Brewing For Battleground Brewers Skirmish

With the BBG Skirmish homebrewing competition coming up for November 1, I decided to get off my tail and start brewing again. Adequate planning would've kept me from being so taxed over the past week, but that would've made too much sense.

So, I planned out the four beers I wanted to have for competition. I didn't strategically plan, in that I didn't try to go with strengths or go with beers I felt would place well in a weak class. Typically, the ones that I'm going with are all placed in varied and typically very strongly talented classes.

So:

• Belgian Brown, Oud Bruin style belgian
• American Pale Ale
• Belgian Witbier
• Amish Breakfast Porter, a coffee-oatmeal-pumpkin porter

I already had the Belgian Brown laid aside from previous competition and just needed to bottle it. It's technically wood aged, but it's subtle enough and young enough that there's no real reason to place it in specialty or wood aged when the character is so specifically Belgian, though I may attempt to place them in both if there's a category for wood-aged and not just specialty.

The Witbier was a 2 gal recipe I put together to try out some new ideals - for one, grinding the coriander with a coffee grinder; two, using fresh zest instead of dried, bitter peel; and three, using chamomile at the end of the boil. I zested about a cup worth of orange, grapefruit, tangelo, and lemon, and threw it in late in the boil, but the coffee grinder wasn't working so I had to use an old food processor and crush after that. The Chamomile I actually forgot in the boil - planned to use one teabag in the last 3 minutes - so I put it in after straining, while it was still hot, for about five minutes. The smell from the trio of spices was incredible. I brewed this 10/03.

The ABP is the latest in a line of pumpkin ales I've made. Two years ago, I made my first pumpkin ale, in the fall of my first year brewing. Last year, I made a porter-base pumpkin ale, which is apparently the rootof the style. It came out slightly caramel, but a year later, it's still a tasty porter now that the spices have fallen away. Notes of the brown sugar and molasses are still there, to a point. So, the next step was, in theory in planning two years ago, that the third in the series would be a flavored pumpkin porter, possibly with chocolate and possibly Imperial (the style of Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter is, apparently, a booming small-batch craftbrew phenomenon in Alaska). But with the success of specialty brewing in the "breakfast stout" area (coffee-oatmeal being Beer Geek Breakfast, aging it in whiskey barrels making it Kentucky Breakfast) , I wanted to try this with pumpkin and found that there were no prior attempts to this new style by anyone on record - I may have been the first to ever attempt this combination of flavors. Top that, right? Who knows if it'll taste like anything worth a damn, but it's a groundbreaker.

The ABP was a tough beer to brew, though. I'd previously tried my first attempt at oats with the witbier, and it was a tough strain working with a new starch. So it didn't dawn on me to try the various mashes separately - i did the oats and pumpkin together, which would've been OK, and should've done the coffee in a coffeemaker to strain through that mixture, but added the raw grounds to the oatmeal and pumpkin. So my efficiency in straining back out was inconsistent at best, and therefore I question whether the flavors will come out consistently. After that, the brew was fine, and rolled smoothly to the very end, where a half ounce of various pumpkin pie type spices were added. Cooling was a major problem, however, and it didn't completely cool on Sunday (brew started 8pm) until 2am Monday morning. Yes, it's time to build a chiller, I know.

A split starter went to the ABP and the APA, and the ABP was at high krauesen by morning when the day started too early.

The APA's hop profile was neither as fun or as interesting as the prior, doomed batch of similar origin. Another 2 gal batch for 10/6 in the evening, this one used an ounce of leftover Hallertau to start (60 min, 1/2 oz, 20 min, 1/2 oz), then 1/4 oz fuggle (15 min left) and an ounce Amarillo to end (10 min, 5 min, 0 min equal increments). More cooling problems kept this going late into the night as well. I really should've just popped for the ounce of Cascade as well, and dropped the Hallertau to more evenly spread cascade/amarillo throughout the last 20 min, but I was intrigued by this combination as it sat in my freezer.

So, I now have three beers going very strong, and they should be ready for transfer after the Charleston trip this weekend. All three carboys going at once is a fun sight, and I've never pulled off three brews in four days' time. It's tiring.

Stone

Officially, the Stone Brewing Co. stated in May that they will "not be in North Carolina for a few years": " ... we have no immediate plans to invade North Carolina. Those pesky hope-inducing rumors are exactly that–rumors. While we are certainly sympathetic to thirsty hop-deprived Southern citizens such as yourself, the bottom line is this: we’ve experienced phenomenal growth since we started up in 1996, and have been challenged to make enough beer each day to keep our fans happy both near and far. We are constantly increasing our production capacity, but it is still nowhere near enough to keep the whole country swimming in Arrogant Bastard. However, we are indeed hoping to move into the Southeast within the next couple of years; sooner, hopefully, rather than later. "

But maybe that's changed: from Bruisin' Ales blog in Asheville:


It’s confirmed! From the source. Founders Brewing, a top-notch brewery from Grand Rapids, Michigan, will be making it’s appearance very, very soon. Beer spies tell us it could be as soon as two weeks. Founders, of course, is practically famous for their Kentucky Breakfast Stout. (We’ve been sitting on a bottle of that for over a year now, because we horde.)
The other big news is the Stone Brewing Co. is entering the NC market with a goal of Sept. 1, just in time for “leaf season.” Arrogant Bastards for everyone!

Boston Roundup and Budweiser

Over the 4th, went on a bachelor party to Boston, partially for beer - being with three other beer geeks, it was a major draw. Sure, I know what you're saying - Sam Adams. And sure, it came up. But the idea was more to find an accessible big city with plentiful beer. Boston, Denver, San Diego were finalists and Boston won, partially for being east coast. That Jake, the potential groom, and I both watched the hell out of John Adams on HBO helped tip the scales too. First off, it's a very accessible city; we stayed near the airport, the train was nearby and inexpensive. Anything and everything was within walking distance from the train, but keep in mind I walk around 8 miles a week anyway (still, at no point was I sore or excessively tired). Bostonians were friendly and better than their reputation.

So - Sam Adams. Worth the trip out to the brewery, and worth the effort to do so. You get a small tasting glass and a free tour. We tasted four beers, two of them experimental; tours are easy to get into. But, the tour itself was more than slightly silly, and very much geared toward the layperson. The tour took us into the "brew room" without taking us in - we got a description and some hands-on ingredients but saw very little before going to taste, which wasn't organized well. Interesting - Sam Adams Boston Lager is a lot more aromatic and tasty when fresh, so they really need to watch they get only so much bigger before they really work on their quality - what we had at the Boston brewery was high quality (though it was young). Of course, I knew going in that they only really do R&D there, but if they're relying so much on distribution through other breweries' facilities it's time to step things up.

The tour itself was in Jamaica Plain, accessible by train with a four block walk through neighborhoods. I was warned JP would be seedy and unsafe, but it wasn't. Picked out a restaurant there to try, but we headed back toward downtown early. If you're going, do your homework and find a place like Zon's, or pick out another place between there and downtown (I recommend Chinatown, though I didn't get there either). The brewery recommended an Irish Pub that looked somewhat lame, and a beer/liquor store on North End that didn't really wow with their selection.

We headed toward Fenway that day, somewhat unfortunately. I didn't want to be touristy and had already seen Fenway and a ballgame there; I assumed that things around there would be touristy, and they were. We stopped at one recommendation I'd found, Boston Beer Works (Fenway). Plentiful on tap, around 20 beers made on premise including a cask IPA. It was mid-day, and we didn't eat, so we were just sitting and drinking a few to get our plans together- this really didn't help us have a good time, and at that point it was barren. So we were looking for atmosphere at a place built to be huge for gamedays, so it didn't get a good shake.

We went across the street to Cask & Flagon, which came recommended to one of our trip companions. Food was OK - beer on tap was disappointing.

That evening, I stepped in and essentially pleaded for one of my recommendations for good taps and solid food. We landed at Publick House in scenic Brookline, out on the Green line where it goes above ground. The bar was literally a half block and visible from the train, so it's almost foolproof drunk. They had all kinds of belgian on tap, as well as tons of other good regional and national craft beer, and have an adjoining bar for the belgian scene. The Trappist Meatloaf (Chimay cheese, Orval-caramelized onions, Westmalle gravy) was decadent and I nearly inhaled it. Beer was priced on the high side, so the rest of the group wanted to get going around 12:00 - we got there at 10 and by then they had already cut off reservations and waitlisting because their list had extended past closing time. So, popular enough place. Definite recommendation. The same bar group was also opening a BBQ type beer restaurant further up the way.

After that, we went to The Lower Depths - a recommendation from the bartender at Beer Works, she said she hangs out there sometimes. It was a little dead, and they closed at 1 (WTF?), so I wish we would've either just gone home on the train (which "stops" at 12:30 but essentially runs till almost 1 so if you're mid-stop you're not just stranded) or stayed at Publick House. a $20 cab ride finished the night.

Friday was tough given the holiday - we did a lot of history based stuff during the day, and only came toward bars that afternoon, in search of lunch. Had lunch at the Green Dragon Tavern, which had been a historical landmark. Of course, it was also abandoned in the 1800s, and this was a "rebirth" place that assumed the name and really has no tie to the old tavern. Fish and Chips were good, I didn't drink there. Didn't seem a purpose, to down Smithwicks as a "best option" just to do it.

I just went back to look up the Green Dragon, and the website was hacked. With a marked date of 2007. Good work kids. The bar was, like much of Fanueil Hall's bar scene, by the same ownership group, and that ownership group didn't believe in big taps. They had Guinness/Smithwicks, two Sam, a Harpoon, maybe Newcastle, and that was usually it. No other regionals. Most Boston bars, unfortunately, seemed to follow this.

Dinner was in North End, which is essentially where you go if you want to grab a good dinner with a lot of variety in choice. After a couple hours walking South Boston trying to find where we'd been ordered to go to watch fireworks by a chick in the subway (and apparently missing out on both the locale and the fireworks), we stopped in a bar called Murphy's Law for a drink (I actually didn't - see the taps issue above) and I persuaded them to hit Sunset Grill instead. We cabbed this one instead of the train, for lack of knowing where we were, and I wish we would've made the turn a lot sooner.

Sunset Grill was another bar closing at 1 - which was a shame, both for our absolutely retarded misuse of time and the fact they had tons of beer on tap (120) and bottle (400+). They had a lot that I wanted the rest of the group to try (Kasteel Route, Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Skirt Lifter Imperial Hefeweizen), and even though we diverged on our paths, we didn't exhaust the tap list and we each left wanting more time to try things. We burned a lot of beer in about two hours, and left somewhat triumphantly. Josh even bought an empty bottle of Sam Adams Utopia.

Saturday left us with our beer shopping - we went to Charles St. Liquors near the river, which had plentiful supply, though I was hoping for a bit more. They had a lot of what we came for - Dogfishhead 120 (illegal to sell in NC because it's 21% ABV), Stone, Lost Abbey, regionals, and so on.

I ended up being unable to find Russian River, or Stone 07.07.07 vertical epic (and 12th anniversary wasn't available yet), and a friend bought the last of their barleywine. I forgot to grab Ten Fidy, an Oskar Blues offering in their traditional can that's an oak aged imperial stout; I couldn't grab Oaked AB since they were only selling 6s and I already had nearly a suitcase of stuff; Lost Abbey was expensive there so it was tough grabbing more than one bottle.

We also hit up O'Sullivan's for a burger while in Cambridge. Again not a great tap place, but this one made up for it with their plentiful burger options, which is the reason to go there.



One other interesting thing about the trip - Charlotte Douglas Int'l now has a Carolina Brewing restaurant/bar on premise, which was ungodly expensive but not terribly outrageous for airport beer.


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Anheuser-Busch has finally been acquired. The beer giant, who in global terms turned out to be not so large as to be acquired by an international company, fell prey somewhat to the falling dollar and rising prices. InBev, who we all know in the international market for acquiring beer and distrubuting it after making it a homogenous and therefore characterless version of itself (I'm looking at you, Hoegaarden),

APA bottling

Bottled the APA today, a little late; the ideal was to keep it in the primary through the entire two weeks to try something a little different. I always despise the bottling process - the beer never smells quite right, and the taste is always muted. You have to approximate everything. On the other hand, the smell was decidedly of hops, the flavor was very bitter but not overpowering - just as I wanted despite the load of hops.

The color did also come back to a solid amber, and wasn't too dark at all. Hopefully just enough of the crystal 20/40/120 will be there to add some complexity.

Green Flash

Stone Brewing - coming soon? Talking to local beer suppliers for the last year and a half about StoneBrewing breaking into the market, and nothing yet. After somebreakthroughs a year ago through Magic Hat, then Bell's, going fromrarely found to immediate distribution in your local Supermarket, therewas hope that more West Coast beers like Stone would follow the Roguenational distribution. But one thing dropping in the area lately, from the same county, isGreen Flash. The San Diego craft brewer supplies definitively hoppyales, flagshipped by an IPA, an imperial IPA, and a more unique creationfor this market, an India Red Ale (Hop Head Red). The Red is a verywell balanced beer - part of the west coast style of reds and ambersthat are IPA-style hopped. East coast brewers still make ambers andreds in traditional formats, so it'll be interesting to see how thisdistribution changes startup brews, specialty brews, and whether itopens the market for other beers of the type. A Double Stout is also on the market, in 22 oz format like the Imperial IPA. The others are in 12oz/6-pack format but not in singles yet. Their Brown, Belgian Dubbel, and Barleywine haven't been seen this far east yet.

(to edit/update: the dubbel and barleywine have now been seen)

Return Of The Oud Bruin

So two weeks ago I partnered in a belgian brown brew that we'll enter to be had in the local Brewing Guild's booth at the Summertime Brews Festival. It was my style to push, and neither Atwell was as familiar with the style or recipe. It came from wanting to make something like the Allagash brews or Unibroue Chambly Noire (which turns out to be a belgian style black ale), but ended up being a Flemish Brown - Oud Bruin - style. Not terribly unlike Flemish Red/Sour, it's a bold and complex beer that will also have oak aging and liquor adjunct (the first one has port-soaked oak, the second will use brandy). We ended up modifying the recipe provided from Sam Calagione's book Extreme Brewing

The second one comes inspired by the want for us to have a version of it that won't be given away, and the ability to reuse some components.

It's a 6% ABV belgian brown ale:
6 lb pale DME
1.5 lb 2L carappils
4 oz black patent
1 lb dark brown sugar
4 oz molasses

First iteration used Goldings hops at 60 (oz) and 20 (1/2 oz), and Saaz at 10 (1/2 oz), the second will use fuggle 1st/2nd and Saaz at the end. First beer used 1lb dark candi sugar, 2nd will sub table sugar.

Both beers will have used White Labs Belgian Golden; the first got a 5th day pitch of lactobaccillus, the second beer will use the lacto/belgian golden slurry from the first one pitched at day 5.


Along the way in brewing the first one, got to try Kasteel Rouge (oud bruin aged with sour cherry and brandy) and brought a Liefmans Goudenband (the staple of the style), which helped inspire where we were going with the beer.


For my personal version of this beer, I would like to take out the dark adjuncts, leave the black patent or replace with 3 oz Pale Chocolate malt, switch in a pound of table sugar, and possibly add in 4 oz Belgian Aromatic malt. I really don't like the molasses in there, personally.


So with a third of the share of this, and the APA going strong still (still bubbling at ~8 seconds after a week), I'll have plenty of homebrew left around. Next after this will be a wit I've been working on the recipe to brew with, though it'll probably be a half-batch;

APA Brew Day

6 lb DME
.5 lb Crystal 20L
.5 lb crystal 40L
.25 lb Crystal 120L
1 oz Cascade (60 min)
1 oz Centennial (20 min)
.75 oz Amarillo (15 min)
.5 oz Cascade (10 min)
.5 oz Cascade, .25 oz Amarillo (5 min)

Started out with a starter (1.5Liter, 5.75 oz DME).

Blending the crystal will give a broader crystal flavor. Using one will define flavor a little more but the blend spreads the flavor more throughout the taste.

My methodology for hops, while very scattered in practice, was as follows:
I wanted to add Amarillo to Cascade to vary flavor up. Centennial as a higher powered cascade will add citrus in theory, but at 20 minutes the hope was that it would give less a citrus flavor than the amarillo's orange/lemon or cascade's grapefruit.
The ideal of using most of the hops late rather than early was to eliminate late-hopping and add a lot of bitterness without too much at the front end. Late-hop bittering adds a lot of flavor and aroma, and does add bitterness, but it's a less efficient and therefore less harsh bitter.

Post-Boil Results and Style Comparison
*Post-OG tasting left a very divided taste - sweet on the front end, hoppy at the back end.
*Smell test at two days left a strong citrus smell in range of various fruits, along with a solid malt smell.
*This finished at 1.052 OG (adjusted from 80 degrees F). Compared to style guidelines, that's a little high but inside reason.
*High crystal addition left the beer at a Promash-expected 13.0 (range for style is 8-14).
*4 total oz of hopping left the beer at a Promash-expected 54.6 IBU (range for style is 30-45+), giving range to fit hoppiness in, but that's for West Coast styles, whereas East Coast tastes would be less. Definitely over range, though with a month or two aging would be more within style.

For fairness to the IBUs, switchng even one more ounce of hops to the front end changes the beer to an 80 IBU range, just by boiling for 50 more minutes without any additions. The hop cost was high but it seems for aroma and flavor the beer is very good and sharp, without a sharp bitterness normally necessary to achieve that aroma and flavor.

It took a day to break into fermentation, but at 36 hours had broken into the airlock. At that point, it had a wonderful aroma. Initial concerns of infection or letting the beer sit too long before fermentation started were somewhat unfounded, though the expectation was that the starter would aid in quickness for the beer.

Learned from this:
*Kits aren't the best idea anymore, I'll screw with it until it's unrecognizeable.
*Continue to improve on sanitation to reduce paranoia
*Let the yeast take time to act, don't spazz.

Tips for next time:
*If it's still extract, either back off on pale DME and add either English Pale malt or English Pale LME.
*If having to partial mash instead of just steep (crystal didn't need mash), add munich and back off on crystal. Reduce total to 12-14% of grain bill to let hops come through.
*consider blending hops for late hop additions.

This beer should be very fragrant and tasty right up front. As time goes on, the hop degradation may make this more consumable, but with a high crystal take and pushing most of the hop to the back end, there should be drinkability in people who don't like hop bitterness to the level of a normal IPA.