CNYBrew.com

Since this is my first time using my glass carboy, I figured I would make a short video of the fermentation happening.

Today was one of those waining beautiful days in Upstate so spending my morning in the driveway brewing beer was perfect.  This was another one of my solo brews as Nick has cashed out and Bryan is helping to control the deer population.  My pump is still not up and working just yet, so hopefully if things go well, I will be brewing with a whole new setup on my next batch.  This should help with some of the heavy lifting that’s going to put me back in the hospital for another hernia operation.

Anyway, I started the water on this one at about 9am and was finished by 1:15ish so it was a pretty productive brew day.  I started out with 8.5 gallons that I wanted to be 161f, but I let the burner go a little long and had it up to 175f.  I dropped some ice into the kettle to cool it down and by the time I struck the water to the grain, the grain bed was only about 146.  It was about 41f outside so I think the problems I had were mostly due to the outside temp.  It’s amazing that after all these years, the impact that cold weather has on my temps still takes me off guard.

To adjust my temp to the desired 150f, I added 2qts of water at boiling temp and the grain bed was up to 150f for about 45min of the mash with the first 30min at 146f.  Just an extra step, thats all.

My first runnings were 20 brix (about 1.087), second was 11brix (1.046) and final was 10brix (1.042).  I used a batch sparge on this brew, but again I think that the outside temp snuck up on me because my batch sparges didn’t get the grain bed up to 168f, I was at 158f on the first and 162 on the second. 

The good news is that the pre-boil gravity was 1.050 (spot on with the target) but my volume was a little low.  My hops additions were as follows:

• 1/2 oz Challenger 60min
• 1/2 oz Columbus 60min
• 1.2oz Centennial 60min
• 2oz Cascade 30 min
• 2oz Cascade 15 min

 One new item in my brew war chest was my first 6 gallon carboy.  I forgot to make proper markings on it so I would know the volume so I was a little out of sorts with that, but it’s not a big deal.  After my boil I was short on my volume, but I was not sure by how much so I tried to disperse the wort evenly between both my bucket and my 6gal carboy. 

My OG was 1.062 and my volume was short so I needed to add some water to top off my brews.  My bucket was 1/2 gallon short so I added a 1/2 gallon to both the carboy and the bucket.  I did a gravity measurement and it looks like I am at 1.054 on my OG.  The lesson is to start small with the water top-off and then match it with wort in the carboy.

At the end of the day, my target was 1.057 and I was at 1.054 at proper volume.  Hindsight is 20/20, but I also could have just added the water to the brew kettle when it was cooled and just shot for my volume as I know the markings on that.  No big deal though.  I am going to dry hop these in lieu of a late addition hop addition because I have some homegrown cascade whole leaf hops.  Should make for a great beer.

It’s been a few weeks and I’m starting to go a little light on my brews so it’s time to get my act together and start brewing!  My pale ale is on it’s last legs so I am going to replace it with an IPA, a style I can’t seem to go wrong with.  As much as a like all kinds of different brews, there is no other style that is more of a “comfort beer” than the IPA.  I love the variations and it’s always on my pallet to grab one.

With this one, I am going to use the Po-Boy IPA malt profile and utilize some of my hops purchased from Tim at Pompey Mountain Hops Farm along with the hops I grew this summer should make for an interesting “Empire State of mind” (Go Yankees!) Po-Boy.  I will be updating this post with the hops additions once they’re ready, but here is the malt profile and I am going to be using my Irish Ale Yeast from Wilford’s Best Stout so it should make for some variations on the original:

• 25lbs US 2 Row Pale
• 1lb Crystal 20L
• .75lb Crystal 60L
• .65lb Cara-pils

Again, the hops will be a mix of whole leaf cascade and cenntenial hops with pellet cascade.  I have almost 4lbs of hops so I will not be stingy with with my hop additions.

If you made it here (assuming your a returning reader) you’ll notice that this is a new design.  We’ll it’s actually whole new website.  I made the plunge from WordPress.com (free hosted solution) to WordPress.org (I host the new website) so my RSS Feed location changed to:

http://cnybrew.com/?feed=rss2

Or you can click the button below to add my new RSS feed to your iGoogle account or Google reader:

Sorry about the change, please let me know what you think about the new design.

Cheers!

*UPDATE – It looks like the RSS feed issues has resolved itself so now the feeds are updating properly.  You might want to talk a look and make sure, but this is going to be the most recent post until the week after Thanksgiving.

So this past Tuesday was our monthly brew club meeting.  I brought a growler of my (newly named) Wilford’s Best Oatmeal Stout to the meeting to get some feedback from fellow brewers.  For anyone out there that doesn’t currently attend brew club meetings in your area, I recommend you change that.  It’s an outstanding place to meet up with fellow brewers, share advice, taste beers, and get some solid feedback.  Brewing in bubble isn’t healthy.

Anyway, I sought out some feedback on the brew and was not disappointed with the response.  Fellow brewers are gentle, but constructively critical.  Here are some of the highlights of the feedback:

Pros – It was generally seen as a smooth beer, especially compared to some of the commercial stouts we tasted that night.  Most found it to have good mouth feel without an overpowering alcohol burn.  One club member noted the chocolate notes that were subtle, but present.  The overall view was that it was a surprisingly good drinking stout considering the 7%abv.

Cons – Lacks the “wham-bang” of some more complex and rich stouts.  It’s a good beer, but not a great beer.  It’s a little high for style (abv), but with stouts there is a pretty wide accepted range.

So over all I was really happy with the response.  I was going for a palatable stout that I was be comfortable drinking 10 gallons of.  The feedback was in line with what I was looking for, both the positive and the negative.

After the meeting, I decided to have a glass to collect some of my thoughts.  After trying three different stouts and a handful of other brews, I found that Wilford’s Best did lack some complexity.  While is was drinkable and had nice mouth feel, it really fell short on the flavors.  It could use some hints of toffee, chocolate and coffee to really set it off.  Instead, you get a great swath of delicious aroma and the flavor falls short.

*Notes for next time, split up the roasted barley with some 120L crystal and a small amount of chocolate malt.  I think that this will give some more complexity, but it needs to be done in moderation as this could make the beer really over powering.

This past week I was fortunate enough to get to visit with Tim Manchego from Pompey Mountain Hops Farm in Pompey New York.  I found this after an article in the local news paper about Tim’s operation ran and was brought to my attention.  Initially, I wanted to get up there during hops harvest to get some nice hops shots, but because of my personal schedule, I wasn’t able to get up there in time.

I spoke with Tim for over an hour and learned a lot about his operation.  This past year he harvested 600lbs of hops!  Some of them were pellets and others were sold as whole leaf hops.  Tim offers a fall “you pick’em” special for $5 a bucket full of fresh hops.

This past year he built an oast out of a greenhouse that he is able to haul from the farm to his house for winter storage.  Tim has a pelletizer that allows him to offer pellet hops of all varieties.

He indicated what I have heard a lot about hops in New York, the C letter hops grow best in NYS.  His Cascade, centennial and Chinook all grew the best on his farm.

This spring I am going to go visit with Tim to see how he gets the trellis’ setup and treats the sprouts.

Special thanks to Tim, I personally picked up 3lbs of cascade that I broke up and vacuumed sealed in smaller packs.  Should make for a productive winter!

So initially, I was a little concerned that my subject for this month’s Fermentation Friday that I was being a little too open ended and it wasn’t going to give people anything to write about.  But what I found in reading all of the posts is that people’s drive for brewing can be both similar and unique.  Most people identified the satisfaction of creating something, escaping the daily grind by focusing on one finite project, having something that you could take pride in and bringing people together. However, each post had an individual insight into what made these people start brewing and how it keeps them going.

All of these themes were really clear in what makes us brew…oh yea, and we all like beer…A LOT.  Thanks for everyone that submitted and if I missed you in this list, please respond and I will add your post (Adam I am looking in your direction!)

• Brew Dudes reflect on why Dudes Brew: Brew Dudes
• Brewing Suds knows that patience is a great virtue especially in brewing: Brewing Suds
• Chris from Bob’s Place came into brewing for drinking, but it’s grown from there: B.O.B’s Place
• Just another Booze Blog stated brewing after a trip to Europe: Just Another Booze Blog
• Matt the GISBREWMASTER loves beer (how is it possible that reading a blog post makes me want a beer?): A World of Brews
• Awesome, a brew-lady tells her inspiration, I personally love to see women in brewing, it’s always great to diversify the pallets and keep from just making “man candy”: BrewCookPairJoy
• My post

Here we are at another Fermentation Friday!  I am the very fortunate host of this month’s virtual get together so I will start the conversation off.  The question I’ve posted to the group is:

Remember why we brew?

This is a pretty open subject, but the idea here is, what got you started?  What gets you out of bed for brewing and drinking?  Once you’ve brewed enough batches, it becomes apparent that if you’re in it for the beer, it’s a lot easier to just go buy a six-pack.  So why do we keep doing this process?

For me, it’s as much of a self-image thing as anything else.  An experience in college caused me to create an image of what ‘making it’ really meant:  One summer in college, we made a road trip out to Rochester to visit a group of alumni.  After a long day at Ten Ugly Men, we headed to Spike’s house for a beer.  Spike was another alumni that was full of life and a ton of fun.  The guys insisted that we had to stop in and visit Spike for a beer (or more).  When we visited, we were down in his basement, it was pretty cramped, just enough room for the pool table, but he had a fridge with two taps on it.  Now pool and beer on tap is pretty impressive, but when he explained how he made the beer himself, I was floored.  ‘This guy has the world by the balls’ I thought, and from that point on I decided that I was going to figure out how to make it happen.  So now I think about my house, my life and the expression of my own personal freedom that being able to brew my own beer is; something Spike has always represented to me.

In some small way, every time I wake up at 7:30 am in the snow and cold, I think about Spike and that basement.  I think about how I like it when I get to give my own brew tours, the pride I get when someone tells me they enjoy my beer.

I love to share my beer, for two reasons; one, I get to brew more, and two is that I like to have people be made happy by something I made.  Brewing is more than beer and drinking.  It’s a lifestyle and chance to be a little different, while still part of a unique group.  In some ways, it’s the ultimate example of following your desires and createing something you like from almost nothing.

One observation that I’ve said and have heard from others is that brewing is an escape from the daily grind.  But the beauty of brewing is that it’s not just the act that’s an escape, but talking about brewing and beer is as well.  I am always glad to talk at length with want-to-be and “newbie” brewers.  I like to talk anyway, but bring up beer and it’s all over.  Brewing is an opportunity for me to escape another conversation about the weather or politics.

So, visions of being Spike in the basement with my bro’s hanging out playing pool and drinking my great brews have shaped my introduction into brewing and still drives me today.  I love to share beer and conversation; brewing fuels that as well.  The act of brewing is an escape, but so is thinking and talking about it.  In all, this is a fulfilling hobby, both personally and socially.

So tonight, I am going to tip back a pale ale and offer a toast to my lost friend Spike.  In every beer, there is a little Spike to make me smile.  Thanks as always to Adam for being the man behind the idea.

First Round of FF Submissions (I will also do a full post with all submissions this weekend so please share your link):

• Brew Dudes reflect on why Dudes Brew: Brew Dudes
• Brewing Suds knows that patience is a great virtue especially in brewing: Brewing Suds
• Chris from Bob’s Place came into brewing for drinking, but it’s grown from there: B.O.B’s Place
• Just another Booze Blog stated brewing after a trip to Europe: Just Another Booze Blog
• Matt the GISBREWMASTER loves beer (how is it possible that reading a blog post makes me want a beer?): A World of Brews
• Awesome, a brew-lady tells her inspiration, I personally love to see women in brewing, it’s always great to diversify the pallets and keep from just making “man candy”: BrewCookPairJoy

That’s right kids, it’s that time of the month again!  The next Fermentation Friday is October 30, 2009. In case you’ve never heard of FF, it’s the brainchild of Adam at Beer Bit’s and he has the whole history documented, check it out.

Since it’s my chance to choose the topic, I decided to go with something a little more thought provoking than useful.  This month’s topic is:

“Remember why we brew?”

Whether it’s the inflated sense of independence that the smell of mashing malt brings or just some image of yourself as a beer artisan that brewing creates, I want to hear about it.  No limits here, it can be what started you down the path, or what inspires you to lug 15 gallons of water out of your basement at 7am.

Now the natural reaction may be “it’s the beer stupid”, but I think it’s deeper than that for most.  It is for me at least.

See you next week.

So this weekend was both a great brew day an opportunity to pass the brewing torch (kind of I guess).  I was lucky enough to get a helping hand from friend of CNYBrew Jess who wanted to witness all-grain brewing in action.  I say it’s passing the torch because 4 or 5 years ago I went to Pete’s house and witnessed my first all-grain brew.  It reminded me of how crazy the process sounds compared to when you actually see it in action.

Anyway, this weekend I started at about 1pm after one of my football games.  This was a 10 gallon brew of oatmeal stout that would make Wilford Brimley proud.  This was another in the line of my “simple brews” where I’ve tried to scale down the complexity of my recipe’s with hope of letting the style shine through and decide what beers I really like.

Now with this beer, I started out with a 21bix first running (1.088), 16 brix (1.066) after the first sparge and 11 brix (1.045) in the last running.  The pre-boil gravity was 1.063 and after a 1 hr boil, the OG was 1.071, compared to the estimated 1.064.  I added two table spoons of gypsum to the mash with hopes of getting the water treated to be a little more like that water in Dublin.

At the end of the day, the wort looked and smelled great.  I have high hopes for this brew.  Lets see how everything turns out in the end.  On another note, I have to say that I really enjoy the day brewing over the morning brewing we usually do.  I got to drink a few beers and had some neighbors stop by.

It was great to have Jess out there to participate in a brew day and if anyone wants to stop by, feel free to email me at travis@cnybrew.com or hit me up on twitter @cnybrew.

Cheers