Caesar Salad paired with Son of Wrath IIPA

I had the privilege of attending Dust Bowl Brewing’s first beer dinner Monday evening, where they paired five courses of food with beers brewed by Don Oliver, Dust Bowl’s head brewer.  It was also a privilege to share the evening with our good friends, the Josts and the Verscheldens:) We decided to meet at the Josts and take a fifteen minute stroll to Dust Bowl’s Taproom, to avoid any possible issues with driving and multiple ales.  We arrived at 6:30 and were greeted by Don and co-owner Brett Honoré at the door.  I loved that Brett mentioned my recent homebrewer profile in the Turlock Journal, that ran alongside a great article about Don and Steve at Barley & Wine, our local homebrew supply store.

We ordered up a starter ale for the evening and I got my favorite, Don’s Red IPA.  Sadly, this ale will probably be going away soon as it relies heavily on Galaxy hops that are just not available in the quantities Don needs to brew this beer (or the Galaxy Pale Ale as well).  Get it while it lasts!

Wild Mushroom Soup paired with Buckwheat Ale

Don was the Master of Ceremony for the evening’s event, and before every course, Dust Bowl’s chef, Abel Larios, came out of the kitchen and described the food we’d be seeing shortly.  That was followed up by Don describing the beer, and the nuances of how the beer and food flavors would either complement (sweet to sweet) or contrast with (bitter to sweet or salty) each other.  He announced the first course, a Caesar Salad, paired with his Son of Wrath Double IPA.  The saltiness of the anchovies in the salad paired beautifully with the aggressiveness of the hops in IIPA.  This pairing was a hit!

The second course was an amazing wild mushroom cream soup – chock full of chunks of mushrooms, paired with Don’s Buckwheat Ale.  When I broke the skin (cream soups do this:) an aromatic burst of mushroom assaulted my nose, and a taste followed, by the Buckwheat Ale, proved to be a truly wonderful experience.  I’ve always like the Buckwheat Ale, as it is one of the signature ales that Dust Bowl puts out there.  I’m hoping to see this in bottles for retail sales some day!

Crab Cake paired with Red IPA

The third course was an amazing, piping hot crab cake, smothered in Hollandaise sauce, with perfectly cooked asparagus arranged on top.  This was paired with my favorite, the Red IPA!  I mentioned to the ale server that the Red IPA was my favorite of the Dust Bowl brews, and he returned with an additional Red IPA after serving all of the other guests.  A very nice touch indeed!  The crab cake was perfectly cooked, and the Red IPA was a great paring to go with the flavors the course offered.

The fourth course was the main dish, an amazing filet mignon, covered in an mushroom sauce made with Don’s Stock Ale.  This was paired with a Scotch Ale that complemented the steak well.  The filet was cooked rare, to perfection, and the sauce made for an culinary orgasmic experience when paired with the Scotch Ale.  I savored this course and lingered over each bite.  I take great pride in my ability to cook beef at home, and rarely order red meat when I dine out, but this was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

Filet Mignon paired with Scotch Ale

We had yet to see a previously unreleased Dust Bowl ale, hinted at by Don in the weeks leading up to the dinner, so I figured we’d see it in the dessert course.  Sure enough, Don announced that we’d soon be enjoying a new beer to Dust Bowl’s line-up, a Russian Imperial Stout, paired with a raspberry drizzled chocolate lava cake.  The RIS was nice and dry, and paired beautifully with the sweetness of the chocolate cake.  It was a perfect final course to an amazing dinner!

Overall, for a first attempt, these folks hit a home run!  Don’s beers are a given, but the food we were served was amazing.  Cold dishes were cold, as they should be, and all four cooked courses arrived at the table at the appropriate temperature.  That’s no small task considering they were serving sixty plus diners.  Most amazingly, Abel’s filets were spot on!  I could tell there was much thought put into the beer and food pairings, and the result was exceptional.  Portion sizes on both the ales and food were perfect.  I left the taproom pleasantly full, not feeling bloated by a overdoing it on either.  The service by the Dust Bowl staff was top notch.  All of the servers worked the entire room, always there when you needed them, without being pesky:)

Raspberry Drizzled Lava Cake paired with Russian Imperial Stout

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Dust Bowl.  It doesn’t hurt that I met Don through our love of homebrewing, and he has a following of us that realize he’s living the dream many of us homebrewers have.  These folks brew great ales, and have brought some much needed life to Turlock’s downtown.  They are exactly the kind of business we need to revitalize our beautiful historic downtown area.  I’m looking forward to more of Dust Bowl’s special events, if this is any indication of what is to come.

Here’s a photo gallery of the evening’s fun!  Warning – lots of toasts!

Well done, Dust Bowl, well done:)

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My NHC Support Group, Steve, Me and Stephen!

Day three, the last day of NHC, has been amazing.  I attended four sessions led by brewing legends and another about homebrew club management and organization.  Today I attended the following breakout sessions:

Homebrew Club Organization Panel moderated by Drew Beechum

High Gravity Brewing with Patrick Rue of The Bruery

Recipe Building and Competition Tips with Gordon Strong

Collaboration Beers with Greg Koch of Stone Brewing

Workshop on American Hops with Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker Brewing

The homebrew club panel was informative.  We’re looking for this kind of info as our club, The Central Valley Brewers Guild, grows.  Steve and I attended and we pulled a few good nuggets out of the session.  There was talk of having a pre-NHC workshop for homebrew club leaders at next years NHC in Seattle.  I’m definitely up for that:)

Greg Koch of Stone Brewing with his eyes covered!

Simply put, Greg Koch, of Stone Brewing, is an manic, crazy genius!  He body surfed our session and I’m proud to say that at one point I supported his left buttock as he passed over head.  It was a lively session with much info and frivolity.  My first NHC quote of the day came from the session.  During the Q&A session, someone asked if there was a chance of Double Bastard becoming a year-round Stone offering, rather than becoming available at the beginning of the holiday season in early November.  Greg quickly replied that it is offered at the “Beginning of Double Bastard season.” A great off the cuff line:)

The best session of the day was led by Matt Brynildson.  He is so much the “every man” brewer and relates incredibly well to the homebrewing community.  His session on American hops was full of useful information and statistics on American hops and their use in brewing craft and homebrewed beers.  He also offered up the best ale selection of any session I attended at NHC this year, and German style hefeweizen, Hemp Ale, Union Jack and Double Jack.  Thankfully I had saved my daily alcohol allotment for this session:)

Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker Brewing

The second quote of the day came from this session during the pouring of Matt’s ales.  One of the NHC pouring volunteers, with (good) attitude, said to us, “I’ve got a lot of beer back there. You guys have got to hurry the hell up!” in our sampling drinking:)

We’re off to the Grand Banquet and Awards Ceremony in a bit.  Hopefully my barleywine and vanilla porter will bring home the gold!  Cross your fingers for me!

Me, Matt, and Stephen - taken by Dr. Tommy's son!

Cheers to Matt! Thanks for the awesome ales!

The volunteers make this conference as good as it is! Thanks!

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Cookie Dough Brown Ale Tap Handle

I now have ten gallons of Cookie Dough Brown Ale sitting in a couple carboys.  I’d love to take credit for the inspiration for this wonderful ale, but that goes to my brew buddy, Stephen.  The idea came to him one day when he was sitting around (probably with an ale in his hand:) thinking about how to take his Brew Barn Brown Ale to the next level, and the idea of adding dark brown sugar and raisins to the batch came to him, to give it a deeper, cookie-like quality.  He brews the ale as an imperial, but I scale it back a bit in the OG to make it a bit more of a session ale.  This is the third time I’ve brewed this ale and it just seems to get better with every batch.  The one I have on tap right now is easily in the top five best ales I’ve ever brewed.

This beer was also my inaugural run using my new Therminator plate chiller, and I was on edge throughout most of the brew session, knowing that a big change was coming to my process at the end of the day.  On top of the chilling process change, I haven’t brewed for at least three months, so overall, the brew day was just a bit out of the ordinary.  I chased my mash temps, and I forgot to add the Whirlfloc tablets at the end of the boil. In the end, I made beer:)

Here’s the recipe for Cookie Dough Brown Ale:

Cookie Dough Brown Ale
10-C American Brown Ale
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 04/25/11

Size: 10.08 gal
Efficiency: 69.06%
Attenuation: 79.0%
Calories: 212.53 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.064 (1.045 – 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 – 1.016)
Color: 24.6 (18.0 – 35.0)
Alcohol: 6.66% (4.3% – 6.2%)
Bitterness: 37.9 (20.0 – 40.0)

Ingredients:
12.0 lb Golden Promise Malt
8.0 lb Pale Ale Malt
2.0 lb Brown
1.0 lb Cara-Pils® Malt
1.0 lb Chocolate Malt
1.0 lb Crystal 120
1.5 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.5 oz Centennial (10.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
2.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient  – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 lb Dark Brown Sugar – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
12.0 oz Raisins – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Centennial (10.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2000 mL White Labs WLP001 California Ale
2.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
2.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added dry to secondary fermenter

Therminator Set Up

Overall, the chilling process with the Therminator went well.  Man, that plate chiller can drop the wort temperature fast!  I was a bit out of sorts with my anal retentive need to super clean the plate chiller though.  I had lots of problems with the March pump cavitating, while trying to repeatedly forward and reverse flush the Therminator.  And the hop bit just seemed to never stop coming out of the chiller.  Steve uses a sump pump for cleaning the chiller, and I got one for these from Mrs. Lazy Brewer for Christmas, but it was the one part of the system I didn’t take the time to flesh out all of the fittings for, so it wasn’t ready.  It will be the next time I brew:)

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Pub Crawl Ticket

Our homebrew club, the Central Valley Brewers Guild, is looking into a Sacramento pub crawl, where the participants are delivered, and returned home, by Amtrak.  We are looking for alcohol responsible methods of transportation to ensure that our crawlers are returned home safely, as well as not endangering the public at large.

The CVBG Founders have been discussing this for some time now and we finally decided to make a trial run to see if an Amtrak pub crawl is feasible.  We checked train schedules and made reservations (a bit funky as you can’t print tickets made by web reservations – come on Amtrak, it’s a new century!) by phone.  The train departed at 10:34 pm on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Sacramento at 12:30 pm.  The return train departed at 4:55 pm, so we knew going in that time would be tight.  Four and a half hours, and four potential pubs in downtown and midtown Sacramento sounded just short of undoable.  Additionally, we were looking at moving 18-20 blocks either by foot or exploring public transportation options.  Our idea was to head out to the farthest pub on the list, Rubicon Brewing Company, and then work our way back towards the Amtrak station.  Our fear is that keeping 30+ pub crawlers somewhat organized, and moving between pubs with such a tight schedule, will be similar to herding cats.  The possible pubs on the list included Rubicon Brewing Company, Pyramid Alehouse, Brew it Up and River City Brewing.

Rubicon's Hop Sauce

We arrived at the Denair Amtrak station about fifteen minutes before the train was supposed to arrive.  Once we boarded, we paid the conductor for our reserved outgoing tickets.  We were told to just pick up the return tickets when we hit the Sacramento station.  About twelve minutes later we picked up Steve at the Modesto Amtrak station.  Modesto has a relatively new, and very nice Amtrak station with a ticket counter, so we will probably buy advance tickets there for the real rail pub crawl.  All went well until we were about eight miles out of Sacramento.  They were working on the tracks, and we sat for almost twenty minutes while workers moved equipment and allowed a freight train to pass.  That kind of delay on crawl day would be a huge blow to the agenda.

Once we arrived in Sacramento, we lined up to buy return tickets and burned probably another fifteen minutes.  We discovered that Regional Transit buses would get us within a couple blocks of Rubicon Brewing Company.  Better yet, the Amtrak conductors could provide us with free transfer passes for the buses.  You just ask for them before you leave the train.  Too bad we didn’t know that.  Stephen was able to get four passes and we had to pay for the others.  We arrived at Rubicon about 1:30 ready to imbibe.

Mmmmmm! Bacon Cheeseburger!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Rubicon had their wonderful imperial IPA, Hop Sauce.  It is served in a 10 ounce goblet and they will only serve you two. I started with a Hop Sauce, followed by a couple of Rubicon’s exceptional IPAs. Rubicon’s IPA is definitely in my top five IPAs for its wonderful flavor and drinkability.  Stephen went all Belgian on us and even introduced Brenda to a sour beer she really enjoyed.  We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and picked our waitress’ brain on bringing 30+ crawlers in on a Saturday afternoon.  We decided that the curb-side outdoor seating would probably best fit our group.

After lunch and ales, we headed back over a block or so to a RT bus pick-up area and rode a bus back to the head of the Westfield Mall and one of my favorite brew pubs, River City Brewing.  RCB has awesome food, decent ale (but no IPA…) and great atmosphere.  I particularly enjoy grabbing and ale or two on a warm day and sitting in their outdoor seating and watching the mall traffic wander by.  Time was getting short, so we ordered up a round of ales and headed outside.  Strangely, while we waited at the bar for our beers, one of the folks sitting there asked if we were on a pub crawl.  Go figure!  After a quick ale, it was time to head back to the Amtrak station to hop on board the 4:55 pm train home.  The ride home was uneventful and we had one last ale on the train to cap off the day.

Feeling Empty and Sad...

Looking back, my impressions of the day are as follows…

I was surprised how many people actually ride Amtrak in California’s central valley.  Pleasantly surprised:)

Four and a half hours is a pretty short timeline for a pub crawl.  Even without our 20 minute Amtrak delay, we’ll probably need to cut the pubs down to three to fit the alotted time.  Rubicon is a must (they have the best ale of the four pubs, in my opinion:), as well as River City, since it is only two blocks from the Amtrak station and it will be pretty easy to move a lubricated crowd onward on a moments notice.  That leaves either Pyramid or Brew it Up to axe.  Since we didn’t have time to visit either one, we may need to go back and do further research.  I’m sure both of the establishments have their upside so we really need to enjoy a pint or two in each to get a feel for the atmosphere – and their ability to handle a group our size.

Feeling Full and Happy!

Additionally, I was really impressed with the friendliness, and helpfulness, of both the Amtrak conductors and the Sacramento RT bus drivers.  They could tell we were “out of towners” and offered friendly advice freely – all with a smile.  I was pleasantly surprised:)

Finally, we are seriously considering two paths for the day of the pub crawl.  One is the 4.5 hour run of three brew pubs. The other, for folks more dedicated to the ales, is a “Crawl Over” where we stay at the Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn – literally crawling distance from River City Brewing company:)

We’ll be presenting this information, as well as doing more research, for a late spring pub crawl to our homebrew guild. We’ll also have some work ahead of us setting up the logistics of the day with the various pubs we visit.  We’re hoping to have a couple of the brewers on hand for tours and Q&A.  Not exactly sure how that will play out on a Saturday, but we want to give it a shot for the good of our guild.

River City Brewing Guys

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My new Therminator!

Woohoo!  Santa brought the Lazy Brewer a new Therminator!

I’ve been an immersion chiller kinda brewer since I first starting brewing.  I’ve always liked the fact that by using an immersion chiller, most of the cold break stays in my brew kettle.  I also have really enjoyed the 15 seconds it takes to spray off my copper coil chiller.  What I haven’t liked is waiting for 45-75 minutes (depending on the current groundwater temperature) for my wort to cool.  It just leaves the wort in the potentially dangerous temperature range, susceptible to  contamination, for too long.

I have been very hesitant to use either a counter flow or plate chiller because of cleaning and sanitation concerns.  I’ve seen sheets of beerstone that have flowed out of Stephen’s counterflow chiller and it chilled me to the bone. He’s never had a batch get contaminated, so I do believe his anal retentive cleaning and sanitation methods work – it just creeped me out when I saw the beerstone exiting the chiller.  Additionally, I’ve known several of my brew club buddies that regularly use plate chillers – and read the forum posts about cleaning and sanitizing them.  Steve started with a Shirron plate chiller, and promptly moved up to the Therminator.  He has a cleaning and sanitizing routine for the Therminator where he instantly pumps PBW through both his March pump and Therminator for several minutes, then pumps clean water through both, followed by StarSan to sanitize the equipment.  Like Stephen’s cleaning regime, I’m convinced Steve has covered all the bases to make sure he doesn’t infect a batch of ale.

Steve managing the Therminator connections

In the long run, I don’t see the Therminator actually saving me any time on brew day because of the need to meticulously clean the plate chiller after use, but it will allow me to avoid putting my wort at risk during the actual chilling phase.  This is obviously a good thing.

I still need to pick up some cheap quick disconnects for my water hose connections, additional tubing for wort, as well as a sump pump for moving the various liquids necessary for cleaning and sanitizing.

I’m a creature of habit.  After 95 batches, I have my brew day processes down pat.  Integrating the Therminator into my brewing process will throw me out of sorts for a while.  Steve has suggested I do a dry run with water, learning to manage the various hose swaps necessary for both chilling and cleaning/sanitizing. This sounds like a good idea…

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The 2009 National Homebrewers Conference was without a doubt one of the best organized conferences, on any topic, I’ve ever attended – and working in the education field, I’ve attended my share of conferences.  I was really pleased with the variety of the breakout sessions, as well as the fact that everything started and ended on time.  Timeliness sounds like a given, but when it comes to conferences it is an often overlooked aspect.    The Oakland Marriott was a gracious host for NHC and they seemed to roll well with 1100 people wandering around with ale, armfulls of brewing stuff, crazy costumes and generally eccentric people.  Finally, considering that alcohol was a key component of the conference, I was very pleased to not see a single incident of stupidness or assholiness by conference attendees.  Amazing:)

Jay and Shannon from Utah

I had the opportunity to meet some really nice folks, like Jay and Shannon from Utah.  Rights like homebrewing are something that I take for granted, living in California, but I found out that Jay and Shannon were just recently legally allowed to homebrew in Utah.  They can now let the aromas of wort and boiling hops flow liberally from their brew house without fear of a visit from the local police department.  It amazes me there there are still antiquated laws on the books like prohibiting homebrewing in several states.  It’s really sad.  Jay and Shannon sat next to me at the Grand Banquet last night and I really enjoyed their company (and they put up with my jabs at Utah very graciously for most of the evening:)

Brett Glenna - my Twitter buddy!

I also got to meet up with someone I’ve been Tweeting with for a while, @BrettGlenna, and we got to visit a couple of times.  We talked about setting up a future beer exchange.  Brett has access to many east coast ales I’ll never be able to buy in California, and I found out he’s a bit of a hophead.  Boy, is he in for a treat with some of the aggressive west coast IPAs I have access to!

Stephen and I are already kicking around the idea of attending the 2010 NHC in Minneapolis.  I should be ready for a beer by then:)

Even though I previously facetiously blogged about coming home today to lovingly open arms on Fathers Day, I’m happy to report that it was indeed the case.  I had a shower of Fathers Day gifts from Brenda and DawBoy, and a nice “Happy Fathers Day” phone call from Meagan ( I drove past her apartment building, within 100 yards, leaving Oakland this morning)  this afternoon.  Brenda made a wonderful rigatoni dinner and we shared a lovely bottle of Merlot (yea, I said I was going to give my liver a break today, but Italian food screams for a glass or two of nice red wine!)

I also picked up my new iPhone 3GS, and I’m pleased to report that the migration went smoothly.  I simply backed up my previous iPhone and then restored the backup image on the new iPhone 3GS via iTunes and everything was there – even all my apps were in their same locations on the various screens.  Bravo, Apple for making things as simple as they should be!

The upgraded camera, with spot auto-focusing and metering, and 30 fps video are incredible.  The voice dialing (that should have been included in the iPhone Day 1) works perfectly and I was able to dial 3 out of 3 contacts perfectly each time, with no training.  Amazing!

Anyway, it’s good to be home:)

Here are the last couple of pictures from NHC:

Stephen, with his second wind - after a rough bout with Club Night

Sean Paxton - the Homebrew Chef

View of Oakland from my hotel room on departure day

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Commercial Hop Production and Sales and Its Effect on Homebrewers with Ralph Olson (of Hop Union)

The Equipment Geek with Kent Fletcher

Maintaining Ideal Yeast Health: Nutrients Yeast Need with Dr. Tobias Fischborn (of Lallemand, Inc.)

Yeast: Build Your Own Library with Maribeth Raines

Yeast: Ask the Experts Panel moderated by Justin Crossley (of the Brewing Network), with Tobias Fischborn (of Lallemand, Inc.), Dave Logsdon (of Wyeast), Maribeth Raines, and Chris White (of White Labs)

My family left for home late this morning and I’m already missing them…

As promised here are some random pictures from the last 24 hours:

Charlie Papazian preparing to introduce Sierra Nevada Brewing's founder, Ken Grossman

Ken Grossman leaving the stage after the keynote

The Going Pro Panel Team

My favorite people at Pacific Coast Brewing for Friday night's dinner

Mmmm! Pliny the Elder and Green Flash Tripple

BOAT - Brewery On A Trailer

Some Guy

The Brewing Network interviewing Charlie Papazian

NHC Club Night crowds

More NHC Club Night crowds

Eddy didn't come to NHC, but I'm missing his cute underbite!

The BN's Bevo and Some Guy

Some Guy and Mike McDole

Me, Peter and Some Guy

Me, John Palmer and Some Guy

Me, Jesse from MoreBeer and Some Guy

This is what Some Guy looks like after staying for one too many ales at Club Night

Yeast - Ask the Experts Panel

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Sam Calagione

We saw a presentation at 9 a.m. this morning with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head that was great.  Sam is a fantastic presenter and a really funny guy.  He described how they originally developed their continuous hopping process for the 60, 90 and 120 Minute IPA. Sam said he originally found a vibrating hockey game board (you remember these from the 70′s, right:) at a Salvation Army store and had an idea to use it to vibrate a bucket of the hop mix for the IPA.  Unfortunately, the steam from the boil toasted the game board and then the brewer had to continuously throw in handfuls of the hop mix.  Eventually, they developed another automated system, but it was very cool to hear how the innovation process for those ales happened.

Sam also shared some Dogfish Head ales – Midas Touch, 90 Minute IPA and one of my top five favorite ales, Palo Santo Marron.  Noting like ales for breakfast:)

Here are the sessions I’ve attended so far:

Wood Fermentation and Aging with Matt Brynildson for Firestone Walker

Funkification: a 100% Brettanomyces Spontaneously Fermented Mind Dump with Vinnie Cilurizo

Extreme Fermentables with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head

Advanced Homebrewing & Science with Ray Daniels and Randy Mosher

Thinking about Recipes with Ray Daniels and Randy Mosher

Going Pro Panel moderated by Justin Crossley (of the Brewing Network), Tomme Arthur (of Port Brewing and Lost Abbey), Vinnie Cirluzio (of Russian River Brewing), Sean O’Sullivan (of 21st Amendment Brewing), John Pinkerton (of Moon River Brewing)and Keith Lemcke (Vice President of Siebel Institute)

Here are some additional random photos from the last two days.  More to follow!

Sam Calagione, Me, Ken Grossman and some guy who stuck his head into the picture:)

Charlie Papazian and me at the Pro-Brewers Night

At Pacific Coast Brewing

The Back Bar at the Trappist in Oakland

Sam Calagione

Allagash Hugh Malone Belgian IPA at The Trappist

Jamil Zainasheff leading the NHC opening toast

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Stephen and I are off to the National Homebrewers Conference, in Oakland, tomorrow.  The conference is being held at the Oakland Marriott City Center, and there is a BART station right across the street, so the family is joining me to take in the sights of the city.  Stephen and I are staying one night longer than the family so that we can take in the Grand Banquet and National Homebrew Competition Awards Ceremony.  We’ll be heading home on Sunday (Father’s Day) where we’ll be showered with the love of our children and partner parenting units.  I will need to stop on the way home, at my local AT&T retail store, to pick up my new 32 GB iPhone 3GS (happy Father’s Day from me to me:)

The conference schedule looks interesting and comprehensive.  I can’t wait to hit the conference floor.  I just hope my liver holds out for three serious days of all things beer and homebrewing!

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Blue Moons Wit Tap Handle

My keg of Blue Moons Belgian Wit is almost gone, so it is time to brew another batch.  I like to have this ale on tap all the time for converting non craft beer drinkers.  It’s always well received by everyone and is a very refreshing summer brew. Stephen and I will be brewing this ale Friday afternoon (I have some comp time coming:) and he’ll be taking 5 gallons of the wit and then trading 5 gallons of his recently brewed Cream Ale to me.  We both win!  With only 5 gallons on tap, I may need to brew this again over the summer and I also need to throw together a batch of my German Hefeweizen.

Last year, I had to use Sterling hops to bitter, because I couldn’t get Saaz on short notice.  I have Saaz for this batch, so I’m back to the original recipe.  I’m also backing off on the coriander just a wee bit for a more subdued spiciness.

Here’s the updated recipe:

Blue Moons Wit 2009
16-A Witbier
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 05/01/09

Size: 10.08 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 70.0%
Calories: 290.52 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.065 (1.044 – 1.052)
Terminal Gravity: 1.019 (1.008 – 1.012)
Color: 5.79 (2.0 – 4.0)
Alcohol: 5.96% (4.5% – 5.5%)
Bitterness: 20.9 (10.0 – 20.0)

Ingredients:
12.0 lb Pilsner Malt
12.0 lb White Wheat Malt
2.0 lb Oats Flaked
1.0 lb Rice Hulls
1.5 oz Czech Saaz (5.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.5 oz Hallertau (4.5%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
2.0 oz Bitter Curacao/Bitter Orange (Peel) – added during boil, boiled 15 min
3.0 tsp Fresh Orange Zest – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.75 tsp Corriander crushed – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient  – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2000.0 mL Starter White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale

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Mark's Bigfoot Barleywine Tap Handle

I’m a couple weeks overdue brewing this year’s barley wine.  Last year, I brewed a barley wine on Valentines Day (nothing says, “I love you”,  like barley wine:) and it turned out really nice.  It came in at 13.8% ABV, a bit big for a barley wine, and tasted wonderful after aging.  The nice sherry tastes came out after about nine months of resting.  This year, I’m staying true to the same recipe, minus some Cascade hops for flavoring (can you imaging any decent brewer not having some Cascades on hand – I’m so embarrassed! – I do have some on order from Hops Direct , and I’m brewing pretty much the same ale.

My longest buddy ever, Eric, will be coming in on Amtrak Saturday morning (and joining us for a Stockton Thunder Hockey game that evening:) and brewing with me.  Hopefully both Stephen and Brad will stop by for moral support (and an ale or two:).  Here’s the recipe – only slightly altered from last year:

Mark’s Bigfoot
19-C American Barleywine
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 2/14/08

Size: 5.28 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 70.0%
Calories: 535.29 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.156 (1.080 – 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.047 (1.016 – 1.030)
Color: 18.64 (10.0 – 19.0)
Alcohol: 14.8% (8.0% – 12.0%)
Bitterness: 142.5 (50.0 – 120.0)

Ingredients:
1.0 tbsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer – added during mash
10.0 lb Pale Ale Malt(2-row)
10.0 lb Maris Otter
0.5 lb Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.5 lb Crystal 60
0.5 lb Pale Chocolate Malt
6.0 lb Ultralight Extract (MoreBeer)
2.0 lb Corn Sugar
1.25 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Centennial (10.5%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.75 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient  – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
2.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) – added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
2.0 oz Centennial (10.5%) – added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
2.0 oz Summit (17.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
2.0 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
2000 Starter with 2 vials White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale
and 1 vial White Labs WLP002 English Ale

I’ll be mashing in about 9:30 a.m.  Additionally, I’ll be lucky to hit the numbers outlined above.  My best guess is that the barley wine will come in at about 13% ABV.

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Black Widow Stout Tap Handle

Tomorrow I’ll be brewing a dry stout.  Typically, this is one ale Stephen and I share – we each take five gallons.  We’ll be doing this again, me giving Stephen five gallons of stout, and me being the lucky recipient of five gallons of his wonderful Brew Barn Brown Ale.  We both win!

This will be the sixth time I’ve made this stout, and in the past it has been called Stout Mark.  The last time I brewed it I renamed it Black Widow Stout and I think the name is more appropriate because if you drink too many of them it will bite you!

The only major change I’m making to the tried and true recipe is the addition of one pound of Belgian de-bittered black malt.  Supposedly, it adds very little in the way of flavor (no roastiness, chocolate or coffee flavors), but merely darkens the ale.  This is one of the things Stephen and I have been trying to do to this ale since we first brewed it.  A one pound addition takes the SRM from 28.5 to 33.5.  We’ll see how it goes.  Anyone out there used this stuff before?

Here’s the recipe:

Black Widow Stout
13-A Dry Stout
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 2/7/09

Size: 10.32 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 283.63 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.064 (1.036 – 1.050)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (1.007 – 1.011)
Color: 33.69 (25.0 – 40.0)
Alcohol: 6.29% (4.0% – 5.0%)
Bitterness: 36.6 (30.0 – 45.0)

Ingredients:
11.0 lb Pale Malt(2-row)
11.0 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Chocolate Malt
1.5 lb Roasted Barley
1.0 lb De-Bittered Black Malt (Mout Roost 1400)
1.0 lb Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
1 oz Northern Brewer (9.0%) – added during boil, boiled 90.0 min
.5 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (9.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
2 ea Whirlfloc – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (9.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2000 ml Starter with 2/vials White Labs WLP004 Irish Stout

I’ll be lighting the burners shortly after 9 am.

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Recirculating the RIS

The Czar’s Pride Russian Imperial Stout brew day was uneventful and went well.  We got a bit of a late start because Stephen dreamed solutions to problem that didn’t exist.  He was trying to figure out how to sparge our no-sparge, first runnings RIS and then forgot to bring his mash tun (and carboy:) and had to head home to pick it up.  What a maroon!

Mashing out the RIS

We did have a bit of trouble collecting enough of the first runnings, but in the end, we each walked away with 5 gallons of wort – really big wort.  We each mashed in our own mash tuns, and ended with an original gravity of 1.088.  The Northern Brewer and Perle hops gave off a truly wonder aroma during the different phases of the boil, so I have no doubt that this wll be a wonderful ale in 9-12 months.   My carboy took off, with help from the big yeast starter, within four hours.

Stephen's SEG

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Czar's Pride RIS Tap Handle

It’s time to brew a winter ale again.  I’ve been wanting to brew a Russian Imperial Stout for some time now and tomorrow is the day.  Stephen and I brewed one of these two years ago on New Years day, and I lost the keg in the back of the kegerator for about 9 months.  It was a fabulous ale when I finally put it on tap.  Originally, I had planned on brewing alone, but Stephen will be joining me for the brew tomorrow.  Here’s the recipe for 5 gallons (we’ll be doubling it:)…

Czar’s Pride Russian Imperial Stout
13-F Russian Imperial Stout
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 12/22/08

Size: 5.52 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 492.73 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.109 (1.075 – 1.095)
Terminal Gravity: 1.027 (1.018 – 1.030)
Color: 30.16 (30.0 – 40.0)
Alcohol: 10.95% (8.0% – 12.0%)
Bitterness: 80.0 (50.0 – 90.0)

Ingredients:
21.0 lb American 2-row
1.25 lb Golden Promise Pale
.75 lb Crystal 120
0.5 lb Wheat Malt
0.5 lb Cara-Pils
.5 lb American Munich
0.5 lb Dark Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb Roasted Barley
1.25 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60 min
.75 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30 min
.75 oz Perle (8.2%) – added during boil, boiled 30 min
1.5 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 10 min
1 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale
2.0 tbsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer – added during mash
1 tsp Wyeast Nutrient  – added during boil, boiled 20 min
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 20 min

You gotta love 492 calories per pint:)

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Mark with fresh Cascade hops

Stephen and I brewed our annual Fresh Hop Holiday Ale Wednesday afternoon.  The brew was uneventful, other than having several ales early on a Wednesday afternoon:)  We picked hops – lots of hops, and they all went into the brew.  We picked at least a pound and a three quarters of fresh Cascade hops and used them all at 15 minutes, flame-out and in a hop back.  Fresh hop ales have a very different aroma that holds through to the pint glass.  This lovely IPA ought to be peaking right around the holiday season.  When we brewed this same ale last year, my five gallon keg lasted almost a week before going dry:)  I’ve got to keep NanTan away from it!

Here’s the recipe:

Fresh Hop Harvest IPA
14-B American IPA
Author: Mark and Stephen
Date: 10/15/08

Size: 10.28 gal
Efficiency: 66.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 239.69 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.072 (1.056 – 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.018 (1.010 – 1.018)
Color: 12.48 (6.0 – 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.08% (5.5% – 7.5%)
Bitterness: 75.1 (40.0 – 60.0)

Ingredients:
11.0 lb American 2-row
11.0 lb Maris Otter
6.5 lb Munich Malt
0.5 lb Caramel Malt 40L
0.5 lb Caramel Malt 60L
1.0 lb Carapils
1.5 oz Chinook (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.5 oz Centennial (10.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 oz Centennial (10.0%) – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
16.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 1.0 min
4.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – hop back
2.0 oz Centennial (10.0%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
2.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient  – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min

Fresh, beautiful Cascade hops!

Stephen picking Cascade hops

Bag 'o hops!

Stephen's way-cool sparge manifold (and creepy rubber gloves:)

Hop back full of fresh Cascade hops

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Steve graciously offered to bring lunch. This guy now has a permanent place in my heart:) He brought beer soaked brats and the most amazing caramelized red peppers and onions. He also brought a fantastic red potato salad that kicked ass! Damn! This was some of the finest brew day grub I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Stephen was able to coordinate his family activities so that he arrived just in time for lunch – and an ale or two. Prior to lunch I was able to get some tonic into Steve to ease his discomfort. Last weekend I cleaned out the keggerator and found a keg of Double Tun Imperial Stout that I had completely forgotten about, that was originally brewed on 01/02/07. It was hiding in the very back of the keggerator and was a wonderful find. The Imperial Stout has hints of sherry and the flavors have melded together in the ways that only time can bring about (that is my number one rule of brewing – Time is your friend:) After a short cup of Double Tun Imperial Stout, Steve was miraculously cured and ready to face the day!

The lunch served to set an ale foundation and we enjoyed numerous ales as the day progressed. Steve brought a bomber of his version of the Blue Flame Imperial IPA (spot on to the recipe I’ve been brewing:) and a great inky black Stout that was enjoyed by all. A couple friends stopped by after a round of golf (in 100+ temps!) just as we were dropping the wort into carboys. They had several beers and enjoyed the brews on tap. The amber ale came in at about 14.5 brix – for an original gravity of about 1.058. One of my brewing faults is that I never seem to be ale to put out a session ale, so this is probably the closest I’ll come to this in the foreseeable future.

There were two unseen bonuses to the day! Steve brought his 5.5 month old Boston Terrier, Cooper, with him today as his wife Maggie was in the air, flying back from DC, so he was on dog sitting duty. I have never, ever, seen a more well behaved and adjusted pup as Cooper! He explored the back yard (and had an interesting face to face encounter with our territorial cat) and hung out in his kennel. Hopefully his presence doesn’t cause puppy envy in my family:) The final treat was the stout cupcakes I’d heard so much about on the Modesto Mashers forums. Steve and Maggie brought them to the AHA Big Brew Day at Barley & Wine on May 3. I brewed ten gallons of Old Man Bitter that day, here in Turlock, so I missed out on the stout cupcakes that everyone raved about! I was sooooo jazzed to give them try:) Imagine my joy when I heard Steve mention them, at my place!

You can drool by looking at their loveliness in this picture. Oh, wait – there’s nothing on the plate! Steve got all the way to Turlock and discovered that he had forgotten to bring them (I think this was caused by his encounter last night with the Blue Flame Imperial IPA:) Actually, I think the oversight was carefully planned so that he gets another invite to brew! Next time we’ll meet him at his car to check the inventory.

Steve hung out, and Brenda and I got to know him much better. What a guy (other than the cupcake thing:)! Aside from the heat, it was a great brew day, surrounded by like-minded friends, and in the end, we made beer:)

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We’re having Easter brunch with Stephen at the BrewBarn. It’s our traditional Easter event, and the familiar faces are here:)  Stephen made fabulous grilled prime rib sandwiches.

We shared some North Coast Brother Thelonious, Green Flash Imperial IPA,  and some Bear Republic Racer 5.  All in all, a great low-key afternoon!  Thanks, Stephen:)

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The mash-in went perfectly! We hit 149 degrees on the mark.

Once we looked at just how much a bag of cane sugar is, we both decided to back off from 6 pounds of sugar to 5 pounds.

Per Jamil, we’re doing an extended mash – 80 minutes.

The OG seemed a little low after the sparge (pre-boil) at 1.036, but we still have a ninety minute boil to go, not to mention five pounds of cane sugar:)

Sampling the style we’re brewing…

It’s in glass! OG is 1.084…

I was really worried about the 1388 yeast.  I made the starter Wednesday evening and never saw any activity.  When I got up Thursday, nothing was going on.  I cooled the starter so the yeast would drop out and by late Thursday evening, there was a really nice yeast cake on the bottom of the flask.  I fed the starter about 400 ml of wort on Friday morning and it took off like a banshee after just a minute or so on the stir plate.  Four hours later, there was no activity!  I chilled it once again and then decanted off about 500 ml of nasty starter beer this morning, fed it another 300-400 ml of wort, and again it burst to life, fermenting out in about 2-3 hours!  Jeez – this 1388 yeast just chews through the wort.  I’m expecting a quick, violent fermentation in my carboy:)

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