Homebrew Review: Ode to the Halper Bitter

So we've had some issues with the Ode to the Halper Bitter (MB0026), but alas it's bottled and carbed up, so now's the time for a review of this Ordinary Bitter. The ABV ended up just under 4%, and it's cleared well after having bulk-aged in secondary for about a month. So let's get down to to it:

Pours a clear orange with honey hues and a foamy, 3/4 finger white head. Nose is sweet caramel with mild floral hop notes, also a touch of apple. Moderate watery mouth feel with good carbonation. Nice lacing. Taste begins with a huge caramel flavor accented with fruity notes of bright apple and mild cherry, which quickly bleeds to a solid hop bitter and mild floral and piny hop flavor.

This thing is too damn drinkable. Now, we've had some issues with Pale Ale's in the past (Leaky Faucet anyone?), but this one's on point. Well, it's at least a jumping off point. There's a bit too much caramel malt causing it to be slightly on the sweet side, but other than that, it's rather well balanced. I've been partaking in a lot of these, and it's slated to be made again soon. Could we be onto a "House Beer" with this one? Potentially, but it still needs a bit of work. I'm thinking a little less caramel malt to start. We'll see how it goes.

Cheers,

Dave

The Halper's Bottled, and a Hop Hater's Review of the Ides of March

In case you haven't been following along in the side bar, the Ode to Halper Bitter (MB0026)is now in bottles, and slowly carbing up in the basement. Preliminary results say that it's a bit too sweet in the caramel department, although it is rather balanced. As of now, it's the best version of a Pale Ale that we've been able to produce here at Muckney. More to come.

So, as the title clearly states, the Halper himself, Jon of Confessions of a Hop Hater and Earth Bread + Brewery weighed in recently on the Ides of March Russian Imperial Stout (MB0017). Check it out.

Cheers,

Dave

It's a Beautiful Day for some Bottling. . .

I got caps, or should I say, Justin picked up some caps. And looking at the above picture, it's a beautiful, January day in western Pennsylvania. It's the type of day when only an Impy Stout can warm you up, and venturing out is the furthest thing from your mind.

So, I'm sure this means I should bottle. I still have the Ode to the Halper Bitter (MB0026) "lagering" in the "cellar" (by "lagering", I mean sitting, and by "cellar" I mean the ice box that my basement has become. Who needs temperature control when it's 12F outside!), and it needs a home. I'm not quite sure if I'll get to it, as today is going to be dedicated to only one thing, the Stillers and their next stop on the road to the Super Bowl. We're kinda fans here at MB.



And to think, we were going to grill today. I think that idea's shot!

Go Stillers!!

Cheers,

Dave

The First Rule of Bottling. . . .

. . . .is you don't talk about bottling.

The second rule of bottling is, well, yeah, you don't talk about bottling.

The third rule of bottling, and a mighty important one is Make sure you have enough caps!

Yeah, so after all of the planning an preparation of last night, an oversight on my part limited our bottling efforts to only one batch, the Bipartisan Porter (MB0025). We'll take care of Ode to the Halper (MB0026) later this weekend.

I love pulling numbskull moves like this. . . .

OK, time to get back to the National Title Game.

Cheers,

Dave

Putting the "Coffee" in Coffee Porter

So the Bipartisan Porter (MB0025) has been in secondary now for two weeks, and will be bottled within days. To get the coffee into said porter (recipe here), I followed Nate's method that was cooked up by he and TJ, owner if The Commonplace Coffeehouse here in Indiana.

Using a toddy, the good folks at the Commonplace cold-pressed some Sumatra Mandheling, one quart to be exact, which I added (after a quick boil and cooling) to the porter while transferring it to secondary. This method was chosen to reduce the addition of tannins that would be produced during the steeping of the coffee. We'll see how it turns out shortly.

Also, Ode to the Halper Best Bitter (MB0026) has been chillin' in secondary along side the BP, and is begging to be bottled and then imbibed. I'm excited to see how this one turned out, as keep having self-imposed problems while making session beers (i.e. the Leaky Faucet Pale Ale and the Eagle and Child Mild), which, so far, hasn't plagued the Halper.

More to come.

Cheers,

Dave

Just Another Double Brew Day (Night)

Has it really been that long? Well, according to my calendar, there has been no brewing at Muckney Brewing for the past THREE MONTHS! Frankly, that's unheard of, more so unnecessary, and completely inexcusable. Yeah, I've been busy with work and family, but recently made a career move that should allow for more brewing time, but that's a story for another day.

Today's topic, Saturday. Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning, to be more specific. Finally, two weeks behind our friend El Bearded Brewer, MB closed the airlock on the first Across the Aisle Ale, the Bipartisan Porter (MB0025). You can catch up here and here, but the long and short of it is that EBB and MB, of differing political views, have decided to show that beer is a uniter, not a divider, by brewing the same beer using the same recipe, but following our political leanings in the choice of ingredients, his being the organic version and MB's being the "chemically enhanced" version of a Coffee Porter.

Here's the MB version of the recipe, for EBB's, look here:

2 lbs 2-Row
1 lb Crystal 120
.50 lbs Chocolate
.25 lbs Munich
.25 lbs Roasted Barley
3.5 lbs Light DME
1 oz Northern Brewer @ 60
.50 oz East Kent Goldings @ 20
.50 oz East Kent Goldings @ 10
Wyeast 1056 American Ale

The brewing process went well without any major missteps, and actually produced a first for MB. We normally add all of our DME at the beginning of the boil, but have been having some extract "twang" issues as of late. Now, I'm pretty sure they can be attributed to DME that was past it's prime, but it could have also been caused, in part, by the long boil time. The process was changed slightly for the Bipartisan Porter, by using the "Late Addition" method for the DME. After collecting the prescribed amount from the mash, we began boiling the wort and adding the hops as the recipe indicated. The DME was held out until the last 15 minutes of the boil, allowing just enough time for it to incorporate into the wort and be sterilized. Now I had heard of this method before, but never tried it. It was one of those "ain't broke" afterthoughts. Well, ad the advisement of EBB, I jumped on the Late Addition bandwagon with the Bipart. I did notice that the hot break began and ended faster with this method, probably because of the ambient heat in the liquid. This could have been a coincidence, but it also happened with the second batch of the evening.

And what was this mystery second batch that is indicated in the title? Well, Jon of Earth Bread + Brewery had mentioned in one of his posts that they recently brewed a Dark Mild Ale entitled Santos L. Halper's Mild. This, of course, got my mind pointed back in the direction of English Bitters, which are some of my favorite styles, and so was born Ode to the Halper Best Bitter (MB0026). The grain bill was simple, with Pale 2-row and Pilsen and some caramel to color it, this guy should hold a pretty decent bitter (32 IBUs if I remember correctly) but only weigh in in the low 4's ABV-wise. I'm pretty excited to see how this one turns out, since the last bitter, well, wasn't very bitter, nor that good overall.

The brew night, overall, though long into the wee hours of Sunday morning, was a good session. The Late Extract Addition method seemed to speed up the day a bit, or at least made it seem more streamlined. I can't end this post, though, without giving my buddy Pat a shout out and a bit "thanks". He gave me a hand with the first brew in Justin's abscence, and was awesome enough to grab a sixer of DFH Chicory Stout to share. Tasty stout night.

Cheers,

Dave