Ryeteous Rye Porter

I have never brewed with rye before. I haven't drank a lot of rye beers, but have had several recently that I really enjoy. The two I really like are the wonderfully hoppy Red's Rye PA from Founder's and the very unique Cane and Ebel from Two Brothers. Northern Brewer recently released a rye malt extract that is a combination of rye malt, caramel malt and 2-row. I thought that would be a nice way to ease into the rye world, and planned on brewing a rye IPA. As the weather has been getting colder however, I found myself wanting a darker beer. I have had a rye porter from Iowa's Peace Tree Brewing Company which was quite good as well. So I decided to brew up a nice porter and use 3.15 lbs of the rye malt extract. I'm excited to see how it turns out. Normally I have an idea in my head of what I think the beer will taste like, but I have to admit I'm not quite sure what I will get with this one.
I had read in a BYO article about the idea of building complexity in a porter through layering dark grains. So I decided to use a variety of dark grains, in addition to some crystal malt to give it some sweetness. At the last minute, I was a little worried about the rye adding a bit too much bitterness, so I threw in a small amount of dark belgian candi syprup for balance.

Here's what I went with for my partial mash recipe:
Steep overnight in 4 qts of water (extract liquid added at 10 minutes left in boil)
8 oz Organic Carafa 2
4 oz Organic Roasted Barley
6 oz Organic Black Malt
8 oz Organic Chocolate Malt

Mash @ 151
3 lbs Org. 2-Row
1 lb Org Munich
1 lb Org Crystal 60

Extract @ 20
3.15 Rye Malt LME
3.15 Organic Light LME

2 oz Dark Belgian Candy Sugar @ 10

Hops:
1.5 oz Fuggles @ 60
.5 oz Fuggles @ 20

Yeast: White Labs 02 English Ale Yeast

I am curious to see how it turns out.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Final Touches

When I made the move from kits to creating my own recipes six years ago, I received a copy of Brew Your Own magazine in the mail with the annual label contest results in it. I was blown away and inspired to start doing it myself. I had never thought about that aspect of making my own beer...also making my own "brand. " Bearded Brewing was born and after many different drawings, I settled on my logo. The next step was creating my own labels. I've always used a really old school program called Microsoft Picture It!, but recently have started learning how to use Gimp (a free program that is very similar to photoshop). The next step was actually putting the labels onto the bottles. At first I used to buy labels in the homebrew shops, but found that they got to be really expensive. I eventually switched to inkjet sticker project paper sold at stores like Office Max and even Target. It was cheap, and I could easily cut out any size label I wanted, which is nice when bottling 22 oz bombers. It won't hold up forever in a fridge since it's not glossy finish, but it looks good when you give a friend a bottle or a six pack, and it actually holds up pretty well for a while in the fridge before getting soggy. Essentially, it's cheap and looks great til you get it wet. I use templates from 4th and Vine (which are the labels I used to buy at the homebrew shop). However, it looks like their website might be defunct.

I love the "professional" look of the labels on the bottles I give out, but thought it would be cool to have bottle caps. Until recently, it seemed way out of my price range since I would have to order a lot of them, and there would still be a really high price point.

Then I read an article in Zymurgy about a homebrewer who started his own bottle cap printing company, called Bottle Mark. I was really excited and even more so when I went to their site. You can order as few bottle caps you want at .12 cents a piece. Plus, you can load up a jpeg file, manipulate it on the site, and then even order a free digital copy to make sure it's what you want. Incredibly cool.

For $15 (including shipping) I got one hundred caps to start with. The customer service was awesome and the bottles looked great (and came quickly). My friend commented on how good they looked, not off centered or something you might expect from something as inexpensive and customized.

I have to say a six pack of bottles with my own cap on it looks sweet! In the future, I can see myself creating a cap for a special occasion like a wedding or a party, which I think is the company's big draw. Just had to share this self indulgence. Half the fun of home brewing is sharing your product, and the caps put the final touches on my beers.

Salud!

Bearded Brewer