Dubbel Bubble

Sometimes technology is not our friend. Could be another case of Moore’s law too. I think BeerSmith is an awesome program but when you start to rely on it too much bad things can happen. BeerSmith reminds me of Photoshop a bit. You can use it right away but to use it properly it has a high learning curve. One of things that drives me crazy is the presets and particularly the liquor to grain ratio presets on the the mash types. It’s default is 1.25 quarts per pound. For some reason my mash tun doesn’t get good efficiency at that liquor to grist ratio and I use 1.5 quarts per pound where I get about a 75% mash efficiency.

Anyhow, right before I was going to brew I double checked my mash setting and wanted it a bit drier so selected Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge without thinking to much about it and printed the recipe. Damn thing reset to 1.25 quarts per pound. So to make up for the 10% efficiency loss added another 10% sugar. It’s a Belgian so figured it couldn’t hurt. What do they call it – easily digestible. We’ll see… kind of miss the days where you had to work all this stuff out by hand. You were definitely less likely to screw up.

Below is the adjusted recipe with all sugar added and a 1.5 quart per pound liquor to grain ration.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.060
Estimated FG: 1.004
Estimated Color: 19 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.4%

Grain
7 lbs 8.0oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) 53.6 %
1 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 7.1%
1 lbs Candi Sugar (90 SRM) 7.1%
1 lbs Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) 7.1%
12 oz Aromatic (26 SRM) 5.4%
11.2 oz Munich (9 SRM) 5.0%
7.2 oz Biscuit Malt (23 SRM) 3.2%
7.2 oz Caramunich (56 SRM) 3.2%
7.2 oz Honey Malt (25 SMR) 3.2%
7.2 oz Special B (180 SRM) 3.2%

Schedule
28.00 g Fuggles [6 %] – Boil 60.0 min 17.2 IBUs
14.00 g Fuggles [6 %] – Boil 30.0 min 6.6 IBUs
14.00 g Fuggles [6 %] – Boil 15.0 min 4.3 IBUs
4 oz Raisins – Boil 5 minutes

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
Mash in 4.75 gallons 158F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Mash out 168F 15 minutes
Batch Sparge 4.7 gallons 170F

Yeast
WLP 530 Trappist Ale – 2L starter

Hoppy Wheat

Recipe inspired by Chainbreaker by Deschutes. No Belgian yeast because I’m not a big fan of Belgian yeast unless I’m making a classic Belgian beer. Put it this way, I do not like Belgian IPAs. Dialed back the spice additions by about half also. Basically this beer is a wheat IPA so just wanted a hint of coriander and orange to complement the citrusy hops.

After reading John Palmer and Colin Cominsky’s Water I thought I would try to get the residual alkalinity down seeing that this beer is very pale. Totally recommend this book. The subject matter seems like it would be boring but is actually very fascinating and eye opening. I plowed through the book in two days flat. Based on the latest Ventura Water report, the water is still sky high in carbonates and sulphates. I’ve been cutting it with RO water but I thought I’d go a step further and treat it a bit more with Calcium Chloride and Lactic Acid. We shall see the outcome.

5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.058
Estimated FG: 1.010
Estimated Color: 4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 54 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 6.5%

Grain
7lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) 59.2 %
3 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 25.4%
1 lbs 8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) 12.7%
5.1 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) 2.7%

Schedule
28.00 g Bravo [15.50 %] – Boil 60.0 min 53.8 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] – Boil 0.0 min
28.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] – Boil 0.0 min
28.00 g Citra [12.00 %] – Boil 0.0 min
5.00 g Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 0.0 mins)
2.00 g Coriander Seed (Boil 0.0 mins)

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water no additions
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
4.00 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
2.00 mL Lactic Acid added to mash water
2.00 mL Lactic Acid added to sparge water
Mash in 4.25 gallons 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Mash out 168F 15 minutes
Batch Sparge 3.75 gallons 170F

Yeast
Cal Ale Yeast 2L starter

London Porter

Based on Fullers Porter(latest issue of BYO). I upped the hopping a bit and couldn’t get English chocolate(450 L) malt so added a bit more Briess chocolate (350 L) to hopefully compensate for the 100 Lovibond difference. Was kind of unsure how to go about replacing American chocolate for English chocolate malt. Also, I could only get a pound of Brown malt so added 6 ounces of Special Roast to compensate. Another shot in the dark. Nothing really seems to be similar to Brown malt. It’s characteristic burnt brown and structure are definitely one of kind.

Another interesting aspect of this brew was my yeast situation. Used Dry English from White Labs on the Pale 31 clone and it worked really well. It fermented rapidly and flocuated crystal clear.I like this yeast a lot. I had washed the yeast for reuse but somehow during the washing process I let it settle too much and I didn’t manage to get a whole lot of yeast when I poured the liquid off the trub. Anyhow I had three 8 ounce jars with just a light dusting of yeast. Made a 500ml starter Friday morning and pitched a very scant amount of yeast. Took about 18 hours but it really fired up. I continuously swirled it once an hour during waking hours. Saturday afternoon made a 1500ml starter and split it in two and then pitched half of the 500ml starter in each. The two 1L starters were still actively fermenting and with a nice 1/2 inch layer of settled yeast when I pitched them Sunday afternoon. We shall see the outcome.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.050
Estimated FG: 1.010
Estimated Color: 29 SRM
Estimated IBU: 36 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.3%

Grain
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) 63.9 %
1 lbs 9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM) 12.0 %
1 lbs Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) 7.5 %
14.4 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) 6.8 %
14.4 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 6.8 %
6.4 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) 3.0 %

Schedule
50.00 g Fuggle [5.50 %] – Boil 60.0 min 29.9 IBUs
27.00 g Fuggle [5.50 %] – Boil 10.0 min 5.9 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water no additions
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
Mash in 5.25 gallons 161F and let stabilize to 152F for 75 min
Mash out 168F
Batch Sparge 4.5 gallons 170F

Yeast
Dry English Ale Yeast 2L starter

Rejected English hop varieites from the past may be dank

Fascinating blog post from Mark Dredge, English beer writer, on the National Hop Collection (NHC) at Wye College where there is over 780 hop varieties collected since 1908. Some of these were used exclusively for breeding without checking their aroma qualities. One such is the hop OZ97a which in trials in 1960 was seen as too “American” for British brewers. Apparently the hop has apricot, pineapple, lychee, grapefruit, melon and tangerine aromas and flavors. Hop should be ready by 2015 harvest for small commercial brewing. Apparently there are other hidden gems in the NHC.

Mission St Pale Ale (Pale 31)

This is a clone of the Mission St Pale Ale which is basically Firestone Walker’s Pale 31 without the small blend of DBA in it. To compensate for that I’m going to add a very small bit of toasted oak in secondary with the dry hopping. If it doesn’t come close to taste, I might formulate a recipe with a touch of crystal and chocolate malts in it to get it more in line with the blend. Or heck, you could just by a twelver and dump in nine bottles of DBA into the bottling bucket.

5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.048
Estimated FG: 1.010
Estimated Color: 5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 40 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5%

Grain
7 lbs 12 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 79 %
1 lbs 7 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 15%
10 oz Carapils (2.0 SRM) 6 %

Schedule
7.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] – Boil 90.0 min 4.7 IBUs
7.00 g Chinook [13.00 %] – Boil 60.0 min 12.7 IBUs
21.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] – Boil 30.0 min 22.4 IBUs
37.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] – Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] – Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] – Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
28.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] – Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
21.00 g Chinook [13.00 %] – Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days)

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water no additions
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
Mash in 4 gallons 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Mash out 168F
Batch Sparge 4.75 gallons 170F

Yeast
Dry Englsh Ale Yeast 2L starter

GABF 2013

I had never been to GABF before. I had heard all sorts of things about it, ranging from how it is overwhelming, crazy crowded, and just all around daunting to drink so many different beers without losing your mind and ruining your palate. So figuring you only live once, I thought me and the wife would give it a shot this year, plus Denver is supposed to be a pretty happening city.

We arrived Friday and happened to hook a deal through Southwest to stay at the Oxford Hotel in the LODO section of downtown. Quite a few breweries nearby as well as the infamous Falling Rock Taphouse. The convention center was also just a short walk away.

Outside the Oxford looking at Grand Central Station being revamped.

After settling in decided we to check out Wynkoop Brewing just around the corner. After quaffing a few there headed to Falling Rock. Way too crowded with people already ripped. Servers kind of pissy and the selection so overwhelming you just kind of had to throw a dart at a tap and hope for the best, which probably wasn’t a bad way to go, because I doubt anything there was bunk. I had a Great Divide Double IPA that was memorable and my wife had a Crooked Stave sour of some sort that was quite delicious. Would like to visit this bar when GABF is not in town.

Downtown Denver walking to festival

It has to be quite the feat organizing this festival. The logistics of the beer alone are crazy. Like I said, I haven’t been to this festival before so I’m making this as a blind assumption, but the GABF looks to me like it has become to big. Took 45 minutes to get in the door(WTF). A lot of the beer being poured was warm and a lot of the people pouring didn’t know shit about it. Lines for the more prestigious breweries were a joke. I think you can’t make this festival any bigger without it becoming unpleasant. Anyhow, those are my off the cuff negative observations. Overall it was a great but a somewhat blurry time.

An hour in and I’m already befuddled

After my first hour all my well laid plans slowly fell apart. I had it in my mind to visit East Coast and Mid West breweries. Basically beers we just don’t see in Southern California like Bells, Jolly Pumpkin, Boulevard, etc. I had a quite a bit of Jolly Pumpkin (beats me why everyone wants that New Glarus Kriek when Jolly Pumpkin’s La Roja is a far superior beer with no line) but couldn’t quite get it together to find Bells or Boulevard. Ran into some good beers just randomly. McCoys Gose was one such beer.

Other memorable stuff:

Dock Street Brewing Firehouse Saison
Shmalts Jewbelation 17
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum
Springfield Heart of Darkness

There were probably others but the festival is kind of a whirlwind of flavor sensation where everything becomes a blur.

Steph in time lapse blur

Do I recommend going to GABF. Yes, if only for the one time experience of such a unreal amount of beer in one place. I don’t think I’ll be returning – the expense alone is a deterrent and there’s so many festivals now locally just makes more sense to go to those.

Lichtenhainer

I first came across this beer in Randy Mosher’s masterpiece Radical Brewing. If you don’t have this book it is the one beer book you should own. Lichtenhainer is an obscure style from the Jena region of Germany. Smoky and sour at the same time with both smoke and sourness restrained. Usually the grist is made up of Rauch malt, Wheat malt, and or Pilsner malt. The first time I brewed this beer I used 5lbs smoked,1.5lbs wheat and 2lbs acidulated(an easy way to sour without actually creating a sour mash). The next day when fermentation kicked in we had a heat wave and the Kolsch yeast crashed when the fermenter got to 80 degrees. After trying to restart the fermentation I pitched Cal Ale about 4 days later which finished the fermentation. Beer turned out surprisingly well with an almost champagne like mouth-feel, a hint of smoke, and a slightly perceptible sourness. Beer actually seemed to get better with a little age as well.

This is a supposed to be a very dry beer so this time I’m tweaking the recipe just slightly with a little more smoked malt, less acid malt, and more wheat. Hoping the smoke will come out a bit more and the additional wheat will help with the mouth-feel plus boosting ABV. Weyermann suggests 8% of the grist be acid malt to sour a beer so at 1lb in this recipe it should impart some sourness.

5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.048
Estimated FG: 1.006
Estimated Color: 7.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.4%

Grain
6 lbs Smoked Malt (I use Weyermann Rauch but any German rauch malt will do – peat and cherry wood malt is too intense)(9.0 SRM) 60.0 %
3 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) 30.0 %
1 lbs Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) 10.0 %

Schedule
56.70 g Hallertauer [3.80 %] – Boil 60.0 min 29.0 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water no additions
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
Mash in 4 gallons 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Mash out 168F
Batch Sparge 4 gallons 170F

Yeast
San Diego Super Yeast 2L starter

Heat Wave Red

An attempt at a Hop Head Red. A buddy of mine came up from San Diego and wanted to make something similar. Pretty much a shot in the dark from doing a little scouring on the web. The Green Flash website has the vitals and worked off that. We split the 7 gallon batch into two. He has no temp control while I do. Hotter than hell the day we brewed. Should be interesting to taste these side by side.

7 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.069
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 17 SRM
Estimated IBU: 60 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.2%

Grain
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 67.9 %
4 lbs 3 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 20.4 %
1 lbs 6 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) 6.8 %
11 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) 3.3 %
3 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 0.8 %
3 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) 0.8 %

Schedule
38.65 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] – Boil 60. 41.4 IBUs
19.32 g Nugget [13.00 %] – Boil 30.0 min 14.8 IBUs
9.66 g    Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] – Boil 10.0 min 2.3 IBUs
9.66 g    Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] – Boil 5.0 min 1.3 IBUs
38.65 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] – Boil 1.0 min   1.1 IBUs
84.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] – Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
19.60 g Nugget [13.00 %] – Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water no additions
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
Mash in 8 gallons 163F and let stabilize to 152F for 75 min
Mash out 168F
Batch Sparge 2.5 gallons 170F

Yeast
San Diego Super Yeast 2L starter

No more cheap beer? Blame hipsters

Pretty amusing titled article on alcohol prices. “Sub-premium”(Bud, Miller, Coors, Pabst, etc) beer prices have gone up by 6.8%, wine 8% and booze 11%. Mind you this is in restaurants. “Small batch” beer(i.e. “craft beer”) has only gone up 1.8%. Hipsters drinking PBR? This is old news. PBR costing more? Old news as well. The only reason I would drink PBR is that it’s cheap. No longer.

I’d like to see the data in retail. I know it cost more to make a good beer but honestly I can’t find a six pack these days under $9 that’s good unless its on sale and, like anything on sale, who knows how long that beer has been sitting there. It wasn’t long ago that I could by a good 6 pack for 5 bucks. Is it inflation, such as the price of raw ingredients, transportation, etc? Or is it greed? I claim it’s a bit of both. There is a small mention of restaurants desperate for revenue raising prices but that’s it. I know some breweries are selling their product at a decent wholesale price while liquor stores gouge the holy hell out of customers for “premium” or “craft” beer once they get their hand on the product. Another gouging is the growler fill for $14 – $16. Why would I pay $14 dollars for less than a six pack? Not all breweries do it. You know who you are that do! How about the $8 22 ounce bomber? Ridiculous! I think the industry almost assumes that the average beer consumer has pretty much no understanding of math and economics and assumes that something priced higher in a big bottle must be something special – it’s not it’s the same beer you could get in a six pack for $9.99. Snobby drinkers need to wake up to this. I believe they are the ones to fault whether “hipster” or not.

Harvested Cascade Hops

Having never grown hops before, I was unsure when to harvest these bad boys. Of course there are many and varied opinions online. Some say to harvest when the hops change color, are paper like, cut in half you see yellow lupulin, edge on petals turn up, and are starting to brown. I might have left them on the bine a little too long because a lot were a little crisp, but interestingly enough those ones had the most hop-like smell. Didn’t weigh wet but will weigh when dry. For the first year of this plant I think the yield was OK. Going to split the rhizome up and start another one or two from this one.

Constructed a drying screen out of scrap wood and 5 dollars worth of window screen to make a 3′ x 3.5′ drying screen. I’m using a fan to blow over the top to keep the air moving and help with the drying process. After 18 hours or so they are already drying out nicely.