Homebrew Journal: Kyle's Belgian Warriors

After homebrewing from kits for a while, Mark and I both decided to design our own recipes and try them out. I was going to write my notes about the recipe and the brewing in my brewing notebook, but since this is a new beer that has never been made before, I thought I would share. I'll write a little bit about mine here and I'll let Mark write his own entry about his if he wants. I have not tasted the beer yet so this isn't a review, but I will write a review in a few months when it is done.

I will go the whole thing here, but you can find more details about my recipe here. That is a great website and I highly reccomend it for designing your own recipes. This is an extract recipe.

Malts (all liquid):

6 lbs of Northern Brewer Light Pilsen Extract (75)

6 lbs of Northern Brewer Golden Extract (75)

1 lb. 3 oz. of Munton's Light Extract (60)

If you are a homebrewer you can probably tell that I decided to really go for it with my first recipe. I put in more than 12 pounds of malt, which ended up giving me an OG of 1.085. That is huge. If it drops nicely I should end up with about 9% ABV. Also you might notice that I decided to boil for 75 minutes. This is the first time I have done that and I will explain why in the Hops section. The malts I chose are common in Belgian style dubbels and tripels (even the Muntons which I just threw in cause Mark had it left over) and I wanted to stick to a Belgian style with malts and yeast, but really add a lot of kick with the hops.

Hops:

1 oz. Warrior Hops, 17.2% Alpha (75)

1 oz. Warrior Hops, 17.2% Alpha (60)

1 oz. Cascade Hops, 5% Alpha (15)

1 oz. Czech Saaz Hops, 4% Alpha (15)

1 oz. Cascade Hops, 5% Alpha (5)

1 oz. Czech Saaz Hops, 4% Alpha (5)

WARRIORS COME OUT TO PLAYAYYY!

The Warriors have a very high Alpha percentage which is basically a measure of how bitter they are. However, the amount of bitterness that actually comes out of the Lupulin is a factor of how long you boil it. I want the Warriors to really be the center point so I started an ounce of them at 75 to maximize their bitterness and also added an ounce at 60 where they should be very bitter as well. The massive amounts of maltose in this beer will downplay the bitterness and hopefully strike a nice balance. I don't expect the Terminal Gravity to be much lower than 1.025 so there will still be a good amount of sugar in the final product. It is a lot of both sugars and bittering hops so I don't know if one will dominate, but I hope the warriors only slightly win out over the sweetness. The Cascade-Czech Saaz 15-5 finishing combo is lifted straight from the Northern Brewer Houblonmonstre (Gewurztramonstre) kit that I loved so much. I thought for a long time that I was going to save an ounce of Warriors for either dry hopping or hop bursting (adding to boil at 0 minutes), but Mark and I decided that they might get lost among the Cascades and Saaz so it would be better to just use them for bittering.

Yeast:

Wyeast Belgian Ardennes 3522

I decided on the yeast because it works well against high gravities and it is described as having a complex spicy character and mild fruitiness. I hope that some of that comes through and it is not overpowered to much by the other flavors. Otherwise it won't be very much like a Belgian anything. A yeast starter was made from the smack pack 3 days prior to brewing.

I had originally called this a Belgian Tripel, but according to hopville, it has way too much of everything to be considered for that label. I think Imperial IPA might be a better label, but for now let's just stick with "Kyle's Belgian Warriors!"

The brew is taking off nicely, it is bubbling over like crazy after 24 hours and is making a mess for Mark in his closet.

Questions and comments welcome...

SteepleChase Brewing Company: Three Dead Red

This is the first beer we have homebrewed in a while, and I have the pleasure of being the first one to try it. The name comes from a disgusting story. I had left some dishes in the sink for a bit too long and last night I noticed some little red flies in the sink. So I did the dishes, killed a handful of flies, and cleaned the sink with bleach. I went to work in the morning and forgot about the flies.

On my way home I stopped at Wegman's to get some ingredients for a delicious dinner. When I arrived at home I was excited to try the freshly brewed beer, but before popping a sixer in the icebox, I noticed something in the sink. Three dead red flies. And Three Dead Red was born. [Fun Trivia: this is the second SBC beer to have Three in the name]

I had put one Three Dead Red in the fridge earlier and so I cracked it open as I prepared dinner. I didn't have much time to think about it as I prepared one of the best meals of my life. Let me set the scene:

The Scene:
Take Red, Yellow and Cayenne Peppers and saute them with some onions in a pan. Slice open a nice Angus steak and line it with pepperjack cheese. Stick the peppers and onions in there and throw the whole thing on the stovetop. Cook it like a man... rare.

The Result:The steak yielded some great gravy for the mashed potatoes and I waited until it was all done to open my second Three Dead Red.

The Beer:
The secondary fermentation did a great job and I could pour this bottle straight up. Perfect amount of carbonation, I should put it all in the fridge now so it doesn't get overcarb'ed. The smell is kind of light and pleasant. Pretty much what you would expect. The taste follows suit. Its nothing special, but it goes down easy. And with an ABV around only 4%, this is a beginner's homebrew. I'm no expert at pairing beer and food, but I feel like this went perfect with my dinner. It didn't try to push to the forefront and overpower me with flavor, the meal had plenty of that. It was always there for me when I came across a bite filled with cayenne pepper. Its not really a beer to sit around and discuss, but it plays the part of supporting actor to perfection. And in honor of that comparison, I will give it a rating system based on the best Best Supporting Actor ever.






5/10 Cuba Gooding Jrs.