Brewing On Location

Measuring out the grains

One of my favorite smells in the world is the aroma of the indoor brewery. It's intensely grainy, bready, and sweet, and somewhere in there is the citrus/earthy/floral/pine of the hops - depending on the varieties called for in the recipe.

When I brew in the morning, the kids love waking up to those aromas. And when I brew in the evening, the fragrance can be strong enough to wake me up throughout the night.

Not everyone is so fond of it. My lovely wife thinks all hops smell the same - like new carpet. (I don't fully agree. I get a lot of stink weed from Amarillo.)

Grains waiting to be mashed

As a concession, I'm resolving to brew more of my batches outside. I got a LP burner last year for the express purpose of brewing outside, but 1) I hate brewing in Kansas City's really hot or really cold weather, and 2) brewing inside on the stove is so much more convenient. If I need a Pyrex measuring cup, it's right there in the cupboard. I can easily wash equipment from the previous step while water is heating for the next. Or I can brew a cuppa or grab a bite without having to worry about a boil over from an unattended kettle.

But brewing outside has its advantages. The prime of which is . . . being outside! The same primal feeling I get when grilling outside I get when I brew outside. Away from distractions, just me and the wind in the trees. And the squirrels.

Happily fermenting away

Mainly because I'm not used to it yet, I really had a hassle with this week's brew day (my Victory Blonde). It was WINDY. With 20-25 mph winds and buds on the trees, there were all manner of particles flying around in the air. But no worries - if they hit the boiling wort, they'll be sanitized. Right?

I also made a personal record for number of trips in and out of the house in a 3-hour period. That Pyrex measuring cup? Safely in the cupboard. Inside. And I'll need to wait to do all the cleaning up afterwards. Want to make a sandwich? Better keep an eye out that window to monitor the boil.

I know it'll get easier as I make my mental (or paper) checklist of all the equipment I need to take with me. But until then, I need to prepare myself for the prospect that this may feel a little less like relaxation and more like work.

Tasting Days: Irish Red and English Bitter

The way I schedule my batches, it takes about 7 weeks to go from grain to glass: fermenter for 3 weeks, in the bottle for 3 weeks, then a week in the fridge. Then enjoy.

I'll tell you right now: it is not easy waiting that long.

The best way to counteract impatience is to have a good pipeline in place. If I can brew every few weeks, then I have batches in various stages of production, and it gets my mind off any single batch.

It also means I sometimes have the happy fortune of beers ready for their first tasting day in consecutive weeks.

Such was the case with two of my latest batches, an Irish Red (last week) and an English Bitter (this week).

I had brewed a batch of this Irish Red last year and really enjoyed it. I wanted to rebrew it this year in time for St. Paddy's Day, but I didn't want a full case of it, so I just made a small 1-gallon batch that yielded 9 bottles. I made a small adjustment to the grain bill over last year's batch - I cut the roasted barley in half, which made the color of the final beer a bit lighter - and I made some changes to how I treated the water in order to highlight the malt character over the hops.

This year's Irish Red is indeed lighter in color, but the reduction in the roasted barley also cut back the roasted character of the beer. Irish Reds don't have the roastiness of a stout, but they should have just enough roast to leave a dry finish on the palate. Next time I brew this recipe, I'll probably try to source a lighter color roasted barley, so I can have the lighter color as well as the drier finish.

The beer I was really waiting to try was the English Bitter.

Bitter is one of the many styles I've never tried. It's not easy to find commercial examples in the States, and I hear they're getting difficult to find even in the UK. But I also hear they can be a fantastic drink.

If you can't find it in the store, why not make your own?

I had planned to open my first bottle of the bitter on Saturday, but I just couldn't wait, so Friday it was. I was so happy with how it turned out, I ended up dreaming that night I was in England, hopping from pub to pub, drinking this delightful brew.

The first thing to note is that bitters are not bitter. The recipe I brewed is balanced toward the biscuity malt, but it finishes just dry enough to drive you back for another sip. And at 4% abv, it's easy to drink by the pint. The characteristically low carbonation and higher serving temp (around 55° F) make this bitter go down very smooth.

Two lessons learned: never judge a style by its name, and always try to have some bitter in the pipeline.

Brew Day: Scottish Export 80/-

I have to admit: Scottish ales are some of my favorite beers. I only discovered them about a year ago, and I honestly cannot remember the first one I tasted that I fell in love with. But if you ever catch me daydreaming, I'm likely thinking about how to brew the perfect Scottish ale.

Why do I love this style? This is a beer that is very malty. It's about as far from a hoppy IPA or pale ale as you can get. Scottish ales are not bitter and have almost no hop presence. The malt will often have notes of caramel and sometimes toffee, and may have a very small smokiness. The fermentation profile is usually clean, with little or no flavor contribution from the yeast.

When I'm in the mood for malt, I'm in the mood for a Scottish ale.

Scottish ales usually come in three strengths: Scottish Light 60/- (read, "sixty shilling), Scottish Heavy 70/-, and Scottish Export 80/-. The strengths were historically identified by their cost per hogshead, a type of cask that held about 63-65 US gallons. In today's designations, a 60/- is under 3.2% alcohol by volume, a 70/- goes up to about 4%, and an 80/- can top out at about 5%.

There is another type of Scottish beer that goes by the name Strong Scotch Ale, or Wee Heavy. They're usually between 6.5% and 10%, and have even more malty sweetness than the smaller ales.

As much as I love these beers, I've only tried my hand at brewing two of them: a Scottish Heavy 70/-, and a Wee Heavy. I was relatively satisfied with both beers, but both had their weak points. On the 70/-, the body was thin and the malt backbone didn't stand out as much as I was hoping. The Wee Heavy is a nice winter warmer at 9% abv, but the alcohol presence is a bit rough and gets in the way of the other flavors.

So, the way I saw things, it was time to brew another Scottish ale! This time, I made a few changes to the biggest ingredient - water - in order to give it more body and accentuate the maltiness that I crave.

The brew day was uneventful. Which is to say that it provided just the relaxation that I needed.

Starting with almost 6 lbs. of unmilled grains.

Daddy's little helper with a hop addition to the boil.

At the end of a 4-hour brewing session, 3 gallons of wort!

Actually, 3 gallons and 3 ounces to be precise, but who's counting?






In just a few days it'll be done fermenting, but I'll allow another 2-3 weeks for conditioning while the flavors all blend and stabilize. Then bottling, followed by 3-4 weeks of bottle conditioning.

This one's going to be difficult to wait for!

2013: A Year in Beer

I know it's a little late to be doing a review of the previous year's work, but sitting here with an IPA in my hand, I find myself in the reminiscing mood.

To recap, in 2012:

• 8 batches brewed, totaling about 40 gallons. All batches were 5 gallons.
• All batches were extract plus specialty grains.
• My faves were an amber ale, a brown ale and a saison. The wife's fave was a premium bitter.

In 2013:

• 21 batches brewed, totaling about 43 gallons. All batches were 1 or 3 gallons.
• All batches were all grain.
• My faves were a brown ale, which I ended up brewing twice, and an IPA. The wife's fave was a blonde ale.

The biggest change in 2013 was that I started brewing all grain rather than with extract. That is, rather than starting with liquid malt extract (LME) syrup and reconstituting it with water to make wort, I created the wort from scratch using malted barley. All grain brewing tends to be more difficult because the extra procedures require greater precision with measurements as well as holding water at desired temperatures, but all grain brewing gives the brewer greater control over the final product. And because all grain starts with, well, grain, the final beer tends to be fresher.

I also changed my batch size from 5 gallons to 3. I did this mainly because it allowed me to move to all grain using the same equipment I was using for extract. But I also found that it allowed me to brew a greater variety of beers in a shorter amount of time. I noticed that after about month of drinking the same beer, I'm ready to move on to the next, and 3-gallon batches keep me from getting tired of a particular beer.

One-gallon batches were also a new found joy. A single gallon batch yields about 8-10 bottles and take about the same amount of time as a 5-gallon batch (about 4-5 hours on brew day), but they're great for experimental recipes or for brewing styles I'm not sure I'll like. Unfortunately, my last couple 1-gallon batches - a brown porter and a West Coast style amber ale - were quite tasty, and I regretted making so little. So I may start to reserve 1-gallon brewing for riskier recipes, or to squeeze in a brew day when my pipeline is already pretty healthy.

In 2014, I'm on pace to top the number of batches from 2013. I've already brewed four batches and have another lined up already for next weekend. My homebrewing career is only a little over 2 years old, but I really feel I've just begun.

My glass of IPA is now empty, and reminiscing has come to an end. Now to plan my next couple of brew days!