Some Yeast Work and Brew Preparation

November will be a (relatively) busy month for me when it comes to brewing beer. I plan to brew 4 five gallon batches in the next week or so, and then eventually (in probably about 2 weeks) I will be bottling around 200 beers. My kegs are in good shape for a bit from brewing about 4 weeks ago (currently serving my special bitter and my cappuccino stout), so these new batches are meant more as an experiment. Sort of along the lines of the Yazoo Hop Project, I am making 4 different pale ales. Mine won't be dry-hopped IPA's like the hop projects, but they will each share the same grain bill, much like the Hop Project series does. The difference, though, is that instead of trying different combinations of hops to find that perfect recipe, each of my pale ales will be brewed with just one type of hop. The purpose of this "experiment" is to learn more about a few different hops.

The hops I have acquired for this series are:

• 4 oz Centennial (this one has a higher alpha value, so less will likely still be more)
• 6 oz Crystal
• 6oz Willamette
• 6oz Perle

I am looking forward to having 4 different hopped beers to compare and learn about.

A year ago, a project like this wouldn't have been very affordable. Hops were expensive and in short supply. This year, however, in case you have been in a hole or just don't follow the hops market, there is a surplus of hops and prices are sometimes 1/4 of what they were last year. So what does that mean? It means that I can use 4 times the hops! Or maybe just that I can do a single-hop pale ale series. At any rate, this should be fun.

Along the same lines, brewing 4 batches of beer can be pretty expensive for a homebrewer, so I am trying to maximize efficiency wherever I can, but without cutting corners. Often, in the quest to save a buck (and speed fermentation), I re-use my yeast by pouring new wort on top of a yeastcake from a previous batch. This requires planning so that I am racking the first batch the same day I am brewing my second.

For this series of four batches, I intend to do a similar thing, but I am planning to have two batches going at a time. So to still use one vial of yeast, I am making a starter. But not just a typical start. I am doing a 2-stage start to try to multiply the yeast some before pitching. At any rate, it should be good and primed to do some munching when it gets into the primary.

As a part of the starter preparation, I made some standard wort with some dried malt extract and poured some off for the starter, pouring the rest into standard beer bottles to store for future yeast care. Not a difficult process, but sanitation is of utmost importance. I ended up with 8 bottles of extra wort and some wort for my starter. Once it cooled, I added the yeast. Let's hear it for procreation!

Victory Brewing Company

I am spending this week in Pennsylvania at the ol' homestead, with my parents and sister. It is always nice to go home for a few days and drive around the old roads and run and ride on the old trails and smell the old smells and see some old friends. It is also a good thing to try some new beers. Since I was last in town, it had come to my attention that the Victory Brewing Company is a paltry 27 or so miles from my parents house (much closer as the crow flies as that 27 miles is all on back roads). So my sister and I decided to head that way to check it out.

Our visit wasn't at a time when tours were available, but the brewpub and restaurant were fully active. And they had no less than 15 different beers on tap. I think that easily more than half of them would be considered high alcohol in Tennessee. Now I am not one for samplers, as I think that to really pass judgement on a beer, at least one (and usually 2) pints of a brew are required. But this time, with limited time and opportunity, I went for a 5-beer flight. Their flights are drinker's choice, so my choice was 5 beers that I can only get at the brewery, and the bartender served them up.

• Yakima Twilight - this was an IPA that was brewed wth 4 different hops from the Yakima valley. Decent taste, though I think that I like their hop devil better. Interesting, nonetheless.
  
• Scarlet Fire - this was a smoked marzen, and boy did it taste smokey. Again, interesting, but not a session beer for me.
• Brewmeiseter's Pils - Definitely tasted like a pilsner. Very dry, though. This one didn't have a description in the "book".
• Kolsch - very drinkable, and I have never been much into the Kolsch style. So really, I don't know if that means it wasn't a very good Kolsch? But it worked for me. An enjoyable beer.
• Wild Devil - this one was interesting. Essentially, this is the hop devil, but it was brewed with 'wild' yeast. And the "wild" taste was there. I think I like the regular Hop Devil much better, but it was interesting to be able to taste what "wild" adds to the flavor.

So after the taster, my sister and I ordered dinner. I ordered the smokehouse burger (which was superb, by the way), which I only mention because I ordered a beer that was suggested with that burger. I got their Storm King Stout.. on cask. 9.2% goodness on cask poured in all of its strength and glory. It seriously took 10 minutes for them to pour the beer and deliver it to me because of the time required to pour me an imperial pint, settled, filled, and ready to drink. After that one it was apparent I wasn't driving home.

Victory was the only true production brewery I visited on this trip (so far?), but wasn't the only opportunity to try new beers. On Monday, while visiting a friend, I was served a Milk Stout and a (American)Pale Ale from the Lancaster Brewing Company. Both were very good beers.

On Tuesday I met a friend at a a pub in Kennett Square called the Half Moon. They have quite the beer selection, but it took one gance at the three cask beers on tap to determine that I would be drinking the Yards ESA (English Style Ale?). The first one was so-so, but that was because it was probably the first beer pulled that day (I later determined) because it was warm and a little off-tasting. My second, though, was fresh and spot-on. A very good English Bitter style ale. My favorite variety of beer.

Later that night, I also enjoyed an Iron Hill IPA. Iron Hill is sort of the local brewpub that makes decent beer and has decent food. I would compare them to the Big River or Blackstone of Nashville (Boscos being a step above).

The trip isn't over, but the remaining time is dependent on what the Chesapeake Bay port of Rock Hall has to offer... Hoping it will be good...

Cheers...

Fine Homebrewed T-shirts

I don't wear too many different shirts. And many of the shirts I wear on a regular basis are brewery shirts. This isn't a bad thing, but then I thought one day -->> "I try to brew and drink my own beer most of the time, and I prefer my own beer to most others, so why am I wearing others' t-shirts?"

So, I am proud to introduce my own homebrewed t-shirts. I recently finished my first small run of branded t-shirts with the help of my friend Doug, who has a screen-printing setup. The mens shirts are printed on some uber-soft smoke-colored shirts and the womens are printed on brown relaxed-fit women's shirts (unfortunately, the shirts aren't as soft as the men's - I'll do better next time).


I currently have the following available: 2 women's medium, 1 men's medium, 3 men's large, and 1 men's XL.

These are available for the paltry sum of $10 (plus $3 if it needs shipping out of Nashville).

If you want one, shoot me an email (troy [at] mybrewing.com) and I can reserve one for you...

Beer Pouring Again

I kegged two batches last night. And tonight I am drinking pints of both. That's one thing I love about kegging: very little waiting. Essentially, once the beer is cold it can be drinkable if you choose to carbonate it quickly. The other option is to put it on CO2 and wait 2-3 days, but 20 minutes of attention will fix that.

The method: Lay the kegs down on their sides while connected to the CO2 (turned up to maybe 20 lbs) and periodically (or constantly) roll/shake the kegs around. You should be able to hear the gas moving into the kegs. Keep doing this until the you don't hear much CO2 moving. Then you are done. Turn your pressure back down and put the kegs back in the fridge. They should be ready to go. The biggest problem is potentially over-pressurizing the beer, but if that happens, it will settle itself out soon enough.

Cheers!

Brew Kettle.

Wow!

Two Empty Kegs

I am running a little behind in homebrewed beers, but I will be re-stocked soon. With a summer trip and brewing beers for a few occasions, my home supply has been limited. This was obvious to my friend Kevin when I saw him at the store and he saw store-bought beer in my grocery bag. Not a great sign for a homebrewer (or at least for me).

But fear not, I have two beers on the horizon (both in their secondary fermenters). I have another in my steady line of attempts at a proper English ale, and I have an American Amber (but fermented with the English ale yeast). The bitter was hopped with some UK Challenger and UK Kent Goldings (including a little for dry-hopping), but the main difference was the flaked maize I added this time. Many of the traditional English bitters use maize to round out the taste, so I thought I would try mimicking their technique. I have high hopes for this beer.

The amber ale was inspired by the trip I recently took and the enjoyable amber ales I consumed while traveling. This is my first attempt at this style, so I used a recipe formulated by perusing a number of different standard amber ale recipes for grain concentrations and such. The hops I used were what I had around and amounted to 2 ounces of Northern Brewer for bittering and 1 oz. of Pacific Gem for aroma. Pacific Gem is not a typical aroma hop, so this should be an interesting beer.

In case no one has put 2 and 2 together, I typically prefer the easy-drinking milder beers. I like the occasional bigger, highly hopped, or higher alcohol beer, too, but what I really enjoy is that beer I can drink every day and not grow tired of it.

Oh. And I updated my beers on hand on the sidebar.

The Beer in Trip

I just got back from a 2-week summer vacation. The bulk of the vacation wasn't about beer, but it did play a major part. Here is some of what I saw, tasted, learned, and experienced:

Beers:

• New Belgium Sunshine Wheat - One of my favorites not yet available in middle Tennessee. Incidentally, I asked a New Belgium rep later in the trip about getting some out here, but received the same answer as always: "maybe someday". I think I enjoy it more when it has warmed up some. I never had the patience to wait.
  
  
• Saint Arnold Brewery - I picked up a sixer multipack with six different beers from Houston's craft brewer Saint Arnold. I tried them over the course of 3-4 days while in Colorado. There was a pilsner, a light pilsner, an IPA, a brown Ale, a fruit wheat beer (i think), and maybe a porter. The pilsner was actually decent, and the IPA was pretty good, but none were really that great. None of the beers had an incredible amount of taste overall. It was actually a little disappointing.

• Lizard Head Red from Steamworks Brewing out of Durango CO. It was a lightly-hopped but flavorful (non-irish) red ale. I really enjoyed that one.
  
  
• Stone Ruination IPA - An imperial IPA. I have heard a lot of people rave about this one, but I thought it was over-hopped. I like hops and IPAs a lot, but in this one, the hops were very overpowering so that the malts could not even be tasted. It was an interesting beer to drink, but I wouldn't call it an enjoyable beer to drink.
  
  
• Santa Fe Pale Ale - Sante Fa Brewing Company - Having stopped in Santa Fe for lunch while passing through, I enjoyed a local Pale Ale with my meal. A good pale ale with a pretty standard and predictable flavor.
  
  
• Alaskan Amber - It is an easy drinking beer. Not too heavy. At an elevation of 8500 feet, an afternoon beer prior to a hike need not be.
  
  
• Odell Brewing Company - Fort Collins, CO - I had Odell beers both at a restaurant in southern CO and at the Brewery, with a tour. The taproom is pretty nice. Affordable tasters, many selections. The tour was less than spectacular. The tour guide was an Odell, but neither seemed to know much nor was she very enthusiastic.
  - Cutthroat Porter - I think this is the one I had the first day the at our main destination in Cuchara, CO. This was a good but heavy beer.
  - IPA - I enjoyed this IPA. It had a fresh lively hop flavor and a good underlying malty taste.
  - Levity - This was a good easy-drinking amber ale. I brought some of this beer home with me.
  - 90 Shilling - This is the breweries flagship beer, and for good reason. At the brewery, I had a pint of this on cask and found it very enjoyable. Probably my favorite of their offerings. It is the closest to an English pub ale of their beers.
  - I also had a sampler of their seasonal and "experimental" beers, including a nitro-IPA, a nitro-porter, and a few others I can't now remember.
  
  
• Avery Brewing Company - Boulder, CO - We took the tour and saw one of the smallest almost-fully-automated bottling line I have ever seen. Their line is one of the few in North America that will foil-wrap the top of the bottle, which they take advantage of for their specialty beers. Also notable is that they use 6 different yeast strains in the production of their line of beers. Their taproom was very cool, and the owner made frequent appearances. The tour was very good. The beers were better. I would say the best beers of the trip.
  - Redpoint Amber - This is one of their standard brews, but one I hadn't had before. The kicker was that they had a cask version available in the taproom. I enjoyed it.
  - Reverend Quadruple Ale - We were given tasters of this beer which were quite tasty. At 10% and at our high altitude, the taster was quite enough.
  - Ellie's Brown Ale - We have this one locally, but this was on cask at the taproom and I hd to make a quick decision for a beer to take with me on the tour. A good beer even better from a cask.
  - Maharaja - Imperial IPA - Again, this one is available locally in a bottle (in limited quantities) but they had it on tap at the taproom. An imperial and very hoppy IPA that knocks the socks off the Stone Ruination IPA. I brought a bottle of this one home.
  

• Oskar Blues - This is a brewpub and brewery best known for the canned Dale's Pale Ale. We stopped in for fresh beer and food after the Avery stop. So one beer was enough. I had an Old Chub that tasted great. If only I had gone in more fresh and sober....
  
  
• New Belgium Brewery - This was the main brewery I wanted to visit, and it was nothing short of a spectacular visit. The tour and tasters are free, the brewery impressive, the atmosphere intoxicating, and the experience worth the drive itself. New Belgium has some impressive new brewing technology including Merlin, which heats the wort to boiling at the time it enters the kettle instead of heating to boiling temperature from the bottom, a huge 750 bottle/min bottling line with 98% efficiency (meaning less lost to inaccurate filling, etc.), and their own water treatment plant on the premises to take the water treatment load off of the city. Add to those their total reliance on wind energy, their car-park which rewards fuel-efficient car ownership with closer spots, their comprehensive recycling program that by far trumps any metro efforts, and the bicycle as a central theme to almost all aspect of the company's culture, New Belgium presents an exemplary model of how to respect people and the environment while making great beer.
  - Abbey Ale - One of their original brews, this one isn't available in middle TN because of its alcohol content, but it is a good one which I miss drinking.
  - Dandelion Ale - Flavored with dandelion greens instead of hops, I really liked this beer. Very smooth. I tried to bring some home, but all they could offer me was a growler, so I picked something else.
  - IPA - I find nothing about this on the NB website, but it is an experimental beer that they had available at the taproom on draft only. I chose this one because of the rarity of seeing a NB IPA. It did not disappoint. Don't use the Mighty Arrow as a basis for imagining what this IPA was like. It was less outwardly hoppy than some IPA's, but had a good overall taste.
  - La Folie - This is a sour brown ale. Very sweet, very good. Again, this was one to try because it will likely be a long time before I get another chance.
  
  
• Tralhead Brewery - St Charles, MO. Not my first time here, but we stopped in late for dinner and a couple beers after a long drive. I enjoyed a good pilsner after a sampler to get a good feel for the brewery's tastes. Overall, they make pretty fantastic beers. (I have enjoyed trying pilsners a lot more lately. The big breweries have given the style a bad reputation, but good pilsners from good breweries are out there.)
  
  
• Schlafly Brewery - St Louis, MO - We went for a Sunday afternoon tour and were joined on the tour by one other couple, also from Nashville, TN. Random. The tour was ok, though the tour guide didn't know much and was actually wrong in some cases(about some concepts basic to brewing beer). The free beer samples at the end, though, were generous, and all of the beers tried were good. Schlafly may not know how to pick tour guides, but they know how to make beer.
  - Raspberry Hefeweizen - I have never been much for fruit beers, but this was decent. Tasted like they had poured Raspberry extract into the finished beer, as one would expect.
  - Kolsch - This was a good transition from the Raspberry. Not heavy and very drinkable.
  - Export IPA - This was an English IPA. Very good. A strong, malty IPA. I liked it, but I am a fan of the traditional English maltiness and hops.
  - Oatmeal Stout - This was good. The oatmeal seemed to make it a little smoother. This would have been good on Nitro.
  - No. 15 - This was a fantastic amber-colored ale that had a fruitiness to its flavor. I just got to try this, but if given another opportunity, I probably would have ordered this. I liked it a lot.
  - Hot Liquor Lager - This was a lager with extra hops added and was a taproom special brew by the brewers. Named after a musical group consisting of a couple of the brewery workers, this was a different and good tasting lager.
  

So that was the vacation in terms of beer. I tried a few others, but typically didn't mention beers I only had sips of. But overall, I tried over 40 different new beers over the course of my vacation. Now that I am back home, I am ready to get back to my own beers and brewing. I wasn't exactly lacking in inspiration, but I do now have ideas for new beers to brew and new techniques to try.

Cheers.