Category Archives: Homebrewing

Local needs of content featuring Bill Swallow – Content Content podcast episode 12

“Content requires proper care and feeding”, says Bill Swallow, director of operations at Scriptorium. We talk localization, content strategy, local beer, summer’s oppressive heat, and more.

Bill Swallow
Bill Swallow

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OMG i hate beer!

It’s been a personal goal to turn on as many people as possible on to beer. As I mentioned in the Fordeville blog, my own journey to the beverage was not direct,  so I sympathize.But allow me to try to convert you once again,  dear beer-challenged reader.

A beer snob's dream beer; not for the faint of heart. Photo by Arclight Images (www.arclightimages.com)

“Oh, it’s too bitter”. Then you’re drinking the wrong beer.There are 23 general styles of beer, with infinite variations within each style. There are many more breweries than Anheuser Busch, Coors, and Miller, you know. (As an aside, the oft-favored Blue Moon is owned and brewed by Coors). If the beer’s too bitter, first try to find out the style- then avoid it. The hoppiest types – which are the most bitter – are IPAs and Pale ales. Try a malty style, like a Dunkelweizen, porter, or brown, which traditionally have very low hop flavor and aroma. Or, a classic Weihenstephan Weissbier.

“Dark beer scares me. It’s too much alcohol”. Then you’re drinking the wrong beer. Realize that “dark” doesn’t necessarily mean “high alcohol”. The perennial “dark beer” Guinness actually has less alcohol by volume than Budweiser. Try a Sierra Nevada Porter (they make more than just the green-labeled Pale Ale), or a sweet stout like Mackeson’s.

“Beer has too many calories”. Then you’re drinking the wrong beer. Drinking an MGD 64 or Bud Light is like eating iceberg lettuce – it gets you where you want to go, but doesn’t bring a lot of flavor to the table. Alcohol inherently has calories, regardless if it’s wine, beer, or gin. Just find the right one- high alcohol beers are generally heavier because of the higher quantities of malt. Again, a bottle of Guinness only has 126 calories, and in my opinion, is worth drinking one instead of two MGD 64s.

“I get bloated drinking beer”. Then you’re drinking the wrong beer. If you want bang for the buck, calories be damned, have a barleywine. Anything “Imperial” means more malt, more hops, and more booze. If you can handle a “regular” IPA with higher hops, try an Imperial IPA like Dogfish Head’s 90- or 120-Minute IPA.

It make take some time and effort to find just the right beer for you, but remember, it’s the journey, not the destination. When possible, drink locally and support your local breweries and brewpubs. And if you want a full-on beer education, meet me at the Copper Mine Pub.

I should update this.

Am I the only technical writer that doesn’t feel like writing or blogging when they get home? Lately, I feel like that’s the case.

I comfort myself in the fact that I’m making good food.

Summer’s over. I’m not happy about it.

Overall, I think it’s been a mediocre year, musically.

I updated from WordPress 2.9 to 3.01. I backed up my database. It was a click. It was good. The dashboard looks the same; am I missing something?

Android 2.2 Froyo is a nice upgrade. It actually looks like they put sometime into the user experience. Today I noticed a little “You declined this call” message at the top of the screen. Nice.

I have an IPA in secondary, based on the same recipe I’ve used for the past three years, but with Cascade instead of Amarillo hops. I think it’s gonna be good. There’s a porter in primary waiting to be transferred to secondary, as well as the two vanilla beans that have been soaking in scotch the past two weeks.

It’s time for Wii Fit Yoga.

The First Annual Eddie Awards!

That’s right, folks, according to our “research”, people like year-ending lists. So we, by which I mean “I”, came up with some things that happened, were purchased, or created by me this year.

Best advice– “Shit happens” – from (former…) Champ Car owner Derrick Walker at the final Champ Car Grand Prix of Long Beach. Mr. Walker stands to lose several million dollars of personal money in a sponsorship dispute.

Album of the year“Pretty. Odd.” by Panic at the Disco. Amazing Beatlesque work from an “emo” band.

Most Disappointing Album:  “Viva La Vida”, by Coldplay. So yeah, looks like their 15 minutes ran out just before X&Y.

Brewery of the year: Founder’s Brewing. Probably the only good thing to come out of Michigan this year. Their beers are heavy and expensive, but worth every damn dime.

Concert of the year: Minus the Bear, Webster Hall, 10/25/08.

Homebrew of the year: Simcorillo IPA. I didn’t brew as much as I would’ve liked, but this was a highlight.

Trip of the year: Washington, DC with the Secaucus High School Marching Band.

Trip of the year excluding chaperoning 40 kids: The final Champ Car race ever at Long Beach, Ca.

Movie of the year: I, uh, didn’t see any movies this year.

Most Addictive Website: Facebook. Twitter comes in a close second here, but the amount of people with whom I’ve reconnected makes Facebook a complete and utter timesuck. Also, my Twitter feed now updates my Facebook status, so it’s win-win!

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Gag gift of 2008 – ShamWow!

Among the few gifts I got S this year, one was supposed to be a joke – ShamWow!, the chamois made in Germany and sold on TV. The guy that appears in the ad is alternatively annoying and engaging, and has been on the TV enough to make it a joke in our house.

So, with Xmas approaching, I went to their crappy website and ordered a batch. Although they say 3-4 weeks for delivery, it came in only a few short days, plenty of time before Xmas. It was honestly hard for me to keep from giving them to S, but I decided waiting (and wrapping!) would be a better payoff.

On Xmas Day she was making her chocolate truffles for both her family and mine. I had a feeling melted chocolate would require cleanup, so I quickly wrapped them and handed her the package. She of course laughed, but then put them to use!

On Sunday, I decided to brew a dark Imperial Stout. Again, plenty of opportunity for messes. Two of the large ShamWow! were employed for cleanup, and a third is underneath the now-fermenting carboy in the closet.

I’m sure there are other, cheaper chamois available, including one S bought at Trader Joe’s, but they absorbed black stout and cleaned the floor pretty well. They sure came in handy at our house!

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Day after Xmas… at werk.

I came in today thinking i’d be feeling creative and write a post. Well, here I am at 12:30 EST with no such creativity, but at least I’m writing. I plan to blog more in 2009, but then again, I think “Write more” was my resolution for 2008, and that went basically nowhere.

there are three other people in my group here today with me. I think there are maybe another 5-10 people here in addition. Makes sense to open the office for alllllll of those people, eh?

i got a new flash for my camera for xmas … Nikon SB-600. i don’t know what i’m doing with it, yet. guess this also locks me into Nikon, not that it’s a bad thing. the grass is always greener over at Canon…

my girlfriend is out shopping for her family’s party tomorrow. i’m sitting in the office freezing with the other people, all of whom are wearing jackets or other heavy attire. it’s current 39 outside in NYC.

i plan to brew on Sunday – an imperial stout. my last porter didn’t come out so great. a bit lacking in body, a bit too much alcohol burn, not enough vanilla. still very drinkable, just not fantastic. 5/10.

my inbox is barren, facebook is dead, no one’s on twitter, and even my rss feeds aren’t entertaining me.

why is it that we’re here today? i guess this is the entitlement society i keep hearing about. even Hale and Hearty doesn’t have a full selection of soups today.

yes, i’m bitter. and cold.

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The Power of Yeast

Well, after a little over two months in secondary, we finally got around to bottling my latest homebrew, a porter. When I transferred to the secondary fermenter, I added a whole vanilla bean that was soaked in Jack Daniels for a couple of weeks. I also added the Jack Daniels. Unfortunately, there’s not much vanilla flavor; next time I’ll add another bean and cut them open, but there is a nice caramel flavor to the uncarbonated beer.

The big lesson with this batch is the effects of yeast on the beer. I used a Burton Ale yeast from White Labs. I should’ve known better (he says now), as I don’t really care for the “twang” of Bass Ale. Well, in my porter, you certainly get that Bass-like yeastiness. It was certainly interesting to see just how much of an effect the yeast has on the beer.

It’s not my best work, but it is still drinkable. It’s actually a bit lighter in color than I’d like. Maybe with some carbonation and time it will improve. I hope so, because I was planning on using some as gifts!

Labour Day Porter 2.0

12-C Baltic Porter

8.0 lb Dry Light Extract

1 lb American Chocolate Malt

.5 lb Caramunich® TYPE III

.5 lb British Crystal 55°L

1.0 oz Fuggle (4.0%) – added during boil, boiled 7 min

1.5 oz Super Styrian (7.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20 min

1 oz Super Styrian (7.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60 min

8.00 fl oz White Labs WLP023 Burton Ale

1.0 ea Vanilla (whole bean) – added dry to secondary fermenter

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.2

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IPA Update

Yesterday, Sunday, I transferred my latest India Pale Ale (IPA) from primary fermenter to secondary. While secondary is technically a misnomer (no further fermentation takes place), it clarifies the beer and lets the last bunch of dead yeast cells and hop detritus fall to the bottom of the carboy.

One of the joys of homebrewing is taking a gravity reading, which tells you the density of your beer, where 1.00 is plain water, and everything above it is, in this context, beer. Homebrewers check the starting gravity, then the gravity when transferring to either a secondary fermenter, bottles/kegs, and/or both. A hydrometer checks the gravity by taking a sample of the beer and placing it in a beaker. You then read the hydrometer as it floats in your oh-so-precious liquid. My final gravity (FG) was only two points off what the recipe said it should be (the recipe noted FG at 1.014; mine was 1.016). This just results in a bit less alcohol in the beer, but I’m not sure how accurate everything is, anyway.

To avoid contamination, the sample is never returned to the rest of the beer. However, it is completely drinkable, and I always drink it to see how my beer’s coming out.

And holy cow, was that sample good. It was almost exactly the taste I want from an IPA. It was bitter, without being too much so for a hop-head like me. I do think it’s a bit thin in the malt department; next time (and there will be a next time) I’ll be sure to add another pound of malt extract to counteract the bitterness.

I also added a half-ounce of Amarillo and half-ounce of Simcoe, the two hops used in the beer, to the secondary fermenter. This is known as dry-hopping. It doesn’t contribute to the bitterness of the beer, but adds to the delicious aroma.

A few weeks in the fermenter, then bottle day, then I can drink a few weeks later!
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Now playing: The Doors – Twentienth Century Fox
via FoxyTunes

I bought fish supplies, and I don’t own fish

One of the, shall we say, issues confronting homebrewers is equipment: you never have enough. I buy something new seemingly every brew day. All purchases, so far, have been good purchases, and result in better beer.

Saturday was brew day; I believe it’s batch #9 since I started. Building on the success of my last batch, Wazzup Wit, I formulated a recipe, and submitted it for comments on a couple of beer forums.

This, however, brings about another issue homebrewers have: how much advice to take when brewing beer. It takes some time to wade through the comments, and separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff. when i posted my recipe.


Simcorillo IPA

14-B American IPA

BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Size: 4.84 gal

Efficiency: 6.62%

Attenuation: 78.6%

Calories: 212.42 kcal per 12 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.064 (1.056 – 1.075)

|==============#=================|

Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 – 1.018)

|===============#================|

Color: 11.7 (6.00 – 15.00)

|==================#=============|

Alcohol: 6.61% (5.50% – 7.50%)

|================#===============|

Bitterness: 95.8 (40.00 – 60.00)

|================================|

Ingredients:

7.0 lb Dry Extra Light

1 lb Crystal Malt 20°L

8.0 oz Caramunich® TYPE I

1 ea White Labs WLP051 California Ale V

1 oz Simcoe (11.9%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

2 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20 min

1 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 7.0 min

.5 oz Simcoe (11.9%) – added during boil, boiled 7 min

.5 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0 min

0.5 oz Simcoe (11.9%) – added dry to secondary fermenter

.5 oz Amarillo (8.0%) – added dry to secondary fermenter

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F

Source Water: 60.0 °F

Elevation: 0.0 m

Notes

Late extract addition – first time experimenting. Added 3lb DME at 60 minutes, 4lb at 15 minutes.
Mash temp for grains: 150F. 45 minute steep.
Created yeast starter (first time) following Palmer’s How to Brew method (http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html)
Aerated wort for ~5 minutes using fish tank oxygenator.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.9b

Ah, homebrewing

It’s nice to have a Friday off where I’m not sick to the point of incapacitated.

I’m brewing a Belgian Wit today. Getting a late start, but that’s OK.

I’ve not brewed in a few months, so it’s a good feeling to be boiling, cleaning, and sanitizing again. I formulated my own recipe, with a few aspects slightly out of style, but I think it’s going to be a good brew.

Formulating recipes is probably the most enjoyable and most frustrating part of brewing for me. I don’t know a lot about it yet, and often, I feel like I shouldn’t ask for input, because I’ve not contributed enough to a forum. I don’t know the individual ingredients (hop and malt characteristics) well enough to know what goes well with other things, but I’m learning. It’s definitely fun, though, to start a recipe in BeerTools Pro and add and subtract different ingredients, the time during the boil to add them, and how much of each to add.

This recipe is a completely original creation with no input from anyone, other than reading other recipes and combining the best of each; which is usually how I cook, anyway. It should be a good summertime beer, though the alcohol level (a hair over 6% ABV) is a bit higher than it probably should.

 

Wazzup Wit

16-A Witbier
BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Size: 4.36 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 203.9 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.061 (1.044 – 1.052)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.008 – 1.012)
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Color: 2.57 (2.0 – 4.0)
|============#===================|

Alcohol: 6.02% (4.5% – 5.5%)
|================================|

Bitterness: 17.0 (10.0 – 20.0)
|===================#============|

Ingredients:

6.6 lb Liquid Wheat Extract
16 oz Cara-Pils® Malt
.5 oz Styrian Goldings (4.2%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Saaz (4.40%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.5 oz Saaz (4.4%) – added during boil, boiled 7.0 min
1 oz Bitter Curacao/Bitter Orange (Peel) – added during boil, boiled 5 min
.5 oz Corriander seeds – added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 ea White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale

Notes:

Partial Mash – 30 mins @148 degrees

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.0b