3rd Annual Bootlegger's Bliss

Yeah, I know, it's been a while. Excuses coming soon. For now, peep this:

Get your brew on. The Third Annual Bootlegger's Bliss will be launched upon an unsuspecting and largely uncaring world on SATYRDAY, NOVEMBER 1st. Information on registration and other event details will be posted soon.

In the meantime, and for the benefit of those unfamiliar with this mid-Atlantic rolla-puh-brewza, I've resurrected below the official Maniblissto from a past post. For a broader understanding of the Bliss, go here.

Iron Chef...Brewing?

It's been over a month since I started working at Troeg's and I'm happy to say that my feelings about the job have not changed. I'm still loving it. The people that work there are a huge part of why I'm enjoying it so much. Unlike my last job, there's no us/them division between those in charge and those who aren't. It's not uncommon to see the owners working the bottling line or driving a forklift. Likewise, you'll occasionally see John, the head brewer, asking a homebrewer about experiences with a particular technique or for thoughts on a new recipe.

To keep the good vibes going, John has come up with a bit of friendly competition: a brewing contest. The only limitations are that it: 1) must be brewed onsite with the brewery's 5 gallon pilot system, 2) it must be ready to drink by the first week of August, and 3) it must use the common "Iron Chef" ingredient. This round's ingredient is sugar. The twist is that each team was given a different form of sugar: molasses, honey, brown sugar, or maple syrup. The winners get their names on a trophy to be displayed in the brewery's tasting room. John also mentioned the possibility of the best beer being brewed on the big system and released as part of their Scratch Beer series.

All the employees were divided into 4 teams. My team drew maple syrup. We've got some recipe ideas already, but are unsure of the best way to get the maple to come across in the finished product. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Living the dream....sort of

I left the glamorous life of a DoD contractor 2 years ago to become a full-time, stay-at-home dad which has been, without a doubt, the most rewarding experience of my life. If you get a chance to do this, don't hesitate, do it. In the last 2 years I've seen first-hand the miraculous transformation we all go through from slobbering poop machine to walking, talking, miniature person. The only down-side to the whole adventure was that the only conversation I've had for a majority of my waking hours has been with a slobbering poop machine, now miniature person. So, to those of you I've cornered and rambled at, sometimes on and on and on, I'm sorry, I was starving for talk about something other than what color everything is.

To remedy my problem I decided I had to get more interaction with other grown-ups. I had to return to the workforce. The thought of returning to the life of Defense work I had previously known was enough to make me ill. The money was good, but there is something to be said for wanting to go to work in the morning. I was standing in the tasting room at the Tröegs Brewing Company when it hit me: I needed to work in a brewery. What more noble employment than that in a place where they make beer? None, I say. After a brief conversation with head brewer, John Trogner, during which he encouraged me to apply, I thought "why not?" I love beer. Even more, I love making beer. The combining of water, grains, flowers, and fungus to end up with something so delicious is magical. I had to be part of it.

After several weeks and a couple of interviews, I'm now a full-time employee of the Tröegs Brewing Company in Harrisburg, PA. I'd love to say that I'm brewing, but I'm working in the packaging side of the house. The work can be physically demanding, but I'm loving it. The employees all seem to share a love of good beer and good music. A couple of them even mountain bike. I've only been there a week, but so far, so good.

Cheers

Leap of Faith

In the weeks leading up to February 29th, I saw various posts on the brewing boards about folks planning to brew something special on the extra day of this intercalary year. Most folks were simpling planning to commemorate the day by brewing. I hadn't planned to do anything, but then had an idea: could I brew something big and let it age until the next leap year in 2012?

Aging for four years. That's a long time to not drink my beer. To date my longest aging was a single bottle of a Belgian-style dark strong ale that I lost track of in my basement. When I finally found it, it was 16-months old...and delicious. :)

After a couple beers I figured "what the hell" and started looking at the logistics of brewing an English-style Barley Wine.

"229"
20 lbs Maris Otter Pale Malt
9 oz Crystal Malt (120L)
9 oz Caramunich malt
Target hops - 57 IBUs (60 mins)
0.5 oz E. Kent Goldings (20 mins)
0.5 oz E. Kent Goldings (flameout)
London Ale yeast (WLP013)

Est. OG: 1.100

Brewing this presented some unique problems. The grain bill was easily twice the size of anything I had brewed before. There was no way I could brew this recipe without substituting in some extract in place of grain, which I really didn't want to do. I finally resolved to cut the batch size in half and be done with it.

When I went to pick up the ingredients, one of the shop guys suggested brewing half one day, pitch the yeast and let fermentation start, then brew the other half the next day and add it to fermenter. Brilliant.

By the time I finished up day two, the first day's work was just shy of high kraeusen. Adding more wort to it was the equivalent of adding a 3 gallon starter to a 3 gallon batch. Within 4 hours the foam was pushing in to the blow-off hose that I thankfully remembered to affix.

Check back in four years to see how this one turned out.



Maybe I'll check on it around Christmas...you know, to make sure everything is working out alright. ;)

Brewing With Bugs

My first experience with a sour Flanders Red Ale was at The National Geographic Museum in DC. Michael Jackson was our host and he had arranged for Rodenbach Foederbier to be on the menu for the evening. At the time, I didn't realize how lucky we were. Foederbier is only available at De Zalm, the brewery's cafe in Roeselare, West Flanders, dispensed by hand-pump. What I did realize was that these are incredible beers. Since that night I've been fascinated with the idea of trying to replicate one at home.

It was last spring that I came across several presentations by Raj Apte. In them he discusses, among other things, the oxygen permeability of various materials and comparisons of surface area exposure in various barrel sizes. One of his conclusions is that the small (5, 10, 15 gal) wood barrels used by homebrewers expose way too much surface area to the wood, relative to barrel volume. He set out to replicate, as closely as possible, the exposure experienced while aging in a 10,000 to 60,000 liter tun. His method? A toasted oak stopper.


So, there it is in all it's lumpy, fuzzy, glory. The fuzz is the pellicle from the bacteria and yes, it's supposed to do that. Yummy. The grain bill is primarily Pilsner malt built up with Vienna, Munich, and various Belgian malts. Traditionally, stale hops are used to impart the natural preservative nature, but none of the bittering qualities of the flower. I used a small quantity of low aa% hops that should get lost in the other flavors of the beer. I started fermentation with a very neutral yeast, then added Wyeast Roeselare Ale blend (#3763) which, as I understand it, is a combination of yeasts, including brettanomyces, and a blend of lambic bacteria cultures. It's been sitting there since August and will continue to sit until February or until it's oaky enough. Then the stopper comes out and I affix a regular airlock, and it sits until next August, or until it's sour enough, before bottling.

Cheers!

Kolsch

My sister's wedding is right around the corner and she came to me with a dilemma. She and I both brew and our tastes, while not favoring any style in particular, stay as far away from your run-of-the-mill, American, mass-produced beers as possible. We had planned to brew all the beer for the reception and make soda for the kids. Her problem was that her fiancée requested a "Coors Light-type" beer for his friends and family.

What beer tastes good, but is delicate enough to not offend the tastes of the light beer crowd?

Kolsch.

From the BJCP: "A clean, crisp, delicately balanced beer usually with very subtle fruit flavors and aromas. Subdued maltiness throughout leads to a pleasantly refreshing tang in the finish. To the untrained taster easily mistaken for a light lager, a somewhat subtle pilsner, or perhaps a blonde ale." Sounds perfect.

For a 5 gallon batch:
93% Pilsner Malt
5.5% Wheat Malt
1.5% Munich Malt
Hallertauer hops(60 min) 21.1 IBU
Hallertauer hops(5 min) 1.4 IBU
WLP029 Yeast

Mash: 149F, 70 min
Mash out: 168F, 10 min

OG: 1.046
FG: 1.011

Fermentation:
10 days, 65F
25 days, 35F

Carbonated to 2.5 volumes

The finished beer, while not fully carbonated yet, is delicious! It's a crystal clear pale yellow, has a subtle fruity aroma, a slight sweetness on the tongue, and finishes dry and crisp. It's not Coors Light (thank heavens), but I think they'll like it.

Time Flies...

...whether you're having fun or not. Believe me, I was not. I had another of those home remodeling/repair surprises kick me in the teeth. I pulled up the nasty carpet on the stairs back at the beginning of November. I figured it would be relatively easy to strip the glue and old finish and then refinish the wood, much like I did on most of the first floor. Long story short...I finished building a new stair case the other day. You can stop reading here if you only like short stories.

The wood under the carpet was so dry and brittle that I could pull most of the treads apart with nothing but my hands. Several treads were broken and I am really surprised that no one had fallen through them. I replaced the worst of the treads with what I had on hand then went off to purchase proper oak treads to replace all of the old ones. It's important to note at this point that my house is old. It was built in 1900 and back then, 1 inch = 1 inch. See where this is going?

No?

Alright, the original stairs were made of 1 inch oak treads and risers mounted on a triple stringer. Moulding was cut from 1" by 12" by x' oak boards to fit precisely along both sides of the staircase, covering the seam where the edges of each step meet the walls, and capped with a nicely milled piece of trim. The result is a very neat and finished look. For whatever reason, today's lumber is smaller than the specified size would have you believe. For example, a 2x4 stud is really only something like 1 3/4" by 3 1/2". Weird. So, the 1" by 10" boards I needed to make the stair treads only measured 3/4" by 9 1/2"...not big enough. This also meant I would have a bigger gap than originally between the tread and the moulding.

So, I had to buy 1" by 12" oak lumber, cut it to size, add a nice round edge with the router, stain, poly, and install 11 steps with spacers to make up for the old inch/new inch difference, and add new painted risers. I also installed new oak flooring on the landing. What a pain in the ass. The only thing left is to touch up the nail holes, put a fresh coat of paint on the risers, and either restore the original woodwork, if that's possible after my less than gentle demolition of the old stairs, or cut all new and try to match a modern stain/varnish combo to the color of 100-year old varnish. (>_<)