New Homebrew Competition in Central FL

For Immediate Release.

Lake Mary, FL.  

The Brew Club of Seminole County presents SMash My *ss & Call Me Brewmaster, a new homebrew competition in Central Florida.

This is a Single Malt only and Single Hop only competition. Any style. Any combination. Any yeast. One Grain, One Hop. One grand winner.

Details: Entry Deadline is Dec 15, 2014.  Each entry will require two unlabeled 12oz bottles with the entry form attached with rubber band.  Be sure to include the $3 entry fee (cash only) with one of the two bottles.  Bring entries to the December Brew Club meeting or drop off at the Sanford Homebrew Shop.  The form can be found and downloaded from the Facebook Group page at the link here.

Recipe Requirements:  All recipes are to have one type of malt only (single malt) and one type of hop only (single hop).  Aside from these requirements, anything else goes.  Make something fantastic.

Judging will be loosely based according to the declared style.  Though not a BJCP competition, the judging criteria will be similar. 

Any questions or for a shipping address (if unable to deliver entries in person) email or call Darren U, competition coordinator,  at darrenATdunerbrewDOTcom.

Winners and awards will be announced at the January Brew Club meeting on January 8^th 2015 (note this is not the normal scheduled first Thursday of the month, due to New Years Day.)

About Brew Club of Seminole County:  Brew Club was started in August 2013, and has quickly become a popular group of homebrewing enthusiasts.  Monthly meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at Buster's Bistro in Sanford, averaging close to 30 members in attendance.  Club brew days are generally done quarterly, which have included a team competition and collaborative recipe used by multiple brewers to fill a 60 gallon used Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrel for true barrel aged group collaboration Barley Wine.  The club has participated in several Craft Beer events and festivals during its first year.  The Facebook group has become an the central point of communication of the group and an outlet for sharing, advise, coordinating meet-ups, and bolstering a strong group dynamic.  www.facebook.com/groups/BrewClubSeminoleCounty

A split batch experiment... the impact of yeast in beer.

Do you want to see how yeast impacts the favor of beer?  Take the simplest recipe of a beer, split it into two fermenting containers and pitch a different yeast in each.  In a few weeks, you can bottle the beer and try it.  Or, if that is too much trouble then relax, I've done the work for you.

A few weeks back we talked about the Munich Malt and Spaltz hops simple recipe beer.  Read the background here and then come back.  

This was a solid 5 gallon batch, and my largest carboy is 5 gallons, which doesn't allow for much headroom.  Plus, I wanted to do something different, so I split the batch, pouring 2.5 gallons into two 3 gallon carboys.  In one carboy, a dry packet of US-05 yeast was pitched and in the other Wyeast Kolsch yeast with a 800ml starter was pitches.

In the end, there is a distinct difference in the flavor of the beer, which we can get into in a bit.  Both finished at 1.010 (with the US-05 maybe pushing more toward 1.011).  Both have about the same color at the end.

The process was interesting too, as the Wyeast carboy began fermenting, much quicker, while the dry yeast took longer to get to active fermentation.  The photos below do a nice job of illustrating this.

After pitching.  US-05 on the left, Kolsch on the Right

After about 10 hours.  Activity on the right.

Day 2, about 36 hours.

Day 3, about 60 hours, activity on the left now.  Right is beginning to settle down somewhat.

Day 7, gravity check and color comparison.

Gravity on day 7, 1.012  (This was the Kolsch.)

Kolsch FG - Day 19.

US-05 FG, Day 19

Flavor?  The US-05 American Yeast is a cleaner yeast, which gives the beer a little sharper mouthfeel, and "cleaner" taste.  The hop bitterness is right there, along with the malt background.  A nice clean simple beer.

The Kolsch yeast yielded a higher ester profile.  The beer is more round on the mouthfeel, more fruity notes come through.  At bottling time the yeast character come through, which should subside someone.  Being a low floculating yeast, there is more still in suspension.  With time in the bottle, and additional chill time, the yeast will continue to drop out, clearing up the beer more.  Even in the two photos above, you can see that the Kolsch is more cloudy.  

Note also the activity level of the yeast.  The liquid yeast with starter was much more ready to go to work than the dry pitched yeast.  There were probably more cells in the dry packet, but I didn't bother to re-hydrate them.  I bet that would have made a difference too.  It's funny, because everyone will say to re-hydrate the dry yeast.  The packet itself says to pitch directly to the wort.  Go figure.

Now the questions remains, which will taste better?  Or is there a true definition of better in this sense?  They simply are different.

With the underlying style aiming for an Altbier, the Kolsch yeast will give that character more than the US-05.  The true malt and hops character will shine more with the cleaner US-05 yeast.  Hmm.  This seems to have been a good experiment.

Cheers!

Altbier Kolsch Smash - Sounds complicated

Complexity from simplicity.  That is true art.

I've been talking with a Twitter friend about Single Malt Single Hop beers. I've done a few before and he seems excited too about the concept.  Anti-Hero V, as he is called  (Hey, check out Vinny's Smashing story here .) is a brewer, blogger, Twitterer and all around great guy.  You may recall our mutual reviews of the W00tstout a few months back.

Anyway, my recipe is similar to his recipe with 100% Munich Malt and a single Nobel type hop.  Upon review of the BJCP Style Categories, I've come up with Altbier (either Northern or Dusseldorf) for the underlying style.  He is calling his a Marzen/Oktoberfest.  The differences can be somewhat subtle in some ways, and I don't want to get into it too much here.  Historically a Marzen is a lager and an Altbier is an ale.  Alt, not as alternate, rather as old...as in the old style of brewing.  Ales were brewed first, before the lagers became so popular in the German region.  The flavor profiles both feature malty sweetness.  The lager will tend to be crisper, smooth, and clearer overeall.  The Alt will have more bitterness, with little hop flavor or aroma.  A Marzen likewise should have little to no hop aroma.  All fairly similar.  By using all Munich Malt solely, it will take it away from the true style, probably more for my Alt than for his Marzen, by the way.

Nobel hops are appropriate for both styles.  He selected Hallertau (which I've use before too) and I wanted to do something different with Spaltz (traditional especially with a Dusseldoft Altbier).  The German Ale yeast was desired, only the Homebrew shop were all out of that variety.  Ugh.  The next closest yeast is the Kolsch yeast, which is what I now have for it.

I'm not sure if I've had a Kolsch, and really only had a few beers you cal call Altbier.  Either will have a smooth malty German style quality, which seems fitting for the holidays.

Single malt and single hop.  Munich Malt and Spaltz hops (one addition only).  And then the Kolsch yeast.  An Altbier Kolsch Smash.  Sounds good, right?

Looking for ideas on a SMaSH Beer

I've always wanted to make a beer and call it Occam's Ale.  A simple beer.  Many times, we as brewers get excited about ingredients and recipe creation, and we feel that a complex recipe will result in a great beer.  I'm not so sure that has to be the case.

I've created a few Single Malt and Single Hop (SMaSH) beers, with decent success.  For whatever reason, I forgot about this name for these.  Occam's Ale!  It sounds so cool, huh?

But what does it mean?  In philosophy, there is something called Occam's Razor, which basically means that the simplest explanation is often the correct one.  Now, I'm not a philosopher, so I'll probably get most of this wrong and I'm sure there is more to it than just that.  Occam's Razor was named for William of Occam (or Ockham), based on one of his statements.   Oh, just read about it here, and them come back.  You could learn something new, or refresh on something you already knew.

"Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily." is the basic translation of the original Latin.  Also, it could be summed as "keep things simple"... in the simplest terms.  (Ideas taken from the page attributed earlier).

So, anyway.  I'm looking for a single type malt and a single hop, which could make a great beer.  Also, yeast will come into play.  But which ones?  Suggestions?  Ideas?  Decisions, decisions....

While you are thinking, check out my other SMaSH beer recipes here and here.  Oh, and the recipes can be found on the recipe page. (Scroll about halfway down.)

Thinking about making one yourself?  I few things I'm keeping in mind are as follows.

Malt:  It needs to be something which will hold it's own during fermentation, yest have some character.  Two Row Pale Ale malt may be too boring.  On the flip side, specialty malts may not contain enough enzymes for starch conversion on their own in the mash.  (Wow, did I really say that correctly?)

Hops:  Preferrably a "multi-purpose" hops will be the best.  After all, the same hops will be needed for bittering and any flavor or aroma.  I wouldn't necessarily suggest Cascade.

Yeast:  There are a multitude of yeast strains available to homebrewers, and it will really depend on which type of style you wish to associate the beer.  Usually the malt and hops selection will keep in the same genre as the yest.  Although, this is homebrewing, and rules were meant to be broken, right?

So what will it be?

Newest label and a revision

Frequent readers will know I've experimented with a couple of Single Malt and Single Hop beers (SMaSH).  And of course, every beer needs a label and name.

The latest label was designed for the Mild Malt and Simcoe SMaSH.  But first...

I felt the simplicity of the recipes for these beer would find a good counterpart in the the complexity and technological aspects of Steampunk.  Clocks, gears, all the detailed inner-workings partnered together to achieve a single outcome.  It contrasts well with a simple recipe, with just a few ingredients, combining to create a complex gastronomic experience.  If it all sounds like a bunch of fluffy feelgood artsy stuff, well... it is.

With names inspired by a recent progressive rock concept album, let me first introduce Clockwork Universe.

 

And this SMaSH's counterpart, with the Maris Otter malt and Centennial hops, has been revised and named Thinking Big.

The Thinking Big is chilling now, ready for the two week trial.  Clockwork Universe is in primary fermentation presently.

Balanced malt and bitterness

I'm enthused about the Maris Otter Centennial SMaSH beer.  So excited, I couldn't wait two weeks after bottling to try it.  I cheated and put one one in the refrigerator on day 8.

Plenty of carbonation, nice golden color, smooth with a lingering bitterness.  A nice aroma consisting of malt, fresh apples, kinda grassy, with a little citrus, and some alcohol (which should subside with a little more age).  A smooth beer with earthy tones. 

The white head remained for the full duration, possibly with some assistance from the little etched Dogfish logo on the bottom of the IPA glass.

For those interested in the recipe, check it out here.  Or it can be found on the Recipes Page as well.

I'm excited!

Homebrew recipe for this weekend

Ready?  It's a simple one.

9 lbs Mild Malt
.5 oz Simcoe (60 min)
.5 oz Simcoe (10 min)
.5 oz Simcoe (flameout)
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale (harvested)

Final volume 3.25 gallons.  Planned ABV 6.6%.  IBUs 66.

Now I need a name for this fine brew.

Have a good weekend everyone!  Cheers!

What are you brewing?

Bottling the SMaSH this weekend

I was all ready to bottle Friday evening... until.  Broken spigot for the bottling bucket.  Ugh.  And of course it was too late to get to the store for a new one.  At least I hadn't started boiling the priming sugar yet.  It did force a "occupy movement" in the dishwasher though, as the bottles were put through the Sanitize cycle and I didn't want to do that over again.

So, it would have to wait until Saturday night.  In the mean time, I could drink a few and listen/watch some live music on the DVD player.

Saturday I was able to get the replacement spigot and bottle the Maris Otter and Centennial SMaSH beer.

The recipe is quite simple and the label is quite nice (if I don't say so myself).  Check out the label here on the Labels Page. 

It tasted quite nice too.  Can't wait for the carbonation.

All planning and no brewing today

Ugh... So, the brewing will commence tomorrow morning.  Here is/was the checklist for today.

1. Get grain and hops.  Complete.  This was the east part, especially when we talk about the recipe.

2. Make sure to have enough propane in the tanks.  Here was part of the hold up.  Not wanting to run out or gas, I took the old empty tank to BJ's Warehouse, who can't fill it because it is past 12 years old and needs a re-certification (or something like that).  So, he said, "take it to Home Depot and exchange (The Blue Rhino exchange program) and then next time it is empty, brink it back and we can fill it."  Or at least something like that.  Off to Home Depot I go.

Propane, Water, and Pipeline Porter

3. Get water.  I was planning to invest in one of those 5 gallon water carboys at BJ's, but the place seemed crazy busy in the main inside part of the store.  Perhaps Home Depot will have similarity priced water.  Nope.  Turns out Home Depot pricing is about twice that of BJ's.  Needing water still, I'm off to the grocery store. (They have beer there too.)

4. After fighting local construction traffic on the way home, it was determined time expired for today, without brewing in the darkness late into the evening.

I'm sure that is all very exciting to read about.  The recipe?  Easy.  A Maris Otter and Centennial SMASH, standing for Single Malt and Single Hops.

The Maris Otter is a British base malt, with classic character.  Centennial hops are an American Hop variety, used ofter in Pale Ales and IPAs.  Bell's Two Hearted Ale is a single hop IPA with Centinnial.

The yeast will be the Ringwood Ale yeast that was cultivated and washed from the bottom of the carboy at the end of the last brew (Inklings Ale, British style pale ale).

The idea is to make something simple.  The flavors will be known.

Recipe: for 3.25 gallons final volume

8lbs Maris Otter Malt
.5oz Centennial (60 min)
.25ox Centennial (5 min)
.25oz Centennial (fame out)
Wyeast 1187, Ringwood Ale

OG should be 1.064, with IBUs of 45.5 (12.5% Alpha on the Centennial)