Brewing My Own Beer!!

Wow, it has been quite a while since I have written a post here. My goal has been to do a post a week. Well, that didn't quite go as planned. I would say that I would try to do better but then I am reminded of two very wise people, Yoda and my wife. They both say (my wife's syntax is better), "Try not. Do or not do, there is no try." I will do better.

Anyway, instead of writing a review about a beer, I decided instead to write a post about brewing beer. Wifey and I are homebrewers. I created a name for our "brewery", Four Paws Brewing. It was inspired by our four pawed kids. I created a logo:

Then I created a more colorful, Andy Warhol-type logo:

So, we have been brewing for about a year now. I love it. It is a lot of fun. The clean up part of it stinks but creating the recipe and actually brewing the beer is quite a bit of fun. So, that is what this post is about. I have fellow homebrewers and craft brewers that follow me on social media, so after reading this and you have some tips for me, it would be greatly appreciated. Those of you that are not homebrewers, maybe you will find it interesting and want to try it yourself. That would be awesome. You can find kits online to help you get started. Don't be intimidated, just try it out. Unless you don't sanitize well, you can't screw it up. Even if it doesn't turn out well, it's still beer. Drink it. There are four main ingredients to beer: Water, Malt, Hops and Yeast. That's it. 

Wifey and I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide on a style that we wanted to brew. We were supposed to invite a few people over the next time we brewed but since we could not decide on a recipe, we did not brew until this past Monday (sorry guys, hopefully next time!) That decision took quite a bit of time. Usually, we can agree pretty easily but apparently not this time. We wanted something that would be nice an crisp for the summer. We were going back and forth on what we wanted to do. I wanted to do a take on the Belgian Wit. It is a great summer beer. She wasn't in to it. She wanted to do more fruity, but I wasn't in to it. We finally decided on an IPA. Then we had to decide on the flavor profile. I like citrusy IPAs and she said that she is over the citrus profile. We finally decided on a more floral IPA. Ok, then we had to decide on the hops and the grains. We finally came up with something. 

We decided on three types of grains; 2-row pale malt, crystal malt 20L and honey malt. The 20L in the crystal malt refers to the color that it contributes to the beer from 10-120. A 20L is pretty light where the 120L is very dark. The 20L is a bit sweeter. The 2-row pale malt is a light malt and is probably one of the most common base malts that is used in homebrewing and in larger brewing.

We then decided on our hops. Wifey wanted to go with some of the UK hops because they had more of the floral profile we are looking for. We went with East Kent Goldings, which is a nice floral hop and Fuggle (love the name), which complements the Goldings pretty well. We also decided to use Centennial hops for the bittering and flavor/aroma.

I had to decide how much grain and hops I wanted to use and came up with what I thought was a good recipe. I use brewing software to help out with the recipe and with many of the calculations needed. There are quite a few out there but I use BeerSmith 2.0. Here is a screenshot of my recipe on BeerSmith:

I then had to buy all of my ingredients. I went to St. Louis Wine & Beermaking. They are great people there. If you are not in the St. Louis area, you should be able to find a homebrew store near you or there are a ton of them online.

Before you can actually start brewing, you need to clean and sanitize your work are and everything that you are going to use. 

This picture is some of the equipment that I will be using and it has been cleaned and sterilized. There are a few different ways to brew beer. There is extract brewing, partial mash and all-grain. We do a variation of the all-grain which is called Brew-in-a-Bag (BIAB). When we brew beer, we make 2.5 gallons. BIAB is pretty easy for us. 

We just got a new brew kettle and our bag is not big enough but we made it work. What you see here is pretty much all you need to mash (using hot water to convert complex sugars in grain to simple sugars so it can be fermented) and boil. We get the water to the correct temperature, add the grains and let it steep for about an hour (we did 70 minutes). 

These are the grains beginning to steep in the hot water. After the allotted time, we can begin the boil the wort (this is the sweet liquid after you have mashed). I started the boil (which is for 60 minutes usually) and began adding the hops. There are certain times to add hops, at 60 minutes the hops are used for bittering. Just because there are "bittering hops" does not mean the beer will be bitter, it depends on the hops. What we are making is not a bitter beer. 

I forgot! The second most important thing to remember when brewing beer (the first is CLEAN & SANITIZE), is to drink beer while you brew:

Here is an obligatory dog picture:

Here is the first hop addition.

Once you finish the boil, you need to cool it to about 70 degrees so you can add the yeast. Before you add the yeast you measure the gravity (original gravity OG). This refers to the density of the wort before it is fermented to produce beer. When I am entering my recipe into BeerSmith, I have some estimated numbers. One of the numbers is original gravity.Water has a gravity of 1.000. I had an estimated OG of 1.061. I use a refractometer to measure that. We were a bit low on our OG but I think we figured out what we did wrong. Anyway, here is a picture I took of the reading from the refractometer:

The last thing to do is to pitch the yeast (add yeast to the wort). I used an ale yeast from Wyeast. It comes in what they call a smack pack. There is a small nutrient pouch in the package that when you smack it, it releases the nutrient and gets the yeast working so it can start eating the sugars.

Now, we wait for the yeast to do its job. We will wait about a week or so for the yeast to finish. I will start to take more gravity measurements to see if it is finished. I hope this beer tastes good. I will keep you all informed of that. We will name the beer after we taste it. We have a couple names in mind and it depends on the taste which one we will go with.

If you are interested in brewing your own beer, go check out a local homebrew club. I belong to a homebrew club called The Brewminati. Actually, I was just elected president last night. I am pretty excited about that. If any of you in the St. Louis area would like to check out one of our meetings, we normally meet at the St. Louis Wine and Beermaking at 7:00 on the second Wednesday of the month. Our next meeting is actually at Craft Beer Cellar in Clayton on July 8.

Thanks for reading my post and if you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Recess Brewing

This weekend, Wifey and I were on the Illinois side of the Mighty Mississippi. We had lunch at Eckert's (which is awesome). We then went over to Randall's liquor store to check out some beers that we can not get in Missouri (Ballast Point Victory at Sea is awesome). We decided to head over to one of the newer breweries in the area, Recess Brewing. They are located in Edwardsville, IL. I love their tag line: "Helping fight Prohibition one beer at a time!"

Recess Brewing is a nice, casual microbrewery. They had seven of their beers on tap. They do not serve food but you can bring food in or have it delivered there. The beers they had on tap varied from an IPA to a porter. When we go to a new place, we usually order flights. Those that do not know, a flight is a number of small glasses that allow you to sample the bar/brewery's beers. They are usually 4-5 ounces. They usually range from 4 to 5 glasses. When we order a flight, we start from the top down. We tasted all seven of their beers. Some were better than others.

My two favorite beers from Recess were Traitor and Four Square. Traitor is 5.8% ABV and is an ESB. An ESB is an Extra Special Bitter. An ESB usually has a bitter hop aroma with some malt or a fruity sweetness. The taste will have that hop bitterness along with that malty sweetness. The other one that I liked a lot was the Four Square which is an American Nut Brown and is 6.1% ABV. A nut brown ale is called that because of the color. An American brown ale is similar to the English brown ale but it uses American ingredients. It is a darker brown color and has a bit of a malty aroma and taste. They will usually have a malty sweetness to them. Both of these beers were really nice.

The two guys behind the bar were friendly and knowledgeable. I apologize but I forgot their names. They were pretty helpful to the customers. When people that seemed to be new to Recess, they were asked what they normally drink and tried to match beers to their tastes. Recess Brewing is a great place to go. I enjoyed it and will definitely go back.

I just wanted to add something else to this post. There is a group of women in St. Louis who call themselves The OG. What is The OG? They are the "St. Louis women's craft beer collective." From their Facebook page: "We are a group of women from the St. Louis region that promote women's involvement in the craft beer movement both locally and globally through craft beer education, support of women in the craft beer industry, homebrew education and general involvement in St. Louis to better our community." I am totally jealous.

Why am I mentioning The OG? My wonderful wife is a member of The OG and Sunday, they just brewed some beer with Six Row Brewing. The beer is called Fraise Casée. It is a strawberry saison. A saison is also called a farmhouse ale because in the 19th century, it was brewed in the winter months and given to the farm hands during the summer months. Saisons are a little spicy and fruity with a little tartness. Anyway, the beer should be available for purchase in a month or so. Good luck ladies!

Midnight Whistle by Tin Mill Brewing Company

Wow, it has been too long since i have written a review. I wanted to write about something different for this one but a friend of mine game me this beer and said that when I drink it, I had to write a review on it. So, my next post will be a little different but this one is a review.

Tin Mill Brewing Company is a brewery in Hermann, MO. Hermann is about an hour and a half west of St. Louis. Hermann was settled by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia in 1837. Hermann has quite a bit of rocky hills. The Germans decided to plant vineyards. Their grapes began to grow. Those of you that are not from the St. Louis area may not know that they grow wine in the area. I am not a big wine drinker so I won't comment on the wine. I will say that Missouri wines have won quite a few awards. How could you have a German town without beer? In the 1860s, there were two breweries in Hermann.

Unfortunately, World War I brought about quite a bit of anti-German sentiment in the United States. Then, the Volstead Act of 1919 was the deathblow to beer and wine in Hermann. You don't need to do a Google search of the Volstead Act of 1919. It was called the National Prohibition Act. Since Hermann's large industries were out of commission, there was no money to modernize the buildings. Now, there are now wineries and microbreweries in Hermann. Since the buildings were not modernized there is a charm about it that is very cool. The people of Hermann say that it has an old world charm.

Tin Mill Brewing was the first commercial brewery in Hermann since prohibition ended. Prohibition ended in December of 1933. Tin Mill was organized in 2005. Tin Mill stays with the German brewing tradition. I have not been to this brewery but I will make sure that I do.

The only beer I have had from Tin Mill is Midnight Whistle. Midnight Whistle is a dopplebock. A dopplebock is a German style which means double bock. A bock is a dark, malty, smooth beer. They are usually between 6.5% and 8% ABV. A dopplebock is one of Germany's biggest beers. It has ABVs above 7%. They are maltier but not very bitter.

Ok, having said all of that about the style, Midnight Whistle is under 6% ABV. It was a nice dark color with a very thin head. It has a nice aroma to it. I enjoyed that part. When I took a sip, I was impressed but then it faded away pretty quickly. The taste just disappeared. It started with a bit of roasted malts and chocolate and then *poof* it was gone. On the back end of it, all I got was carbonation. It was almost a let down. I was hoping that there would have been a bit more body for a dopplebock. I really like the style but unfortunately, this did hold up.

It started nice but then it was gone. I will give this one 3.0 hop flowers though. I look forward to visiting Tin Mill Brewing Company very soon.

No beer review, just some thoughts on an SB commercial

During the Super Bowl last night, there were quite a few good commercials. I thought most of them were less than funny and more emotional. There was one that got my attention.

There was the Nissan commercial playing Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle was tough. After watching that commercial, I guess there was a gust of wind that brought some pollen in through an open door. My allergies started acting up a bit even though I don't think I have pollen allergies. Here is that commercial in case you missed it.

Then there was the Nationwide commercial about a kid falling to his death. Check this one out.

Those aren't the commercials I am talking about. It was a Budweiser commercial. No, not the one where the puppy got lost and almost got taken out by a wolf before it was saved by horses. No, it was another one. Take a look at it to remind you.

I enjoy drinking craft beer. I like to taste different styles of beer. I like IPAs, stouts, sours, etc. When I was younger, I drank Bud. I was never a big fan of it but that's all I knew, so that's what I drank. I finally got in to drinking Guinness. That is some good stuff. I also got in to other AB beers like Amber Bock, which I still like. They make a Michelob dunkelweizen that I really like. I started drinking craft beers and was amazed at all of the different styles out there and I loved it. I started brewing my own beer because it was fun and I could make different stuff. 

During the Super Bowl, I started seeing mentions of an AB ad that was taking a shot at craft beer. My wife mentioned it also. We looked it up and found the commercial above. The first thing that popped into my head was "HYPOCRITES!" AB-Inbev have been buying craft breweries the past few years. They bought Goose Island, which still makes some real good beer. They bought Blue Point Brewing Company out of Long Island, NY. They then bought a small microbrewery in Bend, OR called 10 Barrel Brewing. Then most recently, AB-Inbev bought a microbrewery called Elysian Brewing out of Seattle, WA. So, in my opinion, AB-Inbev is taking a shot at craft brewers but yet buying craft brewers. Weird.

Other people have discussed this ad and I agree with most of them. A fellow blogger, Caroline, just discussed this ad also. What really gets me, is the fact that they said in this ad that they make beer the hard way. So, the craft brewers out there (around 3,000 in the U.S.) must be making beer the easy way. Look, I have gone to the AB brewery here in St. Louis and it was very cool. It was pretty awesome to see their process. I am sure that the people at AB-Inbev take great pride in what they do and the ending process. I have also been to many craft breweries around the country and they have a very similar process as AB but on a smaller scale. These men and women that own and work at the craft breweries put in a lot of hard work. They make many different styles of beer and I know that they are very proud of the finished work. This ad seems to make what they do trivial. 

The other thing that bugged me about the ad was when they said that Bud is "made for drinking, not dissecting." I love grabbing a bottle of 2nd Shift Liquid Spiritual Delight. It is an Imperial Stout made by a microbrewery outside of St. Louis. I love dissecting this beer because as it warms up a bit, different flavors emerge. It is really awesome. Then there is Contact High by 4 Hands Brewing out of St. Louis. It is an American Pale Wheat Ale. I love to smell the citrus in that one. The flavors are amazing and you can start to pick out the different hops that are used. Tasting and enjoying a good wine is the same thing as tasting and enjoying a good beer. When I drink a Bud or a Bud Light, I admit that it is a clear beer and is crisp and yellow. There is one flavor to it. I have no problem with people that drink Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Stag, whatever. To each their own. There are so many great beers out there thanks to craft brewers. 

One other thing about this ad that I found out about a little later is that they said "let them sip their pumpkin peach ale..." Remember when I said that AB-Inbev just bought Elysian Brewing? Well, a few months ago, Elysian brewed a beer called Gourdgian On My Mind. Want to guess what kind of beer that is? Go ahead, guess. Yup, it's a pumpkin peach pecan ale. So, AB-Inbev throws the smack down on brewers that make a beer like that yet they technically make a beer like that since they bought Elysian. 

I will continue drinking beer from microbreweries because I like it. It may cost more than a six-pack of Bud but it tastes so much better. Those of you that drink Bud and others like it, more power to you. We all drink what we like. Just be responsible!

Oh, here is one more commercial that you didn't see during the Super Bowl. Check it out:

I Am A Craft Brewer

Big Lushious from Founders Brewing

Happy New Year to everyone. It has been way too long since I have typed up one of these. With the holidays and all, I was just hanging out with my wife mostly. We also got a new puppy. He is pretty awesome. We lost one of our pups back in August and thought that it was time to get another pup. Thank you to Facebook for making the day that I lost my dog one of the big moments of the year for me. That really sucked to pull up Facebook on my phone and see that displayed prominently. You suck Facebook. Anyway, we found an awesome dog at Stray Rescue.

I wanted to name him after a variety of hops. One of my favorite hops is Simcoe. Wifey said no way on that one. I started going through some of my other favorites and kept getting rejected until...GALAXY! His name is Galaxy. He is a border collie mix and is super cool. Our pit, Abbie, has started to warm up to him. They love to play. It took our cat Roddy longer to get used to him. Here is Roddy staring him down on the first day we brought Galaxy home.

So, with all that being said, I am going to try to write more reviews. I recently had a bottle of Big Lushious from Founders Brewing Company. This is an Imperial Stout with chocolate and raspberries. It is 7.8% ABV. It pours a dark black with a small tan head. The smell is...wow! The smell is like chocolate covered raspberries. The taste is the same, chocolate covered raspberries. The body is a little thick but very silky. This is a dessert beer. There are dessert wines and also dessert beers.

This really is an amazing beer. This tastes like Founders combined some of their Breakfast Stout with Rubaeus, their raspberry beer. I would love to have a glass of this after a nice dinner. Just great. I give this 4.0 hop flowers. Wonderful!

Stray Rescue of St. Louis
Founders Brewing Company

Storm King Stout by Victory Brewing

A few months ago, we drove to Evansville, IN to go on a beer run for beer we could not get here. One of the beers we brought back was DirtWolf Double IPA by Victory Brewing Company. That was one heck of a beer. I absolutely loved it. Well, when we traveled down to Florida and the Carolinas to see family, we made it into another beer run. One of the stores had DirtWolf, so I picked up some of that. Right next to that beer was Storm King Stout. I looked it up on Rate Beer and it has a 97 by style and 100 overall. So of course, I grabbed two 4-packs of it. Storm King was in my beer advent calendar. Yesterday was the day I was able to try it.

Storm King is an Imperial Stout. It is 9.1% ABV. It pours a deep black with a nice tan head. The aroma is a nice roasted malt but also some hoppy bitterness to it. I took a sip and it was really nice. With that first sip, I got the roasted malts but also that bit of hops.

With other stouts and especially the Christmas Bomb! I reviewed, the more it warms up, the more flavorful it becomes. I let this one set a few minutes and took another sip. The chocolate and coffee notes started to become a bit more up front. I let it set a few more minutes and man, it was coming alive. I waited again and this time all of those complex flavors were wonderful. I figured that if it is coming directly out of the refrigerator, I would want to wait about 20 minutes for it to get to the right temperature. If you want to taste this beer open up, start drinking it immediately after taking it out of the fridge and take sips every few minutes. This is a wonderful stout but it could be characterized as part IPA also.

I really wish that Victory distributed to the St. Louis area. They have some wonderful beers. I still have some more of this great beer if someone would like to have a tasting party. I give this 4.5 hop flowers. It is so good.

Victory Brewing Company

Jai Alai IPA from Cigar City Brewing

Man, it has been too long that I have posted a review. My original intent was to post a review twice a week but it has been almost two weeks since I have posted one. I have had some great (and not so great) beer in that time. This is the time of year for stouts and porters. When it starts to get a bit chilly out and the holidays are near, you pour yourself (or have one poured) a glass of a dark ale. This time though, I am reviewing an IPA from a world-class brewery. Cigar City Brewing Company is located in Tampa, FL. They only distribute to FL, GA, AL, VA, NY and PA. While I was down in Florida, I picked up some of their beer.

Jai Alai is named after a Spanish game that was extremely popular in Florida. It is called the fastest sport in the world. The ball that they use was once clocked at 188 mph. That is crazy. When I lived in Florida, I watched a few games. It was neat to watch but I did not understand it at all. People used to bet on the game a ton. There are still places in Florida where you can watch it and amateurs can play.

The beer Jai Alai is an IPA with 7.5% ABV. It pours an orangish color with a white head. The aroma is absolutely amazing. There are so many tropical and citrus smells. If they made a Jai Alai IPA scented candle, I would actually have candles.

The taste of this is just like the smell, tropical and citrusy. There is some malty taste to give it some balance. As you continue to drink it, you get some of that IPA bitterness. It is not too much, just enough to let you know that you are drinking a hoppy beer. The finish is slight bitterness but dry. If you didn't know that it was 7.5% ABV, you could sit and drink it all day. I did say YOU could drink it all day if you didn't know the ABV. I DO know the ABV and would still drink it all day.

It is too bad that it is difficult to get Cigar City beers here in St. Louis but fortunately, I have family in Florida and will be asking for care packages. Also, there is a company called Brew Hub that contract brews beer for local craft brewers and out-of-state brewers. They are in talks to have some of their beers brewed at a Chesterfield, MO location that should open in 2016.

This is an amazing beer and I give it 4.5 hop flowers.

Cigar City Brewing