Green Shoots!

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

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

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)

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

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?

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

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!

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.