The BruSho Altbier
I stole this recipe from a recent BruSho episode. I was a little reluctant to brew it since commercially I haven’t found many examples of an altbier I liked. This particular recipe is solid though and makes a perfect fall or winter style beer. I fermented with Kaiser at 70F which is 10F warmer than recommended, and it definitely threw some esters. Because of that, the beer is less cleanly lager-like and something between an altbier and an english brown ale.
Simple Cider
This was my introduction to brewing ciders and this recipe is basically prison juice. SunRype apple juice, yeast, and nutrient: that’s it. My brew day took about 15 minutes. It was so short I almost felt guilty. Despite the simplicity, the product is super drinkable and my wife seems to like it. It also makes for an interesting canvas to play with fruit and other additives. I’d like to make it a regular brew and keep playing with different fruit, hop, and spice flavors.
Ale Tales - Cold IPA Recipe
Iterating on my dry-hopped cream ale, I evolved the style into its more alcoholic and hoppy successor, the Cold IPA. The malt bill was recycled, increasing total grain 2 kg and upping the alcohol a percentage point. For a clean fruity and citrusy west coast ipa I went with Mosaic, Citra, and Nelson hops. 1 oz each of Mosaic and Nelson were added to a 20 minute 80C whirlpool. At the very end of fermentation, 1 oz each of mosaic, citra, and nelson were added to the fermentor for 5 days.
Ale Tales - Dry Hopped American Cream Ale Recipe
Continuing on my lager quest I saw it fitting to brew a classic American Cream Ale, BJCP category 6A. This recipe is as standard as an American Cream Ale can get, except for the 1 oz charge of cryo-Cascade at the end. Despite the dry hop, this beer has all the lawnmower feels I love about American beer: it is plebeian, boring, and crushable. I would recommend you try this beer if you too appreciate thirst quenching lagers.
Basic Vegan-Friendly Sandwich Loaf
My family’s weekly sandwich loaf. This recipe is as simple as I can make it and vegan friendly as well! The recipe is flexible enough to dial up/down the whole wheat flour to your liking and oat milk can be replaced with cow milk if desired. I have found this particular shaping and baking method key to consistently shaped sandwich loaves. Happy baking!
Ale Tales - Bohemian Pils
I decided to start my pilsner journey with a known recipe this time from Brewing Classic Styles. Putting my own preferences aside this recipe is solid ground to build upon (obviously). I adjusted the malt and hops to better fit my brewery utilizations, specifically I toned down the hop additions and decreased the base malt. The beer turned out fantastic and it won’t last long. Unfortunately I’ll need to wait another 4-6 months before I can brew pilsners again!
Weekday Sourdough Bread
A weekday sourdough bread recipe that follows the same schedule as my daily yeasted loaf except for an overnight preferment. The preferment is important for yeast vigor and taste. Because the dough isn’t left to ferment a long time at cold temperatures, the sourness is subdued and “rustic” might be a more appropriate descriptor. The recipe is dead simple to make during the week, it just assumes you already have a healthy sourdough starter.
Ale Tales - American Pale Ale
This is the second beer on my journey to finding a house American Pale Ale. What I’m looking for in an APA is a beer that first pleases my eyes and nose; for me that means a clear golden to copper colored beer, nice tight white head, and mostly floral and tropical fruit notes on the nose. Though I like tropical fruit, I explicitly steer clear of hazy or “juicy” style beers.
Practice Makes Perfect - Hopefully
I’ve determined that I need to practice around the greens if I’m to consistently shoot in the 70s. A couple of statistics gathered from The Grint confirmed my suspicions as I haven’t made a single putt outside of 5ft in three rounds. According to The Grint, from 5ft I only make 50% of my putts. To confirm I spent about an hour on the putting green testing myself from 6ft and the results were depressing.
Our Daily Bread Updated
I’m updating my daily bread recipe as it has drifted a bit over the past year. The changes I recently made were minor but significantly improve the loaf appearance. Since sometime last year, I’ve increased the baking temperature to 475F to darken the loaf. I’m much happier with the look of the loaf now, especially the burning around the ear. I’ve also doubled the amount of olive oil to half a cup.