Barlow Brewing

So, I decided to brew all of the BJCP styles a year or so ago.

I think it is because I like goals and challenges, but I also noticed that I had been brewing for quite a few years and there wasn’t a lot of diversity in what I was brewing. I was always trying out new and interesting styles, but it seems like every other batch was an IPA or some hoppy creation. I had the skill to brew more difficult styles and it seemed silly that I wasn’t flexing those brewing muscles.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that I had hit the halfway mark. Of the 80 styles of beer outlined by the BJCP, I had brewed 40. And, as an interesting side note, 20 of those 40 brewed styles had won BJCP competition medals. Which is a nice bonus, since I set out to simply brew these styles and it was a subjective measure (my opinion) or whether or not I had hit the style, rather than an objective one (like a BJCP sponsored competition medal) of whether or not I had been successful.

Takeaways so far?

Hoppy beers are easy – Bottom line: hops can cover up a lot of flaws in a beer. Sure, it can be difficult to get a clean, crisp, huge and complex hop aroma and flavor into a beer. But there are a lot of places to hide in an IPA. Darker ales, like porters and stouts, can be forgiving, too. This is a good thing if you are just starting out, or you’ve had a sloppy brew day.

Lagers don’t have to be hard –  Lagers are all about a big pitch and temperature control. If you can’t control the temperature of a fermenting batch or if you don’t have a huge slurry of active yeast to pitch, you really ought to rethink making a lager. Unlike the hoppy and dark beers I mentioned above, lagers have nowhere to hide flaws. You have to pitch big and control the flavors created by the yeast. Otherwise I suggest just making the style with an ale or San Fran strain instead.

Patience is the key – This makes sense for lagers, that require weeks at near freezing temperatures, and wild and sour beers, that need time for the brett and bugs to tear through the “unfermentables”. But I think we, as homebrewers, often drink our beers too young. I’ve gotten myself into the practice of letting ales ferment for a week and then sit on the yeast for another week to clean themselves up. And lagers definitely require 2 weeks of fermentation with a diacetyl rest to finish strong.

Where I think the real opportunity is it letting your beer set in the bottle or keg as few extra weeks. How many times have you tasted your beer a month in and thought, “Wow, this is awesome. It is really peaking right now.” What if you had waited a few more weeks and you ‘d of had even more of your beer at its peak? Sure, some beers, like wet hop or hefes, need to be enjoyed sooner than later, but your beers will benefit from a little age. Give them time. Show them patience.

Brew to style on the first batch – This drives me insane. If you’ve never made a doppelbock before, why are you trying to make a raspberry doppelbock? I love playing with fruits, spices, vegetables and wood, but nail down the style first. Make a saison without pepper and see what the yeast does naturally. It might be just what you wanted, and the grains of paradise you are adding to the boil are going to be excessive.

If you cannot help but fuck with your beers, split the batch. Treat one half to a traditional process and add whatever batshit stuff you want to the other, but make sure you have a control or you’ll never learn how did, as well as what went right and wrong.

Don’t like a style? Homebrew your own! – I know this sounds crazy, but making a particular style has been the key to me enjoying that type of beer. I’d never enjoyed a fruit or a smoked beer until I made one of my own. It is not that I did it better than others, but you are more forgiving with your own beers. You understand the aroma, mouthfeel and flavors that define the style. It clicks in your head. Well, at least it does in mine.

What will the next 40 styles be like? – Well, they will be the beers I’ve avoided or didn’t have the ability to do before. In the case of the Light Lager category, a little bit of both. I’ve got most of the Scottish and British styles to brew through, as well.

There are lots of malty and lager beers in my future. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

I’m in the Iron Brewer competition again and there are three new ingredients to work with. The beer that I made for Batch 1 was an oaked-aged smoked Baltic porter. It came in second place in the Iron Brewer judging to HopfenTreader for that round, but it medaled in the CASK competition and made it past the first round of the National Homebrew Competition this year in the Smoke-Flavored and Wood-Aged Beer category. And, more importantly, it was pretty tasty.

The three ingredients for this batch are: flaked oats, hersbrucker hops, and peppercorns. Oats don’t make much of a taste contribution but, as in oatmeal stouts, they will add to a beer’s mouthfeel and creaminess. Hersbrucker hops are  a variety that I hadn’t used before, but they are German and are said to add some spice and earthiness to beers. Peppercorns were the wildcard, but the previous ingredients were leading me down the path of a style that would complement a fuller beer with spice notes. A roggenbier is a German ale that is similar to a dunkelweizen but made with up to 50% rye instead of wheat. A big, thick rye beer seemed to be the perfect backdrop for the spice of the hops and the peppercorns. To make things interesting, I decided to use pink peppercorns, which are actually not true peppercorns but rather the berries of the baies rose plant. They give a firm, deep pepperiness and a light twist of citrus in the end. Mostly lemon notes to my tongue.

Pink Peppercorns

The Close-Up: Pink Peppercorns

Armed with that taste in mind, a wrote my recipe trying to formulate a way for the all of the necessary parts to shine. A pound of flaked oats should be more that enough to increase the mouthfeel of the beer. And I used the hersbrucker hops for bittering and in conjunction with traditional Czech saaz hops as a flavoring addition. The pink peppercorns would be a 5 gram addition that would be crushed and put in the boil pot during the last 10 minutes of the boil.

The Grains: Rye, Flaked Oats, Pale 2-Row, Carafa II, Munich, Caramunich

My only concern for the brew day was the large volume of rye malt that I would be using in the mash. I used to use rice hulls to insure that I wouldn’t get a stuck sparge but, after running out a few times, I realized that my system didn’t need them. I frequently do 50% wheat beers without incident, but rye is a completely different beast. I’ve used up to 30% rye before and the mash began to get really thick and gelatinous.

The Real Secret Ingredient: Rice Hulls

To be safe I added 1 pound of rice hulls, which is an absurd amount, but I had no problems whatsoever during the sparge. But remember, when you add rice hulls to a mash you need to increase your amount of water, as well. My mash was less soupy than I normally shoot for but my conversion and efficiencies were fine.

No Stuck Mash

The runnings were a little slower than usual, and looked a bit like hot caramel, but at no point did I think the mash was going to stick.

The First Runnings

The rest of the day was smooth and uneventful. A favorite saying of mine and a good thing.

I made a big yeast starter of the White Labs 300 Hefeweizen strain. I’m fermenting at 62F to keep the more traditional banana and cloves aromas at bay.

Fermenting Away at 62F

I got busy with family and work, so the brewing of this one happened very late. But hopefully I can turn it around quickly and well. Thus far it has had many, many names. Roggen Hard and Put Up Wet. Roggen’s Hereos. Roggenly Handsome. Etc., etc. We’ll see.

The Recipe

(Roggenbier) Iron Brewer Batch #2

Starting Gravity: 1.062 (6/25/11)
Final Gravity: TBA

Mash (154º for 70 min)
6.0 lbs Rye Malt
3.0 lbs Munich Malt
3.0 lbs American 2-Row
1.0 lbs CaraMunich Malt
1.0 lbs Flaked Oats
2 oz Carafa II

Boil (60 min)
1.0 oz Hersbrucker Pellet Hops (4.5 AA) (60 min)
0.25 oz Czech Saaz Pellet Hops (3.5 AA) (15 min)
0.25 oz Hersbrucker Pellet Hops (4.5 AA) (15 min)
1 tablet Whirlfloc (Boil – 15 min.)
5 grams of crushed Pink Peppercorns (Boil – 10 min.)
½ tsp Brewer’s Choice Wyeast Nutrient Blend (Boil – 10 min.)

Primary (62º F)
WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast – 2000ml Starter Made

Lots of factors go into what my next homebrew will be. (Some of them are even rational.) The time of the year will push me towards porters and stouts, or will swing me the other way to pale ales and Berliner weisses. Sometimes it is a seasonal yeast strain, or the availability of scarce hop varieties that inspire me to try something new.

I don’t do lagers very often, so when I know I’ll have to dedicate a cooler to lager fermentation (around 50F) and subsequent lagering (around 32F), I might as well do two at once. So I did a triple decoction bohemian pilsner in the morning and a schwarzbier in the afternoon back in April. It was a long and, occasionally, trying day but I ended up with 2 batches of lager beer in the end, so it was worth it.

Quick rundown: a schwarzbier is a smooth, moderately malty, dark lager of German origin. It is pretty tightly balanced and the ones that I’ve tried that were out of style were so because they were too roasty and porter-like. That is something that Gordon Strong was complaining about on Twitter the other day, as well.

The malts: Munich, Black Roasted Barley, Crystal 60L, Carafa II, Pilsner, and Chocolate malt

Dark goodness

There is nothing revolutionary about this schwarzbier and it cuts very close to JZ’s recipe for the style. I used a blend of the Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager strain and the White Labs WLP830 German Lager strain. That was a bit of a necessity considering that I had to ramp up a huge culture of the Bohemian lager for the BoPils, and so to get to the right pitch count, with my meager yeast farming setup, I used some of the Bohemian strain to complement the planned German strain for the schwarzbier.

It was bottled last week and should be ready to taste in a few more days.

This one is named Dark Helmet after the Spaceballs character who was a master of the “Schwartz”.

Recipe:

Dark Helmet – (Schwarzbier)

Starting Gravity: 1.059 (4/17/11)
Secondary Gravity: 1.015 (5/2/11) (Lagering)
Final Gravity: 1.015 (6/15/11)
5.9% alcohol (by volume)
Apparent Attenuation: 73.6%
Real Attenuation: 60.3%

Mash (154º for 80 min)
5.0 lbs Pilsner Malt
6.0 lbs Munich Malt
5 oz Crystal 60L
7 oz Chocolate Malt
4 oz Black Roasted Barley
4 oz Carafa II

Boil (90 min)
1.5 oz Hallertau Pellet Hops (3.8 AA) (60 min)
0.5 oz Hallertau Pellet Hops (3.8 AA) (20 min)
0.5 oz Hallertau Pellet Hops (3.8 AA) (0 min)
1 tablet Whirlfloc (Boil – 15 min.)
½ tsp Brewer’s Choice Wyeast Nutrient Blend (Boil – 10 min.)

Primary (50º F for ~2 weeks, including a diacetyl rest)
Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager – Starter Made
WLP830 German Lager Yeast – Starter Made

Secondary (34º F for ~6 weeks)

This week is the National Homebrew Conference, and homebrewers from all over the country are heading to San Diego to talk shop, attend brewing workshops with experts, and to find out the results of the final round of the National Homebrew Competition.

It is a time to celebrate the art and the hobby of homebrewing, and what better way to do that then to talk to a pair of homebrewers who are making the leap to become professional brewers. I first came across Nate and Mike through their blog Thank Heaven for Beer. These homebrewers now have a Kickstarter campaign going to raise funds for their start-up: Wilderness Brewing.

After you get to know these guys, be sure to stop by their Kickstarter page and support them!

And Interview with Nate and Mike from Wilderness Brewing in Kansas City, MO:

Barlow Brewing: Where does the name Wilderness Brewing come from?

Mike: It comes from our philosophy on brewing. As we were working through our name ideas and their various iterations, we came up with the name from getting into the nitty gritty of our approach.  Wilderness speaks to a place of wondering, exploration, and navigation through various terrains.  That’s what we want to do with brewing. We want to stay on the move and “wander” the wilderness, so to speak. The name just seemed to fit.

Barlow Brewing: Who the heck are these guys Nate and Mike?

Mike & Nate: We are guys who love beer and want to do something great with it. We are really no different than you, and anyone else reading this. We are bloggers who have been writing for three years and learning everything we can about beer. Now we are guys who are ready to brew for a living. We have discovered that what we set out to do in life wasn’t the end destination, just a location along the journey.

Barlow Brewing: What got you guys into brewing? Why has your passion for it continued?

Mike: My wife bought me a home brew kit for Christmas one year. She saw how passionate I was becoming about beer and thought I would like to try to my hand at brewing. My passion for it has continued because I love diving in and seeing how things work, exploring a variety of flavors, and creating. I also love to cook. The two go together, and cooking has informed my brewing (and vice versa). But seeing people taste and appreciate beers I’ve brewed has maybe been the greatest fuel for continuing my passion. Additionally, I’ve had the privilege of teaching other people to brew as well.  That has fueled a collective passion.

Nate: I first brewed with Mike and was fascinated by the paradox of simplicity and complexity in the process. I became addicted to brewing when my dad bought me a kit for Christmas. I thought I would brew every couple or months or so, but soon find myself doing it weekly. I almost went to art school, but changed my mind last minute. I see brewing as no different than painting with oils or molding a lump of clay into a functional piece of dishware…it’s an art…that’s why my passion has continued. The aspect of self expression is so tangible, both in the creation, and seeing other enjoy the work.

Barlow Brewing: What are the best and worst beers you’ve ever made as a homebrewer? How did they change what and how you brew?

Mike: I have never really brewed a bad beer. I’ve certainly had beers I would change. Perhaps the one I consider the worst is my second double chocolate stout. A bit more cocoa powder than I would have liked. Ironically, my best beer is also a chocolate stout. I home roasted the cocoa beans (much better than powder) and got it to a huge ABV. Then I added bourbon. Then I eisbocked it. I consider it a delicious achievement.

Nate: I had one bad beer. I brewed a big barleywine-ish (10%) beer and dosed it with sarsparilla. The flavor was decent, but the harsh aroma of the sarsparilla screwed with me when I went to take a sip. I almost threw it out, but my wife convinced me to keep it. After about a year and a half, it turned out to be pretty good, since the sarpsarilla has faded to just a nuance. My best beer…hmmm…I just brewed a couple of Flanders style brews and though they won’t be drinkable for a while, I think I’ll covet them.  But, for the time being, believe it or not, I am a huge fan of my Pilsner. It’s a bit hop forward, but I can’t find a beer to parallel it to…it drinks like a session beer, but is packed full of flavor.

Barlow Brewing: Why is beer art?

Mike: Because it requires thought and consideration rather than rote memory or action. Because it inspires both the brewer and the drinker. Because it can be interpreted in multiple ways and becomes a masterpiece in the hands of the right person. It is not simply a formula; it is jazz.

Nate: I kind of covered this earlier, but I’ll reiterate: How is taking an amalgam of denominators and combining into something that is enjoyed by the senses NOT art? A visual artist combines shades of color and line to create something the eyes can enjoy. A brewer combines shades of grains with hops, water, and living organisms to create something that is not only enjoyed by the eyes (beer is beautiful to behold), but also by the nose and the tongue.

Barlow Brewing: Why is now the time to open a brewery? What was the tipping point?

Mike: It is time to open it because it is the right time. So many aspects of our hard work and thought have converged in this particular moment. The tipping point was the fact that we thought about it so long and not gone for it. My personal tipping point was a kick in the ass from a person who basically asked me, “So what are you doing about it now?” Aside from that, my wife finished her course work for school and can write her dissertation anywhere. Plus, the dream only sustains you so long. At some point, you have to act or decide to deceive yourself indefinitely.

Barlow Brewing: What batch sizes and capacity are you planning to start with?

Mike & Nate: 62 gallons (i.e., two barrels). But that’s just starting point. Regardless, at this point, we have no intention of ever growing to fermentors the size of small aircraft.

Barlow Brewing: You say that you want to stay small. Why, and how might that be harder than you think?

Mike: The reason we want to stay small is related to interest and integrity. As stated above, beer is art in many ways. If we really think of it this way, then we have to keep being creative (if for our own sanity).  I also think that once you get to a certain point of volume, the market will dictate to you what you make.  In other words, you have to brew this to stay open or you have to make that if you want to pay the bills.  It might harder because maybe attitudes about this differ. Some may argue that you make the flagship in order to create. However, the volumes will keep this from being the case. I also think it may be a bit harder because demand may go up quite a bit and fulfilling demand may force us to grow. It’s not that I am fundamentally against it, and it’s honestly about arriving at the right level rather than staying small forever. Perhaps we could amend the phrase to say, “We want to stay small [enough].” Small enough to maintain a free reign on creative license.

Barlow Brewing: What does the Kansas City market not have that Wilderness Brewing brings to the table?

Nate: Kansas City has a great beer scene. There are more than a handful of beer stores that offer an amazing selection. Also, Boulevard is a pillar in the craft world that we love and look up to, and we don’t want to diminish what they bring to the community.  We hope to bring unparalleled variety and exploration of historic and avante-garde brews. We’d love to bring a wealth of sours to the scene…in fact, sours lack shelf space across the United States. We’d love it if folks find themselves saying, “what will they brew next?”

Barlow Brewing: You say, in your video, that you won’t have a flagship beer. What are you hoping will be a crowd favorite?

Mike & Nate: You actually just named it. If we have a flagship, it will be a crowd favorite. We don’t believe a brewer should tell the consumer what the flagship is. Not that it’s wrong…we just have a different philosophy. The people who drink our beer can tell us what their favorite is and we can work with them to keep making it. Perhaps the flagship, like a strain of yeast, can even evolve over time into something deliciously different than what it started as.

Barlow Brewing: I know you like to make sours. Because of how long those take to make, will they not be part of your initial brewing?

Mike & Nate: We will probably brew them almost immediately but they, as you say, take a while to age and become what they are supposed to. We could offer some brews utilizing a sour mash (we both utilize this method frequently) that have a sour aspect that are drinkable much sooner than something that requires lengthy aging.

Barlow Brewing: How will you be able to balance a start-up brewery and a family?

Mike: My wife is very supportive (as is Nate’s), but my wife and I don’t have any kids right now, so that will make a little easier for me than for Nate. However, Andrea will be a regular participator in brewery life, and I’m confident that we will have plenty of time together.

Nate: My wife has been pushing me towards this for a while. When I was working a job that just sucked the life out of me she would encourage me to follow my passion. When you have your spouse’s support, the balancing act is much easier. Additionally, I managed to be a father to 2 kids (I have 5 now) work a full time job, and be full time graduate student who maintained a 3.5 gpa. I love hard work, and in a weird way, feel like it to be sanctifying.

Barlow Brewing: Why should someone give you guys money to make Wilderness Brewing a real brewery?

Mike: That’s the hardest question to answer. After all, it’s hard to convince someone you don’t know to fund something you are doing. But I think I have three answers that are enough for me to give to campaign. One, I believe in what someone is doing and they convince me that it is a worthwhile pursuit. Two, because most people have dreams. And while they may have missed the boat on theirs or haven’t arrived at their dreams, they understand what it is like to hope and aspire. That is enough for many people. Three, you have say over your money for once. Money that you have deducted for taxes may or may not be used for something you like or agree with. People giving to the campaign now have say over giving their money to something they see as meaningful (it doesn’t hurt that they can get some swag).

Nate: Well, nobody has to give…and we don’t want anybody to be guilted into it. But, there is an aspect of “community” that the craft beer world exhibits; there-within the answer may lie. I know of a bunch of breweries who have helped out other breweries in times of hop shortage, I know of guys who have supported other new brewery startups–like Mystery Brewing Co., and bloggers, like yourself who help spread the world, pledge money, and surprise beer blogger like myself with auto-siphons. I remember watching an old fashion Amish barn raising in Northern Ohio when I was a kid…brotherly love just seems right.

Barlow Brewing: If I happen to be in Kansas City, would you let me brew a batch with you? What if I want to make a triple decocted eisbock aged in Zima barrels?

Mike & Nate: Maybe not the Zima barrels. I think we will always be open to having people brew with us or participate in the process. Letting people brew a batch with you and determining the recipe are pretty different. However, we are open to the possibility of working with people to brew some batches. In fact, I would personally like to use the brewery as a teaching avenue if people in the area are interested in it. We love the idea of Sam Adam’s longshot, and have even written about the “collaboration craze” and how the collaboration between a brewery and a homebrew would be rad.  Having tasted your Eisbock, for you, the answer would be yes…it was delicious. Perhaps even some internships would be something we would love to do.

Barlow Brewing: If I stop by, can I crash on your couch? I don’t snore. Much.

Mike: Absolutely. That’s all I can say to that one. Anything to encourage the transient life of a wonder-lusting peripatetic.

Nate: Absolutely. You might have to deal with a sleep walking 5 year old or a crazy howling beagle, but I doubt you’d notice that after a few homebrews.

Barlow Brewing: Thanks for taking the time to answer my occasionally serious questions. Good luck!

And make sure you visit Kickstarter and support Nate and Mike in making their dream of Wilderness Brewing a reality.

This is my very belated post about this year’s Dark Lord Day.

I had tickets for Dark Lord Day in 2010, but a family commitment kept me from going. So I was prepared to go this year and, although I struck out in getting a ticket, a friend had me covered.

This was my first time attending and I was excited to take in the Dark Lord experience. For those who have never heard of Dark Lord Day, it is big event put on by Three Floyds which is filled with beer lovers and an orgy of all things beer. People come from hundreds of miles around to get their allotted Dark Lord bottles, and to trade unusual and rare beers with others. That is what sold me on the event.

But it is easy to forget that the bulk of the day is spent waiting in lines.

Lines.

It is a day of lines. Lines to get in. Lines to get your Dark Lord bottles. Lines to get your Three Floyds swag. Lines to try the guest taps. Lines to get into the 3F Brewpub (I didn’t even try). Lines to get food. Lines to……well, you get the idea.

No lines for the porta-johns, though. Seriously, that was well played, guys.

Three Floyds has gotten a lot of flack in the beer world for Dark Lord Day and how it is has been run the last couple of years. The process of selling the tickets is still a mess and, as someone who has been in the hunt to acquire tickets the last two years, the scrutiny they’ve gotten for that is well-deserved.

So how was Dark Lord Day 2011? I know you are on the edge of your seat and I don’t want to spoil it for you, but I thought it went smoothly. As smooth as you can expect considering the nature of the event.

The photo is full of a bunch of shifty motherfuckers, isn’t it?

Inside the gates was a mass of humanity, but not an insane one. People were polite, but it was like being in a giant, vibrating ant heap. It is always clear in events like this that beer people are good people.

The tickets were sold in “A”, “B”, and “C” versions, so Group A could pick up their bottles between 10am and noon, Group B was 1pm to 3pm, and C was between 5pm and 7pm. Fortunately a few of us had “A” tickets which allowed us to get directly in line for Dark Lord bottles once we arrived. The line was long, but it moved steadily.

This year, the Golden Tickets also had a scratch-off area that let you know whether you would have the ability, nay honor, of purchasing a bottle of the limited run barrel-aged Dark Lords for $50 each. Lots of us got lucky and, when all was said and done, our group got one of each bottle variant: a DL aged in Pappy Van Winkle barrels, a DL aged in brandy barrels, a DL aged in brandy barrels with vanilla beans, and a DL, aka. Dark Lord de Muerte, aged in bourbon barrels with ancho and guajillo peppers.)

One of the cooler surprises was getting to meet Randy Mosher at Dark Lord Day. Randy is the author of the books Radical Brewing and Tasting Beer. Both are really great, and I find myself returning to Radical Brewing whenever I get in a homebrew rut. His understanding and explanation of unusual ingredients in brewing (i.e. atypical sugars, exotic spices, fruit, etc.) in that book are inspiring, and it has pushed me, personally, in new and exciting brewing directions. Highly recommended. At his table he had several types of coriander, plus cassia buds and I bunch of other spices I had never heard of. And he was very patient with might-have-had-a-couple-of-beers me, too. Thanks, Randy.

The only thing I had to say negatively about the day was that the Guest Tap line was absurd and badly run.

That line could be measured in hours, rather than minutes, and once you got up the front it all became clear. Lots of people standing around *wanting* to pour beers, but they were bottle-necked by some expediter/joker who brought things to a crawl. I grabbed two beers in the line, the Stone Double Bastard with chipotle peppers and Cigar City’s Big Sound scotch ale. The Stone was solid and very balanced. The Big Sound was amazing.

Isn’t there always 5 or 6 of these tragedies during each DLD?

All and all, it is was a great day and the weather even cooperated for a few minutes and let the sun shine through. And it didn’t hurt that there was jockey box next to us that was pouring Zombie Dust and Gumballhead. All. Day. Long.

Takeaways:

The Good:
• The Dark Lord bottle and the bathroom lines moved quickly.
• All of the Dark Lord attendees were cool and unobnoxious
• All of the police and 3F event workers were cool and, I dare say, downright friendly
• It bears repeating: Beer people are good people

The Not So Good:
• The Merchandise, Guest Tap and 3F Brewpub lines we absurd and not worth getting in.
• This is the wrong location for this kind of event. No space, spent most of the day in an ant farm.

In the end, this event is about coming to the Three Floyds Brewery and getting in line to get your Dark Lord bottles. The rest is cake. I had a great time, and Three Floyds and the town of Munster, Indiana were great hosts.

Will I go to Dark Lord Day again? Maybe, but likely not anytime soon since getting to the Chicago area in April is never a great time for a trip.

But you never know.

The score sheets from the 1^st round of the 2011 AHA National Homebrew Competition (NHC) came out last week. It is cool win ribbons and medals, but the feedback is the most part of entering these contests. And, with a competition like the national one, it is really, really hard to place without making a spectacular beer, so it is a good idea to keep your expectations low.

My sheets came back from the Nashville region and quality of the feedback and the scores I received were good. My average score was 31.87, which I am pleased with. The highest scores were 43s and the lowest score was smack down of a 15 (for a Scottish ale that aged badly).

The two scores of 43 that I received were for my “Tobias Fünke” flanders red and for my “Fargin Eishole” eisbock. The flanders red won 1st place for the Sour Ale category, and the eisbock won 3rd place for the Bock category. The feedback for these was very good but, honestly, how unhappy can you be with a beer that scores in the 40s?

The other beer that placed was my “Slow Motion Walter, Fire Engine Guy” oak-aged, smoked Baltic porter. It scored a 30.5 and it must have squeaked in to 3rd place in the Smoke-Flavored and Wood-Aged Beer category. The feedback for that was good, but both judges wanted a bit more smoke flavor in the beer. I can completely see that. I enjoy all styles of beer, but smoked beers are at the very bottom of that list. So, in making a smoked beer of my own, I went a little light on the Bamberg malt. I can live with that feedback because I’m not sure I’ll ever make a beer that I can’t enjoy just to do well in a competition. That’s BS to me.

My bourbon-oak tripel did really well and scored a 39.5, but it did not ribbon. This was simply a gallon of my tripel that I siphoned onto French oak cubes and Blanton’s bourbon. My feedback for that beer said it was nicely balanced and creamy. I agree, and it will be hard not to bourbon-oak the entire batch next time I make a tripel.

The only head scratchers were scores for the original tripel and the brett saison. The tripel received a 30, and it was downgraded for not having enough of a phenolic character. I think most American tripels are over-the-top with phenols so I specifically fermented that one cold to keep them subdued. But I can’t blame the judges for not “getting” what I was trying to do.

The other strange one was my brett saison which received a 31.5. (And it did pretty well in The Bruery’s Batch 300 competition.) Both judges only sensed a “slight sourness”…..which is mystifying. If it was supposed to be a sour saison, I would have marked it as such. This was a brett saison and brettanomyces does not make things sour. That is disappointing.

But, all and all, I’m happy with what I heard back from the Nashville region of the AHA NHC 2011 First Round. Hopefully one of my three beers advancing to the final round lucks into a medal. If not, there’s always 2012.

In 2009, I made a Gumballhead clone that turned out great and not too terribly far off the mark from the original. It even got a silver medal in the Dominion Cup for the Light Hybrid Beer category.  I wanted to make it again but, being me, I couldn’t make the same recipe twice.

In the end, I changed more things than I expected.

I wanted to keep the same grain base, which was almost a 50/50 split between American 2-Row and Wheat malt with a touch of Crystal 20L. The first was a single hopped beer of all Amarillo, so the real question was what hop did I want to highlight with this batch?

After some random conversations and stumbling around, I came across a New Zealand hop called Rakau. I could only find it on the Seven Bridges Cooperative website and it was described as having a “fruity character with tropical aroma highlights of passionfruit, mango, and peach.”

That sounded interesting and, since the Seven Bridges Coop is all about organic products, I decided to make the entire batch organic. After further conversations, and some advice from Bison Brewing, it didn’t appear that brewing an organic beer was in anyway different from the my normal brew day.

The only wild card was that I ordered the wrong yeast for the beer. I meant to get the WLP001 California Ale yeast, but accidentally asked for the WLP060, which is an American Ale Yeast Blend. The WLP060 is a mix of the WLP001 and two others strains, and sounds like it brings more of a lager character to the beer. This would accentuate the bitterness and the hops.   

These are the three organic grains: Crystal 20L, American 2-Row and Wheat Malt

These are the Horizon hops since the Rakau were pellets and really boring to photograph

The final change in the beer was a major one and completely accidental. In fact, it would be better labeled as a sloppy mistake. While putting this recipe into my brewing software, the Horizon hops defaulted to 0.25 ounces and I simply forgot to adjust it up to 1 ounce. Since Horizon is a 10.2% alpha acid hop AND it was added for the full 60 minute boil, it blew the IBUs off the top of these beer. Instead of being ~25 IBUs, like a normal American Wheat, this one is probably closer to 60 IBUs, like an American IPA.

I don’t what that spells for the beer. From my pre-carbonation tastings, it isn’t overwhleming bitter, but it certainly isn’t an American Wheat anymore. The hops are evolving. It is certainly like nothing I’ve made before.

It is named “Haka” for a traditional dance form of the Maori of New Zealand. I first saw this dance performed by the New Zealand All Blacks before a rugby game, and it was nothing but intensity and intimidation.

Just like this beer so far.

Haka – (Organic Rakau American Wheat)

Starting Gravity: 1.057 (4/3/11)
Final Gravity:  1.012 (5/4/11)
6.0% alcohol (by volume)
Apparent Attenuation: 78.1%
Real Attenuation: 64.0%

Mash (@150º 70 min)
5 lb American 2-Row
5 lb Wheat Malt
1 lb 20L Crystal Malt

Boil
1.00 oz Horizon Leaf Hops (10.2% AA) (60 min)
0.75 oz Rakau Pellet Hops (12.7% AA) (15 min)
1.00 oz Rakau Pellet Hops (12.7% AA) (5 min)
Irish Moss (Boil – 15 min.)

Primary (66º F)  

WLP060 American Ale Yeast Blend – Starter Made
2.0 oz Rakau Pellet Hops (12.7 AA) (4/27/11) (Dry hopped for 7 Days)

The great Mr. Beer experiment will begin this weekend.

Truth #1: I was sent a free Mr. Beer kit, the Premium Edition Beer Kit to be exact, by the company to try out. There was no obligation to write anything about it on my blog, but clearly I am doing so. As a side note, this is the first time I can remember being sent anything at all because of having a blog. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. 

Truth #2: I’ve been really excited about making beer with a Mr. Beer kit for years. No kidding, no sarcasm. I’ve known brewers who’ve started on those kits. Some stopped there, and some moved on to more advanced equipment and less processed ingredients. It has been a minor obsession. I just want to see what these things can do.

Perhaps you might think I’m viewing it as a Top Chef challenge where they have to cook a meal with an Easy Bake Oven. Maybe. There certainly is a challenge in that. But I view any entry into brewing your own beer as a wonderful thing. I’ll take that stepping stone drug.

I’m planning to brew with this kit in, at least, two different trials:

Trial #1:

The game plan here would be to brew the “West Coast Pale Ale” kit that came with it while following the instructions to the letter. This will be a test of the Mr. Beer equipment AND their kit. In theory, as someone who has been homebrewing since the mid-90’s, I should be able to pull this off at a pretty high level. I understand sanitation and I can follow directions. Well, almost as good as Brooklyn’s Garrett Oliver.

What I’m testing: What is the quality of beer that someone can expect from using a Mr. Beer kit as it is intended? This is the control.

Trial #2:

The idea here is that I will use the Mr. Beer Kit equipment but, like any curious homebrewer, I’ll design my own extract beer recipe. The concept is to use high-quality DME, hops and yeast, and to brew it inside, on my stove, like any budding homebrewer would.

What I’m testing: What are the limits of the Mr. Beer equipment? Is this system flexible enough to crank out great beer for the homebrewer who wants to keep his brewery small for space or monetary reasons?

Is there a third experiment? Maybe a gueuze? OK, I’m going a little crazy there.

Stay tuned.

The next beer in my series of style driven beers, fermented at low temperatures and using the East Coast Yeasts, was my Scottish 80/-. This was the last of my ECY yeast and it was the Scottish Heavy:

“ECY07 Scottish Heavy: Leaves a fruity profile with woody, oak esters reminiscent of malt whiskey. Well suited for 90/shilling or heavier ales including old ales and barleywines due to level of attenuation (77-80%) – recommend a dextrinous wort. Suggested fermentation temp: 60-68°F”

The only problem was that I just wasn’t in the mood for a Wee Heavy, and I was more interested in turning a beer around in 4 or 5 weeks, rather than months. So I decided that I was going to make an 80 shilling, even though the final beer and recipe might border into the 90 shilling territory.

Although I will admit to drinking a lot of Killian’s Red in my misspent youth, I know very little about the Scottish and Irish ale styles, so this seemed to be a good time to brew one. (And, I apologize to all proper Irish Red beers by mentioning you in the same paragraph as Killians, which I believe is really an amber lager.)

Referring to the homebrew master, I checked out Jamil’s take on the style. He advised to do some kettle caramelization and a colder than usual fermentation. So I took the first gallon of runnings from the mash and boiled it separately until it was reduced to ½ a gallon, and then I poured that into the full boil.

My Youngest Holding the Only Specialty Grains in the Beer: Black Roasted Malt

Milling the Grains

I’m a Morning Brewer, But This Brew Day Ran Long. A Rare View of My Burner After Dark

It was later that I made my bonehead move of the day. (There is always one and it is always different with each brew day.) After crashing the wort down to 70º F, I put it in the cooler to drop the last 4 degrees, added oxygen and the yeast, and then simply forgot about it. The next morning, instead of finding it bubbling way, I discovered that the carboy had dropped to 54º F.

I rocked the carboy, turned the cooler off and left the door open, and let it warm up to 66º F. Luckily, the ECY07 was up to my cruel challenge, and began fermenting later that day.

I’ll try to come back to add some tasting notes, but I’m happy with how this beer has turned out thus far. It is still young, but it is malty, pretty clean and has a smoky note that came from the yeast.

This one is called “Piper Down”.

Piper Down - (Scottish 80/-) (6 gallons)
Starting Gravity: 1.062 (2/13/11)
Secondary Gravity: N/A
Final Gravity: 1.014 (2/28/11) Days
6.4% alcohol (by volume)
Apparent Attenuation: 76.5%
Real Attenuation: 62.7%

Mash (70 minutes ~154º)
12 lb Maris Otter
3 oz Black Roasted Barley

Boil (75 min)
1 oz EK Goldings Pellet Hops (4.5% AA) (60 min)

Primary (66º F)
East Coast Yeast – Scottish Heavy ECY07 – 125ml (No Starter)

Lagering (32º F)
No secondary, but it was crashed down to lager for 3 days

The Berliner weisse style is a favorite among homebrewers.

It’s a sour session beer, around 3% ABV, which originated in Germany back in the 16^th century. I’ve brewed this style several times, with great results, and it always seems to popping up in homebrew tweets. Just last week, James from Basic Brewing Radio and The Mad Fermentationist talked about brewing the style in a podcast.

Yet, for all our love of the BW, there are very few examples of the style that are commercially available. If I am lucky, I might be able to find a few bottles from two breweries at the best local beer store. The Bruery’s Hottenroth and Fritz Briem’s 1809 immediately come to mind.

This had me wondering why are the commercial breweries so far behind the homebrewing community with this style?

And let’s not pretend that I have some inflated opinion of the homebrewing and its effects on breweries. Sure, most pro brewers started their careers with small batches made at home, and homebrewers have the ability to wildly experiment with new styles and ingredients without hurting the bottom line of a business. So there a safety net there in that only pride, and not a company, is hurt when a 5 gallon batch is poured down the drain.

This isn’t an experimental style. It is pretty clearly defined, and no more challenging to make than any other sour.  In fact, it can be turned around in a matter of weeks, rather than months, so that should be attractive to a commercial brewery from a simple logistical standpoint.

I can think of dozens of other reasons why and why not, but it seems like something better throw out to the community.

I say this in some jest, but why are commercial breweries afraid of the Berliner Weisse?