French Press and Randal Thread

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drbenzo1

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This is a thread to post recipes and pron for your beer concoctions using a french press or randal.
Today I mashed some raspberries and blackberries in the bottom, and added 2 softened dove dark chocolate squares, and fluff to the press. I then added FBS and pressed a few times to mix. I will add a fresh bottle back in tonight and report back.
Cheers!


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Coming off too sweet as it warms and without good carbonation it just isn't as good as I hoped. It needs to be less sweet and better carbonated. Maybe next time I use Speedway and less berries… Also, I blended the fresh back into the press. I think to conserve carb, I would blend right into the glass.
 
In all seriousness, I agree that BCBS is a GREAT base beer, but because I didn't buy cases of it here on the west coast over the years, I am not "experimenting" with my 5 bottles… However, I do agree that the higher ABV should help, not to mention the less sweet flavor profile of BCBS or Speedway (or BASS for that matter… **** that… love that beer the way it is…) should help cut that sweetness… I will report back with a better "recipe." Any recipes you peeps wanna share?
 
I recently threw a couples ounces of miscellaneous C-hops my buddy let me have into a couple bottles of Founders All Day IPA. I let it steep for about 5 minutes. I was pleased with what it did to the hoppiness, but I was pretty disappointed in the fact that it was essentially flat. It definitely piqued my interest in the process though.

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I'm interested in trying out a few of these since the beers involved are pretty easy to get my hands on:

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/...-infuse-beer-with-hops-spices-cocoa-nibs.html
 
I might try this today. I've got some empty bottles, caps, and a bottle capper. I am going to pour beer into a bomber carefully so I don't lose much carb, throw some hops on top of the beer(mostly full bottle). They will float. I will cap the bottle and slosh it around a bit. I might throw it in the fridge for the 10mins of so I let them extract to help with carbonation. I won't have the filter of the french press, but the hops are big enough not to get into my glass.
 
Just tried it. No whole hops I wanted to use, so I used some cascade pellets. Got maybe .25oz in the bottle before it tried to volcano on me. In the fridge it goes for a bit.
 
Get the finest cut of coconut shavings you can find. Toast in an oven till lightly golden. Infuse in BCBS for half an hour. Enjoy life.
I have a 4-pack of BCBS in the cellar and a bag of shaved coconut in the pantry. And I just ran out of beers in the fridge. Coincidence? I think not!
 
Founders Breakfast stout with dark Ghiradelli chocolate and jalapeno:
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I'm not usually a huge fan of spicy beers, but I have a ****-ton of ripe jalapenos in my garden right now, so I said, "what the hell?".

Process:
-Sliced up one small, overly ripe jalapeno into quarters, removing seeds.
-Crushed two squares of chocolate with a couple slams of a mallet.
-Steeped for 20 minutes.
-Done.

Outcome:
-The chocolate was overkill. I don't think the beer needed any more than it already had.
-The jalapeno was actually pretty good. 20 minutes of steeping gave the beer a subtle kick without being overbearing. I think 20 minutes was just right.
-Overall, definitely drinkable, but will not be a 'repeat' for me. I will probably play around some more with jalapenos though.
 
I've been wanting to do this with my Aeropress. It would be better at filtering chunks but it would be a short steep time since the beer would sit on top of a filter and slowly drip. So I'm not sure how it would turn out. I'm going to mess around with a few locals before I mess around with BCBS.

I actually bought some vanilla bean this weekend for that so I'll report back soon.
 
I've considered some of what is going on here to be blending, and not french-pressing or the like, but I think there may be a fairly simple solution to the carbonation problem that a lot of you are having.

Only press/soak a percentage of your beer that you wish to be in your final product. If you want 12oz, press 6-8oz, then aggressively pour the remaining beer over the pressed beer. If you want to soak something overnight (or for a longer time period than an hour), press an entire bottle, then blend in a freshly opened bottle over it to either taste or until you have the desired carbonation. I get it, the additional oils from some of the ingredients may require more of the fresh beer than you'd necessarily like, but you can manage that in the future by increasing the potency of the soaked beer.

If no one tries this by the weekend, I'll find a thicker shelf stout and do it overnight to see if it will work. I'll probably use some fresh coffee, small amount of vanilla extract and a dash of bourbon (just for good measure).
 
Didn't dontdrinkbeer age Speedway in a coconut? How did that turn out?

Also, what other fruits could we pour beer into? Hollowing out a pineapple to pour BCBS into sounds like it's feasible.
 
I was able to have a small taste of a RIS aged inside a toasted coconut for 7 days which was a real special treat. I can understand any attempts to replicate that flavor without as much patience being required.
 
I wanted to make a CBS knock off tonight.... Soaked a 1/4 of a split and seeded vanilla bean in some decent bourbon and let it sit for 30 minutes after heavy muddling. Then I added an ounce of pure maple syrup and poured all of a breakfast stout on top. Fantastic. I need to try this beer with some toasted coconut like others next...
 
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