Creepy Lurker now full-fledged member!

[2brewishuman]

Howdy all! The name is 2brewishuman, and I love to brew beer. Also mead and soon, wine (although I don't really like the taste of wine, gotta try it once to see if the winemakers are doing something wrong!) I'm a big fan of stouts and porters, although if you pass me a Guinness, I'll laugh heartily and throw it in the garbage. That's not beer! A true stout or porter is thick enough that it should stand on its own without a glass. You should be able to use it as a book end, a paperweight, a bludgeoner!

Okay, maybe not quite that thick. Anyhow, I love left Hand Milk Stout, Breakfast stout and similar beers. Give me a porter or a stout and I'm a happy guy!

I'm an emergency room nurse, enjoy making mead and beer until I run out of space (getting close now) one of the founding members of The Westside Worters, a group of like minded brewers from Lansing, Mi, though not many others have my obsession with thick beer, they tolerate me!

I've been lurking here for quite some time as a visitor, just creeping' around, but figured it was time to get out of the shadows and learn all I can about brewing fantastic beer! I recently created a strawberry kiwi ale (wanted to call it Summers Eve, but decided on Summer Breeze after some urging from my friends) that appears to be fantastic so far. Will keep anyone updated who's interested. I have about 8 gallons of mead fermenting; the problem with that stuff is it takes so long to finish!

Anyhow, looking forward to getting to know you folks. Thanks for offering such a great board!

2brewishuman

 

[ahaley]

Welcome aboard, the strawberry kiwi sounds delicious! I'm a fan of anything that has those 2 in it lol good luck in your brewing adventures!

 

[2brewishuman]

Welcome aboard, the strawberry kiwi sounds delicious! I'm a fan of anything that has those 2 in it lol good luck in your brewing adventures!

Thanks! I have high hopes it turns out. I ended up buying a little strawberry extract because it was muted in the primary. Added to the secondary after racking, now am waiting for final conditioning while it sits waiting to be ingested in a corny.

 

[ahaley]

Nice, what type of hops n stuff did you use?
Also what color is it so far?

 

[the1dudeabides]

how did you go from stouts to anything with kiwi in the ingredients? it must be a great story.

 

[passedpawn]

welcome!

 

[barneygumble]

I just wanted to add that Summer's eve would have been a fine name for a sour...

 

[2brewishuman]

Nice, what type of hops n stuff did you use?
Also what color is it so far?

It was actually a very simple recipe:

6lbs LME wheat
3lbs LME (after boil)
4lbs strawberries (smooshed)
3lbs kiwi (smooshed)
1oz tettnang (bittering to off set the sweet from the fruit) 60min boil
4oz strawberry extract added to secondary (strawberry is a poor fruit choice, but sounds good. flavor was too muted.)

It's a wonderful orange-ish red color. see the attachment!

 

[2brewishuman]

how did you go from stouts to anything with kiwi in the ingredients? it must be a great story.

Well, I am, and will always be, a stout/porter man, but someone asked me to brew this for them, and I did! It's my first true experiment with a thrown together list of ingredients. Estimated alcohol content is an acceptable 4.5%. The strawberry is a poor choice of fruits since the flavor is so mild, but the person who wanted it REALLY wanted it, so I relented.

Initial tasting was not too bad. A bit sweeter than I was expecting, but also sour, although that could be the kiwi...

 

[ahaley]

I'm still fairly new to this, but after you boiled tr wheat lme you added 3 lbs more to the hot wort?

 

[ahaley]

I'm still fairly new to this, but after you boiled to wheat lme you added 3 lbs more to the hot wort?
And the color looks great I may have to try this soon, did you use kiwi skins also?

 

[2brewishuman]

I'm still fairly new to this, but after you boiled to wheat lme you added 3 lbs more to the hot wort?
And the color looks great I may have to try this soon, did you use kiwi skins also?

I read somewhere that adding LME after the boil increases the alcohol content by creating a higher spec grav. You can also add lactose if you want a creamier beer and maintain the sweet side since lactose is nonfermentable. Even so, estimated abv is about 4.5-5%.

Nope, skinned the kiwis. Something about the thought of little hairs in my beer made me nauseous. I also washed the strawberries and blanched them in the hot wort to help kill any bacteria, let it sit it the ice bath to cool then poured the whole lot into the fermenting bucket. I racked it after 7 days. It fermented like gang busters (yeast likes the fructose) then I siphoned the beer off the fruit using a sterilized piece of cheesecloth to filter out the bigger particles on the end of the siphon tube. The beer is sitting in the secondary awaiting it's turn in the kegerator.

 

[the1dudeabides]

i'm sure the kiwi added the extra dimension you would need with the mild strawberry flavors. i agree that summers eve is an appropriate name. the one time i experimented with fresh strawberries did not go well. it had a slight nose of strawberries with absolutely no flavor except wheat. your brew will have the complexities to make it interesting. mine was totally boring. have you explored primary brewing in a corny keg?

 

[2brewishuman]

i'm sure the kiwi added the extra dimension you would need with the mild strawberry flavors. i agree that summers eve is an appropriate name. the one time i experimented with fresh strawberries did not go well. it had a slight nose of strawberries with absolutely no flavor except wheat. your brew will have the complexities to make it interesting. mine was totally boring. have you explored primary brewing in a corny keg?

I've seen the special lids for the cornies, but wondered about the trub that settles during fermentation. Doesn't that clog the export/out pipe inside and make it difficult to get a "clear beer"? I see what remains in the primary bucket... how is the flavor? Do you have to toss the first 3-4 glasses of brew? Does sediment in your beer become a problem for a while?

 

[2brewishuman]

Just a quick update on the strawberry kiwi ale. It's marvelous! Just a wee but sour, tones of strawberry evident. People were sucking it down at my Homebrewers day party. Very popular.