GIANTS FEVER

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!

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

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

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

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.