What would Jesus Drink? (a mead that can float on water)
A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon a great idea: Dandelion Mead. You see, I had been planning to make a standard mead for a while, then I procrastinated long enough that the Dandelions sprouted and overtook our lawn. Now I was conflicted, because I wanted to also make a Dandelion wine similar to one that a friend had made in high school. The problem with these dual plans was that I only had one fermenter available for my whimsy.
“Why not make a Dandelion Mead?” I thought to myself. A fantastic idea! So, knowing that children make the best slaves…uh… free labor… erm…. willing helpers, I grabbed 4 gallon sized ziplock bags and handed 3 of them to our oldest daughter. “Want to go pick flowers with Daddy?” And enthusiastic nod meant that I had met an easy mark for my plan.
What I wasn’t planning for was how long it would take to fill 5 gallon sized bags with dandelions and the short attention span of a 5 year old. I actually ended up picking a majority of the flowers, which probably worked out for the best. When making dandelion wine, you only use the blossoms. The stems and roots are very too astringently bitter to be palatable, and the leaves are better suited for a spring mix salad. My next step was to steep the blossoms in a like volume of 175*F water for 2 days. I don’t know the exact science behind this steeping process, though I imagine it is done to extract the flavor and aroma of the flowers.
After the steeping period was over, the flower blossoms are strained, and the must is brought back up to 170*F in order to sterilize. This is when the honey was added in. After the mead is allowed to cool (I cheated and used my wort chiller), you add an appropriate wine yeast along with some acid blend and yeast nutrients, set the carboy in the corner and let it sit for a month. After that first month, transfer the mead to a secondary fermenter and allow to condition until it is as crystal clear and smooth as you want it to be.
That first batch of mead turned out pretty damned awesome. I decided to make a second batch this spring. I even tried my clever ruse with the kids about how much fun picking flowers would be. They were a little more receptive, but I still ended up doing most of the picking. The following is what 2010’s recipe looks like (off the top of my head, since the recipe is on my dead computer):
- 3 Wegmans grocery bags of Dandelion blossoms
- 12lbs Honey. I used a combination of Clover and Orange Blossom
- 3tsp Yeast nutrient
- 1tsp Acid blend
- 1 sachet rehydrated Cote de Blancs wine yeast
- OG was 1.095
- Color is a very light yellow
I have some interesting notes:
- I noticed after the 2 day steep that the Dandelion must smelled remarkable like honey. I credit a good steep that extracted lots of pollen for this. It might also be due to using way more dandelion blossoms than was actually needed.
- Wine yeast does not develop a krausen like beer yeast will. I imagine this has to do with a lack of proteins in must, whereas beer wort usually has all sorts of proteins from the hot and cold breaks. I could be completely wrong, but that’s my hypothesis.
This years mead was brewed May 1-3. When I transferred to secondary last weekend (May 23rd), the gravity was at a whopping 0.996. For reference, water has a specific gravity of 1.000. My mead can float on water! It truly is a heavenly beverage! That works out to a current alcohol level of 13.1% ABV… and it is well hidden. This mead is already pretty smooth tasting and not “hot” with alcohol. It does need to condition a while to remove some of the yeasty flavors, but in 6 months time, this will be a great drink for our annual holiday party.
Libations for Memorial Day Weekend
Ah, Memorial Day…the greatest weekend in this racing fan’s year. This year the Holy Trifecta of Monaco, Indy 500, and the Charlotte 600 has been changed a bit; Monaco has been replaced by the Turkish Grand Prix. A minor technicality that I’ll let slip…
But that’s not the point here, folks. The point is this: what do you drink on this glorious occasion? What do you have with your slow-smoked barbecue (baby-back) ribs? Well, this year we’ve got a full stock of beers to try:
- Harpoon Glacier Harvest Wet Hop Ale (2009)
- Harpoon Helles Blond Bock
- Harpoon Island Creek Oyster Stout
- Val-Dieu Blond
- Trade Route Brewing Co. Ginger Pale Ale
- Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
- Piraat Ale
- Brooklyn Sorachi Ace
- Smuttynose Maibock
- Long Trail Coffee Stout
- Southern Tier Mocha
- Horseheads Brewing Chocolate Porter
My wife and I have a nice relaxing weekend of good food and libations planned. This will be a weekend for ourselves and we hope to thoroughly enjoy it!
And, as a side note: I plan on transferring my Belgian Dubbel to secondary this weekend, as well.
T-minus four days and counting
The next installment of “Keg Lines” in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle will be this coming Tuesday.
Will they get it right this time?
Will my head actually explode at the immense levels of misinformation that they espouse?
Should I see my family care doctor for scripts for blood pressure medication and Valium?
Only time will tell. Stay tuned
Two Hearted Ale (the Binghamton Chronicles)
A few weeks back (May 16th, to be specific), the fam and myself went to visit some brewer friends in Binghamton, NY. The trip was dual purpose as they were throwing a birthday party for their daughter, and we could bring our kids, let them run til they drop, then brew to our hearts’ content the following day.
It was a true brewing party. RYWBC showed up from Hilton with our van packed with brewing gear…and one small bag for each of us because that was all the room I had left for “non-essential” items. Al and his neighbors also had brews planned for the day. In total, the goal was to brew two 5 gallon batches and one 10 gallon batch all while redirecting children and tending to the barbeque grills. For my part in the brewing, I decided to pull a trusted favorite recipe out and brew my version of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. As this beer is not distributed into New York, this is really the best way for me to get my hands on it (legitimately…).
As a bit of back-story, let me explain how I came to brew my Two Hearted Ale clone. Just about four and a half years ago, the wife and I found out we were expecting twins, much to our shock and eventual joy. I decided that I had to brew something to commemorate their impending arrival. My first thought was a barleywine to be cellared until they were of legal drinking age. Then Stacie had this great idea to brew a beer, make a label for it, and hand them out as birth announcements. Fantastic, thinks I… so… what do i brew? I had heard of this beer called Two Hearted Ale, but I could not find any to samplle and try to dissect the recipe. That left “the Google“. I found quite a few recipes on various forums, and even a clone recipe that Northern Brewer sells under a different name to avoid trademark issues. Finally, I found an old thread on the hbd.org boards that had a scaled down recipe submitted by David Bell himself (*note I have long since lost the link to this particular recipe, and it is deep deep within the Google machine at this point).
So, I had my base recipe, which I tweaked a little along the way based on what I could buy locally. I brewed that first batch, and it was good. Delicious… Mouth-gasmic. I still by that point had not had the pleasure of sampling the commercial beer,and would not have that opportunity for almost a full year. As luck would have it, I had brought a bottle of my homebrewed example to a UNYHA meeting the same week that another club member had brought in a case of Bell’s version. I was finally able to do a side-by-side tasting. My version was a bit aged, having been brewed the year prior, but the main points were still very much there. I was overjoyed that I have cloned a beer on the first attempt successfully without ever having tasted the beer I was attempting to clone.
I’ve brewed the recipe a few times since, though never quite as successfully. I was looking to change that in Binghamton. My good friend Al proposed a great idea in that he would get the ingredients for me and provide the fermenter if I brought my gear down and actually brewed the beer. That sounds easy enough. Down to brass tacks now, this is what I brewed in Binghamton:
The recipe, for 5 gallons (brewed on 5/16/2010):
- 10lbs Rahr 2-Row
- 4lbs German Vienna Malt
- 1lb Biscuit Malt
- 1lb Victory Malt
- 3/4oz Centennial pellets(9.2%AA) as First Wort Hops
- 1 oz Centennial pellets (9.2%AA) added at 60 minutes
- 1oz Centennial pellets (9.2%AA) added at 10 minutes
- 1 – 1/2oz Centennial pellets (9.2%AA) added at 5 minutes
- 2oz Centennial Pellets added to secondary for 10 days prior to bottling
- White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale yeast
OG was 1.071 with 4.87 galls in primary (calculated OG was 1.069 at 5.5 gals, efficiency = 60%)
IBU was 70
color was 16-ish SRM
Now, a few things went a bit squirrelly with this batch.
- First of all, I was supposed to bring the yeast. My preferred yeast for this recipe is WYeast 1084, as that was in the recipe that David Bell posted eons ago. I mistakenly left the yeast in our fridge… in Hilton… and did not realize this until we were half the way to Binghamton. A quick call to Al, and a prayer that he could get to his homebrew shop in time, and we had what I hope to be a suitable replacement.
- My volume was much lower than expected… This was due to a misread line on my brewing spreadsheet when we were measuring the strike water for the mash. Rather than measuring out the 5 gallons as calculated, I told Al to measure out the 3.52 gallons that would be lost in the grains due to absorption. Rookie mistake on my part.
So, Beer Gods willing, I will have a slightly stronger beer in the end. I will just have about 6 less bottles of said beer when all is said and done (the 2 ounces of hops added in the secondary will suck up about 4 bottle worth of beer, plus the .14gallons I was short to begin with. I should be lucky to get 4 full gallons out of this batch. That is, of course, provided Al saves some for me. 
We will update this post with some final numbers and tasting notes. Keep an eye out for this in late June, early July.
Is this really how you brew???
For related articles in this series, please see: A rant and farewell to my computer and Bi-weekly rant on the Democrat & Chronicle
I did not want to read the paper today. I knew deep within my bones that doing so would raise my blood pressure to near-fatal stroke levels. You see, it has been two weeks since the last “Keg Lines” article ran in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. I posted a pretty lengthy rant about the inconsistencies within the “How to Get Into Homebrewing” article. The authors left the end of the article fairly open ended, as there is a lot of information to cover. This week, they were to cover the possible ingredients that one can use to brew beer at home. There are only four main ingredients. How badly could they possibly screw it up, right?
I broke down and read today’s “Keg Lines” installment after brewing cohort Joel walked into my office shaking his head in disbelief. He knew I had not read it straight away, as my ears had not yet turned red and neither was I convulsing in fits of rage.
Did you know that if you /facepalm while shaking your head that you run the risk of breaking your own nose? Yeah, this was that bad. So, following the postulation/retort format from last week, here we go:
- Sugar plus hops, yeast and water equals beer
This is not good. This is the title of the article, and already I am enraged. Really, really enraged. I can see poor college kids already buying Fleischmann’s cake yeast and table sugar at Wegmans and an ounce of hops from one of the local homebrew shops that still remain unnamed in the article, throwing it in an empty unwashed milk jug and wondering why it tastes of toe jam, vomit, and apple cider.
Let me say this now. Beer utilizes four main ingredients: hops, water, yeast and MALT!!!
- …there are four basic ingredients that are widely accepted as being necessary to make beer: sugar (mostly created from malted barley), hops, yeast and water.
Yeah, they try to redeem themselves here. It does not work, frankly. Yes, it is true that malted barley is the premier grain used in the the production of beer. However, other malted grains are commonly used, which fall into the whole “Malt” category. These would be Rye, Wheat, and Oats.
Other nonmalted grains are often used as well for flavor, head retention, and to lighten the body. These would include unmalted versions of barley, wheat, Oats, Maize (some call it corn), and rice.
The “sugar” that these guys are trying to convey are the maltose that is extracted from the aforementioned grains through a process called mashing. Without getting too in-depth, this involves steeping or soaking malted and crushed grains in water at a temperature between 140°F and 165°F for a prescribed length of time. This steeping process will allow enzymes within the grains to convert the internal starches within the grains from starch into fermentable sugars (maltose) and less fermentable sugars (maltodextrins). The more maltose present at the end of the mashing process, the more fermentable the beer will be. Increased Maltodextrin (less fermentable) sugar chains present at the end of the mash, the more body and residual sweetness will be in the finished beer.
- Malts, as well as several of the ingredients we discuss in this column, are available to order online or at some local stores around town…
Really?? We have local stores that sell homebrewing supplies? What are their names, and where might they be located? Are there any such stores in nearby cities that might also carry homebrewing supplies? Remember, think globally, buy locally. Rochester’s economy won’t better itself without some help. After all, you are the same guys that plug High Falls/Genessee every chance you get…with honorable mentions to Custom Brewcrafters, and even fewer instances where you even mutter the name of seminal local craft brewery: Rohrbach, are you not?
You are leaving new brewers with incomplete and inadequate information with which to start on their quest to this great hobby.
- Beers of the World is probably the best known homebrew supply shop within the Rochester metro area. The guys there are super helpful, and they are willing to order special grains for you if you need something they do not carry, and you give them adequate time.
- Sunset Hydroponics is an up-and-comer in the homebrewing arena. Their selection is pretty similar to Beers of the World, though they have the added bonus of allowing partial pound ordering of grains. They also have a grain mill in store for you to grind your grains there, should you not have a mill at home. Their primary focus is still the hydroponics business, and their brewing knowledge might not be quite up to snuff, but they are trying.
- Niagara Tradition Homebrew Supply in Buffalo is a nice little shop that packs a truckload of ingredients, supplies and other odds and ends into a tiny shop. I’ve been to their retail location a couple of times, and was impressed with the overall friendly atmosphere, selection and helpfulness shown towards an average schmoe off the streets (me). I believe they also extend the 10% discount for UNYHA members, though you would have to visit in person or phone in your order to take advantage.
See? That wasn’t difficult to do, was it? My credibility has not suffered. I am not selling out to corporate interest. I am attempting to help those businesses that can best help us become brewers.
- Hops tend to be quite bitter, so this works nicely to add flavor and aroma to the beer.
- …there are several choices for hops that will give a beer a distinct flavor and aroma.
So, bitter is a flavor and aroma now? Bitter is perceived on the tongue, though it is more of a mouthfeel…. You feel your tongue react to bitterness more than you actually taste bitter.
Here’s the straight poop: Hops are added at various times throughout the boiling process that occurs after mashing and straining the grains. The longer that the hops are in the boiling wort (beer without yeast), the more bitterness that is extracted from them. Beer is generally boiled for 60 to 90 minutes. Hops added at the start of the boil will provide a majority of your bitterness. This is due to many of the delicate flavor and aroma components being driven off by the extended boiling process. Flavor and aroma are controlled by delicate oils and chemicals within the hop flower, and are very volatile in the sense that they are destroyed easily.
If you were to add hops with between 30 to 10 minutes left in the boil, you will extract a majority of your hop flavor. You will also extract some bittering properties, however, this bitterness extraction is not as efficient as if the same hops were added at the beginning.
Hops added between 10 and 0 minutes left in the boil will also provide flavor, and lessening bitterness. Their main advantage is the extraction of aroma compounds to the beer. The more hops that you add during this time period, the more citrusy, spicy and even piney your beer will smell.
Every hop variety has its own strengths as to which component it would be best contributing to your beer. Some varieties are multi-purpose, some are best at simply bittering, and still others are prized for the aroma or flavor they will provide. The hop variety data book at Hop Union is a fantastic reference point for what hops will work best for a particular style, what hops you can use in a particular variety’s place, and other notes and average data for that variety.
- We recommend that you always boil the water you are going to use for homebrewing to rid it of any chlorine or other unwanted chemicals.
Let’s not get the cart before the horse here. Check with your local water authority, and ask for a current report of your tap water. If you are on a well, you should get your water tested, especially if you think Iron is present (Iron will make your beer taste like blood, which I cannot imagine is even remotely palatable). Homebrewing reference books will be able to help a moderately inclined homebrewer modify their water chemistry with the use of certain brewing salts, such as Gypsum, in order to get the proper chemistry.
If you are truly concerned, simply buy distilled or Reverse Osmosis water from a local retailer, and use your homebrewing reference books and published tables of famous brewing water (Munich, Edinburgh, Rochester) to “build” your water up from scratch.
- Porters are much darker and have roasted barley, which gives it a smoky smell and taste.
Um…yeah. This is an ongoing debate on many homebrewing forums, so I won’t beat them up too much on the inclusion of roasted barley in a porter. One camp in the debate claims that it is not a porter unless it uses Black Patent malt. Another camp will state that if the beer contains roasted barley, then it is automatically a stout. The last camp are the non-style oriented and will tell you that the beer is whatever the hell the brewer wants to call it. I am not aligned firmly with any particular argument.
Oh, and too much roasted barley will make your beer taste like a wet ashtray. I guess that would be a smoky smell and taste, though not one I strive for in any of my recipes.
- Hefeweisens are German-style wheat beers that are cloudy and fruity. Many … choose to add a slice of lemon or orange to this style.
I am not a big fan of fruit beers. I am even less a fan of fruit IN my beer. Especially if I order a beer at a bar, and they add it without even asking if that is what I prefer. Tony will likely disagree with me for this particular viewpoint, but….
People choose to do this with current Hefeweisens because they think it is the “cool” thing to do. It just seems out of place for a style that often has banana and clove notes due to the yeast that is used. It is a flavor clash, IMO, and fewer would unthinkingly ruin their beer with fruit if it weren’t shoved down our throats by the marketing giants of Miller-Coors (Blue Moon) and AB-Inbev (Hoegaarden). Stop the madness sheeple!!!
- If lagers are more your style, think about a bock or a pilsner.
Sure. Hop right on that, new first-time brewers. Notice that the authors make no mention here of the need for temperature control in the 35-45°F range. Go right ahead, oh young brewer, and brew a CAP (Classic American Pilsner) or a Traditional Bock at any time of year… at room temperature… and report back to me. It may not be a vomit-inducing experience, but it will definitely NOT taste like the beer you intended to make.
Once again, a lack of research, or incomplete research does more harm than good with this series of articles. These guys appear to have skimmed the holy grail of non-sourced material out there (Wikipedia), or they used the same researchers that Alton Brown did for “Good Eats”. I promised myself I wouldn’t cuss, but really, this is just piss-poor. I question whether these two have actually brewed before, much less brewed a batch of beer that did not smell of feet and taste of moldy yogurt.
In two weeks, they cover equipment and brewing a batch of English Bitter. This should be fun. My BJCP hat will be on to critique their recipe (which I guarantee will be just a Brewer’s Best kit beer…not that there is anything wrong with that…).
Really “Keg Lines” guys, you may never see this post… and your damned paper won’t allow commenting on your article…but just in case, make sure you actually do some research before your next article.
We want to bring more people into the hobby, not set them up to fail.
We want to promote our local businesses, not gloss over their existence.
We want coherent, well thought out writing with the correct nomenclature.
Is this too much to ask?
Sugar plus hops, yeast and water equals beer
A rant and farewell to my computer
For related articles in this series, please see: Is this really how you brew??? and Bi-weekly rant on the Democrat & Chronicle
Well, my desktop computer has become “an unstable environment”. It seriously is moodier and has more issues than a high school cheerleading squad.
Unfortunately, this means that the last three recipes and brewdays will have to wait to be posted until I get a new harddrive, or at least get all of my data off the old one.
In the meantime, I wanted to mention an article that ran in the local paper here in Rochester. They have a bi-weekly column called “Keg Lines”, written by two local gents that proclaim to love all things beer (yet more often than not, their article sounds like a big shill for High Falls/Genessee Brewing…really, Dundee Honey Lager wins in a blind test over Stone IPA????…).
Sorry for the digression. The article in question was a quick and dirty primer about how to start up in homebrewing.
I have a few issues with some of the claims and omissions in this article:
- “So long as you are 21 years of age and older, do not brew more than 100 gallons per adult in the house each year and do not sell the beer you make, you are in the clear.”
This is not entirely true. Yes, the Federal government did set about a 100 gallon limit. However, this is not an ever-increasing tally for each adult in the household. You cannot pack a house full of 5 adults, and legally brew 500 gallons per year. The limits state explicitly that it is 100 gallons per annum for an adult of legal age in YOUR LOCALITY, or 200 gallons per household. Also, homebrewing might be legal on a federal level, but as with most things alocohol related, the Feds have left the decision whether to allow homebrewing largely up to the states themselves. Utah recently became one of the last hold-out states to legalize homebrewing. There are still a of states that outright prohibit brewing beer in the home, such as Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma . Other states limit the strength of the beer that homebrewers are allowed to make (South Carolina with its insane alcohol cap at 5.5% for homebrew). And other states still whose laws are murky and non-committal like Louisiana, New York, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire and New Mexico, where the law neither explicitly allows or disallows brewing in the home and said laws are largely untested. (Note, some of the legality information was taken from Homebrewing Is Illegal which seems like some items may be a tough out of date).
The bottom line here is this: Check with local and state statutes to make sure you really are “in the clear” when it comes to homebrewing.
- It turns out it is cheaper to make your own brew once you have invested in all the necessary equipment
Really? This might be true if you never upgrade your equipment, move to larger batch sizes, only brew all grain by mashing your grains yourself rather than using extracts, and you buy all of your ingredients online in bulk.
Take, for instance a standard alcohol level (6%abv) batch of India Pale Ale: Brewing with extract, this batch can easily cost $78.20 to produce 48 bottles… or $39.10 per case. There are many micro-brewed beers to be had at or below this price. That isn’t to mention that a “cube” of the common offender beers (Bud/Miller/Coors/Genny) costs around $16 for a case of 30 cans. Yes, we are comparing apples to Brussels sprouts here, but the ppoint is that the Keg Lines guys are setting potential new brewers up with a false expectation that they can brew and drink cheaper after the initial startup costs (about $150 for equipment alone), which just ain’t gonna happen.
In slight contrast, if I brew a similar recipe at the same alcohol level by bashing my own grains (all grain), the batch would cost around $53 buying the ingredients as needed. The cost drops to $32 if I plan ahead and purchase bulk grains and hops online…That still works out to the same cost as one of those ubiquitous “cubes”, which don’t take 6 hours out of a Saturday and i don’t have to wait for 6 weeks for a “cube to be ready to drink.
I won’t even get into equipment upgrade/replacement costs. Let’s just say that Stainless Steel or Aluminum kettles are expensive. Glass fermenters are expensive. Trips to the ER for cutting yourself on one of the aforementioned glass fermenters when you drop it runs $50 if you have good insurance (this does not cover rehab for possible damaged nerves, btw).
Hobbies are NOT cheap. We do not brew to save money. We brew because it is something we enjoy doing. It is one of the few hobbies that will provide you with something tangible at its’ conclusion…. And for the women out there, you know where we are and that we are safe (unlike certain sports, boating, cycling, and any extreme sports). OK, moving on now…
- So if you really like summer beers year-round but can’t find them in the store in December
Just a small gripe with this one. Apparently, these guys have never been to Beers of the World. You can very easily get out of season beers there. Maybe even the summer beers from last year. A reminder to beer consumers, look at the labels for “born on” dates, or “Best by:” dates. If they don’t have one and the bottle is dusty, keep moving (unless it is a strong ale, barleywine, or imperial stout…then buy them and send them to me. I will give you my address)
- A good place to start would be to pick up some literature. Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels…
Wrong!!!! A beginning brewer will not learn much of anything behind processes and why we do things when and how we do them by reading this book. If any of you reading this decide to start homebrewing, save this book for later in your career, when you decide it is time to begin devising your own recipes. That is the main strength and point of “Designing Great Beers”, and it has served me very well every time I want to delve into a new style. Sadly, though it does not cover Belgian style beers, Sours or Lambics. For those, check out “Brew Like a Monk”, by Stan Hieronymus.
The authors do go on to suggest “The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing”, by Charlie Papazian, which actually is a decent introduction to homebrewing. It is fairly light-hearted, though I found Charlie’s attempts at humor a touch distracting and glib at times. The major points are hit upon in this book, and it covers all levels of homebrewing, from straight extract kits to triple decoction mashing.
An even better starting reference book that I recommend to everyone is “How to Brew”, by John Palmer. Not only is the 3rd edition of this book available in print, but the 1st edition may be found for free at http://howtobrew.com/. The print version, 3rd edition is slightly updated with some malt and hop information, but the online version is still very relevant, and more up to date than Charlie P.’s seminal tome.
Lastly, there are numerous books with just recipes for homebrewing. One to keep an eye out for is “Brewing Classic Styles”, by Jamil Zanaisheff and John Palmer. Jamil is the current “internet darling” homebrewer, having won many many awards at the national level. This book is basically filled with his own award winning recipes…every style. He has won that many ribbons.
- So, Keg Line guys, where do I buy equipment and supplies???
Yeah, the Keg Lines article definitely dropped the ball on this one. The Rochester area has two homebrew stores (ok, 3, but one of them is a satellite store). Most every other week, these guys shill for Genessee brewing company, I would hope under the guise of helping local commerce and not because they are on the dole. Yet, the one chance they have to truly promote local business, they fail.
Beers of the World in the Winton Plaza, Brighton, NY has the most experience in the area as a homebrew supply store. True, their main focus is in selling actual beer, but all of the guys there brew at home and are willing to help out and provide insight and guidance to newbies.
Sunset Hydroponics is the other local homebrew shop (LHBS in parlance). These guys are working into the homebrewing arena. They first started carrying supplies for homebrewing in 2007, and as time has gone on, they have taken suggestions for inventory and presentation from local brewers. These guys have an online store, something that Beers of the World does NOT have at the moment. Disregard their spelling errors, please. Their prices are decent both online and in-store. Plus, for anyone in the Rochester area, Sunset Hydro allows you to purchase your grain in fractional amounts. That means that if your recipe calls for only 1/4 pound of a certain grain, you can buy just what you need. Beers of the World, while a great shop, requires you purchase in full pound increments… then you and 3/4 pound of a grain you may or may not need for the next 6 months or more.
Those are my gripes with the article. I am waiting to see what the article covers next week with ingredients and styles to brew. I am sure I will have another diatribe by Tuesday evening.
I understand they are getting new brewers into the fold. I am completely fine with that, in fact, if they can increase members to the local club (Upstate New York Homebrewer’s Association), then kudos to them. What I am not okay with are the glaring omissions and errors and partial information that they are starting people out with. It’s like watching Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” brewing episode, only in print format.
Well, that’s about the end of that rant. We have a busy weekend, visiting some friends and brewing a batch on Sunday before we return home for the normal daily grind. Until we return, brew well and drink wisely.
The forgotten Irish Red
My wife and i realized the week before St. Patrick’s Day that we were seriously low on Irish Red (Potato Famine Ale). Now, realizing that I did not have nearly enough time to turn around another batch before the sacred day of American debauchery (some would say douchebaggery….) I decided to cut losses and brew a batch to be enjoyed shortly after March 17th. We brewed this on March 6th…. I finally bottled this on May 3rd. Life got in the way, then other projects called to me. Eventually, I forgot it was in the cellar. So much for punctuality I guess.
The recipe used was a variation on our first batch of PFA, which can be found here:
The recipe, for 5.25 gallons (brewed on 3/06/2010):
- 9lbs Maris Otter
- 1lbs German Vienna Malt
- 1lb British Mild Malt
- 1lb Cara-Amber
- 1lb Weyerman smoked malt
- 1/2lb Medium Crystal (about 55* Lovibond)
- 1/8 lb Black Patent
- 1/2oz Fuggles (4.7%AA) as First Wort Hops
- 1 oz Fuggles (4.7%AA) added at 60 minutes
- 1/2oz Fuggles (4.7%AA) added at 5 minutes
- WYeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast
OG was 1.067 with 5.3 galls in primary (calculated OG was 1.066 at 5.78 gals, efficiency = 71%)
IBU was 30
color was 17-ish SRM
FG ended up at 1.013
Mashed at 154*F for an hour and sparged with 180*F water until we had about 6 3/4 gallons in the boil kettle. During the sparge, we added 1/2 oz Fuggles (4.7%AA) whole hops as a First Wort Hopping
Now, sadly, I appear to have lost my brewing notes for this batch aside for the recipe. As mentioned above, this batch was just bottled earlier this week. The gravity sample had a very nice body to it that is promising for once this is carbonated. I still did not get the smoked malt character that I was hoping for. It is just barely perceptible, and I want more.
Tentatively marking this one as a “Win with a revision clause”
