The Rocky Mountain Ale

So, I want to get a record of my most recent concoction: The Rocky Mountain Ale/Porter. It is based off of the "Goat Scrotum Ale" in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Here is what I used:

5 lbs plain dark malt extract (I think 3 lbs were builk, 2 lbs Breiss)
1 lb crystal malt
.25 lb black patent malt
.25 lb roasted barley
2 oz Cluster hops (60 minutes)
.5 American Fuggle (finishing - 5 or 10 minutes)
1 c. Brown Sugar
1 c. Molasses
2 tsp Gypsum
0 Corn Sugar (the recipe called for 1 lb - I thought it would be alcoholic enough)
3 oz fresh, grated ginger
2 oz dry ginger
2 oz licorice root (dry)
3 large red peppers
1 oz dried juniper berries, crushed
3 oz unsweetened Baker's chocolate
Whitelabs 012 London Ale Yeast

O.G. 1.066
F.G. 1.017
Estimated ABV: 6.43%

The DPA is a very good beer, but so far this one is my favorite. When it's cold it doesn't taste any different from a normal porter. When it warms up a little though, the red pepper and the ginger come through really well. There's a slight tang of dark fruit, with a combination of spice, ginger, and juniper numbness. I like it quite a bit.

Beer Update

Hello everybody! I know that neither of us have updated the blog recently, because we've both been super busy, but I figured I would write something quick while Anna was on the phone.

I'm getting back into the homebrew swing of things, so I figured I would update people with what I've been doing. Also, so I can remember.

1: Elbro Nerkte "My Way" Brown Ale. I have already posted about this one. The flavor has evolved, as I noted previously. Started mild, then the hop character shone through. We're pretty much out, but the remaining ones have lost much of their hop character and now the unfiltered water taste (I was lazy first time through) overpowers the good stuff. Overall, this batch was a success.

2. Walter Williams Patriot Porter. Recipe's on here. It's super heavy/malty, with a prune-ish flavor. I didn't like this at first - too heavy - but other people have responded positively to it, and I think it's improving with age.

3. Maple Syrup Amber. Recipe posted here, I think. It's not a bad beer, but I have to label this one a failure. The overcarbonation ruins things for me: It's a lot like drinking a fizzy soda.

4. Scottish Enlightenment. I don't know what happened to this one. I think what I did was boil and add the priming sugar to the top of the bottling bucket, then bottle from the bottom. A few have been carbonated, but most of them are flat. The upside is that the two failed beers here go well together - the Amber is over, the Scottish is under, and together they make a normal (okay-tasting) beer.

5. North Berlinner-Weiss. I briefly posted about this one: It's a sour beer with around 2.5-3% ABV. I let it sit in the primary for about seven months; I just couldn't get myself to bottle it. That changed when Daniel was here, and a division of labor made things go much quicker. It's carbonating well, but I'm still skeptical about the taste. These have been traditionally mixed with fruit syrup, so we need to get some.

6. Dark IPA (I wrote "DPA" because I couldn't decide between Deschutes Pale Ale and Dark Pale Ale. I have since realized that "Double Penetration Ale" also fits this acronym, so we've been calling it that.) This was a Northern Brewer Kit that I didn't alter at all (their Dark IPA kit...). It is maltier and much less hoppy (and boozier) than I expected (it sits around 7.0% ABV). Lots of corn sugar in there, as well...

I'll update soon with the Goat Scrotum, the recently bottled fun porter...