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Russian Imperial Stout – Resurrecting a Recipe

By Brian on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 | No Comments

Russian Imperial stout has been brewed by craft brewers for some time. It’s a heavily flavored brew, with a high alcohol content. The brew originated in London and got its name because it was imported to Russia. The high alcohol content was a necessity, rather than a creative option. It was needed to protect the beer from spoiling on the long journey and to protect it from freezing, as well. The original recipe, once used to brew beer that was shipped to the court of Catherine the Great II, has been born anew thanks to the inventiveness and labor of several brewers in the UK and a competition called, The Great Baltic Adventure.

The brewers recreating the recipe included the oldest existing brewery in England – Kent’s Shepherd Neame, which was founded in 1698. Other companies include Meantime Brewing Company and London Brewery. The goal of the competition was to create as close to the original recipe as possible and then sail with the brew to Saint Petersburg for the vaunted Magerfest beer festival there.

The voyage takes five weeks and requires that teams land in several ports, including Helsinki and Cuxhaven before moving on to Saint Petersburg. Once there, the brews will be opened and tasted. The winner may be able to ink a deal with Russian breweries to revive the original Russian beer brand and corner the niche market for dark beer in Russia (where beer is becoming more and more popular as alcohol comes under heavier fire from government sources).

There will be a panel of judges to judge the 11 different entrants and choose the best option. The panel is made up of international judges, and does include several Russian brew masters, as well. If successful, the contest could result in the recreation of a brand not seen in a very long time.

For those of us not lucky enough to attend the festival in Saint Petersburg and who will likely never get to taste the fruits of those brewers’ labors, there are options available. As mentioned, Russian Imperial stout is brewed around the world and there are tons of excellent options right here in the United States. North Coast Brewing Co. offers Old Rasputin, while Victory Brewing offers Storm King. You will also find Brooklyn Black Ops, Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Bell’s Expedition Stout and quite a few other options on the market, too. While these recipes might not have graced the lips of Catherine the Great, they’re good enough for us!

Poto Cervesia,
Dustin Canestorp

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How to Brew A Czech Pilsner

By Brian on Saturday, January 14th, 2012 | No Comments

 

What is a Czech Pilsner?

The beer type Czech pilsner originates from the city of Pilsen. The beer is characterized by its use of light and pale malts, that gives the beer its distinctive yellow to golden color and its malty taste, with a good sweetness. The hops used for brewing pilsner is Saaz. This hop gives the beer a mild taste, and a spicy and herbal aroma. A pilsner is cool fermented at 8 °C to  12 °C. This gives the beer a dry and crisp taste.

 

The Target Values For A Czech Pilsner

When you are brewing a pilsner, you must be within the values in the style guide you see below. These are your target values when you are designing a recipe.

OG: 1.046 – 1.052
FG: 1.012 – 1.017
Color (EBC): 7 – 14
Bitterness (IBU): 35 – 45
Alcohol (Vol%): 4.1 – 4.7

 

A Czech Pilsner Recipe To Begin With

I have made a simple pilsner recipe for you. The amount of ingredients in the recipe is for one liter of water. This means, that if you have 20 liters of water in your kettle, then you must multiply with 20. The Ingredients are as follows;

Pilsner Malt (3 EBC): 140 grams/liter
Munich Malt (20 EBC): 40 grams/liter
Dry Light Extract (8 EBC): 14 grams/liter
Saaz hops (2.8 Alpha%): 8 grams/liter
Yeast: You can pick any pilsner yeast suitable

The brewing process is as follows;

Heat the water to 68 °C and add all the malt
Stir and maintain the temperature at 68 °C for 60 minutes
Raise the temperature to 73 °C and keep it at 73 °C for 20 minutes
Seperate the mash from the wort with your strainer
Sparge the mash with 73 °C water untill you have the equivalent volume of wort in the kettle as you had water to begin with (1 liter in this case)
Raise the temperature to 100 °C – boiling
The total boiling time is 60 minutes from you add the first wort to you begin cooling the wort
First add 2 grams/liter Saaz for 60 minutes total boil time
Then add 2 grams/liter Saaz for 45 minutes total boil time
Then add 2 grams/liter Saaz for 30 minutes total boil time
Then add 2 grams/liter Saaz for 10 minutes total boil time
After 60 minutes of hopping the beer, start chilling the wort
When the wort is 10 °C pour it to the sanitized fermenter bucket
Add the yeast and keep the fermenter bucket at fermentation temperature
When the fermentation has stopped, transfer the beer to a sanitized fermenter bucket for secondary fermentation
Add sugar to carbonate the beer to get the desired CO2 pressure and then bottle the beer

These ingredients, and this process of brewing Czech pilsner, gives you these values;

OG: 1048
FG: 1012
Color (EBC): 10
Bitterness (IBU): 40
Alcohol (Vol%): 4.7

As you can see, these values fits perfectly within the target values for brewing a Czech pilsner.

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What You Need to Know About Chicken Batter

By Brian on Thursday, November 24th, 2011 | No Comments

By KC Kudra

While some people believe that no batter should touch their chicken, many more love the crisp bite into a battered chicken. Batter can be applied to whole pieces, wings or cut up slices to make chicken strips or nuggets. Battering is a popular way to prepare chicken all over the world. There are almost as many chicken batters as there are chickens!

Different Batters of the World

Batter can be made with corn meal, wheat flour, rice flour, or graham flour. Ethnic chicken recipes often use different flours. Each region will have their own special blend of spices and herbs as well, giving the fried chicken a flavor that will be recognizable from that corner of the world.

Indian chicken may be coated with a batter made of graham flour, cinnamon, cumin, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, curds, and red chili powder. The batter is used on boiled chicken meat, and then fried until the surface is crisp.

A wonderful Asian recipe uses a rice flour batter on marinated chicken. Marinate the pieces in soy sauce; five spice powder, sesame oil, garlic, and onion overnight. The next day, dip the chicken in a batter made of water, baking powder, salt and rice flour. The light colored batter is almost translucent.

Some cooks will use nothing but beer batter. The yeast in the beer makes a light batter with a tangy accent. Another way to impart a tang to your chicken is to soak it in buttermilk before dusting it lightly with seasoned flour. Let the chicken sit for a few minutes and the mixture will turn to batter right on the chicken.

There are also many ways to get the desired crunch. Some people love crushed cornflakes or seasoned bread crumbs. Others like wet batters that fry up nice and crunchy. Panko breadcrumbs from Japan make a nice, light crispness. If someone wants a light crunch without the crumbs, they can try tempura batter.

For diners who prefer a southern fried chicken recipe, there are many to be found in cookbooks or online. While some are a simple combination of flour, salt, and pepper mixed with milk, others include many fresh or dried herbs or spices.

The Controversy over Fried Chicken Pans

There is an ongoing debate on whether it is best to deep fry battered chicken, cook it in a cast iron skillet or use a pressure cooker. There are cooks who are devoted to their own preferences, each sure that their method is the very best. The deep-frying camp will try to convince you with the quick cooking time and lack of spatter.

The cast iron camp will wax eloquent about even heating and the perfect crisp to the skin. The pressure cooker camp are not truly frying their chicken… they must brown it first, then cook it in the pressure cooker for about 15 minutes to get juicy chicken. You must be cautious with a pressure cooker… do not open it until all the pressure has been removed.

With all these options for batters, you are sure to keep busy in the kitchen for years. Enjoy your battered chicken, no matter which method appeals to you!

About the Author: Everybody loves the taste of fried chicken and home cooked fried chicken is especially good. If you want to discover pan-fried chicken, deep-fried chicken or oven fried chicken recipes, in addition to finding some more brilliant chicken cookery tips, have a look at http://www.SouthernFriedChickenRecipe.com. For such recipes as our southern batter fried chicken.

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Home Brewing : A Recipe For Success

By Brian on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 | No Comments

By Mark Thomas Walters

Brewing beer at home is something that has stood the test of time. Still, those of us for whom convenience is the issue may find that we would much rather go to the liquor store and pay to enjoy beer brewed by companies who have done it for years, with equipment suitable for mass production. However, as with everything else in life, convenience costs. It may not be much at the time, but add it up over a years worth of parties, games, dinners and nights out and it starts to amount to a lot.

Paying for your own beer brewing supplies may not seem to make sense at first, as you will think to yourself that you could have a few nights worth of drinking for the same price and not have to go to the effort of ensuring that your brew tastes like it is supposed to. However, the more you think about it, the better an idea it becomes. OK, so the cost is a little bit more than a few crates, but once you’ve got the kit you can keep using it, and when you find your supplier, beer brewing supplies can make more quantity for your spending than you would be able to buy for the same amount.

To some people, the idea of making their own beer is too much like hard work. That’s why we have major breweries to do it for us, is it not? Well, of course it is, but then again you could think of it this way – you can eat in a restaurant every night of the year, but you’ll save money and develop a skill if you cook your own meals. The longer you keep practising, the better your beer will get, and before too long you will have your own recipe which will be customisable to give you the taste you want every time.

Beer brewing supplies are easily sourced. Most larger towns will have a specialist store that stocks the required equipment and ingredients, but don’t worry if your town doesn’t as there are plenty of suppliers on the internet. In fact, buying via the internet may be the best option anyway as the prices tend to be lower. Do a little online research first to find out what you need. Like-minded beer lovers can be found in various beer brewing forums and they are always happy to give tips and recommendations to newcomers.

Once you have bought the necessary equipment and supplies, you will just need to follow the instructions that come with them. It is simple enough, just remember not to miss out any of the steps. Hands on learning and regular practice is the best way to make progress. Once you have the basics learnt, you can then start deviating from the standard processes in order to make your own special recipes. Brewing your own beer may sound like too much hassle but its really worth the effort.

About the Author: Learn more from a home brewing beer enthusiast, and an expert author. You are invited to discover the simple secrets of brewing world class beer from the comfort of your home by reading “Home Beer Brewing Secrets” – available online today! By Mark Walters.

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