Sorry for the Delay

It's been a while since I've been able to write up a new post on the ol blog. Part of that has been due to the fact that my computer at home has crashed and I have to share SWMBO's laptop. It also hasn't happened just due to being very busy at work, home and everything in between.

But the main reason for the lapse in posting is due to the fact that I've got a new assistant brewer growing inside SWMBO's belly! In just six short months I'll have the great responsibility of showing the next generation how to take pictures, how to properly berate the 'Canes (and they've deserved it lately), and how to brew awesome beer (but not partake until legally of age!). Just getting prepared for it's arrival has kept me from posting on here as regularly.

Without SWMBO's help drinking my beer, my pipeline is a lot longer, therefor, I can't brew as often either.

Thankfully, she can still go with me to the Canes games and do some hefty cheering. Although, lately, there hasn't been much to really cheer for. As of right now, the Canes are 2-4-2 and the only wins have come in the Shootout against Tampa, and against a Florida team who had just gotten back from playing in Europe. We even gave the Islanders their first win of the season just last night.

If there is a picture that can sum up how the Canes are taking this season, it's this one right here:

On the beer front, the IPA has finished fermenting and gone through the secondary, been dry hopped with and ounce of Cascade and Centennial each. It's even already been bottled; last weekend! I did get a chance to sample a bit that wouldn't fit into the last bottle, and it was pure hoppy goodness. I'm excited for two weeks from now.

C-Ward-O Defies the Economy and Other News

Today, Cam Ward signed a six-year contract extension worth an average of 6.3 million a year. And then he promptly laughed in the economy's face.

"Who says it's hard to get a good paying job these days?" he asks. Certainly it's not for the now 3rd highest paid goalie in the league. Personally, I believe that's about half a mil too much per year, but in terms of superstars, not too big of a deal.

What this really says, as Bubba over on Canes Country puts it, is that the Canes are here to stay and here to be competitive. It's a message to other players that may not want to play so close to the Tropic of Cancer, that this team is willing to pay for its superstars, and it's not planning on putting its fans through limbo, a la Phoenix Coyotes.

In other, only slightly related news: HOCKEY SEASON STARTS TOMORROW! It's aboot time eh! Although the Canes don't start play until Friday (in which there will be loads of tailgaiting. 70F weather here we come!) I still can't wait to be able to watch some hockey tomorrow night. It's been a long off-season, although not nearly as long as most, but it's very exciting to see how the '09-'10 Canes will stack up against the rest of the NHL.

In terms of brews, I was able to get a bit done this weekend. I ended up making a new IPA that I believe will kick the crap out of my last attempt.

First, a bit of some background. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make my hop purchasing a lot cheaper. Previously, I had been buying hops in the price range of 2-4 dollars per ounce. That can get pretty expensive when your favorite beer styles are IPA's that require several ounces of hops.

So I decided to buy in bulk. Hops Direct has a good reputation for fresh hops and very competitive prices. So I took the plunge and bought 1 pound of Centennial Leaf (it's the main hop for Bell's Two Hearted, so obviously my favorite hop), 1 pound of Cascade Lead, 1 pound of Czech Saaz, and 1 pound of Magnum pellets. For a whopping total of 50 bucks (including shipping), I've got enough hops to last for quite a bit. Now, I have hops that only cost roughly 80 cents an ounce. So, obviously it was time to throw some serious hops into this IPA.

Here's the recipe. So a total of 8 oz. of hops. I honestly can't wait to see how this one turns out. I did find out that leaf hops are pretty hard to mess with. They don't like to sink down to the bottom of the kettle and tend to hang out on the top, and need to be stirred in quite a bit.

You may notice that I'm trying something new out with the recipe. It's a bit of a gamble on my part. I tried some First-Wort Hopping for this brew. It's a technique that is usually only used when Mashing is done, but I've somewhat forced it upon my brew. It's a process where you steep some of your late hop additions in your kettle after collecting your first runnings. For some reason that appears to be unknown, the flavor and aroma of these hops are retained during the boil, and not driven off. In blind taste tests, 11 of 12 people apparently prefer the first-wort hopped beer over the other.

Since my brewing does not use any mashing, I added the first-wort hops while the brew was at about 150F after I had steeped the grains, and after I added my extract. Then with the hops in the wort, I slowly brought the brew to a boil. This technique may, or may not work, because when mashing is performed with grain, it lowers the pH of the wort and is able to use the hops better. I haven't really read anywhere that said that adding extract does or doesn't do this, but everywhere I've read about first-wort hopping doesn't know about using it with extract. If nothing else, I will have just increased the bitterness of the beer. Not a horrible thing to happen to an IPA.

As I'm writing this, I'm testing out the Milk Chocolate Porter (formerly Stout). The flavor of the beer actually came out pretty balanced and smooth. Very surprising. It's got a nice light malty and roasty smell to it, and a pretty sweet and lightly chocolatey flavor. It's very easy to drink. So I'm disappointed that it's not a Stout like I had aimed for, but I'm pleasantly surprised on how the beer came out itself. Easily one of my better tasting beers, even if I missed the mark on the style.

Where's the Hops?

As I 've stated before, I'm a hop-head. For some reason, the most common definition of hop-head is a drug-addict. Not in this case! I love hops. I love a good IPA, or Imperial IPA, or if neither are available, just a good American Pale Ale. I also like to enjoy locally brewed beer (the most local being my house!). However, this causes me to have a problem.

For some reason, Triangle area Breweries don't seem to want to brew strongly hopped beers! Now, part of this is unfair to say. The one area Brewery that does offer an IPA that sells in stores, Carolina Brewing Company's IPA, I haven't tried. Their Pale Ale is excellent though. It's definitely got some hoppiness to it.

Here's my beef. Out of the nine breweries or brewpubs located in the Triangle region, only three offer IPA's, the aforementioned Carolina Brewing Company, and two brewpubs located in Chapel Hill, Top of the Hill Restaurant and Carolina Brewery.

Yes, I realize that there was a hop shortage a while ago, and hop prices haven't come back down to cheaper prices. I know, I buy hops too. So sell your IPA for an extra $.50 or $1 a glass.

If you guys hadn't noticed there's a trend forming, or has already formed, in craft brewing. More and more people are enjoying heavily hopped beers. New terms like hop-bombs(where enormous amounts of late-addition hops are thrown in to make for an explosive hop flavor and aroma) are being thrown around because more and more people are starting to enjoy the flavor profiles that American-style IPA's offer.

Where's our version of Stone's Ruination, Bell's Two Hearted Ale (my desert isle beer), Dogfish Head 90 Minute, or even Sierra Nevada Torpedo? There is already a big market for selling highly hopped beers, and it's growing.

Don't shy away from the IBU's, crank em up!!

Whirlwind Trips

So I had to make and emergency stop in Las Vegas this week. Yeah, what? Well, my SWMBO has family out there, so we had some stuff that needed to be taken care of.

Hockey update: The Canes win Games 7 of the Devils' series in Hollywood fashion. I missed the game completely (Traveste'!) but to score twice in the last 1:30 is pretty damn awesome. We're now on to playing the top team in the NHL, the Boston Bruins.

This was the matchup that I dreaded. I wanted New York to beat Washington, just so we didn't have to face the Bruins. I don't get warm fuzzies about this series. We lost last night by a margin of 4-1. We didn't look flat like we did against New Jersey in the first game when we lost 4-1, it's just that the 4 mistakes we made in the game, Boston capitalized on. You have to play perfect to beat Boston right now. They're that good.

Currently, I'm down at the beach trying to catch up on sleep and get a little bit of relaxing done after being out in the desert for all of the past week. Expect plenty of pictures of sunsets and waves coming later.

Brew update! I only spent about 8 hours at home in between trips but here's what's happened since my last post. The IPA started fermenting, and I believe I was able to keep it at a fairly good temperature. That being said, I couldn't do much while out in Vegas. However, for some reason, 4 days after it started fermenting, when I came back to it, it had stopped showing activity in the airlock; but had a massive krausen on it. What? So maybe there's a leak in my fermenter that's allowing the CO2 to escape somewhere other than the airlock. Plus, the krausen should have fallen by now. Not that I'm on any needed schedule for it right now. It's going to be in the primary for a while, but it still seemed strange that there was a big krausen on there 6 days after pitching. It can happen, I just figured it'd be with a heavier brew.

Welp, on to more relaxin down here at the beach!

Tuesday Musings

After doing some thinking, I've decided to put the Scottish Wee Heavy on hold for a bit. Instead, the next brew I make will be an American India Pale Ale.

If you read my first post, you saw that I really love a good hoppy beer. Well, after tasting my Amber and plugging in all the numbers into Beersmith, I've decided that the next two beers I've made probably won't be all that hoppy. At least to me. Like I said earlier, I was kinda brewing blind when it came to hops and how bitter they would make my beer. After I got Brewsmith and got the actual IBU's for my Amber(~27), I learned that 27 IBU's were not enough for me.

Neither the Bachelor Party Pale nor the Irish Red are any higher. So I decided to hold off on the Scotch Ale for a while. Not only that, but Scotch Ales are really more of a Winter beer. They're strong and hearty and wouldn't be very good on a hot summer's eve. I'll wait for the summer to brew that monster. By the time it gets cold, it'll be ready to drink.

So instead, I'll make an IPA. I need me some hops. And that's a real summer brew anyways. So as a new feature, I'm going to post the recipe on here in hopes that anyone with more knowledge may correct my mistakes before I make them! I made this brew at work today while on lunch, using the Beer Calculus feature on Hopville. I hadn't fined tuned this in Brewsmith, so this is just a rough draft of what this brew will be.

Malts:
6lbs 9oz of Light Liquid Malt Extract
1 lb of Caramel/Crystal Malt 10L
1 lb of Caramel/Crystal Malt 40L

Hops:
1 oz of Millenium Pellet hops boiled for 60 minutes.
1 oz of Centennial Pellet hops boiled for 20 minutes.
1 oz of Centennial Pellet hops boiled for 5 minutes.

Yeast:
I'll use Wyeast's American Ale II yeast. It should have a high enough attenuation for this brew to make it have a lower final gravity for the style.

I'll also dry hop this beer in the secondary fermenter. That just means I'll put some hops in a hopbag and place it in the beer in the secondary for about a week. This adds a lot of hop aroma to the beer. It doesn't add any bitterness to it. I'll use another ounce of Centennial Pellets for this.

Now, if I am really feeling adventurous(arrogant) about my beer, then I plan on adding a bit of fruitiness to this. The Centennial hops themselves offer a slight citrusy flavor to the beer, which helps a lot of IPA's balance the bittering effects of the beer. Like I said, if I'm really adventurous, I plan on adding about 1 ounce of orange zest to the boil with about 10 minutes left in the boil. I also plan on throwing about 2 ounces of orange peel into the secondary while I dry hop in the secondary.

I have no clue how this will come out. I have no clue if it will work. I have no clue if I'm just going to ruin a good beer. But it sounds interesting, and it may be a pretty cool beer at the end of it all. We'll see. In about 3 months.

So there we have it. Holding off on the Scottish Wee Heavy for several months, and going ahead with something lighter to drink in the summer months.

Let me know what you think!