What's Brewing?

The end of the term is approaching and despite my increasing work load, I've sneaked in a few brew sessions over the past couple of weeks. I have also been tweaking my methods to improve the quality of the finished product by adjusting my tap water with different salts, and I have been experimenting with longer sparges (see the "Tripel" entry for more information) to maximize sugar extraction. Water is the main ingredient in beer and the mineral ions in solution have significant effects on enzyme function, yeast health, and the accentuation of malt and or hop bitterness. Think about how a bland meal can be transformed by simply adding salt; it works the same with beer. My tap water, which I had tested by a water chemistry lab, has very low levels of dissolved ions, so the addition of salts is crucial.

Some of the different salts used to adjust my tap water

The two most recent beers I've brewed include a porter, which had a small amount of peat smoked malt added to the mash, and a clone of Dogfish Head's Midas Touch. The porter was interesting to brew because I adjusted my water to match London's, which is known to be perfect for darker beers.

Milling the grains for the porter

About to boil Photo by: Christian Wagner

Hops enjoying a hot bath Photo by: Luke Madden

Even though alcoholic beverages may have been enjoyed for more than six-thousand years, the oldest recipe to have been recovered dates back 2,700 years. In Turkey, arqueologists recovered drinking vessels from King Midas's tomb. Scientists analyzed the residue in the vessels and determined that it contained grapes, honey, barley, and saffron. Dogfish Head then recreated the recipe, which they called the Midas Touch. Chalese and I love this beer especially after a long day of skiing.

Saffron in beer? I'm excited.

I love the process of brewing, but sanitizing and bottling can be boring when its done alone. I procrastinated bottling a couple of batches--a Belgian quadrupel and the tripel--and I finally bottled them last week with the help of some friends. The quadrupel is a cloned recipe for the Trappist brewery Westvleteren's 12. I haven't had the chance to try the commercial version because the monks have not condoned the sale of their beer outside of the brewery. Their beers don't have any labels, and the brew master at Westvleteren once said that if they ever designed a label, all it would say is "Don't export to the USA." The 12 is rated the top beer in the world by multiple beer rating websites, and I think it may end up being the best beer I've brewed to date. I brewed it with my friend Blake Davis in the fall and then let it sit at 34 degrees for 4 months before bottling. Next week will be the first tasting.

Sanitation is key if you don't like the taste of band-aids. Photo by: Luke Madden

Matt McElwee helping with the siphon Photo by: Christian Wagner

The production line

Corking the Belgians

A small fraction of the 11 gallons bottled

Will Drink Beer for Yeast

This is a slightly hypocritical entry to follow the last write up that emphasized the importance of supporting local agriculture. Unfortunately my ideals are not strong enough to give up drinking Belgian beers anytime soon.
No classes are held on Wednesdays, so Tuesdays always feel like Fridays. Therefore Tuesday was a perfect night to hold a beer tasting. A couple of my friends, who are also home brewers, are trying to harvest a variety of yeast strains, so we justified spending the extra buck on a few awesome Belgian-style beers. In the line up we had a sample from five of the seven Trappist breweries--brewed by Trappist monks--a ten year old sour beer, and a special edition Allagash from Portland, Maine. I wrote down our tasting notes to make sure I'd remember the subtleties of each one. And for the record, we shared all of these, and I walked home.


A Tripel brewed by the Belgian Trappist brewery Westmalle. This beer is often regarded as the standard for Tripels but personally, I prefer Karmeliet's version. The Westmalle Tripel is 9.5% alcohol by volume but goes down like a light beer.
Appearance: Nice golden color. Good head retention--this refers to the foam.
Aroma: Bubble gum/cantaloupe, dough, spicy phenols, and citrus.
Taste: Phenols up front, and a spicy hop finish presumably from the saaz hops. As it warmed up the alcohol became apparent.
Mouthfeel (viscosity/carbonation): Medium bodied.
Drinkability: Very easy to drink.


Brewed by Orval--another Belgian Trappist. This beer contains Brettanomyces which lends a dry barnyard sourness to the beer. Saccharomyces is the yeast involved in the fermentation of most beers; however it can only ferment 65-80% of the available sugars. Brettanomyces on the otherhand can ferment over 90% of the sugars, which dries out the beer.
Appearance: Hazy orange.
Aroma: Smells like brettanomyces and a fusion of fruity horses?
Taste: Crisp flavor that tastes a lot like the aroma. Has a slightly astringent aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Thin and dry. Well-carbonated.
Drinkability: Easy to drink. A good beer to follow most sour beers.


Rochefort 8 is another Belgian Trappist. Thanks to my dad it was served in its righteous chalice. The "8" used to signify an original gravity of 1.080--as read on the hydrometer--but the number system has fallen through the cracks over the centuries. I once tried the Rochefort 8 against my own version of an 8, but I preferred the Rochefort.
Appearance: Dark brown with large yeast flakes in solution.
Aroma: Roasted grains, and candied sugar.
Taste: Plums, birch, raisins, and some phenols.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied.
Drinkability: Very smooth and easy drinking.


The 8's older brother. It is very similar to its sibling but a bit bolder in all regards. This was a new one for me.
Appearance: Dark ruby brown with a tan head.
Aroma: Raisins, caramel, and roasted grains.
Taste: Earthy tones, plums, dark sugars, and a slight alcohol finish (not too bad for 11.3%).
Mouthfeel: Still medium bodied.
Drinkability: I could drink this regularly.


Limited edition series of Oudbeitje Lambic. This beer is 10 years old, which is the oldest beer I've tried to date. Lambics are sour beers that originated in Belgian farmhouses. Open air fermenters were used, and the beer was left be fermented by wild yeasts. Lactobacillus bacteria are one of the main cultures involved in producing the sour notes. While lactobacillus can be harvested from the air, or purchased online, it is also found on most barley and can be cultured by allowing the moist barley to sit at room temperature for a few days. I am a sour beer addict.
Appearance: Orange with no head.
Aroma: Musty strawberries.
Taste: Strong lactobacillus and brettanomyces flavor followed by a musty and powerful sourness. This beer is very complex.
Mouthfeel: Dry and flat.
Drinkability: Not for most beer drinkers, but I could drink a six pack.


Yet another Belgian Trappist! The Premiere by Chimay is their mid strength beer. While the Grand Reserve is my favorite Chimay, this one is also very tasty.
Appearance: A beautiful red when held up to the light.
Aroma: Sweet, maple syrup, and bread.
Taste: Raisins, plums, bubble gum, and grapes.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied.
Drinkability: I don't know why I included drinkability as one of the criteria since all of these beers go down so easily. But yes, this beer is very easy to drink.


Allagash's Hugh Malone is the local Maine beer for the night, and actually the beer I was most impressed with. This was another first for me, but I knew I would like it since it is a Belgian IPA and I love both Belgian beers and IPA's. Hugh Malone refers to the molecule in hops known as humulone, but apparently Hugh Malone may also be a real person--we googled Hugh but weren't sure if our findings were legit: http://hughmalone.com/. Allagash is a great brewery, but the Buck Special Edition series are extraordinary--the Hugh Malone is part of this series.
Appearance: Light orange with a nice head.
Aroma: Sweet, hops.
Taste: Fruity hops, phenols, Belgian yeast. Michael Arnsteen always judges IPA's by their burps, and this one had phenomenal ones.
Mouthfeel: Light but not dry.
Drinkability: Perfectly well-rounded, and one that I look forward to drinking again.


The night finished with a Quadrupel from the Trappist brewery Koningshoeven. The Koningshoeven brewery is located in the Netherlands and it is the only Trappist brewery outside of Belgium. Its always good to end the night on a dark beer, and this one hit the spot.
Appearance: Dark ruby.
Aroma: Sweet plums and dark sugar.
Taste: Almonds, pitted fruits, and cherries.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied.
Drinkability: Still easy to drink after a night of good beer.

Homegrown

As a society we are fairly disconnected from the production of our food, the people who grow it, and the land its grown upon. Take a walk through the produce section at the supermarket and count the number of vegetables imported from Latin America. Our current food systems are dependent on other nations despite our own struggling economy. The majority of the food that is produced in the United States is grown with monstrous machines, and gallons upon gallons of pesticides and herbicides. The soil and groundwater are saturated with chemicals, and most of us don't care because we are too distanced from the process. We don't see the destruction of the Amazon, or the desertification in northern Mexico and the Midwest. The solution is to support local organic agriculture and to reconnect with the land and people responsible for producing that which we consume. I wish that drinking home brew contributed to the solution, but the reality is that few home brewers know where their grains and hops come from either. This spring however I was lucky enough to connect with a homesteader--Travis Roderick--who was ecstatic about the idea of producing a home grown beer.
The weekend before last, I traveled to Travis's farm--The Living Roots--in Milbridge, Maine. We worked all day pulling grass, raking rocks, and tilling the land with a cultivator to prep a 50 by 20 foot plot to plant 2-row barley.

Cultivating the plot

The cultivator

Once the land was cleared, we laid out a rich compost of kelp, shells (calcium carbonate), goat manure, and scraps from last year's harvest.

Travis hauling some rich compost

Our beer plot

The land looked amazing when we finished spreading the compost. I kept thinking about the barley growing tall and pouring the first beer next winter. Then the black flies would swarm around my head and remind me of the variables in the growing season ahead; porcupines and crows snacking on the germinating grains; months of rain with no sun in the forecast. But the excitement of the finished product has me feeling pretty optimistic.

Five pounds of 2-row malting barley

Looking good in the sun

The next and final step was the most rewarding--planting the barley. We loaded the grain into a sowing machine and covered the plot leaving around 20-25 seeds every square foot. Assuming we get a 100% yield in the fall, we should end up with over fifty pounds of grain--enough to brew close to 250 beers.

Getting ready to plant the seed

Sowing the grain

Ready to germinate

A successful growing season is the first hurdle, but the real challenge will come in the fall when it is time to malt the grain. I am currently researching the best way to malt at home, but what I've gathered so far is that it will not be easy. Malting barley takes about a week and it consists of steeping the grain to allow it to germinate and produce necessary enzymes, and then kilning it at precise temperatures to preserve the enzymes and dry out the grain. More on this later, but for now I am going to continue day dreaming about this home grown beer.