Dominion Cup 2009

The Dominion Cup is the largest homebrewing competition in the state of Virginia and three of us from CAMRA drove down to Richmond to volunteer at the event this year. Jamey, Greg, and I left Charlottesville around 7:00 am the morning of August 28th and arrived at the site of the competition, Capital City Ale House Music Hall (http://www.capitalalehouse.com/), a little after 8:00 am. The Capital City Ale House Music Hall is a large rectangular room with a large cooler in the back, where the competition organizers from the James River Homebrewers (http://www.jrhomebrewers.org/) set up a series of long tables for the judging to take place.

Jamey, Greg, and I each ended up in different roles during the competition. Greg, who won a bronze medal for his German alt beer in this year's National Homebrew Competition, ended up judging IPAs during the morning session and fruit beers in the afternoon session. Greg has been talking about getting BJCP-certified, so this was a great experience for him. Jamey ended up stewarding for both sessions of the competition. A steward assists the judges at his or her table by organizing score sheets, maintaining the beer entry pull list, and generally trying to keep things moving for the judges. As an added bonus, Jamey got to taste some of the entries along with the judges and weigh how he would have scored the beer as compared to the judges' comments.

I got to spend the day performing the duties of cellarman. I had volunteered to steward for both the morning and afternoon sessions of the competition. But, though a volunteer sheet mix-up, I was not scheduled in the morning. The competition director put me to work helping the club's cellarman, Mark, for the morning session. The cellermen of a competition organize how beer is stored and distributed to the stewards and the judging tables. In this case, it meant moving and organizing 732 bottles of beer (366 entries, two bottles each). The cellerman position was surprisingly interesting, as it was a logistical focal point of the competition. We had to make sure the entries were pulled in the correct order for each of the 11 tables, so the judges were working through sub-categories correctly (light alcohol to heavy alcohol, less assertively flavor sub-categories coming first, etc.). We also had to organize the cooler so that we could easily locate the best of show entries for the final session in the afternoon (the best beer in each category was reserved and then provided to the BoS judges late in the afternoon to pick the best beer of the competition). Mark did a great job and I enjoyed myself enough to volunteer to continue to help him into the afternoon. It was a great way to spend the day.

At the end of the day, CAMRA did great (full awards list can be found at http://www.jrhomebrewers.org/dominioncup/DomCupWinners2009.php). Jamey ended up winning more medals than anyone else and took home the Plato Award for best brewer at the competition (total of 25 medal points). Greg won two medals and I won my first ever medal, a bronze for my Hoppy American Amber Ale. Several other CAMRAites won medals, bringing our club total to 15. It was very exciting to see our club get so many accolades. It was also fun to see my brother take home two medals with some of the beer I brought down from his club when we visited Rhode Island earlier this year.

Most of all, I enjoyed spending time with my two friends and talking shop about a hobby we all love so much. I had a chance to meet a bunch of other homebrewers from all around Virginia and hear some of their stories and brewing methods. The experience once again affirmed to me that brewing beer is, above all, a social activity. While we all came together in the spirit of competition, the most enjoyable part of it all was spending a day in each other's company.

Of course, winning a medal never hurts either . . .

Smokey Fox - Comparison and Contemplation

I have been remiss in posting tasting notes for my homebrew of late. So, I figured I would take a moment to post some thoughts on what I am calling Smokey Fox, my smoked lager brewed with grain that was smoke-malted at the Copper Fox distillery (see the post from June). This beer was an experiment for me, as I had never made a smoked beer before and had no idea what to expect from the malt from Copper Fox. I must say that this beer has again shown me that decent process will result in good beer, even if you are not familiar with specific ingredients.

Smokey Fox used a traditional German Rauchbier malt and hop profile. This is a style that originated in and around Bamberg, Germany and the distinctive smoke flavor in the beer came from the beechwood fires used to roast the grain at the end of the malting process (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rauchbier). The malt bill included the Copper Fox smoked 6-row barley, pilsner malt, Munich malt, Caramunich malt, melanoidin malt, and a pinch of black patent malt for color. The smoked malt made up about 50 percent of the total grain bill. I used hallertau hops in the beer, though you could use any German noble hop, as the hops are not the focus of the beer. Here are some stats:

Brewed: 6/28/2009

Kegged: 8/1/2009

Original Gravity: 1.052

Final Gravity: 1.014

IBU: 32

Alcohol By Volume: 4.9%

Carbonation Volume: 2.8 (15 psi at 40 degrees F)

Smokey Fox pours with a huge craggy off-white head. I was surprised at how much head this beer has, given the smoked malt in it. The beer's aroma is just slightly smokey, which increases as the beer warms. The aroma is otherwise smooth, with a very faint hint of sulfur at the end of the nose. The beer is a deep red in color, almost like the color of sunlight coming through red glass. This color did not come through very well in the picture, but it looks wonderful up close. The smoke flavor in the beer is also subdued, though it picks up as the beer warms. I also get a little biscuit and bread flavor, along with just a hint of spice. Smokey Fox finishes very clean and leaves you wanting another sip.

Knowing that I was going to eventually be reviewing Smokey Fox, I took the opportunity to pick up a classic example of a smoked beer while visiting my parents in Rochester, New York (Beers of the World is a wonderful store). I bought a bottle of Schlenkerla smoked marzen, both because they are one of the classic producers of smoked beers and because I love marzens. When comparing the two side-by-side, I was struck by their similar color; they looked almost identical. Their heads were the same color, though the Smokey Fox was thicker. That is where the similarities ended.

Compared to my beer, the smoked marzen was smokey, REALLY smokey. Its smoke aroma was intense and lovely. Think bacon cooking over a camp fire (yes, I said bacon). It was truely lovely. The smoke aroma transferred to a slightly lesser extent to the flavor. The malt in the marzen, which is usually a mainstay of the style, was completely subservient to the smoke. The smoke persisted throughout the taste, even lasting 10 seconds or more after you swallow.

I must say that I really enjoyed the Schlenkerla, but it definately wore my palate down. The smoke flavor, which I loved, kept building through out the pint. By the end, my palate was dead. I did alternate between the two beers through out this evaluation, but by contrast, the Smokey Fox tasted like a smooth malty lager, with little to no smoke flavor. I guess it is not that surprising, given the Schlenkerla's intensity. After having both, I think I would like a bit more smoke in my beer, but not that much more, as I can have several pints of Smokey Fox, but not more than one of the Schlenkerla.

I hope you enjoyed the review as much as I had writing it. Thanks to Copper Fox for the malt and the chance to do this project.

Cheers,

Tom

Brother Brews: Dragon's Milk Clone

We went up to visit my brother and his family in Rhode Island a couple of weeks ago for vacation. The cousins had a lot of fun playing together and we did all sorts of fun activities like going into Boston, going to the beach, and playing around in the backyard. Jeff and I also got to do a bunch of fun beer-related activities (much to our wives' chagrin), such as stopping at some of his local bottle shops, trying a bunch of his homebrew, and doing a comparison of the Lost Abbey Devotion clone we had brewed together with the actual commercial beer. Jeff is lucky enough to get Lost Abbey beer in his area. It was really a lot of fun to compare the two beers. As I recall, our homebrewed version was more grainy, rough, and had more Belgian character than the commercial version, which was smooth, velvety with just a hint of spice. We were also able to get a brew session in together, which was a highlight of the trip for me.

Jeff and I had previously decided to try and brew a clone version of New Belgian's Dragon's Milk, which is a wonderfully rich bourbon-aged old ale. I had previously tried Dragon's Milk at The Timberwood Grill, which is near my house, and fell in love with the beer. We decided on it because it was a rich and interesting beer and would age well, as it would be some time before we would see each other again and be able to exchange bottles. The clone recipe was published in the January 2008 edition of Brew Your Own magazine.

I had a lot of fun seeing how Jeff brews beer, as every homebrewer develops their own process with their own equipment. Jeff also brews at night, which is very different than my weekend daily brewing. He also batch sparges, while I use a homebrew-sized fly sparging setup. As an added bonus, one of our best friends from when we were growing up, Craig, came down from Boston and stayed the night to hang out. It was really fun to show him the process and chat with him over a couple of pints of Jeff's great homebrew.

The Dragon's Milk Clone is now aging on bourbon-soaked oak chips in secondary and I can't wait to try it out. I had a great time, Jeff, and I hope we can do it again soon.

Pictures from the 2009 Baker Crab Fest

Well, the 2009 Baker Crab Fest went very well. We only had a very brief period of rain and it was not too hot. The food was excellent and I even got away with a lion's share of the clams. The beer seemed to be well received and it was fun, as in years past, to chat with people about what they thought of our efforts. The only slight problem we had was that the pilsner poured foamy after about 6 oz were in the glass. The flavor was still good, but it was pretty foamy.

The order the kegs were kicked was as follows:

- Midnight Breakfast Oatmeal Stout on Nitro Tap (making it the party favorite, yay!!!)
- Pissed Black Cat Pale Ale
- Double Down Scottish 80/~
- Hippy Hawk Bohemian Pilsner (it was kicked after the party)

And here are some pictures:

Here are John's handmade tap handles

Here is a picture of the full tap machine

Here are all the kegs

Me pouring a beer

Copper Fox Distillery

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Central Virginia and, surprisingly enough, my family had nothing scheduled to do. So we decided to take a drive, have a picnic, and tour some local wineries and distilleries. That is right, I said distilleries. There are two operating distilleries here in Central Virginia and both of them are within an hour drive of our house.

The first one, the Belmont Farm Distillery (http://www.virginiamoonshine.com) has an advertisement on Route 29, near Culpepper. It was fun to visit and really looked the part of an old time farm-based distillery. The pot still used there was built in the 1920s and several parts of the bottling line were from the early 1900s. There are several modern pieces to the operation, most notably all of the different water filtration systems, but the place still has a very authentic feel. They sell two types of whiskey there, both available from the farm, an aged whiskey and a raw, unwooded whiskey.

The second distillery was the real gem, and the most fun stop for me on our entire trip. I first saw mention of The Copper Fox Distillery (http://www.copperfox.biz) on the Mad Fermentationist's blog, where his club was looking to possibly get a used barrel from the distillery (http://madfermentationist.blogspot.com/2009/06/oubreak-2009-infected-barrel.html). Copper Fox is located in Sperryville, VA in an old apple processing facility. The owner, Rick Wasmund, and his "Master of Malt" (Mom) operate the distillery and provide very personal and educational tours. They have an innovative aging process where they age the whiskey in contact with apple and cherry wood, which imparts an interesting color and taste to the whiskey. But, the coolest thing of all is that they malt their own barley.

Copper Fox uses 6-row barley as the sole ingredient in their whiskey. They get the barley from one farmer, who lives about 3 hours from the brewery, and bring the raw grain directly into the distillery. Then, during the cool times of the year, they soak the barley in giant vats and then lay it out on the floor of a special section of the building. They let it germinate and then they kiln it right on site, using apple and cherry wood (http://www.copperfox.biz/products/). This imparts the malt with a interesting smokey note that helps make the whiskey distinctive. As far ask Rick knows, they are the only distillery in North America that malts their own grain.

Rick was kind enough to send me home with a sample of this special malt. I am planning on using it in a German-style smoked lager sometime in the near future. I would encourage any readers in Virginia to pay the distillery a visit, as the tours are well worth the drive. While you are at it, pick up a bottle of Wasmund's Single Malt Whiskey and give it a try.

Baker Summer Party Brews

Mr. Baker and I have been busy brewing beer for his annual 4th of July Crab Fest. We brewed the last batch of beer this past Sunday and it is mostly done fermenting now. John asked me to do a brief write up of the four beers we will have on tap, which he includes in the invitations and posts near the kegs on party day. I figured I would post that text here, just so people could see what we have put together.

Hippy Hawk Bohemian Pilsner
OG: 1.055 FG: 1.014
ABV: 5.3% IBU: 40
Bohemian pilsners are more malty and rounded than their dry German cousins, while still retaining the crisp and sharp hop edge that defines the pilsner style. This characteristic roundness is emphasized by a lower mineral content water that provides a softer body that helps bring the malt body in balance with the Czech Saaz hops. Our Hippy Hawk Bohemian Pilsner is named for a hawk we saw circling over the deck on brew day, as well as the Bohemian quality of the beer that will leave you wanting more and more of this beer. Groovy, man . . .

Pissed Black Cat Pale Ale
OG: 1.050 FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.1% IBU: 48
The pale ale style is one that has defined the American craft beer movement. It originally came from England, where its slightly higher alcohol content and lighter color than traditional English bitters and milds made it very popular. American brewers have made it their own by using citrus hop varieties, such as our use of Millennium and Centennial, higher hopping levels, and larger alcohol concentrations. This beer was the crowd favorite from last year, being the first keg tapped on that rainy Saturday. The beer's name came from a previous brew session, where John witnessed my neighbor's black cat urinating on my smoker. I hope she was not commenting on the quality of the smoked dishes I like to cook.

Double Down Scottish 80/~
OG: 1.053 FG: 1.019
ABV: 4.2% IBU: 15
Scottish ales are characterized by a massive, complex malty body that finishes slightly dry to make drinkable in quantity. The ales are meant to be session beers, where their relatively low alcohol concentration enables someone to have several pints in a "session" at the pub with friends and not get overly intoxicated. Scottish ales are named for the number of shillings of tax the brewer had to pay on each barrel at some point in long forgotten history. This beer is an 80 shilling, designated by use of the symbol "80/~" Our beer is named for the two kettle boil overs I had the first time I made this recipe, which created quite a mess.

Midnight Breakfast Oatmeal Stout
OG: 1.064 FG: 1.018
ABV: 6.0% IBU: 36
Oatmeal stouts are derived from dry Irish stouts, though the addition of oatmeal in the grist provides a rounder and less edgy finish, often described as a "slick" feeling on the palate. This has long been a favorite beer style of mine and we have had a version on tap ever since I started brewing for John's party several years ago. Last year, John purchased a stout tap for this beer, which uses a nitrogen/CO2 gas mix to carbonate the beer. It provides a rich and velvety finish to the stout and gives it a dense foamy head. The beer is dark as midnight, but the smell coming off the kettle on brew day reminds me of breakfast oatmeal. Thus, Midnight Breakfast was born.

Brother Brewing - In Person

My brother was able to come down and visit a couple weeks ago and we were able to brew together in person. I must say that I had been looking forward to doing this for some time. Jeff and I have shared common interests and hobbies since I was in kindergarten and it has been great to have another topic to talk about. We have definitely exchanged more phone calls and emails recently, discussing homebrewing clubs, equipment, competitions, and recipes. In fact, during the visit, my wife even requested "can we PLEASE talk about something OTHER than beer!" I count this a moment of personal success, as my wife is pretty much immune to beer-related talk at this point in our relationship.

At any rate, after much debate and research, we decided on brewing a Belgian pale ale. It fit our requirements to brew something slightly "paler," with an interesting element, something of moderate alcohol strength (~6% ABV), and something neither of us had brewed recently. We elected on doing a Brew Your Own (BYO) magazine clone of the Lost Abbey Devotion Ale. The recipe looked interesting and was developed with the help of the brewer (a key component when it comes to clone recipes). The brew day went very well, except for planning around a spring storm that never arrived, and Jeff spending time trying to solder an addition to my immersion chiller (more below). Jeff even got me to try a Flemish sour beer that I ended up liking (Duchess de Bourgogne, brewed by the Verhaeghe Brewery). I am planning on taking some of the Belgian pale up to Jeff when we visit his home later this summer. [Note: the Belgian pale is the furthest carboy to the back of the picture. The other two are oatmeal stouts for Baker's summer party]

One of the other brewing things we did during that weekend was to upgrade my immersion chiller. I had been having some trouble cooling batches down recently, with 10 gallon batches taking well over an hour to cool to pitching temperatures. My existing immersion chiller was only 25 feet of 1/4" copper tubing. So, I purchased 25 feet of 3/8" copper tubing with the hope that I could connect the two of them somehow and double my cooling capacity. I am glad that Jeff was here to help, as he had soldered pipes before. Even so, it took two different trips to Lowes to get everything we needed, plus about 90 minutes of work. But, the chiller works great and it is all thanks to Jeff.