Feast or Famine... (AKA November Redux)

I think my last post was in June. Even before that, the posts were intermittent at best! There was not a ton to report as far as my usual topics go, though. Is it too early for New Year's Resolutions???

The looming Holiday Season jump-started my brewing again. Most tasks may be "like riding a bike" in terms of never truly forgetting how to do them, but brewing, like driving a manual transmission, is one best served by regular practice! It is not rocket science, but there are a lot of steps. The beer is better when things go smoothly.

Since I am a "yeast starter" guy, I need to start my timeline a couple days early in order to brew. I'm no stranger to brewing through the night after family stuff is done (hence the name of this blog), but planning is still necessary. Since I had a list beers I was planning on brewing in the late summer and early fall, most of my yeast was getting tired viability-wise. This added a few more days to the brewing timeline, because I had to step-up my starters.

Nevertheless - I finally got my Dunkel Weiss going a few weeks ago... It was my first Bavarian-style weiss beer, having only brewed an American Raspberry Wheat (for my wife) previously. I have heard all the stories about the vigor of this yeast (the Weihenstephan strain - WY3068), but was still not prepared! This yeast was relatively fresh, so I did my usual 2L starter.

Geyser is probably not the appropriate term, since it did not hit the ceiling... But I came home from work to find the foil off the carboy, and a steady flow of krausen flowing down the entire circumference of the carboy. I am glad that the carboy was in a milk crate and on a towel (and likewise glad that I found this before my wife)!

I am no rookie when it comes to blow-off mishaps. In fact, my wife has called me at work and even threatened to cut off my brewing of ales (fermenting in the house) as a result of vigorous fermentation accidents. Fearing the loss of hobby privileges, I have adapted my techniques to try to avoid these yeast-caused problems...

When I ferment in a 5-gallon vessel, I always use an appropriately-sized blow-off tube which flows into container of ample volume (2L minimum, emptied before I go to work!). Preferably, I ferment in 6-gallon vessels, and never put more than 5.5-gallons of beer into it. It has been quite a while since I had more than a couple tablespoonfuls of yeast krausen escape containment, which may be why this massive flow was such a surprise (FYI - keep your dog away if you expect that your yeast is making a break for it! I had to drag my lab away from licking up the expelled yeast!). I put about 5.25 gallons into the 6-gallon fermenter.

Having not been caught by my wife, I quickly changed out the towel, and took the vigorous yeast activity as a good sign (while at the same time dreading the future carboy-cleaning task). I did a little triage, and the fermentation was back on track. Then came the Thanksgiving-week storm... If you don't live in the Pacific Northwest, you might have missed it - but we got 4" of snow in the Puget Sound region, accompanied by high winds and power outages.

I pretended like I was concerned for the comfort of my family (OK, I was a bit concerned) as I kept the wood stove gong 24-7. I was worried about my 4 yeast starters and my Dunkel Weiss, and needed to maintain a suitable ambient temperature in the face of no power and sub-freezing outdoor temperatures! I dutifully kept logs on the fire, and occasionally sneaked a peak at the LCD carboy thermometers, aiming to keep their temps above 60° at least. I think I managed OK.

I mentioned the Holiday Season as a motivational factor. Since the very first year I homebrewed, I have given beer as gifts. At this point, I think that my friends and co-workers would be disappointed by anything other than beer (this is quite a compliment). And at our National Guard Holiday Party, it is a foregone conclusion that I'll provide baskets of homebrew for the family support auction. If you are a homebrewer, you know what I'm talking about - the list of people who want your beer grows...

By my reckoning, demand was going to exceed supply... I took stock of on-hand supplies and proven recipes. Next up: a partial-mash ESB that has become a bit of a stand-by! The partial mash was carried out in a 2-gal beverage cooler, and added to a the kettle with some DME for a full-wort boil. I love this recipe (based on somebody's take on Fuller's ESB - but in my mind, not really a clone), and like to brew it 3-4 times a year. It has also become one of the beers that I like to use to check out different yeasts... This time around I went with NW Ale (WY1332 - believed to be from Hale's in Seattle). At this point, it is probably very close to being done...

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I loaded up the wagon with brewing equipment and supplies for the trek to Seattle for an annual memorial brew day. I lost the best friend (a homebrewer) I ever had - the closest thing I had to a brother - on the 23rd of November, 2003 in Iraq; a family of lifelong friends lost their homebrewer almost two years ago on Superbowl Sunday (his birthday is in November)... We decided to make a commemorative tradition on Thanksgiving Weekend. This was our second year (last year we brewed a delicious Winter Warmer and a Robust Porter)...

Ferry traffic was crazy, and I arrived late. But things went fairly smooth for only my second brew session in months! I brewed a Rye Pale Ale, based on the Terrapin Rye clone on the Can You Brew It show on the Brewing Network (http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/597); Ben brewed an Amber Ale from Brewing Classic Styles. We drank the last bottles of each of our beers from last year, video skyped with our missing brew partner who's teaching in Viet Nam, and enjoyed the good company of family.

I missed the mark this past weekend... Several of my beers were not yet ready, and I needed to fill two raffle baskets. I have been lagering a batch of Classic American Pilsener for my Mom - but at least 24 bottles of it absolutely needed to find its way to her this time around (this is a long and entertaining story in itself). In my keezer, I still had a few gallons of beer left from late-summer brewing: a little over a gallon of Düsseldorf Alt brewed for a friend's retirement and a little over a gallon of an Imperial Rye IPA (a modification of Denny' Rye IPA). I counter-pressured this into bottles. I also had a few bottles of Pumpkin Ale (an attempt at an Elysian Night Owl clone, tasted and preferred on the Can You Brew It show - to the best of my knowledge, the only non-show homebrew tasted and discussed on the show) left from last winter. So, the baskets looked as follows:

• 2x 22oz Dunkel Weiss
• 2x 12oz Pumpkin Ale
• 1x 12oz Classic American Pilsener
• 1x 22oz Düsseldorf Alt
• 1x 22oz Imperial Rye IPA

After recovering from the power outage, I had fallen a bit behind, so I pulled some near all-nighters getting caught up leading into this weekend... Including a marathon bottling session where I bottled over 12 gallons of beer over Saturday night in order to have the beer baskets ready for Sunday. Maybe my timelines need a bit of adjustment?

I will definitely be in good shape for the rest of my bottled gifts leading into the holidays... I've already got the remainder of my bottled Dunkel Weiss and CAP, and should be adding the ESB and Rye Pale Ale shortly. I've got several recipes on deck, including a big batch of Pale Ale for a lautering experiment proposed by BYO magazine and Basic Brewing Radio. I'm torn between ending the year in a brewing flourish, still coming well short of my 100-gallon goal, or saving most of my brewing plans until after the New Year in order to get a jump on 2011's goal!

Breakfast Gives Rise to a Fun Idea!

So... My oldest son (7-1/2) was eating his breakfast, and he was reading the cereal box as he often does. I was pouring a cup of coffee when he shouted out, "Dad! This cereal could be beer! It's got wheat, malted barley, and yeast in it!"

"You must be so proud," my wife said to me somewhat facetiously.

Actually I was. I read the cereal box while sipping my coffee... Whole grain wheat flour, wheat four, malted barley flour, salt, dried yeast, soy lecithin. Hmmmm... "You know what buddy, you are absolutely right!" I replied. "What ingredients are missing?"

"Just the hops, Dad."

Yep. I am proud. I explained to him that the yeast might not actually be viable, since it may have been cooked as the cereal was processed. When he asked me why it was in there, I explained that yeast has some nutritional value, including vitamin B. I could see the wheels turning in his young head.

"So... Beer is kind of like food," he finally said. "Could you actually make beer out of Grape Nuts?"

After some thought, I replied, "I don't see why not... The only ingredient that would have a negative affect, as far as I know, is the salt."

After the disapproving glances and pointed glaring, my wife's face formed into a devilish grin. My first thought was how much trouble I was going to be in now... "You know what you should do? You should make up a batch of beer for the family camping trip, and call it 'breakfast beer'. Then when everybody likes it and it's gone, you can tell them you made it from cereal - they just drank their Grape Nuts!"

This actually sounded like a fun way to do it... I have read many forum posts about Grape Nuts beer, and beer from cereals in general. But for me, this beer would have a back-story!

I have begun thinking about the cereal, trying to get a handle on how much extract I can expect... It is unlikely that I could steep it and expect to get much more than the malted barley out (I would assume that this would be a bit like crystal malts). I am thinking of trying a small cereal mash added to a normal mash with some pale malt. I might also just try adding it into the mash with some pale malt. The difference in extract probably depends on how much of the cereal is actually wheat - it is not listed as malted wheat. Maybe it is negligible? Maybe I could make do with the simpler mash? That's why I want to try both methods...

Hop Trellises

In a recent post, I lamented the loss of my established hops due to a poorly executed move. In that same post, I also spoke of planting my new rhizomes. As I eagerly awaited bines to sprout, I contemplated trellis possibilities...

At my old house, I strung twine from my roof down to the ground - this gave me about 10' vertically. At my new place, the hops are planted away from my house in an area of raised garden beds. The trellis issue presented two problems. Of course, the first problem was the trellis system itself -what was I going to do? Secondary, and possibly more importantly, whatever trellis system I decided upon had to meet my wife's approval, since she is in charge of the aesthetics of the garden area.

What I really wanted to do was weld up a sturdy, permanent trellis... I felt that the unfinished steel would rust up nicely and complement the rustic wood of the raised beds and fenceposts. My wife thought that this plan would result in a "rusty monstrosity" which would undoubtedly be an "eyesore." (the quoted parts are her actual words) Likewise, any wooden trellis structure was likely to be a visual distraction.

I reluctantly concurred, putting off any truly permanent construction until next year when I plan on putting the hops into the ground (or at least planted more permanently).

In the end, I opted for simple. Material-wise I purchased two long 5/8" pieces of re-bar, 4 u-shaped 1/2" conduit brackets, two 1" screw eyes, 2 worm-drive hose clamps, and a spool of natural fiber twine. Planning-wise, I did not consult my wife (this simplified things greatly).

I used the hose clamps to fasten one of the screw eyes to the end of each piece of re-bar; tightening down the clamps as tight as they would go (along with a little bit of shaping of the clamp strap) added a sturdy circular eye to the 'top' of my trellis rod. Next, I test-fit the conduit brackets, and bent them to insure a secure and stable fit. I began by fastening only one side of a pair of conduit brackets for each trellis rod to the end boards of a raised garden bed. Before I mounted the re-bar to the garden box, I threaded 4 strands of ~20' of the natural twine through the eye at the top (this way, I avoided having to climb up a ladder to do that later). Finally, I fitted the re-bar into the conduit brackets and finished screwing them in. This resulted in a trellis that will be plenty sturdy for the hop bines, and hardly noticeable in the garden area.

Hop Rhizomes: Planting

My main order of hop rhizomes came in last weekend. In the rush to complete our move last spring, we left behind many plants that we had hoped to remove, pot, and bring with us to the new place... Sadly, my hops from last year were among those left behind. I had three varieties (Hallertauer, Tettnanger, and Cascade) which actually survived, and the Cascade were quite robust and productive.

I ordered several varieties again this year: Cascade, Chinook, Fuggle, Horizon... The first year I grew hops, I was not ready to put them in the ground, so I started them in containers (7-gallon nursery pots); they grew fine, had a decent yield, and I replanted them in the ground the following spring. The garden area at my new home is nowhere near complete, so I am starting hops in containers again this year.

I used the same 7-gallon nursery containers to plant them this time around. I remembered to print up weatherproof labels for each hop varietal - this ought to save me a bit of headache later! I partially blocked the four drain holes at the bottoms of the pots, then filled them with a mix of potting soil and enriched organic manure. After digging a 1-2" trench in the soil, I dropped the rhizomes in, mounding soil over the top.

It is spring in the Pacific Northwest, so keeping the soil moist will not be a problem. In fact, I think that part of why I lost some of my original hops was because they were too wet before the bines sprouted out of the soil. My gut tells me that finding a balance between a soil that will hold some moisture and a soil that drains well is the key, especially at the earliest stages.

I have the containers placed on the far side of my raised garden beds. This part of my yard will get around 16 hours of sun during the summer. Even now, they have sun from about 8 AM until 7 PM. I am going to rig a primitive trellis from re-bar and twine attached to the wall of my raised beds. This should be sufficient for the first year. Next year, my intention is to get them permanently planted in the ground somewhere in our garden enclosure with a better trellis system.

New Beer Annex: The Acme, Tacoma

I look forward to drill weekends... Not because I love donning the uniform, not because I love the Army, but because I love the guys I work with. I truly look forward to seeing them every month. One of the highlights is our Beer Club (this is a totally lackluster and uncreative name)... We get together and drink beer well into the night. It often becomes a prideful contest to see who can last the longest, but it is mostly about drinking and talking about good beer.

At the Holidays, my homebrew baskets for the unit fundraiser raffle have become legendary. People start asking if I will be providing baskets about three months in advance! I also usually provide kegs for barbecues, picnics, and special events after drill. I have rallied quite a bit of interest in good beer and homebrewing through such beer diplomacy... Over the past year, our gatherings have grown and grown, often attracting upwards of 20 folks; likewise the number of homebrewers in our midst continues to rise.

However, our unit moved from a location we had occupied for the past five years. We had established drinking routines: either drinking in-house with a variety of offerings brought in by revelers or a walk to the local dive bar just off post. Faced with a new location, one which we share with many other units (visibility is the enemy of discretion), all eyes were on me for a plan.

Google is my friend, even if many of the sites I wanted to visit were blocked by government internet filters! Using Google Maps, I was able to locate several local haunts within 15 minutes walking distance. The walking distance part is non-negotiable for me, because I don't want anybody driving after we've been out drinking. Several of the potential establishments were also music venues, so they were going to require a cover and be fairly crowded. We decided on a place, which from all appearances looked to be a good dive replacement, that was only 4 blocks away!

The Acme Tavern in Tacoma was two blocks north and two blocks east of our armory - can't beat convenience! And it was not a dive at all! They strive for the dive feel - shunning any trendy embellishments. Tables, chairs, bar games, a jukbox, pounders of Rainier and PBR, taps of American Macro-swill... And 4 local micro/craft taps! The bar tender was a super guy, and the local bar flies were friendly and welcoming.

We filled the jukebox full of quarters and waxed indecisive about what we wanted in the music queue... We drank four pitchers of Odin Brewing Co.'s Odin's Gift, and were sold on our new beer annex! If you haven't had a chance to try any of their brews, their tasting room is open most Friday afternoons... They are located in Seattle, near the Museum of Flight (9130 15th Pl. S. Suite F, Seattle, WA, 98108).

Odin's Gift is a ruby-colored dark ale. I don't know how they classify it, if at all, but it is definitely a pecialty beer. I detected juniper berries (I think) and rich dark-fruit malty overtones providing the sweetness to carry the alcohol (I'm guessing 7-8%), balanced by a just enough hop bitterness to keep it from being cloying... This beer had a lot of potential to be a one-pinter, given the fruity nose (from the dark malts and the juniper berries), but it was well-attenuated and finished much drier than I expected. This beer was like a juniper-cautious Alaskan Winter on steroids!

3.16.10 Bottle Filling Woes

I really do not enjoy bottling. Like many others, that was one of my main reasons for switching over to kegging. Plus, you can avoid storing a surplus of empty glass bottles (my obsession with saving empties is fodder for another post). These days, the only time I bottle in large batches is for gifts. I started using John Palmer's nomograph for carbonation (can be found in How To Brew or in Brewing Classic Styles) and now I can reliably hit the proper carbonation levels for each style in every bottle. But all the extra work is still a pain.

This is really about bottling that handful of bottles to give to a friend or to send to a competition. In order to transport a small volume of beer, there is no way around bottling. Initially, I contemplated building a full-blown counter-pressure bottle filler. I decided against it, because they look pretty bodgy and didn't appear to be as 'simple' to use as commercially available versions. I decided I could pony up the cash for a CPBF, and decided on the stainless steel version listed at More Beer. But it was perpetually out of stock...

I spoke with my local homebrew shop owner. I reviewed info on the brewing podcasts that I listen to. I scoured the brewing forums. All of these sources assured the would-be bottler that a cobra tap and part of a racking cane was all that was necessary... Simply slide the plastic tube up into the opening of the cobra tap, insert this into the bottle, open the tap, fill to the brim, remove the filler, then cap. Oh yes, don't forget to "cap on foam"! Simple.

But my beer was always flat. I listened to podcasts on the Brewing Network again, where accomplished brewers such as Jamil Zainasheff and 'Tasty' McDole said that it wasn't necessary to 'over pressure' the keg (Tasty has repeated this over and over, and that he uses the cobra-tap-racking-tube method). But my beer was flat.

I did a little more research, and it seemed like a better seal at the bottle's opening might be of some help. So I built Ken Schwartz' 'Poor Man's Counter Pressure Bottle Filler' (the PMCPBF - based on the diagram posted here). I assembled the materials, but had problems with the valve stem popping off of the inflating needle. A quick mod involving two-part clear epoxy (it never touches the beer) - which looked great - solved that. This was better, and I was able to actually hold quite a bit more CO2 in the bottle as I went (better allowing the "cap on foam" step), but the carbonation level has still been inconsistent. About half the bottles are pretty flat, and half are properly carbonated - seemingly with no way to predict which way it will go!

This is not a huge deal when bottling a couple bottles to take to a friend's place (still not very aesthetically pleasing however), but it is a critical problem when bottling for comps! I had three solid beers that I sent to one this fall - all three had carbonation problems listed on the judging sheets.

My beer might not be anywhere near as good as Tasty's, but I should be able to replicate his bottling success, for Pete's sake!

Should I spend the money on a better CPBF? Should I try the Blichmann Beer Gun? I want my competition beers to reflect what I am serving out of my kegs - good beer at the proper level of carbonation. I need to figure this out...

3.15.10 Beer Shipped & Received

OK. I got an email yesterday... Jamil Zainasheff received the beer that I shipped to him recently. This makes me nervous.

This might not sound like a big deal. However, Jamil is about the most award-winning homebrewer of all time. I sent him one of my clone attempts along with the original beer - Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale - for feedback. While I am totally open to any insight he and the gang at The Brewing Network can give me, and I know my beer is not perfect, I don't want it to be a slamfest.

I usually dislike pumpkin beers. I have tried every iteration I can get my hands on up here: Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, Brooklyn Brewing Post Road Pumpkin Ale, Harvest Moon, Dogfish Head Punkin, etc. Elysian's Night Owl was the first one I ever have tried that I actually wanted to drink another! I was averaging 3-4 bombers each week this fall... And everybody I shared it with liked it too!

So my 2009 Holiday Brew was a Night Owl clone. I ramped up with several small batches, including a version of Jamil's pumpkin spiced ale from Brewing Classic Styles, a recipe from Zymurgy magazine, and my own formulation of Night Owl based on info from the Elysian website. I began with 1-gallon all-grain batches, mashed in my mini tun and fermented in jugs.

All three of the beers were decent. They were definitely drinkable, and I drank every last drop. The recipes from Brewing Classic Styles and Zymurgy were good, but not spectacular - something to brew before Hallowe'en or Thanksgiving to share with a guest or two. But that was not really what I was shooting for. If I'm going to all the extra effort with the pumpkin, I want the resulting beer to be one that people can't get enough of. Besides, I was drinking them in side-by-side comparisons with the original Night Owl.

My clone recipe hit surprisingly close the first time around. I tweaked it a bit - double roasted the pumpkin (a chef's trick for getting a little more roasty sweetness & caramel out of squash), and adjusted the spices. I scaled it up and pitched the yeast from the first batch. I was shooting for an amber ale with English leanings as the base, with a bit of complexity from the pumpkin and spices - this is what I got from the Elysian brew.

My beer was well-received over the holidays. But it was still not a spot-on clone. This is one that I'd like to make an annual tradition, so I want to keep working on the recipe, but I lack the depth of expertise to go beyond what I've already done. I am proud of how close I got with just a little research and tasting, but I needed some expert opinions... Jamil (along with Mike 'Tasty' McDole) hosts a show on the Brewing Network called 'Can You Brew It' - a craft beer clone show. I am hoping that their crew can give me a few pointers to make my recipe even better.

I have also been trying to get them to do a clone of Silver City Fat (Bastard) Scotch Ale on the show. So I sent them a couple of fresh bombers of Fat in hopes I could persuade them!

I'll let everyone know what I hear from Jamil & the gang at the BN.

3/5/10 - Dry Hopping & Kegging

This weekend, we are officially "reintegrating" the guys who recently (Thanksgiving) returned from Afghanistan into the unit... I have missed these guys a great deal - first while they were deployed, and more recently as they resettled their lives upon their return. Out of respect for their space, and knowing firsthand the heightened sensitivity to all-things-military, no matter how well-intentioned, I have kept my distance for several months as they adjusted to life back home.

I brewed up a couple of batches of beer for the occasion - one a Classic American Pilsener that I brewed at the tail-end of last year, the other an American IPA which I repitched on the yeast from the BYO/BBR Collaborative Experiment on extract techniques... The yeast had crashed out well, and it was time to keg it up. Actually I should have kegged it up last weekend.

I took the day off to go in and do some admin prep for the drill, but I started my day in the shop taking care of this beer! Since I did not keg it last weekend, and I wanted to dry hop both beers (a little bit of noble hop character in the pilsener and a hefty hop nose in the IPA), I had to alter my technique a bit... I opted for a "hop tea" added to the keg prior to racking in the beer.

I was adding about 2 oz of hops to the pilsener, so I boiled 2 cups of water for them; since the IPA was getting closer to 4 oz, I boiled about a quart for them. While they boiled, I weighed and bagged up the hops - nice and loose with lots of 'swimming' room! After 10 minutes of boiling, I cut the flame and tossed in the hop bags, making sure that each bag was entirely saturated... When I wasn't stirring, I kept the lids on the pot in order to trap in most of the volatiles.

The liquid and saturated bags went into the sanitized kegs ahead of the beer, which I racked onto the bags and hop tea. I sealed up the kegs, and applied CO2 over-pressure to speed carbonate them in time for Sunday's picnic...

3/4/10 - Consolidation...

When we moved last June, it was under less than optimal conditions. Recall that we were actually homeless for about two weeks while we waited for our new place to close. While it was really more like camping than being truly homeless, but we didn't actually have a home during that time... This unexpected turn of events led to a less than organized move - we had stuff squirreled away everywhere: my parents', my in-laws', three storage units. When we finally got to move into our house, we put most of our stuff into the garages.

The first garage to get cleaned out was the spare - the "shop". This was mostly because it was where the overflow went, and most of that was stuff that needed to go into the house (the main garage was full of yard tools, bikes, wagons, shelving units and stuff from our last garage). This is a bit of a sore subject with my wife: her Volvo is still parked outside, while all 4 motorcycles and my Landcruiser are in the spare garage. Hey, it just worked out that way, right?

Since Christmas, I have been gradually moving brewing stuff from the main garage into the spare, which will be a combination shop & brewing space (which my wife is calling my "man cave"). A couple of weeks ago, I inventoried most of my empty glassware an organized that onto shelves. At the same time, I reorganized all of my brewing bins, and got them stacked up neatly. And I cleaned out my kegerator (a converted chest freezer with a condensation/sweat problem - that will be another post entirely! ;-), and made a spot for it as well. Last weekend, I temporarily mounted the dartboards (one for adults and one for boys) on the back of a set of wall lockers.

I have been using the main garage for lagering, cold crashing, and conditioning my beers this winter... This is mostly because it is more convenient since I've mostly been brewing on my deck, and it has been chilly and I'm a bit lazy. And I have been using it for the cool storage of my drinking supply (also out of convenience/laziness). My wife would really like the treadmill and her car in the garage - which is totally fair (it would be a bit embarrassing to have lived here a year and not have her car in the garage). So tonight, I got the last of the beer stuff out of the main garage.

While the boys threw darts, I borrowed a wagon from them, and began carting stuff over. First, I moved 3 carboys (1x Classic American Pilsener, 1x American IPA, and 1x RyePA) and a couple of 1 gallon lager starters - that was 2 trips by wagon! The kids thought it was hilarious (I was muttering under my breath, because the wagon didn't turn or maneuver very well with all that heavy beer in it)! And they kept pretending like they were going to hit me with darts as I wheeled by.

That actually turned out to be the easy part... My "beer shelf" was full of a combination of beers and empties, and the floor around it also had quite a bit of beer. I found quite a few six packs that I've been aging (like 5 years worth of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, 4 years of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, and several of my own homebrews). I organized my empties, and got them over - but I didn't want to mess up my inventory, so they're off to the side and not shelved. At this point, I realized that I hadn't checked the dinner - I ran in, and things were OK!

I tackled the beer from on and around the 7' shelf next, which took about 4 or 5 trips. There was quite an impressive pile around my kegerator... But it was time for dinner. We all took a break and headed in... After dinner I did get the shelf moved over, but I did not get it loaded up with beer because I need to move a few boxes of language materials first...

3/4/10 - Sean Terrill's Yeast Starter Experiment

Basic Brewing Radio is an outstanding informative podcast hosted by James Spencer (http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio). Between this and the content on the Brewing Network (http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com), it is nearly all that I listen to on my daily commute...

This week's episode of Basic Brewing Radio (3/11/10) featured a yeast starter experiment. I am always interested in this topic – my yeast are the best pets I've ever had! The original experiment can be found here:

http://seanterrill.com/2010/01/14/aeration-and-yeast-starters/

Mr. Terrill was thorough on his experimental design and procedures. The only piece that I had any questions about was his connecting regular agitation with “simulating a stir plate”. Experimentally, there is a huge difference between agitating or swirling the beer once per hour or every 15 minutes and the constant swirling caused by a stir plate. Everything else was wired tight, and there were some compelling results...

There was not much surprise that by constant aeration (filtered air from an aquarium pump) or agitation/swirling, the brewer can increase yeast production. I have always been paranoid about having that hose hanging out of my starter: with my luck, something would catch on the hose and spill the starter or I wouldn't be able to properly secure the cover with the tubing going in and my starter would get contaminated... When I began making starters almost two years ago, I would agitate the vessel every time I remembered – sometimes in the morning before work and once more at night, which was probably better than nothing; and sometimes it was every time I walked by the starter.

Eventually, I built my own inexpensive stir plate (like http://www.stirstarters.com/instructions.html, http://brewiki.org/StirPlate, http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-equipment/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/401-build-your-own-stir-plate, http://www.swampwaterbrewery.com/index.php/do-it-yourself-diy-stir-plate.html, etc.). The first magnetic bar I got worked well in beakers & flasks, but not in my gallon jugs; the barbell type work well in vessels which are slightly convex at the bottom... I have never tried to quantify scientifically the differences I have obtained with the various techniques I have used, so this experiment grabbed my attention right away.

I don't want to rewrite this homebrewer's article, since anybody can access it at the link above. But I did want to highlight some of the things I found most interesting... First, he opted for a low-tech method for measuring the yeast at the end of the experiment: slurry volume settled and measured in a graduated cylinder. This is great, because it means nearly any homebrewer who is already doing starters can replicate this experiment for the price of an inexpensive graduated cylinder (1L for about $10). This doesn't measure actual viability, but he used fairly well established existing research for his estimates.

I was first excited when I saw the words “stir plate,” but as I mentioned earlier, there was no stir plate involved in this experiment – a point to which I'll return later. Even so, the wort variables he built in – still, frequent agitation/swirling, and constant aeration – provide insightful data for homebrewers who make starters. From his results, some aid in gas exchange (introduction of O2 and release of CO2), whether agitation or continuous aeration, resulted in better yeast propagation than the control that was left still.

The most striking of his findings, however, revolved around how the starter is capped. Most of the information I read when I decided to begin using starters directed brewers to use a fermentation lock. I never even thought to question this, given the source of the information (New Complete Joy of Homebrewing and other well-established texts). And the starters were yielding the intended results: more yeast, less lag time, and reliable fermentation. A few months ago, I was surprised to hear Chris White (of White Labs) talk about using loose foil instead of an airlock during primary fermentation... This went against nearly everything published for beginning homebrewers, but he's the yeast expert, right?

In Terrill's findings, there was about an 8% difference in volume between the airlock starter and the foil-covered starter. In the agitated/swirled starters, there was an astounding 17% difference between the airlock and the foil! Since there really is no way to aerate a starter and have a fermentation lock, there is no data to compare, but the aerated sample was within 5% of the agitated starter. In this experiment, there is clear evidence that an airlock suppresses yeast growth/reproduction and that the loose foil covering resulted in increased yeast propagation yields.

Bottom Line: I am going to change my yeast starter process based on these results!
(I actually have already changed my process on full-batches, opting for a blowoff tube into a pitcher without any liquid or a sanitized foil covering).

Within the next couple of months I plan on conducting a similar experiment, piggybacking on these results. I will drop the continuous aeration variable, and compare still, periodically agitation/swirl, and stir plate starters with both airlocks and foil covers. I will keep the other techniques, including the measurement procedures, the same for comparison.

3/1/10 - Shepherd's Pie!

Monday night, Deb usually cooks dinner, because that is her day off. Tonight we had awesome enchiladas. But Monday night is also often a cooking night for me. Tuesday's she works late, so I try to have something we can make ahead of time that my mother-in-law can just throw in the oven or heat up for the boys.

Tonight, I decided on Shepherd's Pie! I don't think the kids have ever had it, and I have had a hankering ever since Deb ordered it at the Horse and Hounds Public House back in February. Everybody (if you know your way around the kitchen anyway) knows that real Shepherd's Pie is made with lamb. My wife is not a big fan of lamb in most cases, but she does like Shepard's Pie. My main concern was my sons - I doubt that lamb would sit well with them... On the other hand, I feel like Cottage Pie (the all-beef version) is not that great. Time to re-work a classic recipe!!!

I opted for a 50-50 mix of lamb and beef - enough lamb to provide the richer character, but not so much a dominant, strong lamb flavor. I am pretty crappy when it comes to writing down my recipes, because I mostly cook "by feel", but here goes:
Potato Topping
2 lbs boiled potatoes
~2-3 Tbsp unsalted butter
~1/4 c half-and-half
~1/4 c sour cream
~2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
Meat Filling
1/2 lb cubed lamb (lean lamb roast)
1/2 lb cubed beef (lean beef roast)
1 1/2 c chopped carrots
1 1/2 c chopped celery
1 c chopped yam
1 c chopped onion
2 Tbsp canola or olive oil
1/2 c seasoned flour (see below)
2 Tbsp beef bouillon powder (or 2 c beef broth
1/2 t crushed/chopped rosemary
1 t crushed savory
1 t crushed thyme
1/2 t ground black pepper
1 pt Guinness or other dry Irish stout
Seasoned Flour
1/2 c flour
1/2 t crushed/chopped rosemary
1/2 t crushed savory
1/2 t crushed thyme
1/2 t seasoned salt (Lawry's or other)
1/2 t ground black pepper

1) Mash the potatoes with all of the potato topping ingredients. Add the half-and-half a little at a time - you want these potatoes to be much stiffer than typical mashed potatoes. The sour cream helps smooth them out and keep them creamy with less liquid. Set aside or refrigerate.
2) Heat the oil in a large stew pot over medium/medium-high heat. Once it is hot, add all of the vegetables. Stir the veggies to coat in oil; stir occasionally as they cook.
3) While the vegetables cook, put the seasoned flour in a bowl. Add the cubed meat, and toss to coat well. Hint: if you start with slightly frozen roast, it cubes up nicely.
4) Once the veggies have softened up a bit (check the carrots and yams - about 3-4 minutes, about the length of time it takes to coat the meat cubes) - not mushy, but not as hard as when they were first put in - add the floured meat cubes and anything left in the bowl. Again, give it a good stir to coat.
5) Continue to cook this mixture until the meat is seared/browned, stirring occasionally.
7) Once the meat is browned, stir in the seasonings and the stout.
8) Add the bouillon (plus water to cover) or the beef broth.
9) Simmer over low heat until the mixture thickens to a stew-like consistency.
10) Layer the meat mixture on the bottom of a large casserole.
11) Spread the potato mixture evenly over the top of the meat mixture, being sure that they are sealed well around the edge (this helps to keep the sauce from boiling out onto the top of the potatoes). Use a spoon or a fork to make scallops or peaks on top of the potatoes - these will brown up as the pie bakes!
12) Preheat oven to 400°. Bake the pie until the potato peaks are golden-brown - about 30 minutes.
** Don't you dare let any cheese anywhere near your Shepherd's Pie! Although I have probably taken some liberties with the authentic British Isles version (like the yams), I have stayed true to the spirit and style of this hearty dish...

This was a total winner! Tuesday night, Jordan had thirds and Brandon had seconds. There were no leftovers! The stout, along with the increased dose of spices (I usually just season the flour), added a richness that made up for the smaller portion of lamb.

2/21/10 - Brewing is Always Better with Company!

So earlier in the week, my wife informed me that we were having company on Sunday... It seems that my kids and their DI team needed a bit more practice for their upcoming competition. I wanted nothing to do with it - so I told her I was going out to the garage to brew.

I emailed my buddy Micah to see if he'd be available. He confirmed. However, I told my wife that I'd take care of my part of cleaning the house, and we were booked up on Saturday. I called Micah around 1PM, and he was still game...

He barely made it to the local homebrew shop before they closed - 4PM on Sundays. It was just about 5 by the time he arrived... This kind of defeated the original purpose, since I wanted to be out of the house during the practice (which I accomplished anyway by going to the dump!), and this raised a glare from my wife (along with some facetious comments).

But Micah came through for me! He brought her a bottle of wine - Riesling, her favorite - and a bunch of awesome snacks for after dinner. So Micah bailed me out of the doghouse I was going to be in for missing all of the kids' bedtime routine by winning over my wife, and my kids (who think he is their newest best friend).

Micah also brought three kits ready to brew straight from the LHBS, which saved me from having to throw together an ad-hoc recipe. As we broke out the food and beer making supplies, he also gave me the beer he had brought - a Mickey's 24 ouncer. This turned out to be a joke, but I drank it later in the week anyway! After a dinner of fresh brats with fries and good beer, we got to brewing!

He opted for a cream ale recipe, and I brewed the nut brown ale he had brought (supposedly a Samuel Smith clone - which is great since that is really the only nut brown that I choose to buy on a regular basis!). It was a bit chilly by the time we got brewing (and frosty, literally, by the time we finished), so we decided to brew on the deck and split our time between there and the kitchen table.

We went through many different beer tastings in between talking through the brewing process (I think Micah has fewer than 5 batches under his belt since I first got him going last fall) and snackage... We drank some Widmer W'10 - their interpretation of an PNW Black IPA (a lot like a Broken Halo made black as night, with just the slightest hint of roast)... Lagunitas IPA... Maybe Lagunitas Pils or Sierra Nevada Glissade... (I don't remember - I should check the empties!). The highlight of the night was the last bottle we drank: de Koningshoeven Trappist Tripel. It was 750mL of cloudy, golden heaven! And I had Micah almost in tears as I repeated the name repeatedly as we drank it!

As with drinking good beer, it is always better to brew with a friend.

Another through-the-night brew session (started 2/15/10)... 10 gallons of Classic American Pilsener. I try to rotate a session beer on-tap in the kegerator (Dry Stout, British Bitter or Mild, Cream Ale, or CAP), along with bigger beers. My cream ales and CAPs have been “gateway beers” for friends who claim to prefer American yellow beers to craft brew or homebrew. They're especially quenching in the heat of summer!

Five gallons of this batch will be fermented with a combination of California Lager (Wyeast 2112) and Bohemian Lager (Wyeast 2124) at an intermediate temperature (60º). I'm using this semi-authentic/historic technique for a quick turn-around on a pilsener-style lager beer, which would ordinarily take about 6 weeks start to finish. I have used this technique in the past, with good results, to get this style of beer into a keg and ready to serve in under three weeks. The timeline is the critical part for me with this portion, because it needs to be ready for a “welcome back” picnic early in March.

The other 5 gallons will be split, and fermented with two different yeasts as a small experiment. My go-to lager yeast has always been Wyeast 2124 – Bohemian Lager... For a lager yeast, it is incredibly flexible and easy to use; it has a wide temperature range, and produces a nice character in the finished beer – malty & crisp. Half the batch will be fermented using this yeast at 50º. The other half will get Wyeast 2308 – Munich Lager. This yeast is geared towards malt-forward styles like bocks, dunkels, and festbiers. My recipe is not exactly a match for these styles, but it is a moderate gravity brew with a combination of 2-row & 6-row malt (along with corn), so the potential malt flavors are there. Anyway, I had it on hand...

I also have two batches I need to package (combo bottles & kegs) – a dunkel experiment and a ryePA. I should also take a reading on an American IPA I've had going. The dunkel was brewed back in December, and the ryePA was brewed at the start of January (the dry hops ought to be just about perfect); the American IPA was brewed with the re-pitched yeast from my BYO-BBR Collaborative Experiment #3.

MMX Reflections...

I am off to a bit of a slow start on both blogging and brewing this year... I finally decided to move my blog. I started the old blog at the start of my deployment to Afghanistan, and underwent several evolutionary changes in the time since then. This new blog will be much more focused on my hobbies and how I spend my freetime - the name (which means middle of the night in Latin) reflects this. If you know me, you understand the name...

About three years ago, I brewed my very first batch of beer. Wow. I fully blame my buddy Robert for getting me into this hobby - here is how it started:

At the end of August 2006 in Afghanistan, I decided that I would go out with one of our teams - Robert's team. This was going to be different from other times I had gone out on "command visits" because I was going to replace one of the operators on Robert's team. Robert was the team leader, and I'm sure he was probably less than comfortable with having his First Sergeant join him on an extended operation - nothing like having senior leadership meddling in your day-to-day affairs! Meddling, however, was not my intention; it was Rob's team, and I was just a strap-hanger that was filling a shift on the team.

After only two or three days into what ended up being about thirty days, it was fully evident that Rob and I were definitely among the geezers on hill. Most of the younger guys spent their downtime talking about things like "hot chicks", fast cars, and how they were going to spend all of their money when they got home. We had not even seen most of the movies or TV shows these guys were talking about, and at nearly 40, our interests were significantly different.

I'm not sure who mentioned it first, but one of us brought up how much we missed good beer. As the conversation continued, Robert lamented the fact that he had a batch of unbottled homebrew sitting in a carboy back at his apartment, and how it would have spent over a year in the carboy by the time he got back to bottle it. I didn't really even know what a carboy was, but had been interested in getting into homebrewing for a long time.

Robert was full of great info, and most of our non-mission-related conversation for the rest of the operation revolved around beer and homebrewing. He told me that the best starting point was Charlie Papazian's The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing. He said that it was sure to get me started off on the right foot, and was an entertaining read to boot! As Rob described it, it sounded akin to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, philosophy and practical information rolled into one.

After thirty days without a shower or a hot meal, one of the first things I did was get online and order the book, along with The Homebrewer's Companion, also by Papazian (OK, the real order of events upon arriving back on base was more like this: 1) check back in with my commander; 2) attend our battalion's weekly command & staff meeting; 3) hot dinner - KBR never tasted so good; 4) hot shower and clean uniform; 5) amazon.com to order the book). After so much thinking about beer, I broke down and drank my first non-acloholic beer – Bitburger Drive – not great, but OK when it was ice cold, by the way.

Once Rob's team went back out, I had nobody to talk to about beer... It was going to be at least another week before my amazon.com order... I was going crazy doing internet searches... Then I discovered a couple of podcasts: Basic Brewing Radio and the Brewing Network. I downloaded everything I could, and spent a lot of time listening. When the books arrived, I read them over and over – three times before I got home.

My wife and I talked about delaying Christmas until I returned sometime in January 2007. When the topic about my gift came up, I took advantage and told her I wanted a homebrew starter kit. My wife must really love me, because she knows how I get about my hobbies (she often says I don't have hobbies – I have obsessions), but she still bought me that setup and my first beer kit. The shop owner (Bill at Olympic Brewing Supplies in Bremerton, WA) asked her what kind of beer I liked, then set me up with a decent all-extract Cooper's English Bitter kit (one can of Cooper's, supplemented with additional malt extract, and dry yeast).

I brewed it at the start of February, and when I drank the first bottle towards the end of the month, I thought it was the best beer I had ever tasted! It was probably pretty good, but we all know how our opinions are colored by our amazement on our first few batches. I followed up with a stout, modified from Papazian's Toad Spit Stout, which I dubbed “Dark Horse”, and ready in time for St. Patrick's Day. This one got rave reviews from more than just my family, and I was off and running!

I was still addicted to surfing the internet for all things beer and homebrew, and was interested in brewing software... I downloaded many trial versions and tried them all out. I discovered Beer Tools, which offered a free online (simplified) recipe formulator. I used that to help me modify a few recipes from Papazian's books and from the homebrew shop. Then I ordered Beer Tools Pro, which was available for Mac, and I upgraded to a gold membership on their website...

By the time June rolled around, I had already brewed six batches, and was ready to move beyond extract batches with steeping grains. I think I ended up with 11 or 12 batches (at 5 gallons each) that first year, and I learned quite a bit about recipes and basic processes. That was a big year for me, and many of my friends had begun to ask me about my brewing, perhaps in part to get more homebrew!

As I look back over the past three years, I chuckle a bit about how much I thought I had learned and how much I though I knew at the end of that first year. Two of my biggest learning experiences actually stemmed from failures: one a probable sanitation problem that resulted in iodiney-gushers (bummer – my first all-grain batch!), and the other a drastic underpitch on my big holiday beer (anybody like flat banana beer?)... It is true that I did progress quite a bit in my brewing, but I had yet to make any changes that truly elevated my brewing and got me brewing consistently great beer.

Since then, I branched out and did much more reading. I listened to many more podcast episodes – the ones that got me started and kept me sane in Afghanistan, and some new ones as well. Brew Your Own and Zymurgy magazines were also full of great info. James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio really got my head in the game, so to speak. But it was the Brewing Network content featuring Jamil Zainasheff that really helped me make better beer.

In my second year of brewing, I got a bigger brew pot and a propane burner so that I could do full-wort boils and I began pitching yeast starters. These two simple and relatively inexpensive steps improved my brewing tenfold. I had much greater control over my beer's flavor profiles, and my fermentations kicked off quickly and reliably, and progressed predictably. What a huge difference this made!

Thanks to a great article in BYO by Chris Colby, and info in Basic Brewing Radio and Video, I got set up better for mini-mashing (partial mash technique). Before I was trying to mash grains in my brewpot suing the oven for temperature control; I switched over to countertop partial mashing using a 2 gallon beverage cooler, and I gained a much better understanding of mashing grains, starch conversion, and individual grain contributions to my finished beers. My beers began winning medals and ribbons in competitions at this point. I also made the move to some all-grain brewing in a 5 gallon beverage cooler I had in my garage. Robert, the buddy who had gotten me started, began coming over at least once a month to brew... I also began kegging and built a kegerator from a converted chest freezer. My son's Kindergarten teacher informed me that he had shared that the most fun thing he did over a long weekend was helping his dad and friend Robert bottle their beer (my boys have a thorough understanding of the process and biology of beer, despite being 5 & 7 years old!). Things were really rolling!

Year three saw me continue striving to become a better brewer... In my National Guard unit, my soldiers were relying on me for a regular supply of good beer, including kegs to mark special occasions. My holiday beer baskets sell more tickets than any other raffle item at our annual holiday drill! Robert got roped into another deployment, though, and my feverish pace slowed quite a bit. While he was gone, I began getting other friends involved in homebrewing – in my National Guard unit, there are 5 or 6 guys that are brewing regularly now after an instructional brew day with me.

I still have averaged just under 100 gallons (not including root beer that I make with my kids or hard cider) in my first three years brewing. While I have come a long way, and enjoy teaching other people what I know, I realize that there is still a lot more that I don't know about brewing than what I actually know. I am hoping to get a few more people into the hobby this year, and I am hoping to break the 100-gallon mark for the the first time. Now that Rob is back, I am hoping to brew with him more regularly again.

So far, I've only brewed 12 gallons in 2010 (one Rye-PA and one American IPA as part of an experiment). I have those two batches, plus a dark lager that I started in December, to keg or bottle this weekend. And I have at least two batches that I should brew (one dry stout as a moving/housewarming gift, and one hybrid classic/American pilsner using SF lager yeast for a picnic in March)... And St. Patrick's Day is coming up! I guess I had better stop thinking about brewing, and get to work!