Fixin' to brew Carribou or Sierra - Want to tinker

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing
1

Ok, I haven’t brewed in quite a while. Got the tax return, ordered a couple of kits - Carribou Slobber Brown Ale and Sierra Madre Pale Ale. I’ve never been one to stick to the instructions. I have traditionally just bought a bunch of ingredients and experimented. Some of my brews I have liked, some I have loved, but rarely have I made the same one twice.

I’ve never made either of these kits, but I have made many versions of pale ale and have downed gallons of Newcastle Brown Ale. I have laying around: 1 pound of DME, 1/2 pound of corn sugar (above what I need to carbonate both batches), about 52 oz by weight of agave nectar, table and brown sugar. I also have 3/4 oz Cascade - 7.9%, 1 1/4 oz Centennial - 9.5%, and 1/2 oz Nugget - 11.1%. All leaf hops.

For the pale ale, I’m thinking of putting the Nugget in the whole boil along with a bottle of agave, then dry hopping in the secondary with the Cascade.

I was thinking of either leaving the Carribou alone, or adding the pound of DME and maybe the Centennial in the boil.

What do y’all think of my craziness?

2

Welcome back to the insanity. :cheers:
I haven’t done the Sierra Madre, but I’m interested in the Agave syrup. Does it lend any flavor notes? Because I can imagine a slight tequilla flavor might go real well.
As far as the Caribou Slobber- if you search you’ll find almost everything possible has been added to the base recipe. Coffee or chocolate seem to be common. When I did it last year I added some Honey malt and 1 lb of honey. Tasted nice. It seems to lend itself to additions well. Have fun!

3

Thank James,

I’ve never messed with the agave, but I have read about it. I sounds like it’ll mostly be a gravity booster (something I’m down with) and won’t add much flavor unless it’s added at the end of the boil. I’m thinking I’ll go for the extra kick without the flavor.

4

The agave nectar I hav used for cooking is similar to a honey taste. I believe some folks use it because it is cheape than honey.

Lefty

5

Try the kits as is first. You may like them as they are. If you don’t then tinker. Any experiment needs base line data.

6

I agree…I always do a (baseline brew) with any kit I do before I decide what to play with. :cheers: Tank

7

I agree that brewing a “baseline” beer with a new kit makes sense. Sense and I don’t always get along, so I generally ignore it. I brewed the carribou today, and decided to add a pound of agave. I also put in 1 1/4 ounces of centennial hops for the full boil.

I have no doubt that the final product will be different than the pure kit (which I’ve heard great things about) but I’m sure I will like it. The wort is by far the best tasting I’ve ever made! The starting gravity came in at 1.055, just 3 points above the kit target.

BTW: Visible fermentation in less than 9 hours. Gotta love fresh yeast!