Today’s a momentous brewing day. Several weeks ago, Andrew and I did our first double-batch! He’d recently moved into his own home, and since we’ve got two houses, it only makes sense that we’d have two beers brewing.
So it’s bottling day for those next two batches. One is a redux on the stout that we’d done earlier, shooting for a bit more malty, less hoppy take. Turns out the original recipe we were using was more of a West Coast stout, which tends to the hoppiness more than we’d prefer.
The second batch was the more exotic and exciting–a habanero amber ale! We’d finally gotten comfortable enough with the last couple batches to try something a little different. Now one of my favorite beers ever is called the Hot Tamale is only available on tap at the Old Market Pub and Brewery, which I don’t live too close to. I’ve had a lot of chile beers that give you a hint of heat, but this beer was hot!
Given my love for all things spicy, we had to try this concoction ourselves. After talking to the guys at Main Street, we found the procedure was pretty simple. You put the peppers in for the last fifteen minutes of the boil. To test it out before-hand (and you should check it, since peppers vary wildly in heat levels!), just boil 1/20 of the pepper amount you’re considering for fifteen minutes, then let that cool all the way down to room temperature. Then test it out. This is going to be a bit hotter than the final product, and in our case was spicy! It’ll be a few weeks before we can give it a real check, but I’m hugely excited.
And to make matters even better, after bottling today, we’re going over to hang out with some friends who do all-grain brewing. Not sure I can imagine a better brewing day!