Brew Day in the Books!

[ No Comments ] Posted on 10.16.11 under Uncategorized

Had a pretty good brew day yesterday. Made about 18 gallons of alcoholic beverage in just about 6 hours. Now just have to wait three weeks before enjoying.

First off: Honey Brown. Made this as an eight gallon batch. Mashed 15# of grain, added 1# corn sugar to the typical 5.5 gallon boil, and diluted 2.5:1.5 (wort:water) into the fermenters. Meant to hit 1.054, got more like 1.050. Close enough. Eight gallons of honey brown in the two 5 gallon fermenters, bubbling away in the main fermentation fridge, set to 66°F. One with Notty and one with US-05. Looking forward to the taste test comparison. Expecting Notty to be the preferred by a mile.

Then: more IPA! After that Columbus IPA in Columbus Ohio, which was better than mine, I decided to try again (Gus: “try again, dadz”). I think the lower ABV might be the trick. So I intended this to 5.5% or so. Missed my gravity low, had a slightly higher volume (damn 45-minute boil). So it might be more like 5%. It’s all good.

And of course, what brew day would be complete without some Apfelwein. Since BJs raised the price on their house brand Apple Juice, I decided to just hit up the Stop&Shop for some juice. Got $1/qt for store brand apples and vitamin C blend (from concentrate).

Now they all sit, fermenting away. Though the apfel does not bubble, I think it’s because the keg it is fermenting in is not well-sealed. I will dry hop all the beers (i.e. not the apfel) in a few days, after fermentation is slowing. Then cold crash a few days later. Then keg about a week days later. Should be all packaged up by Halloween. Too bad they won’t be carbed by then. I think Honey Brown would make a nice Trick-or-Treat beer… I’ll have to settle for mulled Apfelwein… Travel mug FTW!!

I <3 LHBS

[ No Comments ] Posted on 10.13.11 under Uncategorized

Prepping for brew day, had to go pick up some things. Actually a lot of things. Besides the few pounds of unusual specialty grains (like Honey Malt) and the oddball yeast (Nottingham) I’ll be using, I also needed a sack of base malt and some other staples.

Used to be that the LHBS (www.brew-wine.com) was all disorganized and never had anything in stock, and even then it took at least a half an hour just to get served and even longer with any sort of complex order.

Now they have staff. It’s not just Rich alone. There’s the owner guy usually there after work, and now another helper any time I’m there. Sure the helper put my 2# C60, 2# Honey Malt, and 1# C60 all in the same bag (the owner guy and I had a good laugh talking about what beer could be made with that combo… a Honey Red, perhaps…), but even after that screw up, the employee went and tried again, all in separate bags this time. And he was profusely apologetic for the initial error, too. Funny thing is I feel that I share the blame for my lack of clarity in asking for what I wanted. Besides, I was just happy to not have to use the scale!

Now they even have CO2 and hops by the pound (but I could still not pull the trigger for a $24 pound of Simcoe). Hell they even had a Bling-mann three-tier on display for sale.

It’s nice to not have to worry if the LHBS will have what I want. I know now that I can go there with any sort of esoteric grain bill requests and have it fulfilled. And they have all the dry yeast I could want. Not to mention an abundance of tools, equipment, extracts, adjuncts, and chemicals. Combined with hops from the internet and planning a brew day is never a challenge for me.

Even if they didn’t have some specific grain I was after, they’d be able to recommend something else, and I’m sure I’d be able to brew something.

So I guess the point is that if you live near East Hartford, CT, you should consider brew-wine.com as your LHBS, and go there. It’s a good shop.

Brew Day Coming

[ No Comments ] Posted on 10.12.11 under Uncategorized

What with all the kids, brew days are harder to come by anymore. After the 4th was born in April, there was a relatively long non-brewing period. Then I did it. And I got in the groove. I did three brew days in a row, two weeks apart. That got the pipeline going again. But since then, it’s been as dry as a parish in Mississippi.

Now I have finally asserted my God-given right to brew again. I said “I need to brew again. This weekend”. She said “OK”. Phew, that was easy.

Lately I have been making double batches of Lite beer. With about five pounds of grains needed to make five gallons of the lite beer, it only made sense to double batch it. Brew a five gallon batch of double strength wort, and then dilute 50/50 with H2O going into the fermenters. It has worked very well.

I think it’s time to expand that line of thinking into other beers.

I was going to make a Honey Brown. Meant to be an easy drinking brown beer for autumn, it seemed like a good candidate for double batching.

As it turns out, I’m planning on 8 gallons of beer coming out of 15# of grain. Make the usual 5 gallons of wort, then dilute 2.5:1.5 for four gallons in each of two 5-gallon carboys. Tada! Extra beer!

We’ll see how it turns out. I’m planning on also doing a yeast comparison on this. One batch with good old US-05 and one with Notty. I’ve never used the Nottingham yeast before, so I’m excited to see how it works. I’ve tasted other Notty beers, and I’ve been pleased. I’m thinking US-05 might just be demoted after this trial. But only time will tell.

Oh, and of course I’ll make another IPA. Fashioned after the Ohio IPA. With an ABV under 6% and all Columbus hops. And I’m eliminating the Munich. And adding some C40. But still it will be very pale. Oh boy, I love brew days!

Barley’s – Columbus, Ohio

[ No Comments ] Posted on 10.08.11 under Uncategorized

I was honored with the opportunity to visit Columbus, Ohio a few weeks ago for work. Naturally, my first instinct was to check BeerAdvocate for local breweries. Turns out there were a few in the area. But it was hard to tell which would be best. So as we left the vendor’s office on the first day of the visit, we asked where was the best local beer. DuVal directed us to Barley’s. A few minutes later, Mapquest was telling us to proceed to the highlighted route on my Android phone in our rented orange Dodge Caravan.

About 20 minutes south on 23 through The Ohio State we came upon it. We parked in a nearby grocery store lot for $2 an hour and went in to Barley’s for dinner.

Keep in mind, we’d already eaten a huge lunch on our long layover in O’Hare. Neither of us were hungry. But it was time to eat, and definitely time to drink. So we prioritized the beer menu. Food was an afterthought to us at the time.

The first thing I noticed was guest taps. Old Rasputin. Good sign. Also some Blue Moon crap and a craft Pumpkin beer. OK. Then I see they list the cask option on the printed menu. Very good sign. (BTW it was the Scottish – more on that later). Finally I get to the main beer list. It is full of detail, as a good brewpub’s beer menu should be.

My personal preference when visiting a new brewery is to try the IPA. So I did. It had a stupid name, but it was made with all Columbus hops. I liked the idea, because I make an all-Columbus IPA. I didn’t get it until a few days later… Columbus Ohio/Columbus Hops. Sometimes I’m a little slow.

The beer was great. It was better than mine. I like to think that I am not overly preferential to my own beer, but this was better than mine. Same basic profile, but just that smidgeon crisper and drier. My current working theory is that this is because it was only 5.8% ABV while mine is usually in the 7.5% area. I know what my next IPA recipe will be.

Up next I tried the cask. My travelling partner had started with it, and said it was pretty good. I was not in a good position to really know what Dan likes, but I could be pretty sure that the beer would at least be palatable if he recommended it. Sure enough, it was pretty good. It was a bit sweet feeling for me. Perhaps due to the yeast in suspension. But it was tasty – good cask. My recollection is that it hid it’s 6.6% ABV well.

Finally it was time for the one I’d been eyeing since first perusing the beer menu. The Grand Cru. A 9% ABV Belgian monster, I was dreaming of Rochefort 10 all the way. Unfortunately, this one was a huge let down. I wished I’d got the 7.4% RIS. The Grand Cru was lackluster in every way. It was just completely lacking in richness and yeast character. It was like it was fermented too cool or with too much yeast. It just was not Grand Cru in any sense of the word. They really should have just called it a Dubbel. Not that it would have tasted better if labelled as such, but at least it wouldn’t have been backed with the claims of grandeur with which I was presented. At any rate, 9% is 9% and I was not about to send it back.

As we got to sucking down the suds, I got to wondering where the brewery was. I looked all around and could not see it. I was thinking maybe they had a production facility more downtown where the rent was cheaper. So I asked the waitress. She directed us to the small glass paneled room on the other side of the bar. Turns out the brewery was in the basement.

This was not a spectacular sight. The glass room looked down onto a dusty and dirty brew house, you could not see the cellar, and it was generally more industrial than your average brewpub. It was just a chance to discuss the brewing process with Dan.

Then there was the food. To many, this is what makes or breaks a brew pub. For me, it’s more on the beer, or so I thought before this night. As I said before, neither of us were hungry going into this. As we read the food menu, we both commented quite a bit on the menu as we attempted to disguise our disinterest. In the end, we both picked something. I got a steak sandwich and he got a Reuben or something.

The food was amazing. To go from not hungry to cleaning a plate of food is something else. The creamy sauce on the steak sandwich, along with the tender meat and crispy roll, were enough to have me licking every last drip off my fingers at the end of the meal. The veggies weren’t that great, but the main course was awesome. I bet the fries would have been off the hook, but I was trying to be good, given that I’d already eaten a giant pile of fries in Chicago.

Dan had the same basic story on his meal. Wiped the plate clean, including the side. We both really were amazed that we could come in there completely indifferent about food and leave there loving life and the food we’d just had.

In a way the food overshadowed the beer. And I think that might be just what it takes for a brew pub to be truly successful. In the end, how many people in this world really care about what hop varieties are in their IPA? But on the other hand, everyone can appreciate a meal that just begs to be completed, no matter what the beverage.

Home Bars

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.22.11 under Beer Cellar, Fun, Stories

I saw a show today on DIY network that wifey was watching. It was about outdoor rooms. It was pretty cool. The thing that caught my eye was (of course) the outdoor bar area they featured.

I could see from the first aerial shot leading into the scene that the guy had two (or maybe just one) draft tower(s) coming out of his outdoor bar setup. I was immediately dragged into it, waiting for the details of powering, cooling, pressure balancing the tap(s).

I was let down when all they showed was that it was a single tower with a single handle pouring some swilly macro beer. All that money and effort in the greatest outdoor party “room” ever to serve Budweiser? That’s his prerogative.

Anyway, it got me dreaming of the time when I’ll have some bar space that’s fancier than a used fridge with some tap handles coming out of the door in my largely unfinished basement. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate fire pit patio with outdoor TVs, just a cozy little basement bar with some wood paneling or even a drop ceiling. And obviously a serious draft beer setup serving up a wide variety from lite beer to lambic, accompanied by the appropriate educational materials.

Red Hook

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.15.11 under IPA, Tasting

Rather than run out of beer or more correctly, rather than drink all my lambic in a few short weeks, I decided to *gasp* buy some beer today.

Red Hook IPA was a good deal at $12.99 for a 12-pack and I felt it stood a good chance at tasting pretty good.

Apparently I’ve been living under a home-brewed rock for half the past decade or so. Because I’ve missed many iterations of Red Hook’s packaging. I should have known that the alliance with AB would have meant more than better distribution and regional brewing. There’s also the marketing power (e.g. selling packaging)

So I definitely recognize the first one. I have a vague sense that maybe one or two of the middle three existed. And I hold the final one in my hand. It’s cute. The bottle seems so small and light, but yet it is 12 ounces. The caps are fun and have different things under them, like a Magic Hat (but no words).

Oh and the beer. It’s actually pretty good. At first it smells (and therefore tastes) like perfume. That’s a flowery dry hop I guess. I wonder which one. Google is not an immediate help. Willamette? Cascade? I’m not sure either sounds right.

The bitterness is underwhelming, and the overall hop presence is soft and fragrant. I normally like a harsh/abrasive piney/fruity hop presence. Simcoe/Amarillo/Columbus. But this is still pretty good. At 6.5% ABV, it’s in the sweet spot for an IPA, IMO. I can see how this is a good compromise for a brewery that knows how to make great beer, and also needs to appeal to a rather wide audience. I would definitely get this again, should I nearly run out of beer some time in the future, or find myself out where this might be an offering on draft.

A good solid B+/A- in my unscientific book. Way better than $15.99 for 12 Sam Adams any day.

Sour Beer

[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 08.05.11 under Boden, Brewing, Kegging, Stories, The Session

Tonight is the session. This session is very timely for me. The subject is Sour Beer, and I just happen to have some sour beer activity to report tonight.

On January 1st, 2010 I made my first lambic. It was half barley and half wheat, made with old stinky hops and a variety of bacterial cultures and yeast (Brett B, Sour Mix, Lambic Blend, plus some US-05)

Since then, the beer has sat in my basement, covered in a brown paper bag, tucked in a corner, opened only a few times for flavor sampling.

Ever since the baby came a few months ago, brewing has been slow to say the least. So I’m facing a shortage. I might actually have to buy beer (gasp!). I feel like I’m the US Government about to default on my beer debt. I need a compromise to cover this gap.

So I sampled the lambic this week. It was pretty good. Rather barn-ish and overall funky. Sorta sour, bacterial I suppose. Not yet vinegar. I think that’s a good enough reason to take it out of the carboy and put it on tap. Especially given the circumstances.

For a while (right up to today) I was worried about where should I put it. If I kegged it, the keg and faucet could be bugged for life. If I bottled, the bacteria could keep working and make bottle bombs.

Ultimately, I kegged it. I’ve marked all the plastic I used in case I need to never use it for non-bacterial beer again. I’m using a picnic tap, which I’ll mark for Lambic and probably not reuse for normal beer. But then again I might try it to see if it really matters.

For now I’m just waiting for the beer to chill and carbonate before I can really dig into it. Then I’m sure it will save me from buying beer. Or at least it should minimize the amount of beer I need to buy.

Excerpt from brew day:

Boden (5 YO son): Daddy, you make beer because brewing beer is free, but buying beer costs money, right?

Daddy: Well brewing isn’t free, because the ingredients cost money and my time should be worth something, but it’s still a lot cheaper than buying it

Boden: But isn’t it a lot easier to just buy it?

Daddy: But brewing it is still a lot cheaper than buying it.

Boden: But all this stuff [the equipment needed to make beer] costs a lot of money probably

Daddy: Well I bought that a while ago. Look, I can make this IPA for $25 but if I bought this much IPA it would cost like $80.

Boden: … Daddy can I play on your phone?

Snobbery

[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 06.24.11 under Uncategorized

My RSS includes XKCD, a computer geek comic. This week there was one about wine snobbery. The main character was asked how he could drink “this crappy wine”, to which he responded “all wine tastes the same to me”.

That, I can relate to.

I consider myself lucky in that I cannot tell the difference between BMC of wine and DFH of wine. It saves me money and inner turmoil in case I am at an event where only cheap wine is available.

The funny thing was that in the comic he went on to say that you could make snobbery anywhere.

So I got to wondering if beer snobbery is warranted. Is there such a difference between meh craft beer and awesome craft beer that it would be discernable to a rookie?

Unfortunately I think not. I might taste a beer and hate on the diacetyl but Joe 6 pack would probably not notice the same thing and if he did it would not necessarily strike him as an issue.

But clearly with some things there is a big gap between normal and very good. I think of American cheese. Kraft singles – not so good. Deli – very good. Anyone who’s had both can tell.

So I don’t lose hope for the distinction between good and very good beer. But maybe we can avoid the snobbery while we’re at it.

Forget the Rapture…

[ No Comments ] Posted on 05.21.11 under Uncategorized

For those of you anticipating the rapture today, you were left disappointed, if my personal experience is any guide. But fear not, signs of the end of the world continue to show themselves. Not the least of which is the latest hit to my physical USPS mailbox today.

My subscription to Beer Advocate magazine arrived today with the latest edition of beer respecting news. I’m not sure if this is the first episode to have this feature or if I’ve just been too unaware to notice it, but Ron Pattinson has a column in the magazine this edition.

For those of you who don’t know, Ron Pattinson is the author of the fabled beer blog “Shut Up About Barclay Perkins”. His main thing is formulating tables of information based on old books written in different languages. Like German books from the 17th century about how to brew a proper Weissbier. There’s also a lot of British stuff in there. Ron is one of the guys that could easily tirade for an hour about the IPA myth (strong beer with lots of hops for India to survive the long journey made for officers diluted for soldiers etc.) Beer Advocate has long been a target for Ron, as they represent the quintessential American-centric Papazian-esque view of beer styles (another favorite is “mild” – let’s just say it wasn’t always low ABV and dark).

I see this as an acknowledgement by BA that they don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about most of the time. They are enlisting a real researching historian to write a column for them. And it is a damn fine first column. “Beers in a 1914 London Pub”. It scratches the surface on some of the basic differences between what we call beer now and what they called beer then. As well as what those beers were like.

I hope this column stays alive because I think that Ron is one of the best in the biz of beer writing. He may be a bit prickly sometimes, but if you want to know about beer history, I could hardly recommend a better option. He’ll open your mind about the assumptions we all have about beer today.

Party Time

[ No Comments ] Posted on 04.01.11 under Brewing, Events, IPA, Oktoberfest, Stories, Tasting

I love getting ready for the Oktoberfest party!

This year, the party’s bigger than ever! I’m making and serving nine kegs!! This makes it so important to me to get the right recipe in those kegs. This year, it’s three Fisher Cats, three Yachtoberfests, and three IPAs.

Fisher Cat is easy. It barely changes from year to year, and it’s always just right. Half wheat, half base malt. Centennials to around 15 IBU. US-05. Done. That test batch is in the fermenter right now, looking cloudy as can be, and should be great!

IPA isn’t too tough, either, given that I make IPA so often. The difference is that I’m going for a kinder, gentler IPA for the masses. So I try to tone it down a bit. But overall, it’s still my IPA. Columbus for bittering and a mix of Columbus, Centennial, and Amarillo for flavor and aroma, favoring the Amarillo. A nice bitter, somewhat pungent, slightly piney and citrusy, very juicy hop treat. That tester is cold and nearly carbonated in the keg – a sample taken tonight is VERY promising.

Yachtoberfest is still the one that I’m not 100% on. For some reason I insist on doing it as a warm fermentation. First year I tried US-05, and it was fine, but not outstanding. Last year I tried WY1338 “German Ale” yeast and it was different but not totally to my liking. This year, I’ve tried WY1272 “American Ale II” yeast. It seems pretty much neutral, like I might as well save $5 and use US-05. I think for this year I’ll use the 1272, but I’m thinking that by next year I should man up and use a real Oktoberfest lager yeast. It’s not like I don’t have a fridge where I could ferment cold.

In the end, I know whatever I come up with will be well-received by the audience at Yachtoberfest. They seem to love whatever I throw their way. I’m especially pleased because the IPA was upgraded from one keg to three from last year. The Cat and Fest have always been popular, but I still keep thinking that normal people don’t like good IPA. Too many Harpoon IPA, I guess… But fortunately I keep being proven wrong. Which is good because I love making IPA. Almost as much as I love drinking IPA!

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