temp is warm. Once cool, add the pork shoulder and use a plate to weigh down the pork, so that it is full submerged. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 days; allowing the meat to cure in the brine.

Cooking Directions:

Preheat the oven to 225°

Take a sheet pan with sides and line with aluminum foil. Place a wire rack on top of the foil and add the brined pork shoulder/butt. Place in the center of the oven and cook for 8 hours. Check the meat the last hour, seeing if the meat has dried out at all (if the meat was smaller, it will take less time to cook and will dry out if overcooked). This low and slow method of cooking will render some of the fat out of the meat, break down the collogen causing the meat to be soft, tender and slightly sticky.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 15-30 minutes. Using a fork, pull on the meat, to flake it out into small strains of meat. Serve as is with tortillas or add Stout BBQ Sauce for Pulled Pork Sandwiches

**My Changes:
No Changes to the recipe. I used 1 x Bridgeport IPA and 2 x Fish Tale IPA for the beer in the brine

Tasting:
I used the Rub on some Turkey legs, which I grilled. Those came out great, with a nice crisp skin (the sugar in the rub maybe). It’s sort of a Chocolate Mole taste.

The BBQ sauce tasted good, but the Pork is still under brine, probably to be cooked this weekend, so I haven’t tried either of those in real eating situations.

I did, however, make enough Sauce to have my first canning experience.

I’m a big fan of the book, The Homebrewer’s Garden, we’ve been using it as our reference this summer for a lot of our hop garden questions, and hopefully will end up using it if/when we move on to grain growing also. There’s also some fun recipes included, for some unusual sounding beers.  I know Bison makes a yummy Honey Basil Ale, which there was also a recipe for in the book, but the Oregano Pale recipe caught my eye.

The recipe, as written:

1/4 lb Toasted Malt
1/4 lb Carapils Malt
1/2 lb Crystal 60L
1/2 lb Crystal 40L
6.6 lb Northwest Gold LME
1 1/4 lb Dutch Extra Light DME
2oz East Kent Goldings, 60 min
1oz Fuggles, 60 min
1/2 oz Fuggles (homegrown), 15 min
1/2 oz Willamete (homegrown), 0 min
1 oz Fresh Oregano

Yeastlab A02, American Ale

My changes:

- Grain:
7lbs Light LME (this is the easiest qty for me to purchase)
1lb Light DME
There was no 40L available, so I used 20L instead
Also, there was nothing at the shop just called ‘toasted malt’, so I used a bit of smoked malt, I thought it would go well with the earthy oregano flavor
I ended up using less oregano than the recipe called for, closer to 3/4oz
- Hops:
I should have taken better notes, but I mostly used leftover hops from other recipes. At this point, I’d guess that my mix was probably Cascade for bittering, then Willamette for Flavor and aroma.
- Yeast:
All that was available for yeast was Wyeast #1332, Northwest Ale. This was the first time we used a Wyeast smack-pack, and were really pleased with the results.

Brewing:
Standard Brew instructions – Steeped the grains at 150-160F for 30 min or so in 2 gal, sparged with about the same amount of volume and temp, then added water for the full wort boil, with the LME and bittering hops. At 15 min left, I added the DME, Oregano, and Flavor hop addition. Forgot the whirlfloc tablets this time, but our brew has looked different in the pot since the first brew we did using whirlfloc. I’m not sure if that’s my imagination, or if there’s some way for the pot to hold on to the residue, even through multiple washes. Aroma hops at the end, quick cool with the chiller, and then off to the races!

Fermentation:
The wyeast took off fast, and we lucked out with a pretty steady warm temperature in the house for 2 weeks. OG was around 1.060, and it finished with an FG of around 1.008 or so – probably my lowest FG since the move to Portland, which is something I’ve got to work on with the rest of my brews in general – I think investing in a temp control will be key, along with better aeration. And, of course, I can’t discount the smack-pack, since I don’t normally do starters. We kegged this brew (Andy’s first kegging), and force- carbonated at 30lb psi for 2 days, then 20lb for 2 days.

Tasting:
It was a good pale. The oregano was noticeable, though not overwhelming – I’m glad I went easy there, and also went pretty easy on the hops, staying away from the high AA varieties. It gave a very earthy aroma and taste to the brew, without making it too herby. It wasn’t a ‘pizza beer’, though it did pair well with Italian food. I use a lot of oregano in general in the kitchen, so really it went well with most of the stuff I cooked, as well as being a satisfying quencher on it’s own.

There’s a good chance I’ll make this one again.

A couple of pics-

Coming soon, technical issues

Well it looks like it will have been 2 months since the last thing was posted on here unless I do something about it.  Imagine that… guess I’ve been doing way to much drinking and not enough brewing.

So without further delay, I present what I initially wanted to call Hop Head Red, until I realized that beer already exists.  Damn sub-conscious bullshit.  So it’s called, simply, The Hopped Red Ale.

Enjoy!

Recipe for 5 gallons

Grain Bill:
5 oz Flaked Barley
5 oz Crystal 10
5 oz Crystal 60
4 oz Roasted Barley

Sugars
6 lb Pale Extract

Hops
1 oz Willamette @ 60 min
.20 oz Willamette @ 15 min
.40 oz Willamette @ 0 min

Yeast
White Labs WLP004-Irish Ale

Clarifying Agent
1 tablet Whirfloc

Alright so, I can’t remember what the date was, but to put it into perspective (of sorts), whenever it was, I’m down to the last bomber… and that makes me sad.
Oh I guess this is where the instructions would go huh?  Sorry, been a while.

Um, its a basic extract recipe.  I can say that if I make it again I will up the aroma hop amount, possibly do some dry-hopping too, as I really wanted a much hoppier brew.  Considering this was only my second hand-crafted recipe though, I was happy enough with the results.  If someone out there on the interwebs really wants to know the procedure they can check any of my other recipe posts.  The only variation is that this is the first brew where I used the Whirfloc tablets.  Oh and the first that called for Flaked Barley, for head retention.  A note on each…

Whirfloc:  Did I pretty good job with clarifying.  However, the addition of Flaked Barley made for a much “trub-ier” fermentation, which may explain why I didn’t get as great of results as I had expected.  Nevertheless, I haven’t had a cleaner looking beer in the bottle.  Definitely going to use it again.

Flaked Barley:  Momma! This little addition really helped get the head I’ve been waiting for in my homebrewing.  I can’t say enough about it.  Again, this one seems like a no-brainer in many future recipes.  Like a foam sandcastle sitting on top of the glass, without filling the rest of the glass too.  Nice!

Well there you have it.  Maybe I can get the other dudes to put something up now.  I mean, if the lonely brewer in so-cal can do it, it should be a piece of cake for the pdx’ers to tag-team something, right?

Gentlemen, the ball is your court.

Finally went out and got my own brew set up at home. I decided to start with something simple and enjoyed by my roommates so I could get a test run in my kitchen as well as have a valuable excuse for taking up room in the apartment. The christening batch is a Brown Ale.

Brown Derby Ale

5 gallons

Brewed:Feb. 14,  2009

Malt Extract:

Pale:  6 lbs.

Grain Bill:

Biscuit Malt: 4 oz

British Crystal 11: 4 oz

British Crystal 55: 4 oz

British Chocolate Malt: 4 oz

Hopping Schedule:

#1 UK Northdown (10.4%):    0.5 oz 60 min

#2 Fuggles:                 0.5 oz 15 min

Starting Gravity: 1.045

Fermentation Temperature: 65°-75°F

Yeast: White Labs WLP005 British Ale

Steep grains at 150°F for 20-30 mins. to create a “tea”.  Bring 2-3 gallons of water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in malt extract and grain “tea”. Bring to a boil. When foaming stops add hops per schedule. Chill and add water as need to bring to 5 gallons at 75°F and pitch yeast. Ferment at 65°-75°F for 7-10 days. Bottle condition for 7 days. Enjoy.

Since I only brewed this two days ago, the last few steps are how I am envisioning it. The only substitution was, the recipe called for Challenger(7.5%) @ 60 mins. so I just did ((original%)quantity)/new%=newQuantity and got my 0.5 oz. of UK Northdown. This substitution was based upon the recommendation of the local brewshop owner. Just have to wait and see.

Brewed 2nd time 2/14

I found this online at BYO.com, and made it once before.  It was good the first time, but I don’t know if I followed the recipe exactly then.  So, trying it again.  Note that the total boil time is only 20 min, and there’s an abundance of extra grains.

Nosfaratu’s Return

5 gal, Extract w/ Grains

Ingredients:

6.6 lbs Gold unhopped Malt Extract

2 lbs Honey

1 lb chocolate malt

1 lb pale chocolate malt

1 lb Vienna Malt

1 lb Munich Malt

.5 lb cara-pils malt

.5 lb crystal malt, 56L

2 oz Perle Hops (8% Alpha Acid), 20 min

1 oz Crystal Hops (3.2% Alpha Acid), 0 min

Wyeast 1742 (Swedish Ale)

Directions:

Steep Grains in 2 gal of 170F water for 30 min.  Remove grains.  Add malt and honey to the grain water.  Bring to a boil.  Add perle hops andboil for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in 1 oz crystal hops.  Add to carboy.  Add water to 5 gal.  When temp below 80F, pitch yeast.  Ferment 7 to 10 days.  Place in secondary for 7 to 10 days.  Prime with corn sugar.  Bottle at 1.014.  Let age 3 to 4 weeks.

Notes/ Substitutions

I used a full 7 lbs LME, and the store didn’t have Pale Chocolate Malt, so I used 2 lbs of Chocolate Malt.  Also, the grains ended up being 6 lbs total, more than the 5 lbs in the recipe.  I’m pretty sure it was spread fairly evenly over the whole grain bill.  I used the ‘Cry Havoc’ yeast from White Labs, as it’s supposed to ferment at a lower temp for an ale yeast.  I didn’t check OG, but I’m guessing it starts pretty heavy.

I brewed this around the New Year, and just got it kegged.  I can’t remember all the substitutions I made, here’s the recipe as written:

Hop Hammer

8 lbs Light LME

.5 lb Wheat LME

1.5 lbs Corn Sugar

Grain Bill:

.5 lb Great Western Crystal Malt

Hops:

1.75 oz Warrior Pellets 15% – 90 min

1.75 oz Chinook Pellets 13% – 90 min

1 oz Simcoe Pellets 12% – 45 min

1 oz Columbus Pellets 14% – 30 min

1.75 oz Centennial Pellets 9% – 0 min

1 oz Simcoe Pellets 12% – 0 min

2.5 oz Columbus Pellets 14% – Dry

1.5 oz Centennial Pellets 9% – Dry

1.5 oz Simcoe Pellets 12% – Dry

Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Crack the malt, place in a grain bag.  Steep the bag in 1/2 Gallon of 170 F water for about 30 min.  Remove the Grain Bag and rinse with warm water, do not squeeze the bag.  Add water and malt extract to make a pre-boil volume of 6.5 gal.  Make sure LME is dissolved then bring to a boil.

Once boil is acheived, add the hops per the schedule.  Total boil time is 90 min.  Chill wort to 67 F as quick as possible, rack to fermentor, and pitch the yeast (healthy starter or 2+ vials of liquid yeast recommended).  Aerate very completely.  With healthy yeast, primary fermentation should be complete within a week, but don’t rush.  Transfer the beer to a second fermentor and add dry hops.  Let pellets break up & start to sink, then allow the beer to sit for another 7 days.  Bottle or Keg. 

Substitutions I remember for this batch:

Increased Wheat Extract to 1 lb, decreased Corn Sugar to 1 lb for ease of purchase.  I couldn’t find Warrior or Simcoe, so used the strong hops available, I don’t remember which. 

Recipe calls for OG = 1.079, FG = 1.013, ABV = 8.8%.  I of course didn’t test on either end, but it tastes and feels pretty strong.  The color is darker than Pliny, and it’s not as crisp, but it’s pretty darn good.  Expensive though.

A well-hopped IPA.  Familiar, yes…  But a little darker and with a bit more soul, in honor of our 44th.

Malt Extract:

Pale  9 lbs.

Grain Bill:

Crystal 10L  8oz.

Crystal 80L  8oz.

Hopping Schedule:

#1 Columbus (16.4%)  1.3 oz. @ 60 min

#2 Cascade                    1.0 oz. @ 15 min

#3 Cascade                    1.0 oz. @ 0 min

Starting Gravity: 1.067

Fermentation Temperature: 66-68 degrees F

Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Instructions:

1. In a small pot bring 3 or 4 quarts of water to around 150 degrees.
2. Add specialty grains to straining bag and steep for 20-30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, fill the large brew pot half full with water and apply heat.
4. When bubbles start to rise from the large brew pot, turn off the heat and stir in extract.
5. Remove grain bag from small brew pot and pour a glass or two of warm water over the grain bag into the small brew pot.
6. Add your “tea” to the large brew pot.
7. Bring your wort to a full, rolling boil. Watch for boilovers.
8. Once the foaming stops, add the contents of the first hop package.
9. Sanitize your fermenter, strainer, airlock and stopper.
10. Maintain the boil for one hour, taking adding hops per recipe.
11. When the boil is done, cool the pot and wort as quickly as possible until pot is cool to the touch.
12. Pour the wort into your sanitized fermenter, add pre-chilled water to bring level up to 5 gallons at about 75 degrees.
13. Pitch the yeast.
14. Ferment in the temperature range above until visible signs of fermentation have ceased.
15. Prime and bottle, then store in dark cool place for minimum of 10 days.
16. Enjoy!

Note:  This IPA ages well, and its taste will be much more complex after 3+ weeks of bottle conditioning.