Thursday, February 27, 2014

Cherry Bomb Blonde

Sampling at 11 days bottle conditioning.  Color: Amber with ruby red tones.  Aroma: Sweet grain and sweet and tart cherries.  Flavor: sweet cherries up front transitions to tart cherries and black currant from the Bramling Cross hops, then gives way to subtle sweet grain with a slightly tart, bitter, almost tannic finish likely due to the cherry puree.  I think an extra week or so of bottle conditioning will smooth it out.
CHEERS!        

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Cherry Bomb Blonde

Bottled today with FG at 1.014 placing ABV at 4.98%.  Color is a nice pale pinkish-red.  Flavor is good.   Slightly malty-grainy with a subtle cherry flavor on the finish.  I didn't want an overly sweet or cloying brew and I didn't wan't to add flavor extracts either.  I'll post again after two weeks.
CHEERS!  

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Cherry Bomb Blonde

Racked to secondary onto 3 lbs Vintners Harvest Sweet Cherry puree.  Current gravity 1.014 placing ABV at 4.98%.  I had to get a taste of this beer before the adding the cherry puree and it is quite good!  I only used three malts and it is a lot maltier than I was expecting with a nice residual sweetness from the caramel 20L malt.  The black currant aroma from the hops is quite nice as well, though it may not be evident after the cherry addition.  I think this would be a good lawnmower beer minus the cherry, but we'll see how much cherry comes through in the end product.
Thanks for reading.  CHEERS!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Cherry Bomb Blonde

Brew day went well.  Projected OG 1.047.  Measured OG 1.052.  5 gallons in the fermenter with Fermentis US-05 yeast.  I chose the yeast for its neutral flavor properties. I used Weyermann Vienna and Weyermann Pilsner malts with some Briess Caramel 20.  I opted for UK Bramling Cross hops for the flavor of black-currant and its spiciness.  I'll add the cherry puree to secondary in a week.
CHEERS!  

Cherry Bomb Blonde

Next up on the brew list will be a fruit version of a blonde ale.  I love cherries so I thought I would brew a blonde ale and add cherry puree to the fermentation process.  I'll be adding the cherry puree to secondary to try and preserve the flavor and aroma.  I'll use a flavor-neutral yeast to let the fruit come through.

I'm a little late in getting started on this brew as it would have been great for Valentines day.  It will be a nice Spring beer nonetheless.  

Planning on brewing this Sunday morning on 2/2/14.

CHEERS!

S.O.S. (Oak) Smoked Oatmeal Stout

This beer turned out quite good as reviewed from the crew at The Brew Hut in Aurora, CO.  They liked the way I used the Weyermann Oak Smoked Wheat malt in this recipe.  The aroma has oak on the nose as well as some chocolate notes.  The flavor of chocolate gives way to very mild sweetness and a semi-dry finish with a hint of smoke coming in on the back-end.  There is a nice mild bitterness that rounds out the brew.
CHEERS!