3 More Easy Homebrewing Tricks

As I continue to homebrew, I discover and perfect techniques that make the process easier, more effective and/or more efficient. Often, simple modification in my equipment or in my brewing procedures at first appear small and inconsequential but are in fact significant in terms of making the brewing day more enjoyable. Today I want to go over three more tricks that I use on a regular basis.

Back in March I listed here some homebrew tricks (go here) to save time and money and those are worth returning to as you review these new items.

As the cooler winter months approach and the temperatures in the area where my fermenters sit (in this case my garage) get cooler, I have found a simple way to keep the fermenting beer from dropping down into the range (below 60f.) that prevents my ale yeasts from performing properly. There is nothing scientific about this technique and it requires some vigilance on my part but it is well worth the effort.

1.) I take an inexpensive, clamp-on utility lamp with a 60w. bulb and place it near the fermenter. This heat source is enough to keep the chill at bay. I will initially moniter the temperature and modify the amount of heat that I apply by moving the lamp closer or further away depending on the amount required. Be careful because you can very quickly over heat using this technique. Once I have the perfect distance/temperature ratio in place I can rest through the night knowing that the cold will not be a factor and the yeast will continue to do their job.

I really enjoy a hoppy ale and in my attempts to brew them I use multiple additions of hops throughout the boil, sometimes dropping as many as five bags of hops into the kettle. Each bag will be added at different time intervals depending on the desired bitterness, flavor or hop aroma. In my preparation for the brew day I measure out and bag all of the hops in advance and stack them in order of first to last additions, to make it easier on myself. Unfortunately, sometimes the bags will get mixed up in the action of brewing. This next trick is something that dawned on me far later than I would have liked. It takes the guess work out of which hops are in which bag.

2.) The nylon or cotton hop bags have draw strings hemmed into the top to tie off the opening and prevent the hops from spilling out into the boiling wort. Rather than try to keep track of which bag to add next by stacking them in order or measuring out the hops as I need them, I will number the bags. I have found that the draw strings are usually long enough to tie 'indicator' knots into them for identifying the bag to be added next. One knot is tied on the string of the first bag to go in the pot. Two knots on the bag string of the second addition, three knots on the third and so on. Now I have a set of hop bags with each one identified with knots.

Lastly, I usually keg my beer but sometimes I want to fill several bottles in order to set aside and condition with priming sugar. These would be beers that I can stash and forget about and let age or submit for contests long after the kegged portion has been drunk. The trick?

3.) Carbonation drops. The simple part here is that as you are racking your beer from the fermenter to the kegs you can easily divert some into sanitized bottles, pop in a carbonation drop and cap. No need for calculating or preparing bottling sugar and you can do as many or as few as you want. These sugar pills are a little expensive but in a pinch it's worth having a bag of them around and you can get them in the less expensive generic version. Now, I can put those beer aside for the future.

I think these ideas will serve you well and I'll keep my eyes peeled for more in my brewery in the future. Others can benefit from your ideas, what tricks do you use in your home brewery? Leave a comment.

Rogue Shakespeare Stout

My buddy Chris Mc. generously brought over a Rogue Ale's Shakespeare Stout for sampling. The sad part of the story is that Chris had to leave for Washington before we had a chance to share. The happy part of the story is that I didn't have to share. A bitter sweet story kind of like the beer.

Stout gone Rogue

This is a serious American stout with a claimed 77 ibu's to balance the thick malty flavors packed into the 22 oz. bottle. Words that come to mind while drinking this stout are thick and full with flavors of molasses, coffee, tobacco and oak, dry fruits like prune and raisin that linger leaving a sweetness on the palate that is lightly cloying with a bitter sweetness of toffee. It's an imperial like beer in that the flavors are large and bold.

The alcohol content is not stated on the label but the original gravity is 15 plato (1.060), and seems to have finished with some residual sugar or in other words it's not dry at all. So I would make the assumption that the abv is around 6%.

A very enjoyable beer and it's easy to drink a bomber in one sitting.

Brew Fest At The Rio Cafe

Some brave California souls ventured out into the intimidating Aptos fog today to attend the 2nd annual Oktoberfest at the Rio Cafe. On hand to serve beer were a couple of the local Santa Cruz favorites, Uncommon Brewers and Ale Works.

Uncommon Brewers pleases with pints.

The Ale Works pouring the love.

Uncommon Brewers was serving up their Siamese Twin, Golden State Ale and Baltic Porter to an appreciative crowd while the Ale Works had on tap their classic examples of an American hefeweizen, pale ale, stout and a great IPA.

A few yards down the street were the new kids on the block, Corralitos Brewing Company who was serving no less than 10 different beer on tap including a hefeweizen, Belgian golden, stout, helles, oktoberfest, IPA, IIPA, kolsch, smoked porter and a red ale. I was particularly

impressed with the IIPA with its ample hop flavor and bitterness supported by a big malty backbone. A couple of the brewers, Luke Taylor (no relation) and Michael Smith were on hand to explain to the crowd the differences in the beers as they poured samples from a massive wall of taps. This is a new start up brewery for our area and from the examples on tap today, are showing great promise for the future. I'm looking forward to quaffing a few pints of their ales when they get their operation up to full production early next year. Head brewer Luke Taylor expects to supply his artisans brews to the locals sometime early spring of next year. 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for craft beer in Santa Cruz county. I hope to do a more in depth review of Corralitos Brewing Company in the future with an interview with head brewer Luke Taylor. Stay tuned.

Homebrew Emotions

Moving is making me sad. Packing up all my stuff again to put into storage means I have to repeat the experience of nostalgia that always comes as I go through some of my more personal items. We'll be heading off to Mexico again for the winter and I can't shake the regret of leaving behind my lovely things not to mention my precious brewing equipment. It gets packed and stored with everything else into the diminishing care and accumulating dust of the 10x12 storage unit.

As I get ready to put my electric guitar in a box I can't help but sling it over my shoulder and start playing off key lead parts to the Coldplay song that pitches out of my stereo. I only stop when I discover it's out of tune and I'm too depressed to fix it. I place it gently in the box and tape the opening closed, all the while getting that 'Christmas is coming to California' sensation as the warm rain falls gently outside the window. Now Norah Jones is singing 'Come away with me' but I don't want to go, not now. I want my selfish desires to come to me, gift wrapped and without atonement.

But this sense of loss is an acceptable if not disagreeable part of the process for the life I have chosen, because there is not enough Mexico here in this quiet, neatly trimmed and well stocked California suburb. Yes, below the current of my present melancholy is the memory of the dry and noisy air of San Miguel and the prospects for brewing like a renegade again. Creating beer related events based on cerveza made with the local ingredients. And this year I'm encouraged with the benefit of knowing the locations in Mexico that provide the essential ingredient, malt. No need to fill most of my luggage with dry malt extract, I can use that space for other brewing ingredients and equipment.

My personal possessions will be packed relatively quickly because some of it hasn't been unpack after my return trip from Mexico last year. I won't pack up my brewing stuff until just before we leave because I have a class to teach next week for one and also, I want to brew twenty gallons of strong Belgian ales to put in the kegerator to lager while I'm gone. Now, as I consider the task ahead of me and the feelings it invokes, I realize that they will pass as quickly as they came followed by the newness of the freedom and possibility of life in Mexico, two things that challenge my sense of safety and comfort found here in the familiar. I'm beginning to recognize this pattern as I begin my third year of heading south for the winter. But recognition does not displace the emotion as much as reinforce, and I am left to let it run its course through me.

If I recall correctly from the last couple years, this current state of mind is coupled with the dread and fascination that comes with what seems like unlimited possibilities, and exhilaration that can only exist alongside a sense of danger. It reminds me of the time when I was a young boy living in rural California. I was perched on the top strand of a barbed wire fence. One hand grasping a split rail fence post while extending the other out into a thicket of blackberry bushes just beyond my reach, trying to pick the dark full fruit. The wire began to sway under my feet and I tried to save myself from the fall by grabbing the wire and jumping back. My hand snagged on one of the barbs on the way down and ripped the flesh from the joint at my index finger and began to bleed profusely. I looked at the wound confused before panic set in. As I desperately ran home along the path that followed the fence I stopped dead in my tracks when I came across a stripped snake sunning itself on the dirt directly in front of me. I was captivated by the beauty of the creature, its scaled skin gleaming, reflecting the late summer sun and I felt the warm earthy breeze. I immediately forgot about my bloody wound dripping into my shirt.

Storing Hops

In my preparation for returning to San Miguel De Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico I am gathering some special brewing equipment and materials to take with me. These are items that are difficult or expensive to get down there.

One item that is particularly difficult to get are hops. You can buy them from a couple of homebrew stores like Homebrewing Mexico and Fermentando but their prices are ridiculously high. So, today I spent some time packaging hop pellets for the trip. I have a FoodSaver V2040 food packaging system that is perfect for my task. I buy my hop pellets by the pound from Hops Direct so first I needed to break those down into manageable 4oz. increments, (Hops Direct ships in a foil package that would probably be picked up on the airport scanner as my suitcase is going through so I don't want to use the original packaging). In any case, 4oz. should fit in a legal sized envelope for mailing and lay flat in my baggage without attracting too much attention.

Weighing out the hops

Cut the bags to size and seal one end

Fill the bag with hops and lay open end across the vacuum sealer

The FoodSaver draws the air out of the bag and then seals the other end

Compact packaging

I'm concerned about taking plant material like hops into the country and getting through customs. The last time down I got the red light. Standing in the line watching the people ahead of me I calculated my odds of having my bag searched. I figured a high probability of having to open my case, exposing all my contraband in the form of a variety of different degrees of roasted malted barley.

As it happened I was searched and the grains appeared highly suspect (not to mention bundles of dry malt extract). I pleaded that I be allowed to enter the country with them and soon a supervisor was brought into the equation. He smelled and tasted the grains and concluded that since they were 'toastado' that I could keep them. Well, they may not be as generous if they see vacuum sealed packs of what looks like illegal vegetable matter. So I have a back-up plan, I will place half of the hops in legal sized manila envelopes and mail them down to my p.o. box before I leave the States, thus avoiding the high surcharge or duty on packages entering Mexico and hopefully bypassing any serious inspections. I will plan to mail six envelopes each containing four ounces of hop pellets and take as much in my luggage. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Until then, I'll keep them in the freezer.

Hops ready for the trip

Class Finals At Brew School

This last Sunday, I ended another great series of homebrewing classes for the Brew School conducted at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. We had a potluck and homebrew pairing to celebrate. We enjoyed the Hefeweizen, American pale ale and the Dry stout that we brewed during the early classes in this intensive course on homebrewing. And the consensus was that the quality of the beers were in the 6 or 7 range on a scale of 1-10. The judges may have been biased. Additionally, the students brought in food that they thought would go well with the beers and most of the dishes were home made and delicious. One student brought in an exceptional plate of brownies that were made with Guinness stout.

Class of Fall 2009

Most of the students are trying out the lessons learned at school in their own homes and several already have beer in the fermenters or bottles. I look forward to sampling some of these new beers.

In the mean time, I will take the lessons that I learned in teaching this class and put them to use in future classes. I have some revisions to make to the program and also some minor changes to the recipes since we modified them (for the better) in the field as we brewed them. I'm also looking forward to teaching in Mexico and am making preparations to fly down in mid November. Can't wait to get started. If you live in Mexico near San Miguel De Allende, or you're in the state of Guanajuato, contact me to share a homebrew and find out what my Brew School schedule will be while I'm there.

Stone Vertical Epic Ale

I was in the neighborhood of the Shoppers Corner market and took a look at their selection of beers just for the hell of it when I came across a bottle of Vertical Epic Ale. Stone Brewing Company the makers of 'Arrogant Bastard' in Escondido, California is responsible for this beer. I haven't seen this in any of the other local grocery stores so I picked up a bottle to sample. First I'll tell you my experience with this beer but you can hear all about it directly from the brewer Lee Chase at Stone by clicking on the video at their site.

This is a Belgian style Wit beer with plenty of yeast induced phenols along with peppery spiciness, coriander, juicy fruit gum, sweet orange, light caramel,a hint of alcohol and a lingering bitterness. Moderately carbonated, the head on this beer is small and dissipates rapidly. I fairly enjoyed this beer although from the website I discovered that it is best after aging for several years. In fact the whole premise behind this beer is that you purchase some from its limited release each year so that in the year 2012 you will have 10 samples (one per year) of each to compare. Hence the name 'vertical'.

I didn't know these rules at the time I bought and drank it but it was tasty non the less. I hope I don't get into trouble. I don't really have the capacity to save any beer that long anyway. I do have an Imperial Russian Stout that I kegged in May of 2009 and am hoping to save it until March when I get back from Mexico. But that is a rare circumstance and the needed disciple doesn't invoke in me any particular pride.

If you've tried Vertical Epic tell us about it in the comments.