brew day

Hello all. Adam and I did a brew yesterday. All and all things went smoothly. We used the Blichmann for the first time and realized a few things. Number one is that we need to tighten the brewmometer because it is leaking ever so slightly. Number two is that the brewmometer enters the kettle above the water line of any partial mash brews, basically rendering it useless for the time being and thus, number three, we need to step up to all grain when it is seasonally possible. Not really willing to sit out in the bitter cold for an hour brewing. We had to revert to the digital thermometer we bought when we first started brewing a year ago. The thing died due to H2O exposure but I revived it by stashing it in a rice bag for 6 weeks.

So for this round of brewing we chose a recipe out of the book Clone Brews by Tess and Mark Szamatulski. We use this book quite often. The recipe was a clone of a beer called Bert Grant's Imperial Stout which was brewed by the Yakima Brewing and Malting Company. Bert Grant was a Scottish born brewer whose family emigrated to Canada when he was two. At some point he relocated to the heart of northwest united states hop country, Yakima Valley in central Washington. Here he set up a brew pub and eventually a craft brewery. Bert was a hop head. It was rumoured that he carried around a vile of hop oil that he would add to Bud or Miller if he was forced to drink them. His Scotch ale was often criticised for being too hoppy, but he contended that since he was Scottish it must be a true Scotch Ale.

The Imperial stout called for quite a bit of malt, including several specialty malts, galena and cascade hops, and a new ingredient for me, clover honey. All in all the brewing went rather smoothly. Check out the pictures below. I didn't really document the process as well as I planned. It's hard to brew, drink, watch the giants get their asses handed to them, and photo journalize at the same time.

Ingredients:

Adam showing the honey:
Preparing to sparge:
Getting my boil on:

Let the fermentation commence:

New feature for beer blog,
What I'm drinking:
Bear Republic Racer 5 India Pale Ale
and
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Blichmann Boilermaker Unboxing

I got my new brew kettle delivered the other day. Can't wait to take this baby for a test brew. I went with the Blichmann Boilermaker. This is the 10 gallon model. It is constructed of stainless steal. It features a ball lock valve, built in brewmometer and sight glass. Check out how happy this thing makes me. Thanks to Adam, my partner in beer, for taking the pictures.

Me opening the box



Stainless Steal Plate to
to protect the brewmometer


The lid



Triumphantly lifting it from
the shipping box


A view of the inside


In all her glory


How you clean the sight glass


fin

Belgian Beer says, "Don't let me be misunderstood"

I used to think that I hated Belgian Beers. I thought they were all sweet and “yeasty”. I would avoid them at all costs which was a crummy strategy. Often, at the beer store, If I saw a cork in a beer bottle and I would skip right over said beer. I probably missed out on some good special releases because of my unfounded prejudice. It wasn't until I brewed a Belgian style clone beer that I realised I actually like Belgian beer. This was the Witcap Pater Abbey Single Ale. With 40 plus bottles of the stuff sitting on my shelf I was forced to drink it or spend the night sober (a scary thought). This beer opened my eyes. Belgian beer is not what I thought it was. Although considerably less bitter then American beer, Belgians can be pale ales. Belgians can be dark beers. There are many, many facets to the Belgian style, and boy was I missing out. These beers have a world wide reputation for there use of spices such as coriander and orange peel, and their equally spicy yeast strains. The ASA used these traditional spices.
I will say, what I still am not very fond of beer containing wheat. Even American style beers with wheat turn me off. I was at a brew pub (that shall remain nameless) recently that had an ESB on tap. I figured it was going to be a typical British bitter beer. Like a pale ale, but not as dry. Boy was I wrong. Although it had some good hop bitterness, nice hoppy aroma, and an ABV over 7% the one thing that really jumped out at me was the use of wheat. I couldn't get past it. It ruined the beer for me. Maybe someday I will understand wheat in beer, but for now wheat and I just don't seem to see eye to eye.

So below I will give a few definitions and examples of Belgian and German wheat styles because I always get them mixed up. This was the original idea for this beer blog post. Also, my new years resolution (I realize its kind of early) is to try every possible Belgian style with the goal of conquering Belgian beer by the close of 2010.

Witbier- This is basically what I thought all Belgian beer was. This is a Belgian white beer. It appears white because of suspended wheat proteins in the beer that give it a cloudy white appearance. These beers are brewed with spices like many Belgian styles and are unfiltered, hence the cloudiness.

Hefeweiss- Basically the German counterpart of the witbier, only brewed without spices because of Reinheitsgebot (the German purity law, more on that at a later date). The name literally translates to yeast white. Much sweetness, much less hops.

Kristalweiss- A filtered German wheat beer.

Dunkelweizen- A dark wheat beer from German. Probably closer to a traditional hefewiess than beers that are being brewed in this day and age. The difference is that dark malts are used such as Vienna or Munich malt.

As you can see, wheat may be more of an explicitly German ingredient and may not really characterize the Belgian style. I'll have to do some heavy research, which basically means some heavy drinking in order to fully grasp the Belgian style and its relevance in today's hop heavy American market. Stay tuned.

Tis the season

One of the best parts of the holiday season for me is Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. This seasonal offering from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is an American IPA chock full of hoppy goodness. This tremendous beer uses chinook, cascade, and centennial hops and clocks in at 6.8%ABV. Basically it tastes like drinking a hoppy christmas tree. I swear there is some pine in there, but maybe that is just the beer talking. I strongly recommend checking this out, especially if you are into the hops. Its a good alternative to obscenely spiced winter beers and dark stouts if you are averse to the darkness (not this guy, love that darkness). Did I mention the hops. In all seriousness, you can't go wrong with cascade when dry hopping*. I've had four so far and with every one my holiday spirit grows. cheers.
*not recommended for all beers

Hello world

Kluxen has several passions. These passions include, but are not limited to, sports, music, eating, working, fruits, vegetables, and holidays. These things are all very important to me. However, my one truest passion in this world is definitely, with out a doubt, with no extra thought necessary, beyond a shadow of self doubt, BEER (or bier as the Germans call it, hence the URL). Friends, relatives, co-workers, pets, bandmates, bar tenders, and liquor store clerks, can all attest to this fact. Beer takes up a large part of my life, and my paycheck. I love the stuff. I'm not afraid to drop upwards of ten dollars on a bottle. I have an entire chest in my apartment dedicated to beer and brewing equipment storage. That's right, i love beer so much that I make it myself. This blog will be dedicated to my all around love for beer. I will post about new beers, beer politics, home brewing, and anything else I can think of that has to do with beer. So if you are interested, pour yourself a pint and enjoy my half tipsy musings on the greatest acheivement in mankinds short history: beer.

ps: I picked this layout because it reminds me of "nothing feels good" by the promise ring.