Matt & Meg's Beer Brewing Adventures

First Brew in Awhile, and... CRAP - Old Hops!

2011-08-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

Yeah it's been awhile - Meg and I have been traveling, working like crazy (Meg landed an event planning gig at Revolution Brewing), hosting and attending parties, yadda yadda. Even though rain was in the forecast today, I said heck with it - it's rained like the past 3 times we've brewed, we'll deal! We need a good IPA on tap, stat.

So the mash and everything went well, then it started to sprinkle, then thunder and lightning got me thinking we need to do something. Normally I'd rig up the tarp, but since we've had work done on our house, all the hook-up spots where gone, so into the garage is was! Surprisingly, this worked really well - why hadn't we just done this before? ANYWAYS...

We get the kettle fired up and I chuck my bittering hops in, some Columbus - 1oz as a first wort, then 2oz in a hop sack come boil. After we've been boiling 10 minutes or so, Meg and I are chatting over the kettle when I notice a minty smell - I ask Meg about it and she's like, "Yeah, herbally." I fetch some of the Columbus pellets and crack one open - crap, that's it. I check my inventory records, and we bought a pound of these in May 2010 - crap. We store them pretty well - wrapped in the oxygen barrier bag they come in, wrapped in another freezer bag. But I guess old is old unless you're super crazy and vacuum seal every time, and we don't have one of those. I noticed kind of an herbally flavor in one of my more recent beers too, likely the same problem - hops we bought in bulk last year are noticeably oxidizing. I know that's usually a cheesy smell, but seems it can be herbally too. Maybe it's herbally cheesy.

So back to brewing - I immediately take the hop sack out, nothing to do about the 1oz still in the kettle. Fortunately, the rest of the hops - Centennial and Simcoe, were fresh - so all good there and I think all will turn out well. I mean, there's like 5oz of hops in this recipe before we even get to the dry hopping.

But from here on out, I'm keeping on eye on hop freshness and smelling everything before I dump it in the kettle - cheers!

Cheese & Beer Dinner - CCBW 2011

2011-06-02T08:19:00.002-05:00

Whew - we survived another American Craft Beer Week! The Illinois Craft Brewer's Guild always puts together a week full of great events right here in Chicago for the occasion. Of course, we couldn't resist hitting up a few of the events, so you'll get a rundown here. Though it may not have been an "official" CCBW event, one of my favorite events of the week, and certainly the most delicious, was a Wisconsin Cheese & Founders Beer Dinner at Kendall College.

We were asked to attend this dinner by the good folks at the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. (Thanks, Joanna!) How can you resist Wisconsin cheese paired with brews from one of our favorite breweries? Neither of us had been to Kendall for a dinner before, and were we surprised by the amazing facilities! The faculty and students there putting out some very impressive food and service for a bargain price. (Check out their Monday Night Dining Series for more info.)

For our dinner there were 5 courses on the menu, plus a beer & cheese reception. It was apparent that a lot of thought was put into each course & pairing. For me the cheeses really stood out as the most interesting part. (I am a sucker for Widmer cheddars and anything Carr Valley.) The Hook's Tilston Point Blue with the Centennial IPA was intense, but the winner in my book. (However, it was followed pretty closely by the apple salad/Red's Rye pairing.)

A couple of the pairings, although good on their own, just didn't shine like the others. The Dirty Bastard made a nice sauce for the Braised Beef, but was just a little too mild for the dish as a whole. Same for the dessert (pictured left). The big flavors of the gingerbread needed a boozier brew - like a barleywine or Russian imperial stout to match its boldness.

Overall, I think this was a fantastic event. It's through dinners like these that people who don't often think of beer & fine dining get acquainted with the subtleties of pairing beer and food (especially cheese). Thanks again to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for hosting a fantastic evening!

PS - Our fellow guests, Guys Drinking Beer, also posted their thoughts on the evening.

Why We Need an Indoor Brewing System

2011-05-29T14:19:00.003-05:00

Yes, that's Matt during a thunderstorm holding an umbrella over the brew kettle, which is underneath a leaking tarp. We also had a floodlight set up just so we could see.

This beer will be named (aptly) Sturm und Drang.

We Took the BJCP Exam

2011-05-16T08:11:00.002-05:00

So last Saturday we headed down to Plant Chicago to take the Beer Judge Certification test. We'd been part of a study group, which met around once a month since last December. The study class, led by National Judge/chemist Steve McKenna and organized by our homebrew club, HOPS!, was key. In the class you don't just just learn about beer styles, ingredients, processes, etc. - but you learn how to take the test. 3 hours may seem like a long time, but you need to cram *a lot* into those three hours. Many people don't even finish the test, so you need a strategy going in.

As part of the test is judging, we learned about identifying not only what's appropriate (or not) for a given style, but we also isolated off-flavors to help us identify them. This typically involved doctoring a bunch of Bud Light. This was kinda funny - here we were, supposed beer people, bringing cases of Bud Light to a beer meeting.

We also sampled classic examples of various styles, and each-other's homebrews.

The test itself consists of 9 essay questions, judging 4 beers, and filling out a scoresheet as if you were tasting a classic example. Part of what made the test so difficult is that it pulls from a large pool of possible questions. For example, there's an ingredients question. It might ask you about hops, or mashing, or malting, or water, or yeast. To get a good score on the question, you gotta know your stuff. If you get mashing, you need to talk about what happens during mashing - how the malt's enzymes convert starches to sugars, etc. - there's chemistry of some sort in every answer. To our dismay, we got malting - one of the longer and more difficult questions to answer.

It boils down to about 12 minutes an answer. Even with a watch, it's tough to manage your time. You'll be cruising along on a question when an administrator plops a beer down in front of you to judge. So you gotta stop what you're doing, get out a scoresheet, and judge. The admins can be tricky too - and give you a beer that perhaps is said to be one style, but would actually fit better into another style - and hopefully you can pick up on that.

Anyways...
When the three hours were up, my hand was killing me - I think Meg and I each wrote 20 pages or more. Even with all our prepping, our last couple answers were rushed and not stellar, but hey, we finished. After that, we hit the bars and got ripped like we just finished finals.

This is the last year the test will have this format. Starting next year, you'll need to pass an online, pre-test of sorts before you can even take the full test. The tasting and written portions will be held on separate days. This sounds like a good format, but I was also glad to kick it old school.

I went into the test just wanting to learn things to help me become a better brewer. I certainly got that, but also met some really cool people and got to know some folks in my homebrew club even better. And some of those elusive styles and off-flavors aren't so elusive anymore. Worth it? Totally. Major props to HOPS! - especially Mr. Corey and McKenna for devoting so much of their free time to organizing everything, and to the good folks at New Chicago Brewing for hosting the exam.

Cheers!

BOSS Homebrew Awards, Flossmoor ProAm & Stout!

2011-04-25T09:25:00.000-05:00

First off, I'd like to extend a big "huzzah!" to our brewing brothers and sisters at BOSS for hosting a great competition last March. We entered a few beers, and also judged. As homebrewers, we've found judging to be extremely useful for sensory development - that along with the BJCP study class we're taking. As a judging apprentice (someone who hasn't taken the test yet), you'll get paired up with a more experienced judge who will help you - it's worth pursuing as you'll learn a lot about common off-flavors and brewing mistakes, and chances are you'll try styles that you've never tried before or maybe don't know much about.

Anyhoo, we took home three awards from that comp:

3rd place for an American Pale Ale
1st place for English Barleywine
1st place for American Stout

The first two beers on the list were actually brewing goof-ups that we fixed, so I can't really provide accurate recipes for those. The barleywine was originally brewed an an American barleywine (from Jamil's Classic Styles) - but due to some unexpectedness on the brewday and some needed improvising/tweaks - turned out more malty than expected.

This proved a good case for submitting your beers to competitions. Not really knowing any better, I submitted this barleywine to a different comp where a judge remarked that it was more like an English barleywine. So for BOSS I entered it as such and bam, it placed. Good judging sheets can be priceless.

The American Stout is a recipe we've been working on awhile. It still needs a few tweaks here and there, but here is it if you'd like to try it. It assumes 80% efficiency, and 8 gallons pre-boil volume:

Recipe: Stupid American Stout
Style: 13E-Stout-American Stout

Recipe Overview
Wort Volume Before Boil: 8.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.72 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.059 SG
OG: 1.070 SG
FG: 1.016 SG
ABV: 7.2 %
ABW: 5.7 %
IBU (using Tinseth): 69.9
Color: 39.3 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 76.5 %
Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 67 degF
Fermentables
US 2-Row Malt 13lb 12oz (85.3 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 40L Malt 12.00 oz (4.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Dark Chocolate Malt (420) 10.00 oz (3.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Debittered Black Malt 8.00 oz (3.1 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Roasted Barley 5.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 120L Malt 3.00 oz (1.2 %) In Mash/Steeped
Hops
US Horizon (9.1 % alpha) 2.78 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Centennial (9.1 % alpha) 0.80 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 5 Min From End
US Cascade (5.4 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
US Chinook (11.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
Other Ingredients
Yeast: White Labs WLP001-California Ale OR Wyeast 1056 - 1.5L starter
Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:Single Step Infusion (68C/154F)
Step: Rest at 154 degF for 60 mins

So why "Stupid American Stout"? Lots of reasons - but if you drink enough, you'll act like a stupid American ;)

One thing I've really learned brewing this is that stouts really need to age a bit before you really know what the beer can be. After dry hopping and carbonating, this beer had an almost ash-like flavor and I was really bummed out - but it improved over the course of a month, and well, now I'm glad I kept it around!

This beer will also be brewed by Flossmoor Station as their GABF ProAm entry, where a professional brewery brews a homebrewer's recipe. The recipe has to take 1st at a BJCP sanctioned competition - lucky for me, I know the brewer at Flossmoor and lucked out. If you brew it, let me know how she turns out. And look for this to be on tap at Flossmoor late this summer.

'til next time - cheers!

Smoky Red Beans & Rice (w/ beer, of course)

2011-04-07T11:15:00.004-05:00

Despite being incredibly busy this winter, I've found some time to try out some new recipes. I whipped up these Smoky Red Beans & Rice a couple of weeks ago. Though a little time consuming, they were very simple and I appreciate that the recipe is vegetarian friendly. (I'm always looking for something to whip up when my veggie friends come over!)

The recipe calls for Corona...strange, I didn't have any in the house. Instead I used a slightly DMS-y Maibock that we had on tap at the time - perfect for savory cooking. We paired it with beer brined smoked chicken. (Will post the recipe soon.) This made A LOT of food, and would be great for football games or a cold winter day.

Beer Mac 'n Cheese

2011-03-18T13:01:00.003-05:00

Been completely crazy busy around here - it's competition season!! Though we've been madly fermenting and judging, I still found some time to do a little cooking. I whipped up this recipe for Mac 'n Cheese using Founders Porter last week. There was no porter in our house at the time, so I used the Maibock we have on tap and it worked great. Also, I ran out of panko so I used some crushed french fried onions for the topping instead - yes! (OK, they may be a little white-trashy, but french fried onions are my secret ingredient to a lot of things.) This was definitely not a cheap dish with all of that cheese, but it fed us for three nights and was pretty simple to make. Highly recommended!

Diacetyl Precursors and Purging Secondary Carboys

2011-02-27T17:43:00.007-06:00

This is actually the 3rd "official" beer in our Cry Havoc yeast series. First we did a Blonde Ale, then a Maibock (more on that later when we get some scoresheets back - good but probably not in style), and then we brewed Charlie Papazian's Contrarian Amber-Golden Lager, which is what this is about.

I had high hopes for this beer, as it was the only recipe we made that's actually designed by Charlie himself to go with this yeast. After fermentation and a diacetyl rest, and slowly brining it down to 40F, it was tasting really good. Bready malt flavors and nicely hoppy. The only thing left was to dry hop it. So, I transferred it to a carboy, and dry hopped away. Then I was like - hmmmm.... shoulda purged that carboy with CO2. Oh well, I don't always purge carboys and never had a problem. The CO2 coming out of the beer usually makes the carboy sorta purge itself.

So after 10 days or so of dry hopping, I put it in the fridge to crash everything down. Then today before we went to keg it, we pulled a taste and wow, diacetyl - right in the nose and on the tongue. The bready, hoppy goodness was gone. What happened?

Well, after reviewing my process and going through Jamil and Chris' Yeast book, I think I figured it out. There are diacetyl precursors in beer, namely acetolactate, that can produce diacetyl when introduced to oxygen. These precursors must have been present, and when I racked to the non-CO2-purged carboy, they took up the oxygen and whammo - diacetyl. I racked too soon. Next time, I'll perform a simple diacetyl test, which goes a little something like this. Anyhoo - the beer was butter. Yes, homebrew mistakes can happen.

But Can't You Save It?
There are ways to get rid of the dreaded "D". Your best best is to let the beer rise back up to room temp so the that yeast can reabsorb the diacetyl. Diacetyl is actually a natural product of fermentation - the yeast just reabsorb it towards the end. In lagers, that's why you do a diacetyl rest, and maybe even a follow a diacetyl reduction scheme (cold pitching). But since I'd already removed the beer from the yeast, that wouldn't work so well here.

You can also "krausen" the beer, where you pitch some actively fermenting wort back into the beer, with the hope that the active, healthy yeast will reabsorb the diacetyl - but since I'd already dry hopped the beer (used 1oz), I wasn't 100% sure that would work as the hop gunk could get in the way of the yeast. I could have racked *again* but I also know from past experience that if there's too much diacetyl that even krausening won't work, and there was a lot here. So going off my past experience, I made the command decision to dump and move on, causing the entire bathroom to stink of butter. I generally find trying to "fix" D-bomb beers an aggravating, time-wasting experience that never lives up to my expectations. Would rather re-brew.

The good news is that we've made another, final beer with this yeast, a smoke beer, and no diacetyl (just a smokey nose without any slickness on the tongue). And if there is, well, the smoke covers it nicely! I think this is further evidence that the "D" developed in the secondary.

Anyways, if I make this again - I'd just skip the dry hopping or dry hop right in the fermentor - maybe just extending the diacetyl rest into a dry hopping period (any tips on dry-hopping lagers?). It's an interesting recipe, and if you'd like to try it out - here it is:

Recipe: Contrarian Amber-Golden Lager

Wort Volume Before Boil: 8.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.72 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.047 SG
Expected OG: 1.056 SG
Expected FG: 1.016 SG
Expected ABV: 5.1 %
Expected ABW: 4.0 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 56.0
Expected Color: 7.5 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 68.0 %
Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 52-55 degF

Fermentables
German Pilsner Malt 9lb 14oz (74.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
German Pilsner Malt 8.00 oz (3.8 %) In Mash/Steeped (for boiling - keep reading)
US Flaked Rice 1lb 5oz (10.0 %) In Mash/Steeped (for boiling - keep reading)
US Rice Hulls 8.00 oz (3.8 %) In Mash/Steeped
Canadian Honey Malt (Gambrinus) 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Aromatic Malt 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Special B 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
German Sauer(Acid) Malt 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
French Strisselspalter (1.8 % alpha) 1.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Mount Hood (5.0 % alpha) 1.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Liberty (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Liberty (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 20 Min From End
US Mount Hood (5.0 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
French Strisselspalter (1.8 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped

Yeast: White Labs WLP862-Cry Havoc, lager-size starter or ready yeast cake

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name: Papazian 132 - 155F
Step: Rest at 132 degF for 30 mins
Step: Raise by infusion to 155 degF for 30 mins

Recipe Notes (from Zymurgy)
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.016
IBU: 55 or so
Color: 14 SRM

Special Instructions

Add 9q (2.75 gal) 140F water to rice husks and crushed malt. (Do NOT add .5lb pils or flaked rice). Stir, stabilize at 132F for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, add leftover pils and flaked rice to 7 quarts (1.75 gal) cool water and bring to a boil (stir to prevent boil over/scortching).
After 30 minutes, add the boiling mixture to the mash, adding heat as needed to bring up to 155F and hold for 30 minutes.
Raise/Sparge at 167.

I did this in my 10 gallon cooler, and the mash worked great.

Cheers!

Association of Beer Vixens

2011-02-11T12:10:00.006-06:00

Wow, has it been a very beery past 15 months for me! Joining HOPS, studying for the BJCP, being chosen for the CBS board...fantastically fun (and educational) beer times. I must admit my favorite part of all of my new beer adventures has been meeting beer people, specifically my fellow Beer Vixens.

About a year ago me and a couple of other beer-minded ladies decided to form a women-only beer group. We weren't sure how many people would be interested or what our goals would be, but we thought we would give it a shot. Ten events and lots of beers later, over 100 ladies are members of the Association of Beer Vixens (ABV).

It's been amazing meeting so many extremely cool women who love beer too! We've explored sour beers, toured breweries, paired beers with cheeses, poked around Chicago's historic speakeasys, and most importantly had a complete blast. Every single lady at our events is down-to-earth, smart, funny, and helping to break stereotypes about women and beer. Or as my friend Colleen would say "my people."

Randy Mosher mentioned to me once that even if he could never have a drop of beer again he would still hangout with beer people, as they are the best in the world. Though I would be sad if I could never have beer again (and would guess that Randy would be too), I couldn't agree more. So a hearty Cheers to you ABVers! I look forward to sharing many, many pints with you in the years to come.

White Labs Cry Havoc: Batch 1 - Blonde Ale

2011-01-21T09:05:00.013-06:00

White Lab's Cry Havoc (WLP862) is a unique yeast in that it can ferment at both ale and lager temperatures. This sounded extremely useful (imagine brewing a session ale in order to provide plenty of yeast for a lager - that's the plan here). So I thought I'd give it a shot - and also grab a piece of homebrew history as this is Charlie Papazian's personal yeast strain.

I kicked off my Cry Havoc yeast adventures with a blonde ale. I wasn't sure if it would turn out more like a bitter, but after bringing it to my BJCP class, the teacher said this is a very nice blonde.

When fermented at ale temps, Cry Havoc gives a lot of apply/cherry like esters, while keeping a nice bready, malty base that makes for a well balanced ale. The northern brewer hops, used mostly for bittering here, give a nice spicy/bitter flavor that keeps you sipping away. And at under 5% ABV, you can easily have a few.

After this batch, I used the cake to brew a Helles Bock, which is finishing up now (and will report on later). When Cry Havoc is fermented at lager temps, the fruitiness goes away, and a sample revealed a nice bready maltiness. Cry Havoc is a low floculator, which doesn't seem to be a problem with the lager, but the ale was a bit hazy - even with whirlfloc added in the boil. If clarity is important, you may wish to cold crash an ale before kegging/bottling with this yeast.

Anyhoo, here's the blonde-ale recipe:

Wort Volume Before Boil: 8.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.72 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.036 SG
OG: 1.047 SG
FG: 1.012 SG
ABV: 4.5 %
IBU (using Tinseth): 32.9
Color: 5.7 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 73 %
Mash Efficiency: 81.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 67 degF (ramp to lower 70's towards end)

Fermentables
Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt - T.Fawcett 8lb 8oz (94.4 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Wheat Malt 8.00 oz (5.6 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
German Northern Brewer (10.4 % alpha) 0.75 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
German Northern Brewer (10.4 % alpha) 0.25 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 30 Min From End
Kent Goldings (4.9 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 1 Min From End

Yeast: White Labs WLP862-Cry Havoc (small starter)

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:Single Step Infusion (67C/152F)
Step: Rest at 152 degF for 60 mins

Big Brews, A Rainy Brew Day, Cry Havoc, and Fermcap-S - Oh My!

2010-12-12T10:24:00.007-06:00

The past couple months have been crazy and we've been slackin' on the bloggin' - apologies! Here's a recap since the last post.

Big Brews
Wrapping up our brewing with White Labs 001 American Ale yeast, we finished big with an American Barleywine and a Russian Imperial Stout. The barleywine has been bottle conditioning for about a month and a half. We added both sugar and some fresh yeast at the time of bottling. We cracked one over the weekend, but there wasn't near enough carbonation yet. With the frigid weather here in Chicago and our house only staying in the 65-68F range, along with the hugeness of the beer, it looks like they're just going to take awhile longer to fully carbonate. Pleased to report it was quite delicious and we easily finished the bottle in spite of the low carbonation. I swirled the other bottles and moved them close to a heating vent, with the hope that helps keep the temp up a bit.

I also brewed a Russian Imperial Stout on impulse. We still had plenty of good 001 yeast left (NOT the barleywine yeast, which was totally pooped), so I brewed up a RIS with yeast I had left over from an American Stout - just pitched right on the cake and had an explosive, but controlled fermentation thanks to my temp controlled fridge. I have it kegged and sitting in the basement, where I plan on forgetting about it for awhile. An initial taste was smooth and choclately with hints of plum from the Special B malt.

Both of these beers were taken from Brewing Classic Styles, bastardized to suit the ingredients I had on hand. I can't say enough good things about this recipe book.

A Rainy Brew Day
Yesterday I brewed something like an English Bitter, or at least that was the intent - with an OG of 1.047 or so it's more like a Special Bitter. Boiled a bit too hard/long perhaps. Anyhoo - while I could have diluted with water to bring that down the beer already had precious little hops in it and I didn't want the color any lighter. The recipe, inspired by Steve Hamburg, was simple: 95% Marris Otter, 5% Wheat, 1oz Northern Brewer for bittering and 1oz Kent Goldings for flavor/aroma - around 32 IBUs.

Chicago weather has been on crack lately - while freezing all week it warmed up a bit to make it seem like a great brewday - but then it started raining as I was running off. So I rigged a tarp up to stay dry and keep that nasty city rain water out of my kettle:

This worked out well - it reminded me of camping in the Smokies in November, where it rained all the time. Those are stairs going down into our basement - so there was plenty of room for stacking things and actually standing up at the bottom, where there's also a convenient drain. The stairs are "pool style" - the curved ends are wider than the middle - just enough room for my propane burner and brew kettle.

I normally brew using a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the kettle to hold hops in, since I tend to use a lot of them. I also put my runnings through the bag to catch any stray pieces of grain that may have made their way out of the mash tun. I then shake and rinse the bag out, and return it to the kettle for hops. But with only 2 oz of hops here, I decided the bag was pointless, but I still used it to strain my runnings.

Cry Havoc
Cray Havoc, White Labs 862, is Charlie Papazian's yeast strain - and I was intrigued to try it because it can ferment at both ale and lager temperatures. So, the bitter I brewed will be fermented with this, and then I'll use that cake to make a Munich Helles, and then an Amber Lager, and then a Smoke Beer (Rauchbier).

I made a starter, and decided to use some Fermcap-S, a foam inhibitor, in it while I was boiling it in the Erlenmeyer flask so I didn't have to watch it so much for boil overs. Well, I meant to add 1 drop, but instead a glob plopped out that was probably more like 4-5 drops. While it did a wonderful job during the boil, there was no krausen on the starter. I could see bubbles popping up from the bottom - but there's something reassuring about that krausen.

Anyways, after pitching the starter yesterday we have fermentation in the carboy this morning. This yeast is very English-like in that it clumps together at the surface like cottage cheese. Will be very curious to see how my Cry Havoc experiments go, and if that Fermcap mis-hap is going to affect the size of the krauzen in the carboy as well.

This'll probably be my last post before the holiday - so Happy Holidays and Good Brewing to all! Cheers.

Entering the World of Competitive Homebrew

2010-11-02T09:28:00.001-05:00

We've been homebrewing now for a couple of years and feel comfortable that we're making solidly good brews (most of the time). But are we biased? Are our friends just being nice? I think this is something that all homebrewers deal with, and I feel the best way to get an honest opinion is by entering a homebrew competition.

There are a lot of things a homebrewer needs to think about when entering a competition: carbonation (did you bottle condition, are you bottling off of a keg), transportation (do you have to ship it, how long will it take to get there), category to enter in (is this a Pale Ale or an IPA), and timing of your brew schedule. Luckily, the Chicago Beer Society puts on a homebrew competition every Halloween, so we had no reason not to enter. Transportation wasn't a worry, but we still had to deal with carbonation, category and timing. We decided to just enter what we had ready to go: Evil M-Squared (American Amber), Super Cres (American IPA), and Passion Fruit Wheat (Fruit Beer). The only "x factor" was when to bottle it off of the keg to assure freshness. We bottled 8 days prior to the event and crossed our fingers that the carbonation held. Also, we decided Super Cres had a better chance in the IPA category instead of the DIPA it was meant to be.

If you thought there was a lot to think about when entering, there are 1000 more things to think about if you're running a competition. But that's a post for another date! Let's just say the folks that organize and work the event deserve major props.

When all was said and done, we took away 3 medals. The Amber and IPA each took 3rd, and our Passionfruit Wheat took first. This was a great learning experience - and we're looking forward to entering more competitions - cheers!

http://chibeer.org/spooky10winners.htm

Updates: Passionfruit Wheat and Post-Oktoberfest Stuff

2010-10-02T12:46:00.000-05:00

If you read one of my previous posts, you'll know that I've been working on a Passionfruit Wheat and an under-attenuated Barleywine. Here's some updates on those puppies.

The passionfruit wheat is carbed and tastes pretty good - I think it's missing some malt character, or needs less fruit next time. The malt bill was 5% Crystal 15, with the rest split even with 2 Row and Wheat. The OG was 1.051 - and we used 48oz of Passionfruit puree. I've been drinking a lot of Lagunita's A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' which has a great malt base (they say they use 3 different kinds of wheat) - and really admiring how well the malt balances all the hop flavor. It's 7.5%, and a dangerous 7.5% at that - so I might kick up the malt next time and see how she goes. I think I'll also use an American Wheat yeast strain - I just used 001 here.

I will say this beer makes some excellent passionfruit pancakes! Jiffy mix, an egg, and some beer are all you need. Mix until thickish, put in the fridge for 15 minutes, and cook 'em up - if you want to get fancy, sprinkle some coconut in to get a nice tropical aura.

And krausening the barleywine really worked! It's down from 1.035 to 1.027 now. I'm going to let it sit a couple more weeks and see if it drops anymore. I'll also pitch a bit of fresh yeast when bottling comes around, according to these "bottle like a pro" directions (though I've decided to use Safale-05 for bottle conditioning this one). So maybe that'll drop the FG a bit more too.

After the HOPS! Oktoberfest I was left with a half keg each of IPA and Pale Ale. I was sorta tired of each beer, neither of which was outstanding on its own, so I blended the two together to make what I think is a very good, well balanced pale ale that I'm very happy with. To do this, just make a keg jumper from some beverage line and 2 keg-out connectors (the black ones on ball lock kegs). Bleed the destination keg every so often, and slowly push with some CO2 from the source keg - I demonstrate this in my Double IPA video. I love doing these closed-system transfers.

Recently Brewed
There was a Pliny clone in a recent issue of Zymurgy, which I brewed up. It was a totally impromptu brew - I was having a crappy day, so I just decided to f everything and brew something. The last double I made came out too bitter for me, so I cut the boil time from 90 to 60 minutes wo/ cutting the 3oz of bittering hops (though I did use 1oz of that for 1st wort hopping). The end result was I came in an entire point low on my OG - 1.063 vs. the desired 1.073 - oops, tough I did hit my pre-boil on the dot (hurray!). In the spirit of RDWHAHB, I shrugged my shoulders and wrapped it up. It finished out at 1.011 and was tasty - not too bitter or boozy at 7%, so instead of a double I'm just going to have a heckuva single IPA on my hands. It's dry hopping now and we'll just have to see how it tastes once it's carbed up.

Controlling that CO2 Bitterness
One thing I've been doing with my kegs and carbonation is cutting off the gas once the beer tastes good to me, and then giving it more gas as needed to keep the serving pressure up. I think the beer doesn't absorb so much CO2 that way, and as a result, doesn't keep getting more and more bitter as it sits on the gas - as CO2 adds a certain "bite" to the beer, and can also thin out the mouthfeel. Maybe I'm just weird and it's all in my head, but seems to be doing the trick on certain brews.

Cheers and brew on!

HOPS! Oktoberfest 2010

2010-09-14T12:26:00.009-05:00

This year, Meg and I will be participating in the annual Chicago HOPS! Oktoberfest extraveganza! Professional brewers and talented locals unite to bring you the ultimate in local craft beer and food. Come on by and say hello! Hope to see you there.

What?
Join Homebrewer's Pride of the Southside (HOPS!) in celebrating the beeriest holiday of them all: Oktoberfest! Our annual fundraiser features music, an impressive spread of food offerings, and--most importantly--dozens upon dozens of delicious craft-brewed lagers and ales from local breweries and the award-winning brewers of HOPS! This year's fundraiser runs from 2-7pm on Saturday, September 25, 2010. Come rain; come shine; come thirsty! Prost!
NOTE: No one under 21 years old will be admitted.

» Get your ticket here!

Where?
Chicago Bridgeport VFW Post 5079
3202 S May St
Chicago, IL 60608

Beer?
Absolutely! We'll be serving up the best local, hand-crafted beer available with kegs contributed by the likes of:

Rock Bottom
Half Acre
Flossmoor Station
Revolution
Metropolitan Brewing
Gordon Biersch
Goose Island Brewery
Two Brothers... and More!

Food?
Not only will there be food, but plenty of delicious food - from authentic German styles to mouth watering BBQ! Just check out this page for the state of the menu.

Get Your Ticket!
All you can eat and drink tickets are only $30 - and you'll need to purchase one over here.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact Mark Mazanec (312-315-0829).

Passionfruit, Barleywine, Evil Twin & More - The Weekend of Beer Trials

2010-09-06T14:39:00.005-05:00

Hi all - been awhile since the last post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been brewing up a storm!

With the approach of the HOPS! Oktoberfest and end of summer parties, I've been doing my best to brew as much as possible. Here's the lowdown on what's brewing.

First off, I've been messing around with the EZ Water Spreadsheet - with varying degrees of success. All I can really say is water is a tricky subject, and less is always best. I'm running some more experimental batches with water, and think that probably deserves a post of it's own down the road.

Last weekend I decided to totally go back to basics. I brewed a pale ale with 100% Canada Malting Pale Ale malt - with Simcoe and Amarillo for flavor hops and a touch of Galena for bittering. With no water adjustments or stabilizer, I was wondering if this might mean less efficiency with the mash, but quite the contrary, I got 85%. What I've found with batch sparging is if I give the mash an extra stir or two here and there, it'll jack my efficiency 5% or so. In the back-to-basics spirit, I fermented with Safale S-04 Dry Yeast, and had a good strong fermentation. No taste or readings to report yet.

4 weeks ago we brewed a Barleywine - pitched on top of a White Labs 001 cake with a staring gravity of 1.111. It fermented strong for 2 weeks or a little more, then cleared nicely. We were getting ready to bottle it (everything sanitized and such) when a reading showed it stopped at 1.035 - what the... I was shooting for more in the 1.025 range. After a quick call to a fellow HOPS! member (thanks Bob), I decided to krausen it with some Safale S-05. I made a 1 liter starter, transferred the beer into another carboy, and pitched the starter at high krausen. Now the airlock is bubbling again, and hopefully that'll shave some more points off it. Silly me, thinking a barleywine would be ready in 4 weeks. Sheesh. I think I'll just leave that in the closet for awhile.

We brewed a Passionfruit Wheat a few weekends back. After racking to a keg, it was a bit on the tart side, so we let it mellow at room temp for a week - which did wonders for it. So now it's in the fridge, carbing up.

On Saturday, we kegged a batch of of IPA - which tasted mighty fine. I saved that yeast and brewed up Jamil's Evil Twin (recipe at bottom of page) yesterday. The brew day went pretty well - hit the target pre-boil but my OG was a little low - something that seems to happen to me every so often, even after a strong 90 minute boil. I had decanted the yeast cake from the IPA into a 3L jug - there was a little over 2 liters of slurry in there, which I let sit all afternoon so it was nice and separated (the trub/hop residue/dead yeast settles to the bottom, the creamy good yeast in the middle, beer on top). After decanting the beer, I saved about 1.5 cups in a sanitized mason jar for the fridge, and after aerating the cooled wort, dumped the rest in - doing my best to leave most of the junk behind.

Well, 24 hours later - I've got a bit of very, very slow movement in the airlock, but no krausen. This happened to me before - the last time I reused yeast wo/ any kind of starter, and everything turned out OK so I'm going to wait another day and see (UPDATE: Fermenting strong 2 days later). Seems I have troubles/show starts when reusing yeast unless I either (1) pitch right on the cake or (2) make a starter.

So there you have it - got brats and beer to attend to, so until next time - keep on brewing ;)

October 2, 2010 Update: The Passion Fruit wheat is on tap. While enjoyable, I think I'll either boost the malt bill or cut back on the passionfruit puree a bit (we used 48oz this time), or both. Dunno yet. I will say that it made some mighty fine passionfruit pancakes ;)

Star San + Distilled Water = Star San for Weeks

2010-08-17T10:51:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back I picked up some distilled water, and mixed up 2.5 gallons of Star San with it. Normally, here in Chicago, the Star San mixture is cloudy by the end of the day, and the next morning it's getting that slimy feeling - both indicators it's time to dump.

But with distilled water, the PH stays nice and low - and 3 weeks later the Star San I made with distilled water is still crystal clear and foaming just like I made it that day. I put some in a spray bottle, and don't have to worry about it going bad.

The past couple weeks, having this bucket of sanitizer has been very handy - I've found myself having to switch out airlocks, rig up blow-off tubes, sanitize bottles among other various things, and not having to mix up sanitizer each time has been a real hassle-saver.

Is it economical/practical to do this all the time? I don't know - up to the individual. But if you plan on lots of brewing work over a period of a few weeks, this can be real handy. Just cover the bucket with a lid and fill up that spray bottle - cheers!

On Cleaning the Boil Pot

2010-07-21T14:29:00.012-05:00

Last Monday I had the wonderful opportunity to help brew a batch of beer at the Goose Island Brewpub here in Chicago. This was to be a collaboration brew between Goose Island and the Chicago Beer Society. The beer is a recipe by Randy Mosher for a spiced Belgian Wit called Partial Eclipse. There were a number of us helping, which basically meant we did a lot of cleaning while guys like head-brewer Jared, Randy, and Ray Daniels took care of the recipe and managing the brew process.

Anyways, of the many things I learned (and cleaned), the one that I took immediate notice of was the boil kettle - mostly because I found myself getting inside it (a tricky climb through the top port - thank you yoga!) and scrubbing while holding onto a flashlight in the other hand (very dark in there!), and trying not to hit my head/rack myself on various steel tubing. Here's me in the kettle:

The first thing that struck me was, dang - even dirty this thing is cleaner than my boil kettle! So I just set about cleaning it best I could before hosing everything down. Well, after assistant brewer Todd checked my work, he climbed in and scrubbed out a spot I missed around the drain pipe - damn! He then filled the bottom with an acid-based caustic solution, let it sit awhile, and pumped it through the plumbing. So anyways, that got me wondering....

Just How Clean Should My Kettle Be?
I posed this question to both Randy and Rodney Kibzey (Sam Adams Longshot Winner). They both recommend keeping your pots good and clean, free of both gunk and beerstone because it helps minimize any off-flavors, saves your pot from pitting, keeps the heat dispersal even, and general peace of mind. On the other hand, I've heard guys say the dirtier the pot, the better the beer - like seasoning a cask iron skillet. Post boil I've been scrubbing down with dish soap and a kitchen scrubbie-sponge, getting most, but not all, the gunk off, and then spraying the pot down with some StarSan, which is acid-based and good for the steel. I started doing this less-than-polished type of cleaning after a metallic taste appeared in one of my batches.

So the next day I decided to try properly cleaning my pot. I gave the entire thing a good 1 hour soak in PBW (1oz per gallon), scrubbing with a brush. I also opened/closed the ball valve a few quick times before and after the soak, trying to loosen any gunk in there. After an hour I gotta say the water was a gross, murky brown - and some of that gross murky brown stuff was probably getting into my boiling wort SCREW THAT! I drained it through the ball valve, hoping to flush any more crap outta there. Makes me think about investing in a 3 piece valve I can take apart and clean.

The PBW took away most everything, except there was some white stuff at the bottom that wouldn't scrub off - I took this to be some hardcore beerstone or maybe a limestone-like substance, either of which can harbor microorganisms and damage the steel underneath it. There was also some particularly stubborn, brownish beerstone along the sides still. From an article on byo.com:

Bio-fouling (trub deposits) and beerstone scale (calcium oxylate) can also cause corrosion. The metal underneath the deposit can become oxygen depleted via biological or chemical action and lose passivity, becoming pitted. A two step procedure is most effective for removing beerstone. Beerstone is a combination of protein buildup and mineral deposit, so removal works best if the protein is broken up with a caustic, like sodium hydroxide or PBW, and then the remaining lime can be dissolved by an acidic cleaner like CLR (Calcium Lime Rust Remover).

Off course you can say we're killing all those nasties during the boil, but if we're going to be clean let's be clean, and keep our kettle in good shape while we're at it. So after the PBW soak I did a splash of warm water, and an equal splash of CLR, and a sponge-wipe, and it was gone just like that. Rinse with some cold water, and wow - like new! A quick spray with some StarSan, and it's good for storage. Now my kettle is as clean as I can make it - looks good, and ready for my next batch :)

Full Length Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Entry

2010-07-09T10:29:00.000-05:00

So I decided to enter the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp contest this year. Since I've been a drummer for 20-some years, I thought it might be cool to outfit my drum kit with various pieces of brew gear and see what sorts of sounds I could pull out of them.

So, after making my masterpiece, I got around to reading the rules - and fortunately read that the video had to be under 2 minutes long - doh! Mine was close to 5 minutes! So I had some editing to do, which didn't turn out too bad - you can see the cut version on the Beer Camp site here.

But just in case you want more - here's the raw, uncut version feature the full jam - cheers!

Matt's Uncut Video Entry for the 2010 Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Contest from Matt M. on Vimeo.

The Other Dreaded D: DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide)

2010-07-04T11:14:00.001-05:00

Last week we tapped our second light-colored lager, a German Pils - made with 100% pilsener malt. Our fist light-colored lager, an American Premium, suffered from diacetyl to the max (not enough yeast, no diacetyl rest). This time around I managed to get rid of the butter, but handily discovered another flavor: DMS.

At first I wasn't quite sure what I was tasting. The beer is super clear and beautiful, but yet - what is that? Unlike our previous lager, this wasn't terrible. There was just too much of something unbalancing the beer. After having a couple beer-judge friends taste it, the culprit was identified - Dimethyl Sulfide.

A small level of DMS in lagers is acceptable. In fact, now that I know what it tastes like (think corn when drinking a Schlitz), I can pick it out in other beers. Ours just has a too much of it - thankfully there's enough hop bitterness in there to cover it up some, especially when it's nice and cold. But we pitched plenty of yeast, and cooled fast by pumping ice water through our immersion chiller, so....

What Causes DMS?
The first thing each judge asked us is if we boiled with the lid on. Nope. But, I don't think I boiled hard enough to drive it all off. In an effort to save gas and avoid kettle caramelization, I've been experimenting with a less-than-rolling boil - just getting it going enough to be boiling. Well, no more wimpy boils here, now that I know that a boil isn't just to sanitize and add flavor/hops to the wort, it's also supposed to drive off stuff you don't want in there. So it's time to crank it up a bit (but not so much that hot wort is leaping out of the kettle!). In general, a 10-15% evaporation rate per hour seems to be the goal. So if you start with 7.5 gallons, you want to boil off around 1 gallon or a little more in an hour, or around 1.5 gallons for a 90 minute boil. In the meantime, I'm just going to bring the iced keg to a 4th of July party, where I'm sure it'll get sucked down pretty quick on this hot Chicago day (update: it did). Cheers!

NHC 2010 Pictures

2010-06-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture set from the 2010 National Homebrewers Conference! Not that many - but my hands were busy either holding beer, tapping kegs, hauling gear, etc. Next time I'll be a little more prepared to document the madness ;)

In the picture below:
Meg, John Blichmann, Me, Bill, Bob, and Doug (also of Blichmann Engineering). With the exception of the Blichmann guys (awesome to hang with ya'll), we're all members of HOPS!.

NHC 2010 - Day 3 Recap

2010-06-19T12:30:00.000-05:00

It is becoming apparent that this conference is all about endurance - fortunately our hotel has some good strong coffee! While the coffee goes great with a delicious breakfast croissant, it was not so great with bruschetta, sauteed mushrooms, and blue cheese - which is what we were sampling during out first seminar today: food and beer pairing.

During the Practical Food and Beer Pairing: Planning and Hosting Your Own Pairing Dinner we learned some great tips from Kyle Jones. It was encouraging to hear how you don't need a degree in food science or brewing to put together a great evening of pairings - you educate your palate as you go. Kyle, like many of us, will daydream in his office, car, etc. about food and beer and jot down any pairing that sounds interesting and then try it out. The important thing of planning out a pairing dinner is just that: planning. After setting the menu, he'll start 30 days in advance, contacting various vendors to secure the food/beer he wants - and does as much prep work as possible the days before the event. Having a helper is key too.

We tried some crusty crostinis with bruschetta-like tomatoes/basil, paired with Sierra Nevada's Kellerweiss, which was excellent. The wheat beer really balanced out the acidity of the tomatoes. Next up: sauteed mushrooms paired with Deschutes Black Butte Porter. The logic behind this pairing is that the earthiness of the mushrooms would balance well with the roasty, earthy flavors of a porter. Meg really liked this one, but I wasn't such a big fan - I think I was picking up too much of the chocolate from the beer, and chocolate 'shrooms aren't my thing.

Lastly, we had some blue cheese paired with Summit's (?) IPA. This was a great one. The hoppy-bitter/fruity beer did a good job of keeping the strong cheese in check, sort of bathing your mouth, prepping it for the next bite of cheese. Kyle also recommends paring IPAs with cheesecakes and recommends always having a dessert (or two) at your dinner.

A great talk. The overall theme was to think it, try it, and don't be discouraged if it doesn't work. Let your palate guide you. My only complaint was that the 9am class time probably wasn't the best slot for this....

Next up was Hop Variety Overview: What is Quality and How Can I Find It by James Atweis of Gorst Valley Hops. This was also great, as it covered a bit of chemistry but focused on how it impacted hop flavor in your beer. Hops consist of various oil compounds, and these compounds have flashpoints - basically, temperatures at which they work best under. If I see James again, I think I'll ask him if this is why bittering hops don't matter much taste-wise. You toss them in at the beginning of your boil, and if that's all you did - flavor-wise you'd be hard pressed to tell what you used because those flavor oils all have flashpoints well under 200F. By using late addition hops, you loose less as they don't spend as much time over their flashpoints - another reason to cool your beer quickly post-boil. I didn't take notes so please correct me here if you attended this one (my stomach was still yelling about digesting coffee and the food/beer pairings).

The "big thing" I got from this was that most hop flashpoints are around 114F - so next time, I'm going to try cooling my wort down under this, and chucking in some hops then. Also, I think I finally understand the logic behind a hop-back, which is used post-boil to lock in those flavors and aromas normally driven out by the boil. In fact, I can't wait to experiment with this.

After lunch and a heart-warming keynote from Mark Stutrud of Summit Brewing, one of the pioneers of the craft brewing movement in the 80's. Following the keynote, we went onto Fermentation Management by Greg Doss of Wyeast Labs. We had to sit on the floor for this one as the room was packed. Greg covered lots and lots of stuff (judging from the way he was skipping slides, we missed quite a bit). The things I took away was that as far as attenuation goes, all ale strains are really about the same. What matters is the recipe and wort composition. Things like flocculation didn't matter in his tests. For example, he did shaken vs. completely static fermentations side by side, and there was only a 1-2% difference in attenuation. So according to this logic, swirling your carboy to keep the yeast up in suspension doesn't do a thing as far as attenuation goes (though perhaps it gets the job done faster?). To me, this was pretty ground breaking info as about everything I've read seems to say the opposite. The one big factor we didn't cover much beyond the basics was temperature.

Another interesting thing he discussed was pitch-rates, and how he really didn't think pitching high was much of a concern. Basically, better to pitch high than low. Granted by pitching high, you may loose some desirable esters (especially in wheat beers), but better that then getting the less desirable esters associated with under pitching (and why I always make a starter). I and some other fellows chatted him up in the hospitality suite over a delicious English Bitter he brewed. One fellow said how he pitched 5 successive times on the same yeast cake. Of course, this is way over pitching and Greg told him as much, as well as the fact that while reusing your yeast is fine, to note that you carry over IBUs from your previous batches - so keep in mind that your beers may get more and more bitter as you reuse your yeast (I think I've experienced this). Greg is also not a fan of yeast washing/rinsing - saying that it often does more harm than good by stressing out the yeast. I wanted to talk more about this as my experience is quite the opposite, but will have to do it later as he was quite busy answering lots of questions.

Last up, we attended Bottle Conditioning Like a Pro by Jennifer Helber - a lab worker from Boulevard Brewing. It was interesting to hear someone so gung-ho about bottling, something many homebrewers (including myself) tend to avoid like the plague in favor of kegging. Jennifer started by covering lots of the basics - but here are the "pro" highlights.

First - she doesn't just sanitize her bottles - she sterilizes them in the oven using this procedure:

Put your bottles in, and preheat to 240F.
Every 5 minutes, increase the temperature by 20 degrees until you reach 340.
At 340, bake for an hour.
Let cool in the oven, keeping the door closed until ready to use.

She said she's gotten some flack about this method destabilizing the glass. But after contacting a major bottle manufacturer, confirmed that bottles (and glass in general) are stable up to 800F - so no worries here.

Now, the "like a pro" part comes into play. She adds both yeast and sugar to her bottling bucket. I've always thought that there was enough yeast left in suspension to take any priming sugar and fully carbonate in the bottle. In fact, I've never had a batch not carbonate using this method. But I suppose the point is that this is what the pro breweries do whether or not they filter their beer. Also, she was driving home the points that the extra yeast will help absorb any oxygen and other off flavors that might have been left over post fermentation. Here's the skinny on how she does it:

Both she, and Boulevard, use Safbrew S-33 dry yeast.
For 5 gallons, use 1/4 teaspoon. Boil and cool 1 cup of water to 80F, and completely dissolve yeast.
For sugar, the only real difference between dextrose and sucrose is that dextrose seems to leave the beer clearer.

Now, there's many charts/calculators out there for determining how much sugar you need, and her point is that none of them take the beer's terminal gravity into account - which may be why folks get mixed results. So for your bottle conditioned beers, record how much you use for each batch - as well as what the terminal gravity of the batch was. What she sometime did was "bracket" the amount of sugar she added for a batch. For example, she'd add some of the sugar solution, bottle some beers (and mark them appropriately), then add some more sugar, etc. keeping track of the amounts. Then she'd have various levels of carbonation in a batch and could pick the one she liked best (she had a system for doing this but I didn't note it).

Someone asked the question of storing the dry yeast after it'd been opened, to which she replied she seals it up best she can, puts it back in the fridge, and doesn't use it after the expiration date. And there you have it, more than I ever thought I'd know about bottling beer.

Club Night
It'd been a long day, but the real work was still ahead of us - Club Night! Lots of keg hauling, setup, food prep (we helped put together 144 Chicago-style hot dogs). Homebrew clubs from around the country put their best (and not so best) beers on display, and what displays there were! Some people assembled full bars, while others sported a Wild-West theme, a tropical theme, 50's theme - in short everyone put on a show. The Iowa club brought 600 kegs - 600 kegs! Quite simple there was too much beer in the room - too much beer! So much beer that from what I gathered, hardly anyone blew a keg. Afterwards we tore down and partied into the night. Wherever there was a spare room/space in the hotel (they kicked us out of the ballroom around midnight), some club had setup some kegs and was pouring beer. We left around 3am, and there was still beer flowing. Wow.

NHC 2010 - Day 2 Recap

2010-06-18T13:19:00.000-05:00

Next year, I hope to see Right Guard as a sponsor.

We went to 3 seminars today:

1. Tips and Tricks to Set Up Your Own Homebrewery, by John Blichmann of Blichmann Engineering.
John makes some of the best homebrew equipment in the industry. If you have one of his boil kettles, you're likely the envy of your fellow homebrewers. John laid out a very friendly, personable presentation of his own homebrewery, as well as those of some other homebrewers. The overall theme was less is more, and to utilize your space well. Much like a well designed kitchen, you don't want to be constantly moving across the room. Now being an engineer, John has done some very engineer-like things. For example, installing a pulley system in his ceiling so he can easily raise and push full (15.5 gallon) kegs in and out of his chest freezer and installing a crazy ventilation system. The full presentation will eventually be available on either the AHA site, or his own site.

2. Aged to Perfection: The Maturation of Beer by Steve Parks.
Part of what was great about this was Steve's British accent, and the way he said maturation. Steve works for the American Brewers Guild, and did his best to take his commercial work and lay it out in a manner than us homebrewers can understand and apply. Some of it was very technical, getting into the chemistry of yeast what it does during fermentation, and how important fermentation temperatures are. Having read about and experienced things like diacetyl and off-flavors, I was able to follow along pretty well. Steve also was just very good natured and personable - taking what would normally be a very dry subject and making it interesting, like any good teacher. He also made no qualms about bashing Budweiser, noting how producing a top-notch German lager requires a long, cool fermentation between 40 and 50F, but Bud is fermented at 57F for faster turn around. Along these lines, he discussed things like chill haze/clear beer - and how the biggest mistake us homebrewers make is rushing the fermentation process - which can cause both hazy beer as well as off-flavors that the yeast would normally clean up if given more time (yeast are amazing little buggers!). (Albeit, sometimes hazy beer can't be avoided (dry hopping), or is actually part of the beer style.) He also discussed the importance of oxygenating your wort and providing yeast nutrients, especially if you re-use your yeast. The yeast you buy at your homebrew shop is top-notch and actually requires little of either, but successive generations of that yeast require more to maintain their cell walls and stay healthy. He also talked about pitching rates, which I have a general concept of and need to study more. Let's face it, yeast and fermentation are key in brewing.

3. The Science Behind the Art: Hops in Brewing by Joseph Wegner
Little did we know there's a small hop farm just outside Madison called Gorst Valley Hops. They are small for a reason - their mission is to simply produce the best hops possible, and feel the larger the hop farm, the more difficult this becomes. This sounded great, but Joseph is obviously a chemist and not used to public speaking, which made his charts and diagrams of chemical structures even harder to digest. As he discussed free radicals and what happens to them during the boil etc., I couldn't help but wonder why we weren't focusing more on the flavors produced by said chemistry, and how we can use this knowledge to make better beer. I mean, we're homebrewers, not lab chemists. And maybe he did get into this, but I was just so zoned out at that point I missed it. While I'm sure there were some folks able to follow along, I think this talk probably belonged in a classroom with a strong cup of coffee, not a place with free-flowing beer.

Pro-Brewers Night
The awesomeness of this is hard to put into words. 30-40-some breweries, showcasing their best beers. I think my favorite was an IPA by Dark Horse - but there were so many good beers here (and some not so good). I finally got to try the Watermelon Wheat beer by 21st Amendment, and was surprised and how great it was! Unfortunately we can't get that in Chicago, or I'd have some in my fridge all summer. Probably one of the highlights of the night was hanging out with John Blichmann, and his coworker/buddy Doug. These guys are so down to earth and eager to talk shop and beer, it was great. We also got to hang with Nate Smith some more, and discuss not only beer but our crazy beer-loving cats.

Again, pictures forthcoming! Cheers.

2010 NHC - Wednesday Arrival & Brewing Network Party

2010-06-17T09:54:00.000-05:00

First off, pictures forthcoming - stay tuned! I didn't bring my downloader.

Last night we were fortunate enough to get into the Brewing Network's pre-conference bash. After jumping on one of the many school buses provided as transportation, we found ourselves at the Northern Brewer warehouse - which resides in some warehouse district outside of Minneapolis.

Let's just say these folks know how to throw a party.

After getting our bag-o-schwag and all important tasting glass, our eyes glazed over all the beer-trailers, complete with 4 or 5 taps on each side. There was a Surly trailer, and 3 (4?) others providing roughly 30 beers on tap. Other than Surly, there was Moylan, Firestone Walker, Boulder, Two Brothers, Ommegang, Bell's, Town Hall, 21st Amendment, some excellent homebrews provided by the generous Northern Brewer staff, and others I can't recall. The mighty Tasty McDole was there, but unfortunately the precious few bottles of Janet's Brown (the delicious recipe he crafted for his late wife) he brought were gone like that.

The Homebrew Chef was also there, and provided some ass-kickin' sausages, which we devoured as soon as we were off the bus. The DJ was spinning some great tunes - the night was beautiful, we actually saw stars outside, a rarity in Chicago.

On the bus ride home it was a pleasure to chat with homebrew ninja Nathan Smith, a fellow musician and helluva nice guy.

Upon getting back to the hotel, we helped Mike and Bob - fellow HOPS! members, haul 14 kegs up to their room, and then raided any ice machine in sight to cool them all down for serving on Friday (apologies to any neighbors trying to sleep - we made quite the racket). Now those are some funny pics.

Will try to keep doing daily recaps each morning - fortunately there's some strong coffee here - cheers!

Got Dry Yeast? You should.

2010-06-01T16:19:00.000-05:00

I'd read/heard somewhere that it was a good idea to always have a couple packets of dry yeast in the fridge. Maybe you want to brew and have no yeast, or maybe you'll need it to save a batch. This past weekend I experienced the later.

I'll be brewing a series of Pale Ales and IPAs this summer, and I was going to kick things off with a basic American-ish pale ale, fermented with yeast used in my last batch of Belgian Prankster (Belgian Ardennes). I decided what I like doing is racking finished beer off a cake, leaving some beer behind to make a nice slurry. Then I just pour some of that into my fresh wort - right from the old carboy into the new. This way I avoid over-pitching on the cake. It's worked well for me in the past, but I never did that with this particular yeast.

So, nothing was happening 24 hours after pitching. I've never had this happen before and was baffled. Did I not pitch enough (slurry too thin)? Was this yeast dormant too long? Was it just too cool in my basement? Yet the temp strip read 68, which is what I usually start Ardennes at. I rolled it into a warmer room and waited longer. Nada. The liquid was smooth as a mirror.

And it was Memorial Day - good luck finding a local homebrew shop open on a holiday.

Fortunately I had a packet of SafAle US-05 in the fridge. I just shook it right in and a few hours later had fermentation - hurray! Maybe things would've kicked off if I'd waited more, but I was also just curious to see how this dry yeast worked out, and if I'd get some sort of belgian-american yeast mix (though I hear if you use 2 yeasts in a brew, one just takes over). Now I have some serious krausen, and am wondering if the two yeasts are both active and going at it. Either way I'm extremely curious to see what comes out of this.

So, I'll always be sure to have some decent dry yeast in the house cause you never know, cheers.

The Happenings: NHC 2010, CBS Board, Craft Beer Week

2010-05-25T14:50:00.000-05:00

Howdy all, just a quick post on the latest happenings around here.

First off, we had a fantastic Craft Beer Week here in Chicago, where we tasted lots of rare and interesting beers - including some cask ale from Stone, Double Daisy Cutter from Half Acre, hoppy lagers from local brew-god Pete Crowly. We also got to hang out with the likes of Randy Mosher, Ray Daniels, and Steve Hamburg, listen to them talk about beer and enjoy the beers they personally picked to be served at the Map Room that day. We had some great homebrew, food and laughs at the Beer Fly Alley Fight - where brewers, cooks, and artists unite and battle for awards and bragging rights.

We also found out that Meg and I were voted in as new board members for the Chicago Beer Society. Thanks to that, we were able to get into the final blowout party at Half Acre - which was quite the party! Many thanks to Jeff, Steve, and Gabriel for making that happen.

We also became official members of HOPS - Homebrewers Pride of the Southside. After attending one meeting, we knew we had to hang with these folks more.

And lastly, we ran in the 5K Fun Run at Half Acre on Sunday morning, and I didn't die! Here's a picture of me finishing the longest I've ever ran. It was a beautiful day and a great run, after which we got beer and a tour of the Half Acre brewery. Many thanks to Jonathon of the Beer Mapping Project for setting that up.

Brew-wise, we're just finishing fermenting a batch of Belgian Prankster, which will be served at this year at the National Homebrewers Conference. So if you're going to be attending, be sure to stop by the HOPS booth and say hello!

English sorta Pale Ale - Matt's First Recipe

2010-05-13T08:42:00.007-05:00

I had some Marris Otter, a variety of crystal malts, a White Labs 002 English Ale yeast cake, and a bunch of Willamette hops. After reading the Pale Ale/IPA chapter in Designing Great Beers, I felt OK to try a recipe out. OH! And I also just got my Barley Crusher, and was anxious to just brew something.

Style-wise is wasn't any kind of English Bitter, not really enough to be an IPA of any kind. I just wanted a good session beer that featured Willamette hops, and thus Lammit Dammit was born. I think it's quite good, and will certainly brew this one again. Taste-wise you get some nutty/maltness balanced with a nice wash of grassy, earthy/spicy hops across the tongue. There's a bit of a lingering finish, especially for 4.2% beer.

If you live around Chicago and use Lake Michigan water, you might want to add the following salts to your mash water (around 3.5 gallons - you want a thick mash): 6g gypsum, 1g calcium choloride. This will help bring out the hops, and give the Chicago water some things it's lacking, like Calcium and Sulfate. It will also balance the PH for the recipe.

Ferment at 68F, ramping up to 71-72 towards the end to ensure a nice final gravity and help clean-up the diacetyl this yeast can produce, which I feel you don't need here. Cheers!

Recipe: Lammit Dammit

Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.5 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.50 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.038 SG
OG: 1.045 SG
FG: 1.013 SG
ABV: 4.2 %
IBU (using Tinseth): 51.6
Color: 8.5 SRM
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 68 degF (ramp up towards end, if possible)

Fermentables
Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt - 9lb 0oz
Caramel 40L Malt - 10.00 oz
Victory Malt - 8.00 oz
Caramel 120L Malt - 2.00 oz

Hops (pellets)
Kent Goldings (5.5 % alpha) 1.50 oz All Of Boil
Kent Goldings (5.5 % alpha) 0.50 oz 30 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 0.50 oz 20 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz 10 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz 5 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz At turn off

Yeast: White Labs WLP002-English Ale (lots - I used at least a few cups of slurry from a just-finished batch of Mild)

Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name: Single Step Infusion (65C/149F)
Step: Rest at 149 degF for 60 mins

Randy Mosher's Basement

2010-05-04T12:56:00.001-05:00

This year we had the pleasure of stopping by Randy Mosher's for Big Brew Day 2010. Even with a bit of rain, it was impossible to dampen the positive vibes. Many thanks to Randy and Nancy for opening their home up to old friends as well as people they've never met before (like us!).

Of course, everyone into brewing wants to see Randy's basement brew setup - so here it is, in all it's glory. There's a detailed diagram in his great book, Radical Brewing. Looks like he did a 15 gallon batch of wheat beer, this year's official Big Brew recipe - prost!

English Bitter w/ WLP002

2010-04-12T09:01:00.001-05:00

About a month ago we visited Homebrew Shop Ltd. in St. Charles IL to say hello to owner Ed Seaman, and great guy who runs a great shop. We had heard good things about Ed's extract kits (dominating the Drunk Monk competition), so we picked up the English Bitter kit (Ed's current fav), which uses DME along with Maris Otter and Crystal 40 for steeping grains. Hops were all Fuggles, with 1oz additions at 60 and 30 minutes, and yeast was White Labs English Ale 002 (1L starter). OG was 1.034 and FG was 1.011 - fermented 2 weeks at 68-69F, then kegged. Carbonated to around 2 volumes and boy is it easy to drink.

This is probably the finest extract beer we've done. I think much of that is due to us having a more solid brewing process since our last extract batch over a year ago, and also because dry extract has a better shelf life than liquid (no twang).

The thing that I find most interesting is the yeast. WLP002 fermented like gang-busters (bit slow to start), and then dropped like a brick. I shook the carboy a little during the first week to help keep it in suspension. The second week I was gone on a trip, but with my temperature controller/ferm-wrap setup, it stayed at 68-69F the entire time. While I really enjoy this beer and can toss back 2 at a time, there's a touch of diacetyl/toffee/caramel something in there. I tasted this side by side w/ the butter-bomb of a Pils we brewed earlier in the year (and keep trying to "fix"). Tasting a beer I know has too much diacetyl showed how it can be confused with certain malts. Suddenly the bitter tasted more toffee-like than buttery. I do think the bitter has a touch of diacetyl, but it's in style and does not dominate the flavor profile.

One thing I love about the White Labs site is that Chris White has recorded himself discussing many of his yeast stains, and you can listen to what he has to say about 002. He mentions its diacetyl production, and how it's a natural part of this strain's sweetness. But if you really don't want it, you should keep the temp up and shake the carboy every day as fermentation winds down (not enough to aerate!). Either way, I recommend keeping the beer on the cake at least 2 weeks, assuming you had a solid fermentation during the first.

Cheers!

Irish Fudge Brownies

2010-04-07T13:41:00.001-05:00

We had the opportunity to spend some quality time at the Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, CA a couple of weeks ago. If you ever have the opportunity to go there, don't pass it up. It's truly Beer Mecca. After many hours of sampling beer and sausages and cheese, we capped off our visit with their brownie sundae. The brownies, made with beer of course, were tasty but not nearly as good as mine. So I thought I would share my recipe.

I've experimented with this recipe quite a bit. And even though I enjoy them, I have yet to taste the beer. To me the whiskey flavor is more prominent, which is why they're "Irish" instead of "Stout" brownies. Nonetheless, they're still quite yummy. If you want to try to get a stronger beer flavor, maybe try omitting the whiskey.

Irish Fudge Brownies

1/2 c. unsalted butter
4 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 c. sugar
2 T. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 t. vanilla extract
1/3-1/2 c. coffee stout
2-5 T. Irish whiskey*
3/4 c. sifted flour
1/3 t. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9" square baking pan.

In 2-quart saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Stir in sugars and mix well.

In separate bowl, combine next 5 ingredients (through whiskey). In another bowl, sift flour and salt. Add wet ingredients and dry ingredients to chocolate/butter mixture alternatively by 1/2 cupfuls. Stir after each addition until just blended. (Do not overmix.) Fold in nuts.

Pour into pan and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes. (Or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.)

*I used The Knot, which is a very sweet Irish whiskey, so I put in quite a bit. You'll probably want to use less if you're using something less sweet, such as Jameson.

Video: The Making of JZ's Hop Hammer

2010-03-16T10:44:00.001-05:00

I got a Flip Camcorder last Christmas, and put it to some good use filming the entire process of brewing the Hop Hammer recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. We take you from start to finish, grain to glass - of our first attempt at making this insane Imperial IPA.

By the time we got around to filming the final tasting, the beer has been in the keg awhile, and had cleared up a lot. The initial glasses we poured were much cloudier from all the hop material. We dry hopped using a nylon in the keg - if we make this again, I'd probably try dry hopping in a carboy wo/ a bag, just to see if that makes any difference. Anyways, this is nice brew for all us hop lovers. My only complaint is that at 8.9%, it's a rather dangerous beer to have around - enjoy!

View larger.

Smoky Beef and Bean Chili

2010-03-01T11:23:00.000-06:00

Although I'm rather sick of winter by this point, the cold weather is perfect for comfort food - chili being my favorite. I like a fairly spicy and thick chili, none of that soupy sweet stuff. So when I found this recipe, I was a little skeptical because of the brown sugar and cocoa powder. But it used beer, so I was going to try it.

This is a very complex tasting chili. You've got everything from beer to coffee, and chipotle peppers to cocoa powder. Surprisingly, it all works together really well. The smokiness of the chipotles paired perfectly with our Black Pepper Porter and some green chili & cheese cornbread.

Beef and Bean Chili
Recipe by Your {Everyday} Mama

2 Tbs olive oil
2 large Vadalia or other sweet onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb beef sirloin, cubed
1 lb ground beef
1 large yellow bell pepper, diced
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
4-6 oz double concentrated tomato paste (tube)
1 can dark lager beer (I used an Irish stout.)
1 cup strong black coffee
1 can low sodium beef broth
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs cocoa
1 Tbs cumin
2 tsp coriander, ground
2 tsp oregano
1-2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
3 (15oz) cans kidney beans, mix of regular and dark red
2-3 large Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, finely chopped

1. Sweat onions and garlic in oil in a large dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot. Add meats, salt and pepper and brown. Add all other ingredients bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Metallic Taste in Your Beer?

2010-02-21T11:22:00.008-06:00

Late last fall we brewed up an AG batch of porter, and let it age until the dog-days of winter here in Chicago, which is basically the month of February. We knew a good porter would be especially good that time of year.

So after fermenting, we moved it into a carboy, and placed it in a dark room and forgot about it. We kegged and carbed her up a couple weeks back, and while it has a nice malt and hop base, there was this other flavor in there I had a hard time putting my finger on. After bringing it to one of my homebrewer gatherings, some buddies helped me identify it as "metallic" - after finally having the word I needed, I totally agreed.

It's not terrible, still a decent beer. But the question remains - what happened to cause this????

After asking fellow homebrewers in the area, and posting to the Chicago Beer Society list and AHA's Tech Talk, I got very little response - what I did get was people asking me to keep them posted if I found the answer! Generally it seems like a flavor that mysteriously appears from time to time. Anyways, here are some of the answers I collected:

It's something that happens with the yeast, particularly English Ale strains. (I used Wyeast 1968 for this, it was a second batch for the yeast, originally having used it for a stout that turned out fine.)
It's the water, and/or how the water reacts to certain dark malts.
If you've had any new pipes or plumbing installed, or if the city has installed any new piping in your area.
If you scrub your brewpot with a metal scouring pad or other abrasive-type scrub pad.
One guy said, "The only time I used Phoenix hops I had a metallic taste in an ESB that some judges picked up on in a competition."
Getting a new keg, and not cleaning it prior to use.

I think our problem here is either a result of new water lines being installed in front of our place (doubtful, but the city did do some sewage line work in front of our place around the time we brewed this - not sure if they did anything to the regular water lines), and/or we used to scrub our brewpot with an SOS pad (which we don't do anymore - just either soak in PBW/Oxyclean overnight, or clean it out with lots of hot water, and a soft sponge with mild dish detergent). There was one particular time where in an effort to help, someone scrubbed the be-jesus out of the pot in an effort to get it totally clean. [Sorry! - Meg] My best guess is that's the culprit.

So anyways, what I've taken to doing is wiping down the brewpot with a clean, wet towel before adding anything to it on brew day. We've brewed several batches since this porter with no metallic issues. In my research I've even read that great homebrewers like Jamil Z. have had this flavor pop-up with no explanation.

So don't know if this helped anyone or not - if you have any further insights, please post a comment! Cheers.

Update July 21, 2010: After a day brewing at Goose Island, I saw they use steel scrubbies. So the problem may not have been with the scrubbie, but the chemical in the S.O.S pad (?).

Barbecue Brisket

2010-02-15T09:20:00.002-06:00

I am a kitchen item collector. In fact, I have so many gadgets/utensils/pans/appliances/etc. that I've run out of storage in both of my kitchens. One of the things that hasn't made its way into my collection is a slow cooker. (Mostly because I have nowhere to store it.) So when I got one for Christmas, I decided I had to justify having one by putting it to use often.

Since the end of December I have used it at least once a week. Last week 's recipe was a Cooking Light creation of Barbecue Brisket. Although I did have to get up half an hour early in the morning to prep this, I really appreciated having dinner ready when I got home at the end of the day.

As with most of the recipes I find with beer, it calls for a light lager. I used an IPA I had stashed in the back of the fridge, and I really couldn't find any flavor of the beer in the final product. Thus use whatever beer you've got on hand. Also, I served up our sandwiches on slices of the Almost No-Knead Beer Bread with a slathering of horseradish spread. Great for a snowy winter day - enjoy!

Almost No-Knead Beer Bread

2010-02-08T14:30:00.005-06:00

Oh my phobia of baking with yeast...it's illogical. The thought of waiting for something to rise, then kneading it is pretty horrible to me. But I love bread, so I thought I would give it a chance. Thanks to beer buddies Colleen & Stephen, I've overcome my bread yeast phobia! They passed on this gem of a recipe with the note that it's "idiot proof." Not only is it idiot proof, it's delicious! In the past week I've made 2 loaves, which have paired perfectly with soups and gravy, or it's great just as toast. Get baking and carb up, people!

Cooks Illustrated Almost No-Knead Bread (Adapted from the recipe originally published in the January 2008 issue of Cooks Illustrated)

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (3 ounces) (Use whatever beer's in your fridge. I used an IPA and a Pale Ale and they both tasted great.)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes.* Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

* My first loaf got a little charred on both the bottom and top of the loaf - see photo. For the second round, I kept the lid on longer and put a couple extra layers of parchment under the dough. You'll just need to get to know your oven to figure out what works best for you.

Pork Chops with Beer & Bacon Gravy

2010-02-03T11:11:00.008-06:00

During our Wisconsin weekend in the fall, Matt and I picked up a pound of thick-cut, double-smoked bacon from Bavaria Sausage. Now, this ain't no normal bacon! I've been dreaming of what to do with it for months, as you just don't use this for anything. Surprisingly, inspiration came to me of all places but the treadmill.

Let me state this off the bat: I'm typically not a Rachael Ray fan. In fact, she drives me bonkers most of the time. (Seriously, she has a tab on her website called "Yum-O!" Can you feel my eyeroll through the computer?)

However, I've learned that I enjoy watching her 30 Minute Meals show, sans sound and closed captioning, while on the treadmill. The harder I run, the more I can justify eating the things she makes - like Pork Chops with Beer & Bacon Gravy. As soon as I saw her grab a beer from the fridge and pour it on the bacon & onions, I knew this was going to be the first use for the 'Sconsin bacon. Needless to say, it was delicious. Recipe can be found here.

(Yeah, the photo looks a little gross, but the camera ran out of batteries before I could get a snapshot of the plated entree.)

I made a few alterations to the recipe, but I think it would be pretty hard to mess up.

The recipe calls for German beer, but I used one of our Dry Hopped Irish Stouts. This gravy does retain some of the beer flavor, so use something you like.
I used homemade turkey stock in place of the chicken stock.
Doubled the bacon! (Can't have enough bacon.)
Cooked the gravy for about twice as long it calls for.*

*Matt's the gravy maker in our house, since I lack the patience to reduce anything to its proper thickness. So props to Matt for doubling the cooking time.

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale

2010-02-02T16:09:00.006-06:00

Thanks to our beer buddy, Colleen, we were able to attend the premier tapping of Goose Island's newest brew, Green Line Pale Ale, at Uncommon Ground Devon last night. The Green Line is a new "eco-friendly" beer as part of Goose's green initiative. So what makes a beer "green"? First of all, it's only kegged, which greatly reduces the waste factor. Second, it's only served in Chicago, which cuts down on the energy used for transportation and refrigeration. Also, the tap handles are made from trees killed in the suburbs by emerald ash borers.

As for the beer itself, head brewer Greg Hall described it as "a love child between 312 Urban Wheat and an IPA." For all you all-grain brewers out there, I found it very interesting that they only use one malt in the recipe (Briess Pale Ale malt). Overall, it's a lightly hopped, extremely quaffable session beer. (I easily drank 4 in an hour!) You'll definitely want to have one of these on a hot summer day. So be friendly to the environment - drink a Green Line.

Diacetyl Rest - Go for a Week!

2010-01-15T12:17:00.000-06:00

In mid-late 2009 we brewed our first lager, an Oktoberfest. For our first lager (and having no temperature control device, just a fridge), it went really well. The final beer was malty with a nice hop bitterness, beautiful amber color, and crystal clear from the lagering (why filter a lager?).

I brought a sample to a Chicago Beer Society event, and one guy said he tasted a hint of diacetyl (a buttery by-product of lager yeast). I was unsure of this, having yet to train my palate for this flavor. But everyone really liked it and drained the bottle. Next day I brought a sample over to Half Acre brewing, and had a little lager schooling from head brewer Phil, who also tasted just a hint of the buttery diacetyl. After drinking this brew for a week or so, I was able to just pick it out too. He asked if I did a diacetyl rest, and I did do one for a few days. Phil said to just leave it out for a week! So next time, a week it is!

We've since brewed another lager, an American Premium. We had excellent temperature control, never letting the beer get above 50F (we pitched in the upper 40s), and a post-fermentation sample tasted great. So instead of doing a rest, I just crashed it down to 36F and will be kegging it up soon for the super bowl. We'll see how that goes, but I think it should be fine. The yeast I used, Wyeast 2007, didn't say anything about needing a diacetyl rest, whereas the 2308 Munich Lager I used before clearly states that it benefits from one. So I guess the moral of the story is to read up on your yeast, and if a rest is needed, make it a week - cheers.

Irish Beef & Stout Stew

2010-01-01T17:24:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! If you're hungover or the weather's as bitterly cold as it is here in Chicago, you're not going to want to leave the house today. Thus, I thought I would share with you a great comfort food recipe using stout. I've made this many times with both Guinness and homemade oatmeal stout, but really any dark beer will do. Making this stew couldn't be easier - leaves plenty of time for relaxing in front of the TV while it's cooking. Serve with a nice crusty loaf of bread and more stout, of course.

Irish Beef & Stout Stew
from Everyday Food Magazine
4 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
2 1/2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed (I cut into small pieces.)
2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium beef broth
1 can (14.9 ounces) Irish stout beer
10 garlic cloves, sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 boxes (10 ounces each) frozen baby peas, thawed
Preheat oven to 350. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, toss beef with flour; stir in tomato paste. Add potatoes, onions, broth, beer, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Transfer pot to oven, and cook, covered, until meat is fork-tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Stir in peas, and season with salt and pepper.

Brew Day: Super Jim Lager

2009-12-14T09:33:00.002-06:00

Today we're brewing our second lager, and are dedicating it to a good friend of ours who passed away. He loved his American lagers, and the very first beer we brewed over a year ago was an extract lager that we named after him, calling it Jim Style. Unfortunately, it was Kool-Aid beer - warm water, extract, sugar, dry yeast (the Cooper's kit). It wasn't all that great. Now we're doing it right, or at least better, with some all-grain action.

The recipe is based on the American Premium Lager recipe from Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff. As usual, we've upped the hops slightly to quench our hop teeth. The recipe only called for 1.25oz of German Hallertauer at 60 minutes, but since we have 2oz, we'll likely toss the rest in when there's around 20 minutes left in the boil.

Below we'll breakdown the brewing process:

5 days ago: Made a 2 liter starter of Wyeast 2007 Pilsen lager. Hopefully it's enough, our LHB only had one pack. It actively fermented the entire time (we added some yeast nutrient), so it should be good. We'd feel better using a starter with another smack pack (like last time, which worked very well), but oh well - we'll just have to see.

9:45am - Mash in. Hit our target temp of 152F (maybe 151F by the time we had the lid on, close enough). Now we wait 90 minutes.

11:15am - Only lost 1 degree during the mash - success! Now to set the grain bed and start sparging. We use the fly sparging method using a colander in the top of the tun (slowly sprinkling water over the entire grain bed). Our goal is to collect about 8 gallons, which will take quite a while.

12:15pm - Might be sparging a little too slow, not even halfway there, speeding it up a bit. Being very careful to not let the water level fall below the grain bed.

1:00pm - Sparge complete. Time to move outside to boil.

1:11pm - Shooting for a pre-boil gravity of 1.040, we got 1.039 - not too shabby.

1:22pm - We're boiling. Got to love the propane burner. When we were doing this on our stove-top it would take almost 2 hours just to get to a boil.

1:50 pm - Bittering hop addition: 1.35 oz. Hallertau.

2: 30pm - Added .65oz Hallertau. Also added wort chiller (to sanitize w/ heat) and whirlfloc (to help all the protein/break material settle to the bottom so it doesn't wind up in the fermenter).

2:40pm - Added yeast nutrient.

2.50pm - Turn off heat, and begin cooling. A reading for the Original Gravity (OG) showed we were off our target of 1.053, we had 1.046. Perhaps we didn't boil vigorously enough, which was intentional because we didn't want any carmelization to darken the beer's color. Regardless, it'll still be good. We scaled this beer to a mash efficiency of 75%, and we came out at 74%.

Below are some pics of our new cooling process. After cooling as much as we can with the garden hose hooked to the immersion chiller, we switch over to a cooler full of ice water (and snow this time of year) with a sump pump, and hook that into the immersion chiller. This works very well.

3:30pm - Temp down to 45. Sanitizing fermenter and letting break material settle to bottom of boil pot.

3:50pm - Transferring wort to fermenter. Decanted and pitched the starter at 46F. Most of the foam you see below is just from aeration - trying to get as much oxygen into the wort as possible to help the yeast reproduce. There a little Star San foam in there too. This will be our first time using the new fermentation chamber, a Sanyo SR-4912M with a Johnson A419 temperature controller. There was a soda can dispenser on the door, which we just cut out so we could fit our carboy w/ milk crate in there. You can't see it, but we also propped the milk crate up 3/4 inch with some boards we cut to fit under the crate, so that the lip on the door could slide under the crate and close wo/ issue. We'll ferment this at 50F for a few weeks before moving onto lagering at 40F or so.

Now for the hardest part - waiting for signs of fermentation, which was 3 days with our last lager. Wish us luck! Cheers.

Edit December 15, 2009: We had fermentation going in less than 24 hours, wooo-hooo!

Stone Arrogant Bastard

2009-12-10T10:28:00.001-06:00

One of the beers we really miss not being able to get in IL is Stone Brewing Co.'s Arrogant Bastard. We've had the pleasure of having this on tap in other states, but grabbed a bottle for review on our trip to Wisconsin.

If you haven't read the label on this beer, check it out as it's rather funny. They flat out tell you that you won't like the beer. Well...I guess they were wrong!

Aroma: Malty, slight chocolate, subdued hops.

Appearance: Pours a deep amber with a thick, foamy off-white head.

Flavor: To quote Matt: "Awesome." There's a prominent Chinook hop flavor, which makes it pretty darn bitter. But it's also got some toasty malt to it. Basically, it's a very complex and potent beer.

Mouthfeel: Creamy and easily drinkable. Finish is a little "hot" and alcoholic.

This is definitely not a a beer for the lighthearted. But if you're brave and can find it, never pass up the chance to sample the bastard.

Review: Three Floyds Alpha Klaus

2009-12-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

I love Three Floyds beer - it's that simple. There's something about the hoppiness of their beers that always makes me smile. That being said, Alpha Klaus, their Christmas Porter, is my favorite of their brews.

From the bottle: "Alpha Klaus is Alpha King's festive cousin. A big American Christmas Porter brewed with English chocolate malt, Mexican sugar and of course, tons of strange American hops."

Aroma: Very roasty, with a slight hint of chocolate and citrus hops.

Appearance: How much more black could it be? Moderate carbonation, topped with a thick, tan foam.

Flavor: An amazing blend of roasty chocolate malt and citrus hops, with a very bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Very heavy and stout-like

This is indeed "Not Normal" as the bottle claims. If you're a fan of the sweet, malty holiday beers on the market, this may not be for you. Hop-heads - this is the holiday brew for you. Grab a few bottles, as the Alpha Klaus doesn't stay around for long.

Estate Brewers Harvest Ale by Sierra Nevada

2009-12-03T15:12:00.001-06:00

Chico Estate IPA features malt and hops grown on premises by Sierra Nevada. Much like the wine industry, Sierra Nevada is trying their hand at growing everything that goes into their product. This experiment began in 2003 and we are seeing the first release in 2009.

Appearance: Red amber with a thick, tight off-white head. Good lacing - bit cloudy. Great looking beer.

Aroma: Clean, malty - not the hop bouquet I was expecting, maybe a little pine in there. I would be curious to try this on draft as I bet it would have more of hop nose.

Flavor: Very well balanced - features both the malt and the hops, has the unique Sierra Nevada taste. Clean, drinkable - hop bitterness is present but not overwhelming.

Palate: Very drinkable - not too heavy or light. Creamy, well carbonated - almost melts in the mouth. Not too sweet and has a lingering hop-bitter finish.

Overall, a great house ale that I could drink all night. Their Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale remains my favorite, but this was solid and a perfect compliment to the fresh kielbasa/vegetable bake we had that night.

Kiss the Lips IPA by Lake Louie Brewing

2009-12-01T12:54:00.002-06:00

Another 'sconsin beer here, from Lake Louie Brewing. From the website: "KISS THE LIPS India Pale Ale: Old school version of an IPA. Still balanced; not a ‘one trick pony’ pale. Named after the country song “It’s hard to kiss the lips at night that chew your ass out all day long.”

Appearance: Pours a cloudy golden yellow orange, nice foamy white head that clings to the glass.

Aroma: Malty, clean and crisp. Not much what I expect from an IPA.

Taste: This tastes like a balanced pale ale. It makes Meg think of a hoppy lager, which I can see. It's very clean and crisp - refreshing. Bit of lingering bitterness towards the end. This would be a great summer beer.

Mouthfeel: Bit of a malty and citrusy finish. I could really toss this back.

Overall, while this my fall within the style guidelines for an IPA, taste-wise I would put this more into the Pale Ale category. This would be great beer to serve with a meal, and would be my go-to lawnmower beer in the summer. As far as hoppy Wisconsin beers go, nobody's beat Ale Asylum yet.

O'so's Lupulin Maximus

2009-11-30T08:58:00.001-06:00

"I'm going to sit here and sniff the cone for awhile," says Meg. That's right. Every bottle of Lupulin Maximus, a 9% Imperial IPA for O'so Brewing, has a whole hop cone in it. We did a careful pour so that the cone/sediment stayed in the bottle.

Aroma: Light, fruity, creamy.

Appearance: Solid amber colored, bit cloudy. Good, tight, off-white head.

Taste: Sweet and alcohol - bit heavy on the sweetness. Creamy - balances out the high-alcohol content. Slighly bitter finish. I expect this beer was a little past it's prime, as there's no big aroma or really that much of a hop taste. I get mostly sweet and alcohol, and don't really want to finish the beer to be honest (we wound up cooking with it).

Mouthfeel: On the heavy side, resiny and sweet.

If I were at the brewery, I'd try a sample of this because I bet it's totally different when it's super fresh. But the hop cone here comes off a bit gimmicky as the beer didn't live up to it's name.

Review: Capital Dark Lager

2009-11-25T10:21:00.003-06:00

While in Wisconsin, we hit up the Capital Brewery, and picked up some beers to take home and try. Among them was this dark lager (5.4%) - from the bottle: "A German-style beer from a traditional Wisconsin lager brewery. Some things shouldn't change."

Appearance: Pours a deep, dark brown with a good head. Wonderful lacing.

Aroma: The aroma really blossoms as it sits a couple minutes. Deep and malty, hints of raisin.

Flavor: Very malt forward beer with subtle hop balance. Raisin and plum fruitiness balance a pleasant bitterness. Lingering finish.

Mouthfeel: Clean, medium bodied beer. Goes down easy and before you know it, you're ready for the next sip.

We had the pleasure of meeting head brewer Kirby Nelson at Steve's Liqours, where he was promoting some winter beers and offering tastings. He's a fantastically nice fellow, and a Zappa fan (he names all their fermenters after Zappa songs - pics coming). Having studied with a German lager master, this beer definitely plays to Kirby's strong points. Highly recommended.

Wisconsin Beer Trip

2009-11-24T09:26:00.007-06:00

I had the day off somewhat unexpectedly last Friday, so we took a quick trip to Wisconsin - specifically the Madison area. The Gods were looking over us when we decided to put a large cooler in the trunk of the car, as we loaded up on lots of good brews unavailable to us here. (We also loaded up on fresh sausage and cheese at this foodie Mecca.) Just look at our bounty!

Beers are represented by the following breweries:
Stone Brewing Co. (Yes, it's not WI beer, but we can't get it in IL.)
Lakefront Brewery
Capital Brewery
New Glarus Brewing Co.
O'So Brewing Company
Lake Louie Brewing
Furthermore Beer
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (Also not WI, but we haven't found the Estate here yet, so had to grab a bottle.)

Thus, visit back often over the next couple weeks for lots of beer and brewpub reviews.

Half Acre Daisy Cutter

2009-11-22T16:28:00.000-06:00

We're lucky to live in an area with access to delicious local beer. One of the new breweries in town, Half Acre, is my favorite new brewery, and Daisy Cutter Pale Ale is my favorite beer of the moment. (Apologies to those outside of the City of Chicago, as Half Acre doesn't distribute outside of the city. Guess you'll just have to come visit!) We picked up a bomber last weekend while visiting their new store* attached to the brewery.

Aroma: To quote Matt, "This is the best smelling beer ever!" I have to agree. Tons of floral and grassy hops. I could sniff this all day.

Appearance: Cloudy, golden-orange. One of the Half Acre employees simply refers to this beer as "orange juice."

Flavor: A flowery little hop bomb with a crisp, citrus finish.

Mouthfeel: Soft and smooth. Lightly coats your mouth.

We had a party with a keg of this back in September. There were approximately 40 people in attendance, and we had no problem killing it in one evening. It's an extremely easy drinking beer, and not too strong. Even the non-beer drinkers, and non-hop heads, were loving the Daisy Cutter. It just tied for 3rd place at the Chicago Beer Society's Fall Tasting. And most exciting is there's going to be a Daisy Cutter Hot Dog coming soon to Hot Doug's!! Needless to say, we'll be there.

Never pass up Daisy Cutter if you find it - this is a fantastic beer!

*They also have a nice selection of other local brews. We scored bombers of both Two Brothers Red Eye and Three Floyds Alpha Klaus. It was a good haul!

Dill Cheese Beer Bread

2009-11-16T09:30:00.002-06:00

As you know, I have no patience for baking bread from scratch. That's why I love quick breads. No yeast = no waiting, rising, etc. This recipe, which I found on my favorite food porn site - Tastespotting, combines three of my favorite things: dill, cheese and beer. The couple times I've made it, I've used our Fuggles Ale, which is a slightly hoppy amber ale. Any light or amber colored beer should be fine, though I would shy away from dark beers.

Farmgirl Susan’s Beyond Easy Dill &Cheddar Beer Bread Recipe
Makes One Loaf
Basic Beer Bread Mix:
3 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1 c. wheat flour, 2 c. all-purpose flour.)
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 2 teaspoons dried
1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese (or cheese of your choice - I like the sharpness/funk of gorgonzola)
12 ounces beer
Glaze: 1 egg & 2 teaspoons water, beaten

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, dill, and cheddar in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. Batter will be thick. Spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan , brush with egg glaze if desired (I think it's must), and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. (My oven runs warm, so it's usually done in 30-35 min.)

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool 10 more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Alternate Version:
Replace dill with herbs de provence
Replace cheddar with parmesan
Add chopped kalamata olives
After egg wash, sprinkle a handful of parmesan on top
(We like this version even better than the original.)

Cheap FermWrap

2009-11-12T10:56:00.002-06:00

I got a tip from a fellow homebrewer on how to easily put together your own FermWrap by ordering the parts individually from a reptile supply store. All you need is the wire/clip/insulator set ($5), and 2 feet of 11 inch Flexwatt heat tape ($6.50). Attach the wire clips and insulators to the 2 silver strips on the tape (I just used a pair of pliers), and you've got yourself a FermWrap that homebrew shops sell for $30 - $40. Plug it into your temperature control device, and you're good to go. Just tested mine out, and it works great - cheers!

Goose Island - Clybourn

2009-11-03T09:27:00.002-06:00

Before I moved to Chicago I was "meh" on any Goose Island product. Their mass-produced beers are nothing to write home (or blog) about. However, their offerings at the Clybourn brewpub are way better than the standard Honkers. Typically they have at least a dozen or more beers on tap and 3 on cask. Also, they do a weekly beer release at 6:00 on Thursday evenings with free samples.

Goose Island - Clybourn

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Free beer is usually enough to get me into a place, but GI-Clybourn offers an added bonus - a weekly "Recycled" Pig Roast. The pig is from a local farmer who uses Goose Island's spent grain as feed, and each week is roasted in a different fashion and served with seasonal sides. (Examples: BBQ pig w/ black beans & creamy corn, Tomatillo roasted pig w/ smoked mozzarella & eggplant ratatouille, Bourbon brined & smoked pig w/ baked beans & ginger slaw.) It's freakin' delicious! Pair that w/ a cask ale (preferably the Midway IPA) and it's heaven. Food*, otherwise, is solid. The cuban sandwich ranks as one of the best in the city.

If you have room after beers and food, be brave and try the Nightstalker for dessert. It's a well-balanced, ass-kicking imperial stout. (Much better and not as strong as the Bourbon County Stout.)

This is a very lively room, with a warm atmosphere. Also, parking is easy and free, a rarity in Chicago. We've made a monthly ritual of beer release/recycled pig, which has quickly become my favorite day of the month.

*If you haven't eaten there in the past 6 months, they have a new chef, who has taken this place to the next level.

Is It Safe to Leave Star San in My Keg and Beer Lines?

2009-11-02T13:46:00.013-06:00

I couldn't take it anymore. After trolling various forums and listening to podcasts, I couldn't get a clear answer to this question. So I called up Five Star Chemicals (makers of Star San), and was immediately connected to a tech to answer my question (wish I got the guy's name so I can thank him here).

What I got out of it was the "ideal" way to clean and store kegs (and lines), based on what Five Star has heard from the various keg dealers that they've worked with. Here goes:

The Procedure for Cleaning Your Cornies and Beer Line

Clean the keg as soon as you can. Rinse it and the lines out with water (for all line-rinsing steps, I pressurize and use the keg, run through the lines and into a bucket or something). Then, fill the keg with warm to hot water, add in the proper dose of PBW, and clean away (I reserve a clean, never used on anything else toiler scrubber for this, and a thin, long-handled dip tube brush). After some initial scrubbing, I let it soak for at least 20 minutes or so. I also take the keg posts, the black bev-out connector, and the lid, and soak them in a separate solution of PBW. I then dismantle the faucet, and let it soak in there too.
After the keg has soaked, I give it another quick scub in case there was some grime that the PBW loosened up. Rinse and put the faucet back together, and rinse and put the black bev connector back on the line (quick disconnect models are a life saver here). Then I dump all the PBW from the keg except for a gallon or two, hook up the keg to the lines, and start to run the solution through the beverage line. I stop at some point, so the PBW can sit in there and dissolve any gook that's stuck in the line. Since PWB is a CIP (clean in place) cleaner, it's designed for this sort of thing.
Rinse the keg with warm/hot water. Believe it or not, you should rinse with the same temperature water your PBW was in. For some chemical reason, it rinses better this way as it won't "scale" (a typical issue with hard water).
When the keg is rinsed out, fill it with a gallon or two of water and run some through your lines to rinse the PBW out.
Time to sanitize! Rinse and reassemble all keg parts. The ratio is 1oz of Star San in 5 gallons warm water (not too hot, like over 120F - typical hot water heaters are around 130F). However, I cut this in half. Put 2.5 gallons in the keg, then add the .5oz of Star San (always important to add chemicals to water, not the other way around). If you want it to foam, put some of the water in, then add the StarSan, and then pour the rest of the water in.
Seal up the keg, and shake it up. (Don't be surprised if some leaks out the lid, as the lid requires some internal pressure to get an air-tight seal - watch any carpeting here, I always use a towel on a non-carpeted floor). Let it sit a few minutes, maybe turn it over and/or let it sit on it's side for awhile (Star San actually only needs 30 seconds). From here, you have a couple options:
1. Hook up the keg to the lines, and run all of the Star San through the bev line. Run it all through because you don't want any left in the keg or the line other than what's clinging to the sides. Do not rinse. Stainless steel should be stored with some sort of acid coating, as it helps it maintain its "stainless" state. As an acid sanitizer, Star San works great for this. Besides, if you rinse after sanitizing, then you're just ruined all that work - that's why we choose no-rinse sanitizers. As long as you mixed/measured properly, you won't have any problems (and the measuring device on the Star San bottle makes this brainless). When you're ready to fill the keg, just open up and rack the beer in and proceed as normal. When ready to serve, hook up the bev line, run a half glass or so through, discard, and you're good. Or (and this is where I was most surprised)...
2. Dump the Star San, and pressurize the keg to seal it up. When you're ready to fill, mix up some more Star San, dump it in the keg, let it sanitize again, run it though the lines, and then fill with beer. If you're the paranoid sort (and you know who you are), and it's been awhile since you've originally sanitized, then this will neutralize anything that may have gotten into the keg/line. Since Star San doesn't sanitize indefinitely, it will loose this ability over time. So bottom line, if it's only been a week, you're fine. Any longer, and you want to be extra extra sure, follow step 'b' here.
Relax and have a brew.

Now, this is the recommended way of doing things with Five Star Chemicals. (Actually, Five Star has products specifically for cleaning/sanitizing line cleaning - but I didn't go into that here.) Some guys use Oxiclean instead of PBW - I do this for some stuff. But it's important to realize the Oxiclean is not a CIP cleaner. Oxiclean is also missing a "surfactant" - which basically breaks down surface tension in water, which allows it to penetrate and dissolve all those nasty organic compounds in either hot or cold water. In short, PBW is designed for brewing equipment, not laundry. So for line cleaning, PBW is certainly better, and actually allows you to be lazier by letting the soak do most of the work.

Now, if you have your own way of doing things and it works, that's great. As with anything related to homebrewing, there are many ways to do the same thing. Cheers folks.

Update August 10, 2010:
I've since modified my line cleaning - I got one of those hand/line pumps and use BLC instead of PBW on the lines. I rinse with warm water, then BLC - letting it sit and recirculate. Then rinse again, and then run some StarSan through it, also with the hand pump. I just felt like I was wasting a lot of CO2, and the hand pump is quick and easy. I don't bother pressurizing the kegs for storage anymore, since I sanitize everything again just before I use it. Also, I take the liquid-out fittings apart now and soak them in PBW.

Sierra Nevada Porter

2009-10-29T18:34:00.005-05:00

Now that the weather's changed, Matt and I are into brewing some darker beers. Next up on the brew schedule is a porter. I'm pretty stoked for this, as Anchor Porter was my favorite beer in college (well, besides High Life). As prep for brewing, we thought we should sample another porter, so Matt picked up a sixer of Sierra Nevada Porter.

Aroma: There is very little smell to this beer. I mainly get a clean, malty nose. Matt thought he could smell some spiciness.

Appearance: Dark and cloudy, but slightly opaque at the bottom of the pour. Topped off with a thick creamy head.

Flavor: Chocolaty roastiness, a clean finish with a slight hop flavor.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, but not too thick and heavy. (As a porter should be.)

Overall, this is a nice example of a classic porter. I still prefer Anchor as it's heavier - I like chewing my dark beers. As ususal, we're going for a hoppier version for our brew, and plan on dry-hopping with Chinook and tossing in some grains of paradise for spice. Should be perfect around March when we're totally sick of winter.

Belgian Prankster Label in Zymurgy

2009-10-29T16:31:00.002-05:00

On a whim, I sent one of our labels into Zymurgy magazine, and it got printed in the November/December issue! Many thanks to Gabe Patti for doing the original watercolor, which we scanned into the label.

In case you're wondering what the hell this is all about, this beer is named after a character in The Order Of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy, which is one whacked out book. After reading it, Meg and I both decided we needed a beer called The Belgian Prankster. We then met James while he was doing a reading at The Hop Leaf, and turns out he's not only a beer fan, but loved the idea of a beer brewed for one of his characters. After laboring over the recipe for awhile, we came up with an interesting ale that pays homage to our Latino Chicago neighborhood by incorporating 1.5lbs of Pilloncillo sugar. We used Mosher's Belgian Pale Ale recipe as a starting point, but by the time we were done with it, the numbers tossed it more into the Belgian Specialty Ale category. I think we're still figuring a few things out, but after 2 batches we thing we're onto something good. It's one of those beers we miss after not having it for awhile.

I will say it was interesting to take a character from a book (and an evil one at that), and figure out what sort of beer he might be. It put a whole new perspective on the beer-as-art thing by putting us into a new mindset when working on a beer. It was a ton of fun, why not try brewing a beer for one of your favorite fiction characters?

New Crop O' Hops

2009-10-26T13:43:00.000-05:00

We were at our LHBS (Perfect Brewing) over the weekend, and since we've been brewing quite a bit lately, we were discussing buying grains and hops in bulk. Billy advised us to hold off a bit, as the hop harvest is about to happen - so in the coming months we'll have both fresher and cheaper hops!

Then today, I see this great New York Times pictorial on the hop harvest - so beautiful. Enjoy.

Fresh Cherry Crisp (with spent grain topping)

2009-10-23T10:21:00.005-05:00

There's almost nothing better than fresh cherries in the summer. Matt and I got used to having plenty of sour baking cherries around since our old apartment in Logan Square had seven huge trees in the yard. Even though we planted a cherry tree at our new house, it has yet to produce more than a handful of cherries. Luckily, we live a close drive from a number of cherry orchards in Michigan.

So in July we made a road to trip to central Michigan to pick cherries. Our original idea was to make a cherry stout. However, after a trip to Bells, we decided against brewing the beer. (For me the only fruit beers worth drinking are the New Glarus Cherry and Raspberry ales and Dogfish Head Aprihop on tap.) Since we had made the trip though, we still decided to pick cherries.

The orchard we went to had so many ripe trees that there was an 11 lb. minimum for picking. Now, if you're brewing, that's not too many. But for baking...well, let's just say that I have a freezer full of cherries. (See photo. Yes, they had a pitting machine! It's truly an amazing thing.) Time for baking!

I've made this crisp many times over the years, but I think this alteration for the grains was my best yet. As with any spent grain recipe, use only DRY grains. (Here is my method for drying spent grains.)

Fresh Cherry Crisp (w/ spent grain topping)
4 c. pitted sour cherries*
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 T. flour

Crisp
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
1/2 c. spent grains
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In large bowl, combine cherries, sugar, and 4 T. flour. Pour into 9x13 baking pan.

In medium bowl, combine crisp ingredients and cut in butter and shortening. (Use a pastry blender.) Blend until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over cherries.

Bake for 45-50 min, or until golden.

*No need to drain the cherries. The juice is delicious. If you have a lot, just add more flour to thicken the mixture.

Using a Paint Strainer Bag in the Boil

2009-10-21T16:24:00.006-05:00

On a tip from another website, for our last brew session I used a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the boil. I am always annoyed with post-boil straining - it seems to just take too long as the strainer gets clogged and has to clear. So this time, I kept all my hops in a cheap 5 gallon paint strainer bag, which you can find at about any hardware store (I got mine at Menards). It was clipped to the kettle using 3 small spring-clips:

To my surprise, the clips didn't really get too hot, so there's really no need to take off any rubberized handle material before using them, like I did. This worked really well, and made cleanup a snap too. I even transferred my wort into the kettle through the bag, so it caught any grains that got through during the sparge. Next time I'll probably just dump the hops, rinse, and reuse the bag (a pack of 3 was around $3). After the boil, all I had to deal with was break material. Before transferring to the fermenter, I let this stuff settle to the bottom of the kettle by leaving it alone for 15 minutes (have a drink, clean up, etc.). When it's below the ball-valve, most of it gets left behind in the transfer. Whenever I get my pre/post boil volumes ironed out, I hope to leave it all behind.

For transferring, I attach a really short hose to the barb, and let the wort slowly fall a good couple feet into the fermenter, which helps aerate it. When that initial foam dies down, I pitch and then aerate it again with a power drill mixer. Maybe someday I'll go completely crazy and get an oxygen tank, but for now this, plus a good yeast starter, plus yeast nutrient (in the boil), seems to work very well.

Cheers and good brewin'!

Save This Store: Drinks Over Dearborn

2009-10-20T14:48:00.001-05:00

When it comes to purchasing alcohol, we're pretty much Sam's Wine & Spirits loyalists - huge selection, great prices, knowledgeable staff. Oh yeah, they also have a cheese bar. Although, I may have a new "go-to" liquor store: Drinks Over Dearborn.

DoD is located on the second floor of a building located at the southwest corner of Erie and Dearborn. You would easily walk right past without ever noticing. The second thing it has going against it is that you have to buzz to be let in. If you're like me, that would be the deal killer. (I always feel added pressure to purchase something if I have to be buzzed in.) Don't let this deter you, as you'll be missing out on a gem of a store!

Selection is small but impressive, and reasonably priced. The owner, Kyle McHugh, tries all of his wines before ordering, so you know he approves. (We had a great discussion about disgustingly oaky/buttery California Chardonnays.) All beers are all craft brews and sold by the bottle. I love this, as I'm often curious to try something but don't want to commit to a 4 or 6 pack. On my last visit I purchased a bottle of Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron, something I certainly don't need more than one of.

This economy, and the aforementioned location and buzzing issues, haven't been too kind to DoD. So please, take a field trip, buy some quality alcoholic beverages, and tell your friends.

Jamil on Fermentation

2009-10-13T09:14:00.002-05:00

I admit, after reading Brewing Classic Styles and listening to his radio show, I'm going through a Jamil stage. This may be like playing drums and going through a Neil Peart stage - but either way, it's a good thing because the guy knows his stuff (he's the most winning homebrewer ever - while awards aren't everything, he's figured a lot stuff out along the way and is nice enough to share it).

Perhaps the most interesting thing he discusses is the importance of fermentation. He states that 95% of brewing is fermenting - from pitching enough healthy yeast, to temperature and time - you can mess up about anything else, but a solid fermentation (well, and sanitation) will save you. I know I've screwed up at least a couple beers by not paying enough attention to such things (mostly temperature).

The Brewing Network did a fantastic interview with Jamil back in 2005. You won't find it in their archives, but I somehow found the link to the mp3. I've listened to it once, and will probably listen to it again, check it out!

On Cask: Two Brothers Heavy Handed IPA

2009-10-08T10:27:00.002-05:00

Smoke Daddy, a small Chicago BBQ/Bar joint, had a special tapping last Tuesday. They had scored a "pin" cask (5.4 gallons) of Heavy Handed IPA. Cask beer is also called "Real Ale" - because before the days of being able to force-carbonate beer with CO2, beer was naturally carbonated in the cask by adding some sugar to the still active yeast, and allowing the beer to undergo a secondary fermentation inside the cask. CO2 is released during fermentation, which was mostly trapped in the cask - thus carbonating the beer inside (this is a very simplified version of what really happens, it's similar to bottle-conditioned beer). Cask beer has a much different mouthfeel to it - it's creamier, and the flavors are more rounded, and tend to blend together. It's "soft" - for lack of a better word, and served warmer than typical beers. I find strong, hoppy beers to be especially good on cask because the flavors transform in very interesting ways.

Anyways, being cask beer fiends, Meg and I were sure to be there - here's a picture of the cute little pin-cask:

We landed a table, and promptly ordered 2 glasses.

Notice the creamy white foam on top - it's lovely and a sure sign of cask ale. The first taste - yummers. Smelled great too. The beer went well with our dinner (Smoke Daddy has awesome pulled pork sandwiches, and great sides like mac n' cheese, pork 'n beans, even the slaw is great. Our friends had a good looking veggie burger.) A Two Brothers rep was there, and provided us with samples of the bottled version or this beer (which is force-carbonated) - it was very interesting to compare the beers side-by-side, you can really see how the cask rounds the edges and blends the flavors.

I ordered a second beer, and sort of wished I didn't. Many IPAs use Caramel (or Crystal) malt. This is a a sweet malt that adds to the body and head-retention of the beer, as well as color and sweetness. IPAs use it to balance out the hop-blast. I don't like it much, and when I use it in my own brews, I like to barely notice it. On my second glass, all the sweetness seemed to start building up in my mouth, so I didn't taste much else. IPAs need to be all about the hops, and this beer left me wanting more hops and less sweetness.*

*As a general disclosure, I tend to prefer Two Brothers' darker beers, like their Northwind Imperial Stout (available November through February) and Red Eye porter (coming in February).

If you're interested in learning more about cask beers, here are some great resources:

Cheers!

Lessons Learned: Recipes, Mash Efficiency & Fermentation Temperature

2009-10-05T14:54:00.002-05:00

Last summer we brewed an Alpha King clone recipe out of Brew Your Own magazine. We had yet to brew an insanely hoppy beer, and this looked like just the ticket. To add to our excitement, the guys over at Half Acre gave us a bunch of their ale yeast to use (like almost a half gallon of it).

The brew day went well, we pitched a little over half of the Half Acre yeast, and that same night we were off to a very strong fermentation. The following day it was going bananas. We had it in the coolest room in the house, but the temperature was still around 68-70F in there. The second day, I checked the sticky-strip thermometer on the side of the fermenter, and noted that it was a good 5 degrees higher than the room's ambient temperature. WOW! I said. Look at that.

A couple weeks later, we racked to the secondary and dry hopped. A quick taste during the gravity reading was very nice. Excitement building!

After bottling and conditioning, it was time to sample the first bottle. Hmmmm... it's quite a bit darker and thicker than we expected, but dang - lots of hop goodness! Yet it's bordering on imperial. We're still quite pleased. But as time went by that hop flavor started to diminish, and other flavors started to come to the forefront - namely an alcohol burn. What the hell is going on here???

Since I brewed this I picked up a copy of BeerAlchemy - and plugged in my brewday numbers. Holy crap - this is an 8% beer! And wow, we got an 80% mash efficiency! Hmmmm... mash efficiency. Having only a handful of all grain batches under our belt at the time, this was something I wasn't used to. I wonder what Brew Your Own is assuming for mash efficiency? After checking it out, I note it's a paltry 65%. No wonder this beer is so strong! I should have scaled the grain bill down a bit, but we had no idea at the time. So that was mistake number one.

Mistake number two was fermenting at too high a temperature, which explains the solvent, rubbing alcohol type flavor - or "heat" of the beer. I had this issue in a previous batch, but didn't put 2 and 2 together because it was sort of an experimental batch anyways - so now I know. Fermentation temperature is key, and ales do better in the low 60's vs. the low 70's. I guess I knew this before, but now that I know what this mistake tastes like, I hopefully won't let it happen again.

For our next brew (a stout), I surrounded the fermenter with plastic bottles full of frozen water that I would swap out a few times a day as they thawed (I have a home office, so that's easy enough). I wrapped a big towel over all that to sort of make a fermenting-tipi. I kept the temperature right around 68, which was perfect for the stout, which I'm pleased to say turned out very well - phew! I'll have to see if I can get our second fridge to hold at 60F or higher (since we actually use the freezer, we can't hook-up one of those temp-control gadgets).

Now that winter is approaching, I'm looking forward to brewing some ales and more easily maintaining the proper temperature. I'll probably stick to belgians and lagers next summer.

So anyways, I hope these lessons can help someone out ;)

Lager Lag Time & Lessons Learned

2009-09-30T12:23:00.004-05:00

We brewed our first Oktoberfest last weekend. It was the first lager we ever brewed - we used the Marzen Madness recipe straight out of Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew. The book recommends pitching cold - at or below the fermentation temperature of 50F. It also recommends pitching *a lot* of yeast, to ensure a clean fermentation with minimal byproducts the are associated with yeast reproducing (like fruity esters and buttery diacetyl). By pitching enough yeast, there is minimal reproducing to do, and the yeast can get down to the business of fermenting sooner.

The Classic Styles book is interesting in that it tells you how many "packs" of yeast to pitch. Lager recipes are all around 4 packs. I'd rather make a starter. I made a 1500ml starter in a 2000ml flask. Once that fermented out, I chilled, poured off the spent wort/beer, and added another 1000ml of fresh wort on top of the little yeast cake still in the flask. The day before brew day paranoia about having enough yeast set in, and I bought another Wyeast 2206 Bavarian lager to be extra sure.

Lesson learned: Since there is little krausen with lager yeast, next time I'll just make two back-to-back 2000L starters.

The night before brew day I put my starter and Activator pack (which I let swell at room temp for a day) in the spare fridge, which I had set at around 48F. On brew day, I cooled the wort down to just below 50F using ice water and a sump pump hooked up to my immersion chiller, much like described towards the bottom of this page. (I suppose I could have let the wort cool in the fridge overnight, but I really like my brew day to be a "day," and not have to aerate again.) After oxygenating the wort to the point the entire top of the carboy was filled with foam (by just trickling the wort through the funnel at the top), we let it settle about 5-10 minutes in the fridge while we cleaned up, then pitched the entire slurry and Activator pack. After a little carboy-shake, back in the fridge it went. I'd say the wort was around 52F, so I set the fridge a little lower to help cool it down below 50F.

The next morning, the fridge was at around 46F, and the temp strip on the carboy was around 48F. No visible signs of fermentation yet. I turned up the temp just a bit, so it was hovering around 52F. Roughly 24 hours after pitching, we had some small signs of krausen. 36 hours later we have this:

The temp is now stabilized around 50F, perfect. Of course, having only brewed ales we are used to seeing the fermenter bubbling like crazy 12-24 hours later. This was certainly a change of pace. I surfed this topic quite a bit, and guys were panicking after a day of no activity. I was ready to wait 3 days until I'd let myself worry about it, since the book said to pitch at around 45F and let it warm up to 50F over the next 2 or 3 days. I didn't pitch quite that low, but did chill it almost that low after pitching. So whatever that means, as long as you get your temps in the ballpark, aerate well, and pitch plenty of yeast... it's time to relax, have a homebrew and be patient!

We'll post a follow-up on how the beer tastes, in like, oh November? Jeez lagers take patience - cheers and good brewing!

UPDATE: Well, it was more like January when we served this, but mighty tasty! Our friends certainly drained it. Just a touch of diacetyl - an issue we're working on. Going to try doing a diacetyl rest sooner and longer next time.

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

2009-09-24T16:02:00.002-05:00

Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head is known for outrageous brews. (See the current chicha he's brewing.) Typically, I find them to be strange for affect and not that palatable, with the exception of the Shelter Pale Ale and Aprihop on tap. However, I couldn't help but be curious about the Palo Santo Marron after reading this fantastic article from The New Yorker about extreme brews. Seriously, this beer is conditioned in a $140,000 Paraguayan wood tank!

When we review beers on this site, we'll use the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) categories of Aroma, Appearance, Flavor, and Mouthfeel.

Aroma:
Sweet and slightly alcoholic

Appearance:
Dark, deep brown

Flavor:
I was really expecting to get a very strong woody flavor, but was pleasantly surprised to get a nice chocolate creaminess. The alcohol wasn't too present despite being 12% ABV. There's also a subtle hop finish. Overall, it has a very similar flavor to New Holland's Dragon's Milk Ale. (A good thing in my book.)

Mouthfeel:
Medium thickness and viscosity. Coats the mouth nicely, but doesn't leave your chest burning.

Overall, it's a surprisingly drinkable beer: creamy, hoppy, and packs a punch. Palo Santo ranks as one of my favorite Dogfish brews, though I wouldn't quaff it often. If you find a single bottle, definitely give it a try with a friend.

Celebrating a Year of Homebrewing, and 3 Golden Rules Learned

2009-09-22T15:37:00.003-05:00

Roughly a year ago, Meg bought me a Coopers Brewery Kit. If you can make Kool-Aid, you can make beer with the Cooper's kit. You pour a can of malt extract, a pound of corn sugar, and some hot water into the plastic fermenter and stir until dissolved (it all comes with the kit). Then you top with cold water, and add a packet of dry yeast. When it's done fermenting, you attach the bottling wand to the fermenter, and bottle away. We did this twice, the first batch was just drinkable (the "lager" it came with), the second batch (a dark ale) we poured out.

This lead to homebrewing lesson numero uno:
You have to boil something to make any sort of decent beer.

You may read reviews of the the Coopers kit where people are amazed at how good it is, and how easy the process was. If you drink a lot of commercial beer, this may very well be true. However, if you are a fan of craft beer, then don't listen. Pick up of copy of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian, and just follow his directions for making your first batch. Even if you buy a Cooper's kit (the fermenter is actually pretty nice), chuck the directions, the corn sugar, and the "carbonation drops." Go to your LHBS (local home brew shop) and buy some hops and liquid yeast. You'll be glad you did, trust me.

Now, when you're fermenting your ale, here's lesson number two:
Try to keep the temperature around 68 degrees (20C), or a little lower. Keep in mind that the fermentation process itself will raise the temperature at least a few degrees inside the fermenter. This is why cool basements are good for fermenting ales. You'll just get a cleaner tasting beer.

And the final lesson of homebrewing is: Relax - your making beer. It's supposed to be fun. As long as everything is clean/sanitized and you're following rules 1 and 2 - you'll get some good brew, and your friends will be glad to suck it down. Cheers.

Experiments with Spent Grain: Rats, Mold & Cookies

2009-09-22T14:38:00.011-05:00

Since we switched to all-grain brewing, we've been experimenting with different ways to use our spent grain. Originally we buried it around the shrubs in our backyard as fertilizer. (Man oh man, did the hydrangea love it!) This seemed to be the perfect use for it, that is until the rats found it. In Chicago, the common alley rats are Norway rats. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Norway rats "will eat nearly any type of food, but they prefer high-quality foods such as meat and fresh grain." Well, they found a jackpot of fresh grain in our yard! Unfortunately for us we had to find a new use for our grain.

When we're not brewing, I spend a good deal of my time baking. I know that many brewpubs (and homebrewers) use spent grains in their bread. Believe it or not, even as a homebrewer, I'm not a patient person, so that ruled out baking bread. (The rising, the kneading, the waiting - ugh!) However, spent grain adds a nice chewy texture to cookies and crisps.

There are two main things to remember when baking with spent grain:

It must be DRY
Use in moderation

Drying: Don't think you can just leave your grains out to dry - I tried that and got a moldy, smelly goop. After some trial and error, here is what I've found to be the best way to dry grains:

Spread a thin layer of drained grains on a microwave safe dish. (Use pyrex or something very sturdy, as you'll need to nuke it for quite a while.)
Microwave on high for 6 minutes. Stir and nuke for another 6 minutes. (If dried, the grains will stick to the dish.)
Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator

Use in moderation: remember that the majority of the flavor/sweetness in the grains is extracted during the mashing process. This leaves behind a fairly flavorless and very chewy grain; thus, you're using the grains for texture only. A little goes a long way.

To date I've only baked two things with the dried grains, both successes! Below is my recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Spent Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/4 c. butter, room temperature
1/4 c. butter-flavored shortening
1/2 c. dark brown sugar, loosely packed
1.5 t. vanilla
1 egg
3/4-1 c. spent grains
1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using mixer, cream butter and shortening until smooth. Add the sugar and mix until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, mix until smooth. Add grains and mix until combined.

In separate bowl, whisk remaining dry ingredients. Add to the wet mixture until combined. (Do not overmix.) Add chips.

Drop by spoonfuls/scoopful onto sheets. Bake for 8-9 minutes until golden.

Feel free to make substitutions, although I think that nuts may clash with the grain texture. I've used butterscotch chips in place of the chocolate - delicious.

I'm always looking for new spent grain recipes or suggestions on drying. If you have either or both of those, please leave a comment. Next recipe: Fresh Cherry Crisp

Welcome

2009-09-22T14:18:00.003-05:00

Since Matt and I started homebrewing a year ago, we've learned a lot and drank even more. We've met other homebrewers, read books/magazines, and trolled the internet for as much info as we could find about the basics of beer and the homebrew process. As you can imagine, there's plenty of stuff out there, but unfortunately it's not often helpful. On this blog we plan to have a place for concise, easy to follow brewing tips for the homebrewer, reviews of the many ales (and occasional lagers) we consume, and miscellaneous beer tidbits of interest. We hope you enjoy - cheers!

Matt & Meg's Beer Brewing Adventures

First Brew in Awhile, and... CRAP - Old Hops!

Cheese & Beer Dinner - CCBW 2011

Why We Need an Indoor Brewing System

We Took the BJCP Exam

BOSS Homebrew Awards, Flossmoor ProAm & Stout!

Smoky Red Beans & Rice (w/ beer, of course)

Beer Mac 'n Cheese

Diacetyl Precursors and Purging Secondary Carboys

Association of Beer Vixens

White Labs Cry Havoc: Batch 1 - Blonde Ale

Big Brews, A Rainy Brew Day, Cry Havoc, and Fermcap-S - Oh My!

Entering the World of Competitive Homebrew

Updates: Passionfruit Wheat and Post-Oktoberfest Stuff

HOPS! Oktoberfest 2010

Passionfruit, Barleywine, Evil Twin & More - The Weekend of Beer Trials

Star San + Distilled Water = Star San for Weeks

On Cleaning the Boil Pot

Full Length Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Entry

The Other Dreaded D: DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide)

NHC 2010 Pictures

NHC 2010 - Day 3 Recap

NHC 2010 - Day 2 Recap

2010 NHC - Wednesday Arrival & Brewing Network Party

Got Dry Yeast? You should.

The Happenings: NHC 2010, CBS Board, Craft Beer Week

English sorta Pale Ale - Matt's First Recipe

Randy Mosher's Basement

English Bitter w/ WLP002

Irish Fudge Brownies

Video: The Making of JZ's Hop Hammer

Smoky Beef and Bean Chili

Metallic Taste in Your Beer?

Barbecue Brisket

Almost No-Knead Beer Bread

Pork Chops with Beer & Bacon Gravy

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale

Diacetyl Rest - Go for a Week!

Irish Beef & Stout Stew

Irish Beef & Stout Stewfrom Everyday Food Magazine

Brew Day: Super Jim Lager

Stone Arrogant Bastard

Review: Three Floyds Alpha Klaus

Estate Brewers Harvest Ale by Sierra Nevada

Kiss the Lips IPA by Lake Louie Brewing

O'so's Lupulin Maximus

Review: Capital Dark Lager

Wisconsin Beer Trip

Half Acre Daisy Cutter

Dill Cheese Beer Bread

Cheap FermWrap

Goose Island - Clybourn

Is It Safe to Leave Star San in My Keg and Beer Lines?

Sierra Nevada Porter

Belgian Prankster Label in Zymurgy

New Crop O' Hops

Fresh Cherry Crisp (with spent grain topping)

Using a Paint Strainer Bag in the Boil

Save This Store: Drinks Over Dearborn

Jamil on Fermentation

On Cask: Two Brothers Heavy Handed IPA

Lessons Learned: Recipes, Mash Efficiency & Fermentation Temperature

Lager Lag Time & Lessons Learned

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Celebrating a Year of Homebrewing, and 3 Golden Rules Learned

Experiments with Spent Grain: Rats, Mold & Cookies

Welcome

Irish Beef & Stout Stew
from Everyday Food Magazine