Not So Famous…

I posted about a bunch of stuff on Friday, and some of it has had updates.

To begin with, I mentioned on here awhile back that I would be brewing a beer for my son, to be aged for 21 years.  The plan is that Iain would have a special beer to drink on his 21st birthday brewed for him before he was born. As I said in that original announcement and poll, certain styles of beer are suitable for aging for multiple decades.  A general rule of thumb is this: The higher the alcohol content, the greater suited the beer is to aging.  Now, this also assumes that one is not filtering the beer prior to bottling.  Yeast in suspension are part of what helps to age a beer, so unfiltered is the rule.  When homebrewing, unfiltered is the norm, so I’m not concerned about this.

Now, despite the egregious voter fraud that took place in my last poll, I have decided to allow the majority their say in what we will brew for Iain, and the winner is…..Russian Imperial Stout.  I’ve never brewed one of these, but they can be anywhere from 8%-15% abv, and should provide an interesting subject for a greatly aged brew.  The name of the beer?  IAIN-BRU.  (I’ll let you all figure it out.)  :)  Feel free to post any speculation as to why we’re calling it IAIN-BRU aside from the fact that our son’s name will be Iain.  lol.

Brew Day for IAIN-BRU will be November 8th!

In other news, we’re preparing to accept the counter-offer made by the seller of the house we’re trying to purchase, and I’ve gotta say, I’ve never signed my name so much in my LIFE!  I had to sign no less than 30 times just to make the offer, and the Seller of the home has now sent me an Addendum to the counter-offer, which is going to require me to initial approximately 16 times, and sign once.  Such a pain.

However, we’re very excited about the purchase of this house.  There’s a lot that has to be done on it, including putting in a security system, replacing a couple doors, and painting, but we’re definitely looking forward to all of it, the work included!

The Scotch Ale this weekend was amazing, as was the Irish Red, the Honey Porter (man, I wish I’d had this beer before now, as it really was tasty), the Black Lager, the Brown Ale and the Boston Lager!  (That Sam Adams Variety Pack was really quite spectacular!!!)  But yeah, that Scotch Ale was well worth waiting 2+ years for, and I can’t wait to try it again! I was afriad, with Sam Adams’ focus on the hop content of their beers, that they may have over-hopped this Scotch Ale, but I didn’t need to worry about it at all.  Those guys really make a great beer.  If you can find the Scotch Ale, (and I’ve only seen it in the Variety Pack), pick it up.  You’ll be quite pleased.

Finally, my friend went on a date with his wife, and he reports that it went well.  It went well, that is, until the very end where she stated that she wasn’t sure she was ready to put her all into reconciliation.  This does a couple things:

1. It acknowledges that every fiber of their beings is going to need to work on this.  It’s not just going to happen.  It’s going to be a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.  I’m glad she realizes the serious up-front cost that will be required of both of them.

2. It really demoralized my friend.  He has been willing to work on this (though not willing to compromise Biblical Standards) from day 1.  The statements from her, however, have not been so gung-ho.  Finally, he was getting the message that she actually wanted to work on the marriage, and then at the end of the date, she says this.  It’s gotta be really rough on him.

He told her that he was willing to work on it, but that she needed to be sure she was willing to work on it as well.  He told her to figure it out by Friday; that the papers were ready, but she needed to decide whether she wanted to sign them.  He also gave this Friday as a “drop dead” date.  This might seem overly harsh, but you have to realize that the Session has already given their consent to the divorce.  It would have been EASIER to just go ahead and file the papers, regardless of her statement of willingness to work on the deal.  He didn’t do this, because he really wants to work it out.

However, she’s dragged this out for nearly 3 years.  She claims she doesn’t want a divorce, but refuses to return (until recently.)  She claims she’s a Christian, but ignores the Word of God when it’s been shown to her, claiming that there is some other interpretation to the Word of God, though she refuses to provide us with another interpretation of “God hates divorce”, etc. She claims that the Lord is ok with divorce if the two parties aren’t both “happy” regardless of what the Word of God says.  She has refused to cut of these close friendships with guys where she texts them and goes over to their home to spend time with them alone in the evenings, but claims that she doesn’t want a divorce.  It’s been a mess, and through it all, my friend has prayed for her, asked her to return, and preached the Gospel to her.  It’s been really hard on her, and she has brought this to the last hurrah.  NOT putting an end date on her deliberation would be an invitation to drag THIS out for another however many years, and if she’s serious about working on this, then she has an entire week to let him know.  If not, well, she’s made her choice then as well.

So it’s sort of a bummer, after all of us getting our hopes up, not to mention what my friend is going though.  Against his better judgement, he got his hopes up, and she dashed them again.  It’s really hard to counsel my friend to obey the Lord sometimes, but he’s done so.

So, please be in prayer for these situations (the house, and my friend.)  Regardless of the outcome of them both, we’ll praise the Lord for His provision and mercy. We know the Lord is sovereign, and that He works all things according to the counsel of His own immutable will.  We know that these situations will work out according to His will, so we ask for prayer, mostly for ourselves.  Prayer that we would accept whatever way the Lord works these things out.

I know, it’s technically been fall for longer than today, but today feels like fall to me.

In the land of TheDow, however, the seasons are marked more by changes in beer than in the weather, I think. Those of you who have never heard much of seasonal beers might be wondering at my insanity, but it’s true, I tell you.

The summer and spring are marked by hoppy, fruity, light lagers and ales.  Essentially, these are ales that quench your thirst after mowing the lawn, or beside the pool. The only also often associated with the summer with which I disagree is the India Pale Ale, or IPA.  IPA’s are generally higher in alcohol than standard Pales and Lagers, so they have a tendency to warm me up a great deal.

In fall, however, the beers begin to darken.  While there are some lighter fall ales like Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale (and indeed all the myriad pumpkin ales that are released in early fall), you also start to see a tendency of what are called “winter warmers” to appear on shelves. I live for these beers.

The winter warmer is characterized by an intense malty experience. Many think that hops are to beer what grapes are to wine, but I couldn’t disagree more.  What makes a beer is the malted barley, and these beers have a huge, rich, complex maltiness that sets them apart from the crowd.  Lots of malt means lots of fermentable sugars, which means lots of alcohol in the finished product, hence the “warmer” aspect of these beers’ name. In non-traditional beers, cloves, cinnamon, and other spices are used to give these beers a taste of winter.  (Alaskan Winter Ale uses spruce tips, which adds a bit of…acridness to the finished product.)  These non-traditional winter warmers are also quite pleasant and remind me a great deal of what things will be like in a few short months.

The fall heralds Scotch Ale season, to be honest, and I’ve missed it a great deal.  The “thin” light, the gusty winds, the rain, and the wonderful beers are what I look forward to when the weather changes.

This post is WAY late. I meant to have something typed up the day after the concert, and I had every intention of doing so.  However, the concert was the 12th of September, and here it is, 9/23/08, and I’m still thinking about what I’m going to write. So here it is.  I’m sure some of the details will be fuzzy…it happened over a week ago.

The Food, Buffalo Bill’s Brewing Company:

Buffalo Bill’s is well-known for their fruit/beer infusions. I know many of my readers are not fans of fruit beers, and in some cases, I agree.  At one time I was quite fond of Pyramid’s Apricot Ale, but the last few times I have had that beer, I’ve noticed that the Apricot is huge in the nose, but not so much in the taste.  In addition, the actual beer flavor is weak in this ale, probably to avoid trampling the fruit flavor.  (For what it’s worth, I recently noticed that Pyramid has changed the name from Apricot Ale to Apricot Weizen.  It’s probably a wise move given that Weizen (wheat) most accurately describes the beer.  While wheat beers are technically ales, the flavor profiles of these beers are so different from ales, they really ought to be separately classified.)

The reason fruit and beer are so hard to mix is understandable, to be honest. Fruit extract or pulp, when boiled, loses a great deal of its flavor and aroma.  The delicate flavors that we associate with fruit do not make it through the brewing process unscathed.  In addition, fruit pulp added post-boil introduces a HUGE potential for bacterial infection.  It’s a scary thought to add something after the boil that has not been properly sanitized.  So, successful fruit beers are all the more impressive when they’ve managed to make a good BEER flavor meld with a good FRUIT flavor.  There are some beers that have done it.  Sam Adams Cherry Wheat is one.  However, most of the others come from the Buffalo Bill’s Brewery.

Buffalo Bill’s Orange Blossom Ale is really a stellar combination of fruit aroma, flavor, and beer.  I would never choose it above a regular decent ale, but it’s a good mashup.  Their Pumpkin Ale I was not all that impressed with, but I bet I give it a whirl again this Thanksgiving.  However, their Blueberry Stout is one of the most wonderful beers I’ve ever had the immense pleasure of tasting! It occurs to me that I’ve rambled about beers enough, but you ought to know that Buffalo Bill’s is one of the best brewerys I’ve ever visited, and that’s saying a great deal.

Gabe and I always get the Bill’s Burger with Bleu Cheese and Avocado when we’re at Bill’s. Seriously great burger.  The Ciabatta roll on which it’s served only adds to the beefy, rich goodness that is this burger. And with the Blue Cheese??  Man, if you’ve not had bleu cheese on a burger, you’re really missing out.  I don’t like plain bleu cheese.  The flavor profile is way too strong for me.  But the velvety and tangy mouthfeel it adds when on a burger is really something, and Bill’s does it to perfection.  Get one….now.

This trip, however, we had something interesting.  I’m a fan of the poppers.  I get them almost everywhere that has them.  They’re not USUALLY too terribly spicy, and I love that cheese.  So when I saw that Bill’s had some good poppers, I decided to order us a platter.  Man…………….I almost died from the awesomeness.  I don’t know what Bill’s breads their poppers with, but it’s some sort of dough.  Bill’s menu says “flakey, golden-brown crust”.  It’s definitely flakey, resembling Phyllo dough, pie crust or puff pastry. They’ve had an egg-wash brushed on it, and they’ve been baked, and my gosh….It was a taste sensation that could sweep the nation!

Finally, because I can’t NOT say anything about this, I had a couple different beers. I almost always open the evening with their Johnny MIdnite’s Oatmeal Stout.  An excellent example of the stout style, having one of these babies is like seeing an old friend for the first time in a long time.

I had a Tazmanian Devil, which is considered a Strong Ale, and it sure seemed that way! Malty goodness abounds here.

I had a Ricochet Red, which was your traditional copper ale.  Nicely malted and hopped, this one has the best of both worlds.  Less alcohol, to be sure, than the Tazmanian Devil above.

Finally, I closed the evening with an Alimony Ale, which is known as “Irreconcilably different.”  Also known as the bitterest beer in America.  I’ll leave the final comments here to Gabe.

It was a great meal, and we had a lot of fun.

The Drive, a.k.a. WHY I HATE THE BAY AREA!!!!:

Yeah, so we got lost.  Who cares?  John betrayed us again, and took FOREVER to find the satellites.  (John is John Cleese, and he’s the celebrity voice of my GPS Navigator.)  So we had a hard time finding the freeway, and even once John FOUND the dang freeway, the exits were so close together that we ended up missing a turn while in S.F. and had to double back.  I hate driving in the Bay Area.

The Music, Sonata Arctica and Nightwish:

Sonata Arctica is a pretty darn good epic metal band.  Their keyboardist plays a pretty cool guitar-style keyboard, and they sounded good.  I don’t know their songs, though, so I couldn’t tell you what they played.  If you get a chance to listen to them, I think they’re worth it, even though they’re not fronted by a female.  :)

Nightwish rocked the hizzouse, as usual. One thing I remember about this show is the individual personalities that come out in their shows.  Each member of Nightwish is practically a show in and unto themselves! I could watch a single member for an entire show, and then go back and watch the show again to see another member the whole time. They somehow manage to fuse their sounds and individualities together to form one of the raddest bands of all time. My favorite to watch is Emppu.  Whether he’s flashing the horns to Anette DURING one of his solos, (  \m/  ), nodding to an audience member indicating the radness of his sound, or tugging on Marco’s rockin’ goatee to the rhythm of the chunky guitar riffs, Emppu is a lot of fun to watch.  Imagine if Lucius Malfoy were to form a rockin’ band….minus the evil inclinations, of course.

Another thing I noticed was Anette’s calming influence on the guys.  Sometimes, when she wasn’t going to be singing for a little while, she’d go offstage.  Normally, it’s not my favorite thing, as I think the frontman/lady is an important part of the visual appeal of the show.  However, when Anette walks offstage, it’s like she’s giving the guys free reign to just thrash their heads off. When she walks onstage and starts singing, though, it’s like a balm of tranquility (to a certain extent) has washed over the guys.  Like they tend toward absolute chaos, and she keeps them from toppling into the gaping maw of anarchy. It’s a great aspect to the show.  She’s so cute and feminine, and she seems to really love the other guys, who seem more raw and untamed.  At one point, Tuomas came out from behind his keyboards and gave her a big hug, she hugged Marco, and I think she might have even hugged Emppu.  From what I heard of the guys’ lack of interactions with Tarja, I think this is a welcome aspect to their shows, and really helps us to see how much they love making music together!

They played a bunch of songs, and I’m sure I’d have missed a bunch of them, so I got them off of the journal of someone else who was there.  :)

Bye Bye Beautiful
Dark Chest of Wonders
The Siren
Dead to the World
Amaranth
Come Cover Me
The Islander
The Poet and the Pendulum
Whoever Brings the Night
Wishmaster
Sahara

Then they went offstage, like they were done.  Of course, we all chanted our lungs out, and they came back.  :)

Higher Than Hope
7 Days to the Wolves
I Wish I Had an Angel

It really was a ROCKIN’ concert.  They are one of my top 5 bands, easily, and if you EVER get the chance to see them, it’s worth whatever drive or hardship you need to overcome to make it.  :)

edit: For an excellent play-by-play of the show, check out this blog entry.  She also took pics and video!  :)  http://www.lastfm.pl/user/jukkakhan/journal/2008/09/14/25xbct_concert_journal:_nightwish_-_san_francisco_-_september_12th,_2008

Basically, we had a tie.  In all truthfulness, Russian Imperial Stout won, if I just look at the votes without an eye to a certain jackass who voted at least twice.  However, this moron’s tampering with the votes invalidates the entire thing, though.  So it looks like it’s up to me as to what we will be brewing.  And it won’t be a Russian Imperial Stout.  Sorry to whoever voted for that.  Gabe messed it up for you all, as usual.

Keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested in what we end up brewing.  I’ll probably end up brewing what *I* voted for, but I’ve not decided yet.

This rant is NOT anti-military.  This rant is about the absurdity of assuming that an 18 year old is not mature enough to drink, but he’s mature enough to be given a machine gun and asked to die for his country, or even that he’s mature enough to decide who ought to run this country.

Keep this in mind.  I am not saying that 18 year olds are not mature enough to handle machine guns.  I’m asking for consistency in arguments by the anti-drinking Nazi’s.  Either raise the age for all other “adult” things to 21, or else lower the drinking age to 18.  Keeping the drinking age at 21 is getting more and more ridiculous as time goes on.

Kudos to the presidents of these colleges for asking that the debate be reopened; for bucking the tide of popular, theocracy-desiring opinion and asking that we discuss whether the 21 drinking age has had the effect that was intended.  If only they’d do the same for the “War on Drugs”.

Oh, and these anti-alcohol groups like MADD, SADD, BADD, and other *ADD groups, quit being ridiculous and calling for a “boycott” of those schools where the presidents have asked to reopen the discussion.  Assuming that these presidents are personally walking to dorms and handing out liquor is a little…retarded, don’t you think?  They’re going to uphold the law, if for no other reason than they could lose their position and considerable salary by not upholding the law.

They’re just asking that we discuss this, not stating their intention to abandon the law.

Let me ask you this: Has the “war on drugs” lessened the drug abuse in this country? Do speeding laws keep you from speeding when no one’s around? Does telling your child “no” mean that they’re never going to do it?

Making something illegal doesn’t lessen its occurrence.  It merely makes it more likely to happen behind closed doors. It makes the activity more enticing. It gives these young people the chance to “stick it to the man” in one more way.  If you had your way, I know, you’d create another Prohibition Era.  Well, do the research before you conclude that the Prohibition Era was the Golden Era of Morality. It accomplished the opposite of its intent.

Oh, and for those of you Christians who oppose drinking on religious grounds: Jesus drank. If Christ drank wine, and drinking wine is a sin, then you have removed His ability to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  If drinking is wrong, then Christ is a sinner, and His sacrifice on the Cross and subsequent resurrection was a LIE.  And if you start spouting off about Jesus’ non-alcoholic wine, I’m merely going to point you back to the Bible and ask for a shred of proof.  You won’t find it.  You’ll merely reason in a circular fashion and return.  Jesus drank.  The apostles drank. Paul encouraged Timothy to drink. The early church drank.  Calvin drank.  Martin Luther drank.  You’re holier with your lack of Biblical understanding than these men?  Get over yourselves.

I mentioned in my last post that the plan for a Baby Shower for Men was to all pitch in to brew a batch of high gravity beer that could be aged for 21 years.  When the time comes that my child is of age, they will be able to enjoy a tasty beer that was brewed before they were born.

This idea holds appeal for me for a couple reasons.

1. How cool is it to have your own beer, brewed with you in mind?  I mean, when I brew beer for myself, I do this, but I can’t say I’ve ever had a beer that was crafted with me in mind…without having to do the work.

2. How awesome would it be to drink a beer that was aged for 21 years and brewed before you were born???  There are wines out there that were created before I was born, sure, though I’ll not likely be able to try any of them.  But beer?

I know there are probably some of you out there that are wondering if aging beer is a desirable thing.  The answer is: it depends.  I hate to be vague, but there are definitely beers out there that do not age well.

• Mass-produced, forced-carbonated beers will never age well.  Part of the aging process is the continued conditioning of the beer by the residual yeast.  These are called live beers, and can be aged because technically the fermentation process is still actually occurring, albeit at a slow pace.  The longer these beers age, the more varied the flavor profile will be.  So any beer that is going to be aged needs to be live.
• Beers with a standard amount of alcohol will not age well. (8% or lower.)  Another part of the aging process is keeping the beer from going sour in the bottle. Alcohol is a preservative, and while it will not kill all the yeast, it will slow their processes.  Thus, any beer you intend to age needs to have an absurdly high abv%.

So, a style that is a candidate for aging must be high in alcohol, and somewhat under-primed.  (Priming, you might recall, is the process by which we add a little bit of sugar at bottle-time to create carbon dioxide that will stay in suspension in the beer.) We don’t want the beer to have TOO much CO2, so as to create a bottle-bomb.  So we under-prime the beer, and in 21 years, the beer has just the right amount of carbonation.

I have looked through many styles, and the beers that lend themselves well for aging are well-known in the brewing community.  The high-gravity belgian ales are great for aging.  High-gravity Scotch Ales age well.  The German doppelbock is a good candidate for aging.  A really high-gravity Imperial Stout will age superbly.  Finally, an Old Ale is commonly aged…hence the name. These are the descriptions of the styles per the American Homebrew Association.

Belgian Tripel - Tripels are often characterized by a complex, sometimes mild spicy character, but no clove like phenolic flavor. Yeast-generated fruity banana esters are also common, but not necessary. These pale/light-colored ales may finish sweet, though any sweet finish should be light. The beer is characteristically medium bodied with an equalizing hop/malt balance. Traditional Belgian Tripels are often well attenuated and bottle conditioned beers aged for a long period may be very well attenuated. Brewing sugar may be used to lighten the perception of body. Its sweetness will come from very pale malts. There should not be character from any roasted or dark malts. Very low hop flavor is okay. Alcohol strength and flavor should be perceived as evident. Head retention is dense and mousse like. Chill haze is acceptable at low serving temperatures. Traditional Tripels are bottle conditioned and may exhibit slight yeast haze.

English Barleywine - English style barley wines range from tawny copper to dark brown in color and have a full body and high residual malty sweetness. Complexity of alcohols and fruity-ester characters are often high and counterbalanced by the perception of low to medium bitterness and extraordinary alcohol content. Hop aroma and flavor may be minimal to medium. English type hops are often used but not necessary for this style. Low levels of diacetyl may be acceptable. Caramel and some characters indicating oxidation, such as vinous (sometimes sherry like) aromas and/or flavors, may be considered positive. Chill haze is allowable at cold temperatures.

Russian Imperial Stout - (Note: The AHA does not define Russian Imperial Stout as a style, so I will be using the American Imperial Stout description in its place. It sounded quite appropriate for a Russian-Style Imperial Stout.) Black to very black, American-style imperial stouts typically have a high alcohol content. Generally characterized as very robust. The extremely rich malty flavor and aroma are balanced with assertive hopping and fruity-ester characteristics. Bitterness should be moderately high to very high and balanced with full sweet malt character . Roasted malt astringency and bitterness can be moderately perceived but should not overwhelm the overall character. Hop aroma is usually moderately-high to overwhelmingly hop-floral, -citrus or -herbal. Diacetyl (butterscotch) levels should be absent.

Strong Scotch Ale - Scotch ales are overwhelmingly malty and full-bodied. Perception of hop bitterness is very low. Hop flavor and aroma are very low or nonexistent. Color ranges from deep copper to brown. The clean alcohol flavor balances the rich and dominant sweet maltiness in flavor and aroma. A caramel character is often a part of the profile. Dark roasted malt flavors and aroma may be evident at low levels. If present, fruity esters are generally at low aromatic and flavor levels. Low diacetyl levels are acceptable. Chill haze is allowable at cold temperatures. Though there is little evidence suggesting that traditionally made strong Scotch ales exhibited peat smoke character, the current marketplace offers many Scotch Ales with peat or smoke character present at low to medium levels. Thus a peaty/smoky character may be evident at low levels (ales with medium or higher smoke character would be considered a smoke flavored beer and considered in another category). Strong Scotch Ales may be split into two subcategories: Traditional (no smoke character) and Peated (low level of peat smoke character).

German Doppelbock - Malty sweetness is dominant but should not be cloying. Malt character is more is reminiscent of fresh and lightly toasted Munichstyle malt; more so than caramel or toffee malt character. Some elements of caramel and toffee can be evident and contribute to complexity, but the predominant malt character is an expression of toasted barley malt. Doppelbocks are full bodied and deep amber to dark brown in color. Astringency from roast malts is absent. Alcoholic strength is high, and hop rates increase with gravity. Hop bitterness and flavor should be low and hop aroma absent. Fruity esters are commonly perceived but at low to moderate levels.

Old Ale - Dark amber to brown in color, old ales are medium- to full-bodied with a malty sweetness. Hop aroma should be minimal and flavor can vary from none to medium in character intensity. Fruity-ester flavors and aromas can contribute to the character of this ale. Bitterness should be minimal but evident and balanced with malt and/or caramel like sweetness. Alcohol types can be varied and complex. A distinctive quality of these ales is that they undergo an aging process (often for years) on their yeast either in bulk storage or through conditioning in the bottle, which contributes to a rich and often sweet oxidation character. Complex estery characters may also emerge. Some diacetyl character may be evident and acceptable. Wood aged characters such as vanillin and other woody characters are acceptable. Horsey, goaty, leathery and phenolic character evolved from Brettanomyces organisms and acidity may be present but should be at low levels and balanced with other flavors Residual flavors that come from liquids previously aged in a barrel such as bourbon or sherry should not be present. Chill haze is acceptable at low temperatures. (This style may often be split into two categories, strong and very strong. Brettanomyces organisms and acidic characters reflect historical character. Competition organizers may choose to distinguish these types of old ale from modern versions.)

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So, now I put it to you, my readership, to help me determine what beer my child will drink in approximately 21 years! I have listed the styles, and provided descriptions, so let me know what you think.  Discussion may take place before or after your vote in the blog comments below.  I am also open to an option I hadn’t yet considered, which is why I allow you to vote “Other” in the poll below.  Please note that any “Other” votes ought to meet the conditions as described above.  It needs to be HIGH in alcohol.  Some of the styles I listed above aren’t even high enough in their normal states, so I’m going to be kicking them up a notch.  13% or higher will be desirable, and the higher, the better, IMO.  In addition the brewing process can’t consist of weird procedures that are going to be difficult or impossible for me to do.  (For example, the German Eisbock is often considered to be excellent for aging.  However, it is an Iced beer, which means that a Doppelbock is frozen, and the ice is removed, to create a higher-gravity beer than would otherwise have been created.  However, there’s no good way for me to freeze 5 gallons of wort, so I removed the Eisbock from the running.)  If you’re considering a style, but aren’t sure if it’ll be feasible, please post a comment, and we can talk about it!

(Voting closes at 11:59pm, August 31st, 2008.  Please vote before then!!)

No, not because the Olympics start tomorrow.

No, not because numerologists are happy about the date containing 3 8’s.

These events pale into insignificance beside the greatest event to happen in the last 1 year, 1 month, and 1 day!!!

I am speaking, of course, of the release of Stone Brewing Company’s latest Vertical Epic Ale!!!

The Vertical Epic Ale has been released 7 times before this beginning in the year 2002.  2-2-02, 3-3-03, etc. etc. etc.  Each Epic Ale has its own character and flavor profile, and they’re designed to be saved up, and drunk one after another with friends!  Sadly, I did not have the foresight to start grabbing up the Vertical Epics as they were released, and the older ones are quite expensive these days.  Still, I think I’ll pick up a couple bottles this year.  One to drink now, and one to age.

This brings to mind a great idea that a friend of mine had.  Many of you know Daniel, and know that while he’s likely a genius, he’s also somewhat of a retard.  Well, this idea he had is a great one.  He had the idea of getting a bunch of guys together to throw me a baby shower.  The gift would be the ingredients and the brewing of a batch of extra-high gravity beer that could age for many years.  Specifically, we would age at least a couple of bottles for 21 years, to be opened only upon my child’s 21st birthday.  They will then have the pleasure of drinking a beer that was brewed before they were born.  :-D

See??  Isn’t that a GREAT idea?  (Despite the fact that he chose to call it a “man shower”, giving me pictures in my mind that I never wanted to have.  He IS, as I said, somewhat of a retard.)  lol

What do you think???

I didn’t really go into detail when I announced the Brew Day earlier this week because I was in a hurry.  That is something I intend to remedy with this post.

You would think that after a couple brew days, I’d be less happy about having another one.  To be sure, there are aspects of brew day I’m not looking forward to.  For one, it makes a tremendous mess.  For two, there’s a lot of equipment cleanup involved.  And finally, I don’t usually brew for a small group.  Lots of people means doing something large for lunch and/or dinner, which is more work and cleanup.

However, each brew day, there’s been a new piece of equipment that I’ve been eager to test.  This brew day is no exception.  This weekend will be the first run of my new brewing kettle, which I first talked about here! (Pictures to follow.)

Many of you have seen the kegs that brewers put beer in for distributing to pubs and such.  Well, there are a couple of nice things about kegs that make them ideal for turning into brewing kettles.  One of them is that they are designed to have contents under pressure.  This means that the walls and floor of these kegs is thick enough to help distribute heat.  They also often have handles at the top, for easy transportation.  Finally, they’re a LOT cheaper than commercial kettles.  All told, I paid well under $100, while a good kettle will run you $300.

The guy who did my kettle conversion cuts the top of the keg out with a plasma torch. He then punches a bunch of holes in the top to create a grain screen.  From there, he basically creates some plumbing, which connects the center of that screen to the outside.  It’s hard to explain, but I’ll have pictures after this brew day.

This allows me to mash and boil in the same kettle; a prospect of which I’ve two minds.  On the one hand, having a proper mashing tun will allow me to mash a much larger amount of grain than I could in my 5 gallon cooler. (The kettle is 15.5 gallons.)  On the other hand, since I only have the one kettle, I’ll have to drain the mash liquor from the keg/kettle, fly sparge the grain, and then clean our the grain for the boil.  It requires me to have a vessel ready to hold the resultant liquor as well as a vessel for heating the sparge water.  I’ve ended up with a couple food-grade buckets, which will be what I use, I think.  I need my old kettle for heating the sparge water, for sure.  It’s going to be tricky, I think.

The long term solution, of course, is to get a second keg/kettle and a second burner.  We’ll see if that ever happens.  :)

As I mentioned in my title, this will be a chocolate oatmeal stout.  It will be my first all-grain stout, which is exciting enough.  However, this is also my first experience with a non-traditional brewing ingredient. In 1516, the City of Ingolstadt created the Reinheitsgebot, or the Bavarian Purity Law. This law allowed for only 3 ingredients to be used in the production of beer: water, barley, and hops. Yeast was not included in the law, since the microorganism had not been discovered yet. Brewers originally used sediment from previous batches to provide the fermentation. If sediment was not available, they used special vats, relying on natural yeast to provide the fermentation. So while the Purity Law did not allow for yeast, it was out of ignorance, rather than any desire to ban yeast.

This recipe I have sort of adapted calls for a couple of things.  For one, flaked oats, which would NOT have been allowed under the Purity Law.  This should add a sort of creamy mouthfeel, which is the reason for including oats in batches.  (Many brewers say that this is more psycho-somatic than anything else.) The recipe I adapted from called for wheat, which I’ve also never used.  I’m not entirely sure what the reasoning is behind this addition to the mash, aside from the fact that malted wheat is definitely a different flavor than malted barley.  Could lighten up the body a bit.  It may have been used to help counteract the viscosity that all the other ingredients will lend.  Finally, I will add some amount of cocoa powder to the recipe.  This will add most of the chocolate flavor, and should result in quite the tasty brew.

I’ve never brewed with chocolate, and have no real guidelines as of yet to work with.  I’ve found a couple pages that will hopefully give me some ideas, but in the absence of anything else, I’ll add an amount to the mash and see what it does!  This could be a recipe I fine-tune over several batches.

I’ll keep you all posted as to what all goes down this weekend!

I know it’s a little sudden, but we’ve decided that we can brew this weekend.  I’m really looking forward to it!

I’m brewing an Oatmeal Chocolate Stout, and using my new brewing kettle, converted from a keg!

I’ll let you all know how it goes!

My scores (by beer number):

• Beer #1 - 5/10
• Beer #2 - 2/10
• Beer #3 - 5/10
• Beer #4 - 3/10

And the revealed beers….

• Beer #1 - Coors
• Beer #2 - Gordon Biersch Pilsner
• Beer #3 - Kona Longboard Lager
• Beer #4 - Budweiser

I must admit, the results are surprising in a couple of ways.

1. Gordon Biersch’s Plsner really doesn’t taste good compared to lagers.  I need to re-read some descriptions of the pilsner style, but we found it to be overly bitter, slightly skunky-smelling, and just not malty enough to stand up against Coors and Kona.  Gabe’s description?  “It tastes like ass.”  It really did NOT taste good.  I thought I had tasted the Pilsner, but now that I think about it, I don’t know when I would have.  In the GB brewery, I would have chosen the Schwartzbier, Marzen, or even the Blonde Bock over a Pilsner…and I’m sure I have.  That being said, I was really surprised.  Until now, I’ve never tried a Gordon Biersch I haven’t liked.  There’s a first for everything, I guess.
2. Kona’s beer got a higher rating because I loved the non-bitter hop character they gave it.  Not necessarily true to style, but I liked it for a different reason than the reason for which I rated the Coors what I did.  The hops were refreshing, fer sure.
3. Coors isn’t as bad as I thought it was.
4. I really don’t like lighter-colored beers as much as their darker colored counterparts. I kept saying that there were better lighter beers than Bud and Coors, but it turns out they’re only marginally better.  I do recommend beers like the Blonde Bock or the Marzen rather than Bud or Coors…they are more flavorful.

So there you have it. I liked Coors above a micro-brew.  The micro brew in question was horrible, sadly.  I’d like to put Bud or Coors up against a Newcastle, Marzen, Scotch Ale, etc.  I don’t think they’ll stand up, to be honest.