Finally.... I brewed.

Well, it has been quite a while since I last brewed, but I made the time on Saturday to brew a simple Dry Irish Stout kit from northern Brewer.

The kit, as I recall, cost about $25, and came with all the necessary ingredients.

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I have been looking for a decently priced propane burner to add to my brew kit so I don't have to brew in the kitchen.

The kitchen works just fine, but the beer fridge is in the garage, so I have to leave the house to get a beer while I brew. Clearly, not the best set-up.

Ideally, a propane burner would allow the kitchen to stay in order and almost certainly be more efficient (I doubt my stove's best burner can put out the heat of a decent propane burner).

Here's the set-up--not sexy, but it works:

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This kit was very, very easy. Beyond the simplicity of extract brewing, everything was added at the beginning of the boil.

So, since I had about 60 minutes to kill while occastionally stirring and making sure there was no boil-over, I trudged out to the garage (aka "The Hospitality Suite") for a beverage. I chose a delicious Natural Light. Mmmm.

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Well, after an uneventful 60 minutes, I moved on to cooling the wort.

I don't yet have a wort chiller, so I use the method of dumping my wort into a fermentor filled with ice.

It does cool it down, but it does take some time. The tough part about this way of cooling, in my mind, is that I'm adding non-boiled water to my brew which could contain contaminants. The other down side is that I'll have no ice cubes for about a day, as the ice maker goes into overdrive to replenish the supply.

My little helper woke up from his nap and decided that he wanted to help me, so we hung out wating for the wort to cool so we could pitch the yeast.

We eventually pitched the yeast, and the bubbles in the airlock were going like gangbusters for about a day.

Things have slowed considerably, but there is still action in there....

After about a week, I'll move it to a secondary and I plan to add some vanilla extract. I'm going with extract for two reasons: it's immediately accessible and I know precisely how much I'm adding.

I'm hoping to retain the stout weight and flavor, but have a background hint of sweetness from the vanilla.

More to come.

Thanks for reading, and please share any comments and suggestions.

Cheers!

Bourbon Barrel Porter

I promised details on the Bourbon Barrel Porter in an earlier post, so here you go…

I got this kit from the ever reliable Northern Brewer. I was looking for something different and this beer really fit the bill. They took an already interesting porter, and made it even more intriguing with the addition of bourbon, and bourbon soaked oak cubes.

The base porter recipe is something I hadn’t seen before. The fermentables consist of 2lbs of Wheat dry malt extract (DME) and 6.3lbs of Dark liquid malt extract (LME). Your basic homebrew usually only contains 6.6lbs of LME so you know you’re already making a more potent than average beer. Another interesting twist was that the recipe called for boiling only the Wheat DME for the full hour and then adding the Dark LME for the last 15min of the boil. Normally you’d boil the whole batch for the full hour. I’m not sure what the purpose of this was, but it all worked out just fine in the end.

Of course, the real fun of this kit came from the Bourbon Barrel part. Included in the kit were two ounces worth of toasted oak cubes. On brew day I threw these cubes into a 32oz growler and then added 16oz of Makers Mark Bourbon. I let them soak for a week while the beer fermented in the primary, and then combined the porter, oak cubes and bourbon into the secondary fermenter. I then let the beer age in the secondary for a month before bottling.

How’d it all turn out? The beer has a nice aroma with a hit of the bourbon sweetness, and a little edge of the oak. This translates right into the taste as well. The bourbon and oak flavors are definitely present, but in a nice subtle way. Between the wheat malt and the bourbon, the beer is very smooth but with a definite weight to it. It tastes best when it has warmed up a bit and if you drink it in small sips so that you can savor the flavors. All in all, it’s a really excellent beer.

Alcohol-wise, I’m not really sure what the percentage is in this beer. I know I should take initial and final gravity readings, but I haven’t done that in years. I put the fermentable numbers for the base porter into an online brew calculator and it came up with a theoretical final alcohol content of 6.3%. However, the bourbon adds a bit of a twist. 16oz in a 5gal batch doesn’t sound like much, but my quick calculations say that this translates into .4oz of bourbon per pint of beer… which is about half a shot. While I don’t know what the final figure is I can personally attest that after a pint of the beer,you’ll definitely have a nice buzz.

Thought of the Day

It's Official! Baltimore Beer Week starting on Oct. 8!

OK, so you're going to have to wait until October, but for those who have
heard the rumors that Baltimore might host a week of beer activities akin to
the one in Philadelphia, the news is now official.

Baltimore is on tap to host the area's first Beer Week (actually 10 days) beginning with an opening tap party aboard the USS Constellation on Oct. 8.

According to a new web site dedicated to the event, organizer and self-proclaimed local beer maven Joe Gold hopes to schedule up to 150 beer-centric events.

As of now, the festival will include the Brewers Association of Maryland's Oktoberfest, held at the Timonium Fairgrounds Oct. 10, and the Chesapeake Real Ale Festival, sponsored by the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood and held at the Pratt Street Ale House Oct. 17.

Sign up for e-mail alerts at baltimorebeerweek.com.

Sun's Top 10 Drink and Food Pairings

Although I am not a fan of the Baltimore Sun, I did notice this one article (click here) about the top 10 pairings of food and drink.

What caught my eye was the Guiness and, well, anything Irish.... The others are not beer-centric, but interesting.

Enjoy.

Ruddy Duck Brewery & Grill

I figured I'd do something novel and review a brew pub while sitting at the bar.

I'm here at the Ruddy Duck Brewery and Grill in Solomans, MD. It's a very nice place with a friendly atmosphere and, of course, some damned fine beer.

Beer-wise (since that's the purpose of this blog) they brew a variety of beer, but do not specialize in any particular style. My two personal favorites are their IPA and the Porter.

The IPA is pretty unique in that they use Cascades hops to produce a strong citrus flavor and aroma, but without the excessive bitterness that's common with many hop-bomb IPAs. As such, even normally hop-adverse beer drinkers (like Sparks Girl) can enjoy this beer. I've also found that it is better when you let it warm up a bit. The warmth wakes up the flavors and aromas making it even better.

The Porter is quite good too. Some vanilla and chocolate flavors and very smooth. Not sure I can say much more about it, but it's good.

They usually have at least one Belgian style on tap. Currently they have a Tripple, and on my previous visit they had a Dubbel. From my sampling they're both fine examples of their styles, but I've never been able to teach myself to appreciate the Belgian beer. However, Sparks Girl loves them.

In addition, they have a Blond Ale, a Pale Ale, and a Wheat Beer. All of them are also quite tasty but I've never had more than a sample because the IPA and Porter are just so damned good.

They will give you a set of samplers of their beer if you request it. So, you should sample them all yourself and see what you like.

Now, it isn't just the beer that makes this fun, but the atmosphere. It's a very friendly place and the entire staff is excellent. If you're ever here though, you need to ask if Carlos is in. He's one of the owners and, best I can tell, is the brains and passion behind the operation around here. My first visit, I asked if I could get a tour of the brewery, and Carlos came to the table and then gave me a guided tour of the whole operation. It was a lot of fun and I've no doubt that he'd give a tour to anyone who asked. Of course, I don't mean to belittle the other co-owner Michael, but I've only met him once.

Oh, and last but not least, the food here is excellent as well. They have a lot of Argentinean dishes since Carlos is Argentine. I can't really recommend any one item, but everything I've had was really tasty.

The Walk

I know this blog is supposed to about beer (and bacon!) but I figured some Scotch could sneak in here too:

"Walk" commercial for JOHNNIE WALKER in United Kingdom by BBH London

Shared via AddThis

I've been attempting to teach myself to appreciate the fine brown liquors. I decided to start with Makers Mark Bourbon... well, since I have a half-bottle remaining from my Bourbon Porter... but after that's done I think I'll have to try out some Johnnie Walker.

Fun Link

I was doing a quick internet search for places in Baltimore where I can fill up my growler and this blog popped up:

Beer in Baltimore

I've only skimmed the blog so far, but I like what I've seen. The blogger is a columnist for Mid-Atlantic Brewing News so he knows what he's talking about. I'd encourage you all to check it out.

Add Your Email Address to Get Updates

Be sure to add your email address (see the left side of the blog) in order to get an email reminder when posts are added to Carpe Cervisia!

You won't get a ton of emails. Emails are sent only once a day and are only sent when a new post have been added.

It's an easy way to stay in touch.

Thanks.

Pratt Street Ale House

I spent a few hours in the Pratt Street Ale House on Friday before the Orioles game started. It's formally known as the Wharf Rat, but for some reason that I don't really care to investigate, they changed names. However, the important part is that they still serve their own beer from the Oliver Brewery.

I used to visit the Wharf Rat semi-frequently about five+ years ago, but that was before I began to really appreciate decent beer. It was great to get back there an sample their brews not that I've become a bit of a beer snob.

The Oliver Brewery specializes in brewing true to type English Ales. Even going so far as to serve them a the proper English cellar temperature of 54-degrees. Also in keeping with the style, they have three hand-pumped taps. Two of them are reserved for their Best Bitter and their Extra Special Bitter (E.S.B.). Bitters are the basic working English ale. Smooth and flavorful with out too much alcohol making them a fine session beer. The Oliver BB was a excellent example and really tasty. The ESB is a more hoppy and alcoholic bitter. For whatever reason, I've never been able to like this style and unfortunately the Oliver ESB was no exception. Best I can tell, it's a fine example an ESB, but it's not just my thing. However, if you're ever there, you should try it out and see for your self.

The third hand-pump tap has a rotating Brewers Choice beer. On Friday the brewer made an extra fine choice and had his Three-Lions Brown Ale on tap... oh, but not just the regular version of the ale, this was a special oak aged batch. Wow, what a great beer. I can't really describe it properly, but it had a deep complex flavor with notes of caramel, and vanilla, with a hint of the oak. I would love to figure out how to make something like this in my kitchen. In the meantime, I think I'll drop by there one day after work and get a growler of that fine stuff while its still available.

I also investigated their Stout, Oatmeal Stout and the Mild. Again, all were excellent, but my personal favorite of the three was the Oatmeal Stout. It was smooth and creamy, with a hint of chocolate. The Mild was quite interesting as well. A true English Mild is best thought of as a really light stout. It doesn't have all the weight to it, but is still dark and flavorful. Plus, it is rather low in alcohol content making it a great session beer. It's rarely found in the US and I've only encountered a true Mild at a pub in London and a homebrew kit that I bought from Northern Brewer. The Oliver Mild was a really tasty with a decent amount of flavor and very little alcohol kick. If I worked near the bar I'd be way too tempted to walk there after work and enjoy a pint or two before heading home.

I will definitely have to frequent the Pratt Street Ale House in the future. I'd recommend it to anyone who appreciates decent beer, and also wants to help support their local brewing community.

Plus, you can get yourself a cool hat!

Bottling

I bottled my batch of Bourbon Porter (more about that in a later post) last night. I'm not sure who reads the blog, but I'll assume that you have some idea of the whole process so I'll just throw in a couple of tips/tricks I've learned.

Cleaning and disinfecting all of the bottles is always the biggest pain in the butt part of the whole bottling adventure. In the past I've used good-ole fashioned bleach, mainly because it's cheap. Unfortunately, bleach requires a 30 minute soak to be effective. So, I would have to haul all of the bottles to the basement and soak them in the laudry tub, rinse them throughly, then haul them all back up to the kitchen.

At the suggestion of a brewing co-worker, I tried this last night. I used Iodophor, which is a no-rinse iodine solution, in the kitchen sink. Unlike bleach, it only requires 2 minutes of contact time. I was able to fit about half of the bottles in the sink at one time, then wait the 2 minutes, drain 'em and put 'em on the dishwasher rack to dry. Then, repeat w/ the second batch of bottles.The whole process was over and done in less than ten minutes. I really like this method and I'll stick with it in the future.

I use Grolsh bottles these days so I can skip the whole capping process. Plus the bottles are a true 16oz Pint, instead of the regular 12oz bottles, so you only need 40 bottles for a 5gal batch.


I don't really have any pointers for this step. However, I had the pictures so I figured I may as well throw them in here.



In the past, I've filled the bottles by using a 3' long hose to connect the bottling wand to the bottling bucket's spigot. Then I'd sit on the floor with the line of bottles, and fill them by moving the wand from one bottle to the next. My coworker suggested this setup, where the wand is attached to the spigot with just a 1" piece of hose. You then lift the bottle up onto the wand to fill it.

In theory, it sounds nice, but in practice I didn't like it. The wand hangs so low that you still need to sit on the floor. Plus, I having to grab and lift each bottle takes longer than moving the wand itself. I'll use my original method from now on.

Next batch help

I have two kits--an American ale and a basic stout kit--ready to brew.

I plan to brew the stout first, keeping it fairly basic, but I want to add a hint of vanilla to the batch in order to sweeten the stout a little bit and to add the aroma of vanilla.

I'm thinking I'll add it in the secondary. In addition, I think I'll use vanilla extract just so I have control over the amount I'm adding. If I use vanille beans, I'd be afraid that the flavor and aroma may come out very different from what I want. With extract, I can know exactly how much was added and be able to repeat or change the recipe later. Any thoughts would be welcome.

I was given a bunch of Amarillo hop pellets at the Dogfishhead Brewery when I toured the place a couple weeks ago. I'll use a bunch of those on the American ale.

Mmmm, beer.

New Blog

We're starting up this blog to talk about homebrewing and beer in general. We don't have much to say yet, but just wait, it'll get real interesting in here soon.