Trying to replicate one of my favourite beers ever.

If you've been following my blog you might remember a beer I mentioned in a post a while back, the Belgian Summer Stout by Boatrocker, a Belgian Chocolate Stout with added raspberries. It is in my top five, or maybe even top two, favourite beers ever (probably tied with Garage Project's La Calavera Catrina)

I loved this beer so much that I actually emailed Boatrocker asking them when they were planning on making it again, as it was a seasonal beer. The response I got was:

"no"

Well, the response wasn't just no, but the whole truth was so much worse. You see, it was an accident and "not easily repeatable".

From Tim at Boatrocker:

"Basically it was a portion of the base imperial stout used to make Ramjet (about 9% abv), put into an ex-wine barrel with fresh raspberries for a few months. The high abv of the stout provided a very fresh and vibrant extraction of Raspberry character. When we racked it out of the barrel the Raspberry character was way too intense, so we decided to blend it down and make it into something more sessionable. We blended it heavily with a batch of dry (low FG) Belgian Chocolate Stout (less than 5% abv). The flavours combined very well, as it turned out Chocolate and Raspberry compliment each other nicely. But it would be exceptionally hard to recreate the same profile."

Ramjet is an incredible barrel aged imperial stout by Boatrocker that, if you haven't tried, you should definitely try.

Well there's no point in crying over spilt beer, I'm a home-brewer, a fucking home-brewer! We can do anything! I'm not going to let this shit stand!

I'll make it myself, I'll create this beautiful, delicious mistake at home!

Credit to contreras19 for the Invader Zim

So I made an imperial stout, around 8% ABV to soak the berries in. The brew day went well, Nothing really to report. My dad was over from NZ and so he came over to help out, along with my friend Jared. It was based on an old recipe of mine, the 'Nathan Fillion' Imperial Stout. It turned out very well and so I figured it would be best to be safe rather than try something new, especially considering how crazy this process is going to be.

So next step is to add berries. I want to add a lot too, I've made a beer with raspberries before and I wasn't happy with amount (the beer was great, just not raspberry enough). So for 20L of beer, I added 1.5kgs of frozen raspberries which I made sure weren't hepatitis A berries.

So first thing was to bring them to just under a simmer for about 10 - 20 minutes. This kills off any bacteria living on the berries that could possibly infect the beer.

Once it had sat for about 10 minutes and was pretty warm, I transferred it into my flask and put it back on the heat. I don't have a funnel so this was going to be the easiest way to get it into my new Better Bottle.

Success with no red stains anywhere!

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to add wood chips soaked in Pinot Noir, this is really the last step to making it an exact replica, but I might do it in the next few weeks. I don't want it to end up being overly oaky, I feel like it could possibly kill the refreshing-ness pretty easily.

And there it is, after a few days of sitting in my fermentation chamber it's starting to show some signs that the berries are fermenting. Will leave it for a few weeks in the fridge then I might move it somewhere dark so I can make that Belgian Chocolate Stout to blend it with!

P.S. The other beer I mentioned earlier, Garage Project's La Calavera Catrina, guess what? They don't make that any more either. 

EDIT: They do make it! But it's just not as good as it used to be...

Stay tuned.

Dan's Blue Cheese and Bacon burger and stuff...

So i've been back on the brew train pretty hard for the last couple of weeks.

So hard in-fact that i managed to pitch a beer straight on top of another beers trub, which i've wanted to do for a while, and fuuuuck me it is fermenting pretty quick. I pitched it this arvo at about 2, and by about 6 it was makin' giant yeast monsters through the masses of hops. Nice!

The first beer in question was an English Pale Ale. Pretty standard, a little medium crystal and a little rye, Fuggles and EKG. Racked it off into a secondary today on top of some more EKG, and then poured my other beer, which i had no chilled, on top of the US-05 yeast cake it left.

The other beer i will refrain from talking about too much, it's been an idea that's been brewing (HA!) in my mind for a while and i don't want any bad omens. Let's just say that it's a big IPA with lots of twists. If it turns out well, i'll let you know, and maybe taste.

Also, the reason i used US-05 for an English Pale Ale and not S-04 (which i usually prefer) is because i was getting a bit sick of malty beers (not really), and wanted something dry to combat this insanely hot weather we've been having in Melbourne recently. Also, i couldn't be bothered going all the way to the brew shop to buy anything different. Also, i love English hops and want to see if i can get them to come out a bit more. Like an APA style but with English ingredients. ALSO, it will be used to pay some of the people who are helping me out with this stage play i'm writing/directing later this year, and most of my friends want Coopers, not Red Hill Scotch Ale. But that's for another blog... Which i don't have.

Now on to something important, right?! How about these fucking burgers we made while brewing RESTRICTED INFORMATION. Thanks to Dan, the Californian who has been working at Deja Vu for a few months now on his OE, we managed to make Blue Cheese and Bacon burgers, which is a concept so insane that only an American could come up with for sure.

Don't eat me, love me.

This was just, like, ridiculous. Here's what we put in it:

BLUE CHEESE and BACON burgers:

- Homemade burger patties: mince with diced onion, egg, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce,  salt, pepper, orange rind and a bit of orange juice and paprika. (these were my creation, just so you know)

- CRISPY bacon. It has to be the CRISPYEST.

- Avocado.

- A big mushroom with Worcestershire sauce and butter, fried until soggy.

- Blue Cheese, the stinky kind.

- Green tomato relish.

Just smear the blue cheese all over those burger buns and grill them till nice and melted, then put everything together. Once your done find a good sized coffin and get someone to bury you, life's just not worth living anymore.

But before you do give your life up to the beauty of this wonderful burger, don't forget to wash it down with an Epic Hop Zombie, a Tuatara Double Trouble, an Anderson Valley Heelch O' Hops, an 8wired Hopwired and a Yeastie Boys Digital IPA.

Those were the beers we had that brew day, which Dan brought around (he is now obsessed with NZ beers), and they went perfectly with the monstrous burger.

Speaking of New Zealand again, i'm getting a bit worried. Is it tax in Australia that is hurting the craft beer industry the most? We went to the Catfish recently (great new set-up) during their Wellington craft beer event, and the beers were just amazing. Especially Garage Project La Calavera Catrina.

Nothing against the Australian Craft Beer scene, i've said it once, and i'll say it before, i think there are some of the best beers in the world being produced right here, and i know from personal experience that there are strong forces at work against it, but i want to see more variation and weirdness, it is what i believe to be the essence of craft beer.

Just as a note, this is in no way a professional opinion.

Anyway, here is an amazing picture:

Full sized picture here.

That's one of Saturn's moons, which apparently used to be a bigger planet, but has been smashed down to size.

Cheers!

New Zealand

So went to Gisborne, New Zealand with Becky for a month over Christmas and New Years to see the family and do some shows with my band, Nun of the Tongue. Caught up with old friends, swam lots and soaked up some well needed vitamin D. I also made a beer with my dad, who is now quite interested in pursuing grain brewing (as he had just been doing kits). It was just an extract brew with specialty grains. The beer we made was a clone of a famous Stone beer: Arrogant Bastard. I wanted to call it 'Ignorant Bastard', but dad liked the original name, so we just called it that. It turned out ok... Also drank quite a lot of this:

That is a 2 litre plastic bottle of (in my opinion) Gisbornes finest export, Sunshine Breweries Gisborne Gold. A brutally bitter, super refreshing beer. And you can get refills at the brewery, which is located right in town (a rather small city, of about 40,000 people). They also make Gisborne Green, the hoppier 'Pilsner' version of the Gold (everyone makes hoppy Pilsners in NZ instead of IPAs, i have no idea why), the Reserve Ale, which is basically a brown ale, and 'Black Magic'.

Black Magic is amazing, that's all i'll say.

About 90% of our beer money, that we had specifically saved to try awesome NZ beers while we were there, was used on Gisborne Gold... (it was only $10 for 2 litres!)

We did manage to try some amazing NZ beers, i'll list the good ones:

Three Boys Oyster Stout - Fucking amazing oyster stout, really rich and malty with some salty undertones. Definitely worth a go.

Kereru Kumara Brown Ale - Kumara is basically New Zealands answer to the sweet potato, but it is far superior to the sweet potato. This beer was amazing, super dry maltiness with a good hearty kick of sweet kumara essence.

The Mussel Inn Manuka Beer - The 'Captain Cooker'. This beer was really nice, super easy to drink, and because they use branches of manuka, and not the honey, it doesn't come out sweet, just very floral. It is worth mentioning this was recommended to us by Dave from Hashigo Zake, an awesome craft beer bar in Wellington. If you're there, go check it out.

And finally:

Garage Project: - We didn't manage to get to the brewery while we were in Wellington, and that made me very sad... But we did manage to try a few of their beers. I feel like they are the New Zealand version of Moon Dog, and they all come in cans! Anyway, the beers that we tried were:

Pernicious Weed - An insanely hoppy IPA, just hops everywhere, all up in your face. Delicious.

Angry Peaches - Awesome peachy beer, nice and bitter.

Day of the Dead - The chipotle dark lager, reminiscent of the Bock Naked by Moon Dog. Awesome, but not overpoweringly spicy (it does creep up on you though).

Now back home, to find a cupboard full of these that i made!

That is the Christmas beer i made with some friends for my friends. And yes, i waxed the shit out of the top of it using crayons and hot glue sticks. Just melt them in a can, in a pot with some water in it and then dip them.

Here was the recipe:

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Panforte Porter

Malt

Pale Ale Malt - 4kg

Crystal 120L -  700g

Choc Malt -      400g

Crystal 60L -    200g

Carafa III -       100g

Flaked Wheat - 200g

Hops

25g Chinook @ 60 mins

20g Fuggles @ 20 mins

Others

280g of Lactose @ 15 mins

100g of Sultanas at 30 mins

8 Cloves @ 30 mins

tsp of Cinnamon @ 20 mins

95g of Glace Cherries @ 20 mins

30g of Candied Ginger @ 15 mins

Yeast

Safale S0-4, fermented for 2 weeks and then bottle conditioned for a month.

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It tasted good, very winey. I think that was half because of the fruit, and half because of the amount of Crystal malt i used. Next time i think i would add more spices, and try and maybe dry hop most of the ingredients with some vodka.

WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN HAPPENING?

Well, i think my favourite beer that i've had all summer was the Belgian Summer Stout by Boatrocker. (We still have some left on tap at Deja Vu...)

The tartness of the raspberries made this beer so insanely refreshing, and once again reaffirmed my belief that stouts are definitely summer beers, stop the seasonal trend! (i'm looking at you Mornington).

Oh and a shout-out to Sean from Killer Sprocket, well done on your new smoked pale ale 'Bandit'. Experimental beers are the best beers.

Playing a gig tonight at Boney, will probably go to Deja Vu for a beer before hand.

SEEYA