Introducing "Dark Chapel" Belgian-Style Dark Ale.

It is now official. The brewing, fermenting, and bottle conditioning took almost three months in total (not unlike the "White Queen"). I think it was all worth it.

The Beer pours beautifully with a deepest brown color and light brown head of tight bubbles. The oak is upfront in the nose, followed by mild vanilla and some light clove from the yeast, and finally, a hint of the bourbon.

At bottling the ABV calculated out at about 6%, but after bottle conditioning hydrometer readings indicate a final 7.2%. Much closer to my original intent.

I could tell you how it tastes but I feel that tasting notes can be really subjective, even if using a standardized rating system, because we all taste things differently. Instead I'll simply describe the flavor using some fairly recognizable descriptors and if you're interested in trying it, just give me a shout.

I tried to get a good picture of it in the glass before the head receded, but I'm not wasting a bunch of time or Beer on getting a good "money shot".

The same flavors in the aroma are present in the taste, but the vanilla is much more prevalent. The bourbon and oak meld mildly into the malty backbone for what is a pretty smooth character. The light cinnamon additions and earthy hops balance out any residual sweetness from the Belgian candi syrup. The overall result is a smooth, strong dark ale with a pretty well-balanced flavor.

I am pleased with the results, though I had several doubts during the process. I will admit that the finished product is not exactly as I had planned, but I can tell now how I might more easily achieve the desired results the next time I attempt this recipe.

Thanks for reading through the rambling and maybe I'll get to share one of these with you. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but we won't know until then.

Cheers!

( Brewing Notes: As soon as I get my notes properly reconciled I will post the recipe, but I can tell you it was brewed as a mixed extract/grain beer using Belgian Special B, Chocolate Malt, C80, and C120 malts. I used Goldings and my "Owl and Moon" hops, along with Amarillo towards the end of the boil. The yeast was the Wyeast Abbey Ale. Fermentation was done over toasted Oregon Oak soaked in cream sherry and the Bourbon Oak chips used in "The Archdruid" (which themselves were soaked in some vodka along with the Bourbon Vanilla Bean. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the boil and a half-ounce of vanilla extract as well. )

Dark Chapel Artwork

final "Dark Chapel" label art.

     "Dark Chapel" is nearing readiness and bottle conditioning is going well. I decided it was time to take the label art ideas that have been taking up numerous sheets of paper and choose a final image. After scanning the sketch I used GIMP to give it a little extra character and after numerous variations I am pleased with the result I'm making "official".

     I'll provide more info on the Beer itself after a full two weeks in bottles. I'll provide an updated %ABV, notes on the recipe, and some overall thoughts on the result and what I will do differently the next time.

     I decided to make a collage of some of the other rough sketches I played around with just for fun. I eventually decided that the simple glass and candle idea had a more subtle, elegant demeanor.

Several of the rough idea sketches I played around with.

 Cheers!

Owl. Moon. Hops. Welcome Class of 2013!

Say hello to the new vines! Here comes the new growth of hops for this years home-brewing experiments.

         Here we have the "Owl and Moon" Hops; remember, we don't actually know what variety they are since we have never done a test on them. We suspect it is Magnum... maybe. perhaps this year I'll have them checked out and find out for reals.

This one is well established and will provide more than I will be able to use... unless I go ahead and make some enormously-hopped ales. This thing is taller than I am already.

Over in the side-yard we have the Goldings - Remus and Romulus. Remus already has some bold, leafy growth while Romulus is shooting up about a dozen stalks. I have done a little research on whether or not I should cut any of them back but I haven't made up my mind yet on whether it will be necessary for me.

Last year I was able to harvest enough Goldings to produce my Wet-Hopped Bourbon Oak ESB ("The Archdruid"). From what I've read and heard told about first year growth, that's a good indicator of a hardy plant. I'm looking forward to a good yield this year but I won't count on it until I start seeing the cones.

Remus

Cheers!

Romulus

I Love The Fall (Autumn, That Is… Leaves, Rain, Pumpkins, and BEER!)

‘Tis the season for Rich, Malty Beer with various Spices and Vegetables in the foreground instead of a reliance on an Abundance of Bitter Hops, yes? Now that the Rain and the Cold Winds and the Turning Leaves are dominating the landscape everybody is ready to embrace the Beers of the Dark Seasons. Last year I whined about the lack of Fall Seasonals appearing on the shelves in a timely manner though this year they were hitting the shelves before Summer was even over. But I am not complaining about it… these are some of my favorite styles of Beer and I wish they were available year-round. Hell, I even have a 6’pk of Bridgeport’s Ebenezer in the fridge already! (probably my favorite Yule-season Ale)

That is a Great line-up for sharing! (consumed right to left)

Any time of year is good for a Good Beer.

I’ve already enjoyed a lot of Pumking (Southern Tier) and Night Owl (Elysian), as well as a lot of other Elysian Pumpkin Ales Like Dark o’ The Moon and The Great Pumpkin. The Best Elysian I’ve had is without a doubt the 9^th Beer in their "Beers of the Apocalypse" Series… Blight Pumpkin Ale. Both my partner and I were amazed and delighted by this offering… the Cinnamon is the key to this intense pumpkin ale, but while it dances all over your tongue it still does not overpower the Beer. Mighty Tasty.

Heater Allen = Great Lagers

I was disappointed (I mean wish I hadn't bothered, really) in the inexpensive KBC Pumpkin available at Trader Joes this year, though. Last year it was a decent ale for the price, but this year it is too sweet and watery for my tastes. The Boatswain Chocolate Stout however, while a cheap Beer at $1.99 for a 22oz bottle, has a solid flavor that doesn’t go wrong. So... as always, its hit or miss for the TJ's exclusives.

Did you know? Smoked Beers are also wonderful this time of year! (Because I love them!) Alaskan Smoked Porter, as you should already know, is one of my favorite Beers. But another worthy Beer I haven’t said much about before is Heater Allen’s Smoky Bobtoberfest. The smoked malts are well balanced with the rich appeal of this smooth autumn lager from McMinneville, OR. I'm already a big fan of their Schwarz and Coastal Common and this finely crafted rauchbier is just another reason why they are worthy of some recognition.

I’m excited to try two of the new pumpkin brews I have waiting “on deck” in the fridge… Oakshire’s Big Black Jack and Uinta’s Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin. The Oakshire is a single batch Pumpkin and Cocoa Imperial Porter. I've been looking forward to trying this one for months. The Uinta is a big 10.31% Ale aged in Oak Barrels!

 I love the Richness of Squash-brewed Beer and I’m looking forward to getting my own Grinning Jack bottled this week! (this year I made it without the Rum-soaked Oak chips to see how the flavor differed, but I still roasted the Pumpkin with The Kraken.)

And what else do I have to tell you? Just that if you want to try some of the Best Beers of the Year, get out and get them now.

Cheers!

DIY Mash/Lauter Tun Update

The Old News: I built a Mash Tun/Lauter Tun out of a drink cooler and a stainless steel faucet supply line.

The News: Upgraded my design by replacing the cheap spigot that comes with the cooler (and swapping the brass tee fitting on the lautering filter).

The parts are all brass, except for those washers acting as spacers and the O-rings.

The valve is a 3/8" FPT Ball Valve, oriented so that the handle opens when pulled down.

The outer end is a 3/8" Street Elbow with a 3/8" MIP (pipe thread) to 3/8"I.D. Barb fitting. This makes it easy to attach 3/8" tubing directly to the spigot.

Peek-a-boo pic of the Teflon Tape on the Tee.

the valve is attached to the cooler with a 3/8" Hex Nipple which passes through the cooler where the original plastic valve was. It is held in place on the inside by a 1/2" x 3/8" NPT Reducing Bushing.


The 5/8" Cut Washers and the #12 O-ring help to secure the spigot in place and prevent excess wiggle.

I also had to replace the 1/2 x 1/2 x 3/8 PEX Tee on the filter with a 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 PEX Tee due to the increased size of the valve. Enough Teflon Tape and a #9 O-ring help make a snug, leak resistant fit.

This upgrade was about $25. Brass parts ain't cheap, eh? But the easy to use valve and extra functionality of the direct tubing connection are worth it after having put the thing into use and fumbling with that bubble-button on the original.

Here are some additional pics from the trial run of this thing as I made my first All-Grain Homebrew with torrified wheat and pilsner malt.

Hot Cereal Time!

I. P. Freely Lives!

I made plenty of procedural mistakes, but everything turned out alright. I certainly learned some things about how to better utilize this new resource. I'm looking forward to many better-made brews in the future.

Cheers!

Simple DIY Wort Chiller, (Under $30)

The Parts and The Tools.

Part 2 of my DIY Brewing Equipment Project: The Cheapie Wort Chiller.

     I'll admit to growing weary of working the sink bath of ice and cold water every time I cool down my wort... It is not the most convenient method, even if it only costs the price of a Big Bag of Ice and the water necessary to fill a sink basin. So I decided to make a Wort Chiller, like many other homebrewers looking to save some money.

     This project cost less than $30, which was a great price compared to what is available for purchase elsewhere. If you have read my DIY Mash/Lauter Tun post, you are already aware of the experience I have with helping other homebrewers put this type of apparatus together (I sell plumbing supplies for a living). This is the result of much pondering over the most efficient method of making my own immersion-style chiller... which can easily be converted into a pass-through chiller as well, but I'll play with that idea later when I have converted the spigot on my lauter tun. Like the mash/lauter tun all these supplies came from one major retail chain.

     This parts list is also relatively short and simple:

          (1) 3/8 Soft refrigeration Copper Coil, 10'          $13.48
          (1) 1/2" O.D., 3/8" I.D. vinyl tubing, 10'             $4.38
               (the roll pictured is 20', but only 10' is needed for this project.)
          (1) Brass 3/4" FHT x 3/8" Barb adapter             $7.65
          (3) 5/8" Stainless Steel Hose Clamps                 $2.55 ($0.85ea)
                                                                                   $28.06 Total

      If you don't have access to a tube bender, you can use any solid cylindrical object to aid you in bending the copper. Reminder: Please use Caution to avoid kinking the tubing, because copper is rather soft and recklessness can ruin your material. I made some of my bends around the base of this jar of beans, just to illustrate this point.

Copper Sculpture can be Pretty!

     The trickiest bends will be the inlet and outlet positions. Just use a smaller cylinder if necessary to make these tight bends. It is OK to bend past the angle you need and then back it up a bit.
    
     The next part is easy... just cut how much length you need to discharge where you will be brewing or just use half your vinyl tubing. Secure it to the discharge end of your coiled sculpture with a stainless steel hose clamp. tighten it down just enough to be very snug... but do not over-tighten, remember how soft that copper is.

     Do the same for your inlet end; this is the tube that will connect to your faucet after you add the last part. that hose adapter barb will fit right into the other end of this tubing and a hose clamp will keep it secure. If you do not have a hose thread connection to hook up to (like on a standard kitchen faucet) you can easily pick up an adapter at any hardware store. I already had one for use with my bottle washer.

     And that is it! You can use a 20' coil if you would like to increase the amount of area that will be available to contact the wort for expediency, just double the price expectation of the copper.

     I still intend to immerse my brewpot into a bath of ice water... however I expect the Wort Chiller to significantly reduce the time it takes to cool my wort down, and the amount of refilling and draining necessary to provide constant cold temperature to an ice bath alone. That is, to me, worth the cost of making the device and it is a lot of fun to make your own equipment. I like the idea of not only brewing my own Beer, but hand-crafting the implements to do so! I intend to improve and update these builds in the future and I will link to the new posts from these older ones.

The Final Contraption.

     If you have read this and found it useful, I am glad to have been some help. If you are only reading this because you actually like me or were too bored to do anything else, well, "Thank's for noticin' me." (You know who Eeyore is, don't front like you don't get it!)
    
     Cheers!
    
    

DIY Mash Tun / Lauter Tun (Under $35.00)

Being a novice homebrewer on a modest budget, I wanted to build a basic vessel for mashing grains that wouldn't require a large monetary investment. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (Charlie Papazian) gives some good basic ideas for making mash and lauter tuns and there are plenty of online forums for DIY builds. I studied quite a few in my quest to build my own. In my secret life as a plumbing parts purveyor I have assisted many other homebrewers in their own quests to craft homemade brewing equipment and have gained some valuable insights from the process.

This is my finished Mash Tun and Lautering Filter with photos, part list, and costs in case you are interested in following my lead. It is a 5 gallon cooler conversion, so it can't be heated directly on a burner, but it will serve my purposes well. I didn't even have to remove the original spigot for this build although I plan to do so soon anyway to make it more durable and adaptable to future equipment builds. I got all the parts at the orange major home improvement chain. (edit, 5/21/12: See this update on the upgraded spigot.)

The first and most obvious part is the 5 gallon beverage cooler. Standard. Just like the one we used to fill with cheap Beer and drag to the park with a sleeve of plastic cups. Regularly $21.87 or so, I got mine on sale for $19.98. Ta-da, it's already usable as a mash tun!

The second part is getting something in there to screen out the grains so you can use it as a lauter tun. This is provided by a 30" stainless steel faucet supply line. I cut off the ends with a pair of tin snips. I also cut an additional 1 1/2" off for another purpose but the fit works out perfectly inside the cooler.

I extracted the plastic tubing from inside the stainless steel braid with a pair of needle-nose pliers. This step involved a bit of wrestling and finesse so that I didn't damage the braid in the process.

Part 2: 30" Stainless Steel Faucet Supply Line, $7.98.

I fitted the snipped ends over a 1/2 x 1/2 x 3/8 brass tee designed for use with PEX pipes. I clamped them down with all stainless steel hose clamps.

Part 3: 1/2 x 1/2 x 3/8 Brass PEX Tee, $2.61.
Parts 4, 5: (2) 5/8" Stainless Steel Hose Clamps, $0.85 ea.

The final step was to wrap the 3/8 barb with teflon tape until it fit snugly into the interior of the spigot.

Part 6: Teflon Tape, $1.05.

19.98 (5 gal. Cooler)
7.98   (30" SS Supply Line)
2.61   (1/2 x 1/2 x 3/8 brass PEX Tee)
1.70   ( 2 Hose Clamps)
1.05   (Teflon Tape)

$33.32 (Total Cost!)

The water flow test went perfectly... I filled it with water and drained it out without any problem from the stainless steel braid. Now I will have to put it to the test with a real mash. I expect it to perform well, but I won't be able to say so until my next Brew Day... hopefully within the week! I'll let you know how it went!

Next: the cheapie Wort Chiller!

Cheers!


(edit 5/21/12: I upgraded the spigot on this design. See how in this update post.)

ESB to Awaken, Pumpkin Ale Brewday Forthcoming.

     So tomorrow will be the day my first Homebrew will be "officially drinkable" (you can guess, right, that I've already had a few of them along the way in the name of testing/monitoring progress?) I'm eager to share this thing with friends and family, hopefully no one will be too disappointed with the results! The "Old Druid", as I've dubbed it, wasn't just my first brew but my first attempt at an original recipe. Fairly ambitious, admittedly, for a novice- but what the hell, I'm having fun.

     I've gathered all the ingredients for my next challenge... a Pumpkin Ale. I researched a lot of pumpkin recipes for this and never found any satisfying results because the homebrewing resources online can get a little muddled when it comes to consistency and reliability of recipe styles. Once again I had to gather up as much relevant info as I could and proceed with making my best judgement... and now I will brew my first Spiced Holiday Beer according to my own recipe. (Mental Finger-Crossing Engaged.)

     The Pumpkin Ale Project (which I have dubbed "Grinning Jack") will make use of 4 different specialty grains (and they smell wonderful) on top of the light extract, 3 types of hops (including the homegrown, of course), Spiced Roasted Pumpkin, and Oregon Oak soaked in Spiced Rum(!). The Oak will go into the secondary fermentation stage along with cinnamon sticks to accompany the dry hopping. The hops have been selected not for bitterness and citrusy pungency, but to accommodate a more earthy, spicy balance and allow the spicy, pumpkiny goodness to (hopefully) shine through! (And the Rum and Oak!) I'm reasonably confident I can pull this off... with that small reserve of doubt I always keep in check as a reminder not to get too cocky!

     Ingredients-wise, this has been a spendy project... new Oak chips, the Rum, The Pumpkin and Spices, all the Grain and I almost forgot to get the necessary new steeping bags (ant those are not cheap, either!) I think it is all worth it. This is a hobby I have been wanting to participate in for a long time and the experience of creating a unique Holiday Ale is immensely enjoyable. I've been an avid Beer drinker since the days that a can of  Lucky Lager and Flav-O-Rite Cheese Flavored Snack Crackers constituted breakfast, but now I'm enjoying a whole new realm of great Beer and the thrill of creating my own! (That's got to be worth at least enough XP to get me close to leveling...)

     Cheers!

We Have Slain The Hop Monster!

     When first we set eyes on our new Portland residence, we thought "what a dump, but with potential..." and as we discovered all sorts of odd and bizarre quirks, we noticed this old, limbless trunk with wire fencing around it. It wasn't the only odd, cordoned off section of terrain with indiscernible purpose, and we figured what the hell, lets wait 'em out and see what happens. Well, this one particular tree along the back fence eventually started becoming the ladder for some kind of vine that we couldn't identify. So we continued to do all of our other home and garden activities and ignored it for a long time.
   
     Then, my partner noticed that the leaves had a familiar shape that she had suspicions about... and a session via web browser later we were convinced that we may just have a hop vine growing in our yard (time for a bit of giddy delight). What we could not yet know, however, was the sex of the plant... yes, if it had been a female, there would be no story to tell here because it would have shown off some blossoms and been otherwise useless to the telling of this tale.

     We went to Portland Nursery (we love it) and checked out the hop varieties they had to match up our leaves. It was without a doubt a hop vine, and by our best leaf comparison it looked to be a Magnum variety, which would make an good primary alpha hop when used in the making of potpourri, (wHAt?!?) sorry, I meant BEER. We went home and started thinking "Okay, now what?" I decided in my heart, right then and there, or sometime in that general time period, at least, that if it produced any cones, we were going to use them to make Beer (we'd been planning to start homebrewing for a while, but hadn't yet committed to the supplies to do so yet.) We still weren't so sure about the sex of the plant, so we asked the representative from Seven Dees Nursery (when we went to OMSI After Dark) about what we should look for, and he assured us that if someone went to the trouble of planting hops in the yard, it would most assuredly be a male.

     He was right, soon we had little tendrils with tiny budding cones appearing all up and down that rapidly growing vine. Within a month that 20 foot tall Cedar trunk was entirely enveloped by what we started to dub "The Hop Monster". We watched, waited, and shared big smiles as we watched those tiny little buds start growing from spiky little balls into green petaled balls and then into bright pale green cones! I started doing research into when the right time to harvest would be... and that was actually more difficult than I thought it would be, because I found a ton of conflicting opinions and advice. I decided to take a laid-back approach and sort of took the aggregate view of let them get full and pick 'em before they dry-up.

     Once the cones stated showing a browning trend I started to accelerate the harvest preparation. The race was on to build or buy a food dehydrator (we bought) and pick a good day to start pulling all those vines! As I saw a whole shoot go brown in one day I started to get rather worried and anxious that they would all go without warning and all that anticipation would have been unfruitful.

     So as the day came, we got out the gloves and started pulling, but we had no ladder, no good means of climbing that trunk, and no pole pruner. Yeah, we put a lot of effort in preparing for this harvest operation, can you tell? so we had out our little step-stool, our shrub rake, pruners, and the hoe, and we pulled and cut and unraveled as best we could but we could only get the vines about halfway up. Then our friends showed up. We had offered to give them some of our harvest for making a wet-hopped Beer and fortunately David is a little taller than the rest of us and was invaluable in helping get all but the very top of the trunk cleared! Suddenly we were swimming in hop cones with enough to load up a bag to send as a thank-you and still have loads left over!

     We got a little scratched up and a wee bit warm out in the sun, but we left that thing almost as bare as how we first found it (we will get those other cones down, I swear it.) now the drying process has begun and I'll tell you how they turn out. Next week: we plunge into the Craft of Homebrewing with a heap-ton of homegrown hops... this had better work!