Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Nelson Saison

It's Insatiable Thirsty Thursday again, I'm sipping on a homebrewed Saison.  What should I drink next?  Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Holy MALTrimony

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday returns with the 8th episode, drinking Holy MALTrimony.  This is a special episode for me.

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Cheers!

BJCP Guidelines Get An Update

If you've followed this blog long or have read a few posts back you'll know that I'm a Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judge.  The most used tool for a beer judge, other than a bottle opener, is the BJCP Style Guidelines.  A new edition of the guidelines has been released.  Read more here.

Cheers!

Collabrewation

It was a damp, foggy winter morning in Oak Park when a portion of the UnderGround BrewSquad (my homebrew club) met for a demonstration brew day at Brew Ferment Distill.  On any ordinary group brew day, one can expect to find a melange of brewers brewing a variety of recipes on differing brew systems; this was no ordinary brew day.  This day we would collaborate.


I have only ever brewed alone, so it was a little strange, but also refreshing to share the duties.  I paired with my brewther Calvin.  Last year both of us placed in a homebrew competition called Go For The Glory.  With that in mind, we decided to use our award winning recipes as a base for our collabrewation Pale Ale.  We have dubbed it "Went For The Glory".  The other pairing was Calvin's usual co-brewer Peter, AKA Hobbs, and Mike, AKA Professor Vorlauf.  They brewed a Dusseldorf Altbier that they have named "Oh Meine Leber", which translates to, "Oh My Liver"

Calvin, The Prof., Hobbs and Me.  I'm stirring water that I allowed to get hotter
than I wanted.  I seem to do that nearly every time I brew.  Maybe I should install
a thermometer in my kettle, or I can just plan on extra stirring; either way.

Cal & I doughing in.  Doughing in is the process of  adding hot water to the
grain in stages.  Some grain, some hot water, then some more grain and then
some more hot water, etc... until all of the grain and the calculated water
volume has been added to the mash tun (that would be the cooler)

Kelfie (kettle selfie).  This was taken after
the collection of the first runnings which went
much faster than the second, but not as fast
as Cool Runnings

Hobbs is very excited about this hop addition.
That mesh is there to keep ash from the pallet
fire, err I mean fire pit out of the kettle

The brew day lasted a bit longer than I had anticipated, but it went well.  We were a little low in the temperature of our mash due to my guesstimations, but that was simple to correct with a small amount of boiling water. We hit the targeted original gravity and have a lovely active fermentation going as I type.  In a few weeks Cal and I will bottle our batch of beer and then after a few weeks of bottle conditioning, we get to say that we "Went For The Glory".



Cheers!

Hoppy Beerthday

Yesterday, 11/1/14, was the American Homebrewers Association's Learn to Homebrew Day.  It was also my 2nd beerthday (I brewed my first batch on Learn to Homebrew Day).  I met up with a few UnderGroundBrewSquad (my homebrew club) members and had a day of demonstration brewing at BFD.  We brewed 36 gallons as a club and had many local people stop by the shop to learn a bit and enjoy a brew or two.  I brewed the trial run of Holy MALTrimony, an Imperial IPA that I will ferment with Belgian Strong Ale yeast.  I plan to brew this beer multiple times to ensure that it is just right for the shindig celebrating the marriage of my good friends Janie and Nikki.

When I first started brewing, it was on a simple stove top set up.  At that point I was using extract, could only boil a little over 3 gallons, and had to top off (add water) to end up with 5 gallons of beer. My current set up is capable of producing 10 gallons (no need to top off) and I am using all-grain (no extract unless I want to).  The next step up in my set up will be kegging.  Check back in the future for a how-to post on turning a refrigerator into a kegerator.

My initial set up using a camp stove.
I still use the same assistant though.

My current set up at AHA Learn to Homebrew Day at BFD.

Photo credit: Calvin Crawford
Note the difference in light, I got started later than planned.

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Cheers!

Tiny

William Edgar Fowler III was born on October 10, 1937 and passed almost three years ago.  He was a man of large stature both in size and of heart.  Friends of his called him Tiny and I called him Dad.  My love of music and food and drink most certainly come from being reared by this man.  In his honor, this October 10, 2014, I brewed a Wee Heavy (Strong Scotch Ale) that I have dubbed Tiny.  If you would care to try a Wee Heavy, I'd recommend AleSmith Wee Heavy.  I have seen it in bottles around the Sacramento area on occasion.  If you can't find that, another good option would be Belhaven Wee Heavy.  Here's to Tiny!

Cheers!

Tiny dressed as Santa, my sister and myself circa the late 80's

Cafe Au Ale

Amanda Branahm of From House Parties to Housewife wrote up an article for Beers in Sacramento about the competition that I brewed Coffee Nap for.  She interviewed me and Deb of Rebel Confectionery & Jams.  Check out the article at the following: Cafe Au Ale


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Cheers!

Coffee Nap

My passion for beer doesn't end at visiting breweries and tasting great beers.  I have been interested in brewing beer since well before my being able to purchase it legally.  Even though my good friend Ryan and I dreamed of brewing beer back then, I didn't get started until Learn to Homebrew Day, 2012.  I have another good couple of friends, Janie & Nikki, to thank for the gift of Charlie Papazian’s book, “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing”.  Papazian's book tapped my appreciation and seeking of beer knowledge and lead me to John Palmer’s, "How to Brew".  The fact that Palmer has his whole book online for free, makes me want to hug the man.  He really makes brewing easy to understand and goes into the scientific details of the art of brewing.

Since beginning to brew in 2012, I have brewed many batches of beer and have started entering my homebrews into competitions.  One such competition that I will be entering is Café Au Ale, a coffee beer competition that is being held at a local coffee shop during Sacramento Specialty Coffee Week.  I brewed a Robust Porter to which I added a cold brew of Old Soul's Whiskey Dreams.  I have dubbed that beer Coffee Nap, follow the link for the recipe.  To help me with documenting the process, the wife took periodic pictures throughout the brew day.

Water in the kettle coming up to temperature.  The cooler is my mash tun (it's where the grain gets wet).  The paper bag is my grain and the little bags are my hops.

A layer of grain is being infused with 162° F water.

Another layer, this process is called "doughing-in".

More water, then more grain, etc...

After a few minutes the temperature is taken,
I was shooting for 154° F.  Not bad!

Three very important things are going on in this picture.  In no particular order of importance: calibration beer poured and tasted, enzymes are converting the grain to fermentable sugars (mashing) and notes are being taken.

After an hour of mashing I start the recirculation process know as the vorlauf.  A couple of quarts of the liquid, known as wort (pronounced wert), are pulled off and then carefully added back to the mash tun.  This helps to settle the grain bed and keep grain particles out of the kettle. The vorlauf is repeated several times until there are no particles in the wort.

Here begins the collection of the first runnings.
  Notice that the valve handle is only partially open.

The wort is poured over the back of a spoon
so as to not disturb the grain bed. 

The collection of the wort should go slowly
in order to avoid splashing which
would lead to oxidation of the wort
 and ultimately off flavors.

Every brewer needs an assistant, this is Brutus.
He was keeping an eye on the collection of the
 2nd runnings.  After the mash tun has been
drained the first time, another batch of hot water
 is added (167° F) and allowed to settle; this is
 known as batch sparging.  The vorlauf  is done
 again and the wort is collected in the same way
 as the first runnings.  Here I have the mash tun
 tilted in order to get all of the wort out.  I did not
 tilt until it was near empty.

Approximately one week later the yeast have
done their work of digesting the sugars and
producing alcohol.  Above you see a
hydrometer which measures the apparent
attenuation of the beer.  To put that simply,
as the yeast eat up the sugar the beer gets
thinner, the hydrometer drops farther.
At this point the fermentation is complete
and I added the strong, cold brewed coffee.
After a couple days the wife and I bottled
the beer.  

During the boil, hops were added.  The wort
was then cooled via my Immersion Chiller.
Notice that is is now dark outside, this brew
day took about 6 hours from set up to clean
up.  Here I am transferring the wort to my
fermentation vessel.  I move the hose around
and up and down in order to introduce a fair
amount of oxygen to the wort.  This gives
the yeast the oxygen that they need.  The yeast
will be added after the fermenter is filled.

The carbonation of my beer is done in the bottles by adding a little more fermentable sugar (known as priming sugar) to the beer just before bottling.  Then after a few weeks, the remaining yeast digest that sugar and produce the carbonation.  This picture was taken just ten days after bottling, note that there is very little head.  There is very little carbonation at this point, but I still have another couple weeks until Coffee Nap will be judged.

I am pretty happy with this beer and look forward to tasting it again in another couple weeks.  By that point it should be fully carbonated and the coffee flavor should have mellowed a bit.  I am also eager to have it judged, receive my score sheets and learn the outcome of the competition.  As of now it is an opaque black with burgundy edges.  The aroma is of a dark roasted coffee, bittersweet chocolate and dark dried fruits (i.e. raisins, prunes).  The flavor follows the aroma and in the same order but is paired with a subtle earthy hop presence that lingers in the finish along with rich coffee.  The mouthfeel is not quite ready to judge due to not being fully carbonated, but my initial tasting was pleasing.  It is creamy and has a medium-full body.  There is a soft warming in the chest from the, slightly higher than I was going for, ABV of 7.11%.  I am proud of my first attempt at a coffee beer and will most certainly brew it again.

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Cheers!

Week 3 at Beers in Sacramento

Guest blogging at Beers in Sac again.  Check out week 3 of my journey to become a BJCP judge. This week took an intensive look at off flavors and aromas.  Also, I brewed a batch of Robust Porter today, check back for a detailed look at my brew day.

Cheers!

Week 2 at Beers in Sacramento

I am guest blogging at Beers In Sacramento again, check out this weeks journey with hops. http://beersinsac.com/studying-for-the-beer-judge-certification-program-bjcp-with-mike-ungerbuhler/2014/8/31/week-2 Also, I'm heading to Speakeasy Ales & Lagers today, check back soon for a brewery review and tasting notes.

Cheers!

Guest blogging over at Beers In Sacramento

I am guest blogging over at Beers In Sacramento today and every Sunday for the next few months.  Please check out the post and their site/app.
http://beersinsac.com/studying-for-the-beer-judge-certification-program-bjcp-with-mike-ungerbuhler/