Not to be deterred by my failed millet mash, I brewed up an entirely different beer today, using an ingredient I've been meaning to try for a while: purple rice.
Purple rice, also known as "forbidden black rice" is one of my favorite grains. It's not very well-known and should NOT be mistaken for wild rice, which is also black. Wild rice is a very long grain with stiff toothsome texture and a nutty flavor; purple rice is a short grain sweet/sticky/glutinous rice (not *glutenous*, though!). It has a unique sweet almost fruity flavor unlike any other grain I've ever had, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with it for a while.
Well, my girlfriend's birthday is coming up in a month, and she asked me if I could brew her a special beer. That got my mind working, and I decided I wanted to brew something kind of fruity in a belgian/weissbier sort of way. This is what I came up with:
3 gallon batch
Malt and grain bill:
2.5 lbs of purple rice (steeped at 180°F for 30 min)
2 lbs sorghum extract (@5 min to flameout)
1 lb rice syrup solids
1 lb blackberry honey (@5 min to flameout)
2 oz maltodextrin
Hop schedule:
0.5 oz Liberty at 60 min
0.5 oz Liberty at 15 min
0.25 oz Cascade at 10 min
0.25 oz Cascade at flame-out
0.25 oz Liberty at flame-out
Herbs:
1 tsp fresh ground coriander seed
1/4 tsp fresh ground long pepper berry
Zest of 1/2 a lemon and 1/3 of a sweet orange
SafBrew T-58 yeast
The purple rice added a LOT of color. I mean, the wort came out looking like beet juice, a nice reddish purple that I expect will lighten as the trub settles out. If you can find this stuff, it's usually cheaper than quinoa and adds just a ton of color, not at all like wild rice, which looks black but adds almost nothing to the color of the wort.
I was proud of myself, as my brew time has gotten much shorter--setup to cleanup in under 4 hours!
Not one to want to waste anything, I decided to toast the rice afterward for use in my upcoming attempt at a Russian Imperial Stout. I think this rice, once toasted, will taste rather chocolaty, and might go nicely with the chocolate-roasted buckwheat I made today during brewing downtimes.
Purple rice, also known as "forbidden black rice" is one of my favorite grains. It's not very well-known and should NOT be mistaken for wild rice, which is also black. Wild rice is a very long grain with stiff toothsome texture and a nutty flavor; purple rice is a short grain sweet/sticky/glutinous rice (not *glutenous*, though!). It has a unique sweet almost fruity flavor unlike any other grain I've ever had, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with it for a while.
Well, my girlfriend's birthday is coming up in a month, and she asked me if I could brew her a special beer. That got my mind working, and I decided I wanted to brew something kind of fruity in a belgian/weissbier sort of way. This is what I came up with:
3 gallon batch
Malt and grain bill:
2.5 lbs of purple rice (steeped at 180°F for 30 min)
2 lbs sorghum extract (@5 min to flameout)
1 lb rice syrup solids
1 lb blackberry honey (@5 min to flameout)
2 oz maltodextrin
Hop schedule:
0.5 oz Liberty at 60 min
0.5 oz Liberty at 15 min
0.25 oz Cascade at 10 min
0.25 oz Cascade at flame-out
0.25 oz Liberty at flame-out
Herbs:
1 tsp fresh ground coriander seed
1/4 tsp fresh ground long pepper berry
Zest of 1/2 a lemon and 1/3 of a sweet orange
SafBrew T-58 yeast
The purple rice added a LOT of color. I mean, the wort came out looking like beet juice, a nice reddish purple that I expect will lighten as the trub settles out. If you can find this stuff, it's usually cheaper than quinoa and adds just a ton of color, not at all like wild rice, which looks black but adds almost nothing to the color of the wort.
I was proud of myself, as my brew time has gotten much shorter--setup to cleanup in under 4 hours!
Not one to want to waste anything, I decided to toast the rice afterward for use in my upcoming attempt at a Russian Imperial Stout. I think this rice, once toasted, will taste rather chocolaty, and might go nicely with the chocolate-roasted buckwheat I made today during brewing downtimes.