Amnesia Amnesia

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

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

(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

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

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

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

(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!