French Street Brewery

What is a stout?

2012-01-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

A stout is a black beer. There are lots of variations and categories and styles and whatnot, but that is the essence of stout--dark. I decided to make this year's version of St. Patrick's Day Stout with some black malt and not much else. I skipped the roast barley. I didn't use chocolate malt. I stayed away from oats, too. I kept this one very simple. Took the first runnings and made one hop addition--that was it. The yield was five gallons at 1.048 (12ºP) and I pitched a sachet of Safale-05. It was a mild and mostly sunny day here in the State of Jefferson despite the calendar saying it is January. I don't usually brew for Lá Fhéile Pádraig this early, but a little aging in the keg never hurt any beer, especially a stout. If you go to this website, it will tell you about different kinds of stout. If you go to Ireland and drink Guinness, Murphy's, and Beamish, you will find out about those kinds of stouts. Around here we get lovely beers like Obsidian Stout from Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon, and Sierra Nevada Stout from Chico, California. Stout beer has many possibilities. I suggest that you brew up your own version, or at least encourage a homebrewing friend to brew one you'll like.

Non. Ian.

Amber obscura

2011-12-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

Amber's Amber came out quite dark, a rich red-brown, but that's just fine. It flashes lovely amber-red highlights when a pint glass is held to the late afternoon winter sunlight streaming in the window. The flavor is very smooth, sweet and bready, and there is just enough hops to make the finish dry and clean. I like the balance on this beer here at First Tasting. It is Xmas Eve--a good time to tap a fresh keg. The carbonation is light and creamy, like a cask ale, always a good thing. I think we've got a winner!

HAPPY HOLIDAZE!

a.d. VIII Kal. Ian.

Amber's Amber

2011-11-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my pal Amber--an aspiring homebrewer--came over to help me make a fresh batch. I was intending to make a brown ale as my lovely bride is fond of brown ales, but I didn't have the right combination of ingredients. I went with an amber and named it for my assistant. I've been experimenting with making beers from only the first runnings off the mash and skipping the sparge step. It's a bit wasteful as I have to nearly double the amount of grains I'd normally use, but I am curious about the flavor possibilities. I like to concentrate sometimes on one aspect of the process in order to learn a bit for another batch down the road. Grain flavors are complex and require much study and experimenting! We mashed 17 pounds of Briess 2-row pale malt and a half-pound each of Victory and Carafa 2 . Five gallons of liquor in the mash tun at 175ºF settled out at 152ºF for an hour. Then we simply drained the wort and we got about three gallons which the refractometer told us was 23% sugar (23ºP) or about 1.092 SG. John Palmer's wort calculator told us to expect 11ºP (1.044) when it was diluted in the kettle to seven gallons and 14ºP (1.056) when the boil reduced it to five gallons. We wound up with 13ºP (1.052) which I though was just dandy. I used a new hop, a California-grown organic variety called Horizon. We gave the brew 20 grams of whole cones (10.2% α-acids) for 60 minutes and 20 grams again for 30 minutes. We pitched it with Safale-04 at just about 4:00 in the afternoon and it was fermenting vigorously a few hours later. I think we've got a winner. Thanks, Amber!

Id. Nov.

Flat Tire II

2011-10-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

It came in at 1.010 on the hydrometer, or 2.5 degrees Plato if you prefer. That's about my usual with liquid malt extract batches. I primed the two half-corny kegs (2-1/2 gallons) each with 100 grams of dried malt sugar that had been boiled in 12 oz. of water. The beer looked and smelled clean despite the large amount of globular yeasty flotsam. It gave off some pretty potent banana esters early in the ferment, but that seems to have dissipated. Isoamyl acetate** is the offending chemical, I believe, which I suspect is due to higher temperatures. I try to keep my ales below 70ºF but this one spent the first week right there before the cooling weather brought the closet down to 66ºF. I left a few quarts in the bottom of the carboy because they were too sludgy for my delicate palate. One should brew with fresh ingredients, just as one should cook and eat. Alas, I was stuck with some stuff that had been in the fridge a little too long, but I think I made the best of it. I'm expecting a nice golden ale out of it. I replaced my flat tube on my Stumpjumper with an older patched spare that has been holding up just fine to the rigors of my favorite single-track. I expect the beer will come through just as well.

**3-methyl-1-butyl ethanoate

a.d. IV Id. Nov.

Flat Tire

2011-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

My Stumpjumper had a flat tire and I worked on that this afternoon. I brewed a batch as well. I had some extract and some hops and a pack of Safale and so I whipped up a brew. I had some old uncracked 60ºL crystal malt and I wanted to get a little bit of something from that without setting up the mill. I used a mortar and pestle instead, thoroughly unsatisfactory, but I managed to process about a half pound which I steeped in the liquor while the kettle heated. It produced some sweet, floral malt aromas and a bit of color. Good enough. I had an ounce of 9.9% α-acid whole Northern Brewer hops so I did half of it for an hour and half again for half an hour. It has been a long time between batches so I kept it simple. Everything needed a good cleaning and some freshening up, but it was a perfect autumn afternoon and it felt good to be outside and get the brewery going again. Flat Tire will be the perfect thirst quencher as well. Electrolyte replacement is an important part of my fitness regime. I make sure to replace all of them, many times over, especially after rides.

a.d. XVII Kal. Nov.

No more stout

2011-05-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

The last drops of the stout were finally finished this weekend. I've got two clean, empty kegs now. This was a funny brew, it seemed to get better and better as it aged. I think I tried a little too hard and experimented with too many things and as a consequence the beer had a bit of an uncertain mien and it took a while to come into its own. I speak of beer like a living thing, and it is. A homebrewed beer is alive, as is any unfiltered, unpasteurized fermented beverage. Their are still living yeasts (and perhaps other organisms) in the mix, and the slow settling out of proteins and other solids changes the taste and mouthfeel over time. I suppose oxygen in the beer gets taken up in chemical reactions, much like in a cellared wine bottle, and that certainly affects the flavor. This beer was under pressure (carbon dioxide) and in a stainless steel vessel at 34 ºF but that doesn't mean it wasn't still evolving. I should know, I tasted it over and over again! Now, alas, it is gone. Time to cook up a new batch!

a.d. VIII Id. Mai.

The end of a brew

2011-03-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

We finished the keg of Elevenses Ale yesterday and watched the Giants play a spring training game. It was a good combo. The brew was tasty and the baseball was fun. And the Giants won. Elevenses Ale taught me to plan my hops a little better. The big earthy flavors of the Northern Brewer hops are best suited to a sweeter, more robust beer. This beer was supposed to have some crisp spiciness in the malt but it got a little overwhelmed by the hops. It was still good, just a little out of focus. I'll have to try some more rye malt in future batches.

There's still plenty of stout left. I plan to have some for Matt Cain's exhibition game tomorrow. Recently I had three other homebrewed stouts. Tommy-O, Steven Otto, and Mancy & Her Bitch all cooked up stouts for St. Patrick's Day. All were excellent and it was joyous to share the fruits of our labors. Homebrewing is a wonderful endeavor. You should try it. My final word on the stouts? Steven Otto's magically chocolate-y stout was my favorite. But Tommy-O's dry stout was mighty fine, and he did a brilliant job with his pupils (M&HB) and their outstanding first effort (more time in the fridge on the next batch, though). I'll be back with my thoughts on my version of a 2011 SP stout in another post.

a.d. VI Kal. Apr.

St. Patrick's Day Stout goes to the keg

2011-02-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

Beer number 175 fermented out rather quickly and finished at a surprising 1.010, a little lower than I anticipated. Perhaps these first-runnings brews are richer in fermentables than I expected. Regardless, it looked and smelled great. I put the beer into two 2-1/2 gallon stainless steel kegs with 50 grams of corn sugar each. I expect to condition them for about two weeks. The closet is usually around 64 ºF (it varies from 62 to 66 ºF) and that should be just about right.

It is going to be a marvelous brew for St. Patrick's Day. I can't wait to taste the chocolate rye malt!

Today is the Ides of February (Idus Febrarius).

Elevenses Ale: status report

2011-02-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

I was unenthusiastic about batch number 174, Elevenses Ale. The rye flavor didn't really come through--I need to use more next time. The earthiness of the Northern Brewer hops was overpowering and I couldn't get a sense of the beer. So, I gave it a little more time. We drew off and dove into a couple of pints each tonight. The hop flavors are still strong and distinctive, but they've softened enough to let the malt speak. There's a light sweetness and easy dry finish there and it's coming to the fore as the beer ages. I believe strongly that what homebrew needs, other than a fanatical devotion to cleanliness, is TIME. Wait. Be patient. Relax. The longer the beer spends in a dark, cool place, the better. Beer ages beautifully in the bottle and the keg. If your home-cooked batch is a little rough around the ages, just give it another week and it will improve markedly. I did that with Elevenses Ale and it has matured into a lovely beer.

a.d. V Id. Feb.

Super Brew Day: Stout for St. Patrick

2011-02-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

I missed the Stupor Bowl. I spent the day brewing. It was a clear, warm, sunny day, odd for February around here, but welcome nonetheless. It all worked out as planned, and I got over 5 gallons of nice, clean-looking wort with an original gravity of 1.052 (13 ºP). I used TWO packs of Safale-04 instead of one and I hope I can rack this beer before the week is out.

This is going to be a very delicious and refreshing stout. I can't wait for St. Patrick's Day!!

a.d. VIII Id. Feb.

St. Patrick's Day Stout: MMXI

2011-02-05T16:52:00.001-08:00

I ran my last 18 lbs. of 2-row malt through the mill today in anticipation of a no-sparge brew tomorrow. I'm also going to make a tea of steeped dark grains: 1 pound of dehusked Carafa II, 1 pound of chocolate rye, and 1/2 pound of black patent. This I'll do in the brew kettle with a couple of gallons of liquor while the mash is cooking. I'll throw in a pound of flaked barley as well and then take the first runnings only. We'll see what we come up with after dilution to the full 28-L brew length. If it is a lower gravity brew I'll make a dry stout and if it is a higher gravity brew I'll make a sweet stout. How's that sound? I love making a stout for St. Patrick's Day!

Jeffrey Donovan at the The Pro-Mash website explains the finer points of "no-sparge" and "first-runnings" brewing:

No-sparge mashing is simply collecting the first running from the mash tun as opposed to sparging out the additional sugars . . . 'Pure' no-sparging is to simply take the first running when the mash is complete. 'Batch' sparging is to add an additional infusion of water at the end of the mash, but to sill not-sparge the mash in the traditional 'rinsing of the grains' fashion.

I usually batch sparge because I can still taste the sweet sugars in the malt after taking the first runnings. I have to decide to let that go this time and simply blend whatever I get with the black liquor I make it the kettle. When I top it off I will know the expected gravity and decide on the hops. I think I'll stick with the high-alpha Admiral variety that I've used before. I want a grain flavor, with just enough hops to balance the malt. I don't want to taste the hops so much as notice the clean bitterness. It is a tough thing to get right. Sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday.

Non. Feb.

CLXXIV

2011-01-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

One-hundred seventy-four batches of beer I've brewed, the last one on New Year's Eve. Elevenses Ale went to the keg today and will spend ten days conditioning in the main fermenting room. (That's the hall closet here at French Street Brewery.) It finished at 1.008 or 2 ºP which tells me the beer will be about 5% abv, which I can live with. I like beer at four to four-and-one-half percent alcohol by volume, somewhere between a British session beer and a mild American pale ale. Elevenses Ale was a bit of a seat-of-the-pants thing, and I expected it to finish a little higher. It was a good day to be creative--2010 was a great year. Who knows what the new beer--no. 174--will taste like? Who knows what 2011 will bring?

Can't wait to find out.

a.d. V Id. Feb.

Elevenses Ale

2010-12-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

In honor of year twenty-eleven I have christened my New Year's Eve brew Elevenses Ale. "Elevenses" is British English and refers to a late-morning break for tea and biscuit that happens around eleven o'clock. According to Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), "elevenses" was also used in the United States in the early 19th century to mean a pre-lunch dose of corn whiskey. Apparently the glut of corn (sound familiar?) led to an abundance of cheap corn whiskey and it was commonplace for workers to have a snort instead of a coffee break! It seems to me that sort of thing should be encouraged. To hell with "productivity." I think sloth and idleness should make a comeback. Unfortunately today was a busy day for yours truly--it was freezing cold (high of 24 ºF) and I had to hustle to get a batch brewed while the sun was shining. I made a thinner mash using 16 quarts of liquor for the 15 pounds of grain and after an hour at 152-154 ºF I added 12 quarts of 170 ºF sparge water and gave it all a good stir. I re-circulated 10 quarts and then ran all of it off into the kettle. I topped it up to 28 Liters and boiled for 70 minutes with one one-hour hop addition of one ounce of 9.9% whole Northern Brewer. The yield was almost 20 Liters and it registered 11.5 % Brix on the refractometer. I put it down as 1.046-47 OG. I pitched a pack of Safale-05 (formerly -56). This, I'm guessing, is the classic "American Ale" or "Chico" strain. I think I'll have a big fat glass of primo 21st-century corn whiskey (bourbon) tonight at eleven o'clock to celebrate the New Year and my new Elevenses Ale.

HAPPY 2011!!

prid. Kal. Ian.

New ho-rye-zons

2010-12-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

I've decided to make a pale ale with the rye malt. The grain bill will be 15 pounds total and I'll use the "first-runnings/no-sparge" method I've recently adopted. This afternoon I milled two pounds of rye, a half-pound of 60 ºL crystal, a half-pound of Victory malt, and 12 pounds of 2-row. Tomorrow I will cook up batch number 174 and come up with a name for it. I've also got these fresh Northern Brewer hops and I think I'll just have to use them.

This afternoon I also went to the local hardware store and swapped out my five-pound carbon dioxide cylinder for a fresh one. I've got one of the 2-1/2 gallon kegs of the stout left and I tapped it with the new gas. I'm drinking it as I type. Mmmm-mmm, it's good!

Did I mention that the San Francisco Giants are the World Fucking Champs? No? Get this: the San Francisco Giants are the World Fucking Champs. I think I'll drink to that. Some World Series Stout, if you please.

a.d. II Kal. Ian.

Re-stocking the larder

2010-12-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

Stopped at the Medford store Grains, Beans & Things yesterday and picked up some goodies. I'm very interested in rye malts and rye beers, and I hope to add of couple of pounds rye to my next batch. There was some dark (roasted) rye malt as well, and I think I might try to flavor a stout with it. Speaking of stouts, I'm a big fan of dehusked dark malts like Carafa as they impart lovely black color and a nice roast flavor with a little less risk of adding a bitter astringency. Flaked barley always seems to help with the head and mouthfeel on a stout and I grabbed a pound of that. I rounded things out with the usual 60 ºL crystal and some black patent which are useful in lots of beers. I can never pass up Northern Brewer hops and I picked up a 2-oz. package of that as well. Full sacks of domestic 2-row pale malt--including organic--jammed the narrow aisles, and there were at least three dozen bins of specialty grains. If you brew anywhere in the State of Jefferson I'd suggest you drop Bob an email (sales@grains-n-beans.com) and see what he's got in stock.

a.d. III Kal. Ian.

World Series Stout tapped!

2010-12-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Giants won the World Series on the the 1st of November, the traditional start of the winter season in the old Celtic Calendar ("Samhain"). The December Solstice--our first day of winter--would thus be Midwinter for the Celts. In honor of all those holidays I tapped the World Series Stout today. It was a mini-catastrophe at first, as I sprayed beer all over the fridge before finally getting the fittings properly attached. Eventually I got things all cleaned up and poured a nice, tall pitcher of the lovely black brew. It was smooth and delicious with the rich malty sweetness that the "first runnings" produces. The carbonation level was perfect, the bubbles were small, dense, and creamy, forming a firm, thick head. We drank World Series Stout and watched Game 1 of the World Series again. What fun!

World Series Stout

2010-11-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

I started brewing in 1988. One of the first of my many formulations was "Championship Ale." I brewed it in honor of the 1987 San Francisco Giants, who were NL West Champions. I followed that same theme in 1990 with "Pennant Porter," which honored the 1989 National League Champions. I imagined a "World Series Stout" to honor, some day, the World Champion San Francisco Giants. That day came true! Finally! The 2010 Giants won the World Series! I've been waiting over 20 years to make this beer. I had a lot of fun with my new "first-runnings only" approach, and had some excellent results. I used 15 lbs. of malt, a mixture of 2-row (8 lbs.), Pilsner (5 lbs.), and Munich (2 lbs.). I made a thick mash (12 quarts of liquor) that settled in at 152-154 ºF and held it for 40 minutes. I then added 12 more quarts of liquor at about 170 ºF and recirculated 10 quarts. I then drained the mash tun into the kettle. No sparging! I also had 1-1/2 pounds of specialty malts (Black, Chocolate, and 120 ºL Caramel) that I steeped in a gallon and a half of hot liquor. That I added to the kettle with the wort. The whole process yielded about 4 gallons at 1.068 (17 ºPlato). I filled the kettle to 28 Liters and took another refractometer reading and got 1.040 (10 ºP). I boiled it for 70 minutes. I added 20 grams of 14%-alpha Belgian Admiral hops for an hour to get the medium bittering I was looking for. The yield was 20 L of clean, clear wort in the carboy at 1.050 (12.5 ºP). I left behind about 1.5 L in the kettle. It was thick with "break" proteins and other sludge. I pitched a pack of Safale-04. I think this one is a winner, just like the 2010 Giants!

a.d. XVIII Kal. Dec.

A fond farewell to the Ale of Mark

2010-08-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

We finished off the Ale of Mark last night at Mike's party--everyone seemed to like it. I think it made an ideal summer beer as it was both sweet and dry, both full-flavored and easy-drinking. That's the brewer's art right there: finding the right balance. I like a beer with a bit of fruit on the nose, like this one, but not too much. I like a malty, bready brew, but it has to have some bottom, too, and some tartness and bitterness to give it depth. Ale of Mark was one off my better efforts, I think, and I intend to do more with this first runnings/no sparge scheme that I played with back in July.

a.d. X Kal.Sep.

Tasting Ale of Mark

2010-08-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Oh man, is it good! Smooth, silky, full-bodied . . . my god I'm not sure I can keep from drinking it all before Mike's party. Is that bad?

Non. Aug.

Ale of Mark 3

2010-07-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Ale of Mark, my version of a "Scottish-style" beer, went to the refrigerator today. It has been quite hot here at FSB and it has been a bit of a bother to keep the hall closet properly cool. I've found that a couple of old gallon-sized plastic milk jugs, filled with water and frozen, can a keep a small space cool for hours. The big "blue ice" packs for picnic coolers work even better. I set them on the floor on a towel (for the condensate--the jugs get very wet), and leave them in the closet through a blazing hot afternoon. They seem to have just enough heat capacity to absorb the excess heat and keep the closet around 64-68 ºF. Of course, we run the swamp cooler in the summer to keep the house livable. Normally I don't brew in the summer heat. I don't really have anyplace that stays below 70 ºF to ferment the beer. I know brewers who modify an old fridge with a controller that overrides the thermostat. That allows you to set nearly any temperature for the enclosed space. It works great for lagers, which need long, cool ferments. One of the improvements I'd like to make for FSB is an automatic temperature-controlled area like that. I've a few ideas. The system I have now is pretty simple, and I manage to get good beer, so I'm not highly motivated to change things. Some day, perhaps.

a.d.XIII Kal.Aug.

Ale of Mark 2

2010-07-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

The beer went to the keg today. I split it into two 2-1/2 gallon batches, one for each of the two small kegs. The first I primed with 50 grams of dextrose and the second I primed with 80 grams of dried malt extract. The 5-to-8 ratio seems to be the recommended scheme in the resources I checked. I was just about out of corn sugar and was fortunate that I had at least enough for one batch--I certainly did not have 100 grams of the stuff! It will be interesting to see if there is a taste difference. I used sucrose (table sugar) for many years because it was cheap and available, but every piece of contemporary homebrew literature I've found has said to stick with dextrose or DME, so I do. I never force-carbonate: I always prime the beer and let it condition before refrigeration. I think it produces a creamier, smoother carbonation. I could be full of shit, but that's the way I do it and I'm sticking with it. The kegs need a week or so at room temperature and then they'll go to the refrigerator. It has been very hot here, and keeping the house cool enough for the beer has been a challenge. Also, I broke my hydrometer--I do that all the time--and don't know the final gravity. Seriously, I think I've gone through five or six of those damn skinny little glass things. It's OK, the measurements aren't as important as the taste, and this one should be interesting. I'll just have to be patient, I doubt it will be drinkable before the end of the month.

a.d. V Id. Aug.

Ale of Mark

2010-07-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Fourth of July is always a good day to brew a batch of beer. My pal Mike is throwing a party next month and he wanted a "Scotch Ale." Well, I don't know about that--we drank quite a lot of beer in Scotland and couldn't settle on exactly what was supposed to be the national type. There were a number of small breweries that made full-flavored but easy-drinking ales, many of them served in the traditional manner, i.e. "from the cask" in the pubs. We went to one place on the outskirts of Inverness that had beer from the wood--actually drawn from a small wooden cask called a firkin--and drank an ale at a spot in Edinburgh flavored not with hops but with heather! We had black beers and golden beers and all the hues in between. We had craft beer and draft beer and bottled beer and mass-produced beer and imports and exports and you-name-it beer. So I'm not sure I know what a "Scotch Ale" actually is. Of course, lots of brewers will tell you that Scotch Ales are malty and full-bodied and probably amber-colored. So I made Ale of Mark today inspired by that notion. We stayed at a place called the House of Mark in the Angus region (Tarfside) that sat at the foot of a long canyon called Glen Mark. Through that glen flowed a stream known as the Water of Mark. Thus the Ale of Mark had its genesis.

I compromised a bit between a "first runnings/no-sparge" beer and a "batch-sparge." I used 15 lbs of malt including some Victory malt, British amber, and 120ºL caramel. I mashed with 4 gallons of water, and after an hour I added 2 gallons of "sparge" water. I then drained the tun and got 3+ gallons of 1.068 wort. I diluted to 28 L and boiled with 1/2 ounce of Admiral hops (15% alpha-acids). I wound up with 20 L of 1.044 wort into which I pitched a package of Safale-04. Stay tuned for updates.

Happy Fourth of July!

a.d. IV Non. Aug.

The longer I wait, the better it tastes

2010-06-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Homebrewing demands patience. It's easy to get excited and try to rush the process, but you can't. Beer is a living thing, and it has to find an equilibirum with its environment. Over the years I've learned that homebrew needs time--time to condition, to settle, to blend, to mellow. Wait long enough and the beer reaches a flavor peak that just cannot be achieved any other way. Today was such a day for Giants Fever. It's pouring from the keg with a clarity and brightness that was not evident last week. The creamy head is still there, and the dark amber/orange color. But the flavor is better! It's smoother and richer, and better balanced than before. This is that peak time, and on top of that, the Giants won a great game in extra innings.

a.d. VIII Id.Jul.

Giants Fever tapped today!

2010-05-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

The amber-orange brew poured out of the keg with a nice, thick, creamy head and was deliciously refreshing. There's a big, malty aroma, and a dextrinous sweetness on the tongue, but the mellow hop finish seems just enough to balance that out. Giants Fever is a light, easy-drinking, good chips-n-salsa summertime beer, but it didn't help the Giants today. Let's hope it does soon.

a.d. XI Kal. Iun.

Fridge time

2010-05-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

Giants Fever went to the refrigerator last night. I figure to give it at least a week, maybe two. It will certainly be ready to drink by Memorial Day weekend. The Giants lost in New York last night and are struggling today as I write. Let's hope things improve for the lads, eh?

a.d. VIII Id. Mai.

St. Mark's beer

2010-04-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Giants Fever went to the keg today. I primed it with 100 grams of dextrose (boiled in a quart of water). The delicate orange-ish brew came in at 1.005 for the final gravity (a notch above 1 ºP), and it looked and smelled clean and fresh as well. It looks like the Cooper's did a good job fermenting out and settling, or in brew-speak, attenuating and flocculating. There was only a small amount of sludge (trub) at the bottom of the carboy. It's the Feast of St. Mark, but that didn't help the Giants, who lost 2-0 to St. Louis. The keg will go to the fridge the first week of May, and be ready to drink a week or two after that.

a.d. VII Kal. Mai.

Giants Fever: update

2010-04-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

I racked Giants Fever to a fresh carboy. A much smaller amount of yeast sludge than I expected sat at the bottom of the fermenter. Much remains suspended in the brew despite clear evidence that the bulk of fermentation is over. Everthing looks good, though. The hall closet holds a steady 64 ºF despite the variable spring weather. The batch goes to the keg in another week or so. April 25th, the Feast of St. Mark, looks like a good day!

a.d. XVII Kal. Mai.

Giants Fever

2010-04-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

I mixed up 10 pounds of Pilsner malt, 3/4 pound of 60 ºL crystal, and 1/4 pound of 350 ºL chocolate and mashed at 150 ºF with 12 quarts of liquor. I used 1/2 ounce of Belgian Admiral whole hops (14.7 % α-acids) for bittering (60 mins) and 1/2 ounce New Zealand Hallertaur (7.4 % α-acids) for flavor (20 mins). A 70-minute boil yielded 5 delicious-looking gallons of wort. The refractometer said 11-12 ºP which I'm calling 1.046 OG. I pitched two packages (@ 7 grams) of Cooper's dry yeast in the carboy, one at the bottom and one on the top. I think this dark amber brew will be worthy of the name "Giants Fever." I'm looking for less hop bitterness and more of a malt character. Speaking of the Giants, they are 4-0, the only undefeated team in baseball!

My "hillbilly malt mill" made its debut with this mash. I used two small C-clamps to attach the mill to a piece of heavy counter-top material which I then clamped to my brew table with a monster-size C-clamp. With an old milk crate--the heavy-duty kind--and two pieces of scrap lumber I could mount a square plastic pail directly under the mill's rollers. I removed the hand crank and powered the shaft with my electric drill. It worked great and I turned malt into grist lickety-split. That sure saved time and effort!

Even though it is a bit cool in the closet (62 ºF), I expect the beer to ferment vigorously and I plan to rack it right away to a secondary fermenter. I'll keep you posted.

Go Giants!

a.d. IV Id. Apr.

Beer & Baseball

2010-04-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

Me and my homey JC getting stoked for the Giants Opener and Tim "The Franchise" Lincecum! Note the delicious pint of St. Patrick's Day Stout. Baseball without beer is too terrifying to consider. Stay on top of the San Francisco Giants at RAISING MATT CAIN.

a.d. VIII Id. Apr.

The Verdict

2010-03-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Thirsty beer drinkers can easily suck down 2-1/2 gallons (20 pints) of good brew, and that's exactly what happened on Saturday last. Fellow homebrewers Otto and Tommy-O supplied their stouts (and a pale) as well. It was a great night for fresh stuff. My stout was probably the mildest, but it poured well and showed a nice head of very fine bubbles. I still prime my beer, even though I could "force" carbonate it with my existing setup, and I believe that delivers a smooth creaminess that can't be replicated. I was happy with the stout I made, it definitely had that "traditional" Irish vibe, and folks seemed to like it. Kudos to my mates for always making great beer and "raising the bar" for all of us. What comes out of our kegs every year just seems to be better and better. And "t'anks a million" to N & R for the annual St. Patrick's Day Festival that's the best craic in the State of Jefferson.

a.d. IX Kal. Mai.

Taste test

2010-03-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

I tapped one of the 2-1/2 gallon kegs of new stout this evening. The black beer showed a robust, creamy head upon pouring. Light on the palate, with a dry, lingering finish, it went down easily. I meant to make a beer reminiscent of the ones we drank in Ireland, like Beamish and Murphy's. And Guinness, of course. (That's your holy trinity, lads.) This particular stout starts out smooth like an English mild (a dark type of cask ale we drank over there), but the crisp, roasted grain flavor soon comes to the fore. I think this will be a dandy brew!

The famous Ides of March were yestersday, on the 15th. March has 31 days so today is a.d. XVII Kal. Apr. in the Roman reckoning, or "17 days before the 1st of April." (Those pesky Romans counted inclusively.)

Ave Imperator, bibituri te salutamus!

Lagering

2010-03-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

The St. Patrick's Day Stout gets two weeks in the fridge before it's tapped. It should be ready to sample on St. Patrick's Day (Wednesday the 17th) and ready to quaff at Nancy's party on the 20th.

To "lager" means to store, particularly at cold temperatures. This helps to settle and mellow the beer after the fermentation and conditoning periods. Since I store and serve all my brews in the refrigerator, they all get "lagering" time before the kegs are tapped, even if they are made (like this one) with ale yeast.

This is supposed to be a very light, dry, crisply-flavored brew. We'll see!

a.d. VIII Id. Mar. (Beware the Ides!)

Sealed in steel

2010-02-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

The St. Patrick's Day Stout is primed and kegged. It is a nice, light drink, with a final gravity of 1.010 or 2.5 ºP. I expect the abv to be about 4%. That should make it eminently quaffable. I enjoy a full-flavored beer that is low in alcohol because I get to drink a lot more of it in one sitting!

a.d. IX Kal. Mar.

Racking the stout

2010-02-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

Racking means moving the beer. In this case, fermentation is over and I want to get the stout off the yeast sludge (trub) at the bottom of the carboy. Yeast starts to feed on itself (autolysis) after it is done feeding on the wort, so it helps the flavor to get the new beer into a fresh vessel. I happen to have a lovely Better Bottle carboy (with valve) for this very purpose. Today I moved the stout from the primary fermenter. It will be ready for the keg this weekend.

a.d. XV Kal. Mar.

Stupor Bowl Stout

2010-02-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

I made beer today, and managed to catch a little of the 2nd half of the Stupid Bowl. I have to admit that I was rooting for New Orleans. I'm proud of the fact that I watched NOT ONE SINGLE FOOKIN' COMMERCIAL. A television event that celebrates advertising is not one I can get excited about. Football is pretty dull stuff--I can handle about two games or so per year. It was a relatively warm and sunny day here in the State of Jefferson. I put together a very simple dry stout for St. Patrick's Day. I used only 9 lbs. of Pilsner malt and 1 lb. of specialty malts (1/2 black malt, 1/4 Carafa 2--German chocolate, 1/4 roasted barley). I infused the grist with 175 ºF liquor (10 quarts) and the mash settled in at 152 ºF. I have some high-alpha (14-15 %) whole Belgian Admiral hops, and it only takes a half ounce to to get 30 IBU with a 60 minute boil. The yield was just short of 5 gallons with an OG of 1.040 (10 ºPlato). I pitched a package of dry Safale US-05 right on top. It was an easy brew day and everything went smoothly. I'll probably rack the beer to another carboy later this week as the Safale strains are pretty fast-acting. Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in only SEVEN DAYS!!

a.d. VII Id. Feb.

Draft handle update

2009-12-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

I'm currently pouring two fine and lovely brews, and we sampled them both this evening. Mark's Pale Ale (MPA) has settled down nicely after some early troubles. It is a hop-flavored, honey-colored beer with a crisp finish that goes down much too easily. The Fifty-fest has a more complex profile, with some subtle spicy-floral notes and a rich malt flavor. It is a potent (6% abv) dark beer but, again, goes down too quickly. This one has a dark amber color that is evident when a pint is held up to a strong light source. At first glance, it looks like a porter or stout but lacks the black color and opacity of those brews. It is a deep brown overall, a little darker than I wanted, but not far from the red I was shooting for. The MPA has amber tones highlighting the golden color, and it was not quite as red as I was shooting for. Ah, the elusive red ale--I shall nail one perfectly very soon, I think. Otherwise, I've got two delicious beers on tap for the holidays. Who can complain about that?

a.d. III Kal. Ian.

Forever Fifty

2009-12-23T20:35:00.001-08:00

I've been having such a good time turning 50 I think I'm going to stay 50. No more counting. Just say "fifty" when anyone asks about my age from now on. Whaddya think? Speaking of 50, I tapped into the Fifty-fest today. Rick and Nancy were here for the first pints of this dark, lager-like ale with the curiously spicy flavor and smooth, dry finish. So far, so good. I expect this brew will open up a bit with time, and I know I'll get lots of chances over the holidays to dive in and give it a thorough evaluation. It's Christmas Eve eve, and the fridge is stocked with some seriously tasty homebrew. What could be bad?

a.d. IX Kal. Ian.

Fifty-fest--a month later!

2009-12-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

It has been a month since my 50th birthday and the beer is ready for the refrigerator. This one was unusual in that I gave it a secondary ferment in a fresh vessel and at a lower temperature. The yeast seemed to call for it, and it fit nicely with our travel plans. Brewed 29 days ago, batch no. 169 spent 8 days in the primary in the mid-60s (64-68 ºF), and after racking was dropped down to 56º for 7 days, then got primed for the keg and conditioned for 14 days between 62 and 66 ºF. I'm going to tap it in 10 days, so check back over the holidaze for updates.

Merry Everything!

Id. Dec.
(The Ides of December)

All kegged up!

2009-11-29T16:42:00.001-08:00

I've had this old Cornelius keg laying around the brewery collecting dust. I stumbled upon it about fifteen years ago, it was beat up on the outside but bright and clean on the inside. One problem--no lid. Eventually I acquired a properly functioning piece, and armed with a new gasket and lid valve I suddenly had a five-gallon system ready to go! By then I'd been using my two-and-a-half gallon kegs for some time. They are convenient and easy to handle, and the five-gallon keg is too tall for the fridge. The poor old thing sat around and collected some more dust. Mark's Pale Ale is occupying the two shorties at this moment and the Fifty-fest needed someplace to go, so today I cleaned off the cobwebs and put Corny to work. I primed the batch with 3 oz. (84 grams) of dextrose in one quart of water and managed to get about 4-1/2 gallons of clean, well-settled beer out of the secondary fermenter. The brew had a dark, reddish-copper color with a final gravity of 1.010 (2.5 ºP). It's potent one, about 6% abv, and should be ready for quaffing over the Xmas holidays!

a.d. III Kal. Dec.

Sunday in the brewery

2009-11-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

Today I racked the Fifty-fest to a secondary fermenter. (I have another of those fabulous Better Bottle PET carboys, and I cleaned and sanitized it yesterday.) It was a yucky, sludgy mess, but the beer seemed fine, no funny smells or weird floaties. This yeast should only be used for open ferments where you intend to "crop" the frothy mass off the wort. That being said, the worst is over and I expect we'll get a nice, clean brew after a cool week in the closet. Since we'll be out of town, the house won't be as warm, and the beer should have a chance to finish properly. We also busted out the MPA and had a pint. I bled off the CO2 and poured a full, proper glass without the excess foaming by only cracking the tap half way. I had to add some gas to draw a second, and that came out fine as well. (I capped the keg with 8 lbs. and put it back in the fridge.) The beer is honey-colored, golden with amber edges. It has a distinct fruitiness (apricots? raisins?) in the nose and on the tongue, but the finish is dry and refreshing, so I like the balance. It has an unfortunate haze, but the full body and rich malt flavor is quite nice. The hops seem to hover in the background, and then emerge to keep the sweetness from dominating, adding just a hint of bitterness as you swallow. Good stuff! Another week of lagering should help smooth it out and I expect it will be even more delicious next Sunday.

a.d. X Kal. Dec.

Tappa Kegga Foama

2009-11-18T19:05:00.000-08:00

I pulled a couple of pints of MPA tonight, and got one hell of a lot of bubbles. It got so bad with the dispensing that I finally popped the lid off the damn keg. Then I re-set it with the hand-pump and managed a decent draw. The beer is over-carbonated, and my first thought is that I over-primed it a bit. My last few batches have been a little weak on the fizz, so I know I dialed it up a tad for this one. As I pondered further, I realized that I'm dealing with a bizarre yeast strain, and it is entirely possible that the brew is still fermenting! I'm not sure if the yeast was fully attenuated when I kegged the beer. A serious faux pas, I know, but that's what happens when you are an "old hand." I saw the gravity drop to 1.053 from 1.010 (from 13 ºP to 2.5 ºP) and assumed it was done. What really matters, though, is the beer. Simply delicious. Rich and sweet, but not cloying, with a dry finish. Some interesting, complex fruity notes are there, but they are not overpowering, in fact, they are quite appealing. My lovely bride says she really likes it and and calls it "quaffable." Can't argue with that.

a.d. XIV Kal. Dec.

Fifty-fest ferments!

2009-11-15T10:14:00.001-08:00

When I checked on the brew at 0900 I saw a very vigorous ferment--the carboy plug had been shoved out by a thick jet of foamy goop! There was a nice sloppy trail of it down the side of the vessel. It was easy enough to wipe up, and I keep the carboy in a big circular plastic bin for just this sort of eventuality. But, wow, what an active wort! They call this strain a "true top-cropping yeast" and I can see why. Looks like this beer will finish the primary fermentation damn quickly. We'll see how it settles over the next few days and then rack it off to a fresh carboy.

a.d. XVII Kal. Dec.

Fifty-fest

2009-11-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

That's what I decided to call this one. It is batch no. 169, which of course is 13 squared. I had intended to brew it on Friday the 13th, but festivities got in the way. I got a late start today--I didn't fire up the hot liquor tank until a little after 1300 hours. It was an eventful Friday evening, and I was a little fuzzy this morning, so I didn't get my brewing legs under me until the afternoon. Fortunately it was a bright, sunny day, and that took the edge off the cold, wintry air. I used 12 pounds of Gambrinus organic pilsner malt for a base, and brought the bill up to 13 with 1/4-lb. of roast barley, 1/4-pound of 140 ºL Briess Extra Special Malt, and 1/2-lb. of 60 ºL Briess Caramel. I mashed at 150 ºF, and after a quick-and-dirty batch sparge got a kettleful of thick, dark wort. I kept the hops simple, too, a sixty-minute single-addition ounce-and-a-half of whole New Zealand Hallertaur. The packet of Kölsch yeast had swollen by Thursday evening so I tossed it into a starter early on Friday. It was pitched into the wort just shy of 6 p.m. today, 1755 hours to be exact. It gets dark pretty quick these days, so I only managed a quick clean-up, and a pile of work still awaits me tomorrow. I hope to rack this stuff into a secondary fermenter next weekend. This is a messy yeast, if I remember. We'll be gone for Thanksgiving week, and the house will get quite a bit cooler. I think the extra time at a lower temperature might be a good thing before kegging and conditioning.

(Note that yesterday--the 13th--was the Ides of November)
a.d. XVIII Kal. Dec.

Punch 'n' gro

2009-11-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

I activated a 'smack-pack' of Wyeast Kölsch this morning and put it in the hall closet to swell up. I expect it will be ready by Wednesday when I can pitch it into a starter. I'd like to brew with it on Friday.

a.d. VI Id. Nov.

MPA to the fridge

2009-11-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

Temperature in the main fermenting room held a steady 68-70 ºF for most of a week then dropped to 66 ºF over the last few days. Mark's Pale Ale should be properly conditoned by this point, so I've moved both kegs to the refrigerator at 36 ºF. I'll tap one in a week or so--check back.

Prid. Non. Nov.

Mark's Pale Ale

2009-10-25T17:53:00.003-07:00

MPA was siphoned from the carboy today, primed with 100 grams of dextrose, and racked into two 2-1/2 gallon kegs. The beer was thick with yeast--the 1338 does not flocculate and settle very well. The fermentation stayed at 68-70 ºF, but I could detect some potent, floral aromatics which I assume are esters--this strain is known for that. They'll get reduced, I expect, in the lagering to come. It was a messy operation and the carboy required a fair bit of cleaning. I always forget that these "Continental" ale varieties are so messy. Now I remember why I like those clean Safale products! The 1338 is supposed to have an interesting flavor profile, unlike the more neutral ones I usually use, so we'll see. Plus I can't resist the 7 Bridges bargain bin!

Pilot Brew Weekend

2009-10-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

After a layoff of several months I finally got things cranked up this weekend for the fall and winter brewing to come. Yesterday I played with my new toy--well, my second new toy (see below)--the Barley Crusher Malt Mill! Other than failing to secure the grain hopper, and knocking it over (along with a couple of pounds of uncrushed malt), it worked beautifully. I crushed up 5 kg of Gambrinus Organic Pilsner Malt without much effort. I got a full sack (25 kg) of this British Columbia-grown base malt from 7 Bridges. I weighed out some hops as well, 1/2-ounce of Belgian Admiral whole hops for bittering, and two 1/2-ounce doses of whole New Zealand Hallertaur for flavoring. I like to have things all laid out for the brew day--it saves time and I can cope better with unexpected events. That was a good thing today as the temperature probe I use to keep track of the mash stopped working in mid-brew. Not good. And I missed my strike temperature and had things a few degrees below where I wanted. I grabbed the hotplate and the 10-quart pot and drew off a gallon of the mash and brought it to boiling like in a decoction. I threw that back in the cooler with the rest of the goods and that seemed to do the trick. I got a decent final gravity of 13 ºPlato (ºBrix on my refractometer!) for the 5 gallons that went to the fermenter. With some 60 ºL Great Western Crystal and a touch of 140 ºL Briess Extra Special Malt, I'm shooting for a pale ale. I have to say I really like using the refractometer and not having to mess with hydrometers and cylinders and all that. I pitched a pack of Wyeast European Ale (1338) which ought to add some interesting character. Clean-up went smoothly, it always does when the weather is nice (and today was spectacular), and I'm feeling good about my first "exhibition game." I'm now ready for the "regular season." Mark's Pale Ale should be ready to drink by my 50th birthday.

The brewing season is nigh

2009-09-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a cool, new gadget for the brewery: a refractometer. This one (from William's) measures sugar content from 0-32 Brix. I hope it will help me keep better track of the mash run-off. I don't get anywhere near the yields I think I ought to so I need to get a better look at the process. I know I should take a little more time with the dough-in, and I could probably improve mash efficiency with more uniform mash temperatures as well. But I don't really need an excuse to get a new instrument for the lab. These things work on refraction--the higher the concentration of sugar in the solution the more the light bends. This is a regular phenomena and a measurment scale can be calibrated empirically. The Brix scale goes back to the 1800s and is an improvement on the original tables of the German chemist Karl Balling. The scale reports "% sucrose per 100 grams of solution," that is, a solution of 15 g of sucrose in 85 grams of water (100 g total) would read 15 ºBx. Beer wort is not sucrose, of course, but the malt sugars behave similarly--their concentration determines the refractive index of the solution. So a brewer can put a drop of wort on the lens (the angled part on the right side of the photo) and look through the eyepiece (on the left, with the rubber cup), and get a reading. You need to be outdoors in bright sunlight. A dark/light boundary will form on the scale marking the degrees Brix. Mine is a low-cost, made in China device, but it will be accurate (+/- 0.2%) enough for my fairly rough purposes. Stay tuned--cool weather is on the way and FSB will be back up for the fall.

a.d. VIII Id. Sep.

Summerfesting

2009-07-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

My friends threw a party last night and I got to share the Summerfest with a happy crowd. Everyone got to have some, and I filled a growler for the host and hostess to stash in the fridge and enjoy later. That's one keg down, and I think there might be a pint or two left in the other, which I'm saving to taste with our houseguests later this week. It has been very hot here in the State of Jefferson, and it's barely civilized to be outdoors before the afternoon sun has set. Yesterday, we enjoyed a crescent moon and a twilight view of Mt. Shasta while drinking our homebrew. Today, we will flee north, over the Siskiyous, hoping it will be cooler in the Rogue Valley. The hot weather will continue for another month, precluding any brewing here at FSB until at least September. I'll be looking for some new equipment this fall, in particular another hydrometer (I broke the old one), and a refractometer. Yes, I'm going to splurge on a fancy gizmo. I'd like to better monitor the wort gravity, for one thing. Also, a buddy of mine will be harvesting some grapes, and one of these days he'll grow enough to make wine. I told him I'd ready with the instruments, equipment, and fermentation experience for that day!

a.d. VII Kal. Aug.

Vorlauf

2009-07-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

My lovely bride worked for the University of California library system on the Berkeley campus for many years. She was always bringing home discarded reference books and other treasures. One of my favorites is the third edition (1959) of Louis De Vries' German-English Science Dictionary for Students in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Agriculture, and Related Sciences. I figure that includes brewing! On p. 492 Prof. De Vries defines "Vorlauf" as "first runnings, heads." When you run the wort off the mash, the so-called "first runnings" are the richest in sugar content. The sweet, viscous liquid is the portion of the wort with the highest specific gravity. It also contains much undesirable material--proteins, grist debris, unfermentables--that ideally should be separated from the kettle liquor. One of the ways to do this is to re-circulate the "heads" by running it through the grain bed one more time. The porridge-like mash acts as a filter and helps clarify the wort. You can actually see this if you take a sample in a glass and hold it to the light. My Dictionary of Beer and Brewing (2nd ed., Rabin & Forget) defines "vorlauf" on p. 275 as "German term for recirculation of wort through the grain bed." I noted in my first tasting that the Summerfest had a cloudy appearance that I hoped might disappear with time. Alas, it has not. Looking over my session notes, I see that I neglected the "vorlauf" stage! I just ran the wort off, sparged the grains, and cooked away. Much of the haze-causing material settles out in the boil, especially if it can be strained through a bed of spent hops. I do this by having a colander-like false bottom in my kettle, and after the brew is chilled it drains through the sieve into the carboy. Lots of gunky stuff sticks to the hops and does not get into the finished beer. I pride myself on bright, clear beers, so this one is a little disappointing, despite the fact that it tastes great and is very refreshing. So, all you brewers out there, don't forget to vorlauf.

a.d. XIII Kal. Aug.

It's the water

2009-07-16T15:12:00.001-07:00

I am continually reminded why I love living in the State of Jefferson and why I love brewing at French Street. The waters around these parts are known not only for their taste but their purity as well. Fall Creek, off the main stem of the Klamath River, is the source of our municipal water. It originates somewhere underground in the southern Oregon volcano country--I like to think of it as ancestral Mt. Mazama water. The latest water quality report from the city just arrived, and I was eager to compare my brew liquor to the famous waters** of brewing lore. Water from Pilsen, in Bohemia (Czech Republic), is renowned for its softness and for its contribution to the feel and flavor of those legendary beers. It clocks in at 30 ppm on the Hardness scale and 35 ppm in Total Dissolved Solids. My water? 61 ppm Hardness, 122 ppm TDS. Not as soft as the famous pilseners, but lovely to brew with nonetheless. Munich waters (250/275) and London waters (235/300), as you can see, are quite a bit harder, with more ionized matter. The most important thing in a brewery is to have clean, good-tasting water, and we have that in abundance. You can work with chemical profiles if you need to, but I don't have to because I'm lucky to have a great municipal source. The biggest contaminant in the water is the chlorine they put in to comply with federal drinking water standards! I carbon-filter the water for that very reason before it becomes my brew liquor. (Brewers call water "liquor" once it has been prepared for the mash tun.) I like to think that my twenty years of brewing experience is why my beers taste good. But I might just have to give the hat tip to Mother Nature for her Fall Creek water.

**The numbers are taken from Gregory J. Noonan's invaluable book, New Brewing Lager Beer.

a.d. XVII Kal. Aug.

Summer in the glass

2009-07-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

We tapped the Summerfest today to have with our chips, salsa, and Giants baseball. Alas, the game has been a disappointment. The beer, however, is smooth and dry with just the right touch of sweet malt flavor. I think we have a fine summer ale. Here in the State of Jefferson, summer has been unusually mild, with cool breezes and afternoon clouds softening the sun's blows more often than not. I'm loving it! I'm glad I didn't overdo it with the hops on this batch--they have a nice, bright flavor with a clean finish and no lingering bitterness. Perfect for thirst-quenching! It is a little cloudy in the glass so far, we'll see if that settles out. What say we have another?

a.d. IV Id. Iul.

Summerfest II

2009-07-02T16:55:00.001-07:00

The beer went into the fridge today. It spent the last nine days in the "main fermenting room" (er, the hall closet) hovering between 65 and 69 ºF. It has been HOT here in FSB-Land, and I had to use my old trick of putting a milk jug of ice in the closet to keep it from getting too warm. We hit the road tomorrow for a family Fourth Festival in Lake Tahoe. Should be much fun. Then we go to SF and stay with old friends and go to TWO GIANTS GAMES! Too cool. We are back on Wednesday the 8th of July--beer should be in prime condition a week or two after that.

FSB readers (are you out there?) might note that yours truly is now on Facebook. That's right, the computer has taken over and enslaved me.

Be seeing you.

Summerfest

2009-06-23T18:30:00.001-07:00

Kegging the brew was today's business. I used a quart of water and 120 grams (about 4-1/4 oz.) of dextrose to prime the batch, and then I split it between two 2.5-gal. kegs. My yield from the fermenter was about 4-1/2 gallons. I dropped my hydrometer last week, so I had no way to measure the final gravity. Alas, it looked well-fermented! I have this thing about breaking those tall, skinny glass hydrometers. My next one will be my 4th? 5th? I can't remember. Yet I also have a mercury-filled glass thermometer that is darn close to twenty years old, and it is "no worse for wear." I'll keep this in the closet until the end of the month. We hit the road on the 1st of July so it should be in the refrigerator by then.

a.d. IX Kal. Iul.

Worshipping at the maltar

2009-06-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm on summer holiday, and that makes everything more relaxed. Brew days are less frantic because I can get the clean-up and take-down done over a long evening--no early morning work alarms to worry about. Something about Sundays for cooking up a batch, I suppose I worship at the Malt Altar, the Maltar if you will, and need to keep the Sabbath like the rest of the believers. Who says The Big Guy doesn't drink beer?

Matt Cain was smokin' today for the surging SF Giants, throwing a complete game with nine strikeouts in a 7-1 win. I love baseball season, and having the G-men on the radio while the aroma of boiling wort mingled with the smells of spring was delightful. Yes, we are still having this wonderful spring, cool weather, occasional rain, the sun in and out behind the cloudbanks, and it feels great. I named the beer Summerfest, a bit boring, but we'll be sucking it down in the summer heat soon enough.

Two things about today's session: (1) I used 12 lbs. of 2-row and 1 pound of 20ºL crystal but only managed 13ºP wort--1.052--which is disappointing; (2) I used digital probes to monitor the mash temperature. I have a standard food thermometer with a steel cable and food probe that works for roasting meat, candy-making, and whatnot, and I finally realized it would be better in the brewery than in the kitchen. I also am field-testing some old lab apparatus from work, a Casio EA-100 kit. Using the temperature probe in "multimeter" mode was too easy. The two devices were several degrees apart, so I'll have to do some calibrating. But it sure is nice to have a continuous read on the mash, I think it will help me improve my technique and, I hope, my extract yield.

I kept the hops simple, a one ounce addition for sixty minutes and a one ounce addition for 30 minutes. That's two ounces of (7.4 % alpha-acids) organic New Zealand Saaz whole hops. Lovely stuff, should taste great. I used a pack of US-05 Safale yeast, pitching it directly in the carboy. The Giants Fever is done, we polished it off last weekend. It was delicious. I'm looking forward to the new one.

Happy Flag Day!

a.d. XVIII Kal. Iul.
(The Ides were yesterday!)

Giants Fever V

2009-05-31T16:16:00.001-07:00

We've had a chance not only to sample but to share the brew, and we are very happy with it. It is light and dry with the easy drinkability of a "session ale" and the refreshing crispness of a "lawnmower beer." This one has real flavor, though, a fine layering of malt and hops, surprisingly complex in a low-gravity (1.043) beer. The amber-orange color looks great in the glass, too. The 2-Liter swing-top jug ("growler") ferried draft beer to a party in Weed, and it worked beautifully. The entirety of this batch was kegged, but now there's an easy way to share it. Graduation Day starts my summer furlough, and that means there will be a party in Montague this Friday. We'll be drinking Giants Fever!

Giants win today 5-3 v. St Louis.

Prid. Kal. Iun.

Giants Fever IV

2009-05-09T15:37:00.001-07:00

Thirteen days at 66-68 ºF ought to be enough to finish the beer. I'll give it at least two weeks in the fridge and we can crack it open on Memorial Day weekend. Not a good day for los Gigantes, but a gorgeous day in the State of Jefferson.

a.d. VIII Id. Mai.

Giants Fever III

2009-04-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

The beer went to the keg this evening. We had a bit of a heat spell earlier and it pushed the hall closet up to 70 ºF, but the trend lately is cooling, so I expect things to drop back down a few degrees. The yield was 4-1/2 gallons, and I batch-primed with 100 grams of dextrose. I ran it all into the two 2.5-L corny kegs. The final gravity came out at 2 ºP or 1.008. I'll give it plenty of time to condition--at least 10 days, then lager it for at least two weeks. Check back then.

Giants Fever II

2009-04-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a week, and the thick layer of fine, creamy bubbles marking primary fermentation has started to subside. The temperature held for most of the week at 66 ºF, but with the warm weather enveloping the State of Jefferson this weekend, it has inched up to 68 ºF. As long as I can keep things there, or at least under 70º, I'll be happy. I'm not a big fan of racking beer. I don't like to disturb it. I used to think the trub was responsible for off-flavors, but the quality of yeast is so improved these days I don't worry about it much anymore. In fact, the oxygen introduced and the contact from handling is probably worse. Plus, I'm lazy. Racking means more cleaning. I've had pretty good luck letting the ferment run out to two weeks, then sending the beer straight to the kegs, so I'll stick with that. I think this is going to be a unique and interesting brew--the multiple hop additions and the variety of grains and adjuncts should produce something a bit out of the ordinary. This yeast always gives me such bright, clean flavors, and seems to especially emphasize the malt side of the equation that I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it!

a.d. XIII Kal. Mai.

GIANTS FEVER

2009-04-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the San Francisco Giants had a "theme song," and the money portion of it went:

. . . be a believer
in Giants Fever . . .

It had one of those 70s-disco feels to it, catchy, pointless, impossible to erase from the memory banks. I've cooked up batches before in the spring that have been called "Giants Fever" so I thought I'd go for it again. The team is 2-5 and spent the afternoon stinking up Chavez Latrine, but hope springs eternal, eh?

Today was my kitchen sink brew. I had 5 lbs. of pale malt, and several 1-lb. packages of grain that I added to that. To wit: 1-lb. pilsener malt, 1-lb. Vienna malt, 1-lb. British pale malt, 1-lb. CaraPils and 1-lb. wheat malt! Crazy, huh? Then I added a pound of specialty malts (1/4-lb. roast barley, 1/4-lb. 140 ºL Extra Special Malt, and 1/2-lb. 60 ºL caramel), and presto! there was a load for the mash tun. All this stuff is organic/7 Bridges.

I used 3 gallons of liquor at a 171 ºF strike heat and the mixture settled in nicely at 156 ºF. After thirty minutes it had dropped two degrees and another two degrees after an hour. I re-circulated two gallons and then sent all the runnings to the kettle. I re-filled the tun with 4 gallons and ran that out as well. The "batch-sparge" is the lazy man's method, but it seemed to work fine. I got about 5+ gallons and topped it with 2 gallons to start the boil at the 28-L line. The yield was 5 gallons at 1.043, which I was happy with. I made three hop additions, one at 60, one at 30, and one at 10 minutes--1 ounce, 1 ounce, and 1/2 ounce of whole New Zealand Saaz (alpha acid 7.4 %). It should make a nice amber brew with a full flavor and light-to-medium body. My yeast o'the day was SF Lager (810) from White Labs, one of their pitch-n-go vials. I have made many brews with this yeast strain and I love its crisp, clean finish. The carboy went to the closet a little before 1500 hours State of Jefferson Daylight Time. It was a pleasant 66 ºF, just right, let's hope the cool weather holds and that I can keep it there or a little lower for at least a week.

Party on!

2009-03-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

The St. Patrick's Day Stout was a big hit at Nancy's party. It is a little anti-climatic to have a St. Patrick's Day party after the actual date (Day: Tues 17th; Party: Sat 21st), but it is a great group of friends and it is always a great party. Three brewers are in attendance each year, and each brewer brings a special creation. This year we had 100% stouts. Tom brought a dry stout that had a nice roasty edge to it, and Steve brought a big, sweet, caramel-and-maple-syrup stout. Both were excellent. Nothing like sharing brews with fellow brewers--we got to do a lot of nerdy brew-talk and quench our thirst at the same time. My stout was over-foaming a bit. The beer itself was perfectly carbonated, but dispensing was an issue. I finally took the keg off the gas and served it with the hand pump, "real ale" style. That solved the problem. My beer was light and crisp, with a smoothness and drinkability not ususally associated with stouts. I got lots of compliments, and the hostess herself told me more than once she liked mine the best! Saturday the 21st was the first full day of Spring, as the vernal equinox happened Friday morning. Saturday the 21st was a good day for Ireland as well--they won the Six Nations rugby trophy by beating Wales in Cardiff, completing a Triple Crown and Grand Slam for the first time since 1948. Éire go Brách!

a.d. X Kal. Apr.

SPDS debut

2009-03-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

We busted out the stout today. It has been conditioning for a nice long time and it was a fully mature beer. The color was very dark brown, almost black. It was clean and smooth, easy to quaff, with a dry, malty finish. It was a little over-excited exiting the keg, but I think I got the gas pressure figured out and I expect smooth pouring from now on. This beer will get sucked down like candy!

Non. Mar.
Beware the Ides! (15th)

SPDS

2009-02-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

The St. Patrick's Day Stout went to the refrigerator on Quinquagesima, or Shrove Sunday, which fell this year on 22 February. It should be ready by the full moon.

a.d. VIII Kal. Mar.

Carboy to keg

2009-02-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

Today I kegged the St. Patrick's Day Stout (no. 165). It was a little short of the opaque black I like in a stout so I cooked up a batch of black malt and malt extract. I soaked 1/4 pound of Carafa 2 (Weyermann organic from 7 Bridges) in a quart of warm water. The crushed malt was in a cloth straining bag, and the process was not unlike steeping a tea bag. I warmed up the water and added 200 grams (just about 7 oz.) of dried malt extract. I boiled the whole concotion for about 15 minutes. The brewery smelled of chocolate for the rest of the afternoon. As I siphoned the brew into the priming bucket, I added the priming mixture. It seemed to do the trick. A much darker brew went into the kegs! I could have added more, in fact. The beer finished at 1.012 (3ºP) and I should expect no more than 4% abv. This is almost a "session" beer, but with typical FSB rule-bending, it will be a dark lager and not a light ale. I think it will be quite refreshing and delicious and can't wait to try it.

a.d. VI Id. Feb.

CLXV

2009-01-25T17:27:00.000-08:00

Batch number one hundred sixty-five is this year's St. Patrick's Day Stout. I kept it simple. It was cold and wet, and the short brew day was a good way to ease back into the new year. I used an extract--Briess from 7 Bridges--and flavored it with a mix of chocolate, CaraMunich, and roasted barley. I should have included black malt, and it looks like I will have to touch it up at kegging time to get the color right. Regardless, I got 5 gallons at 1.040, just right for a dry stout. I used New Zealand Saaz hops, 42 grams for 60 minutes, or about 35-44 IBUs. I'm hoping for something on the lighter side with this one, and I used SF Lager yeast from White Labs (no. 810). The closet is a little cooler than normal and maybe I can get a run of days under 65ºF.

Today we also finished the last two bottles of no. 163, Harvest Ale. It was clean and fresh and bright despite over three months in the bottle! Points out the benefits of cleanliness and good sanitation. Or just plain luck. Either way I get some tasty brews.

a.d. VI Kal. Feb.

Last Call

2009-01-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

Winterfest was laid to rest. We pulled the final draughts from the keg today and sucked them down greedily. I'd made a point to save a few pints for the annus novus and it was great to enjoy them on this bright, sunny day. It is winter in the State of Jefferson, but the skies are clear and the nearby hills are free of snow. We've had the cold, just not the moisture we need for snow. We like to ski here at French Street Brewery, so that is a discouraging thing.

The next important brew event is Nancy's St. Patrick's Day party. I bring a stout, of course, and my deadline for that brew is Groundhog Day. That time of year--the first week in February--is host to a number of traditions that mark, in some form or another, the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Seems like a good time to cook up a hearty batch for a celebration that welcomes the coming spring. The pagan festival of Imbolc was the rootstock that Irish monastics and the Roman Church used to graft on the Feast of St. Brigid and Candlemas. So whatever your spiritual pleasures, St. Patrick's Day Stout is the next item on the FSB agenda.

a.d. IV Id. Feb.

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

We never made it to Andrei's killer bash, but weather and circumstances made it possible to share our "Namesday" Winterfest brew with the aforementioned Mr. Rockshop and his lovely bride.

The verdict? All good. Everyone loved the beer and we consumed it for both Xmas Eve and Xmas Eve eve. The brew is nicely balanced--no one flavor dominates. There's a nice hoppy tang and a rich malty sweetness that work in concert to give you a full-flavored easy-drinking ale. We noticed today that the beer in the glass is the color of our cherry wood kitchen table! Thus it also matches the cherry wood cabinets and mouldings. A lovely dark honey hue, perhaps best described as amber. Whatever we label it, it was beautiful. Great batch of brew.

Happy Holidays!

a.d. VII Kal. Ian.

Winterfest tapped!

2008-12-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

Alas, we never made it to Andrei's killer bash, for a number of reasons, but we did celebrate Namesday (for two, actually) by tapping the Winterfest.

Mmmm-mm! Damn! That's what I said. It was good. Very good. The rich, complex maltiness was evident from the nose to the tip of the tongue to the back of the mouth to the final swallow. The hops were there, just a hint up front, then coming on in the finish to balance the sweetness. The 6% abv (approx., I used OG 1.057 and FG 1.010 with RealBeer's calculator) was detectable in the aroma and flavor but not detrimental at all. In fact, this is a superb beer. The color is by no means yellow, and certainly not red. Let's say dark honey or light amber.

A frighteningly quaffable brew. Next time? Perhaps spike up the keg priming a tad. Just a tad, mind you, I like to see bubbles rise. This brew looked great out of the tap, with a thick and creamy head, but the retention was poor and the fizz seemed to peter out. A quibble, to be sure, this one had too much flavor to argue with.

Sorry, Andy. Na Zydorovye!

Id. Dec.

Winterfest IV

2008-11-30T11:10:00.001-08:00

The kegs went into the fridge last night after we returned from our holiday sojourn. The house had dropped to 55º F, about 10 degrees lower than normal. I'm glad I put the kegs out in the warmth for a few days before we left. I should be using the so-called "CA/SF Lager" yeast variety these days (Wyeast 2112 or White Labs 810)--it works well at cooler temperatures. Maybe I'll order a few for the holiday brew sessions. I've made some lovely stouts with this strain. And I'm going to take another shot at an amber beer, which always gets me thinking of Anchor Steam. Supposedly that superb brew is made from this yeast.

prid. Kal. Dec.

Winterfest III

2008-11-24T10:16:00.000-08:00

It was a little cool, not getting above 65º F in the closet, so I moved the kegs out into the dining room were it hovered mostly around 70º F (with high of 74º). I kept the kegs there from Thurday evening until yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Then I returned the kegs to the closet. We'll be off for the week and out of town so the house will drop quite a bit. I wanted to make sure the priming would have a chance to succeed before the cooler temperatures stopped it completely. The beer will go to the refrigerator when we are back on the weekend.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

a.d. VIII Kal. Dec.

Winterfest II

2008-11-16T17:36:00.000-08:00

The Winterfest Ale went to the keg today. I primed two 2.5-gallon (half-sized corny) kegs with 50 grams of corn sugar each and added the beer. I'll take one to Andrei's and keep one for personal consumption.

Check the bottom of the page for a change: adverts. Yes, advertising. I said "yes" to AdSense! I'm curious, and wanted to experiment. This site has very little traffic, so I don't expect much, as you need thousands of hits to generate money. But this blog is narrow in scope, and I figured the ads would be targeted to brewing, so I felt better about plugging them in here than my other sites.

a.d. XVI Kal. Dec.

Rack 'em

2008-11-12T17:21:00.001-08:00

The beer had fermented out nicely by Tuesday and so I siphoned it to another carboy. When the yeast is that fast-acting, I figure the beer shouldn't sit on all that sludgy stuff. It looked and smelled good, very bright and clean. Amber is a stretch, perhaps dark honey would better describe the color. I think we'll be kegging the whole batch up soon and hauling it down to Andrei's killer bash.

Na Zydorovye!

Prid. Id. Nov.

Zymo-update

2008-11-03T06:35:00.000-08:00

Zym(o)-

. . . from Gr zume, leaven, and in Sci, denoting '(of, by or with) ferment'. . .

From Eric Partridge of course. I'm an Origins groupie.

The yeast was pitched about 1620 yesterday. At 0500 this morning there was an inch-thick head of foam and the closet reeked with the rich aromas of fermenting wort!
(There's supposed to be a macron over the e in zume but I can't figure out how to do that with Alt-codes.)

a.d. III Non. Nov.

It's About Time

2008-11-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

Today we moved the clocks back an hour and got rid of summer time. I remember an outfit of amateur astronomers that referred to Daylight Savings Time as Darkness Squandering Time. It's all a matter of perspective, eh? I lost a faithful companion as well. My Casio Twincept digital timepiece with analog display ceased working. I've had this watch for at least 15 years--using its features like stopwatch and timer in the classroom in my science teaching days. I used those same features on brew days to keep track of mashes, boil times, hop additions, sanitizing regimes, etc. This humble apparatus has been a part of dozens of lessons and lectures, as well as over 100 brews. I carried it with me and used its alarm clock and dual time feature for our summer odysseys overseas as well as our recent trip to Mexico. I replaced the battery in June, probably the third one of its lifetime. The watch was dead, the battery drained when I went to use it this morning. Time to get something new, I think I got my money's worth from this one.

Speaking of money, honey, I hit it right on the money today. I was hoping for a final gravity of 1.055 and I hit 1.056, 14º Plato. That was perfect! I tasted the sweet wort and I think we have a winner. Everything went according to plan. It was a gorgeous autumnal afternoon, cool and wet with intermittent sunshine and warmth. I followed my Winterfest formulation and didn't have any complications or setbacks. I did try to have a higher initial mash temperature, raising the strike heat to 172º F, but still only managed a 150º F mash. I let that go for 40 minutes, the 12 pounds of grain soaking in 12 quarts of liquor, then added a gallon of boiling liquor which brought things up to 156º F. I was hoping to start the mash up high like that and try to get a more dextrinous wort. But that's OK, like I said, it looked and smelled delicious. I tend to overshoot the color on my brown ales, pushing them almost to black, and I also tend to undershoot my ambers, winding up with sort of a dark honey color rather than a true red. I think I should have used a whole pound of the 60º L caramel, or maybe tossed in a 1/4 pound of something a little darker. We'll see. I had a great time today cookin' up a batch and I'm real happy with the result so far. Of course, only time will tell.

a.d. IV Non. Nov.

Winterfest

2008-11-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

31 Oct Hallowe'en. 01 Nov All Hallows. 02 Nov All Souls. 06 Nov Samhain.

That says winter to me. Not to mention the (welcome) rain here in the State of Jefferson.

Tomorrow I'm cooking up my annual Winterfest. I don't go in for weird, spicy brews, so my moniker reflects the season. Lots of spiced winter ales and barleywines out there, something to have in a snifter around the fireplace, but not something for quotidian quaffing. I'm a practical brewer, I need to replenish my stocks. Here's the plan:

9-1/2 lbs Great Western 2-row
1 lb Weyermann Munich
1/2 lb Weyermann CaraMunich
1/2 lb Weyermann CaraHell
1/2 lb Briess Caramel (60 ºL)

All organic stuff from 7 Bridges. The hops were from William's, lovely whole Northern Brewer, not organic. (It is hard to "go organic" and miss out on the superb hops they always have there.) I decided to go with 1-oz for 60 mins, 1/2-oz for 30 mins, and 1/2-oz for 15 mins. Dr. Bob says between 40-49 IBUs. If I get a good yield that ought to balance the big malt flavors. Damn, I'm tasting it already!

Going with the quick, easy and foolproof Safale dry yeast: number 05 "American Ale." Dry yeast has come a long way. These guys have a very clean, fast-acting product. Check for an update tomorrow evening.

Kal. Nov.

It was soooo yummy

2008-10-19T16:12:00.001-07:00

That's how my lovely bride responded to the question "how'd you like the beer?"

We cracked open a bottle of the Harvest Ale this afternoon. It was warm and sunny on the patio and we had a glass with our chips and salsa. The brew was smooth with a delicate maltiness but a full body. The hops were just right--balanced to give it a clean, dry finish. The color was dark brown in the glass, with rich amber hues when held in the sunlight. Overall, the mouthfeel on this brew is the winningest point. The flavors are soft and subtle, but the effect on the palate is big and satisfying. This organic malt is good stuff. I'm also happy with the new mashing arrangement. Tomorrow we'll tap the keg.

Yummy!

p.s. We drank the dregs of no. 162 today as well. We got a final pint to share. Fitting, for today the Rays and Sox decide the ALCS. One of them will end their season tonight. Full Season Ale was a success. Despite being sweeter and more alcoholic than my usual fare, it was drinkable and refreshing, with a good flavor. Looks like the first weekend in November will be my next brewing opportunity.

XIV Kal. Nov.

Fridge-bound

2008-10-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

The latest batch, Harvest Ale (# 163), went to the refrigerator today. By the time I tap this one (in a couple of weeks), the "harvest" season will be long past. We had freezing temperatures in the State of Jefferson yesterday! I left this brew in the Main Conditioning Room (hall closet) for a few days longer than necessary, mostly due to forgetfulness. Hovering around 68-70 ºF, there's no harm done. The plan was to cook up another batch this weekend, but a cold virus has seized me and I plan nothing more strenuous than laying about and drinking healthful beverages. Brewing is a vigorous and time-consuming pursuit. I'm up and down all day long, organizing, cooking, and cleaning. I don't like to do it if I can't fully enjoy it. Too bad, it looks like this weekend will be sunny. The autumn is the best time to make beer. The days are still long enough, like summer, and the chill in the air is refreshing, unlike the mind- and finger-numbing winter cold. Next weekend, perhaps, will be a chance to brew. I've got those great Northern Brewer hops and a heap of wonderful crystal malts--after a pale and a brown an amber is next on the list.

Homebrew joys

2008-10-04T19:53:00.001-07:00

Beers are alive. They don't just sit there in the keg--they grow. They mature. They sometimes die. (That's a serious beer foul. Drink your beer.) The nice thing is that they "don't age in the glass" as Cap'n Bill would say. Each pint is a frozen moment in the life of that brew. Today's draught version of Full Season Ale was a beer at its peak. Fully blended and settled, the rich hop flavor perfectly complemented the malty sweetness and warm alcoholic aroma. Two things to learn: be patient, and add hops in stages. I did multiple additions in this one and it is clear that hops add much more than bitterness. The complex taste sensations are too hard for me to describe. (Where's WordMan™ when I need him?)

Best to just drink and go mmm-mmmm!

a.d. IV Non. Oct.

Party On!

2008-09-28T08:09:00.001-07:00

Full Season Ale came out of the keg clear and bright with a creamy head. It was a big hit: full-flavored, nicely balanced, easy-drinking, smooth and delicious. We sucked down the 20 pints rather easily. In fact, we dubbed the brew "Memory Loss Ale" as half a pint (at 7% abv) had a profound impact on your cognitive functions.

Today, half the Harvest Ale will go in the now-empty vessel. I'll post a post-bottling update later.

UPDATE @ 1655 PDT: The Harvest Ale only yielded a touch over 4 gallons. I lost at least 1/2-gallon to a sludgy trub. Nonetheless, we got a nice looking, smelling, and tasting beer in one 2-1/2 gallon keg, a sixpack of 12-ounce bottles, a fourpack of 0.5 Liter Grölsch bottles, and four 22-ounce bottles. I used 50 grams of dextrose in 1-1/3 cups of water for both priming jobs. The final gravity was 1.010 or 2.5 ºP, an eleven-degree drop, coming in at almost 6% abv.

And Tim Lincecum won his 18th against the Chavez LAtriners, striking out the first nine men he faced. Not a bad way to end the season.

a.d. IV Kal. Oct.

162 and 163

2008-09-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Full Season Ale is on for a public tapping tonight! We cracked one of the kegs on Monday and had a sample with pals J & R. It is a big, potent beer, bright straw-yellow, with a full range of hoppiness. The final taste had a sour edge, maybe I went over-the-top with the hops. Or maybe it was just a bit "young" and needed a little more aging time in the fridge. Regardless, a party, a genuine social event, is on FSB's calendar this evening. I've got an untapped 2-1/2 gallon keg ready to go--twenty pints for a notoriously thirsty crew. I expect to have it emptied quickly. Tomorrow, I'll clean it out and fill it with the new brown (Harvest Ale) cooked up two weeks ago. I think I've come up with an easy transport system for both the keg and the gas cylinder set-up. I have an abundance of square-bottomed, thick-walled plastic bins just the right size. I can use one for the cylinder and toss in the tap, tools and towel I need. The other hold the keg and ice packs. We'll see how well everything works tonight. I'll report on things tomorrow after kegging and bottling #163.

a.d. V Kal. Oct.

Harvest Ale

2008-09-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have a lovely batch of whole Northern Brewer hops from William's that are not organic. My old organic Perles looked and smelled sort of sad so I composted them. When I decided to "go organic" I still had some odds and ends around, like the hops. My plan is to make a "steam" with them this winter when I can use my favorite yeast strain, WYEAST 2112 CA LAGER. They have a rich minty-evergreen aroma, and they just seemed brighter and fresher than the Perles. At 8.2% α-acids I only used an ounce for an hour. Dr. Bob sez 25-32 IBU.

I used 10-1/2 pounds of the new pale 2-row from Great Western/7 Bridges, plus a half-pound each of 350ºL Briess Chocolate, 120ºL Briess Caramel, and Weyermann CaraHell. My goal is a malty brown, my beautiful bride's favorite brew. I wound up with 1.054 for five gallons. It was a low-temperature (148-150ºF) short-duration mash, only 45 minutes. These modern malts go quickly.

I scrounged another cheap-o yeast from the bargain bin, this time WYEAST 1332 NORTHWEST ALE. I should probably avoid that urge to save a few bucks. After all, freshness is a big part of why I brew my own. I need to find a local liquid yeast supplier or I need to go with the new generation of dried yeast.

It was an easy day--the whole shebang went smoothly. And the Giants won! The Harvest Moon shines brightly tonight and tomorrow, enjoy the lingering light--the autumnal equinox is just around the corner. The 13th is the Ides in a Roman September, so today is a.d. XVIII Kal. Oct. by their reckoning. This beer will split the birthdays here at French Street Brewery--let's say we'll be enjoying it on Hallowe'en.

P.S. Note the dearth of links and font fiddling, etc. For some reason I can't use my normal Blogger wysiwyg editor. That means I have to use html codes to make a link, etc. I'm lazy. I don't want to. I'll make sure all my links are up-to-date at the bottom of the page so readers can find any product I mention in a post. I hope to fix this annoying techie glitch soon.

Labor Day

2008-09-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Monday holiday afforded me a chance to get no. 162--FULL SEASON ALE--out of the fermenter and into the kegs. I used 50 grams of dextrose in 12 oz. water each to prime two 2-1/2 gallon kegs. Each keg got just about 2-1/4 gallons of beer from the 4-1/2 gallons the carboy yielded. It all looked and smelled good. The final gravity was 1.012 or 3 ºP and that makes this one a big 7 % abv. Wow. An ass-kicker! Should be ready to drink a a few weeks.

Balling scale (IB - FB) * (0.525)
(16 ºP - 3 ºP) * (0.525) = 6.8 %

Gravity Units (OGU - FGU) / (7.5)
(65 - 12) / (7.5) = 7.1 %

Today is the "Kalends" of September, the first of the month!

Brew Day

2008-08-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Things worked well today. I ran 3 gallons of liquor at 170 ºF into the mash tun. Stirred in the malt--13 pounds. It was a bit lumpy, and took a bit of work to smooth it out and get an even temperature. There was just enough liquid to pool a bit on the top of the grain bed. It settled out at 148 ºF. I added 2 tsp. of gypsum. After 30 minutes, it had dropped 5 degrees. I added 2 gallons of boiling water at that point. This made the mash soupy, and it was easier to stir and mix the hot and cold spots. The mash was 156 ºF, just about perfect. After 30 minutes it had dropped 2 degrees. I re-circulated 10 quarts of runoff, collected about a gallon in the kettle, then sparged. I used 4 gallons (initial 170 ºF) and collected 6 gallons of wort. I topped up with a gallon of carbon-filtered municipal water and we started cooking. I wound up with 5 gallons at 1.065 or 16 ºP after a 70-minute boil and 4 hop additions. I used whole Perle hops, an ounce for 60 minutes, 1/2 ounce for 40 minutes, 1/2 ounce for 20 minutes, and 1/2 ounce for 10 minutes. That's about 50 IBUs, according to Dr. Bob, so I'm glad I got a pretty big beer. My brewhouse efficiency seems around 65%, so that means I'm getting approximately the equivalent of 8.5 pounds of malt extract. It looked like I was only going to have 4-1/2 gallons in the carboy, but I tipped the kettle to top it up to the 5 line. The last part was cloudy with trub. I left about a quart of sludge in the kettle. The yeast pack that was nearly a year old took a full week but it was completely swollen this morning. It was Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood Ale), and I had the 125 mL packet so I pitched it directly in the carboy. It was warm in the closet, 74 ºF, so I expect a vigorous fermentation tomorrow.

I called this brew FULL SEASON ALE because it is number 162, a full season in major league baseball. It should be ready to drink just as the regular season ends!

a.d. XV Kal. Sep.

Formulation Day 2

2008-08-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

This is my 50th post here at FSB!

Doctor Bob Technical didn't confine himself to malt. No, he made a slide rule for hops as well. He called it the Hop-Go-Round.

Check out Alephenalia Publications, Seattle WA 98122. They don't seem to have a web presence, but we all know Dr. Bob is Randy Mosher, the man behind Radical Brewing. This is a great little device, and we'll see what it says for our new batch of brew.

For bittering, one ounce of Whole Organic Perle Hops (@ 8.1% α-acids), assuming a 25% efficiency in an hour-long boil, should yield 32 IBUs. The chart suggests less than 25% with a high-gravity wort, but I've always just bracketed readings for 20 and 25% to give me a ballpark figure. At 20% I get 25 IBUs.

I weighed out several half-ounce sets of the hops, and I think I'll have two or three flavoring additions. A half-ounce for 15 minutes is about 10-15% utilization. That gives us 6-9 IBUs. Another half-ounce for 5 minutes (5%) is 3 more IBUs. The total is 34-44. If the wort is not too big or sweet, that could be a nice match. We'll see what I do on brew day.

a.d. III Id. Aug

Formulation Day

2008-08-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

According to Doctor Bob Technical (Randy Mosher) and his Amazing Wheel of Beer, if I mash 13 lbs. of 2-row malt I should get an OG of 1.070 at 70% efficiency. That's about 17 ºP. If I only get 60%, it drops 2 ºP. That 's 15 ºP or about 1.060. That's pretty strong wort. I'll have to balance it with a series of hop additions. Note that I have modified the original slide rule with a compromise line marked in orange. There really wasn't a spot for North American 2-row pale malt, and I took some thoughts from Jo hn Palmer's How-to-Brew (hence the notes) to settle on that line. (I forget what the "80%" is for!) I'm not sure this slide rule of Mr. Mosher's is available any more. That's too bad, I've been using mine for years. I love stuff that doesn't need batteries.

a.d. III Id. Aug.

Ready to Rock!

2008-08-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

The 7 Bridges shipment just arrived. I want to try their new domestic (Vancouver, Washington) organic malt. The full sack (50 lbs.) price is $42.00 and they charge $8.00 to crush and repackage. The body blow is the shipping cost, $21.59 for standard UPS ground. I received four packages: two 12-lb. and two 13-lb. bags.

Great Western Malting Co. is an independent subsidiary within the ConAgra network. It is tough to find anything on ConAgra Malt, and I got the story of the mergers here, here, and here.

These guys aren't too happy with ConAgra. I wonder if they know that Great Western produces organic malt! Regardless, the arrival of the order from 7 Bridges means the brew season will begin soon.

a.d. VII Id. Aug.

Saving the world, one beer at a time

2008-08-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

One organic craft brew at a time, that is.

Hard to argue with a fellow whose motto is:

DRINK BEER. SAVE THE WORLD.

Check out The Beer Activist, Chris O'Brien. My pal and co-worker KV is a big fan of FSB's brews. He's always reading interesting stuff while I bury my head in 50's noir. He turned me on to this book, but I'll admit to not yet adding it to my pile. So that's it, then. It is a must read.

Thanks to the good folks at 7 Bridges for pointing the way.

BTW, we intend to resume brewing here very soon. We'll be home throughout the rest of the summer and fall. Astute domestic climate control and liberal use of the swamp cooler will beat the heat and enable proper fermentation temperatures.

I think a refreshing pale ale is long overdue, don't you?

a.d. III Non. Aug.

It ain't August yet

2008-07-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

But we're back!

I opened a bottle of the School's Out Stout (# 161) and it gushed, geyser-like, all over the kitchen counter. Yuck, what a mess. Worse--the beer was undrinkable. Turns out I had five more 22-oz. bottles. They were all gushers. What a loss! Such a lovely brew, undone by, I assume, a sanitation problem.

Back to the drawing board for this fall. I pledge that the next brew I concoct will be cleaner and better organized. I figure gushers are a reminder not to be sloppy, and to put it all together patiently and precisely. Frankly, I'm surprised more beers aren't tainted when you consider the number of chances bacteria have of invading vessels and tubing and whatnot during the process.

There's a good piece from BYO by Alex Fodor on foaming. I'll be sure to keep this in front of me when I'm formulating the first batch of the season.

a.d. III Kal. Aug.

Feast of St. Vitus

2008-06-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

June 15 is the Feast Day of St. Vitus, the patron saint of Bohemia. He's also the patron saint of dancers, actors, and dogs, and his name is invoked as protection against lightning, snakebite, and epilepsy. (Sydenham's Chorea, a neuro-muscular disease, is known as St. Vitus Dance.)

If you like beer, you know that Bohemia is a sacred beer zone in the Czech Republic, home to famed beer cities Prague and Pilsen. Bohemian hops--Saaz--are prized for flavor and quality, and are crucial to the clean, crisp flavors we expect from pilseners.

It is also the name of a delicious Mexican beer, Bohemia. Beer drinkers and bohemians, unite! Raise your glasses to St. Vitus!

FSB will be on hiatus for the next few weeks. Our summer sojourn takes us southward, to México, in fact! July is a lousy brewing month here in the State of Jefferson anyway, due to the summer heat. The blog will be back in August. The brewing season will resume when cool, autumn nights come back. ¡Adios!

School's Out!

2008-06-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

The work year is over for us here at FSB. We celebrated that fact many times this past weekend, culminating with tapping the keg at Steph's party. The School's Out Stout (SOS) was explosively foamy at first. I sprayed a half pint of the stuff around, sloshed another few pints into cups, towels, and the cooler before finally managing to get a decent draught pull. It took an hour perhaps for the foam to finally settle and the pressure to equalize. The first dozen pints required no help out of the keg, but I had to push the last few out with a bit of gas (about 3-4 PSI). It was worth the wait. The sumptuous, layered malt flavors had drinkers "oohing" and "ahhing." There was a rich toast-and-chocolate taste right up front, and a spicy hop tang on the finish. The beer was full-bodied, but smooth and easy-drinking. SOS was a success!

On another note, FRENCH STREET BREWERY is now the proud sponsor of a page in THE BASEBALL REFERENCE. Stuggling right-hander BRAD HENNESSEY was available for only ten bucks. I get him for a whole year. C'mon, Brad, show 'em what you got. Bring glory to FSB!

Black Beauty: now cooler than ever

2008-05-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

Yep, we shipped 'em from the main fermenting room to the refrigeration unit. Cold storage. Lagering time. 10-14 days at 42 Fahrenheit and we got ourselves a kickass brew. I just have a feeling about this one, the School's Out Stout. Ten work days left and we are gearing up for some serious R & R here at FSB. The 2-1/2 gallon keg should be in perfect condition on the 8th of June (a.d. VI Id.Iun.) for Stephani's GradFest.

a.d. XI Kal.Iun.

Black Beauty

2008-05-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

We kegged and bottled the School's Out Stout today. Got to taste a bit of it when I siphoned it to the priming bucket . . . this one is a winner. Should be ready for Stephani's Graduation Party and our own end-of-the-school-year festivities. The final gravity was 4 ºP (1.016). The beer looked and smelled nice and clean. There was a big, thick sludge layer, and I managed 4-1/2 gallons of yield. I kegged 2-1/2 gallons, priming it with 2 oz. of corn sugar, and we bottled an assortment, priming at 2 oz. to 2 gallons. Steph gets a six-pack, K & K get a couple of 0.5 L bottles, and we get seven of the 22 oz. "Etna" style. This will likely be the last brew for a while as the hot weather is just around the corner. The Giants won today in unlikely fashion with Steve "Backup Catcher" Holm provding the heroics with a 2-run homer. Another gorgeous spring day in the State of Jefferson!

a.d. V Id. Mai.

"School's Out" Stout a week later

2008-05-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

It has been hovering between 66 and 68 ºF in the Main Fermenting Room (hall closet), and the brew has a creamy brown half-inch thick head. This has been a long, slow, steady fermentation. I'm used to a big, explosive action in the first few days, then a gradual tapering off. After a week the top of the beer is usually visible with a few islands of residual froth. I've never used this variety of yeast before--Wyeast 1338 or European Ale™. My regular source (7 Bridges) has this little descriptor:

From Wissenschaftliche in Munich. Full-bodied complex strain finishing very malty with full bodied profile, very desirable in English Style Brown Ales and Porters. Produces a dense, rocky head during fermentation. (emphasis mine)

I used Continental malts and hops with this batch, and I'm really interested in the so-called "German Ales" (Altbier and Kölsch varieties). Achieving proper lager fermentation temperature regimes is tough here at FSB. My hall closet rarely gets below 60 ºF and can get over 70 ºF on occasion--that says "ale" yeast (Saccharomyces cerevesiae) to me. I'm not much for "styles" when it comes to brewing. I almost never try to copy a commercial beer, and since I almost never enter contests, I don't build recipes around categories. My formulations are inspired not only by beers that I've tasted, but ones I've read about! I've never had actual Altbiers, only California-micro versions. I can't say I've ever drunk a beer from Köln. But the Germans are known for rich flavors from their decoction techniques and kilned malts, and I want to get that into my beers. I was weaned on the first wave of California micros, which used British descriptors (bitter, pale ale, porter, stout, etc.) for their interpretations. But these are mere labels. As a homebrewer, I have the freedom to experiment. I think this latest "stout" is going to have a unique flavor profile. Ultimately that is my goal--tasty, satisfying brews with the particular signature of the brewer and the brewery. What is a "stout," actually? Guinness would be the most famous example, of course, but that's just it. It is an EXAMPLE, not the DEFINITION. The American Homebrewers Association, god bless 'em, has a 289 KB file you can download that describes all the acceptable beer "styles" they can think of. They go on and on about all sorts of "stouts" and what the rules are for making and/or judging them. "Bah," I say. Dr. Michael Lewis, UC Davis professor emeritus of Brewing Science, had this to say about the word "stout" in his book of the same name:

To conclude, it was not difficult for us to decide that a stout is simply a black beer called a stout by the brewer who made it. (author's emphasis, p.66)

(STOUT, Michael J. Lewis, Brewers Publications, 1995, ISBN 0-937381-44-6. This book is part--no. 10--of the Classic Beer Style Series well known to homebrewers.)

In the end, a "stout" is what you make it. That sounds like a good credo for a homebrewer.

a.d. IV non. Mai.

"School's Out" Stout

2008-04-27T17:52:00.001-07:00

Actually, I have twenty-nine work days remaining in the calendar. If this brew ferments out in two weeks, gets kegged and bottled, spends two weeks conditioning, and then two weeks in the fridge, it will be ready to quaff come summer vacation. The whole thing can take half that time, but I've found over the years that slow and steady wins the race. The beer is almost always better when you wait. Speaking of "School's Out" Stout, the Bazooka Screen™ made its debut on this splendid Spring day here in the State of Jefferson. (I've added the link to Zymico™ to the list below.) Here at French Street Brewery, we like stouts. This one had 5 lbs. of base malt, a Briess 2-row pale, 5 lbs. of Briess Munich, and 2lbs. of Weyermann Vienna malt. All of these ORGANIC grains were purchased pre-crushed from 7 Bridges in Santa Cruz. I had some odds and ends, not really adding fermentables, just color, body, and flavor, like a 120 ºL crystal, some flaked barley, and Weyermann Carafa-2, all three totaling a pound, also in the mash. I steeped a half-pound each of roast barley and dark chocolate in 2 quarts of liquor which I added to the kettle. The OG came out at 15 ºP (1.060) which means my kooky method was around 75% efficient. I doughed-in the grain with 14 quarts of 155 ºF liquor (municipal water from a lovely volcanic spring-fed creek, moderately soft, charcoal filtered, brought to a boil and allowed to cool, otherwise untreated). The mash settled around 140 ºF. I pulled out a gallon of the grain porridge and heated it to boil on the hot plate. This I added back to the mash tun, bringing the whole thing up 5 degrees. After some stirring, I added one gallon of boiling liquor, which brought the whole thing to a range of 149-155 ºF. Some mixing got things to blend a bit, 150-152 ºF seemed to be the final temperature. After 45 minutes I spray-sparged for 30 minutes with 170 ºF liquor, 3 gallons worth, then mashed out with another gallon, a quick fill-and-drain. The final gallon of liquor went in the kettle, bringing the volume up to 7 gallons. Organic Perle hops and a 70-minute boil produced 5 gallons of wort. I pitched Wyeast European Ale 1338 into the chilled wort, bunged the carboy with a foam stopper, and put it to bed. All in all, a great brew day.

a.d. V Kal.Mai.

Amquard Ale II & OSP VI

2008-04-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Amquard Ale was moved to the refrigerator this afternoon. In a week or so we should get the first taste. I'm quite curious about my little "dry-hopping" experiment--one of these days I'll figure out how to get a rich hop aroma. We've also been enjoying the OSP. We had a bit of an issue with an under-carbonated keg, but I blasted it with 30 lbs. or so of gas for a week, and some tweaking and twiddling with the dispensing pressure produced a good draught. We've pulled a few pints since then and the brew has a sharp flavor and a dextrinous mouthfeel, but is also smooth and drinkable. The bottled version was a bit harsh at first tasting. We let it lager for a few more weeks and that has paid off. The flavors seemed to have married and the rough edges have been smoothed. The result? O'Connor's Stout Porter lives up to its name!

a.d. X Kal.Mai.

Beware the Ides

2008-04-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the Ides of April--not nearly so fraught with literary danger as the Ides of March, but interesting nonetheless. The OSP has done well in the bottle, but the keg version was nearly flat. Not sure why, but I've been gassing it with a steady 30 psi and I hope to get it drinkable within the next few days. We bottled and kegged the Amquard Ale. Stephani and Amber will come away with a 2-Liter growler each, and will split 8 12-oz. bottles. My goal was a 6-pack apiece, but after kegging 2.5 gallons there wasn't enough left over, and the last bit in the priming bucket was pretty sludgy. I bottled a 12-oz. clear Newky bottle that had a bit of debris, we'll see how it settles out. I decided to play around a bit and added a cotton sack with two ounces of whole organic German Perle hops (from Seven Bridges) to the half-keg. I'd like to get a little hop aroma into this rather simple extract golden ale. It was a gorgeous spring day in the State of Jefferson, and we had a relaxed day here at French Street Brewery. I've got a bit of sanitizing left to do before I'm done with the brewery chores for the weekend. In the meantime I'm enjoying my favorite radio show, Craig Lloyd Faulkner's "American Rhythm," on KSOR 89.3 FM.

prid. Id. Apr.

I like beer cuz it is good

2008-04-08T16:34:00.001-07:00

My new theme song for FSB is Psychostick's BEER. The "low-quality" movie link works great, or try youtube.

Amquard Ale

2008-03-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

Amber and Stephani came over on Friday and we cooked up a simple extract batch. The eponymous ale serves three purposes: 1) an experiment for their science class, 2) an education in brewing, and 3) a batch of easy-drinking beer. We used 7 lbs of light dry malt extract, boiling it for 70 minutes with 7 gallons of charcoal-filtered (for chlorine removal) municipal water. Two ounces of Willamette hops were in for 60 minutes. At an alpha-acid rating of 5.5%, we estimated they'd add about 40 IBUs. The brew came out at 1.060 starting gravity, so it will be a little higher than my usual acohol content, and high in general for a light ale. The ladies took 3 Liters apiece home for a class project. Each of 3 Liters were dosed with varying amounts of dry yeast: 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 grams/L were the pitching rates (o.6 g/L is real close to the 11.5 g/5 gals. recommended rate). I dumped the rest of the packet (7.9 grams of the 11.5 g original amount) of Safale S-04 in the remaining 4 gallons of wort. It is fermenting vigorously as I type this.

(Sunday update: I forgot to say "Happy Birthday Onyx.")

Stout Heaven

2008-03-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

The OSP went in the fridge today. Should be ready to drink this coming weekend. We'll be heading to H & D's in Bend, and we'll have 3 homebrews to sample! Ah, Spring Break. I need a fookin' holiday, lemme tell ya! Fortunately, we have a kegger of the St. Patrick's Day Stout on hand, and it is indeed Stout Heaven. I've been making a black beer here at French Street in honor of Padráig since Super Bowl Sunday of 1992 (Redskins over the Bills). That first "St. Paddy's" was batch number XXVI (26). I've made over 500 gallons of homebrew since then! The new stout is a thick and creamy fellow, with a smooth, oily quality I attribute to the high gravity and the flaked oats. It has an espresso-like palate, but without the bitterness. I backed off the hops a wee bit and I think it paid off. I like to taste the roast grains--the hops should just be background in this beer. Man, it is soooooo easy to pull pints of this magic nectar, I don't expect it to last long. May the blessings of the Feast of Patrick be with you all!

In Irish:
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

a.d. XVII Kal. Apr.
(The notorious Ides of March were yesterday--there are 17 days inclusive to the Kalends of April.)

OSP kegged & bottled!

2008-03-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

MATT CAIN had his Spring Training Debut today. And we bottled & kegged here at French Street Brewery. The OSP had an extra-thick layer of sludge and I only managed to siphon about 4-1/4 gallons of beer. Standard priming regime: 1 oz. per gallon for bottles (just shy of 2 gallons today) and 50 grams per 2-1/2 gallon keg. Beer looked good, smelled good, tasted good. Batch 159 yielded ONE 2-Liter jug, FOUR brown swing-top bottles (approx. 2 L), TWO half-liter green Grölsch bottles, and a mixed sixpack of 12-oz. crown-capped standard bottles. Final gravity was 1.012 or 3º Plato. O'Connor's Stout Porter will spend 10-14 days in the closet, depending on how cold it gets. Then the refrigerator for at least a week, so it ought to be ready just in time for my SPRING BREAK! Outstanding!

a.d. VI Non. Mar.