Just a few short [...]]]>
Just a few short years ago, I was positive Fat Tire was the be-all end-all of craft beer. Hell, I didn’t even know what “craft beer” was at the time; New Belgium made micros. Then, through one of those friend-of-a-friend things, I got a chance to try a test batch of what we all know (and love) now as Total Domination. Talk about a game changer. From that first enamel-stripping sip, I knew there was no going back. My name is Kevin and I am a hops addict. For the next year I asked/begged/pleaded for Ninkasi IPA at every bar or restaurant I visited. Daddy needs his fix. Luckily, Eugene was just as much a Ninkasi junkie as I, and my requests were rarely denied. The rest is history: I drank more beer. I obsessed about it. I brewed it. I prattled endlessly about it. I bored my wife. I started a blog. Oh, and Ninkasi got bigger too.
On Saturday my wife and I escaped the heat in the shade of Ninkasi’s newly finished patio area, where we unknowingly celebrated Beer and Coding’s first anniversary. I enjoyed a sample tray containing Nuptiale Cream Ale, Quantum Pale, Tricerahops, Radiant and an unnamed dry-hopped IPA while my wife had a Believer. It’s hard to image that only a few years back, I would have been sipping my Fat Tire while my wife drank a Coors Light or Widmer Hef.
As you may have deduced from the introduction, the rest of this post will be a stereotypical, sappy gush-fest, looking back over the first year of Beer and Coding. Won’t you join me?
In The Beginning…
When I get into a hobby, I go deep. Craft beer was my new mistress and my wife was tired of hearing about her. My friends and coworkers probably felt the same way. Fortunately we have this thing called the Internet, and anyone with one of these computer thingies can blather on all day about whatever tickles their undercarriage without threat of recourse. That founding ideal, plus a clever pun for a title, and we have inception. Beer and Coding.
Initially, I wanted my blog to sound similar to the way I talk. Unfortunately, as I muddled through my early posts, I realized they had the cohesiveness of a caffeine-addled squirrel that had taken one too many falls from the old oak tree. I now understand much better the confused look on my wife’s face after I have been talking for a few minutes. This was followed by a short stretch of posts where I dabbling in a more serious tone. But for me, serious writing is analogous to tedious writing and dabbling is best left for college dorms. I think I have finally found my “voice,” and at least the act of writing feels like it has better flow. The biggest variable at this point is use of imagery, which seems directly proportional to the hour at which I am writing. It is 9:07 p.m. if you are wondering. Now if only I could figure out a way to transcribe my thoughts faster, so I am not finishing this at midnight again. Moving along…
Want Beer, Will Review
One of the best things about this beer blogging shtick has been getting invited to beer events, or at least having a semi-plausible (by “wife standard”) reason to attend them. The Fresh Hop Festival, Holiday Ale Fest, KLCC Brewfest, Zwicklemania, Sasquatch and OBF are all recent notches on the bedpost. And I can’t even begin to count the tastings and bottle releases. I am glad I don’t live in Portland; the little life I have outside of beer would be completely gone.
Over the last year I have reviewed several beers, most of them purchased, but occasionally grafted. At first, I made it a point to review without using any “beer snob” terminology. I wanted to write reviews for people in my position – those who liked craft beer, but didn’t care about descriptions like “cloying” and “horse blanket”. I quickly realized that people aren’t in my boat for too long. The palate develops pretty quickly, and at the end of the day “horse blanket” is the best way to describe something that has a horse blanket taste. I still find the term “nose” pretentious, but have conceded to using “notes” and “hints”. See, I can grow as a person.
Beer and CODING
I’ll admit it, I’m still lagging on the coding front. Who would have thought that after writing code for eight hours, I wouldn’t be keen on doing it when I got home? I mean I think about beer all day and I still want one when I get home. Anyway, I do have a few coding projects in the works that I will get around to finishing at some point, but I will leave that for the Future section. Which brings us to…
The Future
When looking back, it’s always good to end looking forward. I’m sure there’s a pun in there somewhere, but it’s getting late.
In year two, expect more reviews and event reports; the bread and butter, or meat and potatoes for those of you with a more carnivorous leaning. As I’ve mentioned before, Eugene beer culture is growing rapidly and as it does, my posts will grow increasingly local. Of course, I’ll never turn down an opportunity to travel.
I am also picking back up my exploration of nanobrewing. I started with a primer back in February, but Mt. Tabor and Naked City were the only nanos that returned my call (or more accurately e-mails). Since then, my initial post has been referenced quite a bit around the interwebs and recently I have received e-mails from a couple prospective nanobrewers, asking for advice. Not being in the business of brewing myself (dare to dream), I am reminded of the old adage, “Those who can’t do, teach.” And teach I shall (attempt – Honesty Editor). In addition to the two aforementioned breweries, Hess Brewing, Healdsburg Beer Company and Beetje Brewing has all answered the calling. I am currently compiling their responses to some questions I asked, and the first article should be up soon. Thanks again guys! If any of you other nanobrewers want to pitch in, shoot me an e-mail.
On the coding side, the Beer Test is partially written using the Android SDK and I have also started a tasting notes app. All the parts are sitting in a SparkFun shopping cart to turn my Arduino into a temperature controller for a fermentation chamber. When I pull the trigger, you can follow along as I build my lagering freezer. And not one to look a gift segue in the mouth, I’ll use the opportunity to transition to homebrew.
My home brewing is getting a little out of control, more and more of the garage’s floorspace consumed by the hobby. I recently installed a conditioning fridge and yesterday picked up a new (used) wort chiller from a great guy named Adam who threw in 100+ bottles and about a pound of home-grown Cascade, Chinook and Magnum hops. Still going is the starter of wild yeast I cultured from the plum tree in my yard. I’m excited to brew a “Eugene” beer with my yeast and Adam’s hops. Anyone growing some barley they want to throw in?
Conclusion
Once again, I want to take the opportunity to thank the craft brew community, both brewers and bloggers. This is the most fun I have ever had learning. Remind me again why they don’t teach beer in school?
In typical PBS fashion, I am going to end with a serene montage. In this case, pictures from my trip to Ninkasi. Here’s looking at another great year!
Cheers!
Kevin
Saturday, I picked up a couple pounds of DME from the homebrew shop and began my quest to culture yeast/exhaust from plums. I made up a 1 quart starter of 1.040 wort in a spare growler and went outside to gather some plums. Unfortunately, with the recent heat, my tree had already dropped all its fruit. I managed to scavenge about a dozen intact windfalls, all but two (pic, far right) already starting to brown. Oh well, in you go.
After about 48 I had signs of fermentation. There was a foamy krausen occupying space between the floating fruit. There was also a yeasty aroma and a good deal of sediment in the bottom of the growler. Liftoff.
Tuesday I made a new 1/2 gallon starter, lightly hopped with some left-over Columbus. My plan was to decant the first starter and pitch the settled yeast into the new one. When I opened the growler, I was met with a strong yeast aroma. A strong Belgian-esque yeast aroma; quite similar to the smell my Wit had while fermenting. Excited, I charged my wife, growler in hand, yelling for her to smell the jar. I was met with a fist.
Back on my feet, I took a hydro sample while decanting the growler. The gravity was still about 1.040, but there was a ton of yeast in suspension. The picture below shows the new starter, directly after the yeast was pitched. Ooh, so cloudy.
Within a couple hours, the new starter had developed some splotches on the surface. Had this been several days in, I would have been firing off shoddy picture-laden “Is My Beer Infected?” posts to all the homebrew forums. But at sub-three hours, I don’t think anything but the yeast had time to take hold. Here is the starter at 24 hours; you can see the pile of yeast building in the bottom of the container.
Since I don’t own a stir plate, I have been giving the starter a good shake a few times every day. I am currently fermenting around 75 (F), but this will probably rise over the next few days as the outside temperature starts to climb again. I plan to let the starter go until I see a noticeable change in gravity, or get some horrible infection. If the yeast succeeds in fermenting the starter, I’ll give it a real beer to chew on. Assuming this all works out, anyone interested in a beer swap (Watch it. The OLCC could be reading – Legal Advisor) where we all brew the same recipe and ferment with locally cultivated yeasts? Could be fun.
Cheers!
Kevin
Ten [...]]]>
Ten days into fermentation, the brew was stuck at 1.014, unchanged for 4 days and much sweeter than the sub 1.010 final gravity I was aiming for. The beer was also exhibiting a distinct cheese smell that I image is a result of the lackluster sour mash. Disappointed, I just about sent the whole mess spiraling down the drain. At the last minute, I decided to dry-hop it, an attempt to mask the cheese-funk. I added an ounce of Sterling hops to the secondary vessel and racked the brew on top of it. This seemed to kick-start fermentation again and by day 20, I was down to 1.011.
The spicy Sterling hops did a decent job masking the pungent off-odor, but they also completely neutered the tartness of the sour mash. The beer wasn’t bad, just bland, uninspired. Again, I was on the verge of dumping the batch, but decided to reenact my original plan and rack onto some fruit; hopefully gaining back some of the lost tartness. Two gallons were racked onto 2 pounds of cherries; a mix of store-bought red cherries and sour cherries from the tree in my back yard. The other three gallons were racked onto 4 pounds of nectarines and 1.25 ounces of crystallized ginger.
The cherries were pitted and mashed; the nectarines cut roughly and pressed to break up the meat. I didn’t bother sanitizing any of the fruit. At this point, the brew was less beer and more lab experiment. I also pitched a start of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale yeast into both fermentation vessels. The primary yeast, Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale, has a hard time dropping clear and I was hoping the highly flocculent Scottish yeast could pick up the slack.
After one week on the fruit, the nectarine portion was sitting at 1.009, the cherry portion at 1.007. And then the heat came, pushing the beer into the mid 80’s for 4 days. By last Sunday, day 12 on fruit, the portions had dried out to 1.005 and 1.004. They were also both tasting very good; the cherry tart and a hint medicinal, the nectarine bright and fruity. It was time to bottle.
I mixed up several blends of the two portions for my wife and I to sample. We both agreed that the 50/50 and 67/33 nectarine/cherry blends were the best, leaning toward the latter. A final mix of 61/39 nectarine/cherry was settled on. At this ratio, the sweetness of the nectarine helped bring forward the cherry flavor, but the cherry was light enough that the medicinal quality could not be detected. Wanting an effervescent beer, I primed for 3 volumes, and bottled the batch; which turned out to be a big mistake.
Despite the low final gravity, there must have still been a good deal of sugars left in suspension. After just 4 days carbing at room temperature, I cracked the first bottle last night and was met with a geyser. Well, maybe not a full-on geyser, but I did lose a good 2-3 ounces before the foaming slowed enough to pour a glass. Issue aside, the beer had transformed from being the first batch I was ready to give up on to the best batch I have ever brewed. Redemption. Of course this feeling was quickly replaced with an urgency to get the rest of the bottles moved to the fridge. The last thing I want is my proudest (homebrew) accomplishment blasting a hole through the pantry door.
I will be sharing this brew with a few friends on Monday, pics and tasting notes to follow. Now if we could just get this OLCC mess sorted. I have a sneaking suspicion this batch is will either be completely consumed or detonate before we’re cleared for competitions.
Cheers!
Kevin
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission was recently asked whether certain public competitions involving home made alcohol products were in compliance with the law. We provided guidance to the State Fair and other licensees which stated that such competitions were not authorized because they did not fall within the requirements of this statute ORS 471.403 clearly states that the Liquor Control Act (including the requirement for a liquor license) applies except for beer “brewed in the home for home consumption and not for sale”.In consultation with the Department of Justice, we have received an initial analysis of the statute regulating home brewing (ORS 471.403) which also indicates that the law only allows for consumption of home brews in the home. The home brewers lose their exemption to craft brew without a license when the home brew is consumed outside of the home.
The Department of Justice’s guidance certainly requires us to look at the competitions in a different way than we have before. It’s completely understandable that home beer and wine makers would be disappointed. We know how important the home brew and wine competitions are for artisans and professional hopefuls. We expect a final analysis from the Department of Justice next week. Although we are hopeful that there may be some other way of interpreting this statute to allow these events to continue, we anticipate that the initial analysis will stand.
The OLCC is already working with Representative Mike Schaufler and Senator Floyd Prozanski to draft language for legislative consideration in the next session.
We ask that those people who are concerned with this issue help us gain support and cooperation from the legislature to get the law revised and in effect in time for next summer’s fair season.
It looks like the OLCC wants to make sure we know it was the Department of Justice and not them that took away our homebrew competitions.
Small jab aside, I’m going to take Denny’s advice and stay positive. As of now, there is no reason to believe the issue will not get resolved in an amicable fashion, even if it doesn’t happen as quickly as we all would like. After all, the wheels of change are slow and all that bosh.
Right now, it looks like a resolution next summer is the most realistic scenario. So, my suggestion is to start brewing your Barley Wines, RIS, Flanders Reds, Oud Bruins and Lambics now. By the time competitions are re-legalized, we should all have some fantastic, well-aged brews to enter.
Cheers!
Kevin
I’m a member of the Cascade brewers Society in Eugene. In addition, I’m on the Governing Committee of the AHA. [...]]]>
I’m a member of the Cascade brewers Society in Eugene. In addition, I’m on the Governing Committee of the AHA. I’m also one of the organizers of a committee to get the law changed. We’ve been at work on it for a couple months now, with the support of the AHA which has dealt with several laws of this type. We’re also in contact with the guys in WA who recently got their law like this changed. What I’d like to say is calm down….things are well under way to get the law changed once the legislature convenes in Jan. 2011. At this point, we have a couple state legislators on board and draft language we’re looking. Angry letters to legislators or the OLCC will be counter productive at this point. We need to come off as the good guys, not angry jerks. We will have a website up at oregonhomebrewersalliance.org soon that will provide updates on the situation. In the meantime, you can sign up for the mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/oregon-home-brewers-alliance . As the legislative session gets closer, we’ll be sending out Action Alerts to let people know what they can do. As egregious as the situation seems, it can and is being corrected. We’d like everyone to support the OHBA and our efforts on this law.
Thank you Denny for the great response. I encourage anyone interested in this topic to join the Google group Denny mentioned above.
Cheers!
Kevin