tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327241792024-03-06T14:02:38.917-06:00Chibebräu--the Chibes' online homebrew logChibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.comBlogger319125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-57361677702928138012018-12-08T10:52:00.003-06:002018-12-08T10:52:32.702-06:00Yeah, right. Bread. You said "go to bread."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFy7cZxy0qmLV0eP4RtglzkYQz-DBQLrtR-U_Cr7Ie8LotqEHOerScpsT8MadaWWyjGUAqj2fZYi4CvmKbtmSgNdwNmcFvzxuaPG94K0c_DqDr5TlxnzN5EiC7P-wkJ_c5AaW/s1600/atemp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFy7cZxy0qmLV0eP4RtglzkYQz-DBQLrtR-U_Cr7Ie8LotqEHOerScpsT8MadaWWyjGUAqj2fZYi4CvmKbtmSgNdwNmcFvzxuaPG94K0c_DqDr5TlxnzN5EiC7P-wkJ_c5AaW/s320/atemp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So, um, hey. Not sure if anybody's still around since the last time I posted. But if you are, a quick summary of the last five years: I'm still brewing, though not nearly as frequently as I used to since it's getting harder to find eight consecutive weekend hours that aren't already booked. I mean, considering how long I kept brewing after having THREE kids, I had a good run, right?<br />
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Anyway, the reason I'm back... The lack of brewing has led me itching for something with a similar combination of art and science, but a significantly reduced time commitment. The one weekend when I was stomping around complaining that we were out of good bread, it hit me... Beer is liquid bread, right? So I guess that makes bread solid beer? Okay, that sounds kind of gross, but the reality is I love good, crusty bread and I'm getting tired of the two or three options at our local grocery store. So I've decided to give it a go!<br />
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Now the whole reason I started this blog was because I was bad at keeping paper records of my beers, and I wanted to be able to easily access old recipes, notes, etc. So for the time being, the reason I'm back is so I can do the same with my breads. Much like some of my early brews, I'm sure I'll look back in a few years and laugh at some of the things I did, but you gotta start somewhere, right?<br />
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So with all that being said, I'm now three loaves in (not as exciting as three beers in, but much more socially acceptable on a Saturday morning), and I'm happy to report that all three have been damn tasty. I've found two basic French bread recipes/methods that I really like--<a href="https://www.mymundaneandmiraculouslife.com/foodie-fridays-easy-peesy-french-bread/">this one</a> that only takes an hour and <a href="http://www.lifeasastrawberry.com/easy-crusty-french-bread/">this one</a> that takes two and a half--and so for now my plan is to stick to those methods and mess around with the ingredients for a while. Once I feel more comfortable with the various ingredients, I'll start getting more geeky with the baking side of things.<br />
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The first loaf I made was the 2.5-hour recipe, which is a boule (round loaf) baked in a dutch oven. I was really excited by how good it was (and the fact that I didn't screw it up). The ingredients are pretty straightforward (though very high percentage of water):<br />
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2.5 c / 300 g flour, 1.25 c / 300 g (100% <a href="https://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/bakers-percentage.html">baker's percentage</a>) water, 1.5 t. / 9 g (3%) kosher salt, 1 t. / 4 g (1.3%) sugar, 2.25 t. / 6.5 g (2.2%) active dry yeast<br />
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and the flavor profile is fairly neutral. Nothing mind-boggling, but great for toast (which is honestly how I eat about 90% of my bread).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgidp9WRUWZJRWsOs5BLkeYOwCxVxfaKTBEFHhp_VVRSolYvhTpbtDxmeVXui1NTAsp2qWxibTB51Q6wsUrk2xp0jopXnvTGmUaGhMd4JRr3cVCQIFjSN6VUH96B4JAXgxDXeI1/s1600/atemp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgidp9WRUWZJRWsOs5BLkeYOwCxVxfaKTBEFHhp_VVRSolYvhTpbtDxmeVXui1NTAsp2qWxibTB51Q6wsUrk2xp0jopXnvTGmUaGhMd4JRr3cVCQIFjSN6VUH96B4JAXgxDXeI1/s320/atemp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The crust is perfect--not too chewy, not too hard--and it's big enough for a couple meals but not so big that I'll feel the need to eat bread with every meal for three days so I don't have to throw half of it out.<br />
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The second loaf I made, the one-hour recipe, was also really good, which is awesome because it's so quick but didn't feel like I was sacrificing flavor for the sake of efficiency. The one-hour recipe is a Vienna-style loaf that has a somewhat thinner crust and is slightly larger. It's a tad sweeter and uses honey instead of sugar:<br />
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3.5 c / 420 g flour, 1.5 c / 360 g (86%) water, 1.5 t. / 9 g (2%) kosher salt, 1 T / 21 g (5%) honey, 1 T / 8.5 g (2%) active dry yeast<br />
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Again the water percentage is high, though not as high as the boule recipe. And Leah found the touch of sweetness gave the bread a touch more flavor than the first loaf.<br />
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So for my third loaf, I decided to adapt the recipe of the second loaf but for the first method (with the dutch oven). So here's what I came up with:<br />
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2.25 c / 270 g flour, 1.25 c / 300 g (110%) water, 1 t. / 6 g (2%) kosher salt, 2 t. / 14 g (5%) honey, 2.25 t / 6.5 g (2.5%) active dry yeast<br />
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In hindsight, it would seem I used too much water (I didn't actually calculate percentages until now) but somehow it still worked. I had to leave for hockey while it was rising so Leah actually baked it, and she reported that it was done about ten minutes quicker than it was supposed to. But I think the end result is pretty much what we were shooting for: the flavor of the second loaf with the crust of the first.<br />
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Looking back on the first three loaves, I think I'm most curious about the high water content and why it seems to be working. The general rule of thumb is 5:3 flour to water, and percentages above 75% are generally reserved for stuff like ciabatta and pizza dough. My breads are definitely on the rustic side, with decently large holes, but they don't strike me as different from any of the crusty breads I buy at the store. But I'm wondering if I should cut down a bit in future recipes.<br />
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Anyway, in the short term, I'd like to experiment with different types of flour. I bought some dark rye flour and would like to try making a dark rye boule. I'm also thinking of trying an unbleached wheat with a seeded crust. As much as I'm tempted to reduce the water, part of me figures if I've made three loaves I'm happy with I shouldn't mess around too much.<br />
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Additionally, I've got two ideas that are a little more outside-of-the-box. First, I'm thinking of trying to tweak the Vienna recipe into a cinnamon raisin bread. I may even try that later today. And second, I'm gonna do some research on making bagels since that seems fun.<br />
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Like my beer posts, I'll try to use this blog to keep a good record of my successes and failures for future reference. If any bakers out there have any thoughts or comments, I'm all ears!<br />
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<br />Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-68117875961784266132013-03-18T23:40:00.001-05:002013-03-18T23:43:52.594-05:00Brew day: Altostratus Franconian Dunkel and High Pressure Honey Bock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, finally catching up on my brew days... When I last took chisel to stone tablet, I was writing about my partigyle brew day where I ended up with <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2013/01/brew-day-stout-palooza.html">three stouts</a>. Before that, I had done a <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/brew-day-village-green-mild.html">split batch</a> where I steeped grains in the one kettle to yield both a light beer and a dark beer out of the same mash. While the brew day is now over two months old (Jan. 13th is when we brewed), today I'm going to look at a third approach for getting multiple beers out of one brew day: what I call quasigyle.<br />
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So, partigyle is where you collect the first and second runnings into two kettles, giving yourself a big beer (in my case an imperial stout) and a small beer (an oatmeal stout). Here I was thinking of getting both a Dunkel and a Bock out of a single mash, but the difference in gravity isn't as great as a partigyle. So my thought was to do what I've decided to call a quasigyle: collect the first gallon separately, then collect the rest as normal. Then once you have the gravity measured for both, you can decide how to split them up so that you hit your desired gravities. In my case, my initial recipe had a predicted gravity of 1056 and I was planning on a Dunkel around 1052 and a Bock around 1061. I was also planning on adding a pound and a half of honey to the secondary to bump it up to 1069.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Decoction!</td></tr>
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So how did it work out? Pretty well, overall. I did a double decoction, and... okay, so not everything went well. I figured out at the end of the day that my probe thermometer may have been off by as much as ten degrees, so to be honest I'm not sure what temperatures my decoction was at at any given time, but the idea was to mash in at 131°F, decoct to 158°F (allowing the decoction to rest at 148°F) and then decoct again to 168°F for mash-out. Who knows what really happened.<br />
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That being said, my quasigyle idea seemed to be a winner. My first gallon was at 1080. Due to poor record-keeping combined with my inability to get the right amount into each kettle, I'm not sure exactly how much wort I ended up with in each kettle. What I do know is that I collected roughly 11 gallons of wort overall, and the kettle that started with five gallons of the wort plus the gallon of first runnings (my honey Bock kettle) had a mixed pre-boil gravity of 1060. Doing some back-of-the-envelope calculations, I would estimate that my other kettle (the Dunkel)--and thus my total runnings after the first gallon, was at 1056 pre-boil. Since I was a little low on my volume for the Dunkel for some reason, I actually diluted with more water during the boil to keep it right around 1056. The Bock ended up at 1064. I chilled to around 60°F, let it chill further overnight, and aerated and pitched the next morning around 45°F. I let it rise to around 52°F.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnkjq7y_Lq073mAinsxmoIgtHxxL7yF8yLczVSgPq4sY8S7zU27Q1ohf4esf0Sel65smyWz7GJU2tBWvQpaUaXucvVsnL9ErWylM4zVsLcUkMg2tEF1k-IlE5F6_ZEOJe9XEv/s1600/honeybock.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnkjq7y_Lq073mAinsxmoIgtHxxL7yF8yLczVSgPq4sY8S7zU27Q1ohf4esf0Sel65smyWz7GJU2tBWvQpaUaXucvVsnL9ErWylM4zVsLcUkMg2tEF1k-IlE5F6_ZEOJe9XEv/s320/honeybock.png" width="244" /></a></div>
I added the honey to the Bock after primary fermentation was done. The Bock is still lagering; the Dunkel is on tap. Unfortunately, I'm thinking that the thermometer malfunction messed up my mash and the Dunkel ended up somewhat underattenuated (final gravity around 1020), though the aggressive hopping plus the higher-than-expected starting gravity actually made it turn out like a pretty decent Bockbier. I hope to keg the Honey Bock soon.<br />
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So there you have it... my quasigyle method. I'm actually thinking of employing it again sometime in the next month when I want to brew both a Maibock and a Helles from a single mash, with 20% rye for kicks. Hopefully that works out just as well--though with new, functioning thermometers.Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-86663337714185878712013-01-19T10:48:00.000-06:002013-01-20T22:14:05.331-06:00Brew day: Stout-A-Palooza<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHn0GlUS2umS5kUsEBfyuIjCwx6kh4kcVdk4EZ2U5Zz-5Tv5pKkR8kjZA-6ebXTtsBYXZ5x1PFNt7fAKj-6ctkonBw8irA0XayJcSMnSfBr5_pbki12QhdoxgnSq5OQtuv-HhO/s1600/putin2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHn0GlUS2umS5kUsEBfyuIjCwx6kh4kcVdk4EZ2U5Zz-5Tv5pKkR8kjZA-6ebXTtsBYXZ5x1PFNt7fAKj-6ctkonBw8irA0XayJcSMnSfBr5_pbki12QhdoxgnSq5OQtuv-HhO/s320/putin2.png" width="251" /></a>Having the capacity to brew ten gallons (as opposed to the standard 5-gallon batch) is great. The additional time and resources it takes to brew ten gallons instead of five is minimal, so for an extra hour and twenty dollars (rough estimate) you can end up with an extra keg of beer. The one problem is that, unless I'm brewing for a party or <i>really </i>like a beer, I'd prefer two different styles of beer out of a brew day. I have two kettles and two burners, and the ability to split the wort into two kettles naturally gives me a lot of variables to change between the two beers. </div>
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My first experiment with split batches is what I'll dub the split-and-steep method. Back in the spring, I brewed <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/brew-day-village-green-mild.html">ten gallons of light mild ale wort</a> and then split the wort into two kettles. The one kettle I finished like normal but in the second keg I steeped some chocolate and Carafa malts for about a twenty minutes to make a dark mild ale. The results were overall positive, though I suspect I might need to up the amount of steeped malts as compared to what I would normally use when added to the mash.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAL_lgmzf-xx6dKBhvZnVDOuNrLPci7tXDUFQ33SfGKc-19bDHZFedHoKmVoM4lVqTmXgMjENeOLVsU02zQuCMM2cwAH5NOqVAoZzw7_3b0CKGeLHJXQha2iwTEqWcGeKBf7B/s1600/C+Users+Russ+Brewing+Oglethorpe+Stout+nonemorebuzzed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAL_lgmzf-xx6dKBhvZnVDOuNrLPci7tXDUFQ33SfGKc-19bDHZFedHoKmVoM4lVqTmXgMjENeOLVsU02zQuCMM2cwAH5NOqVAoZzw7_3b0CKGeLHJXQha2iwTEqWcGeKBf7B/s320/C+Users+Russ+Brewing+Oglethorpe+Stout+nonemorebuzzed.jpg" width="246" /></a>Two Saturdays ago, I decided to experiment with a more traditional method of split-batches: parti-gyle brewing. I'm no expert, so feel free to correct me in the comments if I get a detail wrong, but my understanding is that this was fairly common in the English brewing tradition, and was also practiced by Trappist brewers. The idea is pretty simple: when you first start collecting wort, it's more concentrated than at the end. So if you collect the first half of your wort (or first third, depending on how high-gravity you want your first beer to be) into a different kettle than the rest, you're left with a strong beer and a small beer. A handful of commercial brewers still practice this: Anchor brews its Small Beer from the second runnings of its Old Foghorn Barleywine, and here in Chicago, Revolution has brewed a parti-gyle version of their Eugene porter, calling the strong beer Hugene and the small beer Weegene. You can also add more specialty grains to the mash when you're done collecting the first runnings to change the character somewhat.</div>
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(On a side note, last Sunday I tried a third method that I'll call quasi-gyle; I hope to post about that soon.)</div>
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My inspiration for this parti-gyle brew day was an imperial stout competition put on by Goose Island. I've been meaning to brew another batch of my None More Buzzed coffee stout, and when I read about the impy stout competition I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. Eventually I decided to pass on the competition but the idea lingered. I've also been toying with the idea of brewing a mole stout, so I realized I could blend some of the strong beer with some of the small beer to get a third batch of beer. So that's what I did.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8052/8355464358_ecdbf30095_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The Siberian weather will make the Russian imperial stout taste extra-authentic." border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8052/8355464358_ecdbf30095_z.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Yup, this is brewing in January in Chicago.</span></b></td></tr>
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The plan was fairly straightforward: simple infusion mash at 148°F; recipe predicted an original gravity of 1069, and <a href="http://www.astrocaver.com/java/Parti-Gyle.html">this calculator</a> predicted original gravities of 1092 and 1046, respectively, for each gyle. I only ran into one issue: I suspected at some point that my digital probe thermometer was off. By the time I found an analog one, I discovered that my mash had been sitting at around 130°F for 45 minutes. D'oh! I immediately transferred the mash to a kettle and direct-heat raised it to 150°F. (The next week I discovered that the analog thermometer may have been slightly off as well, so God only knows what I actually mashed in at.) I then let it rest for about 45 minutes before recirculating and sparging, collecting roughly 5.5 gallons of each figuring on 4.5 gallons post-boil.</div>
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Don't know if the long unintentional protein rest had anything to do with it, but I ended up with really good efficiency. I ended up with 4.25 gallons of imperial stout at 1100 and 5.75 gallons of oatmeal stout at 1056 (not sure how I ended up with the volume differential; I thought I collected the same amount in each kettle). I diluted the impy stout with a half gallon of bottled water to drop it to 1089 (since I was shooting for 1092) and pitched one packet of Nottingham dry yeast in the regular stout and two packets in the impy stout.</div>
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<a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8497/8357476277_79319df8ab_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8497/8357476277_79319df8ab_c.jpg" width="240" /></a>The fermentation took off like gangbusters. In fact, as you can see on the right, it made one hell of a mess; I estimate I lost a whole half gallon from the impy stout due to blow-off. Leah racked the impy stout to another carboy and the oatmeal stout to a keg last Sunday. I just checked last Wednesday and after ten days the impy stout was down to 1024 and the regular oatmeal stout was down to 1015. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4A7-WmCCZj0jc69b_GZ68fQwkAc3NwzzynFoSPwQvNVZDcw_dbwQYO19gQNUGNEA_SoPi6JL6fovmqhUtjuUc6MryIQuyv5Utk8H-hG7S-MaAYW6VqkAT2HPo-EvpgA7u_4Qj/s1600/buenastardes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4A7-WmCCZj0jc69b_GZ68fQwkAc3NwzzynFoSPwQvNVZDcw_dbwQYO19gQNUGNEA_SoPi6JL6fovmqhUtjuUc6MryIQuyv5Utk8H-hG7S-MaAYW6VqkAT2HPo-EvpgA7u_4Qj/s320/buenastardes.png" width="251" /></a>Next up I'm going to collect one gallon of the impy stout and two gallons of the oatmeal stout into a keg which will become my Buenas Tardes Amigo mole stout. For that beer, I'm planning on steeping some vanilla beans, cacao nibs, cinnamon sticks and ancho and guajillo in tequila based on the ratios in <a href="http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2009/11/breakfast-stout-riff.html">this Mad Fermentationist post</a> and adding that to the keg to taste. Next, I'll cold-steep whole coffee beans in the rest of the oatmeal stout to make my None More Buzzed coffee stout. Finally, I'm going to soak some vanilla beans in bourbon and add that to the impy stout, which I'm going to bottle condition, to make my Eби Путина vanilla Russian imperial stout (note on the name: according to my friend Shannon--or more specifically, her friend who's fluent in Russian--it's pronounced "Yebi Pootina" (first word-accent on "i", second word-accent on "oo")).</div>
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So yeah, I figure I'll get roughly three gallons of coffee stout, three gallons of mole stout and three gallons of vanilla imperial stout out of one brew day. Not bad, eh?<br />
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UPDATE (1/20): I currently have two concoctions steeping to add to the mole stout. One is a whole guajillo pepper and half of an ancho pepper (mostly de-seeded) steeping in three ounces of Lunazul reposado tequila. The second is 2 oz. of cacao nibs, two (old, somewhat dried out) vanilla beans and one and a half cinnamon sticks steeping in three ounces of the same tequila.</div>
Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-59782765930795185242013-01-12T10:33:00.002-06:002013-01-12T10:38:29.332-06:00A rolling loaf gathers no Kvass*<span style="font-size: x-small;">
*My apologies for the title. That might be my most tortured one yet.</span><br />
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So I have a few brewing updates that I need to get around to posting, but in the meantime I figured I'd post about something a little different... Kvass. What exactly is kvass? Well, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass">Wikipedia</a> describes it as follows: "Kvass is made by the natural fermentation of bread, such as wheat, rye, or barley, and sometimes flavoured using fruit, berries, raisins, or birch sap collected in the early spring." It's native to many parts of Eastern Europe and Russia, and while it's not really beer, it's close enough that a handful of U.S. breweries have dabbled in the style.<br />
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I had vaguely heard of kvass, but the few times I came across the beverage my interest wasn't exactly piqued... that is, until I heard my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/jennypfafflin">Jenny</a> mention she was making kvass for Christmas. Since I was working on my <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/11/brew-day-cloud-to-ground-weizenbock-and.html">Christmas Gose</a> at the time, I offered to trade her my Gose for some kvass and she gladly accepted. I don't know much about the process of making it except that it has a very short fermentation time, but after meeting Jenny and some other troublemakers at <a href="http://hopleaf.com/">Hopleaf</a> to swap bottles, I figured I would post some tasting notes here.<br />
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The first kvass (pictured above) was an orange and fig kvass. As you can see it pours cloudy like a turbid Hefeweizen. The nose was sweet like honey, but also with a an almost-harsh yeasty bite that I often get from homebrews which were under-pitched. I found the taste upon my first sip surprising: it was light and refreshing, similar to a fruit-flavored soda. It was not as sweet as a typical soft drink, but it also lacked the acidic bite, so it felt just as flavorful without being syrupy or overpowering. As for the flavor, I got a hint of bready sweetness, with a touch of rye spiciness, but the dominant flavor was sweet honey. There wasn't any tartness from the orange, so the soft, floral citrus notes of the orange melded with the brown sugar-like flavor of fig to taste like honey. The finish was well-balanced between tart and sweet and I did notice a rye flavor lingering in my mouth afterward. Overall it was very refreshing and something that definitely would make a nice alternative to a soft drink.<br />
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The second kvass was flavored with cranberry and sage. It was slightly more clear than the first kvass. Again, the nose reminded me of an under-pitched homebrew, though I didn't get the sweetness of the first kvass. The flavor was overall fairly similar though the honey flavor is much more subdued. It seems that the tartness of the cranberry doesn't come through the way the sweetness of the orange and fig did, though it's not necessarily a bad thing. Also, I didn't notice the sage up front, but together with the rye bread it gives a more pronounced herbal rye finish to the kvass.<br />
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I've definitely glad Leah and I got a chance to try these (thanks again, Jenny!). Overall, I found the kvass to be a very refreshing drink that could easily take the place of the overly-sweet soft drinks that are ubiquitous here in the States. Lately it seems that ethnic fermented beverages are starting to pop up more and more around Chicago (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepache">tepache</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha">kombucha</a> come to mind) yet I've never had a chance to actually try any until now. And I have to say that kvass has definitely got me curious to try more of these concoctions. Though I should add one disclaimer: never try Hansa Malzbier. It's <a href="http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/726/2174">vile</a>.</div>
Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-28748371008853836252012-11-22T20:25:00.002-06:002012-11-22T20:25:46.648-06:00Brew day: Cloud-to-Cloud Dunkelweizen and Cousin Larry's "Wheat" Dark Wheat Ale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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They say necessity is the mother of invention, and right now I need two things: beer to drink (preferably a darker style) and beer to potentially blend with our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/11/brew-day-cloud-to-ground-weizenbock-and.html">Christmas Gose</a> which is both more sour than anticipated and somewhat underattenuated (likely due to the low pH being less than ideal for yeast). We realized we could kill two birds with one stone by brewing a Dunkelweizen. However, I don't want my Christmas Gose to have a strong Weizen taste (i.e. overwhelming banana and/or clove flavors) so I didn't want to use a Hefeweizen yeast for all ten gallons. In the meantime, I recently picked up some <a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp002.html">WLP 002 English Ale</a> yeast so I figured if I used that for the five gallons to blend with the Gose I should get a fairly clean (though somewhat fruity) beer while at the same time making a starter for my next planned beer (a stout). Whatever I have left after blending I might dry hop with some British hops to create sort of a Weizenbock/mild ale hybrid. And thus Cousin Larry's "Wheat" was born (extra credit to those of you who get the reference, and I don't just mean the fact that Cousin Larry was a character in "Perfect Strangers").<br />
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A quick note on the recipe... I started out with a 60-40 wheat-to-Munich-malt ratio. Then I took a bit of a "clean out the cupboard" approach to the specialty malts, going with equal parts Caramunich III and pale chocolate malt because I had them on hand, and a touch of chocolate wheat malt. I also have been having issues with high final gravities lately and thus decided to go with a relatively low (by German standards) saccharification rest of 147°F to see if it would still taste malty but leave a drier finish.<br />
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Now on to the brew day... With time being a bit of an issue, I decided to skip my usual decoction schedule and instead go with a 15-minute ferulic acid rest at 108°F, the 147°F sacc rest for 40 minutes, and a mash-out at 165, using a combination of infusions and direct heat to reach each level. I boiled for 75 minutes with only one hop addition at the beginning of the boil. I was able to quickly chill the wort to around 62°F and pitched the English ale yeast into the 6.5-gallon carboy and my 850-mL starter of WLP Hefeweizen IV yeast into the two 3-gallon carboys. (I should add that I forgot my O2 canister was empty so I had to oxygenate through the old-fashioned shake method.) My original gravity came in at 1052.</div>
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On a side note, the last time I checked my Gose it was still over 1030, though as sour as it is the sweetness actually helped to keep it balanced. Stay tuned to learn the results of my blending experiment.</div>
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Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-27904262873140109392012-11-04T09:31:00.001-06:002012-11-04T10:40:57.816-06:00Novemberfest 2012 Line-Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We're now just under a week away from Novemberfest 2012. If you're like me, you'll be ready to celebrate the end of another dystopian presidential election cycle with a stiff drink. With that in mind, we've decided to feature two different Bocks (strong, malty German beers) as well as one lighter option for those of you who have to drive home. Here are the options you'll have to choose from (in addition to whatever surprises friends might show up with):<br />
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<b>Hail Shaft Pilsener</b> (4.7% ABV; 38 IBU's): Our lightest and hoppiest offering, this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilsner">Pilsener</a> is brewed in the <a href="http://www.byo.com/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/1504-the-beers-of-franconia">Franconian</a> tradition, which means that its noble hop backbone is balanced by a subtle maltiness (more similar to a <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style02.php#1b">Czech-style Pilsner</a> or <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style01.php#1e">Dortmunder Export</a>, as opposed to the dry Pilseners of northern Germany). It's an easy drinker to be sure, but that doesn't mean it's a boring beer by any means.<br />
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<b>Novemberfest Bockbier </b>(6.3% ABV; 27 IBU's): November is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bock">Bock</a> season in <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2007/11/germany-trip-recap-part-ii-bamberg.html">Bamberg</a>, so just as the Bavarians have their Bock-strength <a href="http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Festbier.html">Festbier</a> for Oktoberfest, we figured we'd do the same for Novemberfest. Our Bock has the maltiness of an Oktoberfest with a touch of <a href="http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Schwarzbier.html">Schwarzbier</a>-like roastiness. But don't let the dark color scare you... this beer's nothing like Guinness.<br />
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<b>Cloud-to-Ground Weizenbock</b> (7.5% ABV; 24 IBU's): We first brewed our <a href="http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Weizenbock.html">Weizenbock</a> for our inaugural Novemberfest back in 2005, and it was a big hit with those who could still remember drinking it the next morning. This one is a rich and complex beer... the malt gives chocolate, brown sugar and raisin notes while the yeast provides banana and clove. You can think of it as your dessert beer.<br />
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<b>Orange Blossom Special Orange Cream Soda </b>(0.0% ABV; 0 IBU's): For those of you who are designated drivers, pregnant, or otherwise not drinking, we'll also have our all-natural orange cream soda on tap. And if you want to booze it up a bit, you can always add a little bourbon or vanilla vodka to give it a kick.<br />
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So there you have it... Can't wait to see everybody Saturday!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-56810148242498884342012-11-02T19:47:00.000-05:002012-11-04T05:41:46.266-06:00Brew day: Cloud-to-Ground Weizenbock and Thunder Snow WeihnachtsgoseGather around, my son, and I shall tell you a tale...<br />
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Okay, so it's not THAT much of a tale, but it's certainly a bit of a deviation from my usual German-style brewing which, despite long brew days with step mashes and decoctions, is fairly routine (this time there's a reason I waited over three weeks to blog about a brew day that actually took place on Oct. 13th). Our Novemberfest party is coming up in a couple weeks, and in addition to our Pilsener and Novemberfest Bock (more on that in my next blog post), I decided to go with a <a href="http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Weizenbock.html">Weizenbock</a> for our third offering.<br />
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Meanwhile, a few weeks ago I came across <a href="http://www.imbibemagazine.com/Gose-Beer">this article</a> in Imbibe Magazine about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gose">Leipziger Gose</a> (a style I <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-eve-and-boxing-day-brew-day.html">brew</a> and <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/search?q=gose">blog about</a> regularly, if you're new to these parts). The article mentions that <a href="http://www.cascadebrewing.com/">Cascade Brewing</a> in Portland actually brews seasonal Goses. Now <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2011/07/brew-day-step-leader-hefeweizen-and.html">the last time I brewed a Gose</a> I did a split-batch where I made five gallons of Gose and five gallons of Hefeweizen from the same runnings, so it suddenly occurred to me: I could do a split-batch with my Weizenbock grain bill and make five gallons of strong, dark Gose that I could spice with Christmas spices to make a Christmas beer! (And for the record, dark Gose is not without precedent... The only Gose brewer still producing Gose in its hometown of Goslar makes a dark Gose which I blogged about here).<br />
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So, I had everything all planned out. The only trick was that, when I make my Gose, I inoculate it with wort with lactobacillus for a period of time before boiling, adding the hops and pitching. I've found between three and four days to be the sweet spot for getting the sourness I prefer out of a Gose (you want a sharp tang that is cut by the mineral quality of the salt addition, but you don't want it so sour that it's not drinkable). However, I've always brewed by Gose at around 1050. Would it sour at the same rate if it were at 1080 instead of 1050? Would it take longer in the same way that it takes yeast longer to ferment a stronger beer? And would the added gravity mean that I would need more acidity to get the same perceived sourness, in the same way that a higher-gravity beer needs more IBU's to have the same perceived bitterness?<br />
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Well, I was going to be mashing on Sunday, and Wednesday was the only day where I could come straight from work and do the boil, so it was going to inoculate for three days. If it wasn't sour enough, then so be it.<br />
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For the brew day I decided on a single decoction similar to what I used for our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/brew-day-step-leader-hefeweizen.html">Step Leader Hefeweizen</a>. I mashed in at 122°F and pulled an 18-qt. decoction which rested for 15 minutes at 160°F before boiling for a half hour. I returned it to the mash to raise it to 152°F. After a fifteen minute rest, I raised the mash using direct heat up to 159°F for another fifteen-minute rest. I then raised it up to 170°F for the mash-out. After a sparge of roughly an hour and a half I collected 11.5 gallons at 1065. Due to the size of my mash tun, I was planning on adding 5 lbs. of wheat malt extract to the boil, and 1065 was a bit over my pre-boil gravity estimate but under the amount of volume I wanted to collect, so I added a gallon of water to the boil.<br />
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I added five pounds of wheat malt and brought the wort to a fifteen-minute boil, I collected roughly six gallons, chilling to around 100°F with my plate chiller. The remaining six or so gallons were boiled for another hour with a single hop addition at 60 minutes. I added Irish moss around 15 minutes and chilled to around 72°F. I collected a half gallon in a growler into which I pitched an Activator pack of <a href="http://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=135">Wyeast Weihenstephaner Weizen yeast</a>. The rest I chilled overnight in my chest freezer to drop to around 60°F. To my surprise, I came ten gravity points above my target, hitting 1090. Yeah, that's a BIG Weizenbock. I added the active starter the next morning.<br />
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Into the other six-plus gallons I pitched a lactobacillus culture and I kept the carboy immersed in a hot water bath at between 100 and 115°F for three days. Wednesday evening I returned the wort to the brew kettle and this is where things got interesting... I took a sample to measure the acidity and my pH meter read 2.5! Now I must confess that my pH meter is rather cheap and, while I calibrated it, it's probably been six months since I've used it so the probe may be bad. However, I took pH readings of a lager I have on tap, tap water, and some fresh cider, and each reading was consistent with the range predicted by various online sources. And when I tasted it, it really seemed about as tart as lemonade.<br />
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Anyway, I added hops and 10g of various salts (grey sea salt, pink sea salt and kosher salt) and boiled for sixty minutes. After the boil, I chilled to around 72°F and ended up with about 4.5 gallons of wort at 1084. It also still had an acidity of 2.5. Concerned that yeast wouldn't actually ferment at that high of an acidity, and having a crazy high gravity, I figured I could dilute with water and Kräusen (i.e. the actively-fermenting Weizenbock), but an online calculator indicated that would only get me to 2.6 (damn logarithmic scale!). But I decided to add roughly 3/4 gallons of water and 3/4 gallons of Kräusen anyway just to give the yeast a bit of a head start. And sure enough, it was going 24 hours later.<br />
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So what's the situation now? Well, I kegged both beers this past Sunday. I took a gravity reading of each and found the Weizenbock was still around 1030 and the the Gose was closer to 1050. As such, when I kegged I left the release valves open. Sure enough, the next day Kräusen was spewing out of the release valve of the Gose keg. The Gose was also interesting because it had a strong peach-like flavor; gonna be curious to see if the acidity leads to odd flavors from the over-strained yeast. I'll check the gravity of each again in a couple days.<br />
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I guess the moral of the story for now is that yeast is pretty damn resilient. How will the Gose turn out? Not sure, but worst case scenario, if it's too sweet for my taste I'll just brew up a batch of Dunkelweizen (or possible an amber wheat with a neutral yeast strain) and blend. Either way, it should be a Christmas beer to remember.<br />
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EDIT (11/4/12): Checked the gravity of each beer last night... The Weizenbock was down to around 1028 and the Gose around 1042. I diluted the Weizenbock with a half-gallon of bottled water to drop the OG to 1080 and the FG to 1024.Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-66721172117376516052012-10-07T11:48:00.001-05:002012-10-07T11:49:37.158-05:00(Belated) Brew Day: Hail Shaft Pilsener<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, I just realized that I never got around to posting about my last brew day. Three weeks ago I brewed one of my favorite styles: Pilsener. Yeah, some people think Pilseners are boring. I suppose it's true that there are plenty of mediocre ones out there--and that's not even counting beers like Miller Lite that call themselves Pilseners but are anything but. Nonetheless, a well-brewed Pilsener is a thing of beauty, and if certain breweries want to dismiss it as "fizzy yellow beer" (I'm looking at you, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=stone+brewing+fizzy+yellow+beer&oq=stone+brewing+fizzy+yellow+beer&sugexp=chrome,mod=19&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">Stone</a>) then that just means more for me.<br />
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Anyway, I suppose one of the reasons I had forgotten to post about the brew day is that nothing too crazy happened. I did a rather simple step mash, starting at 130°F for a half hour and then using direct heat to raise the temp up to 148°F. After another half hour, I mashed out at 168°F (though I initially overshot by a few degrees; hopefully I didn't leach any tannins).<br />
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A quick note about the step mash... The last time I did direct heat to raise a mash temp, I ended up scorching the mash (which oddly enough left a smoky flavor that was actually quite similar to what you get with smoked malt). Using direct heat, you need two burners (one for your mash tun and one for your brew kettle), and that time I used my old burner which was clogged on one side, which meant all the heat was being applied to roughly a third of the bottom of the kettle. Since then I bought a new second burner and, with the heat evenly applied, I didn't have any scorching issues while raising roughly twenty pounds of grain at a rate of roughly 2°F per minute.<br />
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Usually I do a 90-minute boil for brews that are heavy on the Pilsener malt, but after talking to several brewers familiar with Best Malz Pilsener malt (including <a href="http://www.metrobrewing.com/brewery/doug.html">Doug Hurst of Metropolitan Brewing</a>, who brews the excellent Flywheel Bright Lager) I decided to go with a 75-minute boil this time. I did my usual method of spreading out the bittering hop additions, adding hops at both 75 minutes and 60 minutes, as well as late hop additions at 5 minutes and flame-out. At some point I'd like to make a hopback for aroma hops, since I find that with a plate chiller I get little hop aroma even at flame-out. For now, though, I added a whole ounce of Tettnang for each of the late-hop additions so I'm curious to see how it turns out.<br />
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A couple final notes... I forgot to write down my O.G., but I seem to recall that it was within a point of my target of 1046, so I'll assume that's what it was. Also, I jokingly called it a "Chicago-style Pilsener" on Facebook, and here's why... First of all, people often fuss with their brewing water, but Pilsener is a good example of how, traditionally, the water informed the style and not the other way around. With <a href="http://qcbeerguy.blogspot.com/2011/10/german-pilsner-pils-2a.html">German-style Pilseners</a>, you get harsher, hoppier Pilseners up north because their water is harder. Unless I'm specifically trying to emulate a Czech-style Pilsener (like I did <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2011/06/brew-day-wizard-of-saaz-czech-style.html">last year</a>), I just use Chicago city water and allow that to help define the flavor profile of my beer. The second thing that makes it Chicago-style is that I was a little short on Pilsener malt, so I ended up using a grain bill that included Munich malt (10%), Carafoam (5%) and wheat malt (5%). None are completely out of place in a Pilsener (well, I suppose technically the wheat is) but it's the random inclusion of all three that leads me to declare it something other than a German-style Pils. So Chicago-style it is!<br />
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And with all that said, it's time for me to keg the Pilsener. Prost!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-51195580510059894142012-08-26T10:22:00.004-05:002012-08-26T10:26:19.525-05:00Brew day: Hoar Frost Oktoberfest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's about that time again, so last week we brewed our Hoar Frost Oktoberfest. I recently bought a second burner so that I can easily do step mashes and decoctions, and for this brew I definitely wanted to do a decoction. However, I was also pressed for time, as I was taking my 3-year-old to his first Bears game later that evening. For those who don't know, decoctions involve removing a portion of the mash (the decoction mash) and boiling it before returning it the rest mash, and this can be a long process--especially if you're doing a traditional triple decoction. So this gave me a chance to think about decoctions and mash schedules and how to strike a balance between tradition and efficiency.<br />
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Hardly any American breweries employ decoctions (or even step mashes, for that matter) and many question if they're even necessary with today's highly-modified malts. In a perfect world, I'd love to brew side-by-side batches--one using a complex mash schedule, and one using a simple infusion--to really taste the difference. Unfortunately, there are so many other variables when brewing on a homebrew scale that even if I had the time to do this it would be hard to determine if perceived differences were due to the concoction or other things. Regardless, German brewers stubbornly continue to use step mashes and decoctions despite economic incentives to ditch the method, so I'll stubbornly continue to follow their lead.<br />
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Now, while I may be a traditionalist at heart, I'm still open to <i>some </i>concessions to efficiency. That generally means doing a double decoction instead of a triple one (this omits the <a href="http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14-2.html">acid rest</a>, a rest done around 90°F to lower the pH of the mash, but these days you can easily manage mash pH with the addition of acid blend). My understanding is that many German brewers these days go with a double decoction instead of a triple for that reason. However, if I want to further streamline my brew day, there are still plenty of questions about whether a protein rest is necessary these days, and if I ditch the protein rest and mash in at my sacc rest temperature, I can get away with a single decoction.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My awesome new cinder block brew stand.</i></td></tr>
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However, one of the reasons step mashes and decoctions get malt complexity is because they move back and forth through different beta- and alpha-amylase ranges, and if I just mashed in at, say, 152°F and then did a decoction up to a mash-out temp, you'd lose all that. I figure you might as well just do an infusion mash then (especially since I rarely mash out anyway).<br />
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But reading Darryl Richman's Classic Beer Style series book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bock-Classic-Beer-Style-Series/dp/093738139X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345992322&sr=8-3&keywords=bock">Bock</a>, I noted that German brewers would use a lower rest temperature for the thinner rest mash and then use a higher rest temperature for the decoction. That way you're moving through the beta- and alpha-amylase ranges in your decoction to get some nice malt complexity (along with the Maillard reactions that come with the decoction itself), but you're really only adding about 45 minutes to your brew day. It's essentially the double decoction employed by many German brewers, but it omits the <a href="http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14-4.html">protein rest</a>.<br />
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So, short story long, that's what I ended up doing. I did a fairly thin mash at 2 quarts per gallon and mashed in at 147°F. I then pulled a relatively thick 18-qt. decoction mash and raised it to 158°F. I held it there for 20 minutes and then boiled it for 15 minutes. I added it back to the rest mash over a five-minute period, which ended up actually overshooting my 168°F target for mash-out by about four degrees. Some vigorous stirring got the temp back under 170° fairly quickly.<br />
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After collecting my 12.5 gallons of wort, I did a 90-minute boil with hop additions at 90, 60 and 45 minutes. I added Irish moss at 15 minutes. After chilling, I collected about 11 gallons and was shocked to find my O.G. at 1063. My target was 1056. 84% efficiency? I'll take it. Anyway, I threw the carboys in the chest freezer overnight to bring them temp down around 48°F and aerated and pitched the next morning. On a side note, I pitched a slurry that I collected from my Schwarzbier. It's my first experience with yeast-washing and it seemed to work well. The next day it was fermenting like crazy!<br />
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Oh, one last thing I should note... When I'm bringing the wort to a boil, I usually throw a probe digital thermometer in there and set the alarm to go off around 210°F so I can make sure to pay close attention and avoid boil-over. Much to my dismay, my thermometer read around 215°F when it finally came to a boil. I'm really hoping that doesn't mean I was off three degrees on my mash temps. So let this be a lesson to everybody... calibrate your instruments regularly! Hopefully my beer won't turn out too thin, but if it does I suppose I'll know why.Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-60997110302457853292012-07-31T18:44:00.001-05:002012-07-31T18:49:26.267-05:00Brew day: Bear's Cage Schwarzbier and Incredibly Deep Doppelschwarzbock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's about time for our crazy late-summer brewing blitz (as we have to brew for our homebrew club's Oktoberfest, our church's Oktoberfest and our own Novemberfest party). To get things started, on Sunday I brewed one of my favorite beers: our Bear's Cage Schwarzbier. Leah and the kids are visiting her parents up in Michigan, so I didn't have my usual helpers. Fortunately my good friend Marta was happy to come over and give me a hand.<br />
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Now, before I get to the brew day, a quick note on the "Doppelschwarzbock" (yes, I made up that style). My buddy Brent got one of those make-your-own-whiskey kits and gave me the 2-liter barrel when he was done. I decided to take the first runnings of the Schwarzbier, boil it separately with twice the hopping rate of the regular Schwarzbier, and ferment it in a growler. When it's done it'll go in the barrel for about a month.<br />
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As for the recipe, last time I brewed my Schwarzbier I decided to test the limits of Carafa III, going with a full pound for ten gallons. This time I went with 3/4 of a pound and only added 4 ounces to the mash, reserving the other half pound for a cap (adding it to the top of the mash when recirculating).<br />
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I stuck with a simple infusion mash, hitting my target temperature of 149°F. After an hour-long mash, I recirculated for about fifteen minutes and then sparged for roughly an hour and fifteen minutes. My first half-gallon collected weighed in at a hefty 1.094. The remaining ten gallons hit 1.060 (a bit over my target of 1.052) but as usual my yield was way low so I'll dilute with another gallon of water which should bring it right around 1.052.<br />
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I did three bittering hop additions (Magnum and American Saaz at 90, 60 and 45 minutes) and Marta took care of the late hop additions (Saaz and Tettnang) at 10 minutes, 5 minutes and knockout. Later Sunday night I boiled the half-gallon of first runnings for 90 minutes, doing the same hop additions but at double the rate per volume. Unfortunately my kitchen scale only goes down to intervals of 0.05 ounces, and many of my additions were 0.05 or 0.10 ounces, so the exact hop rates are a bit of a crap shoot, but hopefully it turns out halfway decent (I just want enough bitterness to keep it from being cloying).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wort wagon!</i></td></tr>
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I chilled to roughly 70°F and then threw the carboys (and the growler of Doppelschwarzbock) in my chest freezer overnight to get them down to 50°F. I aerated and pitched yesterday morning, and this morning there were early signs of fermentation.<br />
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So part one of my fall beers is out of the way (at least the brewing part). Next up will be our Oktoberfest. Damn, I'm ready for fall...Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-56692969558612083822012-06-30T08:02:00.000-05:002012-06-30T10:16:19.592-05:00Brew day: Saison D'Etre<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back in the dark ages, before Leah and I had kids, Leah brewed her first solo beer--a Saison that we called "Saison D'Etre"--and she ended up winning third place in her category in the <a href="http://queenofbeer.hazeclub.org/QOB05Results.html">2005 Queen of Beer competition</a>.<br />
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Fast forward to 2012. In a week we're having a joint birthday party for my oldest daughter (who's turning 6), my youngest daughter (who's turning 2) and my sister's two boys (she's due with her third in about a month, so we figured we would spare her the chore of throwing a birthday party while over eight months pregnant). However, due to poor planning (and the fact that the <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/06/brew-day-cooler-by-lake-roggenkolsch.html">Roggenkölsch</a> we brewed a few weeks ago is earmarked for a block party) we found ourselves in need of beer with only two weeks between our one available brew day and the party.<br />
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What could we brew that quickly? I have two go-to beers when I need something quick (our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/brew-day-step-leader-hefeweizen.html">Step Leader Hefeweizen</a> and our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/brew-day-village-green-mild.html">Village Green Mild Ale</a>) but we've brewed both of those recently. Thinking of other options that are quick but also fairly accessible for non-beer-geeks, I suddenly remembered the Saison that Leah brewed. Perfect! Unfortunately, I didn't have the recipe handy (it was brewed when we were still doing extract batches and so I don't have records in Beersmith) but I decided to modify my gluten-free <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2009/11/gluten-free-brew-day-piper-at-gates.html">Piper at the Gates Saison</a>, which I thought turned out pretty tasty. I also decided to simplify the spices, going with coriander, ginger and black pepper.<br />
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Compared to the multi-step, 90-minute-boil German beers I've been brewing lately, the brew day itself was a breeze. One 60-minute infusion at 146°F and a 60-minute boil. I yielded 10.5 gallons of wort at 1.060 (overshooting my target by two points). The only thing that slowed me down was that something clogged the pump a bit which led to a slower-than-usual flow through my plate chiller. It was a fairly hot day so I was only able to chill to around 70°F. I wanted to pitch cool and allow for a natural rise so I threw the beer in my chest freezer set to 60°F and didn't pitch until later that night.<br />
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I had fermentation the next morning with the ambient temperature around 64°F. Three days later I moved the beer up to our bedroom which is around 72°F (according to a refrigerator thermometer I have, though I'm skeptical because our thermostat was reading 76°F the other day and our bedroom is the hottest room in the house). I'm thinking of moving the beer to our closet (which is even hotter than the rest of our bedroom, as it abuts our attic) for the rest of fermentation, which I'm guessing will bring it closer to 80°F. Supposedly the yeast I used--WLP 566 Saison II--<a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp566.html">can take higher temps</a>, and obviously I want it to finish as quickly as possible. I guess we'll see how it turned out in a week!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-74127080658486410332012-06-24T10:25:00.002-05:002012-06-24T10:26:56.398-05:00Brew day: Cooler By The Lake Roggenkölsch<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLNgFzX-HItW0zwCBwzG74JoPOYeU2seeHo3gLnpQL3xD0xf1NpgkrE_Fb1DpN5wl_U3CixrvKP33IFusnhgUfojngABuINPg3UBoNBblgW5bcf2LMRqkqyw0ZiqIVc1f4wcs/s1600/roggenkolschlabel.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLNgFzX-HItW0zwCBwzG74JoPOYeU2seeHo3gLnpQL3xD0xf1NpgkrE_Fb1DpN5wl_U3CixrvKP33IFusnhgUfojngABuINPg3UBoNBblgW5bcf2LMRqkqyw0ZiqIVc1f4wcs/s320/roggenkolschlabel.jpg" width="251" /></a>
So I'm actually a full brew day behind with the blog (yesterday we brewed a Saison which I hope to post about some time this week) but this time I had a good reason... I ran into some difficulties with my last brew, a Kölsch-style ale brewed by rye which I'm calling a Roggenkölsch, and I wanted to see how it was tasting after primary before writing about it. Yesterday I kegged the Roggenkölsch (exactly two weeks after the brew day) and now it's time to do a postmortem...<br />
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As a bit of a back-story, a couple months ago I did my first direct-heated step mash, <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/brew-day-step-leader-hefeweizen.html">a Hefeweizen</a> that actually combined direct heat and a decoction. The big concern I had read about with step-mashing is scorching, but generally I read that if you heat no faster than 2°F per minute scorching shouldn't be an issue. It wasn't, and the beer came out pretty amazing. With this beer, I wanted to do a <a href="http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14-4.html">beta-glucan rest</a> because I was using over 20% rye, and for a ten-gallon batch there was no practical way to bump up from 95°F to 143°F using an infusion given the size of my mash tun, so I figured I would use direct heat again. Worked the first time, right?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5XeHI6nR4SpKsi1wZj3Kxs-kwFnxqFNK155Tw-E4qSjZ_hE_VKcrgOYWFbPPhdMJRwlaK9ngBubdiyof55UmgLFB7Yk86tibVSqZo_F7_prCSObQaxtf5Fx9T4JTkjtCD4Qyf/s1600/mash.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5XeHI6nR4SpKsi1wZj3Kxs-kwFnxqFNK155Tw-E4qSjZ_hE_VKcrgOYWFbPPhdMJRwlaK9ngBubdiyof55UmgLFB7Yk86tibVSqZo_F7_prCSObQaxtf5Fx9T4JTkjtCD4Qyf/s320/mash.jpg" width="240" /></a>Well, about ten minutes into raising the temp from 95°F to 143°F, I started to notice a very slight burnt smell. I was really hoping it was the spiciness of the rye, but I was concerned it was scorching. At that point, it was too late to do much about it, so I proceeded with the brew day. After the 20-minute beta-glucan rest, I raised the mash to 143°F for a half hour and then up to 160°F for another 15 minutes. I collected around 12.5 gallons which boiled down to 10.5 after a 90-minute boil. I ended up four gravity points above my target (1.052 instead of 1.048). I chilled and pitched at 60°F with a slurry of German ale yeast courtesy of <a href="http://www.metrobrewing.com/">Metropolitan Brewing</a> (makers of the excellent <a href="http://www.metrobrewing.com/beers/index.html">Krankshaft Kölsch</a>).<br />
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When I started to clean the mash tun, I discovered scorching on about a quarter of the bottom of the kettle. Crap. How could I have gotten scorching when I didn't have any issues with the Hefe? It took me a couple days before I realized the obvious: I only brewed five gallons with the Hefe, whereas I brewed ten gallons with the Roggenkölsch. And I think I could do 2°F/hour with a good burner, but I use my old burner for the mash, and that one has half the gas holes clogged so the heat is concentrated on about a third of the kettle. As such, I'm now thinking of getting a second <a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/blichmann-floor-burner.html">Blichmann burner</a> so that I can get even heating and hopefully direct-heat 20+ lbs. of grain efficiently without scorching.<br />
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So anyway... how did the beer actually turn out? Here's the weird thing. It doesn't taste burnt (thank goodness) but at 60°F there's a very slight smoked flavor. It almost reminds me of the <a href="http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/263/29145">Schlenkerla Helles</a>. I actually like it quite a bit, though I'm hoping it will be more muted when carbonated and at serving temp, since it's for a friend's block party. In the meantime, I'm gonna start saving my pennies for another burner. As much as step mashes make for a longer brew day, I really think the results speak for themselves.Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-68550024542946646112012-06-13T20:52:00.003-05:002012-06-13T20:55:18.695-05:00In which I make tonic syrup (solely to ward off malaria, of course)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So as I've noted before, we have a four-tap kegerator in our basement, and one of those four taps is reserved for a non-alcoholic offering. More often than not, that non-alcoholic offering is either root beer or seltzer water. Now as much as Leah and I love beer, we also enjoy other alcoholic beverages from time to time, and one of our favorite non-beer drinks is the good ol' gin and tonic. Lately a few premium tonic waters have popped up on the market, and while they're definitely better than Schweppes, they're also pretty damn expensive. So I figured, if I already have seltzer on tap, why not make my own tonic syrup? <br />
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Sure enough, a quick google search yielded two fairly simple recipes, with the <a href="http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2008/how-to-make-your-own-tonic-water/">second</a> being a derivative of the <a href="http://www.imbibemagazine.com/Homemade-Tonic-Water-Recipe">first</a>. It seems the basic ingredients are pretty simple: cinchona bark (from which the bitter, signature quinine is derived), a sweetener, and a little acid (possibly for a preservative; possibly to invert the sugar to avoid crystalizing). Beyond that, the one used a little lime and lemongrass for aromatics, and the other used a few more ingredients.<br />
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The big question for me was which aromatics I wanted to use. Part of me thought the aromatics are where I can really have some fun and make it a unique tonic. But at the same time, I thought about the drink's purpose as a mixer, and since I enjoy trying different types of gin, I didn't want to create something that would compete with the gin's flavors or only complement certain brands of gin. Initially I considered using no aromatics at all, but in the end I decided that for my first attempt I would go with the more basic recipe using just lime and lemongrass.<br />
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Well, I ran into one small problem: I couldn't find lemongrass. Yeah, I know Asian markets are supposed to be the best place to find it, but I didn't have time to run out to one so I had to go with a plan b. Some cooking guides suggested lemon zest and ginger could somewhat replicate the flavor of lemongrass, so I decided to go with that. And then, thinking about how lemongrass is a stalk, I decided that I wanted something "green" tasting to add as well, so I picked up a cucumber. So much for my idea of keeping things simple.<br />
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Finally, I had to decide on what sweetener to use. One commercial brand of tonic uses cane sugar; the other uses agave syrup. My favorite sweeteners are turbinado sugar, honey and maple syrup. Maple seemed too distinct for making tonic, so I decided to use 50% turbinado sugar and 50% honey for my recipe.<br />
Putting it all together, here's the recipe I came up with:<br />
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1 cup water<br />
1/2 cup turbinado sugar<br />
1/2 cup honey<br />
1/2 lime (sliced into four pieces)<br />
zest of one very small lemon<br />
1/8 tsp. fresh ginger<br />
2 inches of the end of a cucumber, cubed<br />
1/2 tsp. cinchona bark<br />
1 tsp. lactic acid<br />
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I started by combining the sugar, honey and water and heating until dissolved. Then I added the cinchona bark and other ingredients and simmered for 15 minutes. After that, I poured the whole mixture in a large French press to filter it. The French press doesn't get the bark (as it's a fine powder) and some suggest filtering through coffee filters but that would seem to take FOREVER and I found that it was barely noticeable. I figured after a day or two in the fridge it would settle out anyway.<br />
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So how were the results? Pretty damn good overall! The first tricky thing was finding a good balance of syrup, seltzer and gin. I found 1 tablespoon (1/2 oz.) <span class="il">tonic</span> syrup, 1.5 oz. gin and 2 oz. seltzer to be a good ratio (I mix the syrup and gin together and then top it off with an equal amount of seltzer). Now that being said, I do think that it was a bit on the sweet side, so next time I may cut down on the sugar and honey and up the cinchoa bark just a bit. But I was really happy with the aromatics. I think they all gave the syrup some depth but no single flavor was overpowering. They blended very well with <a href="http://gincitadelle.com/">Citadelle gin</a> (a fairly traditional, reasonably-priced French gin) and I'm going to try it with <a href="http://www.northshoredistillery.com/gin6.htm">North Shore Modern Gin</a> next. <br />
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So there you have it... A fun little project for those of you looking to pass the time between brew days. If anybody else tries this recipe (or one similar to it) I'd love to hear how yours turns out, or any suggestions you may have.Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-66353850106660289362012-05-10T21:51:00.001-05:002012-05-10T21:51:13.364-05:00So, about Sam Adams' Gose...If you're one of the six people that regularly read this blog, you know that one of my brewing obsessions is an obscure soured wheat beer from eastern Germany called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gose">Gose</a>. It was originally brewed in the small town of Goslar, but migrated to nearby Leipzig. I would say there are four elements that define a Gose: (1) it's roughly 50% wheat, (2) it's sour, and it's brewed with (3) salt and (4) coriander. It also nearly went extinct when East Germany fell into communist hands, and today (well, at least as of a couple years ago) only three German breweries--two in Leipzig and one in Goslar--produce it.<br />
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Given the rarity of the style, I was quite surprised when I learned a couple months ago that <a href="http://www.samueladams.com/">Samuel Adams</a> would be brewing Verloren Gose as a one-off release. Now, ordinarily I don't review commercial beers on my blog. However, since for most Americans this will be their introduction to the style, and I'm probably one of a handful of American bloggers who have actually tried all three German Goses (two of them <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2007/11/germany-trip-recap-part-i-leipzig.html">while visiting Leipzig</a>), I wanted to share my thoughts on this particular beer. So here it goes...<br />
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As I poured the beer into my glass, I noticed it's slightly darker than traditional German Goses--more of a honey color than the pale Hefeweizen-like shade of other Goses. It's effervescent with a quickly-dissipating head. Surprisingly, the beer almost looks like it's filtered (I had to hold it up to a light to conclude that it's slightly opaque rather than clear), whereas German Goses are noticeable cloudy like a Hefeweizen.<br /><br />
Sticking my nose in the glass and taking a deep breath, the smell actually reminds me of <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/04/final-analysis-gust-front-leipzig-style.html">our Gose</a>. Floral notes, almost cider-like, intermingling with a slight herbal aroma from noble hops and the coriander, along with a slightly-grainy sweetness. German Goses have more yeast character, but obviously you won't get that out of a filtered beer.<br /><br />My big surprise came when I took a sip. The beer is very clean; there's no sourness to speak of. You get a bit of salt up front, not necessarily briny but definitely noticeable. It's not terribly malty, though the wheat is noticeable. It finishes dry and moderately hoppy (at least by German wheat beer standards). The salt and coriander combine for an almost-soap-like quality in the finish. After a second sip, and then a third, the salt becomes more prominent. I might need to reconsider my initial thought that it isn't briny.<br />
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Four sips in, I'm not sure if I want to finish it. Leah (who probably loves Gose even more than I) told me she's dumping the rest of her glass. While I could nitpick about little things, there are two huge problems here. First, IT'S NOT SOUR. You don't brew a beer that's not hoppy and call it an IPA. You don't brew a beer that's not roasty and call it a stout. You don't brew a beer that's not sour and call it a Gose. And second, salt was initially added to Leipziger Gose to emulate the mineral quality of the water in Goslar. I've found that the saltiness also works to balance out the sourness--the more sour the beer, the more salt you can add. But without any sourness, it just tastes salty.<br />
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All in all, I don't understand how Sam Adams can call this a Gose. I understand if they don't want to mess with souring their beers (though they do brew a lambic), but if you don't want to sour the beer then don't call it a Gose. And beyond that, this just isn't a good beer. With no sourness and no maltiness, the salt becomes a one-trick pony, and not a good one. So to those of you out there who try this and recoil in disgust, please don't judge the style by this example. And to those of you out there who are thinking of brewing a Gose, please don't turn to this for guidance. I've always thought of Sam Adams as a brewery that doesn't always brew amazing beers, but always turns out solid beers that fit the style. This Verloren Gose is making me reconsider that thought.<br />
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<br />Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-8254492949511598772012-04-30T20:22:00.002-05:002012-04-30T20:23:30.140-05:00Brew day: Step Leader Hefeweizen<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSCbT5XGwEudlceCfI4pJwg3NrIXgenS57j9mHJc2Qwku2CrAtVBkWnp0ajhi_P58kAwVJwL9B5APfBaoe95CCRg2rybEOcM2VLV5kgTBCGIRDRIZII8yQWf-bJcRXbkM6_uVf/s1600/chibebrauhefe.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSCbT5XGwEudlceCfI4pJwg3NrIXgenS57j9mHJc2Qwku2CrAtVBkWnp0ajhi_P58kAwVJwL9B5APfBaoe95CCRg2rybEOcM2VLV5kgTBCGIRDRIZII8yQWf-bJcRXbkM6_uVf/s320/chibebrauhefe.gif" width="251" /></a>The next month is gonna be crazy busy for us. A trip to Brooklyn, Mother's Day, Beerfly Alleyfight, a wedding, Memorial Day weekend... There's not a free weekend day in sight. So with that in mind, I decided to take advantage of our last weekend staying at home for the next month by brewing up a quick batch of Hefeweizen. Now we've brewed our Step Leader Hefeweizen plenty of times. Our first beer ever was an extract batch of Hefe, and we even brewed a Hefe to hand out when our third child, Lily, was born. However, this time I was ready to take the next step and use a direct-fire mash tun to do an authentic, Bavarian-style mash schedule.<br />
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When it comes to heating mashes, there are all sorts of acronymed methods you can employ (RIMS, HERMS, etc.). However, I've read that if you're using a mash tun that can be direct-fired, you can keep your mash temperature fairly consistent by simply pumping the wort out the outlet valve and back up to the top of the mash using a hose. I decided to try this simple method and see what happens. As for the mash schedule, well it was right out of Eric Warner's Classic Beer Style series book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/German-Wheat-Classic-Style-Series/dp/0937381349">German Wheat Beer</a>: mash in around 100°F, direct heat it to 122°F for a 25-minute rest, decoct roughly two gallons for a half hour, return that to get the mash up to around 147°F, let it sit there for 15 minutes, direct heat it to 160°F for 15 minutes, then direct heat it to 170°F for the mash-out.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7212/7121955027_0b93c341a6_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7212/7121955027_0b93c341a6_z.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dorrie helps mash in...</td></tr>
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So did everything go according to plan? Well, for the most part, yes. I mashed in at a 2.5 quarts water per pound of grain ratio (crazy high by my own experience, but fairly typical for German brewers) and quickly found that I no longer need to overestimate what Beersmith tells me for a strike temp when I'm heating the water in the actual mash tun. The pump worked fine for recirculating and I didn't notice any scorching issues with my false bottom. With my crappy old burner turned three quarters of the way open it raised the mash temps around 2°F per minute, which is recommended. I did have a little issue with getting a uniform reading even with stirring the mash fairly frequently; I'm thinking I should focus more on stirring well right before each rest. I didn't really run into issues with the temperature climbing after reaching a target temp, but that may have partly had to do with the fact that it was a very cool day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7101/7121957223_99bc4c2298_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7101/7121957223_99bc4c2298_z.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and Jonas helps stir the mash.</td></tr>
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The one time I did run into a problem of overshooting my temp it was during the mash-out, when I climbed to 176°F. The lesson: pay closer attention when I'm busy setting up my hoses to sparge. Hopefully I won't notice any issues with tannins. I also ran out of sparge water a little early (collecting only 6.6 gallons instead of 7); perhaps the kettle plus the decoction meant extra evaporation. Oh, and it turns out I should still decoct around 50% more grain than Beersmith recommends even with the ability to direct-heat... When I returned my 9-quart decoction it only raised my mash temp to around 133 instead of the target of 147.<br />
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I did a 90-minute boil and ended up collecting 4.6 gallons of Hefe at 1.069 (yes, still trying to dial in my evaporation rates) which I diluted to 5.6 gallons at 1.053. I aereated and pitched a 500mL starter of <a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp380.html">WLP 380 </a>Hefeweizen IV yeast. Unfortunately, my chest freezer had previously been set to 34°F and while I left it open for a little while it apparently was still quite cold because 18 hours later there was still no fermentation and when I took a temperature reading it was at 59°F. My plan was to start at 62°F and up it two degrees each day to 68°F.<br />
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I left the chest freezer open for most of the evening and fermentation began about 24 hours after pitching at 60°F. This morning it was up to 62°F (which the chest freezer thermostat was still set to) but now it's already up to 66°F! So much for my plan of slowly ramping up! Oh well, I guess we'll see what kind of flavor profile we get out of it. I'll do my best to post the results here down the road (yeah, I know I always say that but tend to forget to actually do it).<br />
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In the meantime, I kegged our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/brew-day-village-green-mild.html">light and dark mild ales</a> last night and carbed them tonight. They're quite tasty, though I'm not finding that big of a difference in flavor between the light and dark milds. I'm thinking next time, instead of chocolate and carafa malts I'll go with chocolate and roast barley. Fortunately, they're both damn tasty! Cheers!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-87453868183561060972012-04-22T20:40:00.001-05:002012-04-22T20:50:49.503-05:00Brew day: Village Green Mild Ale/Desperate Dan Dark Mild Ale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1hdYW4L-GzdSd9NTbaTvxuWDEbDCuhN_Iugd2hAPdnz56xllGv7WTpihgOKVMdUTCAnrvEZC0QljmDYVMC7ZIfRh01M9q_bMm0XS5Q4kVJt3nKBpr8CtvFJYKa78826vcaN5/s1600/desperatedan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1hdYW4L-GzdSd9NTbaTvxuWDEbDCuhN_Iugd2hAPdnz56xllGv7WTpihgOKVMdUTCAnrvEZC0QljmDYVMC7ZIfRh01M9q_bMm0XS5Q4kVJt3nKBpr8CtvFJYKa78826vcaN5/s320/desperatedan.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
As I've mentioned before, we have a kegerator in the basement with four taps; my general goal is to keep one light beer (by which I mean light-colored, obviously), one dark beer, and one wild card on tap at any given time. The fourth tap is reserved for a non-alcoholic selection. I'm usually pretty good about this, and while occasionally we might have one tap empty for a week or so, that's by far the exception rather than the rule.<br />
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Until last week.<br />
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As recently as three weeks ago we had our Helles Lager, our Doppelbock and our Gose on tap. When our Helles and Doppelbock kicked in short succession, I replaced the former with our Witbier but didn't have anything to replace the latter. Then we brought our Witbier to a small gathering where I thought, at most, a couple gallons would be consumed, and we ended up killing that keg. Plus, when rearranging the kegerator I noticed the Gose keg is feeling rather light. I do have 10 gallons of Altbier lagering, but one of those kegs is reserved for Beerfly Alleyfight and the other won't be ready for at least another week (preferably two).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aCUP6uDZeRHBiUV11H9UXRHznM5YvpGtfPpv-k8pl24ix550VaLQm-TNi-AO_Bcer_g-p4LeXDYafKuErHR8LeH7nIH6LQIL0q1VYBPWCdJruYGKrdbJ1bqTd-nGbZ21PpAu/s1600/villagegreen.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aCUP6uDZeRHBiUV11H9UXRHznM5YvpGtfPpv-k8pl24ix550VaLQm-TNi-AO_Bcer_g-p4LeXDYafKuErHR8LeH7nIH6LQIL0q1VYBPWCdJruYGKrdbJ1bqTd-nGbZ21PpAu/s320/villagegreen.jpg" width="248" /></a>Bottom line is I need beer, and fast. Last time I was in this situation I came up with our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/08/brew-day-village-green-mild-ale.html">Village Green Mild Ale</a>, a light mild (perhaps better categorized as an <a href="http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/98/">AK</a>, an obscure sub-style of the classic British bitter). Leah loved it and has been bugging me to brew it again. But I need both a light beer and a dark beer. At the same time, I've also been itching to brew a dark mild. If only there was a way to do both...<br />
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That's when it hit me: I <i>can</i> do both! My light mild ale was just a traditional dark mild ale without the dark grains, and dark grains don't need to be mashed; they can be steeped. As such, since I have two brew kettles and two burners, I could simply split the wort after mashing and steep the dark grains in the kettle for the dark mild ale. And that's just what I did.<br />
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Since I have a couple 3-gallon carboys, I decided to shoot for a 6-gallon batch yielding three gallons of each beer. I did a simple infusion at 154°F (two degrees below my target) and collected 7.5 gallons over the course of about an hour. At that point I pumped half from my one kettle to the other. In my second kettle I steeped 2.5 oz. of chocolate malt and 2.5 oz. of dehusked Carafa III malt for about twenty minutes while I brought the first kettle to a boil.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZrS4fGGLeUvVbbPaMtmVjnmAAkNcO6hkNI9psl2GseEIAljEI5je4AnBsgngXMHuhwzH59c9gahKvwTVrRj6xf1NhTSBzXGjOjRIDn8p5hiUPnGRJ5k1SCdrdkC1_H6jAa5I/s1600/twokettles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZrS4fGGLeUvVbbPaMtmVjnmAAkNcO6hkNI9psl2GseEIAljEI5je4AnBsgngXMHuhwzH59c9gahKvwTVrRj6xf1NhTSBzXGjOjRIDn8p5hiUPnGRJ5k1SCdrdkC1_H6jAa5I/s320/twokettles.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Things were delayed a bit when I ran out of propane and had to run to Walgreen's (pretty much every time my buddy Mark comes over to help me brew, I have to make an emergency trip somewhere), but ultimately I boiled each for an hour, with one hop addition at 60 minutes and Irish moss added at 15 minutes. Also, I had a bit of a problem with the invert sugar Leah and I made the night before (the webpage that I used the last time I made the syrup no longer exists, and apparently the new recipe I found had some problems since I ended up with a mason jar full of a solid, sugary mass) so I just added regular ol' turbinado sugar (un-invert sugar?) at 15 minutes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyOK61Y_AIiy7uoAcTkpDFGpU-W67mGpjfE5hVOfZpSrXdORwFecT90AYig0jJNKb-bF_apxrr35nU7OQHa9o63YBgxjbFHes9mnAIe1uNvNudXpNmsR7HMKDnIbRgihjj6BY/s1600/carboys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyOK61Y_AIiy7uoAcTkpDFGpU-W67mGpjfE5hVOfZpSrXdORwFecT90AYig0jJNKb-bF_apxrr35nU7OQHa9o63YBgxjbFHes9mnAIe1uNvNudXpNmsR7HMKDnIbRgihjj6BY/s1600/carboys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyOK61Y_AIiy7uoAcTkpDFGpU-W67mGpjfE5hVOfZpSrXdORwFecT90AYig0jJNKb-bF_apxrr35nU7OQHa9o63YBgxjbFHes9mnAIe1uNvNudXpNmsR7HMKDnIbRgihjj6BY/s320/carboys.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
As usual, my original gravity was high but my volume was low; I started with ~2.6 gallons of 1049 wort for each batch but diluted each with 1.5 liters of water to get to roughly 3 gallons of 1040 beer (you can see the difference in color in the picture on the right). I aerated each carboy and pitched one packet of S-04 dry yeast in each carboy. Both were fermenting away within eight hours.<br />
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The last thing for me to consider was the name of the new beer. The light mild was named "Village Green" after the most British thing I could think of: the Kinks' "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL9tyzE83nc">The Village Green Preservation Society</a>." For its dark counterpart, I wanted to stick with the same theme, so I turned to the <a href="http://www.kindakinks.net/discography/showsong.php?song=425">second verse</a> of the same song. And thus Desperate Dan Dark Mild Ale was born. Can't wait to try the two side-by-side and see the difference 5 oz. of dark malts can make!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-57527557157552473912010-08-01T08:19:00.005-05:002012-04-18T16:03:04.496-05:00Brew day: Village Green Mild Ale<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfgTRb7OCdBIwFxlCBK3s3TuPQR17_4karjkOmcfCHir5nLBN8NcKcfD6tWT5VnjvyDMJzbNPIJLObIY_cs2GjGDEZ3r7J8VhjZp2PZRJG97fQWx0ReCZ8ypRRgkqU8_m4C6bx/s1600/villagegreen.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfgTRb7OCdBIwFxlCBK3s3TuPQR17_4karjkOmcfCHir5nLBN8NcKcfD6tWT5VnjvyDMJzbNPIJLObIY_cs2GjGDEZ3r7J8VhjZp2PZRJG97fQWx0ReCZ8ypRRgkqU8_m4C6bx/s320/villagegreen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500455055581512770" border="0" /></a>As the calendar turns to August, I'm reminded that my <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/03/brew-day-59-fahrenheit-maibock.html">Maibock</a> (<span style="font-style: italic;">Mai</span> being German for "May") is not long for this world. And though we're cranking out the brews right now, they're all for various events in the fall (as I described in <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/06/plan-keeps-coming-up-again.html">this post</a>). With our other two beers on tap right now being our Big Mistake (a soured rye beer with raspberries that was originally supposed to be our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/05/brew-day-debris-cloud-roggenbier.html">Roggenbier</a>) and our <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/03/brew-day-1908-old-ale.html">1908 Old Ale</a>, we need a session beer to carry us over until around November.<br /><br />With our chest freezer currently filled to capacity with lager, I needed something that could ferment at ambient temps (low 70's right now). I also wanted something quick. That was when it occurred to me: why not try something British? My first thought was an <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style08.php#1a">ordinary bitter</a>, but I had recently enjoyed an awesome <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style11.php#1a">dark mild</a> at <a href="http://www.flossmoorstation.com/">Flossmoor Station</a> so I've had that on my radar for a while. Doing a little research, I discovered there's a quasi-defunct British substyle called <a href="http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/98/">AK</a> that's essentially a cross between a bitter and a mild. If one relies on the <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php">BJCP guidelines</a>, a beer overlapping the mild and bitter styles would have the following specs:<br /><br />O.G.: 1.032-1.038<br />IBU's: 25<br />SRM: 12-14<br /><br />So now I had something to start with. When it came to developing the grain bill, I was fairly clueless. The German brewing tradition rarely uses crystal malts, so I don't have much of an intuitive sense on how to work them into a beer. Fortunately my buddy Brian over at <a href="http://www.dailyikura.com/">the Daily Ikura</a> is as passionate about British beer as I am about German beer. He's never brewed a mild but for his bitters he generally goes with around 6% crystal, a mild toasted malt, and a combination of either a medium or dark roasted malt such as Victory.<br /><br />Next I consulted Ron Pattinson's <a href="http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/">"Shut Up About Barclay Perkins"</a> blog. If you've never checked out his blog, you should. Ron's an English beer researcher who's got more historical figures on beer than you could ever use. Anyway, I found some grain bills for <a href="http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/07/lets-brew-wednesday-1952-lees-best-mild.html">milds brewed in the 1950s</a> and discovered they used <a href="http://www.mobilebrewer.com/how-to-make-invert-sugar/">invert sugar</a> for milds. Subsequent googling found various British beer geeks lamenting that American brewers don't understand the importance of sugar in milds. Okay, okay, I'll add the damn sugar!<br /><br />Anyway, when all was said and done I came up with the following fermentables:<br />5.25 lb. Maris Otter pale malt<br />0.5 lb. Crystal 120L<br />0.25 lb. Special Roast<br />0.65 lb. invert sugar<br /><br />That only gets you up to around 10 SRM but I want to keep it light (I always like to have one brew on tap for people who are afraid of dark beers). I also decided to back the hops down to 20 IBU's instead of 25 because in the end I wanted it to be more mild than bitter. So I finally had my recipe and was ready to rock!<br /><br />The brew day itself was fairly straightforward (and pretty quick given that I was only dealing with six pounds of malt). I mashed in at 149°F at 10:10am (with Dorrie helping me stir the mash as I added the grain), began to recirculate at 11:10am, sparged until 12:30, and boiled until 1:30. I added 1/4 tsp. acid blend to the mash to keep the pH down, I added the invert sugar at 15 minutes, and I added Irish moss right after the sugar. I chilled down to around 71°F.<br /><br />Only a couple of minor issues... First, my gravity came in at 1045 instead of the targeted 1038; it's an imperial mild! Honestly, I'm not sure what happened. Perhaps it's because I sparged so slowly with only six pounds of malt? Anyway, I didn't discover this until after I had already chilled (I actually just bought a <a href="http://morebeer.com/view_product/18739/">refractometer</a> so I could monitor such things--you can see Jonas below pretending that an old yeast vial is a refractometer--but I completely forgot about it during the brew day), and I thought about diluting the wort to 1038 but then my IBU's would be <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRujYq42xD03n8UaQ7NJYqlqGVgUOkrMGt-GgJGrYrKexH8ENj3-0OJSoXF1MA-2YJ4zWEQeKTNVwxTWK8fDcWbS0f7Vex-tPIjU0_5rECdbf_cStq_WUvP4OyoBgpKgpHFwt/s1600/jonasrefrac.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 173px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRujYq42xD03n8UaQ7NJYqlqGVgUOkrMGt-GgJGrYrKexH8ENj3-0OJSoXF1MA-2YJ4zWEQeKTNVwxTWK8fDcWbS0f7Vex-tPIjU0_5rECdbf_cStq_WUvP4OyoBgpKgpHFwt/s320/jonasrefrac.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500456116072140354" border="0" /></a>diluted as well so I decided to just let it be. The second issue is that I pitched a Wyeast smack pack and apparently I didn't actually smack it properly because I discovered the yeast nutrient pouch was still intact when I added the yeast. As such, I underpitched and as of 9:45am the next morning fermentation is just getting started.<br /><br />So it may not technically be a mild, and it's certainly not a bitter. But hopefully our Village Green Mild will be good enough to get me through the fall!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-78030118239634562122012-03-31T12:24:00.008-05:002012-04-04T12:10:33.646-05:00Brew day: F5 Altbier (Beerfly Alleyfight version)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEzI7z0i8z1mOqgxPEmeQdSd9po-c8aPkNVYcPHzVMxd69Tf7xVpJaVZ-KM9qVWHrB0ChOlb2lASY6fjTV3NE7tz2LmhVvUc2tVhQVsrCi2I7XqRmkDZotO_OTKUz7M7fT3yz/s1600/f5alt.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 251px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEzI7z0i8z1mOqgxPEmeQdSd9po-c8aPkNVYcPHzVMxd69Tf7xVpJaVZ-KM9qVWHrB0ChOlb2lASY6fjTV3NE7tz2LmhVvUc2tVhQVsrCi2I7XqRmkDZotO_OTKUz7M7fT3yz/s320/f5alt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727589771171217362" border="0" /></a>Each year since it began (2007, I believe?) we've participated in the <a href="http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Seen-on-the-Scene/May-2011/Chicago-Craft-Beer-Week-Photos-Beerfly-Alleyfight-at-Haymarket/">Beerfly Alleyfight</a> put on by the <a href="http://www.drinkingandwriting.com/">Drinking & Writing Brewery</a>. We even participated last year despite the fact that we were in Germany during the event itself (thanks to the assistance of our good friends and Alleyfight partners Klavs and Mary). The short explanation of Beerfly Alleyfight is they get ten homebrewers to brew a beer and prepare a food to pair with the beer; then each homebrewer is paired with an artist who interprets their pairing. If it sounds awesome to you, I assure you it's even more awesome than it sounds. If it doesn't sound awesome to you, I assure you it's even more awesome than it sounds to somebody who thinks it sounds awesome.<br /><br />Starting with the second year, each Alleyfight has had a theme. Last year, for example, was <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2011/04/brew-day-inter-continental-ryepa.html">Belgian IPA's</a>. While that theme combined the two styles of beer I brew the least, this year the theme is right in our wheelhouse: Altbier. If you're one of the six regular readers of this blog you know how passionate I am about Altbier. If you're not, just search this blog for "Altbier" and see how many hits you get.<br /><br />In theory, picking Altbier as the theme is perfect for us. In practice, it created a bit of a crisis. Do I brew a simple, traditional Düsseldorf-style Altbier? Do I go big and brew a Sticke (extra-strong) Altbier? A Doppelsticke? This past November we threw an all-Altbier party that featured a <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2011/09/brew-day-f3-munster-altbier-and-gust.html">Muenster Alt</a> and a <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2011/08/brew-day-rain-wrapped-schwarze-altbier.html">Schwarze Alt</a> (the latter being my own creation). Do I do something unique like that? Clearly I was a bit overwhelmed with ideas.<br /><br />After much soul-searching, I decided that I need to do a traditional Alt. Usually the winner is something unique (well, that or the person who brings the most friends, since the winner is chosen by popular vote), so my decision may very well mean we lose yet again. However, winning isn't really the point of the Alleyfight, and as an unofficial Altbier ambassador (see the picture below, taken at our unofficial ambassadorship party at <a href="http://www.fuechschen.de/">Brauerei im Füchschen</a> in Düsseldorf), I feel like it's my duty to introduce people to traditional Düsseldorf Altbier--something that's quite hard to experience firsthand unless you either travel to Düsseldorf or pick up a six-pack of <a href="http://www.metrobrewing.com/beers/ironworks.html">Metropolitan Iron Works Alt</a>. [I should also take this opportunity to note that one of the best Alt brewers I know, Kevin Blodger, is in the process of opening a new brewery in Baltimore called <a href="http://unioncraftbrewing.com/">Union Craft Brewing</a> which will have an Alt as one of their flagship beers. If you live in Baltimore, you are lucky.]<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQ7wCWwssTinzAi19pfYhMPAIIV4xTwuq3MB4Bx0qCzeHuK6bHZaG3w9LIigVgJjT_V2EVhPJAe6FXo_rVhFcSmrq4DcbP7EMejnKbMi40eLA2BdOg13SMditSH_G4JEleVcr/s1600/altbier.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQ7wCWwssTinzAi19pfYhMPAIIV4xTwuq3MB4Bx0qCzeHuK6bHZaG3w9LIigVgJjT_V2EVhPJAe6FXo_rVhFcSmrq4DcbP7EMejnKbMi40eLA2BdOg13SMditSH_G4JEleVcr/s400/altbier.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727593333807015442" border="0" /></a><br />Anyway, enough yapping about my obsession with Alt. It's time to get to the details of my brew day. Now, one thing I realized with my last Alt is that it really hit its stride after two months. The lagering really is essential to getting that crisp, dry finish. As such, I brewed last Saturday (March 24th) even though the competition isn't until May 19th. I also decided that I wanted to cut down on the breadiness a tad so I dropped the Munich-to-Pilsner ratio from 14lb.:4lb. to 12:6. I also dropped the IBU's by about 4 to compensate. Finally, I realized that I didn't have any Caramunich III on hand so I subbed a combination of Caramunich I and Weyermann Abbey malt, which will make it a tad lighter but still within the style range.<br /><br />For this Alt, I decided to go as traditional as possible. I started by mashing in at 130°F for a ten-minute protein rest and then pulling a 3-gallon decoction. (BeerSmith called for a two-gallon decoction, but I find that it always comes in low so I go 50% higher and then add cold water if I overshoot my temp.) After keeping the decoction at 151°F for ten minutes, I brought it up to boil for 15 minutes. I then returned the decoction (which indeed overshot my target temp of 151°F) and added some cold water to bring it back down to 150°F. [Oh, and for the record my brewing notes are a tad spotty, as my buddy Packy came over to help out, my buddy Gustavo brought some friends over to hang out for a while, and I busted out my new Weber smoker for the first time and attempted to smoke up a couple chickens during the brew day.]<br /><br />After a half-hour rest at 150°F, I began recirculating for fifteen minutes. I then collected 12 gallons of wort over roughly an hour and fifteen minutes. I did a 90-minute boil with three bittering hop additions (at 90, 60 and 45 minutes) and one Tettnang hop addition of 2 oz. at knock-out. My measured O.G. was 1056, a bit higher than my target gravity of 1051, though my yield was a tad low. This happens a lot so I really need to figure out my evaporation rate and change it in BeerSmith. It's not a huge deal though because I just added a half-gallon of bottled water to dilute to 1053.<br /><br />Now here's the other way that I'm making my Alt super-traditional. I'm going to <a href="http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Krausening">Kräusen</a> it to carbonate/cask-condition it and then serve it via gravity like they do in Düsseldorf. To Kräusen, I stored two quarts of the chilled wort in mason jars which I will start to ferment about a week before the competition in a growler and then add to the keg the next day. Then, after the keg carbonates, my plan is to hook up a faucet directly to the "in" quick disconnect and then hook up a hose to the "out" quick disconnect to let air in. This way, if I turn the keg sideways I can serve via gravity (sorry if I'm doing a poor job of describing my plan, but it'll make sense when you see it).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRqwpoNHQiypPxiCORBJHfjRnGTYiW0L4qgLYLHKiIDE_IwF-FiP6uaH0VKR20Ibq_k5bJCrZ3DpH7k7AFucUAt8JlP7UeIYYapno71SVtsar-wnltY66nO5wIvXkrY4maqVFl/s1600/lily.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRqwpoNHQiypPxiCORBJHfjRnGTYiW0L4qgLYLHKiIDE_IwF-FiP6uaH0VKR20Ibq_k5bJCrZ3DpH7k7AFucUAt8JlP7UeIYYapno71SVtsar-wnltY66nO5wIvXkrY4maqVFl/s400/lily.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727590916582836354" border="0" /></a>So, after adding the water I ended up with just under ten gallons of wort. I chilled to around 60°F, oxygenated and pitched a slurry of yeast from <a href="http://www.metrobrewing.com/">Metropolitan</a> (above is our daughter, Lily, picking up the yeast from Metro; she should've grabbed one of those Templeton Rye barrels while she was at it). I had vigorous fermentation the next day, and racked to secondary Monday night to get everything off the yeast cake. I'll probably give it another week in the secondary and then rack to kegs for lagering. I'll add that I have a little something up my sleeve to accommodate the Alleyfight attendees expecting something crazy, but you'll have to stay tuned to learn more about that...Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-4883398031016528362012-03-11T09:54:00.003-05:002012-03-11T10:22:57.711-05:00More cookin' with beer: stout cupcakes with malt frosting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV4i0B__2qjzMvggv4SkwDcd8aQYLK2uY73hib88S4Tze_qlGfN8MwjQrnZ_WFSM0025UOKNnIon1LT0TgRRf-F2ls9T0pThYthoqUa7H4DQOfq3lSJMQg3sEsjq6Dc-EOymj/s1600/IMG241.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV4i0B__2qjzMvggv4SkwDcd8aQYLK2uY73hib88S4Tze_qlGfN8MwjQrnZ_WFSM0025UOKNnIon1LT0TgRRf-F2ls9T0pThYthoqUa7H4DQOfq3lSJMQg3sEsjq6Dc-EOymj/s400/IMG241.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718660326961973074" border="0" /></a><br />The return of the South Side Irish Parade here in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood<br />means many things to many people, but for us it means lots of parties (four, to be specific). And since each party is being thrown by either a homebrewer or a professional craft brewer, I figured I'd bring something other than beer (which I know will be flowing in abundance anyway) and what I decided on was stout cupcakes with malt frosting.<br /><br />Now I made these a couple times before, but unfortunately I couldn't find the original recipe I used or the modifications I made to them. However, I found <a href="http://hop-talk.com/2010/02/18/guinness-cupcakes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hop-talk+%28Hop+Talk%29&utm_content=Gmail">this recipe</a> that Leah sent me in my email inbox so I figured this is probably what I used. And then I remember adding more cocoa the second time around so I upped the cocoa amount. So here's what I ended up with for my recipe:<br /><p>cupcakes (makes about 2 dozen)</p> <ul><li>1 cup Stout (I used Two Brothers North Wind Imperial Stout)<br /></li><li>1 stick, plus 1 tbsp, unsalted butter</li><li>1 cup unsweetened cocoa</li><li>2 cups dark brown sugar</li><li>¾ cup sour cream</li><li>2 eggs</li><li>1 tbsp vanilla extract</li><li>2 cups flour</li><li>2-½ tsp baking soda</li></ul> <p>glaze</p> <ul><li>8 oz cream cheese</li><li>1 cups confectioners’ sugar</li><li>malt reduction (see below) to taste (I used 5 tablespoons)</li></ul><p>malt reduction<br /></p> <ul><li>1 lb., 2 oz. dark Munich malt<br /></li><li>1 oz. dehusked Carafa III<br /></li></ul> <p>Start with your malt reduction (and I should note that it may be more appropriate for the stout if you use pale malt, a little crystal malt and a touch of roast barley, but I went with what I had on hand with a goal of getting something as malty as possible). Heat 1 quart plus 1 cup water in a large saucepan to roughly 160°F. Fill a grain bag with your crushed grain and place in a large sauce pan. Mash at around 150°F for a half hour. After a half hour, pull out the grain bag and let it sit in a colander to collect the rest of the runnings. What I collected had an O.G. of around 1085. Reduce in the saucepan to roughly one third the volume.</p><p>Now, for the cupcake part...<br /></p><p>Preheat oven to 350°F.</p> <p>Butter a muffin tin or use paper cups.</p> <p>Combine the stout and the butter, chopped into 1-inch chunks, in a large sauce pan, and heat to melt the butter. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. In a bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then add to the beer mixture. Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold into the batter. Pour into muffin molds and bake for 25 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes, remove from muffin tin, and cool completely on a rack.</p>Finally, to make the frosting mix the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar. Add the malt reduction two tablespoons at a time. The one thing to be careful of is, depending on how thin your reduction is, you want to be careful not to end up with frosting that's too thin. For a nice touch I recommend finely grinding dehusked Carafa III and sprinkling it on top (if you have wheat, you can grind that too for a two-toned effect; I would just avoid husked malts).<br /><br />So there you have it! I'll update this post if I make any further modifications to the recipe, and invite you to comment with suggested modifications of your own. In the past I made this with a homebrewed Old Ale, so I'd also be curious to hear results with other styles of beer. And now, time to get ready for the parade!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-32504078524230566052012-03-05T19:51:00.003-06:002012-03-05T20:18:56.408-06:00Bratwurstsuppe and Brötchen<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG8qU19-brvpU3r1fyKzyCCpBTvHPSyaPmpGGWUNIwQhvN9r4aO4vddGtsX915opf-JWx4EjyuOpWevf9bdXPe9mzWdwqC37ZBibbSII90OfFdpAOHO75QpFftUMNfHUPQdRFh/s1600/P3050254-2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG8qU19-brvpU3r1fyKzyCCpBTvHPSyaPmpGGWUNIwQhvN9r4aO4vddGtsX915opf-JWx4EjyuOpWevf9bdXPe9mzWdwqC37ZBibbSII90OfFdpAOHO75QpFftUMNfHUPQdRFh/s320/P3050254-2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716602416700854850" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%;">In 2007 we went to Germany and had the most delicious soup at Schlenkerla Brewery in Bamberg. Then we came back to the US and poked around online a bit and discovered that apparently the soup doesn't actually exist on the internet. Not sure if it was just an invention of Schlenkerla's or if we just don't know enough German to know what we're looking for. </span></span><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Today I managed to come fairly close to recreating it, and I found a really good and simple <a href="http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2009/02/23/german-style-rolls-brotchen-the-crusty-secret-is-an-egg-white-glaze">Brötchen recipe</a> - so I had better record what I did or I'll be really annoyed next time I want some and I can't remember what I made.</span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Keep in mind - I'm a very poor recipe writer. I don't measure things, which drives Russ up the wall and is why he's so much better at the precision aspect of brewing. This is all my best guess on what I did today!</span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>Bratwurstsuppe</b></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">2 large yellow onions</span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">1/2 lb of Nuremberg sausage or similar German-style bratwurst (Trader Joe's currently has a good one!) </span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">2 C. good beer</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">4 C. stock (beef, chicken, or veggie would all work - I used chicken)</span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">4 C. water</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">1-2 Tbsp beef </span>bouillon</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">salt and pepper to taste (I used Lawry's seasoned salt and Trader Joe's lemon pepper grinder)</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; ">Slice the oinions and caramelize them in a pan as if you were making French Onion Soup. Once they're browned and soft, add the stock and simmer for a while. </div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">While those are simmering, put a soup pot on, turn to med-high heat, slice the bratwurst into thin medallions, and brown them up. Once they're nice and browned, deglaze the pan with the beer, simmer for a bit, and then add the stock from the onions. Depending on your taste, you may want to leave the onions in - they weren't included when we were in Bamberg, but I tried it both ways tonight and liked it better with them included. </span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Then add beef bouillon, salt, and pepper to taste and simmer for a bit. Serve it with the above-linked Brötchen recipe.</span></span></div>Leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14712077476622795077noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-20517392602164301412010-01-30T10:56:00.011-06:002012-02-15T13:02:57.496-06:00From the top you can see Monterey, or think about San Jose (though I know it's not that pleasant)So here I am sitting in the San Jose airport, waiting for the fog to lift so I can head home. San Jose isn't that bad (their airport has free wifi; their hockey team--the San Jose Sharks--<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/ct-spt-0129-blackhawks-sharks-chicago--20100128,0,2637067.story">gracefully lost to the visiting Chicago Blackhawks</a> Thursday night; the weather was in the 60's), but aside from a <a href="http://www.gordonbiersch.com/restaurants/index.php?pg=location&sub=loc&location_id=19">Gordon Biersch</a> (which had a tasty Sticke Alt on tap, by the way) they don't have much beer-wise. Fortunately I spent a full day in Monterey, where my good buddy Eric introduced me to two local brewpubs.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0cbrmFQL0G7FsOUNrnSTPOT9_zm54nqo3SArJPqFclslG7ypTmZQkj0tT1fycY9rlLebEobKIsdu67XTKLoa2E3yoI_tLIEeZj1sykcfz22ClvS1lHuAbRG3nYZPqj9W69pe/s1600-h/peterb.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0cbrmFQL0G7FsOUNrnSTPOT9_zm54nqo3SArJPqFclslG7ypTmZQkj0tT1fycY9rlLebEobKIsdu67XTKLoa2E3yoI_tLIEeZj1sykcfz22ClvS1lHuAbRG3nYZPqj9W69pe/s320/peterb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433052074755384418" border="0" /></a>The first brewpub we stopped at was called <a href="http://www.monterey.com/mc5/mc5apb.html">Peter B's Brewpub</a>. It sits right off the harbor, and seeing that a little over 24 hours earlier I was in sub-freezing temps, we took advantage of the sun and decidedly warmer temps and sat outside. Eric had heard that their food was better than their beer, which indeed seemed to be somewhat of an afterthought for management. The only seasonal they had was a porter, which seemed like a fairly pedestrian style for a specialty release. (In their defense, the waitress said they were about to tap a Scottish Ale--too bad they were too late for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns#Burns_suppers">Robbie Burns Night</a>.) With nothing jumping out at me, I opted for their sampler. While nothing blew me away, their beers were solid (and I realize that probably sounds pejorative but I mean it in a good way). The Pilsner was a little light for my liking (clearly their offering for the Bud/Miller/Coors crowd), but the Hefeweizen was pretty tasty. Their IPA was rather balanced, which would probably bum out hopheads but I appreciated. And their seasonal porter was really good... roasty but rather clean, the way I like my porter.<br /><br />Their food was quite good for pub fare. We started out with their "stinky fries," which were hand-cut french fries drenched in garlic butter made with local garlic. Stinky? Yes, but also awesome. Eric had the pulled pork which he seemed to enjoy and I had fish tacos made with local fish. Was it the most amazing brewpub I've been to? No, but the food was tasty and the beer--while nothing I'd go out of my way for--was enjoyable. If you're in Monterey and are heading toward the water, it's definitely worth stopping by. And while it appears management isn't really catering to hardcore beer geeks, hopefully they give the brewmaster some more latitude in the future to brew some more adventurous seasonals.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqcAzhMT5UgF92L9j1r9NwtSw_OkPvxW2meJkSdEqu1NGExHMO6IKntOsJnKqsATh6kFjdp1y-b0qWbfe-sjQ3ekAj1v3_UuZT3Olxrpcn2MF5rKV7KywNpVugumjEcpWkbl8/s1600-h/englishales.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqcAzhMT5UgF92L9j1r9NwtSw_OkPvxW2meJkSdEqu1NGExHMO6IKntOsJnKqsATh6kFjdp1y-b0qWbfe-sjQ3ekAj1v3_UuZT3Olxrpcn2MF5rKV7KywNpVugumjEcpWkbl8/s320/englishales.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433052280931027570" border="0" /></a>Later that afternoon we stopped by <a href="http://www.englishalesbrewery.com/">English Ales Brewery</a> in nearby Marina, CA. Unlike Peter B's, English Ales was clearly all about the beer, and specifically all about the U.K. pub experience. It had a bit of a hole-in-the-wall feel, but in a good way. It had a wooden bar with English-style taps, including what appeared to be two beer engines for casks. Around the bar they had small tables that appeared to be patio furniture. There was one older gentleman working the entire pub. And as you can see in the accompanying picture, the place was covered with mugs for its mug club members.<br /><br />We got there around 3pm with it rather empty and by the time we left an hour or so later it was pretty packed; they definitely seem to have a following. After I tried my first beer, an English-style IPA on cask, I could tell why. It really was an English-style IPA, bright and fruity with a bracing, earthy bitterness in the finish. Anybody brewing that kind of beer in the middle of West Coast Hop Bomb Land is serious about their English ales. Next I had their Good King Senseless Winter Ale, which I thought was on cask but I'm pretty sure was not (at least not the pint I was served). It was a really nice winter warmer; rich at ~7% ABV but not too heavy; fruity and spicy but not overdone; and just enough roastiness to keep it from being sweet. Overall, I'm not obsessed with British ales, but if I were I would have been in heaven.<br /><br />So anyway, that was my pub experience in Monterey. Nobody's going to confuse it for the San Francisco/Santa Rosa area further north, but you could certainly do worse than to spend a day visiting Peter B's and English Ales.Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-2165787436047165652012-02-12T13:01:00.003-06:002012-02-12T13:39:39.698-06:00Brew day: Blanche Devereaux WitbierI've brewed a <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-eve-brew-day-white-riot.html">gluten-free Witbier</a> and a "<a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2009/06/brew-day-black-moon-black-witbier.html">black Witbier</a>" (my reaction to people complaining that "black IPA" is an oxymoron), but never a regular ol' <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style16.php#1a">Witbier</a>. Well, a good friend of mine who I haven't seen in years is coming to town in April, and I promised to brew a beer for her. She said she likes wheats, so I decided now is the time to brew a traditional Belgian Wit. And since many Wits have "Blanche" in their name ("Bière Blanche" being the French name for the style), I decided to go with the obvious when designing a label:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lYy_zx5xSKJkmvbGzHD1ZDc5eAvLFV034SIy2kqYiUScjsNUSmKk8NWRTfxcfQ7RuiOmEF10a8hdMX_9SXVMCVVIYaEF9L10iDTG6kq64yFGfbyiCNXMKO-b5Od4KyayUxm3/s1600/blanchedevereaux.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 399px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lYy_zx5xSKJkmvbGzHD1ZDc5eAvLFV034SIy2kqYiUScjsNUSmKk8NWRTfxcfQ7RuiOmEF10a8hdMX_9SXVMCVVIYaEF9L10iDTG6kq64yFGfbyiCNXMKO-b5Od4KyayUxm3/s400/blanchedevereaux.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708328319928765298" border="0" /></a><br />My buddy Ryan just ordered a homebrew starter kit, so he was excited to come over and help out and see the brewing process in action. Unfortunately, the temperature never got above 19°F yesterday. And also unfortunately, we ran into a couple minor issues (as is always the case when I brew), but overall I think it came out just fine. And Ryan stuck it out the whole day (despite forgetting his thermal boots) so I think he has a fine brewing future ahead of him.<br /><br />For the recipe, I was a little worried about a stuck sparge but didn't want to use too many rice hulls so I went with a combination of malted wheat and flaked wheat rather than just flaked wheat for the wheat portion of the grain bill. The rest was pilsner malt and a half pound of flaked oats. Ordinarily I'd go with a short beta-glucan rest when using wheat (~120°F) but due to the cold I just went with a simple infusion at 151°F. Of course, given the extreme cold, we came in way low (~144°F) so I did a quick 1.5-gallon decoction--returning the mash as soon as it reached boil--and brought the mash up to 151.<br /><br />The next issue we ran into was a stuck mash with my small tun (I have a big chest-type cooler I use for most of my batches, but the grain bed can get too shallow when brewing 5 gallons of beer at 1050 or under so I have a small round Igloo-style cooler I use for mashing small batches). Despite having a false bottom, the out valve was clogged with grain so I dumped the mash out into my large mash tun, at which point we were able to sparge without issue.<br /><br />We collected 6.5 gallons and boiled for 90 minutes. The next issue? I could only find half an ounce of coriander and my recipe called for an ounce. Oh well; if necessary I'll make a tea and add it to the keg. We added sweet and bitter orange peel at 15 minutes and another addition of sweet orange peel, as well as coriander and a small late-hop addition, at 5 minutes.<br /><br />The final issue we ran into was while getting ready to chill. Because it was so cold, I had to use channel locks to get the hose hooked up to the spigot, and I over-tightened it and the hose broke. Fortunately, a quick trip to Ace Hardware scored me a new hose, and with the frigid temps I actually ended up chilling around 50°F instead of the 60 I was shooting for. Oh, and apparently when it's crazy cold I get a higher evaporation rate, because I ended up with 4.5 gallons instead of the expected 5.5, and a gravity of 1.059 instead of 1.048. Fortunately, adding an extra gallon of water brought the gravity and volume right to where they're supposed to be.<br /><br />After giving it a couple hours to warm up some I oxygenated and chilled. This morning I'm seeing signs of fermentation. I'll be curious to see how the orange peel and coriander come through; I'd really prefer not to mess around with a tea after the fact, because I'm a lazy, lazy man. And of course the most difficult thing is gonna be waiting until April to drink it. Why again did I decide to brew on the coldest day of the year?Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-27813714088753369602012-02-07T20:22:00.003-06:002012-02-09T19:33:20.049-06:00Whisky: is there anything it CAN'T do?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5-gNWHB3iPKBX8d9A4AnLQStKva7vJhn9vtVd8fhKc4sk2Zirh7AQ0LlcecU352861_UiIaMfPUcLc8MWASfMCax7JN_m5FxPtS9WsW-ZRibqMbOcpbi8cbaClsJg-n-AHhY/s1600/scotchicecream.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5-gNWHB3iPKBX8d9A4AnLQStKva7vJhn9vtVd8fhKc4sk2Zirh7AQ0LlcecU352861_UiIaMfPUcLc8MWASfMCax7JN_m5FxPtS9WsW-ZRibqMbOcpbi8cbaClsJg-n-AHhY/s400/scotchicecream.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707313706201159602" border="0" /></a><br />So I forgot to mention it here on the blog, but <a href="http://www.scotland.org/culture/festivals/burns-night/">Burns' Night</a> (the birthday of Scottish cultural icon, poet laureate and hero <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns">Robert Burns</a>) was a couple weeks ago and Leah and I celebrated it by enjoying a wee dram from each of the four bottles of Scotch I currently own. Sticking with the theme, I also decided to make a hot toffee sauce with Scotch to serve on top of vanilla ice cream for dessert. It came out so well that I figured I would post the recipe here (which I adapted from <a href="http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Recipes/Sauces-244/Macallan-Toffee-Sauce-2286.aspx">this recipe</a> I found at <a href="http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/">gourmetsleuth.com</a>):<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Ingredients</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;" id="ctl00_MainPageContent_GSRecipeDetail1"><span id="ctl00_MainPageContent_GSRecipeDetail1_ctl00_ctl00_IngredientsTxt" itemprop="ingredients">3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed<br />5 tablespoons unsalted butter<br />1/3 cup half and half<br />3 tablespoons Scotch whisky<br />1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract<br />1/4 teaspoon kosher salt</span></span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span id="ctl00_MainPageContent_GSRecipeDetail1"><div class="GSDetailInstructions"> <span id="ctl00_MainPageContent_GSRecipeDetail1_ctl00_ctl00_InstructionsTxt" itemprop="instructions"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Instructions</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Combine the brown sugar and butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, about 5-6 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a full boil.</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Slide the pan from the heat, add the half and half, Scotch, and salt, and whisk until well blended. Give the sauce a taste and add a pinch or two more of salt, if needed. If you're serving immediately, add vanilla. If you're preparing to use later, add vanilla after reheating.</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Refrigerate whatever you have left over. To serve leftovers, reheat gently in a double boiler or in the microwave. The original recipe warns, "Do not overheat, or the sauce will separate," but we haven't run into that problem.</span><br /><br />So anyway, there you go... an absolutely delicious recipe for when you can't decide between a cocktail or dessert--and if you're into the whole presentation thing you can serve it in a martini glass like I did above. Leah thinks it's gotten better each time we used it (I think we got four servings out of it). And, for the record, I'm guessing that you could substitute bourbon or some other kind of whiskey for Scotch and it would still be delicious. </span><span class="st"><em>Sláinte!</em></span> </div></span>Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-78294203359682709112012-01-31T20:00:00.004-06:002012-02-01T11:06:46.588-06:00He's Misstra Know It Alt<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0ppc92h3Lv1yxHIx4jI38_0ibetHJK6MWx0nGAxYryP6kVThJdr_K0CcFyUx-TEgwKvSglzAAqqgsqAiRJdrKLgvm8Fs-1zeqIlCiyRO-D1N2WRgnrXTRjWWMTn-QC6zB129/s1600/fuechschen.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0ppc92h3Lv1yxHIx4jI38_0ibetHJK6MWx0nGAxYryP6kVThJdr_K0CcFyUx-TEgwKvSglzAAqqgsqAiRJdrKLgvm8Fs-1zeqIlCiyRO-D1N2WRgnrXTRjWWMTn-QC6zB129/s400/fuechschen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704015406017431202" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.metrobrewing.com/brewery/tracy.html">Tracy Hurst at Metropolitan Brewing</a> has called me both an Alt Savant and a Düsseldork. I'm pretty sure it's not so much a reflection of my knowledge of Altbier as it is my passion for the style. I think most brewers pick a style or two that they really want to perfect. In my case, <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style07.php#1c">Düsseldorf-style Altbier</a> is definitely my white whale.<br /><br />Part of my motivation for pursuing the perfect Altbier is that I fell in love with the style the first time I tried a <a href="http://www.diebels.de/start.htm">Diebels Alt</a> as a college student studying abroad (I was sitting in a <a href="http://www.indermitte.de/">basement jazz club in Reutlingen, Germany</a>, trying to summon the courage to jump on stage during their jam session, when my buddy Joon--a German-Korean saxophone player from Düsseldorf--bought me a bottle). Part of my motivation is that hardly anybody (with the exception of Metropolitan) brews a Düsseldorf-style Altbier in the U.S., so when I started brewing my only options for drinking an authentic Alt were traveling to Düsseldorf or brewing one myself.<br /><br />At any rate, I'm far from an expert on the style, though I'll cop to knowing more about Alts than most American brewers. I've had the pleasure of visiting Düsseldorf twice (in <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2007/12/germany-trip-recap-part-iii-dsseldorf.html">2007</a> and <a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3273/5780538980_4a9164fd85_z.jpg">2011</a>) and can't wait until I go back again. I want to say the second beer I brewed was an Alt, and since then I've brewed more batches than I can remember... certainly more than any other style. I even had the pleasure of taking a day off of work to help Doug and Tracy at Metro brew their <a href="http://chibebrau.blogspot.com/2010/03/pro-brewer-for-day-fool-for-lifetime.html">I-Beam Alt</a>, the predecessor to their <a href="http://www.metrobrewing.com/beers/ironworks.html">Iron Works Alt</a> (which you all should go out and buy NOW).<br /><br />All that being said, my homebrewed Alts have been inconsistent to say the least. I would go from dry and bitter to sweet and not-so-bitter and back again, always having trouble dialing in that perfect combination of maltiness, but with a dry finish, and a crisp bitter hop foundation that isn't TOO bitter. It's hard, especially at the homebrew scale where mash temps, alpha acid percentages and hop utilization can all have large margins of error.<br /><br />So what have I learned? Well, first and foremost, I'm a big believer that German-style beers should get their maltiness primarily from Pilsner and Munich malts (which give a rich, bready sweetness) rather than crystal malts (which give a sugary sweetness). So I think the first thing you have to nail down is your Munich to Pilsner ratio for your grain bill. You can add a little CaraMunich (and I do add a pound of Caramunich III per ten gallons) but that shouldn't be your primary source of maltiness. (The exception is <a href="http://www.uerige.de/en/produkte/bier/uerige-alt/">Uerige</a>, which is all Pilsner plus a small amount of specialty malts, but it's the least traditional of the Altstadt Alts and in my opinion is too thin and thus unbalanced in its bitterness.)<br /><br />Now an early mistake I made was trying to make my Alt maltier (to stand up to the hop bitterness) by upping the temperature of my saccharification rest. But I quickly learned that upping your mash temp leaves you with a fuller, sweeter maltiness, and an Alt needs a dry finish. As such, I do a protein rest at 122°F and a sacc rest at 151°F. If you want your Alt to be maltier, up the Munich; don't up the mash temp.<br /><br />The final part of the equation is obviously the hoppiness. Your level of hops will be dependent on both the maltiness of your beer and your personal preference for bitterness. Nearly every American Alt I've had is too low in bitterness* (Metro's Iron Works is to style, though even that is on the low end of the spectrum by Düsseldorf standards). Our last Alt came in at an estimated 45 IBU's with an O.G. of 1051 and it just won first place in its category at the inaugural <a href="http://brewcamp.com/squarekegs/register/">Chicago Winter Brew Fest</a>, so I guess it strikes a nice balance.<br /><br />That being said, I had a chance to try my latest Alt side-by-side with a bottle of <a href="http://www.fuechschen.de/">Füchschen Alt</a> and I've decided I want to cut my Munich down from 14 lbs. to 12 (for the record, I use Best Malz Munich II, which is a dark Munich) and up my Pilsner from 4 to 6 lbs. and then drop the IBU's closer to 40. The idea is to drop the maltiness a little (to make it slightly lighter) and then reduce the bitterness accordingly. Unfortunately there's no easy way to calculate how fewer IBU's I need to compensate for the decreased Munich, so I'm just guessing. But the result should be a slightly lighter but equally-well-balanced Altbier.<br /><br />So, I guess that concludes my rambling about Alt. Let me stress once again that this isn't authoritative. It's simply what I've learned based on some reading, some tasting, and lots of trial and error. If anybody else has thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Here's to building a better Altbier!<br /><br />* I should clarify that most Alts from <span style="font-style: italic;">production</span> breweries are under-hopped. I've had several great Alts from American brewpubs, but unfortunately those tend to be one-off brews and are almost always only available on draft.Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32724179.post-60567657232920386722012-01-01T08:01:00.004-06:002012-01-04T22:05:30.266-06:00Hello, hello, it's good to be back (and I brought Glühapfelwein)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHW8I6N336WXLH1qrBMqZtQ40DxWDj2FUuFt5s_zfaKafeLMS5ao3uygjrGfXnj4OO6SCreiYdB19Z8cm6hyphenhyphenK_IpKFflFdLsVkqvXjTzfkYsD4DnbWw1PokiNnp_AC95ailBl/s1600/itchyandscratchyland1_thumb.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHW8I6N336WXLH1qrBMqZtQ40DxWDj2FUuFt5s_zfaKafeLMS5ao3uygjrGfXnj4OO6SCreiYdB19Z8cm6hyphenhyphenK_IpKFflFdLsVkqvXjTzfkYsD4DnbWw1PokiNnp_AC95ailBl/s320/itchyandscratchyland1_thumb.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693984598358687634" border="0" /></a>Happy New Year! I was never the most prolific blogger on the planet, but I was always really good about keeping track of my brew days . . . until this fall, that is. That's when I learned something: apparently blogging is a lot like exercising--the longer you go without doing it, the harder it is to get back into the swing of things.<br /><br />See, despite not having posted since September, I've been brewing just as regularly as I always have. I've brewed another Düsseldorf Altbier, a Doppelbock for the holidays (a portion of which had maple syrup added to the secondary) and, just last week, a Munich Helles. I also fermented a hard cider. The problem is, once I got behind on the blogging, I felt like my next post had to cover everything I had done in the meantime. So the task of getting back on the blogging horse seemed to grow larger and larger with each passing day.<br /><br />But enough with the excuses... Rather than go back and cover everything over the past three months, I'm going to start quasi-fresh just to get going again. I hope to fill in the gaps here and there, but for now I'll get 2012 started by sharing a recipe I came up with that I think is pretty sweet: Glühapfelwein.<br /><br />To explain what Glühapfelwein is, let's start with something you might be more familiar with: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulled_wine#Gl.C3.BChwein">Glühwein</a>. Similar to Gløgg, Glühwein is a German mulled wine that many Chicagoans know as the stuff you can get served in a little ceramic boot if you visit the <a href="http://www.christkindlmarket.com/en/">Christkindlmarket</a> (Chicago's German Christmas market). It translates roughly as "burning wine," and it's essentially wine that's simmered with various spices popular at the holidays. It's also generally sweetened with sugar.<br /><br />Now, a few weeks ago the kids and I were watching the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vintons-Claymation-Christmas-Halloween-Celebrations/dp/B00009WHRM">Claymation Christmas Special</a> (the most underrated Christmas special in the history of television) and they had a running joke about wassailing. This led me to look up some wassail recipes, and I was surprised to find that many were cider-based. Well, by pure coincidence Leah and I made five gallons of cider earlier in the fall, so this gave me an idea: what if I made Glühwein, but instead of wine I used our cider as the base?<br /><br />The end result is something I call Glühapfelwein (<span style="font-style: italic;">Apfelwei</span><span style="font-style: italic;">n</span>, literally "apple wine," being German for "cider"), and it came out awesome. I based it off of a fairly simple Glühwein recipe I found online which only uses two spices most people already have in their kitchen--cinnamon and clove--so it can make a good jumping-off point for those who want to experiment with other spices, but I found it to be pretty awesome as-is. It also would be lower in alcohol because our cider, at around 6.5% ABV, is significantly lower than a typical red wine, so I added enough brandy to boost it up to typical Glühwein levels. And without further ado, here's the recipe:<br /><br />Pour 3/4 c. of hard cider into a sauce pan; throw in one cinnamon stick. Add 1/2 c. sugar and simmer until dissolved. At this point squeeze the juice of one orange into the pot. Spear ten cloves into the peel that's left and throw that into the pot too. Bring to a low simmer for 20 minutes to a half hour. After then, take out cinnamon stick and orange peel and add 750mL or 3 c. of cider. Heat for another ten minutes or until warm and carbonation is mostly gone. Just before serving, add 1/2 c. of brandy and stir well. Makes roughly 4 6-oz. servings.<br /><br />One final note I should add... Our cider is fairly dry (I fermented 4 gallons of cider until completely dry and then back-sweetened with 1/2 gallon fresh cider) so if you use a commercial cider, or if your hard cider is sweeter, you may want to start with less sugar and then add to taste. Enjoy, and happy 2012!Chibehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255790557381362058noreply@blogger.com5