Backlog: Rudolph's Red-Nosed Ale

Yep, it's been almost two years since I wrote in this blog. I've made a few more beers since then! I've done some things right and some things wrong, and learned a lot.

I've just started work on an elaborate beer for Christmas that I thought I would chronicle here. More on that later. First, a few posts about the beers I've made since the last post.

Rudolph's Red-Nosed Ale

This was my beer for Christmas 2012. It was the first I had made since the previous holiday's Secret Santa Stout. As usual, I wanted to try something different than I had done before, so I decided to do a more traditional spiced ale.

Ingredients:

6.6 lbs light malt syrup
2 lbs raw honey
1/2 lb crystal malt
2 oz chocolate malt
2 oz cascade hop pellets
1/2 oz hallertau hop pellets
1/2 oz water crystals
1 tsp Irish moss
1 oz spice blend (orange/cinnamon/allspice/clove)
Belgian strong ale yeast

For my third brew, this was not a challenging recipe. I crushed the grains and placed them in a muslin bag, then steeped them in 2 gallons of water for 5 minutes at close to boiling. Removed the grains.

Added malt syrup, cascade hops, and honey. Boiled for 30 minutes.

Added water crystal, Irish moss, and hallertau hops. Boiled 15 minutes more.

Pitched my yeast at about 70 degrees. Starting gravity was 1.050.

Tied the spice blend into a small muslin bag and added to the fermenter, then sealed it up and let it do its thing.

I was a little disappointed by the spices. This was a recipe kit from Beer and Wine Hobby, where I do most of my shopping, and the spices came pre-measured but they seemed freeze-dried or otherwise not as fresh as they might have been. I wish I had taken the time and effort to get fresh spices and measure them myself. Hard to beat the convenience, though.

After a week, I transferred to a secondary fermenter and got a gravity of 1.014, which was a bit above target. The more I read, the more it sounds like most homebrewers don't bother with two-stage fermentation unless there is a really compelling reason, such as a heavy beer that needs time to condition with added flavorings. Certainly it didn't seem to be necessary here, but that was what the recipe said. I also removed the spice sack at this time.

Two weeks later, I read a gravity of 1.010, which was right on target, and bottled. No issues.

Tasted my first one on 12/16/12. Had good carbonation and great head retention. More of a bitter hop flavor than I expected, almost astringent. I had never bothered straining my wort before, but after this beer I decided to do so going forward. I suspected that the hop residue was having a negative effect on the flavor. There also seemed to be some visible sediment in the beer that I could not attribute to expended yeast.

Overall the beer was crisp and drinkable. I attributed that character to the honey. The spices weren't assertive, mostly making their presence known in the aroma.

This beer was okay. Technically, it was well executed. I wasn't ashamed to give much of it away at Christmastime, and I drank through the rest pretty quickly. But I didn't love it. It didn't really sing. Decent, though. Good enough that I got started on my next one soon thereafter.

One other thing to mention: this was my first experience using Star San as a sanitizer, and I'll never go back. It is far easier and more convenient than using a bleach solution. Over time I've improved my technique. Generally I'll mix up a 5-gal batch in my fermenter at the start of brewing, sanitize everything I need to, and then fill a spray bottle with the fresh solution. The spray bottle comes in handy for any incidental sanitization needs over the course of the brew. I also make another full batch in the secondary, if applicable, and repeat the process for that equipment. There's no need to rinse, and it only takes a few minutes. Star San is the best.