Shaping America's Youth, One Beer at a Time (Blarney Stone Irish Red Ale)

In preparation for St. Patrick's Day, Sam made a recipe for an Irish Red Ale. The goal was to create a red ale that was out of the ordinary. It still has the amber color found in most red ales, but with a little twist. It will be more hoppy than a traditional Irish beer. Irish ales are normally very crisp with very little bitterness. It also will have a hint of honey. Honey malt is used to flavor the beer, and honey is used to increase the alcohol content of the beer.

Naturally, we had a name picked out and a label designed before brewing this batch. The idea for this brew is to have our second rotating seasonal beer (after Wreck the Halls Christmas Ale). I present to you the Blarney Stone Irish Red Ale:

Last week, a student worker at the company where Sam and I work asked a favor of us. Her Process Design class at LSU had to write a report on an industrial process. Of all the processes to chose, what are the odds they chose beer? We were more than happy to invite them over while we brewed. They took notes, asked questions, and sampled some great homebrew. Along with the report, they produced a video documenting the beer making process. With their permission, here is the video:

Click our logo to view the video

They had a great time spending the afternoon brewing with us, even if we had a few hiccups (like running out of propane and boiling on the stove). We had some other friends spending the weekend with us who got to see the brewing process in action. They have enjoyed our beers for sometime, and they were glad to get the chance to brew with us.

Personally, these guys are the smartest in their class for choosing a fun process to write their report on. If I was grading their report, I would probably give them an A+. If you are ever in the Baton Rouge area, stop by and visit us. We always have beer on tap, and who knows, we might even be brewing a beer that weekend.

If you want to talk beer recipes, or stop by and learn about homebrewing. Give us a call or leave a comment. Cheers!

Bataille des Bieres Results

Recently, the Lafayette homebrew club, Dead Yeast Society, put on a homebrew competition. There were 4 categories of beer: Light Hybrid Beer, American Ale, Stout, and India Pale Ale.

Sam and I decided to enter our Guilty Pleasure Milk Stout. There were 19 entries in the stout category. Here are the results:

Pretty good for our first competition!

SILVER MEDAL!!! We are both very excited about the results. The stout had the most entries in it of the four categories. So to those of you who have tried this beer, thank you for your positive feedback. For those of you who have not yet tried this brew, don't worry, we will definitely be making it again.

You will notice there are three styles of stout listed here. If you want to read more about different styles of beer, mead, and cider, here is a good link explaining all of them:  http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php

On another exciting note, we are finally engaged!

She almost cried!

For the wedding, we will be serving our homebrewed beer. Hopefully by then we have a few more award winners. Until then, Cheers!

Consistency is Key (Belgian Missile Crisis II)

When people ask me about homebrewing, I usually say the same thing. "It's easy to make beer, but it's hard to make good beer". I would like to add to this quote right now. I also believe that it is difficult to replicate good beer.

Sam and I cracked open our old recipe book and brought back the Belgian Missile Crisis. We brewed this Belgian wheat ale earlier this summer. In fact, it was the first batch we brewed in Louisiana, and it was a huge hit among friends, family, and beer lovers alike. You might remember reading a previous post about the response we got from this beer at Bayou Beer Fest.

C'est Bon Biere presents the new Belgian Missile Crisis:


Here is a rough sketch of the new label.

 The second batch of this beer has the same aroma with a hint of orange. It is very light, and easy to drink. It has very little hop bittering. The most noticeable difference between the two batches turned out to be the color. The new batch is significantly lighter than the first one.

Beer color can be estimated using a scale known as Lovibond units. The chart below explains:

The original Belgian Missile Crisis had a color around 7.5-8.0. The second batch is closer to 6.0. Now I know this may seem miniscule, but color plays a major role in matching the style, clarity, and whether or not people are willing to try your new beer.

One of the main causes of the color change was the amount of time it took to cool the wort down after the boil was complete. Previously, we immersed the boil pot in our bathtub filled with ice and water. It took about 45 minutes. The second time we used a wort chiller (25 foot copper coil with a hose attachment), which took only 10 minutes! The result is a clearer, lighter colored beer.

 

Think about the last couple of beers that you drank. Where do they fall on the color scale? Now take a look at the website of a local craft brewery. Where do their 5-7 beers fall on the scale? C'est Bon Biere will brew beers ranging from 5-30+.

As always, feel free to comment, share recipes, or talk beer with us. Currently on tap along with the Belgian Missile Crisis is the Double Fault American Pale Ale. Next in line to brew is an Irish Red Ale.

Cheers!