Decided to go back to basics this time around. Sticking with Molasses, just not so much of it.
Recipe:
3 quarts water
3/8 cup Molasses (Black Strap)
1.5 cups sugar
Boiled down to 2 quarts and in the last minute added zest of one lemon into the wort.
Then strained into the carboy and waited for it to be cool.
Added 2 quarts kiefer to the carboy plus an additional 1/4 cup sugar.
Initial ABV = 7%
Fermentation start 1/30/2016
Stopped 2/26/2016 @ 17 seconds per bubble
Still had 2% ABV to go going into the bottling.
Bottling I poured 12 ounces of fermented carboy into bottle, then added 4 ounces of fresh strained keifer plus 1 tsp sugar.
After a week in the bottle started enjoying it. My goal is to wait a minimum of 1 week once bottled. Ideally I would prefer 2-4 weeks. But to do this I need to invest in more bottles.
Not bad, but still had that molasses taste. Taking these notes to consider for future variations:
1) Less molasses
2) Lemon zest to the carboy.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Porter Style Dark Keifer Brew #2
So when I made my first molasses based recipe it had a dominant molasses taste. On the second go at a Porter style I wanted to try some other flavors to balance out the molasses finish. I am going to ruin the rest of this post for you. This attempt did not accomplish anything, well maybe that is not true. There was a profound learning experience when my brother came out to help install recessed lighting.
So, i created the wort as follows:
2 grams of hops
1/2 cup molasses
3 quarts water
1.5 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup almonds lightly crushed.
Boiled this down to 2 quarts
Once chilled I added 2 quarts of strained keifer
The ABV was between 6 - 8%. Not really exactly sure
Bottles after about 3 weeks. Added 4 ounces of strained keifer plus 1 tsp sugar.
Now, I could not taste the almonds or even the maple syrup. In hindsight I would think that I have to roast the ingredients to caramelize any sugars out of them. I think that is the trick to making malts for traditional beer making.
My brother came out to visit and after a long couple of days we cracked one of these open to share over a game of Stratego. We each had about 8 ounces and we were starting to feel the effects of a strong IPA. The flavor was still molasses but we were able to experiment with additives. Fresh lemon squeezed in made a big difference. We then went Mcguyver and Mr Wizard to take a room temperature bottle and make it cold. Grabbed a pot, some snow, and a boat load of salt to rapidly chill the bottle. Worked just as good as we remembered it from the episode in the 80s. By the time we finished this bottle we were feeling really good.
At this point I know i was onto something with fermented keifer.
So, i created the wort as follows:
2 grams of hops
1/2 cup molasses
3 quarts water
1.5 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup almonds lightly crushed.
Boiled this down to 2 quarts
Once chilled I added 2 quarts of strained keifer
The ABV was between 6 - 8%. Not really exactly sure
Bottles after about 3 weeks. Added 4 ounces of strained keifer plus 1 tsp sugar.
Now, I could not taste the almonds or even the maple syrup. In hindsight I would think that I have to roast the ingredients to caramelize any sugars out of them. I think that is the trick to making malts for traditional beer making.
My brother came out to visit and after a long couple of days we cracked one of these open to share over a game of Stratego. We each had about 8 ounces and we were starting to feel the effects of a strong IPA. The flavor was still molasses but we were able to experiment with additives. Fresh lemon squeezed in made a big difference. We then went Mcguyver and Mr Wizard to take a room temperature bottle and make it cold. Grabbed a pot, some snow, and a boat load of salt to rapidly chill the bottle. Worked just as good as we remembered it from the episode in the 80s. By the time we finished this bottle we were feeling really good.
At this point I know i was onto something with fermented keifer.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Porter Style Dark Keifer Brew
Needed something heavy for the cold months. Stumbled online to an article about "Porter Keifer". So i decided to give it a try with some added variations.
Porter Style #1
I have a friend at work who grows his own hops. Lots of articles talked about the benefit of hops in brewing. Talked about slowing down bacteria eating sugar, adding aromas and even taste. So i decided to try hops myself. I have always stayed away from hops, never really liked them, but I think it was more I never understood them.
Recipe:
4 grams hops
1/2 cup molasses
2 quarts water
1.5 cups sugar
1) Put all this in a pot and boiled for about 20 minutes. Then let it cool quickly
2) Added strained keifer, 1 quart
3) Measured potential sugar to 5%
Started fermentation on 12/10/2015 and stopped 12/29/2015.
4) Added tsp sugar to all bottles and filled.
Flavor profile was heavily molasses. Not bad, but not good. Definitely needs some iterations. The drink started out strong like a portere but finished like molasses. Needs another flavor profile to kick in just after the molasses picks up.
Porter Style #1
I have a friend at work who grows his own hops. Lots of articles talked about the benefit of hops in brewing. Talked about slowing down bacteria eating sugar, adding aromas and even taste. So i decided to try hops myself. I have always stayed away from hops, never really liked them, but I think it was more I never understood them.
Recipe:
4 grams hops
1/2 cup molasses
2 quarts water
1.5 cups sugar
1) Put all this in a pot and boiled for about 20 minutes. Then let it cool quickly
2) Added strained keifer, 1 quart
3) Measured potential sugar to 5%
Started fermentation on 12/10/2015 and stopped 12/29/2015.
4) Added tsp sugar to all bottles and filled.
Flavor profile was heavily molasses. Not bad, but not good. Definitely needs some iterations. The drink started out strong like a portere but finished like molasses. Needs another flavor profile to kick in just after the molasses picks up.
From lemon and mint experiments to an Orange Juice success
I have been trying 1 quart variations for awhile. Back in November of 2015 I bought myself a one gallon carboy from a local home brew store. I am now setting out to document my recipes to start learning the art of keifer fermentation.
Simply Orange
8 cups of Strained keifer
4 cups simply OJ
4 cups water
1.5 cups regular sugar (white)
Going into the carboy ABV potential was 7%
I let this ferment maybe 3 weeks. Since i really do not know what I was doing i was afraid to let fermentation stop outright so i bottle prematurely.
The way I bottle to be consistent is I added 1 tsp of sugar to each bottle and filled up. I also added between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract to some bottles for a nice variation in flavor.
Let the bottles sit for a week and began to enjoy.
The Fizzy OJ was a success. Balanced flavor and the bottles with vanilla made for a nice Orange Creme.
Simply Orange
8 cups of Strained keifer
4 cups simply OJ
4 cups water
1.5 cups regular sugar (white)
Going into the carboy ABV potential was 7%
I let this ferment maybe 3 weeks. Since i really do not know what I was doing i was afraid to let fermentation stop outright so i bottle prematurely.
The way I bottle to be consistent is I added 1 tsp of sugar to each bottle and filled up. I also added between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract to some bottles for a nice variation in flavor.
Let the bottles sit for a week and began to enjoy.
The Fizzy OJ was a success. Balanced flavor and the bottles with vanilla made for a nice Orange Creme.
About 2 years ago I started brewing water keifer for the probiotic effects. It is a great way to water down juice and get some good health benefits. Eventually i found a website that said I could make fizzy water by allowing keifer to ferment an additional day or too in an airtight bottle. Bought a 1 quart grolsch bottle from Amazon and started making various fizzy drinks. The funny thing is i would forget about the bottle and one and sometimes 2 weeks later i would remember about the bottle on top of my fridge. Eventually I started to realize I was getting a buzz from these drinks. Flash forward to today, I have evolved considerably, I now own a bunch of 16-oz grolsch bottles, several gallon carboys, a bunch of airlocks etc.
This journey came with ups and downs. I was using cheep flip top bottles and one exploded in my cabinet resulting in hours of clean up. There was the time I made vinegar and drank about half a quart before i realized it.
I really can not find any good material out there about fermenting keifer for alchololic drinks. So I decided to start a blog to document my journey for other aspiring home brewers.
This journey came with ups and downs. I was using cheep flip top bottles and one exploded in my cabinet resulting in hours of clean up. There was the time I made vinegar and drank about half a quart before i realized it.
I really can not find any good material out there about fermenting keifer for alchololic drinks. So I decided to start a blog to document my journey for other aspiring home brewers.
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