One tradition to which we adhere in our household is having a seasonal fermented beverage ready for the long, dark, cold months of winter here in Vermont. This year’s beverage is a recipe Rick created with traditional English Christmas pudding as the inspiration. This sweet stout starts off with the smell of figs and a
Articles with the Tag Homebrew
Updates and new directions: May 2020
Welcome back! After an intentional and much-needed hiatus we are finally ready to share what we’ve been up to for the past few months, most of which has overlapped with the pandemic outbreak of coronavirus in 2020. Highlights include Rick’s latest beer recipe, Melon Collie Berry, a thank-you to Trisha and Arthella, the hostesses with
L’odeur du Printemps: The Smell of Spring in a fruity French Saison style
L’odeur du Printemps is our first saison in a very long time, and we were overdue brewing one. This recipe uses French yeast and (mostly) German malts and hops, coupled with some honey malt for a little added sweetness to accentuate the fruit notes found in the Mandarina Bavaria and Huell Melon hops. A little
The Hairy Porter – A Rich Winter Warmer
The Hairy Porter is a full-bodied, slightly sweet, chocolatey beer without the astringency some dark ales have. We forwent the usual black patent malt and swapped it with a dark wheat malt, leaving the familiar brownish-red color and highlighting the Belgian Special B and chocolate malts. The flaked oats and the wheat malt make for
DiploMEADic CHAImunity – Braggot
DiploMEADic CHAImunity gets its start and origin from a recipe by Rob Friesel, whose blog Rick has been following for over 15 years. The recipe was published along with his article in Brew Your Own magazine on the Braggot style. Having done a few meads this past winter we were very interested in this fusion
Strawberry Melonball MIPA: A First Attempt Combining Fruit & Lactose
A trip to Portland, Maine in February 2019 reminded us that there is still some fun to be had with even with the most familiar styles of beer. Strawberry Melonball is our first attempt at the milkshake style as well as working with whole fruits, and after some unexpected delays we were finally ready to give it
Photo HOPortunity – American Pale Ale
This week, we’re tasting and sharing the recipe for Rick’s latest brew. For those who would like to brew this beer it is available below, as well as on Brewer’s Friend. This was the first beer done on the new 1800W induction burner in our dedicated brewing space in the basement. It should be a
Brewery Upgrade: New equipment and a fresh space for a better brew experience
Over the years, we’ve come to realize that each iteration of our homebrew setup was lacking in some way: convenient access to water, adequate storage space, reliance on fossil fuels for heating water, or just a pleasant space to work and hang out while waiting for various steps in the brew process to complete. In
Mead & Melomel: variation on a honey brew
In Part 1, Rick explained the simple method for making mead, an ancient beverage of fermented honey. Next Steps Today, Rick racked the mead to a freshly washed carboy to get rid of the sediment that had started to build up over the past 5 weeks. We’ll keep half of the original concoction as-is to
Making Mead: Honey plus time yields a delicious beverage
We have been intending to make mead for so long that it had become something of a joke. “I’ll get to that right after we make mead.” Then this past summer whilst cleaning the basement we realized we had nearly 14 pounds of honey … and that it was six years old. Coincidentally, we had