Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar:

We recently went to The Bayou for dinner and I tried one there. The flavor was great...very rich with definite hazlenut flavor. I'm not sure if it was the hazelnut or just my imagination, but it seemed to have a very slight sweetness to it. So I decided it would be a great holiday brew to give to friends.

8.25 lbs pale malt
9 oz Hugh Baird brown malt
1.5 lbs Munich malt (10L)
6 oz crystal malt (15L)
4 oz chocolate malt (187L)
7.8 AAU's Perle hops (60 minutes)
1.75 AAU's Saaz hops (30 minutes)
White Labs WLP001 yeast
Cellar Pro Hazelnut extract to taste
3/4 cup honey for priming

Procedure: Mash grains with 15 quarts of water for a single infusion mash at 153 F for 45 minutes. This is a "bigger beer" than I usually brew and my 5 gallon mashtun was barely big enough to hold all the mash. Sparge with 170 F water to collect 6.5 gallons of wort. Boil for 90 minutes using the above hopping schedule. For this batch, I made a yeast started the day before. This was in the primary and actively fermenting for 9 days and transferred to the secondary on day 10 (and it's still in the secondary). I'll add the hazelnut flavoring when I transfer it to the bottling bucket. My local brew shop said to use the hazelnut flavoring sparingly. The bottle says 2 oz per 5 gallons of beer, but the brew shop recommended adding a capful at a time until the desired taste is achieved.

Hazelnut Clone - I tried the first one about a week ago, and it's pretty darn good. It's pretty rich...probably not something you'd want to drink all night long. Also very fragrant with the hazelnut extract. I'd probably only brew this around the holidays. I'd rate this one as a C+

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Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone 2

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone 2

11.5 # Great Western 2 row
1# 1 oz Briess Crystal 40 L
9 0z Dingeman's Cara-Pils
1 oz Perle 90 minutes
1 oz Cascade 15 minutes
1 oz Cascade 5 minutes
1 oz Cascade dry hopped in secondary
Wyeast American Ale #1056

Single infusion mash at 152 F, 90 minute boil

Rating: A-/A

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IPA Experiment #1

I've formulated my own recipe for the first time. I've been drinking lots of highly hopped IPA style beers lately, so I decided this would be a good place to start. My test batch is in the secondary right now.

Experiment #1

11 # Golden Promise 2 row
1 # Briess Crystal 20 L
1 # Briess Crystal 80 L
1 # White Wheat Malt
8 oz Dingeman's Cara-Pils
1 oz Centenial 60 mins
1 oz Amarillo 30 mins
1 oz Amarillo 10 mins
2 oz Amarillo dry hopped in secondary

151 F single step infusion mash, 60 minute boil, primary 6 days, secondary 7 days

Notes: My mash got stuck so I was a little off my target OG. I attribute the stuck mash to the wheat malt (I've heard Wheat can cause stuck mashes) and the fact that the stainless steel mesh hose I use in place of a false bottom got a kink in it. I've heard brewers recommend rice hulls to prevent wheat from causing a stuck mash, but I really think it had more to do with the kinked hose. This is because I've used this much wheat before without having problems. So unfortunately, I think my test batch will turn out to be a much lower alcohol version than I had planned...a session IPA if you will.

Rating: D+/C-

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