Oberon Clone

With the passing of another year in my life leaving me to embrace my 30's, there was only a handful of things that could feel young. Beer is in that handful. Being 30 isn;t that bad, not being in your twenties is what drags you down. Oh well. Recently I have had the pleasure to complete a couple brews. The most recent was an Oberon clone. It is a simple recipe made up of about 505 malted wheat, one hop addition of Saaz, and some Coriander. I mashed with three gallons to about 10lbs of grain at 152°. I didn't use my blanket wrap method on the mash tun and in doing so, lost what appeared to be close to 10° in an hour, which is not acceptable. This cooler was good for a starter, but quickly needs replacing. In the end, I collected six gallons to boil. Boiling consisted of one hour and went pretty well. On a side note, I am really excited to upgrade my equipment to include a stainless steel pot...or keg. My concerns and curiosities are how much, if any, aluminum contributes to off flavors. I believe I have searched this curiosity before on some home brewing forums and the conclusions were mixed, some believe so, some believe not. I may need to re investigate When chilling the wort, I went with a new direction I picked up from fellow home brew Nick over the weekend. I usually use my wort chiller, coupled with an ice bath or cold water. I would cut the chiller short when the water was warm to the touch. My thought here was that I wanted to conserve water. Usually my patience would run thin on the amount of time it took to chill. This time I said screw the bath and just let the wort chiller do its thing full blast on the driveway. Being over conservative with water consumption went by the wayside. Perhaps I used just as much water with the chiller as I would with a bath and cutting the chiller short. I even used the water to clean the mash tun, and could easily make it more efficient next time, adding some soap in the beginning so I have a nice hot tun of cleaning water. Surprisingly, it chilled to 80° or so in about 15 minutes. That's just right. I transferred to the carboy and added a cup of yeast slurry from my boy Matt's carboy. He brewed an Oberon clone last week, and was ready to keg. I thought it interesting for me to brew one as well and compare notes and such. the starting gravity was 1.032. I don't know if that was too low. I am still contemplating my cooler / mashing efficiencies, I always feel like I miss my starting gravity. I guess I have to wait and see what it finishes out at. Next up on brew day, a honey wheat!

The abundant popularity of Michigan Beer

This past weekend I revisited some old roots, sprouted some new ones and was overall ecstatic to see my favorite band get back together and play three amazing shows in Virginia. After a four year hiatus, Phish was back at the mothership, AKA Hampton Coliseum to clarify they merely had standard band problems that needed to be addressed and challenged. It is promising to see a band be able to stand again on its feet after being knocked down by many circumstances. When I realized that Northworst airlines had made a mistake on my flying itinerary, I quickly realized that a ticket last minute would be too expensive to justify, since ironically, Northworst doesn't even fly to Newport News (funny though, on the phone I never recall mentioning I needed to go to Newburgh, NY). Quickly I realized that driving was going to my my only option. 10 lovely hours through the hills of PA, MD and VA. After scrunting (new adjective for when your pissed off at an airline) around for a bit, I saw one shinning light of bliss for my drive; I can load the car up with Bell's and hopefully break even with my traveling expenses.

Now for those of you whom may be completely confused, allow me to explain. Phish fans are some of the most outgoing people this nation may have. And in so, they like their party. So, on any given show, you can find parking lots at venues filling up as soon as security / police / gate keepers let them in, usually between two and three pm. By five, you'll have full out tail gating, retail and partying. As far as retail is concerned, you can find (fortunately and unfortunately) pretty much everything. If there is ever a steady economy, it would be on what is called Shakedown Street. Amongst all of the vendors you will find clothing, fantastic meals, gems and earthly possessions, artwork, and most importantly, BEER. With those that usually sell beer, the majority plays it safe, with the likes of Guinness, Newcastle and Sierra Nevada, most likely in part that those brands are available in any liquor store in any state and taste well enough. But there are some who widh to share their special secrets or hometown jewels. From my many years of Shakedown involvement, I remember Bell's Beer was always a favorite. I would have loved to have purchased and brought all my favorite Michigan produced beers, but budgetary concerns could not afford to spend a lot on something I might not be able to sell. I needed a brand that already had some recognition and familiarity, something I knew I could unload and at least break even in my expenses. So I Traveled to Champagnes in Warren and loaded up on two cases of Two Hearted Ale, two cases of Best Brown, one case of Winter White and one case of Hopslam.

Upon parking, we had as many Bell's we could on ice and set out to investigate the scene. As we approached a main crossing, the Bell's logo did all the talking. I must have sold two cases in the first hour. So many people came flocking for this beer. So much so, I did get a bit nervous about police intervening. Usually they are looking for trademark infringements or those trying to sell narcotics. But I have seen people be arresting for selling liquor or even worse, taking your beer and leaving. Others were just curious for a new beer, so I had a blast explaining the characteristics of all the styles. BY my second trip back to the car my friend Terry mentioned that he would like to see enough to stick around for us to enjoy. He lives in downtown New York, and currently Bell's isn't available near him. So I decided to close the store for the rest of the evening and move to consuming a couple tasty beverages.

On the third day I still had more Bell's than we planned (or possibly could) consume. We parked directly across from a couple who was selling Rogue bombers. They were selling them for $6 a pop, which is what they cost in stores, so I was pleasantly surprised. I was excited to purchase a Brutal Bitter when I remembered "wait a minute, I am selling as well, I'm sure they would love to trade." So when I mentioned I had a nice selection of Bell's they were more than happy to trade. They were from Philly I believe and I could not remember if they had access to Bell's but they were very excited to try Hopslam and get a couple Two Hearted's. I received a Brutal Bitter and a Hazelnut Brown Ale. Turns out the dude knew someone who got him those cases of Rogue for dirt cheap. The girl was super excited to tell me all about Arcadia Ales. I think she was over excited to remember I was from Michigan. After some good conversation I made my way to Shakedown and had no trouble meeting other awesome beer enthusiasts. People who lived in Boston who couldn't find Bell's, Chicago people, those I had no idea where they were from, they were just super excited to try this Hopslam beer they've heard so much about. I spent a lot of time talking to this one guy, from the Traverse City area who was just as excited to see Michigan beer as anyone else. When I mentioned I spent a small honeymoon vacation in the area and got to visit Right Brain he said "I wouldn't know anything about them" and turned his head. I thought something caught his eye, so I patiently waited and when he turned back to me with a questionable look on his face I realized he was wearing a Right Brain hat. We had a good laugh.

In the end I saved three Best Brown's for myself to take home and savor in memory of a great weekend. I love the evidence that great beer is appreciated anywhere you go. Granted there were people selling $1 Champagne's, but many others wanted a nicely produced beverage, and many wanted Bell's. Had I known the response, I would have taken a larger vehicle for more cases to share more quality encounters.

Short's Brewery Hits Bottling

Another fantastic Craft brewery in Michigan has made their nectar available in bottles. Short's Brewery from Bellaire joined the market officially today at one in the afternoon. I learned of this in one of my local craft brew stores picking up the six cases of Bell's I plan to share with as many as possible this weekend in Virginia. Speaking with the manager, he mentioned that they just went on sale an hour before I arrived, which confirms that somehow I was removed from their email list, because I heard nothing of it, but that's another story.

Currently available is the Pandemonium Pale Ale, The Bellaire Brown and Huma-Lupa Licious IPA. More variety is in the works but inside word has it that the folks over at Short's either had trouble or were still learning about the labeling machine and had to cut their delivery stock to stores.

I have yet to make it to the brewery itself but have heard nothing but excessive praise for the beers they have. I also heard you want to bring a DD with you because the cops love them some beer fans.

www.shortsbrewing.com

Stimulus plan = Stimulus Ale

Fort Street Brewery in Lincoln Park has a grand idea to help boost the economy in the midst of this stimulus crisis. Since Obama's tax incentive will apparently boost all of our paychecks by an estimated $8, in which the government hopes we'll spend more and thus save the economy, Fort Street is releasing its Stimulus Ale. For $8 you get 32 ounces of delicious Imperial Saison style brew, or French IPA. At 7% abv that'll either hamper or resolute your economy opinions further, and we'll be closer to survival or neighbor to neighbor war.

Dry Hoppin

In my craft brew madness, that has taken me to many places, including my backyard, I've finally taken my first dry hopping experiment. I had grown some rhizomes last summer, and managed to find a harvest of about 4 ounces of cascades. Watching these things grow was a great delight and addition to my summer horticultural obsessions. After making two separate pickings, I packaged the hops in air tight ziplock bags and placed them in the freezer, with no real time table for use.

In the last month or so I've made three batches. A Sam Smith Winter Welcome clone, a Guinness clone, and a first attempt at a Breckenridge Pale Ale clone. When brewing the Pale Ale clone, I spent a good amount of time on the malt and hop quantities and additions. On brew day, I had a frustrating boil agenda. I had a couple boil overs, and messed up the timing of my hop additions, thus only boiling for 45 minutes. Hoping to still achieve a reputable clone, I cut the flame and decided to chill....the wort that is.

This past weekend, I bottled everything and decided to split the Pale Ale between dry hopping three gallons and bottling the rest. The cascades were still airtight in the freezer and came out to weigh 2.5 ounces. they had some freezer ice built up on one side, but still smelled great. I have no idea how much AAU's they hold from being fresh, to being frozen, and then being used. 2.5 ounces is a lot of hops for only three gallons, but I figured I have nothing to loose. The brew day had some mistakes, I still have a case of that, I had no planned use for the hops and have never dry hopped. So I threw it all in the carboy, filled it up and have let it sit in the basement for three days now, with bottling in mind for tomorrow or Tuesday.

I can't wait to compare the two side by side to see the difference of the two bottles.