Giggle Splash is my first attempt at a highly aromatic American IPA. American IPAs are marked by their bright, citrusy hop aromas, and high bitterness. Giggle Splash sits at around 57 International Bitterness Units (IBU) which is considered moderate according official guidelines. For comparison, Budweiser and Molson Canadian sit at around 10 IBU or so (plus or minus a few units). So yes, it's quite hoppy.
January 22, 2016 - Comments Off on Introducing Silly Sir’s Spiced Ginger Saison
Very sketchy...
It is ready: Silly Sir's first saison!
Saison beers are typically consumed during the summer, and are usually: highly carbonated; moderately high in alcohol; light to moderate in colour and bitterness; and full of beautiful esters that impart distinctive notes of banana, cloves, and spice. If this sounds like it's your jam, contact me and I'll let you test one in exchange for critical feedback. The distinctive aromas of this beer form due to the warm temperatures required for optimal fermentation by this particular strain of yeast. This beer fermented at around 88F for about a month which is a much higher fermentation temperature than most yeast strains are used to.
December 7, 2015 - Comments Off on Silly Sir Sara’s Cider
Well really, this cider has very little to do with Silly Sir because Sara did 90% of the work (although we are a team). She decided to make a cider today using about 10 crushed apples, cinnamon sticks, a whole nutmeg seed, and cloves, as well as a couple oranges and a bit of brown sugar towards the end. "It smelt great!," Sara just said two seconds ago. It only yielded about half a gallon of cider, which was somewhat disappointing. Initially it was just going to be a regular cider, but I suggested we ferment it to give it some punch.
Looks freaking amazing, right?
True to Silly Sir form, we experimented and messed around without caring too much about the end result because there's so much learning that goes on through experimentation (I'm a scientist at heart). We used a bread yeast rather than an ale yeast which according to research could produce a "bready" cider depending on the brand. Regardless it should flocculate (drop out) nicely, and if we let it clean itself up for a couple weeks, it should taste crisp and clean. I'm excited to see how this tastes.
