The Bruery: Shegöat

8.7% ABV

It's kind of funny, sometimes you get so wrapped up in all the exotic beers that are out there theses days - exotic hops from a far off land, various types of barrel aging, different types of sours, etc. Then you come across a bottle that is described as "German-style ale"... Sounds sort of pedestrian when compared to many of the descriptions for beer nowadays. Then you try it and it reminds you that sometimes the simplest things in life are great.

Shegöat from The Bruery (Placentia, CA) is just that. Understated goodness in a bottle. It pours out nice and dark brown with plenty of carbonation. The malt aroma and the banana were immediately apparent. It tasted just like it smelled and had great mouthfeel. Overall a great beer.

I also think it is pretty cool too that it comes from one of Patrick's original home brew recipes!

Yeast Washing

I had read a bit about yeast washing online and it sounded like a bit of a hassle, required good sanitation practices (who does that?), and I wasn't sure how to determine cell counts once washed so I never followed through with it. Kind of spur of the moment I saved the yeast cake from my Saison de Noel #2 batch (still need to post). It sat in my refrigerator for a few weeks until the night I tried the first bottle and I realized that I really liked the saison yeast strain, so I re-read the instructions online and started my experiment with yeast washing.

I didn't have the patience to boil up a bunch of water and then let it cool, so I used some sanitizer to sanitize a large pyrex mixing bowl (the kind with a handle and spout). I poured in 3 bottles of bottled water and then the yeast cake that I had saved. Even though it was very thick, I could still see the layers of beer, yeast, and trub. I poured out most of the beer in the sink and then added the yeast layer and part of the trub to my pyrex bowl. Then I mixed it up with a sanitized spoon.

I covered with a piece of sanitized aluminum foil and tossed it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After that time, I could pretty clearly see a layer of yeast and a layer of trub.

The one thing that I don't have at home are the mason jars, so I thought about similar containers that I have around the house and came up with the idea to use old 12 oz. beer bottle and then just cap them. I sanitized four 12 oz. bottles and used a sanitized funnel to pour the yeast layer into the bottles. I put a cap on each and then labeled them with a permanent marker for the yeast strain. In to the refrigerator they went for a long nap.

Time will tell if either i) leaving the yeast cake in my refrigerator in a cup covered with foil, or ii) using bottled water rather than boiling will result in the yeast being infected. Hopefully not, because I will be upset if I ruin a whole batch using bad yeast....

The finished product:

Now I just need to find out approximately how much yeast is in each bottle to try to get the pitch rate correct!

Update: I re-used my washed yeat in my Farmhouse Saison recipe (still need to post) and it seemed to work. Although I seemed to have a problem with incomplete fermentation. Not sure if that was a  result of the washed yeast or the honey in the recipe.

Cismontane Brewing Company: Black's Dawn

8.5% ABV  50 IBU's

I might be biased because Cismontane Brewing Co. (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) is my local craft beer watering hole. Or maybe it's just that they make really good beer and always have a cool crowd on hand at the tasting room. Either way, I have been going to Cismontane pretty much since they opened and I have always enjoyed the beer and the people.

Black's Dawn is their Imperial Stout w/ coffee. It pours out black with a nice brown head. The aroma is of roasted malts and coffee. The taste is roasted malts, coffee, and a bit of chocolate. Mouth feel is smooth and there is just enough alcohol to give it a nice warm feeling as it goes down.

My "food pairing" was a leftover bowl of home made chili. When I wrote this, the weather is just right too - a cold Winter night in Orange County with the temp dipping all the way down into the high 50's...

I always enjoy my visits to Cismontane and look forward to making it over there more frequently in the future.

Noble Ale Works: 3rd Anniversary Party

Noble Ale Works has really gained some local notoriety over the last two years or so. I have had the chance to make it by there a few times before Ducks games and a handful of times on the weekend. Each time I have been there they have had a unique selection of brews. I am also strangely attracted to their location where you have the semi-enclosed rustic tasting room, but you are free to walk back and hang out in the brewery area.









You start to realize that is is going to be a great day for a craft beer party when it is 80 degrees and perfectly clear skies in early February. It doesn't get much better than spending a harsh winter in Southern California in your shorts and sandals drinking great beer! (As I am writing this it is a few weeks later and it is pouring rain outside. We really need it here...)







Walking up to the event I was not surprised to see a pretty long line stretching down the street. Not newsworthy other than that it moved really quickly. A few minutes later, tasting glass and tasting sheet in hand, I was fiesta ready!








The few advertisements I had seen for the event reported 30 or so beers, but they ended up with a few more including some special casks and beer cocktails. There was a large tent in the parking lot with a serving station on each side and then the indoor tasting room had quite a few selections. In the parking lot there were three food trucks serving up some good smelling food. Right off the bat I noticed that the waiting in line situation was going to be a problem. Not sure how many people they were expecting, but there had to be close to a thousand.

After a quick walk around the event, I made my way to the shortest line and got to work. Here is what I had a chance to try throughout the day (in no particular order):

Bean Bump (Imperial Naughty Sauce) - This was their 3rd Anniversary beer. It said it was 12.7% ABV, but it went down the hatch dangerously smoothly...

Citra Showers (Citra DIPA) - A solid IPA. I love Citra hops, but for some reason the batch this year seems to taste a little weird to me.

The Messenger (IPA collaboration w/ Three Weavers) - I really enjoyed this one. A nice balance of hops and citrus from additions of Buddha's Hand and Pomelo.

Nelson Showers (Nelson DIPA) - Another version of their single hop DIPA series. This one was solid.

Cocoa Bump (Bean Bump w/ cocoa nibs) - Their first special cask. Very similar to bean bump. Not overly cocoa.

Barrel 1 is Nuts (Barrel aged strong ale w/ toasted pecans) - The last special cask. I'm not sure the pecan flavor from actual additions of nuts worked for me.

The Brown Note (Belgian-style Brown Ale) - Nice name... It tasted awesome too.... One of my favorites of the day.

Cinnamon Roast Crunch (Naughty Sauce w/ cinnamon) - Tasted just like you would think from the name.

Earl's Grey Dinghy (English Bitter w/ Earl Grey Tea) - I had had this one (or something very similar) at their tasting room before and enjoyed it. The addition of tea really gives it a unique character.

Picnic Bubbly (American Saison) - I have been on a bit of a Saison kick lately. This one was great. Just the right amount of funk and pepper that I like. 8.5% ABV also. I think this was my favorite of the day.

Shandyland (Picnic Bubbly and grapefruit juice w/ sugar and bitters) - Good, but I still preferred the straight Picnic Bubbly.

Gosebusters (German Gose w/ Oolong Tea) - Nice light sourness with the tea and fruit flavors in the background.

Mr. Sparkle (Golden ale w/ Sorachi Ace hops) - Nice golden Belgian ale with some citrus.

Rosalita (Pistol Whip'd w/ hibiscus flowers) - Nice pink color. I couldn't taste the hibiscus too much.

Luckily the tasters were not big.... Overall an incredible day in the sun with great beer. Now I am looking forward to their 4th Anniversary!

Home Brew Batch #14: Home Grown Whole Hop IPA

Two years ago I purchased some hop rhizomes (Cascade?) for my brother to grow on his ranch up in Northern California. The first season they didn't really take off, but last Summer they did fairly well.

Finally my brother showed up at my house with the harvested hops, I was a bit apprehensive to go through the whole process of making a batch of beer without knowing the alpha acid level, but I decided to go for it anyway. I figured as IPA would be the best to showcase the hops.







I have been doing all grain recipes, but I wanted to make a full 5 gallon batch with a high enough gravity for a good IPA. Since my brew kettle is only 4 gallons or so, I didn't have enough room for a full mash, so partial extract it is....

Here is the recipe I used:

5 lbs. American 2-row
1 lb. Carapils
6 lbs. Light LME
6 oz. Honey
3.5 oz. (approximately) dried whole hops. Cascade? AA%???
1 vial White Labs Yeast WLP001
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp. irish moss
2 gallons purified bottled water
3/4 cup priming sugar

I started with 3 gallons of strike water at 160 f and mashed the 2-row and Carapils for 80 minutes at 150 f. Then I heated 5.5 gallons sparge water to 170 f. After I removed the grain bag, I soaked it in the sparge water for 10 monutes and then removed the grain. I dumped the sparge water in to the boil kettle with the rest of the mash water and brought it to a boil. I added 1 oz. of the whole hops at 60 minutes, 1/4 oz. of whole hops at 45 minutes, and 1/4 oz. of whole hops at 30 minutes. At 30 minutes I added the honey and LME. I added 1/4 oz. of hops at 15 minutes and then the irish moss and yeast nutrient at 10 minutes.

After 2 weeks of fermentation, I racked to a secondary fermentor and added the remaining hops for dry hopping. I bottled 2 weeks later.
















Update: As expected, the level of alpha acid was unknown, so the bitterness was way too low. Maybe next year as the root system develops the quality of the hops will improve. The one thing that was very interesting was that the aroma and taste of the beer was very much like the original hops my brother gave me, but seemed to have a strange detergent taste/smell. I didn't like it at all, but others seemed to like it a lot....

Home Brew Batch #13: All Grain Saison de Noel #1

The Summer always seems to get in the way of brewing with so many things to do away from home. By the time I started to think about my next batch it was already late August. I was trying to think ahead for something for the holidays and I came across a Saison de Noel recipe online. I adapted it as follows for a 2.5 gallon batch:

5 lbs. Belgian Pilsner Malt
0.25 lbs. Aromatic
0.125 lbs Carafa III
0.125 Cara Munich
0.50 lbs. Dextrose
0.50 lbs Belgian Candi Syrup 80 L
0.50 oz. Magnum Hops 15.2% AA
1/2 vial White Labs WLP 566 Saison II
1/2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1/4 tsp. Irish Moss
2.5 oz. Priming Sugar

I started with 3 gallon of strike water at 160 f. The mash started almost exactly at 150 f and held its heat
well. The sparge method I tried on this one was to heat 0.5 gallons of sparge water to 168 f and then I poured it over the grain bag as it was sitting on a colander suspended over my boil kettle.

After boiling for 15 minutes, I added the Magnum hops at 60 minutes. At 45 minutes I added the Dextrose and Belgian Candi Sugar (I didn't add them at 60 minutes because I was trying to avoid some carmelization, but this recipe is dark enough color and had lots of malty flavor, so it probably didn't matter too much). At 15 minutes I added the yeast nutrient and irish moss. Then cooled, pitched yeast, and let ferment for 2 weeks in the primary.



Update: I gave away a growler of this one and a couple of bottles, so there wasn't a whole lot left for me to enjoy after those. The beer was good, but not as memorable as the second batch. I wonder now if the yeast pitch rate was way too low. I tried to split a vial of yeast, so maybe it was unequal. For this high of gravity I definitely should have gone with a full vial per 2.5 gallon batch. The only other issue I can think of was that it fermented a bit too warm.

Home Brew Batch #12: All Grain Hefeweizen

So the weather warmed up quite a bit the last couple of weeks (May '13). I remembered a Hef that I brewed a few years ago that was a big time banana bomb because is fermented really warm. With summer right around the corner, warm ambient temperature for fermenting, and a desire to try an all grain recipe other than all barley, I though a Hef was in order!

The last two all grain batches I have brewed I was only doing 2.5 gallons due to the size of my 4 gallon brewpot that could only hold enough grain for a half batch. I had the idea to do the mash in my 6 gallon fermenter, so I thought I would try a full 5 gallon batch with a lighter recipe like this Hef.

I adapted a recipe from my home brew book Brewing Classic Styles. Here it is for a 5 gallon batch:

- 6 lbs German Pilsner Malt
- 6 lbs. Wheat Malt
- 0.8 oz. Hallertau
- 1 vial White Labs WLP 380 Hefeweizen IV

Brewing was pretty straight forward with the brew in a bag method:

- 4 gal. strike water @ 165 f
- Mash at 152 f for 60 min.
- Rinsed in 1 gallon hot tap water (I should have heated it)
- Boil 30 minutes
- 0.8 oz. Hallertau
- Boil for 60 more minutes
- 1/4 tsp. Irish Moss last few minutes

I used a sink full of water and my wort chiller to get it down to about 75 f before pitching the yeast (1.050 OG). As I said above the ambient temperature was pretty high in the house (high 70's), so the next morning the fermentor was going wild and the temperature was up near 80 f. I tried to put a wet t-shirt on the fermentor to cool it down a bit, but that didn't help too much. I fermented out pretty quick and then the temperature came down.




I left it in the primary for two weeks and then bottled it. After a couple of weeks to carbonate I tried one. The banana was off the chart, but there was a lot of fusel alcohol.

Update: I just finished my last bottle in December '13. Seems like the both the banana aroma and fusel alcohol chilled out a bit. It was really good, especially because I drank it out of a glass Das Boot!