Recently I have been doing some reading on some of the pioneers of the microbrewing industry. The pioneer of microbrewing is Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing. In this interview from Lew Bryson he talks about their origins and some of the struggles that they faced when he bought the brewery in late 60’s. It is really a great look at where the brewery came from and how it got there.
I watched Beer Wars this weekend. All in all I see it is a good look at the brewing industry through sensationalist glasses ala Micheal Moore. The one story arc that stood out for me was the discussions with Sam Calagione of Dog Fish Head.
Full disclosure: I always thought this guy seemed kinda of like a jerk. Like he was bigger than the beer he was brewing.
I don’t think I could have been any more wrong based upon the picture painted in the documentary. You could tell that he has a true passion for the beers that he brews as well as, and this is more important in my book, the people that help him deliver on his dream.
INC. has published a good story on Sam this month in its magazine, printer friendly version below.
I brewed my first barleywine this weekend. It was by far the largest beer that I have ever brewed weighing in at 1.111. My efficiency suffered due to the high gravity and perhaps my mash PH was a touch high due to the addition of about 7 g of chalk to the mash. Typically I use 78% efficiency for my brew house however this recipe yielded about 64%. So basically I would have extracted another 10 points sugars if I had hit my numbers. As it is this beer will probably finish at 11.5% to 12% abv, which is plenty by style.
For the hops I went with predominately west coast hops with 7 of the 8.5 ozs of hops being added in the final 15 minutes. Additionally I waited 30 minutes before starting the cooling. According to some research out of this years craft brewers conference, this wait to cool plus dryhopping yields some of the strongest hop aroma in beers. Now, I know that this beer is going to have to age at least 6 month and most of this aroma will dissappate, but the way I look at it, its not going to hurt.
Given the color of this beer (22 srm) Palmer’s water chemistry excel sheet suggested raising the residual alkalinity (lowering the PH). My mash PH was in the 5.6 range which was ok in the end analysis however I would rather have been around the 5.4 or 5.5 number. Next time a little less chalk or perhaps a gram of Gypsum and Chloride to balance it out.
As I stated earlier the end result is a deep red beer, that when I measured the gravity the hydrometer almost jumped out of the top of sample jar. I reused a yeast cake of Cal Ale II from my latest Rye Ipa. It is currently fermenting in my 10 gallon corny @ 65 degrees F.
Recipe:
Grist:
20.00 lb Maris Otter (2 Row) (3.0 SRM) Grain 75.0 %
2.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
2.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 7.1 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 5.6 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 1.9 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 0.9 %Hop Schedule:
1.00 oz Zeus [16.40%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 46.9 IBU
0.50 oz Magnum [14.10%] (60 min) Hops 23.7 IBU
2.00 oz Chinook [13.00%] (15 min) Hops 23.3 IBU
2.00 oz Pacific Gem [15.40%] (5 min) Hops 17.3 IBU
3.00 oz Cascade [5.50%] (0 min) Hops -
Now before I even start, I just would like to say that there are plenty of great beers being brewed today that are extract beers. Every year at the AHA nationals there is at least one beer that places that was brewed with extract.
That being said, it certainly is not something that you would expect from a major brewer like Guinness. While doing some research today on water chemistry for porters and stouts I came across a thread on ProBrewer discussing the affects of Chalk on dark beers. Buried deep in there thread was a great post about the history and composition of Guinness. A couple key interesting points:
Guinness OG:
1840: 1.082
1940: 1.054
Today: 1.038; FG: 1.007Budweiser today:
OG: 1.044; FG: 1.010
What that means is that in the past 150 years Guinness has basically cut its alcohol content in half. Actually to the point where the Great American Lager is actually string than the “Dark” beer Guinness. The poster speculates that the cause for this is two fold. Firstly it was done for tax purposes. Brewers are taxed on a volume of alcohol rate. That is to say that higher alcohol beers are taxed at a higher rate than a lower alcohol beer given equal volumes. Secondly he mentions that the Publican lobby is strong. Lower alcohol equals more pints purchased and less stumbling out of the pub.
The second and most surprising point is the following
“Today at St. James’s Gate, Roast Malt Extract (RMX) and Mature High Gravity extract (MHG) are used in the brewing of Foreign Export Stout, draught Guinness, and Guinness Export Stout … What is common to all Guinness stout brewed in any location is the inclusion of dark RMX … and MHG”
–stated plainly by a retired Guinness employee
Translated that means that they no longer mash grain at the St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin. They take the extract that is created for use worldwide and use that to brew. Its important to note that brewery tours at St. James Gate ceased in 1972.
I will say this: there is no beer on Earth surrounded by more confusion, myth, unsubstantiated opinion, and pure BS than Guinness stout
Could not have said it better myself.
Last year I brewed up a watermelon wheat beer which turned out great. Being who I am, I cant leave well enough alone (well that plus I pumped my normal summer wit all over the basement floor), so decided to mix up the recipe a bit by taking my standard wit recipe and spiking it with watermelon. The results are in and while it is a good beer and is refreshing it does not showcase the watermelon like the first batch did.
I brought this beer along on a camping trip I made recently and it was well recieved. It was the first beer that was killed off. However I did get some feedback saying that the spices took a bit away from the watermelon. Its probably best to just highlight the watermelon by itself given the novelty of the ingredient. I will probably not brew this beer again.