This time of the year in Minnesota, the weather is always a crap-shoot. It could be 75, or 40 and raining. It's a frustrating time for us northern folk. We've just come out of 4 months of oppressing cold and snow and are ready for the beauty of summer to help us forget the winter. Most Minnesotans just want it to be warm - 75, sunny, and clear skys.
For myself, as a homebrewer, there is a bit of a debate as to whether I want the current temperatures to hang around or for the weather to get warmer. Summer is not a great time to brew beer, at least not in my tiny, hard-to-maintain-a-consistant-temperature, apartment. Hanging out with a stove on full when it's 80 degrees out isn't any fun. I also don't have a place for fermentation that stays below 70 degrees during the summer months.
Part of me - the part that needs to spend time on the golf course - begs for summer temperatures and a lot of sunshine, while the beer maker in me wants the 50 degree days to last for a couple more weeks so I can squeeze one more batch of beer in before the summer hits.
Of course, in the event that I am unable to brew one last batch this spring, I do have 5 gallons of batch #3 less than a week away from being ready to drink - a hoppy honey wheat. I'll just have to drink away my sorrow for not getting batch #4 done in time for summer. I can live with that.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
I Know. I'm Late Again...
Well batch #2 was definitely a success. It's tasting great and, sadly, almost gone already. Here are some pictures I took during the process...
I tend to take notes when I'm brewing because I tend to lose track of times.
This is after the primary fermentation stage. I dry hopped this American pale ale with an ounce of Amarillo hop leaves. Looks perty don' it?
I had to take a break while I was sanitizing bottles, so I took a few pictures. I thought this one was kind of cool. Staring down two cases of bottles that need sanitizing is a bit intimidating. I wish I had room to keg!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tower, This is Ghost Rider Requesting a Flyby
When I visited they had a number of different beers on tap, all of which I had to try. The porter, IPA, and pale ale were all very good, with the porter being the star of the afternoon. They're known for their orange wheat which was good, although not really my thing. I also had a chance to try their winter warmer which was also pretty good, although a bit on the spicy side for my tastes. As of my visit in December they weren't bottling the porter which was sad, but the beer tender said she thought they would probalby bottle it in the near-future.
Another cool thing about Hangar 24 is that every Friday afternoon they have one of their beers on cask. Typically it's a special brew - say a chocolate version of their porter. Check out their Facebook page to find out what they're offering uo for the H24 cask this week!
Hangar 24 is available in much of Southern California and just recently became available in the greater Los Angeles area. If you find yourself booming around the area, I highly recommend swinging by the brewery, or at least finding somewhere to procure some of their beer.
Sorry Goose, but it's time to buzz a tower...
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
I'm Back. Again.
It seems that about a year and a half is about the amount of time between posts here. As I've said before, there are a lot of sauces across the country that need tending - much eating and dipping to be done!
Anyways, so again, it's an exciting time to be Dave S.
There haven't been any fabulous jaunts across the world, just a summer trip to Colorado and a Christmas trip to lovely Southern California. Still married to The Lady Luck but this time, there is a baby on the way - fortunately I have 6 more months to get used to not mistake small fingers for wing scraps.
On a more this-blog-appropriate topic I have also begun my life as a home brewer of beer. Exciting stuff! Especially because nothing goes better with wings (and sauce) that beer, right?
I currently have Batch #2 in the primary fermentation stage and should have it bottled and ready to gulp by mid-to-late March. Hopefully, as I progress in my newest hobby, I'll post all about it here. Of course, that being said, it could be a year and a half before you hear from me again. So, with that in mind, here is the written odyssey that was my first home brewing adventure...
Batch One: Pushing Out of Port(er)
After years of enjoying the art of drinking beer, I decided it was high time to get started in the art of making beer. After doing a test run with a friend, using his equipment, and reading all the way through John Palmer's How To Brew, I felt I was ready to give it a go myself.
I asked for, and received all of my home brew equipment for Christmas this past year and decided to roll with a recipe out of Palmer's book, which is a must-have for any home brewer. I made the Port o'Palmer which is his take on a robust porter similar to Sierra Nevada's porter. I followed the recipe for the most part, except for the hops, mostly due to availability - I went with Goldings instead of Willamette. I was a touch short on Liquid Malt Extract (LME) so I supplemented it with a little extra Dry Malt Extract (DME).
I steeped the Crystal 60, Chocolate, and Black specialty malts for 30 minutes at 150 degrees in 2.5 gallons of spring water. Once that was done I removed the boiling kettle (giant pot) from the heat and added the LME. The actual recipe called for half at this point and half at the end of the boil, which I didn't realize until it was too late. I'm fairly sure this affected the results, but more on that later...
The hops additions went without incident. As noted in the recipe, I made three separate hops additions. One at the beginning of the boil which are referred to as bittering hops due to the fact that they give the beer its bitter flavor. The next addition, the flavoring hops, was done with 40 minutes left in the boil. The final addition is called the aroma hops, done with 20 minutes left in the boil, imparts the beer with a hoppy aroma.
Once the boil was complete and I had added the half-pound of DME, I popped the top on the kettle, took it outside and tossed it in a snow bank. I didn't actually toss it but I did put it in a snow bank and piled snow up all around it in order to cool the wort as quickly as possible. Apparently winters in Minnesota can be used for good!
When the wort had cooled to a manageable temperature I poured it into the fermentation bucket and added an additional 2.5 gallons of spring water. I get the temperature down to about 70 degrees and the I pitched the yeast - aka shake up the yeast vile and dump it into the beer. I sealed the bucket, inserted the airlock and put it in a dark corner to ferment for two weeks.
At this point I decided that I was going to bottle half of it as a regular porter and add black currant fruit extract to the other half. I prepared the priming sugar, which involved heating up some water and dissolving 1.25 cups of DME, then poured it into the bottling bucket. The priming sugar is used to carbonate the beer in the bottle. I added the beer to the bucket and bottled the first half. I added the black currant extract to the remaining beer and then bottled the rest of the beer.
The results are in...
The regular porter was decent right off the bat. It was a little thin and not quite as malty as I had expected it to be. I think that may have been due to the fact that I added all the malt at the beginning of the boil. As far as a first run goes, I was not disappointed in the result. The black currant version was a bit of a different story. Sometimes when brewing with fruit extract, the beer can take on a bit of a medicinal flavor similar to cough syrup, and that was definitely evident when I cracked the first bottle. I've opened a couple of bottles since then and it seems to be improving with age. I'm hoping that trend continues and the black currant flavor mellows as it gets a little more time to condition in the bottle.
Overall I'm happy with how the beer turned out, even though it isn't great - still goes good with fried meat and sauce. I feel like I'll have more success the next time around just having the experience of brewing a batch of beer, on my own, under my belt.
Anyways, so again, it's an exciting time to be Dave S.
There haven't been any fabulous jaunts across the world, just a summer trip to Colorado and a Christmas trip to lovely Southern California. Still married to The Lady Luck but this time, there is a baby on the way - fortunately I have 6 more months to get used to not mistake small fingers for wing scraps.
On a more this-blog-appropriate topic I have also begun my life as a home brewer of beer. Exciting stuff! Especially because nothing goes better with wings (and sauce) that beer, right?
I currently have Batch #2 in the primary fermentation stage and should have it bottled and ready to gulp by mid-to-late March. Hopefully, as I progress in my newest hobby, I'll post all about it here. Of course, that being said, it could be a year and a half before you hear from me again. So, with that in mind, here is the written odyssey that was my first home brewing adventure...
Batch One: Pushing Out of Port(er)After years of enjoying the art of drinking beer, I decided it was high time to get started in the art of making beer. After doing a test run with a friend, using his equipment, and reading all the way through John Palmer's How To Brew, I felt I was ready to give it a go myself.
I asked for, and received all of my home brew equipment for Christmas this past year and decided to roll with a recipe out of Palmer's book, which is a must-have for any home brewer. I made the Port o'Palmer which is his take on a robust porter similar to Sierra Nevada's porter. I followed the recipe for the most part, except for the hops, mostly due to availability - I went with Goldings instead of Willamette. I was a touch short on Liquid Malt Extract (LME) so I supplemented it with a little extra Dry Malt Extract (DME).
The Final Recipe
6 lbs Gold LME
1/2 lb Light DME
1/2 lb Crystal 60 L specialty malt
1/2 lb Chocolate specialty malt
1/4 lb Black specialty malt
1/2 oz Horizon hops pellets (60 minutes)
1/2 oz Golding hops pellets (40 minutes)
1/2 oz Golding hops pellets (20 minutes)
White Labs American Ale Blend Yeast (WLP060)
6 lbs Gold LME
1/2 lb Light DME
1/2 lb Crystal 60 L specialty malt
1/2 lb Chocolate specialty malt
1/4 lb Black specialty malt
1/2 oz Horizon hops pellets (60 minutes)
1/2 oz Golding hops pellets (40 minutes)
1/2 oz Golding hops pellets (20 minutes)
White Labs American Ale Blend Yeast (WLP060)
I steeped the Crystal 60, Chocolate, and Black specialty malts for 30 minutes at 150 degrees in 2.5 gallons of spring water. Once that was done I removed the boiling kettle (giant pot) from the heat and added the LME. The actual recipe called for half at this point and half at the end of the boil, which I didn't realize until it was too late. I'm fairly sure this affected the results, but more on that later...
The hops additions went without incident. As noted in the recipe, I made three separate hops additions. One at the beginning of the boil which are referred to as bittering hops due to the fact that they give the beer its bitter flavor. The next addition, the flavoring hops, was done with 40 minutes left in the boil. The final addition is called the aroma hops, done with 20 minutes left in the boil, imparts the beer with a hoppy aroma.
Once the boil was complete and I had added the half-pound of DME, I popped the top on the kettle, took it outside and tossed it in a snow bank. I didn't actually toss it but I did put it in a snow bank and piled snow up all around it in order to cool the wort as quickly as possible. Apparently winters in Minnesota can be used for good!
When the wort had cooled to a manageable temperature I poured it into the fermentation bucket and added an additional 2.5 gallons of spring water. I get the temperature down to about 70 degrees and the I pitched the yeast - aka shake up the yeast vile and dump it into the beer. I sealed the bucket, inserted the airlock and put it in a dark corner to ferment for two weeks.
At this point I decided that I was going to bottle half of it as a regular porter and add black currant fruit extract to the other half. I prepared the priming sugar, which involved heating up some water and dissolving 1.25 cups of DME, then poured it into the bottling bucket. The priming sugar is used to carbonate the beer in the bottle. I added the beer to the bucket and bottled the first half. I added the black currant extract to the remaining beer and then bottled the rest of the beer.
The results are in...
The regular porter was decent right off the bat. It was a little thin and not quite as malty as I had expected it to be. I think that may have been due to the fact that I added all the malt at the beginning of the boil. As far as a first run goes, I was not disappointed in the result. The black currant version was a bit of a different story. Sometimes when brewing with fruit extract, the beer can take on a bit of a medicinal flavor similar to cough syrup, and that was definitely evident when I cracked the first bottle. I've opened a couple of bottles since then and it seems to be improving with age. I'm hoping that trend continues and the black currant flavor mellows as it gets a little more time to condition in the bottle.
Overall I'm happy with how the beer turned out, even though it isn't great - still goes good with fried meat and sauce. I feel like I'll have more success the next time around just having the experience of brewing a batch of beer, on my own, under my belt.
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