November Bay Area Beer Events!!

I need to get more consistent about posting these.  I came up with a nice September list, and completely dropped the ball in October.  Better late than never for November!

November 9 - 101 North Brewing Naughty Aud Imperial Stout Release Party - Pub Republic, Petaluma

November 9 - 8th Annual West Cost Barrel Aged Beer Fest - The Bistro, Hayward

November 14 - An Evening of Kaiseki & Sake - Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco

November 18 - Peak Organic Bar Hop Project - Southpaw BBQ, San Francisco

East Bay Special Bitter (EBSB!)

This is a pretty straight forward recipe than the past few that I've posted here.  With the holidays coming soon I have spice beer on tap and spice beer planned to be brewed next weekend (Winter Chai Brown Ale!).  I thought it would be nice to have something on tap that was easy drinking and pull me away from the awesome Harvest Pumpkin Ale.  Also, we are expecting a few Thanksgiving guests who aren't into spiced beers (my Dad....see you at Thanksgiving!).  After debating for some time where to go this weekend, I remembered a nice batch of ESB I brewed a few years ago.  I'm sure this isn't the same recipe, but I whipped this one up Saturday night and headed to MoreBeer! in Concord on Sunday morning.  Without further BS-ing, enjoy!

Brew Day: 11/3/2013

BJCP Style Category: 8C Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)

Batch Size: 6 gallons

Grains:
11.50 lbs American 2-Row (looking back on this now; I probably should used UK 2-row; relax have a homebrew)
1.1 lbs Crystal 40 
0.4 lbs Crystal 60 (I had an extra 0.4 lbs of Crystal 60 which I substituted; otherwise I would've used 1.5 lbs of Crystal 40)
0.5 lbs CaraRed

Hops:
1.00 oz Northern Brewer - 60 minutes remaining in the boil
0.50 oz Northern Brewer - 30 minutes remaining in the boil
1.00 oz East Kent Goldings - 15 minutes remaining in the boil
0.50 oz East Kent Goldings - 1 minutes remaining in the boil

Yeast:
British Ale Yeast - White Labs WLP 005

Mash the grains at 151 deg F (strike temp 168 deg F) for 60 minutes using 4.5 gallons of water.  Sparge at 170 deg F using 4.6 gallons of water.

Brew Day - 11/3/2013

Sparging!

Fermentation:  

As always, I carbonate at room temperature until I convince my wife to let me convert our garage into a temperature controlled fermentation chamber (not happening....).  If you do have the ability to fine tune your fermentation temperature, I'd recommend 68 to 72 deg F.  That seems to be a pretty common range for ESB's from my Clone Brews book.

11/4/2013 - 7:00 am

11/4/2013 - 6:30 pm - LIFT OFF!

OG = 1.056 (actual 1.062)

FG = 1.018
ABV = 5.0% (projecting 5.8%)

How To: Use a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler

Over the past few months since I went head over heels for kegging, one of the problems I've been facing is:

How do I get the carbonated beer out of the keg and into the bottle?

If you've ever tried to pour a beer directly from your tap into a bottle you're probably familiar with foam over flow that follows shortly after.  It's kind of like those 3rd grade volcano projects you did as a kid. This is usually followed by spilt beer, cursing, and tears of frustration (don't cry over spilt milk, but wasted beer is sinful).

On recent trip to MoreBeer! in Concord I invested in a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler. 

Counter Pressure Bottle Filler

This device is essentially a stainless steel tube with a 3-way valve at the top and a pressure relief valve on the side. 

I tested this gadget out this weekend on my Harvest Pumpkin Ale.  Through some trial and error this seems to be the least painful filling procedure:

1.  Clean and sanitize bottles and bottle fuller as your normally would. For me this includes PBW cleaner and Star San sanitizer. 

2. With the 3-way valve in the neutral position (perpendicular) and pressure relief valve closed, connect gas line and beverage lines to the top of the bottle filler. 

3.  Set the pressure on your regulator to 8-15 psi.  This was the pressure recommended by MoreBeer!, but I found that my typical serving pressure (5 psi) worked well too. 

4.  Insert the filler into your bottle so that the rubber stopper is snug inside the bottle. 

5.  Open the valve to the gas side and allow the bottle to fill with CO2. Once the bottle is full begin to open the pressure relief valve to allow air the escape. 

6.  Once you have air moving through the pressure relief valve you're ready to fill the bottle with beer. Move the 3-way valve to the beverage side. You can control the flow of beer into the bottle by adjusting the pressure relief valve. The more air you allow to escape, the faster the beer will flow into the bottle. 

Beer filling in progress...

This is what this process is supposed to avoid, head inside the bottle.  I need more practice.

7. When the bottle is full, move the 3-way valve back to the neutral position   Remove the bottle filler and cap the bottle immediately. 

A few things NOT to do:

- Do not try to stop the flow of beer using the pressure relief valve. This will only stop the flow of beer until you remove the filler. Once that happens the system is open, beer comes flowing out onto the floor of your garage, and you begin shouting. 

- Do not move the 3-way valve back to the gas position after the bottle has been filled.  Pushing gas into your beer is bad.

MoreBeer has a great video on their website detailing this process.  

Great American Beer Festival

Just wanted to share a few photos and happenings from my Great American Beer Festival experience.  First off this is an epic event that draws 50,000 people over 4 events in at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO.  With that many people you'd think that this would be overwhelming and you'd never have a chance to get a brew, but that is not the case at all.  Over 600 breweries attended the fest this year featuring 2000+ brews.  I have no idea how many I tried, but I know my glass was rarely empty.  Here are a few of my favorites from last weekend:

1.  Throwback Brewery - Spicy Bohemian (Jalapeno Pilsner) - North Hampton, NH

This one takes top the slot for me.  Personally, I'm not really into spicy foods and I've always held a little intimidation for chile beers.  This beer assuaged all fears and provided the inspiration for a jalapeno wheat beer this winter (hopefully I'll be brewing this in early November).

2.  Dock Street Brewpub - That's What She Said Chocolate Saison - Philadelphia, PA

The name is awesome, and the beer was delish.

3.  Elysian Brewing Company - Dark O' the Moon (Pumpkin Stout) - Seattle, WA

Great fall and winter spices to accompany the thick stout ale.

4.  Heretic Brewing Company - Chocolate Hazelnut Porter - Fairfield, CA

I once tried to brew this style (possibly the same recipe from Jamil's book, since Jamil owns this brewery) and failed miserably due to "over-hazelnutting".  This batch was blended and balanced perfectly between the porter flavors and hazelnut.

Other items of note from my 2 days and 9+ hours at this event:

Best T-Shirts go to the Ex-communicated Mormon Drinking Team (thank you to the woman in this photo for letting this photo happen!)

Weird photo.  There's a man licking someone with a horse head here.  It is what it is.  Don't judge me for taking time to capture this moment.

Silent Disco!!!

Lastly, if Southwest ever prints a security document for you just know you're in for a long day.  It basically means you're not getting on your flight.  I ended up flying home into San Francisco (instead of Oakland), took BART to Oakland, a cab to the Oakland Airport, and finally drove home.  Southwest that was LAME.

RYE-toberfest

It's my first post here in the last few weeks.  I didn't mean to go dark on everyone, but I've been experiencing the joys of home ownership.  Between renting chainsaws, building garden boxes, and brewing beer I didn't have too many opportunities to post.  Here's the latest recipe I brewed two weeks ago now.  This is a Roggenbier (German Rye Ale) that I've brewed in honor of Oktoberfest.  Naturally, the recipe follows Reinheitsgebot (the German Purity Law) which only allows water, barley, and hops as beer ingredients.  The recipe is from one of my favorite recipe books, Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer.  I'll be serving this beer at small neighborhood Oktoberfest celebration at the end of this month with my friend Justin in Sacramento.

Batch Size: 6 gallons

Grains:
6.25 lbs Rye Malt
3.50 lbs Munich Malt
3.00 lbs German Pilsners Malt
1.00 lbs Caramunich Malt
2.00 ozs Carafa II


Hops:
1.00 oz Tetnang - 60 minutes remaining in the boil
0.30 oz Czech Saaz - 15 minutes remaining in the boil

Yeast:
Hefeweizen Ale - White Labs WLP 300

Hefeweizen Ale Yeast Starter

Mash, Sparge, and Boil:

Bring 4.6 gallons of water to a strike temperature of 171 degrees F.  I use a water to grain ratio of 1.33 qts per pound of grain.  Mash at 154 degrees F for 60 minutes.  

Mashing time....its so hot right now!

This recipe recommended increasing the pre-boil volume to allow for a 90 minutes boil to help reduce the DMS.  

Side note:  DMS is dimethyl sulfide and is produced during the boil.  This will usually be boiled off, but sometimes it may dissolve back into the beer and will give a cooked vegetable off flavor.

I sparged 5.2 gallons of water at 170 degrees F.  Once the wort was collected I boiled for 90 minutes, added hops per the recipe, cooled, and pitched my yeast starter.

Wort collection

Fermentation:  

The recipe recommends a fermentation temperature of 62 degrees F.  If you have the ability to control your fermentation that low, then try it out.  I fermented in my closet at room temperature and the fermentation went great.

OG = 1.054 (actual 1.056)
FG = 1..014 (actual 1.016)
ABV = 5.2%

Opening Up to Sour Beers

I remember the first time I tried a sour beer.  I made a face that looked like this:

Yes, I was 8 years old with a bowl haircut when I had my first sour!!

When I was living in San Francisco, I received a number of sours in my beer of the month club from Plumpjack in Noe Valley.  I was always terrified of these beers and they ended up aging in my refrigerator for months until I worked up the courage to open one.  Since that time I've tried a number of sours and my, "OMG, that's gross" face has steadily declined but I had never reach the point of actually enjoying a sour until last week.

Last week I attended a home brew club meeting for the first time with The Mad Zymurgists in Livermore.  The topic of the night was sours and of course as any good home brew club would do there was a beer tasting.  According to the BJCP, the following styles are recognized as sours:

BJCP Category 17

17A. Berliner Weisse
17B. Flanders Red Ale
17C. Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
17D. Straight (Unblended) Lambic
17E. Gueuze
17F. Fruit Lambic

Now, two of these styles are beers that I've enjoyed in the past.  I've found Berliner Weisse and Gueuze to very enjoyable beers and would recommend that any beer drinker explore these style as an "entry drug" into sours.  I didn't even realize these were sour styles until last Thursday.

Similarly, a lambic may be a great way to convince some of your wine snob friends to begin enjoying the delightful-ness of beer.  A lambic will usually come in a fancy, corked bottle and can be sweet & sour.  Also, the color is usually not amber or golden like most beers.  Most of the lambics I've been exposed to are some variation of red in color.  Don't tell your friends its beer and they'll drink it straight down!

Finally, we come to the two styles that surprised me the most, the flanders red ale and the flanders brown ale (or oud bruin).  I did not expect to enjoy either one of these, but these really opened my eyes last week to how enjoyable sour ales can be.  The flanders red ale was a beer called Oude Tart from The Bruery (side note we also tasted an ale aged in bourdon barrels with wild yeast call Tart of Darkness also from the The Bruery).  I regret not being able to recall what the flanders brown ale was, but if it returns to my memory I will update this posting.

So in summary, if you're looking to start you're journey into sour beers perhaps begin with a nice Berliner Weisse or Gueuze, save the lambics for your wine snob friends, and then ease yourself into the flanders red.  I enjoyed the tasting so much that it got me thinking about brewing my own sours.  Perhaps I'll jump into those style someday when I'm ready to commit to aging one for about a year!

Pumpkin Spice Saison

EastbayBrewing.blogspot.com made it possible for me to brew my first Pumpkin Spice Saison!  Happy upcoming Holidays everyone!

Cheers,

Justin

How To: Calculate Efficiency

If you've read my recent Harvest Pumpkin Ale post, you probably noticed that my OG was lower than that of the original author.

My OG = 1.060
Original Author OG = 1.070

This result was al little puzzling to me since I'm usually within a few points of the OG for the recipe I'm following.  I'm sure that my batch of beer will still be delicious and enjoyable, but this got me thinking about what could have caused the lower OG reading.  I had started with the author's original 10 gallon recipe and scaled it down to 6 gallons.  I later realized the original author had noted an expected efficiency of 85%.  When I planned my batch, the author's efficiency was something I ignored.  I've typically tried to avoid too many calculations in my brewing history, but I know that my efficiency is usually in the 70-80% range (I use a brewing app called iBrewMaster which calculates efficiency on its own).  To this point in my homebrewing career, efficiency has been a fun to follow stat (kind of like on base percentage in baseball), but hasn't really changed my brewing approach.

Here's my hypothesis and what I'm hoping to learn from this post:

The lower OG reading was a result of a lower efficiency than that of the original author and that I should have increased my grain bill to account for this.

Let's begin exploring this possibility.

First, let's learn how to calculate efficiency.  Referencing John Palmer's How To Brew, 2nd Edition, p. 151 (this link is for the 3rd edition):

"In mashing, you are collecting "x" number of gallons of wort that has a gravity of "1.0yy" that was produced from "z" pounds of malt.  To calculate your extraction in terms of PPG (points per pound per gallon), you need to multiply the number of gallons of wort you collected by its gravity and divide that by the amount of malt that was used."

x = gallons of wort

yy = maximum PPG (reference this table, max PPG is the last two digits of the potential SG)

z = pounds of malt

PPG = yy*z/x

I'm going to begin by calculating efficiency for a very simple batch of beer, Be-Otch IPA.  Here is the grain bill with the efficiency calculation (I collected 6 gallons of wort)

14 lbs US 2 row pale malt          (36 x 14) / 6 = 84 max PPG
0.6 lbs Caramel/Crystal 20L      (35 x 0.6) / 6 = 3.5 max PPG

14.6 lbs total                               87.6 max PPG

Max PPG would be the specific gravity (1.087) if you were able to achieve 100% efficiency.  In this case I know that my gravity reading was 1.063

Efficiency = 63/87 = 72%

Now let's try this with my Harvest Pumpkin Ale.  Note, I'm ignoring the rice hulls since they do not contribute any sugars to the mash.

11.4 lbs 6-Row Pale Malt         (35 x 11.4) / 6 = 66.5
0.75 lbs Melanoiden Malt         (37 x 0.75) / 6 = 4.6
0.6 lbs Crystal 60                      (34 x 0.6) / 6 = 3.4
0.6 lbs Victory Malt                  (36 x 0.6) / 6 = 3.6

13.35 lbs total                            78.1 max PPG

OG reading = 1.060

Efficiency = 60/78 = 77%

As expected, my efficiency was lower than the 85% recommended by the original author.  If I was to do this batch again, I would probably assume an efficiency of 75% and increase my grain bill by enough to compensate for my less efficient operation.  To calculate my grain increase I'm going to take the original max PPG (78.1) and multiply that by the recommended 85% efficiency to get my target PPG.

78.1 x 85% = 66.3 target PPG

Next, I'll take the target PPG and divide that by my assumed efficiency of 75% to get my new max PPG.

66.3 / 75% = 88.5 new max PPG

Finally, I'll divide my new max PPG by the original max PPG to determine the percent increase for each of the grains and multiply that increase percentage by each grain in the recipe.

88.5 / 78.1 = 113%

Revised grain bill:

12.9 lbs 6-Row Pale Malt         (35 x 12.9) / 6 = 75.3
0.85 lbs Melanoiden Malt         (37 x 0.85) / 6 = 5.2
0.7 lbs Crystal 60                      (34 x 0.7) / 6 = 4.0
0.7 lbs Victory Malt                  (36 x 0.7) / 6 = 4.2

15.15 lbs total                            88.7 max PPG

After doing this exercise, efficiency is not just another stat to be ignored.  You can see that this makes a significant difference in the grain bill (1.8 lbs!!).  If I were brewing this recipe on a large scale, efficiency would be a huge deal and could cost thousands of dollars.  On the homebrewing scale its only a few extra dollars out of my pocket.  If you're planning recipes in the future, whether its from a magazine or book try to find out what the assumed efficiency is and if it is similar to your system.  The exercise above only take a few minutes and could make a difference in the final product of your batch.

But if you hate math and just enjoy brewing for fun, ignore this post, relax, and have a homebrew!!

Upcoming Home Brew Competitions

So normally I try to keep things like this to Bay Area event only, but home brew competitions tend to be less frequent than other types of beer events, so I've expanded this list to emcompass homebrew competitions throughout the state of California.  Bay area (or close to) events are in bold.  If you enter and win I want to know about!!!

September 21 - OC Fest of Ales Home Brew Challenge - Anaheim (Registration closes tomorrow 9/11 so get your entries submitted!!)

September 22 - Fresno Fair Homebrew Competition - Fresno (Registration closes 9/15)

October 5 - Mother Earth Rhythm and Brews Home Brew Competition - Vista (Registration closes 9/28)

October 5 - University City Home Brew Contest - San Diego (Entries accepted day of the event on 10/5!!)

October 5 - Oaktoberfest - Oakland (Registration closes on 9/15)

October 5 - Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. and Valley Brewers Pro-Am - Buellton (Registration closes on 9/27)

On a side note I was at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company a couple weeks ago.  They have delicious tri tip BBQ on the weekends as well as excellent beer!  If you're ever in the Santa Ynez area north of Santa Barbara, I recommend stopping by.  I particularly enjoyed the Hoppy Poppy IPA!

October 12 - Queen of Beers - Placerville (Registration closes on 10/1)

October 19 - National Organic Home Brew Challenge - Santa Cruz (Registration closes 10/15)

November 2 - California State Home Brew Competition - San Francisco (Registration closes 10/12)

Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Here's a recipe that I brewed over the Labor Day weekend (I don't like the name....please post both awesome and terrible suggestions in the comments section).  This recipe is from the September/October edition of Zymurgy.  I'm really excited about this recipe!!  I've been wanting to brew a pumpkin ale for a few years and I finally found a recipe at the right time so that the brew will be ready for Halloween & Thanksgiving.  

There are a few minor differences between my recipe below and the recipe in Zymurgy.  First, the brew store I went to did not have White Labs East Coast Ale Yeast, so I substituted White Labs California Ale.  Secondly, the talented brewer who wrote the article had the ability to fine tune their mash temperature and used a protein rest at 120 degrees F during the mash (my 10 gallon orange cooler is awesome, but unfortunately only supports single temperature infusion mashing).  Lastly, this recipe can double as a Pumpkin Saison by using East Coast Yeast Saison Brasserie Blend.  I did not brew the Saison version of this recipe, but I'm tempted to brew another batch in a few weeks!

Batch Size: 6 gallons

Grains:

11.4 lbs 6-Row Pale Malt
0.75 lbs Melanoiden Malt
0.6 lbs Crystal 60
0.6 lbs Victory Malt
0.6 lbs Rice Hulls

Hops:

0.6 oz Magnum Hops - 90 minutes remaining in the boil

Other Additions:

3.6 lbs Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin (add during the mash)
1.2 lbs Maple Syrup (add at the end of the boil)
1.2 lbs Honey (add at the end of the boil)
1 tbs Pumpkin Pie Spice

Here's a look a few of my ingredients.

Yeast:

White Lab California Ale WLP 001 (Zymurgy recommended using White Labs East Coast Ale WLP 008)

Mash & Sparge:

Bring 5.8 gallons of water to a strike temperature of 168 degrees F.  While the water is heating up, add the 3.6 lbs of pumpkin to the strike water.  Stir throughly to dissolve pumpkin into the strike water.  Target mash temperature is 154 degrees F.  You might notice that the water to grain ratio is about 1.75 quarts per pound.  I normally mash at 1.33 quarts per pound.  The higher water to grain ratio will help keep the pumpkin suspended and prevent a stuck sparge.  Mash for 60 minutes.

Strike water with pumpkin

My actual strike temperature was about 172 degrees F and actual mash temperature was about 158 degrees F.

Heat 3.4 gallons of sparge water to 170 degrees F.  Due to the pumpkin, you'll want to sparge as slowly as possible to prevent a stuck sparge.  Collect wort until the grain bed settles.  This should be approximately 8 gallons of wort.

Sparging!!

Sparging in progress....cool wort color

Bring wort to a boil and boil for 90 minutes.  Add 0.6 oz of Magnum hops at the beginning of the boil.  
If I were to brew this recipe again, I would probably scale this down to five gallons instead of six gallons.  Normally, I like to brew six because it gives me some flexibility to leave some beer behind in my fermenters as I rack from one stage to the next.  Unfortunately, for this batch I had several boil overs that created somewhat of a mess.  I had about 8 gallons of wort in my 9.5 gallon pot.

Orange Boil!

At the end of the boil add the maple syrup, honey, and pumpkin pie spice.  Cool the wort to about 75 degrees F and transfer to your fermentation vessel.  Aerate wort and pitch your yeast!

If possible ferment at 68 degrees F for two weeks in your primary vessel.  Transfer this batch to your secondary fermentation vessel for a least another two weeks to help the batch clear.  Add an additional teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice when you keg or bottle.  

OG = 1.070 (my actual was 1.060, this recipe assumed an efficiency of 85%.  I usually only reach 75-80%.  This could account for the lower OG reading, but this sounds like a separate post.)
FG = 1..014
ABV = 7.4%

How To: Make A Yeast Starter

A few years ago I was sitting at work on a Saturday, not thinking about work, but thinking about ways to improve my beer.  After spending some time on Google, I found that making a yeast starter was an easy and inexpensive step to improve beer.  I usually try to make my starter the day before I brew.  Sometimes I forget, take a deep breath, and I make the starter the morning of brew day (this is usually is enough time for the starter to get moving and begin creating additional yeast).  I think that any head start you give the yeast is better than nothing.  This is good for your beer because full on fermentation will begin sooner, minimize the risk of infection, and will lead to a healthier fermentation.  Healthy fermentation = delicious beer!!!

This is the procedure I follow for 5 gallon batches of beer.  If you're brewing 10 gallon size batches, you'll probably want to double everything in the procedure.

Here's what you'll need:

Yeast (duh!)
1000 mL Erlenmeyer flask w/ stopper
Funnel
Light Dried Malt Extract (DME)
Saucepan
Stirring Spoon
Lighting reading (optional)
Whiskey (see background, also optional, but leads to more fun!)

Here's what you need!

Now for the procedure.  This is very simple.  You're basically making a very smaller batch of wort to get the yeast going.

1.  Clean and sanitize all your equipment that will come in contact with the wort.  I use PBW and Star San like I do for brewing full batches.  However, you should clean and sanitize using whatever method you're used to.

2.  Bring 650 mL of water to a boil in the saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup of the light DME to the boiling water and stir until the DME dissolves.  When you add the DME it will boil over.  Be prepared to lift the pan off the stove.  Once the wort calms down, continue to boil for 15 minutes.

Note:  I've tried performing the boil directly in the Erlenmeyer flask, but have had a very difficult time controlling the boil over.  The flask tends to act like a 3rd grade volcano project and erupts every 30 seconds during the boil.

Ready for boil over!

Boil over gone!

3.  Before the end of the boil prepare a small ice bath.  Once the boil is complete, transfer the boiled wort into the Erlenmeyer flask.  Place the flask into the ice bath and wrap the flask in a cold, wet towel.  The wort should be cooled in about 10-15 minutes.

This isn't the most impressive ice bath, but it doesn't need to be for your starter.

4.  Once the starter has cooled to room temperature.  You're ready to pitch your yeast.  For this particular batch, I'm using White Labs California Ale WLP001.  Swirl the yeast around inside the vial to be sure none is stuck to the sides and pitch into the flask.  If you're using a Wyeast smack pack, perform the smack! as your normally would pitching into a full batch of wort.  Swirl the flask after you've pitched the yeast to throughly mix the yeast with the wort.  Place your stopper and let sit for about 24 hours.  You're done!

Pre-pitch

White Labs Yeast Vial

Post pitch

All told, this take less than an hour and I've had success using this method for more consistent fermentation in the full batch.  Remember to pitch the entire starter into your batch.  This will not affect the flavor of your particular style.

One additional step that can be performed is to place the starter on a stir plate to continually oxygenize the starter.  I don't use a stir plate and would recommend that a stir plate is strictly optional.  If you're in the cool chemistry lab stuff, then by all means one.  If you're on a budget, you can skip the stir plate and still make a great starter.

UPDATE:

By popular demand here is a shot of the yeast starter right before I pitched into my pumpkin ale yesterday.

Yeast Starter on Brew Day - 9/2/2013

Beer Fest Link Dump!!

For those looking for upcoming beer events in the Bay Area, here's what's coming up in September!

September 5 - Hangar 24 Tap Takeover - Original Gravity Public House, San Jose

September 6 - Calicraft Presents: Wet, Hopped, and Wild!!! - Original Gravity Public House, San Jose
Note to self....visit Original Gravity Public House in San Jose.

September 6 - The Jug Shop Barrel Aged Beet Fest - The Jug Shop, San Francisco

September 7 - Bone Brewfest & Street Fair 2013 - Pyramid Alehouse, Berkeley

September 7 - Speakeasy's 16th Anniversary Block Party - Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, San Francisco
I love Speakeasy beers so I'd definitely recommend this event!!

September 12 - Brewery Ommegang Tap Takeover - Original Gravity Public House, San Jose

September 12 - Oktoberfest - Pyramid Alehouse, Walnut Creek

September 14 - Morgan Hill Brew Crawl - Granada Theater, Morgan Hill

September 14 - Petaluma River Craft Beer Festival - Historic Downtown Petaluma

September 14 - Zwanze Day 2013 - Bar Mikkeller, San Francisco

September 19 - San Jose Museum of Art Meet-Up Mashup - Original Gravity Public House, San Jose

September 26 - 21st Amendment Pint Night - Original Gravity Public House, San Jose

Cheers to the month of September!  Oktoberfest begins in Munich on September 21.  Prost!!

Trudging Across the Tundra (Mile Afte Mile) White IPA

While at Central Coast Brewing in San Luis Obispo last weekend, I stumbled into a copy of Southwest Brewing News (August/September 2013).  White IPA has been a style I've enjoyed in the past (see My Favorite Beers: Chainbreaker White IPA).  I wanted to post this recipe here since it's one that I'll definitely brew in the next few months, but probably won't get to very soon.  If you're able to brew this one in the meantime, let us know how it turns out!

This is a relatively new style of IPA.  According to beeroftomorrow.com, the style was first introduced to the craft beer world in 2010 when Deschutes and Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City) brewed a collaboration batch that went by the name Conflux No. 2.  Apparently, the beer was a huge success and was very difficult to find.  Several craft breweries are now brewing their own variations of a White IPA including Sam Adams (technically a craft brewery), Deschutes, Sarnac (New York), and Anchorage Brewing.  Additionally, Founders Brewing (Grand Rapids, MI) and Green Flashing Brewing (San Diego) have created a collaboration batch in this style.  I personally enjoy the balance between bitter and spiciness that this style offers thanks to the Belgian style yeast

Here's the recipe!  Enjoy!

Batch Size: 5 gallons

Grains:

6 lbs Belgian Pale Ale or Pilsner Malt
6 lbs Unmalted Wheat
1/2 lb Oatmeal
1/2 lb Cara-Pils
1/2 lb Rice Hulls

Hops:

1 oz Centennial - First Wort Hops (FWH)
3/4 oz Citra - 10 minutes
1/2 oz Cascade - 0 minutes
1/2 oz Cascade - Dry hop in secondary fermenter
1/4 oz Citra - Dry hop in secondary fermenter

Other Additions:

1/2 oz Orange peel (sweet, bitter, or fresh dehydrated on top of your AC unit) - 2 minutes
1/2 teaspoon crushed coridander - 2 minutes
1 package Burton Water Salts (I have never used these before, but I'm not a big fan of changing your water unless it tastes bad....proceed at your own risk!)

Yeast:

White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit or Wyeast #3944

Mash & Sparge:

Mash 4.0 gallons of water at 152 degrees F (strike temperature 168 degrees F).  Sparge at 170 degrees F to collect 6.5 to 7 gallons of wort.

Fermentation:

Ferment at 70 - 75 degrees F until fermentation slows.  Transfer to the secondary fermenter and add the dry hops.

OG = 1.063
FG = 1.015
ABV = 6.3%

San Francisco Bacon and Beer Festival

San Francisco Bacon and Beer Festival....need I say more!  Who ever came up with this idea is awesome...actually, awesome doesn't really do them justice.  All I know is that everyone loves beer and everyone loves bacon.

There will be many San Francisco restaurants serving up delicious bacon based dishes.  Also, there will be many local breweries such as 21st Amendment, Speakeasy, Lagunitas, and Half Moon Bay to serve beer to pair with your bacon.  My mouth is watering just thinking about this....

Unfortunately, I'll be doing other manly, testosterone inducing activities this weekend and cannot attend (though I doubt it will match the testosterone produced form eating bacon and drinking beer at the same time for 2+ hours).  If you or anyone you know is going to this event, please send us some pictures or comment on this post to let us know how great the event is.

Fresh Orange Saison

I'm really enjoying the articles, posts, and links that John is producing on the EastBayBrewing blog.  Keep up the great work, John!

I'd like to post a recipe I brewed on the second day of Summer this year.  It was seasonably hot so I chose a beer style that typically employs a higher fermentation temp, provided of course I chose the right yeast.  Fortunately my recipe worked, the beer was delicious, and provided a nice break from the sweltering heat. 

My Fresh Orange Saison recipe is derived from combining two different Saison recipes, one of which is from the Sacramento-based Hops To Table Magazine:

http://www.hopstotable.com/2013/04/19/saisonrecipe/

and the other recipe from notable San Francisco brewer Bennett Buchanan:

18 lbs Belgian Pale (could also use domestic or English 2-row)
Wyest French Saison yeast 3711 (or White Labs Saison II or Belgian Saison Blend)
Wyeast 3724 Belgion Saison (pitched at 80 degrees F)

Brewday Notes: 

4 lbs white wheat

1.5 lbs acidulated malt

1 oz Magnum (60 min)

1 oz Hersbrucker (15 min)

1 oz Hersbrucker (flame out) (we've also done it with 2 oz at flame out, depends how much hop aroma you want)

Both of the above recipes are for 10 gallon, AG batches.  My homebrew system allows for 5-6 gallon yields, so I reduced various ingredients by approximately 50% from each recipe above and developed my own "Fresh Orange Saison" with the intent of producing a crisp, easy drinking, session beer.  I achieved my goal with the following hybrid recipe:

9 lbs Belgian 2-row

2 lbs White wheat

0.75 lbs acidulated malt

7 oz flaked oats

Mash grains with 3.5G of 172 degree F water for one (1) hour.

Sparge 5.5 gallons of 172 degree water for another hour.

Hop additions for a 60 min boil were:

1 oz German Magnum (60 min) (see Brewday Note #1)

0.5 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker (15 min)

a snuff-sized pinch of Irish Moss (15 min)

0.5 oz Fresh Orange Peel (5 min) (see Brewday Note #2)

#1.  Approximately half of the G. Magnum (60 min) boiled over within a minute of the hop addition.  As an emergency back up I added 1/4 oz of Styrian Goldings (at 55 min).  I am known to make mistakes like this on brewday, and I always try to document those mishaps!  

#2. I picked the last orange of the season off a neighborhood tree earlier that morning.  I peeled the orange, removed the majority of the pith (white, spongy tissue on the inside of the peel) and quickly dehydrated the peel by placing it above the air conditioning unit in the 100 degree plus heat.  It worked great, the peel was completely dried within a couple hours.  

Fermentation occurred for the first week in a 6.5G glass carboy.  I racked to a secondary 5G carboy after 7 days, and racked again to another 5G carboy after 14 days.  During the 2nd racking I added 1/2 teaspoon of Knox Gelatin to 1 cup of boiling water, see John's gelatin link here: http://eastbaybrewing.blogspot.com/search/label/Gelatin%20Clarifying  

I then poured the water/gelatin into the tertiary carboy and gave the 5G vessel a swirl to distribute the gelatin throughout the beer.  A week later the result was a semi-clear beer (pictured) that became clearer after a week in the keg at 16 psi.  Unfortunately I have no idea what the ABV was because I forgot to take an OG reading.  Lesson learned!  I sure tasted like it may have been in the 4.0 to 4.5% range.  Perhaps some of you can tell by the picture below what the ABV is ;)

Happy East Bay Brewing -

Justin