I've always been eager to push boundaries and try something new (at least on my own terms), and I've never had much patience for doing the same thing over and over again in the name of learning. I like it just fine as a routine, because it allows my mind to be otherwise occupied. I can run the same reports and answer the same questions at work without a problem, but when there's a goal beyond the work itself, the wasted time and effort just chafes at me.
I used to give my second-grade teacher, Ms. Beneker, fits. We would get those math worksheets with thirty problems on them, and I'd never finish them. I would do enough to be confident I understood the process (if she was doing the first few on the board, doing them myself and getting the same answers was enough to satisfy me), then I'd get up and wander, helping my classmates. I was constantly getting yelled at to sit down and do my work, and by the time the lesson was over I'd done each problem multiple times...but only a few answers ever showed up on my worksheet. It was a constant battle. (Those worksheets where the answers give you clues to a joke or something worked better, right up until the moment I figured out what the answer would eventually be. Then I was wandering again.)
Brewing has been much the same for me. I don't have anything against extract brewing per se. Many, many homebrewers have gone their entire career doing extract brewing, my father included, and had great results. to the extent that my goal in brewing is to brew tasty beers, I'm perfectly happy brewing extract. But I have another goal: to learn. I want to learn everything I can about this, and I've heard so much about mashing and sparging and lautering and the like, and it seemed like the natural next step in learning about the art of brewing. (Note that my goal here wasn't to brew great beer, but to learn more about brewing.)
At the time I was reading Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass, as I mentioned in my first blog post. And oh, did that book light a fire in me to experiment! It's basically a big book of "here's a recipe for a classic beer style. Let's talk about all the ways you can alter it to make it unique!" I finally broke down when I hit his recipe for a Southern English Brown Ale (for those who aren't familiar, it's a relatively mild, sweet brown ale), and Mosher suggested putting a pound of toasted oats in to replicate the flavor of an oatmeal cookie.
It was as if the One Ring had taken hold of me. This recipe was my precious, and I must have it. I conceived of an improvement over Mosher's recipe: a pound of Special B in the grain bill. Special B is a dark, flavorful crystal malt reputed to confer caramel and especially raisin flavors to a brew. I would make no mere oatmeal cookie ale; I would be brewing an oatmeal raisin cookie brown ale.
The only snag: Mosher's recipe only came in partial-mash and all-grain versions; or at least, that was how it appeared to me. Thus began my downfall.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
NoVa Summer BrewFest
For the first time in several years, I will be volunteering at the Northern Virginia Summer BrewFest! My dad volunteers every year and loves it. The last time I volunteered I was assigned to run spin art for the kids, which was fine--but this year I get to be a pourer.
The big email with all the instructions for volunteers, etc. came out today. Good stuff, and it appears pretty well organized. Best of all is the section labeled 'Related Information - "The Fun Stuff"'. It's all about learning about the beers and brewery you'll be working with so you can discuss it with the patrons, as well as learning as much as you can about the other beers available at the festival.
You can understand why this excites me. I only wish I knew beforehand which brewery I would be assigned to so I could do some homework!
Brewers appearing at the brewfest:
Time to start doing some homework, and the teacher hasn't specified what's going to be on the test yet...personally, I regard this as a valuable educational experience as well as a test of what I've learned so far.
The big email with all the instructions for volunteers, etc. came out today. Good stuff, and it appears pretty well organized. Best of all is the section labeled 'Related Information - "The Fun Stuff"'. It's all about learning about the beers and brewery you'll be working with so you can discuss it with the patrons, as well as learning as much as you can about the other beers available at the festival.
You can understand why this excites me. I only wish I knew beforehand which brewery I would be assigned to so I could do some homework!
Brewers appearing at the brewfest:
- Abita Brewery
- Allagash Brewing Appocalypse Brew Works (Louisville, KY)
- Baltimore-Washington Beer Works (Raven)
- Bell’s Brewery
- Blue & Gray Brewing
- Blue Point Brewery
- Boston Beer Co.
- Bold Rock Ciders
- Brewery Ommegang
- Capitol City Brewing
- Climax Brewing
- Corcoran Brewing
- Crispin Cider
- DC Brau Brewing
- Devils Backbone Brewing
- Dominion Brewery
- DuClaw Brewing
- Evolution Craft Brewing
- Firestone Walker Brewery
- Flying Dog Brewery
- Fordham Brewing
- Gordon Biersch Brewery
- Goose Island Brewing
- Great Lakes Brewing
- Green Flash Brewing
- Harpoon Brewery
- Heavy Seas Brewing
- Highland Brewing
- Kona Brewing
- Lagunitas Brewery
- Lancaster Brewing
- Laughing Dog Brewing
- Left Hand Brewing
- Legend Brewery
- Long Trail Brewing
- Lost Rhino Brewing
- Mad Fox Brewing
- Magic Hat Brewing
- Miller Brewing
- New Belgium Brewing
- New Holland Brewing
- Peak Organic Brewing
- Port City Brewing
- Redhook Ale Brewery
- RJ Rockers Brewing
- Schlafly Beer (St. Louis Brewery)
- Shocktop (Anheuser-Busch Brewing)
- Sixpoint Brewery
- Smuttynose Brewing Somerville Brewing (Slumbrew) (MA)
- St. George Brewery
- Starr Hill Brewery
- Stone Brewing
- Terrapin Beer Co. Three Brothers Brewing (Harrisonburg, VA)
- Three Heads Brewing
- Troegs Brewing
- Vintage 50 Restaurant & Brew Pub
- Widmer Brothers Brewing
- Williamsburg Alewerks Brewing
- Wild Wolf Brewing
Time to start doing some homework, and the teacher hasn't specified what's going to be on the test yet...personally, I regard this as a valuable educational experience as well as a test of what I've learned so far.
Bottle Bombs and Other Catastrophes
Ah, the infamous bottle bomb. I'd heard about them, but never experienced them. All good things must come to an end, I guess.
I experienced my first one a week or so after bottling Hefeweis City (see Hefeweis City, Part I and Hefeweis City, Part II). Nothing major; I had gone down to my laundry room/brewery to check on things...and saw a puddle under the case. Never a good sign. Fearing the worst, I opened the case. Glass and beer everywhere, but much to my relief only one broken bottle. I checked the other case, and found no further victims. I cleaned up, happy I'd only lost a single bottle.
A few days later, I was downstairs washing bottles and I heard it--a dull thump. It sounded like something had fallen over in my brewing cabinet. I opened the doors, and lo and behold...beer was dribbling out of the case. This one made much more of a mess, despite the bottle breaking cleanly into only a few pieces.
While I waited for all the cardboard to dry, I sat down to think about causes.
What could have caused this? The proximate cause is overcarbing, of course--carbonation causes more pressure than the bottle can stand. But why this batch? Why these particular bottles?
The answers I came up with:
However, a recent hop experiment (5 1-gallon batches of IPA, each with a different flavor/aroma hop) gave me mixed results in several areas, including carbonation. At the time I chalked it up to the difficulty of small measurements and doing things on a different scale than I was used to, but now I'm not so sure. The first several I tried turned out flat, but others were well-carbonated. It doesn't appear to be a function of time, either: carbed and uncarbed have come up interspersed. However, I think it might relate to the position of the bottle in the case (and thus to the order they were brewed in). If most of the priming sugar went into either the early or late bottles, it would explain the differing carbonation levels.
I had assumed that racking one gallon over just didn't give the priming sugar enough time to mix. With the hefe, however, I racked a full five gallons. But it's the only answer that fits. If I bottled too early, all of the bottles would be dangerously carbonated. The first test beer was flat, which disproves that theory. Same thing with too much priming sugar--I should be seeing overcarbonation on every beer and multiple bottle bombs. Weak bottles would explain why I had two bottle bombs and no more, but it doesn't explain why the test beer was flat after three weeks. An inconsistent level of priming sugar, however, explains all of the symptoms.
After a little research on HomebrewTalk.com, several members recommend stirring the beer (gently! We don't want to oxygenate the beer) after racking it to the bottling bucket. I think I will have to try that in the future. The IPA's were an experiment, and successful in their goal despite inconsistent carbonation, but the hefe was supposed to be something I and my friend could show off.
I experienced my first one a week or so after bottling Hefeweis City (see Hefeweis City, Part I and Hefeweis City, Part II). Nothing major; I had gone down to my laundry room/brewery to check on things...and saw a puddle under the case. Never a good sign. Fearing the worst, I opened the case. Glass and beer everywhere, but much to my relief only one broken bottle. I checked the other case, and found no further victims. I cleaned up, happy I'd only lost a single bottle.
A few days later, I was downstairs washing bottles and I heard it--a dull thump. It sounded like something had fallen over in my brewing cabinet. I opened the doors, and lo and behold...beer was dribbling out of the case. This one made much more of a mess, despite the bottle breaking cleanly into only a few pieces.
While I waited for all the cardboard to dry, I sat down to think about causes.
What could have caused this? The proximate cause is overcarbing, of course--carbonation causes more pressure than the bottle can stand. But why this batch? Why these particular bottles?
The answers I came up with:
- Bottled too early. Only a week had passed since the beer went into the fermenter. Fermentation was early and ended early, with very low, stable gravity readings by the end of the week. I could have been wrong about fermentation being over, though. If the beer still had residual fermentables when I bottled it, that could cause bottle bombs.
- Too much priming sugar. I used a full 5oz package of corn sugar. This was higher than the style guidelines, according to BeerSmith (BeerSmith recommends 3.61oz of corn sugar), but certainly not more than a bottle should be able to handle. Lots of homebrewers use a full 5oz every time without issues.
- Weak bottles. Several cases of bottles were donated by a friend and are reportedly decades old. Some still had old homebrew in them (cleaning them was not fun). Perhaps age and/or holding beer for so long had weakened them. I've never heard of it, but Hamlet was right when he said "there is more in Heaven and Earth [...] than is dreampt of in your philosophy". It would explain why only one had gone off.
- Poorly-Mixed Priming Sugar. If some bottles had more sugar than the others, they would over-carb even if the total amount of priming sugar was correct. Weak bottles might exacerbate it, but too much sugar will bust even a strong bottle, I suspect.
However, a recent hop experiment (5 1-gallon batches of IPA, each with a different flavor/aroma hop) gave me mixed results in several areas, including carbonation. At the time I chalked it up to the difficulty of small measurements and doing things on a different scale than I was used to, but now I'm not so sure. The first several I tried turned out flat, but others were well-carbonated. It doesn't appear to be a function of time, either: carbed and uncarbed have come up interspersed. However, I think it might relate to the position of the bottle in the case (and thus to the order they were brewed in). If most of the priming sugar went into either the early or late bottles, it would explain the differing carbonation levels.
I had assumed that racking one gallon over just didn't give the priming sugar enough time to mix. With the hefe, however, I racked a full five gallons. But it's the only answer that fits. If I bottled too early, all of the bottles would be dangerously carbonated. The first test beer was flat, which disproves that theory. Same thing with too much priming sugar--I should be seeing overcarbonation on every beer and multiple bottle bombs. Weak bottles would explain why I had two bottle bombs and no more, but it doesn't explain why the test beer was flat after three weeks. An inconsistent level of priming sugar, however, explains all of the symptoms.
After a little research on HomebrewTalk.com, several members recommend stirring the beer (gently! We don't want to oxygenate the beer) after racking it to the bottling bucket. I think I will have to try that in the future. The IPA's were an experiment, and successful in their goal despite inconsistent carbonation, but the hefe was supposed to be something I and my friend could show off.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
You Get What You Pay For
I signed up for Black Bucket Brew the other day. I'm not sure how I found it, and I'm still not sure what it is. It describes itself as "an e-zine for lovers of craft beer & home brew", and perhaps that's accurate. It's a mishmash of shopping links, basic information about craft beer and homebrewing, and the like.
I signed up primarily because they offered a free e-book, called 10 Tips: How to Enjoy Your Beer Even More!. It's written by David Ivey, who appears to be the guy in charge of Black Bucket Brew. On the upside, he grants people the right to distribute the booklet freely (though he asks that links remain intact, which is reasonable). On the downside, there's not much in here that can't be found easily in a hundred other places. All-in-all, though, it's not a bad primer to beer appreciation/judging for a complete novice--but it's not that good, either.
If I were to write a guide to beer appreciation for newcomers, I think I'd start with a broad overview of beer--talk about the basic ingredients and how they affect the final product. Perhaps move into a discussion of styles: nothing too deep, but explain the difference between an ale and a lager, and talk about a pale ale/IPA vs. a porter or a stout vs. a wheat beer, etc. Throw in a little information about some less-common styles like the variety of Belgians out there. Talk about some common trends--how American versions of beers tend to be hoppier and less malty; or how rye is big right now.
If I were writing a guide to beer evaluation, I'd start with the BJCP guidelines, walk them through a scoring sheet, and encourage them to actually record their impressions. Of course, it would be even better if I was a BJCP judge, but I suppose a disclaimer would be sufficient. I don't see any disclaimers from the authori of this tract.
In this case at least, you get what you pay for.
I signed up primarily because they offered a free e-book, called 10 Tips: How to Enjoy Your Beer Even More!. It's written by David Ivey, who appears to be the guy in charge of Black Bucket Brew. On the upside, he grants people the right to distribute the booklet freely (though he asks that links remain intact, which is reasonable). On the downside, there's not much in here that can't be found easily in a hundred other places. All-in-all, though, it's not a bad primer to beer appreciation/judging for a complete novice--but it's not that good, either.
- Tip #1: Appearance. Basically, he says to pour it into a glass. Important, yes; but pretty damn basic, and a cop-out considering appearance is so important to a quality brew. Maybe the title of the tip is a problem, but you could give some tips about pouring it into a glass, like the importance of a clean glass (dirty glasses can trap carbonation and inhibit head formation) and getting all the soap off (again, inhibits head). Even better, wash it again without soap. He could also talk about glassware if he's not actually going to talk about appearance (and pouring it into a glass is about so much more than appearance).
- Tip #2: Clean Glass. Ah, here it is: the importance of a clean glass. He talks about how to clean a beer without leaving soapy residue, but it feels like he's splitting hairs to get to 10 tips. By the way, you can tell that a beer hasn't been cleaned properly if carbonation clings to the inside of the glass or the lacing is uneven.
- Tip #3: Beer Glasses. Here he talks about the importance of using proper glassware. If his audience needs to be told that they should pour it into a glass instead of drinking out of the bottle expecting them to use special glassware may be a bit of a stretch--most beers can be adequately enjoyed out of a standard beer mug or a pint glass (although yes, proper glassware will enhance it). His description of glass styles also lacks. He describes a pint glass as the best all-around glass, but really it's just a good standard size, easy to clean and stack at a bar. Moving on to a weizen glass, he claims that the flare at the bottom is to "capture yeast"--but traditionally, if you're going to drink it "mit hefe" (with yeast), you pour out 90% of the beer, then swirl it to get the yeast in suspension, and pour that on top (this only works with bottle-conditioned beers, by the way). He also calls "BudMillerCoors" pilsners--which is flat-out wrong. They are part of the Light Lager category, at least according to the BJCP. Pilsners are an entirely different category of beer (they are both lagers).
- Tip #4: Serving Temperature.
- Tip #5: Pouring a Nice Head.
- Tip #6: Beer Color. There's a lot more to say about beer color than he does. I'd like to see at least a basic explanation of how the malt used contributes to beer color, and for bonus points talk about caramelization. Truth be told, though, he should just talk about appearance overall, including carbonation, head, and clarity.
- Tip #7: Clarity. Ah, here it is. It's just been stretched into another tip. Perhaps we can hold our breath for carbonation and head? Some decent info here.
- Tip #8: Aroma. Alas, my hopes for finishing up appearance, in suspense since Tip #1, are not to be. Wait, we're 8 tips into 10 and we're just now getting to aroma? Are you sure we needed separate tips for "Pour It Into A Glass" and "Make Sure It's Clean First" (which are sort of backwards anyway, if you think about it). Sadly, for something so important to appreciating a quality beer, the information here is superficial at best.
- Tip #9: Taste. Decent info here. A couple of paragraphs just isn't enough for any meaningful discussion of flavor, though. The tip ends with a mention that they'll talk about flavor in the future, and a link to sign up for their newsletters.
- Tip #10: Mouthfeel. Includes a mention of nitrogen ("nitro") as well as carbon dioxide, and their explanation contained info that was new to me. Good show.
- Bonus! Tip #11: Finish. Maybe if you all hadn't stretched your tips you would be able to count to 10. Or perhaps that was the point. At any rate, finish is more properly considered part of taste and mouthfeel. Oh, and another request to sign up for their newsletter.
If I were to write a guide to beer appreciation for newcomers, I think I'd start with a broad overview of beer--talk about the basic ingredients and how they affect the final product. Perhaps move into a discussion of styles: nothing too deep, but explain the difference between an ale and a lager, and talk about a pale ale/IPA vs. a porter or a stout vs. a wheat beer, etc. Throw in a little information about some less-common styles like the variety of Belgians out there. Talk about some common trends--how American versions of beers tend to be hoppier and less malty; or how rye is big right now.
If I were writing a guide to beer evaluation, I'd start with the BJCP guidelines, walk them through a scoring sheet, and encourage them to actually record their impressions. Of course, it would be even better if I was a BJCP judge, but I suppose a disclaimer would be sufficient. I don't see any disclaimers from the authori of this tract.
In this case at least, you get what you pay for.
Hooray for IPA!
One of the stores in my area, Total Wine, holds periodic classes and events. Honestly, they're more wine-oriented, but they have a pretty good selection of craft beers, and I love going in and assembling a custom six-pack. I don't drink a great deal, so if I have to buy a six-pack every time I want to try a beer I'll never get to try half of what I want. Buying singles is the way to go for me.
One of their upcoming classes is called Hooray for IPA! The cost is pretty nominal--$15. I don't know much about the class, but it promises English IPA, Belgian IPA, American IPA, American Double/Imperial IPA, and "other hoppy goodness". I'm not sure what that last one means, but I assume it is talking about either other hoppy styles (American Barleywine or American Pilsner, maybe?) or hoppy versions of otherwise not-so-hoppy styles (you know us Americans, more hops are always better!)
I'll have to check that out and see what they have to offer. I've been interested by their in-store tastings in the past.
One of their upcoming classes is called Hooray for IPA! The cost is pretty nominal--$15. I don't know much about the class, but it promises English IPA, Belgian IPA, American IPA, American Double/Imperial IPA, and "other hoppy goodness". I'm not sure what that last one means, but I assume it is talking about either other hoppy styles (American Barleywine or American Pilsner, maybe?) or hoppy versions of otherwise not-so-hoppy styles (you know us Americans, more hops are always better!)
I'll have to check that out and see what they have to offer. I've been interested by their in-store tastings in the past.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Brew Locally, Drink Globally
CraftBeer.com had an interesting post recently called Bringing Local Flavors to Your Pint. The article itself is fairly superficial, focusing on pretty obvious ingredients and the benefit of freshness, but it was interesting nonetheless.
It got me thinking about including local (or at least Virginia's) iconic ingredients. A lot of what Virginia produces isn't really that unique (except tobacco, and I'm leery of both the ethical and flavor questions raised by trying to work that into a beer). So what could I use?
I came up with a couple of ingredients:
- peanuts
- apples
- wine/wine must
- cherries
So: what do I make of this? I could probably find some local peanut butter for a peanut butter porter or a peanut butter stout. I already have an apfelwein fermenting, though an apfelwein/weissbier hybrid has promise. What about a sour apple lambic?
As for the other two ingredients, a kreik lambic is perfect for cherries, and delicious to boot. I know there are lots of recipes using wine must as well--Dogfish Head has one, if I recall. I'll have to look that up.
Any other ideas? Anybody brewed anything with local ingredients?
Hefeweis City, Part II
I suppose I should explain why I'm calling the blog posts about the hefeweisen "Hefeweis City". As I mentioned in the previous post, this beer was partly an introduction to homebrewing for a friend. I don't expect he'll take the plunge into homebrewing himself, but he enjoys craft beer and seems curious about my brewing.
As you may have guessed, "Hefeweis City" is the name of the beer. I let my friend pick the name, partly because it was his first brew and partly because I didn't have any ideas myself. It's based off Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (he had video games on the brain; the alternate was "M. Weisen", a play off of the Street Fighter character M. Bison.
Fermentation went very quickly. In my last order I picked up one of the paddle aerators that fits into a drill, and a couple of minutes with that I suspect provided all the oxygen the yeast needed. Fermentation started later that same evening, and the krausen had fallen by the next day.
By the end of the week there were no bubbles in the airlock, and I started taking gravity readings. I was concerned that perhaps my hydrometer was off, because it kept reading about 1.000 (1.002 adjusted for temperature), but I didn't worry too much because the readings were consistent over several days. At that point I knew that the gravity wasn't excessively high (indicating a stuck fermentation) or still ongoing, so a week after brewing we bottled. I was a little apprehensive about it, but it seemed to be ready.
Bottling with two people is the way to go. Besides the fact that bottling consists primarily of two activities that can't be done simultaneously by one person (filling and capping), I didn't have a bunch of filled bottles sitting around ready to be knocked over. I filled, he capped, and we zipped through it. Best of all, he could tip the bottling bucket for me when we got down near the bottom (I don't have a dip tube yet) and I could concentrate on bottling.
For labels, I typically use Avery 8160 labels; They're 1" x 2 5/8", large enough to hold a decently large title and other information--I generally add the style and bottling date, although this time I stuck the brewers' names on there as well (so my friend can show off beer with his name on the bottle).
I downloaded the font used in Vice City and made up some nice labels:
As you may have guessed, "Hefeweis City" is the name of the beer. I let my friend pick the name, partly because it was his first brew and partly because I didn't have any ideas myself. It's based off Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (he had video games on the brain; the alternate was "M. Weisen", a play off of the Street Fighter character M. Bison.
Fermentation went very quickly. In my last order I picked up one of the paddle aerators that fits into a drill, and a couple of minutes with that I suspect provided all the oxygen the yeast needed. Fermentation started later that same evening, and the krausen had fallen by the next day.
By the end of the week there were no bubbles in the airlock, and I started taking gravity readings. I was concerned that perhaps my hydrometer was off, because it kept reading about 1.000 (1.002 adjusted for temperature), but I didn't worry too much because the readings were consistent over several days. At that point I knew that the gravity wasn't excessively high (indicating a stuck fermentation) or still ongoing, so a week after brewing we bottled. I was a little apprehensive about it, but it seemed to be ready.
Bottling with two people is the way to go. Besides the fact that bottling consists primarily of two activities that can't be done simultaneously by one person (filling and capping), I didn't have a bunch of filled bottles sitting around ready to be knocked over. I filled, he capped, and we zipped through it. Best of all, he could tip the bottling bucket for me when we got down near the bottom (I don't have a dip tube yet) and I could concentrate on bottling.
For labels, I typically use Avery 8160 labels; They're 1" x 2 5/8", large enough to hold a decently large title and other information--I generally add the style and bottling date, although this time I stuck the brewers' names on there as well (so my friend can show off beer with his name on the bottle).
I downloaded the font used in Vice City and made up some nice labels:
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