Beer of the Week - Boddingtons

So, Boddingtons Pub Ale is this week’s BOTW.  I love this beer.  It has an awesomely smooth flavor with a creamy light finish and after taste.  It’s a traditional English pale ale originally from Manchester UK, owned and operated by a family brewery.  Now sadly after doing a little research about this beer, I found out that it is now owned and distributed by Anheuser-Busch, which is too bad and always seems to happen.  The giant breweries take over the little family-run breweries.  

[Side note:  If you have a chance, you should check out this documentary called Beer Wars that my roommate showed me.  It totally rips on the big, no-flavor breweries in the U.S.  Okay, back to the beer:]

When you’re drinking Boddingtons from the tap, it is served on nitrogen instead of CO2.  That’s what gives it the creamy flavor and thick head.  When you get it in a can, it comes with what’s called a widget.  You know those little balls that come in the cans of Guinness that everyone tries to take out?  It’s the same thing in Boddingtons.  All this little ball does is hold onto the nitrogen in the beer until the pressure is released when you open the can.  It makes for a better smooth first taste and creamy head.  So if you’re in the mood for a good, traditional English ale, go grab one of those 4-packs of Boddingtons and pour quickly into a glass.  Then try and get that little ball out of the can and see what I am talking about.  Enjoy!

My First IPA part 2

Hops, hops, hops and more hops.  No, that’s not rabbit food in my hand, it’s hops.  These hops are what’s going to make this beer a bold IPA.  Hops is the key ingredient in making an IPA.  It is what gives the beer its bitter flavor, its floral and citrusy aroma and the strong, lasting finish.  I finished brewing my IPA on Sunday, and this thing is full of hops.  Four different kinds of hops actually, and I’m not done adding more.  In about a week the primary fermentation will be done, and I will move the beer into the secondary fermenter and add 2 more kinds of hops to give it another boost of dry hopped flavor. 

Sunday was a fun day of making my house stink like roasted malt and burnt flowers.  The process was a lot of fun too because it was my first time working with a recipe that I put together myself.  I finally feel like I know what I am really doing here, instead of just making brown liquid that will get you drunk.  These next two beers I have a feeling will be awesome.  I was able to grab a taste of the Scotch Ale about three weeks ago and it was good.  So, with a little more time in the carboy to really settle out and a few weeks to bottle condition, this is going to be a great beer.  I will get to taste the IPA on Wednesday before I add the other hops, so that will give me a good indication of flavor and finish before it gets carbonated.  Anyways, here is the recipe from the IPA and some pictures of the brewing process.

Extract

Light LME 9.75 lbs.

Steeping Grains

Munich LME .5 lbs

Crystal (15 °L) 1.0 lbs

Crystal (40 °L) .25 lbs

Hops

Warrior hops at 60 min for bitterness   1oz

Centennial hops at 10 min                  1oz

Simcoe hops at 5 min for finishing       2oz

Amarillo hops at 0 min for finishing      2oz

After primary fermentation (about one week)

Dry hop Amarillo and Simcoe, and directly add to the carboy for secondary fermentation.

Let the hops settle at the bottom of the carboy.  This will take about 2-3 weeks.

Brewing

Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil – take boil off the heat and steep the specialty grains for 20 min.

Bring back to a boil – take off the heat and add half of the Light LME.

Bring back to boil – at boil add Warrior hops and boil for 50 min.

Take off the heat and add the other half of the Light LME.

Bring back to a boil – at boil add the Centennial hops.

Boil for 5 min and add the Simcoe hops 1oz.

Boil for 5 more min and then add the Amarillo hops 1oz.

Cool the wort to 100° F as fast as possible with an ice bath.

Add the wort to the fermenter and pitch the yeast (Wyeast 1272 American Ale II)

Primary ferment for about 1 week

After primary fermentation, switch to carboy and add the Simcoe and Amarillo hops for dry hopping.

Allow hops to settle before bottling, which will be about 2-3 weeks in the carboy for secondary fermentation.

Bring 16oz of water to a boil, and then add 2/3 cup priming sugar.
Add to bottling bucket, then siphon the beer into the bottling bucket and bottle.

Let the beer condition in the bottle for about 2 weeks.

Beer of the Week

This week’s Beer of the Week is nothing better than the classic Blue Ribbon. For the price, there is nothing better than a good cold Pabst. And to make a good beer even better, make sure you get it in the 24oz can, the tallboy. Pabst didn’t win that blue ribbon in 1893 for no good reason. Before 1893 PBR was known as just Pabst Select. Then the beer drinking people of the nation realized they had been drinking some other junk with no flavor. The blue ribbon was then awarded to Pabst and the rest is history. It’s summer time now, or at least almost. Apparently Boulder didn’t get the memo about May sunshine, not snow. Summer is the perfect time to sit outside, grill something, watch baseball, stare at a bonfire, throw ping pong balls into red cups – ya know, just do something outside. While you’re outside, take that tallboy of PBR with you and taste why that blue ribbon doesn’t fit on a can of Coors Light or Bud.

My First IPA part 1

OK so I just spent like an hour and a half at the home brew store here in Boulder, and I am pretty sure the guy at the store thinks I am an idiot. I just wanted a good recipe for an IPA and he went off about some crazy advanced brewing styles for like 30 minutes. Whenever I would ask a question he just looked at me like I was a noob to this brewing business. Whatever it was good stuff to learn, but shit I just wanted a recipe not a damn lecture. So anyways I walked away with a good recipe that we both put together, I am looking forward to how this will taste. I will post the full recipe soon. I just finished putting it together in an understandable format, instead of random jargon from this dudes head. I think I got the gist of whatever he was talking about. So the recipe is a hop heavy bold IPA with four different kinds of hops to be added at three different times (triple hops brewed like the special Miller Lite hand crafted beer) that was a joke. My roommate is very hoppy with me for brewing an IPA this time around, I hope he approves. Later this week I will post pictures of the process and a write up of the initial flavor and gravity.

The Beginning

Bold Greg sounds a bit egotistical I feel, but I like it. I can't take full credit for it though, my brother in law, Phil, came up with this as a name for my next brew. I liked it so much that when I eventually start my own brewery I may use it as the name, as my blog states. Bold Greg Brewery.

Blogging has never been something I have thought of doing myself, I feel it is like keeping a journal, and that was always for my sister to do, not me. But now I feel like a blog is something that helps you stand out, and make a fool of themselves. I have a few plans for this blog, one is to promote my love of beer and brewing as I develop my skills and move closer to my dream of owning a brewery. So I will try to post every Sunday or Monday a new beer that me and my friends and family are enjoying. I will also keep you informed of my own personal beer developments. Majority of this blog will be about beer, but there will be some talk of good food and restaurants.

Beer of the week

May 10th - Ranger IPA by New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins

A strong IPA that doesn't leave your mouth feeling dry with hops. A perfect balanced bold flavor from dark caramel malts and hops. If you have an opportunity to try this beer take advantage of it. If you have never had a chance to try any of the New Belgium beers you owe it to yourself as a beer drinker to go get one. Not only is New Belgium a producer of great beer, they believe very strongly in environmental sustainability, 100% of their energy comes from wind power and methane that is produced during the brewing. For more information about this great brewery and how to get some of their beer, visit their website http://www.newbelgium.com/