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!