Becka and I brewed yet another modified clone recipe yesterday: a chipotle and roasted corn infused modified Fat Tire Amber Ale. We've obviously made modifications in the past with the ginger in the Hefe, the vanilla and almond extract in the porter. This really wasn't any different.
We went to Trader Joe's and bought a 16oz bag of roasted corn for $2.50 (previously frozen) and allowed it to thaw overnight. Becka thought it would be good to drain it to get some of the excess water out, so we did that. We took 1oz (about 3) of the Chipotle peppers that were soaked in Adobo sauce from our Super Bowl party (we used them in a cheese dip) and rinsed off the Adobo sauce. Becka sliced them and left the seeds intact.
We added the corn along with the grains into the mash. It definitely made an impact on the aroma of the mash, making it smokey and a little nuttier, but we're not sure how much fermentable sugars it contributed. If you actually brew with corn, you want to use flaked corn, as it is much easier for the enzymes from the barley and the yeast to convert into nearly tasteless, body-lightening alcohol. Brewing with whole kernels, however, should have relatively less of an impact on the beer as a whole.
After adding the corn, we followed the Fat Tire recipe as is until we got to the last 15 minutes of the boil, when we added our Irish Moss and flavoring hops. Then we threw in the Chipotle peppers and crossed our fingers. You could tell they had an impact from the smokey spicy aroma that the wort let off, but it wasn't overwhelmingly spicy. Hopefully the beer will be the same way.
When it came time to measure the specific gravity, we both took a taste of the cooled wort. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't that bad. I happen to like Amber Ales quite a bit and Fat Tire specifically, so it wasn't a huge surprise that I liked it. What was a bit of a surprise is that you could taste a little of the Chipotle, and it definitely contributed positively. We'll see what happens after fermenting and aging, but I'm pretty psyched about this beer.
And so is Tess Szamatulski of Maltose. She asked us to bring in a bottle for her to taste. Becka was pretty pumped about the stamp of approval from the author of several books on brewing. We'll see how it turns out.
Brew Date: 3/1/2009, 12pm-3:30pm
OG: 1.048 (recipe called for 1.048-1.050)
Total Brewing Time: 3.5 hours
Present for brewing: Becka and Morgan
Yeast Activity Report: by 8:30am next day, very thin layer of bubbles at top. By 8:30am day 3, thick foamy layer with some dark sediment, rising 2-3 inches above the surface. Expect to see blowoff by later today.
Recipe credit: Beer Captured for the Fat Tire base recipe; Radical Brewing for the idea to add Chipotle and roasted corn. Becka and Morgan for the portion guesses
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