"Naughty Amber ... ale" brewing

Sounds dodgy huh?

This time I used orange and agave syrup in strong amber ale!

Actually, it's not my first time to use fruits in brewing. I brewed Belgian wit with Dan using grape fruits I can pick from the garden outside of my flat and also used the same stuff for brewing Saison Dupont clone with Josh. Belgian wit I brewed didn't go well, because of the other spice I added and the beer tasted odd. My friend said to me "weird flavour combination". Saison Dupont clone is still bottle conditioning, but I'm expecting to be pretty good. I added only grape fruits to saison, but nothing else. Saison's 'tart' 'grassy' 'fruity' can get along with 'citrus' 'sour' 'bitter' flavour of grape fruits. 

This time's brew's idea was totally came from nowhere. Well, actually came from the bar. I was thinking about trying some brown sugar or honey for the brew and I was staring at agave nectar that we use for making Margarita. Then, I was thinking about Margarita recipe. Cointreau is used to make Margarita as well as Tequila, lime, salt. Cointreau is an orange liqueur from France. Obviously this proves that agave syrup and orange is a good couple. 

My flavour inspiration from there reached to one idea 'caramel orange'. The beer smelt like just peeled orange and tasted great after the brew. The beer was pretty clear from a good rolling boil. I cleaned my gears more carefully than usual, too. It was very motivated from my trip to Galbraith's ale house. I was getting training on cask beer serving and brewed a batch of beer with the head brewer, Ian Ramsay. It was very motivational and educational. 

Absolutely fantastic experience before getting into industry. I am starting to brew commercially. The beer is called Funk Estate and starting with my favourite Black IPA. This Wednesday, 18th April is the Funk Estate's first brew day. I'm so stoked!

Recipe for Naughty Amber

Amt	Name	Type	#	%/IBU
4.00 kg	Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)	Grain	1	53.3 %
2.00 kg	Munich Malt (17.7 EBC)	Grain	2	26.7 %
0.20 kg	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC)	Grain	4	2.7 %
1.00 kg	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC)	Grain	3	13.3 %
0.20 kg	Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC)	Grain	5	2.7 %
0.10 kg	Chocolate Malt (689.5 EBC)	Grain	6	1.3 %
50.00 g	Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min	Hop	10	7.8 IBUs
10.00 g	Pacific Jade [13.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min	Hop	8	13.3 IBUs
10.00 g	Pacific Jade [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min	Hop	9	12.4 IBUs
30.00 g	Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min	Hop	7	15.8 IBUs
50.00 g	Fuggles [4.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days	Hop	13	0.0 IBUs
100.00 g	Orange choped (Boil 15.0 mins)	Spice	11	-
250.00 ml	agave syrup (Boil 0.0 mins)	Flavor	12	-

The original gravity was 1.069. It was a lot lower than expected. From how the grain looked I'm guessing the grain didn't get milled enough. 

Failing coconut stout

Metallic, not enough coconut and smoky...

It's my 3rd batch of coconut porter. I call it coconut stout, because I add coconut to my dry stout. However, this time the beer was not cool. The beer had metallic flavour and also smoky character. I know why. That is why I'm so disappointed to my self. 

The smoky flavour was obviously coming from burnt coconut. I usually toast coconut to nice brown to sterilize and get rid of the oil in the dried coconut meat. When I did this I was in hurry and I burnt some of coconut to black. I dumped in the beer anyway, because I had to run to my work. I assumed, since the base beer is stout burnt flavour from toasted (burnt) coconut wouldn't be a trouble. Yeah, BIG MISTAKE. The most important ingredients in good beer making is CARING and PATIENT!

Metallic flavour usually comes from 

- rusty brewing gear

- aluminium

- poorly stored malt

- low fermenting temp

- iodophor (maybe not)

The most likely brew fault is fermentation temp. The second is rusty brewing gear. I am guessing the tap attached to boiling kettle is rusty, because I don't use the tap and don't clean it that often. I must, now!

It's cool learning from mistake. Screwed, but will never forget!