Simple Pale Ale

Rusty after not brewing all summer...rusty in color because being rusty caused me to add crystal 40l that was slated for my common denominator by accident, giving me a slightly darker "pale" ale.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S-05
Yeast Starter: Nope
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: Nope
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.051
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU: 39
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 10 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 Days at 68 degrees

Grain Bill
8 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
2 lbs. Vienna Malt
0.5 lb. Crystal 20L Malt

Mash
Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 152 degrees.
Dough-in with 3.5 gallons of water. After 60 minutes, add 5 quarts of 175 degree water and begin vorlauf. My system only takes about 2 quarts before it clears up, then it's wide open to drain in the kettle. Have another 3.25 gallons of 175 degree water ready for the next batch sparge. You should then get 6.5 gallons to your kettle for the boil.

Boil & Hops
1.0 oz Cascade 6.6% at 60 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 30 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 15 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 5 min.
0.25 oz Simcoe at 0 min
Chill to 70 to 75 degrees

Ferment at 60-64 ambient.

Brew Date 09.26.13

Bacon Fig Jam

Same basic recipe of the marmaljam, with a few tweaks. I was prepared for the amount of time it was going to take to reduce this go around and even made a pizza in the interim.
Ingredients:
12 or so figs cut into quarters
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raw honey, cinnamon
1 teaspoon sweet orange peel
6-7 pieces cooked bacon
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 lemon

Bring water to just about boiling
add figs, simmer until tender
add sugar and honey
reduce by half
add orange peel and bacon (crumbled)
reduce until it begins to thicken
add juice of 1/2 lemon
stir and reduce until jam begins to adhere to spoon-reduce another 15 minutes
cool
chill

Orange Cinnamon Fig Marmaljam

I had a great fig harvest this year, over 100 and they are still coming. I decided to try my hand at a marmalade. Everything I read about a marmalade involves precise temps for setting the mush as well as copious amounts of pectin. Lots of trial and error on the marmalade boards and lots of disappointing, runny, end results. Since I'm not one to ever follow recipes to the "T", I adapted several recipes into a pseudo jam and utilized some left over brewing adjuncts from seasonal beers. I'm going to be honest, it took a while to render that sucker down, a lot longer than I thought it would (stupid me for starting at 9pm when I had to work at 5am the next day), but the end result was spot on. I'm going to use this in a bacon, fig, marmaljam grilled cheese tomorrow, but here's the recipe in the interim.

Marmaljam(not quite marmalade, not quite jam):

12 or so figs (some were very overripe(can you say shrinkage?), some were perfect) cut into quarters
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raw honey (seriously, only because wanted to get rid of it, I scraped the jar)
1/4 oz sweet orange peel (leftover from brewing)This too can be potent and if you don't want the orange to co-star with the fig, taper it back to an 1/8oz.
1 cinnamon stick (left over from last year's christmas ale)
2 cups water
1 1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 lemon

Bring water to just about boiling in a large NON-STICK saucepan (I used my scan pan wok, I love this utensil and cook everything in it. pasta never boils over, no matter how high, burgers, rice, veggies, you name it)
Add the fig quarters and turn down to medium
Stir and stir until tender, giving a slight mash with a wooden spoon
Add the sugar and stir some more, gently, until dissolved, bring to a simmer
Add the sweet orange peel
Add the raw honey
let it render down until it darkens and add the cinnamon stick
(I took the cinnamon stick out several times and tasted, my stick was old, but it's very powerful stuff, don't overdo it and remember that it's going to be concentrated)
Simmer and stir, and stir and stir, until midnight, even if you have to get up at 4am
As it begins to render down and thicken, add the juice of the 1/2 lemon, pick out any seeds)
Once you get to a consistency that holds a bit on the spoon, let it go 15 more minutes (seriously, this was a total guess)
Remove from heat and let cool (it will thicken even more) and put it into jars or a bowl with a lid (you aren't making enough to bother canning)
Go to bed at 12:30am
Get up at 4:00am and rejoice at the consistency, put it in the fridge and hope it doesn't harden like candy and go to work
Crazy good on bread with some peanut butter, can't wait for the grilled cheese!
Cheers!!

Taleggio Pairing

Taleggio is one of those cheeses whose name even a novice turophile would recognize. Many people associate it with being a very stinky cheese when in fact, on the stink level, it's pretty mellow. It gets its name for the Valtaleggio region in northern Italy, near Lombardy. It is characteristically aromatic yet mild in flavor and features tangy, meaty notes with a fruity finish. The texture of the cheese is moist almost jello-like with a very pleasant melt-in-the-mouth feel. The combination of the soft texture, pungent aroma, and buttery flavors has proven to be addictive especially when spread on fresh crusty bread. 
You can see that the rind has a bit of a reddish hue and that tells us that this is a smear ripened cheese similar to an Epoisses or Grayson. When the cheese is being made, the curds are put into molds and then left at temperatures of around 70-77 degrees F. From there they are brined or hand salted and aged in caves for about 40 days. During the aging process, they are cleaned with a salt water solution to keep any unwanted molds away and to help develop the sticky, reddish rind that have beome so popular in today's cheese circles.

The texture of this cheese is like a dense marshmallow. It is pale cream in color and is springy, yet wonderfully smooth. The scent is super grassy and not too stinky. I don't typically eat the rind on this cheese because it is a bit bitter, but the paste of the cheese is so creamy and unctuous, sweet and mushroomy all at the same time. The pasteurized version tends to be a bit more mellow than the raw version as the raw milk keeps a lot of the natural flavors which shine through beautifully.

This cheese pairs wonderfully with a fruity, effervescent, Saison like Great Divide's Colette or Surly's
Cynic.

The Red C

An American Red Ale in the spirit of Independence Day, fermented on the yeast cake of Beach Blonde Summer Ale. Ok, so in a moment of weakness, I named it Scarlet last night, but with a line up of Columbus, Chinook and Cascade and Citra, how could I ignore the C theme-so I'm "parting" with Scarlet and bringing on the red C.

Grist:
11 lb Malteurop 2-row
.75 lb Briess Caramel 60L
.5 lb Belgian Special B

Hops:
.50 oz Columbus 60 min
.50 oz Chinook 20 min
1 oz Cascade 5 min

Dry Hop:
1 oz Centennial
1 oz Chinook

Yeast:
S-05 cake

Mash in 5.25 gallons 167 degree water, target 153, actual 153.7. Sacch Rest 60 minutes. 8:30
Sparge 3.5 gallons 170 degree water.
90 minute boil.
Chill 12:30
Aerate yeast 1:15am
Full blown fermentation 8am the next morning

Target OG 1.058 Actual OG 1.060
Fermentation temp is 70 degrees ambient, a bit high for my liking, but within the range for this yeast. I'm going to ferment it in a sink of groundwater just in case i need to bring the temps down with some ice. My fermentation chamber has saison du weizen in it at 40 degrees and i don't want to change that.

Blonde Highlights (Again)

Taking advantage of the break in the heat to brew this easy drinking summer ale. Fermentation temps will be a bit warmer than March, so I'm going to add a a touch of aroma hops to balance out the increased fruitiness s-05 will probably throw off at 70 degrees ambient.

Grist:

7.5lbs Briess 2 row

.5lb Briess Carapils

.25lb Flaked Barley

.25lb Flaked Corn

Hops:

.5oz Cluster 45 min

.25oz Cluster 15 min

.15oz Cluster 5 min

Yeast:

Safale 05

Mash 4.25 gallons 161 degree water, target 152.

Sparge 3.25 gallons 180 degree water

Start volume 6.5 gallons

Target OG 1.041 Actual OG 1.042

Fermentation temps 68-70 degrees, basement ambient

Dog Days of Summer...

are coming fast, so is the need for a hot dog thread...

5/19:
1. Grass fed dog, whole wheat bun, taleggio cheese, roasted tomatoes.
2. Grass fed dog, whole wheat bun, German mustard, red beet and cabbage kraut fermented with ginger, garlic and cilantro
My Half-Hearted IPA in the background.