Brewing to the Limit

A lot of people like good beer!

2009-02-24T12:45:00.012-06:00

"It's 5:01...somewhere"

One of the main reasons I continue to brew is that I really like good beer. I spend a fair amount of time discussing new and different beer styles, beers we have tried, brewing techniques and equipment. I enjoy many parts of beer. Turns out, I am not the only one.

The Brewers Association has released a report yesterday saying that the beer business is going well in the US, particularly craft beer. Per a Gallup Poll, beer has a strong growth trend in the alcoholic beverage preferred by adults in the US. The growth has been at the expense of wine being the preferred drink.

Also interesting, and confirmed in our house, we are drinking less imported beer, and of the increased consumption in 2008, 50% of the growth was from craft breweries. 5.8% of all beer by volume and 10.5% of beer by dollar value was from craft beer in 2008.

What does this all mean? We are buying more beer overall, we are buying more domestically produced beer, our increased consumption is mostly in craft beer, and we are paying a lot more for it. I can vouch for all of those.

If Mrs. Brew Meister and I are any indication, 2009 should be a good year as well.

Cheers!

May the Schwarz Bier With You (Kulmbacher - Mönchshof Schwarzbier clone)

2009-02-21T22:15:00.005-06:00

The latest batch of beer at the CaBrewery was to honor Mrs. Brew Meister and her affection for Kulmbacher Mönchshof Schwarzbier. This brings back memories of sitting in a middle-eastern restarant, watching German MTV, eating falafel, and smelling the hookahs burning.

The beer is a dark-as-night brew, with lower alcohol, foamy beige head, and has a very low roasted taste. It is a smooth lager, with noble hops in the mid taste, and an incredible finish. I agree with the Mrs.--it is a great beer, so I decided to try to make it.

I could not find any clear recipe for the style, so I took an all grain recipe, translated it into a partial mash, and used whatever I had left from the last few batches of beer, and here is what I have left:

Schwartz Beer

1/2# chocolate malt
1/2# roasted malt
1/2# crustal 40

3.52# BierKeller Dark German DME
3.3# Briess Pilsen Light

60 minutes 1/2 oz NZ Hallertau 6.2AA
15 minutes 1/2 oz NZ Hallertau 6.2AA

Heated water to 160F, added the crushed grains and put the heat on simmer for 50 minutes.
I hang a basket with the specialty grains on my 40qt boil pot and rinsed the grains for a few minutes.

I added the DME and brought up the water to 20L. Brought everything up to a boil and did the hop on schedule.

Cooled to 72F, pitched White Labs WLP830 German Lager Yeast and kept in a warm room (70F) for the night. By morning, the yeast was chugging along. I moved the primary to the basement where it settled to 62F for three weeks. I kegged it and let it sit in the beer fridge for a week. It turned out awesome!

Try it out and let me know what you think. I am going to make another batch next week!

Beer Hackers For Sure (clone recipe)

2009-01-14T19:21:00.009-06:00

The first batch of beer for 2009 was a quick and easy Hefeweisen. My wife is a big fan of many German style wheat beers. She was very fond of Paulaner Natural Wheat, but has recently been turned on to Hacker Pschorr. She now prefers the HP because it has less of the banana notes than from the Paulaner yeast. So I was on a mission to make an extract beer with some specialty grains that fit the description.

While at the brew shop buying a new boiling pot (Note from Mrs. Brew Meister: he decided the larger pot would eliminate boil-over and that the basement brewery will require time and budgeting), I thumbed through a copy of Brew Your Own that had 150 top clone recipes. I patched together an ingredient list that I thought would do the trick, and I changed my yeast from the normal White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale yeast to WLP351 Bavarian Weizen yeast. I think it will create a spicier less banana/bubble gum flavor.

- Start the 4 gallons of water boiling in the main boil pot
- In a separate pot, bring ¾ gallon of water to 160F. Add 1.5# of pils malt
- Steep at 150F for 50 minutes
- Pour water and grains through a strainer into the larger pot
- Ladle hot water through the grains in the strainer for a few minutes.
- Bring everything to a boil for a total boil of 60 minutes.
- Add 4# Muntons wheat dry malt extract 60 minutes
- Add 1oz Spalt hops 2.4AA 60 minutes
- Add ½oz Tradition hops 5.2AA 60 minutes
- Add 3# liquid wheat malt extract 15 minutes
- Add 1/2 oz Tradition hops 5.2AA 15 minutes

With an immersion chiller, I cooled the wort down to 74F in 15 minutes.

I pitched the White Labs Weizen WLP351 and stored it on a first floor room until fermentation started about 10 hours later.

It is now in the basement bubbling away at 64F. So far, so good.

A New Beer Tasting Club

2008-12-24T15:03:00.010-06:00

A funny thing happened at work the other day. I work in an office where most of the folks are fairly laid back, and there is a definite enjoyment of beer. Most of the time the beer appreciation involves drinking “Taiwan Gold Medal” or in Shunde China drinking Tsingtao while on business trips. There is also an old soda bottle machine in the office that dispenses bottles of beer for $.75, and the number one seller is Heineken.

However, one of my friends who enjoys a wide variety of beers began trying several Belgium style beers. It could be that a good beer bar opened up a few blocks away from our office. They have Grimbergen Dubbel, Goose Island Matilda, La Fin Du Monde, among others. And they rotate stock the tap often. He was telling me of the quest to buy some Grimbergen from Sam’s Wines and Spirits. He had made a special order and gotten a great deal. When he went to pickup the special orders, he grabbed a few more beers.

We were discussing what he liked and didn’t like from recent purchases. We then decided to bring a few of our favorite beers to the office and try them. Another friend overheard and wanted to participate as well. We laid down the three rules: Meet at 5:01 by my desk, bring a 750ml or equivalent of beer, and bring a clean glass. From Monday to Wednesday morning the group had grown to about 6 folks. Each participant brought in their contribution and lined it up along the window sill to chill for the evening. By 5:01 we had a great list of beers and a dozen tasters. The beers fell all in a Belgian style and there were no repeats: Delirium Tremens, Delirium Nocturnum, Delirium Noel, Rochefort 8, Trader Joes 2008 Vintage Ale, La Fin Du Monde, and Avery’s Salvation.

It was casual and we had no tasting guidelines other than talk about the smells and flavors we perceived, and what characteristic each of us preferred. The beer flowed quickly, with only some spring water, cashews, and pretzels to separate the beers. We had lined up the beers from what we thought was the maltiest to the spiciest/hoppiest. By the time we had opened the last beer, the Noel, there was a lot of numb tongue. Also, the Noel was surprisingly not the spiciest beer of the batch, so it was a bit lost. I did take a 15 minute break and drank my last glass to get a better appreciation.

The tasting was a nice way to talk beer with a group of folks I work with everyday. The choices and opinions were nice to share, and after we convinced a few of the folks it wasn’t a taste competition, it was very open and inviting.

A tasting is a good way to try several new beers, for the price of one. Keep the food and water handy, keep the opinions about how the beer tastes, and keep everything casual. It is a great way to allow some folks who are new to beer to try beers they would never buy themselves, and they may come back the next time. We unofficially chose Belgian styles, which kept the decision on what to bring a little easier. Holiday and Winter beers may be a good style to try at a tasting. Our next tasting will be in January 2009, think STOUT.

Agony of Indecision

2008-12-02T14:28:00.005-06:00

You know when you have a used car that starts needing progressively more expensive repairs? And you are in for a pound, with another pound to go...and you wonder about the tipping point: time for a new car, or throw in for the extra repairs (that may never end)?

That's exactly that agony I, Mrs. Brew Meister, feel for watching my dear Parrothead's indecision about what to do in the next step of brewing. Do we go big, invest big, or just buy interim parts here and there while we waver? "Big" would be hiring a contractor to run gas lines and venting, plumbing and drainage, and then buying huge equipment upgrades. "Moderate" would be going for a utility sink and drainage with an electric cooker in the basement. "Small" would be getting a larger pot for the stove so that Parrothead doesn't have another incident (as described here and here).

On the one hand, this is a hobby Parrothead enjoys. Heck, it could become a future business (even if only in retirement). And on that same hand, I can't watch a new kitchen stove get ruined. On the other hand, it is still a hobby, and while having a basement brewery sounds terrific, we really would need to budget, at the very least, for a utility sink and floor drain--with a plumber and some legal permits. And on a third hand, is it worth investing in a piece-meal manner if we do ultimately intend to "go big"?

So, while Parrothead indecides, I would like my agony of watching this process lessened by the action of another batch of beer. I hope he take that part of my advice.

So, you thought we were gone

2008-11-18T15:18:00.005-06:00

And during Election Fever, we were. But now we have Electricity Fever.

We are ready to brew again, and we have come across the idea of using electricity to do so, instead of gas. This could help with the basement brewing setup. Ventilation issues have us concerned about using natural gas/propane; sanitization issues have us looking away from the garage.

Please let me, Mrs. Brew Meister, know what you think about electrical setups for boiling wort. Before Parrothead invests :) We'll be back with recipes and reports.

M&M

2008-08-15T13:16:00.003-05:00

What are 2 beers that are Mmmm Mmmm good (according to me, Mrs. Brew Meister)?

Maudite and Matilda. We had the pleasure of trying both brews back-to-back during a recent Tap House visit.

The food at the Tap House is okay, although vegetarian selections are limited. Actually, the food was pretty good--a nice hummus and a deconstructed bruschetta were tasty--once the waitress remembered about leaving off the cheese. But the portions were small and the prices were high.

Same could be said for the beers. Tulip glasses were like buying gold, especially Matilda's price tag. Lucky for us, a high percentage alcohol makes us unable to consume more than a glass when we are out. We sipped, enjoyed, and now can confidently re-purchase these fine beverages for home consumption. Yummy and economical.

Don't try this at home

2008-07-28T12:28:00.004-05:00

Or anywhere...

Schlitz high gravity. Ugh. Said new. Looked fancy. Was cheap. Smelled like, well a lot like "schlitz", but without the L, capisce? Undrinkable unless nose was held. Or, as I (Mrs. Brew Meister) found, take it with a tablespoon of straight lemon juice poured in. Then it was tolerable. Seriously, save the buck and a half.

The Hefty Hefe

2008-07-24T12:45:00.008-05:00

Although there are many reasons I would like to forget about the last batch of beer I brewed, something fun may have come from it all (besides an "ah-ha" moment).

My original idea was to make my super simple and tasty Paulaner clone even better. I had been kicking around the idea on an Imperial Hefeweizen for a few weeks, as that would satisfy Mrs. Brew Meister's love of summer beer and my love of strong, unusual beers...

I remember the first description of an Imperial beer by some local brewery that said, "We doubled everything but the water." That sounded like the type of reasoning I could use. So I tried the following:

8oz Munich Malt 30 minutes at 152F
8.8lbs DME 55% Wheat 45# Barley
1 oz Hersbrucker for 45 minutes
1 oz Cascade for 15 minutes

As stated previously...it boiled all over the place and caused the world's largest mess. After that, I transferred 3 gallons to the primary fermenting bucket. Then I went off the reservation...

I was unable to cool the wort, as my wort chiller plumbing would not fit the sink of the new house. I decided to throw in a couple of trays of ice, a gallon of lukewarm distilled water, and put the whole mess in the basement. It was still 100F at 6PM. I decided to set the lid on the bucket, but not fill the airlock. With the cooling wort, I knew the vacuum in the bucket would pull the water from the airlock into the bucket.

In the morning, around 5AM, the wort was around 77F in my 67F basement. I pitched White Labs Liquid Hefeweizen Ale Yeast (WLP380) and a pack of Dry Ale Yeast. I figured one would kick in, and the sooner the better. Fermentation started within a few hours and chugged along for 5 days at 65-67F.

After ten days, we kegged the results. Initially, it smelled a bit bitter. The Cascade hops were very present, but blended well with the malt and some caramel aroma. We decided to pull some of the liquid from the bottom of the fermenter. It tasted REALLY GOOD! It is a good sign when Mrs. Brew Meister is filtering the dregs with a cheese cloth into a pint glass. It was also really strong. I had two cups and felt the warm contentment set in.

I am force carbonating the beer now and will drink it over the next 2 weeks. I would let it age a little longer but:

a. It already tastes really good.
b. I think the beer may begin to taste oxidized if I wait too long. It spent too many hours in the relative open before fermentation started.

I will post a full review next week.

Cheers

Serv-ish

2008-07-21T13:45:00.006-05:00

In this modern world, it seems that the customer isn't necessarily right--or even part of the equation. Doing the job right matters, of course. And in this economy, price matters--slightly less when there is greater quality, but still. There is an old business adage: "We can get it done fast, well, or cheap. Pick any 2." But I, Mrs. Brew Meister, can honestly say that service matters.

Take, for example, a so-so beer. Back in the days of grad school and tiny income, Parrothead and I had to sacrifice our burgeoning love of fine beers for "cheap canned stuff". Not that CCS can't make for a fine evening, especially a hot summer one without air conditioning.

Sometimes, we'd even splurge beyond Ameri-Canadian yellow fizz for a Sam Adams.

Years ago, for example, the Cranberry Lambic was available in abundance. It was one of my favorite beers. Then, one day, it disappeared from the shelf. I was crushed. The internet was fairly unsophisticated, but I was able to squeeze out the customer service e-mail addy for Samuel Adams. I gave them a glowing review of the lambic, then lamented that my local store no longer had the fine beer. Their response was that it had gone away; that was the end of the road.

I had to hit Jungle Jim's for any backlog of supply, rationing the beverage for lambic-worthy nights (or people). There were too many of both, and too little of the beer.

Years later, I found the Cranberry Lambic again as part of a seasonal pack. I had to buy 12 beers, just to get 2 of my favorite. Then we moved to another state, and the seasonal pack there didn't carry the lambic. We moved again, and I was toyed with on another box that promised my fruity treat--only to find the box had 4 of another variety, and they had mistakenly left out the lambic. That e-mail to Sam Adams didn't net me any sympathy, or even a coupon.

I guess my point is, when it comes to quality, some businesses know they have the good stuff and know that the customers will come. So maybe they don't try anymore.

On the other hand, a 12 pack of college CCS, Molson Ice, mistakenly had some half-filled cans. Molson was so sorry, they sent my husband a beautiful, leggy blond--right to the apartment--with a full case of bottles. Too bad for him, I was the one home to receive it. She was really cute, too. Ha! The beer was much tastier, since Customer Service had stepped it up a notch. It became our CCS choice for the rest of college.

***

P.S. Customer Service also extends to accurate bottle labeling. We are loving the Unibroue beers, but they are very expensive. In order to try a new beer, we would wish to know more about the contents before splurging. Short of consulting the Crackberry while we are in the store and trying to find some decent interweb signal to help us search, we'd rather have a clear description of the beer--right on the label. Lucky for them, we'll keep buying the products, because those we have tried have been Made of Awesome. However, I may have to e-mail Unibroue about label descriptions.

How the mess may justify the cost

2008-07-16T14:40:00.002-05:00

Dear Mrs. Brew Meister,

I now realize that the watched pot never boils, but the pot you ignore for 5 minutes while attending to a different batch can boil over and throw wort all over the house. I am not saying that the laws of physics were also at play here...but how did the beer in question cover every inch of the floor in the ENTIRE HOUSE???

Your quick action and endless work to clean up my mess is very appreciated. I would still be cleaning three-and-a-half days later if I was left to clean by myself. I am sorry you spent the day cleaning rather than drinking.

On the note of a new brewing stove and location: maybe you are right. I can see the need to create a home brewery that does not tie up the home kitchen for days on end. Perhaps it is time for Beer 2.0. I see many other home brewers have decided to relocate their hobby to other parts of the house. It makes perfect sense, and it brings up another opportunity, a dedicated three tier brewing system. I am not saying I made the world's largest beer mess to justify Beer 2.0, I am saying we should take advantage of a lesson hard learned.

Let's talk later about the future of Beer 2.0.

Sincerely,

Parrothead

Your cups runneth over

2008-07-15T16:16:00.005-05:00

Dear Parrothead,

It is time for you to get your own stove. Nothing personal. Just make a rig in the basement, or get some propane dealie for the garage or backyard. Or, I have a few other suggestions...

...concerning boilover.

(For those homebrewing newbies out there, boilover can happen to anyone. Usually only once. But for the truly "gifted", this can happen more than once. Even on a nice, new stove purchased for the wife. Even when the husband said--jokingly--that the brand-spanking-new appliance should be black *in case* he happens to experience boilover when brewing.)

Now, there are lovely websites that can help you prevent boilover. Such as this one<--skim off the foam, this one<--reduce heat, and this one<--continue to stir.

Regardless of the source, the ideas all have one thing in common: single tasking. That means: not multitasking. In other words, don't move things into your secondary carboy while you are trying to boil a new batch of beer. Just as an example.

Multitasking when homebrewing is not a time saver. Should become a mantra for all homebrewers who are working alone. Because it just doesn't save time to have your wife taking apart the beautiful new stove, scrubbing the floor, and otherwise cleaning and scuffing things in the kitchen for 3 1/2 hours so that the sugars don't set and bake on for all eternity.

*SIGH* I wish it was only the first time that this happened. But, I will settle for it being the last.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Brew Meister

FINALLY! A recipe (or more) for White Beer

2008-07-07T17:38:00.011-05:00

We were inspired to create a Belgian Wit beer that would be ready around our anniversary. Mrs. Brew Meister always enjoyed Blue Moon Belgian White. We also just drank a bottle of Unibroue - La Fin Du Monde. Holy cow is that a good spicy beer; and at 9%, one bottle is the perfect size.

I took a recipe from a book at the local brewshop and adapted it to fit what the store had in stock, and the modifications I wanted to make. In honor of the anniversary, I give you...

White Wedding Beer
- 1# Belgian Biscuit Malt in 2 gallons of water @ 160F for 30 minutes
- Sparge with 1 gallon of water @ 168F
Bring the water to a boil
- Add 6.6# of 55/45 Wheat DME, 1oz crushed coriander seeds, and 1oz sweet orange peel
Boil for 5 minutes
- Add 1oz Saaz hops
Boil 40 minutes
- Add 1oz Cascade hops and 1# clear Belgian candy sugar
Boil 15 minutes; cool to 75F
- Add White Labs Belgian White Yeast

It has fermented for a week, I am moving it to the secondary today. It will probably be there for five weeks before bottling.

Here are some other Belgian White Recipes I found on the Interwebs. I have not tried these yet, but they sound good, and have various skill levels.

Partial Mash From BYO: Blanche de Chambly (look halfway down the page)
All grain from jrhomebrewers: Leffe Blonde clone
An extract recipe from BYO: Celis White Clone

Cheers!

Yoink!

2008-07-06T10:48:00.007-05:00

Yeah, we know we said our next batch would be Imperial Stout.

But I, Mrs. Brew Meister, have had to make a change and declare a nice, summery white be brewed next. Another trip to Indianapolis and a pass through the Brugge Brasserie and the Broad Ripple Brew Pub have inspired the orange peel and coriander craving.

My darling husband allowed for the change of venue for our next batch, and he's working on it immediately. We also enjoyed a little Blanche de Namur, but got a tad giddy over the flavor of La Fin Du Monde, and that probably helped solidify the inspiration for this brew session.

Never fear, though, because the new house and temperature control, plus a couple of extra kegs from the LBS, will allow that Imperial Stout to follow...eventually.

Ale Street News

2008-07-01T15:55:00.001-05:00

I usually grab a copy of the Ale Street News when I am at my LBS. I recently started going to their website as well and found some pretty good writing and a forum that is starting to form. They are having a contest...

...to add some content to their directory and forums. Click over on the link and check it out. If you register and post, you could win a Cruzin Cooler for your few minutes of effort.

Good Luck!

P.S. - Mrs. Brew Meister posted (under "Parrothead") on the following:
- Beer Bread
- Favorite Beer
- Beer Cocktails

UPDATE: CONTEST IS CLOSED; THEY ARE STILL SELLING THE COOLER, THOUGH.

Ready, Get Set, Have a Homebrew...

2008-06-04T12:16:00.003-05:00

We are contemplating the next brew after moving our home late last month. I see a house with a lot of potential on the homebrewing front, but I need to get back into the homebrewing rhythm. I did get one new part for the home brewery, a used 6.5 gallon glass carboy from my dad on our last visit to their house. It was given to him from a neighbor who used to make wine. From the looks of it, it hasn’t seen much use in the last few years.

I have my checklist to get ready for the first batch in the new digs.

1 Check plumbing to make sure I have the right fittings for my wort chiller.
2 Do a quick average temperature reading in the basement to see if I need to stabilize fermenting temps.
3 Take an inventory of my ingredients and cleaning supplies before my next trip to the LBS.
4 Finish off the last of the Dubbel Trubbel (not necessary, just fun)
5 Get cracking.

Moving right along

2008-05-11T14:32:00.004-05:00

There is a wrench in the plans for our next brewing batch. We are in the process of trying to move. But there is an upside!

The next house, should this move happen, has an extra-deep garage. It also has an unfinished, but dry basement. That means, tons of beer storage and an opportunity to make a basement or garage brewing center.

But, should we run natural gas lines, try to work with an electric stove, or go for the propane? Can we vent the basement enough to cook? Would the whole operation be best in a ventilated garage or in a more climate-controlled basement?

There are tons of decisions, both in terms of practicality and cost. While my husband dreams up the ideas, I (Mrs. Brew Meister) am at a bit of a loss. I think we'll have to join a local brew club and see what other are doing, or talk with the LBS about it. And check local codes, set a budget, think of a realistic time frame...well, let's just say that there is a gap between dreaming and reality.

As always, we are open to suggestions

Should have known it when we named it

2008-05-02T15:11:00.006-05:00

Clever name, that Dubbel Trubbel. I thought my husband had something catchy going. Little did we know that a "wardrobe malfunction" would cause some real trouble...

Tap-A-Draft is not our friend. The first time we ever used it, we noticed that the rounded bottom of the PET bottle couldn't stand up straight, so we left it on its side. A trail of ants led us to realize it had leaked beer through the floor.

This time, we figured we'd sit the bottle up within a cardboard box. No leaking. Brilliant. Bought the charging cartridges. They didn't work out. I defer to my spouse on the technical details. And, of course, then the bottle wasn't airtight.

Our beautiful Belgian beer, the one we waited months to savor, was now on the edge of air damage. All because we dressed her up in a Tap-A-Draft. Well, no longer. We are kegger/bottlers from here on out.

Of course, my devastated better half thought we ought to pour the entire batch out, but I, Mrs. Brew Meister, am a terrible influence. I said, "For all of the waiting and trouble, the least we can do is get drunk off of it." And we did.

I stand corrected...

2008-04-28T18:16:00.002-05:00

I was researching the international homebrew laws for brewing beers outside of the United States. This is something that has interested me since originally wanting to brew to the legal maximum in the United States. My web surfing took me to several online resources stating that beer production was legal in the US for personal and family use, and that only the states could regulate the amounts. Also, I had found most states allow for homebrewing, with slight variations on who it is made for, and where you can take the homebrew. I did not see much reference to the legal (volume limits).

However, the tax man cometh!

I was researching the IRS and ATF brewing laws and found that while there is no legal homebrew limit in my state, there is a tax free limit. The limit is 100 gallons per household of one adult, and 200 gallons per household of 2 or more adults. See IRS Title 26(e)(51)(A)(1)(D)(5053) . The ATF take on the homebrew law is also mentioned here.

So I stand corrected from my previous view. It appears my challenge is back on for the legal tax free production of beer.

You can still find the laws per state located at the Beertown.org site.

Ginger Beer to the Rescue

2008-04-23T12:00:00.007-05:00

As a brewer, I occasionally get to share my hobby with more friends and family. For some reason, not everyone is a fan of Real Beer. I could go into the many scientific and behavioral theories on this affliction, but I don’t want this blog to be mired in the political and cultural war that would result from this debate. The short answer is to brew up some soda.

There are many nice kits that exist where you add water, cane sugar, and yeast--if bottling. Then bottle or keg the creation and enjoy a wide variety of flavors where you can modify and perfect the family recipe.

There is one major downfall in the world of extract soda kits: GINGER BEER. This is a special brew for those who like Extreme Soda in place of their Extreme Beer. Only a few brands really add the ginger required to make a strong, biting, ginger beer, and it is always more fun trying something different.

So here is my recipe for Ginger Beer:

Boil 2.1 gallons of water
After boiling for a few minutes, turn down the heat
- Add:
- 2 oz of fresh ground ginger
- 2 lbs of sugar
- The juice of one whole lemon (make sure its FRESH)
Simmer the concoction for 20 minutes
Remove from the heat and allow the whole thing to cool to 70F
Strain all the liquid into another large pot, making sure to capture most of the loose ginger
- Stir in one package of champagne or ale yeast
Funnel into 4 CLEAN 2 liter bottles

After 1-2 days of sitting on the counter, the yeast will grow enough to add C02 to the bottle, but no discernible alcohol. The bottle will be firm to pressure, like buying a new bottle of soda.

Put the bottles in the fridge so they don't over carbonate (rupture), and drink after 2 days in the fridge. Drink all of it within a few weeks.

Modify future batches based on your own tastes. I have thought of adding pineapple juice or cranberry juice. There is also an alcoholic version of Ginger Beer waiting to be made. Maybe I will experiment with that in a few weeks...

Helluva Hefeweizen (Paulaner clone)

2008-04-12T18:20:00.006-05:00

With the increased travel I have been doing lately, I had the need to come up with a fast batch. Ales are great for making a wide variety of beers with a large range of time requirements. This time, we decided that a good hefeweizen would fit the bill. It usually has a fast, vigorous fermentation, didn’t require crystal clarity, and with the use of the recently acquired kegs, the whole thing could be done easily.

I found a recipe at the local HBS with the available ingredients that day:

Helluva Hefe:

4oz Munich Malt
6.6# DME 55% Wheat 45# Barley
1oz Hersbruker 3.8AA
White Labs Liquid Hefeweizen Ale Yeast (WLP380)

Steep the Munich malt for 30 minutes at 152º in 2 gallons
Add one gallon of water bring to a boil
Add the DME for 60 minutes
Add hops for 45 minutes
Bring water volume to 5.2 gallons
Cool to 74º
Add yeast

My OG was 1.052. I planned to ferment for 5 days. It was so vigorous that my air lock filled with wort and blew out after 2 days. I left off the airlock for 2 days and put the fermentor in a bucket to catch any overflow. After a messy 5 days, the bubbling slowed to a crawl. It was at FG 1.012.

I kegged the beer with 1 cup of priming (corn) sugar. I boiled 2 cups of water with the priming sugar and added it to a clean keg. I then added the 5 gallons of beer to the keg. I let the keg sit for five days and added the CO2 at 8psi. 3 days later, all was well.

The beer was the exact Paulaner clone I was looking for. It poured a very thick heady, cloudy yellow. Lots of spice, bubble gum, citrus, wheat nose. Lemony taste, yeasty, tingling bubbles. Light body, smooth, balanced with mild bitterness.

Overall, a great beer that was an easy (11 days from start to drinking) uncomplicated batch that created one of our favorite beers.

Camp-brewing?

2008-04-01T18:37:00.000-05:00

With hopeless hophead hubby traveling at times, brewing has been far more sparse than I, Mrs. Brew Meister, would prefer. I mean, having a stocked kegerator is a nice thing, no? But his recent camping trip made me wonder...

Can you camp and brew? I hear that college kids can do amazing things with homebrewing in dorm conditions. And not everyone (at least not us either) has the super semi-pro dedicated brew stove, racking, kegging system extravaganza that some of Parrothead's work friends have. But, given that brewing is a science, requiring cleanliness, temperature control, and light/air damage prevention...can one brew outside at a camp site?

Where is the most "rustic" and/or least equipped place that you have brewed?

Touring the regional brewpubs (aka why we were MIA)

2008-03-28T08:56:00.008-05:00

Business travel has advantages. One of those is the opportunity to check out brewpubs for an expensed dinner out. And if the family pays its own way and tags along, we can all enjoy the experiences--with one of the family members dining for free. And so I, Mrs. Brew Meister, have been inspired as a result of my husband's local travel...

We had the pleasure of going to Indianapolis for the first time. Sure, it was a drive-through town between Chicago and Cincinnati, but now we got to see what it had to offer. I didn't expect much, and I was wrong. Indy has a terrific district called "Broad Ripple", with adorable coffee shops, boutiques, and restaurants. We dined at Brugge Brasserie, with a respectable beer selection (and some pretty special fries). But the real treat was hitting the Broad Ripple Brewery. The vegan food selections were only surpassed by the amazing beer. There wasn't one we didn't love! As evidenced by the empty growlers...ahem.

After Indianapolis, we were inspired to hit the Chicagoland region. We toured the Two Brothers Brewery, met the brothers, dined at their new taphouse (also veg friendly--the kids adored going "off menu"), and fell in love with their Domaine Dupage. Later, we check out America's Brewing Company at Walter Payton's Roundhouse, where we got a special tour from Brewmaster Mike Rybinski. The brewery has been as adventurous as making pizza beer (I didn't attempt this tomato-basil concoction) and a blond chocolate beer (really dessert-like; as if a candy bar was melted in it). My current favorites are the coffee stout and barleywine.

Going to Florida was just the death knell for good beer. Having the grandparents to babysit, we went on a mission. Our two months in Europe inspired us to check out a German-inspired bar. At our wits end, we asked the bartender to suggest one spot where we could buy a decent take-home brew. He recommended the strangest place--and my husband had actually heard of it! It is called The Corner Store. It is a round building, in a not-so-friendly neighborhood, but it is run by the quirkiest fellows. Where else can you buy random items like bait, porn, cookies, horseshoes (I bought one), wine, and microbrews?

Since there aren't any vacation or business travel plans for the family in the near future, and we need inspiration for our own next brewing experience, we have to stay relatively local. Next on the list will likely be Goose Island, Flossmoor Station, and Three Floyds. Will the inspiration never cease? At the very least, we have certainly answered why the children think museums are "where they make the beer".

It's all about the equipment (part 2)

2008-02-09T10:49:00.002-06:00

Psst....Hey buddy….Can I interest you in a used Cornelius Keg?

That is how the transaction seemed to go. I was getting ready to go out of town for a bit and needed to bottle a batch before I left. I really wanted to keg the batch, but had not yet purchased a keg. I ran to my local brew shop with hopes of getting a 5 gallon keg, new or used. Truth be told, I was ready to spend $100+ for a new keg, knowing that I did not plan the purchase out, and there may not be any used kegs in stock. When I arrived, there were no kegs to be found at all.

I was given a story about one of the guys traveling to Michigan to meet a guy about a thing and probably come back with a truckload of used kegs, but at the moment they didn’t have a reliable source. To their credit (and one of the reasons I continue to go to this shop) they offered to drain one of the kegs at the shop and let me borrow it until they did get some in stock.

After a several ideas, I left without my keg and went home to bottle my batch of Dubbel Trubbel. I did use the Tap-a-Draft, so that saved me a bit of time. We’ll see how well beer ages in there; I also filled about 10 bottles as well.

While I was out of town, Mrs. Brew Meister followed up with the LBS to see if the Michigan connection was able to come home with some used kegs. She visited the shop, and while they did not have any in stock, one of the guys decided to sell two of his personal kegs to the LBS so they could sell them to us! 40 bucks, and 2 pin and lock kegs at last.

The CO2 cans are really expensive. I bought I setup from an online retailer that sold a 5 lb can, a 3 foot gas line, a 2 foot beer line with a picnic tap, and a single double gauge regulator.

There is a bit of learning curve in kegging beer. The first lesson learned was replace all seals in any keg that is new to you. Even though the keg had been washed (and was holding pressure when I bought them) the seals would not hold after I transferred the first batch, and I lost all the gas in the CO2 can of the course of a few days.

(Note from Mrs. Brew Meister: While the LBS guys said the seals wouldn’t need attention just yet, the guy who sold the used kegs to the shop urged and insisted that the seals really should be replaced. He repeated this advice to me several times. It should go down in history like all great lines: “Replace the Seals!”)

CO2 containers can be filled at several places, but the best place may be a paintball shop. I have several options in the yellow pages for industrial gas, but most places do the swap program. I was not about to trade in my nice new clean can for a potentially dirty or greasy can. Also, the industrial guys wanted $17 for a 5lb can. Mrs. Brew Meister did a quick search and found the paintball shop in town will fill our can while we wait for $10.

Teflon tape and keg lube are essential. The Teflon tape works on any threaded connection to help seal and make the connection easier to tighten. The keg lube helps extend the life of the o-rings, and allows for an easier connection of pin connectors.

Let the CO2 carbonate the beer. I know it is possible to have a “bottle conditioned” keg, but why bother? All the yeast settles on the bottom of the keg, and is at the front of the line when you dispense the beer. It all works out best when you learn to pressurize the beer so that there is a nice equilibrium between the carbonation level and the dispensing pressure.

Here is a great introduction to kegging beer with Cornelius kegs. It was one of the best investments I have made in homebrewing.

Cheers!

(To be continued, with ISSUE 2: Plumbing...)

What is the legal limit of brewing beer in the US?

2008-02-04T12:01:00.002-06:00

I have noticed several folks have landed at this blog while looking for the legal limit of brewing beer. President Carter signed a law that allowed for the making of beer and wine at home, which was still illegal from the Prohibition Act.

The Federal law does not address any limits or rules, it only lifted the prior Federal ban.

States were left to make their own laws on limits, transport, ingredients, and taxation. My homestate has no limits on annual production, contrary to my previous beliefs. Click on the HOMEBREW LAWS - by state (link in the sidebar) to see how your state has addressed the issue.

My current state of residence has virtually no restrictions for production, free distribution, ingredients, or transport of simple fermented alcohol. However, having brewed beer in three different states, I was definitely impacted in how I shared my "fermentation creations" with others.

How has your state's laws affected your brewing?

(This topic has been recently updated, here)

It's all about the equipment (part 1)

2008-01-29T20:11:00.002-06:00

As I ramped up my beer-making efforts this year, I realized that I had to update some of my equipment. I love the DIY and problem-solving aspects of brewing. Finding a way to easily sparge the specialty grains with common household tools, creating climate-controlled areas for fermentation, and creating a new beer from the inconsistent supply of hops at the LBS, are all part of the fun. However, I don’t like when some of the work is tedious or plain difficult.

I have come across two areas that I needed to improve if I am going to brew to the limit this year.

Issue 1: Kegs

I have been complaining for as long as I have been brewing about bottling entire batches of beer. It is usually a messy, time-consuming process that requires a small warehouse to store the bottles that may need to be pulled into rotation. I don’t have a problem supplying the needed empties, as Mrs. Brew Meister and I fill that channel well enough. We have a stack of bottles ready in a back room of the house, but I just can’t fill those darn things without spilling beer on every bottle.

There is also a little more room for error in natural carbonation versus forced. Picture this: I am in the basement with a few friends, drinking some beers from the previous batch and bottling the new batch. Twenty or so bottles into the process, I noticed the priming sugar still sitting in its sealed package on the counter. Oops. Forgot to add the sugar to the bottling bucket. I then went into mathematician mode of dividing the amount of sugar to the balance of beer in the bucket, and the rest into premeasured scoops for each bottle.

Somehow the math may have been made a bit fuzzy from the session prior to bottling. Regardless, the results were a six-pack that exploded a few days later, leaving two quarts of beer on my bar, and there was a bottlecap-sized hole in the ceiling from the main troublemaking bottle. The rest of the beer turned out to be the best batch I ever made; it was a shame to leave so much of it in the mop bucket.

I have been swearing ever since to go to kegs. I tried the half-arsed approach and bought the Tap a Draft system. This was due to the cost of a 5 gallon corni system and my commitment to brewing at the time.

The advantages to the Tap a Draft:

I only need to fill a few large PET bottles, greatly simplifying the process
The pressure level creates a nice, albeit slow, pour
Easy to take places
Inexpensive to add more bottles

The disadvantages to the Tap a Draft:

The bottles can only be stored vertically, as they leak when stored horizontally; however, the bottle bottoms are ROUND so keeping them vertical takes a bit of rigging
The CO2 cartridges are only for dispensing; they cannot carbonate the beer
The cartridges can only be used for one bottle, as once you pierce them, you can’t close them off when you take the tap off the bottle (so any remaining CO2 escapes when you remove the tap from an empty bottle)

This was a good answer for the price, but if I really wanted to lift my game, I was going to have to go for the five gallon kegs...(to be continued)

Belgian Epiphany

2008-01-26T20:09:00.001-06:00

I have always been a hophead, inspired originally by British Bitters and IPAs. Then I moved on to West Coast ales with insane amounts of hops and a higher-than-normal ABV. Moylan's Triple IPA and Rogue Brewery's Brutally Bitter (among others) were my choices.

However, my wife traveled to Europe several times for work when we first married. She would go to England, the Netherlands, and Germany, and come home talking about some of the great European beers she was trying fresh off the tap. While I did enjoy a Hefe or Bock, she never really brought home any of the Belgians. My only real experience was local sources of Lindeman's Kreik and Framboise. Not good samples in trying to convince me of the Belgium brewing magic.

I have since traveled several times to the Netherlands and once to Germany, but never made time to research or find good beers. It was usually whatever they served in my isolated Dutch hotel, or the one local Irish establishment in the heart of Schweinfurt.

During an extended work trip last year, Mrs. Brew Meister and I methodically sampled every variety possible. We started with the grocery store close to our lodging. Grolsch Kanon, Le Chouffe Blond, Paulaner Naturtrub, Hoeggarden's Grand Cru and Verboten Vrucht...oh, there will be more on beer travel later.

I was fascinated with the complexity of these brews. Many were malty, vinous, yeasty, heady, and downright delicious. After we returned home, my thoughts were still with these styles. In fact, the first batch for 2008 was a Belgian Dubbel based on a "Joy of Homebrewing" recipe. I was probably inspired by time spent in Europe drinking as many new dubbels, trippels, witbiers, schwartzbiers, hefeweizens, farmhouse ales--and anything else I could try.

When I visited the Local Brew Shop, and asked, I was recommended the "Joy" version with a few minor alterations:

3.3# Amber Extract Syrup
6#Amber DME.
5# Chocolate malt
1# crystal malt
.5oz Belgium Special B2oz goldings (60 minute)
2oz Mt Hood (15 minute)
White Labs Belgium Trappist Yeast OG 1.079

I had a few friends over to show them the joys of homebrewing. It was also an easy sell, as we sampled a few beers from the style

2 x Chimay Grand Reserve (Blue)
1 x Duvel
1 x Lindeman's Spontaneous Fermentation.

Everything went off without a hitch. Primary fermentation lasted 6 days, secondary fermentation lasted 8 days. At the end of secondary, the beer tasted a bit fruity in the nose, with banana or apple, followed by a warm tongue-coating maltiness. The hops were still surprisingly apparent in the taste. The alcohol was pronounced as it went to the belly. It finished with a sharpness reminding me the beer is still too young. The batch was primed with corn sugar and bottled in an assortment of glass and Brew tap bottles.

I forgot to check FG, out of practice. Still, all and all, a great way to kick off the Brew Year.

Why I brew beer

2008-01-26T20:06:00.001-06:00

I began homebrewing in the mid-90's with my wife. We were just married and moved to a college town in Southwest Ohio. We both drank beer in undergrad school, although I was much more *enthusiastic* about it. We lived in a great area that had plenty of bars and restaurants, but we were just starting our independent lives, and we didn’t have enough money to go out often.

Then we found the local grocery store. We would often go to the store for the salad bar dinner and beer to take home. While picking up beer, we had found an entire aisle of mysterious names, and unusual descriptions. (This was an entire aisle at a store that had maybe five aisles; they were serious about their beer.)

I hate to admit it, but the first time we made the plunge from the normal Natural Light and ABC Lite was a Woodchuck Cider. I am sure it was my beautiful, new wife that wanted to partake in that creation. It was good, and unusual, and fun to try something new. I still backed it up with the twelve of our normal beers, since I still was very *enthusiastic* about beer.

From there, we made a regular ritual of getting the salad bar dinner and picking out a few new beers. I quickly gravitated to the commonly available British and Irish beers: Samuel Smith, Bass, Harp, Guinness, and Boddingtons. She gravitated toward more exotic and malty beers, Lindemans Kreik, Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic, Paulaner Hefe and Munich, Warsteiner varieties, Ayinger Hefe, and Hacker Pschorr all come to mind.

Here is the part of the story that is a bit ironic: I really have no memory of how we made the leap to brewing. I do remember I came into contact with a few brew shop catalogs and was fascinated with the process. But I don’t know who gave me the catalog, or where I got the idea to look for information. Maybe someone gave me a homebrew to drink? We have no recollection. We’ll just assume we were inspired after a particularly good session of sampling. It could be…

After reading a book or two, reading some online journals and websites (I was on the CATS-MEOW listserv before the whole Interweb fad started), I placed the order for my first setup. It was a plastic fermentor, plastic bottling bucket, airlocks, hoses, a 20’ wort chiller, and an extract kit for an IPA from one of the big catalog sellers.

That first batch had all of the potential in the world. It had a strong malt flavor, was citrusy and bitter, and had a great copper color. The problem was that it smelled and tasted so good as it fermented, and while it sat in the secondary, I sampled it several times prior to bottling. By the time it was bottle conditioned, air damage had taken hold. The cardboard notes sat right at the front and finished with a slight burning sensation.

But I was in. It was great fun to make, sample, taste, and talk about. So even though the first beer was a failure, I relaxed--and made another homebrew.