Recent content by ajfranke

For the past three years, I've made a tradition out of 5 or 6 gallons of Graham's English Cider, with cider sourced from the same booth at the nearby farmer's market each year. Besides adjusting the amount of tea and spiking with a bit more brown sugar, I've always stayed close to the recipe...

Unfortunately I was out of town for all of active fermentation. I lack any sort of temperature control, so I'm betting it was between 70 and 72F. From the scum on the side of the fermenter, the krausen never got higher than an inch or so. Unfortunately, a few wisps of white scum on the...

This recipe got brewed this afternoon. I didn't end up pitching lactobacillus into the recipe, due to neither of my cultures turning out well. I did add all the acidulated malt that I had on hand to try to get some semblance of sourness. Most of the recipes that I found called for adding...

"Lacto Two Ways" One of my next brews will be a gose. This is my first foray into sour brewing, so in full disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing :fro: . Instead of purchasing a lactobacillus culture from Wyeast or White Labs, I'm going to try culturing some from another source. The...

I'll have to try making a BTBOSBIWHIBA next, if this one works. :fro: But I completely agree on keeping it simple. I think a gose is a nice candidate because it's a small beer and therefore an inexpensive experiment, and the salt makes for an affordable vehicle for the truffles. Also, it...

I enjoyed the podcast with Brian Boak. What about Defiant Brewing Co., in Pearl River?

Resurrecting this thread, now that work is back under control... I have been able to get some further research done. First, add another potential style to the list: Randy Mosher, in his book Radical Brewing, gives a recipe for a Truffle Trippel utilizing a full ounce of sliced truffles in...

About 3 weeks ago, I brewed a Belgian Dark Strong ale, pitching it with Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II. The brew day did not go perfectly: I mistook Munich 20L for CaraMunich, and only steeped it at 150 for 30 minutes. Maybe some conversion happened, but how much is up for debate. My homemade...

I've been washing & repitching a line of 1098 for about 6 or 7 batches now, and I've seen this behavior in maybe two thirds or more of the fermentations. The krausen never gets more than a half-inch high, and then disappears in a matter of hours, but it's at or near FG in only a few days. The...

http://newjerseycraftbeer.com/ ...is perhaps an even better list?

I came across a recipe for a Honey Basil a few months ago. It's still on my "to brew" list, but it looks good. Cal Poly Brew Crew's Honey Basil (10 gallon batch) 17.5 lb American 2-row 1.5 lb Carapils 1.0 lb Crystal 20 0.5 lb Crystal 40 1 oz Carafa III Mash @ 150F Boil Schedule: 0.6 oz...

I made two batches of this, and am not fully happy with either. I keep getting a noticeable sweet after-taste. In the first batch, I had boosted the gain bill to an even 2 pounds each of flaked maize and 6-row. After I ended up with this sweet aftertaste, I reduced the corn back down to 1.75...

Say what you want about truffles: delicious, overpriced, aroma of the heavens, a fad, fungal gold, yuppie, classic, nouveu riche... It is undeniable that they hold a exalted place in cuisine, and have a unique flavor and aroma of their own. I am going to try to put them in beer. It has...

I pitched a batch of this last night using 5 gal. of cider from the nearby farmer's market, Twining's English Breakfast Tea, and some bottled key lime juice. The yeast I'm using is some 3rd-generation washed Wy1098/WLP007. The only major tweak to the recipe was the addition of 8 oz. brown...

The scientific term is "estimate" ;) but I agree completely. Even when starting with commercially-packaged yeasts, the initial cell count and viability are only estimates. Mr. Malty may say "67% viable", but the calculator can't account for hot/cold shipping, bad QA, mishaps while pouring...