Noble Square Brewing

It's Good To Be The King

2012-01-21T21:34:00.000-08:00

It is good to be the king, especially when you're Omega King. I finally got around to dry hopping and bottling a portion of the Omega King IPA. I even made labels this time for the bombers I bottled as you can see from the above photo.

The only difference I made in the recipe was to use all 2-row barley for the base malt instead of a mix of 2-row and pilsner malt. With all the hops in the recipe, I don't know if I could even tell the difference.

This beer was originally designed to be a clone of 3 Floyds Alpha King. I'm not sure how close it is, I know I probably tweaked the recipe along the way. I should do a side-by-side taste test to see how it stacks up. The problem is, I don't know if I can get Alpha King in a bottle out here in California. I can't say I've looked for it.

My label uses the font from the Alpha King label; I created my own letters if they didn't appear on the original. The photo was scanned from a Disney book--all the mermaids are singing to the king. Having half a dozen young ladies in bikini tops sing to you is not a bad thing, even if they're half fish. In hindsight I should have photo-shopped a beer in the king's hand--I'm sure he would have been enjoying a nice IPA during the mermaid serenade if it were not a Disney book. Unfortunately the labels are already printed and affixed to bottles. I'll have to make that change for the next run.

At least one of the bombers is going be to sent out to my buddy Pete, who got me to formulate the recipe the first time. He's a big fan of Alpha King, and I wouldn't have brewed this beer if it hadn't been for him. He's got three little girls, so they'll probably enjoy seeing Ariel on the label too.

I've got a case of regular sized bottles ready, so stay tuned to this blog to see how this batch fares in upcoming competitions. The recipe can be found by clicking the "Omega King" link in the first paragraph.

iBrewmaster app for iPad

2011-12-22T14:55:00.001-08:00

I've started inputting some of my brew recipes into iBrewmaster, an app for the iPad. I've had it for quite some time, but haven't used it extensively. It seems very well put together, and the developers are constantly coming out with improvements to it.

It allows you to input your recipes, and it will estimate your IBUs, original and final gravities, alcohol by volume, and all kinds of other cool info. It even let's you tweak your recipes for individual batches.

You can customize your inputs, such as your brewhouse efficiency and the alpha acid levels of your hops.

My only fear is that I'll damage my iPad during a brew session, so I keep it far away from the action. It's not like I've damaged electronic equipment while brewing before.

Señor Brew™ wins a ribbon!

2011-11-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

Fall Down Go Boom barleywine took 2nd in the 2011 Pacific Brewers Cup held by the local brew club, Pacific Gravity. It scored a 41, which is usually high enough to take first, so someone must have scored unbelievably high in this category. Señor Brew™ also entered his Oktoberfest, Slippy Piggy's Oktoberfest, in this competition. It didn't score as well, which is strange, because this beer went on to take first in the 2011 Spooky Brew Review, the Chicago Beer Society's annual competition. More on this to follow. The barleywine was brewed right around New Year's Day, using the first runnings from the Superbowl Stout brew, before the dark malts were added. The recipe for both can be found here. (Both Fall Down Go Boom Barleywine and Superbowl Stout have taken home ribbons this year). Look for the Oktoberfest recipe in my next post.

What Brew Blogs Do You Follow?

2011-08-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Brewbuds!

Señor Brew™ has a quick question for loyal readers of this blog. What other brew blogs do you follow? No, Señor Brew™ is not going to get jealous and hack the other blogs with TOS attacks (something he read about on the intertubes). The reason for asking is because he recently cut a number of blogs from his "follow" list, because they hadn't written a new post in over a year. Damn lazy brew-bloggers!

Señor Brew™ would like to replenish his list with new and exciting brew blogs and thought the readers of this blog might have some mighty fine suggestions for other blogs to follow (since they obviously already have excellent taste in what to read on the worlb wibe web).

Here is Señor Brew™'s current follow list--please take a gander (or goose, "what's good for...yadda yadda"):

Bearded Brewing Blog (a guy with a beard brews in Minnesota)
Brew Dudes (two dudes who brew co-author this one)
Chibebräu (Russ Chibe, meteorologist/lawyer/homebrewer, esq.)
HolzBrew (I forget, but it's well-written)
Homebrewed Beer (Ithaca is gorges)
Matt & Meg's Beer Brewing Adventures (Married couple brews together and don't mention fighting)
Monday Night Brewing (3 guys in Atlanta who homebrew with a plan to go commercial, which they have!)
Ted's Homebrew Journal (Another Chicago Homebrewer as are Russ, Matt and Meg above)

P.S. The photo at the top of this post was blatantly stolen from the Monday Night Brewery Site, but I'm giving them a plug here, so I think it's ok.

Ooh, it's so shiny!

2011-07-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been a long while since I've posted here to Noble Square Brewing dot blogspot dot com, so I wanted to throw at least something up to avoid having the website go the way of the dodo or myspace. Now it's more like the coelacanth, you thought it was extinct, but no, it's back.

The above is a photo of my HLT (a.k.a. Hot Liquor Tank, a.k.a. the keg in which I heat up my mash and sparge water). I finally got a hold of some bubble insulation, cut it to size, and duct taped it together, forming a tight jacket around the HLT. It looks so shiny! I have used it to brew since (hopefully more posts about that to come), and I have to say, it was an easy way to get the water hotter faster. (Water hotter faster--say that 3 times fast, wait I just did, it's not that difficult). The HLT is pictured upside down for storage, I don't brew with it that way, you big dummy Lamont.

Anyway, if any of you other homebrewers out there heat your water electrically, I suggest you insulate. You'll heat your water faster, using less electricity, saving time, money, and the unicorns. I don't know if this will work for gas heated HLTs, the insulation could melt. Time to look up if I spelled coelacanth correctly.

Superbowl Stout takes 2nd!

2011-05-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Señor Brew™ just saw the results from the Inland Empire Brewing Company and Superbowl Stout took second place in its category. I think this was a smaller competition, and had hoped to take home a 1st with a shot at best of show--the stout was really that good, although it could have degraded a little during or after bottling.

The results of the Maltose Falcon's Mayfaire competition are also in, and according to their website, Superbowl Stout didn't even place. However, Señor Brew™ still isn't entirely sure that the beer was entered in the competition. The entry fee cheque has yet to be cashed, and there was a screw-up with how the entries were picked up. More on this to follow, especially if it turns out that the brew was not entered.

Stout Specifics

2011-04-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

I had to look up some of the details I missed in my original Super Bowl Stout recipe posting since the Inland Empire Pro Am competition required a full recipe. I thought I would post them here in case I need them in the future.

The Alpha Acid percentage of the hops:

Magnum 10.4% AA
Northern Brewer 10.5% AA

Yeast used:
WLP 013 London Ale Yeast (1/2 gallon starter)

Fermentation:
14 days at ~68F

I know, it's a boring post for everyone else, but at least it's not about wine coolers.

You Can't Win if You Don't Play

2011-04-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

"You Can't Win if You Don't Play"...catchy slogan for the Illinois lottery, a game that is rigged in favor of the house. You can't lose either, but they don't mention that. Now homebrew competitions, that is another story; ideally the best beer should win. But you still need to enter competitions if you want to win.

So what did Señor Brew™ do? He bottled up some of his delicious Superbowl Stout and entered it into two competitions. Or at least he thinks he did.

The first is the Maltose Falcon's Mayfaire competition. This is the one Señor Brew™ is not too sure if he's in or not. There was a problem with entries being picked up from the local home brew shop (LHBS) too early. Señor Brew™ dropped off his entry before the cutoff time, but apparently the entries had already been picked up. After email conversations with the competition organizer, he thinks he's in. We will know for certain when the entry fee cheque is cashed.

The second is the Inland Brewing Second Annual Pro Am Competition. The coolest thing about this competition is that the winner of Best of Show gets to brew his or her recipe on their 7 BBL system, and is also entered into the Great American Beer Festival's Pro Am competition. Wish Señor Brew™ luck!

Barleywine Update

2011-04-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the barleywine that was brewed in conjunction with my Superbowl Stout as part of a split batch. It is kegged and cold conditoning in my mini-fridge. I drew samples to measure final gravity and do a tasting--it tastes awesome! Final gravity was 1.025, which puts it at 9.3% alcohol by volume. I plan to get a hold of some smaller bottles (7 or 8 oz.) and bottle this one to save for special occasions. I need to come up with a good name for this one--any suggestions, readers?

Revised Super Bowl Stout Recipe

2011-02-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

OK, Señor Brew™ was way off in his Super Bowl prediction, but the sweet stout he brewed was a huge improvement over last years batch, and a major hit at this year's Super Bowl party. So without further ado, here is the new and improved recipe:

(I don't remember if I mentioned in a previous post, but this was a split batch--I used the first runnings for a barleywine, and added the dark grains and used the second and third runnings for the stout--so you really get two recipes in one here).

Superbowl Stout/ Yet to be named barley wine
10 gallons stout/ ~2.5 gallons barley wine

Grains
18 lbs 2 row
2 lb pale chocolate
14 oz Carafa
1 oz roasted
1 lb cara munich 120L
2 lb cara vienna 20L

Additional ingredients
1 lb lactose sugar (stout)
8 oz turbinado sugar (barley wine)

Mash--single infusion 1hr 150F
Using only the 2 row and cara malts
Draw off ~ 2.75 gallons for barley wine.
Add additional malts and water
20 min additional mash
sparge ~11 gallons for stout

Hops--Barleywine
.5 oz Magnum 60 minutes
.5 oz Northern Brewer 30 minutes

Hops--Stout
.5 oz Magnum 60 minutes
1 oz Northern Brewer 30 minutes
.5 oz Northern Brewer 0 minutes

Sugars were added 15 minutes before end of boil
Lactose for Stout
Turbinado for Barley Wine

Stout
O.G. 1.055
F.G. 1.021
abv 4.6%

Barley Wine
O.G. 1.094
F.G. ??? (It's still in primary)
abv ???

Posting this, I think it's time to draw a sample of the barley wine to taste and measure the F.G. I should also look up the alpha acid percentages for the hops. Stay tuned for further updates. And yes, as a Bears fan, Señor Brew™ hated to post a photo of the Packers celebrating their win, but what can you do?

Superbowl Prediction 10-21

2011-02-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

Actually, it's not a prediction of the score of Super Bowl XLV (that's 45 to you non-Romans). It's not a prediction at all. It's the final gravity of Noble Square Brewing's Super Bowl Stout--1.021. If that sounds high to you, keep in mind that this is a milk or sweet stout, with unfermentable lactose (milk sugar, hence the name) added to the brew right at the end of the boil. It ended up just about where Señor Brew™ wanted it to, with a nice body and residual sweetness. It got kegged tonight, and is force carbonating under high pressure to be ready for the big game tomorrow.

I took a look at my old Super Bowl Stout recipe, and realized that it was much too roasty for a sweet stout, so it has been reformulated. I'll have to dig out my notes to find the new recipe, which I'll post later. In the meantime, if you visited this blog to get an actual Super Bowl prediction, I'll give you one. We will go with the final gravity, 10-21, Green Bay 10, Pittsburgh 21. Happy Super Bowl everyone.

Brew Stand!

2011-01-14T22:45:00.000-08:00

Señora Brew™ must have read the Christmas wish list post because she got Señor Brew™ some wire shelving for Christmas for his brewery! Actually, she probably didn't read the last post, she might have gotten upset about the sexy Santa's helpers comment and put coal in Señor Brew™'s stocking instead.

So above is the photo of the new Noble Square Brewing setup--I used the shelving to create a 3 tier stand. I have slightly modified it since the photo was taken, substituting an iron stand for the cinder blocks under the kettle. I was getting some soot from an incomplete burn from the burners adjacent to the cinder blocks--they weren't drawing in enough air. Now it's open to all sides, no soot and quick boils. I brewed my Superbowl Stout on the system, and it was so easy. No more lifting a full mash tun to a higher level so it can drain in the kettle.

You can see the natural gas burner under the brew kettle. I ran a final test and it brought 12 gallons of water from 60F up to boiling in 38 minutes. Fast! In fact that's faster than the Blichmann Engineering top tier burner, and they're using propane (which burns hotter than natural gas). I have to say, I'm very happy with this burner and system. Thank you Señora Brew™!

Señor Brew™'s Christmas Wish List

2010-12-18T06:52:00.001-08:00

Señor Brew™ has put together a Christmas wish list of things he wants to implement in the Noble Square Brewery this coming year. He doesn't expect Santa's little helpers pictured above (or anybody else for that matter) to actually gift these things, they'll be stuff that he buys or builds himself:

New 20 gallon brew pot--since he is brewing less often, brewing a larger quantity at one time is ideal. Upping the kettle to 20 gallons will allow him to do full 15 gallon batches without worry of boilover. Señor Brew™ can then convert the current 15 gallon kettle to the HLT, and convert the 15.5 gallon keggle that is currently the HLT to a mash tun.

That means he needs to build a 3 tiered stand to safely hold these larger components, or a 2 tiered stand and pump. A stand is already necessary, we have to figure out how to incorporate the new natural gas burner that is up and running. With a pump, we'll also be able to use a Therminator style plate chiller, so we'll add that as well. (This is a WISH list after all--Señor Brew™ will be happy if we get a third of these upgrades implemented this year.)

How about some easily implemented improvements that we should have already had for a long time now? Like bubble wrap insulation for the HLT (instead of covering it with the grill cover, like we currently do). If we convert the keggle to a mash tun, we'll need a false bottom for it. There's an old one lying around the Noble Square Brewery somewhere--it was used in the old days when we mashed in a 5 gallon igloo cooler.

I'm sure there are other upgrades Señor Brew™ would like to implement, but that's a pretty good wish list for right now. We don't want Santa to think he's greedy and put him on the naughty list. Although speaking of naughty, he wouldn't mind if Santa's helpers stopped by Christmas eve for some Christmas brew and cookies.

Now That's A Fire!

2010-12-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

I hooked my 32 nozzle burner up just to do a non-brewing test of it. It seems to work fine as you can see from the photo above, or the video below. I used some fittings to reduce the 3/4" burner inlet down to 3/8", which is the size of the flexible gas hose. I'm going to have to take them apart and reconnect them because I used standard teflon tape which is not supposed to be used for gas line. I have since discovered the error of my ways and bought some tape specifically for gas. Safety first!

Now I need to build a stand.

Now We're Cooking With Gas!

2010-11-28T11:20:00.001-08:00

I have natural gas piped out to the balcony at Noble Square Brewing's new location. I thought I would take advantage of the fact and get a natural gas burner to brew on. No more dealing with the hassles of propane tanks--swapping it out from the grill, running out in the middle of a boil, making trips to get it filled. (I no longer have backup tanks since the move--professional movers will not move tanks, even if they're completely empty.)

Above is a photo of the wok burner I ordered awhile back. It has 32 tips and supposedly generates 160,000 BTUs/Hr in heat--that's Megan Fox hot! Now I just have to find the time to hook it up, and figure how I'm going to mount it on a stand.

Here's a couple closeups of the tips:

Pseudo Alt and base for Holiday Brew today

2010-11-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

I was able to get a brew session in today. I just used what I had on hand, including a starter of American Ale yeast that I started a couple of weeks ago. I did a split batch, which I'm going to call a Pseudo-Alt and the base for my Holiday Brew. The Holiday Brew is normally a strong dark lager with special ingredients, but since I'm so late starting it, this year it's going to be a stronger than average dark ale with special ingredients.

Here's the recipe(s):

Grain bill

4 lbs light munich
6 lbs dark munich
13 lbs pale malt
1 lb cara munich (it's 120L)
1 lb cara vienna

I mashed for an hour, single infusion at 147F. I took the 1st and 3rd runnings for the pseudo-alt, and the second for the base of the holiday brew.

Here's the boil/ hop schedule for each batch:

Psuedo Alt (about 11.5 gallons pre boil):
1 hour boil
1.4 oz Magnum 10.4% AA 50 minutes
1 oz Hallertau 3.0% AA 20 minutes

collected about 10 gallons of wort 1.054 OG (left behind maybe a half a gallon with the trub)

Holiday Brew Base (about 3.5 gallons pre boil)
100 minute boil
1 oz Halletauer 3.0% AA 100 minutes
1 oz Hallertaur 3.05 AA 0 minutes

collected about 2.75 gallons of wort 1.054 OG

I plan to add some agave syrup, dried cranberries, and vanilla to the secondary on this one. The boil wasn't supposed to go that long, but we went a long family walk while it was brewing, and the next thing you know, it was an hour and forty minutes later. It was a beautiful evening, with an amazing evening sky. The photo above is of the sky just after sunset. The picture doesn't do it justice, it was taken on the Blackberry.

Both batches were pitched on the slurry from the starter of American Ale yeast. Fermentation started almost right away--the yeast was still active in the starter.

Jacuzzi Jet Ice Bath Chiller!

2010-10-17T21:26:00.001-07:00

I realize that I haven't posted for quite awhile, so I thought I would post a short brewing video I took while brewing the split batch Belgian Dubbel/ Pale ale. I've read that a picture is worth a thousand words, so a video should make up for the two months since I last posted.

I chilled the dubbel which was the bigger part of the split batch with my immersion chiller. But for the smaller part, the pale ale, I decided to do an ice bath. Not just any ice bath, but a jacuzzi ice bath. Yes, I filled the jacuzzi tub with ice water and turned on the jets. I wouldn't suggest doing this while SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) is home:

Yay! I had time to brew!

2010-08-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

The wifey and the little one were out of town visiting the grandparents, so I had some time for a brew day a couple of weekends ago. I did a split batch, a Belgian Dubbel and a pale ale. Details to follow soon, I hope. Including the results of the jacuzzi tub chiller experiment.

Cheap Digital Temperature Controllers

2010-07-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Just recently a fellow blogging homebrewer posted an entry about his use of a Lux outlet thermostat as a temperature controller--he's using his to turn on a heater when it gets too cold to ferment. These outlet thermostats work by turning on power to your heating or cooling device when the temperature is below or above what you have the thermostat set to. You plug the thermostat into the wall outlet, and your heating or cooling device into the thermostat. They cost about half of what the Johnson controls that many homebrewers use for temperature control. I have been using two of these for a couple of years now, to control both my fermentation fridge, and my converted freezer chest kegerator/lagering chamber. I'm surprised I haven't already written about them, but since Mark Taylor at the Backyard Brewer started the ball rolling with his post, I thought I would follow up with one of my own.

I modified both of them, because out-of-the-box, they didn't do exactly what I wanted them to. First of all, as you can see from the photo above, the sensor wire built into them is only a few inches long, meaning you can only sense the temperature right next to the outlet. Since I wanted to use them to control temps inside a fridge or freezer, this meant that I had to run an extension cord to the thermostat, which I would then place inside the fridge, and then plug the fridge cord into the thermostat. The fridge cord would have to run to the outside of the fridge, where it was hard-wired in. You could use it this way, which I did for awhile, but I realized it wasn't optimal to have a heavy duty extension cord running into the fridge, and also to have the thermostat outlet inside the fridge, operating in a cold, damp environment.

Before I explain how I modified these thermostats, be aware that any modification will void the warranty. Also, be sure to make sure that thermostat is unplugged, and the battery is removed before doing any work on the thermostat. Señor Brew™ is not suggesting that you make any changes to your thermostat, nor is he responsible if you break your thermostat, or electrocute yourself or the cat or set your house on fire, or any other unfortunate event that may occur during or because of modifications you may make to your outlet thermostat.

So I added a length of cord to the sensor wire. This was easily accomplished by cutting the sensor cord, attaching some lamp wire, and reattaching the sensor to the other end of the lamp wire. Now, I could eliminate the extension cord, and just run the sensor wire from the outlet thermostat into the fridge.

Thermostat with sensor wires cut.

Sensor cut off

Lamp cord ends stripped

Heat shrink connectors at thermostat

Heat shrink connectors at sensor

Secondly, I wanted to use the modified freezer chest to lager my lagers, at least when I wasn't using it to serve beers. Ideally, I wanted to set it to just above freezing, to lager my beers as cold as possible. The problem here was that the outlet thermostats lower range was 45F. I did find that there was an adjustment factor you could program in, adjusting the temperature plus or minus 5F. Meaning, if you adjusted it down all the way, the thermostat would read 45F when it was actually 40F. Of course this still wasn't good enough for me, so I decided to swap out the sensor.

I contacted an engineer at Lux via email to ask them what type of sensor was in the thermostat currently. It turns out that it's a thermistor. I don't have the original email, but I remember that it was an NTC thermistor, and I believe it was 50k ohms. NTC stands for Negative Temperature Coefficient, meaning that resistance decreased at higher temperatures. (This is opposite of how metals react, which is why computers run better when they are cold, there is less resistance in the copper circuits within them). I did the math, and realized that if I swapped in a 30k ohm thermistor, my thermostat would think it was 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it truly was. Meaning that I could set the thermostat to 53 degrees Fahrenheit, and it would continue to run the freezer until it was actually 33F. (Incidentally, if you wanted to use this controller to heat something outside its upper range of 95F, you could swap in a higher resistance thermistor, so the thermostat would read a temperature lower than the true temperature).

Instead of cutting the sensor cord, as I did with the other thermostat, I simply opened the thermostat, removed the sensor cord and all, and swapped in another lamp cord with my 30k ohm thermistor soldered into the other end of it.

Lamp cord connected inside thermostat

30k ohm thermistor purchased from Allied Electric

New thermistor soldered in and covered with rubber

It's a Girl!

2010-06-18T10:30:00.006-07:00

Yes, Señor Brew™ is a proud papa! As you can see, from the bottle label above, Tesla Marie was born 2 days ago. She and her mother are both healthy and happy.

Of course, being a homebrewer, I brewed a big batch of ale in anticipation--something I could give out instead of cigars. I wanted something that was flavorful, but would appeal to a wide range of people. I decided to go with a full flavored, yet lighter-bodied blonde ale. The recipe is below with notes:

Tesla Marie Honey Blonde Ale (12 gallons)

Water
1/3 Redondo Beach Well Water (treated with campden tab to neutralize chloramine)
2/3 Reverse Osmosis Water
Gypsum added to mash to lower pH

Grains
10.5 lbs pale malt (base malt)
4 lbs vienna malt (for extra malty-biscuity flavor)
4 llbs rice (to lighten the body in compensation for the vienna malt)
3 lbs honey (for complexity of flavor, and also to lighten the body)

Mash Schedule (step mash, with cereal (rice) mash addition to raise temp)

143F for 20 minutes
boiling rice was then added to raise temp to
154F for 4 hours (due to break taken to tour the hospital where Tesla would be born)

Hop Additions during 60 minute boil

1.8 oz Magnum 10.3% AA 60 min (bittering--wanted a slightly bitter beer)
0.5 oz Williamette 15 min (flavoring--adds a bit of earthiness)
0.5 oz Hallertau 15 min (flavoring--noble hop, reflects her German heritage)
0.5 oz Williamette 0 min (aroma)
0.5 oz Hallertau 0 min (aroma)

OG 1.058 F.G. 1.010

ABV 6.3% (pretty strong for a blonde, due to honey addition)

Yeast Wyeast 1272 (adds a touch of fruitiness to the fermentation)

fermented primary 13 days at 68F
secondary 7 days at 70F
cold conditioned and force carbonated in keg 7 days at 45
bottled from keg with counterpressure filler

Ahhh...Screw It!

2010-05-24T19:02:00.004-07:00

Yes, screw it. As in screw-top bottles. I'm building up my collection of empty bottles because I'm going to bottle my first brew in the Redondo Beach brewery instead of kegging it. We had a little shindig here, a housewarming party if you will, and I bought an assortment of beers for the guests. I thought I could save the bottles and use them to bottle the first brew.

Well, I thought wrong. It turns out some of the craft/import beers I bought use screw top bottles. Screw tops are not recommended for bottling homebrew because of breakage and sealing issues. So now I'm screwed. Well not really. I'll just recycle the screw top bottles and build up my stash some other way.

Just as a point of reference, so I don't buy them again, at least when I'm short on bottles:

Wingwalker
Tecate

I'll add to this list as I run across more. Of course I'm not even going to list BudMillerCoors, because all their bottles are screw tops. Ahhhh...Screw It!

Redondo Beach Water Update

2010-05-11T20:21:00.003-07:00

It looks like I wasn't looking at the full report, viewable here as a PDF, which does have most of the information necessary to brew. The only data point missing, alkalinity as expressed by ppm of CaCO3, was provided by Jackie, my helpful California Water Supply water quality specialist.

So here is the relevant data on Redondo Beach groundwater (ppm):

Calcium: 150
Magnesium 38
Alkalinity 153
Sodium 120
Chloride 348
Sulfate 150

According to the CWS website, the high Sodium and Chloride levels come from seawater influences. Seawater is salty? And it influences the groundwater supply in a beach town? Who would have guessed?

Water, water, everywhere...

2010-05-09T20:12:00.005-07:00

So now that Noble Square Brewing is in a new location, we have to take in consideration our new environment. And for brewing beer, that means water. Señor Brew™ checked out the California Water Service Company's website to see what the water chemistry in Redondo Beach looked like.

The report on the site says our water is a mix of groundwater and purchased surface water, and gives different readings for each. Unfortunately, it doesn't say what the mix is, and doesn't say if it changes throughout the year. Luckily, the Noble Square Brewery is now located right next door to a well, and the storage tanks for the well (pictured in the title photo for this post). The water guys stop by next door regularly, and Señor Brew™ was able to confirm that my water is always 100% groundwater, except for the rare occasions that the well is shut down.

Unfortunately, there are a number of "not applicables" listed for important chemical components of the groundwater, such as calcium. Señor Brew™ has been playing phone tag with a water quality specialist for CWS, and has yet to determine what the chemical composition of our water is. Once we find out, we'll post it here, so other brewers in Redondo/Hermosa Beach that are on groundwater don't have to jump through hoops to find out, like Señor Brew™ has.

One thing we are able to determine from the site is that we are super high in chlorides, with an average count of just under 350 parts per million. It looks like we're going to have to purchase water that is free of chlorides, and dilute the tap water to get that count down. It also looks like we're going to have to treat the water to get rid of the chloramine used to sanitize it.

Noble Square Brewing is Back!

2010-05-06T21:59:00.008-07:00

Yes, after a five month hiatus, Noble Square Brewing, the blog and the home brewery is back. I apologize to all the dedicated readers (I think we were up in the double digits), but as often is the case, life intruded on brewing and blogging about brewing.

While I was gone, it appears that blog became an interesting place for some of our Asian readers to post comments. (I'm going to clean those up, once I remember how--I have a feeling they contain links to sites you don't want to visit).

So what happened? Why did Señor Brew™, and Noble Square brewing take the hiatus in the first place? Well, a whole lotta stuff happened:

New Baby on the way-- My wife, who you may have seen in such ads for my brews such as Red on Head, is 7 months pregnant. This will be our first child, and I'm already a super proud papa. She's due on Father's Day, June 20th, so if the baby arrives on time or early, I'm going to have the best Father's Day present ever.

New Job--I switched careers to a related field, but it's still a big change, and I'm now a rookie in the new job after being a veteran in the old. I feel like I know what I'm doing about 90% of the time, which is way better than how I felt a few short months ago.

New City--Yes, Noble Square Brewing has pulled up roots from the Noble Square neighborhood of Chicago to move all the way across the country to lovely Redondo Beach, California. No, we are not changing the name to Redondo Beach Brewing, for a couple of reasons. One, the name is already taken. Two, we're staying true to our roots, and remembering where it all started. I have changed the "Is it brewing weather?" section in the sidebar to reflect the new location, and the logo might change. Stay tuned.

With all of these changes going on, I don't know how often I'll be brewing in the future. I do know that I'll try to post here at least once a week, and I do intend to get have a brew ready by the due date so I can give it out instead of cigars. Thank you if you were still following this blog in the hopes that it would be resurrected. Noble Square Brewing is back.

Dunkel update

2009-11-30T06:22:00.003-08:00

I finally transferred my Dunkel to secondary and I took a taste and a gravity reading. It's at 1.017, which is too high. It doesn't taste too sweet though, maybe that the decoction mash created an abundance of unfermentable dextrins. It's only 1 point above the high end of the scale according to the BJCP.org, so it's probably alright. It might even drop another point in secondary or while lagering.

It does have a bit of astringency though. I know if you sparge too hot you can get an astringent taste, I wonder why a decoction doesn't cause the same problem. Maybe because the pH is lower during the decoction than the sparge? This beer is still young though, I'm hoping that this off flavor fades over the next five weeks that it will be in secondary and lagering stages.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T20:48:00.002-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I used my brewing burner and my old brew pot today, but not for brewing beer. I added three gallons of peanut oil and one 12 lb turkey. Deep fried at 350F for 40 minutes. It turned out delicious.

I also tasted the first sample of my Xmas lager, which has been lagering for about a month now. It is also delicious--like dessert in a glass. I'll have to post the recipe later, if I haven't already done so in an earlier post.

100th post!

2009-11-21T20:17:00.013-08:00

As you may have surmised from the title, this is the 100th post of the Noble Square Brewing blog. Who would have guessed ten and a half months ago on New Year's Day I would have kept up with this and be writing my 100th post? Well here we are, and when I say we--I mean it. According to the site, I've got 15 followers, and 26 subscribers--not sure what the difference is, and if there is any overlap, but the important thing is that there are more than a handful of readers out there that like reading my blog on a regular basis. I thank you, and I appreciate the comments that you leave. A special thanks to those of you that link to this blog from your blogs.

I was going to read over the Noble Square Brewing blog from the beginning and post highlights here, but I only got as far as January 31, when I realized that it was going to take way too long. So I'm just going to list some things from the last 99 posts that I remember, stream of consciousness style, about home brewing, and blogging about home brewing. If I'm ambitious enough, I'll hunt down the posts and link to them:

Don't melt your computer keyboard while brewing. If you want a lot of page hits on your blog, mention Megan Fox. Even better, mention Megan Fox naked. Brew lots of different types of beer. Enter contests, even if you don't win, you'll learn something. Judge contests. Comment on other blogs, and respond to comments on yours. Join a homebrew club. Name your kegs. Blog your recipes. Post lots of photos. Make yeast starters. Grow your own hops. Use interesting ingredients. Build your own kegerator.

OK, I know I went a little link happy there, but there's some decent posts in the last 99, and I hope there will be a lot more to come. Thanks again for reading my blog.

I started the starter

2009-11-19T22:07:00.006-08:00

I made my decision on what and how I am brewing next. Thanks for the input, hopshead and holzbrew. You'll be disappointed to learn that I didn't take either of your suggestions. I'm going to brew a split batch lager/ale, specifically a doppelbock and porter.

I'm going to use the first runnings from my mash to brew 5 gallons of the doppelbock, hopefully with an O.G. of about 1.090. Then I'll add some more dark/roasted/cara grains to my mash tun, and use the second and third runnings to make ten gallons of brown porter with an O.G. of about 1.050. Either that, or I'll just steep the extra specialty grains to get the additional color and body. I'll probably need to add some malt extract to the kettle for the porter to get the gravity up. Back of the envelope calculations says I'll need 450 +500/ 27= about 35 lbs of grain to do so otherwise, and my mash tun maxes out at maybe 30 lbs max, so yes, I'll be adding some extract.

Since I'll be using the yeast cake from my dunkel for the doppelbock, I'm covered for that portion of the brew. I did start the ale starter tonight using some older yeast that I saved from a previous batch of American Brown ale. I hope it takes off, the yeast actually froze in storage, I hope enough survived the freeze and thaw to wake up and multiply. If not, I'll be buying yeast come brewday.

I went with the porter because it's a pretty broad category, and while you should really use english malts for it, I figure the darker specialty grains will predominate the flavor, and nobody will notice that I used the second runnings of a mostly munich and vienna malt grist. Plus I'll get to use my homegrown Northern Brewer hops.

So what do I brew next?

2009-11-18T05:46:00.003-08:00

I'm trying to figure out what beer to brew next. I would like to reuse the yeast cake from the dunkel, which means another lager. Maybe a bock or doppelbock? But I also want to make an ale, something that will be ready fairly soon. I could do a split batch, partigyle style, where I use the first runnings for a doppelbock, and the second runnings for? Any ideas out there, brew buds?

Dunkel Brewday Photos 3 The Boil

2009-11-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

Just before the wort starts boiling, I take a sample:

Which I then check the specific gravity of:

(Hard to tell from this angle, but it was 1.046 on the hydrometer, which is off by two points, giving me a pre-boil gravity of 1.044)

Then we start boiling:

And we get the hops ready:

(I put them in a paint strainer bag weighted down with a couple of stainless steel spoons)

Which I then add to the kettle:

Here's that funky home-made immersion chiller I wrote about:

(I think the guys I bought it from fashioned it this way to avoid having the plastic tube be too close to the burner while it was still on--you don't want it to melt!)

Dunkel Brewday Photos 2--The Mash

2009-11-12T20:08:00.006-08:00

The mash

The Strainer (this is what I used to pull the decoction).

You're supposed to pull more grain than liquid.

The decoction

The decoction post-boil (look how much darker it got!)

Dunkel Brewday Photos

2009-11-12T19:54:00.006-08:00

I thought I would go back to the previous posts of the Dunkel brewday and insert photos where appropriate, but that is too much work. OK, I might still do it. But I might not, so I thought I would post a bunch in this post, and worry about it later. I'll still try to keep them in order of the previous posts.

So from the 8 am post:

The mechanical timer for my HLT heater.

(Kids don't use an ungrounded adapter at home)

HLT with 1000 watt bucket heater

The photo everyone was waiting for, melted keyboard

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm over 3000 with this post. I'll break things up and start a new post for some more.

Dunkel Brewday Wrapup, A Balmy Chicago November

2009-11-09T06:20:00.003-08:00

Those of you that actually look at the "Is it Brewing Weather?" widget I have in the right column of this blog, below the label photos, will have seen that it was 71 and sunny yesterday. In November. IN CHICAGO. So as soon as I was done brewing yesterday, I didn't want to come inside and sit at a computer to write my follow-up. Instead, I took the frau und hund for a long walk around the neighborhood, and then fired up the grill when we got back home. After that, we had a social event, so here is my wrapup, a day late. My apologies to the two readers who were sitting at their computers all day yesterday waiting for updates.

Amazingly, other than the melted computer keyboard, and the slow start, everything went well yesterday. I chilled the beer quickly, since while the outside temperature was 71F, the tap water temperature is probably under 50F. (I use an ugly homemade immersion chiller that I bought from some fellow homebrewers).

I collected just under 12 gallons of sweet dark pre-Dunkel wort, with an original gravity of 1.052. It looked and tasted great. I think I was right in going a little heavy on the bittering hops to compensate for their age, but I won't know for sure until most of the sweetness is fermented out, and the bitterness mellows from lagering.

One note for those of you that use simple brewing calculators like the one at TastyBrew.com, they don't adjust the color estimation for the darkening that occurs during a decoction. When I plugged in my grain bill, it estimated a SRM of 12, which is a copper color that is at the low end of the spectrum for the Dunkel style. My pre-fementation wort came out more like SRM 20, which is a medium-light brown, which is right in the middle of the spectrum for the Dunkel style.

I aerated the heck out of the wort using the old shake-the-hell-out-of-the-carboy trick. I then pitched the slurry from the gallon starter of Wyeast Munich lager yeast, and had activity (small bubbles) going by early evening. I haven't checked it this morning yet, but I'm guessing a nice krausen is forming. Check back for an update on this beer in about two weeks when I transfer it to secondary. Oh yeah, and I'll get those photos, including the melted keyboard, up soon.

Dunkel Brewday Noon The Boil

2009-11-08T10:04:00.002-08:00

Just a quick post here since I have about 5 minutes left on the boil. I collected just under 14 gallons of wort, we'll call it 13.75 for calculation purposes, with a pre-boil gravity of 1.045. This gives me an efficiency of about 77%. Not bad for batch sparging. The boil started at 11am, but I didn't make the first hop addition until 11:10, because I had to figure out how much I was going to use, and weigh it out. I ended up using 1.3 ounces of 13.1% alpha acid Galena hops, which a brewing calculator gives me about 28 IBUs, a little high for a Dunkel. However, these hops are a year old, and while they have been stored semi-sealed in the freezer, they may haver lost some of their oomph.

I threw in some Irish moss for clarity about 10 minutes ago, along with my immersion chiller to heat it up and sterilize it. I threw in .75 ounces of Hallertau finishing hops just before I started this post. And it's now 12:10, so I have to go shut off the burner and start up the chiller.

Dunkel Brewday 9:40 AM The Mash

2009-11-08T07:36:00.004-08:00

I ended up completing the mash-in at 8:45. I started earlier, but it takes awhile to add the water and grains and make sure they are well mixed. Initial mash temperature was 144F, right about where I wanted to be. Some of you home brewers out there are undoubtedly scratching your heads, wondering why so low. Well I'm doing a single decoction mash, and I'm using the decoction to bring the temperatures up to have a two-step starch conversion, the first half at temperatures suitable for beta amylase conversion, and the second half at higher temps for the alpha amylase. I know this isn't decoction by the book, but it is how I'm brewing this beer.

After waiting 15 minutes, I pulled about a third of the mash with a strainer, and slowly heated it to boiling in my 7 gallon aluminum pot. I let it boil for a half an hour, stirring constantly. The grains got noticeably darker. I then added the boiled grains back to the main mash, which brought the temperature up to 157F. I'm currently letting this sit for a half an hour, at which time I'll begin filling my brew pot with deliciously carmelly sweet wort.

So here's the summary of my mash:

Main mash
45 minutes @ 144F
30 minutes @ 157F
(temperature raised by decoction)

Decoction mash
15 minutes @ 144F
10 minutes slowly raised to boiling
20 minutes boiling

8 AM Dunkel Brewday

2009-11-08T06:11:00.003-08:00

I'm up and ready to brew. Unfortunately my HLT (hot liquor tank) is not. I just checked the temperature, and it's around 150F, instead of the 170F I need. I think it's low for a number of reasons. One, I started out with colder tap water than last time. Two, it's colder outside so I'm losing more heat from it due to the larger temperature differential. And three, my outlet timer didn't kick on at exactly 4am. It was more like 4:20. I know this because I got up in the middle of the night, at about 4:15, for reasons entirely unrelated to brewing today. However, since I was up, I decided to check the timer. It's a mechanical timer, and not completely accurate. It was in the process of switching the outlet on when I checked it, and since I was half asleep, I decided to let it do it's job instead of just using the manual switch to turn it on. So it looks like I'm going to mash in closer to 8:30.

On a side note, since I'm blogging live, while I am taking photos, I don't want to be constantly uploading them to the computer. So if you're reading this as it happens, I'll add photos all at once later.

Finally, (at least for this post), as regular readers of this blog know I try to detail my mistakes, so I and others can learn from them. So here's a little warning. While heating extra sparge water up on the stove, make sure your computer keyboard is a safe distance away. It can and will melt. As I said above, photos to follow.

Pseudo Munich Dunkel Recipe

2009-11-07T20:40:00.005-08:00

Yes, I know I still have to get to part three of my kegging procedure, which I have come to realize while it is very necessary, is also very boring reading. I will get to it eventually, but since I'm brewing tomorrow, I decided to blog this brew from start to finish, which I never have done before. So let's start with a recipe, which once you read it, you'll realize why it's a PSEUDO Munich Dunkel. So here we go:

Munich Dunkel (aproximately 12 gallons)

Malt
17 lbs Vienna Malt (I wanted to use Dark Munich Malt, but I'm out)
6.5 lbs German Pilsner Malt (I wanted to use less, but since this the last of my pilsner malt, I thought I would use it up)
12 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (mainly for color, especially since I'm not using Dark Munich Malt)
8 oz CaraVienne (for a little extra color and body, but mainly because I've got a ton of it)

Hops
60 Minutes Galena (enough to bitter to about 25 IBUs--I haven't worked out exactly how much to use, plus I would rather use my German Magnum hops for bittering, but the Galena are the last of the 2008 crop that I have, and I'm trying to get rid of them)
10 Minutes Hallertau (for a hint of hops flavor and aroma)

Yeast
Wyeast Munich Lager Yeast (I've already got a gallon starter of this going--I stepped it up from a half gallon a couple days ago--this probably should have been my first post if I were really to blog this beer from start to finish) .

The starter is chilling to knock the yeast out of suspension, the HLT is full of delicious Chicago tap water with a campden tab added to neutralize the chlorine, the malt is measured and milled, and the electric heater is plugged into the the timer which is set for 4am. I should be ready to start the mash tomorrow morning at about 8am.

My Kegging Procedure (Part Deux)

2009-10-19T16:27:00.006-07:00

If you read part one and you aren't yet bored to tears, here is the part two. I'll make is succinct, I promise. So last we heard, the keg parts are boiling and the keg and liquid pickup is soaking in a hot oxyclean solution. From there:

Scrub keg with carboy brush, slightly straightened to accomodate keg contours.
Run small brush (a rifle brush works well) through liquid pickup tube and keg post holes.
Dump oxyclean solution, quick rinse with hot water.
Fill keg to the "tippy-top" with water.
Reattach all keg parts, double checking that gaskets are put back on the pickup tubes.
Hook up CO2 tank and cobra tap to the keg.
Turn on CO2 and open tap to push all the water out--leaving only CO2 (and no O2) in the keg.
Disconect the CO2 tank and cobra tap and bleed the excess CO2 out by opening the keg pressure relief valve.
Pour a quart of star-san solution into the keg through the beer out post using this contraption:

Make sure not to introduce any oxygen to the keg--connect the quick disconnect to the line loosely and don't tighten it until you let gravity force the air out.
(This sanitizes the tube and beer out quick disconnect at the same time).
Close the pressure relief valve and shake the keg thoroughly to let the sanitizer coat the inside of the keg well.
Wait two minutes and then hook up the CO2 to force the sanitizer out.

You now have a sanitized keg that is purged of oxygen and ready to fill. But again that was really boring. So have a homebrew, and I'll explain how I fill the keg in part 3.

My Kegging Procedure (part 1)

2009-10-09T21:23:00.006-07:00

I just filled a keg full of Your Sister's Mustache tonight, so I thought I would post my kegging procedure.

The first thing I do is to cool the beer down to 35F and let it sit for a minimum of 24 hours. This helps to settle out any yeast or suspended solids.

Then I clean the keg. Since I have a surplus of beer lately, the decision of when to keg is usually when an existing keg runs dry. Yes, I know it's a good problem to have.

I take the dirty keg and remove the lid and both the gas and beer fittings (along with their poppets). I also remove the dip tubes and take the gaskets off of them. I then boil the lid (with the pressure release valve open), the gas dip tube, the fittings, the gaskets, and the poppets. I add a pinch of baking soda to the boiling pot. I let it boil for 20 minutes to sterilize all these parts.

While the keg parts are boiling, I spray the inside of the keg with about a quart of hot water, swirl it around to free up whatever yeast is sitting at the bottom (usually not much since I settled most of it out as per step 1), and dump. Then I fill the whole keg with hot water, add a half a scoop of oxyclean, and let it sit for about a half an hour. (This is a good time to have a homebrew).

I just read over the last couple paragraphs, and realized (except for the having a homebrew part) that this is a really boring post. So I'm going to quit while I'm behind and post a cool picture of a bike that has two kegs and tappers built into it. Click on the photo for a link to the story from Wired magazine explaining the whole dealio. I'll post the rest of my kegging procedure later.

Chicago Beer Society

2009-09-29T20:24:00.004-07:00

I'm not sure if I have written about my homebrew club, The Chicago Beer Society, on this blog before, but I thought I would for a number of reasons, which I'll enumerate on this handy-dandy bulleted list:

Last month I went to our annual picnic for the first time, and it was awesome. There were about 15 local brewery beers on tap, great food including the competition entries fron salsa, chili, ribs, and dessert contests, and fun, interesting people. The music wasn't great, the DJ played a lot of really obscure stuff and only one (beer-drinking) polka, but from the emails that went around afterwards, maybe they'll improve on this next year.
The monthly First Thursday is this Thursday, October 1st at Goose Island (As the name implies, it's always held on the first Thursday of the month.) I don't always attend, but I will be there this month. It's always a fun time, sometimes there are presentations, but mostly it's a big homebrew and craft beer tasting with a bunch of people who really appreciate beer.
The annual Chicago Beer Society homebrew contest, Spooky Brew, will be held on October 31st. I'm entering a couple of my brews, including Your Mother's Mustache, Topfglück Alt, and possibly my Vienna Lager, Schwarzes Modell. They are accepting entries at the monthly First Thursday (sometimes called Thirst Fursday), which is why I'll definitely be attending.

Now I called it my homebrew club, but it's really much more than that. It's an organization of people who enjoy and appreciate well-made beer. Members are homebrewers, beer judges, professional brewers, beer industry insiders, beer authors, and just plain beer drinkers. If you're in Chicago and you fit any of these categories, it's definitely worth checking out.

Drying and Bagging Hops

2009-09-17T20:24:00.006-07:00

It's still Hop Week here at Noble Square Brewing so let's talk about Hops! I got done drying and bagging the hops I harvested from my folks' garden. I planted Chinook and Hallertau there last year, 3 rhisomes each. Only one of each type grew--they had flooding in the area I planted them in early spring. Only the Chinook produced a couple of cones last year. This year both plants produced some cones, but not much. I really didn't tend the plants at all--no additional water, fertilizer or anything. I didn't even trim them back, I just put up some saisal for them to grow up the side of the garage. You can see one of the Chinook cones above; the yellow powder is the lupulin.

After I removed the cones from the bines, I dried the hops by leaving them out on a window screen perched horizontally over two books in the hottest part of the house. They dried out in a couple of days. Then it was time to bag them.

I got the above "Handi-Vac™ and bags for free last year. They were just handing them out on in Daley Plaza. I guess they figured you would use the included bags, get hooked, and be lured into a lifetime of buying replacement bags from Reynolds. As soon as I saw them, I immediately thought, "I could use that for my hops!" I grabbed two of them, one for me and one for my Brew Bud Pete.

I have to admit they are "Handi", although I have yet to buy any additional bags. I have reused the bags from last years hop harvest, although they may not be designed to be reused. Sometimes they don't maintain a vaccuum seal. They idea is that you fill the bag, seal it like a regular Zip-Loc™ type bag, and then use the "Handi-Vac™" to suck the extra air out of the bag by placing the tip of the "Handi-Vac™" on the blue circle on the bag. Like I said, they work well, although not so well on reused bags. I guess I'll go out and buy the bags. Who knows, maybe the product launch failed and they don't sell them anymore.

Oh yeah, after I seal the bags of hops, I toss them in the freezer. And one more thing, "™" is Alt+0153 on your numerical keyboard if you were wondering.

Señor Brew™

Hops, Hops, Hops!

2009-09-15T19:08:00.006-07:00

It's still Hop Week here at Noble Square Brewing, so let's talk about hops. I harvested these Hallertau from my folks place. Yes, they are turning brown. I wasn't able to get out there to harvest them at the peak of their ripeness, but I'll take what I can get. They still smell delicious, grassy, flowery, with a hint of spicyness. They're currently drying on a window screen.

Green Shoots!

2009-09-15T05:02:00.004-07:00

No it's not the green shoots in the economy that everybody was talking about a couple of months ago--it's still Hops Week here at Noble Square Brewing, and we are talking about new green shoots on my Saaz hops as you can see in the photo above.

For those of you that follow this blog (we're up to 14 now--15 if you count Señor Brew™ himself), you might remember that I had a little spider mite infestation. Well, I sprayed insecticide twice, and the hops that weren't already terminally ill rebounded and started new growth. You can see the bright green leaves against the background of brown half dead leaves. Now granted, it is way too late in the season for me to expect any hop flower growth--the flowers (or cones, in hop vernacular) being where the bittering and flavoring agents come from, but still, it is nice to see a rebound, and with this late leaf growth I can only assume that the roots are growing as well, which means more hardy plants for next year.

Curious about what a spider mite infestation looks like? I took some photos. This one shows what the early stage looks like. At this stage it's easy to confuse it for other conditions, such as a lack of water or nutrients. The telltale sign of spider mites is a spidery silk web on the underside of the leaves, which unfortunately I didn't get a photo of. The mites are too small to be seen with the naked eye, but the damage they cause and the webbing they leave is highly visible.

This photo shows an advanced stage of spider mite damage. If you haven't already sprayed for mites, and your hop leaves look like this, consider your hops harvest a lost cause by now. However, as I mentioned earlier, it might still be a good idea to spray, to get some late growth. In my case, I'm hoping the late growth leads to stronger plants next year.

This photo shows the ultimate stage of a spider mite infestation. The mites will literally suck your hops dry, leaving a dry, desicated ruin of your hops. Let this be a warning to all the home hop growers out there--if you notice any evidence of spider mites, be sure to spray an insecticide that has been proven effective against them. For those hop growers that want to stay organic, I have read that keeping your hop leaves moist will cut down on the damage that spider mites can do. Of course, moist hop plants can lead to powdery mildew, which is a whole 'nother problem for hop growers.

Hops Week

2009-09-14T19:47:00.005-07:00

It's hops week here at Noble Square Brewing. "Why?" you may ask. Because Señor Brew™ said so. Actually it's for a number of reasons, mainly because I'm going to post about hops all week. So where do we start? Why don't we take inventory of what hops I have on hand for brewing?

I've brewed with some of the hops in the above photo since I took it, but it's a good indication of where we stand at Noble Square Brewing, especially since we're going to add to it with some recently (and soon to be) harvested hops. (That's another reason it's hops week).

So here are the varieties of humulus lupus currently on hand:

Galena 13.1% AA 4 oz.

Williamette 4.8% AA 17 oz.

Simcoe ?? AA 4 oz.

Magnum 10.4% AA 9 oz.

Hallertau 3.0% AA 15 oz.

Tettnanger 3.3% AA 11 oz.

I don't know the alpha acid content of the Simcoe because I traded some Magnum for them with fellow Brew Bud Russ Chibes, and forgot to write down what they were. Maybe he'll comment here and enlighten me. Actually, now that I look at the photo, it's clearly written on the bag that they are 13.5%--it just wore off with the combination of condensation and handling of the bag. The pictured hops that have since been used were an ounce of Centennial and a couple of ounces of Columbus. So that's where I stand, but I have a hop harvest coming soon. Russ, please still feel free to comment on this post.

Omega King Scoresheet

2009-09-01T05:36:00.003-07:00

A couple of readers have asked about the scoresheet comments on the Omega King IPA, which took first in it's category inthe B.U.Z.Z. Brewoff, so here they are.

It was scored by two judges, J. Sparrow, a Master BJCP judge, and Jeff Albarella, a novice. J. scored it a 35 and Jeff a 37, which put it in the top end of the "Very Good" category. In this case, "Very Good" was "Good Enough" to take home a blue ribbon. On to the comments:

Aroma:
J: Notable piney aroma balanced by ample citrus esters, moderate carmel malt in background.
Jeff: Dominant citrus hop aroma, balanced with sweet malty graininess

Appearance:
J: Adden? (can't read this word) Bright Wispy off-white foam quickly fades
Jeff: Golden Orange color, slightly hazy, little to no head retention

Flavor:
J: Initial pungent bitterness balanced by a moderate carmelly malt character. Noteable citrus esters. Finishes bitter though not oppressive
Jeff: Well banlanced flavor, nice hp flavor of citrus/pineapple, finish is clean, but a bit watery, nice clean fermentation

Mouthfeel:
J. Body a bit thin and carbonation low (close to flat) For style very moderate hop astringency
Jeff: Light Bodied and a bit watery at finish, good carbonation level

Overall Impression:
J: Low body and condition detract from an otherwise pleasant IPA with notes of pine and citrus. This is where the parts definitely affect the whole. But still a pleasant IPA.
Jeff: Very drinkable well-balanced beer, could use sugary more malt character to thicken the malt feel at finish. Nice smooth hop character.

So it looks like I scored lowest in the Mouthfeel area. When I brew this again, I'll increase the mash temperature from the original 152F to 156F and see if that makes a difference. I wonder if each judge tasted from a different bottle, since one commented on the low carbonation, while the other said it was well carbonated.

Next I'll post the comments on the beers that didn't win, since I have more to learn from those.

Double Brew Day (round 2)

2009-08-29T15:48:00.002-07:00

The second beer we brewed today was an Alt, here's the recipe:

To Be Named Later Alt (12 gallons)
13lbs Pilsner Malt
9 lbs Dark Munich
2 lbs Caravienne
4 oz Pale Chocolate

Mashed for 1 hour at 153F

Hop Schedule
2 oz Magnum (14% AA) 60 min
2 oz Tettnanger (3.3% AA) 2 min
1 oz Pete's Mix* 2 min

It's currently fermenting at around 65F with Wyeast German Ale Yeast
I didn't take the O.G. but I'm guessing it's about 1.053.

*Pete's mix is a mix of Brewer's Gold and Tettnanger that he grew last year. They grew together, so he doesn't know the breakdown of the mix. We just threw it in for grins.

Double Brew Day

2009-08-29T15:39:00.004-07:00

My buddy Pete and I brewed some beer today at his house, and since he doesn't get to brew that often (he has two kids under 3), we decided to double up and brew two different beers.

The first was an American IPA, kind of based on our Omega King, but tweaked to fit what we had on hand grain-wise, and what the LHBS had on hand hops-wise. Here's the recipe:

To Be Named Later IPA (15 gallons)

18 lbs Pilsner Malt
6 lbs 2-row
2 lbs caravienna
1 lb dark munich
1 lb special B
4 oz pale chocolate malt

Mashed for 1 hour at 156F

Hops
2 oz Columbus 60 min
2 oz Simcoe 30 min
2 oz Centennial 30 min
2 oz Cascade, 1 oz Centenial 15 min (this was supposed to be 3 oz Cascade but we goofed)
.75 oz Columbus, 2 oz Cascade 0 min

O.G. was 1.050
Fermenting with Wyeast American Ale yeast.
We'll probably dry hop it--stay tuned.

Dangerous?

2009-08-25T20:22:00.007-07:00

According to an A.P. article today, one of my kegs, Jessica, has been named most dangerous celebrity on the web, because of the high chance of web searches leading you to a website that could be damaging to your computer. Don't worry, you won't get infected with a virus here at Noble Square Brewing, although you might catch spider mites.

This is a really bad photo of Jessica by the way, it accompanied the story I linked to, so I linked to it as well.

Omega King Recipe

2009-08-24T19:21:00.003-07:00

I know I said I was going to post this a long time ago, but I finally dug out the recipe for my Omega King India Pale Ale because I'm thinking about brewing it again soon. Unfortunately, I only wrote the grain bill and the hop schedule down, so I'm reconstructing some of the other details from memory. So without further ado, here is the blue ribbon winning recipe:

Omega King India Pale Ale (approx 15 gallons)

15 lbs Pilsner Malt

10 lbs 2-row

8 oz Special B

8 oz Caramalt 60L

8 oz Melanoidin malt

8 oz Carapils

8 oz caravienna

Mash 45 minutes at 152F

Hop Schedule

2 oz Columbus 60 min

2 oz Chinook 30 min

2 oz Centennial 30 min

3 oz Cascade 15 min

1 oz Chinook 0 min

1 oz Centennial 0 min

Dry Hop

2 oz Columbus, 1 oz Chinook, 1 oz Centennial, 1 oz Cascade

I don't have the O.G. or F.G. but I assume that it started in the upper 1.050s and ended around 1.014. I do remember that it was around 6% alcohol by volume.

I made a gallon starter using light DME and Wyeast American Ale 1056, and fermented for about 2 weeks at 65F? I then dry-hopped in secondary for another week.

It won 1st place in its category at the B.U.Z.Z. brewoff. I'll post the tasting notes if I can find them--yes I know I haven't been organized lately.

Spider Mites!

2009-08-01T09:23:00.002-07:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned this previously in the blog, but I grow some of my own hops. I have Saaz growing along the front fence line, and Northern Brewer growing in the back. Last year the Northern Brewer hops got infested with spider mites. As you can see from the diagram above, they are pretty nasty, and can do a lot of damage. They're invisible to the naked eye, but they leave a silk web underneath the leaves like a spider (hence the name) that is visible. I caught the infestation pretty early, sprayed them with a hand-held bottle of insecticide on two separate occasions, and harvested a decent crop of hop flowers.

This year both varieties were infested, and I may have waited too long to spray the Saaz to save them. Hop leaves are drying up and falling off the plant. I sprayed today with a bottle that you attach to the garden hose. If I remember correctly from last year, you have to spray them twice about a few days apart, because the eggs are resistant to the insecticide, so you have to let them hatch after you kill off the adults, and then take care of the new generation with another application. We'll see if the Saaz make it to harvest.

The whole time I was spraying, I had the Spider Man theme running through my head, albeit with different lyrics:

Spider mites, spider mites,
Deadly hop-eating spider mites,
Can't see them, they leave a thread,
Watch me now, kill them dead.
Look out!
I'm killing the spider mites.

Yeah, I know, I'll stick to brewing beer.

No Scoresheets yet!

2009-07-10T16:39:00.003-07:00

Still no scoresheets yet from the B.U.Z.Z. brewoff. I'm waiting to get them before posting the recipe for the Award Winning Omega King IPA. Apparently the guy in charge of them has been real busy. I hope to get them soon.

Noble Square Brewing Extra: If you want to get a lot of page hits to your blog, post photos of sexy actresses and/or models. My hits went from about 1000 to the current count of 8300+ pretty quick. (I was just naming my kegs.)

Happy Independence Day America!

2009-07-04T21:35:00.002-07:00

I'll come out and say it right from the start, I'm cheating by pre-dating this post to the Fourth of July even though it was written about three days later, but I'm feeling guilty about not posting to the blog for over two weeks. So it's going to be one of those quick updates type post. Quick updates:

I brewed a split batch Amber Ale/Vienna Lager on the 3rd of July. Recipe to follow

I still haven't received the scoresheets back from the B.U.Z.Z. Brewoff, but I realize I haven't posted a recipe for my 1st place blue ribbon IPA. Recipe to follow.

I have hired a home-brewery engineer, JL, who has already fixed my leaky counterflow chiller. Our next project: cutting open a sankey keg for use as a hot liqour tank. I'll post photos and/or videos. JL said he is going to use a angle grinder and promised lots of sparks, so a video may be apropos. (He's a nuclear engineer by education--it could get interesting). I pay him in homebrew.

Who's the big winner?

2009-06-14T20:40:00.003-07:00

Señor Brew is the big winner.

My American India Pale Ale, which I named Omega King, won first place in its category in the B.U.Z.Z. Brewoff this year. YAY!

I Named My Kegs!!

2009-06-06T19:38:00.021-07:00

Thank you all for your suggestions on naming my kegs. It turns out that I got the idea originally from reading a post on Russ Chibes' blog. I have to admit I filed it in my subconscious and forgot about it--even down to the part about the Simpson's characters. My only excuse is that sometimes I drink home brew while reading other home brew blogs.

But anyway, the idea for the names was right in front of me all along. Corny kegs need constant attention. They're high maintenance. You constantly have to buy things for them. They're not rock musicians...O.K. maybe lead singers. But still, here are the names for all my kegs:

Megan

Jessica

Kate

Scarlett

Heidi

Elle

Again, Brew Buds, thank you for all your suggestions. I mentioned that the winning suggestion gets homebrew. Since I picked my own idea, you all get homebrew. If you commented on the original post before today and you are local, I will give you home brew the next time I see you. If you're not in Chicago, email me at SeñorBrew (no tilde on the "n") at gmail dot com. Obviously you have to reformat that yourself--I don't want to be spammed.

Bar Keepers Friend

2009-06-03T22:01:00.004-07:00

So Bill Pierce over at Brews and Views on the hbd.org recommends Bar Keepers Friend, a stainless steel scrubby, and some elbow grease to work that corrosion out of my third free keg. Now I just have to find someplace in Chicago that sells it. I looked online, some Ace Hardware Stores had it listed, so I'll see if the local one carries it. I googled an image, it does say "STAINLESS STEEL" at the very top on the label.

Corrosion?

2009-06-03T06:47:00.003-07:00

It looks like the gunk at the bottom of my keg is actually corrosion. I tried the PBW soak as suggested in the comments section of the last post to no avail. I posted to the Brews and Views board to figure out if I can still use this keg, or somehow easily remove the corrosion. I'll post later with an update.

Gunk in the Trunk, I mean Keg

2009-06-02T05:29:00.003-07:00

Hello there, Brew-buds! I'm cleaning out the (mostly) free kegs I received. Two of the three cleaned up beautifully with just a soak in an Oxy-Clean solution, but the third had to be difficult, like the French. It's got some gunk in the very bottom that just will not come clean. It's almost like the gunk has become part of the stainless steel of the keg.

I tried the Oxy-Clean soak followed by a lot of elbow grease and a carboy brush, then another Oxy-Clean soak (for a couple days) followed by more elbow grease and a super rough nylon scrubber, and then a third soak in a electic dishwashing soap solution (I heard it works well--it didn't) and more scrubbing with the scrubber.

Right now it's soaking in a baking soda/boiling hot water solution. Once the water cools to a tolerable level, I'm going to scrub it again. I'm hesitant to use a wire brush on it, I vaguely remember reading somewhere you should not do this with stainless steel. Of course, that may be my option of last resort. Any suggestions, readers? I do have some PBW (powdered brewery wash) from Five Star, but my experience in the past tells me that Oxy-Clean works better.

Let me know what you think, and while you're at it, NAME MY KEGS!

Dolly Varden India Pale Ale

2009-06-01T20:11:00.003-07:00

I tasted the Dolly Varden India Pale Ale from Metrolius Brewing over the weekend, and I actually took the time to write down some tasting notes. So here is my impression.

Appearance: Light copper color with a touch of cloudiness, with a 100% chance of beer. White creamy head that persists, leaving a lacework of bubbles as the beer was drained. Bottle was a stubby twist-off.

Aroma: Spicy hoppiness with a hint of sweet malt.

Flavor: Predominant hop bitterness not quite balanced by a caramel sweetness. Slight toasted malt flavor.

Mouth feel: Highly carbonated. Too full in body, most likely from a preponderance of crystal malts.

Would I attempt to clone this: No. The beer, while not bad, finished too sweet and heavy. I prefer my IPAs drier. I was also disappointed that the bottles were twist-off. I couldn't reuse them to bottle home brew for competitions.

Name My Kegs!!

2009-05-27T20:33:00.006-07:00

Now that I've acquired some new (used) kegs, I decided that I need names for all of them. I'm naming them because I want to be able to differentiate among them. I've had some problems with leakage, and more recently a couple of my beers have acquired a bit of sourness after being kegged, so I want to eventually upgrade all the gaskets. poppets and O-rings, just not all at once.
Of course I could just number them, but I figure that it might be easier to remember that Moe Szyslak needs new O-rings and Homer Simpson has a suspect poppet vs. keg 2 and 6 needed the aforementioned parts. Plus, home brewing is a fun hobby! There are already enough numbers involved, O.G. F.G. AA%, IBUs, SRM, etc.

So I now have six five gallon kegs. I need six names. If it were four it would be easy--no not John, Paul, George and Ringo, but Robert, Jimmy, John Paul, and Bonzo. (I never was a huge Beatles fan). I could go with fictional characters like from the Simpsons above, or real people names like the guys from Led Zeppelin, or colors, or you name it. In fact, YOU NAME IT! Yes, I am looking for suggestions from my readers. All eight of them.

So please leave suggestions in the comments. The winner gets some home brew.

Follow Ups

2009-05-27T20:23:00.006-07:00

This is just a quick follow up to some previous posts:

1) I don't need to buy new kegs. Steve Hamburg from my brew club, The Chicago Beer Society, gave me 3 kegs that he no longer uses. I gave him approximately 3 gallons of my Toasted Coconut Porter in return.

2) I haven't yet sent my B.U.Z.Z. brewoff entries. They're packaged up and ready to ship tomorrow; I hope they get there by June 1st. I cut the entries down to 4. I didn't have time to bottle the Tripel, and the Toasted Oatmeal Lager got drank up at a Memorial Day Cookout. (I actually saved enough to bottle a couple, but the travel faucet that I left on the keg opened up on the ride home, dousing the back seat, and not leaving me enough for a competition entry.)

More about the new kegs to follow.

B.U.Z.Z. Off!

2009-05-23T21:39:00.015-07:00

Well, even though I have an O-fer going so far this year in homebrew competitions, I'm going to get back up on that horse, or in this case a buzzard, and try again. The Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots (B.U.Z.Z.) is holding their annual homebrew competition on June 6.

B.U.Z.Z. is the homebrew club of the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, my alma mater, so I think it's my duty as a faithful alumna to enter (and win) their competition. If I can get everything together, I plan on entering multiple categories:

Pilsner--Your Mother's Mustache--Classic American Pilsner

Belgian--It doesn't have a name yet Belgian Porter--Belgian Specialty

IPA--Alpha King Clone, Omega King?--American India Pale Ale

Belgian Stong Ale--Tripel Your Pleasure--Belgian Tripel

Spice/Herb/Vegetable--You Sank My Coconut!--Toasted Coconut Porter

Specialty--Toasted Oatmeal Black Lager--Specialty

So far only the Pilsner and the Belgian are bottled, but everything else should be ready to go, it's just a matter of me bottling it. Have I mentioned I hate bottling? Anyway, look for Señor Brew's alter ego in the winners list for the B.U.Z.Z. Brewoff 2009.

Trippel Your Pleasure, Trippel Your Fun!

2009-05-21T19:42:00.002-07:00

Holy Smokes! I just racked my Belgian Trippel from Primary to secondary, and it is awesome! (Of course I took a little taste). I knew that it would finish dry, especially with the sugar addition, but wow! It started at 1.057 before the sugar addition, which upped it to 1.080, and finished at... 1.004! That's 10.5% alcohol by volume, or at least it was when I went to school.

It's not carbonated yet, and I'm sure it will taste even better once it does, but it has that peppery citrusy Belgiany taste to it, yet slightly subdued. I fermented pretty cool for a Belgian, around 64F. You don't taste the alcohol, nor any cidery flavors that you are rumoured to get from cane sugar. Pure cane sugar, that's the one!

I brewed this as part of a split batch at the Big Brew...I'll have to post the recipe once I dig it up--if I even wrote it down at all.

A Tale of Three Porters

2009-05-20T19:42:00.004-07:00

I'm finally getting around to posting my porter recipe. I say it's a tale of three porters because I made a very large batch (around 15 gallons) and then split the wort between three different yeasts. So here we go:

17 lbs 2-row
3 lbs pale chocolate malt
1.63 lbs flaked oats (Jewel brand Quick Oats)
1 lb caramel 80L
1 lb caramel 40L
1 lb flaked wheat
1 lb toasted 2-row (toasted in the oven for 15 minutes @ 350F)
1 lb toasted flaked oats (Jewel Quick Oats toasted for 15min @350F)
0.5 lb UK Chocolate malt
10 oz rice hulls

I mashed the above for 2.5 hours at 152F. I did a batch sparge and collected approximately 18 gallons of wort. I boiled for 60 minutes, there was only one hop addition 2 oz of Galena 13.1% AA boiled for the whole hour.

The batch was split between Chimay yeast (cultured from a bottle of Chimay Red), Wyeast London 1968, and Wyeast Munich Lager yeast--yes I made a porter/lager. The London and the Belgian fermented at 64F, and the Munich at 56F. In hindsight, I would have fermented the Belgian a little warmer, to bring out more esters and phenols.

But wait, it gets better. After primary fermentation of the batch on the London yeast, I added 8.8 ounces of dried coconut that I toasted at 350F for about 20 minutes.

So I have a Belgian Porter, A Toasted Coconut Porter, and a Dark Lager Porter.

O.G. was 1.046, the Belgian and the lager finished at 1.010, I haven't yet measured the Toasted Coconut.

Opening Day Alt Update

2009-05-18T20:24:00.004-07:00

Well it's approximately six weeks into baseball season, the Cubs are in second place in their division, 1.5 games out, and I opened a bottle of Opening Day Alt over the weekend. It's much better than it was April 5th when the season started. It has cleared up completely, and the bitterness has mellowed to the point where it is just about perfect. I wish I had bottled some in 12 ouncers, because this beer is competition worthy, although it propably would get dinged a few points for my choice of hops. It just goes to show that patience is rewarded in this crazy hobby we call homebrewing. Never rush your beer--now if I can only listen to my own advice.

Time to buy more kegs?

2009-05-18T18:51:00.005-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I have run out of keg space. It might be time to buy more kegs, especially since I have to transfer my "You Sank My Coconut!" Porter to another keg next week, and there is no way I'll have a free keg. Plus I have a number of beers in either in primary or secondary that will need to be kegged at some point soon. Here's the rundown of my current beer situation.

IN CORNY KEGS

5 gallon: Obfuscator Doppelbock. Status: lagering. Ready to drink: Early June
5 gallon: Dark Unamed Lager. Status: lagering. Ready to drink: Mid June
5 gallon: "You Sank My Coconut!" Porter. Status: Dry coconutting. Ready to drink: next week
2.5 gallon: Pseudo-Alpha King Clone. Status: Dry hopping. Ready to drink: next week

IN PRIMARY (in 6 gallon glass carboys)

Belgian Tripel ~5 gallons Ready to secondary: Now
Pils ~9 gallons Ready to secondary: Now

IN SECONDARY (in 5 gallon glass carboys)

Pseudo-Alpha King Clone. Status: Dry hopping. Ready to keg/bottle: next week.

Too much beer? It's a good problem to have.

You Sank My Coconut!

2009-05-18T18:29:00.004-07:00

I couldn't leave well enough alone, and decided to fix the floating coconut bag problem I was having with my Toasted Coconut Porter. The plan was to pull the bags out, weigh them down with glass beads, suspend them in the keg with fishing line, and add some sugar water to the keg so the yeast would naturally carbonate the beer and scavenge the oxygen that I was sure to introduce by this whole process.

I boiled the glass beads in the sugar water solution--killing two birds with one bead, sterilizing the beads and sugar at the same time. When I opened the keg, I saw that the bags of coconut had sunk on their own! This would be fine, except that I don't want the coconut in the keg for the whole time; I'm just "dry-coconutting" for about a week, and since the bags aren't tied to anything, there is no easy way to pull them out.

Since I had the sugar solution ready, I added it even though I didn't really disturb much by opening the keg. My new plan is to let it naturally carbonate and "coconutate" for a week, and then transfer it to another keg so it doesn't get too "coconutty". The only problem is that I don't have a free keg. It might be time to buy some new kegs.

Of course, I sampled a little even though it's warm, flat, and only been on the coconut for three days. There is quite a bit of coconut on the nose, and it has a little coconut finish. Another week, carbonated, chilled, it should be perfect.

Let's Do...Megan Fox

2009-05-15T21:28:00.010-07:00

So I racked (no double entendre intended) the porter to secondary and added the toasted coconuts (again, no double entendre intended). I toasted the coconut for a little longer than originally planned, about 22 minutes at 350F. I resolved my "which is the bigger pain-in-the-ass" conundrum by using the bags (no...you get the point), but also using the corny keg as my secondary. This way, I don't have to worry about loose coconuts (why did I use this photo?), but also don't have to worry about fishing the swollen (this is getting weird) coconut bags out of a carboy.

The only problem? And yes, there's always a problem, if you haven't yet figured that out from reading this blog. Actually, there were two problems. One, I tied some nylon string to the bags so I would be able to pull out easily (here we go again) the bags of coconut. The strings were tied to the handles of the keg. Well the string was too thick (?!?) and the keg wouldn't seal. So after doing some research on the intertubes, I decided to use monofilament, a.k.a., fishing line.

I opened the keg, and encountered problem number two. I didn't weight the bags of coconut down with anything, so they were floating at the top of the beer. I decided at this point not to mess with anything further, thinking I would oxidize and/or contaminate the beer. I cut the string, put the top back on, and sealed the keg with a shot of CO2. I figure that since the keg is almost completely full, most of the coconut is in contact with the beer. I'll turn the keg upside down every other day or so, so the bags float to the other end and all the coconut makes contact with the beer. This is of course assuming the bags don't rotate as they float their way up.

Oh yeah, the photo of Megan Fox is just because I promised another photo of her in an earlier post. You know, I haven't even seen any of her movies?

Let's Do...Organic

2009-05-15T00:43:00.005-07:00

I decided to try to add coconut to a beer after tasting a Trader Joe's "Almond in the Coconut" candy--delicious. It made sense to me to add it (coconut, not the candy) to a porter, and since I had a number of odds and ends of malt types lying around it was perfect to make a "kitchen sink" type porter. You know---everything-but-the-kitchen-sink goes into it. In this case it was going to be everything-including-coconut-but-still-not-the-kitchen-sink goes into it.

I'll have to post the porter recipe later, but I split the 15 gallon batch three ways, mainly for variety, but also because I have never added coconut to a beer, and didn't want to risk having 15 gallons of undrinkable "Malibu Rum-Beer".

So it's time to add the coconut. Actually, it's way past time to add the coconut, because it has taken me awhile to find unsweetened preservative-free coconut. I finally discovered some at Whole Foods. I was hoping that they had it bulk, which would tend to be a lot cheaper, but unfortunately they had it pre-packaged, so I paid $2.75 for 8.8 oz. I have seen it online for under two bucks a pound, but since I would be ordering a small amount, the shipping cost wouldn't make this a viable option.

Tomorrow, I will be toasting the coconut! 10 to 15 minutes at 350F should do the trick. Then I'll rack the porter to secondary in a five gallon glass carboy, and add the 8.8 ounces of coconut. I debated whether or not to bag the coconut before I add it, but ultimately decided to just pour it in unbagged. I figure that the potential pain-in-the-ass of straining around coconut shavings come kegging time are outweighed by the potential pain-in-the-ass of fishing a swollen bag of coconut out of the carboy. It will sit in secondary for about two weeks--look for an update about June 1st.

Final note: as you will see from the soon to be posted photo, the coconut is reduced fat. On the back label they say they use a steam process to do this. For my porter, this is a good thing--you don't really want any fat in a beer if you can help it--it could lead to reduced head retention and spoilage.

Fat Weasel Ale

2009-05-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would critique a beer that I found in my fridge. I didn't buy it, it was just there. I wrote this kind of stream of consciousness, although influenced by the BJCP reports I get back from the competitions I enter with my homebrew. Enjoy.

Appearance: Pale golden, medium white head, crystal clear.

Aroma: buttery, slight corn and malt aroma, no discernable hop aroma.

Flavor: very slightly bitter, buttery, hint of malty sweetness, a little corny (DMS),very little neutral hop flavor.

Head persists, mouthfeel medium, dry finish, alcohol warmth, upper medium carbonation.

Alcohol 7.1% by volume.

Not my favorite beer--too much diacetly (buttery, butterscotch) and one dimensional in flavor. You also sense the alcohol burn.

If I had to catagorize it, I would call it a strong cream ale or malt liquor?

Steinhaus Brewing, New Ulm, MN.

Beer advocate had it listed as an American Strong Ale. I'm guessing the wifey picked it up at Trader Joe's, because that's where everybody on Beer Advocate mentioned they got it from.

Would I attempt to clone it in a homebrew version? No.

AHA Big Brew video

2009-05-07T21:19:00.003-07:00

Check out the beer nerd at the one minute mark who propagated yeast from a bottle of Chimay. Yes that is yours truly, Señor Brew.

Opening Day Alt

2009-04-06T20:04:00.003-07:00

I didn't know what I was going to call this beer until I realized what it is ready for. Opening Day of Major League Baseball. What is better than kicking back to watch America's pastime drinking a malty hoppy dark German ale? OK, so that doesn't really make sense, but this is the beer I made, and it's officially ready today, and besides, as you'll see from the recipe below, at least I used American hops.

This beer is the ale component of the split batch ale/lager strategy I've been using lately. It was made using the second and third runnings of the mash used to make Obfuscator Doppelbock. It was made in the style of a Dusseldorf alt, and again using American hops instead of noble German hops. So here is the recipe:

15lbs Dark German Munich malt
8lbs American two-row (I would have used Vienna malt, but I've got a ton of two-row on hand)
1lb Carahelles (a free gift from Larry at the LHBS--it was a sample from their supplier)
1lb Melanoidin malt
1/2 lb U.K. pale chocolate malt
1lb DME
1lb corn sugar
1 oz Galena 13.1% AA hops
1 oz Columbus 12% hops (need to cut this in half)
Dry ale yeast (I forget which one I used)

Mash at 146F for one hour and collect the 2nd and 3rd runnings to collect approximately 12 gallons of wort. Pre-boil gravity was 1.033. The hop schedule was:

Galena 60 minutes
Columbus 30 minutes

The alt turned out too bitter for a number of reasons. One, the gravity came in much lower than expected, so I got much better hop utilization rates. (The less sugary your wort, the more the bitterness is extracted from the hops). Two, I intended to only add 0.5 ounces of the Columbus, but I left in the middle of the boil due to a family emergency, and mistakenly added a full ounce. And three, I had only intended to boil the columbus hops for 15 minutes, instead of 30, again because I left in a hurry. I also didn't add Irish moss as usual during the last 15 minutes of the brew.

The cooling of the wort was done in a very interesting way. I instructed the wifey to turn off the burner at the proper time, since I wasn't going to be there. The wort sat outside, uncovered for about 3 hours before I was able to return. It dropped from boiling to about 115F during this time. Probably the ultimate temperature for beer spoiling organisms. But I didn't have a choice--this reminds me, I need to buy a cover for my 15 gallon brew kettle. At this point, I force chilled it down to 65F with my immersion chiller, pitched the yeast and hoped for the best.

The O.G. came in at 1.038 (low for style), so I added the corn sugar and malt extract (after boiling them in a half gallon of water for 15 minutes) two days into fermentation, bringing the estimated O.G. to 1.048. Normally I wouldn't add sugar to an alt, but I was down to my last pound of DME, and I needed to make it a little stronger. It fermented for 10 days at approximately 65F.

So how is it? Well, as I mentioned earlier, it's too bitter, although you get used to it after the second pint. It's also very cloudy. Alts are supposed to be very clear, and mine is not. I don't know if it's because I didn't add the Irish moss, or because it didn't cool quickly, or what, but this beer is kind of a muddy brown. More like a muddy brownish-orange. Yes, I know it sounds appetizing. So it looks like this one is going to be for my own enjoyment, no competition winner here. But it's like my buddy Mikey says, "There are no bad homebrews, some are just more preferred than others".

Obfuscator Doppelbock

2009-04-05T07:15:00.014-07:00

I brewed this beer two weeks ago, but am finally getting around to posting it here. It was one part of a split batch of lager/ale, as I have done in the past, but this time it was a true partigyle brew, using the first runnings from the mash for a strong beer, and the later runnings for a "small" beer. Also, this time, opposite of the YMM/YSM and the Johann Sebastian Bock/ Anglerman Ale , I made a smaller amount of the lager, and a larger amount of the ale. So without further ado, here's the recipe:

15lbs Dark German Munich malt
8lbs American two-row (I would have used Vienna malt, but I've got a ton of two-row on hand)
1lb Carahelles (a free gift from Larry at the LHBS--it was a sample from their supplier)
1lb Melanoidin malt
1/2 lb U.K. pale chocolate malt
2 oz Hallertauer 3.9% AA hops
Wyeast Munich Lager yeast

I did a single infusion mash for 1 hour at 146F. I mashed low, because I knew this was going to be a big beer. This style traditionally calls for a decoction mash to get melanoidin in the wort, but I thought the addition of the melanoidin malt would allow me to skip this step.

It was a batch sparge, and like I mentioned earlier, I took the first runnings as well as just a small amount of the second to get me approximately 6 gallons of wort. Pre-boil gravity was 1.083.

The hop addition was simple, all 2 oz at the beginning of a 60 minute boil. O.G. ended up at 1.089.

Sounds fairly simple, right? Well of course nothing is simple here at the Noble Square Brewery. I had to leave in the middle of the boil because of a family emergency. The wifey turned off the burner for me at the proper time, and covered the brew kettle. I returned from the hospital three hours later--don't worry, everyone is o.k. now--to finish my brewday.

But this means I didn't add Irish moss ( a clarifying agent) at the end of the boil, and it also means that the wort was not force cooled quickly. The temperature had dropped over 2 1/2 hours from boiling to 160F. Since it was covered, and still at a fairly high temperature, I wasn't concerned with bacteria or wild airborne yeast contaminating the wort. But also since it was covered and cooled slowly, I was concerned about DMS (Dimethyl sulfide). DMS is created from heating grain in a certain temperature range--it gives an unwanted cooked cabbage flavor to beer. Normally, when boiling wort, the precursors to DMS are driven off, and by force cooling it quickly, they don't reform.

I did force cool it from 160F down to 55F in about 15 minutes with my immersion chiller. I tasted a sample before I transferred it to the fermenter. I didn't taste any DMS, but the wort was so sweet and caramel tasting that it could have masked the flavor. General consensus at Brews and Views was to not worry about it. I fermented for two weeks at 53F on the yeast cake reused from Your Mother's Mustache. I'll find out soon if it tastes like cabbage when I transfer to secondary, although I won't know how well it clears until it lagers. I could always add gelatin to help it clear up.

The Little Beer Fiasco

2009-04-04T17:47:00.008-07:00

I mention in the subtitle of this blog that one reason for creating it is to learn from my homebrewing mistakes. And I have. But I keep making more. In just the last post I described how I lost almost a full keg of bock due to a faulty connection. Well, I just lost over a gallon of an alt due to almost the same problem.

Russ Chibes at Chibebräu suggested that I keep a cobra tap on my keg as I'm force carbonating it to avoid the same problem again, thinking it was a faulty poppet. So I did, and here is what happened:

Yes, that is beer foaming out underneath the fitting. I still don't know what the problem is. This may or may not be the keg I had the problem with before. (It's a 50-50 chance, since my 3rd keg has been lagering Your Mother's Mustache Classic American Pilsner).

It could be a bad fitting, a bad O-ring on the post, or maybe I just didn't have it on right. Although I'm almost certain it was well connected, especially after what happened last time. I wonder if the pressure was too high? I had it at about 25 psi, because I was trying to force carbonate the beer fairly quickly. I do think there is a problem with the poppet, because after I took the fitting off, beer was still slowly seeping out around the poppet. But the poppet is depressed with the fitting on, so this shouldn't have caused the leak.

Originally, I thought I lost under a gallon of beer, which isn't too bad, especially since this beer didn't turn out that great. (More about that in a later post.) But once I started vacuuming the kegerator out with the shop-vac, I realized it was closer to two gallons, maybe more:

I have reduced the pressure and put another fitting on to make sure what is left doesn't leak out. I'm going to replace the poppet and O-ring when I have a chance. Hey readers, what do you think caused the problem?

The Big Beer Fiasco

2009-03-26T15:12:00.002-07:00

To all you homebrewers that keg your beer, I have some advice: CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK YOUR CONNECTIONS!!!

I lost basically a whole 5 gallon keg of Johann Sebastian Bock because I had a bad connection on my beer line. This was a beer that had no discernable flaws, that had lagered for 6 weeks, and was one that I had planned to enter and win numerous competitions with. And it's gone, all gone. I think the problem started when I was trying to hook up the CO2 to the keg. It was in the bottom of the kegerator, so I didn't see right away that I was attempting to hook the CO2 to the "beer out" connector. Once I realized my mistake, I hooked the gas up correctly, to the "gas in", and then hooked the beer line to the "beer out". Apparently, it wasn't secure, possibly because of my attempt to force the gas on it earlier, so overnight, all the delicious malty bock was pushed out of the keg and into the bottom of my kegerator. Wasted. I don't have any photos of the damage because I was too pissed off to even think about taking any. In fact, I couldn't even write about this incident until almost a month later. (It happened early March).

I ended up pumping the beer out of the kegerator with a fountain pump and watering my newly planted hop rhizomes with it. I hope the alcohol in the beer didn't have an adverse effect on them. So I'll write it again, "CHECK YOUR CONNECTIONS! TWICE!"

Bosworth the Wonder Dog and his Beer Wagon

2009-03-25T21:36:00.005-07:00

As you can see from the above video, Bosworth got a wagon for his second birthday. He loves to pull it. The next time we go down to the LHBS to buy bulk grain, Bosworth will be pulling it home in his wagon. Also, I measured the wagon and it will hold 3 five gallon kegs of homebrew, and a CO2 cannister. Their combined weight with the wagon will be just under the maximum Bosworth should pull--3 times his body weight. Coincidence? I think not.

Yes, I'm still here

2009-03-17T21:31:00.003-07:00

I realize I haven't posted in awhile, and I intend to remedy that. The best way for me to do that is to post a list of what I'm going to post, so here it is:

Update on Your Mother's Mustache
Why I've been scoring low in competitions
The Big Beer Fiasco
Why one Portuguese Water Dog is better than a team of Clydesdales
Plus more photos of Megan Fox!

0-fered again?

2009-03-03T05:20:00.007-08:00

The results of the 2009 Babble Brew Off are in, and somehow, I didn't place in any of my 3 entries. I wonder what is going on--last year about half the beers I entered at least placed in their category, and this year I'm 0-for-7. Maybe I'm spending too much time writing about brewing, and not enough time on the brewing itself?

There's another contest I was planning to enter, The Drunk Monk Challenge. I was going to drop my entries off at the Chicago Beer Society meeting this Thursday, but now I think I'm going to skip this one. I want to see my score sheets from Babble, and I don't think I'll get them in time.

Oh yeah, the photo of Megan Fox had nothing to do with this post, I just liked the picture.

Pasta in Beer?

2009-02-25T20:27:00.003-08:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had 6 oz of wheat pasta in my last batch of beer and said that it's a long story. It really isn't. The wifey has a gluten allergy, but she likes to have macaroni and cheese once in a while. She'll make it with rice pasta, but she likes the cheese packet from the regular Kraft Mac N' Cheese. So instead of tossing the unused Kraft pasta out, I'll save it, and throw it in the mash of my next beer. It's such a small amount that I don't think it affects flavor, color, or head retention, it just adds 6 extra ounces of fermentables to the beer. Although, this last beer has nice head retention, which you're supposed to get from wheat.

Persistent Head

2009-02-24T22:14:00.003-08:00

I'm enjoying a pint of Your Sister's Mustache right now. One thing that I noticed is that the head retention on this beer is very good. I know that adding a little wheat to your beer is supposed to aid in head retention, and I neglected to mention that I had a secret ingredient in the mash--6 ounces of wheat pasta (it's a long story), but I doubt if that was enough to give this beer the head it has. Does rice aid in head retention as well?

By the way, this beer is all sterling hops. They have a distinctive flavor. I like them, but they seem a little overwhelming--I might reduce the quantity or boil time for the next batch of YSM.

What do I brew next?

2009-02-24T06:09:00.005-08:00

I'm thinking about brewing this weekend, so I have to come up with a new brew. My basement is still frickin' cold, so another lager would be a good. I also like doing the split batches with a lager/ale, so I have some beer for sooner, and some for later.

Instead of the 11/3 gallons lager/ale strategy I used on the Johann Sebastian Bock/ Anglerman Ale and the YMM Pilsner/YSM Cream Ale, I'm thinking of reversing it. Do a small batch of a strong lager with the first runnings, and a larger batch of an ale with the second and third runnings. I'm kicking around a doppelbock/dusseldorf alt combo.

Babble Brew Off!

2009-02-23T18:34:00.004-08:00

The Lake County home brew club is having their annual contest, The BABBLE Brew-Off, this Saturday. I entered 3 beers, Superbowl Stout, Tottenham Mild, and J & H Birthday Lager. I took second in the specialty category last year with the 2007 version of the J&H. (It's a Christmas beer--the J stands for Jesus). When the results are posted I'll let you all know how I did. Better than the last contest, I hope.

Johann Sebastian Bock Sampling

2009-02-16T18:48:00.003-08:00

So Old Johann has only been lagering for two weeks, but I sneaked a sample. It's very good! F.G. is 1.023, a little higher than I wanted, so it's a little sweet, but oh that malty goodness. It's a dark copper color, with a thick creamy cream-colored head. Slightly toasty, with just a bit too much hop bitterness, which hopefully will mellow with more lager time. There is also a hint of sulfur, I hope this will dissapate with some more lagering. Clarity is excellent, crystal clear.

I definitely plan to let this lager for another 2 to 4 weeks, but I know it will be hard not to sample more while I'm waiting. I have 10 gallons of it, so a few samples won't hurt. I think this will be one to enter in contests, although the high F.G. might hurt me a little.

Friday Night Bottling

2009-02-13T18:59:00.003-08:00

I bottled the remainder of the keg of Superbowl Stout tonight. I meant to take a photo of the counter-pressure filler in action, but was so into the bottling, I forgot to do it. Just picture one in your head, ok?

I bottled a few big bottles first, because I wanted to have some to give away, plus it seems like I get more foam when starting out, so I was going to have low fills due to foam, I would rather not have those on the small bottles I enter in competitions. Well that meant I only got nine twelve ounce bottles filled before the keg ran out. Oh well, that's enough for four competitions plus a spare bottle.

Now it's time to take Bosworth the Wonder Dog for a walk.

Yeast Genome Mapped!

2009-02-11T12:01:00.000-08:00

I just read a Yahoo! news story that the yeast genome has been mapped. They say it could lead to better beer. There are so many different strains available, I wonder if this will show how much actual variation there is among the different strains. I mean is the Munich lager that much different from the Bavarian lager, for example? You can read the (short) story here.

The Mustaches are Fermenting

2009-02-11T05:57:00.004-08:00

Both Your Sister's Mustache and Your Mother's Mustache are fermenting nicely. They were slow to start, and I was especially concerned about YSM, because the starter for it was just barely showing any sign of fermentation when I pitched it. I actually bought a dry yeast packet on Monday just in case. I didn't use it, because by Tuesday it had a nice krauesen starting to form.

I still have a question about it, because I did something unconventional with these brews. The carboy of YMM was too full, and since the YSM was a small batch, I had plenty of room in its carboy. So I took about 2-3 quarts of YMM and added it to the YSM. The only problem is that the yeast had already been pitched in the YMM. So it is possible that the small amount of Munich Lager yeast from YMM has propagated in YSM and is fermenting it, instead of the American Ale Yeast that I added originally. If this is the case, it is underpitched, and it's a lager yeast fermenting at ale temperatures, so I might get some off flavors or phenolics. I would do the sniff test for sulfur compounds, (a sure sign of lager yeast activity), but I'm all stuffed up with a head cold, and I'm not sure I could smell anything. We'll see how it turns out.

Why Sanitize When You Can Sterilize?

2009-02-10T19:14:00.004-08:00

I'm not a fan of bottling. It is very time and labor intensive, especially if you reuse bottles instead of buying new ones. However, I do enter contests and occasionally give away beer as gifts, so I do have to bottle to do so. I have a counter pressure filler so I can fill carbonated beer right from the keg, which saves me the time waiting for the beer to carbonate in the bottle. You still have to wash and sanitize the bottles, but lately I have been sterilizing my bottles instead of sanitizing them.

I do this by heating them up in the oven. I cover the mouths of the bottles with aluminum foil, and place them on their sides on the oven racks. Then I crank the oven all the way up to maximum, 550F. Once the oven reaches this temperature, I turn it off, and let the bottles cool very slowly in the closed oven. The reason for this is twofold. One, the bottles stay at a hot enough temperature for a long enough time to completely sterilize them. Two, if glass cools too quickly, it will shatter. Be careful not to place any bottle too close to the heating elements, the quick heat up will cause them to shatter as well.

Since the bottles are covered, they will stay sterilized until I am ready to use them. As you can see from the photo above, I can sterlize 20-30 bottles at one time, depending on their size.

Ol' Painty Can Ned

2009-02-09T11:15:00.007-08:00

I mentioned previously that I needed to get some hop socks for my pellet hops so they wouldn't clog the valve on the brew kettle. Well here is what I used:

Paint strainers! I got them from Home Depot, they came in a two-pack for $2.28. They'll hold quite a bit of hops. I weighted them down with a stainless steel spoon, tied the end off, and just dropped them in the kettle. When it came time to drain the kettle, no muss, no fuss, no clogs. I highly recommend them. I know you can get something similar from the LHBS, but these were cheaper and they seem more durable.

For you non-Simpson's fans out there, the title of this post refers to Ned Flanders, Homer Simpson's neighbor. Bart spent some time at the Flanders', and Homer pressed him for some dirt on Ned. The only thing Bart could come up with was that Ned kept some old paint cans in his garage, causing Homer to exclaim tauntingly, "Ol' painty can Ned". I guess you had to see the episode.

Your Sister's Mustache

2009-02-09T08:22:00.008-08:00

This beer is the cream ale version of "Your Mother's Mustache", which is my rice based take on the original "Your Father's Mustache".

Your Sister's Mustache (about 3 gallons)

3rd runnings from YMM's mash
1.75lbs Dry light malt extract
1 oz Sterling Hops
Wyeast American Ale

Hop Schedule
.5 oz Sterling 60 minutes
.3 oz Sterling 10 minutes
.2 oz Sterling 0 minutes

Easy, just like your sister.
O.G. 1.049

Ferment for at least a week around 65F.

Your Mother's Mustache

2009-02-08T14:53:00.010-08:00

Since it's still frickin' cold in my basement, I decided to brew another lager today, a classic American Pilsner. This was the style of beer that most American breweries brewed before prohibition. It was a slightly stronger, maltier, and hoppier version of the current premium American lagers. Mine is a variation on "Your Father's Mustache" from John Palmer's "How to Brew", using rice instead of corn. I've had a 20lb bag of rice sitting around, just waiting for a beer to be made with it. The original recipe was from Jeff Renner. So here's my take on the recipe for 11 gallons:

Your Mother's Mustache
5lbs 6-row barley
10lbs 2-row
5lbs rice
1.15 oz Galena 13.1%AA hops
1oz Williamette 4.8% AA hops
Munich lager yeast

I did a cereal mash of the rice with 1 lb of the 6-row, basically cooking it to gelatinize the starches so they could be converted to sugar in the main mash. I should mention that I used 4 gallons of reverse-osmosis water to dilute the 4.25 gallons of tap water. I also added 4 grams of gypsum and 4 grams of CaCl to bring the mash pH down. Check your own water profile before you make any adjustments.

The mash was multi-step:

122F Protein rest 30 minutes
144F Beta rest 20 minutes
158F Alpha rest 40 minutes

I came in a little low on my protein rest (120F) and the Beta rest (141F), and I didn't want to add more hot water to bring it up, because I knew my mash tun would be completely full after the addition of the cereal mash to bring it up to the alpha rest. I compensated on the alpha rest by adding the cereal mash at a hotter temperature (185F vs 175F). Also, the alpha rest was more like 50 minutes because I forgot to heat the sparge water right away. I fell asleep at the wheel, but in my defense, I'm not used to doing cereal mashes, so I had already heated water twice, once for the main mash, and once for the cereal mash. That is all I normally do, once for an infusion mash, and once for the sparge. By the time I realized I needed to heat sparge water, I was a half hour into the alpha rest.

The hopping schedule was:

1.15 oz Galena 60 minutes
0.5 oz Williamette 10 minutes
0.5 oz Williamette 0 minutes (added at flameout)

My pre-boil gravity was 1.048 for 13 gallons, giving an efficiency of 85%, a lot higher than normal. I'm guessing this is because of the multi-step mash, plus the fact that I had a high water-to-grain ratio for the final step. Post-boil original gravity was 1.054, right in the middle of the range for this style.

I used the 3rd runnings (I batch sparged) for a separate brew, a cream ale. I added dry malt extract to the boil of that to get it up to a decent gravity. I'll post that recipe tomorrow.

Buttery?

2009-02-07T11:43:00.005-08:00

I got my scoresheets back from the Upper Mississippi Mashout.

Tottenham Mild 32

Sloppy Terry's Cream Ale 31

Decemberfest (in mead category) 26.6

Decemberfest (in specialty beer category) 24.5

I wasn't hoping for much from the Decemberfest, it was kind of a mistake beer, but I thought I would enter anyway to cover some categories for the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year. (You have to enter 10 different categories throughout the year to be in the running). The other two were rated near the low end of the "very good" category, and I have had beers take a 3rd or 2nd place with scores in the low 30's, but as I mentioned in another post, they failed to place.

I thought that most of the score sheets came back with fair assessments of the beers, with the exception of one on the Tottenham mild. One of the judges (out of 3) decided that it had a "diacetyl problem", causing an overpowering buttery flavor. He gave it a 29, the other judges rated it 32 and 34. I'm not sure where this opinion came from. I taste no diacetyl in the beer at all, and neither of the other judges mentioned diacetyl or buttery at all on their score sheets. Also interestingly, one judge said the beer was too carbonated, and another said it was not carbonated enough. Strange.

I will enter the Tottenham in another competition; I still think it's good enough to win. Maybe in the next contest I won't get a judge with butter on his brain.

Did I say kegerator photos?

2009-02-03T05:33:00.006-08:00

In an earlier post, I promised photos of my kegerator. Maybe seeing them will help some of you do-it-yourselfers out there with ideas for making your own.

So above is the inside of the kegerator. As you can see I put a collar on a small freezer chest so it can hold (barely) 4 five gallon corny kegs. Right now I have 3 five gallon and 1 2.5 gallon kegs in. The container of white powder at the upper left is DampRid, to keep the humidity down. There is a 3-way gas manifold on the right side, with a "T" on one of the lines so I can run 4 gas lines out of it. The gas lines are red and have been set up logically and orderly, unlike the clear beer lines, which are all loosey-goosey since I had a couple already hooked up when I put the 3rd and 4th keg in. Normally the beer lines run from each faucet to its closest keg. The wire at the upper right is the temperature sensor.

This is obviously the front of the kegerator. You can see the collar better, it's just 4 2X8's screwed together, with two additional boards screwed to it to hold it on the freezer chest. In hindsight I should have put longer 2X8s on the front and back, and shorter ones on the sides, so you wouldn't see the seams from the front. It needs to be stained or painted too. The faucets are all front-sealing Perlick faucets, except for the far right one, which replaced a Perlick that wouldn't fit on the shank properly. I spaced the faucets as they are so the shanks and nuts wouldn't get in the way of kegs inside. The big tap handles were given to me by my friend Roxanne, who owns a bar in California. I have two others not pictured. I usually will paste my own labels over the commercial beer label on the handle, but I didn't have the time for this party. Instead, I just used fridge magnets to hold paper describing the beers to the top of the kegerator, which you'll see better in the next photo.

Top view. You can see from the labels that we ran out of the Amber (Anglerman) ale and Beat the Heat Wheat.

Superbowl Sunday! Now in 3D!

2009-02-02T20:30:00.006-08:00

So what's Superbowl Sunday without a Superbowl party? We hosted one here at Casa Brew, of course with homebrews on tap. So what was on tap?

Superbowl Stout--brewed on New Year's Day specifically for the Superbowl. A sweet stout, full of creamy dark chocolately goodness. Overheard from one of the imbibers at the party, "it goes great with the football cookies".
Beat the Heat Wheat--an American wheat ale, better suited for a hot August afternoon, yet still crisp and refreshing on a cold February eve.
Anglerman Ale--American hops, English yeast, and German malt. An amber ale, made from the same ingredients as a bock, but with ale yeast. Malty, full-bodied, hearty ale which paired well with the chili and lasagna. You've heard of comfort food? Well this is comfort beer.
Tottenham Mild--Named after the football team. Yes the soccer type of football. An English Brown ale, mildly hopped and traditionally a "session beer". Although this one came in a little stronger than intended. Call it an imperial mild.

The party was a rousing success, and the game was exciting to the very end. Final score: Superbowl Stout 5 gallons, Beat the Heat Wheat 2 gallons (all I had on tap), Anglerman Ale 3 gallons (also all I had on tap), and Tottenham Mild 4 gallons.

"How's your bock doing?"

2009-02-01T08:48:00.007-08:00

Ben asked about my bock in the comment section of the last post, like he was asking about a member of my family. That's the great thing about the homebrewing community, it's like one big happy family.

Well Ben, and the four other readers of this blog, my bock is doing just fine. I brought it upstairs to the brew closet yesterday for a diacetyl rest. Probably a little late for that, since it has been sitting in primary for 30 days, but who knows, maybe there's a little fermentation to finish out at higher temps. I roused the yeast just by jostling the carboy as I carried it up the stairs. Note to self, find a way to not carry 11 gallons of beer in heavy glass carboys up stairs.

Once I free up some kegs, probably today at my Superbowl party, I'll rack it to the kegs, and lager it in the kegerator for 6 weeks. That means my Johann Sebastian Bock will be ready in time for the birthdate of its namesake.

It's frickin' cold in my basement!

2009-01-31T16:26:00.008-08:00

I just made a starter for the lager I plan to brew next weekend. I've decided to brew all my lagers in a row this year for a couple of reasons.

I can reuse the yeast saving some expense and time.
It's frickin' cold in my basement!

In the past, I had made lagers throughout the year. I would time them so I had free space in my freezer chest/converted kegerator to ferment cool and lager cold. It would also guarantee that I always had something on tap because I would alternate a lager which takes a lot longer with some ales that were done fairly quickly. It dawned on me that I was causing myself a lot of extra trouble shifting things in and out of the kegerator, and constantly adjusting the temperature if I was fermenting or lagering. I also realized that my basement in winter is a perfect temperature for fermenting lagers, and that I could keep the kegerator a little colder than normal when lagering, and still be able to use it to serve my other beers. As far as keeping something on tap, I decided to do split lager/ale batches, hence my Anglerman Ale made at the same time as the Johann Sebastian Bock. Next week I'm going to do a split Classic American Pilsner (CAP) and a Cream Ale.

So how frickin' cold is it in my basement? I take two readings, the first of which I call the WOF temperature. WOF stands for water-on-floor, which is exactly what it sounds like, it's the temperature of a 500ml glass bottle of water sitting on the concrete slab floor. WOF today was 46 degrees fahrenheit. I also take a WOT temperature reading. WOT is the temperature of a 500ml glass bottle of water sitting on an approximately 3 foot high wooden table in the basement. (Water-on-table, but you already guessed that, didn't you?) WOT was most recently observed at 50F. I measure water temperature instead of air temperature, because I'm sure the air temperature varies a lot more.

Now the yeast fermenting wort into beer create their own heat, so fermentation temperatures are going to be slightly higher, and I adjust accordingly. I'm going to put the starters and the pilsner on the table, even with the heat of fermentation, they should stay below 55F. I'll ferment the cream ale upstairs in my brew closet. For later lagers, I'll place them on the floor. I should be good until about April 1st, when last year the WOF was 54.

Baja Brewing Company

2009-01-30T22:36:00.004-08:00

So this review is a little late, and I'm going from memory, so I'm just going to make a few comments about the beers I tasted from Baja Brewing Company in San Jose del Cabo. I didn't go to the brew pub, because we were about 30 miles away in Cabo San Lucas, but they had a couple of their brews on tap at our resort. After checking out their website I wish I had made it over to the brew pub, because it looks like it would have been a lot of fun and I would have been able to try all their beers.

The photo above is their Escorpion Negro, the Peliroja and a regular ol' Modelo Especial.

As you can see, the Escorpion Negro was very dark in color, but did not taste roasty or bitter at all. It definitely was chocolately in flavor, with little or no detectable hop bitterness or aroma. The body and mouthfeel was medium. It had a lot of residual sweetness, almost like a milk or sweet stout, although they call it a swartzbier on their website. One was enjoyable, but too sweet to have more than one.

The Peliroja immediately reminded me of an American IPA. Medium full bodied, full hop bitterness and aromas. Probably cascade hops, but maybe a touch of columbus and/or chinook. Redder in color than an IPA. Well balanced, it had a nice malty backbone to offset the hops. Definitely an enjoyable beer.

I will also comment on the pictured Modelo Especial. It is probably my favorite Mexican light (colored) lager. Full bodied yet refreshing, lightly hopped but balanced, leaning slightly toward malty. Much better than the other boring Mexican beers we had, Tecate (bad bitterness), Pacifico (watery), and Corona (blandly hopped). I have to say Modelo's other beer, Negro Modelo, is my favorite of the mass produced Mexican beers. I have read that it is the closest modern beer to a traditional Vienna lager, with some local corn added to the Vienna malt to make it slightly lighter in color and body than its European ancestor.

One last side note: the glasses pictured are actually plastic, perfect for enjoying poolside without fear of breakage. Furthermore, the bases of the glasses unscrew, allowing you to easily place them in the ice buckets provided.

If first you don't succeed...

2009-01-27T05:36:00.008-08:00

Well I'm still bummed that none of my entries even placed in the Upper Mississippi Mashout. That means it's time to enter another contest. As mentioned previously, I plan to concentrate on the competitions in the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year circuit. The next competition on the circuit is the Great Northern Brew-Ha-Ha. Unfortunately, the deadline for entries is January 30th, and I don't think I'll have everything ready to ship today, which is probably already too late to send without incurring rush shipping charges. So that one is off the list for me.

The MHBOY rules state that you must enter 4 competitions and 10 different categories throughout the year, which should be no problem. The next one is the Babble Brew Off, and you have until February 19th to get entries in. Conviently held in the Chicago 'burbs, I can just drop off my entries. (If you haven't figured it out yet, this blog is based in Chicago, specifically in the Noble Square Neighborhood).

I think I'll enter my Superbowl Stout, J&H Birthday Lager, and possibly Tottenham Mild, depending on how it's scoresheets from UMMO look.

Soy un perdidor...

2009-01-26T15:54:00.006-08:00

I'm a loser baby. I entered the Upper Mississippi Mashout with 4 entries, and not a single one placed. I'm not surprised about two of the entries, they were just ok, but I thought that Sloppy Terry's Cream Ale and Tottenham mild were ribbon winners. We'll see what the scoresheets say when I get them back in the mail. The results are listed in a PDF here. Congratulations to the homebrewers who did win.

Anglerman Ale ABV

2009-01-25T20:23:00.006-08:00

You may have read the last post and realized that I'm calling my bock ale Anglerman Ale instead of Angerman as previously posted. Also when I read back on that previous post, I saw that I hadn't listed the O.G. Good thing I wrote it on the painter's tape that I affixed to the carboy. So it started at 1.059 and ended (well it might drop in secondary) at 1.022, giving it an alcohol by volume reading of approximately 5.1%. I use the following formula if anybody is interested:

ABV=76*(A2-B2)/(1.775-A2)*(B2/0.794)

where A2 is the O.G. reading, and B2 is the F.G. reading.

I'm baaaack...

2009-01-25T19:14:00.004-08:00

I'm back from sunny Cabo San Lucas. The weather was awesome, the food was delicious, and the beer was...Mexican. Actually I had a couple of craft beers from Baja Brewing Company, which I will review in another post.

But I'm back and I racked the Anglerman Ale to secondary this afternoon. It finished a little sweeter than I expected at 1.022, but there was a lot of crystal in the recipe. I'm going to force carbonate it so it will be ready for my Superbowl party on Sunday. That reminds me, I have to pick up CO2 tomorrow since my tank ran out. I hope I used it all up, but since I just reconnected all the lines in my kegerator, I'm concerned that I have a leak. I'll do the soapy water test once I have the new tank.

Since I have been off for a week, I'm going to try to catch up on posts, so stay tuned for:

Rock Bottom Alt Beer review
Baja Brewing Escorpion Negro and Peliroja reviews
Kegerator photos
Plus, lots and lots more!

Noble Square Brewing on hiatus

2009-01-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

I'm going on vacation where I'll be sampling some Mexican cervezas. I don't plan on sitting behind a computer at all when it is sunny and in the 80s, so this will be my last post for about a week. In the meantime, check out some of the other homebrew blogs I follow:

Ben's thoughts

bier girl blog

Brew Dudes

burr street brew blog

Chibebräu--the Chibes' online homebrew log

Hunington Sachs Brauerei

Ted's Homebrew Journal