Aussie Pale Ale with Aussie Licorice

Basic Beer from Cooper's, brewed on 1/16/11.  I added some Cascade Hops at a 15 minute boil.  Added some Ausssie Style licorice candy as well (experiment).  Got it for a dollar at the dollar store.  Might  as well do an Aussie one, all the Cooper's kits are from there anyways.  Estimated 6.5% abv.  The licorice added some color, darkened the beer, the wort tasted delicious, and gave me a good idea of the final product, should turn out nice.  The licorice is subtle, which is what I was aiming for.  I boiled the hops in water first with the licorice, then brought the water down to 155 F, added the sugars and Coopers can, then cooled it all down, pitched the Coopers yeast.  It was bubbling nicely after 24 hours at around 65 F.  OG 1.050.

Hop Utilization

This chart was an eye opener on how hops work to develop bitter, flavor and aroma.

Thinking about brewing this one.  It will be my first attempt at a recipe that I get individual ingredients for. 

 

Double Chocolate Stout recipe, supposedly it is like Young's.

Dark brown, roasty, malty smooth, with a distinctive chocolatey finish
6 lbs. dark malt extract
1 lb. domestic special pale malt
1 lb. medium crystal malt
1/2 lb. roast unmalted barley
1/4 lb. chocolate malt
1/2 lb. oatmeal
1/2 - 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (add to end of boil)
1 oz. Northern Brewer (bittering)
1/2 oz. U.K. Fuggles (flavoring)
No finishing hops (add cocoa instead)
1 pkg. Windsor Ale Yeast (or White Labs English Ale or Wyeast #1968)
1 pkg. Bru-Vigor (yeast food)
3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)
O.G. - 1.049
F.G. - 1.012

Grumpy Goat Bock update

Moved the wort to a secondary fermenter on 1/11/11.  Very slow fermentation at this point.  Snuck a taste, and it is a WOW. I am going to try to give it at least till the weekend  before I bottle it. 

Grumpy Goat Bock

That's the name I gave it anyway.  It is a bock beer kit from AHS.  The time in the fermenter was the longest I have done so far.  I did not keep the fermenting at lager temps., but I am going to try to keep the fermenting temps around 60 for twenty days before bottling, which is alot of patience for me.  I brewed the extract kit on 12/31/10.

Cooper's English Bitter

I made  a batch of English bitter on 12/12/10.  I used the Austin Homebrew add pack, alchohol boost and yeast nutrient.  The beer kit add pack contains 1 pound of corn sugar, 1 pound of extra light DME, and 1/4 pound maltodextrin. It also contains a priming sugar. Used the standard Copers yeast that came with the can.  Bottled the wort at 7 days.  I have been impatient and have tried a few.  This beer is not ready.

Lawn Beer

Made a AHS Kit Lawnmower Lager on 11/26/10.  Bottled it on 12/4/10.  This beer is turning out really nice.  Not a big beer, but a nice clean taste.  I strained out the hops before it went into the primary - my prevous batch was the Half Wit, so I was scared about cloudiness.