Notes: Molé sauce is a savory, and Spicy topping for Mexican/South American dishes. It uses chocolate, cinnamon, and smoked peppers as a base to bring a bitter, smoky, and spicy flavor to any dish. It also a perfect spice regiment for the body pumpkin can bring to a beer, and is perfect for a stout because of its use of chocolate.
So that was the inspiration. One of my good friends is Honduran, and his nickname for him from me is the Honduran thunder, which seems all but fitting for the name of the brew, and so it has been dubbed.
Brew day: brew day was a nice 45 degrees and misty in buffalo, ny. A rarity for the beginning of January.
MASHING
(mash water volume, 1.5 quarts per pound of grain)
1. from brewing a few beers with lots of adjunct, Ive learned that I like to separate my additions from my base malt in mashing to allow for some separation of larger carbohydrate chains and proteins.
1.a - adjunct protein rest - with separation and efficiency in mind, I got my acquired volume of mash water heating up, and at about 130-140 degrees Fahrenheit I added the appropriate amount of sparge water to my adjunct grain pot (roasted wheat, dark chocolate Kilned malt, and rolled oats), and I let the rest of the mash water head up for my base malt mash water. After adding the water to the adjunct grain, the mash temp was around 120-125F.
This allowed for the adjunct to do a nice protein rest (separates unfermentable compounds) for the wheat and oats while I heated up the water for the base malt.
1.b Primary malt mash - By the time the mash water was ready for the base malt, about 167F, the protein had been resting for about 20-30 minutes. I added the mash water to the base malt, and it settled around 155-158F.
1.c - not really sure if this would be considered decoction, but in any case, after the primary mash water was added to the base malt, I began heating up the adjunct pot to a boil. I did this to extract some unfermentable sugars and bring out some more tannins and caramels. By the time that was at a boil, the primary mash had been sitting for 60 min, and was resting around 148-152F, I added the boiled adjunct mash to the primary and it had brought it back up to around 155, I let it sit for another 30 min after mixing.
90 min mash in total, primary mash stick between 150 and 158F.
2. SPARGE AND BOIL.
2.a - this is where I messed up a bit. I do a multiple batch sparge process because I dont have the equipment for a continuous sparge, or a means to add all the sparge water at once, Im sure other methods out there can be more effective, but I havent had anything go so awry that it made been
Feel It was necessary To change it.
SO I got my strike water heated and added it to the mash, which with 19 pounds of grain in my 10gal cooler mash tun, was very full, and I let it sit for 15 min, and then began to Sparge.
I SPARGED TOO QUICKLY. Within 15 min I had half my boil volume, so I decided to slow the Sparge, add my remaining sparge water, and then get to a boil Volume once I felt comfortable that I got most the sugars off the grain. That amounted to about 9 gal.
3. The boil
3.a Because I had a good ~3 gal to boil on a chilly day, it took awhile. I added the pumpkin right away because I wanted it for body, and my thought it the more the heat can break down those pectins, the better for that.
In the future Im gonna try adding the pumpkin the the mash instead, not because it didnt do what I wanted, but because it added a lot of trub to the carboy.
3. b - I added an ounce of nugget after it had gotten down to a point where I could calculate the boil lasting for 45 min more based on sight and volume lost once it reached a rolling boil. I made sure I didnt add more bitterness than I wanted to in this regard, especially with my previous sparge mistake.
The chill and pitch.
4. The chill was quick, as it was a chilly day that had gotten colder. Ran cold water through my copper coil and transferred it to a carboy at the end. It reached around 70F and I pitched 1.5 packets of US-so5.
5. The ferment:
5.a I let the wort sit for 3 weeks in a basement that hovered from 52F-60F, and then I transferred it off the trub into secondary, and brought it into a warmer room of the house that was 65F-68F for a week or so, At the point of the move to better temperature, the beer was at about 60% efficiency with a gravity of 1.026, and I was also paranoid about oxizidation from the transfer, so I also pitched more yeast nutrient and .5 packet of dried yeast in it in attempts to remedy those problems.
5.b A week and a half later, the gravity had dropped to ~1.018, and the ferment was still slightly active, which I liked to see, even though it wasnt finished, I knew some sweetness would come through once I force carbonated, and this was a big beer, so I dont care about losing some efficiency for that sweetness.
6. The extracts:
In the ferment time I had made some extracts to steep in high proof alcohol.
I used four 8oz mason jars, 2 of which were filled with chocolate nibs halfway, 1 that was filled with smoked morito chiles(a derivative of chipotle), and one with 7-8 cinnamon sticks.
I filled all containers with spiritus, a 96% alcohol spirit. And I let them sit, shaking them regularly, for the entire fermentation process.
I ended up using the entirety of my chocolate nib extract, ~ 8-9oz, because of how subtle the flavor was.
I added an ounce of natural vanilla extract that brought out the chocolate more.
2 oz of chili extract
And 1 oz of cinnamon extract. Its delicious.
The base is delicious, the additions are delicious, I welcome anybody to give it a go. |
