Transfer to the Barrel

After a long, slow ferment that including re-pitching some dry yeast, the Theme from the Barrel No. 1: American Barleywine was finally ready to transfer into the rye whiskey barrel.  The ~ 2.5 gallon carboy fermented down to ~ 1.028 and the ~ 5.0 gallon carboy fermented down to ~ 1.034.  Not quite as low as I had hoped, but it tastes pretty good and we'll see how it turns out after some time in the barrel.  So that comes out roughly to 1.032, 72% attenuation and a hefty 10.6 % ABV.  The barrel should add a little to the ABV.

One bummer though is that I didn't quite have enough barleywine to top off the barrel, so I had to add a little bit of Shore of the Baltic Sea (the only other dark, strong beer I have going right now).  Didn't quite get the runoff I thought I got during the brewday and my math must have been off somewhere.  I had hoped to have ~ 1 gallon or so to keep around to top off every so often as the beer was absorbed into the barrel, evaporated, etc. but I'll just have to do that with the baltic porter instead.

I'll give it some time and give a taste in the next month or so.

Sasquatch Ale - Part 2 @ Larry's Homebrew Supply

Brewing the Sasquatch Ale for NHC - Part Two

On April 22nd, Jerome and I headed down to Larry's Homebrew Supply in Tukwila to brew the second part of the world's first ever Sasquatch Ale.  Bascially concerned about not having enough for the conference, so we brewed ~ 120 gallons total (~ 90 at BJ's and ~ 45 at Larry's).  Essentially the same recipe though no smoked squash in the batch at Larry's.  We brewed in the warehouse on Don's super slick "homebrew" system.  So many cool features including hot water on demand, big clean vessels on wheels, stainless steel conical fermenters and efficient burner for the brew kettle.  I didn't hang around the whole day, but Don was a great host.  We had to add quite a few rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash and the transfer was incredibly slow.  I will post updates when the beer is kegged, etc.

Final recipe and some photos are below (full photo album). 

Recipe:

• 2 Row - 55.0 lbs
• Smoke - 55.0 lbs.
• Biscuit - 9.0 lbs.
• Flaked Rye - 9.0 lbs.
• Crystal 80L - 4.5 lbs.
• Crystal 60L - 4.5 lbs.
• Special B - 2.0 lbs.
• Carafa I - 2.0 lbs.
• Chocolate - 2.0 lbs.
• Juniper Berries in the mash
• Juniper Boughs stuffed in the grant during sparge 

• Cascade - 10.0 oz. (60)
• Centennial - 5.0 oz. (60)
• Cascade - 5.0 oz. (30)
• Centennial - 5.0 oz. (30)
• Juniper Berries - 5.0 oz. (0)
• Coriander - 5.0 oz. (0)

• Wyeast #1056 California Ale

• OG 18.65 (1.077) 

Sasquatch Ale - Part One @ BJ's

Brewing the Sasquatch Ale for NHC - Part One

On April 18th, Brandon and I headed down to BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in Tacoma to brew the first part of the world's first ever Sasquatch Ale.  BJ's brewer extraordinaire, Derek Osborne, was a great host and put us right to work throughout the whole process and he was very welcoming to the big mess of juniper and smoked squash.  It was a blast and eye-opening experience brewing on a professional system for a first time and even the cleaning was fun!!  The aroma mix from the smoked malt, juniper boughs, smoked squash and spices was amazing.  Batch size was ~ 3 barrels (90 gallons) and it is fermenting away.  I will post updates when the beer is kegged, etc.

Final recipe and some photos are below (full photo album).

Recipe:

• 2 Row - 137.7 lbs.
• Munich Light - 111.2 lbs.
• Biscuit - 23.0 lbs.
• Flaked Rye - 23.0 lbs.
• Smoke - 15.0 lbs.
• Crystal 80L - 11.5 lbs.
• Crystal 60L - 11.5 lbs.
• Special B - 5.7 lbs.
• Carafa I - 5.7 lbs.
• Chocolate - 5.7 lbs.
• Juniper Boughs in the mash
• Juniper Boughs stuffed in the grant during sparge 

• Cascade - 21.0 oz. (60)
• Centennial - 10.5 oz. (60)
• Cascade - 10.5 oz. (30)
• Centennial - 10.5 oz. (30)
• Smoked Buttercup Squash - 14.0 lbs. (20)
• Juniper Berries - 9.0 oz. (0)
• Coriander - 9.0 oz. (0)

• White Labs WLP 01 California Ale

• OG 19.8 (1.082)

Parkway Pro-Am

Great results from the Parkway Pro-Am competition with golds for Halley's Comet and Meatsitck Smoked Porter, plus Meatstick was picked as one of the "Best to Brew" beers.  So a bigger batch will be brewed at the Station U-Brew in the next few months and it will be on draft at one of the Parkway Tavern Pro-Am events on either June 27th or October 24th!!  

I want to thank everyone who participated in the 2012 Parkway Am-Pro Homebrew Competition.  I want to send a special thanks out to the Parkway and it's staff for helping us put on this great event.  I also want to thank all the judges who came down on Sunday and helped judge the 75 entries. Your time and expertise is much appreciated.

And now for the results...

Light Beer Category

• Gold - Ben Bottoms for Halley's Comet
  
• Silver - Casey Williams for Cream of the Hop
• Silver - Ryan Meyer for Boo Juice

English Ales Category

• Gold - Mike White for Mudd Puddle Ale
• Silver - Heather Erickson for Irish I Was
• Bronze - KC Graham for Boyd's Imperial Wee Heavy

American Ales Category

• Gold - Jiri Zatloukal for Populuxe Pale
• Silver - Johnathan Sherwin for Cutthroat Amber
• Bronze - Adam Sannes for House Pale

Porters and Stouts Category

• Gold - Ben Bottoms for Meatstick
• Silver - Aaron Johnson for Tall Order Porter
• Bronze - Scott Sannes for Chocolate Milk Stout

IPA Category

• Gold - Chad Wallin for Feral Dog Brewery-IPA
• Silver - Bryan Copeland for Moving Day IPA
• Bronze - Brian Tetreault and Ben Satterthwaite for Bloody Fingers IPA

Belgian Category

• Gold - Brian Tetreault and Ben Satterthwaite for Belgian Dark Strong
• Silver - Mike Braaten for 11 Belgian Stout
• Bronze - Jim Witwer for Down on the Farm
• Bronze - Matt Burns for Saelens Belgian Ale

Strong Ales Category

• Gold - Bryan Kramer for First Attempt
• Silver - Matt Lacroix for 28th Strong
• Bronze - Ryan Shdo for Bona Nox

Specialty Category

• Gold - Tim Kordik for Northwest Backwoods Brown Ale
• Silver - Tim Kordik for Rainy Days Rye CDA
• Bronze - Travis Nye for Sorta Sumpin

Results for the Best to Brew Beers

• Howard Hawley's Habanero Alt Amber
• Tim Kordik's Rainy Days Rye CDA
• Travis Nye's Sorta Sumpin' American Wheat IPA
• Brian & Ben's Belgian Dark Strong
• Mike Braaten's 11 Belgian Stout
• Jim Witwer's Down on the Farm Saison
• Brian & Ben's Bloody Fingers IPA
• Ben Bottoms’ Meatstick Porter
  
• Bryan Copeland's Tumble Down Brown
• Jiri Zatloukal's Populuxe Pale Ale
• KC Graham's Boyd's Imperial Wee Heavy
• Ryan Meyer's Boo Juice Blond

Congratulations to Everybody who won.  For the Best to Brew winners I will be sending out information later this week on how to get your beer brewed. The awards ceremonies will take place on June 27th for the beers styles that take less time to finish and October 24th for the big beer styles.

A little Saison tasting :)

Got together with some friends for the long-awaited and much discussed Saison blowout tasting.  Lots of tasty interpretations of the best beer style on earth.  Standouts for me were the Saison Dupont Dry-Hopping, Hill Farmstead Anna & Florence, Au Baron Cuvée des Jonquilles and Fantôme Saison of course!!

Here's a mostly complete list:

• Au Baron Cuvée des Jonquilles
• Southampton Saison Faucille
• Fantôme Hiver (Winter) – 2008
• Boulevard Saison with Brett – Batch 1
• Blaugies Bière Darbyste
• The Commons Oat Saison
• Fantôme Saison – 2008
• Saison Dupont Dry Hopping (magnum)
• Saison Dupont
• Logsdon Seizoen
• Logsdon Seizoen Bretta
• Fantôme Chocolat
• Fantôme Brise-BonBons!
• Hill Farmstead Anna
• Hill Farmstead Flora
• Hill Farmstead Florence 
• Blaugies La Moneuse
• Fantôme La Dalmatienne
• Pelican Saison du Pelican
• Upright Flora Rustica
• Lebbe l’Amalthée
• Saison de Pipaix
• Géants Saison Voisin
• Southampton Cuvee des Fleurs
• Fantôme BBB Dark White

Batch #50 - MamaLou's in Shantytown

MamaLou's in Shantytown

Brewed - April 13, 2012

Style - Shantytown-style Czech Lager

Ingredients:

• 16.0 lbs. Pilsner
• 2.0 lbs.Vienna
• 1.0 lbs. CaraPils/Dextrine
• 0.75 lbs.Munich

• 2.00 oz. Perle (60)
• 2.00 oz. Saaz (15)
• 1.00 oz. Saaz (0)

• Wyeast #2001 Pilsner Urquell (800 ml starter / 2 packs)
• Wyeast #2278 Czech Pilsner (800 ml starter / 2 packs)

OG – 1.054
Primary – 48 days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

Wyeast #2001 - Pilsner Urquell:
FG - 1.009 
Attenuation - 83.3%
ABV - 5.9%

Wyeast #2278 - Czech:
FG - 1.009
Attenuation - 83.3%
ABV - 5.9%

Notes:

• Batch #50!!!!!!!!!!!
• Hooverville - Seattle's Shantytown roots in SODO
• Trying out two different lager yeasts again
• Mash at 150° and 60 min boil
• Pitched at 55° and started fermentation temp at 43° in my chest freezer
• Planning on dry-hopping one keg with some Saaz

Batch #49 - Finders Keepers Biere de Garde

Finders Keepers

Brewed - April 13, 2012

Style - Biere de Garde (Beer for Keeping)

Ingredients:

• 20.0 lbs. Pilsner
• 4.0 lbs. Munich
• 1.3 lbs. Special Aromatic
• 1.0 lbs. CaraVienna
• 0.35 lbs.Amber/Biscuit
• 0.08 lbs.Black Barley

• 1.20 oz. Perle (60)
• 1.00 oz. Saaz (15)
• 1.00 oz. Saaz (5)

• Wyeast #2565 Kolsch (1200 ml starter / 3 packs)

OG – 1.068
Primary – 22 days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.012 
Attenuation - 82.4%
ABV - 7.3%

Notes:

• RIP Merl
• Biere de Garde is a style I've long wanted to take a stab at
• Mash at 148° for 75 mins and 60 min boil
• Pitched at 55° and started fermentation temp at 62° 
• Starters was almost too big with the added liquid yeast and very active
• After fermentation, lagering for a few months in the mid 30's