last week was chock full of brewing endeavors.

• based on some threads over at homebrewtalk and a little elbow grease, I threw together a homemade stirplate using a computer fan, hard drive magnet, potentiometer, and power supply I had lying around.  I used a plastic dish as the housing and hard wired everything up with a soldering iron, and it works like a charm.
• according to the latest northern brewer catalog (p. 36 to be exact), the constant oxygenation stir plates provide enables 4 times normal yeast growth in starters.  after using it last week on an american ale yeast starter, I was impressed – the starter took off fast and was chugging along much sooner than my old starters.
• I also dried out my cascade harvest, and packed up 4.5oz of cones in the freezer.  I will probably use these as finishing hops in an IPA, or may wait until all my other hops are ready for a homegrown pale.
• I also managed to squeeze in a brew day last weekend, and whipped up an american-style amber ale based on my house IPA hop schedule and a recipe for lagunitas’ kronik/censored ale:
  • 24.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 74.67 %
    3.00 lb Munich Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 9.33 %
    3.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 9.33 %
    2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.22 %
    0.14 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 0.44 %
    2.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 34.0 IBU
    2.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (30 min) Hops 26.1 IBU
    2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (10 min) Hops 7.5 IBU
    3.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (0 min) Hops –
• after doing some reading about heat sticks, I picked one up on amazon and stuck it in my HLT for mashing/sparging and hitting a boil in my boil kettle.  it worked amazingly, and cut my brew time down by at least an hour.
• however, with both the heat stick and the jet burner going at it, much more water ended up evaporating from my wort (2 gals/hr), leaving me with a 10 gallon batch (instead of an 11 gallon batch) and an OG of 1.08!  I think my higher mash temps and somewhat aggressive hopping will balance out the alcohol in this beer nicely.

aside from sampling a few draft homebrews (and discovering that the local elks lodge has quite a few beers on tap, including SN pale ale), the weekend went by without incident. on monday, however, the hop harvest began.

• after doing some research regarding optimal hop picking indicators, I determined the following: wait until the cones are light and papery, and you can smell significant hop aroma, then wait a week or more for the cones to fully develop before picking.
• last year, I picked my cones when they felt papery (and when I saw significant lupulin in the cones), but I didn’t really get any significant aroma from them, so I think I picked too early.
• this time around, my cascade cones were light, papery, and smelled great, and my I ended up with tacky fingers after handling the cones.  I cut down the cascade vine and picked approximately a little less than a pound of wet hops, which will likely result in 4oz. of dried cones.  not bad for first year growth!
• I spread the hops out in the basement on some mesh and put a fan on them to dry them out.  I plan on stuffing them in a ziploc in a day or two, when they fully dry out.
• in the future, I plan on planting my rhizomes in the ground to increase output, as the time and effort put in for a 4oz. harvest could get a little frustrating over time.  I will definitely plant the cascade, which showed the best growth potential by far, but other varieties are still up in the air (columbus? amarillo?)

unfortunately for myself and AP, we couldn’t make it up to guerneville for the russian river beer revival for the first time in three years.  however, some beer events last weekend definitely made up for it.

• on friday JF and I headed out to cal state san marcos for stone brewing’s 14th anniversary VIP/brewer’s reception.  basically, stone has their open anniversary event on saturday, but holds a smaller ticketed reception the night before.  the event had a small crowd and great beers, which was right up our alley.
• there was definitely an all-star crowd at the event – right off the bat I ran into greg koch and spotted patrick rue in line for a pour behind me.  the beer geek in me would have preferred a more traditional booth/name tag setup where guests could more easily interact with brewery representatives as they got a beer, but the single tap lineup and high school reunion social setup made sense here, since it was a brewer’s reception…
• oh yeah, they had great beers too – standouts included a double dry-hopped version of stone’s 14th anniversary empirial IPA (outstanding aroma balanced out the high abv, much better than the bottle release), lost abbey’s red poppy (a very well balanced oud bruin), an great divide’s chocolate oak aged yeti.

on sunday I managed to crank out my first batch, a kolsch, using the new brew setup.

• my recipe was based off of edwort’s bee cave brewery kolsch recipe off of homebrewtalk (although I mashed a little higher at 155F):
  • 0.50 lb Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 2.56 %
    14.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.79 %
    5.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 25.64 %
    2.00 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 25.8 IBU
    1.00 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 3.6 IBU
    1.00 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
• the brew went smoothly, although I lost a little wort during cooling when I switched quick disconnects on my plate chiller so the outflow lined up with my in-line thermometer…
• also, it turns out that natural gas, although much more convenient for me, doesn’t have the oomph propane does – I found myself looking at my watch more than a couple times while waiting for the wort to boil.  therefore, I invested in a heat stick to hopefully help things along more quickly.
• I managed an OG of 1.05, and calculated my efficiency at 78% – not bad for a first run!
• the best part of the new brew process was using the plate chiller – after recirculating for a minute or two, I got my wort down to pitchable temps and transferred 10 gals. to my fermentation barrel in a matter of minutes!  I’m definitely not missing my immersion chiller.
• I tossed the fermentation barrel in my fermentation chamber at around 80F and set the chamber for 65F to cool it down a little, and after a day or so I ramped it up to 68F.  hopefully all goes well…

tomorrow marks the year anniversary of overcarbed.  to mark the occasion, I wanted to divulge the newly renovated home brewery at overcarbed HQ.

• as veteran readers remember, a year ago, space constraints limited production means to a 4 gallon stove-top pot that had trouble getting a 3.5 gallon batch of extract/partial mash rolling.  gravity readings were nonexistent, and cooling took place in the bathroom tub using an immersion chiller.  recipes came and went, and friends lamented lost recipes resulting in tasty batches.
• fast forward a few months, where a 6 gallon aluminum turkey fryer and propane banjo burner replaced the stove and pot, and a 5 gallon cooler conversion provided mash duties for the all-grain evolution.  a refractometer provided easy gravity readings, and beersmith enabled not only recipe formulation but storage as well.
• and now, on the eve of overcarbed’s first birthday, the new brew setup is finally complete after months of planning and fabrication.  its components include a 2-tier brewstand from pinup brewery, three keggles converted using components from bobby_m and bargainfittings, and a custom sparge head compliments of yours truly.  it is fired with natural gas jet burners (no more tanks!), and a custom pump/cooling rig takes care of the manual fly sparge and instantaneous plate chilling.

in addition to tying up some loose ends with the new brew setup these last few weeks, I also managed to get some beer-related events in, including:

• two trips to naja’s with the MLs, HL, DP, and of course AP to sample some great brews from craftsman brewing, including favorites like their cabernale (vinous and complex, but infinitely drinkable) and an apparent one-off infected braggot that was tart, smooth, dry, and the best beer naja’s had on tap (which really got my gears turning).  oh yeah, some fantome and consecration got popped too, amongst others.  craftsman’s mark jilg reminds me of moonlight’s brian hunt – they both whip up some amazing one-off beers from a nondescript location and deliver in their own truck.
• a stroll by hudson house for a couple pours of craftsman 1903 and some quick eats (good food, quick service, OK beer selection – a decent place that humors the beer geek, but their “house ale” is really budweiser?  you’re really gonna pull that shit?)
• a pilgrimage to stein fillers in long beach for some sacks of grain and vials of yeast (awesome store, better selection than anything in the immediate bay area with great service to match)
• a trip to the backyard to view the (relative) bounty of hops that is almost ready for harvest.

the past year flew by but saw many great beer events, brew sessions, and beer trips.  I can only hope that another year will bring more of the same!

last week I managed to put some finishing touches on some home brewing components.

• remember this old post about the chill wizard?  you know, the one for $830?  well, with some helpful tips from the folks over at homebrewtalk (my new must-read forum), I scored a march pump from a forum member and got a plate chiller for a steal via germany (email me for more info), then picked up a bunch of stainless hardware from bargainfittings (fast shipping!) and made my own pump/cooling setup for less than half the cost.
• basically, I picked up a small toolbox off of amazon for cheap, installed the pump into a base end of the box, and strapped the plate chiller to the other end.  I tossed on extras like a air purge valve on the pump out and an in-line thermometer at the wort out of the plate chiller, as well as a pump switch on the top of the box.  the whole thing is plugged into a GFCI outlet so I don’t shock the shit out of myself.
• after tightening everything with some plumbing tape, I ran my portable pump setup through my (almost finished) brew setup to test it, and after a few leak fixes everything worked like a charm.  this thing might not be the prettiest setup out there, but it gets the job done just as well as the high-end options and is simpler/significantly less expensive.
• I also kegged up my bohemian pilsner and tapped the second keg of my belgian date barleywine, which recently celebrated its first birthday.

in other beer news, AP and I were in vegas at the end of last week, and after very little persuading we headed over to burger bar for another visit.

• as usual, the selection was outstanding, especially for a burger joint in a casino.  I started off with a st feuillen saison on draft, while AP went local and had a pint of sin city’s amber ale (which she thoroughly enjoyed).
• after my initial pour, I couldn’t resist any longer, and went straight for one of my hard-to-find favorites: dogfish head’s 120 minute IPA.  I pulled the same stunt as last time and ended up cruising the strip with a cup of this liquid gold (which might not have been the best idea, as outside temps were in triple digits).
• AP and I managed to return twice more during our stay, and partook in specialties such as new belgium’s la folie ’10 (significantly more sour than last year’s, according to my palate), kiuchi’s commemorative ale (spice ain’t my thing, but these guys have the belgian complexity down pat), and bitch creek ESB from grand teton.
• I was even debating ordering up the firestone 11-13 bomber flight, but lousy luck at the craps table prevented any celebratory splurging.
• again, the service and burgers were great and the beer selection made me feel right at home.  if you’re a beer fan in vegas this is without question the place to be.

last weekend AP and I flew back up to our old stomping grounds in SF for a swim as well as some much-needed beer exposure.

• on friday we made a pit stop over at columbus cafe, and old favorite, where a couple pints of lagunitas’ dogtown pale and bear republic’s racer 5 eased me into the weekend.
• we also cruised by bistro gambrinus for dinner per AP’s research, which turned out to be a great idea.  the food was great (the burgers looked awesome), and although the service was spotty and a couple taps were kicked, the beers were still outstanding.  I grabbed a köstritzer schwarzbier (drinkable and well balanced, a little more refined than death and taxes) as well as a schneider aventinus (not my thing, tons of clove and banana), and AP knocked back a neumarkter lammsbräu dunkel, which was damn tasty and made me wish I had ordered it (AP has been doing a lot of that lately).
• on saturday we hit the bridge and went up to the hopmonk tavern in sebastopol with the CBs and TB (after trying some of CB’s pale and his killer saison going to town in his fermenator).  after getting off on the wrong foot with their house kellerbier (super corny and actually pretty horrible), I recovered with pliny, while the table was being peppered with favorites like lagunitas’ kronik/censored and rodenbach’s grand cru.
• we also stopped by bottle barn on the way back to grab some beers, highlights including ’08 bourbon county stouts for $3.50 a pop!
• before taking off on sunday, there was one essential stop to be made over at healthy spirits.  this spot was my first major beer discovery in the city and is still a must-visit location for many reasons, a few of them being:
  • the staff - the owner, rami, and resident beer expert, dave, are super friendly and can talk for days about beer.  dave has given me great homebrewing ideas (kvass IPA) as well as insightful beer procurement advice (bi-rite for brews?).
  • the selection - unless I cruise down to port’s bottle shop in SD, there is really no other place I can go to get ANY hard-to-find beers, much less small batch belgians from cantillon, fantome, drie fonteinen, etc.  healthy spirits carries them all, and aggressively stocks some of the finest beers money can buy.
  • the blog - dave maintains a great blog that is consistently updated with their new procurements.  even though I can’t make it in most of the time, I can check the blog to keep updated on new killer releases.
• of course, this selection and service does come with a price (healthy spirit beers ain’t cheap), but if you mix a sixer you get a discount.  I grabbed a boxload of brews and checked them on my flight without any issues (FYI, a standard 24-pack filled with 6-7 wrapped bottles weighs about 25 pounds, well under standard airline limits).
• when AP and I finally got back to LA, we were glad to be home, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss the amazing beer scene up north.

on sunday I managed to squeeze in some time for a last-minute brewday.

• this wasn’t any ordinary brew, though – it was my first pilsner!  I was inspired by my recent keezer build to brew a beer that needed some colder fermentation temps and long-term lagering, and a pilsner fit the bill perfectly.
• I was also inspired by my trip with AP to the czech republic, and I therefore decided on a bohemian style pilsner, or “bo pils.”
• after a little internet scan I came across jamil zainasheff’s bo pils recipe, which I then slightly modified as follows:
  • 10.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 93.02 %
    11 oz. Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.98 %
    1.50 oz Saaz [3.50 %] (60 min) Hops 18.5 IBU
    1.80 oz Saaz [3.50 %] (30 min) Hops 17.0 IBU
    1.00 oz Saaz [3.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
    1.00 oz Saaz [3.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
    1 Pkgs Budvar Lager (Wyeast Labs #2000) Yeast-Lager
• I also made a pretty hefty (for me) 1L starter a couple days before and gave it a shot of O2 to get it going.  I pitched at 70F and let it sit for about an hour before tossing my fermentation bucket into the keezer at 55 +/- 5F.
• the next morning, I knocked the keezer temp down to 50 +/- 2F, which seemed to be right for the yeast.  last I checked, the airlock was bubbling away, so everything seems to be on the up and up.  keep your fingers crossed…
• I also managed to keg the IPA during the brew.  as usual, I forgot to grab a gravity reading, but the aroma was pretty awesome, so I’m hoping for the best.
• on monday I also cruised over to san pedro brew co. to meet up with JW to try out his new lineup.  he has a belgian wit, amber, and brown on tap, all of which were tasty.  I especially liked the brown, which was clean and very sessionable, a perfect summer beer for the brown ale lover.
• JW also showed me his fermenter cleaning procedure and, as usual, fielded a barrage of questions with patience and enthusiasm.  thanks again JW!
• also, on the hop front - all the plants are doing well, but the cascade vines are definitely larger than any first year growth I have ever seen.  there are tons of developing cones and which will hopefully result in a significant harvest.
  

last thursday night, AP and I went over to alpine village for some legit german food and brews.

• ever since I dropped by AV a little while back, I was eagerly anticipating our return.  I knew it was going to be a great night right when we walked in the door, and were seated immediately and given a healthy serving of liverwurst and rye.
• thursday was swing night, and there was a full band in attendance along with an impressive singer.  we were definitely the youngest in the crowd by a few decades, but it didn’t keep us from cutting a rug in between courses and beers.
• ah, the beers – AP got one of her staples, hangar 24′s altbier, and I had weihenstephaner’s kristall weissbier.  well, I ordered it, and ended up with an unfiltered wheat instead, so who knows what I put down.  later AP chatted up the bartender and tried the kristall weiss after the fact, which was definitely tasty and probably the variety of the style that I would pursue ifwhen I brew another wheat.
• on sunday AP and I rang in the 4th with some heavy BBQ and great beers.  I’m talking a 10lb pork shoulder, 8lb brisket and two dozen brats in the smoker with all the fixins – it was definitely a good time.
• unfortunately, I was out of homebrew for the occasion, but the food was very well complemented with some firestone walker variety packs and a sixer of stone’s IPA, which was better than I remembered.
• I also snuck down to the basement for some bottles, including stone’s 14th anniversary empirial IPA (uncomfortably bitter with not enough aroma to balance it out, probably due to the hop selection), lagunitas’ hairy eyeball (killer as always, malty and delicious), and new belgium’s eric’s ale (definitely one of my favorites, the most drinkable sour I have come across).
• on saturday and sunday JF helped me out with some “brewery expansion construction”: using an angle grinder and some bootleg jig I threw together based off a modification of this idea from homebrewtalk, we cut the tops off of a couple of kegs that will soon enjoy long lives as an HLT and mash tun.  we also installed some weldless ball valves, thermometers, and sightglasses.  once the third keg makes an appearance and all my quick disconnects and other fittings come in, the setup will be revealed, but until then the project will remain shrouded in mystery.

last saturday I decided to brew an all-grain version of my partial mash IPA, which is currently in the process of being tweaked to become my house IPA.

• I loved the partial mash recipe above since it produced a strong citrusy/floral hop aroma and remained well-balanced even after the hop nose faded a bit over time.
• ideally, however, this beer should be consumed early.  I plan on a week for primary fermentation, a week of dry hopping, and a week for secondary fermentation in the keg before lagering and serving.
• the malt bill was very similar to my partial mash recipe, and the hop additions were identical:
  • 5.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 44.05 %
    4.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 41.85 %
    0.50 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 4.41 %
    0.50 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.41 %
    0.30 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.64 %
    0.30 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2.64 %
    1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (75 min) Hops 49.5 IBU
    1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (55 min) Hops 46.3 IBU
    1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (20 min) Hops 28.7 IBU
    1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (10 min) Hops 10.4 IBU
    1.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
    1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
• I struggled a little with my mash temps (I still have to iron out some kinks), but I ended up with an OG of 1.067, which was in line with my beersmith profile.
• I mimicked the impromptu 75 minute boil I ended up with last time, which will hopefully give me similar results.  the profile suggests 135 IBUs, which sounds a little fishy to me, but this brew will definitely pack a punch.
• luckily, my starter was ready to kick some ass when I pitched it with a shot of O2, and fermentation got off to a vigorous start.

• in other brew news, most of the hops are doing well, but my cascades are going nuts. the vine has bolted up past the second story of the house, and cones are popping up everywhere.  I am looking forward to some great fresh hop beers in the near future…
• I also got lucky and scored some 15 gal. plastic barrels from a guy on ebay for $12.50 a pop.  these guys just squeeze into my old kegerator-turned-fermentation fridge, and will be perfect for 10-12 gal. batches (soon to come – stay tuned).

last weekend was full of brew related accomplishments and surprises.

• on thursday night I finished up the keezer collar, and AP and I lugged the thing down to the basement, where I fitted the taps and ran the beer lines.
• after wiring up the ranco temperature controller with some help online, I ran the temp probe and the gas lines and fired everything up.
• the thing works like a charm, and it’s great to have so much fridge space for storing kegs and other bulky items.  I can even lager in my brew bucket if I want to, but I will probably lager in kegs the old kegerator.
• on friday DH drove down and we skipped over to naja’s for an afternoon brew.  I got to try a taster of ‘dark side imperial stout’ or something like that from sierra nevada, but ended up with an ’08 alaskan barleywine, which was nice and malty but still relatively drinkable.  we finished up in style with a bottle of fantome saison, which had a great fruity aroma and finish.
• I am always amazed at the number of homebrewers that roll by naja’s for a pour – they are always friendly and can talk beer all night long.  friday was no exception – we ran into bob, a member of pacific gravity with a sick all-grain gravity system and a vast brew knowledge.  hopefully we’ll meet up again bob, maybe at a pacific gravity meeting!
• friday night the smoker was fired up, and by saturday afternoon 20 lbs of pulled pork was ready to rock, in addition to 3 beer can chickens and a couple dozen smoked brats.  that along with a the kegs of alt and kolsch kept friends and family busy for hours.
• both kegs were a hit and got kicked before the sun went down.  they were very drinkable and great session beers, but my only complaint was the clarity (both had a little haze from only being lagered for a week or so).  unfortunately, no pictures were taken (again) due to entertaining duties.  next time, I swear…
• just when I thought my beer weekend was coming to a close, I got a call sunday from james of san pedro brew co. he had tried my brews on saturday and wanted to know if I was interested in swinging by the brewery this week to check out a brew session.  I jumped at the chance and told him I would be by monday.
• monday morning I met up with jason, the award-winning brewer at san pedro brew co.  he had already started mashing an experimental amber ale and patiently explained the entire process on their 5 bbl. system.  he let me help out with the mash, explained their lauter and sparge process, and let me participate with some hop additions.  I was flipping switches, pulling levers, and loving every minute of it.
• when it came time to empty the mash tun, he must have though I was an idiot since I practically begged him to do it.  he let me stick around for the entirety of the boil all the way to racking the wort into their conical and let me help out with the crush and line sanitation for the next day’s brew.  it was an awesome experience, and I was like a kid in a candy store, ogling all the equipment and trying out jason’s killer brews.  thanks again jason, and good luck with your latest comp results!