Label entrants and other ramblings

I mailed my labels in today. Thank you to everyone who participated in providing feedback. The clear winner was La Libertad, and Bangy Tangy was second place. But....a sentimental favorite of mine and my brother-in-law was the Gringo, so I decided to enter that as well. Why not? So...we shall see. I think my labels have improved over last year, and so that's a nice achievement and I feel good about that.

As for some other random things...I didn't get as much brewing done last week as I had hoped. Other things came up, and so instead of the 4 brews I intended to brew..which became 3...which in reality became 2 beers.....
But, the logistics didn't work out. I had intended to bottle one version of the Bangy Tangy, while brewing another version, and pouring it on top of the same yeast. But, I didn't have enough bottles to bottle the Bangy Tangy. Also, it wasn't done in the primary by Sunday and I also broke my hydrometer in my bottling bucket. I threw the bucket away because its been a long time coming, its from my original kit, so I could probably use an upgrade. Plus the possibility of glass, no matter how well I clean it out....a good excuse to replace it.
So right now the Bangy Tangy is still going, and so is El Muerto. El Muerto is a new recipe that I'm excited about, all organic and I'm using some Organic Pacific Gem hops, which I had in Fish Tale's IPA and was really impressed with. I think this version of El Muerto could be a winner. I liked the other versions, but I'm excited about the prospect of this new direction.
One final note...and I'll get into this more at a later post. Jeff came over both weekends that my wife was out of town and we consumed a lot of beer....including tapping the tap-a-draft of the beer made in his honor...El Jefe. Awhile back I bitched and whined about how my beers weren't shaping up to my liking and this is another example of why I'm an idiot. I'll review it in full later, but El Jefe is the shit. Josh called to say he likes it as much, if not more, than the Bangy Tangy, and thinks its awfully close to Deliruim. I think its a bit lighter, which is what I was going for. Its flavorful, refreshing, and at 5% abv, a nice session beer. I should have known that time would do this well. I say I need to be patient every damn time....but I just can't help myself from checking....at least I did manage to hold off on the Jefe and have another tap-a-draft bottle of it left.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Why the Gods are cruel...

Earlier this week I was looking through the Great Lakes Brewing News when I stumbled upon an add featuring Walter Sobchack holding up a glass with Hennepin written on it. I quickly scanned the add. Here's what I found out: Ommegang is having their Big Lewbrewski festival in Cooperstown, New York featuring over 40 Belgian breweries. I immediately called up Brotino, because we not only love Belgian beer, but the Big Lebowski is...well...its the Big Lebowski. Our collective favorite movie...we've quoted or made reference to that movie too many times to calculate.

So let me see...Belgian beer, Ommegang (or OMANG! as Josh calls it), Big Lewbowski. It was too good to be true. It was fate. We were there.

Then we went on the website and its sold out....damn it! So next year there's no question what we will be doing the first weekend in August.

Salud!

The Bearded Brewer

A great bearded brewer

I found this clip of John Maier, head brewer at Rogue, one of my favorite breweries.



More to come this weekend.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

New Belgium Movie

I found this video about New Belgium Brewing Company's efforts in sustainability. It's a bit long at almost 10 minutes, but shows a lot of the great things they are doing as one of the leaders in socially and environmentally responisble brewing:

Salud!

The Bearded Brewer

Happy Earth Day

Since it's Earth Day, I thought I would give a quick list of some links to some of the more sustainable and environmetnally friendly breweries. I read a great article in the Great Lakes Brewing News about Sierra Nevada and their innovations in sustainable energy. Pretty amazing. I'm trying to get a link or a copy of the article to post, but you can check out their wesbsite.
http://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html

Of course New Belgium is another brewery who has done amazing things to be enviromentally friendly, including being a wind powered brewery. Here's their philosophy:
We believe, to be environmental stewards, we need to:
1. Lovingly care for the planet that sustains us.
2. Steward natural resources by closing the loops between waste and input.
3. Minimize the environmental impact of shipping our beer.
4. Reduce our dependence on coal-fired electricity.
5. Protect our precious Rocky Mountain water resources.
6. Focus our efforts on conservation and efficiency.
7. Support innovative technology.
8. Model joyful environmentalism through our commitment to relationships, continuous improvement, and the camaraderie and cheer of beerYou can check out more at:
http://www.newbelgium.com/sustainability2.php

A small brewery in Canada is really doing some amazing things, and is almost completely sustainable. They are called Cranog Ales in British Columbia and they brew on their own farm:
Crannóg Ales is located on our own ten-acre farm in Sorrento, BC. The farm and brewery are fully integrated, with the brewery providing food for the livestock, and the farm providing hops for the brewery. The water for the brewery comes from a well in the middle of our farm, fed by springs on the farm as well as streams from the mountains which surround us.

More information about them can be found at: http://www.crannogales.com/

I'll plug an interview from my site, but a big champion of the organic/sustainable brewing movement is Chris O'Brien, founder of the Beer Activist blog and the writer of Fermenting Revolution. I interviewed him about some of these topics and more.

Scott at East End Brewing Company in Pittsburgh only takes out a garbage bag a month! Pretty incredible, check out his site for more information on their efforts, or the interview he did here. And for those in the Pittsburgh area, he's offering $1 off growlers for anyone who walks, bikes, or takes mass transit to the brewery on Earth Day!

Finally, Great Lakes Brewing Company is brewery in Cleveland that does amazing things as well. Their company goals include:

• Reducing, reusing and recycling
• Changing natural resource use from "Take, Make, Waste" to "Take,
  Make, Remake"
• Implementing efficient energy practices
• Investing in the community through non-profit organizations
• Supporting sustainable urban renewal projects.

You can find out more about their efforts here.

Those are just a few quick links. My efforts this weekend included kegging (reducing glass) and today in honor of Earth Day I'm going to ride my beer bike (more on that to come) to the liquor store and pick up some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to support their great efforts.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Portable Kegerator

I recently got a 2.5 gallon keg to ease into kegging. I also wanted something that could be used at parties this summer. I found a thread on a forum about a guy who built a kegerator from an Igloo cooler. This was so simple, I'll list what I bought to make it. I think the whole thing cost me under $75. Here's a breakdown:
60 qt Igloo cooler -$25
3 1/2" Shank with 3/16 bore - $15
Tap handle- $1.75
5 ft of 3/16 tubing- $5
Disconnect- $5
Standard Faucet- $16

I didn't shoot a video of the process, because it is literally drilling a hole in the side of the cooler and putting the shank in, screwing in the faucet and connecting the tubes.


Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Label Contest

As much as I enjoy making and drinking beer, I also love coming up with a name and making a label. Every year I'm always impressed and inspired by the labels that win the annual BYO label contest. Last year was the first year I entered the contest and I didn't win anything. I entered four labels; Whitefish Cranberry Wheat, None More Black, El Muerto, and Bearded Fury. I wasn't too disappointed because I think that art is in the eye of the beholder and I really liked the labels I entered. Its hard to know exactly what they are looking for. Sometimes there are labels that might look very professional and similar to something you'd find in a store, other times they might be off the wall creative labels. Take a look at the past winners here: contest winners.

So this year I'm planning on entering again, but the deadline is fast approaching. Since I have the ability to ask the public this year, I'm asking you to help me choose some labels. I've decided to enter 2 this year, and I'm deciding amongst 4 labels. Here are my choices, please click on the poll to the right with your ideas if you are so inclined. Thanks!

A. Bangy Tangy B. Morris Park C. La Libertad D. The Gringo

Thanks for your input.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

New green practices at Summit

Carey Matthews at Summit emailed me a link to their newsletter detailing some of the things that Summit is doing to move towards a greener brewery. Its good to see they are making some changes to be more sustianable.

" Some of the projects that we have taken on as a way to reduce usage are small and at times may seem unnecessary. On the other hand some projects are massive in size, effort, and capital investment. A recently completed small project is the addition of motion detector light switches in the bathrooms and timer switches on the upper non occupied levels of the brewery to reduce the lighting costs when no one is using these spaces. This project was relatively inexpensive and will pay itself off in just a few months. We also recently completed a change of the heating times and temperatures for the facility. This required us adding a number of sensors and some PLC controls, but by making these changes we reduced our heating bills by 14%. This project was somewhat more expensive, however, the payback was almost immediate. In the summer of 2007 we added a series of automated air valves in the facility to shut down the plant air to areas when plant air is not necessary. This may not seem like much of an issue, however the air comes from a 100 horsepower compressor so reducing its run time dramatically reduces energy as well as maintenance costs. Additionally, we are in the final stages of installing a new 120 ton SMARDT chiller unit for our glycol system that maintains the temperature of the tanks during fermentation. As part of this project we will also be using the return glycol to maintain temperature and humidity in our packaging area as a way to reduce the amount of waste packaging. This project is 1 year in the making and has been challenging; the technology is relatively new so a lot of engineering had to take place to make this system work efficiently. Our capital investment for this project was more than $250,000 and the payback will take awhile, but the reduction in energy use will be extraordinary. The new SMARDT chiller uses approximately .6 KWH/ton verses our original chiller that uses approximately 1.8 KWH/ton. This unit is 120 tons and the old unit is 100 tons, so doing simple math, if you take the new unit and run it at 70%, the electricity would cost approximately $1839.50 versus the old chiller at $5016.82 per month. You may ask why didn’t we buy a better, more efficient unit to begin with and the answer is simple, the technology just did not exist in 1998 when this unit was purchased. Upcoming 2008 energy projects also include installing high efficiency fluorescent fixtures throughout all production areas which will greatly reduce energy usage and heat load. In September we will be installing a system to utilize outside air during the winter months to keep the beer cold in the cooler instead of using mechanical cooling, thus reducing energy costs as well as reducing run time on current equipment."

Check out more information at: http://www.thesocialelement.com/
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Beer Review- Surly Bender

Surly Brewing Company is a small brewery located in a suburb of Minneapolis. In the two years it has been in existence it has built up quite a following and has a great buzz around it, including being rated the #1 brewery in Beer Advocate this past year. Surly has been a brewery I've had a weird reaction to, and I'm not too proud to say that I think my reaction to Surly was a bit immature. When Surly Furious came out, I tried it several times, as I was excited to have a new beer in the local landscape. I really didn't like it, it is an extremely bitter, hoppy beer, in fact I've heard owner Omar say it is the highest IBU or most bitter beer in the country! I gave it several tries, and so did a lot of my friends. I have friends who like it, and friends who really don't care for it. I think the other thing (and my immaturity) is that there is a really strong following of loyal Surly fans, and it creates a real fervor that I have to admit I was adverse to. In fact reading back over my Hop madness post, I realize it sounds like I'm bashing Surly. Which I'm not. I think that there are some really cool things Surly does, like pushing the limits of local beer taste, taking risks with some extreme beer, and it's awesome they have an annual disc golf outing. Plus they have really done a good job of building up a buzz through some DIY type marketing.

So, in an effort to be a more fair and balanced blog, I decided to buy a four pack (cans) of Surly Bender (I tried Furious a couple more times on tap...still not for me). I also tried their 2 (second annual beer) an 11% abv stout brewed with cranberries. I thought this was pretty good, but thought the cranberries were a little too overwhelming.

So I bought Bender, wanting to give it another chance. This beer is really intriguing because its kind of a porter/stout/brown ale, but hoppy and yet brewed with oats that give it a really interesting body.

Thoughts: This beer pours a dark brown with some ruby red hues and a thin tanish head. At first you really smell cocoa and some hints of citrus from the hops. This beer is quite complex and different, it has some nutty and coffee roastiness, yet at the same time has some chocolate tones to it. Also, there is quite a hop presence that gives it a slightly citrus finish and a nice balance to the other "darker" flavors that are going on. This is a really unique beer, and something I would drink again. Its hard to describe, which is good. Its kind of hoppy brown ale, with some stout like characteristics.

So...I'll admit I was wrong. And will steer clear of any Surly dissing in the future. I'll stand by my feelings of the Furious, but that doesn't mean I won't buy Bender again, or try other offerings that come out in the future (I've heard good things about Cynic, a saison, from Brian, who isn't a Furious fan either). I guess the theme of this weekend's posts have been: don't make blanket statements.

Salud!

The Bearded Brewer

Beer Review- Pleasant Surprises

In the past I've stated that I wasn't a fan of the imperial beer craze. These are big (usually 8% alcohol and up) and very hoppy beers. It seemed like this was the trend in American beers,
bigger = better. The few imperials I had were not impressive, and overall, as someone who enjoys hops, but not in excess, I figured this craze was not really something I would appreciate.

However, I'm an open-minded person. So I've set out to try some imperials to find out if I might be wrong. The first occasion, I bought Avery Brewing Company's The Czar, a Russian Imperial Stout, and also Sam Adam's Imperial Pilsner. In January, Jeff, Brian and I split these beers and weren't too impressed. Actually none of us could finish The Czar and we thought the Imperial Pils was interesting, but not something we'd drink often. But, I decided to give a couple more a shot. Here are my thoughts:

Old Rasputin
This winter, I've been drinking more stouts and after reading some positive reviews of a beer I'd always heard alot about, North Coast Brewing's Old Rasputin, I thought I should give it a try. I was very impressed. The beer pours a jet black with a thin tan head. Roasty and hoppy aromas hit you first. What follows is a creamy stout filled with peppery spiciness from the hops, and a nice balance of coffee, toffee, and roastiness. It didn't feel as strong as it is, and there was no noticeable alcohol burn one might expect from that strong of a beer. This would be great on a cold night, and seemed to more flavorful as it warmed up. Add to it, a kick ass name, this is one that changes my opinion of Russian Imperial Stouts.

Bell's Hopslam
This is a beer that has gotten a lot of buzz and is from one of my favorite breweries. I was skeptical about this beer, despite some good recommendations. It sounded like a beer I wouldn't enjoy, plus at $14 a six pack, I really didn't want to spend the money and have 6 beers I didn't like. But one day I decided to throw caution to the wind and drop the cash on a sixer.
Wow! What a beer! It took me a couple bottles to really appreciate what I was drinking (not in one sitting, it's 10% abv!) The beer pours a copper-orangish color with a lacy white head. It smells strongly of citrus, especially grapefruit. At first it is fairly bitter, with a chewy body. The hops are everywhere, but after a few drinks, there is a slightly sweet maltiness, and there is a honey sweetness as you finish. Someone told me they thought last year's was better because it had less honey presence, but that was the final sell for me. I thought that the honey added a sweetness that really balanced out the hops. This is a beer that takes a while to drink, because it is chewy and strong. But over the course of a couple weeks, I found myself really looking forward to cracking one open. I should have known that Bell's wouldn't disappoint!

So there you have it. Being open-minded and willing to try new things can lead you to beers you wouldn't have thought you'd like. I wouldn't say I'll make either of these my everyday beer, but there will be occasions that either of these beers would be great.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Review- Movie, The American Brew

I recently purchased this DVD from the American Homebrewers Association website. I believe this 50 minute video originally aired on A&E. At $6, this dvd is hard to pass up.

The video was created by the "Here's To Beer" campaign and I believe funded by Anheuser-Busch . Since it is a documentary for television, it does start with some basics of beer, but quickly jumps into the rich history of American brewing.

I've recently been reading Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Brewing by Maureen Ogle, and a lot of the information in that book is included in this documentary. She is interviewed quite a bit in the documentary discussing the growth of the brewing industry during the turn of the century, the rise of the beer barons and prohibition.

For the beer geeks out there, you'll recognize a great deal of people in the film: Michael Jackson, Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewing Company, Randy Mosher, Charlie Papazian, Fritz Maytag of Anchor just to name a few. It does a good job of discussing the rise and fall of American brewing, the period after prohibition, and towards the end of the film, it discusses the rise of the craft brewing industry from companies like Anchor, Sierra Nevada, and even Russian River and Elysian Brewing Company.

I think it covers a lot in 50 minutes, and there are some good extras, with extended interviews with Michael Jackson and Fritz Maytag. Its very accessible to the less knowledgeable beer fans, but has enough "big names" to make it interesting to the beer geeks as well. And at $6, you really can't go wrong.

Self Doubt Sets In

Part of the fun of brewing is being experimental. I love being creative and normally feel good about the turn out. Even if they don't turn out great, I can just chalk it up to trying something new and go back to the drawing board. But after the postive reponse from a couple of my beers this winter, I'd have to say I was feeling pretty confident in my abilities. Then, I tried a few challenging things and I'd have to say they knocked me down a bit. Which is probably good in the end. Here's a quick rundown:

Mayabock- ok, so bocks might be hard to make. I might have to try decotion mashes. I might need to let it lager longer. I might have to use a bock yeast instead of Cali 2112 yeast (don't ask me why I did that). All of these things could be a problem. This beer is relatively young in the bottle, but thus far it lacks some of the maltiness I was hoping for. I'm kind of disappointed, but not too much. This is a beer I really need to work at. And there are obviously a lot of variables. Last night when I tried it, it was ok. Not great. And it had similar characteristics to the Yinzer Lager, which tells me I either need to re-evaluate the yeast I'm using, or figure out some things with lagering that I haven't been addressing. I'll give it some more time before I rule it out, but it's not a beer I'm super proud of at this point. Not shit...not great.

Frozen Beard Winter Ale- I already wrote a post about this. I can put the blame on the spruce extract, but while I'm whining...thought I'd include that beer in the list of beers that haven't been great.

El Jefe- Right now, this beer is not great. But again...young. However, what I've tasted thus far has been a thin body, and I don't think that's going to change. I can't get too down on this beer because it could end up being good...it has some good flavors going on...and as I mentioned in a previous post, it was kind of a debacle of a brew day. I think that the timing of the boil and when I added my last addition of dme could be the reason this lacks some body. But we shall see. Again...I'm bitching...so I'll add this to the list.

The Gringo- I have yet to write my reflections on this beer because I'm still formulating my opinion on it. This is my Imperial Mexican Lager. There have been some interesting reactions to it. My initial reaction was "this is amazing" but I was a little drunk when I thought that. My more sober reaction was "what the hell was I thinking" and now I'm somewhere in between. My wife has liked it, my friend Jeff said it was really unique, and "good but not awesome." My friend Brian thought it would be a good summer beer and also "all I can really taste are the hops." I will give this an official review soon, and I'm also sending a bottle to Bob Woodshed. Here's my thoughts this far...there is very little "Mexican lager" to it, but the lagering of it has created a very smooth finish, that lets the hops really reveal themselves. I agree with Brian that the Centenial hops are very present. Like...the beer almost feels like a hop tea. More to come on this.

The solution? I need to get back on the horse so to speak. My wife and daughter are going to Pittsburgh for a week, and I've been holding off brewing anything until that week. I plan on doing several beers then and I'm going back to some recipes I feel confident in. People have been asking for the Bangy Tangy, so I'll be brewing that, and I'm also going to be brewing El Muerto, a beer I've made several times and I think the changes to it will be good. More to come on that later.
Even though I've been bitching and moaning, this has been very therapeutic:) Thanks for reading. Any ideas? On any of it?
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Frozen Beard Winter Ale

I have yet to post my impressions about this beer because it has taken several months to mature. This beer was inspired by Rogue's Santa's Reserve and Alaskan Brewing Company's Winter Ale. I brewed this beer based off a recipe in Charlie Papazian's Microbrewed Adventures for Alaskan Brewing Company's Winter Ale. I think that this beer could eventually be really good, but so far its had an odd flavor to it. I added spruce extract to get the spruce element that was in the previously mentioned beers. I had never used this before, it called for 1 tsp per gallon, but I only added 2 for a 3 gallon batch. Well thus far it's been too much.
My wife said it smells enticing, but has an odd medicinal flavor to it. Once you get past the inital flavor, I think it's nice, and there's a sweetness to it because of the crystal malt. It pours a light brown- ruby red with a thin white head. There's a nice creaminess, and there's some spiciness because of the saaz hops. But it's taken time for the spruce to mellow out. Someone posted in a previous post that he has had success using real spruce needles.. I might have to try that. I'm intrigued by the potential of this beer. It has some good elements, and maybe the spruce will mellow out over time (I still have 10-15 22oz bottles left). We shall see, I guess this is why I do experimental batches!

In other happenings, I tried my Irie Stout again last night and I think I might have to bottle it this weekend. I planned on leaving it in the secondary another week, but the alcohol presence that I wanted to mellow out, really has, and there are some nice flavors going on. I think bottle conditioning will be fine for this beer anyway. We'll see how busy I am this weekend, because if I can hold out it might be good, but I'm just too intrigued by this beer to have much more patience with it! Plus I bought a 2.5 gallon keg a couple months ago that I have yet to use and I've been eagerly anticipating moving into that arena, so there's a lot of reasons to be impatient.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

Irie Stout Update

Sunday I transferred my Irie Stout to the secondary. The final gravity was 1.020. I calculated the abv with an online calculator and it came out 9.3%. I hadn't intended for it to be that big! In addition to the malt extract, I added 1.5 lbs of brown sugar and two packets of dried yeast. It was very active for close to two weeks. It tasted good today, but there was a definite alcohol presence that I'm hoping will mellow out with a couple more weeks. Originally, I had intended for this beer to be a foreign extra stout. But I think this is going to be on the sweeter side, without as much roastiness to it. But we'll see. I used paradise seeds and 2 1/2 tablespoons of orange peels. There was an interesting taste today, but the orange was real subtle. We'll see how it does with time, but I'm optimistic and curious about this beer.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer