The Chocolate Rain...

Howdy,

Brewday went down yesterday for a beer inspired by a random beer name generator. Count Chocola's Ruby Weasel Dunkelweizen popped up, and I thought it sounded like an interesting idea. A chocolate, banana/spice dunkelweizen, with red wheat and CaraRed and chocolate malt came to mind.

Most warn against too much roasted malts in a dunkelweizen because it is not true to style. I am not interested in staying true to style, and don't mind pushing genres in life and in beer. I am more than willing to try something and see if I like it. As I like both wheat beers with hefeweizen yeast, and roasted beers, like porters and stouts and brown ales, I suspect I might enjoy a chocolatey dunkelweizen. We shall see. Regardless, my motto remains "Drink the evidence!"

During the brewday, I was fairly confident that it wouldn't rain on me when I started. The rain was supposed to have stopped by that time, and this is South Texas in high drought and high dry season. I was shocked that it rained on and on past when the weatherman said it would be done, in a nearly empty sky with half the clouds blown away. I brewed on, under a light drizzle. Rain got in the chocolatey wort.

It will be a chocolate rain.

CHOCOLATE RAIN
OG 1.054
FG 1.013
SRM 20

6 pounds Red Wheat Malt
3 Pounds Bonnlander Munich 10
1/2 pound of CaraRed
1/2 pound of American Chocolate Malt
1 ounce of Crystal Hops @60

Dough in at 125 for 20 minutes
Raise temp to 146 and hold for half an hour
Raise temp again to 158 and hold for half an hour

Pitch cold. I'm going to try to hold the temperature as ale-y as I can, with a swamp cooler and a fan and lowering the temperature of my house just a little, but the reality is that this will be a warmer ferment than I'd like. I will get it down close to 70 for the first few days. Beyond that? No promises.

This was also a banner day for my Thanksgiving fest! Primary fermentation is nearly complete. I pulled it from the fridge for a 24 hour diacetyl rest. It reeked of buttery off-flavor through the airlock. I had kept fermentation temperatures very, very cold, and the yeast was lazy and produced a lot of diacetyl. I will rack it off tonight for the lagering phase. I have great hopes?