Missed It by That Much

What could be better than brewing two weekends in a row? Brewing three weekends in a row!

Two weeks ago, I decided to shake things up a bit. I'd always been brewing batches that finish with about 5 gallons (or about 2 cases) of beer. This is the most common batch size for homebrewers. I'm not sure why that becomes the default volume for so many homebrewers, but it can seem difficult to break out of that rut and brew different batch sizes.

Thanks to my brother, I was able to do two things: realize that I can easily brew a smaller volume on my stove top with equipment I already have, and make the jump from brewing with just malt extract to brewing with all grain.

The second of these - brewing with all grain rather than just malt extract - was a true gift. He started homebrewing about five months ago, so I had a whopping seven-month lead on him. But over the last month or so, I'd become less of a mentor for him than a true peer, taking advice as much as I give it.

And I knew this was going to happen. When it comes to cooking, I stick to the recipe, and he fiddles. I try to master what the recipe intended, and he just tries to make something tasty. In a way, I'm the scientist and he the artist, which is going to favor me for consistency but him for some truly phenomenal break out beers.

About a month ago, he decided to make the leap into brewing with all grain. As he and I learned the new process together, we both realized we could easily to this. All grain brewing can be intimidating for extract brewers - as it was for me. All grain brewing tends to require a greater level of control over temperatures and water volumes. But his boldness and curiosity opened the door for both of us.

Two weeks ago, he was visiting from out of town and helped me brew my first small, all grain batch. I enjoyed it so much, I brewed a 3-gallon batch last weekend. And I enjoyed that so much, I brewed another 3-gallon batch this weekend.

The batches the last two weeks went very well. But this week, something went wrong. I recently started using the timer feature in my brewing software. I mistook a single alarm and starting adding my ingredients at the wrong times. I ended up finishing my "60-minute" boil 10 minutes too soon, and I didn't realize what had gone wrong until I was 5 minutes into chilling the sweet wort down.

I immediately did two things. First, I remembered the homebrewer's mantra to relax and not worry. I came up with a feasible plan to rescue my misstep. Second, I called my brother for his advice. If I take the boil pot out of the water bath for chilling and bring it back to a boil for another 5-10 minutes, I should be good to go, right? I knew it'd be okay, but hearing his confirmation brought a lot of peace of mind.

So, little bro, you weren't here to help me brew this amber ale, but every time I drink it (starting in 6 weeks!) I'll think of you.

Happy Anniversary!

The first anniversary of my first brew day passed uneventfully yesterday. It sneaked up on even me, not realizing it until last night.

I've logged a satisfying number of brews this year: an amber ale, a pale and also an extra pale ale, a brown ale, a saison, and three English ales (a Mild, a Special Bitter, and a Porter). I wrapped up the year with two all grain beers: a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, and an ale called Dirty Water Brown from Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer's book, Brewing Classic Styles.

I think I ended up bottling about 35 gallons of beer, or about 60 six packs. Many of those six packs were gifted to friends and family who gave me probably too generous feedback. They were probably just happy to have the free beer!

Things I've learned about brewing this year:

• Keep your equipment clean.
• Keep everything sanitized after the boil.
• Use fresh ingredients.
• Use the right bottling equipment or you'll waste beer all over the kitchen floor.
• Having the kids help with the hobby makes for a great bonding experience.

Things I've learned about myself this year:

• I take myself way to seriously. Relax, and enjoy a glass!
• Having homebrewing friends can be a very good thing. Some of the best beers I've ever tasted came as samples from fellow homebrewers.
• I shouldn't apologize so much for things that I do that I think are sub par. I've long known I'm the worst critic of myself. Life is so much nicer when I can simply enjoy the things that I have and be thankful for those around me. I'm glad I have family and good friends who remind me to give myself a break.
• Having the kids help with the hobby makes for a great bonding experience.

Goals for this next year? Brew as often as I can, drink the beers I enjoy drinking, don't be afraid to try something new, and be thankful for everything I have.

That doesn't sound too difficult!

Will it Float? Extra Pale Ale Edition

If you haven't seen Tom Dickson's YouTube channel, Will it Blend? you should. From iPhones to super glue, he'll throw it in his Total Blender to see if it will indeed blend. Usually, it does, and his campy dialog and 60's game show theme music have driven almost 200 million video views on just over 100 uploaded videos.

As a homebrewer, I was inspired to ask, Will it Float? I called craziness the first time I heard about an ice cream float made with beer, but I figured, let's give it a shot.

Most beer floats are made with some sort of malt forward brew, like a stout or brown ale. Makes sense. Cream and bread belong together: ice cream and cake, milk and cookies, strawberry shortcake with a huge dollop of whipped cream atop.

I'm down to the last few bottles of an extra pale ale I brewed almost five months ago. At the outset, it was considerably more bitter than I was expecting. The bitterness eased off after a few months, leaving room for the Cascade hops to speak their piece. If I serve it at a warm enough temperature - around 50 or 55F - the caramel notes from the hops pop up, but it's still a predominantly hoppy beer.

So I wondered, will the creaminess of the ice cream balance the hop bitterness from the extra pale ale? Only one way to find out.

Ales are best served warmer than most people expect - between 45 and 50F, sometimes as warm as 55F. But for a float, you want that drink to be as cold as possible so the ice cream doesn't melt before you can get your spoon into it. I promoted the beer from the fridge to the freezer (along with my mug), set a timer, and pulled it out after about 15 minutes.

Just like a root beer float, pour the drink first, filling the mug to about half full. Pour slowly down the side of the glass, because you want to minimize the foam. Add a couple of scoops of ice cream. This will generate foam, so watch for a foam over. After it subsides, add more beer if you'd like. Then enjoy!

I was hoping the ice cream would balance out the bitterness like it balances out the tartness of a cherry pie, but the hop bitterness was still front and center. If you like your beer hoppy, you'll likely enjoy it as a float. If not, stick with the malty brews instead.

Will a hoppy extra pale ale float? It will float, but only if you're adventurous enough to try.

Christmas in July

Waiting (patiently) for UPS

I think my friends and family would describe me as a mild mannered bloke, but there is definitely one thing that makes me act like a kid: the delivery of new beer ingredients!

UPS normally delivers to our house around 5 p.m., but on ingredient delivery day, they drag their feet and get here closer to 6. But the driver is always pleasant, so it's hard to get mad at him. Wish I could offer him a fresh homebrew.

Upon arrival, I have a routine:

1. Open delivery box, careful not to elbow any curious onlookers.
2. Review the contents against packing list. I have had missing ingredients before. Better to discover it now than on brew day! I look at the initials of the guy who assembled my gift and silently thank him.
3. Inspect the liquid yeast package to make sure it's in decent shape. After all, it's the yeast that makes the beer, so we must handle the precious with tender loving care.
4. Place yeast package in fridge, unless I'm brewing the next day.
5. Open the pouch of specialty grains, and stick my nose in as far as humanly safe. The specialty grains give the beer much of its color and glorious aroma. Depending on the style of beer I'm brewing, the grains can be anywhere from bready and biscuity to chocolaty and coffee-like.
6. Make everyone else in the house smell how good the grains are. I know they appreciate me being so considerate.
7. Pinch out a single grain and throw it in my mouth. There may be 3-5 types of grains in there, so I must take several taste samples.
8. Give the kids samples of the grain and explain why they taste so sweet (the grains, not the girls).
9. Inspect the sealed hops pouches and wonder what they smell like. I won't open them until brew day, in order to preserver their spicy, floral and/or citrus aroma.
10. Put everything else back in the box and set it aside.
11. Wait 5 minutes, and open up the box and smell the specialty grains again. Close box. Repeat until wife gets exasperated.

The last step is to wait - patiently or otherwise - for brew day, which will usually be in less than 2 weeks. Alas! more waiting.

Petite Saison Update

This morning, I bottled the Petite Saison d'Ete into 43 bottles plus one 22-oz. bomber. Everything went smoothly and the whole procedure lasted about 3 hours, including clean up.

I did get some help from both kids today, too. The younger one put the bottles back in the cases after I capped them, and the elder (who was my helper on brew day) labeled the caps with a big S for saison. On bottling day, there really isn't much to help with, and I had done most of the work anyway before the were even out of bed.

The biggest thing I look forward to on bottling day is tasting the beer's progress. I have to bear in mind that the beer is flat (they carbonate in the bottles) and warm, but tasting still gives a good indication of where the flavor is heading.

At bottling today, the saison tasted surprisingly similar to Boulevard's witbier I just bought a week or two ago. When I opened the fermenter, I was struck by the pleasant clove notes, and wifey tasted banana and nutmeg in the sample I pulled. To say the least, I'm very excited about how this beer is going to develop in its bottle conditioning over the next 2-3 weeks.

Before I move the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket, I measure the density (specific gravity) of the beer with a hydrometer.  By measuring the gravity before and after fermentation, I can tell about how much alcohol by volume (abv) was produced. With an original gravity of 1.044 (water is 1.000) and a final gravity of 1.005, we should end up with 5.2% abv. My target original gravity of 1.041 and target final of 1.008 projected an abv of 4.4%. Looks like my saison may not be so petite after all.

Boulevard Summer Seasonal: ZON

I headed to my corner beer store last weekend hoping to try something I hadn't had before. I just learned about a microbrewery called Tallgrass, out of Manhattan, Kansas. I wanted to try their oatmeal stout, but alas! it was not to be. The store carried another brew from Tallgrass, but not the Buffalo Sweat.

But they did have the summer seasonal from Boulevard Brewing Company here in good old KC: ZON (pronounced "zone"). Despite this seasonal being brewed for at least the last 10 years, this was the first I'd seen it. It fit the bill for being something new to me, so I grabbed the store's last six pack.

ZON is a Belgian witbier ("white beer"), a style that is characterized by very light color, a banana and clove aroma, flavored with coriander and orange peel, and having a light to medium body. Belgian wits often appeal to non beer drinkers, since the hop bitterness and alcohol character are both low, and the beer is filled with flavors that are not characteristic of American ales.

I loved this beer from the moment I poured. The color is a pale straw blonde, and very cloudy - as with many Belgians, it's best to swirl the last inch or two in the bottle to pick the yeast sediment back up into suspension and pour all of it into the glass. After all, it's the yeast that gives the wit so much of its personality.

The aroma was fantastic - prominent notes of cloves, and not as much banana as I was expecting. Most wits are best served at around 50 degrees F (about 10-15 minutes out of the fridge), and it's at these warmer temps that you can pick up more of the complexity. The higher degree of carbonation gives the beer a nice head that sticks around. ZON's flavor has a very mild herbal spiciness from the coriander, and the orange peel - which is easier to pick out - balances it nicely.

ZON comes in at 4.4% alcohol by volume, but the fruity and spicy profile hides a lot of that alcohol character that we're used to in the US.

I know that Boulevard distributes widely across the country. If you're able to pick up a six pack locally, you wont' be disappointed. And if you are, I'll gladly finish the rest off for you.

How It All Started

I've been asked more than a few times what got me started in the hobby of making my own beer at home.

A few years ago, Alton Brown on Good Eats showed how easy it is to brew your own beer. I was fascinated that you could even do such a thing. My palette was already refining with my other favorite brewed beverage - coffee. I knew there would be equipment to purchase for homebrewing beer, and I didn't know that I'd enjoy the hobby enough to warrant the expense.

Just this last fall, I discovered that a coworker of mine homebrews. His next brew was going to be an oatmeal stout, and he invited me to join him. It was four of the funnest hours I'd had in quite a while. He walked me through all the steps of the brewing process. We shared leftover enchiladas for lunch, and I tasted a couple of his beers. My favorite was a pumpkin ale that he and one of his brew buddies had done, and it was exactly the kind of beer I would have paid for at the store. I was hooked.

A month later, he invited my whole family to join his for dinner, and to bottle the oatmeal stout. Our kids played games, our wives chatted, we got down to business. Bottling was simple - in fact, I found that nothing in the whole hobby was terribly complicated. And I enjoyed yet another of his beers with our spaghetti casserole dinner.

I saw from a couple of catalogs that I could get into all the equipment I needed for around $200. I saved my pennies and made the purchase, and I enjoyed my very first brew day this last January. When I cracked open my first amber ale six weeks later, I was speechless at how well the recipe had come together and how easy it was.

I have four brews under my belt now, including the saison that went into the fermenter just this last weekend. I think I'm going to be hanging onto this hobby for a while.