Category Archives: Sippy-Cup

Tequila, Limoncello, and Honey Syrup

A friend from work braved the quarantine to visit me for a cocktail and to talk shop and talk talk talk because no one is talking today because the fucking quarantine is killing me slowly.  What?

Anyway, I made a cocktail from spare parts and thought I’d share.

  • 1 shot añejo or reposado tequila as you prefer
  • 1 oz limoncello (I make my own but any ought to do)
  • .5 oz honey syrup (just a simple syrup made with honey)
  • orange bitters
  • finish with grenadine (again, I make my own)

Put everything but the grenadine in your shaker and shake vigorously.  It’s fun!

Pour into cocktail glasses and finish with some grenadine.  Enjoy!

JamesIsIn

Two Cocktails

Manhattan

  • 1.5 Bulleit Rye
  • .5 Antiqua formula
  • 1 homemade cherry (from dried Bings)

Unnamed

  • 1.5 Cazadores Tequila Añejo
  • .5 homemade linoncello
  • .5 Menjurje de Ancho Reyes Verde (Chile Poblano Liqueur)

Both delicious though the second could use some refinement vis-a-vis proportions.

JamesIsIn

Rye with vanilla maple cream

I ended up with some left-over cream from a cooking experiment yesterday and I thought I’d try making a cocktail with it.

The cream has vanilla and maple syrup added.

I used 1 part Mitchner’s Rye, 1/2 part Maraschino liquour, and 1 1/2 parts of my cream mixture.  Shook it like it was the tail of the devil, as they say, and strained it into a cocktail glass.

Could benefit from an egg white.  Very delicious.  You can feel the fat on your lips.  Go, team cream!

Absurdly easy to drink.  Probably dangerous…

JamesIsIn

Black Butte Clone Batch Number 3

Batch: 3

Recipe:

  • 3 lbs Maris Otter Pale
  • .5 lbs English Chocolate Malt (omitted by choice this time)
  • .75 lbs American Caramel 60*L [Crystal]
  • 4 lbs Dry Light (malt extract)
  • .33 oz Galena (Pellets 13.00 %AA) boiled 60 min
  • .75 oz Cascade (Pellets 5.50 %AA) boiled 30 min
  • 1 oz Tettnanger (Pellets 4.50 %AA) boiled 5 min
  • yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale [used wyeast 1338]

Original Gravity:  Oops.

Notes:

Bought another plastic airlock since I slightly melted my other one.

I picked up a Fluke meter like Matt’s through a seller on E-Bay for under $35.  I have to fashion a probe for it but now I have what I hope will be an excellent way to measure most temperatures. I bought a couple of probes (one for insertion and one for surface temperatures) and it’s working great.

I talked with them at Cellar and they pretty much always have Chocolate malts so it’s unlikely that my first batch used a substitute.  I have to assume that I paid for but never actually received them.  They were kind enough to give me a discount for that mishap as I purchased the new batch of supplies and ingredients.

Color is pretty light compared to what I remember from the first batch.  Perhaps I only received a portion of the Chocolates the first time?  Maybe I misremember the color?  Who knows.

I made a slurry from the dry malts and warm water.  That made adding the dry malts a lot easier.  Definitely worth repeating.

Fermentation:

  • Tuesday 29 May – 64.2 f – no bubbles
  • Wednesday 30 May – 64.2 f – ~28 seconds
  • Sunday 3 June – 64.8 f – ~16 seconds
  • Monday 4 June – 63.2 f – 18.16 seconds
  • Sunday 10 June – 65.4 f – 18.34 seconds
  • Monday 11 June – 66.8 f – 17.48 seconds
  • Wednesday 13 June – 64.4 f – 21.94 seconds
  • Thursday 14 June – 62.0 f – 32.59 seconds
  • Friday 15 June – 64.8 f – 54.25 seconds
  • Saturday 16 June – 66.0 f – 43.87 seconds
  • Monday 18 June – 66.0 f – 88.19 seconds
  • Thursday – switched from blow-off tube to airlock (unmelted w/ vodka)
  • Sunday 24 June – 65.2 f – 50.55 seconds
  • Friday 27 July – Bottled (Finally!)

Final Gravity:

End Notes:

JamesIsIn

Black Butte Clone Batch Number 2

Batch: 2

Recipe:

  • 3 lbs Maris Otter Pale
  • .5 lbs English Chocolate Malt
  • .75 lbs American Caramel 60*L [Crystal]
  • 4 lbs Dry Light (malt extract)
  • .33 oz Galena (Pellets 13.00 %AA) boiled 60 min
  • .75 oz Cascade (Pellets 5.50 %AA) boiled 30 min
  • 1 oz Tettnanger (Pellets 4.50 %AA) boiled 5 min
  • yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale [used wyeast 1338]

Original Gravity: 1.052

Notes:

I don’t know what we may have done differently but the beer seems much darker than the first batch.  Was the first batch short on the dark malts?  Did our (longer/more efficient) mash/sparge bring out more color?  This mash smelled more toasted (burnt) and the color of the brew is noticeably darker than the previous batch.

I broke a carboy by missing the protective carpet I had put down by about an inch.  It shattered on the concrete sending five gallons of sterile solution and glass all over the basement.  At least I didn’t lose any beer.

For whatever reason running the oxygen tank was troublesome as bubbles tended to bubble over the carboy.

I made a mark on the propane valve at what I hope will remain the perfect boiling BTU for future batches.  We shall see how that plays.

Fermentation:

(All ambient temperatures are a little more than 2 f shy if I compare my white thermometer with Matt’s Fluke device.)

  • Sat 5 Nov — 57.9 ? (in shop)

I moved the beer into theater where it will receive periodic (morning and evening) influxes of heat and the temps ought to range 62~68.

  • Sun 6 Nov — 64.9 f ambient; bubbles near exactly 3 seconds (perhaps increasing)
  • Sun 6 Nov — bubbles under 2 seconds
  • Mon 7 Nov 8:48 — 71 f ambient; bubbles are < 1 second
  • Mon 7 Nov 21:27 — 63.4 f ambient; blow-off tube more than one third full of ick
  • Mon 7 Nov 22:38 — 67.4 f ambient; vigorous bubbles up to several per second
  • Tue 8 Nov 7:14 — 66.0 f ambient; bubbles back to around 1 second
  • Tue 8 Nov 19:35 — 63.5 f ambient; bubbles ~4 seconds
  • Wed 9 Nov 7:42 — 65.7 f ambient; bubbles ~4.5 seconds
  • Wed 9 Nov 18:52 — 65.8 f ambient; bubbles ~7 seconds

I changed the airlock even though it got a little melty when I boiled it; I need to buy a new one; there is about 1/8″ of dough in the bottom of the blow-off bucket; with the airlock bubbles are under 4 seconds.

  • Thu 10 Nov 7:14 — 67.6 f ambient; bubbles ~4 seconds
  • Thu 10 Nov 21:19 — 67.1 f ambient; bubbles ~5.5 seconds
  • Fri 11 Nov 7:22 — 67.5 f ambient; bubbles ~5 seconds
  • Sat 12 Nov 15:59 — 67.8 f ambient; bubbles <7 seconds
  • Sun 13 Nov 9:19 — 65.7 f ambient; bubbles ~8 seconds
  • Mon 14 Nov 12:51 — 68.0 f ambient; bubbles <10 seconds
  • Tue 15 Nov 19:47 — 69.4 f ambient; bubbles ~10 seconds
  • Fri 18 Nov 6:37 — 70.2 f ambient; bubbles ~13 seconds
  • Fri 18 Nov 23:52 — 64.0 f ambient; bubbles 24.09 seconds
  • Sat 19 Nov 8:17 — 68.9 f ambient; bubbles 19.37 seconds
  • Sat 19 Nov 17:58 — 69.6 f ambient; bubbles 18.18 seconds
  • Sun 20 Nov 3:19 — 57.9 f ambient; bubbles 1:40.47 minutes
  • Sun 20 Nov 22:23 — 65.5 f ambient; bubbles 31.02 seconds
  • Mon 21 Nov 21:15 — 63.9 f ambient; bubbles 1:09.72 minutes
  • Tue 22 Nov 21:33 — 68.0 f ambient; bubbles too infrequent to bother measuring
  • Wed 23 Nov 20:27 — 63.1 f ambient; bubbles too infrequent to bother measuring

While there are still new bubbles forming at the froth line I am aiming to bottle Saturday.

  • Fri 25 Nov 17:19 — 68.0 f ambient; bubbles 10.50 seconds

This morning I moved in a personal heater to make sure the yeast was really finished with the sugars; I’ll make more measurements later.

  • Fri 25 Nov 23:43 — 73.2 f ambient; bubbles 11.72 seconds
  • Sat 26 Nov 8:34 — 79.5 f ambient; bubbles 23.46 seconds
  • Sat 26 Nov 16:12 — 77.9 f ambient; bubbles 19.63 seconds
  • Sat 26 Nov 23:42 — 74.1 f ambient; bubbles 26.29 seconds
  • Sun 27 Nov — no discernible bubble activity all day

I am hoping I made a better estimate this time in my secondary sugars so this batch will not be quite so effervescent as the first batch.  We shall see.

Bottled:

Monday 28 November 21:41

  • 2 x 1 L
  • 18 x 16 oz
  • 10 x 22 oz

I had a hard time keeping any of the sediment from getting into the bottles.  Some of the bottles have visible sediment in them.  I guess this is from the hops and the fact I didn’t use bags.  There was a lot of sediment in the carboy (two inches?) and it seems unlikely it’s all yeast.

Final Gravity: 1.010

The final gravity sample tastes a bit thin.  We shall see how that comes together after the bubbles come to being.

ABV: 5.5125 %

End Notes:

JamesIsIn

Black Butte Clone

Batch: 1

Recipe:

  • 3 lbs Maris Otter Pale
  • .5 lbs English Chocolate Malt ?
  • .75 lbs American Caramel 60*L [Crystal]
  • 4 lbs Dry Light (malt extract)
  • .33 oz Galena (Pellets 13.00 %AA) boiled 60 min
  • .75 oz Cascade (Pellets 5.50 %AA) boiled 30 min
  • 1 oz Tettnanger (Pellets 4.50 %AA) boiled 5 min
  • yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale [used wyeast 1338]

Original Gravity: n/a

Notes:

Color very light.  Did I get all the correct grains?  I will attempt another batch without the Chocolates for comparison.

Forgot to measure OG.  Oops.

Fermentation:

  • Sat 8 May 1:19 — There is gaseous activity and a scummy froth, so all must be well.
  • Tue 11 May 17:20 — The lowest temperature I have seen is about 60 and the highest is about 64.  I am seeing a bubble from the tube about every dozen seconds these last two days.
  • Mon 17 May 20:34 — (Note from Matt:  I have a feeling you’ll end up with more of an “amber ale”.  Having just brewed a batch myself, looking at the dark malt ratios, mine were considerably higher.  I don’t know why they gave you “pilsner” dry malt — I would have gone with “amber”, myself.  Pilsner is the lighest, followed by “light”, followed by “amber”.  Normally, for a darker ale, you’d use “amber”.  It should still be potable, though — it’s still beer!)
  • Tue 18 May 20:02 — It looks just fine. I will switch airlocks tonight.
    Should I give as much time as possible in the carboy to compensate for these slower fermentation speeds (assumed from lower temps and slower bubbles)?
  • Tue 18 May 22:15 — (Note from Matt:  Yeah, in theory you can leave it in the carboy for a month or more.  But that assumes you have really good sanitation and not a lot of microbial stuff floating around in the air.  My experience is that leaving it in for more than a couple of weeks results in weird flavors.)
  • Sun 23 may 18:36 — It tastes like flat beer.  Seems pretty well balanced.  The bitterness cuts fast and then disappears.  Pleasantly malty.  Not a lot of aroma because that comes mostly with the head I suppose, but it’s not boozy either.
  • Sun 23 May 20:04 — With the small valve in place it’s bubbling about 35-40 seconds.

Bottled:

Final Gravity: n/a

ABV: ABV = 131.25 * (OG – FG)

End Notes:

I used too much secondary sugar as the beer was so effervescent that I was only able to open cold bottles (opening warm bottles resulted in uncontrollable frothing over, though since I use flip top bottles I was able to reseal and cool these transgressions).

This beer had an absolutely wonderful aroma in the head.  Delightful.  Not sure about reproducing it as the color suggests I may have made some error with the malts and the unusual brewing temperatures meant the beer spent a month in the carboy and another month in the bottles (while I jetted off to France).

Finally these notes are incomplete because I wote this post post hoc culling the data from various e-mail (and my shaky memory) to and from my brewing mentor.

(I picked my recipe from among those on-line.  I think this is where I found it.  You can find others like this one or this one.)

JamesIsIn