Stoutfest

Since this blog's inception, we've focused on our homebrew recipes. After a conversation last night with the bloggers over at wine-beer-washington.com, we've decided to experiment with some new directions. We're still gonna be putting up homebrew recipes, but you might also find reviews of beers, breweries, and beer events popping up. With that, let's get on to Stoutfest.

Brouwer's Stoutfest is a must for any stout lover this side of Tacoma. With no less than 40 different stouts on tap, even the experienced stout drinker can feel a bit overwhelmed. Couple that with a bar running at full capacity and blasting death metal, and you've got an event that makes lager drinkers quiver. Mad props have to be given to the Brouwers staff; when you're this busy for this many hours, service can really go down the drain. The bartenders and wait staff really kept it together. With the bar filled to fire code from 6 pm, it was still a relatively painless experience to get a drink, even with crowds around the serving stations and a thirst for stout pushing the glassware collection to the limit. Waits to get in were manageable, with the longest lines popping up from 6 to 7pm, and the wait for another stout hardly a few minutes.

It was choosing a stout that proved the most difficult part of this event. Lee and I managed to get through a healthy portion of the draft list, and found a few to really stand out. Chief among them was Boneyard's Suge Knight. This was only our second taste of Boneyard, a brewery that really wowed us with a chocolate espresso stout at The Burgundian a few weeks ago. At a potent 14%, Suge Knight is one of best balanced high gravity stouts I've ever had. The color is a totally opaque black, with a healthy tan head, much like many of the stouts sampled last night. Nose, however, totally stands out. It hit me like a black IPA, with a surprisingly strong aroma of earthy hops followed by notes of coffee, chocolate, and lots of dark malt. The taste followed suit with a hop character unlike any I've ever found in a beer this big. It tasted like the keg had been dry-hopped, with a firm, earthy hop flavor up front, followed by dark chocolate and coffee. At 14%, it was remarkably dry, with no strong malty sweetness. Wilder still, there was no heat. Its rare to find a beer over 10% that can balance a strong roasted character with hop flavor; finding one that pulls it off without any alcohol heat is almost unheard of.

Suge Knight was followed up by Evil Twin's Imperial Biscotti Break. True to its name, Imperial Biscotti Break was dominated by vanilla and dark chocolate, with a range of coffee flavor typically reserved for beers actually brewed with coffee. The aroma was full of bread and vanilla, with strong chocolate overtone. There was a fleeting sense of brettanomyces, but the full flavor dispelled all possibility of wild yeast. The taste opened with vanilla and dark chocolate, with a subtle oak. The finish was coffee and milk. The beer really tasted like a biscotti dipped in coffee. The sweetness was well balanced, and never cloying. This was a beer any stout lover could get into, provided you enjoy a bit of vanilla.

Other honorable mentions include the Abyss '10, a brew that proved itself much finer after a year and a half of aging. All in all, this was one of the finest opportunities to drink stout I've found out here in Seattle. The company was great, the waits were short, and the sometimes surly Brouwers staff were in surprisingly good spirits.

Christopher (4/27/12)

On our latest IPA, we decided to highlight the Columbus hop varietal. Also known under the proprietary names Tomahawk and Zeus, Columbus is a fairly new high-alpha acid American strain with pungent resin, pine, and citrus flavors. We also added an ounce of Citra to the mix for a hint of tropical fruit.

Otherwise, the recipe is identical to our last couple of IPAs. We adhere to the contemporary West Coast philosophy on IPAs, aiming for a very subdued malt and yeast profile so that the huge quantity of hops can really shine through. We've been pretty happy with the results.

Batch Size: 2.5 gal
Boil Volume: 3.5 gal
Calculated OG: 1.071
Measured FG: 1.013
Estimated ABV: 7.6
Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 169
Pitching Temperature: 68F
Yeast: Wyeast American Ale 1056
Starter: None
Fermentation vessel: Bucket

Other Fermentables		Amount	%	Max Pts.	Color
DME		3	34%	42.00	2.00
Cane Sugar		1.13	13%	46.00	0.00

Hops/Additions		Amount	Time	AA%	IBU's
Columbus		1	60	13.9%	95.68
Columbus		0.5	30	13.9%	36.77
Columbus		0.5	10	13.9%	17.35
Citra		1	5	14.0%	19.21

5/4/12: Added 1.13 lbs sugar.
5/10/12: Added 2 oz of Columbus (dry hop)

138 (4/15/12)

Since the last coffee stout we brewed, Surly Sunday, was one of the best we've ever made, we decided to brew another. For this batch, we're using dark crystal malt instead of dark candi syrup, which both contribute flavors of caramel and dark fruit. Crystal malt contains many more unfermentable sugars than candi syrup, though, so the substitution should make the beer less dry, and hence fuller-bodied.

We also added 4 oz of Dutch cocoa powder (Peet's brand) to the boil. This is 100% Dutch-processed powder, so it won't add any sugar or other flavors to the beer. Compared to the nibs I used in the Aphrodisiac, I expect the powder to add a less complex, but smoother, more familiar chocolate flavor. The powder has been processed, unlike nibs, to remove most of the cocoa fats, which means that we can add it to the boil without risking an oil slick on top of our beer. One advantage of adding chocolate to the boil is that I expect to achieve much more efficient utilization. It also means that I don't have to wait an extra week or two for the beer to extract flavors from the nibs, and needn't worry about the chocolate infecting the beer.

For the coffee, we will add cold-brewed Arabian Mocha-Java to the beer at bottling, as we did with Surly Sunday. I expect the chocolatey flavors of this coffee to complement those present in the roasted barley, as well as the chocolate itself. Hence, this beer will be a mocha in both senses of the word. Jack and I are both really excited about this beer. Fortunately, we'll have a full five gallons of it.

Batch Size:5 gal
Boil Volume: 4 gal
Calculated OG: 1.089
Estimated FG: 1.022
Estimated ABV: 8.7
Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 44
Pitching Temperature: 68F
Yeast: Wyeast American Ale 1056
Starter: 2L
Fermentation vessel: Bucket

Malts Mashed		Amount	%	Max Pts.	Color
Chocolate		1.5	9%	28.00	350.00
Roast Barley		2.2	13%	25.00	300.00
Crystal 120		1.25	7%	33.00	120.00

Other Fermentables		Amount	%	Max Pts.	Color
DME		8.1	62%	42.00	2.00

Hops/Additions		Amount	Time	AA%	IBU's
Magnum		1.4	60	13.0%	44.38

French Saison (4/8/12)

Saisons are bone-dry, peppery beers with champagne-like carbonation traditionally brewed in the farmhouses of Wallonia (southern Belgium) and northern France. We've never attempted to brew a saison before, in part because the best-known saison yeast, sourced from Brasserie Dupont, has a reputation for being finicky about temperature and failing to ferment to completion.

For this beer we elected to use the Wyeast French Saison yeast (3711) instead, which is supposed to be more reliable. It's sourced from a French microbrewery east of Calais named Brasserie Thiriez, who are known for their particularly hoppy saisons. We followed our standard procedure for pale Belgians, omitting specialty grains, and adding sugar two days into fermentation.

Batch Size:2.5 gal

Boil Volume: 3.5 gal

Calculated OG: 1.073
Measured FG: 1.005
Estimated ABV: 8.9
Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 41.5

Pitching Temperature: 68F

Yeast: Wyeast French Saison 3711

Starter: None

Fermentation vessel: Bucket

Carbonation: 3.0 volumes of CO2

Other Fermentables		Amount	%	Max Pts.
DME		3.25	75%	42.00
Corn Sugar		1.1	25%	42.00

Hops/Additions		Amount	Time	AA%	IBU's
Nugget		0.5	60	12.5%	41.5

This beer dried out way more than expected. 93% attenuation, wow! We'd heard that this yeast was really attenuative, but this is more than anything we've ever experienced. This beer was supposed to be in the neighborhood of 7.7% ABV, but it's way above that now.

L'Appel du Vide (4/1/12)

After learning that we could acquire yeast sourced from De Dolle Brouwers, one of our favorite Belgian breweries, we knew we had to brew something with it. The yeast will take the lead in this beer, producing lots of spicy phenols and fruity esters. We added some sugar to the recipe, as we are wont to do with Belgians, in order to prevent the beer from ending up too sweet. (Funny how brewing works, sometimes.)


On a whim, we also added a very small amount of grains of paradise, a pepper-like African spice used in some Belgian-style beers, such as Chimay Grand Reserve (Blue) and Ommegang's Rare Vos. This being our first time brewing with spices, we only used a quarter of a gram, or about 20 seeds, crushed and added at the end of the boil. Grains of paradise have an intense and complex pepper/lemon/ginger flavor, which we hope will complement the flavors contributed by the yeast.


Batch Size: 2.5 gal
Boil Volume: 3.5 gal
Calculated OG: 1.073
Measured FG: 1.016
Calculated ABV: 7.5
Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 40
Pitching Temperature: 63F
Yeast: Wyeast 3942 (De Dolle)
Starter: none
Fermentation vessel: Bucket

Other Fermentables		Amount	%	Max Pts.	Color
DME		3.25	75%	42.00	2.00
Corn Sugar		1.1	25%	42.00	0.00

Hops/Additions		Amount	Time	AA%	IBU's
Nugget		0.5	60	12.5%	40
Grains of Paradise		0.25g	5		0.00

Temperature dropped to 61F the night after pitching, and the beer showed no signs of fermentation after 12 hours. We warmed the beer up to 70 the next day, and it has fermented steadily since then. Sugar added on the third day of fermentation.

Tasting notes 5/2/12: Pepper, lemon, pear, watermelon, rose. Lingering spicy note in the finish. Balanced bitterness. Still fairly cloudy. Could be drier, but still very crisp and drinkable. Delicious.

The Bloom, first week in March

Our third IPA was brewed to celebrate the first bloom of spring in Seattle. Floral and pine, the Bloom combines Chinook and Citra for a distinctly spring-like flavor. We used Chinook for bittering in this beer. Chinook is one of those high alpha hops known to impart more of a harsh, lingering bitterness, and is pretty different from our typical go-to bittering hop, Horizon. Horizon produces a strong, clean bitterness that we really like, but we'd had some criticism that our IPAs weren't bitter enough. The Bloom is our attempt to amend that.

We hope that by using one of these older, harsher hops, the perceived bitterness will increase. The choice to use Chinook to dry hop as well was really just for kicks. We have experience using both Chinook and Citra for dry hopping separately, and I liked the results from both. However, they were used in very different beers, and the choice to use them together here was a pretty big risk. Without further ado, here is the recipe.

Batch Size: 5 gal

Boil Volume: 4 gal

Calculated OG: 1.071

Expected FG: 1.014

Calculated ABV: 7.5

Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 145

Pitching Temperature: 66F

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 x2

Starter: none

Fermentation vessel: glass carboy

Other Fermentables		Amount	%	Max Pts.	Color
DME		6	73%	42.00	2.00
Cane Sugar		2.25	27%	46.00	0.00
Total		8.25	100%	355.50	2.40
Hops/Additions		Amount	Time	AA%	IBU's
Horizon		1	60	11.0%	59.57
Chinook		2	60	12.0%	129.97
Ahtanum		0.5	30	6.0%	12.49
Citra		0.5	20	12.0%	19.68
Ahtanum		0.5	10	6.0%	5.89

Dry hopped with 2oz of Chinook and 1.5oz of Citra for 11 days

We forgot to make a starter, and ended up just pitching two packets of yeast. It worked out fine, but it was an extra $7. The beer itself though is just awesome.

It opens with citrus, fading into pine and resin. The finish grows more bitter with each sip. What starts as a fairly dry, fruity beer quickly becomes fiercely bitter as the lingering bitterness of the Chinook builds over time. The dry hopped character is an intense blend of fruity and pine flavors, with citrus winning out. The resulting flavor strongly mimics the fresh bloom of spring. It's almost like rolling around in a garden on a bed of pine needles.

Introduction

The first alcoholic beverage humans made probably wasn't beer. The first fermented drink of which chemical traces have been found was made from a mixture of ingredients that included rice, honey, and wild grapes. Beer has, however, become the most consumed alcoholic beverage on Earth. To get a sense of the sheer scale of brewing today, consider that annual production volumes of major breweries are reported in millions of hectoliters (100 liters each), or millions of beer barrels (117 liters each).

Most other fermented beverages—such as wine, cider, or mead—simply cannot be produced on such a scale. Barley's crop yield is unmatched among ingredients well-suited for producing alcoholic drinks. Understanding why other high-yield ingredients—such as wheat, corn, or rice—are not generally used in beer, except in combination with barley, requires understanding the basic chemistry of the malting process.

Malted barley is composed of barley grains which have been steeped in water to initiate the germination process, in which the barley seed prepares to sprout. The grains are then rapidly dried with hot air to halt the germination process before the grains actually sprout. The goal of this process is to activate certain enzymes, namely alpha- and beta-amylase, which can break down the starches—which yeast cannot ferment into alcohol—into sugars, which yeast can ferment. Barley has a much higher enzyme content (or diastatic power) than other cereal grains like corn and rice, and is therefore much more capable of converting its starch into sugar in the mashing process.

Mashing is the first stage of brewing—brewers usually leaving the malting up to the maltsters. In the mash, malted barley is introduced to water between 140 and 160 degrees farenheit, and held at this temperature for a period of time, often 60 minutes. The heat and moisture allow the enzymes present in the barley to convert its starches to sugars. Mashing is performed in a large insulated container known as a mash tun.

After draining the hot liquor from the mash tun, the grains are often rinsed, or sparged, with more hot water. The sugary malt solution, which is now called wort ("wert"), is transferred to a large kettle and brought to a boil. At this point, beer's third ingredient (after barley and water) is added.

Hops. In the western United States, they've become something of a fetish, but hops weren't a common ingredient in beer until the Middle Ages. Before then, a variety of different plants were used to flavor and preserve beer, such as sweet gale, wild rosemary and yarrow. Recently, some American brewers have again begun to produce beers using these herbs. These ales are known as gruits, but they're still quite rare—for now the hop remains king.

Hops serve two functions. First of all, they make beer taste better (i.e., bitter). The bitterness they provide balances the sweetness of the malted barley, and the spicy, floral, or fruity flavors they contribute are often pleasant, sometimes divine. Secondly, hops contain alpha acids that are toxic to gram-positive bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, which often spoil beer, so hopped beer is less prone to infection and the off-flavors resulting from infection.

Hops are usually added to beer during the boil. Beer—or, more precisely, wort—is boiled for a long period of time, usually 60-90 minutes, which, among other things, isomerizes the alpha acids in the hops. This is important because alpha acids do not taste bitter as they are found in nature—only isomerized alpha acids provide bitterness. Hops boiled for a longer period of time will therefore contribute more bitterness, but the long boil will also destroy much of the hops' other flavors. Brewers often distinguish between bittering hops, added early in the boil, and flavor or aroma hops, which are boiled for a shorter period of time. Adding hops anytime after the wort has cooled, a technique known as dry hopping, contributes negligible bitterness but lots of hop flavor.

Once the beer has cooled, the wort is transferred into a fermentation vessel. The brewer usually pitches a single strain of ale yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, either from a lab or harvested from a previous batch of beer. Notable exceptions include lagers, which require lager yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus, and wild beers, which make use of a variety of wild yeasts and bacteria.

Even within S. cerevisiae, there are as many different yeast strains as there are breweries, due to the speed at which yeast evolves. Yeast strains crucially differ in how much they attenuate, that is, what percentage of the malt sugars they can convert into alcohol, as well as in what flavor compounds they produce as byproducts of fermentation. Belgian ale strains, for example, tend to be highly attenuative and produce pungent flavor compounds.

The yeast convert the malt sugars into alcohol over the course of a week or two in a stage known as primary fermentation. At the end of this stage the yeast begin to flocculate, or clump together, and drop to the bottom of the fermenter. Most brewers employ at least a short conditioning period following primary fermentation to allow the beer to clear of yeast and the yeast to clean up some less pleasant byproducts of fermentation, such as diacetyl and acetaldehyde.

After conditioning, the beer is ready to be carbonated. Most commercial breweries carbonate their beers mechanically, while most homebrewers and Belgians use a process known as bottle conditioning. In this process, the brewer adds a precisely measured amount of sugar to the beer immediately before bottling. The yeast ferment the sugar in the sealed bottle, producing only a very small amount of alcohol, but enough carbon dioxide to make a crisp, fizzy beverage. Bottle conditioned beers often have a small but significant amount of yeast at the bottom, so decanting the beer carefully into a glass, leaving the yeast with the last 1/4 inch of beer, is generally recommended to preserve clarity of appearance and flavor.