Whew! I’m behind in my posting! Let’s see, I had a Brew Day last week. I had thought about doing an American Amber ale, but decided instead upon a Helles Bock. The deciding factor for me was not wanting to have to get a variety of different malts (my ‘stash’ is running low) and not feeling up to doing multiple hop additions (I just wanted to brew, and relax). All told, the session went well. Keeping a rolling boil when the temperature is below freezing is difficult, but it was managed. It didn’t take as much to chill things, either–pop the lid on the pot, let it sit for a while, then once through the (too-short) counterflow, inside. My biggest concern really was that a friend came over to brew a Scottish 80/-, and we didn’t get around to it; I believe she’ll be coming over to brew it tomorrow morning, before the Super Bowl. So, in short, progress. 🙂
In other news, I kegged the Pale Ale I did back in December. I’m gradually getting around to every bit of equipment I have to sterilize it, trying to get a handle on the mystery overcarbonation. I’ve got to pick up some bottles for the Pinot Noir (I’ll do that today); that will also free up one of my 5-gallon carboys for secondary for the Helles. I need to bottle the 2 gallons or so of Pumpkin Beer I did on a lark–it actually looks decent; we’ll see what it tastes like! And I need to get a whole bunch of already-kegged beer drunk. (Drank? Drinked? I need to look up the grammar for that…)
Books, books, and books.
Well, the Holidays are past. I received many many many excellent books, the which I’m perusing as time allows. Unfortunately, time isn’t allowing as much as it might–I’m organizing the Barony’s event next weekend, and “utter chaos” is an apt description. Still, as I go through them, I’ll try to post the quick review here. Additionally, I hope to have a couple of brews tapped in the next week or two, and I’ll take tasting notes and share them with you, my loyal reader(s).
I’ll start today with Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing
, by Charles Bamforth. This was a delightful read–very interesting from a technical, brewing background sort of way. It’s not something anyone should pick up who’s trying to learn how to brew, although someone trying to become more familiar with that tasty beverage they’re sipping could probably do worse. Mr. Bamforth writes with a good deal of insight, as well as the occasional wry bit of humor. My only complaint is that his Englishness comes through in a couple of places–although I believe he would deny it (based on what I read), he seems to have a bias (completely understandable) for his native British beers, and on one or two occasions in the book displays what I can only describe as undue disregard for several other beer styles (the Schwarzbier, for example, is dismissed due to its lack of popularity in Britain). Still, this is a minor quibble, and all things considered, I’d have to rate the book a four stars out of five.
For next time: Books on unusual fruit, on cider, and (of course) more beer!
Always a pleasure
If there’s one thing I enjoy more than drinking my own beer, it’s enjoying the beer of others–especially if it’s well made. If the ‘other’ in particular has managed to make the leap to commercial brewing, there’s not just the beer, but also the reminder that ‘yes, it can be done.’
My office had its holiday luncheon, in combination with the class graduation luncheon, yesterday at DuClaw’s. I’ve met their brewer, Bo Lenck, and he was very nice–even gave me a tour of the brewery, one-on-one, impromptu. Bo ‘used to’ be a homebrewer (a successful one, if the rumors I hear are true), and moved on to brew at DuClaw (I’m not sure if he’s one of the founders, but it wouldn’t surprise me). DuClaw’s brewery up towards Aberdeen will even give away yeast to homebrewers (WLP-001, for the most part; that’s their house strain). Nothing like coming away with a quart or two of yeast slurry…
Anyway, one of the students ordered the beer sampler yesterday. Now, I’ve seen the beer sampler before–it always seemed to be six or seven taster-size glasses of their ‘usual’ lineup. What they brought out yesterday, though, was fully twelve sampler-glasses, with one of everything they have on tap right now… Venom, HellRazer, Alchemy, Blackjack, Full Moon, Misfit, Kangaroo, Bare Ass Blonde, everything. Eep!
I went for what used to be my favorite, back before the hop shortage (ah, the good old days!), and ordered a Venom. Wow! They tweaked the hop profile; obviously, they still can’t get everything the way they used to. It had a harsher, back-of-the-tongue bitterness that’s difficult to describe; regardless, for all that it’s still like chewing on a hop, it’s not as smooth as it once was. I guess it’s back to the Misfit Red, for me…
Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen Amber, and an upcoming brewday
This is overall a fairly pleasant beer. It’s got a triply redundant name (Oktoberfest beers are, by definition, Marzens, and the lot of them are amber), which is odd by normal standards, but fairly tame by brewing standards. On the pour, the beer shows its ‘amberness,’ with a lovely pour; carbonation rises during the entire glass. The head is moderate and white, and dissipates fairly quickly. The nose is rich and full of malt notes, with a hint of a certain something I can’t put my finger on, but tells me without a doubt that this is a Paulaner beer (I’ve noticed this same thing in every other beer of theirs that I’ve tried). First taste keeps with this impression: richly malty, with the Paulaner ‘tang’ following. The hop notes are a subdued spicyness, just strong enough to balance the malt. The finish maintains the lingering malt, but is quite dry. While a bit stronger than my average daily quaff, it’s still very drinkable; it definitely falls into the “I’d order another” category. Let’s say, 3.5 stars out of five…
I’ll also be brewing again on the 14th. I’m leaning towards a fairly simple APA recipe; not too strong, not too hoppy. I think the compressor on my lagering chest needs a new charge of coolant–it’s “just” holding a nice, cool 58 degrees–so it’s ales for me for a little while, I think. (Somehow, I believe I’ll survive.)
Overdue Review
I’ve been quite remiss about getting this post in; the Thanksgiving holiday will do that to a guy. So, without further ado, here’s what I’ve got to say about my selections on tap at present.
First, the Scottish 70/-. It pours a nice light amber, tending towards the brown rather than the golden hue of some beers. It’s got a bit of haze, as well. The head starts nice and thick (about 1″), then dwindles down to a ring of bubbles that chases the beer down the glass. I’m afraid it’s a little astringent; I probably over-sparged, or somesuch (I’d have to double-check my notes), and I *know* it’s over-carbonated. The aroma is malt, but only weakly so–I’m not sure what I’d do to fix that, for my taste. (In fairness, I’ve never had a commercial 70/- that I can recall, so I may not be imagining it right.) The alcohol level is low, probably about 3-3.5%, which is what I was aiming for, so it has that going for it. And this is the infamous ‘ever-carbonating’ beer; I’m convinced, now, that it’s got an infection of some sort (perhaps a wild yeast strain–aside from the tannic astringency, there’s no flavor indication of anything else, that I can detect). Not bad enough, perhaps, to dump, but not really good. I’ll rate this as ‘probably not my favorite style,’ and move on smartly from there.
The Belgian Dubbel came out a bit more like I had imagined. It’s a lovely deep copper color, with a creamy head that dissipates to the expected lace after a few minutes. The aroma is primarily malt, with a good bit of fruitiness from the yeast; the fruitiness tends towards the darker, dried fruits (plum) with some of the caramelized sugar coming through in the nose. The body is medium, and its flavor follows the aroma fairly closely, with a touch of something roasted coming through in the end. I might ask for the flavors to be a bit more ‘in-your-face,’ but it’s certainly not bad. It is of a significantly higher alcohol content than the 70/-; probably in the 5.5-6% range, but it doesn’t have a fusel heat. It goes down quite smoothly, probably due to its having a cooler fermentation than I necessarily would have intended. Still, I’d order another–but I’ll tweak the recipe, the next time I brew it.
All for now; I’ve got beers (and wine and cider) to rack, a mead that needs bottling soon, and assorted other chores that must be done before my next brew day. I *plan* on getting to that Paulaner by this weekend, but time will tell, as always.
Halloween Brew Day, 2008
The (inaugural?) Halloween Midnight Brew went nearly without a hitch. Technically, everything went as expected; socially, it went basically as expected, also.
In the social aspect, it ended up being just me doing the brew. Hopefully, next time I can convince a few more people to come over. Still, I often find that doing a solo brew goes more smoothly than doing one with others around. (I’d rather have a few others around, if only so I can chat with them as I go.)
The burners were lit precisely at midnight; by half-past, the grain was being mashed. A hair over 22 pounds of grain, it turns out, is about half of my mash-tun capacity. (Good to know, I think…) I even had room enough that I could have done two infusions, had I wanted. Three might have been stretching it.
Due to the lack of other participants, and looking at the time, and having had a really long day, I decided that I had fulfilled the spirit of my goal, and decided to allow the mash to go overnight. I picked up where I had left off at about 9:30 on Saturday morning, heating water for the sparge.
My experience with ‘big’ brews has shown me that my efficiency tends to suffer; I’m not certain of the mechanics of why, but I accept the ‘fact-of.’ I only got around 68% efficiency, as opposed to my more typical 75%; still, things were well within acceptable norms. The boil was remarkably well-behaved, and I only lost a couple of ounces to boil-over. The re-constructed pump worked well. I even heated up a couple of gallons of plain water to help with clean-up (especially the pump). The yeast had been pitched by noon, and active fermentation was underway by nightfall Saturday. I may tweak the spice blend, should I do this again–maybe ditch the nutmeg, add perhaps a little ginger, bump up the cinnamon. Still, come the end of a year, it will be a nice brew, I’m sure.
I haven’t decided when my next brew day will be; probably the weekend before Thanksgiving. That’s rather late in the month, but it’s the only one I have really free; hopefully, my December brew day will be earlier.
Rebuilding a March Pump
Here’s a quick, down-and-dirty on how to rebuild a March Pump with a new head. (This was originally posted in October, 2008, and has been cleaned up a little for its migration to my new web host in 2018.)
As you may recall, I dropped mine, and broke off the intake side of the head:
I ordered a new one from MoreBeer, and it arrived shortly, in good order (but for the shipping box…):
To install the new pump head, first you have to take off the old one. This is accomplished by removing four screws, located on the ‘face’ of the head. (Sorry for the blurry picture; the arrows indicate the individual screws’ locations.)
Having pulled the head off, you’re faced with another quartet of screws on the inner workings of the head:
With these removed, you can pull things apart. You’re now faced with the impeller assembly:
A bit of tugging, and the whole thing will come apart nicely, including the impeller (the spinny bit) and its axle:
A quick inspection revealed a problem for me, however: mold had taken up residence on the impeller!
So, after much washing and scrubbing and sanitizing of the impeller, I was ready to re-assemble. The re-assembly process is identical to the disassembly process, only in reverse. In all, not counting the ‘break’ to clean things, it probably took me about 10 minutes to have the old one off and the new one screwed on.
Note to self: Run sanitizing solution through the stupid thing during post-brew cleanup, otherwise I’ll be left with the possibility of infected batches…
In 2018, this pump is no longer actively in service–the latest iteration of the brew rig is a simple two-tier, and its placement next to my back stoop allows me to do the “heavy lifting” myself. I’m hoping, before long, to go to a single-tier electric system, eventually, and a pump or two will once again become necessary; I’m thinking going with stainless heads, when the time comes.
But, as you can see, replacing the “working parts” of a March pump isn’t so big a deal, at all.
Pears!
So, I found a source for 100% pear cider (no apples involved, just pears). The sample was quite sweet; the price was right. So, probably tomorrow sometime, I’ll be adding some pectic enzyme and some yeast; by this time next year, it will have fermented out, come clear, and been bottled. Hopefully, it’ll taste as good then as it does now–albeit changed slightly by the alchemy that is fermentation.
I think an interesting thing will be to document this brew. I’ll post occasional (monthly?) updates, including photos and the occasional tasting note. We’ll see how this ends up.
In other news, I’ll be racking the Kolsch tomorrow; I may well rack the Wit, as well. The wit has decided to kick into fermentation again–I suppose it has decided it likes the cooler temperatures in the basement now that autumn has decided to really kick in. (Another couple of weeks at this rate, and the basement will be at its annual ‘cool’ temperature level.) No telling how much longer it’ll ferment–I’d be surprised if it were more than a week or so, though. Regardless, the Kolsch will go in secondary for a few days, then head into the chill chest for a bit.
I’m also ready for my next Brew Day–this one will be my Halloween Brew. A nice Holiday Ale for Samhain. (It’ll be ready for next year’s holiday season–or at least, that’s the plan.) I’m still waiting to see what everyone thinks I should do for it–the poll is off to the right… Vote early, vote often!
Quick note…
It’s late, so this will be brief. The Brew Day on Sunday was a success; there were 5 of us (myself included) in total, and 3 brews were completed–2 all-grain, one partial mash. The Witbier was the final one of the day; I think it will be my favorite of the all-grain ones. The Kolsch was completed, as well, and my initial estimate is that it’ll be as much like version 1.0 as to make no difference; we’ll call this version 1.1. Version 2.0 will definitely see the hops scaled back a bit, although I’m not sure I’ll cut all the way back to the recipe I based it off of.
I got an email yesterday from one of my brew-buddies, who happens to live down in Dun Carriag; it seems that the site for their War of the Roses event (for which I brewed the Wit) is dry. That’s a shame; I’m really impressed thus far with how much citrus I’m detecting in the nose. I hope the brew can hang on to that until I find a venue to serve it.
In all, a good time was had, and beer was brewed. What more could you ask for?
University, October 2008
Yesterday was Atlantian University, and I taught my long-awaited Intro to All-Grain Brewing class. (Well, long-awaited by me, anyway.) Things seemed to go pretty well. I think that I’ll stretch the class out to 2 hours next time, as that’s really a *lot* of information to go through in an hour; I felt a little rushed for parts of it. 2 hours would also give me the opportunity to bring in a bit of equipment to help describe what’s going on for the brew.
One thing that the class was good for was creating a number of new contacts. It seems that there are a number of folks both (relatively) locally and within a reasonable driving distance who want to learn to brew. Everyone who was in my class now has the URL for this site, as well as for my webpage; by extension, this means they have my email address, and we can arrange further hands-on classes at a later date. [2018 Edit: Those were my old blog and webpage; everything is here, now. -M]
Also, I let everyone there know about my upcoming Brew Day, a week from today. I believe I’ll try for ‘take two’ of the Kolsch that practically disappeared last weekend. I’ll have to use the Golden Promise malt, rather than the American Pale 2-Row that I used last time, but that should only improve the brew, I would think. Regardless, it’s more beer, which is always a good thing, right?