Session Development

I originally wrote this post a few days ago when I was sampling the beer to see if it was fully carbonated, but I have had to come back and redo the post because my initial impressions have changed.  The first few pints I tried were way too hoppy, which was sort of strange because I made an conscious effort to tone down the hops.  It wasn't bad being hoppy, it just wasn't what I was trying to make, I already have a Pale and IPA that are hop-focused.  The pint I poured tonight was more of what I was aiming for originally, a balanced session beer.  I still think it could use a little more body to it, but the malt comes through really well right now.  I am curious to find out what other people think of this beer, as it has that biscuity taste that a lot of people like in Fat Tire and Mac and Jack's African Amber.

I plan on brewing this one again soon with some minor changes, but I will wait to decide on what to change once I get some other people to give me feedback.  If you are in Boise, write me a comment and I will try to get you a bottle.

The Caboose

First you will notice that the look of the blog changed.  I started playing with stuff when I put the Facebook and Twitter links in and liked the clean look of this layout.  It should change some more, but I can't figure out some of the header stuff to put in the logo.  Blogger almost makes things too simple to the point where you can't do things you want to do.  The Facebook page just got put up, so if this is the first time to the blog, welcome.  Twitter is up, I m going to try to start using that, so we'll see.

Today I am brewing the first batch of The Caboose and racking last week's Stout into secondary fermenters with some additions to the fermenters.  Here is what we have going on The Caboose:

The Caboose 

Style: Old Ale
Malts: American 2-Row, Aromatic, Caramunich, Munich, Special B
Hops: Cascade, Chinook, Nugget
ABV: ~7%
Playlist: Couldn't do the Christmas music yet, Reckless Kelly's "Snowfall" was good enough to put me in the winter mood.  Working on a skiing playlist with some Counting Crows, Blues Traveler and all the other great songs from Warren Miller films.

Its only fitting for a Holiday Beer that it be really cold outside when I make it, the least it could do is snow so I could go skiing.

I split the Stout into two batches, one batch is aging on Cocoa Nibs, Vanilla Bean and Peppermint. Since I was not able to track down enough huckleberries, the other one is not on anything and can be a control to try next to the chocolate vanilla peppermint one.

November Update

Since this summer, posts have become less and less frequent. So this is suppose to bring everyone up to date on the progress of the brewery.

Fund-raising has started and is progressing fine, although it is something that takes a lot more time that I thought. The time thing isn't because I am getting turned down or anything, just people are busy. It makes sense because I am talking with successful businessmen who worked hard to get there and are tied up running companies. I can't complain about it, but I get frustrated playing the waiting game.

Beers. The majority of my posts recently have been about pilot batches that I have been working on. The biggest hurdle for my pilots is that I don't have the space or money to get my pilot system set up right, so I am still lacking some of the controls that would help make better more consistent beer. I am comfortable with the state of my Pale Ale. The recipe isn't totally nailed down, but I have enough batches that I know what I am looking for when I go to host taste panels to decide which will be the beer. I have started working on an Amber, which still needs some work. My biggest problem is deciding what kind of Amber it will be since in my mind the style can go hoppy or malty. I keep trying to go malty, but then the C hops get put in front of me and I can't resist. Seasonal beers and Ales of No Return are in the works, but I am not as concerned with those right now.

Open Source Beer

I will start this post by saying that I am pretty sure I heard this idea somewhere else, but have not idea where so I can't credit them. On the other hand, maybe it is just such a brilliant idea that I am afraid to credit myself when in fact I am really just that genius...probably the beer talking there.

Here's the deal, the abundance of information and mass collaboration has given way to sites like Wikipedia and operating systems like Linux, so why not apply that to a beer. Here is what I want to do, put together a beer recipe that starts out rather simple, but produces a decent beer. Make a batch 15 barrel batch of the beer and call it "Boise's Ale 1.0" or something that gives some ownership to consumers and shows where it is in development. I then make the recipe and all the details available to local homebrewers and ask them to make a batch, but try to improve on it in some way. Then they would need to bring in samples, similar to a competition, and we would go through all the samples and decide on which change(s) should be incorporated in the next batch. Brew 15 barrels of "Boise's Ale 2.0" and go through the process again and again...Maybe call is just "1.0" then "1.1" or "2.0" etc.

The way I vision this unfolding would be that the beer gets a few iterations in and is grows into a damn good beer. The recipe would still be available and I would still take samples of beers that the local talent brew, but it should get to the point where it will take an excellent improvement to change the beer.

Based on what I know of homebrewers, the beer may start as an Amber at 5% and a few batches later be a Barley Wine aged in bourbon barrels clocking in at 10%.

Ideas keep coming...just need to get the financing to start rolling in so I can put the ideas to good use.

Waiting for Snow...

Getting antsy to ski, even if it is only the middle of November. Today I am brewing up a Christmas (Holiday, if I have to be P.C.) Beer. I am brewing a larger batch than normal today so that I can split the beer in secondary fermentation and try out two ideas for this beer. I guess you could call this laziness, but this way I can have two similar beers side by side to see what works and what didn't.

Milk Stout
Malts: American 2-Row, Chocolate Malt, Lactose, Roasted Barley
Hops: Galena (gotta love hops named for Idaho landmarks)
ABV: ~5.5% - 6%
Playlist: "Run This Town" (puts me in the mindset for what I am trying to do in Boise) then "Real As It Gets (best song on the Blueprint III) followed a jump to Micky and the Motorcars "Live at Billy Bob's Texas" (I know, big change from Jay-Z, but I'm in charge)

It is a rather simple Stout recipe because a lot of the flavors are going to come from the ingredients that the beer is aged on instead of a complex malt bill. The lactose will make the beer sweeter and smoother, it should also compliment the cocoa better than the bitterness of the roasted barley (and hops, although the IBU's of this beer are pretty low).

Taking the first wort and pre-boil gravities

The specifics of the two different batches are tentative right now and I will put up a new post once I have done it, but here are the thoughts for right now.

Peppermint Chocolate Stout
~ Age with peppermint, vanilla beans and cocoa nibs

Huckleberry Chocolate Stout
~ Age with huckleberries (if I can't locate any then probably cherries) and cocoa nibs

I mentioned putting coffee in one in an earlier post, but I don't like the idea of having coffee and lactose in the same beer. I will just have to make my "Cowboy Coffee Stout" at another point.

As of me typing this, I am calling this beer "Belschnical," but that is still subject to change. I will save an explanation of the name for a later date if you don't already know what it means.

Holiday Beer Ideas

It is coming up on the Holiday's, so it is about time to brew a few Christmas beers. I have two ideas that I will brew shortly.

Peppermint Chocolate Stout: I guess I didn't learn my lesson last year with my Candy Cane Belgian Strong Ale. Although now I have a good gauge on how much mint to put in the beer without it being a failure. (On that note, I do have at least 1 bottle of last years beer to try this year in the event that the mint faded...unlikely). I am thinking about making about a double batch or a bigger batch so that I can split it into two after primary fermentation, I would finish one with vanilla and the other with coffee. I am still toying with things to add to this beer without overwhelming it, but I want something noticeably different from my Stout. As with all of my beers, I will post something on the brew day to talk about all the details of the beer.

Winter Warmer: This isn't really an official style, but it very common among breweries around this time of year. Calling it a winter warmer and making some sort of Strong Ale gives the brewer a lot of flexibility with what goes into the beer. I am going to take my Belgian Dubbel recipe, tweak it some, hop it up and use an American yeast strain. The plan is to retain some of the dark fruit characteristics from the Dubbel, but then put some "C" hops in to give it some of that west coast touch. The beer also should be strong enough to hold up for a few years of cellaring, with the hopes that in future years I will barrel age some of it and blend that with a fresh batch each year. For the record, I am referring to this beer as "The Caboose" from here on out. I have a bunch of ideas for The Caboose, most with the assumption that this will become Payette Brewing Co's Winter/Holiday/Christmas/End of the Year Beer.

Other beers on the horizon include variations to current Pale and Amber recipes as well as "The Jackalope DIPA"

Blonde Pilot

I made a Blonde Ale a few weeks back for a Halloween party and wanted to revisit that beer a little bit. Luckily there is some left, so in between typing that first sentence and this one, I went and poured myself a pint. I have said before that Blonde's are tricky because they are so light that any flaws will be easier to detect. Whereas problems in IPA's and Stout's are more difficult to detect since there are bigger and bolder flavors up front.

This beer ended up being a little rushed, I brewed it a little late to be ready for Halloween. Although some of the issues I have with this beer are more my fault, even if I tried to blame them on time. I used an English Ale yeast, which is not the preferred type of yeast for this style of beer, but it has some characteristics that I like, so I tried it. Overall, I would give this beer about a 3 (scale of 1-5). It has a nice light yellow color although has some haze with excess yeast still suspended. I has a nice bready taste and is fairly light bodied, the bitterness is great for a Blonde. The hop aroma is mostly lost in the fruity esters, which is the major problem with this beer. It lacks that crisp, dry finish that most Blonde's have. The beer came in at 4.2% and is sessionable.

Those Samuel Adams glasses are pretty tight

I don't like using a yeast starter because I find the first generation is always under pitched, leading to the excess ester production as was the case with this beer. I could make a starter, so this problem is on me. The beer also didn't ferment as far as I was planning because I didn't give it enough time at the low fermentation temperature, which led to the beer being on the sweeter side (instead of dry). My biggest frustration is that I know how to fix the problems with the beer, but with my current equipment there is little that I can do about it.