BeeHive Blonde

Brewmiester, Brendanowitz, and myself were sitting down to a lovely breakfast and a couple of beers the other morning, and we got into a very important, yet slightly heated discussion. The topic was vague, yet intricate; subtle, yet explosive; heated, yet I was shivering: Blonde or Brunette?

After hours of slightly raised voices, chin scratching, and accusatory pointing, we came to an agreement: Blonde. But before you jump to any rash conclusions, this isn't just any blonde we are talking about. We are talking about our new pre-spring sensation: BeeHive Blonde.

Allow us to take you into the world of one of the freakiest, foxiest Blonde Ales you have ever come into contact with in your entire adult lives: The life of Ms. Bee Hive Blonde. We can here her buzzing as soon as she walks in the door. We can smell that sweet nectar she extracts as she struts around the streets of Portsmouth. And the taste? Well we haven’t tasted her yet, but that just adds to her mystery.

Check out what went into the creation of this beauty…

8 ounces of Honey Malt (Grains): These grains have an intense malt sweetness, along with a hint of honey flavor.

1 lb of Honey: We went with the honey in the grocery store that is shaped like a giant teddy bear. With the generic brands, we saw that the aroma and texture were not up to par, and being that this is a honey beer, we didn’t want to half ass the ingredients. Although, we did not go above and beyond and extract fresh honey from a beehive, mostly because Brewmiester? Is allergic to bees and the rest of us at Brewnion Street wouldn’t be able to deal with the guilt if he got stung.

*Honey adds a higher sugar content to the beer which has a direct relation to the alcohol content.

.75 ounces Mt. Hood Hops: Derived in the Pacific Northwest (Mt. Hood, Oregon), these hops are on the mild side, but with a distinct spicy and slightly pungent aroma. They tend to rank around 4% on the Alpha Acid (AA) scale, but our strand falls into an AA% of about 6%.

*Boiled for 60 minutes

.25 ounces Summit Hops: These little hoppies definitely live up to their name by being extremely high on the bitter scale (around 18.5% on the Alpha Acid Scale-HOLY MOLY). These hops also give off some orange, tangerine, and citrus flavors, which are great compliments to this beer.

*Boiled for 20 minutes; we added another ounce of Summit Hops at the end of the boil.

1 Whirlfloc Tablet:  A Whirlfloc tablet is the same thing as Irish Moss, but in tablet form. These tablets are used for convenience purposes, but some brewers will use whirlfloc for some beers and Irish Moss for others. These ingredients are used as clarifying agents in the beer. When boiled into the wort, the tablet attracts proteins and other solids, which are removed from the mixture after cooling. This results in a clearer beer.

American Ale Yeast: A very versatile yeast, which allows many malt and hop characteristics to dominate the beer. This strain has moderate-to-low flocculation, which means the yeast will settle to the bottom of the fermentor at a moderate to slower rate.

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.051 SG

Estimated Final Gravity: 1.009 SG

Alcohol Content: Roughly 5.5%

BeeHive Blonde; Bottled on March 3^rd 2012. See you guys in a month ;) 

Don't Mind if we Do

It's two weeks before Christmas. You're in school, but all you can think about is what Santa is potentially bringing you for Christmas. Is it a Nintendo Wii Gaming System? Is it one of the many Tyler Perry movies on DVD/Blueray? You hope it's not a fresh set of undies and socks, but you know there's going to be a small portion of your Christmas morning dedicated to forcing smiles when you inevitably unveil those. As you get home from school, you can't help but stumble into your parents bedroom or into the attic to find Santa's stash of presents there, just waiting for you. There is almost an element of seduction there as these presents stare you down and say, "Shake me....Why don't you feel how heavy I am? I dare you :)" So, like any normal human being, you do it.

For the brothers and sisters hanging out over on Brewnion Street, we have to deal with these feelings all the time because everyday is Christmas over here. No, its not always snowing, but with the amount of science, beer, and good times that go on, it is nearly impossible to keep your composure. Although some brewers may say that it is taboo to open up a beer before it has fully matured, the staff at Brewnion Street decided we wanted to make sure our beer was on the right path in its life (who knows what could have happened in the past 2 weeks without any brewer supervision?).

To our satisfaction, our little guys seem to be on a path for success. Since this is our first beer, we were ready for any outcome, and we really didn't know what to expect when we tried our first creation. When we cracked open the beer (one of the clear Newcastle bottles), there was a slight fizz and you could see that little CO2 cloud rise up out of the neck like a snake rising to the attention of his snake charmer. As we poured out four samples, we noticed each of the samples has a small, yet blatantly fizzy head. This was quite pleasing, as it let us know that even though it has only been two weeks, carbonation is happening inside this little beer nation (stupid rhyme, but I had to). 

Overall, the beer was good for the stage it's at. It had a very sweet smell and a bitter yet distinct flavor. The beer was also slightly flat, but that is just because we haven't given it enough time to carbonate. There is definitely alcohol in our beer, there is flavor, and there is the beginning of carbonation, which, in our book, means we are on our way to a tasty 'effing' beer.

We'll keep you posted next week when we crack open another one to see where it's at!

For now, Beehive Blonde is in the fermentor, and the Sticky Oatmeal Stout is on its way!

Shall We Bottle This?

Ladies and genlemen, boys and girls, February 6, 2012, will be a day that will forever be accredited as the most monumental occurrence in the adult lives of myself (Bob Barley), Giggity Gee, Brewmiester?,Brendanowitz, and the three loyal followers on our blog. It is my pleasure to announce that our California Common Steam Brew has finally moved from its first home to its second: bottles. After just over a week in the fermentation process, our robust, yet delicate brew has reached its home for the next month. With just over 40 longnecks filled with this pristine beverage, its next home will be in the bellies of passionate beer drinkers who cross our paths, or will be sprayed in the face of hosers who attempt to poke fun at our endeavors. What you are about encounter is an eyewitness account, diving into the bottling process of 'Name to Be Determined', the California Common Steam Brew that took an inordinate amount of patience and drive to complete to the best of our abilities.

Monday Evening: We're all pretty excited to begin the bottling process. It was a long week waiting for the fermentation to cease, sort of like waiting for that final grade in college that informs you that you've passed your class and your onto the next semester. In this case, even after our airlock exploded into the universe that is Brewmiester?'s bedroom, we are moving onto the next round, which in the beer game, is the bottling process.

This step isn't necessarily a make-or-break situation, like the fermentation was, but there are a few factors amateur and veteran brewers alike must keep in mind in order to ensure as little turbulence as possible. First off, we had to make sure our fermentation was complete. One key sign that most people who are not blind can pick up on is the termination of bubbling and fizzing in the airlock region of the carboy. Take note: The airlock has zero bubbling and it is a crystal clear, transparent substance. Once the yeast has ceast....on to the next one....

Quick Side Note: Ending Temperature: Roughly 63 Degrees F
                             Final Gravity: 1.102 FG

Once you are aware that it is time to begin bottling (fermentation typically goes on for 2-4 days, then it must sit for the remainder of the week), then you need to ensure all of your equipment is sanitized before you even THINK about transferring your product into another apparatus. When your equipment is properly cleaned, you must decide what kind of bottles will be used...



Here we have a large selection of beers, consumed mainly because of an American holiday called "The Super Bowl." If you are not familiar with the Super Bowl, see Wikipedia. In this case, we have bottles ranging from brown longnecks (traditional North American bottle that allows a long cushion of air to absorb the pressures of carbonation), green long necks, Stubbys (Yes, I also thought of a 'chode-like-weiner' and giggled at the thought. These bottles are shorter and fatter, great for storage and have a low center of gravity), and clear Stubbys. The spectrum of glass colors (brown, green, and clear) produce different effects in the taste of a beer.

Brown bottles seem to be the "safest" and most effective route to go for the tastiest beverage. Using a brown bottle prevents some harmful UV Rays from sunlight from getting into the beer. Green and clear bottles do not offer this protection, which can result in a skunky, funky, beverage, which for our own personal self esteem, we would not like to encounter on our first batch of brew.

*A few things to note: We did use two green Rolling Rock bottles, as well as one clear Newcastle Brown Ale bottle as variables. The clear Newcastle bottle will allow us to literally see what is going on with our beer over the month-long aging in the bottles. As for the green bottles, we just want to note the difference in taste. Also, we did purposely contaminate one beer by not cleaning it out at all, and even leaving the "ass" of a beer in it. The reasoning for this: We want to see what contaminated beer tastes like. Our hypothesis: Not good.

Let's begin bottling! Each bottle must be cleaned out with the bottle brush, or 'french tickler' as many would see fit, to get rid of any sediment or residue in these used bottles. It is recommended that you do this brushing technique before and after you boil each bottle, just to be sure you cleaned that darn thing inside and out! Nobody wants a skunked beer, and it would be quite the inconvenience to contaminate your beer at this stage of the process.

Each bottle must be boiled in order to kill any bacteria that might have been residing inside; after all, they were previously filled with beer, and since we got these bottles from a variety of sources, we need to make sure that there are zero contaminates. As you can see, Brendanowitz is using an oven mitt because these bottles are a bit 'caliente' as they exit the boiling pot. Brewmiester? is using a pair of tongs to remove the bottle from the pot. It is recommended that each bottle boil for a few minutes. Safety first!

After each bottle is boiled and properly cleaned, it is now time to place your fermentor onto a table or other slightly high surface, and your bottling bucket on the ground or a lower surface to prepare for the siphon! This will ultimately transfer our beer from the fermentor to the bottling bucket.

As the beer is siphoning into the bottling bucket (you may need to assist in this process if the flow is slow), this is when you add your sugar. This sugar (which should be mixed with water and boiled before added to the beer) will trigger another re-fermentation process inside the bottles, which will help carbonate our beer. It is also important to put your siphoning tube about halfway into the fermentor at first, so you don't get any sediment into your bottles.







Here's a quick view of the siphoning process from a different angle. As you can see, Giggity Gee and Brewmiester? are focused on making this siphoning process go as planned.

Once this process is complete, it is time to transfer this beer into drinking apparatuses. I can assure you there will be no binkies on these bottles!

Brewmiester?: As you can see the only person happier than this guy is the beer bottle in his hand being filled up with some sweet suds...

Brendanowitz: He really adds some flare to the team. Great background knowledge of the science that goes behind all of this, as well as the gentlest caress on that beer bottle. He knows how to take care of business...










Giggity Gee: It may appear that someone is tickling him off camera, but I assure you this is not the case. He is making a very unique noise that is similar to the "Wooo Woooo" of a choo choo train. This means he's already ready to drink this beer...









Bob Barley: It is apparent that the camera did not act quickly enough. I attempted to throw up a "hang loose" sign, which turned out to be too difficult a task for the feeble little iPhone 3G (no intent on brand placement; you're welcome Apple). Although I do not surf, I felt "hang loose" was how I was feeling at that very moment. Loving every minute of this...







The beer is bottled by pushing the bottle up onto that tube, which releases the beer and allows the bottle to slowly fill. The key is to fill the bottle to almost the tippy top, because when the bottle is removed from the plastic shaft, this will slightly drop the volume of the beer. This process was repeated just over 40 times, into 40 different bottles, resulting in possibly 40 different outcomes.

Do you see that red/orange gadget on the table? That is called a two-handed bottle capper. Yes, that is really the name of it. Nobody could figure out a cool name for it like "Jaws" or "Cap Clench" (neither of those are cool either, but it's the end of the post and my creativity has dwindled slightly), so they named it a bottle capper. There is a magnetic section near the mouth area where the bottle caps stick to. When this is done, the apparatus is placed over the top of the beer, and the "beer capper person" pushes down (with two hands) on the arms of the bottle capper. This will result in an air tight beer, with air tight capabilities. What does that mean? It means it has the potential to be the best goddamn micro-brew on the planet, but realistically just a tasty, successfully brewed beer.


For all of you who actually read this all the way through...thank you. We thoroughly enjoyed this process and now will wait a month (March 6th, 2012) to taste our first, hand-crafted beer. All we can say is, it's been a great ride, and get ready for our next batch, which will be coming to you soon via this blog. Stay tuned!

Disaster Avoided - Blowoff

What's up all you Hosers?

Paul checking in.

Many of you may be wondering why I named myself 'Brew Meister?', and not 'Brew Master'. Well, here at Brew(u)nion Street Brew, we believe in being humble. We also rely on our good friend Murphy and his wonderful laws. Everyone knows Murphy's standard law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It's important to learn that Murphy's laws are no joke, but in fact, they are special cases of the second law of thermodynamics.What most people don't know is that Murphy's law has multiple disciplines, one of them being Murphy's Scientific Laws.

Two of these scientific laws are:
If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
If the experiment works, you must be using the wrong equipment.

Well, thank God! Last night we had our first disaster. Everything is saved, but this event exemplifies why I'm a "Meister?" and not a "Master"!

The other night, while I was in my bed trying to sleep (and while our brew was in the heat of primary fermentation), I heard a loud pop. I turned my head and saw that our airlock had shot off our glass carboy, hitting the ceiling, causing hop and malt residue to explode all over the walls and ceiling. As I sat there stunned, not knowing what to do, there was a slight pause after the explosion and suddenly foam and beer began erupting out of the carboy, similar to a paper mache volcano that we've all made as kids. As I jumped out of bed, I frantically looked for my air-born airlock so I could place it back on the carboy and prevent anymore liquid gold from being lost.

 

This event is not uncommon, especially to newb brewers and hosers, like myself. This is known as a Blow-Off Event (BOE).

So why did our airlock blow off?

When active or primary fermentation happens, a thick layer of foam forms on top of the beer - this is called kraeusen. Fermentation produces A TON of CO2 as a byproduct and this can cause the kraeusen to get pushed into the airlock. The airlock is a small piece, but is integral in the homebrewing process. The general purpose of an airlock is to keep air in the carboy during fermentation, but due to the imprecise nature of homebrewing and the requirement for the fermentation process to maintain a maximum pressure level, the airlock must also regulate the amount of pressure that is in the carboy at any given time. If this airlock gets clogged (like ours did), pressure builds up inside the carboy and then BOOM, doneski! 

To avoid this Blow-Off Event, another type of system can be used, called a blow-off tube (BOT), which does the same job as an airlock. You fit the tube over part of the airlock, or even to the carboy itself, and this much larger space allows more gases to escape and also prevents clogging. 

After some research I found that a few things can cause a blow-off event; the first being the yeast selection. Certain yeasts have a greater propensity to create a "big fluffy head" and some ferment much more vigorously and violently. Our yeast wasn’t supposed to be super active, but as with any yeast batch, there is no guarantee, as they all act differently. Other brewers recommend having at least 1-2 gallons of headspace in the fermentation vessel for the kraeusen to expand. If kraeusen gets into your airlock, odds are, it's going to get clogged, and a blow-off event will happen. A second potential factor in a blow-off event is heat. Yeast kicks into overdrive when it gets hot. Another factor is the starting gravity. Higher gravity beers have ferments that are more violent since they have more sugars for the yeast to consume. 

Our yeast was super active and had a rather violent fermentation. We left around a gallon of head-space, but that obviously wasn't enough (looking back, we probably should have had at 1.5 gallons worth of head-space). It seemed like the lack of head-space and our over active yeast caused our blow-off event. GOOD NEWS: Our beer isn't ruined, and it looks like we only lost a couple pints of beer. Woo Hoo!

We are getting pretty close to transferring our beer to a beer bucket and the bottling will probably happen within 3-4 days. That's all for now; check in later for more updates on steam beer, and in the not-to-distant-future we will begin brewing (and posting about) a thick, sticky, stout! 

Over and Out,

Hosers!