Got a Belgian Abbey starter going, hoping to get both a Fat Tire clone and Belgian blonde into the primaries tomorrow.
(I wish I was retired and had the time to do that!)
Well, I am retired now, and have been playing around with different woods to smoke… pork.
One of our favorites has been pear. As we are having a good weekend in MI weatherwise, it is on the agenda to smoke some malt with pear this weekend. Also want to do some malt with beechwood to get the intensity I have never acheived with Weyermann’s rauchmalt. When two hobbies intersect, it can be a thing of beauty.
Thanks for the link, Drew. Now if I can just get my hands on some Cherry malt.
I am going to brew either my house pale ale or house blond ale this weekend. We have a lot of people coming over for Thanksgiving and they are all of the Bud Light crowd. They love both these brews though. Have been able to convert a few to craft beers.
An all-Simcoe “Christmas Tree” beer. Bascially it’s going to be a Pliny the Elder clone but with all Simcoe hops.
Another Pale Ale. Brewing with my knucklehead friends. Nothing special.
However, I am prepping for a Stein beer project. Drilling granite blocks so I can rig it and drop the heated stones into a wooden brewing vessel.
Just finished drilling 9 granite blocks, which is harder than it sounds.
Nothin this week :( SWMBO really wants to help out on the next batch, so I gotta pick a time when she and I are both off on a week day together (so neither one of us has to keep an eye on the kids).
Looks like Nov 27.
I’m not sure what I’m brewing. What can I make with about 8# of two row, some flaked barley, a couple pounds of honey malt, and a buttload of assorted hops? You give me recipe, and that’s what I’ll be brewing.
If not, I just be messing with the new pump, and fine tuning plans for my new rig.
How about a 5 gallon batch of Creamy Honey Ale?
8# 2-row
1# Flaked Barley
.25# Honey Malt
Mash at 154. Bitter with a clean bittering hop to between 20-25 IBUs. Maybe do a mild flavor/aroma addition at 15 minutes with a low-alpha hop. Ferment with US-05/1056 in the low 60s.
Skipping work on Monday so I’ll be stirring decoctions most of the day for a Bock
Holy crap! That’s a great idea. It sounds so awful, it just might work. I just might do that tomorrow. Thanks man.
I think I’ll do 10 gallons of my APA, one keg dry hopped with 1 oz Cascade the other with 1 oz Amarillo.
Nice rocks, King! ;D
It’s going to be interesting to make beer like it’s 900AD. As soon as the project is done I’ll write a how to article.
Brewed the My heart of darkness dark lager/rouch beer the other day. The recipe was in the latest Zymurgy.
Look forward to the article. Chuck Skypeck at Ghost River Brewery in Memphis (they also make Bosco’s beer) makes Boscos Famous Flaming Stone Beer. (2005 Great American Beer Festival Silver Medal Winner)
North America’s “Original Steinbier.” Brewed using a traditional German technique, stones heated in our wood fired ovens are lowered into the beer during the brewing process, giving the beer its unique caramel character. Awarded “Three Stars” by Michael Jackson, the world’s leading beer writer. Great with salads and lightly flavored dishes.
O.G. 1048 I.B.U. 16/i]
[quote=“dhacker, post:56, topic:116, username:dhacker”]
Look forward to the article. Chuck Skypeck at Ghost River Brewery in Memphis (they also make Bosco’s beer) makes Boscos Famous Flaming Stone Beer. (2005 Great American Beer Festival Silver Medal Winner)
North America’s “Original Steinbier.” Brewed using a traditional German technique, stones heated in our wood fired ovens are lowered into the beer during the brewing process, giving the beer its unique caramel character. Awarded “Three Stars” by Michael Jackson, the world’s leading beer writer. Great with salads and lightly flavored dishes.
O.G. 1048 I.B.U. 16/i]
[/quote]
The only steinbier I have ever had was made by Brauerei Hofstetten. Great beer. They have some pics of the open fermentation in carved granite vessels.
All that sounds good, but the pics are really cool. http://www.hofstetten.at/gallery/index.php?action=view&entity=preview&key=55
I used to work at Boscos in Nashville when I was in college (1997-2001). Chuck was head brewer when I started, but left for Memphis a year or so later. Fred Scheer took over and is still the head brewer at Boscos Nashville. I remember when Michael Jackson came to Boscos to evaluate our beer. It was a cool experience, but it was before I got into homebrewing. I think I would have appreciated his presence a lot more now. RIP Michael.
Anyway, I’ve had many a Flaming Stone. It’s a decent blonde ale, but, to be totally honest, I don’t really remember detecting a “unique caramel flavor.” Maybe my palate just wasn’t as discriminating back then, but I always sort of felt like the whole Steinbier thing was a bit of a novelty.
I never had the flaming stone, but I am interested and will grab one when I get a chance.
As for my personal tasting notes the austrian granit beer definately had a smoky, caramel flavor. Is it a novelty, maybe. I like brewing history, and I would guess alot of other brewers do as well. Traditional methods like decotion mashes are still practiced, archeologists scrape beer stone off of clay vessels, and cultivate yeast from prehistoric amber - so yeah I guess there is an audience for this sort of beer geekdom. The end result should be good beer, regardless of the method.
I certainly didn’t intend my impression of the Flaming Stone to detract you from brewing a steinbier. You should definitely brew one – it’s a completely cool and truly unique brewing method!