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Sintra – 18th September 2009

Sintra is what I imagine Campos Do Jordao is like in Brazil from the descriptions Priscilla’s family have given me. However, Sintra is the most expensive tourist trap ever – €4.50 for a return bus ticket up a hill. To enter the palace we are going to is €11. I brought 40 with me and thought we’d never spend it…

The place is beautiful though, like the jenolan caves but with palaces and gardens everywhere. I can understand why it attracted the rich and powerful for thousands of years.

Unfortunately I suffer from the same affliction many Australians do and that is I believe that every country should be cheaper than Australia. Much, much cheaper. It doesn’t matter where you are and sometimes even how much things cost. Quite silly really considering overall Portugal was a lot cheaper than back home.

Madrid

Went to prado and its free after 6pm on sat. saw goya’s 2nd and 3rd of may paintings. plus so many “famouso” paintings it wasn’t funny.

I appreciate pris’ innocence when it comes to art and almost feel ashamed of my idolatry. I was running around saying which was famous and she was just appreciating what she liked. She simply asked why or who decides a painting Is famous. I answered “the critics of the day and it helps if the artist knows the right people”. A man at the ticket queue before we went in put it quite succinctly … “picasso was sitting at a cafe and a man asked him for some money picasso merely signed a napkin and said something like here’s $ 1000 “.

They sell bread without crust here. Weird. Supermarket was open until 2am. €17 for some bread, cheese, cereal etc. Seems that nowhere in spain or portugal can u get fresh milk. No wonder they are all so short.

Madrid – day 2

Slept in until 11am and ate our supermarket breakfast.

Went to Sophia Reina museum of modern art. Free on Sundays.

So much Picasso and so much proof he was nuts. Look up some of his contemporaries. They look interesting.

the royal palace is another one of a line of royal palaces starting with Versailles that just sicken me…. Especially with the influence of reading the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Roark was right. The rooms in these palaces served no reason. They were simply filled with as much expensive crap as possible. One room in the palace real in Madrid was so bad it had beautiful Chinese tiles on the walls but the ceiling had a renaissance style sky with angels. Pris once again had a beautifully simple answer to it “they probably weren’t into minimalism”. I just felt they were like the neuvo riche of today. No idea what to do with their money. also symbolized in their armour. Rooms full of ceremonial and jousting armour never to be used for a practical purpose. Most made well after the gun. Its a pity no photos were allowed.

Went to plaza Espana and saw Edificio de Espana and saw Torres de Madrid. Look these up as they looked quite old but were very tall for Europe… 20 stories plus.

Ate the biggest plate of calamari ever. €9 – must remember to say “Media Ratione” in future.

More to follow when I have the time to put up more.

This beer partly came about because I was running low on ingredients and partly inspired by the malt forward taste of Marston’s IPA. I found Marston’s quite mild hop wise, which is good, because I think I’m sick of drowning my beers in hops.

Ingredients

• 1 tin pale lager mix
• 200 grams brown sugar
• 500 grams marris otter
• 100 grams amber malt
• 200 grams crystal malt
• 50 grams Carapils
• 200 grams flaked maize
• East Kent Goldings (EKG) , Amarillo and Citra hop pellets
• Re-used Nottingham yeast
• Salt, gypsum and irish moss

Mash schedule was 60 mins @ approx 65 degrees centigrade with 3 litres of mash water and 4 litres of sparge water.

Hop Schedule

• 60 mins – 10 grams Amarillo + 10 grams EKG
• 20 mins – 25 grams EKG + teaspoon of gypsum + 1/2 teaspoon salt + teaspoon irish moss
• Dry hop in secondary with 10 grams of Citra hops

Fermentation

The original gravity of the wort came out at 1040 so it should be a light beer of 4 – 5%. After a day in the primary there were no bubbles coming out of the airlock so I panicked and threw in a pack of dry yeast from a Munton’s Stout kit. I’m sure it’s a decent quality yeast. A few hours later it was bubbling away merrily and all activity had ceased a couple of days later.

Secondary

The specific gravity at time of transfer was 1008 and there was a slight yeasty and sulfuric smell to the beer which I haven’t smelt since the last time I brewed a beer in the height of summer (it wasn’t very good) so I’m a little worried but some time in the secondary off the dead yeast should hopefully allow that smell to filter off. The 10 grams of Citra yeast was added to a hop sock and thrown in during the transfer.

It’s close to my Black IPA but lighter in colour, hops and alcohol. So should be easy to do and taste just as good.

Ingredients

1.5 kilos liquid malt extract (pale malt)
500 grams dry malt extract

500 grams marris otter
200 grams dark crystal
150 grams carafa special 2
100 grams carapils
250 grams dextrose
Hops

teaspoon gypsum + teaspoon salt

60 mins 30 grams chinook (AA 11.4%)
20 mins 20 grams amarillo (8.2 AA) + teaspoon irish moss
10 mins 20 grams citra (11.1%)
0 mins 15 grams citra

dry hop 30 grams citra (in the secondary)

fill up to 21 litres

Yeast is Danstar Nottingham

Original gravity 1044

Secondary Fermentation

The dry hops were added as per the recipe and after a week the beer was giving off a wonderful pineapple/mango smell. This smell wasn’t brought forward into the taste and this is a rather bitter upfront, aroma up back beer. Final Gravity (FG) coming out at 1008 for approximately 5.2% alcohol. Getting the most out of the flavouring hops has been something I’ve struggled with. Might be best to stick with using malt to make most of the flavour as with the last two IBAs. Crystal is good.

Bottling

The total volume came out at 18 litres after transfer to the secondary and bottling volume should be about 17 in the end (minus the hop bag). I had run out of dextrose so used a strange combination of 75 grams of dextrose, 40 grams of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. It should give the finished product an interesting kick.

You can read all about the style guidelines on the BJCP’s site but essentially cream ale is an ale version of an american lager. Low on malt and hops, a large percentage of the sugars come from corn, in the form of flaked maize or from corn based sugar products such as dextrose.

It should be fermented at low temperatures and lagered. Unfortunately it’s both October in Sydney with an average temperature in the early twenties and I have no fridge to lager in so I’m hoping it still turns out ok.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kilograms pale liquid malt extract (LME)
• 500 grams dry malt extract (DME)
• 300 grams dextrose
• 1/2 kilo marris otter malt
• 400g flaked maize (corn)
• 100 grams carapils
• 40 grams light crystal malt
• Hallertau and Saaz hops
• Safale US05 dry yeast

Steep grains in 3 litres at 70c for 60 mins and sparge with 4 litres of water at 70c.

Bring to boil and stir in 500 grams of dry malt extract to help isomerise the hops.

40 grams hallertau AA 5.9% 60 mins

25 grams saaz 15 mins (AA 3.5%)

Teaspoon of Irish moss at 15 mins

15 grams saaz 1 min

10 grams hallertau 1 min

Some time during the boil the dextrose can be added. Where is not important. As soon as the flame goes out add the liquid malt extract tin. One issue with adding the liquid malt extract so late was that with the aggressive cooling of the wort employed there was a thick layer of extract left on the bottom of the kettle. After the majority of the wort was poured into the fermenter there was a need to pour some hot water into the bottom of the kettle to mix up the remaining extract to be poured out. Hopefully no contamination made it in.

Original gravity was 1048 and the sample and at 73 – 77% efficiency the final gravity should turn out around 1012 but given the high ratio of straight up sugars and corn products which I’m hoping for closer to 1006 which will be the lowest final gravity of any of my brews so far.

Fermentation

Luckily for this brew Sydney decided to have a cool Spring. Most of the fermentation was done in temperatures below 22 degrees celsius which seems to be important to the cream ale style. One week in the primary and a healthy yeast cake had developed. The beer was transferred into the secondary and so far has been in there for a week.

Bottling

After an unintentionally long eight week conditioning in the secondary (who knew having a baby was so hard) the remaining 17 litres were bottled with 150 grams of dextrose. Unfortunately by then the weather had warmed up so the small fermentation that happens to carbonate the beer won’t be under the most favourable conditions but I don’t expect an impact on flavour.

Tasting

A week after being bottled the beer is not highly carbonated yet and does have some residual sweetness but I’m quite happy. The first question you may have while reading off the ingredients list is: Does it taste of corn? The answer is, no.

It’s a light beer that still tastes distinctly like an ale but much less heavy, fruity and sweet than most ales. It’s quite bitter and as expected from the hop schedule it has a very distinct saaz taste. There is a tiny hint of oxidisation, no doubt from the eight weeks in the secondary. Colour and clarity are still the same as the picture of the sample above. Lemon with a hint of gold and fairly cloudy. It should make a nice sessional drop when it’s had a little time to bottle mature.

The thin, delicate nature of the crust and the commitment to the pizza gods that they will not sway from the code of the brotherhood of the Roman pizza by putting more than one or two toppings on it. All I could do once I could actually keep them down was to eat more and more pizza. One style in particular, the mushroom pizza – probably made with porcini really stuck with me.

This style of pizza is very hard to find in a country like Australia, which like the US tends to measure the worth of a pizza by the number of toppings and the amount of cheese that is slathered on top. So I present my version of the Roman mushroom pizza, with prosciutto in this case but  it is just as tasty with or without.

Dough

Making the dough yourself is a must. Pre bought bases are just not as good and besides, it’s very easy.

Ingredients

• Flour
• Yeast
• Water
• A pinch of salt & sugar
• Olive oil

There’s no set rule to the amounts used to make the pizza base. It all depends on how much you need to make.

Add the yeast and sugar to a glass of warm water and let it sit for 15 minutes. This will activate the yeast. Place flour, salt and olive oil in a bowl and when the yeast and water mixture is ready slowly add and mix until you end up with a sticky mixture.

You will then need to knead and beat this mixture to activate the gluten. This will make the dough elastic and after a good ten minutes of this when pulled it should not tear. If it is sticky add more flour. If it tears add more water.  Either way keep kneading for another five minutes.

Once that’s done cover the dough and leave it somewhere warm for a couple of hours to let it rise.

Topping

• 3 large Swiss brown mushrooms
• 20 grams dried porcinni mushrooms
• Thyme, garlic, salt and pepper
• tomato paste
• prosciutto – we used a ridiculously expensive $100 a kilo version but I doubt it makes much difference
• Parmesan and mozzarella cheese

With the mushrooms we are trying to emulate a full porcini mushroom using cheaper local mushrooms and dried porcini. Of course if you live in a country where you can buy fresh porcini then please do use them.

Pour approximately half a cup of boiling water over dried porcini mushrooms. If they aren’t swimming in it add more until they are. Then add a dash of salt, pepper and a teaspoon or two of crushed garlic. Leave this mixture to marinate for a couple of hours.

When the porcini “soup” is ready slice up your regular mushrooms thinly and fry them for a couple of minutes in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil. When the mushrooms have softened up throw in the  porcini soup and simmer for a few more minutes. Remove the mushrooms and continue simmering the soup until you end up with a nice condensed mushroom consume. Save it for later.

I like to prebake the pizza base on my pizza stone. To do this pre heat your oven to around 180c or 200c for a fan forced oven.  Place the pizza base on the stone and cook for about ten minutes or until it starts to go slightly golden. Remove the base once pre-cooked and place toppings.

For a prosciutto and mushroom pizza a tomato sauce is employed but for the purely mushroom pizza just brush the base with olive oil. Place the mushroom generously on top and then add thinly sliced layers of prosciutto. Cover with a thin layer of shaved parmesan and another thin layer of mozarella. Bake until golden.

For a mushroom only pizza we just smother the pizza base with some garlic and olive oil then place the mushrooms on top followed by a generous layer of parmesan and then mozarella.

The outcome

This  has to be amongst the tastiest of pizzas I have ever had. The medley of dried porcini mushrooms, swiss mushrooms, garlic, salt, pepper and thyme have created a flavour sensation. Combined with the bite of parmesan cheese it’s a perfect mix.

Pizza is notoriously difficult to photograph with all sorts of tricks employed to make the pizza look as tasty and as fresh as possible. In my case as you can no doubt see, I didn’t fair much better than your average happy snapper. The important part is that the pizza tasted good.

Hopefully this one is as good or better than the last. So far my black IPA has the makings of a good house beer recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 x 1.5 litre liquid male malt extract cans
• 100 grams dextrose
• 300 grams Carafa special II malt
• 400 grams crystal malt (dark in this case)
• 500 grams Marris Otter pale malt
• 150 grams Carapils
• Hops and lots of them
• Gypsum and Irish moss
• Wyeast 1056

Mash process

Bring four litres of water up to 80 degrees celsius and add all the grains but the Carafa Special. Maintain at 65 degrees for 50 minutes then add the Carafa Special. Steep for a further 10 minutes then pour off liquid into a separate container and add 5 litres of water to the grain and steep again for 10 minutes. Combine liquid and dispose of grains (thoughtfully).  Bring this mixture to the boil and then begin the hop schedule.

Hop Schedule

• 60 mins – 40 grams Chinook 11% AA + 2 teaspoons gypsum
• 40 mins – 15 grams Amarillo 8.2% AA
• 25 mins – 35 grams Cascade (5% AA), 35 grams East Kent Goldings (5% AA) and a teaspoon of Irish moss
• Flame out – 15 grams Cascade (5% AA) and 20 grams Amarillo (8.2% AA)

Fermenting

The 2 x 1.5 kilogram pale malt extract was then added to the wort and stirred in thoroughly and poured into the fermenter. The sugars from the Maris Otter base malt should have been enough to isomerise the hop oils and the extract is already sanitary so there was no need to boil it. The total volume was 5 litres at this point. This was then topped up to 23 litres and The Wyeast 1056 was added from a smack pack which had been smacked in transit. The funny thing being that the mini pack of wort inside the smack pack hadn’t been broken. I wonder why the smack pack had expanded. I’m hoping it’s not bad. The OG came out at 1068. With the Wyeast 1056 running at somewhere between 73 and 77% efficiency the final gravity should come out at about 1017 and 7.1% alcohol.

Colour was dark but this time I don’t think it will be quite as black as the last IBA since late extract addition significantly lightens beers. Smell and taste were quite smoky and amazingly the hops didn’t seem too pronounced but only time will tell.

Dry hopping

Once the primary fermentation is complete the beer will be transferred to the secondary and dry hopped with with 30 grams of Amarillo and 15 grams of East Kent Goldings.

Secondary Fermentation

After four days in the primary the beer was siphoned off into a secondary fermenter. The dry hops were added and specific gravity came out at 1012.

Bottling

The beer was left for two weeks in the secondary to allow the dry hops to impart their flavour fully. 140 grams of dextrose was used to bulk prime the beer.

Tasting

Thanks to the Amarillo hops the nose and flavour of this beer exhibits stone fruit characteristics. While bitter it is not as bitter as you would expect from a hoppy IPA but the taste is pleasant. The often overpowering smells and flavours of the Cascade hops have been subdued and without being told about the Cascade it’s hard to notice they are there. With the late extract addition the Carafa special II has been allowed to shine. Giving a slight coffee flavour but without any bitterness whatsoever. If I had to compare this beer to any other beer I would put it somewhere between a James Squire Golden Ale and a Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale with the ever present hint of a stout or porter that the Carafa Special brings to this beer. It is difficult even for myself as the brewer to believe that each sip of this drink that is blacker than Coca Cola can have such a light and fruity flavour.

Overall. I am extremely pleased and have had some friends back me up by tasting it themselves. I am definitely going to make it again.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kilogram tin of pale malt
• 1.5 kilogram tin of wheat malt (approx 40% wheat/60% pale malt)
• 1 kilogram of Vienna malt
• 150 grams of Carapils
• Cascade and Chinook hop pellets
• Salt, gypsum and irish moss
• US05 yeast

Process

Heated 3.5 litres of water to 80 degrees C for the mash water. Added grains in a grain bag which brought the temperature down to just under 70c. Mashed in warm oven (to retain temperature) for sixty minutes. Heated 4 litres of sparge water to 70c and after pouring off the initial wort sparged the grains with the sparge water and soaked for a further ten minutes. Added another two litres of boiling water and brought to the boil. A quarter of a tin of malt extract was added to boost the isomerisation of the hops.

Hops and additives were thrown in as per schedule below:

• 60 minutes – 45 grams of Chinook (AA 11.4%)
• 20 minutes – 30 grams of Cascade (AA 8.7%), 1 teaspoon irish moss, 1.5 teaspoons gypsum, 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Flame-out – 30 grams of Cascade (mainly AA 8.7% but mixed in a slightly weaker batch)

After flame-out the remaining extract was added and the fermenter filled up to 22 litres. The yeast used was scooped from the trub of the India Black Ale brewed four weeks earlier. The trub had been stored in the fridge and is hopefully very viable.

Original gravity came in at a very pleasant 1064 and with 77% efficiency (around what’s expected from US05) it should come out at 1015 or a shade under 7% alcohol.

The colour of this brew has turned out exactly as hoped and it looks like it will give LCBA a run for its money in the bright and clear stakes.

Secondary Fermentation

After exactly a week in the primary the SG has dropped to 1014, bang on target. At this point there’s still a lot of suspended yeast but the colour is very bright and it has a slightly malty, a very citrusy grapefruit tang with a slight spice taste at the back of the mouth. I added another 15 grams of Cacade (AA 8.7%) to a hop bag and threw it in the secondary a couple of days after transferring it. It should be in the bottle by next weekend.

One week in the secondary has done little to reduce the suspended yeast chunks. SG has dropped to 1012 so ABV should be 7.3%. The small quantity of dry hops really haven’t affected the subtle nose of this beer but the taste is still very promising. I thought I was drinking something like a Little Creatures Bright Ale so I’m happy as the spirit of the brew was maintained.

There are two new tricks I used with this one though. The first is that I’m using Gypsum (calcium sulfate) in an attempt to Burtonise the brewing water. I know it’s all very un-scientific but I’m hoping the addition at least helps bring out the flavours a little better than plain old Sydney water. The second trick I’m trying is late extract addition. Normally when you add most of your base malt through extract the DME or LME will get scorched and caramelise giving a nice but not always desirable smokey toffee flavour. In this recipe I added only half the LME to the boil and added the rest of the sugars at the end of the boil. It had the desired effect of lightening the beer, maybe too light as this wort was almost yellow.

Ingredients

• 1 1.5kg can pale malt (1/2 can in the boil)
• 1 pack 500 gram DME
• 200 grams raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons gypsum
• 100 grams light crystal malt
• 50 grams carapils
• Wyeast Thames valley yeast – 1275

Hops Schedule

• 30 grams cascade (8.7 AA) 60 mins
• 30 grams fuggles (5.6 AA) 40 mins
• 25 grams fuggles (5.6 AA) 20 mins  (at this point a teaspoon of irish moss, gypsum and salt are added)
• 25 grams fuggles (5.6 AA) 0 mins

I may also dry hop with 20 grams of Fuggles in the secondary. Although given the low OG of 1042 it’s probably going to be extremely hoppy already.

Process

Grains were steeped at 70 degrees celsius for 30 minutes in a litre of water, then sparged with another litre. Half the LME was added to the boil and the hop schedule followed.

As the final hops were added the remaining LME, DME and sugar was added which brought down the temperature dramatically so the wort was re-heated until it just began to boil again. This may have affected the flavour of the end of boil aroma hops.

The wort was then added to the fermenter and filled to 21 degrees (target was 18) and the original gravity came to 1042. Slightly below the target of 1045 but very acceptable.

Fermentation

After four days in the primary the beer was tasted. The colour was a very pale yellow much like a little creatures bright ale, very hoppy but somehow lacking in malt. Kind of like a hoppy glass of water. Maturity should tell whether this will be a good beer or not. Gravity came out at 1008 which means at this point it’s just over 4.5% alcohol. A nice summer beer hopefully.

After tasting a couple of days later I decided this will not be a dry hopped beer. It is already intensely hoppy with a real citrus flavour. Almost like watered down sprite without the sweetness. Reminiscent of Corona but with flavour and less piss. I’m still hopeful that with age and chilling it turns out to be a highly drinkable summer beer.

Bottling

This one is going straight from the primary to the bottle via the bottling bucket and 100g of dextrose. I will let the beer settle in the bottling bucket for an hour or two to improve clarity. Unfortunately at this point I don’t think it’s going to be a worthy beer so I won’t waste time with a secondary. Final gravity is holding steady at 1008.

Some of the trub has been saved so the yeast can be reused in another higher gravity brew soon.

Tasting

After just three days in the bottle I found a well carbonated example (hint: squeeze the bottle) and partook of an early trial. My worst fears didn’t come true and in fact it was quite a nice drop. Very light, almost lager like with a pronounced hop flavour but not overpowering as I suspected it may end up. It definitely is lacking in malt and body though. A good summer beer it will be I’m sure.

Inspired by my first successful experimentation I began reading about how I could darken a beer further. Before I knew it I had run across a plethora of recipes for black IPAs. The key ingredient it seems was Carafa Special II or III. This malt is essentially a de-bittered roasted grain. The result of the process applied is that the malt imparts the colour of a dark grain but none of the astringent, roasted flavours. Perfect for adding colour. So here is my recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 x 1.5 kilograms of liquid pale malt extract
• 200 grams of pale dry malt extract
• 300 grams Carafa special 2
• 200 grams light crystal malt
• 200 grams dark crystal malt
• 150 grams carapils (for body and head retention)
• Amarillo, cascade and goldings hops according to hop schedule
• Irish moss
• Yeast – Safale US05

Process

Steep crystal and carapils for 30 minutes and add the Carafa special malt in the last 15 minutes to avoid astringency – we’re only looking for colour not too much flavour here.

Hop schedule

Since this is an IPA a huge amount of hops went into its making

Bittering hops

70 grams Amarillo at 60 minutes

Flavour hops

35 grams cascade at 30 minutes
35 grams goldings at 30 minutes

Aroma hops

15 grams cascade at zero minutes

Dry hopping

15 grams cascade + 15 grams goldings in the secondary

After the boil the wort was cooled rather rapidly using cold water and ice to prevent the aroma hops continuing to be heated and becoming flavour hops.

Fermentation

After adding water to the 21 litre mark the original gravity of the wort was 1060. Hopefully it will ferment out to 1012.

Four days after brew day the beer has come down to 1014 and tastes fantastic. Just like an IPA should but with a very dark colour and none of those dark flavours. So far it looks like a success.

The beer was transferred to the secondary fermenter at an SG of 1012 and the dry hops added. After a few days in the secondary the nose and initial mouth taste were much boosted thanks to dry hopping.

The tasting

Pours with a nice head that doesn’t hang around that long like most ales, especially those that are home brewed. The colour is,without the aid of back lighting, black. When light up from behind it shows off red and brown tones.

It has a hoppy nose but not overpoweringly so like many IPAs. Next time I’d like to add a little more aroma hops to the boil or dry hop a little more aggressively. Taste is quite bitter, some people have said like a stout or a porter but I don’t believe the bitterness is from grains. It’s much more a hop bitterness with a slight caramel overtone. Natural given I hadn’t started late extract additions at this stage. Mouth feel is good. It’s not too heavy and not too light. I don’t know if it’s the colour that fools you into thinking it should be a lot heavier but I do expect a thick feel to it and it surprises me every mouthful by being lighter than most ales I’ve brewed. After taste is very clean and apart from a slight hop tang left in the back of your mouth you wouldn’t know you’d been drinking a minute after a sip.

All in all a huge success. If I could change anything I’d up the fermentable malt bill a bit to increase the alcohol and body and bump up the hops just a little bit across the board.