Getting that Itch Again

Well it's been years since I've posted anything to this blog. I've purchased a new home and been promoted at work a couple times, and a global pandemic, all of which have contributed to the hiatus. Those aren't the only reasons for the long absence, while I have been brewing, it hasn't been anywhere near as often, or with as much passion. but...

 I think the bug is back. I've been thinking, reading, and watching homebrew videos again lately whenever possible. I missed the Kveik takeover and I'm interested in experimenting and learning about this new-old yeast, Voss and Lutra specifically sound intriguing for IPAs and Clean-Lager like beers respectively.

The photo above was taken before dismantling the last of my (and my clubs) barrel program. I have plans to turn the room into a man-cave cigar lounge. I think my barreling days are over, if I want a wood/whiskey flavoring to my beer,  I'll soak some oak staves in bourbon and drop those into my fermenters.

Back to the subject of this post, the itch is back. I've ordered ingredients for two beers, a French Saison that I've made in the past and has turned out superbly, and a Red IPA that I've never made before. I have memories of 21st Amendment's Toaster Pastry IPA and I want to create a similar beer. Both are 10 gallon batches and I'm looking forward to the process again. 

I've spent the last two evenings tearing apart my brewing equipment, soaking fittings, changing hoses, flushing and soaking my counterflow chiller, and making sure I'm ready to brew this weekend. Friday night I'll do one last boiling flush of the system with all the new hoses and fittings assembled to do a final cleaning, and make sure nothing leaks and everything works correctly. 

Simplifying Homebrewing - Grains

I recently purchased 12 - 1 gallon PET storage containers to hold my adjuncts and grains. I live quite a distance from the nearest homebrew supply store and since I'm not very good about planning my brew days I keep quite a few grains on hand. I thought 12 containers would be enough to hold the various bags of grain in my storage locker but I was just plain wrong. So now I'm going to attempt to outline what 12 grains I should have on hand that will allow me to brew the most variety of beers. I could just buy more containers but since I'm trying to be more budget conscious, and I have a limited amount of space I thought I would try this route.

Frequently Brewed Beers

I should probably start with a list of beers I know I brew repeatedly. That will help pick some of the grains to keep on hand.

1. Panhead Supercharger Clone - About 2-4x/year.
2. IPA 2x/year
3. Hefe 2x/year
4. Saison - 2x/year in the summer
5. Brown Ale - 2-3x/year
6. Porter - 2-3x/year
7. Stout - 1-2x/year (Includes RIS)
8. Barley Wine 1x/year
9. Winter Warmer 1x/year
10. Belgian Dark Strong 1x/year
11. Munich Dunkel 1x/year
12. Doppelbock 1x/year
13. Sours 4x/year (Includes Kettle Soured)

Base Malt

I keep a 50lb bag of Briess 2-Row for my base malt but have found recently that I'm brewing a lot of English beers and I keep buying 10lb bags of Marris Otter. I'm contemplating a complete change to Marris Otter but it's going to mess with my brewing budget. 2-Row is $50, I think Marris Otter is more like $65 a bag.

Crystal Malts

I'm a huge fan of cherry and dark fruit flavors in my beers so I definately want Special B, British 135/165 and C120. The supercharger clone used c20 and honey malt so those are a must.

1. Crystal 20
2. Crystal 40 - Layering in Brown and amber ales
3. Crystal 80 - Layering
4. Crystal 120
5. Crystal (british) 135/165
6. Belgian Special B

Well there's half the containers just in crystal malts. After black malts there won't be much left. I could cut out the crystal 40 if I find I'm frequently missing something else but I think I can make this work.

Black Malts

My porter uses carafa II or midnight wheat, I like the wheat better. The stouts use chocolate and roast malt. If I include a black patent type malt I'm screwed for much else. I need a flaked barley for quite a few of these darker beers, especially if I ferment with a highly attenuative yeast it sort of rounds the beer out, so I'll leave off the black patent for now.

1. Midnight Wheat or Carafa Special
2. Chocolate Malt
3. Roasted Barley

Other Malts

My stouts and porters also call for either flaked oats or flaked barley for some creaminess. If I have to choose just one I'll go with flaked barley, I think it adds a little more body with the creamy mouth feel.

1. Honey Malt
2. Flaked Barley
3. Biscuit/Victory

Biscuit malt is good for layering in several types of beer. The munich dunkel, browns, porters and stouts all benefit from some biscuit malt. 

I left out wheat malt which I use quite frequently between the wheat beers and sours but those are beers I usually plan out a bit. They are seasonal like the Barleywine, BDS, Winter Warmer and Doppelbock.

I'm sure this list will change over time as my brewing tastes change, or I realize I missed something I use quite frequently.

Homebrewing Obsession

As with many people in this hobby homebrewing has become an obsession for me. When I'm not actually brewing I'm planning my next brew, shopping for ingredients, developing recipes, reading every book I can get my hands on, reading every blog I can find, and watching every video; even the corny tasting vids, or what I'm up to vids.

I had a long weekend this past weekend and I ended up brewing twice. That doesn't seem like a big deal but when you consider I started by brewing about 4x a year followed up by maybe every six weeks then once a month, twice a month until I'm pretty much brewing once every weekend now. I don't know why I do this, I end up giving a lot of beer away plus it's increased my own drinking quite a bit.

I mostly do it because I'm still experimenting. I'm still trying to find the magical hop combinations, get that 50 point stout or Belgian dark strong, and figure out what's working for a specific style of beer. I believed this is taking so long for me because I'm all over the place. I'm not brewing a single style until I nail it, I don't like drinking the same beer all the time so I'm always changing what I'm brewing. I don't see anything particularly wrong with that, in fact I think it's keeping me interested in this hobby.

This is not the first time I've brewed more than once on a weekend but this time had me thinking I either need another hobby or to create more projects around the house. The second brew day was on Sunday and I was just killing time until football started at 1PM. I had already made breakfast and cut/sauted vegetables and meat for a stew. That done I wondered what I was going to do until the Bills game, impromptu brew day!

My previous hobby (computers) was a complete obsession as well, so much so that it turned into college and my day job. That worked out pretty well for me and actually kept me so busy for years that I didn't need another hobby. Well that, owning/maintaining a home, and raising a child with my wife. Of course as with anything I got better and better at it until it wasn't occupying as much of my time and then came homebrewing :).

As I said above none of this is a problem until you realize how much money you're spending on the hobby. You always "need" some new piece of equipment or to replace one you've outgrown/broken. When you brew every week you spend a lot of money on ingredients and a lot of time brewing. I didn't realize just how much I was spending until put myself on a brewing budget. It's been about two months now and even with the fairly large $200/month limit I placed on myself I'm having a hard time keeping to it. I blew my entire November budget after planning through all of October for what I would need. I had bugs in one of my bags of grain so I "needed" new storage jars for the grains I keep in stock (my LHBS is 50 minutes away). I ordered 12 PET 1 gallon storage jars and with shipping those were $60. A bag to 2-Row was $50+tax. The rest was spent on grains for stouts and porters, yeast and hops, and it went quickly. Well I broke my last hydrometer while cleaning on my first brewday this weekend so I went without for the second brew and I'll continue to go without until my December budget. Not the worst thing, I know my system and my numbers are usually pretty close to estimated plus I have the Tilt which is spot on for the OG and usually only a point or two off on the FG.

So I looked back at my homebrew spending in the months prior to starting the budget and it was absolutely ridiculous. Anywhere from $200 to $600, in a month!!!! This year I built a new mash tun, bought a Hydra immersion chiller, 3 hydrometers, 2 new perlick faucets, new gas and beer lines, a 20lb co2 tank, 2 gauge pressure regulator, 5 new fermentation buckets, 5 homebrew books, 2 magazine subscriptions, went to HomebrewCon in Baltimore ($1500) and bought  several items for my homebrew club. I know I've missed some things too. I think this qualifies as obsessed spending.

To top all of this craziness off I write in this blog once or twice a week just because homebrewing is always on my mind. There's not too many reading this blog, if any, but I keep writing because it's a way to think about and review my homebrewing.

I remember I used to love reading for fun, it may be time to recapture the love of an old hobby that doesn't have me spending money as fast as I make it.

Fred Eckart Predicts AB inBev's Current Takeover Strategy

In  episode 20 of BrewingTV Fred Eckardt predicts what AB inBev is currently doing to craft beer. Essentially buying it up in order to stay relevant. Have a look starting at 15:45 and ending at 16:45, it's uncanny how on the head he hit that nail. I think 2011 is when AB inBev purchased its first craft brewery that I'm aware of, Goose Island, so this is near a completely uninformed guess as it was published in October of 2010.

AHA Hidden Corner of Awesomeness

I've been an AHA member  for about 2 years now. I frequent the site and love the access to Zymurgy online, beer trivia, and especially the winner's recipe database.

Well today I found a little gem that makes my membership well worth it. There's a Research and Education Fund section under Community that offers funds to homebrew clubs or individuals who wish to participate in an experiment. The results get posted for completed projects and are available to all AHA members! That's very cool!

If you're an AHA member be sure to check it out (you need to sign in first!) at https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/community/research-and-education-fund/completed-proposals/