SudsPundit

weapons of mash destruction

2008-09-12T13:30:00.002-07:00

Most people that know me know fairly well that I like to brew my own beer. As of this week, I've also made my first batch of root beer. Yay me, right? Most people that know home-brewers also know that they like to make other stuff, too. For example, I also like to make desserts and bake homemade bread. But the obsession with creating stuff for most brewers doesn't stop in the kitchen. It also lends itself well to other projects that involve lots of milling around in The Home Depot looking for parts that can suit some new equipment project. And sometimes it also involves a little bit of woodwork like my project today.

A lot of home-brewers start off by brewing with malt extracts. *nerd alert!* This is where barley, or other grains, has had its starches converted into sugars (the stuff yeast likes to turn into alcohol) and the resulting liquid then has its water evaporated off leaving behind a solid "sugar" that is further processed into powder. Keep in mind that other non-volatile compounds remain as well. You take this extract, dissolve it in water, add some other ingredients like hops, boil it for a while, and then cool it for the yeast to have a fun time. And voila, a few weeks later, you've got beer!

But the more you get into brewing, the less and less that this approach with extracts seems to satisfy. You read about how starting with the grains themselves and doing the starch to sugar conversion yourself is way more satisfying and some say it produces better beers. Something to do with preservation of nutrients for the yeast, yada yada yada, blah blah. So, a few trips to The Home Depot and a couple hundred bucks later, you've got yourself a "real" brewery! Now the fun begins.

Well, if you're like me, you start off relatively inexpensively. One of the best attributes of a home brewer is to be able to do more with less. It takes some improv skills, but not the acting-type. More of the engineering-type improvisation skill. But acting is okay, too, as long as you're brewing with a few friends. Anyhow, back to the point about being on the cheap... A fairly cheap way to make a vessel for converting the starches into sugars, called a mash tun, is to use a 5-gallon cooler, of the variety that you see on construction trucks that are commonly orange like mine. Change out the button-style spigot with a ball-valve (handled) spigot and like magic, you've got a nice insulated mash tun. Did I mention that mashing occurs at about 150 degrees Fahrenheit and that holding that temperature is important for good conversion? Well I have now.

Well, the only real problem that I've had with mashing has been stirring the mash, which is not easy to do with about 12 pounds of grain and only three gallons of water. The mixture is a lot like a fairly firm mud. It takes some effort to get down to the bottom of the mix. And stirring is essential to get water into the nooks and crannies of the grains to convert more starches plus to even out the temperature of your mash to avoid hot and cold spots. Those natural enzymes only work in a fairly limited temperature range. I had been using a long plastic spoon, but it started bending way too much due to the heat. Plus it was kind of skinny and was difficult to get down to the bottom of the mash tun. Then I was using a kitchen spoon that had a metal handle with a plastic spoon end with some luck, but it just wasn't long enough. I did mention that this stuff is at 150 F! Ow, fingers!

So, I was looking for a solution. They had a nice long metal spoon at the homebrew store, but it just didn't look as durable as I would like. The metal was rather thin, probably less than 1/32". And barely long enough. I asked about a wooden mash paddle, like the ones you see on the internet for about $40, and the owner said that his suppliers don't sell them. So, it looked like another project time! Yay!

After reading up on the Internet and in a homebrew magazine that I subscribe to, it looked like the best wood choice was a nice hard wood like maple. So, off to The Home Depot to find a suitable piece of wood. The only problem was, the one I went to only had pine, red oak (too porous), and poplar (which was too grainy/pitted), and cheap "whitewood". Disappointed, I sulked off. Looks like I have to go elsewhere.

So, today, I headed out to another Depot, hoping their wood selection would be better. No such luck. I guess it doesn't sell well enough for them to keep it in stock. Since it was just a quarter mile down the road, I figured I'd try my luck at BLowe's. I avoid it as much as possible since it don't pay my bills but sometimes, it's worth the try if El Depot de la Casa don't carry stock. And guess what. They had maple boards. So I bought one. It only cost me $8.50 for a 1x4x48" plank. A far cry from the $40 bucks or so to order one pre-made!

I got it home and started measuring and marking. I'm not a stickler for perfection on simple projects where the only consumer is me so I marked some guidelines and free-handed a few curves and cut-outs then headed down to the garage to drill/cut/router/sand. About an hour and a half later, my masterpiece was complete! I didn't think to take pics during the construction so you'll just have to imagine from the jigsaw puzzle of scraps. I also took a picture with it resting in my homemade mash tun so that you could see perspective. There are a few places where it isn't perfect, chipped edge and bad drill placement on the upper handle, but the business end is pretty decent.

*cross posted at Illiteracy Rules!

2008-05-18T14:52:00.004-07:00

It is probably superfluous to point this out, but we aren't really posting here anymore. Speaking only for myself, I don't really feel like I have a great deal of beer writing left in me...it isn't that I've lost interest in the subject so much that there are now so many people out there doing what we've attempted to do here--and doing it exceedingly well--that I just don't really feel that I have much add at this point.

Also, I frankly have a great deal less spare time on my hands than I did when Chris and I got this started nearly 4 years ago (!)

I am genuinely humbled by the kind words and insightful comments left over the years, and that we still have the occasional visitor wandering through. I have no plans to take the page down; indeed, one of the beauties of a blog like this is that it is somewhat timeless. But I also don't think I have a great deal more to say.

All the best,
Brian

blue in georgia

2007-12-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a trying week. Most of the hassle had to do with the fact that the robotics team had a competition at Auburn this weekend. That even had its own trials and tribulations thanks mostly to a stowaway from another team on our bus.

What's the cure for these ailments? You guessed it, a cool brew with lunch on Sunday. Especially after two full days of abstinence due to my job as a "role model" for a bunch of teenagers. Whoever wrote the rule that trip chaperones can't drink obviously hasn't actually chaperoned a trip.

So you can imagine that the last thing I needed was someone telling me I couldn't have a beer. But that's exactly what the waitress told me. She's lucky I knew it wasn't her just being a jackass. It just wasn't 12:30 PM yet in Georgia on a Sunday.

Blue laws in Georgia can kiss my grits.

And to the politicians that stand by this nonsense, what makes you so sure I didn't take my ass to the early service so I could beat you to the good restaurants? Or is it that you just don't want me to beat you to the well? I respect that you don't drink until after your service. You're so good that you don't even have real wine with communion but rather substitute unfermented, government Juicy Juice (which seems to be a downright sacrilegious act in itself). But that doesn't mean that you have to simultaneously worry about what I'm doing with my personal time and personal money.

Besides, it seems like I'm the least of your worries before 12:30.

2007-10-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

Brewer's Art, Baltimore
October 5, 2007
(photo by [m])

it's in the primary!

2007-10-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Brewed another batch of the coffee imperial porter. When I find out more about the event it was created for, I'll try to fill you in on the details. I'm strictly working through my "agent" at this point and didn't think to ask him more about it while we were brewing this afternoon. We were too busy watching for boil-over and talking about how awesome it smelled. And stuffing our faces with pizza and wings. Yay health foods!

I'm really excited because I'm trying out my new temperature controller on the fermentation fridge. I think I'm going to have to eventually change out the bottom glass shelf in the fridge with a more durable structure. It is holding up about 40 pounds of liquid, a glass carboy, and a plastic Home Depot bucket (which fits a 5.5 gal. like a glove and gives you a rim to catch on the sides to pick it up. wouldn't recommend using the built-in handle, it is shitty LDPE).

i have an agent?

2007-10-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

My friend that occasionally brews with me here called me up earlier this evening. He had apparently been talking with the owner of a local establishment about the legal issues of serving free beer. Free as in we give it to him and free as in give it away, not sell it. What is there to tax if no payment is received? I'm a little wary of the seemingly easy "loophole" which is why I'm simply referring to it as "a local establishment."

I think I'm going to do it. I have until essentially the 27th to brew, ferment, and carbonate. The guy thinks it'd be fun to try at a private party he's having on Halloween. Even better that it's a private party. I'm not particularly excited about trying a new recipe for such an event so I think I'm going with the tried and true porter recipe that got me a third place prize in my first ever homebrew contest. That one gives me the advantage of knowing what pro judges thought could be better about the next batch. And it seems like it might be the right time of year to start drinking porters.

The drawback is that I won't be able to attend. I'll be in Belgium having even better beers. Woe is me. I guess I can send my agent on my behalf.

Wish I had known a few months ago. I could have made the more appropriate Oktoberfest.

Triangle Brewing Company, Takes 2 and 3

2007-09-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Please see the update to my post on the Triangle Brewing Company.

I see that they are pouring a Dubbel at the World Beer Festival in Durham this weekend...sadly, I will be out of town at a wedding (my friends really need to stop getting married during beer festivals), but I look forward to finding it on tap in the neighborhood soon.

Beer Hunter, RIP

2007-09-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

It completely escaped my attention until just moments ago that Michael Jackson, aka "The Beer Hunter" and arguably the most important and influential beer writer ever, died on Thursday.

NYT obit here.

Much has been said and will be said about his legacy, so suffice to say that if you enjoy good beer, you need to raise a glass in his memory at the first opportunity. Among other things, no one would be writing (or reading) anything called a "beer blog" without Mr. Jackson's body of work to inspire and inform.

Slainte.

Triangle Brewing Company

2007-08-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

UPDATE Sept 30--I had occasion this weekend to try this off of two other taps (one at Piedmont, and another at Bull McCabe's) and the beer is 100% better. Per Barry's comment below, the word is the tap at Satisfaction is fine now, too.

My working theory is that we either got a bad keg or it was just too damn young.

Needless to say, I am glad to report this...as I mentioned in the original post, I am very happy to have someone brewing in Durham, and I want to do everything I can to support the business in my neighborhood.

As far as a revised review goes: golden and slightly cloudy with a light and lacy head. Fruit and flowers on the nose, and a palette well-balanced among crispness, sweetness, and alcohol. Refreshing and quite drinkable; wine-like, in that it is probably better with food (hearty salads, roasted vegetables, fish, poultry, and maybe even pork) than without--at least for me. (Necessary caveat: I am a bit of a hophead, so my preferences for session beers tend towards pales and IPAs, especially in warmer weather.)

As to where this falls on the continuum of North American brewers doing "Belgian" beers--I'd say they're not quite up there with the well-established specialists, but significantly better than most NA microbreweries that are just dabbling. Which is to say that with some time and refinement, they have the potential to be known as one of the specialists.

Nicely done, gentlemen. Let's have a dubbel this winter, shall we?

----original review below----

OK, this one is hard for me to write. Seriously.

I'd heard rumblings about the Triangle Brewing Company, which was allegedly setting up shop here in Durham, for a few months now. They have finally gone public with their "flagship" Belgian Style Golden Ale, which I went to Satisfaction's tonight to try.

I'll just rip this band-aid off: it isn't very good. As much as I want to boost the local guys, if I'm not willing to give a negative review when it's deserved, I have zero credibility when I rave. This ain't Rachel Ray's beer blog, is what I'm saying.

Now, a Belgian strong golden (or pale) is a pretty ambitious style to launch with. Many good examples exist, and achieving the proper balance between grains, fruits, yeast, sugar and alcohol is really quite an art. The brewers that really know what they are doing with this have a few centuries of experience to fall back upon...and the North American brewers that have had success in this style include heavyweights like Unibroue, Allagash, and Russian River.

So sure, it sucks when your first beer is getting compared to Duvel and Fin du Monde, but that's the choice that TBC has made here. I applaud their moxie, but they are just way off the mark. The glass I had poured golden with virtually no head, fruit (pineapple, maybe?) on the nose, biscuit at the front followed by a pretty overwhelming (almost sickening) sweetness. Alcohol became more prominent as the beer warmed. Hops nowhere in sight. To tell the truth, it tastes too young--maybe they rushed this batch out the door too quickly? And really--it needs more carbonic acidity to balance the sweetness and more head to stir up the aromatics that I assume are there but buried in sugar and alcohol.

All of that said, I wish the guys at TBC nothing but success, but I do hope that they consider producing something a little easier to pull off, and soon. Personally, I will loyally consume even a merely good pale ale if it's brewed down the street from me.

And many other Durhamites will too.

Oregon Brewer's Festival 2007 -- Top Five

2007-07-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you're a fan of pale ales and IPAs, you're not going to be disappointed by the beer selection at this year's OBF. If you aren't a fan, you may have some issues. Especially if you're not a fan of fruit beers either. Ambers? Darker beers? Pretty limited.

We went last night. Thursdays are great -- small lines, all beers are still flowing, port-o-potties still clean. I know they always run out of some, but I was suprised that at 5:30 on Thursday they were on their last keg of the collaborator (don't know if it was for the night or the weekend). My tasting notes are at home, but here are my picks based on memory. Quotes are taken from Exploration of Portland Food and Drink, where I did a little research beforehand (what can I say, I'm a nerd and love reviews/stats).

Disregard if you have no interest in this, but here are my picks below.

Cheers,
Lisa

Loved
1. (tie) Diamond Knot Brewing Co Mukilteo, WA Industrial IPA Imperial IPA Buzz: "They put Columbus hops *in the keg* . Industrial IPA looks to be an ‘over-the-hop’ kind of beer, and at 8.2 ABV you had better take the MAX home." Not what you think of when you taste an ipa, Asa agreed. Darker and different. Ken's favorite of the IPAs.
1. (tie) Green Flash Brewing Co Vista, CA West Coast IPA West Coast IPA "very floral hop nose and a dry finish add up to a beer both bitter and refreshing. 95 IBU’s might overpower the slight body." – nope, it was fabulous. Great IPA.
3. Collaborator Portland Rawkin Bock Bock my favorite non IPA/ESB beer of the festival.
4. Golden Valley Brewery McMinnville Red Thistle Quercus Pinot oak barrel aged red/ESB Not overpowering pinot flavor and definitely different. Enjoyed. Contrast to the nasty bourbon aged beer below (see under yuck).
5. Standing Stone Brewing Co Ashland Standing Stone Double IPA Double IPA Buzz beer: "5 types of hops and a hair-raising 95 IBU, yet somehow I feel that it will be both fresh-tasting and balanced." Totally right. It was fresh tasting and balanced. Great beer.

Honorable mention: Alameda Brewhouse Portland El Torero Organic IPA American Style IPA Buzz: "90 IBUs"

Good
Silver City Brewing Co Silverdale, WA Whoop Pass Double IPA Imperial IPA "Silver City brought its Whoop Pass imperial IPA to the festival last year, and it was a big hit. No wonder considering the beer’s 9.1 ABV!"
Boundary Bay Brewery Bellingham, WA Galena Single Hop Pale Ale Pale Ale
Ram Restaurant and Brewery Salem Double Exposure IPA Double IPA "Hitting 100 IBUs is Ram Brewing’s Double Exposure IPA, crafted especially for the festival"
Rogue Ales Newport Rogue Imperial Porter Imperial Porter Buzz beer
Terminal Gravity Enterprise, OR TG Triple Abbey Triple hoppy.

OK
Deschutes Brewery Bend 19th Anniversary Golden Ale Belgium Style StrongGolden Ale Full Sail Brewing Co Hood River Full Sail LTD 02 Pale Bock
Laurelwood Brewing Co Portland PNW Pils Strong Pilsner "Imperial Pilsner + Laurelwood = winner. Plus, people love the flavor of Saaz hops. If they can’t locate this tap, there’s also Prima Pils at the festival." eh, ok
Ninkasi Brewing Co Eugene Believer Double Red Ale Wanted to try; loved at holiday but I found this batch to be flat.Spanish Peaks/BlackDog Polson, MT Black Dog Ale Amber Ale
Stone Brewing Co Escondido, CA **Stone 07/07/07 Vertical Epic Saison/Belgium Farmhouse ale
Butte Creek Brewing Co Chico Organic Pilsner Pilsner Revolution XI anniversary beer

YUCK
Bison Brewing, Berkeley Organic Chocolate Stout Dry Foreign Style Stout (great head, good start, bad finish. Not full bodied)
Flying Fish Brewing Co Cherry Hill, NJ Bourbon Barrel Abbey Dubbel Belgian Style Dubbel Buzz beer. "produced for the OBF from a New Jersey Belgian specialist, the malty, bourbon barrel aging could provide the perfect je ne sais quoi to their already exemplary, fruity, malty dubbel. " Overpowering bourbon flavor, yuck.
Fifty Fifty Brewing Truckee Donner Party Porter Porter weak body
Dick's Brewing Co Centralia, WA Dick's Lava Rock Porter English Porter
Lompoc Brewing Portland SummerAid Golden Ale Way too light.
Kona Brewing Co Kailua-Kona, HI Wailua Wheat Wheat Ale brewed with tropical passion fruit. Way too light. Terrible flavor. This may be the worst of the bunch.
Old Market Pub & Brewery Portland A Midsummers White Belgian Wit "Belgian Wit called A Midsummer’s White that looks to be a lacy lovely" Or this one. I actually poured it out. Citrus and light. but not in the good way.

Didn’t try (bold indicates beer still on my list to try):
21st Amendment Brewery San Francisco Watermelon Wheat Fruit Beer +/-
Alaskan Brewing Co Juneau Alaskan IPA IPA
Amnesia Brewing Portland Dry Hopped Dusty Trail Pale Ale Pale Ale
Anderson Valley Brewing Co Boonville, CA Summer Solstive Cerveza Crema Cream Ale
Ballast Point Brewing Co San Diego Yellowtail Pale Ale Kolsch
Bayern Brewing Missoula, MT Bayern Pilsner German Pilsner Lager
Bear Republic Brewing Co Healdsburg, CA Racer X Double IPA
BJ's Brewing Portland c'est bon blonde Belgian Blonde
Boulder Beer Co Boulder Sweaty Betty Blonde German Weiss Beer
Brewery Ommegang Cooperstown, NY Hennepin Farmhouse Saison Farmhouse Saison
BridgePort Brewing Co Portland Haymaker Extra Pale Ale TBD
Calapooia Brewing Co Albany, OR Yankee Clipper IPA IPA
Cascade Brewing at the Raccoon Lodge Portland Razberry Wheat Fruit Beer
Eel River Brewing Co Fortuna, CA Organic IPA IPA
Elysian Brewing Co Seattle Prometheus IPA West Coast IPA
Eugene City Tracktown Ales Eugene Honey Orange Wheat Wheat/Fruit
Fearless Brewing Co Estacada, OR Fearless Scottish Ale Scottish Export
Four + Brewing Co Salt Lake City Wildfire Organic Extra Pale Ale
Grand Teton Brewing Co Victor, ID Bitch Creek ESB ESB
Great Divide Brewing Co Denver Titan IPA IPA
Hale's Ales Brewery Seattle "El Jefe" Weizen Ale Bavarian Style Hefeweizen Expected to like more than I did in the past
Hazel Dell Brewpub Vancouver, WA Red Zone Pale Ale
Hopworks Urban Brewery Portland Hopworks Organic IPA Organic American IPA Buzz beer: Everybody wants to try Christian Ettinger’s latest, even before his new pub is open. (But it) may be too balanced for the extreme hopheads and too hoppy for the rest.
Klamath Basin Brewing Co Klamath Falls Crater Lake Golden Ale Golden Ale
Lucky Labrador Brew Pub Portland Triple Threat IPA IPA
MacTarnahan's Portland MacTarnahan's Amber Ale Northwest Style Amber Ale
Mad River Brewing Co Blue Lake, CA Steelhead Double IPA IPA
Max's Fanno Creek Brew Pub Tigard Farmer's Daughter Belgian Saison Golden Strong Ale
McMenamins Fulton Pub & Brewery Portland Monkey House Northwest IPA
Michigan Brewing Co Webberville, MI Celis White Belgian Wit
New Belgium Brewing Co Fort Collins Skinny Dip Summer Lager
North Coast Brewing Co Fort Bragg, CA **PranQster Belgian-Style Golden Ale Belgian-Style Abbey Ale
Oregon Trail Brewery Corvallis Oregon Trail Wit Belgian/Oregon Style Hefeweizen Pelican Pub & Brewery Pacific City, OR Heiferweizen Belgian Style Witbier
Philadelphia's Steaks and Hoagies Portland Betsy Ross Imperial Golden Imperial Golden Ale
Pike Brewing Co Seattle Pike IPA IPA
Pyramid Breweries Portland Thunderhead IPA American Style IPA
Redhook Ale Brewery Woodinville WA Long Hammer IPA IPA Rock Bottom Brewery Portland Velvet Pale Ale Pale Ale
Russian River Brewing Co Santa Rosa, CA Pliny the Elder Double IPA
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co Chico Summerfest beer Pilsner Style Lager
Siletz Brewing Siletz, OR Spruce Ale Other Snipes Mountain Brewery Sunnyside, WA IPA IPA
Sprecher Brewing Co Glendale, WI Mai Bock Blonde Bock
Steelhead Brewing Co Eugene Full Count Pale Ale American Pale Ale Trumer Brauerei-Berkeley Berkeley Trumer Pils Germany Style Pilsner Victory Brewing Co Downingtown, PA Prima Pils Pilsner
Widmer Brothers Brewing Co Portland Noggin Grog Imperial Wit takes the Belgian Wit to the extreme with its 9% ABV Noggin’ Grog

Oregon Brewer's Festival

2007-07-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Opened today. About 69 minutes ago -- not that I'm counting. Soon, my precious, soon.

I have a list of beers that I want to try first. Can't wait. I heard Ninkasi's was amazing. I liked their Believer at the Holiday Ale Fest; so I can only imagine what they did with their Total Domination IPA.

closing time

2007-07-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

This is only tangentally beer-related, but deserves a mention nonetheless...

It appears that the Atlanta's once-great Buckhead bar district has finally succumbed to the fatal blow dealt it by Ray Lewis in 2000.

I went "clubbing" in Buckhead exactly twice: on my 21st birthday, and on the night I graduated from college. (I'm not counting the many, many nights I went to the long-gone Atlanta Beer Garden for trivia, frequently winning bar cash and underage for nearly all of it.) So I guess I can't really claim a huge deal of personal nostalgia for what once was, but still--back in the day, Buckhead was a hell of a lot of fun. It was about as close as you could get to Bourbon Street without going to New Orleans--last call wasn't until 4, and you had to be doing something really stupid to get in any trouble with the police.

The next time I'm in town, I'll have to make it a point to drive by the shiny condos rising at the corner of Peachtree and Pharr, and try to remember what it looked like there that fateful Sunday afternoon when Vikings kicker Gary Anderson sent the Falcons to the Superbowl and every bar emptied into the street, pitchers and pints still in hand, and the APD showed up...

...to divert the traffic around us.

Beer in Melbourne and Tasmania

2007-06-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

I am heading off to Australia tomorrow afternoon, and there will be plenty of time for drinking beer while I am there (I know it's rude to brag, but I don't care). If there is anyone out there in beer land who could recommend a few (or many) great places to drink beer in Melbourne and in Tasmania, I would be very grateful.

wild yeast

2007-06-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

I brewed last weekend, a practice run with my equipment for an all-grain run. There is another post about that adventure already.

Like any other time, I drew a sample to measure the original gravity. When the temperature settled, it ended up around 1.040. A little lower than desired, but oh well it was just a practice run.

Well, unlike other times, because I was letting the temp settle out for a more accurate reading (rather than an estimate based on temp. adjustment) I left the test cylinder full. I didn't empty it out. I just let it sit. Unpitched, sitting there on the counter-top, minding it's own business.

Here is what I find today.

Not exactly what I expected. Looks like someone has a case of the wild yeasties.

I think I'll let it go until it subsides and then pitch yeast sediment into a starter. I was thinking of making a small one gallon batch to test the yeast out, see how it turns out. I know that wild yeast are supposed to be ooh, bad, nasty but who knows? It's not like lambic is bad and that follows a similar principle.

adventures in all-grain

2007-06-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

What an adventure. It's still not over.

I had purchased some grain back in November to try my hand at all-grain brewing. I thought I was ready then. I was wrong. Lesson: Don't buy until you are fully committed and absolutely sure you are ready, otherwise the milled grain will sit until late June and won't be any good really at that point. But what the hell, might as well use it for a practice run, eh? It don't cost nothing. And if it sucks balls, you can just dump the corny.

Seven months later, I've finally gotten a 30-qt. stainless steel turkey fryer set-up (this is after buying an aluminum one and realizing that it's aluminum after opening the box when you get home and realize that the stainless-steel ad on the box cover refers to the burner stand. oops!) I got an old propane tank from a buddy for a couple of six-packs (he'd probably have given it to me for free) to trade-in so I wouldn't have to pay the tank deposit fee.

I used the scale to get started on grain weights for water calculations. I lost the receipt, so I can only guess as to what I intended to make 7 months ago. There are some dark roasted malts, 2 varieties, so I'm guessing it was a porter. That sounds right for that time of the year. 11 pounds of grain total, 8 base, 3 specialty. Figure out the water needs, or at least I thought.

Turns out, 11 pounds of grain and 2.75 gal of water takes up quite a bit of space in the 5-gal mash tun for just the protein rest. Don't think I'm going to be able to fit 5.5 qt. in to bring up to starch conversion temp. Must try using hotter water than literature recommends, will add until temp is suitable.

Ooops!! Mash tun is full and I'm only at 145, seven degrees shy of target. Looks like it's time to decoction mash!

Four or five decoctions later, I've ramped up about 3 degrees at a time to finally end at 158 F. Iodine test somewhat confirms starch conversion, can't really tell thanks to dark wort color. Looks good enough. Time to sparge.

Sparging went okay, only problem was I lost too much heat between the HLT and the lauter tun so I only ended up lautering at about 146 F. Kind of crappy. Really crappy. Tried upping the temp in the HLT (another 5-gal cooler, actually the one I used for the mash tun) to fix it, but still didn't get it where I wanted. But, didn't end up with a stuck sparge (my worst fear) so things end up better than expected and the remaining wort in the lauter tun when the brew pot is full (about 7 gal) is starting to run light. Finally, something went right. I think.

For anyone thinking about all-grain, keep in mind all work up to this point has taken about 3 hours. Part of that is my fault, but prepare for the unexpected.

I had to meet someone at 3 pm, how convenient that I'm done sparging at 2:50. This means that boiling will not happen until after the wife's birthday party that starts at 8 pm. Put a lid on it. It sits there in the kitchen for about nine hours until 11:40 pm.

So now I'm boiling on the back deck. I'd like to do it on the concrete pad downstairs, but that requires too many stairs to the rest of the equipment and the kegerator. It'd be worth it if I had a buddy and we set up the captain's chairs and shot the breeze, but unfortunately I don't have many friends (at least in the metro-Atlanta area) willing to do that at 1:30 am on a work night.

Now I get to figure out how to crash cool it. I might have to straighten a tube on my homemade immersion coil. No, I'm not cool enough to have a counterflow chiller. And you can read that really as "I am on a budget based on a teacher's salary." Yes, technically between the household it's a little better financially but I like to do things the hard way. It makes way better stories and tends to cost less, leaving more money for the important things in life such as strippers, fishing lures, and beer ingredients. (I really only spend money on one of those items. Your mom strips for free and I fish like a real fisherman with beer, not bait)

I'll be sure to update when we actually get to taste it. I expect it to be uber crappe after letting cracked grain age for months in a non-hermetically sealed container. But who knows? It might end up being the best damned beer I've ever made.

Update #1: Here we are at 3:30 am and wort is cooled and in the primary fermenter and sealed up. Made a 1 pint starter and will pitch as soon as it seems ready. The yeast was bought at the same time as the grain. O.G.: 1.039 (not as high as I wanted, but I probably should have let it sit a little longer before lautering and I should have maybe had some extract on-hand to up the gravity)

Belgian brewpub in the Bull City?

2007-06-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

The mere thought that something like this could happen in Trinity Park makes me so happy I could weep.

[Residents of Trinity Park] ended up hearing an intriguing proposal from local beer-crafter Sean Wilson to transform the Trinity Community Church at the corner of Lamond and Gregson -- on the very border between the neighborhood and the Brightleaf district just a couple of blocks down...

Wilson proposes a seven-barrel brewery for on-premises consumption only (as opposed to a brew plant like Holly Springs' Carolina Brewery, which would require an industrial zoning.) The remainder of the concept, however, is still open to some interpretation. Wilson noted he was considering a restaurant concept around a Belgian or farmhouse theme, both of which would go well with both the church architecture and your favorite beer. Intriguingly, a second possibility would be to de-emphasize the dining and turn it into a brewpub-theater that could show classic or arthouse films or host music performances. Even with the entertainment possibilities, Wilson projects closing at 10pm on weeknights and midnight on weekends.

Traffic accessibility issues aside, I think a business of this sort could thrive in that location. It is completely walkable for residents of Trinity Park and West Village (both disproportionately populated with youngish BoBo types who go to brewpubs and such), and easy bike ride along the greenway from Northgate Park (i.e., for me) and Duke Park, similarly close to Old West Durham/Watts/Hillandale (similar to the aforementioned neighborhoods, but slightly more afluent) and two blocks from an area that more outlying residents already drive to for food and drink (Brightleaf Square).

I also hear there's a university of some sort a mile or two away...

(crosses fingers)

Favorite Hops?

2007-05-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

I finally have room to grow hops of my very own. However, there are many varieties -- which have been your favorite varieties in making beer... because, come on, why would I grow them if I couldn't use them.

PS I can use them, right?

first beer judging

2007-05-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

Back in December, my buddy Bernardo and I had intentions of brewing an imperial stout but ended up with a beer more reminiscent of a porter. So we called it an Imperial Porter. I don't think there really is such a thing according to BJCP guidelines, so I entered it into the BrewMasters Open at a local brew shop (several hundreds of entries total) as a "robust porter."

Actually, I read about the competition in April and decided it sounded interesting. The due date for entries was May 2. Guess when I remembered. Yep, on May 2 when I took note of the date in the morning. No way I was going to make it over to the brew shop to drop it off after work with Atlanta rush hour. Guess I get to go during lunch. But I have to go home to grab 2 bottles first. There goes an hour and a half. Good thing I have two consecutive hours for lunch/planning. Got to the store, or where I remembered the store being. I stopped going there when I realized I save gas money by paying shipping charges, not to mention that a guy closer to home started carrying a decent selection. Guess what! They've moved! Not far, but when you go the wrong way on the road to the new location the first time, you add an extra twenty minutes instead of five. Finally get to the place and drop off the entry. Pay the $6 entry fee and get the obligatory shop owner's good luck wishes. Make it back to work with six minutes to spare before the next bell.

So, the event was this past weekend. They finally posted results today. In our category, 11 entries. There we are at 3rd place in Category 12B with the Three Decade Imperial Coffee Porter. Sweet!! Pretty good turnout for a beer that was probably placed in the wrong category in the first place. Guess what the secret ingredient is. Yes, it is love.

Can't wait to get a copy of the tasting notes later this week.

Beer will save the world

2007-05-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Here's how.

Bull McCabe's, Durham, NC

2007-05-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Last night M and I took in the recently (April 24) opened Bull McCabe's, an Irish Pub in downtown Durham. Occupying the site of neighborhood favorite (to be fair, neighborhood only, but a very cool place nonetheless) Jo and Joe's, which closed last fall.

We just had a couple of pints, so I can't attest to the food (yet), but the taps, decor, and service are fantastic. At this point, I'd say this is probably the best overall place to grab a beer in Durham (I remain very fond of the Joyce and the Federal--Tyler's is great if you want to try 45 different beers, but I find it too fussy for my mood most of the time and the food is mediocre at best.) The 18 taps (plus 2 not in operation) had a nice distribution of selections from Ireland, England, continental Europe, and the States. None of the "Big Bad 3", which is always a plus. Off the top of my head: Guinness (naturally), Harp, Smithwicks, Belhaven IPA, Speckled Hen, Newcastle, Bass, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Carlsberg, Weihenstephaner Hefeweissen, Stella Artois, Pilsner Urquell, Brooklyn IPA, Highland Gaelic Ale, Yuengling, Shiner Bock, and a porter and cider that escape me at the moment.

We chatted with Malachy, one of the owners, most of the time we were there. Great guy--a born barman who can carry on a good conversation while monitoring the fluid levels all up and down the bar (there were probably a dozen or so patrons last night.) He hails from Sligo; I find Guinness just tastes better when the man or woman pulling it has the accent for it.

Bull McCabe's has also done a great job assembling (Malachy's words: "mashing togehter") a great atmosphere without resorting to shipping in the ready-made Irish pub kit from Ireland like so many do. The bar was bought on eBay from a place in Oswego, NY (it is 120 years old and beautiful), most of the seating was assembled from local antique dealers (old church pews, chairs, and tables) and the lighting also came from a local dealer. There are the standard Irish road signs and a big bookcase. The old tin ceilings are about all that remains of the previous occupant...and it all comes together very nicely.

Check it out:

Bull McCabe's
427 W. Main St
Durham, NC (one block from the Carolina Theater)

(in which Brian peeks out from his hole and doesn't see his shadow)

2007-03-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

And just like that, it's been almost six months since M and I pulled up stakes in Tucson (though she still spends about half her time there) and moved to Durham.

On the beer front, I am actually trying something really dangerous: seeing if I can replicate myself. Currently doing their thing in the basement are another batch of Ollie's Darwinian Dubbel (you don't need a link to scroll down 7 posts do you?) and another I've dubbed Shenandoah Pale Ale (in honor of the street we now live on) which I also brewed in October. Both turned out really well (and were consumed very quickly, except for a few mags of ODD I've reserved for cellaring) so I figured this was worth doing.

They won't be exactly the same...the ambient temperature in the basement is about 15 degrees cooler than it was in October/November (though this is rapidly changing now) and the dubbel in particular is fermenting much, much more slowly and steadily as a result. Also, I left the British Ale yeast out this time. I had to make a couple of ingredient substitutions on the pale ale as well due to availability, but this actually seems to have brought the color closer to what I was aiming for in the first place anyway.

I'll post a recipe for the pale ale when I decide which version is better.

Once bottling is done (this weekend/week) it's time to look at the next round. Some things I'm thinking about doing next:

--I've never attempted a stout, though I am somewhat hesitant to do this in advance of warmer weather
--a tripel of some sort (I know, spring is for saisson, but whenever I drink a saisson I tend to end up wishing it was a tripel)
--a California common (aka "steam beer", until Anchor decided they owned the word "steam"). I have a recipe I made a few years back that might be worth revisiting.
--A kolsch, which is something else I've never tried, and the basement temp is nearly ideal if I can just get my hands on the right yeast (this may involve mail order).

Anyway, I know quite a few homebrewers read this page when we can be bothered to update it, so...what do you all have on tap for this spring?

For the Tucson Beer Drinkers Out There...

2007-02-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

You will be happy to know that Local Dough is open for business with a full food and beer menu! They are open for both lunch and dinner. You can get a cold pint of something wonderful along with a superb slice of pizza for around $6 to $6.50 at lunch time.

Local Dough is located on the south side of Speedway Blvd where the Eric's used to be. The owners are really friendly guys - go in for a pint and say hello!

serving pressure?

2007-02-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

I am fortunate to have a good friend that keeps Guinness on tap regularly. The best part is that he lets me have a key to his place so I can stop by anytime I'm downtown to pull a pint. This is especially useful after Georgia Tech football games because I can make "on the way home" include a trip by his house and it really is on the way.

But this week he went a little wild. Instead of Guinness, he ordered a keg of Boddington's. Equally delicious in my opinion and it doesn't require an equipment change. Well, except for the keg coupler which almost every source prior to the pick-up ensured was the same as the Guinness keg but really turned out to be the same as a Bass keg. After cleaning some scary looking stuff out of the one the store loaned to him, everything hooked up and beer ready to pour. Sort of.

First beer, too foamy. Pressure needs adjusting from Guinness pressure. The only problem is, what pressure should we set it to? No, seriously. I've been searching on the net for almost an hour while we're watching the hock-eh game and I can't seem to find a site that will provide information about recommended serving pressures, suggested volumes of CO₂, or anything remotely helpful regarding commercially available beers. Is this some sort of trade secret that distributors are wanting to keep
to themselves? If so, I want to know so I can get a site started where we start making the info available. Or maybe it's out there and I am just getting too old to use the Internet. Know where we can find this info?

Thanks in advance.

what can I say? yeast love me!!

2007-01-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've brewed twice in the last two months. Once was a batch of alt intended for the GT-Duke football tailgate party but that ended up not working out becuase I ended up not being able to go. So then it was supposed to be ACC Championship Alt but we ended up not really having space in the car when we were the only ones driving down and were supposed to bring back two people (which ended up changing at the last minute anyhow). We could have probably used it after that game, though.

I went away to work one morning and the fermentation was chugging along, pretty active. I'm one of those brewers that is constantly checking on the fermentation, several times a day, mostly because I like it. Yeah, boring to most, but there's something about the rythym of the airlock that I find relaxing. Or maybe it's more like the 6-year-old on Christmas Eve syndrome. I just like watching the process from beginning to end.

Well, I get home and like a good, little, obsessive-compulsive I go over to check the carboy. Here's a pic of what I find.

Not the most pleasant discovery, but they ferment in open containers in Belgium so it's nothing to get too worried about, especially since I was smart enough to put the carboy on a kitchen towel. Clean up the opening and reinstall the airlock. Make a note to put the fermenter on a towel every time, just in case.

On Dec 29, I got together with one of my buddies because he wanted to brew a batch for his birthday. He wanted a stout and we ended up making up a recipe for an Imperial Stout. We bought the stuff, brought it home, brewed and put in the fermenter. It was a bit high on the gravity so I took a bit of the wort, diluted it and made a starter to up the yeast count before I pitched. The yeast was pretty active a few hours later. I let it sit a while longer and there was a considerably sized foam on just the starter. Since we were going out of town the next morning bright and early, I went ahead and pitched and figured I'd just worry about whether the yeast made it or not when we got back a week later from our ski trip in Montana (which was awesome, by the way). It wasn't looking too promising when we left at 4:30 am but oh well, right. Nothing to lose sleep over.

Here is what I returned home the following weekend to find.

Holy shit! Once again, thank you towel! We moved it to a secondary tonight because I wanted my buddy to see what happened before I cleaned it up completely. If you look just left of the fermenter in the last pic you'll see the airlock. Much less violent than the first one which managed to get fermentation debris on the ceiling but a hell of a lot messier. To give you an idea about the spillage, imagine a six pack of wort absorbed by a towel and then evaporated. That towel was stiffer than a 13-year old with his first Playboy.

We tested the gravity and it's sitting at about a 6.5% ABV. Not bad for a recipe we made up in the homebrew store. He wanted to add some coffee so we made two 10-cup pots of Brazilian espresso. And I'm kind of uncommitted but I think we'll be naming it "Bernie's 30 Imperial Coffee Stout." The sample we drew for gravity measurements is most promising. Nice hops flavor and aroma, great coffee flavor and aroma and a surprisingly chocolately aroma. We bottle on Monday. I'll let you know how it is when it's a little bit carbonated.

PS - I think he was weirded out a little when I tasted the trub. It did kind of look like the contents of a baby's diaper.

Closer, my preshhhisss

2006-12-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

Beloved Belmont Station is moving! And just so happens to be closer to me. Here's the article below:

---------------------------------------------
Belmont Station is Relocating
Posted by extramsg on Tuesday, December 12 @ 11:47:24 PST
Contributed by www.extramsg.com

From PortlandFood.org...

We Are Moving!
Belmont Station is relocating just 3 blocks away to
4500 S.E. Stark St Portland, OR 97215
January 4, 2007

After grueling months of waiting on City Hall, construction is complete. On the first week of the New Year we'll be pleased to welcome you to a new, expanded and updated Belmont Station. What's going to be different?

THE STATION CAFE! The new Belmont Station is two spaces in one. On one side, a bottleshop. On the other, a great little bier cafe. On the menu: any of our bottled beers, plus a few very special beers on draught. It will be a comfortable, neighborhood place to while away the hours tasting the best beers on the planet. We will feature soups, sandwiches, and cheese plates for your nibbling enjoyment.

MORE SPACE MEANS MORE BEER! Lots more space! Our beer selection is just shy of 700, but we're looking to increase our selection to around 900!

SELF-SERVE COOLERS! No more waiting while we fetch your bottles. Our knowledgeable staff will continue to assist you with your selection and any questions you may have. We'll have UV protection on the cooler lights to prevent skunky beer, and we'll be religiously rotating and stocking as usual. Belmont Station will continue to be the place for the freshest beer in town.