Brewing for the future!!!

In many and different occasions, life offers you the opportunity to help others, some of them are not very clear and hard to understand but others, you get a simple request that makes you smile, in the particular case of Dos Amigo's Home-Brewing, we got our chance to help a young student, the request was simple: "can you please help me brew a beer for my entrepreneur course"?
As you might imagine, this made us really happy since, first of all, we love to brew, even if it is not for our self, it allow us to continue practicing, revising recipes, refining our process and second of all, we are always happy to be able to help others.
Our labor started when with the request it self, we were requested not to brew "some" beer but "a" beer, we needed to suggest a beer that would really make an impact when tasted by the rest of the classmates assuring a successful entrepreneur class. We thought it should have a nice body, dark color but not a very bitter taste (just to make sure it pleases the low-hop palate of most Costa Rican's) so, having brew it before and knowing how it tastes we suggested to brew a Honey Porter.
Based on our previous experience, we required to adjust the recipe a little bit in order to bring down the final alcohol content (not that it bother us but.... well... they are students) 8.7% is a bit high and we believe that bringing it down to ~5-6% would provide a beer equally tasty that won't take you down that easy.
So, having done some calculations and adjustments, we started our process for brewing this version of the White House Honey Porter (we haven't come up with name, since it is a project, it should be the student who comes up with it), and here are some pictures and notes from our process :-)

Setting up the home-brewing equipment

Special malts lining up for the mill, just in case it is hard to read we have chocolate malt, crystal malt, black pearl and special roast

 Getting our engineered grinding system in place, oh yeah!!!

A last look at the malts before going into the mill

Drill power!!! it has reduce our grinding time to less than 2 minutes with great results!!!

Final result, a lovely bucket of cracked grains

Personally, this is my favorite step of the process, the aroma the malts releases as soon as they touch the water is unbelievable!!!

While we waited for a few minutes prior checking on the mash temp, we had a nice discussion on the hops to be used

Perfect mashing temp: 67C

Whirlpool time!!! just look at that color!!!

Getting the wort!!!

Close to the hot break!!!

and the first addition of hops: Perle!!

At 5 minutes to the hour, we added the honey!!!

 Always keep and eye on the temp ;-)

Siphoning the cool wort into the fermenting bucket, it takes a bit more time, but it is easier to control

Before pitching the yeast, make sure to capture the Original Gravity :-)

Then, pitch the yeast, put the lid and wait for 2 weeks for fermentation to be completed :-)

About 8 hours after we pitch the yeast,  the first bubbles started to come out, 1 more hour and we had huge activity!!!, due to the high sugar content of this beer, we knew we couldn't use a regular airlock but a blow off system, just to avoid something going wrong :-)

See you again soon, we'll get more pictures when we bottle this baby :-).

Video Review Gabrinus Chocolate Stout

Well we finally got a go at the Stout we made a while back. It's got a ton of roasted flavors, our best carbonation ever with a lovely caramel head, notes of bitter chocolate and not quite so much bitterness overall.
 As we talk about in the video we aimed low on the bitterness using Beamish Irish Stout that we tasted a while back as a reference point, figuring our friends are more likely to drink it. We also weren't quite sure just how much bitterness the roasted cacao would bring.
Overall a very nice drinking experience. It's smooth (not quite Guiness smooth but nice anyway) with a medium to light body for a stout and the proper color. There's just a hint of ruby coloring when held up to the light. This is certainly a fairly easy drinking stout that won't weigh you down as much as other beefier stouts. There are some nice malty notes in there too which play well against the charcoal flavors. There are no hop aromas, as it should be. We might say this is a tropical adaptation of a stout! Cheers and enjoy!



¡Ahora con versión en español!

Odysseus & the hurried home-brewers

Really we should have known better than to brew on a non-weekend day.  Apparently the beer gods did not approve and decided to throw a few Odyssean obstacles our way.
Obstacle the first: The beer supply store manager forgot the keys. Much conversation was had while we waited for the messenger to return with the keys...twice. We lost over an hour in our already tight schedule.
Obstacle the second; D'oh! In our rush to somehow try to reduce our normal brewing cycle to less than 5 hours...Solson dropped (and broke) the thermometer. A replacement was procured but it turns out baby thermometers don't go up that high.
Fortunately we had done this a few times and our unscientific finger dip test and eyeball steam test told us our mash temperature was probably OK. The amount of water we used for the mash was a bit more than we should have used, an oversight due to the rush. In the end it looked OK, and smelled proper.
Normally although theses obstacle would be bothersome they wouldn't be as critical except we were trying to produce our Red Ale to show it off to other brewers.
Even though we had our issues, some good things did come of our misfortune. We managed to streamline our "production" process by about 30 min. We also decided that we might want to make a dipstick to know our water volumes instead of eyeballing it, while also timing the approximate time to proper water temperature for reference.
Also mulled over the idea for a new recipe based on our honey porter. It will retain it's malty and sweet characteristics but with a different source of added sugar replacing the honey (it's a surprise) and a bit more charcoal. There's a reason behind the madness, but we'll explain the reasons behind such madness later.
Anyway we got our baby done and it should be ready for public sharing just it time. Let's hope that all all the bad mojo is gone and all that is left is lovely lovely red ale. Cheers!

Dos Amigos' Grambrinus Cacao Stout

24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? -Stephen Wright-

We recently received a couple of organic Cacao pods from my sister in law, after sun drying and home roasting them, the natural question that pops up is: what to do with them?
Despite the several suggestions of mixing it with milk, we decided that we would mix them with malt (guess you saw that coming :-) ); and we decide to create our Dos Amigos' "Gambrinus" Cacao Stout.
We decided that we wanted a really dark Stout, so we target to get around the 37-38 SRM (this is the color scale and it means that it is going to be really dark) then, we needed to come up with the level of bitterness we wanted to have; this was an interesting discussion; we love bitter beers and the stout should be bitter as well (30IBU should be the lower level for the bitterness range) but, since one of the many beauties of beer is the flexibility to design it as you prefer, we decided to reduce the amount of bitterness so that the rest of our families and friend could better enjoy it (beside, we tasted a Beamish Stout which wasn't that bitter). With all this in mind, we finally came up with our own recipe and grain bill for our Stout and it was time to brew it.
Now, let me tell you the story that lead us to this peculiar name:

Gambrinus was a legendary king from Fresnes, Flandes, Belgium, the non-official patron of beer.

According to the legend, Gambrinus was a young glazier apprentice who fell in love with a beautiful young lady named Flandrine who reject him.

Unable to stand the rejection and with a broken heart, he decide to kill himself so; he went into a nearby forest; when he was about to do it, the devil itself appeared and offered a pact in exchange for his soul: "the devil with provide Gambrinus with a gift what would make him earn Frandrine's love and if not, he would teach him how to forget her".

The devil turn Gambrinus into a magnificent dancer and musician but, Frandine's love never came along. So, the devil, to fulfill his pact, had to teach Gambrinus an art to make him forget his broken heart, that wonderful art was the way of brewing a strange bitter beverage with barley, yeast and hop; he taught him how to brew beer and while he brew and drank from it, he forgot his broken heart and no longer remembered Flandrine. Beer made Gambrinos forget his lost love forever and it turn him into the king of beer.

Being chocolate the food for lovers, this is the perfect name for our Cacao Stout!!.

And now, the pictures :-)

These are organic home-roasted cacao seed, fresh and quality ingredients are key for brewing :-)

 We used 2 different kind of hops: Magnum and Hallertau to help bring up the malt and cacao aroma

 Prior to start brewing we need to make sure every thing is clean, right uncle Solson?

 Let's have a taste of our Cacao: Chunche... I mean... Solson approved!!!

 The malts and Cacao seeds smell is just wonderful!!!!

 When making hombrew... have a homebrew... or several!!!

 Final result... a big bucket of yummy malt and cacao seeds!!!

 Perfect mashing temperature: 68C during the whole hour!!! it is a great start

 After the whirlpool, this is our beautiful worth!!! the cacao aroma has no comparison!!!

 Fly sparge to make sure we got the maximum efficiency out of our grain bill, this takes a bit of time but it is totally worth it.

 Lunch break!!!

 On the surface of the mash you could see and taste the different malts we used and some bits of the cocoa seeds, we manage to extract almost all of the flavor from them!!!

 After the hot break, we started adding our hops

 

 After 45 min, we get the cooling coil into the pot for sanitizing

 Finally, get into fermenting bucket, add yeast and leave alone for 2 weeks!!

We are really happy with the final result and can't hardly wait to bottle it and of course, taste it.

Hope you have enjoyed this small insight to our Gambrinus Stout!!

Happy brewing!!!

3-for-1 Review, Golden and Red & Strawberry Ales

"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder" - Kinky Friedman


Just like that the holidays came and went and we forgot to review a couple of beauties that were made just for the occasion(s).

The Dos Amigos golden ale was designed for spicy, grilled and fried food, to cleanse the palate without filling you up. It features a lovely golden near pale color with a very light body, tight white head with a fairly bitter and aromatic finish. On it's own that bitterness is a bit off-putting to most locals accustomed to local lagers (though Adrian and I love it), but when paired with food it's a different thing all together. I noticed a clear shift in the flavor of the hops as well. Alone it's almost floral and citrus, but washing down a spicy sausage off the grill the fresh, piney (to my palate anyway) notes from the Cascade hops become much clearer. The light body and low alcohol (less than 4%) means that you fill up on the food not the brew, and you can sip all afternoon long.

The Red Ale seemed to be a bigger hit with local drinkers. The roasted barley gives it a beautiful brownish red color and adds a lovely toasted/chocolatey finish. It's not nearly as bitter and the hops notes are more reserved than with the golden ale. It features a fairly light body (though still a bit more than the golden) with a slightly caramel head and is probably easier for most folks to drink on its own.

It took a mixed 6-pack to Guanacaste and got a split vote with a slight edge going to the Golden Ale...but of course we were grilling! Sit-around drinking seems to go to the Red Ale.

Brewing fruit beers is not easy, in order to showcase the fruit, you need to have a base beer that doesn't over overpowers it's malt or hop aroma and allows the fruit it self to come forward; also, the type of fruit you use is key to the success of the beer. I have to admit that, strawberry is not the best fruit to be use in fruits, it has a mild/gently aroma that struggles to overcome the malts and hops, you can (if you understand what you are looking for) feel a mild strawberry aroma but the fruit it self, provides a bit of astringency to the mouth feel; light brown in color, with a nice with head it is not a bad beer after all, but not the best we have brew. A very good learning experience but I don't think Dos Amigos will continue to work on it (we'd rather focus on our "Converter Pumpkin Spice Ale").

Our next project: Dos Amigos' Gambrinus Cocoa Stout.

Happy new year and happy brewing!!!

See you soon!!!

Let's brew some Pale Ale!!

"He was a wise man who invented beer". Plato

December just started and so, your calendar starts to fill up with parties, family meetings, dinners with friends... there is no single weekend with nothing to do!!!. Soon, the end of year celebrations will begin, which means that we will have to bear with "El Chinamo" in channel 7 and enjoy the bullfights (yes, I have to admit it, I do enjoy watching them).
All this scenario makes you think on the right choice of beer to brew, you need something you can enjoy at any moment, something smooth, that you can drink all night (or day) so.... how about a Pale Ale? yes, that seems to be the answer!!!
What should we expect from an American Pale Ale?
Aroma: Usually moderate to strong hop aroma from dry hopping or late kettle additions of American hop varieties. A citrusy hop character is very common, but not required. Low to moderate maltiness supports the hop presentation, and may optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuity). Fruity esters vary from moderate to none. No diacetyl. Dry hopping (if used) may add grassy notes, although this character should not be excessive.
Appearance: Pale golden to deep amber. Moderately large white to off-white head with good retention. Generally quite clear, although dry-hopped versions may be slightly hazy.
Flavor: Usually a moderate to high hop flavor, often showing a citrusy American hop character (although other hop varieties may be used). Low to moderately high clean malt character supports the hop presentation, and may optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuity). The balance is typically towards the late hops and bitterness, but the malt presence can be substantial. Caramel flavors are usually restrained or absent. Fruity esters can be moderate to none. Moderate to high hop bitterness with a medium to dry finish. Hop flavor and bitterness often lingers into the finish. No diacetyl. Dry hopping (if used) may add grassy notes, although this character should not be excessive.
Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body. Carbonation moderate to high. Overall smooth finish without astringency often associated with high hopping rates.
Overall Impression: Refreshing and hoppy, yet with sufficient supporting malt.
So, having this in mind Dos Amigos HomeBrewing, has taken the decision to brew a simple, yet delicious American Pale Ale.

Here is the high level of our recipe:

6kg of  Pale Malt
500gr of Crystal 30
1/2 oz of Chinnok @60min
1oz of Cascade @20min
1oz of Cascade @10min
1 wirlfloc tablet @10min

Here is the latest innovation from Dos Amigos HomeBrewing, we've modified our simple mill so that we can use a regular hand drill, this simple modification has help us to reduce... the pain of hand-grinding the grain bill :-)

 As you can see, it works really good!!!

 Mashing it @68C, the temperature keep constant during the 60min of the process

 Whirlpool, the smell we get is amazing, the sugars has converted perfectly and the taste of it is really sweet with lots of malt flavor!!

 We start collecting the wort and the sparge process, we fly sparge the mash-tun with ~4gal of water

 After 2 weeks of fermenting this is the final result, we got a really nice color, the hop smell was really perceived during the bottle process, thanks to the Chinnok added at the beginning of the boil, we are expecting to have a relatively high IBU (for Costa Rica standard) ~30IBU.

 We hope to taste it in a couple of weeks, when it finishes it conditioning process, we will get back to you with our review soon!!!

Keep on brewing!!!