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 6 at Beers in Sacramento

Practice makes pourfect.

Check out Week 6 of my journey to becoming a BJCP certified judge at Beers in Sacramento. There was no class this week, so I did a little practicing.  

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Cheers!

Week 5 at Beers in Sacramento

Manresa State Beach

Check out Week 5 of my journey to becoming a BJCP certified judge at Beers in Sacramento. This week, we dove head first into the subject of water and its importance in beer.

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Cheers!

Press In Case of Raid

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, in an industrial area of San Francisco, as the wife and I made our way to Speakeasy Ales & Lagers.  This area of town doesn't quite feel like the San Francisco that you are used to.  First off, there was little to no traffic and there was parking, easy parking that was free of charge.  The taproom has a decidedly prohibition era drinking establishment vibe.  Although one walks up a few stairs from the parking lot to enter the joint, it feels as if you are in a dark basement or backroom that has been turned into a bar.  You'd almost expect to be greeted by a well dressed gangster asking for the password.  No password is required, though be sure to keep an eye out for any coppers and remember to press the button in case of a raid. See?

I didn't push the button, but I wanted to.

I have had a few of Speakeasy's beers and enjoy them often.  Big Daddy IPA and Double Daddy IPA are a couple of my go to beers.  I had not, however, visited the brewery before.  The wife and I walked up to the bar, decided on a few samples and then found ourselves a comfortable spot to imbibe.  We decided on The Suspect (Belgian Golden Ale), The Informant (Elder Flower Saison), Blind Tiger (Imperial IPA) and Harvey Milk (Milk Stout).

From left to right is, The Suspect, The Informant, Blind Tiger and Harvey Milk

Delicious decisions don't disappoint

Tasting Notes:

-The Suspect is a Belgian Golden Ale whose aroma is reminiscent of lemon drops and its appearance like that of lemonade.  The flavor is dominated by spicy hops and citrus rind that subdue the grainy sweetness.  The effervescence in this light bodied beer, paired with the citrus make for a refreshing brew.

-The Informant is an Elderflower Saison, in which the floral aroma is most prominent. This is followed by the aroma of a dense grainy cracker.  It has a nearly clear, golden hue that is crowned by a persistent, fine bubbled head. The elderflower is the star of the aroma as well as the flavor.  This is paired with a lingering flavor of a ruby red grapefruit.  The fine bubbles on the tongue create a delicate, silken texture that beg for another sip.

-Blind Tiger, an Imperial IPA, compensates for its lack of sight with a powerful aroma of mandarin orange and passion fruit.  As the bold hops fade, you are greeted by the smell of freshly cut grass and graham crackers.  The color of this beer is remarkably similar to the aforementioned saison, the only real difference is a slight haze and less bubbles.  The flavor reminds me of a pineapple upside down cake.  This gives way to a subtle grass flavor and a lingering resinous hop character.   The hops coat your tongue and are not washed away by the medium bodied beer that warms your chest on the way down.

-Harvey Milk is a luscious, sweet stout.  The aroma is that of a dark chocolate mocha and sweet black cherry.  It is an impenetrable black with a faint edge of a dark red wine.  The flavor is similar to a black forest cake paired with a cup of strong roasted coffee.  This beer is velvety smooth on the pallet and literally screams for ice cream.

Photo Credit: The wife

Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is a short trip from Sacramento and is well worth the visit.  The beer is excellent, and the taproom is dimly lit and comfortable.  The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and the parking is free.  I will certainly return and plan to bring friends along next time. While the wife and I were visiting, a party bus showed up carrying the guests of a birthday celebration for someone named Joey.  The group of people had a few extra pours of Big Daddy IPA, which two kind ladies from the group offered to the wife and I, as well as a couple other people in the taproom.  I'm sure that this is a slogan of another brewery, but it holds true; good people drink good beer.  Here's to Joey, Happy Birthday!

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Cheers!

Week 4 at Beers in Sacramento

David Teckam's White Board

Check out Week 4 of my journey to become a BJCP certified judge at Beers in Sacramento.  This week we took a look at filling out score sheets and were given tips to be better beer judges.

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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!

Keep Portland Upright

Early August 2014, the wife and I took another trip to the Pacific Northwest.  While there, I made sure to include many stops at breweries, including Upright Brewing. Upright sits in the basement of a brick building on North Broadway in Portland, Oregon.  I was excited to visit this small scale brewery, as the others that we visited on that trip were larger in scale and more brewpub than brewery.  The focus of Upright Brewing is on French and Belgian styles of beer with a Pacific Northwest twist of using local ingredients and slightly more hops in some of the beers than is traditional to the styles brewed.

The only signage visible from the road.

The wife and I walked up to a seemingly closed building, but were assured by the sandwich board that they were in fact open.  We made our way to the basement and down a hallway to discover this gem of a brewery.  When we walked in, we were right in the middle of the small brewing facilities and surrounded by barrels of aging beer.  I gazed in awe at the barrels and shiny stainless steel and thought to myself that something this size could just about work in the garage of a certain homebrewer... wishful thinking on my behalf.

Ooh, shiny!  Ah, barrels!

We got ourselves a sampler and sat at one of the few communal tables and enjoyed each and every taste.  I did not take any notes that day, all I have is a fond recollection of very tasty saisons.  We did, however, adopt a couple bottles of their brew to bring home and love and care for and call George.  I opened one of these bottles recently and shared it with the wife, my fond recollections were justified.  A very tasty saison indeed.

Behold, beautiful beer

Tasting Notes:

- Five is a beautiful beer that you may fall in love with at first whiff.  Its aroma brings to the imagination a nectarine cobbler.  This aroma is balanced with a subtle spiciness that is quite alluring.  The appearance of Five is like apricot preserves topped with a thick, bright white cream.  The head was sticky and formed a patch work of lace down the glass as I slowly sipped.  The aroma carried in the luscious flavors of nectarine and passion fruit to the pallet, this was offset by a lingering, spicy hop characteristic.  It has a smoothness that fills your mouth and then breaks into an effervescence that is tongue coating and mouth watering.

I was impressed by the beers from Upright Brewing and I'm very glad that I adopted a couple bottles.  I'd be more glad if only I had purchased more.  The brewery was comfortable, with light music fading into mixed conversations; this is the kind of place I could sit for hours and would love to the next time I visit Portland.


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Cheers!