A shot in the dark

Some of you may recall my last little adventure in brewing – making a 5-gallon batch of beer from barley and hops my friend Jim grew in his backyard.

Now I’ve upped the ante a bit, thanks to Tom Applegate at Mad Bomber Brewing.

Next month, Applegate will receive a slick new 7-barrel brewing system to replace the more makeshift 1-barrel-plus operation he’s made do with since opening the Hayden brewery in November 2013.

In the meantime, he’s indulging his experimental side while he still has the flexibility the smaller-scale system allows. So he invited me up on Monday to create and brew a recipe with him.

Ever since my first sip of Sierra Nevada Celebration back in the day, I’ve been a sucker for a hoppy red with a big, piney malt profile. They’re not all that easy to find, which is why I wanted to make one.

Tom and I settled on something around 6.5 percent alcohol by volume. Just to be different, instead of going for the caramel malt sweetness typically found in reds, along with base malt we used some Munich malt for richness and a little color, along with a bit of black patent malt for more color and a touch of roastiness.

For the hop bill, aimed at 80 International Bitterness Units, piney Chinook was a no-brainer for bittering and some flavor. Since citrusy hops seemed too bright for the direction we were taking, we also went with herbal Nugget for flavor, and some spicy, floral Crystal toward the end of the boil for aroma.

And as an extra wrinkle, Tom suggested using British-style yeast along with his standard American ale yeast to contribute some fruity complexity.

Aside from a balky pump that slowed us down some in the beginning, our brew day was fairly smooth by Mad Bomber standards. When the last tank was cleaned, we had 41 gallons of hopped, deep red wort in the fermenter; beyond all the malt sugars, most of which will be eaten by the yeast, it tasted reasonably rich with a good dose of bitterness.

Tom pronounced it markedly different from anything the brewery has done before. In a few weeks, we’ll know whether the experiment was a success. Stay tuned.