Okay, okay. Instead of fussing with the very long post I've been working up about Chaos Space Marines (yes, I purchased a book from the Game Novelizations section of Powell's), I'll post something short-n-tasty that I wrote this week. It's sort of a work in progress, but I just know it's going to yield some great results. Snort. So, along with my first comics and my first novel, this is my first homebrew recipe, after my 5th batch of beer and 2nd batch of mead (which is winding down now. I predict July bottling). In the words of the late-great Heath Ledger, Here... we... go.
[Strawberry Blonde]
7 lbs. dry light malt extract
2 lbs. 14oz orange-blossom honey
1 lb milled crystal malt (something sweet!)
2 oz Hallertauer hops (pellets)
1 tsp Irish moss powder
3+ lbs whole frozen strawberries
11.5 g packet of dry ale yeast (your choice, I'm experimenting with Safale S-04)
- Sanitize all your gear: brewing pot, thermometer, ferm. lock and stopper, mesh strainer, funnel, plastic bucket and lid. Normally I sparge right into my glass carboy, but not this time because...
- In your bucket, combine the frozen strawberries and 2 gallons of water (try fitting a whole strawberry down the neck of a carboy. Yeah... now try getting it back out again! Bucket is bettah). During the time it takes to brew your wort, they'll thaw out somewhat and basically make strawberry ice water.
- Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil in your big brewer's pot. Once it's hot, add the crystal malt. Steep for 30 minutes, keeping an eye on it (mine got foamy, nothing major, but still). Fish out as much as you reasonably can with your mesh strainer and discard the spent grains.
- Add the malt extract, the honey (I put a little hot water in the near-empty jar and shook it, so I could get out all the honey-goodness) and 1.5 oz of the hops. Boil for 60 minutes.
- With 15 minutes to go in your boiling time, add the Irish moss powder.
- With 5 minutes to go in your boiling time, add the remaining hops.
- Put the lid on and sparge through your strainer-and-funnel into your bucket.
- Pitch your yeast when cool. I did mine at 70F. Put on your fermentation lock.
Note: I was beer-prenticed under someone with a broken hydrometer, so I (ahem) often neglect to take OG readings. Lazy is the word for it.
Here's where we get into the theoretical part. I pitched the afternoon after I sparged. The night after I pitched, the yeast was fermenting away. Hooray, it's going to be beer! But, that was only yesterday, so who knows what kind of shenanigans will arise? I'm planning to rack into my glass carboy after a week, and bottle after (at least) a week in my secondary fermenter. I'll update this if there's some cataclysm and that doesn't happen. I always bottle with 1.5 cups of malt extract dissolved in a pint of hot water, and rest after capping for about 10 days.
I name all the beers I make, and in nerd-honor of the book I was supposed to be writing about, I think I'll pick a WH40k-themed moniker, this go-round. I've heard nothing but mockery of a Warmachine theme drink list. Apparently blue curacao featured prominently and the recipes were for chick-drinks, all. Nuts to that! A frosty homebrew is the beverage of choice in my meta. What could be more macho than beer, right? Well, maybe beer without strawberries in it... Drink up, Night Lords, it's always summer somewhere.
