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Friday, January 31, 2014

Original Cinn: Cinnamon Vanilla Porter

A few home brew club meetings ago one of the Triune founding members posed a challenge to the group in which each member would brew a beer using the same ingredient (a la Iron Chef, or "Iron Brewer" as it were). Although club members profess varying levels of desire to experiment with their home brew, all agreed that an Iron Brewer competition could be very interesting. It would help some of them branch out in their experimentation, while allowing the rest of us to tap into our desire to win bragging rights of "best brewer."

We each put the name of an ingredient in a hat, which we later discovered included things such as fish sauce, pubic hair, bugs, and curry power (see future post). Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your ilk), the ingredient drawn from the hat was cinnamon. This ingredient would prove to be every bit of the challenge intended by the club member that created the challenge. Cinnamon, at first blush, may seem a bit pedestrian. We think of it as a "sweet" or "warm" spice in our baked goods or as a scent in candles, but infrequently if ever consider its phenolic, medicinal, bitter, woody, or tannic characteristics. It seemed to me that it would be this "darker" side of cinnamon that, depending on how it is applied, may come forward in a beer.

In a perfect world my first thoughts of recipe construction of a cinnamon beer would attempt to pair the cinnamon with other ingredient(s) to complement desirable flavor/aroma characteristics and suppress undesirable ones. We don't live in a perfect world, however, but in one where the victor gets the spoils and the privilege of writing popular history. Therefore, my thoughts began to coalesce into:  "How can I shock and awe them?" "How can I brew a beer that will strip from their taste buds any lasting memory of the beers that precede or follow mine?" So I began thinking along the lines of adding other outlandish ingredients:  hot peppers, coffee, fruit, etc. I had even created a cream ale recipe that would employ the use of a syrup made from cinnamon Red Hots. I've had some success with this tactic in the past (the shock and awe strategy), so I thought it could be the way to go once more.

There remained a part of me, however, that was unsatisfied with bastardizing the genuine (and, potentially, lovely) characteristics of cinnamon for my own, personal gain. I wanted to highlight the glory that cinnamon could be without forcing it to conform to my plans for home brew club domination. The actual recipe that resulted was an attempt to meld a few significant flavor combinations without making the beer too busy and overwhelming. (That said, there are quite a few different malts in this beer. It is not a simplistic grain bill.) In my mind, cinnamon seemed to be a good match for a bit of chocolate, a bit of roast, and the softening powers of vanilla. I have experienced all of these flavors individually, or in some combination, in darker beers, namely porters. My cinnamon porter would need to be mashed at a higher temperature to encourage the soft mouth feel I desired, and to discourage any harsh flavors that might be extracted from the cinnamon. In addition, I included some honey malt in the grist to increase residual sweetness (accentuating the cinnamon yet again) and to add mouthfeel. I also wanted the beer to have above average strength to stand up to the warmth of the cinnamon as well as the chilling cold weather my neck of the woods has endured this season. Please enjoy the resulting recipe and pictures below.

Original Cinn:  Cinnamon Vanilla Porter (Est. OG:  1.075; 32 BUs)

Grist:

1# Pilsen Light DME
7.25# Maris Otter
1.25 Biscuit Malt
1# U.S. 2-Row
1# White Wheat Malt
.5# Carafa III (525 SRM)
.5# Chocolate Malt (350 SRM)
.5# Honey Malt
.25# Black Patent Malt (500 SRM)
-Yes, I know that's 9 different malts. It was a bit of a grain bin cleansing recipe. Most of my recipe formulation process revolved around leftover grains I had on hand and asking, "What kind of beer can I make with that...and put cinnamon in it?"

Hops:

1 oz. East Kent Goldings (Leaf; 5.0% AU)-90 min. first wort hops; 17.2 calc. BUs
1 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellet; 5.0% AU)-45 min.; 14.9 calc. BUs

Yeast:

2 Sachets Nottingham Ale Yeast

Cinnamon/Vanilla:

1 stick in boil (30 min.)
1 stick in primary
3 sticks in secondary (1 ground in spice/coffee mill; 2 whole) 7-10 days
1 vanilla bean split and scooped in secondary; 7-10 days

Procedures:

Mash @ 156; 50 min.
Mashout @ 168; 10 min
Boil 90 min.

-A beautiful Autumn brewday

-Setting up

And we're mashing...

-Lautering/First wort hops

-Boiling/Chiller at the ready

-Chilling



-OG:  ~1.072

-Racking to secondary

-More cinnamon!

-In a pint glass

-In a snifter

You may be wondering who won the competition. I am sad to inform you that my Original Cinn Porter got second place to a Christmas beer, a slightly tart old ale that was very nicely balanced and well received. Voter judgment may have been compromised by its high alcohol content and warming mouthfeel, not to mention we were meeting in its brewer's home that evening. (Go figure!) Runner-up out of six entries was a good showing, I felt. Of the six beers, only four received votes. Each of those four beers was a good example in its own right, but only first and second place made best use of the "Iron ingredient" (one homebrewer's opinion). Lower scoring brewers either overestimated the flavor potency of their cinnamon, brewed beers whose extra ingredients minimized the cinnamon's perception in the overall flavor profile, or were very new to brewing (extract "twang") and will be likely to improve as they continue to gain brewing experience.

Overall, I view the competition as a success and look forward to future Iron Brewer competitions. These competitions may even become a platform on which to build brewing and tasting skills, with brewers each brewing a given style category, etc. I would also like to see the voting process evolve into a more sophisticated ordeal with "official" scoring sheets that yield meaningful feedback for the brewer. Also, a traveling trophy will be essential. Club members are invited to comment on their experience of the competition, as well as make suggestions for future competitions. Well, that's enough babbling. Until next time, Be Fermentive!