On a side note, one of my favorite parts of the brewing process is the spent grain bread that follows. Here’s a really great and easy recipe if you’re interested: http://www.beeratjoes.com/index.php/beer-dinners/spent-grain-beer-bread/
Back in the swing…
I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. The more I research beer making practices, the more I realize there’s so much more to learn. It’s been a little disheartening to think that I’ve got a handle on things only to discover an entire process that I’ve had never heard of. Luckily I have an incredible spouse who gave me some words of wisdom, ‘You don’t have to know everything to make good beer. So suck it up and just make some.’
I have to say, it did the trick. I decided to make her a hefeweizen (her favorite) just to get moving again. Nothing fancy, even parts wheat malt and pilsner with Hallertau hops. I used Wyeast 3068 and nothing else. As soon as I started sanitizing, I felt that rush that I had been missing. So I suppose the best thing for a case of the funk is a good ol’ fashioned homebrew.
Exciting things are happening.
These past few months have been a bit hectic for our family but it seems that good things are on the horizon. My wife and I just closed on our first real, honest-to-goodness house in a little town called Wake Forest which is a couple of miles north of Raleigh. On top of this, we got a great surprise while walking through the downtown area a couple of blocks away.
It looks like a new brewery is opening its doors in Wake Forest. White Street Brewery will be participating in the ongoing gentrification of this little town while providing craft beer for the first time in this area. I think that it’s a real sign that the demand for great beer is on the rise and that the swing to support local business is going to bring back Main Street.
I especially love the growing amount of beer jobs because I’m looking to start working again. Don’t get me wrong, taking care of my boys for the last nine months has been amazing. Not only have I been able to see my boys develop into incredible kids but I’ve also been able to increase my beer knowledge ten-fold. Not only are my homebrews tasting great but I’ve also been able to learn a lot about the industry itself that will hopefully serve me well in the months to come. Thanks for all of your support and for reading this overly long post!
I have the best wife ever. Apparently she has a running agreement with her coworkers to grab extra bottles of my favorites if they are in stock when they buy their beer.
I think I’ll indulge in a drink on Homebrew Day on Saturday. Seems fitting.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20522765/longmont-based-oskar-blues-offer-limited-run-beer 
Looks like all the breweries are coming to North Carolina and, well, that’s all right with me.
Greetings, Brethren of the Barley.
I apologize for my silence this past month but it has been a whirlwind of fleeting moments that have melded into one crazy month. I am currently waiting in the two block long admission line for World Beer Fest-Raleigh so I figured that this would be the perfect time to update you on the latest home brew news.
As you might remember, last month I entered two beers into the Lonerider Brewery competition; Lazy Kate, a Scottish Wee Heavy, and, Smithy, a Milk Stout. Lazy Kate became an interesting creation. Instead of dry hopping, I used heather tips which gave it a very mellow, herbal taste. It was almost like a cup of strong tea which was really cool. Unfortunately, it also had a strong vegetal taste so I knew that nothing was going to come of this beer in the competition. Oh, well.
Smithy was a bit more promising. I got a strong coffee taste from the roasted barley and I had added some vanilla beans the last few days of secondary which gave a subtle taste on the finish.
In the end, I actually won first place in my flight for Smithy with a score of 45! Sadly, Lazy Kate was put to rest with a very sad score of 28.
Now, on to beer!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!!!!
Last night was the awards ceremony at Front Street Brewery for the homebrew competition. It was a great time to hang out with a couple hundred people and talk/drink beer. Much to my astonishment, though, I won first place in the Specialty Beer category for the Cherry Cordial Porter. I scored a 43/50 and got some great feedback from the judges about how to improve the brew but the greatest part of the night was when one of the judges told me that he just wanted more of the porter to drink.
The rest of the night was a blur. They released a couple of unopened bottles of everyone’s beer so we all got to try the beers and answer questions about our beer. I was also asked how some beers could have been improved upon and I awkwardly tried to give advice pretty much based on my own mistakes (which are plentiful).
All in all, my wife had a great time. The award was ancillary to the amazing experience we had at the party. I’m really excited about Lonerider next month and can’t wait to start secondary for the brews today.
Wyeast, I do declare!
As you may recall from the last brew, we had discussed the benefits between dry yeast and activator packs. Well, I decided to grab some Wyeast for these batches (my vendor doesn’t have White Labs) and see what happened.
This video was taken about 14 hours after initial fermentation. I have never had a beer be so active so fast. I can only wait to taste what difference there is the flavor. This yeast has an attenuation of about 71 and thrives in temps of 50-60 degrees F which is perfect for Scottish Ales.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, I’m glad that I got over my dry yeast stubbornness.
Wort’s wrong with a little color?
After lautering, I started the boil on this guy. The beer called for a 90 min boil to get the color to a deep, coppery red. I was nervous to let it go that long especially after that 160 mash. Lifesamusical is right, I felt that it was too high and now, on top of that, I can smell the sugars caramelizing and start to freak out. However, I stayed the course and I’m so glad that I did.
I hit the stats for the Wee Heavy almost dead on: EOG: 1.074, OG: 1.071, SRM: 21, EABV: 6.93%.
I used Kent Golding hops for 60 min of the boil to reach an IBU of about 33 but the real florals are going to come from the heather tips that I’m adding in secondary.
And so it begins…
I started the brew day with the Scottish Wee Heavy since it has a longer boil time and my wife would be around to help with the boys.
The Strong Ale is an odd animal. The mash temp is a whopping 160 degrees F but the fermenting temps are from 50-60 degrees to clarify. You usually have a longer boil time to get that deep copper coloration. But there is not much bitterness from hops because of the high hop taxes in UK when these beers came about. Instead, they relied on malty bitterness and the use of spices and herbs.
For my take on this classic, I’m using Marris Otter for my base, with Crystal 80 L and CaraMunich II as my adjuncts. A 60 min mash at 160 and we’ve hit the ground running.
Random Daze theme by Polaraul
