Purple Drink

From July 11, 2010.   This was a bit thick, and I probably should have run the blackberries through a ricer, as it was a bit seedy, too.   A banana would be good in it, too.
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2 peaches
1/2 cup blueberries
1/4 cup blackberries
1T lemon juice
1T honey
1 cup orange juice
ginger ale

Put everything but the ginger ale into the blender and once it's chopped up good, switch it over to liquefy for about 30 seconds. Mix 1 part fruit to 3-4 parts ginger ale and stir well.

Clover Mead For Strawberry Melomel

Abby and I made another mead on Sunday morning.   This time around was 4 quarts of Clover Honey from a somewhat local source.   I wanted to go with about 4 gallons this time, to get the Original Gravity somewhere in the 1.100 range, and we were successful with that, though we had to add a little extra from a honey bear that I bought when I bought the rest of that.    2 gallons of the water were leftover Milksick water from the Cherry Stout.

The whole thing pretty much went right as planned.   We've been doing the "no heat" method, and have had a decent amount of success with it (no failures so far, anyway).   I'm also doing the stepped feeding & stirring, as outlined by Ken Schramm in The Jamil Show on Mead.  That basically involves stirring in nutrients every day or two, to provide additional oxygen for yeast growth, and to give them the nutrients they need as they deplete their reserves.    Essentially, you keep them from getting too stressed, since honey is a nutrient wasteland.

We did soak the jars in a hot water bath this time, which made the honey pour very easily, and made stirring it into the water pretty much a breeze.   

This coming weekend, we're planning to run down to a Local Farm that does "pick your own" strawberries, and I'll be getting several pounds of them to put into this.    I'll top, clean, and freeze the berries, then thaw them and get them near room temperature before adding them to the must, once it's up near the 10% alcohol mark.

Clover Mead for Strawberry Melomel

Batch Size (Gal): 4
Honey (Gal): 1
Anticipated OG: 1.100

Sugar
4 1-quart jars of Weber Farms Clover Honey

Water
2 gallons Milksick water
1 gallon Clearview water

Yeast
Lalvin 71B-1122 2 5g packets, rehydrated in 1 cup of 100F distilled water

Extras
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Energizer
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Nutrient

Notes

• Mixed on Sunday, May 14 2011, around 9AM  
• 24.75 Brix, ~4 gallons
• Airlock activity by 8:40PM
• Temperature in the house has been in the low 60's
• 9PM Tuesday night, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/2t Yeast Nutrient and stirred pretty vigorously.   A lot of gas came out of suspension, but the gravity hasn't changed much yet.   Maybe 1/2-degree Brix.  pH around 3.8
• 9PM Thursday night, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/4t Yeast Nutrient and stirred vigorously.   pH still 3.8, gravity 23.5 Brix
• 10AM Saturday Morning, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/4t Yeast Nutrient and stirred.  pH 3.6, gravity 20.5 Brix

Pilaf-Stuffed Delicata Squash

This is from October 31, 2010.   Toward the end of the Winter CSA, I have a bunch of squash and sweet potatoes that need to be dealt with, but I've let them sit, since they can for a while, without going bad.   I was somewhat winging it with this, with the gorgonzola and cranberries, but the sweet, sour, and sharp really worked well together.   The beer is spiced, so that added some additional character, but truly you'd be unlikely to pick out its contribution, what with everything else going on in the dish.   It did make a nice pairing to the food, though.
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Roasted Delicata:

• 2 Delicata Squash
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425F.  Cut each squash in half lengthwise and cut the seeds and stringy stuff out with a spoon.  Set them on a roasting pan  Peel the garlic cloves and cut the hard bit off, and cut them in half lengthwise.   Smear garlic over the exposed parts of the squash and then leave a clove's worth of garlic in the bowl of each squash-half.  Brush the squash liberally with olive oil, and then season with some salt and pepper.    Put in the oven and roast at 425F for 40 minutes.

Pilaf:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1 large portabella mushroom cap, cut into small cubes
• 1T unsalted butter
• 1 cup Rice Select Royal Blend rice blend (texmati, brown, wild, & red rices)
• 3/4 cup Terrapin Pumpkinfest ale
• 7/8 cup water
• 1T fresh sage
• 1T Bragg's liquid aminos
• 1/4t fresh-ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup dry cranberries
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts  (toast in a dry skillet over medium heat just until aromatic, and remove from heat)
• 1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese
• salt & pepper

Melt butter in a large sautee pan, and add the onion, sweet potato, and mushroom.   Add a little salt to help pull moisture out of the vegetables.  Cook on medium heat until the sweet potato is just softening, 10-15 minutes.   Add the rice and stir around and make sure it's all covered with a slight sheen of butter.   Deglaze with the beer.   Add the water, sage, nutmeg, Bragg's, and any additional salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, toss in the cranberries, Cover and simmer for 15 minutes (or slightly less time than the rice package recommends).    Remove from heat and stir in the walnuts and cheese until the cheese has mostly melted.

Pile the Pilaf into the roasted squash until it's mounded over the top of the squash.   Bake at 450 for 20 minutes, or until the pilaf has slightly crusted on top.

Butternut Squash Soup

November 8, 2009.   I made this for Abby the first time she came up to the house.   I'd had some squash from the CSA sitting around, and wanted to make something good for a cool day.    Looks like today is another of those, though the butternut are no longer in season.   Nutmeg and Sage go amazingly well with winter squash.
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2 small/medium butternut squash, halved & seeded
4 cloves of garlic, crushed & peeled
olive oil

Rub each squash half with a garlic clove, drop the clove into the seed cavity, then brush with olive oil.  Roast at 425F for 30 minutes, and then rotate the pan and roast an additional 20 minutes at 350F. Set out to cool.

1/2 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, bias cut
3 medium/small carrots, quartered & diced
2 cloves garlic
olive oil to coat bottom of soup pot
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon powdered thyme
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground nutmeg
10-15 small-medium fresh sage leaves, chopped
2oz heavy cream
4 cups water
sea salt & pepper to taste

Put onion, celery, carrots, and garlic into a pot with olive oil to sweat, with just a little salt. While the vegetables cook, rough-chop the garlic that was roasted with the squash, and then use a spoon and the back of a knife to scrape the meat from the skin of the squash. When the onions were nice and translucent, add the squash and the water. Then added the herbs & spices, and the cream last. Simmer slowly for an hour or so.

Serve with grated parmessean and toasted ciabatta bread, with a little bit of butter.

Honey Beer Bread

 December 4, 2010.   I pretty much just threw this together and it worked.   I was trying to make a decent "rustic" loaf of bread.   In my experience that basically means a big lump of dough that's cooked on a flat surface.   Having a pizza stone makes this particularly easy.
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1/4 cup warm water
1 pack active dry yeast

Rehydrate yeast in water

1/4 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
2 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients

1/2 cup malty beer (yazoo fall fest in this case)
1/4 cup clover honey
1 cup warm water

Mix everything together and turn out and knead for 10 minutes let rise for 90 minutes, and then punch down and fold into a loaf and let it bench proof for another 80 minutes. Cut slits in the top & bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Chili Seasoning

December 23, 2010.   I gave a jar of this to my dad to use in the bag of posole that I gave him for christmas.

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flake of whole cinnamon
1t cumin seed
1t hot mex. chili powder
1t regular chili powder
2t new mexican red chili powder
1t garlic powder
1t onion powder
1t hungarian paprika
1/4t (mounded) dry mustard powder
1/4t (mounded) thyme
1/2t (mounded) mexican oregano

Mix in a coffee grinder and add to chili or use as a taco seasoning.

Broccoli Pasta

I should have gotten some pictures, but I was too busy cooking and eating...

1 shallot, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
4oz mushrooms, sliced
2 broccoli crowns, cut into bite-sized pieces
Olive Oil
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
1T fresh oregano, chopped (1/3-1/2 of that dry)
1t fresh basil, chopped
1/4t crushed red pepper
6oz rotini

Fresh grated parmesan to taste

Make sure the rack is in the center of the oven, and turn it to 500F.   Sautee the shallot, garlic, and mushrooms in some olive oil in a large, oven safe sautee pan for 3-4 minutes before turning the pasta water to high in a covered pot (I use a 4-quart saucepan, you may need to just time or sautee temperature according to your equipment).  The mushrooms should  be taking on some nice color just as the water comes to a boil.   Add the broccoli and herbs and some additional oil and stir thoroughly, so everything is mixed well, and then put the entire pan into the oven, uncovered.   Add the pasta to the water.   Cook the pasta for the time specified on its container.   Drain the pasta, remove the sauce from the oven, and combine (careful of that handle, it'll be hot) everything in the sautee pan.   Add parmesan and stir until it has melted into the dish, and serve.

Quick Steamed Corn on the Cob

 From July 16, 2009.   I think I was explaining this one to someone who'd never heard of steaming corn.    I may be confused, though.
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Some ears of corn

Shuck the corn and remove the silk. Take a microwave safe dish (I prefer pyrex or some sort of ceramic) that's large enough to put your corn in. Put about 1/4" of water in the dish, and put the corn in. Cover the dish with plastic wrap (i wind up using 2 pieces: one vertical, one horizontal). Microwave for 2.5 minutes per cob, turning the dish midway through if your microwave doesn't have a turntable.

Milksick Stout: Tremetol B

I have been brewing variations on stout pretty much since my first solo brews.   It's still one of my favorite styles of beer.   There's nothing quite like a nice thick, rich chocolatey stout to warm you up on a cool winter night.  Not to mention the flavor combinations of  a roasty, coffeeish stout with a rich dessert (especially one with dark fruit, caramel, or chocolate).

If you look around on just about any homebrewing forum online, and just about any of the good brewing books, you'll eventually run across assorted discussions on water.   Water is the primary ingredient in beer, and has all sorts of impacts on just about every aspect of brewing, from mash chemistry to off flavors.    The water at my parents' house is really tasty and really hard.   I've still yet to get it tested, though I am tempted to do that now, since I have some extra around today.   I do know that it's from a deep well on a mountain where the majority of the rock is limestone.   I also know that it makes excellent stouts.   I try to use their water for as many of my dark beers as possible.

Milk sickness is caused by cows eating White Snakeroot, and then nursing their young, who then get sick and sometimes die from the milk.  The active chemical that causes milksickness is Tremetol.  White County, TN was apparently pretty rough on cattle back in the day, between Milksick Mountain and the Calfkiller River.   So, as a sort of tribute to the place where the water is coming from, I'm working on a series of stouts brewed with water from Milksick Mountain.   I brewed the first one earlier this year, and it's currently cold-conditioning in the keg.   My goal was to use the same grain bill with each of them and vary the yeast, adjunct sugars, and aging process.

Unfortunately, for this one, I forgot to check on my flaked (i.e. old fashioned) oat supply, so I've replaced half of the oats with flaked barley, as that should help with the thick/slick mouthfeel.   I found sour cherry concentrate at Kroger a few weeks ago, so I thought I would alter this recipe somewhat and go for a cherry stout.   The amount of cherry concentrate that I'm using should work out to the equivalent of a little more than 3lbs/gallon of cherries.  The cherry may be overpowering...  I'm also decreasing the hops a bit, to make up for the fact that I'm adding sour cherries, as the sour and bitter may not go very well together.   I'm using the Wyeast 3787 Belgian Trappist yeast (Westmalle, Westvleteren, etc.), which I've done in a stout-like beer before and it turned out really tasty, hopefully the flavors from it don't conflict with the cherry.  I'm also pitching a little bit of Fermentis Safbrew T-58, because I forgot to make a starter for the 3787 last night, and I only need half a pack for the Berliner Weisse from Saturday.

Milksick Stout:  Tremetol B

Batch Size (Gal): 5.5
Total Grain (Lbs): 19.00
Anticipated OG: 1.086
Anticipated SRM: 61.5
Anticipated IBU: 50
Wort Boil Time (min): 60

Grain
68.4% -- 13.00 lbs. Canada Malting Pale Malt
5.3% -- 1.00 lbs. Flaked Barley
5.3% -- 1.00 lbs. Flaked Oats
5.3% -- 1.00 lbs. Roasted Barley
3.9% -- 0.75 lbs. Chocolate Malt
3.9% -- 0.75 lbs. Pale Chocolate Malt
7.9% -- 1.50 lbs. Fruit Fast Montmorency Tart Cherry Concentrate

Hops
1.50 oz. Centennial (Pellet, 8.80% AA) @ 60 min.

Yeast
Wyeast 3787 - Trappist High Gravity
Fermentis Safbrew T-58

Water Profile
Milksick

Extras
11 drops Fermcap-S

Notes

• Brewed on Saturday, May 2, 2011
• Actual OG: 1.074
• 6:00 PM, 68F pitched full pack of 3787 and ~6g of T-58
• Fermentor is wrapped in a blanket, and the temperature controller is attached, but the intention is o let it go to whatever temperature it wants to go to, and I'll just hold it at that final temperature for a few days after the fermentation is finished.
• May 3, 7:00 AM, still 68F, 1.5 inch kraeusen on top.  replaced airlock with blowoff tube, just in case
• May 3, 5:00PM, 72F.   Apparently Fermcap is no match for WY3787.    Blowoff tube was a good choice.
• May 4, 6:00AM, 80F.
• I never actually applied heat to this beer until it started cooling off.   The beer peaked at 81F on May 4.   Since then, I have held it steady at 80F, so that the yeast can finish out.   This is a similar temperature to where Westvleteren ferments with this yeast, and around where I did my Dubble-Weizen last year, so it should be just fine. 
• I killed the heat after the beer had been in the fermentor for 10 days or so.
• Thursday, May 26, I heated 1.5oz Medium toast Hungarian Oak cubes in 1/2 cup distilled water in the microwave for 3 minutes.   Then added them to a secondary fermentor and racked the beer onto them.   This will sit in the cellar for at least a month.

Berliner Weisse

I have wanted to try my hand at making this beer for the last couple of years:  basically, since I heard about it.   Now seemed like the perfect time, since summer is coming up and it is supposed to be a somewhat crisp and refreshing beer.

The style is a really light, low-alcohol ale with a good bit of wheat in it.   But it's also got a strong sourness due to the presence of Lactobacillus (The same genus of critters as the ones who make yogurt and pickles).   It has almost no hop bitterness, partly because lactobacillus is the primary critter that hops are antiseptic against.   The one that I've gotten to try (One that New Belgium brought to Brewgrass) tasted a bit like an unsweetened lemonade, really.  This should be an awesome lawnmower beer.

This was probably my easiest and shortest day brewing a beer.   It's 100% extract, so there was no grain to mash, or even steep.   I chose to do all extract because I see this beer as more of a fermentation experiment than as a full-on brew, and I don't mind spending a little extra money on the wort to not have to spend the time and effort for such a simple wort.   The boil is merely 15 minutes, which is essentially enough time to get things heat sanitized and a tiny bit of flavor, aroma, and bitterness out of the hops.   The bacteria like a warm environment (human body temperature is perfect for them), so the long tail of wort chilling time was non-existent.   No oxygenation/aeration, so I just dumped the bugs into the fermenter and started keeping them warm.  Though, I'm currently in a bit of a quandary, since I'm not entirely certain how long to let the bugs go before pitching the yeast.   I think I want to pitch the yeast relatively cool, so I may cut the heat and pull the blanket off of the fermentor tonight before I go to bed, and then pitch in the morning.    Hopefully the pH won't get too low for them before the beer is finished.


Berliner Weisse

Batch Size (Gal): 5
Total Grain (Lbs): 3.50
Anticipated OG: 1.032
Anticipated SRM: 3.4
Anticipated IBU: 3.4
Wort Boil Time (min): 15

Grain
85.7% -- 3.00 lbs. Munton's Wheat Dry Malt Extract
14.3% -- 0.50 lbs. Munton's Extra Light Dry Malt Extract

Hops
0.50 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellet, 5.20% AA) @ 15 min.

Yeast
White Labs WLP677 - Lactobacillus Delbrueckii
Fermentis Safbrew T-58 

Water Profile
Clearview, degassed overnight

Notes

• Brewed on Saturday, April 30, 2011
• Actual OG: 1.032
• Lactobacillus likes it warm and doesn't like oxygen, so after racking the beer to the fermenter, I pitched the vial of bacteria and brought it in to sit on the heat mat set to 94F, without aerating or adding oxygen. 
• May 1, 7:00AM no activity
• May 1, 8:00PM airlock bubbling merrily
• May 1, 10:00PM cut off heat mat
• May 2, 7:00AM airlock still bubbling, temperature: 87F, removed blanket
• May 2, 6:00PM 76F, pitched 6g Fermentis T-58
• May 3, 7:00AM 70F, still bubbling

Roasted Beets and Leeks with Spicy Couscous

From June 9, 2009.   Once the CSA started coming in, I had to think of things to do with various vegetables that I don't normally buy in the grocery.  Roasting almost always works well.   If you eat a lot of beets, remember that you ate a lot of beets in visits to the toilet over the next day or so.  Well, you'll probably remember it either way, but if you go in thinking, "I ate a lot of beets recently," you're more likely to just let things go, rather than immediately coming to the conclusion that you've got cancer and need to call a doctor.
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2 bunches small beets
4 leeks
1 carrot
2T olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2t - 1t garlic powder or 2-3 cloves of garlic

Wash and cut stems and taproots from the beets, then quarter or half them, depending on the size of each individual beet. Half, clean, and then chop the leeks into 1-2" lengths, and cut the carrot into pieces of a similar size to the beets. Put the vegetables in a 9x13 casserole and drizzle heavily with olive oil, then sprinkle with kosher salt and 15-20 grinds of black pepper. Sprinkled garlic powder over it all, or peel and cut the ends off of 2-3 cloves of garlic and toss them in whole. Toss to get everything coated. Baked at 400 for 25 minutes, stir the mixture, and let go for another 25 minutes.

1/2 cup water
2-3 T bragg's liquid aminos
1 1/2T watered down miso paste
1T chili paste
1/2t chipotle powder
1t garlic powder
1/2t thyme
1T olive oil
1/2 cup dry couscous

Put everything but the couscous into a pot and brought it to a boil. Added couscous. Stir to mix the "broth" evenly, and then take it off the eye and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

Dish couscous onto plate, spoon vegetables on top of couscous.   If I have it, I'll add gorgonzola, as the sharpness of the cheese matches well with the sweetness of the roasted vegetables and the spiciness of the couscous.   It will be just dandy without the cheese, though.