Category: Homebrew

Rooftop South-of-Town Brown

This weekend should include the brewing of a Nut Brown – Porter hybrid called South-of-Town Brown for my sister and her friend’s move to town, and their affinity for brown ales. Plus, its fall, and it sounds really good.

Ingredients

  • 6 lbs. Pale LME
  • 0.5 lbs Crystal Malt (120L)
  • 0.5 lbs Victory Malt
  • 0.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
  • 1 oz. Cascade Hops – 60 minutes
  • 1 oz. Cascade Hops – 30 minute
  • 2 oz Willamette Hops – 5 minutes
  • Irish Moss
  • British Ale Yeast – pitched to starter

OG: 1.050

If the batch goes well, I may reuse the yeast cake for another.

The Drought Nears its End

Our stove top has been busted for the last 2 months and our landlord and a contracter have finally agreed upon the work and will probably start the replacement this weekend. Its been rather infuriating to only have 1 intermitently working small coil burner for 2 months.

Next beer in the works is a brown ale. Its fall, yo. I’m thinking of sharing the yeast cake with a Porter afterwords too.

Hop Madness 2004

Michelle, Barley and I just returned from this year’s Hop Madness. It was graciously hosted at Brooks Tree Farm just north of Salem, and included a tour of the hop harvest, brewing with fresh hops, a homebrew competition, great tunes from Los Mex Pistols, and general revelry.

The hop tour was excellent. We visited a local grower during the harvest. We watched the trucks unloading full vines, putting them onto hooks that fed the vines into a picker, then chopped and spit out the vines, sans hop cones. After touring the inside of the picking machine, it was on to the kiln. Giant beds of freshly picked hops on dryers. Hop cones floating, lifted by jets of hot air. To the side of the dryers, 12 foot tall piles of dried cones ready to be packed and shipped. I made the mistake of of peeling some congealed humulone resin off the packing conveyor. It was too much bitterness, but worth the experience.

I’ve put pictures from the event up too.

Hop Damn! humulus lupulus furor (hop madness)

Hop Damn! spent hops
I moved Hop Damn! to secondary today. The IBU count of 114 may be a little high, but its still bitter and has a great citrus aroma and full grapefruit flavor. The gravity is still a bit high at 1.028, but its got a week left. I’m curious how I’m going to get a bottle carbonated enough to take to Hop Madness next Saturday.

I have my doubts that it’ll win Best Damn Hoppy Beer in the Pacific Northwest, but it is good, and with any luck, it’ll get sampled near the end and will place.

Making a Yeast Starter

Even with the advent of pitchable yeast packets and vials, a yeast starter is an excellent way to get quick and vigorous fermentation. Here’s how to make one using that empty growler you’ve been meaning to fill with a local brew.
yeast starter

Ingredients

  • 1 cup light DME (dry malt extract)
  • 1/4 tablespoon of yeast nutrient
  • Yeast – your choice

Equipment

  • medium-large pot
  • 64 oz. growler bottle or pyrex flask
  • #5 rubber stopper
  • Air lock
  • sanitizer
  • something to stir with – no porous

Process

  1. Sanitize your fermenting vessel and airlock
  2. Bring 1 liter of water (1 quart) of water to a boil. Add
    DME and yeast nutrients, stir in and watch for boil-overs. Boil for ~10 minutes
  3. Cool wort to 80F and transfer to your fermenting vessel. I’m using a 64 oz. growler
  4. Aerate the wort well. If you have a bottle of O2, you know what to do
  5. Pitch the yeast, lightly agitate the vessel, and cap with the airlock
  6. Let the yeasties ferment

Fermentation will probably start overnight, and you can use it as soon as yeast has started settling on the bottom of the vessel. Most people make a starter 2 days before brewing. Good luck.

Ancient chicha brewery found

Archeologists have discovered a large brewery complex in the mountain city ruins of Cerro Baúl. The brewery, setting 8,000 feet above sea level required that water was carried up steep mountain trails to produce the fruit & grain beverage chicha, a traditional part of Peruvian rituals.

You can also watch a video of the process as explained by some of the archeologists. After having Muscat Love, this stuff sounds good!

First Recipe Submissions

This morning I found 2 recipes from Ian McGregor in my mailbox. It the first submission from someone besides Scott or myself, and its greatly welcomed. His Grand Cru and Hoppy Amber recipes are now available in the recipe section in QBrew format. Thanks Ian.

Amarillo Red for Joe's Wedding

Today I brewed my second batch of Amarillo Red, but decreased the bittering hops a little since its going to be for mass consumption. The final IBU was 38.8, which is still in style, and really not that much of a change. Oh well, I tried.

The boil and such all went normally, though I noticed more hot break junk than usual. I’m not sure if that is partly due to using DME or something else, but it makes me somewhat nervous. I’m also going to use Edinburgh Ale Yeast instead of Irish Ale yeast. I think it’ll be nicer, but I’ve got a scottish bent.

OG: 1.049

The Yakima IPA #6 was popular at Michelle’s Graduation party, as was Scott’s RyePA. Though I would have been happy enough to have a palatable batch after the last couple IPA disasters, I was especially pleased how it turned out. I plan on keeping the recipe. I hope this Red works the same.