Thirsty Mallard Brewing Blog

I’m enjoying a few pints of my Scottish 75/- and I have to say it is damn tasty and one of the easiest drinking beers I have ever made!  I really like this beer for it’s simplicity, yet it still has a distinct flavor from the process and the Scottish yeast.

I think this is the perfect beer for people who aren’t beer geeks.  It is nice and malty with only enough hops to balance it out, but not be noticeable and overly bitter.  I think this is going to become one of my flagship beers that I will try to always keep on tap. 

I think I may also try making a batch of this and aging it on oak or adding some smoked malt.  Either way… this one is definitely enjoyable!

What a title for a blog…

 Anyways, the Scottish 75/- was ready to drink tonight.  It tasted great!  It was simple and clean with a malt forward flavor profile that I think will be very enjoyable even to non-beer geeks. 

The only problem is that there seems to be a “house flavor” that I taste in all my beers.  It’s not a terrible flavor, but it is something I don’t find desireable.  I really think it has to do with my brewing water.  I brew at my parent’s house (no room for brewing equipment in my apartment) and they have some very interesting water.  They are on land so it is pumped from a private well which means it is unfiltered and quite full of minerals and whatnot.  The filtered water in the house is so soft that it would make for poor brewing water… so I am at a crossroads.  I buy water know and then, but it is a hassle.  I am looking forward to moving into my new house with city municipal water where the biggest problem is getting rid of chlorine.

In other news (since water chemistry isn’t quite riveting enough), my Wee Heavy is coming along nicely.  After a  week it has already dropped from 1.089 to 1.030 and it tastes pretty good.  I am hoping it drops about another 10 or so points.  I have decided to secondary it for a week, then bottle it and age it until my wedding day (July 13th) where I will open the first bottle!  I will post the recipe at some point just in case anyone is looking for a recipe.  I do plan to archive a few for about 2-3 years for my enjoyment and for competition.

Other than that all I have to say is it’s probably not a good idea to drink two bombers of Imperial Stout and then think you can play Halo 3. 

First off, apologies for not updating this blog more frequently.  For shame… I will get back to keeping up. 

Ever since the CIA meeting (see previous blog post) I have gotten an obsession with Scottish Ales.  They aren’t too hoppy and have a smooth, almost slightly smokey flavor from the yeast which I find really delicious and enjoyable.  I also love the fact that Scottish Ales are more non-beer-geek-friendly since they are more malty than bitter, so others can enjoy my beer (and not wince at the unfamiliar taste of a massive hop presence).

So right now in the fermenter I have 5 gallons of Scottish 75/- (It’s just a touch heavier than a 70/- and… I think… not heavy enough to be legitimatley called an 80/-).  Here is the recipe:

 Mallard McDuck’s Scottish 75/-
5.5 Gallons, 120 Minute Boil
Est. OG - 1.041
Est. IBU - 12

Grains:
7.50 Lbs - Maris Otter
0.25 Lbs. - Roasted Barley

Hops:
0.6 oz. - Fuggles - 4.5% AA - Pellets - 60 Min.

Yeast:
White Labs - WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

I like this recipe for its simplicity.  Simplicity means it is easy to gather ingredients, easy to understand what impact they have on flavors (not so many variables), and with less grains the cost stays down.  In addition to simplicity, this recipe is fairly traditional (according to the book Brewing Classic Styles) so it has the added benefit of being a good example of style.

A check on the gravity on Sunday showed it was coming along perfectly and the taste test was fantastic!  That beer will be ready to keg on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  I am planning on using that day as a brew day as well and making a Wee Heavy Ale and just putting that brew right on top of the yeast bed from the Scottish 75/-.  I have always wanted to brew a Wee Heavy (one of my favorite strong ale styles) so I am really looking forward to making this beer.  Unfortunately the beer will need to age for 8-12 months after fermentation, so that part will be less than awesome… but in the end I will have some great beer!

Once I finalize a recipe I will post it here on my blog. 

 ——-

Bottled: CIA Scottish 70/-, Vanilla Porter
On Tap: Erin’s Cranberry Apple Cider, Rat Pad Pale Ale, Duck Days of Summer Kolsch, Dusseldorf Alt Bier
Primary: Mallard McDuck’s Scottish 75/-

Well, I went to my first official homebrew club meeting today with the Cane Island Alers!  It was a brew-in meeting, so we spent the day brewing beer.  It was pretty interesting, as we brewed about 70 gallons (yes, that is over TWO barrels of beer) of Scottish Ale of different strenghts… all from one mash.

 It was a beautiful thing… and I have never seen so much beer come from a single mash.   I had a good time, and the people were really friendly, so that’s a plus.  (I’m already looking forward to the next meeting!)

 The only mishap (and it was a doozy) was on the way home I had 2 carboys full of wort sitting next to each other (bad idea).  We took a turn and the two clanged against one another, shattering one of them and spilling 5 gallons of beer in the back of my girlfriend’s Xterra.  Not pretty.  I scrubbed and vaccumed for hours, but it still smells like wort!

But hey, lesson learned, and I still have 5 gallons of Scottish 60/- in the fermentation cooler!  I can’t wait to try this one… the wort alone smelled great!  I will be entering this one in the Dixie Cup (Houston homebrew competition) under the CIA, so hopefully we can win some awards!

I’ll keep you all posted…. cheers!

My brewing has taken a hiatus over this summer (to my dismay).  Due to increased work load, family vacations, and the lovely Texas summer heat, I have postponed my brewdays (for shame).

On a plus side, this time off of brewing has given me time to try to start depleting supplies.  Honestly if I did brew I would have nowhere to put it… I have 4 full kegs in the kegerator and the shelf in there is filled with bottles.

 I have decided that my next brew will be a Scottish Ale.  I have had a few lately and grown quite fond of them. 

Hopefully I will have time to brew next week… although with Texans football season upon (guess who’s got season tickets!) my Sundays could get booked rather quickly. 

Still… must make time for brewing!

As you may recall I was trying to grow some hops this year.  Well, after I planted my Cascade rhizome, our area was pounded with heavy heavy rains that flooded the field I planted the hops in.  As it goes, hop rhizomes rot out when flooded.  Oh swells.

 So, then the rhizomes were all on clearance (end of the season) so I bought a Nugget hop rhizome, and planted it.  I am guessing that planting hops is the equivalent of doing a voo doo rain dance, because for the past few weeks we have had very incliment weather, once again, flooding the fields. 

 So, looks like the hops experiment will wait until next year. 

Looks like I will be entering my first local competition, the Lunar Rendezbrew in Clear Lake!  Since I don’t have to worry about the cost of shipping I am planning on entering more entries (whatever I have left). 

So, I am going to try to submit my Vanilla Porter, Duck Days of Summer Kolsch, American Amber, Not An Amber Blonde (if I have any left), and maybe a Cranberry Cider.

Wish me luck!

So I brewed last Sunday.  I was making an IPA… or so I thought.  Somewhere along the line something went screwy, and I ended up with a terribly low Specific Gravity.  I was shooting for a 1.066  and I ended up with a 1.048.

Crap.

 So, in honor of The Brewing Network, I am dubbing this beer my Rat Pad Pale Ale.  I figured it was fitting since it is now just a pale ale with entirely too many hops (just the way The BN likes ‘em).

Cheers!

(By the way, the beer will be ready for consumption at the end of June.)

That’s right… I won my first award!

I won third place for my Bavarian Weizen at the Carolina Brewmasters U.S. Open with a score of 39! 

I am pretty stoked about my first ribbon and it has really lit a fire under me to brew more and compete more.  I will be framing this ribbon in a shadow box and displaying it proudly as my first recognition…

Hopefully more ribbons will come later! 

I sent off my Bavarian Weizen to two competitions.

The U.S. Open Homebrew Competition in Mooresville, North Carolina.

and

Spirit of Free Beer XV in Ashburn, Virginia

Both competitions go down on May 12th, so I hope to have results about a week or so after that.  We drank the weizen at the draft party and it was great!  Nice banana and clove character and a clean flavor from the pilsner malt.  I think the bitterness may have been just a touch too high, but nothing that took away from it.

I have 15 weizens in bottles that I have promised to give away to friends.  If you are a loyal blog reader, drop me a line and I will try to save one for you!

Wish me luck in my competitions!  Cheers!