I’m taking a slight break from brewing to regroup, get organized, and plan out some new stuff. Here’s a peak at what I’ll be working on for the next couple weeks on the brewing front:
New Hops: Sonnet and Calypso
In a stroke of inspiration from Stone Brewery’s blog, I decided to order some new hop varieties a week or so ago to try them out. Sonnet hops are very new, and don’t even have an official pedigree yet over at Hops Direct. It sounds like they are similar to a UK Golding and weigh in at around 4% Alpha. Calypso’s aren’t quite as new but are a new-ish dual-purpose (bittering and aroma) variety of hops that weigh in around 12% Alpha. Since I ordered from Hops Direct, I had to order in one-pound quantities so I decided to get a pound of each. I’m pretty excited to try these two varieties out and see what I can do with them. To start, I am going to do two small batches of standard pale ale with each hop for all additions (i.e. a pale ale with all Calypso and a pale ale with all Sonnet) to get an idea of the flavor and aroma that each impart. From there, I should be able to tell what styles of beer I want to use the hops in.
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| New residents in my freezer: a pound each of Calypso and Sonnet Hops |
DIY Homebrew Equipment: Wort Chiller
One of the pieces of equipment that has been towards the top of my wish list for quite some time now is a wort chiller. A wort chiller will help cool my wort much more efficiently than the ice bath method I have been using and will help clear up my beer also. From what I hear, once I have a wort chiller, I should be able to substantially reduce the amount of time it takes to reduce the temperature from boiling to around the mid-60s (depending on the yeast strain) in order to pitch the yeast at the most optimum temperature. Instead of shelling out the money to buy a pre-made chiller, I am looking into embracing the DIY nature of homebrewing and making my own chiller out of copper tubing. This may be a project for this coming weekend. :-)
DIY Homebrew Equipment: 5 Gallon Cooler Mash Tun
Since I have been doing primarily extract batches (due to space constraints) until now, I have never really had a need for a separate mash tun. However, I am seriously considering getting one because I have been doing more partial-mash batches (which still uses malt extract but does a mash on up to 5lb. of grain in the boil kettle) and I would like to start doing all-grain half-batches (or even full batches split into two boils). The way I figure it, since I can pretty comfortably do a 3-gallon boil in my kettle, there is nothing to stop me from doing an all-grain batch that will yield 2.5 gallons or so (about a case of beer) of finished beer. This will allow me to practice full mashing techniques and allow me to have more control over my beer. However, in order for me to do this, I will need a mash tun that is better insulated and has a larger capacity than my kettle. This will allow me to do all-grain half batches, as well as, more accurate mashes when doing partial-mash batches. Once again embracing the homebrewing DIY spirit, I am looking into building my own mash tun, using a 5 gallon water cooler and some hardware to assemble a screen filter and valve.
Next Full Batch: Fork ‘N Knife Oatmeal Stout
I’m also pretty excited for my next 5-gallon batch that I will probably be doing in the next couple months. Looking back through my brew log, I realized the other day that I had not brewed a stout yet. I was taken aback by this quite a bit since this is one of my favorite styles of beer. Taking on the challenge to add an oatmeal stout into my annual rotation, I wrote up a partial-mash recipe to have a delicious, low-alcohol stout to enjoy on its own, or in black and tans. Can’t wait to try this one out!
Online Recipes
As some of you may or may not have noticed, there’s a couple new tabs at the top of this page which I have added some homebrewing info to. To start, I have added a tab for my own homebrewery (Black Walnut) and the collaboration homebrewery (Two Guys and a Barrel) that I do with my buddy Keith. The main purpose of these tabs is to act as a mechanism for me to post my homebrew recipes online so that you fine people can use them to your hearts’ content. The idea will be to post some notes about what worked well for each recipe, as well as what didn’t, so that others can benefit from my experiences. I’m not exactly what you would call an expert brewer (in fact, I’m still a bit of a newbie), but I am hoping that my experiences will benefit other like-minded brewers. As you can tell by looking at these pages, they’re a bit sparse at this point but I will be posting recipes up there very shortly. These pages are static but I will be updating them periodically with new recipes, notes, tips, tricks, and other goodies, so check back once in awhile. There will probably be a few more tabs to come also.
Label Art
Like most other homebrewers, I don’t add colorful, ornate labels to my bottles that get tossed into my fridge at home; a simple numbered sticker slapped on the cap does the trick just fine for my purposes. The reason for this is simple – I’m the one who has to de-label the empties prior to sanitizing and filling the bottles for the next batch of beer. This is typically more hassle than it’s worth for beer that I drink at home. However, I would like to start developing label designs for some of my beers that will be seeing their way into my regular rotation, as well as special beers that I give away as gifts around the holidays, etc. I also think it would be fun to get some solid logos for my beers to add some depth to the story and meaning of these beers to me. I have already been working with Theresa’s brother Harry to design a brewery logo (which is already looking pretty sweet after only a couple passes) and will be looking to do label designs for specific beers in the next few months. Let’s be honest, I’m not exactly the best graphic designer. In light of this, I will be looking to work with other, more artistic folks on these label designs. More to come on this, but if you are fairly artistic and are interested in collaborating on labels for my beers, let me know (primarily looking for those of you interested in accepting homebrew as currency :-P)!
Homebrewery Organization
Each time I add a new piece of kit to my homebrewery, images of hoarders with stuff piled floor to ceiling flash through my head. Ok, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the back corner of my second bedroom where I stash all of my gear, fermenters, and bottles is starting to get a bit cramped. As a homebrewer living in an apartment, my biggest constraint to space. This break from brewing will give me an opportunity to re-organize my gear a bit and figure out some ways to store everything a little more efficiently. It will also give me a chance to do some other odds and ends while I have everything out, such as de-label some empties so that they are ready the next time I bottle. This is by no means a fun task, but it is a necessary evil for any homebrewer that bottles using empties that once contained commercial brews. All this organizing should make the next few brews go a bit smoother.
Alright, less typing, more doing. Until next time, cheers!
Song of the Day: “Rascal King” by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Beer of the Day: Stone Brewery’s Imperial Russian Stout
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