Fischer's Biere D'Alsace Amber Ale

Tasting: Chilled to ~40 degrees (f) from a large stemmed glass.

Appearance: 3/3 Beautiful copper color, nice off-white head, champagne-like bubbles.
Head: 1.5/3 Light head thins quickly.
Aroma: 2/3 Light malt, and fruity, grape-like smell no discernible hops on the nose.
Flavor: 2/3 Sweet, malty, hint of fruit, no discernable hops or very light bitterness slight musty aftertaste from the english hops.
Mouth feel: 2.5/3 Light body with light malt lingering on the palette.
Overall: 2/3 Not very beerlike, very light in flavor, aroma, and bitterness, but I really enjoyed it. This would be a great beer on a hot summer day.
Buzz: 2/3 This beer has a serious kick considering how light the body is, at 6%.

The alcohol percent exceeds many beers with heavier body which makes me suspect some other fermentables are used. Fisher's is owned by Heineken.

Two great articles on brewing

Found these links in my daily AHA Tech Talk email. Very good.

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Efficiency

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Troubleshooting_Brewhouse_Efficiency

Great American Beer Festival

I don't know if I will ever attend the Great American Beer Festival or not, 3 days seems an awful short time to enjoy all the Beer that America has to offer.  A very special congratulations to AlesSmith for being the second San Diego brewery in 2 years to win small brewer of the year:

Here are the categories with the most entries submitted:

1. Category: 46 American-Style India Pale Ale - 104 Entries
   
2. Category: 4 Fruit or Vegetable Beer - 87 Entries
   
3. Category: 12 Experimental Beer - 82 Entries
   
4. Category: 17 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer - 79 Entries
   
5. Category: 44 American-Style Pale Ale - 76 Entries
   

Making beer is not about winning contests, and I am sure that some of the best beer being brewed in the US wasn't even submitted for review this year, but I am still very interested in which breweries are doing well, and which beers are well reviewed.  I naturally root for San Diego and Oregon brewers.  Here is how they did (see the entire list of results here):

Category: 5 Herb and Spice or Chocolate BeerCategory: 5 Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer - 72 Entries

Bronze: State Beach Blonde, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 7 Specialty Beer - 21 Entries

Silver: Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

Category: 10 Session Beer - 33 Entries

Bronze: Blonde Bombshell, Cascade Lakes Brewing Co., Redmond, OR

Category: 12 Experimental Beer - 82 Entries

Bronze: Le Pelican Brun, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Paciic City, OR

Category: 13 Gluten-Free Beer - 10 Entries

Bronze: Chinquapin Butte Golden Ale, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

Category: 14 American-Belgo Style Ale - 36 Entries

Bronze: Big Wednesday, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Solana Beach, CA

Category: 15 American-Style or German-Style Sour Ale - 34 Entries

Gold: The Dissident, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

Category: 18 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer - 27 Entries

Bronze: Cascade Kriek Ale, Cascade Brewing Co., Portland, OR

Category: 19 Aged Beer - 38 Entries

Silver: Vintage Speedway Stout, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category: 22 International-Style Pilsener - 22 Entries

Gold: Session Premium Lager, Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR

Category: 23 German-Style Pilsener - 44 Entries

Silver: Party Pants Pilsener, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 25 Munich-Style Helles - 30 Entries

Gold: Himmelbrau Helles, Laurelwood Brewing Co., Portland, OR

Category: 41 English-Style Summer Ale - 34 Entries

Gold: Surfer’s Summer Ale, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Paciic City, OR

Category: 42 Classic English-Style Pale Ale - 48 Entries

Gold: Full Sail Pale Ale, Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR

Category: 45 American-Style Strong Pale Ale - 71 Entries

Bronze: Organic IPA, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland, OR

Category: 46 American-Style India Pale Ale - 104 Entries

Bronze: Hop Head, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR

Category: 47 Imperial or Double India Pale Ale - 50 Entries

Gold: Hopnotic 2X IPA, San Diego Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Bronze: Hop 15, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA

Category: 48 American-Style Amber/Red Ale - 65 Entries

Gold: Dry Hopped Red, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

Bronze: American Amber, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

Category: 50 Bitter or Pale Mild Ale - 42 Entries

Gold: Drop Top, Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR

Category: 51 Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter - 43 Entries

Gold: Bachelor ESB, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

Category: 53 Irish-Style Red Ale - 31 Entries

Silver: Ragtop Red, Rock Bottom Brewery - La Jolla, La Jolla, CA

Category: 67 Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout - 19 Entries

Bronze: Port Truck Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 68 Foreign-Style Stout - 28 Entries

Silver: Black Bear XX Stout, Alameda Brewhouse, Portland, OR

Category: 70 Sweet Stout - 19 Entries

Bronze: Cow Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 72 Imperial Stout - 44 Entries

Silver: Night Rider Imperial Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 73 Strong Scotch Ale - 38 Entries

Gold: AleSmith Wee Heavy, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Silver: Way Heavy, Pizza Port San Clemente, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 74 Old Ale or Strong Ale - 40 Entries

Gold: AleSmith Decadence Old Ale, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category: 75 Barley Wine-Style Ale - 55 Entries

Gold: Treblehook, Redhook Ales Brewery, Portland, OR

Silver: AleSmith Old Numbskull, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

 - 72 Entries

Bronze: State Beach Blonde, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Brew 9:Winter Warmer with Notes on Batch Sparging

Brad and I went in on our equipment for the first few brews, to reduce our exposure in case we didn't want to continue, and to help us get started faster. I bought the burner and pot for our first extract, he bought the Carboy and the rest of the equipment.

As we continued to brew, I slowly added to my equipment list until I had everything to brew all-grain, and now he is doing the same. Two weeks ago Brad and I brewed a Winter Warmer at his house, using his equipment with the exception of my Mash/Lauter Tun as he is still building his (more on that once it is done). We only had two vessels so I assumed that we could batch sparge, but the results were terrible efficiency.

After re-checking the procedure, I now realize that batch sparging still requires 3 vessels:

1. A mash/lauter tun (holds the grain over a false bottom)
2. A Hot liquor tank (maintains clear water at 170 degreees)
3. A boil kettle, or a runoff vessel capable of holding the total volume of Wort.

The reason you can't do it with two vessels is because you actually have to sparge 3 times to get decent efficiency:

1. After the mash is complete, add enough water to increase temp to 160, then recycle until clear, then sparge until the runoff slows.
2. Add half the remaining sparge water (heated to 170), recycle until clear, then sparge until the runoff slows.
3. Add the remaining sparge water (heated to 170), recycle until clear, then sparge until the runoff slows.

On low gravity batches, if you are willing to accept very low efficiencies, you can reduce the number of steps. Since we only had 2 vessels we added all our sparge water to the mash and drew the wort of in one large batch sparge. While our target gravity was 1.088, we only achieved an original gravity of 1.070, a huge difference! There was no way we could have achieved 1.088 with that equipment unless we lowered our yield to 4 gallons, and boiled off an additional gallon to thicken the wort.

What we did instead, once we realized our beer would have too much bitterness for the gravity we achieved, was boil 2 lbs of Dry Malt Extract (DME) into 2 quarts of wort and add it to the primary to boost the gravity to somewhere near our target and hope for the best.

Tasting:Humbolt Brewing Hemp Ale

My wife and I hosted an Oktoberfest party which was also a late 40th birthday last week. We had over a dozen beers on offer and some great food. We had 4 different Oktoberfest beers, the orginal (Spaten) was the best, but all were enjoyable. One of my friends brought the Hemp Ale and was curious to know how it tasted since we didn't get around to tasting it during the party, so I promised him I would post a review:

Tasting: Chilled to ~40 degrees (f) from a pint glass.

Appearance: 3/3 Gorgeous mahogany color, nice off-white head.
Head: 1.3/3 Thin head that disappears after 1/4 glass.
Aroma: 2/3 Rich malt smell with hint of fruit .
Flavor: 2/3 Sweet, malty, hint of roast, no discernable hops or bitterness.
Mouth feel: 2.5/3 Medium body with light malt lingering on the palette.
Overall: 1.5/3 Drinkable, not bad, but nothing stands out to make me want more.
Buzz: 2/3 Moderate buzz after 1 glass.

I am not sure, but it could be that the hemp is used in place of hops as a bittering agent.  I read elsewhere that the stems of the hemp is used, not the leaves or bud.

Brew 8 - Pilsner

It has been a couple weeks since brewing a czech-style pilsner, and the beer is fermenting comfortably at 52deg (F) in my chest freezer.

This was another brew that I am very thankful I had brewing software for. I have several recipes for Pilsner, and this one was very basic using primarily 2-row instead of imported malt, but I thought the hops looked low.

I loaded the recipe into Beer Tools and saw that the bitterness was about 30% lower than the range for the style, so I boosted them up to be within the range. Here is the recipe:

Here are my brewing notes:

5:54 PM 8/22/2008 Burner started under Mash/Lauter Tun

Strategy: Mash in at 140(F), observe drop to 128
Recirc/Heat to 145(F)
Single Decoction to 150 (F)
Recirc/Heat until 160(F)

5:59 PM 8/22/2008 Temp = 158, replace water and recirc.
6:10 PM 8/22/2008 Dough in @ 141
6:14 PM 8/22/2008 Temp = 132
6:34 PM 8/22/2008 3 recirc. @ 1 qt ea + dir heat - Temp ~ 145
6:35 PM 8/22/2008 Start 1st Decoction
6:51 PM 8/22/2008 Decoction ph = 5.0, mash ph = 5.4
6:51 PM 8/22/2008 Mash temp = 145
6:59 PM 8/22/2008 recirc. + return decoction + direct heat
7:00 PM 8/22/2008 temp @ 150
7:04 PM 8/22/2008 2nd decoction
7:13 PM 8/22/2008 temp uneven 152 - 160
7:24 PM 8/22/2008 end 2nd decocotation
7:26 PM 8/22/2008 Direct heat + recirc.
7:32 PM 8/22/2008 temp @155
7:35 PM 8/22/2008 Starting sparge water heat - 6 gallons
8:05 PM 8/22/2008 Water at 180
8:11 PM 8/22/2008 Started Sparging, 1st runnings at ?? (hydrometer is broken)
8:40 PM 8/22/2008 Started boil
9:15 PM 8/22/2008 2.5 oz of Saaz hops
10:00 PM 8/22/2008 Added Irish Moss
10:05 PM 8/22/2008 put immersion chiller in
10:12 PM 8/22/2008 added .5 oz of Saaz hops
10:17 PM 8/22/2008 stopped boil, started chill
10:24 PM 8/22/2008 temp = 130
10:58 PM 8/22/2008 finished cleanup, beer in primary at 75 degrees, temp controller set at 70 degrees.

The mash tun spout was positioned over a 6 qt enamel pot with a burner under it, and when recirculating I would heat the wort up to 160 and then pour it over the grain bed.

When applying direct heat, I would also draw the bottom fluid off so it didn't heat up too much, the fluid was coming out at around 160, and then pour it over the grain bed.

My decoctions must have been too small since the temperature rise was a lot lower then I expected.

The next morning I purchased a new hydrometer and took a gravity reading, it was 1.050, I have no idea what the original gravity was. 1.050? 1.052? the target was 156 so it came in lower than expected.

I pitched from a 750cc starter and the primary started to ferment almost exactly 24 hours after pitching, 36 hours after pitching I dropped the temp to 60(F), 48 hours after I dropped to 55(f) and then to 50(f) where it bubbled away.

After 10 days, I transfered to secondary then slowly raised the temp. to 63(f) for 2 days (diacetl rest), then 1-2 degrees per day, I lowered the temp to 38(f) where it has been for 2 weeks now.  I used a 5 gallon corny keg for secondary, it is a very nice fermentation vessel for secondary fermentation and I plan to use them from now on.

The beer was very clear, somewhat thin and a little bitter when I tasted it during racking, we will see how it ends up after lagering is complete.  I purchased some Malto Dextrose so I can add a little body if needed.

Tasting: Paulaner Salvator Double Bock

I am preparing to brew my first lager. I have a temp. controller, and a chest freezer to keep the temps right, and I purchased a book on lager brewing, and am reading everything else I can find on the subject.

Reading about beer makes you really thirsty for beer, and reading about lagers makes me thirsty for a rich malty German beer. So I picked a few up the other day at Bevmo, and tonight I am drinking the first one.

Tasting: Chilled to ~40 degrees (f) from a pint glass.

Appearance: 3/3 Gorgeous copper color, nice off-white head.
Head: 3/3 Moderate head that lasts at least half the glass.
Aroma: 3/3 Rich malts with subtle hops .
Flavor: 3/3 Rich, sweet, malty. A touch of alcohol. You can actually taste the barley in this beer. Smokey, roasty, toasty goodness.
Mouth feel: 2.5/3 This beer is a bit heavy on the palette, still quite nice though. Moderate carbonation.
Overall: 2.75/3 Really, tasty. Even in the summer this beer is amazing.
Buzz: 3/3 Forget about it half a glass gets you a buzz, 7.9% ABV.

So many lagers, especially American lagers, lack character. No malty taste, no hops, nothing to grab on to. German beer can be the same, but they are generally so much better.

Tasting: Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale (DBA)

Firestone lists the malts for this beer as:Two-Row,Marris Otter,Munich,Crystal,Chocolate Color=16l
Hops: Bittering - Magnum, Flavor/Aroma - Golding, Dry Hop - Golding IBU=32

Tasting: Chilled to ~45 degrees (f) from a pint glass.

Appearance: 3/3 beautiful copper color, clear.
Head: 2/3 Light head that thins before the glass is half empty.
Aroma: 3/3 Understated hops, rich malt and hints of smoke and vanilla .
Flavor: 3/3 Wonderful pale ale with smokey oak, subtle malt and even more subtle hops, .
Mouth feel: 3/3 This beer has great body, not heavy, but silky in the mouth. Moderate carbonation.
Overall: 3/3 This is a great Amber ale, not an easy one to reproduce since oak barrels don't come cheap.
Buzz: 3/3 Good buzz after 1 glass, 5% ABV.

Tasting: Full Sail Pale Ale

When up in Oregon, my friend Dave and I were enjoying a Rogue Ale, and he said his favorite ale was Full Sail, so of course I bought a 6-pack before leaving Oregon. The Full Sail brewery is located in one of my 2 dream places to live in Oregon; Hood River (the other is Bend). Less than an hour to the sunny side of Mt. Hood, in the Columbia River Gorge, it is an outdoors lover's paradise. It is famous for its fruit, its windsurfing, and access to the mountains and trout streams in the area.

Tasting: Chilled to ~45 degrees (f) from a pint glass.

Appearance: 2.5/3 Slight haze, but a beautiful light orange.
Head: 2/3 Light head that thins before the glass is half empty.
Aroma: 3/3 Almost perfect balance between the tangerine of the hops and the mild, rich malt .
Flavor: 2.5/3 The hops lead out, with the malt following behind. Bitterness balances out the sweetness nicely.
Mouth feel: 3/3 This beer has great body, not heavy, but silky in the mouth. Moderate carbonation.
Overall: 2.5/3 A very nice ale. I have had others I enjoyed more, but it is better than most. The yeast leaves this beer nice and dry but the brewer did not brew it too thin, so it is very nice overall.
Buzz: 3/3 Good buzz after 1 glass, 5.4% ABV.

Dave's is a man who knows good beer. As I progress along this path of beer reviews, I find that my standards are getting higher. 6 months ago this beer would have received a perfect score. Now that I have tasted more, I know that there are a couple ales out there that are hard to beat. I will review them in the next month or so.

My first shift as a brewer's assistant

My goal of owning my own brewery, while it still sounds fun, doesn't feel very realistic. I am not sure that I would be willing to sacrifice enough of my time, money and energy to make it work, and San Diego County already has more than a dozen breweries so I am not sure that another one is in great demand either.

But I still love brewing, I honestly enjoy it more than drinking, so when I heard that a small brewery within driving distance allows people to help out on brew day, I jumped at the chance.

I am not going to identify the brewery (the photo is from another brewery) because I don't want to create any damage by publicly writing about someone else's business without their consent. I am sure that anyone familiar with the brewery will recognize it, but I just don't want to point to them directly.

I asked if it would be OK for me to help out one night during a brew and the head brewer said come on over, so I showed up at 4:30pm to help with 2 brews of ale.

There were about 8 other people there; the head brewer, 2 other brewers and some other employees and 3-4 other volunteers. People came and went throughout the night with the head brewer and other 2 brewers being very much in charge, but other people who had been helping out also kicked in when something needed to be done, like cutting heat to a kettle boiling over, or cleaning, or removing the protein from the boiling wort. In total, I would estimate that 20 people came and went during the evening, with an average of 8 on hand at any one point.

The equipment is a very interesting mixture of new and old, professional and home-brew, which is good for me, since it means there is a lot of work to complete a brew and they can really use the help.

The malt had been milled and staged for 2 brews of strong ale, with 600 lbs of grain going into 200 gallons of water for each brew. The first batch was very dense so it took a long time to lauter. They mashed in at around 155, which turned out to be a bit low, and they had to cycle the wort through the boil kettles for almost 2 hours to reach their target mash temperature. Because of the setup, quite a bit of water evaporated and the mash bed became quite dense and took a long time to drain through the false bottom. It was 11pm before we could start on the second batch. The second batch went much better, they mashed in with more water and at 158 and the mash reached target temperature in less than half the time, and things went quickly after that.

I was able to help with almost all aspects of the brew, doughing in (loading the malt into the hot water), working the pump to move the water from the HLT to the lauter tun, and to recirculate the wort to raise the temperature. I also helped filling the pots with filtered water, connecting the hoses, squeegeeing the floor, scrubbing the boil kettle between brews. My main task during the evening was to remove the protiens (also called hot-break) from the top of the boiling wort. It got tiring after a few hours, and the next day, my muscles ached from leaning over the hot pot and scooping.

During the evening I got to talk to the head brewer a lot, asking questions about water quality and composition, his beer selection (ie why he brews the beers he does). I feel like I got a very strong sense of what he is shooting for. I was able to guess what kind of yeast and hops he used by tasting one of his beers, and it was really fun to learn from someone so experienced.

After working for 8.5 hours, I finally left at 1:00am just as they started the boil for the second batch. I would have liked to stay to the end, but I had to wake up at 8am the next day and I was very tired so I went on home.

Everyone at the brewery was very friendly after I stuck around for a few hours and they saw me really helping out. I really had a great time and plan to stick with it until I think I am able to run an entire brew on my own (I don't expect them to let me, I just want to have it in my head how to do it), and will help out during kegging, and cleaning so I get a complete picture of what goes on.

It was a very exciting evening for me, and I am glad to get a chance to see if this line of work would be enjoyable full-time or not. It will kind of stink to give up my evenings for a while, but I have the support of my wife and I think it will be well worth it for the experience.