Beer: Apple Pie Ale

So this beer holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first beer that I formulated the recipe from scratch by researching how to extract flavors for hours upon hours. As I kept on reading, it seemed like an extremely hard task to get all of these complex flavors to come out properly. Spices in beer is an area that can easily become overpowering and destroy the delectable delicious flavor of beer; the combination of water, malt, hops, and yeast.

One day, along with 2 of my good friends, I decided to just start brewing beer. We started with an IPA kit and then on to a Smokey Porter. They were good, but just like with music, playing covers gets old over time. You want to create something. You want it to be your own. Someone else's recipe isn't as gratifying as YOUR recipe. 

In the "Early Days" as I like to refer to it, we just had a stove top pot and were dealing with extracts instead of all-grain. Since then, we have made many upgrades and educated ourselves much more with the art of brewing. So this year I tweaked the recipe a bit to accommodate those changes. We started the day as we usually do, going out and buying way too much beer for the half day we would be brewing. Also, as with tradition we have to eat food that is not even remotely good for us. 

Here is Ryan cutting the apples so that we can pasteurize them.

Once we were done with that, it was time to heat up the water for mashing in. If you'd like to read more about the process here is the link! Once it's heated to the correct temperature, it's time to mash in, or what some refer to  as "doughing in".

Now we wait. Depending on the recipe, there can be many different times for this. We do a simple batch sparge. There are many other ways of doing this, but with the equipment we have, this will suffice. We get an efficiency of about 68-75%, which isn't bad. For this recipe, we'll wait about an hour until we can test for starch conversion. We tested, and everything was going as planned!

Next up, we transfer the now wort to the next cooler we have to calculate how many gallons we got. We were around 4 gallons and we needed about 7. 

Next up is to lauder the wort and we do this with sparging. This way we can get more wort and get us up to the 7 gallons we want. We let that rest for about 10 minutes and then collect the wort again. Meanwhile... this is Ryan, again. This doesn't even portray how beautiful this smell is. 

Now we're ready to start the boil where we add the rest of our ingredients. This recipe calls for a 60 minute boil, but you can go for any amount of time again depending on the recipe. 

Once boiled, we need to cool the wort down to 68-72 degrees so that we can have a happy yeast. We have also recently included doing a longer cold break and whirlpooling to remove the excess trub.

Now that everything has been cooled and the liquid and solids have separated a bit, it is time to transfer the wort to the primary fermentor. We need to create some aeration so that the yeast is again, a happy yeast. No one wants a pesky yeast. After this, we pitch the yeast!

Now we wait about a week for the yeast to convert the sugars to alcohol and we transfer to secondary fermentation for some more clarity. There is much argument over whether this step is necessary but for some reason, I like doing it. I have never encountered infection or any other problems from this.

We didn't run into many issues this brew day. However, the brew store did not give me the 11 pounds of grain I asked for. As I was brewing I could tell that there was definitely not enough grain in the mash tun. Oh well. This just means that the alcohol content will not be the 8.2% I wanted but more around the 5.5% range judging from the 1.055 OG reading we got from the hydrometer. 

Normally people don't release their recipes to people, but I don't care. The slogan we use all the time with our "brewing company" we have is "Ourbeer is your beer" and I intend to keep it that way. So here it is! This is with the 8.2% alcohol version. If you wanna try for a lower ABV, just adjust the grains accordingly. 

Original Gravity:

1.081

Final Gravity:

1.019

ABV (standard):

8.19%

IBU (tinseth):

30.14

SRM (morey):

19.06

Fermentables

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
11 lb	American - Pale 2-Row	37	1.8	66.2%
2.5 lb	American - Victory	34	28	15%
0.5 lb	American - Caramel / Crystal 80L	33	80	3%
0.5 lb	American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt)	33	1.8	3%
2.125 lb	Maple Syrup	30	35	12.8%
16.63 lb	Total

Hops

Amount	Variety	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU
0.5 oz	Calypso	Pellet	13	Boil	60 min	22.12
1 oz	Cluster	Pellet	6.5	Boil	10 min	8.02

Mash Guidelines

Amount	Description	Type	Temp	Time
5.4 gal	Bring to 175 to warm mash tun	Sparge	152 F	60 min
4 gal	Bring to boil	Sparge	172 F	10 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

Other Ingredients

Amount	Name	Type	Use	Time
1 tsp	Gypsum	Water Agt	Boil	60 min
1 each	Whirlfloc Tablet	Water Agt	Boil	15 min
0.5 tsp	Apple Pie Spice	Spice	Boil	10 min
4 each	Cinnamon	Spice	Boil	10 min
2 each	Vanilla Bean	Spice	Boil	10 min
1 tsp	Vanilla Extract	Spice	Boil	10 min
5 each	Apples	Spice	Primary	0 min

Yeast

Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast

Attenuation (avg): 77% Flocculation: High Optimum Temp: 57 - 70 °F Starter: No Fermentation Temp: 72 °F Pitch Rate: 0.5 (M cells / ml / ° P) 185 B cells required

Notes

Pasteurize apples at low temperature until they turn into an apple sauce.

Food: Crock Pot Spicy Pulled Pork

I've been making pulled pork for years now and use a general base recipe. I tweak it every time and this time I made it, I really enjoyed it. I came up with this recipe all by myself and think it is delicious! Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Total Time: 8-9 hours
Prep: 10 min
Inactive: 7-8 hours
Cook: 7-8 hours
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients
2.5lbs Pork Roast Tenderloin Whole Fresh
1 Bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet 'n Spicy Barbecue Sauce (18 oz)
1 Medium Red Bell Pepper
1 Medium Green Bell Pepper
1 Medium Red Onion
1 tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper (less if you don't want that spicy)
1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2 teaspoons Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Adobo

Directions
Put the pork into the crock pot. Season the pork with 2 teaspoons Sea Salt, 1 teaspoon Black Pepper, 1 teaspoon Paprika, and 1 teaspoon of Adobo to both sides. Next put the brown sugar on top of the pork. Put the bell peppers, onion, crushed red pepper and garlic in. Now you can pour the BBQ sauce, water, and vinegar in. Give it a good stir to make sure everything distributes evenly.

Set the crock pot on low and let it simmer for about 8 hours. I usually prep it in the morning and let it go while I am at work. After the 8 hours you can either turn it off or I usually put it on a setting my crock pot has called "Warm". Take the pork out and put it in a large bowl. Shred the pork with two forks and then cover with tin foil to ensure it stays warm.

(Optional)
You can strain everything that is left over in the crock pot into a medium size sauce pan. Save everything that was strained in an extra bowl. Put it on low heat and slowly add corn starch and flour to thicken it up into a BBQ sauce. Do about a tablespoon at a time and use your judgement when you think it's thick enough. It'll have a little extra flavor than the standard Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet 'n Spicy Barbecue Sauce. I strain it again and throw it into the fridge to let it cool and thicken some more. Now you have some delicious garlic, pepper, and onion toppings with a semi homemade BBQ sauce.

Cheers!

Food: Steak Chimichurri

Well, I guess this is my first post.

So some time back, I saw a picture online of this steak with some weird green sauce on top of it. For some time, I had a weird fear of foods that were slimy and green. But ever since my first taste (a couple years ago) of guacamole, that fear easily subsided. I mean come on? Who doesn't like guacamole after TRYING it? Anyways, I decided to give it a whirl. I found a recipe from Emeril Lagasse on the food network website.

I have made it about 6 times now and each time it gets tastier and tastier.

Below is the recipe I use:

Link

Total Time: 3 hr 3 min
Prep: 10 min
Inactive: 2 hr 35 min
Cook: 18 min
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup sherry wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced shallots
3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 (1 3/4 to 2-pound) skirt steak

Directions
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the olive oil, sherry vinegar, lemon juice, parsley, basil, oregano, garlic and shallots. Pulse until well blended but do not puree. Add 1/4 teaspoon of the black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the crushed red pepper. Remove 1 cup of the chimichurri sauce from the processor and transfer to a non-reactive bowl, cover with plastic wrap and reserve at room temperature for up to 6 hours. (If cooking steak another day, refrigerate sauce and return to room temperature before serving.)

Season the steak with 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt on each side, as well as 1/4 teaspoon of the black pepper per side and place in a large, resealable plastic bag. Add the remaining chimichurri sauce from the processor. Seal bag and refrigerate the steak for at least 2 and up to 4 hours.

Preheat a grill to medium heat.

Once the steak has finished marinating, remove it from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Brush the excess chimichurri sauce off the steak and set the steak over the hot grill. Cook for 6 minutes on the first side. Rotate the steak 45 degrees, and cook another 6 minutes. Turn the steak over and continue to cook until the steak is done, about 6 to 8 minutes for medium-rare. Once cooked, lay the steak on a clean cutting board, and allow it to rest for 5 to 7 minutes before slicing across the grain into 2-inch wide strips. Serve with crusty bread and the reserved chimichurri sauce.

Good luck! And remember, relax and have fun. Cheers!