Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day - Saturday Nov 1, 2008

In typical fashion, I am writing about this event well after the fact. But, it was a fun event, so I wanted to include some information about it on my blog.

The first Saturday every November, the American Homebrewing Association (AHA) organizes an event called "Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day." The purpose of the event is to help spread the word about homebrewing good beer and take the mystery out of it. Homebrewing is something anyone can do and it is not hard, especially once you see it done. I did a Teach a Friend to Homebrew event at my house last year and enjoyed it immensely.(http://wallacesouthbrewnews.blogspot.com/2007/11/teach-friend-to-homebrew-day.html).

This was the first year we had a homebrew store in town to help organize the event. Bob Cuddleback, over at the Fermentation Trap, invited our homebrewing club to come out and brew at the store for the event. He advertised the event to the Charlottesville area and we did the same on our club forums. So, I packed up all my equipment and headed over to the store around noon. I had a good time brewing along side Bob, as well as comparing equipment and stories with him. I also really enjoyed showing those that stopped by my equipment and discussing the brewing process.

Here are some interesting bullet points about the day:

- I brewed a simple all-grain hefeweizen recipe, which took about 6 hours.

- In that time, Bob brewed two malt extract recipes, a hefeweizen and a scottish ale. His comment was that he was glad I showed off my all-grain equipment, but also glad that he ended up with twice as much beer.

- We had between 15 and 20 people stop by and observe the brewing process.

- The most gathered around me as I started to mash out, and promptly had a stuck sparge (where no wort comes out of the mash tun). This is particularly embarrassing, as it implies that I don't really know what I am doing (which I am not always sure that I do). I was able to salvage the beer without too much effort, but still . . . Murphy's law.

- I got to try a couple of people's homemade wine during the day, including a truly excellent cherry port.

- Fellow CAMRA members Christopher and Mike came out and kept me company during the long brew day.

- Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Fun Homebrew Review: Centennial IPA - T Minus 16 months . . .

I wrote this homebrew review for a member of our homebrewing club not too long ago. It was a neat review, so I thought I would repost it here. Enjoy.

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A friend gave me a bottle of his Imperial Centennial IPA more than a year ago now. I remember him saying that he did not know what to call it, as it really turned out a bit more like a barleywine than a true Imperial IPA. I suggested "800-pound gorilla" because the beer has so many hops in there, but my friend wisely avoided the primate reference. I also remember him saying that he wondered what would happen if the beer was laid down to age, but that it was unlikely he would do so, as he tends to drink them before letting them age. So, unbeknownst to my friend, I aged the beer and am finally getting a chance to drink it.

The beer pours an amber/red color that is almost edging on brown. The beer is very clear and I can easily see my hand through it. There is definitely carbonation in the beer, but the head is thin (about a quarter-inch thick) and course. The head lasted for about two minutes before slowly dissolving into the beer, though it left some lacing on my glass. There is a definite hop aroma to the beer, but it is rather thin. I sort of expected this, as hop flavor and aroma drop off as hoppy beers age. Many people often say you should drink IPAs and other hoppy beers quickly to get the hop presence. I also smell brown sugar, or a dark belgian candy sugar.

The IPA tastes very good. It has a definite bitter component, which nicely balances the sweetness from the imperial quality of the beer. As expected,a strong hop presence is absent from the beer. Aside from the bitterness, I don't get much hop character that I would expect in an IPA. I taste a dark sugar component, but without all of the sweetness. The beer finishes slightly sweet, but the sweetness does not really build on the tongue, so it is still easy to finish the glass.

Interestingly, the beer tastes a lot more like a belgian tripel than a barleywine, which differs from my friend's original characterization. The flavor is similar enough that I would probably classify it as a tripel, if I did not know the beer's history. The only thing that is not quite on style is that the beer has a bit more bitterness than a tripel would, so it might be an "American tripel."

Thank you for sharing your beer with me. I hope you like your "surprise review," even though I spilled the beans that I was going to write it a couple of weeks back. Cheers!

Review of "Double Down" Scottish 80/~ Ale

I must admit that this beer had me a bit concerned. As you may have already read, the day I brewed it was very eventful. Add to that experience that I have read a couple of negative reviews of the recipe I used and early tastes of the beer were a bit cloyingly sweet. However, the beer rallied nicely about a month after I brewed it and I am very happy with it right now. It is definitely a session beer and I am enjoying a pint of it right now.

Brewed: 9/20/2008
Kegged: 9/27/2008
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 15
Alcohol By Volume: 4.1%
Carbonation Volume: 2.5 (13 psi at 40 degrees F)

The beer pours a brownish color with strong red highlights. It is fairly clear, when held up to a strong light, though under normal conditions, it appears opaque due to its dark color. The beer has a moderate amount of off-white head on it, which dissipates over a few minutes, leaving a light film on top of the beer. This film makes interesting patterns on the glass, as you enjoy the pint, which is called "Belgian lace." The 80/~ has a malty aroma, mixed with something nutty, maybe like toasted almonds. Hop aroma is completely absent from this beer, which is as expect from the style and lack of aroma hops.

The beer has a strong malt flavor. This is the first thing that hits your palate and lasts throughout the taste. This is a mild silky flavor in there, slightly reminiscent of an oatmeal stout, though it is much less apparent. The is no detectable bitterness to the beer, but it must be present to counteract the high final gravity of the beer. There is a slight honey flavor in the beer that probably came from the honey malt. A friend of mine says that specific flavor is something he does not like about this recipe, and I am tempted to agree. If I make the beer again, I will omit that specialty malt and go with more toasted bread flavor, probably from victory or a similar malt. The beer finishes with a slight prickle of carbonation, but leaves a hint of sweetness on the tongue.

This is the first true session beer that I have brewed. Session beers are those under 4.2% ABV and are very important in the British brewing tradition, where gathering at the pub for a couple of pints after work is the norm for the British public. If their common beer were stronger, people would be getting sloshed all the time, so the pub masters brewed milds and bitters that were session beers, i.e. beer with great taste that is refreshing, but not too strong. Brewing good beer like this is a challenge that I hope to undertake again soon.

A note about the photo: I write this post after spending the day at an apple festival with my family and the family of a good friend who is also a homebrewer. The leaves are beginning to turn and it feels like Fall. It was a great Fall day outside, clear and crisp, so I felt the need to take a picture of the beer outside, while rays of the setting sun showed the highlights in the beer, much like the highlights of the changing leaves.

"Double Down" Scottish 80/~ Ale

So, I am sure a lot of the other homebrewers out there have had boil-overs before. It is a common problem, especially when you first start homebrewing. At that time, you have no idea that boiling wart has the characteristic of explosively generating foam, much like boiling pasta water on steroids. However, I have been brewing for several years now; so, for the most part, I know what to look for and how to avoid the common pitfalls.

Enter important Tom personality characteristic #2 (the first is that I love homebrewing). I rarely sit still. I mean to say that I usually have a to-do list inscribed in my mind that clearly dictates all of the tasks that I must complete in a given weekend. So, it is very common for me to try to do multiple tasks at once. In this case, I was doing the following:

- Brewing the Scottish ale
- Watching my son (read, he was "helping", while my wife was at our daughter's soccer game
- Baking a batch of sourdough bread
- Mowing the lawn and doing other gardening stuff

So, add to this insane mix that my Mom calls to say hi. She has no idea I am doing all of this stuff and we had not spoken for a few weeks (Call your Mom, today!). So I pause to talk to her and to help my son do a jigsaw puzzle. Enter boil over number one. I caught it in time not to be extremely bad, but I still had to wipe off most of the pot and parts of the burner stand. I hang up with my Mom and get things cleaned up.

Things seem to be going well, so I toss in the hops and then turn to respond to a question that my son asks. BOOM. Boil over number two, this time with hops. I promptly curse, which is repeated by my son. It is just the way this brew day is going.

In the end, everything got done (the beer is fermenting away in the fridge now, the lawn is mowed, my son is still alive, the bread is fantastic, and I am still sane). I felt that the beer should be named "Double Down" for the two times that foam ran down the sides of the kettle.

The take home lesson is that you should enjoy the brew day (especially seeing how beautiful it was outside this weekend) and not try to do too much at the same time. Your beer, and your spouse/significant other/children/neighbors, will thank you for it . . .

American Pale Ale

I must admit that American Pale Ale (APA) has never been a favorite style of mine. It is probably the most commonly available style, with every brew pub in America making their own version. However, that said, it also allows a LOT of latitude when designing a recipe because there are so many different versions.

I was inspired to do an APA by two factors. First, the APA that I brewed for John's party this year was a huge hit. It was the keg that disappeared the fastest by a good hour or more. This in spite of the fact we had oatmeal stout on nitro tap (my personal favorite). The recipe is actually a modified version of the one I made for John's party, with different hops.

The second reason for the APA was a discussion at a CAMRA meeting a couple of months ago. One of the members was talking about mash hoping, a technique where you add hops directly to the mash. This is an excellent way to use old hops, as the technique does not really get extra bitterness out of the hops, but somehow results in greater hop mouthfeel. I really wanted to try this out and had 2 ounces of year old amarillo hops to use.

Brewed: 7/19/2008

Kegged: 8/7/2008

Original Gravity: 1.053

Final Gravity: 1.010

IBU (estimated, due to mash hopping): 48

Alcohol By Volume: 5.5%

Carbonation Volume: 2.7 (15 psi at 40 degrees F)

The beer pours an amber color, much like a dark honey. It has a chill haze at lower temperatures that vanishes as the beer warms. It has a nice off-white head, a little craggy due to all of the hops. It has a definite hop smell, more along the lines of an IPA than an APA, but not quite as citrus-heavy.

The beer tastes very hoppy. There is a fullness to the hop flavor that I have not made before, which I attribute to the mash hopping. I really have no idea how this works, but I like the end product. There is a bit of caramel on the back part of the tongue, but it is very subdued. The beer finishes very dry, as we can see with the 1.010 final gravity. This leaves the palate ready for more beer, but when I brew it again, I might increase the caramel malt a bit. The dryness is a bit out of balance and I would like a slight hint more residual sweetness. Overall, I am very happy with the product and will definitely try to brew this one again.

Partner Brewing

I brewed my Oktoberfest or marzen lager this past Saturday and put a post up about the brew day on our homebrew club (CAMRA) forums. One of the members of CAMRA, Billy, contacted me and stated he wanted to come over to help brew. I must say that this is my favorite part of this hobby. Homebrewing is a very social hobby and people always seem to want to help each other. Friendly chatter and helping hands make a brew day all the more enjoyable.

Billy is a relatively recent, but passionate, homebrewer. He had not seen anyone do an all-batch of beer before and he had lots of questions. It was rather fun to walk him through the process and his questions were insightful and well-thought out. We also had the opportunity to enjoy a homebrew or two and Billy seemed to like both the pale ale and chocolate-hazelnut robust porter that I have on tap.

Thanks for coming over, Billy. Sharing mutual interest in this wonderful hobby is what CAMRA and homebrewing are all about. For more information about CAMRA, see our website at: http://www.cvillebrewing.com/

Chocolate Hazelnut Robust Porter

This beer came from Jamil Zainasheff's book Brewing Classic Styles. This has become my favorite recipe book and I have had consistent success with the recipes it presents. I brewed this beer for my wife, who loves all things chocolate, because she is so tolerant of my hobby and because I used a good portion of my "marriage capital" when I purchased and built my kegerator. Thanks honey, I hope you like it.

Brewed: 6/7/2008
Kegged: 6/21/2008
Original Gravity: 1.076
Final Gravity: 1.022
Alcohol By Volume: 6.8%
Carbonation Volume: 2.2 (12 psi at 40 degrees F)

The beer features a full 8 oz can of Hersey's baking chocolate, which a friend wisely had me mix in hot wort in a sauce pan, rather than dump directly into the boil. The smell coming off of the brew pot was heavenly, even it if was 95 F outside on the deck when I made the beer. By the end of fermentation, the chocolate had settled to the bottom of the carboy, in a thick dark chocolate sludge. I was briefly tempted to try some, but then thought better of it. The porter had 0.5 oz of hazelnut extract added directly to the keg. The beer should age very well, given its large amount of dark and roasty malts and higher alcohol content.

The beer pours very dark. I mean like looking into a black hole dark. It's head is course and craggy, more like the head you would expect on an IPA, rather than a stout. The head is a dark creamy color, similar to the espresso stout I made last year, but not quite as tan. The head disappears quickly, which might be due to the high fat content in the chocolate. The porter smells of dark chocolate, with a very slight hint of hazelnut. It reminds me a bit of some of the chocolate shops we visited when in Italy, not sweet like Hersey Park's Chocolate World, but something more complex.

The first taste you get is roast. The roast character of the porter is more reminiscent of a stout. I think the robust porter naturally has this flavor, but the dark chocolate contributes to it as well. You get chocolate on the middle of the tongue, but it is more subdued than you would think after the smell. There is a bit of mocha on the back of the tongue, followed by just a hint of hazelnut. If I make the beer again, I will definitely bump the hazelnut extract up, perhaps to 0.75 oz of extract.

Overall, this is a enjoyable beer, but one that is complex enough so that you would probably not have more than a pint at a time. Cheers, honey, and once again I am glad a married a wonderful woman who enjoys beer and supports my exploration of brewing it.