You would of thought I would have learned my lesson...

If you look back at my previous posts (which I encourage you to do so by clicking on "Older Posts" on the bottom of the page), I had detailed a problem that I incurred with the airlock on my primary fermenter due to extremely active fermentation on the Whisky Romeo's Brown Ale. I solved that problem by switching the airlock to a blow off tube, which allows more carbon dioxide to freely escape the fermenter. Well it was late the night I finished brewing the American Barleywine and without putting much though into it I didn't bother to install a blow off tube on the ferment and went for an airlock because I had one handy. This is what I ended up with when I came home from work on Tuesday, February 26th:

Here's a close-up of the clogged airlock:

What a mess! I'm lucky that the airlock didn't shoot off and put a dent in my ceiling or have the phone top blow off leaving the beer to infection. Instead I was able to clean off the fermenter, properly install a blow off tube, and (hopefully) save the beer. You can actually see the foam coming through the tube and the bubbles in the pitcher of sanitized water. Usually the activity stops within 4-7 days, but this beer is going on day 12 now and activity is still noticeable.

American Barleywine

On February 15, 2010 (President's Day) I also brewed an American Barleywine. I am really excited about this beer because it is the biggest beer I have ever made and a style than many people have never had before. Barleywines are incredibly intense in flavor, with average alcohol content ranging from 8 - 15%! The alcohol content approaches the amounts typically found in most wines, hence the name Barleywine. To achieve such high amounts of alcohol, well over double the amount of barley and hops must be added. Hops are delicately balanced to mask the alcohol flavor that is present. Flavors of the style include caramel, fruity, dates, and raisins. Just like a good wine, it is not uncommon to age a barleywine for several years to allow the flavors to mellow out.

My recipe included Amber Malt Extract, Golden Malt Extract, 40L Caramel Malt, 80L Caramel Malt, Dextrine Malt, Special B Malt, and Corn Sugar. I was somewhat hesitant to add corn sugar to the beer as it is considered an "adjunct" and not a true malt. Most cheap beers use adjuncts such as corn or rice in their beers as it is much cheaper to mass produce beer with than malted barley. Anheuser-Busch actually purchases about 6-10% of all rice produced in the United States each year for Budweiser and the other fizzy yellow beers that they make. In my case, the corn sugar was added because it is a simple sugar that is easy for the yeast to convert into alcohol. I also made a 2 liter yeast starter to make sure there was ample yeast. It is my intention to let this beer ferment for three weeks in the primary fermenter and at least a month in the secondary fermenter. I also will add more hops when transferring the beer to the secondary. It is likely that this will be ready for the end of 2010, but chances are I will sample it every month or so to check on its progress. The original gravity reading on this was 1.092, which means that it will finish at about 8.5-9.5% ABV.

Here is what the BJCP says about American Barleywine style:

Aroma: Very rich and intense maltiness. Hop character moderate to assertive and often showcases citrusy or resiny American varieties (although other varieties, such as floral, earthy or spicy English varieties or a blend of varieties, may be used). Low to moderately strong fruity esters and alcohol aromatics. Malt character may be sweet, caramelly, bready, or fairly neutral. However, the intensity of aromatics often subsides with age. No diacetyl.

Appearance: Color may range from light amber to medium copper; may rarely be as dark as light brown. Often has ruby highlights. Moderately-low to large off-white to light tan head; may have low head retention. May be cloudy with chill haze at cooler temperatures, but generally clears to good to brilliant clarity as it warms. The color may appear to have great depth, as if viewed through a thick glass lens. High alcohol and viscosity may be visible in “legs” when beer is swirled in a glass.

Flavor: Strong, intense malt flavor with noticeable bitterness. Moderately low to moderately high malty sweetness on the palate, although the finish may be somewhat sweet to quite dry (depending on aging). Hop bitterness may range from moderately strong to aggressive. While strongly malty, the balance should always seem bitter. Moderate to high hop flavor (any variety). Low to moderate fruity esters. Noticeable alcohol presence, but sharp or solventy alcohol flavors are undesirable. Flavors will smooth out and decline over time, but any oxidized character should be muted (and generally be masked by the hop character). May have some bready or caramelly malt flavors, but these should not be high. Roasted or burnt malt flavors are inappropriate. No diacetyl.

Mouthfeel: Full-bodied and chewy, with a velvety, luscious texture (although the body may decline with long conditioning). Alcohol warmth should be present, but not be excessively hot. Should not be syrupy and under-attenuated. Carbonation may be low to moderate, depending on age and conditioning.

Overall Impression: A well-hopped American interpretation of the richest and strongest of the English ales. The hop character should be evident throughout, but does not have to be unbalanced. The alcohol strength and hop bitterness often combine to leave a very long finish.

History: Usually the strongest ale offered by a brewery, and in recent years many commercial examples are now vintage-dated. Normally aged significantly prior to release. Often associated with the winter or holiday season.

Comments: The American version of the Barleywine tends to have a greater emphasis on hop bitterness, flavor and aroma than the English Barleywine, and often features American hop varieties. Differs from an Imperial IPA in that the hops are not extreme, the malt is more forward, and the body is richer and more characterful.

Ingredients: Well-modified pale malt should form the backbone of the grist. Some specialty or character malts may be used. Dark malts should be used with great restraint, if at all, as most of the color arises from a lengthy boil. Citrusy American hops are common, although any varieties can be used in quantity. Generally uses an attenuative American yeast.

Vital Statistics: OG: 1.080 – 1.120

IBUs: 50 – 120 FG: 1.016 – 1.030

SRM: 10 – 19 ABV: 8 – 12%

Commercial Examples: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Great Divide Old Ruffian, Victory Old Horizontal, Rogue Old Crustacean, Avery Hog Heaven Barleywine, Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale, Anchor Old Foghorn, Three Floyds Behemoth, Stone Old Guardian, Bridgeport Old Knucklehead, Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws, Lagunitas Olde GnarleyWine, Smuttynose Barleywine, Flying Dog Horn Dog

Rainy Day IPA 2

The other beer that was brewed prior to the Coffee Stout was the Rainy Day IPA. I originally brewed this recipe back in June of 2009. The name came about because it happened to be raining on brew day. Rainy Day IPA 2 was brewed on January 18, 2010, transferred to secondary fermenter on February 2, and bottled on February 14. This should be ready to drink middle to end of March and in its prime the 1^st ofApril. I’ve noticed that with IPA’s the sooner you drink them the better as over time the alpha acids from the hops break down and the beers lose their flavor.

This version of Rainy Day should have a much greater hop presence as I used almost double the amount of hops used. I still focused on floral/citrus hops, but I tweaked the recipe to use Amarillo, Cascade, and Simcoe hops since I had them already. I also added the hops in .5 oz increments every 5 minutes for the last 30 minutes of the boil. I also kept the bitterness down at 35 IBU’s to barely fit the guidelines. IBU stands for International Bittering Units, which is a measurement of the bitterness in the beer. As you have probably figured out, the bitterness in the beer comes from the hops used. Hops contain alpha acids, a bittering compound that is extracted from the hops through boiling them. Certain hops are better suited for bittering as they have higher alpha acid content and it becomes more efficient to use a smaller amount of higher alpha acid hops to achieve your desired bitterness. Hops used later in the boiling stage or during fermentation will add flavor and aroma to the beer. Adding hops while the beer is fermenting/conditioning is a process called “dry hopping”. For this beer, I saved about .5 oz of each hop variety and dry hopped in the secondary fermenter for 12 days. After bottling this beer last night, I tried an uncarbonated sample and it had a nice orange/tangerine/lemon flavor to it. After measuring the final gravity this beer is a little over 6.1% ABV.

Coffee Stout

On February 7, 2010 I brewed another batch of Coffee Stout. This beer is brewed with chocolate malt, coffee malt, roasted barley, and flaked oats. Today I plan on transferring the beer over to a secondary carboy and adding cold pressed coffee from Caribou Coffee. This batch is also much lighter at around 6% ABV than my last attempt at making this beer which was 7.5% ABV with maltodextrin added for a bigger body. The "C2" coffee beer that many of you got for Christmas I fear never properly carbonated in the bottles. Right now my beer is carbonated through a process called "bottle conditioning" where the bottles carbonate slowly over time. Bottle conditioning works by adding extra sugar to the beer right before it bottles. I use approximately 5 ounces of corn sugar for my 5 gallon batches. Once bottled, the remaining yeast in the beer process the new corn sugar and the byproducts are alcohol and carbon dioxide. Bottle conditioning can be somewhat tricky as you have a number of variables (amount of available sugar, healthy yeast in the bottle, temperature of bottles while cellaring, length of time bottles have been condition, etc...) that make the process somewhat unpredictable. You can see why kegging a beer is so much simple! At any rate, my guess with the last version of the Coffee Stout is that I made a beer that was too big, didn't pitch the proper amount of yeast (using the stir plate and making a starter) and so by the time it came to bottling I had a lot of dead/stressed yeast. Of course, it also could have been something as simple as forgetting to add the corn sugar. Since this happened to what is one of my favorite homebrewed beers, I take this as a lesson learned regarding proper brewing techniques and maybe even more importantly proper note taking!

Happy President's Day

Happy President's Day from Frostbite Brewing Co.! Today reminds me that I need to do more research on the history of homebrewing in the United States as I have read that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin were all homebrewers. It would be interesting to find some of the recipes that they used and brew a similar style. Although I imagine that the quality of the ingredients and the methods they used would be primitive in today's age of liquid yeast vials, dozens of hop varieties, and proper sanitization techniques.

I have a few beers to update everyone on since it has been almost a month since the last post. My plan is to do a series of updates today on each beer that was brewed. The Irish Red Ale from the last post was bottled on February 2, 2010 and so it should be ready to go mid-March. I have brewed two beers since the last post, the "Rainy Day" India Pale Ale and "Wake and Bake" Coffee Stout, both styles that I brewed before.

Yesterday I spent much of the day working with bottles. Elise and I botttled the Rainy Day IPA but before doing that I cleaned out my bottle collection in the basement and scrubbed the labels off of them. To do that I have a jet spray washer that attaches to the faucet in the kitchen that sprays water at high pressure to clean out the inside of the bottle. Lately the bottles that I have been getting have been fairly clean from everyone, but just reminder to thoroughly wash the bottles before storing them otherwise mold and other nastiness will grow inside them. After spray washing them, I soak the bottles in boiling water and a solution called Powder Brite Wash "PBW" that cleans the bottles and breaks down the paper and glue on the labels. After the labels are scrubbed off, then are then placed in the dishwasher and a cycle is run without any detergent. The dishwasher is used to rinse the bottles and the heat dry cycle is an additional way of sanitizing the bottles. Finally, I place the bottles on a new toy that I bought called a bottle tree that allows the bottles to dry off and make it easier to organize when getting ready to bottle the beer. Here are the "before and after" pictures of the bottles soaking and all over and then easily organized with the bottle tree:

Once again, you can see how much work goes into bottling as you have approximately 48 bottles to clean where with a keg you have one. Part of the joy of homebrewing to me is sharing my beer with others so I really don't mind the work when I have the time to do it. Just a reminder to all to save your reusable bottles and thoroughly wash them prior to storing them. Thank you again to those who have been supporting the brewery to allow me to buy new brewing toys (see above and previous posts), ingredients, and continue learning the art brewing!