LABrewer

Picture of the Day: Tony!

2009-02-19T20:48:00.001-08:00

Is that a Bud Light in your hand, Tony?

Helping Brew The Bruery's 2nd Anniversary Beer

2009-02-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

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Hola! As luck/fate would have it, the boys at The Bruery welcomed me back to help them brew up their Second Anniversary beer. I mention fate and luck because the first time I ever stepped foot in The Bruery was 11 months ago when they were whipping up their First Anniversary beer. Such is life. Anyhow, that's me (brown shirt) and the brains behind the Bruery, Patrick Rue (black shirt), standing by a bunch of his barrels. And yes, that is a wine thief in Pat's hand...

So what is the Anniverary Beer? You can forget about styles, as Patrick and the boys have. Recipe-wise it's mostly US 2-row, some munich, and two types of crystal malt. Toss in some Warrior hops at 60 minutes and ferment on their house yeast strain (said to be what Duvel used back in the early 1990s). When that's over, toss it in barrels and call it a day. What's so special about that?

For one thing, the sugar. As you (probably) know, most Belgian beers include at least some Candi sugar/syrup. Also known as "inverted sugar," sucrose, citric acid and water are cooked until the sugar molecules refract light in a different direction. The sugar is also sweeter. Almost all breweries buy Candi sugar, but The Bruery opts to make their own, homebrew style. On a keggle (15.5 gallon converted keg kettle) 100 pounds of C&H Pure Cane Sugar is mixed with about 5 gallons of water. After the concoction begins boiling, a little citric acid is tossed in. And here's the crazy part -- for the Anniversary beer, this conction is boiled for hours. Much longer than I thought was prudent, but Patrick kept taking a peek and saying, "Needs to cook a little more." The invert sugar was boiled until it begin to develop roasty notes. In fact, the finished uber-sweet product tastes like French-roasted honey.

This is what the finished product looks like. Again, it started life as cane sugar and water and then got cooked down to this. How much? How's 400 pounds of the stuff, hand made 100 pounds at a time? Slavish, if you ask me. But talk about attention to detail. Anyhow, the first 100 pounds of the cooked sugar is added to the empty kettle (beer was still mashing at this point) where it is further caramelized. Then a few gallons of unsparged first runnings are drawn off and caramelized with the sugar. One disclaimer for those of you wanting to try this at home: you are making candy at this point, which is not only in liquid form but well over 400 degrees. It's deadly, lethal stuff. So, massive amounts of caution (and sobriety) are needed. You do not want to spill this stuff on your skin. And we should get back to the beer.

This is a big beer. How big? Last year they used 2,008 pounds of grain for a 30 barrel batch. This year? 2009 pounds. Get it? But there's another key difference. Since last year's 12% abv bruiser got itself brewed, head brewer Tyler King has improved their mash efficiency some 30%. Meaning this year's Anniversary beer should clock in at around 16% abv. Put it this way, at 9 barrels into the kettle, the mid-runnings were coming out 23.8 brix. That's before the sugar and three hour boil. One more thing, they need to brew this beer in stages. So, 15 barrels are brewed starting at about 7:00 am. The other half starts around 3:30 pm. Inverted sugar and all.

Here's the grant under the mashtun. Sweet wort is pulled from three different locations and mixed together in the grant before either being returned to the mash tun for the Vorlauf or diverted into the boiling kettle. I got to run the grant for the first half-beer's Vorlauf and mashout. While very cool, we're talking about a 40 minute Vorlauf and two-hour run off. Lots of work, but very hands on as someone (me) has to sit and regulate the three valves you're looking at, plus a fourth valve that returns/ships off the wort.

That's the sight tube used to observe the wort during the Vorlauf. Looking for clear wort.

Notice how much the wort has darkened up after 40 minutes of Vorlaufing. And no, I'm not sure if "Vorlaufing" is actually a word.

Luckily, Patrick picked up on the fact that I was working too hard and decided to take me barrel tasting! That's me pulling a sample of their Wheat Wine, which was quite boozy but still aging. Yes, we also pulled a sample of their First Anniversary beer. Quite impressive. You do get oak and vanilla from the Heaven Hill Bourbon barrel, but there's also a fantastically deep flavor profile -- layered caramel, darker fruits and a great bittereness that fades into alcoholic warmth. And I can't even begin to describe what their barrel-aged 18% Imperial Stout tastes like... I'll save that for another post.

Head brewer Tyler King sampling a few of his creations. All in all Patrick pulled nine barrel aged beers for me to taste. Yes, I'm a lucky bastard. I'm not going to say too much more because I don't know what Patrick wants to keep a secret, but I can say that there is a sour beer in the mix that is going to bowl many people over. Maybe even you.

Patrick Rue sampling his wares.

Distribution manager/brewer Jonas Nemura doing the same thing.

Another shot of Jonas w/gas mask. He was milling 1,000 pounds of malt -- grain dust sucks.

And finally, the newest Bruery brewer, Jay. Here he is eating a well-earned lunch after he not only muscled several 500+ pounds barrels of spent grain, but cleaned the damn mash tun. I liked this young brewer quite a bit, and not just because he complimented my homebrew. Anyhow, I hope to see 'em all next year for the Third Anniversary.

Beautiful Barrels at The Bruery

2009-02-16T17:03:00.001-08:00

(Click Images to Make 'Em Big)

Right, so I spent the better part of today down at The Bruery helping them bottle up some beer. When you're unemployed the world is indeed your oyster. Bottling beer isn't very much fun. But checking out all the fancy oak barrels that Patrick, Tyler and Co have laying around is loads of fun. Er, barrels full, in fact.

As of right now they have... a lot of barrels. I'd guess about 200, give or take. Patrick is apparently planning on having over 500 barrels full of beer by the end of the year. Which is... you know... hella ambitious.

Luckily the Bruery is overflowing with barrels. Kinda literally -- they're everywhere. What sort of barrels? Last time I was at The Bruery (11 months ago!) they "just" had bourbon barrels [EDIT: Brandy barrels, too] -- including Elijah Craig! But now...

Yup. Wine barrels. I know little about wine but "Bourgogne" is a red wine. And what's in them? As it turns out, all kinds of stuff.

Like lambic. That's right, lambic. Brewed and funked right here in California. Smelled pretty good, too. And while the sharp sourness was missing from the nose, it's only been a few weeks.

Oooh. An Imperial Stout. But of course, made with The Bruery's house strain. So, Belgian Impy Stout. And that barrel has been all emptied out! I also saw a Wheat Wine, an Imperial Wit, a Flanders Red and some less exotic stuff plus their anniversary beer (I was there last March when they brewed it) hiding amongst all the barrels. I like what I saw. And now, some parting shots -- enjoy!

And Tits -- George Carlin Tribute Beer

2009-02-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

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"There are 400,000 words in the English language and there are 7 of them you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to 7. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous to be seperated from a group that large. All of you over here,you 7, Bad Words. That's what they told us they were, remember? "That's a bad word!" No bad words, bad thoughts, bad intentions, and words. You know the 7, don't you, that you can't say on television? "Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits" Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that'll infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war. "Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits" Wow! ...and Tits doesn't even belong on the list." --George Carlin

As you may know, Drew and I (and especially Drew) like to do tribute beers when people we like die. We're getting ready to brew up the fourth year of Gonzo -- the Hunter S. Thompson tribute beer with rum, tequila, bourbon, mushrooms, hemp and poppy -- among other adulterations. Drew brewed a tribute to Michael Jackson. Well, when my hero George Carlin died, I contacted Drew and he felt just as strongly -- we had to brew something. We went back and forth (for months) on the recipe almost going for an imperial Irish stout before settling on a very bitter big Irish red with American yeast. Figured that was a good translation of Carlin into beer. The name? I think Drew's calling it "Carlin's 7," but the actual name is "Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits." "And Tits," for short.

Aiming for a 1.087 OG, we wanted a lot of yeast. You're looking at a 3-gallon carboy sitting on a stir-plate filled with Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II). We went with 1272 because while it's still a neutral American yeast, I feel it accentuates the malt a bit more than the hops. Which may work with our Irish/American hybrid.

That's me starting to vourlaf. Our grain bill consisted of 40% Marris Otter, 40% US 2-Row, 5.75% Caramel 60, 5.75% Munich 8L, 4.25% Caramel 120, 3% Biscuit and .75% Carafa II. Seven malts, get it? Well, that's what it was supposed to be, but we screwed up and added two pounds of Biscuit. C'est la vie! I believe this grain bill is loosely based on AleSmith/Jamil Z's "Evil Dead Red" beer, but obviously pumped up. We mashed it at 151 for about 70 minutes. Now you hear from a lot of people that tell you to just pull off the first quart or so when you Vorlauf and then begin collecting your sweet wort in the kettle. Speaking for Drew, we feel different. In fact, depending on the beer, I might recirculate the entire volume of the mash tun twice. Why?

Here's the wort after a gallon or so has been recirculated. Yeah, it's free from particulate matter, but it's still a bit murky.

And here's that same wort after we've recirculated 20 gallons or so. You tell me which you'd rather runoff into your kettle. Yes, it takes longer. But so what?

Not to belabor the point, but I (and we) just think this is the superior starting point. And it costs you nothing but time. Plus you'll get better efficiency and fewer tannic-causing particles in your beer.

It's always teach a friend to homebrew day! That's Dr. Drew on the left and my buddy Josh Liberman (no relation, spelled different) on the right. Josh's first brew. He did real good.

There's Sven and Amy adding some hops. Oh yeah, we hopped this guy with 3 ounces of Chinook for 71 minutes (George died when he was 71) to make it as roughly bitter as possible. We added a 3 ounce blend of Columbus, Warrior, Chinook and Cascade at 15 minutes and another 3 ounce blend of Chinook, Amarillo Gold, Palisade and Simcoe at flame out. Seven kinds of hops...

Drew finally busted out his ThruMometer. Pretty fricking (excuse me Mr. Carlin fucking) handy actually. The Thrumometer is showing the temp post wort chiller. The handy part is being able to adjust the out valve of the pump so as to maintain a temp around 68-70 -- good for pitching. Anyhow, the beer's fermenting away. The only bummer was that we missed our gravity by quite a bit -- something like 15 points (Target was 1.087, OG was 1.072 or so). After thinking about it we've narrowed it down to three culprits.

1) Drew's grain mill is set poorly (I don't think that's it)

2) Somebody weighed the grains out incorrectly

3) Drew's cheapo stupid braided SS hose (instead of a manifold) got crushed by the 35.75 popunds of grains or got twisted in some way.

I'm not mad, just disapointed, as it was an otherwise flawless brew day. Er, OK, fine -- forgot to add the Whirlflock. Bite us.

Blasts from Pasts

2009-02-14T10:24:00.001-08:00

(Click 'em to Enbiggen 'em)

Just going through some old photos and found these.

My old 48 qt mashtun on the right, my (now old, but then new) 100 qt job on the left.

Me and Nick holding the California Homebrew Club of the Year Trophy at Anchor in Feb, 2005.

Don't drink and brew. Or use Glass.

Tobacco Sunburst runoff. I think this was from the Pretzel beer.

Spent pretzels. Yup.

Green Beer

2009-02-06T11:05:00.001-08:00

Hi there! Last week this blog chronicled the brewing of The Audacity of Hops, a big sticky DIPA. Well, here's a pic of part of the beer in primary. It's the greener one in the back. I'm glad you can see the blue painter's tape label that reads "Essex Ale" just to give you a known commodity to compare the green to. Neat, huh? That's what you get when you overhop your beer.

Here's another picture. Go dry yeast, huh? We'll let you know how it tastes in a few weeks. Also, I don't know why Drew's using an airlock in the background there, either. Cheers!

Double Audacity

2009-01-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

(Click mages to make 'em BIG)

Hello there! I know it's been since May, but life is a funny thing. Long story short, the lovely Amy and I moved in together and there's no way to brew it up at the new place. So, I hung up the kettles and have been in semi-retirement drinking Pliny in bottles. But, once you're bit with the homebrew bug, you're sick and infected for life. And my good buddy Drew Beechum finally got his Stout Guy Brewery up and running at his new place, it was time to dust off the mash paddle and brew some damn beer! Mother Nature felt the same way and she gave us the single most beautiful day in recent memory. Gotta love late January in North Eastern Los Angeles.

What to brew? Well, the only beer I'm really interested in anymore are DIPAs. Sue me. And then I saw a wonderful typo/malapropism on some forum somewhere, "The Audacity of Hop." This beer quickly became a no brainer. Now, Amy and I had brewed a nice big DIPA just before we moved called Sea of Love, but sadly we never got to drink very much of it. Jimmy saw to that. Anyhow, The Audacity of Hops is based on the earlier recipe with a couple changes. Namely, more hops.

In addition to the 20 pounds of domestic 2-Row, 12 pounds of Marris Otter and 2 pounds of Carapils, we added 0.25 pounds of Black Patent Malt. Just, you know, why not? And then we decided to darken the beer further by tossing in a bottle of that Dark Belgian Syrup stuff. So we'd wind up with a (fairly) dark, highly attenuated beer with no discernable roast character and hopped out both the wazoo and ying yang.

Oh yeah, we added 1.5 pounds of this yummy raw, organic Malawian, fair trade cane sugar, too. Despite the darkening, we're still following the Vinnie method of adding lightness (i.e. sugar) and body (i.e. lotsa dextrin via the carapils). But which hops?

While we did forget to hop the sparge water, every other point of this beer's creation got hopped. Mash Hops? Hell yeah! We used a varietal from New Zealand called, "Green Bullet." Smelled good, in sort of a resiny, high-alpha hop way (I think the alpha acid was 13.3%).Hey, with a name like "Audacity" what else you going to do?

One addition for each day of the week! From left to right you're looking at 2 ounces of Amarillo Gold as a FWH (First Wort Hop), 3 ounces of Warrior + 1 ounce of Newport for the 90 minute bittering charge, an ounce of Simcoe at 45 minutes, 1 ounce of Amarillo Gold + 1 ounce of Columbus at 30 minutes, 1 ounce of Palisade + 1 ounce of Columbus at 10 minutes and another 2 ounce mix of Palisade and Columbus at flame out. Counting the Green Bullet Mash Hops, that's 15 ounces of hops in 10 gallons of beer with 221.3 IBUs. Ha ha ha! And that's not even considering the 4 additional ounces of hops we'll be using to dry hops these suckers.

That's right, I said suckers. As in plural, two. The first of the two, The Audacity of Hops, is going to get dry hopped with 2 ounces of Amarillo Gold. The second beer, The Audacity of Aretha Franklin's Hat (seriously), is getting an ounce of Columbus and an ounce of Summit. Personally, I'm equally interested in both.

Thankfully the day went off without a hitch. Hey, we even had John Palmer on hand to remind us to toss pennies into the kettle when it began boiling over. And I trust John Palmer. Drew, John and I all tasted the 1.096 (target was 1.098) wort just after it cooled and prior to entering the fermenter. We all agreed that for a pre-yeast beer this one tasted really good. Perhaps audaciously so.

Arroganter Sombrero: Adam 2.0

2008-05-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

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Last year Kelsey, myself and Jimmy McGowan whipped up Arrogant Sombrero -- a 13% "Adambier" that took a first place and a Second Runner Up Best of Show in the only competition we bothered to enter it in. That particular brew day was plagued with every sort of problem imaginable. Including my favorite, a busted pump. This year would be different.

Or not. For one thing, we didn't have Jimmy. That's another set of arms to stir the damn decoctions... Anyhow, based on the fact that I was... uh... a bit hungover (or lazy, or not thinking... dumb?) I didn't give Kelsey's recipe a proper once over before we embarked. Long story short, 53 pounds of grain and 17 gallons of water (12.5 or so gallons for an initial strike plus 3.5 gallons for infusion) have a hell of a hard time fitting in a 100 quart cooler. You'll notice above that the mash tun was so full you can see the frigging lid indents.

Above is all those ingredients. Kelsey was a little miffed because usually the two home despot buckets hold all his grain. With this sucker we had to grab a pot. And then another pot. That's overkill for you. Grain bill is something like: Mostly Munich, 30% Golden Promise, 15% Vienna, 5% Rauch malt, half a pound of Acidulated malt and a sprinkle of Black Patent. We First Wort Hopped with Domestic Hallertau, bittered with Magnum and then dropped in 3 more ounces of (this time) German Hallertau at flame out.

For those who don't know how we do it out West, we (apparently) decoct our Adams. A single decoction is the way of the loser. Two decoctions -- especially during a late April heatwave -- now that's some manly shit. Then of course there's the dumb-ass way to go -- three decoctions -- which is exactly what we did. Above is Kelsey during the first hour long plus decoction. What's a decoction? It's where you remove about a 1/3 of the mash, put it in a pot and boil it. The trouble is, the mash needs to be constantly stirred otherwise it will scorch. It sucks. Kelsey's not looking happy. And yes, he's 11-feet tall.

World's longest mash. Seriously, this sucker turned into a 10-hour brew day. Like last year, we missed out target OG by 10 points, but were still up in the 1.120 range. Furthermore, that lovely brown color is from the decoction. Wort tasted good, too.

Showing up to save us from ourselves by providing yummy refreshments was XL Perro. Yeah, yes sir, you betcha, that's a Magnum of 2006 Stone Double Bastard. And holy fuck was it good. Lee's last batch of Double Bastard if I'm not mistaken. Excellent. Also fantastic was was Big Dog's funky stuff in a bucket sour beer. 3 1/2 years old and WAY freshing after standing over a murderous-hot kettle. I believe he added hibiscus flowers (to the bucket) which gave it a lovely pink/reddish hue. Seriously nice American-made sour beer. Anyhow, the pic is XL unlocking his well cared for 3.0-liter. Oh, and remember how I said the Sombrero wort tasted pretty good? Big Dog added it (unboiled) to his tulip of Double Bastard. Surprisingly, it tasted good.

It wouldn't be "brewing with Kelsey" unless Kelsey had some sort of jealously-inducing new toy to play with. Yeah, that's a conical. Fucker. Below you can see the beer being pumped into the neato fermentor. Kelsey said it's halfway through with primary and that it's much hoppier than batch #1. We'll let you know.

Someone's Tax Dollars At Work

2008-03-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

The best part? This is real. Poor Alabama.

The Trophy at Rest

2008-03-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

So, when you win the California Homebrew Club of the year (like we did) Anchor gives you the trophy. And, for the next year that trophy has to reside somewhere. Until it goes back and the next club gets it. Which will hopefully be us. Again. Above is the trophy resting comfortably at Falcon President Steve Cook's home. Top o'the homebrew world, ma.

2008 Anchor Trip: No Sleep 'Til Sonoma!

2008-02-29T17:33:00.000-08:00

It's taken two weeks, but here's the very last 2008 Anchor Trip blog entry. Ever. Promise. I got waylaid by the stinking flu, hence the pause between reportage. Anywho...

(click on pics to make 'em BIG)

The bus picked up about 50 or so nicely hungover Falcons from our hotel in San Francisco at approximately 9:30 am. The plan -- haul our over-boozed hides 60 miles up the 101 to Healdsburg and start our beer-trip off right at Bear Republic. My kind of Sunday. Small side note -- Amy and I wasted money eating at Mel's (Bullshit) 50s Diner only because we had the room service the morning before. Both were massive mistakes.

We all get on the bus and there's Fletch and his Bus Kart! And yeah, I'll track down a picture of the Kart in action. The Brew Kart is a rolling apparatus that holds three 5-gallon corny kegs, a CO2 tank and a 3-tap tower. Bus riders had their choice of George Mahoney's Irish Red Ale, Kent and Nancy Gold's Racer 5 Clone or Falcons' President Steve Cook's Hefe. No offense to the others, but I had three mugs of that yummy-ass Hefe before we even got to Bear Republic. If any of you aren't Falcons but can make the Southern California Homebrewers Festival stop by and try Cook's Hefe. Thank me later. And then we got to Bear Republic...

Amy, circa 10:30 am:

John Aitchison licking his chops:

Why is this man smiling? (your first two guesses don't count)

Geoff looks stoked

Though not nearly as stoked as Rich!
(We can't believe they let him in, either)

Of course, there were these two...
(We returned them safely to Atascadero by supper)

Bear Republic very thoughtfully had about 20 pitchers of their various brews laid out and labeled for our gaggle. I was way too, uh, happy to take notes, but luckily Bruce Brode was there, he took notes, and then emailed them to me:

Wit: Bready, yeasty, spicy aroma features coriander. Nice hazy yellow-orange color (why don't MY Wits come out this hazy? Have I lost my wits?). Crisp, fairly dry flavor starts Wit-like and finishes with a drier flavor than many classic Belgian ones, perhaps the result of different base malt choices. Clean and pleasant.

El Oso Lager: Hoppy aroma also features acetaldehyde, the familiar "green apple" essence found in some pale lagers, and perhaps a feature of the Modelo yeast strain used. The smooth but hoppy palate, with a touch of hop phenols, is pilsner-like to a degree.

Winter Spice: A nice complex spicy aroma is inviting. Medium red color. The crisp flavor features spices on the back end of the palate which linger pleasantly into the aftertaste, with a touch of dry chocolate on the edges. At 5.5% ABV, it's an easygoing winter warmer of sorts.

Pete's Brown Ale: The rich malty aroma has healthy touches of hops and esters. There is enough hop bitterness to keep the rich, lingering malty flavor from becoming cloying. This one was a real favorite among many in the Falcons strike force.

Racer X Double IPA: The eagerly anticipated big version of Racer 5 (8.3% ABV) does not disappoint. A big, blasting hop aroma has elements of pine, pineapple and geranium, and the color is a lovely classic red. There are fruity, hoppy and estery elements to the smooth, creamy flavor and texture. Addicting! This one had the effect of softening up our troops just when we needed strength for the encounters ahead, but so goes the battle.

Hop Rod Rye: Clearly a trick, intending to masquerade as a Rye Ale when in reality it is a hop-laden bomb! Clever, these brewers. The unique bready-spicy aroma of rye leads the unsuspecting drinker in, as does a deep, beautiful red color. However, the full-bodied texture barely contains the rich, intense hop flavor and presence. Kinda like a hop grenade…at 7.5% ABV.

Super Freak: A unique blend of worts from Racer 5 and Red Rocket Ale, fermented with a Belgian ale yeast. The aroma features malt and esters atop a medium amber color. This is followed by a stimulating flavor mixing malt, hops, and a yeasty spiciness. This one is rich, complex, and very nice.

Heritage: Truly an offering intended to make peace, this Strong Scotch Ale presents a complex malty aroma with substantial elements of caramel and a touch of molasses. The color is a very dark red. The house character of smoothness and richness of flavor continues here, punctuated by a dry chocolatey edge. You don't even notice the 8% ABV. Beautiful beer.

Racer 5 IPA: A rich mixture of hops and malt exudes aromatically, with a touch of oxidation. This is yet another deep red-colored ale. The smooth and rich flavor melds malt and hops quite well in the expression of a classic hoppy red IPA.

Big Bear Stout: A roasty coffee aroma suggests this as an eye-opener for one of those "lost Sundays." One also gets a fruity, malty aroma with some hop contribution. The flavor similarly fuses fruity, hoppy and malty-roasty elements into a convincing whole, in what has become to some a definite "American Stout" profile.

So says Bruce. I says Racer X Roolz! As does Amy:

Really though, Racer X is phenomenal and hopefully will soon be in bottles now that BR has a new production facility. Racer X was every bit as good as Hop Rod Rye, and if you know me, that's high praise. Here's me getting a to-go cube of Racer X. My lone complaint against Bear Republic are those stupid plastic beer cubes. They really stink. And leak. And let all the gas out of your beer.

Aside from the big DIPA, Racer 5, Super Freak and Heritage all stood out. Though, disagreeing with Bruce a bit here, Heritage seemed to be more of a Double Red than a Wee Heavy. But who cares, really? Certainly not Fletch and George! For those who don't know, Mr. George Mahoney loves him some Mexican Lager. I suspect his serious face is a result of him intently studying the El Oso Lager and it's Modelo yeast strain:

Despite appearances, Jimmy does take time out from killing the ladies to drink as much beer as humanly possible at these type of functions. Ask his backpack (zing!).

Then this guy showed up, and well... 1,000 words each, right?

Sadly we had to get back on the bus (more of El Hefe's Hefe!) and leave Bear Republic... to go to Russian River! Life is really good sometimes. Sadly, again, the always affable Vinnie Cilurzo couldn't join us (Sunday is medal polishing day) but he left plenty of beer and pizza laying about. Did I mention the beer? Some of us were pretty excited:

While others took a more mature, contemplative approach to drinking some of the world's absolute best beer. I believe George was drinking a Younger:

And, from Bruce, here's what we drank:

What was first served to me as a Blonde Ale was most likely Pliny the Elder Double IPA. When I did finally encounter the Blonde, I was struck by its Kolsch-like character including a dry, herbaceous yet malty aroma, straw-into-gold color, and crisp dryish flavor with nice yeast and hop and grain contributions, providing a rather rich palate but clearing nicely, leaving a refreshing and complex impression. Other encounters:

Rejection: A beer for the broken-hearted on Valentine's Day, this one should NOT be rejected! A malty aroma presents elements of caramel and chocolate, as one might expect for the lover's holiday. The color is deep brown, nearly black, that is to say inconsolable? A rich, spicy-fruity flavor lingers nicely long into the aftertaste and will help you to forget your love troubles.

Pliny the Elder: Yes, the legendary Double IPA was laying in wait for us, and did its share of damage to our troops. The big, rich hop blast of an aroma, with elements of pineapple and mint, was mightily distracting. A citrus flavor married with malt, a touch of citrus-like acidity, a hoppy break and bit of hop bitterness provided a complex and intense experience. We soaked up a lot of bombardment from this one.

Damnation: There is a rich 'Belgian Ale' aroma, including esters, phenols, and malt. The rich, gold color is impressive. A spicy flavor is presented against a richly malty background, with significant fruity notes. Yet another landmine of a beer.

Compunction: In a surprise assault, this unusual ale attempted to disrupt our palates with a complex sour/cellar aroma with citrus/grapefruit, pineapple, and a touch of vinegar. Light orange color. The flavor is distinctly sour, led by vinegar essence with contribution from lactic acid, but no Brettanomyces detected. An effective palate restorative after the good wood-fired pizza.

While it wasn't part of our "deal," RR had Pliny the Younger on tap. I had a couple. Sadly, no Blind Pig (but Amy and I did get some the day before at the Barleywine Fest). Let me just say this -- Pliny the Elder is still the best DIPA around. And the Younger ain't too bad either. But Compunction, Vinnie's sour beer on pluots, is approaching his IPAs in terms of quality. Stellar, outstanding, another gold medal, world class, etc. Man I hope he gets this one in bottles. And soon. Oh, and if you haven't heard, Pliny the Elder will be in bottles. Soon. Younger, too. Woo Hoo!

My old roommate, dear friend and brewing partner from back in the early 90s -- Nathan Feileacan -- showed up with his wife Michelle (also a ~~dirty hippie~~ dear friend) and son Myer. The kid's about the cutest thing in the world. Last time the Falcons won the California Homebrew Club of the Year, we did a similar (fine, identical) bus trip. Nathan rode with us the entire time on that one:

And like that we were off again. Back on the bus. More Hefe. Everything started becoming a blur. Amy was pretty drunk. Actually, the entire crew was fairly gone by this point. But we were headed to Lagunitas, which... if you've had a few too many by 1:00 pm is a pretty righteous place to go. And get more wrecked:

I'm sure you've all heard of Lagunitas infamous Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale. But what might have first landed the brewery on the ABC's to bust list? This beer is now sold as "Censored," but that's the original label:

A bit blurry but fuck it:

More hijinks:

Speaking of Bruce, here's what he says we drank at Lagunitas:

Pilsner: A grainy-malty aroma also shows some hops. The palate is malty with some mild hop astringency, for overall smooth balance and a decent finish despite a bit of "yeast wash."

Maximus IPA: There is a nice piney hop aroma – very fresh! Rich copper color. Hop fruitiness and astringency dominate the flavor, with some malt support.

Hop Stoopid: A nice, rich and complex hop aroma, with elements of pineapple and mint, begin the process of convincing one that this beer will live up to its name. A solid copper color leads to a flavor featuring an IPA-style fusion of hops, malt and yeast esters, with good intensity. This one did some damage to the hopheads among our forces.

The Hairy Eyeball: Lots of caramel malt in the aroma. The color is a rich amber. A nice intense caramel malt flavor follows, with a balancing hop bitterness. This was another attempt to confuse us, as it comes across as a strapping ESB. Besides, what's a Hairy Eyeball, anyway?

Imperial Stout: The aroma is a nice balance of roasty, fruity, and malty essences. Yes, the color is black. The flavor has a slightly smoky approach with some creaminess in the middle and a fruity-hoppy periphery. Another pounding from the big guns.

We also had some Lumpy Gravy (it was OK, but not as good as the last two Zappa releases) and their new Pale Ale, which is in fact last year's Kill Ugly Radio, only dialed down from 7% to 6.4%. Super frigging yum. For real. Like, my new go to 6-pack.

At some point I wandered off (like Anchor, Lagunitas gave us the full run of the brewery) and checked out their new 80 barrel brew setup. Actually, it has a 120 barrel lauter tun, and they're keeping the old 30 barrel system so they can do real big batches. I also caught one of their brewers whipping up a batch of Maximus on the old system:

Then I found their new brewery switchboard, which is probably the coolest thing, well, ever. Be sure to click to make it BIG:

Well friends, that concludes not only this entry, but all of the 2008 Falcons Anchor Trip. Until we win it again... Oh, and below is Amy with three growlers of Pliny the Younger, two Pliny the Elders, a box of Racer X and a six-pack of Union Jack. Ta!

Photo(s) of the Day: The Arrogant Sombrero

2008-02-28T23:19:00.001-08:00

Yeah, all three pics have to do with beer. A lot.

North Coast Old Rasputin X

2008-02-28T22:21:00.001-08:00

From their website:

Brewed in honor of the tenth anniversary of the introduction of Old Rasputin, this special limited bottling was released in January of 2007. Bottled in 500 ml. bottles with a cork and wire finish, Old Rasputin X was blended from beer aged for nine months in Bourbon barrels up to 12 years old.

Style: Barrel Aged
Color: Black
ABV: 11.6%
Bitterness: 75 IBUs

Bottle from a friend at a stout tasting.

Nose: Booze, vanilla, oak, dark bread, blackberries, toffee, caramel

Appearance: Medium brown, aged streaks of yellow near the meniscus, khaki/coffee w/cream head

Taste: Honey, oak, roast coffee, dark chocolate, booze, bread crust, wheatberries, apricot, wood, vanilla, plum + grape skin, toffee, caramel, hints of sherry.

Mouthfeel: Medium-thick, coating, long, lingering aftertaste and ever so slightly oxidized.

Thoughts: Superb dance between the caramel/toffee, the bitterness and the booze/oak. Spot on. Complex, sophisticated, yet quaffable. And above all -- delicious. Super delicious.

I'm curious as to where the extra booze came from? Old Rasputin is 8.9%. Did aging in the barrels evaporate some water? Did they change the Rasputin recipe? Or... did they blend in some Old Stock (me thinky!!!)

I usually find the concept of barrel aging to be more gimmicky than anything else. And the act of doing so rarely does more than oak up a perfectly nice beer. Or make it reek of vanilla. Not here. Old Rasputin X is not only one of the top 2 barrel aged beers I've ever had, but (probably) in my top 5 all time. Top 10 for certain.

Superlative.

2008 Anchor Trip: Anchor Party!

2008-02-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

(click images to make 'em BIG)

When we last left off, I was telling you about the Barleywine Festival at the Toronado. After that, Amy and I hitched a ride with a nice Brit named Phil over to the Anchor Brewery. In case you've been wondering, the deal is that every year the employees at Anchor pick one club to be the California Homebrew Club of the Year. They use a top secret formula that balances achievement in competition with the homebrewing and beer education/outreach. Or something. Anyhow, 2007 is the 6th year we've won.

What happens when you win? You get a big, fat party thrown in your honor. How big? About 150 Falcons made the trek from our home in Los Angeles. Plus we brought along at least 50 friends from other clubs in the state (and a random Brit off the street). The party works like this -- Anchor gives us free run of the brewery (though sadly this year the hop room was locked...) and as much Anchor Beer as we can drink. Plus, they cook us tri-tip and chicken for lunch. And our band plays (yes, our club has a band). Beers we drank:

Steam
Liberty
Bock
Porter
Summer Wheat
Old Foghorn

That's right, not only Old Foghorn on tap, but as much as you could drink. The whole thing was a total blast. The beer rocked, the band rocked, the food was outstanding and eternal cheers to the Anchor employees for volunteering to play host to a bunch of beer ~~snobs~~ slobs and their beautiful wives. Und now, pictures!!!

Derreck and President Cook

Earnesto, Jimmy and Amy

Babu and Beardo

That's Dave. Hope his finger is OK

Jeremy Raub looking dapper. And happy

Craftsman brewer extraordinaire, Merlin Cup winner and all around good guy Todd Peterson

Anchor Employees

Fletch and Amy

OK -- about half way through the party, Anchor dude Bob Brewer (yes, his real name) stops the festivities to present us with the California Homebrew Club of the Year Trophy. Accepting the honor is none other than our dear President, Steve Cook.

~~Madonna and Child~~ Steve and the Trophy

But what's this? The copper mug atop the trophy comes off? But why?

And why is Mr. Brewer filling up the 2-pint mug with Anchor Steam? Is Steve going to pass it around so that we can all share in the victory/celebration?

Steve sure does look happy, doesn't he?

We sure as hell ain't no wine club.

One last pose for the cameras and then...

Chug! Chug! Chug! Yup, tradition holds that the winning club's president has to slam the entire 2 pints in one gulp. Steve spents months in training.

The amazing part? Steve didn't spill a drop. All that training paid off.

OK, so let's have a peak at the brewery. Obviously (see below) Anchor is one the most beautiful breweries around. Yup, real copper, scavenged from some brewery in Germany. On the left is the boiling kettle and to the right is the mash tun.

Here's a cool shot of inside the lauter tun (the grain is pumped from the mash tun to be lautered in a separate vessel). See the pipe coming down fro the top which empties into that asket looking thing? That's the pipe for the HLT. The water falls into that basket and then flows out to the sparge arms. Pretty fricking cool. The bottom is all stainless.

Here's that lauter tun. Just a thing of beauty. You can see Anchor's lab in the background.

Sigh... This is Anchor's grant. Useless, yeah, sure, but look how beautiful it is. Though I should point out that Patrick Rue's Bruery has a grant.

Some more beer porn for you

I can read your mind, "What in the hell is that?" That my friends, is one of Anchor's six open fermenters. They have four in this big ole clean room, and two others in back. Each cool ship (in the first room) holds 120 barrels.

The Trub Also Rises

Sailing the Seas of Yeast

Here's on of the two fermenters in the back. These two are deeper and squareer than the four up front. The yeast also seemed stained darker, so I think Porter is being fermented in this picture. Do different shaped fermentors work better for various beers? Probably. [Edit: Drew is claiming that all four up front ferment steam and the two in back are for everything else. So, there you go.]

Now that's a plate chiller

This switchboard, which lets the brewers route beer all over the brewery, used to really impress me. And then we went to Lagunitas. You'll have to come back in a few days to see that. Still, very cool.

And finally, former Three Floyds and Firestone Walker brewery Jim Cibak was there. Jim's moving back to Indiana where he and some pals are opening up Crown Brewing. Expect lots of DIPAs, Barleywines and Imperial Stouts. Hey, my kind of guy.

Cheers!

Amnesia Amnesia

2008-02-23T16:52:00.000-08:00

Hi there. Today -- Feb. 23 2008 -- Jimmy and I bottled up our Pale Amnesia. To recap, Pale Amnesia is a golden colored IPA. 1.068, 92 IBUs. When we moved the beer into secondary, 5 gallons went in as is, and the other 4 gallons got themselves dry hopped on an ounce of Centennial. The un-dry hopped version is called Pale Amnesia and the dry hopped version is called (surprise!) Dry Amnesia.

The recipe -- or at least the hop profile -- was based off of Anderson Valley's Hop Ottin IPA, long one of my favorite beers (Though I should point out that the extensive use of crystal malt is also inspired by AV). We tried both versions of the Amnesia side by side with the Ottin. The Anderson Valley beer was better attenuated, but had far more fruity esters. Whereas both of our homebrews showed more malt, especially the Pale Amnesia which tasted like biscuits.

Hops... The dry hopped version (obviously) had more going on in terms of hop flavor. Grapefruit, tangerine and pineapple were all present. Both of our beers displayed more hop flavor than the AV, though it had a much more pronounced, ragged bitterness. Now, I'm a huge fan of boot-to-the-tongue bitterness, so I was a bit disappointed, though I think carbonation will help. Jimmy preferred our beers' finish, as it was longer lasting and more fruity than grassy. Then we mixed the Pale with the Dry. Bingo!

After bottling up a case of each beer individually, we blended 2/3 Pale with 1/3 Dry to create Amnesia Amnesia. We were going to call it Double Amnesia, but beer names are already confusing enough and this is not a DIPA. Here's the recipe:

11 Gallons
90 minute boil
Anticipated OG: 1.065
Actual OG: 1.068
FG: 1.015
ABV: 7%

12 lbs American Pale Malt
12 lbs Marris Otter
.5 lbs Crystal 10L
.5 lbs Belgian 22L
.5 lbs Crystal 40L
.25 lbs. Crystal 120L
.25 lbs Biscuit

2 oz Warrior @90 min
1 oz Simcoe @30 min
1 oz Centennial @30 min
1 oz Palisade @0 min
1 oz Centennial @0 min

Dry hop with 1 ounce of Centennial

Pitched on 1056 and 1272

Photo of the Day

2008-02-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

Just digging through my pal Tony Simon's Flickr account and came across the above. Long story short, Tony -- who used to live with his wife in Portland -- was forced to move to Atlanta, give up his rock and roll dreams and work for as a middle manager for some company. However, he's a beer person (homebrewer and he teaches beer appreciation classes) and while the South is starting to rise a bit beer-wise, it just ain't Portland.

So, I believe what you are looking at is Tony's first taste of good Oregon beer in a very long time. Love it. Also, Tony's wearing the hat.

2008 Anchor Trip: Part 3: Judging The Toronado Barleywine Fest

2008-02-20T23:26:00.000-08:00

(click pics to make 'em big)

Even though Amy and I tossed back many a Hop Crisis, we were smart and declined to continue on with our gang to Magnolias (one Falcon reported not remembering the trip!). Why? Because we had to be up bright and early to judge the 2008 Toronado Barleywine Festival!. I was judging and she was stewarding. I was working the second round, which didn't get started until 10:30 am. Before we got up north, I asked judge coordinator Mr. Wigglesworth (real name, honest) if it would be the end of the world if Amy didn't show up until I had to judge. Turned out it was in fact the end of the world. Despite our worst efforts, we made it to Lower Haight by 8:30 am.

Above is the scene outside the Toronado at 8:30 in the morning. Doors didn't open until 11:00 am. Those are some dedicated pre-drunks. I didn't get any photos (because I was frightened to haul my camera into the Toronado at full capacity) but what lots of folks were doing was getting a gaggle of drinkers together and ordering all 50 B-wines at once. That way, as a team, they can just sit there and drink. $3 a glass equates to $150 split 4-6 ways. I love that.

Here's the scene at 9:30 am. The natives are lining up.

Mere minutes before the second round of judging, figure just about 10:30 am. The restless natives are even more so.

I'm glad that great beer is spreading beyond the gut & facial hair set and attracting other castes of devotees. Even if Chaos UK-style punkerism is a tad silly. Still, getting your hair to do that before noon on a Saturday? Our inappropriate quasi-beer-related hat off to you sir!

D'oh! Spoke too soon. Hey, it's a beer judging. You gots to be comfortable, right?

Here's Amy cutting up the bread. I'd call her "poor Amy," except for the fact that Dave Messink -- who was chopping up the bread with her -- sliced his finger open so I had to take over for him. Didn't suck, but didn't rule, either.

Why, it's former Falcons Prez Jerry Macala looking every inch of his lady killer self. Jerry was supposed to hop a cab with us to Anchor after the judging, but he wound up ordering all 50 Barleywines with his Santa Barbeerian cohorts while Amy and I were abducted by an Englishman. It must be pointed out that after judging and tasting, Jerry still managed to show up at Anchor. Amazing.

Let's get down to the beers. My crew had 9 to slog through, including:

Triple Rock Odyssey Ale 2006
Fullsail Brewing Company Old Boardhead 1995 (sadly, totally oxidized)
Alaskan Brewing Big Nugget 2007
Snake River Devil's Teat
Bear Republic Olde Scoutters 99-07
Devil Mountain Barley Wine 1994 (This one proved to be quite controversial. All three of us agreed that the beer we were served (from a pitcher) was infected. In the previous round, this beer had placed first in two panels. Our steward alerted another steward, who got in touch with someone at the top and they tasted it. Infected. Apparently, we got the dregs of the keg and the yeast was just gnarly. However, if we were judging Imperial Flanders Reds...)
Green Flash Barleywine 2007 (all three of us agreed this would do better as a DIPA. Friggin' San Diego)

The two beers that we sent on to the final table were a Mexican B-wine from a brewery called Cucupa (it made the final 7 and placed in 2007) and Lagunitas Gnarlywine 2006, which wound up taking first place over all. The Gnarleywine was an American Barleywine, whereas the Cucupa was more English. Both were fantastic and really stood out from the others we judged. First runner up was Stone Old Guardian 2006 and second runner up was Firestone Walker Abacus Blend. And yes, next year I really want to sit at the final table.

Look at all that excellent stuff...

Dang. Thanks for reading!

Quick Sour Post

2008-02-20T22:59:00.000-08:00

So, for the past 3+ years I've had the second runnings from Blackwine II sitting on Roselare yeast. Time to do something with it. So, last night I had a private blending party and mixed 0.75 gallons of the sour stuff with 1.5 gallons of Westy 16/17 (a 15.5% Belgian Dark) to create what to me tastes like an Oud Bruin, yet with more malt character. I added some priming sugar, so I'll know more in a few weeks. Until then...

2008 Anchor Trip: Part 2: Thirsty Bear -- Fail

2008-02-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

Sigh... I remember about a decade back when Thirsty Bear was a decent little brewpub. Sure, the place was still loaded with yuppie scumbags and they seemed a bit more concerned with their tapas than beer taps, but it was a good place to go and grab a pint after work and an even better place to grab a keg from when you were tossing a party. The only beer I remember from 1997 was a pale ale -- typical American brewpub fare to be sure. However it was well made and quite good.

At some point in time Thirsty Bear has gone organic on us. Too bad, for as nice an idea as that is (hippie), organic beer means you are working with inferior malt and hops. The beer just ain't going to taste that good. Think sulfates and wine. Combine less than ideal ingredients with less than stellar techniques and you have a recipe for blah. Or, in the case of Thirsty Bear, several recipes.

Dr. Drew reserved the upstairs room for the Falcons, but only about 25 of us showed up. It was a last minute deal and most other people did their own thing or went to Magnolias. Still, we were there to drink (at least I was) so I had to try everything.

The first red light was their "Valencia Wheat." Turned out it was a Wit. Only because they have no faith in the beer-intelligence of their patrons do they cynically call it a wheat. It should be pointed out that they have no problem with an item on their dinner menu called, "Kokotxas." Worse than purposely mislabeling a beer is serving a bad one. This supposed Wit was sharp, tart, the color of Mountain Dew and about as far from a Wit as soda water is from Hoegaarden.

They also had a beer on called, "Golden Vanilla" -- it's a blond described as "light and smooth in taste" that for some reason has been infused with Vanilla Beans. I think that some reason is absurd levels of Diacetyl. In fact, most of the Thirsty Bear beers seemed to be suffering from big bunches of butter flavor. We did mix in one part Vanilla beer to two parts nitro-tap Stout, but... it didn't really help. They had a less than hoppy butter-balled IPA and an English ESB on a nitro tap... That one really sucked. So we left.

To 21st Amendment!!! Oh man, did that save the night. Every Falcons' frown immediately got turned upside down. Who am I kidding? We weren't just smiling, we were downright drooling. Turns out it's strong beer month in San Francisco (someone forgot to tell Thirsty Bear) and 21A had big beer flowing out their wazoo.

Jimmy and Earnesto Smiling at 21 Amendment

I sampled a 9% Belgian brewed in honor of Michael Jackson called "Beer Hunter." A big-ass Impy stout with a little too much espresso and a 10% watermelon wheat wine that is a punched of version of their regular watermelon beer (amazingly, you could taste the watermelon -- Drew was saying it takes 500 pounds of melon for their "normal" offering).

But I'm really here to talk about Hop Crisis. 21A whipped up a mother of a high gravity DIPA that weighs in at a liver-busting 11.8% abv. More over, it smells and tastes absolutely delicious. Everyone we came with had at least one glass. I had two. Some had more. It just ruled, big time. I want more. Better than Pliny the Younger. I know, I know. But it is.

Here's me after two glasses of Hop Crisis and that big espresso Stout.

Nuff said.

2008 Anchor Trip: Part 1: Firestone Walker

2008-02-19T08:41:00.000-08:00

The Maltose Falcons won the coveted California Homebrew Club of the Year for the 7th time. That means that Anchor Brewing threw us a big, fat old party at the brewery. It also meant about 140 Los Angeles based Falcons would be on the loose in SF. Loud, brutish and very, very thirsty. The following few blog entires are going to attempt -- with the aid of photos -- to capture at least some of the beer-soaked madness that went down (click pics to make 'em big).

Jim Crooks and One Day Champ

Myself, my girlfriend Amy Judd and Drew "One Day Champ" Beechum hopped in my car and headed up the 101. However, we decided to make a pit stop at the Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles for some lunch and libations. Only they don't serve lunch. So, I left the non-drivers to pound beer and I hit subway for some foot-longs. EDIT: Just realized why Drew looks like such a goon in the above picture -- he's drunk out of his gourd at 1:30 pm. Yup, he polished off a pint of Union Jack and a snifter full of Parabola, plus something else, I'm sure.

Beers Sampled:

Union Jack -- 8% British DIPA. Clean and well made. Drew bought a 6-pack.

Saucerful of Secrets -- Big, spiced Belgian monstrosity. Designed by a homebrewer and FW's first Belgain ale. Pretty good.

Red Nectar IPA -- That's right, FW bought Nectar Ales. Good, old school Cali pale ale. Though calling it an IPA (in the west coast sense of things) is a stretch.

Velvet Mirkin -- Some sort of Bourbon Oatmeal Stout on a nitro tap. I fucking hate nitro taps, so I didn't bother with it. Part of what goes into FW 11.

Winter Beer -- OK, this was a blend of the 9% Saucerful of Secrets and the 5% Velvet Mirkin to create a bizarre (yet good) 6% wassail. Very cool, actually. And no frigging nitro tap. EDIT: Turns out this beer is called, "Saucerful of Merkins"

Parabola -- Oh lordy. Yes, this is a 14% mega-stout that serves as ~~the primary~~ a beer in FW 11 (about 3.5% of the final product). Tasted pretty meh when served cold, but as it warmed up, truly special and delicious -- exactly how Dark Lord behaves... Hmmm... Also, Jim Cibak was there. No seriously. He was in the tasting room with us. As was Matt Bryndalison.

Pale 31 -- I was told by the barman that Pale 31 is the best pale ale in the world. When I balked, he showed me the GABF medal proving it. Not my kind of Pale Ale. I could see East Coasters getting all hot and bothered by Pale 31, but to us Golden Staters... not so much.

We also wound up wandering around the brewery (literally) and then running into another FW Brewer, Jim Crooks. He led us to the new giant-ass cold room where we saw cases and cases of Union Jack six-packs waiting to head out. We also saw the Double-Barrel fermenting process, where FW will be sticking a bunch of new 120 barrel fermenters and their grain mill 4-stories up off the ground.

Barrel O' Rufus

Mr. Crooks also gave us a bottle of Walker's Reserve aged in Bourbon Barrels. Check back here in a couple of days to find out how that tasted. (hint: good)

Trillions of Cells: 5 Yeast Blended Starter

2008-02-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

(click images to make them larger)

I'm lucky enough to know Dr. MB Raines. She not only makes some of the best beer I've tasted (and the single best Lambic I've ever tasted), but knows more about brewer's yeast than basically anyone. And by basically I mean anyone.

MB showed up at a Flacons meeting one day with a strong Belgian golden ale called "Sextuplet." It was something nutso like 14 or 15% alcohol. On top of that, it was delicious. I had made beers this strong before, but my Belgian attempts (which tend to feature simple grain bills and very few hops) were always hot alcoholic bombs. Not so with MB's Sextuplet. The secret? Different types of yeast.

I forget the specifics, but she had at least three distinct strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Belgian, of course. Obviously, different strains of yeast develop different phenols and esters. They also have different alcohol tolerances. I wish I could speak more to the science of how and why (I can't), but suffice to say that blending yeasts increases the number of flavors in your finished product. Is this always better? No. But you can get lucky. And so far I've been lucky.

My first experiment with blending yeasts was a beer called Steve French (if you don't get the name, watch the "Trailer Parks Boys," season IV). It featured five different types of yeast. I still remember when I was transferring that beer into secondary. I checked the gravity. Steve French had dropped from 1.090 to 1.008. Moreover, it tasted fantastic. Nearly as dry as a saison, but with tropical fruity esters all over the joint.

Then, on that yeast Cake, Jimmy and I whipped up a 1.158 monster called Westy 16 that dropped to 1.034 for an abv of 16.9% [UPDATE -- I checked my notes -- 1.139 down to 1.012. So there you go]. So, we changed the name to Westy 16/17. That monster won some medals, including a first place in the 2007 DKM Imperial Anything 1.100+ category. Tomorrow, we're brewing up 20 gallons of the Westy as a 35th Anniversary Falcons beer. So, I'm making a huge ass starter.

The 5 yeasts going into this starter are:

WYeast 1288 Belgian Strong Ale
WYeast 3787 Trappist
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit
White Labs 530 Abbey
White Labs 510 Bastogne

Above you can see the amount of yeast made after 24 hours on the stir plate. Tons of yeast is still in suspension. I figure about one more finger. Still, not nearly enough! Here's one more pic:

Again -- not nearly enough. Time to step it up, and debut my new 3000 mL flask:

OK, I'm thinking this will give me almost enough for 20 gallons of 20 gallons of 1.155+ wort. Jamil's butt-kicking yeast pitching rate calculator is telling me I need just over 2 trillion viable cells. Which seems just about right.

I'll let you know. And it looks like I'm going to need a bigger stir plate!

Gonzo 4: The Boozening

2008-02-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

Drew commented that we were nuts to use such top shelf booze on this year's Gonzo. To which I can only say, yep -- we's nuts. (Member -- if you click the pics, they get BIG!)

Two shots from each bottle did the trick.

There's some dried Shitake Mushrooms. Yummo, as my girl might say.

OK, this is the booze tincture with the 'shrooms stuffed into it. We let this sit for a few hours, then remove the 'shrooms, squeeze 'em out back into the pint glass and then dump the whole mess into the wort at flame out.

We went a bit nuts this year and actually added some mushrooms, hemp seeds and poppy seeds right into the mash tun. My theory -- why in the hell not?

Hey! That's Drew. Grinding up the grain. Wait, not grinding -- milling.

And here's what I remember of the recipe:

Pretty even split between US 2-row and Marris Otter
biscuit malt
Caramel 120
Munich Malt
Acidulated Malt
Some Special B, probably, maybe
2 pounds of turbonado sugar
6 shitake mushrooms plus some hemp and poppy seeds

90 minute boil

2 ounces of Warrior + .3 ounces of Summit @ 60 min
1 ounce Centenial + 1.25 ounces of Chinook in the hopback @ 30
2 ounces of Palisade in the hopback @ 10
2 ounces of Cascade at flame out

two ounces of bourbon, 2 of rum, 2 of tequila with shitake mushrooms. let that sit around for a few hours.

1 table spoon each of hemp and poppy seeds at flame out. Add just the liquid from the mushroom/booze thing at flameout.

add in the rind of an grapefruit and a tangerine.

Pitched on a yeast cake of 1056 and 1278.

No Citrus Shortage: Passivating The Boiling Kettle

2008-02-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

After years and years of ~~abuse~~ use, it was time to really clean the boiling kettle. In fact, I decided to go ahead and passivate the stainless steel. I have a big old bottle of Acid #5, but... I also have an entire yard full of citrus fruit -- way more than I can eat. Or even give away, really. So, I cut up a few dozen tangerines and lemons, tossed 'em in the keg (after a mondo scrubbing) and filled her up with water. My favorite part was drinking the run off. Yum. The keg now sparkles.

Continuous Hopping: The Gonzo Way

2008-02-06T12:23:00.001-08:00

Well friends, it's that time of year -- when Drew Beechum and I get together and whip up a batch of Gonzo. Just to refresh your memories, Gonzo is a barelywine drew first brewed on the day homebrewer and patriot Hunter S. Thompson killed himself. This recipe calls for a 1.092 beer with bourbon, tequila, rum, hemp seeds, poppy seeds and shitake mushrooms. Yum, yum, yum.

Besides honoring Dr. Gonzo, this beer is (in true Gonzo fashion) also about experimentation. So, besides adding hemp, poppy and shitake 'shrooms directly to the mash, we decided to try something new. Continuous hopping.

The idea came to me in a day dream. Then I forgot about it completely until Kelsey McNair reminded me (I told him about it months ago). I purchased a hopback a couple years ago and I hate it. Pain to use, clogs up the wort chiller, just no fun. But, I was trying to think of SOMETHING to do with it. So here's what Dr. Beechum and I did:

1) Fill hopback up with the Aroma charge. In this instance 1 oz. whole Centenials and 1.25 oz of pellet Chinook.

2) Run boiling wort out of the kettle and into the hopback.

3) Pump mega-hopped wort back into the kettle.

4) Cycle for 30 minutes(we also added the 10 minute charge to the hopback). And yes, I'll be purchasing a back up pump very shortly.

Tada! Did it work? Won't know for a while, but we did taste the wort as it was being returned from the hopback -- HOPPY. So, here's hoping.

Cheers, Y'all.

We Won Some Medals

2008-01-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

In the recent Doug King Memorial Comp. Jimmy and I did pretty good. We took down a second place medal in the "Imperial Anything" category with our Vertical Jihad. Jimmy's first recipe -- pretty cool. Essentially VJ is a clone of Stone's 05.05.05 Vertical Epic, but we used some Indonesian sugar. A few other tweaks, too.

Our Arrogant Sombrero, which is an Adam beer that Jimmy, Kelsey McNair and me did, took a first place in the Northern European Strong Beers category, as well as third place over all (2nd Runner Up Best of Show as they call it). The judges felt the beer is too young (it is) but in a couple of years it will win best of show. Can't wait.

We also entered some '07 Gonzo that got mis-entered (and judged) as a DIPA. It didn't do well.

2008 Doung King Memorial Competition Results

What's on the Docket?

2008-01-28T15:29:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2008 -- Brewed a 1.068 IPA with 92 IBUs.

February 2, 2008 -- Will be brewing Gonzo '08 with Beechum. We'll be using rum this time.

February 10, 2008 -- Will be leading a shop brew to brew a 35 Anniversary Edition of Westy 16/17

Future Beers:
15th Anniversary Old Combine
Re-brew Arrogant Sombrero
Red Bock