Coren's Corner: Cocoa's Nut House

Greetings everyone! Time for another trip to Coren's Corner, and this time it is a special one: my first day doing the brewing!

 We all know that I join Brian when gets the itch to boil a pot of wort. Hell, he even calls me his “malt muse.”  This time around, however, we shook it up a bit and I had the opportunity to do my very first batch completely on my own (with Brian within shouting distance, just in case).  

The reason this beer came to be was something like a daydream that hit me last week.  Brian already has laid out a schedule for himself on what he wanted to make for the next few months.  So, I figured if he knows when he isn't brewing, why not brew one of my own?  

So, the question came down to be what exactly did I want to make?  There were two styles that were stuck in my head:  nut brown ale or an ESB (Extra Special Bitter). What it came down to was, with this being my first brew, I did not want anything that was too complicated.  I decided to go with the nut brown ale.  Brian and I came up with ideas of what exactly I wanted to the recipe.  Ultimately, I wanted it to be nutty with a hint of vanilla.  Brian just ran with the idea and the results of the recipe came out with balance being the name of the game.

For malts, we needed some color, so we went with  Crystal 10L, Brown, and Pale Chocolate (roughly 25% of the grain bill). Brian also suggested keeping this close to its source, so he opted for Maris Otter and Mild to further compliment the roasty, nutty notes. We rounded it out with some extract to fill out the rest, some flaked oats for more body, and just for kicks, we added some honey at the very end to add to the dry finish.

Now, when it comes to hops, Brian is a real hophead, but he also respects the origins of a style. He restrained himself to using only British hops, which got us to about 28 IBUs overall.

The special ingredients were some actual nuts, which is not typically done in this style. Nut brown is a commentary on the color, not an extra ingredient. Brian thought we could slide by and use some roasted pecans in the very end of the boil, along with some whole vanilla beans, to enhance the flavor of the various malts. Smelling it I think he made the right call.

For a yeast, we just went simple and used Wyeast 1335 for the extra dryness in the finish of the beer. Plus, this one does a better job of cleaning itself up, which Brian explained means I get my beer in my hands faster!

Now, like I said, I've been right there with Brian for almost all of  his different brewing sessions.  But, since I was taking the reins on this one, I was a little nervous.  Brian has told me over and over again that rules 1 through 3 of brewing are the same: 1) Sanitize 2) Sanitize 3) Sanitize. I was pretty comfortable knowing what I did from watching him over the past year, so I wasn't worried about that. 

The other major rule, however, is to watch the clock.  I had to make sure I added all the ingredients at the right time in order for the wort to end up at the right gravity and taste good. Now, I'm not one to brag, but I was VERY much on my game that day, but I appreciated the fact Brian was there to help.

Can I tell you something though? I LOVED that immediately the beer was a nice smooth dark brown.  The hops added a great smell to it as we hit the different additions, plus, we added a our roasted pecans and vanilla right at the end.  I am very curious to see what impact they have on the overall beer.

I do have to admit that it was a ton more fun to make beer than watching it, so I know why Brian always enjoys this. The work afterwards, though, sucked. Transferring this to the carboy was labor-intensive to say the least. That part is very boring and back breaking, due to straining all the little bits out of the wort before adding the yeast.  It seems like it takes forever and I am an impatience person, but I did see the value to it as we got more and more stuff out of the beer that just didn't need to be there. Maybe next time Brian will just do that part for me while I get a refill on my pint (a girl can always hope!).

After a few days, I can say that Cocoa’s Nut House (still makes me laugh) is currently fermenting nicely.  I believe it will stay in the 6 gallon carboy for at least 2 weeks and then it moves to secondary to let some more conditioning to take place. We also get to reinvigorate this with a bit more vanilla and pecans for a few days before it goes to bottle. I am super excited to have this beer on a not-so-distant summer night in front of a bonfire!

I do want to take a moment to thank Brian for all of his knowledge and helping me gain the confidence to just want to make my first beer, let alone actually doing it.

I will for sure keep everyone updated on the process of the beer.  

Until than, Cheers!!!!

Coren

Pool Party Pale Ale

Greetings my friends of the humble malted barley! I hope you enjoyed our last post from Coren's Corner. I know I had fun going to the festival, so there is always that! Our next festival is coming up in Mundelein, IL in the parking lot of Tighthead Brewing Company. If you want to go, get some tickets here for 6/8!

It hasn't been that long since my last brew session, but you can't keep this guy away when he has the brewing bug. I decided to welcome the summer with two beers earlier, one of which was the Bloody Good Hefe (turned out so damn good!). The next one up is for the hopheads, which means I will enjoy this beer quite a bit (I might share...might).

This was a simple beer that I hyped up in two ways, rye and hop variety. I used flaked rye in order to get a bit more of a complex flavor from the malt and to also help with the head retention (rye, rice, corn, etc all have more protein in them than malted barley, so they can help in a big way here). Now, the varieties of hops I selected were all of the US, keeping with the American Pale Ale theme I set for myself, and they all needed to contribute something fun.

Why fun with the hops you may ask? Well, a certain someone that recently posted about a seminar blurted out a particular hop of a piney nature, and I decided I wanted to showcase the US hops for what they really do well: big bitterness and piney & citrus aromas. To accomplish this, we had 1 once of Simcoe up front with a modest 11.8% AA (Alpha acid, or the thing that makes beer bitter when boiled in wort). That was it until we reached the end with 2 ounces of Ahtanum to round out that citrus nose. So, that takes care of round 1 of piney & citrus, but what else can we do to show off?

Those of you that know me, know I love dry-hopped beers, so it was only natural that I would show off with exactly the same thing. We are going to have an extra 5 days of dry-hopping with 1 ounce each of Centennial, Chinook, and Simcoe, so we can fully appreciate the aromas of the Pacific Northwest.

Phew, just typing about it made me really excited to just get a whiff of this bad boy when it hits the bottling stage in a few short weeks (honestly, I may have drooled just a bit too, but it just sounds so good!).

So, the boil and everything went really well, as was expected. I had some Pale 2 Row and Crystal 20 L (that is 20 degrees Lovibond, which tells us beer geeks how much color we should get from the grain) steeping and some extracts, but nothing scary. There was a single late addition to help keep the beer balanced and not a hop bomb (hey, it isn't an IPA after all).

I used Wyeast 1272 American Ale II because it attenuates (changes sugar into alcohol) just about the same as 1056 American Ale, but it also is a bit better at flocculation, which is how fast the yeast finishes its work (better flocculation, the less time I wait for beer).

So, that is all I have about this brew day. But stay tuned for updates, per usual.

As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!

UPDATE 1: Wow, the 1272 is strong to start, that is for sure. That must be why so many people want to use it as a reliable "house" strain. I can detect the hops, obviously, from the blow off bucket, but also a bit of malty nuttiness. Wyeast, you nailed it again. I'm looking forward to seeing this beast in a bottle soon. Check out that krausen (foamy head from fermentation); its crazy!

UPDATE 2: I moved this to secondary yesterday, on top of 3 more ounces of hops (Centennial, Cascade, Chinook) to enhance the aroma. We should be bottling this within a week and drinking it inside of 3. Hoppy goodness here I come!

Coren's Corner: Belle City Festival & Lakefront Seminar Review

            Happy Craft Beer Week to all of you wonderful beer people. If you haven’t noticed by now, Brian has a significant passion for craft beer.  Anyways, his love of all things brewing has seriously inspired me to take the bull by the horns and learn more about this great community.  This is why I’m trying to attend as many events as possible to expand my horizons. In fact, just this past weekend, I sat in a great seminar at the Belle City Brew Fest in Racine, WI that I wanted to share with you.

This was our first beer festival of the season (yes, we did go to one last month, but we were volunteers so it is a major difference).  There was about 20 different breweries all lined up inside the Racine Civic Center and Brian and I were getting anxious to try some great brews.

With this event being in Wisconsin, one could say a sizable chunk of the breweries from Wisconsin were on hand to represent their brand.  Lakefront Brewery, who has always held a special place in my heart, was there sampling their many beers.  Not only have I been on their brewery tour 10 times (I think the 11^th should be free…), but I truly love what this brewery has to offer.  Last summer at Top of The Hops, Brian and I had the opportunity to meet the owner and brewer of LFB, Russ Klisch.  With me being the big dork that I am, I was kind of nervous to meet him. Their IPA, Fixed Gear and IBA are among my favorite beers ever, but I did muster up the nerve to shake his hand and state how much I like his beer.  What I was pleasantly surprised with was how genuinely Russ wants to make good beer.

           Since that initial meeting, Russ does notice Brian and me when we attend any beer events he happens to be at.  Well, at Belle City, I walked up to the LFB table and said hi and mention that the newest inductee in the My Turn Series, Chad, truly hit the barley wine style dead on. Russ kindly said thank you and then let us know that he will be speaking at a seminar that day at 4 pm.  Brian and I knew this would be something we would not want to miss.

After beer notes began to overflow in our respective notebooks, Brian and I headed to towards the seminar. Of course, we were among the first to arrive, took our seats right in the first row.  Others began to join us, some rowdy, some tired, but all with a love for good beer.  Russ started his presentation letting people know a little history behind his brewery and how they started off.  Now, this was all well and good, but the blessing/curse was the fact Brian and I had a keg with a test batch of their IPA right in front of us. During the presentation, folks constantly were asking poor Brian to keep filling their glass, which did get a bit annoying. I don’t think he minded in the end, or at least I hope not.

           Anyway, Russ got into detail about barely is converted into malt and the way it changes the flavors of different bears. He actually passed around malted milk balls and other gains for everyone to try, highlighting the differences in the kilning process as the grains got progressively darker. He then ventured into the world of hops and started explaining why they are so important in a beer. At this point in the seminar, volunteers were pouring some beers so each person was able to try his creations. This was really useful though, because each person was able to experience the complexities of malt and hop varieties.
 

           One of the more interesting parts was how hops can be added at different times during the boiling process, which directly impacts what they do to the beer.  We found out that dry-hopping, for example, actually captured certain compounds better than boiling. This was only highlighted when the question came out of how to get different flavors/aromas from hops, like pine, and I just said, “Oh, like in Simcoe.”  At that moment, Brian, who knows plenty about hops and their characteristics, turned his head to me and proudly stated, “Great job….”

In the end, what really impressed me with the day was getting to spend time inside the mind of a very successful brewer.  Russ Klisch really impressed me with his knowledge of the beer culture and why he got into it in the first place.  His operation with Lakefront Brewery is truly one to respect, and I fully expect that to continue.  After all that was said and done, I went up to Russ and thanked him for his time.  Even though this was only an hour long seminar, Brian and I walked away smiling knowing this was the reason we keep going to festivals: the culture.

I am very excited to see what other beer festivals have to offer this year.  We will be attending Tighhead’s Beer Fest on June 15 and Glendale Beer Lovers Festival on June 22.  So, keep your eyes glued to this blog.  Plus, much more will be happening in the next couple of months as far as new beer and other reviews.

           And with that, to all the beer geeks out there, there is only one thing left to say: Prost!  

Grammatical Error Kölsch

Hey there brew fans, I have another update to provide you! Big Brew has come and gone for 2013, and I have a new batch at home fermenting away. What is Big Brew you ask? Well, that just so happens to be the day the American Homebrewers Association tries to get its members to all brew on the same day, with the same recipe. I wasn't keen on the recipe choices for this year (Belgian Blonde, English Dark Mild, and American Pilsner), so I went my own route with it and made a Kölsch, the history of which is partly why I wanted to. Ok, I also love the way these taste as the weather gets hotter, so sue me.

So, what is a Kölsch? It is a style that has a hodgepodge of origins, just like the city it originates from in Germany. Cologne (Köln in German) is in West Germany and was originally a Roman trading hub between Munich and London as it was located by the Rhine River. Those that remained after the fall of Rome began to explore the art of brewing, and eventually they formed a guild in order to protect themselves from unfair taxation and labor practices, but also to make sure they could control their craft.

The craft the guild wanted to protect was the use of gruit, or herb mixtures to balance the sweetness of the malt. Kölsch got part of its identity in this, because the guild would eventually give in to the pressure of the time to use hops instead of gruit. The heritage of the spicy, fresh, and effervescent gruit would not be lost, however.

What makes this evolution all the more interesting was that it took place roughly when the lager revolution was beginning to pick up steam throughout Europe, but especially Germany. Because of how set the guild was in its ways, they outlawed the use of bottom-fermenting (lager) yeast in Cologne and stuck hard to the ale yeasts. Though, they did in the end concede on the use of lighter malt varieties in order to get closer to the popular golden lager color.

So, the beer finally had its basic components and was gaining interest, only to have the two World Wars interrupt them and make the brewers have to go down to a trickle as far as production. It wouldn't undo them though, as they fought back to firmly establish Kölsch a style the world would know forever.

That is the heritage of this style, and the history always pumps me up to find my own way to express it in the present. My recipe uses flaked wheat, which is a bit of a throwback to the wiess version, but I kept it grounded in what is considered a true Kölsch with pilsner malt. The hops are all noble varieties, and no one would venture away from the proper yeast for this style, so it all was pretty simple. The only extra I added in here was some roasted paradise seeds that I crushed and put in right at the end of the boil, to enhance the peppery and spicy qualities of the hops, especially the Saaz.

Overall, the brew day went super well, and I was even able to try my hand at increasing my mash temp gradually instead of the lazy man version of setting it to 160 F and letting it ride. I figure that should give me a more interesting flavor in the end, not to mention a smoother finish. I'm very excited to try it again in a larger batch.

That is all I have for now, but stay tuned for a new post from Coren's Corner and a beer festival review.

As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!

UPDATE 1: This was not a slouch at fermenting, which I am happy to see. The aroma coming off the blow off bucket is great and makes me want it to finish all the faster. I'd like to try this one again with a bit more wheat, especially red wheat, in the grain bill, just to see what it would taste like. Anyways, here she is after about 30 hours after pitching.

Bloody Good Hefe

"For a quart of ale is a dish for a king," William Shakespeare, 'A Winter's Tale'.

On this wonderful Talk Like Shakespeare day, it only seems fitting to offer up a new post in addition to some wisdom from the bard himself. The topic of the day is the beer made for my little sister, who is a fiend when it comes to the wheat beers of the world. This is my first wheat beer, but I really enjoyed the process behind it, starting with my research.

I dove into texts and different websites to discern the unique aspects of the wheat beer, and I came up with some interesting points. Wheat beers could be considered one of the oldest, if not the oldest, styles created by mankind. In fact, a crock was found in Kulmbach (north of Nuremberg, in the southern part of Germany) dating back to 800 BC that held the remains of a black wheat beer!

I was also blown away at another link to weissebier (white beer, due to the pale appearance), this time with the Reinheitsgetbot Purity Law of 1516. At one point, the production of weissebier was controlled by the duchy of Bavaria, until the original house's lineage and the rights passed on to another. The second noble house, the Wittlesbach, made the Purity Law, but not because they necessarily wanted the beer to be of the best quality. The law required beer to  be made from water, barley, and hops (yeast was unknown, so it is considered an unwritten but acceptable ingredient), which does in fact give a more "pure" brew to enjoy. The house of Wittlesbach, however, controlled much of the barley farming in addition to the weissebier production. So, in the end, the use of the law was more to solidify their monopoly on ingredients and a highly sought after product!

Even with the advent of the lagers in the 1800s, the weissebiers of the world not only thrive, but continue to evolve. This evolution brings me to my recipe for this offering to the masses. I wanted to take a route that will be similar to the old versions, living up to the Purity Law of 1516, with my own flair on the ingredients. I have had the raspberry,cherry, and I have had other fruit variations, so I began to contemplate the possibilities. I finally arrived at a mixture of my ideas and one I really like already: blood oranges and strawberries. The use of blood oranges is something Sam from Dogfish Head, in his infinite wisdom, decided to pair with the weissebier style, and it couldn't have been more successful. I wanted to take that and run with it by adding strawberries into secondary, offering a different aroma and a hint of extra sweetness for those summer days around the corner.

Unfortunately, Coren and I were unable to acquire the fabled blood oranges as they are very seasonal (I swear we tried!). So, to compensate for that, I used cara cara navel oranges at a lower amount due to their increased sweetness, and upped the quantity of strawberries from 3 lbs to 4 lbs for balance.

The process for this boil couldn't have been easier. The grains went in, the hops were added (2 ounces of German Hallertau, so nothing difficult), and the oranges were pasteurized  for 15 min before joining the wort in the carboy. All in all, this was surprisingly easy and quick, so it maybe a beer I try again with some other local ingredients (I have a few interesting ideas floating around up there already...he he he). The decision to go with the Wyeast 3068 is something I am very happy about, because I read a lot about the strain's wonderful esters and phenols and it makes my mouth water thinking of the banana and clove aromas mingling with the oranges and strawberries.

I am very excited to get this into secondary in a few more days, on top of the strawberries that are really looking quite tasty. The turn around on this batch may make it one I decide to turn into a year-round offering, but we shall see.

This will not be a very long fermentation, considering the amount of yeast I used, and the lower gravity of this (1.061), so updates should follow shortly.

As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!

UPDATE 1: Holy crap! This guy didn't wait at all to ferment, and what a crazy krausen! I had to take a whiff, and this is certainly getting some serious orange and bready notes. The esters and phenols are already in high gear as well. The only down side to the 3068 strain is some sulfur being produced, but this goes away in secondary and conditioning. All is looking and smelling quite nice!

UPDATE 2: The strawberries have been added to the secondary after a nice long pasteurizing session on the stove. They added so much volume to the carboy that I had to grab a second one and add about 1 gal of the original recipe to it! Oh well, I will just have to suffer through 2 wonderful German wheat beers in a few weeks. Prost!

Festival Review: Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition

Greetings brewsters! I am so happy to be able to provide you this post, since I finally have a second to do it, about my recent trip to St. Louis for what is easily one of my favorite festivals, the Repeal of Prohibition at Schlafly.


This marks the beginning of the good weather for festivals, although that doesn't always hold true. A few years ago, the festival was on a day with a blistering 15F as the high. This year, we did quite nicely with around 70F, so no complaints at all.

Coren and I arrived on a Friday, albeit in less than optimal conditions: my cell phone was damaged beyond repair and I'd gotten a speeding ticket to start our trip. Did that stop us from getting to our destination or having a fan-freakin-tastic time? In short: not a damn bit.

As we arrived to the festival on Saturday, the stage was getting prepped for the band to keep our toes tapping all day long. One small note about bands at festivals: I really don't want you to be super loud or have a ton of lyric-heavy songs, because it means I cannot focus on my friends and of course the beer. As a result, I tip my hat to Swing DeVille for not only being a great group overall, but they didn't require me to shout to be heard. Huzzah!

Continuing on, this festival holds a dear spot in my heart because Schlafly invites guest breweries to show off their stuff. Past invitees have included Alaskan, Midnight Sun, Deep Ellum, and Shorts. This year, it was time for Iowa to represent, and they did with Great River, Backpocket, and Peace Tree.

So, as the festival started up, Coren and I took up our positions: pouring for Backpocket. This is a big deal to pour for one of the guests, so needless to say, I was pretty stoked. Coren was stationed next to me, so it was nothing short of perfection. As the festival started, however, we soon realized that she was in for a rough day. Her chosen beer was a touch over-carbonated, and as a result, she really had to focus on getting a decent pour to each patron. She gets some serious credit for holding strong and never backing down, even when she got the stink eye from a certain fella (yeah, I saw you...you watch your ass bucko).

The day continued on with little to no issues that I noticed, unless you count my allergies deciding that the festival was the best time to overreact to the world (seriously, I hate allergies). We managed to finish up our shift, and go about and enjoy the offerings around us and our buddies.

Coren was a HUGE fan of the Dirty Blonde from Great River, which shouldn't be shocking because it was a golden ale brewed with chocolate. I have to admit, it was probably the biggest WOW beer of the festival if for nothing less than its contrasting color & flavor.

For me, I was torn in a few directions with my choices. I poured a really nicely balanced Munich dunkel from Backpocket, which was located next to their peated bock that was meant for someone that likes a good scotch (THIS guy right here). I also found plenty of joy in the complex barrel aged farmer brown from Great River and the easy-drinking rye porter from Peace Tree. Each of them brought a nice hoppy offering too, so trying to name a favorite beer is just far too difficult for me (but I'm happy to keep trying them...he he he).

Schlafly, of course, had plenty of their wonderful beers available to try, including a few I was itching to get my hands on. The Belgian golden and Scotch ale were really just fun departures from the beers they have made in the past, and I was pleasantly surprised with how easy they were to enjoy. I fully plan to have more of each from my stockpile I returned home with over the next few months, so don't be shocked to see a review of either (wink wink).

Overall, this was a festival that can be crazy or easy, and I'm happy to say that this one went off quite well. Coren and I even got to see 2 beer festival newbies get their feet wet this year, one of which is the wife to a good friend and fellow beer geek (shout out to my man Stewart and his super cool wife Kristin!). I look forward to the next festival, considering how well this one went for us. Thanks to everyone that made this weekend one to remember: You know who you are!

As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!

Banshee's Wail

Good morning malt fans! I have a wonderful brew day to share with you, as a result of some friends that wanted to see how brew is done. There is a bit of back story here, so I will start with that.

Kelly & Debbie, two wonderful ladies, have been in the housecleaning game for a while, and that includes my folks place. Well, I have made it a point to make sure they get to try any new offerings I have when they are available, and they are proving to be very capable and fun tasters. This lead to the questions of whether or not I'd be willing to brew with them some time, especially since Kelly's husband Jim was interested in the process ever since he tried Awesome Sauce IPA (I guess he liked it enough to want to do it on his own some time).

That lead me to a wonderful Saturday where we got to make something Coren asked for, and imperial Irish Red. I had to scratch my head on this one for a recipe, and I think we have either arrived at a bigger version of it in every category or more of an amber ale. I'm more than happy to keep playing with this recipe, but in the end, this should still be a fine sipper as the weather starts to get warmer.

The stats on this one are as follows:

• OG 1.074
• FG 1.020
• ABV 7.09%
• IBU 34.04

So, it will be bigger in every way possible, but next time I may scale the hops down just a bit, especially since this may end up being a bit higher than the 34 IBUs that I originally calculated. Age will always smooth that out if need be, but I think the extra malt I added in primary (he he) will help to balance this out a bit more.

As for the day itself, to call it anything short of a total blast would be an understatement. We started our day with getting things set up in their kitchen (holy cow, what an amazing kitchen), and then got the specialty grains steeping. I was able to keep the temp right around 158 for the entire 30 minutes, which I think was mostly due to a pretty strong burner on that stove. While we waited, Coren and I were treated to some of Jim's world-famous Bloody Mary's (yum).

As the day rolled on, Debbie and her husband Frank showed up, and I was able to provide some background to the type of beer we were making, and also allow them each to take turns with various steps, like hop additions and sparging the grains. They all seemed to really enjoy it, mostly because they really didn't believe it was all that easy.

The day wrapped up and we returned with the carboy fully loaded, aerated, and pitched with a full starter (.5 gal growler) and an extra smack pack of Wyeast Irish Ale.

The sample looked, smelled, and tasted great, and I am anxious to see the results of this bad boy!

As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte! 

UPDATE 1: The fermentation on this took off like a bandit! I sent a picture over to Kelly so Jim could see the result of our efforts, and I'm really looking forward to bringing a bottle of this over for us to try in a few weeks.

UPDATE 2: This has been bottled and is now in conditioning! I am happy to say I ended up with a fun beer, beyond what I had planned. The nose is AMAZING and the taste has a hint of the hops so as to give bitterness without being overt. The malt flavors mingled really nicely with the extra ABV we put into this, and she finishes nice and dry. I am pumped to try this in a couple of weeks.

UPDATE 3: Here is a fantastic view of the Banshee being enjoyed by Jim and Jake Thiel. Cheers gents!