Funky Apple

Back in August, I bought four ripe peaches from my local farmer's market. I sliced them up unwashed and dropped into a 1.040 Wheat DME starter to see what I could get going. After a few weeks, I added the dregs of a bottle of Russian River Beatification and Temptation. I also added the dregs of a wild ale I spontaneously fermented in West Philly. This starter was sitting around for two months and developed a strong sour peach flavor.

With the fall in full swing, I decided to use the starter for a hard cider.

Yield: 3 gallons

-2 gallons of local unpasturized cider

-2.75 lb. Fuji apple juice

-1.5 lb. Granny Smith apple juice

-1/2 gallon Peach Yeast slurry

-D47 wine yeast (to balance the funk and dry it out quick)

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Update 1/1/11

Appearance: A pale yellow haze. Not surprising to see this yeast doesn't flocculate too well.

Aroma: Apples, peaches and PEZ

Taste: Tart at first with a big peach flavor. It's hard to differentiate whether I'm tasting apple or peach. As it warms, the cider seems to sweeten up a bit.

Mouthfeel: Semi-dry

Overall: A bit dry for my taste, but overall worth a try. We'll see what happens with this over time. I wonder if the Brett will come out and play ever.

Carrot Wine

Mettja C. Roatte 'How to Make Wine in Your Own Kitchen'

I found this book at a Cannon Falls, MN book sale last summer for ten cents. I've made a few small batches of oddball wines. Every spring I make a few gallons of dandelion wine, but it wasn't until I came across this book that I ever thought of carrot wine. What I've read carrot wine is pretty damn good and the cost is pretty damn low, so there's not much to lose. The one thing I've noticed is that all the recipes I found only use the carrot water post boil. I don't know if this is because juicing them causes problems...but I decided to juice them to find out.

It's gonna take carrots, a whole lot of carrots. I bought six pounds of organic carrots for $5.40. I'm shooting for 1.5 gallons of wine.











6 #Organic Carrots (juiced=about 72oz.)*
2 # Raw Cane Sugar
2 Lemons (juiced by hand)
1 Orange (juiced)
.5 # Golden Raisins
1.5 gal. filtered water
Lalvin #D47 Wine Yeast
Wyeast Yeast Nutrient

*Save pulp from juicer.




I juiced all 6 lb. carrots and saved the pulp. I boiled the remaining pulp (20 min.) with the 1.5 gallons water to gain even more color and possible sugars. I have this fermenting in the mid 70s. and I'll rack over after 2 weeks. Once in the secondary...I'll just leave it alone for a while. It's not really tying up any of my fermenters at this volume.

Bottle and age one year.

Teresa's Next Door

Ever been to Teresa's/Teresa's Next Door in Wayne, PA? A day after just spending two weeks in Minnesota, I decided I couldn't pass up the Philly Beer Week Recap day there. I talked my wife into leaving Philly at 10AM, dropping off the youngin' and heading to the bar to consume it all.
When we got there...it was closed. We were a bit too early and no one was waiting outside. Now considering it was hot as fuck...I became aware of many beer drinkers lurking in the morning light. It's wasn't too hard to figure out who was who. My wife and cousin were the only females at opening. The two guys playing it cool down the street were definitely ashamed to be seen waiting to drink outside a bar at 10:30 AM, but the guys waiting in the A/C minivan had the right idea, (except for the driving a minivan part).
Anyway, here's what I took advantage of...

Russian River Consecration Vertical Tasting
This was just fucking ridiculous. I don't think I'll get the chance to drink all 4 batches like this any time soon again. I drank backwards...4-3-2-1 and saved a bit of each and then blended them all together for a personal Batch 5. For my personal taste, I'd rank 'em 2-3-1-4.






Russian River Registration
I would like to thank the PLCB for their wonderful contribution to Philly Beer Week '10. Great IPA. I had two of these. You want a review? Go look at Beer Advocate.















Cantillion Cuvee St. Gilloise
Like my friend Keith Greiman said,"Never even heard of the Cantillion". Neither had I, but love it now. In the past, it was called Cuvée des Champions...a dry-hopped version of their 2 yr. old unblended lambic. This beer is definitely urging me to dry hop the next sour I bottle.














Bunny Bites
Rabbit Tenders anyone? I never had rabbit before, but I'm now a fan. I expected these to be gamey, but they actually had a mild flavor that the breading didn't overtake.









So make the trip I rarely recommend and so few of my friends would ever take. Leave the city, head to the suburbs and hit up Teresa's. I've been there plenty of times and you can't go fucking wrong.

Dogfish Head/Will Oldham

I got the chance to take a weekend trip down to Dogfish Head Brewery this past April. I went down to Milton/Rehobeth to help shoot a video for DFH and Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy). Directed by Ryan Collerd and DP Gabe DeLoach. This was an awesome trip, fun shoot and there was plenty of good beer to drink. Everyone we met was super cool and Dogfish Head's Immort Ale is my shit now. Skeet skeet. And thanks Karen for letting me try some Liquor De Malt too!

Funk In The Basement

I've learned enough about myself to realize that my parent's basement is the best place for long fermentations. Here's what bubbling...

Doppelsticke Funk: I'm trying to mimic this old German style back when long term storage took place in barrels.
Sour Beet: I brewed this one in January '10. Roasted beets in the mash and an additional 1/2 gallon of beet juice in the secondary was used to contribute color and some added sugars to this traditional lambic grist.
West Philly Plambic: Spontaneously fermented in West Philly, this beer is almost 1.5 years old and is tempting me to bottle it.
Old Ale: My virgin bug brew. This is a Belgian Dubbel recipe that I added Roeselare (Wyeast 3763) to in the secondary and then a constant stream of bottle dregs. This one has become so acidic that it is solely a blending candidate.

Brewer's Tip: Go up to your bedroom and grab your newest leopard skin Snuggie and wrap that carboy for UV protection.