Beer Diary...

While wondering around the convention center watching the crowd move about in beer induced euphoria, I was intrigued by the fact that a relatively large line was forming around the Coors booth. "What the..?", I asked out loud to no one. With all the exciting, amazing, unique, and mostly delicious varieties of beers available from every state in the Union, why would anyone choose to queue up for a mainstream light American lager that you can get at safeway or 7-11 anytime of the day or night? Well, I had to ask. Super cold draft? The answer I got back from a genuinely sincere (if not a little defensive) woman in line was, "...it's just what I want right now." "O.K. I get it." Was my response. "For you it's the right beer at the right time. I can't argue with that." Although I desperately wanted to. But I wasn't here to point out the great opportunity to experience a hard to find American lager produced by a micro brewery. I was si...

I came across this as I was leaving the Great American Beer Festival on its final day. It was early Saturday and the throngs had not fully arrived yet so I was able to easily navigate my way past the different vendor booths. My attention was drawn to the BrewBalls display, which at first I thought it was a gimmick until closer inspection when my thoughts were confirmed. Tom Merline, the representative for BrewBalls was on hand to deflect my suspicions and tried earnestly to stifle my laughter and finger pointing. He's a nice guy and very sincere about the value of his product but still, it was difficult not to tease him. The idea behind BrewBalls is that as the beer ferments in your carboy, the different density balls sink as the malt sugars are converted to alcohol. This gives you clear evidence that the beer is fermenting properly as you peer through the carboy and observe the sinking balls. Each ball is labeled to indicate the sugar gravity without you having to take a hydrome...

I started to write out my activities from 'Day Two' of the GABF when I realized that I was summarizing a lot of my experience in order to cram it all into a single post, and at the same time, boring myself to death. The amount of self editing that I was doing was necessary because of the scope of my activities and at the same time was limiting my ability to adequately express my experience. This bothered me and so I thought that I would briefly summarize it here and go into more detail in future posts in an attempt to focus on individual events that seemed relevant to this blog and personally interesting. So, in this vain here is the summary part. After waking early with an intestinal reaction that I believe was caused by some of the homebrewed sour beers I sampled the night before at the KROK gathering, I headed downtown to check out the Great Divide Brewery and meet up with a couple of fellow Zymurgeeks and Jason, the head brewer for Seabright Brewing Company of Santa Cr...

I only have one word to describe my first day at the Great American Beer Festival ' overwhelming ' no; ' audacious ', wait, no, it's more like 'scary big' . I walked into what can only be described as pandemonium or just shy of chaos after picking up my press pass and "swag bag". Entering was effortless after getting my press pass, I got into the auditorium through special press pass access doors which avoided the ginormous general admission line that snaked from the front door and around the block. At first, I took in the vastness of the festival. Half a dozen endless lines of back to back beer booths that ran the length of a football field filled the convention center. Soon, a mob of thirsty beer enthusiast came rushing in and fill the arena to capacity. Pretzel necklaces hung neatly from their parched throats. As the crowd pressed past I managed to sample some beers as I spun in circles, dizzy from the vast prospects that surrounded me. A chan...

I'm sitting in the San Jose airport waiting on my flight to Denver. I'm heading off to experience for the first time, the Great American Beer Festival . I'll be there for three days of beer tasting and attending some special beer related functions like the 'Farm to Table event and a Samuel Adams Brewery presentation. My plan is to post often and try to capture the excitement of the largest beer festival in the States. Look for daily posts with pictures of the event.If you are in attendance, I'll see you there. I'll be the one with the kielbasa necklace.

I like to make sure that a part of my personal beer inventory is five or ten gallons of my American pale ale. I've tweaked this recipe into submission over the years and am satisfied with brewing it the same with each batch now. I am not apposed to using alternate hops, depending on what I have in stock at the time brew day arrives but I will try to stick with the type that have the characteristic citrus flavor and aroma like Cascade, Centennial and Sorachi Ace. This recipe has a round malt character and full mouth feel with a mid to high balance of bitterness to malt ratio that suits my palate and has a moderate enough alcohol level so that I can comfortably enjoy several pints and still be able to beat Susan at cribbage. Enjoy. Trout Gulch Pale Ale 10 gal. all-grain (after boil volume is 10.5 gal.) efficiency - 80% attenuation - 80% abv - 6% srm - 12 IBU's - 36 O.G. - 1.056 F.G. - 1.010 Mash in 150f. for 60 min. with 19 lb. 2-row 1 lb. aromatic 1 lb. carapils 8 oz. Crystal #6...

My yeast isn't working! I look into the open fermenter and see a flat plane of dark liquid reflecting my disappointed image back up to me. What have I done wrong? My thoughts oscillate between this brewing mystery, and my concern of the increasing possibility of infection. It's been 24 hours since I pitched the yeast and I've got nothing to show for it. Nada. I review my steps leading up to pitching the yeast and I find nothing wrong. The wort was cool and aerated, I used Whitelabs liquid yeast that had an expiration date that told me it was fresh. My mind scans for possible reasons that this batch lacks even the remotest signs of activity. Not even a single cluster of loosely assembled bubbles, gathering to tell me all is not lost. I notice that I'm breathing heavily into my fermenter and so step back quickly pulling the cover back over it to prevent any possible microbial laden vectors from dropping in out of the kitchen air like bomb laden drones bent on destruction...

We're off and running in the fall series of homebrewing classes at Cabrillo College and ten gallons of beer is now quietly fermenting, the fruit of our labors today. The class brewed a German hefeweizen and an American pale ale without any problems. I was struggled a little to keep the brewing process progressing and teaching the students at the same time. I go off script sometimes, loosing track of the points I want to make. It didn't help that I had sampled a lot of homebrew at the Santa Cruz County Fair homebrew contest the day before (took home a 'best of flight' for my Imperial Stout). The worst mistake was that I also forgot to add clarifying agents to the pale ale which could be problematic since next week the class will be bottling this beer without the secondary step, but I forgave myself quickly. My experience tells me that the beer will be completely clear after conditioning in the bottles for a couple of weeks but there is typically a larger yeast layer ...

The Santa Cruz County Fair will be held next week and the homebrew competition sponsered by the Zymurgeeks homebrew club is under way. ;lkj;lkj number of beers were entered by asdfsd homebrewers, the largest entrants in the history of the event and many of us were gathered around a keg of Stout anticipating the results coming in from the judges. I had entered six beers this year and the following are the scores for each Dry stout Amer. Pale Ale Eng. IPA with Rye Dunkel Weizen Imperial Stout

During a recent trip to visit with my daughter Jennifer who lives in Pacific Grove, California we decided to stopped in for a light dinner and to check out the beers on tap at Peter B's brewpub in the Portola Hotel and Spa in Monterey. This is kind of a classy place located on the waterfront at the end of the main street in old Monterey, but I felt comfortable wearing my old jeans and t-shirt. (Interesting side note- Monterey was the original capitol of California. I'm guessing that moving the government center to Sacramento was a way of preserving the pristine beauty of the Monterey Bay. Protecting it from all those non-discript square concrete buildings that seem to be the prerequisite architecture for civic structures.) We ordered a sampler of the beers on tap and soon received an offering of seven different beers. I launched into the lightest after wrestling a lemon slice that adorned (was wedge on) the rim of the glass and tasted a pretty decent American wheat with a nice...

Midway through conducting a beer appreciation class with a room full of eager and half drunk students, I was confident of their enthrallment with my even paced delivery as I led them through a profound and inspiring flight of ales with anecdotal stories and the historical origins that brought the beers to life. Right in the middle of giving a moving oration of the advances that yeast brought to the development of modern civilization, a student in the audience said, "O.K., enough with the sermon, let's move on with the tasting." At that very moment I realized that there is only so much proselytizing about beer (or anything for that matter) that people will stand for before turning and heading for the nearest exit, like I do when I hear tambourines and see a group of robed chanters heading in my direction at the mall. I was taken aback momentarily with the comment, and reflected later on the dogma I have regarding my passion for brewing and how my personal history influence...