A little while back I brewed and American brown ale (Bobby Brown Ale) and it was really nice. It had chocolate and caramel flavors, but was really clean and drinkable. It’s the season for darker beers and I love a good American brown, so I wanted to revisit and revamp that beer. The BJCP describes a brown ale as “A malty but hoppy beer frequently with chocolate and caramel flavors. The hop flavor and aroma complements and enhances the malt rather than clashing with it.” That’s what I love about brown ales, the balance, the flavors, and the fact that they’re darker, but supremely drinkable.
For the base, I added Maris otter instead of just 2 row. I used Crystal 80 instead of 60, upped the chocolate malt a touch, and added maple syrup in the boil. I wanted to spice it up for the holidays, so i added two cinnamon sticks and some ground allspice, ginger, and nutmeg to the boil. I wanted a silkier mouthfeel so I added some maltodextrin to boost the body. Check the recipe:
If you’re here, then I’m sure you’ve heard of The Mad Fermentationist, Michael Tonsmeire. He literally wrote the book on sour beers (a very informative and great read) and his blog is full of recipes, tasting notes, and all kinds of goodness. I’m a frequent visitor and really enjoy his work, so when I got the chance to buy his yeast, I jumped on it.He had a house brett-saison culture that he created over the years and Bootleg Biology isolated selected microbes and put together a culture for brewers to use, The Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend. They describe the yeast as “Fine tuned over two years, this blend morphed over time to become an elegant powerhouse of classic saison spice, stone-fruit Brett, lactic tartness and a dry but well-rounded body. The final master blend consists of saison yeast, wild Saccharomyces, rare brettanomyces and an opportunistic lactobacillus culture.” Yes, I can dig that!
They suggest you dry hop during the tail end of fermentation, since it plays well with fruity and tropical hops. I wanted the yeast and bacteria to shine and was looking for some tartness. Michael says the lacto wasn’t very hop tolerant, so I was added some fruity hops at flameout and forewent the dry hop. Check the recipe:
Whenever I see interesting ingredients or anything I could possibly brew with, I buy it. This happened with some chamomile I bought a little while back. However, this wasn’t new to me, I’d brewed a chamomile saison last summer and it came out quite nice, so I was excited to use it again. This brings me to the Honey Chamomile Wheat!
I stumbled upon this post on Homebrewtalk so I started doing some research…I found the recipe in the Extreme Brewing book here (full text here). It was first brewed at Dogfish Head in the summer of 2005 and they say this about the beer: “The addition of chamomile flowers and honey lends this American style Wheat beer a soothing character that compliments warm weather and relaxation.” I can dig that!
I’ve been interested in brewing a milkshake style IPA for some time, so I decided to give it a shot! The milkshake IPA style usually has fruity hops, milk sugar (lactose), fruit, and vanilla. This beer has been described as a sub-set of hazy NEIPAs, but it oftentimes has more mouthfeel & the hops have to mesh well with the fruit and/or vanilla.
It appears that Omnipollo were the first to put out these kind of beers when they came out with a “smoothie IPA” in 2014. In 2015, Jean Broillet IV of Tired Hands teamed up with Omnipollo to release the first “milkshake IPA”, which has turned into a growing series, including: Rose Panna Cotta Milkshake IPA, Bananas Foster Double Milkshake IPA, Raspberry Green Tea Milkshake IPA, and many more.
Jean Broillet IV didn’t only want to use lactose but, “[gobs of] oats, apple puree, vanilla, and fruit.” Brewing with oats increases viscosity due to the high content of beta-glucans, while the apple puree is used for pectins to create a luscious, thick mouthfeel. The beer is then conditioned on fruit & vanilla beans to round out the flavor profile. These are culinary focused beers and I’ve seen versions without fruit, without vanilla, and even without lactose. They’re more popular now and since they’re in such high demand and are damn tasty, I don’t see them going anywhere soon.
scraping split vanilla bean
For my iteration (milkshake style), I didn’t use any fruit or apple puree (next time). I fell in love with enigma hops last year when I had Other Half‘s All Enigma Everything and I’ve been hooked (kind of obsessed) since. I wanted to get all that enigma goodness, and I added a vanilla bean after primary fermentation to get some Nilla warmth that I think will pair well with the sweetness from the lactose, and the earthy fruitiness of enigma hops.
For my base I used 60% 2 row and went heavy with the oats at 40% (hell yea). 30% of those oats are Fawcett oat malt (which I’ve never used before). Oat malt is described as, “a unique malt that adds a distinct texture and smoothness to your brews similar to flaked oats.” I’d heard Tired Hands uses Fawcett oat malt in their beers so I was excited to give it a shot!