Small Thoughts for Small Minds

…that don’t justify individual entries…

Even an old dog (Barley will turn eight on Monday) needs a bit of comfort now and again..

Dyson and I went down to Martinsville to see the Virginia Museum of Natural History to feed his current insatiable demand for dinosaurs. Not much of a museum, but he was pumped.

Apparently, as part of the grand opening (reopening?) of the museum, Martinsville played on the dinosaur theme and had local artists and volunteers paint fiberglass dinosaurs which were placed all around town. There are still a few around town, including this one just outside the museum. (Seems to be a spreading meme in urban America - I’ve seen pigs, dolphins, cows…) Anyway, Dyson was enthused:

A few brewing pictures from my February 2nd batch - my only brew session since early September 2007 (and I split that batch with Dave).

After pumping the bitter wort into the fermenter, there were a few hops left over in the kettle. This goes up to about the three gallon mark. Yes, I like hoppy beers…

One problem with putting eleven gallons in a 12.5 gallon fermenter, especially using a relatively powerful pump, is that the bitter wort foams quite a bit. (This is before I aerated with oxygen.) Makes it a bit difficult to put the lid on…

Even with the lid clamped on (in three places), the pressure of the fermentation forced some of the foam out through the seal. Despite the one inch ID (inner diameter) of the blow-off hose…

After two plus weeks of dry-hopping and a few days chilled to 40 degrees F (to generate any chill haze and then applying the gelatin to clarify), I’m ready to keg this batch tomorrow. Can’t wait to have some homebrew again!

When we were up at Wintergreen for our annual ski weekend (with Anne, Dave & Julia (plus Julia’s friend), Donna, and Matt & his daughter Maddie), I volunteered to make dinner on Saturday night. (Since I wasn’t skiing, it gave me something to do other than sit around and drink beer and snack…)

I started off with a creamy potato/leek soup with smoked salmon. (Slightly amusing story - I was surfing the web for a recipe. Usual procedure - looking at each recipe and doing a quick evaluation on whether or not I would like it. As I was clicking on the results, I realized that one of them (on the first page of results even) was from this very blog! I forgot that I had included the recipe when I posted about making it… So, of course, I made MY version of it…)

For the entrée, I made one of our favorites, seared pork tenderloin with a cocoa spice rub. (Make it TONIGHT - it is soooo easy and soooo good…)

I also sautéed some asparagus (in olive oil, with plenty of garlic, naturally). After I was done sautéing the asparagus, I put it in a backing dish and grated some Parmesan over it. I washed the skillet and dried it off with some paper towels. With my left hand, I set the pan down on the counter and with my right, I used the damp paper towel to wipe off the glass surface over the stove’s eye (still very hot). By trying to do two things at once (while talking to Anne as well), I failed to do either very well. I only managed to get the pan less than half on the edge of the counter. As it, inevitably, fell, I put my (bare) foot out to break the fall. At the same time, I tried to keep my balance by leaning on the stove, burning my hand on the eye. The handle of the pan, of course, pointed straight down and hit the top of my foot.

My foot immediately bruised, swelling up to a half-golf-ball-sized welt.

Over the next week or two, the loose blood from the bruise gradually followed the influence of gravity. At one point, it pooled on the tops of my three middle toes:

I visited Wilmington, North Carolina, a couple of weeks ago. One of our field service engineers, Paul, was up from Charleston for a couple of days to do some "clean up" work on the new cranes. For the heck of it, he decided to stay in Carolina Beach instead of Wilmington (it was only a 15 minute drive to the port). I couldn’t complain - my friends, Esther and Kelly, live in Carolina Beach. Plus, the Fat Pelican bar was just across the street from the hotel. (Kelly used to own the place years ago. Back then, it was a wine & beer store, not a bar. He bought a used 40′ reefer (refrigerated shipping container), refurbished it and used it as a walk-in cooler. It is still in use in the bar. Want a non-draft beer? Walk in and pick one out from the generous selection and, upon exiting the reefer, show it to the bartender to add to your tab.)

Paul headed back to Charleston on Wednesday afternoon, but I stayed to have dinner with Esther and Kelly (their house was less than a mile walk from the hotel). We sampled all of Kelly’s homebrews and Kelly made a fantastic shrimp scampi. We then walked to the Fat Pelican for some after-dinner drinks. Good times were had by all…

February really isn’t the best time to visit the beach in North Carolina. But the view from my hotel room wasn’t so bad. Actually walking on the beach, with the temperatures just above freezing and a strong wind, didn’t seem terribly attractive…

One of the things that Jerry, Karen & Haley brought with them was Haley’s trampoline. A few days ago, Dyson was tumbling head over heels, and the contact with the nylon surface seemed to electrify him…

That’s all for now. Gotta do some laundry and take a shower - Dyson and I are going to the Science Museum of Western Virginia (Roanoke) after he and Keira finish their riding lessons. (Kel & Keira, along with Donna, are going to a movie…)

Exciting stuff!

Joe & I decided to build our own version of Dogfish Head Brewery’s Randall the Enamel Animal, also known as a "organoleptic hop transducer module".

Joe picked up a whole house filter and I ordered some stainless steel parts. (Amazingly enough, I needed some parts that I didn’t already have on hand. Weird, huh?)

To filter out the hops, I cut to length the (stainless steel) stem from a standard beer keg. It was the perfect OD (outside diameter). I was able to use two short lengths of 1" ID (inside diameter) clear vinyl hose to center it and hold it in place, as well as connect it to the output. Hmm. That doesn’t make much sense… maybe I’ll take a picture or two next time I take it apart…

Anyway, I drilled about twenty holes (3/64" diameter) in the section of stem.

Here it is loaded up with (I think) three ounces of hops…

Here it is in operation.

It causes the beer to be cloudy. The one on the left is straight from the keg and the one on the right ran through the Hopper…

The hops need to be REALLY fresh. Also, you can’t leave the hops in too long (more than a week or two) or you’ll get a really grassy flavor.

We probably won’t use it much - maybe just the homebrew club campouts…

I’ve been a bit delinquent in posting lately. I got overwhelmed with the number of pictures that I took in Panama (both on vacation and my subsequent business trip) and a variety of other adventures.

Maybe I’ll just wipe the slate clean and start with today…

Today I brewed a batch of chocolate stout. (No, I don’t use actual cocoa - I use chocolate malt. It results in a bitter/dark chocolate flavor, which I enhance dramatically with the use of vanilla beans in the fermenter.)

George hung out (and helped) from mash-in to clean-up. Here he is holding the hose as we pump the bitter wort into the fermenter (after it ran through the plate chiller).

Like sausage, perhaps not everyone wants to see how beer is made. For example the hops (pellet and whole) leftover in the boil kettle - especially after making a stout…

In addition a couple of George’s homebrews (a Belgian strong dark ale and a Russian imperial stout) and a bottle of Kriek from the (going on five years) defunct Oud Beersel brewery in Belgium) we had a Russian imperial stout from Drake’s Brewery (in the shadow of the Oakland airport).

Very tasty…

George and I added a few extra screws to the fermenter stand. Now it is actually somewhat stable…

Here’s the final batch strapped down and ready for some serious fermentation…

When I can find my (pipe-hanging metal straps with holes) I will set up a better clamp system…

I made only a couple of "oops-I’m-an-idiot" kinda moves. All in all, a great day….

(But I won’t get to play with it for a month or two. Sigh…)

Bryan S. was having problems with his 12.2 gallon cylindroconical fermenter. Apparently there was a leak he couldn’t fix. He offered to sell it for $200 and I jumped on it.

Later that evening (the homebrew club meeting was at his house) I felt guilty and I offered to fix his leak for free. (I have so many stainless steel fittings that I am like the ambassador for SS-tania…)

But, he was adamant. (And I later found out he was looking to buy a Beer, Beer & More Beer version and had to sell his existing equipment to free up the cash…) No problem, Bryan!

Since I can’t fit this into the glassware closet (where I ferment ales in carboys), I think I’ll dress up the outside of the frame that Bryan built so it looks good in plain sight. Make it all purdy… (Of course, Donna walked past it several times last week and didn’t notice it at all. Maybe it doesn’t matter what it looks like…)

Since I’m going to be traveling 75% of March and April, I think I won’t push too hard to brew again until May. (It’s not like I’m running out of homebrew…) Gotta maintain marital harmony, of course!

(But, I can’t wait to try it out!!)

When I wrote about Chris’ mini mash tun, we didn’t have the "tees" needed to finish the sparge manifold. After that time, Chris picked up the required hardware and invited me (and the rest of the club) over to see it in action.

Dyson, once assured that he could still go to the movies with Kel, decided to join me for a brief (hour or two only) trip to Chris’ house to watch him make a stout.

Here he is getting into the spirit of St. Pat’s, albeit a week early, thanks to Pam’s surprise purchase…

(No, I didn’t ask about the rubber chicken. Maybe I can submit the picture to Phil Farrell for his collection, once Chris is a famous brewer…)

Here’s the assembled sparge manifold:

Upon reflection, I suggested that Chris cut a few different lengths of CPVC for the riser. That way it can be adjusted to more closely match the mash depth. Even falling from the top of the mash tun (as it is) won’t be too bad as the sparge water only flows at a trickle…

Anyway, everything went smoothly and beer was made. (Well, I had to leave, so I missed out on the boil, but Chris assured me that beer was, in fact, made…)

Dyson and Lauren seemed to have a good time together while Chris & I talked beer and brewing (and I sampled his fine pilsner).

(Is Dyson checking Lauren out on the sly? Hmmm. Don’t know where he learned such unsubtle moves…)

Joe and I brewed a Bohemian Pilsner together in January, for the upcoming (March 17th) club competition. To be ready for the competition, we needed to keg our beers this past weekend. Not wanting to waste all of that nice yeast in the bottom of the secondary fermenters, we decided to brew a Classic American Pilsner on Monday.

I picked up some six row pale ale malt and the various hops at the local homebrew supply, Blue Ridge Hydroponics & Homebrewing (yeah, I agree - it’s an odd combination…)

I wanted to follow the pre-Prohibition ingredients and methods as much as possible, which is why I chose six-row over two-row. Outside of North America, six-row is ONLY used for animal feed… (See here for an interesting article comparing the two types of barley.)

The next challenge was finding corn in the right form. I needed it to be degerminated as the germ contains a significant quantity of oils. (Oils are bad for head formation and retention…) The "high end" corn meal/grits were all whole grain, while the "bargain" stuff, although degerminated, was enriched, and I didn’t want those additives (especially the iron, which could be a problem for the yeast).

Finally, at the last minute (Sunday night), I found grits from Bob’s Red Mill that perfectly (excepting price) fit the bill…

Here are all of the ingredients (other than the yeast):

I kegged the Bohemian Pilsner on Sunday night. I added about 700 ml of starter wort to the yeast cake in the carboy. Since the Boh. pils had been lagering for five or six weeks, the yeast cake was quite compact. I aggressively swished it around and poured it into the Erlenmeyer flask, along with a lot of foam. Since the garage was around 50 degrees F, I put the stir plate and flask in the garage on my work bench. Because the starter wort was at room temp, the yeast took off very quickly. And because the flask was already full of foam, it pushed through the airlock almost immediately. I decided to just loosely cover the opening with a piece of foil (to keep out any airborne bits…)

This is what it looked like in the morning:

A wee bit of overflow…

The gelatinization temperature of corn is higher than the denaturing temperatures for alpha and beta amylase (the enzymes responsible for converting starches to sugar in brewing). To handle that, we perform a cereal mash. This starts by mixing the corn grits with a small (around 30%) of malted barley and about 5 cups of water per pound of grain. 

Hold the temperature at about 100 deg. F for a 15 minute protein rest. Bring it up to saccharification temperature (around 150 deg. F) and hold it there for around 30 minutes. This allows the barley’s enzymes to partially attack the corn’s starches (milky white color in the liquid as shown in the picture below). This thins out the cereal mash which allows the next step (a long boil) to happen without the mash forming a thick goo with a propensity to burn…

As the boil progresses, the corn gelatinizes. The mixture is so thick that it "pops" and can splash hot stuff on your hand while you stir. (And you have to stir a lot to keep if from burning on the bottom of the pot…)

We boiled for about an hour to be sure.

As you can see from the picture below, Joe is absolutely tickled pink that he doesn’t have to get burnt stir it any more. (Well, that and the fact that he’s enjoying my homebrew…)

While Joe was stirring the boiling cereal mash, I was grinding a bit of material off of a pair of my stainless steel disconnects. (I had installed all of them - a dozen or so pairs - during the weekend.) Two of the male pieces were different from all of the rest and didn’t work with the female pieces I had. Luckily I had to remove material rather than add material…

Here’s one pair (not showing the lever arm for connecting/releasing). There’s a LOT of stainless steel fittings in my home brewery…

After boiling, we added the grits mixture to the main mash (already in progress). Here I am checking the temperature of the mash…

As mentioned in a previous post, Joe and I seek inspiration while brewing, searching out the most inventive brews to drive our creativity and fire up our imagination.

This session was no exception…

And to make it even better, John M. stopped by with a couple additional brews…

We started with Dogfish Head Brewery’s (Milton, DE) Burton Baton and Reaper Ale’s (San Diego, CA) Sleighor Double IPA (no longer available outside of San Diego County…) Excellent beers!

Here’s the sparge in process. This beer is so light, you can barely tell the difference between the hoses containing water and those containing wort (and you’d probably be wrong about a couple of the hoses…). Of course, in this case, light in color does not mean light in flavor. This is NOT a light beer…

Here’s another beer from Southern Tier Brewing Company, Big Red Imperial Red Ale. (We tried their Unearthly Imperial IPA last week.)

We first-wort-hopped with whole Sterling hops (a cross between Saaz and Hallertauer).

We bittered with Cluster hops (pellets) and used a late addition (15 minutes) of Saaz hops (pellets). (Cluster hops may be the oldest hop variety grown in the US. It was widely used by the pre-Prohibition (American) brewers for bittering because of the lower cost, but they still used Noble hops for aroma and flavor additions.)

During the boil, we enjoyed the hop aromas, the conversation, and (of course) some more inspiration…

Bell’s (Galesburg, MI) Two Hearted Ale, Breckenridge Brewery’s (Denver, CO) 471 Series Double IPA, and Arcadia Brewing Company’s (Battle Creek, MI) HopMouth Double IPA.

After pitching the yeast and pumping in the oxygen…

I’m not accustomed to using so much hop pellets. Apparently they tend to stick to the side of the kettle. Hopefully we didn’t lose out on too much flavor…

The hop splooge mostly got filtered out by the whole hops…

And, finally, the beers are gently put to bed in the fermentation fridge…

I’m really starting to build up a lot of homebrew. I’m not drinking much at all since I’m still dieting. (Although the snacks I put out while brewing set me back a few days in that endeavor…)

At some point Chris had asked about converting an all-grain recipe for rye pale ale to extract. Since rye (and a couple of the other grains in the recipe) needs to be mashed (versus steeping like crystal malts or roasted barley), I gave him directions for doing a mini-mash.

I also offered to help him assemble a mini mash tun should he decide to go that route.

He decided to take me up on that offer…

On Saturday, he brought over a three gallon Gott cooler, some CPVC pipe and fittings, and his four year old daughter, Lauren*, to play with Dyson.

*At one point, I overheard Dyson tell Lauren, "I don’t need any four year olds around. I just need to be alone." Okay, Greta…

While I was cutting the CPVC pipe with my Dremel, the cutting wheel broke (which happens a lot with these cutting wheels - they’re very thin and spinning awfully fast - if you cock the Dremel just a bit, it catches and shatters). A small piece hit my face just half an inch from my eye. Suddenly eye protection seemed like a good idea. I couldn’t find any safety glasses, so I asked Kel where her swim goggles were. She wasn’t sure, but told me where to find Keira’s swim googles…

A lovely fashion statement, huh?

To convert the cooler, I ran a hex nipple (with an SS washer) through the spigot hole. On the inside, I put a high-temp rubber washer and another SS washer on the nipple’s threads and tightened it all down with a copper NPT/tube fitting.

I dug through my various piles of all things stainless for a ball valve…

Chris had envisioned an octagonal manifold, and bought eight 45 degree elbows with that in mind.

I decided that an octagon wouldn’t work for two reasons, both of which are "space":

1. A three gallon Gott is pretty small. If you put together an octagon with CPVC fittings and pipe, it will have very little exposed pipe in which to cut slots. And the manifold needs them there slots to work…
2. Connecting from the manifold to the bulkhead would also be difficult in the space allowed.

As such, it seemed like three parallel slotted pipes would be best.

I would’ve used a CPVC fitting to transition from the NPT nipple to the CPVC tube but the CPVC fitting’s threads started a bit further back than the copper fittings, and subsequently didn’t properly "bite"…

(I only had one cap in my "drawer o’ random parts"…)

The manifold doesn’t sit on the bottom, but it is only up about a 1/4", so it should be fine. I only put slots on one side. I’ve got them facing up for the picture, but I suggested to Chris that he face them down…

For sparging, I drilled a 13/16" hole through the lid and threaded in a 2" SS nipple. Chris will need to pick up a CPVC fitting (like the copper one above). This will give him a transition between the nipple and a flexible racking tube to carry the hot water for sparging. I only had one and it is on the inside (see the following picture). (Well, I had two, but the second one was a bit grungy after a lot of years of use…)

I cut all the pieces to make an "H" sparge manifold, but Chris needs to buy three "T"s before he can put it all together.

And, the final touch, a hose barb and hose.

Once Chris picks up the remaining fittings, he’s ready for mini-mashes! And after that, how long before he yearns to go all-grain? Hmm?

Yes, he’s firmly on the path of insanity - bigger vessels, more stainless, better temperature control, pumps, solenoid valves, quick disconnects! Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Umm… was that out loud?

Edit: This post includes a picture of the sparge manifold. Plus an interesting fashion statement by Chris…

Joe & I, inspired by Bryan’s plans to make a Quad IPA, decided to push the envelope ourselves and make an "India Pale Barleywine".

We supplemented 30 pounds of grain with 13 pounds of dry malt extract to get a starting gravity of 1.110. (Should end up with about 12% alcohol by volume.) We had 16 ounces of whole hops and 6 ounces of pellet hops in the kettle, for an estimated (and likely meaningless) bitterness of 150+ IBU.

It was a nasty day - just above freezing with sleet and rain all day long. Joe (politely) asked his wife, Marsha, to get a tarp or something to keep us relatively dry while brewing under his deck. She found a cheap canopy which made it a much less miserable brewing session (didn’t warm us up any, of course…) Thanks Marsha!

Once we hooked up Joe’s pump (for the first time), we started the sparge and I ran back home to get a carboy. (Can’t remember everything - too bad I forgot a critical component…)

Here, Joe is stirring in the DME…

We needed inspiration in such an extreme endeavor, of course. From Chico, CA, Butte Creek Brewing Company’s Revolution X (10th Anniversary) Organic Imperial IPA seemed just the ticket - especially with its motto, "Go Big or Go Home"

The first hop addition (at 90 minutes) was the only bittering addition. Six ounces of Chinook hops at 12.8% AA.

The wind started to cause problems with the propane burner, so I improvised a bit and came up with a wind barrier. Not pretty, but effective…

While chilling out during the boil, Joe & Marsha had an early dinner (I was foolishly expecting to be home in time to eat with my family). Joe talked me into trying a bit of the wild boar that Marsha had cooked. All I can say is "fantastic!". They had cured it in brine for two days (changing the water once) and then let it sit in the fridge, seasoned, for another day before slow cooking it. Wow!

Extreme brewing means that you can’t measure your hops out in wimpy little bowls. You need buckets…

The second hop addition was six ounces of Galena hops (13.6% AA) at 35 minutes for flavor.

We continued seeking inspiration with Southern Tier Brewing Company’s (upstate New York) Unearthly Imperial IPA.

Perhaps the big beers contributed to our forgetfulness, but we were at the very end of the brew (after adding the last two hop additions - six ounces of Cascades at 10 minutes and four ounces of Amarillo at 5 minutes) when we realized that we hadn’t sanitized the pump and plate chiller. Oops.

Once we got that done, the wort had sat at near boiling for a few minutes longer than I would’ve preferred. Unfortunately, it got worse…

We were trying to recirculate the wort through the chiller, rather than just go into the carboys. Why? I was hoping to clear up some of the pellet hop splooge by establishing a whole hop filter bed. Well, enough splooge got through that the chiller clogged. So, with the wort still at around 150 degrees F, we had to unhook the pump and chiller, run high pressure water through it to de-clog it and then recirculate sanitizer for a bit.

Surprisingly enough, we ended up with less wort than expected AND a lower gravity. Sigh.

Joe and I each ended up with about 4.5 gallons in the fermenter with a gravity of 1.110 or thereabout (I don’t have the "score sheet" with me). We were targeting 1.120 and 5.5 gallons each. BIG difference! Well, as I always say, "It’s still beer!"

Not wanting to waste all of the beery goodness trapped in the hops, I tossed about three gallons of water into the kettle with the leftover hops and boiled for ten or twenty minutes. I ended up getting about three gallons of 1.040 wort into another fermenter. Bonus beer! Of course, it is COMPLETELY unbalanced - mouth puckeringly bitter without the big malt backbone to offset the bitterness. I’m sure I’ll get very few takers when I serve this one…

While cleaning up, we celebrated and commiserated with some other interesting beers. From Pennsylvania, Weyerbacher Brewing Company’s Double Simcoe IPA; from Belgium, Corsendonk’s Abbey Pale Ale; and also from Pennsylvania, Tröegs Brewing Company’s Nugget Nectar. (Well, I had a Nugget Nectar - Joe had a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA…)

Joe and Marsha insisted that I eat something before I left. (Just because I skipped food all day long…)

I ended up getting home quite late. If I had only been courteous enough to give Kel a call at some point to let her know I would be late, I probably wouldn’t have gotten a bit of cold shoulder when I got home…

I need to work on my consideration of others…

Anyway, the fermentation closet (and half the basement) smells freaking wonderful. Pure hop heaven.

It’ll be interesting to see how low our combo yeast (Nottingham dry & a starter of WLP099 High Gravity yeast) can take it…

I’m not sure when I’ll dry hop it. Maybe just before I keg it (probably in a year or so)…

Next week Joe and I will tackle a much less challenging brew, a Classic American Pilsner…

Years ago, I traded a gearmotor for a used refrigerator. For a year or two, it sat on the deck at our previous house (what a redneck I am!) When we moved to our current house (over three years ago), it was relegated to the garage. For most of that time, I’ve had the external temperature control that I needed to make it a proper fermenting fridge, but have been too lazy to do hook it all up. Our homebrew club includes a lager or two each year in the club homebrew competitions, but I haven’t felt driven to brew any of them. But, for whatever reason, I finally decided to brew one this time (Czech pilsner).

So, I dug out the controller, wired it up and got the fridge running. Seems to be working quite well. Room for two carboys, but I only have one for this batch. (Joe and I brewed together, so he has the second half of the batch.)

Now that I’ve actually motivated myself to get it running, perhaps I’ll brew more lagers. Or maybe not. Most lager styles don’t appeal to me.

I’ll probably brew a Classic American Pilsner once or twice a year, though. A tasty beer that appeals to the BudMilCoors crowd as well as the beer snobs. Good for summer time…

A few random pictures with nowhere to put them. So, here they are…

The trip down to Atlanta wasn’t all bad.

Joe and I both brought a cooler full of good beer. One of which was a nice winter warmer from Brooklyn Brewery:

Next weekend, Joe and I are going to get together to make a Bohemian-style pilsner. (Joe tore his rotator cuff at work - he needs help brewing (which involves a lot of lifting) and I’m all about helping people…) (…when beer is involved…)

When making a lager, you should pitch at least twice as much yeast as you would for an ale. To make ten gallons of lager, you should pitch yeast from a gallon or two of wort. My Erlenmeyer flask is only one liter, so I’ve got to ferment it out, chill to settle, pour off the supernatant, add more wort and repeat. Since I’m going out of town, I’ll probably only end up with three iterations (and as such three liters worth)…

Here’s the starter fermenting away on the stir-plate:

We haven’t quite finished cleaning up the Christmas mess. A few garment boxes are still laying around. Apparently, Oliver felt the need to give one a test drive…

That’s all for now. Maybe I’ll actually take some pictures in New York City…