Contests and happy dances

So far this summer has been pretty busy (I say this as we come to the end of it). Seems like I have found at least one contest a month to drop beers off for. Today I did the drop off for the Michigan Ren Fair home brew contest. Sadly, I missed it last year. I like the idea of this contest cause it gives me an excuse to go to the ren fair (instead of the simple fact that I really am just that geeky). I plan to make it to the award ceremony for this contest in the middle of September. Its a great excuse to dress up in chainmail and carry weapons and try to get samples of great beer.

Now for happy dances...

So, one of the drop off points for the Ren Fair contest is at Siciliano's Market in Grand Rapids. Of course this is the closest drop off point for me (only an hour away). The advantage of this is, Siciliano's does not mail out score sheets for their contest. You have to go to the store to get your sheets (if you do not make it to their awards ceremony). This would be a point of major annoyance to me if they were not a drop off point for so many other contests that happen in Michigan.

This means that it is usually a month or two (maybe a couple more) before I finally find out how my beer did in their contest. It through me off today when I scooped up my sheets today and then the guy who found them for me also pulled out a medal to go with them. It would appear that my dunkleweizen did well enough to earn itself a bronze (of course only a half point away from qualifying for silver). I will say this, picking up a medal for your beer is such an amazing feeling. Ya, I feel I have gained a brief moment to pat myself on the back.

And with all that said, its time to get back to work. The Bitters is now on tap. The heather ale will be going into conditioning in a few more days. And I believe I will be brewing up an agave wheat around the end of this week. I haven't worked out the details just yet for the recipe of the agave. Its one I just have a bit of an idea worked out in my head. I do believe that I have a name for it already, but I won't know for sure till its actually brewed.

Its now time for a pint.

Current readings and other thoughts...

There is a couple books that I have taken up at this time. The first is "Radical Brewing" by Randy Mosher. I love this book, this is my second time through. The brewing knowledge that Mosher brings to the table is phenominal. When you are looking to expand upon your brewing skills this is a must read book. Wow, I am almost at a loss for words when I want to talk about the different parts of the book that have had an impact on me. I will say that, his description of the birth of civilisation is one I use when I talk about the birth of brewing. Honestly, it would have to take something as great as beer to stop us from heading the call of the open road.

The next book was a lucky find. I stopped in to Barnes and Noble today and went through the booze section looking for something that might pique my interest. Usually, all I can find there are either books I already have or ones that do not have enough value for where I am skill wise (most of the books are built around beginner levels and extract recipes). What I did find though made me quite happy. They had a single copy of "Brewing with Wheat" by Stan Hieronymus. Now I could have gotten this book online quite easily before now. But really, its much more satisfying when you find it through a search and conquer quest.

Stan has an engaging writing style that I find enjoyable. Aside from his book "Brew like a Monk" I have become a semi regular reader of his blog. Already I am barely into the first chapter I am getting ideas for wheat beers that I will be brewing in the near future.

Both Mosher and Hieronymus share one thing in common. They don't spoon feed you recipes. They give you the information you need to build your own recipes. To me this is the most important part of brewing. Whether the final beer is good or bad, I want to know that the beer I have created comes from me. This is also why I pushed myself to move from extract brewing to all grain brewing as fast as I could. I want to know that I have as much control as possible in what it is I brew. Mind you, if it was feasible for me to grow my own barley and hops I would be looking to do that too. I so need more time for the things I want to do, instead of the things I have to do.

Speaking of things I want to do... I want a pint.

The beat goes on...

I kegged the Bitters earlier this week. So far I have to say that I like effect that solely using fuggles has on a beer. The initial uncarbed warm taste finds a nice spicy bitterness. I am anxious to see how the final version of the beer turns out.

Tonight I am working on a Scottish heather beer. I have set the beer up as a Scottish Export 80 but I am not using hops of any kind in the beer. I will be hitting it with 2 oz of heather tips and a gram of sweet gale. In the end I am hoping to end up somewhat similar to the beer Froach (frew ach is the correct pronunciation or at least a pretty close proximity).

The last time I played around with particular style was when I was still using extract. At the time I get crazy experimental and just added odds and ends as I found them in the kitchen and then I fermented it at way too high a temperature. The beer ended up as a massively sour monster. It took roughly 6 months before it was settled enough to be drinkable. Mind you, that beer became Bipolar ale and was quite good, but at the same time it was way different than what one might expect.

Now then, time for a pint... I have work to do.

Bitters and other learnings...

I transfered the English Bitters to secondary on Monday. Currently, I am quite pleased with how it has grown. The use of a single hop seems to have carried quite well. The sad part, as I feared it might, the alcohol content ended up a bit higher than I originally wanted. I forsaw this when I noted my original gravity before I began fermentation. Instead of 3.5% it looks like it will have roughly 4.5% alcohol. Its a little high to be considered a session beer but still low enough that it won't flat out kick you in the heiny.

At the same time as transfer I also put into practice yeast washing for the very first time. In the past I have merely transferred directly onto the yeast from the previous batch of beer. This time I actively tried to save the yeast for a future batch of beer.

I am planning on brewing a gruit for my next batch. Although this next beer will not have hops it will be following a traditional Scottish style. Froach (the gaelic word for heather) is already a Scottish beer (which I can't think of the brewery who makes it currently). I fell in love with this beer the first time I sampled it. My next one will follow in the same pattern as this one but will have my touches as always.

The last time I brewed a beer in this style I was doing some way odd experimentation. I ended up with a super sour beer. This time I am planning to keep the experimentation in check and see what happens. I will put up the recipe when I begin the work on it.

Lets go find a pint...