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| Type: All Grain | Date: 4/23/2011 |
| Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal | |
| Boil Size: 7.85 gal | |
| Boil Time: 90 min | |
| Brewhouse Efficiency: 82.00 |
| Total Water Needed: 9.40 gal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Drain mash tun, Batch sparge with 1 steps (5.32gal) of 168.0 F water
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Boil Wort | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Add water to achieve boil volume of 7.85 gal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.048 SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Notes | |||||||||||
| Mash: 1.2g Gypsum, 2gm CaCl Sparge: 2.6 gm CaCl Predicted Mash pH: 5.38 | |||||||||||
I brewed this beer for Iron Brewer Batch 2 Round 1. For anyone not familiar with the contest, full details can be found here. Basically for each round 6-8 brewers participate by each brewing a beer using three required ingredients. Eight weeks after the round begins, brewers ship samples of their beer to all of the other participants for a tasting via a phone/web conference where a winner is announced based on scoring by participants as well as the Iron Brewer judging panel (75% of the score).
The secret ingredients for my round were:
- Cardamom
- White Wheat
- Liberty Hops
The first thing I did before formulating my recipe was to pick up two forms of cardamom. I got whole cardamom still in the pods as well as some ground cardamom. I familiarized myself with the aroma and flavor of the spice while imagining what kind of beer it would fit well into. Cardamom is an Indian spice plant and ounce for ounce is one of the most expensive spices in the world. It exhibits a bold range of aromas and flavors reminiscent of spicy fresh ginger, white pepper, lemon, cola, and can sometimes be medicinal (especially when using the black variety). It is very potent and its character can easily be detected by using as little as a couple grams in the boil of a 5 gallon batch.
When I saw the secret ingredients, the spices and wheat made me tend to think of brewing a Witbier. However, I thought that was a little too obvious and not unique enough to stand out in the competition. The character of the cardamom seemed 'dark' to me so in the end I came up with a recipe for a dark Belgian ale with a little bready/toastiness under esters and spices, thinking of cardamom bread. I think of the beer as a dark version of a Belgian Blond spiced with cardamom.
I told my mom I was brewing with Cardamom and she suggested toasting it to mellow the flavor out a bit. I experimented with toasting it before brewing and found that it brought out a nice nutty aroma that I liked. So, I went with toasting the cardamom in the pods and adding it during the last 5 minutes of the boil. I toasted the whole pods by heating them in a dry skillet on med-high for about five to six minutes until they started to turn brown and release a nutty aroma.
 (toasted cardamom pods, then the seeds removed from the pods) |  |
Reading around the Internet about brewing with cardamom I found that a little goes a long way. I saw a couple stories where batches were undrinkable after as little a 10 grams were added during the boil. Being generally light-handed with spices I decided to err on the side of caution and add only 2.5 grams with the idea that I could always add more later if needed. In the finished beer the 2.5 grams added the subtle cardamom aroma and flavor I was looking for and seemed pretty well integrated into the beer. I did not need to add cardamom at any other point in the brewing process.
To get the dark color I had in mind without adding too much roastiness, I capped the mash with about 6oz of Weyermann Carafa III Special (dehusked). It worked and the beer ended up with a deep dark color without any roastiness or astringency. I first read about this technique on the blog Ryan Brews. Before brewing this beer I engaged in a series of back and forth messages with Ryan to get a little more information and a few tips about his experience using the late addition of roasted grains in the mash.
I single hopped the beer to showcase the liberty hops. I used three additions starting with a first wort addition. The finished beer does have a noticeable spicy flavor characteristic of hallertauer which liberty are comparable to.
Here are a couple pictures of the mash before and after the dehusked Carafa III addition at the end of the mash and before the sparge.
Tasting
Aroma: Light raisin, malt, and spice. Some dark fruit esters mingle with the white pepper and ginger character of the cardamom.
Appearance: Clear deep dark brown, copper almost black with garnet highlights.
Flavor: light toasty and subtle bready raisin and brown sugar. Light and smooth with a crisp dry finish. A lingering spicy hop bitterness from the Liberty hops remains on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied
Overall
The beer turned out pretty closely to what I had in mind. If I brewed this again, I would replace the table sugar addition with more base malt to increase the FG a little bit. I think it would be better with just a little more body. Not too much though because the way it is it has a nice crisp dry finish.
I didn't win my Iron Brewer round. Although my beer did turn out well and I enjoy it, I think I got too caught up in the cardamom and liberty hops and neglected the white wheat. Regardless, participating in the Iron Brewer competition was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to try all of the other competitors beers.
Fans of the show Twin Peaks may recognize the name of the beer is taken from the dark mystical place that Agent Cooper repeatedly travels to meet with the tiny man and the spirit of Laura Palmer. Thanks to M. Westfall who drew the label pictured above and took the meaning a level deeper to incorporate elements of freemasons and the channeling of dark energy.
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Great post.
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