Saturday, June 28, 2008

Fermentation Friday

Thanks, Travis, for hosting.

This month: Craziest Concoction (intended or otherwise)

Should I take the easy way out and talk about the successes of Batch XI Dark IPA (MB0011) and Rising Sun Sesame-Ginger Red Ale(MB0014-T3)? Nah, let's talk flub ups.

The story begins like many, with an idea. Justin was all about making a porter with a twist. After several days of playing with a few ideal additives, coffee, chocolate and the like, he decided on going the unconventional route and make it a cinnamon porter. Throughout his research, though, Justin found that there was little information on this topic and consulted the brewers at some local brewpubs. We finally settled on adding two cinnamon sticks near the end of the boil.

On brew day, everything was going smoothly, including multiple "tastings", which started to take their toll towards the end of the night. Due to our slightly inebriated state, it seemed like a great idea to add, oh, say TEN extra cinnamon sticks. Six to eight weeks later we had a porter that smelled of Close Up Toothpaste and tasted of Big Red and coffee. Needless to say, Oops.

So what did we learn? Well, first off, 12 sticks of cinnamon is too much. Both Justin and I do believe that the beer would have been solid if we would have stuck to our recipe and not over indulged in the cinnamon. We also learned that beer and brewing don't mix.

Wait! No! I didn't mean that! I -

(EDITORS NOTE: Due to Dave's final comment in the last blog post, he is currently being treated for insanity and dementia at a local hospital. You may leave notes of concern here.)

Cheers,

The Management

4 comments:

Bryon said...

Too funny... Will you try that brew again, with less sticks?

Justin said...

I think that it will probably be in the works at some point. There are a lot of other things we want to get to before we revisit that.

Anonymous said...

What kind (and approximate size) of sticks did you guys use? I have just made what will be a cinnamon porter and I used two Brewer's Garden sticks (about .25" in diameter and 3" long) in a 5.5 gallon batch. I hope I'm not facing a similar fate!

Anonymous said...

Ok, my fermentation is complete and I will bottle in a couple days. I tasted the porter and there is no noticeable cinnamon flavor or aroma. I dropped two more steamed sticks in and will taste again in a few days. Now we know that twelve is too many and two is too few :)