Speaking of the Lemongrass Saison, it's time for both batches to be bottled and kegged.
The partial mash version came down to a final gravity of 1.010, putting it in the neighborhood of 8% ABV.
The "all grain" version fermented out to nearly water with a final gravity of 1.002, giving it an ABV of around 5.5%.
The original lager version was about 5.7% ABV.
The containment processes will happen within the next few days. If you want to swing by and sample, let me know. I'd love to see you. Leave me a comment or drop me a line at 952.221.8858.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
Monday, June 27, 2011
Inaugural Sample Party Results
On May 21, I hosted a sample party featuring 5 beers of my own design. I ordered custom 5-ounce sample glasses, had hour d'oeuvres, set up our disc golf baskets, stopped the rain, and halted the Rapture. It was a great time. Check out Paul D. C. Jennings' video below for a synopsis of what happened.
As for the beers themselves, they were, in order of appearance:
Lemongrass Saison Lager
Citrus Ale
Toronto? Maple Brown
Big Spicy
999 IPA (first of my brews served on draft!)
I asked those in attendance to judge each beer with the following form.
Several weeks later when I had poison ivy weeping out of my leg and it was 103 degrees outside, I sat down in my air-conditioned office and tabulated the results of all those voting forms. There were about 40 people who reviewed each of the 5 beers. 40 x 5 = 200 individual forms. It was a fantastic Excel geek-session. Here's how it shook out.
Sample Party Averages
Out of 5 points possible…
The Maple Brown tied with Big Spicy at 4.5 for the best color.
The Citrus Ale edged out Big Spicy by a tenth of a point at 4.3 for best aroma.
The 999 IPA had the best body (perhaps because of the forced carbonation?) with 4.4.
The 999 IPA also had the best flavor at 4.4.
The 999 had the best aftertaste at 4.2, with both the Lemongrass Saison and Big Spicy at 4.0
Big Spicy was the most original with 4.5.
The winner of the party, the Lemongrass Saison Lager, was in 3rd for Color, 5th (last) for Aroma, 3rd for Body, 2nd for Flavor, tied for 2nd for Aftertaste, and 2nd for Originality. Nobody said they wouldn’t drink it if it were given to them, 85% of people said they would tell others about it, and 80% said they would buy it.
It was because of these results that I decided to make 8 more gallons of the Lemongrass Saison, as described in my first blog, Lemongrass Saison.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
It was because of these results that I decided to make 8 more gallons of the Lemongrass Saison, as described in my first blog, Lemongrass Saison.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Inaugural Sample Party Video
Many many thanks to Paul D.C. Jennings for filming and editing this great video. On May 21 I hosted a sample party featuring 5 beers of my own design. I asked people so try the beers and judge them with forms I created with criteria such as flavor, color, aroma, body, aftertaste, and originality. Everybody who came had a great time. My roommate Mikey burned his hand, someone opened the bottle of IPA that I was going to give away as a prize, and I got called Indiana Jones, but other than that the party went very smoothly. I'll write more about the party soon but I wanted to share this as soon as I could because Paul did such a phenomenal job with it.
ABC Brewing from Natalie Champa Jennings on Vimeo.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
ABC Brewing from Natalie Champa Jennings on Vimeo.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
Monday, June 20, 2011
Backyard Hops
Back in April, I planted 5 hop rhizomes at my parents' place in Excelsior. Chinook, Fuggle, Willamette, and 2 Nugget rhizomes. Because of the cool and cloudy spring, the ground took a bit longer than usual to warm up and the hops subsequently took a bit longer to emerge. Hop bines (that's not a typo, they're actually called "bines") are apparently pretty hearty and resilient, needing only water and sun to thrive.
Per widely accepted standards, I dug holes in the ground that measured roughly 12 inches long by 6 inches wide by 6 inches deep. I then filled each one about half way with loose gravel to allow drainage below the rhizome, filled nearly to ground level with good organic soil, laid the rhizome into that soil, and finally topped with a mound of soil to a few inches above ground level.
Once the bines grew large enough, it was time to begin training them. I inserted plant supports with loops on the tops into the ground next to each rhizome. To the loops I tied twine and ran it to the eave of the garage where I screwed eye hooks in and ran a length of climbing rope through. The bine-training twine just wraps over the climbing rope and down to the ground, anchored with rocks. To harvest the hop cones, all I'll have to do is untie the twine from the rock and the bine will sag enough for me to reach even the top-most clusters.
I've personally never been much of a gardener, but I've never been disinterested in it; my folks have fairly green thumbs so growing hops at their place works pretty well for all of us.
I'm not terribly concerned with any yield in this first year. It's more important for the rhizomes go get established in their conditions, developing a good root system and plant mass before they begin to focus their energy into cone production. But if I can brew a fresh-hopped IPA this fall, I'll be a happy brewer!!
It's been interesting to note that the Fuggle and Willamette bines are growing much faster (and are more healthy?) than the Chinook and the Nugget. Fuggle and Willamette Alpha-Acid (the substance responsible for bitterness) percentages are in the 4 - 5 range while those for Chinook and Nugget considerably higher, 12 - 13...
Speaking of Nugget and Willamette, I drank the second-to-last bomber of my "999 IPA, take 2" while I wrote this. This beer will evolve into a staple for ABC. It's my take on a 90-minute boil, with 9 hop additions, and ideally 9% ABV (I'm working on that, the one I drank tonight finished around 8%). The "third generation" 999 was on tap at my sample party, blog on that to come, and I think I almost nailed what I'm after in an IPA: dry and bitter with full hop flavor/hop "sweetness" throughout, light yellow and clear, and strong with a thick white head. It'll happen. Stay tuned.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
Per widely accepted standards, I dug holes in the ground that measured roughly 12 inches long by 6 inches wide by 6 inches deep. I then filled each one about half way with loose gravel to allow drainage below the rhizome, filled nearly to ground level with good organic soil, laid the rhizome into that soil, and finally topped with a mound of soil to a few inches above ground level.
Once the bines grew large enough, it was time to begin training them. I inserted plant supports with loops on the tops into the ground next to each rhizome. To the loops I tied twine and ran it to the eave of the garage where I screwed eye hooks in and ran a length of climbing rope through. The bine-training twine just wraps over the climbing rope and down to the ground, anchored with rocks. To harvest the hop cones, all I'll have to do is untie the twine from the rock and the bine will sag enough for me to reach even the top-most clusters.
I've personally never been much of a gardener, but I've never been disinterested in it; my folks have fairly green thumbs so growing hops at their place works pretty well for all of us.
I'm not terribly concerned with any yield in this first year. It's more important for the rhizomes go get established in their conditions, developing a good root system and plant mass before they begin to focus their energy into cone production. But if I can brew a fresh-hopped IPA this fall, I'll be a happy brewer!!
 |
| This is how big the Willamette was when I rigged my "trellis" system. |
 |
| June 13, 2011. The Fuggle rhizome produced 4 bines. |
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| Willamette. 6.13.11 |
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| Fuggles on 6.19.11. They are starting to get a lot fuller and are possibly even growing faster now. My parents measured growth of 7 inches in one week a couple weeks go. Amazing. |
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| My hop Momma with the Fuggles on Father's Day, 6.19.11. They're about 3 feet tall now. |
Speaking of Nugget and Willamette, I drank the second-to-last bomber of my "999 IPA, take 2" while I wrote this. This beer will evolve into a staple for ABC. It's my take on a 90-minute boil, with 9 hop additions, and ideally 9% ABV (I'm working on that, the one I drank tonight finished around 8%). The "third generation" 999 was on tap at my sample party, blog on that to come, and I think I almost nailed what I'm after in an IPA: dry and bitter with full hop flavor/hop "sweetness" throughout, light yellow and clear, and strong with a thick white head. It'll happen. Stay tuned.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
Friday, June 17, 2011
Maple Brown Cook Session Photos
I just got these wonderful photos from a wonderful friend of mine who is a wonderful photographer. Her name is Natalie Champa Jennings, and her work can be found here:
Natalie Champa Jennings Photography
Be sure to consult Natalie for your wedding shoots, headshots, or any other professional photography you may need.
These were taken on March 29, 2011 at the Red House Brewery in South Minneapolis. The beer is called "Toronto?" and it is a maple brown. I drank one last night as I was finishing up with the Lemongrass Saison session and it is getting better with a little age! It has a great, mellow maple aroma and aftertaste, with classic and satisfying brown ale overtones. I still have some left if you want to come try it.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
Natalie Champa Jennings Photography
Be sure to consult Natalie for your wedding shoots, headshots, or any other professional photography you may need.
I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here
Lemongrass Saison
Last night I brewed a "double batch" of the party-winning Lemongrass Saison. I used Wyeast 3711 this time instead of the 2001 lager strain. I essentially cooked two 4-gallon batches: one was a partial mash, the other was all grain. Both on the stove top.
I won't divulge my recipe but both batches had 7.75 # of grain. I added 3 # of dry malt extract (DME) to the partial mash to attain an original gravity (OG) reading of 1.077. The OG on the all grain was 1.047.
Hopped with Fuggle, US and Czech Saaz, and flavored with fresh lemongrass, these beers will be crisp, spicy, and earthy. I'm very excited to see how the French Saison yeast will affect the final flavor compared to the first batch with the lager yeast. Perhaps a smoother or silkier body.
Here's a couple pictures of the partial mash about 12 hours after pitching the yeast.
The stove top mashes went pretty well. My gravities came out right about where I expected. I had cooked a strong Scotch ale a couple weeks ago, my first partial mash, and had trouble keeping my mash temperature steady and mis-calculated the sparge water volume. Silly things that seem to go awry the first time you're trying something. But this time I definitely felt better about what I was doing and how it went.
I will very soon move to the garage with a nice 10-gallon cooler all-grain system with a 15-gallon boil kettle. The batches will get bigger which means more beer for everyone!! Gotta grow...
Well, my first little blog. More to come!
I'm Proud Of My Beer and Humbled You're Here
I won't divulge my recipe but both batches had 7.75 # of grain. I added 3 # of dry malt extract (DME) to the partial mash to attain an original gravity (OG) reading of 1.077. The OG on the all grain was 1.047.
Hopped with Fuggle, US and Czech Saaz, and flavored with fresh lemongrass, these beers will be crisp, spicy, and earthy. I'm very excited to see how the French Saison yeast will affect the final flavor compared to the first batch with the lager yeast. Perhaps a smoother or silkier body.
Here's a couple pictures of the partial mash about 12 hours after pitching the yeast.
The stove top mashes went pretty well. My gravities came out right about where I expected. I had cooked a strong Scotch ale a couple weeks ago, my first partial mash, and had trouble keeping my mash temperature steady and mis-calculated the sparge water volume. Silly things that seem to go awry the first time you're trying something. But this time I definitely felt better about what I was doing and how it went.
I will very soon move to the garage with a nice 10-gallon cooler all-grain system with a 15-gallon boil kettle. The batches will get bigger which means more beer for everyone!! Gotta grow...
Well, my first little blog. More to come!
I'm Proud Of My Beer and Humbled You're Here
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