No-Boil Brewing

I stay chillin'... It swings from about 52-73 degrees Fahrenheit out here in Palo Alto, CA and I've been looking for a way to keep my cool under a blazing sun or to stop my Floridian blood from freezing over as we creep into night. So, naturally, if I want to stay cool or keep warm I think about brewing (and subsequently drinking said brew).

Now that I'm all the way over here and 11 degrees north of the subtropical Lake Worth, Florida, I need to spend my electricity wisely on running a fan through the afternoon and keeping my toes warm at night. So, I thought about going the no-boil route on my latest batch of beer.

NO-BOIL (sort of...)

The idea comes from using a can of extract, bottled water, and activated liquid yeast, and -- contrary to the title -- boiled water to steep the hops.  Since most store-bought extracts come canned, and presumably sanitized in the container, there's little reason to boil except to give hops a medium in which to soak, or to kill off any errant microorganisms that might threaten your future brew from quaff-able completion.  There is, of course, a dry-hop alternative that would totally eliminate the need for any type of heating.

HOW DOES HE DO IT?

Undercover Bos'

Like a bauce.

TELL ME MORE!

Hold your horses.  I'm getting to it.

Procedure:

1. The no-boil brew is basically a test of endurance while you shake up pre-bottled water and extract to completely dissolve the malt syrup or powder into the liquid.  Take any extract recipe and pick up any materials you need to make this thing happen.
2. Start the brewday by sanitizing your brewing equipment.  An investment into a five-gallon bucket and a bottle of IO Star Sanitizer will last many a brewday.  Plus, the IO Star Sanitizer's effective concentration is so low (two caps full per 5 gallons of water) that you hardly need more than a quick rinse, if at all.
3. I used a 6.5-gallon glass carboy and added a couple gallons of store-bought room-temperature water.  Into that, I began to pour liquid malt extract to fit the recipe I chose.  Then I shook it all up until it seemed like the syrup was at least mostly dissolved in the water.  I topped off the recipe with the remaining few gallons of water for my 5-gallon batch and swirled that up to further dilute the syrup.
4. Now, when it comes to hops, you could either make a hop-tea (and maybe add a heat-activated fining agent to clear your brew a little more) and let it cool off enough to add it to your wort.  Give it another swirl and then you're ready to add a few billion of your tiniest friends to the pool.
5. Finally, the windup and the pitch.  I chose an aggressive yeast to help convert the sugar into magically delicious ethanol as quickly and completely as possible.  I was on a time-budget, so I chose that route.  Otherwise, I don't see any harm in picking your favorite or style-specific strain.

THAT'S ALL?

Yup.  It's really simple from here.  Just let the brew ferment as usual and in a few weeks, you'll be bottling, kegging, or guzzling delicious, homemade beer straight from the fermenter.



QUESTIONS/COMMENTS?

As always, feel free to write in at AskAHomebrewer@gmail.com.  You can release your horses now.

West Coastale

Like many pioneers before me, I have left the world I know for a taste of Adventure, a flavor that happens to go very well with beer.

This young man has gone west.  In a single 3,000-mile leap, I've left the beaches of South Florida for the east-bay area of Northern California.

After a little more than two months in my new Pacific Coast panorama, I withdrew my brew gear from slumber and embarked on a familiar yet excitingly new experience -- Brew Day.

Since the Thai Breaker Brew Day earlier this year, I've been holding onto a sealed bucket of mixed grains, a handful of hops, and a packet of Safale US-05.  Having left behind my heavy-duty propane double-burner, I relented to return to the electric coils of the kitchen stove.  But a Brew Day is a Brew Day, and I was pumped anyway.

I decided to take the brew-in-a-bag route for this all-grain recipe which proved to be very manageable in an indoor setting.

My First West Coast Brew

The recipe was very simple and scaled down for a one-gallon batch, but it's enough to make myself feel more at home out here on the Left Coast.  So, if you'd like to follow along and cheers along with Brewty and the Yeast's first West Coast Ale, peep the notes below.

West Coastale Batch Size: 1 gal. Brewed By: Brent Fedor Efficiency: 65%

Mash Malt Name Wt. (lbs.) % of Mash Crystal (20L) 2 76.9 Flaked Oats .6 23.1 Total Weight 2.60

Hops Hop Variety Alpha Acid % Amt. (oz.) Boil (min.) Hop IBU Magnum - Pellet 15.2 0.25 20 49.7 Kent Goldings - Pellet 4.75 0.25 10 9.3 (template courtesy of BeerFormulator.com)

Beer Stats Estimated Beer Color SG ABV(%) AA(%) Balance Value (BV) 19 SRM 1.058 6.4 82.8 2.53 FG IBU Calories Target BV 1.010 59.0 252 (per 16 oz. Pint) ANY

Session Notes Yeast Strain(s) Used: Safale US-05 Fermentaion Temp: 68°F Sanitized one-gallon jug with Iodophor. Mashed for 60 minutes (brew-in-a-bag method). Removed the brew-bag and boiled the wort for 60 minutes. Added 0.25 oz. of Magnum hops at 40 minutes.  Added 0.5 teaspoons of Irish Moss at 45 minutes.  Added 0.25 oz. Kent Goldings hops at 50 minutes into the boil. Covered the brewpot at the end of the boil to bring most of the hop sediment up the sides of the vessel for easy removal.  Chilled the brew in an ice bath, filtered and funneled into the sanitized one-gallon jug, and pitched the yeast at 75-F degrees.

The Cure for Spring Fever: Five Top Spring Beers

One day, you catch your reflection in the rear view.  A bead of sweat swells and then disappears into your stocking cap.  Uh-oh!  You've caught it.  Spring Fever. The only cure I can think of starts with “B” and ends with “Ahhh…” as in “a nice glass of beer -- ahh!"

We’ve waited long enough through cold Winter months for a chance to shed our sweaters, park ourselves under the sun with a refreshing brew to keep us well-basted and not too wasted. Despite warm afternoons, you might still catch hints of Winter and spend chilly evenings halfway between craving a crisp, light lager, or a downy and warming ale.

Whichever side of the pint you stand, here are a few perennial and seasonal beers that’ll help you shake off Winter blues for warmer Springtime hues.


Shiner Bock Spring Ale Dortmunder

Shiner Bock Dortmunder

Your afternoon begins with Shiner Bock’s Springtime seasonal beer, Dortmunder, a Spring Ale. The light, sweet grains perfumed by floral blooms and cut grass tell you that it’s perfect for warmer weather. This 5.5%ABV brew is an excellent thirst-quencher and partner to grillside get-togethers.








 Barbãr Belgian Honey Ale

Barbãr Belgian Honey Ale

From Brasserie Lefebvre, the 8%ABV is well-hidden and can refresh and warm you within the same glass. The subtle taste of honey and citrus draw you in like bees to Spring wildflowers.








Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA

Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA

Belgium’s Achouffe Brewery finds a balance between sweet red apple and an earthy farmhouse cheese (a famed characteristic of Belgian beers). It’s a creamy, golden ale, finishes dry, and at 9%ABV it’s a great India Pale Ale for coasting into a cooler Springtime evening.

Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager

Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager

Abita Brewing marks the peak of our local strawberry season with a light, smooth lager made with real strawberries. At 4.2%ABV, Strawberry Harvest Lager drinks clean, crisp, and finishes with an intense hit of berry goodness.





Southampton Publick House Double White

Southampton Double White

Southampton Publick House brews a golden, Belgian-style witbier of 6.6%ABV with red apple, citrus, pear and dewy grass notes. The “double” represents the strength, but could also suggest how it plays double duty for daytime and nighttime enjoyment.








All of these beers may quench your thirst no matter what time of year you pour them (stash some of the seasonals in your pantry like a good beer nut).  But for the next seven weeks until the Summer Solstice, let these picks chip off the icy winter chill and put the Spring back in your step.

Cheers!

Brew-Thai and the Beast

Hello, Brewthers and Sisters!

This weekend was a great one -- one to top most of the homebrew sessions in which I've ever partaken.  Justin came up with the genius idea to develop a Thai-themed brew, an idea he'd been batting around since we sampled The Bruery's Tradewinds with its rice and Thai basil adjuncts and extras (excellent beer -- I highly recommend it).

With this taste of inspiration, Justin aimed for much more savory elements and a stout heart (milk stout, that is) to carry the flavors through while still keeping the final product a beer, not just a carbonated soup.

So, on to the brewing!  We decided to go blond and remove anything from the grain bill that would take this past a deep gold.  From there we scaled a traditional Thai recipe to what we thought would be the right proportions become a well-balanced layer in our "blond milk stout" base.

Being that we're still experimenting with this recipe, I won't bother to share it yet.  When we give it a taste after a couple weeks, a "Part 2" will be posted.  I will say, though, that the wort itself showed a lot of potential.  Both elements, the brew and the Thai, seemed to play off one another very well.

Brew-Thai!

So, while we were brewing, and we brew outdoors since I'm using a propane double-burner to heat everything, we had a little woodland creature join us.  She became sort of a mascot for the evening events.  Take a look:

Aww...

But then as night fell, our mascot transformed from a cute, feathery friend into a blood-thirsty killing machine!

THE BEAST!

You can see her eerie, glowing red eyes up at the top of the haunted old Queen Palm tree.  Sinister... several times through the night I was extremely glad to not have been born a mouse or roach or whatever this owl hunts because there is absolutely no warning when this stealth bomber swoops down on you!  Not a flap of the wing, not a screeching battle cry like the eagle or hawk, just death.  Or grazed ankles.

So, she was harmless to us and I'm very glad she didn't end up landing in our brew, or adding any of her own spices, especially when I came up with idea to cool the wort by floating it in the pool. I'll leave you with this final image of our Thai brew just chillin' in the pool and bid you all abrew.

Chillin...

 

 

Iron Brewer: Battle COCONUT!

Oh, man...Christmas comes twice this year!

Bx Beer Depot is hosting an Iron Chef-like "Iron Brewer" homebrew challenge where the ingredient all contestants must use is coconut.  If there was ever a sign from God that I am in the right business, it's this.  I love coconut and I love beer.

The contest rules state that all you have to do is incorporate coconut as a flavor -- use any style of beer you wish!

Check out the details below:

  Iron Brew Home Brew Competition 1:00 pm

Please bring (4 )22ounce bottles to the competition.
There is a $5.00 entrance fee for this event, winner takes all!  The winner also gets to choose the next special ingredient!
To judge without an entry, the fee is $15.00 Event is limited to 40 people, so RSVP by Feb 3rd


BX Beer Depot
2964 Second Avenue North
Lake Worth, FL 33461
Phone: 561-965-9494
Tues: 11-7 (EST) Wed: 11-7 (EST) Thu: 11-7 (EST) Fri: 11-10 (EST) Sat: 11-5(EST) Sun: 12-5 (EST) Mon: Closed
Email: sales@bxbeerdepot.com

A Year of Beer: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Hola, brewfans!  It's been a great year so far... here's my personal homebrew roundup.

• Hopscotch ESB
• Imperial Stout
• Vanilla Saison
• Chipotle Ale
• Mango IPA
• Earl Grey Bitter

With each of these, I've had my yeas, nays, and bitter disappointments that I'll share with you here.

Hopscotch ESB
     Wow, this was my entry into the Samuel Adams Longshot 2010 Contest.  It's based on last year's Independence ESB which seemed to pair so well with sushi and grilled beef.  This year's batch held onto warmer fermentation temperatures which coaxed a bit of butterscotch out of the yeast and formed a cushion against the bite of hops that sat in the carboy while the brew ate up as much fermentable sugar as I could allow.

• The Good:  Again, wow... the butterscotch flavor definitely developed and held up like a champ with the heavy IPA-like hoppiness that we have grown to adore on this side of the Atlantic.
• The Bad:  Only time will tell.  As with the heritage of ESBs you can expect a certain level of bitterness that I have seen diminish with age.  I'm holding onto a gallon jug, or "growler" for my imbibers familiar with the lingo, in expectation of a beautifully clean and harmonized mug of love.
• The Ugly:  Didn't win the contest.

Imperial Stout
     Again, wow.  This was the brainchild of Justin Thrasher, your next favorite gastronomical genius, which was based on an affinity for Imperial Stouts.  As his first homebrew, he ambitiously sought to challenge the niche palate for a strong and seriously sumptuous stout.  Long story short -- friggin' success.  This is my favorite stout of all time.

• The Good:  At 11.5% ABV, the stout is extremely smooth and drinkable.  It's versatile as both an appertif, companion to a meal, dessert ingredient, or nightcap.  The double-chocolate of "Block Jaysus Imperial Stout" is a pendulum from dark and bitter to sweet and milky.  We're keeping the details of the grain and hop bill under wraps as this is the most sought-after homebrew we've seen this year.
• The Bad:  Only five gallons were made for this breakthrough brew.
• The Ugly:  Only five gallons were made for this breakthrough brew.  And the natives are getting restless.

Vanilla Saison
     Serendipity, baby!  Thanks to a wonderfully hot summer, this attempt at a bohemian pilsner became a golden ale, and with the right tempering and conditioning, thus was born the first Saison of the season.

• The Good:  Thank God for small miracles.  The pilsner malts lend themselves to the best flavors we can get out of our yeast and hops.  Think of teamwork at its finest.
• The Bad:  Well, let's just say that we aimed for Germany and ended up all over the Belgian countryside.  This particular Florida Summer beat out the lagering fridge and made the yeast have to deal with much warmer temperatures than desired to form a cool and clean pilsner.
• The Ugly:  Whoa... talk about patience as a virtue.  With a complicated batch of beer, such as this tempermental brew, we need to wait until the marriage of the vanilla sugar primer with the funky, hoppy "pilsner" base is complete.  Carbonation is good, timing is bad, thirst is ugly.

Chipotle Ale
     Thank you, Rogue, for such an inspiring idea.  Here we are, in the budding Summer months looking at what we should brew next.  Justin approached me with the idea and as we reviewed the grain and hop bill (basically the gateway to a recipe) on the side of Rogue's Chipotle Ale.  I found the potential recipe to be a little young or at least a bit too dry for my taste.  So, we tweaked the recipe a bit and wound up with this:

1. Grains:  Pale Malt (2-row), Victory Malt, Crystal Malt (45L), Munich Malt, More Crystal Malt (British 120L), and finally Chocolate Malt (American)
2. Hops:  Cascade (bitterness) and Willamette (flavor and aroma)

• The Good:  Oh, mama... this was a keg-carbonated batch.  We started the brew with sweeter Ancho Peppers and then added a Chipotle Pepper syrup.  The ruby/amber ale coasted across with a cornbread-like sweetness and body.  Then, in a flash, the Chipotle hits the back of your throat with a pleasant hint of heat.  Drunk at a 40-degree Fahrenheit or lower temperature, this is an unassuming thirst-quencher and an inimitably welcome addition to any Summery barbecue, Autumnal stew, or fireside Winter Warmer.
• The Bad:  Didn't brew enough to make it to Springtime.
• The Ugly:  We really didn't know how much pepper to throw in the brew, but we luckily reserved the heat for the final priming syrup.  The Chipotles were brewed in sugar-water to add to the fermented ale and could be tested for potency before we threw them heat into the batch.

Mango IPA
     South Florida, you know.  Late Summer into early Fall, the Mango trees hang low with the most fragrant, succulent, and intoxicating fruits this latitudinal zone has ever known.  So, being the good ol' boys of the new South, Justin and I brewed an IPA with the copious crop of mangoes this season had to offer.

• The Good:  Oh, what pickin's we had.  There was no end to the amount of fruit we could cram into this next batch of beer.  We ended up boiling about ten pounds of pureed mango in with the grains.
• The Bad:  Not a lot of mango came through on the end product.  We did, however, find a lot of marshmallow sweetness and just a hint of tropical tartness.  We could say "less is more" but we would have loved to see more mango.
• The Ugly:  Fiber, anyone?  This was a cloudy beer loaded with leftover fibers from the boiled mango.  Pretty color, but shady texture.

Earl Grey Bitter (a.k.a. Earl Grey Bit'er Biscuits)
     Inspired by British bitters, the subtle, bready, highly drinkable (or "session") beers, I decided to brew a tea and biscuits batch made with real Earl Grey tea and a high level of biscuity malts to create this anytime treat.

• The Good:  Lack of time.  I didn't allow myself to bottle soon enough after brewing to capture the desired tea and biscuits flavor, so I let it sit.  Had I bottled after about a week, we would have seen a different product -- something right on target, I presume.  But, in all ways American, I procrastinated and created a lame-duck lucky strike in what I consider to be the first Imperial Bitter.  At almost 9% ABV, the Earl Grey Bitter blows away any of its would-be compatriots in namesake.  The yeast folded over on itself and created noticeable banana and spice aromas that transform the biscuits into a cake of sorts.  The heat of the alcohol produced makes this brew a real Winter treat with warm and lingering flavors.
• The Bad:  Way off target.  I should have bottle much earlier.  I'm going to have to repeat this (repeat this) and bottle much earlier than the four weeks I allowed on this inaugural attempt.  But I know I'll reserve a few gallons for my next batch of Winter Warmers and let them to take their time and ferment into a much higher alcohol by volume (ABV) percentage.
• The Ugly:  British Royalty.  Hahaha... oh, I just mean the ones that have no real power (tongue in cheek joke).  Long live Queen!

So, I hope you've enjoyed this Year of Beer in Review as much as I've enjoyed being there for all the good, the bad, and the ugly of it.  If you have any questions, you're always free to write me at AskAHomebrewer@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @askahomebrewer.  Most recipes and advice are available on all the listed brews for this year.

Starbucks Selling Beer and Wine

Du-uh!!!  As if they wouldn't be able to make it work!

Oh, hey, friends... How've you been?  I'm good, thanks.  Now back to the great brew news!

I wrote about Starbucks' foray into another adult market offering tasty premium beverages with their launch of two secret beer and wine bars in a Pacific Northwest test roll-out.  Just as they kicked the market in the beans with their ubiquitous coffee shops, they brought people more of what they want:
A great environment to sit back and relax with carefully crafted brews.

But the secret's out -- Starbucks won't have to disguise any of the new beer and wine bars with a phony mustache and glasses like the two test joints which were named after the cross-streets at which they were located.  You'll now start to see these rustic, somewhat industrial lounges under the flowing locks of the lady in the green circle, Starbucks be thy name.


I'm looking forward to getting confused when I go out for coffee but end up in line for beer and wine (one's for me, one's for the lady over there with the awesome shark socks).

To commemorate this debut, here's a recipe for a great homebrew beer, black as freshly brewed Venti cup of Joe, but crisp and rich with roasted malt off the top, and finished with grassy, spicy hop notes.  Add a bit more "wildflower nectar" notes (I realize how much I sound like Martha Stewart here) with an aroma addition of Willamette, the best hop in the world*.

As always, if you have any questions from what you see here or anything about beer and brewing, drop a line to AskAHomebrewer@gmail.com.  -- top question for the month of June gets a $10 gift certificate to Midwest Homebrewing Supplies.

Café Vienna Lager
(5 gallons, partial mash)

Ingredients:

    * 1 lb. Vienna malt
    * 0.5 lb. dark Munich malt, 10° to 12° Lovibond
    * 0.25 lb. malted wheat
    * 1 lb. lager malt
    * 4 lbs. unhopped amber malt extract syrup
    * 1 oz. Perle hop pellets, for 60 min.
    * 0.5 oz. Hallertauer hop pellets, for 20 min.
    * 0.5 oz. Spalt pellets, for 20 min.
    * 0.5 oz. Willamette hop pellets, for 10 min. (Brewty and the Yeast suggested addition)
    * 0.125 lb. coarsely cracked (not ground) light-roast coffee beans
    * 1 broken cinnamon stick
    * 14 g. dry lager yeast or liquid culture (Brewty and the Yeast suggests Wyeast Budvar ACT2000)
    * 3/4 cup corn syrup


Step by Step:
Heat 1.5 gals. of water to 132° F, crack and mix in malts and malted wheat. The mash should settle at 121° F. Hold 30 minutes, then remove 3 qts. of liquid from the mash and boil it 15 minutes. Stir heated mash back into the mash tun. This should raise the whole mash to 137° F or so. Hold another 30 minutes, then remove 3 qts. again and bring to a boil. Boil this 15 minutes, add it back to the mash tun, raising the whole to about 152° F. Hold here for 60 minutes, then lauter and sparge with 2 gals. of 168° F water. To this runoff (about 3 gals.) add extract syrup and bring to a boil. Add Perle hop pellets, boil 40 minutes. Add Hallertauer and Spalt pellets, boil 20 minutes.  Brewty and the Yeast option hop addition -- Willamette pellets, boil 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, set in ice water to cool, and add coffee beans and cinnamon stick. Steep at least 15 minutes, then chill and top off to 5.25 gals. with pre-boiled chilled water. At 75° F pitch dry lager yeast or a liquid culture (I’ve had great luck in this recipe with Wyeast 2308 Munich, Brewty and the Yeast suggests Wyeast Budvar ACT2000 "Smack-pack" yeast -- pulls out a little more flavor with higher flocculation). Seal and ferment for two days at 65° to 70° F, then place in a cooler (50° to 55° F) for a week. Rack to secondary and, if possible, place in a cold place (40° F or below) for three to six more weeks. (Otherwise, maintain at 50° F for three or four weeks.) Prime with corn sugar and bottle. Age cold (40° to 50° F) six to eight weeks, space permitting.

Notes:
Experienced decoction mashers will probably laugh at this primitive partial-decoction-mash recipe. I know it is not quite a usual triple decoction, but it seems to work for this recipe. If you have a better all-grain Vienna recipe, go with it. If you are going to mash at all for this recipe, I strongly encourage you to try it as a decoction, if only for the lovely color you can produce by boiling the mash.

Extract brewers who can’t even partial mash, don’t worry; an additional pound of amber dry malt extract will give you enough body and fermentables to make this work. I would suggest steeping some cracked Munich (see mash recipe) in your brewing water before you add the extracts, for color and grain aroma.

Dark-roasted coffee should be avoided, because it will darken the beer. You want to give a hint of coffee and cinnamon, not make them the dominant flavors, so don’t steep them in the cooling wort too long, but just long enough to give some brownish color and coffee-cinnamon aroma.


From "Brew Your Own" Magazine's website, Recipe published 2009:  Café Vienna Lager

CHEERS TO BEERS!

* Yup.  Willamette hops are the best in the world.