A First: California Common!

I am hoping to brew 15 gallons of beer this weekend...

The first one I brewed was a California Common. I used JZ & John Palmer's How to Brew to formulate the recipe. My starter was going good and strong. The brew day and boil were cruising along without a hitch. All systems go, right?

Did I mention that I am planning to brew 15 gallons this weekend? Ten gallons are going to come from the same grain bill - a parti gyle (mentioned in a couple other posts this past week). This takes a bit of prep and coordination. My plan was to get an early start, and brew straight through the day, marathon style. Can you tell by all of these disclaimers that I have not yet gotten to the actual story?

So... I was pre-staging ingredients for the first brew from the parti-gyle (a big Old Ale) - getting the grain ready, weighing out hop additions, measuring my black treacle. My wife, who supports my brewing habit but doesn't get directly involved with the process (or any of my hobbies - obsessions as she calls them - now that I think about it?), was attempting to engage me in a conversation; the topic was definitely important, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. And then I was called upon by my sons for an expedient toy repair.

Amid the brewing prep and maelstrom of family activity, my timer went off. 10 minutes remaining in the boil. I grabbed the last hop addition, along with the treacle, and headed out to the deck to drop them into the wort along with the wort chiller. Ten minutes later, I killed the flame, partially replaced the kettle lid, and began chilling my California Common wort.

People who understand the BJCP style guidelines have already spotted my mistake... Treacle? In a California Common? WTF? However, at this point I had not noticed my mistake. Then I took a gravity reading with my refractometer - I overshot by A LOT? I did some quick calculations, and added back some filtered, boiled water to hit my gravity numbers.

It wasn't until I got ready to start on the parti-gyle that I realized what had happened. I went to look for my treacle, which should have been right there on the counter with my hops... Nowhere to be found. Oh crap! I freaked out!

My wife, again supportive of my brewing, managed to talk me down "off of the ledge" about my mistake. She convinced me that the beer would still be 'great' - just not what I had planned (only a small consolation, by the way!). So, technically, I have still never brewed a California Common.

More Yeast!

Like some evil genius in a classic horror movie, I like to grow my army of minions! My minions happen to be microscopic, but they still are powerful - they make my beer for me!

I posted previously about getting a late start on my brewing resolutions... I want to make sure I am brewing regularly, so that my process becomes smooth again. So this weekend - 3 batches! Today I started my yeast for a California Common, an Old Ale, and a Northern English Brown (these last two are going to come from the same grain bill - see my earlier post regarding parti gyle brewing).

I have never brewed a California Common, and I have never worked with the two yeasts I will be using on my Old Ale and my Northern English Brown. I have made two Old Ales in years past; the first one I spiced as a holiday beer, and it did not turn out very well (I under-pitched the first 5 gallons, which were so estery it was only good for mulled ale; the second five gallons were OK). I have brewed both Southern and Northern English Brown in the past, both from kits; these were OK as well, but I am striving for something better.

For my starters, I use the basic metric formula as spelled out in John Palmer's How to Brew: 100 grams of DME for each liter of wort (or 125 g of LME). For "normal" gravity ales (1.050 or less) I tend to just do 1L starters, and for higher gravities I'll do 2 or 3L. If I am brewing a lager or brewing for competition, I use Jamil's pitching rate calculator (www.mrmalty.com, also available on the Wyeast website) to be more precise.

I built myself a simple stir plate from plans available on the internet, and generally follow all of the sanitation instructions published by established homebrewing authors. I use 1 gallon jugs, which I discovered have a slightly convex bottom, making them useless on the stir plate. Eventually, I'll get myself some large Erlenmeyer flasks, but this is not preventing me from making decent yeast starters.

Planning My First Parti Gyle!

Without getting too far into the details of the brewing process, parti gyle brewing is a traditional (nearly, extinct, commercially at least) technique. Most modern brewers make one beer from one mash/grain bill. In parti gyle brewing, multiple beers are made from one mash/grain bill. With current brewing techniques, the first runnings (first drain of sugary water from the grain) are combined with the subsequent sparge (rinsing of the remaining sugars) to make one batch of wort, which will become one batch of beer when the yeast are done doing their thing...



With the parti gyle technique (originating in Scotland), the first runnings are used to make a bigger (stronger/higher gravity) beer, and the subsequent sparge(s) is used to make one or more smaller (less strong/lower gravity) beers. In its simplest form, the first runnings compose the wort for one distinct beer, and each subsequent sparge creates another distinct beer. This is evident in monastic and farm brewing: the first runnings went to create beer for the abbot or landowner; the second runnings were for the monks or guests at the farm; and the later runnings went to create table beer for the laymen & pilgrims or the farmhands.



Another parti gyle technique involves blending of the various runnings, with the strongest of the line of beers being 100% (or near 100%) of the first runnings, and the lowest gravity beer being mostly last runnings. One commercial brewery that still uses this particular technique is Fuller Smith & Turner (aka Fuller's) in the UK. Fuller's Golden Pride is an example of the strong end of their line, with ESB and London Pride somewhere in the middle, and Chiswick Bitter at the bottom of the beer-strength continuum. The same grain bill is used to brew them all, but each is blended at a different rate from the runnings off of the mash.



For those brewers that brew two distinctive, individual (not blended) parti gyle beers, there is further variation.

The brewer can choose a runoff volume ratio to determine how much wort is created for each batch. Common ratios include 1/3 first runnings to 2/3 second ruings, or 50-50. In the 1/3 to 2/3 ratio, the first third yields a stronger, richer wort in smaller volume which means less finished beer quantity; but it is higher in alcoholic strength and arguably the stronger flavor profile yielded by the combination of grains selected for the mash; the final 2/3 result in twice as much finished beer, but at half the strength and possibly less-pronounced or more subtle grain flavor profiles. The 50-50 method yields equal volumes, with less alcohol content and flavor differentials; the brewer still ends up with one stronger beer, both in alcohol and flavor characteristics, but simple chemistry and physics leads to a narrower extreme on both ends.



My first attempt will be a 50-50, just for ease of process. I will be making an Old Ale with the first runnings and a Northern English Brown with the second runnings (as opposed to a stronger Old Ale or Barleywine with the 1st runnings and a mild or or ordinary bitter with the 2nd runnings if I did the 1/3 to 2/3 method). Old Ale is a big English style ale, characterized by an elevated level of sweetness and alcohol. Originally, these beers were aged significantly before being drunk, but these days most commercial examples are either not aged, or a blend of aged and newer beer. If you can get your hands on them, good commercial examples include Theakston Old Peculier or Greene King lde Suffolk. Northern English Brown is a malt-balanced ale, with low hop bitterness and minimal hop aroma. Commercial examples include Newcastle Brown Ale and Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale (I am hoping for more of the Samuel Smith's version).



I have two special, limited edition Wyeast yeasts for these beers. The Old Ale Blend (WY9097) is a blend of alcohol-tolerant, dry English ale yeast with a bit of Brettanomyces (a different, non-beer yeast); the ale yeast will do a good job fermenting down the beer with a nice English character for starters, then the Brettanomyces will take over, fermenting some of the sugars that were unfermentable by the ale yeast, adding some rustic aged characteristics to the finished beer. For the Northern English Brown, I am using West Yorkshire Ale (WY1469), which should help emphasize plenty of the malt flavor and character, and finish dry and balanced with some nutty/fruity esters. We'll see.

Organization

Last weekend, I spent a lot of time cleaning out my garage... It was long overdue for a lot of reasons, but one of the motivating factors was brewing. I had a brew date on the calendar, and friends coming over to brew.

It feels so much better out there now. Everything is orderly and easy to find. I spent some time organizing and labeling bins, consolidating and arranging equipment. There is space to move around.

I recognize that I am a habitual planner - I have always like to sketch out plans, to make lists, to plan new creations. The reality is that I have always planned proportionately way more than I have executed. But even so, I realized that a major road block that was skewing this ratio even more than usual was the mess.

It was way more work just getting ready to brew. Where is the equipment? Is it clean? do I have everything I need? Which bin has the ingredients I need? You get the idea. Preparing to brew is still quite a bit of work, but I don't dread it now that I have things reasonably presentable!

The Pride of Sharing

I enjoy cooking. I enjoy making beer. They are both similar in process and creativity. But they are similar in another way as well...

If I am alone, I am unlikely to cook anything fancy. In fact, a sandwich or something simple and utilitarian is my most likely "dining alone" meal. Why? I'm probably not worth the effort. Seriously, for me a big part of the reward of cooking a good meal is the enjoyment of those who are eating it. I love it when people like my cooking. It makes me feel good. Unfortunately, a longer commute has relegated me to mostly weekend cooking and an occasional slow cooker meal during the week...

Making beer provides me with a similar experience (although I have absolutely no problem enjoying beer alone!). I love to share and talk about beer - it is fun and enjoyable. But it is even more rewarding when it is beer that I made.

It is funny, but the same people who have grown to expect great cooking from me are still surprised by my homebrew. I think that beer is one of those mass-produced commodities from which most Americans have become detached in terms of production. Like french fries - my mom used to make homemade french fries, but now people are shocked and amazed if you made them from scratch. Pretty soon, bread will be the same way.

With beer, there is some notion of magic or mystery since most people don't understand how it is made. I think the collapse and consolidation of the brewing industry in the latter part of the 20th century helped foster this notion. Without local small breweries, beer was produced off on the outskirts of society, arriving magically on the shelves of grocery store coolers. The brewing process was lost in the folds of imagination.

I think that is changing, given the number of local breweries springing up around the country. In Kitsap County alone (a rural/suburban county on the western shores of Puget Sound, a ferry ride away from Seattle), we now have at least five craft brewers - and three of them opened within the last two years. So, given that people (in places like Western Washington, Oregon, and California at least) have access to fresh, local beer, why are folks still surprised by homebrew?

I don't think they are surprised by the variety, freshness or quality anymore. I think they are still surprised because they don't understand the process. I love it when the conversation turns from "Really - you made this?" to "What kinds of beer do you make?" then finally to "How do you make it?". That's the money question. Demystifying the process.

I am fortunate, because nobody has begun to take my homebrew for granted the way they do my cooking.

Brewing is rewarding for me, of course. I mean, I get to make whatever kind of beer I want. I control the process from ingredients and recipe, all the way to the finished product. And it is beer - five gallons at a time! But as rewarding as it is for me myself, it is all the more rewarding when shared with friends.

Parti Gyle?

Within a month after I started homebrewing, I read an article on Parti Gyle brewing... I was really checking my local homebrew shop's website for information on the all-grain brewing process, but the word "parti gyle" sounded funny and I couldn't resist reading about it... I found the history quite interesting, and I made a mental note to try my hand at parti gyle brewing someday.

That was a little over four years ago. I have learned a lot, and my brewing has come a long way - I still have a lot more to learn, but I feel fairly confident and competent in my brewing and brewing processes. Actually, like many brewers I know, I kind of chuckle when I think back about my early brewing!

I have toyed around with the idea quite a bit, but have had a hard time making up my mind... Should I go American, and start with a American Barley Wine, and move my way down to an American Brown or Amber? Or should I go English, and begin with an English Barley Wine or Old Ale, and then drop down to some form of English Pale, like a Special or Best Bitter? Or should I take it in the direction of Fuller's and blend back my runnings in different proportions? I have drafted up recipes for all of these scenarios, but like so many other beer recipes - there are more than there is time to brew!

Big Plans vs. Motivation

I have always been a planner and a schemer. The plan has always been the most fun part of any activity for me, and the newer the activity, the more excited I am about the planning! This is especially true for interests that turn into hobbies. (Actually, my wife says that hobbies would be OK, but I don't have hobbies - I have "obsessions".)

This pattern holds true, even for brewing. But the homebrewing hobby is one that is more likely than some of the others to stick, since there is a worthwhile end product every single time.

Circumstances conspired against me when I finally committed to becoming a homebrewer... I was in Afghanistan on a ridgeline in the Korengal Valley. An Army buddy had several years of brewing under his belt, and when I brought up my interest in making my own beer - he convinced me. There was not a lot to talk about up there to take our mind off of the reality; most of the younger guys talked about hot women, movies, or cars - we talked about beer. He explained the process, the equipment needs, and pointed me to Charlie Papazian's classic, 'The Complete Joy of Homebrewing'.

As soon as I got back to the base and got access to the internet, I ordered that book, along with 'The Homebrewer's Companion' from Amazon. As soon as the books arrived in Afghanistan, I read them cover-to-cover. More than once. I sent 'The Homebrewer's Companion' to Robert in a LOGPACK up on his OP (Outpost/Observation Post) in the middle of nowhere. And then I read 'The Complete Joy of Home Brewing' again. By the time I shipped home, the book looked like I had been brewing for years!

In the mean time, in one of my calls home, my wife asked what I wanted for Christmas, which we'd be celebrating when I returned in February. I answered decisively, "A beginner homebrew setup." And I gave her all the info for the local homebrew shop. Bill, the owner, got her all set up, including an awesome Best Bitter kit and great instructions.

I brewed my first batch of beer my first week back home. The planning began as soon as I finished reading the books the first time... Recipes, equipment, recipes. Once I had a few beers under my belt, I was interested in some electronic record-keeping and recipe formulation. I hit the internet, looking for tools. I tested out a variety, from simple spreadsheets to full-blown brewing software. There were several excellent solutions, including the super-popular ProMash.

I ended up choosing BeerTools for a couple of reasons... First, even though I do have Linux and Windows machines at my home, my platform of choice is Mac. BeerTools was the most robust brewing software available for Mac. Plus, I liked their online presence: forum, shared recipes, and recipe storage, among other things.

With the ease of recipe formulation afforded by BrewTools, and the availability of quality recipes from books like Jamil Zainasheff & John Palmer's 'Brewing Classic Styles,' formulating beers almost became a hobby in itself! Too many beers, not enough brewing time... Many of my beers never even make it into a carboy.

The more compelling recipes actually get me to the local homebrew shop (or to place an online order). I would like to say that I bring these home and immediately brew them up, resulting in an endless stream of good beer. Unfortunately, they usually get stored 'for a few days,' which has recently actually become weeks.

It's not a preparation issue; it's a motivation issue. Time to get motivated!

Brewing Mistakes...

Crap. When my brew sessions are few and far between, I inevitably make little process mistakes here and there. In the last six months, I have brewed only three times. I know - this is a complete travesty.

I know that it is unlikely that I will get back to the brewing pace I was working on three years ago, when Robert and I were getting together every 2-3 weeks to brew. I even managed to sneak in a solo batch or two in between. We were averaging at least 3-4 batches each month, and our processes had become almost second nature. Then he deployed to Afghanistan, and I ended up moving; and these life changes put a serious damper on the brewing.

Since that time, my brewing has been sporadic. This past weekend was the first time that I have brewed with Robert since his trip to Afghanistan. I seem to brew two or three batches in short order, finally getting things smoothed out by the third batch, followed by a few months of brewing inactivity where I end up back at square one process-wise.

The first batch tends to feel like a frenzy of reactive tasks: oh yeah, I need that piece of equipment or I need to do that task before this one... That is really not all that much fun. I mean, I know that the beer will turn out, but the process takes way longer than it needs to, and it is exhausting to brew like that. The next batch, if brewed within a week or so, goes quite a bit better, but the process is still not automatic. If I do get around to a third batch, I finally feel relaxed and on top of my game. But then there is usually another brewing gap...

Two of my brew sessions in the last six months have been big brew days with other people. On the one hand, this can be a motivating experience - once I've committed to the date, it is unlikely that I will let the myriad other things I should be doing interfere with or cancel a brew day. And beer and brewing are inherently social, the experience being enhanced by good company.

On the other hand, it is pretty easy to lose brewing focus in a social setting. This past fall, I gathered up my portable brewing equipment and headed into the city for an annual occurrence. Each year, we brew in November to memorialize two good friends and homebrewers; November commemorates one man's birthday, and the passing of the other. Then we trade portions of these beers at an open house over the holidays.

This past November was the second annual memorial brew, and the other brewer has taken an interest in really learning the brewing ropes, jumping into all-grain brewing. That kind of put me in a mentoring/teaching role (although the guy's a doctor and way smarter than me, so he could really learn this without me) for the brew session; and his whole in-law family was there as well, so I was spending a lot of time explaining every little thing and answering lots of questions. Anybody who knows me, knows that I LOVE this kind of stuff, but the unfortunate side effect is that my brewing suffers. I don't remember the specific mistakes I made along the way, but I do remember that I made them. The beer turned out awesome, but I can't help but wonder how much better it could have been?

On Sunday, I did a group brew at my place... To say that there were quite a few logistical hoops to jump through to even get to the brew day is the understatement of the year (see my 4/18/11 post). So... Three brewers (and one more brewer ended up making it for the end of the session), two kids, cleaning/preparing as I went along, and making dinner for everybody. I was a tad distracted.

I had remembered to get my yeast starter going the day beforehand, so it was rocking and ready to go. But I'm not sure what happened to my bittering hops... I know that I bought the full recipe a few weeks ago, but I couldn't find my Horizon hops. Weird, but not a deal-breaker - I just did some quick conversion math and substituted Magnum for the bittering charge; that should not make a ton of difference on a 15+ pound grain bill for an Imperial Red Ale. All things considered, my brewing went pretty smoothly (I feel like I never stopped moving all afternoon/evening)... My mash hit the right temps, the sparge was clean, my hop additions went in on time (and I all the flavor/aroma hops - I wonder if I had substituted for horizon when I originally bought the stuff?), I hit my volumes/gravities. I even remembered to add my gypsum to the mash & kettle. My brewing colleagues with my on-the-fly techniques, amazed at my multi-tasking efficiency!

I was a little disappointed on my wort yield - six ounces of hop cones sucked up quite a bit, and I hadn't made additional volume adjustments based on the increased hop matter; but the gravity was spot on, so I didn't sweat it. However, as I looked at my beer before I went to bed late Sunday night, I realized that I had completely forgotten to add Whirlfloc or Irish moss... I've done this before, and it also does not "ruin" the beer, but it does add significantly to the conditioning time. I guess I'll have to be patient, and let the beer clear really well before packaging.

Really, my realization is more that brewing more often or more regularly makes for better mastery of the process, which ultimately results in the best beer a brewer can make. This is the goal, right? Fortunately, the mistakes that I have made as a result of my brewing 'fitness' are minor, and I still end up with good beer. I guess I'll just have to step up and brew more!

Busy Brew-Related Day!

Wow... Not much to report in 2011 for my brewing - until yesterday!

The garage has been a mess, the weather has been miserable, and most of my gear was in dire need of a good cleaning. The obstacles that I needed to clear in order to get brewing were going to take longer than the brew day itself. Not exactly a recipe for motivation.

I knew that left to my own devices, a brew day would be a long time coming. A bunch of us have been talking about a group brew day, especially since I missed the one over the long MLK Jr. weekend back in January. So we put it on the calendar: my place, 4/17.

Since I finished the super-shelf in the garage a little over a month ago, and it has warmed up a bit now, I started to load it up! Of course, I did nothing all week long leading up to the weekend, so I had a bit of a scramble to get prepped. After going to the District Pinewood Derby with my sons, I spent about six hours pulling boxes and bins, then heaving them up the ladder and up onto the shelf. I did take a bit of a tumble off the ladder with a foot locker, but I managed to avoid the emergency room. Getting a lot of stuff up and out of the way helped make room for some organization.

I had been hopeful to get an early start on finishing things up on Sunday morning, but shopping with the family and a trip to the dump ate up a big chunk of that time... Fortunately, nobody was planning to arrive until mid-afternoon. Once I got home from the errands, I just set to work, chipping away at cleaning up the garage and brewing equipment.

I am embarrassed to admit this, but I had way more dirty brew ware than clean - and I haven't brewed since January. Buckets, carboys, kegs, pots, mash tuns... It was all filthy. Not to make excuses, but we have had freezing weather off-and-on right up through April, so I have not even had faucets uncovered or hoses connected outside yet this year - which makes it kind of hard to clean stuff. Now, I could have hooked things up temporarily to get the cleaning done, but I have used the chilly weather as an excuse, and now it was time to pay for my neglect.

All I can say is, "Thank you OxiClean!" I do have PBW, and it does work a bit better, especially in cold water... But it is quite a bit more expensive, so when I use the PBW, I like to recycle it. I have some OxiClean (non-scented) for the bulk cleaning of the really nasty stuff, when I am not concerned about re-using the cleaner. I think my laziness is self-evident in this post - that's what I love about PBW/OxiClean... Just dump it in, fill it up with water, and let it soak! Of course, it works quite a bit better if you don't let stuff dry and turn crusty.

All told, I cleaned 2x buckets, 2x kettles, 4x carboys, 6x kegs, and assorted smaller brewing bits. I was not quite done cleaning the equipment when the guys started to arrive. In fact, it was still soaking. But the garage was presentable! I finished the cleaning and we got to brewing! I brew alone so often, I had forgotten how much I enjoy brewing with other people!

Kris brewed up a batch of Cream Ale; Robert brewed up a batch of Bavarian Hefeweizen; and I brewed up a batch of Imperial Red Ale. Here are links to the three recipes:
>Cream Ale
>Bavarian Hefeweizen
>Bruise Brothers Redwing (Imperial Red) Ale
We drank quite a bit of good beer, including a few homebrews, while we brewed, and we were alternately entertained by my kids and throwing darts.

I am going to get my equipment cleaned up and try to brew a couple more batches this week... And I am excited to schedule our next group brew day!

The Hops Are Coming! The Hops Are Coming!

Well, they're sprouting up at least. I noticed right around the end of March that there were some green nubs poking up through the soil in my hop containers - and a little over a week later, they all have significant growth!

I got the twine hung, so that the bines have something to train along before they go too crazy. Last year, I had 3-4 twines running up at an angle to one central point (a 15' piece of rebar). This worked well (and my wife was happy with the aesthetics), but once the bines reached the top in around August, they got all tangled up. This made it more challenging to keep the hop sorted out when I harvested them.

This year, I moved the two pieces of rebar to the extreme ends of the area planted by hops. I strung a piece of aluminum wire horizontallybetween the two pieces of rebar (this is similar to what the hop farms in Yakima do). I tied each piece of jute twine to a zinc washer, then threaded that onto the aluminum wire. This will make harvesting the hops way easier, and will keep the bines from getting tangles since they will grow straight up this year.

Judging from the density of the shoots sprouting up in each container, this will probably be the last year that I can keep the rhizomes growing in them. I started the rhizomes in containers last year, because I was not sure if this location was going to be conducive to the hop growth - clearly it was, since I got well over a pound of hops in the first year! I actually had begun preparing the soil at the foot of the raised beds so that I could move the hops this year, but by the time I got around to it, they were already coming up. I didn't want to risk it, so I'll move them for next year.

I am excited to see if my yields increase this fall!