Wine and Dessert wine

I've recently started in on making wine, with a Cabernet Sauvignon; right now its sitting at a specific gravity of .998. I'm really excited about making wine, as I've recently been on a trend of trying to make as much as I can (food, beer, wine, crafts, etc) from scratch.

Yesterday Megan and I had a bottle of a Gewürztaminer-Eiswein, a dessert wine. Most dessert wines are slightly higher in alcohol than their mainstream counterparts. Also, usually the prefix Eis- (German for ice) means a form of freeze distillation where you chill your fermented beverage, and remove the ice (the water will freeze out of solution), leaving a higher percentage of alcohol and more intense flavors left in the wine/beer.

This particular Eiswein introduced me to a new concept in the world of Eis-. It was 7% ABV and very sweet. My guess is that they started fermentation in the Gewürztaminer, taking periodic Brix measurements, and at a certain point (with quite a bit of fermentation still left),  chilled the wine to kill the yeast. This would leave a slightly alcoholic wine, with quite a bit of fermentable sugars left over, making it very sweet.

I may have to try this sometime, it was quite delicious.

Also on my list of wines to make is a port, as I am a big fan of them. Port wines (Vinho de Porto) are from Portugal, and can be described as "fortified wines." A particular grape harvest is used in two ways:

1) The grapes are made into a wine, and then distilled into a grape brandy (note that this is always done with the same grapes)

2) A second wine is made, and as above with the Eiswein, readings are made, and a a certain sugar content, the grape brandy is added. The high alcohol content in the brandy is too much for the yeast, so it stops fermentation at that point. The wine can be sweeter or drier depending on when this step occurs.

This is a simplistic description of the making of port wine, I'll get more into it as I get closer to making my own, specifically the differences between Tawny ports and Ruby ports, late bottle vintages and much much more.

Environmental Protection Ale

So a while back, my girlfriend applied for a research grant from the EPA for a grad school fellowship. At the time, I brewed a beer to commemorate that (guess what style, hyuck); it turned out pretty successful, and became one of my flagship beers, I had the recipe set in extract, partial mash and all-grain, and came up with some pretty similar results across the board.

People would often ask me, "well, what does it have to do with the environment?" I would always have to laugh and say, "nothing at all."

At the time, I had never had an organic beer that tasted as good as a non-organic alternative in the same category, so I had no interest in brewing organic. However, in the interest of trying to make that beer a little more true to the name, I think I am going to try and dip my feet into the organic mash.

Briess malting out of Wisconsin, produces a wide range of excellent specialty malts, and has quite the organic selection. I like local, and I love Briess (for the most part). They supply all of the malts necessary for my recipe, except for brumalt (I used Gambrinus' Honey Malt), for which I will try to use real honey instead (I'm pretty sure all honey is organic, unless they pump steroids into each bee, I will have to research this).

Hops will be a challenge, there are a couple small organic hop growers in the US, but not nearly enough to make them very easily available. I may have to cave on this, I think I can be comfortable doing this, since organic beer didn't need to be made with organic hops (although I remember hearing that the USDA was thinking about eliminating hops from the allowable ingredients for organic beer, last fall. I'm not sure if that passed or not).

With regards to yeast, I am absolutely sure that I want to stay away from "organic," as I would be surprised to hear that many organic brewers use yeast that is not from lab conditions (I think organic would mean putting your unfermented wort in the woods, opening the top, and letting mother nature do her thing).

Either way, if it turns out, my stock recipe for a pale ale will indeed be more environment friendly. I'll post a recipe when I have one made up (or maybe once I think its not going to suck, I've got most of it down already).

BierKrieg Pt 2

So, another batch of Stout Sprinter in the fermenter, OG rolled in around 1.098 this time. Also, the Omnium amber ale rolled in right at 1.055.

I took my time brewing today, with 3 gallon batches, I can pretty much run the mash off from the first one, clean out the tun and start in on the next one while the first is still boiling. If I had done that, I would have saved maybe 2 hours today, but I would have been working my butt off, trying to keep everything on time.

The Rye Pilsner from last week is in a diacetyl rest right now, having just been transferred to secondary. The gravity on that one is reading right on 1.010; I would like to think it would finish out a little more, but I guess with an attenuation rate of 70-74%, that's not bad. Only a little hint of diacetyl, but I've had that before with WYeast 2278, that's what the rest is for. Its got a bit of haze to it right now, I think it will finish out just fine, but since most of my lagers have been bocks, as opposed to piss-clear pilsners, maybe I just haven't seen it before.

Adjusting my recipes to the new brewhouse efficiency has been nice. The amber ale was exactly on target, and I mean exactly, not one or two points off. The Impy stout was a little low, but there is that gravity ceiling for all grain beers, and I'm right at it (some of the gravity points were from Belgian candi sugar, I know, that's kind of cheating)

I didn't get around to kegging my a batch that I have ready, I should really do that. I may get some new gaskets and give the kegs a facelift first.

I will finish this post, as I finish off a bottle of a well-brewed ESB of mine.

"You foam within our glasses, you lusty golden brew,
Whoever imbibes takes fire from you.
The young and the old sing your praises,
Here's to beer,
Here's to cheer,
Here's to beer!"

BierKrieg

I ended up brewing the Rye Pilsner as described in the previous post, and I have high expectations. Things went off without a hitch; my batch sparging efficiency was great, starting fermentation was great. I also used White Labs new(ish) Clarity Ferm, a clarifying agent that is meant to be added to the start of fermentation. I think I like it, but I guess I won't know until later. If I like this recipe, I'll brew up a 6 gallon batch, split it into two of my 3 gallon fermentors, one with it, one without.

On Saturday, many of us NB folk went out to St Cloud to help out with the new-this-year St Cloud Craft Beer Expo, which was a blast. It seems there was a need for a good quality beerfest/tasting event out there, as we sold out. My numbers may be wrong, but I seem to recall somewhere between 1000 and 1100 tickets were pre sold, and we sold out at the door at 2000 (I think). Guests were mixed between the St Cloud college types (wooo- endless beer!), and more refined folk tasting and discussing the various beverages. Either way, people got drunk and had a blast.

I'm planning a big brew day for this Saturday. I have been researching as much as I can into decoction brewing techniques, and I had originally planned to brew a triple decoction. I will give a brief description below, you can skip reading it if I say big words (its OK, my brain hurts sometimes too).

--Begin Beer Science Talk--

For those not in the know, decoction mashing was a technique used in ye olden tymes, before we figured out how to modify grains for easier starch extraction. Decoction mashing involves holding the mash (your milled grains with some heated water), at a certain temperature for a length of time, pulling the mash out, boiling it, and putting it back in with the rest of the mash to hold it at a higher temperature for a time. 

In addition to activating the enzymes (Glucanase, α-Amylase, β-Amylase, etc) to degrade the proteins necessary for fermentation, this method also slightly carmelizes the unfermented wort, bringing out some subtle (unsubtle if you do it wrong) nuances in your beer. 

We brewers don't use this method (much) anymore, because 2-row barley is much more modified, increasing the efficiency in starch extraction, making mash steps less important. Mash steps means more heat, and more time, that means your beer costs more, or your local brewer lives in a shanty.

--End Beer Science Talk--

I'm thinking I will postpone the decoction mash until I acquire more equipment, and take some more time to go over my intended recipe. Since I already set aside a big block of time this Saturday for brewing, I think I'll do 2 all grain batches instead.

A friend of mine asked me when I was going to brew my prized "Stout Sprinter" english style (kind of) imperial stout again. To put it in Mozart terms, this beer is my requiem. It has promise to be great, and I've had some already amazing incarnations of it, but I know it can be even better. I've left it alone for some time now, in order to rest myself, and ponder where to take it next, but after a little prodding, I'm ready to try it again. A 3 gallon of that is beer #1.

Next, after thinking about what a moron I was with my "Amber" ale a few weeks back (hey, it was a while since I brewed last, I needed to dust the cobwebs out somehow), I tasted that, and now have my bearing on exactly where I want to go, that is beer #2. I think I'll do a 3 gallon of that too, so I don't end up with fountains of beer everywhere (Side note, I need more thirsty, adventurous friends).

2 mashes, 1 day, that will be my BierKrieg (or maybe Blitzbier is more appropriate, but it just doesn't have the same ring)

Rye Pils

I'm working on a new recipe, which I'll brew this weekend. "Working" isn't quite that accurate, since its not exactly complex.

8lbs Rahr Pilsner Malt
1lb Rye malt (Briess or Weyermann, havent decided)

1oz Premiant @ 60 min
1oz Premiant @15 min

WYeast 2278 Czech Pilsner

I want to do 2 things, use Premiant, which is a relatively new variety, 7-9% alpha acids, with a very low cohumulone (21% I think?), a hybrid from Czech parents of both bittering and aroma, supposedly it has a nice clean flavor profile and a bit of spice to it, the higher alpha acids also means I only have to use 2 ounces, which is a money saver (I don't think I would have gone 3 ounces if I used something like Saaz anyways, but whatever).

The other thing I wanted to do was brew with a bit of rye, which I've never done before. I'm thinking about upping the rye to 1.5 lbs, but its a small malt bill, and I want to keep it that way.

I reinstalled BeerSmith on my computer again. Its a love/hate relationship with this program. Its really the only good brewing program out there, but its from 2003 and the UI makes it look so (it has been updated and is current to 2008, but the UI hasn't changed). I want something web based that does everything this does, but doesn't look ugly and, its web based (I need to get my head out of the cloud).

Having Beersmith installed will really help me adjust my brewhouse efficiency though, which I sorely need to do.

Tasting Recap

Above: The beer lineup for my tasting last night. As mentioned before, the theme was to be beers with interesting malt characteristics. From left to right; Hoss Rye Lager (Great Divide brewing co), Schell's Schmaltz' Alt (Schell's Brewing Co), Nut Brown Ale (Samuel Smith Brewing), Aventinus Weizenbock (G. Schneider & Sohn), Skullsplitter (Orkney), Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche (Schlenkerla), Darkness (Surly Brewing, 2009)

We started off featuring rye, with Great Divide's Hoss Rye Lager. Rye malts in beer can give a clean, dry finish, with a pervading tartness (not the right descriptor, but while I can recognize rye beers right away, I find it hard to describe them). I wanted to feature Viking Brewing's Blonde, which is classified as a Rye Pilsner. Unfortunately Viking had to sell their name to some Icelanders in October, so they're not around right now, and who knows what they'll be returning as.

Next up was Schell's Schmaltz' Alt, one of my personal favorites from the historic MN brewery. I wanted to have their Firebrick, as Schell's knows their Vienna and Munich malts best. Their Alt however, did an excellent job of showing what just the right amount of dark crystal malts can do in a beer, with its rich, rasiny character.

The Nut Brown Ale from Samuel Smith in Tadcaster, England was up third. The English malt Maris Otter is the base for this one (it could be the only malt used, we weren't quite sure on that one). It showcases it quite well, in fact. I would say it is my favorite brown ale, hands down. Not even close to my second. I don't always pay attention to BeerAdvocate reviews, but Sam Smith's Nut Brown places solidly in 1st for its category, with an A- average review. The nuttiness in "nut" brown ales doesn't come from any nuts added during the brewing process, it is a characteristic of the Maris Otter malt.

Aventinus is a top fermented wheaty impersonation of a doppelbock. Its not lagered, as the yeasty nose indicates some ~70 degree fermentation temperatures. Its been a while since I've had this beer, and we all seemed to decide that it has a little bit too much going on, and it can't decide which kind of beer it wants to be. If you've never had it before, though, I recommend trying it, as it is likely different most anything out there. The same beer is also used to make a "Weizen-Eisbock;" the concept pretty much blows my mind, and the flavor does too.

Skullsplitter is a Scottish Wee-Heavy from the isle of Orkney. I was shooting for an excellent beer to feature Golden Promise. Golden Promise is a Scottish spring barley, used extensively in Scottish beers and whisky. Unfortunately I picked an excellent beer, but I think I could have showcased the malt a bit more with something like an 80 shilling scottish ale, instead of a Wee Heavy. One of my favorites, though, I used this beer in a steak and beer tasting a few years back.

The Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche is Schlenkerla's normal rauchbier recipe, but instead of using their in-house beechwood smoked malt, they kilned the malts over oak instead. It gives a nice, well rounded vanilla flavor (I'm tempted to write flavour instead). You can't go wrong with finishing off the night with a smoked beer.

Where we went wrong (or maybe where we went right) was with following that up with a bottle of 2009 Darkness from local Surly. This year has seemed to age well since its release 15 months ago. I havent had the 2010, but compared to the 2008, it seemed to have less coffee-like chocolatey notes, and more of a chocolate dipped raspberry taste.

Also, I don't mean to mention food last, but I left that more up to Megan, and she performed admirably. She paired with a 3 mushroom gruyere quiche (Swiss Gruyere from Surdyks) that she used her own crust recipe for. Also, we had Fontina, Camambert, and an abbey cheese to pair with. The food and cheese was all quite excellent, and I don't mean to understate it at all, but pairing is not within my purview.

All in all, it was an excellent evening, thanks to those that provided good company and cheer.

Beer Tasting

Everyone knows about the craft beer craze of recent years in the US. It has done much to further the evolution of beers and brewing around the world. Since I've started brewing, I've come to the realization that American beers are in some ways still very much lacking to beers in countries with a long history in brewing. The American brewing industry has led to the development of many new and different hop strains, which we've used to great success in brewing.

Where the US brewing scene lacks, however, is in the use of malts (both base and specialty). The prevalence of Rahr malts (the largest malting site in the world), has resulted in a fairly basic malt bill for many American beers (remember, there are many exceptions, I'm generalizing here).

This weekend I'm hosting a beer tasting where we are exploring different malts from around the world, used in beers from the US and elsewhere, beers that may have been overlooked by the average consumer. I'm trying to create a moment of open discussion and peer review in which we try to see if there is another direction that brewers should be working towards.

It should be really interesting to see what becomes of it. It has already been a blast selecting beers to fit the constraints of the theme.

Also, if you didn't get invited to this beer tasting (I host one every now and then), its likely because I can't invite everybody, and I try to mix it up. Send me a message and I'll see to it that you get invited to one sometime.