I'm going to delve a little deeper into homebrewing for a bunch of posts on this blog, and, in particular, my process of homebrewing from beginning to end. This is going to involve some technical posts about the science of brewing, some philosophical posts about the art of brewing, and probably some posts about the stupidity of brewing. These are all things I think about, sometimes in depth and sometimes very superficially, when I go through my brewing process.
So without further ado, Part One of The Brewing Process.
What kind of beer do I want?
At a bar, this is an easy question to answer. (The answer is Surly Furious.)
However, in the context of brewing, that is not as trivial of a question as it may appear.
The question gets even more important if you are brewing commercially and having to take market saturation, differentiation, and seasonal consumer tastes into account. (Ever try and sell a hefeweizen in late fall?) However, this is a focus on homebrewing best practices with a particular emphasis on my process, so I will skip all that professional stuff other than to say it's really hard to figure out what to brew as a pro. So props to them.
There are a few things you need to remember when deciding what to brew: personal preference, volumes, and time. Obviously the most important thing is personal preference. If you don't like roasty beers, don't brew a roasty beer. That is the beauty of being a homebrewer; you get to brew what YOU want, not what anyone else wants.
Think about what you have had recently at your local pub, or brought home from the liquor store. Think about what traits you liked from those beers, and what you wanted more of. Think about what you didn't get from those beers you had. At this stage in my brewing process, I deliberately avoid thinking in terms of styles, and think instead of flavors and priorities. Styles can come later when you are designing your recipe. I come up with a few adjectives for what I want my beer to be, and roll them around in my head for a while. For a little help with this, I sometimes take a peek at the BJCP checklist for judging homebrew. Be warned though. There are some adjectives that you do NOT want in your beer. Thankfully, most of those are labeled Flaws on the sheet, but just be careful.
Next is volume. Remember, you are brewing 5 (10, or 20) gallons of the stuff. That smoked beer you had a pint of at the local pub might be awesome, but do you really see yourself drinking 40 pints of the stuff?
Finally, there is time. The 13% ABV mega beer you are thinking about will take at least 6 months to mellow to the point where you can drink it. And a normal beer still takes a few weeks to ferment, then time to clear and carbonate. So if you have a taste for a big dark sipping beer to keep you warm in the cold winter but it will be March before you get a chance to brew it, it may be a good idea just to buy a 6 pack of a commercial example of that and brew something you are more likely to drink when the weather gets warmer by the time the beer is done. Also, don't forget that it takes time to go through all 5 gallons of the beer.
Once you have an idea of what you want, it is time to put it on paper and start making a recipe. Stay tuned for part two!
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
January 13, 2011
January 10, 2011
Happy Birthday to Me
So my birthday happened over the past weekend, and it got me thinking about when I turned 21 and had my first (memorable) experience with beer. I'm sure I had some tastes here and there before then, but it wasn't anything mind-blowing, and generally left me with a general feeling of ambivalence when it came to our favorite malt beverage.
If you hadn't guessed already, my birthday is at the beginning of January, a time when college students are typically home on winter break. I'm not entirely sure how I convinced my parents to let me go down to college for my 21st birthday; I'm pretty sure I mentioned something about undergraduate research and chemistry or something... But let me go they did. (Although, looking back at it now, I'm pretty sure they knew exactly what I was doing, but does it really matter?)
My roommate at the time and I made the trek out on that cold winter's night to the only pub at the University of Illinois that I trusted on that fateful night: Murphy's. Now, it may not have technically been 21 years old as I approached the bar, since the clocks had not yet struck midnight, but with a little sweet talking the bartendress (is that the proper term for a female bartender? bartendrix?) handed me my first beer.
What did I order? Well, as I was pretty much a total neophyte when it came to beer, all I knew was not to get one of the big three. Beyond that, I was an impressionable youth. And that, my dear readers, was one of the very few times in my life that I allowed advertising to make a choice for me. So what was my order?
That's right. Fosters.
What can I say? The giant oil can persuaded me. I wondered what made it so special. And the beer told me... a large advertising budget and a catchy slogan.
I did learn something else that fateful night. The Fosters we get here in the USA isn't Australian; it's Canadian. That's right. Fosters: It's Australian for Canadian for Beer.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
If you hadn't guessed already, my birthday is at the beginning of January, a time when college students are typically home on winter break. I'm not entirely sure how I convinced my parents to let me go down to college for my 21st birthday; I'm pretty sure I mentioned something about undergraduate research and chemistry or something... But let me go they did. (Although, looking back at it now, I'm pretty sure they knew exactly what I was doing, but does it really matter?)
My roommate at the time and I made the trek out on that cold winter's night to the only pub at the University of Illinois that I trusted on that fateful night: Murphy's. Now, it may not have technically been 21 years old as I approached the bar, since the clocks had not yet struck midnight, but with a little sweet talking the bartendress (is that the proper term for a female bartender? bartendrix?) handed me my first beer.
What did I order? Well, as I was pretty much a total neophyte when it came to beer, all I knew was not to get one of the big three. Beyond that, I was an impressionable youth. And that, my dear readers, was one of the very few times in my life that I allowed advertising to make a choice for me. So what was my order?
That's right. Fosters.
What can I say? The giant oil can persuaded me. I wondered what made it so special. And the beer told me... a large advertising budget and a catchy slogan.
I did learn something else that fateful night. The Fosters we get here in the USA isn't Australian; it's Canadian. That's right. Fosters: It's Australian for Canadian for Beer.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
January 5, 2011
Hop Taste Testing
Ever drink a brew and go "Man...What is that hop? Is that Cascade? Centennial?"
I do, and it bugs the crap out of me sometimes. So I decided to brew some "single" hop beers (I'll explain the quotation marks in a sec...) with the same base recipe to help me determine the flavor profiles of a bunch of different hops.
The base recipe I started with is for a plain jane American Pale Ale:
10 lbs Pale 2 row (American)
1 lb Crystal 40
0.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
With my typical 69% efficiency, that brings me to a 1.052 OG. Looking at the style guide for APAs (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style10.php#1a), I am right in the middle for OG, and maybe a little light on color, but still well to style. The recipe is simple, and easy to duplicate. I mash at about 150 dF to keep the beer on the dry side. The lack of residual sweetness should help the hop flavors come out a bit more.
Now for the hops. 35 IBUs is near the middle of the range in the style guide. I chose that number because it's a nice round number (The true middle of the IBU range would be 37.5), and should be easy to reproduce. However, Centennial at 10% alpha acid and Cascade at 5% AA have very different bittering properties. In order to both cut down on the amount of vegetal matter in my kettle and fermentor and keep the flavor and aromas as consistent as possible, I decided to hold both the weights of my hops and the IBUs as constant as I can.
This is where the quotation marks at the beginning of the post come into play. I will make hop additions to the beer of 1 oz at 15 min, 5 min, and flameout regardless of the AA of the hop. From there, I will determine the IBUs that I need to add as bittering, and toss in some Magnum at 60 min to cover the difference. I use Magnum because a) I have a lot of it and b) it is a very unobtrusive bittering hop, and should stay out of the way to let the flavor and aroma hops shine through.
Use the same yeast for all the brews, and attempt to keep the temps the same and conditions the same. I use California Ale yeast (WLP001 from White Labs) because it's clean, and doesn't get a lot of esters in the way of the hop flavor. I always use a starter for beers above 1.040, and using the Yeast Pitching Rate Calculator on MrMalty.com is your best bet.
So for my first test APA, I used the perennial favorite: Cascade.
Here's what my BeerSmith printout looked like:
So as you can see by my tasting notes, I was a big fan of the aroma and not so much of a fan of the flavor component of the Cascades, which I have taken into account for when I plan other brews. Next up in this series of beers will be a Columbus APA.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
I do, and it bugs the crap out of me sometimes. So I decided to brew some "single" hop beers (I'll explain the quotation marks in a sec...) with the same base recipe to help me determine the flavor profiles of a bunch of different hops.
The base recipe I started with is for a plain jane American Pale Ale:
10 lbs Pale 2 row (American)
1 lb Crystal 40
0.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
With my typical 69% efficiency, that brings me to a 1.052 OG. Looking at the style guide for APAs (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style10.php#1a), I am right in the middle for OG, and maybe a little light on color, but still well to style. The recipe is simple, and easy to duplicate. I mash at about 150 dF to keep the beer on the dry side. The lack of residual sweetness should help the hop flavors come out a bit more.
Now for the hops. 35 IBUs is near the middle of the range in the style guide. I chose that number because it's a nice round number (The true middle of the IBU range would be 37.5), and should be easy to reproduce. However, Centennial at 10% alpha acid and Cascade at 5% AA have very different bittering properties. In order to both cut down on the amount of vegetal matter in my kettle and fermentor and keep the flavor and aromas as consistent as possible, I decided to hold both the weights of my hops and the IBUs as constant as I can.
This is where the quotation marks at the beginning of the post come into play. I will make hop additions to the beer of 1 oz at 15 min, 5 min, and flameout regardless of the AA of the hop. From there, I will determine the IBUs that I need to add as bittering, and toss in some Magnum at 60 min to cover the difference. I use Magnum because a) I have a lot of it and b) it is a very unobtrusive bittering hop, and should stay out of the way to let the flavor and aroma hops shine through.
Use the same yeast for all the brews, and attempt to keep the temps the same and conditions the same. I use California Ale yeast (WLP001 from White Labs) because it's clean, and doesn't get a lot of esters in the way of the hop flavor. I always use a starter for beers above 1.040, and using the Yeast Pitching Rate Calculator on MrMalty.com is your best bet.
So for my first test APA, I used the perennial favorite: Cascade.
Here's what my BeerSmith printout looked like:
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Base APA
Brewer: Andrew Goode
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0) Great aroma. Not sure if I like the flavor portion of the hop character coming from Cascades. Great head retention.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 7.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 35.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 69.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
-----------
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 86.96%
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) 8.70%
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) 4.35%
0.50 oz Magnum [12.90 %] (60 min) 26.3 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (15 min) 5.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (5 min) 3.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (0 min) 0.0 IBU
1.10 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
1.6 L Starter California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)
Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 11.50 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step Add 20.00 qt of water at 158.2 F 150.0 F
10 min Step Add 13.00 qt of water at 204.0 F 170.0 F
Notes:
------
Mash in: 150 End of Mash: 149 Mash Out: 162? Sparge: 165
3 gal first runnings. 3 gal 2nd runnings. Only 6 gal collected. Lots of evaporation?
Down to 70 dF in about 20-25 min. Woo.
Pitched at 62 dF. Good krausen at 7am the next day. Must have been a 12-18 hour lag. Go Go Gadget Starter.
1.012 final gravity
-------------------------------------------------------------
So as you can see by my tasting notes, I was a big fan of the aroma and not so much of a fan of the flavor component of the Cascades, which I have taken into account for when I plan other brews. Next up in this series of beers will be a Columbus APA.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
January 4, 2011
What is "Small"?
In a move that shocked absolutely noone who follows the beer industry, the Brewers Association changed the definition of "small" in the definition of a craft brewer to one that makes no more than 6 million barrels of beer per year, up from 2 million barrels per year.
Why the change from the original (and completely arbitrary) 2 million per year to the new (and still completely arbitrary) 6 million per year? The press release says it is because "The largest brewer in the U.S. has grown from 45 million barrels to 300 million barrels of global beer production" in the 34 years since the original tax law was put into place. But the real reason for the change is Boston Beer Company, maker of Sam Adams, is about ready to break through that 2 million barrel per year cap. Since Sam Adams represents about 20% of the craft beer market all by itself, if Boston Beer was to grow out of the definition of a "craft brewer" the market share of craft beer will plummet.
And we can't have that.
Every industry needs limits and definition. It is essential for giving the industry an identity so it can thrive. The definition of a craft brewer, as defined by the Brewers Association, is a brewer that is "Small", "Independant", and "Traditional". However, is a brewer that makes approximately 55 million cases of beer per year (2 million barrels) a small brewery?
I am very happy for Boston Beer company and I wish them nothing but success in the future, but I think the Brewers Association needs to change the definition to what they really mean when they say craft brewer: Someone who is not owned by MillerCoors, or AB-InBev.
You can read the press release here.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
Why the change from the original (and completely arbitrary) 2 million per year to the new (and still completely arbitrary) 6 million per year? The press release says it is because "The largest brewer in the U.S. has grown from 45 million barrels to 300 million barrels of global beer production" in the 34 years since the original tax law was put into place. But the real reason for the change is Boston Beer Company, maker of Sam Adams, is about ready to break through that 2 million barrel per year cap. Since Sam Adams represents about 20% of the craft beer market all by itself, if Boston Beer was to grow out of the definition of a "craft brewer" the market share of craft beer will plummet.
And we can't have that.
Every industry needs limits and definition. It is essential for giving the industry an identity so it can thrive. The definition of a craft brewer, as defined by the Brewers Association, is a brewer that is "Small", "Independant", and "Traditional". However, is a brewer that makes approximately 55 million cases of beer per year (2 million barrels) a small brewery?
I am very happy for Boston Beer company and I wish them nothing but success in the future, but I think the Brewers Association needs to change the definition to what they really mean when they say craft brewer: Someone who is not owned by MillerCoors, or AB-InBev.
You can read the press release here.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
January 3, 2011
Thank you Old Chicago, or How I learned to stop worrying and love the hops.
I moved from the northwest suburbs of Chicago up to the Twin Cities in June of 2002, just after graduation from University of Illinois (Go Illini!) with a degree in Chemistry. I left my family and friends and pretty much everyone I had ever known to move to Minnesota.
What was in Minnesota to make me go do that?
The University of Minnesota where my then girlfriend now wife was going to become a Ph. D student. (She eventually got her Master's degree and jumped into industry, but that's a whole other blog...)
At that point, I was mildly knowledgeable about craft beer, but I still didn't realize the amount I didn't know. I was in the Guinness-Harp-Sam Adams phase of beer drinking. (Anyone who has gone from clueless to craft beer lover knows what phase that is; "Black and Tans are the best thing to ever happen to beer!" *sigh*) Did I love beer at that point? Nope. Would I have even considered homebrewing, let alone dreaming of opening my own establishment, at that point? Heck no.
My how things change, and it all started because of one dining and drinking establishment.
Old Chicago.
For those not in the know, Old Chicago is a chain bar/restaurant/pizzeria scattered about the USA (although, somewhat surprisingly, not in Chicago). One day, the wife and I, fresh off the proverbial boat from Chicagoland, see a restaurant claiming to be the embodiment of Chicago and decide to go check it out. While the pizza doesn't hold a candle to Chicago deep dish, the main attraction was the 20ish beer taps and a similar number of bottled beer available. Now this may not seem too crazy nowadays, but remember this was 2002; well before the near double-digit percentage increases in craft beer sales recently.
The sheer number of beers, while impressive, by itself would not have been enough to push me towards craft beer lover. However, they had a special beer drinker's card which got you swag if you drank x number of different beers. So drinking 20 Sam Adams would not get you anything, but drinking one each of 20 different beers would get you a t-shirt or something. If you drank one of every beer they had, you got your name engraved on a plaque on the wall.
Now being a video game player and a slightly obsessive completionist when it comes to collections and free stuff, I very willingly fell right into their trap: Asking the server for printouts of what beers I have on my record. Planning my drinking such that I maximized the number of varieties I could drink before they were rotated out. I didn't make a spreadsheet, but I was close.
I never got my name on the plaque, but trying such a wide variety of beers opened my eyes to the world of craft beer. The experience taught me a lot about what I liked, what I didn't like, and ultimately what good beer tastes like.
Thank you Old Chicago.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
What was in Minnesota to make me go do that?
The University of Minnesota where my then girlfriend now wife was going to become a Ph. D student. (She eventually got her Master's degree and jumped into industry, but that's a whole other blog...)
At that point, I was mildly knowledgeable about craft beer, but I still didn't realize the amount I didn't know. I was in the Guinness-Harp-Sam Adams phase of beer drinking. (Anyone who has gone from clueless to craft beer lover knows what phase that is; "Black and Tans are the best thing to ever happen to beer!" *sigh*) Did I love beer at that point? Nope. Would I have even considered homebrewing, let alone dreaming of opening my own establishment, at that point? Heck no.
My how things change, and it all started because of one dining and drinking establishment.
Old Chicago.
For those not in the know, Old Chicago is a chain bar/restaurant/pizzeria scattered about the USA (although, somewhat surprisingly, not in Chicago). One day, the wife and I, fresh off the proverbial boat from Chicagoland, see a restaurant claiming to be the embodiment of Chicago and decide to go check it out. While the pizza doesn't hold a candle to Chicago deep dish, the main attraction was the 20ish beer taps and a similar number of bottled beer available. Now this may not seem too crazy nowadays, but remember this was 2002; well before the near double-digit percentage increases in craft beer sales recently.
The sheer number of beers, while impressive, by itself would not have been enough to push me towards craft beer lover. However, they had a special beer drinker's card which got you swag if you drank x number of different beers. So drinking 20 Sam Adams would not get you anything, but drinking one each of 20 different beers would get you a t-shirt or something. If you drank one of every beer they had, you got your name engraved on a plaque on the wall.
Now being a video game player and a slightly obsessive completionist when it comes to collections and free stuff, I very willingly fell right into their trap: Asking the server for printouts of what beers I have on my record. Planning my drinking such that I maximized the number of varieties I could drink before they were rotated out. I didn't make a spreadsheet, but I was close.
I never got my name on the plaque, but trying such a wide variety of beers opened my eyes to the world of craft beer. The experience taught me a lot about what I liked, what I didn't like, and ultimately what good beer tastes like.
Thank you Old Chicago.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
January 1, 2011
About Me, the Long Version.
I am a father, a husband, a chemist, a gamer, a geek...
and a brewer.
My name is Andrew Goode, and I'm the brewmaster of Hedgehog Brewing Company, and my dream in life is to make that title actually mean something. I am creating this blog to chronicle my brewing career, my recipes, my dreams, and possibly even my failures.
So what is Hedgehog Brewing Company? Currently, it's the kegerator in my basement, the glass and plastic carboys where my beer is fermenting, and the propane turkey fryer in my garage. What will Hedgehog Brewing Company be in the future? A local neighborhood brewpub in the Twin Cities where people can drink good craft brew, and eat good food in an atmosphere conducive to families and drunken fratboys alike (although hopefully not simultaneously). I envision 5-6 beers on tap at any one time, with 3-4 of them being available year round with 1-2 seasonal beers.
Anyway, I will post when I can. Thanks for heading my way.
and a brewer.
My name is Andrew Goode, and I'm the brewmaster of Hedgehog Brewing Company, and my dream in life is to make that title actually mean something. I am creating this blog to chronicle my brewing career, my recipes, my dreams, and possibly even my failures.
So what is Hedgehog Brewing Company? Currently, it's the kegerator in my basement, the glass and plastic carboys where my beer is fermenting, and the propane turkey fryer in my garage. What will Hedgehog Brewing Company be in the future? A local neighborhood brewpub in the Twin Cities where people can drink good craft brew, and eat good food in an atmosphere conducive to families and drunken fratboys alike (although hopefully not simultaneously). I envision 5-6 beers on tap at any one time, with 3-4 of them being available year round with 1-2 seasonal beers.
Anyway, I will post when I can. Thanks for heading my way.
Cheers. Na zdrowie. Gun bae.
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