Three Stooges Brewing (08/24/08)

We've taken the summer off of GCN and have gotten thirsty in the process. The only thing to do is brew some beer and think about our next culinary conquest.

BriGuy went with a Golden Ale (see recipe right here):
The patented "BriGuy Three Pots" brewing method:
Waiting for the perfect 170 degrees - no more, no less - to steep the grains:
Said grains, looking kinda spent. If only we had that pony we asked for last birthday, we'd have a place to put the grains. Maybe next year they'll take us seriously:
Boiling whole leaf Horizon hops in a mixture of steeped grains water and five pounds of malt extract. BriGuy almost maxed out that poor kettle:
Some nice Horizon finishing hops to seal the deal (Just the kiss of the hops):
A nice ice bath as an external wort cooler:

Now, normally, the GCN kitchen is a pretty exclusive place, but on BYOB (Brew Your Own Brew) day, we had a special guest who knows his way around a beer. SeanyBoy surprised us all with a raspberry wheat recipe that's sure to be tasty (see recipe below).

Starting with a couple of pounds of dry malt extract:

and a couple of pounds of light grains in a nylon boiling bag:
Blending up 36 oz of frozen raspberries (note Mrs. T-Bone almost stole the blender and added some vodka and a couple of straws. She could not escape the long arm of the GCN law):
A bucket of spent grains and what looks to be a CSI scene:

The soon-to-be patented (we need a patent lawyer, for sure) "T-Bone/SeanyBoy double-strainer" method of removing raspberry seeds from the wort:
Claiming it's spring water, we're pretty sure SeanyBoy is upping his alcohol content with a gallon of EverClear:

T-Bone's raw materials, using black (Irish) magic to turn this junk into his Chicken Bone Ale (see recipe below):
Boiling what appears to be his laundry, he reveals it was a nylon bag of light amber grain (20L) and his whole leaf domestic Hallertau and imported Saaz boiling hops:
Pressing the gooey goodness out of the nylon bag:
Making a rusty veteran mistake of adding warm wort to an empty carboy (always add your additional water first, T-Bone!)
Only the finest water will do (or whatever was picked up at Trader Joe's):
What a delicious sight -> grain + water + hops + yeast = 5 gallons of heaven:

RASPBERRY WHEAT BEER (SeanyBoy):

Ingredients:

• 5-1/2 lbs light dried wheat malt extract
• 1-1/2 oz Hallertauer or Northern Brewer (boiling), 7 HBU
• 1/2 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker (finishing), 2-3 HBU
• 24 to 36 oz frozen raspberries
• 16 oz frozen blackberries
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Belgian ale yeast (Wyeast 1214)*

Procedure:
Boil 2-1/2 gallons of water, add malt extract and boiling hops, and boil for 55-60 minutes. Turn off heat, add finishing hops, cool to 190 F and add the frozen fruit and vanilla. Let sit covered for 20 minutes, maintaining temperature at about 170 F and stirring occasionally. Cool to below 100F, add to carboy pre-filled with 2-1/2 gallons of water, straining out and pressing the fruit to extract most of the juice. Pitch the yeast, ferment at 70-72F, transfer to secondary after two days, then ferment completely out (about another 7 days). Prime with 3/4 cup corn sugar and bottle.

*Note that Belgian ale yeast will give stronger "clove" overtones when fermented at temperatures of 75-78F, and milder flavors at 70-72F.
^Back to SeanyBoy

CHICKEN BONE ALE** (T-Bone)

• 1 lb light Crystal Malt (20L)
  
• 3 lbs amber dry malt
• 3 lbs light dry malt (pilsen)
• 2 lbs honey
• 1 tsp Irish moss
• 1.25 tsp yeast nutrient (due to honey added)
• 2 oz Hallertau hops (4.2%)
• 2 oz Saaz hops, divided in 1/2 (3.6%)
• German Ale yeast

Boil 2 gallons and add grains. Wait 10 minutes and add dry malt, honey and 3 oz of hops (all of Hallertau and 1 oz of Saaz). 20 minutes before finishing, add Irish moss and yeast nutrient. 3 minutes before finishing, add 1 oz of Saaz for finishing hops.

Cool down and add to 3 gal of water (in carboy). Add yeast when 80 degrees or lower.

**Asked multiple times throughout the night if there was a chicken bone in his wort, the name sort of stuck. Don't worry, it was just the nylon bag string that looked like a bone. And, yes, the name is patented.
^Back to T-Bone