Alesmith's San Diego Dark Session Ale
Anyone who knows me would laugh if I told them I was going to brew a session ale. For me, life starts at 1.060 OG and goes up from there!
As a part of our schwag for NHC 2011, we were given a commemorative bomber of San Diego Dark Session Ale, brewed by Alesmith in San Diego (the picture of the bottle on Beer Advocate is mine:) The ale was incredibly drinkable – sessionable even – but with enough lightly roasted hoppy flavor to meet my needs. The recipe was published in the May/June 2011 issue of Zymurgy as a 5 gallon recipe. I threw the ingredients into Beer Tools for a 10 gallon batch, adjusted the OG for my system’s efficiency, and I plan on brewing this on Labor Day. A starter of the new White Labs WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast is bubbling away on the stir plate as I type this entry. This is the second batch of ale that will be run through my new fermenter.
The weather here has been so hot I just haven’t wanted to brew and Monday is the coolest projected day for this weekend. Additionally, the 26 month old Sears refrigerator that I use for a fermentation vessel crapped out last week. Thankfully, it is now up and running again after a $139 repair bill. It’s time to brew!
Here’s the recipe I’ll be brewing on Monday:
Central Valley Dark Session Ale
11-A Mild
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 9/5/11
Size: 10.08 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 194.62 kcal per 16.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.044 (1.030 – 1.038)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 – 1.013)
Color: 17.4 (12.0 – 25.0)
Alcohol: 4.32% (2.8% – 4.5%)
Bitterness: 31.5 (10.0 – 25.0)
Ingredients:
12.0 lb Maris Otter
1.2 lb Crystal 45
0.6 lb Biscuit Malt
0.6 lb Crystal 120
0.6 lb Crystal 75
0.6 lb Melanoidin Malt
0.25 lb American Chocolate Malt
1.0 lb Cara-Pils® Malt
0.4 oz Simcoe® (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.4 oz Warrior® (16.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe® (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Servomyces – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.5 oz Amarillo® (8.5%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Amarillo® (8.5%) – added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Simcoe® (13.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
2000.0 mL Starter White Labs WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast
Lighted Logo in Bar
News Flash! They are opening tonight, Monday, August 1, 2011, at 5:00pm!
I had the opportunity to visit the Dust Bowl Brewing Taphouse before their public opening on Friday and for a private opening on Saturday evening, compliments of brewmaster Don Oliver. I took a bunch of photos to share what will soon be available to the greater Turlock area. This place rocks!
The Dust Bowl Taproom will be opening sometime in the week of August 1-5. Be there!
Dining Tables in the Taproom
Sidewalk Patio Seating
The Lighted Bar
Comfy Chairs to Enjoy an Ale
The Tap Menu
Hops and Grain!
Mr. & Mrs. Lazy Brewer
Brewmaster Don Oliver and Me
My Son of Wrath Double IPA (I named this ale:)
Taproom Food Menu (Click to enlarge)
Taproom Beer Menu (Click to enlarge)
View of the Taproom
Flight of Tasters
My French Dip Sandwich and Beer Battered Onion Rings
They Pour Honest Pints!
The Bar
Shameless self-promotion: You can view the awarding of my bronze medal at the 1 hour, 11 minute mark, of the award ceremony video, over at Justin.tv.
Today, I received score sheets for my two entries into the National Homebrew Competition final round. The bronze medal American barleywine scored a combined 38.3 points and advanced on to the mini-Best of Show round. It came in 3rd out of 252 entries in the strong ale category. Here are the score sheets (click on the images to view a larger size version you can actually read:)
Cover Sheet Mark's Bigfoot Barleywine
Score Sheet 1 Mark's Bigfoot Barleywine
Score Sheet 2 Mark's Bigfoot Barleywine
Score Sheet 3 Mark's Bigfoot Barleywine
The Beanilla Porter scored a combined 34 points and did not place in the finals. I was surprised at some of the comments saying that the fresh vanilla overpowered the underlying robust porter style. Upon further research in the BJCP style guidelines for spiced beers, they do repeatedly talk about a balance of the spice and the underlying style. Strangely, this received much higher scores in the first round (and a first place regionally), and the level if spice was complemented several times. Go figure…
Cover Sheet Beanilla Porter
Score Sheet 1 Beanilla Porter
Score Sheet 2 Beanilla Porter
Score Sheet 3 Beanilla Porter
All in all, this has been a good experience. I was always just a bit wary of the whole judging process, and some of that is still there. I can’t help but feel that judging beer ultimately comes down to very subjective calls by judges. Aside from strong ales that didn’t meet the primary BJCP style guidelines, how exactly was my bronze medal barleywine better than 249 other strong ales?
The barleywine keg blew last Monday, but I’ve bottled eight bottles for potentially entering the ale again next year and see how it does after another twelve months of aging. But, I also need to brew the barleywine again ASAP:)
Lazy Brewer Photo Galleries
A photo gallery from the Lazy Brewer’s San Diego adventure has been posted. Enjoy:)
