DIY - for the labor of lovers

Quick little update - nothing too fun, just something on the mind.


A good friend Tracy is an amazing welder and started the works on my new single tier brew system.  I don't have the room yet or the funding for a full blown brew sculpture, but I figured I could be using the brew kettle part of it until then (house soon!). 


I picked up three kegs on craigslist for $5 each!!!  They usually go for $50 to $60 each.  The guy was just looking to get rid of them and I was lucky enough to be the first caller.  I was seriously watching CL for a good month trying to score some and was always too late.  


They'll all be converted to a system much like this:

The automation on the right side will be a little different for my system - I plan on using LOVE controllers and it'll be less fancy/expensive.  Plus It'll be more rewarding to put this together myself.  


The irony of it all is that I'll be making 'good beer' in MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch kegs. 


The progress on the welding for the brew kettle below.  So happy about this - full wort boil double batches, and hopefully soon - no more apartment brewing!

As mentioned in a previous post - here is the counterflow wort chiller - I call it 'Godchilla'.  It's essentially two 'Ts', 3" worth of 1/2" copper tubing, 2 compression fittings drilled out to 3/8", 23' of 3/8" copper tubing, and 25' of 5/8" garden hose.  The fittings are silver soldered together and the copper tubing actually runs inside the garden hose.  The way it works is the unfermented beer (wort) is running though the copper tubing, and then water runs in the opposite direction through the hose, never coming in contact with the wort and thus chilling it down to a pitchable temperature for the yeast. It chills the wort in the matter of time it takes to drain through the chiller and into the fermenter.  Usually this process would take 30-45 minutes depending on size, with an immersion chiller.  There's a little less risk of contamination with the immersion chillers because you leave them in the boil for 10 minutes, but your wort is also sitting outside of a fermenter longer, so it's kind of a wash.  Pretty cool stuff -

Mashing Pumpkins

Sorry this is late – I was meaning to get this published much sooner (Monday), but it didn’t happen.

What an epic brew weekend!  We like to call these some sort of basketball term when we do them.  This weekend was dubbed the triple single batch.

I drove down Friday night after work, getting in Eugene about 7:15.  We tried to catch some Pliny the Elder at 16 Tons before we brewed, but of course with my luck they ran out about a half hour before we got there.  I was somewhat OK with this because I got to try some Full Sail “Lupulin Fresh Hop Ale” which I mentioned in a previous post.  It was fantastic!  My nemesis Pliny would have to wait.  From there we went and got some food and then proceeded to brew up a batch of Citra, all the while sampling and critiquing the ‘Mystery batch’ that we were to brew up again on Saturday.  Every single time we brew we either have a slight disaster or we learn something – most of the time both.  You’ll see from the pictures below that the gravity fed cooler system is very ‘rigged’ to make it all work.  I was also very excited to try out my newly constructed wort chiller (the garden hose coil thing) that I had made two weeks prior.  It worked very, very well – saving us about 30 minutes of cooling time.  We pitched our yeast – which I did NOT forget, for those of you who were reminding me – and then headed to bed around 2:30am. 

Woke up around 10am (we were shooting for an early day starting at 8am – Ha!).  Guzzled down our extra strength 5 hour energy (these things are gross – I don’t recommend them) and started packing up.

The pumpkin process was a bit more challenging than we thought.  I can’t really speak for the experience because Danny definitely took over this part while I was getting things squared away with the ‘mystery batch’.  You’ll see the pictures below of the cooking/cutting/spicing process.  Starting around 12:30pm, I don’t think we wrapped up things until 11:30 that night.  The ‘mystery batch’ was a breeze – pumpkins however – not so much.  We decided to bake the pumpkins whole in the oven until the skin would come off with the scrape of a fork.  Then they were cubed up and baked again with seasonings until mushy-soft.  I started the mash water around 6pm and the pumpkins were ready by about 6:30pm to be mashed.  We decided to go with a mash and boil for the pumpkins so we’d extract as much pumpkin flavor as possible – not that wimpy taste you get from the Blue Moon Harvest Ale.  The mash smelled absolutely fantastic!  My only regret with that is not putting rice hulls in the grain bill to allow easy draining for the wort.  The sugars extracted from the pumpkin really clogged up the grain bed and made it hard to strain, but we managed to get enough wort through.  We then started up the boil and 20 minutes in we added the same pumpkin from the mash into the boil.  I really wish we could have bottled the smell and sell it.  We added a half ounce of cascade and a half ounce of citra right at the start of the boil to give it a little kick of hops, but not a whole lot.  The spices we added were cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, all spice, sweet orange peel, and clove – all the last 5 minutes of the boil.  All in all we’re really looking forward to this one.  Check out the photos below (click to view full size)!

 I didn't forget the yeast!!!

 Awesome gravity setup once again - we really need a brew shed.

 Another awesome gravity set up - thanks kids for the use of your toys!

 'Mystery Batch' going in the carboy.

 Oh, yes - another gravity setup.

 'Mystery Batch'

 Pumpkin on the right, hops on the left - you can see the sugars on the top from the pumpkin.

 This is just what was left over from the pumpkins Danny cut up.

 The butcher - also matching shirts - we're that awesome.

 Holding the best pumpkin stout I've ever tasted!

 Galeux D'Eysines pumpkin

 9 lbs of pumpkin total went into this 5 gallon batch.

 Cinderella pumpkin.

Nephew helping out - he wouldn't touch the guts though. 

pumpkin time!

It's that time of year again - Pumpkin Ale season!  

If you read the post before this one you know that Dooney ended up at the same pumpkin patch as 10 Barrel's brewer Bobby, to pick up some deliciousness for our pumpkin brew this weekend.  I began experimenting with the different ingredients the other night.  I essentially made a tea of everything to get a taste and smell of everything separated, and then threw it all into a single vessel to see what it was like all combined.  

 'Tea' made with the different additives going into the brew.

Everything mixed together - smelled so good!  Chunks are sweet orange peel.

We wanted to make this brew pretty heavy on the spice so that you'd get more than just pumpkin.  

The recipe is as follows:

Cinder'Ale-a Pumpkin Ale:

Pale 2 Row Malt

Munich Malt - 10L

Victory Malt

Wheat Malt

Chocolate Malt

Clover Honey

Cascade Hops

Citra Hops

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. clove

30% - Cinderella pumpkin

30% - Galeux D'Eysines pumpkin

17.5% - Triamble pumpkin

17.5% - Jarhdale pumpkin

5% - Delicata squash

We decided to mash and boil the pumpkin so we're hoping to extract as much pumpkin as we can get between the different brew stages.  

We'll let you know!  

field trips.

Not sure if having a guest writer on here is blog ethical or not, but it's not really a personal blog, more of a 'beer geekery' blog if anything.  


Dooney took a trip over to ten barrel and I asked him to write about it!  Pretty awesome stuff from the sounds of it.  


More on the pumpkin beer later today - keep calm and carry on!

                This weekend I ventured off to Bend, Oregon in order to find the perfect pumpkins for the pumpkin ale Rooney and I were planning on making. At the time I heard from some local family members that the pumpkins in the area were exceptionally good. Though Saturday I discovered I was not the only person to seek the same pumpkin patch in order to make delicious beer.

                I had gone to the 10 Barrel Brewery Pub with my girlfriend and cousin to taste some of their beer and get some good food in the process, which I do have to agree with Rooney, they have some killer pizza. Anyways, after sampling pretty much everything 10 Barrel had on tap I ran into an old high school friend who just happened to be there with one of 10 Barrel’s newest brewers. So of course I quickly began asking as many questions as I could come up with. That’s when I learned that the brewer had just completed the very first Pumpkin Ale 10 Barrel has ever produced and it was fermenting as we spoke. So of course I had to ask to check out the brewery to see where all the magic happened. He was more than happy to take us over to the brewery and give a full tour.  So I finished my pizza, downed the remainder of my beer, and on we went.

When we got to the brewery and the bay doors opened I was immediately hit with a delicious aroma of fall spices.  The just completed pumpkin ale was one day into fermentation and it was like nothing I have experienced since I started brewing with Rooney. The blow off hose was engulfed in a large water trough and it was overflowing with krausen foam. I was even given the opportunity to try the soon to be beer right out of the fermentation vessel. It was sweet and rich with flavor. You can tell it was just starting to become alcoholic. It was amazing!

Now we were going to get the chance to tour the brewery, however there was a strict rule before doing so… That was to go over to the cooler and pour a nice frosty glass of beer. It was important to be continuously drinking beer as the tour took place. We started upstairs where they kept all the grain right near the grain mill. Downstairs consisted of the two kettles for mashing and the boil along with several fermentation vessels. It was quite the site. This was really my first tour of a brewery after I took up the obsession of being a home brewer. Unfortunately time was limited. After seeing all that I could get my eyes on and snapping a few pictures, the tour came to an end. Everyone around that was associated with 10 Barrel was very nice and welcoming. I mean, how can you not be when you have free beer to offer? The brewer was even nice enough to give me his email so Rooney and I could contact him with any questions we may have. With the tour ending and beer still left in my glass, I was told I could keep the glass as a souvenir along with a few free stickers that were thrown in too.

So that was the end of my tour. After everything was all done and said, I quickly realized that 10 Barrel was the real deal. It wasn’t just another one of these restaurants who make beer on the side to bring in customers. It was a brewery that’s sole purpose was to make amazing beer with some delicious food to pair it with. I eventually made it down to the nearby pumpkin patch (the same place 10 Barrel got their pumpkins) and managed to pick out a healthy selection of fresh specialty pumpkins and squashes. I even managed to pick up some organic clover honey to add to our soon to be batch of beer. Now all we need to do is brew!

 all kinds of goodness!

review time.

Alright - time for a review:


I am by no means a pro taster, this is just collective thoughts from what I personally saw/tasted.


Spent Saturday in Seattle with my wife and some great friends.  We went to a new brewery in the Ballard area that had just opened up the night before - Hilliard's Beer.


It seems like they're pushing for the new trend of 'good beer in cans'.  This has been a recent movement with newer breweries in attempts to break the dogma of 'the only beer that comes in cans is bad beer'.  


First off - their facility is pretty impressive in terms of improving what it used to be.  There are before and after pictures and video on their website (below).  The brewing system is a 15bbl (465 gallons) skid mounted system.  Steam fired boiler to supply heat for mashing/boiling equipment.  4 main conical fermenters with what I'm assuming was a brite beer tank on the end.  They also had a canning machine that will do 24 cans per minute - I know nothing of canning/bottling equipment, but it looked impressive.  


The beer - 
I got to try all of their beer except for the Saison.  
I had a full pint of the Indomitable dry stout which was hands down my favorite.  It was a very balanced stout with full body and mouth feel that wasn't too dry or overpowering in toasted-ness.  
Britt had a Scottish Blonde which was my next favorite.  I'm usually not a huge fan of blondes, but this one was an exception.  It was fantastic!  I only got a few tastes of it so no huge review, I just remember it was very very smooth.  Had a bit of a spice and sweet taste like there was bitter orange peel and coriander and overall was not what I was expecting out of a blonde (probably where the Scottish comes from).  The Amber Ale was nothing special to me.  It was a pretty run of the mill Amber with a great aroma (Cascade?  Amarillo?  I wish I knew).  Nothing that tickled my fancy.  


The place-
Not sure if it the brewer was in a funk or what, but he wasn't very interested in answering questions or selling his beer to me.  I asked about their capacity and what they were using for energy and all I got were very short answers and no elaboration.  I don't know about you, but if I'm passionate about something - I'll talk your ears off about it (thanks dad for that attribute).  The place itself is very industrial - which was awesome - but they need to do a little more work on the inside as far as accommodating a crowd.  They had some pretty cool concrete benches and chair, but they really need to execute the arrangement better.  It also was a little weird seeing kids there.  Britt said "I feel like I should have brought my baby."  Lots of babies and kids running around - not that that's bad, just different in a taproom I guess.  


Overall thoughts - very very good beer, atmosphere needs a little work, I feel like the opening was a bit rushed, but I'm no pro at this.  With it being a taproom and not a food-serving pub, the atmosphere needs something else to keep it interesting, especially if the brewer isn't into talking/answering questions - shuffleboard?  Nonetheless it's worth checking out if you're in the Ballard area.  


Side note - their glassware is some of the coolest I've ever seen.


Hilliards Beer - 1550 NW 49th Street - Seattle WA 98107
http://hilliardsbeer.com/

apartment brewing

It freaking sucks!!!


I give my wife all the props in the world when I brew.  For one, she puts up with it.  For two, she helps out, and I'm very appreciative of that!  Hopefully we'll be in a house soon where I can have my very own brew shed, or garage to really take off with!


I jumped up to all-grain brewing about a two months ago.  Found a killer deal on some water coolers on good old craigslist and converted them into a hot liquor tank (HLT) and mashtun.  The jump hasn't been too hard - except for hitting my gravity and keeping temperatures where they need to be - but the main difference is it's cheaper, more time consuming (good thing in my book), and I feel you have more control over the brew.


Some pictures of the setup below.  It's a pretty ridiculous operation.  Dooney and I have really perfected the art of apartment brewing however - we've got it down to a science.  I've got hoses running from the sink to the porch, HLT on top of the fridge, sanitizing crap running everywhere, it's really a mess.  At least the beer turns out.


Couple pictures of what's in fermentation at the moment.


-'Merican Amber Ale
-'Test Batch' - More on this experiment later - will be tasting it at our annual 'Novemberfest'
-Autumn Wheat Wine

 yin/yang boil?

 my pathetic brew sculpture, using all parts of the kitchen.

 second run going into the kettle!  'Test Batch'

L-R: Autumn Wheat Wine (we hop), 'Merican Amber, 'Test Batch'.

Untappd

Small update - 


If you're on an iPhone or Android, or just don't mind logging into yet another social networking website - you should really check out 'Untappd'. 


It meshes aspects of foursquare, facebook, and twitter and then focuses all these efforts around beer.  It would be a very cool app if people used it and kept up with it!


Thanks to Alex Hackett for turning me on to the app. 

harvest season

Thanks to a good friend, Max Butler, we were able to harvest about 5 lbs of dry hops this year from his garden.  

I had 8 plants of my own growing up at the in laws house, but since it was the first year, we only got about a pound of wet hops.  

Max had Chinook (Bittering, Aroma), Mt. Hood (Finishing Aroma), Cascade (Bittering, Finishing Aroma), and Willamette (Bittering, Aroma).  

We had a 'harvest fest' so to speak and brewed up a couple batches of fresh hopped ale. 

A fresh hopped ale (also known as a wet hopped ale) is when you take hops right off the vine and use them in the boil.  It's usually between 4:1 - 6:1 ratio for wet to dry hops.  Where people make the mistake is at what point in the boil you add the fresh hops.  You can't add them at the beginning of the boil or even half way through, unless you love the taste of fresh cut grass.  Typically you want to add them no more than the last ten minutes of the boil.  When you're doing this, it's strictly aroma that you're going for.  

There is about a month every year where you can find these beers that the bigger breweries put out, and we're coming to the end of that season right now.  

Deschuttes does a 'Fresh Hop Mirror Pond' and a 'Fresh Hop Trip'.

Full Sail does a 'Lupulin Fresh Hop Ale'

Sierra Nevada puts out a 'Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale'

Lompoc (if you haven't had any Lompoc beers you're missing out) Puts out a couple different fresh hopped brews.  'Crystal Missile Fresh Hop Pale Ale' and 'Fresh Hop Harvest Man Red'. 

We're coming to the end of the harvest season, so keep an eye out for anything fresh hopped!  

On our 'harvest fest' weekend, Danny McCabe (or Dooney as he'll now be referred to) and myself did two experiments with wet hops.  

I came up with a fresh hop 'Autumn Wheat Wine' that I adopted from a recipe received from a friend in the OSU food science and fermentation program.  It's a wheat wine style that they did as a club brew.  I took the recipe and substituted a couple grains (mostly because I didn't have access to what they do) and upped the hop bill by a LOT.  The original IBUs on the recipe was somewhere around 100.  The final count on my autumn wheat wine was about 157 - adding 4 different varieties of hops to the original 2.  Technically I don't think we can physically taste anything over 100 IBUs, but that's not confirmed, just what I've heard.  Currently in secondary fermentation.

Dooney loves Citra hops.  In fact - he'd probably make love to Citra hops if possible.  I constructed the recipe for his 'Fresh Hop Citra IPA', but he executed like a boss.  Basically we took the standard Citra IPA recipe that we make quite often and doubled the hop bill with fresh hops.  Currently in Secondary fermentation so we'll see how it turns out!

 Drying racks set up in my tiny apartment - 

 Straight Lupulin that is left over from the drying racks.  

 Cascade buds off our plants - 

 Bags of fresh hops!

Picking to our hearts content.

first things first

Well here it is - my first attempts at a beer blog.  I've been 'stewing' over the idea of a beer blog for quite some time now.  I guess early on I was just intimidated by the massive amounts of beer blogs that were already out there, and always thinking 'who would read it?'  Who cares.  If you come across it by accident, welcome, if you subscribe and read regularly, more power to you.  


I'm going to try and do a review every once in a while on a good beer I come across, keep friends up to date on my current brews, and just talk very generally about beer.  There won't be any sort of structure to it based on content.  


The first couple post here will probably be old news to a couple people - I'm going to catch up on some noteworthy summer happenings. 


Cheers!


Primary - 'Merican Amber
Primary - 'Test Batch'
Secondary - Wet Hopped Autumn Wheat Wine
On Tap - Empty