That's kind of been my life motto.
The Weizenbock ended up just fine. Yes, the sparge did take forever, and yes, I was about 3/4 of a point shy of my original gravity (more brewer talk), but with a high gravity beer, I'm not concerned.
Now it's in the yeast's hands--or buds.
I'll pop in tomorrow to see if it's rolling along as it should.
On another note, I sampled the Oktoberfest today and I'm very happy with it. It's amazing what 30+ days of lagering will do. I hope to see you all out at St. Francis Brewery next weekend for our Oktoberfest celebration. The event kicks off at noon on Saturday the 24th. Free beer!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Weizen#$*@!
It sounds a little like weizenbock.
Brewing it today. It's about 48% wheat.
A little lesson to folks new to brewing: The rest of you may talk amongst yourselves.
Malted wheat has no husk, as opposed to barley which keeps its husk during the malting process. The husk is great because it acts as a natural filter in the mash tun and helps keep the wort free-flowing and clear. When you use a large percentage of wheat, you do not get the benefits of the husk. Also, wheat contains gelatinous proteins which make the mash stiff and gummy. To counter this, many brewers (myself included) will add rice hulls to the mash as a "substitute husk". If you don't do this, you can experience a slow or "stuck" mash. Basically, it becomes so thick, that the wort cannot flow through it very well, if at all.
Lesson over. Sure, I added rice hulls, but apparently not enough! This is one of the slowest sparges ever.
Plus, based on the size of this batch, and the weight of the grain, I think my conversion was down significantly. This means, I'm not sure I got the most of the "good stuff" that I want out of the grain.
I seldom get mad at work. A bad day brewing is always better than a good day at work. However, my patience may be tested today.....
More to follow.
Brewing it today. It's about 48% wheat.
A little lesson to folks new to brewing: The rest of you may talk amongst yourselves.
Malted wheat has no husk, as opposed to barley which keeps its husk during the malting process. The husk is great because it acts as a natural filter in the mash tun and helps keep the wort free-flowing and clear. When you use a large percentage of wheat, you do not get the benefits of the husk. Also, wheat contains gelatinous proteins which make the mash stiff and gummy. To counter this, many brewers (myself included) will add rice hulls to the mash as a "substitute husk". If you don't do this, you can experience a slow or "stuck" mash. Basically, it becomes so thick, that the wort cannot flow through it very well, if at all.
Lesson over. Sure, I added rice hulls, but apparently not enough! This is one of the slowest sparges ever.
Plus, based on the size of this batch, and the weight of the grain, I think my conversion was down significantly. This means, I'm not sure I got the most of the "good stuff" that I want out of the grain.
I seldom get mad at work. A bad day brewing is always better than a good day at work. However, my patience may be tested today.....
More to follow.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Keg a Thon
Well, the new walk-in cooler was installed today, though it won't be fully operational until Friday afternoon.
That said, I had the joy of indulging in one of my most cherished duties: Keg Cleaning. This time, with a vengeance.
There were 22 of them in all. Thirteen of them will be used to keg off an entire batch of Oktoberfest. The rest will be used to keg off some of our house beers in order to free up the serving vessels.
This is chump change in comparison to the keg output of places like the Water Street Brewery or the Milwaukee Ale House, but I think they have gads of underlings ready, willing and able to help out.
The tough part is going to be hauling them over to the walk-in cooler once they're filled. Without the luxury of a forklift (or even doors wide enough the fit a pallet through) it's going to be a keg-at-a-time operation.
At roughly 165# per filled keg, I am considering having my spine reinforced.
That said, I had the joy of indulging in one of my most cherished duties: Keg Cleaning. This time, with a vengeance.
This is chump change in comparison to the keg output of places like the Water Street Brewery or the Milwaukee Ale House, but I think they have gads of underlings ready, willing and able to help out.
The tough part is going to be hauling them over to the walk-in cooler once they're filled. Without the luxury of a forklift (or even doors wide enough the fit a pallet through) it's going to be a keg-at-a-time operation.
At roughly 165# per filled keg, I am considering having my spine reinforced.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Weizenbock
This one will be a biggie!
The Brewer's Style guidelines describe a Weizenbock as: "A strong, malty, fruity, wheat-based ale combining the best flavors of a dunkelweizen and the rich strength and body of a bock."
I've never brewed one before. There aren't a lot of commercial examples of them out there, but Schneider's "Aventinus" (a favorite of mine) would qualify.
The thing that will set mine apart, however, will be the use of some Briess Midnight Wheat malt. This is a specialty malt that Briess puts out once a year. I picked some up and thought it would make a nice addition to this beer. As a result, it will send the color off the charts. This beer will be nearly black, but it won't have any of the roasty character of a stout or porter.
It will also be a great cold weather beer, as the ABV estimate will be around 8%. This will be another snifter beer.
Though bocks are traditionally lagers, this weizenbock will use hefeweizen yeast, technically an ale yeast, so that I can get some of that banana/clove taste found in our K.K. Weisse.
The Brewer's Style guidelines describe a Weizenbock as: "A strong, malty, fruity, wheat-based ale combining the best flavors of a dunkelweizen and the rich strength and body of a bock."
I've never brewed one before. There aren't a lot of commercial examples of them out there, but Schneider's "Aventinus" (a favorite of mine) would qualify.
The thing that will set mine apart, however, will be the use of some Briess Midnight Wheat malt. This is a specialty malt that Briess puts out once a year. I picked some up and thought it would make a nice addition to this beer. As a result, it will send the color off the charts. This beer will be nearly black, but it won't have any of the roasty character of a stout or porter.
It will also be a great cold weather beer, as the ABV estimate will be around 8%. This will be another snifter beer.
Though bocks are traditionally lagers, this weizenbock will use hefeweizen yeast, technically an ale yeast, so that I can get some of that banana/clove taste found in our K.K. Weisse.
Fun New Stuff!
The scent of cinnamon lingers in the brewhouse as I am brewing up my lone spiced beer of the year: Pumpkin Pie Spice Ale.
This tends to be a favorite among SFB beer lovers so I increased the batch size a bit, and plan to have it available for our Oktoberfest celebration on Sept. 24-25.
Also, we're getting a new walk-in cooler to store lots of kegs. This will allow me to keg off batches of beer, thus freeing up serving vessel space for some more creative concoctions. I've got a few ideas in the works: a Weizenbock, a Roggenbier and a Scotch Strong Ale. More on this as it develops......
This tends to be a favorite among SFB beer lovers so I increased the batch size a bit, and plan to have it available for our Oktoberfest celebration on Sept. 24-25.
Also, we're getting a new walk-in cooler to store lots of kegs. This will allow me to keg off batches of beer, thus freeing up serving vessel space for some more creative concoctions. I've got a few ideas in the works: a Weizenbock, a Roggenbier and a Scotch Strong Ale. More on this as it develops......
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Picking Back Up
I wasn't whining in that last post.
Really.
Now it's a bit of a hurry/stop/hurry/stop cycle. Last week, I brewed on consecutive days and all three fermenters are full again--Oktoberfest, Weisse and Kolsch. So, this week there's not a lot of brewing going on.
What to do, what to do?
Today I decided to try something a little new. I picked up a bunch of 22 oz bottles at Norther Brewer and some sealing wax.
I put a question out to the Brewery's Facebook friends. What beer would you like to see return? A couple of you gave me an unexpected answer: the Harvest Strong. As fortune would have it, I saved a half barrel of last year's batch to see what some cold storage would do to it. I sampled it this morning and it is wonderful! The smokiness has subdued and it tastes somewhat like a Belgian Tripel with a big alcohol kick. So I ended up bottling about 26 bottles of that plus 26 bottles of Breakfast Stout. I then dipped the crowns in colored wax giving the bottles a classy (or pretentious) look. Once I come up with a label for them, we'll sell single bottles at the bar. Price is TBD. These will be the first featured bottles in our "Premium Selection" line-up. These will beer our "big beers"--higher alcohol and more specialized malts.
Look for them soon!
Really.
Now it's a bit of a hurry/stop/hurry/stop cycle. Last week, I brewed on consecutive days and all three fermenters are full again--Oktoberfest, Weisse and Kolsch. So, this week there's not a lot of brewing going on.
What to do, what to do?
Today I decided to try something a little new. I picked up a bunch of 22 oz bottles at Norther Brewer and some sealing wax.
I put a question out to the Brewery's Facebook friends. What beer would you like to see return? A couple of you gave me an unexpected answer: the Harvest Strong. As fortune would have it, I saved a half barrel of last year's batch to see what some cold storage would do to it. I sampled it this morning and it is wonderful! The smokiness has subdued and it tastes somewhat like a Belgian Tripel with a big alcohol kick. So I ended up bottling about 26 bottles of that plus 26 bottles of Breakfast Stout. I then dipped the crowns in colored wax giving the bottles a classy (or pretentious) look. Once I come up with a label for them, we'll sell single bottles at the bar. Price is TBD. These will be the first featured bottles in our "Premium Selection" line-up. These will beer our "big beers"--higher alcohol and more specialized malts.
Look for them soon!
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