Still Bubbling……

Well, I just checked on my chili beer fermenter and it is still happily bubbling away, even after a week of hot and heavy fermentation. So I will just let it keep chugging.

As I sat there staring at the bubbles running through the airlock, I started thinking about carbonation, and the question hit me. Which is better natural carbonation or artificial/force carbonation? Now depending on who you are, how you like to brew, what kind of beer you like, and numerous other questions you could be on either side. In the beer world this question can draw the same kind of crazy passion as the age old question of “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

Here are my opinions on the subject, and that’s all they are just opinions. I lean much more towards natural carbonation, maybe because it is all I have ever been able to do as a homebrewer. I never have been set up with a CO2 tank and corny kegs, so I have always just primed with a little corn sugar and let the yeast finish the carbonation in the bottle. However, I don’t feel that, that is the only reason. I like natural carbonation, because it appeals to my artistic and creative side. To natural carbonate the beer, you have to add a little sugar to the beer and let the remaining yeast ferment the sugar in the bottle and build the CO2 necessary for the perfect head. So by naturally carbonating a beer, you are basically leaving the beer unfiltered, this leaves the yeast in the bottle and turns the each bottle into it’s own “living” creature. As the beer bottle conditions, the yeast finish their processes and then settle to the bottom. Now the yeast are free to contribute to their own unique flavors to the beer as it ages. The longer the beer is allowed to condition on its own yeast, the more the flavor can change and contribute to beer’s structure. So a beer that you taste weeks after bottling can have a different flavor than the same beer that is opened a few months later. The ever changing flavors of the evolving beer fascinates me and really sways me to the natural carbonation side.

Now don’t get me wrong, force carbonating has its place. When you force carbonate, it is much easier to get a precise CO2 level that will correspond to the amount of  head that the beer will have. So you have more control over the amount of CO2. You also tend to get more microbial stability in the beer if you have the ability to filter the beer. Because you don’t have to rely the yeast to produce those beautiful little bubbles, you can filter the beer and remove all of the yeast and any other type of haze producing particles, which leaves you with a brighter, more clear, and sometimes cleaner tasting beer. You don’t have to worry about the yeast flocculating out and creating that mushy sediment layer on the bottom of each bottle. Most people don’t like to see that sediment and they especially don’t want to drink it.

***On a side note, some people really don’t mind the sediment and think that it all adds to the flavor. I had the opportunity to work and live in the Riverland of Australia for a month and a half. While I was over there I made sure to try as many Australian beers as I could. It was in these beer tastings with many of my Australian co-workers, that I was introduced to Cooper’s. Now Cooper’s is a pretty decent mass produced beer company that not only produces beer but also homebrew kits. But Cooper’s also bottle conditions its mass produced beer, so there is always a nice little yeast cake on the bottom of each bottle. So before I opened my first bottle my Australian counterpart told me to invert the bottle and swirl the cake back into the beer, “It’s better that way, this is the way real Australians drink this beer, and if you don’t do this before every Cooper’s,  we’ll probably call you a ‘stupid American’”. Now he told  me all of this with a good laugh. So I drank the first Cooper’s like a real Australian, but like many things when I’m drinking I forgot to swirl the next bottle and got my fair share of ball busting “Stupid American” comments as they laughed at me. But in my mistake I got to taste the same beer two ways and I must admit, I liked it much better with all of that sediment mixed back into the beer.

Well that was a rather long side note I know, but anyway the next time you pop a top or pry off a crimp on cap, and here that familiar “psssssssssssssst”, take a minute to think about whether the beer was bottle conditioned or force carbonated and decide which you think is better. Enjoy!

Where’s there is smoke, there’s fire!!

So my hot chili beer has been happily fermenting for 4 days and I decided it was time to transfer it to the secondary fermenter. I decided to transfer it because I was following my first recipe, but also because I wanted to add a second dose of hot peppers and oak.

That was my second addition, two jalapenos, one habanero, and two ounces of american oak chips. So I washed the peppers and steamed the oak. Then I rough cut the peppers and added everything to the fermenter.

This picture is, uh, well, uh, I’m trying to think of something clever to say about looking directly down into the carboy. Right down the pipe, no right down the chute, no then all I think of is poop chute and I don’t want that image associated with this beer. Well, maybe staring into the mouth of madness, well anyway you get the idea.

So with the peppers and oak added all that was left was the add the fermenting beer.

Aaaaaaah, now isn’t that the prettiest thing you have ever seen. I think it is. So now it goes back into a cool, dark place, a.k.a the closet, to finish fermenting.

So the waiting continues, but its getting exciting, right??

Here we go again……Fire and Brimstone

OK, so the other day I received the package I had been waiting for. It was a glorious box of beer supplies for my next brew. Now I opened the box and there was the usual assortment of ingredients, dry malt, malt syrup, a pound of crushed grains, a couple of different kinds of hops, and a packet of dehydrated yeast. Pretty standard stuff, nothing to get super excited about. Just the basics for a nice pale ale. Well, I have been in the experimental mood lately, and a plain pale ale just wasn’t going to cut it so I pulled out my “special ingredients” :

1. Chili Peppers – Jalapenos and Habaneros (Fire)
2. Oak Chips
3. Liquid Smoke (Brimstone)
That’s right, another hot pepper beer. Now, just a little quick history, my first hot pepper beer, was pretty hot. I could drink one and my lips burned for days. You know that feeling after eating a bunch of atomic chicken wings, where your lips burn and tingle and nothing but sweet, sweet time can pull you out of the fetal position and settle the swelling of your lips. Yeah, it was pretty awesome!! My buddy Dinker and a select few people actually enjoyed the beer for more than a novelty.
So this is take 2 on that beer, but I am adding a few other ingredients to try and balance the heat from the peppers. So I am adding some oak chips to add a softer mouthfeel and a little bitterness. Then I added some liquid smoke, what I am going for is a smoky, grilled peppers kind of aroma/flavor. We’ll see what I get, all of the beer recipes I have found on using Liquid Smoke were a bit ambiguous as to when to add it to the beer and how much to add. Smoke flavor can be a bit overpowering if too much is used, some recipes called for 2 tablespoons, where others said that 1 1/2 teaspoons was just enough. Then some recipes said to add it at the end of the boil and others said to add it directly to the fermenter. Oh, what the hell, I had no idea what to do so I split the difference and hedged my bets. I added a 1/2 teaspoon to the boil and then 1 1/2 teaspoons directly to the fermenter. So here’s hoping for the best.
All of this was done to find the perfect backyard barbeque beer. I want a beer that is a perfect compliment to a summer barbeque. A beer that perfectly compliments a nice juicy burger straight from the grill. I want this beer to have a little heat, but some roasted/smoky notes so when you taste it, it quenches your thirst but leaves you picturing that giant burger topped with a melted slice of jalapeno pepperjack cheese.
So with some wishful thinking I put the lid on the fermenter, inserted the airlock and tucked this beer away for the night. I gave it a quick check this morning to find it happily bubbling away, so we shall see what I get. Just a short couple of weeks and we’ll give it a taste. Hell, maybe I’ll throw a BBQ and you can taste it and tell me how close I came to the perfect BBQ beer.
Until then, support your local brewers and drink local.

Ithaca Beer – 12 Anniversary Ale: Monastery-style Quadruple Ale – Beer Review

So it has been said that great minds think a like, and that was true for Saturday night. My buddy Dinker was stopping by so I ran out to buy a decent beer for a possible dual review, well he had the same idea and brought over a beautiful bottle of 12 Anniversary Ale from Ithaca Beer. Well his Quadruple ale trumped by beer by Goose Island, so we reviewed the Quad.

12 Anniversary Ale is another beer in Ithaca’s Excelsior line. I reviewed the White Gold in an earlier review, so I had high hopes for this beer as well. So I poured the bottle and away we go:

 

PROST!!

Aroma: Naps – A lot of yeasty aromas, not much hop aroma     Dinker – Not as he would have expected, more yeasty  aromas

Visual:  Naps – very heady, very turbid but could be because of the pour. Dark brown in color.

Dinker – Chestnut brown, a bit cloudy but expected because of the bottle fermentation.

Taste: Naps – definitiely got some dark chocolate notes, it was very apparent in the middle of the palate, then finished with the same bitterness from dark chocolate. Has slight CO2 bite, but still very smooth. Definitely has some alcohol content which is expected because it is a Quadruple, I could feel the back of neck getting warm as I was finishing my glass.

Dinker – Very smooth moutfeel, and very drinkable. The alcohol is not as strong as expected for a Quad. Wouldn’t label it as a traditional Quad, there is something different about it that makes it unique from other Quads.

Overall: Naps -  This was my first Quad. I have had Dubbels and Trippels that have been very good, but this was very very good. So far I have really liked everything in Ithaca’s Excelsior line.

Dinker – This beer is definitely worth the $8 I paid for it. It is different than other Quads, but I just can’t put my finger on it. It is very drinkable and I could have easily drank the whole bottle, where other Quads tend to be very heavy and after  1 pint you’re finished. I definitely like both this and the White Gold in the Excelsior line.

So if you have an extra $8 and you see this bottle it is definitely worth trying. Also in my personal opinion after  trying two beers from Ithaca’s Excelsior line up, I would buy and try any beer that is in that line. So until then grab a pint, tip the bottom up and enjoy.

Lame

So it appears that I am super lame or well at least my blog is. Now I know that beer isn't for everyone, but I figured someone would suggest something, but its been two weeks and nothing, zip, zilch, nada. Well, that's fine, maybe its not me. Yeah that's right, piss on you, maybe its because you're lame. That's right, I said it, you're lame. OK, OK you're not lame, you just have a life where it appears that I do not. So anyway, I guess I'll have to get creative on my own, which can be dangerous. Now, I'm not the most creative of guys, when it comes to anything that uses the right side of my brain (the artistic/creative side) I'm lost. Case in point, right now I'm trying to think of something witty to say about something creative and I got nothing. My wife will pick out hundreds and I really mean hundreds of paint swatches (she really likes to paint rooms over and over) to paint a room, she can hold up a swatch to the wall and see how the room will look painted that color. Me, I look at it and see a purple blot on a cream wall, I have no idea of how the room will look until the room is completely painted. However, with that being said there are two things that I am good/creative with: wood working, I know how to work with some wood lol, just ask any woman I know but I digress, and beer.

So left to my own devices, I decided I would try to combine a few of the more interesting ingredients from previous beers and create an ultra, uber, awesome, delicious frothy creation that anyone who tasted it would  be saying to themselves "That Naps is a wily ol' bastard, but damn that's a great beer.". So half of me wants to keep my plan a secret, because things are always better the first time if you don't know what is in it, but the other half of me wants to just come out with it and tell you, because I'm going to blog about the brewing of this beer anyway and just bank on the fact that by the time I have a party, if I have a party all of you will have forgotten about it by then.

So I guess I'll just come out with it, my "secret" ingredients are oak, liquid smoke, and chili peppers. My last hot pepper beer was good, but the hot peppers were a little overpowering. You could drink one and be sweating from the heat. What I am shooting for with this beer is a little tamer on the heat, but more rounded with some smokiness and oak. So it is not super exciting, I know but all in all I think it will be a good beer. Only time will tell.

Suggestion Box Time………

So I have been tossing a lot things through my mind lately about this blog and ideas for posts and one of the better ones that came to me was the good ol’ suggestion box. I thought that it might be fun to get some suggestions from you, on basically anything. If there is a beer that you think looks good, but you don’t want to drop the dough on it and then hate it, tell me and I’ll give it a go and tell you if its worth the coin. If you want me to write about some specific part of the brewing process because you have question, tell me and I’ll give the knowledge that I have and if that’s not good enough I’ll find the answer. If you want to hear more of the “good times” from my outings to breweries/bars tell, lord knows I have more stories than I have good sense. So just send me a comment and let me know.

However, with all of that being said I thought of one thing that I would really like to attempt and would greatly appreciate some input on and that is what beer to brew next. I know, I know all of that build up for a pretty lame idea. Well, you didn’t let me finish you ass, so here is the rest of it. I’ll take people’s opinions on what beer to brew and once I have a clear winner, I’ll get that beer a brewing. Then I’ll blog and update that beer’s progress through the whole process until it is just about ready to crack open and give it a proper tasting. It’s at this point where things really could get interesting and fun. For a few select (possibly all, if I still only have 7 followers lol) of the people/followers of this blog I will throw a tasting party for the winning beer. We will have a big cookout with the usual pub fare, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, whatever and of course delicious homebrew. So what do you think? I know, I’m awesome.

So what kind of beer is it going to be, an old stand by like Porter or a Pale Ale or something more interesting like the Hot Chili Beer, a beer with spices (i.e. cloves, chamomile, ginger etc.), a fruit beer, whatever. Just put your ideas out there and we’ll take a vote and may the best beer win.

Keep ‘em tipping !!!