SMaSH Saison

I recently saw a video cast of  Drew Beechum speaking at this year's NHC about simplifying the brewing process "Brewing on the Ones" .  In the video he speaks about SMaSH beers, which are Single Malt and Single Hop Beers, this got me thinking. I had bunch of 2-Row on hand and I just got some new varieties of hops that I wanted to try out (Motueka, Riwaka and HBC324 Experimental). I also recently stocked up on some new yeast strains and some that I wanted to use again. I wanted to make a saison using White Labs new Saison III strain, a strain I first tried at Drew Beechum's Saison for Every Season lecture at last years NHC. I was one of the people who emailed White Labs about releasing this strain, at last years NHC is was still an experimental and unreleased strain. I wanted to keep the beer simple so I could see how the Motueka hops and the Saison III strain would act. This strain is spicy and fruity like a traditional saison strain, but it also has this wonderful tartness that makes it  even more refreshing.  I also wanted to keep the beer lower in alcohol. The recipe wasn't a true SMaSH beer because I did us some flaked oats to add a slight amount of body and mouthfeel since I was only using 2-Row. I also boiled the first runnings for about 10 minutes to try and get some extra color and taste since 2-Row and Oats were the only malts.

Recipe: US 2-Row, Flaked Oats, Motueka Hops @60, @30 and @0. WLP Saison III (Platinum Strain).

California Steamin'

In my opinion Steam Beer aka California Common beer is the quintessential beer for seafood. It is hardy enough for a cool day, yet still refreshing enough for a warm day. It pairs well with all types of food and is a truly California native. Anchor Steam was one of the first real craft beers that I ever drank and it holds a special place in my heart. I brewed a batch as my second beer back when I was still making extract beer. It was okay but didn't really live up to the original. I wanted to give this beer another shot. I didn't have the correct hops on hand and since it isn't a hop forward beer, I figured it is okay. I substituted the Norther Brewer with a blend of Falconers Flight, Fuggles and Challenger. My thinking is that Falconers flight is similar to Chinook, and Chinook can be a substitute for Northern Brewer. Challenger can also sub for NB and the fuggles were to give that more traditional hop flavor. I'm also using a blend of White Labs San Francisco Lager Yeast, and SafLager S-23. My thinking is I would have enough strong yeast S-23 to ferment at lower temps and I would still get the characteristics from the San Fran yeast.

Ingredients: US 2-Row, 80L, 60L, Victory, Carapils. Falconers, Challenger and Fuggle @60min. Falconers, Challenger and Fuggle @30. WLP 810 San Francisco Lager and SafLager S-23.

Summer Solstice Pale Ale

To celebrate the longest day of the year I wanted to make a hop forward pale ale. This is my most hop forward beer to date. I wanted to make a hoppy pale ale that really stretch my comfort zone of hop additions.  Normally I go low on the bittering charge and really crank up the late additions, not this time. This time I went big all the way through. I have made number of Belgian style ales in the last few months, so I wanted to get something a little hoppy on tap as the weather warms. I kept the malt bill simple and used 4 types of hops in the beer. I also think that this is the most hop varietals that I have used in any one batch. I tried out two newer hop varietal called Zythos and Falconers Flight. Both Falconer's and Zythos are blends of Pacific Northwest and "C" hops made by Hop Union. I also used Pacific Gem and Amarillo in this beer. I hope it will be a citrusy, piney-like pale that is well balanced and refreshing.

The yeast cake for this beer will be used for my first attempt at a IIPA.

Recipe: US 2-Row, Honey Malt, Crystal 40L. Zythos, Amarillo @60min, Pacific Jade, Zythos and Falconers @30min, Zythos, Amarillo, Pacific Jade and Falconers @15min, Zythos and Amarillo @5min, Zythos and Amarillo @Falme Out. US-05.

Monkeying Around...At Monkey Paw

Last month I had the opportunity to go and help my friend Derek brew a fact of beer at Monkey Paw Brewing Company in San Diego. Derek has been brewing at Monkey Paw for almost a year and already he is getting wonderful reviews. I have know Derek for about 4 years, we met through home brewing and  he was the creator of our homebrew club CHUG. I was able to help Derek brew his Rich Man's IIPA. It was  great opportunity to learn and experience what brewing on a commercial scale was like. The brewery is tiny and with all the kegs, grain and storage there is little room for much less. The biggest thing I noticed was that the process is much more hands off than homebrewing, most of the time you are pushing buttons and turning valves. The hardest part was using the clamps to run hoses from outlet to inlet. I also noticed how long the process takes. We started to mill in at about 9am and I left around 5:30pm leaving Derek with a small amount of clean up. I learned a bunch and really gained a greater respect for commercial brewing...these guys work extremely hard. In addition to brewing I helped Derek fill kegs, clean tanks and manage inventory. He is not only the head brewer, but the bar manager for the pub.
The other cool thing that occurred from this particular batch of beer from Monkey Paw was that during the CBC the mobile canning unit called the Can Van came to Monkey Paw and Derek and owner Scot Blair canned three batches of beer (Rich Man's, Oatmeal Pale Ale, and Sweet Georgia Brown). This beer was officially the first beer to be canned in San Diego, well at least since Aztec and Mission Brewery (the originals) closed in 1953. I was able to buy a couple of four packs at one of the local beer stores Bine and Vine. I enjoyed the fruits of my labor (well mostly Derek's, although I did clean out the mash tun) on my front porch the other day...it was great feeling and  great way to end a long week.

In short, this was great day spent with a good friend learning about professional brewing.

Thanks Derek!

Spring Forward Pale Ale

Well, let me start off by saying I don't know what style this beer is. It is not a typical Belgian Pale, nor is it a Wit beer. It is a blend of the two and uses american hops. It just sounded like a beer I would want to drink on a warm day or evening, so I went for it. I only had about 2 hours and 15 minutes to brew this beer and based on some new information about mash conversion times from some local commercial brewers I decided to give a short mash a shot. When I say short, I mean the time it took me to raise my sparge water up to temp, about 15 minutes. The brewers I talked to said you can get away with a 7-10 minute mash. In fact one of the bigger breweries here in San Diego actually uses this method, and their beers are amazing.

I wanted a beer that was cirtusy, fruity, slightly tart, hoppy, and just a refreshing beer. I used some grapefruit zest, and amarillo hops to get the citrusy/fruity aroma and flavor profile. Add to that the Belgian yeast and I figure I can get quite a bit of citrus fruit out of this beer. I also wanted a slight tartness, so I used 10% acid malt. I am not sure how this percentage of malt will affect the tartness but I figure I can start at 10% and build up from their. In addition I used about 30% wheat malt.

Ingredients: US 2-Row, White Wheat, Carapils, Acidulated Malt, Amarillo @60, 15, 5, Grapefruit Zest @ Flameout, WLP550 Belgian Ale Yeast.

Special Day Cider

A friend at work is getting married in a few months. She is a foodie and although she doesn't like beer, she has a great respect for well crafted beer as well as all well crafted food and drink products. She knows I homebrew and so for her wedding she asked if I would mind making a batch of cider. I haven't made a cider in about 3 years and my first attempts were fusel, hot, acetic messes. I have done some research on ciders since the last batch and I used this knowledge to make this batch of cider. My friend likes a slightly sweeter cider with lots of apple flavor and aroma. To achieve this she bought 4 gallons of California organic apple and organic apple cherry cider. I decided based on what she wanted and the research I have done that I would use an English Ale strain. In the past I have used Champagne yeast. In addition I wanted to keep the cider fermenting at a lower temp than in the past, so I placed the fermenter in a water bath in which I placed frozen water bottle to hold the surrounding temp in the 50-60s. I am hoping that with a less attenuating yeast held at cooler temps I should avoid the hot fusel alcohols I have gotten in past batches. I also did not boil, or pasteurize the must in any way. The cider was flash pasteurized already and I didn't want to lose any aromatics or apple flavors. I poured in the must and pitched the yeast.

Ingredients: 2.5 gallons Organic Apple Juice, 2.5 gallons Organic Apple Cherry Juice, Pectine Enzyme, WLP002-English Ale Yeast.

Extract Hefeweizen (Westerlies Weizen)

Hefeweizen was the first beer that I ever made that was a true success. I even won my first award with my first Hefeweizen. The beer was a huge hit with my friends and family's well. The first batch I made was back when I was still an extract brewer. I tried to make an all grain Hefeweizen a few years back, but it just didn't come out the way it should have. I didn't do a deccocotion and I think that was one reason it didn't come out the way it should have. Iread that you could get a great Hefeweizen from extract, and my earlier batch supported that theory. I decided I would give an extract Hefeweizen another go. It's a simple recipe and it was great to knock out a batch in about an hour and a half.

The name comes from the westerly winds that blow on shore off the Pacific Ocean. These winds will often bring in coastal clouds, that are murky and cloudy, much like a hefeweizen. These clouds are most prominent in spring and early summer, commonly referred to as May Gray and June Gloom. Weather like that reminds me of a refreshing hefeweizen.

Recipe: 3# dry pilsner extract, 3# dry Bavarian Hefeweizen extract, Hallertauer @60 and 20, White Labs 300 Hefeweizen Ale.