one of my new year’s resolutions was to be more socially active in the homebrew community.

• even though I frequently peruse (and occasionally post at) homebrewtalk and BBB, most of my homebrewing posse is up north, so the vast majority of my wort boiling is now conducted solo.
• furthermore, with 12+ gallon batches being the norm these days, even with four beers on tap in the basement, some kegs of “non-standard” (hoppy, sour, strong, etc.) brews take many months to kick.  getting significant feedback on my brews is also difficult, with many tasters providing a binary “like/dislike” response when asked for their opinion.
• after getting a taste of competition at the OC fair, and reading positive reactions from fellow blogger club members like BT, I decided to join pacific gravity, a well-established local club with a strong membership.  in fact, PG just won homebrew club of the year for the fourth time in nine years.
• I attended their first monthly meeting of the year, and was thoroughly impressed with its organization and execution.  over the course of a few hours kegs were tapped, bottles were circulated, minutes were read, and a club competition was conducted, with a raffle topping off the night.  everyone was friendly and approachable, and my keg of rye saison was warmly received.  I’m definitely looking forward to many more club meetings, as well as festivals and competitions.

in other news, my spoils from the lost abbey comp arrived, and included a set of stemware and a lost abbey hoody.  thanks guys!

first off, I’m sure most, if not all, overcarbed visitors know about the SOPA/PIPA issue – if not, please read up a little and formulate your own opinion.

I always cringe a little when I cruise past the thousands of empty bottles packaged and stacked for sale at my local homebrew store – not only are they expensive, but I feel they go against the DIY lifestyle that homebrewing embodies.

• don’t get me wrong, clean, ready-to-go bottles can be a huge time saver when bottling a large amount of brew, and I occasionally purchase a box or two of bombers for purposes of uniformity when I forgo kegging to bottle a portion of my specialty beers, but with used bottles available in great supply and at low cost (read: free), it seems a shame not to engage in eco-friendly bottle reuse.
• when saving bottles, I like to rinse the bottle immediately after it has been emptied, and maybe shake some hot water in the bottle to release any caked-on dregs.  no beer bottle in my household touches human lips, but I do get bottle donations from neighbors and friends (CB and others have also had good luck talking to bottle shop owners for cases of empties).  in that scenario, after rinsing I hold the base of the bottles up to a light and peer through the mouth to look for any mold/bacteria growth.  if any is present, I toss the bottle into the recycle bin, as in my experience it’s not worth the time and effort to clean an infected bottle.
• after the bottles have been rinsed and inspected, they are sent to the basement soaking station, where one by one they are soaked in a plastic pitcher overnight.  individual soaking avoids the monotony of a group soak/clean as well as the use of a large soaking bucket.  some people add cleaners like PBW and oxyclean to their soaking water, but I have found that plain water works fine and is cheaper in the long run.
• after the overnight soak, I peel the label off with my fingernails and rub any leftover residue off with a scrubber sponge.  in the case of hard to remove, multi-layered plastic-type labels (such as those from lost abbey and russian river), I stick a single bottle in the microwave for sixty seconds and peel the label off with my fingers or a razor blade while holding the neck with an oven mitt.  any annoying leftover residue can be removed with a little olive oil and a paper towel.
• after a quick final internal and external rinse, the bottle is ready to be toweled off and stored.  I store my bottles on their side on a rack, but if you store yours upright I recommend placing a piece of paper, foil, or saran wrap over the tops of the bottles to avoid dust settling inside over the long term.
• with traditional bombers running over a buck each and belgian bottles trading hands for over three dollars a piece, and with bottle shipping being prohibitively expensive, reusing bottles can save you significant cash while offering a solution much greener than even recycling.

on a completely different note, in a fortuitous turn of events, yours truly won a contest over at port/lost abbey.  go figure.  well, technically I got second place, but my idea is going to be turned into a commercial and there is a high likelihood that I will be able to participate in/be part of the filming some time in february, so I’ll be sure to post updates as they come.  stoked!

after impatiently waiting and slowly building my sour pipeline, the time had finally come to bottle the first of my four annual house sours: cuvee de cabrillo.

• after a year in the fermenter (and close to ten months on cherries and oak), the beer had dropped to a FG of 1.0038, for a final abv of 11%.  I am also happy to report a great cherry aroma and a significant complex sourness, which I’m guessing is attributable to the robust cascade lacto and/or the cuvee de tomme “superbug” dregs I pitched around nine months back.  despite the growing trend of “quick” sours, I feel that the only way to get a satisfying multi-dimensional sourness is to wait out a long-term fermentation.
• after cleaning, corking, and caging a mess of reused belgian bottles (which turned out to be a monster pain in the ass and something I’m not planning on repeating anytime soon), I tweaked a couple of variables in the cabrillo recipe for the replacement batch by subbing in low-alpha hops and a little more chocolate and special B malts (11 gals, 80% efficiency):

• 22 lbs	Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)	Grain	1	64.7 %
  2 lbs	Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)	Grain	2	5.9 %
  2 lbs	Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)	Grain	3	5.9 %
  2 lbs	Munich Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM)	Grain	4	5.9 %
  2 lbs	White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)	Grain	5	5.9 %
  1 lbs	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	6	2.9 %
  1 lbs	Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)	Grain	7	2.9 %
  2 lbs	Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM)	Sugar	8	5.9 %
  3.00 oz	Saaz [1.00 %] – Boil 120.0 min	Hop	9	3.8 IBUs

• after close to a two-hour boil, I ended up with an SG of 1.091, which was right on target for the recipe.  after cooling the wort overnight to 66F, I racked it directly onto the oak, cherries, and yeast/bug slurry of the previous batch.  I’m planning on letting the bottles carb up for a month or so before I pour one out to see the final product.
• note that to ensure adequate carbonation, rehydrated wine yeast was added to both the keg and bottling bucket at the rate of 1gram/100mL warm water/5gals beer, and 5.8oz of dissolved and cooled cane sugar was added to the bottling bucket, while 4oz. dry cane sugar was added to the keg.
• AP and I also celebrated the weekend by heading over to mohawk bend, an echo park gastropub from the guy who thought up tony’s darts away.  beers and spirits are CA-only, and most of the (vegan-centric) food is sourced within the state as well.  AP and I washed down some mussels, quinoa salad, and vegan burgers with some tasty brews like craftsman’s IPA and el segundo’s double summit dry hopped blue house pale.  although the location results in a hipster-dense atmosphere, the food, beers, and service were fantastic, and mohawk bend is definitely on my short list of key players in the LA beer scene.

happy new year from overcarbed HQ!  2012 promises to be an exciting year full of sours coming of age, beer trips across the nation, and a plethora of homebrew activities.  for now, here are some outtakes from the 2011 season, featuring individuals who personify the overcarbed spirit.  enjoy!

saturday morning found me jonesing for some belgian waffles and maple syrup.  unimpressed with the instant batter collecting dust in the pantry, I decided to whip up some beer waffles for AP and me to enjoy.

• a quick online search yielded a few batter recipes, one of which seemed like a good starting point.  I modified it as follows:
• • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 12 fluid ounces of AP’s amber from the tap
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• I followed the online prep directions and ended up with some very tasty waffles with a malty, nutty aroma and light, fluffy texture that crisped up nicely on the outside.  I plan on experimenting with the recipe by swapping whole wheat flour for the all-purpose and adding a high-gravity (perhaps bourbon aged?) stout instead of amber for a real decadent treat.
• in other news, I kegged my latest batch of basque cider, which finished at 0.995 for an abv of 7.22%.  I also sampled my first batch of basque cider and discovered that it was “sick” – ropy, slick, and generally undrinkable.  according to my research, this may have been caused by oxygen exposure during bottling, and should dissipate over the next few months.  I’ll give it another taste in three months and hope for the best!
• as a side note, I also spruced up my basement fermentation room with an original 1700s-era hop plant print from a french botanicals book.  I picked up the print at a local flea market and matted and framed it at home.  I have found that a mat cutter quickly pays for itself and helps you turn any two-dimensional beer-related media into a professional-looking display piece.  matted and framed pictures also make great gifts…

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

a casual perusal of my sour pipeline last week led me to realize that it had already been six months since the last iteration of my house saison hit the fermenter.  luckily, I had a couple of cases of bottles and a keg ready to take on some brew, and I managed to free up part of the weekend to get some wort going.

•   I started with my standard recipe that I used for the first batch (which I was very happy with), but made a few (hopefully complementary) tweaks – I upped the mash temp to 150F, adjusted the grain bill a little, added clear candi and cane sugar, brought down the IBU, and ended up with an 80 minute boil:

• 0.50 lb	Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)	Adjunct	2.13 %
  18.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM)	Grain	76.60 %
  1.50 lb	Munich Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM)	Grain	6.38 %
  1.50 lb	Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM)	Grain	6.38 %
  0.50 lb	Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)	Grain	2.13 %
  4.00 oz	Hallertauer [2.20 %] (70 min)	Hops	12.7 IBU
  2.00 oz	Hallertauer [2.20 %] (0 min)	Hops	-
  1.50 lb	Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM)	Sugar	6.38 %

• I ended up with ~12 gals with an OG of 1.062 (15 brix) and an IBU count of around 12.7.  since all my house saisons have varied by one or more elements, I’m thinking about aggressively dry-hopping this beer a few weeks before bottling (but I haven’t ruled out other possibilities, such as racking onto fruit, oak aging, etc.).
• the winter saison smelled funky and tasted earthy and sour when I bottled and kegged it – the carafa seems to have blended nicely with the bugs.  look for a review in a few weeks.
• I also baked up some spent grain dog treats using the dog-friendly alternative to my spent grain bars.  even though I burned half the batch by trying to dry them out too quickly, the resulting treats were crunchy and aromatic, and the little brew assistant goes crazy for them.  they make a great christmas gift for dog lovers as well!

this week I set aside some time to reflect upon a couple of current draft selections that are on different sides of the spectrum.

style: amber ale

appearance: great amber color, creamy head with nice lacing, fine carbonation

aroma: slightly alcoholic, sweet, and fruity

taste: malt-forward, coating mouthfeel, caramel and fruit notes, very sessionable

comments: a solid performer, but I personally don’t like the yeast strain (S-04), so I would use a different strain (cal ale or belgian) and maybe dry hop a keg with an earthy variety.

style: belgian date barleywine (2009)

appearance: great carbonation and lacing, slightly cloudy/opaque even after being chilled for months

aroma: intense boozy fruit, layered alcohol notes (spirit-like)

taste: smooth boozy sweetness, alcohol bite but no heat, sweet malt with a fruity finish, viscous and caramelly

comments: I brewed this one on 07/11/09 and tapped it over a year ago – it has been jumping in and out of the lineup ever since.  this is definitely a sipper and took well over a year to mellow out.  this was my first foray into specialty sugars – I added 2 pounds of date sugar to the 5 gal batch.  although this batch is currently pretty tasty, it drinks so slowly I’m not sure I’ll brew it again.  see below for the recipe I dug up from the partial mash vault.

with the holidays in full swing and an unrelenting stream of work rolling in, it’s been hard to find time to set aside for a little zymurgy-related activities.  however, I did manage to set aside a couple of hours to bottle up my first attempt at a basque cider.

• despite the healthy pellicle that formed on this batch, the resulting cider was remarkably smooth, with a slightly tart finish.  there was also a much more noticeable apple flavor when compared to earlier batches, which I am assuming is the result of using montrachet yeast instead of champagne.
• the earthy lambic-like notes that I had noticed during fermentation had mellowed as well, and the cider was left with a subtle funk aroma that was in line with a year-old bottle of basque cider I had tried.  it almost seems as though the funk mellows with time in cider, instead of increasing as with some of my long-term beer experiments.  In addition to corking the cider, I also carbed and capped a few bottles to see if the fizz brings out any other desirable characteristics.

while I was bottling the cider, my mind started wandering onto the topic of holiday gift giving.

• first and foremost, I am a big fan of giving homemade items as gifts – anything from pickles and beer to loaves of holiday bread and needlework lets the recipient know that some time, effort, and care went into the end product.  another benefit of giving homemade is that your gifts are usually less expensive to put together.
• however, even when lack of time (or motivation) strikes, you can still come through with a thoughtful gift for the beer lover in your family by presenting them with a tasty beer and  food item pairing.  For example, it doesn’t take too much effort (or money) to score a nice obscure belgian (pannepot grand reserva, perhaps?) or fancy american sour (supplication, anyone?) and pack it with a savory chunk of creamy, palate-coating cheese (a little humboldt fog, maybe?) – in fact, one trip to a well-appointed whole foods would do the trick, and makes for a great after-work indulgence.  just an idea…

after a successful weekend pouring the marzen as a “movemberfest” at ML’s movember fundraiser party, I was motivated to keg the small beer from my last brew session, which I had dry hopped with a couple ounces of willamette for about a week.  since my only remaining kegs were uncleaned and not rebuilt, a gasket replacement and general cleaning was in order.

• simply put, buying “reconditioned” kegs with the gaskets replaced is a rip-off.  morebeer sells refurbished kegs for $17 more than their unrefurbished counterparts.  also, stores like northern brewer don’t even carry refurbished kegs, and their new ones run over three times the price of used.  rebuilding a standard cornelius keg only takes a couple bucks and a few minutes of your time:
• after giving your keg a general external washing (I blast mine with a garden hose jet setting) and quick scrub to remove dirt, syrup, and any other external debris, grab a socket wrench and unscrew the beer OUT post on the keg.  you will need either a 7/8″ or 11/16″ ‘deep’ socket, depending on what style posts you have.  I recommend picking up both sockets at a place like harbor freight, especially if you keg with any frequency.

• once you remove the post (you might have to wrestle with it a little after unscrewing), pull the dip tube out of the keg and and roll the o-ring at the top of the tube down and off of the tube.  sometimes the o-ring is fused onto the top of the dip tube from years of abuse, in which case a razor blade or thumbnail may come in handy to pry 0-ring loose.  if you see any mineral deposits or other gunk on the dip tube, scrub them off.

• take your replacement o-ring and slide it back up the tube, then replace the dip tube.  note that the gasket replacement kit contains five items – two dip tube o-rings, two post o-rings, and one lid gasket.  major retailers sell these for $3-4 online, but I have found some for as little as $1.50 a set.

• do the same with the gas IN post of the keg.  a few things to note here – (1)the gas in dip tube is much smaller than the beer out post, and may be either metal or plastic; (2) the gas in dip tube can be a pain in the ass to pull out of the gas in post.  be sure to clean the dip tube thoroughly, as these things are usually filthy – a q-tip soaked in PBW works well.  while replacing the o-rings on the dip tubes, I also like to punch the poppets out of both posts (using a pen tip or chopstick) and soak the poppets, posts, gas in dip tube, and lid pressure relief valve (the valve that screws into the lid of the keg) in a hot PBW solution for a few minutes and rinse with hot water.  a word of warning, however – the gas IN and beer OUT posts are NOT interchangeable, so make note of which is which (one usually has a different shape or is notched).
• after the posts, poppets, and dip tubes are clean, reassemble and hand tighten the posts.  next, remove and replace the post o-rings.  a razor blade or knife makes this job a lot easier.  then replace the lid gasket and you’re all set!

• after replacing the gaskets, I like to shake up a good amount of PBW and hot water in the keg.

• while the hot PBW sits in the keg, I then clean the beer out dip tube by running hot PBW through the beer out post via my homemade line cleaner.  I then rinse the keg a couple of times with hot water and shake up some star-san in the keg, which I also run through my beer out line.

• after dumping out the sanitizer, the keg is ready to fill with your beverage of choice.   my small beer finished at 1.004 for an ABV of 4.22%, and a sample tasted promising, as the earthy hops blended nicely with the toned-down roast profile.  I primed the keg with 4.7oz. of wildflower honey and will give it about a month to carb up.
• despite the rising cost of stainless steel, by buying inexpensive gasket kits and keeping an eye out for the occasional bargain, I can pick up kegs for $20-25, which is about half of what they go for in “refurbished” condition.  good luck!

over the past few months, I have noticed a gradual increase in my collection of leftover specialty grains.

• last-minute recipe alterations, quarter-pound grain additions, and preliminary miscalculations have results over time in a sealed bucket full of malted odds and ends.  the majority of my leftovers are of the high-roast/variety used sparingly in stouts, quads, black lagers, etc.
• knowing firsthand that long-gone leftovers just end up in the compost, I decided to clean house and make an imperial american-style stout with all of my dark grains and a liberal application of 2-row:

• 30.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	88.11 %
  0.75 lb	Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)	Grain	2.20 %
  0.75 lb	Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)	Grain	2.20 %
  0.75 lb	Carafa II (412.0 SRM)	Grain	2.20 %
  0.50 lb	Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM)	Grain	1.47 %
  0.40 lb	Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)	Grain	1.17 %
  0.30 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	0.88 %
  0.30 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM)	Grain	0.88 %
  0.30 lb	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	0.88 %
  2.50 oz	Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min)	Hops	42.5 IBU
  2.00 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min)	Hops	14.4 IBU
  2.00 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min)	Hops	7.1 IBU

• for the hop additions, I used a large chunk of my homegrown hop stash (specifically, all my chinooks and cascades).  although in an ideal world a totally homegrown saison would have had dibs on those hops, making a homebrew shop run for a couple commercial ounces of varieties that I already had didn’t make sense.  I also whipped up a healthy two-liter starter of venerable WLP001 for fermentation duties.
• after mashing in 34 lbs of grain, my mash tun was almost at capacity (I’ve heard of people adding as much as 40 lbs, but I wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous).  I hit my mash temp of 151F and ended up with ten gallons with an O.G. of 1.09.
• with all that grain in the mash tun, it seemed like a shame to waste any leftover sugars, so I decided to make a small beer using a parti-gyle procedure, which sounds complex but is in fact dead simple.  instead of using a first/second runnings “batch sparge” approach, I further simplified the process by adding 6 gallons of sparge water to my HLT and collecting an additional 6 gallons of wort in a separate kettle after my initial sparge was complete.
• after hopping the small beer with 1.5 oz of willamette pellets at 60 and 15 min, I ended up with 4.5 gallons with an O.G. of 1.037, and will dry-hop with another couple of ounces in an attempt at a hoppy, low abv brew.
• during the boil I also managed to keg my pseudo marzen, which ended up at 1.016 for a devilish abv of 6.66%.  after about a week at 65 to carb up, I’m planning on cold crashing the kegs in the mid 30s until some space frees up in the kegerator.