Irish Red Head

With two beers on deck that both use the WYeast 1084 Irish Ale, an Irish Draught Ale and an Oatmeal Stout, I thought it would be a good time to do back-to-back brews so I can reuse the yeast. Common sense would say do the ale first, then the stout, so that's what I did. Brew session went pretty well, although the mash temps were up and down. First I was a bit low on the mash-in (only a few degrees), so I thought I'd run it a bit through the RIMS to bring it up. Overshot the mash temp by about 7 degrees, so I used a little cold water to bring it down. Then, due to my inattentiveness, the HLT and mash temps both dropped, so at the end of the 60 minute mash I was about 15 degrees low. Took about 20 minutes to bring the mash up to the 170 degree mash out. After the first runnings went into the boil, I batch sparged twice and stopped the runnings at 1.010. After all of this, I ended up with 5 gallons in the fermenter and an OG of 1.052, about 3 points above recipe OG. Odd thing is my efficiency ended up at 107%, which seems counterintuitive, but the mash points are theoretical, so I guess it is possible to be over 100%.

I have discovered a few flaws in my setup, which will require constant tweaking until I'm totally happy with it. Using a grant/hopback helped to prevent negative pressure on the grain bed, which may have contributed to my higher efficiency. In the past, I'd just pumped straight from the lauter tun and had come close to a stuck mash once. Down side is that you can't connect it directly to the lauter tun, because it makes it really hard to clean it if it's connected directly.

My fabulous wife also agreed to the purchase of a 13 cu ft freezer and Johnson Controls A419 external temperature controller for use as a lagering/kegerator cooler. My wife is the best! Pics will be posted soon. Next up: oatmeal stout.

The Envelope Please....

So, apparently there are some differing standards when it comes to judging homebrew competitions. I can understand that perhaps my cleaning and sanitation on one of the bottles I submitted wasn't perfect, but when I have to send three bottles and there is an obvious defect in the one you open (as was pointed out by the judges in the Florida competition) it would only seem right that since I'm submitting these to judging that I'd appreciate some feedback. Since the first had obvious flaws, there's no doubt in anyone's mind that my beer isn't going to the Best Of Show judging, so why not do me the courtesy of taking another stab at it? What's it going to take, another minute of your valuable time? True, I'm certain there were many other beers, but isn't this the whole point to entering these competitions? To get some educated and valuable feedback? After all, I did part with SIX valuable bottles of my own creation, and I did have to pay SEVEN dollars to have them judged. At least give me a fair shake.

I've asked around to other judges and have been told that what I got from the Florida judges was "a courtesy 13", which is given when there are obvious detectable flaws in the beer, such as a contamination. Well, if it's that obvious, try the others.

What I've also been told by other judges is that often a score in the 30s will win that style. Hmmm, 13 from Florida, 28 and 31 from California. You be the judge.

My Solution to the Hop Shortage

As has been widely reported, there is a hop shortage
currently that has affected both the price and availability of hops. When I heard about this the first thing I did was try to buy hops from Northern Brewer and More Beer. To almost no surprise, I got the same results: "Sorry, out of stock try again later." The biggest issue with this is that if you're buying your beer ingredients in the form of a kit it's not an issue. These retailers are making smart business decisions to allocate the hops that they do have to their beer kits. Those that don't buy kits or who want different hops for things like a Randall are pretty much out of luck.

Not wanting to be defeated, I did what any normal
person would do: I turned to the power of the search engine. After Googling "hops", I came upon Puterbaugh Farms, a family farm in the Yakima Valley in Washington. They were willing to sell me a pound of whole Cascade hops for about $20. What else could I do but take that deal? This picture to the right is the end result: a pound f heaven! First I tossed about an ounce of these in the currently-in-secondary Frankenbier, then I started packaging them in one ounce increments in vacuum bags to freeze. I also am planning on making some final improvements to my Randall, so I anticipate using more hops in that sucker.

The Entries Are In!

According to DHL's web site, my six bottles of Survey Porter that were sacrificed to the brewing competitions have been delivered, and only a day or three early! The Pacific Brewer's Cup and the Sunshine Challenge will be kicking off soon, so I'll finally get the opportunity to see what beer judges think of my concoctions. Not that it's all that too terribly important, it'd just be nice to see how my beer compares to all the others out there.

I Think It's Time To Take the Plunge....

Based on the feedback I've received and the personal tastings, I would have to consider the porter my best beer yet. Given that, I think I'm going to enter it in a few competitions just to see what the BJCP Judges think of it. There are a few coming up in the next month or so, and given the cheap ($6) entry fee, I figure why not? The only downside is having to part with a few bottles for each competition, but I guess sacrifice is part of growing, isn't it?

Three Cheers for Jim Koch!

Wednesday a package was found at our front door from the Boston Beer Company. I remember a few months ago reading that Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company, was tired of seeing different glasses for wine, but seeing beer served in the common "Libby" pint glass found in so many bars and restaurants. He had decided that it was going to be his mission to set out and develop a glass specifically for HIS beer, much in the way the Belgians do. For those of you who don't know (all three reading this) the Belgians have a specific glass for almost every type of beer brewed there.

Anyway, here are Jim's words from their web site:

"We wanted to create a glass that offers beer lovers a full sensory drinking experience by fully showcasing Samuel Adams Boston Lager's complex balance of malt and hop flavors. This glass achieves that mission."

Tiax, the world-renowned sensory experts, worked closely with Jim to identify and evaluate the functional design features needed in a glass to showcase the key attributes of Samuel Adams Boston Lager®. The key requirements for the perfect glass for Samuel Adams Boston Lager included: delivering sweetness from the malt; maximizing the hops aroma and flavor; maintaining the ideal temperature; supporting a rich and creamy head; and sustaining the right amount of carbonation.

Back to the story. I remember a few months back reading a beer magazine and finding this out, thinking "those are pretty cool glasses. Maybe I'll order some..." and thought nothing more of it. So Wednesday comes and there's this package on the front porch. I open it up and, lo and behold, there are two of these new Sam Adams glasses. Now, I've killed a few brain cells in my day, but I had to think long and hard - did I actually order them and they're now just getting here? After digging through the packaging (reading the card) I discovered that Sam Adams sent two of these new glasses to everyone who is an AHA (American Homebrew Association) member. AHA! Membership DOES have its privileges. Anyway, here's to Jim Koch for supporting the homebrew community and for not settling for the status quo.

This was a perfect opportunity to try the glasses out on the Cali Common, and I must say it's a great glass. The shape captures the aromas, and the laser etching on the bottom releases carbonation. The beer turned out pretty well, too. Good legs, good head, and pretty evenly balanced. The hops are there, but not overpowering. I'm thinking of using my Randall in-line to serve from the kegerator.

Update: busted open the first bottle of the Survey Porter last night, and it's well carbonated, good roasty chocolate notes, and mellowing well. I figure a few more months should age it to perfection.

Holidays are a Wonderful Thing...

...because they allow you the time to do the things you don't normally have time to do during the week, like go see Blue Oyster Cult at Ribfest, or bottle and keg the beers that you've had in secondary for over a month.

The Cali Common I decided to go the easy route and keg, so it's currently force carbonating (which reminds me, I'd better go hit it again with the CO2). The Survey Porter, on the other hand, I figured that if I went through all of the time and effort to design a label for it, the least I could do is bottle it and show off the labels. Bottled a case and a half of 12 oz bottles, a few crown tops and a few 650 ml Rogue bottles, plus one empty from the Rogue 10,000 crown tops. All things considered, I think that my label designs are getting better, but they still have a long way to go.

So Far, So Good....

As of yesterday, both the porter and Cali common are chugging along nicely. The porter is developing some great chocolate notes along the way, and the common is clearing up and cleaning up with age. Granted, the common has only been in secondary about a week now, but it's still coming along pretty well.

Next up is the German Hefeweisen, which I think I need to do quickly due to the rising temperatures.

California Common and the Quest for Pork

Today was a two-fer: start smoking a slab of ribs at 10:00 in the morning and start heating the water to brew at 11:00. As the 3-2-1 method that I use for ribs works out nicely when you have other things to attend to, I had no problem finishing up my brew day before the ribs were done, and I was able to whip up a batch of barbeque sauce on top of that.

All told, aside from the White Sox blowing a lead against the Blue Jays, the brew session went pretty well. Last night I made a wort for the starter (see below - my attempt at washing yeast) and as soon as I pitched the washed yeast into the wort the airlock starting bubbling like mad. One thing I keep forgetting, though, when making a starter: NEVER add yeast nutrient to hot wort. GUARANTEED boil-over.

The Cali Common came out a little on the low side of the expected gravity (1.046), but it was within range. My one concern will be fermenting in the garage as the temp was up around 75°F an hour after pitching. (Update: As of this morning. 6/5/07, thanks to my leaving the garage door open last night, the temperature in the garage dropped tremendously, and the Cali is now down to 67°F. In addition, nothing was stolen. Whew.)

An update on the Survey Porter - it's still in secondary. Next up is a Hefeweizen.

First attempt at washing yeast

After finishing moving the porter from the fermenter to a keg for secondary, I decided that since my next brew is a California Common, I'd try washing the yeast and repitching it since they both use the WYeast California Lager 2112. I found an article on the HBD web site about washing yeast and decided it sounded simple enough. Thing is, I was expecting the yeast to look as it does coming out of the smack pack or vial. What I thought was leftover beer that I poured DOWN THE SINK was actually the yeast I was trying to harvest in suspension. Fortunately, there was still enough left (but man, there was a LOT of trub - I was using pellet hops, and didn't use a hop bag) to successfully harvest about a half liter, then added an old smack pack of WY2112 for good measure. Added to that 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient and hopefully we're off to the races with this.

Out of primary, into secondary

Last gravity sample out of the fermenter after chilling to get the trub to drop out. Gravity got down to 1.016, which isn't too bad for a higher gravity beer, from what I've read. Has some nice roasted malt and chocolaty notes to it, slight bitterness, which based on a recipe IBU of around 40 seems about right. Hopefully my wife will enjoy this because it was brewed at her request.

Survey Porter - Brewed 05/20/2007

I've decided to try to keep track of what I've been doing here and hopefully someone will find my mistakes of use in their own brewing process. I've found resources too numerous to count on-line that have helped me out in the past few years, so why not put it out there?

This brew was a first for a number of reasons: first high-gravity beer (over 1.060), first step mash, and first time using my HERMS setup. I did discover that the HERMS coil in the HLT was too short, which reduced the wort contact with heat, which greatly increased my step times, but it's a trial and error kind of deal. I had a lot of help from the AHA Tech Talk forum with the apparent design flaws with my HERMS setup. Turned out I was just getting air in the pumps and needed a way to bleed them.