Oktoberfest still going

I transferred the Oktoberfest into the five gallon secondary. Unfortunately I had to throw away about a 1/4-1/3 of a gallon, because I had over five gallons in the primary. The beer tasted normal, but it definitely needs more time. It did not have a fruity ale taste, so it appears the fermentation was at a good temperature and it went ok. I was concerned when the yeast initially did not start. I have gradually lowered the fridge to the low 40's, after a fermentation around 55-57. The beer will continue to lager until the end of the month when I put it in a keg.

Amber Ale bottled

The Amber Ale has been bottled and has carbonated. I used the carb drops, in place of corn sugar. Yet again this seemed to work quit well. The beer was carbonated in just over a week, while corn sugar usually takes 2-3 weeks. The carbonation was also better than usual with creamy small bubbles, and it left a nice film on the side of the glass as it sloshed around.

Cider fermenting

I have started another attempt at a hard cider. This recipe builds on the recipe I used in November, which had an apple juice base along with some malt and sugar. I used cane sugar and lactose, with the lactose as a non-fermentable sugar contributing only sweetness and mouthful. Hopefully the lactose will solve the problem of the cider not being sweet enough. I also switched brands of apple juice. For this recipe I went back to yeast specifically made for cider, although I had trouble getting the yeast to start, so I added some ale yeast. I will sample the cider next week when it is transferred, and determine if more lactose is needed. Unfortunately the alcohol will be a bit high, sitting around 6-7%. Click here to read about my last attempt at cider.

Amber Ale brewed

Last week I brewed an Amber Ale. I have not attempted this style of beer. It is an American style, which has a nice malt and caramel flavor from the crystal malt and roasted barley. The hops are Centennial, which has a citrusy aroma and taste somewhat like Cascade. The hops will be most noticeable in the aroma, and it will not be bitter like a Pale Ale or IPA. The name comes from the color that is produced by the specialty grains. This beer is quick maturing, as it is ready less than a month after brewing.

Oktoberfest brewed and fermenting

Another repeat recipe from last year is my Oktoberfest lager. Click here to read a post from last year. This beer is fermenting at 55 degrees in order to produce a smooth taste. I initially had trouble with the yeast pack, but with a second yeast pack I was able to get the wort to start fermentation. I will transfer it by the end of the month, lower the temperature for the secondary down into the 40's, and keg it in mid August for the festival in September.

Scotch Ale brewed, fermented, and bottled

In the time it took me to update this blog, my 2008 batch of Scotch Ale has been brewed, fermented, and bottled. I will sample a bottle next week for carbonation, but the beer will benefit from a few months of time. This beer was my favorite from last year, so I did not change a thing with the recipe. I was able to fill all 22 lbs. of grain into my new mash/lauter tun. Click here to read my post from last year regarding this beer.

Hefeweizen Brewed and on Tap

The Label

With the start of summer I wanted to have a hefeweizen on tap. With classes over I finally had time to brew. I brewed this last year and was quite pleased, but I still wanted to make a more authentic recipe. This recipe used 50% wheat, hersbrucker hops, and an authentic German yeast. I tend to prefer the German recipes with the banana esters and clove phenols coming through.

This was a difficult brew, starting with the mash/lauter tun clogging while I sparged. After transferring, I bumped the empty primary into the sink and the carboy shattered. When I grabbed the Old 49er Steam keg, I found that it was not empty, but instead had 1-1.5 gallons left, which I put into a couple growlers. During this process I was removing some beer from the fridge and one six pack broke and beer bottles shattered on the floor. My bucket with sanitizer started leaking and 1-2 gallons emptied onto the floor.

As you can see, this beer has a very similar beer label as the one in 2007, although I did put on the new brewery logo and changed the picture of the old men drinking.

The beer still needs to carbonate a bit, but the taste is great, as it has the esters and phenols I like. If the carbonation comes through, it should have a good head as well. It is cloudy, just as desired, although I could have done a better job avoiding sediment when transferring from the secondary.

Pre-Prohibition on Tap

The Label

My Great-Granddad secretly brewed beer in his basement for his workers on the farm to consume. It was a family secret, and according to my Great-Grandma he was making root beer. The recipe for this beer, as described in the previous post is based on what would have been made by a German farmer living in the United States before the prohibition.

I named the beer G.G. Josie's Secret Batch, because my Great-Granddad (G.G.) Joseph was called Josie and he secretly brewed this beer. I was named after my Great-Granddad, so I thought I would honor him by making a beer with his name. I put his wedding picture on the label.

The beer is the lightest color I have ever had with a homebrew, and it is quite clear. There is not much of an aroma, but the hops are definitely noticeable in the taste. The corn flavor really comes through. These beer is light, registering at 3.3%, which is perfect for a lawnmower beer in the summer.

Two Taps

I have cut out the shelves on the door to the fridge in my garage, which has allowed me fit more items in the fridge. At this point I can fit the CO2 tank, regulator, hoses, two 5-gallon kegs, and a 5 or 6 gallon carboy. In summary, I can now have two beers on tap.

Kölsch Bottled and Ready

The Label

My brother and cousin came over to the house to bottle the Kölsch, while I studied for finals. The bottles were carbonated with corn sugar, which Jamie measured based on weight.

I named the beer 200 ml, because the beer is supposed to be served in a 200 ml (6.7 oz.) glass. We were able to get a hold of some of these glasses, shipped originally from Cologne, Germany. The beer is called a Kölsch style, because the European Union protects the name Kölsch, as it can only use that name if it is made in Cologne, Germany. Kölsch receives the same protection as Champagne.

Kölsch started

I am proud to say the fifth beer of the year has been started. You may be wondering why I pump out so many beers in February and March, and I will point out that due to school I will have no time in April and I want the beers to be ready when I finish finals in May. Simple answer huh? My cousin Jamie came down to Cincinnati to brew with me. Just in case you did not know, Jamie gave me my first pieces of equipment for brewing, some of which I still use today. Jamie graciously purchased all of the ingredients. We were very fortunate to find the proper German hops, Spalt and Hersbrucker, which were essential for this style. Kölsch is a German ale, that is slowly gaining popularity in the US, almost exclusively as an import, although there are some domestic brands out there. The beer is sometimes confused for a lager, but it does use top fermenting ale yeast, although it is brewed at low temperatures for an ale. The yeast prefers 50-60 degrees. It is sitting in my basement brewing closet just under 60 degrees. The beer is low on hops, and the alcohol will be just over 4% in this recipe. The appearance of the beer will be a light color, and it should be fairly clear. My mission before this beer is bottled, is to find the proper glass, which is in the picture below.

Old 49er Steam on Tap

Hopefully you did not miss a chance to drink the Pale Ale, because the keg was finished and now the Steam beer is on tap. I will eventually buy a second keg, but one is enough for now. In a previous post I described Steam beer. I named it "Old 49er Steam" because the beer has its roots in California in the 1840s during the goldrush. Below is the label I have made for the handful of bottles I filled, and it is displayed on the kegerator. I think the beer turned out nicely, it is a smooth taste that will be refreshing as the spring weather starts to warm up.

Pre-Prohibition Pilsner started

I brewed another lager, this one is a pilsner in a style similar to what was brewed in the early 20th century before the prohibition. Most homebrewers back then used 6-row malted barley, as modified 2-row was not as widely available. Adjuncts such as corn and rice were used to provide an easily converted starch. My particular recipe used corn. I decided not to use 6-row barley, as this would make the mash/lauter process less efficient. As recommended by Chuck at Listermanns, I used cluster hops and northern brewer hops and a pilsen lager yeast.

Bockfest in the Snow

Despite mother nature, we attended Bockfest on both Friday and Saturday night. On Thursday night a snow storm was confirmed to be on track to hit the city Friday morning. Some of our out of town guests were able to hit the road Thursday night or early Friday to avoid the storm. Unfortunately the parade on Friday night was canceled. On Friday night we got a group together at my brother's house and enjoyed some beer from Party Source, and then we finished the night downtown at Bockfest. The crowd was low, but we weren't the only ones to brave the weather. On Saturday the group met at my place and some people played Mario Kart, while some of us brewed a batch of steam beer. Urban Circulator Doppelbock was premiered and received good reviews, although a few bottles gushed. The beer contest on Saturday was postponed to Sunday. Saturday night we went down to Grammer's, a historic bar in Cincinnati, which recently re-opened. We enjoyed the basement and some expensive glasses of Ayinger Celebrator.

Steam beer started

Last weekend we had a group brew, as a daytime activity during Bockfest. We made a clone of Anchor Steam, which is a lager brewed like an ale. The basic story I have read indicates that back in the mid 1800s in California the goldminers needed beer, so the Germans setup shop in California. At the time, and still today, the most popular style of beer was lager, which used a special bottom fermenting yeast and is fermented at lower temperatures. In the midwest and east coast, brewers used caves, frozen rivers and ponds, or they harvested ice to ferment the beer at lower temperatures. In California the brewers did not have access to cold caves, frozen rivers, frozen ponds, or ice, so they were forced to brew at warmer temperatures more typical for ales. When a lager is brewed at warmer temperatures there are some strange off flavors that are produced, so the brewers experimented with the recipe and found the proper types and amount of hops to balance the taste. This beer will be my next keg beer, once I finish the Pale Ale, so make sure you stop by to try one.

Urban Circulator places 4th!

Näf-Woods Homebrew placed fourth in the bock beer competition in Cincinnati last weekend. I am very happy with that result. It was my first entry into a homebrew contest, and it was my first attempt at a bock beer, more specifically a doppelbock. I assume most people refine recipes with multiple batches before submitting to a contest. Evidently the contest drew entries from all across the world as first place went to someone from Cincinnati, second went to someone in Texas, and third went to someone in Brazil. I got some helpful feedback. The biggest problem was that the bottles gushed when opened, which I actually noticed as well. I am guessing this happened because the bottles never sat in the fridge after carbonating, which was due to my short timeline. Because the beers sat at basement temperature and were not chilled until the day of the competition, they did not have time to settle down. I hope this is the first of many contests I will enter.

Näf-Woods Homebrew in competition!

I am proud to announce that Näf-Woods Homebrew has entered its first beer competition. The Bloatarian Brewing League, a local group, has sponsored a homebrew bock competition, which will put some of the areas best homebrewers against each other as trained officials will judge the beers based on BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) standards in this BJCP sanctioned event. These are the same standards that are used in competitions all across the country. Judges consider the aroma, appearance, flavor, and mouthfeel. The judges hold to strict guidelines within each type of beer, so it is possible to have an excellent beer, but if it does not fit the strict guidelines it will not receive a high score. The competition will occur this Saturday at the Bockfest Hall at 12:00. I hope you can make it down to support me, and try some of the beers made by local homebrewers. After the competition I hope to get a group together to brew a beer, look for more details in a future post. My doppelbock beer will be officially unveiled at a happy hour on Saturday night, look for details in a future post.

Doppelbock Update

I sampled the doppelbock last weekend, and I am very happy. It tastes great and it is done carbonating. As suggested by my brother, I have named my doppelbock, "Urban Circulator" in honor of the streetcar proposal that would help further develop the Over the Rhine area, which is where Bockfest occurs, and it is a very historic German and brewing area in Cincinnati. Be sure to join the festivities this weekend, as I am sure this beer will be consumed rather quickly.

Below is the label I created.

Another Bockfest Video

Ok, so if you look really close at the end of this video you will see our float from last year.

Bockfest Video and Schedule

Video from bockfest.com

Bockfest is almost here, one more week... Click here to see pictures and info about the festival from last year. Click here to visit the official website. Look for more Bockfests post in the coming days.

Tentative Schedule
Friday, March 7
5:30 Parade starts at Arnolds (we will have an entry)
After that we will visit Kaldi's, Bockfest Hall, Gramer's, and some others.

Saturday, March 8
Tentatively planned group brewing of a beer at my place
Early evening-sampling of my Doppelbock homebrew and snacks
Evening-Back to the festival to visit the establishments

Sunday, March 9
Prohibition Tour
Visit the festival one last time

Pale Ale going fast

The Pale Ale in my keg is going fast as I share it with family and friends. I have been quite satisfied with the level of carbonation and the ease of dispensing the beer. I force carbonated it and I turn the gas on when dispensing, but leave it off at other times to avoid any CO2 loss through potential leaks. The picnic tap is working just fine. I am realizing that I may need to start my next keg beer shortly, since it will take 2-3 weeks to ferment. Below is the label for the handful of bottles I filled.

Doppelbock in bottles

This past weekend I bottled the doppelbock. The beer will condition in the bottles for the remaining three weeks before the festival. I plan to share the beer as we make the float for the parade and then it will be officially unveiled on Saturday, March 8 of Bockfest weekend. As I cleaned, rinsed, sanitized, filled, and capped the 52 bottles that were needed, I realized that I need to start kegging more beers. This is my first lager of the year.

Pale Ale is on tap!

I have kegged my first beer! I force carbonated an American Pale Ale on Saturday, and had a sampling that night. I was happy with the taste, although the carbonation was better on Sunday night. You will have to stop by the house to try this beer, and be sure to do it soon, because it may not last very long. I am already planning my next kegged beer.

Näf-Woods to start kegging

In December I acquired all of the necessary equipment to start kegging beers. I had bought a 5 lb. CO2 tank at a garage sale for $2, but the certification had expired. I went to a local gas company, and exchanged my tank for a re-certified tank, and had it filled. It amazes me that most of the tanks are old fire extinguishers, and I found some certification stamps dating back into the 70's on my tank, but it is guaranteed for five years. For Christmas my parents bought a 5-gallon old Pepsi keg, all of the fittings, the lines, a picnic tap, and a regulator. I don't plan to drill a hole in the fridge for a real tap, because with a picnic tap on a line you can raise or lower the line as you fill the glass to compensate for too little or too much CO2. A picnic tap is the hand tap that you used on kegs back in college. I bought a US sankey tap, which will work on 90% of US beers, including microbrews. I plan to have a tap for a homebrew keg and a small commercial keg. Eventually I will get a tap for European beers.

My first kegged beer will be a Pale Ale that I started yesterday.

Pale Ale in primary

I did not have class on Martin Luther King Day, so I decided to brew a batch of beer. I wanted to make a beer to keg. I wanted to make what I call a "house beer" for the keg. I consider a "house beer" to be a beer that I can drink at at any point of the year. It goes with most any food or occasion.

I was starting the beer late in the day, so I decided to buy a Listermann extract kit instead of doing an all-grain. I bought the American Pale Ale. Initially I was excited because I was told at the store that it would have Cascade hops, which are very difficult to find this year. Unfortunately when I opened up the kit I found Galena hops. I looked up Galena and found that they are bittering hops, not typically used for flavoring, aroma, or dry hopping. No chart on the web, or in my books, recommend Galena as a substitute. The only connection I can find is that both have a citrus like characteristic. I know we are in a hop crisis, and perhaps this was the best substitute available, but I was not comfortable using the Galena hops, so I pulled some of my secret Cascade hops out of storage and used it for flavoring and with the Galena for aroma. I will probably dry hop with the Galena and save the rest of the Cascade for another recipe.

The brew went well. It was a cold day, so the propane burner helped warm up the garage. As always the neighbors walked by the garage door wondering what I was doing with a 9 gallon pot on a turkey fryer burner, with the strange smells lingering in the air.

Doppelbock in primary

I started my second lager, a partial mash Doppelbock recipe. I am making a bock beer to be enjoyed at Bockfest, which occurs in Cincinnati in early March. I liked this particular recipe because it had some wheat, which I though might be a nice addition. Otherwise, the recipe follows a typical German style. It will be 7-7.5% alcohol. I used German Hops, Northern Brewer and Hallertau, which I had bought last year before the hop crisis cleaned out the market. At this point it would be difficult to find either hop variety. I set aside some of the Hallertau for my Oktoberfest, which will be brewed in June. The Doppelbock recipe recommended an extended lagering stage. My lagering won't be extended, but it should be sufficient. I plan to do a two week primary in the 45-55 range. I will then bring the beer up to to 60's for day or so to make sure the yeast is done. I will have the beer in the secondary for two weeks in the 30-40 degree range, and in the bottle for 3-4 weeks in the 45-55 degree range.

I had trouble getting my Oktoberfest lager to start to ferment, so this time I did a yeast starter for the liquid yeast and left the carboy in the basement at 65-70 degrees until I saw activity, at which point I moved it to the fridge set at 48-50 degrees. That seemed to work. I was forced to move the carboy into the basement after a week in the primary, because the garage fridge temp was dipping into the 30s, with the carboy reading at 43 degrees. Luckily one spot in my basement is holding around 45-50 degrees, so there should not have been a big difference in temperature. The fermentation is still going in this second week in the primary.

Hop Shortage

Luckily I heard about the hops crisis back when the harvest came out in late fall. I have been slowly buying up hops so that I could make all of my recipes for 2008. The hop crisis is blamed on a variety of reasons, including weather problems around the world destroying crops, the common problems such as plant disease and wilting, the weak dollar exchange rate resulting in other countries buying up US hops, emerging beer consumption markets in China and India, farmers abandoning hops for more lucrative crops such as corn, and some other factors. Here is a good article. Unfortunately it takes 2-3 years for a farmer to successfully grow a hop crop, so it may take a while for the hop market to recover. Some larger brewers are protected by contracts, while smaller brewers have been forced to find substitute hops or abandon certain recipes. Homebrewers are even lower on the food chain, as the shops are supplied after brewers. Every shop and website I have visited has raised their prices on hops 2-3 times, placed limits on orders, and some require that grain be bought with hops. Although I am fortunate to have most of the hops I need for 2008, I realize 2009 will be worse as no one will be caught off guard. I will be forced to use substitute varieties, which will have an effect on the taste and aroma.

Dupuy Draft Cider (version 2)

The Label

This was the second version of Dupuy Draft Cider. I chose this recipe because it involved a boil, while the original recipe, described here, was simply cider and yeast. In this new version, I boiled a gallon of water and added some Dry Malt Extract (DME), brown sugar, cane sugar, and some cinnamon. Once that was chilled I added the apple juice and an ale yeast. After transferring this beer to the secondary I added some corn sugar and more apple juice. Before bottling I added some apple sweetener, which is commonly used when making fruit wine.
Kati helped design this label, since the recipe was for her. The picture has two apples hanging on a Christmas tree, since this was bottled in December.
This batch definitely tasted different than the first batch, but it is still not quite sweet enough. I learned a few lessons from this beer. First brown sugar does not leave a taste, it simply converts to alcohol like cane sugar. Secondly adding sugar in the secondary does not add sweetness, as it is completely converted to alcohol. Lastly I may need to go back to the cider yeast strain used in the first recipe, as beer and wine yeasts make the taste too dry.
For my next attempt at cider I might try to sweeten the cider with a non-fermentable sugar such as lactose, or I may halt the yeast and then add apple juice or cider and force carbonate with CO2. Ultimately I would like use freshly squeezed juice, either directly from an orchard or with a press at home.

Hoppy Hoppy Holidays! Imperial India Pale Ale

Any lover of hops, including myself, has always dreamed of making a double IPA (Imperial India Pale Ale) after drinking a Dogfish Head 90 minute IIPA. I decided in the fall that I would make an IIPA, and that it needed to be made long in advance of Christmas, so that the beer could condition properly. Due to law school, the beer was not made until October, so it really did not reach the proper taste until late December and it is getting better with each month. I used 3 oz. of Nugget for bittering and 3 oz. of Columbus hops for flavor, aroma, and dry hopping. The beer registers at over 100 IBUs, which is insane. The alcohol is around 10%. With that amount of alcohol I had to use two packets of yeast. Thanks to Listermann for the recipe and ingredients. I was really afraid of the reaction from people tasting this beer, but I was surprised to see the number of people that liked it despite the high alcohol and hops. It was not the favorite beer within the holiday packs, but it still received good feedback. I have tried a few since Christmas and the beer is getting better. Due to the hops shortage, I will not likely get to make an IIPA this year or possibly next year, so I am carefully rationing the beer, since it has a shelf life that could extend into 2010, no joke. The beer had light body and a definite alcohol taste that was balanced by the spicy taste of the Columbus Hops.

The Name
Based on the insane amount of hops, I thought "Hoppy Hoppy" was a good description that worked well as a play on words.

Lump of Coal Christmas Stout

The Label

Believe it or not, this was my first attempt at a stout. Most homebrewers I have met, usually attempt a stout early, and in many cases it is the first beer they make. I found this recipe in one of my books. It caught my eye because it not only used a variety of types of malted barley, but also wheat, and roasted barley. The yeast specified was for a German Ale, which seemed a bit strange, considering the British history of stouts, but I followed the recipe. The yeast gave the beer more of a dry finish, which worked well based on the unusual variety of grains. The beer has a very dark, almost black look, with a rocky dark head, strong roasted smell, and a roasted taste with hints of coffee and chocolate. This was my personal favorite from the holiday packs, and it received high praise from family and friends.

The Name
Based on the color of the beer, I could think of no better comparison than a lump of coal, which was always a possible gift from Santa, if you had a bad year. After naming the beer, I found a couple commercial beers with the same name.

Griswold's Yule Log Spiced Christmas Ale

The Label

This beer proved to be the most popular beer in my holiday packs. I based the recipe off my 2005 Christmas beer, but I changed the spices a bit and the hops due the shortage. I used a smaller quantity of nugget hops, since Cascade was not available. I only used the hop for bittering, allowing the spices to provide the flavor and aroma. I put a small quantity of all of my spices in at the end of the boil, which included ground allspice, dried sweet orange peel, ground ginger, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla. I allowed the beer to sit in the primary for one week and in the secondary for two weeks. I added more of the spices to the secondary. The beer was carbonated with corn sugar. The beer had nice combination of spices that were true to the holiday season, but it was not overpowering in taste. It was light brown color and the aroma was ginger, allspice, and orange. The ginger taste was much lower than the 2005 recipe.

The Name
I was inspired by one of my favorite holiday movies, although some people have not been comfortable with the reference.