homebrew | Planted and Enchanted

November 30, 2014
by Chadly con Queso Leave a comment

Ginger Champagne

We thought it would be fun to do something a little different than beer today, and this recipe looked like a tasty alternative. This one requires waiting an entire year before drinking it, which should be either very exciting or extremely disappointing when the day arrives.

Adapted recipe from Wild Fermentation (Katz) to one-gallon. Brewed two one-gallon batches.

6 ½ oz ginger, finely chopped

2 lb 6 oz organic cane sugar

1 lemon, juiced

¾ tsp vanilla extract

1 packet Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast

Place ginger, sugar and 1 gallon water in stock pot. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. After one hour, turn off heat. Add lemon juice and vanilla. Cool in ice bath to approx 85 degrees.

Add approximately 1/3 packet of yeast into one-gallon glass carboy. Strain cooled liquid into the carboy, make sure yeast is dissolved, and insert airlock. Ferment two to three months at room temperature.

After two to three months, siphon wine into a clean carboy, leaving yeast sediment behind. Top off carboy with boiled and cooled water. Replace airlock and ferment six more months.

Bottle after the nine months of fermentation. Use heavy-duty bottles. Prime bottles with 1 tespoon sugar per each 750 ml bottle. May also want to add a few grains (3-5) of yeast to each bottle, in case dormant yeast is dead.

Cork bottles with champagne stoppers and secure with champagne wires. Wait at least one month before opening. Chill before serving.

October 19, 2014
by Planted and Enchanted 10 Comments

Rustic Spent Grain Bread

Since we started home brewing over a year ago, we knew we wanted to find ways to use our spent grain in other projects. As someone who loves to bake bread, I began searching for and experimenting with spent grain bread recipes, but was never totally satisfied with the outcome. After experimenting for several months, I’ve finally worked up a recipe that’s quite good. I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale to weigh ingredients, because the end product is more consistent.

Rustic Spent Grain Bread

Mix by hand or combine in a stand mixer with bread hook for about 2 minutes, until the dough comes together:

14 ⅞ oz / 421 g (3 ½ cups) bread flour
2 ½ oz / 71 g (½ cup) spent grain
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp active dry yeast
10 oz / 285 g (1 ¼ cup) lukewarm water

The dough will be slightly sticky. Cover with a towel and let rise for 2 to 2 ½ hours. Cover bowl with plastic wrap (or put dough in a bowl with a lid) and place in refrigerator to ferment overnight. Remove dough from refrigerator about an hour before baking.

Place dutch oven with lid on middle rack of oven. Preheat oven to 475 degrees for at least 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface and with lightly floured hands, shape dough into a round loaf. Place on a floured surface and cover with a towel to rise for about 30 minutes while the oven preheats.

Once the oven has preheated, sprinkle top of loaf with a little flour. Use a serrated knife or bread scoring tool to slash an X or other design into loaf.

Carefully remove the hot dutch oven and add the loaf to the hot pan. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid from the dutch oven and continue to bake for 20 minutes until the crust is a deep golden brown. The bread should sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from oven and place loaf on a rack to cool for at least an hour before slicing and eating. Enjoy!

October 12, 2014
by Chadly con Queso Leave a comment

No Regrets Black IPA

We mentioned brewing a black IPA last weekend and I thought I’d share our detailed recipe. We adapted the basic grain bill from The Brew Guys but chose to use different hops and yeast because experimenting is good for you.

No Regrets Black IPA – Brewed 10/5/14 – Makes one gallon

Adapted from The Brew Guys.

60-minute mash:
2 pounds American 2-row malt
3 oz Crystal 40 malt
2 oz Carafa 2 malt
1 oz Chocolate malt

Heat 3 ½ quarts water to 160 degrees. Add grains and stir gently. Steep for 60 minutes–between 144 and 152 degrees. Stir and take temp every 10 minutes. After grains have steeped for 60 minutes, raise heat and stir until temp reaches 170 degrees. Maintain temp for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 gallon sparge water to 170 degrees. Put grains into strainer and pour wort over them into plastic fermenter bucket. Slowly and evenly pour sparge water over grains. Recirculate collected liquid through the grains back into stock pot. Recirculate two more times–once in fermentation bucket then back into stock pot.

60-minute boil:
14 grams Simcoe Hops at 15 min
8 grams Centennial Hops at 15 min
7 grams Simcoe at 0 min
8 grams Centennial at 0 min

⅛ tsp Irish Moss (rehydrated at least 15 min in 1-2 oz hot water)

Bring pot to boil, reduce heat to slow rolling boil and set timer for 60 minutes. With 15 minutes remaining, add 13 grams Simcoe and 8 grams Centennial and add ⅛ tsp Irish Moss. With 0 minutes remaining, add 6 grams Simcoe and 8 grams Centennial. Prepare ice bath. Cool pot in ice bath to 70 degrees.

Ferment:
Yeast starter:
2 T light dried malt extract
1 c boiling water
1 tube liquid San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090)
¼ tsp Yeast Energizer

To make yeast starter, use a pint size canning jar to dissolve malt extract in boiling water. Cool to room temperature and add yeast and yeast energizer. Cover with plastic wrap secured with rubber band. Give it a good shake and let stand 6-12 hours.

Strain wort into primary fermenter. Add yeast starter and stir vigorously. Attach sanitized stopper and tubing to the fermenter and insert the other end of the tubing into a pint glass filled with sanitizing solution. Wait 2-3 days until bubbling slows, then replace tubing with airlock. Two weeks after brew day, transfer to secondary fermenter (glass carboy). Dry hop: Add 7 grams of Simcoe and 8 grams Centennial hops to secondary fermenter before transferring.

October 5, 2014
by Chadly con Queso Leave a comment

Fourteen Years in Austin

This weekend marked our 14th anniversary of moving to Austin and it was a good one.

We started off at the always pleasurable Jester King brewery and Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza. Always fun to try their top-notch farmhouse ales. Plus, Stanley’s had Prairie Ales’ Standard on tap, which is ridiculously tasty.

Our lacto-fermentation projects seem to be multiplying. This weekend we used two-pounds of Serrano peppers from the garden to start a batch of mash and three-pounds of carrots and four ounces ginger to make slaw. We’re fascinated by the natural fermentation that takes place with the addition of just a bit of sea salt and plan on expanding our lacto-ferment-based line soon.

Sunday ended by brewing our first-ever black IPA, which was a blast. It was the first time using Carafa 2 malt, which was super dark and roasty. Good times. We also employed a new hopping method that had us waiting until 15 minutes left in the boil to add the first round. A second round of Centennial and Simcoe was also added at flameout, and we’ll dry hop with them both at secondary.

Hope y’all are having fun doing things and making stuff. Send us pics of your own homesteading projects. We’d love to see what you’re doing.

Planted and Enchanted

A casual blog about sustainability, gardening and life in Central Texas

Tag Archives: homebrew

Ginger Champagne

Rustic Spent Grain Bread

No Regrets Black IPA

Fourteen Years in Austin