The plan is to do 1-2 small ~ 4L batches per month, featuring strange ingredients. If I get something good out of an experiment, I'll try to extract the good parts and eliminate the bad parts, eventually resulting in a good recipe, worthy of sharing with the world.
My first brew will contain chocolate Ovaltine and Whoppers (chocolate malt balls). From the ingredients label, in the Ovaltine, we have:
- Sugar- good! Yeast loves it! More alcohol. No clue as to what kind of sugar, though, unfortunately.
- Cocoa- ok- chocolate in beer isn't too unusual. Can add some nice flavor.
- Whey- not so good- whey is a milk protein and I can't think of anything good that come out of that.
- Barley Malt Extract- Hey-o! That sounds familiar!
- Beet Juice Color- Shouldn't affect taste.
- Mono- and diacylglycerols - WTF are these? According to wikipedia, "Mono- and diacylglycerols are common food additives used to blend together certain ingredients, such as oil and water, which would not otherwise blend well." Ok?
- Molasses- Yum! More sugars for the yeast. Should add some unique flavoring.
- Natural Caramel Flavor and Artificial Vanilla Flavor- Cool, maybe the flavors will come through
- Soy Lecithin- another weird chemical thing. Apparently, it prevents sticking. I hope it doesn't affect head retention. Head is always good.
- 8 Vitamins and Minerals- I won't go through them all. Food for yeast, I hope?
The Whoppers have a similar ingredient list, nothing too alarming. Here's to a good first brew!
