The great American tradition continues
I shall start this post with a song in honor of both Canada Day and the 4th of July:
“Oh Canada,
Your bacon’s really ham.
Your beer is watered down, and tastes no better canned.”
…that’s all I got on that one.
So, this weekend is when we Americans celebrate those things that make our country great. By this I mean that we get a day off of work, gorge ourselves on processed meat that has been cooked over a fire created by burning a fossil fuel while drinking to excess in the blazing sun with our fat American bellies hang over our belt line. Then, once we have had our fill of fake meat and have consumed enough alcohol to make an elephant legally drunk, we will blow shit up. Good times.
Oh, and we will celebrate the birth of something… what was it now? Oh yeah, the birth of our nation, indivisible under <insert deity of choice here>, with Liberty and Justice for all, and remember the sacrifices of our founding fathers to provide us with the freedoms that we all enjoy.
Enough of that though. This is a beer website, and I have some brewing news.
This past week, the timeline hit for me to have to bottle the Chocolate-coconut Porter. This was the first beer we brewed back on May 23rd. As you may recall, the second beer of that brewday met an unfortunate end. The first beer (the porter) has had a very fine life so far. The yeast took a bit to kick off fermentation, but otherwise, there were no issues. We brewed on May 23rd, and the beer sat in primary until June 6th, when I racked it over to secondary on top of the 5oz of Cocoa nibs and 4oz of organic unsweetened coconut shavings. To prepare the coconut, I spread it out on a cookie sheet and toasted it for 45 minutes in the oven at 275*F. Every 5 minutes, I stirred the coconut around on the sheet to ensure an even toast and also to keep it from burning. The toasting was to serve two purposes: First, toasting will intensify the flavor and aroma. Raw coconut, especially when unsweetened, is actually pretty bland. Second, I was hoping that toasting the coconut would cook out some of the natural oils and fat content. I had some concern that those things would hinder head retention as well as provide rancidity due to break down of the fatty acids.
We did a three week secondary with the cocoa nibs and coconut, and bottled this past Monday. I was quite happy with the gravity sample. This beer ended exactly where I wanted it to with a final specific gravity of 1.013. The cocoa nibs really are shining the spotlight in this beer. The coconut just barely shows itself in the nose, and is nearly absent in the flavor. Next time, I think we will double the amount of coconut used. I have high expectations that this beer will be a hit at the club meeting on July 14th.
This holiday weekend, we have a few things planned. Saturday, we will be travelling to lovely and rustic Newark, NY, to spend the day with Tony, Colleen, and Tony’s family. It will be fun in the sun with good people, good beer, yummy food, and of course…. explosives. Sunday and Monday are fairly open. I think I shall have to brew our house beer: Gentlemen Prefer a Blonde/ Scream Queen. (Oh yeah, Stacie… I want to brew this weekend. mhuah!). I sadly do not have any special beers purchased to toast the holiday. Maybe I will have to pick up a Sierra Nevada 30th bottle.
Here is hoping that all of you have a safe and happy July 4th. What do any of you have planned, and what yummy beers will you be enjoying?
