Mirror, Mirror, on the Pond - Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale Clone

I am a big fan of most of the podcasts on The Brewing Network. I find them informative and I definitely enjoy their entertainment value on my 40 minute drive in and out of work each day. One of the shows, The Jamil Show - Can You Brew It focuses on cloning commercial beer. The general format of the show is to call up the brewmaster, extract a recipe from him or her, along with some tips, and brew up a batch. Then, live on air, they do a blind tasting of the commercial beer along with the homebrewed version. The beer is judged "cloned" if the majority of the tasters state they could not change the recipe to get any closer to the commercial example.

I have made a couple of the beers featured on Can You Brew It and I have a list of additional ones I would like to try. However, I must say that I have only tried about six of the commercial beers they have attempted to clone, as the rest of them are beers that I can't get around here. This does not dissuade me from attempting them, as the goal, for me, is not to get a perfect clone, but to make interesting beer. In general, some part of Jamil's description or discussion of the beer peaks my interest and then I want to make it.

The beer I am attempting to clone here is Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale, which is featured on the September 28, 2009 Can You Brew It show. Deschutes describes this beer as "a quintessential American pale ale. Mirror Pond elegantly blends the sweetness of malted barley with the bite of hops (which add bitterness and aroma). It's refreshing, loaded with strong hop flavors, and perfectly balanced." The name comes from Mirror Pond, which is a scenic pond along the Deschutes River that is a choice spot for summer festivals and concerts and is just three miles from the brewery. The beer has won many awards and has garnered quite a following.

Here are the statistics of my clone brew attempt and the tasting notes:

Brewed: 1/23/2010

Kegged: 2/3/2010

Original Gravity: 1.050

Final Gravity: 1.011

IBU: 42

Alcohol By Volume: 5.0%

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

The beer pours with an uber-thick creamy head. The sheer volume of foam makes me think there is a nucleation site inside of my tap or beer line. In fact, it is so large that I have to let the foam settle out before topping off the beer, as evidenced by the foam "cap" in the picture. The beer is the color of amber or dark honey, with a light chill haze being evident. I get a nice citrus aroma from the all-cascade hopped beer, with a hint of pine resin. The beer has an interesting malt character that appears at the beginning of the taste. It is vaguely reminiscent of toast and biscuits and is likely derived from the Mutons pale malt that makes up half of the base malt. As an aside, I have discovered a real love for this malt of late and have begun using it more than Maris Otter. The mid-palate has a strong bitterness to it; one that I must say is not balanced by the beer's body. The bitterness lasts through to the end of the taste, which is nice and dry.

On a whole, I am pleased with my Mirror Pond clone attempt. Having never actually tried the real beer, I can't attest to how close my attempt came to the original. However, it is a nice beer and we have cleaned out the keg fairly quickly. My only real complaint is the bitterness, which is not in balance with the beer's body. I suspect that I miscalculated the bittering hop addition, either through over-estimating how much alpha acid was lost to age or mis-measuring the actual hop addition.

I hope to someday try the real Mirror Pond. Until then, I have to say thanks to The Brewing Network for getting me to try this interesting American pale ale.

Lug Wrench Brewing - First Pump Build Post

Jeff and I started a collaborative blog a couple of months ago called Lug Wrench Brewing Company (http://www.lugwrenchbrewing.com). The idea was to encourage collaboration in our shared homebrewing hobby through creative writing and blogging. While Wallace South Brew News will focus on my individual homebrewery and tasting notes, Lug Wrench includes topics of interest to a wider audience. Thus, I decided to post information about my toolbox-housed wort pump build on Lug Wrench, as others may enjoy and benefit from the ideas. However, I wanted to post a link to the entries here, as they directly involve my homebrewery.

You can find the first post here: http://www.lugwrenchbrewing.com/2010/02/wort-pump-in-toolbox-concept.html.

Double-Wide Dubbel

With all the snow we have had recently, I must admit I have enjoyed having a rich Belgian-dubbel on tap. This is the Double-Wide Dubbel, which my friend Greg and I brewed for last year's Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day. Belgian dubbels are rich and malty ales that were traditionally brewed for Trappist monks and provided a good amount of their daily sustenance. American versions tend to be more imperial in nature, and this one is no exception. It is based on a Tommy Arthur recipe found in the book Brew Like a Monk by Stan Hieronymus. Dubbed "Double-Wide Dubbel" because it took two of us to brew the massive double batch, and it was brewed in two parking spaces outside our homebrew store, Fermentation Trap.

But, enough of the background, here are the stats and tasting notes.

Brewed: 11/7/2009

Kegged: 12/6/2009

Original Gravity: 1.076

Final Gravity: 1.014

IBU: 16

Alcohol By Volume: 7.9%

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

The beer pours a deep ruby red, which contains a slightly hazy appearance. The color looks fantastic when held up to a bright light, with a thin layer of small bubbles running through the center of the ruby column. The dubbel has a thin white head that rapidly dissipates, which is not surprising, given the low hopping rate and high alcohol concentration. The aroma is very complex, with hints of raisins, dark fruit, caramel, cinnamon, cloves, and all spice. The aromatic complexity increases as the beer warms.

The dubbel's flavor is also complex. The initial part of the taste provides some of the spice hinted at in the aroma (note, this is all yeast-derived, as no spices were added to the beer). I also get a bit of a zip from what I suspect is the carbonation level, though the beer is not carbonated any more than others in my kegarator. The spice fades to a dark fruit, raisin, and honey sweetness at mid-palate. I also detect some alcohol warming at this point, though it is subtle. The end of the taste has more caramel and honey, with the sweetness lingering on the palate. The sweetness becomes cloying by the end of the pint.

I must say I like this beer, given the winter weather we have had in Central Virginia. It hides its alcohol very well and has an enjoyable complexity. However, if I made it again, I would definitely lessen some of the specialty malts and possibly lower the mash temperature. The beer could finish dryer, which would help it drink easier (though at 7.9%, this might not be a good thing). The beer is also over carbonated, as the flavor improves when I knock some of the carbonation out of it.

One other interesting thing to note is that I tried Greg's version of the dubbel and it tasted different. You could tell they came from the same base, but his had a metallic flavor that is missing in mine. We used the same wort, the same yeast, and targeted the same fermentation profile. I am always intrigued by things like this, because they clearly show that even when things are almost equal in brewing, two different brewers can produce two different results.

Club Competition - Brown Ale Judging

Last night was a first for me, and a first for our club, the Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale (CAMRA). We had more than one club entry into the American Homebrewers Association's (AHA) Club-Only Competition. For those not familiar with these competitions, you can find more information on the AHA's website, but it is basically a series of homebrewing competitions where each club can only submit one entry. The idea is to have interested homebrewing clubs organize brewers to work on a style, then pick the best entry from the club and submit it to go head-to-head with other clubs. It is used in evaluation for the AHA Club of the Year award, and is a neat concept.

The next Club-Only Competition is for English Brown Ales, which include milds, Northern English brown ales, and Southern English brown ales. These ale styles are popular in CAMRA and we actually had six entries competing for the honor of representing the club in the competition. This was the first time we had more than one entry for a Club-Only Competition. To determine which beer would be selected, four of us gathered at a member's house last night for a tasting.

We printed out a copy of the BJCP style guidelines and a score sheet and sampled each beer. Our general process was to pour the beer, visually inspect it, then smell it, taste it, smell it again, and taste it a final time. We took notes and evaluated the sample individually, and then discussed our thoughts together. We tried to come to a relative consensus about each beer, but we did not always get that far. The discussion was lively and very interesting.

In the end, we chose one beer to represent CAMRA. I had a great deal of fun with the actual judging and discussion. It reaffirmed to me once more that what I love most about this hobby is the people I have met through it. It was a great evening spent in the company of friends.

2009 Brewing Year In Review

This was a neat post I did at the end of last year, so I figured I would continue the trend with some random brewing stats and facts from 2009. Enjoy!

- Number of Batches Made - 18
- Number of Gallons Made - 110
- First Brew Day - 1/17/2009
- Last Brew Day - 11/29/2009
- Number of Beer Batches - 16
- Number of Wine Batches - 0
- Number of Cider Batches - 1
- Number of Mead Batches - 1
- Homebrew Competitions Medals Earned - 1 silver and 2 bronze
- Batch with Highest Alcohol - ~13% - Mixed Berry Mead (not finished yet, so ABV is estimate)
- Batch with Lowest Alcohol - 3.7% - Mild n' Wild English Mild
- Average Alcohol Across Batches - 6.2%
- Favorite Brew - Hoppy Gentleman English IPA (wonderful biscuit malt character that blended very well with the herbal and earthy English hops)
- Worst Brew - Headless Folly Pumpkin Beer (added too much vanilla, so all you can smell and taste is vanilla, which makes it hard to drink)
- Favorite Name - Double-Wide Dubbel (Belgian ale brewed in two parking spaces outside our local homebrew shop for Teach a Friend to Brew Day).
- Approximate Amount of Grain used in 2009 - 263 pounds (average of 16.4 lbs/brew)
- Approximate Amount of Hops used in 2009 - 47.5 ounces (average of 2.97 oz/brew)
- Biggest Equipment Upgrade - Purchase of a 15-gallon stainless-steel kettle with attached ball-valve
- Number of Batches Brewed for Baker's Party - 4
- Biggest Supporter of My Brewing - My wife, who still supports my wonderful hobby, though under duress at times. Thanks, honey!

Oktober Fete and Fest

Oktoberfest or marzen beers are the richest of the European amber lagers. They were traditionally made in early spring and lagered in cold caves over the summer months. They would be pulled out for the fall harvest festivals, where their rich character and higher alcohol content would be appreciated by festival-goers. Oktoberfest beers are typically smooth and rich and start with malty sweetness, but finish dry enough to be drunken in quantity.

Back in Septemeber, I brewed my third attempt at making an Oktoberfest-style lager beer. My first attempt was years ago, before I understood how lager yeast worked and it did not finish fermenting out. I don't even think it should have been called a beer, though a friend of mine "adopted" the whole batch and, as far as I know, actually drank it. My second attempt, just last year, also had fermentation issues. The first pitch of yeast I used (Wyeast Bavarian Lager - 2206) turned out to be sickly and did not get off the ground almost at all. I pitched a dry lager strain on top of that to save the batch and it worked. The finished product had a fair amount of diacetyl in the flavor (buttered popcorn), but was definitely drinkable. But, it was not to style and I knew I could do better.

This year's Oktober Fete and Fest used the same grain bill as last years batch, but I used a different yeast strain (White Labs 820), which was special ordered right from the manufacturer and was VERY lively. I made a gallon starter out of it to prime it for the job. The result was easily my best yet and I have had difficulty not drinking it all quickly, as it pairs very well with food.

Here are the stats on the Oktober Fete and Fest:

Brewed: 9/12/2009

Kegged: 11/2/2009

Original Gravity: 1.059

Final Gravity: 1.013

IBU: 27

Alcohol By Volume: 6.0%
Lager Length: 31 days at 40 F

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

The beer pours a clear rich amber color with a rocky white head. The head slowly fades during the pint, but leaves thick lace behind all the way down the glass. This beer is one of the clearest I have ever produced, which is likely a result of long lagering period. The aroma holds a very subtle bready malt character, but finishes with the drying quality that you find in many lagers. I do wish the Oktoberfest had a more substantial aroma, as this one is rather thin.

The initial taste is slightly bready and malty, but lacks some of the malt complexity that I like in this style. The mid-palate flavor has a nice balance between malt and hop bitterness. The taste concludes with a nice dry lager profile that makes it easy to go back for another sip. I think it is this dryness that makes the beer pair well with food and also makes it go down so easy.

The Oktober Fete and Fest received an honorable mention at the 2009 CASK Virginia Beer Blitz competition and earned a score of 33. The judges found it to be very drinkable, but found slightly more diacetyl than they would like to see, as well as it lacked some of the malt complexity they wanted up front.

I am just glad that it placed as well as it did.

Third Annual Virginia Beer Blitz

Earlier in December, the Colonial Ale Smiths and Keggers (CASK) club, out of Williamsburg, VA, put on their third Virginia Beer Blitz. This is a competition that a member of our club did really well in last year, so the rest of CAMRA was interested in it this year. We put on a concerted effort to get entries into the competition, which included having a member's friend drop the entries off at the host brewery in person. Jamey also went down and volunteered as a judge in the competition and had a good time doing so.

The results of the competition can be found here: http://www.colonialalesmiths.org/BeerBlitz/ It was nice to receive a silver metal (mead), a bronze metal (cider), and an honorable mention (Oktoberfest) from the competition. CAMRA, as a whole, also did very well, coming in a three-way tie for most metal points with CASK and the Beer and Ale Research Foundation (BARF) for the coveted Blitzkrieg award. The award ended up going to CASK because they got the most points in the best of show round. This was a great showing for our club, as we are relative newcomers to the Virginia homebrewing competition scene.

Thanks to Jamey for bringing back everyone's medals and prizes and for representing the club at the competition. I hope to be able to volunteer at next year's event.