Tasting Cranberry Ginger Bitter

Halfway home from Chicago this week I paid my first visit to the Theil family for a visit with their new boy, their first boy, the "hop farm", and a little beer swap. I left behind a Bell's Expedition Stout and Bell's Cherry Stout, and took home a Great Divide Titan IPA, Green Flash IPA, and two bottles of the illustrious Cranberry Ginger Bitter our resident brewmaster had imagined up a couple months back. Tonight, I relaxed at home with one of the bottles:

The Pour
I selected my Jameson wide-mouthed stem glass for this operation. Cracked the swing-top bottle and poured it out. Deep mahogany, a little cloudy, about an inch of foamy, tan head that soon left only a small line behind.

The Nose
The first hit is brown sugar, chased quickly by those cranberries. Diving in a little deeper I pull sweet ginger, reminiscent of ginger ale moreso than pure spice. It's the brown sugar coming through strong, though, and it's a very appetizing aroma that gets me excited for phase 3.

The Taste
This is one complex brew! Everything promised in the name is quick to arrive, notably those cranberries and a good dose of hops. Not as sweet as I anticipated base on the aroma with the hops and cranberries double-dosing the taste buds on IBUs. Not to say it's overwhelming - sweet malts and brown sugar are evident as well, but definitely take a back seat to what becomes a ruby red grapefruit flavour. Looking for ginger? It's there, and treated well as a subtle note, as it should be. I'm told it's 8% and it's not hard to believe, this one will keep you warm whether you want it to or not. ;)

As It Warms
The alcohol actually calms while the sugars move forward, leaving a very well balanced brew behind. Smooth sipping and well rounded. Excellent job!

Hop Trellis

Two years ago I started growing my own hops.
I planted six rhizomes and only two survived - Willamette and Galena.
My first harvest was a meager 10 oz, but it was fun to watch them grow up to my second floor bathroom.



I enjoyed it so much that I started studying hop production methods.
After getting permission from SWMBO, and inspiration from BYO magazine, I worked with my father to design my own trellis system.

Rather than buy a ladder, or have to cut down the hops for harvest, we opted to use clothesline elevators. They'll allow me to lower the hop bines bit by bit for harvest and then raise them again for the greenery. I may even get two harvests.

The 6x6 posts are 15.5' in the air, supported in 12" diameter postholes 4.5" deep in 5.5 bags of Quickcrete each. That's almost 300 pounds of concrete each, before water. I'll be paying my friend Darren in beer in perpetuity for his labour. What a tonne of friggin' work!



...I hope that's enough to support them. If the hops acts like a sail and pulls at the posts in high winds, I suppose I can lower them temporarily.

Each hop rhizome will have two bines, and in their second year should produce three pounds of hop flowers, dry weight.



Some have already sprouted: (2) Magnum, (1) Chinook (2) Galena (2) Stirling (2) Willamette plus my original Willamette and Galena.

Cranberry Bitter Bottled

Hey Guys,
After 10 days in the secondary, I bottled the Cranberry Bitter...

Friggin' smoooth - you can taste the cranberries, and the hops...is definitley a tad bitter - a little warmth too, oh ya - that's the 8%
Upon the aroma, mouthfeel, etc - this should be a good one - will be ready the week of April 27th...
K

Brew Jam Post #1

Kurt's Cranberry Ginger Bitter

Intro to BrewJam Member:
Name: Kurt (aka Tilo)
Instrument: Drums
Fav Beer: Hopslam, #9, Green Flash IPA

Kurt on the drums

Well, well...I have the distinct honour of the first post - well here it goes....
brewed March 27th, my Cranberry Ginger Bitter.

Note - Saran Wrap is your best friend - make sure that stirrin' spoon don't touch nothin grimey! As well, I find it is always nice to have a bottle of Cabo Wabo nearby...

I use a Gatordade cooler as a mash tun - works really well, and here are the ingredients for this batch:

and here is the finished result....



Recipe:
Water: 1.5 gallons distilled to 175, 1 gallon at 170 to sparge

Fermentables:
7.5lbs Coopers Bitter LME
1.1 lbs Light Spraymalt

Base Grain:
Crystal 120 - 1.04lbs
German Pilsner - 1lb
Other:
Wheat: 1.01 lbs
Oats: 1.04 lbs
Flaked Rye: 1.01 lbs

Adjuncts:
brown Sugar - 1lb
Australian Candied Ginger: 5oz
Cranberries - 4.5 lbs

Hops:
Bittering: 1oz Nuggett
Flavouring: Kurt's Goldings (5 oz dried)
Finishing: 1oz Perle

Finings:
1 Irish Moss, 1/4 tsp yeast nutrients, 1 grm gypsum

OG: 1070 (9.6%)
FG:_________

Batch Notes:
5 lbs of base grains (including oats, rye) were too much for this size mash tun - had spill-over when sparging - not fun. Will transfer to secondary at around 1015 - would like this to come in at 7-8% FG....

Cheers!
K